ArchivedLogs:Perspective and Caffeine

Perspective and Caffeine
Coffee and conversation
Dramatis Personae Corey, Hanna
In Absentia	2013-05-24 Corey gives Hanna some somewhat unexpected news, and the two discuss current issues.
Location <NYC> Evolve Coffeeshop - Lower East Side
Tucked down an alley, this out of the way coffee shop is easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for. Unassuming from the outside, its inside makes up for it -- spacious, with abundant seating and plenty of plush couches and cozy armchairs along the room's edges. The coffee is good, the prices are cheap, and there is a definitive alternative vibe to the room, from the music they play to the art that hangs on the walls. The real draw to this place, though, stems from its client base -- one of the very few businesses in the city that is welcoming to mutants, Evolve has become widely popular as a hangout with that crowd, and it is quite common to see them among clientele and employees both. At night, the thump of music can be heard from above, coming from the adjoining nightclub of the same name that sits over the coffeehouse. Post storm weather leads to the city being chilly, back once more to early spring weather. People are out and about for lunch, but most people have no interest in being out of doors. So anywhere selling substances of warmth and providing calm moments out of the dripping sky becomes popular. Even a back alley mutie joint is populated enough by the general ebb and flow of the city. Taking up a table by himself, Corey is sitting with a cup of coffee in front of him and a For Dummies book about the X gene. He is wearing a plain black tee shirt and a pair of khaki slacks, with a small collapsible umbrella sitting on the table as well, not dripping too much there. Hanna is, miraculously, out and away from her own shop, having left it in Jayna's capable hands, as well as a new hire which they are training. She rather resents the cold, or what she perceives as the near arctic temperatures that the storms have returned. She is bundled up in a violet wool wiggle dress, piped at the edges with white satin ribbon, a pair of thick black tights, and a pair of patent leather Mary Jane shoes in purple on her feet. The Hawaiian woman is actively shivering as she enters Evolve, making a bee-line for the counter to order something decidedly warm and comforting. Once the places her order, she glances around the coffee shop, coffee brown eyes lighting on Corey as she offers a cheery little wave to the young man. The ding of the coffee shop door gets a glance from the blonde fellow, and Corey smiles seeing its someone that he knows. Raising a hand in greeting, he dogears the page he's on and closes the book up. Finishing the rest of his current cup, he gets up and heads for the counter himself to refresh his beverage. "Hey there, hows the entrepreneur doing today? Cupcakes all sold out yet?" Chuckling, he puts in an order for a refill and waits to the side with Hanna till it comes up. "Just was sitting and reading. Wanted somewhere out and warm that I wouldn't feel obligated to assist." "We are doing quite well, actually, apparently word is spreading, and there was a review in the Times about us. Ah, we bake enough that we don't start running out of things until after the evening rush. Thankfully. I occasionally get the feeling there would be a riot were that to happen," Hanna responds as Corey approaches the counter, idly leaning against the counter as she waits for her coffee beverage. She smiles at the idea of wanting a place to not feel obligated to help, "Oh, I know that feeling. It's why I've been coming here. Even though I feel like I'm cheating on Jayna's coffee, I can't relax in my own shop - too much to do." Nodding at that, Corey collects the prepared coffee. "You're welcome to join me at my table if you want. I didn't know if you were planning on staying around, or just here for a moment." He gives a shrug at that, and gestures to the table. "I had a bit of news so I was reading up, trying to figure things out." Sipping the coffee, he lets out a slight sigh as more of the warmth comes in. "If nothing else the coffee is pretty good here too." Hanna smiles and nods, picking up her massive cappuccino, and following Corey back to his table, "Thanks for the invite. I was hoping to sit and relax for a few, so I'll take you up on that offer." She settles into a chair opposite Corey, sipping from her coffee as she scans her the cover of the book, one eyebrow quirking at the title of the book. This time, rather than buy one of the biscotti from the counter, she pulls a small baggy of tea cookies out, looking around cautiously, before offering Corey one of the cookies. "I'm going to guess that the book title relates to your news?" Hanna questions quietly, looking around at the known safe area that was Evolve. Accepting the cookie, Corey dips it in his coffee then takes a bite. "Yeah, its related to the book." Nodding a bit, he seems to be thinking and weighing on the subject. "Well, I have a friend who says that they can tell if someone is a mutant. And well, he says that I am one." Finishing off the cookie with a few more dunks, he wipes the crumbs off the table. "I'm trying to decide if I should get a blood test to make sure and all. And well, there's figuring out what it means to my life. But well, Penny kinda had something wise to say about it, that it doesn't matter if someones a mutant, a mutant is just any other person." Tilting her head curiously, and smiling, before taking one of her cookies and nibbling on it, she regards Corey with hazel green eyes. "Does it matter to you? Whether you are, or not? A blood test is just going to tell you that you have the gene for it. Although, overall, I'm inclined to agree with Penny on the matter - mutants are just people, no matter what they are capable of. If you believe your friend, then why go through with the blood test? If you don't want to be known as a mutant, I'd suggest against the blood test - but, ah, your powers, whatever they manifest as, seem innocuous enough that they don't prevent you from living as a "normal" person." Hanna smiles, adding little finger quotes around normal as she speaks. "Did your friend mention what you can do, or not that specific? Or, feel free to withold, I am simply overly curious." Smiling and shaking his head, Corey chuckles. "Yeah, its so innocuous I don't even notice it. Though he says that its active at least, so somethings happening, but he can't tell what it is." He shrugs at that, and glances to the book a moment. "And I know, getting the blood work done means its in my records, but then anywhere that would have a policy against mutants working there would probably mandate the blood work done anyway." Sipping from the coffee, he looks to Hanna again and says "I mainly just what to know for myself honestly. The purpose of traveling was to find myself, and ignoring any aspect like that would be kinda cross purposes to the journey ya know? Would be like an adopted kid wanting to know who their parents were, and only finding one of them." Hanna ponders slightly, sipping her coffee and looking at Corey with curiosity, "Fair enough. Thankfully, the blood test only tests for the X-Gene. I can't give them detailed information about what you can or cannot do." She doesn't expand on why she is thankful for that, nibbling on her cookie quietly. "There are some mutant friendly clinics where you can get tested for it, if you want to get yourself tested for it. They are less likely to tout your status to the "wrong groups" or leak it to anything." Hanna frowns slightly, when Corey says he doesn't know what he can do, "If it is any clue, Jayna doesn't normally flower more than once a year. Once the flowers are gone, they're gone. She ends up flowering again for a few hours when you're around. It's why she got flustered the first time you came to the cafe, she just didn't know how to explain why it was odd." "I think that there's a clinic near my apartment that might be like that," Corey says with a nod. "And yeah, no clue. I mean you'd think it would be something obvious to the person doing it right?" Mid sip of coffee, he blinks hearing he's been affecting Jayna. "Wait what? Oh, please give her my apologies then. I mean, I" he pauses seeming a little flustered. "I don't know what that would indicate. That I help plant people grow flowers? Or a more generic just making plants grow?" He frowns thinking. "I mean, I just thought that I had gotten sturdy varieties." Smiling and shakes her head, Hanna chuckles quietly, "It's ok. Jayna has little to no control over her own mutation - when someone who is sensitive to plants, or can influence plants, she ends up getting effected same as any other plant would be. Decidedly not your fault, sweetie. It's, um, she's a young woman, and, well, her body shows," Hanna pauses for a moment, trying to think of how to phrase this, "Health and robustness in different ways from normal. She's fine - it wears off and the flowers fall off the next time she walks outside in the breeze. Not painful, not harmful. Please don't feel like you need to stop coming around the bakery. Jayna was just confused what was going on." Hanna smiles, "And no, from my own travels, mutations aren't always obvious, even to those doing them. Some people can go their whole lives not realizing what they are doing." "I still feel abit bad. It would be like making someones hair change color every time you walk in a room. It may not hurt them, but its still not responsible." Corey sighs and shakes his head. "At least its a pretty good clue as to what I can do, even if I can't control it." Glancing at the book again, he runs a finger along the pages. "At least encouraging plants to grow isn't too dangerous, unless someone has a plant in their lung or something. Apparently that happened in Russia once. A guy had a fir tree growing there for years, only noticed it because he was hacking up blood." "Please don't. It wasn't why I brought it up. It just, seemed like a bit of an odd coincidence that may help you to understand what may be going on around you," Hanna offers, passing Corey another cookie, feeling a bit bad at having made him feel upset. "It seems like a bit of a helpful thing, at the very least. I mean, as long as you don't go near the Russian tree lung man. Which, ouch. That just sounds uncomfortable in general." The woman shifts a bit, wrinkling her nose at the thought of it, "And join the club for uncontrolled mutations, although, admittedly, mine is just aesthetic." Her eyes have just shuffled to a dark brown, untinged by gold at this time. Accepting another cookie, Corey gnaws at it. "And it might be useful, but like its not really good for Farming or anything, if it only happens to Jayna if I get close to her. So its more just a silly hobby thing." He looks to her eyes as she brings them up. "Can they go any color at all? Or is it just a particular range?" He gives her a smile at that. "Though, I guess if you wore contacts it would just hide it completely really." "It is worth considering. Stand around some plants that aren't doing so great and see how they do," Hanna shrugs slightly, nibbling on a cookie, "It could be worth a shot, and it'll give you more information than, "Congrats, you're a mutant" that you'd get from the blood test." Tilting her head slightly at the question about her eyes, Hanna smiles, the hint of gold returning to the ring around her iris, "I haven't seen a color they won't go to, really. Pink, orange, gold, yellow. It's tied in to my emotions - which, I know they default to brown/gold and happy most of the time." The woman runs a hand through her hair, considering, "If I'm too stressed or too worried about something, they go entirely black. It is, ah, just a little bit unnerving to see, even for me." "I'll see about it. Maybe talk to Micah and see if there are any pathetic plants around for me to look at." Corey shakes his head, then raises an eyebrow at the entirely black comment. "Wow, yeah I bet that would be pretty creepy. That's what they have like vampires doing in television. Or was it demons. Ah I don't watch too much television sorry." He gives a shrug at that. "Still its worth a shot, and better than nothing. I'd rather just plug into some device and it tells me the answers, but I know you said you weren't too fond of that idea." Hanna chuckles, "Yeah, it's usually demons and vampires that do it, depending on the mythology of the world, although the color changing eyes like this are usually reserved for magic fairy princess and all that fluffy jazz." She rolls her eyes at that statement, "Yeah - people can usually handle the subtle shifts they do, but when I lost my mom, my eyes were sort of stuck to dark, and I ended up getting contacts to cover it. Still looked odd, but it was better than the demon comments I got." The bubbly woman shakes her head, "If something like that existed, I'd be fine with it being voluntary, but my concern is that it would be used against us - there are some who do not want their powers known. People who could be badly abused in those instances." She frowns, and odd expression on her round face, her eyes shifting to a darker brown as she considers that train of thought. "Hrm, I'd never really thought about worrying about it in that regard." Corey frowns abit at that. "I mean, I know people are prejudiced against the ones who look inhuman. And if someone can shoot lasers out of their hands, I don't really see it being any different than needing a gun permit. But I guess nobody really deserves to be press ganged into things. I mean hell, they only outlawed slavery about two centuries or so ago. I hope it doesn't take that long for people to realize that everyone is a citizen no matter what." "Few people really do. But, well, the government has apparently been doing the occasional rounding up of mutants, testing, using," Hanna shudders, "I traveled for two years after my mom died, and I saw a lot of stuff. It's a long trip between Hawaii and New York. And that is one of the reason I try to make my shop as open and welcoming to all as I can. I don't want people to have no where to hide." Her eyes, at this conversation, remain a dark chocolate brown, not quite to black, though. "They only outlawed slavery two centuries ago. The ramifications of that, it could be argued, are still being felt in parts of the country." She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes and sipping her coffee for a long moment, eventually reopening her eyes to reveal that they are back to their natural golden brown. "Seems like a more socially progressive and liberal approach may be more necessary. I mean, gay marriage is starting to be okayed. You just kinda need to make it into the social conscious. Like a television show, or something." Corey hrms, looking into his coffee shop. "Its back to tribal concepts at that time. If you make someone have a face, and a name, its harder to treat it as outside the tribe. Its like in the military, its hard for troops to shoot People. But put helmets on that cover the face? No problem at all shooting into it because its faceless. Its just The Enemy." Hanna sips her coffee slowly, considering Corey's words, "That is certainly part of the issue. So many mutations make us look less than humans, or at the very least, easily identifiable. It is like a scarlet letter. It makes it dangerous for people like Penny, or for Jayna. They're obviously "not us" so to speak." She sighs softly, looking concerned, "Considering the way most parents respond to their own flesh and blood being mutants, it is questionable if a television show would help any." "Well I just meant that television is the easier way to get it in front of everyone's face. Mainly its just something thats positive publicity." Finishing off the coffee again, Corey hrms and drums his fingers against the empty cup. "Maybe something like the Red Cross, but with mutants? Going out and helping people who need it. I know its sorta over kill, but I'm pretty sure people are more afraid of mutants than they are of any ethnic group or sexuality." Shrugging, he sighs then looks around. "Its one of those things where there don't seem to be any good answers. Can look at historical race relationship matters, but is it more like African Americans and slavery? Or more like the Japanese during World War two?" Frowning, he runs a hand through his hair "As long as it isn't like the Jews in Nazi Germany, there are options." Hanna sighs, "That is what I am afraid of. People fear mutants, even the innocuous ones. And the government," she drops her voice quietly, "They're talking about legalizing a good deal of the control and experimentation things. It is," Hanna frowns, "One of my greatest fears." The woman has curled herself inward, hunching her shoulders in an odd way, staring into the coffee cup, her eyes settled back to a deep brown, "I wish something like the Red Cross could be done. Deploy mutants to help people - there are so many who can do good, who can help, who can heal or fix, or save," The large woman for the first time looks like the 30-something she is, a little world weary, with the veneer of cheer taken away, "But people would turn down the help, because of the source. I've seen it." "Perhaps at first. But I am pretty sure if the options are drown at sea, or get help from a mutant? They'll pick the help." Corey drums fingers against the table in thought. "Still, either need the proper training, or the right powers to be of use in that kind of arrangement. Probably better that the properly oriented ones focus on that anyway." Looking to his empty cup, the glances to the counter. "I need to get a refill, you want anything?" Sliding the chair back he gets to his feet. Hanna shakes her head, this time as though she were trying to clear her thoughts, he eyes closed for a moment. She digs in her small purse, and snags what looks a tiny cookie from it, popping it into her mouth with a smile. "No, I'm still working on my first one, thank you. And I'm sorry for being such a downer, not quite sure what's come over me." She sips her coffee, taking a deep breath and centering herself while Corey goes to refill his coffee. When he returns, she seems to be in a little bit of a lighter mood, "The training could be a nice idea. That way it is a targetted application, instead of just random "help where you are"... sort of the MAC - the Mutant Assistance Corp." Grinning from behind her coffee cup, she shrugs, "Could be nice, if it could be done." "No worries. It seems whenever I talk about the subject it gets emotions pretty high. Course before this point I thought I was operating from the other side of the conversation looking in." Shaking his head, Corey lowers himself back into his seat. "I guess theres a lot of concern over the government and how it treats individuals. I never really thought that the government had been doing anything. I mean its not in the news, and nobody really talks about it. I'd think that something like that would be over everything, or is the government censoring it?" Hanna rubs her eyes a bit, as though trying to force them back to another color and keep them there, although it is a decidedly futile effort. "It can be sort of a sensitive subject for people who either have powers that are out in the public eye, or with loved ones who have such powers. I still get a little overwhelmed by it, since I grew up in a little town in Hawaii - they were always laid back. Shortly after my eyes changed, there was a kid in the school who, for lack of a better explanation, turned into a bipedal lion fish. He was gorgeous, and poisonous, and, well, the town rallied around him, and helped him to cope and adjust. No one threw him out, or shunned him." She takes a deep breath and smiles, "Now I'm in New York, having traveled, and I have heard stories. I was sheltered - that little community was far, far more accepting than anywhere else I've seen yet. Kids are abandoned, thrown out, killed, because they are mutants. And now," she gestures at the city, "You can get a ticket around here for looking funny. Jayna's gotten two this month, even though she has no control over her mutation, which is supposed to exclude you from fines, but," Hanna shrugs, "She made the wrong officer sneeze, I suppose." "That's pretty crap there. Can't she fight it in court? I mean, I think that the law gives exemption for that kind thing." Corey frowns at that, then glances up towards the clock. "Ah, I ought to get going, I was taking a shift tonight." Grabbing his stuff, he stands up again. "It was nice seeing you and talking about this. I know I don't have the issues others do on the matter. Hell, we're just guessing about plants for now." Shaking his head, he pushes in the chair and takes up his cup. "I'll think about the stuff though. I may not be of any help, but it may be an idea to tell to the right people who can be of help." Smiling he gives her a nod and starts to head out. Hanna raises her coffee cup in salute to Corey, "Best of luck to you. I hope you find the answers you are looking for, and that they bring you some satisfaction on the matter." She then drains her own cup and stands up, adjusting her dress as she looks around, "I should be getting back to the bakery. Jayna is capable, but the poor little guy we just hired is a little on the overly nervous side sometimes, and I don't want to leave them alone for too long." She smiles, and offers a bit of a bow, returning her cup to the counter, "I'll see you around. Have a lovely day." Hanna's cheery smile has returned once more as she prepares to return to her own domain.