In like a Tourist, out like a lamb

[takingkarabusiness]

Who: Tourists and visitors!
Broadcast: nah
Action: S.S. Tourist
When: March!

[ What are you up to this month, Tourists? Living up to your ship name on the station? Well, share your spoils with the rest of the crew! Or maybe you've been engaging in ahem illicit pursuits? We promise not to tell! ]

Comments

[takingkarabusiness]

Is there a lot of that back-and-forth?

[passingthrough]

Not so much. He was actually one of the people trying to catch me for the pens. The X-Men rescued me. That's how I ended up with them.

[takingkarabusiness]

Pens?

[ if Kitty mentioned this is such blunt terms before, Kara didn't remember ]

[passingthrough]

The breeding pens. It was where people were kept for experimenting and general torture type fun... Always trying to improve on mutations and build stronger mutants. Brainwashing if necessary. Some people just get scraped for genetic fodder for the Infinite army. Not a pleasant place. Things would have been very different for me if I'd ended up there.

[takingkarabusiness]

Oh my god.

It sounds like a concentration camp.

[ she's aghast ]

[passingthrough]

It was. Forced labor prisons, mass graves, genocide. It was a lot of Hitler's greatest hits on repeat and amped up. Being a Jewish girl with a Polish heritage it was pretty easy to decide which side to be on. [If they'd even given her that choice in the pens.]

[takingkarabusiness]

[ she wants to hold her hand again but manages to restrain herself after the first gesture that direction. she tucks her hair behind her ear instead. her voice is soft and empathetic ]

To even have that presented to you. I can't imagine.

[passingthrough]

Hey, it had a happy ending, remember? Sort of. For me at least.

[takingkarabusiness]

Oh. Oh no. Don't do that thing where you have to console me about your life. I'm sorry. It just really does sound terrible, but I'm glad you were rescued.

[passingthrough]

[Kitty smiles a little.] Okay. No consoling. I lived it. You can handle the stories. Deal.

[She nods.] Me too. In more ways than one. It wasn't that long after my parents were killed, so good to not be alone on the streets being hunted anymore.

[takingkarabusiness]

Were you able to make a home of it? Before... everything happened later.

[passingthrough]

It was home. My team was family. Maybe not always a functional one, but who expects miracles? [There's a little smile.] How did we start talking about me again?

[takingkarabusiness]

Sabertooth.

And my incredible need to deflect personal questions?

[ this is a joke... sort of ]

[passingthrough]

Oh right. That would do it. I should probably learn to, or at least have less depressing personal things to talk about.

[takingkarabusiness]

Well, like I said before, lying is a big part of my life. And I hate it. I wouldn't recommend it.

[passingthrough]

And yet you have such an honest face. The better to pull off the lies I guess.

For what it's worth, I think that sounds hard too.

[takingkarabusiness]

To be fair, I never said I was a convincing liar. But if I can drive a big enough wedge between people thinking about Supergirl and thinking about me, that's a success.

[passingthrough]

How many people know? Other than you, me, and Winn.

[takingkarabusiness]

Here? That's about the whole gang. Oh, a guy named José, too. At home, Alex, her boss Hank, Winn, James, my cousin (obviously), and this total jerk named Max Lord.

[passingthrough]

Ramse?

I'm guessing you didn't mean for the total jerk to find out? Also, what kind of name is Max Lord? He made that up, right?

[takingkarabusiness]

Yeah. You know him? Tell me it wasn't a huge mistake.

And who even knows with Max Lord. He's some awful, scheming millionaire who always manages to stay just this side of trouble.

[passingthrough]

I met him. He seems fine. Sascha likes him. [Sascha likes everyone who gives him any attention though.]

Almost never a good thing when people scheme.

[takingkarabusiness]

Especially when he has the money to back up his plans.

[passingthrough]

Hopefully the powers help tip the scale.

[takingkarabusiness]

We'll figure something out. Probably. He never does anything overtly illegal, is the problem.