Mutants & Masterminds: Legacy - Familial Distinctions

[z-Watchwoman]

Serene drew Aiden and Karra away from the others. She wasn’t sure where she was going; there wasn’t a lot of privacy to be found in a warcamp. She also needed something specific – Ah, there. A low branching tree was exactly what she needed. Serene led the two to it and told Karra, “Sit here, Karra, so we can talk eye-to-eye, while Aiden and I are going to climb this tree and use that branch.”

“Ok, Serene,” Karra said cheerfully, taking a seat on the ground. Her blue-skinned face was almost on a level with Serene’s now, even if it was too large, still. Serene and Aiden climbed up to the branch and took seats, shifting until everyone was comfortable and more or less on the same level.

“This is because we know each other, isn’t it?” Aiden asked her somberly.

“We don’t actually,” Serene told him, her voice gentle. “We’ve never met before today. The reason I look familiar to you is because we’re related. We have the same father.”

Her red eyes watched Aiden for his reaction; she was sure there was going to be one. Serene was also hyper-aware of Karra watching them. Nervously, she wondered what Aiden would say or do. She hoped he wouldn’t be upset with her lack of subtlety but she couldn’t think of a better way to do or say it.

[MegaGirl]

"Really?!" Karra exclaimed excitedly as she leaned forward, giving Serene and Aidan a carefully controlled, but happy squeeze on the knee. Her breath washed over the other two like a fresh, chill breeze. "You found out who your father is? And it's the same as the Mean Dragon Lady's boy? Wow! That's awesome! Weird and funny, but awesome! Is that why neither of you are wearing clothes? Is it something you 'herited by your dad?"

Karra sat up straight, plum-coloured lips stretching into a wide grin on her cute, blue face. "I met my father too! At least, the Mountain King said he was my father, and he's big and blue like me, but mom never said he was blue before. Then again, I wasn't blue before either, so I guess it makes sense." Her expression screwed up into a pout. "He wasn't very nice and he said I shouldn't fight the MageLords just 'cause I'm a girl, which isn't very fair. Mom fights - fought - badguys all the time and she's a girl and I'm even bigger and stronger than she is. I can fight badguys too!"

[Joani]

Aidan listened carefully to Serene's words and smiled gently. He waited for a moment, almost as if he didn't understand what she just said and Serene could see confusion and doubt in his face but before he could muster an answer or question Karra interrupted with her cheerful voice.

As she finished Aidan furrowed his brows and then looked to Serene again. "Her presence here can only mean one thing, we have the same father, all three of us."

There was no accusation or any other emotional attachment to his statement. It was almost as if he just acknowledged something and his expression slowly relaxed.

"A lot of things are starting to make sense now...", he quietly added, almost sad.

[z-Watchwoman]

Serene peered critically at Karra for a moment. “I don’t know what the Frost Giants told you, but the shark-fish-people told me that I was a Queen. It’s not literal,” she said quietly. “It’s this Realm’s attempt to make us conform to it. So it gave you a father and made me a ruler. My father… Our father is a leader on our world.

“But Aiden is right. Watchman is our father,” Serene said. She smiled at Aiden, just as sadly. “Our parents didn’t tell us about it for whatever reason. I wanted to bring us all together to… talk? I guess. I thought that we should know. Know the truth, know each other. I’m not looking for any big hugs… though I guess I’ve already covered that,” she added with a self-conscious laugh.

The red-eyed girl looked at the two of them. “Are you two… okay?”

[MegaGirl]

The revelation of who her father was, the fact she had a brother was completely overlooked by Karra as something of far more import dominated her thoughts. The huge girl jumped to her feet - making the tree shake - and Serene suddenly found herself pulled into an exuberant embrace, pinned to Karra's voluptuous chest.

"Am I okay?! I just found out you're my sister! That's even better than best friends!" Karra squealed - as much as a girl over sixteen feet tall and weighing more than a tonne and a half could squeal - and then spun around joyously. "It's just too bad you're so small like you and not big like me, then we could share clothes!"

Slowly, what else Serene had said eventually percolated through Karra's head and she finally let Serene go, carefully setting her back on her perch on the tree. Karra chewed on her lower lip, looking at Aidan shyly through lowered lashes, then tentatively gave her half-brother a hug too. "Um... Hi! I'm Karra."

Karra looked at her two siblings, trying to puzzle through something, eyes brightening when she thought she found the answer. "Is that why you're both naked? Should I get naked too?" Karra asked, blushing a bright shade of violet at she tugged at the straining straps of her 'armour.' "Though I don't why with Watchman being our father why we have to get naked. He's always wearing..."

Karra trailed off, her hands dropping to her sides as a melancholy shadow was cast over her cheerful demeanor. "Watchman, he knew I was his daughter, didn't he? Mom knew! Why... why didn't they ever tell me? Us."

Aidan's and Serene's half sister looked at them, her huge eyes a guileless, beseeching blue, her voice a rumbling sniffle. "Is it because he's 'shamed of me, since I'm so big and break things and am illythul. I... I don't mean to be. I try, but it's so hard."

[z-Watchwoman]

“Karra, stop. You are fine,” Serene said firmly. “I don’t know why our parents didn’t tell us. Frankly, at this point, I don’t care. They made their choices, and they were wrong. We should have known.” She reached for Aiden’s hand; he gave it and together, they extended their hand to Karra. Surprised, Serene looked at him; her brother smiled at her. Serene was smiling, feeling tears rise as she confirmed, “We are siblings. We’re not alone.”

Slowly, the blue giantess accepted the hands held to her. Her massive hands engulfed their hands and arms. “And Karra, you’re not illythul. You never have been; all you’ve been is envied by others who’ll never be as awesome as you are.”

“And, Karra, I’m not naked, technically. DragonWitches don’t have visible genitals. I have been meaning to ask,” Aiden said suddenly. “I know it’s not custom for your people to go naked. Why are you?”

Serene smiled a little. “Because here, it feels right,” she confessed. “Back home, no, no, no. But here I feel free. I’m not afraid of myself. Of who I am. Of what I do.”

[Joani]

Serene could feel that this kind of empathy and emotional intimacy was alien to Aidan and his bestial nature rebelled against this but he fought his instincts and relaxed... as good as he could.

His human side was... withered, malnourished and he rarely felt anything like this. His mother loved him but she was more concerned with his safety and the future of their kind - it was a very distant kind of love.

"That means you'll leave after... after the war?", she could hear the disappointment in his voice should her answer be 'yes'. He was not trying to show it but his human side struggled to comprehend and deal with these new emotions.

[z-Watchwoman]

“You can come visit,” Serene told him earnestly. “I’d like that. I could come see you here, too. There’s no reason that we can’t be a family, get to know one another more. I know I’d like to get to know my brother.” She smiled at Aiden and Karra warmly, even as she reflected that he might be in for a shock in her world, when he got to know the real her.

“I’m sure that our parents are going to raise objections and be lame,” Serene sighed. “I’m not okay with the idea of never seeing each other again. And I’m really not okay with the idea that we didn’t need to know that we had siblings.

“Besides, Aiden, we need to show you Earth. It’s an awesome place and part of your heritage,” Serene added. “I think you’ll like it.”

[Joani]

"All I know is that the future of the Dragon Witches' survival lies in my hands. My mother raised me with this knowledge - we are almost extinct.", he answered with a sad voice.

"So you are my sisters? Do you know our father? I... I have no idea who he is and... and...", part of his bestial nature threatened to break through and his muscles twitched under his scales as he tried to keep his composure.

"I didn't know I had a father. Mother always told me I was Destiny's child - a gift to Arcadia."

Serene could see that something inside him cracked. It was apparent in his eyes - a sadness so deep that infected his sanity.

[z-Watchwoman]

“If you look at it a certain way, you are a gift to Arcadia,” Serene told him softly. “But instead of being given by some unknowable thing, you were a gift from your mother.” It wouldn’t kill her to speak kindly of Aina though she was tempted to feel that way. “From what I know, getting to my realm takes effort, and I know that our father wouldn’t have been easily convinced. Your mother went through a lot of effort to conceive you.”

Serene exchanged glances with Karra, still worried about her sister’s emotional state. “I don’t know why she lied, Aiden,” Serene said. “But it’s clear that she loves you. She might not have made the right choices, but she does love you. If she did something, she thought it was best for you. She’d be wrong, but that’s a parent for you. Trying to figure things out and usually messing them up worse.”

The last thing they needed was an insane bull dragon on the eve of a war.