The Things We Wear On Earth

November 12, 2017:

Power Girl had to go stop a criminal, leaving Kara on her own, luckily Carol Danvers arrives on scene to complete the task and help Kara get more Earth-worthy outfit. At least everyone else took her for a crazy Superman fan so far.

Metropolis - Midtown

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions: Superman, Power Girl

Plot:

Mood Music: [https://youtu.be/3qt0Sw9h_vE "Kids In America" by The Muffs]


Fade In…

*

Kara was supposed to go get some 'Earth' clothes with Power Girl so she doesn't stand out so much, but there was a criminal that Power Girl had to take care of and with Kara barely aware she even has super powers, she asked to be left behind. This brings us to this situation, where Kara, dressed very much like the female derivative of Superman, is walking the streets of Metropolis around midtown. Looking like a supermodel, dressed like a superhero, she most certainly stands out.

*

Word of a young woman wearing the colors of the House of El would not get the attention of the League; after all, folks wear Superman-inspired outfits all the time. He's tremendously popular like that. But when images of that young woman hit the internet from Instagram and those images are scanned by the League computer systems, that sparks an alert. And since she happens to be free, Captain Marvel picks up the alert, checks the images herself, and then heads out.

Carol hasn't seen Kara in a good while, but it certainly looks like her. Not just the images, either. As the golden-coronad heroine floats down to ground level and peers through one of the windows into a shop to watch, she has to agree it certainly looks like her. Of course, Caitlin was the one who was closest to her, but Carol knew her. Knew her and liked her. So the red, gold and blue-clad heroine steps through the door into the shop with an automated chime to acknowledge her presence.

"Hi." Carol offers to a shopkeep. "Sorry, I just came to check in with someone." She steps around him and approaches the younger blonde. "Excuse me. Kara? Is that you?" Carol offers, gently touching the Kryptonian blonde on the shoulder.

*

Kara does stand out immediately amongst every day shoppers, so she's no trouble at all for Carol to spot. When she approaches her, Kara slowly turns, blinking in surprise as she sets her blue eyes on Carol's impressive form, "hello…" she offers hesitantly, smiling somewhat nervously, until he name is called and her eyes brighten, "it is! Do I know you? Or rather, you know me?" She feels a bit awkward, but very much happy to find someone who knows who she is. Her eyes avert to the hand touching her shoulder, but she says nothing of it, nor does she make any moves to shake it off.

*

After a moment, Carol gently removes the hand and lets it rest against her own thigh; she's not trying to presume, only to make sure she made it clear who she was addressing. "Uhm. Hi." Carol's face moues in concern and mild confusion; she hates it when crap like this happens. "I … uhm. Yes. Yes, I know you. Or I did? Sorry. This language is not built well for this. Short version: I knew someone who looked and felt just like you, who used your name." She lifts her other hand, extending towards the Kryptonian; it may be a gesture without context, but she tries anyway. "My name is Carol Danvers. I am also known as Captain Marvel. And I am … or I was … your friend. Are you OK, Kara? Do you need help?"

*

"Hi," Kara mimics Carol's words, "well, you knew my name, that's for sure!" Kara agrees, it does constitute a level of knowing her, after all, even if a start. At least as far as Kara is concerned. Seems like Carol's guess was correct, as Kara looks at her extended hand with a slight bit of confusion, before eventually deciding to mimic the gesture, extending her hand towards Carol, "Danvers! That's…that's," she thinks about her conversation with Kal-El about the importance of a human name, and laughs, "that's my name, Kara Danvers! What a coincidence! Does that make us members of the same House?" She asks jovially. Already having a kinship on her new life on Earth would be pretty remarkable. "And Captain Marvel!? So you're a hero! Just like him, erm, Superman I mean!" She nods at the question, "I'm okay…erm, Karen, a friend of mine was going to help me get some…erm…'here' clothes?" She's not sure if her explanation works or not, "but she had to go…so, I'm not sure what I should get, do you know what clothes are good for 'here'?"

*

Carol reaches out and gently envelopes the offered hand with her own, a gentle shake and no squeezing; she knows Kara can match her in strength, or nearly so, and this isn't a contest. But she cannot help the bit of an eyeroll as she catches the story Kara is telling; this is going to be annoyingly painful. With a shake of her head, however, Carol engages the 'enemy' of the situation head-on; she's direct like that.

"Your … friend wants you to use that name? OK. That can work." Carol answers, with a short nod. "That would likely make us related. 'Of the same house' as you put it. And yes, I am a hero, a member of the Justice League, and a pilot with the United States Air Force." She also apparently makes no secret of her identity, although her impression is that Kara won't realize that is at all exceptional.

"You want some civvies? Sure, we can make that work. Just give me one minute, OK?" Carol asks, and then steps over to one of the sales reps. "OK. Here. You hold onto that card. Anything she wants, I cover. Anything she breaks, I cover. You, stay polite and friendly, and we all come out ahead. Deal? Now, we're going to need at least one of your sales reps who is young, close to her age, and familiar with those styles." Because Carol most definitely is neither of those things.

And so the shopping begins!

*

Kara shakes hands with Carol, looking at the hands moving together in unison, and looks up at Carol with a grind, "that's a fun gesture, is that a proper 'hello'?" She asks, certain Carol is someone she can trust, after all she knew her name.

Kara nods at the question, "he told me Kara Zor-El would feel too alien for people of Earth, and that Kara Danvers is much better choice," and considering she's talking about it in public, Kara hasn't an inkling of what a secret idenity should mean. "Oooh! Pilots are a high skilled job! I'm impressed, so you're military caste, huh?" Kara asks Carol, intrigued by her. She hadn't met too many female members of the Military caste on Krypton, after all.

Kara follows Carol like a lost puppy, after all she is a bit lost, and listens to the exchange with the sales rep, a good idea by Carol too, since to Kara all these styles look quite alien. Nothing like the flowing robes of Krypton, and there are no capes at all! Weird!

*

"Yes. That's a proper 'hello' gesture around here. Called 'shaking hands'." Carol explains to Kara. She listens as Kara affirms the same name, including the accent that separates her from Power Girl, and notes that to herself. "Most of Earth doesn't have castes. I was in the military, and I continue to serve in the Reserves. My day job right now is working as an editor at the Daily Planet newspaper, a service that provides news and information to the people." And one where Kara's cousin works in his day job as Clark Kent, but Carol will keep her yap shut about that until the girl better understands secret identities.

When a younger sales rep - and female - does approach, Carol latches onto her and explains, "My friend is rather new around here." No further explanation is given. "I'm afraid she's going to need a lot of help, including proper measurements. Assume she has nothing but what you see, and let's box that up as soon as we can. OK?" The commission on this one is going to be hefty. Meanwhile, Carol is there to help and ride herd. Just don't ask her opinion on fashion.

*

"Shaking hands! Got it," Kara notes as she files this for stuff she needs to know. Simple enough, holding hands, shaking them, bam, hello. Simple, and actually a bit of fun. Kara is rather grateful to Carol as she says all the stuff that needs to be said, she wouldn't even know what to ask, and how to present what she needs, so she just nods, "yes!" Is all she said, showing Carol pretty much got it down pat, "I need stuff to wear that doesn't stand out like this," she tugs at her superhero outfit, or rather the ceremonial trials uniform from Krypton. She was so close, she almost took them!

*

The salesgirl is a tad intimidated at first, but she loosens up easily enough. She ushers Kara, respectfully but with alacrity, into a changing room. Measuring tape is applied, measurements given and recorded. And then begins the rain of confections in all manners of materials. Carol stays out of it, pretty much; her style is not the style of a teenager, by any means, so she is trusting this other young woman to have Kara much better in hand.

Carol will instead spend most of her time sending a message to alert 'Kal' that his cousin is currently in her care, and where, and to assure him that the bill for this little excursion will be covered. By whom and how will be debated later. But it'll all be legal and above board; they're heroes, after all.

*

On the plush side, Kara doesn't seem self concious about being touched as she's measured, she just takes it all in stride as she observes the measuring tape like a quaint piece of ancient history, "is this used for measurements, really?" She asks, somewhat amazed, how come there wasn't just a tool that read out the measurements after a scan? Kara may not be familiar at all with Earth fashion, but she is a teenager, and she does like trying on new outfits, so for this is all a blast. An exciting experiment in playing dress up with the fashion of an alien planet! Fun! Kal might have to deal with the aftermath when the Fortress of Solitude gets a bit of a mess after this shopping escapade, "oh wow! I can get all of these?" Kara asks, enthused, every now and again Carol can her the squees of excitment from within the dressing room as Kara is served like an elite client.

*

"Within reason, yes. You can have what you like." Carol is a lot richer than most people think, thanks to royalties and residuals and such. She doesn't like to brag, and usually her big expenditures are for vintage planes and parts and such. But she can afford to treat the teen to a shopping spree. It may make her credit card whimper in terror, but it's just a sliver of plastic with a magneto-optical strip; it'll get over it. "Just remember to have them hang and bag your original outfit, please?"

*

"Oh, I'll need one for every day of the week, right? And then I can't wear the same thing all the time, and they are different styles! This drapey thing, and then the pants, and the short ones, and the tops…so many styles!" Kara apprently likes clothes, shopping, or a mix there of, it's all a new experience but she likes it. "Oh definitely!" Kara agrees, as she turns to the nice sales rep who has been helping her, "I'm gagging this one, it's very special to me," she speaks of her costume, which just make her seem like a psycho Superman fan, no doubt the sales rep can handle that much. Once all is said and done, Kara steps out of the dressing room dressed in a flowing red skirt, a black off the shoulder top featuring a Giraffe with a speech bubble that reads: "Moo, I'm a cat." And last but not least, black pumps which are ever so shiny, one could see their reflection in them. "How do you like it, Carol?" She asks with a giggle while twirling around, laughing as the skirt flutters with her spinning motion. "It's like a cape for the legs!"

*

"It's very pretty, Kara. I'm glad you like it." Carol offers, with a shrug and a smile. "Cats go 'meow'. 'Moo' is for cows. But we'll cover that later. Thank the nice lady for all of her help." Carol admonishes, while trying not to stagger at the sight of the bill, and signing it. No ID required; there's no way these people don't know who she is on sight in that costume. "Thank you very much. Can you have all of this delivered to the address on the card? I appreciate it." And with that, Carol can then gather up Kara and figure out where they're going next. Maybe a diamond mind, to recoup the financial hardships?

*

"Thank you for your help," Kara isn't feeling patronized at all, it makes sense the lady that helped her ought to get some thanks. She does look down at her top when Carol explains animal of Earth and their sounds, but she mostly shrugs, "okay, maybe these were different." Naturally a giraffe makes neither sound. "Now I look more like a Kara Danvers and less like a Kara Zor-El, right?"

*

"You're welcome, Kara. And yes, you look more like you belong here." That said, Carol leads the way out of the shop and along the street. "One second, please." she offers as she stands still. A shimmering corona of golden energy starts at her heels and slides upwards along her entire body. Where it passes, the Captain Marvel costume is gone, and civilian attire - jeans, a leather USAF fighter jacket, and a polo shirt - takes its place. Neat trick, right?

"OK. I know your cousin gets a lot of energy from the sun. So why don't we walk outdoors for a while and give you a chance to soak some up. Are you hungry? We can find an outdoor place to sit and eat." Most people would consider eating outdoors in today's temperatures at a minimum a tad uncomfortable, if not nuts. But Carol doesn't seem to care, and she knows the Kryptonian won't.

*

"Wow! How did you do that?" Kara asks as she looks mesmerized by Carol simply replacing her clothes out right, "can you teach me that one? Seems simpler than having loads of outfits to switch back and forth!" It certainly seems useful, no doubt, Kara is jealous.

"Sure, I could eat something…in fact, I don't think I ate since I got here, weird," hadn't occured to Kara, but seems the whole thing about the sun turns out to be true, she's getting all she needs from it. Even if she doesn't quite know it yet. "What do you eat on Earth? Clark says there are some yummy things." Ooo, she remembered to use Kal's Earth name! She's getting better!

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