Owner	Pose
Kamala Khan	It's summer, which means the days are long and school is totally, completely, out of session, leaving any teenage superheroes with an abundance of time. Ms. Marvel took advantage of this with an early patrol of Jersey City, but things have been pretty quiet for the last couple days -- even, perhaps, normal. Without a villain to pound, what is she supposed to do with all that pent up energy? Surf the railways, of course! From her proud position on the roof of a PATH train, Ms. Marvel stands triumphantly with her red scarves billowing in the wind.     "Tunnel!" she announces to no one before morphing her body to be completely flat against the train -- thin enough to make it through the dark tunnel going to the City That Never Sleeps...     Once the journey is over, Ms. Marvel hops off the PATH train and makes her way up the hot stairs that lead to Midtown's busy streets. Manhattanites are completely non-plussed by her presence -- to them, Ms. Marvel is not a known quantity and, instead, might just be some kid in a costume.
Bando George	Does Bando count as a New Yorker? He grew up in Texas. He just lives in New York. His folks are at work, and his sisters all jointly decided to go join another family's trip to the zoo with their three girls. Too much estrogen for your average teenage boy.     He is scouring Midtown, wearing a wifebeater T-shirt under a blue and yellow plaid collared shirt, a pair of cargo shorts on his legs. He is staring at the giant bull statue when Ms. Marvel arrives.     "Hey," he attempts to stop a businessman passing by in a suit. "I get why a bull is a good market, but why do they use a bear to represent a bad---" and he's gone. "Rude."     He ponders it a second longer, and turns to spot...a super hero! Bando, given his personal desire to join such ranks, actually is familiar with who Ms. Marvel is. He makes a bee line for her, making a full sprint in her direction. Is he in trouble? "Hey! Hey! Ms. Marvel!" he yells desperately, waving to try to get her attention.
Kamala Khan	Once she gets to the top of the stairs, Ms. Marvel closes her eyes and takes in that thick city air. It takes a trained nose to be able to filter out the smells of exhaust, body odor, and the garbage juice that pools against the curbs. She's hunting for one very specific smell -- dirty water hot dogs. It sounds gross, but it's just the affectionate nickname for the carts set up on nearly ever corner in Manhattan. Ms. Marvel is... hungry.     Someone shouting 'Ms. Marvel!' in Manhattan could just as likely be someone not closely following the exploits of Carol Danvers and, therefore, not know that she doesn't use that name anymore. In fact, the /real/ Ms. Marvel looks around, at first, to see if Carol is flying through the air or something. That would be /amazing/! But... nope. She's nowhere to be found and the voice calling out is getting louder and louder as its source gets closer. Ms. Marvel -- Kamala Khan, that is -- blinks a couple times. SHE's the Ms. Marvel being called!     A hand comes up to make sure her domino mask is good and straight before Ms. Marvel spins around to face Bando. He seems desperate. "Is everything alright?" she calls back as she starts moving in his direction to close the distance.
Bando George	Bando stops as he meets Kamala's location. "Whoa, like, I saw you on the news," he says excitedly. He has a good several inches. "You're actually short. Is that on purpose? Are you like condensing your body to make you more dense and heavy or something?" he asks. Great conversation starter. "I'm Bando, Bando George." he reaches out to take her hand in a shake, lest that be thwarted. "I follow you on twitter, too! Like that time you were on the ferry a couple weeks ago," probably not the most flattering one to bring up. "Oh, and the new group! That's pretty cool. I'd kill to be in something like that-I mean, not really kill, just figure of speech kill. Did you get permission from Captain Marvel to use her old name? Do you KNOW Captain Marvel? Why are you in New York? Is there some criminal you're tracking down?" How many questions is that so far, enough?
Kamala Khan	The surprise from Bando's sudden line of questioning causes Ms. Marvel to briefly lose control of her body. Her feet remain planted, but her upper body rubberbands backwards a little, as though she was trying to get out of the way of some kind of assault. She sloooooowly rubbers back into her normal shape and grins a little, recognizing the other teen's enthusiasm. She takes his hand in her own and gives it a gentle shake, trying to dial back her own excitement. She's being /recognized/! Be cool, Kamala, be cool!     "I, uh," Ms. Marvel begins. "Well... Yeah, I mean, I'm short but... I mean, I'm not /heavy/..." Her cheeks fill with color. Despite being the same person, Ms. Marvel and Kamala Khan are fighting over which parts of this interaction to focus on.     "And, uh, yeah... Er..." The poor girl tries to get a word in as she struggles to answer the embarrassing line of questions. This was not at all what she thought being recognized in Manhattan would be like.
Bando George	"Yeah, I mean, I didn't mean you were /heavy/" he says, "I mean, you could be whatever shape you want, really, right?" The suggestive tone of her body appearance suddenly dawns on him, and he turns red. "I didn't mean like that!-I just mean if you were fat you could make yourself not fat, and how many girls wouldn't want-" he stops. "That's not any better. I'm going to just stop. Sorry, I sometimes kinda get carried away." He's also still shaking her hand. She may have given a polite shake, but he forgot to stop. He realizes it, and suddenly lets go of her hand.     "So...uh, yeah. I hope to be a superhero, too. So I started following your stuff because you're still small time, and I guess that's probably how I'd start out, though my folks would probably freak out major league on me if they knew. How did you get your folks to go along with it?" he asks, seeming to not realize that the question is a little personal and prying. "Or are you an orphan? Sorry if you're an orphan."
Kamala Khan	As soon as her hand is released, Ms. Marvel reaches up and awkwardly rakes her fingers through her hair, looking away as she wishes she could make the heat from her cheeks go away. In this moment, it's becoming more and more difficult to be Ms. Marvel and not Kamala Khan. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, now very much looking to make this moment end. Ms. Marvel -- or, Kamala Khan, perhaps -- secretly hopes for an alien invasion or a doomsday weapon to go off, somewhere. She opens her eyes. Nope.     When Bando mentions that he follows her on social media, Ms. Marvel's smile returns. Before she has a chance to respond, she gets called small time. The smile deflates. And then questions about her parents. "I, uh, they don't know," she answers. It's a personal question, sure, but it's one she can answer without too much embarrassment. She didn't exactly want to share that she's using the Ms. Marvel name without Carol's signed seal of approval and, in fact, that they don't know each other. She also didn't really want to reveal that she was just goofing off on the PATH train. These are all things that truly 'small time' heroes do.     "Yeah, so, the ferry was..." Not her best work.     "...I mean, the /Champions/ are a new thing, right, so..." She tries so hard to take control of this. Poor Kamala.
Bando George	"The ferry was BRILLIANT!" Bando declares loudly, maybe a little too loudly. "It's like this show that my grandpa used to watch. Columbus. No...that's not...Columbo! That's it. This detective guy pretends to be a bit fumbly and lost, and all the criminals underestimate him, so he always catches them. It's 200 IQ. Sorry sorry. I'm talking a lot, and I'm really trying to not overdo it." He takes a breath. "I need caffeine so I can calm down." The comment sounds completely serious, and he glances around, as if a cup of coffee might magically appear.     "Anyway, you were saying, Champions. That's a wicked cool name," he compliments. It's as if he's going to let her talk! But then... "Can I join? My parents wouldn't know either. we could like, cover for each other or something." How would that work? He doesn't even know her real name! Details. And he doesn't know anything about being a superhero.
Kamala Khan	"Uh, yeah, that's... I was pretending," Ms. Marvel agrees, taking the 'out' that has been offered. She looks down at the sidewalk as her hand continues to rake through the hair on the back of her head. "Totally pretending." Never mind the fact that images of her eyes swollen and full of tears made the rounds. It was all pretend, right! The suggestion of caffeine to calm down earns a grin. "C'mon," she suggests, pointing her finger at the nearest hot dog vendor on the corner. "Soda. I know a bunch of kids from school that need caffeine to calm down." Adderall too, no doubt.     Ms. Marvel begins making her way across the sidewalk, eyes lowered to the ground as she walks. The blunt, unavoidable question about whether Bando could join the Champions brings an awkward squint to Kamala's face. "...Well, I mean, we all agreed that anyone who wants to call themselves a Champion can do it, but..." What does that even mean? "...I mean, I'd have to talk to the others about..." This is so incredibly awkward for her. Hey wait.     She looks up and tilts her head to the side. "Are you even a superhero?" she asks. Her tone sounds a little harsh, but it's unintentional. SHe swallows. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."
Bando George	"Yeah yeah yeah," Bando nods eagerly, agreeing with the vendor identification. He starts walking, turning around haphazardly to listen. He looks like he's making a conscious effort now NOT to interrupt. "Oh, yeah um, not yet?" he answers the question, wincing and scratching the back of his head. "I don't have a costume or anything like that. I have powers though!" See, that's the important part, right? "I'm a mutant, and have power over the quantum physics realm itself!" He looks unconvinced of his own claim. A terrible liar, this one.
Kamala Khan	Ms. Marvel joins the short line of people queuing to buy an early lunch from the hot dog cart. She moistens her lips and folds her arms across her chest. "Woah, a mutant, huh? That's pretty cool. I thought I was a mutant once, but, uh, I don't think that's true..." she explains. "I mean, they say mutant powers start at puberty but, for me, it was much later, I had already gone through puberty when, I mean, did your powers happen with puberty?" Suddenly, Ms. Marvel looks away sharply. UGH! STOP TALKING ABOUT PUBERTY, KAMALA! Change the subject!     The Champions! He wants to join. Is she really the person who should give someone a lecture about why they should or shouldn't be a superhero? Is that something she should be gatekeeping? "Uh, well, I can't speak for the others -- but really, anyone who wants to call themselves a Champion can do that..." she quietly explains. It's a decent way to avoid the whole 'can I join' question. "But, uh, why do you want to /be/ a superhero, anyway?" She turns her head towards Bando to watch his reaction.
Bando George	"Yeah, I went through puberty!" Bando says, mildly defensively, and loud enough that the lady with the baby in front of them turns around to give them a /look/. He glances her way, and then quickly away, pretending that he didn't just yell that out. He swallows, "Yeah, it was a few years ago," he says. "Um, why? Because I think it's what God wants me to do. I mean, he gave me powers, right? Everything God gives us he wants us to use for his glory. And how awesome is it to save people?" There, logic circle complete. Clearly he's religious. And where he may have been awkward at several points in the conversation, he seems extremely comfortable with this part.
Kamala Khan	Ms. Marvel is taken by surprise by the sudden outburst. She gives the woman in front of them in line an awkward smile before looking away. "That's not what I meant!" she whispers at Bando. "/Obviously/ you've gone through puberty!" Her eyes close. Kill me. Kill me now. "I, uh, not that it's obvious. Not that I'm noticing. Not that I wouldn't notice. Uh."     Ms. Marvel sighs and gently presses her thumb and index fingers into the eyeholes of her domino mask. "Do you ever just wish the moon would crash into us like in Majora's Mask?" she mutters.     The comment about God draws her attention enough to break her out of this mire of teenage embarrassment. "...Yeah, I..." Ms. Marvel agrees quietly. "...I get what you mean." She lowers her hand from her face and takes a breath, now a little more at ease.
Bando George	"Like in Majora's Mask? That whole game was about stopping the moon!" He grins, "Though it was cool to watch when you got to the end of the third day. Too bad the graphics are so old. They should totally remake that," he idly distracts himself. "Anyway, I know what you mean, and, sorry. I tend to make things awkward sometimes. I don't mean to. I guess I should totally buy your hot dog to make up for it," he offers. "Not like a date. I mean just platonic. I'm not trying to hit on you." There he goes again. "I mean, not that you're ugly or anything, we just met though." He winces, that didn't feel like it helped his explanation. "And I did it again."
Kamala Khan	"They remade it for the 3DS but, yeah, it would be cool to see it, you know, remade for real..." Ms. Marvel looks away again. This is some uncharted superhero territory they're wading through. Instead of winding up villain goons or monologueing, she's awkwardly talking about Majora's Mask and avoiding eye contact with a boy. It's as though Kamala Khan showed up dressed as Ms. Marvel instead of it actually being Ms. Marvel.     Hot dog. Date. Platonic. Not hitting on her. Not ugly. Suddenly, Ms. Marvel's eyes close and she very quickly and loudly exclaims, "I can buy my own hot dogs!" Plural. She turns to stare forward, her eyes trained on that hot dog cart. Sweet, sweet salvation. Her face is burning right now.
Bando George	That shuts him up. Bando freezes, eyes like saucers, and he steps out of the way with a single exaggerated step so that she can order for herself. He lets his index fingers tap together, but doesn't dare say anything else for the moment. He'll...just let her order the hot dogs.
Kamala Khan	When Bando steps away so obviously, Ms. Marvel looks down at the sidewalk again. She takes a breath. For her part, Ms. Marvel is content to just stand there in silence, moving up as the line shifts. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, she breaks the silence.     "Sorry," Ms. Marvel mutters at the sidewalk.     It's not long before it's her turn at the cart. With a new person to talk to -- one who isn't Bando -- Ms. Marvel perks up and places her order with confidence. When it's all handled, she turns away from the vendor and towards the little table set up with toppings. Her left hand has expanded to hold four hot dogs side-by-side, while her right hand is holding a can of Coke for Bando to take. She says nothing -- she doesn't dare -- as she heads over to the toppings.
Bando George	Bando just waits, forcing himself against his nature to be silent as she orders. He takes the coke, and pops the top of it. "Thanks," he says. He turns to the vendor and also orders hot dogs. Only one, though. Surely he could eat more, but those suckers are expensive!     He takes a sip of the coke, and puts it down as he dresses his own dog. Awkward silence is so awkward! Someone should really do something about that. "So um..." Nope, he's got nothing.
Kamala Khan	"Do you, uh, want one of these?" she wonders, turning her head to glance at Bando from over one shoulder. She bought four, but it's unclear how many of those she intended to eat. But, it looks like Bando bought his own. Nevermind! Ms. Marvel stares down at the yellow and red pumps, mustard and ketchup respectively, and greedily takes inventory of the ladles of onions, relish and so on. She spends a few minutes getting her lunch set up and then takes a few steps away from the table.     "So, yeah, um, like I said... Anyone who wants to call themselves a Champion can, and everything, but," Ms. Marvel begins, glancing away again. "...We haven't really established rules for adding to the core team, and all, so..."
Bando George	Yes, super hero team. "Oh, I mean, that'd be pretty cool. How do you..." he looks uncertain. "How do you find the bad guys? I've looked around, and I don't usually see people doing crime right out in the open or anything." Maybe his first question should be a little more along the lines of HOW he should fight crime. Bando looks at the hot dogs and nods, "Uh, sure, I'll take one," he accepts. He slathers the mustard and onions over his own, and follows her, almost forgetting the coke. He turns back around, picking it up off the cart, and drinks a little more of it. "I mean, did you have to go undercover and ask about drugs or stuff? Or did you just know where the bad guys do their business already?"
Kamala Khan	These are all really good questions! Not only are they good to talk about, they're also prime examples of topics that would absolutely not make the conversation any more awkward than it already is. "...Oh, uh, well, supercrimes tend to be pretty, uh, showy?" she tries to explain. "But, um..." Now that she's thinking about it, how IS she supposed to find the criminals? How IS she supposed to find the wrongs to right?     "We're, um, we're working on that..." It's both a lie and a truth. It needs to be figured out, but no one is really working to figure it out at the moment.     Ms. Marvel brings a hotdog up to her face and then stops. "Don't look," she suddenly requests before annihilating that hotdog. Her powers make her hungry. Very hungry.     Ms. Marvel chews, chews, chews, chews and then swallows her food. From the goofy smile on her face, it would seem that this has hit the spot. "So, what can you do?" she wonders before shoving the hotdog back into her mouth and turning away to chew it.
Bando George	Bando's normal sized hands manage to handle both hot dogs that he holds, but he surely couldn't handle another as he holds the coke in his left. He doesn't look away, instead, telling him not to look has the reverse effect as she manages to stuff the whole hot dog in her mouth. "Wow, that's...really impressive," he admits. "I'm not sure all the things I can do," He admits. "I can, however, do this." He looks around. His hands are holding too much! "Um.. He takes an awkward bite of one of the pincered hot dogs in his right hand, getting mustard on his lip, and looks around. "Why don't they have tables around here anywhere?" he complains.
Kamala Khan	She didn't /intend/ to eat the entire hotdog like that, but when you're starving and your body's size and shape are mutable, sometimes these things happen. It's absolutely not what she wanted for this interaction, but, it is what it is. Bando has earned himself a glare for looking, but, again, it is what it is. When it becomes clear that a table is needed, Ms. Marvel holds her hand out, palm up, and stretches it to be roughly the size of a serving tray. "Here," she offers.     "Oh, uh, you have mustard on your lips," she adds. "Uh, I mean, lip. Mouth. Mustard on your mouth. Mustard mouth." She closes her eyes again and rapidly changes the subject. "...So, yeah, uh, what can you do?" she repeats.
Bando George	"Oh thanks," Bando grins his own lopsided grin, and puts the hot dogs on the hand tray. "That's really handy, huh?" he comments. "Like, if you ever give up superheroing, you'll be the best waitress ever." That... was meant to be a compliment, maybe didn't come out sounding like one. He wipes one side of his mouth, wrong side, then the other. There he's got it now. "Oh thanks," he licks off the mustard to clean his hand. "Okay, so check this out." He takes another drink of his soda, and then holds it out on display. "Now you see it..." it suddenly seems to get sucked into...well, nothing, vanishing from his hand. "Now you don't!" He beams proudly, turning his hands back and forth to show that the can is in fact, gone.
Kamala Khan	"Yes... Very 'hand'y," she agrees with a smirk. Okay, okay, quipping. Superheroes do that! Alright, c'mon, less Kamala Khan and more Ms. Marvel. You can do this! Ms. Marvel turns away again to take another massive bite of one of her hotdogs. And then, with a mouthful of food, she watches Bando disappear the can. She tilts her head to the side and squints.     "OKsyfba welslfun where diod fiun tohoho?" she tries, still chewing.
Bando George	Naturally, Bando speaks mouth-full-of-food language. Not to mention there's little other that she'd likely ask about. Both hands that were holding open to reveal nothing point to his left, at that giant statue of the bull. Sitting underneath it is the coke can. "Pretty cool, huh?" he says. "And now..." He points back at her outheld tray hand, and the can is sucked back into nothing, only to reappear on her hand, completely and totally unphased. He picks it back up, sniffing it tentatively, as if he's not entirely certain that his own trick worked, and sips it. He smiles. "Yes!" he congratulates himself. Apparently there's some other factor that he's not mentioning.
Kamala Khan	Ms. Marvel swallows her food and squints, turning towards the bull statue and then... back to her hand tray, following the invisible journey of the can. She tilts her head to the side and raises a hotdog up to her mouth. "Yeah, that's...." She contorts her hand tray back into a normal hand, now just holding Bando's hotdogs normally. She holds them out for him to take back.     "...How far can it go?" she wonders before taking another large bite of her food. Chew, chew, chew.
Bando George	Bando takes the hot dogs back, awkwardly taking another bite of the one he had started. "I shink I can do shomewhere abou- fifty feet." He swallows his bite. "I might be able to do farther, but it gets harder to be accurate the farther away it gets. Best I can figure is that it's some kind of quantum teleportation. Sometimes there's a temporary...um, alteration of things that get teleported," he says. "But! It usually wears off after a little bit. Still, I'm deciding that doing it with people should probably wait until I know why those things happen, and how to stop them."
Kamala Khan	"Oh...uh, yeah, good thinking..." Ms. Marvel agrees. She puts the last remaining bit of her final hotdog into her mouth and closes her lips behind it. Chew, chew, chew, chew. This time, she doesn't talk with her mouth full.     "...It's like in that movie, right, The Fly. He teleports and comes out all gross," Ms. Marvel explains. Her attention shifts to the can of Coke, which she gives a scrutinizing stare. Was it all nasty now?     "Well, you're not going to do it with me," she declares.
Bando George	If it's nasty, he doesn't seem to mind drinking more of it. "Oh, I heard about that. Never saw it, though." He takes his hot dog and gives it another bite. "No, I wouldn't do it with you!" he agrees. "That could be terrible, like, I don't know what would happen. I mean, hopefully nothing worse than going too far, but it could like, change you, and I'd feel terrible!"     He pauses. "All of that...sounded absolutely nothing like I intended it to," he says, his face turning a little white. "I'm talking about teleportation," he clarifies.
Kamala Khan	Ms. Marvel brings her hand up to her forehead and rests her face into it. Could this get any worse? "...I didn't mean... Of course we're talking about teleportation. Not... anything else," she explains quickly. Pause. "...I mean, yeah, you're also not going to do /that/ with me, but... also not teleportation." She takes a deep breath and looks down at her wrist wearing all those bangle bracelets. No watch to be seen.     "I gotta go," she announces. It's really the smartest thing, at this point. Cut her losses. No sense letting Bando's encounter with the wonderful 'Ms. Marvel' be any more awkward than it is now. Whether he realizes it or not, Bando met Kamala Khan today.
Bando George	"Yeah, um..." Bando sighs. "Look, I'm sorry, I get it, I'm a hard person sometimes to have a conversation with," he says, "But I'm not a creeper," he promises. "I just wanna help people. How do I get in contact, I mean later?" he asks. "I don't know how all this works still, and I could use someone who knows a little more about being a hero to show me how to do it, and talk to other heroes when I need help and stuff like that."
Kamala Khan	Both hands go up, palms out, in a vaguely disarming gesture. "No, no, no, I'm sorry," she replies quickly, taking a step backwards. "Uh, how do you get in contact. Like, uh, you want my..." Blink. "Twitter! You can send me a message on Twitter!" she interrupts herself. "@MsMarvel, right?" She takes a breath and taptaptaps her nonexistent watch.     "Gotta go!" she insists. As Ms. Marvel moves from the hot dog corner and back towards the PATH station, she grows a bit in order to better navigate the crowds. "Smooth..." she might be heard saying.
Bando George	"Um, sure, Twitter," Bando echoes. He watches as she makes the expedient exeunt, and is left there holding the remainder of his food and drink. "Right. Well Bando, I guess the good news is that there's at least one hero out there as weird as you are." He continues walking, eating the rest of his meal.