[Sunny Slater]

"This is gonna be great for my profile!"

Two Heroes Unite!

When Sunny had first heard about this plan, she had to admit she was sceptical. Opening a Community Outreach Centre was a little, well, beneath her she thought, but the press was always good. People always loved to see a celebrity slumming it, right? And while Sunny was always confident she was the most beautiful and glamorous person in the room, there was something about being around poor, scruffy kids that made her look even better in comparison. And she loved the way they looked at her. As if an angel had graced them with its presence. (And who could blame them?). But then she'd heard that Paladin would be there.

It wasn't that Sunny didn't like Paladin. Sunny, truthfully, didn't really dislike anybody. In her own naive, optimistic world everybody was a friend. But she didn't really understand Paladin. She was famous. More famous, as a superhero, at least, than Sunny herself. But she didn't seem to care. Sunny had only met her a few times, but she hadn't once seen her check her make-up, and she didn't care about her hair, and Sunny wasn't going to say anything, but that costume of her's wasn't exactly pretty was it? How could she care so little about her appearance and still know how famous she was? Sunny had literal nightmares about being photographed without any make-up on. Paladin was just a mystery to her.

And then there was the whole issue of Paladin's fame. Paladin was, Sunny hated to admit, a much bigger hero than she was. It meant that at appearances like this, where she should be the centre of attention, instead, all eyes were on Paladin. Even the press wanted photos of her before Sunny. Which she hated. But eventually her Mom had persuaded her that being seen with Paladin was only a good thing. If Paladin was always going to be the world's premeire teen superhero, then Sunny could do a lot worse than be the second one mentioned immediately after her every time.

And so, Sunny had agreed, and now the two were sat in the back room that had been converted in to a dressing room before their appearance on Sunny's insistence. Technically, they were meant to split it in half, but Sunny had largely taken over, with every surface covered with make-up, perfume and hair products, and several full length mirrors being pulled in, in which Sunny was currently checking herself out in one, in her bright pink Gravity Girl outfit.

"Right. I think I'm ready. How do I look?" Sunny asked, turning to Paladin. "I'm kidding." She giggled. "I know I look great." She laughed. Mom always said that such vanity didn't make people like her, but Sunny could never understand how people couldn't see how pretty she was.

She picked up some perfume and sprayed it on, a sickly sweet scent she desperately didn't need, since a cloud of the stuff already seemed to surround her, heavily scenting the room.

"Sorry, did you want some?" She asked, offering it to Paladin, since as far as she could tell, the girl wore very little perfume (or maybe even none!). An idea that was horrifying to Sunny...




Alice Morrow

"We should be, like, BFFs!"

ulla

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Sunny Slater + wearing

The Hero Program had now been in the public eye for a little over a year, and that meant that Paladin had been one of, if not the biggest star in the country for just as long. Dominic had told her she'd get used to it. She hadn't. Paladin still felt almost unaccountably shy under the attention of so many people, and she was glad that one of the core tenets of the Program was the anonymity of their members. Being a Hero was enough pressure, doing it while dealing with paparazzi showing up at your house would have been even worse. Sure there was always someone trying to catch her in a compromising position, but no one knew what she looked like behind the mask. And even if someone found out, to reveal it would have been a federal crime. Over a year of fame, and the public still didn't seem to have grown tired of her, that was probably something to do with Dominic's skills, but she didn't complain too much. She understood at least a little of what he'd explained to her about why she had that fame, about why the Program had even adopted the same kind of sponsorship program normally used by Footballers. It was important, and so she just went along with it. However, there were some Heroes who seemed to be here for the fame, rather than in spite of it, and unfortunately for Paladin, they were sat in a back room, it had been intended simply as a waiting area, but somehow it had been converted into a dressing room. Paladin stared fixedly into one of the mirrors in her effort to avoid Gravity Girl's attention. Unfortunately she didn't quite manage it, and was on the edge of spluttering in the thick cloud of perfume the other girl had filled the room with. "No." She raised her hand as if to ward away the cloud, "Thanks, but I'm OK." She glanced at the door, praying for someone to arrive and tell them they were up. The door steadfastly refused to open, and an emergency utterly failed to appear in her ear. She tapped the side of her head, wondering if the thing had run out of batteries or something, but was disappointed when she heard her liaison. "You OK Pal?" Paladin shot a quick look at Gravity Girl, and as genuine a smile as she could manage when the other girl saw her looking in the mirror. "Sure, just wondering when we're actually going to get this thing started." "Little while yet I think, just sit tight, I'll let you know if anything big happens." There was a note of sympathy in her liaisons voice, they knew who she was here with after all. Paladin steeled herself and turned to Gravity Girl. "So how you feeling for the opening? Good? It's pretty cool right? Getting to do stuff that actually gives back, benefits people you know?"

© seadra of gs

[Sunny Slater]

"This is gonna be great for my profile!"

Two Heroes Unite!

Sunny looked a little surprised when Paladin turned down her offer of perfume. Seriously, that girl was so weird. How could you turn down something this great? But Sunny decided it didn't matter, gave a little shrug and a smile, and sprayed a little more on herself which she definitely didn't need. She trotted back over to her improvised dressing table, checking herself again in the mirror, apparently the thirty seconds she'd taken her eyes off of herself warranting another make-up check.

She was aware that Paladin seemed a little impatient, but Sunny was quite happy in the dressing room. She could spend all evening fussing over her appearance, and would probably prefer that to seeing the aforementioned scruffy kids. It wasn't that she wasn't sympathetic. Just that she found them hard to relate to...

"Oh, yeah, it's super cool." She smiled back sunnily, her usual upbeat optimistic self. "I mean, I know we help people all the time, but when you stop crimes or disasters and stuff, like, well, the cameras always arrive afterwards, and like, people are all stressed 'cause they just got robbed or whatever, but here, everybody is gonna, like, know we're there for them! It's like, totes cool!" She smiled happily. "Plus I know the press will get my good side in all the photos. Like, sometimes, if I'm stopping a crime, they'll like, take photos afterwards without even, like, letting me style my hair first! I mean, hello! I just flew down and stopped a crime. Let me sort out my hair, am I right?" She giggled playfully. She was trying to be a bit goofy, even if it WAS true Sunny hated any picture of her where she didn't look absolutely flawless, and it was one of the reasons she tended to arrive late to things while flying. After landing she'd need to restyle her hair before leaping in to action!

But then something odd happened, and Sunny paused, and looked a little uneasy. An expression that didn't sit naturally on her spoiled, always beaming, naive and coddled face.
"Actually, um, like, I'm a bit nervous." She mentioned, before moving closer to Paladin, as if she had to say this in a whisper. Unfortunately, this meant that Paladin got a nose full of her overwhelming perfume up close, but Sunny didn't think about this (or perceive it as a flaw). "These kids..." She whispered so nobody would hear, not that she had to, since the dressing room was empty bar those two. "They're so.... poor. I like, I dunno how to talk to POOR people! The only things I, like, know how to talk about are, like, fashion, make-up, and...like, stuff... What am I meant to like, say to people who are too poor to afford any of that stuff?" Sunny sounded incredibly spoiled, yes, but her concern didn't come with disdain. There was nothing to suggest Sunny was judging these people for their lack of wealth. Just, in her naive little world, Sunny was aware she existed in a coddled, rich girl bubble, and she was worried how to relate to the poorer kids. She didn't know what to say because on no level could Sunny relate to them.

"C-can you, like, do the talking, and I'll just pose for pictures?" She asked hopefully, because she had no idea what else to do.

Alice Morrow

"We should be, like, BFFs!"

ulla

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Sunny Slater + wearing

Paladin had fought Villains, saved people from burning buildings, and stopped runaway semis. This was harder than any of that. The effort to not roll her eyes at Gravity Girl's obsession with the cameras and the attentions of the press was almost too much for her. She'd never thought she'd meet a Hero whose motivations were so transparently selfish. Nova definitely been too interested in good PR, but Gravity Girl's was on a whole other level. "Hair, sure…" She self-consciously ran a hand through her own hair. She'd never thought much about what she looked like in the moment, or indeed after the moment. Paladin had usually been too excited to see herself on TV to be bothered about how her hair looked. It was usually a mess in and out of costume. Nathan seemed to like it that way though she it only bothered her occasionally. She glanced at the door again, willing it to open, or at least for someone to knock on it. Her fantasy saviour absolutely failed to materialise, and she looked back towards the pink clad Hero. She was surprised, when she looked around, to see that Gravity Girl's face bore an expression of uneasiness. For a brief moment she felt something like… kinship with the blonde girl. Unfortunately it didn't last long. Unbeknownst to most people, and especially Gravity Girl, money was something that Paladin wasn't used to enjoying. She'd spent most of her childhood in and out of various foster homes, then lived in an apartment that was basically a cupboard for a year before she'd been evicted because she couldn't afford the rent. She'd been effectively homeless until the Hero Program had gone public and she'd suddenly experienced the kind of success and influx of income one associated with reality TV stars. The temptation to simply put the other girl through the wall was real, but something stayed her hand. There was no disdain, no condescension, if anything there was genuine concern and hesitance there. Paladin felt almost uncomfortable at seeing this reaction in the other girl. It felt almost unreal. "Look, they're just kids. What they can afford doesn't matter. They're interested in exactly the same kind of things that other kids are interested in. They can dream just the same as any of us." She shrugged, "Besides, they'll be too busy asking you questions for you to worry about anything else, just answer as honestly as you can." Smiling encouragingly, Paladin turned at the knock on the door, "And if you get really stuck I'll be right beside you, don't worry about it." Whoever thought Paladin would feel Sympathy for the pink clad Gravity Girl?

© seadra of gs

[Sunny Slater]

"This is gonna be great for my profile!"

Two Heroes Unite!

Sunny gave a slight nod, although it lacked her trademark confidence, when Paladin mentioned simply talking to the children as being interested in the same things that they were. She made it sound easy, but Sunny's interests had always been buying things or owning things, usually very nice things, and she was worried that they wouldn't really relate. Her PR team was always telling her not to talk about those things too much to avoid sounding too spoiled, but it was all she really knew. She paused, looking thoughtful for a moment.
"Well, when I was their age, my dream was to have, like, my own perfume line, and now, I nearly do! I'm looking in to having one coming out next year! Do you think they'd like to talk about that?" She asked. Again, there was no malice in her words, she wasn't trying to sound shallow or vain or dismissive. This was just genuinely what Sunny thought. She was undoubtedly spoiled and self centred, but in such an oblivious way that it suggested Sunny had a kind heart underneath all the perfume and make-up.

"Or kids like toys, right? Like, I love plushies. Mom always says I must have the biggest plushie collection in all of California!" Sunny beamed proudly. Then she paused. "Or is that, like, something else I shouldn't mention to the poor kids?" She said after a moment's thought. She sighed. This WAS hard. She was glad when Paladin said they'd mostly just be asking questions.

She realised it probably surprised Paladin a bit that Sunny seemed so bad with a crowd, since she loved her fame and often held photoshoots, red carpet events and parties to meet people. She thought maybe she should explain.
"I know you must think I'm kinda dumb, like, not knowing how to talk to... people, like that, y'know? I mean, like, I do loads of PR stuff. I love it. But like, it's always planned. Interviews and things. Or I just sign stuff and move on. I've never met a group like this before." She explained, before pausing to turn back to the mirror, to check her appearance again.

"What about you?" She asked. "You sound like you're really good with kids!" She pointed out.

Alice Morrow

"We should be, like, BFFs!"

ulla

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Sunny Slater + wearing

Paladin paused, surprised at the sudden change that had come across the blonde girl. She was normally so bouncy and bubbly, so self-possessed. Now she seemed almost hesitant, as if she was afraid of the kids waiting for them out there. Strange, the girl was powerful, there wasn’t much on this earth that could hurt her, but she was afraid of a group of kids. Worse, she was afraid of talking to them not because they were kids, but because they were poor. The blue haired Hero shrugged. ”These kids are just that. Kids. Some of them will love perfume, some of them will hate it. Just like any kids. I bet you hated all sorts of things when you were a kid. Money doesn’t make any difference in that. Not really.” Paladin had her hand on the door, ready to leave, she stopped as Sunny continued talking. ”You need to stop thinking of them as poor kids. They know that we have more than them. For f*&k’s sake, I can stop a bus with one hand. Do you know how many of those kids wish they could do that?” Gesturing towards the doors she continued, ”They don’t hate us for it. They just want to meet us, and yeah, some of them want to be like us.” Paladin twisted the doorknob, pulling the door open a fraction. ”Haha, I’m not good with kids, I just feel more like one of them. I always wanted to be a super hero when I was growing up. I just remember what that was like. Come on, they won’t bite.” She pulled the door wide open and gestured for the blonde girl to follow her as she exited the small dressing room to go out to the crowds.

© seadra of gs

[Sunny Slater]

"This is gonna be great for my profile!"

Two Heroes Unite!

Sunny was always trying to be the perfect superhero. From her look to her style to her carefully cultivated media presence and the images shared of her, she was always trying to put out a flawless image. Paladin, on the other hand, had none of that. Her image, well, she always looked like a teen leaving a rock concert (or what Sunny imagined teens leaving rock concerts looked like, her Mom would never let her go to one). She never posed for pictures and she didn't seem to post online much. As far as she knew there wasn't a Paladin cartoon show in the works and she never gave out signed Paladin dollies at events (maybe Sunny should have brought some of her Gravity Girl dolls with her to give out today...). But in moments like this, Sunny felt a little ashamed. Like Paladin was so much more of a hero than she was. So effortlessly. Reassuring Sunny, understanding her, telling her how best to proceed but also talking herself down at the same time.

Paladin was the hero Sunny wanted people to think she was. Just, y'know, less glamorous. Sunny could never trade in her costume or make-up or perfume or hair style for Paladin's. But that was besides the point. The point was in her easy, kind attitude. It was the sort of attitude Sunny always tried to put on, but she always felt like a little girl faking it. Paladin made it look natural. She made it look easy.

"You wanted to be a superhero when growing up?" Sunny asked conversationally as she followed Paladin out of the door. "I always wanted to be Barbie." She commented, in a moment which should likely surprise nobody (and probably explained an awful lot about her). As they reached the end of the corridor and were about to step out to face the public, with deft practice Sunny reached to the back of her metallic pink belt and pulled out one of her key crime fighting gadgets.

A pen for signing autographs.

"Hey, did you forget a pen? You gotta sign their autographs with something! You can borrow one of my lipsticks if you like." The fact that Sunny clearly had more than one on her even in her superhero costume said a lot about Sunny. And just like that, even if it wasn't with any malice or intent, she was back to being the vain, appearance obsessed girl she usually was...



Alice Morrow

"We should be, like, BFFs!"

ulla

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Sunny Slater + wearing

Paladin laughed as she went out the door, ”Oh you have no idea, I have aaalll the comics. I always loved the idea of Spider Man and Wonder Woman. Having that responsibility you know? Never really got much control when I was little.” She shut up, realising she had probably shared more than she wanted with the blonde Hero. She doubted Gravity Girl would understand. Just from the way she was behaving it was clear that she’d grown up with just about anything she’d wanted, and from the sound of it her main concern about being a Hero was the fame and the money associated. They had nothing in common. She rolled her eyes at the Barbie comment, grateful that she wasn’t looking back at the girl as she did so. ”I guess everyone has to have a dream.” Unfortunately it seemed that Gravity Girl had achieved her dream. With the blonde hair and bright pink costume Paladin was surprised that she wasn’t being sponsored by the famous toy line. Maybe that was already in the works. And of course she had an autograph pen, and lipstick. Paladin could hardly believe it. Except the thought that her belt was actually full of makeup and similar supplies was all too believable. She might have been surprised if she hadn’t discovered mascara and foundation in the pouches on the other Hero’s belt. ”A pen? Uh…” Paladin had forgotten a pen, it wasn’t exactly something she planned in to her life, usually fans showed up with one, but Gravity Girl, much to her chagrin, was right. It was unlikely there would be kids here with one. Sunny promptly handed over a lipstick that probably cost somewhere close to a week’s rent at Paladin’s first apartment. Paladin looked at it in disbelief for a moment, it was certainly more expensive than anything that could be found in her makeup collection. ”Thanks The kids were excited. Of course they were. Paladin was the biggest Hero in the country, and it wasn’t like Gravity Girl was C-List. The both of them together was probably a dream come true for some of these kids. Some of these kids had little enough to look forward to that this moment would probably be the highlight of their lives. If Paladin hadn’t developed abilities then she would likely be in the same position. Wishing desperately for something better, anything to get them out of the shit they were in. She was grateful for the lipstick, though she ditched it at the first opportunity, being careful to stash it in her belt when she was handed an actual pen to sign autographs with. She found herself signing a lot of autographs. It was nice that it was a smaller group, she could take the time to actually talk to people instead of just signing something and moving on. Especially talking to kids like this. Kids like she had once been. Gravity Girl was nothing like what Paladin had once been. Eventually they reached the end of the group. ”So, did you enjoy that?”

© seadra of gs

[Sunny Slater]

"This is gonna be great for my profile!"

Two Heroes Unite!

Paladin's words swirled in Sunny's head even as she stepped out to meet the children. She had always been dreaming of being a hero. Dreaming of having responsibility. That word hadn't even been on Sunny's radar when she was a little girl. She already had everything she could want, so what she dreamed of was being the prettiest, the most fashionable, she dreamed of being loved and everybody's eyes being on her. She dreamed of being a star. She didn't even care what kind of star; at the time 'superhero' seemed an impossibility. She just wanted to be famous. No, more than that, she knew she would be famous. With her Mom, how could she not?

It was with an odd sense of self reflection then that Sunny stepped out to meet the children, and of course as their faces lit up to see her, for a moment, her concerns were forgotten as she moved between the kids, greeting each one, posing for the odd photo with them and signing whatever they handed her way. Quite a few of the kids had nothing for her to sign, and Sunny wished she'd thought of bringing some prints with her to hand out. Or even some Gravity Girl dolls, because she felt awful they had so little. They all seemed to like her and embrace her, in a way she was familiar with really. Of course, to them she was the glamorous celebrity, graceful, gentle and kind. And for once, taller than everybody meeting her! While Paladin was a lot more down to Earth, Sunny represented that Hollywood glamour, and a lot of them seemed to enjoy and appreciate that, but even as each of them smiled to meet her, somewhere in her heart, Sunny felt it break. It just felt so unfair. These kids admired her so, but had so little. And what did she have that made her worthy of admiration? Powers by luck and wealth by birthright? She looked over at Paladin, who had dreamed of being a hero all her life, and felt like such fraud.

When they finally finished, Paladin looked over at Sunny, and asked if she enjoyed it. At first, Sunny just gave a bubbly response, her usual winning smile and spoiled blonde girl pep.
"Yeah, it was, like, totally great." She answered, but again, there was that slightly pained pause from her. As if she had something she wanted to get off her chest. "It just felt... unfair, y'know?" She commented, because Sunny was no good at keeping thoughts inside her head. She pretty much never had an idea she didn't articulate. "Like, they've all got nothing... and it's not their fault. I've never... known a life like that. I was always rich. Heck, with my Mom, I always knew I'd be, like, totally famous, somehow. The question was just, doing what? An actress? A singer? A model? Turns out, I'm a superhero! Did NOT see that one coming. But still, like, it was never a question for me. I just... knew it'd happen. I had everything. And they've got nothing. And like, what's the difference between us? Why did I deserve to get everything and they didn't? It just... doesn't seem fair..." She sighed, her shoulders slumping a little, a far cry from the usual spoiled rich girl cheer Sunny usually had.

"And then I look at you. And like, I think about what you said. You always wanted to help people. You always wanted to be a hero. I was dreaming of having a dream house and a pink convertible and you grew up always WANTING the responsibility of saving people. Like, you deserve these powers. You deserve to be a superhero. I'm just a spoiled brat who got lucky. And like, I don't know how it's fair for me to look those kids back there in the eyes, and tell them it's okay, when they got so screwed over and I got everything." She explained, sounding thoroughly miserable.

"I'm sorry. I sound like, even MORE spoiled, right? Whining 'cause, what? I've got it TOO good. It's just, when I look at you, how genuine you are, how naturally being a hero comes to you, how good you are inside, without even thinking, I just... feel dumb. Like a fraud. Like, I can wear the costume and be on the posters and have all the cute capes in the world, but at the end of the day, I'll never be a proper hero. Not like you." It was unusual for Sunny to admit she admired somebody else and to see her own flaws, but Paladin had a way of making her see them. There was a reason Sunny, despite her wealth and fame and reach, wasn't half as popular of a hero as Paladin. It was because there was no way to bleed the natural heroism and goodness Paladin had. You just had to have it.

And Sunny was realising she did not...



Alice Morrow

"We should be, like, BFFs!"

ulla

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Sunny Slater + wearing

Paladin had thought much the same thing in the past. Only from the other side. After the accident the other survivors had all developed or discovered their abilities before she had. After a while she’d been resigned to being the only one that would receive no abilities. A lot of these kids would never feel the same vindication when their powers finally came through. Even now, after the Event, metahumans were rare. Very rare. If even one of these kids ended up developing abilities Paladin would be surprised. She struggled to not simply roll her eyes and turn away from the pink clad girl. She really seemed to have no idea. Paladin knew what these kids were going through, she’d grown up in similar circumstances. Gravity Girl had obviously grown up in a life of luxury, probably quite literally with a silver spoon in her mouth. "Yeah well… I don’t think anyone saw Super Heroes coming." She echoed Gravity Girl’s sigh, "Yeah I grew up wanting to be a Hero, I wanted some control, some power, I dunno. But wanting it doesn’t make me any better than you. I had dreams, just like you." She looked back at the kids that were now moving into the rest of the centre to explore the new building. "We both got lucky, I could have easily still been a nerd with a shitty job and a crap apartment. I never wanted to be someone like this…" She trailed off, still not looking at the blonde woman. She’d just wanted to save people, she hadn’t wanted to be famous. Now she was one of the most recognisable people in the country, as long as she was wearing her mask. "It's not natural, I basically shit myself every time I go out and do this shit, I train every day, I spend more time in the gym than I do with my boyfriend. This stuff is so hard. But we have to do it. Cause when you can do what we can, and we don’t, and people get hurt, that's because of us. When Nova and I took down Jaws. Who else was going to do that?" Shrugging, Paladin turned back as a group of kids started moving towards them. "You want to be a better Hero? Think about why you're doing it. And honestly, think about who you're doing it for." She dropped the serious tone, grinning as the kids approached with pens and photos held out, several of them were brandishing phones and Paladin made the obligatory peace sign, grinned and joined in. She even posed, looking terrified, for the younger one who was wearing a cheap Paladin outfit bought from a costume store. She ruffled the kid's wig, then corrected the angle when she realised she'd messed it up. She smiled and waved goodbye to the kids as they went on to explore the centre with the rest of their friends. "Come on," She gestured at the other Hero, "There's loads to do here, and nothing we need to do somewhere else, lets have some fun."

© seadra of gs

[Sunny Slater]

"This is gonna be great for my profile!"

Two Heroes Unite!

Sunny gave a sheepish smile as Paladin tried to reassure her. That she had dreams 'just like her'. She doubted somehow that Paladin's dreams had been the same as Sunny's dreams. She found it hard to believe that Paladin's dreams ever involved endless wardrobes of high fashion and professional manicures each day and filling a swimming pool entirely with her favourite perfume. But still, it was nice to know that Paladin understood her. Even seemed to guide her a little. For once, Sunny was enjoying being in the presence of an obviously more experienced hero. Letting her guide her.

"Well, if your dreams were like mine and you wanted a Barbie dream house to live in, you can always visit my manor in Beverly Hills. It's basically the same thing." She said teasingly, but meaning the offer. She liked to think they were friends now, and wanted Paladin to know that she could visit whenever she wanted. She wanted them to be friendly. Besides, a girly weekend with Paladin? That sounded amazing! If she could convince Paladin to enjoy being pampered for a bit...

She listened to her advice, and looked back at her with a slightly mischievous grin.
"Sooooo.... what you're saying is.... with great power.... must also come... great responsibility?" She said playfully. "I've seen those movies too!" She stuck her tongue out, obviously being a bit goofy. She paused though, and reflected on what she said. She knew that it was true. While Sunny might of enjoyed the fame and glory side of heroing, she also understood that it needed to be done. Because she COULD do it. So she SHOULD. It was simple as that. "Although, ew, spending that long in the gym? Ick. I hate exercise. You get all sweaty and gross. I just diet to look this thin!" She said cheerily, and unfortunately the introspection was clearly gone as she was back to her stereotypical 'girly girl' self.

When the kids approached, wanting signatures and selfies, Sunny suddenly dropped in to an expert celebrity mode, giving them cheerful waves, hugs, complimenting the kids in Gravity Girl costumes or tees, signing everything as they asked and giving her usual overly cheerful selfies. A few of the kids choked a little on her overwhelmingly strong perfume; apparently they hadn't expected that, but apart from that, most scampered away happy. When Sunny was dealing with selfies and signings, she was in her element, and found it easy.

When Paladin suggested they go have some fun after the kids had left though, Sunny gave an uneasy smile. She was a little nervous. She wasn't sure that Paladin's idea of fun was her idea of fun, but then again, it was a nice opportunity, right? Maybe Paladin would be her real friend by the end of it? Not just for her profile or for the superhero community, but because Sunny didn't actually have many close friends. They couldn't usually get past the cloud of perfume and her general self absorbed nature. The chance to make a real friend was quite exciting...

"Oh, okay, like, sure. What did you have in mind?" She asked chirpily.



Alice Morrow

"We should be, like, BFFs!"

ulla

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Sunny Slater + wearing

Paladin carefully avoided commenting on the idea of a barbie dream house. She'd had her phase of being girly, but had spent most of her later school life as decidedly tomboy, not to mention with her nose buried in comic books and sci-fi movies. Still, she probably had dreamed of something similar at some point, and she'd be lying if the thought of her and Nate getting married and having kids hadn't crossed her mind. She wagged a finger at the mischievous grin, "Hey, I was reading those comics before they were cool. But yeah, pretty great movies. Never thought I'd be living them though." Shaking her head, Paladin looked the pink clad Hero up and down, it was clear that she was slim, but she would have expected at least some degree of exercise from her, especially if she was a Hero. Still, Paladin could have probably gotten away with as much as she did, flight could take away a lot more effort than leaping around after all. At least Gravity Girl had relaxed with the kids, clearly signing autographs and taking selfies was second nature to her. The kids clearly loved it, even if a few had looked a little red faced after inhaling a little too much of the blonde's perfume. How she could even breath in there Paladin would never know. Maybe that had helped, the kids were having fun, and even with Gravity Girl's clear hesitance, she had agreed to join in with some fun. Paladin turned to the notice board behind her, running one gloved finger down the schedule there. "Well there's basketball in the gym, Salsa in the dance studio and arts and crafts going on in one of the classrooms. Then they have all these other classes as well." Her finger traced down the sheet, there were classes that would work for kids of all ages, activities that might interest them, and others that were clearly aimed at the parent's. It reminded her a lot of the community centre she'd gone to when she was younger. This was much better funded, but it was the same idea. She hoped that it would continue to be this well supported, and made a mental note to visit every so often to check on it. "Anything catch your eye?"

© seadra of gs

[Sunny Slater]

"This is gonna be great for my profile!"

Two Heroes Unite!

Sunny pretended not to notice that Paladin hadn't replied to her invite to come and visit her manor. Maybe she hadn't realised Sunny was serious, or maybe she just didn't want to. Sunny, despite being cheerful, upbeat, oh, and incredibly wealthy, always found it hard to make proper friends. It was even worse since she'd become a hero. It was like something about her was just at odds with the people around her. She supposed she shouldn't of been surprised at Paladin ignoring the offer. She was nothing like Sunny at all. What was she meant to do? Invite Paladin to a private spa day? Somehow she doubted the other hero would like that. She seemed the type who listened to rock music and.... did whatever people who listened to rock music did. Go to the gym apparently. Ew.

Still, it'd of been nice to make a proper friend.

Sunny looked at the list of activities curiously. Unlike Paladin, Sunny had never been in a community centre in her life. She didn't even really understand them, so she found the idea of looking at a list of activities and getting to pick what you wanted to do incredibly quaint and cute (after all, if Sunny wanted to do something, she paid for it and organised it in advance, nobody had to offer her a list). She looked down all the events considering. Sure, this place might of been a bit run down, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't having fun with this. It was like a gimmick to her.

"Well, um, like, I'm TOTALLY bad at sports and can't throw to save my life, so uh, like, nope to the basketball, and I totally don't wanna get any paint or anything on my costume, so probably not the crafts. Dancing sounds fun though!" She suggested, considering the options, of course predictably dismissing the ones at odds with her girly girl nature.

Sure, anybody observing might ask how Sunny intended to dance in her ridiculous stiletto boots, but Sunny was pretty much at home in any kind of heels. Plus, well, if she lost her balance, she could always fly. She'd never actually done Salsa dancing in particular before, but it sounded fun, and so she was definitely interested in trying it. She wasn't sure, however, that Paladin would share her opinion...



Alice Morrow

"We should be, like, BFFs!"

ulla

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Sunny Slater + wearing

Paladin shook her head, "Sports is just a matter of trying, though with you being able to fly and me able to throw a ball the length of a football pitch with flick of the wrist it might be a little unfair. So maybe crossing that one off is a good idea." She glanced over at the pink clad Hero as her eyes traced down the list of activities, clearly she was considering some, but there seemed as if she was holding something back. Had she said something to offend Gravity Girl? Paladin might have spent a little more time considering the issue, but the blonde had already made her decision. Paladin grinned, "That's probably a good idea, my agent might cry if I ruin another costume. I go through like two a week. They're supposed to be super tough but none of them seem to be as tough as me." Her grin, if anything, seemed to stretch even wider. She looked back to the list of activities, looking for the floor the dance floor was located on. She remembered spending a lot of time at a similar community centre in her childhood, though with more time spent hanging out in the library with comic books than trying out dancing. Still it would be fun, and something she could surprise Nate, her boyfriend, with. "Salsa it is." She shrugged, "Can't say I'm much of a dancer, but hey, maybe I've been ignoring my secret talent. Maybe I could be a celebrity salsa dancer after I retire from the Hero business." Not that she could retire from the Hero business. It didn't feel like the kind of career that had an expiry date, although according to Dominic there was a very generous retirement package for Heroes that reached that point. Leading the way, Paladin trekked down the corridor to the dance studio, pushing open the door without looking back to check if the other woman was with her. The class that was in session paused as she stuck her blue haired head in through the door. "Room for two more?" With a slightly surprised expression, the Dance teacher nodded in welcome, and Paladin beckoned behind her towards Gravity Girl. "Come on, I guess I'll be the guy?"

© seadra of gs

[Sunny Slater]

"This is gonna be great for my profile!"

Two Heroes Unite!

Sunny had to disagree with Alice's description of sports being a matter of 'trying'. She had clearly never seen Sunny try to throw a ball. Although most people would say they'd never seen Sunny throw anything because what Sunny did when she attempted to do that was certainly not 'throwing'. Of course, her complete aversion to any exercise and hatred of getting, in her words, 'icky, sweaty and gross' probably also contributed to her hatred of sport...<p>

"Yay! I like you, givin' me excuses not to do sport. Wish that had worked for my gym teacher in school..." Sunny joked lightly when Alice agreed with her about the sport option. She gave her a surprised look when Alice commented on ruining her costumes though. "But, ohmigod, what do you do, for like, the photoshoots afterwards? I never let anybody ruin my outfits! They're like, WAY too pretty for that!" Once again, Sunny's vapid priorities showed through. She might of been sweet, but she was as vain as they came too, which was as ever blatantly obvious.<p> "Although I do have, like, over a hundred different costumes. I mean, like some are just in different shades of pink, y'know, for like, different lighting and stuff. And some are just my capes soaked in different perfumes for whatever scent I'm wearing that day, so that I smell super good when I fly past!" She explained cheerfully. Her shallowness would shock some people, but once you'd spent some time in a room with Sunny, it really wasn't that surprising.<p>

Sunny gave the assembled dancers a smile and a wave, and seemed to consider for a moment whether to stop for selfies or not, but at least did have the common sense to move on and take up a place in the class. To her, all of this was an exciting novelty.<br>
"Uh yeah, like, I would NOT make a good boy." She joked back when Alice volunteered to be the 'guy'. It was the only obvious choice given what Sunny was like really...<p>


Alice Morrow

"We should be, like, BFFs!"

ulla