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[sayshazam]

It had been about a million degrees lately, so Billy had decided it was time to brave the beach. He and his dog had gone there fairly early hoping to avoid the crowds but it seemed like everyone else had the same idea. Billy had managed to spend about twenty minutes in the water before deciding that it wasn't worth it and he and his dog left.

Going back to the apartment didn't really appeal to him either. It was summer and school was out, he wanted to spend it doing things he normally wouldn't be able to during the day. Which mostly meant eating food cart food. He'd gotten a few hot dogs for his dog and some sort of messy burrito thing for himself before heading to the park.

The burrito was almost overflowing and tricky to eat while walking, which is why he didn't see the girl until he bumped into her. Billy had to do a sort of awkward dance type thing to avoid spilling the burrito or knocking the girl over and he credited his lessons with Korra to his ability to not make a mess or hurt someone.

"Oh crap, I'm sorry," he said, turning to the girl. "I was, uh, paying attention to my burrito."

Comments

[thefourthone]

"Oh, no, it's okay. " She still doesn't know what she's supposed to be doing here exactly, but she figures she can't stay in her bed all day even if Steph kind of wants to. Instead she gets up and goes on long wandering walks through the city, because the best way to get to know a place is by walking through aimlessly and seeing the sights. So she isn't really paying attention either when they bump into each other and nearly get salsa everywhere.

"I mean, that's a serious looking burrito, it requires some concentration." Steph smiles on instinct at the guy about her own age walking around with his dog, which she immediately leans over to hold her hand out to. "And hey to you too buddy."

[sayshazam]

She was nice, way nicer than Billy would have been if someone had bumped into him because they were more concerned about their burrito than where they were going. Or maybe she just really understood the importance of a good burrito. She was pretty too, in the way that it seemed like half of Darrow was, which was to say incredibly pretty.

"Uh oh, now you've done it," Billy said as his dog began to sniff her hand, tail wagging furiously. "You've shown him some attention, now you'll have a friend for life."

[thefourthone]

"I can use all the friends I can get," Steph said, really grinning as she scratches the dog's ears. It feels good to enjoy something as simple as a cute dog after all this dark and depressing crap the past few days. She looks up at the guy with a friendly smile. "You and the puppy just taking a burrito break?"

[sayshazam]

"You just arrive here or something?" he asked, taking another bite of his burrito. His dog looked like he was pretty much going to abandon Billy and go home with this girl, the ear scratching she was giving him was so good. Sometimes his dog could be a bit ridiculous with how friendly it was.

"And yeah, tried to go swimming earlier but there are a million people at the beach, so we came to the food trucks and to hang out here."

[thefourthone]

"Am I that obvious?" She's had it all explained to her, but it's still weird how some people come from other places but most people would have no idea what she's talking about. All these people who aren't wishing for a wider world. "I just came a few days ago. But any place that has this many food trucks has to be nice, right? There's one that makes little donuts from scratch."

[sayshazam]

"Not really, I have about a fifty percent success rate asking that question," Billy admitted. When he was wrong, people looked at him really oddly because they didn't understand being from some place other than Darrow. It drove him a little bit crazy though, because there were obviously places besides this one.

"And the donuts go on that little conveyor, right? I love that truck."

[thefourthone]

"Yes! They're so cute on their little donut-making machiney." This is the most enthusiasm she's expressed for days, and it's about the art of miniature donut making. She's ridiculous but, whatever, better to get excited about stupid things than nothing at all. "I'm Steph."

[sayshazam]

"I'm Billy, and now I really want a tiny donut," he said, giving her a bit of a smile. That wasn't really a huge problem though because he could just go get himself a tiny donut in a bit. Really, he should be grateful to the girl for putting the idea in his head because little donuts were delicious.

"You seem to be adjusting okay? Not freaking out too much?"

[thefourthone]

"Wanna split some?" Steph asks. She's mostly just been eating PB&Js for all her meals and could use some real food. Not that mini donuts in any way count as real food, but, whatever, it's better than nothing. "And I'm saving all my freaking out for private, but don't worry, I'm doing it."

She's got a whole smorgasbord of issues to deal with, and the whole alternate dimension thing is actually pretty low on the list. But...she's trying to cope. It's easier in public than when she's alone in her apartment, and right now she feels actually okay.

[sayshazam]

"Well, since you're saving the freak out for in private and won't lose it over the donuts, I guess we can share some."

At the mention of 'sharing' his dog started to go a bit nuts, recognized one of the key words that usually lead to him getting food. Unfortunately, donuts were not in the immediate future for the dog but he'd get over it.

If the girl really was going to freak out in private though, that was pretty impressive. He knew that a lot of people didn't handle this place so well. She could at least fake it pretty well.

"Does where you come from have a bunch of weird stuff going on that this doesn't seem too weird?"

[thefourthone]

"I promise to keep my tears at how fluffy and delicious they are at bay," Steph says as she starts to make her way over to the bright pink truck.

She has to think that one over before answering. "Depends on what you mean by weird stuff? I mean, aliens and junk, sure, so I guess alternate dimensions aren't that weird. But...they don't exactly happen to me. It's not like anyone looks at me and thinks hmmmmm, good choice for a multiverse adventure, you know?"

[sayshazam]

"I know what you mean. Some people here seem all weirded out by the aliens and superheroes and stuff but that's normal in my world," Billy said. He couldn't exactly say that the stuff didn't happen to him because it kind of did, but only recently. Up until a few days before coming here, he was pretty normal.

"I guess this time someone thought you were up for the adventure though?"

[thefourthone]

"Yeah, we've had heroes for as long as I can remember." She remembers tying a towel around her neck and pretending to be Superman since she was about four years old. Everyone in her school always had a Batman story, even though most of them were probably lies.

Then she laughs, startled and louder than she intends and has to cover her mouth as other people in line turn to look at them. The idea that anyone had looked at her in that hospital bed and thought hmmmm perfect candidate. "I guess they must have. They're probably feeling pretty disappointed right now."

[sayshazam]

"People here freak out a bit when they're around but it's like... come on, we're the only city in this reality, of course it's going to happen. Most people back home would go nuts if Superman or someone like that showed up."

Granted, he hadn't run into anyone as famous as Superman, but he'd met a few people in costumes. Honestly they just sort of seemed to be normal people, which had kind of been disappointing.

When the girl laughed, Billy couldn't help but smile a bit, even though he had no clue what she was smiling about.

"Are you kidding? You're about to have mini donuts, how is this not a highlight of your life? Someone, somewhere is watching this right now and is so very excited they put you here so you can have donuts with me."

[thefourthone]

"Is Superman here?" Steph asks at once. "Or ooooh Wonder Woman. I want to meet her." She doesn't ask about Batman, obviously. If he shows up, she'll hear about it. But Superman! That would be pretty awesome.

"You...have a point there," she says, smiling at him and not cynically at all. If the adventure is supposed to be everyday life, well, maybe she won't be so terrible at that. "I am exactly the right person to take on mini donut quests. So the burrito bump- in was all part of their grand plan, huh?"

[sayshazam]

"No, I don't think so. Mostly it's Spider people and Bat people and these girls named after planets," he admitted. It's not like a hero could really hide their presence here, not with how small this place was, everyone would hear about it pretty quickly. Billy kind of wished that Superman was here though, it would be nice to talk to him.

When she smiled at him all Billy could think was that she really did have a nice smile. It was kind of a stupid observation, but Billy didn't make a lot of people smile.

"I guess it was, so that makes it even less my fault than before."

[thefourthone]

"Girls named after planets?" Steph asks as a way to avoid talking about the Bat people. Does she even count as one? She knows what Batman would say, but he's not the boss of her anymore. "Like Janey Jupiter and Nancy Neptune, that kind of thing?"

She laughs. "Yup, we'll chalk it up to the inevitable will of our captors. So you have been here for a while it sounds like?"

[sayshazam]

"No, it's like 'Sailor Mars' and stuff. They're 'Sailor' and then a planet. And they have weird costumes. I don't get it but there's some sort of theme," he said. The girls were weird, but actually pretty decent once you got past the weird names and outfits. When Vanessa had become a giant sea monster they had really helped.

"Yeah, a few months. It's not so bad, I guess. Do you have your own place and access to your money? I know some teenagers don't."

[thefourthone]

"That is...okay, pretty abstract as far as superhero shticks go," Steph says doubtfully as she tries to imagine what they look like. Oh God, she hopes their leader is named Skipper Sun or something equally awesome. "But I am always going to be in favor of teen girl gang vigilantes, so I'm all about it."

"They don't?" Steph looks surprised. The money and the housing is all that made this bearable. Hard enough to deal with alternate dimensions after maybe dying, but so much the worse if she had to do it worrying about where her next meal would come from. "What do they do?"

[sayshazam]

"Yeah, I guess it makes as much sense as bats and cats and spiders or whatever else," Billy said. 'Shazam' wasn't all the thematic, but he liked it better because of that. It meant that no one else could rip him off, either. No one was going to be Lady Shazam or anything like that.

Billy paid for their donuts before Stephanie could. He knew how tight money could be early on and he didn't want to make a big deal of it. So he just paid for them and hoped she didn't say anything.

"They have to live in a group home and their money is looked over by a guardian. It really sucks."

[thefourthone]

"Hey, bats are pretty cool." You have to stick up for that whole-town pride. Even if she had never actually had a bat name, and it's was like 'Spoiler' even fit into a category. "And birds. Those things fly, that just makes sense."

Steph shoots him a little grateful smile and doesn't make a big thing out of trying to go halvsies or anything. She's not so proud she won't accept a free meal, not that donuts have ever counted as a meal. "I'll get next time. Maybe we'll find a mini waffles truck."

She makes a face. "Hoooooly crap that is the worst. Wow, someone really must like me out there. Miraculous wound healing and now not having to be in the foster system too."

[sayshazam]

"Bats are super, super ugly with giant ears and really gross noses," Billy said, making a bit of a face. Sure, Batman was super cool but he looked pretty much nothing like an actual bat from what Billy had seen. "Hawkman is pretty cool, I'll give you that. Green Lanterns? They're green rings, not lanterns."

It was weird talking about other superheroes to someone. It wasn't like he spent a lot of time thinking about this stuff but it was kind of like talking shop. Steph seemed pretty cool about it plus she knew what he was talking about, which was nice.

"Wait, miraculous wound healing?"

[thefourthone]

"Have you ever even see a bat? They are adorable." Not that Batman is adorable, more like the antithesis of all things cute, but come on. The Cave's bats were totally cute. "Cute yet creepy perfect for superhero-ing. And Hawkman</>?" Steph gives him a dubious look. "More like put on a shirt, buddy, no wants to see your nipples."

She has lots of Opinions about superheroes, even before she became a quasi-hero herself. "But Hawkgirl is pretty all right. And Black Canary is awesome, obviously."

"I was...kind of banged up when I got here." She waves a hand vaguely in what is rapidly becoming her go-to gesture for 'basically dying.' "But then when I arrived it was all healed up."

[sayshazam]

"I'm pretty sure that you have never seen a bat," Billy said, side-eyeing her a bit because who thoughts bats were adorable? Not everything smaller than a cat that had fur was adorable. "And how is cute perfect for superheroing? Superheroes need to get over the animal and power themed names. Flash sounds like his costume should be a trench coat."

Okay, so Flash was supposedly a really funny superhero and Billy kind of wanted to meet him. But he was making an argument here.

"And that's cool that this place healed you up. All I got was pulled here before I opened any of my Christmas presents."

[thefourthone]

"Uh, excuse me, I've been in caves full of bats, thank you very much. Hopefully this place has a zoo so we can go and see how wrong you are about bats." Okay, some of the bats were the kind with the weird noses which weren't really that cute, but she's dug into her position now so there's no going back now. "And you have to be intimidating enough to scare crooks but cute enough that a kid will trust you if he gets lost and needs help finding his mom." Being a superhero you really had to run the gamut. But Steph relents enough to ask. "So what do you think is a good name?"

She makes a face. "Lame. Hopefully they were all...socks or something."