| How Swell of You |
| Summary: | Stargirl and Jack Flag make it to California to enjoy the massive hurricane swells, and happen to be on hand to help with some of the tidal damage |
| Date: | (2014-08-28) |
| Related: | NA |
| NPCs: | None |
| Scene Runner: | Stargirl. |
| Social/Plot: | Plot |
| Players: |
 .. .. |
Hundreds of miles off the coast of California a hurricane chugs along. It will never make land fall on the US coast but the side effects are certainly seen, including a lovely breeze coming off the Pacific and swells upwards of 25 feet. This has brought the surfers out in droves.
Despite living the East Coast, Courtney knows California surf well. It's were she learned, so as soon as the news hit her ears she contacted the team for another beach day. This time on the west coast. How they got there is beside the point, what with flying and spaceships and all, needless to say it was a fast trip.
With the timezone difference, it's still relatively early morning. The typical beach crowd hasn't arrived yet and with warnings about not swimming and all the dangers of drowning that is being blasted everywhere, it's doubtful there will be one. So it's just the hardcore surfers that are braving the ocean today.
Courtney is ready to go. New surfboard, new shorty wetsuit in blue and red and practically bouncing in anticipation as she stands and watches the huge waves crash.
Hardcore surfers and one interloper in the body of Jack Harrison. Sure Vance probably tagged along but found something else to do then hit the beach so early in the morning. But it was Jack and he didn't have much else better today and it was Courtney, who could probably ask him to jump off a bridge and he would do it. Even without being meta that is. It doesn't matter, he's there, at the beach. Its a good warm day even if not in the 80s or above, but Jack is dressed more casual. He's most likely not getting in the water today. Simply for all his powers, breathing underwater isn't one of them and those are massive swells.
Sticking back to some place that the waves won't reach after breaking and rising on the shore itself, he's watching Courtney how is about to blow up it seems. "Don't wait on my account, throw your stuff down, I'll watch dog for you." As if, not to worry about the misc. stuff she may have brought to the beach and he'll keep it in order.
There is plenty of stuff. A few towels, a large umbrella, a cooler with snacks and drinks (of both the alcoholic and non varieties), maybe a volleyball. "I haven't seen waves like this since my spring break trip to Hawaii as a college sophomore." she digs through her backpack and pulls out her 'magic' belt and clips it around her waist, she is good at surfing but she is all for taking precautions "You sure you don't want to go out with me? I promise not to let you drown.
Jacks stuff is put down ceremoniously, in a pile. He could fit in with the surf crowd if he tried, just learning to surf is the first part. "All right, I'll hold you to it," he says, taking for granted if he did drown, he's have a hard time holding her to anything really. "I'll go out a little ways. Just to say I was in the water during the hurricane swells. Or you mean I should like grab a board and really paddle out or something?" Not sure if there was a rental nearby or if it was open this early, he wasn't paying attention.
"By yourself?" Courtney shakes her head "Uh no. I would never let a surfing noob go out on waves like that alone. I meant tandem. You ride out with me on my board. It's a common way for beginners to get a feel for the waves." she hefts the board over her head easily "If you'd rather chill on the beach and watch that's cool, but all the action is happening out there." she gestures to the waves and the surfers that are catching them, with a nod of her head.
Scrunching his lips, Jack considers that, then the corners of his mouth turn up. "I'm in, just tell me what to do chief," he says, going ahead and getting ready. As much as he can, he didn't do the whole wet suite thing, so its just trunks when he gets down to it. "If I get in the way, send me back here for cool down or whatever." Taking off shoes and socks even, he mutters, "This is awesome."
As excited as she is, Courtney doesn't dash right into the water, she takes a moment to explain the procedure before hand. Paddling out in thier knees, kneeling on one knee while they wait for a suitable wave, which with this surf won't be long, and popping up to standing at her signal. Only after he confirms understanding will she head out into the water "Don't worry. I've done this before." she doesn't mention it was a long time ago and she was the noob at the time. The board is dropped into the water and she holds it for Jack to get on the front part before getting on the board herself.
Taking it all in, as much fun as he thinks it would be, tandem with a hot girl, the waves, the beach, he's also understanding the seriosness in this. This isn't the small footers between nice sets, this isn't typical conditions, large waves, the undertow. He is sticking to the procedure, even though she did grab the belt just in case, even if he might be able to hold his breath long enough to grab bottom and work back to where he could stand. Something of the human in him, which still sticks out as he was altered into what he is.
"I trust you," he says as he gets on, waits, then paddles as needed. He'll stick to paddling, leaning and moving as she says, leaving guiding them out and setting them all to her as they move.
"Famous last words!" Courtney jokes as she begins to paddle out. With the two of the working at it and considering the combined upper body strength they have its a quick trip to get to where they need to be "Take a knee." she says, indicating the one knee position "We are taking that one." she points to a smaller swell that is coming up quickly and she beging to manuver the board into position to ride it in. She won't be doing anything fancy, just riding across the wave as it heads into shore. As the wave starts to crest under them she gives the signal and pops to her feet, ready to take action if the sudden movement under them or his own movement unbalances Jack and starts to send him over.
Chuckling in respsonce to her joke, he focuses on the board and the water as they get out into the waves. Taking the knee as indicated and doing what he needs to do. He is capable of getting up, but the balance is the issue for him. Though, a testiment to heroing work and all that, he's not completely uncoodrinated. No front edge of the board bites down into the water to send them over too quickly, but he'll start to get the wobbles as they actually start moving with the wave.
Courtney has what anyone would call prefect balance, so she has no trouble staying up and doesn't have to do all that arm waving stuff that some surfers are seen doing "You got this Jack." she says as encouragement, placing a steadying palm to his back as she leans the board to send it across the wave and into the tunnel the cresting wave forms and then out the other side and she leans to send them riding the end of the wave back to shore. Of course with waves this high they will probably have to bail the board before it hits shore, but at that point the water should be shallow enough the stand it. She gives ample warning before grabbing his arm and jumping off.
Just down the beach is a gorgeous five star hotel. It's surrouned by white sand, palm trees and has a lovely pier that has been converted into an outdoor dining area. The pier there is out of the danger zone of the waves and the crash harmlessly underneath the early morning breakfast goers and the staff that wait on them. Right now the hotel is secondary. What is more important is the uber swell in the near distance, this one looks to be well in the 30+ feet category and if that wasn't enough it has a captive. And it's coming in fast. A large boat is caught in the current of the oncoming wave, And it's coming in fast. Its trajectory will take it crashing into the pier, though whether it will hit the pier supports and be washed over onto the breakfast diners is yet to be seen.
Going with Courtney's lead, Jack rides and then jumps. Unlike here, he'll be in the tumbler for a little bit. Simply because of the disorientation, not that it would be hard to fight against it. He just goes with it. When he finally gets up and pushes his messy hair back, he states, "You're too nice." About him getting it, "But don't stop, I like it." A chuckle even, rubbing his eyes to get a look back where they came from. Not seeing the boat, he does see the bigger wave though, "Damn, we should of got that one."
Courtney surfaces immediatly breaking out into laughter as she looks around for Jack, pushing her own blonde locks out of her eyes. The surfboard, being strapped to her bobs in the water nearby. "That was awesome." she raises her arms in a touchdown fashion, then uses the strap to pull the board closer so she can grab it and walk onto shore. Looking out to the incoming wave, her eyebrows wave "Wow, that is going to cause some wipeouts for sure." her eyes go from the waves to the other surfers, most of which have noticed the wave and are already making thier preps to try to ride it. "Is that a…" she points to the wave captured boat, whatever else she was going to say is drowned out by the screaming of the diners as the wave and large boat cresting it quickly advances on the pier.
Grinning right a long, Jack watches the surfers a moment as if waiting to see those wipehouts Courtney has foretold. Then she is pointing curiously, even as the dinners are starting to scream and move. "Can you …" he is shouting, asking, something. Its lost too. But he knows she is more than capable of starting to move react on her own. For himself, he's standing, which means he can move quickly to beach and start running in that direction. Stop the boat is not up his alley, considering its nearly there and the wave has crested. His hope now is to simply respond and/or prevent other damage from happening as well as help the dinners.
Courtney nods to Jack, she isn't sure what he said so she makes it up. She runs in that direction as well, the staff appearing in her hand as she moves quickly. Running isn't going to cut it though, flying though they may get there in just enough time. Between one breath and the next the wetsuit is gone and the Stargirl costume is in its place and she is grabbing Jack to get them there before the boat crushes anyone "I'll do what I can with the boat and you do whatever you can with the people." is her suggestion. Dropping Jack unceremoniously amoung the people trying to flee she heads to the end of the pier the staff held up, even as she lands, and forming a half dome under the shadow of the looming wave and boat.
What he would of said woulf of been anything she could do to alter the boats course, guide it, lift it. He's not sure what she can do with the staff, just she has better range than him. Her own line of thinking is probably in the same vein as she drops him with the people. "The people and dock support, if needed," he agrees, assuming the worst if the boat hits. "Orderly," he says, as orderly as it can get. Watching for any people that fall, he'll get between the last people fleeing and the dock where Courtney takes her stand, if he has time, he'll kneel down to start punching the dock. Not knowing much about engineering himself, if figures if he could damage it enough here to separate the end with length the people are on, it could cushion where they are. He won't go crazy if he notices Stargirl managing to hold the boat, keep collateral to a minimum.
People in panic mode aren't the best listeners, but there are a few with level heads and seeing that Jack and Stargirl are on the scene begins to play minor hero as well and help herd the crowd behind where Jack is punching at the wooded pier.
Separating one end of the pier via punching a groove through the wood should be safe enough. As long as it done in the proper location, like a foot after the supports. It causes the whole pier to rock and shake, tables and chairs bounce around and dishes atop the tables fall off the side to crash and in some cases shatter into peices.
At the other end the waves washes over the pier and by extension Stargirl, the boat fortunatly bounces off of her forcefield and to the side, unfortunately the wave catches it and smashes it into the peir supports causing them to snap in half and the end of the pier to list to the side and then collapse under the pressure of the wave receding. When it does Stargirl is nowhere to be seen!
Jack finishes what he can, meaning to not only bet between supports but to hit some of the cross beams that X between the supports if he can. Then he hears the crash and looks up to see what's going on. In case he needs to put his body down in between the supports as well to buffer the crash even. That's when he notices Stargirl is not where she should be. He's done what he can here, the people are hearding, even if jostled both by each other, his hands hitting the pier, and the boat.
"Stargirl!" Baffled half a moment, he can't wait, jumping to the side of the gap he made that she is one, he runs out. Damning the stability of the pier as it lists, what important is finding her now. He'll proceed as fast as he can with enough caution that he can try to help without adding to the peril by being in danger himself. He prepares for the worst, breathing deep trained breathes, in case he goes down and needs to hold it.
The waves haven't let up at all, though not as big as the one that caused the problem they are still large enough to wash over the collapsed pier, which is still in one peice but probably won't be for long; the collapse having weakend the frame work that holds it all together. Holding onto the pier rail and keeping the breathing under control is certainly key to staying upright as the waves go in and out.
It's known that Stargirl is a strong swimmer, but the hurricane driven surf would challenge anyone, even super strong metas. It may take a bit, but finally as one of the smaller (in relation to the big ones) waves recedes she can be seen clinging to barnacle covered support beam. With how rapidly the waves come in and go out clinging is about all she can do. Her staff seems to be missing and if she lets go to try to summon it she will be washed away.
The one thing he does have going for him, is that his powers don't just leave him. More, sometimes, that he's stuck with it. Jack gives a quick look around, just in case he sees the staff or something to use, but most likely not. Settling on the idea if he can get to her, she can get her staff, then they'll be good. He takes half a second to step back then jogs and leaps from the pier in her direction. Taking all the breath he can. Also, he isn't any more dense then normal, its him against the waves. Not assuming he'll be able to do it perfectly and breath regularly, he just goes in and swims for her. His goal is to get to her and offer enough support, even if from under the waves, to give her leverage to get her staff.
It's a hard swim, the waves coming in pushing him toward shore, the waves receding him moving him more quickly toward his goal. It doesn't take long though to figure out how to keep from being dragged to far away from the goal as he swims forward. As Jack gets closer he will note that she is conscious, at least conscious enough to not let go. Had she gone in willing she probably could have handled herself, but she didn't, and has certainly shallowed some water, and probably hit a few other supports before she managed to grab hold of the support.
With the waves doing thier job it takes a bit for Stargirl to process that she has help in the form of her teammate and when he grabs her and tells her to let go she is reluctant and first, but eventually trusts he knows what he is doing. She lets go, held in place by him. Another wave has her couging and sputtering but the staff is in her hand now and up into the air the both go. In her state concentration isn't all that easy, so it isn't that high up, they may even still be partially in the water still, but soon enough they are dropped on the beach several feet from the water line.
Even at the beach, Jack just doesn't let go. Forget all the people, what trouble they're still in - or disarray at least. Hopefully injurs are the sort that will heal in that vicinity. He's still worried about Courtney. He'll finally push off the ground, at least enough to not have any weight on her, but not getting up. Just enough space to be decent, decent enough. "Damnit, you scared me," hopefully she's awake enough so he's not quite talking to himself. Maybe partially a jibe at himself, as he completley forgot the people and went to her, everything else be damned.
She just lays there unmoving, she's breathing, inbetween racking coughs. Her injuries are minimal, a black and blue knot above an eye and sractches on arms and legs from the sharp barnacles. Were it not for her enhanced durability she would certainly be in worse shape. "Are the civilians alright?" she asks, her voice rough, "Did everyone make it to safety?"
Blinking a moment, Jack recalls the rest of the situation and turns to look up at the pier. Responders are starting to respond, those away from the beach. There are no screams or tears at the moment it would seem. Maybe some tears, but not the missing person sort, merely the startled/scared/shocked variety. "I think so, they were all past me, that part of the dock looks stable." And no one is calling for staff left behind even. A general sense of shock pervades though. Getting to his knees, he assess Courtney some more, the knot, the scratches, nothing broken it would seem. "We should get you out of here," mostly for the press that will not be far behind the responders. He'd let her walk it off, but with the coughs and the rough voice, Jack gives both arms, picking or lifting up. As in, if she doesn't move otherwise, he'll just carry her, otherwise he'll help support her.
Knowing everyone is safe and that they have done all the could to make sure of it she lifts a hand to give a thumbs up. "Sorry." Stargirl says as she is helped to her feet, which she is quite unsteady on "Going over board wasn't part of my plan. "What no more surfing?" she knows she isn't fit for it right now, she can barely stand up with her jelly legs, but she at least is joking.
Not wanting to completely offend her sense of being able, Jack gives what support she takes to her. "I suppose, if there's something new since Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer that's good, maybe," he offers, referencing video games. "You're catching on with the Guardians thing pretty quick - as much as being used as a weapon by Despero was part of my prior plan. We wing it." Giving a look back to see that no one has followed, he continues, "Maybe tomorrow though." For surfing. "Sorry, you missed the good waves, taking me on the kiddie one."
"I think winging it is probably what we do best." we in this case being heros in general and not the team specifically. Her feet move, but most of her neglible weight is on Jack "You better beleive tomorrow. The waves will still be there tomorrow. Not quite as big but still some choice waves to ride on." of course she is going to have to get another surfboard, seems she lost another one in the emergency "Where we going?" this part she isn't sure on, as this recovering wasn't part of the plan either.
"A place for you to rest," he says, leading on, "Away from here." Not that it wouldn't be bad, the luxury hotel and all, but too close to everyone that may have seen him - not in hero garb. "Hold on, I'll get us going faster," he'll lift, so they can get back to where they were. "You'd tell me if you needed real medical attention right?" He doesn't know here stamina/endurance/healing. Mostly he's seen flying staff/belt stuff so he really doesn't know.
"Can I get a beer to go along with that resting?" Stargirl asks, wincing slightly as she is lifted up. "I would. No machismo, need to look tough for my peeps here." she looks down at herself putting one arm over his shoulder while she pokes a finger in one of the holes the sharp barnacles tore into her costume "I'm going to be a big walking, talking bruise later though.
.
Chuckling lightly at her replies to him, Jack nods. "Definitely a beer - more than one even, it'll help with the bruises later I bet." Then looking down at that hole she pokes at, "And I hope you know a good tailor, or your staff like does that for you." He certainly doesn't know one, mostly he probably knows an outfitter that supplies the clothes to make his get up. "You were tough for the peeps, you dominated that show Courtney." More in a quiet voice. "The important thing now, what kind of beer. I mean, too early for something dark but then, black and blue, maybe it would fit. I'm over IPA's, what's new anyways?"
"Or at least help me not feel them later." Stargirl puts her free hand on the belt "That's the belt. The staff just does the flying and forcefields." and the lasers and constructs too, but she figures that's a given "It'll be fixed when I switch back." if his hands weren't full she would give him a fistbump so instead fist bumps his chest "At this point I would take a Budweiser." at this early hour for a drink the will probably be regulated to hotel bars, and there are plenty of those around, some may even have poolside bars, with loungchairs and cute wait staff to bring them the drinks.
At the least hotel bar, and if there is one with a pool, that's a must. If he could get one that is pink, with a fun shapped pool even, the better. Or one with a bar in the water. He won't be chosey so much as it means off the beach and relaxing. Jack grins, "Budweiser it is. I need a belt." Simply to help with his clothes that is. "I'd take a budweiser in a glass even, but I prefer right from the bottle. I'll make sure its not on tap. Now you got me thirsty." He's smiling now, feeling better the more she talks.
Courtney hmmms at the thought "Maybe your girlfriend can make you one using mine as a guide." her tone suggests that she could be joking about calling Whitney his girlfriend, but she is serious about the overall suggestion. She would certainly like to know how her cosmic belt works. "That one." she points to a hotel that seems to have an overall flamingo, more Florida than California vibe. "I was there as a kid, they have a poolside bar.
Giving a chuckle that is more closer to laugh, real mirth that is, Jack nods, "Almost, right, I'm just missing green skin and a yellow shirt." As if to deflect the girlfriend comment while still being amused at the thought of it. "She might, but that's pretty powerful stuff, what if she opens a black hole with it or something." He really does hate cosmic stuff, black holes are a real worry for him.
Everything in hand, literally perhaps, he heads for the flamingo looking one, it has its appeal. "Your parents took you to the poolside bar as a kid … explains a lot," he offers over.
"You would be famous. Jack Flag, the only human to ever be sucked into a singularity." Courtney is a criminal justice major not physics so if there is a difference between a black hole and a singularity she isn't aware of it "Maybe I'll give it all to myself then. I don't need people stealing my schtick." she punches him in the chest again but not hard enough to hurt, even if she could, "It was nothing like that."
"No one could pull it off like you, that's for sure," grins Jack. "And if I was sucked in, you'd have to carry on, sing my ballad and all that. Kentucky is a good place to find a band for that sort of thing." Murder ballad's that is - Johnny Cash style. Then he nods, "Nah, you turned out good kid. Maybe that was my parents.
Courtney has never tried singing outside of drunken karoke, she isn't sure how good she would be at it "Who are you calling kid? You are barely any older than me. Save the kid jokes for Vance." she waves to the doorman and then to the desk clerk as they walk past and she points them in the right direction. The pool bar is pretty empty, a bartender, a bored waitress and a few business men and women trying the hair of the dog technique to cure the hangover from partying the night before. "Two beers please, in a bottle, don't care what just keep them coming!" she calls out as she is placed in a lounge chair "And two for my friend here as well." they get stares of course but those she can handle, "You should have seen the other guys." she tells the business people and regales them with a made of story of why they came to be there.