2014.01.26 - My Father is Going to Date This?

Matrix doesn't usually bother with adjusting her costume for less-than-heroic things; generally she shapeshifts completely. But this time... instead of her usual on-duty mini-dress, there's a blue leather jacket with her sideways Brainiac-symbol inside of a pentagonal shield, red t-shirt, black skinny jeans and red flats. Her hair and headband are the same, so anyone who'd actually RECOGNIZE Matrix The Heroine would still be able to do so.

Fidgeting at the reception desk, Matrix sort of makes a face at the receptionist. "Please. It's really kind of important." Ugh. "You know I could have just sneaked in here invisibly, right? I'm trying to do this the right way! Tell him it's Mae Thorul."

Leo is coming out with some paperwork to leave at one of the executive secretaries, the one Matrix is speaking too. He drops the things on her desk. He wears Gucci boots, designer jeans, and a t-shirt that has lopsided characters which read: LOVE ME, HATE ME with a business jacket over it. He stands out with his youthful, carefree looks.

The secretary looks vaguely annoyed, but remembers to smile, "He is currently in a meeting, you will have to wai...," but then, "Oh! Mr. Luthor, a pleasure to see you again."

Leo remembers to grin, flashing teeth, "A pleasure Mary. How's the little one?"

Mary blushes at Leo's words, "Oh, she's doing well. She knows her ABCs now, can sing them all the way through! We are working on backwards now."

"Awesome, it helps with creative thinking actually," Leo states. "That, and it's just cool," being playful. "Who's this?"

"Oh, Mae Thorul, she wants to see your Father," the secretary says.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it. He will be busy for /hours/." The secretary pauses at that, but relents when Leo winks at her. He then motions toward his office, "Follow me Miss Thorul. And try not to go invisible, you would be surprised what security systems we have installed. Rather not have an 'incident' with a fire extinguisher or anything else they creative think of to make you visible." Yes, he just cracked a joke.

Leo's office door? It reads: Environmental Coordinator.

"Oh, that wouldn't happen," Matrix says conspiratorially - except it's out loud, so ... not especially so. But she doesn't explain. She follows Leo easily enough, "And please, call me Mae. Lex offered me Thorul, but I'm really just kind of ... trying it on for size, seeing if it fits, you know?"

Oooh, the sign on the door. "What Environment do you Coordinate? Is it difficult? Because I know there are people who go to great lengths to try and control the weather, or the environment, but maybe coordinating it is easier?"

Once they're in Leo's office and the door is closed, Matrix sort of sizes up Leo, too. "Are you his cousin? Little brother? Adopted son? I didn't know he had any of the above. I *think* he used to have a sister, but I could just be making that up."

"Heard that," Leo states. But that is all he says upon the manner other than making a mental note of it. "My Father did?" Leo has no idea what Thorul is supposed to mean. "And I coordinate the compliance of Lexcorp with the laws for environmental protection, and work to place internal mandates and guidelines to improve them as well. This better protects the environment from pollution."

Leo then closes the door behind Matrix, "Umm...don't have an Aunt that I know of, and I'm his biological son, Leopold Alexander Luthor, but please call me Leo." He moves to have a seat, on his desk, obviously. Why be traditional? He sits on the edge of it, and motions to a chair nearby, "Have a seat." before resting his palms on the edge of the desk. "What can we do for you Mae?"

"Are you a clone, then?" Matrix asks, perhaps a bit rudely but it's asked with open curiosity rather than revulsion or suspicion. "Because he's awfully young to have a kid your age." When Leo offers her a seat, Mae Ohs! softly. "Thank you," and then draws her knees up under her and sits in mid-air like it's no big deal.

"I just met Lex the other day, actually. I thought he was the Iron Patriot, but -- well, you probably saw the press conference." Matrix shrugs a little, then presses on quickly. "I'm a protomatter being from a pocket dimension that doesn't exist anymore, and that place's version of Lex made me. I love him, because reasons." She chews on her lower lip a little, then smiles nervously. "I kind of panicked and bailed on him after the conference yesterday, and I wanted to apologize and hit him up for the date we talked about."

Leo's eyes...something flickers in the pupils, a reddishness, but he blinks and it is quickly gone. "Are you special in the head or something? I'm his /son/, not his damn clone," and Leo scowls at that. He isn't too happy with Matrix right now, his body language shifted from neutral and curious to something a little more aggressive and unfriendly. He is insulted, if Matrix meant it or not. "And that is something he would have to answer if he even feels like it. Otherwise, call it morally questionable or whatever the hell you want."

Leo doesn't not seem impressed "Protomatter being from pocket dimension or not, you need to watch what you say. Now define 'date', because I sure as hell aren't wanting you for my step-mom right now, that's for sure." Leo's blunt, mostly because Mae accidentally pissed him off.

Waving her hands, "Hey, sorry! Sorry sorry sorry if I insinuated something that touched a nerve!" Matrix tries to verbally backpedal like woah - because anger? She wasn't looking for THAT! "Seriously, I didn't mean anything by it. Being a clone is nothing to be ashamed of, but if you aren't a clone then you aren't a clone. Heck you could be from the future or something, what do I know?"

As far as the REST of it goes, "I'm not special in the head, my memories are broken. There was a ... thing. Part of me became part of someone else and they went their separate way. I'm still figuring out what's left." Leaning back in her 'seat', Mae rests her palms on open air as though it were a table. "I don't want to marry him," ... "Yet" she adds very, very quietly, then continues quickly, "and I don't know nothin' 'bout raisin' no teenagers. Just dinner. A drink or two. Maybe dancing. A date. You date, don't you?"

"Considering the Infinite has a clone, I'm not saying there is, but for your information, it's like looking at a guy and calling him a girl or a girl and calling them a guy, it's not flattering, but it doesn't make being a guy or a girl a bad thing." Leo's blue eyes are narrowed. "Guess I don't have room to speak about my Father having a little fun," as if just assuming nothing with Mae is serious. "I'll drop him an E-Mail and let him know. I'm assuming he has your phone number, or should I include that?"

Leo pushes off from the desk and walks behind it, "Further, I'm a high level officer here at Lexcorp, I may still getting my degree in Communications and Criminal Justice, but I'm working full-time, and I'm a superhero with The Infinite. I am well past being 'raised'. One never stops learning, but I don't need a 'mother'. You really have worse social skills than me." And Leo snorts at that.

"Probably," Matrix admits. "I was built to be a conduit for the memories of a dead woman and now mostly I don't have them." Without much thought, she looks like a totally different woman for a bit - redheaded, corn-fed, pretty in a mid-western sort of way. "I don't have a me," she says, before suddenly being a he - a teenaged boy that looks similar to Leo but not identical, so it's probably not a copy, "I can be anyone, I'm not anyone."

Shifting into a 12-year-old girl in a fluid motion from a shrug, "Male, female, whatever. Executive, homeless, fashion model, housewife." Squeezing her eyes tightly closed, Matrix clearly stops and takes a deep breath, trying to center herself - consciously and carefully rebuilding the appearance she walked into the building with. "You're closer to being an adult than I am in a lot of ways. All I know is what I feel, though I'm not always so sure of that either."

Brows knit beneath her bangs, Matrix asks Leo quite honestly, "Does having answers make you feel any better? I suppose I'm lucky in that I know what my purpose is, I know why I was 'born' - but I used to know who I was, even if she was someone else. Of course I couldn't be your mother, I couldn't be my OWN mother."

"Alright, that is a bit creepy. You turn into a guy while making out with my Father, and he would totally dump you, just to warn you," he advises Matrix. Hey, least he's giving her warning! "And little kid, also bad for dating, just to give you some umm...basic advice on dating." Leo can be nice when he feels like it!

"And no, sometimes answers hurt like a bitch, but accepting them and dealing with them is part of growing up," Leo states. "And the 'own mother' statement was confusing. Look, life is only as complicated as you make it. If you got big dreams, you are going to get complicated. If you don't have big dreams, then live life simply. Right now, you got a small dream, so live simply. Create a life one block at a time that you think you will be happy with and enjoy, try different things if you don't know."

"The search for self isn't simple. And I wouldn't date your dad as a dude, or a little girl," Matrix says, small smile, finger raised. "I was just trying to make a point. Which I seem to have successfully communicated, which makes me happy. A lot about me is confusing, even to me."

Taking another deep breath, Matrix wrings her hands together for a moment. "Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot because I tend to say whatever comes into my head. I'm sorry. It HAS been nice talking to you, though. Truce?" She offers her hand for a shake, even. Then something Leo said a while ago filters back through her brain. "I don't have a phone number. I don't even have a *phone.* Just... if you tell your dad I came looking for him the polite way, I'll probably also be eavesdropping and he'll figure it out."

"Note, I did state making out earlier. Don't think my Father is into those types of kinks." Leo smirks a bit then, but he does pull up his E-Mail at his computer. "Wait, eavesdropping? That's not polite." No wonder his Father keeps his board room completely soundproof! "Look, a phone is easy to obtain. Do you even have a job to earn money? You know, let's start at the beginning." Leo moves to stand up once more and leans over the desk to shake your hands. "A pleasure Mae. Now, why don't you tell me a little about yourself, what you are doing these days?" He then moves to have a seat once more behind his desk.

Going back to sitting in mid-air once the hand shake is complete, because chairs are for people who can't fly, Matrix... stares fairly openly. "I told you what I've been up to, I thought." Well, mostly she showed what she'd been up to and made weird comments. "I -- What? No, I don't have a job, but Cosmic Boy gave me money for gyros. Which I didn't eat. Over the last few days, I've beat up bad-guys, found tacos in the clouds, met a Kara from another universe that doesn't exist - not mine, but a different one - and hung out with people as different people. Why should I have a phone? I can *hear* when people call for help."

"It's called being polite, and not making people think you are spying on them or disrespecting their privacy. Just because you /can/ do something, doesn't mean you /should/ Mae," Leo clarifies. "So, learning socialization, infiltration, and apparently you don't need to eat." Well, he doesn't need to worry about a little brother or sister popping out at least from this strange shapeshifter...something! Then again, he supposes he can use his unique visions and get information on WHAT she is via her DNA. Does she have DNA?

"What are your skill sets other than shape-shifting and 'superpowers'?" Leo is interrogating Mae! But at least he is doing it politely this time.

"None of your beeswax," Matrix says politely but firmly. "I socialize just fine, I think it's just YOU that makes me want to say weird and inappropriate things!" Oooh, trying to turn it around. She even sticks her tongue out briefly. While peeking at her genetic makeup, she's got enough going on to make up ... a person, but there are a LOT of open spaces in her genome sequencing. LOTS. It also looks extremely... pliant, though that's probably not a surprise when looking at Shapeshifter Genes. She's got nothing recognizably Kryptonian in her, and atomically speaking her Periodic Table of Elements can all be found on Earth; extra-dimensional, but not alien.

"I can do lots of things. Maybe some of them even better than you can," Mae says, maybe a little defensively.

"A Luthor do that to you? Never!" Leo gasps. He's also smirking as Matrix sticks her tongue out at him briefly. He then snorts, "Don't you know? No one is better than a Luthor." He then smirks. "So, how are you with Criminal Law? How about corporate legal? Have you read Farewell to Arms? Honestly, what have you experienced of life yet?" Leo knows about starting late, not that he would ever really say it exactly to Mae.

"Stealing bad, killing bad, cheating bad," Matrix lists, counting them out on her fingers. There's a hint of irony in her tone, too. "Violence generally bad, but acceptable for heroes with a government license because sometimes you have to fight violence with violence. Otherwise it's better to be nice to people." Then she grins, once more setting her feet on the ground - and her hands on the desk, as she leans in a bit.

"A Luthor made me, it's entirely possible I could be better," Matrix says in a low, wry voice. "I've experienced a lot, as a lot of different people. It's context I lack, not comprehension."

Leo nods, "Difference between created by a Luthor, and being a Luthor." He then asks, "So...you were created by my Father in some...pocket dimension you said?" The way Leo says Father, it's with respect and...perhaps something more. Honestly, Leo loves his dad. "So, in summary though you have no career path, and you experienced a lot, but don't know either how to enjoy it or apply it? Trying to understand the comprehension thing."

Matrix shakes her head, "I know how to do what I do just fine, it's perspective I want. I know *what* I am, where I come from, and the stated reason for my existence." Matrix sighs then, moving to sit on the edge of the desk since she hasn't been shooed off it for leaning, while she pauses to think about her explanation.

"I was born with someone else's memories. I was her because that's who I was meant to be. But the things that made her *her* are gone now, I lost them before I lost the other bit of me. I was starting to make some headway in figuring *myself* out, how I am without her, but now that's gone too and I'm back at square one. It's frustrating."

"So, you are confusing me a bit. What is the stated reason for your existence? Basically a 'shell memory' for someone that died?" Leo then nods toward that door, "You know, nothing we speak about will leave this room unless you threaten my Father, and you don't plan to do that, right?" Leo is protective of his Dad. "Well, unless someone is 'eavesdropping'," reminding Matrix the rudeness of that!

"You know, I already went over all this with your dad the other day," Matrix says with a suddenly bored tone. "And I don't have the connection with you that I do with him that makes me want to tell him everything." Pushing away from the desk, Matrix waves her hand in an airy fashion, "Look, just tell him I came by to see him, I'm sorry I dropped in while he was busy or gone, next time I'll try to pick my moment better."

Leo then states, "I might not tell him. Anyway, not like we are talking right now. Something about 'trust'. It's a delicate thing, isn't it? Anyway, have a great day Mae. Call me if you need me," making a joke about the super hearing.

END