001 - Video

[hawkfire]

[The feed crackles to life on the face of what seems to be your typical Southern California girl. Blonde, tan, athletic, perky. A close look at her eys belies a sort of fire there, though. A steely-eyed determination punctuated by the sparkle of promise. She's a stranger in a strange land, sure, but she's also aware that she's not the only one. More than that, she's been chosen. CHOSEN. Not as a tennis champ. Not as a childhood beauty pageant queen. No. She's been chosen as a HERO. The excitement all over her face is hard to miss.]

Hi! I'm Bette. Kane. Bette Kane. Is me. And that could probably have gone a little bit smoother. Some of you might know me as Flamebird. Maybe Hawkfire. Most likely not, though? I'm not, like, as popular as Batgirl.

[She even sounds like your stereotypical SoCal girl. A little Cher Horowitz, a little Elle Woods, a little Summer Roberts. Bright, warm, perky. A slight uptick. The excitement that was on her face a moment ago is shadowed by a little bit of self-doubt, suddenly.]

Actually, is there anyone from home here? I mean, I'm obviously new, but you know. If you've heard of Gotham City, or Metropolis, or Coast City... Drop a hey my way? I mean, even if you're not from back home, say hey. I could use some help getting acclimated. Find the hotspots for food, clothes.

Meting out justice.

You know how it goes. I'm thinking I'll brave the rain and head into the city later, but. A buddy might be nice.

So yeah. ...This doesn't sound like a Tinder or Hooq profile, does it?

[She opens her mouth to say something more and then visibly thinks better of it. Click.]

Comments

oh, just fyi, the id just says jaime reyes!

[khajidont]

Not so much a solo act as much as I'm not an act. Call me a spectator. It's just hard to come from where we're from and not know about at least a few of the heroes hanging around.

LOL. No worries. Bette's just assuming that everyone's a hero

[hawkfire]

Oh! Oh, I guess that does make sense. Sorry, I just... With other people from home here, I just keep on assuming that everyone else must have a costumed identity or something?

Because if I'm really one of the chosen ones, and some of the heavier hitters aren't....it's weird.

OKAY just making sure!! o7

[khajidont]

Not everyone from home is a superhero.

[He feels a little bad for lying, but not bad enough to compromise his secret ID on the first meeting.]

This place doesn't always grab people that you'd want around for a war. I mean, all my neighbour did back home was run a cafe. [Poor Aunt Cass, dragged into all this.] Most of the people here are actually from worlds without any superheroes at all -- which is weird.

Haha, no worries. :)

[hawkfire]

Well, yeah, I'm starting to realize that. It's just...weird. But then again, apparently the Porters are malfunctioning. At least they're not fritzing through time and space and bringing in, like, baby Superman or something.

Wait. I thought worlds without heroes only existed on, like, tv?

[khajidont]

Well. It does kind of fritz through time too. It can bring people from alternate universes and different times. Technically speaking, it could bring in, like, my Mom when she was thirteen.

[He offers the screen a small smile, knowing full well how bizarre this all is.]

When it comes to this place, any world is possible. You name it, and it probably exists somewhere.

[hawkfire]

I don't think I'm ready to meet my teenage parents. That would be so weird. [She can't even imagine. She smiles back, though, just at the thought of it.]

I'm starting to get the gist of that. It's weird though, right? Worlds where superheroes aren't common. Worlds where maybe you don't exist or I don't.

A world without tacos. ...Seriously, that's like the worst world of them all.

[khajidont]

Here's what you do. You travel to the world without tacos, and you introduce them to them. Then you're praised as an incredible genius, and receive riches beyond your wildest dreams. [He grins at her, more than a little cheekily.] See? Play it to your advantage.

[hawkfire]

So basically, go, patent the taco, and open up a Taco Whiz?

Actually, that's probably a really good way to add to the Kane fortune. Plus, you know. Tacos.

[Bette laughs softly.] Then we'd introduce the burritos and the nachos and we'd never have to look back again.

[khajidont]

Oh man, yes. Our names would go down in history as bringers of possibly the most perfect food to exist on this planet. Spend the rest of our lives coasting in our taco-legacy.

[He laughs.] You'll have to find a different business pitch in this world, though. Now that you mention it, I think the whole Kane name thing is familiar... d'you know Kate Kane?

[hawkfire]

She's my cousin. [She looks down for a moment.] I heard she was here, but not so much anymore. Little sparse on the deets, but whatever happened...you know. I hope it was okay.

[khajidont]

I hope so too. I didn't know her well, or anything, so we didn't talk much... but I know she took care of a couple of troublemakers that kept me pretty busy too. [He has to grin a little at that. He misses them, but they were a handful.]

She seemed nice.

[hawkfire]

She's really good at handling the troublemakers. And yeah, she's, you know, pretty much the best that there is.

[khajidont]

I wish she'd stuck around long enough to welcome you here. Bet she would've been thrilled to have some family around here.

Or, you know, as thrilled as anyone can get; it's not like this place is the safest in the world.

[hawkfire]

Or she would have been horrified that her baby cousin was here, putting herself in danger, and announcing to the strange world at large who she secretly was supposed to be.

This place can't possibly be any worse than Gotham City though, can it?

[khajidont]

Um.

[That's where he hesitates.]

It... kinda might be? Not that I wanna wig you out or anything, but it's all over the news; we just kicked out a literal Russian invasion. That, and Crane totally gassed everyone at a Swear-In a while back. We tend to attract some seriously weird things.

[hawkfire]

I did hear about the Russian thing. It's so...weird.

[Because she's still unfamiliar with the intricate history of the whys and the wheres.]

I'm a little disturbed by Crane's existence here, I'm not going to lie. I've never really dealt with him, but I'm pretty sure I don't trust him.

[khajidont]

Change that pretty sure to sure-sure and you're on the right track.

[Sorry. He holds a grudge.]

There's good parts and bad parts to living here. All you can really do is sorta roll with it; trust me, the whole Russian thing is weird to us too, and we've been here a lot longer than you.

[hawkfire]

I mean, he's the Scarecrow. Trust me, I get it.

I'm trying to look at the good parts. I've spent too long letting the bad parts hold me back and stuff.

No more, you know?

[khajidont]

Nah, I get you. If you wanna hear the good parts, though, I got lots for you. Number one? Fast food's way better here. [Less big companies, more local chains; it's the sort of thing that happens with a less globalized economy, a less globalized America.] And the whole retro thing means that there's basically chocolate malts and rollerskating rinks for days. That, and you'll meet some seriously great people here that you wouldn't get to meet otherwise.

[He's good at being optimistic. He likes being optimistic.]

I can keep going.

[hawkfire]

I'm sorry, but you had me at chocolate malt. Seriously, I love those things, and a good one is so hard to find.

[Optimism is great. Bette likes it as well, but sometimes her past catches up with her and tries to drag her down just a little bit.]

How about you just tell me where the best malts in De Chima are? If you know, I mean. I could always Yelp it otherwise.

You know.

If this place is Yelp-worthy?

[khajidont]

Yeah, I can tell you. Or I can show it to you, if you want, help you find your way around? One of my best friends lives in De Chima, so I'm over there all the time anyway.

[hawkfire]

I'd love that. A friendly face who knows the area is usually more helpful than, you know.

A map and playing guessing games.

[khajidont]

Especially when you've been dragged through universes, yeah. Just tell me when and where, and I'll give you the grand tour. De Chima's a nice place; you're lucky you got placed there.

[Better than Maurtia Falls!]

[hawkfire]

I'm at...De Chima 002? Is that like the right way to give out addresses here?

We could meet here or, like, at some place in the city proper? There's coffee shops, right?

[khajidont]

The right way, but maayyybe not the way you wanna give it out over the Internet? Switch it to a private feed next time.

[girl CRANE IS RIGHT THERE!!]

I'll meet you, uh -- by De Chima's Porter, does that work for you?