14448/It's Better than Taco Whiz!

It's Better than Taco Whiz!
Date of Scene:	19 March 2023
Location:	Comic Shop
Synopsis:	Wonder Girl meets Mighty Woman at a less-than-prestigious fan event at a comic store. They discuss the many vagaries of hero hustle culture! No lawsuits are filed.
Cast of Characters:	Cassie Sandsmark, Rogue

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Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
It's unusually busy at this small-town comic store today, even boasting a small line of people outside (not that the shop has tons of space). The reason? Toady, the store is hosting a 'Meet Your Heroes! (tm)' meet, greet, and signing event. The original promotional flyers, while colorful, were a little vague in the specifics. They tossed the Justice League logo on there. And technically... they weren't lying!

Inside, Cassie 'Wonder Girl' Sandsmark stands beside a fold up card table with another big banner hung on the front, the table packed with stacks of Wonder _Woman_ comics, posters, glossy photos, Funko Pop statuettes, and other manufactured collectibles and memorabilia. It's all for sale, of course, and today only, it comes with her signature!

Despite it not being an entirely grandiose setting, Cassie is quite the sport about this sort of thing. For one, well, a lot of parents have turned up with kids, and that's a demographic it feels particularly unheroic to disappoint. But she's also... kind of used to it. People underestimate the kind of less-publicized work lesser celebrities do on the side. And in her own search for social media clout, financial independence, and some kind of identity out of Diana's very sizable shadow, Cassie is willing to scrape all kinds of barrels!

It being Cassie, she's also happy to take selfies with fans (for free! which might upset the owner just a little), and is just finishing one of these before another person comes up.

"So Wonder Woman's not here?"

"No, unfortunately she's quite busy fighting another invasion from space..."

"Lame. Uh. How about Supergirl?"

For every happy fan, there's a few like this!

Rogue has posed:
And then there's those heroes who've 'sold out' and are sponsored by some mega annoying company. Case in point...

A giant 'Icons of Tomorrow' booth is setup, featuring comic books for sale based on characters owned and licensed by <redacted>. From 'Homerunner' to 'Wicked Wings', to 'Mighty Woman' herself... Mighty Woman being one of the more popular ones, as far as the Icons team goes, online across their various social media accounts.

As it so happens, Mighty Woman is scheduled to be here tonight, though she hasn't arrived quite yet. A number of people have passed by the booth, some of them have even bought some of the issues being sold by the employees who are on-hand to provide help and support....

As it so happens too, as Cassie is disappointing that one lone, fat kid... the back room door opens up and Mighty Woman arrives!

Nobody applauds. It's not that big of a deal, really.

But she is dressed in one of her many different uniforms. This one is both attractive in how it shows off her natural beauty, but also befitting a public representitive of a major company such as <REDACTED>. With a shoulder cape on her left shoulder, made from a black textured material, a dark green bodysuit with white trim, and a fair amount of cleavage showing off, Mighty Woman is quite the cutting figure, striking you might even say... say it, just say it!

She strides through the shop and ends up at the Icons booth where she greets the employees there, shaking their hands, speaking to them happily with a big smile upon her face. She takes a moment to sign a comic of a young girl, and her father when they approach her too. "Hey, a fan! Well ain't this a treat t'be sure." The woman with the tied-up hair of two-tones says, her voice a thick sound to one's ears, laced with a Mississippi Belle accent...

Cassie has met her before... awhile back, on a train robbery heist of all things. she looks a bit older, more mature, and so damn fine in that outfit too! Just say it! Just do it!

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Once her less-than-fan is gone, Cassie takes a moment to breathe an exasperated sigh. "Hey," she calls, catching one of the nearby employees managing the line, "I'll be back in five, OK? So uh, tell them I'm on break or whatever."

The downside of this work, is, well, it should be pretty obvious just how less-than-glamorous it is. But the upside? It's not exactly like she has to kill herself over it. Low expectations all around. Normally, quite in contrast the general sense of her fame-chasing, Cassie's really the opposite of a diva personality. Very down-to-Earth, normal young person. Yet in THESE circumstances? She can afford to be just a little more demanding. If she's what they get instead of Wonder Woman, imagine what they'd get instead of her! No one is showing up for Condiment Queen.

Break initiated, she nabs up a water bottle stashed behind the table, takes a swig, and then spies some activity over at the other booth, and ambles over to check it out. She's seen this Icons branding a few times, but it's sort of remained elusive in her head what exactly it is they are, or do, or whatever...

"Oh hey again. Almost didn't recognize you." 'Mighty Woman' is familiar, although perhaps not in her corporatized persona. "That costume's fire, though. What's up with these guys?" She thumbs at one of the Icon logos.

Rogue has posed:
Mighty Woman is speaking to that young girl holding one of her comics. Rogue didn't know a lot about the comics that they were writing for her. She had attended the meeting at the HQ in Manhattan about it, and seen a few of the suggested storylines, they'd just made her laugh. She had thumbed through it, and found herself dating a member of the team no less, Homerunner. A man from Harlem. In reality, they only barely have ever talked to one another, he was nice, but they didn't really have... a lot in common! Either way, the comic was signed, a few kind words were said and she'd handed it back to the girl. The Dad eagerly posed for a selfie too with Mighty Woman, for obvious reasons, then they were off...

When Cassie approaches, Rogue is unscrewing a cap from a bottle of water, one of those little cute half bottles. She pauses before drinking, and makes eye contact with the blonde girl. She lowers the water bottle, turns to face CAssie and reaches a hand out, to place it on Cassie's shoulder, then down to the side of it over her bicep! "Wonder Girl! Holy hell. I didn't think we'd ever run inta one another again." She says in a voice laced with surprise, but happiness too. She laughs a little, then settles herself and looks around. "How'd you end up here?" She asks in that 'you too?' sort of way.

Rogue's eyes go back to the Icons booth, and she grins. Her shoulders shrug inside of her costume of faux-leather. "They offered me a deal, and I figured I could just give all the cash it earns straight inta the community. Charities an' all. I don't need it, I got a 'day job'. This is just for fun. Some folks warned me about it, but it hasn't gone too terrible yet." She draws her hand back and motions to the swoosh over the top of her left breast. "Unless bein' covered in these is bothersome for ya. But, it's all good for me. Mine the company for cash, give it to people in need, an' still lay some hurt down on thugs around the city."

She reaches over to snag one of her comics, a thin little thing, with fairly run of the mill artwork. "Plus, hey, these are kinda cute, right?" She asks Cassie with a grin. "What have you been up to? God, I remember when we ran inta one another... that was a crazy one..."

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
To be sure, Cassie couldn't tell you what the comic they're selling on her table was about if the destruction of the city depended on it. She's flipped through, knows she's technically in it, but it's... in some big double page splash layout, with a gajillion other Amazons.

To answer the question, Cassie thrusts that same thumb back over her shoulder in the direction of her own booth. "They wanted a Justice Leaguer, I guess. But, well, realistically most of them are either pretty busy saving the world or, you know, if they're doing this kind of thing it's... going to be for like sold-out stadiums and stuff. Celebrity mega events, like that one where all those singers did a concert for Africa, or whatever it was?" Before both of their times!

"So all they could get was the 2nd string. Probably someone saw the business contact on my insta and they just asked if I'd do it, since I'm local." Not as local as Rogue, but it's an even shorter trip to the city when you fly versus taking Metro North! She gives a very blase sort of shrug, to indicate her reply. "And I thought why not, right? A job's a job, and some of the kids might still get a kick out of it."

Yet by comparison, there's definitely a lot more going on with the set-up they have for Rogue, despite these 'Icons' people obviously being a bit shy of, well, the Justice League. And Cassie finds herself eying up the booth with curiousity. "This is kind of the real deal, huh? Ooh, yeah." She notices the brand logo as Rogue (perhaps unecessarily!) draws attention in that general region. "Nah, I've got a couple brand sponsorships, not as big as that tho." And why even bother with the costume when she actually FIGHTS in the kind of athleticwear they sell?

She nabs one of the Icons comics and starts thumbing through it. "Actually, still mostly school. Otherwise, you know, usual stuff. Beat up some Nazis on the moon, that was pretty fun."

Rogue has posed:
While Cassie responds, Rogue finally takes that sip of her water. She recaps it a moment later, and her dark eyebrows are lifted up then when the Moon is mentioned, with Nazis. "God... I hate space." She grumbles back in response. "I mean, it makes perfect sense... totally perfect sense that if Nazis were gonna find a place t'hide, it'd be up in space. It's like mixin' bleach with... uh.... whatever that other thing is you don't mix bleach with." She grins then for just a second before another thought visibly strikes her features.

"Oh, hell though, I'd say you should sign up for this," She hooks a thumb back at the Icons booth. "But I don't think they'd take ya if you are with the Justice League. The guy-dude in charge of it told me he was lookin' for unaffiliated heroes to sign to contract. Probably figures they'd come with less baggage that way, and, I dunno... maybe he gets a thrill outta 'owning' some of us." She smirks, real big, then and there. "But, I don't mean t'make it sound shady, or nothin', cause it really hasn't been."

A glance is shot down to her attire, and she touches her own stomach with a green gloved hand to the green and white that covers it. "I got like ten different costumes like this, different styles. I bang the absolute hell outta them too, and then a week later, they're all repaired and ready t'go again. The team has been great."

She shows a little smile then. "But yeah, you're Wonder Woman's partner... ya don't need some silly trope like a Justice League for a shoe company. You're the real deal. I'm just... fakin' it."

"You're goin' t'school in Manhattan, right? I think I've seen you around town a few times, off in the distance. Not too many flyers fittin' your style after all...."

Rogue's green eyes dance over to a group of kids with their parents who are meandering around the convention area of the shop, some of the kids holding big name books like Superman, Fantastic Four, and even an X-Men book in there... though those are rare, and often controversial due to the politics of Mutants.

Rogue puts her eyes back over on Cassie again then. "Oh, hey, did ya bring your Kangaroo horse thing, by chance?" She inquires.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Oh yeah?" Cassie seems a little surprised by Rogue's fear of the great void beyond. "It's not like- I'm not one of those cosmic-type heroes where it's a normal thing. But they do have the Watchtower up there, and as a junior member I get monitor duty a lot... So there's that. But I've only been outside near-Earth orbit once or twice. It was kinda scary at first, but after I got half blown-up the first time and found out I didn't a space suit or anything, it sort of didn't seem so bad." Ah yes, nothing like getting blasted with plasma cannons to improve one's opinion of something! "They had some kinda left-over moonbase fulla cyborgs and other weird stuff. It was like something out of a videogame." And she should know!

Also, she shows off her B in High School chem: "Ammonia."

As for signing up? "Yeah, probably not," Cassie agrees. "The League has its own PR department and official merchandizing licenses, I think? And a lot of the heroes have their own merch too. Like, I'm a brand ambassador for Diana's whole 'Wonder' line." Where do you think she gets all those casual shirts and hoodies with the double-W on them? "So this is just a personal appearance, it's not JL-sponsored or anything. The store probably has some kinda authorization through their distributor to use the logo and other IP, though, since they sell the comics."

It turns out Cassie is ... weirdly pretty well-informed on this topic!

"But that all sounds amazing, the costumes are really great." Indeed, Cassie takes a moment to lean this way and that, checking out some of the other details. She pulls at the cape curiously, either to see what the material is like or see how it's cut for the booty! "You're pretty damn strong, I'd hardly call that fake."

Then she lets the cape return to a more modest position! "Yeah, NYU. So I usually cover the city beat unless, you know, Di's got some globe-trotting thing she wants to drag me on. Or space." Spaaaace.

Unfortunately, it's a shake of her head, indicating her faithful mount's absence. "Hoppa? Nah, it's real hard to uh, park a kanga, you know? Especially since I figured I'd be here a couple hours. They uh, I think they sell a Jumpa plushie, though..." Even her mount loses out!

Rogue has posed:
Rogue turns this way and that for Cassie to inspect her uniform. She feels a level of comfort with the other young woman, since they seem to have a number of things in common, plus she knows the whole Icons thing is kind of intriguing to people already 'in the biz', so to speak. On the shoulder cape, there is the 'Mighty Woman' logo embosed in white. Essentially it's just a M and a W touching together to almost create two diamonds side by side. Not exactly the WW logo, mind you, but a relative non the less! Keep your lawyers at-bay!

"Ah, that's a shame. I saw an annoying ad online that I couldn't skip for like a week... but it had those Kanga...(?) in it. They looked pretty severe. I was diggin' that part at least." She responds with a hint of a grin touching her visage, while she stands there holding that bottle of water in both her hands in front of her stomach.

"But honestly, if ya ever do go more independent... I'd be happy t'throw your name at the Leader'a this thing." She speaks of the shoe company super team. She leans over then to speak quietly to Cassie then. "It pays more than you'd think..." Another grin is shown there-after as she leans back again.

She upnods at Cassie then. "I had an invite appointment for the AVengers once, but... I never went to it. Somethin' about that made me feel more 'off' than even this." She adds, with a little smirk. "But, hey, now I know who to hit up for Wondah swag. All I got is some Halloween costume of Diana's armor, worn it a couple times. I should totally sport some hoodies, or somethin' though." She grins yet again then.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
If Cassie is concerned with any trademark infringement, she doesn't say so. Really, they're just letters! Is it even fair that Superman just kind of has one all to himself?! She does pinch a hold of some of the uniform's material and pull at it a little, however, testing... well, whatever. It's stretchy-strength?

Distracted by this a little, she sounds quite surprised when Rogue brings up this kanga advertisement in response. "Wait, really? I don't think we were running one... what was it about?" Maybe she won't sue over two letters that are, frankly, well, just upside down versions of one another. But Kanga infringement? That's serious business. Or, more practically, there's not exactly a whole lot of ACCESS to the creatures, outside of Amazon care, so she has to wonder how such a thing was arranged. "Sure they weren't just normal kangaroos? Kangas are a bit bigger, more muscle."

Ultimately, she gives a bit of a laugh at the idea of ditching to join the competition. "Nah, Di's a great boss, couldn't ask for better. Like I really don't have to do any of this even, she's got Princess cash, you know? If anything its hard to stop her from spoiling me so much, sometimes. And even the sidekick thing, I mean it sounds kind of demeaning sometimes, but there's advantages. Selling myself as 'Amazing Lasso Lass' would be way harder."

"Not that I don't think there's some room for us to be doing more to get ourselves out there, the whole Amazon message," they WOULD have to fight some lawyers for that branding! "But that'd have to be something we were in charge of. There's probably even, I don't know, treaties and international trade rules to consider, for that stuff."

Noting a bit of a baleful look from the guy in charge of her booth, she breathes a sigh. "Looks like I gotta get back to work. But uh, here, lemme get your info." The phone appears once more! "You can text me to hang out if you're ever down in the village or whatever. Plus I can totally hook you up with some of that stuff. We've usually got plenty of extras laying around for promotions."

Rogue has posed:
In the front door walks a mom and dad, and their kid dressed as Homerunner himself, a baseball themed hero of all things. The kid sees 'Mighty Woman' his in-character girlfriend, and his eyes light up! So it looks like it might be showtime for both Cassie and Rogue again.

Rogue grins at the other, nodding her head gently. "I think it was a ad for your Amazon Arts Museum thing..." She says. "I'm sure it's on ya'lls Youtube page." She draws in a breath then, and whips her phone out from under the right hip tabard hanging down from her synthetic uniform's upper-body 'jacket'. Cassie's phone beeps a second after Rogue drops a message over to it, then.

"I'll definitely do that. Always lookin' for some new fun t'get up to on the weekends." She states, showing a happy smile before that family starts to make their way over toward the Icons booth.

"And hey, I want swag signed by Wonder Woman /and/ Wonder Girl. The duo makes it way more legit." She gladly adds for Cassie before going to greet the family, and is soon crouching down to offer a gloved hand to shake with the little leaguer super hero cosplayer.

"Well, heya, Sugah. Looks like you're a real heartbreaker, just like someone I know..." And the kid is all grins, as is the mother and father too!