JLA Watchtower (Archive)

A young face framed by a fringe of dark bangs and a pair of elven ears peeks into the kitchen. Somewhere along the way, some kind soul swapped the boy's purple danskins for sweats and an "American Idiot" t-shirt. Zan has clearly followed his nose to the kitchen, but looks uncertain about going any further.

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Trevor doesn't think anything of the young man when he hears him come down the hall, too engrossed in the antics of Dilbert. After a few seconds, though, he realizes that whoever is on the other side of his newspaper has stopped at the doorway, and slowly lowers the Daily Planet until he can see Zan standing in the doorway. It occurs to Trevor that the kid is probably feeling like an American tourist lost in New Dehli, only a thousand times worse.

"You can come in," Trevor reassures the young man.

Remembering the way neither of the visitors would touch the food until they were told they could, Trevor points the coffee and bagels on the counter. "There's plenty of food if you're hungry. I don't know if Hank's download included the words 'coffee' or 'bagels', but you're welcome to try some."

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"Thank you." Zan steps into the room lightly, staring at the various appliances. After a few moments, he makes his way to the coffee pot, eyeing the fragrant brown liquid thoughtfully. After a few moments, he turns to Trevor. "Is there any j..." Zan pauses to correct himself. "Honey. Is there any honey?"

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Trevor stops, honestly perplexed for a moment, and sits his newspaper down.

"You know, I'm honestly not sure. I've never been here for breakfast before. If there is, I'm guessing it would be in one of the jars next to the coffee pot. If not, I know one of them has sugar in it. I'd suggest that over honey myself, but that's me."

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Zan stops in the act of reaching for a coffee mug, debating the wisdom of even a mild contradiction. He attempts to explain instead. "I'm trying to make something similar to a drink on Exor."

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Trevor sees Zan stop, though from this end it looks more like a flinch, and hears the hesitation in his voice. Getting up from the table, Trevor walks over as non-threateningly as possible and opens a couple of cabinets, looking for the usual bear-shaped bottle that honey producers seem to love.

"Sorry about scaring you," Trevor tells him, his face blocked by the cabinet door as he searches. A second later he comes up with what he's looking for, and holds the honey out to Zan. "If you want honey in your coffee, though, it really is okay."

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Zan stares at the smiling cartoon bear for several moments, then gingerly accepts the bottle. "Thank you." The words are almost automatic and very quiet. "It's not your fault. I think it will be a long time before Jayna and I adjust to the new way of things." He sighs and begins to pour himself a cup of coffee, stopping when the mug is halfway filled. "We are still getting used to sleeping though the night again and having regular meals. Gleek also. The...ah...culture shock? It doesn't help."

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Trevor can't help smirking at the understatement. "I know the feeling. I'm from this planet, and I'm still getting used to all of this."

Trevor notices Zan not filling the cup all the way, but decides not to say anything for fear of messing the poor kid up more. If anything, he can simply let him know he can have more later, so instead he leans back agaisnt the counter, sipping his coffee.

"By the way, I'm guessing Gleek is the little blue guy with the bucket?"

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Zan laughs softly, nodding as he turns his attention the spice rack and begins sniffing experimentally at the various jars. "Yes. I don't know where he keeps finding things. I thought he might be taking them from around the...the Watchtower? But no one seems to be missing things. Jayna says it is a power he has, but I cannot tell if she is joking or not." The boy's eyes light up as he seems to find what he's looking for among the spices. He adds a little cayenne and a hefty dash of cinnamon to his mug. Liberal additions of honey and half-and-half follow, enough to nearly fill the mug to the brim.

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"Well, my best friend can do magic, our new team leader turns into dirt, and I light things on fire with my mind, so I'm not sure pulling a bucket out of thin air is too far-fetched."

His eyes widen slightly as Zan moves over to the spice rack and goes to town, but he's seen Caleb make borsche, and has tried haggis, so a little pepper in coffee doesn't seem nearly as foreign.

"So how did you and... Jayna, I think you said her name is? How did you two end up here on Earth?"

As he says it Trevor remembers what a pushover Zan seems to be, and holds up his hands. "And you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I was just wondering."

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"No. It is all right." Zan sips the concoction in his mug, then smiles. Not perfect, but close enough. Soothing. "It's just a long story." Zan leans against the counter, staring at the beige liquid in his mug as he gathers his thoughts. "I was noticing as I walked in...there is so much metal just in this one room. On Exor, our homeworld, the central tenat of our faith is that the...the souls of the elements protect us, and in return, we must respect their physical embodiments. Harvesting of resources -- timber, metals, animals -- must all be done with great care. It does make life hard sometimes. There are sometimes shortages. It means that we...are not very industrialized." There's an odd, withdrawn look on Zan's face with those last words. "Our largest cities would seem only modest to you, I think."

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Trevor thinks of his own home in Suicide Slum, with its low incomes and high crime rate, and grimaces. "Being industrialized isn't always a good thing."

Trevor refills his own cup and heads back to the table. The subject seems to be a tender one in spite of Zan's reassurances, so Trevor lets it drop in favor of one that he hopes will be a little more happy.

"So have you and your sister thought about what you're going to do now that you're here?"

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Zan blinks at the change in subject, but doesn't protest. Perhaps his companion found the story dull.

"Um...no. Not especially. It's hard to tell what we could do, really."

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Trevor wonder if Zan even realizes how much of an open book his facial expressions are, and has to doubt it. From the little bit he's been able to gather, the people Zan and his sister were around for most of their lives weren't exactly empathetic.

"Sorry. I'm guessing human conversation conventions are a little new. You seemed like how you got to Earth was something you didn't want to talk about."

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Sand had actually been out of the Brownstone most of the morning dealing with finance issues regarding the group. He had come back to begin uploading the battle report from the previous night - and to figure out how to tell Michael he was taking off.

As he passes through the kitchen (not too long after Zan had left), he notices Trevor still nursing some coffee.

"Wow. I figured after last night you'd still be comatose." Sand picks up an everything bagel and heads for the toaster. "You bring the bagels?"

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"Yeah. I figured everyone would probably need a good reason to get out of bed this morning," Trevor says, finishing up the last of own bagel ans leaning back with his coffee.

"Speaking of which, what has you up so early? I figured you'd want to sleep in most of all."

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"I had morning meetings with the investment firm I work with. We had to rework some of the paperwork currently in place that funds the JSA to free up the money we're going to need for startup." The toaster pops up, and Sand begins to spread sun-dried tomato cream cheese onto the bagel. "There's still a decent-sized slush fund for the JSA to use if their other funding areas dry up, but I have a feeling that we'll need some solid assets to get the groundwork up for the team."

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"Actually, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about."

Trevor pauses, not sure how to proceed. Having doubts about himself isn't something he's used to feeling, much less expressing, but he's about to be on a team with someone he lit on fire by accident.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I don't mean the team, but me on it?"

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"Why would you ask that?" Sand said, in between bites of bagel.

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"Well, there's the fact that I got my butt kicked by a couple of wannabe Sabrina's, and then lit your buddy Hank on fire," Trevor tells him bluntly. "That doesn't usually scream 'Hey, I really want to rely on him to not get me killed!'"

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Sand cocks an eyebrow at him. "That's ENTIRELY a reason to have you on a team. That way, we can work on you NOT flambe'ing teammates. Besides, you're far too hard on yourself. Magique turned out to be a Class Alpha threat, and you more than held your own out there." A pause. "You're good, Trevor. Don't ever think otherwise. Besides," He stops to take a drink of his tea. "I have a feeling that where the team may be looking to me to hold them together in combat...you're going to be one of the main reasons this team holds together outside of combat."

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"You really think so?" Trevor asks, swallowing a level of pride that usually passes for egotism. "I gotta admit, I'm good at making friends, but I've never been a team player before."

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"That's because you've probably always felt like you didn't belong in a team. Hence the whole 'Outsiders' concept." Sand says. "Seriously, never discount the ability to relate to others. Your conversation with Zan was particulary well-handled, even if you need to catch up on Exorian cuisine."

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Trevor laughs, taking a sip of his own coffee.

"What can I say? I've always been more 'three sugars' than 'two cayenne peppers' myself."

"Thanks for the confidence, by the way. A lot of it was the fact that I felt like such an ass for lashing out at Psimon and lighting Hank up like that."

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"You fight with emotion, and that can be a great advantage, if properly controlled. To be fair, you haven't been in that many doomsday situations, and things like that come from experience. If I had a buck for every two-bit fascist that held a gun to my head to keep Wesley off their back, I'd have twice the money I do now."

"I'm hoping that this will give everyone an opportunity to grow and heal, especially with you, Corrine and Caleb. The Neron situation has had everyone on edge for months." He pauses. "It's had me concerned for awhile."

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