recolle | [Closed] I'm tired of following behind...

Jen somehow managed to stumble on thin air as the entire world changed for the second time today. She might have thought for an instant that she was back in the "real" world; that everything was safe and sound. Then she heard Kal's voice and turned right back toward him again.

Was this just another stage? Should anything make sense at this point?

"Uh... Familiar. Right." Deep breath, Jen. Think.

"If I wanted to see if anyone knew where Kara was, I'd check her shop. Or her house." She furrowed her brow. "The only other friend of hers that I can name but I don't know where she lives. Same with that one guy she said was from her world - or similar to it."

"Alright."

Kal lifted up into the air a bit and looked off in a random direction, swiveling about some. Puzzled, he exhales and looks down at Jen.

"Mind leading the way to one or the other? I don't actually know where she lives and works."

"Sure. Let's start with the house. Her sister might be there, too."

Jen motions for Kal to follow her lead for a change. She is getting more and more comfortable with flight in general, and pushes the speed up as fast as she feels the ring will allow her to go. The landing, though? Could use more practice.

A bit of stumbling aside, Jen looked quite comfortable just walking right up and banging on the door only a brief moment before trying the knob.

"Hey, hello? Kara? Lina? It's Jen! I'm coming in!" Provided, of course, it's unlocked...

It is unlocked. Kal elects to wait outside, hovering near the door like a big caped puppy. Inside Jen will find the house exactly as she'd last seen it, with Lina sitting on the couch watching TV.

She looks up at the sound of Jen's entrance and smiles nervously.

"Hello Jen. What's up? I-Is everything okay?"

"Oh! Hey. Um." She casts a look back over her shoulder, whispering. "Aren't you coming in...?"

Jen turns back to Lina with a nervous smile of her own.

"I'm sure everything's fine but I just can't get hold of Kara. I was wondering if she said anything about her phone being broken or, like, maybe she left it at home...?"

There might be a quicker way to get to the bottom of things but she's trying to play it cool because she doesn't, again, know who is real in this scenario and who is a figment - like Kal - just going through the motions.

"Um..."

Lina shakes her head, looking down at her hands and squeezing them a couple of times. She's uncertain, clearly. It's not that she's completely incapable, this is merely how she behaves around strangers.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her today. I thought she was out with you. Being...ah...secret girlfriends and all?"

At that, Jen actually blushed a little and tugged at her eartails. She was okay with Lina knowing, and Kal probably deserved to know but, ah. Cat's out of the bag if his super-hearing was on for that.

"Y-yeah, uh, I was planning on seeing her today just. I can't seem to catch her. Just goes to show how fast she is! Haha..." Okay that was awkward and forced. Sorry. Impressing someone else's family and being casual with Stuff is just. Not her forte.

Jen steps back toward the doorway, hand on the handle already. Exit: stage anywhere but here.

"If she comes back anytime soon, tell her to buzz me. Okay?"

"Sure. You might want to try the shop?"

When Jen exits, Kal is waiting a few feet up in the air, still looking to the horizon. His attention is everywhere but on Jen, until she gets completely out of the house.

"Ready to get moving?"

"I will. Thanks!" Jen shuts the door behind her and heaves a sigh. So much for that.

"Yeah. The shop's over this way," she says as she gestures. Floating up and moving off in that direction is almost second nature to her now. It shouldn't be this easy. But it also felt like it was the only thing that was easy about all this.

Did they really have to go through the entire town to find out what the root cause of all this was?

"So, uh, your super senses picking up anything... weird?" A beat. "Weird for normal cities not weird for Recollé. If you know what I meant."

Kal shook his head as they floated on over. He definitely didn't seem to see anything out of the ordinary. Not really.

"No? Not particularly. There's not really any crime, if that counts as unusual? Discounting whatever gang my cousin's running with now, anyway."

He just seems so self assured and matter of fact about it. It's like there's nothing going on in town at all.

That's a record scratch moment if ever there was one.

Jen gives Kal the most uncertain look.

"Gang? What... gang?" She blinked, thinking back to what Kara's told her about her past. There's absolutely nothing in her present to suggest that anything was going on to that degree. Like. How would she hide it? She's never put off setting aside time for Jen whenever she needed it and uprooting a life like that just to make time for her can't be easy. Plus, Jen's not exactly a stranger to the shop, so if someone shady came by she would have noticed it, too.

If the shop itself dealt in illicit affairs like stolen cars, would it have such a wide reputation, either? Jen is obviously no expert, but media tells her that kind of organization would want less attention, not more.

Things were strange already, but that? That didn't make a lick of sense.

Kal gives her a sidelong look.

"What's what she does. She's always up to no good. Oh, I know she puts on a good face, but can someone who's been a thug for hire really change?"

This is definitely not something Kal would actually say, just something Kara's always felt he would. She doesn't know better, and probably never would voice this, though.

That's where Jen slows to a stop and spins to face Kal. It's one thing to make one misguided comment that may come from a place deep within Kara's history. It's entirely another to say that just because it may have been in the past, it's there forever.

"Excuse me?" Jen looks the mixture of angry and shocked, though the balled up metal fist at her side betrays the dominant emotion at work here. "Look, I don't know what you think you know about Kara, but you're wrong!"

Her confidence wanes some, only because she's facing down someone who is both supposed to be important to Kara and, also, can crush her like an empty soda can. Even if he wouldn't, he could, and that's pretty scary.

"And even if she may have been like that before, or in another life, that doesn't mean she's that way now. People can change, you know. She's not, like, fundamentally messed up for good because of it."

Kal, surprised by the outburst, stops in midair. Folding his arms across his belly and trying to look non-threatening, the Kryptonian closes his eyes and lets Jen go through her tirade. He can tell, of course, that she's nervous. And he doesn't want to be the object of her fear and agitate her, even if he clearly is.

"What has she been doing, Jen? I don't know her. All I have are reports on her past. I haven't seen her since..."

He sighs.

"...Since...ever. I don't know if I've ever really seen her. Not the same way she sees me, anyway. So talk to me."

Jen heaved a sigh. So it was probably from a place of ignorance and not malice. That's better. For a minute she thought she'd have to leave him behind because of his attitude.

At the same time, there's not much relief to be found because: "I'm pretty sure now's not the time for stories."

She glares down at the numbers burning on the skin of her hand and frowns.

"I'm about as biased as it gets, anyway, when it comes to talking about Kara. Just... trust me. She's not like any of what you may be thinking. She's one of the kindest people I know. She's really helped me, and I've also seen the way she helped others." Okay, so one person for sure.

"Her sister obviously looks up to her, too, and from what I've heard from her she makes an excellent role model. Whatever has happened - or you think happened - that's all in the past and if Kara has put it behind her, I think everyone else should, too."

They can discuss, privately, what may have happened that made Kal think this way. Yet, at the same time? Jen doesn't care. It leaves her curious but it's also, as she said, in the past. It's unimportant. If it contributed anything to Kara's current personality it's just given her something to learn and grow from, and she's not shown any signs of relapsing to that kind of lifestyle. Not in a way Jen can pick up on. She may be made more cautious, now, but it doesn't cast Kara in any starkly negative light in her eyes.

"How did she help you?"

Kal asks, his tone almost pleading. He sounds concerned, but not in a judgmental way. He's curious, and in a way he needs to know this. Timer or no, this is the goal, and this is what both Kara and Kal need.

"She..." Oh, wow. This was not just personal but also it required Jen to sit down (figuratively) and articulate something she's thought plenty of but had never expressed to another person before. No pressure!

"Kara was the first person to defy my expectations since I came to the city. When I first met her, I had the impression that she was just going to be some... macho greasemonkey type who'd catcall and ogle me like I'm so used to. She wasn't afraid to show off how tough she was, or even be subtle about the way she looked at me."

The recollection put a smile on Jen's face, and the retelling was met with a roll of her eyes at her own shortsightedness at the time.

"But she was so much more than that! She always puts others first. Sure, it started with me, and making sure I felt comfortable with her. That we were always on the same page when it came to our affection and just. Getting to know each other for who we were and not just the superficial outside stuff.

"And I've seen that side of her with others, too. You know that... there's those kinds of people who just try so hard to be everyone's friend but they don't really seem... sincere? Like. Someone who's following around the people from some popular clique at school just for a chance at being associated with them. They're just kind of. Waiting on table scraps?"

Here, she frowned, briefly. "Ugh, okay, I don't know where I was going with that analogy. Forget it."

Another sigh.

"I act like I know her soooo deeply, but I guess I really don't. Talking about it out loud like this is making me realize that. But it just makes me want to find her and make up for it. I want to make her feel the way she makes others feel. The way she makes me feel!"

Kal gives her all the time she needs to speak, listening just as intently as Kara would. He doesn't hang on her every word, because presumably he does not need to. But it's clear that he cares, and that he wants to hear this. It's the kind of careful attention only a journalist can give. Or a superhero.

When she finishes, he nods, frowning deeply.

"I...see."

He gives her a pained look, then turns to look down at the city, a little ashamed of himself.

"I had no idea. Like I said, I don't know her. I don't know that I can ever know her. But I'll take your word for it. I...I know you believe that. And I have no reason to doubt that she can change and grow. I guess I just need to pay better attention, huh?"

It really does look like he took it to heart. Good! Because that wasn't the easiest thing to admit to someone she didn't know, no matter if this could just be another circumstance where none of this will ever make it out of this scene.

Jen floats over and plants a reassuring hand on the side of Kal's shoulder.

"Don't be too down on yourself," she offers with a soft smile. "No one's perfect. I mean, I'm biased, and I think Kara's pretty damn close, but I don't mean that in the way that she's, like, pure or anything."

She takes a deep breath and smiles wider.

"But she's just what I needed in my life, right now. I just. Wish I could tell everyone what I just told you."

Kal looks down at her hand and smiles. It's faint, almost tired, but grateful at the same time. Shaking his head, he hums something under his breath and floats backwards, away from her.

"One day? You should. You deserve to live in the light as much as she does."

The dream begins to unravel around them as he floats back, Jen's swift understanding of so much of Kara's insecurities undoing the knot that was holding her in place.

"Thank you, Jen. May we meet again."

[Closed] I'm tired of following behind...

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