ArchivedLogs:Into the Deep End

Into the Deep End
Dramatis Personae Aloke, Jackson
In Absentia	2013-05-18 '
Location <NYC> Evolve Cafe - Lower East Side
Tucked down an alley, this out of the way coffeeshop is easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for. Unassuming from the outside, its inside makes up for it -- spacious, with abundant seating and plenty of plush couches and cosy armchairs along the room's edges. The coffee is good, the prices are cheap, and there is a definitive alternative vibe to the room, from the music they play to the art that hangs on the walls. The real draw to this place, though, stems from its client base -- one of the very few businesses in the city that is welcoming to mutants, Evolve has become widely popular as a hangout with that crowd, and it is quite common to see them among clientele and employees both. At night, the thump of music can be heard from above, coming from the adjoining nightclub of the same name that sits over the coffeehouse. It's midday on Saturday, bright and sunny and warm and as a result a lot of people have elected to be out-of-doors. As a result it's only middling-busy in here, the turnover high with most people electing to take their drinks and leave and it isn't nearly late enough for the nightclub crowd to be trickling up to the club upstairs. There is a lightness to the mood, from the conversations that bubble at tables (and sometimes between tables; the regular crowd here is close-knit enough many of the customers know each other) to the banter exchanged by the baristas. Jax's table is /quiet/, for once; the glittery illusionist's usual bright energy is -- not so much subdued as /focused/. Down on the sketchpad in his lap; his fingers are smudged dark with charcoal and he's in the middle of a rendering of a man in NYPD uniform standing in front of a mirror; the reflection on the other side is -- perhaps a mutant. Perhaps a monster. Something hulking-big with spikes and tentacles; the whole picture is rendered in a kind of surrealistic style. His single eye is very intently focused on his work. In front of him a plate holds a muffin (banana chocolate chip) and there's a large mug of coffee still steaming beside it. He's -- colourful, as usual; sky-blue skirt paired with knee-high vividly patterned mismatched socks, silver-and-blue platform sneakers, a tight sleeveless shirt that is kind of a metallic gunmetal grey. It's a similar colour to his hair, today, an odd metallic silver-grey that hair dye should really not be able to achieve. Its true that the use of powers is a ticket-able offense in the city, but they have to catch you doing it, and Aloke's power is pretty easy to hide in a bustling city. A flash light around the corner and down an alley, and out walks a regular looking guy with sunglasses on. Not much to get him in trouble there. Probably just took a picture back there. Either way, Aloke approaches the cafe he's supposed to meet Jax at and pulls the door open. He's in jeans, brown flip-flops, and a white button up with the top button undone. He's also carrying a canvas messenger bag, the one he has with him all the time, and is generally full of art supplies. Once inside, he smiles over at Jax and just takes a moment to put his order in for a cafe mocha before joining the young man at his table. "Hey, this was a great idea, thanks for getting me out here. I've been in this city for /years/ and I never knew about this place. How is that possible?" It's rhetorical, of course. It's not like he was trying to meet other mutants. But he does look over Jax's work, which seems to remind him of something. "And I have to say, I'm dying to be helpful in the hunt for these kids, Jackson. If there's /anything/ I can do, I'll do it." Jax shakes his head, mostly to clear his (silly-floppy-emo) hair back out of his eye as he looks up. His focused look shifts in a heartbeat into a quick bright flash of a smile. "Hey!" he greets, chipper-bright, "Gosh, yeah, this place is kinda -- you gotta /know/ about it to know about it, yeah?" He shifts in his seat, tucking one leg beneath him and dropping the other to the floor. "This place is -- is great I like to just -- come here and have some downtime. Not worry about --" He shrugs. The smile drops, slightly, at the rest of Aloke's words. He runs his fingers through his hair. "That's --" He hesitates, glancing around the cafe and then setting his sketchpad down in his lap. He leans forward, reaching for his coffee. "Maybe you should grab some caffeine," he suggests, wryly. "I think this hunt is gettin' a lot more complicated." Aloke nods, hooking a thumb over his shoulder at the counter. "Yeah, I ordered on my way in. They'll bring it over right-" And Aloke is cut off by a woman doing exactly that. She sets down a steaming mug of mocha for him, and he looks up at her with that million dollar smile of his. "Thanks miss," he says, and turns back to Jax, apparently oblivious to the waitress being momentarily lost in his eyes. Clueless. She heads off, and Aloke says, "Well, can you fill me in? I'm 100 percent committed to helping any way I can." Jax nods, settling back into his chair. "I don't know how much you've heard," he says, slowly. "There's three kids missing at school but they ain't the only ones. It's kind of -- kind of been a /lot/ of disappearances around the city." He lifts his mug, sipping at it slowly. "All mutants, /almost/ all folks that -- are kinda on the fringes one way or other, folks who might not be missed so much." Aloke takes a breath, absorbing the news. "Wow, I thought it was just our kids..." He glances over at Jax's drawing again, but still doesn't comment. Instead, he reaches for his mug and takes a sip. "And we don't have any way of tracking them directly, I assume. Or you'd have them already, of course." He sighs, loathe to ask, but finally does, "Have the police been any help at all?" "That," Jackson says, and his tone is light but his fingers are tightening around his cup, a hot-white glow spreading against his skin, "is an interesting question." Another slow sip of coffee; it's strong and black and his eyes close as he drinks. "We don't. Peter had some gadgets with GPS trackers in 'em, but we tracked those to -- an evidence locker at the police station. We were kinda worried Peter'd got himself into some kinda trouble, you know? Got stolen by folks in the middle of some kinda crime. Lord only knows there's enough scary groups around here who might could be involved in this kinda thing. But --" His brow creases, slightly. His teeth sink down against his lip, clicking against his lip rings. Aloke sighs and shakes his head at the comment about scary groups. "You're not wrong about that." Aloke's expression softens and he puts a hand over one of Jackson's. "But, what? What were you going to say? It's ok, two heads are better than one, right? Maybe I can bring a fresh take on this problem." There's another hesitation. Jax's teeth draw against his lip again. "... But we got reason to think the cops might be the ones doing the stealing," he says, in a quiet voice. Aloke lets out a husky breath, just shy of a growl, and a dark look comes over his face as he glances out the window. He withdraws his hand to put both around his mug, and sip from it again. "That would be bad... What can we do to find out for sure? You know, I'm not bad getting in and out of places unseen." "We have some folks looking into it. A friend who /is/ an officer, looking into the person who brought in Peter's things. A couple friends who -- who might have a lead on finding the place they're being kept. But --" Jackson /frowns/, deep, his hand rubbing at the back of his neck. "... actually, you /can/ get in and out of -- that might. Actually. Be really." He looks up at Aloke with a suddenly /intent/ expression. "You know, even if we find this place, if it's cops /running/ the show we're going to have to be real careful. They've been -- we /think/ they've been --" His jaw tightens. "It'd be really good to have someone who could get in and out unnoticed. Scout around. Let us know exactly what we're up against." Aloke leans forward, the light in his eyes suddenly focusing to intense, bright pinpricks of brightness. "No one notices a flicker of the lights. I can scout out the whole place and draw you a freaking map. What place are we talking about here? Do we have a solid lead?" "We have very fuzzy leads and a lot of hope," Jackson admits, grimacing down into his coffee. "But there's some people we know who are -- planning to --" Another hesitation. he is starting to sketch, again, this time perhaps just out of something to /do/ with his free hand. "-- I guess I should backtrack. There's been rumours that I was hoping were just rumours but are -- apparently true. That people are catching mutants and pitting them against each other in fights. For entertainment. We know a couple people who -- plan to attend. If they manage it, we'll have a -- location to scout. But if it's -- we'll have to be /careful/. The cops could make so much trouble for us /and/ hurt the people they already have. Just charging in guns blazing is -- likely to end as many lives as it saves. So -- scouting." "Jesus Christ, that's disgusting..." Aloke says, horrified at the thought of their /students/ set against each other in pit fights. "Well yeah, look, I can fly through and scout the whole place before anyone even notices the little flicker of light up by the ceiling. In and out, no problem. Just point me in the right direction." "I will," Jackson says thoughtfully, "once we have a direction to point you. It might be a couple days or -- so for them to --" His head shakes. His next gulp of coffee is longer. "To get in on one of these fights. I -- do not. Envy them. That. Like, really, surrounded by a bunch of people crying for mutant blood --" He shudders. "Well." His nose crinkles up, his smile a little lopsided-skewed. "This is /kinda/ a toss-into-the-deep-end intro t'your new job, ain't it?" Aloke shakes his head. "There's no end deep enough, my friend. Not with these kids' lives on the line." He looks out the window again, the light in his eyes softening again to its normal glow. "I've ducked all this stuff for so long. I'd say its about time I held up our side a little." Finally curiosity gets the better of him and he taps a finger tip on a clean corner of Jax's page. "So, what are you working on? Jax looks down at his page, cheeks flushing slightly as he looks at the work. "I'm -- not really sure, actually," he says with a quiet laugh. "I'd -- intended to work up some studies for a commission I'm doing, but it kinda morphed into something hugely else entirely. Think I've had kinda a lot of chaos on m'mind." His finger smudges at the page, carefully blending some of the charcoal into lighter shading. "I'm glad," he says. "For the help. I -- ain't sure you're aware, but two of the missing kids are -- mine. S'been kinda a trying time." Probably an understatement, but his voice is calm enough. Aloke's face drops, as if he could be even more astonished and heart-broken. "Oh no I-" he starts. He pauses, not really sure how to continue, and then finally does. "I'm so sorry, Jackson. And I know you've got everyone at Xavier's, but just know, you've got one more reason to not feel alone in this." He puts his hand over Jax's drawing hand to still it for just a moment, and gives him a reassuring squeeze. "Us sensitive, artsy types have to stick together, right?" Jax's hand is fiercely hot to the touch -- feverishly so, /more/ than feverishly so. It stills at the squeeze, and his smile returns, small and warm. "Thanks," he says, flicking his glance up from the page to Aloke. "I'm doing alright. I mean, you know, it's not /alright/ but I'm -- it's good to be /doing/ things, y'know? Stops me from going crazy just worrying if I'm actually -- still helpin'." The last comment earns a laugh. "Oh, gosh. We're going up against the cops it really is like jocks versus --" He gestures with his coffee cup down at his sketchpad. "We'll get through this, get them back safe and sound, and everything's gonna go back to normal. You'll see." Sometimes its helpful to have an older guy like Aloke around at times like this. Not like he's knows so much more about hardship than someone younger, but he does have a different perspective. "Are you feeling ok though? Maybe we should get you home. You feel warm." Understatement. This earns a brighter smile. "It, uh, happens, I -- especially in the summer and spring when the days are long, I kinda -- collect sun? Any light really, but the sun feeds it /strongest/. It don't usually -- I mean it just gets like this when I --" Jax's nose crinkles. "I guess stress kinda /exacerbates/ it but I run hot even at the best'a times. Though home might be good /anyway/ I got work to finish before -- um." His nose crinkles. "... before work." There's a clear twinkle in Aloke's eyes when Jax mentions getting home. A glimmer of pure mischief. He leans forward and whispers conspiratorially, "You know what might be fun? How about we break the law, and I give you a ride home?" Jackson swallows down the last of his coffee. His muffin gets wrapped in a napkin and tucked away into his own bag, kind of boxy-clunky and also filled with art supplies. His sketchpad is soon to follow. "... really?" His eye widens, tone brightening with intrigue. "I mean that sounds kinda awesome. And I've totally /already/ gotten a ticket for that nonsense maybe we can start a /collection/." Not like any cops are likely to /catch/ Aloke at what he does. "You know the East Village aright? I live in this big brick apartment building just off Tompkins Square Park." "Yeah, yeah, I think I know the one. Corner of ThatOneStreet, and TheOther, right? Yeah, ok, so the thing is," Aloke picks up his own bag, slings it over his shoulder, and waits for Jax to gather up his stuff. "It sort of feels like you have to hold your breath, but you don't really. You won't be breathing because you won't need to." Aloke speaks quickly and quietly as the two men walk outside and down the alleyway Aloke landed in the first time. "The other thing is not to panic. Time is weird, this way, and it'll feel like... slow, /and/ like no time passed at all. I can't explain that. But I do have a question for you:" Aloke grins, /knowing/ he's being cheesy. "Have you ever wanted to /become/ a ray of light?" He holds an arm out, as if the two men would wrap arms around shoulders. Jackson laughs again at this, bright and amused. He tips his face back upwards, towards the sliver of sun visible from the alleyway, and after a moment he glances towards Aloke to curl his arm around the older man's shoulder. "... Aloke, that's basically /everything/ I've ever wanted." Aloke nods and smiles, happy to do something nice for his new friend. But he doesn't say anything else. In a fraction of a fraction of a moment that seems to last forever, the two men experience their bodies dissolving into a shower sparking light which finally swoops in a straight line. The world seems frozen in time around them as Aloke beams them across town. They pass frozen pedestrians, a cop who would surely love to ticket Aloke if he had any notion of what the flicker of light just was, and even a bird locked in mid-flight. When the moment that felt like an hour passes, the two are standing on the roof of Jax's building. Aloke looks properly out of breath, like he just ran a 5k, but he's also grinning. "Fun, huh?" Jackson, when he is let back down onto the roof, is -- wide eyed. A little breathless. He leans slightly against Aloke, though this stops whe he notices Aloke's shortness of breath, straightening to reflexively offer the other man his arm for leaning instead. "W -- w-- wow. I --" Still wide-eyed. He is staring out at the city with a slow exhalation. "... that -- is /some/ way to travel. I'd worry I'd forget. Just be light forever." "Oh, I tire out pretty quick. I'm getting better as I get older, and I practice, doing laps, you know?" Laps? He does a hand gesture which implies going around something, but, does he mean the city? Around the world?! Its not clear. "I've only recently start taking passengers. Living at Xavier's... I've learned more in a week than I have since this all started for me." "It's kinda a great place for learning, yeah." Jax watches that hand gesture with curiosity, looking from Aloke down to the city again. "... laps," he echoes, kind of /thoughtful/ with a slight lift of his eyebrows. "I -- I mean, wow. That's -- the world looks so /different/ when you're --" He shakes his head. His smile is bright once more. "Thanks," he says warmly. He shifts his bag higher onto his shoulder, glancing to the door back inside. "I live in 303. If you're ever in the neighborhood you could come by for dinner some time. Three kids -- two teenagers -- I /tend/ to cook enough to feed an army." His tone is kind of amused as he adds: "And I guess for you it wouldn't really take long to be /in/ the neighborhood, would it?" "Not long at all. Any time you want one more at the table, just let me know." He winks. "I know all the shortcuts." Then with a light snap of the air his body was holding back, and flash of light, Aloke is gone.