He came over to join them, taking a bite out of his bagel, ruminating thoughtfully. Once he was free to speak again,
“You wouldn’t have thought there’d be all that many of us, given the qualifying criteria. Not exactly a family business in most cases. Has a bit of a whiff of a Petri dish about it, sticking us all together like this and seeing what happens. I’m not exactly a bastion of law and justice, though I can’t speak for the rest of us.”
“Yah. Things have gone mad recently. At least a few of the Enkidu leftovers have shown up here, and well, a number of things have gone down recently. I think Dash over there in the girls is one of the abandoned lab rats. They’ve been scrambling a bit for sure. I mean, in the last month of so, you have Enkidu going down, rumors of Nyx and Alchemy, my fa, his parents.”
Motions towards Ben.
“Interesting times, mate.”
Last edited by Art in the Blood; Tue 18/08/2003:09 UTC.
"Lamar," he added. "Glad to not be in a cell, so in that regard, going well so far."
He paused, glancing around at those up and about.
"So, is friendliness the norm, or are there those of a more stark viewpoint around here? Is it respect for what others might be able to do, or genuinely striving to be on the side of the angels, if you'll forgive the rhetoric?"
“Oh, Norton is a ray of sunshine for example, but if they didn’t think we were at least a little able to not just be violent Jackasses I’m not sure they would have brought us here. Heck, I’m not all sunshine and daisies all the time but really, what can I do?”
"True. I just plan on keeping my head down until I turn 18 and can get on with my life. I should be able to make 9 months of their attempts at indoctrination or whatever." he said, glancing at the clock to see how long until the meeting.
"Yes. 'You do your own time', as the saying goes. No idea how long I'll be in for, though," mused the smaller one, turning back to his coffee introspectively.
A chagrined look from the smaller boy, a weary expression out of keeping with the youthful demeanour.
"That's a question I can't rightly answer. We never tracked birthdays, though I got the impression I was out of sync with the usual progression, and when you're spending so much time out of your baseline form, biology runs into a roadblock. The one person who could tell you is unavailable for the foreseeable future, forever as those who put her there would claim."
‘Actually, slight problem there. With powered individuals, they’ll have to decide you’re safe to go out into the public. Not the school guys. The Supers system. They don’t think you are, they give you a choice of their supervised program, or staying here until they think you are. Don’t get mad at the school guys, they’re just taking advantage of the laws to put some of us in a better system.”
He shrugs.
“As for Lamar here, that age thing is going to be for the lawyers to hash out. School can’t really define it. They’re still trying to figure it out with Glitch. Erm. I mean H... H... Dash. As well.”
"My control over my powers is pretty top-notch, and that's where the problem lies. A lot of those who came for us at the end vertically went out horizontally. Hopefully to the hospital or a healer. I can't guarantee that."
“Well, among other things. They also don’t want anyone they think is going to go psycho and do a lot of damage. Or go right out and become a supervillain or something. If a normal guy goes out and goes bad, can do some damage but, eh. Some of use could do a lot of damage. They don’t like loose cannons where they can avoid it. Keep your nose clean and look like you’re turning into a semi respectable citizen, you probably don’t have a problem.”
He shrugs.
“Beats going into the OTHER system by a long shot.”
He looks over at Lamar.
“I almost guarantee they did. It’s what probably let them claim you.”
Last edited by Art in the Blood; Wed 19/08/2000:07 UTC.
"I was fighting for my life and my freedom, and I don't fight remotely fair. I wasn't pulling my punches. I wasn't trying to kill anyone, but I can't put my hand on my heart and say I did anything to prevent anyone getting killed. Better that they lived, but I can't claim credit for that, just the harm I chose to cause. I used lethal force indiscriminately, I own up to that, I own that. So, I got lucky, they lived, I skim by the event horizon without crossing thanks to their survival and my apparent age."
A slight shake of the head, exhaling.
"Anyone else get closer to the edge, or do I need to watch my every step all the more?"
He doesn't make a comment about what he had or had not done to get here.
"Well gents, I am going to go clean up before the meeting. Don't want my first impression to be scruffy." he said with a chuckle and headed off to the bathroom.
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