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[hammer]

[ The image of a rather ordinary, unremarkable looking man fills the screen. He’s clean-shaven, wearing a pair of black-framed glasses, and he’s got brown hair, cut short and though it’s a little messy, there’s something about it that suggests that it had been styled at one point earlier in the day. He’s just slightly disheveled, which those familiar with the comings and goings of individuals to Keeliai might recognize as a sign of a new arrival. ]

So this is… [ There’s a moment of silence, as he trails off and glances away from the camera. ] …different.

[ It only lasts for a second, before he looks back and rolls his eyes. ]

The whole—I mean, well… Whatever.

[ He takes a deep breath, lets it out, and pulls himself together. ]

Right, okay. I was given a place to live but no job, and I’m guessing that it isn’t free rent forever. So if there’s, I don’t know, a job center? Help wanted ads? Some turtle world version of Craigslist? Something? Could someone point me in the right direction?

Comments

[hammer]

[ It's like being back at home already. He mentions the words smart or technology and immediately, everyone's falling all over themselves to mention Tony Stark. It's like some kind of temporal displacement comedy movie, only Justin's not laughing. Even after being transported to another world, he can't escape the stupid bastard. ]

Wait, sorry, mini-armageddon?

[ That sounds bad, but it's a relief to have something else to focus on that isn't Stark. ]

For real? There was that kind of... What happened?

[alphatar]

Trust me, I was just as surprised when I got woken up by stuff falling from the sky. All this flaming, lava-hot space “satellite” things were crashing all over Keeliai and it took a lot of us to keep as many of the kedan safe as possible. [Even if they were being total jerks and blaming the whole ordeal on the foreigners.] One of my friends got really hurt and I had to heal him. I could barely sleep when it finally stopped.

[She’ll just shove another spoonful of stew in her mouth and somehow barely manage to be audible. ]

And I’m thinking that’s the least of our worries. [Now she’s chewing on a sea prune.] But don’t sweat it to much Justin, if you ever need help with something I usually have time.

Except with the whole job thing, took me a while just to get mine.

[hammer]

[ His eyebrows raise when she says that she heals her friend. Helping him out, bandaging him up, that Justin can understand. But heal sounds a lot like magic. And she had asked him what his powers were. ]

Falling lava satellites is the least of our worries? What're our biggest worries?

[ And why is he here in this place of superheros? He's just a guy in a suit. He can't do anything. ]

I mean, thanks though. You know, for the helping me out offer. I appreciate it. And same goes for you, if you need my hep with something.

[alphatar]

The real threat is the thing that's making Tu Vishan sick. It's the reason for the decay and rationing that's been going on since I got here. As far as I know it's some kind of evil essence, or spirit as far as I'm concerned. [She swallows her food before putting her arms on her desk to lean in towards the monitor.] And us foreigners will have to fight it.

[She'll let that sit there for a few beats before she sighs.] But no one's really sure how to do that yet. [Unless someone did and just wasn't saying anything.]

You got it Justin! I'm in the Metal Sector at ME-2B if you run out of food. I usually have extra. [Helpfulness, thy name is Korra.]

[hammer]

I'm in Fire. FI-2C.

[ Better to address that part first, before he gets distracted by the rest of it. Because the rest of it is equal parts alarming and crazy. ]

But just—Let me get this straight. The turtle's sick. Some kind of, of spirit? [ His brow wrinkles doubtfully. ] Is making the turtle sick. And we're supposed to fight it? With what?

[alphatar]

Yup, definitely a spirit. [After all, that’s what an essence translates to her.]

That’s the question everyone’s asking. Considering what it’s doing to Tu Vishan, there’s not much only one of us can do, but I think our best bet is going to be magic and/or something from the leftover space satellite stuff. Maybe that can disrupt things in the Spirit World? [She shrugs.] At least that’s my gamble. I have a ton of stuff I salvaged and even though I got it written down what they do, I don’t really understand it.

[Because Tony’s notes are made for tech-heads, not someone who’s fairly well versed with the telegraph. The current publicly available cutting edge in her world’s era.]

[hammer]

[ Giant turtles and spirits worlds. Nothing strange about that, right? Justin takes a deep breath, trying to make sense of all this. ]

Do you—You mean using the satellite equipment on the Spirit World because it's energy, right? I mean, I'm not an expert on the supernatural, but ghosts and things are energy, I guess. So making a device that manipulates energy might do the trick.

Maybe.

[alphatar]

Cool! One sec. [She goes off camera for a moment before returning with a sleek white sphere with a black stripe around it. The size of an 8lb bowling ball.]

This is one of the things I found. [She holds up a note for Justin to read.] Tony wrote this, but my English is not that good yet. Honestly, I don't think it will ever be.

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Electro-magnetic inertial confinement fusion emitter. Exactitude. Possible Ion | Electron properties. One gigajoule per emission.

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[i.e. Pintpoint lasery death beam.]

I have no clue what even a fraction of that says but it can cut through most things.

[hammer]

[ He studies first the device, which he's never seen before, and the note, which he refuses to react to in anything but an interested manner. ]

Electro-magnetic inertial confinement fusion emitter. Exactitude. Possible ion-electron properties. One gigajoule per emission

It means it's a really powerful laser that can be used for precision work. And it looks like a bowling ball.

That fell from the sky? Jesus Christ, no one was hurt, were they?

[alphatar]

[Blinking a few times, Korra’s mouth tries to twist into a knot now that she knows what that note meant.] Why couldn’t he just have written that down instead of all of whatever talk that is!? [Seriously, she spent money for those notes.]

But yeah, this was stuck inside a broken lamp in the Fire Sector after everything stopped falling. I may have cut a thing or two on accident when I turned it on, but no one was hurt.

[Ringing a bell in her memory from her conversation with Tony, Korra points to Justin suddenly and curiously asks:] Do you know who Jesus is?

[hammer]

Because he's a self-important jerk. Most smart people are. And that kind of talk? It's just to show off.

[ Okay, maybe he shouldn't have said that, but he's only been in the strange turtle world for a few hours and already everything's all about Tony Stark. ]

And if no one was hurt, that's all that matters.

[ How does he answer that last question? ]

Uh, well, not personally. He was a guy who was born in ancient times. Kind of a philosopher. Some people thought he had special powers and over the years, he sort of became a mythological figure. Like the Greek gods.

[alphatar]

[Well self-important wasn’t too far off the mark…] Well showing off certainly didn’t help me at all. I mean he was funny, but also really…odd. Especially after he mentioned my-

[She coughs blatantly into a closed hand and then waves the subject away.] Either way, I never would have understood what any of that meant. Thanks!

[Her eyebrows shoot up near her hairline.] Wow. So that’s why he was asking me if I was the “Jesus” of my world.

I’m really glad you’re a smart person who isn’t a show off Justin. [She nods with a smile.] Maybe you could start a business too? A lot of businessmen are starting to show up, so maybe there’s a market there.

[hammer]

[ His brow furrows, but his innate hatred of talking about Tony Stark prevents him from inquiring about whatever subject she's just changed. ]

Jesus? What does he have to do with you?

[ Then again, Stark was probably drunk. Why is Justin expecting anything he says to make sense again? ]

I'm not sure if anyone here really needs my sort of business. Especially if everyone has powers, a gun might be a little moot by this point.

[alphatar]

It’s really complicated. I’ll tell you about it later when you’re more settled in.

[Well guns weren’t her thing, but-] Not everyone has powers. There’s a lot of people like Mark, Arthur, Wally, Finnick, Peter, etc who don’t have any powers. Maybe they can use one? Especially if anything else happens.

[hammer]

Really? There's actually ordinary people here?

[ Does that make him sound pathetic? He thinks that it does, only by then, it's already out of his mouth and too late to call back. ]

[alphatar]

Oh yeah! Arthur's my next door neighbor and he has some nice suits too. Totally a regular person.

[She shrugs with a simple smile.] It's nice, you know? Too many super people in one area can be too much.

[hammer]

Yeah? That's good to know. Thanks.

[ Justin's been ordinary all his life. In a world full of superpowers and Tony Stark again, he's starting to feel a little obsolete and useless. ]

[alphatar]

You're welcome! [To Korra, Justin is a symbol of normality. Something everybody with powers/abilities craves since all the crazy stuff hit's their lives. Hard.]

Oh, and there's also the audience the Emperor holds every month. You can go there to ask her things no one else has answers to. I heard that she can be a little harsh though.

[hammer]

Harsh like punishing people who ask the wrong questions?

[ Because those kinds of people are the sort that Justin wants to avoid. Forever. Since inevitably, he always asks the wrong questions. ]

Or just kind of rude?

[alphatar]

Just a kind of ‘strict’ rude I think. [She shrugs her shoulders] I’ve never had a reason to attend one of those, so I have no personal experience. But if you ask for too much, she’ll probably ask for something in return.

[hammer]

In that case, maybe I'll just wait until I actually have something I could give her in return. Thanks for the heads-up on that. I appreciate it.

[alphatar]

Any time Justin. If you don't feel like going alone when that happens, just let me know.

[hammer]

[ He smiles a little. He can't help it. ]

Thanks, Korra. I will.