Logs:Trading Up

Trading Up
Dramatis Personae Jax, Luca, Skye	2021-11-15 "I didn't even know they made showers this fancy."
Location <NYC> Freaktown - Riverdale
It's a pleasant enough day, for November, bright and mild. This little corner of the once-posh neighborhood now recently turned into a mutant enclave is bustling -- not, at the moment in this exact yard, with mutant refugees but chickens scrabbling at the fresh vegetable scraps Jax (colorful as he often is, in vivid galaxy-print overalls, strapped only on one shoulder, a purple henley dotted with silver stars, and rainbow high-top Chucks, his hair its usual green-blue-purple ombre; there's a purplish nebula on his eyepatch, too -- swirling very slowly, for those observant enough to catch the motion) has just set out for them; there's stew simmering on the kitchen stove just inside the adjacent mansion, no doubt the source of the bits and bobs of leafy greens and veggie peels the chickens are now enjoying. He doesn't immediately return to his cooking; he's got a bucket of meat scraps, too. These don't go to the chickens, but off beyond there pen to where a gleaming metallic blue dragonfly somewhat larger than a drafthorse has been eying the birds. "Ain't for you, Sugar, but this is." He's offering the meat to the giant insect with a small pat-pat, like Enormous Dragonflies are just a normal part of life. Her injury mended, Skye has been seen more around Riverdale and particularly around her recently liberated labmates. Though she has been perhaps a bit diffident by the standards those who know her better, she's been offering her services where she can--helping to set up donated mobile devices and computers, tracking down families, making Costco in her ancient yet startlingly functional van. It's this last one that she's just completed, the unloading made quick by many hands. She's wearing a red hip-length coat over a black tee with a rainbow brain captioned "neurodiversity", blue jeans, black Doc Martens. Maybe it's the glint of Sugar's wings or carapace that's caught her eye, or maybe it's Jax, but either way she drifts toward the yard and squints kind of dubiously at the fence before vaulting it kind of clumsily. "Sup," she offers, "need a hand? Or...wheels, or whatever?" “I’ve got two,” A voice of slowly increasing familiarity rings out from behind the two figures in the yard - three if you count the ginormous dragonfly munching on some kind of meat in its pen, “hands, I mean. Let my wheels back in Brooklyn.” The voice, along with the light chuckle that accompanies his last statement, belongs to Luca; one of the liberated labrats who took residence in Riverdale after the most recent raid. His smile is aptly radiant for someone of a newfound freedom, bringing a softness to the somewhat chiselled features of his face and harsh purple glow of his eyes. He approaches the other two from the direction of the mansion, dressed in a checked flannel shirt that’s undone over a simple black tee, and paired with the comfiest pair of corduroy trousers he’s ever worn. They’re rolled up slightly at the ankle, showing a pair of white socks and black converse. “Saw you guys from my window,” He adds, calloused hands placed behind his head as he ties the damp, brown locks into a rough ponytail, before letting them drop once more and slip into his pockets “I gotta say, Jax, the shower in that house is insane. Thanks for the digs, even if it is gigantic.” He nods in acknowledgement to Skye, who he’d met in the labs briefly, and spoken to on the odd occasion afterwards. "Oh thanks! Um --" Jax's brow creases at the offer of help, but the uncertain frown clears up at Luca's comment, his eye going wide-wide. "Isn't it wild? That whole, like --" His hand gestures at -- nothing, in the air in front of him, but a moment later there's a rainwater showerhead floating in front of where he gestures with a fancy panel beneath it, several different knobs around a digital display reading the precise water temperature. "What! What-what! Luxury showering experience." The illusory showerhead vanishes as soon as it's served its demonstrative purpose, though Jax's excited expression is slower to fade. "I hope the rest of the place is servin' alright, too. Can be a bit of a system shock re-adjustin'" He glances to Skye, teeth wiggling at one of his many lip rings. "Even if it ain't been all that long, I think." "Heeey." Skye's greeting for Luca is probably made even more casual sounding by her languid slouch against the fence. "Oh man are these like elegant early 20th century fancy bathrooms or more like wetrooms that make a statement?" Her smile skews a little. "Adjusting -- oh yeah. It's not so bad for me, though. I got to go back to my own place." She shrugs and turns both hands upward. "Wait, you were local?" She asks Luca, eyebrows raised. "I mean. Before Dirac." "I didn't even know they made showers this fancy." Luca chuckles, his smile never wavering, "I think it's a wetroom. If that means there aren't any glass barriers or anything to keep the water from going everywhere - now that was wild." He thinks back to how he'd left a pile of his clean clothes along with his towel on the floor of the wetroom before turning on the shower head; not realising that everything in there was inevitably going to get soaked. The concept of a wet room hadn't quite settled into his head at that moment in time. "Mhm, BK born and raised baby," He exclaims as Skye reminds him of his family home, "I think I should give it some time before visiting my mom though. Ya know, lay low for a week or two." "Yeah these are definitely some modern designer gone wild in here I get the feeling some'a these houses had so much personality before they let a contractor have free reign and several millions of dollars." Jax's nose wrinkles up at the thought of the renovation -- then wrinkles further at the mention of Luca's family, a little sympathetic. "Oh -- oh, that's always a difficult one. I'ono if any parent really does well with the well I was in a torture lab for a while talk no matter how they feel about -- well." His brow scrunches, briefly. "If they even know about the rest of it." "Yep, that's pretty much what a wetroom is! Which like, seriously, I've lived in plenty of firetraps where 'water getting all over the floor' was just part of the bohemian charm." Skye chews on her lower lip, nodding at Luca's explantion. "It's a lot to process without having to explain it and deal with how upset theyr'e probably gonna get, right? I hope you get to take the time you need." She glances aside at Jax, then drops her gaze to the chickens still pecking away. "I'm in a pretty weird situation where my mom knew exactly where I was. "Maybe someday we'll have a conversation that doesn't start with her telling me 'I told you so', but today is not that day." Luca rests his forearms on the other side of the fence as he leans against the wooden panels, granting him a better view of the chickens at Jax's feet and the gargantuan dragonfly nearby. In the past, such a sight would freak the young man out and raise a million questions, but after all he's seen in his many years at the labs, Luca is somewhat desensitised nowadays. "I'm not even sure my family know just yet, unless the big boys at Prometheus gave them the run-down." Although saddened by not being able to see his family, something tells him that the same might not be said for the two peers in front of him, "I'm sorry to hear that, Skye. Our mom's sound like they would get on like a house on fire. Too well, in fact." "If you're rich then all the inconveniences the poors live with wrap back 'round to being chic. That," Jax explains earnestly, sketching a small loop in the air with his forefinger; it comes to life in glimmering gold briefly in a small O where his finger describes, "is what we call the circle'a life." He shoots Skye a slightly guilty look, his head bowing. "Always did know it was gonna be risky, but -- I'm still sorry. Shouldn't'a gone down how it did. Shoulda got y'all sooner. Should -- a lot of things, I guess." "I don't think Prometheus is in the habit of helpfully informing people whose family members they've kidnapped, but these days who can say?" Skye shrugs, plucking at the cuffs of her coat. "My mom...well, I hope she didn't harass you all too much over the whole. Losing her daughter thing." She straightens up earnestly. "You got us out. If you'd rushed it, maybe it would have been a disaster." "But yeah, she's tough to get along with, but I try to cut her some slack about this stuff anyway. She was in Prometheus, too --" Her eyes widen. "Oh shit, I'm a legacy labrat!" She scrubs the side of her face with one hand, embarrassed. "I'm lucky to have her, and we'll work things out." She gives Luca an encouraging smile. "I hope things work out okay with your family, too. If it'd help to have some backup -- and a ride -- hit me up."