4813/So I Was Thinking...

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So I Was Thinking...
Date of Scene: 21 January 2021
Location: Nadia's Lab
Synopsis: Birds can take action, it seems.
Cast of Characters: Kian, Terry O'Neil




Kian has posed:
    Kían has been a little weird since entering into the micro-space that is Nadia's laboratory.  Alternating between energized (even by his hyperactive standards), helpful (that is what he's here for), abstracted (maybe even surrealed), and forcing himself to sleep (he needs the peace and quiet).
    If either Terry or Gar has stretched out on a bed Kían is sleeping in, they will discover he's a snuggler.
    And shares his dreams—which thankfully are usually placid and peaceful ones about flying over and near his home.
    For the moment, though, he's awake, and flits to a delicate landing in a window of the crystal castle.  "Terry tavárik'h!  I haf been lookin' for you.  Gar tavárik'h was restin' an' not shaped like an air-breather, so you were not wit' him."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    Terry looks up from his laptop.  Terry had the enviable advantage of being able to create thirty days worth of output—by his estimates, he'd be an enormous amount of backlog!  "Oh hey, Kian!"  He reaches over and puts the device into sleep mode.  "Yeah, I figured I'd get ahead on my work while he slept… you've been looking for me?"
    The redhead stands up from the desk and stretches, clad in his most informal sweatpants and tank top.  "Well, you've found me!"  Ambling over to the window, he sits down on what space is left on the ledge and grins.  "So what are you going to do about that?"

Kian has posed:
    "I haf want to talk to you.  Or Gar.  Or bot' of you," Kían begins, exhausting all the logical possibilities in one go.  "I haf been thinkin'.  I…."
    And then he dries up, balanced there on the windowsill on the tips of his odd, almost talon-like feet.
    "I…" he begins again, but doesn't get any further this time.  He looks troubled, maybe even a little ashamed?  Certainly uncomfortable, at least.
    He tries another tack.  "Nnh.  This iss not easy.  I am tryin' to tell you I may be can do somethin' I haf said I can not.  I am both not happy I did not thin' of this before, an' not happy I haf thought of it now, and still I am in a weird way happy I haf thought of it."  He bites his lower lip.  "An' now I thin' I am not makin' any sense, yis?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    "I somehow get the impression I'm in the wrong shape to understand this."  Terry grins and crosses his legs, managing a balance on the sill, "Let's try that again…."  He moves a finger in a circle.  "Start at the beginning, go down the minute, and when you reach the end, stop.  That should make it understandable!"

Kian has posed:
    Kían smiles a little.  "I am sorry.  I am… nnh.  Yis.  I mus' start at the beginnin'."
    He hops lightly down off the sill, moving from perching to sitting.  "I haf tol' you, I thin', that I haf train' wit' Imperial Emergency Services?  Wit' my own people, on my worl'?  If I haf not, I tell you that now, yis?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    "You've never told me, that I can recall!  So, what does the IES training comprise of?"  He reaches over and leans against Kian, slightly so as not to knock him off balance.  "Does that mean you get to declare an emergency?  Like, consider me a natural disaster or things of that sort?"
    Terry hadn't felt any unusual feelings or effects from being in the microverse… that he could notice.  But Terry might not be the most reliable self-assessor as far as unusual behavior goes.

Kian has posed:
    Kían exhales.  "Mos'ly it is recoverin' from natural disasters.  Storm, flood, thin's like that.  We do not haf the sort of… of thin's that happen on this worl'.  I haf help with storm recovery before."
    He exhales again.  "Sometimes it happen that some one has somethin'… somethin' wron' wit' them.  An' the redactors mus' fix whatever iss wron' with their min's.  An'… an' I was tol' that it would maybe be necessary I use my rhy'thar to stop someone broken like that."
    He looks up, but his eyes aren't really focused.  "So I am allow to hurt someone, if they are broken an' can be fix.  I may… but I do not know if I can."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    Terry remains quiet for a few seconds, absorbing what Kian says.  He strokes his chin thoughtfully and says, "So… for example, you might be able to… 'fix' my Doppelganger, or Gar's, from the murderous thoughts that make them such a threat to everybody and everything?  Am I following you here, or are you going in a different direction with this?"

Kian has posed:
    The birdman's eyes widen.  "Fix?  c'Rhys'yw no.  I am not strong enough wit' the min'-touch.  An' I haf no training to do that.  It woul' be terribly wrong of me to even try.  That takes a very powerful min', an' a very delicate mental touch.  I coul' not fix them."
    Another deep breath.
    And then another.
    "What I am sayin' is that if I know they are broken, I may use my rhy'thar to… disable them.  Put them unconscious.  I will haf to hur' them, jus' a little, but only wit' the goal of makin' them better.  Can we make them better, Terry tavárik'h?  I mus' know that firs'."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    Terry thinks about this, and then answers, "Donna has been to the other world.  Gar and I were having an… argument about just how far we should go to deal with these doppels.  Gar… was angry and felt violated, and felt there was no other way but to kill them.  I was not in agreement.  Eventually Donna helped Gar see how wrong he was going, and she did verify that there is a chance for them, in their own world.  It's the reason why we need to capture them, so that SHIELD can send them back."

Kian has posed:
    "Gar tavárik'h was violate'.  His arm… c'Rhys'yw."  Kían shudders, feathers fluffing out, and only partially smoothing back down.  He closes his eyes and looks away.
    It's only with some difficulty that he continues.  "But that iss good.  If they can be help, cured, then that iss good.  I… I am allow' to act agains' them.  If they know another me, they may not ex-pec' that.  Even under control, the wish to do no harm, it iss burn' deep into us.  An' if they do not know another me, then they will haf no idea what I may do."


Terry O'Neil has posed:
    "This is true.  They also don't know Gar has survived.  So the two of you are, in a way, our element of surprise.  Gar can hide in my clothing as a tiny mouse, and you…" he glances at Kian, "can't.  But I can make you invisible with my powers.  In that way, you and Gar can be lying in wait and, when we take them by surprise, we can capture them and pacify them!"
    He smacks his fist into his open palm.  "Other Colette can come and help us too.  But we need to not tell Robin about this.  He is intent on killing them, and all he has towards me is disdain, so he will dismiss anything I say.  He already has."

Kian has posed:
    Without warning, Kían leans into Terry, not making full mental contact, just very quietly being with him a moment, lending emotional support.  "We mus' avoid killin' if at all possible," he says softly.  "I coul' not do that, I coul' not be part of that.  All life, it iss sacred to the Gods.  I do not decide when life stops."
    He leans away, into the side of the window, breaking the faint contact.  "There iss one other thin'," he says.  "I mus' know for myself that they are broken.  I can not act agains' them until I haf made mental contac' to see for myself.  It will not need to be for lon'… but I mus' do that firs'.  Other-wise, I am not actin' with full knowledge.  Do you under-stan'?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    The redhead uncrosses his legs and bounces his foot up and own for a few seconds, thinking.  "Hmm.  Well, then, if I keep you invisible long enough to touch both of them at the same time… could you conduct your survey while, at the same time, confusing them just long enough so that they couldn't attack?  It would do no good if both were able to get a free shot at you.  The moment they felt your touch, they'd react… Gar is more dangerous than I am, this version of him reacts on instinct."

Kian has posed:
    "Even if it iss jus' one of them, taking one out of the situation will be helpful, yis?" Kían asks.  "It may be too much to hope they are close enough for me to reach bot' at the same time.  We may haf to be satisfy wit' only puttin' one of them out of… out of trouble.  Or at leas' out of our way."
    The birdman sighs again.  "I do not wan' to hurt anyone.  I fin' it so har' to belief that it may be needed.  We only ever talk about it as a theory on my worl'.  There were no cases where I had to actually do it.  Jus' train for it.  They had me 'stun' a dummy, an' recorded how much charge I need to give it."
    He looks at the floor.  "I did not like even thinkin' about it."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    "Unfortunately, at least from what we have experienced of other alien encounters, your world seems to be a tiny minority in the galaxy.  That gives me cause for some concern because… what would your world do against the likes of the Warzoon invasion?"  Terry frowns.  "Sometimes, Kian, you need to hurt someone so that you don't have to kill them.  Or so that they don't kill someone else.  Or you.  Pacifism is all well and good, but you can draw a distinction between fighting to hurt or kill, and fighting to protect.  The Amazons have a saying…."
    And he looks at one of the crystalline walls, reciting something that he has learned by heart.  "They say, 'Don't kill if you can wound, don't wound if you can subdue, don't subdue if you can pacify, and don't raise your hand at all until you've extended it.'  And I think they've got it right.  You should always aim to avoid conflict whenever possible, ideally.  But ideal outcomes are very rare, and the only thing that can stop things from ending in the worst outcome possible is someone willing to put a stop to them.  That's what Robin does not understand nor cares to understand.  And that's what I didn't understand when I was so wracked by grief that I almost killed Gar's double."
    He looks at Kian sheepishly.  "You know.  When Wonder Woman had to punch me in the face to stop me.  That's a perfect example—she doesn't want to hurt me.  But she had to hurt me in order to stop me from doing something terrible."

Kian has posed:
    "Necessary does not mean I like or wan' to thin' about it," Kían says unhappily.  "I do not wan' to ac' in the heat of emotion.  I need to know what I am doin'.  I thin'… I belief that if I can see for myself they are broken, I can… I can… c'Rhys'yw.  I can do what mus' be done.  I thin' I can.  If I can not, I hope you under-stan' why."
    He looks up, and puts his hand on Terry's cheek, again not initiating mental contact.  "You are not a killer.  You were not yourself for a momen', an' you needed to be reminded.  If I mus' hurt the other Gar, or the other Terry, I will need to be reminded that iss not who I am."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    Terry reaches over and places his hand over Kian's.  "No, that's not me.  However, I will put someone out of a fight to protect others.  And Donna made a very good point about this.  If we take them as small groups, there is a higher chance that we'll have to do something drastic, like really hurting them, because there's fewer of us or an even number.  If we take them on as a team, as a family, they don't stand a chance.  One punch from Donna will knock my double out.  You, Raven, Gar and Starfire ganging up on Gar's?  Or Supergirl alone?  Yeah.  So if we act together, we can ensure their capture and survival.  The more we risk getting ambushed in small numbers, the more desperate our situation and the more likely we may be to end up employing desperate force."

Kian has posed:
    "An' you were grief-struck, an' wish for a momen' to do more than jus' take the other Gar out of the fight.  That iss why Wonder Woman had to remin' you who you are, yis?" Kían says logically.  "Well.  If it iss only an other Gar an' an other Terry, maybe we can fix this quickly.  But what about your rhy'thar?  How do you get the res' of it back from him?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    "Maybe… I think I need to do the exact same stupid thing I did that resulted in this nonsense in the first place.  I need to be able to look at him in the eye and say the transformation words.
    "Actually," Terry says, looking a little perturbed, "I could end up with my full Cheshire soul back, or… he might end with it.  This is something that has never happened before, so… I can't predict it, since it's chaos magic."  He smirks.  "I know.  Magic is crazy…."

Kian has posed:
    "Then other Terry mus' be the priority.  If he does not haf half your rhy'thar then he iss no longer a danger, yis?"  Ever logical—and optimistic—Kían.  "An' if it does not come back to you right away, say the wor's again until they do."
    He shakes his head.  "Magic.  I prefer science.  It iss predic-table.  Maybe magic is science we have not learn the laws to yet."
    Kían looks up, not quite brightly, but less dully.  "It iss your soul, tavárik'h.  I mus' help you get all of it back.  You mus' be complete again.  I will help you wit' that."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    "Well… not exactly my soul.  Think of it as if my soul had… an annex of sorts?" Terry muses.  "When I was born, it became part of me, but it wasn't originally mine, it was… well.  Basically, my father's soul.  And when I was born, he stopped existing."
    He speaks of this matter-of-factly.  It helps, perhaps, that he never knew him or even who he was until he took matters into his own hands.
    "But you're right, we'll get it back.  Once I have my full powers back, my double will be less of a threat.  Just make sure he doesn't have his gun."
    He smiles and reaches over to rest a hand on Kian's leg.  "But enough of that.  Do you want to try some of the fruit smoothie recipes I make?  I brought a lot of frozen fruit to last us for at least two weeks… what do you think of blueberries?"