|
     |
Karolina's new to New York, but one thing she's always heard talked about, in relation to the city, is Central Park! Of course, there are /lots/ of interesting, iconic places in New York, but on a bright, sunny day like today, the park seems like the place to be! So, grabbing herself an ice-cold bottle of lemonade with a white and red-swirled bendy straw in it from a street stand, she strolls into the park wearing a very cute, super summer-y outfit of a short-sleeved white t-shirt and some high-waisted white cotton shorts with little pink and purple flowers printed on, her Keds crisply white and comfortable as she walks the paved paths.
She's in mid-sip of her lemonade when, out of the corner of her eye, she sees a lady being knocked to the ground as a ne'er-do-well stands over her, reaching for her purse and other belongings. "HELP!" the lady cries out, which has Karolina immediately halting and turning toward her. — At the same time, however, a little girl and boy not too far away begin crying out and pointing up in a tree. "SOMEONE, HELP! Kittens! KITTENS," they're yelping, jumping up and down and pointing grubby little fingers. Karo's blue eyes go wide as she looks back and forth. Kittens are definitely in a tree! In fact, there are probably— at best guess, since she's eyeballing it— TEN kittens in surrounding trees! Other kids are starting to cry, and their respective adults are beginning to mill and murmur in consternation, wanting to soothe their children.
Meanwhile, it seems /other/ people are being accosted, as well, in all of the confusion! What kind of fiend puts innocent kittens in trees to create a distraction?! Karolina's heart goes out to the kittens, but the lady being mugged is in more actual danger, at the moment, so she races over to the lady, yanking her medic alert bracelet off and letting her rainbow-y self free in the sunlight. "HEY, CREEP! UNHAND THAT POOR LADY'S THINGS!" she yells at the man in a mask. "ALSO, IT'S WAY TOO HOT TO BE WEARING ALL BLACK!" she adds, shooting a percussive beam at his feet to trip him up.
Daire's been trying out this slightly less nocturnal schedule, and being out around other people a bit more. He still wears a sweatshirt with a hood, pale grey, but still enough to cover up the horns on his head and shadow the unnatural green of his eyes. In a pair of jeans and sneakers, he's found some shade beneath a tree where he's been quietly strumming his guitar. He doesn't have a hat out or anything. He's just playing for his own enjoyment, but that doesn't stop people from occasionally tossing some money onto his guitar case, even if it's closed. He smiles a little curiously when they do and gives a dip of his head in answer. When the strange kittenstorm takes over the nearby trees and chaos ensues, the strumming comes to a halt and he looks a little startled. Even in his world, sudden kittens can still be a little on the unusual side. And then there's Karolina, and he just kind of stares openly for a moment.
It's much too hot to be wearing black /or/ walking in a coat. Vesper is sensible in her Gallic way. She wears a very large hat, very large sunglasses, and drinks from a glass bottle with a striped straw. Quenching her thirst with water lightly spritzed by clementine is good! So civilised as this bad, big park is not. Her walk over lunchtime is absolutely a matter of dire necessity. Anyone seeing how fair the little French mademoiselle's skin is can surely understand that. Sleeplessness bruises her delicate eyes.
Kittens, that's all someone has to shout for her to stop contemplating things. Like genomes. And complex sequencing. Without thinking too much Vesper heads to the children. Looking up in a tree, that's clearly not good. One chat? Oh no. Many chats, a chatter of cats. Too many cats in multiple trees. "Mon dieu, on a Wednesday? What kind of cretin…?"
This rainbow sparkle party challenging a mugger is enough to make her stare. For fourteen seconds! Rudeness, Vesper cannot abide. She blushes.
Central Park IS a good place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the busy New York City and get a bit of nature in the ever growing urban landscape. At least, that is what Reed Richards had been telling himself to force himself away from his work for a few moments time. So, naturally, the young scientist is strolling along the pathway winding through the park with his nose stuck in a book. Occasional sideways glances or outright pointing is directed his way, the knowledge of his hero identity well known, though Reed does his best to ignore the gawking.
It is just this sort of attempted ignoring of gawkers that led Reed to almost not acknowledge the cries for help. Eyes lifting over the brim of his book, he spies the attempted theft and sighs, snapping his book closed. He sighs, guessing that the mugger will attempt to snatch and flee and stretches his arm out and low, grabbing the trunk of a tree in hopes of tripping the thief should he run.
Karolina is completely unaware of anyone else that's taken notice of the current conundrum, because she's totally focused on taking out the baddie! While the poor lady is trying to regain her composure, she finds a glowing rainbow girl coming to her aid, the heroine's long tresses defying gravity as they swirl upwards and float graceful, as though she were in water. "Don't worry, ma'am! I'll get your things back, and then I'll get to the kittens. There's no reason to be concerned! I'm totally on top of this!" Karolina reassures the woman. And, herself!
"You JERK! It's such a beautiful day, and you gotta ruin it by creeping on defenseless people! DID YOU PUT THOSE KITTENS IN THE TREES?!" she demands, wrapping the unfortunate fellow in solid light bonds and spanking his bottom with another whip-like strand of iridescent light.
Pulling himself up, Daire puts the guitar in the case and stashes it by the tree for the moment. He doesn't particularly like leaving it there, but he can't sit idly by and not help out, either. And so while Karolina and Reed seem to have the perpetrator well in hand, he goes over to a couple of kids and he gives them a reassuring-ish close-lipped smile then starts to climb up one of the nearby trees. It doesn't take him long to pull himself up into the lower branches and carefully, while hanging from the branch, begin to hand a couple of kittens down to the delighted children below. Their parents might not be quite so happy about all the giant-eyed children wanting to keep them, but that's for them to worry about. Once he's gotten the ones in the tree near him down, he notices another mugger and drops back down to the ground, "Holy shit. What the Hell?" He makes a grab for the guy running by, trying to get a hold of his clothing to drag him to a stop.
That big hat will not help Vesper climb. She pulls it off with reluctance and sets it down on the ground. "Do not go too far," she warns the children. The pause is long enough for her to find Daire coming to the rescue of several kittens a tree over. Her hesitation grows. "Don't fall, monsieur!" Some encouragement is called for! He's got small, scared fuzzy animals given sharp claws to worry about.
Her own frightened targets are quite far up. How lucky to be in flats today. Vesper circles the tree to look for a better handhold, and has to negotiate her way carefully. She's small. It's a /big/ tree by comparison. The scientist is a quick climber though, once she gets that knack of putting her feet in the right spots on the trunk and reaching for some branches. She reaches for the small bundles of fur with her hand to coax them to her once up at the right spot. "«Come here, sweetlings.»"
As the thief Reed is targeting turns to run, those feet trip up on that elastic arm and he pitches forward face first. Reed's arm wraps around the fallen goon's legs, tightening to keep the man from being able to get up and run. He looks around quickly, trying to find out who else is there.
Karolina leaves the thoroughly spanked would-be mugger bound and yelling for help, himself, and moves on to begin creating rainbow stairs for the kittens that haven't been reached, yet. 'Course, whether or not the kittens will trust glowing, sparkling rainbow light stairs remains to be seen! She scans around to see Mr. Fantastic (!!!!) wrapping up a bad guy of his own, and she goes wide-eyed, a little starstruck at seeing someone she's heard about in the news! Wooooooow. But, now's not the time to goggle!
In the full exposure to the sun, Karolina's feeling no fatigue as she sends her light constructs out here and there, zapping bad guys and rescuing any kittens still left unattended. She doesn't step on anyone's toes who's being heroic— that's just bad superheroing etiquette! Instead, she looks at Daire and Vesper in obvious approval, putting her hands on her hips as she hovers in the air in her sparkling, radiant way. Once she's made sure the mugged lady is okay and has all her things, she begins helping others, making sure they're doing all right and their items were returned. Then, she's zooming over to hover up near where Vesper is coaxing kittens with French coos. She smiles brightly and offers a greeting, "Hi! It's really nice of you to be helping the kittens like this. Are you okay? Need any help getting down?" she asks.
Several fuzzy piles are dubious about using a woman to get down onto the ground. Hard light constructs encourage more bristling, and Vesper scrambles. She lies out along the branch, legs wrapped around it, one hand stretched out for the first cat. The mewing thing gets scruffed. She hauls it back to sit on her shoulder. Those little claws cut through her striped shirt. Leaning for the next has a chorus of indignant mews on both sides. Kitten two she pops on a branch where leaning for the third one will not squish her rescuee. "Can…"
Her voice breaks in a cough. Shoulders tremble and she grabs the branch tightly. The awkward grip allows her to pretend there's no Mr. Fantastic possibly running by saving the day. Celebrities and she's in a tree! Horrors. Karolina swims into view. She picks up two and three, with one honking on her shoulder. "These ones, they are safe to take?"
Karolina cringes as she notes all the clawing that's going on. Poor Vesper! She nods briskly, reaching out to take the kittens the pretty French girl is holding out. "Hang tight," she says, smiling prettily as she sinks down to the ground to let the kittens scamper around the base of the tree. She's not sure where these kittens came from, but she puts a waist-high light fence all around the tree and tells people they can put the collected kittens there, if they don't know what else to do with them.
Rising back up, she offers Vesper her hands, "If you feel up to trusting me, I promise I won't let you fall." She smiles encouragingly at the girl. Now… Karo's not /meaning/ to flirt, but hey! Vesper's very pretty and she's in a precarious situation, which Karolina's in a position to help her out of, safely! She might not /need/ to carry Vesper in her arms, but it never hurts to be safe; right? Right! Plus, this is a chance for her to look super heroic under her new codename and everything. What's more heroic than getting a pretty young woman to safety?
Daire manages to get ahold of his mugger by the shirt and drags him off balance and onto the ground where he sits on him. Yes, sits. He sits his butt down on top of the guy and manages to get his hands behind his back, holding him down until some other bystanders offer up their help. They weren't too keen on chasing bad guys but sitting on them and holding them still? That seems easy enough. Daire hops off, and goes running off after another one to intercept him. One might think he'd played football the way he tackles the guy to the ground. In the scuffle, the mugger manages to get ahold of his hood and almost manages to pull it off. Trying to stop him throws Daire off balance and he falls to the side, but manages to trip the guy and eventually subdue him, repeating this sitting procedure, since it seems to be working for him. Catching his breath, he takes a look around to survey the scene. "Fuck me.. this is the weirdest damned outbreak of kittens and muggings I've ever.. you know I've never seen anything like it." He looks over toward Vesper and Karolina and says, "See anymore? Are they still coming? Or does it look like we've got'm?" Vesper's got the best view from up in the tree.
The light ribbons could be used to take the kittens, but the Gallic brunette receives an unexpected offer. Once more her cheeks are painted by a brush dipped in rosy paint, applied by a light hand. The next few breaths are quick and shallow, testing if her labouring lungs are up to the task put before them. Vesper nods and awkwardly pets the first cat busy mewing its displeasure straight into her ear. The other two are scooped up and however Karolina means to get the small crowd down from the tree will serve all right.
"Thank you, Mademoiselle," she says right away. "Is everyone safe? No injuries? I can stay here until they are tended.." Thinking of others before herself comes as second nature. Her French accent spills over her worried words. Her view gives a good idea of who is being tackled and whether anyone beats a retreat or police come. But she is happier to be on the ground, given the choice. "So brave. I have never seen anyone do this before."
Karolina smiles, her cheeks dimpling attractively, as Vesper blushes, but with the French lady's assent, she scoops her up into her arms. Taking care to not squish Vesper or jostle the kitten she holds, petting it to soothe it, Karo settles on the ground and places her care package carefully on her own two feet. She gestures to the light-fence she created, "You can put that one in with the others if it's clawing you too much!" So helpful, is she!
"Gosh," Karolina grins crookedly, twisting a toe on the ground a little. "It's my pleasure, ma'am." She looks around, seeing Daire tackle the air out of one would-be thief, she grimaces a bit. "Ooo, that guy might need help," she replies to Vesper's inquiry about the well-being of others. "But, he was part of this whole kittens-in-peril mugging ring, so I don't know if we should feel too sorry for him." Luckily, Daire is calling out to her, giving her a reprieve on socializing with the pretty French woman for the moment. "Oh, I think we got them all! I can make a prison for the bad guys, at least until the police arrive," she says, whipping up a large cell with closely-spaced bars and an open door. "Chuck 'em in there, if you want!" she says, using the bonds on the mugger she took down to /drag/ him into the cell construct. Looking back to Vesper, Karolina blushes at the praise. Thankfully, in her prismatic form, it's not easy to see that! "Aw, thanks, miss. I only wanted to help and, well, since I could, I did," she smiles brightly.
When Karolina creates a prison out of light, he shakes his head slowly and grins, "Well, that works then." He helps to get the guy he has pinned into the cell and directs the other bystanders that helped subdue some of the others to eventually corral them there. Then, it's checking about for any stray kittens that need rescuing. Seeing none, he goes over to reclaim his guitar case and then wanders over to where Vesper and Karolina are standing. "Everybody okay?" he asks, glancing at both of them. Up close, it's easy to tell that his eyes are an extremely unnatural lambent green, but he slouches a little bit into his hoodie, trying to keep partially concealed. "That was some crazy shit."
Vesper's the shy one in this number, at least not likely to go chase down a mugger. Kittens she can do. The striped tabby on her shoulder no longer has a human podium to sternly scold the people around him. She unhooks his needle claws from her sleeve and helps the wee mite down to join his litter mates, friends, and fellow cat criminals. Their crime? Cuteness. Maybe some broken skin, too, nothing too bad.
"I think you did splendidly," she says to Karolina and Daire together. Her hands fold to her chest. "I'm glad that woman went unhurt. What a story she will have at dinner." Unlike the bright green eyes or strobing rainbow or stretchy limbs, she's absolutely, utterly normal. Dull, maybe. But a cheerful normalcy clings to the doelike French woman and she smiles more when on the ground and not about to be brained by a mugger.
Karolina smiles at Daire's comment, clearly pleased she is able to be of assistance. Once all the criminals are in the open prison construct, she alters its structure to that of a prison box with no door! "I hope someone contacted the cops. I'd really like to see these dudes get their comeuppance," she jerks a thumb in the direction of the prison cell she created. "Yeah, thanks for asking," she replied to Daire. "It was actually my first chance to do my job since arriving in New York, so I'm glad I.. did a good job," she smiles nervously at Vesper. "I didn't get a chance to tell anyone my codename, though!" she looks a little crestfallen.
It's a beautiful sunny day in Central Park. It was peaceful. Idyllic. Daire had been playing his guitar under a tree. Vesper had been taking a walk. Karolina had a lemonade with a curly straw, and Reed had been just minding his own business. Suddenly there were kittens, and not just a couple of kittens, but kittens in trees everywhere, mewling for help. There were children crying out and pointing. Parents were baffled. Then suddenly out of nowhere.. muggers. Several of them were grabbing purses and assaulting people around the park. Chaos broke loose.
There was a rainbow girl sparkling and creating light to rescue kittens and a Vesper out of a tree where the young frenchwoman was attempting to rescue kittens. There was a giant light prison in which the subdued muggers were being lead. Daire got some kittens out of a tree and helped tackle a couple of muggers. But now, now there was a kitten corral around a tree. The muggers were in the light prison, and the three were gathered around, talking.
"I'm pretty sure someone did, after all what just happened," Daire says to Karolina, then he grins, "Hey, here's your perfect opportunity. What's your codename?"
"I can call them." Vesper has played cat rescuer and bystander, and now has an active role. "Can I tell them your nom de plume, or would you like me not to say anything about either of you? Do you have one too?" The question there is for Daire, at the end. Her water and her hat remain by the tree, and she will fetch them as she departs. "You are both very good at what you do. Maybe I will hear more of you one day. To think! I am Vesper." Her name might sound like a code name, but it's not; she's the evening star, just out of the Greek. A friendly wave is given to them. "Now let's be sure it is safe to walk. Au revoir!"
Up in the air flies Susie, in her Ultragirl costume. Too late to rescue kitties from trees, or to help capture muggers… but she does spot a big, glowing cage made of light that isn't usually in Central Park, so she descends to investigate, coming to landing about thirty feet from the light-cage itself. Glancing at the cage and the people in it, then to each the others about, she narrows her eyes a bit as she uses her ability to see auras as she asks, "What's going on here?"
It's largely a confusing scene to be set upon after everything is under control, but let's be honest, New York is confusing for the most part. So the look of generalized confusion all over Jay's face as the young man strolls through the park on his way from point A to point B is really very understandable. The soft 'click-click' of his sandals against his heels is not present as he walks barefoot through the grass, sandals hanging by his fingers down by his side, accoustic guitar hanging securely on his back, softened by the hunch under his shirt and secured by the neck strap over his chest. Noting one familiar face, Jay bites his lower lip and whistles shrilly. "Hey, Daire! What'd you do?" A slow smile warming on the fair man's features.
Karolina looks to Daire with a hesitant smile, suddenly not certain that her codename isn't kinda dumb. "It's Prism," she says, trying to sound confident and proud, even in the wake of her surge of doubt. "'Cause, well," she waves a displaying gesture at herself, in her glowing, sparkling rainbow form. "I could've gone with Rainbow Girl or something, but I figured I'd outgrow it. Prism felt more…flexible," she smiles to Vesper. "But, my name's Karolina. Or, Karo, or 'Lina. You can call me whatever you like, as long as you don't call me late for dinner!" she says, repeating a joke her dad always says… Except, well, it's a dad-joke. Boy, she's nervous! Pretty French ladies can leave her feeling a little awkward without her tripping herself up by telling bad jokes. "Ah heh…" she grins sheepishly. "But, sure! Tell them whatever you like…Vesper," Karolina bites her lower lip and smiles slowly.
While she's sad to see the young French woman go, she's distracted by an ear-piercingly shrill whistle. She claps her hands to her ears, her floating hair swishing around as she turns her head to seek the source of the sound. A young man probably around her age, heading over and calling out to Daire. "A friend of yours?" she asks of the brilliantly green-eyed boy. Then, there's a flying girl inspecting her light prison construct. "Oh, these guys were trying to mug people, here in the park, and put kittens up in trees as a distraction. So, I'm holding them here until the police come," she says by way of explanation. Susie doesn't really need to use a power to see Karo's aura…she /is/ her aura—a glowing, bright, sparkling rainbow-shifting girl.
"Cassiel," Daire says when Vesper asks for his codename, ducking his head just a little, "But you don't need to mention me at all. Nice to meet you, Vesper. Thanks for offering to call. And for your help with the kittens." He sets his guitar case down on the ground next to him then, sliding his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. When Ultragirl comes flying in, he glances over toward her and he says, "Kittenstorm followed by Mugger Invasion." That about sums it up. Then there's the sound of the sharp whistle and he glances over his shoulder as he hears his name. Then he sees Jay and a smile breaks over his face, enough that it shows the sharp fangs of his canines. "Hey. I totally conjured kittnes." He's kidding, and his expression shows it. "Surprise kittens." Then he turns back to Karolina and says, "Pleased to meet you, Prism! That totally makes sense, with the rainbows. Snazzy." He gives her the thumbs up. "Nah, Prism sounds right." He nods when Karolina asks if Jay is a friend of his. "Yeah." He motions to Jay, "Come meet folks."
Ultragirl (Susie) puts her hands on her hips. "… kittenstorm?", she say, though she can't help but grin a bit at the verbage used. Then, stepping closer, she turn to Prism. "… has someone already called the police?", she asks, glancing at the light-cage once again.
"You got magical kitten conjuring powers?" Jay calls back toward Daire, his southern leaning accent thick enough to stand a spoon upright in. His expression warming brightly, feet leading him in the direction of the small gathering with the prison and the…flying…woman? "You need t'come to the place Ah'm stayin' and flick that switch, man." Jay's head tilts curiously as his warm gaze swims toward the ladies present. His smile cools gently to a polite degree rather than that overabundance of warmth, a pale hand reaching down to touch the dangling neck of his guitar, reassuring himself that it's still there. Quietly, Jay takes up a position beside Daire as the person he knows in the grouping, reaching out to pat and squeeze the other man's shoulder and nodding toward the rest. "Miss. Miss." A very curious tilt of his head up toward Ultragirl.
Considering that she needs to keep her lightshow going while she maintains the prison and the kitten corral, Karolina is rather obviously /not/ like everyone else. While the sight of Ultragirl flying is certainly noteworthy, Karolina's even more conspicuous out of necessity. She's glowing for the gods, as it were, sparkling and shimmering in rainbow hues— every inch of her body. 'Course, her /clothes/ don't have this same effect, so it probably looks a little weird, on top of the usual oddity. "Thanks," she smiles to Daire. "So, should I call you Cassiel, then?" she asks, watching as Jay makes his way over. She steps back, giving Jay more space to be near his friend as the southern man greets her and the curious Ultragirl. "Prism. Or, Karolina, or Karo, or 'Lina…" she greets him, awkwardly. She's not sure how to handle this part, yet. She smiles crookedly and looks to Ultragirl, "Yes, someone's gone to contact the police, thankfully. They should be here before long."
Ultragirl nods and very so slightly floats up into the air, so that her feet aren't touching the ground anymore. "Doesn't look like I'm needed here, then", she says. "Bye, everyone", she adds, just before she starts to quicly gain more altitude, straight up… until she's above the treetops, then she's horizontal and zipping away. All without wings or any form of propulsion.
"Nah," Daire says once Vesper's gone off to call the police. "That's just my other name. You can call me Daire." Pronounced like a soft Dah-ire with not quite a paused separation, or just Dare, for all intents and purposes. "And this is my friend Jay," he says, introducing the red-haired southern gentleman next to him. He watches as Ultragirl takes off again, much in the way that Mr. Fantastic had departed earlier, and then turns back toward Karolina and Jay. He smiles at Jay and reaches over to give his shoulder a squeeze in return in greeting. "Not really, on the kitten powers. Sorry. But we could scoop up a few of these and bring them to where you're staying if you think your friend would like them." He nods toward the corral of light keeping the kittens in order.
Perhaps it's by the will of not trying to stare that Jay seems more interested in the flying woman than the prismatic shifting one. Or maybe it's the fact that she is /flying/ without the obvious use of wings or wind or anything like that, which is deeply curious to him. As Ultragirl zips off, those forest-toned eyes go wide. "Damnedest thing…" Jay whispers under his breath and finally joins the rest of the conversation with a blink and apologetic smile, the lump on his back shivering briefly. Finally looking back to Karolina, there's a little double blink as his eyes adjust to her skin, reaching a fair hand out to the woman. "Ah'm sorry, Prism was it? Or Miss Karolina, raght? Ah'm sorry, Miss, Ah was listenin' just distracted a hot minute. Jay, Jay Guthrie, like Daire said." He pronounces the man's name with a heavy southern lean (D-aye-r). "Or Icarus. It's a pleasure. Yer just dazzlin' beautiful if you don't mind me sayin' as much, Miss." He doesn't seem to be hitting on her, his tone smacking of rich honesty, a hint shy.
Turning back to Daire and smiles. "No mystical kitten powers huh? Dang. Well, Ah guess Ah'll keep ya around anyway." Attention swimming to the massive amount of mewing furry bodies. "They serious just…appeared? Kooky." A tilt of his head, Jay's face colors a hint, giving Daire a mischevious smile. "Ah kinda really wanna put them /all/ in Kai's bedroom."
Karolina smiles at Daire and nods, "Dare it is, then. I'd rather go with something I can't screw up, if I'm given the option." She looks to Jay and smiles as she's introduced. "Nice to meet you, Jay. Icarus. Does one ever really get the hang of having a codename?" she asks with a crooked little grin, dimples popping up in her cheeks. At the compliment, she smiles and dips her chin down modestly, "Aw, thanks. It's nice of you to say. I know it's a bit…much, but.." She shrugs her shoulders and glances back at the jail she constructed with her light powers. "I want those suckers to stay put until the cops get here," she jostles the light-prison a bit, shaking the prisoners within around. Just because! Jerks.
Looking down at the kittens, she exhales. "Where do they belong, though? Do you think they were stolen? Are they strays? What if they belong to someone? Some poor kid crying about their missing kitten," Karo laments, seeming supremely sad as she floats over to the kitten corral and hovers over them, stroking and scritching them as she goes, and creating a light-constructed bit of string for them to play with, letting it stream from her index finger. She giggles as the little fluff balls start stalking and pouncing on it.
"Yeah, though I generally only use it with folks that don't also have one," Daire admits, regular non-mutated mortals, folks like cops and reporters and whatnot. With other mutants and folks with obvious powers? Not as much. "Good question," Daire says when she mentions the kittens and them possibly having been taken from someone, brow furrowing just a little bit. "Guess maybe we could see if anyone starts reporting missing kittens?" He says, "We could maybe take them to the community center.. keep them there and tell the cops to send people down to the center to identify and reclaim them?" He glances over at Jay to see if he has any ideas, though there's a little kind of amsued grin at the thought of dumping them all in Kai's bed. "Sorry, man. No mystical kitten powers. But yeah I mean, I was out here playing for a while before they popped up out of nowhere in the trees."
Jay shakes his head slightly at Karolina's modesty, his polite smile reaching warm tendrils into his eyes. "Not at all. Suits you, Miss 'Lina." Jay settles on what name feels most natural to him and whispers a soft chuckle of mostly breath from behind closed lips as she floats over to play with the kittens. His attention organically shifts back to Daire, nodding a couple times. "M'brother explained it to me that it's a good stand in when you don't want folks lookin' you up in the phone book. An' fer whatever reason, most folks will just take yer word on it when you give 'em a crazy name." A hand lightly reaches out toward Karolina. "/Obviously/ yer name is Prism. What else could it /possibly/ be?" The corners of his mouth tighten gently, suppressing a grin which glows warmly in his eyes anyway.
Turning back to the matter of what to do with a bunch of kittens, Jay tilts his head some and nods. "Maybe not the community center in our part of town…" He hazards gently to Daire with a knowing look and soft arch of his brows. "There's gotta be somethin' like that near here. Or a church. Ah bet a church would be happy t'help 'em find their homes if they got 'em." Sunday school kids would go /nuts/.
Jay's expression softens slightly with that smile when Daire mentions he was playing earlier. "Ah saw you got yer case with you." Then touches the neck of his guitar down by his hip, hanging familiarly across his back. "After this?" Soft hopefulness in his tone, though he knows there's responsible stuff to do. "Ah wasn't here for the hard work, but Ah'll help you folk with the clean up?"
Karolina nods her head at the advice, taking it all very seriously. It's a new thing for her, so she welcomes pretty much any helpful tips more experienced parties want to impart to her. She grins at Jay's kind words, soothing her nerves and making her feel more at ease. "Thanks," she laughs softly, nodding her head. "I appreciate the help, honestly. I'm still pretty new to all of this stuff," she says. As the look passes between Jay and Daire, Karolina isn't sure what that's all about. She's not that learned about mutant politics, though she's sympathetic to those who are vilified for being different! Especially if they're trying to help others with their unique abilities. Sheesh.
"Oh, that's a good idea. Though, I don't want to just dump a bushell of kittens on an unsuspecting church. It's an expense and can be a burden, since these little scamps might have fleas. But, I'm sure we can find a place to put them up," she says, not feeling as certain as she sounds. She, herself, is kinda…roughin' it, sleeping on rooftops and other places she can find. She's a runaway, after all. She has to be careful how she spends what money she has.
When Jay mentions maybe not in their part of town, he thinks about it for a moment and then nods in agreement. Daire smiles a little lopsidedly. "Sorry, yeah, that's probably a good idea. Someplace nearby and local." He wasn't quite thinking of inviting all those people down to Mutant Town to claim kittens. There's a grateful smile over to Jay for thinking of something that he clearly didn't. He rocks a little back and forth on his heels and then nods, dipping his head in assent when Jay mentions perhaps playing after the cleanup was done. "Sure. That'd be great." He looks over toward Karolina and studies her for a moment before saying, "Yeah, but I think that if we can get them to somewhere that will accept them temporarily, we can maybe call on folks to come make donations for their care and stuff. We don't need to dump them on anyone, just ask if they'd be willing, you know?" When she mentions that she's new to all this he says, "If you need help, and stuff.. " He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet, taking out an old receipt and a little nub of pencil stuck in there and writes out the address and number for the community center. "We both volunteer here, and you're always welcome to come out. The food is actually surprisingly good."
The prismatic-skinned super admits her inexperience and Jay lends Karolina an understanding smile. "Of course, Miss 'Lina. We all been there. And you've got a heck of a gift, there." Inclining his head gently in her direction. Jay leans in, peering over Daire's shoulder as he scribbles the address and number for the center on it, a smile touching his mouth when he recognizes it, nodding in solidarity when the information is given over. "He's not wrong. When Ah got here, Ah lived there fer a while. Stew every other Wednesday is the best." Though he's oblivious to her situation, the comment seems purely coincidental and in amusement over the food.
The agreement to play later has Jay sliding an easy smile to Daire, holding on to the neck of his guitar down by his hip as he pivots to take in the buildings nearby. "A buncha kittens is gonna be a little challengin' fer anything that isn't a vet or something, but that's what community buildin's are for. Centers, shelters, churches, stations. It don't hurt t'ask. Ah jus' go 'church' raght away because back home the church was kinda all of 'em put together." Jay admits, scooping his hand through his hair sheepishly. "Lemme go see if this joint over here has a box from shippin' fer these little guys. The po-leese will be by by then an' ya can stop worryin' about keepin' em all boxed up, Miss 'Lina." Jay gestures over to the fancy pants Tavern on the Green. He's good at execution. Other things? Not always the best. "Back in a New York minute."
Daire continues to hang around and help with things until everything dies down. Then he bids Karolina a farewell and reminds her she has friends at the center she can always drop in on. He then heads out, eventually, with Jay, to go jam for a while.
Karolina gasps and suddenly shoots up in the air with her excitement. "Oh, I know!" she says with a megawatt smile. "The police station, maybe! They can keep them there, kind of like a lost and found?" she offers, seeing about six police making their way down the path and headed for the gathered criminals. "I'll ask them if it's cool. If they agree, then it's problem solved! If not, then we'll think up a plan b," she says with uplifted shoulders, palms, and eyebrows, asking for the boys' approval or better ideas.
Taking the slip of paper, Karolina smiles gratefully to Daire. "Thanks, Dare. I'll be sure to look you up. I can really use a place to go where I know someone," she says, sounding kind of relieved, but also kind of sad. To Jay, she smiles as he relates some of his experiences. "Honestly, I could do with some stew. I was hoping I'd somehow magically reconnect with a friend of mine that I think is here, but.. Well, now it just seems silly that I thought I'd be able to find her out of all these people," she laughs, rubbing the back of her neck in a sheepish manner. "So, yeah, seeing some friendly, if new to me, faces would be a welcomed thing."
She exhales and casts her eyes over to the Prism-prison, directing the police to them and opening the construct when the police are ready to handle the reprobates. She waits for Jay to return with, hopefully, a great big box to put the more-than-ten kittens inside, so she can safely put her medic alert bracelet back on, and be able to blend in with the crowd, once again.
Jay laughs gently as Karolina shoots upward like that in her excitement, an endeared smile gracing his pale features. "Good idea." He turns to go, but smiles when Daire offers to run off to fetch it instead. A grateful smile slid to his friend, Jay nods agreeably and steals a few extra moments with Karolina while the police make their way to them, refusing to leave the young lady alone. He's the quiet, respectful young man full of 'Yessir's as they make the exchange for the criminals.
Turning back toward Karolina and the subject previously. "So, you mentioned you weren't from here? It's a big city, Ah know what you mean. Ah, uh, was sent here? From home. Mah older brother was here, but Ah only saw him a couple times before he was off somewhere else, too. It's harder gettin' to know folks." He squints softly with emphasis. "Maybe Ah can help ya though? What's yer friend's name?"
Karolina smiles and waves to Daire as he offers to go get the box, and heads off. Turning to Jay, she listens as he speaks, lazily dangling the Prism-string for the kittens to play with, letting them leap and tumble around with each other, an easy, dimpled smile on her face. "Yeah, I'm not from here," she says, sounding a little uneasy. "I'm originally from California. My parents… Well, they're actors, so I kinda have to keep a low profile. But, I learned some disturbing things about them and decided it was time for me to leave home," she says by way of general explanation, not hitting on too fine a point on anything.
She listens as Jay shares his story about being 'sent' here… Hmm. Is he a bad boy or something? Then, his brother left. "I'm sorry to hear your brother went somewhere else. I've never had a sibling, so I wouldn't really know, but I can imagine it'd be a bit sad to not be able to be around your family," she murmurs sympathetically, her sparkling eyes shining a bit brighter. "As for my friend.. Her name is Nico. She's a beautiful Asian girl who likes to dress in dark clothes. Have you met her? Heard of her?" she asks, the hope painfully apparent in her voice.
"California?" Jay's brows lift upward with surprise, though he doesn't seem to focus on too much on her parents with an understanding dip of his head, the locale is enough to keep his attention. "Ah've heard nothin' but amazin' things outa that place, but Ah've never been." Jay touches the center of his own chest. "Kentucky. If ya couldn't tell." He smiles in spite of himself. "Everyone's gotta do what they gotta do. You gotta be a strong soul t'travel all the way across the country, Miss 'Lina. That's a /distance/! It's, ah, hard," Jay's voice softens, a small, tender smile of understanding and a hint of vulnerability showing in his expression. "Bein' so far from anywhere familiar. Family or no, there's somethin' about bein' in a totally different place away from everythin' you know." Empathetic. Jay gently shrugs a shoulder. "Ah got nine siblin's and m'momma. It's been…different." He blows out a hard breath and smiles, the lump under his shirt over his shoulders shivering. Bolstering himself. "Nico…doesn't sound familiar. Ah met a quiet oriental girl mah first week here, but her name was Cass, not Nico." He frowns thoughtfully, squinting while he thinks. A slow shake of his head. "Ah'm sorry, it doesn't ring any bells. But, you know, if Ah do meet her, Ah'll let her know yer lookin' for her. Is she…like us?"
Karolina laughs softly, nodding her head. "I kinda figured you weren't from California, though accent really depends on the accent of the parents, I've found. Though, gotta say, if it's a multilingual home where the parents speak another language, the English accent is usually picked up from the region," she rambles, thinking about her friend Nico and some others. "I…don't really know what I'm talking about, honestly," she laughs, rubbing her face in embarrassment.
She dips her chin, again, as he mentions how far she's come from her home, how lonely it can be. She nods, "Yeah. You're not wrong," she says quietly, turning her gaze to the kittens. It makes her feel better, less lonely. Less scared. "Nico's… different, like us, yes. In her own way. I don't want to share her secrets, but yes. She's special," she nods her head with a warm smile. It's easy to see that she's fond of this Nico. "So, I'd really appreciate it if you did tell her I was looking for her. I'm seriously thinking of going to that community center. My money's really tight, so…" she shrugs and falls silent. Embarrassed. Nervous.
As the police make their way back, with hand-cuffed criminals in tow, Karolina takes a brief moment to inquire about the kittens. When she returns to Jay, she has a smile on her face. "Well, they said that there's a pet shop nearby that's run by one of their wives and that they'll hold the kittens there, take care of them, and if any people call looking for the kittens, they'll direct them to the pet shop. Kinda fortuitous, really. I have the address on this paper, here," she says, handing the red-headed boy the slip. "Maybe we can find it, together?" she asks.
Red brows arch upward as Karolina edges around her friend's powers. Suddenly very aware of how that sounded, lily-white hands gently reach out in innocence. "Oh, no no no, Miss Lina. Ah'd never presume so much, gosh, Ah'm sorry if Ah gave that impression. Ah'd never." A hint of color touching his cheeks, scrubbing the back of his neck at the general embarrassment going around between them, he offers a gentle chuckle to try to break the awkwardness.
She mentions money though and he tilts his head, smiling gently. "Well, sure, yer here on yer own, Ah bet it is. Ah know that Ah'm countin' half-pennies twice a day. Please, Miss Lina, come by the center when you can. We take care of our own 'round here. Daire an' me an' we got another friend who make a real smart effort to take care of folks, and you seem just sweeter than bee spit. No reason for you to be out on yer own. The city ain't always safe t'be alone in." Jay's tone is soft without being piteous; he's just so /genuine/ as he leans forward to express that giving nature. The young man tips his chin forward and murmurs, gently and low so nobody else can hear, deep green eyes peering through the bright hair that hangs in the way, "No shame in gettin' out on yer own and acceptin' some help from yer community…"
Jay parts just as Daire returns with a big box for the adorable furballs. Helping load the little creatures up, Jay is crouched down on the ground when Karolina returns. He smiles gently back up to her. "Oh, that's perfect, huh? Serendipity." He chuckles in a whisper of breath and presses back to his feet, brushing his hands off on his pants. A curious peek at the address. "Oh, that ain't far. Just a couple blocks that'a way." Jutting his chin over in the direction and handing the paper back. He looks over to Daire, exchanging looks and their plans. A shrug from Jay and he looks back to the young lady. "Be happy t'go with ya, Miss Lina. Best t'make sure that these little guys and yerself get around all right."
Happily, too, Jay doesn't seem to mind in the least as they sew together those last remaining loose ends from the oddity in the park this afternoon.
Karolina smiles and shakes her head, "No, no. I didn't mean it that way, Jay. I'm sorry it came off that way. Seriously, I just don't want to talk out of turn. It's all really new for us, in the grand scheme of things, and we're still adjusting. I'm still adjusting, anyway," she explains. When he specifically mentions taking care of 'our own,' Karolina's pretty face gets a decidedly uncomfortable expression. "About that…" she trails off. "I'm different, Jay, that's for sure. And, you might be different. But, I'm not.. I'm not different in the way that you're different. …I don't think," she says, the confusing wording almost confusing her, in the end. "What I mean is.. I'm not a mutant, if that's what we're talking about, here," she whispers the last, so no one overhears. "Maybe I'm mistaking you, but I wanna be honest with you about that," she says. "I understand if that changes things…"
The closeness of Jay makes Karolina's stomach flutter a bit, and she's not sure how to tell him about it… So, she doesn't. She's, in fact, saved by the fact that Daire returns with the box and everyone gets busy securing the playful kittens inside it. It's quite a chore, since the kittens seem much keener on trying to climb out of the box than stay inside it. But, in the end, it's managed. She is grateful to secure her medic alert bracelet back in place on her wrist…and her sparkling, glowing, rainbow-self is dampened to a human-appearance. Long, blonde hair, falls in silky curtains around her shoulders and she looks like a normal, if quite pretty, girl.
She is happy to walk along with Jay and Daire as they locate the pet shop and get in touch with the wife of the police officer, handing the box of kittens over. She can't help but play with all of them for a little while longer before making her way out of the place with the two boys. "Thanks, so much, for your help, you two. I really appreciate it," she smiles and offers a hug to both Daire and to Jay. "I've got to go see about some potential jobs I applied for, but I'll probably see you soon, because I'm thinking of visiting the community center, as long as I'm still welcome, later tonight," she says, smiling crookedly, her dimples deepening in her cheeks. "Thanks, again!" she waves and, before it can get awkward, she jogs off, her lovely hair swinging attractively as she does.
Jay tilts his head gently, peering curiously at Karolina when she corrects him as to what she is. A flourish of a gentle smile touches his expression. "Ah meant people, Miss Lina." Those rich, green eyes warm with gentle humor. "We're all people. Ah'm sorry if that sounded…uh…mutant-centric."
A gentle correction and apology, he seems utterly surprised when she puts on that bracelet. "/Wow/." Utterly complimentary.
All said and done, it's been a pretty good day. Kittens got homes, bad guys are put away, and they make some new friends. Jay shakes his head gently while he watches Lina go, smiling gently to himself. "Nice gal."