17601/Finding an Old Friend
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Finding an Old Friend | |
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Date of Scene: | 08 April 2024 |
Location: | Four Freedoms Plaza - Midtown |
Synopsis: | Kitty watches Johnny Storm teach kids about a solar eclipse. |
Cast of Characters: | Johnny Storm, Kitty Pryde
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- Johnny Storm has posed:
It's not every day that New York is gripped by Solar Fever! ...Not some obscure galactic contagion of course, but an enthusiasm for astronomy and space brought on by the rarity of a solar eclipse! And Johnny Storm is doing his part and then some. His part? Playing a bit part in a free for the public scientific display at Four Freedoms Plaza. Admittedly, the main portion of which was using his flame powers to show how the sun and moon interact during the eclipse by filling in for the sun.
Could they have done it with a flashlight? Sure. But flashlights don't sign autographs! And while he may have flooded his personal social media with all sorts of self deprecating jokes about how he's going to need to be rescued, it all rings with that oh so Johnny wit that proves he wouldn't actually have it any other way. And with the eclipse itself imminent, the 'science fair' portion of the event has been done for about twenty minutes while proper eye protection is handed out.
And thus, Johnny has been autographing keepsakes, chatting with fans, and now is boggling at a mint condition packaged action figure set. "Funtastic Five? No, no, it's /not/ legit, it's definitely a bootleg. I mean if we had a talking dog I'd never shut up about it!"
For all his good natured charm and clear, genuine enjoyment of meeting his 'adoring public', his eyes keep darting about, locking on each and every brunette bob he can spy... and not in his usual hound dog way! No no. He's looking for a specific brunette. Which is... okay, yeah, maybe part of him is still also cataloging the women who aren't the one he's keeping an eye out for.
Cheetahs and spots and all.
- Kitty Pryde has posed:
Over in an out of the way spot, Kitty Pryde is leaning against a wall from where she's been watching at a distance as Johnny teaches the kids about celestial mechanics. She's known him for about eight years now, since she started up at Xavier's School. But only in the last year did she really get to know him as more than a rockstar superhero who would show up at the school sometimes with the rest of the Fantastic Four.
Eventually the eclipse time is drawing nearer, and the kids are getting their glasses on and peering about not able to see anything through them other than if they look up at the sun. Kitty's smile grows as Johnny uses his abundance of charm to let the person with the knock off action figure down gently.
She begins walking over towards him then, that distinctive brown ponytail likely falling into his line of vision finally. She's wearing a pair of fitted slacks that snug to her figure, and a grey blazer over a darker blouse beneath. And her face lights up as she walks up to the famed hero. "So can you explain again how this whole eclipse things works?" she asks, hands going behind her back and giving a little bit of a starstruck look and a back and forth bashful sway of her shoulders, with just that twinkle in her pretty brown eyes betraying the act of gushing fan.
- Johnny Storm has posed:
Winning, practiced marketing opportunity smile Johnny's giving for yet another autograph photo falters slightly, or rather, gets a touch broader as he spots Kitty's approach with enough clarity to tell it is in fact Kitty herself. He doesn't rush through the last meet and greets despite it, because as much of a rep for being a bit of a cad and, let's face it, it's earned, he really does enjoy his unique life.
Well, aside from some parts of it that still have him wake up in a cold sweat. But hey, dying does that to a guy.
And so as distance closes, as Johnny racks his mind trying to think of an appropriate icebreaker for engaging with Kitty... she goes and outmaneuvers him by providing her own, which does mean he almost stammers over his words. "Oh! Well, you see... it..." He clicks his tongue, "Okay, this was easier with the interns and the basketball for the Earth and that softball for the moon and..." His eyes narrow, his jaw sets, and he sighs out. "You know how a solar eclipse works."
It's practically a tone of playful accusation as his eyes narrow slightly, sizing Ms. Pryde up like he's not /actually/ entirely sure the brilliant young woman is teasing him. "Just don't ask me the difference between a lunar eclipse and a solar eclipse or we're going to need some graph paper and string and several hours to dedicate to our studies." He snorts softly and tilts his head, eyebrows lifting, "So, how's it going? Just dropping by in case it turns out all those theories about solar eclipses heralding the apocalypse are true?"
- Kitty Pryde has posed:
The little stammer draws a big grin from Kitty. Whether intentional or not, it's endearing either way. Her face scrunches up as if trying to remember and she says, "I think maybe Hank did go over it once," she agrees about her knowledge of eclipses.
With the break in the line of fans as they are focusing on the eclipse which is starting, Kitty moves over to give Johnny a quick, gentle hug. There might be the lightest brush of lips against his cheek in that moment no one else would be likely to see it, before she's letting him go and moving back enough to look him over.
"I think that uniform still looks as good on you today as it did back when I first saw you on TV," she teases. She picks up a pair of eclipse glasses, and hands Johnny one as well. "Great of you to do this for the kids," she tells him as she dons them and looks up from where she stands near at his side, to spot the moon starting to pass in front of the sun.
- Johnny Storm has posed:
That little stammer that draws a big grin from Kitty just makes /that/ big grin draw one from Johnny as Kitty plays at trying to recall whether or not she's learnt this lesson before. But he does hold back from rolling his eyes and showing off that he's /clearly/ aware she's smart as a whip
"Well, I'm sure once was enough for you, smart as a whip!" He shakes his head slowly, "Making friends with a literal dinosaur though..." He returns that hug, and despite the urge burning inside, resists the impulse to groan like that simple contact threw his hip out or something. Maybe because he's maturing.
Maybe because part of him's worried that a sudden motion to pretend he threw his hip out would throw his hip out.
And that brief little brush of lips on his cheek finds no stubble, because Johnny really /did/ make sure he was at his best for the public. And fortunately, once in a lifetime astronomical events are enough for the crowd to be pointing and looking directly at the sun (with appropriate eyewear, kids!) and so he returns that cheek kiss with one of his own, and a brief little squeeze to tighten that hug in a subtle show of genuine emotion.
He snorts out and grins lopsidedly, "Oh! It does. It just takes more /work/ to keep myself looking uniform ready than it did back then. But hey, I'm glad you appreciate it. Makes it all worthwhile."
He places his own glasses on and looks up, "I mean, besides, I have to keep looking my best when you're around! Need to try and match your effortless ability to look good."
- Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty gazes up at the solar event, the moon's shadow moving so slow as to be just imperceptible, yet you could convince yourself you could actually see the motion. Her smile is lit up at Johnny's comment even if her face is direct skywards. "Effortless? Do you have any ideas of how many different outfits I tried on before..." she says, though lets the admission to the man she hasn't seen in a few months fade away. A sweetly shy flit of her eyes over towards Johnny accomplishing nothing since those glasses are just opaque when not directed at the sun.
She slips them off while her eyes are on him rather than up on the sky. "Do you have more of the event to do after the eclipse is over?" she asks. "I took the rest of the day off, figured I'd see if you were free after." She smiles at him gently and then dons the glasses again to look upwards. "You guys been doing anything in space lately? While we're on the subject."
- Johnny Storm has posed:
Johnny bites back a chuckle and mutters out softly, "Rule one, never admit how much effort 'effortless' takes... it's like Star Trek, always tell them it takes longer to fix the warp core than it really does so you always look amazing... figuratively. Amazing."
He watches the moon move into position and sighs out softly, just a low noise of wonder and relaxation, before he tilts his head down to eye her over those glasses and shakes his head, "Oh no, I mean... trying to follow up /after/ a solar eclipse? I mean, I'm great, but not 'the beauty of the cosmos' great." He shakes his head and laughs softly, "Oh, no, nothing specific, or at least nothing I've heard about. I know there was that thing with all those spaceships showing up at the spaceport awhile back but... I mean, guy on fire flying around a bunch of damaged spaceships? Didn't sound like a great idea even to /me/." He shrugs and hums softly, "Though I think Reed's still got a bunch of small vessels in his crazy asteroid garage that could use a little spin around the block. Ever want to be a co-pilot? And how goes the... you know... school? Gifted youngsters still gifted?"
- Kitty Pryde has posed:
Seemingly taking Johnny's advice on 'effort', when he slips his glasses down to look over at her, Kitty flashes him a pretty little smile. "Why, this old thing?" she says of her outfit, amending her earlier statement with a grin and a soft laugh after.
The young woman nods at his question back to her. "The school is well. Some new students who seem to be fitting in well. Though we ran into one of them near an old Sentinel disassembly plant we were investigating. I hope she wasn't snooping about there. Though she did seem to just be in the area at the time."
Kitty dons the glasses again to check on the eclipse's progress, the moon having eclipsed a good portion of the sun by now. "And just got back from a trip to space. Out to Gliese 581. One of those refugees touched down near the school. And there were bounty hunters on his tail." His tail. Howard the Duck's tail. Kitty has a quiet chuckle inside even if she doesn't try to explain the duck-like nature of the alien. "We tracked them back to Gliese 581, went to try to resolve the issues behind it and get them off his back. It was this enormous museum world. A whole planet devoted to this one guy's collection."
Kitty lets out a breath and chuckles. "Kind of mind-blowing. Wish you could have seen it. And you know, if you ever need a co-pilot I'm game."
- Johnny Storm has posed:
Johnny flashes an approving little grin for Kitty's smooth pivot on her choice of fashion being so very effortless. He sighs out and bobs his head, "Yeah, I mean, I'm no poster boy for responsible urban exploration or anything but 'Murder 'bot disassembly plant' is probably not a good choice for some unsupervised exploration."
His eyebrows lift and he sighs out softly, "Seriously? See? This is why I don't try to go back to space /too/ often. You go out, engage in daring-do and misadventure and it still winds up sounding like you just read a spec script for the next sci fi movie..." And for a brief moment, the ongoing eclipse isn't the darkest part of Johnny's day, jaw clenching slightly as he finds his mind spiralling into a whirlwind of how dangerous some of his adventures have been... well, one adventure.
And unfortunately, Johnny's immune to his own dismissive reasoning of 'Technically the negative zone is another dimension, not just space, so it's not like I died in /space/'.
Fortunately, Kitty looking back up draws his gaze to join hers as he reaches out seemingly subconsciously to give her another little half-hug around the shoulders as he watches the eclipse again, "Okay... I really recommend we like, do a grocery run first. Eating like an actual astronaut sounds way more fun than it is. It's actually just TV dinners but worse."
He glances back down with a wry little grin, "And hey, if you need someone who's /cool/ and /hip to the kids/ to come give a lecture about not wandering around abandoned robot facilities..." He clears his throat and deadpans, "Get someone else. I gotta keep /some/ of my irresponsibility going strong."
- Kitty Pryde has posed:
Though it might be nearly many months, nearly a year, since Kitty has seen Johnny, she doesn't seem to have lost any of her ability to read his emotions from his expression. Without thinking she moves a hand over to rest upon his back and given little gentle, reassuring rubs back and forth. When his own arm slips about her shoulder seemingly in search of more of that reassurance she's always had for him, the young woman leans gently into the partial hug, her hand sliding to go about his waist as she lets him feel that she's there. A bit of warmth to oppose those darker memories that both of them have down deep.
"Or order some wings. They don't have wings in space," she says. And realizes they do but since she didn't explain Howard's avian nature she can't quip about it just now. "Though the dried ice cream is pretty tasty."
Johnny draws a warm laugh from Kitty. "Mr. Johnny Storm, I thought you realized I knew you far too well to ask you to behave responsibly!" Kitty says. She leans her head against his shoulder, then finally moves the dark lenses back over her eyes to look up, catching the sun in total eclipse before the moon passes on. "Think you can get us upstairs without scorching my jacket?" she asks.
- Johnny Storm has posed:
That simple touch seems to ground Johnny, whatever storm (Heh. wordplay.) is going on inside him easing, lessening and the sun breaking through... even as the sun is, very literally, failing to break through the moon itself with its light. He breathes slowly, deeply, focused and practiced... and probably something he picked up from a self-help podcast.
Although that brief moment of zen and calming is interrupted as he hums out, "I think boneless. I mean, most ships without artificial gravity don't even allow things that can make /crumbs/ float around... wing bones? Probably responsible for most species that fail to achieve spaceflight. It's why they don't have them in space. Only humans, with our boundless ingenuity, have mastered boneless wings."
He glances sidelong and grins broadly, "Ms. Pryde, I would /never/ assume that you had any intention of making me act in any fashion! You are, after all, far too responsible yourself to /encourage/ my irresponsibility! You're a buoy of good cheer and neutrality."
He looks up to catch the eclipse in its totality and drops his voice to a hiss, "I'm pretty sure I could manage without any risk to most of your outfit! Just consider me your exclusive express elevator."
- Kitty Pryde has posed:
"Might give the kids a thrill to see you flying off. Though also might cause some paparazzi photos if you had a woman in your arms when you did," Kitty muses as she leans against the Fantastic Four member. Not that such photos haven't happened before! Though he knows, she loves being flown around, having heard her wish on more than one occasion she could actually fly and not just walk across air like it was solid ground.
"I could take the elevator instead, and order some boneless wings on the way up? Honey BBQ sauce? And ranch?" she asks, her hand giving a little rub along Johnny's lower back.
Kitty lifts her glasses again, looking up. "It is nice, the eclipse. But I have to say, seeing the sun emerge from behind the Earth when you're up in space is a far more interesting sight."
- Johnny Storm has posed:
Johnny lets out a thoughtful noise, "Less than if I had you hanging off my back or thrown over my shoulder... plus, someone's definitely going to do something that overshadows me in like five minutes. That's totally a secret of celebrity life, the advent of social media just means that things that used to run for days about minor foibles now gets erased when someone does something truly foolish! And I'm only /mostly/ foolish."
He bobs his head and sighs out, "Yeah, it's... this is great, but there's nothing like that view. It makes you think." He snickers softly and glances back down from the eclipse, "You know, if we just step backwards right now, the elevator will probably be back in the lobby and your wings will be halfway here before anyone even notices we're gone."
He shrugs his shoulders and drops his voice to a low whisper, "Plus, I've got a wide variety of beverages available. Wings and reconnecting today, jaunt about the solar system another?"
- Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde turns in towards Johnny, near enough for another feather-light rush of lips to his cheek. "Deal," she tells him, moving her head back so she can look over into his eyes and shine a smile over at him.
She pulls out her phone. Johnny knows she designed it, built it, and programmed it herself. "Two dozen boneless wings, honey bbq, extra ranch for dipping. From Angelo's, delivered to Johnny," Kitty tells the phone, which seems to be enough for it to then place the order on its own.
The phone is returned into her back pocket and she reaches up, brushing back a few stray wisps of hair that made it out of her ponytail, tucking them behind an ear. "Shall we?" she asks with a smile.