anemoi | [Action--open to non-Justice League folks, too]

It is a warm, oddly festive night, like tonight, that Shen decides to go wandering about town. He'd started in the early evening, just around sunset and by the time night fell, he found himself in a beachfront park, watching what appeared to be a Wiccan Spring Equinox celebration.

It was going well, really, he was watching the dancing and the bonfire and all... And then they decided to cap the night off with some fireworks.

...

It was difficult to tell why the very disorientated giant talking peacock
had invaded their celebration, took apart the remaining devices of incendiary entertainment and reworked them, all the while blathering excitedly about how they haven't got enough flash powder and their cordite balance is way off and where on earth did they get these nitrates... They find themselves sort of standing back, staring bewilderedly as this bird essentially remakes the things by hand...er, wing, expertly loads and fuses them, and then, for some reason, places a foot against the fuse.

He stops. Wobbles. Shakes his head. Promptly snatches a lighter from someone's hand with said foot and lights the thing before anyone can stop him. It shoots into the air and detonates with a staggeringly complex sequence of orbs and flowers...

At a height of ten feet.

Coughing on the smoke, Shen waves a wing in front of his beak. "Not enough phosphorus," he mutters.

At this point, however, since nobody wants to get the police involved and risk the discovery of a few less-than-legal aspects of their celebration (the fireworks alone being enough of a reason), someone's gone and phoned the Justice League instead. If anyone answers said call, they'll find a woman festooned with arcane symbols attempting to talk a giant, sooty bird away from their explosives.

"No, no, I have it right this time! I can tell just by smelling it..."

((2% spent on remembering the science of fireworks. Still debating whether that entails remembering inventing the cannon as well... >.> ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A giant peacock meddling with dangerous objects? That sure does ring a bell! As the guy on duty most familiar with Suspect A, the hero GRAND PAPILLON is nominated to dispense justice in the vicinity.

"I can hear the explosions from halfway across town! What exactly is going on here?"

He's trying hard to sound disapproving, but, well... he's very easily impressed by bright colors and loud noises. That's just how he rolls.

Shen turns to look at the source of the voice and... wow. He is not excited. He is not exhilarated. He is downright MANIC.

The local priestess, however, is overjoyed. "Oh, thank goodness. Could you please do... something about this bird? He's scared almost everyone off!"

"Nonsense," Shen answers. "They're simply keeping a safer distance than they were doing before." At this, he lights another firework and this time the thing rockets about 30 feet into the air and explodes into a burst of glittering light in the shape of a five-pointed star, followed immediately by a blue and green orb in the centre. A few people can't resist going oooo.... at that one.

The Priestess, however, simply returns her gaze to the superhero and gestures as if to say See what I mean?

"That's amazing! Do it again!"

Wait, no, he's not here to encourage him, he's here to. Um. Separate Shen from the priestess and general public, right? That was totally it.

"Although... It's still pretty low for a firework, isn't it? Why don't you move up to the roofs? I'll even give you a hand with the heavy lifting!"

There, this approach is flawless. He can see no potential problems or objections at all.

"No! Don't do it again!" is the priestess' response, complete with arm-waving. She even manages to use said arm-waving as a way of getting Shen to take a step back. She sighs, pushes her hand through her Regulation Wild Hair and looks the manic bird as straight in the eye as she can given he's fidgeting and almost twitching. "Look. We'll give the rest of this to you if you promise to follow this man to the roof... it looks like you two know each other... right?"

"He is familiar, yes," Shen answers in the world's most obvious attempt to Not Give Away The Superhero's Secret Identity. "I may have seen him somewhere."

"Good." She shoos Shen and his explosives toward said hero. "Take them! Use them in good health! Blessed be! Goodbye!"

"Oh." He's clearly not used to people just handing him things and shooing him away. "Thank you. Er... that roof?" He points to the nearest one, which happens to be the roof of the local Dagon's Fish Hut.

"Yes. That one's great! Wonderful view!"

"Excellent,. Do stay and watch, I think I can get maybe two more out of this...."

Joachim hefts more explosive components than someone with his level of common sense should have access to over his shoulder and proceeds to lead the way to yonder fish hut.

"The name's Grand Papillon, by the way! Maybe you've seen me on television!"

He says this loudly, for the benefit of the priestess. The world's stupidest car chase of all time is a popular rerun on slow news days.

"Oh, yes, I do remember having seen you on the television recently," Shen answers in an equally loud and obvious voice.

Behind them, the priestess is apparently giving fervent thanks to Hera for this test of their faith and hope that they had passed.

As they make their way to the building (which smells a lot more like fish than even a fish restaurant ought), dodging around some rather lumpy employees in the back, they somehow excuse themselves and climb the handy access ladder to the roof. The smell isn't any better up there but Shen doesn't seem to mind. He's nearly giddy.

"Yes... yes, this'll be perfect! They can be seen for miles around--oh, look, there's the Ermis!"

There's something appealing about the smell, but there's no time for that now! They've got bigger fish to fry, as it were.

"So there is! Let's give them a good show!"

[As stated before, Gordon really never can tell what the hell he'll see outside the window. Even at night, a spasmodic but finely-made fireworks display reaches him on the tiny balcony of his apartment from over at the local park at night.

[He's curious, but a clue reaches him in the form of a sparkling explosion low over the treeline in the shape of a stylized red-and-white peacock tail.

[Wait. No, it couldn't be...]

It is. Another one, much higher, is in the shape of a stylised white peacock head with red tips to the feather crest. He's not humble. He is, however, apparently a brilliant chemist, as there is a complexity and detail to the things that Gordon likely hasn't seen, ever.

[Damn straight. He's a physicist, not a chemist, but he's not one of those isolationist idiots that avoid all things chemical. He KNOWS a carefully-crafted reaction when he sees one.]

Shen? How the hell...?

How the hell, indeed. But since Shen cannot here him, the incendiary display continues without comment. This times it's a collection of repeatedly flashing orbs. Oooooo.

[Action--open to non-Justice League folks, too]

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