Owner	Pose
Dyrk Magz	So... he was probably the last person to hear about it even maybe starting to happen, let alone the last person to seek Brainy out and speak up. But here he is. Studying Querl as he works on the bridge. With so many other Legionnaires around now... "I understand I have everyone else to thank for convincing you not to go rushing off," Dyrk says by way of greetings. Playing with his own fingertips, he struggles with words for a few moments before stepping closer. "I'm sorry I've been... distant."
Brainiac 5	Brainy is sitting, with his chin in his hand. He looks up at Dyrk, and raises one eyebrow, before he gets up, and walks into his ready room, gesturing for Dyrk to follow him. "Don't be sorry." He says, as he walks inside and then sits on the table. "You don't owe me anything. If anything, I'm the one indebted to you, Dyrk."
Dyrk Magz	He does follow, but he looks... specious, at best. He doesn't put any physical obstacles between them, but he does stop a few steps away. "I've pulled away, I've let all the old insecurities plague me while the cruiser fills with our friends..." he shakes his head, "You were ready to plunge towards a potentially fatal conflict, *alone*... and this puts you in my debt?" His brow furrowed, and finding it hard to smile, Dyrk just... shakes his head a little. "I don't understand."
Brainiac 5	Brainy looks up, and then says, thoughtfully, "More that you provided me with the reserves of strength I needed to hold it together long enough to reach the point where we can have this election." Then Brainy says, with a sigh, "This is a family matter. I didn't want to involve the Legion for that specific reason. I may... I run a risk of doing things which the Legion wouldn't sanction in order to stop Brainiac. But I realized even if I did go alone, someone would just follow me anyway." He grips the edges of the table with his hands. "There's something else you're not saying. What is it?"
Dyrk Magz	Here he does step forward, putting a hand on one of Brainy's. "I've been jealous, too. I know we've been taking things one day at a time... but I see the way you are with Lyle. The science talk, the banter." Dyrk shakes his head again. "I feel stupid. But you're sprocking right I would have followed you. Still will, fair warning."
Brainiac 5	Brainy tilts his head. "I refuse to lie to you. I have a deep attraction to Invisible Kid, I've come to realize, and I have one to you. And..." He shakes his head, "When I sit and think, sometimes I find my thoughts wandering to Supergirl, and I can't reason out why. I met her precisely once. And this is a difficult position to be in, because I don't want to betray you, and I don't want to push you away... and I don't want to lie." He looks down. "I am... more than a little ashamed. This isn't supposed to be how rational beings conduct themselves."
Dyrk Magz	"You're a complicated guy, Querl," Dyrk finally smiles a little. "My heart is here, but my head's been overruling it a lot lately." Maybe like they've switched positions or something. "I'm nervous about the vote - my powers are still... well, they're not where I want them. And if the vote doesn't go well... what does it mean for me here?" "I don't want to break this off, but I don't have a good defense for why I haven't been *present* for lack of a better term. You're just figuring all this stuff out about yourself and I feel like I'm holding you back out of selfishness."
Brainiac 5	Brainy looks up, and then says, "It's funny -- I don't feel that way at all." He says. He remains sitting on the edge of the table, and then says, "That's why the Legion does things democratically. You have the will and the skill to be a Legionnaire, but your powers remain a concern. But you merit this vote, and I am confident they're taking it seriously." "And no matter what, we'll have a place for you. Nobody can ever take that ring from you, and nobody would ever try. You earned it." Then he pauses, and says, "I... cannot have everything that I want. But at the same time, I am unwilling to sacrifice anything that I have. You brought something to life in me I wasn't even sure existed. How would I simply throw that away? I... don't know what we should do."
Dyrk Magz	"I don't either," Dyrk admits. He draws himself even closer now, standing less than a few inches away, hand still over Brainy's. "Nothing is ever easy, everything worth having is worth fighting for, cliche, cliche, ad nauseum." Inhaling slowly, then exhaling slowly, he continues. "I know I'm the one making me unhappy right now, and it's hard to make that stop... like picking at an old scab. If I were... participating more, everything else would just follow. I'm going to work on that, and see how things go from there." Leaning forward then to press his lips briefly to Brainy's cheek, Dyrk lets out another breath he didn't realize he was holding.
Brainiac 5	Brainy pauses, and then he moves to give Dyrk's hand a squeeze. He turns his head to touch foreheads with him, gently, and he says, "You have nothing to prove. And I am confident that this vote will prove that. As for us--as I said, I suspect that in terms of the difficulty you're having there, *I* am the malefactor." He looks down, and says, "And... well." He gives Dyrk's hand a squeeze. "I have debated whether or not the right answer is to ice over again and return to working in my lab. In so many ways it was so much easier than this... this. And yet, looking back, it was empty."
Dyrk Magz	"I'd miss this side of you too much to be able to resist constantly pestering and haranguing you if you turned all clinical and cold again," Dyrk says softly. "I've been very happy to have been a beneficiary of your thaw, and the others have been reacting positively too from what I've seen. How could they not?" "We can decide how to proceed with us another time. I don't think either of us has a clear enough goal in mind..." Though Dyrk might have... other... things in mind. "You're including me in any of your plans to fight this other Brainiac, though."
Brainiac 5	"Your science police training will be invaluable in evacuating civillians," Brainy agrees. Then he tilts his head, and says, "This is all so intensely complicated. And yet when Garth is angsting over Saturn Girl it seems so... so..." He muses, "Stupid. But I feel considerably more empathy for him than I used to. But no matter what happens, Dyrk, I'll always care." He tilts his head. "You're still leaving something unspoken though."
Dyrk Magz	Tilting his own head in concert, face so very close, Dyrk... raises an eyebrow. Smiling, the other joins it briefly. "And what would that be?"
Brainiac 5	Brainy says, "Well, if I had to do a cold read of you, it's that you're thinking of functions for this table that it wasn't meant for. Which really... anyone could walk in here at any time." Then he says, "At this precise moment, a considerable amount of my trains of thought are fixated on you doing situps."
Dyrk Magz	*That* draws a laugh. "The Seers of Naltor have their work cut out for them, the boy from Dox is showing them how it's done." Dyrk quickly kisses Brainy, then takes one of his hands and tugs *away* from the table. "Come, let's get out of here and go somewhere at least *slightly* more private where I can .... show you.... situps."
Brainiac 5	Querl raises his eyebrows, and then says, "...I don't need a twelfth level intellect to pick up that that's a euphemism."
Dyrk Magz	"No you don't, and yes it is," Dyrk confirms, tugging harder at Brainy and pulling him towards the door. "Congratulations, I'll *reward* your command of the obvious while we're at it." He's laughing again, but he's quite insistent!
Brainiac 5	Brainy turns off the lights in the ready room, before they go -- and then he murmurs, "...You will be doing some situps though... right?"
Dyrk Magz	Tugging Brainy on out the door, Dyrk just laughs and grins, "Oh, you betcha!"