Participants:
| Scene Title | Vigilante Drummers |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | A student and a teacher meet for the first time since a revelation of time travel. |
| Date | June 9, 2011 |
A comfortable place, located in the basement of 14 East 4th Street. The red brick walls are covered with memorabilia from various icons of rock and places in rock history, creating a feel similar to that of a Hard Rock Cafe.
The left wall has two bars separated by swinging doors which lead to and from the kitchen. Directly across from the entrance is a two foot high stage with all the equipment needed for acts to perform there. The right wall has three doors marked as restrooms: two for use by women and one by men.
Thirty square feet of open space for dancing and standing room is kept between the stage and the comfortable seating placed around tables which fill the remainder of the Cellar.
The lighting here is often kept dim for purposes of ambience, and when performers are onstage the place is loud enough to make conversation difficult. Just inside the door is a podium where location staff check IDs and stamp the hands of those under twenty-one with a substance visible under UV lights at the two bars and by devices the servers carry. On the podium's front is a sign with big black letters that just about explain it all: If You Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll, You're Too Late Now!
It's been a little while since the last practice session, particularly since she had that whole burn situation to get through. But, now that she's better, the time has come!
Monica strolls through from the back entrance, not super keen on using the front these days, dressed in jeans and her ever present hoodie that her hands are tucked into at the moment. She's not entirely sure Adel is actually here right now, but it's her best bet without grilling ehr future son about where his girlfriend is staying. Needless to say, she didn't go that route, so she's prepared for a wait as she steps over to take a seat on the stage.
And wait she has to. Even when Adel Starkey, as she still prefers to be called, knows she has an appointment, she is usually quite a bit late. There's many reasons why, but the most likely one is— she just tends to get distracted. So much going on in the big city.
A while later, the doors open and she steps through with earbuds in her ears and a bounce to her step. It takes her a few bobs of her head and steps into the cellar before she notices the woman perched on the stage.
Hand pulls on the earbud wires and they fall out as she waves her free hand toward the woman. "Hi!" Always excited, this girl, as she hurries over to stand in front of her. "Have you been practicing any?"
"Hey," Monica says with a smile as she sits up again and slides off the stage to greet Adel with a warm hug. But the question gets her looking a little sheepish. "Only some, when I could manage. But! I didn't forget anything, I swear." She steps back again, and there's just a bit of an odd look about her this time. Now that she knows about JJ and about Adel and JJ, there's just a bit of approval in his taste. "You free today?"
"I'm surprised it took you this long to come see me again. There's so much left for you to learn!" Adel says with that friendly cheerful smile that touches her eyes and bounces her step. After those words she takes the time to turn off her iPod and tuck the earbuds away so she's not wasting her battery or risking losing her earbuds. "I'm plenty free today," she adds after she's done that. "You here to invite me to dinner or something? Jay told me the two of you talked."
"I know, I was slacking off," Monica says with a laugh. It's not entirely true, of course. There was only a little slacking off! "Oh good, he told you. I like being able to avoid the whole weird… conversation." Time travel, it's still weird. "It's one of the reasons. I mean, I came for the company, and for the lessons and to let you know that I know, although you already know that I know, so that part's a little moot. But yeah, dinner. We'll have to see when he's free, but I'd like us all to get together. His dad, too, even, if we can all swing it."
"That'll be great. I always liked hanging out with you guys— older version yous at least," Adel says with a smile, letting the awkward conversation fall away. "That's why I approached you— I was actually trying to set it up so you and Jay could meet up, keep an eye on you for him, that sorta thing. Before we got the go ahead to tell the truth, at least." And once that happened her manuevering had been rather… not needed! "You handling all that okay? I mean I imagine it's totally weird. Meeting your kid and all." At least she's keeping her voice down, despite the excitment.
"I'm glad you did. I hear we were pretty okay, as far as parents go, which is pretty heartening." Monica gets a crooked smile as she goes on, though, a bit of amusement there. "I suppose I do need a bit of looking after," she admits, spreading her hands a little helplessly. "I'm… I mean, it's pretty weird, don't get me wrong, and it took some time to swallow, but… I'm handling it okay. I'm glad I've gotten to meet him. And you, too." There's just a little pause before something occurs to her there, and she tilts her head a bit curiously. "Am I allowed to ask if your parents are around? And who… they are, I know you guys aren't really supposed to be sharing too much…" But she can't help but ask.
"I don't see why you can't ask— I actually have a bunch of moms— my dad died when I was a baby, but— you probably know him, he's certainly been on the news enough," Adel starts as she plops down on the stage to reach into her pocket and pull out that iPod. The great things about the new iPods is they do everything— and hers has a camera, which she switches through until she flips it around. "My dad is Magnes Varlane. He died when I was like… a year and a month old. This was obviously taken now." At a practice for the band, most likely.
"Bunch of moms? Must have been sort of a crazy house, huh? I, ah, I never knew my dad, either," Monica says, as she moves to sit next to her, peering a bit at the pictures. She lacks the fancy gadgets, of course, so there's more than a little curiosity. "Magnes is your dad? And he dies?" He must be more than a name on the news to her, because that seems to actually upset her. There's a little delay before she looks at the picture, which does get a little smile from her, but it's shortlived. "It must have been amazing, getting to come back and hang out with him."
"Yeah, it was— I mean I'd always heard stories about him, but stories don't really— It's not the same," Adel says, looking rather cheerful despite the bad topic. It seems like she might be trying to look more cheerful than she actually is, though. Like it's how she hides the emotions she doesn't want to show. She smiles through them. "He's pretty great, but I'm sure things have changed enough that the same things won't happen to him here. Or at least he should be able to avoid them." So she'd hope.
The pictures are flipped through, until the rest of the band is visible— and one of the groupies, a red headed girl. "That's my mom. Elaine. She wasn't really with my dad— she just wanted to have a kid and dad offered to— you know. Supply." She can't help but laugh at the idea.
She may not want to show them, and she may look ten kinds of cheerful at the moment, but Monica loops an arm around her back all the same, for a little, warm, one armed hug. "He's like… my best friend," she notes, "We've both got this costumed vigilante superhero background thing, and he kept trying to rescue me." Which is what Monica can't help but chuckle at, because really. "He didn't know about my ability at the time." But it's still funny. She does look over the other pictures, nodding a bit at the explanation. "I get it. Not a bad idea, having it be someone you know instead of a sperm bank or something."
"That and— Evolved weren't allowed to have babies without like a special permit. And she didn't want to get one. So my other mommy— is Sable," Adel says, leaning into the hug perhaps enough to show that she's grateful for it. "You had a few stories about him, sometimes— better than the ones my moms used to tell. They'd always be sure to mention the crazy ones, but I liked your stories— I wasn't sure if they came from after now or not, though." Which is why she didn't assume she knew Magnes— maybe she knew him in another point of the ten years in between. "What kind of super hero were you?"
"Really? Man, that sucks," Monica says with a shake of her head. "Can't blame her for not wanting to go through the channels. I'd be right there with her." Of course, hers was in a camp, so who knows how that was handled. "He does get a little crazy sometimes, but he's a sweetheart, under it all," she says with a bit of a chuckle. Lord knows he can get a little crazy. "Me? Oh, I was a sorta… Ninja, I guess. I was dealing with the crime down in New Orleans for a while as Saint Joan. And I ran around on roof tops in dark colors and did some crime fighting until I came up this way."
"That is so cool," Adel says with a grin, smiling widely as she looks at the ninja woman and imagines her exploits. "Besides Sable, Quinn and Ygraine also took care of me a lot. Quinn cause of the band, Ygraine cause she was the one who had the closest ability to me. Her and Colette taught me how to use my power. Cause it's pretty freaky at times. But also totally primal." Whatever that means. "I want to be a masked… vigi… uh— person. Fight crime, stop the man, that sorta thing."
"Always a good thing, having people who can help you with the abilities. I had to figure it out on my own and it's… still sometimes a bit of a challenge. What… do you do, anyway?" Monica brushes right over the cool, mostly because she's pretty modest when it comes to compliments. "Do you? You're your father's daughter after all. Did you ever think of a name?"
"Well— Colette thought it was some kind of… manipulation of the immediate world around me. Basically…" Adel reaches a hand out from her body, as far as she can. "Everything around me that I could potentially touch is within my sphere of influence. It's centered around me all the time. And when I want to I can basically… control what goes on inside it. Kind of my own personal space." She looks around and then goes back to keeping her voice down, though there's no one within range to listen.
"Nothing can get in that I don't want to, and I can… do things inside it. Like it has it's own air supply, very helpful if I get it up before negation gas is released. And um… You can throw me really fast and I don't go kersplat. Colette said it was because I cancelled inertia. I can also make it like… make it opaque so I'll just look like a giant floating ball." And at that point she realizes she must have forgotten the important part. "Oh, and I always float. There's no gravity. Colette thought it was part of dad's influence."
"That's cool," Monica says, genuinely impressed. "And other people, can they be on the inside with you and they'd be okay?" If Primal was Monica's slang, she might use it for this moment, too. "I've never seen anything like that before. And I thought I'd seen everything," she says with a grin. "So… how did you and JJ — Jay, how'd you meet? Were your moms in the Ferry, too?"
"Depends on how big they are— but yeah, as long as they fit. Ain't too comfortable though," Adel admits with a laugh, scratching at the side of her head. "If they're touching me when I put it up though I can expell them— I could even expell people who were like shadow or gas or something. But if I'm cool with them being in with me they can be. But— yeah, I've known Jay most my life. My moms were all in the Ferry. Are here too. But we didn't really— get together— til here. I mean I liked him, but…" She looks sheepish. "But we were always good friends before that."
"Are they? I've been… thinking I should get out there and join up officially. I think they could use me. And I'd be more useful there than where I am now, I think." Monica looks down at her feet there, just for a moment before she looks up again. With a smile. "Hooked up on a mission, I get it," she says, teasing just a little there. "I think you two are good. He's a good guy." Which she's a little proud of her future self for, that he turned out okay.
"You don't have to immediately. I mean I'm sure you will when you need to," Adel says, leaning against the woman next to her in kind of a shoulder bump way. The Ferry will always be there when needed, seems to be her implication. "And Jay is really great— the best guy I know really. Not that I don't love everyone who came back with us in some way— but… some loves are different than others."
Monica's smile gets warmer at the bump, and she nods with a light laugh. "Yeah, I mean, I'm not running out there this instant, but when they need people like me, I want to make sure they know I'm on board. And you're right, about the different kinds of love. And I think it's great that you have this group, close you know? Support makes all this," she says with a wave of her hand at life in general, "a lot easier to deal with."
"Really does— especially for me. I've always had people my whole life to watch over me. Many moms, quasi-aunts who helped out… I even had two quasi-siblings that my moms helped raise. I don't think I could have done this sort of thing by myself." Adel admits without sounding embarassed. She needs her people, even if she has a strong control over her immediate space in the world. "So did you want some lessons while you're here?"
"My family has always been like that, too. Real tight-knit. I can't tell you how often Nana would end up patching me up after a rough night," Monica says with a bit of a wistful smile. But, when the purpose of the meeting is brought up again, she blinks once, as if she might have forgotten, but then there's an enthusiastic nod. "Absolutely!"
"Good, because the band I'm in has a bad habit of losing drummers— and they might need you one day. I am training you to be my replacement!" Adel says, almost making it sound like a joke, except for the fact that it probably isn't. She moves away from the hold and vaults up onto the stage, to where the drum set is. "I want to make sure they have the best possible drummer that isn't me!"
Monica smiles, whether it's a joke or not, amused, "Well, then let's hope I lose my fugitive status at some point, or else I'm going to have to do some weird facepaint thing, like Kiss." She hops up onto the stage, too, this time with a laugh, as sheepish as it might sound, "I better find more time to practice, too."
"No one ever bothers to look at the drummer too closely," Adel says as if that alone is the best answer that she can give, but… She hadn't really thought that part through. "At least now they'll have a drummer when they go into hiding— to be honest you're the one who taught me. And you learned from watching videos or something. So I'm just completing the circle."
"Literal underground music. I like that." Monica can't help but laugh at that news, though, "Really? Well, looks like I did a good job. Videos tend to be how I learn, most of the time. Like, I learned the guitar from Jimi Hendrix. And a little Eric Clapton. Just, you know, without the drugs." Monica makes a bit of a show of cracking her knuckles as she scoots over to take up the drum sticks. "Don't be mad if I'm rusty," she says, her smile crooked before she takes in a deep breath and lets the lesson begin.