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Workout done, and freshly showered, he flicked on the TV across from his ‘bed’ while he got dressed for the day. To his surprise, instead of the usual banal ‘Happy New Year’ stuff he’d been expecting, all the local stations were going on about an attempted bank robbery and the [I]flying[/I] meta that stopped it. The nattering on the talking heads on the news drove Arty to mute them, but he kept watching as the pink-haired woman did her thing. [color=EDE275][b]”Super cheerleader…great…”[/b][/color] He said with a chuckle and a shake of his head. The footage stopped and a frame of her face was enlarged while the station applied some video wizardry to try and expose the back lit face.

The whole bit only lasted a few minutes, but Arty found himself staring at the screen. [color=EDE275][b][i]Why the hell does she seem familiar?[/I][/b][/color] The ‘cleaned up’ image was barely passable as an iffy CCTV still, but there was obliviously enough to trigger [I]something[/I] in his memory. Firing up his laptop, he brought up the same still the newsies were using and looked at it some more; he was [I]certain[/I] the face was familiar, but for the life of himself, he couldn’t pin down why. [color=EDE275][b]”Oh this is going to bug me for a while…”[/b][/color]

Fortunately for his own sake, the local news shifted to another story. Seeing downtown KC behind the reporter, he hit the sound. “…undreds are gathering outside in support of metahuman rights. While there are some counter-protesters and the police are on hand, the mood here is upbeat and very positive. Bac-” He shut the TV off; not having any work at the moment, he’d been wondering what he was going to do, and now he knew.
--
He parked his truck in a parkade a few blocks from the gathering and walked in. As he got closer, he saw more and more folks obviously heading in the same direction. The closer he got to the rally the more the area took on a ‘festival feel; parents with their kids, people of all walks of life, some with obvious differences, while much of the crowd looked much like Arty…just people. Moving towards the front of the crowd however, the mood got subtly more tense and folks kept giving Arty side-long glances as he weaved his way forwards.

Getting to the front, he understood the looks, and that was exactly why he’d made his way forward. Across from the pro-Meta rally was a smaller, but much more vocal, counter full of the usual religious nuts, [I]far[/I]-right assholes and other such oxygen thieves. Much to his non-surprise he found he looked like he’d have blended in with [I]that[/I] pack of idiots rather well unfortunately. Ignoring them, he found himself standing beside an older middle aged woman holding a sign. He lent forward a bit to read it before bursting out laughing as he read ‘You’re just jealous because my grandson can fly’. She smiled up at him as he laughed. [color=EDE275][b]”To be fair,”[/b][/color] He chuckled. [color=EDE275][b]”[I]I’m[/I] jealous of your grandson now…flying would save [I]so[/I] much hassle getting around downtown.”[/b][/color]

The woman laughed. [b]”My daughter isn’t so happy about it…you can imagine how much trouble a [I]flying[/I] four year old can get into.”[/b] Arty laughed and feigned a shudder. [color=EDE275][b]”Arthur.”[/b][/color] He said, offering a hand. The woman smiled and shook his offered hand, though she did raise an eyebrow. [b]”Gloria…really? Arthur? You’re [I]already[/I] white, no need to bleach yourself.[/b] He tried to maintain composure, but that last all of two seconds before he let out an explosive bark of laughter; it took him another two minutes to regain control. Still chuckling, he smiled at Gloria. [color=EDE275][b]”Gotta admit, never heard that one before…and generally I go by ‘Arty’.”[/b][/color]

Gloria smiled again. [b]”Well it’s nice to meet you Arty…and…well I gotta ask. Are you a ‘meta’?”[/b]

[color=EDE275][b]”Yeah, though what I can do is a bit hard to demonstrate without getting the cops all nervous.”[/b][/color] He waved a hand towards the counter-rally. [color=EDE275][b]”On the other hand it’ll be hand if one of those idiots decided to push things.”[/b][/color]

[b]”Hey now Arty, this is a peaceful rally…”[/b]

[color=EDE275][b]”Don’t worry ma’am, I have no intention of [I]starting[/I] anything.”[/b][/color]