Logs:Making Waves

Making Waves
Dramatis Personae Joshua, Skye
In Absentia	2022-01-14 "Just wish I knew if this made it better or worse."
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. It's less crowded in here this afternoon than the usual lunchtime rush, and maybe that has something to do with the small knot of reporters lurking outside the inconspicuous cafe door. Why they've chosen Evolve to camp out by is anyone's guess, but there's Mutant News happening and so here they are, at The Mutant Place, champing at the bit for some mutants to quote today. Joshua has circumvented the fuss outside by simply appearing in the cafe directly, with only a brief frown tossed toward its entrance before he goes to put in an order for an avocado toast with smoked salmon and a large coffee. He's casually dressed, jeans and grey zip-up hoodie over a black and blue long-sleeved tee, grey kippah with a black rose embroidered into it, sturdy black workboots. He pulls out his phone as he waits for his order, restlessly scrolling through Twitter. Skye's been here long enough to have built a bit of a nest around an armchair in the back. She's dressed in a black shirt with just the single word "no" on the chest, a soft red thermal shirt underneath, and skinny blue jeans tucked into black Docs with rainbow laces. One of her lighter laptops is closed on the table in front of her, liberally covered with stickers (a red umbrella, "can't stop the signal", the Rebel Alliance symbol, a blackbird in flight, "information wants to be free", and on and on) next to half a bowl of soup that's long since grown cold. It's not the soup but an empty mug she's taking to the bussing tray now only to put in an order for a large lavender honey latte, double espresso, oat milk (there's a suggestion in her exchange with the barista that this is not her first or even second one such today). Judging by the bags under her eyes, she may be substituting caffeine for sleep. Instead of heading back to her seat, she settles against the counter next to Joshua. "Yo," she says, then immediately ruins her air of relaxed nonchalance by adding, "have you watched it?" Joshua fumbles his phone, almost dropping it but catching it against his side before it slips entirely out of his grasp. He looks up, blinking, then back down as he drops the phone back properly into his grasp. "D'jyou know Daiki was like. A real-ass journalist?" He's squeezing at the sturdy side of his phone case, one leg starting to bounce. "I just assume freelance is usually code for my real job is something else, but --" He glances back toward the cafe's front door, briefly. Skye flinches minutely. "Sorry." She tilts her head and chews on the inside of one cheek. "I have a pretty flexible view about 'real' jobs, maybe cuz all of my jobs are freelance and at least periodically real." She crosses her arms in a reasonably subtle bid to disguise the tightness of her shoulders. "Buuut I was definitely thinking of him as a real-ass journalist in a plucky bohemian way and not in an Anderson Cooper way. That shit was well put together though. Dude's gonna single-handedly add like a thousand hit points to the model minority myth." "It's good. It's good, right? We wanted an -- Anderson Cooper. I mean, this had to be legit." Joshua's leg is still bouncing. He dips his head in a jerky nod when his order arrives, cramming his phone into his pocket so that he can pick up the food. "It's just. Really big." "It's a good story," Skye hedges. "It's legit. It's making waves..." She glances out at the front of the store, too. "But yeah. Really big waves. And it's putting folks really out there." She plucks up her coffee with a bow at the barista, then tips her head toward the back. "You wanna come sit with me? I've been chilling back there totally not freaking out and doubleplus definitely not refreshing Twitter every five seconds." "Definitely not? I'm convinced." Joshua just starts heading toward the back at Skye's invitation. "Got told not to come in to work today because of the disruption it'd cause." He takes a sip of his coffee as he settles into an armchair. "-- hour later they were like fuck, we're shortstaffed, can you come in but hey. I don't want to disrupt." He glances to Skye's closed laptop. "Anyone giving you shit yet?" "I'm very persuasive." Skye curls up in her chair, keeping her mug close. "They really do take you for granted, huh? It's probably not just you, EMS is just really underappreciated work, but also..." She sweeps her hand down to indicate Joshua. "...you." At the question she glances at the laptop, but doesn't open it. "My online life is pretty compartmentalized, but I'm out on all my activist accounts now, so...yeah, there's a bit of a fuss." Her shoulders are tightening up again. "I've been having awkward conversations with some of my long-time clients. One of them is worried I might read minds, and another is unnervingly interested. I'm probably going to lose a lot of them." She gulps down some coffee and looks back up at Joshua. "I was about to ask how your family is taking it, but...I'm not even sure what your family situation was before all this." Joshua's mouth twitches slightly at the mention of being underappreciated. He takes another drink of his coffee, shoulder lifting slightly. "Was a weird way to come out at work, for sure." His hands fold tightly around the mug. "Sorry. About your clients. You gonna tell any of them what you actually do? I'd make some weird shit up." He settles back comfortably in the seat, eyes tipping up toward the ceiling. "Family's okay." "Do they know what you do yet? Or what you can do, like for your patients?" Skye starts to reach for the pocket her phone is in, but catches herself and firmly settles back down. "It's okay. I knew it was going happen, and I wouldn't have gone through with it if I were still mainly hooking for a living. I was thinking I'd just tell them a less scary version of what I actually do, but if more of them go the fetishizing route I might go with making shit up instead." Her brows furrow. "That's good. I mean, family's complicated for a lot of us. My mom...well. I feel like I've put her through hell. She's pretty much convinced there's men in black waiting to take me away in an unmarked van." "Tch." Joshua shakes his head, firm. "So what's the work version of you gonna do, then? Never thought about what a hot mutation is." He's still looking at the ceiling, his brows slowly pinching. "Can't say she's -- far wrong. Just wish I knew if this made it better or worse." Skye snorts. "Do you think anyone would buy it if I said my power was being sexy?" She sucks in a deep breath and lets it out, long and shaky. "Individually, I don't know if this makes Prometheus more likely to quietly yoink us. It's not like they didn't already know who we are, what we do, where we live. Then again..." Her fingers tighten around her mug. "Now they don't have to worry about exposing themselves coming after us, especially those who basically admitted to being literal terrorists." Joshua is quiet, after this. He sets his cup down. Picks up his fork, cuts off a corner of his toast. Sets the fork back down. His leg bounces again. "Wonder what Jax is doing today."