nexus_sages | Super what now?

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Super what now?

There's nothing Hughes loves more than his family.

There's nothing Hughes loves more than anything other than his family than information.

The Nexus was a strange cross-section of a universe that the Intelligence officer simply didn't understand. He was doing his best to accommodate all of the strange goings on in his mind by learning about and understanding them a little at a time.

The fact that there was a portal to and from the Nexus in his world was growing on him. The grand scale of technology beyond what was available in his world was daunting, but didn't come up as much since he avoided most of the shops in the Forum. And some of the characters that had appeared in the Nexus? Well, if they were human, it was understandable. Weird, but understandable. Everything else? Well... he was just going to have to take some more time for everything else.

He liked being in the Forum, picking up bits and pieces as he simply listened. That's how he got onto this whole thing about some people being "better" than others, in some rather unscientific sounding ways. He'd spent a while trying to glean more information about it and failed quite spectacularly. People simply accepted that's the way things were. Not Maes Hughes. He needs to know, and if listening isn't enough, then, well... Sometimes, it's just easier to reach out and gather information the old fashioned way - by asking.

"There's been a lot of talk in the forum lately about super heroes and people doing super human things. It's all a little too vague for my taste. If I don't know how to define something, I can't know it when I see it. So, my question to you is this: How do you define the term 'super hero?' Or, rather, what makes a person a 'super hero?'"

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See? How hard was that? Someone's at least on the right track for helping Hughes figure all this out.

"Is it a common thing, for people to have these kinds of abilities? Because if it's as simple as something someone can do that others can't, I have a whole lot of super heroes back home that don't know about it."

He pauses a moment, thinking. His hand goes to his chin and the corner of his lip curls up in what Verity might guess is a smirk. "Super-human abilities, such as..." Beat. "The ability to know when someone is lying?"

"Oooh, clever boy, you found out my oh-so-closely guarded secret." She's so not impressed by this, or at least, is trying to pretend she doesn't care. "So who told you?"

But she's trying not to be entirely rude, so she'll answer his other question. "How common powers are, where I'm from, depends on the current status of the mutant population. People keep screwing around with them. Sometimes it's really common, sometimes they're practically extinct. We're not talking about the winners of a state little league tournament, though. The people who get called super-heroes are the best of the best in just about everything but knowing how to dress themselves."

He offers a small shrug. "No one told me." A strange, but true statement. "I picked it up while I've been here. It's hard to mistake a woman with brightly colored hair, tattoos down both of her arms, and enough sass to take down even the hardest of men, though." He smirks. Yes, Verity, he's quite pleased with himself right now, even if you're not impressed.

"So, basically, what you're saying is that there are a lot of people who can do things better than the average person, or have abilities that average people don't. But the only way to be a 'super hero' is to be the best humanity has to offer?" He wants to latch on to that dressing comment, but honestly, he doesn't understand enough to win that one.

"Oh dear, you mean my disguise isn't working?" Geez, it's almost like she expects to be noticed when she looks like this. The comment about her sass gets a flicker of a smile despite her best efforts.

"Well, they also have to be willing to go out and fight the villains. That's where the 'hero' part comes from. Not everyone with powers is a good person."

It's a pity he didn't ask about the dressing comment. She's got pictures. The Hawkskirt is always a crowd pleaser.

"Can a person who can see through lies even disguise themselves? I'm just wondering about the intricacies of that kind of irony." He's not going to stop smirking. He's enjoying her sass.

"But of those who are good people, only the best of them get the 'super hero' title? Is it something they give themselves or something given to them?" So many questions. At least he's being kind enough to space them out.

He may come back to it. He's still parsing through everything she said the first time around. Don't hide those pictures just yet!

"You think the tattoos grew spontaneously as some kind of sign to advertise my abilities? Sorry. I got them the old-fashioned way. I could try to look like everyone else if I wanted to." Her tone suggests a question: why would she want to?

"I think people can want to be super-heroes, and can call themselves that, but whether they're accepted as such by society is another thing. Is someone a hero as soon as he becomes a cop or she becomes a doctor? Or do they have to do something to earn the admiration of their peers first?" She's not as dumb as she looks.

"I didn't mean to suggest you were disguised now - I meant to suggest it might be difficult to hide those things that make you you, as you are now. The hair and tattoos might be simple to cover up, but they're not what really makes you who you are." He didn't mean for his sass to be taken the wrong way. Honestly, he was just wondering what she would see if she put on a disguise now and looked at herself in the mirror. Better luck next time, Hughes.

"I see what you mean." He takes a moment to think before continuing. "What you mean to say, then, is that anyone with the abilities can be super, but that the 'hero' part is completely relative?" He wouldn't dare accuse Verity of being dumb. He's heard many a tale of her sass and wit.

"We're all who we are no matter who much we try to hide it," she points out with a little smile. "I don't generally like disguises, for rather obvious reasons."

"Right. Some people decide to do terrible things with their powers and are called super villains. Some people, like me, generally stay out of the whole 'let's see who ends up in the ER first' business. I think we're usually called cowards." Which she might not entirely disagree with. "There's a strong expectation that anyone who has powers has to use them for the public good or something."

"I take it you can see through them?" This is where Hughes gets really curious, and a bit nosy. "How does that work, exactly? What do you see that gives it away?"

He frowns at the cowards comment. "That seems like an unfair thing to ask of someone. If they're not actively trying to hurt people, why is it such a bad thing to want to stay out of the way? I'd hope staying out of the main fighting, but being willing to support behind the scenes wouldn't make someone a coward. I rather like staying away from the fighting." Hughes isn't lying when he says that, but Verity can sense he's not telling the whole truth.

"I see layers. Like with my hair, I can see the natural red under the dye. Or when someone's invisible I can see them but still see that they're invisible, if that makes sense?" Yes this has happened, and she lives a relatively boring life. Or did for most of it.

"Since when is public opinion fair?" Speaking of fair... "So since you know who I am, do I get to know who you are?"

That imagery is something that, in theory, makes sense. The reality, however, hurts Hughes' head a bit. Verity can see the wheels turning as he parses through that. "I think so, but how can you tell which is real and which isn't?"

Herp. A hand immediately goes to the back of his neck, a defense mechanism to distract from the embarrassed look on his face. "Ahh, my apologies, that was rather rude of me." He slowly takes the hand from his neck and puts it to his forehead in a salute. "Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes."

"I just..." It's so hard to explain. "How can you tell your blue socks from the black ones?"

She was going to tell him not to apologize, but then that salute gets a raised eyebrow. "It's nice to meet you, Colonel Hughes. Are you an intelligence officer, or a natural gossip?"

"Well, it depends on the shade of blue..." He chuckles at his own joke, which even he would admit isn't that funny, then shakes his head. "By looking really closely? And practice."

That gets a smirk. "You mean the uniform didn't give it away?" He gestures to his military blues and winks. "Intelligence officer. Gives me the chance to sate my natural curiosity, though I admit the paperwork is hell." Everything he's saying is true, but it doesn't take having Verity's abilities to know there's more to the story than just that.

"Exactly." Even she's had to learn how to deal with her powers, although so much of it happened when she was too young to understand what she was learning and why.

Her power doesn't actually help with lies of omission. She has to use her own natural intuition for that. And, if she's being generous, her discretion. "This place must be generating a lot of paperwork for you."

"As an Intelligence officer, I usually see more paperwork in a day than most people in my world do in a year." A bit exaggerated, perhaps, but still largely true. "This place would be a paperwork nightmare if word of its existence spread around."

His expression shifts to a more serious one and a frown tugs at the corner of his lips. "For now, I keep this one to myself. I keep people away from the portal and can lie about my whereabouts well enough to keep anyone from asking questions." He sighs. It's a very tired sound. "There's enough going on back home without bringing even more crazy into the mess."

"My job is to go through paperwork and weed out the liars. It's super exciting." She can empathise dude.

"That's probably a good idea, on a personal level. Scary new discoveries do tend to be destabilizing." She's not sure she approves, but she hasn't exactly been forthcoming about all this either.

"You can tell when someone is lying on paper as well?" He hadn't thought of that possibility.

"It's less the discovery and more the current state of the world that I worry about." True, scarily enough. "It's my job to weed out security risks, to know when something is or isn't important for my country's government to know. But if I won't tell my best friend about this place, I sure as hell won't tell my CO."

Let's not discount the fact that he's actively working with said best friend to change the world order and put him in charge. That's a big enough job that keeping up with it, the Nexus, and his family would be damn near impossible. And letting more people in on the "secret" of the Nexus isn't going to change any of that.

"Of course. It works for all my senses." She might be a little pleased to have surprised him with something. If she has to live with this damned curse she should at least have the pleasure of bragging about her mad skills.

"What you tell people is entirely up to you. I'm sure you know that no secret can be kept forever." That's about as much warning as she's inclined to give him at the moment. He's an adult and can decide for himself.

"All of them?" Color Hughes very impressed. It's not often he's surprised, but he's willing to admit to it when it's something as intriguing like this. Oh the possibilities of having someone like Verity on his side would open back home...

He gives her a rye smile. "Different kinds of secrets have different expiration dates. If I were the one looking for the secrets, which I usually am, I'd have already personally questioned the man or woman who discovered it. With it being the other way around..." He shrugs, his gaze shifting down the the broad street of the Forum. "If I keep up appearances, I can keep them out of the Nexus until they're ready for it." He sounds confident enough to make that a true statement.

"Oh yes. I'm great at shopping, I always know when something's fake." She'd be great at a lot of things if anyone gave her a chance, but SHIELD sent her home after she registered. They're not very bright.

Oh, Hughes, she can see through beliefs. Personal confidence doesn't make something true to her. But she gives him a nod. "I hope you can pull that off, it's a good plan and a kind one."

"Seems like a gift and a curse, then." Well, if she's ever looking for work, Hughes has more than a few things she could do. Sure, she won't get paid in American money, but it's the thought that counts, right?

He can tell by her comment that she's patronizing him, but he'll let it go and add a mental note about the beliefs thing. Damn, he was hoping to sneak that one through. "There's nothing I wouldn't give to keep the ones I care about safe. If that means I have to lie from time to time," Beat, shrug. "so be it. At least where I come from, lying isn't a crime you can be tried for." Well, sort of - he could be staring down a court martial if things don't go the way he and his friends are hoping. His current CO would definitely be pissed about a secret like the Nexus.

"It is." She's going to be looking for a job soon, so she'd be wise to be nice to him. Pity she's not a precog.

Being best friend with a god of lies taught her a lot about the limits of her power, and she's been working on ways to shore those up. She's going to be hard to trick. "Lying isn't usually a crime where I'm from either. But my father lied to me for a long time about what he did." Sigh. No, that's not quite true. "What happened to me, and I don't thank him for it."

It's okay - she probably wouldn't want to work in his world right now anyway. Lots of danger with the whole "trying to overturn the government" thing that he and his friends have going on. After all that, though? Well, there's plenty of time for her to work back into his good graces, if necessary.

"Your father?" Hughes immediately gets the sense that this is a sensitive subject. Somewhere between Dad Mode and Intelligence officer, he's got enough insight to know he has to tread lightly. "I take it he played some part in how you became a human lie detector?" He's trying hard to ask a serious question without sounding like a prick. Hopefully the small joke and its corresponding smile won't be too terribly received.

What are the chances they speak English where he's from ~~aside from the dub~~? No, it'd probably be easier and safer for them both if he brought her things in the Nexus, which provides free translating services. Plus she'd be awful conspicuous back in Amestris with her hair and her tattoos. Not a great person for him to be seen with. And what would Gracia think?

"Yeah. He... the spell used to be on a ring, you see. His special magic ring that he dropped next to me when I was a baby. That he didn't notice was missing until I'd swallowed it." She's not good at this. She can't quite look at him while she tells this story. "The doctors said the ring dissolved while they were watching, right before they were going to fish it out. But the spell stayed."

Getting files into the Nexus would be a hell of a lot easier than explaining Verity to all of Amestris. Gracia not withstanding, of course. She's her own case and one that Hughes does not want to piss off. If all he had to do was get files to Verity, that would definitely work. Now to figure out how to pay her without causing any discrepancies on the books. And, of course, deal with the exchange of currency.

Magic rings and spells. It sounds as implausible as the way people in his world use alchemy. Implausible, but obviously true. What really gets Hughes, though, is the negligence. His voice is low and full of anger - not at her, but at her father. "How could he not think about something like that around a baby? People like that... they don't deserve the gifts they're given." It's obvious Hughes isn't talking about the spells. Dad Mode isn't fully activated, but it's waiting for its chance to come out.

I'm so ready for this. Bring it on!

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Have a chill baby icon to level out the sads.

Awww, tiny Verity?