Miracle Night

Participants:

gillian4_icon.gif milena_icon.gif warren_icon.gif

Scene Title Miracle Night
Synopsis Warren's plan to create a miracle in this desolute city is made possible with the assistance of Milena and Gillian.
Date October 15, 2010

University Woods - Bronx


University Woods, located in the Bronx neighborhood of University Heights., overlooking the Harlem River. From 2003-2006 it's been called the city's worst park, but tonight, that's all going to change.

It's two hours before curfew, and Milena was called out here to do something big, and meet one of Warren's friends who would help her do it. Warren picked both of them up in his red 1969 Cobra Jet Mach 1, but there isn't much talking in the car ride over, other than idle chitchat. When they arrive, they begin walking up a path, and Warren, wearing his black suit with the unbuttoned jacket and white gloves, finally explains. "Milena, I bought seeds, fruit and vegetable seeds, so you'd know the kind of things I want here. There's some flowers too, for color. Gillian's going to augment you with her ability, and you'll be able to transform this entire park. She'll take it slow at first, but as you get used to it, this park will be a miracle." He holds out his hand, palm full of seeds, each one an entirely different plant. "I don't know how, but, if there's a way, try to make it easy to keep bugs away from them. Is this good for both of you?"

"I haven't gotten to do anything like this with my ability in a long time," Gillian admits quietly, once the miracle is laid out by Warren, his plan to do something meaningful. Miracle Day was something that Phoenix had done, but Phoenix is no longer doing as much as they had been a year ago, and the Miracles haven't been planned— but today— tonight— they will get that miracle again.

"I'd like to say we can get together and get some drinks or something fun afterwards, but if this taxes me to the point I think it will— I'm probably going to be unconscious when we finish." She will have to trust Warren not to do anything bad to her poor unconscious self? Oddly he's one of the few men she might trust. He resists her awake, after all.

"While we do this— why don't you tell me a bit about yourself, Milena?" she adds, as she offers a hand out. "I'll need to touch you for it to be really strong, but I touch your shoulder if you need your hands."

It took some serious pursuasion to get Milena into a car with anyone, and she remained huddled in the back seat against the door for most of the ride over. Her eyes never left Gillian, as if somehow, the new face would suddenly do something awful to harm her. She's much more comfortable outside, even if the park is a bit of a wreck. She can fix that.

Dark blue eyes narrow at Gillian when she speaks to her. "Why do you need to know about me??" she demands, voice quick and almost on the verge of panic until it dawns on her that the other woman might just be making small talk. Milena presses a hand to her forehead. "Sorry, I don't… I don't talk much. It's … Complicated." As the hand is offered, she takes a step back, looking at Warren, who knows that any contact has, thus far, been forbidden. "You didn't tell me she'd have to touch me." Accusing… as she looks between him and the open space all around them, where she can easily run away if she has to. "You didn't… tell me that…" For a moment, she closes her eyes, raising a trembling fist up to press against her lips. Calm. It's okay. "I … need my hands. Just. Throw the seeds out, anywhere. I'll… It's easy enough to find them. I can… I can work with it."

"Sorry, Milena, I didn't know she had to touch you. I would have warned you if I did." Warren says in a genuinely apologetic tone, then places a hand on Gillian's shoulder. "You can trust her, she's harmless. We work together every day." he tries to reassure her, then releases her shoulder and steps back a few feet. "I'll stand over here, I don't want to be augmented, trying to avoid that until I can get my mind tested by a telepath." Then, finally, he tosses the seeds out into the grass and brushes his hands off, sliding them into his pockets to watch. "Apple trees, orange trees, pumpkin patches, all sorts of good stuff. Try to form it in a way that'll be easy for people to upkeep them, like a farm. And uh, I don't know if this is possible, but if you could form the plants so they can be viewed overhead to read, 'Make Miracle Day Every Day', because I want to send a message. This is going to be on the news, it'll inspire people to do things like this."

"I don't have to touch you," Gillian adds after a few moments, looking a little guilty for having brought up such an idea when the woman is obviously rather timid. It has to do with the fact she's not that timid— anymore. But there have been reasons in the past when she was. When she didn't want people to touch her either… "It's just stronger when there's physical contact. I guess this area may not need the full dose— so after we do this once, and after you see that I'm trusting you cause I'll be unconscious by the end— we can do the touch. It's just stronger when that happens," she says again, to explain.

Stronger. Most people want stronger. But no touch is possible. In fact, she sticks her hands into the pockets of her jacket, to show she has no intention of touching if she really doesn't want.

"You don't have to stand out of range, Warren. I can control it going to one person."

Milena's never really grown a whole forest at once, so she's not sure how she's going to feel after this. She's hoping she'll be awake, because she doesn't want to trust these other two people with her well-being. "Shoulder's… fine. It's just… Shoulder's fine. Might as well do this right."

Crouching down to the hard foot-trampled dirt path, Milena presses all her fingers into it as if it were made of nothing but water. Around her fingers, the soil buckles, forming little ridges, shaped almost as if they're holding her hands in place.

At first, Milena feels nothing. That's how it always is. But as a few seconds pass, she can so easily feel the seeds that Warren has thrown, along with thousands of years of dead and decayed plantlife that still lurks just under their feet. A little deeper, and she can feel more - dead root systems that slowly wake from what should have been an eternal slumber. It's time to grow - to become something they never could have been in the past.

Wooden fence posts become living matter.

Wooden park benches start to root into the ground. With a deep breath, she looks up at Gillian. "All right. Let's see if we can make this work, huh?"

Warren slides his hands into his jacket pockets, tie blowing lightly in the breeze, he's watching patiently while the two work. "Alright, let's make a miracle, shall we?"

Luckily, everything is about to get a little bit easier— Gillian reaches out and touches the older woman's shoulder, looking past her at the starting miracle, as her eyes begin to glow. It's a darkish purple glow, at first, bit it gets a little lighter as the power level increases. At first, the energy seems to come in a soft flow, a tingling energy that makes the slow effort seem to go faster, the distance increased, the power raising. It builds, and it builds, like a faucet being turned up, the energy growing in bursts. The loosening of the knot that's constantly in the back of her head is a relief… But it isn't removed. One target for the energy coming out of her, one person benifitting from it— and she keeps some back for herself.

"Your range— the amount you can manipulate— everything should increase. If you need more…"
It's not sudden, but with time, with the extension of how far she can reach— it goes from her maximum of a fifth of a mile to… So much more than a mile. Miles. Acres. She can feel everything as if it's directly next to her. Can tell where the plant material decreases when her ability goes under sidewalks and meets up with roads. She can pull back from that, as she has no intention of destroying them. It would turn her miracle into a public service nightmare.

A signpost next to them suddenly becomes an oak tree, the black sign becoming embedded in the tree's trunk and still pointing the way to the playground nearby. Around them, trees that were dead or dying moments before suddenly bloom in a burst of green. The ground underfoot, once bare and dead, sprouts with a whole manner of things, and this greenery traverses outward in a wave as the entire forest floor becomes alive.

Even with her eyes closed, she can almost see what's happening, and the image in her mind… actually brings a smile to Milena's face. She didn't think it would be possible to reach to a road and create a willow tree at its edge. It should have taken years for it to grow that tall, when it only takes seconds. It grows taller still, providing shade to a park bench that she's just created out of a bit of dead maple.

Here and there, the roots from the seeds Warren threw pop up all over this new forest. Really, Milena only neds a couple to make many copies - after all, she can grow more trees from the root system itself - but this makes it easier, even with the augmentation. Despite the October chill, flowers of all colours grow everywhere… In the trees, on the ground, curled around street signs and swingsets as if they were cultured to grown in just that way. 'tis the season for pumpkins, as well. The vines grow up into the tress and along the ground. Since there are so many, it's quite easy to create the seasonal orange fruits all over the floor, nestled among strawberries and blueberries. In the trees - in the canopy, where news helecoptors will be able to read, the pumpkins spell out 'MAKE MIRACLE DAY EVERY DAY.'

The park will no longer be seen as New York's worst. In fact, with as many trees that grow here now, it might just be seen as one of the best in the world.

Everything here is alive, from the benches to the signposts. And that's a thing that not many parks in the world can boast.

Warren watches in awe as Milena shows the full potential of her ability, his eyes shifting to their silvery color. He'd always imagined her ability doing this, but… to actually see it, it's still surreal. He watches the two of them, smiling warmly. "You've done it, both of you. This is the product of trust. You allowed Gillian to touch you, and it created a miracle. And Gillian had to choose to trust me in order to agree to this." He closes his eyes, spreading his arms out. "This is trust, this is us changing the world, right now, not the future, not the next generation, right now. The two of you, with this simple act, will inspire millions."

All the little details go past her, but Gillian closes her eyes and ends up sliding down to her knees, drained of energy, but still conscious. She held enough back to keep that much. "Good job," she says, from what she could see, it was amazing. "Helena would be proud— a two years ago, Phoenix created Miracle day, and a year ago, I'd helped them with it— helped create a storm that would wash away pollution for days— but I think this, this will help people more than that did. And if we can get away with doing this again…" She takes in slow breaths, rubbing her face with her hands. "We should probably talk somewhere else, though. That took long enough that if someone was watching there might be sirens soon." Did they do anything illegal? Some would say no, but certainly dangerous. "There's people who would want to lock us up for that." And THAT is her biggest fear.

Milena reached quite a distance - even farther than she allowed the trees to grow around her. She could feel so far that she can't help wondering if, one day, she could learn to take her ability that far by herself. Of course, it comes with a side effect.

But, back to that in a moment.

She's to pleased with herself to feel the normal panic and unease that would come from the threat of being locked up. Perhaps, she realises, all this was worth it. There are worse things than what Humanis First did to her… As she looks around at the forest, she feels at home. Of course, maybe she's just too worn out herself to panic, but she'd like to imagine it was the former choice. It's nice to feel content for once.

But, back to that side effect. "I can't. I'm stuck to the ground." She gives her hands a tug, but she's not going anywhere at the moment, and she's not sure how long it's going to take to extract her fingers from the ground. It doesn't feel very good knowing that there are people who would put them back in prison fo doing this. Milena got to serve her time, and that was before Humanis First got to her. It was unpleasant.

She swears quietly under her breath. "Don't leave me, okay?"

"We'll go in a minute, I'll protect you both. I'm the eccentric inventor, remember? I prepared for this, if anyone comes." Warren leans down, one hand on Gillian's shoulder before he tries to pull her arm over his for support. He stays crouched, next to Milena as well, nodding quickly. "Don't worry, Milena, I'm not leaving you here. Don't panic, just ease yourself out."

"Would giving you more energy help you extract faster?" Gillian asks, curious, but not quite promising to stay behind. At least, not unless Warren is as prepared as he says he is. She's not the fighter type. Not at all. Some energy slides through the air toward the other woman, what she'd held back, so that the woman might be able to extract herself more quickly— but such a thing may actually make it more difficult.

She'll respond to any cues given.

"So what, does your car turn into a robot or something?" It's something to ask, after all. He is the eccentric inventor.

"I think I just… I don't know, it's… like a reach. Energy, or… something." She doesn't physically touch all the trees, of course, but on some level, she is attached to them. It takes her a while to metaphorically disentangle herself from what she's created, and given how tired she is now, it's harder than usual. Still, Gillian's aid makes it easier, and it's not long before she eases her hands away from the ground.

Pushing herself to her feet is also difficult, as it kind of feels like someone attached lead weights to her. Deliberately reaching out to Warren, she steadies herself on his arm, while looking up at the newly-revived forest. It's amazing. It's beautiful. She can't believe that just three people were able to make this happen. "Whoa," is her response to it all.

"It's everything I've been telling you, Milena." Warren tries to help them both up, letting Milena use him as a prop, and wrapping an arm around Gillian to get her up on to her feet. "We can make a difference, a big difference. I wanted to prove that to you, this is you, you've left your footprint on the world forever. This is you, too, Gillian, you can bring out a person's full potential, show them everything that they can be. And no, my car doesn't turn into a robot, yet. But we should be getting to it."

"I'm glad to be able to use my ability for some good, again," Gillian says, leaving out all the past bad that her ability had been used for, and grateful for the good in the past. It hasn't seemed nearly as much as the bad. There's weakness in her voice, and she leans against Warren's side when she gets to her feet. "We did good," she says, closing her eyes as she rests her forehead against Warren's shoulder, trusting him to lead the way to the car.

"Next time, let's get dinner and talk first, though. I know you don't want to tell me about yourself, so maybe I can tell you about me— it's called friendship, and we can be friends as well as miracle workers." Especially if they plan to do this again.


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