(OPEN LOG) you may one day be queen

[centurybaby]

WHO: jennifer quantum & YOU.
WHERE: nooks and crannies of the city.
WHEN: your choice of early evening or late night.
WARNINGS: jenny's vocabulary, etc.
SUMMARY: the depowered teenage terrorist is laying low. sort of.
FORMAT: quick to start, but i'll match you!


( early evening )

[ she isn't sure if it's the fact that she's basically human now or the state of the world or something else entirely-- maybe it's the restlessness, that's been bad-- but she's been smoking herself aggressively back into the grave with a cigarette at her mouth every hour she isn't sleeping. it's always been a bad habit, but it's an annoying one now. you never realize how often you use the spark of your quantum powers to light your smokes until you can't do it anymore.

that's how you end up outside a shabby, hole-in-the-wall convenience store when you should be hiding from the authorities. it's an excuse to see how the city's doing anyway, and her cigarettes won't light themselves. though it's starting to seem unlikely that her new cheap plastic lighter will either. she sits down on the curb with a fresh cigarette hanging from her mouth, clicking that lighter over and over without producing more than a teasing spark. ]

Fuck.

--

( late night )

[ she sticks around a little longer than she should. but things seem quieter now, like maybe the events in a small country across the ocean is starting to fade from people's minds. it's worth the risk, maybe, to walk around the city a little and ease back the building agitation she's harbored after weeks of laying low, powerless and fucking bored. the bustling crowds that flood the sidewalks during the day are more or less thinned to a few stragglers by now anyway.

she's got a half-smoked cigarette hanging from her fingers as she pauses to watch a random couple argue across the street. her cigarette dwindles without her really paying attention to it. she's not even sure what it is exactly about those strangers that catches her attention so much (except maybe in a weird way, it makes her think of her parents), but it's too late by the time she notices someone looming over her and something sharp pressed up against her back through her jacket.

she thinks he says, in a rushed voice, something cliche like: hand over your money. now.

she thinks about his atoms. about their little tiny bonds breaking apart. she thinks about the molecules that make him up just disappearing, defying the laws of physics. but nothing happens. because jenny quantum is a lesser being right now, so instead of handing anything over, she just huffs out a amused breath at the irony. all she can think of as the mugger makes his demand louder is that her dad would have ripped his throat out by now. ]

Comments

(late night.)

[carbonite]

(he's in the neighborhood, as he always is doing shady things. han wonders when he became that guy that "did the right thing" when it came to business like this.)

Hey, buddy. (argh, small fries.) Seriously.

[centurybaby]

[ she recognizes his voice immediately. maybe some part of this fucked up universe still loves her after all, because of all the people that could've been walking down the same sidewalk as her this late at night, fate gave her han fucking solo.

she doesn't bother resisting her mugger. there's no point now-- he'll be done in a second. she hears him whirl around with his knife, telling han to back off. unphased, she just lifts her dwindling cigarette to her mouth and takes a drag. ]

Bonus points if you kick him in the nuts.

[carbonite]

(it's not often that people have that sentiment. always smart and always carrying a weapon. han just shifts his goods in his arm to his hip, hand ready at his side as if he's ready for a standoff.

he doesn't even look phased when he realizes that it's jenny (well, that'll change after he has to stop looking intimidating) and pulls the blaster out.)

I could shoot him in the nuts. I have pretty good aim.

[centurybaby]

[ she finally turns around-- because if that happens, she wants to see it-- quirking a little bit of an amused almost-smile. it's fairly obvious to all parties involved that a knife is no match for han solo, especially not han solo with his blaster out. at least the thug has enough self-preservation instinct to know when he's outmatched, abruptly bolting while he still has both balls in tact and not singed.

she waits until her would-be mugger is out of earshot before she speaks around her cigarette, saying simply: ]

Hi, Han.

[carbonite]

(they never learn, do they. han sighs, holstering the blaster and staring at jenny with a wry sort of amusement.)

Hey, kiddo.

(he's been so worried about her, but this is han and showing emotions isn't exactly his forte. one free arm, he wraps around her shoulders as he slowly guides her out of the alleyway.)

Lets not wait around to see if he has friends, alright?

[centurybaby]

[ she lets him guide her a long, her expression staying as nonchalant as you please, as if she hadn't just been about to get stabbed and robbed. ]

So.

Long time, no see huh?

[carbonite]

(he barely can restrain the urge to roll his eyes at her behavior, practically shoving the parts into her arms.)

Figured that you didn't want to be seen, given how famous you are now.

[centurybaby]

[ she makes a little bit of a face at him when he hands over his stuff to her, but she doesn't complain out loud, carrying the load in her arms and letting her cigarette hang from her mouth as she talks: ]

Maybe people don't even fucking care anymore.

Shit like that happens all the time here, right?

late night

[hellionated]

[ Julian had just gotten off a shift. The thing about working enforcement for the DOI was that it kept him moving around the streets, and that was how he preferred it. Desk jobs weren't his style.

There's a girl smoking just ahead of him. He eyes her for a moment, lingering a little longer than usual because she reminds him of someone. But someone else has noticed her, too. Someone pressing way too close to her back, and leering over her in a way that would smack of trouble no matter who was looking.

Julian changes direction, eyes glowing green.

I'm never going to get over how fucking stupid you flatscans can be.

[ His powers flash out to shove the attacker away from the girl.

He hasn't even noticed who she is yet. ]

[centurybaby]

[ her mugger wannabe is there one second, then gone the next. over her shoulder, she can hear the panicked sounds of him trying to figure out what just happened to him, before his hurried footsteps carry him as far away as they can take him. maybe the worst part is she wasn't really that afraid, like maybe she hasn't learned her lesson yet.

she lifts her cigarette to her mouth before turning around to see who her savior is. seeing him, her eyebrows pull together a little, lips pursing around that cigarette. there's a long pause. then, finally: ]

What the hell are you doing here?

[hellionated]

[ Julian had been looking after the mugger, debating whether or not he should give chase. He's just about decided that it's not worth it, and that he'll just leave the guy with the bruises to remember him by, when he hears that voice.

The girl that reminded him of Jenny turns out to be Jenny.

Which is unexpected, you know, because here she is in the City where she's still technically a wanted criminal. Or a terrorist. Either.

He turns to her, eyebrows almost hitting his hairline, and he stares at her. ]

Me? I live here, what are you doing here?

I thought you took off.

[centurybaby]

I did.

[ it's hard to explain what she's doing there. she isn't really entirely sure herself. she wishes she could blame it on something metaphysical, like how she's the spirit of the century and she feels bonded to this place after all this time-- some bullshit like that, something more than boredom and restlessness and a tiny little bit of missing.

it's hard to explain, so she just doesn't. instead: ]

So. I guess I fucking owe you one now, huh, Keller?

[hellionated]

[ At this he looks uncomfortable. Ordinarily, he’d hold that kind of thing over someone he knew. Especially if that someone was a rival, or his friend. Which is often the same thing. But with Jenny... ]

Don’t be stupid, you don’t owe me shit.

[ Because he hadn’t protected her when it counted, so it’s never going to matter. Looking annoyed, he moves towards her. ]

You didn’t answer my question, Jenny, what the fuck? Do you want to get caught? What happened to laying low? If they find you they’ll throw you in NoHOPE. If you’re fucking lucky.

[centurybaby]

[ she comes to meet him half way, cigarette hanging from her mouth. it wobbles a little when she talks around it, casual as you fucking please. ]

I am laying fucking low. You see any superheroes here? Besides you, I guess.

[hellionated]

I am not a-

[ Okay you know what, now isn't the time for that argument and he's not going to let her derail him. Annoyed, he stops and scowls at her. ]

That isn't the fucking point, Jenny, anyone could see you here. This isn't a game.

[centurybaby]

It's that big of a deal, huh. I feel like a fucking celebrity.

[ she's making light of it, because that's how she is-- not because he isn't right. he is right. anyone could see her here, and for a wanted teenage terrorist, that isn't exactly ideal. she should probably be in an underground bunker on another continent somewhere, but she doesn't want to be. maybe that's the nine-year-old in her, still immature in some ways even though she's calm and cool on the outside.

besides that, a part of her is glad to see him. ]

Maybe I should buy a fucking ski mask.

late night

[xuffasch]

<sub>( He isn't supposed to rip throats out, at least not anymore, and sometimes he resents that fact very much. Today, however, on a regular patrol, he's practically on autopilot. He swings down from his jump-cable and catches the man in the back with both feet, kicking him to the ground--and hopefully not into Jenny, but there's a danger there.

He doesn't realize it's her until a moment later. )</sub>

What are you doing? Why didn't you fight back?

[centurybaby]

[ she steps aside as the man eats cement, only arching one eyebrow to show that she's even a little bit surprised by this turn of events. that's jenny quantum, always playing it cool, even when someone drops out of the sky and saves her life by kicking a guy into the sidewalk-- and even if that someone who drops out of the sky is unexpectedly someone she knows.

jenny lifts her cigarette to her lips and inhales before responding, smoke curling from her mouth like dragon's breath when she speaks dryly. ]

Hi. Nice to fucking see you, too. Come here often?

[xuffasch]

_{( Damian brushes the dirt of his hands--they're gloved, and he hadn't really don't anything with his hands--before giving Jenny a long look through his mask. )}

Are you an idiot?

_{( And then, as the cogs turn in his brain... )}

Don't you know how to fight?

[centurybaby]

Sure.

[ her tone of voice makes it sound like no big deal, but there's a little tension at the corner of her mouth that betrays her, even though she goes so far as to shrug. ]

I'm just used to being able to unmake assholes by thinking about it.

[xuffasch]

So without that, you're useless.

_{( He says that flatly. Bat-people 101: Powers Aren't Everything. )}

I thought you were smarter than that.

[centurybaby]

[ jenny makes a little bit of a face. yeah, alright, maybe she's always relied on her powers-- even when she was too young to crawl, she was using her powers to maim her enemies. she'd always been that cosmic quantum child, but right now, she's just... jenny.

it sucks. ]

Yeah, what the fuck ever. Not like I need to watch my back with prepubescent vigilantes doing it for me anyway.

[xuffasch]

_{( He's about to scoff at her again, say something about how people with powers are so much more vulnerable that people who can actually take care of themselves. But, for some reason, he finds himself saying something else entirely. )}

Someone should teach you.

late night | TOTALLY DIDN'T FORGET

[amoray]

[ to be fair, he's not wearing the entire outfit.

but still, when eridan finds himself hearing another tired mugger cliche and sees nothing but two unfamiliar silhouettes, he's in enough of the costume to be an embarrassment. garish golds and blues and blacks, fingerless gloves, a purple domino mask that conceals his identity in no way whatsoever — a gaudy blur that carefully slides down a fire escape not twenty feet from jenny and her assailant, paces back and forth across the narrow platform, judging the distance, and then takes a running leap at the mugger's back.

stupid, unnecessary, pointlessly flashy? of course. that's what he was going for. whether or not he accidentally gets the poor soul he's trying to save slashed open in the process of a flying tackle kick isn't his problem. ]

NO WORRIES BOO ;D; i would wait forever

[centurybaby]

[ it's pure luck that jenny hears the sound of running foot steps and turns her head just enough to catch the blur of color crashing through the air towards them. she spares herself an accidental knife in the back by instinct alone, a last minute side-step dodging the knife, but not the body of her attacker as the attack sends him toppling down on her.

in the few moments that follow, the current spirit of the century becomes intimately acquainted with the ground as the man sprawled on top of her uselessly flails and scrambles to his feet to make his get away. she tastes dirt and grit in her mouth. vaguely, she registers a trickle of blood from her nose.

mortality. ugh.

she gets herself to her hands and feet, then onto her knees, spitting onto the ground before turning to snap at her "rescuer:" ]

What the royal fuck, you fucking--

[ oh.

it's hard to say if her stunned face is because of the costume or because she recognizes him. ]