VIDEO

[khajidont]

[ Hello, everyone! It's your friendly neighbourhood Blue Beetle here, standing in a regular suburban neighbourhood, a tabby cat held comfortably in his arms. ]

Hey, so - usually rescuing cats from trees isn't, like, as common of a job as people say it is? But I'm not a monster or nothing, obviously I'll do it if someone asks me, and I'm assuming the same goes for most of you too. Only now I gotta warn you that people are using that as an excuse to, like, bombard you with news crews? Some jerk got his niece to lie about her cat being stuck in a tree for a photo-op, and --

[ The Blue Beetle goes very, very still all of a sudden, back stiff as a board, shoulders thrust back. His eyes go empty, the red pupils giving away to a simple, gleaming yellow before he shifts and changes, body suddenly shifting, scales melting into each other as he grows easily two feet in height, arms and shoulders gone jagged and undeniably aggressive looking. The cat, a clever creature indeed, begins shrieking at the top of its lungs, scrabbling desperately at the Blue Beetle's armour, but his grasp doesn't loosen. When he speaks next, his voice is low, guttural, and distinctly robotic. ]

Unusual. Query: what are my commands?

[ There's a beat before he nods, evidently listening to some invisible voice, and lets the poor cat go. It scarpers off and out of view. ]

Continuation of report: news crews currently capitalizing on false crises for irrelevant, poor quality reporting.

[ One of the Blue Beetle's arms shrinks back down to what looks normal for a human being - which looks downright emaciated on his current, hulking form - and begins to flail wildly in the air. The Blue Beetle watches it impassively, as one would stare at a fly landing on your arm. ]

Query: are you able to maintain control over more than one extremity?

[ His normal arm makes a slicing, horizontal motion in the air, a good indication of nope. Well. It looks like all of you are stuck with one Khaji Da, at least for now. ]

ACTION

[ Want to run into Khaji Da in-person instead? Feel free to run into a good ol' monsterbeetle wandering idly around the streets! ]

Comments

Text;

[snarkbot]

I believe "unusual" is an understatement.

permavideo

[khajidont]

Correct. This is unprecedented.

All systems are functional.

Private; permavid

[snarkboy]

[ Skeets switches to private before turning on video. Partly because he doesn't want to advertise his current state, but partly because of what he wants to ask about. ]

The unprecedented appears to be the new normal. You don't have Mr. Reyes's vocal patterns -- am I speaking to his AI companion?

[khajidont]

Correct. I am Khaji Da.

[ And Skeets... trust Skeets to get Khaji speaking beyond what he absolutely must. ]

Observation: your human form matches no historical human beings in my database.

Video;

[fridgeflower]

Hooboy.

What's going on here? Not the cat thing, the whole... big beetle thing.

Video;

[khajidont]

I have unintentionally established control over my host. My host is unable to reestablish control.

Communications with my host: live. Delivering message: "Hi Laurie". Message complete.

[ A GOOD BOT. ]

Video;

[fridgeflower]

Hi. Um...

You can't just-- Step down? Give him back? However that works?

action;

[lempereur]

[ Yusuke is minding his own business in the kitchen. He's cooking, actually, because he's an almost-adult capable of learning and taking care of himself, thank you.

Okay, a lot of his friends are suffering from old wounds popping back up and he's trying to help them, but he sure looks like a functioning human?

When Khaji makes it home, it smells like frying pork, and Yusuke is so deep in his thought process making everything just perfect that it takes a while before he even sees him, and when he does, he seems unimpressed. It looks close enough to Jaime's gross bug outfit, but on steroids. It's not #aesthetic. It's the opposite. ]

You're going to break something.

Re: action;

[khajidont]

[ For a moment, it appears as though Khaji Da is not intending to speak at all. He simply stares at Yusuke, his gaze unchanging and unmoving and, most off-putting of all, unblinking. In truth, this is the first time he's seen the boy he's witnessed for months now with what counts as his own eyes, and not Jaime's constantly darting stare. He loves his host more than he loves anything else in the world (and, in truth, he only loves one thing in this world, and that's Jaime), but he's a twitchy one.

A full minute later, he deigns to speak. ]

Negative.

[ #nailedit ]

[lempereur]

Jaime...?

[ Weird. Very weird. There's a lot of weird stuff happening right now, from old injuries flaring up, to powers being reversed or just not working at all. In Yusuke's case, the shoulder he broke back in August is killing him, and he's feeling incredibly slow.

At least Goemon is behaving himself. ]

Are you feeling alright? Everybody's lost control of their powers.

voice; JL filter (aw yeah 1st tag with the new journal)

[doitforthevibe]

[ Cisco saw the network post come up as he was working on the Hall of Justice's firewalls, so he pulls up Beetle's comm signal right away. ]

Uh... You ok there, BB?

HECK YEA

[khajidont]

[ Khaji Da pauses to really consider the question. He has no reason to be dishonest. Is everything okay? ]

Negative. Establishing control over our body is unprecedented. My host is unable to regain control.

[doitforthevibe]

Your... host?

[ This might be easier if he fully understood Blue Beetle's deal. ]

[ Video ]

[axeboyfriend]

[ Please ignore the brick wall in the background, and the distant sounds of chattering.

After the Haunted House, Shinjiro is aware that Jaime can turn into some sort of..... very blue superhero. He's somewhat less aware that becoming a blue superhero involves a symbiotic relationship with a.... really gross bug that has its own personality. So when his feed switches on, he's staring blankly at Khaji. ]

Are you.... alright?

[ He'd intended to avoid Jaime after the whole "getting called out on homelessness" thing, but he's somewhat concerned by the strange behavior. Despite the awkwardness, he doesn't hate the other man. ]

[ Video ]

[khajidont]

[ Khaji Da stares at Shinji, no comprehension in his gaze - though that is, perhaps, helped along by the fact that there's not much of anything at all in his gaze. He appears to ruminate upon this question for some time before deciding to clarify. ]

Define < all right >.

[ Video ]

[axeboyfriend]

You sound weird.

[ He'll keep it vague— Shinjiro has no intentions of outing Jaime— but he does want to at least find out. ]

And I think you're eight feet tall. Which seems.... unusual.

[VIDEO]

[pummelgranite]

Quick question:

[ She's in her Nice Apartment for once, instead of a cave, but literally what?? ]

What the absolute shite?

[VIDEO]

[khajidont]

[ Ah. Persephone. One of Jaime Reyes' more... volatile acquaintances. ]

Expand upon your query. I am unable to answer your question with available given materials.

Re: [VIDEO]

[pummelgranite]

Uh, OK . . . Why are you being a scary robot?

video;

[deadkord]

...Well, this can't be good.

video;

[khajidont]

Affirmative. Powers malfunctions are highly alarming.

Query: Does < Ted Kord > know a solution?

where did my notif for this go omg; private

[deadkord]

That depends on what, exactly, the problem is.

[ He switches the feed over to private. ]

Is Jaime okay?

[flightforfreedom]

[Well that's -- weird.

He wasn't sure what was happening here. Maybe the armour was a droid on its own?]

You alright there, buddy? [Okay, dumb question.]

[khajidont]

[ People always seem to ask him that! CAN'T A GUY BE A HIDEOUS MONSTER IN PEACE? ]

We are physically and emotionally undamaged.

[flightforfreedom]

I think it's pretty safe to assume this isn't normal, though, right?

Can he - uh - get out...?