2013.10.26 - Everybody Hurts Sometimes

Beaver Man. Beaver Man? Beaver Man! ...Beaver Man. Power Girl has been seeing lots of the weird ones later. Some sort of mutant beaver or just a mutant human who looked like one was felling a bunch of logs to try to build a massive dam to withhold water from some city back west. Unfortunately, another villain (if Beaver Man could even qualify as such) by the name of Paul Bunyan Man was enraged at the number of trees still standing in his vicinity and all the trees he cut down with his giant axe were more than Beaver Man could handle. The water was building up, and if it kept doing so then when the dam broke, it was going to cause a flood.

It was an annoying and hectic battle, but eventually the giant lumberjack was put down and it was revealed he actually had a rare illness known as Paul Bunyan's Disease which was based upon a recessive gene normally dormant which could be triggered by lumberjacking. Luckily a physician with the medicine came and fixed it by... Using... Permanent hair remover on the giant. Because his beard was the source of his power.

....

Beaver Man was easier to deal with, because he could simply be relocated to Canada to live with those he called 'his kind' and keep them safe from poachers or whatever. He's probably starting up some kind of beaver kingdom now. The dam was dismantled and the water was allowed to flow at a regular pace and now it's all kosher, and the Kryptonian is just now arriving home soaking wet and smelling like beavers. "Ugh," she ughs. As she pushes open the door, she is already checking for signs that Kara is home. If she is, then Karen is going to mention outloud that she hopes that there's still some hot water.

It had to happen eventually. Kara Zor-El had been staging night raids, or day raids, or pretty much anytime-Karen-was-gone raids on her room for clothes for almost two weeks now. She'd been avoiding her team and her room mate in equal measure, though she spent more time at the Tower than her apartment. Because none of the Titans could actually chase her down and force her to talk. Not like another certain blonde.

She knows the instant Karen is in the apartment, her super-hearing on high alert. A quick glance through the wall confirms it, the owner of the domicile has arrived. Kara Zor-El, decked out as Supergirl, with her arms full of Kara Starr's laundry, looks longingly towards the bedroom window and considers flying out of it.

But the moment she opened it, or really made any sound, Power Girl would instantly know someone else was in the apartment. Maybe if she just stayed absolutely, perfectly still the other blonde wouldn't even check! A hangar hits the ground, causing the teenaged Kryptonian to swear mentally.

And with that she begins to shove her clothes into the garment bag she'd brought, eyeing her bedroom door suspiciously, as if expecting a she-monster to come storming through it. Or maybe just a disapproving parental figure.

Karen -- dressed as Karen, and not Power Girl, though both outer clothes and the costume beneath are drenched -- can hear Kara's heartbeat, let alone a dropping hangar. She was already listening anyway. She doesn't come charging in, just calls out the thing about the hot water, and then starts heading for the bathroom. She knows where Kara is, has been worried as heck about her, but hasn't gone looking for her because she figured her 'little sister' wound find her if she was ready to talk. But then she remembers that Kara is her YOUNGER self, meaning not as experienced, and that she might not realize she can discuss this.

So after giving Kara time to, if she chooses to, escape while Karen is getting out of her wet clothes and wrapping a towel around herself, she eventually comes over to Kara's door and raps her knuckles on it briefly. "Hey, I'll be home for the evening. If you decide to stick around there's going to be pizza, and someone to sit on the couch with and help me it would be appreciated. If you're going to go anyway... Well, I just want you to know I'm here if you need me. We can talk or not-talk. I am ALWAYS here for you, no matter what. And..."

She pauses and then says, "...I know what it's like." Yes, she has been through similar situations before. "I do. Remember who I am? Who we are? So, just... Think about it I guess. And if you do come out, be sure to let me know what you want on your pizza." Though she already knows. Same tastes, after all.

Kara is in the midst of heading for her window at a normal pace, as opposed to superspeed, her garment bag full of clothes held in her arms and hugged to her chest. She knew Karen knew she was here, she could see her through the walls, after all, and watches even as she walks towards her bedroom door. There's a soft knock on the door, and that gets her to pause just as she's pushing her window open, turning her head with a frown. She doesn't respond when the other blonde talks.

She's just silent for a really, really long time. Supergirl is staring down into her clothes, her bowed, her armful of laundry ready to fly off. She isn't sure how long she stands like that, arms held around her stuff, shoulders slumped, eyes closed, but eventually she drops her clothes, really more throws them down, with a disgusted sigh.

It's another few minutes before her door quietly opens, and out walks Kara Starr, decked out in an extremely faded night shirt that looks like she got it from a Big & Tall store. She has her arms wrapped around herself, her head down, as if she expected to be yelled at at any moment. She mumbles something about 'pepperoni' and as she heads for the couch and promptly drops her butt on it.

She sits leaning forward, hugging herself, staring blankly down at the coffee table.

Karen is on the phone when Kara comes out, probably having listened for if her younger self was going to come out or fly away before starting the call. So she gives the order for two large pizzas with pepperoni, and then heads for the couch once she's done, having changed into a long night shirt with a faded green lantern ring symbol on the chest. She sits down next to Kara, giving her room, but still being close enough for a hug if needed. Then she says, "If you don't want to talk, we don't have to." She adds on quietly, "I didn't, though I kind of wish I had." Then she shakes her head. Her hair is still matted from rain and river water, so she spends time inspecting the strands between her fingertips and just waits in silence.

There's so much she wants to say. Reassurances, forgiveness, all those things a big sister should give to a little sister when she's suffering. But she's still awkward with that kind of thing, and when she got the same sort of treatment she just acted like it was no big deal and blew off anyone who tried to help her through it. She has thoughts on this particular subject years later, of course, but right after the fact... She has to be patient. She has to be patient and she has to be there for Kara. Already it seems like the teenager is taking it a lot harder than Karen herself did. But, again, Kara is younger. Younger than when it happened to her.

The younger Kryptonian doesn't react as her 'older self' settles down next to her. She knows Karen wants her to talk, just like her team wanted her to. Pyre had made her talk a little, but even then she'd hidden the unsurety she felt inside, because the fiery redhead simply wouldn't understand. No one would. She was Supergirl. She was supposed to be the rock, the unmoveable source of strength, able to weather any storm. She didn't feel particularly invulnerable right now.

She felt like a little girl.

The silence stretches into a minute, then five, ten...

"That thing wore my face. It had my memories, my voice. It hurt my friends, and so many others." She scowls, screwing up her face in that way that people who are about o cry do. "I-It came from inside me, I know it. Sh-Sh-She's in there, in /me/, she's /part/ of me. I did that, /all of it/!"

Supergirl finally breaks down, burying her face into her hands as the water starts to leak out and her shoulders shake. "I TRIED TO KILL MY FRIENDS!"

NOW she moves to comfort Kara. She can't resist now. It would be emotionally harmful TO resist. She puts an arm around Kara's shoulders, her greater height allowing her to easily rest her chin on the top of the other blonde's head as she runs her other hand through Kara's hair, and just shhh shh shhhs her. She doesn't have pretty words. She doesn't have dramatic speeches. She just tries to hold the other Kryptonian, and let her cry out the pain. Compared to Karen, Kara may really seem like a little girl. But they're the closest thing to sisters they each have, and as painful, as frustrating, as feeling weak is, she's not going to let the hurt continue any longer than she has to.

It's already been long enough. All she does is whisper, "I know." over and over. Yeah, she knows. Maybe the exact circumstances of Black Kryptonite is a new one on her, but she remembers equivalent situations. A magic mirror. A clone. Mind control. Just having her memories erased and then being re-trained as a merciless warrior instead of a hero, someone who relished using force on the weak, inflicting pain... And knowing with her temper and her habit of going straight to the 'violence' option to deal with the bad guys who ticked her off enough, that even before that it wasn't that far from her mind. Realizing she had that potential in her, and it wasn't even necessarily hard to awaken with the right means or the right circumstances...

No, she knew what this was like well enough. Specifics aside, she could see how civilians looked at her for a long time afterwards. Even her team mates. They feared her. They weren't sure if they could trust her. They realized how strong she was, and how dangerous if she became their enemy again. And that felt even more awful with the knowledge they had reason to fear it might happen again. For now, she holds her younger self. Because she knows she doesn't really have anything comforting to say.

The golden-haired kryptonian doesn't fight the embrace, she removes her hands from her face and grabs onto Power Girl's shirt with them. She's doing that really obnoxious crying, too, you know the one. With the dry-heaves and the running out of breath and so many tears it actually makes the shirt have a big ol' wet spot on it. She cries for minutes, that once again stretch out, but this time not in silence, but rather dejected squaling.

Eventually it subsides from sobbing, to the occasional hiccup, to Kara wiping her eyes on the other girl's shirt (though she thankfully doesn't blow her nose), and just... sitting there. Staring blankly at a spot on the wall with her cheek pressed against her 'bigger sister's' torso, letting herself be hugged and held like she were a child again. It felt good to let go like that, to just be held, to not have to be strong for once, and to let out the emotions she'd been bottling up for weeks.

"I'm sorry." She whispers as she slowly straightens up, pushing Karen away and wiping at her red eyes with the backs of her hands. She tries to scoot away a little on the couch and regain some of her composure, holding the back of her hand up against her eyes until she's sure she's not going to keep crying, before finally dropping her hands into her lap and sniffling.

"Let's..." She sighs, and though it's melancholic, it holds just a little bit less depression and gloom than she's been otherwise showing lately. "Let's just watch a movie, okay?"

Well, it would be a jerk move to say she's 'more than happy to hold Supergirl while she cries, even with tears being wiped into her shirt', because that would imply she is happy that her younger self is sad. And seeing Kara suffering this much that a release like this is so overwhelmingly NEEDED is PAINFUL, not happy. But even so... Yes, she's happy to be there for Kara. She's happy that Kara has someone there, and that person is her. Because she tried to be strong for everyone else too. She didn't have the chance to cry. There was no one she trusted with the knowledge of how weak she really was. That buried pain had left psychological scars.

Trying to help Kara NOT be as screwed up as she is one of the major goals Karen has in life now. She doesn't want to run Kara's life... But she wants to give the support that she didn't have.

And as Kara calms down, she hangs onto the other blonde when she tries to scoot away long enough to plant a kiss on her forehead and rub a hand in circles on her back. Then she smiles and says, "Sure. One of my employees has been harping on me to watch this movie called something like 'Equestria Girls' or something. I have no idea what it's about, but I think it's something about female knights or something?" Oh, what animated pony horrors await. As Karen is getting up to get the borrowed DVD, there's a knock on the door. Rather than asking Kara to either put the movie in or get the door, she just super-speeds through it, tosses the remote in her 'little sister's' lap, and THEN answers the door. Soon enough the pair should have pizza, soda, and a lot of questions about what the heck they are watching.

At least the shy pony is cute.