3406/It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
Date of Scene:	16 December 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Hate the wrapping part? Bring someone with superspeed to the party!
Cast of Characters:	Oracle, Power Girl

---

Oracle has posed:
Barbara thought long and hard about how to manage what she wants to do for the orphanage that Power Girl helped decorate. When the other woman texted that she'd handled her end of the presents list, the redhead hesitated. And then she sucks in a deep breath, bites the bullet (so to speak), and texts back, <<Bring them to the penthouse apartment of the Old Gotham Clocktower on Saturday afternoon @ 3. The balcony doors will be open.>> She already has the wrapping paper and other such accoutrements.

The doors on that building are indeed open -- just a crack, the air is feeling like it's going to snow, after all -- and holiday music is playing softly inside the apartment. There's an aroma of... definitely chocolate. Perhaps coffee as well.

Power Girl has posed:
    Thanks to her resources, Power Girl had actually been struggling to figure out exactly how long to wait before sending the message along. After all, the bikes had been purchased in about twelve hours, and most of that had been her sleeping. It's hard sometimes for her to figure out how long it'd take for someone who -doesn't- run STAR Labs to purchase over a dozen child-sized bicycles.

    Regardless, she receives the message, and offers a nod, before looking at the fleet of bikes in her Metropolis apartment, and coming to a vocal realization.

    "Oh, right, I have to... Carry."

    It begins with a single bike in Babs' living room. Then another three, then more and more until there are just a crowd of the things. This is what you get when Kryptonians have to make multiple trips- because you can't just carry a bag of bikes around, really- phantom bikes, that just sort of show up.

    Though not out of breath at the end of it all, Power Girl arrives in the apartment around the same time that the chill in the air does, and this time, she stays, closing up the doorway that had been left open- that she'd opened further for Bike Delivery purposes- and turning to walk her way into the apartment proper.

    She's trying desperately not to make any assumptions about what's going on, but now she's in a stranger's apartment.

Oracle has posed:
The appearance of bicycles is definitely an indicator that she has company. The redhead comes down the stairs from the loft and stands there with both eyebrows high upher forehead. And then she looks at the blonde heroine and grins. "Well... I rather figured that wrapping presentsin the cape and ears was going to be just plain silly," she admits drily. With a gesture to the apartment, Barbara says, "Welcome to my home. It's really nice to meet you. I'm Barbara Gordon."

Power Girl has posed:
    To her credit, Power Girl gives Barbara every opportunity to protect her identity and that of everyone around her. Even when it's so very, very obvious that she's not as oblivious as what she's saying makes her sound. "Ah, hello there. You're the... Police Commissioner's daughter, right? Batgirl said to bring these here. To meet her, too. You haven't seen her around, have you?" she offers, part of her hoping that this woman, who is -clearly- also Batgirl, will take the opportunity.

Oracle has posed:
"Really?" Barbara asks her with an amused grin. "If you'd like to keep dancing, I'll pretend that she just couldn't make it and had all this stuff dropped off here because I help out sometimes, just like my father does. But.... it seems pretty stupid. There aren't too many 6-foot redheads running loose around here." She grins slightly. "I don't expect quid pro quo, so don't worry. I just.... have a proposition for you. And honestly? For God's sake, I could use some female friends in this testosterone-laden field."

Power Girl has posed:
    Power Girl offers this little sigh. Not necessarily exhasperated, but she had not quite expected this sort of reveal. She clears her throat after a moment and offers this nod of acceptance, and though it had not been expected, she offers it anyway. "Well, good evening then. Karen Starr." she offers, her hand extended. Not a celebrity in most circles, and not the identity you'd expect from someone like Power Girl. Wealthy genius Karen Starr being Power Girl almost doesn't make sense. "I'm glad, I have to admit, I just wasn't really expecting it. I don't really get propositioned, often."

Oracle has posed:
"Well, now that I've managed to surprise you twice over, would you like some coffee, Karen?" Barbara's clearly amused. "I'm pretty sure if they weren't all shaking in their boots, you'd be getting 50 propositions ever 10 minutes," she flashes a dimple at the hero as she grins. "Come on... I'll explain. I wasn't... going to do this. But... Trust goes both ways. And I also need a favor from you that I didn't quite feel comfortable asking in the cowl."

She leads Karen back toward the open kitchen, beyond which a SLEW of toys and wrapping paper and everything else is laid out across a dining room table. It's probably the only thing that table gets used for, if you had to guess. Barbara herself doesn't seem much like the formal type.

Power Girl has posed:
    "Eh, I'm fine with not getting much of any of that out of anybody. Makes things just a little less awkward." She follows along, reaching up to pull open the clasp holding on her half-cape. Once it's off, she sort of slings it over a nearby bike. Without the cape- even though it doesn't provide a lot of coverage- Karen Starr seems even less fair. When the wrapping paper comes into view, she starts pulling the gloves off of her hands, to reveal... Well, they're womanly. Soft, narrow fingers, that don't even look suited for all of the punching she does.

    "Well, I'm afraid I don't have a mask, so you'll have to pretend I look different somehow. What do you need? If you can pull together a clocktower apartment, I'm not sure what you need from me unless whatever it is has to be flown into the sun. I'm pretty good at flying things into the sun. Big things, little things, all right into the sun."

Oracle has posed:
Laughing at the 'glad to not be getting hit on all the time,' Barbara just shakes her head. Coffee is poured, Karen is left to doctor it however she likes -- Barbara throws a lot of cream and sugar in hers. But as she sips it, one hip leaning against the countertop, she says, "Well... aside from your hands on present-wrapping -- which, quite honestly, after about the third box I'm so bored with it that I'm going out of my mind -- Batgirl is.... stepping back a little bit. She's still going to be on the streets, but I'm going to be taking on some different roles. More like... a dispatcher. And I've heard a little rumor that Zinda Blake is putting her team of Blackhawks back together."

All of this sounds like a non sequitor, but it's not. "The favor I wanted to ask was... would you vouch or me with Zinda in my Oracle identity? I approached her out of the blue and she's understandably leery of trusting a voice on the phone without some kind of verification that I'm not Evil Incarnate trying to fool her."

Power Girl has posed:
    Scratching the back of her head for a few moments, Karen offers a small smile. "Well, I can't really argue with taking a step backwards, and I won't lie... If you can't literally -hear- the -planet-, there is a level of infrastructure that our... Group, really, doesn't have. I think it's a really good idea to start setting up some sort of information network that keeps people informed, and keeps them in the know as much as they can be. Something to help people who can't see through walls stop having to go into things -blind-, you know?"

    After a soft sigh, she leans foward onto the table. The material of her suit -has- to be strong, but in no other moment does it seem as capable as it does when she assumes that posture. "I'm afraid I don't know who that is, but if you feel like me telling her anything will help you, then I'm all for it. Just tell me where and when you need me." she states, before getting to work on wrapping some of the presents that aren't bikes. The bikes are easy, you just put a bow and a name on it, and BOOM. Present. These require much more dexterity which, now that she's not wearing her bulky face-hitting-gloves, she has.

Oracle has posed:
Tilting her head, Barbara looks thoughtful. "I wasn't really planning on doing it planet-wide.... I was more aiming at Gotham, and ... Zinda Blake is someone who I think needs a purpose. From all reports, she's driving herself crazy with nothing to do." She shrugs a little and says apologetically, "Batman hears stuff. So... I was thinking I would help her out getting her base up to the 21st century while keeping my Bats all under a good eye."

Pursing her lips, though, Barbara wonders if what she's saying is actually the truth. After all... she *did* just open an avenue with SHIELD too. "Do you even think other people would be open to that kind of idea? An actual person behind the monitoring and dispatching? It would have helped during the invasion, for certain, but..."

Power Girl has posed:
    Power Girl raises a brow, at that. "But what?" she responds, figuring the most important thing to handle right now is the handling of the issue. Half of the presents are wrapped. It's almost like they teleported from one side of the table, to the other. It's only when Power Girl stops moving to speak that presents actually stay unwrapped for any length of time.

    She offers this little sigh, then. "Listen, we all need some form of... Intel. Infrastructure. It isn't just the Bats, you know. It's everyone. Being able to know what's in that building before we go through the wall, or... Know who got out of somewhere before the police release that information? Keeping everyone informed is... Is I think the -one- thing that nobody's doing right now." She takes a pause, then, moving around the table- when did the other half of the presents get wrapped?- to place a hand on Barbara's shoulder. "There's more power in -knowing- than there are in both of my arms put together."

Oracle has posed:
Batman may *know*.... but he's not likely to 1) sit still long enough to keep watching, 2) be willing to SHARE what he knows, or 3) be friendly enough to anyone to really make them want to listen. Barbara blinks and sees that half the packages are wrapped already, and she starts laughing softly. But it's the final statement that brings the redhead's blue eyes back to Power Girl.

"You know... Batman said something very similar to me pretty recently. That he'd been thinking it was a niche that really needed filling." Barbara smiles faintly. "I'm very, very good at what I do. Do you really think that the rest of the ... heroing set... thinks the same?"

Because honestly, it really only hit HER after the invasion.

Power Girl has posed:
    Power Girl offers this little chuckle at that. "Batman's always right, remember? That's rule numbers one through thirteen, isn't it?" A minor in-joke to anyone who's ever met the man, but it's hard to really -argue- with those rules.

    She lets her hand slip from Barbara's shoulder, and offers this shrug. "Do I think so? No, not really. I don't know if anyone outside of Gotham knows who you are, but what they think and what they know right -now- isn't important. They will. That's the thing. It'll only take one, maybe five instances of you offering the early warning and the perfect tip-off to someone in our crowd. After that, everyone will know to trust the Oracle."

Oracle has posed:
Barbara almost snorts her coffee at that line and laughs outright. "Hey! Who shared the rulebook with you??"

A faint rush of color fills her face, damned redheaded skin tones. "I didn't really think of it that way," Barbara admits mildly. And then she grins rather cheekily. "I knew I was missing out when I didn't have enough girls hanging around. Wonder if I can convince Lady Blackhawk that her Blackhawks need to be female," she comments aloud.

Power Girl has posed:
    "I've skimmed it a couple of times. Superman snaked a copy a while back." Whether that's a real thing or not is somewhat left up to the imagination.

    Power Girl smiles at the blush, but only lets it last a moment. "To be fair, it's more that people miss out when I'm not around." she notes, offering this little chuckle. "And besides, at the very -least- you can help out with the mundane stuff. I mean, what if I go on a blind date, and it turns out that it's with some horrible villainess, right? That's one bullet I -can't- dodge without your help."

Oracle has posed:
Okay, now she has to put her coffee down, because Barbara is giggling like crazy. Superman snaked a copy, indeed!

"Oh geez.... all right, FINE, I'll background check your dates, if you really need me to." Shaking her head, she murmurs, "Lord, my life is a soap opera. My boyfriend would laugh his ass off if he knew."

Power Girl has posed:
    Power Girl whipes imaginary sweat off of her brow. "Whew, you have no idea how much of a load off of my mind that is. Now I can set up a Tinder profile." It's all a joke, to lighten the mood, but who else could tell it like that? "I'd rather a soap opera than a tragedy. Besides, when your evil twin shows up, I'll just punch 'em."

    After a moment's pause, she looks over the gifts, and then lets her gaze head back to Barbara. "Is there anything else you needed?"

Oracle has posed:
Glancing at the table, noting the massive pile of presents and the bows adorning all the bikes, Barbara... just shakes her head and snickers. "I shoulda just let you take it all home or something," she acknowledges with a roll of her eyes. "Bear with me -- the superspeed thing throws me. We mere mortals have to do things *so* slowly." She grins.

"Seriously, though... Karen, I'm really looking forward to talking a bit more. And I *really* appreciate your helping with this. I mean... how else am I going to practice my Heroes Point and Shoot technique?" She winks and sips her coffee. "But I think that we're probably all finished for tonight. It took a grand total of like 10 minutes of your night. I'll have to remember not to take advantage when I want Indian food," she quips.

Power Girl has posed:
    Power Girl folds her arms for a moment, strolling across the room in order to retrieve her cape, since things seem to be moving towards that stage. She heads back to the table once it's back on, and starts pulling her gloves back onto her hands.

    "So am I, Ms. Gordon. I don't really... I don't get out a whole lot." she notes, offering this light smile. "And believe me, this particular cause is so much more than worth it. I'm glad to make Christmas special for some kids that really, really need it. Whether it took ten minutes or ten hours. I wasn't really doing anything, anyways."

Oracle has posed:
Nodding, looking over the ridiculous pile of gifts, each with a name and a bow, Barbara has a moment where her chest feels tight. All the bad we saw this year, but ... this one thing, we can do. She gives one last decisive nod and then grins. "Yeah. Might have taken me ten days of wrapping if I did it alone. But it's worth every minute. I'll see you Christmas Eve, lady." She grins. "Unless you want to grab coffee or something before then. I'm around."

Power Girl has posed:
    Nodding along, Power Girl offers this small chuckle. "Well, I'm sure we can figure something out. Maybe not coffee, but hey, if you know a good cafe, I'm always down for a moment of quiet.. Sometimes it feels like there won't ever be one again."

    Stepping towards the door, she offers this light salute. "Either way, I'll be seeing you Christmas Eve." she notes, stepping out into the cold, and offering to close the door behind her. Once the two have said their goodbyes, she'll be back off towards Metropolis.