ArchivedLogs:Nice, Relatively

Nice, Relatively
Dramatis Personae Anole, B, Fiona
In Absentia	2016-12-22 "You sound pretty optimistic, though!"
Location <NYC> NY Public Library - Midtown East
Guarded by two lions nicknamed Patience and Fortitude, the main branch of New York's public library system provides a space for New York residents to do more than just check out books. The reference library holds thousands of works, and the reading room is a majestic work of architecture in its own right. The computer lab and free internet access is available to all who need it. After spending a night sleeping under a bridge somewhere in the south end of Manhattan, Fiona managed to find her way inside to somewhere much warmer where people didn't seem to care how long she hung around. It's about seven or eight PM, so she's probably been here for five or six hours, just... reading. Currently, the girl's face is buried in a copy of 'The Songs of Distant Earth,' a sci-fi novel. Next to her, an external frame backpack sits, looking well used. The library is fairly populated right now but not packed, and of course nice and quiet. One of the study rooms far and away in the back of the library has been reserved for a long while now, shut up and quiet, but after hours of solitude it is now opening up again. A green head pokes out first, wide eyes scanning the library before the rest of the teenager actually skitters out. Anole has a much-abused backpack slung over one enormous muscled shoulder -- his other arm (much more normal proportions for a gangly teen) is holding the door open behind him. The rest of his clothing is just as tatty as the pack; faded and stained old jeans, a weatherbeaten jacket, ratty sneakers. "Could we make the 8:40 showing?" he is saying to his companion -- in eager but appropriately library-hushed tones. "They don't -- /always/ kick us out of Harlem." Behind Anole, a smaller skinnier figure clad in metallic silver-dusted black skinny jeans, a purple ombre wrap top, very heavy stompy metal-looking boots, an unreasonable number of silver bracelets. Silver and black leather jacket slung over one arm together with a messenger bag, an armload of comic books in the other. "I'm not going /all/ the way to Harlem just to get kicked out. We could try Midtown?" Without much hope. B's nose wrinkles, pitch-black eyes scrunching up in their blue face. Just passing by Fiona's table they stop -- pause, backtrack, peer down at the novel with a sudden curiosity. "Hey is that any good?" Fiona startles, fumbling the book out of her hands and onto the table where she loses her place, before looking up at B, "Um, er, uh, yeah, I mean, it's great! It's sad, though. Kinda," she answers, blinks again, looking back and forth between Anole and the amphibious B. Her second day here and two more physically obvious mutants! Ex-CITING! The tip of her tail twitches nervously. "I mean, it's about earth getting destroyed and a colony starting over on a new planet and-" she pauses, peering down at B's comic books. Anole's eyes have widened, slightly; he hangs juuust a smidge back, slightly behind B, shifting his backpack higher up on his shoulder. "'pologies," quietly mumbled, "we interrupted -- oh! Oh wait I like that one." His eyes have lit now, too. "Have you read /Childhood's End/? It's also... good." Though he sounds mildly ambivalent about this. The comics in B's arm are varied -- /Rat Queens/, /Rainbow in the Dark/, /O Human Star/, /Princeless/, /I Kill Giants/. "Ohrightinterrupting." Along the sides of hir neck, hir gills flutter briefly. "But it's on the list of things I always feel like I should read and never -- remember to. Earth getting destroyed doesn't sound /so/ terrible." There's a hint of amusement in her voice. "Is it a /nice/ new-planet-colony at least?" "Y-yea! I've read that one. I've read a lot of his books," Fiona pauses, "It's okay though. Really!" she seems slightly more composed, "It's a nice planet. Well, a paradise, even! But, I dunno... thinking of everyone on earth dying..." the girl trails off, brushing a bit of hair out of her face. "I mean like, your home being gone and having nothing to go back to ever." Actually, probably not a great book to read at the moment, considering she just ran away from her own home. Her eyes go back and forth between the other two mutants again, just sort of letting the awkward silence after that fester. Anole baps B lightly in the arm with the back of his hand. "You wouldn't want the earth destroyed. /All/ of it? Spence? Your ba? All your robots?" He sounds Kind Of Skeptical. "But space travel /without/ destroying Earth might be kind of -- nice." B's nose crinkles further as she considers this. "Mmmn." Reluctantly: "... I wouldn't want to destroy the whole earth," sloooow agreement, "but home is kind of a -- nebulous concept. What's home, anyway? Bring your family with you. Make a new one. Somewhere /better/." Hir head duck after this, kind of sheepish. "Lo siento, I should maybe not just. Barge in on -- um. Hi. I'm B. By the... way." Fiona nods at Anole, drawing in a breath and spitting out rapidly, "But see, the space travel is sad, because they're hibernating and travelling at near light speeds, therefore, even if they come back to a planet they've visited, they'll be alive and everyone else will be dead, because of the whole theory of relativity... thing..." she trails off, biting her lip. You talk too much! Silly girl. They probably think you're awful now! "ANYWAY, I'm Fiona," she holds out a hand to shake hesitantly. Do people shake hands in New York? They do that, right? Anole creeps a few cautious steps forward, emerging from his position half-tucked behind B. "But I don't know. If you had your family with you, that's not sad, just -- kind of an adventure. I mean, the Earth isn't exactly --" His massive-spiky shoulder lifts in a quick shrug before he takes Fiona's hand. One quick squeeze of his green one. "Anole. We should probably leave you to your -- but um. The library's closing soon anyway you might want to check that out." "I guess sad is kind of relative to. To -- what you're leaving behind." B hugs her comic books a little closer to her chest. Her own hand is clammy, cool, webbed fingers tipped with small needle-sharp claws. "Fiona." The smile she offers is quick, carefully closed-lipped. "Well it's nice to talk, um, world destruction with you. We were thinking about seeing /Star Wars/ so I guess it's topical. They're always blowing up planets in that." Fiona's hand feels normal - no sharp claws or anything - if a bit warm. Her grip is maybe a tad stronger than you'd expect. "Eh, they probably won't let me take it with me... Do they require cards here, still? Or some other way..." she ponders, "I already read it once anyway," she smiles faintly, shrugging. "You guys are gonna go see the new one?! Oh man... I forgot that came out!" The excitement sticks for a moment, then passes. Afterwards, she seems torn, like she wants to ask a question but can't quite get it out. "Yeah, you need a card, but they're free." Anole tilts his head, brows lifting momentarily at Fiona's excitement. Then lowering. "Yeah! Rogue One. Uh. If we can find a theater whose ticket person is feeling not-like-a-jerk tonight." His eyes dart to B with a hint of question. "You going to return it?" B's smile is a little crooked. "You can check stuff out on mine, if you want. I've gotta go grab all these anyway." Ze dips hir chin down to indicate the comics in hir arms. Her weight rocks for a moment -- up onto the toes of her clunky boots, back down to her heels. "Did you want to come? I can't /promise/ we'll get in sometimes they're jerks. But there's a couple theaters they're not always -- the most terrible." "Y-yes!" nods Fiona eagerly. "I do want that. I mean, um, if it's OK," she blinks at the mention of getting kicked out of the theater, "They always let me in back home..." she murmurs, "Weird," she stands up, stretching, tail seeming to enjoy not being confined to a chair/couch anymore. She picks up her pack (with the sleeping bag strapped to the top of it) with a bit of a clunk, and then finally the book she was reading. Anole winces at that mention. "Where are you from? New York isn't -- really, uh." Shrug. "... how long have you been here?" Then a glance to the sleeping bag. Pensive. "And it's fine by /me/ B's paying anyway." /This/, with a quick grin to the sharkpup. "S'cool. If they kick us out we can grab cocoa at Evolve and have movie night at home." B scuffs the toe of her boot lightly against the floor. "It's totally fine. Honest. Movies are better with company anyway. Otherwise who am I going to get excited about them with afterwards?" "Oh uh, I got here yesterday," nods Fiona, glancing down at her feet. She draws a line along Anole's gaze to her backpack, shifting it uncomfortable. The girl then looks VERY relieved when Anole mentions that B is paying. Probably because she hardly has any money. "That's awesome, though." "Yesterday? That's -- um. Where are you staying?" Anole tightens his grip on his own backpack, brows furrowing slightly. "I mean, New York can be pretty dangerous if you're..." "Us," B supplies helpfully when Anole trails off -- the flick of her webbed fingers indicates all three of the colorful youths present. "C'mon, let's grab these before they close." /She's/ lugging her comic books toward the self-checkout, anyway. "Well, I dunno. I usually just kinda find a place to sleep. It was okay last night. I don't really wanna sleep under a bridge again, but, I'm sure I'll find something better soon." Fiona seems cheerful enough for all that, anyway - like she's cracked enough that it just doesn't bother her. "Under a bridge?" Anole is looking pensive about this, as well. "That's -- probably not the safest. There's cold and zombies and cops and humans..." He sounds, admittedly, far more concerned about these last two than the first two. "Though I guess we've got some zombies in the sewers, still." /This/ sounds entirely unconcerned. SHRUG. "You sound pretty optimistic, though!" "Zombies are easy. It's the cops you gotta watch out for." B finishes scanning her own books, holding a hand out for Fiona's after. Her smile at Anole's last statement is -- crooked, again. "/Well/. She is new to New York. Uh. What kind of something better are you -- looking for?" "The cops? Hmm..." Fiona ponders the question for a moment. "Well I dunno. There's no real parks or woods or anything anywhere around here... Someone told me sleeping in the park is a bad idea, because the cops will come around and kick you out... I guess the cops are jerks around here," she hands B her book, "Someplace softer with less concrete would be nice, I suppose; and warmer. You know, eventually maybe even find a place to actually live. Like, a house. Or something," she waves her hand vaguely "The cops might shoot you." Anole sounds fairly matter-of-fact when he says this. "There's no cops where I stay. But I wouldn't exactly call the sewers /softer/, either. Definitely not -- houselike." Shrug. He scoops up B's books, tucking them into his backpack. "So movie? We'd better go if we're going." "If you're lucky." There's a very quick flutter to B's gills, though hir voice is fairly level. "Need a /job/ for a house, New York is mad expensive." Ze returns the book to Fiona after scanning it. "I guess we're trying our luck at Midtown, then. And cocoas all around if we fail." "Whaaat?! Shot?" Fiona reacts rather strongly to Anole's little side comment, then looks back towards the door. Yes, seeing movie seems like a great thing to take her mind off of the predicament she's gotten herself into. "Maybe going west would've been better... jeez..." she follows them out of the library, book in hand. But, at least she got to meet new friends. Or other mutants, even.