17956/Now begins the clean-up. Again.

Now begins the clean-up. Again.
Date of Scene:	15 May 2024
Location:	East Bushwick (Mutant Town)
Synopsis:	Talia and Ruth meet in Mutant Town and discuss the current events over a soda. Then, the real work begins. Finding a lost puppy for a little girl.
Cast of Characters:	Ruth Aldine, Talia Wagner

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Ruth Aldine has posed:
It would be great to say that the sun is shining on the City that Never Sleeps and that with the day's break, there is a little less sadness, a little less despair in the air. But, that's not the case. The sky is overcast with a solid rain on and off, and the damp wind brings something of a chill in the brick and mortar section that is locally known as 'Mutant Town'. Some shops are open, but the majority are closed for business with signs hanging on the door, 'What about us?'

There are pedestrians in the street, but not nearly half of what there had been only a scant 24 hours ago. Those that do venture out are quick to get from one place to another, looking for danger- as if they'll ever see it coming.

Police presence is doubled today, though it's not meant to be a show of force, but rather, it's for protection. The streets of the neighborhood must still be patrolled. Governed. Streets are lost, futures are lost when even police fear to enter.

One mutant isn't moving quickly from corner to corner, shop to shop, doorway to doorway in a furtive dance. Ruth Aldine is moving with purpose, her red and white cane with the white tip moving as quickly as she does in the cadence *click*click*click*click*. She wears almost the same colors daily; easier to find something to wear. She is in hues of browns, with a burst of yellow wrapped about her eyes, tied in the back and falling in with long, straight black tresses.

"There is something, please. Yes, I know it must, sorry, is it here?" Ruth pauses in her step and quirks her head as if listening before she continues on, "No, no.. up. Sorry, it was up where they, yes, thank you.."

Talia Wagner has posed:
Talia Wagner has seen plenty of destruction in her day. She was an Exile, travelling from reality to reality, trying to save what she could, to make the wrong things right. Horrible work, mostly, that ended half the time in disaster. She'd certainly seen worse than this. But this felt different, because she had made a new home here, in this world, with these mutants.

Talia's wearing some wide-legged, roomy pantaloons, along with a t-shirt for the singer Ethel Cain. She stands out, of course, being obviously different, but she's not the only one here like that.

Talia sees the blind mutant approaching and moves, not directly into her path but adjacent, at a slight diagonal. "Ruth, correct? Talia Wagner here. I think I've seen you around the school before, yes?" she says. "Were you here last night? I hear it was...quite unpleasant."

Ruth Aldine has posed:
*click*click*

The sound ceases, and as Talia approaches, there is a shift in posture for the young woman. Ruth turns slightly, acknowledging the presence, and she nods, her words softly spoken. "Yes, yes sorry. Talia. I recall you in passing, yes. You're right. Ruth, Ruth Aldine, thank you."

The question then posed sees Ruth's expression fall in the memory of it. She nods, and her face remains canted forward, down a little more. "Yes, a child, sorry. Police were puppets sorry pulled with mutated strings, no.. no. We tried and no lives were lost, yes but none saved." A softly barked laugh that has no humor within sounds, and she finishes, "You're lucky, no. Being here hurt."

Ruth straightens and looks up, making the blindfold even more obvious, "There and gone."

Talia Wagner has posed:
Talia Wagner sighs softly, "Maybe. I wish I could have helped, though. The problem with the hero business is, once you start saving people, you feel terrible every time you don't," she says.

"I'm not particularly fond of police at the best of times. You say their strings were being pulled? By who?" she asks.

She nods to a familiar mutant going by, a momentary hand on the shoulder in passing. Solidarity, mutant to mutant. The only thing that would keep them alive if the storms kept raging. Talia had seen far too many storms.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
Ruth's attention still appears to be 'up', but she easily continues to engage in conversation, even if her words are a little quieter, carried away some by the breeze. "You will, sorry." She shakes her head before finally bringing her face down, 'looking' in Talia's direction. "Please you are careful thank you. Many were saved by others no but they saw yes."

The cane is folded up and set into a back pocket before she shoves her hands into her light jacket. "Police were useful, sorry." She shakes her head, which is followed quickly with a shrugged shoulder. "Names were called, whispered, shouted, sorry, and still I don't know them. But, the group, yes thank you. Mutant Liberation Front. They stole life, please, and they stole minds."

Talia Wagner has posed:
Talia Wagner has seen various incarnations of the MLF in different realities. "I sympathize with the cause of mutant liberation, obviously. I even understand the anger and the violence. But making things worse for our own people is hardly a solution," she says.

"What do you mean they stole minds?" she asks as a follow-up. She smiles at a street vendor who pushes a cart by, raising a finger in signal, "I'm going to have a cherry soda. Would you like anything to drink, Ruth?"

Ruth Aldine has posed:
"Not like this please," Ruth whispers, "To force anger, no. To ruin more lives, sorry." She shakes her head quickly.

The thought of a soda, however, gives her a little heartening push, and she nods quickly. "Yes, please, orange soda thank you." She's got cash in her pocket, marked properly so she knows what it is she has.. and what is expected as change. "Cherry soda, yes. Good choice." Within the words is the attempted levity; she's very much aware of how she's perceived on a good day. She just can't help herself...

Which is why she doesn't have any close friends.

"They controlled minds, yes. I saw it, can see it. Made them pull the triggers sorry. It's not right, no. And then they stole beliefs. Unearned, stolen. Nothing was right, please. Nothing."

A long sigh escapes her and when the soda is drawn from the cart, Ruth pays and gathers her change. "You can ask, yes, Nightcrawler, Bishop. He helped, yes, and I helped. Paige, I lost her, yes, sorry. Monet, and Cable.. and others I have never seen before." In, of course, her mind's eye.

Talia Wagner has posed:
Talia Wagner nods softly, "They always do help, whenever they can," she says. She didn't know this version of her father particularly well - she hadn't wanted to impose, more than anything. The burden of a future child from an alternate reality, with baggage galore, might be more than he might want. Not that he'd ever say as much. She'd yet to find many realities where Kurt Wagner wasn't something close to a saint.

Okay, he was really evil in that one with Onslaught and Apocalypse teaming up. Oh, and Storm turned him into a vampire in that one reality, she'd almost had to stake him herself, that had suuuuuuuuuuuucked.

Realizing she's drifting a bit into her own memories, she centers herself again. She takes one of the sodas and offers the other to Ruth, taking a sip from her own straw before speaking again. "I'm glad to see the community out today, though. It means a lot, people helping each other out after something like this happens. That's where a community becomes a community and not just people with a place or a thing in common."

Ruth Aldine has posed:
"I wish I knew him better, sorry." A calm, quiet soul that could probably work wonders for her own turbulent, confused mind. Ruth knows and understands what's wrong, which is probably worse than living in ignorance. "They all are, yes please, so kind. I have to stay away, though."

Ruth takes a sip of her own soda, and takes the half step back to allow more traffic to come through. "I am looking for a lost dog, yes please." She almost sounds proud of the undertaking. "I am going yes to school for a law degree thank you, and to become a detective." There's a pause before she finishes, "Like Bishop." Or.. really any other detectives she couldn't name. "So, for a little girl, sorry, I am finding her puppy." A ghost of a smile rises before her head ducks a little in the asking, "Would you yes please help?"

Talia Wagner has posed:
Talia Wagner smiles, "Sure! I always wanted a dog when I was growing up, but my father said the mansion got blown up too often and it wouldn't be safe for a pet. To which I would then point out that I lived there, too," she chuckles.

"C'mon, let's go find us a pooch."