2012-09-20 Oreos and Hotdogs

Captain Marvel, or rather Billy Batson, finally has a day off work... and no homework from school, on the same evening. What's he doing with his time? Why, he's flying to Metropolis, of course! Where better to possibly catch a glimpse of his (Billy's) favorite hero, Superman? The World's Mightiest Mortal drops out of the sky to land in an alley. After glancing around, to make sure no one's watching, he says, "Shazam!"
Out of the cloudless, clear sky, a single stroke of lightning flashes down and into the city, the peal of thunder making people pause for a moment, wondering if there's more superhuman battling going on... but they go on their merry way when nothing else seems to happen.
A few moments later, Billy Batson walks out of the alley, his second-hand digital camera in his hands, and a smile on his face, as he sets out, walking along the Metropolis city streets with his eyes on the skies, above.'
Superman fans? There's a few of them around...a couple of teenaged girls in S shirts...and not far away, a man leaning against a wall, reading a newspaper...this mostly conceals the disguised Martian's face. Likely, he's actually watching what's going on...he's ignoring the teeny boppers. The lightning from a clear sky makes him glance over for a moment, come to the completely erroneous conclusion that it's Thor, and...go back to his paper. Sorry, Billy.
Hugh's enjoying a day off as well. Not a very nice day off since the job he was temping for ended and that means he's without one again but it's still a day off. He's just walking through the city and thinking about the whole Moleman battle from several days ago. The sudden lightning makes him pause and look up though. "Bloody hell was that..." he trails off, hoping a battle isn't about to start.
Billy continues along the sidewalk he's on, passing right by where J'onn's pretending at being human. His eyes /still/ go up to the sky, coming back down every so often to what's in front of him -- so he won't walk into someone or something. Everyone else glanced up... and then went back to what they were already doing, but /this/ kid keeps looking up at the sky. The t-shirt he's wearing make it clear why he's sky-gazing, of course... he's clearly a Superman fan.
He's a hungry Superman fan, too, judging by the way his stomach suddenly grumbles. Pausing a moment, Billy tucks the camera away into an inner pocket of his jacket and looks up and the down street, though he sneaks in another glance upwards, to see if there's an easily-spotted restaurant nearby.
Hot dog vendor. After a moment, paper guy folds his paper and moves to the nearest one, glancing at the guy looking up. Keeping a wary eye on him, in fact. It's not at all unknown for people to watch the sky for heroes and walk into something at ground level. J'onn, of course, knows exactly where the kid is, but he can't let on to that. Mmm. Hot dogs.
Hugh isn't really watching where he's going, eyes on the sky as he watches to make sure no costumed people go flying overhead. And since he's not watching where he's going...sorry, Billy. Big red head about to crash into you.
Billy glances up and down the street, frowning as he doesn't see any nearby restaurants... then takes a half-step back as someone else walks right in front of him to that hot dog cart.
Billy /almost/ actually slaps himself on the forehead as he realizes that the vendor's cart's /right there/ in front of him... and then steps up into line to buy himself something, as he digs into his pocket for the ten-dollar bill he has tucked away.
The ten-dollar bill comes out of the pocket... right when Hugh walks into him. The money falls from his fingers and skitters away on a stray breeze... and right into a storm-drain. Billy, of course, chases the only money he happened to have with him, but isn't able to catch it. He ends up kneeling on the sidewalk with a hand stretched out towards the storm-drain... releasing a sigh as he thinks to himself, 'Oh well... guess I'll get something to eat later, when I get home...'
Martian Manhunter makes a move with a foot for the money, but he too is slightly too slow. He glances down, apologetically, at the teenager...who likely doesn't have a credit card or a lot of cash. Can he do anything to help? Perhaps, perhaps not...for right now, he glances between the two. "Watching the sky is all very well, but the ground is usually more crowded.
"Oof!" Hugh grunts and stumbles back a step when he crashes into Billy. When he spots the money and sees where it goes, his expression sinks to an apologetic one. "Sorry. Had a close call with some of that super stuff recently so I'm a little worried," Hugh tells J'onn. It's a lie but he's got a secret ID to protect. Walking over to Billy, Hugh reaches down to place a hand on Billy's shoulder. "I'm real sorry about that, little mate. C'mon up and let me buy you a hot dog to make up for it?" he asks, that Austrailian accent obvious.
Billy gets to his feet. "... can you make it two?", he wonders. "I kinda missed lunch today, 'cause I was studying for a quiz at school", he adds, as an explanation for why he's asking for another.
The private investigator steps back slightly. "You go first. I have a feeling the young gentleman is a lot hungrier than I am." Which is generally true...those who know the Martian get the vague impression that he only eats for the fun of it, rather than out of any sense of true necessity. Still. Street vendor hot dogs have a certain something to them.
Hugh blinks then grins. "Sure thing, little guy," he says, giving Billy's hair a playful ruffling. "Name's Hugh," he says, offering a hand. J'onn offering his place in line makes the red head smile a bit wider. "Well, thank you. That's mighty nice of ya."
"Thanks, mister. ...Oh! I do have something on me that I can share as sorta a dessert", Billy says, the first words to J'onn, the latter words to Hugh. Pulling the backpack off his shoulders, he unzips and reaches into it, withdrawing... a pack of six oreo cookies. "These're /totally/ my favorite cookies. Creamy inside... crunchy, chocolaty outside! Almost as good as a cream chocolate egg on Easter!", he happily adds as he replaces the pack on his back. "Oh, and my name's Billy", he adds.
Okay. IF the private investigator had pointed ears, they would be perking up and pointing at the oreos. As it is, one of his hands twitches towards them like a junkie reaching for his fix. Of course, oreos *can* be a little bit addictive. Ahem. He's restaraining himself. Barely.
"Hey, no need to call me mister. I'm not that old," Hugh laughs, not realizing Billy was talking to J'onn. "Thanks but I couldn't take your cookies. Gotta watch the old waistline too," he goes on. "They're pretty good ones though," he agrees, stepping up to the cart to order the hot dogs.
Well, Billy's the nice sort, of course. When Hugh refuses his offer of oreos, he turns to the man who gave up his place in line for them. "Would you like some?", he asks as he opens up the package, then holds it out to the disguised Manhunter.
Martian Manhunter restrains himself. He takes ONE oreo...and noms it with obvious relish. Disguised or not, he can't hide his fondness for the chocolate cookies. (Or maybe it's the high fructose corn syrup). Mm...oreos. It's CLEAR he wants more and it's taking all he has not to take the entire box.
After a moment, Hugh's turning back to Billy carrying four hot dogs and a pair of sodas. He blinks as he sees the disguised Manhunter scarf down the cookie and ends up smiling. "Carefull now. Make sure to leave your fingers attached," he jokes a little.
Billy takes three of the remaining five oreos out, for himself, and offers over the rest of the package to J'onn. "Here ya go", he says, not having missed how much the man enjoyed the cookies. Once the package is taken from him, he turns to receive the hotdogs and soda, hiding the remaining three cookies in the palm of his hand under the two hot dogs. "Thanks", he says to Hugh, yet again... and glances around, hoping there's some place to sit and eat -- something he hadn't even considered until just at that moment.
The Martian, ordering a hot dog. Not far, there's a little off street area with a hideous sculpture...and also benches. Shame about the sculpture, but it definitely counts as a place to eat. He's ordering one with pretty much everything on it, too, but unlike the hungry people, only one. In his current form, he'd likely have gone unnoticed had he not greeted the two...and he's doing his best not to eye the rest of those cookies.
Hugh's glad Billy takes the food. Balancing wasn't easy. He looks around as well, trying to find a place to sit. When he sees the sculpture and benches, Hugh grins. "C'mon," he offers to Billy, guessing he needs a place to sit too.
Billy follows over to the benches and sets down his drink, then the dogs, then sets the cookies down on a napkin... so that his hands are free to let him remove his pack. He sits, which his pack between his feet, and shifts his food up onto his lap. He starts off with a big bite of one of the hot dogs, and smiles (close-mouthed) as he chews.
Martian Manhunter settles down nearby. "So," he says once he's munched a couple of bites of his dog. "Superman fan?" It's obvious from the dress and the skywatching, of course. And if Superman wasn't busy, J'onn might well do something...sneaky.
Hugh carefully balances his food and shrugs off his messenger bag before sitting down. He starts to eat as well. When J'onn mentions Superman, Hugh gives a laugh. "It seems like there's no one in this city that isn't a fan of him aside from that Lex Luthor fella."
Billy nods his head in reply to J'onn's question, his mouth full of food. When Luthor's mentioned, he looks puzzled, and sucks soda up through the straw in his cup, to more easily clear his mouth as he swallows. "... Luthor, as in LuthorCorp?", he asks. The kid's a Superman fan, but he's just made it plain as day that he's NOT from Metropolis... and that he really doesn't know /that/ much about Superman other than the media hype.
"Mr. Luthor, perhaps, is jealous. An emotion I can understand when it comes to somebody as powerful as Superman." J'onn pretty much IS as powerful as Superman, but that doesn't mean he doesn't understand the jealousy. Or, possibly, the fear.
"That's him, kiddo," Hugh replies to Billy as he pops open his soda. "Maybe he is but I'm not so sure. Can't say much since I haven't been in this country too long but things seemed...personal. I dunno," he shrugs.
"Huh...", Billy says at the information about LuthorCorp's CEO being a 'bad guy', in the Superman story. That's when a beeping is heard from within his jacket. Setting down his food, he retrieves his cellphone and flips it open, then sighs. "Dangit... I gotta get going, guys", he says. Picking up the napkin the other three oreos rest upon, he offers it up at J'onn. "Want the rest of these?", he offers, before stuffing the last half of his first hotdog into his mouth.
Martian Manhunter hesitates. Then...takes the oreos. He doesn't have THAT much self restraint and he did finish his hot dog. "Take care," he offers to the teenager. (It's a good job he's in disguise, or he'd proabbly turn into an actual cookie monster, right about now.
"Have a good day, kiddo. And watch out for more big guys not watching where they're going," Hugh offers as Billy goes, settling back on the bench to finish his meal.
Billy gathers up his things, scarfing down his second hot dog as he does, and mumbles, "good bye", through a mouthful of food. He heads off down the sidewalk at a trot, sucking soda up through the straw as he drops his trash, minus the soda cup, into a trashcan he passes... on his way to an ally, into which he ducks.
It's not but a few moments later that there's a lightning bolt, just like the one from before, but MUCH nearer.
Dressed in red, white, and gold, Captain Marvel flies up out of the alley... and sharp eyes might even notice that he sucks on the straw of a cup of soda as he flies, and that, several blocks down, he zips down to street level to drop the empty cup into a trashcan before taking back to the sky and rapidly gaining altitude before really putting on the speed.
Martian Manhunter hrms. "Wonder what's with the lightning. Probably that Thor guy...he does lightning," the detective muses, nomming on oreos. Shamelessly. He could, after all, always get his own. He's probably got a stash at JLA HQ. A big stash.
The lightning makes Hugh jump again. "I thought that Thor fella was a New Yorker," he remarks to the detective. "Think it might be one of those...super hero fights going on? Or starting?"
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