8948/Out of Breath

Out of Breath
Date of Scene:	05 December 2021
Location:	Rise N Grind
Synopsis:	Madigan drops her donut; Jamie fails to get conned.
Cast of Characters:	Jamie Madrox, Madigan Belle

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Jamie Madrox has posed:
Rise n Grind sees its share of superheroics, like any other business in New York City. It also sees its share of just normal people trying to run each other down.

At the moment, Jamie Madrox is trying to catch a bail jumper because --well, because bills need to be paid and frankly, catching bail jumpers is pretty easy. The guy --blonde, long-haired, skinny-- speeds by the Rise n Grind, and Jamie is running behind him in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, but he's clearly winded.

"Sonuvabitch," and then Jamie just does a hard turn and bumps into the wall on purpose. A second Jamie pops out --POP!-- and with a wave, the original sends the new guy running after their prey. "Jesus." Deep breaths, Jamie.

Madigan Belle has posed:
It's one of those scenes where the woman who's managing to make her way down the street, brace held leg by brace held leg and a crutch to boot, just as one person runs past her and she's fumbling with the donut she has in her hand, and manages to hold on for dear life by tossing it to her mouth, that she catches with practiced ease between her lips. "Hhhhyh." Madigan says in a muffled by donut way as she's holding onto the treat still. And then WHAM. Person runs right into a wall, and for whatever reason, Madi is starting to giggle at that, "Ooooohfgghmuhhgawhd." She lets out, as she's giggling, shaking the donut that soon begins to lose its physical shape.

Tragedy strikes. The donut starts to tear around the edges where her mouth is holding it, its almost in slow motion as she's letting out laughter from the oddness of a person running into a wall. And then it starts to tilt, past its tipping point, tearing faster and the majority of the donut breaks off. Falling toward the ground. Perhaps in a normal situation she'd be able to catch it but she's suddenly takenaback by ... an exact copy of the goofy man bouncing out of him and running off? Her mouth opens, jaw slacked, eyes wide, as she stares. Donut... crashing to the ground. She eats, instinctively what remains, and asks, "How... do you do that?!"

Jamie Madrox has posed:
Jamie just takes a few deeps breaths as the dupe beats feet after the bail jumper. Eventually they'll catch him. Might just have to happen when the guy himself gets tired, but it'll happen!

He looks up when Madigan asks him how he did that and smiles. "Hey. What?" He looks around and then he goes, "Ohhhhh." He straightens out, dusting himself and smiling at her. "I had him in my pocket." What.

Madigan Belle has posed:
"I didn't see anything come from your-" Madigan pauses as she looks down, to the ground, where her ... her... donut is decimated. She looks back up, quickly, suddenly, serious look. It's one of those almost anime stern looks, eyes really really wide, head tipped back just a little as she looks at you from an angle. "Danger. Danger. I'm super low on blood sugar, you HAVE to get me a triple latte with 4 pumps of vanilla and 8 pumps of marshmallow. Now now now now!" She says with emergency levels of urgency. "Quick, come on, what are you still standing here for, quick quick, and if they have a crumb cake muffin, that TOO!"

Jamie Madrox has posed:
Jamie tilts his head at Madigan for a long moment and then he squints a bit at her request, which seems a little too specific for the reasoning she's presenting. "Seems to me like if it's really urgent it would take too long to get all the pumps of vanilla and marshmallow. You might do best with..."

He looks around, until he finds a packet of sugar on one of the outside tables of the cafe. He holds it up and smiles at her. "Here you go!"

Madigan Belle has posed:
Madigan Belle takes the package of sugar and quickly opens it, dumping it into her mouth and nodding her head, "Great. Now... go, quick, I mean, look at me. I CAN'T get there very fast." She uses her crutch to tap on her leg braces, indicating her predicament. "You want me to die? You don't know, I could have Type 3 diabetes, and crashing due to an unscheduled insulin release. You don't know, do you?" Her eyes are wide, her head shaking, and she even holds up a finger to tap in the air in Jamie's direction like 'tsk tsk tsk'. "Jeez, I mean it is YOUR fault that my donut is currently on the ground. I could be a lawyer, what about that? There's tons of lawyers with red hair, great teeth, like me." She grins big showcasing her teeth and then adds, "But, we need our donut that you destroyed replaced. And that latte would certainly go a long way to show the jury your remorse." Tilting her head to the side, she waits, quirking her mouth to the side, and shaking her head slowly but clearly disapprovingly.

Jamie Madrox has posed:
"You are _very_ committed to this," Jamie observes, still not convinced. Mostly because there's enough sugar in one of those packets to offset enough low blood sugar in a person who, using crutches and leg braces, is still standing and not tipping over on their own.

Besides: "You're selling it too strong," he says, "I have a few YouTube videos you can watch about how to cold sell a con, though," he says, starting to pull his phone out of his pocket.

Madigan Belle has posed:
"Really?" Madigan sighs and shakes her head, "You really..." She starts speaking up louder, looking around to see if anyone is going to notice, "You ruin my donut, and now you won't even help me? What does that say about America today? Huh?" No one is around, as she's very much turning her head about to see who might be present. Then she slumps her shoulders, "Well, damn."

She starts to sway one leg, to let the leg brace lock, then the other, using her crutch to move, "I mean, the -least- you could do is open the door for me? I mean, it IS harder to do that with only one hand, and no donut. So, you split yourself into two, can you do three? What about four? Is it some kind of quick cloning device." She starts looking over you, moving her head left and right, scanning over you with her vision as she's trying to get to the door still, "Hmmmm..." Quirking her mouth to the side, "The question is, are you somehow now less dense? Like was it part of you?" Oooh, that's an idea, and she reaches out to attempt a finger poke at Jamie to attempt to test his remaining density.

Jamie Madrox has posed:
Jamie seems to have the same density he did; or at least, an average normal density for a man his size and shape and age. He smiles at her and then takes a step back, grabbing the door handle and swinging it open for her to get inside.

"See, you should _start_ with the small stuff: opening the door. work your way up to me spending money on you." He winks at her. "I'm Jamie."

Madigan Belle has posed:
"Huh." Madi pokes no less than 3 times, each time her face gets confused then eyes pop wider like she thought of a new idea, and she pokes again, then scrunches up confused, then wide open and pokes again. By the third time it seems the cycle has ended and she squints. That squint comes with lips that press together, go into a distrusting pout that is off centered. That's when the door opens and she uses two of her fingers to point at her eyes then at you and she then smiles big.

Moving her way into the cafe she sighs out, "Wheeeew. It's kind of cold, huh? Okay, so, cold doesn't matter. Alright. What else could it be? Jamie, hi, hi, I'm Madigan, Madi, people call me that, cause it's shorter I guess and not a lot of people speak Irish. Is it Mad-Eee-Gun, is it Gahn, Mad-uh-gahn, no one knooOoOOOoOoOoows!" She takes the moment to throw her hands in the air as she's talking quickly, then grabs her crutch again and keeps moving forward.

Jamie Madrox has posed:
He doesn't seem to mind being poked a little, so he follows her into the cafe, mostly to make sure she actually does end up consuming some sugar, _just in case_. When she starts on about the dubiousness of her name's pronunciation, he tilts his head. "I mean I'm pretty sure it's a /schwa/ there at the end, so it's sort of an 'euh' sound that isn't stressed."

There are very few things that Jamie doesn't know at least a little bit about. "More like MAH-dhi-ghin? But different regions have different dictions. Guess it only matters how you want it pronounced."

Madigan Belle has posed:
Pausing, Madi's mouth drops open a little, "Do you know Irish?" She's even using Irish instead of saying Gaelic, or Irish-Gaelic, as many outsiders might say. She's smiling big, "That's great. I mean, I don't talk with an accent, at all, that's clear, and I won't either. I mean, I do sometimes, but wow, I gotta be outta of it or in the middle of-" She cuts off as she gets distracted, turning her head, and shakes her head, "You got it there at the end. It's mostly that. My uncle says it with a real thick accent, and like a true Irishman he attempts to cut out at least 1 syllable every time he says it. I don't mind so much, he's the coolest uncle."

Jamie Madrox has posed:
Jamie holds his fingers apart a little bit, smiling. "Little bit." But he doesn't try talking in Irish or anything like that. Instead, he just walks with her to the counter and then leans against it with a smile for her. "I know a couple of Irish, some Scots, too. Kind of hung out with them for a while during some formative years, you know? So you pick some things up." That, and he has a dupe that fully immerses in languages and then comes back.

Madigan Belle has posed:
Moving her mouth like she's trying out for a roll as Ernest P Worrel, her jaw moves back and forth as she says, "EwwWWWwww, Scots?" And then Madi grins big and chuckles, "No, I don't dislike them at all. They're probably all my cousins... right?" And she's just chatting despite being at the counter, and then pauses a moment, reaching down to grab one of the counter cookies, and starts reading the package. Then another one, she stacks about 4 of the large cookies on the counter, then reaches over and grabs one of the self-wrapped muffins, "Excuse" since she's reaching past Jamie. Then she nabs a bagel, and finally is turning to order her drink, "Latte, triple shot, whole milk, 4 pumps of vanilla and 8 pumps of marshmallow flavoring please and thank you. Madi's the name, or you can put Jamie on the cup, cause he'll probably get up to get it."

Looking up and over to Jamie she smiles, "You want anything?"

Jamie Madrox has posed:
Jamie finds a place to sit and pulls out a chair for Madigan too while he waits for her to put in her order. He shakes his head at her when she asks him if he wants anything. "No, I'm good. I've got to go in a few minutes anyway," he says, putting his phone on the table. Begs the question if his dupe's phone has the same number...

Once she's finally over at the table, he asks, "So what's with you and the calories?"

Madigan Belle has posed:
Having grabbed everything in one hand, at least food wise, and moved over to the table. She gets herself sitting and looks over at him even with a cookie already opened up and partially consumed. Madi responds with the sensible question, "What do you mean? I like to eat, don't you like to eat? Eating is super great." She chomps on more of the cookie and leans forward toward Jamie, squinting again then leaning back. She raises an eyebrow slowly, "Hold on a second. Are you calling me fat?" She inquires, quirking her mouth again to one side, then to the other, as she keeps just one eyebrow raised.

Jamie Madrox has posed:
"I love to eat, you were just _really_ adamant about your sugar intake. You just put _eight_ pumps of marshmallow into a latte, girl, that's a lot." When she asks if he's calling her fat, he gives her a _really?_ look that suggests he's not falling into that argument, no way no how.

"Anyway."

Madigan Belle has posed:
The drink order arrives and Madi immediately looks up to see if you'll go get it. Her eyes just sort of turn toward the counter, and she grins big. Lots of teeth, as she squints her eyes some so you know it's a real smile. And then she waits, predicting you'll at least go get that for her and she offers as that happens (if it does), "I guess it's just true you are what you eat. Or drink, really. I'm super sweet, and have a sweet tooth, or 20 sweet teeth. Anyhow, that's really what it's all about. I also have a big brain, and gotta keep it fueled, trying to solve all the world's genetic questions is tough on an empty carb starved brain." She nods her head, a few times, in fact, and then wonders, "Were you born your way, or did some crazy mad scientist dip you into a vat of radioactive amoeba?"

Jamie Madrox has posed:
Jamie doesn't have a problem getting her her order. He tucks his phone back into his pocket and heads over, bringing it all back and sliding it on the table in front of her. He doesn't sit back down again, though. Instead, he smiles down at her. "It's magic, actually. I have a little bit of a dragon's heart embedded in my liver, gives me the power to make magical copies of myself."

He shrugs. "It's pretty useful, but the dragon's kind of pissed at me. Hope she doesn't find me."

Madigan Belle has posed:
Holding up a single finger, Madi seems curious about something, she sniffs the air a few times, then turns her head in Jamie's direction, "Oh, what's that smell? Bull poop. That's what I'm smelling. Right." Madigan offers with a small shake of her head, she smirks though and adds, "It is okay, you don't gotta tell me. But..." She reaches up with that same finger that was in a 'hold' position before and taps the side of her head, "I have a really good memory. So, someday I'll find out the truth Mister Who Ruined My Donut and didn't even have the decency to buy me a drink to save my life Jamie." With that she scoops up the hot liquid and takes a quick sip before her eyes get wide, and she quickly is running her tongue in and out of her mouth, "Hawwht."

Jamie Madrox has posed:
"I didn't ruin anything, you dropped it." He smirks at her. "You make a habit of blaming other people for your accidents?" Jamie's smile is easy-going, though. He doesn't take any of it in a bad way. But his phone does start to beep and he checks it. "Well, genius Madigan, I've got to run. But maybe I'll run into you again. If you hang around these parts a lot."

Madigan Belle has posed:
There's another sip, right after the first one, and Madi waves her hand at her mouth as she opens it - as if that could cool off her tongue. She smiles a quick smile, and gives a fast wave, "I do, easy to spot." She points to her hair, and then focuses on the important things. Cookies.