1076/Violet and Gold, Pt. II

Violet and Gold, Pt. II
Date of Scene:	21 June 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Star Sapphire, Booster Gold

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Star Sapphire has posed:
    Half an hour later, Star Sapphire is gone.
    She's pretty hard to miss, even with the dispersing feminist club and the frankly someone spitefully vigorous game of frolf going on. She's not in the quad. Maybe she got called away on hero stuff. Maybe she ditched.
    Or she's sitting up on top of one of the buildings, and is sending a big violet finger down to tap Booster on the shoulder and beckon him up with a smile and wave. That's a possibility too!

Booster Gold has posed:
Booster had decided to get a bite to eat on the campus dining hall. Because no matter the era or the school, there's just something comforting about on-campus dining.

Mostly the saturated fats and limitless portions.

With just minutes to spare ahead of the nebulous 'Thirty minutes or your meeting with Star Sapphire is free!' looming ahead of him, he heads onto the quad, and just in time for Star Sapphire to signal him down.

Mercifully, he doesn't scream like a little child at the giant hand tapping on him, and flies up to join her atop the building roof a second later.

"Wow, you're ... here!" Booster says, lookinng surprised. "I figured, y 'know, you had... hero stuff to do," he tells the woman, resting his hands on his hips.

<<Most of the time when a woman says she'll meet up with Booster, she-->> Skeets is abruptly cut off as Booster grabs the drone and clamps a hand over the speaker emitter.

"So, uh... what's up?" he says, nonchalantly as possible.

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Star Sapphire raises her eyebrows at Skeets, but keeps her counsel on it... for now. She just smiles at Booster Gold from her spot seated on the edge of the roof, legs crossed at the knees (you would too if people were likely to stare up at you), and confirms, "I am here. And it looks like you are too. Funny coincidence, huh?" She grins up at Booster. "I'm glad you showed up, because I'm just dying to ask you why you picked 'Booster Gold' as your public name. Sit down, tell me about it."

Booster Gold has posed:
Booster moves to the edge of the roof, eyeing Star, then hunkers down in a squat and hangs his legs off the edge of the roof, too. He leans backwards and supports his weight on his palms, legs swinging fearlessly over the drop below.

"Uh, well... I was gonna go with 'Goldstar' when I first got here," he admits, sheepishly. "But there I was, talking to this reporter, and she goes 'Hey, what do we call you?' And, like, back when I was home, my nickname on the field was 'The Booster', y'know-- sports thing-- so I said 'Booster', but that sounded silly and I went with 'Booster Gold', so... here we are," he says, gesturing with finality with his free hand.

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Star Sapphire smiles and nods. "That's a good choice," is her opinion. "It's nice that you can get to be yourself, at least a little bit, when you're in costume."

Booster Gold has posed:
"You aren't?" Booster asks Star, looking a little baffled. "I don't-- I don't get that. Why else wouldn't you be a hero?" he asks, clearly confused by the course of the discussion. "If that's not who you are deep down, why not be that person all the time?" he asks, frowning behind his visor.

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Star Sapphire is quiet for a moment, then explains, "Because it needs to be done. I mean, look at me." She drifts one hand down her torso, like a showcase model showing off a prize. "My uniform has a sacred meaning to me, so I wear it with pride. And I love how I look in it. But I know how people think of me when they see me, and how they're judging me (whether condemning me for having a body or in the sense that they're grading me for their own consumption), and that's hard to deal with. It's like going out into the world knowing there are invisible thorns that are going to cut you. None of the cuts will kill you, but they hurt.
    "But people need to be helped anyway, so I straighten my back, square my shoulders, put on a big smile, and do what I have to do, even if part of me just wants to go home and hide in the tub for a few hours. I wear that mask because someone has to, and it may as well be me."

Booster Gold has posed:
Booster follows the hand for a beat, then clears his throat and looks away a little uncomfortably. Up close, despite his height and braggish demeanour, he's probably not much older than the kids still playing on the lawn, and a little underprepared to deal with Star's confident demeanour.

"I don't-- I mean--" he struggles, trying to phrase his words, then just shakes his head. "Man. I don't know," he confesses. "I like being a hero. I like how I make people feel and how they react to me. I'd do the hero thing even if I didn't have this whole getup on, I'd just... not ... be as awesome at it," he remarks.

Skeets pops up again. <<Don't be silly, sir! You'd be a wonderful hero no matter what!>>

"Thanks, Skeets," Booster says, ruefully. He glances from his drone to Star Sapphire. "This is my buddy Skeets. Skeets, say hi to the nice lady."

<<Hello, nice lady!>>

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "Hello, Skeets," Star Sapphire says pleasantly to the drone, as she pats Booster Gold's hand. "I'm sure you're right that he would be. A person doesn't put himself in harm's way because he has neat toys; he does it because he has conviction that he needs to do the right thing. That's a hero."

Booster Gold has posed:
Booster shifts uneasily at the topic of conversation, and looks away when Star greets Skeets. He clears his throat and kicks one foot in the air, then looks down at Star's hand on his with clear surprise.

It's her quiet reassurance more than anything else that makes him look profoundly uncomfortable, as if she's touched some deep nerve, and he kicks off the roof and hovers in front of her.

"So, hey! Enough serious talk, right?" he says, finding his brassy confidence once again. "We're heroes! The good guys! It isn't supposed to be all gloom an' doom. What's your ring do? I bet it does all kinds of cool stuff," he tells her. "Can you just make shapes with it, or what else?"

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Star Sapphire nods companionably. She doesn't rise from her impromptu seat, just regards Booster Gold calmly from where she sits. "If you know us well enough to call us Violet Lanterns, then you probably already have a pretty good idea of what my ring can do. Tell me a little bit about what you can do! I've never seen technology like yours. Obviously," she adds wryly, "what with it not having been invented yet."

Booster Gold has posed:
"Well, y'know, it's... from the far future," Booster says, floating effortlessly. "Me, too. And Skeets!" he adds, the little drone bobbing when he's acknowledged.

"The best money can buy, of course, because hey-- you don't get thrown back in time to do the hero thing without top of the line gear!"

He flexes a little, posturing in his armor. "Full environmental suit, hazard protection, a heads-up display, plasma blasters... anything and everything a modern hero could require," he says. "And Skeets handles my scheduling and helps me keep track of stuff."

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "Full environment?" Star Sapphire asks, impressed. "Do you mean that suit can go into space?"

Booster Gold has posed:
"Uhh.... yeah! Space, high orbit, hostile environments, you name it," the big gold fellow confirms, nodding eagerly. "I've got some on-board oxygen circulators and everything I need to travel except for my toothbrush," he says, flashing another white-toothed grin.

He examines Star curiously. "And you, you can like-- go to space, right? Fly around and stuff? I can't travel between star systems, I'm kinda limited by speed," he admits. "But only in Space!"

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "I can," Star Sapphire confirms. "I have to; I'm queen of the Star Sapphires' planet. I know, I know, it sounds goofy, but our rings are tied in to a computer system--or something like it, anyway, it's weird--that has the spirit of the previous queen, and she selected me. But we can travel between star systems and keep up an atmosphere as we do it. I just don't like to unless I have to because you'd hate to lose your concentration and die of explosive decompression, you know?"

Booster Gold has posed:
"That's ... I hadn't thought of that," Booster admits. "I didn't realize it runs that way. So like, if you're not focusing enough, it just kinda... uh..." He makes a fizzling gesture with one hand. "Sheesh. My stuff can't do all what yours can, but I don't have to focus on flying," he says, wryly. "If I fall, the ring's sensors kick on and slow my descent unless I override it manually."

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Star Sapphire nods. "It's definitely an advantage on your side," she agrees. She plants the heels of her hands on the edge of the roof and pushes herself off, landing with a little bob of anti-gravity a few feet from the futureman. "So how does your ring work? Do you fly by making gestures, or does it link to your brain somehow?"

Booster Gold has posed:
"Uhh... well... I'm not really a tech guy," Booster says, nervously as Star floats towards him. "Y'know. The gestures kinda help, y'know-- 'forward' for forward, 'stop' for stop, but I think it mostly runs off of my thoughts," he admits. "The gestures just make the thought... clearer, probably?" he hazards, with all the scientific prowess of someone who flunked out of physics two years in a row.

"I'm just-- like, I'm just here to /hero/, y'know?" he says, summoning that cocky grin again. "Show up and look good, impress the ladies, make a few bucks with merchandising contracts. I don't need to know how it all works, just that it's part of the whole ensemble."

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Star Sapphire nods along. "Oh, sure, sure. I was just curious," she says. "But I feel like I'm making you nervous with all my questions. Tell you what, Booster. Why don't you change the subject to whatever you want to talk about?" she invites.

Booster Gold has posed:
"Uh."

Booster blinks at Star, shifting back and forth in place in the air at her suggestion. Confidence isn't the same thing as urbanity, and he's momentarily stymied and at a loss for words.

"Nervous? I'm not nervous, you're nervous, I'm kidding, I mean, what?" Booster says, speaking too quickly. "I, uh, y'know, just this whole hero suit is, future tech, and ... I don't wanna mess up the ... timeline by giving out too much information," he says, hastily.

"I met your daughter!" he blurts out. "Sister? Cohort?" he hedges. "She was all in purple, with the--" he gestures at the midriff-baring ensemble, "and had the--" and he vaguely points at where a Sapphire's ring should be.

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Star Sapphire's nose crinkles as her grin broadens. She drifts closer to Booster Gold, heedless of any students below who might be watching, and she rests her palms firmly on his shoulders, looking him in the eye. "Breathe," she commands. "Inhale, count to three; exhale, count to three. You're doing fine, Booster. And whoever it was, she wasn't my daughter." Star Sapphire's gaze goes unfocused for a minute as she thinks, and then she admits, "Unless she's from the future too. More likely, she was just another member of the corps, though." Her focus comes back, and she smiles at Booster, floating back out of his personal space. "I hope you had a nice visit with her, whoever she was."

Booster Gold has posed:
Booster looks even /more/ nervous with Star's sudden proximity, and then she's touching him, and he clears his throat mightily once she's drifting away again. It takes him a few seconds to look a little less wild-eyed, and he lists a little into his path of yaw before righting himself.

"O-oh, right, I mean, that makes sense-- member of the corps. Corps means, like, a lot," he says, nodding.

<<The precise number is between 20,000 and 40,000 personnel, or more!>> Skeets says, chiming in helpfully.

"Right! Holy crap, 20,000 of you?" he blinks at Star Sapphire. "On one planet? Your tourism board must be pretty busy."

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Star Sapphire smiles sadly and shakes her head. "Only a few dozen, I'm afraid. The planet was contaminated by a psychic monster, and all its people were suspended in sapphire to give their minds time to heal. In the meantime, the... the force that guides our rings hasn't selected many people to wear them. But that's alright, I'd rather have the right people than a big number of people."

Booster Gold has posed:
"A... psychic monster." Booster swallows, trying to imagine what could overcome an entire /corps/ of women like this Star Sapphire. "Well, I mean-- hey!" He snaps his fingers, aiming his pointers at Star. "Here's hoping that you guys get around to repopulating the Corps," he says, with that lopsided grin returning. "A buncha swell gals like you, I'm sure you'll have good candidates knocking down the door. I mean, sports are for teams, but you need more than just an offensive scrum to carry the game, y'know?"

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "It's...complicated," Star Sapphire admits, floating backward away from campus, silently and subtly encouraging Booster to follow her away from the crowd. "These rings are new expressions of the Star Sapphires' power. The previous models were tiaras with magic gemstones set in them. They had similar powers, but fewer, and weaker. That's because our power derives from love, and there was an entity on the planet which was corrupting the entire world's understanding of that. We had to defeat the Predator before the rings' true power could come out." She laughs. "Is that weird enough that I've lost you yet?"

Booster Gold has posed:
"Uhh... no, I think I'm tracking," Booster lies, nodding along and trying not to gawk at Star Sapphire. Mostly because it's rude, but also because, against all odds, he actually feels... a little guilty about it, because as she said-- she doesn't wear it for others.

"Purple planet, alien psychic monster, everyone's sex drives got killed, no power crowns or magic rings. All pretty straightforward," he says, wagging his chin in a nod.

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Star Sapphire laughs. "Close enough," she agrees, amused. "So who or what do you love, Booster? What matters to you?"

Booster Gold has posed:
Booster blinks at the question. Star keeps hitting him close to home with these penetrating inquiries, and it takes him a few seconds to come up with a suitable answer.

"Uh... I ... y'know ... Earth, and ... the people," he lies.

He clearly doesn't /have/ the sort of answer that Star is likely looking for; not a real expression of love in his voice. Passion, sure, but there's nothing about his reply that indicates the quality of sacrifical devotion that a Star Sapphire might associate with such a plain but important word as 'love'.

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Star Sapphire isn't the kind of person to make a big deal of it. She just smiles knowingly and nods. "Earth, as opposed to other planets?" Her voice turns upward with curiosity as she asks, "Oh! In your time, has off-planet travel become a thing yet? Vacationing on other worlds, and stuff?"

Booster Gold has posed:
"Yeah, I mean-- interstellar tourism's a big deal. Lots of flying around, daytrips around the solar system, that sort of thing. Not a lot of aliens /want/ to live on Earth, though," he frowns. "Turns out humans are kinda xenophobic, and that's a turnoff to alien residents. But, uh, y'know, there are space cruises, and a hyperspace lane that connects to a lotta different locations. And the BoomTube network is pretty big."

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Still drifting backward away from the campus, and up as well to get out of people's sight, Star Sapphire smiles encouragingly. "That sounds much better than the current day. I hope you get to go back there as often as you want."

Booster Gold has posed:
Booster looks away, still keeping up with Star's flight path easily. "I... can't go back. The machine broke," he mutters. "It was a one-way deal."

<<We'll get it fixed someday, sir!>> Skeets assures Booster.

"Yeah, I don't put a lot of faith in that. The energy source alone won't be invented for another... three hundred years," Booster says. "And even if it /is/, the chronal circuits failed. I /can't/ navigate back home; I can only go forward to whatever reality this turns into. I might end up in a place where the United States /won/ the Unification Wars. Gotham, not part of Canada? It's already weird," he says, shaking his head.

Star Sapphire has posed:
    That stops Star Sapphire in her tracks. "Oh no. Booster, I'm so sorry," she mourns, paying no attention to the thought of a war redefining America's borders, just focused on one man's pain. She floats forward to hug him tightly, if briefly, giving him physical comfort before drifting backward a few feet to look him in the eye. "But don't give up hope. There are people who can fix this. There's always a way."

Booster Gold has posed:
Booster blinks again in surprise when Star darts in to hug him, and ends up hugging her back mid-flight. It isn't all armor there, either-- he's built like a professional athelete, fit even by the standards of most metahumans.

"Uh... thanks, Star. I appreciate that," he says-- and he seems surprised to find that he means it.

"Listen, I'm... I gotta get. My buddy is blowing my phone up and I gotta get some groceries. But... thanks. For this," he says, gesturing back and forth from her to him. "I... think I feel a bit better."

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Star Sapphire nods. "Of course, Booster," she promises, and floats close enough to take his hand. "Just do me a favor, and come talk to me if you need to, okay? If you don't have somewhere I can reach you, then you can send me a message through the Daily Planet. Just say...um..." She thinks, then smiles. "I know, just say 'interstellar tourism' in your message so I know it's you. Okay?"

Booster Gold has posed:
Booster nods at Star Sapphire, and squeezes her fingers back. That cocksure grin returns at her smile, and he sketches a two-fingered salute at the leggy Star Sapphire.

"Yes ma'am," he assures her. "You can get me on most widespectrum broadcasts-- Skeets listens to everything-- and I'm on Twitter and YouTube," he tells her.

"But, uh, I'll drop you a line at the Planet," he tells her. "And if your boyfriend doesn't mind, we can... get some lunch, or something."

With a flick of his wrist, he does two barrel rolls and peels away, zooming towards the East End.