17636/A meeting of mutants

A meeting of mutants
Date of Scene:	13 April 2024
Location:	Central Park
Synopsis:	AJ met a surprise guest, while waiting to meet Patty and Bishop.
Cast of Characters:	Allen-James, Patty Sloan, Bishop, Cain Marko

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Allen-James has posed:
AJ is on the grounds, near the Met, but not so close security would run him off. His case is open, with a smattering of tips, as he plays a stately waltz on his violin, staccato notes biting out as he expertly works the bow on the strings. He spent a few days thinking about it, but ended up giving Patty a call and asking for a meet up. In spite of his lovely Hole, he's kind of tired of struggling to find enough money every day for food, or places to take a shower. So, he is outside in the afternoon sunlight, fiddling for his dinner, such as it is, while he waits to see what sort of school takes folks... like him.

Patty Sloan has posed:
When Patty had heard from AJ She was actually quite happy. She quickly went looking for Bishop to help go retrieve the boy from the streets. It took her a little bit to find the big man but when she did she quickly explained the situation. "Anyway he's in Central Park. Want me to drive?" She asks curiously. "My car is in the Garage here. Eventually I want to ask Dr. McCoy to take a look at it and see if anything can fix it but it can get us there and back." She smiles and is already making her way to the garage.

Once in the Garage she hops into her little Honda Civic hatchback Its definitely an Early 90s model. A beater if ever there was one. She starts it up and quickly pops the hood. She pours some power steering fluid in and she's ready to go.

Bishop has posed:
Bishop moves with Patty into the car with not a single word, that massive man is sitting down shifting the car under his weight. His arms crossed over his chest with a nod at the girl. "Fine, let's go." His blasters are covered by his duster, but the handles can almost been seen as he waits for the drive, waiting for it all lost in his own mind. "No promises, of what will come of this. But I will chat with him Patty."

Cain Marko has posed:
Nearby...

The arrival of a certain Citizen Cain is something like...watching a kaiju slowly crest into view from the surface of an ocean as he climbs up the steps of a nearby subway entrance with slow deliberate movements and a lumbering sway to his gargantuan physique that gives the impression of a sequoia leaning from side to side. Needless to say he's something of a visual spectacle to any who lay eyes on him, so massive is he thus the pedestrians about him react with varying degrees of wide eyed wariness as he strolls among them with the sort of dismissive disdain an elephant might give a herd of sheep scurrying around its legs.

For his part, Cain doesn't seem to perturbed or bothered by the reaction caused by his simple presence. It comes with the territory after all as even at his most restrained, as he is at present...some seven foot something and who knows how many few hundreds of pounds, he's still the avatar of a magical whatsit-dimensional-thingie. People are gonna stare. One should see him attempting to catch a flight.

His path seems meandering as he begins the process of passing through this part of Central Park. It's slow and unhurried though he does have places to be and things to do. Either way, as the sound of music reaches him he raises an eyebrow above the rim of his dark shades and turns his head to look down the way towards where a certain violinist is playing.

Allen-James has posed:
    For his part, AJ doesn't slow or stop his music. Sure, his eyes are wide, but he's been in New York for literally years now. He's seen the world change, mutants take a center stage, JLA and Avengers, he's seen it all. Well. Mostly. Cain Marko is a little out of his usual expectations, but he's at least good enough to keep playing. The waltz is good. Classical music, sure, but well executed, and he was getting some good tips for his careful rendition of it. At least, until Cain looks at him, and the more... danger sensitive members of the public seem to vanish like smoke on the wind.
    Even so, AJ continues to perform, as if he were the last fiddler on the Titanic, going down with the ship, and playing to keep the passengers calm before they all... well.. you know how that story ends. The odd thing is, he's good. Better than his crappy, beat up, pawn shop violin. Better than his tattered rags. Julliard and concerts good, though it's pretty obvious he's not out here as a performance piece.

Patty Sloan has posed:
It doesn't take terribly long to get from Westchester to NYC. Even in Patty's beater of a car she makes good time. She also makes note she is going to need to get her registration changed over to New York as well as her license. She doesn't bring it up right now though. Even as they roll up to Central park, she is mostly quiet. That is until she has to find parking. Parking in the City is never easy. Eventually she finds a spot. Someone was leaving in a hurry to say the least. Turns out the parking spot isn't far from where AJ is performing and well Patty notices the very big man. "Oh my. That guy is huge!"

She idly steps out of her car. She didn't bother putting on a jacket or anything to cover her wings. She was in a hurry after all. She happily walks over to AJ. "Hey man! Sounding Good!" She comments as she takes a closer look at the big guy. She is definitely not very big herself. She is average height for a human girl. Probably not average height for a Mutant girl. Maybe a little on the short side for them. But still mostly average. She also isn't jacked though she is starting to get a little definition to her muscles from her training. She has no weapons on her. By all rights, She looks like a threat level of Zero.

Bishop has posed:
Bishop slides out of the car his eyes on the massive man, than on Patty and Aj. "Cain." His voice is cold as he nods towards the man, his hands is moving to show the blasters before he covers them once more with the jacket. "Good to see you man. Here for business or pleasure?" His voice is sounds friendly, but those eyes studying him are anything but, as he steps in front of the two young ones, his body is blocking them not turning to look at Aj as of now. "Hello Aj, I'm bishop we will be taking you with us, unless our large friend is here on business?"

Cain Marko has posed:
Like a human mountain range, Marko simly stands there and looms. His expression is somewhat unreadable. A sort of neutral resting stern looking face that is simply the result of a perpetual scowl, a broad cinderblock of a jaw dusted with hair and heavy brows that cast deep shadow over his ice blue eyes made all the more statue like and stoic by the presence of his dark glasses.

The people scatter like small fish in the presence of an approaching gargantuan great white shark but Cain gives them no mind. Instead his attentio n remains on AJ, particularly so as he's slowly becoming an audience of one.

This continues for a few moments longeruntil he finally begins to move by starting to slip his hands towards the pockets of his pants as if guided along by the music itself--

And then suddenly Patty is there and whatever thought had been flickering into Cain's mind is gone just like that as she rushes in and begins immediately speaking to the playing musician. It's subtle but Cain's expresion sours slightly. He gives her only a fleeting glance only to turn slightly and look right at the approaching Bishop.

"Eh?" he rumbles, sounding confused at first and then glancing about the park in search of other familiar faces. He then looks back to Bishop and a confused lopsided smirk starts creeping onto his face. The confusion only continues as Bishop then addresses AJ and Cain finally gives a tight close mouthed smile.

"...Yeah? What if I am?"

Allen-James has posed:
    Skinny. A little short. Petite is a good word for AJ, though most young men might bristle at such. He is not, in general, an imposing figure, his growth somewhat stunted by the last five years spent on the streets. He is, in short, the polar opposite of Cain, and he raises his eyebrows at the blasters being flashed around in public.
    The song, not far from a good place to end it, ends, and AJ flashes Patty a smile. "Hey Wings. Nice to meet you, Bishop. Let's all jus.. take a breath, yeah?" he says, as he lowers his violin as if putting down a weapon. "I'll put down my violin, and you put down your... you know... threat, and we let the nice man who was enjoying my music off with a frown from you, and a thanks for his appreciation from me." AJ tries out diplomacy with a wry smile, as he slides his violin into his case, pushing his cash aside a bit, and tucking it away in a pocket before slipping his case closed.
    "I do appreciate anyone who enjoys my music. It's been a long time since I was playing as much as I have this year, and I think I'm finally getting back in the groove. What do you think?" He also attempts misdirection. After all, these are useful skills to have when you have crackly crinkly bones like a mortal man, standing alongside those made of more than mere men.

Patty Sloan has posed:
Patty notes the way Bishop is acting. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Without trying a small gust of wind blows across the park. It would hardly be noticeable and mostly seem completely natural. She looks up to the big guy and then back to Bishop. "We should get in the car, AJ." The girl states as she slowly starts to move back toward her beater. "We don't want trouble right now." She states as she glances around, trying to look for anything that she could potentially use as debris if things go south. She hates the thought of this turning bad.

"Bishop, I will get the car running." She slowly backs away from Cain and Bishop, gesturing AJ to follow her.

Bishop has posed:
Bishop turns to look at AJ and than back at Patty, than back at Cain. "Indeed. It would mean we would need to discuss what your mission is, I have no quarrel with you when it can be avoided." His voice is friendly stepping out in front of the two kids, with a little sigh of pleasure at the relaxing of the kid, liking him already. "Came here on biz, wanted to make sure I could handle it easy as a easy bake ovens." He waits to see if Aj moves for the car or what Cain does next.

Cain Marko has posed:
"Heeeey....what's the rush..."

Cain's deep voice drawls out with the rumble of a very far away sleepy thunderstorm. That sort of idle distant vibration that's just enough to let you know it's there iwhile leaving the promise of something far more booming in the very near future. As he speaks he finally reaches up and removes his shades and neatly tucks them into the pockets of his straining jacket. His ice blue eyes are revealed to be settling on Patty now as he speaks. Rather like having an earthquake talk to you, perhaps.

"Music was all fine and good until you just sorta...barged in right in the middle of the guys performance. Now you're trying to just drag 'im off?"

As Bishop speaks, Cain redirects his gaze towards him and holds him in his stare for a few long seconds before....

He finally looks away with a roll of his eyes. "..You're tryin' -reaalllllly- hard here, aren't you. We both know if I was really out for trouble you wouldn't last half a second. "

There's a beat and he finally grunts out, "Relax. What's Charles teaching you kids these days...."

Allen-James has posed:
    AJ chuckles at Cain, a nervous sound in spite of his bravado. He echoes the big man's rumble, as he smiles at Patty to take some of the sting out of his words, even as he agrees with Cain. "You know, Wings, you're pretty bad at de-escalation. You ever been around any... heh... street guys, or anything before?" he asks, as he scoops his violin up, and motions to Cain.

    "You show respect. You don't act like you think he's gonna eat your head just cause he's hangin out and listening to me play. You wanna piss him off? You're probably doing a pretty good job. I'm sure you've got history and all, but if this is what they teach at your school, you really, really need to brush up on your psych courses." He babbles as he motions.

    "Sure, he could snap me like a twig. Probably would if I was an ass. But he was just here, enjoying my music, like any other person in New York. Everything was fine. Is fine. We're just all here, enjoying the park." he says and shifts his smile at Cain.

    "Really, I do appreciate you listening to my music, man. I'm AJ, and it's nice to meet you... Cain, Right?" he says, trying hard to be civil. After all, like he says.. You show respect, and treat the tough guys like people. That's how you keep from pissing them off, how you keep from acting like chum in the water for bullies.

Bishop has posed:
Bishop looks between AJ and than back at Cain, he is quiet now letting the teen do his thing, walking towards the car slowly hands deep in the pockets of his coat. "Patty, let him do as he wishes, when he is done bring him to the car." With that he is shoves himself into it, to take out his phone to play a terrible mobile game.

Patty Sloan has posed:
Patty takes a deep breath. This time there is no wind thankfully. She is trying to keep control of herself after all. "Where are my Manners. A pleasure to meet you Cain. My name is Patty." She smiles to the big man showing as much kindness as she can. Where she sounds at ease, her wings betray her by being downcast. "I will get out of the way and let AJ continue the music if you'd like. I'm not much of a musician or singer myself." She smiles. "If I sang I'd probably be joined by a bunch of alley cats."

Her eyes go to AJ. "I'm pretty sure he is above street level." She comments trying to be as chill as possible.

Cain Marko has posed:
The behemoth of a man breaths a heavy sigh. Cain retrieves his glasses and pushes them back onto his nose, not saying anything for a long stretch of time before he finally rumbles out in answer to Patty first, "It's fine. The moment's passed. Stick around. I was just sitting here wonderin' if I was going to do a good deed for the day but maybe I should just stick to my usual habits..."

AJ does get a slight glance though. The giant certainly heard his words in his rebuke on the matter of how he was approached and he lets that linger in the air before finally rumbling, "It's fine. They can't help it. Product of where they spend their time and some....past relationships you could say.."

He smirks lightly as he glances back to Patty and then he looks to AJ again, "She's right. I aint what you consider 'street level'.... Bit above that paygrade."

Allen-James has posed:
    AJ shoots a smile at Cain, and nods. "Yeah. I know. But you're a guy, just like any guy. Still, I was here waiting for Patty. Just banging out some songs while I waited." he says with a wry chuckle, and motions around.

    "We really should take off, I've got some kind of school to see, and they drove a while to get me..." he says with a smile at the Kaiju.

    "But, I'll be back. I perform here in front of the Met most Wednesdays and Thursdays. I do the Library Mondays and Tuesdays." he says with a smile, like he's explaining his performance schedule to any other fan that he has to lean back a little to look up at. "And pretty much wherever there's crowds the weekends."

Patty Sloan has posed:
Patty smiles to Cain. "AJ here is a really good guy and I think he will be a good fit for the school. You know how it is right?" She comments trying to continue to play it cool calm and collected. Even her wings have perked up. "So what's a gentleman like you doing in Central Park?" She asks Cain curiously. "I mean its probably none of my business and if thats the case just tell me that its none of my business. I'm just curious." She watches AJ prepare to go.

Cain Marko has posed:
His opinion of the school seems writ clear on his face. He doesn't approve. But with Patty putting in her best effort to remain chill and Bishop having backed off as well...Cain seems to see fit to reward their efforts and his expression softens a touch.

"A good fit eh? Mmmm..."

He is silent again, considering her for a few secondsd before finally looking away, "I guess every place has its good eggs and bad eggs. If you're looking for some help with music, based on what I heard..I guess you made a good pick. Try not t'pressure him into it though. There's other places to be besides holed up in that mansion like you folk are. I guess with the way Charlie thinks about things...I'm not surprised.."

With that, a wad of cash has suddenly appeared in his hands and a quick gesture has it droped into the violin case along with the rest of the money that AJ had earned in his playing.

Silently, the giant turns and begins to start stepping way. "What I was doing was minding my own business.." he answers roughly to Patty, addressing her last question. "..See you folk around..."

Allen-James has posed:
    "Music is a big part of what I'd like to pursue in life, yes." Allen-James admits with a sigh, looking at his violin. He smiles at the wad of cash, and moves to tuck it into the pocket in the case too.
    "Thanks. I appreciate it. I'll see you more again, no doubt." he says with a chuckle, as he folds his case shut and clips it closed, standing up to wander back towards Patty's car.