nexus_crossings | (no subject)

Ray was doing her best 'harmless' stance at least, most people outside of Gotham fell for it, though she had already decided, keep an eye on the woman, but that she probably wasn't as much of a threat as say a rose bush in the botanical gardens. Ray had a funny way of classifying threat levels, but Gotham was one of those types of cities.

"In a way I didn't have that much of a choice. Not my mentor's doing, he just helps make sure I don't get myself killed. All I wanted to do before was the family business, put on a show and entertain masses with death defying stunts on the tightrope or trapeze. But I get the whole issue with being a woman. It's part of why they baby me so much and I really hate it."

"Rayan, and I just got here. Quieter than I'm used to, but most places are." She shakes Jill's hand, her hands are rough, and her grip's firm, with some strength behind it.

The half-wall was where Minoru primarily stayed, sprinting across it with relative ease. Of course, he knew he’d have to get back across the road eventually somehow…

His face lit up when he spotted his chance.

Minoru jumped from the wall onto a round metal garbage can, intentionally toppling it to the ground. For a second, it looked like he’d misjudged the distance, since he did end up with a foot on the ground for the landing. (And both hans, technically.) But no, he had it under control.

“I’ll clean it up later! Promise!” He shouted to a shocked passerby.

That type of barrel-rolling obstacle didn’t show up in this year’s American Ninja Warrior course, but it had in previous years. So this was something Minoru practiced. Balancing on the side of the can, he rolled it across the street.

As it rolled between a more narrow gap between buildings, Minoru hopped up, planting hans and feet on adjacent walls.

This might be a little slower than a normal wall climb, and he knew it might cost him the race. But any chance to work in the technique for next year’s Stage 4 climb - he was bound and determined to make it there! - as worth it. He needed to get faster on his spider climb!

Harmless stances only work with Jill when she's dressed in heavier civvies or compression gear; anything that disguises muscle and her frame. Unfortunately, despite the compression gear, the style of it gives away something militaristic about her. It's a sense you can't escape from the looks of it, even if she's not in traditional fatigues or drab colors that blend in with the background. The blue and light khaki helps in being approachable to some degree. It still suggests authority, however.

"That's fair, though. I won't say it's entirely fair, but if I had a daughter -- probably about your age, I'd say -- or niece or something like that, I'd probably be worried sick." But she lifts her brows at mention of circus-like antics. "I'm something of a gymnast, myself."

Jill doesn't carry on with much more information than that, but her build does suggest it. Strong legs, toned arms; thicker than most women but not too pumped. The legs, though, are a bit different. It's clear they're powerful.

"Pleasure to meet you, Rayan." Jill clasps more than shakes. It's a militaristic gesture that echoes a repetitive nature, that she's done this before and frequently in the exact same way. "I don't suppose you've heard of the BSAA? Biohazard Security Assessment Alliance?"

"My parents encouraged the whole trapeze bit, I was up on the wires when I was learning to walk." She was still proud of that. "The other part, only comes into play when I tend to go into certain areas of town. Though really I do tell them where I'm going to be on the safe side."

"And I took you for at least a runner, another Parkour runner maybe? Have a brother into the sport, it's fun to go running with him."

The action gets noted in Rayan's mind, Jill has to be some military outfit. Though the group mentioned she quirks a brow. "No, though I don't know every little sub group in the government back home."

Once she was on the new roof, she did take a moment to watch her race partner. His climb was impressive. She would give him a few moments since she wanted to size up the gap perfectly, last time she had tried the move she was about to do, she had her zipline. Though the wall's mortar looked like it would hold if she hit just right to sink her fingers in. The fall, was only about twenty feet, she'd fallen further. True her brothers had teased her when she had broken both her arm and leg hitting the trash can wrong. But hey! It would be worth it right?

She took the running start, jumping over where he was climbing, tucking into a ball flipping in the air in a very tell-tale move, if anyone had remembered or even seen her male counterpart when he had been a member of Haley's Circus. Landing on the roof she kept moving, the roof she was now headed to was a good ten feet higher than the one she was on.

Her jump, was with a show of spin, her hands reaching out, catching the edge so her back was to the wall. Hanging there a moment, she hauled herself up, doing a handstand on the edge before twisting around so she could walk into a standing stance. True it would slow her down, but she didn't mind.

“Oh, awesome!!” Minoru couldn’t help but look up at Ray as she flipped right over his head. Sure, she took the lead there, but it was still extremely impressive.

When he got to the top of the building, he kicked hard off of one side to grab onto the other and hoist himself up. Ray was already doing a handstand on the next roof by the time he got up, so he didn’t dawdle. Minoru sprinted to the edge, leaping and grabbing the ledge - but without the fancy handstand.

The lower roof coming up after it? That got more of a roll out of Minoru. But he came right back up on his feet and kept moving.

With only one more leg to go, so to speak, until they’d circumnavigated the plaza, it was going to be a race to the finish line!

"That's probably the way to do it to be most effective in learning, right? Sort of like teaching a language when you're young." She learned more languages as she got older and she wishes she'd started in her teens instead, but there hadn't been much offerings in her podunk little midwestern town when it came to learning them. "I understand that, too. Everywhere isn't safe and parents, siblings... elders in general, they're going to fret."

Which doesn't make it fair she supposes.

"I can manage a bit of that, but it's not a strict or specific hobby. For me it's Savate, Muay Thai, and Wing Chun, though I wrestle and do run. I pride myself on my speed, actually." She says it like she's impressed that she was pinned down. It's not terribly hard to do so, but it's rare she meets someone that will bring it up. Or, at least is similarly interested in things.

"My apologies. I guess it's the easiest way I've come by to know if someone comes from the same place as me. It's an anti-bioterrorism organization I founded and am a spec ops agent with." It gives her some trustworthiness, too. The same way you'd trust someone who helps people in your own world, although not everyone are in their jobs for altruistic reasons. "We're not affiliated with any government, though I'm American and from the North American branch -- if "America" means anything to you, of course."

Rayan will just leave out she knows a few languages, yay for growing up in a travelling circus. "It also tend to freak normies out. I may have showed off at the private school I'm in. Freaked out the PE teacher climbing without a safety line up into the rafters of the gym freehand." She chuckled a little at that. "Was the first day, and apparently the principal forgot to inform them my past. My second older brother cracked up, and little brother is horrified still." She was a little proud of that though.

"Ah, though oh, impressive collection there." She is impressed! "Speed and flexibility usually are good to have in dangerous spots." Oops, a bit of her costume persona peeking? Maybe.

"It's alright, though, an outfit like that, I'm surprised we don't have a unit in my town. Gotham ring any bells? Pop's hometown. I, don't really have one, a hometown that is. Born in Haley's circus, We were halfway between a week in Eastern Europe, and heading west for a show in Wales. Though most my life has been State Side." She grinned. Prefer Chicago pizza to New York's." And yes she's sure if Dick heard her say that he'd insist they weren't related.

Her showing off lost her a few seconds, but that's okay, Rayan's not in it for the win, she's there for fun, and the way he reacted, seemed like he enjoyed her showing off too.

Always good to have an audience enjoying the show after all.

She had also noticed that they had drawn some onlookers, so she was going to make it enjoyable at least as she bolted after Minoru, she knew she wasn't going to fully catch up, he had a few yards on her because of her showboating.

Though the last jump, she was sizing up as they went. Wouldn't be as fun without one of her teammates giving her a small boost, but she knew even this late in the game she could make it. Was just a smaller track than the one she'd do with Jay around midtown in Gotham, on nights when they were supposed to be benched.

Of course Minoru enjoyed it. Watching someone else do parkour tricks was part of the fun - and provided plenty of inspiration for new moves. If they happened to be drawing attention from onlookers, so be it. It definitely wasn’t the first time. (Wouldn’t be the last either!)

Minoru was definitely a fast runner, and his jumps were good. He lost a little time in his own showing off too - from hopping up onto a ledge and dashing down that to grabbing and swinging through the gap under a rooftop water tower.

The last jump was a long one, though. The space between the buildings was more than the standard alleyway for some reason. Minoru knew that, distance-wise, it was right on the edge of his limits. Sometimes, with the right running start and the right form, he cleared it. Sometimes, he narrowly missed the ledge and ended up grasping it (or part of the fire escape - the easy way Rayan obviously didn’t use to get up there the first time) with both hands.

A fall could cost him greatly here, but so could taking the conservative route.

“Here goes everything!!” He shouted, building up speed. But experience still led him to veer toward the fire escape, to provide options in case his jump was anything less than solid.

But Minoru knew as soon as he pushed off the ledge that he was going to make it this time. Feet touched down on the other side, and he took that momentum right into a series of rolls before coming to a stop.

Ray gaged the last jump as she bolted for it, pulling off a few tumbles here and there over some obstacles in her path, the water tower had her flip off on the dismount with two twists landing without breaking her run, a little showy, but the gap was still coming up. It was the same distance as between the building that housed her little brother's favorite coffee shop and one of her older brother's favorite safe houses. She had made that gap hundreds of times, sometimes wounded. She had shown off running up it, and noted he was going a safer route.

Minoru's feet left the roof just moments before her's, though at the last moment she pulled her landing, instead of another showy move, she just leapt, her feet landing an inch past the edge, she did a simple breakfast to slow her momentum letting him have the win.

"Okay next time I want a good race I know who to look for, that was actually more fun than racing Jay." She walked up to him hand out. "I'll teach you some trapeze stunts, I'm sure you can add them to your running." Ray was beaming brightly. "Would be fun, though. We should probably go clean up our mess."

Minoru grinned and laughed. That was the kind of stuff he lived for! Whatever worries he had before the race were long gone, replaced by the invigorating sounds of heavy breathing and a pumped up heartbeat. He shook that outstretched hand, beaming, “Oh man! It was great! You’ve really got some moves! I thought you had me beat at least half the time!”

He was just as thrilled to be learning some trapeze stunts. On the one hand, he couldn’t wait for the first lesson. On the other, she was right. They did need to go clean up their mess.

“Guess I’d better start with the garbage can.” He nodded.

Rolling it on its side did make a pretty big mess of things.

"I probably did, but showboated a little too much, my oldest brother says that's a common problem with him too. Though was a fun race thanks. I enjoyed myself. We are so doing that again." She stretched a little. "Was a good work out."

"Yeah, I don't exactly have Pops or Alfred around, at least it's an easy clean up." She chuckled. "Bot that Id expect them to clean up my messes. B would just hire someone anyway." She headed for the fire escape. "I'll help, since the race was my idea I helped make the mess. Though really, that was an impressive move! I half expected it to crush on you and send you spilling to the ground."

Minoru honestly didn’t care if he won or not. All he needed to do was prove himself capable enough of handling himself on a trapeze to learn some new moves. And even THAT motivation got lost in the fun of a freerun.

He followed, but swung down the outside of it rather than taking the actual stairs.

“Nah, they’re the kind of trashcans grouches live in. The metal’s more stable than it looks.” He added, thinking back to meeting Oscar in the Plaza and then helping him home to Sesame Street. “They’re pretty heavy too.”

Fortunately, it wasn’t a very windy day. Otherwise, he’d probably be running around picking up loose trash for the next hour. Minoru righted the can and put it back where it was, and then started to make quick work of everything he had spilled.

“So you and your brother both do parkour? That’s pretty cool.”

Edited (I can spellz, thnkx) 2021-08-17 11:18 (UTC)

Rayan paused from helping to pick up things when he said Oscar. "You mean like that kid show? The green guy who loves trash?" Hey foreign dubs were how she learned Cantonese, French and Italian. Russian, well that was picked up dealing with various crime lords, as well as her Spanish. "I mean yeah I know other worlds meet here, but that is kind of cool learning." She started at the other end of the trail he had made, after righting a few cafe chairs she had tipped over.

"Yeah, I have a few brothers actually, we're... all adopted." She answered. "Our guardian was the one that suggested we take it up, basically as a way to keep five hyperactive kids out of his hair, and well since there's a lot of space on the estate, we had a lot of room to practice before we got bored and well, took to running across the rooftops of Gotham." Okay, so not exactly the whole truth, but it was enough. She just left out the whole crime fighting bit to it.

“Yeah!” He nodded. This was indeed the Nexus, a bridge between worlds and a great spot to meet gods, monsters, angels, aliens, robots, wizards… and the occasional completely normal human being.

“That’s cool. My parents were always trying to stop me from doing it.” He chuckled warmly, mimicking his father’s slightly lower and less expressive tone of voice. “Minoru, don’t climb on that. Minoru, get off the roof. Minoru, NO, that is NOT what I meant when I said get off the roof!”

His parents were there to support him at his American Ninja Warrior runs, though. Despite the obvious preference for academic achievement while he was growing up (something that his twin brother Isamu excelled at, and he, obviously, didn’t), they’d come to appreciate his accomplishments. And the effort that went into them.

“Good luck getting my brother on a roof.”

"See most of those... I live with already, my world has Kryptonians, Martians, a Tamaranian, Amazons, Atlantians, all on the daily news." She grinned. "I've met some of them a few times, yay for going to school with a bunch of rich kids, the chances of running into a hero are a little higher because well, idiots tend to think we're easier targets and better hostages when they need huge sums of money." She had no problem leaking that information. "It's part of the reason why my boyfriend wants me to switch to a school in Starling, he doesn't like the idea of the Bat and Birds protecting me, but feels safer with a Robin Hood wanna be?" She shook her head a little.

"Poor Alfred keeps lecturing us about it, but he's always there for us when we get banged up. Seriously with me and my eldest brother, telling us to stop climbing things is actually worse than putting us in a time out." She smiled. "He's been to everything we've done though, even if B hasn't."

"Is he scared of heights?"

“Scared? Nah.” Minoru shook his head and laughed. “He just wants no part of the crazy.”

Hell, the craziest thing Isamu had ever done was uproot them both to move to the Nexus. It was a step in the right direction.

“Our world doesn’t have anything like that. Our heroes are just regular people. Nobody has magic or any kind of special powers. Nobody’s ever met anyone from another planet - or if they have, they really don’t talk about it. Unless its in a book or a movie.”

Those were seen as works of fiction in his world, but given some of the worlds he’s learned about here, he’s honestly had to wonder if all the fiction in his world isn’t actually real somewhere else.

"That, seems both cool and boring at the same time. Though not all our heroes have powers, Some just have costumes, we still have the cops, doctors, firemen, and normal people doing the right thing. It's just those in the costumes steal the show or usually draw the attention so that the real heroes can do their job." Hey Rayan was more than willing to draw the attention of the rogues so others could be taken safely elsewhere.

"Jury is still out if the costumes are insane, or actually helpful though." She dumped an armload of papers and empty bottles into the bin. "Personally I think it's a mix of both." And yes, she just called herself crazy, but she knew that was true.

“When you put it that way…” he chuckled. “It’s like, superheroes are really colorful bait.”

He’d never thought about it that way. Granted, aside from meeting people in the Nexus, his experience was limited to action movies and comic books. And chances were, those didn’t tell the whole story.

“Not saying that’s a bad thing!” He quickly clarified. “If you’ve got the costumes, do you guys have the secret identities and superhero names too?”

"More the sidekicks are the bait," she mumbled low, hoping he didn't hear it.

"If they did, I bet it's to protect loved ones. Pretty sure some costumes are kids, or parents protecting kids. I mean it's bad enough being the ward of Gotham's richest man, the times people have tried kidnapping me or a brother. I'd hate to think what it would be like if I was the kid of a costume."

“Wow…” he thought for a moment about the high stakes that came with her world. “Where I come from, they’re really just like stage names.”

He did, thankfully, miss the sidekick comment. An armful of trash going in the bin can be loud.

“When I compete, I’m the Fan Man.”

Which compared to superhero names, probably sounded ridiculous.

"I guess looking at it from the outside it would look like that, I mean really my town is known for a guy dressed up as a bat. Pretty gimmicky if you ask me." Hey a chance to tease Bruce, she'll take it.

Ray giggled at that. "Okay that's not the worst I've ever heard, beats Red Robin. I mean who names themselves after an over priced burger joint?" Okay yeah, Tim would probably glare at her for that, and Jay would be holding in laughter.

Edited 2021-08-22 04:02 (UTC)

“A Bat? That’s wild! Hey, at least robins are red, right?” He offered. “And it’s got a pretty nice ring to it. My last name’s Uchiwa. Like the hand fan. That’s where I got the idea for the name. My brother ordered boxes of purple fans to hand out at the competition. He said the marketing basically did itself.”

(much like the Batcave, with its Batmobile, batarangs and other bat-prefixed miscellany.)

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure the first Robin wasn't really thinking when they thought of that they just went from something that they felt comfortable with. I mean red and yellow, stands out horribly in the dark." She chuckled dumping the last of the garbage that she had picked up in the bin.

"And really I thought that only worked with the really gimmicky villains' and well Batman." She giggled. "Next time you compete though I want to be there. If this little race was anything, it got you another fan. No purple one needed."