ArchivedLogs:Beating Up

Beating Up
Dramatis Personae Flicker, Jack
In Absentia	2015-05-08 "I...need to not be useless like that ever again."
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 plentiful 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. Sure, Jack was just out here last night but he's a fan of Evolve and he intends to head to the Fight Club tonight. Right now, he's waiting up at the counter for the drink he just ordered to arrive. Dressed in just worn jeans, sneakers, and the lightest hoodie he has, the invisible teen's got his hood up. And even if he's invisible, judging by his body language, he is not liking the heat or how worse his attire is making it. Leaning back against the counter, he's taken his hood down at least. "Man...this heat," he mutters, tugging his collar a little with an unseen hand. Flicker is looking a little bit droopy himself as he blips in. Not invisible -- though he does manage to just /appear/ out of nowhere regardless, the space beside Jack empty one minute and filled the next. Kind of wilted, kind of sweaty, kind of haggard in his red-and-black Clinic uniform. Dark hair slightly clinging to his forehead. Head tipping down to wipe his head against his shoulder. "I know, right?" He winces a little as he looks Jack over. "... 'least in /here/ you can probably lose the hoodie?" Jack jumps, startled and letting out a little 'eep' when he's suddenly got a Flicker appearing next to him. He stares a second but he recognizes Flicker a moment later and offers an invisible smile. It shrinks a little when he notices how droopy the other mutant appears. "Are you alright?" he asks. When loosing the hoodie is mentioned, Jack shifts a little awkwardly. "Well I uh...don't have any other shirt on under it," he says, unzipping it a little to show there's just more nothing under it. "Oh, sure. Just a long shift, you know? Outside the whole time. Been kind of hot." Flicker tips his head back, scrutinizing the menu board thoughtfully before he slots himself into line. Soup, sandwich, two cookies, a blackberry soda, and once he's paid he rejoins Jack at the counter to wait. "Do they make you have a shirt here? Someone better tell Dusk." "Oh man, out working in the heat all day. That has to suck," Jack offers sympathetically. He waits patiently for Flicker to return and blinks a few times when Dusk is mentioned. "I've never actually seen Dusk in here but..." he trails off. A little bit of thinking and Jack starts pulling off his hoodie. "That is so much better. Hope I'm not breaking any rules." "Dusk doesn't really do daylight so much so he kind of. Creeps out here in the late hours. Sometimes just at opening before he goes to bed." Flicker gives a small twitch of lips when Jack pulls his hoodie off. A small blink, too, once there is just -- no body there any more. "I doubt it. Rules here are kind of -- a little. Different than most places. Shane's not exactly the fussiest really, so long as it's not hurting anyone. Besides, he'd probably empathize. The pups overheat like mad in the summer." "That makes sense then. I don't really get out here in the late or early hours anymore," Jack replies. He lets out a breath and hangs his shirt over his arm. No body, just a view of jeans, sneakers, and the boxers he's got on. "Does it really get bad for them?" he's curious. "I would wear something else but...well...the invisible guy in shorts and a t-shirt draws a lot more attention than I'd like..." he trails off awkwardly. "Easier to blend if they can't see...that they can't see me." "Think there's a fair number of people who it gets really bad for. Physiology gets tough for some people who don't -- have the same kinda thermoregulation." Flicker shrugs a shoulder, mechanical arm shifting stiffly. His eyes flit over Jack once more -- or at least over the space where Jack should be. Blank space. Then shorts. "'least it's just down the block the safehouse --" His head tilts to one side with a faint blush. "If you're going, I mean. Are you? Shouldn't assume." "I knew the cold was really bad for some people but I didn't know the heat was just as bad for anyone that wasn't...like an ice person," Jack admits awkwardly. "Really sucks," he says. He smiles back invisibly at the blush and question. "I'm going tonight," he confirms. "Finally healed up enough that I want to," he says. "I want to go now more than before..." he adds quietly. "Hard to cool off if you -- don't have sweat glands, for example," Flicker explains. "So it ends up going both ways. For some people. Some it's just one or just the other." He gives a quick-bright smile at the answer. "Good. I mean, that's good to hear. With the healing." He nods at the counter as an order comes up. "That yours? -- and, yeah." For just a moment his brow furrows, arm twitching at his side. "I get that. It's hard to --" He hesitates. Looks down to his hand. Back up to -- approximately about face-height in Jack's general direction, with a small fidget. "Feel defenseless." Jack pauses at that information and he lets out a faint 'huh'. "I...did not even realize they didn't have those. I mean I don't think about sweat glands often," he said with another little shrug indicated by the slight bobbing of a hoodie. He perks up slightly as the order arrives, a sandwich and a smoothie. "Yep, this one's mind," he says, tossing his hoodie over his shoulder as he turns to pick the order up. He's quiet at first as he listens to Flicker, meeting his gaze even if his eyes aren't visible. "It is," he agrees quietly. "And...I...need to not be useless like that ever again." "Hnn." Flicker's biological hand lifts, this time. Fingertips tracing lightly against the heavy scarring on his cheek. "I mean," now his grin crooks a little lopsided, "it sucks, you know, but. There's just gonna be times that you /are/. Useless. S'how life goes. You have no /idea/ how many times over I'd be dead if Jax hadn't saved me from something I couldn't do squat about -- but then." His other shoulder hitches up again. "Probably a couple times he might've been if I hadn't been there, too. So I don't know. Maybe never being useless isn't really a goal anyone can make? Cuz nobody's ever going to be useful /everywhere/. But you can /definitely/ learn to be plenty useful /somewhere/ and do the best you can to help at that. And just know where that place /is/ and where you're gonna need other people, too." Jack looks as curious as empty, walking pants and a floating meal can as Flicker begins. He listens quietly, eyes following the hand tracing that scar. His smile is unseen but still there at the mention of Jax saving someone. It fades away as Flicker goes on though. He eventually lets out a faint sigh. "You're right," he says. "I'm just...beating myself up again, I guess. Trying to work on not doing that," he adds. "It's hard not to, after this kind of thing. You just -- keep replaying it over and over like. What could you have done different?" Flicker's grin is crooked as his own food arrives and he plucks it off the counter, picked up carefully with one hand and steadied with the other. "But don't worry." Now his voice is brighter! Cheerful! "In a little while I'm sure there'll be plenty of people happy to beat you up /for/ you." "Yeah," Jack replies. "I just...keep thinking if I tried harder or at least been able to run away instead of being in the way...thinks would have gone better," he says. And then Flicker has him laughing. "Yeah, well, hopefully I'm good enough that they leave that to me," he laughs. "Mind if I eat with you...if you're staying here?" he asks. "That's my secret, honestly. All my training and running away is seriously what I do best." Flicker's grin hasn't faded. "And most of the time it's a. Pretty mutual beating. But I guess at least a friendly one?" He nods towards a nearby table in invitation. "Be glad for the company."