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What a pleasant Saturday in November. Elliot's just a normal guy in Central Park, doing what so many do on a day like today. Jogging is one of the harmless joys in his life; exercise, fresh air, peace and quiet. Can't get much better than that. He's decked out in sweats, hatless despite the chill in the air, relying on the movement to keep him warm. Along the path, keeping to the right, Elliot jogs along at a leisurely pace. His eyes move about in front of him, keeping track of the other park-goers, to make sure he's not going to barrel headlong into anyone. Nothing ruins a leisurely jog like a collision.
*
Having hit a bit of a writer's block while working on a new song, Alison decided to go out and clear her mind with a jog about the park, and getting some fresh air to boot. She's also dressed in her sweats, the selection in light blue with a golden star emblazoned on her top. People who has been following new development in the music world might recognize the logo as standing for Dazzler, a new strange performer with an inexplicable light show as part of her act.
*
Today is a day for confusion. Though, the man sitting on the park bench, himself, does not seem confused in the slightest. Quite the opposite. He resonates full confidence, even /challenge/. He has a metal tube in his hand that has a few little buttons on it, and a screwdriver with a blue handle. Desperate for the fresh air that he misses in Attilan, he is outside, fixated on fiddling with the device. The confusing part is that he has applied to his clearly masculine face, tight goatee, mustache and all, excellently executed make-up. His eyes are heavily lined, definitely using some mascara, there is lavender blended into blue and peach on his lids, and his lips are an absolutely /precious/ pale pink gloss. The rest of him is dressed in a proper, male suit. Black.
Whether on purpose, or simply coincidence, while Alison is looking ahead of her, and Elliot is heading this way from the other direction, Maximus' foot abruptly changes position and juts in front of her.
To note, there are two guards, one blond and one brunette male, though they might just seem like businessmen loitering, a little distance away.
*
The days just keep getting shorter and Mree is feeling pretty wan waiting for this planet to tip over back toward the sun again. His long legs are bared in a pair of short-cropped jean shorts, and a flannel button-down in shades of tan and navy has had its sleeves rolled up past the elbow in a sloppy wise. His hair's done back into a long braid, and he's got a slice of pizza in his hands with double burger, double sausage, double bacon topping heaped on top of it. If, on the whole, he looks on his way to a beach gathering, he must be pardoned; he minds the dark much more than he minds the cold. And he's tearing into that pizza like he hasn't eaten in a month, so, sorry, D, he won't be helping out overmuch with your upcoming trip.
*
Elliot's no bigot; in a world where aliens are shooting the President, and vampires have risen from a giant maw in the middle of the very park he's jogging in, Elliot doesn't really have a problem with mutants. The other things don't get such a 'live and let live' attitude, but mutants are just people, right? Of course, his attitude toward mutants might be cavalier enough, but that doesn't mean he goes out of his way to interact with them. Some might even get a bit of a stare. Mree certainly qualifies, and he can't help but watch the six-foot-tall green man(?) with a tail for more than a few moments before he sets his eyes back ahead of him, just in time to avoid running into a pedestrian, causing him to stumble a bit as he regains his composure. "Sorry!" he calls to the person he almost ran into, and picks up the pace again, on his way to where Maximus' foot is about to interfere with Dazzler's.
*
With Mree arriving on scene, and Elliot almost running into a pedestrian, Alison has enough things to distract her from noticing Maximus' foul play, and she happens to jog right into his extended foot, which makes her stumble to the ground and towards the oncoming Elliot, as she screeches in surprise. Regardless of the startled cry, it is rather clear she has a beautiful voice. So at least there's that. She takes a few moment to reorient herself before reacting to what just happened.
*
Maximus gets jostled! How dare she! He looks up with his eyes first, a glance to the fallen girl, then a quick sweep to see what caring, human souls will rush to the rescue. Then the rest of his body shifts, drawing his foot back with a shhhhh sound against the pavement. "Oh dear, are you hurt?" The object he's tinkering with lowers into his lap, and he gestures lightly with the blue-handled screwdriver. Interest, rather than concern, plays on his face.
*
Mree folds up the end of the pizza. The crust part isn't as exciting as the bit with all the meats on, but he's jamming the last of it into his mouth, his cheeks puffed out with crust and shiny from grease. He occasionally has better table manners, but the bad weather, of recent, has gotten him rather glum. Not to mention hungry. Then, there's a shift in the clouds overhead, and the sun comes out over a wide swath of the park, and Mree tips his head back, basking in it, then patting forward on bare green toes in order to go sprawl on a bench nearby. Which happens to be occupied by a Maximus. And has a Dazzler sprawled in front. The man on the bench seems to be taking care of the tumbled jogger, though, so he doesn't hurry over too, too briskly, only turns and lets the sun warm his tail and the backs of his thighs as he strolls in that direction. Maximus voices the appropriate question, so he need not else but issue a sort of vocalized question mark: "Mrr?"
*
By the time the whole event is about to transpire, Elliot has regained enough of his awareness to notice what's about to happen just before it does. Of course, too far away to do anything about it. Dazzler tumbles, and Maximus gets up to check on her, but Elliot saw him stick his foot out to trip her. That was on purpose! That jerk! He picks up his pace, moving to check on the girl to make sure she's not too hurt, his instincts as a firefighter are to help the injured and endangered. "Are you alright, Miss?" He asks, kneeling down with her, looking her over for scrapes, cuts, bruises from the fall. After a moment, he looks up at Maximus, his expression swiftly turning from concern to anger. "What the fuck was that for? You think it's funny to hurt people for no reason?"
*
"Damn it…" Alison mopes, feeling stupid for having stumbled so carelessly, not having noticed Maximus sticking out his leg. Asked if she's hurt, she's quick to shake off the notion, "I'm fine, I'm fine, just a stumble." When Elliot asks her the same, she repeats, "I'm fine, just careless, misplaced my footing I guess." The damage is minimal, just a little rip in her sweatpants. She then turns in surprise, sitting up on the ground, as she looks at Elliot snapping at Maximus. Not having seen anything, she only learns from Elliot that Maximus might have been behind it, "wait…did he trip me?" She asks Elliot.
*
Maximus has not risen. He's in his seat still, legs wide in full 'manspreading' tradition. He has simply sat a little straighter, to give attention to the tragic event. Blue eyes stare at Elliot for an uncomfortable length, sizing him up, judging him by his clothes, his noble attitude, his confidence at yelling at him. /Then/ he stands up. "She carelessly ran into /my/ foot, and it twinges a bit." He looks down at his foot, then to Dazzler. "I think I am owed an apology." His foot wiggles, flexing it, as if it is somehow injured from his own deed. "Help her up."
*
Mree chews haplessly at too much food for his cheek to hold. It takes up the time remaining for him to come upon the suddenly heated scene and get the general idea of what's going on. She has fallen. He is accusing him of having tripped her purposefully. Other-he is— muh? Gulp. Mree swallows down the last of his pizza slice, then, eyes half-lidded in the bliss of having some radiant sunshine making his tail turn a deeper green, "You want her to pick up your foot?" he asks, more baffled by the nature of the mandate than anything else.
*
Whatever Elliot may have been about to say, likely to reveal that he did in fact see Maximus intentionally trip the young lady, he doesn't. He's about to, mouth open and words all but falling from his lips. Instead, he sits there for the briefest of moments, silent but for his breathing. "Oh. Yes, of course," he says, blinking. A hand is extended to Dazzler, to help the lady to her feet. "You should say you're sorry to this gentleman, Miss. And try to pay more attention when you're jogging.. you could could have really hurt someone," he says, his voice perhaps just a little bit hollow of emotion. He says it with a bit of a smile, at least, but there's something a little less than normal about it.
*
Maximus may or may not have done something, but Alison is enough in the know to realize something was done to Elliot, the way he behaves is very much akin to someone affected by her therapeutic light effect. Mree who is approaching most looks like a mutant, but it was Maximus who was being blamed, and is now in fact protected. She refuses Elliot's hand, batting it away, as she snaps, "you're being played," and slowly gets up herself, now looking directly at Maximus, "if we'd have met out of the blue, I'd say you're brave for wearing makeup, and ask if you were a performer. But I see you are a performer, it's just that your show is lame. I think -you- should apologize to me, and him," she nods at Elliot's direction, before grinning at Maximus, and if any were not careful enough to notice their surrounding, they might miss out altogether on the sprinkles of mist that flicker about, making everyone in the area calmer unless they had some kind of empathic resistance.
*
"You know for a pretty girl, you really do not seem particularly concerned about your face." Maximus stands right where he is, looking at her firmly. Then he flashes an overbroad smile. "I do not apologize to those who are /beneath/ me." The made-up man looks again towards Elliot, and that's when he finally seems to notice Mree…green tail guy. He /remembers/ him…from the tree! Must be a regular around this area. His eyes narrow faintly, distracted for that moment. Then, not again. He takes a step back, like he's fully aware something is about to happen.
*
Mree generally runs at approximately human max level of calm, and so those calming sparkles send him straight over the edge. Combine that with the light energy behind the effect, and Mree's course shifts subtly from the direction of the bench to the other side of the group, nearest Alison, and he just leans right up against her and plants his chin on her shoulder, eyelids drooped in an utterly blissed out state, the sun on his back, the rest of him looking for some more light goodies from the woman who'd been emitting them a little bit ago. He might recognize Maximus, now. But he's too chill to care; he just lifts a hand to wiggle his fingers in greeting to him from his spot glommed into the light-bearer.
*
It's a quick change from seemingly concerned and eager to help, to not. Elliot's features shift, and there's a blank expression for only a moment when Maximus speaks. And then anger. He doesn't even notice the sprinkles, or seem affected by the calming effect, which may be a telling sign in and of itself. His fist balls, and a quick jab is given as he tries to strike Dazzler in her cute little face. He's not much of a fighter, so the punch isn't really perfectly executed, but he is in good shape, and he's not some weakling weighing ninety-eight pounds.
*
Dazzler is rather fortunate that she had not stayed in place, because when Maximus informs her that he won't apologize for someone who is beneath him, she leaps up on the bench he's sat upon, and looking down at him, she notes, "looks like you're beneath me. And for an ugly girl, you sure put on lots of makeup," she goes right back in giving as good as she gets. Although at this point Mree catches up to her, no doubt not bothered by the fact she's standing on the bench. But it does give her ample barrier and vantage on the mind controlled Elliot, and when he tries to reach for her face from a lower position, she just jumps to the other side of the bench. Creating an obstacle for Elliot.
"I think you just might be the sorriest man I've ever seen, I'll dedicate a song to your patheticness." Yeah, she doesn't mean to really fry him up, because she really does want to largely keep the fact she's a mutant a secret. But she's more than willing to immortalize him in a disparaging song. If she's lucky, it may even be a hit. Now she just needs a title. Too bad she doesn't have his name, but maybe "The Man Who Would Be Woman"? "The Feeble Bully With The Painted Face"? There were options. But now she'll need to think about it. "Thanks for the inspiration, I needed a new song," she chirps at Maximus and starts walking away from there. If she stayed, she might wind up exposing herself, she was so taken by the whole exchange, she didn't really bother with Mree, so if Mree keeps following her, she might take note.
*
Maximus endures the assault, though, he does look left and right as if maybe he didn't remember that he was even wearing make-up. After all, they never call him on it in Attilan. He's the King. He can do what he wants. He eyerolls with his entire body as she gives her tirade, shoulders rising with his bright, blue eyes, and pushing out an epic exhale at the end. "/Peasants/." is his exclamation. "I really should just…exile the lot of you from life. I was considering /not/. But every encounter…mmmm…" He watches Mree's actions and that seems pretty…unusual…like there's something special about this woman. Something that draws the other mutant. He cocks his head and grins faintly. "Ohhh…if I hear some unflattering song about me, I will retort about how you are a magnet for mutants." He makes a little gesture. Then he looks at Elliot. "You are forgiven…let her go…" And he walks closer to the man and reaches up to pat his cheek affectionately. "It is men like you that make the trip worth while."
*
Elliot misses his swing as Dazzler moves. Tricksy devil woman! He's about to try to attack her again, even if it means he has to pummel the green mutant plant-creature to do it, but then Maximus orders him to cease, and the words calm him almost instantly. Maximus' words to Dazzler get no response, visual or otherwise, from the off-duty firefighter, but his 'compliment' gets a grateful nod to the Inhuman king. "Thank you, sir," he says simply, vacantly.
*
Mree is suddenly lacking his little ray of sunshine, as she jumps up and out of the way of the swinging fist which subsequently falls to his own temple, knocking him down to the ground, where he sits, more dazed than truly hurt, though he's rubbing the side of his head with his hand, so obviously it smarted somewhat. He purses his lips together, snapping out of his sunshine coma just enough to follow Sunshine's tirade against Maximus, bullying him for his fashion choices. Well, that's just mean. He looks up to Maximus from his spot on the ground, which will do, and watches his make-up decorated face with subtle fascination. "I think your make-up is very pretty," he finally pipes up, still sounding a little drunk.
*
Maximus lowers his hand and smiles. "Ohhh…I know you're just saying that because its what I want to hear. Stay." And then he turns to head out. His guards follow him. Once he's beyond 30 feet, Elliot will regain himself.
*
Maximus has left.
*
Alison does stop when Maximus uses his insult of choice, "peasants?" She looks at Maximus oddly, and then he threatens to exile from life rather than killing and that more or less settles it in her mind. Maximus has some kind of mind control power, and whether directly or indirectly, he's also insane. Best not to pick a fight with him. Listening to Mree praise Maximus' makeup, she snorts, "didn't you see what he just did?" Good thing Maximus had to go, because she wasn't about to be nice, "he used some kind of power over that poor fellow, he's mean, he's ugly. It's not the makeup."
*
With Maximus out of the picture, Elliot regains his senses. He blinks several times, and shakes his head. "What.." he says, seemingly fighting off a sudden headache. "What happened? Did I /hit/ you?" He remembers, but it's hazy. Like he was just watching from inside his own skin. "I'm so, so sorry," he says, looking at Mree first, and then at Alison. "I.. don't know what came over me. That man tripped you.. and I tried to hit you?" The confusion is strong, to say the least. Mind control's nasty business.
*
"He did?" Mree might have also seen things a little more clearly if he hadn't been so very light-drunk at the time. He looks over the man with the fabulous eye makeup, then back to Alison. He's going to keep his spot here on the ground, is what. Elliot gets a faintly sulky nod in response to his question, and a further rub of his own face to indicate where he was struck. "But that's OK. You didn't know," he remarks, magnanimously, and, oddly enough, not without a little bit of good cheer to his voice. But he's an obvious mutant in today's world, and so the novelty of being hit by someone who didn't intend to do so— that's just a change of pace, for him.
*
"That guy with the makeup?" Alison says as she comes closer to Mree and Elliot, "well, he's the kind of mutant who makes all the bigots hate mutants. He controlled you, you don't have to apologize, whatever you did was all him…I wouldn't even know he tripped me if you didn't come to defend me. I really appreciate it, by the way, otherwise I might have been nice to that loon."
*
Elliot's still in a bit of a daze from the whole experience. His glance shifts between Mree and Dazzler again, "I was gonna sock him right in his stupid face," he says, scratching his head. "And then.. it's like I was there, and I couldn't stop myself from doing what he wanted me to do. I think I'm gonna be sick," he says, looking more than a little nauseated. Might be a side effect of the mind-control, might just be that Elliot feels /so/ bad that he's showing it physically. "I.. I've gotta go," he says. "Thanks for being so.. understanding about this. And sorry again," he says, a bit quieter, backing up from the group.
*
Mree shifts to his side, curling his tail about to nudge against the ground and push himself up to a standing position. He draws his lower lip into his mouth, briefly, watching how upset Elliot is by the whole thing, "Wait— wait, are you going to be OK?" he wonders. "Come and sit down. The sun is out, it's very nice." He might worry that Elliot isn't in the best headspace to be alone right yet. He looks up to Alison for maybe some backup. Maybe some more of that sparkly goodness.
*
With Elliot being so distraught, Alison once again releases some of that therapeutic specks of light around the area for a brief moment, if only to help Elliot cope without a word. She lets him leave, as she turns to look at Mree with a distraught expression on her face, "I hope he won't come to hate mutants now."
*
"I'll.. I'll be fine," Elliot says, more than a little bit of panic in his voice. The calming light helps, but it was a bit of a traumatic experience, you'll understand. "I'm sorry," he says quietly, and makes his exit, picking up the pace again to jog back to his car, parked at the other end of the park. This experience will stick with him for a while, even though he didn't really do anything too terrible. The loss of control is hard to accept. That there are people out there who can /do/ that. He's never hated or feared mutants before, but he's also never had one take over his mind.
*
Mree would surely insist— if that light weren't back on. As it stands, the rays strike him, and his mouth lolls open, he drifts toward the foot of the bench, hardly knowing where he's going except toward the source of the pleasantness. "If you want to talk about it-" he does try to enunciate, "Go and visit the law firms of Goodman and Lieber, down in Brooklyn. That's where I work— and the lawyers there are very nice. I don't know whether you can… bring a case against him, for treating you that way, but if there is a way, they'll know it," he murmurs, leaning into the light-bringer once again.
*
Alison isn't sure what to make of Mree's behavior, but she does have a song to work on, so she moves along back into jogging, this time on the way home.
*