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Making sure to keep well away from the Hellmouth itself (because who wants to get near /that/ thing?) Nova is making the rounds of the Park keeping watch for any regular (stupid) people who might get themselves caught between a demonic creature or two. People never really learn, do they? Or maybe it's just that New Yorkers think they can handle anything. Maybe they're right. Nonetheless, while the violence has certainly abated recently, there's still creatures-that-should-not-be roaming around in small numbers, and people who still think that it's worth the risk to cross close enough to the source. A ghoul here and there isn't really much trouble for the armoured teen to defeat, and though he's doing his best to help, the people he's saving from a horrible fate, be it getting eaten or turned, don't seem all that appreciative. "A simple thank you would be a nice change," Nova mutters to himself, taking a quick breather from the fighting. "Not like I'm getting paid for this, people," he says. Anyone listening, watching? It's not like he's really making an effort to keep himself out of sight.
*
"It's New York," a chipper little voice chimes in. "I don't think anyone says thank you for anything around here. Makes me miss California." Lucy is there, seemingly out of nowhere, perched up on one of the stone outcroppings around the park. She's eating a hot dog with everything on it, rather at odds with her pretty dress and shiny shoes. Another hotdog, in its wrapper and a bed of napkins, is in her lap. She looks a bit Alice in Wonderlands, really. How she's going to fit two hot dogs in such a tiny person is a trick that remains to be seen.
"If I got paid for fighting off these jerks, I wouldn't have to sleep in a shelter most nights. Hungry?" She offers Nova the uneaten hot dog.
*
Nova is actually a bit startled by the sudden voice. How'd he miss her? It takes him only a moment to regain whatever composure he may have lost, but the embarrassment will last a little longer. Good thing he's wearing a helmet that covers up most of his features. No doubt it's a little strange to see a man in armour being frightened by a waif of a girl. "You're right about," he says after a moment. "Showing gratitude, and knowing when to steer clear of monsters, apparently, are not things that people around here are great at." He smirks a bit when she offers the hot dog, and is about to shake his head, but reconsiders at the last moment. It's not that he's hungry; the Nova armour keeps him sustained while he's wearing it, but the simple fact of the matter is that he hasn't had a good, all-dressed hot dog in ages. And it smells great. "Really? Thanks," he says, floating up toward where the girl is perched. The irony of taking free food from an admittedly homeless girl is apparently lost on him.
*
"Sharing is caring," Lucy says brightly, handing over the hot dog. "I'm Lucy. And thanks, by the way, since no one else said it. You saved me from having to kick some undead ass in my nice new shoes. It took me forever to get the vampire dust out from around the buckles last time. You're not from around here, are you? I mean, like right around here. I don't mean the cool outfit."
*
Nova smiles, and lets out a light chuckle at that, "Nova," he offers as an introduction, taking the offered dog, and settling down to sit beside Lucy. "Happy to help. The thought of you ruining your new shoes would have kept me up at night," he says with a smirk. "No, not from around here," he confirms, taking a bite of the hot dog; thankfully the helmet doesn't fully cover the lower part of his face. "Just lending a hand where it's needed. And, you know, wasn't doing anything else with my day, so.."
*
"Not everyone just pops into New York to help fight the dead," Lucy says with a little laugh. "Though, if I had an outfit like that, I'd find reasons to wear it, too. Also, speaking of outfits, you would not believe how many people judge you on your shoes. Since I got these, I have actually had some lines on work. I need an apartment before the winter. So, yes, it is actually very helpful that I didn't need to make a mess of them today. So, where are you from? And, unless it's Hollywood, I'm guessing it's not "local". The only other person I know with that kind of neat gear is from…" She points dramatically skyward.
*
"Well, the outfit kind of goes hand in hand with the fighting," Nova says. "I guess the shoes are an important part of the package for girls. Guys have it easy, our shoes are pretty standard across the board. Polish 'em up and nobody gives them a second thought," he muses, glancing down toward Lucy's feet. "Those /are/ nice, though," he offers, hoping to dodge the 'where are you from' question. Suddenly it dawns on him what her meaning might be with that motion upward. "Wait, what? You know someone else with armour like this?" Could it be?
*
"Not like that, exactly. He has some cool guns and gear, though. You don't look like him. You don't know anyone else with that kind of armor?" Lucy doesn't seem surprised. "It's practically an epidemic. People being stranded here on their own. I'm guessing you're stranded. Right?"
*
"What? Oh, no! I'm not.. I'm from Arizona!" Nova exclaims, the shock of actually being accused of being from outer space catching him off guard. "You.. you know someone from..?" He motions upward, his interest quite obvious. "Not that I'm.. but.. you know." Another alien? Sam clearly hasn't had much exposure to other people from other planets, at least not that he knows of. Then again, Sam's not really an alien either. He's from Arizona.
*
"Ah. Yeah. I'm from California," Lucy says sagely. As if that wasn't obvious, with the remains of the tan and the long blonde hair and the accent that is definitely not New York. "And, yeah, I met him here near Central Park. He says he's a Kree, whatever that is. He's pretty…up front about it. But he knows a lot. He will tell you he knows a lot, too." That gets an eyeroll. "You can't miss him. Blond guy, young, always wears green. In a fight, he uses these cool guns and stuff."
Lucy finishes off her hot dog and then admits. "I'm from California, but you know, not really. Don't ask me anything, though, I just found out. It's all Greek to me." At least Greece is on Earth. "It kind of shows if I get to fighting stuff so I'm bad at hiding it. But since I met Noh-Varr, I figured maybe there are other people like me and him around."
*
Not that it can be seen, but the explanation of Noh-Var gets a pretty substantial eyebrow-raising. Sam always figured, and this is mostly because it was made pretty clear to him, that any hint that he might not be entirely human would result in some very bad things happening. This fellow obviously never got that memo. He nervously takes another bite of his hot dog. When it doubt, eat, right? "I'm from Arizona," he repeats, a little quieter. "But my dad wasn't. He was from Xandar. Not sure entirely where that is." Hey, if she's spilling the beans about being an alien, Nova can do the same, right? If nothing else, he's at least got his helmet on still, so his identity is safe.
*
"That's okay, I don't know where I'm from, either." Lucy holds her hands up helplessly. "I mean, Noh-Varr seems to know something about it, he recognized me. Like I said. I kind of stand out when I get into it with things. If you ever see a rainbow in the wrong place, it's probably me. But I figured I'd say something because we gotta stick together a bit, right? There's mutants and all but then there's us. If we don't have our own people, we kind of have to make our own people."
*
Nova gives a nod, "Clueless aliens of the world unite, huh," he says with a bit of a smirk. "Most people just assume I'm a mutant in a fancy costume," he continues after a moment, giving a shrug. "Happy enough to let them. Not sure how well the whole 'alien' thing will go over if the wrong people get wind, you know? World's crazy enough as it is without adding the threat of an invasion from outer space into the mix. So I usually try to keep it quiet. I guess if you're one too, you probably have an eye for it," he says. "I haven't spotted any others, myself. But then, haven't really been looking. Just kind of figured I was the only one."
*
"Well, lemme show you." Lucy pulls the shiny bracelet off her left wrist. As soon as it's off, she glows. Like turning on a light, or maybe a disco ball. Rainbow aura, luminous skin, and then she starts to float. "Oops!" She slips the bracelet back on. "That's the toned down version. So you can see why Noh-Varr picked up on it. I just wish I'd known when I was a kid. Then I wouldn't suck at it. You're a good fighter, though. I'm still pretty terrible. I crash a lot."
*
Nova watches with some amount of awe as Lucy starts to glow colourfully, and float. "Yeah, you're pretty easy to spot," he says with a smile to the girl. "I can hide pretty easily.." He looks around, and seeing no other people around to spy what's about to happen, he pulls the helmet off of his head, which immediately causes the whole body of armour to vanish, leaving Sam sitting there in his street clothes. He's a pretty normal looking guy. "It's all in the armour," he says, slipping the helmet back on, and regaining the black and gold outfit. "Not really a great fighter, just really well protected by this thing," he says. "It's supposed to be part of a.. I don't know, intergalactic police force? Kind of made for fighting crime, I guess. Might say it's in my blood, really."
*
"That's so cool!" Lucy actually looks impressed. "My parents…I don't even know what they are." Her smile fades and her expression grows grim. "But they aren't good people. Doesn't stop me from being one, though. And, you didn't have to go out and do good stuff just because that's what the outfit is for. You could have robbed a bank or something and you didn't. So it probably is in your blood. Or your parents were just good at raising kids."
*
Nova can't help but laugh, "Actually, dad was a drunk, and mom was too busy trying to make ends meet to do much else.." He shrugs. "But I guess they must have done something right, because, yeah, I'm not out there knocking over banks." Though he could. Pretty easily. Still, wouldn't be right. "Your parents aren't good people? What'd they do? If you don't mind my asking," he says, realizing after he asked that it's a pretty personal question, or could be, for someone you just met. Still, nice that he's concerned, right?
*
"They, um…" Lucy's blue eyes actually fill with tears, she drops her chin so her hair hides her face. "They're just not…good. I saw them doing something terrible to someone." She fiddles with one of the napkins from her lunch. "They have a lot of money. And friends. So I just pretended it didn't happen until I could run away. And that's why I live here now." She takes a deep breath — chin up, shoulders square — and shakes her hair back. That's enough of that. "When I'm stronger, and they can't hurt me, I'll do something about it. But for now, I just get by and help out where I can. Because it kind of makes up for what they did, a little, I hope."
*
"Oh jeez, I'm sorry," Nova says remorsefully. He didn't want to make the poor girl cry! "I probably would have reacted the same way, to be honest, if I caught my folks doing something really bad.. I turned a blind eye to my dad's drinking for years.. not that that's the same, but it's tough to stand up to your parents," he says. When she talks about trying to help to make up for what her parents did, he gives an understanding nod; that's exactly what his father asked him to do. "That I understand. My dad did something terrible, too, before I was born.. it's why he ended up here. No idea what it was, but he wanted me to try to do some good with his armour, to make up for it."
*
"Well, I'm sure he'd be proud of you for making a difference, helping people who need it. New York City and this stupid hellhole are certainly giving us our shot at redemption, aren't they?" Lucy laughs, shedding her grim mood. She's resilient, and not just physically. "I've been covered in enough demon goop to wash away a lifetime of sins. We may not be from here, not entirely, but the place needs us. It would be cool to see where my people come from but I'm from here. Earth. And now, I guess I'm from New York. It does that to you, New York. If it doesn't eat you alive, it kind of adopts you. Which is pretty cool."
*
"I think he would be," Nova agrees. Sam's not arrogant, but he definitely doesn't suffer from a poor self-image. He nods again at the comment about New York; he can't help but agree there as well, the longer he stays here, the more it feels like his own hometown, strange though it might be. On some level, he feels protective of it, even though he's only been here a few months. "When I first got here, the city seemed so.. well, alien." Pardon the irony. "But yeah, now it's practically like home. Strangers don't thank you for saving their lives, and will actively avoid making eye contact, but.. still home."
*
"Yeah. It's weird like that. Where are you staying? I know Noh-Varr would probably be so interested to meet you. He's usually down that way." Lucy points across the park toward the shops and delis that are still open. "He's kind of obsessed with food. Especially candy." She makes a face at that. "Not that fudge isn't amazing but you can't live on it, right?"
*
Well, can't stay a secret forever. "I'm at Columbia, John Jay Hall. Sam Alexander," Nova says, offering his hand to the girl. Because that's what we do here on Earth? "I'd like to meet him, as well. Maybe he knows about where my dad came from," he wonders aloud. "You should bring him by the campus. We can get food, and talk about.. you know, things. The Manhattan Alien Club." He smirks. "We can see about getting membership cards, and discounts on insurance."
*
"Well, we are looking at getting our own transportation. Insurance would be a good idea, too. I'm Lucy West." Lucy shakes his hand. "Nice to meet you, Sam. I'll bring him around next time I get a chance, and that's if we don't all meet up at the hellhole here. It's good for bringing people together, at least, right? I wouldn't have met you and Noh-Varr and, well, any of my friends without it."
*
"It's definitely a conversation piece," Sam says with a chuckle. "A terrible, violent, blood-curdling conversation piece.. but whatever works, right?" He lifts himself to his feet, and dusts off whatever bits of debris may have accumulated on his armour. Hot dog crumbs and whatnot. "Thanks for the lunch, Lucy, and glad to have met you," he says, smiling to the girl. "I need to get back before someone realizes I'm missing. You try to keep your shoes clean," he says, cracking a grin.
*
"Yes, officer," Lucy says cheekily. She salutes him and then picks up her bag, which was at her feet. "I'll see you around, Sam. Watch yourself out there." With that, she gives him a wave before bouncing off toward the nearest subway line.
*