Cowman

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"But before I left, Shiomi-nee was teaching me about this one mental technique that lets you perceive colors differently, kind of like a 'mental greenscreen' she said,"

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"Mmm, mental greenscreen, yeah," Harry said in the knowing way people use when they have absolutely no idea what someone is talking about. "I expect that'd be really useful for...... stuff."

He could feel his confident air slipping. Employing a strategy that many had used before him, Harry drank more liquor.

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"I don't want to kill you, you're funny. The Lady is Belladonna Vetrano, you probably know her by her codename though: Ghost Widow."

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"Ghost Widow," Harry said, giving a quick full-body shudder. "Yeah, I know of HER." He took a slightly larger swig of his drink, mumbling something about "cold hands" as he did.


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"And yeah...I guess you could say I'm a metahuman, but I won't be throwing tables and chairs around or creating distortions in reality in order to suck people towards me so I can stab them with shards of ice."

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"Well, I guess not all superpowers can be flashy." Harry studied the pandomonium inside the cage for a few seconds. "Long as it's useful I s'pose. I mean, what if you had super-powers, but it was somethin' like the ability to change the color of someone's clothes just by lookin' at 'em."

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"They're not here, I think they're back home or maybe on some super secret mission for the Lady," Shioh said, shrugging.

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"Ah, so yer a meta, eh?" Harry replied, dropping his feet back on the floor and picking lazily at the bowl of pretzels on the table. "Seems to be a lotta them on this cruise."

He looked over toward the arena; a living, breathing example of his last statement.

"But training and fighting," Harry continued, turning back to Shioh. "Secret missions and a mysterious Lady? Yer makin' me feel mundane over here. Can ya tell me who 'the Lady' is, or would ya have to kill me afterward? Cause I don't think I want to know THAT badly."

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"What are 'cajones'?"

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"Part of a guy's groin," Harry informed her happily. "Although I think it may be some kind of finger food too. Or maybe it just SOUNDED like cajones. I really can't remember, but the first one's the more popular definition."

"So are Asuka and... Shee-o-whatsit... who yer livin' with now? They on the cruise too?"

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"I still wish they hadn't executed Uncle Roberto so close to me though, the blood ruined the pretty dress he bought for me."

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"Hm, heavy," Harry said, nodding in a knowing way to indicate just how 'heavy' it was. "Those Carnival guys're pretty freaky too. But then, maybe that's just my instinctual fear of clowns coloring my judgement."

He shrugged.

"Still, seems things turned out pretty well for ya," he continued, smiling. "Nice vacation on a super cruise ship like this.... still can hardly believe I'm here. Y'know, I don't think I've ever been anywhere nearly half as fancy as this."

He sighed contentedly, taking another drink.

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"This room reminds me a lot of home, and hot dogs taste better at home. Do you want one?"

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"No thanks," Harry said, wincing a little as he looked at the hot dogs. "I'm afraid if I eat anything too substantial while drinking this stuff, I'll be upchucking all over the nice people in the row below us."

Harry sucked in a breath through his teeth, hissing in sympathy when Silk was hit.

"Ouch. Kinda brutal," he observed, sipping at his glass. "I gotta ask though," he added, turning back to Shioh. "What home did you have if THIS place reminds you of it?"

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"Waffa dwinthin?"

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"Huh?" Harry answered, not understanding her right away. He worked it out in a second, holding the glass up to look at the drink himself.

"Actually, I forget what it's called now," he said, frowning as the name refused to come to him. "Some kinda punch. Mixed with paint stripper by the feel of it."

He drank a little more.

((Bwa..? Okay, did I really miss Henteko talking to Harry? I read back through but didn't see any mention of his name. Dang you and yer stealth postings, Devious. ))

"So, who's winning?"

Harry jumped a bit at the sudden voice in his ear, nearly dislodging the small fairy from her hideout amongst his dreads.

"Bugg? What're you doin' here?" he said, his eyes looking upward as though he'd be able to see her. "I told you I could handle this date just fine on my own."

"I'm just here to watch the fight, I swear."

Harry didn't buy her innocent tone for a second. He was distracted from giving her a scathing reply when the guy next to him stood up and walked off in a bit of a huff, mumbling about stuck up heroes or something.

"What was that about?" Harry wondered. Had someone else mistaken him for a hero? He'd been listening to Bugg, and with the constant dull roar of voices in the arena, he'd completely missed Henteko talking to him.

Of course, Harry had no idea what the guy's beef was. Shrugging he turned back to the match.

"You can stick around for now," he told Bugg. "But as soon as the fight's over, you're gone."

"Deal," she agreed happily, settling down in Harry's hair to watch.

Harry leaned back in his seat and propped his feet up on the table, sipping deeply from his drink.

"Y'know, it may scorch the palate," he said contently to himself. "But I STILL say it's dang tasty."

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“Oh look at you? Trying to look all superior-like”

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"Eh, it just doesn't work for some people," Harry shrugged, running a hand through his dreadlocks. "I always feel like such a tool when I try to get all high and mighty."

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“So…what do you think of the Fallen Lotus”

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Harry gave a low whistle as he looked the outfit over.

"VERY nice," he said, nodding in appreciation. "And here I was thinkin' you were just another pretty face off on a cruise. 'Fallen Lotus', huh? Has a nice ring to it. Always liked lotuses."

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“Well, I guess I’m the only Meta then?” Looking over at Harry, “you sure you don’t wanna fight with me? It’ll be fun I swear!”

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Harry's gentleman-ly streak flared up at the most inopportune times. Sighing in defeat he opened his mouth to tell Silk that'd he'd give it a try.

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"And if it's a two on two, I suppose the beautiful lady won't have any qualms taking me."

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“Well I guess if you don’t want to Harry…you can just cheer me on”

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Absolution!!

At the very brink, he'd once again managed to secure his own a**. Of course, the 'manliness' rating he'd built up would take a severe hit, but he'd overcome such obstacles before.

He wished Silk good luck and grabbed himself a seat nearby with a good view. Harry looked down at the three men who would be going into the ring with Silk.

He just had a hard time understanding why everyone seemed so eager for a scrap. He didn't question Silk's desire to be in the fight; she was a woman and Harry didn't understand MOST of the things women did. He'd stopped trying to long ago. The others though... it was just that, they were on a CRUISE SHIP. Didn't they have anything better to do?

Then again, it was very rare that Harry got to travel in anything even approaching 'luxury', so maybe he was just being a dense hick about it. Naturally Bugg would give him hell for squeezing out of the match, but he didn't care. No spending the night covered in band-aids for HIM. He'd had enough of that in recent months.

And of course, he'd almost immediately been labeled as a Hero. Not that he minded all that much, it was just that it seemed to happen all the time. Probably because he didn't walk about with that vague air of superiority that most freelancers tended to develop.

Hmmm, maybe he should try that. Harry sat up straighter in his seat and attempted to adopt an 'air of superiority'. This pretty much consisted of him pointing his nose upward as though he were sniffing at some aroma. However, he felt ridiculous and was getting dizzy from looking down his nose, so he gave up and slouched back down in his chair.

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"PSSSSSSSHHHHH." Famine rolled his eyes, taunting a bit loudly. "C'mon, pally." He said, smacking a magazine into his TMP, "I'm normal, see, just like you! Regular old Joe, yeah? C'mon, it'll be great!"

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Harry looked pointedly at the man's elaborate get-up and then at his own conventional (if somewhat loud) attire.

"Regular Joe. Sure," he said, with more than a hint of disbelief.

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“are you even a meta? I never asked!”

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Harry felt completely lost at this point. He remembered dancing, his shirt was ripped, and he was holding a drink that was melting off a layer of flesh from his throat.

Chaos had struck again.

"A meta?" Harry said, bewildered. "No, I'm a tourist. Now I'm all for tryin' crazy stuff, especially when stuff like THIS is involved," he indicated the drink. "But this seems pretty dangerous. I doubt I'd enjoy my cruise if I had ta spend the rest of it in a body cast."

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“I have it in observe mode so we should be ‘ported over to the observation decks near the main cage match so come here so we can go!!! I have been dying to see a good fight. I’ll go first just don’t be too long here k?”

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Harry watches her disappear in a quick flash of light. Well, while arena matches weren't his usual bag, he didn't really have any strong feelings AGAINST them either. Plus he also believed in being a gentleman; and if a gentleman's date wants to see an arena fight, the gentleman shuts his bloody mouth and takes her to see a bloomin' arena fight.

Deciding not to dwell on how he slipped into British slang on that last sentence, Harry took another swig of his drink, had a brief coughing fit, and hit the teleport button.

I can just see hitting the drop-down menu in the character creator.


-Skirts-
_______

Mini
Plaid
Leather
Easy-Access

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“you could say that? We do perform on a regular basis, but usually the finale is slightly more exciting."

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Harry didn't even begin to know what that mean, but didn't let it bother him. It wasn't enough to worry over.

"Oh, thanks," Harry said as Silk pulled his shirt out of the stool, waving off her apology for tearing it. "Please, I've ruined more shirts than I can count," he assured her. "But hey, if you insist on buyin' a new one, who am I to argue? 'Anything is acceptable if it's free', as my philosophy professor used to say. That and 'quit doodling in your textbook or I'll throw Plato's bust at your head'."

"He was a really well-spoken guy," Harry nodded thoughfully as he took a small swig of his drink. The next few seconds consisted of him staring wide-eyed into space with his mouth hanging open.

"Woo," he muttered to himself after he'd recovered, looking down at the drink in his hand.

*sip*

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“What can we get you this evening” The two acrobats speak in unison as silk smiles and looks over at him for a reaction out of the corner of her eye.

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Harry couldn't have been having a better time. It was like someone was holding a rave inside a circus; and Harry quite enjoyed both.

"Well, gee," he said, scratching the back of his head. "I guess I'll have.... what was that one you made in your room? One of those I think."

"Y'know, you guys're really good," he added to the two acrobatic bartenders. "Do you do this full time, or are you in some kinda show or something?" He'd definitely have a lot to tell Six and Bugg after this.

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she puts her semi-solid arms around his neck and says with a smirk, "if you like this, just wait until we get to the arena...but then again" phasing through him again, "we have all night"


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Needless to say, having his date suddenly turn luminescent and intangible was a bit of a shock. Luckily Harry managed not to let it trip him up. After all, with places like Paragon and the Rogue Isles, adapting quickly to these kinds of things was almost a necessity for everyday life.

"I don't know," Harry replied, still grinning widely. "This 'arena' is gonna have to be VERY impressive to top THIS."

Harry fancied himself something of a collector of amazing things. Amazing stories, amazing objects, amazing experiences, etc. And, in his opinion, the sight of the lithe figure glowing brilliantly and moving fluidly before him, definitely qualified.

((No problem TemptingTorrent. Enjoy yer mini-cation. We'll be here when ya get back. ))

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Needless to say she is a very good dancer and she coaxes harry to dance with her.

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Despite his earlier confessions of ineptitude, Harry managed to show a respectable level of dancing skill. While he didn't reach Silk's level, he held his own, and seemed to be having the time of his life doing it.

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“I figured we’d dance, and then take in a match or two unless,” getting a touch pouty “you don’t think you can take a little violence on your vacation.”

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"Well, I'm actually a very timid kinda guy," Harry said, adopting a mock-serious tone. "And try to avoid violence in most forms. However, luckily for you, I also have low self-esteem and require the constant validation of others. Because of which, I collapse like a house of cards under peer pressure. So lead the way to this 'wild club' of yours and I'll do my utmost not to embaress you by fainting."

Briggsie, welcome back!! Rasputin's still waitin' for that modeling session.

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“Ok, all ready I’m surprised you havn’t heard of Calypso its quite famous on land and on sea.”

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Harry let himself be led down the hallway with the kind of lazy stride you only see on people have who have no place to go and aren't in a particular hurry to get there.

"Well, I'm a busy guy," he gave a half-smile. "Plus I'm not too great at rememberin' things like that. I might have heard of it and just don't remember it. I do that kinda stuff all the time."

"Buy hey, you seem pretty up to date on classy stuff, so if you say it's cool, I'll take yer word for it."

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“can you move that over to the opposite side of the room over there under the porthole? The bellhop kid brought it in but I can’t move it at all.”

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"No problem," Harry shrugged, picking up the bag and moving it over to the porthole. It WAS kinda heavy, but didn't really seem all that unmanagable.

"Still," he thought. "She IS kinda small. Maybe she doesn't work out. Or maybe I've just been hanging around people who are stronger than they look for too long. Hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, C-man. This gives you a chance to look tough and is cooler than opening a pickle jar or something. Hmmm, I wonder where that saying came from. I mean, what IS a gift horse anyway."

Harry had to literally shake that line of thought from his head as he set the bag down and turned back to Silk.

"There ya go. So, what's this night club like, anyway? Can't believe I've been onboard all this time and never even got around to seeing it."

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“That’s what it is! I used spiced rum instead of melon vodka…can you ever forgive me?”

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"Uh... sure," Harry answered, a little confused. "No problem. I don't know much about mixed drinks anyway." He popped open the Coke and took a swig.

"So, Silk huh? That's interesting. Don't think I've ever run across anyone named that before."

"Well I'm the adventurous type, so I'll try just about anything once," Harry grinned as he accepted the drink.


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“so as soon as you came in I realized something…I don’t even know your name!”

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"Yeah, I didn't get yours either," he nodded, taking a sip of the drink. "Mine's Harry. I... woo." Harry cut off in midsentence, looking down at the glass in his hand. "That's pretty dang tasty," he said, taking another careful sip.