2013.05.07 - The Cow Says Moo

Late afternoon in Gotham meant that criminal activity was just warming up. Jocelyn happened to be out taking care of a few things when she witnessed an attempting mugging of a couple people who really shouldn't have been wandering around Gotham's shadier streets. While she wasn't 'in costume', she still stepped in and helped to deal with those muggers. One of them had some sort of weird power to grow extra limbs, and so Jocelyn had to practically fight some extra guys. She'd taken a few cuts and bruises, but knocked them all out and alerted the authorities. The would-be victims fled during the battle, so they didn't see Jocelyn break out any of her enhanced abilities.
However, she didn't stick around after tying the guys up with some handy metal poles from a dumpster. She'd taken off into the air, mostly to get out of the place. She didn't feel like having to chat with any officers about it, and really, explaining how one nineteen year old girl took out a few muggers, one of which had some powers, wasn't something she really was interested in. The energy absorber instead is currently hovering above the cloud cover, using her healing abilities to close up some wounds she'd taken in the fight.
"Sir, sooner or later you will have to venture into Gotham. I do not understand why you've been so reticent about doing so?" Skeets is flying alongside his boss, Booster Gold, as they both glide through the airspace of Gotham City. The little robot is chatting to pass the time, or in the opinion of his boss, is simply trying to be nosy.
"I told you, Skeets... I'm worried that if I go into Gotham, Batman will find me, capture me, and devour my heart," Booster explains in a tone that is reasonable and sincere. "I read once that it's how he gets his night vision, and I don't--" he stops, as his goggle sensors pick up a figure ahead and above. He squints a little to trigger the optical zoom, focusing on Jocelyn hovering there. "There's a lady flying over there, and she looks kind of scuffed up. I'd better help her out!"
Skeets opines, "Flying towards her at speed might give her the wrong idea, sir."
"I've got that covered," says Booster. When he does fly towards Jocelyn, he cups his hands around his mouth and shouts, "Hi! I'm not going to attack you! Do you need any help?"
There was a bunch of energy coming from in front of her. Jocelyn's energy sight lets her pick up on the approaching person fairly quickly. And she was completely out of uniform. Well, there wasn't anything to do about it. The girl flies a little bit closer, cautiously. "I'm alright. Just a little scuffle down below, and I've got healing powers," Jocelyn suggests, pointing down at Crime Alley. "Came out of it okay, but didn't want to stick around for the cops". She raises an eyebrow slightly as she takes in the man's look. "I'm afraid you've caught me out of costume though". There was no sense at all in hiding that she had some sort of powers, obviously.
"So, I'm afraid I don't recognize you," she tells the man from the future, not that she realizes that he is from the future immediately. However, that changes when she notices the ring. "Wait a second. You're with that Legion of Super-Heroes. I've met a couple of your team before, one when the first arrived". She was there when Tinya showed up and Rokk retrieved her. At least that means this one won't be one of the bad guys!
"How..." Booster seems momentarily baffled, then he looks at his hand and at the ring he is wearing. "Oh, right. Yes, I am... I just joined, actually. If you can heal yourself, I guess you have everything covered." He smiles brightly, then extends the hand to Jocelyn, for a handshake. "I'm Booster Gold. Still working my way up the recognition ladder. I just saw..." He gestures vaguely up and down to indicate Jocelyn in general, and her roughed-up state. As tall as she is, Booster seems to take that in stride; for him, it's normal. If anything, a lot of people in the 21st century are oddly short to him.
Hovering over towards Booster Gold, Jocelyn extends her hand to shake his. "Good to meet you. I'm Jocelyn," the teenager says by way of introduction. Booster Gold was certainly a unique name. She'd normally give her codename, but given that she was out of costume, this was a little bit safer. Not that she knows the man might have that information in a database somewhere already. "I met Rokk and Tinya when Tinya arrived here. Are you from the future as well?" Jocelyn asks. She doesn't seem too bothered by the concept of time travel. At this point, she's seen enough of that stuff to pretty much take it in stride.
"And no problem. It's appreciated. I'm still learning a fair bit of this craft, so to speak, but I've been lucky to meet a few people who've helped me along the way. I have to admit, I didn't expect to run into anyone up here, though the sky is filled with more and more people these days, I suppose". What with the increase in numbers of metahumans in the world, eventually they'd have to rewrite air traffic rules to accommodate them all.
"Twenty Fifth century," Booster agrees, his smile broadening during the handshake. "Most of the Legionnaires seem to be from the Thirtieth or Thirty-First, though." His hands spread in a casual shrug. "It was all pretty freaky, though, running into them. But it's cool. Especially since they speak Interlac, too. I mean," he gestures vaguely at himself as he explains, "I learned 21st century English and stuff, but sometimes it's nice to speak a language you grew up with. Oh..." He then gestures to the patient, golden egg-shape of his hovering robot pal. "This is Skeets, by the way. He's like my assistant or whatever."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, miss," Skeets chirps politely to Jocelyn.
"Ahh, so not quite so far into the future," Jocelyn responds. "But far enough into the future for it to be noticable," she points out. "I imagine that coming back to the past is strange. I've only been pulled into some alternate futures, and those were strange enough as it was". They weren't happy futures, to be certain. "Interlac...is that some intergalactic common language or something?" she questions. Because that's what it sounded like.
A nod is given to Skeets. "A pleasure to meet you, Skeets". Jocelyn turns back to Booster. "Is he some type of artificial intelligence?" she questions. She has her energy sight, so she was curious about what made Skeets tick from an energy perspective. Was it just electricity, or something else? "You haven't been here long then. Any questions I could answer for you?" she asks. Since she was up here and had the time, it seemed to be the polite thing to do!
"Heh, yeah, some type..." Booster glances at the robot, then reaches out to give the floating thing a little shove; it's an affectionate kind of mockery. The little robot just placcidly bobs back into place. There is certainly electricity coursing within Skeets, although the patterns are so intricate it gives him a sparkling effect. There is also some odd null-form energy patterns going on, which may be related to anti-gravity. For that matter, there are some similar energy patterns going on for Booster, including some lingering if currently dormant chronal energy.
"He and I worked at a museum together, a while back... I mean, in the future from now, I guess that'd be more accurate." Booster rubs his chin, glancing upwards thoughtfully. "But yeah the ... I dunno what you'd call it, maybe the culture? It's pretty different in this era than what I'm used to. And I don't understand the technology at all... like how most of the computers work. Or telephones--no, celphones, I guess that's what I'm thinking of. How do you make those go?"
Interesting device, that thing. And anti-gravity and chronal energy certainly sparks Jocelyn's interest a little bit. She decides it would be rude to try and reach out to see what absorbing those would be like. "I get what you're saying. The cellphones, well, they're a little tricky to get the hang of. They're just now starting to become a little more advanced. Sort of like handheld computers. Most of them are manipulated by finger-swipes on the screen". Jocelyn pulls her cell phone out and demonstrates. "And you tap the keypad if you have to input data, like a phone number or some text". She shrugs a little. "Any other application uses similar motion on the phone, but they do different things, depending on the program". She wasn't a technology expert, but she'd at least picked up that much.
"As for the culture, well, I suppose it's a lot different. What is your future like?" she asks. "I don't really have a frame of reference for how your culture is different from ours, though I could explain some of it if I knew something about your time," Jocelyn suggests.
"-Oh-," Booster says, as if the light had finally dawned once Jocelyn shows just how to make a current-era phone work. He got into some trouble when he'd tested one; how could he know that it wouldn't fly around on his own? "Gosh. I just tried to like..." Booster gestures at his face and then at the phone, as if trying to mime a link. "You know, interface. Nothing happened, and then I broke one. I'm really glad I wasn't in costume when that happened, but wowzer it was expensive. I may look like gold but I'm not made of money." He kicks back a little, then, as if he were casually resting on the air. He even crosses his legs at the ankles. "My native era is... how do you guys say it? A real drag, I think. There's zero superheroes. All crime is dealt with by the police, and they've got lots of robots patrolling around."
"Yeah, we're not to that point yet. There are some that have some basic voice commands, but the technology isn't very good. It usually butchers whatever you're trying to say," Jocelyn explains to Booster with a shrug. Yeah, to time travelers, her century was all ancient and lame in it's tech. But that was okay! Jocelyn was used to it, and was terrible with technology anyway. "Robots, huh? Are robots effectively the police force then? I don't see where that's a drag, though maybe not quite as varied. Is the police effective, or does it cause problems?" Jocelyn was clueless about Booster's era, and so she was interested. Besides, it could give insights as to what not to allow to happen here, in her time.
"I have to admit, technology isn't really my thing, though I'm working on some of that. Didn't grow up with access to much technology myself. Raw energy is really kind of the thing I'm good with," she explains. "Well, that and punching people, but I do try to minimize the amount of the latter that has to happen".
"Well I mean there were... are... er, will be people on the police force, too. But yeah, robots do a lot of it. Not that robots are bad, far from it... my pal here," Booster points to Skeets, "He's a security 'bot. Although he's changed careers now and works as my assistant. I'd be totally lost without him."
"Thank you, sir!" the little droid remarks, brightly.
"I mean, I -guess- the police were effective, they were just..." Booster's hands wave a little as he tries to form his thoughts into words. "Where I lived, it worked fine if you were rich. If you weren't rich, and you lived in a crappy area, then the police would still come in and arrest anyone who did something... wrong... but they wouldn't bother to help you if you needed help. I'm not sure I'm making sense." He is frowning now, as if there were memories and concepts troubling him, ones he is unable to express. But, he brightens a bit and points at Jocelyn, saying, "I'm -totally- into punching evil-doers. And ... absorbing energy, at least. So we have a few things in common!"
"It's like anything else, I imagine. You get the good and the bad," Jocelyn says to Booster. "Assistant, huh? What sorts of things does he assist with, if I can ask?" Jocelyn questions, looking over at Skeets. "I think the closest thing I've run into for a robot that wasn't trying to kill me is Iron Man, and he's just a guy in a really powerful suit of advanced armor". Pause. "Advanced for our time period, at least".
Stupid sentinels.
"Oh, I get that exactly. I'm from Detroit originally, and the police there are pretty much the same. They'll arrest people who are breaking the law, most of the time. And either not help or harrass the ones without money and living on the streets". Growing up in the ghettos of Detroit does that to a person.
"Speaking of, most people don't know I'm able to do, well, this sort of thing. The flying and energy absorbing thing, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't go and tell everyone, at least about this civilian identity," Jocelyn adds. It might be different in this century!
"Oh wow, you met Iron Man!" Booster looks impressed. "It would be so awesome to actually meet him. He's one of my big inspirations." Reaching out, he points at Skeets and says, "Oh, he keeps track of stuff for me. Appointments and so on... I mean, I have a day job, if you can even call it that. But he also knows a lot of stuff, and can keep tabs on things like police channels." 
"It's true, I do indeed have extensive databases on a variety of subjects," Skeets confirms. "The internet of this era has been a great help, as well. I utilize it to correct or augment our historical records."
When Jocelyn describes her own experiences with the police, Booster nods at her. "Yeah, that's exactly it. I grew up in a ... not very awesome area, and in general they were either absent or oppressive. I guess you know what I mean. It's bogus that this kind of thing wouldn't improve over time. And don't worry about your... this," Booster waves one hand up and down to indicate Jocelyn in general. "I was pretty surprised to learn that showing powers in this era can have some really negative repercussions and stuff. I don't have a secret identity, but I totally respect that some people do."
"Once, briefly," Jocelyn responds. "I wouldn't say I'd be able to contact him quickly if I needed to, but I could probably find a way". She did know Thor, after all, and via Thor she could get to Iron Man. "Mind if I ask what the day job is?" Because she was curious what a man out of time did for a day job.
"The internet...not everything on the internet is true. Wikipedia is a pretty good source, but always make sure you have a few different sources to confirm it," she adds with an easy smile. "One of my friends told me that if something sounds fake, go to snopes dot com and it'll have a list of the biggest internet hoaxes going on". Because people were jerks online.
"Yeah, know exactly what you mean. Still, it's home, you know?" Something Jocelyn knows a bit about. A nod is given. "Thanks. I think you might have an advantage, since nobody really knows your civilian identity anyway. Though if you want to walk around and not be recognized as Booster Gold, you might need to talk to someone about getting yourself a fake identity. Not the most heroic thing, but if you wanted to do the alternate identity thing, that would probably be necessary," she admits.
"Oh." Booster mulls over the information that the internet might not be a repository of pure and unadulturated knowledge. Quietly, he tells Skeets, "Look up the Batman eating hearts thing, later." Then, to Jocelyn, he says, "Well, I want people to recognize me." Reaching up, he lifts his goggles, pushing them and his cowl back to hang behind his neck. "My name is Michael Carter, but I go by 'Booster'. It's an old nickname. I've been doing some modeling and trying to get roles in commercials, that kind of thing." He turns his head slightly so he is looking sidelong to Jocelyn, and gives her a big, bright smile, a thumbs-up and a wink. Then he returns to his more casual, conversational attitude. "There aren't a lot of other jobs around for someone like me!"
Well, Jocelyn can certainly see why Booster could get some modeling and acting jobs. He was a pretty good looking guy, and had a nice smile. "Well, if you register your codename, probably 'Booster Gold', you can get some income from the government, as long as you obey basic hero law, as they call it. Don't have to give them your real name. I don't do it, but I know some do," Jocelyn offers. She doesn't like the idea, but she feels like it's something she should make Booster aware of as an option.
The Batman eating hearts thing, which is only heard to Jocelyn as 'Batman' and 'hearts', draws a small smile from the girl, but she doesn't say anything.
"So, since we're both into the whole dealing with bad guys thing, you have a way I can contact you in case I need a bit of help? And you said you're an energy absorber too?" she asks.
"The government will -pay- you to be a hero?" This is clearly a surprise to Booster. He frowns a bit in thought, then, and says, "Well, I don't really want any money for doing the hero thing. I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm saving them just so I could get paid for it. But it'd be awesome if that recognition would let me get better modelling or promotional jobs." He pulls his cowl back up and gets his goggles into place, ruffling his hair slightly to make it look good again after that disruption. "But yeah, I'll look into that for sure. And the energy thing, it's a dealio I can do with my suit. Uh..." At a loss for a moment, the golden hero looks to Skeets.
The little robot flies closer to Jocelyn, and a tiny hatch opens. Out of it comes a slim strip of blue card, with embossed gold lettering.
Booster explains, "In my era, the communications network is different. I'm trying to learn to adapt here. That's my card, and it has a 'telephone number' on it, but if you press or pinch the part with the star that will give me an emergency summons."
"Alright. Is it easiest if I just give you my number for you to program in, or should I write it down for you?" Jocelyn asks as she takes the card and slips it away into a pocket, taking note of the phone number.
"You'd probably get better jobs if people knew who you were. So, probably just do the heroing thing, and you'll have people wanting to do the whole marketing thing. The government I think also handles any copyright stuff, so a bunch of people can't make merchandise with your face on it and get paid for it without your permission". So it controls his image, which seemed to be a little bit important to Booster Gold.
"Ahh, suit based. I'm a mutant, and that's sort of my mutant. I absorb it, and shoot it back out, or use it to do stuff like augment my strength or heal or fly," she explains. No ring here; it was just plain energy.
When Jocelyn mentions being a mutant, Booster looks faintly puzzled for a moment, as if he were mentally translating this. Then he says, "Oh, right, humans with innate powers. I'm still getting used to some of the terminology in this era, I really need to focus on that." Gesturing to Skeets, he adds, "If you tell us your number, we'll have it recorded. But his database is a lot more reliable than mine." Whether Booster is making a mild joke about his own memory, or if he actually has some kind of built-in database storage is unclear. "Also, I know there's some weird people in this era with regards to their views on innately powered humans. I don't -understand- it, but I know they can be dangerous. So don't worry, I won't tell anyone about your abilities."
"Yeah. There are a few different varieties. A mutant being one who is evolved from humanity. The next step or whatever you want to call it," Jocelyn explains. Basic evolution, but jumped forward a little bit. She provides her phone number to Booster Gold, and lets the machine record it. "There are other terms to. Those who get powers from some other source and are changed, or are granted power, or things like that," the woman offers. It's rather different depending on who you talk to. "And you've got those who don't have any powers, but just have skill and resources. Kind of like Iron Man". Who didn't have super powers himself.
"Thanks for keeping it quiet. There are plenty of people out there who rather don't care for us mutants. Most of the hatred is directed at mutants, though some of it is directed at the other types". Mutants just freak people out. "Feel free to let me know if you want me to show you around town sometime, too. I imagine things have changed a lot in the last few hundred years".
"I really have trouble understanding that," Booster Gold admits. "In my era, there are people, and that includes humans who might or might not have something extra going on, and aliens, and robots. I guess the robots get some discrimination at times but--" A thought occurs to him. "Skeets, we'd better look into how they deal with robot rights in this era." To Jocelyn, again, he says, "I kinda wonder if the people who get all weird about 'mutants' are just kind of under-educated? We did genetic recombinations and epigenetic theory in third grade, with the whole, 'everyone is different in some ways, and in others everyone is the same, but everyone is equal', you know? Maybe they need to push that more. Although," he smirks and gestures to himself and the floating woman, "You and I know that money and power is the biggest talker, in any case."
"Yeah. That sort of stuff isn't really taught in public school. Theories and experiments done in universities maybe, but technologically speaking, we're not that advanced. As for robot rights? We don't really have sentient robots yet, so they're just machines, though you're not going to find robots as advanced as Skeets". So, yeah. Skeets would effectively be treated as property in this era, at least from a legal sense.
"So, yeah, I suppose in our case, we're a bit behind the times there, but money still talks. Politicians are still bribed, and the world continues to spin. Been that way for a long time, I'm afraid, and it sounds like that is something that continues, from what you said". Which is a shame.
"Oh, my," Skeets says, and although he has a cheerful little voice, he sounds worried.
"Don't worry, pal. I won't let anyone treat you as if you were just a machine." Booster gives his robot assistant a few pats to the hull, which sounds faint and metallic. "But yeah, I mean... I guess human nature will never change. Some things improve... some things get worse. However..." he holds up a finger. "I came to this era specifically, for a reason... we usually call this the 'Heroic Era', due to the culture of superheroic beings that pretty much flourished at this time. But then something happened, we're not really sure what it was. Our records are really kind of... incomplete and fragmented."
"Sir," Skeets says, in a warning tone. "We really should not reveal too much about what would be a possible near future for this era."
"Well I said we didn't -know-," Booster retorts, and rolls his eyes a bit. He says to Jocelyn, "Also, it would be totally rad if you could show me around sometime. Because like, big areas of the planet get wiped out at some point so it's pretty different in my era--"
"Sir," Skeets says again, sounding pressed.
"...but maybe that'll never happen, I mean, who knows. It's not like the timestream is set in stone," Booster finishes, a little meekly.
A small smile is given. "I've done a little bit of traveling through time. Forwards, not back, and seen possible futures. I understand that things are able to change, and that alternate timelines are possible," she assures Booster Gold. "Have you heard of the Space Phantom in your travels, by chance?" she questions. She was just curious.
"Excellent. I'll give you a call sometime, and we can head out to check out some of the places. Got anywhere particular you'd like to see?" Jocelyn asks. She was curious what was interesting to someone several hundred years from the future.
As to the bit about this being called the Heroic Age, she politely doesn't comment on that, given Skeet's reaction. But, she does file that away, for future use.
"Hmm. Space Phantom... not familiar." Booster shakes his head. "I mean I've only done the one trip through time... from my era, to here." He spread his hands as if to indicate this portion of the sky in general. "So, yeah, that would be awesome. I kind of want to see ... I think it was Florida? I understand it was full of cool animals and stuff, before it got submerged. I guess anywhere else with animals in it, too, like... like Kansas," he hazards. "I think there are cows there?"
"There are cows all over, even here in New York. I could take you to see those right now," Jocelyn tells Booster Gold. That wouldn't be difficult at all. "And I'm sure we can go some weekend and visit Florida. I haven't been there myself, but I know how to get there". You fly south. Duh. "I don't fly super fast, but I fly quickly enough to get around at a reasonable speed," she tells him. At least he didn't suggest a couple countries where she and the X-Men have been designated as wanted criminals or things like that, but those were misunderstandings. And totally Mystique's fault anyway.
"There are zoos here, too, that have animals from all over the world on display, that we could tour, if we didn't want to have to travel as far," Jocelyn adds to the man.
"There are cows in New York?" This is clearly amazing news to Booster Gold. "Wow. Just walking around in the wild? Yeah, I totally want to see that!" Calming himself a bit, he explains, "We had zoos in my native era too but they're mostly like... either replicated animals or crappy holo-projections, if they had enough data to reconstruct a sim. The animals that did run around wild were..." He pauses, and visibly shudders. "Well, not ones you'd want to get near, anyway. Also, if we needed to fly somewhere faster, I could help with that. Probably not faster than a speeding bullet or anything, but pretty fast."
"Sounds good to me," Jocelyn says. "I'm going to be pretty busy this weekend, but maybe sometime next week for one of the longer trips?" she suggests. She couldn't believe that animals were something he hadn't seen before. "And I can show you the cows now if you like. They'll be on a farm, but they be pretty much out in a large pasture," Jocelyn explains, starting to fly in a direction towards a bit more rural section of New York, if Booster wants to go with her.
"Works for me on the flying thing. We'll check Florida out, and we can see some of the touristy stuff," Jocelyn suggests. And she could show Booster a whale. That would be a sight for him to behold, though she holds that one in reserve for now.
"Wow, a farm." This could come across as sarcasm, but Booster seems genuinely interested. "The kind with stuff in the ground, right? And those..." He pauses, then hazards, "Cow houses."
"I believe the word you are looking for is 'barn', sir," Skeets helpfully supplies.
Booster flies after Jocelyn. "Yeah, that's all cool. I know it's hard to plan stuff out, when you're doing the whole heroing thing. It's not like evil schedules appointments." He thinks about this, then adds, "Well, I guess sometimes it does, I'm pretty sure that's the Riddler's whole deal."
"They each have their own methods," Jocelyn says. "I've had a few schedulers I've dealt with. Myself and some of the teams I've worked with," Jocelyn offers as she leads the way to a farm she knew of. She's keeping them above the cloud cover for now, dipping down briefly to check and see where they are, though it won't take her long to spot some, not with her energy sight.
"Alright, heading down now. The farmer is out, so we should get a pretty good look at them," the teenager says. She leads the way downwards towards a classic farm, complete with cows and horses and other farm life. The farmer must be having a meal or something. Jocelyn lands in front of a fence, where a herd of cows can be seen on the other side.
"Here you are. Cows. The source of milk and hamburgers, depending on a lot of stuff I'm not an expert in," Jocelyn says with a small grin. But Booster could look up the details if he wanted.
"Wowzer!" Booster lands, and stares at the ruminating herd. It is possible that things like goats are being mentally classified as 'small cows' and horses as 'possibly also cows, not sure'. After a long moment, he remarks, "There's so many of them. Gosh." He falls quiet again as he takes this in, but eventually he processes Jocelyn's words. "Wait..." A faint look of horror starts to grow upon his face. "Hamburgers are -made out of cows-?" 
"You ate two such hamburgers just yesterday," Skeets confirms, in his cheerful and pleasant little voice.
Now, Booster is just looking extremely guilty.
"It is okay. In this time, cows are plentiful. They are in no danger of going extinct unless something along the lines of a cow-specific virus struck them. Farmers breed them to milk them and to sell them," the teenager explains upon noticing his guilty look. "The horses over there are bred mostly for shows and riding as a sport," she adds, gesturing over towards the horses. "The goats...they can be milked, but I don't know what other purpose they have, to be honest". She doesn't really care about them all that much, as they weren't all that interesting. "They're not the brightest of animals either, cows. They kind of have this constant blank look on their face".
As if on queue, one of the cows goes 'MOOOOO!' and looks over at the two of them, chewing something and making the classic blank cow look.
Booster gazes back at the cow. What if it has cow intuition and knows he ate some of its bretheren? "Okay, wow..." Booster puts one hand to his forehead, and his other hand flips palm-upwards as he gestures at the herd. "I didn't know... or I guess I didn't remember, from history stuff..." In a much quieter tone, directed at the cow, he says, "Sorry."
Giving himself a little shake, Booster turns to look at Jocelyn. "Heh, you know what culture shock is? I think I'm having some of that. I'm super weirded out right now, I'm not used to the idea of eating animals. I don't think I have the vocabulary to explain this well, but generally our food was manufactured? But I think some of the really rich people had access to ..." He gestures at the animals again, but seems uncertain.
"Don't worry about it. We don't have manufactured food like that". Pause. "Well, some is, but we can't create meat from a lab, not really. We have to do it the old fashioned way," Jocelyn explains. "I suspect that if we had technology like that, it could possibly do away with a lot of hunger problems, if it was done right". Though done wrong, it could just be another tool for the powerful to use to keep power.
"I know what it is, yeah," Jocelyn adds with a grin. "I had a bit of it myself. I'm better off now than I was a few months ago, when my powers manifested. I'm not living on the streets or anything like that now, and just that was a shock to me. I imagine this is all pretty weird for you. Don't worry about it though. Any questions, just ask".
"To be honest, I never gave the food thing much thought. When I was growing up, I know my mom would get these blocks of..." Booster's hands move to shape something cubical in the air, but he falters. "I don't know what the words would be. Uh... kind of pre-food? A block of nutrients and stuff. She'd get that from the government food distribution center, and at home it'd go in the kitchen. Then she could press some buttons, I guess, and it would get... transformed into food. It'd last about a week. I'm sorry it's so vague, I really never learned how to cook." Considering how healthy Booster looks, not to mention being a tall and strapping lad, he clearly did not suffer from any malnutrition while growing up.
In a much quieter tone, one that has some genuine gentleness to it, Booster tells the tall young lady, "I'm glad you're off the streets. I know how dangerous that can be, I think it's probably pretty dangerous in any era." And then, in his more usual, upbeat manner, "I do have a question. Is it true that chicken is made out of birds?"
"Ahh. Okay. Well, we don't really do that sort of thing. I mean, we microwave some food, but that's just reheating stuff that is already prepared". The girl shrugs a little bit at that. "Our food is mostly made from scratch or some stuff is bought in a store, but it all has to get made from something". There wasn't much else to explain, unless you got into detail about individual types of food.
Jocelyn does smile at the mention of the chicken, however. "Chicken is not made out of birds. Chicken is a type of bird". She points over at the chicken coop, where there are some chickens wandering around. "Ducks are another type, and there are other birds that are cooked," Jocelyn explains.
"Oh, boy. I think I'll just keep getting prepared food for a while, until I really figure this all out." Booster squints a little as he looks over the chickens. His goggles are magnifying them, locking in and giving him a variety of read-outs that, in his heads up display, are hovering in the air alongside a rotating 3-D model of a chicken. He waves a hand, which looks as if he is trying to shoo away gnats, but from his point of view it scatters all of this virtual data. "Maybe I shouldn't have looked into this, now it feels kind of creepy. Ehh... I'll have to get over it sooner or later. This is the kind of stuff I really need to know, and I had no idea I even needed to know it."
Category:Log