damned_institute | Day 38: Lunch

I didn’t say that, either, she thought, holding back a sigh.

Why her? She hardly knew anything about him, and it wasn’t as though he were making a big deal out of her being a demon weapon or being trained in ninja arts, which he’d gotten glimpses of last night. “Whatever the case, I’m sure we’ll be friends,” she supplied pleasantly.

She wasn't sure exactly what Superboy expected beyond that, or if it was just his usual way… of being… friendly…

When his foot touched hers again, the girl reflexively looked down at the table, as though she were about to ask what it was doing on her side of the table again. She looked back up, outer composure warring with inner nervousness. “What are you doing…?”

"I wanna check to see if my powers are working right after last night. This is the easiest way." That was a total lie but Tsubaki wouldn't know that. There were way easier methods of testing if his TTK was working alright but they weren't as much fun as this.

The whole idea of testing if his TTK worked right was so wrong that just thinking about it had the unfortunate side effect of completely sobering him up. He'd been told before he shouldn't define himself by his powers but it was kinda hard not to when he'd been made to be the next Superman. It was who he was and his powers were part of that. Having his TTK not work right was like losing some part of himself and Kon was still having trouble coping with it.

Distracted by these thoughts all Kon ended up trying was to extend a tendril of TTK and run it up and down Tsubaki's back in almost comforting manner.

Testing his powers? By… touching her?

Her brow furrowed in a faint expression of doubt; his leering had been overtaken by a much more serious look, but she had to wonder what he was up to--

That time, Tsubaki did jump, just a little, unintentionally knocking her torso against the edge of the table as she instinctively went to lean out of the ‘touch’. “W-what?“ she said through a surprised gasp. Being surprised like that by an enemy would mean trouble, and it was out of good training that one would (hopefully) sense someone approaching from their back before it was too late. But when she looked, nothing was there.

Like an invisible hand or surge of energy had touched her… Was that--? Had that been--? Was Superboy using his soul wavelength, or something else entirely?

Kon relaxed as he felt his TTK working however weakly. He'd lost contact with Tsubaki when she jumped so his tactile telekinesis was no longer effecting her but he knew it was working. Not that he'd actually been worried or anything, just testing. He honestly hadn't expected her to jump like that, but when he bothered to stop and think it made sense. He hadn't told her what his powers were so it wasn't like she had any warning. Better fix that now.

"That's my trademarked tactile telekinesis babe," He said proudly. "Best superpower ever. Anything I can touch I can control. 'Course that was just a small-scale test, I can do way more that that. Flying, superstrength, invulnerability, you name it! Impressive huh?"

After a moment, she sat back again, hands curled on her thighs. That’d been a bit of a surprise, but she saw what he was getting at now. Although saying he could manipulate things through touch sounded a lot like what well-trained people could do in forcing their soul wavelength out of their bodies, but…

“Yes,” she agreed. “That’s amazing.” Only Tsubaki didn’t quite understand the basis behind it. “Your… tactile telekinesis… let’s you do all of those things?“

How did controlling something one touched allow for flying, super strength, or ‘invulnerability‘? Superboy must’ve been incredibly powerful to be able to do it all with his own strength. Trying to imagine the implications made her think back to some of the other conversations she’d had in Landel’s, and she wondered if he was talking about abilities that were unique to his world only.

That went way beyond her school studies...

"All that and more. I've found some pretty creative uses for it. If you're interested I'll show you sometime." Kon said waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Those creative uses probably hadn't been anything envisioned by the Cadmus scientists who created him - or he sure hoped not! - but who wouldn't experiment with such a totally awesome power as tactile telekinesis? He'd learned to do some really cool tricks with it too - the public sort not the other sort but he had some awesome tricks there too - and normally Kon would be up and showing off by now. Luckily Tsubaki was suitably impressed by his TTK as it was so he didn't have to worry about if he could pull off his more impressive tricks right now.

"What about you? You have powers right? You got that weapon last night from out of nowhere!" He thought he'd seen Tsubaki glowing before she produced the weapon too. It was a weird superpower, producing weapons out of thin air but maybe it was some sort of magic blade she wielded. That would be totally awesome!

“Um, that’s all right,” she said lightly, a smile on her face. “Are you still able to use all of it here?”

'Creative uses', sure. The flying and the enhanced physical abilities were enough for her. Maybe she’d understand how it worked one day. She guessed his ‘tactile telekinesis’ could cause a lot of damage to a person, so the fact that he had enough precision to pull off small gestures like he’d done seemed fairly impressive. Was he something like a genius where he came from, and that’s why he was a hero? It was something to think about.

Settling her chair back in, the girl nodded. “Sort of!” It sounded like Superboy wasn’t familiar with demon weapons, or else it’d been too dark to see. “I’m a weapon.”

And ah, that reminded her! She'd left her flashlight upstairs, hadn't she?

Edited 2009-01-18 01:45 (UTC)

He'd been hoping Tsubaki wouldn't ask that question. "No," Kon admitted reluctantly, "I can't fly here and my superstrength is nowhere near as super as it should be. My invulnerability doesn't seem to be working either." He glared irritably at the bite on his arm as he said this. Stupid prison messing up his powers and making him feel like a normal person.

Kon stared at Tsubaki, really not liking the way she'd answered his question. "Uh babe? I thought weapons were like guns and knives and stuff not people." Tsubaki wasn't like Match was she? Created with special powers just so she could serve some evil loser as a personal soldier, made to think she couldn't be anything more than a weapon? That might explain why she'd been so surprised by his flirting with her. It could be she wasn't used to people treating her like a real person instead of some sort of tool.

Kon leaned forward, frowning in concern as he spoke. "You don't mean that do you? I dunno where you're from and what the people there are like but you're a person just like me. It doesn't matter what anyone else says, you're still human." He'd do whatever it took to prove it too. He still felt bad for not helping Match. The Agenda had cloned the guy off of Superboy to be a weapon too and that was all he'd thought of himself as. Kon was grateful he'd never run into his clone since the first time and he always felt bad about that. If he could help Tsubaki it would make him feel a little less guilty.

In between thoughts of her missing (and only) flashlight, and the memory of the first time she’d discovered her abilities were nearly gone, Tsubaki wanted to reassure Superboy he wasn’t the only one. Certainly not the only one who felt a little helpless, either…

But Tsubaki was thoroughly distracted by his reaction. Her eyes widened. “Eh?”

Demon weapons were sometimes a shock to people who’d never seen them before, and the chances of that were even higher in an entirely different place (world?) like Landel’s. Sometimes it took a little explaining… however, she’d never gotten that kind of reaction before.

It doesn’t matter what anyone else says, you’re still human.

For a moment, she didn’t know what to say. Then eventually she felt a smile coming over her--and she didn’t think she’d smiled like that in days, not since the day her mother and father had met Black☆Star. “Thank you. You’re a good person, Superboy,” she said softly. The smile took on a more assuring quality. “But you don’t have to worry. I am human, but I’m a weapon, too. A demon weapon. You see… well, when people are born as demons weapons, it means they can turn into them. The chain and scythe last night was really just a part of me.”

Oh. That totally wasn't what he'd been expecting. Kon felt kind of stupid now. Not everyone was made by scientists with an agenda to fulfill and it had been stupid of him to think she was. But the way she'd phrased it who could blame him? Anyway, Tsubaki didn't seem bothered by his mistake, she just tried to to explain what she'd meant.

Said explanation didn't make a lot of sense to him. Her powers had to be some sort of magic but that was all he got. "You make weapons from yourself? Doesn't that hurt?" And maybe that was a stupid question too but it sounded like it should hurt. He guessed the weapon could be part of her like his TTK was part of him but couldn't be hurt.

Kon had also thought that demons were bad - wasn't that what demon meant? - but there was no way Tsubaki herself was bad. And she seemed way too comfortable and happy talking about whatever she was to be some sort of weapon used by an evil demon.

"I don't get it. What's a demon weapon? And how do people get born as one?" Unless people born with superpowers were referred to as 'demon weapons' on her world. But that didn't make sense and was a sucky way of talking about superheroes.

“It’s all right, I understand. It’d be easier if I could show you, but I don’t seem able to transform at all during the day,” she explained, and didn’t even stumble once at saying so. If it was strange for Superboy to hear, it was stranger for her not to be able to change forms on a thought.

“Basically, someone created the first demon weapon a long time ago by a fusing a person with a normal weapon. That’s how the race was born. Now, there are lots of different types of demon weapons, people who can transform into scythes, spears, hammers…” She gave a small laugh. “It’s probably exactly like you’re imagining. It doesn’t hurt at all to transform; it's very normal for me. But transforming fully into a gun or something is a bit pointless with no one around to use you. So some kinds of demon weapons only change part of their body if they can, if they have no one to wield them.” Oh, how to describe everything without making it more confusing? It was almost impossible to answer his questions without involving meisters and Shibusen.

“I guess you could say… demon weapons are special. They’re not like normal weapons, and they can’t be used by normal people. When we do partner up with someone, we can make that person very strong, so we make good tools to fight with… I don’t know if I’m explaining things well…”

Tsubaki's world was weird. People making weapons from their bodies he could (mostly) understand but being able to turn themselves entirely into a weapon? How did that work? Would they still be aware and stuff but just unable to move themselves? It sounded creepy but she thought it was normal so it must be OK. All the same something was still nagging at him.

"Doesn't it bug you to talk about people using you like that?" Maybe he was still missing the point but partnering up with someone was one thing but becoming their tool was another matter entirely.

Even though Kon found himself unnerved by the way Tsubaki spoke about herself and her race he wanted a chance to see her world for himself. During his travels through Hypertime he hadn't had a chance to explore any of the worlds he stopped on. Partly because the Hypertime jacket hadn't been working properly so had kept flinging off to new worlds and partly because he didn't know how long he had to avert the disaster they'd been warned of. Once he did stop whatever was threatening his world and had taken care of this place though it would be cool to visit some of the worlds he'd heard of. Just so long as he could find his way back home in the end.

There weren’t a lot of chances to discuss such basic things with people who didn’t already have an idea. She’d grown up a part of the Nakatsukasa clan, then gone to Shibusen… Even if she wasn’t partnered to a tech underneath Shinigami-sama, Tsubaki couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to have a ‘normal’ life, where things were peaceful enough that she wouldn’t be required to fight as a weapon, over living as a human.

Things like getting to know people from all of the countries she’d been to, things like dating… They were outside her realm of expertise. Maybe it’d always be like that, in some way.

At first there’d been the need to track down her brother, and now there was Shibusen, Black☆Star, Asura and Arachne…

Tsubaki shook her head slowly. “It’s okay. There are weapons who hate the idea of being tools and are strong enough to fight on their own, and there weapons users who are strong enough to do the same, but I think it’s better to be together with someone.” She gave a sheepish smile. “I’d be more useful in this situation as a weapon. I’m not that experienced at fighting hand-to-hand like last night.”

"Well, I can get liking having a partner but-" Kon cut himself off shaking his head. The way Tsubaki described it she was only a weapon when she and her partner were fighting. She must still have a life of her own outside of that where she was just a normal person or at least as close to normal as people like them ever got.

He could totally get what she meant about not being so great at fighting without her powers. He might've trained with Guardian and worked with Robin but Kon was used to having his TTK to rely on in a fight. Suddenly finding himself unable to fly and bench-press several tonnes made things a hell of a lot harder.

"You seemed to be kicking some serious ass last night all on your own babe. If that's what you call inexperienced I look forward to seeing what you can do at full strength." Kon's flirtatious grin was back at full strength now that he was sure Tsubaki wasn't being mistreated in some way.

"So tell me about this partner of yours. Is she as gorgeous as you are?"

She thought she understood what came after that ‘but’, though she was quick to wave off the compliment.

“You might not recognize me,” Tsubaki joked. “Besides, Black☆Star is much, much better than I am. That’s my partner; he’s a boy.” ‘Gorgeous’ was, well…. Black☆Star would probably describe himself as such, but he’d be much more willing to show off his fighting skills, and by necessity (and sheer talent) they were way beyond hers. Way beyond most other techs in their class, as well, only that wasn’t something that needed saying where his ego was concerned. “Actually, you remind me a little of him. You might get along.”

Or else kill each other because they were too similar. The thought of getting in between them made her head hurt, but… it would be nice if they had the opportunity to meet. If Landel’s were infiltrated and she had the chance to reunite with her partner, if everyone could go home to where they belonged.

Tsubaki returned to her lunch abruptly, happy to stop hogging the conversation. “Anyway… what about you?” she asked.

"So your partner's charming, witty, powerful and a smoking hot stud? I think I'd like him." Of course Tsubaki's partner couldn't be that much like him or she'd have mentioned she was involved with him. If Kon had a partnership with a babe like her he was certain the relationship wouldn't be at all platonic.

He shoved his own empty tray aside and propped his head on his fists as he watch Tsubaki turn her attention back to her own meal. "Huh? What do you mean what about me? What do I do back home? I'm a superhero. You know keeping the peace, bringing evildoers to justice, saving the world. All of that." He'd thought Tsubaki would know that just from the name Superboy but apparently not. One day he'd get used to not being recognised even as someone related to Superman but that day wasn't today.

"You both have a lot of energy." Tsubaki wasn’t about to try and correct him; it was nicer to joke than focus on where she was, where Black☆Star was, and the kind of situation she’d left behind.

Or the situation she was in. That rather went without saying.

"Like… have you always been a superhero?" she said thoughtfully. To her credit, she didn’t let the ‘superhero’ term throw her off, however odd it was to say. "Last night I thought you mentioned something about clones, too."

"Yeah, I've always been Superboy, my whole life." Heh, all two years of it but some babes got weirded out by that part. It wasn't something he'd chosen for himself, not that he was complaining - Kon loved his life and sure as hell wouldn't chose to be anything else! But when Tsubaki said it like that, especially after she'd told him how she'd been born as a demon-weapon-thing herself, it was cool to realise they had that in common.

It was no surprise Tsubaki wanted to know what he'd meant about clones. Even back home most people had trouble accepting human cloning and it wasn't like Kon was the first or only clone ever produced. "I'm a clone of Superman." Right, she might not know who the big guy was. "He's like a really big hero where I'm from. He's the most powerful guy on the planet and he's saved the whole world more times than I can count. I was made to take over when he was gone 'cause they didn't think the world could survive without him."

That was leaving out so, so many details but they weren't important. No one really needed to know he had broken out before they finished him because the loser in charge of the project wanted to be able to control him. Or that he was actually related to that loser. A guy had to have some secrets.

And speaking of losers there went the one over the intercom, interrupting his date. Man he couldn't wait till he got to smack him in the face a few times.

Superboy… and Superman. She would have thought maybe they were father and son, and that he was following in his father’s footsteps, but being a clone meant… he was a kind of copy, not a relative? Did that also mean he’d been born to fulfill that role without choice? At the same time, Tsubaki thought protecting others was a mission people should be happy to accept if they could, even if it meant personal sacrifice.

It was a lonely idea, though, that Superboy had been “made,” and didn’t have a family so much as a creator. But surely that hadn’t stopped him from finding his own place--he was, as he’d said, a person. Right?

Tilting her head, she said, “I see. I’m not an expert on the science behind it, but you must share a lot of traits with Superman, then?” She didn’t know much about what being a clone entailed, and how it fit in with Superboy, but with shift changing, it was looking like any questions were going to have to wait.

“Oh, um, I guess that’s the end of lunch. In case I don’t see you before dinner, take care tonight, all right?”

Day 38: Lunch

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