7506/Ghouls of Gotham

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Ghouls of Gotham
Date of Scene: 23 August 2021
Location: Gotham Cemetery
Synopsis: Power Girl and Kate Kane just happen to be at the same cemetary and do some chatting, while people rob graves unmolested.
Cast of Characters: Kate Kane, Karen Starr




Kate Kane has posed:
Gotham is never specifically quiet, but some times it gets pretty close. Whether the major villains are all slumbering away in Arkham or there's enough Bat-clan around to keep the areas safe enough, Kate finds herself in the rare position of leasure activity. Suffice that it doesn't mean she's engaging in social events, though she should do that just to keep up a public image, it means that she's at the cemetary visiting her family plot.

There's a marker for her mother and one for her sister. One of those graves is empty, she knows that, but it doesn't stop her from coming. Brushing off some of the collected leaves on the stone before taking a seat on a bench nearby. It's easier to be out here, at least for Kate. Easy to let her mind drift when she's near to the stone representing who her sister had been and not who she'd become. Leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, sitting slightly ajar, she stared off into the distant looming rainstorm that perpetually threatened to drop down upon Gotham proper.

There was a resent funeral held up on the hill. Some dignitary from Gotham City with enough influence to bring in some of the big names in heroes: Power Girl, maybe? He'd served, Kate knew him from his time in the military. Despite the inclinations of Gotham's political apperatus to be corrupt, he'd been one of the few to keep himself clean.

"It's probably what got him killed." She mused out loud, then sighed. Looking back to her sisters grave.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Every now and then there's a request for the League to send someone as a kind of Presence at social functions. To tell the truth, the individual that she is set to mourn is not someone Power Girl had ever met- nor, likely, had almost any person in the League ever made their acquaintance. However, they had enough pull that when they passed, it became Suddenly Important for someone to be present, and as /keeps happening/ with these sorts of things, Power Girl drew the shortest straw.

    So, here she is, standing in a cemetary at the end of a ceremony for someone she's never met, who if she had she perhaps would never have liked. Respected, maybe- he was a Gotham politician that wasn't on the take- but liked, that's always a strange and difficult thing. She has liked more people than she cares to admit that were paid off; it was easier to relate to that need than the sliminess of someone who only ever regarded a baby as something to be held because other people would vote for it.

    She remains quiet, because that's the rule, and when it all finishes up, the blonde is off deeper into the cemetary. Eventually, the impossible blonde finds herself at a blank, flat grey stone that has seen some slightly better days, but can't be more than a few years old. Still, for some reason, despite its featurelessness, Power Girl stares it down- activating a wide spray of heat vision to clean it off, and revealing a beautifully cut, if bare, black marble headstone.

    She hasn't spoken since she left Metropolis. She doesn't feel it's necessary.

Kate Kane has posed:
Power Girl is not someone anyone expects to find in Gotham City, precisely because she's not the diplomatic member of the League. Maybe The Flash, possibly even Diana, sometimes even Superman... but very rarely Power Girl. Suffice that it's an anomoly enough to draw Kate's attention where she sits in front of a perfectly marked grave stone that has no body beneath it. The contrasts of those two things are really important.

She watches the blonde go through the motions of cleaning the stone of refuge with her heat vision, then pushes up from her seat to take several steps in her direction. Stopping only a moment to kiss her fingers and touch them to the top of a stone belonging to a woman who doesn't exist anymore. Except in Kate's memories.

Fists ball up to press down the edges of her thin jacket as she makes her way over towards Power Girl. Not even really sure why except that both are in the same place and it's such a far flung coincidence there must be a reason for it.

There was someone else here. Multiple someones, honestly. One of them a middle aged man in a long brown coat, several others nondescript lackies wielding shovels. Their purpose wasn't readily apparent, halfway across the cemetary as they are, but it's not difficult to figure out given any length of time listening. "This is the spot." The coat man says, stubbing out his cigarette with the toe of his loafer. "Get to digging."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Being a Kryptonian, Power Girl has to rein in the level of perception she experiences at any one time. The idea is that she only listens for certain things, key words and phrases spoken with specific intent behind them. Heartbeats of important people stopping abruptly when they shouldn't. The noise her cat makes when he's low on food. The important stuff that isn't violating anyone's privacy.

    This sort of tunnel vision is why it's so easy to surprise or sneak up on a Kryptonian- they spend so much time and effort /trying/ not to overhear people, or see something they shouldn't at that point in time, that they end up putting a set of blinders on. To the folk who aren't bulletproof enough that vigilance is mandatory, it can be maddening.

    It's why she doesn't hear Kate approach, and why across the cemetary she's definitely not listening to a set of grave robbers doing their thing. She thought it had been decades, if not centuries, since people were buried in valuables anymore; But, this is Gotham. If these guys spend six hours digging criminally into someone's coffin and make 5 dollars out of it, they'll probably consider it an uproarious success and do it again.

    Kate she eventually hears approaching, and from her wordless vigil, Karen turns, facing the redhead. "High profile funeral is over, the grave's just up the hill, if that's what you're looking for."

Kate Kane has posed:
The rain is coming anyways.

It's about when Kate is addressed by the vigilante Kryptonian that the patter starts against the canvass style material of her raincoat. The hood is pulled up over her hair before she speaks, and even then it's in a voice that lacks humor but is still chuckling, "I knew him, my dad was probably there." He was, in fact, which is why she hadn't been. Amongst other reasons, but it's the primary one.

"I saw you over here. I'm not sure why I figured you wanted company, that's probably the last thing you want. Who actually wants company when they're standing at a gravestone with no name on it." Observation is key in Gotham.

She doesn't fuck off though. Instead she steps a little closer and looks at the unnamed marker.

While across the cemetery they do start cutting into the dirt. Stabbing the sharp edge of the shuffle into packed earth to scoop it out of the way. It'll take them a while, sure, but what they're searching for is endlessly more important than $5. At least, it should be. Brown coat hopes the intel he'd gotten was good as he lights another cigarette and absently smokes it while his stooges work.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Well, it IS Gotham, which means it certainly should have been raining a while ago. Probably the most serendipitous thing about the aforementioned dead politician: The closest thing to a sun over Gotham for the whole of his funeral. Poetic, probably, but likely unnoticed by anyone other than his closest friends. Power Girl, to her credit, didn't really care whether or not it was raining.

    "I didn't." she admits, offering a small shrug. "I'd heard of him, but most of the League stays out of Gotham because we've been asked to. That's enough for us to at least have a presence. Acquaintance or not, he was an ally- maybe not directly, but close enough. Not all that many of those in the world, and there's always room for more." Maybe a glum thought, but it is as close to a nice thing that she can say about the person. Idly, her attention turns back to the blank gravestone. "Who wants company in a cemetary at all? Obviously, the answer is everyone, it's just that the company we want isn't coming." Okay, that was morbid.

    For a moment, she hears the sound of shovels breaching earth, and she takes a moment to look over at it. It's not necessarily that she's suspicious, but more that it's the kind of thing you'd watch happen on the street, when your attention is deeper in your head than on the street. For the moment, she's just relatively certain that it's Normal Cemetary Business. She doesn't know what people do in cemetaries when they work for the cemetary.

Kate Kane has posed:
No super hearing for Kate, she has to rely on the gifts God gave her, which are suspiciously fewer than the ones he gave Karen. Like Karen, however, she doesn't care if it rains. It's not quite cold enough for it to be uncomfortable, but just a gentle chill that feels better until the humidity sets in. She pulls her coat open in a shrug, "I guess." Super morbid.

Fitting though.

"So you just drew the short straw, then." Putting two and two together given what she said. "No big fucking robot lizards to fight in Japan or nuclear reactors to protect a third world country from..." The tongue in cheek analysis of typical League day aside, she's still staring at the grave marker. "Did you know this person?" Since she wentt o such lengths to clean the plot.

Off in the distance, the robbers are gaining ground on broken ground. A small pile of cigarette butts are laid around Brown coats feet, decoratively marking his presence as he lights another. "We're close."

Karen Starr has posed:
    There's a lot about Power Girl that isn't fair, to be honest. That sentiment is probably left vague, mostly because of the everything about her.

    "I don't really like going to these things. People don't like me going to these things. I'm just continually late to meetings, and Superman is really good at saying Not It first when I'm ten minutes late." Real or not, you just have to imagine it. "I wish every day was robot lizards and nuclear reactors. Those are easy. I can throw those into space, and nobody would really have an issue. It's the stuff I'm not allowed to throw into the sun that ends up posing a problem." Notice it's Not Allowed, because there isn't a problem that Power Girl can't throw into the sun.

    Kate brings her attention back to the gravestone, Karen's peoplewatching ending at that point so that she can look down at the empty grave. Money can buy a lot of things, and in this case, a transaction paid in cash has allowed Power Girl to erect a small memorial to people that are better left not known to this universe. Microscopically, she's etched the name of everyone she's ever cared about into the face of this single stone.

    There are a lot of names. Some of them still, in a way, exist.

    "Yeah." she admits, "Didn't have anything to bury, but we still did." We is a lie. It was all her. She's the last one left, and the weight of that is probably the most impressive thing she's ever carried. "Just felt right to put something down, even if there isn't anything below it." Her attention turns back to Kate. "Visiting family?"

Kate Kane has posed:
"Heh." Imagine it Kate does. Not that she's every actually met Superman, but it's not a hard imagery, even it's difficult to picture the boyscout not volunteering for all the mundane people shit. One hand comes free to scratch at her jaw, eyes again on the gravemarker catering to so many names. Everyone knows the story of a destroyed Krypton, but the extent of Power Girls loss, even beyond that, is lost on her. "Yeah."

Visiting family that is.

She glances sidelong in the direction of her mother, and her sisters grave marker. "Only one of them is actually there. I guess we have that common, even if it's a bit more complicated." Alice still exists. She's seen her... she's fought her. So Kate shrugs. Unaware of the goings on across the cemetary, but ultimately as uncaring as Karen if she did know. She'd stop them, sure, but it'd be half hearted. Since she doesn't know what they're up to or why.

Only they do.

"I'm sorry I interrupted you. I suffer from the human condition where I think my presence is required at everything, regardless of how much of an alone time thing it might be."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Everything about her history and the tragedy therein, Karen keeps mostly to herself. Why would anyone need to know? Never let it be said that Power Girl is the most open of the Kryptonians. Hell, she's the only one here and she's still not the most open Kryptonian in /this cemetary./

    "I don't think that there's a simple grave here. Everything's always complex." she notes, offering a sympathetic shrug, all the while looking particularly unfit to do much of anything in polite company, now that the pair of them are being rained on, however lightly. It's... The thought that counts. It also helps that Karen doesn't know the specific kind of complicated involved in Alice's grave.

    Similarly, it'd be difficult to get past any point in a conversation with her that involved the actual words 'crime bible.'

    "I don't mind. I didn't really want to come down here, but like I said, nobody actually /goes/ to a cemetary to be alone, so it's better if they're not, even if who they're with isn't who they wanted to see at the time. Somebody's probably written a song about it."

Kate Kane has posed:
"Yeah, probably." Kate doesn't go into the particulars of what complicates her situation, or how it pretains to a bible of crime, suffice that it's always complicated. Just like Power Girl said. Her hands remain in her pockets, tucked down deep enough to pull it tight around her shoulders against the growing chill of the rain coming down atop them. Which Power Girl likely doesn't feel... and Kate can't help but to.

"Want me to ask for your autograph so it's less personal?"

That's a joke, even if it is kind of dry. That's the only way she can joke, dry. Barely on the civil side of civility. No where near the comedian side. While off in the distance, somewhere among the headstones, one of the goons comes up with a bundle wrapped in ratty cloth and holds it up to brown coat who snatches it up hungrily. Peeling back the cover with a pronounced sigh. Whether of joy or disappointment, it barely matters.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Honestly, the Crime Bible is a great ice breaker. Kate should lead with it, because it maxes out the weird factor. You can talk about anything once you've found out that there's a real thing called a Crime Bible and that people take it very seriously.

    It's true, too. Karen can't properly feel the cold- or, more accurately, she's supersensitive to it, like she is to all senses. She's just spent the better part of her life learning to tune out, tone down, and ignore the sensation of being overly cold, or overly hot. Neither harms her- her body temperature never lowers, the metaphorical sun that is her biochemistry balks at the very idea.

    "No, I don't think so." she responds- just as dryly, but she gets that it's a joke. "You'd be surprised how little I get asked to sign things, but similarly, how weird those places are. It's really, really odd. This wouldn't even make the list, which, I guess is probably the saddest part of this conversation, to be honest."

Kate Kane has posed:
That's a rough transition. Sorry about your dead friends, but have you ever heard of the crime bible? Yeah that's why my sister died, sorta, but then came back. Kate is an odd duck, to be sure, but she's not quite that odd... yet. Time is fickle though.

She inclines her head at Power Girl and chuckles, "I'm sure... well how about you just sign this Power Girl action figure I just happened to be carrying around in my jacket for no reason what so ever-" She even goes so far as to reach into her coat, but there is no action figure. Only a shrug, "I don't really know where I was going with that, but it would have been really creepy if I'd had one on me."

Needless to say, she glances over at her own section of the cemetary where her people lie (and don't lie). "I suppose, as far as odd stories go, your friends here probably trump mine by millions of light years, but I assure you that I could probably surprise you by how weird shit can be, when it's just mundane humans."

Karen Starr has posed:
    I mean. Maybe save the Crime Bible as an ice breaker thing for cocktail parties with capes. Probably not great over wine or to kick off a tinder date.

    Maybe.

    "You know, you really have no idea, there was this one time, this metal guy we have in Metropolis that has a giant hunk of Kryptonite for a heart, and he chucks this school bus at me." Power Girl for a moment starts to chuckle to herself, "And when I get it set down," she continues, the kids all file out, and meanwhile I'm basically /half dead/ because this guy keeps opening up his chest like the actual worst serial flasher in the world... And the driver walks out, and he's got- get this- he's got a print, of a picture, of me holding up /his/ school bus, but he had an artist draw it, and-" she offers a sigh, giving herself a laugh, if only for a moment.

    "Anyway," she pauses, "That's how I almost died because Metallo- that's the... Guy with the kryptonite heart- caught me off guard because a bus driver wanted me to sign a thing he had someone draw. Or drew himself. I never asked because I was poisoned."

    There's a pause that she lets happen. Oh the /memories./

Kate Kane has posed:
"You know what stands out to me in that story, though? Aside from the fact there's a guy who has kryptonite for a heart anyways..." Kate smirks, but it softens a little as she shrugs and glances back over to Power Girl, "You stopped to sign the poster."

Kate flicks her hand up in a backwards chop, half dismissively, "Even in the middle of a fight, you cared enough about that guy to sign whatever he held out... and while it's a really weird thing to be carrying around, you were important enough to him that he did. So..." She shrugs again.

"We all lead pretty weird lives around here. Some more than others- I don't have anyone carrying around posters of me to sign... but ultimately it's all just a series of unfortunate events."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen offers a shake of her head, and raises her hands at that. "Whoa, no, I didn't stop to sign the thing, I was distracted for a moment by the sheer /audacity/ and dumb luck of it all and the Metallo suckerpuched me and started beating me with a lamp post while I coughed up slightly radioactive blood, but I signed it /after./"

    Having noted that, the most she can do is nod. "Yeah, I don't think there really is such a thing as a 'normal' life, which probably means that everyone has a normal life in some odd, roundabout way. I don't think about it too much because there's a lot to consider in terms of what normal means."

    She sighs, and shrugs again. "I probably would rather people waited in an organized line at a safe distance for me to sign anything until after I was getting hit with things nobody should ever be hit with, but that's the life I live."

Kate Kane has posed:
"You could always not live that life." Kate points out, "The simple truth is nobody /has/ to do anything, they chose to. Plenty of people have extraordinary ability and never use it for anything at all... so in a strange sort of way, you bring this on yourself. Which is admirable." Her hands return to her pockets, once again pulling her coat tight around her shoulders.

"Certainly isn't like anyone could force you to save the world. Short of a Metallo, showing up at your doorstep or something... but then why would he? It seems epidemic of the life rather than a reason for it. Symptoms, not disease." Suffice that it's a devils advocate kind of conversation and she knows it. Since she too choses the life.

"Has to be kind of lonely though. Being better than everyone at literally everything."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen shakes her head. She's heard this argument before, but it's never really done much for her, or to her really. There's no animosity or anything: She doesn't feel like Kate's encouraging her to quit at all. In fact, part of it at the very least does sound like a compliment, which Power Girl takes in stride. "I can't not. I don't have a cheesy line about it, it's just... I have the power to help people. To affect meaningful change, to save lives. If I just sat on a couch and watched the news and didn't do anything about anything- eventually, it'd eat at me. When you can do what I do, if you end up just... Not, then it feels like I'm partly responsible if I let it all be."

    Karen shrugs. "Plus, with my luck, Metallo /would/ show up at my door or something similar. It all gets very weird, but I prefer being a bit ready for it to happen, when I can. It's... Not always like that, but it's nice when it happens."

    Karen seems pensive, for a moment, her face just a little twisted in thought. "I wouldn't say I'm better than anyone at anything. I've never really thought about it, and don't think about it that way. I actively- I don't think I ever really should think about it that way, to be honest. Seems like a bad road to go down. But... The life does get a bit lonesome, sometimes. A lot of us are friends, though. There's always someone to talk to."

Kate Kane has posed:
"Sounds like a pretty good cheesy line to me." Kate points out with a smirk. "Not that I'm judging or was suggesting you were doing the wrong thing... far from it. It's impressive really. Obstensibly, you're an alien, and while I know there's no world to go back to.. your stake in Earth as a home is one you've chosen rather than been forced into with no means of leaving." Because they can leave and there are other planets. That much the Justice League have proven.

"So it's admirable." Which is the short version of what she was trying to say.

"The rest of us have plenty of cheesy reasons for doing what we do, you just... can.. so you do. If only it was that simple right? For everyone." She shrugs at that and nods at the latter. "It does." Get lonesome. As if she knows. "But there are friends and some family... and people carrying around posters for you to sign."

Karen Starr has posed:
    "I suppose- again, I just... Don't think of it that way, but I'm glad that other people do. I think it's important that people realize that they're safe, and that it's a quality they may want to emulate." Sure, she was taught that from childhood- Zor-L and Alura In-Z were good role models, and that only doubled down in her life with Clark and Lois.

    "You're not wrong, but... This planet adopted us first. Provided us refugees a home, where we could live and be. It's only natural that we'd stay, and even more natural that we'd defend it with the abilities we've gained by being here. It just seemed like... The thing to do."

    Karen seems pensive again, "It is that simple, I think people just don't understand the context. It's not about lifting cars, or punching really hard, or shooting lasers out of your eyes. Anything anyone does to help is just as impressive, because that's what they can do, and there's nothing wrong with it, no matter how small it might seem." Having noted that, Karen lets out a sigh, and starts lifting off of the ground.

    "It was nice talking to you. I'm happy you decided to come over and butt in. It's a good thing, even if some people might not see it that way out of context... But I've got to get back. Can't stay in one place too long, and I can sense a scowl coming my way." Kate knows the context for that, but ostensibly, she shouldn't. Karen doesn't know anything beyond that this is a woman in a graveyard visiting family.

Kate Kane has posed:
"I guess you're not wrong." Though she'd never really thought of Earth as having adopted the Kryptonians. Kate watches Power Girl lift off the ground as easily as she throws a punch, and nods agreement. "It seemed like the right thing to do." To come over... or more? Who knows. She was just parroting Power Girl's words back as a lark anyways.

"Next time you're standing alone in a graveyard where I just so happen to be, I'll stop by to chat about how our days were." Or? Or she chuckles and shakes her head, "Or you can give me your number and I can just call next time." You lose 100% of the shots you don't take? She's pretty sure, aside from scowling, that's something Bruce would say.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Chuckling a bit, but entirely amused by the last statement, Power Girl continues to rise off towards the sky. "Sorry, don't have a number. But hey, just shout. If I'm on the planet I'll probably stop by." That's not exactly a lie, admittedly. She'll probably get in trouble for it, but frankly, she doesn't really care. Her relationship with Bruce back in her home universe was a lot softer- Thanks Hel- and she doesn't /quite/ have that same fearful reverence.

    Regardless, she's off into the air before long, not pausing even to talk: And swiftly, she's firing off into the sky, disappearing amongst the clouds until there's a suspiciously timely bit of thunder echoing from the storm, and she's long gone. By the time it's likely to have reached Kate's ears, it's probable Power Girl is already back in Metropolis.