2013.05.10 - Sparks in the Park

While Central Park isn't nearly as bad as it was years ago, there's still crime. Like the four young men armed with guns that tried to mug several people enjoying a pleasant Saturday afternoon. But thankfully for the general public...there's also heroes. Namely the young man known as Axiom. Right now he's up on a part of the roof of Belvadere Castle that the public generally isn't allowed on. Down below, the cops are dragging away the four criminals and people are chattering excitedly about the little superhero fight that just went down.

"Oh man," Axiom mutters to himself as he watches the cops take the criminals away. "For once I am glad those people stuck around. I needed the boost..." he trails off, still glowing faintly white from the faith-power charge he's got.

Down in the park proper, where members of the general populous look on in excited awe at the results of Axiom's recent run-in with the criminal element, one woman comes shambling up without much of that verve animating her. The blonde woman gets near enough to start piecing together what's going on, then stops to glance around like she's earching for something. When her eyes fall on Axiom, standing up on the roof and looking down, she squints at him and lifts a hand to block out the sun, turning her head a bit like the brightness of it is stabbing into her eyes.

Axiom doesn't notice Jenny at first, just making sure the police don't need help. Gradually the glow fades from around him and he pauses when he gets that 'being watched' feeling. Scanning the crowd, he jumps when he spots Jenny. Someone looked up! People never look up! For a moment, Axiom just stares and tries to figure out what to do. Try to be cool? Mysterious? Something else? Eventually he settles on just raising a gloved hand and giving an awkward wave.

For a little while after Axiom lifts his hand, Jenny doesn't really seem to move. She doesn't wave back, doesn't make any attempt to hide the fact that she's staring. After a few moments she steps back away from the small crowd of people, although she'd stayed at its periphery to begin with, and in the process gets a little closer to one of the park's lamps. Light flickers around her, dancing sparks, and then she seems to disappear among them, or become them, as they arc to the lamp.

A few moments later the crackle of electicity comes from one of the nearby flood lights that illuminate the castle at night, and the same blonde woman appears not far from where Axiom is standing. "Your doing?" she asks, her accent definitely British, as she walks closer. Her eyes are still squinted, like the light's bugging her even if she's not looking up into the brightened sky, and she doesn't look like someone who is feeling too hot.

Axiom continues to watch Jenny, feeling more and more awkward the longer she just stares. He's tempted to start running for it but then she's doing something interesting. Namely the while vanishing into lights and sparks thing. "Whoa!" he gasps, a smile spreading across his face. He always loves to see displays of super power when they're not coming from the bad guys trying to hurt people. The crackling electric noises nearby make him jump slightly and stare. When Jenny appears, he jumps again. "Wow...electrical teleportation?" he guesses. Then it registers that he's been asked a question. "Oh, hi. Um...y-yeah."

"Something like that," Jenny answers with a shrug, making her way across the roof toward Axiom. She stops a short distance away, where she lifts a hand and presses it to her forehead as she closes her eyes, the expression of someone who is fighting one massive headache. After a moment she drops her hand again and looks back down at the police loading up the bad guys. "Huh," is her remark about it, then she looks at Axiom. "This is going to seem like a really sodding stupid question, but what year is it?"

Now that he has a closer look at Jenny, Axiom gives her a concerned look. "Are you alright, Miss?" he asks, frowning. When asked about the yeat he needs a moment to think before his answer. "2013, ma'am. Why?"

"2013?" Jenny lets out a dry laugh and shakes her head, then looks like she regrets it when it makes her hangover spike pain through her skull. "Why? Because the last thing that I remember is killing God at the stroke of midnight on December 31st, 1999, and closing my eyes as I died. I'm not supposed to bloody be here." She reaches for her pocket, finds what she was looking for not there, and starts patting other pockets looking. "Hey, I don't suppose you've got a fag I could bum?"

Axiom just looks confuised by the laugh. When Jenny explains the why, his head tilts slowly to the side. "Uhh...okay..." he trails off. "Alternate universe? Alternate timeline," he guesses. Both seem plausible. Of course Jenny's next question gets him frowning and tensing up. "I don't know about where you're from, m-miss. But that's a pretty offensive term here," he says. "And no...I d-d-don't smoke."

"Alternate?" Jenny considers this, but looks like thinking too hard just makes her head hurt more. "Could be, I suppose, if..." She seems to think of something and extends a hand toward Axiom. "I'm Jenny Sparks, and some old tosser of a poet I used to know described me as the Spirit of the 20th Century. You yanks have seriously got to stop being so uptight about the Queen's English."

"Yep. It happens sometimes. I've b-been to a couple," Axiom explains. He glances at the offered hand before shaking it. "I'm Axiom and I'm with the Young Allies," he replies. "And I don't think I'm b-b-b-being very uptight..."

"Yeah, kid, me too," Jenny says with another laugh, this one a bit more amused, as she shakes Axiom's hand. Given that she looks about nineteen, the 'kid' might seem a bit strange. "My first husband was from one of them, the bastard." She draws her hand back and shoves both of hers into the pockets of her leather jacket. "Since you don't seem to know who I am, I'd have to guess that in this particularly Earth's history you didn't have The Authority." She glances up at the sky, eyes squinting again. "I guess I'm going to have a few things to learn. I'm getting too bloody old for this stuff."

Strange is something Axiom is used to. He looks a little skeptical when Jenny mentions a husband but he offers no comment. "The Authority? N-no we don't have anything called that here. Are they some kind of...super group where you're from?" he asks, curious now. The statement on age makes him blink. "Umm...I'm g-g-going to guess you're a lot older than you look then?"

"Some kind," Jenny says with a wry smile, lips curling up at one corner. "Nobody else was taking responsibility for dealing with Earth's biggest threats, so I bloody did it. I just hope the rest kept things from going pear-shaped without me. And yeah, quite a bit older, but I'll take that as a compliment. I was born on January 1st, 1900. I guess that'd make me a hundred and thirteen, though I'm not sure these last thirteen count, on account of my being dead." She pulls a hand out of her pocket and presses her palm to her forehead again, fighting that headache. "God, I need a drink. I don't suppose you can help me there either? I'm sure there must be a bar near the park somewhere."

"Wow," Axiom frowns again. "No one was? That's just sad," he says, shaking his head. The idea of a world that in need of heroes makes him sad in general. His smile comes back pretty quicikly though. "They c-count if you want them to. You're only as old as you feel, r-right?" he offers. "Umm...unless you want water, I've got nothing. Sorry," a shrug. "The closest bar that'd be open right now is a block or two away."

"Yeah," Jenny says with a bitter laugh. "The world's in sad shape when I'm at the top of its list for best hopes." She turns around, back toward the light that she'd come out of, then stops and turns back around. "Hey... I don't suppose you've got a bit of cash I could borrow? I didn't think to bring any when I packed up for being dead. I'll find some way to pay you back. Probably."

And there's the H-word. That gets Axiom grinning. "Hope is important. And s-sometimes it's all you n-need to make a difference," he says with a nod. When asked about money, he's a little surprised. "Huh? Oh! Yeah, s-sure!" he chimes, popping open a compartment on his belt and digging out some bills. Nodding, he hands them over and closes his belt. "Sorry it's n-not much. I don't carry a lot in costume and don't worry about paying me back."

"I try not to do too much of it," Jenny says of hope, reaching out to take the money that Axiom offers her, counting it, and then shoving it into a pocket. "Never seems to do me much bloody good, I tend to just make things happen or drown myself in a drink." She starts to turn around again, throwing a wave over her shoulder. "See you around, Axiom. I'll toast my first one to you."

"You're probably just not doing it right," Axiom offers with a shrug. He offers another nod though. "Umm, s-sure. See you some other time then. And uh...enjoy your drink."

"Yeah, I'm usually not," Jenny says, before pulling that electric teleportation trick again, her form turning to electricity and vanishing back into the bulb she came out of before.