ArchivedLogs:Telling The Story

Telling The Story
Dramatis Personae Tian-shin, Micah, Jack	26 April 2015 '
Location <NYC> Harbor Commons - Treehaus - Lower East Side
A spiral of sturdy slatted wooden stairs winds up the trunk of an enormous oak, leading the way up to this treehouse positioned between a pair of trees at one side of the Commons yard, abutting the river. It's clear enough upon ascending that this is no ordinary treehouse, built sturdy-strong and with a polished finish that would rival most /regular/ residences. Spanning the distance between the pair of oaks, the treehouse is a long one-story building, equipped with both plumbing and electricity. The stairs lead up onto a wraparound balcony that projects out at one side to overlook the East River rushing by below. The doorway inside leads to a furnished sitting room, long low futon-couches on the pale wood floors, walls painted in leafy shades of green, exposed-beam ceilings that seem to have worked some of the actual branches of the tree into the curvature of the roof. The front room is bright and airy, large windows looking out on the Commons grounds and the river outside. Recessed lanterns in the wall give the room a warm glow, come nighttimes, and in the center of the room amid a stone-tiled patch of flooring there is a squat glass-encased gas fireplace providing warmth in winter. Off to one side of the room there is an elevated loft up nearer the ceiling, accessible by ladder and furnished with pillows and plush futon mattress and lots of blankets. The adjoining room is decorated in watery river-blues instead of leaf-greens; in here there's a small kitchenette to one side with sink and stove and toaster oven and counter space, cabinets on the walls. A long dining table in this room seats eight; by the windows, plenty of cushioning sits in the wide window-seats. Off in the very back, a tiny half-bathroom holds a sink and toilet. No stove in here; the wintertime tends to find this room much chillier, but there's generally plenty of warm blankets lying around the house. The weather pendulum has swung back toward seasonable warmth, and even with evening coming on the chill refrains from biting. Inside, Tian-shin sits on the futon with a notebook computer in her lap, typing furiously. She has not put on her Lawyer Armor today, but she looks neat and professional enough in a black mandarin collared shirt with red piping and black jeans with red stitching. She has twisted her hair up into a bun as usual, but not the perplexingly perfect sort with no obvious means of staying put--a black lacquer hair stick with a carved cinnabar bead at one end holds it in place. Micah has gone less for professional and more for familiar and comforting, dressed in faded bluejeans and a navy tee with a comic depicting a penguin growing up from an egg and learning to fly (via jetpack!) on it. His auburn hair is its typical level of muss for not being at work. Despite knowing who is here and being expected, himself, he gives a knock at the door before entering. "Evenin', Tian-shin," he greets as he quits his shoes and stows them on the rack near the entrance. "This is Jack. Thanks for comin' out t'help us." Once he reaches the main room, he pulls a box out of his messenger bag and adds it to the coffee table. "S'cookies from Evolve. All vegan. There's usually some single-serve juices an' such in the kitchen, or I could make tea?" The offer is extended to both of the others with a glance at each. Jack's not in professional attire either. Just jeans, sneakers, a zip up hoodie, and a bright red t-shirt under it. And that's all he looks like, as invisible as always. He's still moving slower than he normally would as he follows Micah into the room. His hands are stuffed into his pockets but he lifts one to wave a sleeve when he see Tian-shin. He pauses a moment to remove his shoes as well, keeping his hood up. "Um...some juice sounds great," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. Tian-shin rises, setting her computer aside, and bows. "Hello, Micah." Dark brown eyes fix on Jack...or at least try to, skipping twice over the empty space inside his hood before finally settling on the middle of his chest. "Nice to meet you, Jack. I'm Jax's lawyer, Hua Tian-shin--Hua is the family name, and you can just call me Tian-shin if you're comfortable doing so." She flashes Micah a smile, head inclining again. "I would love some tea, if they've got any greens here. A lighter oolong would serve just fine, too." Then she waves Jack over to the futon. "Please, have a seat. I'm sorry to hear you were injured. How are you feeling?" "Sure thing. Not sure on the greens, but I think there's oolong in every place with a tea pot 'round here," Micah replies with a warm smile. "Be right back." He disappears into the kitchenette, the sounds of handwashing and digging about in the refrigerator and starting tea easily telling what he's busying himself with in the other room. It isn't long before he emerges with a tray: a small teal and black teapot with three matching cups accompanied by three different little bottles of juice to choose from. This he settles onto the table next to the box of cookies before pouring two cups of the tea and handing Tian-shin's to her. "Y'want any tea, hon?" This last is clearly to Jack. There's a faint sigh from Jack as he recognizes the attempts to find his face. He's used to it. "Nice to meet you too. And sure," he replies. He's careful as he sits on the couch, letting out a breath. "Mostly sore still," he answers. When Micah returns, Jack offers an unseen smile. "Sure, I'll have some tea," he says, leaning back. "Thanks." Tian-shin watches the boy ease himself down, her own expression somewhat inscrutable. "I hope you mend quickly, then." She sits down on a chair, leaving the place beside Jack for Micah and leaving her computer aside for now. "Thank you so much," this to Micah as she takes up a cup of tea, "it smells delightful." For now she just inhales the tea without drinking it. Cup still poised between the fingertips of both hands, she looks to Jack, once again. "Thank you for coming down to talk to me. I would like to talk to you about what happened last Tuesday. If at any point you feel uncomfortable discussing it for any reason, please let me know, okay?" Micah passes the remaining filled cup to Jack. "You're both more'n welcome." He fills the last cup for himself and snags a macadamia nut cookie from the box before settling into the empty seat. "Let me know if y'need anythin', okay?" Letting Tian-shin take the lead on things with which she is more familiar, he cradles his tea cup and nibbles at his cookie. "Me, too," Jack replies. "I actually have doctors this time so it should be in a reasonable amount of time I guess," he says. He nods his thanks to Micah again when the tea is filled for him. "Sure," he says, taking a sip of the tea. When Tian-shin gets to lawyer business, he sits up straighter. "I'm happy to help. Jax saved my invisible backside...this is the least I can do." "It's wonderful that you want to help." Tian-shin nods, smiling gently. "Still, the experience must have been traumatic, and I completely understand if you need time, or space, or a counselor. This is not an interrogation." As if to underline that point, she takes a delicate sip of her tea before setting it down and picking up her laptop. "Can you give me a summary of the events as best you can recall? Take your time, and don't worry if you get sidetracked with details." "Y'don't hafta feel like you're obligated t'do this for Jax, honey," Micah reminds softly. "S'just that someone in this process's gonna want your story eventually an' we wanted t'make it as easy on you as possible. So...just whatever you're okay with for now, okay? At your own pace." "It's okay. Never been shot with an arrow before but I've been hurt this bad before..." Jack trails off. He's still trying to figure out why its bothering him more this time around but that's a topic for the counselor to help out with. "I can get through it," he says, taking a deep breath. Jack straightens up a little and makes sure his hood is still up before he speaks. "Okay, so I was out with some of my classmates in the city and missed my train. So I called Jax and asked if I could get a ride and he said to meet him in Harlem," he begins. "I managed to actually find where he said to meet up and while we were on the way to his car, these women that were on a porch started hassling us. Saying that mutants weren't allowed in their neighborhood like they owned it or something. This girl showed up too. I ran into her before with Shane...she was pretty hostile then, too, but I didn't think she was actually going to get violent." Tian-shin nods, typing diligently while Jack speaks. "Just to confirm--did you at any point step onto the property of the house from which they harassed you?" She finishes typing and looks up at Jack, deep brown eyes keen. "Wait, this girl--she was not on the porch to begin with? Do you think you can describe her for me?" Micah sits quietly, watching the pair converse over his tea and cookie. It is a little harder keeping a bead on how Jack is doing without expressions to tell, but he does monitor the boy's posture closely. Jack is trying to keep himself sitting up straight but it's pretty clear he's tense. Shoulders set and while his hands are invisible, the one not holding the tea is making an impression where he's grabbing the futon. "Unless they own the sidewalk, no. One of them came off the porch anyway," he says. He shakes his head when asked about Veronica. "No, she wasn't up there. Uh, sure," his head tilts slightly to the side. "She looked around my age. Asian girl with shorter hair that was all white in the front. She wasn't this time but I know she smokes. Definitely has some kind of problem with mutants existing at all. Was wearing a hoodie and some older jeans," he describes her like he remembers her. "Never got a name for her or any of the others." Tian-shin's fingers fly across her keyboard, and her head nods shallowly several times to indicate her attention. "Good, good." She peers into the cookie box and picks out a spiced snickerdoodle, taking a bite and washing it down with some tea. "All right, so you had these two women and a girl taunting you from their porch...what happened next?" Micah sets his tea cup down, seeing Jack's hand tensing (or the result thereof) as it does. He rests his own hand gently over the boy's, tea-warmed and reassuring. "Well," Jack takes another deep breath but it's not helping him relax. "Jax told them they didn't own the sidewalk and couldn't ban people from the neighborhood just because they're bigots. We were just going to go after that when one of them came down and got in Jax's face. Said something about calling the cops and how they knew what to do with mutants or something like that. I think she meant that whole...screwed up pit fighting thing that was going on before I left Jersey," he says. The invisible teen jumps when he feels Micah's hand settle on his but he does help reassure him. He glances at the older man and nods his head a little before looking down. "Then she punched him. In the chest while the girl was making some pretty clear threats. Dumb ones...but threats," he sighs. "Then Jax punched back. Next thing I know, that girl kicked me in the back of the knees hard enough that I went down. She was going to kick me again but Jax did this...shield thing. Like Green Lantern but cooler." He reads comics. "I looked up and that woman had a knife and then all of a sudden Jax has an arrow in his chest. I looked up on the porch and the other woman had a bow but before I could do anything..." He tenses up again. The cookies on the table and the tea all rattle slightly with a little telekinetic jolt. "She shot me too. And I...I froze up. I didn't...if Jax didn't pull me out of there..." he trails off, gritting his teeth. "Cooler than Green Lantern, huh?" Tian-shin says when she finishes typing up her notes. "That's high praise!" She looks at Jack, eyes straying a little as she searches for a gaze to hold. "Hey, you did great. You have every right to be upset, so take all the time you need." She nudges the tray toward him just a touch. "Maybe a bit of tea might help?" The mention of the cops knowing what to do with mutants sets Micah's jaw more firmly, though he holds his own expression in check otherwise. He gives Jack's hand a little squeeze, again attempting to be reassuring. “S'okay, hon. Take your time. You got no blame for anythin' that happened.” Jack's eyes may not be easy to find but he does meet Tian-shin's eyes for a moment. "That's...that's pretty much it," he says, taking a swig of his tea. "Jax snapped me out of it and we called for help. I know he was hurt a lot worse than me though. I think one of the women tried to yank the arrow out of him since they say that makes it worse cause of how they're shaped," he murmurs, taking another drink. "I know...I still wish I could have...done something. Even if it was just get out of the way so he didn't have to protect me. Like maybe if I wasn't getting shielded he could have...stopped the arrow from hitting him..." Tian-shin types in a few more short bursts. Then she sets aside the computer and picks up her own tea again. "You didn't do anything wrong, Jack. The people who attacked you are to blame, not you." She curls her hands around the teacup as if seeking warmth despite the very mild temperature. "You can learn to defend yourself, but it's still not your fault if someone else hurts you. Or if someone else gets hurt defending you." Leaning forward, she rests her elbows on her knees. "You did a lot to help Jax, just now." “Sugar, I don't think you bein' there had nothin' t'do with 'im gettin' hit. I think those women surprised 'im. From the way both'a you tell it. Didn't nobody know nothin' 'bout arrows 'til they were in people.” Micah pets at the back of Jack's hand. “An' ev'ryone's comin' out of their injuries an' healin' an' that's what's important.” He gives Jack's hand another pat. “Y'were brave tellin' the story.”