ArchivedLogs:If That's the Aim

If That's the Aim
Dramatis Personae Jack
In Absentia	2016-01-04 "{Some people are already blaming us.}" (Part of Flu Season TP.)
Location <NYC> Starbucks - Clinton
There are many /nice/ coffee shops near Port Authority, but this is not one of them. It's a Starbucks. There are thousands just like it, but this is the one you're standing in. They have a decent selection of boring, inoffensive coffees and boring, offensive teas, and chewy pre-made sandwiches. There are small tables with chairs scattered throughout, and a long bar-like counter along one window. It finally feels like January in New York, and what little meager warmth the sun provided fades even faster than its watery light. Down in the shadowy streets, it's dreary and cold well before suppertime. There is a woman sitting at the end of the window counter, slender hands wrapped around a grande cappuccino. Her long hair is black, slightly wavey, her eyes dark, dark brown, and her skin quite pale, probably both by ancestry and lack of sun exposure. She wears a long burgundy toggle coat and an iPhone lies near her hands, though she exercises tremendous restraint and does not touch it. Sitting alone at a nearby table and hunched over a laptop is a tall man in a blue zippered fleece and black jeans who bears a passing resemblance to her, /his/ black hair cropped short and impeccably styled to look like every other hip twenty-something in lower Manhattan. Jack had been surprised to get contacted by Valerie again but he agreed to meet her all the same. Even if he'd been let off grounding earlier, Monday was best for both of them and the earliest he could get one of the school's teachers to come along with him. Dressed in newer jeans, a plain black hoodie, and some newer looking sneakers, he's got one of the teachers with him as he arrives. "Thanks, Professor...I just need to talk to these guys," he says, the Professor taking a table nearby to watch while Jack approaches Valerie and the man he's assuming is her brother. "Hello," he greets quietly when closer. There's a pause, Jack hoping they don't freak out when they see him. "I'm Jack," he introduces himself, waiting to be acknowledged before taking a seat across from them. Valerie turns toward Jack before he even speaks, and her dark eyes go wide when she sees straight through to the back of the upright hood where she presumably expected to see a head. The corner of her mouth twitches and she tenses as if she /might/ just run. But doesn't. She nods once, jerkily, and gestures for Jack to take a seat beside her. It's only after taking a long sip of her coffee and an even longer breath that she turns slightly to face the boy, and then only obliquely, as if she does not like looking directly at him. "{I want get something straight right now,}" Valerie says softly, her Spanish smooth and melodic. "{I don't want your sympathy. If there's a chance you might get this information to someone who can stop it from happening again...I'll take it.}" She looks at Jack again, steadily this time. "{But I don't want this coming back to my family. We've suffered enough. If our names end up in the news I'll sue you into the ground for defamation, do you understand?}" At his own table, Thomas watches Jack's approach like a hawk but in no way acknowledges him. His expression skews more toward suspicion than shock even after he must have seen the boy's transparency. His shoulders tighten, and he retreats further into his personal bubble of computing while keeping a wary eye on the teacher Jack had brought with him. Jack's shoulders dip a little when he recognizes Valerie's reaction. Better than what he expected but still not a reaction he likes. He's been feeling a little extra annoyed about the whole physical mutation thing lately but he brushes it aside. Taking the seat gestured to, he takes a breath and glances at Thomas before focusing his attention on Valerie. He can't help but give a little quiet snort at the mention of being sued. "{Don't worry, I won't be spilling your names to the news. I can keep a secret pretty well,}" he offers, switching to Spanish. He's amused at the idea of anyone suing him. Shaking it off, he tugs his hood to make sure it isn't about to fall off. "{So, what information do you have for me?}" Valerie glares at Jack sharply when he snorts, and doesn't seem /particularly/ reasurred by this promise. "{Alright. So my brother. Was a fuckup. He was always in with sketchy people, but a few months back, he started hanging with these...mutant gangsters. They were all doing some kind of new drug, that amplified their powers or something, I don't really know the details. But I do know they were messing around with zombies.}" Her teeth grind slowly. "{For practice. And then they started getting sick themselves.}" Jack looks as apologetic as empty clothes can when he sees the glare. He settles in to listen though, taking a small notepad from his pocket. He flips it open, ready to take notes. "{Mutant gangsters?}" he asks, that bit of information new. "{Do you have any idea what they were doing with the zombies? What sort of practice?}" Valerie sighs. "{Look, it's not easy thing for me to talk about, okay?}" She props her elbows on the counter and digs the pads of her fingers into her temples. Takes another deep breath and expels it between clenched teeth. "{How the fuck should I know, /you're/ the mutant. Don't you have fucking /classes/ on this shit? Learning to use your powers better? You have targets?}" Her voice is dropping lower, but growing harsher, too. "{Well, they were using zombies. Do I have to draw you a goddamn picture?}" "{It's alright. I understand,}" Jack replies. He lets out a breath at the reaction he gets though. "{We learn to control our powers, not like...train to fight, ma'am. Other than that, we're just like any other students,}" Jack replies calmly. "{I was just asking to be sure. I get what you mean though. You think your brother tried taking any of those drugs?}" "{Well, they /were/ training to fight, I think. Or maybe they were just dicking around.}" Valerie looks away from Jack and studies the slowly collapsing foam in her cappuchino very intently. "{How would it help him? He was human,}" she mutters. "{Doesn't matter, anyway. He's dead. They're probably all dead. Dumb fucks. Had to get their kicks /and/ take the whole fucking city down with them.}" "{I really have no idea. Especially not without knowing more about the drug itself but...if its something that could make a mutant's powers stronger, who knows what sort of reaction it would have in someone that isn't a mutant,}" he shrugs a bit. Of course he's suspecting that drug may have caused some powers to manifest but doesn't want to bring it up without proof. "{Even if they are, hopefully this information will help prevent anything like that from happening again. Either accidentally or because someone else provokes it.}" At first Valerie doesn't respond at all, and when she does it's with a faint, colorless laugh. "{Possible, but I'm not /hopeful/. How do you stop something like that? Godlike power in the hands of goddamned idiots. Aren't you afraid whoever you tell is just going to blame /all/ you people again? Mutants?}" Jack is quiet for a long moment, quietly closing his notepad. "{Some people are already blaming us. And probably will anyway. But we're still going to try to stop this kind of stuff from happening. Try to do some good and help people,}" he says quietly. "{Thank you.}" "{And some people always will.}" It's about as close as Valerie has come to agreeing with Jack, and she sounds pretty grim about it. "{Well, I hope that optimism works out for you. Seems more likely it'll just come back to bite you in the ass. Or fuck things up worse for everyone.}" But there's no real malice in her words, just defeat. "{Go on, now.}" "{Here's hoping,}" Jack agrees, a bit grim himself. He slips his notepad back into his pocket and starts to stand up. "{Have a good evening,}" he offers. The invisible teen offers a nod to Thomas even if the other man doesn't acknowledge it and makes his way back over to his professor. They've got more places to go but he's got a lot to think about.