ArchivedLogs:Freedom Fighters

Freedom Fighters
Dramatis Personae Charlie Torres, Ash	6 May 2015 (Part of the Future Past TP.)
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. The warming days aren't exactly kind to Charlie's method of dressing for Public. The pile of discarded clothing that grows out of a chair about as soon as she hits the safety of Evolve is a testament: scarf, hat, hoodie, and gloves all quit hastily. Fortunately for the early evening hour there wasn't a wait for an empty table. Long ears freed to help cool once more, the teal tee and grey camping pants clad hare-girl looks a great deal more comfortable as she makes her way through the line and returns to her table. Iced coffee, egg salad sandwich, chips, and a pickle. Nothing hot to add to the evening's meal, still. Ash slogs in a little later, still not adjusted to working hard in the warmer weather. He is busily pulling a cleanish tee shirt over his sweat and dirt stained under shirt. He is juggling a somewhat beat up thermos while he works, tucking it under whichever arm is free at the time. His heavy canvas pants are also covered in a fine layer of dust, but this is normal. He tries to knock the rest of the dirt off his boots at the door, but a good deal of it stays stuck to him. He wipes the back of his arm against his forehead, smearing the trickle lines a little further as he finally locks his gaze on Charlie. He heads over and pulls out a chair opposite her, depositing his stuff. "Hey, lo siento, hope you weren't waiting long. It was a little further - work - and I didn't expect the subway traffic. How are you?" Charlie smiles and waves as Ash enters, perhaps the slightest bit of a chuckle at the fellow's dustiness. "Not to worry. Was just here long enough to grab a table and some dinner." She sneaks her first sip from the straw of her frozen drink. "I /know/ it's not hot out yet, but it feels like it since it was so cold so long. Gotta get used to it again. I'm good. How're you? Need a second to grab a drink or food?" "Yeah, I should probably eat." Ash looks at Charlie's sandwich and presses his lips together, wetting them while they are hidden from view. "OH, I'm fine, good even, just you know, a little tired from the heat. It's like, not really even that hot yet. You're right, gotta adjust. It's just getting the heat inside us instead of on the outside and everything will be well." He flashes her a quick smile and then looks over at the menu boards before lifting a hand. "Okay, be right back!" “Ha, true enough. I'm usually good so long as I can have my ears out,” Charlie admits with a little half-grin that only a lagomorph mouth could really pull off. “I've actually been surprisingly good lately. Few complaints on a personal level. Been seeing those ridiculous new signs around, though...” She lets that trail off for now with a head shake, then lifts her drink in a small salute as Ash goes to find food. “No rush.” While not a lagomorph, Ash is as quick as a bunny, heading off to the line and securing himself some dinner in a flash -- well, as much as standing in line, ordering, paying and waiting for the food to be delivered. But! He is soon heading back to their table and setting down his plate. He too has chosen egg salad, but his contain bacon stuffed in and around the eggy bits. He's got a large glass of water and an iced coffee, as well as a small bowl of potato salad. "Okay, thanks for waiting. Glad to hear you're doing well. Those signs are a bit... disturbing. I just want to pull them down - but I think it might make things worse." Charlie has started in on nibbling at her sandwich by the time Ash returns. "No problem. Would've felt funny sitting here eating if you were sitting there hungry." She nods agreement on the signs. "Take 'em down or at least mess 'em up, you know? Let people know that they /aren't/ official, no matter what they look like at first. No good giving people /more/ license to feel like it's okay to be done with us." Her furry fingers scoop up a sweet potato chip to crunch on. Ash takes a moment to get settled, staring at his meal for a moment as if strategizing, before he finally tucks in, grabbing the first half of his sandwich and taking a bit. He chews quietly as he nods, setting the sandwich half down once more, grabbing his water next. "Yeah? Vandalizing them? Huh. Maybe they should just be changed to announce how much hatred is in that area. Anyway. You said you wanted to talk?" He takes a quick sip of water. "About the future?" He finishes this with a longer drink, draining half of the glass. "Maybe. There has to be something better than just leaving them the way they are," Charlie opines between bites of sandwich. The question curls her lips upward once more. "That sounds like the start of a conversation on opening a retirement fund or running for political office. But, yeah...more or less. I talked with my people and they're interested in knowing what other people know and if other people are planning to take action. Maybe there could be some resource pooling?" "Ohh. Yeah. Resource pooling. Okay. Hmm. Gosh, I don't know exactly how to explain what is going on." Ash sets down his glass and grabs his fork. "Okay. Um, So. We're sort of in the information gathering mode. We've got a couple people in charge, but it's this huge mess of images and ideas and thoughts and notions and sifting them all into a coherent plan." He frowns as he starts to scoop up a little of his potatoes, staring at them before looking up at Charlie. "I don't suppose you can talk about who you have to help?" "Hey, you for sure know more than I do. I haven't had any of these crazy psychic dreams so far as I know." Charlie crunches her way through a pickle as she listens. "Has anybody tried making a database of all the dream information? It'd be helpful just to get it computerized. Timelines. Search functions. Might get a better idea of what happens and who knows what that way." She fiddles with the straw in her drink as she thinks on how to answer. "We're a little cagey, with reason. But there's a healthy number of people we can call on. All like us." Mutants, yep. "And able to handle themselves in sticky situations." "We've got some technically inclined people. I don't know for certain that there's a database, but I can ask him when I see him next." Ash takes a bite of his potatoes and chews thoughtfully. "This is going to make our conversation hard. I mean, I can't really advertise who all is involved as well. I don't know. Maybe we should set up a meeting of representatives, you know? Aside from us? Maybe we're fine. I guess we're fine. So, I'm going to get back to you with more of a plan. When we have one. Did you have any more questions?" "That's cool. We got some of those of our own, too. I'll prod people from my side to see how they're handling this." Charlie finishes off the last pickle, poking her chips around her plate a little with a fingertip. "I get that. Nobody wants to be putting people at risk unnecessarily." A chuff of laughter answers that question. "Man, I got nothing /but/ questions. Like I said, I'm probably about the least knowledgeable person when it comes to this situation who knows that it exists. It can't hurt for us each to pool what information has been gathered in these dreams from our groups and meet with it, I wouldn't think. Sounds like as far as the /doing/ something part...nobody's got a firm idea yet?" "The problem is - well, we're looking at it from sort of the finished product. Well, sort of. There was a bit of a lead up. We were able to see one year into the future - and then saw some of it coming true. But it was hard. We couldn't stop /everything./ We were able to save a couple lives that we didn't before - but it was still hard watching all those people in the final Prometheus raid drop... dead like that. I was in one of those places. I couldn't save them like I was able to before." He inhales deeply and clears his throat. "Then there was stuff from three years from now." “So these dreams had to do with that...event that got Prometheus shut down finally? That means people have /already/ been doing stuff about it. But only about the early stuff and not the more distant stuff that people started dreaming later?” There is lingering hint of incredulity to Charlie's tone at the way these things sound repeated back. “It's good that /someone/ got saved, though. Means it's possible.” "Well, that's how we figured out that the dreams were real and happening. I mean, how else would you know your strange ass nightmares were something that were really going to happen?" Ash stops eating, losing his appetite. "It might be possible. I don't know. It seems a little incidental. Then again, it is kind of what is making everything happen. I don't know. It's impossible to tell. Obviously, I haven't lost my job and my home and started running with a group of terrorists. At least not yet." “I don't know, man. Whole thing's beyond me.” Charlie stops fiddling with her remnant food, instead pulling her drink closer. “I can't tell if that was speaking in riddles or this whole thing just being confusing on its own.” The corner of her mouth twitches, nose doing the same. “People do like to bandy that term about.” Taking another pull through the straw serves as good excuse for a pause. “I'll let my folks know that your folks are interested in compiling data...and planning action. Suppose that's the most I'm good for just now.” "Oh. Well, I don't know all that much about what I was doing. I was fighting against the cops to save some lives. It was a bit of crazy night. I didn't really ask why the cops were chasing us." Ash scratches at the scruff of his neck, his expression sheepish. "Maybe terrorist isn't the best term, but it was definitely against the establishment." He inhales deeply and rests his hands in his lap. "Okay. Yeah, I'll touch base with my people and we'll see what comes next." “Against the establishment in our case is just...sensible, really. And from the sound of it, only more as time goes on.” Charlie continues to seem vaguely amused, smiling between sips of coffee. “Could always add yourself to the ranks of freedom fighters and revolutionaries if that's more your thing.” She gives a confirming nod to Ash's offer. “Sounds good. Meanwhile, dinner's nice.” "Oh. I really don't know if I am explaining anything well right now. I apologize for being unclear. See, you just don't know everything, when you dream stuff of the future. You just know what you're thinking at the moment. I've been a freedom fighter and a rescuer for a while now, but it was different. A closer bond. A feeling that I knew my group was targeted. It was different from the way things are now. Ahhh. I should stop trying. I'm not making it any better. Again, I apologize." When Charlie draws his attention back to his food, he turns a little red underneath all his dust and dirt. "Yeah. Dinner. I'm just a chatterbox. Please... Um. Did you want dessert? I could get you something?" “Hey, no worries. It's confusing stuff.” Charlie's head shakes firmly. “No need to keep apologising. I think I kinda know what you mean.” The quality of her smile softens, eyes more directly on Ash's. “I asked you here to talk. Was kinda the point. Really, it's okay.” Another chuff of laughter at the offer. “Only if you're planning on abandoning your dinner in favour of a sweet tooth already. I got.” She lifts the cup still half full of iced coffee. “You don't gotta pick things up for me.” "Oh, it's just that I got some nervous energy now and getting up and running around might help." Ash picks up his sandwich and gets ready to eat again, raising an eyebrow at the woman across from him. "Anyway. Tell me about yourself? If I keep talking, I'll never eat." He smiles and then takes a bite of the sandwich demonstratively. See? Mouth full, not talking now. "Ah, okay. You still wanna go look at the board after you eat a thing, I'll run up with you, then." Charlie returns to fiddling with her straw by way of stirring up the contents of the cup between sips. "Depends what you're wanting to know, I guess. Not too much to tell. I just moved up New York to stay with some friends over a month ago now. Used to be in Baltimore my whole life before that. Lived with my uncle. Was my only family and he died so there wasn't a whole lot of reason to stay there." Her shoulders rise and fall in a little roll of a shrug. "What else people usually say right off? I do text translations. It's all electronic anymore, so it works out nobody ever has to meet with me. Pays enough of the bills most of the time." "Mmmmhmm." Ash replies, concentrating on eating initially, stuffing food into his mouth as soon as it is clear. He listens quietly as Charlie speaks, nodding, slowing down as she finishes. "Yeah, I guess. Origin story with a current occupation -- seems a fitting way to describe yourself." He gives a little shrug and turns the conversation on to lighter subjects as they continue to sit and eat and talk. "So, seen any movies lately?"