Players:
Summary: Caleb, Kalindi & Bruce meet in the streets of Mutant Town. They discuss Barnes and the recent bombing.
Log Title: Recent Events
Rating: PG (L)
NYC - Mutant Town
Mutant Town, also known as District X, has become a haven for mutants. This section of town doesn't care what you look like, accepting all mutants no matter what their appearance. Most of the businesses in this section of town are mutant run ranging from small convenience stores to clothing shops to restaurants to night clubs. The buildings here aren't the high rise buildings you might find in mid-town but most are about 5-6 stories high. Mutant Town might not be the most luxurious section of town, in fact it's fairly run down, but this section of where mutants are safe and welcomed regardless of race, religion and culture.
Scene
Oh, Mutant Town. Kalindi always feels a bit anxious going through this part of time because in all honesty, she's no mutant. She does know that most people can't tell the difference between mutant powers and magic, though, so she puts hers on show to compensate. She floats slightly off the ground using a thin layer of gold on her feet and hands to keep stable. On her back is a heavy looking backpack.
It's not the most beautiful of days out today. Though it's not terribly cold it is still overcast. It's been raining lightly on and off for the past several hours, though right now it's not. Bruce is currently standing outside of one of the buildings smoking a cigarette. He's wearing blue jeans, a green shirt, and his usual Australian hat. He glances at the floating woman as she passes and offers a tip of his hat, always happy to see people unafraid to use their abilities in public.
Caleb is staying out as late as his curfew will allow, he still doesn't want to spend anymore time in Barnes than he has to, even with the offer of help from Tony Stark, he's dressed in blue denim cargos, a black superman t-shirt, black airwalk trainers and his violet eyes are glowing faintly as is the yellow stone on the silver wristband on his right wrist, he has his headphones in and is trying to ignore the world around him.
Kalindi offers Bruce a nod, stopping herself in midair to return the greeting to the mutant, though a perplexed expression appears and leaves from her face. She glances slightly down at the glow on the street level towards Caleb, tilting her head slightly. She remembers him. "Caleb," she says, landing on the ground and moving the gold from her feet into thick anklets as she does so, "Nice to see you."
Bruce ashes his cigarette and follows the woman's gaze down the street. Caleb? "Oh hey Casper! Haven't seen you in a while, worried you got killed off by the folks in that school." He'll have to inform Magneto that the boy is still safe, he'd told him earlier that he hadn't seen the Ghost Boy since their last meeting. He'll wait to see what Caleb has to say before running off to call.
Caleb sighs and pulls out his earphones when he hears voices, "Hello Kalindi, Bruce" he walks closer to them, "What are you guys doing out here, it's cold, i thought people would be indoors", he ignores the school comment, its a touchy subject.
"What am I doing here? I was at a martial arts class. My legs are very, very tired," says Kalindi. Which explains why she was floating instead of walking. She raises her eyebrows slightly and looks back at Bruce, "Oh, do you two know each other as well?" Her thick accent is a mix between Hindi and something otherworldly.
Bruce shrugs at Caleb. "What do you mean why am I here? I LIVE here. and unless you forgot there's a certain something going on in this town that keeps me from being able to sleep at night until I've had a good look around." He glances over toward Kalindi, "Who Casper here? Yeah I met him a couple times. Haven't seen you before, though. I work over at Nowhere, names Bruce." He nods his head in the direction of the pub.
Caleb nods, "Yeah i know Bruce, our encounters have been… interesting", he leans against the wall, "Sandman, any chance you can go in there and get me a drink, i have cash".
Kalindi smiles at Bruce and says, "My name is Kalindi, but you may call me Kali if you would like. It is shorter, and I know that some people prefer to use it." As soon as she finishes over explaining her nickname, she glances towards pub and says, "Ah, it is /called/ nowhere. I thought you were telling me that you are unemployed."
Bruce chuckles, "Nah, it's called Nowhere. Don't know why they decided on a name like that. Tends to confuse folk quite often." He smiles, "Nice ta meet ya, Kali." He casts Caleb a sidelong glance. "That'd be illegal, kiddo. You know better than to ask me that…In front of people I don't know." Of course he'll sell liquor to minors, but he won't do it in front of a stranger.
Caleb sighs, "Fine, I'll get it myself, be back in a minute", he straightens up and begins walking towards the bar, deciding what to get, he'll be in and out before anyone notices.
Kalindi watches as Caleb walks off, her eyebrows raised slightly. "What is he doing?" she asks, confusion in her voice. She shrugs, though, and says to Bruce, "It is nice to meet you as well." She shifts her gold gloves into heavy bracelets as well now. The one convenient thing about Mutant Town is that being so open with one's abilities doesn't even merit a second look.
Bruce says nothing as Caleb heads toward the bar. He's grinning quite heavily as the boy enters. "Oh just wait. It'll be good if she notices…" Just at that moment the windows of the pub light up brilliantly. "Yup, looks like Lil saw something move." The woman inside will release a massive beam of light toward whichever bottle she sees move or vanish. The light does no damage, it's just bright. Bruce turns back to Kalindi, "Ah, Aurokinesis? Useful ability…If that's real gold."
Caleb stumbles though the wall of the bar unable to see what he's doing and crashes into the garbage cans outside "owww", if you go to see if he's ok, he's fine, he can't see very well, has a cut on his forehead and a bottle of whisky in his right hand, but otherwise fine.
Kalindi nods at Bruce and says, "Yes, it is real. It becomes a part of me, I think, an extension of my body. I can control it if it is further away, but that requires thought. Moving this is as natural to me as walking now." She shrugs lightly and turns her attention back to the bar, watching curiously. She doesn't check if he's okay, just keeping her eyes on him.
Bruce laughs as the kid comes stumbling out of the bar. "Oh man, I warned Lil about you, forgot to warn you about her, though." He also doesn't go to check on the boy. He knows it'll take more than a flash of light to take that boy down. He nods to Kalindi. "Yeah, probably similar to my ability. I can do that with sand and such." He's been in the news a couple of times for it actually, once for robbing a bank and again for saving some people at the bar.
Caleb shakes his head a few times until his vision clears, then picks himself up and walks back to the other two, he leans against the wall again and takes a swig from the bottle, "You know, you could have warned me".
Nodding, Kalindi says to Bruce, "I think I have heard about you." She has made sure to keep out of the media spotlight too much, herself. She shrugs, though, and her bracelets seem to shift into a more elaborate design, resembling vines that crawl up her forearm. "Sand, though, that sounds very useful. There is sand /everywhere/. It is difficult to get very much gold." She looks towards Caleb and shrugs, "I did not know, but even if I did, I do not think I would warn."
Bruce winks at Caleb, "Warn you? Where's the fun in that? Besides, you need to learn not to steal from that bar. If you keep that up will surround the place with…That stuff that you don't like." He's not going to give out the boy's weakness in front of a stranger. Back to Kali, "Oh yeah. Sand's all over. I keep a bit of it around places where I might need it, too. And yeah I can imagine gold'd be hard to find." He puffs his cigarette again and shrugs, "Eh, might've been me you heard about, might not. There've been lots of incidents in the news lately."
Caleb takes another swig of whisky, "I was gonna pay for it, until that fecking light", he sits at the bottom of the wall and buts a hand to his head to check to flow, not much, it'll stop soon enough, while he may not be talking much he is enjoying the company of non Barnes peoples, "Bruce, did you hear about the FoH bombing in Battery park?"
"'Friends of Humanity'. What a joke," says Kalindi, rolling her eyes at even the mention of the name. She shrugs at Bruce and says, "Well, it does not matter if it was you or if it was not you. Not to me, anyways."
Bruce smiles at the woman, she seems to be a like minded individual. "Ah, well if it doesn't matter to you, then it was me." He does a little bow and glances back at Caleb. "Yeah, went on a longer patrol that night assuming retaliation, but all I got was some crazy ninja in red and black. Tried blowing me up and then just left."
"I was there, nearly got arrested for doing it, next thing i know a SHIELD agent turned up to take me back to school, i got followed again", Caleb takes another swig, "Thought you'd wanna know".
Kalindi shrugs at Bruce's revelation that it was in fact him. It's really not that important in her mind. She has done things as villainous as robbing a bank and as noble as saving lives, she just hasn't received any of the media attention. She blinks a couple of times at Caleb and says, "Are you causing trouble at your school? Last time we met, you ran away when it was even brought up."
Bruce nods, "Yeah, but the school seems to be following him around now, using his weaknesses against him." He shrugs to Kalindi. "Not exactly the best school around I'd say." He turns his attention back to Caleb. "You were there? Did you see anything? I mean, I doubt it was actually you who set off the bomb. Did you see who did?"
Caleb takes yet another swig of the whisky, "no i don't cause trouble but they still follow me and i've grown up since then", he shrugs at Bruce, "Dunno, some ninja looking guy".
Kalindi shrugs and says, "It does sound like a terrible school to me. I would not like to attend this kind of a place." She has her own set of weaknesses which she'll never utter out loud. If anyone used them against her, though, she would be very, very upset.
Bruce drops his cigarette on the ground and stamps it out. "Wait, Ninja guy? Black and red costume? He's the one who set off the bomb there?" But he's the one who attacked Bruce that same night. He did say he was looking for someone, though. He'll go looking for the man later on. He nods to Kalindi, "Yeah I think I'd avoid anyplace run by the government."
Caleb shakes his head, "No, not black and red, I…just black i think, does it matter, i thought you hated FoH anyways", he takes another swig enjoying the mental numbing effect.
Kalindi shrugs at that and reforms her anklets into a small, thin platform, sitting on it. "Ninja? Hmm. I am sorry. I have not seen any ninjas, myself." She tilts her head slightly and notes, "I do not know all the details. What was it that happened, anyways?"
Bruce nods to Kalindi. "Yeah, seems there are a few of them here lately because the one I saw was dressed a bit different." He shakes his head, "All I know is the Friends of Humanity threw some sort of ralley and someone set off a bomb. If it was the ninja I'd met I would have been confused, since he attacked me later that night." He nods to Caleb, "Yeah I hate 'em alright. I wanted to know so I could find em. If they're of the same mindset as me then they might be useful allies in the future."
Caleb nods and points at Bruce, "Give the Austrailian sandman a point, he got the basics of it down", he tries to get to his feet, stumbles a few times and gives up, settling himself down again, "Sorries but I don't know who the ninja dude was".
Kalindi shrugs at that and says, "Did they cause a lot of damage with the bomb? Was anyone killed?" She crosses one of her legs over the other in her golden seat. "I guess ninjas are sneaky. That is maybe why I have not seen them."
Bruce ponders for a moment. I think a few people died. I was more interested to see if they knew who did it or if any mutants were injured. I was disinterested in the human fatalities." He shrugs. "Anyway, I need to get going. Have to meet someone in a couple hours and I'll need to track down somebody first."
"I think about four humans died, no mutant casulties", he giggles, "Yes, ninjas are sneaky, like ninjas", Caleb gets to his feet and holds a hand out to Bruce, "Nice seeing you again Sandman, don't go hunting ninjas, they're hard to get, like ninjas", he giggles again.
Kalindi nods at Bruce and says, "It was pleasant to be meeting you." She climbs up on her disc and sits down cross-legged, looking at the giggly Caleb. "You are not looking so good right now, Caleb."
Bruce nods to the two and shakes Caleb's hand, smirking at the boy. "I can handle ninjas." heads off toward one of the alleys, waving over his head as he heads out.
Caleb waves as Bruce leaves then leans against the wall again, "Nah, nah, I'm good, I…I'm really good", it's the ground that doesn't seem to be doing so well, it keeps on moving.
Kalindi shakes her head and shrugs, "Well, if you say you are good, then maybe you are." She floats up on her disc and says, "I think I might draw a hot bath for myself tonight and say goodnight to you while you… enjoy yourself…"
Caleb grins and gives Kalindi a thumbs up, "Cools, well have fun, i should probably get back cos of that curfew thing, bye bye", he flies up about ten feet before he starts giggling again.
Kalindi gives Caleb a small salute before spinning her disc towards her destination and making it speed off towards whatever place she is trying to get to.
~ Fin ~
