316/On the Waterfront

On the Waterfront
Date of Scene:	06 March 2020
Location:	Happy Harbor Waterfront
Synopsis:	Secrets are revealed while watching the surf roll in.
Cast of Characters:	Christine Lake, Samuel Morgan

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Christine Lake has posed:
The sun is setting in the West, which is kind of weird for Christine. Coming from the West Coast, she's used to the sun setting over the ocean, not the land. But, a beach at sunst is still a lovely place to relax and reflect; and so Christine finds herself sitting on a large rock on the beach, looking out over the Atlantic. She's wearing a heavy winter coat, jeans, and fur-trimmed boots. Her knees are gathered up to her chest and her arms are wrapped around, hugging them.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    A beach. It was a novelty. Given that Sam had lived most of his life either in secure facilities or outright secret bases, it was novel enough to be able to walk around without seeing a guard tower or block house. But a beach? He hasn't seen one of those since Virginia. Granted, it's not exactly the most exciting or exotic beach in the world, but it's here, and it's no less stunning at sunset than any other beach.

    Dressed in moderate winter clothing, not bothering with gloves or a hat but actually deigning to wear a scarf, the teenager strolls along the beach, occasionally tossing a stick for Bear to go and fetch. The German Shepherd is having fun, not burdened with his hi-vis jacket, and dashing through the sand like an eager pup.

    It is, unsurprisingly, Bear who heads over first. Having picked up his stick, a piece of driftwood, he trots happily over to Christine and drops it at her feet, looking at her with polite but insistent expectation. Sam, for his part, is shaking his head as he walks over, clearly in no hurry.

Christine Lake has posed:
"Awwww....hey Bear!"Christine snaps out of her reverie and ruffles the dog under the cheeks. "You're a good boy. Yes, you are! You want the stick?" She picks up the stick, waggling it. "You want the stick? Okay! Go get it!" And she throws thestick towards the surf, aiming so that it lands several feet short of the water.

While Bear is fetching Christin looks around for his counterpart. Seeing Sam approaching, she waves to him, scooting over to make room on the rock. "Hey," she greets with a smile as Sam gets closer. "How're you doing?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Stickstickstickstickstick! Throwthestickthrowstickthrowstickthrowthrowthrow! Bear is positively vibrating with anticipation, watching the waggling stick with such furious attention that he's after it the moment it's launched, spraying sand in his wake.

    Meanwhile, Sam comes over and raises a hand in greeting, settling himself down on the now vacated part of the rock. "Hi there. I'm still alive, we'll start from there."

    He watches Bear almost pounce the stick once he's close enough, jumping a full foot in the air before landing face first in the sand to snatch his driftwood toy. That... that is one eager dog. Sam watches him with undisguised affection, smiling at his antics. "Hope he didn't pester you."

Christine Lake has posed:
"Nah," Christine sys with a smile. "I'm just out here enjoying the view. But it's always better to share it with someone. And Bear's a good dog, so I don't mind at all." She curls up more, resting her head on her knees, turned to look sideways at Sam. "Mind if I ask you a question?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    In the middle distance, Bear is rolling around in the sand, probably getting so much of it in his fur that some serious brushing is going to be required. But that's part of being a responsible dog owner, and it doesn't seem to bother Sam to know that he's going to have to take a sandy dog onto the ferry back to Manhattan later on. It's with those thoughts in mind that he answers, still smiling. "Go ahead."

Christine Lake has posed:
Christine bites the corner of her lip, figuring how to ask the question. "What's the deal with Alex? I mean...that was a *really* impressive gymnastics display he put on at the cheer tryouts today. Like...*too* impressive." She has her suspicions about Alex, but she's not sure about Sam. So, no sense in totally letting all the cats out of the bag.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Couldn't tell you, I wasn't at the tryouts." There's clearly something going unsaid that's being brushed away with that answer, and Sam quickly focuses his attention on Bear as the stick is being brought back. Only this time, the Shepherd flops himself down in the sand in front of the rock, starting to chew on his stick. Humans are talking, and that's good for his human. So, talk talk, play play later.

    "Not quite sure what you want me to say. I guess he's just very athletic."

Christine Lake has posed:
"Yeah. That's one way of putting it," Christine replies with a smile. She shrugs and lets the matter drop. "So, what about you? What's your thing? Favorite class, hobbies, sports...Tell me about Samuel Morgan. I like getting to know people better."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "What's to say? Just a teenager with mental health issues who likes to tinker, on a scholarship to an expensive school." Which is, of course, not an outright lie in that it contains truth, but that is clearly not the whole story. For one, he hadn't been seen on campus all day until a few hours ago when he strolled in through the gate just as everyone else was getting ready to leave. And nobody on staff seemed to think that was in any way strange. He's even fixing up a teacher's van in the shop without any supervision whatsoever. "Got into MIT a few days ago, working on my degrees in physics, chemistry, engineering and robotics through their remote classes. As I said, not much to say."

Christine Lake has posed:
"Holy crap," Christine says, blinking in surprise. "So, you're like...Tony Stark Jr., or something. I mean...That's like *beyond* impressive that you got into MIT at your age. Seriously. I mean...now I won't be surprised when you invent some gadget and you're a billionaire before you can legally drink." She smiles at him warmly. "So, what are you doing kicking around a high school? Just here for the social interaction?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    There's a short laugh at the invocation of the name of Stark. "Yeah, I should be so lucky. Maybe. Stranger things have happened, right?" Sam looks down at Bear and smiles again, sending his thoughts another way. "Being smart is... not as much fun as people think it is. See, I'm mostly home schooled, and until I did the equivalency tests two weeks ago, I didn't even know if I knew everything I was supposed to know. MIT was never an option, not even a possibility, until Happy Harbor. But you need the educational credits to get in, so... My..." he hesitates.

    How to put this?

    "I'm an orphan. My benefactors figured out I was intelligent, so they sent me here. It's all new, it's all a bit strange, I don't deal well with crowds. People are unpredictable. But being here helps. Helps me ... be more sociable."

Christine Lake has posed:
At the mention of his orphan status, Christine looks sad and puts a sympathetic hand on Sam's arm, if allowed. "I'm sorry to hear that. I can't imagine what it's like to not have parents around. She smiles softly, and goes back to hugging her knees to her chest. "And yeah, people can be unpredictable. But that's part of the fun in life, yeah? I mean, it would get prtty boring if you knew everything that someone was going to do before they did it. There'd be no games, no sports, no competition of any kind. And the best part of people being unpredicatable? Sometimes, they give you nice surprises."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Thanks." The hand on his arm is allowed, but his arm noticeably tenses up for a moment. Bear gives Sam a look, and the tension drains slowly, even though his smile never fades. "It's something you get used to. You learn to be independent pretty quick." And then he looks up at the horizon, before turning his head to finally look at Christine. "But how about you? I can't imagine being sent clear across a continent can be much fun. Especially not to escape distraction, because that seems to me like the exact opposite of that."

Christine Lake has posed:
Christine shrugs, the smile fading from her lips. "Well, I make friends easy," she says. "So it's not too bad. and it's kind of an adventure, really. A new region, new people." She doesn't sound totally convincing with that. "I mean, sure, I miss home and my friends. But I look at it like, I'm making new friends here that I'd never have met without coming out East. So.." Again, she shrugs, then seems to hug her knees tighter and look back out at the surf.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    A slow nod. But Sam has been observing Christine for a while now, takes note of some emotional markers, and turns his head to look out at the surf as well. "So. Cards on the table. Why did you ask me about Alex? Can't say that I know him very well, except that he's gregarious and about as laid back as it's possible to be while still being vertical. Can't just be because he's good at gymnastics, because you'd have asked him directly."

Christine Lake has posed:
"No." Christine says. "Simone Biles is good at gymnastics. This was like..." She takes a deep breath. "What he did was like watching Captaain America or Spider-Man in action. It went beyond 'great for a human'. And I'm...I'm tired." She sags down, drooping over her knees. "God. Two days and I'm already burning out here. I'm tired of not knowing if I can tell someone, if I can talk to someone." Christine starts crying. "There's so much in my life that I have to keep secret. And I've never had to do this before. I never kept secrets from my friends! But this is...I feel alone. But then I see these glimpses that I might not be alone, and I don't know if I'm crazy and seeing something that isn't there becasue I want to, or crazy becasue I don't reach out."

She looks at Sam, tears welled in her eyes. "Cards on the table? I think Alex is 'special'. Like in, he's a metahuman. And I know there's got to be other teen metahumans out there. Becasue I'm one too." And then, Christine disappears. No...no she's *shrunk*. Down to a fractoin of an inch high.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "I don't know who Simone Biles is." Sam admits, but he has a pretty good idea of how this is likely to play out. It's certainly true that some of the people he met were just... just a bit too open about certain things. Which makes his next statement all the more unusual. After all, he hasn't shown a single sign of being a meta of any kind, and so far he hasn't mentioned it to anyone. But seeing the tears, and hearing Christine admit to being 'special', he can't help but feel for her.

    Even more so when she seems to disappear.

    He keeps looking at the surf, choosing his words carefully. "See, I know you're still here. I can feel you. And I want you to understand that what I'm saying is literal. I can sense where you are. Your phone, especially."

    "The word for me is 'mutant'. I know that's not fashionable right now, I know that my kind is not exactly popular right now, but so what? I'm me, I am what I am, and if the world doesn't like that, the world can go change." He holds out his hand, towards Christine, palm up. "Never be ashamed of who or what you are."

Christine Lake has posed:
And suddenly, Christine is back to her normal size, holding Sam's hand. She's smiling at him, eyes full of gratitude and tears of relief in the knowledge that she's not alone. And then she flings her arms around Sam, hugging hime. More like clinging to him like a drowing person who was thrown a life preserver. "Thank you," she says quietly. "And I'm a mutant too.I know why things have to be kept secret. But I don't want to hide away from everyone."

Christine gives Sam another squeeze in the hug, then sits back, sniffling. "And that's not all I can do," she says, drying her eyes with her coat cuffs. "I can also grow. To about 30 feet. But, that's a bit more obvious to bystanders. So..." She takes a deep breath, smiling.

She's not alone anymore.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Bear is, for once, too late to act. Sam goes rigid in the hug, the smile evaporating. Luckily there's Bear, who wastes no time in jumping up into Sam's lap and sitting there, looking at Christine, gently putting a paw on her arm. Sand everywhere... And when the hug is finished, Bear stays where he is, laying across Sam's lap possessively. Slowly, that smile returns.

    "Some things you can't talk about." the teenager begins, knowing full well that there are topics he will never discuss. "But being a mutant? I'll tell you this, most people in the school will not care. Staff especially, they won't treat you any differently because of your genes. But not everyone is as open as I am either."

    He squeezes her hand and then lets go, needing both hands to stroke Bear's fur. "In case you're wondering, I'm a technopath." Which might make his admission to MIT a bit less spectacular. "Is that why you're here, in New York?"

Christine Lake has posed:
When Bear leaps up, Christine quickly disengages. She's guessing that he's some sort of social amxiety dog? "Sorry," she says about the sudden physical contact. "I hope I didn't upset you. It's just....a relief, you know?" She takes another deep breath, feeling her nerves return to normal. "And yeah, I understand. Some things you can't talk about. But, I think it's completely unreasonable, what they're expecting here. We know that there are other students like us; students with abilities. But we're not told who else is like us? Who else knows what we're going through? We don't have anyone to talk to our own age about what we deal with?" She shakes her head. "That's a recipie for disaster. Teens that are gay or trans...they commit suicide at a higher rate than other teens becasue they face the same deal: No peer support structure." She sits back, looking relaxed and happy. "So, no spontaneous hugging?" she asks Sam. "Important info."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Personal space issues. Sorry, I should have warned you." But it's progress, of a sort. Sam only froze up. A different reaction would have happened only a few months ago, although Bear seems to have played a part in that recovery. "I... I might as well tell you, I suffer from PTSD. Sudden contact makes me nervous. It's why I don't do crowds." As to how he came to suffer, no information appears to be forthcoming. For his part in the rescue, Bear gets a firm hug around the neck.

    "I'm not sure what the long term goal of the school is. But, y'know, maybe part of what they're doing is get us to start trusting people? I'm pretty sure staff knows about everyone, and they're keeping an eye out. Hard to say, but I know what you're saying." Roundabout, thy name is Sam. "And try being a gay mutant. You're the first I've told, by the way."

Christine Lake has posed:
Christine laughs, then smiles at Sam, tying to be comforting. "Okay. You win. For real though; anytime you want to talk, I'm here for you. Call or text or whatever. If you find out that another student has powers, you don't have to tell me, but you can tell them I'm safe to talk to."

She pauses for a little bit, then gets a sly smile on her face. Gossip time! "So...is that why you and Alex hang out? Are you and him a thing?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Oh wow... no." Gossip time it is. Sam looks over to Christine with a look that finally matches with his age. It's a mixture of shocked surprise and barely suppressed amusement at the very possibility. "I mean, I don't think so. He's never said anything, and I think he plays for the other team, so... It'd be totally awesome though." Bear perks up an ear, looks at his human and sees the change in his body language. Furry pillow mode engaged... with his head on Christine's lap now.

    "Between therapy and projects and study... don't have a lot of time to spend with anyone. So... y'know... thanks for hanging out with me."

Christine Lake has posed:
Chrstine smiles and gives Bear some earscritches. "Yeah, well..." She smiles back at Sam. "Us teen metatypes have to stick together. And I'd like hanging out with you anyways. I can talk with you, even beyond the mutual mutant stuff. Mainly becasue you're not trying to play 'Seven Minutes in Heaven' with me." She giggles and keeps petting Bear.

Christine's phone pings, and she puases to see an update to the Instagram account of one of her friends back home. And then, she gets a thoughtful look. "Hey, Sam? Technopath, right?" She shows him her phone, the corner of her lip curved up in a smile. "Think you could make a safe chat app for teen metahumans to be able to talk to each other? Feel less isolated and alone?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Just so you know, if anyone ever gets too pushy with you, let me know. I promise you they'll never bother you again." There have been, after all, a great number of Pro-Humanis supporters getting into 'accidents' around Happy Harbor and Manhattan. Coincidence? Only Sam knows, really.

    "Safe? As in, end to end encryption, secure log-ins, accounts locked to a device? Don't see why not. Gimme a month or two?"

Christine Lake has posed:
"Cool." Christine nods happily that Sam thinks this is a worthwhile idea. But, there's a part of her brain nagging about just how wrong this idea could go. So, aafter a bit of cautious considertaion, she says, "Think we should talk t the staff about it first? See what they think? At the very least, they can tell you all the ways it can go wrong, so you can create counter measures for those possibilities."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Counter measures to what? Network hacks? I'd like to see someone try." It's hard to pull one over on someone who used to do just that for a living, and Sam has a confident smile on his face. Clearly he's not worried about security being breached. "But maybe we can talk to staff on general terms about it. Not in detail. So we can register a trademark and copyright to the name we end up choosing when we launch the app."

Christine Lake has posed:
"More like Catfishing," Christine responds. "Like some Humanis jerk poses as a mutant teen just to get personal contact information from real mutant teens by interacting with them, then doxes them or worse." She sighs. This is one of the moments that the normally positive and happy girl would agree that humanity does, in fact, suck.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Hadn't thought of that." Sam admits, stroking Bear's fur as he thinks. Hmmm. "But it's nearly impossible to prove that someone is in fact a meta, and asking them to prove it seems like it defeats the entire point. Maybe keep it local for now, school only? At least we can be sure that there are no Humanis plants there." He hopes. Mental note made...

Christine Lake has posed:
"Good idea," Christine says wth a nod. "We start with the people we know, and grow from there. Of course, we still need to keep their secrets as this gets made. So yeah...you deal with that, I'll do the social scouting. How does that sound?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    A confirmatory nod at that. "I'll handle tech, you handle the actual social part. Sounds like the best way forward." Another glance at the surf, and perhaps a glance at the future beyond. "You know we're sitting on a cold rock in the middle of winter at the edge of the Atlantic, right?"