http://century-girl.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] century-girl.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] capeandcowllogs2010-05-23 01:28 pm

(no subject)

WHO: Jenny Quantum ([livejournal.com profile] century_girl) and the Midnighter ([livejournal.com profile] wardelivery)
WHERE: Near the Porter's island.
WHEN: Now.
WARNINGS: None.
SUMMARY: Midnighter is a dad.
FORMAT: Prose.

She already didn't like this at all. She couldn't feel anything around her and it was all wrong. It was hard to explain, because it was not something concrete like the Door not appearing when it should have. Jenny was... a part of the world, she had always been, and it felt like she wasn't, anymore.

At least, Daddy Midnight was there, and had answered fast, so she wasn't alone. If everyone was also here, it couldn't be bad. They'd find a way to make things okay again. That's what they always did, and Angie had told her stories about worse situations they had been in, when she was smaller. She could remember part of that time with Seth even if she'd been young. They were all used to this.

Jenny was going to wait for her dad and not move (or move just a little and fly to the other side of the water), and they would find out what to do; they always did.
ext_1022784: (Default)

[identity profile] wardelivery.livejournal.com 2010-05-23 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Jenny had sounded so young. That wasn't the voice of the teenager he'd left on the Carrier-- full of teenage sulk and sarcasm. That was the little girl he'd left behind.

Was she really younger? Had something de-aged her, or was she from a different time period?

But that filtered through his head without slowing him down as he crossed The City by the streets and rooftops, moving like a parkour runner at super-human speeds until he had to slow down to scout the coast near the island.

He'd thrown on the mask-- Lucas Trent, currently a box-slinging yokel, couldn't move like he had to move. And he couldn't blow his 'secret identity.'

He would have, though, in a heartbeat, for Jenny. It was just luck that had put his apartment in the path of his mad dash across the city. He hadn't actually ever planned on returning to That Fucking Island for some time.
ext_1022784: (With Jenny)

[identity profile] wardelivery.livejournal.com 2010-05-23 06:33 pm (UTC)(link)
"We're on an alternate Earth, sweetheart," he said awkwardly, gathering her into his arms after a beat of hesitation, just a nanosecond for his implants to gather information from her and determine that nope not a doppelganger-- double and triple checks after what the fake 'Apollo' had done. "It's a closed-off dimension, I think, with only the Porter letting things in or out. The timeframe is a little funny."

'Little funny.' Jenny of 10/16 years old would have given him a withering glare for that kind of baby talk. But Jenny here wasn't even angry at him.

"What year was it when you left?"
ext_1022784: (Brooding - Rain)

[identity profile] wardelivery.livejournal.com 2010-05-23 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Damn.

"No. No, honey, I came here in 2010. But I've only been here a few months." Under the mask, his brow furrowed, shifting the leather just fractionally. "Did you come through the Door when you got here? Or did the Porter take you from somewhere else?"

Easier to focus on the logistics of her arrival than explain his three year absence and try to make excuses-- 'Mind control nanites' sounded like such a cop-out.
ext_1022784: (With Jenny)

[identity profile] wardelivery.livejournal.com 2010-05-23 07:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"Okay," the Midnighter said quietly. "We probably won't be picked up for a while, if at all. There are a lot of people trapped in this universe-- some from Earths I think we've run into. It's not easy to get out. But we'll be okay. I have an apartment. We can get you into school. You won't be part of the superhero conflicts here."

Over his dead body she would be.
ext_1022784: (Brooding - Rain)

[identity profile] wardelivery.livejournal.com 2010-05-23 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"Because I don't trust a place who imports its police force without doing background screenings. That Porter has brought half the psychopaths in this place," Midnighter said firmly. "We don't have the rest of the team here. We can't trust anyone else, not yet, and we definitely can't trust this place."

He scowled. "There are people who want to hurt you. Some of them might be here, too."
ext_1022784: (Lamentable)

[identity profile] wardelivery.livejournal.com 2010-05-24 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm not involved either," the Midnighter pointed out, looking at her solemn little face with a swell of paternal feelings and awkward guilt. "I haven't decided what sides to take here. I just... work. Like a normal human."

"I think it might be good for you to be a normal little girl for a while. Until we figure this out," he offered, because even as a little girl she'd wanted to be involved.
ext_1022784: (Default)

[identity profile] wardelivery.livejournal.com 2010-05-24 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
"Do you know what helps with secret identities?" he asked with a wry look. "Not being on the cover of People. And The Advocate. Twice. It's working better this time."

Sheesh. Kids. Every one a critic. "I'm using the name Lucas Trent. I don't know how Jennifer Trent is a name you can live with, though."
ext_1022784: (Default)

[identity profile] wardelivery.livejournal.com 2010-05-25 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
"They were very flattering glasses. He should have listened to me about the wig, though," he said, a little cheerfulness under his scowl.

The scowl remained, however, as he strode back towards the City. "You have to look at least moderately normal. If I can find someone I trust, though, they can pretend to tutor you at home."
ext_1022784: (Default)

[identity profile] wardelivery.livejournal.com 2010-05-26 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
"He'd look silly in the spanking white costume if he had auburn hair, sweety." Midnighter was already getting falling into the routine of dealing with young-Jenny, as if the intervening years hadn't happened; being 'adaptable' had its blessings. And curses. The reality of this was probably going to trip him up soon.

"Can you hang on my back, Jenny?" He pointed at a fire escape. "We're going to go up this wall and get to my apartment from the roofs."
ext_1022784: (With Jenny)

[identity profile] wardelivery.livejournal.com 2010-05-28 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
"He looks very good with black hair, but I'd rather he not wear it." Midnighter paused.

"Despite what you think, honey, daddy is still very slightly smarter than a concussed goldfish. I know you can fly. But I haven't been in a fight with anything more menacing than a vending machine in a month, and I'm going to get a beer gut." He did loosen his grip so that she could make her own way up.

"And skulking costumed people on roofs attract less attention than skulking costumed people walking up the inside stairs past Mrs. Carmichael and her pekinese."
ext_1022784: (Death from Above)

[identity profile] wardelivery.livejournal.com 2010-06-01 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
"Or I could climb this building." Like a parkour-trained Clydesdale: all muscle and brute-force against gravity. He bounded from fire escape rail to ledge to pipe, every landing just lasting long enough for him to wrench his entire weight up to the next handhold with his legs or feet, or both. He landed on the roof with only a very muted thud, absorbing the energy back into himself and rolling with it so that there wasn't a sharp sound to announce his arrival.

"Sixth floor, east side." He tipped his head toward an adjacent wall. "Let me make sure nobody's watching and we'll head in. Window's unlocked. I miss Doors, Jenny," he added with a mostly-suppressed sigh.
ext_1022784: (A&M:Flying)

[identity profile] wardelivery.livejournal.com 2010-06-01 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
The Midnighter waved her into the slight cover of the roof ledge while someone peered out curiously. Someone else was watching a pigeon nearby. At four o'clock, someone staring out their window idly as they cooked. A second before each of the observers glanced away at the same time, he said "Now, sweety," and in the next breath he was dropping like a stone to the window and vaulting inside.

...he really, REALLY missed Doors, and a husband who could fly.