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Ne was always a bit of an oddity, today…or tonight to more accurately, was no different. In the darkness of the evening and parklamps Ne had set herself up for a little picnic. A reward of her recent sale of a certain prototype, a basket with recently cooked food and drink along with several glasses sat atop an almost cliche red and white picnic rug.
Some invitations had been sent, so now the young woman waited casually, sipping her glass of soda while she snacked on a sandwich of roast chicken. Were it not for the hour? This might almost seem normal.
*
As per normal VX's Harley announces his arrival well before he makes it to Ne, at this time of night though it is pretty obvious who is coming to the multicoloured woman. He moves quickly through the wooded area, his shape dark amongst the trees his leather jacket helping him blend into the darkness. His pale skin however is easy to see, the faint light causing it to almost glow amongst the darkness. This is not the first invite he has ever gotten from the seemingly mute girl, and the last time had been plenty entertaining. He moves towards her with no hesitation, but as always he is armed the handle of a large handgun able to be seen whenever his jacket blows away from his side.
*
Walking through the shadows Nyx almost might as well be invisible. She doesn't have to do anything consciously. They cling to her form and disguise her, almost as if she became one of them while walking amidst the silhouettes. She moves through the park easily with her hands buried into her pockets, blue eyes nearly amethyst in the intervening light. The incredibly pale, diminutive girl is watching her surroundings thoughtfully as she moves through the darkness.
Nyx gets very close to the blanket before she finally prushes the shroud away. She steps out of the darkness and appears into what light is available as if she had been standing there, waiting. "Neapolitan," the girl murmurs, cocking her head slightly as she does. Nyx is beyond pale, in fact, an ethereal figure who would no doubt glow in the light if the light seemed to reach her. "Another friend of yours?" Nyx asks, tilting her head toward Marcus as she does.
*
This late at night? Ne seems to be taking the chance to truely wear her own appearance rather than the illusion she tends to go into public. Maybe sustaining that holographic illusion does take some effort and it was simple to relax. Watching VX arrive, she offers a glass out his direction with a smile. In the darkness the woman's odd-colored eyes carry a feint glow in their pink and white irises. As Nyx starts to approach, the woman waves a hand lightly and gestures for her to join them. The question? It gets a smile and a nod. The icecream-colored woman had invited Vx as a friend, but there wouldn't be much to guess he was also there as security. Pushing the picnic basket towards the others she pauses only long enough to fish out her notepad. Inside? A simple collection of sandwiches and bottles of soda (no booze) rests.
Taking the notepad in hand, she begins to scribble away before offering the words towards Nyx. <I thought we should talk. All of us.>
*
VX or Marcus to those that actually know his real name jumps damn near a metre in the air as Nyx appears beside them. He has never really seen anybody else that Neo makes a habit of seeing. HIs hand instinctivly goes for the gun concealed in his jacket before stopping as he notices Neo is still calm and that the other woman knows her name. He looks between the two for a moment and quirks his eyebrow "You guys aren't sisters right? I don't think I can handle two of you."
VX moves to sit down beside Ne and gratefully accepts the glass offered to him. He smiles at her "It is good to see you looking…well not normal…" He shakes his head as he reaches into the basket and removes a sandwich "What do we have to talk about? I mean I don't mind getting called out to a picnic with two beautiful girls bbut I assume it is something important?"
*
"Nope. Not sisters," Nyx, also known as Elizabeth or "Lizzy", responds to VX with a faint shrug. She laughs softly and slowly shakes her head as she looks between the two. "SOrry. I have to really focus or I can't help the sneaking up thing. I just walk quietly, I guess." It wasn't really anything overtly supernatural, even if there is something clearly odd about the young albinoid woman who has just joined the gathering.
"It really is nice to see you be you, Ne," Nyx agrees, tilting her head slightly as she does. She reaches up to draw her fingers through her short blonde hair for a second. "People usually call me Nyx, at least in this company." She seems to be considering something carefully as she looks between the two people in front of her. "Sodas are up for grabs?" She is already reaching for one.
*
Ne actually looks like she might chuckle, perhaps the action without any sound is just downright eerie. Nodding her head, the pink-haired woman gestures for Nyx to go ahead. Truthfully, Ne doesn't actually know if she has any siblings, but that comes with the life of an orphan. Tracing her fingertips over her closed parasol that sat nearby, she returns to her writing. <The city has got a lot crazier again lately, more players and more dangers even with the FoH licking their wounds. I think that with all that's happening on the streets, those of us that are on them need to band together. To try and build something stronger and safer.>
*
VX grins to the other rather diminutive woman as he runs her hand through her hair. "It is good to meet you, most people these days call me VX. But if you prefer you can call me Marcus if you prefer, doesn't worry me. I don't meet to many people who can creep up on me, especially in an area as open as this is." He looks the woman up and down before he takes a bit out of his sandwich, slowly chewing on it before swallowing. "So how do you know the Ice Queen?"
To VX it is not usually eerie when the girl laughs soundlessly, sure he had to get used to it at the start but now he enjoys making her go through the motions at least. VX doesn't so much as blink at the mention of the FOH despite the fact he had a rather large part in their downfall as an organisation. He smiles lightly, the light of the smile spreading all the way to his eyes. "For some reason I did not think that it would be you that approached me for something like this. Despite the fact you have helped me out so much in the past."
*
"If it's dark I can creep up on anyone," Nyx responds with a rueul laugh. "Actually it's kind of a pain. People don't notice when you walk by or say hello or anything. Took me a bit to realize I had to try to make myself stand out a little, honestly. My name's Elizabeth, really." She studies VX briefly from head to toe before returning her blue eyes to his face.
"How I met Ne?" Nyx asks then. "She was eating ice cream. I had brain freeze and she thought it was funny," Nyx relates in a dry tone. She grins a bit afterward then turns her gaze toward Ne as she listens to her speak. "I'm in if you have a plan. I've tried to do my part alone but I'm getting a little sick of it. And I am tired of people who've never been on the streets a day in their lives trying to tell me how they ought to behandled. So if you're ready to do something… Well, okay."
*
More writting, even as the others talk. Her small hands move with precise movements, writing as cursive and neat as her movements when fighting. <I don't want to spend all my time living in street corners, shelters and breaking into houses just for a roof over my head. Nor do I want to hide forever in Mutant Town. I want something to call my own, I doubt I'm alone in this.>
A pause, she looks at VX with a shrug, that same sweet and 'innocent' smile on her lips as she continues writing. <If we could find the money, we could build something. A safe place, a shelter and a starting point for people like us. For the three of us and more.> She pauses to look up at the pair, trying to gage their thoughts and reactions.
*
VX looks towards Ne as Nyx talks about just how stealthy she can be. "So you are obviously like us then? So what you can melt into shadow or something? The things I believe are possible now…" He shakes his head and looks between the two againHe smiles widely as the story of the meeting is relayed "She does love her sweet things, ice cream, soda and anything else that could give you diabetes." He grins innocently at Ne, although he is far from innocent. "You don't have any pineapple juice in there do you?"
"Obviously I am in. I am already doing everything I can. It will be nice to have some backup and people that I can rely on to give me some direction." He nods to Ne "It would be nice to not have to live above a bar forever, and to be able to move around freely outside of mutant town." VX looks pretty keen as Ne speaks "How are we going to find this money? And what exactly do you plan on building with it? I am all for a safe place, but what exactly will make it safe?"
*
"Money? There are ways to get money if we need it," Nyx relates quietly. She opens up her soda and takes a gulp from it before continuing. "As for what I can do… Kind of. Shadows really like me, let's say. Anyway. I don't think we're going to get that kind of money plying our skills and I don't have a trust fund. Which means we should find some of those problems we were talking about stopping… And think about relieving them of theirs."
Nyx suggests burglary with a casual manner that suggests this isn't that strange an option to her. She takes a deep breath and then stuffs her hands into her pockets. "Making it safe will be the hard part. Right. At some point someone bigger comes along to kick over the playhouse. We have to safeguard it ourselves. Can we?"
*
<There are ways to make money,> Ne writes, a lazy shake of her head at the question of pineapple juice. She had quite the sweet tooth after all, perhaps it was fitting for someone with a name and hair that so clearly referenced one of her favourite treats. <Ways for all of us to make money on our own. But there's more that we could do together to make more money. Maybe enough to set us up with what we need.> A pause the woman looks up at VX, the only one of them whom hadnt made a living of theft in the past. <It could be dangerous, but working together could make it safer. Easier to make sure only the right people get hurt.>
Still, there was the question of how to make the money, Ne considers for a moment before she blinks, tilting her head. <We take it, rob a bank or someone deserving of it. Steal something worthwhile we can sell. Between our light, darkness, and VX's tricks. There's a lot we could do without firing a shot.>
*
He notices Ne's look towards him, he has become pretty decent at reading the mute woman. At least when she is allowing herself to bbe read by him. "I do not mind doing what we have to too make money. My past may be a little…different to yours. But I am still willing to do what we have to do, but I do not hurt innocents unless I absolutely have to. You have seen me work Neo, you know how I do things." He smiles at the tricoloured woman before his eyes duck over to Nyx "If she is as capable as you are Neo, I would be more than happy to work with you on this."
He nods his head as she lists ways to make money. "We can manage any of those together I am sure. As long as we plan it out well, I know that you are professional Ne and I take it since you invited both myself and Nyx that she is the same." He rubs at his brow for a moment as he finishes his sandwich "If we rob something legitimate I couldn't let anyone innocent be permanantly hurt. I am trying to stop myself from crossing that line."
*
"Don't worry. I wouldn't hurt an innocent person either," Nyx responds with a slow nod. "But there are a lot of not so innocent people. We should find someone awful and make them help us out a little." The pale blonde is moving over to the picnic blanket to take a seat next to Ne at this point, folding her hands in her lap when she is down on the ground.
"The question is still where we'd hide this place. Hiding is the only real safety there is for osmething like that. I mean, it'd have to be underground or something…"
*
<Than help us?> She scribbles, offering the notepad towards the man, sipping her drink again before she continues writing. <I can fool people, I can freeze people, but I'm only one person. I nearly got caught on my last job. It was a big job and I got lucky to walk away. If I'm wanting bigger things, I need help. I need both of your help.> Chewing her bottom lip for a moment, the woman nods her head at Nyx's words, sweeping her hands in a gesture that suggests she hadn't found someone suitable yet, but she was open to suggestion.
Underground? Ne shakes her head with suprising vigor. She'd hide in plain sight, but underground isn't quite something she'd manage comfortably.
*
"If we hide this safe place is it really any better than what we have now? Wouldn't it just become another sort of prison if we hide it so well?" He shakes his head slightly and leans back lying down on the blanket and staring up at the sky. "And the chances of it staying hidden for long are slim, unless we limit it to only us three. And that would defeat much of the point, would it not?" He runs his hands through his hair until they meet the mat beneath his head.
He turns his head so he can see what Ne has written down before he smiles up at the normally much shorter woman "You know I will do whatever I can to help you Neo. I would even if it did not benefit me, I still owe you my life three times over. Thankyou though, for understanding my position on this." Considering the amount of bodies he has dropped and the things he has done some people might consider his words somewhat hypocritical. "I can look around and see what I can find out. I still have some contacts around. It may not be as lucrative as hitting a large bank, but I may be able to get us some good leads."
*
"Alright. So we don't hide. But what do we do instead? Because people seem to be pretty quick to make us all hide out in Mutant Town as it stands right now. They're going to try to tear down anything we build." Nyx shrugs lightly, crossing her legs as she looks up to see Ne's face. "I know some dealers we could flip if we need quick cash," she states then. "And anyway. I'm in. Tired of… Sitting around. I should do something with my power." She shrugs rather slowly at that. "Anyhow. Anything esle on the agenda for tonight?"
*
<We hide in plain sight, build without people knowing who or what we are until we're too strong for people to hurt us,> Ne writes, nodding her head at the pair and giving a smile, a blink making the eerie-glowing eyes swap colors while she nods at Nyx's words. She had a goal, now she has others to help her. That was worth smiling about. Nyx's question, that earns a wink before ahe drops her notepad before reaching for a sandwich. "Lets eat already!"
*
VX doesn't say anything as Neo 'speaks', his eyes just watching her as she writes carefully examining her body language. A faint smile touches his lips as her eyes swap colours, he always loves seeing that happen. "We can figure out the rest together huh? Now that we know that we are all together on this, I am sure that we are more than capable of figuring this out between the three of us." He groans lightly as he sits up again and reaches for another sandwich, free food is free food.
*
"Seems like," Nyx agrees. She reaches into the basket and snags a sandwich of hr own. She examines it briefly before shrugging and moving to take a bite. After a moment of chewing the blonde swallows and glances over at Ne. "I can't get over how awesome you look like this," she notes rather quietly. "I hate that you have to hide like that. At least people just think I'm really pale. Like, really, really pale. My biggest worry is how sunny it'll be out tomorrow."
*
Ne shrugs her shoulders. Her disguise, as much as her silence was a product of her upbringing. It was a story she didn't share anyway and one she wouldn't write, much less speak tonight. If anything, it made moments where she could be herself that much more special.
*