firstofitskind | MHA #6 to the Beach Near Chimera Court, Wednesday Morning

MHA #6 to the Beach Near Chimera Court, Wednesday Morning

Liam's day had started when he got out of bed and tripped over a valise labelled 'Destiny' and nearly faceplanted into a steamer trunk labelled 'Survivor's Guilt'.

It really didn't take him long to figure out what was going on. Once again, Fandom had taken a metaphor and gone the distressingly literal route, it seemed. And sure, most people would've taken this as a hint to stay hidden inside their apartments, but most people didn't live with a colony of pathologically religious mice who remembered everything. His trauma was already manifesting in literal form here, he didn't need the creation of a religious ritual to mark the occasion as well.

So, out for a run it was, and then stopping to sit for a while at his favorite spot near his old place and ~~sulk~~ ~~brood~~ just be alone with his thoughts for a while. Well, alone with his thoughts and his damned emotional baggage.

[ooc: expecting one but could also be open if you want to catch him beforehand!]

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"I didn't think those went away," Annie commented lightly. "Kinda thought it was a lifelong thing."

Fandom seemed determined to keep up with its on-the-nose commentary here, because that's when that 'Survivor's Guilt' steamer trunk made a reappearance.

"No," Liam agreed. "You're right. Generally speaking."

Annie eyed the steamer trunk, sighing out a soft breath. "Was this an exception that ties in with that?" she guessed quietly, nodding to the trunk.

"Yeah, I-"

And there were two identical suitcases, one emblazoned with 'First Of Its Kind', and the other with 'Last Of Its Kind'.

Liam scowled at them for a moment. And then decided he might as well just explain, because the cat was out of the bag (heh), sort of, and though he knew he didn't owe her an explanation, just saying it would probably be fine, right?

"So. I'm not entirely human." A pause, almost as if he was expecting some more baggage to appear. For once, it didn't. Maybe because he'd actually dealt with that issue. Or maybe because the gag lost some of its impact if it happened every time. One of those.

"Not entirely?" Annie echoed, eyeing those suitcases. "Could've fooled me."

But then again, Annie knew a few other people who could pass as human without question, so she didn't really doubt him at all. "So what are you? If you don't mind saying. That seems like a rude thing to ask, I don't know."

Once again, Fandom had handed her a situation where she wasn't sure what the etiquette was.

“Two-thirds human, one-third an alien species that was known as the Kimera,” Liam told her. “And I know, the math doesn’t check out. The Kimera were energy-based, and my father used a human host to, uh. Create me.” Which was such a nicely clinical way to put it! But at least it sort of explained the two ‘Daddy Issues’ luggage pieces.

"You have three parents?" Yeah, Annie had heard him and understood, but that was - just, like, so weird. So, so weird. This was like when Stark had told her that his ship had given birth to a baby ship - it was so outside of Annie's own frame of reference that she had to take a second. "So...okay, forgive me if I'm interpreting this wrong, but it sounds like you were...created, um, with intent?"

Between this, and the destiny thing, and what she remembered about his prior bodyguard-esque position...it sounded likely.

“Mmmhmm.”

But not, technically speaking, consent, at least when it came to his human father. And his mother’s willingness was... also dubious.

“A long time ago, he made a choice that caused a major rift in the development of another species. Caused it to split into two evolutionary lines, one of which would become the Taelons.” Also known as those aliens Liam had worked for. “Fast forward a few million years, and now both of those species were dying out. I was meant to heal that rift.”

"Like a...hybrid?" Annie asked slowly, and if she'd been just a little more up on her genetic terminology, the Kimera thing might have helped her come to that conclusion a little faster. "Were the two species going to stay distinct, or be like you?"

“A hybrid,” Liam nodded, absently rubbing at one palm with the thumb of his other hand. “They would’ve become- something new. What they might have been, if their evolution had been allowed to proceed naturally.”

"So you were meant to fix his mistake," Annie supplied, frowning. "And reunite a species, and...like, wow, no pressure."

"But it was my purpose, you know? I knew what I was supposed to do."

Oh, look, the commentary-via-luggage-arrival was back, what with a crate of 'Needs to be useful' that plopped into the sand.

Annie smiled a little at that one, because she certainly could relate.

"I tend to think we all have a lot of purposes," Annie offered. "No matter what reason we're created." It helped that she truly believed she had been divinely gifted with superpowers, so she got the impulse - but that didn't mean it was the only reason she was on Earth.

And the same went for Liam.

"Hmm," Liam hummed in something like agreement. "Maybe. But most people don't come in to the world knowing what that purpose is."

"I mean," Annie considered, "there's the whole thing with like, birthright, but most kids aren't aware of that until they're older, I guess. Are you saying you've known this since you were born?"

Liam nodded. just waiting for the ‘Dubious sense of self’ briefcase that had ambushed him in the kitchen earlier to make a reappearance. When it didn’t, he continued:

“One of the ways the Kimera passed on knowledge was through genetic memory. I know everything my parents knew. All three of them. The human ones are easier to understand and interpret, but they’re all there. Here.” He tapped at his temple.

"You literally know everything your parents knew?" Annie asked, eyes going wide. "Like... everything?"

Because that sounded pretty handy, but it wasn't like she wanted to know everything her parents knew.

"As a baby?" she had to add.

“Everything,” Liam nodded. “And- yes and no? I sort of... skipped over most of the childhood thing.”

Annie interpreted that to mean that his childhood had been like Diego's, or like how Rey's had sounded hard, and he'd had to grow up fast. "There's a lot of that going on around here," she said lightly.

She -- obviously -- had no idea.

Liam’s smile was wry.

“It’s pretty literal, in my case. I was conceived and born in nine hours.” Which, hey, Diego could still relate to that part, at least. “My ‘childhood’ was even shorter.”

Annie was staring at him in obvious curiosity, though she was trying not to be rude about it. "Can I ask how old you are now?" she wondered. "'Cause like, I figured...thirtyish?"

And now she was thinking it was probably a much smaller number than that.

“Not quite,” another brief flicker of a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Try... eight.”

And if he looked like he was bracing himself for a bad reaction, well. Even though no one in Fandom had freaked out on him yet regarding that particular tidbit, it was still the more common response.

And since Annie could tell that this was clearly something of...not exactly a sore spot, but a sensitive issue, she tried to keep her surprise off her face as much as she could. (Annie had almost no ability to actually school her face, like, ever, but she tried!)

"You're very tall for eight," she commented lightly after a moment, offering a tiny smile.

There was absolutely a piece of luggage relating to that very issue hanging around here somewhere.

So, yeah, he noticed her reaction. And appreciated that she tried, at least, to rein it in.

“I’d be surprised if you found any taller,” he said, tension in the way he held himself loosening just a bit. “Well. Anyone human, anyway.”

"I was going to say," Annie said lightly. "I think you might have a slight advantage or three over the average human third-grader. But -- wow, Liam. I'm so sorry you missed out on a childhood."

Because that was the first thing that occurred to her, honestly -- her own childhood had had its issues (her mother had told her sugar would make her ugly, after all!) but she couldn't even fathom what it would have been like to just skip it. Even Diego and his siblings had been children, even if Sir Reginald had done everything he could to keep them from acting like it.

Edited 2021-02-11 23:35 (UTC)

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NFB, please!

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Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!

Re: NFB, please!