ArchivedLogs:Martian Retreat

Martian Retreat
Dramatis Personae Allison, Heather
In Absentia	2017-08-07 "I can't wait for us to move to Mars so we can start over."
Location <NYC> Lower East Side
Historically characterized by crime and immigrant families crammed into cramped tenement buildings, the Lower East Side is often identified with its working-class roots. Today, it plays host to many of New York's mutant poor, although even here they are still often forced into hiding. Heading down the street is Allison in the late afternoon, enjoying the weather and checking out a couple of the store fronts. Today she is wearing a short sun dress that hits that the knees in a flowery pattern with a pair of black boots on. A long chained Kate Spade purse dangles from one shoulder in a black color with white polka dots. She pauses at the coffee shop, hovering near the door for a moment before moving forward again, letting out a soft breath. Heather is moving at a sprinter's pace down the sidewalk in the opposite direction, though the way she is moving suggests that she is just speed-walking. The young woman is wearing some tights in bright rainbow colours and a sweater that falls down to her mid thigh which has grid of multiple different coloured patterns, pastels instead of the bright colours on her leggings. A pair of tinted swim goggles cover her eyes. She comes to a sudden skidding stop (which wears away some of the soles of her already worn shoes) upon catching sight of Allison. "Greetings," she plays on her recording device, "you are that girl that Paige took home the other night." Even stopped, her jerky superfast movements give away plenty of evidence as to what she is. "Oh! Hey there. Sweet pants by the way. Heather, right? Yeah -- I was just walking her home, making sure she got back okay. She had a run in with some jerks and figured it wasn't really safe to be out by yourself. Kinda helped each other I'm sure." Allison says as she shifts her purse over her shoulder. "How are you going? Looks like you're getting in some cardio. I gotta hit the gym myself soon and get back on the treadmill." "Gracias. That you helped her with jerks. Paige has problems with jerks sometimes. I will talk to her about maybe setting up an alert system," plays Heather without much lag in her speech. "I am doing well enough. Back from making a sale. It will pay the bills. There is less pressure now that Paige is working at the thrift store." She shrugs her shoulders a couple of times while adding, "And I am just walking. If I do cardio you will know. Zoom." Allison nods her head with a smile along her face. "I can see why she'd be a jerk magnet. Sadly, soon as you punch one of those idiots in the face, out comes a cell phone, followed by more mutant hysteria. I can't wait for us to move to Mars so we can start over." She says as she rocks along her feet for a moment. "So, just out for a walk? Are you kinda like a speedy type of power?" "Time power," corrects Heather, "In effect indistinguishable from a speedy power. Either I move through time slower than everyone else. Or I cause everyone and everything in the universe to move through time faster than me. I like to believe it is the latter case. I do not want to start over on Mars. I want to punch idiots in the face." She makes some quick gestures including a point from where she came from, with a sweeping gesture over in the general direction of the Commons. "I was delivering what I had to sell. I do odd jobs. Buy and sell. I tutor, too, but it is summer." "I bet you're like the fastest pizza delivery girl in New York." Allison jokes with a wide grin at her. "It sounds pretty impressive though. Way better than being a walking light bulb." She shrugs her shoulders upwards, hands flopping at her sides. Her hand rubs the back at her neck gently. "I was thinking of knocking politely on Xavier's door and seeing if they'll take a one year transfer student." "Well. I try to not do pizza delivery. If I go somewhere I still need to run there. Running everywhere can be exhausting. But if I sell things I bring them over. It is easier to make the sale that way," plays Heather. She tilts her head slightly then makes a bit of a show of scratching her chin in thought before continuing, "I do not know Xavier. Does he take students who knock?" "No clue. I hear you have to apply, so I figure I'd apply in person. Celebrity popstarlet may bring some good PR spin. I also just need to get the hang of this thing before it becomes a danger and I end up blinding someone a bit longer than few seconds." Allison says as she gives her fingers a wiggle, looking down at her hands. "I do not know anything about controlling powers," admits Heather, "I wonder if theoretically I could. I do not know what muscles to flex. Something to look into." She shrugs again and looks down to Allison's hands also. "A lot of places do not take in-person applications these days. Online applications are more common. But if Xavier will hear you then that works. You have celebrity. At least I will take your word for it. I do not know my famous people." "Well, I'm sure to be a one hit wonder, so my fifteen minutes are almost up. I sing. I also do some modeling on the side, but nothing too exciting." Allison says as she shrugs one shoulder upwards. "Soon as I graduate high school, I'm hoping to get into College and study fashion design which would be really fun to do. I love working with clothes and shopping." "Fashion design?" repeats Heather, "You will probably have an advantage. Having fifteen minutes of fame. And a conventionally pretty face. And already involved in modelling. I have met people who have an interest in fashion design. But mostly through Paige." She shakes her head, though, and shifts quickly a few times from foot to foot. "I applied to go to university for mathematics. Modelling is not for me." "Yuck. I can't do math even if it meant saving my life." Allison laughs as she gives a look about the street. "But yeah, I do have a bit of an advantage in that. Though soon as the world finds out I'm a mutant, I'm sure it will be a shit show. I hate the fact that I feel like I have to hide this." Her boot taps the ground in a scuffing manner. "Feel guilty also when I see people like Paige have it terrible in life because people can't get past the way someone looks. It's definitely not fair." Heather nods quickly, face a blur as she does so, "Life can be very hard for those who are visibly mutants. I am somewhere in-between. I can be identified in person but not in a photograph. And I do not have problems because it is easy for me to escape. Paige is not a good runner." She lets out a bit of a squeaky sigh and makes some wild gestures with her hands, "I would like to change things. I am uncertain as to the how as well." "Move to Mars." Allison says again with a laugh. "Start over and create a whole martian mutant colony up there and just enjoy the hotter summers. I don't know. It seems that every ten or twenty years we find something else to bitch about and alienate. The world needs to find a new flavor of the month to pick on and move away from mutants." "A new flavor of the month?" repeats Heather, considering that, "I do not understand what you mean. As for Mars. I do not like the idea. Mars is not as desirable land as here. I do not want to give up living somewhere nice for humans to keep the nice things. I guess that is not unlike what already happens, though." She grimaces at the thought. "Anyways. Bye." Without much more than that and a quick salutatory gesture as warning, she zips off to continue on her path towards home.