Participants:
| Scene Title | Eeek! A girl! |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Magnes and Laina meet, and Magnes invites her to room with him. |
| Date | February 27, 2011 |
Gotham Comedy Club / Chain Motel
Laina walks out of the Gotham Comedy Club, rebuffed, but not dejected. It isn't like she's going to get hired at the first place she applies. There are plenty of places in New York City that need waitresses. She just has to find the ones that are hiring. Today her hair is an arburn color, and she's wearing blue jeans and a navy blue top under a bright red pea-coat, with navy blue ankle boots. Her eyes, as always, are bright violet.
Magnes isn't exactly sure who changed the color of the stage, he's just pretty sure it was a woman. He's not dressed very fancy today as he approaches her, stepping out of his black 1967 Impala wearing an unbuttoned suit jacket of the same color, a dark blue shirt with the Autobots symbol on it, light blue jeans, and a pair of red Chucks.
The door is slammed shut, and when he stops in front of the woman there's a polite nod. "I saw you in the club last night. Did you get a good look at the woman who changed the color of the stage?"
Abrupt and to the point. Laina likes that. She grins at the stranger who she vaguely remembers seeing the night before. "No, not really, but that's mostly 'cause I didn't have a mirror." She holds out her hand to shake. "Hi, I'm Laina." She doesn't seem to be made the least bit uncomfortable by the line of questioning.
"Oh! Um, hello." Magnes' cheeks flush a bit, a little embarrassed that he just asked someone about themselves without even knowing it. He takes her hand and nods, finally smiling. "Magnes J. Varlane. Don't believe anything you hear, especially if Glenn Beck is saying it."
Laina chuckles. "Pleased to meet you. Laina Corners." Still generally smiling, she continues, "So, any particular reason you were looking for me, or just curious?"
"Well, I just wanted to warn you that showing off your power like that could get you into serious danger. I mean, if there were members of Humanis First in the audience, they could have followed you home or anything. Just… try to be a little more discreet when you're alone, or with strangers. I'm all over television for the last two or three years for a number of reasons, especially the file footage from the short few months where I was a cop." Magnes starts to walk back to his car, leaning against the door after releasing her hand.
With his arms crossing, his tone is patient and friendly, just trying to look out for her. "My point is, me being so public puts me and my friends at risk, which is why I usually lay low now. I don't mean that there isn't a time and a place to show off your ability, even I have fun with mine pretty often, just… be more cautious, for your own safety, alright?"
Laina nods. "I'll take it under advisement." But his words bring back memories of her fights with Charles. She doesn't look sad or angry, just a little less enthusiastic. "I get where you're coming from, but this is who I am, and I'm not going to stop being me because the wrong people might be watching. If they are, I guess I'll just have to deal with it then. We should all be able to be ourselves, and not have to hide."
"I try to think like that as much as I can, but after getting shot around five times, I just try to be a little more careful." Magnes looks up into the air, then back down to her, grinning. "I used to fly all the time, now I take my car almost everywhere. And you can believe that sex joke about the guy who could fly made me think."
"I'd heard that one before, with old-school superheroes, instead of Evolved," Laina admits. "Not in the best taste." But she's smiling again. "And if I could fly, I wouldn't let anything stop me!" She grins. "As it is, I still don't let anything stop me. I just can't fly."
"You wanna fly?" Magnes asks this question rather casually, offering his hand. "I manipulate gravity, there's no chance of you falling." he assures, though doesn't move from where he is, waiting for her to come over if she wants to.
"Absolutely!" Laina doesn't hesitate. She steps forward and takes his hand.
Magnes stands up straight, but otherwise doesn't do anything special other than hold her hand a bit more firmly, and up they go. It's as if they're standing on an invisible elevator, going high above the buildings and the range that anyone could really identify them as people up there with the naked eye.
"Now, for the flying!" Her body leans forward just as his does, and they're flying over the city, getting a nice view of everything under them along the way. "You alright? Some people don't like it."
"This is amazing!" Laina enthuses. In all her travels, she's always taken a bus, or a train. She's never flown before, even in an airplane. To see the city like this is a miracle to her.
"Trust me." Magnes says before suddenly releasing her, and she's flying all on her own next to him for a few seconds. He doesn't let her do it for too long, reaching over to firmly grab her hand again. "Where can I take you? I can drop you off at home."
Laina laughs with pure joy as she's left to fly with nothing holding her in the air, not even Magnes. %r%r As he reasserts his grip on her hand, she grins at him. "I'm staying at the …" she lists off one of the low-cost chain motels. "I just moved to The City."
"If you meet a guy named John Logan, don't take a job from him. He's a very bad person." Magnes keeps flying until he's sure they're near the motel, then carefully shifts them upright on the slow descend into a nearby alley. "What made you move to New York? That's kind of surprising, considering everything that goes on here." They finally land, and he's walking her around to the rooms, releasing her hand to let her lead the way.
Laina strolls with Magnes toward her room, which is on the first floor, with an outward facing door. "I've been traveling around the US for the past few years, and it seemed like the time to give New York a try. I've heard that this is the place to be if I want to try to help those less fortunate. No matter what horrors happen here, this city remains a hub."
"Yeah, lots of places to help people, just be careful who you get tied up with in this city. Fortunately I know a lot about the major players in the city, so if you needed to know about someone, I might know something about them." Magnes stops at her door, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "So… I guess I'll see you around, unless you plan to stand out here and talk to me."
Laina smiles. "I should probably freshen up and continue the job hunt." The flight completely mused her hair. Luckily, nothing fell out of her purse. She reaches in and takes out a plain white business card, which she holds up. On it is simply printed, 'Laina Corners' in slightly raised black print, and her cell number. "What color do you want? Blue? Red? Teal?" She grins.
"Oh, uh, purple works, my body does that when I get augmented. Long story." Magnes reaches out for the card, his demeanor a little nervous and awkward at the moment. "I um, I hope you had fun. Probably should have kept you in the air longer, since I've got a few hours to kill this early in the morning."
What looks like purple ink spreads from Laina's fingers and covers all of the white on the card, leaving the black untouched. She chooses the same purple as her eyes. The whole process takes less than a second. She hands the card over to Magnes, still smiling. "I had an amazing time, but it's probably better you brought us down when you did. I can't live out of a motel forever, and if I want an apartment, I need to find a job. Know anyone hiring for a waitress? Or anything else you think I might be good at?"
"Oh, uh, waitress? I'm not sure if Oh So Sweet is open, with Abby being away on um, business and all, but you should try it. If you know anything about dancing, I have another friend who might be able to help. I know a few TV producers too." Magnes looks down at the card, eyes wide when he takes it. "I had a friend who could do something like this. But um, I also have a spare room, my friend Sable was supposed to take it, but things didn't go as planned. I keep my costumes in there, so I guess a quarter of the rent until you find a place, if you want?"
"Wow, that sounds great!" Laina's smile is blinding. "And let me write down those places you were mentioning for work." She takes a card-key out of her purse and quickly opens the door to the motel room. "Here, come in for a minute. No reason to talk out here."
"I, uh, um, alright." Magnes swallows hard, then heads in after her, hands in his pockets as he tries to seem more relaxed. He looks around the room, but doesn't really walk much further than he needs to actually enter. "There's a brand new mattress in there, since Sable never took it. The costumes are all moved to the back of the room with the computer and stuff, so they shouldn't really get in your way. There's a small dresser, and I cook three meals a day. I worked in a pretty classic pizza shop, Mister Panucci taught me all about cooking, and I've expanded a lot these past few years."
"That's perfect," Laina beams. "I've just got two duffels, and it's mostly all clothes. As I said, I've been traveling, so I try not to accumulate too many large possessions. Except furniture, which I just sell when I leave." Laina perches on the edge of the bed and rummages through her purse until she finds a small notebook. "Ok, what was the name of that Sweet place you mentioned? And you said something about TV studios?" She's got the notebook resting on her knee, and a pen in hand to write with.
"Here, let me write them for you. I'll add addresses too." Magnes heads over to the notebook and takes out his own pen, leaning down to write down Oh So Sweet, K Studios, and the name of Remi's ballet studio. "Just say I referred you." The writing is of course upside down, since he didn't bother to take the notebook away.
Pen slid back into his pocket, he's suddenly backing away from the bed and leaning against the wall near the door. "I'm sure you'll get something, I'll help as much as possible."
"Thanks," Laina smiles. Then her smile fades a little. "Are you alright?" she asks. Magnes is acting strangely.
"I, uh, yeah, I'm fine." Magnes almost leaves it at that, hand lightly rubbing the back of his neck. "Maybe a little nervous. Sorry, that's just how I am sometimes." And is clearly too embarrassed to actually elaborate. G-g-g-girl!
Laina bites her lip as she studies Magnes for a moment. Her inner voice tells her to drop it. Magnes is offering her cheap accommodations. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. But she just can't help asking, "So you take my hand, fly with me, and offer to let me live in your house … but you're too nervous to sit next to me on a bed?"
"I, well, I guess it's the atmosphere. And it's not like we're going to be sleeping together in my place." Magnes nervously elaborates, stumbling over words. But he has a challenge, so he makes his way over and plops himself on to the bed next to her, hunched over slightly. "S-see? Nooo problem…" He doesn't sound convincing at all.
Laina shakes her head in some amusement. "Magnes, it's not like we're going to be sleeping together here either." She chuckles. "I'm gonna pack my stuff." She hops off the bed, letting Magnes off the hook. "Do you mind if we move it to your place now? If I leave by noon, I don't have to pay for the room another day, and I'll have more money set aside to pay you for your place." She heads into the bathroom to pack up her toiletries.
"I wasn't thinking that either!" Magnes quickly blurts out, as if she'd probed some corner of his mind. "I'll help you take your things, I do manipulate gravity and all. We'll take them back to my car, since I can't leave it just sitting there in front of the comedy club…"
"Sounds good," Laina says, popping her head out of the bathroom. A moment later the rest of her follows. She stuffs her toiletries carrying case into one of the duffels and follows it with some assorted articles of clothing that had been strewn around the room. A few minutes later she nods decisively. "That ought to do it." She lifts both duffels onto the bed. One is canary yellow, the other a brilliant shade of fuchsia. "Do you see anything else that doesn't belong to the hotel?"
Magnes walks around the room with his arms spread out, a few things moving slightly as his gravity feels around. She can even feel an odd sensation run through her entire body when he passes by her, but when he's far enough the sensation vanishes. "I don't think you forgot anything. Let's get going?"
"Unless you wanted to get more use out of the room … " Laina has no intention of actually becoming romantic with Magnes, but teasing him is so easy. She simply can't help herself.
"I uh, um, well…" Magnes seems to take a moment to really think about that, recalling previous advice from one Raven 'Sable' Diego. "We don't have nearly enough time left on it." is what he finally settles on, nodding firmly a few times, as bashful as he can be despite getting out that retort.
Laina chuckles. "Well played." She gestures to the bags. "C'mon, let's check out and get these over to your car." With that, she lifts one onto her shoulder.
