New to Earth [IC]

[Ecalsneerg]

Jeni Frey strolled casually down one of the streets of Freedom City. Seems somewhat dilapidated. What kind of planet is this that they just let areas deteriorate to a worse state than the rest of the city? Seems somewhat counterintuitive. She was wearing some strange blue trousers that had been marketed as 'jeans', despite her understanding that this was also a name for females. They need less ambiguous languages. It's a wonder they don't get confused all the time.

She kicked a metal drinks can. That, too, was odd. Kairos had very, very strict anti-littering laws. Well... it used to have them. Then, all of a sudden, she heard someone rushing up behind her as she approached an alleyway. Sighing, she felt the knife pressing into her back as three young, thuggish looking men came out of the alleyway.

"Give me your purse, and you won't get hurt," grunted the leader, a stocky man with close-cropped hair and a knuckleduster on his right hand. "And don't you dare try shouting, or my friend here will put his knife in you, and we don't want that, do we?" Jeni fixed her green eyes of him defiantly, having already thought of ten ways to get out of this situation without even being scratched.

Taking in a deep breath, she brought her back leg up so quickly between her assailant's legs, and with such calculated precision, that she sent her foot smashing upwards into his groin so hard that even through her boots she could feel his pelvis. "No. We don't want that." Jeni grinned widely.

[KnightDisciple]

While the thug who had been holding the knife to Jeni's back writhed in pain on the ground, one of the other thugs (this one with a ratty-looking ponytail) rushed towards Jeni with an aluminum baseball bat poised to strike.

Which is right when he was slammed against the wall by a near-invisible bolt of sonic energy. There, he groaned, slumping into total unconsciousness. The two thugs that remained glanced around. If Jeni looked at all, it wouldn't be hard to spot the newcomer to the fight; he was floating about 5 feet in the air, slowly descending, and was clad in all white.

"Trying to mug someone? Here? You boys must be new, stupid, or both. Didn't you hear? This part of Southside is under my protection."

With that, the other thug (standing well over 6 feet tall, with a huge build) ran towards the man in white, swinging a huge lead pipe at his head.

Meanwhile, the Leader turned with a snarl back towards Jeni, taking a swing at her with his knuckleduster.

[Ecalsneerg]

Jeni casually brought her hand up, barely even tensing her muscles. The knuckleduster hit her hard in the forearm... and didn't even leave more than a red mark in the skin, quickly fading. The leader looked at the young woman in shock as she swiftly, without even changing her expression, snatched his arm with the one he'd just punched, and pushed him hard towards the nearby wall, even as she swept her left leg towards his knees.

He fell head first into the cement wall, falling to the ground in pain. "Amateurs. I learned to do that when I was only 57. Surely you should know basic combat skills by now." She turned to look up at the flying man. "Thanks for the help."

[KnightDisciple]

The large thug's swing was almost upon the man in white, when he finally side-stepped it. As the thug pass, he casually slapped him on the back; the seemingly innocent action caused the thug to groan, drop his pipe, grab his stomach, and fall to the ground moaning. A sonic bolt put him out of commission entirely. The man in white surveyed the situation in the alley, noted that all the thugs were down, and gave a satisfied nod.

"It's what I do. Give me just a moment, I need to contact the police."

He made a call that lasted perhaps 60 seconds, before tucking his phone away and giving Jeni his full attention. He offered her a winning smile and his hand to shake.

"You can call me Gabriel. Like I said, I keep an eye on this part of town as best as I can. Sorry this happened, but I can't be everywhere at once."

Something occurred to him at that moment, and a light frown of confusion crossed his face.

"Wait. You're older than 57?"

[Ecalsneerg]

"Well... not that much older," said Jeni defensively. "Barely a hundred years, I mean, I've got half my life ahead of m-" She paused, eyes flickering as her brain quickly ticked and she recalled snippets of Earth history she'd yet to take the time to actually pay attention to.

"Wait. Humans don't live that long, do they? It'd explain why some of the younger humans I've met seem so dumb. Anyway, I'm Jeni. I'm kind of..." She struggled to look for an appropriate Earth phrase. "Not from around here?"

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel spent several moments processing this information, silently standing there with his only movement being blinking.

"Um. Generally speaking, no, humans don't live to be a hundred and look about twenty. So...you're not from Earth?"

Suddenly, sirens can be heard, and his head turns towards the sound. He looks back at Jeni, thoughtful.

"I'd like to continue the conversation more, but we should probably move on. Can you fly? That might make our navigation a bit easier."

He looked genuinely curious, with no real sense of foul intentions coming from his tone or body language.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Should be able to fly, give me a moment," said Jeni, leaning back slightly and stretching out her arms. With a strange clicking sound her shoulder blades extended outwards, stretching her white t-shirt until it tore free, membranous white wings spreading outwards even as scale-like feathers began slithering across them.

In a few seconds, the blond woman stood there, with a wingspan of eight feet, gently flapping upwards with long, languorous, powerful strokes of her wings. "No, not from this planet, no."

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel flew to catch up with her, suspended by a quietly humming jet of concentrated sound. His expression wasn't quite "gobsmacked" anymore, but it was definitely still at "not quite caught up". He took the lead, flying for a bit, not going too fast for Jeni's sake, before finally landing on one of the nicer rooftops around the area. He waited patiently until she had landed, trying to let himself better grasp the situation.

"I suppose your non-Earth origins become more evident by the moment. Not totally shocking, I suppose. You new to the planet, or just the city? And, um, interesting trick. With the wings."

He was clearly a bit out of his element, but was trying hard to be polite, while also sating his curiosity.

[Ecalsneerg]

A few feet above the rooftop, Jeni stopped flapping, and let herself begin falling, wings retracting into her back rapidly, leaving two ragged holes in the back of her t-shirt. She hit the ground with a small thud, coming up from her knees into a casual, easy stance. "Not that difficult, I just don't let my body shapeshift while imposing the genetic template of a winged animal onto my shoulders. Just takes a little refinement, and an animal with large enough wings."

She rubbed her back, scratching at an itch. "The feathers do chafe a little bit, though. And I'm new to the planet. Crashed down here not all that long ago."

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel tilted his head to one side, a quizzical expression on his face. He then shook his head with a cheerful smirk showing through.

"I'll have to take your word for it on the level of difficulty. I just shoot a bunch of sound out of my body. I'm guessing you've got a few other animals, ah, stored away? As for the itch, maybe a backscratcher?"

When he hears that she was stranded on Earth, he looks concerned.

"You're obviously physically fine, but...do you have a home and so forth? If everything alright for you?"

[Ecalsneerg]

"A home? Huh," said Jeni, expression quickly turning bitter. "No, not any more, I suppose. I... used to have one. But it's gone. It's dead, just rocks and dust. Before its time. I'm a Kaironian. As far as I know, I'm the last Kaironian. I'm the only survivor."

She looked at Gabriel mournfully. "When Kairos burned, my ship was hurled clear of the blast and crashed down in the West End. I suppose I... technically died, but I'm still walking around. So, in a way, no one survived."

[KnightDisciple]

"I-"

Gabriel stopped, unsure of what to say. He was clearly saddened by her tale, a frown coming over his face. He opened his mouth once or twice, and each time shook his head. He was clearly thinking carefully of what to say. Finally, he took a step closer, one hand rising as if to settle on her shoulder, before it fell limply back to his side.

"I realize these words ring hollow, and hold little meaning in comparison, but...I am sorry to hear of your loss. I cannot imagine what it feels like. Forgive me for reminding you of this painful memory."

He paused.

"Is there anything you need in the short term? Shelter, food, that sort of thing? If you do, I could make some calls and help arrange for it. If there's any way I can help, I'd like to do so, even if it's a small gesture."

He gave her a faint smile.

"For what it's worth, if you're walking and talking now, I'd say you survived. Just consider yourself part of a fairly small club. Though I suppose that doesn't count for that much, in the end."

[Ecalsneerg]

"Oh, I'm not entirely convinced I'm the only one," conceded Jeni. "But any research ships that were out there are are hundred dimensions, thousand light years and million years away, most likely. I know where I am, but when... I'm not entirely sure." She gave a bitter laugh.

"So here I am, on a planet with a load of simian life forms who seem to spend half the time sleeping. I don't even have my ship. It was too badly damaged, which is a pity, as it means I could live in it instead of the quarters humans seem to prefer."

[KnightDisciple]

A sympathetic look crossed Gabriel's face at first.

"I'm sorry for refreshing such painful thoughts. I'd tried a bit of humor in noting that there have been a few occasions others have returned from death itself."

But at her next words, a deep frown settled on his face.

"Oh, simians, are we? Savages? Not due any respect? Why, because we don't have time travel yet? And forgive us for not having the same hyper-advanced technology. I was going to offer to help you find shelter for at least a time. Should I bother, or will you throw my primitive offerings back in my face?

How long have you been on this planet, that you have judged us filthy simians barely worthy of your attention? What makes you so much better than us?"

[Ecalsneerg]

"Well, let me think... your planet is hideously polluted, your list of endangered or extinct species... I mean, just... wow," exploded Jeni. "You fight and kill each other like animals. My planet had superheroes too, but our job description had barely any of these costumed criminals, we fought natural disasters and alien races. Not each other."

"And I'm stuck here. Where the most advanced race kill one another, where they kill the world around them, and a not insignificant number spend their time dressing up in costumes not to fight crime, but to cause it, and attack people in alleyways. And this is supposed to be something to be proud of."

[KnightDisciple]

"Not only are you arrogant, you're blind."

Gabriel's voice is calm. Cold, even. His body language shows that he's upset, but his speech is precise, with absolutely no emotion injected into it.

"What you say is true...But it is not the whole picture. Our planet is polluted, but we're trying to clean it up. There are endangered species, but we're trying to save them. We fight and kill. But we also help and heal.

Humanity is a fallen, prideful, selfish, sinful people. We can display depravity worthy of the most devoted servants of Satan himself, or of the darkest corners of the terminus. But we can also produce men and women who stand against the darkness. Who, through deed and speech and writing have battled tirelessly to help our fellow humans. Throughout the ages, for every criminal there are multiple decent people. For every broken and hurting family, there is one where love abounds.

You see evil mixed with the good because we have choice. And we understand that, and accept the consequences of choice.

I don't know what your oh-so-wonderful planet's history was. But I'd heavily doubt it was always such a wonderful glorious utopia. Do you mean to tell me you never experienced wars on your planet? That no evil was done by your people against themselves? I find it doubtful. No, you've just had more time. Your people developed time travel; by and large, we're still working on getting out of orbit.

So pardon us for not having everything figured out, you arrogant alien wench."

Suddenly, anger infused his words, and there was more than a hint of Irish brogue in his speech.

"So I'd like ya to keep it in mind that we're bloody well trying our best to do better. I don't appreciate high-and-mighty aliens coming down here and saying how we're all primitive animals, and they do everything so much better, as if the whole world is populated by trash. Well let me tell you something: We aren't trash. We're made in the image of God. Not a single human being is "trash". Oh, some drown themselves in evil, but that's a choice they have to live with. I don't appreciate your bloody arrogant attitude. You're no better than the likes of those villains you talk down about; plenty of them think the world's not right, and that they're the only one who knows how it ought to be. If ya cant' tell, it's not helping them much at all. Not the Grue, not that bloody robot, not the undead, not even the bloody freaking Terminus. None of them can grind us into dust. We refuse. So maybe you should spend mroe than 5 minutes watching the nightly news, or dig a bit deeper into your history books, and maybe shake off that bloody alien arrogance."

With that, he turns his back and begins walking away from her across the roof.

[Ecalsneerg]

"I'm sorry. That was unwarranted, illogical, and just plain spiteful," said Jeni softly, rubbing at the back of her head. "But frankly... what's the Earth phrase? Screw. You."

"Frankly, yes, I have every right to be an arrogant jerk, because... well, have you ever lost someone? How about two people? Three? Four? Five? Five hundred? Five thousand? Five million? More? Did you see thousands slaughtered by Omegadrones, and hundreds more carried into furnaces?"

She took a step towards the superhero as he left. "Did you watch your friends and comrades die, over and over again, saving them with time travel so you could keep fighting, only to watch it happen again? Did you find out your damn government had sold out to the Great Annihilator simply to save their own hides? Did you have to burn your own damn planet simply because the only creatures on it were those of Omega? Then did you crash on an alien world you hadn't been to, died, and had your entire appearance and personality irrevocably altered by some biological process you don't even understand?"

"So yes, I'm possibly wrong, and I admit it. But do I have every right to be irked? Well, if you think no, again... Screw you."

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel whirled on her, stalking back until he was perhaps a foot away.

"This isn't about you being mad your planet's gone! No, I haven't seen my planet die in front of me. I can't comprehend that sorrow. But that doesn't give you the right to dismiss my entire people like you did! You want to be mad, be mad at Omega, not us!"

He stepped back and swept an arm out over the panorama of the city.

"These people you're dismissing as animals? They didn't burn your world. They didn't invade it. Except for a couple of two-bit thugs, they've done nothing negative to you at all. So while you have every right to be mad, that right only extends to the people who did what made you mad! Not people who don't even know what happened!"

He threw both his arms into the air in a gesture of frustration.

"Why did I bother helping an ungrateful woman like you, anyway? I mean, here I am trying to do whatever I can to help, but oh no, I'm the one that was being spiteful. After you insulted me, my family, my friends, and my whole race! I'm the unwarranted one you crazy bint?"

[Ecalsneerg]

"Oh, am I saying nasty things? Then why don't you cry about it? Go cry to your mother, while I go to... oh, wait. Maybe you could just go home instead while I... Wait. Perhaps you can go a place you liked when you were a child... y'know what, I think I've made my point," shouted Jeni.

"Seriously, you're at least acknowledging my entire race is dead, while simultaneously claiming that on top of all you already have, I have to be nice and happy and... what's the expression... fire rainbows out my behind? I'm guessing by context bint is meant to be an insult, so tell you what? If you're just as angry as I, despite you only having had nasty words said... I may be crazy, but at least I'm not so oversensitive it's a wonder sunlight doesn't make me catch fire."

[KnightDisciple]

"I'm insulting you. You want to insult me, be my guest, I can take it! But not some blanket statement like that! And I was trying to help you find at least a temporary home! I can't give you what you had back, but I wanted to help you get something new! But no, apparently it's not bloody well good enough! But fine, you don't want to play nice! I'm sorry I didn't like being called a monkey! After I helped you! Gah!"

He paced a bit in frustration.

"Maybe I am oversensitive! Maybe it's just tonight! I don't know! But damn if I didn't get peeved, okay!

So fine! Get mad! Don't be nice! Do whatever you want with your behind! See if that gets people to help you!"

[Ecalsneerg]

Jeni sighed and put her face in her hand. "Help? With simple things like food, or shelter? I altered my entire genetic code simply because I wanted to. I fought the greatest temporal war ever known. I scorched an entire legion of Omegadrones nearly single-handedly. And you expect me to act nice to stop myself dying of hunger or exposure?"

"I have already said this. I am completely aware what I said was spiteful and illogical." She hissed through her teeth at the whiteclad superhero. "But I do not fit in here. At all. I'm aware that to you, I look human. But are you aware my entire bone structure is different? My brain built differently, my muscles, my lungs? I know all this, and I can't forget, with every human I look at it, with every single second my eyes are open, I have to remember where I am. There's no way I can't. So apologies if I'm more than a little stressed."

A thought crossed her head, and she looked at Gabriel quizzically. "Also, according to a biology textbook, you are a simian, along with monkeys as you said, and... apes?"

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel took a step back, heaving a sigh of his own as he ran a hand over his mask-covered face. His expression went from "furious" to merely "annoyed", along with "regretful", with perhaps a bit of "sympathetic".

"Before I say anything else, I want to say that I'm sorry for yelling at you. It was wrong of me, unbecoming of me, and not something you deserved. At all. I could heap all sorts of excuses from here to the moon, but they'd mean nothing. I chose to over-react. Again, I apologize."

He gave her a serious look.

"My offer of help was, as I said, all I felt I could do. I cannot restore your people. I wish I could, but I can't. I can only offer to give you whatever help you may need or desire. If you don't want the help, that's fine. I cannot not make the offer."

He frowned in slight confusion at her final question.

"Biologically speaking, perhaps. But all the other apes, monkeys, simians, whatever on the planet? Generally, they're not actually sentient. They live in the jungle, eating fruit, scratching their behind, and basically just surviving. Maybe humanity isn't as advanced as some, but we have more than just survival. We have painting. Philosophy. Music. And of course, Theater. So while correct on a technical, biological level, it's a gross generalization that does a disservice to humans everywhere. At least, all but a small handful, I suppose."

[Ecalsneerg]

"Yes, but... it's still the scientific term." Jeni looked confused. "It's correct. Any insult coming from it is in your head. You do sleep all day compared to me, literally twice as much as I need to, and you are-" She caught herself and bit her tongue. Seriously, no wonder their technology sucks if they get offended by scientific words, let alone the actual details behind them.

"Alright, I see where you're coming from." Not really. "But if we're actually going to get on, you're going to have to let me use scientific terms. It's how my brain works, and if I'm going to live and work on Earth, I have to use it."

"Anyway... could we talk over some food? I'm starving."

[KnightDisciple]

"No, I over-reacted. It's not the best term, but I suppose from your perspective it's somewhat understandable. I find that "humans" works fine."

He shakes his head, his mood lightening a bit more as the conversation calms.

"But far be it for me to stop you from speaking as your brain works."

He smiles just a bit.

"Do you have any food preferences, allergies, or the like? I know several places, so just tell me what you'd like. My treat."

[Ecalsneerg]

"I... don't know. Even Earth's atmosphere does bizarre things to my biochemistry. The food... I wouldn't know where to start, frankly. I suppose I'll just have to try everything," smiled Jeni. "And hope nothing's actually lethal." Humans aren't too dissimilar physically, so hopefully their food isn't toxic... I've eaten since I've got here, so at least some things are safe.

"But word of warning, I don't actually really have any currency at the moment."