Logs:Processing Power

Processing Power
Dramatis Personae Polaris, Wendy
In Absentia Erik	2024-10-13 "If he ever does anything worthwhile, it better be really good."
Location <NYC> Evolve Cafe - Lower East Side
Spacious and open, this coffeeshop has a somewhat industrial feel to it, grey resin floors below and exposed-beam ceilings that have been painted up in a dancing swirl of abstract whorls and starbursts, a riot of colour splashed against a white background. The walls alternate between brick and cheerfully lime-green painted wood that extends to the paneling beneath the brushed-steel countertops. There's an abundance of light, though rather than windows (which are scarce) it comes from plentiful hanging steel lamps. The walls here are home to artwork available for sale; though the roster of prints and paintings and drawings and photographs changes on a regular basis it has one thing in common -- all the artists displayed are mutants. The seating spaced around the room is spread out enough to keep the room from feeling cluttered. Black chairs, square black tables that mostly seat two or four though they're frequently pushed around and rearranged to make space for larger parties. In the back corner of the room is more comfortable seating, a few large black-corduroy sofas and armchairs with wide tables between them. There's a shelf of card and board games back here available for customers to sit and play. The chalkboard menus hanging behind the counter change frequently, always home to a wide variety of drinks (with an impressive roster of fair-trade coffees and teas largely featured) though their sandwiches and wraps and soups and snacks of the day change often. An often-changing variety of baked goods sit behind the display case at the counter halfway back in the room, and the opposite side of the counter holds a small selection of homemade ice creams. A pair of single-user bathrooms flanks the stairway in back of the cafe; at night, the thump of music can be heard from above, coming from the adjoining nightclub of the same name that sits up the stairs above the coffeehouse. The sun is rising. The cafe isn't due to be open for a couple hours, but with the scattered aliens and displaced Madripooreans and miscellaneous Helpers scattered sleeping or anxiously not-sleeping around the space, it's unlikely Opening will be on any kind of normal schedule today, if it happens at all. Wendy, still dressed in elegant flowing white wrap pants and a sheer bell-sleeved wrap blouse over a considerably less sheer blue sleeveless shirt, which through some baffling magic she's managed to keep quite white through all the frenzy. She is currently picking her way quiet and delicate past a cluster of -- probably sleeping, it's hard to tell, these particular aliens bear striking resemblance to small piles of rock which does make their disposition a little hard for humans to interpret but they are noticeably Less Mobile than they had been earlier. She settles herself down at a side booth with two large cups of herbal tea and two tofu scramble breakfast bowls, resting her chin in her palm. Then frowning down at the bowls in faint dismay. "I forgot spoons." Polaris is, in stark contrast to those she came to protect last night, dressed all in black save the red kerchief bright against her hair and the red arm band pinned to the sleeve of her canvas jacket. The emergency that interrupted ne'ilah this time was not at all what the safety team expected, though some of their preparations were relevant all the same. If she got any blood on her in the course assisting the medics, it does not show against her garb. She was collapsed in a heap at the table when Wendy left, and has not evidently budged in the meantime. She doesn't even bother with the dramatic flourish of stretching out her hand when she summons two spoons from behind the counter to tuck themselves neatly into the bowls. Only now does she raise her head from where it's been lolling on her folded arms, though it's the tea she drags over first. "Thanks." She sucks down a quarter of the cup all at once before setting it back down, looking slightly more alive already. "Ahhh. Sweet, sweet placebo effect." She eyes Wendy critically. "Did you do even a little snacking or is this breaking your uh..." She scrunches up her eyes and takes an embarrassingly long time to come up with, "...36 hour fast?" "I really strongly considered breaking my fast with the havdalah wine, but it felt more responsible to go for the water instead." The breakfast bowls are seasoned pretty heavily with the various levantine dips that had been prepped for break fast; Wendy's first mouthful of the tofu mixed in with some smoky baba ghanoush and spicy muhammara has her eyes fluttering shut ecstatically. "Just makes this taste that much better." She isn't rushing her food, though, another few slow small bites before she sets her spoon deliberately down. "Maybe in 5786 we'll get to close the gates without someone storming them." Polaris snorts. "B'ezrat HaShem." She raps the tabletop lightly, as well, just for good measure. "You could celebrate by breaking fast with the havdalah wine and delivering some quality shitdrash over your actual meal." Though she hadn't been fasting before said storming of gates, she's not eaten since and does somewhat rush her food until Wendy's moderation reminds her to slow down. "You know, when I heard they were coming in from Genosha, of all places, with that storm still raging, I thought maybe..." Her lips compress and her next gulp of tea is kind of aggressive. "I don't know what I thought. It's not like I'd want him around even if he had broken out and saved them." Wendy levels a steady look across the table. She's picking up her tea with great deliberateness, the many metal bangles she wears around her wrist quietly jingling as she takes a sip. She gives Polaris a small sympathetic smile when she sets the cup down, even though there is a hint of amusement in her voice. "Okay in fairness even the farfetched idea that he'd stop being a cowardly narcissist for a minute is way more believable than whatever on earth actually happened. I'm still kind of processing --" She glances briefly around to the aliens around them and then back to Polaris. Polaris raises both her hands--though not very high--in surrender. "It wouldn't make you wrong about him, you know? If he managed to do something right. It wouldn't make me trust him, either." Her power riffles over Wendy's bangles, setting them chiming quietly again. "Whatever he does, some people in the community are always going to judge me by him. But I know who I am and who my family are." She follows Wendy's glance. "I don't know what actually happened, on or off earth. I haven't even started processing..." Her shoulders sag, and she tackles her food again, with a little less enthusiasm. "Apparently a lot of aliens happened. I've heard something about a TV show but the details seem -- confusing." Wendy has returned to eating her food, slow. She's looking past Polaris, a little distant as her eyes skip around the room. "It's a looong shadow to step out of," she admits ruefully. "But screw those people. You might not be Auradon's star pupil but you definitely aren't your dad." She washes her next mouthful down with a swallow of tea. "Still. If he ever does do something worthwhile, I mean -- you definitely do not have to trust someone to work with them." "Well..." Polaris shakes her head, then shakes it some more. "I was gonna say this would make a terrible TV show, but that's probably just. Life. It's really all over the place. But that also means I'm not bound to some stupid legacy narrative, even if I did inherit his power. And temper. And crazy." She quirks a thin smile. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, though. Maybe I should make you a bangle for that, too." Her smile warms just a touch and she digs back into her food with some renewed interest. "I'm sure I could work with him, if I got past wanting to kick his ass. So, if he ever does anything worthwhile, it better be really good."