1963-11-30 - Castle In The Clouds
Summary: Frankie meets Lynette and shares some wonder with her.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
frankie lynette 


It's a cold and rainy Tuesday night in Central Park, and most people have fled for the warmth of their homes. Which makes it the perfect time for one time-stranded robot to step out of her pocket dimension and onto the path under a burnt out street lamp. It wouldn't do for the general public to see people stepping out of nothing.

Surveying the darkened park, Frankie is wearing a long black pea coat, with gray pants and a red sweater underneath. After the first few drops of rain hit her though, she makes a casual gesture and an invisible barrier comes into being about a foot over her head, causing the rain to bounce and slide off, making a curtain of water around her while she walks the path.

*

Barney has left.

*

Perhaps it still hadn't sunk into her brain just yet. Why, /why/ such cold weather didn't agree with her. She was from the south, sure, but there was just something else about the cold that caused her to become sluggish and frozen to the core. Either way, due to this self ignorance, a dark skinned girl is out in this weather, or she was caught in it, having spent some time in Central Park. When the rains begin, she quickly closes whatever book she happens to be reading, and tucks it up and under her shirt.

A quick jog sends her down one of the paths, her boots thunking and squishing through shallow puddles. She's looking for cover, and soon, finds some, but under the bend of a footpath bridge. Muttering, she checks on her book, padding it dry where it needs to be. It's the odd formation of the rain around Frankie that next draws her attention. Blinking, her brows furrow, and her head cants as the pattern is obviously unnatural.

*

When Frankie spies Lynette under the bridge her first instinct is to raise her hand. Many practitioners of the magical arts would recognize it as a gesture of arcane dismissal, almost certainly to banish her rain shield, but then her head cants to the side as well, and she leaves the barrier up.

Taking one step forward, Frankie is suddenly under the same footpath bridge with Lynette, smiling broadly. "Hi…" she says with wide eyes. "The probability waves rolling off of you are /amazing/." Her manner is warm, genuine, and enthused to meet Lynette for some reason. Then she remembers how to human. "Oh, sorry, hi, I'm Frankie," she says, holding out her hand to Lynette.

*

Pop. There's a person with you in the blink of an eye. The shift causes Lynette to sink back against the curve of the small overpass, and wide, saucer like onyx eyes just stare forward at the girl speaking to her. "De what now?" Comes the girl's first murmur as she keeps watching Frankie intently. "H-hey. M'Lynette." The girl at least greets after a beat. "Y-how'd…" She points out toward the path where Frankie once stood. "N'de rain?" She follows up nervously.

*

There's a brief pause, barely even a heartbeat long, while Frankie is processing some internal piece of information, and is completely still. Sorting, identifying and calling up from memory. Most people wouldn't even recognize it as a pause, but it's there for the watchful eye. "<Sorry, is that a Creole accent I detect?>" Frankie asks in a picture perfect Haitian Creole dialect. She sounds like she could have grown up there.

"<To block the rain,>" she says, happy to explain. "<I use the barrier technique.>" Frankie draws a circle of blue light in the air about the size of a tea cup saucer, rotating it to be parallel with the ground and pushing it out into the rain, where water immediately bounces off the pretend surface.

*

Lynette slopes her brows all the more now, her lips part to speak, but for now, nothing comes out due to shock. She watches 'barrier' being performed, and with a timid wiggle of her fingers, reaching outs to touch it. A scoff passes her nostrils and now coming back from wherever her awestruck brain went, she speaks once more. "<Yeah. That's right. How did you…Nevermind. That's amazing. How can you do that?>" Maybe, now it would be noticed that the book she was reading dealt with the concept of the Occult and Summoning.

"<Hey. You should be careful doing that out there. People might see it and get afraid. It's dangerous, so you should be careful.>" Lynette then explains, her words following from her tongue smoothly.

*

"<I'm always careful,>" Frankie says with a smile. "<There's no one around right now. It's why I wanted to enjoy the park. There are all kinds of phenomena baked into this place.>" She skips over explaining how she did the magic, and asks a question, "<Besides, when was the last time you, of all people, were beset with truly bad luck? You are soaked in beneficial probability…>" Frankie's eyes unfocus for a moment as she studies the dark-skinned woman.

*

Lynette 'heh's, a rueful smirk pressing up her full lips, causing her cheek to dimple. "<All my life.>" She murmurs, glancing back out into the rain and then back to the inquisitive, bright-eyed girl sharing her shelter. "<It just doesn't work that way, and it's not a constant.>" She explains gently, but then gives a shrug after the fact. "<And yes, you're right about this place. It's…well, something. I think that's why I came out here to read against my better judgement. I guess the weather had other plans, though.>"

*

Frankie frowns and looks confused. "<Oh, I'm sorry… I shouldn't have… I misunderstood.>" She draws more lines in the air, looking at the cascade of symbols with narrowed eyes. She spends another long moment staring at them, and then something visibly occurs to her. She waves her hand through the symbols and shakes her head.

"<I don't know what I was thinking. You don't care about all that,>" Frankie says with an apologetic smile. "<I'm… not always great with people, you know?>"

Turning to look out at the rain again, Frankie smiles and nods. "<The people I studied with would call this park a 'confluence'. I come here often, just to get a feel for it. But I don't really understand what it is. Or what it's supposed to mean.>"

*

"<Why are you sorry? There's nothing to be sorry about.>" Then, come more symbols. The Creole girl is attentive to them, tracing them with her eyes carefully. "<Wait. Care about what? I care.>" But it seems that Lynette is just as lost, and socially awkward, as Frankie is. "<It's ok. I understand. I'm not the best with people, either. Getting use to it, though.>" She smiles, offering Frankie some assurance.

"<A confluence? To be honest, this park terrifies me, but I'm here anyway. There's something here, I know that much at least. I'm glad you're with others that know what they're talking about, though. /That's/ luck.>" She muses. Her words followed by a soft giggle. "<What do you do, Frankie? I'm guessing you're not, well, normal?>"

*

Frankie laughs, in a very natural, nervous way. A release of nervous energy, really. "<Thank you, that's kind of you. I worried I had offended you about the good and bad 'luck'>," she says, and her quotes around the word luck are almost audible. It's a strange concept to her.

"<But what do I do? I'm working on a book. I'm a student of human history. Like an anthropologist. And you're right, I'm not exactly normal, no matter how much I try,>" Frankie says with a rueful smile. "<I think understanding magic the way I do makes me… a little different.>" She doesn't sound sad about that, just matter of fact. "<And what about you, Lynette? What do you do?>"

*

"<Nah, dear. You're fine. You didn't offend me. My luck just doesn't work that way. It's more about chance, for me, and if I focus on needing it.>" She explains easily enough. As Frankie speaks, the girl focuses and nods, seeming to rather enjoy speaking, well, naturally.

"<I'm trying to understand magic more, myself. I guess I'm trying to find my place in this insane world we have.>" A pause, "<What do I do? Hmm. Study, fight, protest. I want to be a baker, though. Does that count?>"

*

Frankie nods her gratitude again, grateful to have the room to be awkward. She really does like humans. They're just the best. "<The way I learned it, magic is math. There's a formula for what you want to do, and you perform it,>" she says shyly, as she describes what to her is the very nature of the universe.

Glancing out at the cold rain again, Frankie brightens when something occurs to her. "<Hey, would you like to get out of the cold, and warm up a bit? I have a place we can use,>" she says, and steps to one side. A glimmer appears against the wall beside them, a crack in reality, leading to a very modern looking living space inside.

"<I know it's weird to invite someone you just met. You should probably say no. It won't hurt my feelings. But I promise safe passage.>" She intones the phrase 'safe passage' like it really means something to her. A magical oath has been spoken.

*

"<Math, huh? Can't say I'm good at math.>" Lyn confesses with a soft expression of apology. Then, she's offered to go somewhere. "<Oh, uh, sure. I like being warm. Can't figure out why the cold is getting to me like it does, but I've never been up north during winter, so…>" A shrug later, she moves to step out from under her cover and follow Frankie.

However, they don't move, and once the 'rip' in the fabric of space and time appears, her eyes bug once more. Her hand trembles, but reaching out, testing to see if that gash would harm her. Her mouth moves, echoing the words 'safe passage', before taking a breath, closing her eyes, and quickly walking forward.

*

Frankie follows Lynette through the rent in reality and gives a sigh of relief to be home. She turns to hang her coat up on a rack that… probably wasn't there a moment ago, but both of them may notice that their clothes are completely dry. It wouldn't do to get the carpets wet.

"<You have a courageous heart, Lynette,>" Frankie says with a grin. She crosses to the kitchenette, and the little bar there. "<I've been learning to make French 75's,>" she says with a nod to the collection of bottles. It must be a cocktail of some kind. "<Can I pour you one?"> It's amazing how much more suddenly relaxed and at ease Frankie is, here in this place. "<Please make yourself comfortable.>"

*

Lynette stares for a few moments, her dark eyes drinking in everything around her. She then gives a low whistle of wonder. "<Good god.>" She murmurs without her knowledge. Then, she's dry? Looking down, he pats herself, her eyes growing once more as she turns on the spot, trying to catch something of water on her being, but looking more like a pup that has just found their tail. "<Huh? Oh, thanks. And sure. That'd be nice.>" Moving toward the kitchen, she carefully sets her book down and then removes her own jacket. In a place like this, the mocha skinned girl was rather out of place; mostly due to her baggy, second-hand clothing.

"<How…how did we get here? Is that part of your magic?>"

*

Pleased to be doing something with her hands, or well, also telekinesis, Frankie gets down a pair of martini glasses while several bottles also float down and present themselves for measured amounts from each. A pair of fizzy, lemon yellow beverages is crafted, and Frankie talks while she 'works'.

"<That's right,>" Frankie says cheerily to Lyn's question. "<There are an infinite number of dimensions, but really most of them are horrible and not worth visiting. It's also possible to craft a little space like this. Carve it out of essence, imagination and probability.>" She sounds like the host of a cooking show on TV, describing all the yummiest ingredients.

Then the drinks are ready and she takes them in hand, holding one out for Lynette. "<Cheers.>"

*

Lynette just smiles. She reaches out, accepting her drink, all the while her eyes are locked on Frankie. "<Cheers.>" She repeats before lowering her cup and taking a sip. Pulling the glass away, she looks at its contents and passing her tongue along her lips to remove any residue. "<This is really good, Frankie. Thank you.>" A smile now, she continues nursing from her glass and taking a few more pensive steps around the flat.

"<You must be very powerful if you can do all this.>"

*

Frankie beams at her guest's compliment and says, "<Thank you! I'm glad you like it.>" She sips her own and seems surprised that she likes it as well. Then Frankie lowers her eyes, peering into her drink.

"<Oh, thank you,>" she says quietly. "<But I'm not… it's not really a question of power. It's about imagination. Creativity. This is kind of like, the first thing you learn about dimensional shifting. And it took me forever to get this far. I've never been very creative.>" Frankie shrugs and smiles shyly. "<I'd be terrified to try and change anything in it now that I have it.>"

*

"<Guess that's all it is, huh? Time and practice?>" Another sip, she continues to move, but her pace is so measured and careful, as if she were afraid to break the space around her. Reaching out a hand, she brushes her finger tips down a wall, and then even starts to give her glass attention. "<It's all real enough. This place and the things in it?>" Another sip, she keeps drinking until the shallow flute is empty. Setting it down on the kitchen counter, she continues her adventures.

Finally, she spots the window. Pressing against it, she looks out, and down, at the world below them."<You're living in the clouds. It's so beautiful up here.>"

*

"<Pretty much,>" Frankie admits with a sheepish grin. "<Time and practice.>" She finishes her drink as well, and joins Lynette over by the window. "<And you're right. It /is/ real. It's just… no where it's supposed to be? I guess that's the best way to explain it.>"

This high up, the condo even has a view of the rainy night out over the ocean, and sudden flashes light up the western sky, far out to sea. "<Oh! Did you see that? Lightning is so beautiful…"> She crosses to the west-facing windows and peers out intently, hoping for another glimpse.

*

Lynette follows after, watching for more sparks to light up the sky. "<This…>" She begins, "<this is magic. Real magic.>" She smiles, just watching the weather below them and for once seeming to be rather at peace with…everything.

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