2013.05.11 - Charity for the Homeless

Charitable work is why Janet van Dyne is in this part of the city today, the good cause being a school in need of funding for their arts and music departments. It was a fun filled day where she got to play celebrity auctioneer and all in all everything went very well. She had a blast and people received her with open arms and the willingness to bring her into their fold and a lot of money was raised to fund the programs for the following school year. Just leaving the building, Janet takes a quick look at her phone before turning to walk down to the corner, intending on heading to a coffee shop to get something to eat.
Cruising around the city of New York, Garth Ranzz can't help but note the contrast between Suicide Slum and New York. Not exactly 'future shock' as much as 'what -did- these people do?', the teenager from the future can't help but peek through the whole celebrity auction thing and wonder at the -means- through which this was all done. 
Hovering up there in the sky, Garth hesitates, before settling down next to Janet. Mindful of Rokk's admonishment to keep from creating a mess of the future, Garth greets the young woman, asking a simple question: "How do you get creds?" 
Being approached like she is is nothing for Jan but she still winds up starting a bit, that being over how Garth words his question. It takes her a moment but the socialite eventually smiles as much as she can. "What kind of cred? There are several kind, after all. Street cred, cred you get from using credit cards..."
There are several people from the school who pass by and call out to her after she replies, people who shout out thank yous and 'you were great' from their side of the walk. Janet beams and waves to them as well. "Thanks! It was a lot of fun. We should do this every year!"
It's probably quite weird, being approached like this by a scruffy wild-haired teenager with a prosthetic metal arm, out of nowhere. Especially one that apparently dressed up in a skin-tight uniform. Might have been a cosplay wannabe. Who knows. "Oh... it's just that I'm looking to earn some creds for, well... food. And I was noticing all this... bidding you were holding for people, so I was wondering if you'd be, well... auctioning workers? I know a few people. Though we're looking for, uh..." 
What did Rokk say...? 
"A billion creds?" 
Oh! Now it makes sense. Janet covers a grin while listening to Garth but then he mentions the amount they need. Oy. They are not kidding when it's said that today's kids think money grows on trees, huh? "Okay. First off... it isn't creds. It's dollars. And the currency is called money. So you need money in the amount of a billion dollars." Hopefully she's making sense without coming across as being condensending. "And I can tell you that finding that amount of money is not easy."
[+vote received]
Try tomorrow's kids.
Rubbing his goatee, Garth considers this. "Well, no grife. It'd be easier if Jan were here, but he isn't. So till then, we've got to earn creds the hard way. Need food and tech." Running a hand through his hair, Garth gradually remembers... oh right, manners. 
Offering a hand, the ginger introduces himself. "Garth Ranzz. Just sorting out things here. Uh... from... out of town, that's it." 
The hand is taken and given a shake. Her grip is fairly gentle, definitely feminine, and her hands are callous-free. "Nice to meet you. I'm Janet van Dyne. But I generally go by Jan." Her eyes narrow slightly as she regards the young man, her expression soft as well as curious. "So where are you from?"
"Winath--- ahh... Winn... Dixie?" Damn it, what was it Clark used to say... oh hell it didn't matter anyway, it was out of town. Close enough. "So you were auctioning off things. Don't suppose you'd care to auction off a few of us...? We could, uh... clean up the city...?" 
Janet's eyes narrow a bit but she leaves it alone. Kid probably has a reason for being like he is about where he's from and besides, it isn't like she's his mom. Watching him, she considers the next and then shakes her head, her expression fairly... amused. "I don't do stuff like that for just anyone and besides, the money should go for a good cause. Sure you need food but that isn't exactly... uhm. Have you tried to get a job?"
"Grife... what if I said Superman could vouch for us?" Garth says, before wrinkling his nose. "Well, uh... I've got farming experience. And I could run a generator." Quirking his lips, Garth brings his hand up, as a little spark flashes from his fingertip. 
Okay. So that was definitely not what Jan expected. She stares at the hand at the electrical show and then at the kid, her brows about disappearing into her hairline. "Riiiiiiiiiight. Well, I am sure you'll find something for yourself to do." Ahem.
 
Flying out of the sky, then, like people /do/ in this city, comes a man significantly older than the teenager in front of Janet. And he lands /right behind Garth/. He lifts a hand, fingerless-gloved in black like most of his uniform, and says cheerfully. "Hello, miss," he says in the same kind of outer-space-canadian accent Garth's probably sporting, and he clamps his other hand on Garth's shoulder. "A little bird told me this guy might be doing something that could potentially aggravate me; she didn't tell me it might aggravate someone else. Is he bothering you?"
"Well, it's not that simple... I mean, we used to get paid by the United..." 
And then Rokk shows up, being all older brother-ish, from the look of him, clasping behind him, and Garth tenses. God, he was RIGHT BEHIND HIM, so close Garth didn't dare breathe lest he brush back against Rokk. "Uh... no, I'm just asking if we could work for, well... whoever she could auction us off to. This is, uh... Janet. Janet, Rokk. Grife, Rokk, let go of me already." 
Janet looks betwen the both of them, grinning. "He's fine. Just having to explain some of what is going on..." She considers the earlier conversation she had with Garth just prior to Rokk's showing up but just leaves it be. Best to not give away too much since it seems the new figure makes Garth a bit nervous. "It is nice to meet you. I was just about to explain how auctions and such work to your friend."
 
Rokk *does* let go of Garth's shoulder, and takes a step back. "That actually won't be necessary; I have to explain registration to the rest of the Legion yet. It's basically like being paid by the United Planets-- it'll work out. One thing we unfortunately /can't/ do is auction off our time and abilities to the highest bidder; it would give the impression that we only help people who can afford to pay us. We're not heroes for hire." He takes a deep breath and looks like he's trying hard not to pinch the bridge of his nose, then does it anyway. "And I forget sometimes that getting stuck in another time sends people grasping for any way to sustain themselves."
Finally, he /does/ hold his hand out to Janet, giving her a wry smile. "And yes, I'm Rokk Krinn; you can call me Cos. The rest of my codename fell off somewhere ten years ago. I'm the Legion's Leader. If you *would* like to contact us for any reason, I can give you my mobile number for now until we've got something better. Like a permanent address."
"... Grife, Rokk... I thought it was, uh... nix on the future thing?" Garth grunts, running a hand through his hair. "Otherwise we'd just trade transparent aluminum for creds to build... uh..." 
Now Garth slaps his forehead. "That's -not- all that fell off years ago, Rokk! Where's your sprockin' globes now?" 
"United Planets.... oh! You guys are like Star Trek cosplayers?" Nevermind that there has been powers shown off. It's the ony way Janet can make sense out of any of this. Cos' hand is taken and Janet shakes it, same soft, femininely-gentle grasp as the one she had when she shook Garth's. "It's nice to meet you. Janet van Dyne. Feel free to me Jan, though. And no need to explain anything to me..." There is a pause then. With how those two are arguing they must be related.
 
"That's the United Federation of Planets, I think," Rokk says after a pause, wrinkling his nose. His own hand is strong, somewhat callused. But his handshake's protocol-perfect for length and strength of grip. "No. We're literally from a thousand years in the future. Well. In the futures. There are a lot of them. It's complicated and it doesn't really matter. What matters is we're a locally new super-team in the process of establishing ourselves in this century." /Then/ he turns to eye Garth. "I don't know what your Rokk was like, but somehow I doubt he disregarded our constitution. And what, are you blind? Discs. Uniform. Present. Come on, let's stop confusing the lovely Jan, and we can have a shouting match back at the warehouse. Or at the Jersey Shore if we're going to blow stuff up."
"And a pain in the ass it is to get established," sighs Garth. "I have to remember -all- of that? That's what usually we had Rokk for. You, I mean." 
Runnig a hand through his hair, Garth shakes his head. "Forget the shouting match. Or blowing stuff up. We should at least -get- our names out there for something so we can get stuff taken care of." 
"Right. Well..." It is a good thing Cos is excusing him and Garth as Jan finds herself oddly without things to say, that really not like at her at all. "So. I guess you guys will be around, right? NYC isn't that big of a city so we'll probably run into each other again at some point." And right then and then her plans change. The need for coffee and pastry at the cafe change. Now she just wants to go home and have a good stiff drink.
 
"Well, luckily, the Superman *here* knows us from when he was a kid, so yeah that's got that ball rolling," Cos says, clapping Garth on the back in sympathetic camaraderie. He nods with rueful apology to Janet, then gently turns Garth around to start them both walking away. Talking as he does it, of course, so it doesn't really have time to register as steering. "Our Garth slept through the actual codifying of ours, which is why we had Invisible Kid sitting in and helping. You don't have to /memorize/ it, word for word, but you really should sit down with it and get yourself familiar with the most important parts..." he's saying as they move away to let Jan escape to her stiff drink.
"... I liked it better when you were talking about Infinite Imras, Rokk..." 
Category:Log