ArchivedLogs:Dropping Names

Dropping Names
Dramatis Personae Alice, Allison, Lucien
In Absentia	2017-08-18 "I'll strike fear in the heart of evil-doers with my glow."
Location <NYC> Greenwich Village
A rather bohemian neighborhood and the East Coast birthplace of the Beat movement, Greenwich is the residential counterpart to its more punk east sibling. The Village has been a historical center for the important political movements-- landmarks such as the Stonewall Inn on Christopher street were here during the GLBT rights movement, and the Weather Underground had safehouses here during the radical anti-war movement as well. Historically a place for artists and hippies to flock, gentrification has driven up prices in the locale, causing Greenwich to now trend less bohemian and more yuppie, though the stereotype remains. It's bright and hot, baking the street, the pavement, and the unfortunate people wandering through the city this afternoon. Sidewalk vendors are doing a brisk business in cold drinks and ice creams and many of the cafes are packed with people taking their /time/ in the air conditioning and enjoying the afternoon without having to swelter in it. One sleek black-and-tan German shepherd mutt is having a hard time figuring out how she feels about today -- for the most part, she's walking slowish, tongue lolling out of her mouth, an occasional mournful look turned back to her handler for the indignity of weather she is suffering. Every so often, though -- if people wander by holding food, or better still if people stop to coo over her, pet her -- she perks up with a /quickness/, tail wagging furiously, paws frisking eagerly, head nuzzling up into whatever bits of attention she is given. The man at the other end of her leash does not look to be suffering overmuch from the heat of the day -- probably the large chocolate-dipped ice cream cone in his non-leash-bearing hand is helping him bear the heat with fortitude. Lucien is dressed for summer -- cream-coloured linen trousers, a lightweight button down in leaf green, his clothing (though simple) impeccably tailored to fit. He's taking his time in heading down the sidewalk, possibly to linger over his ice cream, possibly because of the frequent stops to let the dog bask in attention (most recently, from a pair of small children under the watchful eye of their nanny.) "She's playing up the moping," he comments mildly (his soft voice carries a gentle but noticeable francophone accent), "as soon as we are home she will be right back out in the yard." Heading down the street and glancing through some of the windows is Allison. After being dropped by her label, despite the surge of sales for her single Dazzler, she has kept off of social media and out of the public's eye for a bit. TMZ has been reporting that her feeds have been filled with death threats and someone spray painted a couple of vulgarities on her father's garage. Now yanked out of high school to finish her studies at home, it hasn't been the most pleasant of changes. Today though, she has decided to face life head on and with that, she is shopping. Dressed in a pair of loose fitted white jogging pants from Aerie and a matching top and windbreaker, she looks like she may have come from the gym as well. With her eyes behind a dark pair of shades, she tries not to bring much attention to herself for the time being. The last thing she needs is a knuckle sandwich or a nervous mob. Passing by the handsome gentleman with his canine companion, she gives a quick smile upon pink painted lips. "Cute dog." She says. "What's her name?" Beside Lucien, Alice also seems unbothered by the heat. Her hair is done up in thick red-and-black twists and bound up in a bundle at the back of her head. She wears a cropped red spaghetti-strap tank top that bares quite a lot of midriff, black-and-silver short-shorts that emphasize her long legs, and red Converse high-tops. She has a bright pink milkshake, its color probably unknown in nature, and is just slipping a smartphone back into her purse. "It's all cuz we didn't give her any icecream, but yeah she's /kind/ of a drama queen," she agrees easily, grinning. "Wonder where she gets it from?" She sucks in a quiet breath when she sees Allison approaching. "O. M. G.," she whispers, though as they get closer on the sidewalk she only smiles politely. When the pop star comments on the dog, she smiles /brighter/ and looks very tempted to answer /for/ Lucien. "She knows it, and she /works/ it." "She can have ice cream at the house. Ice cream /not/ full of chocolate." Lucien takes a small lick of his ice cream, dabbing carefully at the corner of his mouth after (though the fleck of melting ice cream that had been there was either minute or nonexistent.) A small smile touches his lips at Alice's whisper, warming a bit further when Allison stops by them. Flèche is far more enthusiastic, tail whoosing rapidly at this compliment as she strains forward toward the teenager. Lucien clicks his tongue, tugs gently on her leash -- though she sits, her tail continues to thwack at the sidewalk. "She never does tire of hearing it, though. This is Flèche. She's quite friendly. Always very eager to bring a bit of brightness to anyone's day." Sliding the shades up to the top of her head to reveal her blueish green eyes, Allison holds out a hand for Flèche to sniff at, then rubs her muzzle if allowed gently with a curl of her fingers. "I always wanted a puppy but the home owner association we live at won't allow bigger dogs." Brushing her blonde hair away from her face to tuck behind her ear, she gives a smile to Alice as well. "Happy dogs mean they must belong to good owners. Hey, where'd you get the shake from by the way? I could go for one and it looks good." "There's some mad cute dogs of the small and medium range, too," Alice offers off-handedly. "Oh this?" Holding up her milkshake. "Can't remember the name of the place, it sounds hipster A-F, but their icecream is off the hook. They got a sign with all these pastel colored clouds on it." She points in the direction of the icecream parlour. Then, dropping her voice lower, "Hey, I love your music. It's messed up, all that stuff been happening, but I will buy the EFF out of your album if you go indie with it." "I have yet to meet an uncute dog, regardless of size." Lucien's agreement with Alice sounds quite serious. He is watching Flèche -- carefully for a moment, though this relaxes as the dog pushes her muzzle happily into Allison's hand, slurping at the girl's palm and then just pressing her head up for All The Pettings. The mention of Allison's current music industry woes puts a slight dip in his head, a faint thinning to his lips. He takes a bigger lick of his ice cream before a mild: "It is a shame. The court of public opinion can be a harsh one." "Yeah, but if I get a small dog, I may as well get a cat. I don't want to be one of those Hollywood socialites with a dog in my purse. I'd want a big dog, like this cutie pie right here. Someone to snuggle with on the couch and watch Netflix with." Allison says as she rubs along the dog's ears, letting her fingers work along her neck. The mention of her music gives a slight twitch of her lips, followed by a shrug. "My father is a lawyer and told me there is nothing I can do about it. Even though they broke our contract, mutants do not get to sue for discrimination. But, I plan on releasing music soon. I'm reaching out to Apple who is very open minded and liberal and seeing if they will still host my album on iTunes. Tim Cook loves that sort of thing." "Tiny pups aren't everyone's bag," Alice allows, shrugging. Then, with a lopsided grin. "Though ever since that subway law go passed, you see folks with dogs of /all/ size in purses now, it's /hilarious/." Her smile fades quickly. "Yeah, we ain't nowhere near seeing mutants as a protected class yet, with laws all over the place actively persecuting them. Lo siento, it must be rough -- and I don't mean just with your career and all." She takes a long pull on her milkshake. "Anyway I shouldn't have got on that topic, you're probably sick to death hearing about it. I'll keep an eye out for your new stuff on iTunes, though." "Yeah, but if I get a small dog, I may as well get a cat. I don't want to be one of those Hollywood socialites with a dog in my purse. I'd want a big dog, like this cutie pie right here. Someone to snuggle with on the couch and watch Netflix with." Allison says as she rubs along the dog's ears, letting her fingers work along her neck. The mention of her music gives a slight twitch of her lips, followed by a shrug. "My father is a lawyer and told me there is nothing I can do about it. Even though they broke our contract, mutants do not get to sue for discrimination. But, I plan on releasing music soon. I'm reaching out to Apple who is very open minded and liberal and seeing if they will still host my album on iTunes. Tim Cook loves that sort of thing." "Tiny pups aren't everyone's bag," Alice allows, shrugging. Then, with a lopsided grin. "Though ever since that subway law go passed, you see folks with dogs of /all/ size in purses now, it's /hilarious/." Her smile fades quickly. "Yeah, we ain't nowhere near seeing mutants as a protected class yet, with laws all over the place actively persecuting them. Lo siento, it must be rough -- and I don't mean just with your career and all." She takes a long pull on her milkshake. "Anyway I shouldn't have got on that topic, you're probably sick to death hearing about it. I'll keep an eye out for your new stuff on iTunes, though." "There have been occasional challenges, unfortunately all unsuccessful. It may be some time yet before seeing genetic discrimination no longer enshrined in law." The casually musing nature of Lucien's tone gives little indication as to his opinion on this fact, though. There is the barest quirk of his eyebrow at the mention of Apple; his head inclines faintly. "They pulled all of Ryan Black's music the week after his stunt at the Grammys," he offers, absently tugging Flèche back to his side and dropping his hand to scritch gently at her head. "Though that was a couple years back. Perhaps you will have better luck." He licks carefully at a runaway drip of ice cream threatening to spill down over his fingers. Lighter, more amused: "/Any/ dog can be a purse dog with an appropriately sized bag. Flèche quite enjoys her subway bag." "I don't think Apple would have pulled it, it would be the label. Once the label releases you as an artist, they still own the rights to it and they dictate if Apple can house the music or not. But, if I do it as an Indie artist or if I start my own label, which I'm thinking of doing, I can at least make my own rules." Allison says as she gives another ruffle of the dog's ears. She slips her headphones off her head and holds them out to Alice. "You want to hear?" She asks. "I have my new album on my phone. My first single was going to be called Leap of Faith. Though I think my favorite one is called What's My Name." Alice's brow scrunches up slightly -- confusion? "I dunno what Ryan Black's situation was exactly at the time, but Apple and Google and all those content giants, they can decide what they carry, right? Which, I mean like he says," nodding at Lucien, "it's been a /while/ since then, so I hope it goes better for you." She perks the rest of the way back up at the offer of Allison's headphones, though. "Seriously? Gracias!" It takes her a bit of fiddling to get the headphones to fit over her hair, but this done she listens, eyes closed, head bobbing slightly to the beat. A smile spreads slow and beatific over her face. "Niiiiice. Your label don't know their ass from good music." She takes the headphones back off and adjusts the headband part back down to where it had been before presenting them back to Allison. "You show 'em good." Lucien's hum is soft, noncommital, his head inclining just slightly at Allison's words. "Good luck, then." With music happening now for Alice to enjoy, that is all he says. Quiet, while she listens. Finishing off the last of his ice cream, petting at Flèche (who watches the ice cream disappear with the /most/ reproachful of expressions. "Hopefully we shall be hearing more from you in future." "I don't think my label even cared if I was Madonna. Sony is weird like that." Allison says with a sigh. "T Swift reached out to me and said she'd see what she can do on her end, but I'm not holding my breath. I really think doing my own thing may be the best way. Maybe make a mutants only label and just upload to wherever I can. YouTube gets me a ton of hits." She grins. "So much drama and the only thing I can do is glow. I don't even have a cool power." She says as she takes the headphones back and drops them around her neck. "I didn't catch your names though. My bad." "I think most big corporations are like that. They don't wanna take any chances on someone who might rub any large group of people the wrong way, and they can afford to screw over pretty much anyone. Probably wouldn't care no matter what powers you had, though I mean...if you look at a certain way, that's what Jax Holland does, too. There's a lot to be said for glowing." Alice swirls her milkshake around in a bid to re-combine the the liquidy layer that had separated to the top in the heat. "Oh! I'm Alice -- Alice Ferguson. You met my sister Blink the other day, at Evolve." "'Cool' is somewhat subjective, n'est-ce pas? I imagine from a show business point of view, a bit of flash can come in handy." Lucien crumples the empty paper wrapper of his ice cream cone, eyes drifting away from the young women now to scan the street one way and then another before he just folds the paper tighter into his palm. "I should get this poor pup home before she melts." Flèche hops back to her feet eagerly at the slightest sign of movement from Lucien. starting to dart forward before he puuls her back, murmuring a quiet but firm, "heel". "Best of luck, wherever your path takes you from here." "Yeah, I've been practicing with my powers here and there in my house to see if they do anything else. So far, I just glow. I guess if I became a super hero my code name could be Night Light or Glow Worm. I'll strike fear in the heart of evil-doers with my glow. I suppose I could get a job at a rave and be a walking glow-stick." Allison's lips pull back into an amused grin. "It was nice meeting you um... mister dog walker. Bye Flèche." She wiggles her fingers to the dog before looking back at Alice. "Hey, really? I thought New York was a big city and instead this is a small world. Blink is really cool. She has great style in clothes. Was hoping to bump into her again and talk. You're a lot less purple than she is." "I dunno, I think 'Dazzler' would be a pretty awesome superhero name, though I guess it wouldn't be very /stealth/. Then again, neither are you!" Alice mirrors Allison's grin. "No matter how big the city, there's certain communities you just gonna run into the same folks all over the place, like a magic." At the compliment to Blink, Alice's smile turns warm and gentle. "Yeah, my sis is something else. I'm sure you'll run into her again, 'specially if you go to Evolve a lot." A slight pause here. Her jaw shifting slightly, her expression thoughtful. "I can rock some purple, too, but red's more my color." Glancing at Lucien, she nods. "I should get going, too, I still got a load of laundry in. Good luck, I'll see you around, alright?" She waves and trots after man and dog, still slurping away at her milkshake.