See You Space Cowboy

April 20, 2019:

Katsumi goes looking for the broken spike that seemed to seal Loki. What she finds instead is an alien!

Central Park - New York City

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

Night has fallen over Central Park, and with it, the stars have come out to shine. But as those stars come out, the general public tends to shy away from the scenic expanse. Katsumi isn't one of them, however. Gradually becoming accustomed to the idea of superpowers, Katsumi isn't quite so concerned with muggings. Some might think she's daring such an event. But that isn't really why she's here.

Katsumi is making her way along one of the artificial lakes of the park, wearing a fishnet top with short shorts and boots. Her thumbs are hooked into the pockets of the shorts, elbows flared out and back as she makes her way through. The bright city lights reflect in shimmers across the black water in a near-hypnotic display, and though her bright, inhumanly magenta eyes are set upon its surface, her mind is elsewhere.

Following a few paces behind her is an overtly-woolly calico cat.

*

It would seem even Central Park, one of the most iconic places in the US, gets a bit quiet once the night gets past a certain hour. Most people who are planning to stay out late have likely gone to hit up the bars and shopping strips by now.

There are still some people milling about, though they are few and far between. One of them is Lar, who is walking along the path behind Katsumi, watching the cat curiously. Is it a pet, or a friend? Maybe both.

*

Or maybe neither! The little bugger doesn't wear a collar, and he's not received so much as a glance back from the girl ahead. Still, he seems rather content to be padding along.

Suddenly, the girl ahead of him comes to a halt. "Over here!" She darts to the side, and the cat quickly diverts to chase after her. She comes to a halt at a mount of dirt, virtually insignificant compared to the rest of the area. But she's clearly scanning for something along the grassy ground. Soon, her cellphone is retrieved and she turns on the flashlight function.

*

Lar watches as the girl suddenly stops and seems to talk to the furry creature, then hurry over to a mound of dirt. Oh, it seems she is looking for something. He stops walking and peers over at what she's doing, using his enhanced vision to look more closely at the small pile of soil to see if he can pick out anything unusual.

*

Not a darn thing. Regular ol' dirt. Regular ol' grass. At this point, one might conclude that she lost a contact lens, or a key in this particular patch of grass. You know, something utterly pedestrian. But if Lar should look with his special eyes, he'll find nothing out of the ordinary there, either.

The girl in the fishnet, however, seems determined to comb the area. "You see it yet?," she asks, presumably of the cat. She might be a touch mental. "It was right here!"

The feline is padding about, sniffing at the grass. But he then pauses to raise his head, looking in Lar's direction.

*

Hm, well it seems whatever she was looking for isn't in that pile of dirt there. Lar watches her comb the area for a few minutes, not thinking she is crazy at all, really, just looking for something. For all he knows, the furry mammal is sapient. Must be, right? If she's talking to him. Or her? Who knows.

When the cat looks up at him, he smiles in greeting toward it. "Hello sir…or uhm….madam?" he says uncertainly. "Are you…searching for something?" His English sounds a bit broken, or as if he isn't sure the words he used were correct.

*

The cat says.. nothing. Probably because he's a cat. Probably.

The voice does, however, draw the attention of the girl. She jumps slightly at the realization that she's being watched, but quickly recomposes herself. A fist plants to hip, the other hand motioning down at the grass underfoot. "Well, YEAH! But what I'm looking for? Not here. Some stupid kids must've grabbed it or something." She gives one final look about before giving up with a sigh. "Whatever. Should've figured."

*

Lar's attention goes to the girl since she has decided to answer him instead. "What is it?" he asks. "Um, could help?" he offers. If she can just tell him what it looks like, then he might be able to find it pretty quickly.

*

"It looks like a.. spike? A wood spike. Like a javelin?," she attempts to explain, hands raised with palms some distance apart to attempt to indicate size. "But it'd be in like two pieces now. Which probably means it just looks like a couple sticks. But it'd be straight."

It would also be MIA. Plenty of sticks around, but none matching the description provided.

"But really, I'm thinking some kids ran off with'em. Or some dude decided to play fetch with their dog using'em." The girl exhales a puffy pout of a sigh, and her hand raise to run through her hair. "It's, whatever! It's fine."

*

Oh, a javelin. But broken in half. Well there are a lot of sticks in this park, so that made it a bit harder, but certainly a javelin would be much straighter than any old random piece of a branch lying around. It certainly isn't in the immediate area, though. Lar nods. "You lost it here?" he asks, indicating the park in general. "I can search."

*

"Ah, dude, it's fine," the girl insists. "This park is huge, and- and I don't wanna waste your time. It's probably pointless, anyway." After a beat, she clarifies, "Finding it, I mean. Not the javelin-spike-thing. Obviously that has a point."

The feline cranes his neck to look up at her. His default expression is flat and judgmental, but somehow it seems a little extra in this moment.

She looks back down to the cat. Her foot moves to nudge against him. "Don't judge me."

Back to the other male, Katsumi raises her hands in a shrug. "Uh, thanks for the offer, though? New Yorkers have a rep' for being d#&@s, so that's pretty stand-up, I guess. Then again, you sound about as native to America as I do." Of note, Katsumi's accent is little more than a Japanese lilt coloring her voice. She has had either considerable experience or training.

*

The joke is completely lost on Lar. "O-oh. Yes." He nods, of course, it's a perfectly reasonable clarification. She hadn't specified beforehand whether she had been talking about the javelin, or about the search for the javelin. A javelin is definitely pointed! He peers at the cat when she talks to it again. Why would he judge her?

He tilts his head slightly at her as she starts to talk about America, and New Yorkers, and such, unsure of what exactly she's talking about. But he also isn't sure how to ask her to explain all that, either. So he just shrugs. "Be back." Then he suddenly shoots up in the sky, above the skyscrapers! After a few minutes he returns with a wooden javelin that isn't the one she's looking for, but hey, it's not broken! So even better, right? He hands it to her.

*

"AAHHHH WHAT THE F#^@!?," cries Katsumi as the individual she was talking to launches into the stratosphere or wherever. The Shock of it sees the girl falling back onto her pert rear, staring wide-eyed into the sky and slackjawed. The feline beside her sits neatly upon his haunches.

When he lands again and holds out a javelin, she simply stares at it. Then his face. Then it. Then his face.

*

Lar frowns, falling back a little bit when the girl just stares at him, flabberghasted. Did he…offend her? Oh no. "I-um…sorry?" He slowly puts the javelin down on the ground near her. "For you." he says, pointing at it and smiling. "Not broken."

Welp. This was awkward. Finally, he sticks out a hand for a shake. "Lar Gand. And you?" he asks, hoping she will reciprocate.

*

Katsumi Oshiro is reclined there in the grass, her hands propped behind her, chest rising and falling rapidly as she processes what just happened. As the javelin is dropped, her eyes dart to it, then back up at him.

He asked her something. Right. Gotta respond.

"NOT p@#&ing myself," she replies immediately, unblinking. The feline beside her rubs a paw against his eyes. Is that irritation? "I- I'm.. Oshiro.. Katsumi.." She swallows. "Or just Katsumi. To you westerners."

She looks at the hand apprehensively.

"No throwing me."

She then takes the hand and attempts to collect herself to her feet immediately, perhaps a touch defensive now. But she looks again to the javelin. "That's not, um.. it was a specific one. It's fine. Really."

*

Lar scans her body, concerned that he might have accidentally injured her or something. But it seems she's okay, so that's good. Phew. "Hello Oshiro Katsumi." he says, smiling politely as he shakes her hand, albeit a bit gingerly, not wanting to inadvertantly hurt her.

He peers at the javelin, wondering what was so special about the broken one. But maybe, she didn't want him to know. Which was fine. So he points at the cat instead. "Who is it?" he asks.

*

Katsumi Oshiro seems to be calming down after that initial shock, and she lets the tension go with a gentle, "Hooo..," of a sigh. She's good. It's not the craziest thing she's seen. But it was certainly not what she was expecting. The question, however, snaps her to attention again.

"Hanh?," she asks, the 'huh' colored a bit more by the Japanese accent. She follows his finger to the disinterested feline, and a devilish smirk edges her lips. She leans down, quickly scooping him up into an embrace. The feline appears rather uncomfortable with it. "This?," she asks, voice lifting into a coo. "This is my cat. Ah.. BartholoMEW. Get it?," she asks, turning the irritable feline more out to him on display. "Get it?"

He might not. It's a lame pun.

"What? It is not," argues the feline in distinctly British English. His voice is deep, resonant, like that of an orator; perhaps best compared to James Earl Jones reprising Darth Vader.

*

"Hello Bartholo-MEW." Lar says, smiling politely again and imitating the emphasis Katsumi put on the last syllable of that name, thinking that must be how it is to be pronounced. And he definitely doesn't get that pun, at all. In fact, he's not sure why she's saying that. Does she want him to fetch something? "Get…what?" he asks, puzzled.

*

"Now you've confused him," sighs the feline. "My name is-"

"Bartholomew," interjects Katsumi, still grinning. "You needed a name that wasn't so creepy anyway. You know your name means 'Hell Shadow', right?"

The calico flattens his ears and looks instead to Lar Gand. "You. You are not human. What manner of creature are you?"

"Ohmygod, RUDE. Bad Bart." Katsumi turns her gaze inquisitively to the male, however. "But for real, you obviously have powers. What's up with that?"

*

"Daxamite." Lar replies to Bart. "What is the name, then?" he asks, since the creature seems to be convinced that Bartholo-mew isn't his name.

At Katsumi's question, he shrugs. "I do not know. Only here." As in, he hadn't been like this back home. At least, as far as he can remember. Which isn't much.

"What is 'creepy'?" he then asks.

*

"Herukage, Emissary of the Lord Protector of the Night, the-"

"Wait, so you're.. only powered here? In New York? Or the park?," interrupts Katsumi.

"Suppose I was done talking," mutters the feline.

Katsumi placates him with some light scritching atop the head. "Creepy. You know, off-putting. And what's Dolemite?"

*

"Oh, um…hello Herukage." Lar says as the cat gives his real name. He will call him whatever he wants to be called!

New York, oh right. He had seen a lot of signs around here that said something like that. So it must be the name of the city or district or…province? He shakes his head. "No, Earth." he replies. "Daxamite is um…from Daxam, Rao system, sector 1760."

*

Katsumi Oshiro blanches, tensing at his response.

Herukage's eyes bulge. "Holding… too… tight…"

"Ah-! Sorry." She forces her arms to relax again, and the calico hops down to the grass again. "So, you're.. you're a f#^@ing ALIEN? Is that-.. really? But.. how? Where-.. HOW? And you look like a human! What gives!?"

*

Lar looks concerned when Herukage is being squeezed too tight. She wouldn't want to suffocate her friend, would she? But he relaxes when she lets go.

He blinks, confused at Kat's exclamation. He just told her where, right? "Daxam, sector 1760." he repeats. Oh, maybe she's familiar with Superman. "You know Superman? Also from Rao system."

*

Katsumi Oshiro squints a little at him. "Super-.." His name is obviously translated differently in Japanese, so it takes her a moment. However, she quickly gasps. "No f#^@ing way! You're another Superman!?" Very few metahumans or superheroes in general are known to her. Certainly not those who operate in the west. But Superman is a household name more or less worldwide. "Damn, dude, that's HUGE!"

Suddenly, she's all smiles. Her shoulders hunch inwards, her left boot tilts to rest the toe against the grass, and her head dips a little shyly. "Didn't know I was talkin' to someone who's, like, that famous." She breathes a peal of self-conscious giggles. "I don't- um- usually look so clumsy. By the way. Just so, um, we're clear."

*

Another Superman? Huh? No, he definitely isn't a clone of Superman or anything. "No…um, not a copy. Same system, but different planet." Was that the right word? And now she was saying a dam was huge. But, it doesn't make sense to him in context. He stares blankly at her, as she starts into a fit of giggling. Was this normal Terran behavior?

"Not famous…" at least he doesn't think he is? "Oshiro uhhh, not clumsy." Why would she think she's clumsy? She had clearly been shocked by the display of power earlier, but it didn't seem like clumsiness! Hmm….he looks pensive a moment, thinking. "Which dam is huge?"

*

"Hanh?"

Katsumi blinks owlishly at him, not understanding the question presented to her. Those expressive magentas squint at him, uncertain, before realization seems to dawn on her. "Oh! You're an alien! People speech isn't your thing!" She swallows heavily, then attempts to explain: "Damn. Like, you know, swearing. Like when a dusty old grandpa is yelling about some damn kids being in his yard."

The feline's head tilts to peer up at her, then aside to the male. He raises a paw to touch her nearby calf. "We should be going."

*

"No?" Lar still doesn't get it. But it seems Herukage has somewhere to be. He shrugs, he doesn't want to keep them. "Nice to meet you." he says, smiling. "You must go now?" he glances down at the cat.

*

"Yes," replies the calico to the man. "Katsumi is becoming very unfocused."

The girl folds her arms over her modest bust and shoots the feline a glare. "Not everything has to be about preparing," she hisses at him.

The feline doesn't give a verbal response; only a flat stare back up at her.

Katsumi breathes a sullen sigh and shakes her head. "Fine. Whatever." Her attention returns to Lar. "Look. I dunno how long you've been off the boat-" Blink. "-..space.. boat. Whatever. But I'm not a normal human, either. Not anymore, at least. So if you need someone to talk to…," she trails.

*

"Preparing?" Lar questions "What for?" He can't help the curiosity, glancing between Katsumi and Herukage.

He frowns pensively when she something about boats. Space boats? Oooh. "Not very long." he chuckles, then nods at her offer. "Thank you." Though he arches a brow at her a little. "Not normal, then what?" he asks.

*

"For her destiny," replies the feline coolly.

Katsumi seems to tense at the words. A hand raises to draw a few wisps of silky black hair behind her ear, and the smile she offers him carries a note of sadness. "I'll let you know when I figure that out," she replies, tone more subdued.

The calico paws once more at her leg. "Katsumi. It is time."

Her gaze falters from him, and her frame seems to stiffen, resolved. She nods, more to herself than anyone, and she lifts those bright magentas back to Lar. "Alright. Gonna jet."

She takes a couple steps backwards, Herukage close at heel.

"See you, space cowboy."

A coy smile edges the corners of her lips, and she turns to begin jogging off into the night. The javelin? Completely forgotten.

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