At Titans Tower

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

Many of the Titans were out - some had business in their hometowns, and some had accompanied Aurora to her home for a kind of vacation. To Lyle Norg, this means one thing : The opportunity to read without being interrupted by Bart.

In the sparsely decorated room he's been assigned, there is now a stack of finished books as high as the bed, and a second stack building towards the height of the first. Though it will take a few more weeks of polish to round off the accents, Lyle's managed to teach himself English and French, with a little outside assistance.

So now he's moved on to more pressing tasks - a schematic of the Justice League Satellite is spread out on the bed before him, along with a few reams of technical specifications.

"Considering the technology level, it's a pretty amazing piece of work.." he murmurs as he reads.

Comments

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

There's a knock at the door. A light one, to be sure.

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

"Entre-vous, s'il vous plait."

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

A blonde head pokes inside, followed by the long-legged figure of Jesse Quick. "Hi," she says tenatively. "You downloaded some schematics?"

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

There's a few seconds of lag before he tears his gaze away from the schematic to look up at her and respond. "Ahh - yes. The old Justice League Satellite. Quite a marvel - did you ever have the chance to see it?"

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

"Not much of one, no," Jesse answers as she steps inside. "Just that I always have to wonder when someone here is taking a peek at some technical data for the League, that's all. We haven't met, have we?"

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

He blinks, and slides off the bed, offering his hand in greeting. "I'm very sorry, Miss Chambers. I'm familiar with you from the Flash Museum, of course.. I'm Lyle Norg, another refugee from a thousand years in your future. Rude of me not to introduce myself."

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

Both of Jesse's brows lift. Miss Chambers? "Um, it's Quick here, please. Jesse Quick." She takes the hand, shakes it. "You're familiar with me from the Flash Museum? That's my father."

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

He looks a little chagrinned. "The Museum does have extensive entries on the both of you in my time, Jesse. It's probably one of our best surviving sources of twen-cen heroic lore."

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

Jesse's never comfortable with the idea of being memorable, so she smiles sheepishly and answers, "Well, thanks. Lyle, right? How'd you...Brainiac?"

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

Lyle somehow manages to follow that contextual leap. He nods. "Brainy was able to pull me into this time from the temporal limbo in which I was imprisoned, after I boosted the signal on my Flight Ring to allow a primitive form of communication.."

He waggles the fingers on the hand with the ring to emphasize it.

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

"A primative form of communication?" Her eyes track the movement of the fingers. "Huh. Well, um...welcome to the Titans. Sorry to have barged in."

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

"Not at all. You probably saved me from exhausting my eyes - I think I've been poring over those schematics for hours now."

He chuckles. "And as pleasant as the stay has been, Bart notwithstanding, we are hoping to get out of your collective hair.."

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

"Uhm...what?"

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

"Luornu, Querl and I - we're looking into alternative accomodations. Where we may be less obtrusive."

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

"Why?" Jesse's legitimately curious. She leans against the door, comfortable.

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

Lyle smiles. "Well, one, I don't know how much longer Cyborg will put up with Brainy rebuilding his lab on a daily basis. Two, it's not appropriate for us to use up Titans Tower resources that you folks need, just to try to achieve our goals."

He shrugs. "And there's also the idea that if we were to carve out a little niche for ourselves somewhere, it'd be a little more like home. Not that you folks have been at all inhospitable, of course. Sometimes - if you can't go home, you just have to make a new one."

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

Jesse can't help smiling back. Lyle's a likeable fellow. "How can I help?"

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

He seems pleasantly surprised that she'd offer. "Well, I hadn't really thought about that. Brainy seems to have been setting up the financial resources for what we'll need, though.."

His eyes sparkle with inspiration. "We were wondering if the Justice League could be convinced to part with an item they're no longer using - who do you think would be the best person to approach?"

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

"The last I heard, Superman's the chairman, though he or Wonder Woman'd be fine, I think. The League owes Brainiac from what he did when that virus nearly killed us all last year."

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

"I've only heard a little about that - I'm just worried Brainy won't be diplomatic about it. 'Oh, say, that floating hunk of junk you use to call home? We want it.'"

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

"Huh. Well, then...maybe all of you can talk to them together?" Jesse suggests, rubbing the back of her neck. "Wonder Woman and Superman are pretty patient people. It's the others you might have to worry about."

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

Lyle nods solemnly. "Batman."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bird_of_flame_/]

Flamebird is making her way by when she hears a familiar voice - Jesse! And she hasn't talked to this other new guys much at all, so she pokes her head in, "Hi. I hope I'm not interupting anything..."

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

"Not at all. I don't think we've met - I'm Lyle."

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

"Heya," Jesse adds with a little smile at Flamebird. To Lyle she adds, "Yeah, that's the one you have to worry about."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bird_of_flame_/]

"Only sort of in that in passing sort of way. I'm Flamebird." She seems to be in an outstanding mood for some reason today. The grin to Jesse is huge.

"Worry about what?"

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

"Batman. I think he's the most likely to object to a plan that Brainy and I have been working on.. Nice to meet you, Flamebird."

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

The grin makes Jesse, for some reason or other, turn rather pink as she smiles more sheepishly at her friend. "Anyways, Lyle," she continues, "he's not on the Watchtower often and he and Aquaman are the surliest members of the League, so if you stick with Wonder Woman, Superman and Flash you should be good. I just can't promise what they'll answer."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bird_of_flame_/]

"So far everyone I've met has been really nice. Not that I've met many of them or for very long." Flamebird isn't quite pacing, but she doesn't seem to be standing still much either.

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

Lyle's one of the greatest human minds of a thousand years from now - so the slight awkwardness does not go unnoticed.

"Is.. something wrong?" He glances between the two.

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

"Wrong, no...though one of us seems hyperactive," Jesse drawls as she peers in Bette's direction.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bird_of_flame_/]

"I'm just in a good mood. I want to go jump out of a plane or something. Maybe swim a few miles." And she's not joking on either of those. Flamebird grins at both of them.

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

"I would've thought the speedster more likely to be the hyperactive one.." Lyle grins.

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

Jesse laughs at Lyle. "Well, if you've met Flash, you'll know that's true. He's hard to keep in one place." And her smile broadens rather much at the statement. "You want company on a swim? That sounds fun. Not sure how long I could keep up without using my powers, but I can try."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bird_of_flame_/]

"Most of them are. At least the ones that I've met. I'm not normally this bad. I'm just full of energy today. I... don't know why." Lyle gets another full grin.

Looking to Jesse, "Really? Awesome. We should do that."

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

Lyle chuckles. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Flamebird.. and you, Jesse."

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

"No problem. Hey...try not to feel rushed about leaving the Tower, Lyle, and if you want me to talk to the League with you guys in tow, just let me know? I'm a reservist." Jesse touches Lyle's sleeve, adding quietly, "It's important to feel like you belong, and here...well, we try to make everyone part of the team. We can always use bright people."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bird_of_flame_/]

"She's part of every team because she's just that awesome. Don't let her tell you different." Flamebird winks at Lyle.

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

"I'll keep that in mind." He smiles. "But Brainy can be hard to deal with.. he's just not very patient with people he regards as intellectual inferiors. A separate space might keep tensions from overflowing."

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

Rolling her eyes as Bette lavishes praise on her, Jesse laughs in a good-natured way and states to Lyle, "Trust me, I'm used to being treated as if I'm an inferior. People sometimes don't take me seriously in the business world because of my age and gender. No worries there. Besides, I sort of like Brainiac."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bird_of_flame_/]

"I like him too. I have /no/ idea why but I think he's fun."

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

Lyle seems mildly surprised, and holds up his hands in defeat. "Fair enough, perhaps he's been able to behave himself a little more than I would expect."

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no, he's arrogant and all," Jesse laughs, "but he's smart and helpful. Besides, I think he has his hands full right now if what I heard is true."

If anyone can give Brainiac a run for his money, it's Lois.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bird_of_flame_/]

Flamebird chuckles softly, "He's an arrogant jerk but... somehow he's cute and funny at the same time." She shrugs, "I really don't get it."

[clear-thinker.livejournal.com]

"Funny? Brainy?"

Lyle shakes his head, grinning. "I still have a lot to learn about the culture here, I suppose.."

[jessequick.livejournal.com]

"Me too," Jesse notes lightly. "I'm going down to change clothes for swimming. I'll see you two later."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bird_of_flame_/]

"Okay!"

Flamebird gives Lyle another grin before she starts to head off, "I'm sure you'll adapt wonderfully."