5490/There is No Crisis, but There is Pizza

There is No Crisis, but There is Pizza
Date of Scene:	08 March 2021
Location:	Main Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	A whole flock of speedsters descend on the tower, two thirds of them from the future. Bart, Wally and Irie talk about family with Donna and Kian.
Cast of Characters:	Kian, Wally West, Irie West, Bart Allen, Donna Troy

---

Kian has posed:
    It started as lazily lounging in the main room with a (predictable) large tumbler of Kool-Ade and unchallenged control of the remote.
    It got interrupted by a signal at the main door, and the next thing Kían knew he was admitting a delivery guy with multiple pizzas.  This is actually not weird, even by Kían's standards for both Earth and the Tower.
    So what had begun as a lazy evening with Kool-Ade and TV is now a lazy evening with Kool-Ade and pizza and TV.
    Win.

Wally West has posed:
Wally drops in (More of a zoom than a drop really). "Oh hey. Pizza!" He hadn't planned on eating, but having a super metabolism makes that very negotiable. Wally now has a couple slices folded up on a plate. "I recently had pizza with a frenchman, and he ate his with a knife and fork! The absolute philistine! He even looked at me like I was the weird one." He isn't trying to flex, but sometimes it comes off like that, and if he is honest with himself he kind of likes it. Close observation of the pile of pizza boxes would note that there a few more than there were a moment ago.

"So Kian-- Last time we talked, (I mean really talked. A tactical planning session doesn't count,) You were staying at the Themysciran embassy. Catch me up-- How've things been?"

Kian has posed:
    "Kya!"  Kían sits up, a little startled, but he spills neither Kool-Ade nor his plate of pizza.  Good reflexes.  "Oh!  /Kié/, Flass.  Yis, now that the doppels of Terry an' Gar haf been taken care of, it iss safe to come back to the Tower.  An' there iss no reason to thin' that if I haf a double, he has come to this worl', too.  I woul' like to think that mean he iss smar-ter than the others, he has had enough of gettin' use to new worl's."  He grins.
    "An' you?  You haf no doppel, all iss well?"

Wally West has posed:
The idea of Wally having a doppel gives him a shiver. "Hah. Imagine if I had a doppel. It would be just like Thawne and Zolomon all over again. I am not sure I could chase someone through time like that again."

Well has been up with him? "I met my daughter from the future, that is terrifying. Thankfully She seems independant enough, and Bart is showing her around. That could have been terrible. I am not ready for a small child." He sits back and stares at the wall tensely.

Irie West has posed:
Speaking of daughters from the future, Irie phases in through the wall, moaning like a zombie. "Piiiiizaaaaaa" She pauses when she sees Past Dad. "Hi, uh," she pauses, looking concerned. "Are you okay with me calling you dad? We never really got a chance to talk about it. I won't if it makes you uncomfortable." She gives a wave to Kian and asks, "Can I have a slice? I'm starving." Of course, with the kind of metabolism that Irie has, she's *always*s starving.

Kian has posed:
    "Daughter from the -- /kya/!!"  Kían is not ready for people phasing through the wall, although you'd think with all the other weirdness around the Tower, he'd be prepared for things like that.  "Uh, yes, go ahead and haf some," he offers, a little blankly.
    "I, uh, suppose that's a good thing," the birdman offers to Wally -- this has gotten a little outside his frame of reference already.

Wally West has posed:
Wally nearly jumps when he hears Irie's voice. Can she call him dad? Oh god, there it is again. He both wants to be as good as his future self in an almost competitive sense, and doesn't want to ruin her image of her dad. "Sure go ahead. Its going to be weird for one of us either way, but you have so much more weirdness to deal with. I figure I ought to atleast make this easier for you." Oh god is he doing it wrong?

He looks over to Kian. "Yeah time travel is alot to get used to, and it still hurts my brain sometimes."

Irie West has posed:
Irie grabs a slice and settles down into one of the couches. "Well technically," she says through a mouthful of pizza, "I'm only five years old. So it's /kinda/ like having a toddler." She scows, and swallows. "Wait. No. I guess I can tell you that. If I'm going to be living here for a while it's best that you know."

"When we.. I was gestating /something/ happened" She holds up a hand preemptively, "I can't tell you what.. /something/ happened that had us gestate in the speed force, so my mother only spent," she starts calculating on her fingers, "18 hours pregnant with me. Ever since then, there will be times when I just..." she shrugs not knowing how to put this any better, "age up. Like. I got to be a baby for all of three months before my first age up happened and then I was a toddler, and then the second happened and I was around 9 or 10, I think? We were pretty stable for a long time from there and then I had another one not too long ago where I'm now suddenly a teenager."

She chews on her pizza seriously, "Sometimes... things happen to me. With my body. It's always weird, and it's always something speed force connected. Like.... when I got trapped in the speed force. I think that was one of those things. I don't think I could do that again."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen decided to come by and made a stop first. So yup, speedster #3 comes in with more pizza, and a stack of three tupper ware containers. Each filled with a different kinds of cookies. "Cookie Delivery." He calls out as he sets the pizzas down, one of the containers gets set on the table, and he takes a couple cookies from it, before moving to set a container next to Barry, and one next to Iris "From Joan." He says between bites.

Donna Troy has posed:
    The door to the women's dorm corridor opens and Donna comes through, stopping at the head of the staircase. She leans over, elbows rested on the balustrade and looks down at the assembled group, one eyebrow raised. "Technically five?" she repeats curiously. "Well that's going to be awkward, but probably less awkward than puttin your age down as minus-however-much. Might be better to go with... what, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen? On the paper-work, I mean."

    Apparently Donna has gotten word of Irie's arrival, though she hasn't seen the latest speedster yet, and looks at her with undisguised curiosity. If Irie has met her before, in the future, then at least there's one person who won't have changed appearance much. Two decades don't really change an immortal Amazon.

    "You speedsters seem to be multiplying. Uh... unfortunate choice of words. Sorry Wally. You okay?"

Kian has posed:
    /Kié/, Donna, Bart," Kían says, waving his tumbler of Kool-Ade from the comfort of the couch.  "I am not even goin' to try to guess what Iris mean about her age.  But then, every-one thin's I am youn-ger than I am.  It iss another Earth thin' that does not make sense to me."  He shrugs.  Feathers rustle.  You know the drill.
    He gives Wally a thin smile.  "Space travel iss not much easier than time travel, if you do not know where you haf gone."

Wally West has posed:
Oh joy. A secret toddler. Now he's a negligent dad. To make it worse it sounds like she might just age up and die at any moment. That is frightening. "Do they know if the rapid aging thing is going to happen again? I would hate for you to die of old age here in the twenty or so years that it might take, and leave the parents who raised you never knowing what happened to you." He is expecting this to end tragically, and one might be able to see it in his face.

He will have to remember to thank Joan for the cookies. A little sugar hits the spot just about now.

He is relieved to hear Donna's voice. There are many times that he hates being the kid of the original group, but at this moment having someone who might be wiser and more dependable is a relief. He looks up at her with panic on his face. Future Wally would either congratulate him on doing so well on such short notice, or be gravely dissapointed in him. He still isn't sure which. "I might survive."

Well at least Kian is baffled. Some times a hint of normalcy is welcome. It also reminds him- They had a plan for getting him home, so maybe Irie will get to go home before she dies. There is a hopeful thought.

Irie West has posed:
Irie's eyes light up. "Ooh! Cookies!" Immediately one finds its way into her mouth. Nomf, nomf, nomf. She nods at Donna. "Yeah. I'm going with 16. That just *feels* right. It's gonna be about as accurate as anything else, really." Then something occurs to her. "Oh! Donna! Right! We haven't met yet!" She gets to her feet (wiping away errant crumbs) and sticks a hand out at Donna. "I'm Iris West, but everybody calls me Irie."

Irie pulls her legs up under her on the couch and gets all serious. "Look. The way that I see it is that we all have the same amount of time to live: One lifetime. Whether it's 20 years or 200, it's less how *long* you live and more *how* you live." She reaches over and grabs another slice of pizza to wash down the cookies. "So I'm gonna live my life being the best person I could possibly be."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "Wally, can try the whole speed alignment like he did on me, see if that works. I mean technically I am eight, but since we got my ageing to normal when I got here, it has been right." He offers in thought that might help. Sorta makes me wonder of mom and dad had issues with ageing normal or not.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna descends the stairs to returns Irie's handshake, her head tilting curiously to the side. "Well I haven't met you, anyway," she replies. "You know my name though. Which means either we've met in the future, or you recognize me from pictures. Please don't tell me which. Welcome to Titan's Tower. "

    She follows the handshake with a pat to Irie's upper arm. Then she moves to sit beside Wally, wrapping an arm around his shoulders to give him a quick reassuring hug. "Sooo. Time travel. Time travel is confusing. And people from the future aren't necessarily from the same future that we're heading towards. But just in case they are, they probably shouldn't reveal things, because... hopefully you already know this, Irie. If not, then our cookie delivery expert here should probably have a word."

    She grins at Kian, and gives him a shrug. "Much worse than space travel honestly, Kian. Travel in time and you could end up in any timestream. Usually when you're traveling in space you end up in the same universe. Usually. I mean in my personal experience not so much, but for most people."

Kian has posed:
    Kían grins back at Donna.  "An' I am not going to argue the poin'.  Los' is los' is los'.  Although lately I am not feelin' los' anymore.  This iss my home now, I think."  Well, there's an admission.
    He can't help but stare at both Irie and Bart, who gives their ages as far below what he would have guessed.  Still, what Irie says makes sense.  "Yis, iss not how far you fly, it iss what you haf seen alon' the way."

Wally West has posed:
The things that Irie is saying should be reasuring him, but ... god he is not ready to be a dad. He isn't ready to think about having a daughter and then having her run off accidentally and never seeing her again because she ran into the past. For a member of the Flash family, he supposes that this is just a possibility he has to live with. "I feel like future me and your mom might disagree if you die before they get to see you again."

Ah there is something he likes thinking about. Solutions. Bart is being a much better adult than Wally right now. "You have no idea how glad I am that you brought it up." Having something to try makes things so much easier to handle.

He looks up at Donna sheepishly from the couch with his family all around him. -- "And how was your week?"

He is not ready for people to be okay with his (okay not yet, but still) daughter dieing young from rapid aging. People might be well within there rights to be annoyed with his panicking, but he /is/ panicking dammit! "But I am sure that you of all people would care whether you get to fly home again."

Irie West has posed:
Irie nods at Donna, eyes wide. "Oh yes. My did will have given me an entire lecture on what to do if I found myself in the past. I..." she looks kind of sheepish, "kinda let it slip that he will have did that to him when we first met, so it's okay if I say it again now." She squinches her nose. "Are there any words for something that is past tense but happens in the future?" She looks hopefully over a Bart who's the only other time traveler (that we know of!) in the room.

She nods to Wally. "Yeah. It was something that you... they were working on. I don't think I could even spoil it for you because it was all very technical and I didn't understand any of it." She scowls. Is that a spoiler in and of itself? This time travel business is tricky. "I mean. Don't get me wrong. I would /like/ to have a normal lifespan but..." she shrugs. "Look at the rest of us speedsters. There isn't anything normal about us."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over to them and says "I just generally go with how it relates to me, but then again most of my time in the future was in VR, I know stuff that might happen, from history books, or photo albums, thats how I recognized you. " He does not say when the pictures were taken "But as I have learned and Donna said, stuff I know does not mean it will happen for sure, Like I am pretty sure Terry and Gar will be married, but don't know if they will have the same kids I have read about."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Future perfect tense. 'Five years from now we will have figured out the grammar of time-travel.'" Donna says, with a grin. "The future perfect tense isn't perfect for talking about this stuff, but it's better than struggling with 'this will have had happened' tangles."

    Donna leans forwards to swipe a slice of pizza, and looks back at Kian with a smile. "Home is where your family is, Kian. My home is in Themyscira. My home is here, too. It's the same for you, just the two homes are a little further apart. I hope one day you do get to go back to your other home, but equally I do hope it isn't permanant. You have become part of our big crazy family, so of course this is your home."

    She leans back into the couch, giving Wally a wink. "Well, Diana's better. So I'd say this last week has been pretty good to me." She folds her slice of pizza and takes a large, satisfied bite.

Kian has posed:
    "That iss good news about Diana, yis," Kían says, raising his tumbler as if in a toast.  "I am please to hear she iss better."
    He drinks some more of his purple sugar water.  "We do not think of home in the same way you do, maybe?  My home on Kyshán iss -- was? -- assign to me when I come of age.  An' one iss expec' to live wit' family by blood, or family by choice.  When I came here, I was an intruder.  *Now* I feel like I am family.  Which iss a crazy family, but it iss said of my clan that the Káeh do not know what to do when thin's are normal an' quiet."
    He sits up and looks around the room.  "An' I think I haf been here lon' enough that if it got quiet here, I woul' be worried about what was comin'."

Wally West has posed:
Well that is reassuring, but ah well that is something for him and various science friends to worry about. She seems to be okay at the moment. One moment at a time. He lets out a breath. "So how have you been settling in? You have a place yet?" Dadly things. Maybe he will stop panicking some day.

He had noticed his cousin arriving, but he had been quite caught up with the arrival of HIS DAUGHTER. How long will it be before that becomes normal to him? "So Bart. I haven't gotten a chance to ask you how things have been going for you lately. How has it been?"

Having Diana out was kind of scary. Wally is a relatively new member of the Justice League, and even he had been on alert. "Well that is definately good news. I was worried about her. It is good to have her back."

Well there is more easy relaxing news. Awww. "I am glad you feel comfortable here Kian. I kind of think of you as like family too." There are some warm and fuzzies that he isn't worried he is screwing up. They feel like his.

Irie West has posed:
Irie nods slowly, ingesting what Donna says about the inadequacies of grammar and time travel. She also ingests another cookie. "Feese far good Barf!" she says, before remembering her manners and actually swallowing the cookie before talking. "The cookies are good, Bart!" she tries again.

"I've got a room here in the Tower," Irie answers Wally. "And I've got a change of clothes that'll last me a week or so. We're still working on getting me into high school, so I can pretend to be normal or something, and to go along with that get me some official ID."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "Learning to have a bit of normal life Irie, not just pretending, learning more about living around non speedy folks is a good thing." He looks over to Wally, and says "Pretty good, went out with a lady speedster, but seems she is not connected to the speed force, or does not realize it yet.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "You should go to Happy Harbor, Irie," Donna suggests. "That seems to be the school best equipped for dealing wth young supers. One of the team members, Caitlin, is on staff there. So's Kian's english tutor. We can see if they can get you in without having to worry too much about getting an official identity sorted out, but there are ways we can deal with that too."

    Donna wipes her lips of delicious pizza and gives Irie a grin. "Oh and I strongly suggest you do lots of reading of recent history. You probably can't easily remember off-hand what happened in 2020 and what happened in 2022. It would be a good idea to get clear on what's already happened so it's easier to avoid accidentally... slipping."

    Wally gets another sympathetic smile. "You're handling this well, Wally. When I learned about who our latest guest was -- well I steeled myself for the possibility of being called 'Auntie Donna' by a complete stranger, but I have to admit I have no idea what I'd do if some young Amazon turned up and calling me 'mom'. Freak out, probably. We're here for you, okay? I can't say any of the Titans have a whole lot of experience of parenthood, but we're all in this together."

    She jerks her head towards Kian. "See, even our avian brother knows. It's always way more worrying when nothing's happening, because that way you just /know/ the universe is conspiring to do something big and awkward. Thinking like that is the Titans way, Kian. Just more proof you are one of us."

Kian has posed:
    Kían laughs softly.  "I do not know if that means I am stuck wit' you, or you are stuck wit' me."
    He nods in agreement with Donn'a comments on education.  "Yis, Irie, I haf gone to that school a little, before I came to the Tower.  It iss a good school, but it was not a good fit for me.  You may haf a better time of it than I did.  They want me to hide my win's, and I can not do that.  It soon got... nnh.  It was not good.  Instead, I come here where I can be who I am, an' lean Engliss anyway.  Jus' be aware they had a rule about not showing /rhy'thar'yw/... sorry, not showing powers.  Maybe they haf change that by now.  I do not know.  Colette /tavár'h/ has not said so to me."

Wally West has posed:
"On the one hand it seems like a shame to waste your time here in school, but on the other hand everybody else your age is in school, so you would probably wind up feeling isolated."

"Well that is good news. I assume that your optimistic tone implies it went well." He supposes one upside of this arrangement with Irie is that when she inevitably (probably, but in this crazy world who knows?) starts dating, he maybe wont have the same panic attack that alot of other dads he has seen get. He isn't sure if this is a good thing.

Well that is in fact quite reassuring. "I appreciate it Donna. I will probably be asking for some of that help sometime soon." Hearing that someone he knows and trusts (insert obligatory 'and Caitlin' joke here) is going to be involved in looking after Irie will help him rest easier. These things are much easier to handle together.

Wally shares Donna's sentiment. "One of us! One of us!" He shakes his head at Kian's comment. "Its not about stuck. Its about belonging."

Irie West has posed:
Irie blinks up at Donna. "Do you... do you /want/ me to call you Auntie Donna? 'Cuz I can do that." She lowers her gaze to the floor and says quietly, "I just assumed nobody would want me to do that kind of thing because they don't know me." There's perhaps a crack in the chipper veneer that shows a bit of the sadness inside that she doesn't let people see.

It only lasts for a beat before she's back at the cookies. "Anyway. It's no big deal." She grins when Wally starts chanting. "I already feel like I belong," she admits. "There's something right about this."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna raises an eyebrow at Irie, looking at her with an amused grin. "Irie... I said I was /steeling myself for the possibility/. As you said, we don't know you, but then for all I know, you don't know me either. If you don't, then calling me that would be really, really weird."

    "You're from a way further ahead, right Bart?" She takes the excuse of asking him questions to steal one of the cookies. "Must be a bit easier when it's more historical and less personal. Irie, honestly you're the one who's got the most to deal with here. Try to make yourself comfortable here, and if it means some of us are slightly less comfortable one way or another, that's fine. If you're Wally's daughter, you're family. We help each other, and we'll want to shoulder some part of your burden. Okay?"

Wally West has posed:
Ooof There is that thing he was worried about. In the middle of his own panic he remembers that he was supposed to be helping Irie feel welcome. Future Flash is no doubt shaking his head. "Give us time." He offers her a hug. "This can be our adventure." He hopes he can figure something out.

Donna seems to know what to say at least. That is something. He is tempted to say something about how maybe Irie should go to them first because they would know what to do, but this is not the time for something like that. "Don't worry about us, we will be fine. Soon enough we'll get to know you."

Irie West has posed:
Irie nods to Donna. "Okay," she says. "But I'm /totally/ going to be calling you Auntie Donna now," she teases. She accepts Wally's hug though. When they release Irie gives him a grin, "That's something you always say. It's good to know that I can still go on adventures with you."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna rolls her eyes at Irie, but it's all in good humor. "My guess Wally, is you're not going to be getting to know her so much as getting to know that you already know her. The people we are is a product of our environments and our upbringing. For example there's a lot of Diana in me. But also... well, when I get all serious and focused? That's general Philippus. She was my combat tutor from a very young age. There are little gestures I make, body language -- that I picked up from Melantha, who taught me history. She was always one of my favorites, and I guess I unconcsiously mimicked her." She breaks into a broad grin. "As for my bossiness, that's straight from my mom. I mean she /is/ a queen, so it comes naturally to her."

    "I'm sure it's the same with you, Irie. At least some of the people who were around you when you were growing up are people Wally already knows, right? I mean for a start, there's Wally himself. So there's going to be a lot that's familiar, and I'm sure you'll fit right in."

    "Of course the thing that's going to drive Wally crazy as he gets to know you better is he's going to start seeing things in you that he'll wonder if they come from your mom. Then he's going to be looking for them in every woman he meets from now on." Donna gives Wally a wink, and shoves some more pizza in his direction.

Wally West has posed:
Well atleast he got a few words right. "See? I am already figuring it out." That is something to start with. He chuckles as she calls her 'Auntie Donna'. He feels a little guilty for laughing when he is going to ask her for help.

All this talk about aspects is very interesting, and he does infact worry a little about the way that this might affect things like dating going forward. One of the perils of meeting your parents through time travel before you are born he supposes. "It could well be that she gets things from people who aren't like that yet. People do change over time." He nit picks because it does get to him a little. If /her/ timetravelling kids ever show up, he will be sure to remind her of this, but knowing his luck, she already knows their mother. Hypothetical revenge dashed immediately.

Irie West has posed:
Irie grabs a slice of pizza. "I guess in that way I had something of an extended family. There's all the Flashes that are about. We all know each other. And we hung out with..." she stops herself. "I can't say. People. We hung out with people. That you may or may not know." She's trying real hard not to be a blabbermouth, but it wasn't something she was ever good with back when she /could/ speak about such things.

She shakes her head. "It's gonna be really hard to keep my mouth shut whenever you're on a Date, Dad, or, like, sabotage all the ones that are wrong for you." She chuckles as she thinks of something, "Maybe I already did and that's just part of history?" She frowns again, "But if I did that, maybe that will change things and you'll never meet my mother."

"UGH!" she says, flopping over on the couch, frustrated. "Why does time travel have to be so /complicated/?"

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Wally," Donna says, enjoying this far too much. "You realize you've just come up with a reason to be looking for those little tells in every woman you've already met as well as the ones you haven't met yet? I mean think about it. Imagine it was you."

    She gets up, walks over to the fridge, and looks inside. "Irie did the logical thing. Go looking for a parent. Thing is, speedster with red hair. If she goes to her mom, said mom is going to be looking your way pretty quickly. So to minimize the amount of... temporal feedback or whatever you call it, she goes to you. Am I right, Irie? Want something to drink, Irie?"

    She rises from the fridge holding a bottle of beer out towards Wally, head tilted questioningly. He may need it. "You know Irie, when I first came here, first came to America -- the world hadn't heard of Themyscira. That didn't happen until Diana went public. Mom's rules, no mentioning where I came from. I had to tell my friends something though, so I told all the Titans that I was raised by a secret order of mystic warriors called the Knights of Ilium, that my name was Donna Troy, and I went by the code-name Troia. Reality is that the mystic warriers were the Amazons, Troia is my real name, and Donna Troy was the code name I picked when I came to Patriarch's World. I couldn't tell Wally, or any of the others, until we got back together again as team a year ago."

    She gives Irie a sympathetic smile and a shrug. "So... I know a bit of what that's like. Not being able to talk about the things that are important to you. Even to people who really matter to you. People you'd never want to lie or to hide the truth from. Having to think about everything you say in case you give something away you didn't mean to. I won't lie, it's hard. But it's manageable."

Wally West has posed:
"'Oooh that is going to -- ooh I can't say' is going to be your catchphrase isn't it?" Wally undersands that there are things he can't know when time travel is involved, but it still sucks being the one left out of the loop. "Well good thing you won't have to worry much about that. I am not in the habit of inviting kids with me on my dates. I mean I suppose when I get far enough, but still." Time travel is in fact very complicated. "Well think of it this way. That complexity is what protects you from malicious time travellers." That is what Barry told him and it didn't work then either.

Wally is starting to get frustrated. "You are enjoying this aren't you? He takes the beer. It doesn't do much for him, but at this point every little bit helps. "You realize this is what all those brainwashing things starts with don't you? It starts with planting poisonous ideas in people's minds." He hopes he isn't overestimating Donna in assuming that she isn't offering a child a beer. He will probably later note that that is an interesting stance for him to take, considering he definitely didn't wait to have his first drink.

This story about her backstory takes him back. "You had us all fooled. I even introduced you to people as a knight and everything." He sure felt like a fool when the Amazons revealed themselves.

Irie West has posed:
Irie purses her lips. "It was a bit more complicated than just finding dad or mom." She nods when offered something to drink. "Thank you." She continues, "I was stuck in the Speed Force which is... not really something I can adequately describe. Imagine running as fast as you can, for as long as you can and then /longer/ and /faster/ and /you can't stop/ because the speed force is just making you go and time means absolutely /nothing/ so you could have been in there for a couple of minutes or a couple of years and you'd never know."

"So I started trying to, I dunno. Sense things that were outside of the force itself," she explains "And I could sense when people were tapping into it. Here and there. And because of, uh, spoilers, I knew what Dad felt like, so I just kind of latched in on that and pushed myself as hard as I could go and I just kind of popped out of the speed force." She gives Donna a helpless little shrug. "Right person, wrong time. I'll take it, though. It could have been a /lot/ worse."

"Oh!" she brightens when the topic of cover stories comes up. "That's what I need to talk to you two about! I can't just tell people that I'm Wally's daughter from the future, so we need to figure out what we /can/ tell people, and then hope that I can remember it."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna is indeed not offering a beer to Irie, but there's a good choice of sodas. Beers are for Wally and Donna only.

    That's not to say she might not offer Irie a beer a little later, when she gets to know her better.

    When her father isn't around, anyway.

    Irresponsible? No, it's cultural. Islands filled with immortal women don't tend to develop the concept of a minimum drinking age. Donna was thoroughly shocked when she arrived in America and was told she couldn't have wine with every meal any more. In /civilized/ (read: derived from Ancient Greek) civilizations, they just water down the wine.

    /Maybe/ she's a bit irresponsible too.

    "I still feel guilty about it, Wally. I hated it. But I never had the choice." Donna flips the cap off the top of her bottle with her thumb and goes back to the sofa, and gives him an apologetic shrug.

    "I guess it's up to you what story you want to come up with, but my suggestion is to make it as close to the truth as you can. I'm going to be honest, a speedster who looks like you, Irie? People are going to look at Wally and wonder anyway. If you say you're from the future, that might be risky. There are people who might want to see what information they can get out of you. But if you say you are from a different dimension? Well we've had a bit of experience with that lately, people will understand. They'll expect you to know things, but have some of the details wrong."

Irie West has posed:
"I don't know," Irie says doubtfully, taking the offered can of soda. She doesn't seem all that put out by not being offered beer. "'I'm a Flash from another dimension' seems like it'll raise just as many questions as 'I'm a Flash from the future' does. I mean..." She pauses to take a sip of some of that sweet, sweet caffeinated drink, "I kind of figured telling the truth to the Titans so they could help out. And the other Flashes, of course. But, like, in high school? What would I tell them?"

She shakes her head. "I don't even know if I'm ready to go to high school. I've never been to school a day in my life."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "The only story that wouldn't raise questions is being a totally normal girl from here and now," Donna says. "Right up until you accidentally say something that person wouldn't say. Then there are lots of questions. My advice is to come up with a story that explains why you might have different knowledge from other people, why you might be familiar with things other people aren't and unfamiliar with things other people are."

    Donna takes a swig of her beer. "And something as close to the truth as possible, because that way people are less likely to notice if you make a slip.

    The 'never been to school' line gets a raised eyebrow from Donna, but she's not asking questions. "All the more reason that you should, then. But maybe not quite straight away. Take the time to get settled in and a little more familiar with the world you find yourself in, and go when you feel ready."

Irie West has posed:
Irie is taking this advice to heart, giving Donna all of her attention, which is pretty hard to do for a young speedster. "I'm five," she explains when she sees the eyebrow goes up. "My parents thought it'd be better to home school me instead of taking me to kindergarten and in a week I look like I should be in middle school. Until we figure out the whole age up thing."

She rights herself on the couch. "Maybe I can say that I was born in America but was raised in, I dunno. Canada. That's different yet same enough I'd think. But then I'd have to think in Metric." She scowls, "That can't be that hard."

And then suddenly out of left field, "What units of measurements do they use in Themiscyra?"

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna smiles gently at Irie. "I think Canada isn't far enough. But you have to figure out what's comfortable for you. And not get tripped up if someone asks you how many kilometers something is."

    "That was relatively easy for me. On Themyscira we measure distances in feet, too. /Podes/. It's almost the same length, just a little longer. Our /milion/ or mile is a bit shorter than yours though. Eight /stadia/, or forty-eight hundred /podes/. Weights and volumes get a bit trickier. It would have been worse if I'd gone to a metric country, though. Your measures here are actually derived from ours, as you might guess from the names being so similar." She gives Irie a broad grin. "You just got a little inaccurate over the years, I guess."

    Donna gets to her feet, takes another swig of the beer, and gives Irie's shoulder a quick squeeze. "I guess I should let you and your father talk things out a bit. Get yourself settled in, Irie. And be warned, you're going to feel homesick. My advice is, figure out what there is here that makes you feel at home. Things that feel familiar, and right. If you start to feel homesick, go to that place, surround yourself with those things, whatever. And don't be afraid of crying. It will make you feel better."

    "I better get back to work, but Irie, if you ever want to ask me any questions, or just need someone to talk to about... all of this... then let me know and I'll be there for you. That goes for you too, Wally."