19130/The Long Way Home

The Long Way Home
Date of Scene:	22 September 2024
Location:	Copperpot Diner
Synopsis:	Cinque and Jessica Cruz meet for the first time, and discuss breakfast and parts of their past.
Cast of Characters:	Cinque Evers, Jessica Cruz

---

Cinque Evers has posed:
Cinque stepped into the diner, the familiar clang of the bell overhead ringing out as he took a deep breath, hoping the smell of coffee and frying eggs could drown out the weight on his shoulders. Managing the homeless shelter was supposed to be a calling, but lately, it felt like an unending mundane storm of paperwork, depressing crises, and exhaustion. His body has become tired with trying to balance SHIELD committments, managing the shelter, and taking on the occassional costume adventures.

He might have to cut back on his foolishly agreed upon committments for outreach meetings, mentoring kids after school, and still trying to find time for his own well-being. As he slid into the booth, Cinque hoped for a moment's peace, just a quiet breakfast to shut out the world and thought that his well being has improved slightly in the last few months. Cinque shrugs his shoulders like and mumbles to himself, "There is some synergy."

Jessica Cruz has posed:
Shortly after you get settled in your booth, the door slams open as a woman runs in, wearing what looks like some kind of green glowing robes like from the Harry Potter movies and a pointed witch hat, all glowing green. There is a glyph around her right eye that glows like some kind of tattoo, and that icon is found on her hat and around her belt as she sits down at a table near you, sighing softly. "Finally..." she whispers softly, sounding very pleased with herself, not even seeming to care that she's cosplaying a mix of a glowstick and a stereotypical sorceress.

Cinque Evers has posed:
Raises his right eyebrow slightly as he eyes fall on Jessica Cruz, "I thought that I had missed the partiers leaving their clubs from the breakfast." Cinque tries to look away and back to his menu, but it is a weak attempt. "I must be getting old. I didn't realize there were late late clubs in the Bronx anymore." Cinque calls out to the woman with an amused look of his face, "How do you make your robes glow like that? Do you have lights woven in the fabric, or is it some sort of paint?"

Jessica Cruz has posed:
Jessica Cruz smiles faintly as the hat winks out of existence, leaving a vaguely Hispanic-looking woman - keeping the glyph. She holds up her right hand, a green ring on her finger. "I'm Green Lantern, and I'm starving for pancakes," she finally states, as when the waitress hesitantly approaches, she orders a tall stack of pancakes with milk. "I've been off world for months, and... they just can't make a decent pancake on Oa.

Cinque Evers has posed:
The amused face briefly switches to apathetic one as he rambles off some words, "Oa, home of the self-proclam guardians of the universe, always protect the Mother and your presence from them." Cinque blinks a few times as an amused look of his face returns, "Those memories make more sense...." Cinque eyes turn away from Cruz and cast his gaze to the window for a moment, "You have brought me some insight, so I guess I can buy your pancakes. I promise to keep my conversation more mundane and less strange."

Jessica Cruz has posed:
Jessica Cruz blinks as she hears that rambling. She idly lifts her hand and does a scan of her breakfast companion, wondering if there's something there that'd ping her ring's sensors. "That's.. one way to describe the Guardians... and... not necessarily inaccurate." She shrugs. "So - what was that just now?" she asks curiously as she is impatiently waiting for the pancakes to arrive.

Cinque Evers has posed:
"Imagine someone having a really good memory." Cinque orders some chicken and waffles from a passing waitress. "Like they never forget anything ever, so one day for their job they met a creature that is able to retain memories of their race in their genetic makeup. Cinque slowly pushes his hands together as he talks to Cruz, "So this creature's species has been around for a long period of time, so they have eons worth of memory. Cinque brings his hands together so they clasp, "So these creature's racial memories of the universe gets stored in a being that can remember everything, no matter how much the information. He can't make sense of most of it because it is so alien, but it is there." Cinque, "So imagine such a thing, then imagine a person wanting to reward with buying you breakfast because you brought some small clarity to some of the memories."

Jessica Cruz has posed:
Jessica Cruz blinks. "So you have all the memories of the universe, but becaues it's such a deep well, only wen somet hing is called to your atention can you 'rmember' it," she muses. "Interesting." Finally the pancakes come out and Jessica wastes no time in ravenously eating them. "Kilowogg is a servicable battlefield chef, but even if they got pancakes right... no way to even EXPLAIN syrup..." she murmurs, havign zero table manners right now.

Cinque Evers has posed:
Cinque Evers shakes his head, "No, I only have the memories of a species that existed in the universe for eons, so things that they encountered or try to stay away from.... I have memories such like that, but mostly are more disturbing. The universe is so vast, so of course they never encountered everything." Cinque hmms, "It is like my memory of you that I will keep forever." Cinque tilts his head towards his right shoulder as he tries to explain better, "My memories would not make sense of you without some context." Cinque illustrates his meaning with his arrival chicken and waffles. He expertly separates each individual chicken from the waffles as he speaks, "On the surface, it will be the smells of the place, the sensations of the booth against me, how I felt when I saw you entering the diner, if you reminded me of anyone else, my own thoughts at the time, etc...It is a deep rabbit hole that one memory can have." Cinque pours the syrup over the waffles, "Now imagine that for eons of memories that are not your own. Little blips like syrup filling a square in a waffle can make you understand the memory, and that leads to understanding another memory."

Jessica Cruz has posed:
Jessica Cruz smiles faintly. "That sounds like a nightmare," she murmurs. " Losing yourself in a flood of thoughts that aren't your own..." She sighs softly. "I thought I had it bad - I was... under the control of an evil sorcerer for a time and... I know something of someone else's memories in my mind... I'm not really a sorceress but... I kinda like the asthetic so respaped my costume towardsi t."

Cinque Evers has posed:
Cinque Evers nods slowly, "My apologizes for what you had to go through...it can be difficult to me when I sleep, but I have found synergy in a short amount with only some side effects. I think it is due to me having lot more memories than most people in the first place...." Cinque shoves a chicken leg in his mouth, before adding, "As Nietzsche stated what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Cinque asks, "What is like to be a Green Lantern?" Cinque quickly laughs, "I am not fanboying...I just wanted to know. You have must seen such beautiful sights in your travels."

Jessica Cruz has posed:
Jessica Cruz nods slowly. "Beautiful sights and terrifying horrors," she muses, as she lifts her hand and creates a construct image of Earth in shades of green. "This... was one of the first things I went to see once my ring was purified," she muses. "I just rocketed straight up and out and just... beheld Earth. I even went to the Moon and created a lounge chair by Apollo 11's module just to look at the Earth to put things in perspectie. I've made friends and enemies across the cosmos."

Cinque Evers has posed:
"So what brings you back to Earth besides the pancakes." Cinque smiles softly, "I have fondest food myself, but it seems hard to imagine to travel back here just for pancakes, and what is a Kilowogg?"

Jessica Cruz has posed:
Jessica Cruz nods slowly. "I went for some required training and... decided to stay a while. I literally just got back to Earth and stopped here even before my own house." Her eyes widen. "You really do have strange memories." She created a construct image of Kilowogg, a powerful man wiht pig-like features. "He is basically the head trainer of the Lanterns. All of us have spent some time in his not-so-tender mercies, but us poozers are the better for it," she muses, the alien word almost seeming a term of endearment. "Those memories can be a significant advantage if you can harness them."