person man, person man, hit on the head with a frying pan

[jacksonian]

WHO: Mark and whoever
WHERE: Everywhere!! But mostly De Chima and Maurtia Falls
WHEN: Throughout November
WHAT: Catch-all for November with stuff. Hit me up!! Please!!! Open prompts below; PM me if you want something that isn't these things.
WARNINGS: Mark's life sucks; I'll edit this header if any particular suckiness comes up.


1. dog dog dog dog dog dog dog; De Chima/Maurtia Falls
[ In De Chima or in Maurtia Falls, you might find a rather strange sight: a small stocky man walking an enormous stocky dog. This is Mark walking his dog Captain, a scarred and warlike pit bull that pulls at the leash and constantly wags his tail. Mark's expression is still a forbidding glower, but Captain's doggy face is open and bright-eyed and happy; there's no one he doesn't want to make friends with.

And Mark, unfortunately, doesn't know good leash technique, and also (in spite of his own roundness) doesn't outweigh his dog by that much. And so when Captain wants to make friends, Mark is dragged along behind him. And that is why, if you're walking around, you might be approached by a dog trailing a very sour-looking little man who's hissing - ]

No, don't - stop - heel -

2. come make $$$$; Maurtia Falls
[ PKE, LLC, up in Maurtia Falls, is beyond luxurious. The office is appointed with a sort of brushed-steel-and-pine classiness, like it's furnished from the expensive part of Ikea; the receptionist out front is attractive and aloof, and people who are waiting get offered mineral water from glass bottles.

There are any number of reasons that you might have ended up here: you might have received an advertisement in the mail, or a random notification on your phone, or you might have seen the advertising that targets imPorts. All of this advertising will have offered help in investing, getting rich, or opening a new business - generous funding to get everyone a little bit wealthier.

Mark, sitting at his desk, smiles a smile that can generously be described as oily when you're shown in. And he purrs - ]

Please, sit down. Tell me about how you'd like to make money.

3. kicking some grass; De Chima
[ Mark doesn't like to practice where he can be seen. Definitely not. So when he's worked up and anxious, he goes out far away from his family, far away from the people who know him, out into the forests of De Chima. On the unlikely off-chance that your character happens to wander by, they'll be treated to a very strange sight: a small fat man vigorously practicing a judo kata, face miserable, before punching a tree. He turns as soon as he hears them, though, eyes flashing with anger as he snarls - ]

What the hell are you doing here? Go away.

4. fuck it; anywhere
[ Mark's eating ice cream. Come have ice cream. ]

Comments

[mostlysunny]

Um, Krypton, I'm from a planet called Krypton. ...it's not there anymore, actually, my cousin Superman and I are the only ones left.

[It's easier to say that than it used to be, but it does make her glow dim just a little bit. ...not for long though, because Captain is here, and she's meeting someone new.]

[jacksonian]

Oh. Uh.

[ Mark's own face falls a little bit. ]

Why? What...happened to it?

[mostlysunny]

It, um, it blew up. But, I mean, almost 40 years ago now. I was thirteen.

[Because she definitely looks like she's in her fifties. Her 24 years in the Phantom Zone don't count. But she smiles and shakes her head.]

It's okay, it's fine. Where are you from, Lord Mark?

[jacksonian]

[ His mouth traces the word thirteen? before he shakes his head and moves on. Maybe...Maybe the people of her planet are like Betans. Maybe they just deal with age better. But...fifty...? But he turns his attention to her question - ]

Oh. I was created on a planet called Jackson's Whole. [ Born, say born, not created, he scolds himself internally. She'll think you're some sort of demented mad scientist's monster. Though, to be fair - he sort of is. And he certainly looks the part...He clears his throat. ] But I've been living on Earth for the past few years. And I'm, uh, Barrayaran by heritage.

[ He awkwardly rubs the back of his neck. ]

Have you heard of...any of those planets?

[mostlysunny]

Iiii have heard of Earth! [That's good, right?] But Krypton isn't anywhere near Earth, and it might be pretty far from Jackson's Whole and Barrayar too. I've only been to about a dozen planets, with my dad when I was a kid, and they were all really close.

['Created.' She doesn't miss that. Created reminds her very strongly of Bizarro Girl, created to be just like Supergirl, possibly her first exposure to truly evil thinking. But that's not a nice topic to bring up with someone she's just met. And they're having a nice conversation. And maybe she'll just turn to Captain for a second, rubbing his big head in both hands.]

And I'm guessing you're from right here, right buddy?

[jacksonian]

Yeah. He is.

[ This angle gives him a really nice view of her chest. He lifts his eyes - and then can't resist the temptation to let them drop again. Damn it, how is she so pretty... ]

Well, uh, Maurtia Falls. They broke up a fighting business, and the dogs were put up for rescue. So.

[ He shrugs a little shyly. Captain, fortunately, more than makes up for that shyness, wriggling with joy as she tousles his ears. ]

So, are you really fifty?

[ He asks that, and then immediately wants to go and jump off a bridge. Why did he say that? Smooth, Mark, so smooth... ]

[mostlysunny]

Did they make you fight? [This to Captain, who seems to manage to look sad at the idea, but it might just be a ruse to get another hug out of her, and it works.

So that's the position she's in when the question registers and she looks up, bewildered.]

Am I really what? OH. No! No, I'm, oh jeez, no, I'm not. I mean. Not...technically?

[She should really stand up now, shouldn't she, she's been kneeling down this whole time, that's so rude. She lets Captain go and straightens, brushing off her skirt a little, and Captain immediately burrows his head under one of her hands, which makes her smile a little.]

No, um, technically my escape pod got knocked off-course when Krypton exploded, and I got knocked into the, um, the Phantom Zone? And time doesn't pass there. So I was there for twenty-four years out here, but in there, I was still thirteen the whole time. So I sort of side-stepped those years. [Stop babbling, focus.] I'm twenty-six. In, you know, in years I've been here.

[jacksonian]

[ Twenty-six. He chokes down the insane impulse to sing something asinine at her, something like - I'm almost eighteen, I'll be eighteen as soon as I pick a birthday for myself, eight years is hardly anything - Somehow he swallows it. It helps that Captain buys her a bit of time by furiously licking the underside of her hand and trying to snuffle his way up into her sleeve. ]

Uh...Huh. I, uh... [ He clears his throat. ] How did you get out of the...Phantom Zone? [ All of that does sound weird as hell, but, well...It's not like there's not plenty of stuff here that's even weirder. They time travel here. And time's frozen back home. So why the hell not? ]

[mostlysunny]

[Might be worth the embarrassment someday just to watch how adorably flustered she'd get. Luckily Kryptonian powers don't extend to mind-reading, and Captain is proving a sufficient distraction that she doesn't pick up on any of that internal monologue, she's just focused on rolling her eyes at the thought of how she'd gotten out of the Phantom Zone.]

This...jerk...named Indigo, I found out she managed to fire my pod jets and push me out, but it was only so she could drag Krypton's prison out with me. I really do not like her.

[Luckily she's dead now. Probably. Assuming there isn't a backup copy of her stored somewhere. Fighting evil artificial intelligences isn't easy when your main method of attack is punching people.]

But, I mean, it was fine, I landed on Earth and was adopted into a family of scientists who helped me, um, blend in.

[jacksonian]

[ Mark leans in and hesitantly joins in petting Captain, rubbing the dog's back. This sends Captain into raptures; his head lolls back and he sighs blissfully. ]

Blend in? Why would you have trouble blending in?

[mostlysunny]

Oh, well, um. I was. From a different planet? [What other reason would she need?] I always looked human, but I'm not, I'm a Kryptonian, I can do things humans can't do. And they didn't want people to be afraid of me, so I-I decided to hide who I really was and. Blend in.

[Or rather, the Danvers family had decided, and she'd gone along with it because she'd been thirteen, stripped of purpose, and almost the last survivor of her whole planet, not exactly in a position to argue. Cheerful subject, but at least Captain is enjoying himself.]

But I'm, I'm just talking about myself, what about you, what's your homeworld like?

[jacksonian]

[ He ducks his head just a little and shakes it. ]

I'd, uh...I'd rather talk about you.

[ Then, hoping she won't take offense or get mad or anything - ] So you're...an alien? A real alien? We don't have any where I'm from.

[mostlysunny]

I am, I suppose, I'm at least an alien on Earth—wait, you don't have any where you're from? But you've been to different planets.

[How could there be different inhabitable planets and no aliens on them, that just makes no sense.]

[jacksonian]

[ He shakes his head, then hesitates, trying to be accurate - ]

We don't have any intelligent alien species. A lot of our terraformed worlds have developed vegetation or proto-vegetation, and some have developed animal life. [ Then, by way of explanations: ] Humanity developed faster-than-light travel about a thousand years ago. We've been settling the galaxy ever since.

[mostlysunny]

So there's just humans everywhere? [A galaxy with only one sentient species? Expanding from one planet for a thousand years? What a weird idea.]

The humans where I'm from don't have any space travel. Not really. I mean, they have satellites and a space station, but they haven't even gone to Mars yet.

[jacksonian]

[ Mark looks down to rub at Captain's ears. ]

Yeah, well...I'm probably about a thousand years ahead of you. What year is it for you? Uh - in Earth years, if you know, not Krypton years.

[mostlysunny]

It's, it was 2016 when I left my Earth. A thousand years ahead, really?

[Her first thought is how happy and excited Zor-El would have been to learn about a universe like this, with such extensive technology, populated only by one sentient race. No one she knew had ever considered something like that. Even the humans on Earth who had thought aliens weren't real, they had to acknowledge them thanks to Superman and Supergirl.]

[jacksonian]

[ He rubs at his chin, a gesture of confirmation. ]

29th century, where I'm from. We started really resettling the other planets during the 22nd. So your humans still might have a ways to go. Unless you have technology to offer them...?

[ He glances at her, curious, a clear invitation to confirm or deny. ]

[mostlysunny]

Me, oh, no. I really don't. We really, we don't do that. It's not exactly a peaceful world out there right now, I don't think that would be a good idea, and my cousin doesn't think so either.

[Typical aliens, keeping their superior technology to themselves? Oops?]

No, I'm just. Supergirl. Wow, the 29th century, I can't even picture that.

[And with other rub to Captain's head, she stands reluctantly. She's still technically supposed to be patrolling, even if petting dogs and talking to their from-the-future owners with 'lord' in their names is more fun.]

I guess I should get going. I'm supposed to be on patrol. [Dogs tho who could blame her?]