Participants:
| Scene Title | Geek Face?! |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | In which Cat meets Magnes and makes use of something he believes she has. |
| Date | July 22, 2009 |
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.
She's been out and about today, roaming the Village and taking in the sights. Comparing things seen before with how they look now in her head. Places that have changed for the better give comfort, things that've gone the other way do the opposite. And she makes note of whether or not the arts are continuing to grow here. Whether it seems to be steadily on its way back to the legendary area she read about and dreamed of in her teen years.
There could be so many things in her mind as Cat walks along toward 14 East 4th Street. The Pinehearst raid, the Company which used to be called Primatech and how it's turned out impractical to expose most of what Minea brought. Even to out Nathan as a flier would be a disastrously bad idea, more's the pity. Then there's the events Eve and presumably Else dreamt of and how that will all play out. It's caused her features to show pensiveness, but also stern confidence mixed with elements of grief and loss in her eyes.
In moving toward her destination, the twenty-something brunette of five feet and eight inches is clad like a rocker chick in shorts and a tank top bearing the face of Aimee Mann. her hair in a ponytail. One shoulder supports a guitar case, the other a backpack. A bottle of Pepsi is in one hand, the other holds a copy of the paper West Rosen writes for.
Though he's gone through a drastic shift in fashion, his attitude and brightly colored skates haven't changed much. Magnes has been skating in the direction that Cat is going for a while, deciding to do some good ol' fashioned sidewalk skating. Occasionally he jumps on a poll, grinding in circles before jumping off and hitting the ground, then jumps up again and does an impossibly long wall-grind, swiftly landing again.
His suit jacket is blowing in the wind, mostly due to the improbable speed he seems to be skating at. He also has a backpack, something else that contrasts with the rest of his outfit, and appearing to be empty.
Finally approaching Cat, he does a bit of a doubletake. Well, she looks geeky, but, her style certainly contrasts with her face. But she does look the part, face-wise, so… "Hey! Uh, excuse me, I uh," Damnit, spit it out, it's just a girl! "You know where I can find a nearby comic shop? I've been looking forever."
She stops in her tracks when the man speaks to her, eyes coming to settle on his face and take it in. The recognition is instantaneous. The footage even starts to play out fully in her mind's eye just as if she were seeing it for the first time. By this happening, Cat is caused to seem distracted.
"Breaking news as video continues to flood in, as well as this live news feed." The Shibuya, Tokyo crosswalk is shown from a chopper camera, with a small store fire, the street incredibly torn up, and a large slab of concrete sticking out of the side of a windowed building.
"While reports are still unclear, various sources are saying that there was a fight between two Evolved in what people are beginning to call the Shibuya Incident." Or, a name she was just fed. But hey, that's what it's called now! "We've edited together various pieces of camera phone footage, to try and tell the entire story."
It cuts to a video of someone who looks like Magnes, for anyone who knows him, but his hair is longer than usual, almost going into his eyes and over his ears. The camera is zoomed in, and he can be heard saying, "Who are you? Why didn't that hurt? Invulnerability, kinetic absorption?" added completely out of context, before it cuts to a totally different wobbly camera of Magnes taking Jake up into the air, then smashing him into the ground with a large cloud of dust and a loud bang.
She makes it stop after that small amount is called up and recovers her focus to answer the question. A mildly embarrassed expression forms. "Sorry. I got lost in thought there. I think there's a comic store over on Eighth Street." But then her voice lowers, she moves closer to the wall of a building so she can perhaps talk to him and not be overheard. "Hey, are you okay, man? Is it safe for you to be out in public like this, so easily recognizable?"
"Eh? Oh, uh, I have no idea what you're talking about." Magnes, so obviously playing dumb, awkwardly rubs the back of his neck. He has so many tells, someone might guess that he's not used to lying, at all. "So, Eighth Street? You go there a lot? You have kind've a geeky girl face, I mean, it's not a bad thing, I like it, I'm just saying…" Cheeks are definitely red, and his eyes avert to his skates almost instantly before immediately looking back up. Rule of Tracy: Make Eye Contact!
Except it's him. Some people might be taken in by his claiming not to be that guy despite the tells and doubt their memories of what they saw, as to whether it was him or not. Some others would doubt their memories but believe it's him anyway because of those tells. Cat, however, doesn't need the tells to know. Same face as in the footage, same voice. Among other things. But for a reply, she just nods and keeps speaking quietly.
"Be careful, man. I hear DHS likes to put people like you away just for existing." And for saving the world from Nazi nutjobs who want to release genocidal viruses. But he doesn't need to hear that part.
Then she tilts her head, not sure what to make of his impression about her. Geeky? What? Her mental voice protests. Geek indeed! I'm a musician, political scientist, attorney, and patriotic rebel! I never read a book more than once! But, with a few moments deeper thought about the volume of information her head contains, and her having three degrees from an Ivy League school, would that possibly qualify her for the label Magnes applied? It's a question she opts not to dwell on further.
"I've seen it there," she replies, "but it's not really my kind of place. My heroes are musicians. Rocker chicks. Like Joan Jett and Pat Benatar." And the Founding Fathers, but then, that too is in the category of He Doesn't Need To Know.
"Well, if I was the guy you think I am, I'm sure I'd have a presidential pardon by now." But then, something nudges at the back of his head. Magnes is claiming not to know anything, yet he just clearly stated that he knows who she's talking about. "Damnit." he says, when he realizes he's fucked up.
"Wait, there's a woman named Pat?"
Well, isn't that interesting. A pardon from Nathan Petrelli. How'd that get pulled off? A mystery, perhaps, to look into another time. Cat lets it go without comment, however, choosing to instead display a disbelieving expression at his question regarding Pat and femaleness. It isn't hard to achieve. It's a fairly common thing, to her at least, that men named Patrick and women named Patricia would be called Pat. He doesn't get that? Wow. "Yes," Cat tells him. "Patricia Benatar. www.benatar.org, look her stuff up on iTunes or Amazon. She's really good."
"Oh, Patricia!" Magnes clearly didn't get it, smiling brightly when she explains. For a guy who got kicked out of a country for aiding in the destruction of one of their landmarks, he seems to only go inbetween moments of awkwardness, then cheerfulness, perhaps a bit of curiousity and confusion thrown into the mix occasionally. "So uh, since the cat's out of the bag, want me to fly you somewhere? I didn't have flying down back during the Tokyo thing, since I'm not like those guys who get a flying ability and suddenly it's all 'Yay I can fly!', for me it's as complex as piloting an airplane. I've gotta turn all sorts of switches and stuff, but it's becoming second nature the more I do it… why am I telling you this?"
"Thanks for the offer," Cat replies with a chuckle. "I'm all good, though. Home isn't far away." She thinks to ask him about the wisdom of flying in public, much less being himself, with Humanis First around, but chooses not to. He's a grown man, capable of his own decisions, and it's not like their existence is secret at all. Presidential pardon… Maybe he made a deal and signed up for Frontline rather than get darkholed by DHS.
"I can imagine the appeal of flying, though. The freedom, the joy it must bring." She flashes a smile of understanding. Because she does understand.
"Yeah, but I still like jumping the most, I mean, I am a skater." Magnes points his hands down at the skates on his feet, then slowly rolls over to lean against a wall. "You ever get the feeling that the world is ending? Maybe it's the time travel, but seeing 2006 Kirby Plaza, then seeing 2009 again, well, it just makes you think that there couldn't be much of a future. I intend to change that, not let anything bad happen to the future, I man, I have the power to do that now, sort've, but I just feel…" He trails off, not really knowing what to do.
Wow. This guy is a gold mine, and she hasn't even shared her name. Cat will, of course, explore to see where it leads. She knows full well what happened in Kirby Plaza that year, Peter showed it to her telepathically once even. The full on ground zero view. And time travel… She knows he knows Hiro, it now becomes an exercise in hiding her lack of surprise. It helps, though, that she's astonished he'll just talk about it to someone he just met. That astonishment shows as she asks "You traveled through time? Holy…"
A few beats of silence are allowed to go by, her eyes wide and on his face, before she inquires "How do you have the power to stop anything bad happening to the future?"
"Yeah, it was to teach me a lesson about being more careful about heroics and spilling secrets and stuff. I went and saw the consequences of actions that happened in the time traveler's past." Magnes snickers as he crosses his arms, adding, "I must sound nuts right now. But y'know, I plan to change the future one bad person at a time, and one day, when I'm sure I won't royally screw up, maybe I'll go for the bigger stuff, like bringing down whole criminal organizations."
"That's ambitious," Cat replies with a nod, her eyes still wide. "Who took you to the past?" She gives no indication of doubting his sanity, but neither does she let on that she believes completely.
"That I can't say." Magnes answers with a regretable shrug of his shoulders. "But, I learned a lot from it. Hey, uh, are you Evolved, if you don't mind me asking? Oh, and I completely forgot to introduce myself. Magnes J. Varlane, pizza delivery boy on hiatus, currently in the police academy."
"I'm not," Cat lies with a straight face. "I just think the things people who are do are amazing. Kinda wish I was," she adds with a note of sadness. "Good to meet you, Magnes. I'm Michelle Parks."
"It's not all its cracked up to be, I mean, I'm hated by an entire country that probably wants to take my head off, the immaturity I had with my ability, and well, my immaturity in general, probably ruined any chance I had with this girl I liked. And when I did finally get a girlfriend, which is now, by the way, she's, well, kind've strange." Magnes points to his head. Yes, he is catching on that something is not-quite-right with Elle. "I mean, at first I thought the shocking was fun and playful, I still kinda do, but sometimes she says things, and even though she says them in a really cute way, I have to wonder about what she's thinking. Maybe it's just 'cause I'm new at girls, but there seems to be something really weird about the girl I'm dating, and I can't put my finger on it."
Well, now. That rings familiar. A girl who shocks. Of course, there are millions of people in New York, close to half of them women, so it could easily be someone else. Cat looks concerned, and she is, honestly. "That's not good, Magnes," she quietly replies. "It could be really dangerous. Be really careful with her, okay? Try to get her some help. Does… does she shock you with machines, or does she have that as a power?"
Aaaaand… "I don't really think an entire country hates you," stated sympathetically, "after all, I mean, you're not like Gabriel Gray, who nuked this beautiful city, y'know?"
"Wasn't Gabriel, I went back there, remember?" Magnes corrects, though he doesn't follow it up with anything else, instead going back on the subject of the Shocking Girl. "It's her power, I uh, I don't think I'd be dating a woman who shocks me with machines. And I don't think there's anything, well, that needs therapy, well, so far, but the more I get to know her, the more I seem to realize that I don't know her. And sometimes I get the feeling that she doesn't care, but that feeling usually melts away when she looks me in the eye…" as if to say, 'She's really, really cute'.
"Ohmygod, Magnes," Cat breathes out, her eyes widening again in a display of shock as he says it wasn't Gabriel Gray, "who was it? I mean, you're saying the President is a liar, that he's letting someone take the blame for all that destruction, someone who didn't even do it. Oh. My. God." She even places one hand on her upper chest for dramatic effect.
"You might not be one for conspiracy theories, but he's doing it to protect his brother. Though a good friend of mine says that it might not be the President's fault, there's some crime boss guy behind it all, pulling the strings. All I know for sure is that this guy Peter Petrelli blows up. Gabriel was there though, he, well, killed my friend's best friend, but he didn't blow up. And Gabriel is still a serial killer, so he's not completely innocent, even if he comes off that way." Magnes explains, also suggesting that he met Gabriel, but seems rather unfamiliar with Peter, as if he's just a guy he heard about.
"I'm not sure if it's even cool to tell you half this stuff, but it never hurts to tell someone the truth, one more enlightened mind, y'know? I learned a lot over the past few months, and one thing I truly believe is that most people fall under a gray area, except a handfull of people I know of who I can truly call evil."
"Oh, God," Cat replies, still displaying shock. "His brother. Oh, man… I… I won't tell anyone about that, Magnes. I mean, it could never be proved, and anyone who tried might get locked up in some deep dark hole somewhere." Her voice lowers further, making doubly sure she can't be overheard, and she settles against the wall behind her. "Oh, crap." Then a realization seems to hit, but only seems to, she knows full well the story already, "does that mean it was a lie too, when Secretary Hicks blamed that Nakamura guy for being part of it? His name, oh… Henro, I think."
"Hiro, and that was definitely a lie, I mean, that couldn't even have been a misunderstanding, it was a blatant lie. I'm not sure why they did it, but I'll find out eventually." Magnes looks down at a shadow on the ground, holding up a few fingers, counting.
"But don't let it worry you, just, don't believe everything you see on TV either. There's always a deeper story, unless they're talking about puppies."
"Hiro," she repeats with a nod, her features shifting to understanding. "I hope you do find out someday, Magnes," Cat sincerely states. And she hopes he doesn't get darkholed in the process for telling the wrong person.
"It's nice to talk to a new person, like, unprofessionally, I've been too busy to lately." Magnes offers a rather shaky hand, mostly out of bashfulness than anything else, his eyes partially averted again. "I have a lot on my plate, some things I have to do on my own, so, wish me luck."
The hand is looked at briefly, and her own extends to shake it once, then release. The skin is smooth, soft, and warm as it would be for someone who takes good care of it and doesn't do hard work with them, but there is a hint of strength in her grip and the fingertips are callused. Perhaps from playing the instrument in that case over her left shoulder? Cat has decided this isn't Arthur pretending to be Magnes, allowing her to not balk at the handshake. "Luck, Magnes," she wishes.
"Thanks, Michelle. Hope I see you around here again some time." Magnes flashes a smile, then, faster than anyone really has time to register if they're even briefly looking, he wooshes into the air, going so high he eventually simply vanishes behind some clouds.
She watches him take off and disappear, not moving from where she stands until he's out of sight, before resuming her journey toward 14 East 4th Street and home. Cat has calls to make, and people to see. That was just too easy. Who else might he have been talking about all that to?