15920/Delivery Down to a Tea

Delivery Down to a Tea
Date of Scene:	23 September 2023
Location:	Apartment 3A (Phoebe's Apartment)
Synopsis:	A tea delivery to the wrong Stately Wayne dwelling goes right when Josh Foley makes aquaintence of fellow healer, Phoebe Beacon
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Joshua Foley

---

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The label had worn off the box of tea, other than GOTHAM CITY and a partial zipcode, and the last name WAYNE.

    Now, there couldn't be a tea delivery being made all the way out in Bristol Township, at Stately Wayne Manor, right?

    Luckily, although "Wayne" is all over a lot of buildings in Gotham City, there's very few addresses with the name Wayne attached to them, one being this building.

    In fact, the Curio, under its aged exterior, his semi-circle transome and really its bit of oddness in just where it's located, there are a few name plates with a call bell next to them. Some have been worn away like SIMS and ZATA--

    Others are more worn but strange like FIRST AID and LIBRARY -- and then there's a few that are clearly last names: ALLEN, B; BEACON-WAYNE, P being notable.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Thankfully the hyperloop made travel between New York and Gotham so much easier. Josh can't fly like some, or have a jet pack.

Or even a really fast car.

But the fact is, as Joshua stepped off the train and slipped on his helmet, was the address. Wayne! He was really excited because he had heard things about stately Wayne Manor from some at the school. Rumors, not fact. That the men there are really handsome and bring home beautiful women for short visits... maybe he could catch one on the rebound.

The women, that is.

As he skated along the streets, he even forgets that here, in Gotham, where all is more gloomy like some gloom of gloom cloud overhang set on a permament sepia darkwash makes his gold-colored skin stand out all the more.

And the further he skates, the more he realizes... no this is not leading him gilded hills. There are no sports cars and crashing some posh party and jumping in a pool with all his clothes on in his future.

Instead, he arrives at the Curio. And he ohs. How anti-climatic. He turns off the Tik-Tok app on his phone, and makes sure his messenger bag is straight and he removes his helmet, an anime witch with white hair on a broomstick saying 'DELIVERY!' on it and presses the button for Beacon-Wayne and waits.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There's a soft, electronic sound, old wires coming to life as a voice responds on the other side ". . . y-yes?" and a CLICK to indicate the door opening. Must be expecting him!

    Of course, 3A is going to be on the Third Floor. There's some comfortable, overstuffed couches and a pile of old board games shoved in a corner in the lobby and a wide staircase leading upstairs. There's a sign pointing to a door that says FIRST AID KIT

Joshua Foley has posed:
Smile. Smile. Nettie told him to smile. And he does. "Delivery from the Candle, Booke and Belle!" Joshua announces when he hears the voice on the intercom. And he waits as she opens the door.

Once she does, Joshua steps inside, leaving his skateboard in the landing and starts the trudge up the various sets of stairs to the third floor. Even if the elevator worked! It's good cardio!

He glances down at the watch he wears and grins as he passes 10k steps for the day and his heartbeat is all nice and steady. Arriving at 3A, he raps his fist against the wooden door. "You ordered some..." he holds up the bag and peers at the label. "...tea?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    He didn't need to smile. She couldn't see him.

    But as he knocks, the door opens -- normal for GOtham there are two chains across it, but inside there's a woman about Josh's age. She has blue rimmed glasses on, her dark, poofy hair done in cornrows. Her lips are pursed as she lowers her gaze to the package, and then back up.

    "... I think that's supposed to go to Wayne Manor, Bristol Township. I don't order my teas from Nettie Crowe." she states, and then she narrows her gaze at Joshua.

    "Gabby didn't set this up, did she?"

Joshua Foley has posed:
Oh man. You mean he really was supposed to be at the party place?

Damn you Garbiellllaaaaaa!

"I am so putting a computer in the shop. And I'm going to make people sign off on the orders they filled." He deflates a little. But Josh has to rally somehow. "You know Gabby, I see. I didn't know she was such a prankster."

Oh but the wheels of revenge, they do start to churn.

"So, here's the deal. This stuff has to be refridgerated. And by the time I make it to the manor? It's probably have gone bad. No car, you see. So, I can give it to you to give to them, if you know them? Or... you know, is what it is."

And there goes his hopes for a tip.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "... I live there part time. I'll take it over when I go home tonight." Phoebe states, and she accepts the package, and gives a slight smile.

    "She and I are good friends." she replies to the question of if she knew Gabrielle Zelda Kinney, and she undoes her two chains.

    "If you're working out of the Candle, with Gabby and the witch, you must be part of the Jay-El-Dee, right?" she questions thoughtfully. "C'mon in. I'll get my wallet so I can give you cash for this." she states.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Those little hairs stand up on the back of his neck. This young woman knows... a lot. Who is she? You'd think that someone would have filled him in.

But then again, he didn't exactly ask either. "Gabby and I... go back a ways." Not all good, not all bad. It's a wash at the moment, leaning back to good.

"I just make deliveries and help out where I can." he offers non-commitably. It's not a lie. Not a truth. Balance beam walking yo!

When she asks him to step inside, he does so, his hands immediately folding behind his back after reaching up to tossle his hair free from being trapped beneath the skate helmet.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Two dogs immediately look up as Joshua comes in. One is red and white, ight weight, with tall ears and wiry fur. He seems aloof, cautious, his blue eyes narrowing.

    The other is a big, beefy, male pitbull. White. Dark eyes, and immediately comes over with his tail wagging, jaws hanging down and goes to sit down a respectful three feet from Josh, tail wagging so hard that his butt is moving.

    "This is Potato. He's very friendly, but also kinda deaf. I'm working with some hand signals with him." P. Beacon-Wayne explains, and she gives a small 'hmm' sound.

    She reaches into a beat up jacket and pulls out an equally beat-up billfold.

    "Gabby and I go back a ways. She's one of my best friends... even if she tried to hug a freaking *Sea lion*. Seriously. That girl." the black lady mumbles quietly, returning with a folded up hundred dollar bill and a bottle of water for Joshua.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Joshua lowers down into a squat. "Hello, Potato. Or is it Potatah?" he asks with amusement, his hand held out to let the dogs sniff and give him permission to rise. "I'm Joshua." he introduces himself to the canine before rising when Phoebe comes back over.

"Oh... oh! Hang on..." Joshua opens his messenger bag and roots around within it." Once he finds his money belt, he takes it out and starts fumbling through it and pulls out the change, straightening it out against his pants leg and then offers it to her. "Your change!" See, now he can use that smile.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Chimkin Snuggets and Smashed Potato. That's the name he came with. He was... kind of a surprise." Phoebe trails off a moment. There's a whine from the other dog in the room. "Well, Idu, if you wanted to get pets you should ask for them." she answers back to the red and white dog, who snorts, and then flops back to his bed. Jealous.

    Potato, meanwhile, sits on Josh's foot, head back, tongue out to one side.

    And Phoebe's lips form a moue, she looks to the side, and then looks back to Joshua.

    "I'm a Wayne. You... you can keep the entire thing, Joshua. This is like the *best* part about being adopted into that family."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"I mean... it's a lot." Joshua would be estatic, surely. But at the same time, he's confused. "When I was younger, my gramma, she'd send me on a run to buy her a bottle of whiskey, right? The local store knew I was buying it for her and always looked the other way."

"She always let me keep the change, right?" He reaches up and rubs at his eyes a little. "After she got sick and died? I finally figured out, all those times she sent me out for a bottle of booze and told me to keep the change? She was trying to spend a little more time with me before she was gone."

He draws in a shaky breath and draws in a breath. "Core memory unlocked, am I right?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe gets a mildly peturbed look.

    "Phoebe. Usually just Phoebe Beacon." she states in introduction. "I briefly lead the JLD. Was a founding member, actually." Phoebe states. And then her eyes narrow in momentary concern. "You're working through a lot of trauma aren't you?"

Joshua Foley has posed:
Okay, that's a name he recognizes. If only through reading of the history of the group. "Then yes. I... well, I heal what I can and help with what I can't? Though there are so many people with healing factors, well, I feel sorta useless."

When there is the mention of a past trauma, he snorts and looks down. "Typical teenager learns that his whole life is white christian nationalist bullshit, follows his best friend into a group of anti-mutant cyborgs, only to find out he's a mutant himself - and well, I can't hide the tan to save my life."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Oosh, yeah." Phoebe grimmaces "That's a hard one to shake. I mean, the golden skin looks cool? I'd be doing things like skincare product advertisements on TikTok, but I've just got perfect skin due to my own healing powers and not anything fancy like you. Damn, boy." she states, and then rubs the back of her neck. "Yeah. I have a friend who is actually allergic to magic, his words. So -- is that like an affliction, the gold skin?" she asks, and motions to the couch. Like he didn't just deliver to the wrong property and interrupted what looked to be like a guitar jam session with two dogs.

    

Joshua Foley has posed:
"I have no idea what the gold skin is..." Joshua admits as he finds himself spilling his guts to this girl, when he should be getting out because Gotham After Dark is not as good as HBO After Dark.

But instead, he takes a seat. "The skin showed up after I died... and came back to life. I always knew I could heal. I didn't know this would happen. It's like a Scarlet Letter, but I'm coming to terms with. Don't have a choice in the matter. Where I have the issue..." And without warning, he lifts his shirt and turns his back to Phoebe. There's a black blob, the size of a fist on his side. "...that happened the first time I used my powers to harm."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Huh. So your skin's reactive to your powers and usage... kinda like a live light/dark balance system on a videogame. Weird." Phoebe replies, her head tilting a moment.

    "Hey. Scarlet Letter was because she was an adultress. And Hawthrone hated women, fact." she states.

    Potato jumps up onto the couch as well, and plops next to Joshua. His tail wags and his ears flop, and the two braincells bouncing around that meatball head might strike.

    Meanwhile, the more elegant red and white sight hound hops up to Phoebe's lap, where he does indeed get scritches.

    "I'm also a healer, but mine's magical hereditary rather than a mutant power. And yeah, it gets tough when half your team heals on their own, and the other half is too stubborn to stop by for healing. But I've stopped people from sleeping under curses, dying from heavy arms fire. I even regrew the spleen of a Titan."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Yeah. Miss Nettie has me studying a lot of books to understand how injuries happen. She thinks if I can see how to fix, I can do it with just a touch. Since I can sense injury, even if someone is hiding it." Joshua explains. "No magic or anything cool like that. Just something my body does. No explanation. I think they called it Biokenesis?"

Josh laughs a little, shaking his head. "Someone even suggested that I might be able to cure diseases and maybe one day cure cancer or some shit like that."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Hey, don't knock it. I've known healers who *can*. I've been doing the whole healing thing for three years, and I'm in medical school to really get down to the 'how things fit together' part." Phoebe replies. The dog in her lap rolls over and stretches possessively.

    "Biokenesis sounds like a good name. Control over life, healing and harming both..." Phoebe considers quietly.

    "And hey, magic isn't all cool. My first magical mentor's first rule was that it's OK to throw up." Phoebe deflates slightly. "There is, unfortunately, a lot of gastric distress in my life." she exhales a moment.

    "I can cure magical diseases, and like, the flu. A cold. /I/ don't get sick."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"See, I don't think I can do that yet." Joshua admits. "I can like... imagine how a wound is supposed to heal. And heal it. I even managed to heal Miss Nettie's hand one... that one hurt. A lot." he admits.

So he has that small fear that he may not be able to heal magical injuries.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Yet is a great word. It means you're working on it." Phoebe gives a slight grin. "I can get you some class materials from my bio labs if you want them? I keep them in a binder." Phoebe jerks her thumb towards what must be the bedroom in the apartment.

    She notably doesn't comment on Nettie. There appears to be animosity.

    "My claim to fame is that I woke Wonder Woman from a cursed sleep for like, three minutes." she gives a wry smile. "I don't get out much with other groups, I guess."

Joshua Foley has posed:
Joshua has noticed this fact, so does not bring up Nettie again. When she gestures to her bedroom, he laughs. "I wouldn't mind leanring some more, I have a lot going at the moment, but if I start to get to a point where I need that guidance."

"I don't really have a claim to fame or anything like that, just a genetic freak that was given powers without earning anything and will probably always be considered as 'gaming' the system."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe's nose wrinkles. "My man, you're not a genetic freak. You're a mutant. Blue eyes? Mutation. Blonde hair? Mutation." Phoebe waves an arm as her face scrunches slightly. Potato flops against Joshua, looking for attention. He has just met Joshua, and he loves him.

    "If we are to beleive our evolutionary history as humanity, then you should look like *me*." the girl states, motioning to the fact that she's black. Cornrows. And she gives a small smile.

    "Mutations are supposed to help a population survive in tough times man, whether it's because they have too much melanin for the boggy bogs of England, or because they move closer to the Equator and need even darker skin than I have. These guys who keep on trying to lock up Mutants? They're scared. Just like they were scared of people with darker skin, or who practiced different religions. They're not shit." Phoebe explains with a small smile. "And either they learn, or they continue to waste their lives hatin'. And life's too short for that."

Joshua Foley has posed:
After making sure his shirt is pushed back down, Joshua listens to Phoebe as he uses his hand to pat Potato's side. "Yeah, that's how my parents brought me up, though." he admits quietly.

"At least until they learned what I was and couldn't be rid of me fast enough. And before you say it, I know, everyone has a story that's probably way worse than mine. I'm just coming to terms with it all. And that takes some work."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Psh, nah. I was adopted by a nice white couple when I came to Gotham City. I ended up having to trade my mom's affections for the chance to save my mentor who was stuck in the afterlife. I'm sure your folks did the best they knew how to do. I mean, they're products of their environment. Sucks for them. You seem cool." Phoebe replies.

    Potato leans even more. He's sixy pounds of dense bone and muscular bully breed mix, and he seems content to be waaaaaarm against Josh. His tail wags and beats a tattoo against the back of the couch.

    "So, what's your plan now man?"

Joshua Foley has posed:
"My plan now? Work with the JLD, figure out my powers and adapt them. Maybe find a girlfriend that doesn't care that my Oscar cosplay is on point." Joshua comments with a smirk. "Survive Baldur's Gate Three, and just do the best I can with what hand I was dealt."

"My parents say I'm dead, they have a certificate and everything, so hey, here I am. My whole life in front of me and me still trying to open the deck of cards."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Mmmm. Gnome tossing." Phoebe replies, steeping her fingers.

    "Good. You've got a whole life ahead of you to find out who you are and what you wanna be. Kinda jealous of that." Phoebe cracks a small smile. "And it's tough. I'm sure they mourned the loss of who they thought you were, and so are you, but it sounds like you've got a good support system to lean on too. Right on man."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Yeah, but I'm sure I kept you up late enough." Joshua admits. "I'm still sorting it all out so you're not going to get any good answers tonight." He gives the dog one last pat before he gets to his feet.

"It was nice meeting you though, Phoebe Beacon-Wayne who totally doesn't live up at Wayne Manor and I will make Gabby pay for that." he says, a touch of a wry smile offered.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Eh, I also work nights, you're fine Josh. It was nice to meet you ah -- forgive me for not shaking hands. I'm kinda ... sensitive to stuff with guys still." she explains as a cop-out. "But yeah, I think that Bruce gets a shipment of tea from the Candle for some reason. So next time it goes directly to the manor, but if you call ahead we can arrange a car for delivery. Uselessly Rich people stuff." Phoebe gives Josh a smile before she eases Idu off her lap (who grumbles), and Potato is now laying on the couch. This is also good! He happily tail wags, just glad to be part of the conversation.

    "It's gonna take a while. But if you ever need an ousider-looking-in? Well, you've already found my apartment."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Last time I touched someone involved in magic, it ended poorly. Wasn't going to ask." Joshua admits as he nods, "I'll save the address on the phone, just in case I ever need it."

Scooping up his brain bucket to put back in place, he waits for Phoebe to show him the door. "Have a good night." And then he's off and down the stairs to gather his skateboard and head home.