9737/So You Wanna Be A Hero

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So You Wanna Be A Hero
Date of Scene: 20 January 2022
Location: New York Harbor Docks
Synopsis: Arthur stole a penguin! Well, not really. Penguin rescue achieved.
Cast of Characters: Arthur Curry, Kate Cha




Arthur Curry has posed:
    It wasn't the first time that Arthur had awoken in the small hours of the morning while out in the world. Wasn't the first time he'd slowly return to awareness with a grumble or a groan. Wasn't even the first time this month, to be fair. But it was the first time that he woke up and frowned... and found himself face to face with a penguin.
    The small aquatic bird stood there... where was here?
    Looking up and around, Arthur Curry recognized the scent of the docks. The salt spray was in the air, and this was... an alley? No this was a dock facing the water. Above him was...
    "Shane's." The word rumbled from his chest at first and only emerged after a loud grumble as he then squinted at the penguin who stared back at him curiously. It turned its head askew slightly.
    "The hell are you doin' here?"
    The penguin did not answer.
    A low groan came from the man as he sat straighter, an errant beer can falling off his shoulder and landing with a clink on the ground near him even as his hoodie and clothes crackled from the ice that froze around him overnight. He took a deep breath, stared at the small aquatic avian.
    "That sounds like the Bronx zoo." He glances to the side, grimaces as he makes an /auuugh/ sound and rubs both hands over the sides of his head, his hair pushed back out of his eyes. Then shakes his head and blurbles his lips a bit to try and clear his head.
    "So you want to go back there? Or you want to go home?" He stares at the penguin. A nod. "Yeah, no orca death machines. Free food. Alright."
    That said he puuuushes himself to his feet, the garbage can complaining as he pushes it out of his way. "Hop on." He holds out a hand.
    The penguin hops.

Kate Cha has posed:
It had been on the news. Some horrible person had stolen a penguin from the City Zoo. It was insane and unheard of. No security footage of the culprit but perhaps they wanted an exotic pet. That was the least severe of the possibilities. Others were they wanted to sell it on the black market, for someone else to have as a pet or dinner. None of which were good.

Admittedly, Kate wasn't a high profile hero. She wasn't much of a hero at all. She and her brother did some good things from time to time but college was eating into those opportunities. However, she was off from classes this week so she opted to put back on her purple costume. Then realized it was too damn cold for that nonsense and she put on jeans, a sweater, and a heavy jacket over it. Boots too.

She had some contacts she reached out to, trying to see if she could get information from the underground. One of those had met with her at Shane's on the roof this morning. He didn't have much to go on but she paid him a few dollars which was all she could spare and headed down to ground level using one of the drain pipes that ran down from the gutters.

A quick turn to cut up the alley and she froze. Man. Penguin. What the hell?

"Hold it right there!" she called out in her best tv-cop tone-of-voice. Until she realized who was holding the penguin. That was a face she knew thus not penguin thief. "You found it!"

Arthur Curry has posed:
    The TV cop hollar did get the penguin's attention as it clacked its beak in Kate's direction, little wings flaring as it points out the direction of a possible predator and likely informing the man who holds it.
    But that is a man who is still standing there, grimacing, and rubbing at his eye with the palm of one hand as if horribly pained. Though when he looks up and over toward the sound of the voice with wide belaboured eyes, he answers the clarion call to adventure with, "Wha?"
    Then he looks down at the penguin and stifles a yawn while he carefully tucks the critter into the side of his hoodie that is now seeming less frozen and more warm as droplets of water float off and to the side. He takes some time zipping it up so just the head of the little bird pokes out, though the zipper takes some doing and a bit more focus than he can summon easily at the moment.
    "Yeah, found him." He says. Then adds, "Or more he found me."

Kate Cha has posed:
"I'm so glad. I was worried." Kate was originally thinking that he was out looking for the penguin too. But that seemed unlikely since the penquin found him. Maybe he smelled like fish? She found herself taking a sniff of the air automatically at the thought. No, no fish smell. Beer smell. Or alcohol of some type but that might be explained from the can on the ground near him. Or cans.

"Someone stole it from the zoo last night. I saw it on the news and was hoping... Well nevermind what I was hoping. Just glad you found it."

She looked at the man a moment, not quite sure at his rather slow uptake with that 'wha' response. "You good? You're Aquaman, right? Seen you on tv. Well, and in person. Once. Twice if you count now."

Arthur Curry has posed:
    "He mighta been stolen," Arthur says, still a little blearily, then straightens up and grimaces as he looks around. For a moment be worries at his lower lip then crinkles his nose. "He seems to think he went for a ride and then got bored and jumped out of whatever they were using to carry him. So..."
    Then recognition dawns, "Oh hey, yer... the kid who helped on that robbery thing. Right? When Booster came by." He points at her and nods, "Yeah hey... you have any aspirin? And an idea which way the Bronx is from here?"
    The penguin makes a small honk of a noise.
    Which causes a response from Aquaman, "You have no idea, man. You were in a box."

Kate Cha has posed:
Kate didn't want to act like she was pleased. Then she would look like a total loser. But the fact he remembered her had her smiling a bit. "Yeah, that was me!" That came out a bit too high pitched and excited. She forced her voice back to normal levels. "I was glad to help."

At the follow up question though she has to shake her head. "I'm sorry. I don't even have a purse right now." Didn't work with the whole costume and she didn't carry aspirin around in her pockets typically. "I can get you some if you want. There's a shop just down the way here. And the Bronx are..."

She paused and glanced around then found the right direction. "That way. " She looked at the penguin then back to him. "Can you actually understand it?"

Arthur Curry has posed:
    "Nah, nah, s'ok." Arthur says and he looks off in the direction that Kate motions. Which also happens to be the direction the penguin motioned in too. Which has him looking down at the bird staring up at him. Eventually he says to the little critter, "Lucky guess."
    But then he starts walking, in a not unsteady gait, but one definitely somewhat leisurely of a pace. He takes a deep breath and murmurs, "Don't worry about it." He picks up the thread of the conversation and then adds, "I'll be fine in a few minutes, was just being lazy."
    As he walks he does seem to be getting better, eyes glowing faintly golden then his gaze slipping sidelong toward her. "Mmm?" He says at first to her question. Then he answers, "Yeah, it's a two way street. S'prolly why he came by and hassled me."
    Then he takes another deep breath, "So hey. Sorry I don't remember your name. You're new to this heroing gig?"

Kate Cha has posed:
As he started walking, she automatically fall in step with him. Should she? Probably not. But he seemed a little foggy. He hadn't just woken up because he was in an alleyway. He had to have been awake a while to come to this location. Maybe he had a concussion? That would be possible with the fights the League got into at times. She should stick with him just until she was certain he was alright.

"I don't think I gave it that day. I didn't want to get any attention from the police so I left quickly," she admits. She does nod at his observation on the heroing. "My brother and I have been doing it for a few years on and off but we haven't really focused on it. "I'm Kate. Well, Dupli-Kate is my codename." Which was pronounced more Duplicate. She probably should've only used the codename but admittedly, she wasn't really dressed like a hero at the moment. Stupid winter in New York.

Arthur Curry has posed:
    "Dupli-Kate. Duplicate." Arthur says as he walks, then he sort of half-smirks. "I like that, clever." He continues along and digs into the side pocket of his hoodie, taking entirely too long to finagle the zipper down and get at what's within. "I mean, all the cool kids let the newspapers come up with their hero names, but you do you."
    The way he says that one could almost imagine he was serious, though the slight smirk that touches the far corner of his mouth might give it away. "So you guys are... trying to make a career of this thing?" He looks sidelong at her.
    Then he nods at the penguin, "Yeah man, hush up. I got some right here." And with that he produces from that hoodie pocket the beef jerky that had been squirreled away in there. He tears off a chunk with his teeth, then gives the smaller bit to the penguin who gobbles it up.

Kate Cha has posed:
"Well, my brother and I kind of were fans. We looked up to heroes as something to aspire to be and then started sneaking out and doing it. Since we could sneak out but still be home." Which she had just managed to out her brother's powers too but so be it. Arthur had already seen Kate's powers in use so knew what she could do in essence.

"Don't know that I can ever make a career. I'm not like you and a lot of the people in the League. I'm more just a human who can be more humans, y'know? So if I can just make a little difference, I'll be happy. I'm currently in college so plan on having a career and such. Got to pay the bills."

Arthur Curry has posed:
    The walk continues and to Arthur's credit he does seem to be waking up and coming more into the here and now. And as he does, she might realize that he is indeed listening to her. There's attention being paid and his gaze resting sidelong on her while he walks and at times gives the penguin a pat-pat on the head to reassure it.
    "That's probably wise. I've... been known to give some grief to people who choose this lifestyle. All depends on the reasons why you do it I think." He offers those words with some distance to them, as if he's pondering them anew for some reason. "There are some folks that act like they're advancing the cause of justice, taking a stand of some sort. When really they do it because it lets them be a shit to people, lord over them."
    His nose crinkles as he gestures to the side, "Not like I'm some voice of authority about this since I sorta fell into this whole thing."

Kate Cha has posed:
That makes her frown a little and Kate glances down, watching her feet as she walks. Left right left right. Trying to ponder what he said instead of automatically denying it.

There probably are some people that do it for that reason. They can beat up people and pretend they are better. She'd like to think that was the minority though. Not the majority of superheroes.

"I just know sometimes people can't help themselves against bad people. I have a gift, I guess. With my powers. Powers I've had since I was a baby so I have a good grasp of them and their limitations. So if I can put a duplicate there to save someone, I should right?"

Was she actually asking for his okay? She was going to do it anyway so she didn't want it to sound like that. Yet, there it was. "How did you end up becoming a hero?"

Arthur Curry has posed:
    "Hey, if that's how you feel," Arthur gives a nod as he looks ahead and murmurs, "Then you're already a step ahead of most of these chuckleheads." Which is perhaps as much of an okay or an approval as she's likely to get from the man.
    But when she asks about him he makes a face as if he smelled something bad very briefly, then feeds the penguin another piece of beef jerky. Likely not the healthiest thing what with the preservatives, but still it seems to enjoy it.
    "Me?" He asks as if needing verification, then he says. "I am the veritable goofball farm boy who gets a light saber thrown at him and told to go save the galaxy." Which wasn't entirely true, he had been trained from a young age, had been told he was special. Then had to deal with the repercussions of that specialness. But what is more. He had to pay that price. Which is likely one of the reasons he sometimes wakes up in front of bars or in alleys now and again.
    "I helped here and there when I could, when I heard cries for help. Then one day there were a lot of cries, and I showed up. And thankfully so did some other people too." That day back when the League formed.

Kate Cha has posed:
Farm boy with a light saber. She'd seen that movie! It was on a streaming channel and she was bored. Besides it was one of those shows people liked to reference so she'd needed to add the knowledge to her brain.

"So didn't really want to do this but when the opportunity was there, you didn't walk away like some people would. That's all it takes. To be a hero. Just being willing to take that step." She smiled, obviously pleased with him having taken that step.

"I know that a lot of people in the world are glad you're around. You and all the other members of the League. It's honestly just a honor to get to meet you."

His brain didn't seem as scrambled. Maybe his coffee kicked in. Did he drink coffee? Actually how did they drink underwater? That was a question she was not going to ask!

Arthur Curry has posed:
    A rude /snort/ is heard as she says it's an honor to meet him, though the laughter in his eyes might steal it of any negativity. Pointing at her with the beef jerky while the penguin looks up expectantly he says simply, "You need to quit that."
    Then he eats the jerky which makes the penguin sads.
    "We're just folk. Out here doing stuff, sure. But folk just the same. You running around busting into a fight at that store with those guys with guns, that's heroic. Me, I just fall forward a lot. So it's cool to meet you, Dupli-Kate. You can be all honored if I do something awesome like... I dunno, save your favorite kayak from a tsunami or something." Oddly specific that, but perhaps there's a reason to it.
    "Speaking of..."
    He then turns and starts to unzip the hoodie. "I should be gettin' back to the Hall of Justice. Why don't you take this lil bugger in and get your name out there some."

Kate Cha has posed:
She'd pushed it. Should've kept her mouth shut. But it was true. Having been fans of heroes, to meet one of the Justice League was kind of a big deal. Even if he was downplaying himself. Maybe that was just him? Perhaps he was uncomfortable with the attention.

As he moves to unzip the jacket, Kate's surprise shows. "Are you sure? I mean I would be glad to take it home. It does want to go back there?" Which is a silly question. If it didn't, he wouldn't have been going that way. Seeing as he seems to understand it. "I guess it is three hots and a cot so probably better than the dangers out there for it."

She unzipped her own jacket, prepared to swap the penguin over and to secure it safely in her jacket for transport back to the zoo.

Arthur Curry has posed:
    "Yeah, no orcas." He says matter-of-factly. Then Arthur gingerly takes the penguin out of his jacket and looks down at it. Stares for a moment. Then asks, "What?"
    Another moment passes.
    "Yeah, it's cool. Sure." He says, then ruffles the penguin's noggin a little before he passes it off toward Kate to take the aquatic bird. "He'll be fine now." Since perhaps before he might've been planning an escape. But Arthur has convinced him clearly to give Kate a chance.
    Then he lifts those golden eyes to meet her gaze with a wry half-smile settled on his lips. "Asides, if I bring in a penguin it'll just be a hassle. If you bring him in then hey, people will remember." Maybe.
    He steps back, "Me? I'm gonna go get a shower." A nod is given, "Take care of yourself, Kate." He turns and starts to walk.

Kate Cha has posed:
"Alright." Kate carefully takes the penguin and cradles it close as she zips up the jacket around it. She had never touched a penquin and had been curious about it. Was it more like a bird or slick. Now she knew!

"Thanks again." And with that she watched Aquaman continue his path, no longer headed toward the Bronx. She looked down at the penguin.

"I know a great sushi place. If you promise to stay quiet, I'll go in and get you something before we take you home." No way it understood her but she was pleased with her plan. A little rub on the penguin's head and she headed off in the general direction of the Bronx zoo, by way of her favorite sushi place.