9114/Give It Up, Kara, It's Chinatown

Give It Up, Kara, It's Chinatown
Date of Scene:	16 December 2021
Location:	Chinatown
Synopsis:	Peter and Kara get Chinese food and talk about role-playing games.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Kara Danvers

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Peter Parker has posed:
Well, he's on time, but only because he's here before he calls Kara.
A little heroin operation is currently being deconstructed by the NYPD after a case of Spidey ex Machina appeared at the drug lab. After cleaning the dust from his suit, Spidey switched to his regular clothes and stepped out again, looking around and spotting the Golden Dragon restaurant. He smiled, then sent a text to Kara.

<Chinatown bust went well. Want to get together for a little Chinese takeout?>

Kara Danvers has posed:
Coincidentaly, Supergirl is also working when the text comes through. Her cell buzzes with the text alert just as she finishes punching into unconciousness in an Intergang-fronted warehouse. As the Apokalyptian is KO'd, her Father Box senses the state of the Female Fury and opens up a boom tube to return Stompa back home; no doubt for TLC and attention from Granny Goodness.

As the MPD move in to secure the scene, Kara blows aside errant locks of her blonde hair with her breath and answers the text, smiling.

<Sounds good. I'm all done here. Be there in 10 minutes?>

And once Detective Turpin has things in hand, Kara takes to the sky again, heading towards Manhattan.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter smiles as he reads the text. <Bring your appetite. I'll be waiting outside.>
It's cold, but he IS wearing very special long underwear.
He also wanted to talk to her about something, but he knew enough not to send anything through a text that he can't immediately explain at length. Of all the texts to get, "Want to Talk to You About Something" is a bad thing to send if you can't explain it immediately. He even thinks it's a violation of the Boyfriend Code. (He's sure it exists, and this is on it.)
While he waits, he peruses the menu, making his choices beforehand so as not to take up too much time otherwise...

Kara Danvers has posed:
One of the great advantags with having super-speed when you're dating is the ability to get 'presentable' in a matter of moments. And while it's Supergirl that lands in an alleyway near the restaurant, it's Kara Danvers that walks out of it, dressed in appropriate winter clothing (even if she doesn't need it). Kara walks up to Peter and gives hiim a kiss in greeting. "We're both on time for a date? I might have to contact the League to let them know the world is ending..."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter winces during the kiss. "Geez, Kara, don't even say it out LOUD..." He does hug her, breaking the kiss to smile at her. "I'm glad you could make it. I looked at the menu, but if you want to take some time, we could..." He pointed to a wooden patio with things that looked like lamps, but provided lights at the top and heat through vents near the base.
"So...food choice first, and then we can sit down and hash out what's going on in our lives..."
And Peter still had his backpack with him insteadof webbing it to some roof's overhang.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara smiles and giggles at the possibility of the End Times. But she wraps herself in Peter's arms and feels like she could deal with Darkseid himself boom tubing in at this moment. "Chinese is just fine," she says to Peter as they snuggle. "It does break-up the usual meals of pizza." She gets a self-satified smirk on her face as she adds, "And saves you another loosing round of 'Which has better pizza, Metropolis or New York?'"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter rolls his eyes. "I think the jury's still out on that, but sure..."
Peter slips an arm around Kara's waist as they head to the patio.
One quick menu later, Peter was smiling to Kara as he sat next to her. "Well, now...now that I have successfully trapped you with food, I wanted to talk to you about something I've been thinking about for awhile..."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara is looking...concerned? Nervous? That's not exacty the best way to start a conversation. But she tells herself it's probably nothing. She and Peter are good, right? Things are going well with them. Aren't they? She manages to hold in all the nervous energy and simply drinks her water. "Okay...What's up?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter smiles reassuringly. "It's not a bad thing, Kara. It's just something I've been thinking about ever since I found out I might actually have some free time. Yeah, I know, big shock. Anyway...are you familiar with the idea of a 'role-playing game?'"
He wasn't going to call it an RPG just yet. With what Kara does, she might think he means a Soviet RPG-7.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara releases a breath and tension that she didn't realize she was holding in. But, there's still some confusion. "Ummm...those are video games? Ones that focus on a scripted story of a character or characters? Sort of like playing through a movie or a book?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nods. "Those are computer versions. This concept is a little more open-ended. Where a person functions in the computer's role of storyteller, and the rest of the people are players and active participants. The thing is...I was thinking of doing it the traditional way."

He puts down the backpack and is about to open it when the waitress appears.
"Oh..." Peter blinks, then says, "Uhm, beef chow mein, four spring rolls, and Mongolian beef. Cherry soda." He looks to Kara. "What'll you have?"

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Kung-Pao Shrimp and tea, please," she orders. With the orders out of the way, Kara looks back at Peter and what he's digging out of the backpack. Her curiosity is evident, but she doesn't use her X-Ray vision to grab a sneak peek. "So...it's sort of an improv play?" she asks. "Each of the players acts out their character?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nods. "One person called it 'Let's Pretend' with rules. That friend happens to be my other longtime friend, Ned Leeds. He occasionally helps me out with my...extracurricular stuff. He's been visiting family a lot because he was helping out his mom. But she's better, and he has more time for this sort of thing. He knows about me, but doesn't know about you, and I wanted to keep it that way. He's a big superhero fan, BTW, so expect him to be a member of your fan club."

Kara Danvers has posed:
"The fact that he's a member of your fan club is what matters more to me," Kara responds with a gentle smile. "Okay. Let's Pretend With Rules. I...kind of get it. I mean, I'd play 'Nightwing and Flamebird' when I was a girl, so I sort of get the concept." She shrugs and smiles. "Sure, I'll give it a shot. How do you play?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter grins, then takes out a wide sourcebook titled DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, 4TH EDITION. He opens it to reveal a couple of sheets of paper populated with text.
"Since there are rules, you have to define what kind of character you are. Skills, abilities, even physical attributes are defined by each player." He handed the sheets to Kara to read the fine details of Alyria Trueheart, Elven Ranger. There's even an illustration, and not bad art either. Red hair, green leather armor, longbow, and quiver.
"Ned is the artist. He's pretty good."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara examines the sheets and the artwork. "it is a nice picture," she agrees. "And this is the character I'm going to play? Alyria Trueheart? I guess her main weapon is a bow?" Then, her eyes light up a bit. "Oh1 Does she have special arrows like Green Arrow or Hawkeye?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter chuckles. "Well, if you WANT to play her. There are other types of character classes so you can be basically whoever you want to be. Now she doesn't have trick arrows, but she has special abilities that allow her to shoot three arrows at once at the same target, the ability to hide in any forest environment, and a few other skills unique to her class. There are classes for spell-casters, frontline fighters, sneaky types like rogues and assassins...I kinda brought one for each so you could look at them."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara nods, understanding a bit. "Right. Just like there are differnt classes in Final Fantasy that have different abilities?" She looks through the assembled pages more, going over each sample character. "So...what are the options for classes?" Then, she looks at Peter with a smile. "And...what class do you think fits me and what class is my opposite?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter hmmed, regarding Kara for a moment. "You seem like a clear choice for paladin." He reached into his backpack and slid another character sheet out, holding it up for her to take. "As for your opposite...I dunno. Drow assassin seems like your polar opposite." He takes another sheet and hands it to Kara. "I figure since we'd want to tailor it to your liking, we could spend some time making someone you really want to play."

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Assassin, hmmmm?" Kara gets a sly look on her face. She has no idea what a Drow is, though... "Might be nice to be a 'bad girl' instead of the 'good girl' all the time. It could give me an outlet for all these dark impulses I get instead of me eventually turning bad..." She manages to keep that sly look for a few heartbeas before giggling. No, Kara will not be wearing a black costume anytime soon.

She takes the book and starts looking through it carefully. Instead of just reading through it at super-speed, she looks to be skimming things, with only occassional bursts of speed, to cut down on the chanc of someone witnessing. "So...I can kind of see playing most of the Classes. They all sound like they have fun parts to them."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nods. "I'd also like to introduce Kara Danvers to Ned. I've been mentioning you when chatting and he asked if you would be part of the gang playing. So far, it's me as Dungeon Master, Ned, and Harry if we need to fill out the group. If you want in, it's still only three players. I was thinking of going to a local gaming haunt to try and see who else might be interested."

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Well, at the least, it'll be good practice for me interacting with people as Kara..." she says after thinking for a few moments. "And...I think I might like to try playing a Ranger. It's not my 'normal' thing, and it's not the opposite, either. It's different enough to feel like it would be a challenge for me to play."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nodded. "Fair enough. I'll make that official, and we can spend some time making one that is special for you."
He was about to say something else but the waitress appears with a large tray and starts placing dishes of food on the table, placing their drinks last.
After she leaves, Peter smiles wryly to Kara. "And Harry has promised not to play a bard. They have terrible reps as...well, as relentless flirts. Let's just leave it at that."

Kara Danvers has posed:
There's a quick laugh from Kara, and her eyes are twinkling in amusement. "You honestly think I can't handle a ton of flirting, given my crowd of freiends?" She starts to scoop rice and the shrimp dish onto her plate, before snagging a spring roll. "Let people play what they enjoy playing. That's the whole point of a game, right?" And she starts munching on the fried appetizer.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter sighs. "I'd rather avoid having to deal with his character flirting with your character. I might get a little jealous, and it might affect my impartiality. Not a great way to go. I talked it over with him, and he understands."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara smiles and reaches over to gently brush Peter's cheek. "My own knight in shining armor. Defending my honor and virtue..." aShe takes a few bites of her food, then gets a playful look on her face. "So...no kissing and no hand holding durring the game? Because that would affect your impartiality as well?" She giggles at the teasing. "I trust you to run the game the way it's supposed to be run and not show me any favoritism. You're too much of a good person to do otherwise."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nods. "Yeah. Both Ned and Harry said they'd be watching me like a HAWK for any favoritism. Ned because he's seen your picture and thinks you're cute, and Harry says it's because he sees my face every time I think about you." He winks. "He can tell."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara smiles. "My face kind of has the same glow when I think about you, too. My friends have definately noticed it. They're just...not as eager for details as your friends are." Kara takes a mouthful of shrim and rice, then shrugs. "The whole 'keeping secrets' thing. They trust that I'll open up when I'm ready." She finishes her bite, and pnders a bit more. "So... If I'm playing a ranger...what Race should I be?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter hmms as he munches a spring roll, dunking it in a bowl of soy sauce. "Well, elves and humans are the usual suspects, but..." He opens the sourcebook to the list of races, pointing some of them out. "Draco-Elves are also good rangers, with a strong sense of honor." He winks. "They can even fly."

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Draco-elves?" Karaaks with a raised eyebrow. "As in...a dragon and an elf..." She smirks a bit as she leaves the rest unsaid. "I mean, I know there's half-elves and half-orcs. Just...being part dragon seems a little bit on the extreme side..."

Peter Parker has posed:
"Kinda like mostly elf, with a little dragon blood running in their veins. They have tiny scales in a few places, but pass for elf otherwise." He turns a few pages. "Here's another one. Moon Elf. A little more enigmatic than most elves. Like to hunt were-creatures. Tend to have white skin, hair, and eyes."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara looks at the drwing in the book. "Hmmm..." she considers. "I mean, I imagine I'd have to read up on all the lore i order to play a Moon Elf correctly, but it does sound interesting." She looks back to Peter with a smile. "Okay. A Moon Elf Ranger. Now I just need a name?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter grinned. "A name is always good to start with. Elegant, enigmatic, mysterious..."

Then he takes a breath and says in stilted, halting Kryptonian, *"I like your name, Kara."*
He uses the masculine form of 'your' instead of the feminine, and one syllable is accented when it shouldn't, but otherwise, not bad for a human.

Kara Danvers has posed:
*Not bad*, Kara replies, then leans forward over the table to reward Peter with a kiss. "You've ben practicing," she says, switching back to english, still looking both pleased and proud of him. "Just a few things to work on. Later." She eatsmore of her dinner, chewing thoughtfully. "I mean...just calling my character 'Kara'...doesn't seem all that exciting. Maybe..." She thinks for a bit, then smiles. "Thara," she says in a definative tone.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nods. "All right. Thara it is. I'm sure se can work on her backstory and development before we get to the first session. I figure we can have a zero-session to get everyone together. I had this thought of an Adventurer's Guild, like a place adventurers went to find quests to go on. Something to get people going without completely controlling them." He scarfed down some chow mein, then said, "Thanks, I practiced for 30 minutes just to say that little bit."

He feels good. He was pretty sure it wasn't perfect but it wasn't butchered either.

"Anyway, I thought about doing it online, but Ned and Harry asked if we could do it in-person. I figure I can re-purpose the lab table as a gaming table. Ned even said he'd make and paint miniatures for everyone."

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Miniatures?" Kara asks in an amused tone. "Like, little action igures that represent our characters? And do they fight miniatures of the monsters, too?" This is all sounding so complex for a simple game. Which makes it oh so human. What other speciesgoes to extra lenghts for something so simple as a game?

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nods. "You would not BELIEVE the stuff Ned can contribute. He's even got one of every color dragon, and he painted them all. It's kind of amazing, really. I'm also going to have to get you a set of dice, the primary random factor in the game."

Kara Danvers has posed:
"dragons have multiple colors?" There's a bit of confusion for Kara, here. She'd always heard and assumed that all dragons were green in color, from her limited exposure to earth fantasy. "And..by 'set of dice', I'm guessing that there's more than just the two dice from a Monopoly set that you need to play this?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter's grin widens. "Some dragons are good, and some are evil. Red and green ones are evil, but gold and silver ones are good." He reaches into the backpack and pulls out a set of dice. They look like oddly-cut gemstones, running from a pyramid one to a dodecahedron, all with numbers on each face. "Different dice for different types of rolls. You won't need to remember all of them. I'll just let you know which ones to roll for each test."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara nods and shrugs at the dice comment. "I'm sure I'll get the hang of it after a while. I'll try not to need to much prodding." Of course, with her super-speed, she could read and memorize all the rules in a matter of minutes, but she doesn't want to show off. Besides, Kara Danvers is supposed to be the 'clueless girlfriend learning' in front of Ned and Harry. Appearances must be maintained. "So. This sounds like it's mainly a fantasy game. Are there other kinds of...RPG's? Like for different genres?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nods. "Plenty. Almost as many genres as there are types of fiction. Horror ones where you can either play normal people fighting supernatural creatures...or playing the supernatural creatures themselves. Post-apocalyptic. Spies. Even superheroes...but I felt we deal with that genre enough as it is. Name a type of fiction, there may be a game that is set in that type of fictional environment."

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Superhero games?" Kara asks with some surprise. She sighs and shakes her head. "h, Rao," she mutters. "Don't tell me I'm a playable character...I'd hate to think of how some of my 'fans' would play me..." She does recover and goes back to smiling, though. "Yours is a very strange culture, Peter Parker. But it's also wonderful."