ArchivedLogs:Not Super Okay

Not Super Okay
Dramatis Personae Husk, Marinov, Nic, Paige	2017-06-07 "Hey, um, are y’all ok?"
Location <NYC> Evolve Cafe - Lower East Side
Spacious and open, this coffeeshop has a somewhat industrial feel to it, grey resin floors below and exposed-beam ceilings that have been painted up in a dancing swirl of abstract whorls and starbursts, a riot of colour splashed against a white background. The walls alternate between brick and cheerfully lime-green painted wood that extends to the paneling beneath the brushed-steel countertops. There's an abundance of light, though rather than windows (which are scarce) it comes from plentiful hanging steel lamps. The walls here are home to artwork available for sale; though the roster of prints and paintings and drawings and photographs changes on a regular basis it has one thing in common -- all the artists displayed are mutants. The seating spaced around the room is spread out enough to keep the room from feeling cluttered. Black chairs, square black tables that mostly seat two or four though they're frequently pushed around and rearranged to make space for larger parties. In the back corner of the room is more comfortable seating, a few large black-corduroy sofas and armchairs with wide tables between them. There's a shelf of card and board games back here available for customers to sit and play. The chalkboard menus hanging behind the counter change frequently, always home to a wide variety of drinks (with an impressive roster of fair-trade coffees and teas largely featured) though their sandwiches and wraps and soups and snacks of the day change often. An often-changing variety of baked goods sit behind the display case at the counter halfway back in the room, and the opposite side of the counter holds a small selection of homemade ice creams. A pair of single-user bathrooms flanks the stairway in back of the cafe; at night, the thump of music can be heard from above, coming from the adjoining nightclub of the same name that sits up the stairs above the coffeehouse. Marinov arrives back at Evolve cafe first, having taken a rushed pace to get away from the scene of their loitering, though not so rushed that they leave Paige behind. Their arm is draped around Paige's shoulder to try and lead her inside, away from the place that the incident happened. "Here, we're at Evolve, we're among friends here, yeah? Community... come on, we'll find a seat..." The horned mutant nods silently along with her companion's words, keeping her head down as they enter the establishment. Her ears are pressed down and the her face is a dark red. Marinov's assistance appears to steady Paige's gait as her body gently shakes. "Yeah..." she murmurs after a number of seconds, seeming to be paying little attention to the world around them. Were one to catch sight of her countenance, they would certainly notice the deep frown etched roughly into it. She is easy to lead, though she doesn't offer any help in finding a seat. Nic slips in with the others looking around the cafe his eyes simply passing over everything without focusing “Y-yeah yeah, a safe spot…” he looks shaky, but after a moment manages to get his eyes to focus on the task at hand “Oh, over here, this one looks free” the teen slowly moves over to the table he pointed out and pulls out chairs for Paige and Marinov. Husk hits stop on her camera app and quickly uploads the video to the cloud, then stumbles inside after the trio of teens. She sees them huddled near a table and approaches hesitantly. “Hey, um, are y’all ok?” Marinov first guides Paige to the chair that was pulled out for her, and then takes the seat next to her, slumping down. They stay silent for a few moments, brushing their fingers over their leg until Husk approaches. “Hey. Um. Not super okay, but okay enough I guess. Didn't get shot, so that was a positive…” They squint a bit and then add, “You took a video, yeah? Fucking cops.” Paige essentially collapses into the seat Marinov guides her to, while casting a brief, albeit longing, gaze towards the couches. Her posture is slumped, her hooves rest on the chair's crossbar, and the fingers of one hand pick anxiously at the skin of another. At the stranger's questions, her ears momentarily flick up but soon return to their downward-pressing position. Jaw working silently, she brings her arms around her chest as waits for her friend to finish speaking. The young woman's response comes out as a quiet, "No." Nic after pulling out the chairs sits himself down as well he puts his hands on the table palms flat against the surface, it feels like they might be shaking, but his focus is too scattered to tell. He jumps slightly as Husk speaks up “Ah… well yeah I’d say been better.” He looks towards Marinov as they speak then back to Husk “A video? I didn’t even notice… but yeah fucking cops… those guys barely had control over themselves and those robot things were just running amok.” His attention turns to Paige at her answer “Do you… need to lay down or something? I could help you to the couch.” “Yeah, I have the video saved… let me know if you want a copy. I wouldn’t even know who to send it to, though. I mean, those things WERE the police.” Husk hesitates, then continues, “Please let me know if there’s anything I can do. My name’s Husk. Well, it’s Paige, but everybody calls me Husk.” "Husk, huh? I'm Marinov. Taylor Marinov... Yeah. If you could send me a copy, that'd be great," says the felinoid teen, patting Paige's shoulder comfortingly. "I don't know what to do about this bullshit either. Fuck. I want to just take a bat and fucking smash these things 'til they're scrap!" They narrow their eyes. "Y'ever get the feeling that you're living in a police state?" Perhaps she missed the word the first time or perhaps she didn't care, but Paige's ears twitch briefly upwards at Nic's mention of a video. When the teenage boy addresses her personally, she spares a glance to him, then to the couches over her shoulder, distress still heavily evident on her face. As she ponders lying on the couch, her ears properly switch to an upwards position when Husk introduces herself. She turns her attention to the other girl and is about to say something when Marinov speaks up first. There's a brief tensing (and an ear twitch) under their patting before her body relaxes. "I’m -- my name is Paige, too," the goat girl manages to inform the newcomer. "I just -- I thought those things were supposed to keep us safe. I just ..." Arms still crossed, her hands squeeze her upper arms gently. Biting her lower lip, she continues to look as though she might start crying at any moment. “Oh uhh right, names… Mine’s Nic, well Nicodemus, but most folks just use Nic.” The boy says then tugs out the empty chair next to him with a gesture for Husk to sit “If you wanna.” He raises his eyebrows at Marinov as they talk about wanting to smash with baseball bats “I get the feeling Marinov… but those things are off their rockers I don’t want to see them taking off after you like they did that poor lady.” Nic slowly shakes his head when Marinov comments about police states “Well no… not me anyway. You guys have to deal with this kind of shit all the time? … I- I don’t even have words.” The teen looks towards Paige very sympathetically “You would think so… but it didn’t look to me like protecting anything was on their minds either the police or their robots.” Husk nods at Marinov as she sits down in the seat Nic indicated. “Just give me your email or whatever and I’ll link you.” She smiles weakly at Paige’s name. She responds to Nic with “Is this how it always is in New York? I just moved here. From Kentucky. And…” she lowers her voice, “I’m a mutant too. But I’m not supposed to tell anyone.” "Well..." starts Marinov in response to Nic, "I mean, the robots are new, but otherwise... yeah, it's not like it's the first time I've been stopped for bullshit. Or even loitering. Or nothing?" They glance towards Paige and their jaw tenses slightly, "I don't mean to upset you more but... they aren't going to do anything to make /us/ safe. They aren't looking out for /us/. We've gotta look out for each other." They brush their hand up over their own forehead and look to Husk, bringing up the contact information on their phone and showing it to her. "It's not a New York thing. I think it's just a... fucked up world thing." "Her name," explains Paige, "That lady - her name is Anette. She's a ... she's a friend." There's a moment's hesitation and the goat girl squeezes her arm before continuing. "She does ... -things-." Her facial expression is still contorted into a very sad frown as she looks towards Marinov and her hands fidget and pick at each other. "I'm just -- I forget. That I'm not -- that they're not -- I thought they were..." she stammers out, not sounding all that coherent right now. She sniffs harshly while her eyes start to water. To Husk: "I -apologize-." The word is spat out, maybe a result of the earlier encounter with the police or conflicting emotions. "I would say it's nice to meet you, but ... " Trailing off, the horned mutant gestures in the direction of the windows. "If you're asking if we have -robots- and cops everyday trying to kill us, New York isn't always like this, no. Usually it's only the cops that give us trouble." Throughout this, Paige’s voice has been somewhat higher-pitched than usual and unsteady. Nic’s face scrunches in disgust as Marinov explains their experiences with police. “Unbelievable the ones that are supposed to protect you… they should be sticking up for you, not harassing you even worse than everyone else…” The boy’s eyes shift over to Husk and he shrugs his shoulders “Well I haven’t really had much contact with police here, I came from California at the start of the semester… cops pretty well leave me alone, but that doesn’t make me feel any better about this… nice, good people like Marinov and Paige putting up with this treatment… makes me physically ill.” He looks to Paige and nods slowly “And your friend… Annette, she seemed alright, more worried about us than herself… I hope she’s alright.” When Husk mention that she’s not supposed to give away that she’s a mutant Nicodemus says “You shouldn’t have to hide it… being a mutant is just being a person, the way us humans treat you…” The teen trails off upset and powerless he doesn’t know how to even try to finish. Husk’s eyes widen when Marinov mentions taking care of each other, then she nods slightly, looking thoughtful. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, and I really hope your friend is ok.” She glances down at her phone and then says “Hey, I have to run, but could I text you sometime?” The question is addressed to Marinov, but she turns to indicate the other two as well. “I don’t know very many people around here and no other… other mutants.” "Yeah, text me," says Marinov, miming the action of pressing buttons with their thumb, "Find me on social media." They glance back over towards Paige and Nic. The teen's arms cross tightly over their chest. "Yeah. I've met Anette a few times. I just... fuck. I hope she's okay and they haven't..." Marinov's posture becomes even tighter and the fur on the back of their neck stands on end. "Fuck! And if they did kill her, or one of us, they'd probably get a slap on the wrist at the worst, but probably get a fucking medal!" More coldly, more quietly, "I hate them." Paige does not seem to be in a speaking mood as Husk seeks to exchange contact information, staring sullenly at the table. She does give a gesture - a rolling of the wrist between Marinov and Husk. However, the felinoid's comments appear to incite a sudden wave anger within the horned mutant. "Shit, no. -Fuck-! She's gotta be alive; we would've heard ambulances and shit by now. -Fuck-, though! They were firing real bullets at her! What the shit! Shit! They're such fucking scum - we didn't even do anything wrong! Shit, those fucking robots. This is what she was talking about -- fuck. What were they even going to do with us? Nic isn't even a mutant. -/Fuck/-!" This closing expletive is shouted, loudly. "Shit. Fuck. Goddamnit." Tears are wetting her cheeks as her head drops and she the sides of her head with the palms of her hands. "Fuck." Now she's begun crying in earnest, her face a deep red. "I don't -- I don't want to be a mutant. I just want to go -- I really just want to go home. I want to see my parents. I don't want to be such a fucking -freak-!" The young woman's voice is somewhat choked and broken. "I just want to go home." "Well I'm not a mutant, but you're welcome to text me." Nicodemus says offering his contact info as well. "Sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances... I wish circumstances were better in general." The boy falls silent as Marinov talks about the possibility of Anette having been killed "I... I just can't believe they treat other people like that. Nic waits through Paige's outburst not knowing what to say, or how to possibly comfort the horned girl. When she breaks down into tears all he can think to do is offer her a hug, it's not much but maybe it'll be at least a small comfort. He shifts over and offers his arms to her.