In The Absence Of Mentors

Participants:

colette_icon.gif quinn2_icon.gif ygraine_icon.gif

Scene Title In The Absence of Mentors
Synopsis Colette takes her student of photokinetics out to the ruins of Midtown for a lesson in hiding. Unfortunately, Colette's lovely assistant for this training assignment is not aware of the Con involved in it. That Con, being short for Conrad. This is how she learned!
Date October 7, 2010

Ruins of Midtown


Stage magicians often have this cliched saying, that they'll need a volunteer from the audience to perform their next trick. Colette Nichols doesn't have much in common with a Las Vegas illusionist, save that they're both fond of disappearing acts. Colette's, admittedly, are a sight more real than most of the charlatans that once inhabited the Vegas strip.

Admittedly, the desolate ruins of Midtown Manhattan aren't much of an analogue to the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas either. Where one is a bastion of debauchery and sin amidst a neon-lit desert, the other is a void emptied of people where skyscrapers have become little more than concrete mausoleums; matte gray markers to where hundreds of thousands of lives were snuffed out in an instant.

Tonight, though, these incongruent places are united by a single common thread: illusions.

Colette Nichols' stage, too, is something like the impossibly lavish stage of a themed Vegas hotel.

Saint Patrick's Cathedral was once a major center of worship in the Post-Bomb world, a monument of the Catholic faith that was visible outside of the highrise apartment building Colette shared with her sister Nicole in what, now, feels like some distant dream. In the modern era, the catherdal rests just three blocks from ground zero. Three blocks from a pillar of brilliant light that shines up infinitely into the night's sky as a memorial to the dead.

On its exterior, the cathedral is still serving as a pillar of the community in almost sarcastic ways. A skyscraper belonging to the Goldman Sachs financial firm slouches against the cathedral, the top portion of the skyscraper toppled over the cathedral's roof, having showered the building with glass, concrete and steel before spilling out into the adjacent street.

The century-old construction of the cathedral allowed it to survive the impact of the other building, which in turn shielded it from much of the blast wave of the nuclear explosion that melted cars, tore up asphalt and turned human beings into char-black silhouettes burned into concrete walls.

Within the somber interior of the cathedral's impossibly high ceilings, shards of glass from demolished windows, lengths of rusted steel and portions of its own cracked roof hang down like some tangled cage of a modern art sculpture. Faintly colored light from the midtown beacon shines through what little remains of stained glass windows, and three sets of footsteps echo across the rubble-strewn stone floors.

Dressed solely in black denim of skinny jeans and a short jacket, Colette Nichols leads the way through the toppled cathedral doors, past rows of toppled bleachers and shattered masonry. A backpack is slung over her shoulders, zippers jingling as she walks, the soft cottony fabric of a powder blue scarf wound around her throat to keep out the late-night cold.

"This is it," Colette affirms on her way in, her voice echoing through the cavernous expanse of the ruined cathedral, one hand held aloft where a slowly rotating disc of firefly motes of light shines a considerably dim flashlight's beam ahead of herself, more for her company than others. "Alright, Quinn…" Colette says as she curls her fingers closed and dismisses the light, sending stray wisps of color slithering between her fingers, "this is going to be a bit more intense than last time."

That's quite true.

One hand holding Quinn's, and the other thrust deep into the pocket of her biker's jacket - an undifferentiated black one, without the distinctive design of the flag of the United Kingdom across its back - Ygraine crunches carefully across the detritus-littered floor, chin lifted as she takes in the mingling of ruin and beauty overhead… though one part of her mind is assessing the likelihood of various pillars and portions of wall collapsing if exerted to a bit of pressure from a new angle, mapping out possible alternative routes out of the devastation.

When the light fades, she brings her attention back down to Earth, and focuses as best she can upon the Irishwoman beside her. The visor is up, but her face is only the dimmest pale blur beneath the shadows of her helmet. Under those shadows, however, she's just a touch apprehensive.

"Christ… I used t' come by this Church, form time t' time. Back when I first came t' New York, before I found one closer t' my apartment…" The hadn't ever thought about what happened to it after the bomb, and for the moment, she was rather glad that was the case. She's dressed in t-shirt, a simple black one, and new looking jeans herself - breaking in a pair on something like this probably wasn't the smartest idea, but wearing the reinforced pair seemed like a good idea for traversing midtown.

She gives a sort of grimace at the indication that this trip will be more intense, but to be honest Quinn hadn't expected much else. "I figured that might be the case," she remarks, her free hand sliding out of her pocket. Fingertips begin to glow, creating just a candlelight's amount of light, to help her see in front of her. "I'm rather curious as t' why you needed both of us, though."

"I needed someone who couldn't do what we can," Colette explains as she looks to Ygraine, dipping her head down slowly into a nod. "See, I can't be blinded, can't be tricked by the dark or… it's hard for me to tell if you're going to be doing what I want you to do right." There's an apologetic cast to Colette's smile at that, her hands reaching up to grab the straps of her backpack and swing it off, setting it down on one of the pews as she walks further into the cathedral.

"This was the most enclosed space that wasn't underground I could think of. I didn't wanna' do this too close t'any safehouses, 'cause it might make too much light or…" there's a slow shake of her head. "Anyway," Colette murmurs as she motions around herself. "Today's test is based on Conrad's second learning exercise for me when I was learnin'. Today we're going t'focus on fooling someone else's senses, specifically, Ygraine's."

See? She needed a lovely assistant.

"Photokinetics is about light manipulation, and everything we see around us is because of photons bouncing off of the surface of solid matter. How an object reflects light determines the color and visibiliy of it. Which means, an object that does not reflect light but instead bends it is wholly invisible to sight."

To demonstrate, Colette's body begins to peel away from view, like strips of paint pulled off of a canvas by solvent, until she is nowhere to be seen. "I think you can do this Quinn…" is Colette's disembodied opinion from the dark, "and if what happens on November 8th happens… you're going to need to know how to do it."

Delivering a warm squeeze to Quinn's hand, Ygraine holds on for a moment or two longer, then relinquishes the connection, stepping away to move to form the third point of an equilateral triangle. "Show-off", she smiling fires in Colette's direction, before turning her gaze back to the other photokinetic. "I don't think you need to worry about the special effects display, at least", she says warmly, hoping to ease Quinn's nerves about applying her power to another person.

Quinn frowns a bit as she sees Colette disappear from view like someone fading away in a movie. "You think I can turn invisible? I mean, this isn't the first time I've seen you do it, but…" She reaches up and scratches the back of her head. "I tried once, after reading some a' the notes in those books you left me, but it didn't work out. You really think I can get it this time?" Quinn releases Ygraine's hand before she steps forward a bit, still using her own hand to keep a light in front of her. "I'm willin' t' give it a shot, at least."

"I think you need the right incentive t'get your ability workin' right," is Colette's answer, echoing like the voice of some young ghost haunting the cathedral. Dust is disturbed by her boots where she walks, leaving visible footprints that give away her location."You can pull light away from something and you can make it change shapes, that's just one step away from invisibility. When I first learned, I learned because I was afraid. I turned invisible as a fear reflex…"

Colette's bootfalls move to the door of the cathedral, hesitate there and then begin moving back. "I want to see what you can do on your own, first. You don't need external light like I do, so…" and there's still a hint of jealousy there, "so I want to see if you can do this without needing the fear I did. Try'n draw as much light away from Ygraine as you can, basically… imagine wrapping her up in a bubble, s'kind've how I do it. Push all of the light away from her."

Sounding closer to Quinn now than she did before, Colette adds, "You can stay close to her, for now. It'll probably be easier if you don't have distance." Why she's staying invisible seems to be another matter entirely.

Conrad's training methods were one element of deceased asshole hero's approach to the world that Ygraine had missed out on, but she frowns as Colette speaks - fear sounding all too credible a training technique. Still, this isn't her training session, so she keeps quiet… and reason that the odds are good that if adrenaline and apprehension are helpful, then Colette's unsettling words and choice of venue should be doing quite a lot in that regard already.

Quinn gives a bit of a reflexive jump as Colette's voice is suddenly closer. "Pull the light away? You're talkin' about the last thing we did, with the flashlight, right?" Quinn grins a bit, hoping that's the case - that she has been practicing. Backing a few steps away from Ygraine. "Okay, so- like a bubble?" Quinn raises her hands, fingerly glowing for jsut a moment before returning to normal. "Alright, um…" Her eyes close as she takes a deep breath, and she begins to visualise the light moving away from around Ygraine, at least as ebst as she can manage.

After a moment, it looks like she's getting some level of success, if slowly as the light begins to pull away from around Ygraine's feel, creeping upwards.

Silent for a time, Colette only speaks up as it looks as though Quinn is getting it right. Darkness is creeping up Ygraine like rising water, pushing the dim light of the moon filtering in through the ceiling away from her. Shadows consume her legs, then her shoulders, and as they begin to swim up towards her neck and head, then effect starts to thin, dither, and then fade entirely back to the normal ambient light, followed by a dull ache behind Quinn's eyes.

Colette exhales a slow sigh, audible from her unseen position beside Ygraine. "Alright," the teen murmurs, booted feet clomping across the floor as she walks. "Don't worry about the invisibility for now," she suddenly and abriptly switches gears, dismissive of the progress Quinn had made.

"Let's focus on something easier," almost sounds disappointed, perhaps purposefully so. "Quinn, I want you to close your eyes and envision Ygraine, then I'd like you to try and shape some light to resemble her as best as you can. I know this is pretty far and beyond what you can normally do with your shaping, but Ygraine told me she's been teaching you fine control. I want to see how realistic of an image you can create."

By then, Colette's voice is back by the cathedral door, footsteps taking her outside for a moment before tracking back inside. "Go on," she perissts, "show me what you have. Ygraine, you can help give her pointers."

"Don't try to leap to the final goal", Ygraine instructs, voice pitched low. Lifting her gaze from the shadows around her to Quinn, she shrugs slightly, leather creaking across her shoulders. "Feel your way to it. Use music, if you need to. And feel free to build it up, see what you have, then shape it, tweak it. You can make colours and you can make shapes - this is just putting that into play, and you know how those feel to do."

"Ah, hmm." Quinn sounds less enthusiastic about this idea, quirking her lips side to side as she looks at Ygraine, considerate for a moment. She reaches up and rubs the back of her neck. "Alright, I've, uh- well, no I can do a bit more complex now. Buuut…" She doesn't reform a grin, but her voice certainly pops back up to a more positive tone. "Alright, this'll be a piece of cake, I think." She gives a nod as holds out a hand and wiggles her fingers, causing the light that emanates from them to dance a bit. "Mmkay, sooo…"

With those words, the light generated by her fingers begins to bend and coalesce, forming up into the basic shape of a luminescent sphere - almost like mythical ball lightning, floating over the cathedral floor. It's bigger than the ones she'd produced for Melissa and Ygraine, but it seems just as stable. Fingers trace as Quinn tries to visualise Ygraine, typing to create a light duplicate. For the moment, it looks like the best she's managing is an outline, but the determined look on her face means she's not giving up.

An outline is certainly more than Quinn would have managed a while back when Ygraine first started pushing the photokinetic to explore more of her ability, and she's happy to give voice to her approval - whether wholly sincerely or as a conscious playing of 'good cop' to Colette's disdainful-and-spooky approach. "Good", she says gently. "Good girl. Feel what you're doing. Study it. And add more layers as you need them."

Quinn's got the basic shape of Ygraine - almost like a Hitchcock like outline she could walk into if she wanted - down. It's fine forming the details that's giving Quinn problems, and it's when her head starts to ache that she finally lets out of a bit of a sharp exhale, ceasing her efforts to fully shape the light form in front of her. She doesn't let it fade form view, so she can admire her work. It's far better than what she's done before, at least.

A hand moves to Quinn's forehead, rubbing as she closes her eyes for a moment. "Okay, Jesus. That was goin' good, but my feckin' head…" She sighs, opening her eyes again. "I don't think I've ever pulled off something that complex. Basic shape s is the best I usually get, some sorta 3D forms lately…" Apparently, Quinn needs to learn to motivate herself to push more.

There's no response from Colette, just silence. A cold, autumn wind blows through the dark cathedral through cracks in the walls and the blown out windows, whistling noisily in the dark of night. No footsteps heard any longer either, just the cold and empty space of the once grand place of worship and the sound of Quinn's own voice reverberating off of the stone walls. In the distance, however, there is a familiar sound that is drawing closer. It sounds like an engine, perhaps a car or a truck.

Very few people drive through Midtown, and everyone who does has to pass through the National Guard checkpoints.

That narrows things down.

Ygraine's head turns, a frown creasing her brow within the protection of her helmet. She waits a moment or two to give Colette a chance to respond… then she strides over to Quinn, one hand held out. "C'mon. Time for us to move to new ground. Whoever that is, we'd do better to avoid them if we can. And not being where people look for people, I can help with."

Quinn grimaces as she hears the noise of the truck. "What the-" She lets her hand drop from her forehead, not entirely noticing that world around her seems a bit duller than before. "But - Oh goddamnit." Quinn grits her teeth, tipping on her toes. "Colette?" she calls out, as if hoping for a response, even as she takes Ygraine's hands. "Crap, this isn't exactly what I was expecting."

Joining the sound of the vehicle is the approaching noise of a helicopter's rotors chopping through the night air. Outside on street level, there's a sweet of light across the rubble-strewn concrete, followed by a light shining down through the roof of the cathedral, a police search light. The noise of the helicopter draws closer, followed by a riotously loud voice projected over a bullhorn.

«You are in violation of New York City curfew. Come out of the building and submit to police authority.»

The sound of an engine draws closer, and in the gloom of the unlit cathedral, the brilliant glow of that searchlight shining down through the hole in the ceiling is like the blade of a sword, shining and deadly, signifying everything that a member of the Ferrymen has to fear from operating both at night and in Midtown. The Law.

Only letting Quinn snare one hand, so that she can use the other to tug a flashlight from one pocket - the lens already covered with a taped-on film of translucent blue plastic, to dim the glow - Ygraine provides a little light for her feet as she starts guiding Quinn away from the open space used for the practice. Then the crashing, hammering sound of the helicopter abruptly arrives overhead.

Hunching against the assault of the light, Ygraine flips down the visor of her helmet, grabbing the small amount of glare-reduction that provides. "Shut that light out or we're screwed!", she shouts to Quinn - while inwardly her thoughts race after each other. Too fast. Far too fast!

"Shut out a search light?!" Quinn goes wide eyed as looks up at Ygraine, simply astounded by this ascertain. "Jesus, I dunno if I can do that! Besides, they'll notice that, wouldn't you think?!" Quinn's mind races as well, stumbling over own fee as she looks for a corner of dark spot to scrunch again. Not that it'll help against the searchlight, it's more out of instinct. "Shit, shit, shi, shit. Okay, um…." She raises her hand, finger's flashing for a moment as a wandering ball of light appears off on teh corner of teh search light, hoping to draw attention for a moment. She tugs on Ygraine, grimacing as she scuttles a bit further away from the light.

But she slips, making a bit of noise as she slides down to her knees, inadvertently, tugging Ygraine with her. "Shit, I just got in trouble for violating curfew, too…"

The bright light of the searchlight sweeps through the hole in the ceiling again, but when the numbus of illumination Quinn creates moves in the light's perimeter, the searchlight does slowly sweep to follow it. In that same moment, a vehicle can be seen through the open frame of the doors, a glossy black and white NYPD sport-utility vehicle, the lights mounted on the roof flashing red and blue across the street. They don't seem to be in too much of a hurry as they roll to a stop, passenger and driver's side door opening slowly.

A police officer climbs out of each side, shoes hitting the concrete, flashlights clicking on. Each officer lays a hand near whrere his gun is holstered, quietly approaching the front doors of the cathedral, flashlights sweeping up above the door, then down inside, then around the surrounding area. "Dispatch this is Frances, we're at St.Patrick's. Boys in the helicopter said they saw a glowing light inside the church, might be someone out here."

While the second officer begins approaching the cathedral's front entrance, the other officer is continuing his call, head tilted towards the walkie attached to his shoulder, squeezing it to speak again. "The tip we got might just be squatters, but we're going in to check it out. How far behind is backup?"

Tip?

Sublimating a stream of virulent French cursing into a low hiss within her helmet, Ygraine puts her own ability into play. She could fight gravity to haul Quinn to her feet - or she can simply flip it, bracing herself to accept the Irishwoman falling up from the floor into her arms, there to be bundled out of line of sight of the front entrance and the hole in the roof, further into the shadows.

"We've been set up", she hisses, helmet nearly touching Quinn's head so that the sound has the least possible distance to travel. "I can take us up a wall, but you need to hide us or it'll be touch and go if they spot the movement. I can't dampen fucking sound."

"S-set up?" There's a bit of glower at Ygraine when she says that, looking at the wall behind them. "Christ, I hate my friends," she says with a shake of her head. "Fuck. Hide us. U-Um, okay. I- fuck." Arms cross across her midsection as she presses up against the wall. "This fucking invisible thing. Okay, shit… let me see if I can do this." Quinn closes her eyes. She's trying to visualise her and Ygraine vanishing. If she's missing a step, she has no idea, but she's starting from what seems easiest, not what seems smartest.

Shadows form, waver, distort and shimmer, but the invisibility doesn't come. Light pushes away, a dark spot forms, and QUinn's focus on her ball of light winks out entirely. A moment later, so too does the shadow. The police officers have no stepped inside of the church, flashlights sweeping up aisles as they walk in, while the helicopter noisily makes a sweep of the area, the floodlight moving away from the hole in the ceiling for the time being.

With police drawing in closer, it will only be a matter of time before they find Quinn and Ygraine where they're crouching behind rubble and pews. One of the police officers stops, pausing by a bench to pick up the backpack Colette had pointedly left behind when she came in. He waves over his partner and they unzip the backpack, pulling out a six pack of beer, a paper bag with a bottle in it and a rolled up sleeping bag. The flashlights go up again after that odd discovery of things Colette had no need to bring with her.

Now they're certain someone is in here.

Lurking, Ygraine is by now quite accustomed to. Normally, she does so high up and out of any normal field of vision… but she does understand sight lines and the advantages of staying still in the dark. Keeping an arm tightly wrapped around Quinn, she holds her behind their chosen pillar, two still lumps amidst the gloom… frowning intently as she waits to find out whether or not Quinn can get the hang of this.

Quinn opens her eyes and huffs as Ygraine keeps her behind the pillow. "We're not invisible, are we?" She wrinkles her nose, mind racing as she thinks of other things she can do. "Shit, I could just, like… blind them if it wasn't got the god damn helicopter." Quinn grits her teetha gain, peeking out from behind the pillar for just a moment. "Shit! I don't know what else t' do, Ygraine!" Said perhaps a bit too loudly, but the helicopter will hopefully drown her out.

Setting down the backpack, the police officers move into the cathedral further. "Come on out, there's only one way in or out of this church, you're just going to hurt yourself! This building isn't structurally sound!" Shouting over the sound of the circling helicopter, Quinn can see the flashlight beams sweeping perilously close to their position. There's heavy footfalls drawing closer, and the police officers split up, one heading to the opposite side of the cathedral, beginning to check by the walls and behind the columns, while the other officer is headed in the direction of the pillar next to where Quinn and Ygraine are, prepared to start doing the same.

"You're just going to get yourselves in more trouble if you keep hiding!" is shouted by the police officer drawing closer. "Come on out, we can talk this out. Get you to a shelter, check and make sure your registration is all up to date. I said come on out!"

Not long now…

"You shape light, not people", Ygraine hisses urgently to Quinn. "Don't think about us, think about what you work with. Feel for it. Find a song - fuck it: Queen's "I am the Invisible Man", if it works! Run it in your head, and warp the light. Forget what you're shaping it around, just play with the light. That's all you affect, all you can affect, all you need to affect. It doesn't need to glow, or change colour, or anything. You just guide it gently around."

As she talks, Ygraine's eyes flicker to and fro behind her visor, checking for potential routes up and away. If Quinn doesn't get the hang of this very damn soon indeed, then a scuttle up and around their pillar will be in order, to flee for the vaulting overhead.

A song isn't exactly something that's easy to get going through Quinn's head at the moment, though it would surely help. Right now, the majority of thoughts in her head circulate around about how wonderful a night in jail will feel after everything else in teh last few days. Fingers clench tight on the pillar as she turns back to Ygraine with a frown. "I swear to god, when I open my eyes, we had better be invisible."

And close her eyes she does, in less of hurry before, no attempt made to calm herself before she closes her eyes tight, making a very scrunched face as she tries to imagine and visualise making each of the pair of them invisible, hoping and praying that this time it works.

And through Quinn doesn't open her eyes yet, something around ehr does begin to shift and change as Ygraine, at the very least, quickly vanishes from view. A bit of quick breathing, and Quinn opens her looks over - looking absolutely elated. 'Holy shit, did that just seriously fucking work?" She doesn't even think to ask if it's worked for her too. "D-Don't move, Jesus. I have no idea how well this'll work…"

From Ygraine's perspective, the world goes completely dark. Like Colette's invisibility, Quinn's involves bending all visible light around a stationary object away, and that in turn means no light with which to see by. But when Quinn too suddenly finds herself shunted into absolute darkness, the pair of women feel a hand on each of their shoulders, lightly pressed and gently squeezing.

"I knew you could do it," is whispered from behind them by Colette, followed by the sounds of heavy footfalls drawing closer. All the sounds seem heightened when sight is removed, every footstep, every creak of the old building, every noise the police officers make.

Eventually though, one sound cracks through the building. "Clear!" It echoes from the other side of the cathedral, followed by footsteps inches away from Quinn and the huff of a sigh, followed by a murmur of frustration.

"All clear on my side too!" is shouted right next to the invisible women, and the sounds of footsteps beginning to move away.

Darkness had been expected, should Quinn get it to work, and its arrival actually comes as something of a relief to Ygraine. The touch on the shoulder had not been anticipated in the slightest, however - and Colette's wrist and fingers are instinctively grabbed in the start of a counter-move… one that is fortunately aborted when the whispering voice is recognised.

It takes a lot of effort for Ygraine to focus upon breathing as slowly and quietly as she can, acutely aware of the sound of it within her helmet. Colette, however, she hangs onto - either for reassurance, or for what might follow once the cops have gone.

It takes a lot for Quinn not to let out an "eep!" of surprise both at the sudden darkening of the world around her as well as the sudden hand on her shoulder, one she knows doesn't belong to Ygraine. Unlike Ygraine, she doesn't slow her breathing, her way of calming herself involves digging her nails into whatever she can and hoping that either her invisibility can hold, or that Colette's ready to pick up the slack in the event that it doesn't.

Being enveloped in darkness isn't exactly a comforting sensation, but despite a small amount of squirming, she is doing little to move or give herself away, or at least so she hopes. For now, she's just hoping that they get out of her as fast as fucking possible.

There doesn't seem to be an intention of going anywhere, just Colette's hand gently restign on each of the women's shoulders, followed by a slowly exhaled sigh. Eventually the sounds of footsteps reach the door of the cathedral along with the sound of voices. "We didn't find anything. We're not gonna' risk going deeper into the building right now, this thing looks like it's going to fall over at any minute. We found a backpack, some alcohol and cigarettes in it, we're going to take it with us, see what we can find. Probably just someone reporting squatters, there's a shanty town down the street that connects to the park. We'll run by there, see if anyone's seen anything suspicious… I think we're done here for tonight."

As the voices trail off, there's a roar of the helicopter as it passes overhead, followed by the noise of the blades retreating even further away until it sounds as distant as the noise of the policemen walking around outside. Huffing out a laugh, Colette pats her hand down on Ygraine and Quinn's shoulder, "Give it a minute more to let them drive off. There's a hole in the basement that leads into the green line subway tunnel."

She clearly planned this all along. "You did good, Quinn. We'll go down to Grand Central for the night. I think it's time you see where it is anyway, don't think you have yet."

"Remind me to teach you to swim some time", Ygraine growls, letting go of Colette and reaching out for where she can still feel the close proximity of Quinn. "You did do well", she murmurs to the Irishwoman.

When the cops finally start their way away, Quinn lets out a sharp exhale. When she feels someone touching her, she assumes Ygraine, she instinctively looks over. "Jesus fucking Christ, Colette." The remark isn't made with any sort of venom, more disbelief. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you had somethin' against me." She lets out as quiet a laugh as she can manage, still breathing h, her eyes closing as she shakes her head. "I am so glad that worked. I might punch you in the shoulder later, though. Hard." Is she joking?

A moment later, light returns with a ripple and a a shimmer of strips of the darkened cathedral coming into view. The police are still outside in their trucks, but in the lightless vault of the cathedral's interior, there's no seeing the three women there in the dark. "When he went to teach me how to use my power, Conrad fired off a gun inside of a subway platform over my shoulder…" There's a lift of one of Colette's brows at the notion, her cheeks flushed with color from exertion and the cold.

"Scared me invisible. I had to come up with something that'd scare you enough to work, and you aren't as reflexive with your power like I am. Similar, but different." Crossing her arms over her chest, Colette stands up straight and jerks her head towards a rectory door half concealed behind a pile of rubble and glass. "I figured someone else needing to be protected or saved would do it for you."

Without so much as an apology, Colette takes a step back and away from the two women. "C'mon, it's about a six minute walk from here." From the sound of her confidence, she's pretty sure she had everything under control the whole time. Such is the way of youth.

It's probably a good thing that Ygraine's expression is hidden behind her sealed visor, because right now she's having to fight the desire to make it clear how tempted she is to do something painful to remove that smug self-confidence. Instead, she takes a slow and steadying breath, then offers a hand to Quinn. The other pulls her flashlight from within a pocket, to cast a muted little puddle of dim blue light at her feet to help her pick out a path for the two of them who still need illumination to see.

Quinn lets out a long sigh, shaking her head. "Colette, it's a good thing there was a good reason for this," Quinn remarks as she takes Ygraine's hand and pulls herself to her feet, creating a little illumination for herself as well. Is she… shaking a little? "Christ. I just got written up for bein' out after curfew the other day." She eyes other photokinetic for a moment, and it's like she wants to be angry, particularly given the last few days, but the incredibly useful new trick she's gotten out of it is preventing it. She's too grateful for that. "Grand Central? What's so special about it?"

"I had it all under control," Colette explains in a hushed tone of voice, "nobody was going to get arrested. Worst comes to worst we would've had to run, but I know these ruins better'n anybody else I bet." There's a crack of a smile across the young girl's face, followed by her turning on her heels, hands folded behind her head with one brow raised slowly.

"Grant Central is the heart of the Ferrymen," the teen explains, offering a quick look to the cathedral doors as the police SUV pulls away and turns around, one last sweep of the vehicle mounted searchlight inside not having the angle to spot the Ferrymen operatives before the SUV rolls away.

"I figure it's high time to see our most central operation, and I figure you could probably both use a stiff drink after that too." A cocksure smile creeps up on Colette's lips as she turns for the door, waving two gloved fingers towards the door. "You'll see the rest for yourself…"

For now, Robyn Quinn deserves a well-earned rest.


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