Logs:Out of the Cold

Out of the Cold
Dramatis Personae Lael, Samuel
In Absentia Jax, Shane	2024-12-25 "I've got nowhere elssssse to go. I can ssssstick around for a bit."
Location <NYC> Evolve Cafe - Lower East Side
Spacious and open, this coffeeshop has a somewhat industrial feel to it, grey resin floors below and exposed-beam ceilings that have been painted up in a dancing swirl of abstract whorls and starbursts, a riot of colour splashed against a white background. The walls alternate between brick and cheerfully lime-green painted wood that extends to the paneling beneath the brushed-steel countertops. There's an abundance of light, though rather than windows (which are scarce) it comes from plentiful hanging steel lamps. The walls here are home to artwork available for sale; though the roster of prints and paintings and drawings and photographs changes on a regular basis it has one thing in common -- all the artists displayed are mutants. The seating spaced around the room is spread out enough to keep the room from feeling cluttered. Black chairs, square black tables that mostly seat two or four though they're frequently pushed around and rearranged to make space for larger parties. In the back corner of the room is more comfortable seating, a few large black-corduroy sofas and armchairs with wide tables between them. There's a shelf of card and board games back here available for customers to sit and play. The chalkboard menus hanging behind the counter change frequently, always home to a wide variety of drinks (with an impressive roster of fair-trade coffees and teas largely featured) though their sandwiches and wraps and soups and snacks of the day change often. An often-changing variety of baked goods sit behind the display case at the counter halfway back in the room, and the opposite side of the counter holds a small selection of homemade ice creams. A pair of single-user bathrooms flanks the stairway in back of the cafe; at night, the thump of music can be heard from above, coming from the adjoining nightclub of the same name that sits up the stairs above the coffeehouse. Evolve is bursting with festive red and green and gold tonight -- not just the decoration for the Christmas dinner, but the attendees themselves. Laughter and music and food and drink abound, and the Little Apple nature of the local mutant community is evident in the mingling, though, though not so glaring as to make newcomers feel left out. Hopefully. Lael isn't dressed particularly festive tonight, but he's moderately sharp in a navy blazer with a lavender oxford shirt and camel slacks. His hair is about shoulder length, difficult though that may be to estimate given each finger-width loc -- many of them adorned with metal cuffs and beads -- is waving and meandering independently in the air, giving the distinct impression of a nest of snakes. Said impression is somewhat helped by his vertically slitted amber eyes, which don't seem to blink often if at all -- subliminally unnerving even those who can't quite clock why. Still, he's not turning anyone to stone. He's just come away from the long table laden with hors d'oeuvres, his own plate piled high, offering smiles and quiet greetings to anyone who meets his eyes. Samuel is not having a very good christmas. The Snake man (he doesn't feel like much of a man, not as of late. It's been a few weeks, and any hope of hiding what he is has ditched him completely) looks through the window at the festivities going on in there. It's a nice looking diner, and given the amount of cash he's got on that card (assuming they don't decide to cancel it), he can probably afford it. He's also decked out in an incredibly thick coat, pants with a hole cut at the bottom to fit relatively well, a thick scarf, puffy earmuffs to hold the glasses on his face, and a big hat that's pulled down far. There's absolutely no hiding his reptillian nature, but if nothing else all this can keep him from slipping into hibernation or something. His approach to the cafe is a timid one. Being frank, he's not feeling good about himself, and especially not his appearances. For a bit, he was thinking he was just going to lay on that warehouse floor forever after he lost his legs, but Sammy's discovered he's too much of a wuss to just lay around and let things end like that. So here he is. The threshold. A cafe full of mutants...which is what he is. A mutant. ``A place for mutants to get a half decent meal. The kind of place where I'd fit in.`` He looks at all the different people. Some obviously mutants, some much more normal looking. His eyes narrow with a slight sense of envy as he looks at the holiday decorations. Its all still so raw, the way things changed. If he hadn't... ``If I hadn't turned into this, I could be with the others. I'd get to actually ENJOY this christmas.`` As much as Sammy could brood further in the cold outside, a more reasonable part of him knows he's hungry and needs warmth. So he awkwardly presses on the doors, uneasily slithering in. His uncertainty shows in his posture and movement: he can barely prop himself upright on this crazy tail.... Lael has just fetched himself a sparkling apple juice in a tall champagne flute when he spots the latest arrival. He does not immediately pounce, but after a brief consideration of the apparent difficulty in this person's locomotion, he approaches slow and casual. His hair doesn't stop moving, but the undulating locs settle down somewhat, waving around him as if suspended in calm water. "Merry Christmas," he says, putting on his friendliest Georgia boy smile to complement his Appalachian accent, "First time here?" The serpent stares at the person who's offered the sparkling apple juice to him. Several thoughts shoot rapid fire in his mind. ``Ew, why'd it have to be apple juice? We're not a kid anymore.`` ``Whoa, his hair is snakes! Freaky!`` Sammy avoids direct eye contact, unsure how to go about this. He's totally unaware those knee jerk thoughts broadcasted, but his expression shows skepticism, before he carefully takes the glass. "Uh...yeah. Thankssssss...I mean, thank. Appreciate that." ``I've got to just drop anything with an s from my vocabulary. This is just embarassing.`` "I'm...from out of town." He puts the glass to his face and opens his mouth, carefully pouring the drink in. He's bumped drink cans into that extended face of his a few times before... "Merry...chrissss...holiday to you." Lael does actually blink. Once, twice, and then no more. "Welcome to Evolve, then." He smiles brighter. "Welcome to New York! I'm not from around here, either. If I were a gambling man, I'd bet most of the people in this room aren't." His smile softens and he averts his eyes, his hair squirming a little harder momentarily before relaxing again. "Sorry if I put you on the spot. I thought about letting you get your bearings first, but you looked about fit to dart right back out." He chuckles awkwardly. "I'm Lael." Samuel feels a strong sense of shame. Was it that obvious he was hesitant about coming in here? About being here with other...other mutants? "Lael. Good name. I'm...." He feels that shame intensify. His name's gonna come out all hissy and creepy. "...Sssssssamuel. Evolve isssss...a hell of a name for a cafe." The snake fidgets with his hands awkwardly. ``God, what am I doing here?`` "Ahhh.." He tries to strand up straight, now trying to deal with himself. He's making a total fool of himself in front of some stranger. Look put together! "Are you a regular here? The food pretty good out here?" "Nice to meet you, Samuel. You got a pretty good name yourself there. You wanna sit...uh, take a load off?" Lael doesn't exactly wave for Samuel to follow him, he just tips his head toward a slightly quieter corner in the back and telegraphs moving that way. Then, at the questions -- or is it right before? -- his locs scrunch up in a way that somehow feels like a cringe even though his face is still smiling, if a bit more sheepishly than before. "I been coming here for years. Food's great, and it's of the few places in town I know isn't gonna turn me away, you feel me?" His hair writhes and twists and relaxes again. "I'm not trying to scare you off, but as noisy as it is in here, I'm liable to say something real awkward if I don't tell you. I'm a telepath." He taps his temple with one finger, smile slipping rueful. "I'm not trying to listen in or get inside your head, I just pick things up here and there." Samuel follows Lael in, but his movements are awkward and uncertain. He looks like he's trying to keep his balance. Right as he's about to try and lean against the wall, Lael drops the telepath bomb on him, and Sammy goes white as a sheet. Or at least, his expression shifts to dumbstruck silence and terror. He misses the lean against the wall and falls back into it. "You meWA-WAAAHHHH!" He thumps into the wall, tail flopping all over the place as he lands on the floor uncomfortably. Frankly, he's so embarassed he could cry... ``Don't cry don't cry don't embarass yourself...`` "Ha...oh god. You can hear...you mean you can look at me and tell exactly what I'm thinking?" The snake just huffs and puffs, unable to get back up so he just lays against the wall, pushing himself up a bit with his hands. "Ssssssshoot. I'm...fudge." ``Fuck fuck fuck he's listening to me ohhhh god I had a chance to make something of myself and it's totally fucked now fuuuuck`` "Thissssss....didn't even go remotely how I wanted. I'm not usssssed to thisssss...mutant thing." The snake eyes lock eye contact with another set of snake eyes. "I...thisssss isssssss new to me." Lael cringes -- with his face, this time. His locs are squirming and twisting in a deeply unpleasant way, until he takes a deep breath and will them to be more or less still for a moment. The party around them hasn't ground to a complete stop, but many nearby have turned to look, their expressions ranging from concern to annoyance to reproach to fear. "It's alright, we cool. Merry Christmas, y'all." Lael doesn't sound quite as cool as all that, but most people seem reassured, whether by his words or by the fact that no snerson fight has ensued. "We cool, right?" he says, more quiet and less certain, to Samuel. He kneels down next to him, holds his gaze only briefly. "I'm sorry to drop that on you, man. It don't take telepathy to see you're having a real rough time already. But I knew it was gonna be way worse if I accidentally answered a thought I overheard, thinking you said it out loud." He sits down next to Samuel with his back against the wall. "This mutant thing. It can be a lot, even when you are used to it. I'm not judging." Samuel can FEEL the eyes on him. He's not used to it. People didn't look at him like this until he broke out in scales. "...Yeah. Yeah. Merry Chrisssssssstmasssssss and all. We're cool." ``I don't know. I don't know this person and it'd be stupid to push them away. Are we cool? Am I blowing this? I've made a stupid spectacle of myself like a fucking circus freak.`` "I-" And he processes that everything he's thinking might as well be said out loud. ``Fuck me. This is embarassing. Don't listen to this please for the love of god.`` "Today'sssss...um, been a pretty bad chrissssstmassss. Kind of...emotionally amped over it, I guessssssss." He grabs at the side of a nearby booth, gripping it firmly as he starts trying to pull his torso into it so he can assume a sitting posistion. ``Resume a normal conversation. Don't freak out.`` "I...well, I didn't look like thisssss before, and it'ssssss changed everything. Came here because I didn't know where elsssse to go, but being here feelsssss wrong. Becaussssse-" ``Because I'm not suppossed to be a freak. I'm suppossed to be normal. I can't be a mutant. I just can't.`` "-I'm jusssssst not usssssed to any of thissssss. You're, um. The firssssst mutant I've held a full conversssssation with in agesssssss." He plants his butt(maybe? hard to say with this body) in the booth, adjusting himself and resting an arm on the table to feel like a functional person. "I'm sorry." Lael's hair is curling in on itself in a way that still looks kind of miserable but isn't viscerally repulsive anymore. "Not that there's a great time to go through something like this, but still. It's Christmas." He looks like he's about to offer Samuel a hand, but thinks better of it and just rises slowly to tuck himself into the other side of the booth. "I was born looking like this, you know. But the telepathy came later, and it started right about this time of year, too. I thought I was going crazy, at first. My folks thought I was possessed." He shakes his head slowly, lacing his fingers together on the table in front of him. "I wish you coulda gotten a smoother welcome, but you got me. You don't have to pretend any of this is normal, though." Samuel looks at him for a moment...and then after consideration, the change is INSTANTLY noticable. Gone is the awkward serpent who looks like he's trying to just not be seen. His posture now suggests exhaustion, and potentially even frustration. While he's mostly still covered by heavy clothes and winter garb, the look his eyes through those loosely fitting garb is the look of someone who hasn't slept well in a week or two. "....Chrisssssstmasssssss. Wadda time of year, huh?" He looks less friendly...but also more real. Like he's stopped trying to look or sound a certain way. "That mussssssst have been tough. Being born noticeably different, I mean." He tip taps his hand on the table with a frown. "Did your folkssssssss...." ``Did they fear you for being different? Try to run you through?`` He doesn't say that out loud. Deeper thoughts aren't heard, but he's...thinking about the family he's not with this christmas. "....I don't know what to do next year. It'ssssss...thingssssss happened ssssssso fasssssst. Feelssssssss like drowning, I guessssssss." "Boy, is it ever." Lael huffs, a breathy laugh. "Maybe it's weird, but when I was a kid, felt like being born on Christmas was worse than being born looking this way. Like somehow if I was born any other day, my folks wouldn't'a been as disappointed." He shrugs, his hair stretching out and relaxing like a slow undulating halo around him. "I've been treated real bad for how look, all kinds of ways, and sometimes I hate it. But at least this feels like me. I wish I could say I can't imagine what you going through, but my little sister only went snakey when she turnt fourteen. It's been way worse for her than for me." He nods, sympathetically. "That's heavy, but that's real. There's community resources around here that can help you get back on your..." His mouth twists aside, his expression tight and strained. "Help you figure out where to start. This gonna sound stupid, but when my nana taught me how to swim she always said you gotta try and loosen up. It's normal when you're scared to tense up, but that makes it harder. I try to think on that, every time I feel like I'm sinking." Samuel's mouth is shut. He listens to Lael tell his stories, talking about life. He contemplates what he's told. "...You were born on chrisssssstmasssss? That issssss rough, man." ``Poor bastard only got one day of presents. Fucked up.`` "Uh, right. Being a mutant ain't easssssy and I guessssss I'll take all the help I can get. Ssssorry for being...a disssssassssster on entry." He pauses for a moment, evaluating how best to follow up on all of this. "Ssssssso. Your hair wigglessssss a lot. And your eyessssss kinda look like what I ssssssee in the mirror thesssse dayssssss." ``Does he get weird cravings now too? I wonder if he eats rats.`` "Do you have to deal with thisssssss whole....cold blooded issssssue? I ssssswear outsssssside feelssssss impossssssibly inhospitable in thisssss sssssseasssson." Lael runs his hand through his hair. Sort of. His hair kind of parts and flows around his hand as if by reflex. "Well. There's at least one other guy born on Christmas had it worse than me." His smile isn't quite so wide now, but it's warm all the same. "It's okay. You're dealing with a lot, and that was really a very minor amount of freaking out. You didn't hurt nobody." His lips compress, and he shakes his head. "Me and my sister both warm-blooded, though I ain't seen her in a while and she still changing." He chews on his lower lip, frowning. "I know a guy who's cold-blooded. He's kind of lizardy, might could give you some advice." His frown deepens. "Except he's hibernating. I'll ask some folks if they wouldn't mind poking him next time he's mostly awake." Lael looks Samuel over, then looks over at the food. "How about I fix you a plate? It'll do you good and warm you up, too. Maybe some wine? Later I'll point you at some folks who can connect you with resources. But food, first." "Coursssssse he'ssssss in hibernation. Jusssssst figuresssss." He points to himself. "Not all bundled up like thisssssss for lookssssss..." A bit of a slump. "Though I'm....alsssssso not proud of my appearance. I feel I bear a rather sssssstriking resssemblance to a villain from thissssss old cartoon I usssssed to watch. Not a flattering comparisssssson." Slumping more on the table. "Food sssssssoundssssss great though. I've been-" ``Eating rats. It's so gross, but also some morbid part of me loves the feeling of snatching something small and eating it easily. I don't like that I like that.`` "-hard pressssssssed for a proper meal lately. Trying to ssssssave what funds I've got." Samuel droops on the table, yet shows a fanged smile at the idea of feasting on real food. "Most f...folks out there gonna think you look some combination of scary, gross, or evil. That feels bad, for sure, but it can be real dangerous, too." Lael looks Samuel over again, focusing on his clothes, this time. "I'm not sure if the bundling'll keep you much safer from violent bigots, but I know it won't keep you warm unless you got a heat source in there with you. Right now, it might be keeping you cold. I'd try leaving off the coat for a minute." He's pushing to his feet but stops before fully straightening up, hands still braced on the tabletop, his expression difficult to read. "You don't have to pay. There'll be plenty of stuff to figure out, and most of it's gon seem a lot less daunting with a full belly." He hesitantly lifts his hands to the jacket zipper, then lets it down and drops it. Underneath the jacket is a black t-shirt with the words “deal with it” written on it in impact font. “…Huh. I hadn’t conssssidered that it could be keeping me cold. Then again, I’m not usssssed to being reptilian.” He then looks surprised by the offer. No payment? For real? ``He’s gonna pay? What’s the catch?`` “Do I, uh…owe you sssssomething in return? Not to be ssssskeptical, jusssst…nobody givesssss ssssomething for nothing.” "Can happen to warm-blooded folks, too," Lael says, gentle and reassuring. "Someone got hypothermia when they come in out the cold, you gotta get them out their layers so they can warm up." He takes a deep breath. "I ain't paying neither. The owner --" His jaw sets tight, his hair roiling agitated again. "The owner of this place was Jackson Holland's son. He passed recently, and Mister Jackson been running it since. They're good people, but they don't give these feasts for nothing. They give 'em for the community." He smiles again, kind of tired and sad. "You stick around, maybe you'll learn what that means, and how much it's worth." Samuel blinks slowly, and looks around at the others of this cafe. All of them mutants...and presumably, they're all part of the community. ``Is it a community I deserve to be in?`` "Altruisssssm from the goodnessssss of their heartssss..." ``And maybe somewhat familial obligation? I'd know about that.`` "I've got nowhere elssssse to go. I can ssssstick around for a bit." He gives an ever so slight smile. "I'd...really like to sssssleep somewhere with heat, if that'sssss possssssible." "Ionno if 'altruism' is big enough a concept, but I s'pose that part of it." Lael shakes his head, and his locs each undulate along their lengths in an uncanny ripple outward. "Think whether you 'deserve' to be in this community's gonna be up to you. There's folks around who can help you figure out somewhere to stay, too." He straightens up fully, his voice pulling just a little bit stern. "After you eat." And then he pushes away from the table and weaves his way through to crowd toward the delicious foods still being laid out. Samuel: "Right. Food." His stomach grumbles, and samuel uneasily looks down at it for a moment. His hunger pangs have really ramped up since the change...but that's a bridge for later. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was hungry enough to eat a horse. "I'll be right there. Jussssst don't move too fassssst..." And Samuel assumes a "standing" posistion anew, following Lael through the cafe. He doesn't know it, but starting today, the dominos have begun to fall that'll change his life forever. Perhaps...today is the day he finds his people. The people who'll love him for who he is, rather then who he pretends to be. Only time will tell. ```End.```