| Earth Meets Steel | |||||
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| What: Terra and Steel meet as they are flying about Metropolis. Both learn something from the other. | |||||
A streak of silver dashes across the sky, the glint of sunlight off of metal rather bright. Perhaps almost surprisingly so. Would definitely be enough to blind someone temporarily if they were to catch it, making it a good thing that Steel is flying fairly high today. There's no destination in mind as she has nowhere to go, the teen instead just enjoying herself with nothing like obligation or necessity weighing her down.
There is someone else flying in the sky, albeit in quite the unusual mode of transporation. It's a young girl who seems to be surfing the sky across a floating rock, her eyes downcast as if scanning for a sign of trouble. Must be a very eager young hero. But then the bright glint of Natasha Irons catches her attention, and Terra starts to lift higher in the air, as she calls out loudly, "who goes there? Are you a hero?" Does Terra give the impression of being green? Probably so.
It might be a sign that Terra's new to the hero thing but even then, it is a fair question. It's one that Steel almost doesn't catch, however, her helmet dampening her sense of hearing just enough to make it hard to tell she's been spoken to at first. It isn't until she catches sight of Terra out of the corner of her eye does it dawn on her and the metal suit wearing teen comes to a hover. "I'm sorry... oh." Finally, it dawns on her what she was asked and she can not help but to laugh. "I'm a hero. I promise. And you?" The rock is looked at although Terra might not be able to tell, not with how the helmet covers her face entirely.
Terra waves amicably at the girl in the metallic suit, smiling at her politely, as she comments, "nice suit, shiny!" Terra flashes a hearty thumbs up gesture at Steel, and offers, "awesome! I'm a hero too! My name's Terra! What's yours?" She has no clue where Steel is looking at the moment, but Terra herself is admiring Steel's armor the same way her flying rock is studied.
"Terra? That's a cool name. I go by Steel while in the armor." Natasha doesn't give more than that as her name yet despite her intentions of going public with who she is when she's not in the suit, that being something she is still a little nervous about. The rock is approached and it is inspected a bit more closely and then Terra's eyed, Steel's head angling to the side a bit. "How are you doing that? With the rock, I mean."
"Thank you!" Terra seems mighty pleased that Steel approves of her codename, "Steel makes sense!" Terra takes the time to approve of Steel's own codename, as she flies closer to the other girl and tries to reach and touch her armor, if Steel would let her, "is that real steel?" Looking down at her own flying rock, Terra seems a bit confused about the question, but then again for her it's second nature. "Well, I just ask it to carry me and it does, I have a good rapport with the Earth."
She's not used to talking to people while in her suit so Natasha's slightly taken aback at first, not exactly sure how to answer. It takes a second but when she does reply it's slowly as if she's having to think at the same time she speaks. "It's a steel alloy. It's durable but lighter than if it were to be made of steel fully." Pause. Now the subject of Terra and the rock is thought about. Not the weirdest thing she's heard but it's still strange. "So... wait. You're saying you talk to it and it does what you want?" Okay. That is a little... okay, a lot strange.
"Steel alloy...huh? You mean like a spaceship, right? That's why you fly so well, awesome! You're like a robo-girl without being a robot!" Terra nods when Steel seems confused by the notion of the rock doing what she asks of it, "see...it works like this, say I want to ski, right?" Just like that, the rock seems to split in the middle and reshape even as Terra repositions herself on it, and before long it looks like Terra is floating on a pair of skis made of rock.
Steel can't help but to smile a little, the comparison amusing. "Something like that, yeah." She adjusts her hover slightly and slowly starts to drift back when Terra's demonstration is given, that being something she was not expecting. There's a moment of silence, time spent letting that all absorb for a bit before she can even think to speak again. "Dude, that was awesome. How... I mean..." Stammering, Steel just shrugs and laughs. "I'd ask how you do that but I suppose it's a case of you probably don't know how you do, just that you can?"
"It was? Awesome!" Terra seems quite eager to please and overjoyed when she gets appreciated, as is obvious by the beaming smile on her face. "I told you, I ask the rock to do something for me, and it does...I just use thought, not words, easy, see?" Snapping her fingers, the rock seem to respond as the skis now merge and reform the rock that Terra was surfing on earlier, "when I'm done I return it down to the Earth, so it's not like I'm stealing or doing damage or anything. I am a champion for the Earth, so the Earth helps me."
"So you're ecologically-minded as well as able to be able to do something cool. That makes you even more awesome." Makes Steel feel a bit... lame, really. All she does is fight criminals while wearing armor and toting around a hammer. Not that she'd change that, of course. But still. "So what brings you out today? Just flying around or are you on the look out for bad guys and stuff?"
"Yes! It's very important to look after the planet, too many people on the surface are mean to it!" Terra for once loses that cute jovial visage of hers, when she speaks of this topic, her face show stark seriousness. This topic is no joke to her, and she seems to view it as a personal mission. The fact that Steel seems to approve does quickly soften Terra's feature, "oh! So you're one of the people who likes to take good care of the planet? That's very good news, I like you, Steel! Maybe we can be friends."
Asked what she is out and about for, Terra answers with a smile, "if I sense a disaster of some sort, I make sure to go and offer my aid, but otherwise, I do like to think of myself as a hero! So I go out looking for people who need my help! I'm very good at helping!"
The enthusiasm is astonishing! And it's contagious, too. Steel picks up on the girl's emotions fairly easily, almost on an empathic level and it isn't long before she's kind of 'bouncing' where she hovers. "That is such a good outlook on this," she offers. She hasn't been at the entire heroing thing long so has yet to become jaded, that helping her to feel the same way Terra does. "It's always nice to help," she adds. "And I bet you're good at it, too." As she says that she looks down and around, almost looking as if she's expecting trouble. Nothing's happening, however, leaving Natasha to blush a bit under her helmet for some reason.
While it may not be apparent right away that Terra may possibly not be from 'around here', the girl certainly shows no attempt at hiding her emotions, wearing her heart on her sleeve and meaning every word she says. Almost as if she was sheltered from the world in her youth, or maintained her innocence as if to rebel against the way things are. "Thank you, Steel, I think being a hero is not to be taken lightly. There's a lot of responsibility that comes with it, and I am very proud to have the chance to do this job." When there's no trouble below, Terra points forward, "want to fly alongside with me for a bit? Maybe we'll something over there...don't feel silly though, it's good if we can't find trouble. It means things are better!"
"Sure." As if there's anything to feel silly over! Steel's done this a lot in the past and got over that phase ages ago. And being able to do it with someone else - someone close to her own age, even - is pretty damn awesome. "Lead the way," Steel offers while flying to Terra's left, letting the other young heroine take point. She'll play the heavy hitter if needed but is happy to let the girl take charge until that time comes.
Terra starts to lean in a direction and her rock seems to respond, picking up surprising speed, as Terra soars in the air and looks below, searching for signs of trouble. What might catch Steel by surprise, is just how wide a net Terra cast when she thinks of a hero's duty, because she descends suddenly and jumps from her rock and she lands...between a pair of feuding 7 year olds in a playground. "Stop, little man, that other little man did nothing to hurt you, why are you chasing him?" Unfortunately, what Terra has considered a feud, turned out to be a game of tag, as now a group of bewildered kids look oddly at her.
Steel follows easily along, having no problem keeping apace with the girl. She follows along only to freeze in place when she realizes just what is about to happen. "No, Terra..." Steel was about to explain but it all happens too fast, the poor boys able to be approached by her before an explanation can be given. Chuckling, she comes in for a landing and puts a hand out, reaching to pat Terra on a shoulder. "It's alright. They were playing." Turning to the boys, she adds gently, "It's alright. You two go on about your business." It really didn't dawn on her before that Terra isn't from here but now? Oh yes. No doubt about it. Terra is not from these here parts, as the saying goes. "Terra, where are you from?"
While the puzzled kids admire Terra, not so much for her costume as the fact she's surfing a rock, the young hero looks up at Steel, "I just saved that kid everybody was chasing!" Terra looks quite bright, sure of her success, even if many of the more veteran heroes would not think to stop and help a little kid when bothered by other little kids. When Steel joins the group and tells the kids they are free to play, the immediately takes her on her offer, while a confused Terra tries to digest the explanation of why everything was in order. "So this was make believe? Not real chase? Oh..." Terra to her credit, doesn't look too embarrassed by her mistake, it seems a reasonable enough mistake for her. "Me? Oh...I'm from...not around here." A bit vague? Probably, but not being allowed to mention Strata, Terra really hadn't consider where she might tell people she's from. Not yet, anyways.
"It's hard to tell sometimes," Natasha admits while nodding, understanding Terra's confusion. It's hard to know when it is just a game and when someone is being bullied. Not wanting to discourage Terra, however, she takes off her helmet, this done so she can see the smile and the actual pride in her eyes when she talks further. "It was very nice of you to want to help, Terra. I think that once you get a hang of how everything works here you'll find things a whole lot less confusing." The subject of Terra's origins are politely left alone, Natasha not wanting to push an issue that might be forbidden or discomforting to talk about.
"Oh, thank you, Steel, I'm sorry I made a mistake...but I tried! And now I know something new!" Terra still looks cheerful, and not at all embarrassed, perhaps much because of the support Steel shows her. If anything, Terra likes Steel all the more for not further trying to find the answer to the question of where she's from, which is quite apparent in the thankful look her violet eyes seem to project as she looks at Steel. Hand extended, it looks as though Terra wishes to shake hands, "it was a pleasure to meet you, Steel, but I fear there's an earthquake coming up in Chile, I have to go help them!" One might think Terra is joking, after all, how is she supposed to get from her to Chile in time if there's an earthquake about to happen there. But there isn't even enough time to ask her the question, as the ground opens up beneath her, and she jumps inside, and within seconds, the ground closes after her.
"It was nice meeting you too, Terra...." The conversation ends abruptly when Terra excuses herself and disappears, leaving Steel to stand there, gawking. "Okay... that was... weird." Weird but awesome all at the same time. People are already starting to rush up and look, wondering just what happened and they start asking questions that Natasha have no answer for. She merely just has to shrug, put her helmet back on, and fly off if only to keep herself from having to say 'I don't know' or 'I have no clue' about a billion times.