Scene #15:

Owner	Pose
Princess Peach	As she often does when things are quiet in the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach is out for a bit of recreational wandering, exploring more of the multiverse. Today brings her to the grand city of New York, and being used to her kingdom's humble capital of Toad Town, this jungle of buildings had her in awe for a good bit. After spending some time in Times Square, followed by a visit to Central Park, Peach has taken to wandering a bit, which is certainly a dangerous activity in NYC. She has gotten herself lost and is wandering further and further into the wrong part of town. Peach may not be wearing her royal gown, but even so, in a light pink and sky blue spring dress, sapphire earrings, and that golden ruby and sapphire crown, she certainly stands out, particualrly to the 'less fortunate' people of the city. Toad is dutifully following the princess around, and looking more and more worried by the minute. He had already suggested that they try going back the way they came, which only got the pair even more lost, and now he's really out of ideas.
Jonothon Starsmore	As the Princess and her aide pass by an alley, there might be something strange and interesting floating out from the dark depths. Music. It's an acoustic guitar playing. Whoever's playing it is playing an old earth song. That's not too terribly odd, but there's also vocal accompaniment. Except it's not vocal at all, and that voice isn't actually 'heard'. It resonates in the mind. It's a light tenor voice, with the distinctive drawl of a British accent. It's not at all harsh-sounding; in fact it's soft and almost delicate-sounding. But it's definitely a man's voice. It doesn't evoke colors, smells, memories, or other senses. It's just a voice, and clearly someone else's. If it didn't resonate mentally it wouldn't be odd at all.
Princess Peach	Toad finally speaks up again. "Uh, Princess, maybe you should call on the radio for directions, or assistance... I have a really bad feeling about this place..." Peach shakes her head a bit. "Oh stop worrying so much Toad. So it's a bit dingy and run down? I'm sure we'll find our way back, where's your sense of adventure?... Oh what's that?" Peach asks curiously as she hears the music, and blinks a bit as the voice of the singing sounds a bit strange somehow, though she hasn't quite noticed that she's hearing it only in her head just yet. "What interesting music." She comments as she begins to follow the sound. However, both Peach and Toad fail to notice they are now being followed, and before long, three street thugs surround the princess and her mushroom attendant before one of them speaks up. "Hey blondie, who are you supposed to be? Queen of the mushrooms?" Another thug pulls a knife and points it at Peach. "Just hand over all your valuables lady, and no one gets hurt." Toad stands between Peach and the thugs bravely, only to be pushed aside. "Out of the way mushroom boy, we adults are just doing a little business..." Peach frowns at that, and a cast iron frying pan appears in her hand with a quick flash of pink hearts. The thugs look a bit surprised at the display of magic, but in a blink, she's clobbered the thug armed with a knife over the head, knocking him out. The expressions of the other two thugs quickly grow more grim at that though, as one grabs Peach's hair, and the other disarms her and binds her hands. "Shouldn't have done that princess, now I think we'll take you right along with your jewels." Peach struggles, but the two men start dragging her away. She gets out a brief scream before one of them gags her. Toad isn't forgotten either, as one of the thugs uses Peach's own frying pan to bash him in the head, knocking him out.
Jonothon Starsmore	Well, that music stops almost immediately at the sound of the scream. Pause, silence. Then the tapping of boots on the sidewalk. And that voice appears again. This time it's less smooth, made almost purposely gruff. But the Cockney accent is more 'audible'. "'Ey. You lot want ter get yer hands offa the lady." The 'speaker' is not visible yet. "Oh yeah?" one of the thugs scoffs. "Says who?" "Sez me," the voice says again, and a flame sparks to life in the alley. It's about at the level of a man's upper chest. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound of boots on the ground. The flame approaches too. And as the man who 'spoke' steps into the light, it can be seen why there is fire approaching with his steps. Because that fire is COMING OUT OF HIS FACE.
Princess Peach	The thugs probably would have stood their grown and fought if Peach's rescuer had been any normal man. She was a big find, despite the trouble she had caused for them, and the two thugs who were still conscious were already counting the cash they were going to have after selling off Peach's crown and jewelry. However, when a guy came up to them who looked like he was in the middle of spontaneously combusting and subsequently asked them to let her go, these tough guys showed that they still knew fear, and quickly let go of Peach and began to run. However, the one that had yanked on her hair earlier, decided to grab her crown and join his partner in fleeing, leaving their poor unconscious third man behind. Peach tries to yell at the men, since that crown had been in her family for generations, but with her mouth still gagged, nothing intelligible could be heard from her.
Jonothon Starsmore	The man on fire scowls. "S'cuse me just a sec', luv," he notes to Princess Peach, and takes off at a run. He'd seen that thug try and swipe her crown. Though he isn't going to go too far. Wouldn't do much good for him to leave her like that and have her get accosted by someone ELSE. But then again, he doesn't HAVE to go too far. Because a gout of that staticky fire erupts from his mouth (or rather, where his mouth should be), aimed at the thug. It's not actually fire, so it won't burn and possibly melt her crown. But it'll feel like a truck hit that poor thug. But then again, who's feeling sorry for him? Toad isn't forgotten, either! Stuff is still happening though, and the man whose face is on fire seems like he's going to deal with that first.
Princess Peach	Princess Peach is still a little surprised that she's being rescued by a man who seems to exude flames. Even after all the time she's been in the multiverse, and how bizarre her world was compared to many, this was still enough to shock her. She watches as he goes after the thug that grabbed her crown, and he's hit by blast of what looked like flames, but didn't burn him nearly as badly as such an amount of fire should, just seems to knock him back. The thug quickly decides the crown isn't worth it and drops it as he runs away screaming, leaving behind the smell of burnt clothes and skin.
Jonothon Starsmore	Ah-ha. The fiery-faced man quickly dives for the crown, hopefully catching it before it hits the ground. If not he'll just pick it up off the ground and hope nothing's missing from it. Once the crown's secure, he jogs back to Princess Peach. He puts the crown back on her head (probably slightly crooked) to free up his hands so he can get the gag off of her. Then he works on her bindings. As he works, he inquires, "Are yer all right?" His voice doesn't audibly emanate from the area where the fire is coming out of. On closer inspection, the man is actually quite nondescript, if his face wasn't emitting that staticky fire, he'd go pretty much unnoticed. He has short brown hair, brown eyes, pale skin. He wears a short-sleeved black shirt, black pants, and black biker boots.
Princess Peach	Princess Peach nods at Jonothon once she's completely free, reaching up to adjust her crown and also pull her hair back and tie it in a ponytail. "I'm fine, thank you, both for saving me, and for getting my crown back. I don't want to think about what those thugs were planning to do with me..." She frowns as she looks down at Toad, still unconscious. "Oh Toad, they really clobbered you good." She moves to place her hands atop his mushroom head, and a pink glow flows from her hands, enveloping him as it heals. After a few moments, he wakes up, suddenly looking up at her in alarm. "Princess! Are you alright?" Peach chuckles and nods. "I'm fine, our mystery music man came to my rescue." She says with a small grin as she looks back at Jonothon. "I'm Princess Peach Toadstool of the Mushroom Kingdom by the way, and this is Toad, my loyal attendant."
Jonothon Starsmore	Jono nods as Peach notes she's alright. He looks to Toad then as she turns to the little guy, honestly not sure what exactly he's looking at. Is it a person? A mushroom? A 'funguy'? And yes, he does actually think that, because ironically he's got a pretty good sense of humor, even if it was a stupid joke. "Izzee alright?" he asks, when she frets over how well Toad was clobbered. However he blinks when the lady seems to heal the little mushroom guy with some kind of pink light. "Oi. Are yer alright?" he inquires of Toad. When the princess introduces herself, he blinks. "Oh, er." Pause, and he bows, a little awkwardly. "Please ter make yer acquaintence, yer Highness." He also bows politely to Toad when she introduces him. "Pleased ter meetcha." He also offers, "My name's Jonothon Starsmore." Because one doesn't give pseudonyms to royalty. "Though eh... yer may not wanna walk through places like this alone with all yer finery on full display."
Princess Peach	Toad answers for himself. "Besides a headache, I'm fine now." Peach smiles at his response and looks back to Jonothon, nodding at his words of advice. "I suppose you're right. If anything it'll help me to blend in a little better too. And you can just call me Peach. What was that song you were playing before?" She asks curiously as she smooths down her dress a bit.
Jonothon Starsmore	Jono nods to Toad's response, and the area around his eyes crinkles a little, as if he were smiling. "Good ta hear, mate," he replies. Then he starts to fix the wrappings around his face. It's clear when he shifts those bandages around that the fire continues down, past his face, past his neck even, since that's how far he removes the wrappings so that he can fix them. Once he's all wrapped up, he looks much less demonic. He seems a bit nervous when asked by a princess to call her by only her name. "Oh, er... alright then, Peach." He almost seems to tense a little, as if waiting to be smited. Or hit with a frying pan! But when nothing happens but the question, he relaxes. And believe it or not, he seems to blush suddenly. Raising a hand to rub at the back of his head, he asks, "So you, ah, heard that, 'ey?" Pause. "Old song called 'Year 'o the Cat'. Al Stewart song. It's good ter practice with."
Princess Peach	Princess Peach nods and smiles brightly at him as he answers about his music. "I didn't get to enjoy it much because those thugs came up, but it sounded nice. Certainly not a song I've heard before, though I guess I still haven't heard that much music from the rest of the multiverse in general. Anyway, I'm afraid I never intended to end up here, we've gotten ourselves a bit lost, so do you know anyplace we can all go that is more... safe?"
Jonothon Starsmore	Jono nods. "I live in New York, so I know the place pretty well." Pause. "Well... not THIS New York. But A New York. Where yer wanna go depends on what you're lookin' for." He indicates the place where he was playing and notes, "I need ter get me guitar before someone steals it. Probably safer if we stick together in this neighborhood, ey?"
Princess Peach	Princess Peach is happy to have found a local person who seems to be willing to show her around a bit, though she supposes that shouldn't be surprising after he was willing to save her from being kidnapped. "Well, then let's go get your guitar, wouldn't want you to lose that because you decided to help me. But as far as looking for something, I guess a drink would be nice, perhaps tea or coffee?" Toad grows quiet, but is keeping an eye out now for anyone else that may pose trouble.
Jonothon Starsmore	Leading the way to where he left his guitar, Jono gives a nod. "Hm. Lessee..." The guitar is a thin-body acoustic guitar, finished in the popular 'tobacco sunburst' color. As he packs it into its case-- which actually has a bit of money in it, he scoops this out into a pocket before he puts the guitar in there-- he muses, "If yer want coffee, best place is probably Starbucks. Best one's in Grammercy, 28th and 3rd."
Princess Peach	Princess Peach follows as he heads back into the alley to retrieve his guitar and nods at his suggestion. "Sure, that sounds good... Hmm." She looks up at him a moment, wondering if he can even eat or drink, but isn't sure it would be very polite to ask. "Well, shall we?" She asks with a smile.
Jonothon Starsmore	How he can drink if he doesn't have a mouth-- which his inability to speak normally, and the fact that fire comes out of his mouth when he doesn't have his face wrapped up seems to indicate-- is anybody's guess. But, nonetheless, he leads her to Grammercy. They may have to take a bus or something, but Jono will act as a bodyguard here if anybody /else/ decides to make trouble. He can make his eyes glow scarily, so it will probably make most people back off if they start to get fiesty. And they'll eventually get to that Starbucks! The symbol is unmistakeable. and when they walk in, the place is spotless and has a very friendly vibe. The customers seem happy, and the baristas all have smiles on their faces. They also seem prompt and attentive, if the other customers getting their orders in a quick and efficient manner is anything to go by.
Princess Peach	Princess Peach is certainly curious about the subject of whether he can drink and how, and on the other hand how he lives if he can't eat or drink. Of course, how one lives when they seem to have fire inside them is the bigger question, the mutiverse is always full of surprises. But as they enter the Starbucks, Peach looks around, taking in the atmosphere a moment before making her way toward the counter as she looks up at the menu and Toad follows silently behind her. "Nice place." She comments with a smile to Jonothon as she tries to decide what to order, after a bit, she makes her choice. "I think I'll go for a Venti Caffe Espresso Frappuccino and a Tall Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino for Toad."
Jonothon Starsmore	It seems not, since as she makes her order, Jono waves the barista away when asked what he wants. "Nothin' for me right now, thanks." It's difficult to tell whether his speech is telepathic or not, and the vast majority of people he meets in passing don't ask. Though once the drinks come back, he speaks up again. "...On second thought..." He points at a chocolate chip cookie. "Two 'o those, please." He pays for these. Though once they get to the table, he puts one in front of Princess Peach and one in front of Toad. "Here. Yer both been through an ordeal. Figured yer could both use a cookie." The narrowing of his eyes is a smile, if the warm tone in his voice is any indication.
Princess Peach	Princess Peach pays for the drinks she ordered and follows Jonothon to a table while she waits for the drinks to be made. When they sit down and he places a cookie in front of both Toad and herself, she smiles brightly. "Thank you so much, it's really too bad there aren't more people in the world as kind as you." Toad nods as he takes his cookie. "Yeah, thanks, you really helped us out of a bind there... And thanks for the cookie too!" They both start munching on their cookies while waiting for the drinks.
Jonothon Starsmore	Jono nods. "There need ter be nicer people, then; I'm not exactly 'nice'. Just not an idiot." That smile is there again, in his voice and in his expression. It might be interesting to note... When he's wrapped up like this, it really does look like he has a chin and a mouth under the wrappings. But she's seen that there's only fire there. Even in profile, there's nothing there when he wrappings are pulled down.
Princess Peach	Princess Peach is eating a bite of her cookie when Jono replies, and covers her mouth as she chuckles and tries not to choke on the bit of cookie. Swallowing, she smiles back to him. "Well, you saved me from being dragged off by some rough and tough street thugs, and showed me to Starbucks and bought me and Toad a cookie. That seems nice enough to me." The drinks arrive and Peach takes a sip of her drink as she looks at Jono a moment, and lowers her voice as she decides to give in to her curiosity. "So, if you don't want to talk about it, feel free to stop me, but... how does that whole fire thing work? You look like there is a regular face under those wrappings, but it's still fire right? How do you keep from burning the wrapping, or your clothes...?"
Jonothon Starsmore	Jono's first instinct when Peach starts talking about the fire is to glance around. Because if you talk about that kind of stuff in /his/ New York, you get people screaming 'MUTIE!' and running away, then giant purple/red/blue robots chasing your mutant butt around, shooting at you. Here, though, there doesn't really seem to be any reaction. And there's probably weirder things than him visually here at this moment. Thus he has the courage to respond, "...Well... it's not really fire. I'm not sure what it is exactly. Some kinna energy, is all I know. It doesn't burn unless it's somethin' that goes up when rubbed together. Paper, sometimes clothes, but only when I hit somebody with it." As for why it looks like there's a regular face? Jono puts his hand on his 'chin' as if feeling it. "That... I don't know. I'm glad it does look normal, but I have no idea why it does."