Participants:
| Scene Title | Erasing The Hate - Creating Community |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | A community and then some, rally to erase messages of hate on the walls of a house of worship. |
| Date | May 23, 2009 |
Greenwich Village - Right Outside Guiding Light Church
In a time that seems long ago, Greenwich Village was known for its bohemian vibe and culture, the supposed origin of the Beat movement, filled with apartment buildings, corner stores, pathways and even trees. There was a mix of upper class and lower, commercialism meeting a rich culture, and practically speaking, it was largely residential.
Now, it's a pale imitation of what it used to be. There is a sense of territory and foreboding, as if the streets aren't entirely safe to walk. It isn't taken care of, trash from past times and present littering the streets, cars that had been caught in the explosion lie like broken shells on the streets nearest the ground zero. Similarly, the buildings that took the brunt of the explosion are left in varying degrees of disarray. Some are entirely unusable, some have missing walls and partial roofs, and all of the abandoned complexes have been looted, home to squatters and poorer refugees.
As one walks through the Village, the damage becomes less and less obvious. There are stores and bars in service, and apartment buildings legitimately owned and run by landlords. People walk the streets a little freer, but like many places in this scarred city… anything can happen. Some of the damage done to buildings aren't all caused by the explosion from the past - bullet holes and bomb debris can be seen in some surfaces, and there is the distinct impression that Greenwich Village runs itself… whether people like it that way or not.
The outside of the church is busy in the early early afternoon. People mobilized, favors called in. The Guiding Light Church will, it seems, be visually aesthetic once more in time for service. Parts of the epiphets that were garishlys pray painted in red, white and blue have been scrubbed away through gratuitous elbow grease and some ample friction. Can's of paint are being stirred by a familiar red head to some, on the steps and brushes laid out so that the front door and it's H and F can be painted over. Another few people are laying out the PIzza for folks if they're hungry and sodas and juice, donated by someone, but no one knows who except the red head who's not telling.
Cook got called by Abby and asked to come help. She must have asked real nice because he doesn't usually do charity cases. He usually is the charity case! He comes up in his slacks, Converse, and a red polo shirt and suspenders. He's eating… something.
Another red head comes walking down the sidewalk — she might be familiar to some of the Greenwich Village residents, as she lives nearby, though she's not a member of the church. Tamsine pauses, tilting her head at the defaced property, a frown furrowing her pretty features. She shakes her head. "People suck," she mutters to herself in a very non-ladylike way. She steps a little closer, watching the bustle of people, trying to find someone who looks in charge. Finally her eyes settle on the paint stirrer. "Can I help?" she asks simply.
Mister Panucci apparently didn't care that Magnes 'Busted up some street in some country', he makes Panucci money, so he still has a job… though it's a bit harder lately. A young woman in her early twenties, an older guy somewhere in his early thirties, and finally, an older middle aged man with obvious baldness, but two large patches of grey hair on the side of his head, standing at around 5'6 and a bit chubby, are all manning pizza tables. There's other Italian food too, this would indeed be Mister Panucci. Magnes on the other hand, is walking around on the church roof, throwing any trash down that may have gotten tossed on top.
One, Two, Three. Three redheads. Ah-ah-ah. As the Count might say, anyway. Delilah came rather early, if not simply with Abby in the first place; she also seems to be manning the actual scrubbing of the graffiti, with a little hordeful of others with cleaning tools. Chances are that someone has also gone to find a more powerful water source than the garden hose.
Delilah surprising and not- has jeans on today- with a pair of old sneakers and a dark blue shirt. Her hair is knotted up at the back of her head, and though covered in a layer of dampness and cleaning-chemical smell, she seems perfectly content to keep working. There's some mud on her from all the water being carted around, but even that is phaseless. At this particular moment, she is taking a scraper to parts of the wall, where there seems to be a stubborn belt of paint that the chemicals aren't quite able to get off. Calls for brute force, instead.
Abigail looks up at Tamsine, sunglasses perched on her head. "Yup. You sure can if you want. Someone can give you a ratty short to wear over your clothes and some brushes and a bucket. She shoves some hair out of her eyes, smiling over at the other woman. "I'm Abigail. Delilah should be able to share and help. If your hungry, there's pizza and soda for the helpers." No offer of her hand for a shaking.
"Oy, 'm hungry," Cook tells Abby, sidling up behind her and smiling. "Hi." He grins wide, his teeth looking like they could carve through oak wood. At least, to Abby, who knows what he's capable of.
"Tamsine Whitaker," Tamsine says, then bites her lip a bit — she's taken to not saying her last name in introductions in the past couple of months, but apparently Abby's cheerful demeanor has her guard down. "And it's all right. It's not like I'm in designer clothes or anything. Nothing worth worrying about." She gives Cook a nod, and heads toward to buckets and brushes to get to work.
A cab pulls up in front of the church and the door opens with a flip. Kailin hands the cabbie some money then slides out, pulling out two sealed buckets by the handle. He sets them on the curb and goes back to the trunk. Tapping lightly on it, Kailin signals the cabbie to pop the trunk and it clicks, slowly floating up. Kailin takes another bucket in his left hand and pulls out a bag with his right. He slides the bag over his shoulder and closes the trunk, giving the car another double-tap. It pulls away as Kailin heads in towards the church. Looking back and forth over the building. "Its not even the good kind of graffiti…" Shrugging he finds a space people aren't moving through and drops the bag oon his shoulder and the sealed bucket, heading back for the two left on the curb.
"You never know" Abigail points out to Tamsine, watching her get settled in beside Delilah and turns as Cook and then K make their presence known. Her chest almost puffs up like a peacock at seeing the folks who have turned out. All those favors for healing panning out. "Hey cook! Some jerks done went and got all their anger out on the building. you didn't have to show up, but if you like, you can help Magnes up on the roof? He's chucking down stuff that was thrown up there" She leans in murmuring "Some spray paint cans up there, if you like the taste of them" A beaming grin for Kailin as more paint cans are brought over. "They had the right color K? Dee! Show Tamsine where to help?"
Magnes, wearing a white button up shirt, some blue jeans, and a pair of simple black sneakers, looks down from the rooftop and yells, "There's lots of beer cans up here, I'm gonna start tossing them faster, someone catch them!" Then, giving people a few seconds to prepare, he starts tossing the cans a lot faster. He makes sure to toss them where people aren't eating, of course.
Oh! Another face. And another. And here's Tamsine. Delilah doesn't know this one, and so when Tamsine makes her way over, the younger woman happily offers a second scraper to Tamsine if she should choose to accept. "Hi!" Chirp, chirp. " I'm Delilah. There's scraping, or scrubbing. We've got both over here. The part that's already been cleaned is getting a bit of a touch-up job down there-" She nods her head in the direction of the farther end of the wall. "And I think there was some bloke sneakin'around taking pictures, earlier…" Just a warning in case she might be camera-shy, promise.
Unfortunately, she is talking while Magnes is giving fair warning- and Clunk! "Ow! Hey!" One of them beans her right on top of the head, making her tilt her face back to squint up at the rooftop terror.
"Oooooh." Cook beams a grin at Abby and makes his way into the church to find the stairs that will lead him to the roof. Spray paint cans are awesome. All the different flavors… they're like candy.
"Hi," Tamsine says to Delilah, taking the scraper and nodding, then ducking as cans come down. She catches one and tosses it into a nearby trash can. "Hey, I remember you," she says, peering up at Magnes on the roof. "Still up on the roofs I see…" she says with a shake of her head, but an amused smile graces her lips. "Don't fall this time, all right, kid?"
Kailin has on a dark blue t-shirt and blue jeans with beige work boots. He gives Abby a quick wave and motions to the barrels. "One of paint remover, the other two of sealer. Its industry stuff you can't get from the hardware store, so if you've got any trouble spots, use this." He taps one of the barrels with his foot. "They're labeled so…" He gives a nod and rests his hands on his hips lightly, looking where he might help out best - possibly protecting people from falling cans. He opens up his bag and pulls out a brush and a white mask, then follows Delilah's direction and goes to scrubbing. He logs over the industrial paint remover so the work will move along quickly.
'oh! That'll help immensely!" And with that, people are dispersing to where they're working and abigail grins big, really big. The sort of grin that hasn't been on her face in a long time. Take that Humanis first jack ass mother… frickers as Joseph would say. If they had hoped to instill fear or to bring people to their plight, it was instead joining a whole slew of people together, bonding over getting ride of the hate that was painted over a place that was quite the opposite. "K! What's the sealer do? Will it help clean off future idiocy?" Down with the stir stick she goes again, getting the paint all mixed in the one can and then pouring it into the pan that was provided.
"You're that woman!" Magnes calls down to Tamsine, momentarily ceasing the throwing of cans as he sits on the edge of the roof. There's a wave to Delilah, didn't know she'd be here. "U-um, I can help paint! I paint models a lot, and they need lots of focus and detail. So, painting the side of a building shouldn't be too hard. I can do up here."
Cook finds the way to the roof and pops up behind Magnes. He grabs a spray paint can and tucks it in his pocket.
"You make the need for a ladder irrelevant, so please. Don't give us your resume, just do it." Delilah is the one that answers Magnes, still peering up before she gets back to the wall, now with help from Kailin as well.
Tamsine smiles and nods. "Just don't fall," she says, shaking her scraper at him as if admonishing him, though her eyes crinkle up a bit at the corners. She returns to scraping and chipping at the remnants of the H she's working on. She glances over at Abby. "Cops catch any of the bastards in the act on this, or did they just look the other way?" she calls, apparently not putting much faith in the police force.
"Yup." Kailin gives a nod to Abby's question as he kneels down and starts to work, scrubbing in quick, small circles. "It'll basically just give the wall a clear coat so that no more graffiti will stick to the surface. I don't know the science behind it, but its supposed to work really well and make clean up pretty easy the next time someone does something like this." He glances up to Magnes as he moves to sit on the edge of the roof when Tamsine gives a warning - just to make sure a fall wouldn't land on him - and then to Delilah, giving the woman next to him a pleasant nod and smile. "How's it going? Lots of karate kid training to be done today, huh? Only… no wax, just paint remover."
"Nope, Pastor Sumter, Paster Joseph, sorry, he didn't want to involve the police. Just wanted to clean it up and carry on, not give the people who did this any recognition I think. If you want, you can go in and talk with him. I'm sure he'd appreciate a visit. He's a little worried that this is gonna be a not good thing seeing that the Guiding Light welcomes everyone. Probably why it got nailed and that K is a smart idea! If you know of anything else that might help, you can drop in and talk with him. I'm sure he'd be glad to listen as well. Maybe take suggestions about security"
"You can handle this, right?" Magnes asks Cook, then starts walking down the side of the building. If there was doubt that he wouldn't fall before, well… he's walking down the wall. The great thing about the entire world knowing your secret. "Alright, I'm ready when you guys are. And don't worry, the paint shouldn't drip down while I'm holding it." He's happy, for whatever reason. No one's calling him a terrorist, hell, no one even seems to recognize him from the news. Maybe it wasn't as big a deal as he thought.
"He could get Magnes to do security, but then the place might get demolished instead, and then there would be no church to de-graffiti, eh?" Delilah says this innocently enough to Abby out loud, but it is obviously teasing. "Wax on, wax off! Boy, I wish I had one of those cars. Those were beauties."
She peers up at Wall-Magnes for a moment, then to the people nearest her. "Maybe I should find a slicker. If you drip any of that on me, I'm going to climb right up this wall." And do what? She does not specify, simply chipping away at the paint again.
Cook glances down while Magnes starts to walk down the wall. "Huh. Spry lil' fuck." He shrugs and ducks back on the roof. Now that no one's looking? He starts to chow down.
Tamsine just stares up at Magnes. Sure, she knew he was Evolved — she caught him "riding the roofs" and he admitted it to her when trying to console her regarding Liliana, but to see it out in the open like that? It's just strange, when she's hidden her own power for so long. She backs up a little, more so that he can walk down without worrying about spraying her, but she probably looks a bit awestruck at the same time.
Magnes is walking down the wall. Well, really, she's doubly glad that the cops aren't here, or else he'd be asked for his identification and registration, she's sure of it. "hah! Pastor Joseph would kill me!" But another bucket of paint stirred, Abigail heads up the steps, leaning over to look at the amassed people. "I'm sure Pastor Sumter will be out here soon to thank you all for your help in getting the church cleaned up!" She bellows to make sure she'd heard. "Thank you though, regardless, for coming out, showing the community support, and for showing the Humanis First folks that they can't succeed! It does me, and I'm sure, the church proud and feel free to head on in after and talk to him. He'd enjoy it i'm sure. He was mighty sad that someone did all this and could use the pick up!" And then she's picking up a brush herself to start working on the doors.
"Mmm hmm." Kailin smirks in Abby's direction with an 'I told you so look'. "Score one for the procurement specialists…" He gives another wink while his arm keeps swirling away the graffiti, piece by piece. He glances up towards Magnes again to see him walking down the wall. There's a quick raise of his brows above the rims of his shades and a quick, "Huh." The sight of it leads to a quick chain of thoughts that causes Kailin to stand up, giving his left arm a quick rest as he massages it with his right. He makes his way over to Abigail at the door, pulling down the mask to let it hang around his neck. "Why did they pick this place to vandalize? I mean, its a church. Why deface a church? And go easy on me, remember I'm new around here…"
Magnes grabs a rolly thing, because the person typing this has no idea what they're called. Sure enough, it doesn't drip, and he starts to carefully paint away the graffiti, gradually making his way back up the roof as he does. "Delilah!" he calls out, briefly looking up at her before focusing on his painting again. "Can you come here for a minute?"
"What? Why? On the roof? Or do you want to see me actually try to climb this wall?" Delilah looks up at him and laughs, an eyebrow raised in question.
A can of green spray paint gets tossed off the roof. Cook isn't in the mood for anything minty.
Tamsine walks backward and bumps into the pizza tables there, and turns around to mutter her apologies to those manning the table. "Sorry… sorry…" she says and sighs, looking a bit embarrassed, face turning pink as the complexions of redheads are wont to do. She heads to another section of wall to scrape away what remains of the defacing graffiti, as Magnes paints the wall she was working on.
Abigail doens't pause in her minstrations on the door, up on a step stool to reach the top. "The Guiding Light is.. a church that supports those who are evolved. Though I believe Pastor Joseph prefers to call it gifted, like I do. He held a sermon a few weeks back in which he discussed the gifted and laid out the welcome mat for them. Registered, or not. Guiding Light Baptist welcomes evolveds with arms open. He's gifted himself. Can show you god's plans for you with a touch. There's a few others in the parish that are touched by the lord as well. Probably caught wind of it, and decided to try and hit the church where they thought it would hurt" She looks down at Kailin. "They thought wrong, obviously"
"I just meant for you to come closer, you know, so people don't hear." Magnes says a bit lower, walking down a dry section so he's only about four feet above the ground, in front of Delilah. "Uh, I wanna take you to a convention tomorrow. You wanna dress up? If you do, I uh, estimated your measurements and… Just forget all that, you have a costume, alright?"
"Hmm." Kailin nods and looks back at the church. "Yeah, I don't think that hurt anyone too badly." He glances up towards Magnes and continues, "In fact, it'll probably just bring more evolved together… But I guess we can be thankful that it wasn't worse. Humanis First. Reminds me of the Ku Klux Klan and their 'white power' speeches. I caught a bit of that first hand from some surfer kids in high school who that they would make that their thing. Didn't last very long, though…" He nods again and gives a quick, "Thanks." He heads back towards the wall he was working on, slipping his mask back on as he dips his brush in more chemicals and goes back to work. He gives a glance towards Magnes and asks, "How's the air up there… or down here as it may be?"
"Ow. Ow. Ow ow ow." Cook sits on the roof and reaches into his mouth, wrenching out a piece of high-durability aluminum. He hates it when shit gets stuck between his teeth. He pops it back in'er and chews it down.
Delilah meanders over a couple of feet to meet Magnes, trying to lean so that she can look him in the face when they talk. This is weird!
"A convention?" Didn't she tell him none of that silly business? Or something like that, as far as she remembers. "What kind of …dressing up? You're not going to make me go as Slave Leia or anything, are you?" And then she leans a bit closer to whisper in his ear. "Thirty-six, thirty, forty-two. Or something like that, I haven't really paid attention…" And then she looks down, knuckles briefly pushing into one hip as if that spot were a sizing button. Hey, she's taller, that would make her about a size twelve. Perfectly lady-sized.
Tamsine turns as she hears Abby's explanation of the minister's "gifts." She's not sure she believes the powers are gifts or talents — not with her past. "He can show people their future?" she interrupts, putting it in layman's terms. "Or… what they should do?" There's some uncertainty in her voice. She doesn't know what she should do — having someone give her a purpose is tempting, even if she doesn't believe.
Tamsine's words catch Abigail's attention. "Things that might come to pass. Little glimpses of the future. Might not happen quite like you see it, but.. so far, the one time he showed me, what came to pass in the vision, came to pass for real" She passes on to Tamsine. "He doesn't charge for it. You just gotta ask him"
"For me, it's just like I'm standing on the ground. You guys are the ones on a wall. It's funny how you don't fall down." Magnes says with an amused snicker, jumping from the roof briefly to wet his paint roller, then jumps back up to his previous spot. "How do you feel about Firestar? I'll be Spider-Man. don't worry about paying, I keep funds away for the conventions all year."
Kailin looks back towards Tamsine and Abigail with a short grunt of displeasure. "The future?" He shakes his head and continues, "You can't trust it. No offense to the pastor, but anyone can tell you what could happen. You don't need to have a gift to do that. You have to decide for yourself what you -should- do. No one else can tell you what that is. You have to follow your own vision, not someone else's." He gives a slight shrug and finishes, "Don't need a gift to predict the future, but I suppose it would prove to be a great visual aid…"
"No Iceman?" Spider-Man and his Amazing Friend. Singular. "As long as the costume doesn't ride up, that actually sounds kind of fun." Delilah likes to play dress-up, though she has only done it a few times when it comes to an actual costume. The rest is always relatively normal clothing. "It's a pity I don't have fire powers." Instead of, you know- Licky-Toad Powers.
'For some people K, it's… it gives them hope, or it gives them purpose. I know that it helped me somewhat" like not freaking out badly when Eileen refused healing. "But, it's not for everyone. That's true, it all depends" Abigail keeps painting, the brown paint slicking over the letters on the door and fading them from sight. Little by little it seems the church is being returned to how it should be, not how some terrorists feel it should be.
"HEY. DOES ANYONE WANT THIS?" Cook is on the roof, holding out a can of paint. He doesn't know how it got up there, but it's full. "IT'S FULL." If someone doesn't claim it soon, it's going in his gullet.
"There have been comic stories where it was just her and Spider-Man, even one where they were um, kinda sorta maybe dating…" Magnes quickly adds with an awkward cough, his progress with the paint suddenly speeding up. Brush brush brush, trying not to screw up, because that might mean Death By Healer. His not-so-subtle hinting is interrupted with Cook's yell, and he yells right back up, "Leave it up there, I'll get it in a minute!"
"I don't think the future's… carved in stone, but he could probably see what may be… if something doesn't change. I mean, the powers people have, I'd have thought impossible, so who's to say that he can't have that power?" Tamsine says quietly. She gives a small shrug, and glances up at Cook shouting down about the paint can. "Good luck with your church, miss," Tamsine tells Abby, looking back to the redhead that seems to be in charge. "I … wish I'd known about it before." She doesn't say before what, though, and she sets the scraper down and turns back to the sidewalk.
Kailin continues working at the task at hand, giving a shrug to Abigail's reply. "That would depend on what you're told, I guess. You must have been given a hopeful vision. But for many the future is not so bright. And that same faith in the future may have the opposite affect." He sighs at the thought and says, "But I've always belived in working towards a better future than the one ahead of us, regardless of how good or bad it is now. It can always be better. So knowing the future doesn't hold much weight with me. And I guess it does mean something different for everyone." He nods again, smiling a little more for his quasi-idealistic outlook.
"He shows what might be" Abby calls out to Tamsine. 'It doesn't always come to pass, it's a possibility" but before…? "Talk to him, ask him yourself, who knows. But I wish you well Tamsine, God bless!" She calls out. "Thank you for helping!" A glance upwards towards Cook and a roll of her eyes. "If it's up there …" Odds are it's been long forgotten and he can eat it if he wants. She nearly yells it but wisely stays hushed a nod to Cook. 'No K, wasn't a hopeful one actually. But it came to pass, in a fashion. Sometimes.. it just prepares you"
"You haven't known me long enough to be so persistent on getting in my pants, Magnes. Let me be your friend first, jeez." Dee says this loud enough for at least the closest people to hear, if not the surrounding circle of them. That's a big fat DENIED on his not-so-subtle hinting. Your level isn't high enough, gotta do more quests. "Just leave it!" She suddenly yells past Magnes, up at Cook. "Or throw it out." Aka, Eat it, apparently.
Tamsine has left.
Cook says, "Bollocks," when Magnes says he'll come up and get the paint. He does add, after Dee's comment, "Don't lis'en t'er mate. Second y'stop tryin' t'get in'er pants she'll start on 'bout how y'don't find'er attractive anymore."
"I, uh, it's not like that!" Magnes defends, still painting rather quickly. Anxiety painting. "I'd never just, I'm standing on a church! I'm not the kind of guy." He goes higher, very fast, getting to the parts that would normally require a ladder. He's running away from the conversation, even though he's well within earshot.
Cook says, "Wuss," and goes back to eat spray paint cans.
Now that last part was something Kailin could get behind. He nods to Abby and says, "I hear that. Yeah, I can see that line of reasoning. Maybe I'll have a talk with him about it." He smirks again and goes back to painting, glancing up to Magnes as he keeps walking up the building. "Maybe I'll find a new church home." He continues scrubbing away, switching hands every now and then, but steady in his diligence.
Delilah pauses in her work again to put her fists on her hips and peer up again. "Hey Paddy, I've only known him a coupla weeks, so pipe down up there." And then she watches Magnes walk away from the conversation- upwards, of course. This is so absurd. The redhead can't help but laugh. "I'll go, Magnes. Just give me details later, alright?"
Abigail just returns to her painting, a glance towards cook with a soft shake of her head and a smile. The afternoon was turning out good and soon enough the church would be back in shape for service the next day. The H sealed away beneath the paint, a brown haired guy working on the F beside her, When joseph came out next, he'd be mighty surprised.
"Yeah, just, come to the place I'm staying and I'll show you everything." Magnes agrees, finishing his side of the wall, then jumping down to the ground to look for other things to paint, or help with.
"I FOUND A CELLPHONE!" Cook's so happy.
Abigail heard that. Loud and clear. It's enough to make her laugh, bubbly cheerful laughter, cause she knows what that means. "Not for long" murmured before she nudges the guy behind her and they start bursting into song.