nexus_sages | (no subject)

She doesn't have super hearing, so she's missing out on some of it. Sads. "Zhi-uh-shod? That's kind of musical. I like it. Say it again? I want to get it right." Kryptonian with a Manhattan accent; surely, the world weeps.

"Zhuishod," he repeats, though he winces a little at her attempt to say it. "You need special vocal cord stuff to say it perfectly."

"Oh." She doesn't have any special vocal chords, and seeing his wince, she won't try again. "So wait, is your dad an alien?"

She has a lot of catching up to do here Jon. She's from that other comic book universe.

"Um. Yes?" he says, hoping that it isn't a problem. It's been a while since he's run into a real xenophobe, and it'd be a shame if she is one. They've been having such a nice chat.

"Huh." Nope, not a xenophobe. Not a much-of-anything-phobe. She doesn't much like spiders or dentists, and clowns freak her the fuck out, but that's for other reasons. "Is it a nice planet?"

A valid question! She's seen as many kinds of aliens try to invade her world as come to be friendly.

"I don't know," he answers honestly. "It was destroyed when my dad was still a baby. I've never been there."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." She really, truly is. Because... "Mine got destroyed five months ago."

She has his sympathy immediately. "I'm sorry to hear that. Are you okay?"

"I'm safe." That is not what he asked. She knows. Give her some time to work up to it.

"I mean. Nobody could be okay after that. But I think I will be?"

"I can understand that." His dad is lucky, in a way, he knows. He didn't spend his childhood on Krypton only to have it ripped away from him.

She gives a little nod, and then decides it's time to change the subject. "Maybe you should try thinking about what you want to symbolize to people, instead of trying to think of a name directly."

Jon is more than happy to change the subject, for her sake if nothing else. "That's one way to go about it. If I have to pick just one thing to represent me, that's a bit harder."

"Yeah... but it's not your whole identity. It's just one part. You don't have to sum up the whole of being..."

Wait.

"I'm sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Verity." Do half-Kryptonians shake hands?

Jon smiles and offers his hand first. "I'm Jonathan Kent. Nice to meet you, Verity."

"Nice to meet you too, Jonathan." After they shake hands she folds hers in her lap to keep from fidgeting. "You new around here?"

He settles back into the couch a little, getting comfortable. "New to this part of the Nexus, I'm pretty sure. But not new to it in general. Multiverses and I go way back."

"Oh really? I haven't met too many people who've been here a while. Seems like it might be a good place for you to... practice things." Dealing with her own powers has been so much easier in the Nexus. She can only imagine the relief of having a safe place to deal with laser eyes or learning to fly.

"Practice things?" he repeats, sounding a little puzzled. "You mean my powers?"

She nods. "Not everyone likes talking about them directly, so."

"We don't when we're in public back home, but people are getting more accepting. Other kids in school knew I had superstrength, though they didn't know about any of the other stuff. Pretty much the only power I know I have that I don't have much practice in is how to fly."

"Really?" She shakes her head a little because that is hard to believe. "If I could fly, I'd be doing that all the time." Because that's the dream of everyone who grew up watching colorful heroes saving the day, isn't it?

"It's just because it's relatively new," he assures her with a smile. "I've been strong since I was a baby, was fast when I was six. I don't know when I got my dad's invulnerability because I didn't try to test it too much, but flying... that's pretty new."

"Well then, I'll be glad you're staying at a polite conversational distance instead of showing off," she teases. "Strong, fast, and you can fly? That's pretty much the whole superhero package, isn't it?"

Jon grins at that. "More like the starter kit. I don't have heat vision or freezing breath like my dad does, and I've never shown any signs of being telepathic like Mom is."

Verity would ask if he's serious if she didn't know he's serious. That's a lot of power for one person to have. "Well, it's a fine start. You're probably happier without the telepathy in the long run."