mixingbowl | People tell me to be flawless

People tell me to be flawless

[The thing about being dropped into some other dimension is that none of your family's wealth and prestige follows you there. Pacficia's still trying to decide if this is a bad thing or not. On one hand, she could use the money, on the other... she hasn't been too fond of her family's background as of late.

Still, whatever change of heart she's had, it doesn't make the transition from spoiled rich kid to nameless nobody any easier. Suddenly, she has to do everything on her own, from earning a wage to keeping her sparsely decorated apartment clean. The last couple of weeks have been a struggle, leaving her feeling useless, confused, demoralized, and lonely all at once. There isn't much she can do to dissipate those feelings, not when everyone else stuck here is a stranger to her, so the laundry machines become her distraction for the day.

In a way, it works: the bubbles that begin surging out from the washer's lid promptly make her forget all her troubles. She gives a little shriek when her attempts at shutting the thing off only get bubbles into her hair, and she finally gives up. Pacifica runs toward the laundry room door, nearly smacking into the person trying to enter it.]

I can't get it to stop! [Pacifica latches onto the guy immediately, hoping he'll know what to do. A Northwest is supposed to be beyond asking for help, but this is an emergency!]

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[Pacifica makes a face, obviously balking at tossing her clothes into the bucket.]

Is that thing even clean?

[Kon gives her A Look. This girl is unbelievable.]

It's clean enough.

Ugh, fine. [Pacifica practically throws up her hands in exasperation.] But if my clothes get damaged because of this, I'm totally suing you.

[An odd look crosses her face as soon as those words leave her mouth. Familiar as they are, they're now a stark reminder that she's here alone, without any of the comforts that she enjoyed back home.

Trying to hide that brief slip of her usual snobbish attitude, Pacifica begins drops her clothes into the bucket rather grumpily.] There. Happy now?

[If she was expecting that comment to be glossed over, she is going to be sorely disappointed. Kon immediately bursts into laughter, highly amused and not in the least bit offended because he's too busy laughing.] I hate to break it to you, but being a superhero doesn't pay a dime. [He'd think it would, what with all the saving lives and stopping bad guys, but nope. At least he got a lot of very grateful makeouts out of it. Well, he used to anyway.

He hovers over to the bucket, laughter fading into a smirk as he shrugs.] Looks good to me.

[Pacifica takes a break from looking at the sad, sopping wet clothes in the bucket to stare at him yet again. For someone so ridiculous, he's surprising her too often for her tastes.]

Don't you superheroes have to keep putting yourselves in danger for other people? Why would you do that if you're not getting anything out of it?

[It makes absolutely no sense to her. There has to be a catch somewhere or he's lying to get out of responsibility for her clothes, she decides.]

[Kon shrugs like it's no big deal mostly because to him, it isn't. For a lot of superheroes the answer is altruism, but for him, it's a little more complicated than that. He's Superman's clone, created for one purpose and one purpose alone. To be a superhero. (To be Superman.) If he doesn't have that, he doesn't have anything.

(And no matter how cool he may play things, it would be a lie to say he doesn't love helping people.)]

Because I can. I mean, flying, strength, watching bullets bounce off of me. What would be the point if I took all that and tried to be anything else? [So the strength and the invulnerability thing aren't exactly the same as Superman's, but he still has them in his own way. He can't fathom standing by watching someone hurt people while he had the ability to stop it.]

[Shrug.] It's not like superheros are the only people who do the right thing just because it's right.

[While she hadn't been too impressed with him at first, Pacifica can't help but feel a little awed by that long list of abilities. Things like that aren't exactly common, for one.]

You're bulletproof? [Her mouth works, but no words come out immediately. Her gaze shifts to the side thoughtfully.]

You could be...not a superhero. A lot of people would use those powers to get what they want with force. [Her parents definitely would. And with powers like those, who would be able to stop them? Pacifica stares at him again, then blurts out: ] I don't get it. How do you resist?

[Kon grins at her astonishment, enjoying the attention. He isn't of course bulletproof in the same way as Superman but his TTK simulates the effect rather nicely. (As long as he's paying attention.) At the follow up question he has to frown and shrug.]

I don't know, I mean...don't you think the things that really matter can't be taken with force? I guess I could go on a rampage and rob a bunch of banks or something, but I just don't see the point. Not exactly the best way to win friends and influence people. And the money in the banks has to come from somewhere, right? I'd be hurting a whole bunch of people if I just took what I wanted and didn't think about the consequences.

[Pacifica just wraps her arms tightly around herself and looks off to the side.]

A lot of people wouldn't even think about the consequences or care that they're hurting people. I guess that makes you a better person than the people I know.

[Somehow, all this talk about morals has become thoroughly depressing to her.]

Yeah, well...[Kon trails off, shrugging.] Sounds like you know some crappy people. [He can't help but be uncomfortably reminded of Black Zero. They had a word for people in his universe who abused their powers and didn't care if they hurt people. Super villains. Like Black Zero.

Sadly, Kon doesn't have to imagine what he would be like if he was the sort of person Pacifica was describing. He's met that version of himself. He totally sucked. (Also, Kon kicked his ass.)]

[Her shoulders hunch a little, but she doesn't disagree. She'd be lying if she did, honestly.]

Yeah...I guess I do. They're not the people I thought they were.

[The last part's said practically under her breath.]

[And okay he doesn't regret his words but he's starting to pick up on the fact that maybe he should be a little more careful with what he says. Obviously something about this is personal for her.]

It's not like people are just black and white though. There's this guy I know, Rex—he's sort of my manager—and he's like, a monumental scumbag. Lies, cheats, steals—the works. But at the end of the day, he does the right thing when it matters. [Beat.] Mostly. He's a selfish greedy bastard but he still cares about other people. [Kon grins.]

He's kinda grown on me. Goes to show that people can be really complicated.

[She shoots him a withering look, mouth twisting slightly.] Okay, you need to quit it with, like, the patronizing right now. You don't have to try and make me feel better just because I'm younger than you.

[Then, the wind seems to go right out of her sails, her flash of irritation passing as quickly as it came.]

Besides, your anecdote doesn't really work. The people I'm thinking of are selfish and greedy, and they won't do the right thing when it matters.

[Older than her? He should probably be offended by her tone (and a part of him is) but he's mostly too busy being smug because she thinks he's older than her. He is definitely going to let her keep on thinking that. Ha. Older.]

You know where I come from, we call that 'being nice' and we do it for people no matter how old they are. [Kon hesitates for a second, wondering if he should just go. It's not like it's his fault she knows crappy people and she clearly didn't want his help. Still. (He very carefully doesn't think 'what would Superman do.' Mostly.)]

If these people are so awful, why do you hang around with them?

[Something in her expression tightens again, and it's a mix of irritation and misery. She huffs.]

Like, I don't know if things are different in your world, but I can't just ditch my parents.

Oh, uh. I wouldn't know. Don't have any. [To be honest, the whole concept is baffling to him and it shows in the obvious discomfort that he tries and fails to conceal. People couldn't just ditch their parents, right? Probably not.]

I guess that would make things complicated.

[What is with this guy and throwing her curve balls like this? Pacifica points at him accusingly.]

Okay, now you're really pulling my leg. How do you not have parents?

[He shrugs like it's No Big Deal. When he was first "born" or brought into consciousness as it where, he hadn't cared much. Now he's been around long enough to know how weird he is, but whatever. If people had a problem with it, that was their issue. It didn't bother him. Not at all. Nope.]

I'm Superman's clone. Superman is like the hero, you know? Best hero in the world. So this group of scientists started worrying about what they'd do if Superman ever died and they decided to make me as a back up plan. [He laughs as if the story hasn't reduced his entire existence to being a an emergency copy of the real thing.]

Only Superman's not dead and now they're stuck with me. So yeah. No parents. They should totally make my life into a movie, right?

You're a clone? [While this is the first time she's met a clone, he rates pretty low on her "danger" list right now. Her curiosity outweighs any other emotion that would have cropped up.]

So what'd they do, just ditch you because Superman's still around? That's lame.

[This time, she's quick enough to bite back her comment about suing them.]

[He grins and tosses her a wink.]

More like I ditched them. They wanted to make me work for them but I do my own thing now. Way better than working for some stuffy governmental creeps, right?

[Surprisingly, his words have their intended effect, drawing a slight smile out of her.]

Way better. [She waves a hand at him.] Fine. I guess you're not completely lame, if you had the guts to leave them and work on your own. [Translation: Congrats, you've regained some cool points.] What'd that Superman guy say when that happened?

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People tell me to be flawless

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