2012-10-11 Potatoes and Coffee

Warning: Adult language follows. Parental discretion is advises.
Some people traverse the streets of New York City on foot or driving a vehicle sure. Then some folks do that same thing with a flair that jumps out, grabs the attention, and does really crazy things to that attention. New York City traffic isn't anything to sneeze at, but it's died down a bit from the rush hour angle earlier and yet... a high performance engine gives its distinctive roar as Carol maneuvers her Triumph Daytona between cars as she weaves through the cars.She's courting disaster maybe, or at least a major ticket for speeding and potential reckless driving. Her black bike, black helmet, and black jacket combine with her midnight blue jeans to make her a shadow of movement until she comes to a stop at a red light. After all, she's driving crazy yet... not wanting to cause accidents that can be avoided. (If interested, the bike: http://blog.motorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/090111-2012-triumph-daytona-675-3.jpg)
There's another woman out on a motorcycle, all but flipping off small things like traffic laws. Tanya zooms her Dodge Tomahawk through the streets, the engine roaring loudly as she guns it. A heavy lean and cutting across lanes lets her take a corner at nearly a hundred miles an hour, and she's off again. She zooms between cars with abandon, hunched over the handlebars to cut down on the drag.Unfortunately, Manhattan traffic is what it is--thick and heavy, at the best of times. She has to stop at a stop light, since the cross traffic is thick enough to make it so trying to cross it is--a very, very bad idea. She's pretty sure she'd survive, especially with the magics on the motorcycle, but--only pretty sure.She pulls up next to the Daytona, stretching her left foot down to the street. She gives the other bike a once over, nodding her head once before reaching up to flip the visor on her helmet. "Nice bike," she calls out to the other woman, voice raised to be heard over the idling engines and to counter the muffling effect her helmet has.
"So, like- I know I'm new at this game," comes a voice from above. Descending from above on a glimmering circle of green energy arrives a man, his lean frame clad in a fitted black bodysuit with green shoulders and white piping. A stylized circle emblazons his breast, and an angular green domino mask conceals his features, his eyes little more than white pools of energy."And don't take this the wrong way. But did you know that reckless speeding on motorcycles accounts for a huge percentage of deaths, not only to the cyclists, but to the pedestrians? And other drivers?" Kyle makes a gesture with his right hand. Someone who was looking in the right direction might see a pair of potatoes- albeit green, semi-translucent constructs of hard light- wedging themselves in the exhaust manifolds of both of the high-end motorcycles. Someone looking at him would just hear the bikes reacting accordingly to having their exhausts plugged. "Sorry to kill the fun. I'm still getting used to this 'hero' thing."
"Thanks!" calls Carol towards Tanya as the beast pulls up next to her. Her own biker boots are well loved and have seen many miles. At least from the look of the one Tanya can see from that side. She lifts her own visor, her blue eyes gleaming with shared amusement as she offers, "Don't worry, not stupid enough to offer to race. Besides, if you so much as chip the paint on that thing, you could be out my entirely annual salary."And then there's Kyle and Carol looks up at the guy while raising a brow. The engine sound changes and she turns her head back as the light turns green. "Well, now we're blocking the intersection. Just as dangerous yes?" she asks as she steps off the bike and bends to lift the thing easily before striding towards the sidewalk. "Need a lift?" she asks towards Tanya.
...oh no he didn't. Tanya's eyes widen as the Tomahawk's engine starts chugging, and it takes her only a moment for her to trace the sound to the exhaust. "You cock-sucker!" she exclaims, flipping down the kick-stand and all but leaping from the motorcycle to race around to the back of the thing. She half-growls, "Touch my fucking Tomahawk...!" as she crouches and peers at the potato. Damned thing's wedged in there but good, too--but she's not exactly without abilities of her own."I'd better fucking /not/ need a god damned ride..." she tells Carol, voice thick with annoyance, though hopefully it's perfectly obvious that it's not directed at the other woman.Her hands and eyes glow with a bright, pink light, and a pink outline of a flame on much of her right leg can just be seen through her leathers as she touches her right index finger to the potato. As for the potato--it starts smoking, blackening, and shrinking. It doesn't take but a beat for it to shrink just enough to let her yank the thing out, which then gets hurled upward at the flying man as the glow fades. "Do that again, and I do what I did to that potato to your funbag, you got me?" she calls up to him, sound very sincere.
Kyle raises an eyebrow at Tanya Li as she hurls his energy construct back at him. It vanishes into his chest without so much as stirring the hair on his head. "Thanks for your cooperation, ma'am," he nods at Carol. The black-suited man turns his glowing white eyes back to Tanya and folds his arms across his chest, a smirk crossing his face. "Please, watch your language. There are children around," he asks her, with a patronizing tone. "And don't take it so personally. I just stalled out your exhaust. I could have just as easily done that to your fuel manifold. Or your headers. Or your spark plugs, injection manifold, computer system..." He ticks items off his fingers. "Personally, I'd be grateful I just saved you a five-hundred dollar ticket and a trip to the city lockup for felony speeding on public avenues."
"I wasn't cooperating." says Carol up towards Kyle as she puts hers down on the shoulder, kickstand down. "I was merely trying to avoid a rather... ugly encounter. Plus, you -were- just trying to be helpful. I just..." She reaches up and takes her helmet off, that blonde hair dropping out to drape about her shoulders, "... can't handle going so slow these days." She shrugs and gestures towards Tanya's bike. "Now, to explain why she's so upset, that bike of hers is a prototype. There -may- be three of them in the world. Last I checked, the estimated cost of one of those is upwards of half a million bucks. Damage -it- and she may be SOL." She shrugs, quite calm and in control as she hooks the helmet on her handlebars.
"Yeah?" retorts Tanya, putting her hands on her hips. "And I could just as easily have set every electric impulse in your fucking body to fire at the same time. You don't fuck with me, I won't fuck with you." The other drivers, honking and generally getting annoyed, make her stop--yes, she was going to say /even more/--and press her lips together, and she turns to get back onto the motorcycle. "Let me pull the stupid thing over, god damn it..." she says, voice a much more normal tone."And for the record?" she calls out as she pulls the kickstand up with her foot, "damage it, and the fucker who did the damage will be S.O.L., not me. Trust me on that one." Yeah, she's Very Not Happy. But at least she's edging the thing over to the side of the street, out of the way of traffic. Her glance at Carol is much more appreciative; the woman knows her motorcycles. That's pretty damn cool to learn, even if it came here and now.
"I'll take it over having to let the air out of the tires," Kyle says, with an easy shrug. There's no malice in his tone, speaking to Carol, and her ease sets his tone with a casual, relaxed air. "Sorry. If you want to go fast, there are safer places to do it than the middle of a Manhatten parkway. US 9 isn't far from here and the mountains are just a half-hour away at a safe speed. At the speeds you were going, if you hit a vehicle, you'd kill you and everyone in the vehicle you've hit."Kyle floats along as Tanya moves her bike along to the sidewalk, tilting his head down to look at her. "Miss, I don't really care for being threatened. You're putting a lot of innocent lives in danger. I could really give a flying flip for how much that vehicle costs or if you're stuck with the bill. I can't imagine who'd give you a half a million dollar prototype vehicle so you can bomb around the Lower East Side in some of the heaviest traffic in the world."
"Look." offers Carol to nobody in particular. "Can we ease back on the testosterone here?" She leans on her bike and gestures to the constructs still jamming her tailpipes with brows raising. "And I used to go a -lot- faster before I retired." she offers. The lady can't be thirty yet, and she's retired? "Plus, for some reason, it's the adrenaline of weaving through traffic that makes it even worth it in the first place these days. Sorry if I'm making your job difficult there Green Guy."
A glance at the other woman; dialing back the testosterone would, doubtless, be a good idea, but--a line was crossed. Somehow, Tanya's mouth just can't seen to stop when her motorcycle was messed with. "You really are fucking new to this hero-ing thing, aren't you?" she retorts as she kicks the kickstand, glaring up at the man. "You don't even take a god damned moment to learn, to study, to think. I happen to have magic spells woven into this thing to make sure crashes don't harm anyone--but nooooo, dumb-ass has to just butt in." She gets off the Tomahawk and slides her helmet off, revealing pink hair and making her tattooed face all the more plainly seen. "I really don't give a s--crap what the hell you care for. Don't touch my bike. Investigate and think instead of just butting the f--hell in." She's at least trying to calm down, but.
"Right, because you would have been /so/ reasonable if I'd pulled up next to you and asked you, politely, to go the speed limit," the Green Lantern says. He manages to roll his blazing white eyes upwards, exasperated. He waves his hand towards the bike, and what looks like a holographic computer display leaps up in front of him. "Hmm. All I'm seeing is a... force transferral shunt," he says, reading aloud. "So.. unless you can somehow bypass all the laws of physics, my readings are telling me that all that force would still have to be transferred somewhere. Maybe to the ground." He makes a 'kablooey' noise and gesture. "And I /hate/ seeing potholes in the roads."
"Physics?" asks Carol as she rolls her eyes, "So you're saying there -is- magic there? Have you ever known... you know, you said you're new at this. For the record, I'm not magic sort, but I've seen some crazy things, and I know that magic tends to laugh in the face of physics, before breaking it like a twig." She folds her arms over her chest and just smirks a bit. "Wish I had a 'force transference' thingamagoober when I was in the Air Force. It would've been cool to not worry about blacking out while trying to bank at Mach 2.6."
Arching a brow, Tanya looks to Carol, then back up to Kyle. "What she said. Technically, most of what I do involves telling physics to piss off. Remember that physics is just one force of the universe; it's just one set of laws and energies. I'd think someone who can fly would realize that." She really is trying to calm down; though her voice is just as patronizing as before, at least she's cut out the swearing. Ignoring most of what Kyle actually said helps with that, though. "Look--I'm sorry, okay? Some--only some--of my, uh, reaction isn't entirely your fault. But--just don't fu--mess with my bike next time, okay?" And she even reaches her hand up toward the man, to offer a handshake. She's trying, here.
Kyle takes a breath, then nods. He kills his floating disc and lands easily on his feet, then advances and shakes Tanya's hand. "I'm sorry if I worried you. If I had a sweet ride like that, I'd have been concerned about her, too." He extends the look to Carol. "Same to you, miss," he adds. "And yeah- it comes in real handy when I hit Mach 4 or so. Not that I do that over city limits," he hastens to add. "It's an interesting bit of energy, how you've got that set up," he compliments Tanya. "How'd you do it? I can tell there's a kinetic shunt in place, but it doesn't look like you've got any kind of tech backing it up."
"Maybe because it's maaaaagic." says Carol with her arms unfolding, and her hands waving, not -quite- jazz-hands. For now though, she just half stands, half leans there, watching the two kids kiss and make up, so to speak. She is quite amused at the situation it seems, but she does ask, "Hey kid. You mind?" she asks, gesturing at the potatoes still in -her- tailpipes. She might be able to forcibly remove them herself... but she figures, why should she bother?
A smile finally comes to Tanya's lips, and she shakes Kyle's hand firmly; she's not trying for a strength contest, but she's not one of those women who do the "dainty" handshakes. "What she said, again. It is magic," she says as she looks over to Carol and her motorcycle. "If the thing stops quicker than would be normal, the force gets shunted around the bike and anyone on it; you'd seriously feel next to nothing. I--admit it does have to go somewhere, and--Manhattan has too many potholes as it is, I agree. So--yeah." At least she has the grace to look embarrassed, and she runs a gloved hand through her hair as she looks back to Carol and motions to her. "Don't suppose you'd care to yank those things out, eh?" she asks of Kyle. "I don't want to risk harming her bike."
"Hmm? Oh. Sorry, miss." Kyle flashes a tight grin at Carol, putting emphasis on 'miss'. He looks at her bike and the ghostlike constructs vanish into nothingness with no sound. "It's interesting," Kyle says, looking back at Tanya Li. "I haven't run into a lot of magic yet. Feels... weird. But I think I see it. I don't know how you do it, but I can see how it works." He shrugs, dismissing the issue. "Neither of your bikes should be damaged. I, uh, used to do that when I was a kid if we knew guys were dealing, or speeding around the barrio." He grins a bit wider. "Pissed 'em off somethin' fierce if the cops showed up and their cars stalled out on 'em a half block away."
"Wait, you're new to this, but you've been doing it since you were a kid?" asks Carol. Details don't slip by her often, but maybe she's thinking that Kyle is talking about putting -energy- constructs into tailpipes. She inclines her head and shrugs, "You're contradicting yourself. By the way, how do you do what you're doing?" Of course, were Kyle to turn his scans her way, not at the bikes, just at her... it'd likely give him a headache. A blend of Kree and Human physiologies, brood experiments, a link (even a dormant one) to a white hole... yeah, she's strange on her own.
"Magic always kind'a feels weird, even when you're the one weaving it," says Tanya, leaning over to hook her helmet on one of the handlebars. When Carol speaks up, she arches a brow again and glances at Kyle, then looks back to the other woman. "I think he meant shoving potatoes into exhaust pipes. Don't need magic, a fancy suit, or whatever else to do that." A beat, then she looks back to Kyle and asks, "How /do/ you do what you do, anyway?" Since Carol mentioned it, it did pique her curiosity.
"The potato gag. Not the whole superhero thing," Kyle clarifies, nodding at Tanya Li as she corroborates his story. "As for how /I/ do what I'm doing, well..." He shrugs, lines of muscle moving under the nearly skintight uniform. "It's a lot like how anyone does anything, I guess. I visualize it, and then I make it real. I wanted to stall your bikes without damaging them. So." He makes a tossing gesture, and on the downstroke, 'catches' another potato. Aside from being slightly translucent and green, it looks as real as one you'd pull from the ground. "I decided you needed some spuds. If I want to float, I make a disc." He turns his face from Carol to Tanya Li. "I can see the way the universe is bending around you, too. Your tattoos look weird." He looks back to Carol. "And I don't think you're entirely human, are you? There's something weird about your genetic structure. Too many of the, uh, little pair dealies are wrong." Kyle apparently doesn't know much about chromosomal structures. "And you've got energy just bleeding off you, but it's not going anywhere. I can't make sense of how you've got it bound up, but..." he shrugs at Carol. "It's half the reason I stopped you. If I wasn't sitting here talking with you, I'd swear you were just exposed to a nuclear accelerator lab, the way space-time is warping near you."
"Color me impressed." offers Carol as she just relaxes there casually. "A lot of it has to do with molecular density. Never mind the forcible combining of my DNA with alien DNA. Oh, and the whole unlocked potential due to a third alien group." She pauses and shakes her head, "God, I sound like I belong on the X-Files, don't I?" she asks with a smirk. "But, perhaps this will put your mind at rest for the moment." she offers as she reaches into her jeans back pocket, pulls out a wallet, and flips it open to reveal a badge stamped with the letters S.H.I.E.L.D....
"Damn, and I thought my sh--crap was impressive," remarks Tanya to Kyle, her smile taking on a lopsided aspect as she folds her arms loosely under her breasts. She looks back to Carol, then, and says, "S.H.I.E.L.D., huh? Neat. I've met a few of them; guy named Wisdom and, uh--crap. Doug something. Only met him once, but he seems pretty decent. Though I also like the idea of law enforcement, though, so what the hell." The smile widens to a grin as she shakes her head. "I swear, Manhattan is just budding non-normal people left and right sometimes." bNot that that's a bad thing, as her tone should imply. It's just interesting, really.
Kyle peers at the badge. "You're the second SHIELD agent I've run into. I, uh, kind of assaulted Hellboy," he says, looking a bit embarrassed. "We had a misunderstanding. He was cool about it, though." He doesn't look particularly perturbed by Carol's badge. Something in his posture seems to indicate that, at least unconsciously, he doesn't feel as if she has authority over him- that is, if someone's keen enough on body language to pick up such nuance in posture. "I have to admit, it comes in handy," Kyle admits to the women. "And lady, since I started making things with my brain, you wouldn't believe the crazy I've run into. I'm dating an alien, for god's sake." His eyes brighten- literally- and he snaps his fingers. "Hey, wait! Actually, I need to talk to a SHIELD agent. I've made, uh, first contact." Kyle coughs delicately into his fist. "With an alien race. And they- well, she- wants to be presented as an Ambassador to Earth. Is there anyone who could, uh- help handle that?"
Raising a brow, Carol puts her wallet away. She eyes Tanya and then looks back to Kyle. "Whoa, hold it there... hey, what do I call you? Kelly Green? Chlorophyll?" she asks with a smirk. Then she adds, "Don't worry, most people who meet'im tend to assault Big Red." She shakes her head and then goes on, "And SHIELD isn't exactly... the diplomatic corps. We're an enforcement and logistics division. Personally, my suggestion would be going to the state department. They handle negotiations and diplomacy between sovereign states."
Oh, the boy is cute when he's embarrassed. Tanya can't help but adopt an amused smirk as he mentions "first contact". Her head cants a little to one side, gaze flicking between Carol and Kyle, noticeable by the way the small muscles around her eyes move. "You know, she has a point," she says, unfolding her left arm to wag her index finger a little. "I mean, there have to be people who specialize in just that kind of thing, with as many ambassadors from other nations, not to mention worlds, as we've got. Might want to look into it from that end."
Kyle grimaces. "Yeah... that was my guess, to. I just... Well. Landing on the White House lawn or just banging on the front door of the State Department Building seemed kind of, I don't know. Silly." He shrugs. "I guess it's the right way to go about it. I can't say I have a lot of experience with diplomatic envoys. Maybe I can find a book on-line about it."Carol's question seems to catch up to him. "Kelly Green? What? No. I'm..." Kyle blinks. It's likely the first time he's ever said his assumed name out loud. "I am The Green Lantern." The way he says it is more than a name- there's a sharp cadence to his words that makes them more title and honorific. "I didn't catch your names...?" he asks the ladies.
"Let's just go with Agent Danvers for now." offers Carol as she reclines there. "Green... Lantern." she offers, "I get the green, but why -lantern-?" she asks with an incline of her head. "And I don't suggest you just go knocking on doors. I was thinking... you might contact an attorney, perhaps your congressman." She shrugs, "there are always proper channels and the right way to go about things."
"Li, Tanya Li," says the pink-haired woman, re-entwining her arms once more. "And I think the lawyer idea is the best bet. You'd have to find one specializing in this kind'a thing, but that shouldn't be hard. Dig around on-line, like you said, but also look for reviews and such. Just because a lawyer is the kind you want doesn't mean he's not a jerk or something." She doesn't really comment on the name; it's not a terrible one, and she's heard a lot odder. Hell, in the brief period she thought about trying the whole secret identity thing, she couldn't think of any that weren't outright stupid, so she can appreciate when one sounds at least decent.
Kyle stands a little straighter. It's a posture of someone taking a deep, personal pride in a lineage, in a name. "There was a time before man was man- when the most powerful species in the galaxy had yet to crawl out of the primordial ooze. In this time before history, life flourished on a planet of swamps and vapors. It was here that the first police force in existence came to be. To light their way in the swamps, and make their presence known, they carried lanterns that glowed green." He smiles, the expression proud. "To honor them, we- I," he says, not noticing his slip, "bear the mantle of The Green Lantern. Across all races, all species, and all histories, it is said that the Lantern remains a beacon of peace and security." He takes a deep, satisfied breath, nodding once to himself as he finishes his story.
There's a pause, and then Carol snorts a bit, "Sounds like the Lanterns have never been to the Magellanic Galaxy." she offers, "The Kree -live- for violence, war... not like the Skrulls are much better. But being shape-shifters, they tend to go more for infiltration than overt conquest. The Shi'ar Empire... well, they're a whole different galaxy, but they are also rather warlike."
...that's certainly interesting. Tanya arches a brow and looks to Carol, then purses her lips in thought and looks back to Kyle. "Well, that's--certainly a lot to live up to," she says, brows lifting a bit. She looks back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, letting out a low whistle at the certainly-not-less-interesting bits about aliens and other galaxies and what-not. "You know, the most I've got to offer is knowing a bit about the spirits and elementals that wander around. /Met/ a couple aliens, but not like what you guys are talking about. I'm jealous." The grin returns to her face as she continues looking between the two."
"I don't know about that area of space. Not yet, anyway," Kyle amends. "But, if they come here, I'll do my best to stop them. I know that's kind of SHIELD's job," he admits. "I'm not gonna stand by idly if people need help." He grins at Tanya Li, the boyish expression tempering the resolute posture in his spine. "If it makes you feel better, I don't know anything about magic." He eyes the tattooed woman, considering. "I'll make you a deal- if you'll teach me about some magic, I'll take you out over the Catskills and show you some serious speed," he offers her. "You'll think your bike is slower than a Segway."
"They've been here before." offers Carol, "I -know- the Kree have. The Skrulls as well. I only -think- that the Shi'ar have.... 'graced' us with their presence as well once or twice. As for the Kree, imagine an empire dedicated to nothing but military conquest, and evolving the perfect soldiers. Directed by an AI made up of the thought engrams of -every- one of the greatest minds that the race has ever produced. A race that has been conquering star systems for millennia, and which owns thousands of worlds. I met one of their people..." she holds up a hand, the index finger pointed upwards in a counting gesture, "... who was not what they wanted him to be. He was an honorable and noble man... and the greatest traitor in the history of the Kree." She gestures to herself, "And when they tried to kill him... the weapon bonded some of their genetics into my code. So.... if I have their genetics, and this energy level..." she lets her voice trail off then and shakes her head, letting the two of you come to your own conclusions.
That makes Tanya grin again, and she gives the man a nod. "Alright," she says, unfolding her arms so she can work on removing her gloves. Arching a brow again, she looks to Carol as she shoves the gloves into the pocket on her right thigh. "Sounds--complicated, really," she says, a touch softer, and rather appreciatively. "Though I think everyone's situation is complicated. I mean, that whole business with the--the weapon bonding stuff, there's got to be more to it than that, but I'm sure it's one of those stories that would take forever to explain--and you--" she glances back to Green Lantern, "--I bet what you can tell us without giving away too many details would be pretty complicated, too. So--tell you both what. Coffee. I'm buying. Beats standing around out here on the sidewalk, yeah?" She smiles at each in turn, there.
Kyle grins at Tanya, dipping his head in appreciation of her diplomatic offer. The biker chick runs a bit deeper than first glance would suggest! "I'd like that." He... doesn't quite disappear, but there's that sort of sense one gets when someone blinks just as they are passed on a sidewalk. "I don't normally do the quick change in public," comments a good-looking young man on the sidewalk. He jams his hands into his canvas jacket and grins at Tanya and Carol. "But if you can't trust SHIELD, who can you trust? And for the moment... call me Kyle."
"Carol." offers the blonde as she presses the button on her key fob and activates the alarm on her bike. It may not cost half a million, but it's something she spent her own hard earned money on and she wants to keep it safe. Picking up her helmet off the handlebars, she tucks it under her left and and reaches up to unzip her jacket. Beneath it's... well just a plain old black teeshirt. Kind of a color theme for her today. That done, she simply turns and heads for the doors of the nearest coffee shop, "And fine by me Kyle." she adds.
"What about me and the other people?" replies Tanya, smiling and arching a brow in humor, jerking a thumb to the side to indicate the passers-by, who are--wondering what the hell they just kind-of-but-didn't-really see. "You're putting an awful lot of trust in someone most people would look at and immediately check their pockets to make sure their wallets were still there." A beat, then her smile widens and she adds, "I like it. Maybe I can buy you as a some space-ranger-savior-guy after all." A cluck of her tongue, then she reaches for her helmet as well, taking the chance to flick a nondescript button underneath the handlebars before going to follow Carol. There's no beep, no flashing light, no nothing.
"Maybe I won't park your bike on top of First National Bank if I think you've been messing with me," Kyle says, a broad grin and easy wink belying his words. He falls into step with Carol and Tanya. "Maybe I just have this... innate sense that you're not going to betray me." Which is entirely likely. Actually, completely true, but that's the sort of thing someone wouldn't know without him saying so. "Maybe I live life on the edge. Or I'm just that naïve." He gets a step ahead of the girls and holds the door open for them to precede him into the café.
Wincing, Carol mutters aside to Kyle, "Ixnay on the ike-bay threats okay?" Things just got so friendly, it'd be a shame to see them de-evolve again. Then she looks back towards Tanya and shrugs, "Maybe he just has utter faith in his power." She offers back and hopes Tanya doesn't flip out again as she steps through ahead of the pink haired biker chick.
"Do I need to mention your funbag again, slappy?" retorts Tanya, though her tone is much more good-natured and joking this time, so there's that. She even gives a "Thank you," as she steps past the open door. "He probably does, I'd wager," she says, hurrying a step to walk alongside Carol. "Which--is kind'a understandable, I think. I'm the same way, after all, so..." A shrug of her left shoulder, and she aims a grin at both of the others as she moves her scarf aside so she can unzip her coat a little, just enough to let her reach inside for her wallet.
"As a matter of fact, I do," Kyle points out, matter-of-factly. "Every time I use my abilities, I learn more about them. At night, I dream of things I learned during the day," he explains. "I'll probably wake up tomorrow with your electromagnetic aura burned into my brain." Kyle grins at Carol, moving to stand next to Tanya Li at the counter. "And if Tanya here's willing, I'm sure I'll learn a lot about magic soon, too."
Taking her jacket off entirely, Carol places it and her helmet on a table nearby. She then heads for the counter stretching both arms over her head with fingers laced together. She literally stretches to the point of going up on tip toes and her shoulders, knuckles, and back pop a few times before she grins and rolls her neck, "Always loved a good stretch." she offers before she says to the attendant, "Just a latte', nonfat. A hint of caramel flavor please." This one is not eating tons of calories.
"Damn," says Tanya, brows knitting as she looks to Carol. "No kidding, good stretch." She chuckles, then brings out her wallet. Another grin and transfers it to her right hand, then she holds out her left, palm up. "First rule of magic--nothing's what it seems," she says, then snaps her wrist, and a business card appears between her fingers. Two, actually, seen when she fans them a little. One is offered to each of her companions, then she looks up to the menu board. Each card says "Mack & Co. Automotive Repair", then lists a phone number an an address in Harlem, near-ish the corner of Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and Lenox Avenue, and a web site address. Below that is "Tanya Li", and below /that/ is "Restoration Specialist". "You guys ever need repairs, Mack's the place," she says. Never hurts to drum up a little business."Biggest mocha you're legally allowed to serve, a lot of espresso shots, and don't be skimpy on the chocolate, yeah?" she says to the cashier, then nods to the others. "And her order, and whatever he gets, please." She's pulling out bills while taking a step aside to let Kyle up.
Kyle steps up to the counter and says something in Spanish. The barista blinks, and responds. The two of them go back and forth in Spanish for a few moments, bantering about the weather and life in New York. Kyle tells a really funny joke about Superman and chorizos. There's some laughter, and then Kyle apparently places his order. He steps away, grinning, hands loose in his jacket pockets, standing next to Carol. "So how do you like working for, uh, the division?" he asks, remembering at the last moment that maybe Carol doesn't want the world at large to know her professional identity. "I've been pretty impressed with their operation so far."
"Well, would you believe it's actually more of a 'part time' gig for me?" asks Carol before she jerks a thumb towards the clerk, "Old friend?" she asks as she takes her latte' and heads over to sit down. She takes a small sip and leans back in her seat. "Then again, not a lot for a retired Major to do other than a life of government service and a second job to -actually- make some money."
With the cards not taken, Tanya clucks her tongue and slips them into her coat. Well, can't win 'em all. She steps back up to pay for the coffees, adding a few bills to the tip jar before shoving her wallet back into her coat as well and zipping it back up. She'll hand Kyle's drink to him and take her own, following the pair to the table, setting her helmet down on a nearby chair. "That's right, you mentioned something about the Air Force, right?" she says, looking at the other woman curiously. "Was wondering about that, actually."
"Thanks," Kyle says to Tanya, smiling gratefully. He wraps long fingers around the warm cardboard mug. Carol's stretching must have distracted him from Tanya's cards. "No," he shrugs at Carol, looking nonplussed. "Just being friendly." He takes a sip of his coffee and turns back to Tanya. "I wish I had some work for you," he informs the woman. "I just can't justify owning a car here. I can barely afford rent on the apartment I'm renting. I'm from LA, but what I'm paying here for a single-bedroom, I could get most of a flat for back home." He shakes his head and sighs.
"And I don't own a car. Just the Triumph." offers Carol with a gesture towards the door and the bike outside. "It's no prototype, but it at least lets me feel a little like I'm flying a fighter again... just nape of the earth." She smirks and looks towards Tanya, "You were wondering? What specifically about it were you wondering?"
"Eh, most people don't own cars; they take a taxi, a car service or the subway," says Tanya, slouching a little in her chair and crossing her legs at the knee. "But, people still have to service those taxis and rented cars, and a lot of people do own their own cars and motorcycles, so." A shrug of her left shoulder, and she takes a sip of her coffee as she looks back to Carol. "Umm--I dunno," she admits, somewhat sheepishly. "Just--wondering. I mean, you were in the Air Force, so--what was it like, how'd you end up here, all that crap."
Kyle blinks and checks his cell phone, stepping back from the conversation and flipping it open. He scans the text message, then sighs. "Ladies, I'm sorry," he apologizes. "Something's come up where I work. I have to dash." He smiles at Carol and Tanya. "It was good to meet you. Both of you. And, I'm sorry about disabling your bikes. I hope you two have a good rest of your day." He nods again, and with a quick wave, turns to hustle out.
"Well, Dad was a jerk, wouldn't help me pay for college. Mostly because I was a girl, and he was a sexist pig. So I signed on with the air force for the GI bill, and it turns out, I loved to fly. Also... for once, they got it right, it was a natural aptitude for me. As for the rest... that's a story for another night. What about....." and she fades out, small-talk, chit-chat, the usual.
((Fade out on Chit-Chat))
Category:Logs
Category:RPLogs