Saturday Morning In Titans Tower

[superpowerboy]

Some people get up early on Saturdays to watch cartoons or exercise. Others like to sleep in until noon or later. Tim is neither of those people. He woke up early simply because he did not need as much sleep. And after some flying to soak up the morning sun, the clone Titan has made his way to the kitchen. Tim doesn't need to eat but he knows it makes things easier for him and has enjoyed sampling new flavors.

He's currently frowning at the toaster while holding a frozen waffle in one hand and the box of waffles in the other. After a few moments of reading the instructions, he looks between the toaster and the waffle several times before putting it in the slot and carefully pressing down on the tab. Taking another waffle from the box, his eyes flash red and he begins to cook that one with his heat vision.

Comments

[superpowerboy]

Tim heard Vivian coming long before she arrived, eyes flicking towards the door when he heard her nearing. He shook his head in response to the question.

"Good morning. No grubs have arrived. It is unlikely that any will appear in the Tower unless one of our teammates intends to retrieve them from their natural habitat."

[runs_deep]

"It's slang, for food." replied Ilya to Tim, and he moved over to greet Viv good morning. "How are you doing, lovely?" he asked his friend, playfully flirting with her. The two were good friends, after all. "We're having peanut butter and waffle sandwiches, if you'd like one." he then offered.

[sanguinarian]

Vivian puzzled at Tim, wondering what he meant until Ilya clarified it for them both. That made her laugh, it was a deep throaty sort of sound more suited to a certain Disney siren that favored rabbits then a modern teen. Everything about her tended to reflect a bygone era, but that had been an incident of design, oddity of travel and time and the most comical definition of mixed signals.

She perched herself on the counter with a quick hop, one leg cross over the other and fingers entwined over her knee. She smiled and batted dark lashes fetchingly at her aquatic friend. "I'm having a swell so morning so far, a gal can't complain about the scenery."

[superpowerboy]

"Oh. I apologize for my error," Tim replied, nodding. He watched both teammates quietly, taking in details of everything they did from movements to breathing patterns and heartbeat.

He tilted his head at the comment on scenery, looking around the kitchen. He thought for a moment then smiled. "Both Ilya and myself are quite aesthetically I understand," he remarked.

[runs_deep]

Vivian's compliment caused Ilya's cheeks to heat, and he just shook his head as he placed two more waffles in the toaster and flipped them down to toast. "You're terrible." he chided her, though his lips were curled into a bit of a smile.

Looking to Tim, he says "If you want to hear some really wild stuff, you should ask Viv to tell you about where she came from. It's crazy stuff for us mammals."

[sanguinarian]

"No need to apologize, hot stuff. You're easy on the eyes so the explaining is all pleasure."

Antiquated as she was, it worked for her. She beamed back to Ilya and blew a kiss as he called her terrible. "I'm bad in all the right ways, and you are just the bee's knees Ilya."

If Tim wanted stories to back up that bizarre physiology of her's she could tell them well enough. The whole not breathing, no heart thing tended to make some people squeamish.

[superpowerboy]

"I see," Tim remarked, noddng.

He just looked lost at the conversation. "Bees do not have knees..." he trailed off.

"Where do you come from, Vive?" Tim asked simply. It wasn't easy at all to make him squeamish.

[runs_deep]

Chuckling to himself, Ilya just let Viv work as he created her fabled peanut butter and waffle sandwich.

[sanguinarian]

It seemed well enough to let that expression go, Tim would take it as he would and it was nothing to bother with. However he did ask about her home, and she felt obliged to inform him.

"My people are not like yours. Our forms are not...fixed as these are. My world is a beautiful expanse of liquid, some land here and there. Most just enough to define the oceans and pools." Her eyes were closed as her memories were recalled with pleasure. A smile crossing her lips in a show of just how well she had trained her cells to mimic this form.

[superpowerboy]

"I have no people," Tim remarked softly. It was stated as simply as he would say 'the sky is blue'. The clone listened, nodding as Viv smiled. "Such a world does sound like it would be a logical habitat for a being with your physical make up."

[runs_deep]

The whole I have no people part of Tim's statement made Ilya frown deeply, and he set the jar of peanut butter down to look at the clone with displeasure.

"Tim.. you do have people. You are human, mostly, and even beyond that, you have the Titans and you have your friends. We are your people." Smirking more, he then reached out and poked Tim in the chest, saying "If anything, you're at least mostly an air breathing bipedal mammal."

[sanguinarian]

"Well, my people aren't even really people. We're more like that." She used the pointed toe of her show to indicate the jelly Ilya was spreading on the waffle.

"Not exactly, but close enough to call it gravy." Her leg resettled but bobbed a bit on her knee.

"As Cerdian and Ilya have explained to me, home is where the heart is. Which for me is awkward, but I understand the sentiment. Where you feel at home is home, and who you feel at home with is your family." At least that was what she'd gleaned of her human and humanoid observations once she'd spent time with them.

"It's the sex part that still confuses me."

[superpowerboy]

"I only mean that I am a unique being. There are no others with a similar genetic structure..." Tim trailed off quietly, giving Ilya another 'I'm sorry' look. Unnaturally blue eyes flicked to the jelly and the clone gave Viv an odd look.

"You are a life form, not a food item," he replied with some confusion.

"Ilya has explained that to me as well. I have come to understand it with his help as well," Tim smiled. Of course when Viv mentioned the sex part, Tim turned a questioning look on the merman.

[runs_deep]

Ilya just glanced up at the two of them with a "don't ask me!" look on his face. "Well.. ah.." he then said before he tried to work on the sandwich while he searched for the right words.

"Sex is the chosen method of reproduction for most humanoids." he began, though he still looked decidedly uncomfortable. "My people believe that you share a bit of your spirit when you share such relations with another. That is why they believe that when you choose someone to share yourself with, they should be the only person in your life to hold that bit of your spirit." he then shrugged, "Others do not believe that. From what I understand, it is not common above the water for people to choose a single mate. My views are rather antiquated, I fear."

Going to offer the waffle sandwich to Viv, Ilya smiled as he said "We humans put a lot of emotional stock in sex, usually. Even if it's only a biological function."

[sanguinarian]

The explanation seemed reasonable, it made ritual out of function..but..yes it was an odd notion to her. Still if that was how they chose to see it, it must have merit for them.

"It's a odd duck of an idea, but my species just consumes enough to double in size and split into two separate but identical entities. It's strange to see the uniqueness of your people from the ..combinations." Her reproduction was division where as theirs was addition. It was a difference in the most basic of principles.

[superpowerboy]

Tim listened quietly to Ilya, happy to learn from him. The more he listened, the more something seemed to form in his mind. Slowly, his expression went from curious to a little surprised.

"Ilya..." he paused. "Does that mean that we now hold parts of one another's spirits?"

[runs_deep]

"I think they call what your people engage in as asexual reproduction, though I'm not as up on my science as I could be.."

Then Tim posed his question and Ilya was left with the most dumbfounded expression. "I.. I.." replied Ilya to Tim, before he swiped a hand over his face and tried to form words verbally. Until this point he had not tried his telepathy on Viv, and wasn't quite sure if it would even work right.

Swallowing past a dry lump in his throat, Ilya said "In usual conversation, it's not nice to talk about your sex life in mixed company, Tim. However, given who it is - Vivian - I'm willing to be open with my answer. I know that she is learning, much as you are, and will not find it a too much information moment." He leaned back against the counter, and then pushed both hands back through his hair as he said "In simple terms - yes. Though it's not.. so simple. It's not like there is literally a bit of you in me, or vice versa. It's more.. a metaphysical statement. Referring to emotions and.. and fidelity. You are not an Atlantean, nor are you from the area of the ocean as I am, Tim. I have been trying very hard to not force the conventions that I was raised with. I know that to someone who does not know them, they can be very confusing and leave you wondering one thing after another. I feel that I am doing a disservice to you if I do not allow you the space to find your own way. Even if that way is not what I know."

[sanguinarian]

Vivian listened, she pondered this and then confirmed it verbally. "So you have had sex. Are you creating offspring? I had thought it took both genders to accomplish that."

She was not offended, but she was curious, she asked in earnest.

[superpowerboy]

Tim saw Ilya's reaction and immediately he knew he did something wrong. That advanced mind of his raced as he listened to the merman, filing away everything said for a later date. A lot of it raised questions in him that he was fighting back the urge to ask.

At Vivian's question, Tim shook. his head.

"We have not. I believe the correct term for what we have done is...making out?" he frowned a moment. "But my programming suggests that it is a part of sexual intercourse but not he complete act, explaining my confusion," he explained, tone neutral. "As for reproduction, yes. Normally it is only possible with one member of each gender. But there are ways to produce a lifeform from just one person or even multiples of the same gender such as the cloning process that created me. The three people that make up my genetics are all male."

[runs_deep]

Thankful for Tim's intervention after Vivian's last question, Ilya shot the clone a quick smile before he moved to lean against the counter close to where Tim stood. He made a mental note of his own to thank Tim for the quick save that allowed Ilya to not have to melt into the floor out of embarrassment.

"There are different levels of sex, more or less." he said, trying to explain. "There are things like kissing and holding one another that allow mammals such as us to bond more closely emotionally. Then there are even further steps, but that's not really an area that I'm too knowledgeable about."

[sanguinarian]

When Vivian was confused her mind tended to be very literal, it became clinical and lost the charming 40's speak she normally used. This was one of those times.

"How can you make out? Out is a state of location or being that implies not in. Making is to create, how can you create not in?"

Bless him, Ilya did try to explain, and the melting trick would have been one Viv would love to see, though she could do it better.

"Show me?" She gestured between them, now wanting to know what this important thing was that she had not prepared herself with knowledge before hand.

[superpowerboy]

Tim nodded to what Ilya said. Vivian made him blink though.

"Making out is a modern slang term for the act of open mouth kissing," Tim explained. The cloned tilted his head to the side at the request and then looked to Ilya. He would do what Ilya wanted.

[runs_deep]

Viv's quick succession of questions just made Ilya look like he might faint. That or disappear - one or the other. Tim's quick save (again) spared him a stammering session and having to think over his words. English (after all) was not Ilya's first language.

The question of a demonstration though caused the merman to give a nervous little laugh, and then he looked to Tim with a curious expression. Tim's returning expression just made him gulp a bit and then nodded his head quickly. "Alright, okay.." he then murmured.

Sliding closer to Tim, Ilya worried his lower lip with his teeth, and then tilted his face up a bit towards Tim. "Never thought we'd do this for an audience," he then murmured before reaching out to draw Tim down the rest of the way.

[sanguinarian]

Vivian canted her head to the side in the semblance of an interested onlooker. Much the same as one waiting for the bus or seeing an attractive pair of shoes in the window of a store. She tapped her full red lower lip and made a sort of humming sound to herself.

"So the kissing is a mutually pleasurable fluid exchange? Not so very shocking. I thought there was more to dual gender sex then this. Oh, but you are not two genders. Doesn't that hamper procreation?"

Oh she was just full of helpful questions wasn't she? The little mood killer.

[superpowerboy]

Tim was easy to draw down into the kiss and he responded almost instantly. When the kiss broke, Tim blinked a few times and smiled. Attention returned to Vivian slowly and Tim cleared his throat.

"Kissing is the act of pressing one's lips against the lips or other body parts of another or of an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture, relationship and context, a person may kiss another on their lips, cheek, head, hand and each of these gestures may carry a different social significance," he replied, going by the definition in his programming. "There is more to sexual intercourse than just kissing. And not all sexual intercourse is for procreation."