Jazz in the Park (IC)

[Sandman XI]

It was Saturday evening. Elizabeth Skillman had been waiting for this night for a few days now. That's when she found the flier for the Jazz in the Park event. She was a great fan of Jazz, all types of jazz. Also, this was a good time to get out and meet like minded folks. The flier said to bring you own chairs or blankets, so she made a quilt earlier that day. When she got there, there was a handful of people there and the band had had just started their first medley. It was an upbeat joint. There were a some people talking, some people listening. Most were broken up into groups that had obviously came together. Elizabeth pondered if the groups were open to visitors. Though they were mostly older folks who probably didn't want such, the new money type who definitely were the defensive type and the young hipster types who's cliques were ironbound. She sat her quilt down on the ground by herself. Oh well, the music was good.

[OmegaPlatinum]

Kurt flew through at top speed through the air, looking at his phone to check the time. He was late. Again.

Crap, they're going to start without me!

He slowed down to a stop as he reached the park. The sound of the band in mid-song put a frown on his face. He missed the beginning. As he landed, though, a smile crept its way back. He couldn't stay upset with this music playing. He looked around rather quickly, tapping his thighs with the music as he does so often. He stopped his scan half-way, seeing that no one else had come alone. He made himself a fold-up chair and sat down before finishing his scan of the crowd. He noticed only one person sitting alone. He lifted his chair and floated over, sitting down right next to her.

"Hi there! I hope you don't mind me sitting here, but you seemed lonely. No sense in two people being lonely in the same place, right? The name's Kurt." He extended a hand to shake.

[Sandman XI]

Elizabeth got up on her knees and shook Kurt's hand, "Nice to meet you, Kurt, my name is Elizabeth." She sat back down on the quilt, humming along with the melody. The opening number did seem like a long one, but at least it was good. She looked up to Kurt again, "Oh, how rude of me," she laughed apologetically, "Would you like to come sit down here? I made this quilt today. I was going to lay back on it later, but there's room for two." She patted the quilt with a smile, "It's made with down feathers. Quite comfortable."

[OmegaPlatinum]

"Oh, no thank you. That's quite all right! But I'm the one being rude here, please excuse me. Here I am sitting in this comfy chair, and I didn't offer you one!"

Sparksmith whips up another spark-chair, except instead of a fold-up, this time it seemed like something much comfier.

"For ultimate comfort, lay your quilt down on the chair and sit down. Recline if you want!"

He gave a friendly smile as he tapped his thighs too the beat, paying more attention to the song than the band playing it.

"So what brings you to a Jazz show?"

[Sandman XI]

Elizabeth marveled at the chair. "You're a meta-human or something like that?" She happily picked up her quilt and laid it over the chair. "I'm always fascinated by the super types," she said sitting down. "Wow, this is really comfortable," she said with surprise as he kicked out the lift. She nodded with a smile, "Thank you." She continued to hum along with the beat beat as Kurt drummed. When he asked her about the jazz, she stretched a bit. Apparently the chair was a bit too comfortable! "Oh I'm a big fan of the softer performing arts. Jazz is a bit of a fine wine for me. There's so many feelings that it can evoke. everything from a sensual love song to a somber requiem to an alive dance number." She happily nodded, "And I ask you the same question. What brings you out on such a night like this?"

[OmegaPlatinum]

"Meta-human, mutant, 'special.' I've heard it all... in one day, actually. I'm glad you like the chair."

Kurt made a tiny drum in his hand, and a mini version of him playing it, and tossed it over to Elizabeth.

"As for what brought me here, I play the drums. Jazz is always tons of fun to perform, and I was going to ask them if they needed a drummer, or if I could at least play a song with them... but I came a bit too late." Kurt smiled. "But I completely understand where you're coming from. Jazz is a unique form of music. It can do a lot of things for a lot of people. It helps me calm down and clear my mind."

[Sandman XI]

Elizabeth admired the little drum. It was really finely crafted. And he was a drummer himself! She always found musicians an interesting lot. You never knew what stories they had. And he was a Jazz appreciator, which definitely made it much cooler. She lightly tapped the drum to the beat of the music while listening to Kurt speak. Luckily she had mind enough to appreciate both. "You're a drummer, eh," she smiled interestedly, "Are you with a band or is it just a hobby."

Slowly the music was softening and there was a very chill vibe in the air. No one was really standing, they were sitting and talking amongst themselves or just listening to the music. It was great music though. Quite relaxing, really.

[OmegaPlatinum]

"It's more of a hobby, really." Sparky creates two drum sticks and starts to play in the air along with the band.

"I'd like to join a band, but I mostly just play around wherever I'm needed. Besides, to be in a band in Freedom City, your power had better be 'plays a mean saxophone.' The musicians around here are crazy talented. For example, this one kid I met a while back had the power to..."

He cut himself off. He took a hard look at the band, then at his hands. Something didn't add up. Something was wrong. He needed to get Elizabeth out of there, but he didn't want to worry her... but thinking on his feet outside of battle wasn't his strongest suit.

He whispered, "Hey, Elizabeth... um... listen, I'm starting to think that this band isn't exactly... the best. Why don't we go grab a bite to eat or something instead?"

Crap... did I just ask her out on a date? That did NOT come out right... Sorry Allison... it's just to get her out of here...

[Sandman XI]

Elizabeth nodded emphatically about the talent statement. She herself was good at most performing arts, but she knew others that could blow her out of the water. When Kurt leaned forward and whispered, she smiled. Kurt was very forward. And how could she turn down a fellow artist? When he pointed out the band was slipping, she turned her attention to the band. It did seem slower than usual. Weird. She decided she would go with the handsome drummer for dinner. "Yeah," she smiled thankfully, "sure. I could go for a late snack. Just let me get my quilt real quick." She got up and carefully began to fold her quilt.

Then something odd happened. Something akin to silence filled their ears, but they knew the silence was there. It was like there was an emptiness. An 'anti-noise'.

[OmegaPlatinum]

Kurt spoke quickly, "Sorry for seeming forward, but I had a feeling this was going to turn sour and I didn't wanna worry you. Now that things are, you have to run. NOW. I'll handle whatever's behind this."

The constructed shapes disappeared (Letting Elizabeth down softly) as a sword appeared in his hand.

"Go!"

[Sandman XI]

The anti-noise faded and the 'band' disappeared. Where the illusionary music makers were playing stood two individuals. One, a man in a full body black spandex full body suit and mask, and the other a woman in a long flowing white silk nightgown. For a moment they seemed oblivious to the two still standing. "Great," the man said rubbing his hands together, "This is much easier than pickpocketing." The woman glowered, "I just think we could be doing more, John." The man sighed. "Oh right," the woman rolled her eyes, "Dark." Dark lightly put his hands on the woman's and looked at her, "Come on, Light. We have to start somewhere. If we just popped in and robbed a bank, they'd notice and we'd get slammed so hard we wouldn't be able to touch our noses before we hit jail." Light's glum look slightly looked better with a small smile, "Yeah, I know. We gotta build up resources first." Dark nodded happily, "Right, now let's get to harvesting." Light looked shocked. Not because of the harvesting comment, but she saw the two that had escaped the noise. "Looks like we gotta deal with a couple of weeds before we get to the bumper crop," she said perking up and pointing Dark over to her find. "Indeed," he sneered and quickly drew his sword, "You always find a few bad apples in the bunch."

[Sandman XI]

Elizabeth was shocked by the presence of emptiness. It was like something she had never heard before. When Kurt apologized, she smiled confusedly. How was she to break this to him. Then the root of the problem showed it's face. Or faces. And one had a sword. This couldn't happen more peacefully, could it? "Kurt," she said warmly, beginning to glow with a golden corona as she floated upwards a little bit, "You know that special thing we were talking about earlier. Yeah. I have a few tricks myself. Take this guy for instance." She looked to Dark as he approached them. She began to glow a golden hue too. But he did not float upwards.

[Sandman XI]

Dark felt a rush of... everything go through his body. It felt like the divine had judged him unworthy of anything but their scorn. He was shocked! The floating woman had smitten him! This was just going to be a talking to, but no, they had to do it the hard way. "Excuse me, m'lady," he said trying to keep his cool, "Turn this way and smile for the birdie." He quickly drew a blaster and shot at her.

[OmegaPlatinum]

Sparky just took in a lot of information at once. It took him a second to process it, which was the second he shot his gun. "Hey hey hey! Whoa whoa! Hold on! Elizabeth... First of all: Sorry. Didn't know. Second of all: WOW that was cool. Third of all: Calm down a second! The people fell asleep, no reason to jump straight to violence."

Sparksmith walked over to them. "Sorry about that. Put the gun down for a second. Momentary peace treaty, all right? If you wanna talk, we can talk. We're all adults here. Let's try to settle this peacefully."

"Now, what are you two doin'? You guys really don't seem like the type of people who would want to rob a bunch of random people who just wanted to listen to some music. If it weren't for the costumes I wouldn't expect you to be criminals of any kind. So why are you doing this?"

[Sandman XI]

Light saw the spectacle of the other woman floating. She was not impressed. When she lit Dark up though, she was angered. She was about to give her a piece of her mind, but the guy started talking. She didn't want to listen, but he spoke so eloquently! She sighed, and remembered why she was here in the first place. "We," she paused, "We're just starting out in the business, right? We're looking to make a little bit of extra cash. And seeing as I have powers, well we decided to do it the easy way." Dark spoke up, "The costumes are for the little slip ups. You know, like now? You never know when you're going to run into someone." He holstered and sheathed his gun and sword respectively, then bowed deeply, "I am Dark," he pointed sweepingly to Light, "and this is my partner, Light." She curtsied. "You have the advantage of our names, now what are yours?"

[OmegaPlatinum]

Sparksmith bowed back, returning the respect that had been given to him.

"My friends call me Sparky. It's a pleasure to meet you, Dark. You as well, Light. What business are you going into, exactly? If it's the music business, there are better ways to steal money from people. Have you ever heard of Kesha?"

He joked to try to lighten the mood a bit more, but he remained cautious. The man carried a sword AND a gun. Not something you can ignore.

[Sandman XI]

Elizabeth smirked. Kurt was funny. She floated down to the ground and curtsied. "My name is Elizabeth. Sorry I fried you, man. It gets sorta gets hectic when you pull a sword and shoot too!" She looked over to Light and smiled, "Though I wouldn't call your nightwear a costume." She looked to Kurt and shrugged. She couldn't complain, all she had for a costume was two masks. Ones she didn't have on her at the moment. She looked back to the two culprits, "So, are you going to wake these people up and not steal from them?"

[Sandman XI]

Dark looked to light, she looked back with a shrug of confusion. Dark sighed, "Well, it wasn't a really good plan, was it? We would have got a few couple hundred, a thousand at the most. People don't carry paper money much anymore." He looked to Kurt, "Sparky, I gotta tell you, heroing doesn't pay. Sure, you get 'appreciation', but appreciation doesn't get the bills paid or the niceties in life. I mean straight out stealing is stupid." Light groaned. Dark continued, "But a little petty theft goes a long way, don't you think? No one knows what happened to their dough. People start carrying more credit cards." She smiled, "Just think of us heroes for the bank."

[OmegaPlatinum]

"Well, no one ever said you have to be heroes. There are other things you can do with your abilities."

Sparky walked closer. motioning to where the "band" was performing as he spoke. "For example: where did the music come from? I don't see any speakers around, so I'm guessing Light made the music. You guys could put on concerts and charge admission. In this town, an illusory performance should pay the same as a normal one if the music is good... and as long as you say it's illusory. And for you? Heroing may not pay the bills, but law enforcement does."

Sparksmith smiled. "Everyone may not be cut out to be a hero, but no one needs to be a villain."

[Sandman XI]

Dark frowned. He remembered why he had the incredible skill he did. His father made him go through military school. After all those years he wanted nothing to do with anything of the sort. "Yeah," he said nonplussed, "throwing myself into the line of fire with real psychos gunning for you is much better than having hero insurance. I'll pass." Light smiled, "Jo-- Dark, you don't have to work. You can go back to-" He cut her off, knowing what she was about to say. His eyes narrowed, "I'm not going to live my life in a shadow." Light floated over to Kurt and lightly hugged him, "Well I think he's got a good idea. I think we can do better than this." She floated back over to him, "Don't give up. Please?" He stood there for a second, then growled, quickly drawing his sword and plunging it into the ground followed by drawing his gun and hanging it from his standing sword and then walked away. She knew not to follow when he was in a mood. She hung her head and sighed sadly.

[OmegaPlatinum]

He whispered to Muse, "Come on, Elizabeth, back me up here."

Kurt walked up to the sword and gun, eying them both. He knew a lot about weaponry and he was a bit curious. It didn't distract him, though...

You guys seem like good people. I'd hate to see good people resort to such horrible things to get by. If there's anything I can do to help you out, please tell me.

He looked up from the weapons, now looking at the couple. "What will you do now?"

[Sandman XI]

Elizabeth nodded when Kurt whispered to her. He didn't know what he was going for, but it had to be better than she planned. Though these guys were totally sorry about what they did, it still didn't excuse them from what they did. Letting a criminal go? What would the Centurion think? But maybe, just maybe, they deserved a second chance. "Indeed," she said floating in the air, her arms crossed, looking down, "You have to do something with your life. You want to end up in jail? Or worse? There are some 'heroes' out there who'd be much less caring than we are."

[Sandman XI]

Light looked at Kurt, then Elizabeth and finally Dark as he was still walking away. She didn't know how to answer this. She answered with a bit of trepidation her voice, "I... don't know. We have options. Maybe I can go out there and be a hero." Dark stopped walking, but did not turn around to face the group. He put his hand on his hips and glumly hung his head. As if the hero suggestion were the worst thing ever. Light looked to Dark. At least he was not walking away anymore. She flew over to Dark and hugged him from behind leaning her head on his back, "Don't worry, baby. It's not so bad." Dark sighed as if there was noting else to say. "Listen," he said softly, "You go do what you have to do. Just don't die out there. I love you. Now let go of me so I can go think. Elsewhere." Light did as he was told. Dark quickly ran off, vanishing into the night. Light dropped to her knees and looked to the ground as he did so.