Participants:
| Scene Title | The Responsible Ones |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | While patrolling the park Officer Trask is approached by a homeless boy, after a brief talk about current events, the boy asks the Officer to help him turn himself into Homeland Security. |
| Date | September 5, 2008 |
Central Park has been, and remains, a key attraction in New York City, both for tourists and local residents. Though slightly smaller, approximately 100 acres at its southern end scarred by and still recovering from the explosion, the vast northern regions of the park remain intact.
An array of paths and tracks wind their way through stands of trees and swathes of grass, frequented by joggers, bikers, dog-walkers, and horsemen alike. Flowerbeds, tended gardens, and sheltered conservatories provide a wide array of colorful plants; the sheer size of the park, along with a designated wildlife sanctuary add a wide variety of fauna to the park's visitor list. Several ponds and lakes, as well as the massive Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, break up the expanses of green and growing things. There are roads, for those who prefer to drive through; numerous playgrounds for children dot the landscape.
Many are the people who come to the Park - painters, birdwatchers, musicians, and rock climbers. Others come for the shows; the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Delacorte Theater, the annual outdoor concert of the New York Philharmonic on the Great Lawn, the summer performances of the Metropolitan Opera, and many other smaller performing groups besides. They come to ice-skate on the rink, to ride on the Central Park Carousel, to view the many, many statues scattered about the park.
Some of the southern end of the park remains buried beneath rubble. Some of it still looks worn and torn, struggling to come back from the edge of destruction despite everything the crews of landscapers can do. The Wollman Rink has not been rebuilt; the Central Park Wildlife Center remains very much a work in progress, but is not wholly a loss. Someday, this portion of Central Park just might be restored fully to its prior state.
Trask is out for an early morning in the park. There are some early Autumn clouds rolling in, and its a cool day, though not cold. You can tell more then anything now that Winter is truly coming. Officer Trask is on park patrol, whistling to himself and walking a slow beat around the park.
Caim is slowly walking through the park, his facing showing signs of fatigue, yet he still has a slight smile. He is holding his tattered coat in his arms as he walks through the park, not showing any sighs of actually heading anywhere in particular. He looks up at the patrol man and instantly things bad of the situation that might be coming. "Oh, I hope he doesn't act like the other cops I have met in my past," he thought to himself as he continued to meander through the park.
Trask comes to a bench, and takes a seat, resting his feet, he still keeps his eyes open scanning around the area.
Caim watches the cop and smiles realizing that he isn't here to cause him any trouble. " Well I guess today is a good day. " He mutters to himself and then finds an area in the park that isn't crowded, which just so happens to be near the Trask. He then starts to move through some basic defensive moves that Randal has taught him, trying to refine his ability to defend himself.
Trask eyes the homeless man trying out self defense moves and shakes his head, chuckling to himself a little. He continues scanning the rest of the crowd for anything of note.
Caim continues to work through a few more moves and then looks around a little and spies a few things that he is able to forage for some food, some protean filled insects and such, again all this is just training for him in his mind. "I am really glad that he taught me this stuff, though they don't always taste good," he muttered to himself.
Trask frowns a little seeing the homeless man grab a couple of beetles and suck on them, he shakes his head and rises, walking toward where the man is.
Caim notices the man the second he stands up, and Caim does the same. "Ok… I'll move along officer."
Trask takes out a card from his pocket. It's the address of a local homeless shelter, and on the back is a map of how to get there, "Hey son, there is no need to be eating bugs off the ground. They'll give you a hot meal here, if you're that hungry."
Caim blinked a little in disbelief. "I live with a group of homeless people, all I am doing is practice." He reaches out for the card either way. "If you are ok with that I will still take the card."
Trask lets the card go, after all he only has them to hand out to people like Caim after all, "Practicing? For what? When cockroaches are the only thing to survive the next nuclear blast and are our only food source?
Caim laughed a little, right before the painful memories of the blast came rushing back into his head. "Well, my friend Randal says you can never be to prepared, besides before I met him I could have really used the stuff he has taught me." He looked down at the card for a moment and then slipped it into the pocket of his coat, that was laying next to him.
Trask smiles and shakes his head, "Hey kid, they have a lot of good programs now, if you really need a hand up, they will get you taken care of. I know things have been tough the last couple years, it has been for all of us."
Caim nodded. "Yeah, it really hurts when you fall from what you think is a high place, though. Oh thank… you. " The thank you seemed to be forced, like it had been a long time since he had to use those words.
Trask nods and smiles again, before turning and continuing on his patrol beat.
Caim waited a few moments and then grabbed his coat and stood up and started to follow the man, the cop made him feel like a normal person, and not someone on the lowest end of the pole.
Trask walks for a bit, before realizing he is being followed, he turns and smiles, "Something wrong?
Caim shook his head. "No, actually… I feel… nice when I am around you. I feel like a person again. Do you mind if I walk with you?"
Trask shakes his head, "No, it's a free country, you can walk wherever you want."
Caim smiled and caught up with Trask and walked beside him. "So, what are you doing here anyways? They don't have you out on patrol or anything, or is this your patrol?"
Trask says, "I pulled the park today. I'm supposed to walk around and stop purse snatchers, make sure everyone is safe, that sort of thing."
Caim smiled brightly, under the filth that he hasn't been able to was off with water. "That sounds like it could be fun, in the aspect that you are doing a great community service, even thought it is your job."
Trask says, "My whole job is community service when it comes down to it, Serve and Protect and all that."
Caim chuckled slightly. "Yes, that is true. One day I would like to be a cop, or something that helps the community, I want to follow in my parents footsteps,partially at least. We used to always volunteer." He smiled brightly as he remembered them.
Trask says, "Well, first step toward that is you need a GED, I know that the people at that shelter can help with that. They will get you some tutoring and even help you register for the test."
Caim smirked. " Oh, I wouldn't need any tutoring, I may not look it but I am rather educated. My parents wouldn't let me be any other way. Oh… so can I ask you something. " He brought his voice to a whisper. " Did we ever find out who bombed us? "
Trask pauses, stopping in his tracks and frowns a few seconds, then after thinking about it he says, "I understand it was a very bad man, who apparently died in the blast. According to the news his name was Sylar. He was a mass murderer wanted by the FBI. They say he had super powers like in a comic book."
Caim frowned for a moment and then smiled. "Good, that dirty bantered got what he deserved then, killing so many." He paused as what Trask said finally sunk in. " You mean… people actually have powers? That's crazy. It would be cool to have powers. " His eyes drifted for a moment and then shot back to Trask.
Trask nods, "Several people have come forward all ready. A man named Daniel Linderman, who is a very respected man in politics, he admitted to his own ability to heal people. Showed it on TV actually. They passed a law now, that people with powers have to register. So their powers can be made public, and so that they can't use them to harm others."
Caim shook his head. "Why would people want to hurt others. " His voice became raspy and he then cleared his throat. " So do you know anyone with powers, personally I mean."
Trask nods, "I do, both good people and bad people. You meet a lot of people in my job. Having powers doesn't change who you are, there are people who will abuse their natural abilities even if its only the ability to walk a tight rope. There are always people who like to hurt others to make themselves feel better."
Caim nodded and looked up at Trask. " So… they don't hurt people with powers do they? I mean if they are good that is. Because I know someone, but they are scarred of being turned into some kind of experiment or something."
Trask shakes his head, "No, the people who Register, they typically are the responsible ones. They go in for some questioning, they have their powers evaluated,and then they are allowed to return to normal lives. They have to check in every so often, to prove they aren't out electrocuting people for fun and profit, but…" he shrugs, "A lot of it depends on what their powers can do."
Caim softly let out a sigh of relief. "Well… then I guess I need to come with you," he said, his voice a little shaky.
Trask blinks. "Why do you need to do that?"
Caim looks at the ground for a moment and then back up to Trask. "Because, I want to be one of the responsible ones."
Trask frowns and thinks about it for a few moments, then nods. "What can you do?"
Caim speaks softly, "I heal people, but get hurt in the process."
Trask takes Caim down town, where he gets the paperwork filed. He then takes him by one of the Shelters to get him enrolled in the GED program.
Caim follows Trask the whole way, happy that he isn't being treated like a criminal. He is looking around with a lot of intrigue the whole time, filing the papers to the best of his ability and then stands with Trask at the shelter. "So, this is the place?"
Trask nods. "Yeah. They will give you a hot meal, and help you get set up on the GED, I know you had a good education, but I'm figuring you haven't been to school in the last 2 years? And never graduated?"
Caim lowers his head. "I haven't been in school since my uncle dropped me off at the orphanage. I was fourteen at the time." He sighed with shame, but knew it wasn't his fault.
Trask nods. "So you might need some tutoring after all? There is a lot of things in that 4 years you missed."
Caim sighed. "I hope not. My parents tried to keep me ahead of the rest of the class."
Trask says, "What did they do?"
Caim spoke slowly. "Well they would sit down with me every night when we were all finally home together and go over reading books like Moby Dick, and things of that nature, I learned algebra, they went over biology and things of that nature as well. They said they wouldn't let me be ignorant, and then I started to ask them to teach me more once I started to get into it."
Trask smiles. "I meant what did they do for a living?" He nods. "Sounds like you at least got some of the basic fundamentals.
Caim blushed from embarrassment and then spoke. "Oh, they were computer programmers for Microsoft. That's where they were when he happened." His forehead furrowed and his lips frowned.
Trask nods. "My Mom was a housekeeper, she was downtown working when it happened."
Caim looked at Trask. " I am sorry to hear that Trask, it appears we have more then one similarity. "
Trask nods. "Everyone has lost someone…have you been to the Memorial?
Caim blinked several times in disbelief. "They have a memorial? "
Trask says, "Yes out in the Cemetery, there is a large grave marker dedicated to everyone who died. There are too many to list them all on it."
Caim nodded. "I must go and see it soon. I would not feel right if I didn't. I need to find flowers. " He looks around real quick to see if he sees any around.
Trask smiles a bit. "I think they would like that."
Caim falls deep into thought for a moment and his eyes start to water. "The greatest thing I could have done though… is save them. " His voice started to quake halfway through that statement.
Trask puts his hand on Caim's shoulder. "You couldn't do anything to save them. No one could."
Caim sighed. "Yes, I know. But it is… rather depressing, now that I have thought about it. I, gaining the power to heal, and yet I couldn't do anything." He sighed. "I will just have to keep it from happening anymore." He said with a firmness to his voice.
Trask says, "You can't save the world, especially not one person at a time. Keep things in perspective and don't let yourself get overwhelmed."
Caim shook his head. "That is the only way to save the world, is one person at a time. For when you save one person, it inspires them to save another."
The police officer says, "Depends on the person you save… Sometimes god has his own plans, sometimes the man you saved was meant to die, for the greater good. You never know what the future brings."
Caim thinks on those words for a moment. "That is true, but sometimes that person who is supposed to die for the greater good, can be saved just the same. I mean saved in more then one aspect of the word."
Trask smiles and nods. "It's a nice thought. But you can always fix the mental problems with the physical."
Caim chuckled softly. " Ooh… you got me there, Trask. " He patted Trask on the arm with a smile.
Trask nods. "Sometimes the body is easier to fix then the soul, you never know what evil lurks in the heart of men."
Caim nodded. "That is true, but you never know, all it could take is that one simple act of kindness to mind the broken heart and soul."
Trask says, "Speaking of a broken heart, I do have a friend I need to look in on. Are you going to be ok here?"
Caim watched Trask for a moment. "Well, if you wouldn't mind I would like to go with you, but I will understand if you said no. "
Trask grins. "Sorry, she wouldn't be very happy airing her dirty laundry in public.
Caim smirked. "I will keep my eyes closed. " He covers his eyes with his hands.
Trask chuckles and shakes his head, "Like I said she's a private person." He smiles, "Let me give you my number though…if you have any problems come up just give me a call."
Caim thought about it for a moment. " Well please do send my regards to your… friend." How exactly am I supposed to call you though? " Caim chuckled at his comment.
Trask says, "I guess that depends on what type of problems you have, You're a smart kid, I'm sure you'll find a way."
Caim nodded. "Of course. I guess this is goodbye for now then?"
Trask nods, "See you around kid."
Caim smiled and reached his hand out to Trask.
Trask shakes his hand, and smiles.
Caim gives Trask a firm grip and smiles back.
 September 4th: It's a Technical Question |
 September 5th: Conflicting Convergence |