[Book 2] Chapter 11: Campfire Stories (Part 1)

[Clock - 22:02 | 10:22 PM]

[Calendar - 20/06/2010]

[Location - Mount Justice, Happy Harbor, Rhode Island]

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3rd Person POV

"Great idea inviting everyone for a night out, Megan." Adam smiled innocently, ignoring the burning eyes that rivaled Superman's Heat Vision as Wally glared at his with seething anger. He heard it when Wally asked Megan to come out with him, and camp beneath the stars, so Adam acted excited with Megan at them all being invited and how smart it was of Wally to have a get together for the team right before their very first mission together, even though he knew very well that Wally was trying to get alone with Megan. "Also, great idea Wally, a team activity right before our very first mission together sounds awesome... So, what're we doin'?" With a grin on his face, Adam twisted the ring on his finger, fiddling with it for a moment before sighing and pulling out this bright pink mass. It had a soft aroma of sweet strawberry flavored gum, the consistency of dough, and the squishiness of a marshmallow. Adam stretched it out for a moment and molded it into a tube before he cut off small pieces, distributing them to everyone: "-just roast them above a fire like a marshmallow. Carefuly not to burn them, they pop."

"I still don't know the practicality of sleeping in such... flimsy tents." Superboy poked one, and it fell. He grumbled something under his breath as he went to pick it up to put it back together, but then he was given a pink mass by Adam, so he just looked at the pink thing and back at Adam... before he took it. "What is this?" He poked it with his fingers, and it felt weirdly comfortable. He molded it into shapes and jt actually stayed that way, even defying gravity when he shifted it to the form of a long tube that, with the weight of the mass, should've bent- but it didn't! Weird.

"Oh, it's fairy dough." Shrugging, Adam channeled his electricity through the dough masterfully heating the entire bright pink dough that in a flash popped. The sound was like popcorn, but the fairy dough simply expanded in size and smell, this sweet scent expanding around him: "It's quite common in Beastialis. It's made by the Faeries, these little fellas-" Adam stretched his hands apart, about 4 to 5 inches apart from each other: "-no bigger than 5 inches or so? They're really good at baking, the majority work for the House of Hathor back on Beastialis, and they give fairy dough for free. This one is raw, but it tasted a lot better with different condiments." He shrugged while thinking about fairies- There really isn't a lot of difference between bigger faeries and smaller faeries, it all depends on the fairy. "Here-" With a flash of his hand, a few bottles of condiment appeared, though they had unusual colors: "-I have maple syrup, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, caramel, sprinkles-"

"Ooh! Gimme!" In a literal blur, the bags of sprinkles that were in his hands vanished, and Wally was sitting beside Megan with a grin. In a blur of movement, Wally poured both caramel, chocolate syrup, and maple syrup on his own small fairy dough ball, ready to throw it inside his mouth- But Adam could not allow such blasphemy to happen. The pink ball of fairy dough floated mid-air as lightning shot at it, making it pop immediately in a burst of pink dough that took a very fluffy form. It expanded in size, about triple the size of the small ball it was: "Holy-" Wally had to catch the now fluffy cotton candy like ball in his hands, some of the chocolate syrup and caramel hitting him in the face: "-why did you do that!?"

"Well, eating fairy dough raw is considered a blasphemy." Shrugging nonchalantly about his rather delicate and masterful display of control over his Meta powers, Adam fried another ball of fairy dough for himself as he rolled his eyes, a memory flowing into his mind: "Besides, raw fairy dough gives one hell of an indigestion- Seriously, Robbie tried it once, had to spend seven hours in the bathroom because he refused to get help or accept Miss Fries' help even though she's the best Healer of Khepri from the whole Empire... seriously, that Werebat is so stubborn sometimes." He snickered to himself, thinking back about that day was funny- but the sheer smell of bat guano still haunts his nightmares. "You're welcome, by the way."

"Huh, do you always have stories about your home?" Megan smiled as she asked- it was a simple question, but it made Adam realize that maybe he was sharing too much with outsiders? I mean, the Empress was very paranoid about them for a reason, right? He clearly didn't like and expressed his dislike for exposing the Beastialis Empire to the outside world, and although the Emperor agreed to some extent, Adam has witnessed them fighting about the degree of which Beastialis could "show off" to the world about its existence... It always ended with the Emperor dragging the Empress away. "It's nice to hear about such a magical place like your home- Back in Mars, the only magical places we have are reserved for the... How do humans say it again? Ah, right, Yellow Martians!" Megan smiled, remembering her uncle's lesson on how to change Martian vocabulary to fit human vocabulary: "They're like, our priests and priestesses! You said this Miss Fries was a healer? What does she heal?" If Megan wasn't so innocent looking, Adam would've thought she was fishing for information on Beastialis, but he knew that not everyone was out to get them... But a good portion if bad guys was.

Seriously, they have faced off against a bunch of minor villains and other stupid people trying to get the "riches" and "secrets" of Beastialis for some stupid reason.

"Uuuh, yeah-" He nervously went through a list of things that were probably good to share- the identity of people probably wasn't one of them? He has already talked about a few people and he has shown them a photo containing the majority of the Council of Beasts, so he has already fucked up there: "-uhm, I don't think I can talk a lot about Beastialis... Context matters, and the Empress would be mad if I expose a lot of what I know, sorry?" He was a bit confused, maybe he has reveal more than he should've already? Maybe! "But- Well, it's not exactly a secret since everyone knows it happened, but I was there on the Day of Ascension." Only M'gaan seemed confused about this. The others? They looked like they were vaguely familiar with the whole thing, or at least they knew the outsider's perspective of what had happened. Superboy also looked somewhat confused, maybe because he doesn't have all the information? Adam held Mr. Wiggles tightly, a little nervous about the conversation itself... It wouldn't be bad to give the perspective of the insider from an event that already happened, right?

He took a breath.

"Well... It happened quite fast, the Ascension itself only took about 20 minutes, but the preparations? They took hours." Adam prayed that this wasn't revealing a lot- and Thoth answered directly with a "Chill kid, the Empress said to go ahead, but don't tell them everything!" that eased his anxiety by a lot. "In fact, it took about... 8 hours? About that. I was only 6 years old, almost 7, so I was with my mom in one of the many houses beneath when Beastialis was still underneath Gotham-" That got him a surprised look from Megan and Superboy: "-oh, right, should've started with that huh? Yeah, the Beastialis Empire? The Empire up in the clouds? It used to be underground- It was actually very fun then, but it a lot more fun nowadays." He didn't notice it, but slowly a smile stretched over his lips as he closed his eyes. He fiddled with his fingers a bit and stretched them out, casting the [Minor Illusion] cantrip to showcase a few things he thought wouldn't be a lot to share. He stopped for a moment, his small illusions could only show one thing at a time, so he started with a few things. "Nowadays, we got a lot of Homo Beastialis walking the streets- so many kids, that you'd think we're a nation of toddlers! Seriously, 49% of the population are children below the age of 10."

That got a few raised eyebrows and surprised looks.

"Well, that's Sobek's fault." Adam shrugged.

"You guys worship an Egyptian God?" Robin asked- The little that he knew of Beastialis was directly from Batman's database, which included a lot of general information that the whole world knew as well. He knew they worshipped the Egyptian Gods, he was just feigning ignorance in hopes that Adam would tell him more than he already knows. "Didn't know that. Is it because of the whole human animals thing?"

"Not really...? Well, it was the Empress that introduced the Egyptian Gods into the picture- Well, the Empress was the one to make the Empire itself, even though the Emperor is the one that has the ultimate authority, everyone knows the Empress is the scariest person in Beastialis because of how kind he is." Adam smiled and nodded- even though he got a few confused looks from Kaldur (who definitely heard stories of the Empress) and everyone else: "Oh, you're thinking about what I just said? Well, kindness is subjective... The Empress loves to be kind, because letting an enemy live is kind. Keeping them alive is even kinder. Ressurecting your deceased enemy is the most kind of all acts." There was a soft chill through the place as the implied reasons were loud and clear.

Keeping someone alive and even bringing them back after they died? What could he do in the meantime?

"Hey, can I ask a question?" Wally raised his hand, making Adam look at him funny for a moment, which Wally ignored completely: "Is it true that you guys have, like, weird animals? I know about the whole human animal thing, the whole world does, which is kinda cool- I bet I'd be a Cheetah!"

"Full of anxiety, genetic problems, and gets scared by loud noises?" Superboy asked in a deadpan voice, which made everyone besides Wally chuckle.

"Hey!"

"Well..." Adam considered the question for a moment. It isn't technically unknown? Well, a lot of people know, a lot of people outside of Beastialis definitely know! "We do have Awakened Animals-" Before anyone could ask him what they were, he simply went ahead and explained: "-they're, like, normal animals but with the intelligence of a human being and can speak. There's a lot of them... We got Cheese Chasers, the Feathered, the Scaled, the Felines, and a few other groups." Shrugging, Adam started cooking himself over the fire more fairy dough.

"Wait, animals that can talk...?" Megan's eyes sparkled in wonder- Adam clearly saw Wally almost melt as he looked at her, and he had the urge to roll his eyes -before she asked: "You guys got bunnies too!?" Ah, right, Miss Martian here loved bunnies for some reason...?

"...you don't got monkeys, do you? I hate monkeys." Superboy narrowed his eyes, a distinctive look of hostility metaphorically glowing in his eyes.

"Uhhh technically yes and no!" He pointed to both Megan and Superboy: "We got Wererabbits and we don't got monkeys."

"Hey, how about we tell our origins-" Wally suddenly grinned, flexing his arm: "-I have the coolest origin story! I blew myself up and got my powers. How cool is that?"

"That's not unique." Adam rolled his eyes: "I literally touched a magically glowing train when I was 6 years old, got electrocuted to almost death, broken a few bones, and got electric powers. Have been learning under the Empress ever since... I thank the Gods the Empress didn't get to name me Electric Ghost Train Boy." He shuddered.

Like that, the conversation about origins started.