#all the sprocking legions

[radioactive-earthshine]

A Non-Exhaustive Guide to Future and Alternative Swearing in DC Comics.

Legionnaires #23 Swears curtesy of the Legionnaire's resident potty mouth Querl Dox aka Brainiac 5.

Being that DC spans many different periods in time there are many different curses and swears that have been used with varying degrees of frequency among multiple characters.

Bart Allen and other time displaced characters are some of those in the modern timestream that use some of the following in place of English swears. Otherwise the bulk of these words are used in comics such Legion of Super-Heroes and sometimes in comics that take place off-world.

To note, most of these swear words are supposed to be taken directly from Interlac, the universal language spoken by everyone in the 31st century as a unifying interstellar language.

Interlac is a language that is many thousands of years old by the 31st century, and the same Interlac language exists in the 21st century as well. There are some references that the language does shift over the thousand years of time passage, but it is still recognizable between speakers.

Without further elaboration here is a non-exhaustive list of the most common swears, their approximate meaning, and general time/place/characters they are used in/by.

Grife

Meaning: Fuck/Shit.

An intense swear used as an expletive for surprise or frustration. Sometimes used as "fucking" where -ing is attached to the end.

Used commonly in the 31st century and by Bart Allen in the 21st century.

Sprock

Meaning: Also Fuck/Shit.

An intense swear used as an expletive for surprise or frustration. Sometimes used as "fucking" where -ing is attached to the end. Is generally interchangeable with grife. Sometimes, both grife and sprock are combined to create compound swears such as "gee-sprocking-rife" courtesy of Brainiac 5.

Used commonly in the 31st century by all Legionnaires. Has made its way into other media such as the CW's Supergirl.

Nass/Nass-Head

Meaning: Shit/Ass

An expletive used often as an insult or as as a common crass intensifier. Most commonly used as "nass-head" in place of "shit-head" or "We're going to kick nass!" or "We're stepping in nass."

Used in the 31st century.

Scroach

Meaning: Bastard/Fucker

A derogatory uncommon/rare insult directed at someone. "That person is such a sprocking scroach I want to beat the nass out of them."

Used by a future version of Bart Allen in the Impulse comics during the Dark Tomorrow story arc. As far as I know, it is exclusive to the Impulse comics.

Grokk/Grok

Meaning: Shit/Fuck/Damn

An expletive used in surprise or frustration, much like sprock or grife.

This swear is used more commonly in 21st century interlac in comics like L.E.G.I.O.N. or comics that take place off of Earth. This swear has made it into other media as an Easter Egg such as in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

[senshilegionnaire]

EXCEPT: Never forget that every Legion is someone's first Legion, someone's Real Legion, no matter how disagreeable that Legion may be to you or to your group of fans.

Also, never forget that the FYG Legion gave us Ayla/Vi, the SW6 batch (and therefore the 'Legion standard uniform' cut, AKA Sprousefits), Profem, Gaiman's Sandman's Death appearing in a Legion comic, Atlantis as a floating dome city in space, Princess Amethyst of Gemworld as a Legionnaire, the Khundish Legionnaires lmfao, the Founders having kids, the fact that the Time Trapper isn't always the same person, Danielle Foccart as a Legionnaire, Celeste McCauley, Laurel Gand, Kent Shakespeare, the Subs not being a joke despite Giffen's hand in it, Policy Pam, Tenzil Kem as a senator, KONO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD KONO, the over the top amazing scenery-chewing of Glorith, the Arthurian Elseworlds, ROKK HAVING TEA WITH MORDRU, Ivy, Jo as a booze smuggler, the villain that was literally a giant mouth wearing a suit, Rubenesque Diva Nura, actually all of Sklar holy shit wow, more 30th century cuss words, ... SW6 Lyle running into his 17-years-grieving parents' arms...

Rankings of the Legion of Super-Heroes continuities

Pre-Crisis: Classic Legion, the one everyone goes back to. Sexy costumes and romance and action and no trouble understanding what's going on.

Five Years Later: A valiant and desperate attempt to try and make sense of the Legion's history after DC shamelessly fucked them over by removing Supergirl and Superboy, but bogged down by OOC characterization and bizarre retcons like Proty Garth.

Reboot Legion: Wholesome and endearing, fresh and imaginative. Had the longest staying power of any Legion reboot, likable characters and designs. DC should'be never tried to make them darker because it killed their book.

Threeboot Legion: Had the book come out when Occupy was a thing it might've found an audience. Disenfranchised teenagers trying to fight back against a stagnant society is more relatable than you'd think, but then One Year Later and whatever the fuck Jim Shooter did to the book ruined it like DnA ruined the Reboot. Pretty art by Francis Manapul, though.

Retroboot: While Geoff Johns can go fuck himself, the Retroboot tried to acknowledge all the Legions as existing together on separate worlds instead of pretending they never happened. Married Legionnaires and young Legionnaires back again. Superman is friends with them again. The potential to see the Reboot and Threeboot teams return in their own books alongside the adult Legionnaires. Everything matters.

The New 52 Legion: Nothing matters. A poorly thought out clusterfuck born from the mess Flashpoint created. Constant shifts in creative teams and needlessly dark and cruel character deaths that would make the FYL Legion blush. The only reason anyone was sorry to see it go is because it meant no more Legion comic in general. THE lowest point in any Legion comic.

The Cartoon Legion: Innocent and pure, but cancelled before its time. We didn't deserve the Legion cartoon because it was too good for us.

[fourcolour-ace]

Good day B5 Nation, I got some inspiration for a Benis Legion fic.

What if the reason this B5 doesn't feel right is because this isn't Brainiac 5 at all? What if, instead of sending the 12th-level heir to the Brainiacs to join the UP's new youth team, the Coluans decide to send someone a little more cooperative, someone who will make a better impression? Never mind that Imra, Rokk and Garth went to recruit him personally, let's just say they didn't leave with him, only agreed to have Querl Dox as a Legionnaire. It's feasible enough that, Coluans being an insular race, the Founders might not know the difference after meeting him once. So the leaders of Colu have some other young Coluan go in his place, made up to look like Brainiac 5.

However, after the false B5 sprocks it all up so royally(as readers of the comics will be familiar with), another Coluan shows up at Legion headquarters.

"That man is not Brainiac 5!" He declares. "I am."

I dunno if I'll run with this idea or not but it could be really fun!

[spandexinspace]

Should you

Today's ficlet plus two words brought to you by brainworms. Set somewhere right after the end of the N52.

CW: Bodily harm

________________________________

It’s raining outside. It wasn’t scheduled to rain today, but weather malfunctions have become common over the last few months. Most of the rain gets caught far up in the cityscape, strumming against high rises and floating luxury complexes long before it hits the small, dust-caked window of his hotel room, but the heavy humidity still finds it’s way into the room, reinvigorating old condensation trails along the walls and leaving his skin clammy. The air is thick and wet, heavy to breath in and poorly filtrated. He turns onto his side and the sheets stick to his bare arms.

That’s when he spots the silhouette. It’s leaning against the small desk on the opposite side of the room, shrouded in shadow as to only give him the vaguest idea of what it looks like. It’s short and thin, bipedal and bibrachial, its posture tense. He should probably move, but his limbs feel heavy and he can’t think of a reason why it’s necessary. So he doesn’t. His eyelids droop down until the silhouette becomes blurry and fades into the shadows again. If he’s lucky it’ll be gone when he looks up again.

The silhouette clears its throat, reminding him that he’s never been lucky. Especially not lately.

“What are you doing here?” Oh. Of course, it would be one of them. He props himself up on one elbow, every muscle and tendon in his body aching with deep seated fatigue. The pain flows out into the rest of his body, pulsating in rhythm with his heartbeats.

"You shouldn't be here," he croaks, voice barely above a whisper. His throat feels dry like sand despite the humidity, but water and glass shards have at some point formed a shallow pool of dancing lights on the floor next to the bed. He tries to swallow.

"Should you?" It’s the slight one. His voice is softer, less accusing.

"I live here."

"It's a downgrade." The figure shifts, long hair falling in front of its face. Hypocrite. A nosy hypocrite that decides to insert himself into his life for no good reason. He pushes himself into a sitting position, clenches his jaw and ignores the way his body screams for him to stop. His collarbone creaks.

"You know that that's not what I meant. Don't play stupid." Sweat beads on his forehead.

"You’re the only one who’s playing that game."

"Get. Out."

"No. I'm here to make sure that you don't do anything you'll regret." Who does he think he is. What right does he think he have. The sweat runs down his face, leaving cold rills in its wake.

"Sprock off."

"Again, no. If you do what it seems like you intend to do you could do incalculable damage to not only yourself and your universe, but to the multiverse as a whole. I'm not going to let you do that." Pushing away from the table the figure crosses the room, dim light illuminating its face for long enough to prove that he was right. It’s him. One of him. There are dark rings beneath his eyes and a new weariness to his face, but it’s his face all the same.

"The world needs a Legion. I will make things right." He stands. Glass crunches underfoot. Like gravel beneath the blazing midday sun it burrows into his feet, scorching points digging deep inside, pain searing up through he’s already tender body. He tastes copper.

"That's highly disputable. The world needs protection, but it doesn't necessarily need your idea of protection." The figure stands still. It’s staring. It’s judging. "I've been where you-"

"Have you?!” He lurches forward, barely catching himself on the wall. ”Have you watched your friends die and your life work crumble in front of you with nothing to show for it? Watched the woman you love die a thousand times over?!” Another shaky step forward. The figure retreats back into the shadows. Coward. It is. He is.

"I watched my universe die!” it bites back, voice shriller and sharper. “But that doesn’t mean I’m just going to give up on everything. You know what we are, and you know you can't give in to that." As if they’re the same. He picks up something heavy off of the windowsill and throws it towards the figure. It falls to the floor. His head spins.

"So you have nothing to worry about.” Breath in, raspy breath out. “No world to protect, nothing to live up to.” He coughs and pang of pain rings through his chest. “There's nothing wrong with this plan, it'll make people feel safer. Either way, it's too late, things have already been set into motion."

"You can stop it. You know better." Bargain and plead, desperation in its voice. Or so it sounds. He tries to draw a deep breath, but the air is so wet and heavy and lights dance in front of his eyes.

"No, this is what needs to happen. After everything that's happened we need something more." He stumbles back to the bed, collapsing onto the damp sheets. He hadn’t noticed how they reek of sweat before.

"Can't you see what you're doing? How can you look in the mirror and not see what you've become?" Seemingly emboldened by his faltering the figure draws forward again. "You're just going to be like them now. You've failed." It stops short of the bed, stays just out of reach. Of course it’d say that. Of course it’d be just like the others, telling him he’s failed. Failed the Legion, failed himself. It’s wrong.

“I’m not. I’ll fix it.” Another cough jerks his body forward. Bitter bile rises in his throat. Out of the corner of his eye he sees the figure shake its head.

“You’re a lost cause,” it says.

“I am the only one who can fix this.” His feet feel warm and wet. “I will fix it, you’ll see.” The room won’t stay still.

“You won’t. But we’ll stop you if we have to.”

[vulcan-highblood]

I don't know if I've asked this yet, but if you could plan out a Brainy backstory episode for Supergirl, how would you do it (what would lead into the flashbacks), what would you want to see in those flashbacks, and (if you have an answer) who would you want to see as young Brainy? (besides Jesse himself)

Ok well first of all I am so bad at actors, I'm a super auditory person so I have no idea who should play young brainy, I'll leave it up to the casting director.

Now that we've settled that, ooooof im.... Brainy backstory is such a delicious topic! One option would be someone rejecting him for being Coluan, triggering Tragic Backstory Part 1: The Child Who Was A Genius But Also Everyone Hated Him Because He Was The Wrong Kind Of Genius

I've always seen Brainy's rejection stemming not only from his family background but his own idiosyncrasies, and the insistence of others to lay those idiosyncrasies at the feet of his Brainiac heritage rather than consider it a personality or character trait

Imagine every part of who you are is immediately written of as "well you're a Brainiac I'm not sure what I was expecting". You're constantly being held to ridiculously high standards, but if you meet them it's treated like the bare minimum, and people all fear or hate you because of your family tree. Being hated for a shared ancestry with Brainiac 1 is old hat, but I get the feeling it doesn't get any easier.

That's part of my theory about why brainy was in a "dark place", too. If all the expectations are so high but you never get any positive reinforcement, it's very hard to see the point in continuing to do what's expected. I don't think Brainy was evil, but I could definitely see him in a sort of Chaotic Neutral "i do what I want Because people hate me anyway so why bother appeasing them"

I feel like you'd start with a minor breakdown - like, Brainy is confronted for being a "collector" (because yeah timeline wise they're probably not wrong) by some random alien and him having a rough time answering that because he Was (as a child), and his inability to deny the accusation might feed into some other aliens sort of verbally assaulting him. He runs off and is comforted by [Dealer's choice, I'd probably choose Kara but I'm chill with Dreamer or even Alex filling the role] who pries a bit like "people who know you know you're not like that, though"

Brainy meets their gaze with a tired resignation, "Do they?"

Cue flashback - kids his age, calling him collector, mocking his inhibitors, yelling "run away, the Brainiac is going to go crazy and bottle you!!" Etc.

Cut back to Brainy, who says something like "maybe so, but for a very long time, people who thought they knew me held a very similar opinion to those [aliens] in there."

Cue flashback two - Querl is older and even more isolated. We see his father, watching him, not the way a father watches a son, but the way one watches a feral dog - curious, vaguely sympathetic, and above all else, wary. Querl glances up to his father, a smile blooming across his features, until he catches sight of the look on his father's face, and the smile drains away.

"My own father likely would have agreed with them," he says in a softer tone.

"I'm sure he wouldn't," his comforter insists, but Brainy shakes his head.

"If he hadn't, then he wouldn't have sent me away"

Flashback 3 - querl, packing his bags, his father watching without expression, arms crossed over his chest. Querl, boarding a ship, the broad hand of RJ Brande resting on his shoulder, guiding him aboard as he describes the quality of research resources available at the Time Institute. Querl dates a glance back over his shoulder. His father is already walking away, his back to the transport ship. Querl's shoulders hunch inwards as he turns forward once more.

"He sent you away? To where?"

"A place called the Time Institute, though there were abundant research projects unrelated to temporal phenomena of which to avail myself. There were not, however, many research labs that welcomed someone as young, and... Obviously troubled."

Flashback: "Can't say I've ever met a Coluan before, your kind don't go offworld very much. What did you do, bottle a planet?"

Querl flinches, though his reaction is significantly less dramatic than his reactions when he was younger. "I'm not interested in shrinking technology," he says awkwardly, "I was interested in temporal anomalies."

"Right, whatever, just stay out of the way."

Another flashback. Querl is older, his face less expressive, his eyes colder. He's working alone when someone approaches.

"Hey Brainiac, what are you working on now? A way to bottle-"

"My name is Querl,” he interrupts tersely, not bothering to lift his gaze. "do me the honor of addressing me as such"

A few more 'advanced bullying tactics' like "oh sorry, I didn't see your name on the lab requisition, Brainiac' "It's Querl Dox, I signed up last week-" "What are you gonna use the lab for anyway? There's no planets for you to collect in there"

"Hey Brainiac, are you collecting labs now? You have projects going on half the floor, why don't you bottle a few and leave room for the rest of us?"

"Hey Brainiac, what's your problem, don't feel like eating with the rest of us or are you too busy collecting planets to take a break"

"Hey Brainiac,"

"Hey Brainiac"

"Hey Brain-"

"MY NAME IS QUERL!! Sprock!"

Cut back to present day. "I was not... Popular among the research residents. I became increasingly isolated, and felt as though there was no one who knew me, or would even care to know me. So I... I stopped caring, too."

Flashback: Querl, alone in a lab. Querl, shoulder-checking people as he walks down a hallway, nose buried in an omnicom. Querl, eating alone in his lab. Querl, running between experiments that would benefit from an extra set of hands. Querl, sleeping alone in his lab. Querl, typing furiously at a keyboard, scowling and muttering at the formulas. Querl, an explosion ripping through the building, him barely blinking from behind a forcefield while anguished cries sound from behind him.

Querl, seated alone in a chair, RJ Brande staring across his broad desk at him.

"You know the protocol for potentially destructive experiments, Querl," the man says in a calm, disappointed tone. "Why didn't you follow it?"

Querl, staring at his lap, mumbles, "I didn't think anyone would notice"

From this point on, the bitterness becomes more pronounced.

Honestly I could go on to the point where he is actually put in holding for willful endagerment of sentient colleagues, but I think we can guess the story from there. Mon-El. The Legion. Bitterness slowly softens. Friendships blossom. Querl takes the very name used to abuse him, and finds strength in it. He becomes a hero.

[cyclone-rachel]

Day 12: From Now On

@elmayarafest

AO3 link

(set at the end of 3x23, inspired by both the scene in canon and the extended/deleted scene)

~

After Winn’s goodbye party (although, really given the subject matter, it could hardly be called a party), Querl sat down in his new chair.

At that time, there weren’t very many people left in the DEO- at least, not compared to how many there had been during said party, before Winn and Mon-El and Imra had said their goodbyes to everyone.

(Querl… aside from saying private goodbyes to his friends, and to Winn, who he was starting to consider a friend, didn’t really participate in the party.

Whether it was because being among crowds made him uncomfortable, or because he didn’t feel as though he deserved to be there at that time, or some combination of both, he wasn’t sure.)

But he’d come back into the DEO after seeing the Legion ship off, watching his hope for his future leave without him, and he was here, now. Sitting in a chair that was far from his own, in a place that was far from home.

He spun the chair around, just because he was used to it, and then lowered it, as he could see it was too high to fit under the desk at that time. Then he slowly pulled himself across the floor (it took longer than he thought… sprock, he missed his chair on the Legion ship. Though he knew Winn was going to use it responsibly), and though it took a couple times- not to mention he also reached out for the desk and missed the first time he tried to take hold of it- he finally got to his new workspace.

He sighed, sitting there for a moment.

From now on, this is your home, he thought. From now on, you will work here, with Alex Danvers.

(And with Supergirl- a thought that lightened his mood somewhat. But his heart still ached, thinking of everyone he’d left behind- or technically ahead- and those whom had left him behind.)

(He still wore his Legion ring, and it still shone in the late afternoon sun- just as it would shine in the future, under a sun and sky that had been changed by time. It would be a reminder that, though he was no longer in the thirty-first century, he was still a Legionnaire, and would continue to uphold their code and responsibilities, albeit adapted to his new twenty-first century occupation)

He knew it wasn’t his choice. He knew that were it not for the near one hundred percent chance that his cousin’s plague would infect him, he would be the Legion’s first choice to lead the fight against him.

But, if he had stayed, it would. And now he was here, as safe as he could be, with people that he’d worked with for only a few months.

From now on, you will exchange your Legion uniform for this one, he thought, as he was still getting used to the DEO uniform he was wearing, the shirt with short sleeves underneath the jacket, the long pants, the shoes. Winn had directed him to the locker designated Agent Dox, where it was waiting for him, and though it wasn’t entirely dissimilar from the casual attire he had worn with the Legion, he still missed those other clothes sometimes.

Querl wasn’t sure how much his new coworkers trusted him, or even were willing to work alongside him- but, on the positive side, they could only trust him and want to work with him more in the time he would remain here.

The odds were very low that they would become like family to him. But he didn’t know how long he was going to be here, so he didn’t rule it out yet.

From now on, this is your desk, he thought, looking down at it, reaching across to get the envelope marked Brainiac. From now on, you will use twenty-first century technology, and learn to work with it as much as you can.

He opened the envelope, looking behind him for whoever had given it to him, but there was nobody whom he recognized left there.

Guaranteed to appreciate more than even dirt, the note said in all capital letters on the outside.

The inside, however, was Winn’s original design- and that combined with the message brought a smile to his face.

From now on, Winn is your friend and fellow Legionnaire. From now on, he will protect the future in your place, and keep it safe because you cannot.

From now on, you can trust him, just as he trusts you to do the same.

[legionnairelass]

An Analysis (not really) of Science Buddies Through the Reboots

Preboot: Good friends. Good lab partners. Brainy was probably Lyle’s best man at the Norg-Arlik wedding. I refuse to split up Condo and Lyle. They had such a short time together. They deserved better. I will fight

Reboot (through Legion Lost and all that jazz): Good friends, good banter, traumatic memories, I-thought-I-lost-you-for-good, and then imperfectly perfect boyfriends. Teenage, scrawny, and smarter than everyone else. Don’t really care about getting married, but will eventually cause it makes paperwork easier (and R.J. Brande happier). Later go on to adopt a Coluan child with low intellect (for Colu) and teach the small how to be super creative-smart like Lyle instead of computer-smart like Querl.

Reboot But With The Actual Comic Ending: A lovely, bittersweet all-we-knew-is-gone-and-we’ll-never-go-home-again with long, cinematic staring out the pod bay doors into space, tears, and growing old together (well, sorta. B’s coluan and lives heckin long). Yeah this is all fanon sprocking sue me.

Threeboot: Brainy has the largest stick ever up his ass and Lyle is basically chaotic good Draco Malfoy, but its still great cause Brainy thinks he’s all that and a bag of potato chips and is constantly surprised when basically-still-a-kid Lyle manages to do literally anything to his satisfaction. Also, threeboot Salu is all here for this chip. Probably sits on supposed-to-be-sterile lab benches eating 31st century popcorn while watching the flirting-I MEAN very serious science business.

Retroboot: It was momentary, fleeting, barely noticeable, bUT IT WAS THERE MOTHERSPROCKERS.

[brainy-storm]

LOSH Week 2019 - Day 4- Dalliance / Author Interaction

The Author stared at the prompts for the fourth day of Legion Appreciation Week. To be completely honest, she had no idea what the word ‘Dalliance’ meant. She googled the word, ignoring the fact that she was supposed to be paying attention to her Digital Economics lecture.

Now, she could write some angsty shipping fic with the first meaning or an alternately thoughtful gifset of the second meaning. Or, she could just do the other prompt for Day 4. Thanks, anon. I was going to send an ask too about the ‘Author Interaction’ prompt, but…I was lazy.

It was settled. The second prompt, it was.

Garth walked through the headquarters with arms crossed. He hadn’t come across another single team member of the Legion throughout the whole crib. Uh…crib? He meant…clubhouse. Wait no, planet. Uh, space station? Wait a minute…

Running through now what looked to him like a corridor of a very elaborately decorated house, complete with framed photos of the Legion members, he approached a room where he could hear music from within.

Bursting through the doors, Garth finally found his team members.

Only there were too many of them.

You had the regular flagship members that survived boots such as Imra and Rokk (shoutout to his besties), Brainiac 5 (though he couldn’t quite tell which boot he was from) and Mon El who was chilling in a corner. Pre-crisis Kara was playing cards with Brainy, reboot Lyle and threeboot Nura. The new kids – retroboot kids – were flanking a suspicious figure who had made herself comfortable on the couch. There were other legionnaires in the room, however describing all of them would take too long.

“What the sprock is going on here? Is this another Legion of Three – ” Chemical Kid lowered his shades, to which Garth rolled his eyes. “ – Legion of Four Worlds.”

The figure in the middle laughed.

“Naïve child.” She shook her head. “This…this is the new reboot. Doomsday Clock is going on too long, and thus leaving many poor souls…” She gasped for dramatic effect. “Legionless.”

Oookay.

“I have taken it upon my own hands to write my own reboot.” She cackled. “One where I can interchange the characters at any moment I choose. Observe!” With a Thanos-like finger snap, she replaced Threeboot Nura with Pre-Crisis Nura.  “This is a pretty handy trick. Unfortunately, the side effect is that everyone can only speak in rap.”

As if on queue, Kara laid down her card while saying, “They hungry for the cookie, so I cook it right up.”

Garth shook his head. “Really?”

“I didn’t say what kind of rap.”

“Okay. So why am I not rapping?” Garth asked.

“Hahahaha,” the Author laughed. “I’m not so talented a writer that I could write this whole conversation with you rapping. Or at least rhyming. I mean I could probably try.”

“Not to detract, but in fact. Where’s your game at? Gonna talk smack, unless you talk back.” Garth covered his mouth. “Those bars were wack.”

“See what I mean?” The Author sighed. “Oh, by the way in case people haven’t seen my tumblr page, my name’s Dina and yes, in my new Legion boot they are rappers.”

“So what, is this Rap-boot or something then?”

“Nah, I’ve renamed the Legion. They’re not even the Legion anymore. They’re called…Dina’s Alliance.”

“That’s total nass.”

“Whatever Livewire.” Garth wanted to retort that Livewire didn’t sound that bad, but he kept his mouth shut.

“Dina’s Alliance is a bit of a mouthful,” Garth said, instead.

“Yeah, so that’s why I’m shortening it to D-Alliance.”

“…”

“…”

“…Is that supposed to be the punchline of this fic?”

“…Pretty much.”

(A/N: Hi! Hi! <3 So yeah lolol I wanted to make a pun so you got this as my entry instead of a nice gifset roftlmao. Anyway - )

“What is this cringy thing that popped up here?” asked Garth.

“It’s an Author’s Note, duh,” said Dina. “I’m clearly doing a throwback to old fics. Geez, Gen-Zs these days amirite?”

(A/N: You’re so right, he interrupted me, what a rude child.)

“Oi, I’ve existed since before you were born. Also, you do realise you’re talking to yourself?”

“Urgh, shush, details.” Dina got up. “Well, this was fun. Now that I’m done with the pun.” She raised a hand. “Time to go.” She snapped her fingers again.

And all was back to normal, with Garth waking up in his rightful boot, with only vague memories of a strange dream.

Dina looked in on the comic universe, smiling.

And that was the end of my ‘period of brief or casual involvement’ with the Legion.

[thisiscomics]

Yes, we see another pre-Crisis of Infinite Crises member return to the Flash family here- or at least attempt to, as he keeps missing them, and the news about Wally- but I was almost more excited by the return of 30th/31st century swearing.

‘Sprock’ was a favourite exclamation in later Legion of Super-Heroes titles, along with ‘grife’, and as long as I am still waiting for a proper Legion return, instead of all these hints and mysteries and frustrations, I will take their profanities as some sort of stopgap measure. It reminds me of 2000AD, where various stories had their own future swears, as some sort of compromise between trying to be hard edged and not being shut down by angry parents- so we had ‘Drokk’ and ‘Stomm’ in Judge Dredd, for starters, ‘sneck’/’sneckers’ in Strontium Dog, Sinister Dexter’s ‘Funt’, and so on. The future was looking good for swearing that wasn’t quite swearing, and it was fun to see that connection across genres, superheroes and future cops and bounty hunters united by the art of sci-fi swearing.

Bart ‘Impulse’ Allen is the grandson of Barry and Iris Allen, and thus also related to Wally slightly more remotely (first cousin once removed, apparently. I can never figure that stuff out), so his return no doubt further complicates the post Rebirth continuity, since Iris and Barry are not yet married, it’s not clear exactly where Wally fits in to the new continuity- dead or alive- and I’m not sure if Jay and Jesse are in continuity or not. And that is before we even mention Impulse’s mentor/straight man Max Mercury, who had jumped around the timestream a bit himself and I don’t think has been mentioned since maybe The Flash: Rebirth 10 years ago.

From confusing Flash continuity we can also drag in the Legion- Bart is the cousin of Legionnaire XS: his father was Don Allen, her mother was Dawn Allen, the Tornado Twins and children of Barry and Iris. The Twins themselves are a regular continuity problem for DC editorial, it seems: in post-Crisis continuity they were killed fighting off a Dominator invasion of the Earth during the Five Year Gap in Legion of Super-Heroes, and had no children. Following Zero Hour they had children before being killed by an old family rival. They died post-Final Crisis too. It’s not a family renowned for longevity, alas.

Whatever their fate in the current DCU, hopefully Bart’s return means XS is still around and that somewhere in the future, we still have a Legion making use of imaginative curses, and maybe Impulse is here to sort out all this continuity confusion at last. If he can stay focused long enough....

From The Flash Annual 2, by Joshua Williamson, Scott Kolins, Luis Guerrero & Wes Abbott

[radioactive-earthshine]

New Fic.

Fandoms: Legion of Super Heroes.

Querl Dox/Lyle Norg

Summary: In the first days after being reunited in their new headquarters, Querl and Lyle come to terms with the gravity of the last year and their relationship changes forever.

Excerpt:

Lyle watched as Querl tore through the new lab, swearing every step as he criticized everything from monitor placement to keypad size. There wasn’t a lab in existence that was up to Brainiac 5 standards, not unless he constructed it himself from the ground up. Their shiny brand new state-of-the-art multi-purpose Legionnaire-certified and R.J. Brand money-backed laboratory was no more impressive than a child’s pastel colored kitchenette toy. 

“And what primitive ape thought it was a fan-sprocking-tastic stroke of genius to put the centrifuge next to the recharge deck!? Why not store all of our equipment in a trough if they think we are such unevolved animals!” Querl seized hold of said centrifuge and stalked over to the other side of the lab where he had amassed a collection of tech to be sorted later. 

“Am I allowed to touch things now?” Lyle didn’t wait for a real response as he grabbed a case containing no less than 20 jet injectors from Querl’s pile of discontentment.

[winterskywrites]

132 with brainy and lyle?

132: “I haven’t slept in four days…”

This doesn’t include the line exactly as it’s written in the prompt list, but it uses the same basic idea. It takes place sometime fairly shortly after the events of “Legion Lost.”

“It’s not working!”

Lyle winces as Brainy shoves his apparently non-functional prototype off the lab bench. It lands on the floor with a crash, shattering immediately on impact. Brainy appears completely unfazed by the noise, but if the look on his face is anything to go by, he’s still feeling rather destructive.

“What was it?” Lyle asks, hoping to get Brainy back into a more constructive state of mind.

“Cosmic Boy’s stupid long-distance comm system,” Brainy spits. “He wants it to be able to stretch across the entire sprocking universe, but he doesn’t want it to be at all detectable by anyone else. I told him that’s not possible, but he seems to think that I can just wave my hands and make new inventions appear.” Brainy’s ring beeps to inform him of a new incoming transmission, and Brainy yanks it off his finger and hurls it across the room. “And he won’t stop bugging me about it!”

“Why does he want it?” Lyle asks.

Brainy scoffs. “So if half the team ends up on the other side of the universe again, we can communicate with each other. I tried to tell Cos that the chances of that happening a second time are incredibly tiny, but he just said I didn’t understand the gravity of the situation, like I wasn’t one of the people to be stuck on the sprocking outpost in the first place!”

“Maybe I can help,” Lyle offers. “Between the two of us, we might be able to figure something out.”

“No, we won’t,” Brainy retorts. “We can’t. I can’t. I-”

And then, to Lyle’s horror, Brainy starts to cry.

Brainy never cries. Lyle’s known him for years, and he can count the amount of times he’s seen him cry on one hand. Lyle suspects that Brainy cries sometimes when he’s alone, but in front of other people? Never.

So for him to be crying now, over a malfunctioning prototype…

“Brainy?”

“I can’t,” Brainy sobs. “I can’t, I’m sorry, I can’t-”

“Brainy, it’s okay-”

Brainy crumples to his knees. Lyle drops down next to him immediately. If he was worried before, he’s terrified now. Brainy is still sobbing, still whispering that he can’t and that he’s sorry. Lyle has never seen him like this before. He wracks his brain, trying to think of what might be the problem, and then he notices the bags under Brainy’s eyes. He’s mostly ignored them so far, since Brainy often has bags under his eyes, but…

“Brainy, when was the last time you slept?”

Brainy hiccups. “I… Three days? Four days? I don’t know, I can’t…”

“Oh, Brainy.” If he hasn’t slept in four days, it’s no wonder he’s such a mess. Brainy never seems to sleep much, but he still needs the rest.

“You need to sleep,” Lyle says gently. “Come on, let’s go to your room, you can sleep there-”

“No!” Brainy gasps, grabbing at Lyle’s sleeve. “No, Lyle, don’t leave, please-”

Ever since getting back from the missing outpost, most of the returning Legionnaires have been different. They’re clingy, and a little more nervous than before. Brainy, however, has just gone back to work like nothing ever happened. Everyone assumed that it was just Brainy being Brainy, unaffected by things that would have messed with the rest of the team, but…

Maybe being stuck on the outpost affected Brainy more than anyone’s realized.

“I’m not gonna go anywhere,” Lyle says soothingly. “But you need to sleep, okay? Let’s go to your room.”

“I’m sorry,” Brainy whispers as Lyle heaves him to his feet. “I’m sorry, I-”

Brainy’s ring beeps again from the corner where it landed. Lyle ignores it. Brainy doesn’t even seem to hear it. He continues his almost feverish mumbling as Lyle leads him out of the lab, down the hall, and to his room.

The bed barely looks touched, and the room as a whole looks almost sterile. Brainy’s never had much in the way of knickknacks, but this… It doesn’t even look like anyone lives here.

“Okay, Brainy,” Lyle says, resolving to talk about that when Brainy isn’t dangerously sleep-deprived, “let’s get you to bed. Come on, you need to sleep.”

“Don’t leave,” Brainy repeats, his voice very small.

“I won’t,” Lyle promises. He helps Brainy into bed and pulls the covers up to his chin. “I’ll stay right here.”

Brainy drifts off within a few minutes. His breathing grows even, and the lines on his face smooth out. He looks his age again, like the kid that he is, that they all are. They’re too young for this, too young to have this responsibility, but if they don’t take it on, who will?

Brainy sleeps, and Lyle keeps his promise and stays.

[kara-querl]

Karadox in the Bronze Age Part 4

It’s Not as Bad as it Sounds... Really

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Of all the super-powered teens called legionnnaires, he was the brightest -- and more level-headed than worldly men twice his age! The other members could always count on Brainiac 5 for sound advice and good sense! But no one is infallible - - as you’re about to find out when you met . . .  “Brainiac 5′s Secret Weakness!”

Title: Brainiac 5′s Secret Weakness Issue: Superboy Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #204 Date: October 1974 Placement: Backup story   Writer: Cary Bates Pencils: Mike Grell Inker: Mike Grell

In 1974 DC comics had learned the power of the 100 page Super Spectacular. Which meant instead of printing individual monthly 20 cent books for what they considered secondary characters they could toss them into one giant 60 sent book along with some money saving reprints of old stories. This meant that Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Krypto, Superbaby, etc. All moved to “The Superman Family.” Some months Kara didn’t appear at all and other months she might only have  a reprint of a silver age story. Kids were still reading about Supergirl, but her long term character development stagnated. 

Meanwhile the Legion of Super-Heroes had taken over Superboy’s book. Sure Kal was still there, but as a member of an ensemble with about the same weight as other characters. That meant that the Legion characters developed at a much faster rate. Even though they still sometimes called themselves teens, they had hit that phase in their lives when couples were solidifying and even marrying. But Brainiac 5′s true love was no longer able to cross over so easily. 

It had been nearly 4 years between Kara’s choice to stay with Brainy and her next appearance at The wedding of Duo Damsel and Bouncing boy and it seemed to be time to finally address Brainy’s growing loneliness. This issue appears 4 months after that meeting and it seems it triggered feelings in Brainy he had long suppressed. 

So Brainy had been increasing exhausted to the point where it became obvious he needed a break. (I am going to move right past he part where Imra tells Querl he’s only human because she skipped the Legion’s annual sensitivity training that year) Brainy himself is curious as to why he has been so tired lately. 

So to get some things out of the way. For a 12 level intellect Brainy is a bit dense when it comes to love. 1. They made out a lot 2. Kara told Brainy several times how she felt about him This is just one big emo pity party from a guy who has a sprocking TIME MACHINE. I mean she grabbed his buttocks 4 issues ago! 

While Thom and Brainy are arriving at their Spa weekend a mysterious woman with an all too familiar power pose shows up at Legion headquarters to demand what readers had been screaming for for about 4 years... an explanation!

Brainy goes to check in and is then shocked to find the same figure in the same power pose! 

Note that editorial had to remind you Supergirl’s Kryptonian name was Kara. At that time her Secret Identity was Linda Danvers and only those who knew her really well called her Kara. I will chalk it up to shock, but this is one of the sloppiest kisses I have seen in a Legion book. 

Brainy’s like "You had me at Hello” and immediately resigns from the legion even tossing his ring to Star Boy in a rather dramatically. Thom is thinking “Well nass, there goes my ride?” 

Starboy calls Legion headquarters kinda freaked because the legion has let Brainy do most of the thinking for years and the survival rate of the team just dropped pretty significantly. He has to borrow a phone because apparantly his was on the cruiser? 

This part actually really disturbs and saddens me but we will talk about that in a moment. 

Wait! What Wait What! and android! What? This ends up being Brainy’s 2nd most embarrassing moment after Computo. People would continue to bring it up even after they Supergirl’s death. 

A couple of things I have come to realize about this horrific business. (feel free to challenge me on these as I have changed my mind often about it)

1. You have to accept the fact this was Brainy’s a subconscious filling a desperate need. There is absolutely no hit anywhere that he is lying about not consciously knowing that this Kara was an Android. 

2. The android was not an attempt for Brainy objectify Kara, if that were the case they would have stayed at the spa and never left their quarters

3. The real intent seems to have been suicide. Brainy is a 12th level intellect surrounded by technology yet the android takes him right into a deadly radiation field neither of them could survive (where did he think she was taking her or did he even ask) 

 4. It is a crazy odd coincidence that Kara came to the future at exactly this time. 

Brainy’s compassion for the dying android is heart breaking. He acknoledges her self awareness and is perplexed why a self aware android would choose to be with him. It would be really easy here for her to ignore her and focus on minimizing his embarrassment in front of Kara, but his guilt over the death of the android and his moral failure become his focus. 

The picture also references the Pieta which Anj talks about over on Supergirl Comic Box Commentary   

It might also be important to note that Kara never makes him feel bad about this and the fact that he made an android of her really didn’t seem to bother her at all.  The healthy thing to do here, Kara, seeing Brainy is suicidal and in extreme emotional duress is probably not to ask him wait for you to get your life sorted for who knows how long?  She should probably get him counseling and help him move on with his life. But she just can’t break up with him so they hold hands and make-out.  

This should have either been closure or a reconciliation but we got neither.  The only positive here is she is eventually good on her word. 

Next post:

When the Past is Still the Present

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[fourcolour-ace]

Supergirl Season 6 Thoughts

This is gonna have finale spoilers, so watch out if you're one of those people who didn't finish the season.

First off, some general, overall stuff: this season was too short. The pacing was off, and too many things happened offscreen. There wasn't enough time for everything to happen in a way that felt good. I particularly felt this with Lena's arc, but basically everything in the second half of the season felt that way.

The fact that a giant cat attack that lasted all of six minutes onscreen was a highlight for me explains a lot about my experience, I think. The best part of the season was the Midvale stuff(not just because I love Peter Sudarso) because it was actually paced okay and felt good. The characters were handled well, even Kenny(i thought he might show up in the present but no) and it actually wrapped up nicely without feeling incomplete.

Everything post Phantom Zone was... eeh. Nyxly was a good character, but I feel maybe for the final season a villain we already knew would have been better. Some people have suggested Brainiac, which I approve of, though one wonders if it would have been the one from the Krypton show. I'm not sure myself, maybe just Lex would have been good, but the fact is that there was no time in the second half of the season. Zero reprieve for characters or viewers. I missed seeing National City as a setting that the characters actually lived in.

Characters who got decent arcs were: Alex, Kelly, and Kara. J'onn was just sort of there, Nia's arc was ???, and don't even get me started on Brainy(he gets his own paragraph later). I do feel like Alex and Kelly's adoption and marriage was a good progression for them. They are very wholesome lesbians, but c'mon y'all this is the CW, the best we'll get is Nia yelling and wanting to murder(very good work Nicole). Not even touching Lena and Kara, they were fine. Just fine. I think Lena needs friends more than anything else. Nia was great this season but her arc was just so not. I mean I get that she wanted her mom, but they just glossed over that in season 5 so it felt really out of nowhere. She just seemed all over the place in season 6. Lena's arc was paced poorly, and while there's nothing wrong with magic, there hasn't been much precedent for it in Supergirl(except maybe in crossovers? idk) so same as above. I have no idea what to say about Kara revealing her identity. I guess she felt it was the right choice, but doesn't she realize what will happen? You've got enemies Kara, and they've already come after your friends, now they'll come after even more of them. I suppose it was meant as a conclusion to her ongoing identity crisis but man, literally anyone who's read the comics knows why superheroes have secret identities, especially the Superfam. This problem could have been solved the way I thought they were going to seasons ago, by having Kara go to the future to join the Legion, but that would have required a very different procession of events, for longer than just season 6. Do I mean KaraDox? Yeah, I guess, but I no longer care at this point. Supergirl is just a little disappointing, in general.

As for how they massacred my boy... Brainy's characterization and arc for the first part of the season were not bad. I feel like they gave up and just made him a joke character, but also tried to keep giving him depth? Most opportunities for deeper exploration were passed over in S6, including his relationship with Nia. They hardly spend any good time together in this season, and I'm expected to believe he said "sprock the timestream" for her? I barely believe it even if I can hear Jesse's voice in my head as I type. His end-of-season arc was just so random and poorly executed. Those sorts of things can only be meaningful if the character goes through with it! But they just said no, he's gonna come back without sacrificing himself actually. I'm also certain it was out of character for him. He'd rather Brainiac 5 die saving his planet, because then he's finally redeemed his family name, and there will be no more Brainiacs(presumably, in this universe). Do you agree, fellow Querl Dox syndrome havers? I think having him go and not come back, and showing him giving up his sense of self to the(so-called) Big Brain would have been a meaningful end for him.

*sigh* I've run out of steam, but this post is long enough. Thanks for reading.

[spandexinspace]

This probably needs another round of editing, but I wanted to post it on Brainy's birthday so it'll have to do.

T/T+, sexual themes but not sex.

________________________

Nura has barely taken her eyes off of him since the meeting began. It’s an incredibly dull meeting, concerned with nothing more important than monitor duty schedules and public appearances, but even then there are more important things for her to concern herself with than him. Or there would be, if not for one single, dark mark on his lower jaw that even the high collar of his suit fails to cover and Nura had zeroed in on the second he entered the room. Evidently one mark is all it takes for her to be so obsessed with him that she only diverts her attention whenever Jazmin addresses her directly, shifting back to him as soon as the conversation moves on. There’s something gleeful in her otherwise neutral expression and knowing her she will only let it stay contained until the end of the meeting, at which point her perceived professionalism will melt away to reveal her less compelling traits. She’ll ask questions, and it won’t matter if or how he answers them.

With that in mind Querl scrambles to his feet the very second the meeting is adjourned, hoping to make it out of the room before Nura has a chance to say anything. As it turns out to no avail, as Nura rises with him, putting one hand high up on his shoulder before he even has time to turn away.

"Are you alright?" she asks nonchalantly, like she’s not just trying to get a reaction out of him. Her thumb brushes along his jaw and he jerks away from the touch, stepping backwards and narrowly avoiding tripping over his own chair. Nura laughs.

“Yes.” He turns to leave before she has time to continue her inane questioning, stalking out of the meeting room with as determined of an expression as he can muster.

Ayla falls into stride next to him shortly afterwards, walking alongside him as he makes his way back towards the lab. No stranger to invasive questions herself she nevertheless affords him a couple of minutes of shared silence, only speaking once they’re far into Legion World’s maze-like corridors.

"Didn't think you’d show up for this, considering you cancelled our session," she finally says. Their sparring sessions, once occasional events stemming from lack of more suitable partners, had become a regular fixture in both of their schedules. If he recalls correctly, and he does, this is the first one that has been cancelled because of anything less than a mission or the perceived end of the world. Which would explain Ayla’s suspiciousness.

"I do have obligations." Never mind that vanishingly few of them had been taken care of that morning, or even the previous evening.

"Oh yeah, I bet you do. Lots of 'em,” says Ayla, wiggling her eyebrows at him in an ineffective display of some kind of smugness or comedy.

"Sprock off, Ranzz."

"Aw, don’t be mean. Anyways, does his aim always suck that much, or what?"

“Excuse me?”

“What? Do ya think I can’t recognise a hickey when I see one?” Ayla snorts. “Though I guess it looks a little different on you.” He supposes that she is right about that at least—the shades of dark green and black are a stark contrast against his verdant skin.

"How is that any of your business?”

“I’m just asking. Gotta know if the man’s worth all the pining you went about doing or if he just has a major thing for jawlines.” Querl glares at her, a gesture she responds to with a saccharine smile. “I mean, you’d think he’d know enough to keep it below the neckline at least.”

“He does.”

“Sure doesn’t seem like it.”

Querl isn’t convinced that it’s a good idea even as he starts doing it, but he nevertheless grabs the zipper pull on his top and pulls it down a few centimetres, revealing a sliver of skin beneath the mark and a trail of similar marks covering most of the exposed surface. They continue far beyond that too, but Ayla doesn't need to know that much. She quite frankly doesn't even know this much, but it may, if he’s lucky, at least shut her up for a bit.

“It’s a number’s game,” he says, before quickly rezipping the collar as he feels heat start to creep up his neck and cheeks.

"Nass," Ayla says with a bark of a laugh. "He doesn't play around. No wonder you're not up for a fight today. "

"Are you done prying, then?"

"If I have to be."

"You do. Go bother someone else."

"And here I thought we were friends.” They come to a stop outside of the doors to the lab. Ayla is one of the few people he trusts to go inside without somehow immediately messing up everything in there, but he’d rather she stay outside for the time being.

"Feel free to reschedule our sparing session to a time that's convenient to you, I should be available throughout the rest of the week." Ayla rolls her eyes, unimpressed.

"Sure, I'll take a look at it. Stay cool ‘til then, yeah?" With that she turns to leave and he in turn enters the lab, crossing the room to enter through the next set of doors that lead into his bedroom. Or, due to rather recent developments, their bedroom.

The scene that meets him isn’t much different from what he’d left behind approximately two hours earlier. The room is messy, experiments and tools littering almost every flat surface, and the bed that dominates the centre of the room is a jumble of blankets and pillows. And in the middle of that jumble is Lyle, who looks up from reading something on his comms as Querl enters the room.

"You're still undressed," Querl notes. Lyle’s propped up on a couple of pillows in the middle of the bed, bare except for part of a blanket thrown haphazardly across his midsection. He’s bleary eyed and his hazelnut hair is still ruffled with sleep, but he somehow still manages to look like an old Earth painting.

"Yeah, hello to you too. I didn’t exactly feel like getting dressed yet." He stretches his arms above his head and rolls his shoulders backwards. "How was the meeting?"

"Uninteresting and mildly embarrassing."

"How come?" Lyle asks, his eyebrows knitting together. Querl turns his cheek towards him and points to the mark on his jaw, clearly visible even in the dim light of the bedroom.

"Ah, merde. Sorry, guess I got caught up in it all." Lyle laughs and rakes a hand through his hair before settling on grinning sheepishly.

"I would seem so." Querl sits down at the edge of the bed next to Lyle and starts to pull down the zipper on his suit again, pushing it open as he goes to reveal a landscape of small, near-identical black marks that snake their way down his torso. Lyle let's out another short, embarrassed laugh.

"OK, maybe more than a little. But to be fair, I’m pretty sure I still have bite marks on my thighs." There had in fact have been some biting involved with the previous night’s activities, though Querl finds it hard to believe that the marks would still be visible. However, he is a scientist, and like any good scientist he’s fully prepared to test that hypothesis. With that in mind he begins to unzip one of his boots, fumbling with the pull for a bit before he can pull it down and kick it off into some far corner of the room.

"No one else is going to see your thighs. And you seemed perfectly happy about that yesterday." Querl removes his other boot and pulls himself onto his knees on the bed, letting his eyes trail down Lyle’s body in front of him. He really is stunning, a mix of wiry muscle and softness, smooth skin that’s only occasionally interrupted by bright scars.

"Oh, I'm perfectly happy about it now, I'm just saying," Lyle grins and leans back a little, an invite as good as any. Querl can feel his eyes on him as struggles out of the rest of his uniform top, throwing it on the floor behind him and moving to straddle Lyle’s lap, his movements sloppy but ultimately successful. In response Lyle wraps one arm around his neck and pulls him closer, so close that their chests are pressed together, warm skin against warm skin. Which surely means that Lyle can feel how uneven his breathing has gotten, how it hitches in his throat and leaves him light-headed. He buries his face in the crock of Lyle’s neck, the familiar smell of soap and tangy aftershave filling his nose as he presses his lips against the smooth skin there.

He turns his head to kiss the side of Lyle’s neck, before once more raising it. They lean their foreheads together and Lyle’s free hand presses into the small of his back, eliciting an involuntary yelp from him that makes Lyle giggle and further pushing them together. His entire torso throbs with warmth.

"No marks this time then?" Lyle hums.

"No marks," Querl agrees, closing the last bit of distance between their lips.

[vulcan-highblood]

Not According to Plan (1/5)

Fandom: Supergirl (2015 TV), Legion of Superheroes Rating: T Pairing: Gen Summary: (Post Season 3 Ep.18 “Shelter From the Storm”) Querl and Imra return to the 31st Century. It’s not at all what they expected. OR The Legion sent Brainy back to the 21st Century and brought Winn to the 31st. This is why they made that decision.

Chapter 1: The Return

It was not the first time Querl wished he were better at offering comfort to his friends. It was, however, one of the most awkward times, as he and Imra were the only two conscious legionnaires onboard the cruiser, and so Querl was unable to step aside and allow one of their more emotive friends to offer empathy that Querl was not well-equipped to offer. 

He glanced at her, most of his thought-tracks still occupied with piloting their ship through the disruption. Last time they’d gone through one of these, it had ended… badly. Well. Not badly, per se. But certainly not according to plan. Querl didn’t like it when things went sideways, so to speak, and he did not intend for such an incident to occur a second time. Perhaps he should look into designing a more compact and reliable method of temporal displacement than attempting to pilot an entire sprocking cruiser through a dangerous and poorly-understood spatial anomaly. One of these days, he wasn’t going to be smart enough to save them all from their hubris - from his own hubris. If they were going to be making a habit of time travel  - and the way things had been trending, that was becoming a distinct possibility - he should definitely prepare more reliable methods of transport through time and space. He tucked that idea in the back of his mind for consideration at a later date. After all, the technology aboard their cruiser was hardly sufficient for such an endeavor, and there was still the matter of Imra.

She was pointedly not crying, and honestly, that made it worse in some ways. Her deep breaths, the eyes held wide open so as to attempt to evaporate the increasing moisture… Sprock, she was going to cry and Querl didn’t know what to do. He always knew what to do when there was some technical issue, but emotional issues were very much not his area of expertise. It was distressing. Which made him feel guilty, because honestly, what kind of friend felt distressed at the idea of needing to comfort a friend? 

“Imra,” Querl finally said when he could no longer bear the silence, sparing a glance in her direction. 

“Querl?” Imra turned to look at him, a question in her gaze.

“If you need… emotional support,” Querl couldn’t remember words ever being this difficult to force through his lips, but he persisted. “I could… I mean, I… am here,” he finally managed. It was only after he’d said it, though, that he recognized the double meaning that could be taken from his words. I am here, Mon-El is not. Sprock. “That is to say-!” Querl did turn to look at her now, shifting another thought-track or two to the present conversation as he had been unable to give his previous statement sufficient consideration. “I can listen, I -”

Imra cut him off with a quiet laugh, a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Thank you, Brainy,” she said. “I appreciate your… support.” She bit her lip lightly, eyes traveling across the bridge, avoiding his gaze to look out at the ever-expanding disturbance before them. “I’ll be all right.”

“Yes. Good. Of course,” Querl found himself babbling, too relieved to properly police his tone. “I wouldn’t dream otherwise.”

Imra glanced at his hands, which were still dancing across the cruiser interface, as they had been since they’d left Earth for the second time that day. “Are we set for transport?”

“Nearly,” Querl answered, returning his attention to the precise calculations. He was definitely going to design a program, perhaps an entire device, to do this work for him next time. It was exhausting and time consuming and really, he couldn’t plot a course through time and space while also having an emotional conversation. He needed to choose one or the other, even a brain of his level of intellect couldn’t possibly do both of those things at once without a significant margin of error. And he couldn’t afford any errors at the moment. Programming a device capable of plotting a route through spacetime seemed monumentally easier than designing a device capable of navigating emotional conversations, so he figured he would likely work on that design first. He wasn’t even sure how one would go about designing a device to navigate an emotionally charged conversation. Another conundrum for another time, then. 

He still wasn’t focusing on plotting that route through the disturbance. Amazing, how quickly an emotional response could derail an otherwise logical mind. “If you place yourself in stasis, I will be there shortly,” Querl said. “I’ve double-checked all the pods, they should be perfectly safe now.” Should, a quiet voice whispered in the back of his head.  But he had checked, double checked, triple checked. And he remembered each time he’d checked them clearly, thanks to his eidetic memory. And yet, he knew he would end up checking every single legionnaire’s pod again before he put himself in cryosleep as well. If all went well, they’d be back to the future in a relatively short time, and the cryosleep wouldn’t be necessary. If all didn’t go well… best case scenario, at least they wouldn’t age as their bodies were flung into the crumbling decay of a universe ending.

Querl shook that thought aside, as it, too, would not be useful in plotting their course. He had no room for anxiety in a calculation this delicate. He needed to be confident. So he would be. 

“See you soon,” Imra said, leaving the bridge.

“Yes,” Querl replied, only half-listening. This next bit would be crucial.

[brainyspeaks]

38, 41, 76, 78, 91, 102

Someone is very curious. Describe your dream girl/guy.Sprock, I knew this one was coming sooner or later. Guy: tall, strong, kind heart, smart, good listener, trusting, maybe a bit romantic, speaks their mind, can be shy too, trust, communicate, and understands I need personal space every now and again. Girl: this one is a bit difficult for me. I like a lot of personalities for girls. I guess mostly someone who isn't afraid to speak their mind, but can also be shy about things too, again smart, I don't mind any height difference, trusting, a good friend as well as girlfriend, again communication, and someone who can understand personal space as well. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? Already answered. What color is your underwear? Black.Favorite ice cream flavor?I'm still working on that. Supergirl is making me try different ones every so often. So far the winner is mint chip.Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now?No, not at the moment, but give it five minutes and I'm sure someone will find a way to..... and for some reason Winn and @mon-elspeaks decided to spray whip cream at me while I was writing this. Not enough to make me punch them, but their annoyances never seize to amaze me. Do you regret anything from your past?Does existing count? ..... I'm sorry, that was insensitive. Do I regret anything? No, actually thinking about it, I don't. Yes, I know I've had plenty of ups and downs in my life, but all of it has lead to the Legion and I couldn't be more thankful for them to be my family.