Wheels Above | Pyres Below (Static)

[Traci Thirteen]

Players: Static Shock and Traci 13
Location(s): Metropolis / The Underworld
Plot Summary: On this episode of Love Bug: Traci and Static discover the meaning of friendship, trust and hellfire.

Standing in line, there was but one thought in her head. It invaded every orifice of her mind and soul and it made her hunger for the choices that could lead in either direction. Cinnamon Pie... or Cinnamon Bun. The line behind her was growing restless and impatient. She could feel their trepidation on her making the wrong choice and she wasn't going to let her down. Usually her 'earthshattering' decisions lasted only a couple moments, however... this one had taken up a full 20 minutes. At least half of most peoples lunch hours. After much deliberation and a consul with the lunch lady who's words of 'Hurry the hell up' were quite helpful.

In the end she went with neither, as no one man should have ALL that power. She made her way towards the nearest least occupied table and sat down. Looking up from her meal, she noted a young man playing hard to get with some PYT. Zoe was her name. Nice girl, bit soft in the head, vicious temper... smelled of elderberries. Never a good sign. Traci had asked her earlier where she might find Virgil and the girl responded with a kind yet rushed 'Out of my way, idiot!'. She bit into her Carrot and began surveying the room. According to the clocks on the wall, she had caused at least... 3/4ths of the lunch line to be late for their next class. A risk they all would take, to protect her rights.

With a wicked smile, she turned back to her food and continued eating, while reading through her literature and sneaking Leroy some bites under the table. It really was a page turner. The rascally foil to Sam-I-Am's character was refusing Sam's offering of Green Eggs and Ham... yet she knew at the end, peace would be the only option. In her eagerness to finish the story, she bit into her apple far too hard and sent it's juicy bounty all over the table. Unknowingly she kept going with her tale, reaching the page about boxes and foxes. Dr. Seuss was a genius.

She was here visiting one of Jaime's closest comrades and a good friend of hers. Static 'Shock to your system' Shock! They had gotten to know each other through Jaime and since then it was all cool and the gang. She wouldn't have bothered him at school but Jaime was too busy to arrange an entire playdate and she hadn't seen him in a while. She had sent Virgil a message beforehand, she wasn't just going to ruin his day with a magic crash. No one could exactly blame her for being bored. Jaime hadn't so much as called her in the past week and with all the other supers cropping all around the world, the city wasn't beckoning for her magical touch anymore... truth be told, she was feeling rather lonely.

OH! Another brilliant deflection from the creature, though Sam had studied his Bonetti. His defense was sound and persistent. She admired his courage, no matter how fool hardy it was to think the dog creature would... Inconceivable! As she turned the page she came upon the image of the dog creature tasting one of Sam's eggs and ham. Oh the whiplash her emotions were feeling at this moment could not be measured on the Richter Scale. This was damn fine writing, better than some modern writers.

[bangbaby]

They were facebook friends. That was about it. They had chatted a few times about Wu Tang Clan and that was it. Virgil didn’t know her particularly well but he felt like they should be friends. Those were more so Jaime’s words than Virgil’s actual feelings on the matter. He wasn’t certain why his friend was so dead set on having Virgil hang out with his girlfriend. Most boyfriends would only want their girlfriends to meet their friends when they were around. Not when they were on the other side of the country. Yet Jaime wasn’t most boyfriends and from what he had heard Traci wasn’t like most girlfriends. At any rate he was looking forward to talking to her. RZA was coming out with a new movie and he wanted o talk about it. He was just expecting it to be just a little bit awkward. Luckily Virgil would be able to deal with that. His life was founded by awkward situations.

The teenager shoved his hands into his pockets as he wandered into Downstein cafeteria. They were supposed to meet here. Virgil knew what she looked like from her facebook. Apparently she was half-Asian and sported shiny black hair. Her had seen her hair in all types of ridiculous styles and he wasn’t sure what it was now. Her facebook photo was a landscape which really didn’t lend him any favors. Yet he was confident he could figure it out. But first he’d have to get something to eat. Virgil glanced around the cafeteria and his eyes fell on the pizza bar. He reached into his pocket and nabbed his dining card. After a quick conversation about the weather and an even quicker conversation about what type of food Virgil wanted he had two slices of pepperoni balanced precariously on a plate. He then purchased a can of soda and scanned the cafeteria yet again. His eyes finally focused on an isolated table where a girl roughly his age was continuously slipping her hand under the table.

Virgil had heard about Leeroy and as a result he had a good idea of who was sitting at that table. He swiftly crossed the cafeteria and approached the table. “Traci, right?” He placed his plate on the table along with his soda can. He quirked an eyebrow at the book but chose to say nothing. From what he understood Traci was more of a manic pixie type of girlfriend than most. Questioning her decision to read Dr. Seuss at a college university would only end with more questions than Virgil had started with. “I’m Virgil. You can call me Virg…or Virgil…up to you.” He paused. How Hawkward. “Can I sit down?”

[Traci Thirteen]

Turning the page with bated breath, almost hoping that Seuss had given the world a happy ending, she heard a voice call out to her from the ether. Looking up from her book, her eyes settled on a boy who... well had to be the man she was looking for. Traci Thirteen. Nice to uh.. finally meet you I guess. She smiled as he stumbled around a conversation with her. It was incredibly awkward, though she didn't think it was going to be that bad. Of course you can, pop a squat. Let me just move, my friend real quick.. She pulled Leeroy from his spot atop her bag and placed him on the table next to her book. Virgil, this is my familiar Leeroy. Leeroy... this is Jaime's brother, Virgil. The iguana stared Virgil down for a moment before hissing rather loudly and going back to nibbling on his treats.

Traci felt like a grade A space case when she put the apple down and told Virgil, He says hello... It's uh.. I can understand him. We're linked telepathically. Sure it made it a bit less awkward on her end, but explaining to someone that her best friend was a lizard with whom she had a magical connection was uh... really bloody nerdy. She bit into her apple again and went back to her book. She had lost her place and had to start over two entire pages earlier.. to try and recapture some of the dramatic tension she felt. A worthy cause yet ultimately a failed one, as when she reached the final page of the book, she couldn't help but think that her initial reaction had she not been bothered by Virgil would've been much better and more appreciative of the lovely story. Closing the book and sliding it into her satchel she finished her apple, twirling the core on her finger with perfect balance.

She had no idea what to say to Virgil... it's not like this friendship had been liquid and organic. It was put together by Jaime and he couldn't even be here to try and mediate the situation with his interesting brand of humor and easily exploited flaws... that and she couldn't handle another book right now.. the suspense of not knowing what happened at the end would literally drive her mad if this conversation did kick off. She swept her fingers through her immensely long hair and looked around the cafeteria once more. She smoothed out the skirt on her outfit and adjusted her wristtie. A home made concoction of a velvet red bowtie fastened around her wrist like an ornament. Why? Because Bow ties are cool.

Suddenly realizing that Virgil was still there and wasn't making a single comment on her being, she smiled and turned towards him. Sorry, I'm having a little trouble staying focused... I was out all night with uh... my 'teacher'. At the mention of teacher she threw up air quotes and allowed a few sprinkles of magical energy to drift from her fingers. Zatanna was running her into the ground on some of these midnight excursions into the magical community, she hadn't seen Jaime in forever and here she was so far from Metropolis, just so she could meet up with her boyfriend's friend-o. Hey, I don't mean to bug you and all while you're eating, but uh.. do you have class after this? Cause I wouldn't mind going to see the city and all... and if you're not busy, I would love for you to.. join me or show me around or however you like.

There we go Traci! Making the first move on a boy, asking them around the city and seeing the sights... with Leeroy as her wingman.