seven : a scary conversation [AUDIO]

[everylittlegirl]

[Hayley sighs a little, then sounds mostly disappointed. Those paying close attention can probably tell it masks a level of anger.]

Seriously? Is no one talking about the whole people getting murdered thing?

[ooc: Action for Superman is in first thread]

[100% Trek encrypted to: Clark]
[There's the longest pause before she speaks, extremely quiet and definitely scared.]

So I, uh.. was dead.

[100% Trek encrypted to: Lois]
[Her voice is mostly level when she messages Lois, but clearly hiding something less neutral.]

I know you and Clark tell each other everything, so whatever. I need some time off from the radio.

[100% Trek encrypted to: Bruce Banner]
You need to see something. Can you come over later?

[100% Trek encrypted to: Dick Grayson (comics)]
You know, you never actually told me who your family members are.

[100% Trek encrypted to: Jason Todd]
Tell me you're not too busy for a drink.

[100% Trek encrypted to: Maxwell Lord]
[There's a pause, then Hayley sounds more pleasant.]
Hey.

[100% Trek encrypted to: Chekov]
Will you help teach me how to encrypt things? I want to learn.

[100% Trek encrypted to: Loki]
What makes a soul any different from just like, memories and neurons and whatever?

[100% Trek encrypted to: Jor-El] - (added a short while later)
You have all the same powers Superman does, right?

[100% Trek encrypted to: Bruce Wayne] - (added a short while later)
I'm sorry, about work. I just need a few more days off and then I'll come back. Please?

[Assume she hasn't shown up the last week or so.]

[100% Trek encrypted to: Sabriel] - (added a short while later)
I want to learn magic.

Comments

[everylittlegirl]

[She nods and the memory of his first post to the network comes to mind. He seemed hurt or unwell then. Back when he was only a tool to get to Superman. Now he's a mentor and, at this exact moment, a salvation. While she doesn't feel regret for using him, she begrudges how much more complicated everything has become.]

How did you.. I mean, it couldn't have been easy.

[lookedtothestars]

[He had been. Even when he had responded to the replies, he still was having difficulty from breathing in a different atmosphere, and still recovering from shock.]

I was unwilling to make mention of it for some time. It was only during the time Tu Vishan went underwater and the barrier connected us to Sinbrilee that I finally informed Kal-El.

[And the rest of his family here. His voice is patient, allowing her to ask questions as needed, or wanted.]

[everylittlegirl]

[That actually catches Hayley off guard and the shock shows on her face. She figured he would have told his son when Kal-El arrived to help him that first day, or maybe within a few days. That he waited so long suddenly makes her feel much less selfish for allowing herself a week to grieve. Simultaneously, it surprises her that he would tell her so soon after informing his own family, it having only been a couple months since then. Maybe less.]

Why are you telling me? [The question is sincere, and she doesn't need to ask why he would wait. Rather:] What made you finally tell him?

[lookedtothestars]

[The answer to her first question is fairly simple, though one that will likely need to be couched if only to prevent her from receiving the wrong impression.]

You asked. I had no reason to deny you the answer when you wished to know and it would be potentially beneficial.

As for telling Kal-El, the son I sent away was a newborn. He is an adult, no child. I wished to establish some sort of relationship with him before I told him of the events that took place on Krypton, rather than letting it dictate how it would form.

[everylittlegirl]

No, that's not- [She shakes her head to his first response. It's soft, careful not to be dismissive or disrespectful of his answer. She does care about that information as well, even if it's not what she meant.] I mean, why did you tell me you died at all?

[It's not like she had any idea. He could easily have kept the secret and she would have been none the wiser. Jor-El's response as to why he waited to tell his son makes sense, but the answer leaves her unsatisfied.] And why did you tell him then? I get why you wanted to wait, but what made you decide you'd waited long enough?

[There's a pause as she suddenly realizes that what she saw in Sinbrilee with him is the home and wife he left behind. She almost feels guilty in thinking that she wished everyone she had left behind was destroyed in some tragic way. Then she wouldn't be alone in death. Then they would suffer like she had. But they live on without her.]

[lookedtothestars]

To help you. [It is still gentle- she is still recovering from her own experience with death- but firm.]

[His response to her second question is even gentler, only confirming what she must have realized.]

You were not the only one to see what you had in Sinbrilee.

[everylittlegirl]

[Hayley frowns a little at his response. She likes Jor-El for how logical he is, but his practical effort to be compassionate is skirting the lines of being too caring. Even as she knows she's making attachments, the girl wants to avoid them.

Instead of replying to the former, she just focuses on the latter, wondering if that means Kal-El saw the same or if Jor-El just decided not to hide it anymore after so many people knew. It doesn't seem like a necessary clarification.]

How do you deal with it? Being a clone or whatever.

[lookedtothestars]

[It's an interesting question from her, among the possible ones she could ask.]

It is not something to be dealt with. [To him, it is much the same as the artificial intelligence of himself loaded onto the command key he sent with his son; the only difference is here, he is alive, a physical being. He already knew he was dead when he arrived. His continued existence was not an existential dilemma.] There were few options likely, with regards to our appearance here.

[everylittlegirl]

[His answer is a strange one, offering her a unique perspective in this place filled with others who would all offer the same hollow sympathies. Again, his logic helps her to distance herself from the subject. Of course, it also brings about other thoughts with it, philosophies cascading and intertwining to form a beautiful ballet in her mind.]

But if good people can be brought back, there's nothing to stop bad people from being brought back too. [It's one of the few times that she's subtly admitted to such a way of thinking, that she's conscious of good and evil on a regular basis.]

[lookedtothestars]

There is not.

[Moral absolutism, the concept that some actions were intrinsically right or wrong, good or evil, regardless of purpose or intent, was not a philosophy Jor-El accepted as his own, or even believed in.

It was too binary and simple in a complex universe, and one where it was not the immediate results or consequences of actions that were usually the most important, but their lasting consequences and the longterm impact they had.

Each action had to be measured and framed against what it would cause in the long term, for it was that that was important. The council on Krypton had refused to acknowledge that drilling the planet's core, while it was beneficial in the short term, would ultimately doom them all.

There were, greater things, better things, to preserve in the long term, and it was that which he had pursued, doing his best to preserve Krypton's future. Jor-El had killed in his escape attempt, stolen what was inarguably the most important and priceless thing on the planet, and not only defied what would have been the will of the council if they had the chance, but also Zod's.

At the same time, Zod had been trying to do much the same, following a course of actions that he thought would save their people, even if the attempt was one made in futility, and ones Jor-El did not agree with, could not agree with. Zod's path was predicated on death and destruction to save their people. Jor-El had done his best to avoid those actions on his own, even if he had not fully succeeded.

The man he had known had changed, becoming one willing to do those things. But so, for that matter, had Jor-El. As much of a rogue element he had been at times, it was not until near the end end that he had, for the most part, followed Krypton's cultural mores, the important ones, deferring to both his guild and council. Respecting what his people had chosen, even if he did not fully agree.]

However, people change.

[Zod had not been the only one that day to walk closer to darkness.]

[everylittlegirl]

Not all people.

[Her answer is immediate and unflinching.

She changed, certainly, and she suspected people like Jor-El and Bruce Banner had as well, but some people could never truly change and some never would. Aaron and Jeff would never become better and allowing them to continue posed too great a threat.

It didn't matter what the end goal was, short-term or long-term, if the methods were terrible enough. There was very little gray area; there used to be none, but she had been forced to accept a small amount into her life since arriving on the turtle. Even with the gray, some things were simply unacceptable.]

[lookedtothestars]

You are correct. Not all.

[It is something he has no problem admitting. He knows it is true, after all. His people refused to change their ways, even when it would save them. Their actions were decided by the roles they were born to fill. To work beyond those roles, for many Kryptonians, he had seen that it was near impossible, though it would end in their deaths. Even his own actions, unorthodox as they were, still followed his role.]

Enough are still willing to change, Hayley.

[For good and bad.]

[everylittlegirl]

[She wants to ask him if they deserve it. Do people who do terrible things deserve the time and opportunity to change, that second chance that the clone provides them? She's pretty sure they don't, but asking would give away too much. Instead, she merely shrugs, content to accept him at his words for now.]

Thanks. [It's a general remark, meant to encompass everything. It's all she'll offer him for now, before she glances curiously at their surroundings, her mind already moving on to bigger and better things. Not really bigger or better, but more pleasant of a distraction at least.]

[lookedtothestars]

You are welcome.


There is a room prepared for you on the floor above.

[While he has been here for some time, his suite is still sparsely decorated, with few changes from how it was originally furnished.

It is not so noticeable with the suite's first floor, public as the space is, an area Hayley has been in before due to their lessons, but even the other, private floors lack in personalization.]

[everylittlegirl]

[Hayley suddenly feels a shiver run the length of her spine as her mind connects his paternal presence with her own father. It sickens her for a moment, but she quickly dismisses the idea. Jor-El is nothing like her own father and she's staying with him as a mentor and teacher, not as a family member or friend. It's all necessity.]

I'm going to sleep. [She says softly, making her way towards the stairs. Although not entirely sure if he's meant to be leading or if she can go exploring, she progresses in that general direction, eager to get settled and be allowed her own time to think more. Someplace where she's safe and maybe, just maybe, can actually feel safe long enough to think or even to sleep.]