| Nice to Meet Ya | |||||
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| What: Jocelyn, after a long day, meets a young woman in Central Park. They talk, and then aliens from the future show up. Just another day in New York... | |||||
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OOC NOTE: I had to bail due to lateness. If someone has the rest of the log, go ahead and post it at the end of this log and delete this note. Thanks!
Jocelyn had a busy day, and she hadn't turned up too much yet. Nothing worth reporting in. So, the woman had decided to decompress a little bit. That meant a late evening in Central Park. Not always the smartest thing in the world to do, but you can learn a lot and meet some interesting people there in the evening, before the local police decide to chase out any loiterers. Regardless, the woman has found herself a spot underneath one of the lights in the park and appears to be just looking at one of the many statues there.
She was dressed casually, in a pair of jeans and a faded blue t-shirt, which reveal some bruises on both of her arms. Nothing too serious now, but they look like they've been there awhile and were worse in the past. She has a small black messenger bag that is slung over one shoulder, and it appears to have a few things in it, though it isn't stuffed overflowing with anything.
Rain's been here and there. She's one of the scruffy looking demihomeless sorts. Her home isn't really registered anywhere. Odd, that. But she is quietly enjoying her time in the park before the cops come and shoo them away. She has her hat on, and is trundling along. It's been awhile since she really wandered along. She's likely checking on the locals. This is where she often spent time. The violet-eyed woman peers here and there. She pauses, noticing the woman looking at statues and the bruises on her arms. There's some concern and Rain carefully wanders over.
"Um. Hi there!" Right. Captain Social Skills to the rescue.
Well, Jocelyn didn't look exactly rich, but she didn't look poor though either. Just like a plain teen girl. The woman glances over as Rain starts wandering closer. That was quite the outfit the woman was wearing, particularly that hat, which is pretty eye-catching.
"Evening," Jocelyn replies. Her accent, if it could be said to exist, is Midwestern - certainly not native to the city, that was for sure. "Can I help with something?" She didn't seem particularly worried about this stranger. Her tone is fairly casual when she speaks. There was a part of her that suspected Rain might be looking for a handout, which wasn't exactly uncommon in Central Park. But that wasn't usually a major issue either.
Rain smiles a little. She looks relieved she didn't startle Jocelyn. She pauses. "Huh? Oh no! I was just surprised to see um, someone out here," She admits. "Er, well, that isn't -" Pause. "Man, that's gonna be offensive no matter what..." She puts her hands on her hips, thinking. "Well. I just don't see people out here too often. It's kind of a slow, steady traffic thing." She's a bit awkward, but she seems friendly enough. "Um. Your arms-" Pause. "Are you okay?" She bites her lower lip. She's as awkward as an ice skating giraffe, although, a benevolent giraffe.
Jocelyn listens to the woman talk. Well, this wasn't the first person Jocelyn had met who was a little socially awkward. She glances at her arms. "Oh, those? They're not bad. Week old or so?" Jocelyn replies. "Bit on the stiff side and I wouldn't want to fall on them, but otherwise they're fine," she assures the woman. "They just look a lot worse than they are now". She shrugs a little bit at that, though if the woman is observant, she might notice she moves her left shoulder less than the right when she does so.
"I could say the same for you, you know. I don't hang around here in the evening a lot, but felt like taking in a little bit of fresher air tonight, you know?" She shrugs a little. "I'm Jocelyn, by the way," she says by way of greeting. Names were good things, in this woman's mind.
Rain nods as Jocelyn glances at her arms. "If you're sure," She considers it. She might notice and not comment. Some people prefer it that way. She just looks a bit concerned, scruffy as she is. She tilts her hat back, and ahs. "Fair enough." Nodnod. Rain is willing to roll with the punches. She smiles as the comment about being out late is turned back to her. "That's true. The cops usually ask people to leave soon after this. But yeah, I get what you mean. Especially since stuff isn't iced over all the time," She notes. "I am Rain. Pleased to meet you." Beam. It's a delicate balance, not to flood with information or ask questions. "And I apologize for being nosy. I've kind of been away for a good while." But she seems to mean well.
"Rain? That's a rather interesting name," Jocelyn remarks. Jocelyn is sitting on a bench talking with another woman this evening in Central Park. They're under a light, so they're easy to see. Jocelyn has some old bruises on her arms. The statement about her being sure, however, makes Jocelyn raise her eyebrows slightly.
"What do you mean by if I'm sure?" the woman questions. That was an odd statement for the woman to make. "And yeah, the cops will probably be by within an hour to chase people out of here. Two, if they're slow or delayed by some of the worse sections of the park". It was, after all, a rather big park.
"Don't apologize; I don't mind questions. Too many people are too unwilling to talk with each other these days, you know?" Jocelyn comments idly.
A little ways away in the park, a portal yawns open like a cat whose picture is about to be taken. Lightning spews out of the portal with the sharp smell of ozone and the crackling sound of electricity doing the lambada with the time-space continuum. A loud *BOOM!* is heard after a second or two, then a humanoid form hurtles through the portal... or probably got ejected somehow. Whoever it is, their clothes are white and black (but dirty and singed), and by the time the Legionnaire falls from the sky like a raindrop and plops down on the ground, poor Tinya Wazzo has more bruises to her name than should be legally allowed in any reality when she falls into a heap.
Then after a second or two, she takes a breath. So, at least she survived somehow. "Owwwwww..." she mutters in Interlac.
Abruptly there's a crackling sound from Tinya's ring, and a voice comes out of it. "<Report!>" it says in Interlac in a very familiar voice to her: Cosmic Boy's.
Rain smiles a little. "Thanks. Mom was kind of new agey..." She admits. She's standing nearby, looking awkward as a platypus at a ballet event. She tilts her head. "Some people are shy about saying yes when they're worried. That's all." Rain looks briefly flustered and apologetic. "Which I think sounds even worse." Wince. She turns a little red. It's one of those days where each word is like a banana peel right into the conversation. She sighs and nods. "I understand why they do, but it's still..." Inconvenient. She doesn't quite say it. "And that's true. People are so far away and close all at once."
But then, HOLY CRAP! Someone is thinking with portals! Or at least opening them in the park. Rain pauses, likely seeing the lightning more than anything else. Her mouth opens and closes. "Um. Don't tell me - did you see that too?" Rain stares a moment, trying to make sure she's not lost all of her marbles. Or at least more marbles than one in her profession would normally lost. "Are they okay?"
Well, gee. That was a giant surge of power that Jocelyn's energy sight was picking up on. The young woman's hand goes to her head as she briefly gets overwhelmed by the change in the area's energy. A shake of her head is given before she forces herself to stand. The tall redhead frowns and starts forward. "We should go check it out," the teen states, moving quickly in that direction. "No idea. I only saw one. We should check on them though".
In Jocelyn's mind, this was either going to go very badly or perfectly well. Random people falling out of portals usually only meant one of those two outcomes. However, just in case, the woman yanks in a bunch of local gravimetric energy and charges herself up, just in case things start going south in a hurry. "And this day was going so well already," she mutters with a shake of her head.
The portal that ejected Tinya into the real world here swirls like a toilet being flushed and fades away with a gurgling sound. The young Legionnaire groans and struggles to get to her feet... which at least gets her to her hands and knees, coughing up fragments of an explosion, smoke from whatever sent her here. "Cos...?" she says aloud, her flight ring synching up with its fellow somewhat nearby. "It's Apparition..." And muzzily, she peers around, tensed and looking for hostiles, still not quite sure what's happened. She squints down the way and spies a couple of people, but isn't really sure who they are.
A shadow passes overhead, blotting out the closest streetlight, and then a man in his thirties drops noiselessly to the grass right next to the battered black-and-white-clad girl. Him, he's in purple and black, but it's street clothes, not a costume or anything. He extends a hand to help Tinya to her feet-- and he looks a good ten years older than the last time she saw him, probably less than half an hour ago. "Tinya! We're not under attack. If you don't know English, turn on your earplugs, you're in TwenCen," he tells her in Interlac.
The guy waves cheerily to the two approaching girls and calls out in English that sounds just like it's from Vancouver, "Hey! We come in peace for all mankind, et cetera."
Rain is less aware of the energy surge and more the lightning. Falling out of portals or not, Rain seems... /oddly okay/ with portal people. That's probably a flag that the behatted woman isn't all normal. She nods. She hopes they aren't hurt. Provided they're not evil. At muttering, Rain looks apologetic. She'll hurry over on foot - flying broomstick would be so far from subtle it would be comical. And she'd have to explain a LOT. But she notices now that there's a young lady there and - a fellow now? She blinks, looking to Rokk with wide-eyes. Her mouth opens. Her mouth closes. Then she rubs the back of her head. She really wishes Miss Manners wrote a column for Intergalactic Manners. She really does. Engineering left her more socially awkward... okay, then.
She lifts her hand in a wave. "Um. Hi there. And er, okay. Well, that's good. Being lasered to death would really suck, you know?" She furrows her brows. "Er. Your friend's not hurt...?" She looks concerned, purple eyes on the two. She glances to Jocelyn. Apparently 'fear' is not a word in her vocabulary. Not when it comes to something that has peaked her curiousity. It will be the end of her.
Subtle, these guys were not. Jocelyn wrinkles her nose a little bit as she tries to parse all this out. Random woman, that this other guy knows, fell through a portal. And apparently they're aliens, judging by the statement he made to greet them. Okay then. Got the story so far. The next question then becomes, simply, what to do about it.
"Evening. So, where are you all from then?" the teenager asks. She's not entirely sure she trusts them yet, but they hadn't tried pulling anything yet, so that was something. Rain's lack of fear is noted by the woman. That, in and of itself, was interesting. "And, if I might ask, who are you?" Since they were arriving in their home turf, so to speak, it only made sense for the aliens to introduce themselves first. That and Jocelyn was still a little stunned by random aliens showing up in Central Park.
The voice is almost the same as she remembers, but by the time she clasps his hand and gets to her feet properly, her eyes have gone wide. "Rokk?!?" she asks, promptly pulling away in surprise, something of dismay on her features. "I'm... I'm okay..." she replies automatically to Rain's question, proving (to Rokk) that she already had her telepathic earplugs in. "Whose TwenCen is this... mine, yours, someone else's?" Cos it's obvious that this Cosmic Boy is not the one she saw a long time ahead in the same old stinking galaxy (but a different planet). And then Jocelyn's question sort of sinks in. "I'm Apparition..." Not that her real name would mean a damned thing, but still...
"Someone else's future," Cos says with a laugh to Jocelyn, then nods to Tinya, apparently not taking it personally when she shies away. "Someone else's TwenCen," he says to her, "I've been waiting for anyone else to show up. Have a Val, a Laurel, and a Lu." He brushes off her cape and then turns to offer his hand to Rain and Jocelyn. "Seems fine to me. I'm Rokk Krinn, or Cos, and this is Apparition. We're members of the Legion of Super-Heroes; I'm afraid you might have to get used to us showing up. We're from different planets, in about a thousand years."
Rain is quiet for a moment. She nods. She watches the newcomers for a moment. She seems confused, but ... She glances between them. Her eyebrows have found new homes on her forehead, or so it would seem. "Oh wow. That is so quantum," She considers it. "And that's okay. It's probably not any worse than the spats of time travelers, demons or what have you we get every so often." Rain waves a hand dismissively. "Um. Just mind the pigeons and stuff. They're kind of mean." She IS far too used to this. "I hate to out myself for what I've seen but ... there you go." She's seen things! Doesn't mean she's odd! Though, her eyes are an odd color. She hms softly. "I am Rain," Technically. Her REAL name is far too dorky for polite company. "Pleased to meet you all. Um. Welcome. I think..." She goes quiet, shifting a little. Awkward.
And here Jocelyn is without her x-suit! Oh well. "Time travel? Well, I know it does happen". See Emira, Jocelyn has outed herself as someone who sees weird stuff too! It's kind of a thing in New York City though. "Good to meet you. I'm Jocelyn," the woman says. "Umm, I'd offer you a place to stay, but I'm not exactly one who is rolling in extra bedrooms," the woman admits. "You say you're with a group called the Legion of Super Heroes? Closest thing we've got to that would be the Justice League. Or maybe the Titans," Jocelyn suggests. That's not exactly a world secret.
The word 'quantum' gets a look from Jocelyn. Really? Quantum? She turns back to the two. "TwenCen. Twentieth Century?" she asks. The woman pauses, and the person with magnetic sight might see a bunch of stored magnetic energy just drain out of Jocelyn as she goes to take the man's hand. Apparently she doesn't see him as a threat. Fortunately, she's able to not absorb his magnetic energy, as she has enough control of her power to manage that these days.
Tinya Wazzo slowly gets her mental feet under her as she settles the white cloak around her shoulders better. "Or you can call me Tinya... Tinya Wazzo," she finally says, since she's never really been too hyper about hiding her name unless someone was friends with her mom or something. Slowly, her training kicks in and her own usual stability as she begins to come to grips about where (and when!) she is. "Just them?" she asks, trying not to sound too pointed in her query, as if she's seeking someone else. Flying casual, as it were. "Thanks." And now she musters a weak smile. The names Jocelyn then says causes Tinya to shoot a glance to Rokk. Names she knows... Yet she nods to the question. "That's what we call it where... when... we're from. It's a bit of a mouthful otherwise."
"And luckily it works all the way through the year 2900," the Braalian-- that'd be the dude-- says with a laugh. "But it's all right. I've been in this century before. Not, apparently, in this /reality/, but the general culture is similar enough it doesn't even warrant a wikipedia stub. Apparently Karate Kid's been talking to Martian Manhunter, and he and Laurel have been staying at the Themysciran embassy; Lu and I have been staying in a temporary base we set up in a warehouse." Tinya's hair, he ruffles. "Jo's not here yet. Just don't get your hopes set on a specific one. None of us are from the same universe yet."
Rain looks sheepish at the look from Jocelyn. She's nerdy. Seriously nerdy. "Sorry." She is quiet. There's a thoughtful look on her face. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Tinya." She's going to be a well mannered earthling. "And probably. The park is kind of empty this time of night. The cops start shooing off loiterers and homeless folks," Rain explains. "I think you've about an hour before they get here," She recalls. There's a polite smile. She seems remarkably awkward. But there's a shrug. "I can't say I know all of the names of the teams, so..." So there you go. She looks kind of baffled when Rokk starts talking, but says nothing.
Putting some names together in her head as Rokk talks, Jocelyn nods to Tinya. "I can imagine," the woman comments. Though she glances around afterwards as her phone beeps at her. "Unfortunately, I've got to roll," the woman says. "I imagine I'll be hearing a bit more about you guys, if you end up sticking around". She gives a polite wave and will make her way off.
Jocelyn could really use a week without time travel playing a part in her life though. And she almost made it. Missed it by that much.