Players: Aiden & Connor
Summary: Two strangers meet on a rooftop and leave somewhat as friends.
Date: October 10, 2011
Log Title: Rooftop Mornings
Rating: PG
NYC - Four Arms Apartments (Roof)
The roof looks out over the city the best it can. Since it's only a few stories high and is one of the shorter buildings in the area the view isn't that great. There's an old pigeon coop up here that's long since been used and other than the door, that's the only other thing up here. There's a small railing around the edge that's just one bar with a few posts, nothing to really prevent anyone from going over the edge. Over all those it's a nice quiet spot to go and relax.
It's a beautiful day that's almost too warm for October which is why Aiden is hanging out on the roof, sitting on the edge with his feet hanging down. His blue feathered wings are streched out lazily behind him and a small portable CD player plays some electronic future pop style music. He's currently dressed in just a pair of black pants tucked into his boots and his button down work shirt sits in a ball next to the CD player. The tattoo like markings that cover his exposed arms and chest are a faint greenish blue colour at the moment. After a while Aiden starts to sing in a, fairly average voice, along with the music.
From the far side of the roof the door opens, revealing a form dressed in a dark blue hooded sweat top and track pants, carrying with it what looks like a broom handle… until the smooth back end shows it is actually a bo staff. Perhaps the oddest this is that despite the attire meant for running, Connor has on a pair of leather walking sandals instead. Not having seen or noticed anyone else up here yet, he moves to the widest spot on the roof, headphones blazing away something with a heavy bass, and starts to stretch himself out.
Aiden has been sitting around for to long, or so he decides, and just pushes himself off the roof where he flies back up to land. He looks around the roof for a bit, turning as if he's looking for something (a wing almost hitting Connor) before he realizes what he want's isn't up here. "Oh." He says as he finally spots Connor. "Sorry didn't realize anyone was up here. How's it going?"
Connor has good reflexes for someone his age, and the sweep of the wing caught in the edge of his vision is enough that his stretch turns into a roll, and as he comes up, he doesn't quite drop into a fighting stance, but there's a slight tension in his shoulders. Seeing you, and then seeing the look, he reaches up and tugs the earbuds from his head, the pulsing sound of a electronic/metal fusion blazing away in tinny brilliance as he replies, "Hi… Ummm… what? Sorry, I wasn't all here." And it does show a bit… looking surprised for a moment, even as his shoulders relax a little.
"I was saying I didn't realize anyone was up here." Aiden says offering Connor a hand. "I'm Aiden, I live on the fourth floor here." He says as he folds his wings back tightly against him. "I was just about to do some practicing up here when I realized all my stuff is in my place." He says brushing some of his hair out of his face. "Sorry, I tend to be a bit talkative."
Connor takes the hand and gives a firm shake, then follows it up with a shrug as he replies, "Connor, I'm on the third floor… just moved in with some old school mates of mine from up north. And talk away… I don't mind." Letting go, he takes a couple steps off to one side and returns to his stretching, with only the followup comment of, "Nice wings."
"Thanks." Aiden says looking back at his wings. "Made 'em myself." He jokes as a lot of the blue has vanished from his tattoos leaving them green. "Well welcome to the neighborhood then. I've been here for a few months so I don't really know it that well but I like it here. So what brings you to the roof today Connor? With a stick?" He says looking at it not really recognizing it for what it is.
Connor twirls the staff twice, shifting it from one hand to the other as he replies, "Training… I started with an instructor on staffwork before I graduated, and to keep up I get a weekly training video with some pointers on it. I watch, then come up and practice for a bit. It's nice and open here, and if I screw up, usually there's no one to see." The last part getting him to smile a bit, his eyes flicking back and forth as the color drains from the tattoos, changing their color.
Aiden bends down and picks up his shirt slipping and arm through it. "Oh, training for what? I do a lot of practicing for fire dancing up here so it's a great place, really roomy. So I know what you mean about messing up. Sometimes one of the other girls who lives here. Two girls but one girl…uh…shit, I can't remember her name." He says sighing. "Anyway, she tends to have cook outs up here sometimes."
Connor goes back to his stretches, sitting down on the ground and bending to wrap his hands over one set of toes on the sandals, "Oh… Elizabeth and something… yeah, she stopped by. It was a little weird. She's like the ultimate twin…" After a thirty count, he shifts to the other leg, "We're all busy people, but this was the best place for us to find a home. They're college students, but I'm still deciding what to do." There's a pause as he stands and picks up the staff once more, "Combat training, actually. But some of the kata can actually be pretty graceful."
"Something like that. Honestly I'm horrible with names. I have this one friend, Kell..no Kali, that I always get wrong." Aiden admits as a little bit of yellow starts to show in the markings. He starts to put his shirt back on, which is a complex process of him workig his wings through the holes in the shirt. "Anyway, I don't really do much combat honestly. I'm more of a dancer but grace is a huge thing. I'd actucally be curious to watch sometime. Maybe get some ideas of fire dancing with a staff."
"Allright." Connor says as he bounces on his feet a few times, tilting his head back and forth, "First thing you learn is staff control is all in the wrist, staff power is all in the hips. If you ever watch a baseball player swing, they might swing at the shoulder, but the torque and pivot at the hip is where they get the good hits from." He begins to swing the staff back and forth a few times, and then proceeds to do some defensive spins, working the staff back and forth between his hands until he finally turns his body, and exaggerates the twist on his hip before his shoulder comes around and he stops the staff in a mid-swing, causing the front to bow slightly and snap back.
"I've never watched baseball." Aiden says sheepishly, the yellow becoming more apparent in his markings. "Hockey a bit, but that's all really. But I know about wrist movements. I do a lot of things with poi and various batons on fire." He says watching Connor for a bit. "Okay, I think I get it. I just have to think about how that would work with wings and fire."
Connor arches a brow as he brings the sweeping motion to an end, and then bounces the tip of the staff off his foot, causing him to hiss and wince, but then chuckle, "Still practicing… so you're Hawaiian? Or from the islands?" Reaching down, he rubs the bruised spot, but it seems more of a sting to his pride than anything else. Backing up, he starts the movement series again, but loses the staff mid-changeover, which sends it skittering across the way, "I guess that's what I get for showing off." And with a mild hop in his step he goes over to retrieve it.
"You okay?" Aiden asks with a hint of concern before shaking his head. "Nope, I'm Canadian, but traveled around the US and Canada most of my life." He says as he sractches the back of his head as the tattoo like markings go from green and yellow to an orange colour. "Why do you ask if I'm Hawaiian? Do I look like some surfer guy or something? And don't worry about it, I'm not going to laugh at you for dropping your staff. You should see the stuff I've done when practicing."
With a slightly embarrassed look on his face, Connor picks up the staff and walks back over as he says, "Well… you mentioned fire dancing and poi… I just assumed. It's not like everyone who lived on the islands has to be native Hawaiian…" He then pauses, and says, "And not that I'm going to point or anything… but your tattoos keep changing color. Is that part of your mutation, or are they just that cool."
"Oh, no. Sorry, I'm a freak show preformer. I do fire breathing, dancing and sword swallowing for a living. When I'm not a waiter at the Bistro down the block." Aiden explains. "I didn't have a normal up bringing, I was raised as part of a traveling freak show so I didn't have a normal upbringing. And before you say you're a mutant it's horrible to call yourself a freak, I loved every minute of being part of it." Aiden says as he hears a lot of people comment on the word freak. "Oh yeah, it's part of my mutation. My tattoos change with my feelings. I'm an empath."
Connor puts one hand up to forestall any more protest, "I've been to some of those freak shows… and they're cool. That's a lot of work to be able to do stuff like that. Besides…" And he pauses a moment, "I got used to being called a freak a lot as a kid in school… so it's no big deal." Smiling a bit, he returns to working with the staff, going a little bit slower this time, and catching himself before losing the staff once more, "I'm an ex-mutant… something I did burned my abilities out. Otherwise you'd see my creepy glowing eyes. Friends got used to it, but I always got looks for wearing sunglasses at night."
"Ex mutant, how does that work?" Aiden asks as he's never heard of someone becoming an 'unmutant'. "After the wings appeared that was kind of it for me and school. I haven't been since, I was one of those runaway mutant kid sorts. I got lucky and got picked up by a mutant freak show, a bunch of us who just were lucky enough to get physical mutations. Best family in the world." Aiden says as the tattoos turn a deep blue colour. "So how can you burn your mutantness out?"
Swinging the staff up over his shoulders, he wraps his arms over it to relax, and takes a deep sigh, "My powers manifested like yours… but it was a subtle thing, since it only worked when I was sleeping… and then something happened to me about a year and change ago, and they were ramped up so I could do cool stuff like teleport. But whatever did that… it's gone now. It's like I strained a muscle, and it's taking time to heal… at least that's what three doctors have told me. And another one has said my brain may just start working around the part that got damaged… or whatever." There's a long exhale from him as he looks down, "I'm training because I still want to help. Hawkeye doesn't have any powers, and he's still the coolest Avenger next to Captain America. Iron Man doesn't have them either, just his brains and his armor… and I heard rumor that the Black Panther is also just a normal guy…"
"Honestly I don't know much about superheroes. I know a few Candians but I haven't ever thought about being out there fighting." Aiden admits. "I've just been more concerned with living and finding my friends that I've lost. But if that's what you want, why not. It's good you want to help. Oh!" Aiden says remembering something. "One of the few times I did get involved, I ended up breaking my arm. Since I have hallow bones they doctors didn't really know how to handle it. They had this blue fuzzy doctor come up from this school to help. Maybe he can help?"
Connor actually laughs a bit, "Doctor McCoy was my first mentor at the Xavier School. He did the initial exam on my powers, and has been keeping tabs on me since. He also taught me the math to let me use my power more efficiently. He's a really cool guy, but don't let him behind the wheel… he's a beast, blue fur and lion-y looks aside." Grinning a bit more as he then looks at his phone, and then winces slightly, "Oh sh-… I gotta run… I have to get to work. Courier work. Coolest job in the city. So… umm… we can meet up again some other time, if you want?"
"Any time." Aiden says and there's a bit of a pause as if he's already forgotten Connor's name. "It was great meeting you and I should be getting ready for my job out in Coney Island. I'll hook you and your roommates up with tickets sometimg." He says as he picks up his stero and heads to the door, holding it open for Connor so they can head down and part ways.
