15383/Chain Lightning

Chain Lightning
Date of Scene:	14 July 2023
Location:	Rock of Eternity
Synopsis:	Irie heroes up for Billy!
Cast of Characters:	Billy Batson, Irie West

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Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam has a pile of parchments before him. Steve the stylus is floating along, happily drawing up scheduled shows for Billy. Shazam watches appreciatively. "That's great. I have the whole week blocked in. Thanks Steve.And you do such straight lines. I just need another guest for this month... maybe ask Tarot back?" Steve writes Tarot in with a question mark next to her name. Then the parchment floats across the table to Shazam.

"So are you like just the stylus... or a ghost who uses the stylus or what? Sorry sorry, you're entitled to your privacy. Go take a rest." The stylus lays down.

Irie West has posed:
?The portal that links the Rock of Eternity to earth glows for a bit as Irie makes her way out. "That's still so cool," she mutters with a grin. A little further in, she sees Shazam at the table and gives him a friendly wave. "Hi Shazam!" Her eyes narrow. "You're doing paperwork? Shazams do paperwork? What kind of paperwork would a Shazam need to do?" Her eyes go wide, "Oh-em-gee is there, like, a kind of Shazam bureaucracy that you have to deal with in order to be a Shazam?"

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam sets the parchment aside. "No bureaucracy. Just me to empower you/them.whatever. No Steve was blocking out a schedule for the next week. And when we aren't working, you can call me Billy. I mean I'll change back if you prefer Billy. Can I still call you 'Irie', Kid Flash? Oh and Flashes do a lot of cool stuff, like going through walls. I mean I can go through walls but... then they need fixing."

Irie West has posed:
    Irie bites her lower lip. "I mean... you're Shazam right now. All grown up and everything. It's hard to think of you as Billy when you're like this." Her cheeks color a bit as she confesses, "I think I like you better as Billy. But you don't have to change on my account!" she quickly amends. "Just, you know, be whoever makes you most comfortable."

    "Yeah. Irie is fine, unless I'm in my costume." She chuckles, "Then I'm kinda 'on the job'" She tilts her head curiously. "Who's Steve?"

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam grins and says the word. The lightning bolt... what does it look like to Irie? The bang must be like a sustained roar to her ears. It is louder here. He gets more of a rush changing either way. But then he's merely Billy Batson in his faded hoodie. "Billy is it then. And this is Steve. Steve this is Irie. If she needs help you help her. My brother found him and named him. We all use him. He's got AI beat cold."

Billy steps aside to let Irie come closer to the table.

Irie West has posed:
    Irie blinks to clear the spots in her eyes from the brilliant flash of Billy changing back to his civilian persona. "That's still so neat," she says with a grin and makes her way through the cavern to stand in front of Billy. "What does it feel like? Is it like..." she makes explosion motions with her hands, "...kaboom?"

    She blinks in surprise when it's revealed that Steve is a pen. "Steve is a /pen/? That's..." she shakes her head, "That's an awful pen name. Seriously. Pen names are things like 'Brett Miranda' and 'Vince Stockholm.' Nobody will want to buy a book from plain old 'Steve!'"

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy shrugs and says, "Pedro said he looked like a Steve, He answers to it. I don't think he has literary hopes. He's more of a research assistant. Steve introduce yourself." The stylus floats up. A clean sheet of parchment slips under it and it writes quite elegantly, <<Hello Irie. I am Steve... but I am a stylus if you please.>> Billy snerks a little.

Irie West has posed:
    Irie lets out a little 'eep' when the stylus suddenly floats up and writes out a message. She reaches out and gingerly takes the parchment to read the message. "What's the difference between a stylus and a pen?" she asks.

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy wraps an arm around Irie's shoulder and leans in closely to stage whisper, "I am not sure. But it sounds better than Steve the Pen and it makes him happy, so why not?" Steve writes, <<It's called alliteration.>>

Billy releases Irie and takes a step back. "Sorry, didn't mean to..."

Irie West has posed:
    Irie blushes a little when Billy's arm is wrapped around her, but her attention is drawn to the parchment. "Yeah, I guess that works out better if you're Steve the Stylus," she agrees.

    Then she's blinking at Billy as he's making apologies. "What? No!" she says awkwardly. "I mean, it's fine."

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy blushes too. "Oh okay. Uhm, so show me a cool Flash trick! I showed you the lightning, the Lair, Steve. Let's see some speed tricks. I loved the trip to Philly by the way but... I was afraid that Flash lightning might turn me into Shazam. I had to be really careful of that. I've gotten better. Hey I never even saw you in costume! Do you wear it under street clothes or run home to get it or what?"

Irie West has posed:
    Irie blinks as Billy rapid fire questions at her. So /that's/ what it feels like. "Speed tricks? Well. Um. I can phase through things, but you already know that. I can make whirlwinds? I don't wanna do that inside cause... you know... parchments and everything." She rubs the back of her head embarrassed. "Um. I can run up buildings. I can run across water. I mean... Yah. A lot of running. We're kind of a one trick pony, you know?"

    The mention of her costume causes her to brighten up. "Oh! That's right! I've never shown it to you! Be right back." She's gone in a blink of an eye, the portal glowing briefly from her passage. In less than a second she's back, this time wearing her costume.

    It's mostly yellow, but it's got red and black trim along the legs and sides. She's got a black leather jacket over it all with the Flash lightning bold emblazoned on its back to match the one on her chest. She's got black leather fingerless gloves on, and a pair of goggles that goes over her mask that are currently pushed up to her forehead. "Ta-da!"

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson exclaims, "Holy Moley! You look awesome! I love the goggle and the jacket.You look really heroic! Selfie time. Cover your eyes! SHAZAM." Which he then is. Shazam picks up his phone from the table and walks over to Irie, trying hard not to loom over her. "C'mon bring it in! The lightning twins!" He holds his arm out to her and reverses the phone. He discovers Irie is really tiny when he's Shazam and he is required to stoop.