( open )

[imaginate]

Characters: Kyle Rayner and you!
Date: Same day he arrives.
Location: All around Keeliai.
Situation: Kyle is exploring.
Warnings/Rating: None at the moment; will update if necessary.
Note: I wrote in prose, but [action] is more than welcome, as are multiple threads. For reference, Kyle's current Lantern uniform looks like this.

Comments

[imaginate]

It was him. Kyle's irritation turned to relief. 'What happened? Where're Donna and Palmer?'

[crossestheline]

"You're gonna love this." Jason motioned for Kyle to follow him into the bar. If he's going to play question and answer, he wanted to have a mug of beer in his hand first.

"Apparently, some Emperor dragged our asses half way across the universe so we can sit on them and twiddle our thumbs."

[imaginate]

Luckily Kyle had managed to ring himself into some civvies before landing so the two of them didn't look too conspicuous. He followed Jason inside and found a quiet spot where they could sit and talk without being eavesdropped on or stared at too much. The locals were a little odd, even by a Lantern's standards.

He listened as Jason explained. 'What? What the hell? We had a mission!'

[crossestheline]

"You don't think I know? That was the first thing I said when I ended up in this damn place. I've been told that time freezes back in our universe, but I'm not putting much stock in it."

If Kyle was here...then whatever was keeping them here was powerful, real powerful. Lanterns were insanely powerful to begin with and Kyle was one of the stronger ones.

[imaginate]

Kyle shook his head. 'I don't think that's possible.' Even if this was a pocket dimension, stopping time on such a level was mind-blowing. It only happened in the movies.

[crossestheline]

"I didn't either, but there are people who claim to be from the same world as me that are from different points in time. I don't remember any of them going missing. Although if you ask me, they're probably from an Earth like ours instead of being from our Earth."

[imaginate]

'I haven't met anyone besides you yet.' Kyle frowned. There was something else about this whole mess that bothered him. 'The last thing I remember before being pulled out of the water is an explosion. What about you?' He didn't like considering that he might be dead. But he definitely wasn't dreaming.

[crossestheline]

"This place is crawling with masked vigilantes. Including my "favorite" people." His tone is loaded with sarcasm. "The last thing I remember is you putting us up in a big, glowing orb after the explosion."

[imaginate]

Kyle nearly sighed in relief. Okay, so at least he'd managed to get Jason out of the explosion. That had been his main worry.

'Are they from our Earth?'

[crossestheline]

"Dunno that one. They claim to be but there's a couple of things they've told me that don't match up." Like him going crazy and hurting a kid. "My guess is they are from an Earth that's a lot like ours, but a couple of things happen that change it in the future."

[imaginate]

'What doesn't match up?' It wasn't that Jason's suggestion was implausible, but Kyle didn't fully trust him with such things: he had skewed interpretations.

[crossestheline]

"Why do you need an explanation? I told you they don't, end of story." Jason replied defensively and shot Kyle a warning look. If he pushed, Jason was going to push back in unpleasant ways.

[imaginate]

'Not good enough,' Kyle snapped back. 'It could be something like oh Darkseid took over the planet while we weren't looking, or something like your hair colour being red instead of black.' He wanted specifics. All things considered, he trusted his JLA teammates much more than he trusted Jason.

[crossestheline]

"They told me it was something I did, and I know myself damn well better than anyone else." Jason got into Kyle's face and looked him dead in the eyes. "Think of the Batman we met. His world was exactly the same as mine until I died. My history and his history matched up until he found me."

[imaginate]

Sure, he knew Jason was incredibly reckless and stupid at times, but all things considered he'd been... not as bad as Kyle had heard. And Donna might have given him the benefit of the doubt, which more than anything is why Kyle was doing it now. 'Yeah - a lot of those other pasts were changed. Remember that Superman who was General Zod? But.. the future? That bad?'

[crossestheline]

"Kind of hard to forget a blue freight train that wants to take your head clean off your shoulders." He was glad the Superman on the turtle was one they could count as being friendly.

"That bad. I know I've done things in the past that make most of the "do gooders" huff and puff, but I would neverdo what they'd suggested. I'd have an easier time believing there's a me out there with red hair and bad acne than I do believing what they said is my future."

He raised a hand to catch the attention of the waitress.

"Anyway, I didn't come here to debate the future. I came here for a couple of drinks."

[imaginate]

'Or one that blows up half of Gotham City.' He shuddered, thinking about Prime and the explosion.

The rest of the statement, he nearly raised an eyebrow at, but was glad he didn't. He didn't have any real reason to trust it totally, but he'd seen that expression before - most painfully - on Hal's face, when he'd seen the fields that used to be Coast City. But at least Kyle had been openly honest with him.

'Did they tell you what might have caused it?' he asked Jason. So that Jason could, at least, try to avoid what happened in that future.

[crossestheline]

"Did you not hear what I just said?" Jason ignored Kyle's question and flashed the waitress a big smile. He leaned in close to her and murmured a few things before she left to grab his beers.

"What do you think of this place, so far?" He shifted the direction of the conversation and shot Kyle a look that dared him to try and change the topic back to their previous conversation.

[imaginate]

'I did.' Kyle's gaze is steady, and completely without fear. 'I think you have a right to know what happened there so you can change it.' He didn't add if possible because he didn't know if this was the same situation with Hal, where Parallax was completely unavoidable because of the timeline. That didn't mean Kyle had to like those kind of things.

At the next question, he exhales and takes a drink. 'Whatever this place is, I'm pretty sure it's not messing with our minds.'

[crossestheline]

"Not my problem. If you say one more thing about it, you're face is going to have a problem with my fist." Jason clenched his right hand into a tight fist and narrowed his eyes at Kyle.

"What makes you think that?" He eased back some though he was still on guard.

[imaginate]

'Okay,' Kyle held up his hands, but his eyes were still hard, almost daring Jason to strike. 'Olive branch.' This was Hal all over again. He had to be patient, and let Jason come around.

'Well, for one, it takes a hell lot to keep a Green Lantern under that kind of control - let alone everybody else here. Either they're packing some serious firepower, or we're in a pocket dimension.'

[crossestheline]

"Whoever is responsible for us being here was able to drag one Green Lantern's ass all the way over here and he can't get out. If they have that kind of power, what's to say they don't have the kind of juice necessary to mess with our minds?"

[imaginate]

'Look around,' Kyle waved in the direction of another table. 'I'm not the only one who'd notice if this was a virtual reality and something was off about it and start fighting back. It's too elaborate. What's the point? No.' He shook his head. 'If it was messing with our heads, my ring wouldn't be working.'

[crossestheline]

"You realize if someone wanted to read your mind, they would know exactly what it is you want to do with your ring, right?" He made a gesture around the room as well before looking back at him. "You call this elaborate? The person didn't create an entire world. They created one place on the back of a turtle. We can't leave here and see whatever else is out there."

[imaginate]

'Knowing and affecting how I use it are two different things,' Kyle replied. 'Along with all the locals on it, if the locals are in on it. I'm still leaning on pocket dimension. The dream world doesn't look like this.' He'd been, several times.