ArchivedLogs:Random Stranger

Random Stranger
Dramatis Personae Fiona, Marinov, Nic
In Absentia	2017-01-24 "Understandable that you wouldn't want to jump in a car with a random stranger... especially looking like you."
Location <NYC> Harlem
Harlem's gritty reputation has become less and less earned over the past decade or so as gentrification has set in. Its reputation as a hub of jazz and culture, however, is still very much earned -- throughout the years Harlem has been renowned for its contributions to music, from its swing dancing and jazz culture back when speakeasies were prevalent to the many hip-hop artists with Harlem roots in modern day. It's not exactly a /nice/ night out tonight. Cloudy and rainy, temperature hovering somewhere in the low 40s. There's still a decent amount of people out on the streets - this is Manhattan, after all... it never really gets 'quiet.' But the crowd is certainly thinned quite a bit. Tonight Fiona sits on a disused set of stairs in front of a restaurant that looks like it's been out of business for some time. A cloth canopy keeps her at least marginally dry, but she looks like she got soaked at some point; she wears a long jacket with a fur lined hood but the fur is obviously matted together and wet, as is her hair. Blech. Nic seems to have gotten himself stuck out in the rain with no umbrella or any sort of rain protection; New York transit was still rather confusing to him, he'd have to to his uncle to come pick him up... again. All he needs is a good place to sit and wait for a while, the steps under the canopy looked like they'd do the trick just fine, assuming the current resident didn't mind sharing. Nic makes his way over towards the stairs and looks towards a slightly soaked Fiona with a smile "Hey there, is this seat taken?" It's difficult to miss a mutant as obvious as Fiona out on the street, and Marinov pauses in their walk upon seeing the horned girl. They wear a grey turtleneck underneath their peacoat and a pair of burgundy slacks, and are holding an umbrella over their head so not to get too wet. The teen decides to approach and is about to offer a greeting when steps in to ask for a seat. They look awkward for a moment, not wanting to interrupt the sudden conversation, using their free hand to check for messages on their phone. Fiona looks up at Nic... who MAY not have noticed her horns, tail (curled around her side and obscured mostly by her coat, for warmth), and red skin. "Uh, no! I mean, yes, it's okay if you sit," she nods, peering up at him through smeared, rain-drop covered glasses. She takes them off and wipes at them futilely with a very damp shirt tail, before putting them back on. "It's ... kinda dry, at least," she nods. Due to the visibility she hasn't quiiite recognized Marinov yet, though she does realize /someone/ is there and there's something familiar about them, as she scrutinizes the blurry figure with no glasses. There's brief flash of surprise in Nic's face when Fiona looks up at him and he notices she has horns, red skin and a tail, but he makes no mention of it and tries not to stare. "Thanks... at least less wet would be nice for a while. Looks like we both got a pretty good soaking." The young man takes a seat on the steps next to Fiona "I'm Nic by the way, well Nicodemus, but most people call me Nic, not that I really have any friends in New York yet. I hope it isn't always so... cold and rainy like this." Nic follows Fiona's gaze towards Marinov "Is that who you're waiting for? Don't feel bad ditching me or anything, I'm just waiting for a ride home." Marinov looks up from their phone upon seeing people looking in their direction. They tuck the phone into the pocket of their jacket and say, "Hey Fiona!" They glance towards Nic and say, "Nah, I don't think she's waiting for me, unless she's got some kind of future knowing thing." Or if she follows social media, where Marinov posts far too much information about their day-to-day. "Had an appointment out here in the city." Fiona shoves her glasses back onto her nose, looking up as Marinov speaks, "Oh, hi Marinov! Yeah, I don't think I'm going anywhere for a little while... I'm gonna sit here and dry out and maybe warm up a little before I go..." Not that it looks like there's *any* source of heat nearby, though... that might be a bit of a problem. "Anyway. Appointment, out here? Like doctor's appointment?" she looks slightly worried at Marinov. "Getting dry and warming up would be good" Nic agrees and waves to Marinov blinking when he gets a good look at them, the gears turning in his mind as it works to accept their feline appearance. "Err hiya, I'm Nic in case you didn't catch it, Marinov right? Nice to meet you." Looking back at Fiona Nic continues "It's not exactly warm on these steps though... if you're going to be stuck here a while you can probably warm up in my uncle's car once he gets here. I'm sure he won't mind" ... probably "If you need a ride somewhere we'll have room, and we'll have to get back to Westchester anyway." He turns to Marinov to include them as well "You too, we can fit four no problem." "N-no, it's... it's probably better if I didn't get in a car. I mean, I don't really need to go anywhere anyway," Fiona rubs the back of her neck slightly nervously, "Anyway, um, like Marinov said... I'm Fiona," she looks from Nic to the road, maybe expectant of said car. There're quite a few thoughts swirling through her head right now; the danger of getting in someone's random car, the danger to THAT person of her getting in the car... etc. Also, the lack of a place to actually be taken. Though warming up in a car does sound nice. She can't exactly warm up that easily right here on the sidewalk. "Maybe." Marinov's ears swivel at the offer from Nic, "Uh, yeah, my name is Marinov. Taylor Marinov. I'm heading up to Westchester, though I'll have to think about it... I mean, I'm sure you're a good person and stuff, but historically someone who looks like me accepting rides from strangers is... not something that ends in the best way. And..." they speak now to Fiona, "Yeah, a doctor's appointment. At Mt. Sinai, they've got specialists there who are sometimes worth seeing." They glance up, trying to position the umbrella so it blocks out a little more of the rain. "Oh uhh right... you guys don't know me from the next guy. Offering a ride out of the blue I guess is pretty weird." Nic shakes his head "Understandable that you wouldn't want to jump in a car with a random stranger... especially looking like you." Nic grumbles irritated "I don't get it, but there's a lot of idiots that aren't exactly kind to mutant kind..." With a sigh Nicodemus looks apologetically to Fiona "Sorry hun, I don't want you to feel unsafe... and I don't reall have a good way to warm you up otherwise. I'd give you my jacket, but it's just as soaked as you are." Turning his attention to Marinov when they mention the appointment. "Uh oh, are you feeling unwell?" "Huh? Nah, I feel just fine. Just... I've always had to do plenty of doctor visits and stuff. It's just one of those things," says Marinov, offering a sort of indifferent looking shrug. They nod and add, "But yea, absolutely right that there are plenty of folks out there who would be happy to shoot us full of holes and set us all on fire. But what're you gonna do? Just gotta... shrug it off." They glance to Fiona, "Oh! Hey, did you ever get an application in to my school? If you want, I could go through it with you and stuff, if that'll help." "I mean yeah, people are kind of assholes, I guess, I mean. I don't REALLY believe that. Most people treat me pretty well... Actually..." Fiona trails off, shrugging a little. "It's just a bad minority, but you have to be careful about it, you know? I mean, I guess if I were a normal girl I might even be less likely to get in a random car," she smirks. "At least I can defend myself a little bit. Not to say that I wouldn't..." she chews on her lip with a fang. "ANYWAY. This is a fine little situation we've managed to get ourselves into, isn't it?" And then there's a little bleep. The bright glowing square of a phone comes out and Fiona looks down at it, "Oh! It went through this time." She looks rather excited about that. Well, tiredly excited. Nic sighs and nods "Yeah some people make me sick... but like you say not a lot I can do about it." He looks curiously towards the beep and glow of the phone "It's not a good situation, but hopefully we'll all be somewhere nice and warm soon." He peers towards Marinov when they mention a school application "School in Westchester, do you go to Xavier's? I really wanted to go... but Dr. Montoya said no way Jose, so I ended up going to Rye instead." "Huh, you want to go to Xavier's? Are you a mutant?" wonders Marinov, blinking a couple of times, ears twitching a bit, "I mean, I am, but it doesn't take a lot of smarts to figure that one out. Why wouldn't this Dr. Montoya want you to go?" They nod at Fiona and say, "Yeah! Nice that it went through. I'm glad for you! Maybe we'll be roommates if you get accepted in. But probably not, because I've already got some roommates." "Yeah, I hope they accept me... I mean, I did some reading and apparently they don't /actually/ turn that many people down, like, if you're a mutant," Fiona looks over at Nic a little guiltily. But it IS a school for mutants, after all, to help them learn to deal with their powers. "Have to figure out what to do with my parents and stuff I guess... that's all a mess. But. I mean, that would be like the best news EVER if I could just, like... well, go somewhere not... here. Yeah. Not here would be great." Nic shakes his head "Nah I'm not, but I made a few friends online, one really good one that goes there. She told me it was a really great place, warm and welcoming on top of being a top notch school. Sounded good to me, and I'd get to hang out with her too... Oh Dr. Montoya is my father he's... well kind of strict, I don't think he has anything against your school really, but he said it wasn't for me..." He shrugs his shoulders "Not much I can do about that either, Rye is pretty close by though, close enough I could go visit once in a while. Anyway, hope you get in Fiona, maybe I'll see you two around too." "Yeah, if you visit, you'll probably run across me at some point. Not really a very big school, not a lot of people, I probably know your friend," says Marinov, nodding a few times slowly, "What's your friend's name?" They change the hands they are carrying the umbrella in and add to Fiona, "Well, maybe your parents'll just be happy that you're going to school and staying out of trouble!" "Yeah, I think... I think they'll probably pay for it. I don't know. It's a weird situation, like, other people have /abusive/ parents... I love my parents, just, I don't want to go back there. Not for a while, until things calm down at least. Maybe after school. But I guess my plan was always to move somewhere better, probably. Maybe not New York but..." she shrugs, looking over at Nic, "Doctor Montoya huh... Hrm...." Fiona trails off, "Well, I could see how someone wouldn't want their kid around a bunch of mutants. I mean, like, not... in a bad way, I guess. But like, I can kind of breathe fire. So, you know, that's kind of dangerous I guess," she laughs, cracking a smile. She seems a BIT more trusting now. "I guess I could see why someone might wanna go, too, but, I bet it's pretty expensive, or something... I don't know. Like only really rich kids went to private schools in Missouri." Nic shrugs his jacket up higher on his shoulders "My friend? Her name's Emily You know most of the students there?" Nodding towards Fiona he tries to be understanding "Parents can be tough to deal with alright, but for the most part they do want what's best for their children. I love mine too, I guess I'm not going to see them much now, they said they'd come visit when they're in the area, but they don't really come to New York super frequently." Nicodemus shrugs "I have my uncle here though, he's pretty great... comes to get me when I get stuck out in the rain and all." Marinov nods at the name, seeming to accept the information, "I might take that ride back, actually. It's sorta miserable out here, and wet fur is the fucking pits." The teen nods and adds, "My parents are pretty good, too, actually. They just live real far away, back in Seattle. I see them sometimes over the holidays, but they figured Xavier's might be the best place for me. And... I don't think they're wrong or anything. But yea, if I weren't a mutant, I'd probably want to steer clear of the place. Lots of teenagers who don't know their limits all in one place, probably a powderkeg." "Hmm, I guess that's a pretty common thing then, huh. I figured... I don't know like, I had this idea that there were a lot of orphans there or something, or rather, people that got kicked out or ran away... I guess that's kind of an orphan," Fiona pauses, shrugging. "I really want this to all work out... this whole street life thing changes a person. I met this woman a week or two ago... she was... hardened. I don't want to end up like her..." she murmurs. "Anyway," she looks out to see the rain letting up a little bit, "Looks like it's letting up. I'm gonna head back to... uh... my place. You know. I'll talk to you all later," she gives Marinov a wave and Nic a smile, disappearing down the street aways and into an alleyway. Nic shrugs his shoulders "I guess so, but powderkeg or not, really we're all just people, and it's not like everyone's just running wild there. Do you feel like it'll blow at any moment?" Smiling back to Fiona Nic waves as she heads off "Hope it works out for you too, I'll see you later." As Fiona leaves Nic looks down the street as a car approaches "Oh hey, I think that's my Uncle coming now. I can talk to him if you wanted that ride." Nic gets up and waves to a car. "Seeya later, Fiona, hope to see you 'round the school!" Marinov gives a bit of a wave to Fiona and then answers Nic, "Nah, I don't think it's gonna blow, really. Though people can get pretty anxious around there when the city turns... extra unwelcoming. It's like the weather, though, comes and goes." They close their umbrella and shake any water out of it, "You sure your uncle'll be okay with me catching a ride?" They seem skeptical, to say the least. "You seem nice enough, and we have to go in that general direction anyway, I don't see why not." Nic says as he moves over to open the door of the car when it stops "Hey uncle Rupert, thanks for coming out to get me... I still haven't gotten the hang of getting around here. Think we can give my friend here a ride back to Xavier's school?" The teen leans in to talk with his uncle for a bit who sounds somewhat apprehensive, but does agree. Nicodemus turns back towards Marinov with a smile "Alright all good, I think he knows the way." Marinov tucks the umbrella under their arm and ducks into the vehicle. "Spasibo, 'preciate the ride out, mister," says Marinov to the person in the driver's seat. They nod appreciatively to Nick, but stays quiet unless prompted on the way back to Xavier's.