among her own kind

[she_sells_seashells]

Shell Bell finds Milliways once when she is eighteen. She has been there for two days now, setting up her sign ten minutes out of every waking hour, wiping down tables for her quarters in the staff area, eating buttery potatoes (she has been told that this is a complete nutrient package, for humans). Her wand is holding a bun of hair in place on the back of her head. Her shells are stashed safely in her room; she's budgeting carefully and she'll pay her tab when she leaves.

No one's talked to her due to the sign yet. They don't always. She sets it up anyway, like clockwork, so everyone gets the chance.

Comments

[she_sells_seashells]

"...Yes? Why, do you have an alt of him? He and his twin sister were consecutive winners, her first. What's his alt do? Does he ever come here?" Bell asks, leaning forward intently.

[pythbox]

"His alt is uh, kind of a massive dick? Also an only child, like, as far as I know. And kind of a superhero. Well, he made this big famous speech on national TV about how he's totally not a superhero at all, but he flies around in a robot suit defending the nation, so. Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, as far as I'm concerned. Which I'm pretty sure is where he was going with that, because the guy has an ego the size of Texas."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Oh. Mine seems very friendly, not at all dickish. He's about my age, though, how old's yours? And did yours build his own robot suit? Because if so, that does sound like an alt, not a name collision."

[pythbox]

"He's... I think in his thirties? Definitely built the suit, yeah."

[she_sells_seashells]

"I'll tell Sherlock to warn her brother to not become a dick in his thirties," says Bell. "You don't know if he comes here? Actually, how many 'superheroes', or technically-not-superheroes, do you have flying around saving people from things? Some of them have to have finished lady warrior school or the equivalent, yes?"

[pythbox]

"Um... Tony Stark's really the only superhero I'd say we've got," she says. "Unless you count me. But I don't count me. I only really heroed the one time."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Will you go anywhere if I go ask Sherlock how her brother takes to being interrupted while working and then, depending on her answer, bring him back to meet you, or return alone, or possibly bring Sherlock if you sound interesting to her?"

[pythbox]

'Sherlock' makes her blink, but hey, she's heard weirder.

"Nah, I'm sticking around for a while anyway," Darcy says agreeably.

[she_sells_seashells]

"Great! Back, accompanied or not, soon." And towards her sign she goes.

"Sherlock, met a lady with a magic space hammer that she cannot lend out and is not fully trained to use, but she knows an alt of Tony - in his thirties, only child - who has built himself a suit of armor and makes it his business to fly around saving people from things. How does Tony take to being interrupted while working?"

[sicaria]

"Tolerably well. Would you like me to fetch him?"

[she_sells_seashells]

"Yes please. Do you want to meet the magic space hammer lady, as well?"

[sicaria]

"Tempting," she acknowledges.

[she_sells_seashells]

"All right. I'll put the sign away in my room for now, then."

[sicaria]

"And I will find Tony," she says, getting up from the table.

[she_sells_seashells]

They relocate each other after sign has been put and Tony has been got. Bell leads the way to Darcy!

"Darcy, Tony and Sherlock Stark," she says, "Panem versions. Tony, Sherlock, this is Darcy, she of magic space hammer."

[sicaria]

Sherlock studies Darcy closely.

[ferratus]

"Okay, so what's this about another me?"

[pythbox]

Darcy is mildly uncomfortable with Sherlock's scrutiny!

"Wow," she says, staring at Tony. "You're like a walking, talking embarrassing high school photo."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Embarrassing high school photo?" Bell asks. She has learned not to continue such confused inquiries into guesses like "there is a photography school on a mountain that people are embarrassed to have gone to?" because that generally gets her laughed at.

[pythbox]

"A photo of somebody from when they were a teenager, that they're embarrassed about because they're not a teenager anymore," she says. "Except that when Stark was your age he was in grad school, which is like, two schools higher than high school, because he's mega smart."

[ferratus]

"I am not surprised," says Tony.

[she_sells_seashells]

"You didn't say if you know whether he comes here or not," Shell Bell prompts Darcy.

[pythbox]

"Not a clue, I never met the guy."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Oh. Then how did you come by your evaluation of his personality? People say all kinds of things on television." Pause. "I mean, I guess yours wasn't trying to collect sponsors so he wouldn't die? But even on the other channels I don't think everyone's like that when they get home."

[pythbox]

"Because nobody can be that much of a dick on television and a great dude in real life? I mean, the guy's led a pretty public life, you can kind of tell the persona has some basis in reality."