[hr][color=gray][center][h2][i][b] Tuesday 19:37 Locker Room [/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [center][color=gray]((ᴄᴏʟʟᴀʙ ᴡɪᴛʜ [@SonnetNSunbeam] & [@FourtyTwo] ))[/color][/center] [hr] Alaine liked the rain when she could decide whether or not she wanted to be out in it. She, Fenomaman and Payback had been lucky that it dropped down to a drizzle while they were on their dispatch, otherwise she was pretty sure the traffic situation would’ve been a lot more dangerous. But on the way back to the SDN building the rain had picked up and Blackstar, in an effort to keep Payback as dry as possible, had been using herself as a human umbrella while giving the other woman a lift. Her suit was waterproof and thermal, but with part of her hair out and a gap between her jaw and the collar of the suit, she got wet whether she liked it or not. Nobody was in the locker rooms when she arrived, so she was free to tug down the upper part of her cowl, if there was enough material there to actually call it that. With a small towel she took a moment to ruffle her damp hair in its mixed colors of natural, mousy blonde and the less natural red underneath, taking a seat on one of the benches scattered around. She’d been given a locker number but she hadn’t gone to find it yet, her jacket, earpiece and other SDN equipment removed and sitting on the bench next to her as she rubbed the towel over her face with a sigh. [i]Permission to use lethal force.[/i] Alaine tugged the towel over her head and leaned over, elbows on her knees and face in her hands. That news in her earpiece had caused a small existential crisis. She’d known situations like that would have to come up eventually, she just hadn’t expected to face it on her first day. Luckily it hadn’t been necessary, thanks to Fenom’s car-stopping techniques, but what if it had been? She couldn’t look like she knew what she was doing. If she did kill someone, how would everyone expect her to act? [i]She’d done it before.[/i] It’d be obvious. What then? She’d asked John when he started getting this whole SDN thing set up for her.[i]What am I supposed to do if I’ve got to kill someone?[/i] [i]Same thing you did in the desert,[/i] he’d said. Like it was normal. Like it was just another Thursday. [i]Heroes kill, too.[/i] [color=gray][b]“But I don’t want to,”[/b][/color] Alaine mumbled, echoing the same thing she’d said not so long ago to John. She could practically hear his response. [i]You might not get a choice.[/i] There’d been a choice earlier. She'd slipped up a bit with that little [i]disarming[/i] thing on her dispatch with Fenom and Payback, but... well, it wasn't lethal force. And lethal force [i]had[/i] been authorized. After seeing Fenom demolish a whole vehicle just by standing in its way, she was pretty sure he would've survived a bullet. But Payback? She hadn't been sure. And that gun [i]had[/i] been pointed at her. It was a reasonable action taken after making a logical and rational decision-- [i]Who was she kidding.[/i] She'd just reacted. Her first instinct could've been to dive into the line of fire, take the bullet herself, push Payback out of harm's way. Once upon a time, that [i]would've[/i] been her first instinct. Now? Now it seemed instinct was violence. Alaine felt that same touch of nausea from when she'd talked with James in her one-on-one. A noise had her sitting up straight, swiftly tugging the towel off her head and pulling up her mask again in case someone was coming in. Just the top half that covered her eyes and the red portion of her hair; the mousy portion was kind of a mess now that it was out of its ponytail and all towel-dried, so she hastily combed her gloved fingers through it in an attempt to look put-together. When Asteroid walks into the locker room, his posture is very stiff, his shoulders are in his neck and his hands are close to his chest clutching something precious. He's covered in soot, his mask abandoned as he stepped into the locker room, sticking out of his right pocket. His dark brown hair is a mess, and there are smudges of ash all over his face. [color=mediumpurple]“Shh it's okay, I'm gonna getcha some water sweetie.”[/color] He walks by Blackstar not even noticing her, his steps short and fast. As he approaches the mirror he sets a small bundle of fur on the counter. It's the kitten! His fur is smeared and covered in soot. But its meow is strong, and it looks old enough to be on its own. About 13 weeks or so. It's panting a bit, which isn't a great sign, but water will help. He takes a second to look in the mirror and he spots Blackstar over on the bench. [color=mediumpurple]“Oh!”[/color] His eyes widen and he pats his chest hunting for his mask. After a second he shrugs and meets her gaze in the mirror. [color=mediumpurple]“Cats out of the bag I guess-”[/color] a small laugh that sounds kind of like a cough [color=mediumpurple]“literally.”[/color] He pointedly looks down at the bundle of fur. [color=mediumpurple]“Would ya like to meet him?”[/color] He waits for Blackstar to join him at the sink before he jogs to his locker. [color=mediumpurple]“Gotta grab something to hold water, poor things gotta be parched.”[/color] The tupperware lid from his lunch seems shallow enough. He pulls it down and fills the shallow lid with water. The kitten moves up and begins to lap furiously at it. Alaine, who had been momentarily perplexed as to who she was looking at until she recognized the suit, hadn’t even given the secret identity thing a second thought when she realized her coworker had a kitten. As someone whose family had been a cat family practically all of her childhood, she had been severely missing having a feline around for the past two or so years. In other words, she was already on her feet before Asteroid had technically even invited her over. [color=gray][b]“D’aww, look at the lil’ baby,”[/b][/color] she cooed as the kitten began to lap up the water; taking a moment to tug off her gloves, she began to stroke his fuzzy little back, fingers gently feeling for any injuries. Considering the sooty state of both cat and man, she assumed this was a rescue from Asteroid’s latest dispatch. [color=gray][b]“Silly lil’ guy, you’re all dirty…”[/b][/color] Jet looks up at Blackstar, feeling a bit exposed and says [color=mediumpurple]“since this was, ya know an accident, don't feel any pressure to reciprocate, okay?”[/color] He smiles at her softly but then grabs a paper towel and begins wiping the soot from his face. Alaine glanced up at him in the mirror as he started trying to clean himself up, actually looking at him for the first time. [color=gray][b]“Okay–”[/b][/color] [i]Oh.[/i] She stilled, one hand on the kitten, staring for a second while he was busy with the paper towel. [i]Oh no.[/i] He was cute. Even covered in soot – which, actually, kind of gave him a scruffy vibe that made him even cuter. [color=mediumpurple]“I'm not too worried about the secret identity thing as it is, but it'd be inconvenient if my Father knew so don't shout it from the rooftops or anything.”[/color] He snickers at that, hands connecting under the water to splash it over his face. [color=gray][b]“Huh?”[/b][/color] Alaine blinked, realizing she was still staring and quickly redirecting attention back to the ashy little cat. [color=gray][b]“Oh – yeah, no, no, sure. I’m the last one to go revealing secret identities, trust me.”[/b][/color] The kitten was purring as she pet it, still lapping up the water but happily so. She couldn’t help a smile and, when the kitten had finished with the water, she gently scooted it back from the edge of the counter as it started exploring and Asteroid spoke again. [color=mediumpurple]“Heard we are going to the bar tonight! You in? I think Lightning Girl is gonna help me out with this little guy.”[/color] The kitten was then curiously crawling around on the counter, and checking the new space out. [color=mediumpurple]“I'll probably petition for baby sitting duty sometimes.”[/color] [color=gray][b]“Yeah,”[/b][/color] Alaine agreed immediately, if only because it sounded like he was planning on going. Dang it. She needed to think something like that through – things could go sideways very easily at a bar, she was sure… [color=gray][b]“Well sign me up too,”[/b][/color] she hummed in amusement, her mouth brushing past the bar thing and onto the kitten thing while her mind was trying to weigh the risks of the former. [color=gray][b]“I love cats. I wish I could keep one, but it wouldn’t be fair to the cat at this point in time.”[/b][/color] There was a note of disappointment there but she shrugged it off, musing, [color=gray][b]“He’ll be in good hands if Lightning Girl’s going to look out for him, though.”[/b][/color] Lightning Girl was probably way more put together. She had the hero thing downpat. Alaine glanced over at Asteroid again, prepared to say something else but forgetting whatever it was as she spotted a dab of soot he’d missed. [color=gray][b]“You missed a spot.”[/b][/color] She tugged the towel off her shoulder where she’d tossed it a moment ago when she came over to the sink; without thinking, she reached over and carefully smudged away the spot on his forehead, where it had been trying to hide in his hairline. Jet freezes. His facial expression is soft as she wipes the dirt from his brow. It’s unexpected and unfamiliar but not unwelcome. He’s kind of afraid to move, in fear he’ll spook her away. Too late she realized what she was doing, but she made sure she’d gotten rid of the soot anyway before she pulled back. [color=gray][b]“I thought you were trying to stop a fire, not collect all the soot,”[/b][/color] she joked, a hasty attempt to distract from the fact she’d just been touching his face and her ears were now feeling kind of hot. The rib at his condition makes a laugh bubble out of him. [color=mediumpurple]“I might’ve been rolling around on the floor.”[/color] He redirects his gaze toward the kitten after watching her for a little longer than he should have. [color=mediumpurple]“Was definitely worth it to find these little guys, though.”[/color] Clearing her throat, Alaine glanced down as her peripheral vision caught the kitten wandering to the edge of the counter again. [color=gray][b]“Whoa, whoa…”[/b][/color] Reaching out, she gingerly picked him up. She loved when they were that age – they hardly weighed anything, all fluff and squeaks and teeny-tiny claws. [color=gray][b]“I see you were helpin’ Louboutins here with the soot collection, huh?”[/b][/color] The kitten glanced up at her face for the first time and cowered a little, ears starting to fold back. Alaine winced. [color=gray][b]“Ah, yeah. I look kinda scary, right?”[/b][/color] Her family had had a cat before who’d been scared of people when they put sunglasses on, so she figured her mask probably looked a bit menacing. Hesitating briefly, and ignoring that thing Asteroid had said about not reciprocating the accidental face-reveal because she did feel the instinctual need to reciprocate and besides this was about the cat, not about anything else, nope– Alaine reached up with one hand and tugged her mask down. [i]God, I am [b]such[/b] an idiot,[/i] she thought, mildly horrified at herself. What was she doing? All that effort to hide her face, all the fear that that night in the desert would happen all over again because someone would connect the dots– The kitten squeaked, ears popping back up as he realized she was a person. [color=gray][b]“...Yeah.”[/b][/color] Alaine’s voice softened as she pet him again, grinning at the way he kneaded his tiny claws into the slim, black star design on the front of her suit. The hooking of needle-like claws into what he presumes to be a relatively expensive super hero costume makes him cringe just slightly, and he starts trying to formulate how he’d help her fix a snag in the fabric. The care on Alaine’s face washes those thoughts away as he actually takes her in. She’s a little shorter, and- actually quite lovely. Plus her hair is dyed red, of all things, in the under layers. Blackstar’s cool. They’d just met, and Jet was confident of that already. She glanced at Asteroid in the mirror, went a little pink, and looked back down at the kitten. [color=gray][b]“So, um. Bar, huh? Where’s it at?”[/b][/color] When her eyes meet his in the mirror, he startles. Got it, you do not have to memorize your masked colleagues face immediately. It’s not going to be the last time you see her. He clears his throat just a little- [color=mediumpurple]“I think I heard one of the guys say we were headed over to the Cowl.”[/color] He takes the babysitting moment to dust off the remaining soot, grab his tupperware, his leather sling bag from his locker, and a fresh mask for the bar. [color=mediumpurple]“I think we’ve got that last meeting, let's see if we can catch Lightning Girl beforehand and she can help us figure out what to do with him next.”[/color] Alaine nodded along, setting the kitten down to quickly fix her hair, the red part down and under her cowl and the natural part up in a high pony; then, mask up and using the excuse that Asteroid was already carrying, like, three things, she scooped up their new furry friend and toted him out of the locker room alongside her coworker, grabbing her jacket off the bench on the way. Once they got back to the breakroom she surrendered custody of the kitten – not without a little kiss between his fuzzy ears – and fell back to hang around and wait for the evening’s debriefing. [color=mediumpurple]“Hey! Lightning Girl- special delivery!”[/color] He holds up the tiny creature to her. [color=mediumpurple]“This is the one that didn’t look like it was gonna make it in the fire, but with some water, they’re looking much better.”[/color] Lightning Girl was freshening up her face in the sink in the breakroom, back early from the job at the nightclub- aware though, that she’d get caught in all the rain again, making not much effort to tidy what was there. She turned and saw Asteroid come in and heard the tiny, raspy squeak from the kitten, her grey eyes lit up, her grey and white visage lit up as if the electricity pulsed. Someone who could so much damage seemed to almost dissolve like butter, into a child-like, giddy almost excitement. There was pure good inside her, and seeing that kitten just made her answer instant. “Woah! No way!” She exclaimed, excited as ever, triple checking her gloves, the black-gloved heroine so badly wanting to stroke it, and Asteroid obliging. [color=mediumpurple]“It’s friendly!”[/color] Asteroid says as Blackstar places the tiny creature into LG’s hands and watches it squirm to get used to the new set of hands. [color=mediumpurple]“What do you think James’ll say?”[/color] His one-on-one with James had gone well enough that he didn’t think this would go over too awful bad, especially if Lightning Girl was gonna ambush him about it. Lightning Girl gushed, smiling as she nodded to him, gently stroking the tabby’s fluffy neck. “Leave this one to me. He might not trust you fully yet. But he can’t say no to me. I worked with the guy for a while. I can convince him to keep this little baby. Awww….yes you are, aww, he’s so cute!” She chuckled, gently rubbing a gloved finger over the cat’s side, the mackerel tabby absolutely smelling of smoke and dust still, despite clearly getting a great cleaning. Another thought popped into her head, as she looked around the corner from the break room, seeing James still dispatching away, one last job for Lunara, it looked like, before she would head home. Lunara wasn’t joining them tonight, but, it was good enough a distraction. She turned back to Asteroid, clearing strides with her long legs, cat still safe in her left “paw”. “Wait…..he definitely needs a home though…..wait. I have an idea.” She added, the wastepaper bin in her other spare hand, setting it down and using the paper inside to create a makeshift shelter. She gently set the kitten down on the worktop as it squeaked, curious as to what the new, mysterious white haired woman was doing. That wasn’t human and definitely was not as trusting, but, within a couple of minutes, Lightning Girl had built out something. “Right. This might do….I would take him home but we’re all going drinking tonight.” she added, turning to the fridge, opening it up, and reaching in to the far back. “I’m so sorry Martha, write up another HR violation, why not…it stinks so bad anyway….” She added, yoinking a piece of sandwich off, taking the malted bread out and sticking a piece of tuna into the basket next to a tiny saucer of water, a teeny tub of tupperware that was in the mug cabinet. “There.” She added, jogging across and almost clearing the distance in barely seconds, all set up for their new guest, as she walked back across, fiddling with her own cowl, unaware of what had happened minutes ago privately, still nowhere near Sophie Speight given she likely had to carry James later. “I got this.” Jet calls after her- [color=mediumpurple]“I’ll buy some litter and a smallish litter pan for him, and bring it in first thing tomorrow!”[/color] He is in a bit of shock at how fast Lightning Girl jumped in here and took care of business, but very grateful. It already felt like a fish was out of his depth, but that’s what having people were for.. Right? Helping when you felt out of your depth? [hr] [center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/8zfY3hBF/Untitled-design.png[/img][/center] [hr][color=gray][center][h2][i][b] Tuesday 20:16 The Cowl[/b][/i][/h2] ((ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴꜱ: [@FourtyTwo], [@Auragreedia], [@SonnetNSunbeam], [@Pragia12] ))[/center][/color] Alaine's first thought at officially hearing they were all invited out for company beers was [i]dread[/i], despite the heads-up from Asteroid. And yes, she'd already blurted out an affirmation that she was coming. She wasn't going to back out, but... Alcoholic beverages that often loosened tongues and fogged mental processes? That, paired with her sleep deprivation and secrets to hide did [i]not[/i] sound like a good combo. But then. Retreating into herself and hiding away in her apartment whenever she wasn't on the clock, although it seemed the most logical solution, would surely paint her as the kind of character who... would have done what she did. She didn't want to be seen like that. She didn't want anyone to have any reason to think [i]that[/i] was something she'd do. In all honesty, the mind-numbing effects of a couple of beers sounded fantastic to her guilt- and shame-riddled mind, full of doubts and a severe homesickness for people who didn't know what she'd become. But God, the [i]what if[/i]s. What if she really got drunk, what if she said something she didn't mean to? Missing her family as much as she did, she was sure some information of them, uncalculated in its significance to their safety, would slip out. Or maybe she'd start thinking about the people she'd killed to prevent that threat to safety, and the faces of those two little girls who'd lost their dad because she couldn't risk him going home. Maybe she'd say something about that and someone would launch an investigation. Or worse. Maybe she'd lose control of her carefully-maintained powers. Maybe something would shift, maybe the stars would get too close and she'd start losing her grip, maybe her hand would fumble and she'd look up and realize she'd just run someone through with a blade made of cosmic energy. Maybe there were things she didn't even know she was capable of yet, and all her star-charged body needed was a moment of laxed inhibition to go supernova. No, no way she was even touching something that was actually alcoholic. But she did need to go -- being at least as social as her limited social battery would allow would be good for her image, or at least for everyone's perceptions of her. She could try and act like the person she was trying to be -- like Lightning Girl. Like Blonde Blazer. [i]Not a murderer.[/i] Even then, the thought of lingering around Lightning Girl and Fenom and the others, Phoenix Heroes and not, posed an odd juxtaposition. Feel like an imposter among the real heroes... or pretend like she wasn't as bad as if not worse than the villains in reform? No place felt right because of all her damned lies. Well -- almost no place. [i]Asteroid[/i] felt... comfortable. Alaine was trying not to think about that too much, but she couldn't deny that something about him, even the almost nervous air he'd had a few times, was... calming. Which made no sense, but -- huh, well, maybe it did. She felt like she was made of stars that were all trying to go spinning off into infinity. She had dreams, or maybe nightmares, where she [i]was[/i] a star, and she woke up in the air, flailing and all tangled in her sheets and gasping for breath like she'd just remembered she was a human being. And Asteroid... was gravity. Something about him made all those whirring cosmic energies settle down a little. She'd actually had [i]fun[/i] with him on her first dispatch, which still sort of blew her mind to think about. Instead of wanting to jet off into space and join the infinite cosmos... she'd enjoyed that little downward tug when they were giving Ultragal a bungee jumping experience without the bungees. It didn't feel restricting, it felt grounding. Maybe she needed that. Every star orbited [i]something[/i], right? ...Those were dangerous thoughts, too. Almost as dangerous as the alcohol. Didn't help that the darn guy had brought a [i]kitten[/i] back from his dispatch with Princess and Hat Trick. Like was he [i]trying[/i] to seduce her? What was wrong with him? The way he'd had it peeking out from that pocket in the chest of his suit, a little sooty fluffball all snuggled up against him... [i]ugh[/i], her heart. He had no way of knowing her family had been a cat family practically her whole childhood and that she wanted a cat so bad at the moment she could literally die for it, so it wasn't like he could actually do it on purpose... But come on. [i]Just marry me already.[/i] Okay, well. Maybe a dumb little work crush wouldn't hurt things. It wasn't like it'd ever go beyond her stealing a glance or two in the breakroom, it never did. Even before she'd become... whatever she currently was, she'd never thought she was enough to actually be considered by the people she liked. Why make an awkward moment by being all [i]"hey so I actually like you a lot"[/i] just for them to go [i]"oohhh... uhh... thanks, but..."[/i]? No, no. It was fine. It'd be fine. Everything was fine all the time and nothing was ever wrong and she was having the [i]greatest time [b]ever--[/b][/i] [i]zap.[/i] Alaine snapped her hand back from the bar counter, a little flash of inverted light flickering across her knuckles for a split-second. Lightning Girl called [color=lightblue][i]"Sorry!"[/i][/color] before beginning to order a drink, and Alaine breathed out slow as she pulled her spiraling thoughts back to the moment. When the bartender eventually looked at her she asked quietly if there were any non-alcoholic beverages, to which she was given a bit of an odd look but offered some options. Eventually she headed over to sit next to Asteroid -- no particular reason why -- with a drink that the lady at the bar had called [i]The Designated Flyer[/i]. Funny. She tried not to make faces while she sipped it, which would surely give away that the closest she'd ever come to alcohol was probably two mocktails about four years ago. [quote][color=dodgerblue]"I hate beer, and I HATE alcohol 'cuz its all EVIL!"[/color][/quote] Okay, that made her grin a little. She spared Madcap a curious look from behind the lenses of her mask, but didn't bother contributing verbally. Content to sit in comfortable silence for a few moments, she offered Lightning Girl a smile when the sparky heroine headed over to join the table. By then it was her, Asteroid, Madcap, and Fenomaman taking up the seats, and Blackstar thought it was a funny assortment. But, she supposed the whole team was kind of a funny assortment. She gave Lightning Girl a modest smile and a shrug at the congratulations on a great first day, moving to carefully clink the other heroine's glass with her own. While Blackstar's social battery might've been nearing the end of the line, Lightning Girl seemed just as full of energy as ever. Alaine wondered if that was genuinely her personality or if it was just... part of the hero. Not that it was bad either way, but she was curious. [quote][color=lightblue]"So, Feno, I know you're from probably out of this world. Blackstar, Asteroid, you two both.....seem very cosmic. Would it be fair to say we're kinda the same? I mean, I'm not from another planet, I'm from England, which I know to Americans sounds like it is, but.....yeah, I know, it's kinda crazy we have that in common, cos I guess I got powers from something that wasn't terrestrial? Oh, and Madcap here is just out of this world too, I suppose. In his own way!"[/color][/quote] Blackstar opened her mouth to reply then shut it again. She wasn't entirely sure [i]what[/i] gave her the powers she had. She could remember seeing what she thought was a shooting star, only it got bigger and brighter until it seemed like it was filling the whole sky... then darkness. Then [i]the universe[/i]. And then waking up in a small crater. She had a joke with herself that the shooting star had smacked her on the head. [color=gray][b]"I'm not from another planet,"[/b][/color] she assured after a pause, just to clarify. [quote][color=lightblue]"Kinda makes me think. I wonder what it would be like to be out of this world you know. Like, literally. High above it all. Look down from space on it all....my lungs gave out by the time I think I cleared 100,000 feet. Feno, have you ever done that?"[/color][/quote] Blackstar blinked, mind starting to wander again. [color=lightblue][i]I wonder what it would be like to be out of this world you know...[/i][/color] Infinity. Swirling darkness that was simultaneously light. A spectrum of colors never seen before, an endless cacophony of singing silence. Flying, falling. Nothingness. [i]Oneness[/i]. The stars were closing in on her again. Blackstar inhaled sharply, jolting herself back down to Earth, back to Claremont, back to the bar. She rested her glass on the table so no one could catch her hand shaking as she sank in her seat a little. One of her boots urgently but casually felt around for a leg on the table, or a bar under her seat -- something she could hook her foot under and anchor herself with. She was pretty sure she bumped someone's leg instead so she froze, instead trying to just push the sole of her boot against the floor as hard as she could. [quote][color=dodgerblue]"Hey, Cosmic buddies..."[/color][/quote] Good, Madcap. That would definitely keep her attention down there, on the ground. Good. [quote][color=dodgerblue]"Wanna karaoke? I wanna sing, and no one's called dibs yet! Singing about heroics is like. Prime hero stuff. We gotta do it!"[/color][/quote] Karaoke? Alright, she wanted to keep herself grounded, but she didn't want to put herself six feet under out of sheer embarrassment. She blinked over at the bug-masked hero, who certainly seemed enthusiastic as he looped an arm around Asteroid. What she wouldn't do for some of that complete lack of social anxiety. Maybe it was a lack of something else, actually. She'd better not think on it too much. [color=gray][b]"I'll pass, thank you,"[/b][/color] she said lightly, giving Madcap a small grin and another shrug. [color=gray][b]"I have more fun listening. Though--"[/b][/color] She motioned from Madcap to Fenom, saying about the latter, [color=gray][b]"I know this guy's got a good shouting voice. Shouting's not too far off from singing, right? Bet you two could do a mean duet."[/b][/color] She was joking, mostly. Madcap and Fenomaman singing karaoke together would definitely be entertaining enough to keep her grounded.