ArchivedLogs:Places to Go

Places to Go
Dramatis Personae Fiona, Paige, Steve
In Absentia	2017-1-2 In which a burned man makes an appearance and housing is discussed.
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 weather has been much warmer lately than it has any right to be at winter time. Today, when it should clearly be snowing at this time of year, it is overcast and lightly raining. Inside Evolve, however, it is bright and dry. Lunch time for most is past and gone, but Paige sits at a table with a mug of coffee. The horned blonde girl seems to be staring vacantly into the distance, expressionless. Occasionally, she lifts the cup to her lips and takes a sip. Otherwise, she appears fairly still. Fiona waves a hand in front of Paige's face, "Hello? Earth to Paige?" the dragon girl sitting at the table across from her, "This is Houston, *cssk* I think we've lost her," she speaks into a fake radio in her hand. She slides a cinnamon roll in front of the goat-girl, then sits down with a coffee (black) and some sort of delicious muffin looking thing. "They had these leftover from breakfast, wanted to get rid of them." Meanwhile, a third figure makes his entrance, looking rather nondescript - a man in a black leather jacket, jeans, and black work boots. The noteworthy thing about him would have to be that one side of his face is rather horribly burned; looking almost melted and sagging. It's not immediately obvious because of the knit cap and sunglasses partially covering it, however. Steve wanders in, looking a little sleepy. He wears a brown leather jacket over a green, blue, and purple plaid flannel shirt, crisp blue jeans, and much-abused combat boots. The shield across his back is still in its Christmas colors: red and green concentric bands around a silver eight-pointed Star of Bethlehem. He orders a black coffee and a scone at the counter and chats with the barista for a moment, but when he spots Fiona sitting down with Paige he excuses himself to approach them. "{Good day,} Ladies," his greeting comes out in Spanish, his smile guileless and a little sheepish. "Would you mind if I sat with you a while?" Paige's ears are the first to respond to Fiona by twitching. "Mmm?" the hooved girl inquires, blinking, as she snaps out of her reverie. "Hmm?" This to the cinnamon roll placed in front of her. "Ah! Thank you. I...was, uh, kind of...Sorry. Thank you." She picks up the pastry and is about to eat it before she pauses, offering a small grin. "I wasn't lost, just on Mars. The communications array must have failed. They really, uh, need to keep better maintenance on those things, you know?" Her ears give an amused sort of flick before she takes a bite of the roll. So far, she hasn't noticed the burned man enter probably due to the fact that she is facing away from the entrance. And then there's a Steve. At whom, Paige blinks in complete surprise and swallows quickly. "Uh, uh, yes?" Perhaps there is a slight blush to her cheeks. "I mean, of course? I mean, we don't mind. Uh, hi. You look, uh, very dapper today. How are you, Steve?" Fiona, on the other hand, is just about to take a sip of super piping hot coffee when Steve walks up - Paige had mentioned a 'Steve' but for whatever reason she hadn't connected the dots. So when CAPTAIN FUCKING AMERICA walks up to their table and asks to sit down, the hot coffee (and a slight amount of flame) spurts directly out of her nose, and she nearly spills the whole cup. Despite the temperature, she seems more concerned with making a pile of napkins to sop up the mess. "Um, yes! That is, I don't, um..." she trails off, just kind of staring at him blankly while her tail swishes back and forth nervously. The burned man is really not very noticeable - in the general scheme of people walking around in New York, he's not particularly remarkable. No horns, no weird skin color, nothing like that. He seems to be minding his own business, quietly perusing his phone and waiting in line for a coffee just like probably millions of other people are doing at this very moment! When Fiona starts raising a commotion though, he does look over, appearing nonplussed by the whole scene. The blonde girl nearly topples out of her seat as she gives a start at Fiona's display of fire and coffee, ears flicking back in alarm. "Ack! Geez! Watch out!" Fortunately, neither Paige nor her precious cinnamon roll received any damage. A few rapid breathes and a single deep one later, the goat girl seems to have calmed down. "Holy shit, you're more easily startled than me." A wide-eyed look is given towards the other girl as Paige regards her with some confusion. "And, sorry, that's Steve. He's the one letting me stay at the Commons. He's wicked nice, I swear. He's a fucking hero, you know?" The curse word is said with a nonchalant tone. "Thanks, Steve!" she calls out as he retrieves napkins. 'Burned man' as we're now calling him gives a frown at the scene before him - not appearing in the last phased by the appearance of a celebrity. There's a moment of frenzied texting, then he rubs at his chin for a moment, and then his phone goes into his pocket and he turns around and leaves the shop /without/ actually getting his coffee. Again, probably nothing anybody would really notice. Fiona is just fine, though. The hot coffee doesn't appear to have hurt her at all. "Ah, I'm okay," she smiles weakly, rubbing the back of her neck and shooting a look at Paige, "I just didn't him to be THAT Steve, when you said Steve, I guess, I thought, you know, like some guy you knew," she looks back, tail still waving pensively. Steve helps clean up the coffee and, despite the absence of obvious burns, returns with a glass of ice and water when he goes to dispose of paper towels. "As long as you're both alright," he says. "That coffee looked hot! Oh, excuse me a moment." He runs back to the counter for his coffee and scone before finally taking his seat. "Oh, I -- apologize for startling you. I figured just about everyone around the Commons knows I live there. But you're a recent arrival, no? And a guest." His brow furrows lightly. "Actually, I'd like to talk to you about, Paige. If you'd prefer to do it in private, we can talk another time...?" The corners of Paige's mouth turn up as Fiona explains her reaction. "Well, he -is- some guy I know. Just, you know, he also happens to be Captain America, right?" She takes another bite of her cinnamon roll as Steve returns to assist with the clean up. "She was living---camping in the city before," the hooved girl offers as her ears press downwards and her brows knit together. "Now would be, uh, fine." A hand reaches up and scratches harshly at the back of her neck; whether this is due to her apparent nervousness or something else is anyone's guess. "Otherwise I'll be, uh, worrying about it, you know?" Fiona makes a slight squeaking noise, but nods at Paige. It's fine. Everything is A-OK over here. "Yea, it's fine. Everything's fine," she nods, resisting the urge to pull out her phone and begin taking pictures. If she ever goes home nobody is going to believe it! Nope. Deep breath. Calm. Drinking coffee. Yup. We're just drinking coffee over here! Steve nods. "I apologize for having waited so long, if that's made you -- or anyone else -- feel awkward about it." He sips at his coffee carefully and breaks a corner off of his scone with more delicacy than some would probably expect from Captain America. Shouldn't he eat everything in one bite? Or, failing that, with a knife? "So, clearly you know that the Commons can't keep you on indefinitely as a guest." He pops the bit of scone into his mouth and washes it down with more coffee. "Have you had any success with employment, or applying for any kind of income assistance? I'm not asking with the expectation that you /should/ be able to obtain either -- I know there are a lot of reasons that might be difficult right now -- but knowing where you stand would help me help you." A curious glance is spared for Fiona and the dragon girl's response, but Paige's eyes soon return to Steve. "I, uh, well, you see...I need to update my registration and all, you know? I did the paperwork before Christmas and stuff, but they said I'd need to wait until the end of January to actually pick up the card and the documents." Her hand lowers from her neck, now to scratch at the back of her left wrist. "And, uh, I've been, um, thinking." The blonde girl's eyes fall to the table and her cinnamon roll before she sighs and looks up again. "Steve, I...uh, I met this girl yesterday. You should have seen her. She looked terrible. And not, you know, in the 'oh my gosh, you look terrible' sense, but in the, 'holy fuck, that person needs help' one. She, well, she apparently goes faster than everyone else and needs like a lot more food, but, holy shit. She looks as if she hasn't slept in forever and she's skinny as fuck and her skin looks so freaking pale and it's just...horrible." Ears flick as Paige's brows furrow more tightly. "I've been staying in that room for two months now, right? I think it's time I let someone else use it, you know? Your support and kindness goes a long way and I think--well, I -know- there are people out there who can benefit from it more than me." No, he doesn't eat like she would have imagined - Steve is rather far from a GI Joe. Fiona, however, munches her muffin merrily, taking large uncultured bites. As she does this, the act of it seems to relax her to a point where she's able to follow the conversation. "Aaactually, she gave me her phone number last night so you could get in touch with her again. Aside from the money, I guess, I dunno...she seemed to have some kind of plan." Steve breaks off another chunk of scone and munches on it while Paige speaks. "I hope the documenting goes smoothly, then. And...I realize it works out that way sometimes, but the Commons isn't really a /shelter./" He downs a large gulp of coffee and stares out the window for a moment. "But there /are/ shelters that will accept visible mutants -- I even know of one that specifically takes in mutants, right here in the neighborhood. Granted..." He sighs. "...I'm not sure if they'd have space this time of year, but it's worth inquiring, at least." Setting down his coffee mug, he spreads his large hands before him. "You cannot stay on as a guest, but I don't want to put you out on the street, either -- or your friends. Fiona, is it?" Steve nods at the dragon girl. "I don't want to make any assumptions about your situation, but I understand you were also a guest until just yesterday?" Paige nods to Fiona. "Yeah, I got it from Mai. We had to work something out so I could get the boots to her. It's all set, I think." To Steve, she says, "No, no, I understand that. I never thought it -was- a shelter. I don't...I don't think of it that way. I'm sorry if it seems that I do. I just meant that I've been taking up the space---I don't have the money to stay on, you know? The place has been magical; it's been a paradise. I'm not asking to stay on any further. And I'm not asking you to, uh, just give random people space for indefinite amounts of time like you did for me. Although, the indefinite part was probably not intended." The hooved girl's ears flick downwards at this thought. "And I, uh, don't know about shelters. They can like turn you away and shit there can get pretty sketchy right? I was -- well, I think I heard something about the sewers?" Paige's tone does not imply in any way that she is trying to garner pity or anything of that ilk. "I've been thinking about it for a bit -- how bad can it be?" Fiona kind of blinks, "Oh, um, until, wait," she looks confused. "I think I still am, at least, all my stuff is still at the commons. I ended up staying at Mai's on New Years Eve though... for um, reasons." She nods. TOTALLY GOOD REASONS. "I um. Paige thinks I should go back to school though," she laces her fingers together nervously, "Because I'm only sixteen, and stuff." Finally, she nods at his last question, "Ah, yeah, I am Fiona." It's said awkwardly, almost as if she were reminding herself of that fact. "Oh! I didn't know." Steve blushes. "I just knew you were Flicker's guest last week, but certainly it's fine if you need to get back in to get your things." He sighs, taking a big bite out of his scone now, as some might expect from Captain America. "I wouldn't recommend any shelter to you that wasn't solid. I know of one that some folks from the Commons help to run; they would definitely not turn you away for how you look. As for the sewers..." He considers this. "It's home to some, at least. But whatever direction you want to take, I wanted to make sure you're going somewhere you feel at least reasonably comfortable and safe -- as much as is possible, now a days." Though her ears perk in curiosity at the mention of 'reasons', Paige does not actually ask what they were. Instead, she backs up the dragon girl's claim. "Well, you should. Go to school, that is. From what I've heard and read, Xavier's is a boarding school, too, so you'll actually have a place to live and -not- have to camp out in the middle of Central Park, you know?" To Steve, a sigh is given as she rubs her right arm. "I haven't heard of this shelter. And I'm already so indebted to everyone at the Commons." There's a momentary pause as the blonde girl bites the inside of her cheek, thinking. "And I'm not sure I really want to be found that easily. My brother already found me once and I don't know how the next time would go if either he or my parents decide to look again." "Psh, if your dumb family comes looking for you I'll bust them up!" Fiona balls up one of her hands into a fist and makes a mock punching motion. "I mean, uh, assuming they actually deserve it," she coughs. "Anyway, I talked to Marinov about Xavier's but... nothing has really come of it yet. They said something about some new term starting... but, I dunno, maybe they're full up or something." "You should go to school if you /want/ to go to school. If you don't, we can find you somewhere else to stay. But as for Xavier's -- have you submitted an application, or talked to any of the faculty or staff?" Steve lifts his eyebrows. "New term won't be starting until spring, but I'm sure they can work something out. They've gotten lots of students from...irregular situations." Then, to Paige. "That shelter might be the place to go if you're in danger from your family. I know they've taken in folks escaping abusive households, so they're sensitive to those kinds of needs." Paige lets out a sigh at Steve's gentle 'correction' of her earlier statement. "Yeah, what Steve said. If you -want- to go. I just think getting a diploma and all that would be good, you know? And then you could also think about college and what you want to do in your future. I mean, assuming you want that. Not that I'm a prime example of how to function as a student." The blonde girl's ears twitch as she offers Fiona a weak smile. "And, thanks, I'm sure you could beat them up for me if I needed it." To Steve, her concession is to offer, "I can check it out, I guess. But it's not just...well, my family is kind of...my family are Friends, you know? Part of the Friends of Humanity? How sensitive are they to that?" "I mean, I do want to, but it's kinda hard to do that without any money or a place to live," Fiona reasons, looking down into her coffee as if for an answer. Then Paige drops the bombshell that her family are Friends of Humanity members... "Well, I guess they definitely deserve it then," she murmurs to herself. "I do like school though... I was gonna go to college and... everything," she frowns. "I can't speak for them, but I'm sure they've got experience with people whose families are all /kinds/ of awful, so I doubt they'd be fazed." Steve scribbles down an address and phone number on a napkin and slides it to Paige. "It seems to me like they're less likely to be interested in how your family is like, and more interested in what /you/ need." He munches on his scone, brows knitting pensively. Washes it down with coffee. "I know they have financial assistance for students who can't afford tuition, and it /is/ a boarding school. I am certain you can apply on the Internet -- you can use the computers here or at the library. Or the Commonhaus, if you want to, I can sign you back in for that, and getting your things." Paige's ears twitch as she looks curiously at the address put in front of her. "I've told people - I don't need much. Just a place to stay, you know?" The lie seems to come easily enough from her lips; perhaps she believes it. Still she appears to be considering the option as she chews on the inside of her cheek while scratching at her thigh. Eventually frowning, she leans back and takes another bite of her cinnamon roll, letting the other two converse. "Yeah, I'm just er, not sure how to apply. My parents can pay for it, I'm sure," Fiona nods, "It's just kind of not a great situation right now. They're not the ones I was running away from, but they want me to come home... Except, I don't really wanna go back home and get killed. I mean, my family's great, it's just not safe back there." TOTALLY more unsafe than sleeping on the streets in New York. "And they quit sending me money a while ago because they think it's just making things worse. Buuut if I was to go to school for real, and stuff... I'm sure they'd be okay with that?" Steve raises his brows at Paige, but does not question her assertion. Instead he just finishes the last of his scone. To Fiona, though. "Get /killed/? Oh, gosh -- I certainly wouldn't suggest you go home even if the consequences were less dire. But not knowing how to apply, that's easy to fix. Their website probably has information, and you can call their admissions office with questions, I'm sure." He pauses for a moment, his lips pressing together. "I wish both of you the best, whether in finding housing or education or...whatever else you may need." He drains his coffee and stacks in on his empty plate, rising. "Take care, both of you, and I hope to see you around." He smiles thinly and begins to leave, but then turns and adds, "Have a happy 2017!" "Thanks, Steve," Paige replies after she quickly swallows another bite. "Same to you and all the best. Happy 2017, here's hoping it's better than last year, huh?" The blonde girl offers him a smile as she bids him farewell. Once he's gone, however, her attitude and expression change a bit. "Well, fuck," she murmurs towards Fiona, leaning forwards and running her fingers through her hair to the side of her horns. "Didn't think...Didn't think it'd be today, you know? I knew it was coming and all and I was braced for it. Just didn't expect today." She drops her gaze to her coffee and her face reddens some. "Fuck." "Yeah..." Fiona murmurs, sucking down the rest of her cup of coffee. "Well, I'm sure things'll turn out fine. I'm gonna head back to the Commons, I'll meet you there, neh? Then we can decide what to do," nods the dragon girl, standing up from her seat and heading out.