1964-07-28 - Oh, That Was YOU!
Summary: Gwen and Jessica chance upon each other at a farmer's market, where secrets are realized.
Related: If there are no related logs, put 'None', — please don't leave blank!
Theme Song: None
jessica-cruz gwen-stacy 


Friday Night, more than a week since it happened.
The Gwen is dead, long live the Gwen.

She's totally committed to major independence
But she's a lady through and through
She gives them quite a battle, all that they can handle
She'll bruise some, she'll hurt some too…
But oh they love to watch her strut….
Oh they do respect her but…
They love to watch her strut.

Gwen had lived on sheer chutzpah, cunning, and ferocity when dealing with hostile people. She had demonstrated for civil rights even in high school, had mearched in her motorcycle jacket, and had been called "little lady." The time of nightsticks and tear gas aren't in vogue yet.
Yet.

But now, she walked along the street with a telltale strut. She had no need to skulk anymore, no feeling of being a lone piranha in shark infested waters.
So, as she walked through the open-air farmer's market, she elicited her share of attention.


Queens. Jessica Cruz wonders to herself why she's in Queens. The answer, of course, is Sara, her sister, heard that the farmer's market might have some fresh catnip, and she wanted to get a treat for Crouton. Jessica observed that they could get catnip at the Bodega on the corner — they live in Bronx, so Queens is not precisely a short trek. Sara accused Jessica of not caring about Crouton. Jessica insisted she did, got interrupted, and in short order found herself on the bus.

And they have been examining every stall in the farmer's market, and they have yet to find fresh catnip.

She's dressed in green again — a sun dress this time, and while she's wearing the ring on her finger she otherwise has few identifiers to mark her as a Lantern. However, she does notice the ripples in the crowd as Gwen passes nearby, and cranes her neck curiously to see what's happening as Sara argues with a man who seems to speak only Chinese.

Maybe Thai.


"Hey, baby…"
Gus loved the market. In spite of it being mostly fruite and vegetables, you could always find fresh meat. Like this tasty bit, here.
He was dressed in his usual style, which was very little style at all. Wife-beater t-shirt, pegged jeans, construction boots, and a few gold chains.His shaved head did little to add to the savoir faire, what little there was.
"Did it hurt when ya fell from heaven?"


Jessica turns from the commotion passing by to regard the man talking to her. She takes in the wife-beater, the chains. Something inwardly suggests that this guy is a creep of the highest order. Something outside, too — his eyes, in particular. "Ah. Lo siento? No hablo ingles," she says apologetically.


Ooooh. EXOTIC.
"Oooh…multiLINGUAL. So tell me, mamacita, what's your sign?"
A hand suddenly fell on Gus's shoulder.
"NO PASSING ZONE."
Gus turned to face the little bitch who was harshing his ohhhh CRAP it's Gwen Stacy. Gus paled noticeably. She was a pain and a half BEFORE she started working out. She was a stone fox, but she was mote stone than fox right now, looking at him with cold speculation.
"Gus. Scurry off to Lola, now, before I find her myself."
Gus gulped, then got gone. Life was too short to get on Stacy's bad side. On top of everything else, her father was a cop and he had…well, a warrant or two.

The giirl in the black leather jacket sighed. "Bottom feeder." She turned to face Jessica again, and smiled wryly. "Hey there."


"I was going to go with 'No Dogs Allowed'," Jessica says as she watches Gus scurry away, "but I think yours was far more effective than mine would have been." And also, Jessica's not at all sure she could have pulled it off. Certainly not with the sort of style and confidence that Gwen managed.

"Thank you," she continues after a moment. "Clearly pretending I don't speak English was not working on him at all."


Gwen noticed the ring immediately. She always liked jewelry, even though she couldn't afford it most of the time…well, almost all the time. And that ring was very, very distinctive. That had been an ace patch job on the costume.
She extended her hand. "Name's Gwen." she had no jewelry, but she had a presence of almost robust vitality. The jeans and jacket couldn't entirely hide her physique.


Jessica hasn't shown the ring to many people. Sara and Gwen and Lara are probably the only ones, and until now only one of them has seen her in both forms. She has no idea that Gwen has put two and two together. She accepts Gwen's hand, smiling. "Jessica. It is a pleasure to meet you, Gwen."


Gwen smiles and lifts the hand to look at the ring. "Wow. That's a very glittery thing." She looks around, then says softly, "Something that ostentatious, you might want to turn it inward so people don't see the face of it. That looks like some kind of emerald, and I'd hate some ambitious pickpocket to kife it."


Jessica glances at the ring, then does as Gwen suggests, though she notes, "It's much harder to remove than you'd think. I need to have it resized for my fingers." No pickpocket could use it, certainly, but Jessica's fairly convinced they couldn't get it off her hand.


Gwen chuckles. "Still, why take chances?" She looks around. "I don't remember seeing you around before. Here for the market? We have a lot of family in Flatbush and Jersey and they truck it in themselves."


"My sister heard somebody might have catnip," Jessica explains, gesturing to Sara. The other Latina is still arguing with the Asian man (possibly Phillipino? Jessica truly has no idea). "Her cat is a fearless beast, but a little catnip and he's like a kitten again."


Gwen nods, then leans forward. "Have her talk to the guy's wife, Ina. She knows he is a little partial to reefer and is a little suspicious of strangers. But she grows the catnip." She chuckles. "Might want to tell her know. She doesn't seem to be doing well."


"Yeah, they don't seem to have much language in common," agrees Jessica, and she leans over to murmur to Sara. Sara blinks at her once, glances at Gwen, and then resumes talking to the man — though this time she seems to get somewhere. "Thank you," Jessica says to Gwen. "I guess you must come here regularly."


Gwen smiles. "My dad's a New York cop. So I decide to spend my time out and about, especially here. Have to stretch the dollar a few times, and I get some good deals." She looks at the dress and smiles. "Hmmm…I definitely think green's your color."


"It's always been one of my favorites," Jessica replies, lightly plucking the skirt of her dress. Though she's starting to get a touch worried, and trying hard to push that down. She's only been Green Lantern for a few days, and… she feels like this Gwen is somehow keying to her secret.


Gwen nods. "Well, you should think about diversifying. You look good in other colors, too." She pauses for a moment.
Wow. She's really going to do this.
"Nice patch job, by the way. Stitching's still holding up, but I am going to have to go to a different color."


Yup. She knows.

On the bright side, though, Jessica also knows. Her eyes go wide, and her mouth forms an 'O' for a moment before she manages to relax a little. "I did not expect it to last quite so long," she murmurs, voice pitched fairly low. "But I'm glad I could help. And apparently you are very much right about my ring."


Gwen guides Jessica between two stalls, one of them selling hot chili. She glances around, then says, "Well…how long have you been doing…this sort of thing? I mean, you look so put together, even if you are looking a little too much like your…jeez, what is the word you use? Counterpart?"


"Less than a week," Jessica replies. "I have no idea what word to use for much of anything." Bilingual or not. "Honestly, the… ah… my work uniform comes with the job." Yes. That sounds about right. She could be a nurse or something. "Perhaps I should add a mask…"


Gwen nods. "I was thinking something else, too. Think of an outfit you wouldn't be caught DEAD in, one that is completely unlike who you are…and then make it EXACTLY that. Because I've noticed people are less likely to associate you with the character if they dress the way you'd NEVER dress. Like the tights and leotard. No one would IMAGINE I would dress like that."


"It's quite different from the way you're dressed now," says Jessica. "But much of my wardrobe is green, and… that part of my uniform isn't optional." Her smile is wry as she says this. "I'll have to see what I can do to make it… less me."


Gwen Stacy nods. "So you might want to pick different colors in your regular clothes, too, if green is all you can do as your…alter-ego." She looks around. "I'm as green as grass, but my dad's been a cop forever, so I pick up a few things from him. If you're unassuming and modest, Jess…go daring for the costume. So people like your sister would think 'She'd NEVER wear that…'"


"My sister knows," Jessica observes. "But… perhaps she can help me put something together." She's not sure she could manage to wear the sorts of things some other heroines wear — though really, the skintight top and short skirt are pretty daring as things go.


Gwen blinks. "Oh…must be nice to have family to confide in. I couldn't tell dad. I would have to tell him how it happened, how I…lied to him." She sighs. "Jesus, I hate lying, and lying to dad is the worst…"


"I'm sorry," Jessica tells Gwen. "I'm lucky. My family is close. My apartment is in a building my uncle owns, or I'd have had to move back in with my parents the last few years." She pauses a moment before noting, "At least you have somebody to confide in now? I'm kind of the most anxious superhero ever, but I do what I can."


Gwen smirks, moving a little closer to Jessica. "Wow. Never would have guessed by looking at you. Want to know a secret about wearing a mask?" She looks around, then says softly in Jessica's ear, "…so they can't see how scared you are."


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