ArchivedLogs:Venting about Visitors

Venting about Visitors
Dramatis Personae Jack and Kyinha	2015-11-28 "It's hard to help fearing the unknown, but what they decide to /do/ about the fear--that's the important part." (Part of Flu Season TP.)
Location <XS> Lake
Bright, bright, bright; the lake glitters wide and expansive here, stretching off into the distance. Sunlight, moonlight, starlight, it catches them all. Lapping at the rocky shore, its deep waters are frigid in winter and cool even in summer. A stone pier stretches out a ways into the water, wide and smooth, though often icy in winter. The water teems with life nevertheless, home to myriad species of fish that provide for ample fishing or just lazy watching on a slow summer day, for those who want to take a boat from the boathouse out to the center of the lake, or perhaps lounge on the pier and try their luck. The weather is lovely and mild, maybe even warm, if the sun catches you in a lull between the breezes. A few brown leaves rustle on otherwise bare branches but most have fallen to form huge drifts up against the bases of trees or banks of underbrush. Out on the lake the sunshine glimmers from the rippling waters, which change into a lazily spreading V in the wake of Kyinha's canoe as he brings it up alongside a pier. He hops out before the boat has quite come to a stop, barefeet as sure on water as on land. He wears no shirt, only a pair of quick-dry cargo shorts with a long, a long knife with elaboratedly carved hilt and colorful painted scabbard strapped to his belt. His skin is deep, deep black, but there's a faint halo around his whole body. Jack didn't expect to see anyone out on the lake when he came down this way. Even with all the new people making a mess and spreading stress, he thought even the mild weather would keep people away from the lake. Dressed in some plain black workout pants, a lightweight red hoodie he's only got half zipped up, and carrying his backpack, he looks like just floating clothes. He shifts his bag to his other shoulder and lifts an empty sleeve to wave when he spots Kyinha. He tugs his hood to make sure its still in place before speaking up. "{Hello,}" he greets in Spanish. "{Hello!}" Kyinha doesn't wave back until he has dragged the canoe out of the water. "{How goes? Come out this way to get a break from our visitors?}" His Spanish is fluent but carries an unusual combination of accents. He brings the canoe around to its rack and hoists it up into its berth. Jack watches Kyinha dragging the canoe quietly, slipping his hands into his pockets. "{It's not going well. And that was the idea...getting away from those...ungrateful jerks,}" he responds. His Spanish is fluent as well but carries a bit of a New Jersey accent. "{Were you doing the same, sir?}" "{Well...}" Kyinha holds out one hand, palm-down, wobbles it from side-to-side. He may not sign all that well, but 'sorta-kinda' needs little translation. "{Beautiful day like this, I would want to be out on the water anyway. But I can't say I didn't have /extra/ encouragement!}" He sits down on the pier, dangling one leg over into the water. "{If you need to vent, I'll listen. Guessing they've been more than just ungrateful at you.}" Walking over to the pier as well, Jack looks over the water for a few moments. "{I thought the lake would be too cold even if its weirdly warm today,}" he admits. There's a long pause after Kyinha offers to listen, Jack eventually nodding. "{Yeah. A couple have been running scared whenever they see me...think I'm a ghost,}" he gives a faintly amused snort at that. "{Few others just been...one tried to steal my breakfast saying empty clothes didn't need to eat. Others making all the usual stupid comments, acting like they own the place, one woman was even saying they should try throwing us all out because she thinks it would keep the zombies away.}" "{The water? Very cold, yes. Doesn't bother me much.}" Kyinha huffs a sharp breath, maybe almost a laugh. "{They are afraid. There's a lot to be afraid /of/, but...}" Shakes his head. "{Been a lot of people pushing and shoving over the food, with the rationing. I didn't have much luck fishing while I was out. May do some more later...}" He turns and looks directly at Jack now, eyes blazing like fire. "{Talk like that...is just talk, I'm sure, but we need to be careful. If more of them start saying it like they take it seriously? We might have problems.}" "{It doesn't?}" Jack's curious about that. Of course the mention of people being afraid makes Jack shake his head. "{Should be more afraid of the things trying to eat them than the people that actually let them in. Bet the second any of them sees a zombie, they'll run and hide behind the nearest person with powers...}" he trails off. "{The way some of these people act its like they think anything less than a full three course meal is starving them,}" he clearly doesn't think much of them. He looks down at Kyinha and meets his eyes despite his own not being visible. "{I've been worried about it since I first heard they got let in. Hopefully its just talk...}" Kyinha grins, the expression sharp and backlit with the fiery glow inside him. Water starts boiling around the foot he has dangled over the pier into the lake. It stop a moment later. "{As long as my fire's still burning, I don't get cold. But that?}" He gestures at his foot, where steam still rises from the water. "{That's probably terrifying to people who've never seen it. Was to my own family, and they /knew/ me. It's hard to help fearing the unknown, but what they decide to /do/ about the fear--that's the important part.}" He braces his hands against the pier and leans back, turning his face toward the sun. "{But push comes to shove, I think a lot of these people will ultimately choose to fight alongside us and not against us. For survival, if nothing else.}" Looking down at the water when he hears the bubbling, Jack lets out a little surprised and impressed noise. "{Wow, that's got to be useful,}" he says. "{Really cool,}" Jack adds a little more quietly. He's quiet for a few moments as he thinks over what Kyinha says, shoulders eventually slumping a little. "{You're right...just...more used to the people that aren't mutants throwing us under the bus or doing the wrong thing with that fear,}" he says. "{And with everything I've been researching and all people still sick, just...}" he trails off, shaking his head and gesturing with an empty sleeve. "{Sorry.}" "{Oh, yes, most people do not react so well to fear.}" Kyinha's eyes narrow, then finally close. The color of his skin is such that his eyes are nearly invisible when shut--only faint lines of orange light, an eerie effect. "{We have plenty of reason to be angry, and to expect the worst of them. I'm just hoping they will at least be /smart/ bigots. They've already survivored a lot, and hopefully that means they've learned coorperating will get them further than...}" He smiles ruefully. "{...than throwing people under the bus, yes? What have you been researching?}" Jack's decided he likes the effect even if it is a little eerie. He watches the older mutant for a few moments before turning his attention to the lake water. "{I hope they smarten up too. Otherwise they'll just end up making it all worse...}" he trails off. When asked about his research, Jack lets out a breath. "{Where and how this whole...zombie mess started. Wanted to see if I could maybe help narrow down where a patient zero or whatever would be. Just...wanted to do something besides sit around and wait.}" Kyinha opens his eyes again, glances sideways at Jack. "{That's...no small task. But it's the information age, no? Lots of it out there if you have the will and the know-how.}" He smiles again. "{You let us know if you're onto something, yeah?}" Jack shifts a little on the spot, looking down. "{I think I did find something,}" he says quietly. "{I mean its nothing concrete...but...I found out the neighborhoods where it started. And that when people started getting sick...the vast majority of them were mutants. And...I may just be stressed and crazy but I got the nasty feeling that someone might have done this all on purpose. Spread the whole...sickness and maybe even did something to it to make it harder to cure, I mean,}" he says seriously. "{I emailed Professor Holland and my advisor about it earlier...probably should send it to the rest of the teachers too. Just got distracted and thought I'd get brushed off...sorry,}" he sighs, rubbing the back of his neck...a hand shaped imprint showing up in the back of is hood where his neck is. Kyinha's eyes grow even wider. "{On purpose! Using the sickness as a biological weapon?}" He frowns, and as he does so the fiery aura around him grows more visible, even in the sunlight. He blinks a few times and it settles down again. "{There are other reasons mutants might have been disproportionately affected first--poor or no access to health care, things like that. But still, it probably should get looked into.}" He sits up straight now, pulls his foot out of the water. "{Everyone's had a lot to deal with, sure, but we'll look into it. At the very least I'll let Hank know, if it's possible that this illness targets mutants, whether it was tweaked to do so or not.}" Glancing over at his fishing gear, he sighs wistfully. "{Maybe I'll get in some more fishing tomorrow. Bright and early.}" Then, with a fierce, fiery grin as he rises, "{You? Keep up the good work, yes?}" Jack tenses at the reaction, tugging his hood slightly as Kyinha gets brighter. "{I know, I was thinking about that too but...just seeing that so many mutants got sick and how it was concentrated...and how even there people did get treatment and it didn't work...I'm hoping it's just a bad feeling and I'm wrong,}" he says. The empty hood nods though. "{Thanks, sir,}" he chimes. The grin gets an unseen one on Jack's face as well. "{I'll do my best. And good luck with the fishing.}"