009 - I can't go back to yesterday

[notdreaming]

[ Since learning what's going on with the network, Kara has changed into her ceremonial armor. If she's broadcasting to the multiverse, past present and future, she wants to be wearing her family crest when she does it. Her expression is hesitantly hopeful. ]

If there are any Kryptonians out there, please, I'd like to speak with you. I am Kara Zor-El, daughter of Alura and Zor-El, and I am very, very far from home.

[ Yeah that's all she's got for today. ]

Comments

[lookedtothestars]

[And with her words, one cautiously constructed idea to at least save their people is quickly dismissed. Tentative proof of one of their seed ships and its crew surviving may have helped convince the council that colonizing other worlds was still tenable.

Saying he made contact with a Kryptonian from an alternate universe would make him both a laughingstock and potentially prevent him from doing anything to save their people.

Her explanation makes him wonder if it is at cause for her previous reaction, however.]

From your own Krypton, do you know some alternate version of me?

[If there is no expansive time dilation at fault, it is a reasonable question; she identified herself as part of the House of El, after all.]

[notdreaming]

[ She isn't entirely sure she wants to tell him, but she doesn't want to lie either. There's just no helping it. After a moment she recovers her voice. ]



You're my uncle.

[lookedtothestars]

[That is not an answer that he was expecting, but there were very few options for how she could be a member of the House of El. The daughter of a nonexistent brother- or rather, one that does not exist in his own world- is as good an option as any.]

I see.

[He's going to need a moment to process this. And be thankful that Lara is busy elsewhere.]

[notdreaming]

I know this must be strange for you.

[ It's strange for her too. Please don't leave. She misses you. A lot. All the time. ]

[lookedtothestars]

As it must be for you.

[Her reveal had rendered him as close to speechless as he has ever been. No small task.]

You spoke of traveling board a ship. What is it like?

[The questions he is interested in asking of her he is avoiding, for now.]

[notdreaming]

[ Yes, good, something to talk about that doesn't make her want to burst into tears. ]

It's an interdimensional prison barge. I'm working here as a warden, and if I can help an inmate to graduate I get a favor from the Admiral. Mine is to go home.

[lookedtothestars]

[That is honorable work, helping others rehabilitate. But the favor she mentions brings a question to his lips.

Is there any reason why you would need a favor to accomplish that?

[If the stay is only a temporary one, she should be able to do so, unless...]

[notdreaming]

[ Rao, oh Rao, no, she can't tell him. She can't even hint to him. They are not talking about this, nope. ]

I, like I said, I'm very, very far from home.

[lookedtothestars]

[Sometimes what isn't said at all is telling enough. While he may not know her personally, he's still one of the sharpest and observant minds Krypton possesses.]

You must be very far away indeed. You must miss it.

[His words may be going soft, towards the end.]

[notdreaming]

I do.

[ No crying no crying no crying damnit all she wasn't going to cry. ]

More than anything. I've been doing my best, but I'm still no closer to getting my deal than I was when I got here.

[lookedtothestars]

Your best will be enough, with time. Do not despair, when you can hope instead.

[She is a perfect stranger, but still family. He is confident that any member of the house of El is able to undertake any task they set their mind to- it is sometimes others who are the problem.]

[notdreaming]

[ See that, that sounds like her uncle, and it makes her heart ache. If only she could get herself assigned an inmate already. ]

You're right, of course. You always are.

[lookedtothestars]

Sometimes I wish it was otherwise. I try to not allow it to stop me.

[Something he would not admit to even Lara, much less his closest friend- though Zod has drifted away, as of late. But admitting it to Kara... He does not know her. And he doesn't know how long this connection will last. Letting her know he has doubts at times does not seem like something that would hurt- instead, he's hoping maybe it can serve as a form of reassurance.]

[notdreaming]

[ She wants more than anything to confide in him, to talk about her parents and her home and her friends, but she has to remind herself again that this isn't her uncle. This is just a man a whole lot like him. ]

I know it's not my world, but how are things in Argo? How is the family?

[lookedtothestars]

[Also one quite willing to accept her as family- the shared crest marks her as such, and he will treat her so, even with as strange as this is. The philosophical conundrum of a nonexistent brother aside.]

They go acceptably. Avoid involving yourself in any matters that are political, if you are able.

[There is barely any hint of faltering there, even though he is being repeatedly blocked by the council with his warnings against the drilling. Krypton may have a dire resource shortage, but there are other ways.]

My wife and I are well. [Does she know of Lara?]

[notdreaming]

[ She chuckles. Jor-El complaining about politics. All is right in the world. ]

That's what they tell me. Don't worry, I try to stay away from the politics.

Is it... is she Lara?

[lookedtothestars]

[He can only assume it's due to that piece of advice, though why she gained such amusement from it, he has no idea.]

Yes. That is my wife's name. [It's readily apparent from his voice how much he cares for her.]

[notdreaming]

I'm glad. You two always seemed so perfect for each other. In my world, I mean.

[lookedtothestars]

I am glad some things remain the same.

[Though he has concerns as to what else may be commonalities.]

[notdreaming]

Me too. And here I thought I couldn't be any more homesick.

[ She laughs again, but it's a self depreciating laugh. She really is quite homesick. ]

It's nice, talking to you. Even if you aren't my uncle Jor.

[lookedtothestars]

I may not be, though he and your father must be proud of you.

I am willing to speak to you as long as the connection lasts.

Sometimes our emotions have ways of surprising us. [It is not a hard thing to admit, any of these things; even if Kryptonian society prefers to suppress, it is largely in public.

The idea of being separated from their people is a strange one, and if he can help her gain some relief from that, he will. ]

[notdreaming]

[ She lights up like a freaking bulb. She's always wanted her father to be proud of her. She'd been hoping that bringing the planet back was something he would approve of. ]

Thank you, so much. Can you tell me about your Krypton? Is there a crystalline forest there?

[lookedtothestars]

You are welcome.

[The reaction makes his own eyes light up in return. If this was the sort of warmth that came from interaction with a younger quasi-family member from another universe, perhaps he and Lara...]

There is not. I can, but I do not know how it differs from your own. I take it your own Krypton has a crystalline forest?

[If she is homesick, an emphasis on Krypton may not be for the better, even discounting his concerns for its current state and future...]

[notdreaming]

It does. Well, several actually, but there's one in particular just outside of Argo.

[ Since she got here she's been trying to cope by learning everything she can about other worlds. Maybe she'll find some similarity with his Krypton that she can cling to, some sense of his reality out there in the great wide multiverse. ]

What about the bridges? There are more than a dozen bridges in Argo, all in different designs.

[lookedtothestars]

Those we do not have either. Though both them and the forests must be quite memorable to warrant mention. The crystal formations on my own Krypton are rare, and small.

[No less in beauty for it, however.]

Our architecture is designed, and grown.

[There is a short pause as he considers something.]

Let's see if this works.

[He steps away out of sight for a moment, but his next words are still audible: 'Kelex, follow, and connect to the feed'.

And then he is in sight again, at a different angle, one which gives a much better view of the interior surrounding walls, shaped, dark and nacreous, and gently rounding and stretching upwards into the high ceiling.]

This will work better for this purpose.