Entry 09: Listening in Spandex (3)
Title: Listening in Spandex
Entry Number: 09
Author: latemarch
Fandom: Original
Rating: PG
Genre: adventure, superhero
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 1050
Author's note: Almost done with the first ten! Another continuation of my Listening in Spandex series, entry 08 here.
- - begin entry 09 -
Great. Now I was not only the superhero world’s social pariah, I was the superhero world’s pariah’s daughter.
I doubted that anyone would risk social Bubonic Plague to sit at my table. So it was to my great surprise when someone did just that. And they say right next to me, no less.
My un-fearing companion was no young gun of a hero, out to prove his mettle by sitting next to the Embezzlement Kid. In fact, he was everything a grizzled film-noir detective turned superhero should be: tired-looking, vaguely unshaven and unkempt. He had the grim outlook of a self-made. His ruffled hair had once been black, but was graying, and his face was to match - once full of smooth planes but now lined with deep lines.
“Ng.” He grunted in my general direction, a way of greeting, and plunked a full cup of coffee down on the table. His gray duster jacket settled over his chair like the proverbial phantom of the opera and I coughed a little at the dust. He had one some sort of all-black uniform made out of heavy fabrics designed to take hard wear and tear, and there was a patch sewn onto his shoulder, but both were so faded that there was no way I could distinguish what they were. The stains on his uniform though, iu could tell, were blood - and the amount of them disturbed me. Had he never heard of a dry cleaner?
But my desperately lonely self was not going to complain. Not at all. I would not even be judgmental about that pink hair tie he was sporting. Not even late at night when I could think things like, ‘What is with that nose? He could suck half of Chicago up there.’ In the privacy of my own apartment.
“Hi.” I said, in a completely non-judgmental and probably grating tone. “My name is Maureen-“ But as I swung my hand out in a greeting it knocked over the extra large Blue Razzberry Fizz Bomber - staining my good skirt.
“Are you kidding me?” I grabbed a handful of napkins and began blotting at the ever-growing blue-purple stain over my thigh, cursing the whole way. Beside me, my unnamed table partner only glanced over and took a sip of coffee calmly. As if I hadn’t just almost irrevocably stained the only outfit that might someday get me a better job, like bounty hunter or trash collector. Well, they were the same thing, but still.
There was the possibility that I could ‘ping’ the essence of the skirt the way I had ‘pinged’ that bitch reporter, but with the intent of shifting it back to it’s original, stainless, form, but not only would that make me crave sugar, it would make me totally inhospitable. I preferred to use my power mostly when I was alone, exceptions being when I was in extreme emotional distress. Maybe back in the hotel room with a handful of Snickers bars.
That didn’t mean that I had to leave my skirt looking like my water had broken while giving birth to a Smurf though.
I made a running commentary as I tried dabbing with water at the stain. “Can you believe this? I mean, this has been one of the crappiest days ever in existence. Starbucks line out the door this morning. They ran out of my favorite syrup, toffee nut. Got a run in my stocking the size of Highway 101 and had to stop and buy more and switch them out. And of course the salesgirl was bitchy and pissy and I’m about 99% sure that she was on her period. But please, don’t let me interrupt your visit with mother nature-“
“Quiet.”
The man’s comment stopped me for a moment before I continued working on my skirt. “Oh, yeah, it is quiet in here. You’re right. They didn’t have any music or anything. Which you’d think they’d have a DJ or at least a sound system with a couple of 80s synth CDs or a radio or something - we all paid enough in entrance fees. Maybe it someone talked to one of the organizers, we could -“
“No.” I froze when he grabbed my scrubbing hand and pinned me with a frazzled, slightly hung over glare. “No. You, be completely silent.”
Growling in a way that would have horrified my mother, I snatched my hand back and returned his glare, incensed. “Now that’s not possible at all, is it? I breathe, my heart beats. On occasion I experience flatulence, not now of course but you get the picture.”
His face darkened, but I was right, wasn’t it? It was impossible for a human to be completely silent.
I had the distinct feeling that he was counting down from ten in his head. He grimaced while taking another long sip of his coffee, and while I waited impatiently for his response, folded his arms gruffly over his chest. “My name is Conn O’Hare.” He said, looking highly unpleasant.
“Uh… so?” Please. Like that was supposed to impress me? “I’m Maureen-“
“I am also based out of New York City, and I will allow you to act as my apprentice until you are ready to be on your own.”
Well, that was not what I was expecting, at all. At all. I had hoped to find someone to partner with and maybe learn from, but I had rather hoped that this opportunity would appear with someone who did not smell like car vinyl. “Are you kidding me?”
The look that sliced me to the quick was certainly acute enough. “You lack discipline and I can provide this.”
“Well, I’d have to think about this… generous offer.”
He snorted. “You have any others to think about too?”
Well, touché to you too.
“Did someone put you up to this?” I asked suspiciously, smoothing out the pleats in my skirt.
Conn shrugged. “Nope.”
“Then I guess I have no choice. I accept.” There was a brief pause as my newest decision sunk in. “We could be called the Odd Couple!” I told Conn, my new mentor cum rabbi cum coach. Clearly, I was more excited about this prospect than he was, because he groaned and stood up with an audible creak of his bones.
“Stay put.”
- - end entry 09 - -
At this point I'm not proofreading or anything -- just trying to get stuff out! Forgive me any small mistakes, but do please tell me if anything strikes a sour note!