ic Opening Day (IC)

[Poncho]

March 28th, 2024

 

The area around the Liberty Dome was packed with people for the first baseball game of the season. Especially when it's a grudge match.

 

The block around the Liberty Dome was, in some ways, it's own minuscule city; high cost hotels, nice restaurants that weren't too expensive, and street entertainment; dancers, balloon artists, radio DJs, the like. People were cooking at tailgates, or buying food off street vendors. On main street, a massive stage had been erected for Comets Corona, the local affiliate's baseball stats team; a set of a man and two women who listed statistics and did between-inning commentary, along with pre and post game analysis. The actual announcer team- featuring former GM Russell Mills who now did color commentary, alongside 'The Voice of the Comets' Chuck Champ- would already be in their booths inside. There were carnival games and street dancers entertaining people, and the Comet's mascot had been seen a few times wandering the grounds with a video crew in tow, playing pranks.

 

The Opening Day match for the Comets was a known grudge match; the former Freedom City Flags- now named the New Orleans Patriots- were coming for an away game, and setting that grudge match on opening day was a clear attempt to get ratings up for at least the opening of the season. It was almost impossible to get tickets, every seat in the stadium was going to be filled on opening day.

 

And it just so happened that the first pitch was going to be thrown by The Patriot- Member of the Freedom League-, and she had gotten two additional passes for the upper deck behind home plate. Which she had given to Carmen, who had then given one to Michael. This was a fortuitous stroke of fortune for Michael, who had wanted to go to opening day but had been unable to obtain tickets, so he was even more high on Carmen than he usually was, even if it meant they needed to go as Golden Star and La Puma Negra instead of as Michael and Carmen. When he found out that it was The Patriot who had gotten the passes, he was likely going to be a little embarrassed.

 

So Golden Star and La Puma Negra were taking in the sights and sounds in the block around the Liberty Dome in the crisp March air, and Michael had gotten them both hotdogs- if nothing else, he was going to be paying for all of Carmen's meals-, while they waited for the Patriot to come pick them up or for the game to begin, because they weren't sure exactly how busy or swamped she was going to be up until she threw the first pitch. He was being very careful not to spill mustard on his formal Super suit- because of course he had a formal Super suit-, while also making sure no one got too close to Carmen or made her uncomfortable. He wasn't the hovering type, but he also wasn't going to hang Carmen out to dry.

 

He was also desperately keeping his mouth shut to not just spew baseball facts all over Carmen.

 

"Do you want a jersey? They changed the material in them so they're not as good as they used to be, but still, having matching team jerseys could be fun..."

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

Traditionally speaking, Carmen was averse to crowds, not liking them on the principle that they were always a bit too noisy for her for sensitive and heightened hearing ability. Though, the truth was more that she didn't like the eyes staring at her, the difference that was making as being the strange creature that she was, made worse only by the fact that she was standing alongside Michael in their respective heroic costumes. Carmen gave a look of indifference, remaining stoic as best she could when deep down, she was nothing more than a somewhat terrified kitten with all these people, but she knew she had to be there for Patriot as her protégé of sorts and, she was already in too deep after giving Michael these tickets and she enjoyed watching baseball even back home in Puerto Rico enough. What was watching it her boyfriend going to hurt?

 

Claremont colors were out of the picture for an event like this, donning the black version of her normal unitard like attire rather than the blue and yellow one. As Michael wore his own more formal attire, her own in its simplicity did much the same in contrast to it, "Maybe after," she'd respond to him, thinking what it'd look like if she wore one now. She didn't know any of the teams very well outside of what Michael had told her. There was a sense that she got the picture of what the league was like here in the States.

 

Carmen would take a small bite from her hot dog in the meanwhile, keeping as well relatively close to Michael but not too close. Both seemed to be stuck in the other person's gravity. Fastened to the lagrange points of their orbits, "Code names today..." she spoke swallowing down her bite. As much as she didn't like the two having to do this in costume, she was at least happy she was there with him. 

 

"I hope Patriots doing okay."

[Poncho]

"I'll call you by your real name later, when we're not in costume. I like it better anyway." He said, trying his best to keep her comfortable as they wandered around. Was that a bad thing to say? Did Carmen prefer being a Hero or did she like being Carmen? Was he a bad boyfriend that he wasn't sure? He shook his head to clear his thoughts and smiled at Puma.

 

"If you want me to, anyway." he added, to cover his bases. Then he thought about the fact he was meeting the Patriot and he clenched his fists a little, looking a little concerned.

 

"Yeah...the Patriot. She's...It's...going to be an interesting moment. I've not met her before...but I mean, I am a fan of all of the Freedom League." But would she like him? Would she approve of him in a relationship with Carmen?

 

What if she thought he was only in a relationship with Carmen because she was being mentored by the Patriot? He hadn't known when he'd asked Carmen out. Especially not when she danced with him at the Holiday Party. It wasn't like that. He did like Carmen, he didn't want the Patriot to think he was some hanger on just trying to use Carmen for social climbing. Or even worse, what if she thought he was some weird sexual pervert? He definitely wasn't that either, and he didn't want Carmen to think he liked her just because it was a fetish thing; he liked Carmen because she was cool. He needed to make sure she understood that. When they met. He had to make sure that the Patriot understood he liked Carmen because he liked Carmen, not for what she looked like or who she was being mentored by. Would she even buy it? He was being truthful!

 

He smiled at Carmen as sweetly as he could. "Well, whatever you want to do, we can do it. Balloon animals or one of those stuffed toys, or whatever." he said as he looked up at the center fountain of the square; at night it produced glowing light shows in the shape of the comet, but now it simply flushed water up and down in time with a connected speaker system, as kids in bathing suits played on the water jets. At the top of the fountain was a life sized statue of the first Comets player to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame.

"Do you ever want someone to make a statue of you?"

[MoonSimply]

"Business first, I guess. Not like anyone's going to not know who I am considering I'm... me... but I guess it's all professional and the like," she says as she gets a little closer to him. By the time that he had finished asking her she was already more than halfway done, a rather ravenous carnivore as fitting a werecat would likely be. The free hand trailed unconsciously to grab to his, not seemingly concerned by others seeing. In truth, it was for reassurance in such a crowded place. The news that Patriot would be the one to receive the honor of first pitch had brought in many, not to mention the eyes on both of them that had also been advertised oddly enough. An honor so, even if they were essentially tag along here.

 

She'd smile back to him, "Later you can call me Carmen as much as you want."

 

The whole reason she had given him these tickets was because he liked the Freedom League and aspired to be just like his heroes. It was something that she liked about him, that drive to become something, something that she lacked as she seemed aimless beyond the small goals of getting by each day. Sure, Patriot had offered her a potential position perhaps with the government, but even that was a question of wither she was to even go on to something like that. In a sense, as the more time she spent with him, he was like her rock in some way, breaking the raging waters Carmen's life that dared to drown her and consume her under them. 

 

Like that, Carmen finished her hot dog, "I don't know. I don't think I've ever thought about that, someone making a statue of me. Make people think I was dead or something," she says before spotting a large stuffed bear, "Think you can win me one Mr. Varsity?"

Edited March 19 by MoonSimply

[Poncho]

"Professional is good." Michael agreed. "We'll have to find time to come to another game when we can be ourselves instead of, well...also ourselves." Golden Star wasn't really sure if he was Michael or Golden Star, or where one started and where the other ended. Did Carmen wonder about that too? Maybe. He didn't want to ask.

 

Instead, he gripped her hand firmly and supportingly, waving a hand with his winning smile at anyone who looked at them, a bit of a 'get away please' gesture to anyone who was thinking of bothering them. He wanted to protect her, even if she didn't need protection, and that meant making sure that she didn't get uncomfortable in such a busy place; he could always handle places like this, but that didn't mean everyone else could, and he was quite aware of it. So he kept his hand in hers as they walked.

 

"Hrm. I guess it might make people think you're dead. But I dunno...I think I'd like for us to have a statue at some point. I mean, not because we're dead. But because we did something spectacular enough to deserve one. But maybe you're right. A superhero statue just brings up images of The Centurion, and then you're right, you end up thinking that they're dead." he hrmmed. He then turned his attention to the carnival game and reached in his pocket to pull out his phone and send some Venmo money from the Golden Star account to the person running the stand. With that done he picked up the baseballs and took aim.

 

"Well, I can at least try to win you something, if nothing else! Baseball wasn't my sport, but I was pretty good at most sports." he said, taking aim and hurling the ball. He missed the first couple, but on his last one he aimed correctly and knocked the glass bottles off the stand. A giant plush comet was presented to Carmen as Michael rolled his shoulder. "...Alright I wasn't throwing that right, that kinda hurt, actually."

[Avenger Assembled]

Her wife wasn't interested in Earth sporting events, which meant she was safely home with the boy and Ashley didn't need to worry. Well, more than she ever did. 

 

Instead she could concentrate on the important things. "They're here," one of her several staffers was telling her - Karen, who had stuck her head in the secured dressing room while Nat polished up her makeup. "They're playing carnival games out in Lot B." 

 

"Okay, phone me, would you Karen? Thanks," said Ashley, who knew better than to interrupt Nat while he was polishing up the blush and foundation that would make her look natural on giant flat-screen TVs in high definition even underneath her helmet. She typed out a quick message to Carmen, using the user icon of the Patriot - which was of course the American flag (what else would it be? Ashley Tran's user icon was a picture of her son in her wife's arms) 

 

MEET AT GATE 8 ASAP. 

 

With the text done, she looked approvingly in the mirror as Nat finished. "Nice one." With that, conscious of the crowd who'd be waiting for her outside the dressing room, she gave the hair and makeup guy a quick grin before she pulled on her helmet. With the upper part of her face obscured and her pixie-cut red-white-and-blue hair invisible, she was indeed the Patriot. She pulled on her jacket, carefully pinned a brand-new pin for the occasion - a mama pelican and her chicks on a blue field, the flag of the state of Louisiana. 

 

The closest the Patriot could get to taking a side. 

 

"Let's do this," she said, nodding as Karen cracked open the door and she strode out to greet her public. This wasn't her favorite part of the job but she'd learned how to do it well, and with a few words here and one gloved fistbump, she was past the small crowd of well-wishers and carefully managed reporter and on her way to find her sidekick and her boyfriend.  

[MoonSimply]

Carmen was there now standing with a Sentinel plush that Micheal had now just one, rooting for him to have to knocked down the milk bottles on the last throw. It was roughly a third of her size and was soft in her hands, holding it up as she really didn't have a place to put it. Sure, she was carrying a small satchel bag with her, but it was far too big for her to put into for convenience. She'd give him a peck on the cheek for that effort, being rather forward with him outside of simply just grabbing to his hand to hold it, offering him a smile as well before being distracted by the sound of her phone's ringtone making a small 16 bit sound of it. Someone had texted her.

 

WILL BE THERE

 

"Patriot wants us to meet her at gate eight," she tells him, "Don't worry too much. I think she will like you."

 

 

[Poncho]

Michael grinned at the kiss but kept his volatile emotions under control as Carmen gave him a reward for his successful physical task. 

 

"Well, we're going to be on all the fan sites now." He grinned as he kissed her cheek back. His parents were definitely going to see this. He'd have to introduce Carmen to them. And the rest of his friends. Stella had been at the school before but the discussion of Michael's lovelife had been not a thing. But that was for later. For now he pulled out his own phone and took a picture of him and Carmen and her new plush and set it as his phone background. By the time Carmen was telling him it was time, he was putting it away.

 

"...I'm hoping she does. I mean. Well..." he paused. "Yeah I hope she does." What he was really worried about was more her assuming he was only dating Carmen to get close to her. But he would never share that fear with Carmen, at least right now, so he just smiled and continued to escort his girlfriend. 

 

"I'm going to put on my best face and that's all I can do." He finished with a grin.

[Avenger Assembled]

Meeting the Patriot was a bit like meeting the mayor. Stadium security was waiting for them at Gate 8, where they were whisked through the crowd to a private office that the Patriot had carved out so she could actually get some face-time with Carmen and her boyfriend. "La Puma Negra, Golden Star, so glad you could make it!" she said, stepping away from a red-haired man in suit and bifocals to briefly embrace Carmen. 

 

Michael was tall, and big - oh well, Ashley had been the shortest person in the room more than once in her life and it was all too common with superheroes. He's so young though - damn, he's probably just going to get taller. She shook Michael's hand with a firm grip inside her red leather gloves. The upper part of her face was covered by her helmet and goggles, but the teens could see her smile. "Give us a minute, would you, Eamon?" Her presence seemed to fill the room, projecting a calm, cool air of authority. 

 

The redhead nodded and said in a slight Irish accent "They need you in five" before stepping out of the small office, which from the pictures on the wall belonged to someone in Comet publicity. 

 

The Patriot kept looking up at Michael for a moment before turning her attention to Carmen. "Glad you two made it! Sorry, I don't have long before I have to get back to work. If you've got your game faces on, I can take you with me to meet some people, or you can head straight for your seats. Just make sue there's no nonsense either way," she said, not sounding like she was kidding, "a lot of people are going to be watching. That said," she amended, trying to keep it light, "people forgive two kids on a date more than you'd think." Or so she guessed - not having ever been on a date on high school. 

[MoonSimply]

After Carmen had texted back to Ashely and talked to Micheal, she'd quickly take a few moments to relax a bit and calm herself. More than likely Patriot was going to bring a lot more eyes than there were already on her by mere presence alone, making the feline young woman tense up a bit. The real internal struggle that had been daunting her all day, the crowd around her and all the eyes, now there would be even more. It felt like her mind and senses were going on overdrive, just barely able to cope with the increasing panic. Carmen was afraid of them and only staying close to Micheal kept it relatively in check for the time period.

 

"Same with me... best face forward..." she says taking another deep breath before pocketing her phone and heading over with him to meet with Patriot. 

 

Once there at gate eight they were brought over towards a private office. Carmen's senses immediately picked up on Patriot coming towards them, turning her head to see them making their way to Micheal and her. In the presence of Patriot, she could calm herself a bit more, her mind further at ease comparatively, especially as they embraced in a hug together, although relatively short, "Busy?" she's say, knowing full well she was.

 

"Micheal, what do you want to do?"

[Poncho]

This is The Patriot. The Patriot. The Hero of America. A Member of the Freedom League. A personal hero. Is that a good thing to say? Would she think that was weird? Would she think that he had only gotten with Carmen, came with Carmen, because of getting to meet the Patriot? Should he be as respectful and fanboyish as he wanted to be? If he wasn't, would she think he was a stuck up? And there were going to be dirt sheets about this meeting too. He had to make the absolute best possible impression, not just to The Patriot, but to Carmen, and to the press. He had to do this perfectly, he had to commit 100% and he had to get it perfectly right.

 

He gave the Patriot an appropriately firm handshake. "Thank you for taking the time to meet us, Patriot." He said firmly, keeping complete eye contact. He was not a mess on the outside, no matter how much he was freaking out on the inside. "It's a pleasure to meet such an illustrious heroine." he smiled, a smile that was not too friendly but not too cold. The Politician's Smile, something that The Patriot has certainly seen many times. Star's isn't perfect, but it's clearly something he practices often. He then stood appropriately attentively as she greeted her actual protege, and that made him remember that. He wasn't here under his own power, he was here to make sure Carmen had a good time, here to support her. He needed to make sure she did well, that was his job.

 

"I can handle meeting some people." He nodded. He was taking this as seriously as anything else he had. "If Carmen can manage it, then I can support her and make sure it works out. I am ready to make sure everything stays appropriately above board." On the inside he felt like a lunatic for speaking so confidently to The Patriot, The freaking Patriot, but on the outside he kept his hands firmly locked behind his back and his posture held firm; appropriately open, deferential to both Carmen and The Patriot, but not too much that it would be weird. He hoped.

[MoonSimply]

"Well then. I guess we can stay with you Patriot..." Carmen says as she braces herself and takes a deep breath again. It all made herself uncomfortable personally, already having to deal with looks while they were out having a bit of fun and games, still clutching on to the stuffed animal that had been squeezed between Patriot and her. The protégé had experienced fighting alongside her mentor, but now Carmen would have to deal with appearing before a packed baseball crazed crowd alongside her. Even with her mentor and Michael by her side, there was still a sense of nervousness to it.

 

As she moved back towards her boyfriend, she'd slowly notice his own rigidity, his composure locked in place like some army guy she'd seen at the airport once, "Thank you.... I forgot to introduce him to you proper," Carmen says a little flustered, "This is Golden Star. We both attend Claremont together."

 

"We and a few other students started a study group, and we sort of got together there."

[Poncho]

"Ye..yeah. I'm Golden Star. M'am." he said, extending his hand. He was about as flustered as her. "And of course I know the Patriot. I mean. I know the Hero, the Patriot. Of course." He clarified. "Um, yeah. If Carmen's fine with it, I can put on the game face. I'm actually pretty good at the whole...presentation thing. I've put a lot of practice into it. Since before I had powers, I've been practicing to be in front of cameras." He grinned, truthfully, and chuckled a little. That was an open and honest statement to the Patriot, something that showed what kind of person he was under the cape; someone who'd been working on public image for a long time.

 

"Puma is...yeah, she's telling the truth. We started doing some studying, and then heroing. Me, Her, and a few of our friends; you know Timeout, obviously, plus Spaceman and Torpedo Lass and Gamma Buzz, if you've heard of them. And then I asked her out. On Valentine's day even! Right before Paradigm showed up and we got to save the world with Fleur De Joie. I mean, we danced at the Christmas party, and then it took me three months to finally manage to ask her out, we ended up being busy a lot... But I couldn't stop being impressed by her; she's saved my butt quite a few times. She's someone I have to admit I look up to in her skill at dealing with things...even if she's not always aware of how much I look up to her." He laughed again. "She's handled villains I was struggling with with no issue, my...uh..." he frowned. "Well she's not a knight in shining armor. But she's a Hero's Hero." he decided on saying for her. "The same as you, of course. So I think we work well together. She's uh...she's cute when she puts in all her effort to be social because she wants to match up to me." he scratched his cheek momentarily.

 

"...Sorry. I'm gushing about her. I didn't mean to."

[Avenger Assembled]

He's a real talker, thought Ashley critically. She didn't really care for big talkers. She remembered her first real boyfriend and how charismatic he had seemed, before he'd started talking about how she needed to put her career on pause so they could make some beautiful Asian babies together. (Tyler had been white himself.) It had been her first hint that if a boy was interested in her, it was maybe a sign she should feel him about about things first. Well that's probably not going to happen here, she thought before making a note to make up the thought to Carmen later. "Better to keep it to codenames," she agreed, unhesitatingly backing Carmen's play the same she'd backed hers. "You never know who might be listening, or watching. Glad you like her. I think pretty highly of La Puma Negra myself," she said with a smile, before saying "Well then - our public awaits." 

 

Traveling with the Patriot was something Carmen was used to by now, though not usually with so many people. Once everyone had their costumes or lack thereof on, with a little touch-up help from the Patriot's team, it was time to meet the new mayor, the general managers of both teams, and a little boy named Destin who had won a contest so he could shake hands with the Patriot. The Patriot played along with all of them, even arm-wrestling with the very excited Destin, who from his homemade costume was obviously a huge fan. La Puma Negra and Golden Star got introductions, Michael obviously being introduced as La Puma's +1, and there were many of the usual questions for both of them, many of them about their romantic life. 

 

Ashley watched the teens, keeping her face as cool and professional as she had in a Secret Service uniform, ready to jump in conversationally rather than physically before anyone said anything awkward. It wouldn't be much longer before the kids would be in their seats and she'd be ready to throw out that first pitch. She lied to the face of the journalist who asked her who was rooting for, telling them with a smile that the Patriot doesn't take sides. (This was a lie, of course she was rooting for the Nat.) 

[Poncho]

"Of course, Code names from here on." He smiled as he took Puma's arm in his own to walk with her behind the Freedom Leaguer. He knew he was the +1, and he was going to play to that; he was supportive and he had no issues not being the most important person in the room; if anything he had gotten pretty good at that. So he kept his arm on hers and waved politely at each person. He cheered politely for Destin but did not step into the way; he was meeting the Patriot, and Golden Star was not going to get in the way of that or even imply that he was anything here; he was a polite, friendly, and open Superhero who was happy to be the third most important Hero here.

 

He had never traveled with a Superhero before, not really, but he had practiced things like this, and he wanted to make a good impression, so even if he was limited in actionable experience, he managed to present himself well and diplomatically, shaking hands and smiling for cameras. For their romantic life, however, he worked to skillfully avoid many questions- especially those that cute too close-, or if he was answering honestly, he gave the answer in such a way that it was hard to tell if it was a joke or not.

 

"Yes, we were working together as Heroes before we dated. We mutually asked each other out on Valentine's day, right before that surprise Alien Issue, if you remember that. So you could say our first date was protecting the City itself. Puma is a wonderful Hero and a credit to both herself and her mentor, I look up to her quite a bit." he said with a wave. "I'm lucky to have someone like her." he was confident in his answers and spoke up about Puma without putting himself, or others, down. However, he was also making sure he wasn't hogging spotlight or speaking too much. It was all a difficult balancing act, and one he was trying his best to maintain. All without making Carmen uncomfortable either. He wasn't going to talk for her, but if she needed help, he was there to give it.

[MoonSimply]

"Yes... right... codenames," Carmen spoke in response to her mentor, hearing the praises that Patriot was giving her. The young heroine's time with the Patriot had been a hectic one, but not one that wasn't full of vital experience needed in her heroic career. Carmen could also breathe easy as it seemed as though her mentor liked Michael, the first step to success as it was now already achieved. Now it was only just dealing with the many fans here to not only see the baseball game but Patriot herself as well, getting a bonus in seeing two more young heroes alongside her as she left the prized stuffed animal in the office for the time being. This would be a true test far worse than dealing with some interdimensional stellar dragon, alien warlords and royalty, or even space wolves from the moon. In fact, it would far much worse than La Puma Negra could ever have anticipated.

 

The presenting was fine and all, recognized under her heroic name alongside Micheal, but the real trouble arose when he was introduced as her +1, leading to the easy speculation of what their relationship was alongside holding each other if it wasn't more obvious, "Only a little while... he's a great boyfriend... and hero," she's stammering a bit. If she had taken public speaking as a class she was sure that she would have flunked it at this point. Regardless of what answer was given, Carmen was already uncomfortable with all the eyes on her, sucking it up and holding on to her composure even if the spoken word was less than desired. Other question arose that were a bit more personal, avoiding them the best she could.

 

"No no, I can't answer that," Puma spoke in response to her and similarities to another former hero, answering it again in much the same way to a local Spanish language reporter. It was the only time her appearance came up as a question, only getting a strange look from the kid that armed wrestled Patriot, "No puedo responder a eso en este momento.... Sí, soy de Puerto Rico. Aguadilla: Señor."