12143/Looking for a gift.

Looking for a gift.
Date of Scene:	24 July 2022
Location:	Steve's Comic Books
Synopsis:	Gifts are bought , New friends are made, and plans for lunch.
Cast of Characters:	Freddy Freeman, Bart Allen, Lonnie Machin

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Freddy Freeman has posed:
It's summer. Where the heck *else* would Freddy be but hanging out in the comic shop. It's air conditioned and it has some of his favorite stuff in it. He rarely has very much money to spend in here but Steve likes the kid and puts up with him. Plus Freddy's encyclopedic knowledge of comics, trading cards, and memorabilia has proven invaluable on more than one occasion. Steven even buys the kid lunch sometimes.

Today he is helping out by shelving a shipment of bags and boards for Steve. He moves happily through the store with a box of comic book bags under one arm. He walk-thump-walk-thump-walk-thumps with his crutch until he gets to the shelf where they go. Whistling good naturedly, Freddie cracks open the box and starts transferring the packs of bags to the display. "Lucky these came in," he shouts across to the store. "You were almost dead-up out of bags, Steve."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen comes walking in, he just got paid, and needs to pick up a few things, plus he is looking for some things for a few friends. So, Bart comes walking into the store. He is wearing a t-shirt that says Red Arrow is the best Arrow, and jeans. He pauses to look about and then sees Freddy, he smiles "Hey Freddy been a while." He waves to Steve and heads towards the other young man.

Freddy Freeman has posed:
Freddy's ever-present grin erupts and he lobs a friendly waves in Bart's direction. "Yo, Barto! How's it going, man?" He agilely walk-thump-walk-thump-walk-thumps over toward Bart, navigating with that crutch like he has a black belt in crutch walking. "If it isn't the dude who dumped my sister," Freddy says with a sly grin. He refers to Mary as his sister even though they are foster siblings, not biological siblings. "How ya been?" He tosses one of those one-handed bro hugs Bart's way.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will hug the other man back and says "Hey now it was more a mutual thing, but I am doing pretty good, believe it or not, I even have a job now." He tells the other young man. "A lot of stuffs been going on sorry aint checked in with you guys lately."

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Meanwhile, as these two are exchanging greetings, the door goes ding-a-ling and a tall redheaded guy wearing a green canvas jacket with patches for what must be every punk band on the east coast walks in. He seems to mistake Freddy for an employee. "Excuse me, I'm looking for the indy comics section?" He asks, before he gestures to the shelves and looks around.

Freddy Freeman has posed:
Nothing whatsoever about Freddy's cheerful demeanor suggests that he's a bitter kid for having to live with a physical disability that will likely leave him walking with a crutch for the rest of his list. And certainly all the banter about Bart dumping his sister was all made in good fun. He seems genuinely happy to see Bart. "Yeah, you aren't kidding about that." Freddy's lips purse slightly indicating he has Serious Stuff to say. "You and me gotta get together somewhere we can talk business."

But when the kid hears the question from the newcomer, his face lights up like a fireworks show on the 4th of July. Of course he's not an official employee here, but he helps Steve in exchange for lunches and some store credit. As a relatively low-income foster kid, he finds that very useful. "Oh, my bro, you are living in the perfect time for indy titles. With self-publishing so accessible, even obscure writers and artists can put together some impressive stuff." He gestures toward the wall farthest from the door. "This entire wall is all of the most current indy stuff, and the shelves of boxes here are all of the back issues."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over as Freddy speaks to the new kid, and sees who it is "Hey Lonnie." He offers in greeting to the other. If ya looking for something specific Freddy here is your man, heck I was thinking about trying to set him on finding an action figure for Tim's Birthday. Trying to find something he does not already have can be a pain, but think there is a bootleg version of the character he has been playing while he and Emiko end up going head to head in their game."

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Lonnie doesn't seem at all nonplussed - as they do pass by the mainstream stuff, he does snort and mutter under his breath, "It's all become overly-engineered corporate garbage written by joyless neo-fascist humps." He looks down at Freddy and says, "Thank you! I'm looking for some particular alt-comics that're published by local presses in New York. They're hard to find where I'm from and I'm hoping to make a digital archive of them to increase their footprint." He begins browsing, using his fingers to sift through longboxes, carefully. "Hi Bart."

Freddy Freeman has posed:
It's pretty likely that Freddy might not quite be sophisticated enough to understand the point of Lonnie's short rant. But whatever, he just keeps on smiling because, well, because he's Freddy and that's what Freddy does. "Oh tight! You guys know each other?" Since he holds his crutch with his left hand, he is able to extend his right hand out to offer a handshake to Lonnie. "I'm Freddy Freeman!" he says enthusiastically. "I've known Bart for a hot minute. He dumped my sister." After that comment, he shoots a playful wink in Bart's direction.

Once at the Indy Wall, Freddy goes down on one knee. That one takes a bit of effort. "These are all alphabetical by title," he says, running his hand over the ridged tops of all of the bagged comics. It's a good feeling, that.

With a small bit of effort and the aid of his crutch, Freddy stands again. "So how d'you dudes know each other?" He's really good with that 'enthusiastic little brother' vibe.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "Lonnie is dating a friend of mine, so we end up running in the same social circles now and again." He offers in explanation to Freddy. He does look through a few of the action figures and other collectables as he picks up a couple pieces looking them over and deciding on if he is going to get them.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Lonnie gives a little smile. He notes Freddy's effort, but doesn't move to assist him - he seems to understand that doing this despite difficulty is important to him. Eventually he says, "Ah, these are the ones." He begins to collect issues from the bin. It's a comic in the Eastman & Laird gritty urban-style, the stuff that looks like it was drawn out by hand on a notepad and then taken to the publisher.

Freddy Freeman has posed:
Freddy's eyes glitter enthusiastically when he sees the comics that Lonnie is presently sifting through. "Oh good choice, my dude! Those are some heavy titles with INSANE art that the big publishers won't touch. Their loss." It's pretty easy to see why Steve likes having the young man around. He just makes buying comic books seem so...desirable.

Then he walk-thump-walk-thump-walk-thumps over to where Bart is looking at action figures. He lowers his voice so Steve can't hear him. "Hey, not sure exactly what you're lookin' for, Barto, but Steve just bought a collection this morning. He hasn't priced it or put it out yet, but the dude who sold the collection already had the statue from the collector's edition of Gotham Knights. It does a pretty decent job of getting the looks of the real heroes right."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and hmmms a bit and says "I might have to check it out if he is ok with it, I still wish someone would do a young hero line, maybe some of the titans, some of the other heroes like Ms Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr, some of the newer spider people, but I guess with them seeming young maybe there is a problem with rites and royalties

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Lonnie snorts. "Copyright doesn't protect creators anymore, it protects corporate masters who take control of a person's work and then adulterate it into pablum-" He pauses, with a bundle of comics in his hand, and then he clears his throat. "Thank you. Ah, Bart," He says, offering a hint, "You can never go wrong with a sweatshirt."

Freddy Freeman has posed:
*blink* *blink* *blink* Freddy peers at Lonnie with a nervous smile on his face. No way he wants to offend a potential customer. And frankly, Freddy doesn't really like to offend anyone (except for bad guy who run afoul of Pantheon!). With a low, cautious tone, he says, "Power...to the...people?"

Oooh subject change! "Barto, the sweatshirts are in the nook over there," he points with his right hand and he walk-thumps with his crutch to go talk to Steve about bringing out that collector's edition statue he brought in this morning.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen nods, and gives Lonnie a thumbs up, and says "Thanks." some might wonder if Lonnie is directing him to sweatshirts cause he needs more and plans on getting access to it, but Bart is a bit to happy go lucky to think that. He does move over to the sweat shirts, and while the others are occupied he looks around and seeing no cameras covering him goes through the shirts at speed, folding them back after checking them out.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
"Tim keeps stealing mine, and I'm hoping maybe if he has some of his own he'll stop." Lonnie says, with a hopeless shrug, before he coughs. "Sorry. I'm into... alt-scenes. Punk. Anarchism. Post-Capitalist living. You can't really turn off who you are. But I don't mean to disturb your place of business."

Freddy Freeman has posed:
A few minutes later, Freddy re-joins the two. He carefully carries the Gotham Knights Collector's Edition statue with one hand. Finally he sets it down on a table for Bart and Lonnie to see. "The CE is going for around $500 on eBay. Steve says he wants $300 for this statue." Freddy lowers his voice a bit. "But honestly I think he would take $250 for it."

He slides the statue around a bit, peering at it in awe. There are fewer superhero nerds bigger than Freddy. "It must be so cool to be these dudes in real life. Just the gear on your belt and your wits and strength versus Gotham's worst bad guys." He gets a bit of a dreamy look on his face as he gets lost in the thought.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen hmms and nods a bit he will have to make a point of introducing Freddy to Red Robin and some of the others. Bart looks it over and studies it a bit "Yea have thought a utility belt would be really handy." He admits. He studies the statue a bit more and then looks over to Lonnie "Hey Lonnie you live in Gotham, you think they did an ok job here on Red Robin, and Nightwing? I think they did decent on Red Hood, somehow he seems to be scowling even though can't see his face.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
"I mean, they're fine if you like *mainstream* vigilantes." Lonnie says. "What about Wildcat, The Question, or Anarky?" He studies the statues, and then says, "Well, they got some details on the costumes wrong, but they must've been sourcing from the images the vigilante-watchers in Gotham have. Not bad."

Freddy Freeman has posed:
Freddy ain't no idiot. It's just the leg that doesn't work right. His brain is sharp and attentive. He glances back and forth between Bart and Lonnie. He /knows/ Bart is Impulse, but he knows absolutely nothing about Lonnie, including whether or not Lonnie knows Bart's secret. And no way Freddy is going to jeopardize someone's secret identity. That's how people die.

Narrow his eyes a bit, he studies Lonnie. "You know these guys? You said the costume details are wrong."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "He has lived in Gotham longer than I have worked there, so figured he might have seen them a bit more." He covers a bit and looks over to Freddy "Oh by the way I moved to Manhattan with my current girl friend, but am working in Gotham. Got a job working at the zoo, and is counting for credit with my degree as well." He offers in a bit of change the subject but also rambling way of Bart.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
"I'm part of a website." Lonnie says, before he figs out his phone, and brings it up. "They try and get photos of sightings of Gotham City vigilantes and criminals to establish things like uniform details and posssible movement patterns." He navigates to the Red Robin page. Most of the sightings are textual but there are a few distant photos. "What I mean is they got details like color and cape length right. See?"

Freddy Freeman has posed:
Any suspicion that Freddy was having vanishes and is dispelled by how jazzed he is to see these real photos, however distant and grainy, of Gotham vigilantes. As previously noted, he is a wicked superhero goober. The fact that with a word he can transform into literally one of the strongest beings on the planet doesn't even seem to enter his head. Freddy is Freddy. He is incapable of self-aggrandizement or bringing any glory to himself. "These are dope as fu...." He winces as he almost swears in the store. "Dope as hell."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen smiles and nods his head a bit to this and says "Lonnie knows all the cool computer sites." He admits. He has picked up a couple sweat shirts one has the batman symbol on it one the superman. He plans on giving them to his friends, Bat symbol for Conner S for Tim, it will help with them obviously not being superheroes themselves.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Lonnie smirks. "Vigilantes are part of the Gotham City urban ecosystem. I can tell you how far away the Batmobile is based on how loud its engine is." That might be an exagerration, or maybe not - he just smirks, and shrugs. "I guess I never really thought of it like that - usually people are trying to track movement patterns so they can do shady stuff the vigilantes *aren't* - which is why they never follow a set pattern." he shrugs his shoulders. "Sometimes I think one of the vigilantes created these sites so that they can watch the watchers."

Freddy Freeman has posed:
Freddy reaches out one hand and gives Bart a shove. "Bart, bro, why didn't you tell me you had a sick friend like this? This is so cool!" Freddy, now completely infatuated with Lonnie's stories, turns to the redhead. "How often does that Batmobile go around Gotham? Is it ever out in the day? Does it have to follow the rules of the road? Can it speed and go through red lights and stuff?"

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen smirks a bit at the shove and lets Freddy geek over Lonnie, and says "Oh I have all kinds of friends, should meet some of the folks I have met at college, hey if your considering going to Empire state I can show ya around.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
"I mean, it does. It's faster and more maneuverable than any of the GCPD's police cruisers, so they can't catch it. I GUESS Batman follows the traffic laws unless he's chasing somebody." Lonnie says, apparently amused that somebody actually wants to talk about this. He finds a place to lean where he won't be crushing anything or pushing anything over. "Though I did hear an apocryphal story that there was a GCPD rookie who pulled him over and gave him a ticket, once. He paid for it on the spot. Jim Gordon promoted her. At least, that's the story."

Freddy Freeman has posed:
Glancing over at Bart, Freddy responds, "I have applications in to Empire, NYU, SUNY Cortland, Yale, and Harvard. Mom's freakin' out because she doesn't want me to leave the city." He rolls his eyes in a long-suffering manner. "She still thinks I'm a little kid. I keep telling her I'm 17 years old. I'll be 18 next month. I'm a man now. But she doesn't listen."

But quickly back to Lonnie. He wrinkles his nose in amusement. "Why would Batman even pull over for a cop? I mean, he's BATMAN. He does whatever he wants. Half the city loves him from what I hear, and half the city wants him arrested and put in prison."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "Well if he does not respect the laws at least when he is not actively chasing someone, why should others?" He asks a bit and says "Personally have not had much chance to see the Batmobile, but we do have some of the animals he has rescued from villains at the zoo.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
"Who says you need to go to college at all?" Lonnie drawls, "A degree's just a piece of paper." But then he juggles his stack of comics and more earnestly says, "It's an urban legend, you know? Nobody knows what the cop's name is or what district she worked in, it's all just a bunch of mythology that's formed around something, whether it's true or not? I've heard the same urban legend, but it was about the Flash. So. Grain of salt."

Freddy Freeman has posed:
"I have to go to college," Freddy says to Lonnie. "I'm going to be a lawyer. I'm going to help homeless kids and orphans, like I was before I got adopted. Gotta go to law school for that."

"The Flash?" Freddy says. There is a quirky, odd, mischievous glint in Freddy's eyes suddenly. "No way that dude is real. The Speed Force is a frickin' fairy tale!"

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen smirks a bit and looks at the two and shakes his head a bit and says "I mean as many Flashes as they are maybe one gave another one a ticket. I mean they seem to be popping out of the woodwork or something. I think it might be in the sneakers though they say it is all in the sneakers.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Seeing the resolve there, Lonnie admits a strategic defeat on that one with an open-handed gesture. "I never said that urban legend was true either. That's the thing about myths and legends. They don't need to be true. Right?" He scratches behind one ear, before he gathers up his comics. "I suppose I should pay for these."

Freddy Freeman has posed:
Freddy lifts a hand and grins at Lonnie. It's very obvious the kid has one of those non-sexual bro crush things on Lonnie right now. The dude is a FONT of superhero knowledge apparently, at least with regards to Gotham. "Hey, Lonnie, it was super cool to meet you! Glad you found some comics that you like. Hope you come by again."

Then, just because he's Freddy and he always has extra energy to burn off, he takes the empty cardboard box he was using to carry the packages of comic bags out to the shelf and throws it at Bart, laughing.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen caches the box without loosing the shirts and stuff he has, kid's got fast hands it seems. "Yea I think I should after you get done." He looks to Freddy and says "I'm going to grab lunch when I leave here want to join me and catch up some more?"

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Lonnie says, "Bart. Freddy, it's a pleasure to meet you. Freddy, when you're a big shot lawyer, remember that while you might have to work the system, you shouldn't ever accept its abuses." He casually pays for his comics, and then adds, almost as an afterthought, "I think the non-mainstream vigilantes are better than the Batman's posse. They better reflect the spirit of the people."

Freddy Freeman has posed:
Freddy shakes his head. "I'll never be a big shot lawyer. I don't plan on charging for my services." He's young still and starry-eyed and romantic about the future. Reality will punch him in the face when things like student loans and rent and malpractice insurance start to be a part of his life. But for now, he can be dreamy.

Bart just said the magic word: lunch. Freddy perks up instantly. "Yeah that sounds hella cool. I'm starved." Freddy is always starved.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over to Freddy and says "I know this place, I think you will like, it has a few neat things about it, and has some of the best video games around. I mean nearly every thing in one form or another. More emulators and such than classic original cabinets but it would take up so much room for that many cabinets