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The lines between Spanish Harlem and Harlem proper are often blurred, given the high number of minorities who reside in both neighborhoods. As the sun goes down over the hot city, there's little reprieve in the still air from the warmth trapped by concrete and brick.
Perched atop a mid rise, Spider-Girl has adopted a place where she can not only watch the comings and goings on the Harlem side, but also, she has a perfect vantage point for the tenement building where her family lives. Her backpack lies not far away, and a thermos is filled with ice cold water that she drinks from. Just another masked sentry at dusk… the past two days have been difficult on these neighborhoods, given the tensions mounting across New York City over the violence on Wall Street.
Despite her relatively short time on Earth the not so super secret alien princess extraordinaire Koriand'r has been to many places and tried many things. And every now and again she finds something interesting enough to warrant searching for locally. Which is why her Sunday was spent floating around Spanish Harlem looking for a bakery which makes a particular South American pastry treat she sampled.
Starfire has at least put a dress on over her alien attire, in the hope of attracting a slightly smaller crowd than usual, but this still doesn't prevent the occasional bit of pointing and generally rude behavior. Which typically receives relentlessly friendly and perfectly fluent replies no matter what particular language the comments might have been made in.
Piotr Rasputin looks more like he belongs as part of the beatniks from the previous decade with a plaid shirt and foppish hair. His hands are in his pockets as he too searches for a bakery. He plans on picking up some cupcakes for the birthday of one of the students at the Xavier Institute who happens to have Art first hour tomorrow morning.
One of those local minorities was also in the running for most optimistic man in New York. The weather finally broke into being nice and the most recent proprietor of Pops', Reno. The slight Puerto Rican presently dancing withthe broom while sweeping the stoop to the jaunty tune of Tito Puetne.
The music floats on the wind, and Spider-Girl can't help but turn her head toward the barber shop down below. When she does this, her eyes catch sight of someone flying around, and she can't help but grin. Of course, she's making the mistake of assuming it's another super on patrol, but regardless, a super here is a super who isn't far away should trouble strike.
Anya creeps up toward the edge of the rooftop, leaving her thermos and backpack behind. Hands on the lip, she flips over the side in acrobatic flourish, twists in midair, then begins crawling down the side of the building in upside down position, her head craned so she can see the streets below.
Starfire drifts her way right past the entrance to Pops' store, not moving especially quickly, just with a flagrant disregard for gravity about a foot off the ground. Every now and again she pauses and sniffs the air in the hope of finding a bakery by smell (with little success). At the moment she goes past the store she smiles and gives a cheerful wave to Reno. If she is a hero on patrol it's a very laid back patrol!
Piotr pauses on his mission to find the cupcakes for the party and notices Reno dancing with the broom. It probably looks very odd, a large man, perhaps six foot five, standing outside with hands in his pockets and looking in with a smile upon his face. Something about a person who is having that much fun makes it hard to ignore and the artist in Piotr appreciates the fervor.
Reno warmed an earnest smile to Kori as she waved making the diminutive man stand up a bit straighter. A poite quarter tilt of his head follows in that birdish manner. "Heeey, afternoon t'you too. Ya look nice. and lost. Aaaand nice and lost. Hey you okay, lady?" He could have been a Gene Kelly if he tried.
Floating lady, man dancing with broom to Tito Puetne, and now a significantly large dude. Spider-Girl continues scampering down the wall until she's about three floors from the street, at which point she leaps from the wall, flips over once, and lands lightly upon her feet not far from the storefront that is Pops' old place.
The masked Latina looks from one face to the other, before forming a smirk at Piotr. "Gosh, you're big."
Piotr watches Reno and Kori before turning to look at the masked woman. "Well," he says, clearly with a foreign accent. "Where I'm from I'm actually quite normally sized. If a bit short."
Koriand'r peers past Reno into Pops' store and frowns. "This does not appear to be a bakery selling empanadas," she muses aloud. "Do you happen to know if there is such a store nearby?" Her attention flicks to Anya sticking to the wall and she offers a wave in that direction too.
There is no studying at home tonight. So here she is, out in the streets of Harlem trying to find somewhere to remedy that only to wind up at the same store front as those gathered. It's the floating woman, Kori… and maybe the giant cat with her. "Hey.." Waving as she crosses the street towards everyone.
Reno was taken aback at the size of the Russian. "Woah, you are like one tall dude, but I'm guessin yous get that a lot." Looking back to Kori there was agrin as he leaned on his broom, "Well yeah there's a place nearby buuuut." He looked up the street and down conspiratorially with a half-hop being starlted at Anya's appearance, "Woah you quiet! Ummmm, yeha there a place near by buuuut, aroun the corner there' Anita's Bakery. Yeah go there an' tell her Reno sent you cause like I always fixin her windows and stuff. She livin across from this kid that can't throw a ball straight t'save his life. I tell her have em try out for the Mets cause they ain' gettin any better this season but you prolly don't like wanna hear all that." Taking a deep breath he continuied on in earnest, "Really though go there. I swear she cook with magic or somethin, but she got like 40 grand kids so it's like that edible granny magic. Good stuff."
Kai comes out of Pop's, eyes wide as he looks up at the giant metal guy. "Reno," he says as he approaches the little guy, his attention still on Pitor. "Reno, check it out." He points. "I used to have a shirt just like that." He lays a hand on Reno's shoulder. "Just like that. How wild is that?"
"Sheesh!" Spider-Girl answers. "And I thought I was a shorty." She waves a hand in Reno's direction without actually looking his way. "Hey now, don't be rude, chico." Catching Kori's wave, her smirk turns into a big smile and she waves back, before moving a bit to face all of those people gathered.
"Yeah, yeah, I know 'bout Anita's. Good place, you can take his word for it."
Piotr laughs, "I do. But it's alright." He gives a nod to Reno, Kai, and Spider-Girl before continuing on his way towards the bakery.
Starfire blinks a few times. "Old people are eaten as food here?" she says, her head tilting to one side. "Across from the house with a child who throws balls into windows. I shall keep these directions in mind, thank you!" Riri gets a friendly wave too. And then, to avoid seeming rude, she turns and pretty much waves to everyone on the street.
Eventually Kori turns her attention back to Anya the wallspider. "May I ask why you were climbing around on the roof like that? Are you also here to fix broken windows?" She pauses, then suddenly suspicious adds "Or are you a.. how is it phrased… a peeking Tom?"
That's a pretty big crowd starting to gather, but Riri keeps jogging across the street to the sidewalk when Kori starts waving at anyone she can see… Eyes narrow at her thoughtfully, but ultimately grins. "What's up.." Up nodding to everyone with a single wave.
Reno puffed up his chest a bit turning to the Spider, "Hey hey hey Soy hombre, lady. But uhhhh no. No, ma'm. We don't like… eat people. That'd be canibalism. It's like illegal and stuff, also it's mean ya know. People generally frown upon bein eaten. I can't blame em. Someone tried that with me wonce. It was super unfun. really though Anita has that bakery. She help you out." The crow man looked nd Piotr grinning, "Hey Kai you sure he ain' wearin your shirt or somethin and stretchin it out jes a lil bit?" There was an eyebrow waggle that stopped. The broom was flipped from one hand to the other to wave at Riri coming to greet them.
Kai grins crookedly and says, "It looks better on him anyway." Kai no longer dresses like the old beatniks. It's '65, man. He's hip to the mod scene. Gotta stay fresh and hip to the times. He glances to the otheres gathered nearby, and he inclines his head politely. "Ladies."
There is a pause during which Spider-Girl has to actually decide whether Kori is serious or joking. The pause is broken by a sudden burst of laughter, and the costumed gal nearly doubles over. "No lo creo!" she exclaims in Spanish, before planting a gloved hand on her hip and leaning to the side a bit. Sass. "No, no, ain't no peepin' Tom. Name's Spider-Girl, and I'm on patrol. Things bein' a bit loco around here last couple days, you know?"
Reno gets a side look, though it's kinda hard to tell what that look is given the mask covering the upper half of Spider-Girl's face. "Puedo ver eso," she murmurs to herself, then casts a look toward Kai, Reno and Riri, a smile coming back to her face. "Spider-Girl, at your service," she offers in response to Kai's greeting.
Starfire ohs. "I see," she replies. "I have a friend who is a Spider-themed superhero too. Her name is White Widow, have you met her too?" She laughs at Reno and shakes her head. "You will have to excuse my misunderstanding, English is my… eighth I think language. So when you said edible Granny magic I assumed… Well I am sure you see?"
"It is nice to see you again Riri," Kori adds, landing on the sidewalk. "I am sorry I could not stop to chat yesterday, I hope you had a pleasant evening at that musical event?"
"It was pretty good, yeah." Riri assures Kori, "I didn't stay much longer, I only came out because I was downtown anyways…" She says with a weak smile and a look around at the assembled group which includes one masked vigilante. Who is on patrol… "It.. yeah.. It's gotten pretty bad in certain places. I'm staying away from the subways for a few weeks, for sure."
Reno looked from Kai to Riri sympathetically, thought there was a pause to take Anya's words as a comment. He'd take the validation as it came. "Aww yeah things have been kidna crazy lately." He looked to Kai and back pulling one sleeve down some. "Couple months ago this place was all a big funeral. We still hurtin buuuuut ya know, that's why we all got one another. I mean some parts of the city is pretty bad, but enough people look out for one another and it don' have to be." He looked from Kori badk to Kai curious and back to Kori, "You from outta town. Not like a judgement, just if you need help, glad you asked."
"Yeah, we're helpful people," Kai says. "Gotta look out for each other, it's not like the Man will take care of us." He flicks back his hair. "So we help each other." He looks around, up and down the street, with a certain sense of contentment. "Things are picking up again," he tells Reno.
At mention of White Widow, Spider-Girl forms a rueful smirk. "Oh yeah, she's the competition. I told her, you stay offa my turf, stop stealing all my glory, you hear?" She pauses for a moment, before reaching out to lightly push at Kori's shoulder in a friendly way. "Joking. She's a gas, one of my best friends."
Anya turns toward Riri, the sass fading and a posture of empathy forming. "Listen, though, if you ever wanna go talk some sense into these goons and need a little muscle, I'm your gal. We all gotta stand up for what's right." At that, she looks toward Kai with an expression of respect on the lower half of her face.
Starfire scratches her head. "Which man will not help? But yes I am from very far away, in Europe, but I have travelled all over the world." She smiles and offers her hand. "I am Koriand'r but people call me Kori for short. It is nice to meet you all." She smiles. "If you require a ride home Riri I could fly you there if you do not wish to get the subway. I can reach most places in the state within an hour without trouble. Although I have to visit the bakery first."
Riri shuffles a little and shrugs at Anya, "I'd definitely need ''muscle'', but I want to do 'something', ya know?" Frowning a little with a glance down the street, "If we don't nobody will, that's kind of the vibe I'm getting. It's supremely disappointing that the people you look up to, the ones you were 'sure' saw the bigger, whole picture keep sitting quietly letting this stuff happen.."
She rolls her eyes and looks back to everyone, "Sorry. My sister keeps trying to keep me from getting in 'trouble'. I'm of the opinion that if we don't get in trouble for this now, we'll be getting in trouble for the things we don't do later." Two fingers tug at her earlobe lightly… eyes up to Kori, "I just live around the corner."
Reno nodded to Kai in some agreement. Yeah things were picking up, "Woooah all teh way from Europe huh?" He helpfully informed the Elf, "That's where history an' stuff comes from." Not, well, it's not inaccurate in part. "The Man, ya know like the dudes who make decisions about things?" He lookd between teh other four of them. "We say that around here all teh time. Someone don't ssay no, the problem gotta stop then no one do and the problem? Eeeeh it don't stop and things jsut stay unfortunate for like all of us ya know> Think is too, like I was tellin my primo yesterday morning over breakfast-" The story cut out to helpfully inform Kai, "Robbie went to that place where we got them eggs tht time? Maaaaan they do things to an omelette you wouldn't believe. Is crazy-" Cutting back to the main point he tried to encourage the point, "Anyways, I was tell him don't forget, how we win matters, right? Just gotta be careful. And also not get shot." He paused and in genuine curiousity looked to Anya, "Oye, Arana, you like climb walls and stuff like the spider-dude do too? I know I got million questions but you like famous around here, chica."
"Can't rely on anyone to do anything," Spider-Girl tells Riri. "If they do? Great. But if you wanna do something about it, then do something about it."
The lady turns back toward Reno, smiling a bit at his admonishment. "Yeah, pretty much." She glances toward a broken window on the building next door, then flings her arm out with a clench of her fingers, and fires a glob of spider silk at it. With a splat, it seals the hole and will be there for a while. "Great for swingin', climbin' and shuttin' up assholes who got big mouths."
Starfire nods along to the story Reno tells with an expression best described as polite incomprehension. "I have been shot several times since moving to New York. It stings a little. Especially those grenade things." She waves her hands as if to say what can you do. "Perhaps you can come over to train with me and White Widow some time Spider-Girl? I am sure she would not mind company. I could certainly use more people to spar with." She offers Riri a smile. "Well, it would be no trouble if you ever do need flying somewhere! But please promise me that you will take care if you do get into dangerous situations. People can be very easily injured."
Riri looks up at Anya thoughtfully, but doesn't say anything. Her hand comes up and scratches at the back of her neck, "The other night.." She says with a little frown, not sure she should even say this, "I took flight on a suit of armor I built. Reverse engineered from one of Tony Stark's…" She points off in the distance towards an abandoned tenament building, "Right over there. A group of people watched me fly for like two minutes before I ran out of fuel."
Her hand slowly falls back to her side. "I did that in a workshop here in Harlem and before all this happened and the white people started losing their god damned minds again, I was going to talk to Stark about it. Tell him I built it and see if he'd help me improve it." Her expression sours, "Now I'm worried he'll.. like.. press charges or something? Maybe I'm being rediculous, probably I am, but what should I do?" Looking between them. "Should I put the suit away? Pretend I didn't do that and that I can't improve it myself? Should I still talk to him and risk that he could very easily have the tech thief, who happens to be a young black woman, arrested?"
Her tongue presses against the inside of her bottom lip, "Whatever, I don't know. Sorry." Waving her hands, "That's just.. sorry. You guys don't know me.. sorry.."
Reno watched the good fly and block the broken window, "Ya know… with a skill like that the water department would love you." Of al lthe places one could take that thought, the man is thinking of repairing damns and traffic tunnels. "That's way cool. Wish I had a better way t'say thank you for bustin your tights lookin out for people buuuut you ever need a haircut? Yeah I think I can hook you up." THe offer was genuine enough, but also what he had to give. His face split into a grin, "Wooooah you got you hands ona Stark suit? Them things is cool! Careful though. I seen him go by and smack into a few buildings. People got like stuff and babies an' that in there. Also you could get like hurt too. Just cause the can don't get dented don' mean teh fruit don't get bruised. Some of us worry about the fruit too, and seriously, I tried t'help this lil ol lady once and she was convinced I was tryin to mug her. Alwyas be careful."
Turning to Kori, Spider-Girl practically beams. "Oh I love sparring. Gotta keep things in order, yeah?"
Her excitement seems to fade like a distant echo. She turns to Riri, going quite silent when she tells her tale. A few moments pass, during which she's secretly eyeing the ground behind the mask, considering everything Riri spoke of. Finally, she turns and walks over to the woman, and what is visible of her face seems very serious. "Look, chica. I know someone who knows Mister Stark, okay? So, I don't know if he'd press charges. Could be. I mean, he is a businessman, you know? But I could… try and talk to him for you." She pauses, then reaches up to tug at her mask, not removing it, but more in a symbolic measure. "And I know about keeping secrets. I wear this to protect mi familia." Then, with a light smile, she tries to diffuse the heaviness of the dialogue. "Also, cause it looks damn good on me."
With a sly grin, she turns her attention back toward Reno. "Voy a reventar mis medias para cualquiera," she veritably purrs, "pero no te vuelvas sabio, amigo."
Starfire sits on thin air and hmmms thoughtfully. "Surely it would take a very smart person to make a suit like that which can fly, but a very stupid person to steal something and then go tell the person they stole from? And if this Tony Stark is also very smart he would be able to figure that out. Right?" After a few moments she bites at her lip. "And now you have shared this with us all new friend Riri I feel bad about misleading you all.. I am not really from Europe." She glances around, then quietly adds "I am from another planet. But please promise not to tell anyone."
"And before anyone asks no, I do not have a saucer of flying."
"I was just ranting." Riri says quietly, scratching her neck, "Probably inappropriately, but when things come to mind I have a hard time sorting through them quietly. My sister says I think too fast to talk slow." She frowns a little, but it quickly becomes a grin. "I appreciate the offer, but.. nah. I'll talk to him eventually or he'll come talk to me.. either way, we're on a crash course for dialogue, unless I bury my head in the sand and hide." She shakes her head, "Which isn't in my nature at all."
Finally she looks up at Reno, "I'll be careful… I mean there's hundreds of ways I can help people that doesn't involve a suit of armor, I think I'll focus on those. We got people keeping the streets safe?" Motioning to Anya with a raised hand, "And she's got that covered. With style."
Wait steal? Riri blinks, "I didn't steal anything.. I mean not specifically. I took ideas, fare trade stuff.. nothing illegal. This was back in Chicago… I wouldn't even know how to begin to break down one of those suits, even if I could get one.. and the tools necessary? Pssh.. I mean, it's like I saw someone driving a Shelby Cobra and decided to build a volts wagon.. I never actually touched the Cobra, I just saw it and said… I can do that." Pointing at invisible suit emphatically, "Which I did."
As for Kori's origins, she tilts her head, "For real? That's pretty cool.. I mean, I'm starting to realize we have tons of visitors now, but still groovy."
Reno waved his free hand defensivly with a amused, dimpled grin, "Oye, no me estoy volviendo sabio." The bird man's head tilted offering in earnest, "Solo pagando mis respetos. Like for real, I ain' makin no jokes and please kindly no me pegues." THe 'other planet' part caught his interest and he thumbed to the inside of he barber shop, "No kiddin? Kai too. Got t'go once. They didn't give them no flying saucers. But, I bet if that Stark guy comes around here for whatever reason abotu the suit? Well he could be a guy to ask about that. He got a lot of flyin stuff. Like even if we got one? Maaaan I dunno how you'd parallel park that thing. Geometry do not let you parallel anything round turns out." For a barber Reno seemed to know a bit about a bit.
Looking back he shrugged, "Harlem always needin help. Other neighbourhoods too. Me and some of the guys do what we can to keep it clean but then sometimes Asgardians kidnap you and make you negotiate with lil giant union dudes so you can't always do that. Bottom like Rir? You see somethin that needin help you go help it. You don' ever need permission to like be a good person. And if Stark wanna leave that stuf lyin around that's really on him." He glanced down the street and shrugged, "But you ever lookin to move it I know a guy who somes some people that could be interested. Not alll hero tems got government funding."
There might be a blush. Spider-Girl can appreciate Riri's compliment, but she answers in kind. "I'm just one person, and I can't be everywhere. I got a life outside of the tights, ya know."
Its fair to say that Spider-Girl has given Reno his fair share of grief tonight. At his words, she gives him a friendly grin, and shrugs. "Hey, you're good people. You ever need anything, yeah? And I might very well come in for a haircut, but if you figure out my real identity, you gotta keep it secret or I'll web your Puerto Rican ass to the Brooklyn Bridge."
She glances back to Riri for a moment, before turning her face toward Kori. "Outer space, huh? That's boss, chica."
"Oh! You said they might think you were a tech thief? I.. do not always understand metaphors in this language," Starfire explains earnestly, still sitting on thin air she glances at Reno "I do not need anything to help me fly? I am doing it right now.. It's quite easy if you know how. Oh Asgardians can be quite fun! I visited the embassy for a celebration, I may have drunk enough to stun a glorg and then joined into a boxing competition."
"I do not really know why so many beings visit this planet," Kori muses. "In many ways it is not very enjoyable. You can't control the weather, people are /very/ rude and for reasons I still do not understand people assume I am unable to do basic tasks due to my gender… I suppose it's not all bad though, some of the foods are very good and I have heard some wonderful music."
"Well no…" Riri agress with Anya with a small grin and shrug, "If there's ever a need for more, I'm sure there are plenty who would stand up beside you. Harlem has enough problems without people bring them from the other boroughs."
She sort of loses track of things for a second as Kori says flying is easy, "Yeah, he might. I'm a black girl from Chicago, no way I built that suit…" She might be being unfair to Tony, who she's never met, but experience is the gauge upon which opinions are formed. She hasn't had very good experiences so far. "I meant that they'd never believe I ''didn't'' steal it. Because of course I did, right?"
Shrugging, she looks between Reno and Anya.
Reno dimpled a wider, amused grin to Anya, "No me amenaces con un buen momento. All the same? Yeah I don' sell out my own. Shit, life's hard enough without makin doin the needful twice as difficult. We good. We good." Finally he looked to Riri and gestured into the barber shop where there's a couple kids playing checkers and another one readding while oone of the older men talk to Kai, "See them in there? THey like me, like you, like her?" he thumbed to Anya, "We always gonna have people doubtin us. I'll tell you what though, you can always prove what you can do by jes' doin it. Those people that don' wanna believe in you? THey gonna miss out. But…" He held up a finger an d pulled out his wallet flipping to the back and pulled out a card that read: Nelson & Murdock Attourneys at Law. "You got a problem? Those guys? RIght outta Hell's Kitchen and are like super legit, they help out mi Primo when some folks wnated to give him shit about shit and totally helped us out. They do a lot of that free pro bono stuff but for real , be careful about that an' you need to talk to them tell em the bird told you to ask em for help. THye give you the friends and family treatment." Because sometimes being a Defender meant using the club perks and had nothing to do with punching a thing to solve a problem. "If nothin else? Help ya sleep at night."
"It's the patriarchy," Spider-Girl offers for Kori's benefit. "On our planet, men have always had an unfair advantage. They were considered more important, more valuable, than women." She shrugs. "Pardon my blunt language. It's bullshit. But it's been a thing people have believed here for thousands of years. It's etched into religious texts. You gotta understand the ring you're fighting in. Get me?"
The gal looked at those gathered, smiling. "Hey, I been here too long. Gotta get back on patrol. You all, stay safe, and need something? Call for Spider-Girl."
She turns then, takes a few running steps, and leaps into the air. A webline is fired at the opposing building, and she swings off into the night.
"Do they deal with… immigration issues as well?" Starfire asks, twisting in the air to get a look at the card as Reno hands it over. "If so do you have any spare cards?" She smiles hopefully and adds a "Please."
"I should probably try find that bakery soon though," Kori decides, landing back on the ground effortlessly. "Perhaps friend Riri, if they bring up those arguments, you should point out that Tony Stark was unlikely to have built anything using his reproductive organs?" She blinks a few times. "That /is/ a correct assumption, yes? It has been several Earth years since I took a xenobiology class."
Riri smirks at Kori and shakes her head, "I hope it doesn't come to that. I've looked up to Mr. Stark for… for as long as I can remember. My dreams never involved being arrested by him." She reasons, but doesn't lose her grin. "But you're right. On all counts. I don't know how they would regard astrial immigrants, though… I think it best to not find out if you don't have to?"
Reno nodded slowly, "Nah is true." looking up watching Anya take off with a snicker the Puerto Rican regarded the ladies standing on the stoop. "Hey, at any time yous ladies feel free to come on by. Sometimes theres a couple people from not-Earth around. They pretty groovy. There's a guy who floats who's like relly maticulous about his beard. Sometimes he come in, but ya know, always some groovy folks, which-" He gestured back to the shop with a ide nod of his head, "I gotta get back to. And Kori? Tell Senora Anita I said hey. Sometimes she brings me a bagel. Super sweetheart. Great baker. But like right now I gotta get back.