Problem Child

[likeits1999]

...So, uh. Got some things I should probably tell you guys.

[ Kevin seems a little nervous, he has trouble doing "eye contact" with the mirror. ]

I guess like... first of all, I'm Kevin? I'm from New York? I skate? I've met some of you but not everybody so...

[ He shrugs. ]

You ever known somebody who... uh, has a personal problem? But it turns out that if you know 'em and are around 'em all the time it kinda winds up to be their crap ends up being everybody's shit to deal with?

It's kinda like that.

[ Everything about trying to explain this is awful. Everything. ]

The thing with me is... well..

I'm... kind of a vampire?

[ There. He said it. Getting that part out helps him square up and face it a little better, his gaze steadies straight on the mirror. ]

Actually, not "kind of" at all. I'm definitely a vampire. I drink people's blood. I have to. Been doing this shit a good while, too. The Green's got my back with the whole sunlight deal, but I still ain't exactly keeping down regular grindage if you know what I'm saying.

[ Kevin winces a little. He tried. ]

So... here's the deal: I need to drink blood sometimes. Otherwise I get hungry, and when I get hungry I stop... being able to be a person so good? It's bad. Trust me.

[ Please, please trust the self-described vampire. ]

It's not a lot all the time, I can go a bit if I'm full up, and I can stretch it on animals and junk like that, but it's... yeah, dog.

[ He makes his lungs pull in air and breathe it back out in a long hwoo. ]

The other thing is it's probably... if I'm gonna be real with allay'all, I don't want to put my teeth in you? I mean, I got 'em.

[ He takes a second to drop fangs and show the mirror before pulling them back in, which probably does a whole lot of good for his image with the team. ]

It does stuff to people, though? And I don't want to be like that if we're gonna be doing this Lord of the Rings shit together, alright? If we're gonna be real, I'm gonna be real.

[ Kevin's shoulders sink a little as this sudden surge of confidence falters. ]

I don't know what I'm supposed to do about this, but I'm not lying about it and I'm not gonna sneak around. And I mean.... if y'all wanna run me off into the woods, cool, but I'm gonna end up stuck comin' back like any of the rest of us.

If I could just go find someplace else to be, I mean...

[ He smiles weakly. ]

You wouldn't be hearing this.

Comments

[awfulcer]

I didn't ask anyone to save my li- [But then Kon's gone and cut the connection, and Dixon's left grasping at smoke. It's true, he didn't know about Brainiac. He also doesn't particularly care, because he has no evidence of it. The concept of a debt that heavy can't be introduced to him in a minute, without context, without a chance to absorb it. He can't so quickly reform his idea of Brainiac as the kind of snotty green guy who did one thing nice for him and then has been condescending ever since.

But how Kon finishes the lecture burns. It burns real bad, and he doesn't know how to handle it. He's never known how to handle emotions, always been prone to extremes that sometimes get his body to outright shut him down. As a kid he would scream himself hoarse and cry until he puked; as an adult he drinks himself into a stupor and puts his fists through walls and sometimes people.

And he knows right now that that's what's happening, that he's riding a wave of anger that he can't get a grip on, digging himself a hole, sabotaging himself. He can't help but think that that's just how he is, some immutable fact about his character, some defect incapable of being righted.

You can be better than that. Some deep part of him wants to hold onto that, but he holds onto it like he's holding a hand over a flame. But right now he's not, and that gap is what hurts. He doesn't know how to bridge the gap. He doesn't even know how to start. He grasps around for someone, anyone, to blame and keeps coming up with nothing, backed into this corner with all his goodwill squandered.

He finally tosses the mirror aside and goes to have that cigarette and listen to some music. He's shaking hard enough that it takes him nearly a full minute to get the lighter going.]