[u] Cordelia Lynn Holmes [/u]

Lynn frowned. "Types?" Lynn muttered to herself, expressing a rare moment of visible confusion. Huh. Types. Lynn, see, wasn't very familiar with metahumans as a whole-she'd stayed in her little demesne back home and never poked her head out much. Current events, scientific advancements, so on-she wasn't really up to date with. Lynn could keep you informed of what part of town the cops were focusing on the most, or what crimes any given lowlife had committed in the last week, but things like the discovery of new capabilities of metahumans were far beyond her realm of expertise. She hadn't known exactly what to expect from the other kids here-as evidenced by her utter shock at seeing a lizardman, let alone a doctor lizardman. Judging by the fact that Alex was lighting up more often than Tommy Chong, Lynn put her deductive reasoning skills to work and figured Alex's power had something to do with light-or, maybe, she had an accident with a Christmas tree as a kid or something. No, that was...interesting? Admittedly, it was bit of a challenge to Lynn's ego: she had no doubt that her success in life (depending on how you defined success: Lynn felt her surviving close to two decades of hard living as success) was partially dependent on her little guardian angel...but was it just one "type"? Were the others who had similar, even identical gifts? She had thought hers unique, a beautiful little anomaly. Huh. She missed the next few words of what Alex said ruminating on her sudden possible lack of uniqueness, and figured she could still kick more ass than anyone else with her power anyways. This made her feel significantly better.

"You and me both, honey. They throw math or English or whatever at me, I'll be catching the next boat out of this place."

Mmm. Then she and Edwarda Scissorhands had to go and get into the next Cold War. Cordelia resumed her predatorial stance, watching Vespera coolly and carefully. Lynn sure as hell wasn't about to throw down here-what, with witnesses out the ass and teachers around. And Cordelia wasn't sure how these kids handled disputes, but Lynn operated off a rather brutal code when it come to resolving her issues. If somebody gave you shit, and you sat there and took it (as Alex was doing, staring down at her plate. C'mon girl, look up and stare that bitch down for all she's worth!), it sent a clear message: I can be fucked with without repercussions. Unsurprisingly, Lynn's ferocious, often unwarranted insults and threats were more of a defense mechanism than anything: while her wholesale assholery alienated potential friends, it certainly kept potential threats on their toes. Lynn didn't want trouble-not because she couldn't handle it, but because she figured the girl who'd been in and out of juvy for a couple years wasn't going to be looked upon favorably by the administration here. Admitting that, however, would be a similar weakness. Truth be told, Lynn wasn't going to fight because she wasn't going to half-ass her fight: if she threw down with Vespera, it was ending with Morticia or Lynn being hauled off to the hospital. She didn't believe in knocking your opponent down and helping them back up-when you got someone at a disadvantage, you pummeled the hell out of them. You made their face an unrecognizable swirl of purple and black and broke at least two of their fingers for good measure. Then, anyone who saw what you did knew that you were Not To Be Fucked With. 

"I actually dressed the last shrink I had up like my mother and fucked him in the ass, but I appreciate the offer. And we will get along just fine, provided you don't give my friend-" there was a half second pause as Cordelia tried to remember Alex's name, but it was hardly noticeable-"Alex here any trouble. And unfortunately, I won't be meeting you in the, ah, arena." Cordelia smiled, resting her head on her hand and tapping at the teardrop under her eye with her middle finger. "I have nothing I need to prove. To myself or anyone. Including you." Lynn had been through enough similar situations to know when someone was egging her on, and as a general rule, while she'd come out on top (most times-there had been nights were Lynn was pressing ice packs to black eyes and shaking with pain), there was no sense in getting in a conflict you might lose. Was she confident she could ruin Morticia's week? Yeah, damned confident. But she wasn't about to risk it. Not on the second day. The gains in prestige of showing up Gothsucker wasn't significant enough to outweigh the chance that Gothsucker might, you know, actually win. She was weird enough to make Lynn think maybe all she did was hang in the arena, you know? No sense at all in taking that deal. Lynn pushed her plate and slid it over the table to where Vespera was standing. "Do me a favor and put that away for me," Lynn said as she stood up,readjusting her backpack (she'd never taken it off while she sat down). "Never had your own room? Huh. Makes two of us." She turned to leave, keeping her eyes on Alex. "Don't know if you're done, but the atmosphere in here got a little too 'daddy beat the shit out of me too often as a kid and I have violence problems now' for my liking. You're welcome to come with me." It felt weird saying that, because, you know, Lynn actually meant it. Not only the jab at Vespera's presumably abuse-ridden childhood, but also Alex seemed kinda chill. Didn't seem like a burnout, either, which was a nice change of pace from Lynn's normal entourage, and didn't seem like an aristocratic asshat-all of those had left at the beginning of Vespera and Lynn's little showdown. So yeah, Alex was squarely on the list of "Not Bad", everyone else on "Tentatively An Asshole", Vespera squarely on "An Asshole", Suits was "Probably An Asshole, But Can Make Money Off Him", and the walking Komodo Dragon was "Probably an Asshole, but I'm Not Pissing Off A Giant Lizardman".