2502/Angels and Dem... Teenagers!

Angels and Dem... Teenagers!
Date of Scene:	17 July 2020
Location:	Flushing Meadows Park
Synopsis:	Angelica meets Billy. Lightning doesn't strike but a tree catches fire... somehow.
Cast of Characters:	Angelica Jones, Billy Batson

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Angelica Jones has posed:
The boys flex their muscles, showing off for the ladies. The girls primp and polish, dress and undress as they need to in order to get the boys' attention. Cats and kittens walk among the cultural savannah, and life in High School is normal. Many times you couldn't tell the difference between it and an actual scene out of a Wild Nature show, with the need to win a mate warring with the emotions so close to the surface.

"Bye daddy!" says the new girl, waving as her father's car drops her off. She turns to her new school and slips in her earbuds. She frowns, fiddling with them. "I just bought these," she grumps, the eighties song starting up late and futzy at best. Pulling her books under one arm she walks a few steps, tapping her ear.

Some eyes follow her. She seems nice enough. Red hair, long and straight. An unknown though. "Lord above, another ugly one," one says. Another snickers behind Angelica's back. If she'd had the music going she wouldn't have heard it. Instead tears spring into her eyes, and she bites her lip. This can't be how it starts.

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy is having a morning. "You are not making this easy, Darla. Can't you just have cold cereal." Darla looks up at her big foster brother and shakes her head. "Grilled cheese please. It's Friday and I get a grilled cheese for breakfast. Rosa makes me a grilled cheese." She nods sagely. Billy looks at the time and mutters under his breath. No time for a stupid... "Shazam!"

Lightning and thunder crash! He's pretty sure he gets a free pas on this one, getting Darla brekkie and getting them both to school. He grabs the ingredients, makes the sandwich and toasts it with a lightning bolt. He turns to Darla... and regards the beautiful young woman wearing a lavender version of his own costume.

She grins and vanishes in a burst of speed! "Ogh nononono!" he tears after her.

Shazam finally runs his sister down at her school, grabs her as she ponders an ice cream truck and blasts her back to 10 year old cuteness with a bolt of lightning. He leaves her with a kiss and a grilled cheese in her mouth a nd flashes off to his own school. Some people notice them and he tells Darla, "Don't do drugs... everytime that you drug... you kick a puppy." He shoots into the sky and heads for his own school... Homework! His Books! Holy Moley! He heads back home first. Stupid Darla!

Angelica Jones has posed:
Angelica would chastize Billy for thinking Darla is stupid. She's cute and adorable and all the things! But right now she's got her own issues. She tries to press her fingers to her earbuds to block out the sniggering around her, almost dropping her books. It is, of course, one of those days. And the start of a new school? Even more so.

"Watch it," says a male voice. A hand reaches into her limited field of vision and grabs Angelica's books. The voices around her stop, cold, as a blonde, tall, athletic guy lifts her books back up. To her. Not at her, someone being nice. Someone absolutely adorable. "You almost dropped these. Take care now!"

Opening her mouth to say something, anything, Angelica misses her chance. The guy smiles, then turns away. And the sniggering busts into open laughter, as she stares like an imbecile. When it penetrates, and it does, she turns. A group of girls is literally holding onto each other to keep from falling over, laughing. One, a smaller brunette, stalks over, still chortling. "Wow. That was epic," she says to Ang, holding out a hand. She gets close enough, then just as Angelica starts to reach out she lifts it to her own hair, blowing her off.

"I don't shake the hands of losers."

"Nice one Cassie," her cohort says.

Angelica stares. In disbelief. In horror. And her eyes narrow.

and the tree behind the girls starts smoking.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam checks the time on his phone. Great it's failed again. That doesn't surprise him. He still makes mistakes with the lightning, only usually a power down and restart fixes them. Horns are blaring below, not unusual for any city really. Smoking tree... SMOKING TREE? He lands... okay gym class in five... he has this.

Landing by the tree Billy starts to uproot it and, where do you get rid of a burning tree? He waves it around a bit hoping it stops smoking while he thinks things over. Hmmm Jamaica Bay?

Angelica Jones has posed:
The tree starts to actually crackle and burn, as the mean girls clap their hands and amuse themselves, not noting what Billy saw so easily. The horns going off in the vicinity are nothing compared to the kids, all of whom's celphones die at once. All of them. Think about it.

Then, the sound of the tree actually being ripped up mixes with shouts of "Superman!" "No man, that's not.." "It's Shaz.." "..." Tree ripping, roots being torn out, flames crackling. The girls shriek and run in all directions, with Angelica staring as the tree literally lights on fire...then RISES INTO THE AIR!!!

"Someone get help!" she cries out, quickly looking around for anyone who might be in danger! The microwaves cut off, the anger fueling them torn asunder by the events, the amazing events!

What happened? And not, a single, selfie, was taken with Shazam.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam lifts into the air with the burning tree. Not that the flames bother him. Ah community pool. He shoots a few blocks over, dunks the tree in the pool and deposits it by a landfill. In a few seconds he's back at the schoolyard. "Anybody know what happened here? Hello? Anybody? Cassie, Luke? Ripley??" He gives a long hard look at Ripley, the lout who messed with Angelica, who turns and walks away. "Yeah keep walking. Anybody have any idea what happened here?" He scratches his head, surrounded by teens wrapped up in the bricks that used to run their lives.

Angelica Jones has posed:
"It's Captain Marvel," she says, to nobody listening to her. She's not worth even the villains' time right now, not with Shazam floating ten feet in front of the crowd. She looks at herself, at her jeans and dusty blazer, normal school clothes, and wishes she could stand out somehow. Not realizing her hair blazes like the sun.

"The freak did it!" says the brunette, Cassie Sandusky. The one with the attitude. The one pointing at Angelica, hoping to use this chance to get someone in trouble. Luckily there's literally no evidence, no reason to believe. Though some eyes turn her way. Kids are superstitious.

"Wait no! I just got here! I couldn't have...that would have taken gasoline, or something like that!" Angelica's no idiot, she stands up for herself this much. Could...get...in....trou....shit, Shazam is still right there. "I mean, sir, I didn't do it! I have no idea how the fire started!" Ignoring the bricks, and the cars going nuts.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam glares at Cassie. This is what happens when you mature early. Billy is kind of the expert on maturing early. He steps between Cassie and Angelica. "What makes here a freak, Sandusky? Just because she's new? I was new in New York too. Spider-Man didn't call me a freak. Maybe you should get your... self to class." He turns around to Angelica and gives her a warm smile, "Let me see you to class and you can tell me about this tree thing? I'm... Shazam... oh you know that." He takes care to pronounce his name very calmly almost softly.

Angelica Jones has posed:
Shazam has no idea what he's done. Cassie Sandusky turns away, glaring daggers at Angelica. She'll make this girl's life a living hell, as of now. "Come on, we need to get to...class," she says to her friends, who look terrified, confused, and like normal teenagers. The group leave, but under protest...

And Angelica stares in abject confusion. "I...can't. I haven't gotten my room assignments yet. It's my first day." She gets it out, though it almost takes the Wisdom of Solomon to figure it out. What with her tongue tied, her feet betraying her by stepping forward, and her brain turned most considerably off.

"I need to get to...principal's office?" It's a guess. But since staff are pumping out of school to check what's going on, that might become easier soon.

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy follows Cassie's group with narrowed eyes for a moment. "Fair enough. Hang in there. I'm sure you'll make friends soon enough. I'll try to keep an eye on that one. Bye." He waves his hand and after a moment remembers to fly away.

Behind some dumpsters in fact.

Thunder rumbles and a nondescript boy in a red hoodie joins the crowd. He quietly positions himself near Angelica. Then kicks himself when he realizes he never got her name. Fine guardian angel he turned out to be. His initial reaction to red hair and green eyes is largely forgotten. He's familiar with Sandusky's work, all the bullies in fact. Anyway he was new from Philly not to long ago. He tries to smile when she looks at him... yeah she'll look at him. Right?

Angelica Jones has posed:
She looks at him. UnFORtunately, it's not for long, as the school staff draw attention, asking the same questions that Shazam did not so long ago. Angelica sighs, having no clue what to do, what happened, who anyone is, or if she should try and do something.

"I think he was trying to save us. From a fire. Shazam, I mean," she says to staff. She's mostly ignored, but she's trying. And after a moment she's gathered up into a group of 'people who saw something'. One staffer looks directly at Billy.

"Did you see anything, son?" He doesn't even know Billy's name yet.

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson says, "In this crowd? I'm not exactly Giant-Man? How could I see anything? I just came from over there. All I know is my phone isn't working." Several more questions are answered with more questions before he is cut loose and he hurries off the gym class. The rest of the morning is... school. Gym, Social Studies, Math, English, then Lunch an oasis.

Billy grabs a tray, pays for it and heads to the outdoor seating. Freddy has a doctor's appointment. Mary graduated. The others are Elementary or Junior High at best. Alone for today Billy finds an empty table with a little shade and sits down. Some firefighters are congregated around the spot the tree occupied. You almost wish for a giant robot or another mysterious fire to jazz things up.

Angelica Jones has posed:
Nobody's that crazy.

She does show again. Late for lunch, the redhead arrives. She isn't easy to see because she doesn't do it right; she brought a lunch instead of paying at the caff, likely not even knowing there would be one! across the room and without a clue, she enters. She walks around. She sits in an empty seat nearby, after being glared at by Cassie and her troupe. No magic powers. Just another person with a life to live, who looks lonely.

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson watches the redhead sit down. At least when he got here he had Freddy. But there were a number of schools before that. No joke. He takes his tray and walks over to her after a moment. It's ironic he needs very little courage so far as Shazam. Billy needs way more of it, like when talking to girls, or standing up for people. He stops by her table. He has to do this because no one else is likely to.

"Hi... I'm Billy Batson. I couldn't help but notice you talking to Shazam before, did you see what happened?" He gives an awkward smile.

Angelica Jones has posed:
She looks up. She looks...startled. Then the world changes, as she smiles brightly with all the warmth one could hope for, her teeth and her eyes happier than they deserve. The sadness that was holding her is gone. "I'm Angelica!" she says, the first person today to ask her. The principal counts, but in a different way. She glances at the mostly empty table, then starts to stand up. She pauses, then realizes she can't, not without falling. "Um...join me? I think I can spare a seat."

Desperation for a friend. That's there, and obvious.

And that's when Cassie pours milk over her head from behind. "Oops. Didn't see you there. Don't hang with this one, kid. She's not gonna last long."

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson opens his eyes almost wider than possible. As Sandusky walks off laughing he grabs some paper napkins and stands to try and do damage control. . o (What kind of car does that cow drive. It's going to be parked on the roof. No at the impound yard.) "Omigosh let me help you. It isn't that bad, it's mostly in your ha... I think I can get it all..." He's touching a girl's hair. Never mind that. This is awful. Sandusky has it saved. "Don't listen to her... time wounds all heels."

Angelica Jones has posed:
She isn't panicking, or screaming. She's not in shock either, so that's good. She is staring at Billy a moment, and the touch on her hair has an immediate, instant effect. She starts crying. Almost blubbering, she breaks down...politely somehow...with an "I'msorry!" as she gets up, knocking her water over into her food, the lunch she brought from home.

A few people snicker, and she runs. She runs from the cafeteria like the devil is chasing her, and is gone. To find a place to cry perhaps. To fight back? less likely. Angelica Jones is no super hero. The tears are too much to see through. For now.