2012-07-08 Kinship

It's late on a Saturday night, not far from the college district that wraps around Empire State University. The college is closed, save for a few frat parties that are helping the students blow off steam from a week filled with studies, and the bars and local nightlife is still somewhat awake.
A blue-skinned mutant is sitting by herself on a brick wall that lines a twenty-four hour laundromat. With her hands on each side of her, she's idly tapping her booted feet against the wall while watching people come and go. Some give her a wide berth, others don't seem to care. She, however, seems to be waiting on laundry inside of the laundromat, or at least that's what the empty backpack hanging by her side suggests.
It is almost entierly too late for some people to be up and outside. Billy Kaplin knows this, and yet he is still out and about. He is in his civilian guise at the moment, specificaly a black t-shirt with the crest of Hyrule on the front and the Master Sword plunged into a rock on the back, and wandering one of the few places he can go without being noticably out of place. Passing by the laundry mat he almost does not see Talia till he is nearly on her, and then unlike most people he just smiles and nods at her. As he gets close to the door to the laundry mat he stops and hmms to himself patting a pocket. "You wouldn't know if the soda machine in there has Orange Fanta?"
The blue-skinned girl lifts her black eyebrows to Billy. She drums one of her three-fingered hands on the brick wall and leans back so that she can peek inside the window of the building. No one else is inside, which means her clothes are still safe. "Uhmm...well I don't know if it's Fanta, but there's an orange button. Could be Crush, but that's pretty much the same thing, right?" She looks back to Billy, offering him a polite smile. "I think there's a 7-11 up the street if you don't find paydirt inside."
Billy nods and then shrugs a little. "Close enough at least, and at least with a vending machine no one starts asking questions based on time of night and age." With a small grin the teenager disapears into the building to grab himself an orange soda before returning. Not seeing a reason to keep on walking, at least for now, he finds a place to lean against the brick wall that Talia is perched on while he pops the top of his soda can.
When Billy returns to her, Talia supresses a yawn and takes in the sight of him. Checking out his tee-shirt, she decides he seems safe enough to start a conversation with. "So...laundry is probably the most boring thing ever. Back when I had my own machine I could just throw it in, go do something else, and then come back later. Laundromats, on the other hand, require you stick around and be bored out of your mind while guard your machine. It's a killer."
Wiccan nods and at least does not have to worry about being bored to death while doing laundry, his mother still won't let him near the machine after flooding the apartment with soap when he was ten. "Still have a few more years before I have to worry about that, although would figure a good book might help. Or an ipad and a Netflix account. Although since I don't have much else to do, I can offer at least a little company?"
"Company is a godsend. I have one of those S-phones but I'm not an a la carte plan, so I don't have the data allowance to stream movies, so that plan threw right out the window. I had a little bit of a novel left, but I finished that on the bus." She turns bringing up one knee to rest against her chest, and her tail sways calmly, looking down to the boy. "I'm Talia. What's your name?"
Wiccan grins and nods. "That is why I tend to carry extras if I am anywhere close to the end." Or if he forgets he can always summon one of his books out of his room, but obvious mutant or not he is not sure how safe it is to admit to that to Talia right away. "Billy, godsend and geek extrordinare."
"Godsend -and- geek you say? I think I recognize where that shirt comes from, but I never was too much of a gamer. That's Legend of Zelda, right?" Talia asks, motioning to his tee-shirt with one of her slender hands. "So what kind of geek are you? Just a typical gamer geek? Electronics? Dungeons and Dragons? Maybe some Star Wars?" Talia beams, brushing a hand through her hair. "What's your preferred poison?"
Billy nods at Talia, "Got it in one. Don't go for most of the shirts and stuff from the Zelda franchise, but this one spoke to me. Not really that much of a gamer myself, never that good at fighting games and just never liked shooters. Electronics are a deffinate no, and never had enough friends even for DND. My poison is mostly Tolkien, and Superhero stalking." The raven haired teen's left hand reaches up to brush through his hair almost exactly the same way that Talia's just did. "How about you? You in with the geek sheek as well?"
"Ah, I used to have a boyfriend that was a gamer, so he had all of the stuff, but he played a lot of those first person shooter games. Still, he had a poster with that triangle on it. Me? I don't know, I think everyone's a geek about something, even if it's football. I guess I'm a bit of a music geek. I used to do a lot of tweaking of equipment like drum machines, PA systems, that kind of stuff." She smiles, eyes back on the road for the top-notch bar scene people watching. "Superhero stalking? Who's your favorite?"
Billy nods and grins. "Music huh? Had the biggest crush on a g...on a music person last year. Learned way too much about the local indy bands just to get crushed." He shakes his head a little and smiles at Talia. "Haven't decided yet, not fully. Batman, if he is real, is a bit too dark and broody for me and Superman while h...great is a bit too perfect. Although there is Thor, even if half the talk on boards is nothing but speculation on if he is the real thing or what hair products he uses."
"Thor, huh? It's got to make you wonder whether or not a god actually needs hair care products. Sure, Thor's not the god of haircuts, but you figure that being a god would kinda float in perfect hair and no more split ends as a fringe benefit." Talia laughs, her tail twitching as she reaches for a cup of tea. She brings it to her lips for a sip. "You know, Superman's pretty hot. There's something about a boy scout, to be honest. Sure, he's a little too perfect, but sometimes perfect's a good thing. Lots of people crush on him."
Billy laughs a little and adds, "The form fitting spandex does not hurt either." He speaks before he thinks about it and then gulps blushing a little. Perfect is not bad, but always makes me a little nervouse. Known too many perfect people that are not as good as they seem." Ok, so its cynical but what New Yorker is not a little cynical at the least?
Billy nods at Talia and shrugs. "Your right, Superman is but...had experiences with people that just seem too perfect and ended up being very not. Call me cynical, but it makes me nervous if there is not at least one noticeable flaw."
"Oh I totally get that. A lot of people put on that perfect face because it lets them hide the fact they're totally scum underneath. Be there, done that, never again." Talia replies, stretching her feet out before her. She lets her feet fall, and the soles of her boots tap against the wall beneath her. "So are you a local, Billy? New Yorker through and through?"
Billy nods and is glad Talia gets his meaning, for some reason he is the only one of his limited number of friend that has had the experience of dealing with the person that puts on the perfect face up is just getting ready to set some one up for a hard fall. Yeah, lived in the Big Apple since the day I was adopted out of a nation so small it doesnt appear on most maps. How about you? Native, or just here for collage? He figures that being here for school is a good bet considering the area they are in.
"Right on, what country? I've done a little bit of travelling, maybe I've been there." Talia replies. "Me? I'm kind of local, I come from a place outside of the city, a little bit north-country from here. I'm not going to college right now, but I had some laundry to do and if there's one thing you can kind of count on, it's 24 hour laundry right next to a college. Besides, with all of the crazy stuff in the news, I figured I'd be safer near a college than say...the Jersey Shore."
Billy says, Transal, dont worry if you have never heard of it, just about the only thing that even I have been able to find about it is that its at the foot of Mount Wundergore, has a huge Gypsy population, and a few random posts about stuff that look like a H.P. Lovecraft fan trying to start a creepy pasta. Billy nods as he listens to Talia and grins, Anywhere near a collage is always safer than the Jersey Shore. I dont trust any state that has rivers that glow in the dark, or would let Snookie and The Situation represent them.
"Oh I've heard of Wundagore, actually, wow. Small world, right? My mom comes from Wundagore, and she's a part of that population of gypsies over there. I spent a few summers out there; they've got these really great festivals and some crazy-good food." She beams, taking it as her queue to stare up at the sky. "If I don't find what I'm looking for here in New York, I'll probably be heading back that way. That or if I bump into J-Wow and Snooki, the bets are all off and I'll swim back east if I have to."
Billy laughs and nods at Talia. Swimming is probably faster than trying to take the tunnel if you have to high tail it out of there around rush hour. He hmms to himself and tries to keep a little calm as she mentions her mother being form the area he was born in. Really, your Mom is from that area? Any chance you can tell me about it? My parents where there for some Doctors without borders thing or something years ago but wont actually tell me anything about it and always seem to get that worried look like they are afraid I dont think they are good enough because they are not my biological parents or something when I ask about it or the adoption. That and like I said all I can find on the area is the bare minimum and the crazy paranoid writings about elder gods or witches. As he says the last he stops and just sort of looks at his hands a second before shaking his head.
Wiccanlaughs and nods at Talia. Swimming is probably faster than trying to take the tunnel if you have to high tail it out of there around rush hour. He hmms to himself and tries to keep a little calm as she mentions her mother being form the area he was born in. Really, your Mom is from that area? Any chance you can tell me about it? My parents where there for some Doctors without borders thing or something years ago but wont actually tell me anything about it and always seem to get that worried look like they are afraid I dont think they are good enough because they are not my biological parents or something when I ask about it or the adoption. That and like I said all I can find on the area is the bare minimum and the crazy paranoid writings about elder gods or witches. As he says the last he stops and just sort of looks at his hands a second before shaking his head.
Billy laughs and nods at Talia. jSwimming is probably faster than trying to take the tunnel if you have to high tail it out of there around rush hour.j He hmms to himself and tries to keep a little calm as she mentions her mother being form the area he was born in. jReally, your Mom is from that area? Any chance you can tell me about it? My parents where there for some Doctors without borders thing or something years ago but wont actually tell me anything about it and always seem to get that worried look like they are afraid I dont think they are good enough because they are not my biological parents or something when I ask about it or the adoption. That and like I said all I can find on the area is the bare minimum and the crazy paranoid writings about elder gods or witches.j As he says the last he stops and just sort of looks at his hands a second before shaking his head.
"Well, there's not a lot I can tell you because you're either from Wundagore or you're not, and if you're an outsider it's the kind of thing where you just don't bring people into it. But if you were born there, you're not really an outsider, even if you were raised here in the US. I mean, I was raised 50/50. A little bit here and a little bit there." She pauses, stretching her slender arms above her head, a pleased sound passing her lips. "Let's see...well, the place has a definite magical side to it. Lots of local remedies and customs sort of thing to the point that if you're not used to that kind of stuff it might come across as weird."
Billy nods as he listens and perks up a little at the mention of Magic. Like real magic? Or just lots of superstitions orsay something like a higher than normal number of mutants born there with magic like powers? He does his best to keep the creeping bit of hope out of his voice as he puts forward the last part of his question.
Talia gives Billy a knowing wink, the sort of wink that you give a child when they //really// try to get the truth out of you on the myth of Santa Claus. It's a 'what do you think?' sort of wink. "Well, let's just say that there's magic there that's far more magical than that Insane Clown Posse song." She replies, taking a sip from her drink. "Let's just also say that I'm not one of those people that's going to bat an eyelash at anyone for knowing a few rituals or cleaning their apartment with sage."
Billy Kaplan knows about as much about magic as any slightly sheltered Jewish kid in New York, that is to say nothing at all. Considering the fact that Talia is an obvious mutant, and the secret of him being one has just about been burning a hole in his head since the last day of school, he decides maybe telling a stranger that is obviously not gonna be freaked about it might help. He closes his eyes a second and says a quick prayer not to crash into anything before he floats upwards and ends up sitting on top of the wall Talia has been perched on. Ok, just how do you clean with a spice?
Billy Kaplan knows about as much about magic as any slightly sheltered Jewish kid in New York, that is to say nothing at all. Considering the fact that Talia is an obvious mutant, and the secret of him being one has just about been burning a hole in his head since the last day of school, he decides maybe telling a stranger that is obviously not gonna be freaked about it might help. He closes his eyes a second and says a quick prayer not to crash into anything before he floats upwards and ends up sitting on top of the wall Talia has been perched on. Ok, just how do you clean with a spice?c
Talia's lips part into a wide grin, patting Billy on the back when he sits down beside her. Turning on her hip to face him a little more, she lets her tail sway behind her for balance. "If I didn't know any better before, Billy, I'd know you're part of the club now. So what is that, magic or are you a mutant?" She fishes, and then side-notes. "Oh, and if you burn sage in your house it wards off evil spirits. Plus it makes it smell nice."
Billy Kaplan nods, "Wards off evil spirits? Wonder if it works on bullies" He grins a little and shrugs. "Best I can answer that question is yes. Pretty sure I am a mutant, but have not been tested or anything, and my real power is kind of a magic like reality warping. I have to hear myself actually say a spell for it to work most of the time or at least chant what I want to happen. Expelliarmus even worksalthough I feel like even more of a nerd than I am willing to cop too using spells out of Harry Potter."
"Oh Harry Potter's not that bad, but that's an -awesome- power, Billy. I don't know who does the testing around here for that, but when I was a kid I got tested and spent all this time learning how to use my powers, so I've got them under control." She replies, motioning to him. "So if you need help with bullies or need a few tips, I'm your girl. I mean you're from Wundagore, you're a mutant, we're practically cousins. We've gotta watch out for each other."
Billy Kaplan nods and grins. "Not sure who would test, but kind of avoiding that. Hard enough outed for other things than adding being a mutant to it as well. The bulliesprobably not going to be a problem anymore, they got kicked out of school after I nearly electrocuted them." Billy stops and thinks about that a second. "Ok, either not as bad or worse than it sounds depending on your view. My powers kinda turned on last day of classes and then there was lightning, screaming, fire and since they dont remember anything everyone is just blaming it on faulty wiring."
"Wow, you really lucked out there. Right now with all of that stuff on the news you'd figure they'd bring in the CDC and start an investigation for random acts of electricity. Well, the offer stands if you need any help with control, I'll see what I can do. Maybe if there's a YMCA or old building around here, maybe sometime." She shrugs. "So..." She bites her lip. "...have you picked a name yet? You know, Iron Man, Thor, Batman."
Billy Kaplan nods and sighs. "Yeah I know. Whole thing happened just long enough before all the current stuff going on no one has even thought that it might be a mutant and not bad wiring in the bathroom." Billy grins and shrugs a little. "Actually, was thinking of Asguardian there for a bit since the whole flying and electricity bit came about when I was really wishing I could be like Thor, but as invasive as the hero boards tend to get trying to find everything about anyone in a cape..well certain things wont stay quiet forever and the inevitable jokes are too much. I have kind of settled on the old English name for a male witch, Wiccan. It fits my powers, rolls off the tongue, and no one is using it. Been training myself so far, got it mostly under control...other than the tendency to spark when I a surprised or the occasional odd thing like cream curdling out of nowhere."
"Wiccan's pretty current, too. A lot of people have heard of Wicca, they'll draw that right to witch and bam, makes a lot more sense. That and Asgardian's four syllables, that's a lot to yell out for help for." Chuckling, she takes another sip from her drink and throws up her arms, rather happy at the moment. "This is turning out to be a pretty good day. I don't know anyone here in town and after that Stark thing I've been trying to stay away from people, but you're pretty cool. Do you live around here?"
Billy Kaplan nods at Talia. "Yeah, home is not too far from here. I can understand not wanting to draw too much attention after that, my bad luck is it all started just before I was getting ready for my debut in a cape." Billy does look at Talia sideways a second before shaking his head. "Glad you think I am cool, but that is about as far from me as I can think of."
"Oh don't be so hard on yourself." She nudges his arm with her elbow. "You're at least cool enough to rock that Zelda shirt and chat up a stranger mutant no less. Not a lot of people are cool talking to strangers, especially at what, two in the morning?" She pulls out her S-phone, checking the time on it. "Which reminds me, I've got to throw stuff in the dryer. Come on." She directs, hopping off of the wall with ease and walking back into the laundromat.
Billy Kaplan laughs and shrugs. "Yeah, but not many people can toss lightning from their fingers if the mutant they are talking too turned out more terrorist and less cool indy girl." The raven haired teen hops off the wall like Talia, only he does so with far less grace and far more personal embarrassment. After picking himself up and looking around to see if anyone saw him fall on his back side he quickly joins Talia inside the laundry mat. Oddly, despite his fall from grace he managed to not spill a single drop of his soda.
Talia's already made it to the washing machine, which she opens up and takes a look inside. Inspecting her clothing, she makes sure nothing's been damaged by the machine before she reaches in and takes a large helping of the clothing into her hand. She turns and dumps them into one of the larger quadruple-load dryer units. "So, hey...what do you do?" She asks while she works, tossing another pair of jeans into the dryer. "You said you go to high school, what year are you in? You got any other mutant friends?"
Billy Kaplan shrugs, "Stalk super heroes mostly?" He answers with a smile. It is true, till he got his own powers most of his time not studying or babysitting his little brothers has been spent on S-Chan or other super hero based boards. "Just finished sophomore year, and don't think I have ever met another mutant. Well, there was my second grade teacher Miss Crabople, I swear she had to have some sort of cosmic awareness or something but everyone I mentioned it too just said it was cause she had been a teacher since the 60's. How about you? You said you travel, what has that been like? and do you know many other mutants?"
"I've known a lot, yeah..." Talia replies, a strange sort of sadness creeping into her voice. She turns her back to him as she puts the quarters into the dryer and prepares a small dryer sheet from a pack she purchased from the vending machine. "I grew up around mutants, I guess you could say kind of in a communal living thing. I'm out of high school by a few years now, but I spent some time travelling with some mutants. We had some pretty good times."
Billy Kaplan notices the sadness and that creeps in for a second and bites his lower lip. He is prepared to offer some sympathy when Talia turns her back in a bit of body language that it does not take a psychiatry degree to se means she does not want to talk about whatever the cause on the sadness is. "That cool, growing up it was mostly just me and my imaginary twin."
"Imaginary twin?" Talia repeats, lifting one of her brows. She closes the door to the dryer and turns it to life, which makes the large, circular chamber turn clockwise. She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry, it's just been a long time since I've seen some of those friends. Gets a little quiet. Don't mind me." She moves to sit atop one of the unused washers. "So you're an only adopted child?"
Billy Kaplan nods and sighs a little. "Most kids have imaginary friends, I had a twin with white hair and a apparently a bad attitude. I dont really remember it much, but mom loves to trot out the stories at family events. Adopted yeah, but not only anymore. Got a couple of little brothers that are almost as much a pain as me and my shadow were."
"Ouch, so you don't really so much have brothers as you do rugrats to babysit when your folks go out? I don't know what's worse, having a brother or sister that's old enough to fight over your stuff with, or a younger one that just messes with everything. I don't have any brothers or sisters though, but I did have nephews and friends' kids. They're cute little nightmares." Talia laughs, no longer bogged down by her lower feelings. She's shaken them off. "White hair? Like, not dyed but bleach white? That's kinda cool."
Billy Kaplan nods at Talia. "Yeah, one is ten the other twelve. Old enough that babysitting is not too much of a pain." He grins when he can see the sadness lift from Talia and shrugs a little. "I always thought it was cool, Mom says it was just a sign of how I invested in him all the personality traits that were opposite of my own. Said it was all very Freudian and still threatens to do a paper on it at some point."
"Oh no, a paper on your imaginary friend? Forever immortalized? You'll have to try to get her to put someone else's name on there, call you Barry Kaplan or something so that only your close friends and family know what's up." She brings her legs up, crossing them before her. "You know, I was thinking, it's crazy-o-clock right now, there's no way you didn't sneak out. Am I gonna get you in trouble keeping you out so late?"
Billy Kaplan laughs a little and nods. "Good thing Moms a professional. She would never use my name, just a patient number." At the mention of time and him probably sneaking out Billy can only give a slightly mischievous grin. "Since my brothers are both doing sleepovers, and the rents are both on call at their respective hospitals as long as I am back and in bed by 5 am no one has any chance of noticing."
"Oh you lucky dog." Talia replies. "I grew up around telepaths and people with other super powers. I couldn't sneak out without someone with animal-like tracking, or the ability to follow me mentally, or use a device that could simply found out where I was at any given time." She lets out a frustrated grunt. "I tried once and my father literally teleported to the coffee shop while I was on a date and told me to come home immediately. It was so embarrasing."
Billy Kaplan laughs again and shakes his head. "Yeah, nothing like that. I do have to worry about a Jewish mother with a psychiatry degree that can wield guilt like a samurai with a sword. Of course the reason I dont do things she would not approve of most of the time is that they trust me not too" And there is the guilt at being out, not enough to do more than show a second on his face but there it is. Billy is going to have to do something like stop a mugging on the way home just to make sure he does not feel too bad.
"Well, Billy, I can tell you take care of your parents, too. That's really cool of you. My dad wasn't so much of a dictator as he was someone that just wanted me to be prepared, so when I could avoid making him worry, I'd take it. It was good for him." She replies, pulling a hair-clip from her pocket. Her slender, three-fingered hands get to work in preparing a ponytail. "But I've gotta let you know, when this dryer is done, I've gotta find a place to crash. So if we're gonna hang out again, we should exchange numbers."
Billy Kaplan grins and nods. "Well if I don't take care of them who will? Heh, kinda the same with my parents I do my best to try and not make them worry." At the mention of trading numbers Billy pulls out his cell phone, a fairly basic one without all the fancy bells and whistles or even a touch screen that is tucked into a rather thick rubber protector. "Sure thing, it would be cool to have someone I can actually talk to about thing I am not sure how to talk to the rents about yet."
Having caught Billy almost call Thor and Superman 'hot' earlier, there's a look of understanding on Talia's face. She pulls out her own cell phone and taps in the code, turning it to the page that shows her cell phone's number and email address. She holds it out for him to cheat off of. "Well, I'm a pretty good listener and you seem like a good friend. We'll just keep hanging out." She smiles quietly. "And you hang in there, okay? You're not alone. None of us are."
Billy Kaplan quickly adds Talia to his phone, number and e-mail, before pulling up his own info for her. "Yeah, thats what all the websites say, and the odd woman in red that helped me after the last time I actually got caught by bullies who added something about standing up for others if I did not feel right standing up just for myself." Billy had not really thought of the woman in a few months, or really since that day, but for some reason is oddly being reminded of her by Talia, probably just the whole being nice and understanding thing.
Talia flips her phone over and starts typing into it, saving Billy's information as well. "It's pretty solid advice. I mean, if you don't feel right about that sort of thing, at least take care of other people. Whoever that lady was seemed to be able to read you. You don't come across as the type of person to want to hurt anyone, much less for any reason."
Billy Kaplan nods at Talia. "Yeah, the advice helped...although its kinda what lead to the whole lightning and fire in the bathroom thing. Also the reason for working out a costume and super hero id...not that I would not end up doing that anyway once I had powers..."
"Costume? You're that far along? Well if you're gonna go out at some point and take a walk around, give me a call. I'll come with you." She replies, smiling softly to him. "I've got some experience with that, and it's always better to go in pairs. Oh, and there's no good samaritan law for super heroes. Leave before the cops show up, always."
Billy Kaplan nods and blushes a little. "Yeah well, had half a dozen costume ideas for if I ever ended up with powers since...well since the first time I saw superman on the news when he caught Airforce One. Trust me, I have the whole good samaritan law memorized, along with a half dozen others related to it including national an local ones covering superpower related liability." Yes, Billy is prepared to be a superhero, and has been since the first time he tied a sheet around his neck and ran around his apartment around the age of 10. "cool, although I was planning if I do the patrol thing I would fly for it."
"Oh, I can keep up." Talia replies with an impish grin. "Just don't fly too high that I can't see you and I'll take to rooftops. I can jump pretty far and what I can't jump I can climb pretty quickly. What I can't do is stop myself if I'm falling, so unless you're really sure about bringing me along when you fly, I can just do my thing." She slips her phone back into her pocket, stretching out in front of him to make the extreme angle for the tight jeans she's wearing. "So when are you free next?"
Billy Kaplan grins and nods. "Well, I have figured out how to make these sort of force fields, can shape one like a disk and carry someone no problem as long as I don't loose concentration." Not the most reassuring way to put things, but then he is just learning some of what he can do. "Would have to be back in by midnight tomarrow, but could be out any point next week. Lucky for me this is what Dad calls my golden summer. Old enough I can go out and do what I want, and last summer I am young enough I won't be expected to get a job."
Well, I don't have anything else going on right now. In by 12 is fine." Talia stretches her arms over her head and drops off of the edge of the washing machine. She steps over to the dryer and gets her backpack out, ready to fold and stow her freshly dried clothes away. "You, Billy, are about to have a great time. Just give me a ring ahead of time if things fall through?"
Billy Kaplan nods at Talia and grins. "Here let me help." It's the least he can do after getting to hang out with a cool person, and making his first real friend as a superhero if either of them actually count as such yet. He moves to help her fold her clothes with some practiced skill "Definitely call you when I am ready."
There's no awkwardness when he touches her clothes, and he actually knows how to fold, which is a plus. It's not a large collection of clothes, either, but to help pass the time while they fold, Talia taps her iPod to start playing the Rolling Stones, giving them some entertainment.
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