26th March
13:26 GMT -5
"…forty
nine?" Marilyn Crock looks across the table at Paula in complete amazement. "How do you manage it?"
Paula shoots a slightly awkward glance at me. "I.. suppose it would be just.. a good diet, regular exercise and favorable genetics."
It.. is sort of noticeable. She hasn't mentioned anyone else commenting on it, but at close quarters with the extended family it was inevitable someone would ask. I didn't ask Paula not to clue them in about who I am but I suppose that she's used to disguising Artemis' vocation, and if I get spotted there's an increased chance she will as well. After LexCorp, pictures of us are out there on the internet and with Artemis just wearing one of those mini-masks she is easy enough to recognise. Luckily it doesn't look as though the family Crock are much interested in that sort of thing.
Having struck out with Selina, I.. think I'm not going to bother trying hitting on Paula. Even if she said yes, it would just make things awkward with Jade and Artemis. And I know that she isn't really looking for that sort of relationship at the moment.
Marilyn looks impressed. "You'll have to show me your exercise plan some time."
She met Warren at the school where they both teach and they'll have been married for twenty six years this August. It used to be that in situations like this lunch I'd have no idea what to say, just finding the whole complex mass of cross purpose dialogues confusing. Now -I'm not sure if it's the ring or all the adventures I've been on this year- I have to hold myself back from constantly interjecting. This is about letting Jade -and to a lesser extent Artemis- form social bonds with her family.
"H
uh. Maybe you should use Arty's plan instead." Laurence Senior's right hand shakes slightly as he lifts his bread to his mouth. He's trying to eat while moving his hands as little as possible, forearms resting on the table surface when not carrying food. He lost -obviously- but I doubt many octogenarians can manage as many push ups as he did before Cynthia made him stop. Cynthia notices the shake and as she does so he notices that she's noticed, returning his arm to the table surface as she makes a very small shake of her head.
Matthew rubs his left shoulder where Jade used a shoulder lock on him during their spar. Nice to see her letting her hair down like that, though I think he found it to be a somewhat humbling experience. "Hey, ah… Jade? If it's not too personal a question?"
She shifts very slightly in her seat. "You can always
ask."
"That.. organisation you were a member of..? What exactly was it? I mean, was it some kind of terrorist-."
Marilyn shakes her head at her son. "
Matthew."
"I'm not saying-."
"It's okay, Missus Crock-."
"Oh, call me Aunt Marilyn dear."
Jade hasn't quite got her head around this yet. I suppose it's her first exposure to a normal family.
Her normal family. "I'm-. I
was a member of the League of Shadows."
Lawrence Senior frowns. "Wasn't that some kinda crazy supervillain cult the Justice League broke up last year?"
I suppose it makes sense that they'd have heard of it. The attack on Infinity Island was on the news, though interest in the trials and arrests rather petered out after a week or so.
Paula glances at Jade, who goes completely still for a moment. "You.. could put it like that. I'm sorry, my lawyer said that I shouldn't talk about-."
Cynthia pats her hand. "That's fine, dear. Paul, could you pass the salad dish?"
"Certainly.
" I
nearly float it over, but remember myself a split second later and pick it up with my right hand instead to pass it across to her.
Matthew rolls his shoulder again. "Sure did a good job of training you up."
"All the best businesses invest in their people. And the Shadows were really more of a business than a cult. Kobra are the more culty ones.
"
Cynthia takes the bowl with a certain firmness which I take to mean that the topic is to be dropped. "So Paul, what is it you do?"
"Whatever takes my fancy, really. I suppose the most interesting thing I've been doing recently is, ah… Working with a company called KordTech and a chap from Atlantis to create a weather control system.
"
Lawrence looks interested. "What sort of weather control are you talking about there?"
"Earlier this week I watched the prototypes create a miniature storm inside a warehouse in New York with three control drones.
"
Warren frowns. "KordTech. I know that name from somewhere…"
Lawrence leans forwards slightly. "Is that a weapon they're planning on selling to Uncle Sam?"
"No, they're… The aim is to have the system ready for hurricane season, stick them in any major storms that make landfall and.. pretty much turn them off. Ted's not keen on making weapons.
"
"Why the-" A fraction-second glance at his wife. "-heck not?"
"Plenty of people build weapons, but the only people who've built weather control systems to date have been crazy.
" I shrug.
"What's more important, another very expensive way to kill people or a way to prevent billions of dollars of property damage each year? To say nothing of the loss of life.
"
He doesn't look entirely happy with my
tree-hugger response, but it looks like he's going to let it go for the moment. "KordTech's an American company, yeah?"
"Mostly.
" I nod.
"There are
some foreign shareholders, but the company is registered in America and the fellow running it is American.
"
"Oh, that's it." Warren nods. "Wasn't there some sort of demo back in.. February..? They're working on teleportation, aren't they?"
"The system they've got
works, it's just a matter of getting to the point where they can produce enough units to sell as a coherent system.
"
He nods. Either he's covering it pretty well or he doesn't remember the face of the person doing the announcement well enough to match it with the face he's seeing now.
"Mister.. Crock Senior? May I ask you a question."
He smiles at Missus Nguyen. "Ah heck, you don't need to call me that. Lawrence is fine."
"Thank you. You would have been with the American army during the Vietnam War, yes?"
He nods. "I was serving with the First."
"Where in the country were you stationed?"
"Oh, a bunch of places. Anywhere that had the front line near it, I was probably there sometime." She nods. "You have a lot of contact with the army back then?"
She nods. "Yes, but not with you. I was organizing resistance units in American occupied cities. I was worried that we might have shot at each other, but now I do not think that can have happened."
He stares at her for a moment, before making a small snort and giving her a lopsided smile. "Well if that don't beat all. Finally found a VC."
