ArchivedLogs:Jade Bike Blues

Jade Bike Blues
Dramatis Personae Autumn, DD, Dusk, Jack, Kaeli	2015-07-18 "Do you have a problem with ... jade?" (Part of the Buzzkill TP
Location <NYC> Chinatown Flushing - Queens
Home to the New York Mets and thus a fierce rivalry among baseball fans, Queens is the largest of New York's boroughs in size, and the most ethnically diverse urban area in the worlds. Many of the different neighborhoods in Queens reflect that diversity, and the various cuisines found throughout often are in keeping with the traditional backgrounds of the residents there. As the sun sets over the city the lights begin to come on; street lights and store lights and car lights, lights over the neighborhoods and lights over the water. Right now in the heart of Flushing some of these lights are softly glowing and brightly coloured; a set of string lights that have been tucked into the bodies of small clear plastic dragons, illuminating the creatures from within. The lights are strung across the shopfront of a very tiny store selling a number of jade trinkets; at the moment the store/keeper/ is not paying much attention to the foot traffic passing by. Probably for the best; just outside, right now, her current curious patron is drawing a lot of stares. Dusk isn't particularly eyecatching for his scruffy beard or bland attire (black cargo shorts, Vans sneakers, plain blue and white tee) but the truly /enormous/ batlike wings he wears behind him -- currently coloured blue-green in a scaled mother-of-pearl pattern, resembling the inside of an abalone shell -- are /fairly/ eye-catching. There is a harness strapped around his chest, currently bearing one passenger -- a much smaller boy, perhaps six or so years of age. It's probably because of him they've stopped at the dragon lights. "-- I wonder if /those/ are for sale," Dusk is wondering, tipping his gaze up to squint at them uncertainly. Jack knows he should be heading back to the school soon but for now he's still out and about. In worn jeans and another of those Rasa-reccomended light hoodies, the invisible teen's checking some things on a small pad he's carrying, occasionally glancing up to make sure he's not about to walk into someone or off something. "This...doesn't make sense..." he mutters to himself as he goes. When he begins to notice people slowing and staring at something, an unseen brow arches and Jack's attention is drawn away from his notes. He looks around to see what has people distracted and jumps a little when he spots a familiar face ahead. Not yet seeing the harness or its occupant, Jack smiles to himself and heads Dusk's way. "Hey," he greets when close enough to not have to speak too loudly. Dusk isn't the only one out and about this evening. Wandering down the street is a young woman wearing loose black jeans, a somewhat tight white tank-top, black fingerless gloves, and a pair of black and white sneakers. The monochrome of her outfit a contrast to the bright red of her hair. Upon noticing the people staring into the shop Kaeli wanders over for a look herself. When she sees the obvious signs of a mutant a scowl crosses her features briefly, though it disappears almost as quick as it had come. Not entering the shop she instead tilts her head to glare at the shop's name, as though trying to memorize it. The small boy strapped to Dusk's chest is *almost* managing to bounce in his harness. "Whoa those are awesome!" he squeaks, delighted. His How to Train Your Dragon t-shirt might give a hint as to his love of dragons even if his excitement over the lights did not. "Can we get those, Autumn can we?" This question seems to be directed at a teenaged girl half hiding in the shelter of Dusk's wing. Her short black hair is largely hidden by a Battlestar Galactica ballcap, and she wears a black Daft Punk t-shirt several sizes too large for her over bright pink capris. Eyeing the lights with skepticism, she replies, "We probably shouldn't be buying random decorations right now, we're here for food." Her dark brown eyes scan the crowd nervously and freeze when they fix on Jack. "Oh!" It's hard to tell whether she's delighted or thinking of bolting. Dusk's wing drapes loosely around Autumn's shoulders at the sound of a voice, loose and casual enough though there's a faint ripple of tension cording up the muscles in his shoulders until he turnst o see who is talking. "-- Woah. Hey. You're far from home." His brows have lifted, looking Jack up and down curiously though now in lieu of tension a warm easy smile has crossed his face -- warm and easy, though admittedly very noticeably sharply /fanged/. He glances over to Kaeli next as she glares at the shop's name, with the same curiosity. His lips twitch in faint curiosity, and he glances over his shoulder at the store. Then back to Kaeli. "Do you have a problem with --" There's the briefest of pauses, his wings shivering faintly behind him. "... jade?" Jack lifts an empty sleeve to wave in greeting to Dusk. And then he spots Autumn and DD and just stares. "Uh..." he trails off, hood tilting as he processes this. "I...didn't know you guys knew eachother," he says after a moment. "Hi," he offers to Autumn. "Uh, yeah...been out looking more into what's...been going on..." he trails off awkwardly. He glances over at Kaeli when Dusk speaks to her but doesn't comment. He's got a good idea what her problem might be but part of him is kind of hoping it is the jade. Kaeli frowns slightly as she's addressed, then shakes her head, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's just expensive. And unless they got any little jade motorcycles here I don't think I'll be finding my father's gift here." She offers a smile then, the fake sort you give to strangers you don't know. Or that you give to people you'd rather not be talking to. The little boy pouts and subsides a little, though when his eyes follow Dusk and Autumn to Jack he brightens again. "Hi!" he waves, then cranks his head around to inform Dusk: "He's a /superhero/, he saved me when I got pushed off the slide." Autumn allows a shy smile at her brother's explanation, but the worried expression when Jack explains his investigating. "Ah...that. Well...um..." She tugs at the fraying hem of her t-shirt. "Oh, you guys know each other, too? Small city, huh? I just met Dusk recently, it's...kind of a long story." Visibly eager to change the topic, she turns to Kaeli, "I actually wouldn't be completely shocked if they had jade motorcycles. There's a *couple* of shops in the old Chinatown that has those!" "How about you get the food and I'll get the decorations?" Dusk suggests lightly to Autumn. His smile doesn't falter, still wide and warm and toothy. "Superhero, huh? Excellent. Pretty lucky he was around then, yeah?" His wings flex briefly outward -- unfolded, they look even /bigger/ than when the flexible thin membranes were pressed against his back -- stretching in a slow roll before curling back in. "City's huge as hell. The mutant population? That's tiny. I think after a bit you get to know half of /everyone/. And when you look like us --? He shrugs, twitching one long sharp thumbclaw towards Jack. "Makes it easier for other people to come find you, y'know? I know -- a whoooole lot of people." The claw points back over his shoulder to the tray standing not far behind him. "I think there was some in there, actually. Motorcycles, I mean. If you're looking for a gift." Jack rubs the back of his neck, blushing despite it being unseen. "I don't know if I'm a superhero..." he trails off a little sheepishly. Autumn getting all worried has Jack lifting an invisible hand. "Yeah, Dusk's a friend. I guess if you're with him then...I guess everything's being handled..." he trails off, arm dropping to his side. Slipping his hands into his pocket, Jack looks back to the shop Dusk points out. "I hope they're just decorations. A whole motorcycle made of jade sounds like it wouldn't be a very useful bike..." Kaeli glances at the shop again before moving to look over the bits of carved jade. Though Jack's comment gets an odd look. "Not for anything other than decoration. Maybe if you just made the frame of jade. That'd be a real brittle frame though. Definitely no good." "Hah! A real jade motorcycle, that would be something to see. But yeah, it would also break if you tried to ride it." Autumn looks down, hiding her face beneath the bill of her cap. "Look, you guys are already doing a lot for us," she murmurs. "You don't have to buy us random things we don't even *need*." With an apparent effort she looks at Jack. "Oh! You...know about that? I didn't even know, but no, it's not quite handled yet--" But right then the young boy cuts her off, *loudly*, "It's not her fault! *I'm* the one breaking the coffee!" Autumn turns several shades paler, reaching out as if to physically stop the words coming out of her brother's mouth, but too late. Dusk cringes, faintly, his wings mantling half over Autumn once more. "It's not really your /fault/, either, bro. -- Anyway," he slides riiight along easily, shrugging more with his wings than with his shoulders, "the lights are pretty cool we could use more dragons around." His eyes aren't really focused so much on the kids anymore, though, so much as on Kaeli and a couple of people passing by on the street at DD's outburst. "Also, a jade motorcycle would be pretty much the perfect ride if you were some kind of stone-golem. Maybe for people, not so much." Jack cringes as well. "Not...what I meant...but Dusk is right," he says, some things he suspected confirmed at least. He glances at the lights as well, smiling invisibly. "They do look pretty cool," he says, tensing and glancing around too. "I just thought it'd either fall apart or be too heavy or clunky to ride right. Even for a golem." Kaeli continues to search through the figurines, until she finally finds a carved motorcycle. She picks it up to check the price on it and winces, but carries it over to the counter none the less. "Just don't be saying that sort of thing at my school. I'm one of the like... Two people there who doesn't drink coffee or energy drinks." She sets the figurine on the counter and pulls out some cash, counting out enough to pay for it. "And it would fall apart. I'm not sure if it would be too heavy or not, but jade isn't strong enough to put up with the pressures put on a motorcycle. Not even if it's just the frame." DD purses his lips and crosses his arms at his sister as if defying her to contradict him. A couple of pedestrians had turned to stare when he blurted out his insight on the coffee crisis. But, after all, he is only a small child, and there are no obvious signs that anyone has taken his confession all that seriously. Autumn is holding onto a strap of Dusk's harness, shaking slightly despite the mild weather. She recovers somewhat, though, when it becomes apparent no one is about to jump them. "I'm sure there's some rich guy out there who's decorated his bike with jade, anyway. Like with a really elaborate Chinese knotting piece over the gas tank, maybe. So...we should probably move on?" "Bling-bike. I -- know some people who'd be so into that." The fleeting smile that crosses Dusk's face is fond. His nose wrinkles faintly at Kaeli's statement, though. "Man, you're lucky. Withdrawal's a bitch. I got faith, though. It'll pass. -- Yeah," he agrees with Autumn. "We were getting food, right. Hey," he adds to Jack, one wingtip gesturing off down the street. "You hungry?" Hungry or no, /he's/ starting to move on after this invite, wing still curled semi-protectively around Autumn's shoulders. "Good luck with your present," he adds, over his shoulder to Kaeli. Jack nods to Autumn. "We probably should go," he agrees. The invisible teen watches Kaeli for a moment before Dusk gets his attention. "Sure, I could eat," he says, starting to follow. "I wanted to talk to you about some stuff anyway," he adds, hands going back into hos pockets as he follows.