I’ve traveled all this way for something

[maskormods]

WHO: YOU.
WHERE: Eden East's cruiseship
WHEN: Saturday February 15th, around 5 PM EST
WHAT: Registration in motion... among other things.
WARNINGS: None anticipated; let us know if this should be edited.

" The new frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises -- it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride, not to their pocketbook -- it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security. But I tell you the new frontier is here, whether we seek it or not. "
( from jfk's speech "the new frontier," 7/15/1960. )

The sun hasn't set yet and the temperature hovers somewhere just below 70 degrees this evening; imPorts, both recently arrived and not, will have been escorted to this event so that they can meet each other, have a good time, and of course officially state their registration status. Or lack thereof. It's your decision, they emphasize, even though the unspoken "but" is always there.

It's an elaborate spread, certainly much more elegant than last time. Eden East herself, elegant in her backless champagne-colored dress, meets and greets each and every imPort as she flutters to and fro. She'll find you and chat for a few moments, shaking your hand and complimenting your dress. She'll know your name, and she'll have an entourage of aids and cameras following her wake. Captain Holiday, in contrast, maintains the energy of someone who feels out of place holding the Swear-In ceremony somewhere so extravagant. As imPorts arrive he tells them where to be for the ceremony part of the evening, but that they are free to enjoy themselves until then and after.

( Please state your character's official status -- REGISTERED or UNSETTLED -- in the subject header of your thread. Characters who are UNDECIDED may be contacted later in the week for their decision via their IC contact post. )

Comments

karen starr | unsettled | pre-bird & open

[boobwindow]

[ All things considered, it's been a smooth and lovely evening so far. Karen, garbed in a retro cocktail dress of pastel yellow, is almost ready to jump at anything that looks or feels out of place, but after an hour or so on the ship and avoiding paparazzi (who are trying to take photos of other things), she takes a quiet stroll by herself on deck to ease up, nursing a glass of classic martini in her hands.

Where imPorts gathered tonight, it was difficult not to join the crowd, especially in the case something suspicious catches her attention or the party goes south.

For now, she leans against the railing and takes a sip of her drink, gazing out at the stars reflected on the ocean's surface. ]

[retconman]

[ Ah, now there's a familiar face. Among familiar other parts. Max recognizes Karen immediately and his eyes narrow as he blows smoke cigar smoke from the side of his mouth; he can't hide from her, he knows. He doesn't even know if his mind-wipe will be in effect here, considering it's -- apparently -- a whole different universe. But she's a good test subject for what he needs to figure out, a reliable and (comparatively) safe one, so as such he is better off making the first move. ]

Karen! [ He walks up beside her, smiling brightly in that knowing sort of way he's so infamous for. ] What a surprise seeing you, how the hell are you?

1/2

[boobwindow]

[ She can smell the foul cigar smoke from the other side of the deck, flaring her nostrils unpleasantly. She's never liked any of that crap. As the scent draws closer, she's content to try and ignore whoever it is until a familiar voice addresses her. ]

[boobwindow]

Ahh!

[ Too familiar and too close for comfort. As Karen peers over her shoulders to look, she suddenly whirls around on heels to face Max, her martini dangerously close to spilling over the way she jerks.

She briefly wonders if this martini is stronger than she anticipated, looking at Max as if she's just seen a ghost. ]

... Max?!

[retconman]

[ Max's eyebrows raise and he steps back instinctively, not knowing what to make of her reaction. She hasn't tried to kill him yet or anything, but-- what does she know?

He smiles uneasily. ]

That's my name, all right. You're not happy to see me?

[boobwindow]

[ Karen can't decide which part is more annoying: the charming innocent words or the charming innocent (and somewhat uneasy) smile on his perpetually smug face. She swarms him, grabbing his collar by one hand to pull him closer before shaking him back and forth. She's taking care not to use her super strength, but it's a strong grip anyway. ]

Happy? Happy?!

[ She's angry. Not at his port out, that's not his fault of course, though their first and last meeting in the City had been... a roller coaster of emotions and concerns.

What she doesn't realize is his little mind push from last time is still there in her head. ]

When did you get back and why did you wait till now to say anything?

[ She's mad for all the wrong reasons and doesn't know it. ]

[retconman]

Hrk-- Karen! [ She shakes him hard enough that he coughs and drops his cigar on the ground, which is better at least than burning himself. Why was this a good idea, again? Oh, right-- information. ] Back? Back from--

[ Where? When? He was here before? This is a good direction to pursue. With just the right about of discomfort to the question: ]

We weren't... involved, were we?

[boobwindow]

[ If Karen still had her drink in her mouth, this would be the part she spits it all out on his face in complete and utter horror. Like a schoolgirl being told she's touching a fellow classmate with cooties she releases him, her lips curling in disgust. ]

No.

[ The idea is not only revolting to her, but incredibly awkward due to what happened to Ted. Controlled or not. ]

Joke about that again and I will dump you overboard.

[retconman]

[ He puts up his hands in a peace-making gesture, but inwardly feels smug that he's gotten her to let him go so quickly. Less risk of walking away from this exchange with a migraine, for one thing. ]

You should lighten up, it's a party. Did they give you water in that martini? [ Well, she's calm... ish, anyway. ] What did you mean?

[boobwindow]

[ Her eyes narrow at first before widening, something unpleasant and worrying pressing into either side of her stomach as she processes his question. As quickly as that's done, dismay and exasperation creep into her features. ]

Do you not... remember?

[ If he was that drunk she would have smelled it. ]

[retconman]

[ He quirks his eyebrow suspiciously. This is backwards, really, Karen remembering something about him that he doesn't, and he worries for the second time that evening if he'd misfired somehow in his big attempt to erase memory of his presence. ]

Maybe you should elaborate.

[boobwindow]

[ She jerks her hands up, whatever's left of her martini spilling out onto the deck — thankfully on neither of them.

Somebody punch her awake. This has all been a six month long nightmare. ]

You don't remember a place called the City, do you? Or meeting me there before?

[ The only pro is that he doesn't remember she struck him in the face. She doesn't need him remembering that. ]

[retconman]

[ Max furrows his eyebrows, frowning at the spilled drink then back at her. What the hell?

The information is useful, yet troubling. He doesn't like this, having a variable present that he can't see. ]

Apparently I should. What happened, last we--?

[boobwindow]

You weren't there long. [ If that's any relief. She frowns. ] We ran into each other and...

[ He told her it wasn't him who shot Ted and he never meant to. Diana killed him before they could determine who or what was pulling the strings.

It's difficult to push aside the image of Kal beating Batman into a bloody pulp, having his neck slit by the Amazonian warrior, and then her snapping Max's neck for all of the world to see.

Or Rex and Bea interrupting her physical to bring her the news. Or Ted's tombstone.

She needs to tread carefully. Maybe Max isn't from that point in the timeline. ]

What do you remember last?

[retconman]

[ Ugh-- of all the questions he's not in the mood to answer. He looks at her face, trying to gauge something in her expression, any kind of hint to what she's thinking, although the hesitation is probably telling.

Okay, so this happens often. Memory discrepancies, and by the feel of it, time discrepancies as well. She must know he killed Ted. She seems too cautious for him to think they're still on "old friend" terms. He can't determine if she knows about Wonder Woman, if he really had been "there" before Karen would have already gotten over the shock of him turning up alive. Still... something's there that he doesn't know.

What is it? ]

I just want you to tell me-- I need to know if I told you anything important. About... [ Wonder Woman. ] anyone.

[ Then, as if in answer to her question, or to justify his own request: ]

My powers may have shorted out.

[boobwindow]

[ His evasion only furthers her own desire to continue on the same. She folds her arms over her chest, pursing her lips and pondering over what exactly to tell him about their first and last conversation in the City.

He may be on guard because the last time they did talk, she did threaten to beat the snot out of him. ]

When did you last see Ted?

[ It's one of the more difficult questions to ask, an old, familiar heartache she doesn't want to face tonight of all nights. Or with Max of all people, with no offense to him. They were friends, but she wasn't as close with him as she was Ted, or even Booster. ]

Hang on.

[ She scans his head first, but finds nothing unusual. His mind and body are his. ]

You don't feel strange, do you? Like you're not yourself?

[retconman]

Ted?

[ He could just mind-control her into forgetting the whole thing, dropping the subject, shutting that book. He could. Except Max isn't entirely sure, really, how well his powers are working. Enough so that he could get his hands on an outfit for this party, but that was small. That was persuasion, not control. What he fears now is that if he tries with Karen and they backfire, what exactly is going to happen to him?

She mentioned Ted. She knows. She definitely knows. Why is she so calm?

He doesn't answer right away, stilling and looking at her with caution while she x-rays him (better than heat vision, at least). He feels strange, yes, but that's from blood loss, that's from exertion, not from whatever she's getting at. ]

Right as rain.

[ He looks over the railing of the boat for a moment, then back at her. ]

... Ted's dead, isn't he?

[boobwindow]

[ If she had an inkling she was being played, Max would be spending the next month in a body cast.

But she doesn't and Max strikes every single one of her raw nerves. Her stomach, capable of handling practically anything, is stuffed uncomfortably with butterflies and her heart that's sunk down into it. ]

Ted died.

[ She doesn't say "killed" because of what it implies. ]

Max, you have to tell me what you do remember.

[retconman]

[ Ted died. Ted died. Not you killed Ted, nothing immediately indicative Max is a man at fault here.

Karen said Max had been here before. He must have told her something that stuck, that even now sits so strongly in her mind it sustains its own power, cemented as reality. That or he's dealing more deeply with alternate universes now than he originally suspected; can there be another Earth out there where Ted died another way? Sure there can.

Then of course that thought, irrational though it is, that Max has somehow changed reality himself with that last big push refuses to leave his mind entirely, but then a final thought occurs, which is the one he would rather dismiss most of all yet can't quite make himself: What if you didn't kill Ted, Max? Ever think of that one? Maybe you've finally driven yourself crazy. Burst a blood vessel in the wrong part of your brain. Could you have changed your own memories, even on accident?

He leans himself against the railing for balance, looking forward with a blank, shell-shocked expression. It would be easy to lie, so easy, but he's at a momentary loss for words. ]

God.

How? How did--

[ He frowns. He's over-thinking it, he has to be. He isn't crazy, he can't be. He touches his temple with his fingers like a man with a headache. ]

I was talking to Michael-- Booster, we were talking about Ted, but I... now I'm not... did Ted kill himself?

[boobwindow]

[ A cool, gentle wind breezes across deck, throwing her bangs into her eyes. Her fingers reach up to push them back and tuck some strands of hair behind her ear and that's when she notices the one photographer in a corner, trying to make use of his shadows while he attempts to take photos of what looks to be "juicy gossip". Karen points at him and then the vast ocean behind her. ]

Get moving before I toss that camera and you over.

[ The threat may not be real, but the photographer gulps and is quick to scamper off away from the two.

Karen sighs and turns back to Max, expression darkening as she studies Max's body language. He's distraught, his heart doesn't indicate he's playing her for a fool.

Here comes the worst part. ]

What? No! Ted would never. [ She can't control the anger that flares in both her eyes and tone at Max's question. ] Ted wouldn't.

I need you to stay calm for what I need to tell you, Max. [ She tempers herself. ] Someone murdered Ted... and they used you to do it.

[retconman]

[ The distraction of the cameraman allows Max a moment to compose himself mentally, even though he turns in that direction as well. He's not concerned about tabloids, especially not at the moment -- that's far behind him.

Right now, all that matters is what Karen's telling him. He listens, trying to soak in all meaning. He thinks, maybe, he's starting to understand, but it still throws him for something of a loop. He doesn't let go of the railing except to tap at his temple with one finger. ]

Got in my head, you mean? I'll be... darned. [ It's brilliant, really. ] How am I supposed to process being an accessory to murder?

Ted was my friend too.

[ Sometimes a guy just has no choice. So sayeth the Maxwell Lord. ]

[boobwindow]

[ The frown on her face deepens and she steps closer to him, a gentle hand clapping down on his shoulder.

They all do things they don't want to do. Rao knows in this business how many of them have been manipulated over and over again by forces beyond their control. She still carries enough guilt over the Crisis, knowing she had been an important instrument in it. She could have stopped Superboy-Prime and Alex and done something sooner. ]

You're not an accessory.

[ She pauses, suddenly sounding uncertain. She is; she hadn't been there and Max's story still makes her leery, but there's a part of her that's inclined to believe him. ]

You said someone or something had taken control of you again. It's happened before, so it's possible this time we missed it entirely.

[retconman]

[ Max looks at her with an uncertainty that's sincere and a guilt that's calculated, his shoulders slumping wearily when she touches him. He doesn't let his guard down for a moment, still turning the situation over in his head, testing for weak points, flaws, and never discarding the possibility she could be lying to him.

It's a long shot, but Max can't afford to dismiss any possibility just in case. ]

Right. I... [ He frowns tensely. ] I can accept that. Well, I have to.

[ There's a pause as he frowns down at where his cigar fell earlier. ]

Thanks, Karen.

[boobwindow]

It's...

[ Not fine. She doesn't know how to tell him "You're welcome" after dropping this truth bomb on him when he hasn't been in Heropa long or have memories of the City. It does get her wondering about the possibility this Porter can't recover memories of those from the City as it had never ported them here before.

She removes her hand not too long after, a sign she's just as unsure as he is. ]

I'm sorry it came out like this tonight.

[ She reaches up, her hand rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. ]

And it's not... all.

[retconman]

[ He can predict what's coming, but he's not certain he wants to hear it. Superman comes next, of course, and then Wonder Woman. It's so fresh his neck almost still creaks from whiplash, but it's not that.

He does need some time. He need to think. To react. Max doesn't need to relive everything up and including his death in one evening and in front of a witness.

He puts his hands up. ]

Can it--

Listen, can it wait?

Not tonight, Karen... all right? I hope you can understand.