video | a finer world, part 2

[solarcharged]

[ Does this guy ever broadcast to the network from ground level?? APPARENTLY NOT because here's Apollo with yet another video message from somewhere dizzyingly high, this time sat on top of a brightly lit neon encrusted building in the heart of Jeopardy. Over his shoulder the sun sets over the desert in a picture perfect background landscape of bright pinks and oranges, but Apollo looks pensive despite the dreamy setting. He's been keeping an eye out for the so-called ghosts, you see, and maybe remembering a few ghosts of his own in the process. ]

An old friend once told me that saving the world is no good if we leave it the way we found it. She said 'saving the day shouldn't be the same as preserving the status quo'. Because what's the point in saving the world if you make no effort to change it? To make it better than it was?

That's why I joined her team, back home. I wanted to save the world and change it for the better. None of us could have done it alone but as a group... [ He trails off, turning a little wistful. ] As a group we were formidable.

But I know most of the teams currently operating here - [ you know who you are ] - are all pretty much Registered-only affairs. And that's fine if you're the Registering type...

[ Apollo's expression turns grim. Or as grim as you can look when surrounded by neon pink signage. ]

Personally? I've got no intention of swearing my loyalty to the government just because they want tame superheroes. But I still want to make a difference and if being a so-called vigilante is what it takes, then... I guess we'll see what happens next.

So consider this an open call. Is there anyone else out there who's Unsettled and wants to do their bit to save the world?

[ And yeah, maybe change it a little bit too. He hopes you're happy, Jenny Sparks. ]

Comments

[youresovein]

[ he manages to hold back a startled laugh, but just barely. ]

Pardon me, you were doing what?

[solarcharged]

Raising a child. You know the kind - smaller than average human being, noisy, about this high? [ he drops a hand to child's height ]

[youresovein]

Oh, I've heard of those! Where in the world did you pick that up?

[solarcharged]

My husband and I adopted Jenny when she was a baby. She's eight years old now...

[ SORT OF. It's complicated!! ]

You sound surprised?

[youresovein]

Oh, I just didn't think all that broad-shouldered philanthropy left much time for child rearing.

[ but. oh. that's so sweet. ]

I suppose I didn't realize it left time for marriage, either.

[solarcharged]

Maybe we were just overachievers.

[ And maybe forming your own little family in defiance of a world that hates and fears you is an act of political rebellion all of itself! Or something. ]

Do you have any family?

[ ...Although, shit, that's probably an awkward thing to ask a vampire isn't it ]

[youresovein]

Now that's a complicated question.

[ there are so many horribly rough edges to smooth over for polite conversation here. where does one begin? ]

I have a beautiful daughter, and a something-or-other with whom I adopted that daughter — I don't know what to call that relationship, it stubbornly defies definition, but there it is. My mother is my only living blood relative, wordplay somewhat intended.

We tend to be solitary.

[solarcharged]

[ He laughs, but kindly! ]

Oh, that's not so complicated, Hallmark make cards for two out of those three. 'Indefinable significant other' is a bit trickier.

[youresovein]

Significant other, [ he repeats. ] That's such a modern turn of phrase.

[solarcharged]

At least I didn't say 'S.O.' - that's considerably worse.

What's the not-so-modern equivalent? 'Paramour'?

[youresovein]

[ now it's his turn to laugh. ]

I like that one. He wouldn't object to that too stridently, I think.

After all, there's something inherently funny about the idea of being someone's boyfriend at the age of two hundred.

[solarcharged]

Is there? Nothing wrong with growing old romantically, Lestat. Whatever keeps you going.

[youresovein]

It very well might be what keeps me going. [ a brief conversational flicker, a quiet beat. hard not to be wistful. ] I miss him constantly.

But you probably know a thing or two about what that's like. Tell me about your husband, your dear little family of overachievers.

[solarcharged]

[ Ugh. Apollo's expression falls at that, just a fraction. ]

Were overachievers. Past tense. [ He tries a pained smile. ] I'm doing the single dad thing at the moment. Wouldn't recommend it.

[youresovein]

Oh no, but past tense is the worst tense! That's terrible, what in the world happened?

[ his hand flies to his heart! he's infinitely sympathetic! he forgets that isn't an appropriate question. but true love though. ]

[solarcharged]

[ The pained smile remains in place. Still pained, less actual smile. ]

Work, I suppose. Midnighter wasn't happy with what the team were doing and... things were difficult.

[ But even Apollo doesn't entirely believe that. He and Midnighter had been through worse, together. But 'work sucked' is an easier reply than 'I don't know'. ]

It's fine. Jenny and I are fine.

[youresovein]

Come now. Things like that are never fine.

[solarcharged]

[ No, they never are. Apollo pauses, then corrects himself: ]

Then let's just say we could be worse.

[ They've got each other. ]

Midnighter knows where we are if he changes his mind. But I've been saying that for three years. I don't think he's going to change his mind.

[youresovein]

[ he seems satisfied by the comparative emotional honesty. no more rebuttals, anyway. ]

I waited for over a century. You never know.

Not that I'm encouraging pining or anything.

[solarcharged]

[ Apollo's expression, still solemn, shifts a little as he lifts his brows. He's impressed by that longevity. ]

How do you manage it? Waiting all that time? My torch-bearing arm's sore after just three years, I can't imagine what a hundred must feel like.

[youresovein]

Oh, god, don't take advice from me on that.

[ he laughs a little, shaking his head. ]

I don't know how to manage it. I'm not sure I did manage it, really, so much as survive it. It's only that when you're really in love — and I mean the excruciating, overwhelming, everyone around you thinks you need to get a grip already kind of in love — you just don't get much of a choice.

[solarcharged]

[ oh god, that's really fucking depressing. ]

Not that you're encouraging pining, or anything, [ He repeats as the pained smile resurfaces. ]

[youresovein]

What part of that sounded encouraging?

[solarcharged]

I don't know, the fact that waiting that long even sounds achievable... [ He tails off, defeated. ] And maybe even worth the pain.

[youresovein]

[ he shrugs. ]

Love makes us do stupid, irrational things. Sometimes they even turn out to be worth it.