2013.10.14 - Some of Those Big Things

Amy Winston is not a Legion member. She doesn't live in Legion HQ anymore. There was nothing for her to move. She left a note indicating that she was thankful and could be reached at the Sanctum Sanctorum, which you can't find unless you're invited. Booster was. That happened and it was intense.

He's likely seen that her bailing out is no huge loss. Though anyone Mordru hates is probably a good person, Princess Amethyst would likely have issues with the charter. Regardless, Rokk thinks well of her and she did kind of solve that Time Trapper thing. Sort of.

She still has access to the building, even in the evening. It's not a tremendous surprise when she's the one behind all the knocking at Booster's door. Amy Winston, who is currently the princess of drug store makeup sales and nothing else, waves anemically and smiles without really smiling.

"Hey, dude. You busy?"

"Oh hey, hi there!" Booster is not in his costume, which is probably not that surprising when he's in his quarters. He is wearing a blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and unfastened around the collar, and no longer tucked into his grey slacks. Stepping aside, he lifts his arm in a sweeping gesture to invite Amy in.

The room is fairly basic although extremely clean, thanks to the cleaning-bots that scuttle around the Legion's headquarters. There is a sofa and chairs near the front door, the standard issue found in the guest rooms. Across from these where one might expect to find an entertainment unit is a dragon skull the size of a Volkswagon Beetle. "What's up, is everything okay?" Booster wonders. A small, sleek golden robot floats in and hovers nearby, politely. After a short interval, it makes a little 'ahem' sound even though it does not have a throat. Booster points at it, as he says, "That's Skeets. I don't remember if you've ever properly met."

Amy bobs her head agreeably, sauntering into the room. The dragon skull scares the cool right out of her.

"What," she exclaims, hurrying over and putting her hands on the brow ridge. She looks back over her shoulder, grinning. "What the hell is this?" Her jaw clicks shut. "--uh, yeah, yeah, everything's fine." The princess whirls around to face Booster, covering her mouth and clearing her throat to hide her smile.

"Hi, Skeets. I'm Amy." She purses her lips. "Actually, I don't think you've ever told me your real name. Is that, like, secret agent stuff?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Amy," Skeets replies, with a slight bob in the air. He hovers around with the silent ease of a self-mobile balloon.

"Who, me?" Booster wonders. "It's Michael. Michael Jon Carter. I don't have a secret identity... anyway, 'Booster' is actually my nickname, from my high school days. My superhero name was supposed to be Goldstar but there was kind of an understanding." He waves a hand, as if to brush that story aside quickly, and walks over to pat the enormous skull. "This awesome thing was an animate skeletal dragon, it and a bunch of undead stuff and monsters attacked the city. It's actually the first time I ran into Doctor Strange, although we were too busy to really talk at the time. Because, you know," he gestures at the skull again.

"Hi, Michael," Amy says. She tilts her head, which evidently gives her a better view. "You look like a Booster more than a Goldstar. Booster Gold is just awkward enough to sound future-y, you know?"

She turns back to the skull when Booster brings it up, sliding a hand across it. "There's dragons where I'm from," she says. "I wonder if this one came from there, or if there's another place."

Amy glances up toward the ceiling, pensive. She banishes that with a clap of her hands, seeking Booster's attention with her bright purple eyes. "So! Do you want to go to the Smithsonian with me? It's empty since the government's closed down. I can get us in." She smiles, sly. "I remember you said that you did history in college, and I've been meaning to use my powers selfishly."

"Actually, that would be interesting," Booster agrees, rubbing his chin. "I haven't gone to any museums in this era... I worked in one before I came here. That's actually how Skeets and I met, we were both security personnel." He casually tucks his shirt-tails back in, as he says to Skeets, "I don't think the one we worked at is built yet, though. I wonder if the Smithsonian has robot docents?"

"I don't think so, sir," says Skeets. "Advanced AI is generally not a feature in most current-era museum displays."

"Slackers," opines Booster.

"Great! I already dropped a gate sigil there." Amy crouches down, dropping to her knees. She runs her thumb across the floor in intricate patterns. Thankfully, this leaves no mark. Maybe on the astral plane. Do the cleaner bots check for that?

"What did you do? Were you one of those people that restored artifacts and stuff?" The subject of robots slides right past her. It's future talk. "There's this JSA exhibit they were doing before they closed. I say we hit that first."

Amy pops nimbly back up to her feet and offers her hand. "I'm kind of a fan."

"Nah, I was just a guard," Booster explains. "I was working my way through college, at that point. You know, keeping people off of the exhibits and patrolling during off-hours, that kind of thing." He pauses then, as he thinks about this, and he wonders, "Aren't they going to have security systems in place, even if the museum is closed?" He must trust Amy's plan for this, despite this question, because he steps forward to take her hand. The golden Legion ring glints on his finger; even when he is not in costume, he always has that accessory on.

"Yeah, they do. Don't worry. I know it may be difficult to believe this," she says, suddenly deathly serious with narrowed eyes. "But I'm actually magic."

The world is briefly purple and sparkly. When that fades, a few straggling twinkles floating like stray embers, they are standing in the Smithsonian lobby. Lots of marble, huge ceiling, life size diorama of an elephant on some African plain. The desks are empty and the televisions are off, but there are still helpful banners.

Amy lets go of Booster's hand and blows nonexistent smoke from her fingers. "When I'm not getting almost killed by biblical figures, I'm doing schoolwork for the doc. I haven't met many wizard types on Earth, but I think that makes me pretty good."

A banner on the far side of the room advertises JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1935 - 1958.

"Ngh." Booster briefly rests his hand on his stomach. Something about abruptly moving in space but not in time always makes him briefly queasy. He perks up immediately, however. "I know basically zero about magic so I'll take your word on it. I never saw examples of magic until I got to this era." He gets interested by the elephant, initially, gesturing to it and wondering, "Man, that thing is crazy. When did those roam the earth?" It's just a passing curiosity, though, because he then drifts towards the JSA display. "There were displays for the Justice Society in our museum, too. It'll be interesting to see how they curate them in this era..."

"Haha! They do now, you doof." Amy ducks underneath a rope to get at the edge of the display. She looks up at the beast, perhaps considering how to best slay it. When she looks back over her shoulder, she's frowning: "That means they went extinct or something, huh?"

The princess begins to make her way around the display. If Booster is trailing behind, she walks backward to carry a conversation. "Less robots, right? Maybe you have more stuff. I know Doctor Fate still needs his cape in our time."

"Wowzer! Those still exist?" Booster turns to look back at the elephant. "That's amazing. I can't believe the animal diversity this planet has, in this era. I even got to see some cows when I first got here." He resumes following Amy as he explains, "A lot of stuff got wiped out hundreds of years before I was born. Not just animal life." Booster leaves it there for now, because even he knows it is a grim subject, especially for current-era people. "Well, some of the displays we had were reconstructions. I know for a fact that the Helmet of Fate we had on display was -not- the real thing." Because he'd personally tried it on, one night.

Amy limits herself to a dire look as Booster hints at the impending apocalypse. She does her part to maintain the polite illusion by moving on.

"That's good to hear," she says, falling into step beside Booster. "It'd be awkward to know that Nabu ends up on a shelf. Well," she looks up toward the ceiling as they pass underneath the archway. "Maybe he doesn't mind that kind of thing? I don't know."

The Smithsonian knows how to curate a collection for the public. Since it's right off the main lobby, the displays are arranged for maximum visual impact the second you walk into the room. The floorspace encourages a circular route, allowing people to spin off to other rooms or return to the main lobby. There is only enough for one room, it seems.

Amy takes a sharp breath, stopping just past the threshold. "I, um," she says, distracted, "I've wanted to see one of these for a long time. Like, a museum, too, but also..."

"I honestly don't know where the Helm of Nabu ended up in my native era. If someone had it, they were probably off-planet," explains Booster, pausing now and then to read informational placards that have been put into place. "Power use of any kind was -way- illegal. Er... will be illegal." He counts off on his fingers, "No power-use, no artifact or item use that creates superpowers, no vigilantism." Booster casually rests his hands in his trouser pockets, looking over and down at Amy. "But also what?"

"Superhero exhibits," Amy exhales. She looks over and up toward Booster, sheepish. Vulnerable moment. He got her. "I moderated a fan forum back in the day. It's, um, kind of a weakness."

The princess draws closer to the main display, an undoubtedly replica-heavy row of costumes. She taps her finger on the glass. "Hey, look, think that's the same helmet?"

It's not.

"According to this," Amy indicates a placard halfway up the glass, "most of the real stuff is in the villain section. I guess that makes sense. Police confiscated it, or something. Wait, 'Evil Star'? Really?"

"Oh! I get you." Booster laughs a little, although this does not seem to be directed -at- Amy. He points a finger-gun her way and says, "You'd love the Metropolis Space Museum, then. That's the one I worked at. One huge wing was dedicated to the Heroic Era, so it was like..." He gestures vaguely at the JSA display. "But really extensive, and permanent. With some revolving exhibits to keep it fresh."

Studying the helmet, Booster just shakes his head a little bit. "That one's smaller. You know, my sister always thought I was a goofball because I thought this time period was interesting. I mean, when we were kids. The whole superhero thing is this quaint bit of mythological history, etcetera. But I have to say, studying someone like Superman in a dry textbook in a classroom... then actually getting to meet him in person, it's mind blowing."

Amy interrupts Booster's museum recommendation with laughter, but she quickly controls it with a hand over her mouth. Long jacket sleeves are great muzzles. "Sorry, sorry--I like the finger guns. I'd totally enjoy the museum."

She passes the main display, striking deep into the collection to find its villainous heart. Only the real stuff will do. Everything else is on the internet.

The first attraction is Evil Star. It's not difficult to find him; his mannequin is wearing a suit and a big puffy star hat with eye holes. Amy stands in front of it, arms crossed. "I think it's kind of sad," she replies, her voice quiet. It's lost some essential fire. "Every time I meet someone, I just... well, I know everyone has their own problems, but life shouldn't suck that much."

She bites her lower lip. Evil Star looms before her. "That sooo looks like something from Party City."

"When you meet someone like Evil Star?" Booster wonders, slightly lost now. He looks the mannequin display up and down, and says, "Well I mean, this dude -clearly- had his own problems. Just look at this costume." Then, in sotto voce he murmurs, "Wonder if he's still alive." He peruses the placard data, and in a louder tone says, "I'm pretty sure this guy is still running around. If not him, then someone else who took the whole... star-head theme... and ran with it. So at least he got a legacy out of this, I ... -guess- that's not too bad. Plus he's in a museum." Looking thoughtful as he rubs his chin, Booster eventually adds, "Probably doesn't get any royalties for this, though. Crime really doesn't pay."

Amy shakes her head, smiling despite herself. "No, no, someone like Superman. Not him, though. I haven't met him. He is pretty amazing."

Past Evil Star is a mannequin in unforgivably puffy green pants. Amy is silent as she reads the placard. Ian Karkull. There's a picture of him, as an archaeologist rather than a genie impersonator. "Everyone I've met that's been doing this for awhile, they're... hurt. They're all hurt, somehow, or they're waiting to be hurt."

She read a magic comic book last night. It is called Supreme Tales. She only reads one chapter an evening because she's never sure when the protagonist is going to die. It kills her mood when it happens. They're all real people. Eventually, she'll reach Doctor Strange's chapter.

"So I don't find it inspiring or anything, like I thought I would. It's sad."

"I'll try to introduce you to Superman sometime. He's a busy guy, which I'm sure isn't a surprise. Really nice though, which... was satisfying, I guess?" Booster is actually floating along now; as if he weren't tall enough just standing, he is drifting along with his feet off of the ground, because flying is awesome and should be done at every opportunity. "He has a kind of menagerie thing at the Fortress of Solitude. I mentioned how there aren't a lot of animals and stuff in my era, right? Most of the Legion is from the 30th century and by then there's some good plant and animal diversity on Earth, again. Superman starts saving seeds and Terran animals at some point, and in the distant future they're able to restore a lot of them. So, a nice thing to know."

Turning in the air and leaning back as if he were relaxing against nothing, Booster lifts his hands and says, "-All- superheroes have something driving them. Normal people generally don't take the step, you know? There's sort of a line," he makes a vague gesture. "No one's going to put on a colorful costume and rush out to punch an evil scientist with a death ray if they feel lukewarm about things."

Amy remains grounded. She may be taller than most women, but she slouches when she gets the chance. Now's a great time.

"So it's everyone, then?" Her eyes are drawn back to Ian Karkull's nefarious loungewear. "You took the hero classes. I guess you'd know the theory."

There's a photograph of Karkull, trapped in mystical bands by Doctor Fate. Kent Nelson. Kent Nelson, alone in a tower of halls and stairs, surviving his wife and his friends and everything that made him Kent Nelson.

"I still think it's sad. Something can be right and sad at the same time."

Kent Nelson, Avatar of Nabu, and nothing else.

Amy looks up to Booster and his invisible recliner. "What happened to you? I don't really know you, but you've been out of it the past couple of times. Are you helping me because it's the heroic thing to do, even if you don't want to?"

"I -want- to be a hero. I mean, if you're asking if I'm an adrenaline junkie, no." Booster lands now, touching down lightly. "I'm not into the idea of maiming anyone. But sometimes you have a situation that requires violence, and if that's necessary then I'm going to do that." He gestures back at where the costumes of the superheroes are displayed. "I've done some crappy things in my life. It's not that I think I can atone for that stuff by fighting evil, although... I guess there's a little of that in there. I can be pretty selfish, I guess I want to balance that out by helping people."

"Hey, now," Amy says, raising her hands defensively. She doesn't seem honestly taken aback. "I didn't say anything about maiming people. I just asked if you were helping me out of obligation."

She takes Booster's gesture as a suggestion and starts back toward the heroic side of the room, slow enough to see if her tour partner will follow. "I'm glad you decided to help me, then. I guess Eclipso is sort of everyone's problem, though. Future can't happen if he mind controls everyone and floods the Earth, right?"

There's an interesting display expanding on observations of Jay Garrick's observed speeds, extrapolations spiraling into physics facts. Amy stops there. It's colorful and she'll probably learn something. "I'd ask you about the other stuff I'm involved in, but you don't do magic. I'm not sure I qualify as a superhero, anyway. I'm more... like, incidental royalty, I guess?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you wanted to like, maim people. I'm just not violent by nature, I guess." Booster follows Amy as she wanders back towards the heroic displays. "I don't like seeing people get hurt, which is probably a pretty good motivation for heroism, I guess." He falls quiet, then, not voicing whatever thoughts are going through his head. When he speaks again, it is to say, "It's weird, but I now know three or four princesses. I'm aware of old fairy tales that have princesses in need of rescue but... every princess -I- know is more likely to punch a dragon in the face and rescue herself."

Booster perks up a little, then, lifting a didactic index finger. "Also, timelines don't exactly work that way. You'd still have a future if Eclipso got out of control, and it might even be the future I came from. All I know... because it's all we knew about it... is something horrible happened between this now, and my now. But." He spreads his hands. "It doesn't have to always be the same horrible thing, for it to arrive at the same conclusion. Timelines are weirdly elastic and interwoven."

"Terminator style. I get you." Amy glances away from the Flash Facts to address the Booster Fact beside her. "That's a good movie. You should see it."

She, like time, loops back around to the earlier subject: "Gemworld's a really screwed up place. Maybe the princesses in the past were badasses too, but no one ever wrote about it."

Her eyes unfocus. She is looking beyond Jay Garrick's top land speed. Still further back: "I don't like seeing people get hurt, either. Maybe that's good enough."

Amy closes her eyes and exhales. When she looks over to Booster again, her eyes are brighter. "This place is making me sound more depressing than I really am, I swear. Want to go to the ocean wing?"

"Sure, they might have some of those big things," says Booster, who might mean whales. "Anyway, the thing about history is that it's the stuff that gets written. And once it's written, people believe it. It may not even be true or accurate. A story of a hapless princess may be there just to make people believe in hapless princesses." He puts his hands in his pockets again, turning to follow Amy, who seems to know where she's going.

As they walk, Booster says, "You keep going back to how sad stuff is. Or, I guess, how sad some costumed types are. I dunno about that... I mean, some of them might have sad stuff going on in their past and that's part of what fuels them. But they're turning it into something positive, you know? Not every person can or should do that, but the ones that manage it... I do find that inspiring. It's like..." His hands come free of his pockets as he gestures vaguely to frame something before him, that only exists in his imagination. "There's all this messed up crap going on in the world, and messed up crap in their lives, and they're still going out to save people in peril. It's pretty awesome."

Amy passes through another archway. The hall is dim, but enough artificial light streams in through the windows to see. Her boots and metal buckles make a tremendous amount of noise in such a large, empty place. She doesn't seem worried.

"Maybe it's just how I've written things in my head," she says, glancing over and up. Booster's too tall for her expression to be properly moody. Bad angle. She settles for thoughtful. "And I can't help but believe it."

The ocean wing does have a whale, swimming through the air on steel strings. It's large enough to swallow a man without trouble. "Huh. That can't be full size. I thought blue whales were waaay bigger."

Amy runs her hand through her two-tone hair, stopping at the threshold again. If Booster doesn't keep going, she gestures for him to lead. "I know, I know. It is inspiring. I just thought it would feel... different. I thought it would be different."

Doctor Strange, the only man standing between Earth and the ancient terrors that beset his office, laying on the floor coughing and gasping for life, thin and old and almost claimed by Mephisto's imperious gaze. It's like that.

"I didn't think I would be doing this. Maybe that's my problem."

Booster scrutinizes the whale display. "It's very friendly looking," he judges. "You might be thinking of..." he snaps his fingers a few times as if to summon the right words. "Ugh, I only know it in Interlac... I guess 'whale sharks'. You know, the big flying ones that generate electricity. They're larger, but not as friendly looking. One tried to eat me, once."

Flying up into the air for a closer look, Booster says accusingly, "This isn't made of meat!" He taps one of its fins, then flies down to land near Amy again. "Well, how did you think it would be? I'm not gonna judge you. I'm just curious because it's clearly troubling you."

Amy picks up her pace and ends up jogging after. She seems honestly distressed at Booster's correction, cupping her hands to shout after him: "That's not a whale shark at all!" Oh, no, she's laughing. False alarm. She must have taken theater.

By the time Booster rejoins her, her attention is on an animal that can't decide if it's a spider or a crab. It may even vomit fire. It looks like it could. "I don't know. I didn't think it'd be like anything at all. I thought I'd end up working in a diner for the rest of my life."

She gets grabby again, running her fingers over the crab's legs. The only security guard watching her isn't on duty. "People keep telling me I'm supposed to do these things and I keep doing them." The teen looks over and jabs an accusing finger at Booster. "I was totally planning on interrogating you, by the way. I'm really bad at this."

"Interrogate me?" Booster looks sincerely taken aback by this. "About what? The future? I'm not great at explaining time-stuff, although apparently I've got something going on with all that." He waves a hand dismissively. "You shouldn't let other people jerk you around and tell you what to do. Even if they think it's for your own good, they might be lying. Or wrong." The enormous spindly crab is inspected, and he points at it saying, "Kind of reminds me of high school."

"I think I'm going to pass on hearing the story behind that one," Amy says, moving on to the next figure. A jellyfish, twenty feet in the air so its tendrils have room to drift just inches above the floor. Amy pokes one and doesn't die. They seem rubbery.

"What if I kind of agree with them? And, yeah, I did want to see the museum, but I also thought you had some severe negative aura going on. I'm usually good at reading people."

"Oh you know, just a mishap with genetic recombination in biology," Booster explains dismissively, with a wave at the crab. He seems concerned, though, when Amy gives her assessment. Booster is always conscious of his image. "Negative? I mean, I try to be friendly to people. Wow, gosh. I hope I'm not coming across as a jerk. Or broody. I don't want people to think I'm scary or unapproachable. If I'm projecting that, I'll work on ... not projecting that."

Amy abandons the rubberyfish because Booster became far more interesting. She crosses her arms and studies him with the same look. No touching, thankfully.

"Not a jerk. Broody, yeah. I thought you were put off by having to fight angels, at first. And, don't worry, it'll take a lot to not be approachable with what you wear. Bright spandex is totally approachable."

"Oh. I see." Booster purses his lips a little as he thinks about this, hands going back into his pockets. "Well... I mean if I'm going to fight anything sentient I'd rather give them a chance to surrender. Even if they're evil. Er... broody, really?" He is now making a mental note, to 'smile more'. "No, I didn't have any moral issues with fighting those angels. They were jerks who clearly didn't care if they hurt innocent bystanders. That may have been why I seemed weird about it, I was really worried about anyone in those nearbly houses getting hurt."

"Huh."

For a moment, Amy lets it stand at that. She walks past the jellyfish, brushing its tentacles, and finds a shelf of skeletal fish jaws. Behind them is a jaw that could swallow the dragon skull in Booster's room. The tinier ones catch her interest first.

Then: "You're, like, the most stand up guy I've met, Michael. Does that score you some internal hero points?"

"Aw, you're just saying that because you haven't met Superman yet," Booster gives Amy one of his thousand-watt smiles, then points her way with dual finger-guns and a wink. "But before you make that kind of decision, I should be honest... I mean this isn't a big secret because the Legion of Super-Heroes knows this, but I do have a criminal record. Just, not one in this era. Er, not for murder or anything gross, though," he adds hurriedly, just in case Amy gets the wrong idea.

This is not the piercing revelation that it could have been. The finger-guns get more of a reaction. Amy shrugs.

"Yeah? I do, too. I would say 'not on this plane,' but it was. I kinda can't have a criminal record on Nilaa because I'm royalty. I don't think breaking the law makes you a bad person. It's an imperfect system that screws people over sometimes. You being all full disclosure with me is totally more hero points."

"Ah... well no, that's true, breaking the law doesn't automatically mean someone is bad. Because it might be a crappy or unjust law." Booster rubs the back of his neck. "But I'm not saying that to get myself off the hook. I mean, when I was your age, I wasn't a very good person." He says this as if the age difference between himself and Amy was a matter of a decade rather than just a couple of years. "What I am now? I dunno, but I'm at least trying to be good, so I think that's an improvement." He wanders over towards a benthic zone display to eye the anglerfish.

"My age?" Amy replies, scandalized. She follows after Booster, filled with offense that largely affected. All the best performances have a kernel of truth at the center. "I'm eighteen! I should be in college right now. What are you, twenty five?"

The princess crosses her arms, the steel parts of her jacket glinting in the security lights. "Well. The point is, I'm glad you're okay with helping out. I'm glad you want to help out. I'll try to do the same for you. I think it'd be good for all of us."

Her voice drops. This is important. "Most Sorcerer Supremes... they don't get happy endings. It'll be good for him, most of all."

"I'm twenty-one, now. But I was an early bloomer." Booster grins and flexes one arm, which strains his shirt sleeve. "I like Doctor Strange, and I have a lot of respect for him. There was... er, will be... a great display for him in the museum. I respect people who step up into crappy jobs, even though they know it's dangerous, because they also know it has to be done." He turns to face Amy, again, tapping his chest with his fingertips. "I know I'm not in that league, but I want to try. -Everyone- needs help, sometimes."

"Haha!" Amy clasps her hands together at Booster's flexing. It's not quite clapping, but his physique is not quite superheroic. She shakes her head--at least, this time, her good humor stays with her through news of Strange existing in museum display form and possibly no way else.

"Do you really?" the teen says airily. "I guess that is a good reason to respect someone."

She reaches out, grabbing Booster's wrist and tugging. "I think you have a crappy job, and you stepped into it, and you thought about it enough until you saw the good in it. So, come on, hero. There's two more floors of Planet Ocean and I'm definitely going to need help understanding how whale sharks get lightning powers in the future."

"Ehh... you might have something there. It's kind of complicated but not something I want to get into here and now," Booster admits, but at least there is an insinuation there that he might talk about it in the future. He is a tall and fairly heavy guy, but he is also wearing an anti-gravity ring so when Amy grabs him by the wrist and pulls she actually tows him along for a few feet as he floats and lets her pilot him briefly.

"Anyway, you might be interested to know, the electric whale sharks I mentioned show up -here-. We think it's a dimensional breach," Booster explains. "I'll take you there sometime if you want. It was on... uh," he snaps his fingers as he tries to remember. "Skull Island. Or Monster Island. Death Island? You know, something like that. You'd like it."