BBQ And Robot Dinosaurs

Participants:

aislinn_icon.gif delilah2_icon.gif jonathan_icon.gif luther2_icon.gif marlowe_icon.gif monica2_icon.gif owain_icon.gif peyton_icon.gif richard_icon.gif zelda2_icon.gif

Also Featuring

jonah_icon.gif lilir_icon.gif rickyr_icon.gif walter_icon.gif

Scene Title BBQ And Robot Dinosaurs
Synopsis Raytech reaches out to the Jackson Heights community to encourage good local relations, hire local workers, and generally have a BBQ!
Date June 9, 2018

Jackson Heights -A park outside the old Lady of Fatima Rosary House


https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7615368,-73.8896582,267m/data=!3m1!1e3

A few blocks of green grass bordered with trees have had the grass and weeds cut - in contrast to some of the other green spaces in the district - and a spacious parking lot has had its lines freshly painted for those who are driving to the event. The Rosary House itself is clearly undergoing some construction, with the entrances taped off and some construction equipment parked nearby, although no workers are in evidence.

A maze of pavilions have been set up to keep the sun off people, and a number of tables have been set up in some of these by interested locals to sell home-made liquid, home crafts, vegetables grown in local gardens and other assorted stalls. Others have been set up by Raytech Industries themselves; smoke rises from multiple grills where a variety of meats are being barbequed for free access to the crowd of locals, more vegetarian offerings at other tables, and beverages are being served free of charge.The people at the beer tent are being careful about watching the level of drunkenness in patrons, though, and will turn away anyone they feel has had too much. There are games being played in what used to be the baseball field, frisbees flying about and kids chasing balls. There’s heavy security here, but they’re surprisingly discreet, blending in well as they patrol and watch the area.

Other tables have fliers and people who will happily talk to any locals who stop by about jobs working for Raytech - they’re hiring mostly for contract workers interested in working on the construction going on in their own district, but also for security, and anyone who feels their skills and/or evolved ability might be useful commercially. It’s very low-pressure and nobody is having such suggestions thrust on them, but the company is being very genuine about wanting local people to be brought in to work on local projects. The general ‘feel’ that they’re putting forth is that they want people to understand that Raytech isn’t here to mow over their neighborhood, but to improve it — hopefully with their feedback and participation.

There’s a model of the area in one tent that shows the blocks that Raytech has purchased - that this whole event is taking place on - with documentation on a computer screen showing the plans to build hydroponic and aeroponic gardens in the area to supply Jackson Heights with food and - in the long term - lower the Safe Zone’s reliance on imported food.. The logo of Yamagato Industries is also present, with a statement that they are pleased to be working with Raytech to assist them in building this project.


It’s been a hell of a month for Richard Ray, but he’s concealing that strain behind a pair of sunglasses; dressed down from being a CEO today, he might even avoid recognition for most in a pair of grey knee-length shorts and a blue t-shirt, the chain of a necklace vanishing under the neckline. Some of his tattoos are on show for once, from the snake wrapped around his right forearm and thorny brambles disappearing into the sleeve on his upper right arm.

There’s an earbud in his ear for ease of communication with security, but it’s unobtrusive.

“Good turnout,” he comments as he takes a sip of beer, hanging out in the ‘Raytech Industries’ tent where employment is being offered and feedback taken from the neighborhood, “Hopefully this works out well… I’d hate to be the company that everyone in the area hates.”

Wry, but only half a joke. The average person has always distrusted corporate motives.

Monica Dawson is not part of RayTech, technically, but she considers herself grandfathered in to caring about their goings on. Which is to say, she heard about the event and she's made her way here. Apparently, her first stop was for a beer, because one is in hand when she comes strolling up to Richard's side. Not just appearing there, because she has grown as a person. Maybe.

Or it's because she's in a dress, of all things. A sundress, bright yellow, and a cybernetic arm make it difficult for a ninja to ninja.

Or it's because she brought a friend. She glances behind her, just to make sure Marlowe is keeping up.

"Rich!" she says as she slides into place next to the dressed down CEO. She still seems a little unsure of how to greet him, but eventually settles on a one-armed hug. "Look at you, you almost look like someone who knows how to relax," she teases, but she jumps quick to the next topic as she gestures behind her. "You remember my friend Marlowe? She wanted to come geek out at the construction." That, too, is a tease, but meant for her Yamagato cohort this time.

Marlowe is keeping up, a few paces behind only as she stops to say hello to a few people before she excuses herself to catch up to Monica at the Raytech tent. Long hair straightened and brightened, pulled back so it’s out of the way and that it lets bare shoulders be bare, the woman comes up dressed in a flowy black shirt and pants. It’s the accessories gleaming off her fingers and wrists that add the color. “Hey Richard, great party, good turnout.” Her left hand is wrapped in a skin-colored bandage still, but strong enough to hold the beer she has in hand. Blue painted fingernails click on the bottle. “And yes, I’m here to totally geek out about infrastructure,” she laughs, giving her Yamagato cohort a nudge back. Because she did get that right.

Standing somewhere off to a side looking like he’s a little too seriously dressed for the casual occasion is Luther. It’s part of the job though, as the security chief focuses with making sure things are running smoothly to that end. And to be available should anybody feel like applying for a job there. Less obvious are the plain clothes security positioned around the lot. But they’ve been told to enjoy the event too.

Yet another Yamagato employee has chosen to attend the event, though her reasons are more to mingle and meet with people and less for business purposes. She doesn’t know anyone here, though that doesn’t seem to bother her too much. Wilhelmina Falkenrath is wearing a summer dress, a sleeveless soft pink little number that ends just below her knees, a black short-sleeve shrug covering her shoulders.

She’s been browsing all of the tents quietly, observing and generally watching people, all while…enjoying isn’t the right word for the beer she’s been sipping, but she’s drinking it, brown eyes trailing about as she enters the Raytech Industries tent to take a look at what’s being offered forth.

“Mister Richard!” is happily squealed by a little boy with a mop of dark curls who runs in the direction of the CEO. Luckily he’s cute and small enough that the various security guards won’t tackle him.

One hopes.

“Jonah,” comes the stern voice of the young woman whose hand the slippery devil has just slipped out of, as Peyton Whitney’s long legs hurry after the boy. The frown slips away as she sees Monica at the same time as Jonah does.

“Auntie Monica!” also gets a squeal before she’s rocked back by a hug around the waist by the six-year-old boy.

Peyton catches up, dressed in an all-white outfit, eyes shielded by a pair of Jackie-O inspired sunglasses, and she quickly moves to Richard first to offer a quick peck on the cheek, and then the same to Monica. “Hail, hail, the gang’s all here,” she says lightly.

“Are— are you— is that a dress?” Richard’s literally gawking at the sight of his old friend in a dress, returning that hug one-armed since he’s holding a beer in the other hand, “Are you in a— Marlowe did she lose a bet?”

He’s grinning all the same, “Good to see you, Monica. Glad you could come— both of you— even if you’re probably here to look at what your company’s going to be investing it.” A wink, and he teases, “I suppose I should launch into some spiel about ‘you’re investing in the neighborhood’ but I’m not dressed to talk in corporate right now.”

Then there’s a small child shouting his name, and he looks over with a grin, “Well, well, look at who it is… hey, kiddo. Peyton.” The woman gets a smile of her own, although as ever tinted with that hint of sadness at first before it’s washed away by more genuine pleasure at seeing her. “Glad you could make it too.”

One woman, a bit on the small side, sticks out in the crowd thanks to her bright blue jacket, milling back as she flits from table to table, looking over what, exactly, each of them has to offer, occasionally a flyer is read, and then a second one taken and stuffed into a pocket that looks rather packed from the outside looking in.

Iris Earhart does seem genuinely interested in the various things on display for the Community, though - and being that she has such a habit of working with the Co-Operative, it was important to her to make sure she came out to this today, in case no one else could.

"It it doesn't work out, it isn't m'fault, mmkay? I only just got here." The words come form a woman with swept aside hair as she approaches Richard. Dessed in jeans and a untucked green button up shirt, a light jacket with the sleeves worn up pprobably unneeded in the middle of the day, Aislinn Graves angles her beer slightly towards Richard, before bringing it to her lips in a long sip.

"Y' weren't jokin' about all the big things," she notes with a bit of a laugh, looking past him and towards Monica and Marlowe. She quirks an eyebrow at the two of them, smirking as she finishes another sip. "Friends a' y'rs, boss?"

For once in what seems like forever, Delilah is not one of the people arranging or contributing to some sort of community event. Coming in from the baseball field towards the tent village, she is loosely hand-in-hand with the young boy at her side. Both of them are looking a little windswept, but it’s Walter’s hair that has suffered the brunt of it. He’d been extremely invested in rocking the kickball. His jeans are grass-stained, but Delilah doesn’t seem the one to fuss over it. She contrasts him with a more tidy look, a loose skirt of navy blue and a polka-dot blouse.

After a few prolonged moments of moving from tent to tent, she allows Walter to scurry ahead a little; he promptly invades the Raytech tent, probably looking for robots. At least he can look over the model of the planning, obviously tempted to reach in and touch it. As children do.

"I did not lose a bet," Monica protests, but with a laugh. "Marlowe hid all my suits." That may or may not be true. But one imagines it was probably difficult to convince her to get into this outfit, however it happened. "And don't be silly, we're here for the food. And the beer."

The appearance of a tiny boy running to and fro gets a much brighter smile from Monica, though. And the hug, too. She returns it warmly before switching her beer to her other hand so she can pick Jonah up in her fancy robot arm. "Kiddo!" she greets him, along with a kiss on the cheek before she turns to look for his mother. Peyton gets that same warm smile, too, and she leans in to return the peck.

"I think I found something of yours, Pey," she says before she shifts to bring Marlowe into the conversation too. "Peyton, this is my friend Marlowe. Marlowe, this is Peyton and Jonah. A couple of very cool people. And you know what, Jonah? Marlowe has the coolest ability. Maybe if we ask real nice she'll show us something." She looks over at Marlowe, eyes pleading. She did not bring along a present for Jonah— although she would have— so Marlowe is getting roped into showing him a good time.

She doesn't have an extra hand to greet Aislinn, but she gets a smile, at least. "Monica," she introduces herself, "old friend. It's good to meet more of Richard's people. Are you part of the team working this project? It's impressive. Ambitious." Two things Monica seems to approve of.

Genuinely amused by the reaction Monica receives, Marlowe is laughing. “Excuse you,” she protests to Monica, “but have you looked at yourself in the mirror? Girl it’s a crime you haven’t been out like this, in all this,” cue the up-and-down motion of her beer holding hand, “because you’re supposed to be PR.”

But then she turns back to Richard a moment, taming the smile to something more casual and light. She shakes her head at him though, replying, “This is your event. Let it ride, Richard. See how the neighborhood responds to the one doing the work.” Her hand lifts in a short toast before she takes a drink.

And is drawn away by the squeal of a young boy charging up with enthusiasm. And here she is holding a beer? Oops. Marlowe turns to Peyton and reaches out a hand to shake warmly. “Pleasure to meet you, and Jonah.” She’s glancing back to Monica, at those pleading eyes. A smile twists. She got you, boo.

Marlowe stoops down on her heels so she can get more on Jonah’s level, and asks curiously, “Hey Jonah, I’m Marlowe. What’s your favorite thing right now? What do you like? Robots? Dinosaurs?”

"These are some old friends, and a new one," Richard offers with a motion of his beer towards Monica, Marlowe, and Peyton as Aislinn approaches, a broad smile on his face, "This is Aislinn Graves, and yes— she's one of our many very talented specialists working on this project, although she won't be coming in until we're working with the actual plants instead of the construction."

He chuckles, half-teasing "Her credentials as a biologist and botanist are quite impressive, it was quite the coup picking her up."

As Zelda walks into the tent, the young woman sitting behind the table looks up with a bright smile, "Hi there! Did you have any questions? We've got some flyers here, if you'd like some information about the company…"

Richard looks over with an easy nod towards her, bringing up his beer in a salute, and then turns back— and there's another kid running into the tent, and he grins, "We're being overrun— Ricky and Lili are here, they're over eating lunch." With their security detail, of course.

He looks fondly down at Jonah, noting, "I think he'll answer 'robot dinosaurs' now."

A bright smile is flashed toward the young woman behind the table, and Zelda raises her beer. “Oh — no, thank you,” she replies with a soft British accent. “I’ve already got a job, I’m just…new to town.” She smiles softly, and moves on from the table, slipping out from the Raytech tent as it grows more crowded.

Once outside and a good distance away from the tent containing all of the children, she slips out the electronic cigarette box she carries in her purse, pressing it to her mouth and taking a long draw, before letting a cloud of candy-scented vapor escape her mouth.

“Dinosaurs!” Jonah tells Marlowe, even as Peyton gives her a ‘you don’t really have to’ sort of look, followed by a ‘you’re incorrigible’ sort of look directed at Monica.

But Richard’s suggestion of “robot dinosaurs” is even better, so Jonah nods. “Robot dinosaurs!” no doubt loud enough to pull a certain ginger-headed boy’s direction thataways.

“Nice to meet you,” Peyton says to the adults congregating and introducing themselves. “Peyton,” she says, offering a hand to the strangers. To Richard, she adds, “Looks like you have big things planned. Looks great, Ca-”

She shakes her head. “Richard.” Old habits die hard.

Of course it pulls him that way. The boy looking at the model table turns his head when he hears another kid shouting about robot dinosaurs. For a moment he hesitates, gauging the adults near Jonah; they kind of look familiar, but he’s not sure. Consideration only takes that long before Walter is wandering over, curious.

Outside of the Raytech tent seems to be safe from that curiosity of children, and Delilah savors it for as long as she can. She needs a breath, once in a while. The redhead keeps a sidelong eye on her boy, idling near to Zelda and lingering between tents.

“Wow, sure is busy here, yeah?” Delilah pipes up in an obvious effort to make conversation— unknowingly introducing herself as one more from across the pond.

"Hmm robot dinosaurs, good choice, best of both worlds." Marlowe nods sagely, grinning back at the boy. "Come on over here with me, let me show you something." She rises to stand, mouths a quick 'I'll be back' to Monica and Peyton, nods her hellos to Aislinn and others, before heading over to the side of the tent with Jonah.

They're still within view of parental and adult units when Marlowe reaches over to grab a large handful of plastic pens off the tent table. And some of those paper fliers. A stapler and a staple remover. "Alright," she prompts the boy, looking over briefly as another wanders over. She gestures the other young kid to come on over. "Ok, now watch carefully. Don't take your eyes off these things."

Her painted fingernails extracts the staples out of the stapler, setting them aside. Then her eyes shift in color, golden yellow rings forming in her normally brown irises as bluish white sparks of energy crackle from her fingers. The plastic pens seem to melt under her touch, softening to a moldable clay like consistency. Then the paper, and the staples. Depending how long the children might be able to pay attention, the process takes a few minutes. But in the end, there sits a pair of paper, plastic and metal robot dinosaurs, one a triceratops, the other a stegosaurus. Marlowe's eyes return to their brown color as she lifts her hands from the toys. She's more than meets the eye.

“There you go Jonah, go show your momma,” she hands him one of the two, and offers the other out to the other boy.

Zelda blinks a few times as she hears a fellow Briton, turning her brown-eyed gaze toward Delilah as she’s inhaling another cloud of the candy-scented vapor. She blows this away from the other woman, before offering a pleasant smile, putting the vape away — she doesn’t want to offend anyone with the thick clouds, even if they do smell good.

“Yeah, busier than I expected,” she replies, nodding her head respectfully toward Delilah. “Wasn’t expecting to run into others from across the pond,” she adds, a faint smile on her face. Sometimes, it’s good to hear an accent from home — especially when you’re new in a strange town and learning the cultural customs of two countries you never thought you would really interact with.

“I never get tired of seeing that,” admits Richard, who to be fair has now seen that power in use exactly twice but is a fan of hyperbole in social settings, “It’s a pretty amazing ability. I’m jealous.”

He gives Peyton a wry look, “It’s alright. Takes time to get used to, I know. Took me a few years before I was…”

"It helps if you always just called him Rich," Monica cuts in, because these two are getting weird and she plans on countering it with her own brand of weird. "Overly familiar, everyone says it's a bad thing, but then you find the one situation where it works in your favor." Not that it could have been considered overly familiar for a long time now. But at some point, surely.

She looks away from Marlowe and her gifts for the kids, to grin over at Richard and Peyton. "This is why she's Hachiro's favorite," she notes, quietly but fondly. The status of Marlowe's boss hasn't changed much, but she's able to bury her worry for the moment. Once the kids are off with their new toys, she comes over to clap Marlowe on the shoulder. "I almost ruined my plan to spoil Jonah rotten there for a moment. Thanks for the save."

The redhead smiles broadly back at Zelda when the other woman answers, tickled pink that she just had the luck to bump into her. "Me neither." Delilah offers her hand out in greeting, brows lifting and mouth crooking. Her whole manner is friendly enough, she won’t bite at all. "Delilah. Local, even if I don't really sound like it. What about you?"

Under the shade of the tent, Walter pauses when Marlowe motions him closer. But she seems nice! So he trots up to see what she wants to show them, giving Jonah a big grin before Marlowe does her thing. He doesn’t take his eyes off for even one second, enraptured and wide-eyed. When she offers the two dinosaurs to them, Walter blinks those blue eyes once and accepts it as if it were treasure. “That was… that was AWESOME.”

Outside the tent, mid-introduction, Delilah glances up— but she knows what excitement sounds like. It’s cool.

Jonah’s dark eyes gleam with excitement, interlaced fingers held over his mouth because no doubt his mother has told him it’s not polite to gape.

“Well, it’s too late for that. I always called him Card. And I am not about to go time traveling to fix that mistake,” Peyton says with a smirk in Monica’s direction. She glances over at where Marlowe is making impromptu presents for her son, and shakes her head in admiration.

“Now he’s going to wonder why I didn’t get a cool power like hers. Thanks a million, Auntie Monica,” she adds, but it’s with a smile, reaching out to squeeze the other woman’s hand.

Once the robot dinosaur is handed to Jonah, he gasps, then throws arms around Marlowe in a tight hug, clearly adopting her into his strange but growing tribe. “Look, Mom! Look, Mister Richard!” he says, beginning to move back that way before he reaches for little Walter’s hand to drag him with him.

“That is amazing,” Peyton says, then nods to Marlowe. “Say thank you. You know, with words, not just hurling hugs at people without their consent.”

Marlowe laughs as she's hugged by small arms, accepting thanks and winks at Walter before standing up again once the children go off to play. Wandering back over to Monica's side, she smiles back at her. "Couldn't leave you hanging, there Auntie Moni," she says amusedly.

A carefully tended brow lifts as she hears Peyton's mention of having a power as well. Discretion, though, leads her not to ask. Instead, she's glancing amongst the gathered and drawing a short conclusion. "You all used to work together?"

And a curiosity as to why they don’t now. But that curiosity is unspoken.

“They used to work for me,” Richard answers Marlowe’s question, bringing the cup of beer up to take a sip of, “A lifetime ago.” He looks between Monica and Peyton for a moment— and then with a shake of his head he steps away, “I need to go check on the kids— you all get to know each other, enjoy the event, I’m sure I’ll catch you later.”

Not waiting around to answer any further questions, he slips out of the tent to head through the maze of pavilions, presumably en route to where his children are eating lunch. It’s a good excuse anyway.

"What is time travel for then, huh?" Monica chuckles. For getting into trouble, really, is that it's for. And getting out of it. The apologetic look she gives Peyton is only half-serious. Maybe less. "Look he doesn't think my power is cool, either, if it makes you feel better."

She takes a moment to finish off her beer, finding a spot to set down her cup before she looks back to Marlowe. Auntie gets a smile. Because she's proud of her friend and her son, too. Being part of that little family probably saved her life.

Richard gets a glance, his choice of how to explain their shared history gets a tilt of her head. But she doesn't argue. She gives him a playful salute when he makes his exit and watches for a moment as he walks off.

"It was a little more than that," she says, to no one in particular. But her gaze travels to Peyton, and then back to Marlowe. "Peyton and him set up a security firm, back in the day. We did work for it, technically speaking, but really we were out to save the world. Managed it, more or less." Not without scars, though. Some more obvious than others. "In any case, it was pretty rad and I got to punch robots and that's always a good day."

The hint of a smile becomes a much brighter one as Delilah speaks further to Zelda, the woman coming out of that little shell of hers a bit more. She reaches out, taking the other woman’s hand with a dip of her head. “A pleasure. My given name is Wilhelmina, but I honestly prefer my middle name, Zelda.”

She glances toward the tent, the smile remaining as she hears the exclamations of amazement at Marlowe’s display; then, she turns back to Delilah, dipping her head. “I’m definitely not local,” she replies with an airy laugh. “Born and raised in Southend-On-Sea, suddenly decided on a whim to change my entire life and came here for a job at Yamagato.”

She glances out over the entire affair, not once losing the smile that tugs the corners of her lips upwards. “I’ve been here two weeks.”

While he is used to playing around with new kids, Jonah catches Walter off guard when he yoinks him away from Marlowe. He laughs, piping out a “Thanks!” before he gets toted up alongside in front of Peyton. That's how you really make friends- you grab them and take them. He's older than Jonah by a year and change, and may have an odd familiarity when it comes to the face of ginger hair and scattered freckles. The new buddy smiles up at Jonah's mom first, then looks to the other boy. “What's your name?” You did sort of kidnap your new friend, kiddo.

“I've lived here more or less since before the first midtown incident… Can't seem to quit it.” Lilah’s hand speaks of light labors, strong but measured. There is a soft puff of laughter for Zelda’s smile. Good. “Two weeks? All this must be still blowin’ your mind a bit, huh? I know you said you're with Yamagato, but I do hope you spend plenty time with us out here, too!” It sounds a tad like a tourism pitch, and maybe it kind of is, but it doesn't feel like Dee is forcing it. “What do you do for them?”

Peyton’s dark eyes drop at the questions and answers, glancing down at the clutch purse in her hands, fingers fiddling with the clasp for a moment. When Richard excuses himself, she sighs slightly, watching him go, then glancing back to Monica when she speaks.

Thank god for kids being cute, because it’s all very awkward, and Walter and Jonah’s introductions give her something else to focus on. She smiles at Walter, with appreciation for the kindness to the smaller boy.

“Jonah but some people call me JT,” says the younger of the two, perhaps thinking “JT” sounds cooler for a friend so mature and worldly. “That’s my mom and Auntie Moni and her friend Marlowe,” he adds, super helpfully.

“Hey ki— whoa—” Richard hasn’t quite gotten under the edge of one of the tents when an seven-year old that had climbed up on one of the tables literally leaps at him. The executive catches him - his cup beer dropped to bounce and splash over the grass beside him - while he stumbles back a step, laughing.

“You caught me, Dad,” Ricky crows triumphantly as he’s held by in the executive’s hands, even as his twin sister - already rolling her eyes at her brother at this age - walks out of the tent with her hand sticky with ice cream, licking her fingers off. “I told him that you’d catch him,” Lili declares, trying to sound adult, “But he wasn’t sure.”

“I did,” he chuckles, setting his son down and ruffling dark brown hair until it’s a mess, “C’mon, come meet some of my friends’ kids. You’ve been hanging out with these stuffy security guys all day.”

The ‘stuffy security guys’ get a wink, as he’s quite grateful for their presence.

“It is blowing my mind just a bit,” is Zelda’s reply, the woman offering a small chuckle. “I like the Safe Zone. Yamagato Park is rather lovely,” she murmurs, “And the Safe Zone shows a lot of promise. I wish I had seen New York before all of the insanity,” but she was not even remotely interested in America back then.

“I plan on trying to get out of the park a bit more often — I don’t want to seclude myself there.” She skims the event again, brown eyes hooding slightly. “I’m the SESA liason. I was a lawyer back in Southend, but that life got a bit…tedius.” Plus, it’s not quite fun being evolved in the UK, even if one has no power to speak of.

“Hi Jonah’s mom!” As Jonah introduces himself and the adults, the ginger boy grins to Peyton. “My mum’s around here somewhere, she was doin’ boring stuff like talking to people about gardening.” He says it half to Peyton, and half to his new bud JT. “My name’s Walter. I don’t have a nickname.” Jonah did and now he’s a little envious that he doesn’t have a cool one too. Don’t let him see you sweat.

“I think ‘lovely’ is understating it.” Delilah whistles lowly when she thinks about the Park; she has friends there, after all. “Lawyer? My aunt does family law. I lived with her here ‘til everything went to shite. SESA is a great gig though, I know a lot of good eggs there. A lot of dedicated people, you know?” It is already coloring her opinion of Zelda, for better or worse. “If it’s not too much prying, are you Expressive?”

The ‘what’s your sign’ of 2018.

Marlowe lifts both brows up further at answer from Richard on his connection to Monica and Peyton. Impressed? More curious? Both? She bows her head out of a habit when the man excuses himself and leaves her with associates old and new.

Monica's comment doesn't get missed either, because Marlowe shoots her a rueful smirk. "See, I knew there was way more to it than just 'we worked together'. You two ladies don't seem the types to be sitting behind the desk," she says, tempering the smirk down to a softer smile when she notes Peyton's drop of her eyes.

"Saving the world was how we all did it back then, right? Just that, now, we have reasons to rebuild it into something even better." Her gaze drifts to the young children playing around the tent, down to Jonah and Walter when the kids are back in conversational range.

"Hi Walter," Marlowe adds with a new smile and wiggled wave of her blue fingernails. "Now don't get too rough on your momma's interest in gardening, okay? That's how we're going to make this place up nice so people can grow some big fruits and vegetables, and have good food," she nods in the direction of the and next to the baseball field we can make the big space nice for you and Jonah to play Robo-Saurs in. Robo-Saurs need a lot of space. They're dinosaurs from space, so they're used to having a lot of it." She nods sagely, like this is all for real and serious.

Stuffy security guy Luther makes his way back around from a short patrol of the grounds to reconnect with his post at the Raytech tent. It's then that he notices Monica and Peyton amidst the familiar faces as he scans the crowd, height to his advantage. A smile pulls at his normally serious features, softening the harder edge to his expression.

One arrival that doesn’t go unnoticed by some is Councilman Jonathan Smith, especially, when he rolled up in that teal 40’s wagon of his. His baby, something that he has some pride in, especially since he has had it since before the war. Now he was strolling through the event, hands tucks in pockets of his jeans, dark blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Greeting this familiar face and that, he is a bundle of positive energy.

“Hey. How’s it going?” He offers to a random person.

“You see that guy over there? Selling some pretty nice wood crafts.” To another.

“Some fat pomegranates over there,” yet another is told.

This is Jonathan. His path slowly takes him along tents until one in particular catches his attention. Edging his way through people, the councilman finds himself standing in front of the model of the upcoming project. His brows lift a little, impressed. Leaning down to get a better look as some of the detail, a finger lifts to push his black framed glasses further up on his nose. “Bigger protect then I thought it would be, “ He murmurs mainly to himself.

“You can call me Peyton,” the older Whitney tells Walter, which gets an indignant look from Jonah who has to call all adults by a polite Mister, Mrs. or Ms., and finds this incredibly unfair. “It’s true — gardening is very important. We would be in pretty tough times without it.” They are already — so the food grown locally is all the more important, but that goes unsaid.

Meanwhile, Jonah’s attention has strayed, because he sees someone he knows. “Mr. Smith!” he squeals, running over to Jonathan to assault the man with a hug around the hips. “Did you know we moved here?”

Peyton looks up, and her expression brightens at the sight of the man. “There’s no escape,” she says teasingly.

Whatever mood had washed over Richard Ray has, it seems, been banished by the presence of his children. There’s a grin on his lips as he motions over towards the tent where he’d left everyone, and he starts walking that way, trailed by the twins.

Well, until Ricky charges forward into the tent ahead of them. Little fingers press to the edge of the model as he pushes up in his toes to look over it, oohing a bit, “Lookit. Lili, look at this!”

His sister seems to be ignoring him now as she trots along next to her father, who calls easily, “Hey Peyton, Monica— I don’t think you got to meet the kids when you stopped by last, they were out of country with their mother…”

The robo-person in the tent lifts her eyebrows at this notion of her dino brethren being from outer space. "You saying that cyborgs gotta be aliens, Marlowe, or what?" The kids are given a look— can you believe this?— but it is only a playful one.

Marlowe is let off the hook when Richard reappears with his own kids, since Monica makes her way over to the tiny Rays (and one regular sized one). "Rich! Introduce us, then." She waves to Lili and Ricky with cybernetic fingers, apparently assuming that any kids of his would be into robots. All things considered.

“Most of my time has been spent learning the ropes so far, so I have yet to actually meet any actual members of SESA — though I do think I’ll get on fine with them.” Zelda watches all of the children gathering, chuckling softly.

The question about her SLC-E status causes the smile to twitch, ever so slightly. “I am, yes,” she replies, dipping her head toward Delilah. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you what I can do — still unmanifested at 33-years-old, no clue when or if I’ll ever actually figure it out.” The smile gets a little fainter. She’s impatient at this point.

Meanwhile, the children may be further awed by a sudden procession of brand new coins, consisting of quarters, dimes and nickels, glinting in the light as they suddenly swirl around the general grouping. They lazily dance through the air , slow and methodical, and they all but beg the children to reach out and grab as much as they can.

The source of this little show reveals himself shortly after, as Owain makes his way over to Richard, his eyes looking a lot like mirrors. “Sir,” he murmurs, dipping his head deferentially toward the CEO of Raytech, a smile gracing his features. His knuckles aren’t bandaged anymore, either — though the stitches on his right hand are still visible.

The shout of his name by a very familiar voice is not missed, Jonathan turns enough in time to brace himself for that incoming hug. Even so, the weight does make him take a step or two back, but he doesn’t mind. “Is that Jonah?!” He knows it is, but it’s been awhile. “That can’t be Jonah!” He overdramatically exclaims that to Peyton, with a wink. The hug is returned and he crouches down to get more on the boys level. “I did not know you moved here.”

Peyton would have to wait her turn, the two ‘men’ had important things to talk about. “You did remember your dinosaurs when you moved here, right?” Jonathan sounds very concerned that he might have forgotten them. “ You get any new ones since last time?”

The adults in his vicinity certainly know what to say to make Walter feel bad about teasing his mother’s interests; he smiles sheepishly up to Marlowe and Peyton in turn, hands fidgeting with the dinosaur in his hands.

“Okay, I guess you’re right…” The boy giggles when Monica admonishes Marlowe, looking to the latter. “She doesn’t look like an alien at all. Her arm’s super primal, though!” Cyborgs 1, Aliens 0. The crowing Jonah is making gets a look, and it’s about half a second before Walter scurries up after him. “Hi, Mister Smith! We both got new ones, lookit- ” Walter buddies up shoulder to shoulder with his new mate, showing off Marlowe’s homemade dino. Jonah, or, JT, is officially part of the gang already. Watch out, Peyton?

“Whoa, JT, look at that..” As kids do, they get distracted; Walt points at some of the coins that dance between the boys and Jonathan.

There is a lot less scuttling about where Walter’s mother is concerned; she is absorbed in the new face and grilling her accordingly. Dee is vaguely aware of her son’s voice- she notes some excitement- as she listens to Zelda.

“I know quite a few folks with SESA, I think you’ll love them. Agent Quinn is an old friend, Agent Diaz is a bloody angel, Mustang is-” The redhead hesitates, laughing to herself after a moment of silence. “Well. Uhm. He’s pretty great all around.” Lilah has a touch of a more personable smile when she says this, eyes shy.

“That happens! I’m sure someday it will come to you.” Delilah brushes her fingers against Zelda’s arm in a light gesture of reassurance. “Better than being a scared kid with something rough though, right? I’m in the Slice Club too.” Since they’re sharing. “Mine isn’t really that glamorous. It’s not all fireballs and telepathy. Not to worry you…”

Jonah holds up the new robo-saur to show Jonathan when Walter does, and then nods. “At home I got…” and takes a breath and begins to list: “A few velociraptors, a saurophalanx, like twenty T-Rexes, ankylosaurus, brontosaurus, giganotosaurus, deinonychus…”

He keeps going. Jonathan might wish he hadn’t asked.

“Oh, my gosh, Ricky and Lili, right?” Peyton says, brown eyes widening and smile blooming when she sees the twins. “So pleased to meet you. This is Jonah and I don’t know if you already know Walter or not,” she says, looking over at the redheaded boy, then following his gaze to Owain and smiling at the teen.

“Carnotaurus, tyrannotitan…” Jonah does turn at Walter’s reaction to Owain and his eyes widen too. Thankfully, he leaves off the litany of dinosaurs to look at this new wonder of wonders.

“Mr. Smith probably thanks you,” Peyton says wryly to Owain, before grinning over at Jonathan. “You created a monster.” She’ll blame him for the obsession. Her eyes catch Luther looking there way, and she squeezes Jonathan’s hand. “Hold on, I need to go say hi to a friend,” she says before moving toward the security guard.

The model? The model’s impressive. A woman with a metal arm is way more impressive, though, and Ricky abandons his examination of the former for the latter with wide, impressed eyes. “Oh, wow,” he says, hurrying over to look - his father knows her, so he assumes she’s safe, “Is that your power? Are you a, uh, a metal-morph?”

He glances back to his sister, as if checking if he has the right phrasing. She’s trying to look more /adult/ and reserved, although there’s a curious gleam in her eye as well as she steps up with her brother. “No, I think it’s a prothesis.” She looks proud of knowing words like that, “Am I right? Is it a robot arm?” Ricky looks back to Monica, eager for a response at his sister’s inquiry.

Richard’s laughing, hands clasping behind his back as he steps up in the wake of the children, “Yeah, this is Lili, and Ricky— kids, this is Monica, an old friend of mine, and this is Peyton— “ The introductions are going to be delayed a little, though, because then there’s money spinning in the air and Ricky’s jumping up to grab it.

He smirks, looking over to Owain, “At this rate there’s going to be so many wonders going on that we could start our own circus. Hey, kid. How’re you doing?”

Monica grins at the kids, at their questions, at their father, too. "That's exactly it, it's a robot arm. See, I got into this fight one time and there was an explosion, right? Lopped my arm clean off," she says, complete with chopping motion just so it's perfectly clear. For the children. "But I got this fancy new robot arm. Testing it out, making sure it works perfect before anyone else uses one."

Ricky goes to chase the money and Monica looks after him, then turns to Lili. "You're a smart kid. A lot like your dad, hmm?"

She doesn't offer to explain to the kids what her ability is, if only because this is hardly the even to show off the ninja skills. Even if she would fit in in a circus just fine.

When Peyton moves off, Monica watches her until she also sees Luther there. She comes along after— after shaking Lili's hand and telling her it was good to meet her, of course— to invade the security specialist's space. And probably ruin his effectiveness, too.

Mr. Smith takes a moment to truly appreciate those robo-dinos, grinning at redhead, “Walter… I see you made an excellent new friend.” Motioning his head at Jonah. “You both take good care of those. That’s the future right there.” Though he does manage to be distracted by the display of floating coins, brows lifting some.

Then he realizes that Jonah is distracted, too. Taking advantage in the break of dinosaur naming, Jonathan stands again. Peyton’s comment gets an amused look. Sorry, Miss Whitney, he’s not sorry for it. “Give a kid a book and suddenly you are getting accused of making monsters.” He tsks softly watching Peyton head off to talk to another friend. Okay, maybe it was a few books, but who's counting.

Finally, Jonathan turns his attention to the CEO of Raytech, “Mr. Ray,” the councilman greets. “Quite the shindig you have going on. Very good… very good.” he’s impressed. “And this…” He motions to the model. “This project of yours is a lot bigger than I was thinking.” He sounds pleasantly surprised.

"Um excuse you, cyborgs and aliens are separate groups," Marlowe turns up with her geek card invisibly tucked and invisible feathers ruffling. That doesn't stop the short, proud toss of her hair though, and a light laugh because she knows it's a tease. She's just putting on a show for the kids.

The floating coins also catch her eye, because shiny things are cool. Monica's arm? Shiny. Her accessories? Shiny. Robosaurs? Shiny. Wandering over to where the manipulator of said coins puts her back into at the very least listening range of the conversation between Monica and the Ray kids regarding her robotic arm. She doesn't say anything, but quietly enjoys the admiration they have for the arm. Because yes it's damn cool. And it's a little reminder of her work with her boss, which reminds her of the project this whole event is set up to celebrate. And how her boss put her up to offering to be a part of it. And how he's not here, at the moment, enjoying it too. Marlowe steps away from the group to move over to the model tent, to actually watch the little computer presentation explanation.

She winds up standing near by Jonathan, and can't help overhearing the man's words to the Raytech CEO. She casts a rueful smile over at Richard, watching to see how he handles the observations of the public eye.

In the meantime, Luther roots to his spot once he's seen. Peyton and Monica's approach turns him in place so that he's facing them. The man stands out, if not only by height but by the manner of dress in his dark navy suit jacket and white collar shirt. At least he's just got jeans on, for the casual part. When they're both within range, the man lifts a hand to wave in more deliberate greeting. "Miss Peyton. Monica. Been a while, hasn't it?" It's not hard to see that the security chief's expression has softened and warmed. Especially for the sight of the former of the pair.

“I look forward to meeting them,” comes Zelda’s reply, the woman smiling over to Delilah with a nod. “Though hopefully my job won’t entail me working with them too frequently.” She is part of the security force, no matter her background in law. “My official job description involves handling any disputes between Yamagato and the United States government — so in good times, I’ll be a very bored person.” She chuckles, lifting a hand to push a few strands of her black curls away from her eyes.

The mention of abilities not being all fireballs and telepathy prompts an actual laugh from the demure girl. “Knowing my luck, it will be something phenomenally boring and useless. Not sure I would mind — it’s weird, yeah, walking around knowing that at some point you’re going to suddenly be able to do something that you used to only see in movies — but not knowing when it’s going to happen.”

Zelda reaches back, rubbing her hand over the back of her neck. “At least I have the positive test to warn me that it’s going to happen at some point. I’m sure some people weren’t that lucky.”

Over by Richard, Owain is all smiles at the children — who will find that when they ‘capture’ the coins, they flutter in their hands briefly before going still. If he has anything to do with it, the kids will all get plenty of exercise today, so they can go home and pass out easily tonight — his little gift to the gathered parental figures.

The mirror-eyed teen smiles to Richard as a second handful of change, this one mostly quarters with a few dimes thrown in, floats lazily out of his pocket to join the rest. “My sister loves it when I do this,” he gestures to the coins, “so I figured I would see how it fares with a larger audience. Looks like it’s a hit.” He didn’t plan this one out, but he did just find a vending machine to raid prior to coming here…so he may as well spread the wealth to the kids.

“I’m doing well enough,” he adds to the CEO of Raytech, nodding toward the man, “all things considered.” The teen turns, watching the kids chasing the coins that flutter about like butterflies. Shiny butterflies that they can use to buy candy and get sugar rushes and torment their parents later.

“Yes,” Lili replies without a hint of humility to Monica’s compliment about her intelligence, beaming at her as she shakes hands, and then she stifles a giggle, “Nobody’s smarter than my dad though!”

The ‘dad’ in question laughs at that statement, Richard reaching down to scoop her up off the ground and hold her up - leaning down to kiss the top of her head as she giggles. “She’s learned how to butter me up, too,” he grins, looking down at her, “I’m doomed.”

Setting her down a moment later, she goes to catch up with her brother and peek at the coins that he’s showing off in his hands. Noticing the other children, then, she whispers something to him, and Ricky blinks up in their direction before trotting over towards Jonah and Walter, trailed by his sister, “Hi!”

The CEO turns to Jonathan when he approaches then, offering the man an easy smile. “Bigger than I was thinking too,” he admits in good humor, “Hopefully it all works out, since we’ve put a lot of eggs in this basket— although fortunately, our friends at Yamagato are taking on a bit of the burden there.”

One hand sweeps in Marlowe’s direction indicatively because she doesn’t get to escape if he can’t.

“Mister Luther,” Peyton says, a tiny tease for the man’s formality. “This is probably not allowed but I think your boss won’t mind this one time.” She moves forward to give him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. “It’s so good to see you. You look well.”

She glances at the other security guards to make sure that they’ve got his back while he’s distracted. She’s not trying to get anyone in trouble.

“Hi,” says Jonah to Ricky and Lili, holding the shiny robosaur toy in both hands in front of himself. His smile for even more new kids is still full of baby teeth but very broad. “I’m Jonah. Or you can call me JT.” He glances over at Richard, before saying in a conspiratorial sort of whisper, “Does your dad really have dinosaurs in his labs?” He trusts his peer group not to lie to him.

With a bright smile towards the Raytech CEO, Jonathan says, “Funny how that works out, huh?” A project becoming something bigger than it should. He should know. “I’m glad this is getting off the ground. It will go a long ways to help the area. Sustainability. It’s the one thing we need if we are going to make all of this work.” Despite the possibly negativity of the statement, he seems rather upbeat about the prospect.

Jonathan’s attention turns to Marlowe, when directed and the partnership is mentioned, “Excellent… It’s encouraging to see our supporters, well… supporting each other. We all benefit from that.” Jonathan offers his hand to the woman and a pleasant smile. “Jonathan Smith, Citizen’s Watch. Nice to meet you…” there is an inquiring tone to that last bit.

There are suddenly a lot of new kids to meet, isn't there? Walter enjoys. The stimuli though, considering he bounces from teacher to coins to twins effortlessly. Extroversion is easy to spot in him. His own grin is missing a tooth near the side, and it shows when he laughs at some of the adults plucking at coins too. As Lili and Ricky move up, he gives a small wave and stands straighter.

Maybe he realized he's the oldest.

“I know he has robots.” Walter crosses his arms with an unshakeable confidence in this. “Betcha he could make dinosaurs if he really wanted…”

“There weren't tests back when it happened to me, so you're very right about that.” Delilah would have given her left arm to have known what was going to go down. “Maybe if you're lucky, all this proximity will help.” The redhead laughs, nose giving a small crinkle. “And then you definitely won't be bored at work, yeah?”

"Been a while he says." Monica gives him a friendly punch on the arm— with her non-metal hand, of course. "I haven't seen you since the war. Looks like you came out of it okay. Suit and everything. I'm glad to see you in one piece." She doesn't seem to be as worried as Peyton about getting him in trouble, maybe she assumes Richard would be understanding because it's them.

She glances back, toward Marlowe, toward Richard, toward all the kids, and for a moment, a frown comes to her face. It's a long look, but when she turns back to Luther and Peyton again, her smile is back in place. "We should do dinner sometime, little Redbird reunion. Invite the boss, have some sushi. How do you feel about sushi, Luther?"

"And we hope to have many chickens before the day is through," Marlowe adds on to Richard's introduction of her in gesture. Blue-painted fingernails on a metallic accessorized hand clasp Jonathan's in a firm shake. "Marlowe Terrell, senior engineer, Civil Engineering Division for Yamagato Industries," she introduces herself formally before adding, "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Smith. May I call you Jonathan?" Once she's released her hand, it shifts to her pocket where she plucks out her phone. A flurry of screentaps later, she's glancing up from the screen to arch a questioning brow to the Citizen's Watchman. "Do you have a phone? Email?"

Luther bends slightly at the torso, receiving the hug and kiss to his cheek warmly, both physically and emotionally. Even the light punch from Monica into his arm gets a quickly mouthed 'ow' but a crooked smile. He seems to settle in the company of old familiar faces, one less crease in his brow. "As do you, looking well yourself," he returns at Peyton, looking her over while she's looking over at the others of the security team. No trouble here. "And your son looks like he's enjoying himself, making new friends." From the man's viewpoint, he can see the children laughing and playing. People having a good time. The same sentiment of looking well is meant for Monica, whose robotic prosthetic arm he points to not unlike the children from earlier. "You're going to have to explain this one, sometime," he presses verbally.

But when Monica proposes meeting for dinner, he considers with a look over at said boss' direction, then back to the women. A brief veil of uncertainty draws over the security chief's features as he averts his gaze downward. One might think that was his reaction about sushi, but he lifts his eyes afterward, steeling to something firmer, a decision made internally. "You know me, I'll eat just about anything that crawls, walks, swims or flies."

Ricky glances back as if to make sure his father isn’t listening, and then leans in and conspiratorially tells the two kids, “He totally does, I heard him say that they have a box with a raptor in it down in storage.”

Lili, then, shakes her head firmly. “No, that’s a robot dinosaur, Uncle Warren made it, I heard them say,” she corrects her brother, then beams at the other two, “Hi! I’m Lili. This is Ricky. We’re twins.” Shy, the twins are not. “I bet Uncle Warren could make a real dinosaur if he wanted. He’s real smart.”

“Sustainability is exactly what we’re aiming for,” Richard replies to Jonathan with a smile, sweeping a hand towards the model, “When we heard about the raid on the food supplies - have they caught whoever did that yet? - we knew we couldn’t help immediately but maybe we could start us on the road for preventing that in the future. Producing our food right here in the Safe Zone, well…”

A chuckle at Marlowe’s introductions and request for contact information, joking, “See, now there’s a woman who knows how to network. I could take some tips from her, maybe.”

“Uh… sure,” Jonathan agrees easily enough to the use of his first name, though he is a bit distracted. Rather fascinated by the way her fingers fly over those keys to a cell phone in a fairly dead… zone? Last he had one, he was barely getting his message time down to a minute of hunting and pecking. A glance goes Richards way, brows tipping up a little impressed by those skills.

The next question throws the councilman off completely and pulls his attention back, with a blink. A phone? “I have a landline that works maybe 50 percent of the time at work.” A smile tugs up at the corner of his mouth, more amused than anything. “I don’t exact live in an area that has that stuff, so I haven’t seen a need for it.” He sounds simply resigned to the fact. Accepting of it.

The inquiry about the theft is met with a slow shake of Jonathan’s head. “Unfortunately, not. Though SESA is keeping the council informed.” The bland look doesn’t really last long on the man’s features. “I’m sure the news will burn through the Safe Zone faster than Miss Terrell can type out ‘She sells seashells by the seashore.’” It is a lame joke. He knows it and he never lets it stop him.

Jonah’s eyes are wide, taking in what Walter and Ricky are selling, before Lili plays reality police. A robot dinosaur is no less cool in his book, though. “Cooool,” he says, not knowing just how terrifying those raptor robots have been in the past — or in the future an older Walter came back to change.

“Dinner’d be great,” Peyton says, tipping her head slightly at Luther’s reaction. “Doesn’t have to be sushi,” she says lightly. “Jonah, come meet Mr. Luther,” she says, glancing over her shoulder and holding out a hand.

“I gotta go,” says the younger boy to the cluster of kids, heaving a sigh like being called by his mother is a terrible fate. Still, when he comes up to Peyton, he leans against her and grins up at ‘Mr. Luther.’

“Hi,” he says, holding out a hand to shake, because that’s what the grown ups do.

Owain remains in his spot, watching the kids catch the coins with a smile on his face. Once the change has all been depleted, the teen is reaching into his back pocket and pulling out…a large copper pipe, as one would use in plumbing. Huh. It’s been outfitted with nylon straps and cloth, which he unwraps to reveal a swing of sorts.

Owain takes entertaining kids seriously.

After running his fingers over the pipe’s smooth surface, the mirror-eyed metallokinetic approaches the cluster of children, holding up the pipe. “Okay, who wants to fly? I need parental permission and a line!” As he speaks, the pipe floats into the air, until it looks a bit like a cloth swing hanging from a branch.

Zelda turns, her smile still bright. “I can only imagine how weird that must have been, suddenly having powers when you didn’t even know that was something that could happen, much less without a strong support base.” She chuckles.

“I do hope so. Back at Southend, I didn’t really encounter other Evolved too often.” Zelda goes a bit quiet at that, her smile finally faltering just a smidge. “It’s not so good for our kind back home. I think I was lucky, not manifesting yet.” Finally, the smile falls. “Someone I knew in school was Evolved. She had telekinesis, I think. Nobody ever saw her again after she manifested. Pretty sure she was resettled.” No need to go into the fact that she wasn’t allowed to reproduce back home — not without special permission.

The slight woman shakes her head. “Sorry, no need to bring the somber state of our homeland into a happy day like today. It’s much too beautiful out here to be sad.”

“There really is a robot dinosaur? Dunno, I feel like I gotta see it…” to believe it. Walter seems quite taken with the gang, grinning back to the twins. “Walter. You guys have such a cool family… one of my dads works on making things too but I don't get to see much of it lately.” There is a notable disappointment, but it passes. The ginger boy watches as Owain produces some sort of contraption; the vulpine cant to his eyes makes his skeptical face extra effective.

“Lord, it was horrific.” Delilah intones back to Zelda before the other woman begins to speak of her former home. She goes a touch quiet as well, fully aware of the status of people like them in the United Kingdom. “And so is that place, honestly. For what it's worth… I am happy that another one of us is out of there.”

That tint of her which was elbow deep in Phoenix ops is showing.

“Yes,” Lilah's lips curl in a pleased look. “It's a beautiful day. As far as I am concerned, this is my homeland anyhow. I keep coming back.” Her laugh sounds a tad self-judging, though she does not regret much. “Being on the council gives me a way to restore things that we loved here.”

“We’ll get there,” Richard says firmly to Jonathan, confidently, “One step at a time. First food, water, power… then more cellular towers, internet feeds… we’re New Yorkers. You can’t keep us down forever.” He grins, “Besides, I’ve never been much of a cell phone guy anyway.”

“Oh, bye Jonah,” Ricky calls as the other boy’s called off by Peyton, and then starts to answer Walter regarding how cool his family is - and from his expression, he thinks his family is pretty primal - when Owain starts setting up that flying swing, and Lili nudges him. “Go try that,” she whispers encouraging, and the male twin looks over - and his eyes widen. “Whoa. Dad? Dad can I fly? That guy says we can fly!”

Richard looks over from his conversation and laughs, calling over to Owain, “Alright, but if anyone gets dropped…” He doesn’t finish the sentence, but all the people here with guns work for him.

Master of the touchscreen keyboard, Marlowe has at a point set up a contact for Jonathan Smith and waits for his provided number. Only to hear of his communicative plight. That draws a frown from the woman, as well as a sigh. "Understood," she says as she lifts her phone and snaps a quick picture of the man instead and makes a note. "That's one of the projects we're working on, to restore cellular service by means of a drone-based wireless network…" She slides her gaze over to Richard briefly, then back to Jonathan. "That I won't get into the details on because I'm not responsible for that component." She slips her phone back into her pocket, giving it a couple pats to reassure its place.

"A sustainable system doesn't have to be complicated," Marlowe comments in thought for the current project being on display in model form, "It's the external variables that affect the system that need to be accounted for. People will surprise you with their, ah, ideas of how to make things better." She rolls her shoulders in a shrug. Or rather, starts to do so when she gives a wince for the ache accompanying the movement of her slowly healing left shoulder. The woman casts a rueful, challenging glance to Jonathan for the comment of how fast she could potentially type out the phrase.

Luther reaches down a hand to shake Jonah's, meeting his eyes as any man to man interaction should be. Just that his expression comes with a warm smile. "Mister Jonah, a pleasure to meet you," the man says as professionally as they come. "You're keeping your mom safe and protected?"

The sudden clamor around Owain earns the intern a short glance in his direction, but otherwise the security chief remains in casual conversation with Peyton's kid.

There’s a nervous laugh from Owain at Richard’s remarked — though really, the kid isn’t too worried. The reason why is made clear. When the first child slips into the floating swing, the cloth is spread out from their back to their knees, creating a nice sling of a seat. There is also a clasp that clicks into place, as a safety precaution to keep them in the seat. They are also instructed to clasp their hands together, with the nylon ‘ropes’ of the swing tucked into the crooks of their arm.

Owain and Nadira made this for Jori, so nothing was left to chance.

With Owain directly beneath and ready to catch should any of the safety measure fail (they shouldn’t, he made sure to check this over before bringing it out), he raises the children so their feet are level with the top of his head, floating only by the copper pipe above their heads.

Zelda smiles over to Delilah, nodding slowly. “I’m pretty happy to be here.” And not there is the implication. “It’s good work,” she adds, glancing around. “I love seeing what’s happening here. It’s still very much a work in progress, but it looks a bit like all of the efforts will eventually pay off. Might take time, but…well, what do we have but time?”

She reaches a hand up, rubbing at her shoulder. “So, ah…do you know of any good camping spots around here? I’ve been trying to figure out if I should go inland, or if I should go out onto Long Island and take my chances with the abandoned suburbs.”

After a promise to Luther to explain later and probably at that dinner, Monica splits off from her old friends to rejoin her new one. Marlowe's wince did not go unnoticed.

"Mar, we need more beer," she declares when she appears at the woman's side, "and someone is grilling kabobs over there. I might need, like, twenty of those." She only belatedly seems to realize there's a conversation happening that she's ramming her way through. So Jonathan gets an apologetic smile. "Sorry. Do you mind if I steal my friend for beers and skewers? We're supposed to be here having a good time and here she is working. Tsk."

Although with the interest of other kids, Walter's mom isn't around him to ask. It's a bit of a bummer, but watching Owain do his thing is pretty cool too. He sticks to the ground, watching the swings lift up; one hand waves in the air at Ricky in the sling seat.

“You don't wanna go?” The redhaired boy turns his face to Lili, who was encouraging her brother.

What do they have but time? Dee nods along to this, watching Zelda and noting her awkward subject change. There's a smile for the question, however. “Well, there are still the mountains upstate— the Adirondacks. Was always good for that. If you want something more local, Park Slope has pretty much been left to itself— and that means Prospect Park too. People here and there, but they tend to like quiet.” The other woman hums, thinking over the next before she mentions it to Zelda. “And there is the Greenbelt, but… it's Staten Island.” Not exactly tourism material.

“Not really. I’m just a little kid. But maybe when my power comes in,” Jonah says and Peyton takes in a breath that’s just a little dramatic.

“You don’t need a power to be brave or strong, Jonah. Let’s just working on growing up, kiddo,” she says, putting a hand on his shoulder. She glances over her own, and then back to Luther, eyes widening just a touch. “And on that note, we have an appointment we need to get to, so we better get moving. We just stopped by to see what’s new and say hi. It was wonderful to see you.”

She leans forward to kiss his cheek lightly. “Dinner! Soon!” She steers Jonah in the direction of the exit, a quick wave to those she knows. “Say bye, Jonah!”

“Bye!” Jonah calls out, waving the hand clutching the robosaur in farewell.

“Honestly, Mr. Ray. Neither have I… so it works out.” Jonathan admits lightly. The snapping of his picture is a surprise and garner quite a bit of amusement. There is a comment on the tip of his tongue, but he leave it well alone when Monica pops up suddenly.

Monica’s appearance and the arm, gets a raise of brows, but he is too polite of ask. “Oh by all means.” Jonathan suddenly looks rather apologetic for even taking up Marlowe’s time. “Wasn’t even my intention to make her work,” he offers with a lopsided smile. “Pleasure to meet you, Marlowe, and enjoy the rest of your day, yeah?”

Turning to Richard, he offers the CEO of Raytech a hand, “I leave you to it. It really is a great thing you are doing. I look forward to hearing updates on the progress.” He glances at the model thoughtfully. “See how this works, might be a good thing on a smaller scale for the schools.” Jonathan gives a small shake of his head and a bright smile. “Listen to me going on… I’ll get out of your hair.” With a turning step, Jonathan offers a mock salute in farewell and leisurely makes his way back into the crowd.

“Ah, you weren’t bothering me at all,” Richard assures Jonathan, clasping his hand firmly, “And if this works out… yeah, we’re hoping to spread it. A garden on every rooftop, imagine it.” He flashes a grin, and then lets the man slip away, offering his chin up in a nod to Monica and Marlowe as they depart.

Wheee! Dad look! Look!” Ricky - obeying all safety precautions - calls from where he’s being lifted in the area, which gets a slightly trepidatious look from his father. “I see you, you’re flying,” he calls out encouragingly, moving over so he can be closer to the situation. Just in case.

Lili flashes a brief smile to Walter, swinging her arms a bit, “Yeah, but he’s always climbing on stuff and jumping on things so he should go first,” she explains, “He’ll like it more!” Or maybe she wanted to make sure it was safe. She waves up at her brother, though, calling, “Can you see home from up there?” He’s not that high!

Owain can’t help but laugh up at Ricky as he ‘flies’ the child up above the heads of the adults. He’s right underneath the boy, too, ready to catch the boy if one of his many safety precautions goes wrong. Sure, it’s something that definitely will cause all of the parent hearts in the area to stop, but the kids love it, and that’s what matters. They’ll remember today.

“There’s still time to get permission from parents or guardians!” He grins over at Walter especially, seeing the boy’s expression; then, he’s back to focusing on Ricky, because this is his boss’s son, and he’ll probably be disappeared forever if anything happens to the kid. He raises Ricky just a little higher, so the boy can get a decent view of the park. Still right under the kid, though.

“I was thinking of the Adirondacks. But there’s also some nice quiet areas out on Long Island, closer to Montauk. It’s a little easier if I boat out there, I’m sure.” And a bit closer in case Zelda needs to come back in a hurry. “I still haven’t quite gotten the hang of driving on the wrong side of the road, so driving is a bit of an ordeal.” Boats, on the other hand, are easy.

Watching Owain and Ricky is distracting enough for Walter that he takes a second to realize what the former says to them. Blue eyes look from the young man to his passenger, then away from the inside of the tent. Thinking.

“The closer to the city you are, the more likely you’ll encounter people living off of the grid. Animals, too, but they aren’t quite as unpredictable.” Nearness versus safety, and Delilah doesn’t seem to have a problem pointing it out. “At least there’s less traffic any- - “

“Mum!”

Delilah visibly startles when Walter shouts practically in her ear from behind, and she turns around to find him. He grabs her wrist and points emphatically towards where Owain is entertaining. Her brows lift in further surprise when she sees it, and her mouth splits into a laugh.

“Walter, where did you- - ah, let me guess- - “

“Can I?! Oh- sorry- hi!” The boy only now seems to notice that she is talking to someone, briefly studying Zelda’s face and presence. “I like your hair.”

“Yes, you can.” Delilah’s answer comes with a small sigh, and her hand slides over Walter’s hair before he scurries off with a ‘Thanks Mum!’ to go back to where he can jump excitedly at Owain. Next!!! Dee watches for a few seconds before returning her attention back to Zelda. “That one’s mine.” In case it wasn’t obvious.

It's a promise he'll perhaps keep. Most likely. Luther warms a smile to Jonah's response, chuckling and straightening. Catching the look from Peyton and nodding to the advice for her son, he says agreeably, "You listen to your mom on that one. You don't need a power to be brave, being brave is it's own superpower. Bob'll tell you that's the truth, too." Receiving the kiss on his cheek with a small smile, he nods to the promise of dinner. Soon. And a wave to Jonah and Peyton as they start off to their appointment.

Marlowe waves off Jonathan's apology with a flip of her fingers. "Trust me, it's not you. Moni keeps trying to find my work-life balance for me. But hey, keep in touch, Jonathan." Can't have too many contacts. And then she's tugged away, off she goes with a laugh in Monica's ear.

“I’m after you,” Lili informs Walter firmly as she looks up at her brother flying even higher - to which he seems to take a great deal of glee - and clasps her hands behind her back, rocking impatiently on her heels despite being patient about things.

Richard watches Ricky crowing in excitement, turns to watch Monica and Marlowe walking off, others talking and conversing, drinking beer and eating BBQ, admiring the model. A few people talking to the intern at the Raytech tent about work.

A good day, filled with friends new and old, and the promise of a brighter future to come.

“We need more days like this,” he murmurs to himself, before looking back up at the sky and laughing, “Alright, kiddo, give the other kids a chance up there…”


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