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*
Now that the Genetic Council is seeing to Attilan's affairs and her entire family has been (mostly) peacefully reunited, Crystal finds herself suddenly unencumbered. No one to search for, no one to run from, nothing that demands her attention. And while taking care of operations at the Institute accomplishes something, it still leaves her with a certain amount of free time. So with her spare time, she's decided to help with some of Lorna's training. Rather than do it in the unrealistic surroundings of the school or somewhere actually dangerous, she's brought them both to Mutant Town, where they stand out a little less.
*
Lorna had been to Mutant Town, run into Raven.. worked with Raven briefly, and even gotten into trouble a few times. On her own and with company. Perhaps, it was the fact that this time she was going there with adult supervision (planned ahead properly this time and not a surprise), but she was even more fidgety than normal. Which included biting her lower lip, playing with a strand of hair and glancing around her awkwardly.
Which coupled with her banged up, scabs and scrapes and bruises made her look like a victim of something nasty. She had told Crystal a little, and by a little, the bare minimum about her misadventures in Spain. The flying bull had been downsized slightly..
*
For her part, Tigra is just getting out and stretching her legs. Mutant town certainly isn't the sort of place she would have visited before. But before she wasn't, well, mutant looking. Or quite so capable on her own. She's in feline form, though wearing a little more than her normal bikini at the moment, considering of a loose cream blouse, pleated tan skirt and jacket. No shoes today. She pauses as she steps out of a small curio shop, taking a brief look around while letting her eyes adjust to outside lighting.
*
It is business as usual, for the dark-haired man in the dark green sweater. There is a wool coat over that, and scarf tails hang loosely while his long legs take him down through Mutant Town. If he's even been here before, he doesn't act like it. He holds a brown-wrapped package and much of his features are obscured. He may be making some sort of delivery.
*
"There's nothing to be nervous about, Lorna," Crystal says, an amused note in her voice as she looks to the girl. "We're just walking. As a matter of fact, we're not even looking for trouble. Or rather, to put it more precisely, we're learning how to look for trouble." She walks along the sidewalk, hands in her pockets. "This is a good place for it. Things may look strange, but you'll learn not to be distracted by the flashy things. Those aren't the signs."
*
A huff of breath and Lorna crossed her arms, her lower lips sticking out in a slight pout. "The last few times danger happened 'round me was because I wasn't paying attention. So I'm paying attention." She grumbled, wrinkling up her nose in thought as she glanced around.
"And there's plenty to be nervous about walking in Mutant Town! There's the Friends of Humanity, and the Brotherhood watches these neighborhoods too, and I don't think Raven likes you. Just saying." A darted glance aimed in Crystal's direction.
"And, and," She held up a finger, "There's the all kinds of missing persons going on too. Yeah.." She bit her lower lip lamely, not particularly wanting to share how she knew what she knew in regards to Mojo.
*
Tigra steps out to the sidewalk proper, tail swishing idly as she decides which way to wander, lacking an immediate destination at the moment. She pauses and tilts her head slightly, catching a familiar voice. After processing it, she smiles a bit and looks around. Seeing Crystal over yonder, she offers a silent wave of greeting.
*
Loki is coming up behind Tigra, huffing out a breath and arching his brows when he sees legs…and a tail, in front of him. Having been looking mostly at the ground, he slows his steps and drags his gaze up her body, staring at the mutant kitty-lady with obvious gawking behavior.
*
"No, I don't imagine she does," Crystal says evenly when Lorna mentions Raven. "I'd imagine if anything she sees me as something of a usurper. Luckily for me, I'm not exactly without my own defenses." Catching sight of Tigra, she raises a hand with a swift smile. "And those defenses work just fine against the Friends of Humanity as well. But you have to find some trouble to know when to see it. It's not in clothes, or in skin, or hair, or tails. It's in…" Behind Tigra, she sees Loki, steps pausing for a moment before she frowns. "Now that's…odd."
*
A shrug and Lorna kept her gaze sweeping around them in a nervous fashion. "Well, I dunno…" She dragged a hand through her hair and then grimaced.
"I guess I keep forgetting that you've got powers too. I really shouldn't and all.. but yeah.." She pursed her lips together as she let her hadns fall back to her sides and she heaved a great, gusty sigh that sent her brown dyed hair tickling over her cheeks.
"It's in what? Huh?" She glanced toward Tigra, and then at the man gawking behind her and then back to Crystal. Her hand rising to press against her head as she squinted against the sunlight that still made her head pound. Concussions, it would seem, took a whole lot longer to heal than she expected.
"Uhm.. Miss Crystal, I think I need to sit down for a bit.. I'll be.. I'll be right over there." She gestured toward a rather shaky looking bench that served as a bus stop at the end of the street.
*
It's almost twenty years too soon, but it's accurate to say that Tigra does have legs, and knows how to use them. Maybe she hears that huffed out breath, or maybe she smells someone behind her. Regardless, Tigra half turns after Loki begins to gawk, and looks at him with a crooked grin of amusement, and a quirked eyebrow. "Hi there," she says. "Or should I say 'meow?'"
*
Its pretty odd, indeed! The dark-haired man stops when Tigra turns around and forms an apologetic smile at her. But, tellingly, the smile tugs around his eyes which show no recognition of the woman at all. "Forgive me," He begins, his voice leaving his thin lips and immediately becoming alive in the air. It rolls over vocal chords, low, the words spoken with an emphasis on the 'gi', and the 'me' having almost no voice at all. "Your tail," he draws out the word tail into almost two syllables, "is hypnotic." each syllable of hypnotic reinforces the definition of the word, said in a pretty, precise rhythm.
*
Crystal stifles a sigh as Lorna goes to take a seat, but doesn't stop her. Observation was the goal, after all, and she can watch from the bench just as well as she can from the sidewalk. She, however, is much more curious about the man who's stopped behind Tigra. "Lo-" She catches herself, starting over. "Louis?" she asks, arching a brow. "Is that you?"
*
The feline's tail swishes about with the rhythm of the man's words and his unusual pronunciation, the tip giving a little twitch at each swing. "Oh, it's quite alright," she says, the grin turning to a smile instead. "I'm the first to admit it's out of the ordinary." She looks over as Crystal approaches, and offers a smile and nod, then looks back to the man, curious for his answer.
*
The man turns towards Crystal as she addresses him and tilts his head. Again, no recognition reaches his eyes, only a polite and faint smile. "Ah. No. You must have me," here he gestures, holding the wrapped parcel in one hand. its a casual motion, to go with his dismissive words, "mistaken for someone else. Do either of you know a Mr. Reynolds? I have the book he was asking after." He lingers on the word book, particularly the 'k'. "Ah. I believe it is just around the corner, /actually/." He smiles politely, again, his voice slow and considerate of his situation here in Mutant Town.
*
Crystal tilts her head slowly as Loki responds, but she doesn't press him. Who ever knows what he's going on about anyhow? Instead, she looks to Tigra, smile crooked. "Good to see you again," she nods to the other woman. "And in less…extreme circumstances, no less. I hope you've been well?"
*
Tigra shakes her head at the interesting man, glancing at the package in curiosity. "The only Reynolds I know is the aluminum foil, I'm afraid," she tells him, a touch surprised at how regretful she is. At Crystal's mention of circumstances, she can't help but grin again. "Much less extreme," she agrees. "I've been well, thank you. Yourself?"
*
After Tigra's regret, there's a twinge of his brows and green eyes shift from one woman to the next. Then he makes a soft humming grunt sound, and steps far around the swishing tail, before heading around the corner.
*
"Surprisingly…" Crystal looks around the street, checking on Lorna as she does. "I think this may be the longest stretch in my life without some sort of crisis," she smiles faintly. "It's refreshing. It may also be driving me into something big soon, if I'm not careful." She looks after Loki, brows furrowing slightly. "Professor?" she tries. Just in case. It's always hard to tell with him if he's trying something or not, after all.
*
Seeing that he gives her tail a wide berth, Tigra gives it a sweeping sway with a smile in his direction, and then looks back to Crystal. "Really? I hope that's not a bad sign, then," she says, only half-joking. "Thta's usually when something happens, just as you're getting used to things being quiet." Another look towards the retreating man. Professor…?
*
The retreating man doesn't respond to the call, since its not his name, as far as he knows. However, at the end of the block he did pause to look back at the ladies again, before disappearing. He does not come back this way, either, oddly.
*
"Sorry," Crystal says slowly to Tigra as Loki disappears around the corner. "I thought that was someone I knew. But either I was mistaken, or he's deeply in character." Neither of those is particularly reassuring, it seems. But she shakes it off, smoothing a hand over her skirt. "You're right, though, once things start to feel quiet is usually when they all go wrong. But I thought I'd take advantage of the quiet to make some progress in training some of the children for when it inevitably explodes again."
*
Tigra looks a bit puzzled, looking in direction the man went in, and then back to Crystal. "Well, in a city this big, it's not impossible to run into a doppleganger, I suppose," she says, not terribly convinced. A glance now towards where Crystal's companion rests, and then back to Crystal. "Training children?" she half asks, half prompts.
*
"Self defense, mostly," Crystal answers, glancing back toward Lorna. "Responsible use of powers. That's also a big part." She smiles ruefully as she looks back to the other woman, shaking her head. "If we have powers, then we have a responsibility to know how to use them properly so that we don't damage to ourselves or to others."
*
The tigress grins at that. "From your lips to God's ears," she says. "And I like hearing that there's someone out there helpign to teach people about that. I had…some help when I got my powers, fortunately, but it was still pretty frightening at times, and I was already an adult. I can't imagine what it must be like for kids to go through something like that."
*
"And it seems like it's mostly kids, when it comes to mutations," Crystal agrees, nodding. "Unfortunate. You remember being a teenager. You take all of the changes, all of the friends, everything…and you add in powers on top of it all, and it's a recipe for disaster. No one really gets to prepare for that. So. I do what I can to help them now. It's…something I at least have a little experience with."
*
Tigra shakes her head slowly, thinking about her teen years with powers. "That would have been…challenging," she says. Now a tilt of her head as she looks at Crystal. "Experience with? I take it that's when you came into your powers?"
*
Crystal's smile flickers. "No, not me," she shakes her head. "Mine were…Well. Not at birth, but I was an infant. I grew up with them, which I recognize was very lucky for me. But I've been around enough people coming into powers to be able to help them adjust. It's my hope that the easier people adjust, the more normal it will be, and the less we'll have to fight prejudice here."
*
Tigra considers that. "Makes sense. If people with powers are able to act as if they're not afraid of them, or fearful of what they can do, then they'll be less likely to make people without powers nervous by being around them. Or at least, I imagine that's the hope."
*
"That's the platform of the smart opponents," Crystal nods. "You'll hear them. They'll say that sure, someone like Captain America is a hero, but he knows what he's doing, how to do it. But some kid gets fire powers and accidentally burns down his apartment, so of course people with powers should be separated. It's for their own good." She grimaces, shaking her head. "If we handle it ourselves, then it takes that argument away from them. And without that, all they have left is bigotry. Which is harder to defend."
*
A sad smile from Tigra now. "Unfortunately, bigotry's been with us a long, long time. Though it has to be said, there's bright spots here and there. And we've certainly come a long way." She sighs softly, the smile still sad. "I guess, though, if it were easy, it wouldn't be worth doing. And if we weren't fallible beings, it wouldn't need doing either." She pauses a beat. "Well, some of us are fallible. As a cat, I'm divine, and therefore infallible," she says dryly.
*
Crystal laughs, smile flashing. "Yes, I can see that. But." She looks around the street, the people walking there. "I've been thinking lately. Of setting up a place for people who are different to come out. To be open if they want, to be private if they want. But in the rest of the city. Not hidden away here."
*
Eyebrows go up at that idea. "What would that be like?" she asks. "I mean, being private if they want, would just be like being in the city, wouldn't it? Just keeping one's powers under wraps, as best as possible," she adds, gesturing vaguely tailwards. "What is it you're thinking of?"
*
"A club," Crystal muses. "Only instead of charging insane membership fees…exclusive to powers. I don't know," she waves a hand quickly, shaking her head. "I'm still working it out. Anyhow. I should probably take her home to her father," she smiles ruefully, glancing over her shoulder toward Lorna. "There will always be another day to watch and see how people get into trouble."
*
Tigra hmms and nods a bit. "I like it," she says of the club. "If you're able to do something with it, I'd certainly apply for membership." She glances towards the resting Lorna, and smiles. "It's New York. You can -always- find someone in trouble or about to be. Good to speak with you again, and I hope we do so again soon."
*
"I'll let you know if that idea gets off the ground," Crystal nods to Tigra, smile crooked as she starts to walk back toward Lorna. "Good to see you again. Take care." She waves, then she's headed back to her earlier companion.
*