ArchivedLogs:In Which Certain Problems Are Discussed And Others, Less So

In Which Certain Problems Are Discussed And Others, Less So
Dramatis Personae Allison, Blink, Taylor	2017-08-27 "I think it's fairly high in pariahs, as schools go."
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 a bright and sunny Sunday early afternoon, lazy Sunday afternoon vibes permeating Evolve -- the cafe is pretty full but lacks the proper /bustling/ vibe by dint of the fact that most people have been table-squatting for quite some time and the line at the counter is negligible. Just a lot of conversation, a small knot of people in one corner occupying most of the comfy back seats with a sign-language practice meetup, some card playing at one of the tables, a decent number of folks actually feeling the weather enough to boldly sit /outside/ the store and brave the neighborhood hostility. When the door opens again the baristas look up almost eagerly, bored behind the counter -- but it's just /Taylor/, nobody needing serving. The tall ink-skinned youth is dressed rather sharply, today, a deep red satiny mandarin-collared dress shirt that pops quite boldly against his obsidian skin, carefully and properly tailored for all his many limbs -- though a couple of those limbs, at the moment, have been truncated, just neatly bandaged stumps where long tentacles usually are. It's paired with pressed black slacks, polished dress shoes. He's carrying a tatty old backpack that really doesn't match the vibe, unslinging it from one shoulder as he makes his way off toward the counter, pretty unhurried about it. Having tucked herself away at a table earlier in the day, Allison is now on her third caramel iced latte. With her guitar at the table and a journal in front of her, she has been scribbling thoughts away and drawing a couple of people here and there that catch her eye. Her artwork is decent, nothing too extraordinary. Just part of her creative process. When Taylor heads in, she lifts her eyes upwards to regard him for a moment, then slightly tilts her head to one side. << Wow. Hunk alert. Wonder why he's all dressed up. >> A small smile tugs upon her lips as she flicks her pen along the paper in front of her, drawing a few circles. Lifting her free hand, she gives him a friendly wave. A vortex of swirling light appears near the counter and grows into a portal, and a moment later Blink steps through. Her movement is kind of slow today, tentative. Her hair is a mess, the fishtail braid skewing hard to the left and twisting as it goes, and she wears a soft, drapey purple dress trimmed in sky blue and bound at the waist with a wide blue sash. Her left arm is bandaged just above the elbow and held in a sling, though without a cast. << Oh God, would I be a terrible person if I just stayed here for a while? >> There's a heavy weariness in her thoughts that mirrors her physical appearance. "Oh hey!" She notices Taylor first, though her huge green eyes sweep the entire cafe reflexively and she works up a quick smile for the faces she recognizes, Allison included, before turning to Ravenna behind the counter. "I thought I'd be back a lot earlier, but it sure got busy out there! Can I just get a coffee? Gracias!" She does not, notably, make any move to pay for it. Taylor doesn't actually vanish behind the counter /just/ yet -- one long arm has reached oooover it to snag a spray bottle, a couple paper towels, sort of on autopilot he's wiping at some ringed coffee-cup stains on top of it before Ravenna bustles over to bap him on the head and steal the work. Taylor looks a little sheepish as he slumps against the counter, lifts one (stumpy-bandaged) arm in response to Allison's wave before looking /even more/ sheepish and lifting his actually intact undamaged hand to return the wave cheerfully. "You should probably also pay the woman," he advises Blink, amusement lightening his voice, "gets hard to remember before the caffeine, I know." Silent, to her: << What hell's going on out there you look beat? You know you can stay. Uh, if you can find a seat. >> Returning the smile to Blink as well, Allison gives a not so subtle nod to a chair at her table to let her know she can join. Her eyes give a look at the slinged arm, pinching her brows slightly with some concern. Leaning in, she takes a sip from her straw before giving another swirl of the pen along the paper. << Razzle dazzle, glitz and glam. Turn it all up, it's a spectacle. >> There is a pause in her stream of thoughts before her hand gives a few scratching motions to cross out the lyrics. << Stupid. No. That's stupid. Try again. >> She sighs softly. << This used to be so easy. >> "Oh right!" Blink slaps herself (lightly) on the forehead and digs her wallet out of the leaf-shaped fabric purse sort of awkwardly hanging under her injured arm. "Lo siento. I'm kind of out of it" She gives an embarrassed chuckle and hands over the cash. << Some fash showed up to the rally at Foley Square and it got ugly. >> Brief flash of a struggle in a crowd, chaos, police moving in. << No serious injuries that I know of but I shuttled a lot of people around. >> An edge of jangling nerves starts creeping up into her weariness, then recedes. << It's not a big deal, I just need a break. >> "Hope you're healing up alright." She nods at the amputated limb Taylor had just waved with. She leans back against the counter, then glances at the seat Allison indicates consideringly, as if weighing the distance. Then, pushing herself away from the counter, just teleports in a flash of purple over to the chair being offered and drops down into it. "Hey. Appreciate it." << Yikes. Take as long as you need. >> Though Taylor's eyes are already skimming toward the door -- toward the outside tables, the people relaxing out there. His brows crease in a distinct flash of worry. It soon fades into a quick -- if tense -- smile, a duck of head, a shrug of shoulder. "Not as tough as you, but I'm tough. Be right back." He glances over toward Allison's table when Blink blips over there, his teeth pressing down at his lower lip. Hesitant -- like about to say something that never comes. Instead he ducks behind the counter, disappears into the back. "Hey, Blink." Allison says with a smile to her friend as she pops into view in front of her. "Man, that is /so/ cool that you can do that. How far can you go? Can you like .. go to Hawaii or something if you wanted?" Her eyes look to the arm again in the sling before asking. "Did you get that from your ah .. thingy with Flicker the other day?" << Rule one of Fight Club is you never talk about Fight Club. >> She closes the journal and nudges it off to the side. "Oh! I got accepted to Xavier's." She says softly to her with a smile. "I'm so freaked out and nervous. I've been going to school with the same kids since I was in pre-school and now I'm like this social pariah there and I'm getting new kid jitters." "What?" Blink blinks a few times. "Oh! The ah. Teleporting..." She gives a quick, nervous smile. "It's...complicated? I think technically I can throw a portal just about anywhere, but it gets more difficult and less accurate the farther I go." Her mind helpfully conjures up a recent memory of straining to hold a portal open for two medics to evacuate a patient with a frightfully bloody head wound. "Thingy?" she repeats, blushing faintly. << Oh Lord, she means the fight. Of course. >> Her eyes drop slowly to her bandaged arm. "This...this isn't so bad, it's way better than it /was./" She blushes harder, but smiles a broader smile now. "Congratulations! Jitters are understandable, but I doubt you're alone in feeling that way, at least. I think it's fairly high in pariahs, as schools go." It isn't long before Taylor is slipping back out from the back of the cafe. Comfortably casually dressed, now, in faded jeans and his BLACK LIVES MATTER (the I and MATTER in red text, the rest in white.) He snags Blink's coffee from Ravenna before continuing onward, stopping beside Blink's seat to set it down on the table. Take a small half-step back. One corner of his mouth twitches very faintly up. "Xavier's definitely has its share of rejects." Just a little wry. "So you'll be starting this year, huh." "Oh. I see. I figure everything has a limit to it. I just .. still .. glow... around loud noises." Allison twirls a finger slightly in the air with amusement. "The walking night light. Only the Boogie man is scared of me." She says before she leans back. "I guess it's just weird now. I was a cheerleader, on varsity soccer, was sure to be a lock for homecoming queen. Then after the news broke out, the next day of school was like .. weirdsville. The whispering, pointing, nasty spray paint on my locker. Best friends now blocking my calls. But, I guess .. this is a chance to make new friends, yes? Expand my horizons. It just feels weird. Sorta lonely." She drums her fingers on the table. "Super lonely." She bites on her lip for a moment. When Taylor heads over, she glances up at him and his new apparel for a brief moment before she cups her chin with her palm. "Yeah, starting this year. Um... do they have a soccer team?" "Lo siento." Blink's lips press into a thin line. She manages a very thin smile when Taylor brings her the coffee. << Gracias, you didn't have to... >> Looking back at Allison. "That sounds awful. Not -- not your powers, I mean, just...what happened with your school, especially your friends abandoning you." << I know how that is. It's probably much worse when you haven't had a whole life to get used to it. At least the people who wanted to be my friends where befriending me as I am, more or less. >> She blows on her coffee and sips at it tentatively. "I'm...pretty sure there's a soccer team. At least there's a soccer /club/, but I'm not sure about competition." Her eyes skid to Taylor, eyebrows raising up, deferring to him. << Not a problem. Seemed like you're having a rough enough morning without... >> This trails off. Taylor's eyes dip down to the table, his stumps of bandaged arms shifting uncomfortably. << Yeah. I don't know. I feel like it's not an easy thing to compare. >> "That sucks," he says with a sympathetic wince. "Probably not fun on top of already having to be in summer school, huh?" One slender noodly arm rubs at the back of his head. "There's a legit soccer team, yeah. It's a hell every year getting the conference to let us play shit but our teams compete. Grudgingly." Shrugging her shoulders upwards, Allison says, "Yeah, it sucks, but it could be worse, right? I'm sure .. you know .. others didn't get off so lucky as me with spray paint or photoshopped images, or catty girls trying to climb the social ladder." Shifting her jaw in thought, she shrugs her shoulders upwards. "And I don't mind summer school. My goal was to graduate early and go on tour." There is a chuckle. "Now neither of those are happening. So, I may as well just chillax and drink the best coffee in New York and meet new people who are way cooler anyways, like you two." The mention of the soccer team causes her to smile. "Cool. I'll give it a try out then. Hey, Taylor, you were looking really sharp back there. Were you at an interview?" "Just because other people may have it worse..." Blink frowns, trails off momentarily. "Well, sometimes it's not even so much /worse/ as just /different./ Either way, it doesn't really improve your situation. I am sure you will hear some horror stories from your new classmates." << And I don't imagine it's going to mean an end to troubles, though. Just...maybe some of it will be /different/ trouble. >> "I hope you'll be less lonely once school starts, soccer or no!" Taylor's laugh is small, brief, his head dipping. "Yeah, I'm sure you'll meet plenty folks who got all /kinds/ of stories. The school's an interesting place." His tone is level, here. Neutral. "At least you shouldn't have too much problem dealing with the /school's/ ethics board when you try out for sports, anyway." The telepath's brows raise, head shaking. "I like my job here." One hand smooths down over his shirt, smile brighter. "Anyway, I think this shirt suits me better." "Oh. Oh .. were you at church?" Allison asks curiously. "Shoot, I forgot it was Sunday. I haven't gone to church in years, not since .. ah ... not since mom left. Dad was never a big fan of it." She taps her pen against the top of the table. "It was a nice look on you. Very handsome, but that's a good shirt too. Great message behind it." She says honestly before she leans back a bit. "I think I'm starting to make new friends. The other Taylor, the one with the fur? She's cool. We went shopping the other day and had a pretty good time. We got a lot in common when it comes to clothes and fashion. And, you of course." She says to Blink. "I think we're friends?" Blink finally deems her coffee cool enough for a long swallow, and sighs blissfully after. "I didn't go to Xavier's, but I know many of the teachers and some of the students, and alumni." She nods at Taylor. "I gather it has its own share of problems, but there are some good people there." At the question to her, though, her eyes go a little wide and the blush returns with a vengeance. << Oh, dear! I barely know her, but... >> "I...think we could become friends?" she says, smiling uncertainly. "It's not -- it's just, I don't make friends very quickly or easily, that's all." She ducks her head a little, apologetic. "Every Sunday," Taylor confirms, warm and bright. "Best way to start my week." His tongue pokes briefly into the side of his cheek, thumb dropping to hook into his belt loop before he adds casually: "Taylor's not a she. 'They'. But they are mad cool." He's just as casually sweeping a glance over Allison with this assessment, before looking away toward the door. A faint flutter-wash of psionic touch, wordless but sympathetic, brushes up against Blink's mind. "Everywhere's got it's share of problems. I expect /you'll/ do alright there, though." A nod to Allison. "... A they? What do you mean? Like, two people?" Allison looks confused. "Does Taylor have multiple personalities? Is that... like.. a thing?" She is totally clueless of course. << How could I have missed that? This is so complicated. I feel so stupid. Why am I even here for? I'm never going to fit in. >> There is a soft sigh from her, her face scrunching up for a moment in thought before she draws a few more circles on the cover of her journal. To Blink, she nods her head a few times. "Oh. Yeah. I .. get it. Sorry, just a bit too eager I guess to .. um... I dunno." She plucks her empty cup up. "I'm gonna get a refill. You two want anything?" She asks as she slips out of her seat and starts for the line. Blink blinks rapidly, again. << Wait, what? >> "Multiple personalities?" She glances at Taylor. "That's /a thing/, in the general sense, but I don't know... I mean, as I understand it, most people who use 'they' do it because they're not a 'he' or 'she', or don't like gendered pronouns, or something like that?" She doesn't sound entirely certain, here. "Anyway, it's understandable to want to have more friends, there's nothing /wrong/ with that." Her smile is sympathetic, and her mental /lean/ into Taylor's psionic presence weary. When Allison gets up, she shakes her head. "Gracias, but no, I should probably be getting to Central Booking, anyway. They can always use some help at jail support." She drains the rest of her coffee and stands up. Then opens a smallish portal and puts her mug through it to the bussing tray on the other side of the room. "Good luck with school, Allison. Stay safe, and I'm sure I'll see you both around." "Ah --" Taylor blinks, shakes his head uncertainly. "I -- yeah, that's a thing, but it's not -- yeah, what she said." One slim arm flicks toward Blink. "Just, like, they aren't a binary -- gender. 'They' is neutral. Not plural." Despite familiarity with the power, Blink's handy dispensing of her coffee cup puts a bright smile on his face. "Man, work could be /so/ much easier. -- and nah I'm good I probably gotta go /make/ your order now." Only a mild lament. "Yo shit hey." He reaches into a pocket, digs out a labeled prescription bottle to hand over to Blink. "They let Karrie out, you make sure she gets this? Skinny little redhead. Probably be cranky." His shoulders stretch with a distinct and noticeable wince; one skinny arm touches briefly against the mutilated ones like a brief self-check -- lost any /more/, no, good? Probably okay to get back to work then -- before he nods cheerfully enough to the others and slips past Allison, bypassing the line to actually go punch in and start his shift. "/Oh/." Allison says in regards to Marinov as it is explained. She rubs the back of her neck for a moment sheepishly. "I see. No one ever told me about that. I kinda assumed since we both got the same taste in ... um... girl clothes.. " She gives an awkwardly nervous smile to the both of them. "I mean, that's cool. If that is who they are. I like shopping with em'." She says each word as if it's a struggle to form it correctly, as if she's over thinking every thing she says now. "But, oh, catch you later then, Blink. Have a good day at work, Taylor.." She says.