2014.01.08 - Paint the Sky with Stars

It's a winter night in Central Park, the air is cold as hell and the trees stand there without the slightest bit of a move. Snow covers the ground in a thick blanket, unmarked by feet on many spaces. Even if it is quite chill, a rainbow colored line emerges between some of the skyscrapers in the northern end of the park and draws over it like a trail. And indeed it is a trail of light, somewhat the signature of Lightspeed. Glittering the white trees and ground reflect the colorful light back, resulting in sparkles and glitters of the winterly surface. Over the middle of the park Julie's trajectory draws closer to the ground, eventually ending just a yard above a deep frozen lake which is barely visible through the snowcover. Under the feet of her the rainbow trail seems to span like a short bridge, both ends hanging in the air but providing enough support for her to stand on it, muttering to herself as she rubs her arms. "I should have taken the classic design of uniform today... Less free skin to freeze at."

With a sigh she mutters two words, 'costume off' and the tight hugging uniform gets replaced by her casual cloth she had worn before entering it - a pair of jeans and a red pullover. Just as the dimensional transfer had ended she muttered another two words, 'costume on' this time to get back in uniform - the classic one piece this time, covering her from neck to toe but for the hands. "Much better."

Even in the giant robot Karolina and her friends were taking refuge in, it was pretty darn chilly, so Karolina being essentially a walking heater was welcome. Not that night was really the time of day that Karolina felt her best and brightest at, anyways. But in regards to being a heater, 'lina had her bracelet off, wearing her pajamas as she stirs, breathes out a heavy sigh, and rubs her eyes with the backs of her knuckles. She couldn't sleep. And wandering out to the window of the robot. In many senses, the snow was beautiful - and Karolina brings up her fingertips to press against the window of it, leaving little trails of liquid as her presence heated the snow that collected on the other side. Even with all the snow, it was night - and a rainbow at night - especially moving like the one Julie's was - was suspicious. Clenching her jaw a bit, 'lina glances back towards the cabin, and the people no doubt sleeping there. "Guys, I'll be right back," she says. The snow bothered her less than it bothered most people, but she still grabbed her snow boots and took a moment to dress, before throwing her beanie on and jumping out into the night sky. Like the other, Karolina might catch the eye as a multicolored facet through the snow. One that was starting to arc towards the spot Julie had landed. So many possibilities were running through her mind. Trick of the light? Another Majesdanian? Someone looking for her? She did not know.

Lightspeed brushed down a bit of snow that had accumulated on her arms, thankful for the adaptive alien material that has accompanied her since almost half her life for now. Turning the eyes up to the stars over the painted white Manhattan, she got a glimpse on the glowing object. Unidentified flying object? A space ship? Possibly even Snarks? Even if she had not fought them since ages, she still disliked them - for some very good reasons as she knew. They had abducted her parents and the whole Power Pack several times, tried to conquer the earth some half dozen times and still lacked any idea on how to do it better than to just do a hit-and-run attack.

Ready for the worst she speeded up, the trail following her as she tried to go on an interception course close to the surface just to pull up in the right moment to force the glowing Karolina either to do an evasive action sideways or upwards to not crash into her. Realizing that it was obviously a female, she tried her best to give a witty reply "Don't you try anything funny, girlfriend, or..."

Well, the rainbow-powered young woman should have no fear - as Karolina Dean had absolutely no lizard in her at all. At least she thought. Regardless of such things, Karolina Dean did have a small measure of trepidation as she comes to a stop somewhat nearish to Julie, her heated form melting the snow before it can accumulate around her, causing little puffs of steam where her feet melt into the ground. Only for Karolina to duck as Julie comes whizzing by, the young woman falling into a kneel and extending her hands to both sides - a bubble of energy surrounding her like a shield. It seems she chose to dive instead, getting her feet onto the ground. 'lina twists her head and looks towards the form of the other young woman, her eyes narrowing for a moment before she... "Wait - um... wait," she calls out, even if it was difficult to track the other in the snow. "...who are you? What are you doing here? I won't attack if you don't?"

Julie had not thought about the other one to dive as she just came from below and was forced to do a u-turn to keep up with Karolina. Still she managed to do so, even if she had to push her speed up from the more casual speeds to that of a racing car in the turn. Energy shields? Snark technicians used them, but not glowing and personal, but as ship defenses. Doing almost a crash landing next to the bubble, she stil ended on her feet, the hands in a rough brawling position "Won't you? Well... how about you let that bubble there pop so I can see your face?"

Considering the melting snow on the ground she once again engaged flight, but this time just enough to hover a few inches above the ground, the rainbow trail of her illuminating the scene to some degree, but fair less than Karolina's glow. "I just hope it's pretty."

Karolina clenches her jaw a bit as she spies the other landing as well, likewise taking the U-Turn in flight. The other was her equal or better in aerial maneuvers - probably better, actually, considering the long history of the Power family - and that brought a flutter of fear to Karolina's heart that she didn't try to let her features show. And call 'lina paranoid, but while she did hope for peace first - she was rarely the sort to just drop her shields on a whim. But from what she could tell of the figure behind her shield. "So you can blast me or something? No thank you!" says 'lina. "Do you /normally/ attack people flying by in the night?" she calls back, her eyes lifting up to the other as she starts to backpedal towards the lake, keeping that shield up as she peers at the young woman from behind it.

Lightspeed groans just a little, shaking her head to get an annoying snowflake out of the eyebrow. She might be a natural aerial, but she lacked any offensive besides her fists - which meant she had to become good at evading to get something done on herself and not just playing the Taxi for the rest of the pack. "Actually not, but if it glows like a Z'narx-ship it triggers reflexes." she answers back, staring at the sphere with its small holes which seemed not to allow a good view on who was in it. Was that enough to sort it out? Possibly, possibly not.

"Anyway, I'm sorry. I'm Lightspeed, and you?"

Karolina pauses a long moment, kinda taking a step back from the other woman. Karolina didn't quite have the lightning-fast reflexes of others on her team - she had to kinda think ahead to put her shields up in time. Pursing her lips tightly after Julie introduces herself, 'lina takes a moment, breathing out a long breath of air into the night. Another moment, and she does drop those shields, bringing her hands up in front of herself, fingers outstretched, and palms facing towards Julie. "Um. I'm just Ka... I'm Lucy," she says. They had mostly dropped the silly codename thing, but 'lina still wasn't quite sure of the other woman's intentions. "...but it's nice to meet you, Lightspeed," she adds, perhaps a bit hastily.

Julie could not do too much to prove that she was unarmed, besides mimicking the gesture of Karolina somewhat, just that she moved the arms more to the sides to prove it. "Lucy? Like the fossil found in 1971?" Wait, wasn't that fossil named after some song? "No wait, the hit of that same year, right? Sorry for that clash again, but I really mistook you for some sort of alien ship..."

With an few slow steps on her rainbow trail she came closer, hands still open "But I my guess was right, you are kinda pretty... I like how your hair glows."

The whole fossil found in 1971 thing causes Karolina's brow to furrow. She wasn't particularly good at school to begin with, and well, she kinda skipped the last couple years of it. "Well, more like the Beatles song - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds? It's kinda a thing. You know. Because I glow and things," she says, kinda gesturing to herself. "I know, it's kinda dumb. Um. But I was younger when I made it, you know?" she says. "So, you're... Lightspeed? You're pretty fast then, huh?" she asks. There was quite a pause when Julie does compliment her hair, Karolina pausing a moment, before straightening - seeming a bit off guard. "Oh, I um... thank you. It's just a part of my power thing. I liked your rainbows a lot - all those colors made me feel happy, you know?"

Julie smirks a bit on the mentioning of her name, remembering that she had tried only 2 other handles - and one of them she had for she had Jacks Power that time. "Not as fast as the name suggests, but yea. Got it... ages ago. Tried Starstreak for a while but went back."

As Karolina talks about the colors she blushes a bit "Oh, the last time the art director complained about the rainbows for he had to edit to away in each frame. It's good to hear it is not totally useless."

"Yeah," says Karolina Dean, the corner of her lip lifting in a bit of a giggle. "I guess Starstreak does sound kinda weird. I mean, we just make names that sound good at the time, even if they're really kinda weird, you know?" she says, kinda pausing a long moment as she nods her head. If Karolina was blushing, it was a bit hard to tell - considering she was covered with a multicolored rainbow miasma of light, but. "Your... art director? What do you mean? Are you wearing like a power suit or something?" asks Karolina, finally tearing her eyes away from the other woman's face to look over what she was wearing, a little frown touching her lips. "I mean, who are you, by the way? I know you're Lightspeed, but are you robbing some place or something?"

Woah! What the heck! One does not usually expect to see a light show over Central Park in the dead of winter. Or the super dead, not even a zombie of winter, which it appears to be. Cessily's bundled up heavily, jeans and a coat, with a vest underneath, knit cap and a big scarf wrapped in loops about her neck. All of her layers let just the gap between nose and eyebrows peek out with reflective metal eyes. As she runs up towards the lake she tugs down her scarf, "Is everybody okay!?" she cries, clearly distressed and concerned.

Now it is Julies turn to giggle a bit, using a hand to cover her cheek "No, comeon, the Art Director of a film. I stared as Stuntwoman in a movie." she answerd, trying to remember what the name was "And I am totally Lawful Good, you know. Power Pack since I was like... 10? Starstreak was an experiment when I was... 12 or 13... Teen test, you know?"

As the wrapped up woman comes closer, Lightspeed tries to gesture her to stop "careful, the lake might be not holding the weight!"

"Wait... you were in movies? My parents, well... um..." Probably best, in spite of her excitement, not to mention /too/ much about her parents. Even if Karolina was probably in most of the criminal databases by now. "Nevermind. But you were in movies? As a stuntperson? For who?" she asks, kinda bringing up a hand to push a lock of her psychadelic hair over her shoulder, a bit of confusion touching her lips as the other young woman calls to... With all this snow flying around, it might be hard to see just what sort of person was wrapped up under there. Karolina Dean did not seem to be dressed for the weather at all, wearing a light jacket, a scarf, and boots. But she didn't seem to be bothered so much, wisps of steam around her where the snow struck her. "Yes, um. Are /you/ okay?" she calls out. "It's the middle of a snowstorm, and you're on the lake!"

All the flying sends a spray of snow up at Cessily's face, which she shields reflexively with her arm. She turns away from it too, trying to get more of it to fall on her back. In the process her foot slips on an icy patch and sends her falling to her back and skidding out onto the lake. The ice makes a cracking noise, splinters spreading out from her body.

The cracking noise at once has Julies attention, even before she can answer the question of Karolina. "Lend me a hand!" she just tell, almost yells as she dashes down to try to pull up Cessily by one arm, hoping that Karolina does so with the other. "We said be careful..." she tries to add, hoping to get her off the ground - either alone or with Karolina's help before they all break through the ice and freeze to death.

Of course heroics took precedence over gushing. Karolina starts to move towards the edge of the lake - when she belatedly remembers the heat that she was generating. Clenching her jaw, Karolina does carefully move towards Cessily - reaching out to quickly snatch up her other arm a handful of seconds after Julie grabs her side of the other young woman, her fingers curling at her metallic wrist. Karolina was not a young woman known for colossal strength - so she needed Julie's help to pull Cessily up, as well, her feet digging into the ground nearish the edge of the lake, perhaps.

Cessily lies on her back, eyes widen and staring up at the Rainbow duo. She stretches her arms out, getting too longer for her coat, even though she still has her gloves on. She's grabbed and grappled in short order and lifted off the ice, just as it cracks and a chunk falls into the water from Karolina’s heat. "I tried!" Cessily protests as she's lifted up and awya. "Thanks," she says, feeling vaguely embarrassed.

Pulling Cessily from the ice almost in the last second and somewhat surprised by her weight, Julie somewhat misjudged the momentum of the movement, likely sending them all three into the snow next to the lake but at last not into it "Waaaa!"

Karolina does initially jerk away when those stretchy arms lash out to try to catch her. Kinda grimacing, 'lina does hold on, pulling backwards, and using all her might... which, of course, knocked her off balance when the rest of the girls fell off of balance as well. Once hitting the ground, Karolina's first order of business was to stop actually rolling through the snow, her hands scrabbling in all direction, hitting legs or faces - the second worst thing she tried was to take off, but disoriented as she was, she just kinda did a horizontal movement, kinda ramming Cessily's side and frowning. "OW!" she calls out. Eventually they end up in the snow bank. Even if 'lina was melting the snowbank around them into icy water.

Caught, flying, hurtling through the air. Cessily 'oofs' when Karolina bumps her, then again when Julie deposits the three of them in the snow. Without the threat of sinking into the water, she lies there to catch her breath. "Yah, wow..." she huffs out, and then makes a face. “Why is it damp?" she asks, sitting up and standing. Karolina's literally sinking into the snow in front of her eyes, as trails of water run out onto the lake ice. "Can you turn that off?" she asks. "We'll get soaked!"

Julie was pressed into the same snow bank with the rest, landing under Cessily after the hustle "First I will be soaked, thanks for the concern" she answered from underneath the pile, her hands still closed around one arm - though it might look kinda odd to onlookers. "If we don't get out of the snow soon we all need to get a hot chocolate somewhere."

"Not... really!" calls Karolina back towards Cess, kinda rolling unto her butt, and making a wincing sort of face. "I mean, I could, but... I'd get cold," she says, waiting a moment, running her tongue over her lips. "Really cold," she says. Releasing Cessily's arm, 'lina does kinda scoot back up the hill a bit, bringing up her arms to wrap in front of herself. "Well, I guess that might be normal as a matter of course," she says. "It's pretty darn cold outside. I mean. Are you a superhero too?" she asks Cessily, 'lina turning her kaleidoscope eyes towards her.

Cessily's standing, brushing copious snow off her, even though she can't make herself dry in an instant. "Nice save," she adds, fearing she's been a bit too harsh on the glowing girl. "You two done this before?" she asks. She steps forward and offers a hand to get Julie up out of the snow. "We might have to do that anyway," she says with resolve. "Anywhere warm and dry and I'd be happy."

Working herself to the feet with Cessily's help, Lightspeed tries to brush the wet snow from her suit. "Mind turning around for a second?" she asks, stepping a bit away to mutter twice the costume thing again - off and on again - to give it a fast dry-cleaning, hopefully without the others noticing "better... I think there is a coffee shop down there... which might still be open. Not sure if they are because of the weather though... And yea, you could call me a pro... wait, didn't you do chaperone for the girl scouts on their Christmas party? The one where almost none of the heroes invited showed up?"

"Once or twice," Cessily answer, echoing KArolina's words. "Just the once, actually," she says. "That was it," she confirms to Julie. "But uh, no, just a standard-issue mutant," she says, because she's totally not going to admit to having gone to superschool. "Wait, you mean Cafe Amrita, on the circle? That place is great. Let's do it!" she says.

Julie nods with a smirk "yea, let's go." she sais as they walk over, hoping to get some hot chocolate... Fade to black