ArchivedLogs:Out for a walk

Out for a walk
Dramatis Personae Fiona, Mai
In Absentia	2016-12-25 Fiona runs into Mai while out getting a few odds and ends.
Location Lower East Side
After the 'walk to Evolve in the rain' event yesterday, Fiona seems to be in much better spirits - she's dry and even wearing a clean set of clothes! What's more, she's not carrying around her huge backpack, and appears to be wearing a borrowed coat with a big furry lining around the hood. This is pulled up, but observers would still be able to see her tail, which unfortunately, is rather cold. So cold! Right now, she is just walking down the street carrying a couple gallons of milk and some odds and end that she got from one of the delis that were still open on Christmas. It should be added that's quite nice out compared to yesterday, if still rather cold. At least it's sunny! Mai does not care much for christmas, in fact, she used to really hate it since everything was closed and everyone was busy, nowadays she doesn't really care that much, although it is still annoying that nothing is open... well, -almost- nothing at least, which translates to there not being much anything to do, and as such, she has gone out on a walk to spend some time, which has taken her to this neighbourhood, not the nicest one in the city, but she can take care of herself and is not concerned of muggers. The person she spots walking down the street is most definetily not a mugger though, but instead someone who se recognizes, well Fiona IS kind of hard to confuse to anyone else after all, the tail is already a huge giveaway. "Hey, you seem to be faring better today." she observes as she gets closer and notices the clean clothes and all the stuff she is carrying. Definitely not the 'nicest,' but the property values in this area are still pretty crazy. It's really a wonder that the mutants manage to keep the Commons and Evolve going... "Huh?" Fiona squeaks, turning her head this way and that but not quite able to see Mai around the hood. Finally, she turns around, "Oh! Hi! You're the one from yesterday. Mai, right?" she asks, shifting the groceries in her grip. "Yeah! I took a shower and I slept on a BED, oh my god. It was awesome." Mai chuckles a bit at her words and nods. "Yes, thats me! So you moved to live in that... whats it called... commons?" she inquires curiously. "I still don't know where that is." she notes with a laugh. "Is it like specifically for mutants, or just general housing?" Smiling at the last part. "Haven't really ever been in a situation where couldn't sleep in one for extended period of time, so can't really properly imagine how it would be to get to sleep in one again after, but I am sure its great!" "Ah, well, probably just going to stay there for a few days... I don't really know what I'm going to do. They agreed to put me up over the holidays and invited me to eat, too," Fiona smiles, "I'm not sure what the rules are or anything. There's definitely a lot of mutants there... I saw some people that looked pretty normal last night though, so, maybe it's for everyone." Nodnod. "I don't really mind sleeping on the ground so much but... sleeping in a bed's much better." Mai nods a few times as she listens. "Maybe you could show that place to me as well? Since Paige last time got somewhat sidetracked from that... oh, and not every mutant looks obviously like one, that I think is the whole reason why everyone is so up in arms against them, since they don't know who might be one, kind of like the whole cold war thing all over again... when people thought everyone was a spy to the russians or something?" she ponders. "Hmm, I'm not sure that's the reason. I mean, maybe... I think people are just afraid 'cause they don't know too much about us. Or something... I'm not really sure," Fiona frowns. It's not something she likes to think about a lot, as it's all rather new to her... even though she was born with her mutations. "Sure, you wanna walk back with me? I think the main area is open to the public. I think," she nods. "I dunno, out in the country where I'm from, I think people just worry about their way of life going away, mostly. That's all I can tell." Mai shrugs slightly. "Could be. Or maybe they are just worried that the mutants are like the next step in evolution, and they are going to get overthrown like the neanderthal?" she offers as another theory. Then smiles and nods. "Sure thing, sounds good to me. Hmm, and didn't you say yesterday that back where you are from people didn't care that you were different?" Fiona motions for Mai to follow and begins walking back towards the commons again. "I mean, mostly. I wouldn't say it was because they were accepting of ALL mutants, more that they accepted me? And, you know, there was only one of me. So it's not like it's that big of a deal," nods the girl. "My town had about twenty thousand people in it, half that when the college kids go home for the summer... so it's almost like the college students were a bigger annoyance than a single mutant," she laughs, "Always getting drunk and stuff." Mai does walk along with the dragon-girl while listening to her story. "Well I can understand that, I wouldn't want to have ten thousand college students next door either, you could never sleep!" she notes with a giggle. "Also, it wasn't really until that terrorist attack that most people even knew about mutants being a thing, I think. Like sure I had heard some stories, but it wasn't like so at your face as it has been lately, like even today the news were just full of everything mutant-related, lot of the hostility towards mutants is probably caused by the media making such a huge number out of them." "I mean, maybe. I dunno, I don't really... I mean, I guess mutant powers can be kinda dangerous, like a gun... and we register guns... but... really, I don't want to be treated any differently than a normal person. I mean, it'd be great if people just didn't feel the need to talk about it at all and we could go on with our lives, right?" her tail lashes a bit angrily, "I mean, none of us asked for any of this. I wouldn't change who I am. I like who I am. Why can't people just be okay with it?" Mai shakes her head some at that. "Dangerous? Look at history, humans have been plenty capable of killing each other off without mutant powers for ages. Guns do not kill, the people pulling the trigger do." she explains. Pausing for a moment as she listens to what the other girl is saying. "That is a lovely thought, although I doubt it will happen, sounds way too good to become true, taking in the nature of people. They do not understand mutants, and people fear what they don't understand, and all too quickly, that fear turns to hatred." "I mean I guess, I'm not sure it's really as simple as all that... If someone were to carry a gun around all the time, you'd be somewhat wary of that, right? A lot of mutants are more powerful than someone with a gun, so, I could see why people'd be somewhat worried," Fiona nods, sidestepping a puddle. "But I guess with the registration act and all that it takes care of some of that... It's mainly just how people act," she shakes her head. "I dunno." Mai considers those words for a moment while she walks along with Fiona. "You are missing the point. Its not the gun, or whatever power they might have that matters, but the person. If someone wants to kill someone, they will find a way to do it, every house is full of lethal weapons, knives, hammers, baseball bats, crowbars, you name it, they don't need a gun or laser eyes to do it. All the registration act does is give a hit list to anyone who wants to kill mutants." "I don't know... I mean, I guess that's true. I'm not really for it, either, I'm just saying I think I can understand why people would be frightened. It's more than just being 'different.' You know, like, if someone is black or asian and most people are white, that's 'different.' But say, a psychic mutant could be messing with your thoughts, and you might never know. It could be happening right now," Fiona shrugs, pausing for a moment at a red light. Longest walk back ever! "How do you deal with something like that?" Mai shrugs slightly. "Well, personally I would prefer if they would just leave people be, if someone does something bad, like that example you gave, then they could lock that person up or something. Don't need to like be a pain to the whole population just because of couple troublemakers, you know?" she explains. "Yeah, I could see that. I mean mostly I just want to be left alone," Fiona shrugs, then turns to Mai, "You sure seem to care an awful lot about this sort of thing. I mean, I've been like this my whole life, so maybe just, maybe it just doesn't seem like that big of a deal... also, I can't really hide who I am or anything. So if they want me to register it's like, oh well, they already know. I could see why... someone might be against it, like, if it weren't... obvious." Mai gives a slight smile to Fiona. "Thats another thing, like whats the point even in the registering thing if anyone can obviously see that someone is a mutant by just looking at them? And I can bet you that the actual terrorist types that the whole thing was made for are not going to register anyway, so all it ends up doing is giving extra headache to people who done nothing wrong. Its like downright discrimination, just like how they used to do towards black people in the past." "Yeah, I guess so," murmurs Fiona, reaching up and rubbing the base of one of her horns a little bit tiredly, "I guess you're pretty much right. But if it's so useless why pass it? I just don't really wanna cause trouble, like going out and protesting or whatever over something like that... Just seems like it'd have the opposite effect that you want. Like, when I get old enough to vote, then I'd vote something like that down." Mai sighs and offers a shrug. "Probably because mutants are a minority, and the people who were deciding about it don't like mutants, and from their point of view its cool idea to have all the mutants catalogued so they can better keep watch on them and isolate them from the 'normal' people. People protest for lot dumber things than that." "Yeah, probably," Fiona turns around and starts walking again. They're almost there, really! "I guess before you can start protesting a law you need people to stop trying to kill you, though, huh? I feel like, if we were to do something like that... Well, there'd definitely be a lot more anti-mutant attacks. Probably," she frowns. Hey! There's the door to the commons. Right. There. "Oh. Hey. This is the place!" she nods. Mai chuckles a bit at those words, shaking her head. "People should not be afraid of their governments, its the governments that should be afraid of their people. Every change starts with someone deciding they have had enough. I very much doubt a peaceful protest would increase the amount of anti-mutant attacks. This is a free country remember, people have right to bring out their opinions, even if they are mutants." Then pausing as they arrive to the commons, looking up to take in the outside of the building. "Ah, cool. Maybe Paige is home too?" "Hmm I dunno, she was asleep I think when I left. Big day yesterday. Probably best to just leave her alone," nods Fiona, pushing the door open. "Hey, wait here, I gotta take these up to the kitchen, I think it's off limits," she disappears for a moment, returning without the bags of groceries.