2013-04-21 - Fangirl of Squeal Meets Man of Steel

It is a gray day outside, and a windy one at that, as the temperature has dropped considerably in the last few hours. Standing inside a busy subway car are Kara and Barbara, both dressed in their civilian clothes, holding quite a few bags of groceries in their hands. The two blondes draw attention for different reasons, chief among them being Valkyrie's lack of modesty while in her civvies and how she hugs and kisses the younger, angel-faced girl besides her. With a short skirt and just a short trenchcoat, all in purples and pinks, Valkyrie whispers to her friend before reaching the station they have set to meet Kara's cousin in.

"Oh my gods... I am, like, super nervous! What if he doesn't like me!? What do I say!? I... do I need, like, a secret identity!? I don't have any skills! Yoga! My secret identity will be a Yoga teacher! Will he buy that?", the girl rambles without reprieve, looking at herself on the glass windows, trying to make herself look perfect.

Kara Zor-El looks over at Barbara curiously as she talks about her wanting her secret identity to be a yoga instructor. "Do you do a lot of Yoga? And I'm sure he'll like you. I mean you guys have a lot in common." She pauses then says, "But refresh my memory, who are we talking about?"

Having finished a brief lecture at the Avenger Academy, Superman decides to do a brief patrol of New York before leaving to return to Metropolis. It's the first time that he's been seen out in public since the incident with the maze and the clones. Using his x-ray vision to scan the area beneath him, he catches sight of Kara and another woman in the subway tunnels. Having not checked on his cousin in a few weeks, he flies through the subway entrance, navigating the tunnels with ease until he reaches the spot where the two women are. Slowing down so that he doesn't disturb the other civilians, he comes to a stop several feet away from them. Lifting a hand in greeting, he smiles. "Kara, hi." Kara would notice that he is not wearing his usual costume, but a variant of it.

There's some murmuring and gasps that Barbara can't bother herself with, because, well, she is primming herself to meet with Kara's friend soon, maybe make him a surprise or something, she didn't get the details. She wants to impress anyone connected to her new, and only, friend, and as such the Asgardian is not looking at Superman when he arrives, at least not at first. One 'Kara, hi' later, however, it's another thing entirely.

"OHMIGODS! Supermanjustspokewithyou!", the blonde says dropping the groceries on the floor and almost hiding herself behind her friend whispering "Oh please All-Father don't let him look at me like this! Where is Dragonfang when I need it!?". With both hands on the Kryptonian girl's back Barbara shields herself some, stealing a glimpse or two at the majestic superhero when she can, trying to be subtle and failing horribly "Ohmigods, he's so hot. Kara, what do I do!?"

Kara Zor-El smiles as her cousin flies down. She's again in civilian clothes without being in a secret identity - something common for Kara. So far most people rarely bother to notice. Kara quickly puts down her groceries though and catches Val's before they hit the ground, then puts them down. "Hi Kal! This is my frien-" Then as Barbara hides behind her, she turns around, "I'm pretty sure he already got a good look at you, Barbara." she says quietly, despite the fact that Superman can obviously hear her hushed whisper. "And... I thought you were into Thor, don't go calling my cousin hot, that's just so... uh... weird!" She pauses, then adds, "Probably good thing to do would be to introduce yourself.

Kara then turns back to Superman and waves a little, smiling. "Kal, this is my friend, Barbara, who's hiding behind me. Barbara, this is my cousin, Kal-El. I'm pretty sure you know the name most people call him by."

Superman smiles at Kara and then leans to the side to look at the woman hiding behind her. He steps around and offers her his hand. "Hello, Barbara. It's a pleasure to meet you." Always the polite gentleman this one is. He turns to Kara. "I was in the area and decided to drop in to see how you are doing." He glances around. "Though I was surprised to see you taking the subway." He flashes a faint grin.

"It's just a compliment! I am not going to be all over your cousin!", Barbara says in hushed toned back to her friend before she takes Clark's hand in hers, still looking scared, shaking it vigorously. Although Valkyrie tries to smile she just looks very taken aback by the presence of this kind of legend around her.

"Oh, hey there, Mr. Superman! Super fan of yours! No pun intended! Gosh!", and mentally berating herself Barbara pauses some to continue more nervous than before "I'm t-totally honorfu- HONORED to meet you, and... I-it's a pleasure to meet you! Now lemme hang myself!", Valkyrie finishes blushing fiercely, standing besides Kara "Err... should I, like, leave you two alone or something?"

Kara Zor-El murmurs to herself, "Well at least she doesn't just get like this around me." She smiles again. "No Barbara, it's okay." She looks over at Superman. "It -is- okay right? I mean... there's not like... something about to destroy the planet or something... right?" She peers at Superman, then figures he would probably have opened with that.

"So anyway..." she takes Valkyrie's hand and holds it so her friend doesn't go running away in abject embarrassment, "I know you and Peej take the subway all the time and I figured I should try it as well. Honestly I don't really see the appeal." She murmurs, "It sort of smells bad actually." She then says, "You changed your uniform. Does your mom know about this?" she asks, putting a hand on her hip. "I actually like it though! I mean... it'll cut down on jokes about... you know..." She says in a lower voice, "wearing underwear on the outside thing that I read on the internet."

Superman smiles again at Barbara. He does, however, pretend to not hear the whispering going on between her and Kara. It was the polite thing to do. "Barbara, relax. If it helps, just think of me as you would any other guy." He shakes his head. "No, that's okay. I'm the one interrupting." He leans down and picks up the bag of groceries that Val dropped and offers them to her. When Kara comments about his costume, he looks down and smiles "Well, yeah. The other one was destroyed during our battle with Match and Divine. I figured it was time for a change, so I constructed this one at the Fortress to replace the old one." When she asks if his mother knows about the change, he pointedly doesn't answer. She may not have a secret identity, but he does and he aims to keep it. He shrugs. "The underwear jokes never bothered me much. Besides, this one allows me to move better and it's more aerodynamic, allowing me to move a little faster in Earth's atmosphere."

Kara can feel Barbara's clutch on her hand tightening, if not for the kryptonian girl's presence there the Asgardian woman would have fled a few minutes ago already. Sparing a glance at Supergirl Valkyrie ends up giving away just how much she cherishes the act, even if the blonde doesn't do so consciously, it's more of a warm smile that Barbara might 'just felt like giving'. It is only when Kara speaks about the uniform that Valkyrie speaks again, frowning.

"Kara, this is totally rude!", and looking back at Clark the Barbara apologizes "Sorry, Mr. Superman, being alien sometimes causes Kara to be a bit too honest, like an angel or those CUTE robots from 'Batteries Not Included'! You totally rocked a red underwear unlike anyone I have ever seen! But this new outfit is also pretty rad!", the Asgardian adds with a grin and a wink, leaning closer to Kara to kiss the girl's temple, holding the bag Clark gave to her. "You can't just go talking about people's underwear, Kara... super rude!"

Kara Zor-El leans over to Valkyrie, "He's an alien too remember? Same planet. Annnd... what would be rude is if I talked about how I used to change his diapers." she says with a grin, then says to Superman, "I don't know what robots she's talking about but we were going to head to my apartment to watch movies. Barbara's going to be staying at my apartment building."

She waits for Valkyrie to take the groceries back from the Man of Steel, as she says, "So um.... how's everything?" she asks. So many things she can't say. She'd tell Kal about Barbara being a Norse goddess, but not in public obviously. And she doesn't tell anyone about Kal's secret identity. Heck she didn't tell her boyfriend so ...

Superman laughs before saying to Barbara. "It's okay. I know what she meant. And Batteries not Included is a good movie, Kara would like it." He smiles. "And please call me Superman or Kal-El. No need to be so formal." He crosses his arms over his chest, causing his muscle to ripple underneath is costume. "Kara, things are...hectic. I'm still trying to figure out what those clones want from us, and who they're working for. But if I find out anything, you'll be the first to know. I may consult the League on this." Blue eyes lift back to the two women. "But please, don't let that ruin your day. I should be going." He hooks a thumb over his shoulder towards the direction he came. He rolls his eyes briefly. "Are you going to tell everyone we know that you used to babysit me back on Krypton?" He asks Kara with a smirk.

Barbara turns to Kara and rests her forehead against her friend's temple to whisper "Ohmigods, Superman just asked me to call him Superman!", the hand she has still -glued- to Supergirl's squeezing it even more now, excited about everything that she is seeing. Clones, hectic, so many scientific terms! Nodding as the man mentions 'the League' Valkyrie squeezes Kara's hand again, almost jumping in place as the girl means to offer some assistance, but can't voice it.

"I think it's super sweet that she used to take care of you and now you are taking care of her!", it's the only thing Barbara can say out of the thousands of things she means to, obviously something Kara-related and something that doesn't include her begging to be included in any big superhero venture.

Kara Zor-El doesn't mind the hand-squeezing and rolls her eyes with a grin as Barbara fangirls about Superman in her ear. She whispers back, "He sort of asks everyone to - never mind." She shakes her head and just smiles again. Then looking at Kal, she nods. "Vanguard gave Kon a letter from his clone - pretty sure it's a trap but Kon's wanting to meet up with him for Rao knows what reason." She shakes her head. "And yes. Yes I will, Kal. Every single time. I'd show baby pictures if I had any." She sticks out her tongue at her cousin then smiles, then gives Superman a hug, saying quietly, "Need to talk to you later about my friend okay?"

Superman returns the hug from Kara and nods faintly at her question. "Come by the apartment later." He murmurs. Then he kisses her on the forehead and moves away. "Tell Kon that if he needs me to back him up, I will. You two keep an eye on each other, Kara. No telling what they might throw at us next." Then, the serious expression is gone and is replaced with a smile. "Barbara, it was a pleasure to meet you. Perhaps we'll meet again sometime." Lifting his hand in farewell, his feel leave the ground for a moment and then he is a red and blue blur as he exits the subway tunnels.

"... that was so cool. He is -so- tall! And so strong! He looks even more big... even bigger... than in the newspapers!", the girl comments upon turning to Kara, the widest smile on her lips. Vanguard, Kon, traps, Rao... it all sounds so superhero-y! Kara can see on Valkyrie's face she is excited and very pleased, even if the way she the blonde looks at her is not tell enough. "You have a cool family, Kara... One day I hope to meet Vanguard, Kon and Rao! If they are into you like Superman is... you are one lucky person! Wish me and my family were so close!", the girl says with a shrug and a smile. Turning to see all the people around them, however, all of them staring, Barbara nudges her friend. Quirking a brow the Asgardian leans closer "Do I have something on my face? There's a lot of people staring..."

Kara Zor-El nods and smiles a Val keeps fangirling. "Yeah. Kal is really wonderful." She lets go of Valkyrie's hand so she can pick up her two grocery bags. "And Kon and Vanguard I can introduce but Rao's not a-" She looks around at the people staring, then back to Barbara. "Probably because we were chumming it up with the most famous superhero in the world in front of them. We ... probably should go." Then heads towards the subway exit with her friend.