Participants:
| Scene Title | So Very Real |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Kendall comes looking for a book and Wendy tries to make amends with him and gets a demonstration of his ability. |
| Date | January 15, 2010 |
The door to the bookstore is closed, sign turned to open and there's as always t seems, a lack of customers in the place. Wendy sits at the counter on a stool, chewing gum and scribbling in a notebook. A ruler, pen, she makes lines, scribbles something, makes another line. Over and over. Not like there's customers this afternoon what with the weather and the like, but she's there, working. Ripped tights, short skirt, more layered shirts, fingerless lace gloves and a plethora of necklaces with her hair back makes for an interesting look.
The library and various bookstores around the city are normally where Kendall can be found any day of the week, although lately he's been avoiding this one. However, there's this one book he's been looking for, and nowhere else had it so he came here to check their stock. The library failed him too, something that makes him unhappy. The library is supposed to have everything!! Regardless, he opens the door and peeks in.
Head is down, absorbed in her writing, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't go unacknowledged. "Seriously, ten minutes? Surely you froze your nuts off out there, dithering about whether to come in or not" Not that she could see him there. She could feel him there. "Not like I'm going to bite you or suck your blood. I'm an evo, not a vampire." Wendy lifts her head and considers her words then shrugs her shoulders. "Some might consider both monsters. Get your ass in here before you let all the bought air out already"
Kendall flinches when he's spoken to harshly. "Do you normally talk to potential customers like that?" he asks her, eyeshifting. "Or do you just not like me?" well gee, it's hard to like someone who flinches every time they look at you.
Now she looks at him. "You seriously think I don't like you?" That's a surprise to her. "Kendall, you're a kid" She shrugs her shoulders. "Denying your ability when quiet obviously, you know you have it. I don't hate you, I just think it's kinda funny in a sad sort of way. This is also, the way I am. Wendy of the babbling mouth. You are Kendall of the denial. What do you need Kendall? Another book to disguise something or were you looking for Kaylee?" When she looks over, it's plain to see why she wears her hair down normally. One ear does not look like the other, but instead like work in progress. Same for her hand. A couple fingers of the left side, an inch too short and flesh too pink to be anything but recent.
Kendall blinks and stares at Wendy for a second, then turns away. "N-no…" no what? "If I don't use it, it doesn't exist." yep, definitely in denial. "My dad would probably turn me out on the street."
"If he does, he does Kendall and that means he's close minded. Wonder what he'd think if you were gay" She looks over. "Not that you are. But then again, I don't know I only got evo-dar, not gay-dar as my friend calls it" Wendy hops down from the stool, coming around the corner with a cant of her head. "Kid, if he does, kick you out, you got places to stay. Fuck, I got like two other bedrooms in my pad, you can have one of them. Even got an art studio with just about everything." Wendy offers a smile. "Hows the book holding out for you anyways?"
"It's dry reading." Kendall replies, although he's clearly distracted. "I… no, I'm fine with the way things are, there's no reason why I should get kicked out, there'd be all sorts of…. bad stuff, and stuff like that." way to be vague.
"That suresh book? Yeah. Pretty scientific. I just never really read it. Okay kid, what's wrong? Cause you're like, looking strange. Do I need to put my hair down or something?" One black brow rises and she leans a hip against the counter, crossing her arms and waiting for an answer from the guy. "Or did you seriously come for a book or looking for someone?"
"I did come looking for a book." reminded, Kendall heads for the shelves and starts browsing, although he self-consciously shoots furtive glances Wendy's way. "I… uh, nothing."
"The ear?" She hazards a guess. Someone was staring at it earlier.
"Come on kid, what's the name of the book your looking for?" The notebook is closed, ruler to mark her place and she stands upright properly, starting to head into the stacks. "You looking for light reading? Horror? Probably not romance. murder mystery or non-fiction?"
"Fantasy." Kendall shifts a glance at Wendy. "Not science fiction though, I've had enough of that for a while." Har har har. "And there's nothing wrong with your ear, I just…. uh, fantasy." right, that's a much safer subject. "I'm looking for a book called Dragon and Phoenix."
'Dragon and… phoenix…" Wendy reaches behind her, and up so that she can yank on the elastic and let her fall down. A couple shakes later and her ear is covered, out of sight just in case that's what was making him uncomfortable. But then again, what she can do seems to that as well. "SO, how old are you? How long have you know you are different?"
"Sixteen." Kendall replies, looking away from Wendy to peruse the shelves again. "The book is the sequel to The Last Dragonlord. And, uh… a few years, I…. guess." it was like a second puberty for him only without any of the benefits.
Benefits that he cares to think as benefits. Maybe they have it, maybe they don't. "Besides your parents, as a reason, why do you hate it? I'm curious? I run across so many people who deny that they have one, and yet the look on their face, acknowledges that they have it" Wendy pauses before one bookcase, going up on toes before she frowns and eases back to the flat of her feet. Not there. Off to another section. Obviously, re-organizing is not all finished. "Sixteen is about right, sorta. I got mine about then. Thought I was going crazy or it was the pot I was smoking. Fucking great pot if I was. Now I realize, wasn't the pot"
"I never did drugs." Kendall replies quickly, darting a glance at Wendy before looking away again. "Well…. my middle school was blown up by the Bomb, and just a few months ago, my high school was too. I… can't stop thinking that maybe it's /my/ fault."
That earns a glance over her shoulder and eventually a full turn as she leans against a wall, dropping her arms to her side. One foot crossed over the other with a bit of a doubting look. "Okay, I'll bite. How did Illusion, cause your school to blow up. Cause, I know the midtown was sure as hell not your fault. Last I know, A guy dubbed the midtown
"I could've made it a target. Ok, sure, the first one probably had nothing to do with it, but didn't that Humanis group blow up the school? Why else would they target a /school/?" Kendall shrugs at Wendy.
"I think it was some other group that blew up that school" Wendy points out to Kendall. "And it's not like you go around advertising what you can do. SO tell me how they targeted you?" Wendy points out as she turns around, heading back to find his book. "Trust me, unless they know you can do it, they're not gonna make a move for you. They didn't on me until they just happened to stumble across me and even then, the asshole that grabbed me, only wanted to find out what it was that HE did. So Mr. illusion, they don't give a care about you. besides, last I heard, three quarters of them were wiped out, care of the local pro-evolveds terrorist group"
Wendy stops at another bookcase, reaching up for a tome that catches her eye and lo, it's what he's looking for. "Lookit this way Kendall. You got something, something special. You can acknowledge it right, and learn to use it, responsibly. Or you can just stuff it deep down in a corner and eventually, usually, it burbles up and usually at really bad times. I had a friend, HAVE a friend, who just found out that she is, not long ago. She was freaked out, but now? Now she uses it to help people. She's come to terms with it. Sure, your dad might be a jerk about it, but you don't gotta tell him"
"It wouldn't be of any use to anyone." Kendall eyeshifts, shaking his head. "I… wait, it's illusion?" he only now realizes she said that. "What, you mean it's not real?" he looks kinda…. disappointed. "That means it's even /more/ useless."
"Gimme your hand" She reaches out with her good hand, waggling her fingers. "I'll make sure, but, I'm pretty sure it's illusion. Just what kind of Illusion, I couldn't tell you. Could be auditory, visual, tactile, you name, there's so many. It fucks with me, I knew this guy out in LA, he made me see a forest, in like downtown LA. But my own ability, kept telling me that there was an evo right in front of me, even though all I could see right, was tree's and grass and such. It was pretty cool. Comes in handy, I mean… think of the jobs you could do with that Ability? When they were filming multiple man, they had one on staff, an illusionist, and he was insert the special effects to make it easier on the actors. Betcha that guy got paid TONS. It's like real life CGI but with less needing to have fifty guys in a room and tweaking things. Could make movies less expensive to make, and more real"
"But I can't do anything." reluctantly Kendall holds his hand out to her. "I draw things, and they happen, but it's not like predicting the future or anything. I can't do squat unless I draw something." which is why he hasn't drawn much of anything lately. "Are you /sure/ it's illusion?" yep, definitely disappointment.
Her own hand closes around his and at the contact, she gets the same sensation that she did before. "Illusion" She nods. "Yup. Just…" She takes her hand away then beckons with the book, heading back towards the front of the store. "Only by drawing right? Well, I saw your skill. Come on." Her boots thump through the store as she heads back up, book paced to the side and a page out of her notebook is take out near the back for him. The pencil slid across the counter, followed by the paper. "Draw me a butterfly. Can't be hurt by a butterfly right?"
"I wouldn't say that if I were you. That might make me feel like drawing a vampire butterfly that eats people." Kendall jokes nervously. He eyes the paper, then shrugs. He hesitates a lot, but he quickly scribbles on the paper, accomplishing with a minimum of lines what some people would take 20 minutes to make. As soon as he lifts the paper, a butterfly appears above it, oddly enough in color despite being drawn in black and white. It's a bright red with gold stripes, certainly no normal butterfly especially considering it's about six inches wide. And despite what he said, it makes no move to attack.
Wendy watches, craning her neck from the other side fo teh counter now and then to watch what he draws. "I trust you not to make a vampire butterfly" she points out with a wry grin. That she's even getting him to do this and in a way acknowledge that he's got an ability much less use it, is a small point in her favor.
But there's the butterfly, and she leans in, staring at it for a moment before reaching out to touch it hesitantly with her fingers as if expecting the butterfly to vanish once she touches it, or her fingers to go right through it
The butterfly actually lands on her hand, and she'd feel the light touch of it landing before it flits away again. "Are you /sure/ it's an illusion? Sure seems real to me…" Kendall shrugs again, setting down the pencil and regarding the butterfly with a little bit of fear.
"That's what illusions are. Very real. So very real." As the butterfly lands, she blows gently across her palm once it lifts off, testing everything about it. it looks real, feels real, does it sound real. "Do you know how to make them go away?" Wendy looks over at him, keeping an eye on the butterfly. "Or do they just fade on their own after a time?"
"They just go away." Kendall shrugs, and to all extents and purposes the butterfly seems real… although to find out for real, one would have to try biting it next. Or licking it.
OR trying to rip it's wings off. Wendy's not about to do that though, she's content to let it flutter around the store till it disappears. "There, you see, not real then. Just a really good illusion. You got a talent Kendall. Just a matter of learning how to harness it. Maybe put it to use for good. Seriously, I'm really sure you could make a lot of money in the movie industry if you registered. But I'm not gonna press that because.." She shrugs. "You're not ready to yet" She grabs the book they brought from the back and pushes it across to him. "On the house. My thanks for showing me what you can do. My apology too for you thinking I hated you. You're cool Kendall. Ability or not"
Cool? Him? He meets once a week to play a children's card game with his geek friends, the closest he's ever had to a girlfriend was on a video game, and he was called /cool/? It's an, uh…. /interesting/ experience for him. "Really?" Kendall perks at the offering of a free book. WHOO! "I don't know, it probably wouldn't show up on cameras." he shrugs. "I've never tried taking a picture of them."
"Really?" Wendy dips behind the counter, digging around in her purse for her cellphone. THe latest and greatest of gadgets, touch screen you name it. Iphone I <3 U. "Draw me another butterfly? Maybe like, a bunch of them? We'll test it out. All in the name of getting to know your ability better. Then I can see how long they last. Bet Kaylee's get a gas out of a store filled with butterflies you know? God knows, I'd get a kick out of it."
The notebook and pencil are offered up this time and a fresh page turned to. "Have at er Kendall. Show me your best!"
"Uh, ok." Actually, Kendall hasn't had a chance to show off his drawing skills in a while, so he's less nervous this time as he sketches out a veritable cloud of butterflies. This time they appear in all different colors, glowing like jewels and some leaving trails of what could only be called fairy dust as they fly around. None of them are as large as the first one he drew, these being the usual butterfly size of only an inch, two max.
Another look of amazement at the multitude that appear around the deck and a nod of her head while grinning/ "Pretty cool kid. Pretty fucking cool. I'm jealous." She's tapping her screen even as she's lifting the camera. First to see if they'll even show up on the camera in the phone as she's turning around the corner of the desk. She wants to let him see for himself too, and not just take her word for it.
Kendall glances at the picture, and shakes his head. "Not there. I guess that's it for my potential job in the movie industry then." he looks around the store at the butterflies flying everywhere, and sighs, just a little. "Well, anyway…" picking up the book, he moves towards the exit.
"Eh, maybe not the end. They'd still have to green screen stuff, but you could at least help the actors better Act, while talking to a twenty foot robot, instead of a head on a stick" Wendy points out, putting her phone away and glancing around at the butterfly's. If only Hokuto were here. She wonders what Hokuto would say to this.
"You got questions, come back in Kendall. I don't bite, really. And serious, if your parents find out and throw a fit, I got a place you can stay till they either calm or you get your head on straight and figure out what to do. It's not like I need this job financially. It's just.. a way to keep occupied" She skims back around the counter, grab her wallet so she can pay for the book.
"Take care kid"
Kendall nods and flees through the door. That seems to be his standard way of exiting a building, it seems.