But I haven't done anything wrong! (open)

[Deleted]

Despite Koriand'r's reassurances, Hawkgirl intends to keep an eye on her new charge, just in case, though they'll probably not be lacking in sunlight on this trip. Not unless they happen upon a storm too large to fly over or around easily, but in that case Hawkgirl would be more inclined to land and wait it out than fly through it. And she finds that detail interesting, not realizing that Kal-El also gained his strength from sunlight since he didn't say. Seems like a less reliable way to fly than wings to her - fortunately this far above the ground Shayera would be able to catch the girl before she reaches the ground if it fails.

But she keeps most of her attention on Koriand'r's words, as brief as they are. "I'm sorry to hear that," she says with what sympathy she can offer. "And I only want to know what you want to say," she adds. At least, for now. "Perhaps it would help if I introduced myself better first," she offers with a half-smile, "Like I said back there, my name is Shayera - Shayera Hol. But, as you probably heard, I'm better known as Hawkgirl. The humans started calling me that after I got here. Back on Thanagar I was a peace officer. The reason I'm here is because I was tracking a bunch of criminals trafficking in forbidden technology to their fortress, when I was accidentally transported here. And since these humans barely have space travel I doubt that I'll be able to get back." And all of that, excepting her name, is a lie. It's doubtful that anyone would be able to trust her if she told anyone why she's really here and her mission, so the cover story is necessary.

"That was a few months ago," she adds reverting back to the truth, "Since then I've been able to learn enough about the people here to live among them. And the reason why I'm so well known is because one of the things I do is use the skills I have that humans lack to help them; fighting crime, saving people if there's a disaster, that sort of thing." And, having explained all that she goes silent, allowing Koriand'r to comment as she wishes. She really wasn't lying when she said she just wants to hear what the girl is willing to say.

[starfire]

Kori was silent, her eyes on Shayera as she talked. So Shayera was a peace officer. And like her, she was trapped on this world with no way back. She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or depressed that this planet lacked interstellar travel. On one hand, it meant that there was little chance of the Citadel or the Psions finding her, and no chance for someone on this planet to communicate with either faction. The primitive nature of these people might be a blessing. After all, she had only landed here by chance.

And yet, a lack of interstellar spaceships meant that she might well be trapped here her entire life. She would never again see another Tamaranean.

I guess I should ask myself which fate I prefer- loneliness annd slavery or unity with my people and slavery? Because, Kor, be serious- there's no way you're taking back your planet. All of your military people are dead and the people have been cowed by the brutality of their conquerers. You don't have weaponry, numbers, or military experience on your side. You have no chance of freeing them.

Damn it. She hated being helpless yet again. She gritted her teeth at the thought. She forced her attention back to Shayera.

"So...you won the humans over by lending your skills to help keep the peace on their world," Kori said, expression thoughtful. "Do you know if the criminals you were tracking are on this world? Or are they elsewhere, beyond your reach?"

[Deleted]

"Yes," Hawkgirl replies, "There's something about saving someone's life, their livelihood, or preventing disaster that tends to improve their opinion of you. And humans are so weak compared to me that it isn't actually that difficult of work. I'm sure it would help your case if you could find some way to show that your presence on this planet is helpful and not harmful."

She's not going to recommend hero work outright, even though the girl's ability to fly and strength would make that easily possible, but she has found it a very effective way to 'fit in'. Of course, it also depends on Koriand'r's personality and interests. Hawkgirl, for example, particularly enjoys hero work because she loves to be where the action is - especially if she's doing most of the action.

The questions get a quick shake of her head and she answers, "As far as I saw, I was the only one to get caught in the beam. And if any other Thanagarian was on this planet I probably would have heard about it - we don't blend in. So as far as I know, they're still back there." Which means that she's completely alone on this planet too, not that she seems to mind it much.

But then, the reason for that isn't because she's the 'lone wolf' type, but because she knows that she's actually here only temporarily. It should be about five years, as humans measure time, before her mission will end unless things progress faster in the war than anticipated. And then Hro will come for her and she'll go back to her people.

[starfire]

Although it was a very understandable response, Kori scowled. "I don't see why I should bother. All they've shown me so far is fear and xenophonia. It doesn't exactly make me want to risk my life for theirs. All I did was land on their planet, and it's automatically assumed that I'm the bad guy?" She shook head, trying to work off her frustration.

She tried to see events from the Earthlings's perspective, as her parents had taught her. Her mother had advised her that a good queen was capable of understanding her allies' and enemies' perception of events. Doing so allowed the queen to manipulate her enemies or placate the fears of her allies.

How would the Earthlings view her arrival? She supposed they were just as likely to assume she was a diplomat as a spy. Of course, the two weren't all that dissimilar in truth. And it seemed humans were a tad on the paranoid side as it was...or at least their military was.

Thinking of events in such a manner cooler Kori's ardor somewhat- they were just scared of their primitive culture being eradicated by beings with more advanced technology. Still, it did nothing to infuse Kori with a love of the Earthlings.

She nodded in response to Shayera's response that she believed the weapons smugglers were on another planet. She supposed Shayera must feel at least as frustrated as Kori- no, more so, for if she left this Earth she could rejoin her people. They hadn't been conquered and forced into servitude like the Tamaraneans. Shayera had a home to go back to, but no way to go back to it.

"You seem to be handling the failure of your mission and your isolation on this backwater planet pretty well," Kori noted.

[Deleted]

Hawkgirl basically ignores Koriand'r's griping. Because for one thing, the girl is right: it isn't fair the way aliens get treated with so much suspicion on this planet. But also because she knows that, now that Koriand'r is out of the hands of the military, she'll be able to meet ordinary humans which are, as she said, much more reasonable. She's sure that humanity will yet redeem itself, despite the rather bad first impression.

Instead she focuses her attention on the girl's next statement, her attention instantly drawn to it because her training has taught her to be very aware of the slightest sign that her cover might be question. But that's a comment that's easily addressed, "I've had a few months to get used to the idea. And no amount of complaining or feeling sorry for myself can change the fact that I'm here. And this 'backwater planet' has grown on me - it isn't such a bad place when you get used to it, and it gets used to you. It has a number of redeeming features." All of which is true - even though her stay on this planet is temporary, she still had to come to grips with the fact that she'd be here alone for the duration of her mission. And this planet is decidedly less unpleasant than she thought that it would be.

[starfire]

Kory nods at Shayera's explanation. She doesn't know if Shayera is really telling the truth, but she's not particularly concerned. Even if Shayera is an alien spy, she has no loyalties to this world and wouldn't try to rat her out. All she wants is for people to not being trying to hurt her for once in her life. She just wants to live a free and quiet life.

She wonders if she will be as calm as collected as Shayera after she has been stranded on Earth for a couple months. Probably not, she decides. And Shayera had to learn the language of this planet the hard way, unless she was mistaken. Right now the only thing that is keeping Kori from being utterly depressed about being on this planet is the hope that Shayera is right, and Earthlings aren't all that bad as they seemed to be upon her first encounter with them. Well, that and the hope that Shayera was truly going to be her friend, rather than attempt to manipulate her or hurt her as so many others had recently.

She remains silent as they continue to fly, not sure what else to say.

[Deleted]

Whether or not Koriand'r would care about her mission on not, Hawkgirl isn't going to confide in anyone about it. Nobody needs to know besides herself, and she could jeopardize it unnecessarily by trusting anyone. Better to simply keep it to herself until the mission ends. Besides, she doesn't need anyone to know everything about her in order to have an adequate level of companionship.

She does wish that the young woman flying with her would be a bit more open now that she's shared so much about herself, but she figures that perhaps Koriand'r just needs some time. Some might take how little the girl has said as a bad sign, but what she has said indicates that she's had a lot of very upsetting things happen to her recently, so Hawkgirl doesn't want to force the issue unless and until she has to - which isn't yet.

Instead she turns her attention to the most important things that one needs to know about this planet in order to live on it. Lessons might as well begin immediately, if there's nothing else to talk about. "Like I said, the people on this planet will fear you until they get to know you. Which means that you'll need to make an effort to always play by their rules. So unless you know you're welcome, if there's a fence around a place you enter through the gate instead of flying over it. If there's an object that's too heavy for a human to lift, don't pick it up unless you know for sure they want you to. Apply that logic to everything. And in everything, it's always better to ask first, apologize too much, and ask a lot of questions if you don't understand something. Humans are at least understanding enough to recognize when you're making a very sincere effort to do the right thing. Still, if you make a very big mistake, they will freak out no matter how sincere your intentions are. And expect that to happen at least once, if not more, no matter how much I teach you and how quickly you learn it." Hawkgirl is, as always, very blunt and practical about these sorts of things.

[starfire]

Kori gave a depressed sigh and wondered if she should just let herself fall to the the earth. She didn't think following Shayera's advice would do much good. For one thing, she had almost no idea what the limitations of humans were. For another...weren't she and Shayera already breaking the advice Shayera was giving her? She had seen no indication that humans could fly without the aid of machines.

And at any rate, there was no way that Kori could hide her extraterrestrial origin- she was humanoid, but clearly not humanoid. Her skin was just a few shades too orange and her eyes were too green.

"Um, no offense, but you have huge wings. You're about as subtle as I am." She peered at Shayera's wings closely, looking for any hint of joints allowing the wings to contract or fold up on themselves. She didn't see anything, but such things were hard to spot. Returning her attention to Shayera, she said , "And I haven't flown in so long...sorry, but I really think I might lose if I have to stay grounded all the time. As to everything else...I-I'll try to keep to following the rules and customs of the locals...but I have no idea what those are! And I'm unfamiliar with just about everything else, too...technology, climate, geography, wildlife...I am so fucked." She then went on to curse in five other languages.

Her vision was getting blurry. Tears? It was just the altitude and the speed, she told herself. But wait...why was she breathing so hard? She was hyperventilating, and she felt her vision going dim.

Careful. You pass out at several thousand feet up in the air from a panic attack, you fall and die, she reminded herself. She slowed to a stop, focusing on calming her breathing.

[Deleted]

Hearing the bread in Koriand'r's voice, Shayera looks over at the young woman, concerned. She quickly reminds herself that she's talking to a young woman of not completely known origin and not one of the hardened warriors in her old espionage classes. When Koriand'r stops, Hawkgirl loops around to face her, using the wind that blows almost continuously this far up to make hovering in one place easier. She's not good at being gentle or nice, but perhaps she ought to give it a try now.

"Hey, easy, breathe," she encourages. While the thought does occur to her that if the girl passes out she'll fall, naturally Shayera would catch her long before she'd reach the ground. Still, not a good idea anyway. "You have me to teach you, remember? And I'm a very good teacher. I had to learn a lot of tricks to live on this planet, and I'll teach them all to you. I'm not going to lie and say that it's easy, but it mostly just takes some getting used to, okay? And you'll always be able to do whatever you want when you're alone or with friends. And as soon as we get to St. Roch I'll introduce you to a few humans who are already used to one funny-looking, super strong alien who can fly - they'll probably decide you're their friend within five minutes." She gives what she hopes is a comforting smile, wondering what it would be like being on this planet if she hadn't known what she was doing - hell, she'd literally taught the class on how to introduce yourself to a new culture.

And in her opinion, humans are pretty easy aside from the xenophobia - they have so many variations in culture themselves that they're already somewhat used to dealing with people who don't get every detail right. Once she's been around one long enough for them to wrap their mind around the fact that she has wings, it's like she's one of them. In hopes that it will help Koriand'r calm down even further if she has something productive to think about she asks, "What's the very first thing you want to learn?"

[starfire]

Kori allows the sound of Shayera's words to comfort her and took several more calming breaths. Once again, she dared to allow herself to hope and trust another. Somewhat.

Hope and trust were dangerous. Hope because it was so fragile and set you up for disappointment when your hopes didn't come to fruition.
Her trust issues came from the betrayal she had suffered from her own sister. Of course, in hindsight she could see the signs that Komand'r had hated her and her people, but nonetheless something had died in her from that betrayal. If you couldn't trust your own family, who could you trust?

Still, she nodded for Shayera's benefit. She smiled a bit at Shayera's mention that there would be humans who understood her and would be willing to befriend her. "Really?" she asked. She couldn't help it that her tone was so full of hope, even though she knew that hope was dangerous.

She just wanted someone who she could trust right now.

Her mind turned over Shayera's question. What did she want to learn first? She wasn't quite sure. What was the most important thing for her to learn? What dangers awaited her, surely, but that was a broad question. She didn't dare ask anything so complicated as about the social conventions and mores of humans. Even semi-intelligent beings could have complex rules regarding social interactions.

She decided to go with a relatively simple question. "Are humans the only sentient life forms on this planet?" Most planets only had one sentient species that was native to the world, but there were exceptions to that rule. Humans had been the only species she had seen on this planet so far.

Of course, her question assumed she and Shayera shared the same definition of sentience. She would prefer to let anthropologists debate what constituted self-awareness, however, "I mean, are they the most intelligent creatures on this planet?"

[Deleted]

"Yes, really," Hawkgirl confirms as she slowly turns to keep flying, hoping that will convince Koriand'r to do the same. She's eager to get home whether the girl is having emotional issues or not and they won't get there very quickly while stopped. While she could teach the girl what to do if you get caught too far from a known safe haven overnight, she'd rather not do it now.

She's silent as the young woman mulls over her question, having no idea what to expect. There is, after all, an entire foreign planet's worth of information she could ask about - though Hawkgirl hopes that she will stick to the basics until they get to St. Roch. Hawkgirl didn't learn everything there is to know about the planet in such a short time herself, but she has discovered how easy it is to learn things using the internet.

Fortunately, the question about sentient life forms is one she knows the answer to without checking. "Short answer: they're the only ones you need to worry about. Long answer: I've seen a few signs here and there that it might not be true - there may be others. But if so, they're obviously not interested in being found if the humans haven't managed to find them, so you probably won't meet them. Humans themselves are evolving; some among them have abilities that other humans don't and depending on your definition they may be considered separate - but all of those follow standard human conventions," she explains.

Hawkgirl has encountered planets with more than one clearly sentient life form, but most of them don't because one of them generally eliminates the competition at some point in their evolution. When they don't it's usually because the two are separated from each other somehow. But Hawkgirl has found a few clues that hint at some in the ocean, at the very least. But then, birds and deep water don't mix so she hasn't cared to investigate the matter.

[starfire]

Kori nodded at Shayera's answer. She was grateful for the woman's honesty- she could have just simply said yes so she would seem more of an expert on the planet. But Kori understood. Even though it wasn't a huge planet, it was a whole planet, and she didn't expect Shayera to have explored every single speck of earth on this planet in the time since her arrival.

What she had said made sense. If she and Shayera had found Earth by accident, why couldn't other aliens? Some of them may even be hostile to her presence./ However, since she hadn't been attacked since crash-landing on the planet, she could be confident that she had lost her Psion pursuers- and her sister either didn't know where she was or didn't care.

She was curious about Shayera mentioning mutations in the human species. Mutations were common in every species. Her sister's prior lack of flight was proof of that. She was certain that Thanagerians were no exception to this rule, so why did Shayera feel the need to mention it? Were these mutations among humans exceptionally common?

"How common are these mutations? And what exactly do you mean by abilities?" Something about the way Shayera said it made Kori think that she meant these abilities were noteworthy.

[Deleted]

While Hawkgirl may possess too much pride in her strength in battle, she's not about to consciously pretend to be more than she is. Especially since it would be a disservice for her to give Koriand'r an inaccurate answer. That would be outright selfish of her - and that's one trait that the Thanagarian doesn't have much of.

And the mutations really are something worth noting. "I'm not talking about minor mutations, but great leaps. Regular humans can't do much - they can't fly, their senses are very poor, they can't channel energy of any kind, they can't read minds, teleport, phase through things, change their shape, and most of them lack any real intelligence. But, every once in awhile, I stumble upon one who can do at least one of those, or something even more interesting. And some of them are strong enough to give me trouble. I've only run into a handful myself, but I've heard about many more from the news media than I've actually met," she explains.

"Of course, I do tend to go looking for trouble," she adds with a grin. She wouldn't be much of a hero if she wasn't willing to stick her nose into the most dangerous of circumstances. "Still, it's hard to guess how many there are," she notes, "Some humans seem as xenophobic of these humans with abilities as they are of me - if not worse - so they don't exactly go around announcing themselves." Except, of course, when one of them decides to use their abilities to commit a crime. But if it weren't for that, then Hawkgirl's life would be so much more boring than it is.

[starfire]

Kori listened intently as Shayera talked. What she said was interesting- these did indeed not appear to be normal mutations, at least as she understood the term. Most mutations she heard of were things like an individual with an extra limb, a modification to the skeletal or muscular system, or a resistance to a particular strain of bacteria. And in Kori's personal experience, the most severe mutations tended to be ones that weren't beneficial to the individual. Her sister's mutation had left her as the one Tamaranean who couldn't fly, for example.

The mutations that Shayera described, though, seemed fantastic and unlike anything she had heard about. What was the cause of these mutations? Were they actually natural? Or were they induced somehow- either by accident or design? Koriand'r had heard of aliens with amazing technology that allowed self-modification at the molecular level- but even the Tamaranean royal throne couldn't afford to purchase such things. How had Earthlings- a race that couldn't even establsih colonies within its own solar system, as far as she could tell- perform such miraculous feats?

She decided on her next question. "How do humans measure time? What units do they use?"

[Deleted]

If Hawkgirl wasn't as well versed in the possibilities of the universe as she was she might find the recent surge in the abilities of humans odd, but she figures that they're just following their own evolutionary path a bit differently. While the abilities of Thanagarians boil down to simply having well-designed bodies that can take (and give) a lot of punishment as well as technology like Nth metal, others like Koriand'r have more fantastic abilities and that isn't unusual. They must have developed them at some point in their planet's history, and it may not have been a slow process. The way she figures it, humans must simply be at a point where they've evolved to a point to develop such things themselves and the variation is due to the fact that the genes aren't get commonplace. Perhaps in several generations things will 'settle down' into a new normal for their genes.

Then again, it probably doesn't help that she's heard a lot of rumors about insane scientists too.

"They divide their days into 24 hours, hours into 60 minutes, and minutes into 60 seconds. A week is 7 days. Their years are about 365 days long - they divide that into 12 irregular months," Hawkgirl rattles off easily, "I'll show and explain one of their clocks and calendars to you when we get to my place." Hawkgirl is more than happy to explain anything that Koriand'r wants to know - well, unless she starts asking questions that might be dangerous, such as the limits of their weaponry. Finding out that sort of thing is actually the whole point of Hawkgirl's reason for being here, but then again she knows her reasons are good and Koriand'r is still too recent of an acquaintance to trust that much - even though she believes Koriand'r is genuine. "What else?" she asks.

(OOC: A thousand apologies for the lateness of my reply! I've got more than a little on my plate at the moment, but if I'm honest, that's only a partial excuse. I will endeavor to do better! Also, I don't know how long you'd like Koriand'r to ask Hawkgirl questions - I imagine that it could continue the whole trip to Hawkgirl's place - but if you want to skip ahead to when they get there I'm cool with that. Unless Koriand'r has any questions that you'd like Hawkgirl's IC answer to.)