ArchivedLogs:Commonsly Asked Questions

Commonsly Asked Questions
Dramatis Personae Steve, Flicker, Shane, Hive, Paige, Heather
In Absentia	2017-01-26 "We usually do uh. Name, gender pronouns, whatever you feel like telling about yourself."
Location <NYC> Harbor Commons - Sunroom - Lower East Side
Bright and warm, this room is set up to enjoy a little bit of the outdoors even year-round. Tall glass panes make up most of its wall in between wood supports, providing a wide three-sided view of the garden and yard outside. As well as the inner doors leading back into the kitchens and dining room, an outer door leads out to the outdoor gardens, as well. Inside, the room is airy and green -- a plethora of potted herbs and plants hang from the ceiling, as well as ring the room in a series of narrow wooden raised-beds that provide growing space for a selection of herbs year-round. Outside of the herb beds that ring the room, this place is designed simply to come and relax; quiet and simple, with clean stone floors and neutral-toned wicker furniture adorned with comfortable cushioning. Some of the chairs ring stone-and-glass tables for eating or conversing; a few more solitary seats come in the form of rocking chairs or netted hammock-chairs hanging from the ceiling. It's a drizzly grey day, mild but wet out, not a lot of /sun/ streaming into the sunroom. Just a constant faint patter of raindrops against the large windowpanes. It's somewhat cheered by the warm smells of cocoa and coffee in the room. There's a plate of chips and salsa and guacamole, a separate plate with fruits. Flicker is in here already, thumb flicking over the screen of his phone as he waits. His brows are knitted together at whatever he's looking at on it. He's pretty nondescript -- mostly. Khakis, green polo shirt, neatly combed hair. The limb in place of his right arm stands out a bit -- clearly mechanical, from the harness faintly visible under his shirt to its segmented serpentine joints, clawed ends, making no attempt to mimic the (flesh-and-blood) arm on his other side. Today it's cheerfully decorated! Metallic green swirled with a silver and gold starburst pattern. Shane is anything but nondescript, tiny and sharky and very blue, dressed up in his usual style; well-tailored vest and slacks in a very faintly satiny dark purple, crisply pressed dress shirt, neatly-tied bow tie. He's setting down a tray with cups and saucers, two large carafes -- the coffee! And cocoa! "You really should stay off Facebook. It's not gonna give you any /good/ news, dude." Heather has taken the time and effort to tidy herself up, though she still looks tired as always and her hair can't stop being a mess. She wears a tattered looking jacket (it was nice in its time), a solid purple sweater and a pair of loose red and blue pants with music notes on them that look like they are out of the 90s. She enters the sunroom, holding her notebook and tape recorder close to her chest and quickly finds a place to deposit her messenger bag. Extremely quickly, in fact, she looks as though she is in constant fast forward, though the tinted goggles she wears hide the quick and sometimes unnerving movement of her eyes. She makes a high pitched chirp sound and then plays on her recorder to explain her presence: "I am Heather Brown." Paige is wearing her nicest outfit when she arrives - a black cardigan over a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans with no shoes to cover her hooves. Her appearance has likely changed since she last interacted with some of the interviewers as she now sports a light coating of. The goat girl's entrance is less of a blur as she raises a hand to offer small wave before standing herself next to Heather. "Hey," she says in greeting. "How's it going?" Overall, she looks a bit nervous and somewhat drained of energy. Steve is sitting beside Flicker and also frowning at the other man's phone screen. << What -- what in the name of -->> His thoughts are disjointed, jagged with anger. << Simon is just taking his second term as a carte blanche... Why I'd like to give him a... >> He wears a blue-and-green tartan flannel is unbuttoned over a bright yellow t-shirt with a skeletal T-rex dancing over the word 'FOSSIL' spelled out of bones, and crisp, fitted blue jeans. His iconic shield leans against his knee. "I prefer Twitter," he says at length, "but it's the same bad news. {Thank you.}" The last word is French, and directed at Shane with a broad smile as he pours Flicker a cocoa and a coffee each for Shane and himself. He pauses mid-sip at Heather's arrival, blinking somewhat nonplussed at the tape recorder. << Some kind of translation device? >> But he recovers quickly, rising to greet he. "{Welcome} to the Commons, Ms Brown! I'm Steve Rogers." His smile falters slightly when he sees Paige, brows knitting only a touch. << Gosh, she looks exhausted, >> comes with a twist of guilt. Still, he sweeps a hand toward the unoccupied chairs. "And it's good to see again, Paige. Have a seat, {please,} both of you." << Rogue park service employees. Tweeting the revolution. Who would have guessed. >> To Steve and Flicker this thought just kind of surfaces -- (almost) (not quite) as natural as if it were their own. In Shane's mind it comes across in a gentle sussuration, many-voiced whispers, amused and -- very much not. Hive snaps Flicker's attention away from the daily Damage Report kind of abruptly. See? Guests. A blush floods Flicker's cheeks, quick and sudden as he gets to his feet, extends his (left!) hand to Heather. "Oh! Welcome. I'm Flicker. Good to meet you -- and to see you again, Paige." His smile is warm. "Can we get you a drink? There's cocoa or coffee -- or water?" "Yo. Paige. You got a winter coat." Shane tips his chin up to the goat-girl. "Heather. Rad. Cool. Right, sit, get comfy. So before we start I just want to acknowledge that this whole -- interview process can be kind of awkward and stilted and that's sort of shitty. Still haven't really figured out a good way around it." He flops down into a hammock chair, scooping up his coffee in webbed hands, claws clicking lightly against the cup. "Introductions first? We usually do uh. Name, gender pronouns, whatever you feel like telling about yourself. I'm Shane -- Shane Holland. I use he/him for pronouns. Uh... I've lived here at the Commons since it was built and I own a cafe about a half-mile away which serves if I /do/ say so myself the best coffee in the /whole/ city. Around here I help out a lot with upkeep of the music room and uh --" His hand flicks out to Paige and Heather. "Handling new applicants! As well as planning community events. Dinners and -- parties and stuff." Heather's eyebrows raise at seeing Steve's iconic shield, and she makes a mental note, << Captain America might have high standards. >> When Flicker extends his hand, Heather hesitates for about a second before she reaches out with both of her hands to pat both sides of Flicker's lightly and briefly as an attempted compromise on the matter of handshaking, and then sits down, nodding to Shane's explanation. She makes some more high pitched sounds before playing on her recorder, "Heather Brown. She and her. I like mathematics. I love games. I hate Monopoly." Heather presses pause on the recorder and gestures to it with an open hand demonstratively and then hits play once again, "I experience time differently. This helps me to make my fast words slow and your slow words fast." << Very expensive, >> she thinks while it is playing, though the thought is touched with affection. "I do task based work, because I can do things very efficiently. It is nice to meet you all." She raises a finger to ask for another moment, recording and playing, "And I would love cocoa." Paige's nervous energy seems to defuse quite a bit at Steve's greeting and her thoughts reveal amusement at the man's shirt while a small grin forms on her face. "It's great to see you again, too, Steve." A nod is offered to Flicker and Shane. "And really good to see the two of you again as well." Her thoughts reflect what she says aloud with an slight addition: it's nice to interact with people who are not her murderous friend Mai. "And, yeah!" This to Shane as she glances down at one of her arms, though it is covered by a sleeve. "It's, uh, warm," she explains, ears flicking up. "And soft." Her eyes glance to Heather as the girl rapidly sits down and she takes a seat next to her, leaning forward and clasping her hands together on her lap. The furred mutant nods along as Heather speaks, ears twitching idly. Her mind reveals pain and sadness in regards to her companion's abilities; a desire to better understand and help her friend enjoy life at its fullest. "I'm Paige...uh, Paige Alexis Piefer. And, um, I use she/her pronouns?" The inquisitive line is accompanied by a glance to Shane - the goat girl has never introduced herself in such a way before and is possibly looking for confirmation that she did it correctly. "I am, uh, staying at one of the shelters in the Lower East End. I was, you know, here before as a guest, thanks to Steve." A hand gestures towards the gentleman. "I -was- living at my friend Mai's for a bit. But then she was arrested for, um, murder." Paige's gaze drops as she says this, thoughts indicating that this friend is one of the primary sources of her mental exhaustion. A whirling conflict of feelings threatens to come to the forefront of her mind, but she manages to suppress it. "I just got my updated registration card - I am a Gamma," she remarks, a hint of despair in her voice, before she looks up again. "And I like video games? And reading? And, um, I like to help people." There's a brief moment of silence and then her ears flick up. "Oh! I would like some cocoa too if that's possible." "Oh! Pardon, I forgot there were /formal/ introductions to be done." Steve blushes, though both this and his smile fades at the mention of -- murder? He blinks, eyes flicking back to Paige. “That’s -- certainly grave! I’m {sorry} to hear that.” Recovering his composure, he talks while he pours two more cups of cocoa. "I'm Steve! I use 'he' pronouns. Around I do some cooking and cleaning at the Commonhaus, am on call for --" A thoughtful pause and a quick flashback to his standoff with a gang of young neo-Nazis earlier that week. "-- certain kinds of security situations, and seem to be turning into an informal dog-walker for pups with energy to burn." He leans forward and hands Heather and Paige their beverages. “Enjoy!” Flicker's eyes are tracking rapidly from one person to the next. His eyes have gotten Considerably Wider at Paige's words, a ping of << ?! >> in his mind. It's underlaid with a faint recollection << -- like doctor Frankenstein? >> and a startled, << /murder/? >> that he swallows back down. "... wow. I'm, uh, that's -- awful that all that's happened to you and your friend." His fist circles his heart once. "Flicker. He/him/his. I'm not around nearly as much as I used to be because med school has eaten my life lately, but I built a lot of the furniture in the common spaces and help out with security and upkeep of the gym and media rooms. And just so you're aware my housemate Hive is also present for this interview, he's just --" The psionic flutter through the room is faint, but noticeable. A wash of mental awareness that presses outward in a mild push of formless greeting. "-- Somewhere else on the grounds right now. He designed all the buildings here. Does a lot of grounds upkeep and finance work. He can hear thoughts at the moment so that's -- a thing. You should be aware of." Shane splutters, /chokes/ on his coffee, his gills fluttering rapidly and his enormous pitch-black eyes widening to pools dominating much of his narrow face. "Holy freaking carp. Mai? Murder? Damn. Shit. That's. Hell." The back of his hand presses up against his mouth. << And she called /Taylor/ aggro. >> It takes a moment for his gills to press down flat again, his breathing to calm. "Well, that's a -- thing. I hope you've been somewhere safe since then. Um." His eyes are watering faintly from his spluttering but he regains -- some! tiny! measure of composure to move on to -- "-- /right/ we usually start with things, uh, easier than murder. Like, uh, how did y'all hear about us here?" Heather takes the cocoa offered to her, moving very carefully to avoid any spilling. She sips at the side and then reaches into her pocket to put a straw in the mug. She passively watches as the three interviewers react to the news of Mai's crime, waiting for the question to be asked of her before actually listening to the recorder to review, though this leaves her momentarily without context when Hive's presence is evident, and she makes a surprised squeak. She plays back in response to the question, "I heard about it through Paige. She said people are nice here. Then I did research on my own and liked the idea enough to apply." A silent grateful nod is given to Steve as she gently accepts the mug of cocoa, cringing with wilting ears as Mai's crime is capitalized upon. Mentally, it's clear she didn't mean for the mention of murder to be such a big deal. The topic has lost its shock value to her as it had already long been occupying most of thoughts over the past two weeks. Also evident in her mind is the certainty she has of Mai's guilt. << I'm not >> is a very clear thought that comes in response to what she figures must have been an apology from Steve. Her eyes widen slightly and she's clearly impressed in regards to Flicker's level of involvement with the Commons; she had no idea he had crafted the furniture. The goat girl's ears flick up and she lets out a tired sigh when Hive reveals his presence. << Just as well >>. "Yeah," Paige responds somewhat hesitantly to Shane to confirm the fact of the murder. "I've been at a shelter that Steve told me about. It's pretty safe. But the Commons I -- well, I -also- heard about from Steve, but I think you already know that. My friends and I - that is Heather, Fiona, and Mai - had been considering getting a place somehow for us all to share. But that plan has since...fallen through," she explains with a hint of guilt in her voice. "I hadn't really been thinking about the Commons, to be honest, until Heather started pitching the idea. Most of the effort towards actually getting this interview came from her." Steve sips at his coffee while the interviewees give their replies. His eyes still keep darting concerned looks back at Paige. Eventually, he hazards a quick glance at his (sparkly iridescent pink) smartphone before tucking it away again. "Well, Ms Brown has already begun to answer this question, but what specifically interests you about living here?" "Fiona -- the one who stayed over Christmas?" Flicker falls into quiet after this as the others speak. His claw clicks softly against his mug of cocoa. He only lifts it to sip in the pauses between words. Lowers it to his lap after, fingers tapping rapidly against its side. "So you've looked into this place some?" He looks towards Heather, at this, though his eyes flick over to Paige after with Steve's broader question. There's another faint mental ripple, though this time it coalesces into actual thought rather than just the suggestion of it. Not /quite/ an apology, though it has the faintest conciliatory overtone in Hive's shifting mental voice(s). << I know telepathy can be startling. An adjustment to get used to. >> It kind of hangs, unfinished -- if he was going to add anything else, it doesn't actually come. Shane just curls his legs up into his chair, sips at his coffee. "We got all kinds 'round here." is /his/ addition to Hive's interjection. "/Takes/ all kinds 'round here." Heather puts her hand on her temple at the words from Hive, again her emotional response being one of startlement and pain, not unlike a sleeping dog whose tail was just stepped on, though her mental response is a solemn reminder to herself, << I've hurt people on accident before. >> She shakes her head and starts her recording again. "I did look into it. Though the initial information came from Paige. First important thing I wanted in a home is mutant friendliness. I do not have a physical mutation but it's very obvious what I am." She hits pause to gives a thumbs up for a full second. She hits play again. "It seems like community is important, too. People care about each other and about the space. I have a great deal more time than most people so I like to spend it productively so there are things I can help with. But there are things I'm not so good at. I also hear it is pretty safe here." She looks to Paige for confirmation on that, eyebrows momentarily raised. Out of the corner of her eye, Paige catches her companion's reaction to Hive's message and her head turns to inspect Heather with genuine concern. A hand twitches as if to reach out to the other girl, but is stopped before it gets anywhere. She inclines her head towards Flicker at his question, but watches Heather as she speaks, nodding once in agreement at her words before turning her attention back to the interviewers. "Yeah, safety is one of my number one priorities, too." A memory of her assault flashes in her mind alongside many other incidents involving harassment and small physical altercations. "And, you know, the discreteness of the place. I, uh, I've got -family-...out there somewhere." The word is said with a noticeable bitterness and the furred mutant briefly averts her gaze. "Also what Heather said about the community. That's something that's, uh, very important to me. And also having the opportunity to live with friends; people I can, uh, trust." Her hand gestures towards the girl sitting next to her, but her thoughts indicate that she actually considers all of the people in (and the one outside) the room friends. The goat girl also manages to give a smile despite her rather drained state. Steve nods. "We take the safety of our residents and guests very seriously. I guess you both know that, whether from research or from experience, but we protect each other here." He drains his coffee and pours himself some more, a small smile returning to his face. "Though common defense is certainly not the beginning and end of our community, or even our mutual aid!" He studies Heather for a moment. "Are you feeling alright?" Inwardly, and almost simultaneously, << Are we hurting her? >> This time the sense of apology coalesces more concretely, and then the rustling whisper of Hive's mental presence withdraws -- from Paige and Shane and Heather's immediate /awareness/, at least, though he's still very much there twined inextricably through Flicker and Steve. The frown /he's/ feeling makes its way briefly onto both their faces (in odd but fleeting unison) as he catalogs this quietly: << hurt her? hm. Yes. We did. >> More quietly still, in concept rather than words: << (you/we speak) >> <<(i/we listen)>> "That's -- definitely important to a lot of us here." Flicker takes his shifting expressions in stride. Features smoothing back out soon enough. "Apologies. Hive -- can listen more. Talk through us if necessary. He didn't know that would -- hurt." He nods at the mention of safety. "It's funny, we /started/ the Commons because we were looking to build a home that would be a welcoming place for mutants -- but it's grown into such a vibrant community even past that. So we kind of built it on this foundation of safety and -- worked our way up from there. Did a lot of learning as we grew. Have you all had past experience living anywhere like this? Or if not, what experience have you had sharing living space with other people?" Shane's brows scrunch up. "Oh damn you should hear him on a good day. Like an anvil to the brain." His own fingers lift, rubbing absently at his temple as if in sympathy. "The folks we have around here though, we have a lot of practice -- not just with the safety, though that's hella important, too. But looking out for each other, you know? Like whether that means making sure not to tell nosy strangers anyone's names or whether it means cooking big-ass meals together and checking in to make sure people are remembering to, like, fucking eat them. Life is sometimes just about relaxing and looking after each other. It's nice to know people have your back on -- both counts." Heather looks back and forth between Flicker and Steve a few times very rapidly when their expressions shift, though it looks like she's just shaking her head. "I am alright," she plays, first looking to Steve then to Flicker, "I know it was not on purpose." The young woman seems to understand and accept the sense of apology, at least. She sips at the straw she dropped into the cocoa while the message continues to play. "I think it would be nice to know my back is had, yes. I like the idea of looking out for each other." With a tug, Heather pulls her goggles up onto her forehead, since the frames are starting to put red marks around her tired eyes. "I used to live in a group home as a ward of the state until I got bussed here. I will be honest. It wasn't set up with someone like me in mind. But it's okay. I learned their boundaries. Even if I would still sometimes be annoying." << No sense in not telling the whole truth with a telepath around. >> This is more of an amused comment to herself. Paige takes a few small sips of her cocoa as the others speak, ears giving a twitch in confusion as Hive seems to leave her mind. At Flicker's mention of hurt, she looks towards Heather with furrowed brows, eyes searching her face, but of course the other girl's facial movements are too quick for her to study. "I've lived here, but not like, you know..." She trails off, gesturing with a hand as she tries to formulate the correct words. "-Lived- here. I was a guest and I didn't really contribute much of anything, to be honest. But I--" a hand reaches up to scratch behind an ear, causing it to twitch about. "--want to do whatever I can to be part of this community. I don't have a job. Yet. But I've got a lot of spare time as a result. I am eager and willing to help out with anything you need - any chores that need to be done, any tasks that need to be taken care of, -anything-. I mean I can't really cook, but I'm, uh, interested in learning. Especially for her." Her thumb jabs towards Heather. "She, uh...eats a lot." The goat girl's ears flick up as she remembers what the question actually was. "Oh, right! I had a roommate in college both my freshman year and beginning of my sophomore year. And then there was the thing with Mai. But none of that was like -here-, you know? But we're--er, I'm very excited to join a place like this." There's a smile on her face as she nods to confirm her statement. Hive's frown blends seamlessly into the one Steve was already wearing, but both ease now. "It's true, there's lot more to looking out for each other than safety." A weary inward leaning against Hive/Flicker. "And cooking can be learned!" There's a subtle note of pride in his voice at this, and a smile on his face again. "Living with other people is a learning process, too. Learning people's boundaries is good, but learning to communicate about them -- and about our respective needs -- is important, too." There's a mental stirring, at Paige's mention of not having a job -- it shivers upward thoughtfully and then subsides. A secondary stirring, faintly amused -- << (everyone's annoying. sometimes.) >> Flicker's smile is quicker, brighter. His chuckle quick, too. If a little wry. "I think places like that often aren't. Set up -- with people like us. In mind. Kinda what I like about -- here." His shrug is quick. He gulps down the rest of his cocoa. Rises from his seat -- his series of motions is too quick to track, a rapid blur of motion for -- probably everyone in the room /except/ Heather. Possibly for her, at least, his lighting-teleportation approximates something like a normal speed, albeit in odd stop-motion rather than anything smooth -- back on his feet, a quick hop over to the carafe -- he pours the cocoa in normal-time, unable to make the /liquid/ move any faster -- then back in an instant over to his chair again. Sip. "Living with other people takes work. There's always going to be struggle that comes up. Can you tell us about some time that you've had a -- conflict with another person and how you resolved it?" Shane's dark eyes flick to Paige with this question. A tiny sliver of smile creeps onto his face. He's quiet, though. Heather turns her head to watch Flicker's motion with some surprise and delight; it's not often that she has the chance to see someone move so quickly. "You may say we. We are excited," she plays quietly to Paige, then increasing the volume for the rest of the message she continues, "It does seem like this place is made to be accommodating." She records a second message as soon as this stops playing, "There was a boy at the home I was at. I will call him Jasper." << Because that is his name, >> she adds mentally as it plays, "He was sensitive to sound and woke up at night because I only sleep an hour at a time. Hard to resolve. Most people sleep eight hours, which is forty hours, too long to be still and unproductive. The default expectation was that I would yield and stay hidden, like I said, not set up with me in mind. But I approached Jasper to discuss an alternative solution. When I explained to him how much time his time was to me he was more willing to listen. He explained to me that if he was awoken he could not fall back asleep and my feet banged when they hit the ground. I did not know that. I fall back asleep right away." She shrugs her shoulders a few times rapidly, just so the gesture is more easily noticed. "We reached an accord after discussion. He wore earplugs when there were things I had to do at night, and I stepped more cautiously. I also scheduled more silent activities for earlier in the night that could be completed from my bed." << I hope I understood the question, >> she thinks as she listens to the slowed recording and finishes the cocoa with her straw. "Well, I, uh, generally try to avoid conflict." Paige says with her eyes her on lap, hands gesturing with a vertical chopping motion. "But --" Scenes flash through her memory and anyone picking up on them would notice that, before her mutations started, she was much more self-righteous and unlikely to resolve conflicts. Then her mind settles on her first interaction with Shane, though she has not picked up on his smile. << Fuck >>. A moment's mental frustration as her eyes glance up at the sharky mutant. << Is this really all I can think of? Fuck >>. Straightening her posture, she lets out a quiet sigh. "Well, there was the time with you, Shane," the goat girl begins sheepishly, ears pressed down and hands gesturing idly. "I mean, I'm not sure how much you remember about it, but, like, I was really...I was kind of a jerk to you. I was still new to the whole 'mutant thing', you know?" The previous statement is directed towards the group as a whole. "And I -- well, I was kind of freaked out easily by things. But instead of, you know, actually owning up to that fact, I think I tried to blame it on my parents and I kind of--I made some really stupid and -wrong- assumptions about Shane. I mean, most of the resolution comes from the fact that he forgave me, but I also had to realize that the situation wasn't so black-and-white, you know? I had to admit to myself that I was part of--that I was the problem." She turns her head, averting her gaze. "So I, uh, went to this support group Shane told me about and tried to get better." Steve sips on his coffee and listens to their interviewees, nodding periodically. "{Thank you,} those are great examples. Really, everyone has different experiences and different approaches to conflict resolution, we just ask to get a sense of yours." He quirks a smile and glances down at his phone again (cheat sheet!). "Now, more on the topic of participating in the community..."