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Summary: Robyn runs into Lucas, stealing from a shop in Chinatown.
Date: September 29, 2012
Log Title: Old Friends Change
Rating: R
NYC - Chinatown
The hustle and bustle of Chinatown. Here the streets are always crowded, the traffic is always jammed and street vendors are everywhere. Chinese restaurants and Chinese bakeries litter the streets along with various small shops selling everything from swords to bowls to plastic toys. If your looking for bootlegged purses, movies, toys, anything, you can find it in Chinatown at low costs.
It's been a rough week for Robyn, and after staying clear of the city he had to come in to visit his place of employment and explain the situation. He's trying to stay low, mainly by wearing a hoddie with the hood up to hide his face. At the moment he's in a small part, no bigger than a block, sitting on one of the benches picking at some food he picked up from a hole in the wall Chinese restaurant. He isn't really focusing anything at the moment, just staring at his white plastic container of roast pork and rice.
Suddenly the silence is broken by three gunshots, muffled just a bit from within a building. About a block up the street, the large window of the front of a "U Check and Cash" shatters in a burst of fire, and a moment later, a man in black padded leather pants and matching jacket leaps out, rolling across the glass covered sidewalk as a fourth gunshot sparks off a parked car. The roll ends with the guy tumbling back onto his feet, revealing a satchel in one hand and the other hand in a fiery blaze. As he begins to run, the hand extinguishes, and the man is running down the street towards Robyn, wearing a hockey mask. A loud bell begins to ring from the store, some kind of alarm finally going off.
If one could see Robyn's face, it'd be one of sheer annoyance. He's pissed that someone has to ruin his one day in the city, his few moments of peace before getting back at the project he has on hand. He's barely slept and he's feeling quite short right now. Seeing the man in the hockey mask running towards him, Robyn stands up forming a purple psy-blade in his hand, moving into the masked man's path to hopefully stab him.
Lucas is too busy running to notice Robyn. He laughs, looking over his shoulder back the way he came, seeing the overweight Asian man with the shot gun emerge from the building shouting angrily, but not giving any sort of chase. He's just about to Robyn.
Robyn doesn't realize he knows the person he's about to assault. He waits for the right moment and then lunges forward with the psy-blade. If he hit's Lucas will feel a mental assault on his mind from the attack. "Listen asshole, give whatever you stole back and your day won't get a lot ore unpleasant than it already is, got it? You don't want me to make you give it back."
The last thing Lucas is expecting is some kind of mental attack, so when the pain hits his head, it's like a 2 by 4, and he trips over his feet, tumbling to the concrete with an, "oof!" and rolling several feet. The satchel lands a few feet further up the sidewalk, with Lucas between it and Robyn. "…the fuck…" the masked young man says as he lifts his left hand up to rub his head.
"Thank you for ruining my day!" Robyn says to the masked man as he walks over and goes to grab the satchel and hand it to the man. "Here, I believe this is yours. Sorry for any inconvenience this guy caused you." He's not particularly paying attention to Lucas at the moment, more concerned with returning the stolen goods.
Lucas pushes up to his feet. With a 'whoomp,' his hands both ignite, the entire street lighting up with the flickering red and yellow light. Almost immediately, the air around him, and reaching Robyn, gets warm, and Lucas says with a grumble, "You do NOT want to take that from me."
Robyn turns, tossing the satchel in the direction of shop owner before he turns. The air getting warm around him, is just annoying him even more. He pulls his hood down, revealing who he is to the masked man, and puts out an arm. "And you do not want to fuck with me or anyone else here tonight. You are not the only special one here and I assure you that you will not like where you wake up."
The masked man's head tilts a little, "…Robyn…?" The hands sputter out, and then he turns around and runs.
Robyn is caught off guard by his name being mentioned by the mask man and it takes him a few moments to realize he recognizes the voice as Lucas'. "Lucas?" By that time Lucas has gotten a decent lead but Robyn still runs after him trying to catch up. "Lucas?! Wait!"
Lucas runs a couple blocks before darting into an alley. Thinking he's lost Robyn, he slips behind a dumpster, dropping to the concrete, leaning against the steal. He's a bit out of breath, leaning his head back and taking the mask off. "…damn…" he mutters, quietly.
Robyn continues running off in the direction he last saw Lucas and spots him ducking into the alley way, he runs in after him to find Lucas….no where in sight? "Lucas?" He says, sounding a bit out of breath hiself, "Lucas!" He walks down the alley past the dumpster before stopping. "Damnit." He mutters. "As if I didn't already have enough on my plate."
Lucas is just sitting there, looking at, now, Robyn's back. Soon as Robyn turns around to head out of the alley, he'll be spotted, so he sighs, and rolls his eyes, "Go home, Robear. Ah don't need on your plate," he says quietly but confidently.
Robyn turns and looks at Lucas, folding his arms over his chest. "Who asked what you need on my plate. I haven't seen or heard from you in months, and when I finally see you you're robbing some shop in Chinatown?! What the fuck has gotten into you?! Connor's gone missing and now I find you turning all petty thief? What is it that's got you so desperate?"
Lucas sighs again, and he rolls his whole head with his eyes, "Come on, y'all ain't my paw." He shakes his head, running his hand through his mask-mussed hair. "Ah talked to Rash. Heard about Connor. Ah tried to help, but Ah got nothin'." He pushes himself up to his feet, leaning against the dumpster. "Ah ain't desperate. Ah'm fine."
There's a snork from Robyn. "Oh yeah, I bet you're fine, seeing as your resorting to stealing. And, No I'm not your father, but I thought I was your friend. You do know that friends can call on each other when they're down on their luck." Robyn says leaning back against the wall as he just looks at Lucas. "Yeah, I'm trying to help him to, but there is no guns blazing this time, it's politics we have to play for now. If you want to help, I have something you can do. It might not be what you're thinking though."
Lucas sighs again, looking off down the alley a moment, before returning his gaze to Robyn. "Ah ain't down on my luck. Just stop." He purses his lips, then tilts his head. "What do you need me to do?"
Robyn watches Lucas for a while, looking him up and down before speaking. "I'm putting together a video, kinda like what Rashmi and that Wildcard kid did, if you've seen those. It's a bunch of mutant volunteers telling their story, to give a more human and identifiable edge to us. I could use you for it, and we're using the danger room so you can hide your identity if you wish. I'm going public with mine, I know it could be stupid but if it helps Connor than, it's worth it."
Lucas chuckles, shaking his head, "Oh no. No way." He holds his hands up, "Ah don't think so." He straightens, "If'n it was up to me, we'd be puttin' them in their place, not beggin' them to be okay with us." He holds Robyn's gaze, "If they want to be afraid of us, then maybe they should be. If they wanna push us around, treat us like lessers, then maybe it's time we push back and give them a reason to leave us the fuck alone."
Robyn shakes his head. "I'm sorry you feel that way Lucas. Just don't be upset when I blame people who think like you, and now apparently how you act as well, as the reason Connor and the rest of those kids were taken in the first place. And for your information this video isn't -for- the Friends of Humanity or the Purifiers, it's for those that are on the fence."
Lucas scowls a little, "Connor is NOT bein' held because of me, or people like me! Those folks have made their own choices, and are clearly up to somethin' more than just tryin' to politically motivate folk what don't like mutants! If that's all they was doin', they wouldn't be hand pickin' specific mutants!"
"Yes they were hand picked for a reason, but the reason for their handpicking was built from fear. Fear of us." Robyn says with a frown. "Right now they're trying to enact mutant registration all over the country, some states already have. To stop that from spreading we need to let the common person know that this is wrong, that the kidnapping and the obvious cover ups are wrong as well."
Lucas snaps, "Or maybe we need to just make the folk what thinks that registration is necessary go away, Robyn." He shakes his head, "They're declarin' war against us. We can't just sit around makin' movies and think it'll change the world!"
"We can't go around thinking stealing from small time shop owners will show them we're the boss either." Robyn says sounding disappointed. "I'm almost sorry I ran into you." He says pulling up the hood of his hoodie and going to walk out of the alleyway. "Have a nice life Lucas, hold onto that bitter taste since I think that's about all you have left."
Lucas turns to watch Robyn go, and he calls out, "Hey!" He holds his hands out to his side, "That's it? You're just gonna go?" He drops his hands. "Ah ain't bitter, Robear. Ah just have seen the real world. Ah seen what's goin' on out there, and Ah seen that talk ain't gonna cut it no mores."
Robyn turns right before leaving the alley way and looks at Lucas, "I've seen the real world too. I've lived in it for over the last year. But as for just going, yeah, I'm just gonna go, unless you can give me a good reason to stick around and argue with someone I've lost faith in?"
Lucas tilts his head, "Lost faith?" He walks a few steps towards Robyn. "What's that supposed to mean?" He shakes his head, "What, because Ah ain't suckin' up to the White Queen at Xavier's no more, Ah'm suddenly not worth your time?"
"I don't suck up to the White Queen at Xavier's but then I guess you've disappeared for so long you wouldn't know that I don't go to school there anymore. I've been trying to live my life as an art student." Robyn says as, until recently, he's removed himself from the whole 'superhero' thing. "And it's not that Lucas, it's just I realized, you aren't the same person I became friends with a few years ago."
Lucas furrows his brow, "None of us are. We grow up. Things change. The world is changing. We can't just sit idly by and be artists or lawyers or musicians anymore. We don't get that choice. If we want things to change, we have to make it happen ourselves."
Robyn runs a hand through his hair and nods. "I agree, we do grow up and I agree we can't just sit idly by and be artists or lawyers, but I can do something and still be an art student. I do want things to change, and the effort I'm putting in is to show that you can be a mutant and you can still live your dreams. If I give up on what I want in my life, than I've lost. I'd be like you, a bully."
Lucas shakes his head once more, "Ah ain't a bully, Robear. Ah didn't lay a finger on that fella. He has insurance. That money ain't puttin' him out none." He sighs. "Don't make me out to be some kinda bad guy what Ah ain't…"
"You ain't what, a theif? Because that's exactly what you are no matter how you try to spin it. But then again whatever helps you sleep at night." Robyn says frowning at Lucas. "I'd say it's nice to see you again but….I'd rather wished I didn't know what happened to you and kept with my thoughts that you were somewhere, where you were doing well. Take care." He says and heads out of the alley way.
Lucas huffs, and shakes his head, letting the other young man go.
