12978/On Top of The Empire

On Top of The Empire
Date of Scene:	05 October 2022
Location:	Empire State Building
Synopsis:	Bando's teleport messes up, which leads to a rescue by Kurt. After some talk, Kurt takes the truant boy back to class.
Cast of Characters:	Kurt Wagner, Bando George

---

Kurt Wagner has posed:
---BAMF!---

    Kurt is hard to miss, normally. However, currently, going from rooftop to rooftop, skipping at least a mile between them, he's hard to hit!

---BAMF!---

---BAMF!---

    Kurt reappears above Central Park before he's immediately disappears again!

---BAMF!---

    See? Gone!

---BAMF!---

    Kurt stops and grabs the zepplin mooring tower at the top of the Empire State Building. He takes in the cold, windy air at height.

Bando George has posed:
    He's in class. Bando's ability to teleport often helps him when it comes to making sure he's on time. Truthfully most classes are within 50 feet of each other. Maybe it's a floor lower or higher, but he's getting rather good at moving between them.

    Happy Harbor High School is nowhere nere the Empire State Building. But with that last Bamf, there's a second sound effect that comes with it.

*fwump*

    It's almost as if Bando appears out of the same teleport. "Whoa!" A teenage boy is here now, dressed in rather ordinary clothes. A short sleeved dress shirt and a pair of blue jeans, and hes' even holding a knap sack. And he's falling! He wasn't prepared to grab the same tower as he came of the teleport. He was supposed to be in the doorway to Social Studies! Flailing hands swing around, and he catches part of the frame about eight feet into the fall, his eyes wide. The impact jerks his open pack open further, spilling books and papers into the air. "Whoa whoa whoa!" he exclaims, completely unexpectant of this turn of events. It's clear that whatever brought him here, it was not his plan.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    Kurt's reactions are quick, and he's used to teleportation.

---Bamf! Bamf! Bamf! Bamf! Bamf! Bamf!---

    In a flurry off poofs of stinky smoke that thankfully dissipate quickly, soon he's grabbed all of Bando's things and is back at the mooring tower. He zips up the backpack and tosses it over his own shoulder, then slides it onto his back for convenience before holding on and grasping Bando's upper arm.
    "Guten tag!" he says with a smile. Kurt has a surprisingly firm grip without it being too tight. "I've seen you before, ja? Maybe on the news?"

Bando George has posed:
    "Oh boy, oh boy," Bando takes his second hand to reach up and grab the frame, and does a pull up, comforted that someone has his arm. Of course, he can just teleport avoid a fall to certain death, but still. He's kinda high up right now. He manages to pull himself up onto the frame, heart racing at sudden change of environment still. "Uh, that wasn't expected," he laughs, and looks up at Kurt. "Guten tag," he replies in like. "That's like all the German I know, by the way," he warns, lest it be an invitation to continue the conversation in another language. "You saw me on the news? Really?" He gives a once over of Kurt's furry appearance, but doesn't seem bothered by it, nor makes comment on it.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    Which is welcome, it seems. Kurt looks around a bit. "I can get us down," he says, changing the subject. He leans a bit, trying to ascertain something. "Where did you come from?" he asks. "I'll try to get you close as I can."

Bando George has posed:
    "Happy Harbor High School," Bando says. Of course, it's a known school that welcomes mutants, humans, aliens, and other types of youth, whether they be ordinary or extraordinary. "Was just gonna teleport to my next class and..." he looks around. "Well, I guess I missed." By quite a few miles. "Wait wait." He looks toward the World Trade Center, the Chrysler Tower. "Are we on the Empire State Building?" he asks, getting up to his feet properly. Now that he's not in such an alarming shift, he seems to be less concerned with his altitude, much less than most people would be.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    "Ja, I've heard of it," Kurt says, keeping this youth close, unwilling to let him fall, even if he can handle the drop. He looks around. "Okay, I need a better view." Kicking away from the tube steel, it's not hard to pull Bando with himself. They fall, and fast.

---BAMF!---

    From the vantage point of the Nightcrawler, there is only one bamf, and it's like being inside the smoke bomb a ninja throws down when they disappear. One moment Bando and Nightcrawler are at skyscraper level, the next they're falling toward the city from far above. "Can you point it out from here?" Nightcrawler asks, still holding onto Bando's arm.

Bando George has posed:
    Bando is taken by surprise by the sudden leap from the building. "Whooa!" he protests with wide eyes. He was okay with heights, but wasn't really expecting to be leaping from this high up. He coughs as they burst past the smoke that accompanies their arrival. "I!..." he squints against the falling sky, looking around. He's never tried to find it from the air before. What exactly does it look like from up here anyway. "I dunno!" he admits, feeling his cheeks pressed back from his teeth as they fall. "Maybe look from not falling places!" He flaps around a little. Clearly not afraid of heights is not the same as being accustomed to terminal velocity drops.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    Kurt chuckles, despite himself. "Don't worry," he says. "There," he says, pointing to one of the taller buildings, everything still so far below them. "I'm going to take us there next. Don't get disoriented." Still, at least Bando was used to teleportation, so he wasn't puking. That would be embarrassng.

---BAMF!---

    They don't teleport directly to the rooftop. Nightcrawler teleports them a couple feet above it, oriented upright, surprisingly, then they fall as if jumping down a couple steps. Nightcrawler lands on the flat building and makes sure Bando doesn't faceplant or go off the side before letting go of him. He can do that, now that they're not so precarious. "There, is that better?" he asks.

Bando George has posed:
    Bando's hair is a little windblown, his eyes wide as he lands more stable than some others might. Still, there isn't nearly the coordination of someone with full mastery of spinning in circles. He takes a moment to hold his hands out. "That was intense," he declares with a half laugh. "I uh..." he looks around, moving to one corner of the building. "I wish I could spin around like that," he says. "I usually can figure out which way I'm facing, but I guess that's just when I'm the one doing the teleporting. "So there's the harbor," he points, and turns around, trying to get his bearings. "So Queens should be..." His two forefingers point forward, and he turns slowly as if trying to gauge his compass direction. "That way? Ish?"

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    "Is that where your school is?" Kurt asks the boy as Bando regains his bearings. He gets a rather mischievous smirk on his face. He continues, "We could always try again from higher up, ja?"

Bando George has posed:
    "No, oh yeah," Bando laughs. "I was in school wasn't I?" He's a bit scatterbrained apparently. "So yeah, that's at Happy Harbor which is over the river past there," he points across the bridge in the direction. He is several miles off course. "How did I get here anyway? I can only do like fifty feet. My powers are so friggin' weird! Oh, I'm Bando by the way," he holds out a hand to shake. "Bando George."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    Kurt takes the hand and shakes it. His large fingers are definitely strong, but he's not gripping hard enough to hurt the teen. "Kurt," he says. The handshake concluded, he puts his on his hips. "A pleasure to meet you." He looks the direction that had been gestured by the boy. "Well, if you want a lift, I'm more than willing to take you back to school."

Bando George has posed:
    "Yeah yeah," Bando says. "That'd help. But uh, so, I was wondering, one teleporter to another. I dunno if you do it like me, but how do you keep from getting all, bleh in the brain when you do all that teleporting. I usually gotta limit myself because my brain goes to mush if I use it too much. Oh, and do you ever have weird stuff happen like things you teleport turning into other things? I don't know why that happens sometimes, I might teleport a cup, and it comes to me, and it's not made out of glass anymore, it's made out of cardboard for like a few minutes. Kinda weird, but I didn't know if that's normal."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    Kurt pauses. This is not get-back-to-class time. This is fellow-mutant time. Kurt looks at him. "We both teleport," he agrees, "but the mechanisms are different." He takes a step back and jumps into the air, pulling his knees up to his chest and thrusting his arms out.

---BAMF!---
    Now, without rushing wind at terminal velocity or high winds at the top of the Empire State Building, there's that smell of Sulfur. Kurt must have teleported away, because several seconds go by before...

---BAMF!---

    Kurt extends his legs and lands again. Facing Bando, he says, "Did you smell it? I don't notice it, but many people have told me there's a smell when I teleport. Still, if you want to improve, I would be happy to meet you after school and tutor you. Teleportation is a skill like any other. If you have the ability, you must practice to get better at it."

Bando George has posed:
    "Oh," Bando wafts his nose. "Yeah, it smells kind of like rotten eggs," he admits when Kurt returns. "I don't think there's a smell from my teleporting, nobody ever said there is. Here, check it out."

    *Fwump*

    The sound is simultaneously in front and behind. As for smell, there isn't really anything. The sound effect seems to be essentially the sound of the air collapsing on his position and being popped out of position like an air cannon might as he appears behind Kurt. Slightly different sounds. They happen together, not one before the other.

    "Oh good it worked that time," he says. "Does it stink?" he asks.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    Kurt takes a deep breath, sniffing the air. "Not really," he says. "Definitely a different mechanism," he agrees. He turns around to face Bando. "Fifty feet isn't much different from my range when I first developed this ability. We'll keep practicing and working out these muscles, and soon you'll be keeping pace with me, ja?" He smiles and puts a hand on Bando's shoulder with a smile.

Bando George has posed:
    "That'd be pretty epic," Bando says. "My biggest trouble is that the more I use it. It's like, sapping my brain power. I get scattered, can't focus on stuff. Had it go real bad once, made a whole stupid 8 month investigation to figure out what happened when I was fightin' some arms dealers. I'm a super hero," he adds proudly. Of course, he's hardly got the physique matching. He's got a little muscle tone, but nothing past the average for a teen his age. And apparently the idea of keeping his identity secret is a bit foreign to him.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    Kurt nods and considers. "That's probably good!" he speculates. "If it's your mind that controls the teleporting, you should be able to get very good control, ja?" He flexes his hands into fists, then releases them. "I don't get loopy, but teleporting too much or too far strains me, physically." He puts his hands back on his hips and looks at Bando. "Maybe you won't get the range," he says, "but with practice in a safe place, you can certainly get to the point you're not loopy. Just like I got to the point I'm not fatigued as easily."

Bando George has posed:
    "True. And check this out." He takes his backpack, throws it out over the edge of the building, and then reaches out for it. *fwump*

    Suddenly it teleports just like he did, and he catches it as it appears in front of him. "Pretty dope, right? Really super handy when you got somebody pointing a gun at you. I can tell you that."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    Kurt's eyes widen some, as does his smile. "That's so cool!" the young-at-heart German says, enthusiastically. "If I'm not touching something, I can't manipulate it." He looks at the backpack. "Show me again?" he requests, though he's doing his best not to be pushy about it.

Bando George has posed:
    "Sure!" Bando says. He chucks the backpack over the edge of the building again. It starts to drop toward the street below, then he strikes a pose, clearly showing off a little bit.

    *fwump*

    It appears before his hand again, and he catches it. His pose made him a little off balance though, and he nearly falls over from the added weight. Playing it off, he puts it on his shoulders. "I try not to do it with living things. Last thing I want is to have somebody ported and be suddenly encased in ice, or turned into yarn, or have orange skin the rest of their lives. Usually it wears off after a few minutes, and things go back to normal. But...ever so often it doesn't."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    Kurt's brows furrow as he considers the list of things Bando is concerned about. He looks at the backpack briefly, but his concern returns to the boy. "How are you? Feeling loopy at all?"

Bando George has posed:
    "I feel fine, why would I feel loopy?" Bando asks. There it is. What did he say earlier. "OH! Yeah it's kind of a like, ADHD thing. When I'm out superheroing, I make sure I keep a lot of ginseng and caffeine on hand to help a bit. It's like...have you ever had to study really hard for a test and you just get to the point you are just...DONE? You can't think anymore, and you can't focus on anything? It's kinda like that. I forget what I'm supposed to be doing, get distracted by just about anything. Might forget the point of why I just teleported, stuff like that."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    "We should keep our tutoring to after school, then," Kurt suggests. He turns and lowers his tail. "Climb on my back, and I'll try to get you to where you need to be."

Bando George has posed:
    "Oh, yeah totally," Bando agrees. "I completely forgot about that. I guess I should probably get back. I'm probably already late," he comments. "So just like, piggy back or something?" he asks, moving around behind Kurt. He hasn't ridden piggyback on someone since he was a kid.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
    "Ja," Kurt says. "Just like that." Kurt jogs along the rooftop in the direction Bando had indicated. He launches himself off the edge of the roof then--

---BAMF!---