We Are Giants

Rory rose an eyebrow. Thank god for glasses that let that be seen. "I'd have guessed High School, actually, but Middle School makes sense too?"

God, he was a baby! Not that Rory could get on him about that, Janelle had been into superhero work at fourteen and she'd been on their team.

Lorelai's shoulders slumped a little. "Homeworld got eaten by... uh, well doesn't matter now." To say it was a sore point was an understatement. "So, what's got you going around and, uh, saving the day?"

Rory was quiet but nodded at the end of his story. Protecting people. Making others happy. Those were usually the stories. "You know, you can do all that without the mask? So why the mask?"

And that question felt important, not just because Rory was asking Jaxson, but because she was asking herself too, in a more subtle fashion.

"Work toward a good job. Become a minster. A teacher. Anything that helps people. You could work toward that and help them, so why not any of those things?"

It was a nice answer, the kind Rory might have given, without there remark about being only a kid. "Well, you're wrong about one thing," Rory told him. "You're not just a kid. You have ideas and thoughts and insights into things that no other person could have. You're you. And you are unique."

Kind of like everyone else. And cynical people would argue the idea that if everyone was unique then no one really could be. But that was a limiting thought.

Rory grinned at him. "Man, if I used to think that way I would never have gotten as far as I did. 'Just a kid' is the type of shit people tell you so you feel small, so you don't hurt yourself, or take chances. And they don't mean it maliciously, but it has the effect all the same."

Rory blinked at him. "I'd think it would be having the opposite effect than warding you away. But honestly, I'm not trying to do either. I'm telling you the truth. As someone who was a kid superhero in a world where superheroes were everything. I'm asking you the questions I had to ask myself and I had other people ask me."

She laughed a little. "Like, I used to say 'I'll stop when I can get into college. Like mom wants. I'll stop and I'll go to college and find a safer way to help people.' But you know what? I always knew that was a lie. I was lying to myself. I wouldn't stop. There was no better way for me to help people than how I was doing it."