15262/Up On Top of the Roof

Up On Top of the Roof
Date of Scene:	29 June 2023
Location:	Roof - Renovated Theatre - The Roost
Synopsis:	Superboy visits Gotham and catches up with Honey Badger. They talk family and jobs.
Cast of Characters:	Jon Kent, Gabby Kinney

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Jon Kent has posed:
For some reason Superboy has veered into Gotham. His father has warned him to avoid Batman's city but who can tell a teenager anything? And he really didn't intend to come here specifically. Sometimes you just wander and meander and aimlessly fly, and who knows where that will take you.

To Gotham.

"I should probably not be here," he mutters to himself as he moves effortlessly through the skies. In fact, the young man does a 180 and veers his course in the general direction of Metropolis. That's about when his super hearing picks up someone saying, "Hey, you, watch out where you're going."

A teenaged girl who looks maybe 15 or 16 has her head down and her attention buried in her phone as he she heads for some torn-up sidewalk that is being repaired. The fall is probably a good 8-10 feet. But she doesn't hear the citizen's warning because she has AirPods in her ears.

Superboy rockets down from the sky and lands directly in front of the girl, his arms akimbo. She unknowingly slams right into him. Spoiler alert: it doesn't budge our hero one bit.

"Hey, what the hell...." Then she looks up and sees Superboy, looks at what she was about to walk into, looks at Superboy again, looks at the pit again, now back to Superboy. "Oh my God, thank you, Superman."

Jon doesn't correct her.

"You should watch where you're going, miss," he says helpfully. "You could end up getting really hurt, or worse."

"That's not Superman, it's Superboy," some cynical Gothamite blurts out.

Jon looks at the corrective citizen, then back to the girl. "Take care!"

And he flies up off the ground effortlessly and lands on a nearby rooftop.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
There were other groups that helped to patrol Gotham these days than just the Batman and his proteges. Of course the groups were usually led by those proteges, as was the case with the Outsiders that Gabby belonged to.

It just so happens the rooftop that he decided to land on was the one used by the Outsiders most often.

It gave a good enough view of the area that the trouble on the streets hadn't gone unnoticed. It wasn't much in the way of trouble, but it certainly was a dangerous situation, and one that Gabby herself couldn't respond to quick enough even with the grapple gun she'd pulled out intending to swoop in. The flash of red and blue caused her to pause instead. The girl was saved. Gabby crosses her arms over her chest leaning against the lip of the rooftop watching everything else that happens with growing amusement that leaves her repressing laughter.

By the time Jon flies up there she's clutching her stomach with one hand while swiping at her eyes with the other laughing outright.

"Wow that guy had no chill at all," she blurts out between laughs. "Nice save though. I'll make sure someone gets some proper barriers up around that ASAP."

Jon Kent has posed:
Landing noiselessly on the roof, Superboy hears the laughter. He sees Gabby and he lets out a sigh, crossing his arms over his chest. "Thankfully I was here," he says in a teasing tone. "This whole city would go to heck without me."

Heck. He actually said heck.

Superboy nods in Gabby's direction. "So how have you been, H.B.?" he asks. "Are you keeping the Outsiders in line and well behaved?" Just for good measure, he peers over the rooftop to the scene the below. The same girl, with her AirPods back in, runs directly into the door of a pizza place as a customer is exiting. Superboy winces.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney shrugs helplessly at Superboy in response to the remark. "Total heck," she agrees as her grin broadens once more. Before she can respond to how she's doing though she notices that glance back down to the street and looks herself. The girl crashing into something else has her cringing. "Wow. She's going to be bruised up by the time she gets half a block at this rate. I guess you can't really teach spacial awareness to some people."

Her hand swipes back through her hair to tuck some behind her ear absently to help free up her own peripherial vision. "I'm doing all right. I've not been here as often as I should as an Outsider lately, though," she admits sheepishly. "I've been helping run the JLD. It's eaten up a lot of my time. I still try to come out here a couple times a week or if I'm needed, though." A quick look over the rooftop makes it seem as if there wasn't any need currently. Otherwise she might not be hanging out on the roof at all.

"What about you? It's been awhile. How's your dad doing, too? I was there when they got him away from Brainiac."

Jon Kent has posed:
"Hopefully she doesn't walk out in front of a vehicle," Superboy adds. As he talks to Honey Badger, he keeps an eye on the departing teen *just* in case. He's like that.

"Dad's doing fine now," the young Kryptonian replies. "He had me running errands and getting stuff for him like non-stop. I thought maybe he was, like, recovering or something. Turn out he was just messing with me." Superboy shrugs his shoulders and rolls his eyes.

"Oh!" he chimes in suddenly as realization strikes. "There's a new Kryptonian here. She claims to be Superman's daugher, my sister! She arrived in an exact copy of dad's original ship. It even had the same scratches and dents and it responded to dad's commands."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
That was surprising news even for her to hear. Gabby grins a bit broader in response. "That's awesome! What's her name? I mean, if it's okay to say. I met Divine the other week, too, but she's your cousins clone I think?" It was a clone but she didn't quite have the whole El family line down pat.

"That is really cool that you have a sister now, too. I'll have to meet her sometime." She glances over the edge of the building toward the streets below. Maybe at the girl, maybe at nothing in particular, just a habitual check to make sure nothing was about to go down while distracted. "I should check in on my own sisters soon. I always worry about Bellona. She's the only one that didn't inherit the family mutation."

Jon Kent has posed:
"I'm not sure if I *do* have a sister," Superboy replies. "She claims that she is, like, *actively* a member of the family. I've never seen her before in my life but she knows my Kryptonian name and she thought I was, like, I dunno, pranking her when I said I didn't know her." He shrugs a little. Now that the clumsy teen is out of sight, Superboy seemingly gives his full attention to Honey Badger. He's probably still listening in on her. He's such a paladin. "Her name is Cir-El," he adds.

As the subject flows naturally into Gabby's family, Superboy clasps his hands behind his back outside of his cape and listens. "Is that a good thing?" he inquires when Honey Badger mentions that Bellona didn't inherit the family mutation. "I mean, do you ever just wonder what it would be like to just be normal?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Aaah. Alternate timeline issues. That's always a bit hard to figure out, yeah. I've seen it a few times before." Gabby's expression turns a bit sympathetic as she had indeed run into that situation before. "Guess it all depends how you look at it, and what you're willing to accept about Cir-El, then. You don't think she's a plant, do you?"

The question causes her to pause, considering. She pushes away from her spot leaning against the edge of the roof to stand straight while considering. "If we'd had any sort of 'normal' upbringing to begin with, maybe that would be okay. We're clones though. We don't have parents, or other family besides each other. Heck," the word is borrowed with a litte bit of bemusement as her attention shifts back to Jon with a tired kind of smile. "We were lucky to have our sisters. Me especially. They kept me from having to do the worst of what the labs wanted us to do."

"I'd like it if Bellona could find some peace, and happiness. She's got a lot to work through though. Even more than I had to. So I worry because she still insists on doing dangerous jobs that she might not survive."

Jon Kent has posed:
Superboy sits down on the edge of the rooftop, his back to the streets below. Maybe he's just getting comfortable. Maybe it's symbolic that his full attention is on Honey Badger.

"She has to make her own choices. That's part of becoming empowered," Superboy says softly. "Humans are..." He shakes his head. "...the most extraordinary, brave creatures I can ever imagine. They move through this world, so fragile and vulnerable, but so bold. Your sister has the privilege of being a part of an amazing species." From his sitting position, Superboy looks up at Gabby sympathetically, analyzing her reactions. He's probably also listening to her heartbeat. The little shit.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney glances to the side slightly as Superboy speaks about humanity in general. Her heart rate does pick up a bit when he talks about Bellona being part of them... but not in any angry or jealous way. Her smile is more one of pride. "Yeah, I know. I see people like Red Robin, and Batgirl, and all of them do just as much as I can and they do it without a safety net. So to speak."

Lifting her eyes up toward him again she continues with a small, helpless shrug. "I'm always going to worry about the people I care about though. Human, mutant, meta, alien. I can't stop them from doing what they feel they ought to. I can try to help, though."

Jon Kent has posed:
When Honey Badger looks back up, Superboy meets her gaze and smiles. Of all of the great many powers that Superman has, his very greatest is the power of being a friend, the trust that he engenders. Jon inherited that in spades. He stands up and moves toward Honey Badger, placing his hands on her shoulders.

Speaking quietly because he is using her real name, Superboy says...no, /Jon/ says, "Gabs, your strength is service. It sounds like your sister's strength is boldness in the face of danger. I think that makes the two of you a pretty great team. Not much is more important than family, and she's lucky to have you as a sister."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney bites down on her lower lip trying to repress the littel surge of emotion that comes up when he reassures her in this way. A single deep breath is drawn trying to chase away the urge to do something as silly as cry. It would be a happy one, but that was a bit much for her to dump on someone like this. Instead she blurts out, "You're such a doof," all in a single breath.

That's all she manages to get out before her weight shifts to step in closer wrapping her arms around Jon in a firm hug. Her forehead rests just against his chest due to height difference, and the desire to hide her current expression from him. "Thanks, Jon," comes her own quiet murmer. "I think I needed to hear that."

Jon Kent has posed:
Jon returns the hug gladly. "You're welcome." There's a certain /something/ about receiving a compliment from a being that would sooner die than tell a falsehood. It's warm and fuzzy because you know it's true, but it cuts deep because you can't deny it and say he's full of it.

After several moments, Superboy releases Honey Badger and steps back a couple of steps. He is still smiling warmly. "Hey, so you're part of the Justice League Dark, huh? Doesn't that mean we're now mortal enemies?" he asks, with an enthusiastic glitter in his bright blue eyes. "Because I have some news! I was officially accepted into the Justice League as a trainee! I'm following in dad's foosteps." His smile deepens.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney doesn't try to keep him held too long. When he moves to step away she lets him also taking a half-step herself so he's not forced to end up back against the edge of the roof completely. At least she didn't have to worry about him falling even if that were the case. A few deep breaths are drawn in again to help calm her own welling emotions over that feel-good moment.

The news however causes her face to light up with a big toothy grin.

"Really!? That's awesome! Maybe mortal frienemies, we do work together when needed," she points out chuckling. "And we *are* around if you guys ever need. I may not really do the magical stuff myself but we've got a lot of people that do. Don't forget we can help if you need."

Still smiling she looks Jon up and down jokingly as she rubs her chin. "Guess we might be calling you 'Superman' after all pretty soon!"

Jon Kent has posed:
"I'll make sure they put you guys on speed dial," Jon says warmly, his smile never fading.

At six feet tall, he has really sprouted up. He peers down at himself. "I don't think my dad will *ever* retired. He's full Kryptonian. He won't age a day for at least another Earth century." He shrugs. "Maybe I'll start thinking up some other code names."

He steps close to Gabby and gives her another hug -- a brief once. "Gabby, you have my number. I'm your friend always. You call me if you need *anything*, okay? But I need to get home. Grams is going to kick my butt if I'm late for supper."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Yeah, I get that. Most of my family seems to kind of freeze around twenty-five for awhile." How long she wasn't sure. Even the eldest of them had memory issues so it was questionable just when they might age up further. When he steps in for another hug she returns it easily with a chuckle.

"I'll stop being such a stranger. You go do your thing, and say hi for me. I've never met them but your grandparents sound like awesome people." With that she steps away lifting a hand to wave out of old habit. "Catch you around!"

Jon Kent has posed:
As effortlessly as a leaf blowing on the wind, Superboy rises gently up into the sky. Then he turns away and *rockets* out of sight, thundering away like some young godling!