DC: 2012-03-26 - Videogames and Tribbles

Kara Zor-El arrives at Titans Tower after making sure Solarflare was settled in at the Safehouse, then trying to have a long talk with Kal. She comes back to the Tower a short while later, wearing the blue uniform. Skirt and all. She comes down the roof access, heads over to the couch in the common room, and flops down on it. "I'm too young for this." she says to herself before noticing if anyone else is within earshot.

Roy has a sleeping Lian in his lap as he watches My Little Ponies. He jerks awake when you come in to sit down and raises a hand to rub at an eye as Lian sleeps right through it. "Kara...hey," and he smiles lazily over at you. "You are too young, all the more the pity." Yes, Roy is definately half asleep and flirtatious.

Kara Zor-El fortunately doesn't 'get' the comment at first. "What? Oh... Roy. Hey." She smiles - a little. Still thinking about what Solarflare told her. She looks at Lian sleeping in his lap, then at the show on TV. She asks in a whisper, "Is the show for you or her?"

"Kara....if you were older, I'd so...," a pause, "I'm not going to say that." Roy rubs his face. "For Lian, obviously," keeping his voice down. "What's going on Star Bright?" Wrong cartoon, but hey...it is another kid's show. "What has you so down?"

Kara Zor-El turns to look at Roy. "I just stopped Solarflare from breaking Killer Frost out of prison. He was going to break her out and put himself in because of that thing I read about in the Daily Planet. With the firefighter? Annnd he said the only reason he's good is because of me."

Roy jerks up more, giving Lian a slight shake and causing her to make a soft sound in her sleep. "What?!" he quickly quiets down. He groans. "Geez, like you don't have enough to worry about. I'm sorry sweetie," he says, sincere sounding. "Anything I can do?"

Kara Zor-El nods a little. "He also said he was going to threaten Cat Grant until she took back what she said about me. I talked him out of that too." She pauses. "Can I tell you a secret and you don't tell -anyone- else? Especially not Solarflare?"

"This secret is going to drive me nuts, isn't it?" But Roy smiles slightly even if it is actually a very sad expression. He pets Lian's hair gently as his daughter sleeps. "What is it that you are locking up inside yourself?"

Kara Zor-El shrugs a little. "After I stopped him and took him away from the prison, he asked if we could go away together to some other planet where no one would hear about us again. And I told him I didn't want to do that." She pauses. "I don't know if we're going to be .... " She tries to rephrase the sentence she stopped. "I don't think we have the same feelings for each other. But now he's saying how he's only good because of me. Maybe the Kryptonian way of matching up is better than dating."

Roy reaches out with his free hand to touch yours. "Hey...it's a learning experience. I mean...seriously, look at me. I ended up with a psychoic woman, but at least I got a beautiful gift from her," and he looks pointedly down at Lian. He then looks back at you after a few moments. "We keep trying to find someone that completes us. Sometimes we fail, sometimes we succeed. But it isn't a bad thing, to fail or succeed. You have some good memories with Solarflare, no matter what right? And that doesn't mean you can't help him, or that sometimes you won't feel guilty if you can't...but it isn't your fault."

Kara Zor-El nods a little. "It's not that I don't really really like him. I do. It's just... you know, I wanted it to be like a boyfriend girlfriend dating thing like I see on TV. But instead it's just -so- intense. Always how he loves me more than life and would give his life for me and worships me." She rubs her temples. "Then Kal was saying the same thing when i first told him I was dating Solar... how you only should date someone if you want to spend the rest of your life with him. Then Solarflare agreed with him about that. Now I'm told by him how he's only good because of me. I'm feeling TRAPPED."

"Dating is the progress of finding that person you want to spend your life with Kara. It's like an exam or test...will your feelings for each other continue to grow stronger, or will your relationship fall apart? That's the goal, finding that out. If you work hard at it, and you both want it to succeed, you will grow stronger together. But if you fall apart....some people can date very casually as they experiment and learn, some can't."

Kara Zor-El sighs. "I don't know what I want with Solarflare. Actually... I'd really like to have FUN with relationships before even having to think about lifelong commitments. I havent gotten to do any of the fun stuff." She frowns. "Bad enough to have all sorts of responsibility with the job. Now I see why Kal has the secret identity. It's so he doesn't have to deal with all this deep responsible stuff every second of the day." She adds, "Oh... yeah by the way, I decided to be Supergirl again. Don't underestimate Kal's ability to make someone feel guilty."

A snort at that, "Why am I not surprised?" But Roy then says gently, "You are Supergirl, just as much as you are Kara. That isn't something that can just be easily stolen or taken away." He then sighs. "I can't say I understand your relationship with your cousin, Green Arrow and I have our own complicated relationship. But I want you to know, I will support your decision. Just make sure you make ones you can live with. Like Starfire. She had to make some really tough ones recently, and not once was Solarflare there to support her. I can't lie and say I'm proud of anything he has done lately. I'm really trying not to judge him though, because of his past."

Kara Zor-El shakes her head. "I'm a lot more Kara than I am Supergirl. Not that I'm not going to try. Easier to ignore what you are when you don't have any memory of it, like Kal." She scrunches her nos a bit. "I heard what Starfire did too, yeah. She's so much better at dealing with messing up than me." She reaches over to take the remote control from sleeping Lian's grip, carefully. "What would happen if I broke up with him and he went evil because I'm not around to keep him good, like he said?"

"Then we take him down," Roy says with perhaps shocking bluntness. "Solarflare has many beautiful gifts here. A Princess that cares about him, a chance to make friends and build a new life, and if you are his girlfriend or not you worry and care for him. If he gives all that up and indulges in the rage, he is the one that will need to look at himself in the mirror. We can only try to give him tools to defeat his inner demons Kara, and that is something we should definately do." He then gives your hand a gentle squeeze, as long as that isn't the hand that reached for the remote. "Don't forget, we are all in this together Kara, and don't forget to speak to Starfire too."

Kara Zor-El bites her lip. "I really hope it doesn't come to that. He really can be a good person. I did tell him to talk to Starfire about it also." She pauses as she sees the TV and flips channels a little.


 * Click* And the cheese won't stick to the pan because of nano-diamond action!


 * Click* I'm Frank Fritz.... and we are pickers


 * click* I guess that makes her now an ... illegal alien!


 * CLICK DEFINITELY!* To seek out new life and new civilizations.... to boldly go where no man has gone... before

Kara pauses. "Oh... wait... Vanguard showed me this when I was at his place. Star Trek. Right before he told me about what happened with Solarflare and Starfire."

"Who's Vanguard?" Roy does nod however, "Star Trek is cool. I grew up watching this stuff in what free time I had." He chuckles and again uses his free hand to pet Lian's hair still, his other hand rests atop yours gently. "Do you at least feel a little better? Not that there aren't difficult decisions to make hon, but...I have faith you will work things out."

Kara Zor-El puts down the remote and lets the voyages of Captain James Tiberius Kirk play in the background as she looks over at Roy. "Vanguard? Oh... he's this guy in Metropolis. Metahuman. Sorta new superhero I guess. Nice guy." She nods. "I guess a little better."

"I didn't mean to say that the Enterprise should be hauling garbage. I meant to say that it should be hauled away AS garbage" *sounds of a fight*

Kara looks over at Roy. "Just out of curiosity, who was the first girl you had as a girlfriend?"

A blink at that, and Roy glances toward the T.V. For a moment, he seems to shut down...when he finally speaks, it is carefully controlled. "Donna Troy, the first Wonder Girl, also known as Troia." The woman that died not very long ago and that event caused the Young Justice to merge with the Titans. There is a stiffness in Roy's hand, as if it still hurts. The petting of Lian's hair has stopped, and his hand rests idily on the child's small back.

Kara Zor-El watches your reaction, which gives her pause to say anything more. Kara's read up on a lot of heroes - she knew about what happened to the first Batgirl, what happened to the first and second Robins, what happened to the first Terra even. But no one really talked to her about what happened to the first Wonder Girl. The whole time that she was on Themascyra, in fact, it was never brought up to her. "What happened? If you don't mind my asking?"

On TV:

Kirk: "You hit the Klingon because he insulted the /Enterprise?/ ... Not because he..."

Scotty: "Well, Captain - this was a matter of pride!"

"I guess you can say it started with Indigo. She's know at STAR Labs, still going under repairs. She attacked Cyborg, but we now believe it was so she could try and repair herself. There was a big battle, and...two of our members were hurt. The Titans followed Indigo to STAR Labs, where there was a Superman robot." Roy swallows hard. "Omen was killed...instantly. Tempest was even badly injured. Donna and Superboy...they lead the battle, with Nightwing as acting commander. We fought so hard," and Roy's voice is very tense. "But...Donna..she was killed by...by the robot's heat vision." This is far from easy for Roy to talk about, it's ripping him up inside. "Sorry," and he raises a hand from Lian's back to cover his face as he bows his head, hiding his expression and the tears in his eyes. His hand over yours tightens...enough it would hurt a normal human female. But Roy at least spoke to you about it, even if he still isn't over it.

Kara Zor-El seems surprised about that. That Donna Troy was killed by a robot Superman. Does anyone een know there are still Superman robots at the Fortress? Like that Ned robot? She bites her lip. "I'm sorry, I didnt mean to bring up bad memories..." She sighs. "I was hoping you had advice on first relationships. Really sorry, I didn't know."

Roy laughs roughly at that, "Sorry, I...don't. When Donna and I broke up...Green Arrow also ran away to go 'find himself'. I was left all alone...there was no Titans, I had no where to go, no one I could count on. I...really messed up. Rather than ask for help, I turned to really bad things, and did bad things Kara. When Green Arrow finally came back and found out, he actually punched me." Roy sighs and leans his head back against the couch, hand still over his face and Lian sleeping in his lap. "If it wasn't for Green Lantern and Black Canary, I'd likely have just died in a gutter somewhere. But when Hal found me...I knew I couldn't live with myself anymore and finally asked for help....and that's when he took me to Black Canary to help me pick up the pieces. I guess...," and this is far from easy for Roy to admit.

"I guess...this is how I know you have to be willing to face your own demons to be saved. But having your friends provide tools to do that, really helps a lot too. I'm not a good role model Kara, and I'm not particularly bright either. I've made tons of stupid mistakes. It's why, I really want to give Solarflare a chance...even with him doing these stupid things, you know? You aren't the only one that has screwed up." Gawd, talk about a heart-to-heart!

Kara Zor-El nods a little, uncomfortably. This is definitely not what she was thinking would be the conversation when she first asked about first boyfriends/girlfriends! Okay. Console! She pats the hand with which Roy is squeezing hers. "Um.. well... it got better after that though. Right?" Yeah - aside from the psychopath that came afterwards.

Meanwhile on TV:

McCoy: "It is a human characteristic to be fond of animals ... especially if they are attractive in some way"

Spock: "I am aware of human characteristics, Doctor. I am frequently inundated by them. However, I have trained myself to put up with practically anything."

Roy moves his arm sleeve and wipes at his eyes. "I figured out how to pick myself back up after I fall, and being like that again....is worse than facing my own demons." But if he lost Lian...no promises on that. "And come on, I have horriable taste in women. Why do you think I'm still single?" Roy chuckles at that. "I fall in love with psychoic women, or hit on an underage girl that has a guardian that can freeze me with a sneeze. My advice, don't mimic me," and he actually finally manages to grin at you, no more tears in his eyes, but they are a little red.

Kara Zor-El shrugs a little. "You know I wouldn't let him do that. You know... if you were still ever interested. Might improve your luck with women. I'm not psychotic. Without Kryptonite at least." she says, trying to lighten the mood a bit. This is way too upsetting.

She tilts her head. "Hey... you know what? This is upsetting. Want to go out and do something fun? Like go somewhere you've never been to before?"

Kirk gets his food from the dispenser, and lo and behold, Tribbles have goten into it. "They've eaten my chicken sandwich and coffee..... Mr Spock... I want these creatures off my ship! I don't care if it takes every man we've got, I want them off!"

Roy chuckles, "Babysitting," he reminds Kara. "But I could put the little tyke into her bed and I have some funny movies, without Tribbles." Whatever pain Roy suffered from his memories, he seems happy to spend more time with you. He doesn't bother to apologize, it would only recenter the conversation back on the melodrama he would sooner rather forget once more, or at least bury. Though he does add, "You are still underage with a guardian that can freeze me with a sneeze," his tone playfully teasing.

Kara Zor-El smiles. "Fine. I don't get Star Trek anyway. Most of the science doesn't make sense or actually work." Then she groans. "I used to change that 'guardian's' diapers you know. He used to spit up on me."

"I am sure you remind him regularly," Roy teases you, and goes to release your hand as he moves to lick Lian up into his arms and stand up. "Why don't you look over my movie collection as I tuck Lian in?" She makes soft sounds in her sleep as she snuggles up against her father in his arms.

Kara Zor-El shrugs "I don't think he likes to be reminded about it, actually. He -only- spit up on me, you know. No one else. Just me. Also only fell asleep when I held him. After spitting up on me." she flies over to the videos to check them out and choose a movie. "Did I mention he spit up on me? All the time?"

Roy laughs softly, "More than once Kara." He then winks at you before he heads into his quarters and soon Lian's room, leaving you behind to look through his personal movie collection.

 Kara Zor-El says, "http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc412/pander3/Supergirl30p19.jpg  Kara Zor-El says, "in case the second one didnt work, here's a tinyurl one for it - http://tinyurl.com/7bgrwcy"

 Kara Zor-El says, "that little SOB only would throw up on her."

 Kara Zor-El says, "proof superman hates Kara."

 Roy Harper laughs.

Kara Zor-El looks through Roy's movie collection. A lot different than the wealth of sci-fi stuff Dedrick (aka Vanguard) has. Also different than the non-stop horror movies that Karen has. Or the spy thrillers and documentaries at Clark and Lois's house. Or that 'Grey Ghost' stuff Kara found while snooping at Batman's computer. Nope, none of that. Lots of romantic comedies though. And romance dramas. If she knew the nomenclature, she'd know it's a lot of chick flicks. So she picks out one at random. "Okay, I got one!" she says, pulling out this one starring some girl named Hilary Swank and Girard Butler. Not that the names mean anything to her. But at least the title sounds nice. P.S. I Love You. Sounds cheerful!

And action films! Lots of action films! Even some Bollywood stuff, and martial arts films with Jackie Chan, Jet Lee, and Tony Jaa. But ya, Roy is definately a romanatic, and the romanatic comedies are a must for him.

When Roy steps out, he quietly closes the door to Lian's bedroom and heads toward the television to take the DVD from you. He pauses and stares at it...., "If you cry, it isn't my fault," he warns you.

Kara Zor-El looks at Roy "Wha?" she asks as you take the DVD and she flies back to sit on the couch again. "I was trying to find one to take your mind off upsetting stuff and our day to day stuff?" She definitely skipped past XXX - she doesn't know who Vin Diesel is, but she knows what XXX means. Maybe she should have picked a movie by that Jackie Chan person. Roy seemed to have about 30 movies made by him as well.

"It's fine, it's a good movie, but it's a sad romanace. Has some really funny parts too." Roy then goes to put the movie in. He flops on the couch beside you, letting out a sigh as he starts to relax and the movie picks up.

The beginning is wonderful, a celebration of a new life, romanace between two people planning to buy a house and have a baby....and then, he dies. It's horriable. The wife falls into deep depression, and soon...a letter arrives. Written by the dead husband. How strange...but the woman seems a moment of hope again, living for the next letter to arrive.

Roy's arm is along the back of the couch behind Kara, and he lounges on the couch with bad posture.

Kara Zor-El just watches the movie with you, looking at Roy every so often to see if he's crying yet. She armed herself with tissues. Just in case. Okay, it's depressing. I mean not 'your planet blowing up while you watch your parents die in front of you through the glass' depressing, but depressing. She feels the need to almost ask questions through the movie, but every time she looks at Roy, it looks like he's about to cry and she winds up just saying "Tissue?" as she offers him one from the box.

Roy switches from laughter at the fact that the girls get strained in the middle of a lake in Ireland, to sniffering when the wife looks so depressed at finding out one of her friends is going to get married. "Geez, I don't need one, I'm a man!" Roy ends up taking one anyway, and pouts when he does so.

There is that one-night stand for the wife, with what she finds out to be her husband's childhood friend, and how he helps heal her heart a little bit before she heads back to the U.S. And of course in the U.S. she struggles again with her depression as her girlfriends move on with their lives, and she tries to re-discover herself. And then...there are shoes! She starts designing and customizing shoes!

It's depressing, sure. But look at her shoes! "Oh.... hey what sort of shoes are those?" she asks Roy, looking over at him again. Later on, during the 'can't sleep alone' scene, she mentions that 'the guy playing the guitar is sorta hot'

"Custom made for the movie I guess...," and Roy sighs at the romanatic-ness of the guitar playing song in Ireland back in that scene. "Damn, and I only play the drums." Wait, Roy plays the drums?!

But ooh, those shoes. "Gawd, I love heels, they make a lady's legs look so long...and those taunt calves." Roy looks almost like he is about to drool.

Kara Zor-El looks back over at Roy again. "You play the drums? Are you in a band?" She realizes she really doesn't know all that much about Roy's personal life, other than that he has a daughter, his name, and apparently a sucky love life.

"Ah...well, I used too, when I was still a teenager," Roy admits. "But not for a long time. I still remember how to play, but I don't really play anymore," he admits. "All my time is taken up with heroing, Lian, and community service." He does do a lot of that. "Counseling," he admits. "Well, a specific kind. Not so good with love lives at you noticed," blushing a bit.

Still, the wedding of her friend goes off well, and the wife made the wedding shoes. There is a baby too involved in there somewhere. And of course, finally...the wife's mother confesses to giving into the plan of the letters, and gives her daughter the last letter.

The wife cries over it, and goes to see her best guy pal. They kiss...laugh...realize they are just friends. But mother and daughter's relationship improves adn they go to Ireland together. The wife meets her one-night stand....the man that was her husband's best friend once more as she goes to visit her husband's parents once more with her mother this time. There is that little hint of romanace in the air.

Kara Zor-El rests against Roy while watching the movie some more. Would be nice if people had left her letters. Kal's father left him the crystals to give him knowledge of Krytton. She starts wondering if maybe Zor-El left her something also and she just didnt find it. After all, even if she didnt need a crystal to remember Krypton, it would have been nice to have -something.- Maybe something's still in Gotham. She crashed into Gotham Bay and sort of fled from there when she saw Batman coming in that aquatic batsuit. Maybe there's a crystal down there somewhere. Or maybe in the ship at the Fortress. Would be nice to get some mention from beyond like that.

The tissue is ragged, but Roy is done sniffering. "Damn, so cruel woman. Not a single tear?" He sighs. "I'm never watching a romantic comedy with you again woman." Roy's grumpiness is a little silly, as he really isn't mad at you. He just sniffers dramatically.

Kara Zor-El looks up at you. "Well... I mean... it's sad. It's just not crying sad." She pauses. "I mean it has a happy ending sorta, right? We could play video games?"

Roy face palms. "Ugh...this is why my relationships go no where," he grumbles beneath his breath, but you can still clearly hear him with your Kryptonian Super Hearing Powers! Still, he finally lowers his hand, "Sure, video games, but I should go to bed soon. Lian will jump on my bed and wake me up in the morning anyway, if I'm ready to wake up or not, when she's hungry." Roy does at least stand from the couch to head to the bathroom to make use of it and to wash his face, and brush his teeth...may as well since he is planning for bed soon enough.

Kara Zor-El nods. "They're a handful arent they. I remember one time, I was babysitting Kal, and I turn away for like a second and he's eating leaves from a potted Tukrorila. I started freaking out about it and contacted my father and he told me that it's not harmful. I swear he would try to put anything in his mouth if you werent watching him constantly. I don't even want to know what Kals par-" She pauses. "Um.... I have to go." she suddenly says.

Roy doesn't take long in the bathroom, before he comes back and says, "I never thought of you as a babysitter before, but luckily Lian's at an age that she knows eating strange stuff is bad." Maybe he will con Kara into babysitting sometime. "And...why are you running away? We can still play a few games of Mario if you want." Roy is leaning against the bathroom doorframe, arms crossed loosely over his chest.

Kara Zor-El looks in a direction. Then takes a deep breath. "Actually I can now. Cops got him." Who's she talking about? She heads back over to the couch. "There was a mugging happening a few blocks away." Kara adds, "Who's Mario?"

"Cops got him, huh?" Then a, "Oh....," but Roy then pushes off from the doorframe and moves to turn on Super Mario Brothers on the Wii which he finally upgraded too. He grabs a controller for you. "It's the game Lian is always playing, you get to jump around and try to reach a flag. You want to get as high as possible on the flag. Just remember to put the strap about your wrist, so the controller doesn't accidentally go flying and bust the television," he teases you gently.

Kara Zor-El watches. "Wait... the controller flies?" she asks as you give her the controller and she carefully puts the strap around her wrist. She examines it closely. She's played video games on computers, on arcade machines and saw a Playstation at Dedrick's house, but they didnt involve flying controllers that needed to be leashed to your arm.

Roy starts to show her how the controller works and how to jerk it about to move the characters and even shake it to get the saftey bubble if your teammate is good. "Because of all the movement, you can lose your grip on it sometimes. So you got to be careful, that's all." Roy smiles a bit, appearing mildly amused at how cute you are being over a video game that his daughter plays. "It's fun though, and has limitless continues, so even if you die, no big deal."

Kara Zor-El peers at Roy. "And this happens a lot with people moving their arms so fast that they lose their grip on a controller and make it break the TV? Really?"

"It has happened, thus the straps," Roy informs you. "And I'm broke, so no new television," he says with an easy smile. "Still, it's fun, let's start." And roy starts the game, going to the first world as Mario so he can lead things, giving you Luigi.

Kara Zor-El starts playing with you, and almost immediately is killed by a mushroom. She says, "Okay... so mushrooms are bad."

"Yes, so are the flowers that spit fireballs, and turtles too, and the clouds that move back and forth. They are in later stages. I hate those things ande really love killing them. You can steal their cloud and ride on it!"

Kara Zor-El just blinks and watches him explain the game. And the rules. And the villains. And remember, this girl has fought giant robotic kangaroo automatons of the Toyman. But fire-spitting flowers? Killer ... turtles? "They were on drugs when they invented this game, right?" And not sure what Roy means by 'clouds that move back and forth' "Don't all clouds move back and forth anyway, like on wind currents?"

"Just wait...and totally showing you Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies next, totally break your head!" Roy appears excited at this idea. But after some crazy Super Mario World or whatever the game is called, Roy ends up yawning. "Alright...I just hit the wall. I'm going to have to head to bed." He exit out of the game, and leans over toward you...and if you aren't careful, he will kiss your forehead. "But it has been fun to hang with you tonight," and he smiles warmly at that.

Kara Zor-El lets Roy kiss her forehead. Heck she'd let him kiss her lips except he's a scaredy cat of being melted by an overprotective cousin. "No problem. There's probably a bank being robbed somewhere or a plane going down or an avalanche or something." She smiles. "I'll talk to you tomorrow okay?"

"Fire spitting flowers. Maybe that Poison Ivy person was on the design team."