tushanshu | 001

001 | Video

[ So, Roy hasn't been around that long, but he's gotten to know Keeliai, the natives, heard about the Emperor and definitely picked up on the tension between foreigners and the Kedan, but just out right asking about What The Hell Is Wrong With This Place seems a little too obvious. And lame.

And this way is much more fun. ]

Okay so is there a part of living on the back of a giant magic turtle that isn't supposed to be completely awesome? Because a lot of you seem to be really bummed about it, and I'm starting to think it's more than just a strong case of Stick Up The Ass going around.

[ And frankly, Roy likes looking like the idiot. He raises up a hand holding some kind of Kedanian smoothie in the cafe he's seated in, and gives an 'okay, humor me' kind of gesture. ]

Let's pretend for two seconds that you're all actually the most boring people ever and the part where we're on a monster turtle isn't enough for you - you're getting what's practically a free vacation. A beautiful city on a tropical island that's really more like a cruise, and even a space you can go sit near Yurtle's massive head and zen your neurotic brains out. The closest we have to that at home is legalizing pot.

I know I'm inviting a sea of sarcastic quips to kill my buzz about the whole badass Suessical adventure, so let's try to be organized and civil about this - there's only so much scathing sardonicism I can handle at once. Please fill out the attached form and get back to me:

Your Name: Self explanatory.
Your Age: It'd probably explain some things, I'm jussayin.
Level of Suck of Your Homeworld: On a scale of Fantasia to Bambi. Just trying to keep some perspective.
Your Complaints About Our Magical Turtle Adventure: Let it all out, brothers and sisters. Testify.
Notes: Whatever. How's my hair?

Thank you for your participation! Here is a wavier for your free snow cone! Not really. Sorry.

[ Oh wait, just this last piece here: ] Also, if you know anyone who likes to run around in tights and a mask, maybe a cape, let me know? Thanks! [ A little salute, and he signs out. ]

[[ ooc; If you could, please fill out his permissions post ova hurr, and here's the html for his little questionnaire thing :>

]]

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[It takes little time for him to arrive from his Water sector dwelling. He's not expecting anything, so he comes in his usual Keeliai style clothes. He looks like a normal joe, not exactly someone who's holding up a legendary mantle. There's faint hints of Oliver Queen in him. Eddie was able to pick that up fairly quickly and the Roy Harper he knew as well. Maybe he won't have to break any traumatic news to this Roy Harper.

Maybe he's a bit hopeful.

Connor spots Roy right off and slips in the seat opposite of him. He offers a small smile.]

Hi. I'm Connor.

[Hey bro, you were going to teach him how to drive stick properly.]

[ Roy can't deny that he's definitely feeling some tension in imminently meeting up with this guy, and he's fidgety, a leg bouncing under the cafe table and fingers picking at the cup his smoothie was in. This is so new to him, this alternate Roy, and from all he's heard about the guy, he might as well be the better Roy.

There's that sinking feeling he's about to disappoint a hell of a lot more people. But it's pushed off when Connor shows up, his typical cheery smile on his lips. ]

Cool to meet you, Connor. I'm Roy. [ Spoken with an awkward kind of laugh, because obviously, that's the whole point of this thing. And pls he can totally still teach you how to drive stick. He can teach you how to drive stick in a space ship. ]

Sooo, guessing you're in with Ollie? And the whole Queen super team? [ And apparently the other Roy's still around them if he knows him to. And is friends with him. Him and the Green Arrow aren't exactly on speaking terms back home. ]

[Connor is calm, steady, the exact opposite of the Roy Harper in front of him right now. Just looking at him makes him think this world's screwing with him. There's an Ollie from another world. And now a Roy Harper from another world. But to put it short, he'll live but seriously?

There's a moment where he just stares. He notes the subtle differences, the body language, the speech, the appearance. Then he snaps out of it and breathes a sigh.]

I am. Sort of. I'm not sure how you would like to do this. I can answer any questions you have, providing that I can trust you with it. And I know I can trust the Roy Harper that I know with my life, I'd like to believe you're not all that different. So, I guess what I'm asking is if you're going to go AWOL on me because of what you might find out from me.

[ He folds his arms over the table, mostly just for a place to put them that doesn't look totally rigid and awkward, and gives a laugh at all the precaution in those comments. But it fits Ollie and how he runs Q-Core. The stern kind of straight cut manner. ]

Well I was planning on putting out an ad over it in the Sunday paper, but I guess I can hold off. [ It's a joke. And it occurs to him after that that he probably shouldn't have made it. Awk. ]

It's cool, man, I've already been told I'm pretty much the opposite end of the spectrum. But I don't really have anyone here that'd be interested in hearing it and there's not a lot of space for me to run off to on an island.

[He doesn't catch the joke. It's probably a good joke, but Connor misses a lot of that too. So he kind of just blinks and makes an 'Oh' sound.]

You might be or might not be all that different. Either way, it doesn't really matter. It's not my Roy Harper that's sitting in front of me. I'm apologizing in advance if I ever look at you or speak to you like you are the Roy Harper I know. It's difficult considering.

[Sometimes, he does that with the Oliver here. It's weird ok]

I'm guessing Star City probably rings a few bells, and Queen Industries? What about the Outsiders?

[ :'| Bless u Connor. He gives a short sort of laugh and shrugs. He isn't feeling that kind of light about this, but faking nonchalance is something he's been good at for a while. ]

Nah, don't worry about it. Apparently I look sorta like him, because you weren't the only one to double-take. Only makes sense you'd think of the other guy.

[ A short pause as he thinks over 'Outsiders' because that's the only one in that list he doesn't know. ]

Outsiders, no. Star City and Queen Industries, yeah. That's were Ollie was before Seattle. Q-Core is a branch of Queen Industries in Seattle, where we were based.

[Connor may not have been brought up in the Queen household, but he has lived there for the last three years or so, back home anyway. He has a lot of practice with filtering out what's fake and what's not. Call it his sixth-sense. But Connor says nothing about that for now. It's no big deal.]

You do. You act a lot like him too.

[He looks at his hands. Man, he misses his bro. It's a constant effort to stave off those feelings here, even though he knows it's okay to miss them. To miss Ollie and Mia, Roy and Dinah. But that takes away from the things in front of him.]

Q-Core. Oliver Queen made all his trick arrows there. The famous boxing glove arrow. The hang-cuffs arrow... Did you live Seattle with Ollie, back home?

[ There's actually a short laugh there. He's not sure whether he should feel better or worse that they're so similar. On the one hand it makes the surreal, twilight zone effect of it lessened, but on the other, he knows there's a guy somewhere that was given the same crap as he was and did better with it. ]

Seriously? Someone said he's grumpy and the other said he's got Stick Up The Ass syndrome sooo... not sure that's a compliment.

[ He bobs his head, nodding. The trick arrows had been what got Roy interested in the first place. And then if was just a short trip outside the reservation and the next thing he was hacking Queen Industries R&D hub. He still have a lot of that information on a harddrive he never let Ollie know about. ]

Yeah. Did. [ Past tense. His fingers drum on the table top idly, moving on from that. ] I was on a Navajo reservation before that.

[He can count the number of things that Roy is usually grumpy about: too much time away from Lian, too much time with Ollie and someone messing up his precious space and perceived order in the event that either one of the first two happened.

They're all things a beer or five can fix.]

That may be because there are a couple... versions of you out there. There's one that exist in my world, your world obvious and I guess another world where Roy Harper has some problem with being friendly.

[Past tense. Hard to miss when Roy says it like that. This is the part that he has to approach carefully.]

...So where were you before this happened?

[ Well that's... weird as hell to hear. Roy just gives a wide-eyed blink before a heavy sigh and holding his hands up in a kind of 'not even going to worry about that rn' kind of gesture.

Onto the question at hand, that answer is pretty easy. ]

In Gotham, hanging out at the Bat-mansion with the Batfam. Some bad shit had gone down with the Joker and Kori, Jason and I popped in to help out.

[ A pause and he frowns a little. ]

Well, Jason got involved and Kori and I popped in to fish out fearless not-leader back out.

[You know, he's pretty sure there was a protocol on how to handle situations like this. "How to handle family members from another universe", in big black letters, the kind of pamphlet you skip over until the one about "What to do when you're the weakest link" one appeared.

Connor is taking it one step at a time. But this is turning more into a drunk stagger than anything remotely familiar to a step.]

You're at the Bat-mansion. Not... cave? And you just threw out a lot of names, can you clarify who Jason and Kori is?

[ Roy will totally check the local Kedan bookshop for the pamphlet. Or 'Being The Lesser Doppleganger: For Dummies'.

Roy is... dealing. In a sense that he's not really dealing at all. He's just kind of taking it in a 'ahahaha this is totally funny (no it isn't)' kind of way and he'll go sit in his room later and think about how bad he wants a drink. ]

Yeah. Special invite, due to knowing Jason. And that's Jason Todd and Princess Koriand'r. Red Hood and Starfire.

[He frowns slightly at the mention of the Red Hood and Jason Todd.

Yeah, last time he heard about that guy? He kidnapped Roy's heir to the Speedy mantle and blew up her school. But he reminds himself they have another life, that probably never happened, right? He only needs to know one thing.]

Are they are people you can rely on? People you trust?

[ There isn't much of a hesitation when he answers. ]

Absolutely.

[ They're his family now, despite the fact neither would admit it, but Roy doesn't doubt they'd each risk going to hell and back to help him out. Maybe Roy trusts too easily or loves too easily, but that's one thing he can be sure of. Or at least, one things he needs himself to be sure of. Either way, the trust comes out the same. ]

[Not too much of a delay in that answer. That's good. That kind of respond is either a lie, something hard to come by or a guaranteed regret. All he has is this Roy's word to go off on and his own natural optimism.]

I'm glad you have people like that in your life. They're hard to come by.

[Aw bro, this just reminds him how much he miss his family.]

And I want you to know that even if you don't know me that well - or at all, if you need a hand with anything I have your back.

Don't I know it.

[ Said maybe a little bitterly while he fiddles with a plastic straw in his hands from his smoothie. So maybe there's some serious residual abandonment issues here. Maybe being alone in a place with all the people that should know you not knowing you is making that be a little less residual. Whoops.

He blinks up at him, a little wide-eyed. Kyle gave him that speech too. It's so weird to have this kind of thing from people he's never met. People he never would have met, considering his current state of effectively divorced for the main hub of the superhero community. ]

Yeah. Yeah, I'll keep it in mind. [ A minute nod and he gives a half-smile. ] You too, man. I mean, I don't know you, but you're apparently supposed to be pretty cool with me, so I'll just the theoretical other me's judgement.

I hope we're cool, too. Not the other Roy, or the other other Roy. Me and you.

[He gives Roy a smile and there's hope there. Hope that Roy will settle in fine, hope that when the inevitable meeting between Oliver and Roy happens, he'll be lucky (or unlucky, depending on your point of view) to be there. Hope that when Roy finds out he's Oliver Queen's illegitimate son he won't flip out and run off.

He thinks his Roy would've said, "that's kind of coming on hard, bro" but he'd say it with a smile that says he's still proud of the bridge he made.]

I'm at Water sector. Feel free to drop by, 'kay?

[Annnnd scene.]

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