They Call This Shopping?

Summary:
June 20th, 2014: Starfire is bearing gifts for Roy and Lian, while Johnny shops for ladies and sets his sights on poor Kara.

Staten Island, NYC

Staten Island during a small Festival in celebration of Father's Day.


Characters

NPCs

  • None

Mood Music:


Father's Day.

Lian Harper is perched on her father's shoulders, dribbling ice cream down. Fortunately, at least for him, Roy has a hat on, the better to shield against random drops of ice cream.

Walking around on the streets, the Harper's are taking advantage of the street festival on this June afternoon. Then again, so are others…

~

Father's Day.

Johnny Storm used to love Father's Day. Not so much now. Father is a lush who currently resides in prison. But for some reason, Johnny had to go visit him. And now he's looking for anything that will take the sour smell out of his nostrils. So he's in civvies, a blue tee-shirt and jeans under a light red windbreaker, taking in a street festival on Staten, because it's something they did which didn't suck, back when he was a kid and his dad wasn't whatever he is now. And the corn dogs are still as perfect as they used to be.

~

Father's Day.

It's not something that would even occurred to anyone to celebrate on Krypton; it wasn't rational and scientific enough. But that doesn't mean that the existence of it on Earth doesn't effect Kara Zor-El. If anything, if makes her miss her father even more, the same way that she cried on Mother's Day last month. She has nothing to celebrate now, only memories of a family that sacrificed itself so that their children could live. Maybe it was over 30 years ago, but given her travel time in stasis, they were all alive just 6 months ago. And so, wandering Staten Island in her guise of Kara Kent, the normally happy and optimistic Girl of Steel has a decidedly unhappy expression on her face. Even the antics of the clowns in the street festival isn't making a dent in that sad look.

~

Father's Day?

Let's just say it is not really a day Kori acknowledges. She has the life of a Disney princess.. Sings to animals, has a mean sister… and dead parents. Her absence from this planet was to seek out another nice planet, see new sights, find an infestation of Gordanians and eliminate them. Though the entire battle was far more then anticipated and left her ship limping back to her /home/. Earth.

K'ttn is working on things, but there is no rush now as Kori walks through the street festival, in her usual attire of that purple suit, stretched across the surface of dusky skin, standing at a booth and holding a hat in her hand and getting gawked while she fidgets with a small toy, knocking it on the table much to the vendors chagrin, to which he begins to yell and try to snap it from Kori's grip.

"I'm not buying it if it doesn't work right."

"It wont work right if you -break it-!"

~

Keeping her arm wrapped around the hat, Lian licks at her ice cream cone. Her attention is drawn to different things, however. The sad melancholic Kara Kent, the grumpy man in blue, and …

"Daddy, look, isn't that Kori?" Hard to fail to recognize someone that looked like a walking Coppertone ad, especially with hair all the way down there.

"It sure is," Roy says. Recognizing the signs of the wiggling child, Roy quickly puts her down so that she can run off and…

"Hey, watch where you're going…!"

And if Johnny or Kara aren't watching out, well, there's a kid with an ice cream cone heedlessly running…

~

It is indeed difficult to miss someone who looks like the winner of the Golden Gal Award three years running, and Johnny Storm is not missing her. He's almost rudely staring, because, well, she's hot.

Thus, he doesn't see an careening ice cream cone attached to a young child, until his reflexes spot the movement, and then he gracelessly falls over, ice cream cone stuck to knee1, while Lian does whatever little girls do when they forget what they're doing.

~

"Then show me." Kori demands, as if she is captaining her ship once more, holding the small "mewling" kitten toy in front of his face, the head that was supposed to move as if the kitten was real is hanging limply, broken. She doesn't seem to notice, emerald green gaze reflecting the mans appalled look at Kori, lips parting to retort as his face reddens….

And she's gone! Taking the broken toy as well.

Kori had glanced the collision, and when she recognized the little girl she moved in a swift bee-line that lifted her feet lightly from the ground only to have her there, holding Lian's hand and picking her up if she fell, casting a protective leer towards Johnny, reaching down to him, and pulling the ice cream cone off his knee.

"You broke her treat." She states matter of factly, not yet having seen Roy, just watching Johnny and clutching Lian.

~

The very dominating tone of Starfire is all too easy to recognize, and as Roy catches up, Lian stares at the remains of her ice cream cone as she's picked up and held in Starfire's arms.

Lian's eyes well up, but before she can say anything, Roy is there, giving her a look and a, "Don't cry. I told you not to run."

A quick glance at Johnny.

"Sorry, man," Roy comments as he lifts his hat off and scratches his head, eyeing the melting ice cream. "Uh… sorry about that. I'll just… uh, here."

Handing over the napkins he was going to use to clean up after Lian, Roy scratches the back of his neck before putting the hat back on.

"Sorry, she was just excited to see Kori here."

A grin at Kori, and a wink. "Haven't seen you in a while. Gotten things taken care of now?"

"No problem, dude," Johnny says, while distractedly glancing back at the golden … oh, right. That's whatser-fire, the alien girl who was in the news a while back. He grins at her, shrugs helplessly, and looking back at Lian, he takes a finger-taste of the ice cream before wiping it off his knee with the napkin. His half-corndog now covered in dirt, he's no longer interested in it.

"Pistachio, huh? Hang on, I'll get you a new one," and he hops to his feet, and heads back to the ice cream vendor.

"One pistachio, one chocolate," he says to the vendor. "Hey, do you guys want one?"

~

The tears, those big saucer-shaped watering eyes, and that little lower lip protrusion from Lian…

"Nono, don't do that, princesses don't do that..Here! I got this for you!"

The vendor is on his way over, Kori hadn't paid for what she broke…and then took, now handing it to the child..

Within a foot of Kori now, "Hey, you have to pay for that!"

The realistic soft and fuzzy kitten is quite lame, and likely very dead, but Kori just smiled as she handed it to Lian and placed the ball cap on her head too. It read '#1 Dad,' with an arrow through a heart, fitting.

Roy piping up warrants another smile, though it starts to go to something a bit bared when Johnny rises, though it is evident not as angered as before with the casual reflective flick of a rise and fall inspection of the stranger.

In the background the vendor is still complaining and Kori blinks, looking at him and withdrawing some cash from between thigh and boot, handing it to him with a swift thrust that sent him back a few feet. Mouth open he wanted to say more, but she handed him a 50 for a broken kitten toy that when functioning, was only worth 10. Gone.

"I got you a hat, they said it goes to dads today, and I got her this thing. Isn't it cute?"

Kori just grins and doesn't speak of her whereabouts just yet, looking up at Johnny once more and nodding, "Vanilla!"

~

That it was coming from one princess to another causes Lian to wipe at her eyes and try to do exactly as Kori had suggested. A stiff upper lip, then! Claiming the kitten doll and holding it close, Lian quivers at her father, who certainly didn't seem to be consoling -her-. Even though she shouldn't have run.

"Look, man, you don't have to worry about buying it. I'll pay for it. A vanilla for the lady, and strawberry for me," Roy adds to the vendor, as he pulls his wallet out.

There was a quick blink, and a look at the hat, followed by a wide grin, as he removes the hat, taking the replacement cap from Kori.

"Why, thank you," he says, leaning in to give Kori a kiss on the cheek. "It's really cute, yes. Lian, what do we say…?"

"Thank you, Kori!" Lian pipes up, as Roy glances at Johnny. "Anyway, this is Lian, that's Kori, and I'm Roy. Sorry about that. And put that money away. I'm paying."

~

Johnny looks carefully at the man as the vendor scoops. Something so familiar. Where has he seen this guy before?

"No, really I got it. It's no big deal. Consider it an apology to the princess." He pays for the pistachio and the chocolate. If the guy in the trucker had with the ice-cream on top is wanting to be nice to the hot alien, then he can push his money on the vendor. Johnny won't get between that. He looks a second time, though normally looking at guys butts is not really his primary pastime.

"I have this weird feeling I've seen you somewhere before."

~

Leaning down to permit the small show of affection from Roy, Kori utters, "You know I still don't like those things on your head right?"

A small smile offered though and Kori also lowers Lian to the ground, closing any distance between them and Johnny as the ice cream purchases are bartered over.

"And who might you be?" She asks pointedly, leaning in to watch the cones get made as well as a closer look at the new face, a brow perking with one corner of her lips.

"Well, if you insist…" Roy replies, as he removes the hat from his head, tucking it into the backpack so that he can carry things around for Lian.

Running a hand through his hair, Roy quirks a look at Johnny.

"Maybe I just have one of those faces?" the man says, as he gives in, letting Johnny deal with paying for ice cream for Lian and himself. "Or we've run into each other somewhere…"

He'll just pay for Kori and for himself.

Lian, meanwhile, is tossing her newly acquired kitten doll up and down in the air, trying to catch it while it's in mid-air. A slight shift, however, and she misses it, as the doll rolls over towards Kara. "Aaah!" Lian exclaims.

~

The cry of Lian breaks Supergirl out of her reminiscing funk. The bespectacled and (currently) brunette girl bends down to pick up the toy and brings it back over to the girl, smiling shyly.

"Here you go, sweetie…"

Then, she looks up to see who the guardians of this girl are, she does a bit of a double-take. Johnny Storm, she recognizes from the general fame of the Fantastic Four, as well as the Harbor fight yesterday. And if she's not mistaken, the woman is a Tamaranian? She's almost as far from home as Kara is. So, definitely not your usual visitors to Staten Island. And probably all heroes to boot; aside from the little girl, that is. Still she has a secret identity to maintain, so she just smiles shyly again and waves to the group.

"Sorry…your daughter dropped her doll…"

~

"Who might I be? I might be Robin Hood, but I'm actually just Johnny Storm, a humble race car driver."

And before he can make the connection between Roy and the Checkmate-be-spandexed archer from a month or so ago, Johnny is distracted by a nerdish girl who is just far too shyly cute for words. Without those eyeglasses she'd be something else though.

"Uh, what was I going to say?" The true weakness of Johnny Storm is cute girls. Don't tell Dr. Doom.

~

"I already know a 'Robin Hood', you need a new gig if so." Pausing, his final statement makes her smirk.

"That'll do," Kori states in regards to his race car driving, turning away as Lian calls out about her loss, just in time to watch Kara approach with the broken little kitten toy she gifted Lian, giving the girl a once over flick of pupilless gaze. Head. Toe. Head. Face. Stare.

Slowly she peels her gaze from the girl to glance at Johnny and lean over to flick his chin.

"You look at all the girls that way, at least change it up to make it flattering, race-car-driver."

Winking she moves to stand beside Roy and retrieve her cone, assessing Kara once again.

"Thank you," resisting the urge to snare the kitten doll from Kara and give it to Lian herself. It was her gift!

~

"Go easy on him. I mean, I looked at you that way," Roy grins, as he nods at Johnny, pondering. Maybe it was just that attitude, but Roy would have sworn he was a lot like that himself.

Lian, meanwhile, takes the doll and beams up at Kara. "Thank you," she says, as she cuddles the doll to her chest.

Roy, meanwhile, just smiles at Kara.

"No worries, she's a little bit full of energy today. Get your ice cream from… uh, Johnny." Race car driver. He wasn't paying too much attention to the NASCAR world, but… was that a really good driver?

~

Okay, why is the Tamaranian woman staring at her like that? Oh, right; warrior culture. Part of the reason the Kryptonians withdrew back home after going into space: too many species wanting to fight instead of talk.

"Oh, no that's alright," Kara says meekly. "I just wanted to give the toy back to her. And I'm you you want to spend this Father's day with your daughter and your friends."

She looks over at Kori a bit nervously, showing that she's backing down here.

"So…please. Continue enjoying your day." And she turns to head back towards the other booths of the festival.

~

Oh, the pain of that remark. It's almost as if his sister were here. Johnny laughs a little.

"I've been told that before, but it never seems to take. Sorry," Johnny says, shrugging. "It's just that I've been really busy lately, no time to practice my social graces."

Johnny hands the ice cream to the kidlet, and says "You should eat this before it escapes."

~

Possessive! Kori is simply being possessive. That's her gift to Lian, and no one else is supposed to touch it! Unspoken rules and all of that fun stuff women tend to do, even of alien races. As Kara starts to shift her posture and back away Kori blinks, takes a deep breath and lifts, the small tail of flame tracing behind Kori as she closes the gap and hovers in front of Kara now, wiggling her ice cream cone between fingers in Kara's face.

"You know you want to stay and have some, my treat for returning my gift to her." Emphasis on my, but.. Kori smiillleeesss slowly. Trying here!

"Don't let their stares make you uncomfortable, the male species here seems to always be… In heat."

Nodding sagely Kori now glances to Johnny and Roy, licking her ice cream cone in the process.

~

"I'm pretty sure you have a lot to do with it, Kori," Roy mutters, though mostly to himself.

While Lian claims HER ice cream from Johnny, Roy pats Johnny on the back.

"Don't mind her. Her bite's worse than her meow. So, you said you were a race car driver?" Now that Roy's gotten a better look, he'd have sworn he saw him somewhere too.

Lian, meanwhile, heads back to the girls, simply because it's much safer than being around those boys.

"Want some?" she offers her cone to Kara, as the others have already have one.

~

"Hey!" Johnny protests, because, well, yeah, she's probably right, but it's not THAT bad. He looks at Roy.

"Seriously? Are we that bad?" He realizes his ice cream will melt if he doesn't eat it, and it's too hard to do that thing Bobby does to keep things COLD, so he plays catch-up with the cone.

"Uh amb." swallow. "Storm Front Racing, only I'm not doing any this year because I have to stick around and run the Foundation while Reed and Sue are off goofing around."

~

When Kori makes amends, Kara turns back around, still smiling nervously. And then Lian offering her ice cream just melts her heart.

"Okay," she says, a bit of confidence appearing in her smile. She walks back to the general group and stands next to Johnny.

"Ummm…I think I will accept your offer, Mr. Storm," she says, still a bit timidly. "And thank you all for letting me join you. I really wasn't sure of what to do except wander the festival some more." Kara's smile goes from nervous and shy, to tight and contemplative.

"And I certainly never expected to meet someone like Mr. Storm in person."

~

Kori was using the men as an excuse, she had an immunity to the x-ray-clothing-penetrating(so they wish),stares, but she wouldn't make it that obvious and she simply stares at Roy and blinks slowly, like what he said did not compute.

Johnny, though, gets a look that has one fiery brow rising on her forehead and the other furrowing. Really, dude??

Lian's own little gesture gets her a smile, one that returns Kori to that child-like behavior only she could pull from her anymore. Too much war and too many bad experiences have honed Kori more into a warrior then even she realizes half the time.

Moving back to the group with Lian's hand in her own they both look like broken mirror images of kids enjoying ice cream at a festival, though Kori is a much larger version with obvious differences. Stopping beside Roy she nudges him with a bare hip.

"Since when can you vouch for my bite?"

~

Entirely too used to that look from Kori, Roy just smiles when Kori stares at him the first time. It's followed up with a look at Johnny.

"Well, let's put it this way—- the only reason her clothes stay on is because you're staring at it too hard. Anyway, that explains why I haven't seen your name in the news recently and… you're running a company? My condolences. Or congratulations, I'm not sure which."

Lian turns over the ice cream to Kara and takes Kori in hand, following her back to her father. She does a hip-bump in turn too, after Kori does. Grinning fondly at his daughter, hand-in-hand with Kori, Roy winks at the taller alien.

"I don't know. Let's find out… I'll buy you dinner."

~

Kara looks a bit confused at the conversation among the adults, not knowing the shared stories or experiences they have. But then there's Lian, smiling up at her and offering her the ice cream. Kara smiles back and kneels down, taking the offered ice cream. "Thank you, that's very generous of you." It looks like things are breaking up, so Kara gives Lian a piece of advice while she's down at eye level to the girl.

"Never forget to hug your daddy and tell him you you love him. Any chance you get," she says quietly to the girl. Her tone is sad as she says this, and there's a certain…age in her now. Experience. But then Kara stands back up and nods to the departing Roy and Kori.

"Good day to you both. Enjoy the rest of the day."

~

Is it the smile or the voice that seems familiar? Or just that Kara's a secretly pretty girl in disguise? In any case, Johnny grins, because well, flattery will get you everywhere, and waves to Roy and Kori and Lian. And now he's seeing Roy walk from behind, and wait, Robin Hood? Really? OK, whatever, maybe it's just some other guy with well-fitting jeans.

He smiles at Kara and says, "Have you been to one of these before? I haven't been to a street fair since I was a kid."

And he'll be the perfect gentleman if she's interested in an escort. Whatever Kori might think.

~

If Kara manages to catch it, when she is rising from giving her advice to Lian, Kori is watching her again, speculation there, but in that fathomless gaze there's a moment of empathy but it's gone just as fast.

Roy gets a smirk and a catty narrowing of her gaze to match the growing mischief on her facade.

"Dinner doesn't get you all the answers, but it sounds good, if for nothing then to see you try."

A flick of her gaze to johnny she offers him a small nod of her head in that parting gesture.

"Take it slow, speedy. It's not always about how hot you are." All the meanings in the world, let him parse out the correct ones. Either way she smiles to him just before she turns away and waits on Roy and Lian to lead the way.

~

"Definitely appreciate the chance to find out -some- of the answers, at least," Roy grins, as Lian takes hold of her father's hand, using the two hands in her grip to demand a 'carry' as she lifts herself off the ground. "Oof…"

Nodding towards the other two, Roy laughs.

"I'll see you around…. most likely at the next festival. Can't miss us, I think."

And as Roy, Kori and Lian go, Roy leans over, whispering to Kori briefly.

Kara might hear this as well: "… is it me, or was that guy checking my ass?"


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