2038/Mutant Town Aint So Bad

Mutant Town Aint So Bad
Date of Scene:	09 June 2020
Location:	Bushwick <Mutant Town>
Synopsis:	The Juggernaut likes art. Who knew?
Cast of Characters:	Nick Lytton, Abby Oster, Cain Marko

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Nick Lytton has posed:
    Nick doesn't live in Mutant Town, but he does like to visit.  These are his people.  He's been fortunate to be able to turn his own mutation to a reasonably lucrative career in the arts, and he's always on the lookout for anyone else he can turn in that direction.
    So far today, no such luck.  He checked up on a Makerspace he donates to, to see if anyone merits further attention.  Alas no, not today.  Therefore, it's time to unwind.
    So there he sits on the patio of a local coffeehouse, with a steaming mug of something exceptionally caffeinated on the table… and a wad of molten glass in his left hand, kneading it like taffy.  No idea what to do with it yet, dammit.  Inspiration is a fickle… mistress?  Partner?  Significant other?  Friend with benefits?  Whatever.  Inspiration so far is not willing to play, whatever it is.

Abby Oster has posed:
    Abby got booted from her squat.  Boo.  But it's all to the good, in the end.  She got on a game show—from the waist up—and ever since she's been walking a little taller, picking along the ground with a certain swagger from talon to hip.  She's just hit Bushwick like three hours ago and she feels instantly at home among people who don't really feel the need to give her legs a second glance.  She's gotten a couple of giant navel oranges at a roadside produce stand from a blue dude with facial flaps instead of a nose, and that dude is like her dude now.  And instead of peeling the oranges like a civilized person, she just wanders with one in each hand, biting into the first one like an apple and slurping up the juice trying its best to escape.  A few more bites and she's done with the orange, sizable as it was, and she tosses the second one from hand to hand as though she would juggle them if she had two more, smiling to herself outside the patio fence.

Cain Marko has posed:
    A group of teenagers about to enter a corner liquor store find their passageway blocked as the doors to the store slide open and reveal an absolutely gargantuan figure literally completely filling up the entry.  Doing so, so much so via the gargantuan proportions, that the double doors do not open wide enough, basically causing the entry way to be momentarily stuffed with a gigantic broad stomach and an enormous chest that casts the startled youths in shadow before they stagger backwards.  The stretched out visage of Godzilla looming over Mount Fuji leering at them as the image on the strained tee shirt worn by the behemoth.
    Eventually the hulkish figure ducks low, and literally squeezes his astronomical figure through the doors with the ground itself lurching from his steps.  Time seems to stretch to accommodate his immensity until he arrives in full and straightens up to his full height, holding a bag of chips and ice blue eyes hidden from sight behind shades.  A wide berth is made for the gargantuan as he begins to step onto the sidewalks.
    It's not every day that a figure the size of The Hulk appears in even a place like Mutant Town.  Even rarer that a figure that appears to be even bigger appears.  And then there is Cain Marko.
    Stares are thrown his way but the behemoth, gives the resident humans and mutants about as much attention as one pays to ants and instead presses a single potato chip into a wide mouth with a very deliberate crunching and chomping rumble as he begins to make his way down the street.  He stands out for sure but the assumption that he is THE Juggernaut is one that would take numerous leaps of logic among the populace and so there is no panic.  Heck, he could be The Rhino!  Either way for the moment, most are wise enough to let him enjoy his chips.

Nick Lytton has posed:
    Nick sips at his coffee, and then grins at the passing mutant juggling an orange.  He does much the same with a lump of glass heated to where it glows a similar orange, setting his coffee safely out of the way.
    Ooo.
    Maybe a coffee mug?  He regards the lump of molten glass, trying to judge if there's enough to work with—at least towards that end.

Abby Oster has posed:
    A guy Cain's size might be a rarity here, but Abby is new, and doesn't really know that.  She's as proud of this place as if she had lived here all her life, though, and seeing yet another person who wouldn't fit in—in his case, literally—to society makes Abby beam all the brighter, though she might give a little side-eye to anyone she notes staring at him like that.  Rude.
    She does return Nick's grin, though, sensing the brotherhood in it, knowing he's not smiling at her, you know.  She takes a bite of her second orange and leans back against the fencing, resting her butt against it and hooking one talon up over the top of it, too.  She doesn't clear the way when Cain comes around, though.  She lifts up a hand as though to offer a high five.

Cain Marko has posed:
    Ah the irony.  Cain is no mutant and his opinions on the mutant plight if pulled out of him …might ruffle a few feathers considering his history.  But that's not here or now.  Mutant Town provides a bit of a sanctuary and a means for him to be 'himself' so to speak without having to forcibly restrain himself or lay low and that makes it good enough for him, for now.  That being said, when he spots Abby, her brazenness at not moving for him coupled with his upraised hand does cause him to pause.  A feat in and of itself considering who he is.  He arcs an eyebrow and purses his lips in slight confusion… clearly not 'getting it' at first until some degree of understanding dawns on him and he is forced to chuckle as he crumples up the empty bag of chips with two tree branch thick fingers.
    "Sorry, I ain't no mutant," he rumbles, actually politely enough though there's no helping that bassy Brooklyn Brawler-esque menace in his deep voice.
    "Just passin' through."  He eyes the high five before looking back down to Abby.

Nick Lytton has posed:
    Nick genuinely barely notices someone the size of Cain—he has carefully cultivated the instinct to not stare at obvious mutants, or metas, or whatever.  Neither do Abby's, uh, non-standard legs warrant a glance, much less a stare.
    His coffee ignored for the moment, he pulls the glass out between his hands and challenges, in a friendly way, the orange-bearer.  "Quick, tell me what to do with this!" he says with a broad grin.  "And I mean what to make with it, not where to put it!"
    Huge grin.  He's playing.

Abby Oster has posed:
    "Oh, I see. Too good to high-five a mutant, then, huh?" Abby needles Cain a little, though she isn't one either, to speak technically.  She's playful about it, though, with a gleam of jestfulness in the twin abysses of her eyes.  "You see this leaving me hanging, dude, witness," she calls on Nick behind her, hand still up in invitation, though the orange putty Nick's playing with is threatening to distract her.  "What is it?  Silly putty?"

Cain Marko has posed:
    "I thought it was some sorta club house shake you were offerin'." responds the goliath after taking a half second to really give Abby a good look.  "You know.  No bad boys and girls allowed?"
    A flick of his fingers sends the empty bag of chips over his shoulder and into an all too full trashcan as he inclines his head and peers at Abby from behind his dark shades.  He then looks beyond her towards Nick as he calls out.  Cain isn't normally one you could call a socialite but he can and does interact, especially if something catches his eye and Nicks antics are holding his attention now as well, "Huh?"

Nick Lytton has posed:
    Nick senses he's starting to get attention, and is more than happy to bask in it.  "Putty?  Oh, hell no," he says, twirling a strand of the glowing goo around his index finger, then folding it back into the mass.  "Just glass."  Get close enough, the heat will be noticeable.  "And I'm at an unfortunate loss for inspiration at the moment.  This used to be an RC Cola bottle, and I want to elevate its existence.  I just don't know where to."

Abby Oster has posed:
    Abby Oster narrows her eyes at Cain's explanation, such as it is.  At least she puts her hand down, and its flops somewhat dejectedly to her side.  "W-huh?"  She doesn't quite follow his complaint.  "Not sure I do know.  No bad boys or girls allowed?" she tries for clarification, but dude over here is wibbling melted glass, so that's awesome, too.  "Ooh.  Can you blow it into a bubble?" she wonders.

Cain Marko has posed:
    "What is this, show and tell?  A talent show?" quips Cain, who has now produced a Snickers bar from… somewhere.
    Sadly it doesn't produce any sort of personality change after he chomps onto it but maybe it does contribute to him not simply stomping off.
    Abby just gets another look in the sort of 'I said what I said vein.  You figure it out.'  But his eyebrow does remain arched as he studies the glass working as if trying to decide if it's a big deal or not.  A man like Cain has seen quite a bit but sometimes the simpler things do catch one attention.  IF one can call glass working with your hands and no source of fire but yourself 'a simpler thing'.
    Finally he snorts and spontaneously suggests, "Make some sorta crystal…" before inwardly cringing at that suggestion.  Crystal.  Of course.  "…or a truck.  Hell, I dunno."

Nick Lytton has posed:
    Nick takes about half the glass wad, brings it to his lips, and *puff!*s out a balloon shape, to which he affixes a thread of glass, like a string.  By the time he hands it over to Abby, it's merely warm to the touch, and not uncomfortably so.  "Something like that?" he asks.
    Cain gets a more shrewd look.  "Um.  Can't really make crystal out of this, the chemistry is wrong, sorry," he explains without judgment, kneading the remaining glass between both hands.  "Too many impurities, not enough of the right additives.  But," he continues, working it in both hands, "I'm pretty sure I can do a truck."
    And he does, in fairly short order—a stylized but recognizable Mack, complete with a tiny hood ornament reminiscent of a bulldog.  "Just the creative kick in the ass I needed!  Thanks!"

Abby Oster has posed:
    "Hey, neat.  It's like Extreme Balloon Animals," is Abby's high praise.  Watch the warm glass balloon take her entire freaking mind off of what Cain has just said or what it might have meant.  "Man, do you have an Etsy or something?" she wonders.  "You could make serious bank.  Look at that!"  She holds up the glass balloon for Cain to look at.  "How much would you pay for something like that?"

Cain Marko has posed:
    "I meant the shape of one.  Not like… a literal one.  You know… somethin' all… crystal…ly."  Cain attempts to explain but then just sort of gives up as the truck is presented and he blinks a few times before rubbing his jaw.
    "Huh… not bad," he's forced to admit and he just inclines his head as he hears Abby.  A moment of consideration occurs before the 'old man' rolls up in him and Cain scoffs a bit and mutters, "The way folk think about mutants and metas these days… hard to say what that'd go for…."  He shrugs and crumples up his Snickers wrap.  "Sorry, I ain't one for buyin' art.  I dunno what I'd pay.  I know a guy that can do something like that with ice tho'…."  His smile is tight lipped, almost an ironic grin before continuing and at least offering.  "I guess one of a kind skills always worth big cash though."

Nick Lytton has posed:
    Nick grins.  "I dunno about big cash, but it pays the bills.  I let the office manager handle all that.  I'm an artist, not a businessman."
    He sips his coffee, winces, and dips his finger into it to reheat it—it starts steaming almost immediately.  Anyway, those aren't for sale, they're gifts for breaking me out of my creative funk.  Thanks!"

Abby Oster has posed:
    "Paying the bills is big enough cash to me," Abby quips dryly.  "I don't even have a plan for my phone."  She shakes her head, but seems otherwise kind of unphased by lack of funds.  She's not starving, after all.  Not wholly.  Speaking of starving, when the balloon is deemed her own, she rather cautiously opens wide and pushes the bulb into her mouth, sucking down the 'ribbon' last and finally looking down again.

Cain Marko has posed:
    Huh.  A genuine… gift.  A rare and odd feeling.  "Huh," says Cain as he looks over the little glass truck, balancing it on a single finger before finally shrugging.  "…Thanks.  I guess I'll wait to see if you become famous and then hope I ain't broke this thing by then."
    Which will be no easy feat.  Abby's open use of her abilities just causes him to blink a few times before adding, "Yeah, don't got any tricks like that.  This probably about to get broke."
    That said he turns, chuckling to himself, and begins to once more begin a trip down the side walks with faint rumbles accompanying his footfalls.  Seems he's used up his quota of being sociable for the day.  "See you kids later."

Nick Lytton has posed:
    Nick blinks at Abby.  That was unexpected.  "I'm going to take that to mean my art is in good taste," he says with a wicked smirk.
    Totally unable to resist a bad joke, is Nick.