[OPEN]

[alienheroes]

Who: Ben Tennyson and YOU
Where: All over LA
When: Today (March 21st), late afternoon to evening
What: A new resident of Los Angeles decides to get more acquainted with his surroundings - and starts working to get involved in the superhero community.
Warnings: Some violence/child being threatened

Settling into their new home took the Tennysons a lot longer than expected - and Ben ended up so busy as a result that he apparently completely missed out on a chance to punch cyborgs. It doesn't occur to him that that may be for the best.

Of course, the moment he's got some free time, he sets about getting more familiar with the area - as far as he's concerned, living in a huge city like this is a dream come true, especially considering all the inevitable opportunities for crime-fighting.

Late Afternoon

[1]After school, Ben is inexorably drawn to comic book stores and arcades, where he is apparently determined to use all his allowance at once. He will chat with anyone who's interested, though he's only likely to actually approach someone if they happen to catch his eye in some way, either through an unusual appearance or if he suspects they're up to something illegal (though he may give them a by if the illegal activity in question is something he considers 'deserved' or just).

If he finds he can't stop a crime as a human (or if he just really wants to get back at someone because he's eleven), he may duck around a corner to transform.

Evening

[2]He's expected to be home before eight, but he's willing to cut it a little close - after all, evening and night are prime criminal-punching times. He's going to be sticking to the shadows as much as possible now, transforming at a moment's notice if necessary.

[3]He may get bored at some point, in which case he'll probably spend some time just flying around as Heatblast, actively seeking out trouble (more actively than he already was, that is).

Whether he's a human or an alien at the moment, Ben will be DELIGHTED to talk to any superheroes he may encounter, and will go to great lengths to do so.

[OOC: If you have a specific scenario in mind, contact me; if not, then just list the number of your preferred situation in the subject line!]

Comments

1!

[scribes]

Di had passed by this arcade several times and had always wondered what it was. It was so flashy, loud, and everyone inside seemed to always be having fun so she decided it was high time that she investigate.

Once inside it had even more of an excited atmosphere than she had anticipated. It was rather infectious and she found herself just sliding through the games, pausing to watch other people play any that caught her interest.

Eventually she's standing off to the side of a game Ben is playing, watching him and the game with bright and curious eyes.

[alienheroes]

Ben doesn't notice her at first, all his focus poured into the fighting game in front of him. After a bit, though, his opponent gets a good few hits in and a big, red 'GAME OVER' flashes on the screen.

"Aw, come on!" Ben throws his hands in the air, and only then notices Di next to him. His eyebrows lift a bit; he's found he doesn't typically see adults at places like this (or maybe he just doesn't register their presence, who knows really), and he's seen maybe two Alternians in his whole life.

"If you wanna play, I wouldn't bother," he says, shoving his hands in his pockets and indicating the game with a jerk of his head. "I'm pretty sure that thing's rigged."

[scribes]

It was hard not to get caught up in Ben's enthusiasm. Even if Di didn't really get what was going on (two cartoonish figures were fighting on the screen? He was pressing buttons?) it was pretty entertaining.

"I don't really have much experience with these..." She trailed off. Games, she supposes. She stepped closer to it, peering at the arcade machine. "What exactly is it that you do?"

[alienheroes]

"Really?" He wasn't especially surprised; Ben was in the habit of assuming that adults didn't know anything about video games, anyway, and she may have been new to Earth besides. But that didn't mean he wouldn't act surprised, on principle, whenever anyone didn't spend the majority of their time mashing at buttons.

"It's pretty simple, I guess. You just stick a quarter in here and then you use the buttons to fight and stuff." Truth be told, as bad as he was at explanations, he didn't intend to pass up a chance to tell someone about something that he knew about and they didn't.

[scribes]

When Ben described it like that, it didn't seem quite as fun as it looked. Nevertheless Di moved forward to get a closer look, watching the screen as it showed two AIs fighting against each other. Her eyes fell to the controls, considering.

"This one isn't good, you said? Which would you suggest?"

[alienheroes]

Ben's eyes lit up.

"Okay, so if you're looking at fighting games, Sumo Slammers Five is the absolute best! It works mostly the same as Sumo Slammers Four, which had really great controls and combos, but with more moves and characters to choose from, and it's pretty much the best thing ever-"

He continued extolling the virtues of the game with little regard as to whether his 'recommendation' could be followed by anyone who did not have a fairly specific set of interests, and started to back toward the area of the arcade where he had noticed the game in question earlier in the day, moving slowly enough to make sure she was following.

[scribes]

Di followed Ben--though the same could not be said of if she followed his words. Not from lack of trying or interest but really, when you came from a time where video games did not exist they were a little hard to wrap your mind around.

The machine Ben brought her to didn't look that different in shape, but she could see what played out on the screen was. After a moment of studying it she reached into her bag and pulled out two quarters, holding one out to Ben.

"Mind teaching me?"

[alienheroes]

Ben grinned; "Sure!" He popped the quarter into the slot on the machine, then waved Di over to the console, pointing out the controls. "You move around with the joystick and attack with these buttons. There's a two-player mode; I promise I'll go easy on you since it's your first time playing!"

[scribes]

She placed her own quarter in the machine and gave a nod. Di doubted she'd be much of a challenge this early on, but damn if she wasn't going to try. The character select screen came up and she just sort of stared at it before moving the joystick.

When the cursor moved as she had dictated, showing the new character highlighted she let out a small "Oh!" of surprise. Her grinned widened and it looked like she was already having fun just taking a look at the different characters.

Fortunately she noticed the timer and picked one before it ran out. "Sorry. We don't have these where I came from." She apologized, with a sheepish laugh.

3

[sufferist]

Heatblast has a way of sticking out in the night - especially to a creature that's nocturnal. Ben is spotted by the Alternian a far ways off, as the troll settles leisurely on the top of a building, watching the alien go.

The amusement, however, lasts for less than half a minute. Then he needs to look closer.

Glowing, blood-like liquid secretes into a pool around him, and as Heatblast gets near, Signless lashes out at him with it like a whip, trying to grab one of his legs and haul him down. Why is anybody's guess, at this point.

[alienheroes]

Ben catches sight of a flash of red an instant before it reaches him; he swerves out of the way, managing to avoid it, but it's a near thing. "HEY! What-"

He quickly identifies the source of the attack, and his eyes narrow. He's been in this form for a while now, but he figures he can deal with this pretty quickly. He does not consider the possibility that the previous whip attack may have been an indication that this person might actually be a distinct threat. "Fine, do you really wanna do this?"

He forms a fireball in his hands and hurls it toward the rooftop, aiming for the ground at Signless's feet, then rockets toward him.

[sufferist]

When one decides to attack a being that's on fire, one sort of anticipates risking getting a little burned - or at least putting a good effort into preventing it. The troll does the latter, raising a shield of shimmery liquid in order to stave off the flames of that initial attack.

"Not looking for an explanation, then?" he says, leaping backwards and out of the way of the boy's trajectory, letting the liquid disperse across the surface of the rooftop.

[alienheroes]

He twists at the last second to slam feet-first into the roof, then straightens to face his apparent attacker. "If I weren't, you'd be charcoal by now!" That's actually inaccurate for two main reasons - one, Signless just demonstrated. The other is that Ben is not actually that fond of burning people to death.

It is true that Ben wants to know what's up here - it just so happens that he tends toward something of an 'attack first, ask questions (and gloat) later' mentality.

Another fireball swirls into existence in each hand, and he shifts his stance, ready to attack again. "So what's your problem? If you're not looking for a fight, what do you want?"

[sufferist]

He doesn't answer. Instead, he just pulls on the liquid he spread across the roof's surface, and brings it up to wrap around Ben's legs, like thin tendrils of energy. His red eyes glow in the fire light.

[alienheroes]

Whoa. WHOA.

"HEY- What happened to an explanation, huh?!" He struggles against the red liquid - is this blood what is going on here - and hurls one fireball at it, the other at Signless.

As he takes aim, he glances at what he can see of his attacker's face, catching a glimpse of grey skin and red eyes - he hadn't thought trolls could have red eyes, but he's not really dwelling on that right now.

[sufferist]

"An explanation to the victor, hm?" Signless purrs, putting even more of his energy into the psionic bind he has on Ben, drawing energy from his own anger and from Ben's frustration and alarm. The liquid holds the boy's legs for now, and Signless neatly leaps out of the way of the fireball, bringing forward his staff in the form of a spear and pressing it in threateningly.

"What is your species?"

[alienheroes]

Ben draws away from the spear, as best he can with his legs restrained, hoping his mounting panic doesn't show on his face. (It does.)

He starts to push his core temperature higher, gearing up to release a sudden burst of heat in the hopes of driving Signless back. In the meantime, he opens his mouth to stall (he actually has no idea what Heatblast actually is; he may have found out at some point, but he's thoroughly forgotten since then), but, at that moment, any formulated plan he may have is cut short by a shrill beeping from the hourglass emblem on his chest.

His gaze jerks down to stare at it, eyes widening further. "Oh no, not now, come on-"

One blinding flash of red later, and Ben is standing on the roof, perfectly human - and considerably smaller. He jumps to take advantage of the situation however he can, trying to slip out of the tendrils and run for the nearest fire escape.

[1] AYYYYYY

[superball]

Eusine likes comic book stores.

It's not because he's a huge nerd, or because he enjoys the sight of colourful spandex (although both these statements are entirely true.) It's not even because they're a great source of ideas for dumb strategies that should in no way work in real life.

Mostly, it's because he's clinging onto the idea that someday, he'll walk in and find someone started a series about his adventures as THE INCREDIBLE MYSTICALMAN.

Needless to say, he looks awfully disappointed as he rifles through the various comics. Why would people pay to read about some schmuck who got bitten by a radioactive centipede when they could have a dashing glass wizard! He even looks amazing as a civilian, as demonstrated by the fact he's currently wearing his full magician suit. Maybe he has a gig afterwards. Maybe it's Maybelline.

[alienheroes]

After some time spent flipping through comics and searching shelves, Ben has figured out which of his favorite titles this store carries, picked out a few issues to buy, and is ready to- what is that guy wearing.

Ben casually walks over to the other side of the store, which, not-very-coincidentally, places him next to the somewhat upset-looking man in the cape. He stares at Eusine curiously for a few seconds before speaking.

"So, uh... find anything good?"

[superball]

Ben's voice brings him out of his reverie. He gives him a glance; he doesn't appear to be peeved the kid interrupted his obviously very important train of thought, but he does kind of look like he's assessing whether he'd make a good audience or not.

Considering he almost immediately opens his mouth to share his woes, the answer appears to be yes.

"Not really." he sighs, in a somewhat overdramatic fashion. "I can't believe they still haven't made a series about one of the rising stars of the superhero world!"

[alienheroes]

Of course, mention of a 'rising star of the superhero world' immediately brings Ben's thoughts to himself, but he obviously can't let that show.

Ben leans against a shelf, shoving one hand into his pocket and keeping hold of his selected comics with the other. "Yeah? Who?"

He's partly just trying to gauge whether his activities over the summer have gained any attention here, but he's also genuinely curious; in general, the more info he can pick up on the hero community around LA, the better.

[superball]

"I am talking - of course - about the Mysticalman!" He can't help but dramatically flourish his cape, even though he is absolutely not the superhero in question. "A master of illusion and cunning, who relentlessly battles evil with his powerful magic and daring stunts!"

A pause.

"I heard he's quite dashing, to boot."

[alienheroes]

Wow, this guy is really excited about this superhero who he totally is not. Too bad Ben has never heard of this Mysticalman guy.

"Uh... yeah. I bet he's really great?" Magic can be pretty cool, even if it's not really Ben's thing. Speaking of which - "Hey, didja hear about those aliens that were showing up last summer?"

[superball]

"I did!" Thank you, random conspiracy theorist websites! "Didn't some of them show up again recently? I wonder what they came to Earth for!"

Well, he sure sounds excited. Aliens might not be His Thing (that being magical creatures), but it doesn't mean he doesn't find them cool. What kind of guy wouldn't read news about an alien that seems to be entirely made of fire, really.

[alienheroes]

Now this is something that Ben has plenty of experience talking about.

"I've heard they don't really stick around long enough to talk, so who knows?" Ben grins; he seems awfully pleased with the exploits of these aliens, and with Eusine's excitement about them. "They seem to want to help, though."