2979/Transformative Happenstance

Transformative Happenstance
Date of Scene:	18 August 2020
Location:	Fred's Diner
Synopsis:	I don't know. I think things happened, but it isn't a lot of sense. Maybe you should read it. Oh, also there's some D&D talk.
Cast of Characters:	Billy Batson, Angelica Jones, Mary Bromfield

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Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson finally orders after the third visit by the waitress. Cheeseburger special with curly fries and a diet soda. He frowns at the sound of the garbage truck. New York trucks are too darn loud. Everything is loud in New York. Offhandedly he onders if Angelica developed laser eyes by now or wings or that effect where the woman's hair traiiiiiiils behind them like Starfire. To while away the time he starts solving the maze on the placemat. "Let's go Wisdom of Solomon!!!"

Angelica Jones has posed:
The sound of the garbage truck outside has one of Angelica's fingers in her ear. The other she's sacrificing to hear Billy and their server; one has to make these choices sometimes. "I told them salad," she says, a bit too loud and not loud enough as a crashing noise comes, with a big green bin being slammed into the top of the truck.

The lady mouths 'sorry!' as she walks away, glaring outside herself, but doesn't do much else. Just puts in their orders, (one fish, one lasagna) and goes on with her long day at work.

Angelica puts her hand on Billy's, interrupting the highly important maze work. She looks at him, her right cheek quirking but not happy. More of a 'what am I going to do with you?' expression really.

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson looks at her hand on his and swallows a little. "You want a ballad? I can't sing! I can barely play scales on a flute!" He looks at her quizzically then yells, "At least nobody is eavesdropping!" into dead silence. Heads turn. There are a couple smirks. Billy yells back, "Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer!" The heads turn away.

As the trucks start up /again/ he says, "Heat my hand up, with your powers I mean. C'mon!" Well, one way to keep holding her hand.

Angelica Jones has posed:
"I don't know if it's safe," Angelica says, having read his lips. Wisdom of solomon doesn't seem to apply to some things, though she's not sure why he told her to play Claire de Lune. Doesn't seem like the time for it. Nice to know he's a classical music buff though. "And maybe later!"

The trash dumped, the thing outside starts to drop the can, the hydraulics whining. She tries to focus on warming Billy's hand, biting her lip in a super-cute fashion as she does. The place where her palm is warms up, and she says, "I have to do more of this, the DOCTOR SAYS I'm..." The silence at the end, with the truck no longer loud, makes her stop mid-sentence.

Then, glancing about. "Um, I mean, I have to warm things more often it keeps me from overloading."

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson flexes his fingers. "It's a start!" He grins at her. "Only, you tor... " He stops, drops his voice in the sudden silence, "You did a lot more before you knew it was you doing it. Uhm... you need to have more confidence in yourself. Here, what can you do with this ice cube?" He scoops a cube out of his ice water and puts it atop several napkins. " He does a magician's finger wave over it and nods encouragingly. He also keeps an eye out for the waitress.

Angelica Jones has posed:
Angelica looks annoyedly at Billy then, her face creasing into a frown. "I don't want to show off, Billy," she says softly, the room feeling distinctly loud as the garbage truck reverses to leave. "I feel enough like a circus freak as it is." Her eyes drop when she says that, and the ice cube is left to melt using nothing but nature's own whims. Best that way really.

She whispers, "I tried to use them and I vaporized my clothing. Nobody wants to see that." Her eyes glance outside, she's thinking about watchers. Not the teenage boy she's sitting with.

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson does reach over to take her by the hands barely conscious of it. He gives her his patented pure of heart, wants to help look.

"You are not a freak. You have a special gift. If anything I'm a freak. Say a silly name and I'm twice my age. Anyway, don't think that way. You're talented and bright and you'll do great things. I'm sorry I was pushing you... but I think this is the latest thing I'm learning that make you awesome. Anyway, this is not showing off to another super." He sage nods, keeping an eye out for Sandusky though this place is pretty far from where the harpy roosts.

Angelica Jones has posed:
Touching her hands gets Angelica's attention. She seems to be a very tactile person; it's the best way to get her to pay attention to you, and Billy's apparently picked up on it. So she listens without interrupting, though she may not entirely understand what he's saying. You get a lot from context anyway.

She doesn't open her mouth to answer, not right away. She seems like the type to be okay with silence. Just looks from Billy's bright eyes, down to the ice. And she stares at it. After a moment she says, "Eye beams don't appear to be a thing," a little bit tongue in cheek. But she grins a bit. "Good to know that at least. Want I should try a finger point?"

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson looks at the cube and says, "You gotta do it with a little flair. It's like your body has to get your power's attention at first. I had to jump off buildings and yell the word to change to fly at first. When I did sparkle fingers I did this. Almost like throwing a pitch. At least it worked for me..." He does a fast sort of wave/point gesture. "First time I did it... I blew up a guy's phone. Anyway point away and... mean it. The cube is the enemy... it... it's a villain and gonna give a kitten the sniffles!" He looks horrified at the prospect of a sniffly kitten.

Angelica Jones has posed:
Angelica grins. "Sparkle fingers?" She grins a little more, then looks at him as he talks, waiting. "That is adorable, and you totally blew past it without letting me have a moment. Tempted to sniffle myself but you'd actually get hurt. Okay, no blowing up phones because I don't have one. The ice cube is Mr Kittensniffer, evil...now I want a kitten named Mr Kittensniffer."

She's getting distracted. This..is what the villains have to fear one day. Mr Kittensniffer makes her get mildly misty.

"Okay. I can do this." She makes a gun with her hand, index finger out, and grins. Then aims it at the ice cube.

"Bang." Something red flies out of her finger, like a mini-fireball. The ice cube vaporizes, steam poufing out in a cloud!

And now the table's on fire.

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson's eyes widen at the small flame and then he slams his water glass down on it before it can really get started. The table wasn't in great shape when they got there. He gives the waitress his biggest innocent smile. "Thank you man and your hair looks lovely, if I may say so?"

The waitress grabs Billy by the neck and says softly, "Listen ya little shit, stop wrecking the joint practicing your magic act for your girlfriend or I'll toss ya outta here so hard you'll bounce. Enjoy your meal, kids." She releases Billy who gasps a little.

"Okay, next time I fight Juggernaut, I want to bring her."

Angelica Jones has posed:
Angelica's face is white. It went that way when she tried to set the place on fire, and she stares at the waitress with abject horror on every feature. Not. A. Word. She looks as if she's going to pass out, her hands clasped to her chest, fingers in tight.

Breathing a little bit fast, she unclenches her toes in her tennies and tracks the wait lady as she leaves, then turns back to Billy, and hisses, "Iamsosorry!" as quiet as she can. Then looks at the rest of his cup as if making sure it's still there. She seems to want to check underneath but doesn't trust her hands.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Which is a heck of a time for a certain Big Sister to show up, but well, she did text Billy that she was running late. Mainly because her new job with the Planet means that she's pretty busy. Still, she always makes time for family.

So Mary strides in, wearing her Owlbear Preservation Society T-Shirt and denims, her backpack slung over her shoulder as she looks around. Then she smiles at Billy, waving over towards him and the girl he's with as she makes her way over.

Then she blinks, looking between the two, "... okay, what'd I miss?" She arches a brow, her grin turning a bit wry as she glances at Billy, then at Angelica, "Oh hey, I'm Mary. You must be Angelica, right?"

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson gets up as Mary approaches, then slides in next to Angelica as nonchalantly as possible. "Yeah, you missed me messing up." He grabs the cup and lifts it with a little resistance, tiny burn mark. Well nothing noticeable against the other scuffs and dings. Then he puts his arm around Angelica's shoulders. "No I'm sorry. I'll quit it. That was great by the way. Anyway this is Mary, my older sister and she knows about me and the other guy. So you can talk about that annnnd she is a great listener." Assuming she lets him, he will keep his arm there, unless it starts getting hot or something.

Angelica Jones has posed:
Angelica looks up as Mary arrives, her eyes flickering over the other girl as they would naturally do. She mouths 'owl...bear?' mostly to herself as she takes in that on at least a superficial level, and then she shuffles a little to make room for Billy. The arm around her shoulders isn't an issue apparently, though she does take issue with his words.

"You didn't do anything!" she says, staunchly defending him. To himself. Yes it makes sense. "Dude, stop doing that. You can't second-guess yourself like that. Just...hang on." She pauses, then seems to think. Then she says, as if quoting, "Do not speak ill of yourself. Your inner warrior hears and is lessened by it." THEN she turns to Mary, her face having recovered, mostly. "I'm sorry, hi! I'm what you said." She offers her hand automatically, not thinking it might be dangerous. Habit and a lifetime of niceness.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary grins, "Well, I do have a stream to do tonight, but yeah, I wanted to make sure to take some time out to meet you finally. Billy's been saying a lot about you." She takes the hand, not afraid in the least it seems, "Though maybe he'll listen to you more than he does to me."

With that, she looks at Billy with a wry expression, "So... what's up?" She says that pretty open endedly, "I mean, I've been busy with the new job and everything, so I know I've been a little scarce."

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson realizes he has his arm around a girl in front of his sister annnnnnnd the only other female he does that for is Darla when she's crying or scared or trying to scam some lightning. He leaves it there. Not like she can snark him more for it later. "I just wanted her to meet the foster sibs first so she stands a chance when she comes for dinner. Darla is actually a little person in a kid disguise. Watch her. Anyway Angelica is teaching me to play the flute... when drama doesn't happen."

Angelica Jones has posed:
The waitress comes up to see Mary when she arrives, being attentive and ready to do her job. She greets and takes any order she may have, glancing at Billy as if she's ready to throw him out. But Angelica looks up at her and something happens between them and by the time she's ready to take Mary's order Billy has been...if not forgiven, then at least a compromise has been reached.

Angelica has one of those faces, apparently.

"You stream? What kind of content? I can't watch things on my phone anymore since I broke it and yeah, Billy's picking it up quickly (he is) but he doesn't apply himself (also true). And what you saw when you came in wasn't his fault. All me and my current magic fingers ...I lack the words. What's an Owlbear?"

She's a talker. Sometimes.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary gives Angelica a warm smile, "So did he tell you about the podcast he does with Freddy yet? It's actually pretty good. Haven't had a chance to keep up with it too much, between streaming my own games and doing the whole school thing plus now interning... pretty full plate."

She then pauses and nods over at the waitress, "Hey, lemonade please, that'd be swell!" She smiles and looks back at Angelica, "Oh, I stream roleplaying games, mostly video game ones, though sometimes I branch out and do a few other things. Like Arena or DOTA, though I much prefer just being a tragic mess of a character with Dragon Age or Mass Effect or something." She chuckles, "ContraryMary's my handle on Twitch, if you ever want to tune in. Freddy helped me get a Youtube channel set up too."

"Oh, and an Owlbear is a D&D monster, body of a bear, head of an owl. HootRAR!" She raises her hands at that, then laughs a little at herself, "Surprised Billy didn't tell you I was a total nerd." With that, the lemonade arrives.

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson is wondering how to take Angelica's acceptance of his arm around her. Too soon to tell. Uh D&D stuff. "How could I possibly describe this? HootRar..." He starts eating his cheeseburger. He makes sure the fries are on the side of the plate closest the two girls. He's a gentleman and pure of heart doesn't let you hog the fries. He reluctantly removes the arm from Angela because the burger is that big that he needs both hands. "So sis, what happened to all those guys with the giant robots in Metropolis? Aren't there any left? I really want to deal with one of those and harsh them. You'll keep an eye out for me?"

Angelica Jones has posed:
The redhead in the group is quiet, letting folks talk. She doesn't need to comment on every little thing and it shows, happy to give the pair a chance to catch up. She does stop, jotting down Mary's Twitch handle on her left wrist with a pen she grabs from her pocket, nodding as she does so to show that she's got it.

"I've never played most of them, my family moved around a lot so I mostly do single player stuff." She looks flatly confused at the D&D comment. Single player only...probably hasn't played it. And when Billy talks she looks his direction. That has nothing to do with her so she lets it slide.

The fish the waitress brings her makes her frown. She ordered a salad, or she thought so. But instead of complaining she shrugs, then takes a nibble.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary grins, "Well, if you're ever interested in single player RPGs, that tends to be what I do more often than not. Going back to Mass Effect Andromeda tonight, which... well, that might end up being a very MST3K-able experience. But we'll see how it goes. Personally, I thought it was fine. Bugs were overhyped and the combat was /great/."

She gives Billy a wry look, "And I think Superman and company cleaned them up. But if I spot one I'll give you a holler." She grins cheerfully, sipping her lemonade.

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson ponders a moment and then says, "Why don't you set up a game with Angelica... I'll play. We can get Freddy and maybe a couple of the others... I'm not letting Darla be a wizard... I heard about that! I don't know what 'TPK' stands for, but the way your group was yelling it must be something pretty dirty. Anyway we could invite Angelica to dinner and this D&D afterwards. What do you say? Playing... by yourselves sounds kind of sad." Grave mischoice of words averted, thank you Solomon!

Angelica Jones has posed:
"I feel so out of my depth," Angelica says softly. She nibbles on the last half of her fish, kind of happy that she got the wrong food. She probably needed the protein or something, and fate took a hand. Through a large overly loud garbage truck, but fate is odd like that. "I mean, I played number one of Mass Effect but quit when I had to choose helping one person and ignoring another. I admit it, I'm a baby at heart."

With extreme fire powers. Go fate, you such a kook.

She looks to Billy. To Mary. "Game?" She's lost, and it seems to be her normal state. "Um. I don't have a lot of friends, if this is a group thing I'm probably a virgin. So, like, be gentle."

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Fortunately for all concerned, Mary is wholesome and not prone to Phrasing. So she smiles gently at Angelica, "Well, hey, we could always set up a group with the kids. I run a pretty fair campaign, despite what certain slanderous individuals might suggest." She gives Billy a wry look, then ohs, "I should invite Marie along as well then. If nothing else, I can't do a TPK if she's in the group, after all. She'd probably refuse to see me for a week!" With that, she laughs a little, obviously thinking that Marie would be okay with it.

Hopefully, anyway...

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson smiles and says, "Ah they're a good natured bunch. They'll love you like... everybody does." He blushes a little, looks down and says, "You ordered... salad. They got your order wrong oh heck." He starts looking for the waitress. "Excuse me. This will not stand." He puts some bills on the table and gets up. "Here, in case she through me out, pay the check." He walks over to the waitress and begins an unheard but spirited exchange.

Angelica Jones has posed:
Angelica listens, her face a very peaceful one, and just lets folks chat. She seems to thrive on having others talk. Nods when others are mentioned, clearly taking in the names. Then she watches Billy get up and opens her mouth.

It hangs open when he stalks off, then she frowns, her brow furrowing. She turns to Mary and sighs. "Look, it's...I mean, it really is awesome to meet you. Don't take this wrong though but I want nothing of what he's doing. I'm gonna sneak out, tell him I had to go to the bathroom or something? The fish was great...and people in this job work hard." Beat. "And I get to decide what I'll stand up for, not someone else. Not even Billy."

Then she's up, and kind of hoping she hasn't ruined a new friendship. "I'm sorry, I hope we can play sometime." But she slips out, leaving a tip on her spot. Under the fish.