12966/Extraordinary Gentlemen

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Extraordinary Gentlemen
Date of Scene: 05 April 2021
Location: New York City, New York
Synopsis: The Unveiling of the Superhero Exhibit commences!
Cast of Characters: John Connor, Iron Man, Rift, Superman




John Connor has posed:
It was dark out, but in New York, you couldn't see the stars, at least not the ones in the sky, unless you had enhanced eyesight, or specially adapted technology. At fifty-two degrees Fahrenheit, people really should be wearing a coat, but what should and does happen rarely coincide. This was New York after all. And there was a night time event in progress.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was unveiling its new Superhuman Exhibit. There were laser beams, the kind that don't incinerate people or places, shooting up into the night sky. It was spring time in this hemisphere, or so they would have you believe.

People were gathered outside for the unveiling, many of the women fidgeting in their frocks, while the most of the men wore tuxedoes, so were a little more insulated. Once the introductions were over, people would move indoors, but it couldn't come fast enough for some.

There were celebrities, a few superheroes, and members of the public. John Connor was here, very much against his will, as his class had won some kind of 'random' slot for a field trip to the unveiling. He had plenty of protection, but still, he would prefer to be anywhere but here right now. Anytime he was in a crowded setting, he got nervous. There were too many variables.

Iron Man has posed:
    Tony Stark was here. He had a crowd of agents and managers who ensured that he was at every such socio-political event. Tonight he was wearing a bright-blood-red tuxedo jacket and pants with a similarly attention-whoring/grabbing bright yellow shirt under his jet-black tie. Super-IQ equals super-human, right? As much in the tabloids as in the PIXAR feature films. He made an extra-special point of letting his suit-jacket sleeves ride up, so the cameras could see the aluminum bracelets around each wrist as well as the special-edition ROLEX just on the left.

Rift has posed:
At the edge of the crowd is a young woman who is glowing. An eerie red glow that subsumes her whole body with some deeper glows visible through her arms, legs, head, and heart. She is wearing a formal dress (with shorts underneath, not visible), that seems to be washed out by the glow. She watches the show with glowing eyes - unlike many other women watching, she doesn't seem to be bothered by the cold. She is at the edge of the crowd - not wanting to push her luck, but decided to show off her mutant pride at a superhero exhibition. She is relatively unknown, but has been seen a few times in and about the city. Just minding her own busines, spectating.

Superman has posed:
Floating in the air, but still quite visible to the crowd, is Kal-El.

The Superman.

Dressed in his blue and red regalia, his cape flows slightly past his feet as he remains unaffected by gravity, defying the laws of physics as a slight smile rests on his face. The 'S' shield blazed proudly on his chest, and no doubt more than a few camera flashes are coming his way.

Initially, it was going to be Wonder Woman representing the Justice League tonight, but...well, Superman decided to take the honor once the representation slot opened up. He gives a few waves here and there, but otherwise allows the superhero exhibit to go on as scheduled.

Even if his eyes are looking through the crowd for any suspicious persons. Be they mutant, metahuman, or average joe: as long as they don't look like they're about to cause trouble, they're A-Okay in Superman's book.

He does notice Tony Stark representing the celebrity pedigree at this event, giving a gentle nod to the billionaire if they lock eyes. His attention shifts then to Rift, taking account of her and showing brief approval of the 'mutant and proud' message.

Finally, he notices John Connor along the other kids in his class. A fun field trip, he imagines.

John Connor has posed:
Wherever Tony Stark goes, the press, and the wannabes, follow. It was good that he had a team to protect him and make sure people kept their distance, according to Tony's standing instructions, naturally. A few people that got past the security fawned over him, trying to get a selfie with him, signature from him, or just to shake his hand.

Rift got attention to, but any young woman who glowed would. A few people opened up around her, giving her space, not that they thought anything bad would happen, but when a person standing next to you radiates light, the natural response is to inch away, no matter how appealing the source might be.

And then there was Superman. If anyone could upstage Iron Man, it was the Man of Steel. Especially since he came suited up. The woman who had been reading off a prompter stopped in the middle of her script, looking up at Superman, as did most of the crowd, who erupted into spontaneous applause. After they died down, she would speak over the microphone system, "Ladies and gentlemen, Superman. Please, would you come... down here, and say a few words?"

John Connor looked to be the second least interested member of the school field trip, eclipsed only by a brunette girl who stood next to him. She seemed to be far more interested in the crowd, although so did he for the most part. He would take in Superman. This was new. He had heard and seen the man from far away, being from Midvale himself, but never this close before.

Iron Man has posed:
    Tony Stark isn't followed for his popularity, but for his representation. In fact when the keynote speaker calls for Superman to descend and deliver a few words, Stark and his team make the smart move which is to retreat entirely from the limelight. Don't just want Tony out of the limelight, at that point, they want him to be unnoticeable in the crowd - otherwise he'll be labelled an attention whore. That's when Stark takes the opportunity to digress to the ground, change his bright red tux jacket for a jet black one with tails, and begin inching toward the glowing girl.

    It's not that John Connor is beneath his notice - just that he's less spectacular. The new media-mission is to be in the foreground of the 2nd place the cameras pan to, and that means being slightly below but directly in-line with Rift.

    Unless Rift notices the Iron Man... in which case all bets are off.

Rift has posed:
Rift applauds with the rest of the crowd as Superman appears and she follows him to the podium. She squints, wondering if he flies like she does - but she can't sense any gravitational anomaly. She isn't paying much attention to the crowd at first, but is kinda enjoying the bubble of emptiness around her - mutant pride is isolating her a bit -then someone pops in almost cutting off her view... and is... squatting a bit? She glances down, as her glowing eyes open wide. OMG... is that... Tony Stark? The billionare celebrity who's Iron Man? Right... in front of her? And why... is he kinda squatting down... so his head is BELOW hers? She looks confused as she whispers, "Mr. Stark? What... are you doing?" She is trying to be quiet, but is confused by the whole thing. She discretely pulls out her phone to snap a picture if he looks back.

Superman has posed:
Superman expected a warm welcome, though it's clear that he wasn't expecting tp speak.

Nonetheless, Superman is a man of the people, and so he descends as the speaker calls him down to the podium. His feet touch down lightly on the surface as he approach the speaker, a smile on his face as he offered a handshake to the woman, surprisingly gentle for someone who repeatedly makes epic displays of physical strenght.

Approaching the microphone then, Superman clears his throat. "Hello, citizens of New York City." He doesn't speak like someone who is used to giving out speeches, or like he's trying to sell the people something. "I warn you, I'm a little unprepared for a speech tonight, but I'll try my best. Just, uh, forgive my grammar and bad humor." he offers as an icebreaker.

"Tonight I join you all in unveiling the New York Superhero Exhibit, which hosts a number of artifacts, relics, and pieces of all of our history. Please join us in reminiscing on the past, while looking towards our future. Thank you." Superman offers. It's a quick speech, but no less charismatic than any other he's ever given. Rather than take off to the sky again, he simply stands off to the side, hands at his sides and looking humble rather than superior.

John Connor has posed:
Tony Stark was smart to lower to the floor in that getup. His bright red tuxedo drew the eye, although not as bad as one might think, as many of the women in the crowd wore attention grabbing garments. Tony was just one of the few men to wear something so rich and vibrant... that wasn't floating several feet off the ground.

If Tony wanted to draw attention without being obvious about it, he succeeded, as Tony Stark always maintained a certain level of people's focus, but with him squatting in front of an attractive young woman, who happened to be glowing, not in the figurative sense, but quite literally. She glowed. So, the crowd that had sort of created a space around her took notice of the crouching Tony, hidden Stark, and began snapping pictures of him, just as Rift had.

The woman shook Superman's hand, pleased as punch to be doing so, and may have let her hand linger a few seconds longer than was appropriate. Superman was probably used to that kind of a reaction. When he approaches and begins to speak, the crowd's attention falls on him, and the bad humor remark illicit a gentle chuckle from many in the crowd. It wasn't funny, but it was polite to laugh, and laughter can be infectious.

From John's perspective, it was a little surreal. To his front and left, there was the Man of Tomorrow introducing the exhibit, doing what you would expect of a superhero, and to his far right, there was a man well, he wasn't sure what the man was doing, but it drew the eye. Leaning to one of his classmates, he asks, "how long before we can go," and she replied, also in a whisper, "one hour, twenty-seven minutes, and forty-eight seconds."

Iron Man has posed:
    Tony Stark didn't acknowledge anyone directly until Superman started speaking. In fact, Tony more or less pretended that nobody existed but himself. He seems to be unable to help himself, though, when Superman speaks, so he makes a hard fist and pumps it in the air like a teenager at a live DJ show. His aides and agents clutch and paw at his chest, shoulders, and arm trying to bring it down, but the fist just keeps going upward as long as Superman has the mic. The little bit of fanboi-ing only lasts as long as Kal-El holds the podium, though.

Rift has posed:
Rift just realizes that she's being used... to... draw attention? Stark's effort to 'hide' from the crowd only drew attention and... now everyone's photographing him. Like he planned the whole thing. His genius was known as she stares at Stark, her glow intensifying as if she planned on doing something - then Superman began to speak as she took a pointed step to the left, a bit away from Stark, and focused on the speech - only to see Tony fist-pumping the air like a drunk fratboy. (Oh wait - not far from the mark, huh?) She scoffs at that, deciding not to interfere - she doesn't want to be seen as 'messing' with one of the most powerful people in the world, politicially speaking.

Superman has posed:
Superman stands idly, his hands now crossing in front of him, one hand holding the other wrist, and he looks ahead as the presentation continues. He smiles though, as people clap and cheer, but alas, he allows the original podium speaker to continue.

Even if she -might- be staring at him a bit too long to be comfortable. He's used to it, he really, really is. Though something that caught his attention was Tony Stark apparently fist-pumping to the fact that Superman was present. He didn't know he had a fan in the genius inventor, but he doesn't dwell on the subject for too long, especially since his aides seem to try and get him to knock it off.

His eyes then shift to John Connor, his Super hearing allowing him to take notice of the...incredibly specific time table of his companion. John may notice Superman briefly lock eyes with him, smile a little bit, then move on to someone else, namely Rift. His gaze rests briefly on her, just like with John and Tony, before moving away from them to scan the rest of the crowd.

The Man of Steel was ever vigilant. This would be an excellent target too for such mischief.

John Connor has posed:
With Tony Stark pumping his fist as if he were a teenager at a rave, well, he draws attention, but it's not particularly favorable attention. It was a case of reading the room, even if the room was outdoors. Rift was still glowing, so when she moved to her left, it brought her closer to John's field trip group, most of which moved to give her room, though John and the brunette girl with him did not. In fact, John moved towards her, filling in some of the gap. After the faintest moment's hestitation, his classmate followed suit, but gave a suspicious look at the glowing woman. At that, the speaker said, "and now, if you'll all follow m..." she was about to say me, but changed, "Superman, we can officially unveil the exhibit." There was a large ribbon, and a man holding out scissors to cut it with, "if you'll do the honors, Superman?" She offered, trying to do anything to deflect from the antics of Tony Stark.

Iron Man has posed:
    Tony's staffers didn't have any effect on his alien-fanboing but something did. The juvenile fistpumping ebbs, then wanes, and dies, until he's just another chump in an unnecessary tuxedo in a crowd of chumps in unnecessary tuxedos.

Rift has posed:
Rift just nods as she waits for the ribbon-cutting, glancing over at Tony who decided to resume adulting. She glances at John, then rolls her eyes and gestures to Tony. "I never really saw how immature he is," she mutters loud enough for both John, his friend, and Tony to hear. She seems very unimpressed as she returns her attention to the point of the gathering.

Superman has posed:
Superman notices the occuring antics of Tony, though pays little mind to it. Though he seems surprised when he seems to unintentionally control the festivities. Benefits of fame? Unknowable. All he knows for certain is that he's here representing apparently not just the Justice League, but all superheroes.

Perhaps somewhat hesitantly, he accepts the scissors from the man holding them out, and he walks over to the ribbon. "To the unveiling of the exhibit." he states, before he clips the scissors -gently- so as not to shatter them, and the ribbon gives way immediately, no doubt music playing in celebration.

Superman proceeds to hand the scissors back to the man who gave them to him, and he offers a few waves for the crowd and cameras.