Subject: "Yeah, um—Crap." Laquisha glanced worriedly at Fox.
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Posted on: 2016-05-02 03:40:00 UTC
Fox was backing away quickly, glaring at the Guardsman. "I thought you were human! What are you?!"
Marty caught the other boy's back to slow his retreat. "Easy. He hasn't hurt us this whole time, right?" He gave the Guardsman a slightly grumpy look.
...around a mouthful of cookie. "It's really not as cool as everyone thinks it is. The Lord President is a maniac, the combined races of the universe despise us, and the most famous member of my species is an absolute jerk. I'd take being human any day: your media always does a good job about portraying you as a well-rounded, noble, and intelligent species. Bah."
He finished his cookie. "And what are y'all looking at me like that? I'm a PPC staffer— I'm on your side for goodness' sake."
pulling him back. "Seriously, he's right, dude. Look." She poked the Guardsman in the arm. "No powers! Nothing freaky supernatural! And like he said, we're in HQ; everyone here is safe!"
Fox looked her in the eyes. Then he looked back to the Guardsman. He looked back at Laquisha.
He edged one foot just slightly backwards . . .
"Waaaaiiiiit," Laquisha warned, but Fox had already spun around past Marty and run.
Marty shrugged, saluted, and followed after Fox.
Laquisha turned back to the Guardsman with a big, forced grin. After it faltered, she put both hands up in a placating gesture and said, "It's not your fault."
"My people don't exactly have the best track record ever." He craned his neck, trying to catch a glimpse of Fox. "Is he going to be all right? I really hope I didn't permanently traumatize him. I won't go running after him-- it's the last thing he needs-- but I'd just like to add that given what I've seen of him... I think he should talk to someone about his fears. The poor boy can't even look at others in the eyes. Can you tell him that, miss Laquisha?"
"He's better than he used to be, for the record! Our class has a centaur, a robot and a hyena in it, so he's all right with them, now. He's a little freaked out by Professor Beans still, but he's getting used to it. But . . . we also have a genie, and a kid who sucks away your sense of humor if he touches you, so . . . we're still working on that. But, you know, progress is progress, and it's really understandable, considering he grew up trapped on a quarantined island with a super-powered cult trying to take over the world, and it's not like he wants to be a field agent anyway . . ." Laquisha grimaced. "Now I'm the one rambling."
"Rambling good. It's so much nicer when people get together and talk instead of doing whatever. But, er... what's this about the child that drains your... 'sense of humour'? Where is he from? 'Cause that sounds like this one Potterverse monster that I can't remember the name..."
"He's from some book called Deprivers. It's basically like X-Men, but everyone's power is to touch someone and take away a sense from them, either for a while or for good. The book does mostly the actual senses, but also has things like 'sense of self' or 'sense of balance' count, too. Riso got one of those weird ones."
Laquisha stopped to bite a chunk out of a hamantaschen. After chewing a few moments, she suddenly swallowed and went on, "Should've mentioned, Riso is also one of the temporary ones. Your sense of humor only goes away a couple hours, but trust me: it sucks more than you might think. HQ's actually not a very fun place to be if you can't find things funny." She shivered. "But Riso's real careful, wears gloves and pants and long sleeves and all. Doing the Rogue thing, speaking of X-Men."
"Poor kid," he finally said. "Must be bullied to death with that un-superpower of his. I think some people call that 'blessed with suck'. It's sure as heck not making his life easier, eh?"
The former soldier polished off his hamantaschen and said: "You're from World One, right? Or your parents are at any rate, right? What's it like on Earth? Funny story— my planet almost crashed into a parallel version of yours. Good times."
"Every kid's a little different, even when they're from the same world. We're all kind of stuck together in class, you know? We don't get in each other's faces, but we . . . try to stay a team, most of the time. Also, Riso is way fun to MST with."
She leaned an arm over the table and started refilling her plate. "Ehm. My parents are both from Earths, don't know if it's the same one, or if either is World One. They've taken me to some Earth spots, Upper Pitch Falls, Chichen Itza, the Hanging Gardens. It's all very pretty, but I've never really spent time there . . . Sorry.
"Oh, but um. You said you're a Time Lord? You said your name is Emiran, buuuut . . . do you have another name? Like, a "The" name?"
((Because my headcanon tells me the PPC Nursery is the most tolerant place in the multiverse, and nothing will dissuade me from thinking so!))
"Not too long ago, I was a soldier," he said, tapping ine of this pauldrons with his free hand. "442nd Arcadian Guard Regiment-- but then I fell into Headauarters by accident. I'll spare you all of the boring details but when my future partners found me, they misunderstood my introduction and called me 'The Guardsman'. To be fair, I had been cooked alive, splattered against a wall, and starting to regenerate so I wasn't at my most coherent anyways."
The former soldier smiled. "My actual old rank is much, much higher than your basic guardsman. That, plus my appointment on top, wouldn't make for a very good 'The' name. Too militaristic. People want a Guardsman protecting HQ, not a Sergeant Major."
----
((i wonder how many people are following this thread aside from us.))
. . . at the Guardsman's description of his former injuries. "Well, ah. Good thing you're a Time Lord after all that . . . But that is SO COOL a name! It's perfect for someone in DIA, and actually, perfect for anyone in the PPC, since we guard the worlds! Hm." She put a hand on her chin and stared at the Guardsman. "If your next regeneration is female, are you going to be the Guardswoman, then?"
((idk. I'mma keep going until Laquisha runs out of stuff to say.
. . .
We may be here a while.))
"Technically right, but I don't think we're ever gonna see that. Ever." He looked around and bent down to Laquisha's level. "Can you keep a secret, miss? I'm all outta regenerations. Back when I was a soldier there were... let's say there were people who needed the regeneration energy more than I did. I gave it to them and only kept enough for one more face-- and here it is. I'm not sad about it: most of the people I helped got to see the end of the War and will get to live out their full cycles, healthy and happy. And that makes me happy as well."
She stared baldly in the Guardsman's eyes for a few long moments. Finally, she said, "Wow," and set her plate back on the table. Staring down at the floor, she quietly started to say, "That's amaz—" But then she sucked in a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and looked the Time Lord in the face again. In a serious voice, she said, "You're a seriously cool dude."
((I had trouble writing this response, mostly because I was pretty jaw-droppingly shocked myself. I did not see this coming at all!))
...as he stood up. "Well, I like to think so. It sure didn't feel 'cool' at the time but I'm very glad it worked out. I even got the Lifegiver's Cross for it-- that's always nice."
He snatched a pastry from his plate and nibbled on it thoughtfully. "Plus, I work with some amazing people. They deserve as much attention as me, too. So remember that, miss: everyone has got a story. Give 'em all a chance."
((Surprise! If he acts like a grumpy old man every now and then, it's because he really is.))
"So, is that why you do rescue missions for agents instead of regular missions?"
"I've got the experience needed to lead these types of missions," said the Guardsman. "And I don't really know much apart from my own home 'verse and my partners' home 'verse. So I said to myself: 'why not'? And now I'm here. Somebody has to guard the guards, right?
"Also, DIA offers some great dental plans. Never skimp out on dental."
"But! Who Guardsmans the Guardsman?" She grinned.
"My best friends," he said with a smile. "I couldn't imagine working for the PPC without them— it'd be a terribly dull experience, you know."
"I know what you mean! Even for classes where some of the homework is reading and watching movies . . . it would still just be school, if I didn't have the rest of my class, all working on the same stuff. We don't really have partners yet, but we're already a team!" She bounced on the balls of her feet, but stopped suddenly. "Maybe I should go and check on Fox . . ."
"I won't go with you— I don't want to scare that poor boy anymore." The Guardsman poured himself a little bit of fruit punch and daintily sipped his drink. "I'll be around if you wanna talk again. I mean, it's not like I blend into the crowd or anything."
((Whoo, page three! We did good, doc. Real good.))