a frank sinatra song title goes here

[piracyinpink]

Who: Broadway and Kei
When: 2.9.10, late nite
Where: ~*THE SKIES*~
Summary: Homegirl be jonesin for some sparkly stars. Homeboy's got wings and a niceguy streak. YOU CAN FIGURE OUT THE REST.
Warnings: I just used astrices, tildes, and "homegirl/boy". That's probably as bad as it'll get.

Comments

[bigjalapeno]

If Hudson were there, he would have been shaking his grey old head and calling Broadway a trusting fool, likely to get killed the first time his trust was misplaced. If Brooklyn or Lexington were there, Broadway was pretty sure he could have talked them into coming along, especially Lex, with promises of futuristic alien technology lessons from the mysterious woman from the future.

If Angela were there, well... Broadway liked to think she might be jealous. But probably not.

He was nervous now. This wasn't how he was used to going about meeting new people, but since he'd gotten to Siren's Port, this is usually how it seemed to work. He'd get to know someone on that weird NV device, then run into them in real life. And so far, barely anyone had taken more than a minute to get over the fact that they were walking and talking with a living gargoyle. It was a weird place, but there were some parts of it he liked. Like the fact that he could walk around in public if he wanted to (course it would have been nice to know that from day one, rather than spend his first few weeks in hiding). That was new. But... fun.

Stop freaking out, he told himself in his head, She hangs out with aliens, for crying out loud. How bizarre could she possibly think I am? Naw, she'll barely blink. If I act like everything's normal, she'll probably play along.... OH GOD THERE SHE IS.

He almost ducked down behind the building's edge, almost chickened out at the last minute before she could spot him. Instead he dipped a little faster than he probably should have, but still landed neatly, if heavily, on two clawed feet right behind... the blond human whose name he'd already forgotten... assuming he'd even asked for it in the first place!

With nothing prepared in advanced to say as a cool opening line, Broadway merely said the first thing that came to mind when meeting a pirate:

"Uh... ahoy there."

[piracyinpink]

It was a fast moment--a loud, swooping sound with a large, swooping shape so quickly that it sent Kei's hair flying. She gasped, whirling around and clutching the rail with one hand while the other impulsively hovered at her hip where (oh, damn) the coat concealed her weapon.

But it--he?--did nothing. No roaring, no claw-waving, no spitting horrible substances...Just...

Ahoy.

She blinked. It was a funny moment of silence, in retrospect.

"Ah," she started, still a little dumbfounded. "Hello?" Big, kind of greenish, wings...

Oh.

Wings. Her face flickered with familiarity, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.

"Broadway?"

[bigjalapeno]

She didn't look quite as pleased to see him as he'd hoped.

"Yeah, it's me," he smiled down at her awkwardly, trying not to seem threatening but really having no idea how best to do that. How was he supposed to know what humans found threatening? He nodded to her fist where it gripped the railing like a vice. "Relax. I'm not going to throw you off the roof or anything. Promise."

He was blowing it. She was scared and it was blowing it. He had to say something else... something to make her understand.

"I'm a gargoyle," he explained, as if everyone knew that gargoyles were the least offensive creatures in the world that cried healing tears and barfed up rainbows. "Are you... uhm, is that gonna be okay?"

He bit his lip expectantly, hoping she didn't scream, faint, or shoot him in the head.

[piracyinpink]

Kei exhaled half the breath she'd caught at the confirmation, still quite shaken up by the sudden arrival. Her mouth twitched a little into an almost-smile at his assurance, exhaling the rest of that breath with a shaky chuckle. Oh, my. Her laugh steadied as she combed a hand through her hair--beats pinching one's self awake.

"Oh...yes," she assured, taking another breath and exhaling her frightened moment out. "I just had no idea what to expect, and..." Well, it was a pretty sudden arrival. No matter. That was done. She stepped forward, extending a hand.

"It's an honor, Broadway."

[bigjalapeno]

She was beginning to chill out now, and even if she was still shakey, she was at least trying to be friendly about it. She reminded Broadway of Elisa, the first time she had met all six gargoyles on their first night in Manhattan. Elisa'd kept flashing her badge, he remembered, as if that gave her special confidence superpowers. He wondered if there was such a thing as a pirate badge. Maybe a skull tattoo or something.

He took her hand, which felt tiny in his, and smiled again, trying to relax. "Same here. Sorry," he explained, "I don't know if I ever got your name."

[piracyinpink]

He was certainly no alien she'd ever seen before. Gargoyle? Like the building decor? If she tilted her head and squinted a little, she could sort of see it, in the face. But...It still seemed unreal. This whole situation is a little unreal, though.

"Kei," she replied after a final shake, withdrawing her hand, settling it on her hip. "Kei Yuki. Please don't take my surprise too personally. Darkness, monsters..." she trailed off with a knowing silence. He probably understood, even if she apologized.

[bigjalapeno]

"It's okay, I'm used to it," he told her truthfully, "Gargoyles aren't exactly an ordinary thing for humans to run into where I come from, either. Compared to some of them, you're actually doing pretty well."

"So... want to call a do-over on this whole evening and go back inside? Or are you still ready to see the tops of those clouds?"

[piracyinpink]

"Not a chance!" she chuckled, shaking her head. "You couldn't drag me away if you tried." Not true--he looked like he could drag a truck, but. "I'm definitely holding you to that offer, so don't shy away now!"

[bigjalapeno]

Well, she didn't have to tell him twice. With ease, Broadway scooped up the rather fragile-looking pirate, supporting her weight with both arms, on her back and behind her knees.

"Okay, hold on," he warned her briefly before taking a running leap off the edge of the roof and launching them both into the night. There was a one-second freefall that Broadway was used to by now. It was the time it took for the air currents to fill his wings enough for him to lift and level out rather than fall. Once it passed, he attempted to raise them both higher. The smoggy skyline of Siren's Port stretched out in front of them.

"Still with me?" He asked, looking down at his passenger.

[piracyinpink]

Kei let out a little yelp that ended in a giggle--no more wasting time on small talk! Good. She put her arms around his neck and was about to offer a word of compliance, but that ended in another suprised sound as he ran. Another yelp, but the third was born out of the thrill, not alarm. It's not every day you drop off a building and off into the sky--not like this. Kei laughed, eyes clamped shut against the wind until the rush was over.

With him? "Absolutely!" she called over the sound of the wind. He got to do this kind of thing all the time. It was an enviable thing. She opened her eyes, turning her head to watch the dim city pass over.

Airplanes, cruisers, spaceships, and now flight by gargoyle.

[bigjalapeno]

She sure was making a lot of noise, but when he asked if she was doing alright, Kei seemed really enthusiastic. Some humans thought gliding around was a thrill. He agreed that it was fun, but he was so used to it by now. He didn't get that stomach-in-throat feeling when he dropped anymore.

"Keep your eyes open," he suggested, "Or you're gonna miss everything."

At the first sign of an updraft he leaned back a little and let the wind carry them up higher. Then even higher, until they started passing through the clouds. Sure, clouds were pretty from far away, but passing through them could get annoying. For a good ten seconds they were both blinded with nothing but thick eerie grey on all sides, and the cold moisture clung to him like fog on a window. Finally, they emerged through the top, and the clouds zoomed by below his feet and tail.

"There. Now look up."

He smiled, almost proud of himself, as if he had put the stars into the sky himself. Without the nuisance of clouds in their way, it certainly seemed like there were more of them than ever before.

[piracyinpink]

Sir, yes, sir. Kei squinted and adjusted her eyes, tilting her head back up to see not much but patches of blurred gray until they cleared the clouds. At Broadway's instruction, she blinked the blur and sting away and found herself a little closer to that feeling of home. She hadn't been grounded for that long, but...well, most everyone who wandered that sea had a craving for stars. It was as essential as food and water.

Kei's eyes lit up and her smile broadened. This was a new perspective on an old favorite.

"Almost there," she breathed, and she became aware that ache wasn't just homesickness. There's the Pull.

[bigjalapeno]

He wasn't sure what almost there was supposed to mean, but he certainly couldn't get any higher without the air getting too thin to hold him over. As it was, cold was going to become a real issue if they stayed up there for too long.

"Sure are pretty," he mentioned, then quickly added, "The stars, I mean."

[piracyinpink]

His remarks brought Kei back to attention, the smile waning to a little grin, quirking an eyebrow at his hasty edit. "Even here," she agreed. "It's practically a crime that nobody here gets the chance to enjoy them." Except the fortunate one with wings and the lucky few that'd get a free ride out of that.

She tilted her head up at the display above, giving a considering sound. "I can't tell if they're in the same place as they were on the Earth I know...There's probably a few here that've been long dead in the future."

[bigjalapeno]

"Well," he remarked, "If everyone saw the stars every night, they'd be a lot easier to take for granted, don't you think? I mean, back home I'm used to seeing them all the time, during the summers. So much that during the summer I don't even think about them. It's in the winter, when everything's cold and dark grey and overcast, that I start to notice what I'm missing."

He shifted her a little in his arms so he could get a better grip, "That's when you either got to fly higher, or visit the planetarium. Heh."

When Kei mentioned that she didn't even know if the stars were in the right place, Broadway looked up too. He actually hadn't been paying attention to that, although he knew he should have. "Probably. There could also be a few new ones in your time that haven't been born yet now."

"You know, I'm supposed to be able to navigate using these stars without even having to see the ground. My old mentor back home could do it. Course, he could probably navigate by smell if he had to. He tried to teach us, but... I guess it's kind of easy to rely on bigger landmarks, like buildings or lakes, even though they're not as permanent as stars."

[piracyinpink]

He made a good point. That's how it was in the world she knew, wasn't it? Fat, rich men waving their hands idly at the beauty above them, more inclined to their VR rooms and horse races. The more things change, Kei figured...

She made no reply to his thoughts on that, only a gentle smile. Think light, she thought; hardly a problem, really, but couldn't a girl be a little self-conscious about being carried? Especially that high up in the air. But he didn't seem worried, so neither was she. It worked fine.

"My," she started, trying to visualize what sort of creature would be Broadway's mentor. A beard, maybe? "Finding your way with nothing but what your eyes see...there's not a lot of that sort of thing left in the world. Handy, though. You never know when instruments or devices are lying, do you?" Even so, without a GPS in hand, Kei herself would be in a bit of trouble.

"Though I assume it'll take some getting used to, navigating here. Day or night, it's all...very gray and samey."