| Brick Walls and Webcomics |
| Summary: | A chance meeting on campus yields conversation. |
| Date: | 2014-05-09 |
| Related: | None |
| NPCs: | None |
| Scene Runner: | NA |
| Social/Plot: | Social |
| Players: |
 .. .. .. |
Location: Gotham University
A dark-haired figure can be seen coming out of the library. He is speaking into a slender cellphone, is soft tenor voice light. "Yeah, I'm fine—no, I promise. Things are /fine/." He rolls his eyes to himself, snapping the phone shut, and heads in the general direction of the cafeteria, murmuring under his breath. Just muttering, nothing extraordinary. His phone is slid into a handy pocket, and the young man shifts the small backpack he carries on one shoulder, looking briefly at his watch.
Another figure was coming out of the library, as well, clutching a couple books against her chest, a small backpack on her back. She is also wearing a hoodie covering her head, but she seems distracted, as, while walking, she ends up accidentally bumping against Kyle's back, and, distracted, she yelps a bit before falling back on her behind.
Meanwhile, Jean just happens to be walking towards the library, backpack slung over her shoulder as she blinks over at the falling over Mercury, as well as Kyle. She moves a bit faster as she goes over towards the fallen girl, "Hey, you okay?"
Kyle feels someone collide with him, and blinks in surprise. Hand still in his pocket, he turns to offer an inquisitive glance towards Mercury. Not able to see her well with the hoodie in place, he nevertheless bends over, a hand outstretched as he asks, "Are you okay?" His light tenor voice trails off as he offers a hand up. "I'm sorry," he apologizes, "I was a bit distracted." Even if not his fault, that's manners. A slow grin, as he adds, voice light, "If I'd known I was going to bump into someone, I'd have worn something with more padding." This is, yes, humor, and at Jean's words, he glances towards the approaching girl and flashes a smile. "I'm Kyle," he says, the words a casual sort of introduction to both.
Cessily mentally curses herself. She should have more control over her equilibrium than that. But she just sighs, "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks." she says, and accepts the offered hand to stand up, even if she doesn't really need it. Standing up, though, causes the hoodie to fall back, revealing her hair, and her face, and the obvious features that brand her as a mutant. She was about to say something when Jean makes her presence known, "Oh, hey, Jean." she says, smiling, her books momentarily forgotten on the floor.
Jean grins over at Kyle, "Oh, hi Kyle, I'm Jean." She nods over at Cessily, "How have you been? I haven't seen you much since the other day." She doesn't seem to notice nor care about Cessily's obvious meta-appearance, as she gives Kyle another look, as if checking his reaction to her appearance.
Kyle is normal enough to be surprised, blinking briefly once again. Mutants are, after all, fairly rare. He doesn't seem bothered by her appearance, however; instead, he moves to help pick up the girl's books, sliding his own bag onto the ground in the process. Gathering the girl's books, he rises to his feet, offering the girl's books to her. He scoops up his bag in his other hand, sliding it back onto his shoulder. "Jean, huh? Nice to meet you. And you as well," This latter is to Cessily. Another smile is given, and he sends an inquisitive glance towards Cessily again.
Cessily looks to Jean and smiles a bit, "Oh, I'm doing alright. Got a job as a barista, of all things." she says, but then she notices too late her hood has fallen back, but now it was too late already. "Um… thanks." she says to Kyle as he retrieves her books, "I'm Cessily. It's nice to meet you as well, Kyle."
Jean nods over at Kyle, "Well, yes, Cessily and I went to school together, before coming to college here." She grins at Cessily, "And that's great news, how are you liking it so far?"
"Cool," Kyle says before grinning suddenly, "I worked as a barista for a time. It was more interesting than some jobs I've had. You get to meet a lot of people." He isn't one to be shy about making comments, idly lifting a hand and running it through his inky-dark hair, which consequently is slightly mussed. He glances towards Jean, "Oh? Cool. Where might that be, if I can ask? I'm from Los Angeles. North Hollywood, really," he adds with a shrug. His tone is casual, even as he glances between the girls.
Cessily smiles a bit, and she unconsciously also brings a hand to brush her bangs back, "It's.. alright, so far. Still getting the ropes." she says, shrugging a bit, "But the co-workers seem nice, amazingly enough." she explains, before looking at Kyle, "You mean where our school what?"
Jean grins, "Yeah, it's upstate New York, so not quite as far as California. Though California… wait, you were in LA and decided to come here?" She tilts her head, "No offense Kyle, but you didn't get hit on the head or anything, did you?"
[Public] Toad has disconnected.
"Yeah, I meant school. I wouldn't ask anything else." That'd be kind of rude, don't you think? "The hard part for me was when it was busy, I always wanted to get everyone done, and I felt a bit bad if people waited too long." A slight shrug is given, before offering Jean an amused smile, "Hey, that's not very nice." His voice is chiding, though it's obvious he's joking rather than seriously bothered by the comment. "I actually originally planned to attend NYU, but Gotham University offered me a really good scholarship. The city is a little crime-ridden…" Pause. "…okay, a lot at times, but there are some nice people here." He nods to Cessily and then Jean, "Like the two of you, of course." More light teasing.
Cessily giggles softly at that. She likes this Kyle, "Thank you. And yes, this place is pretty rough. To say the least." she nods, "But anyways, what are you majoring, Kyle?" she asks, before looking at her books, "You probably guessed already I'm majoring in P.E. since you took a look at my books." she smiles a bit.
Jean grins, "Sorry, but when I think about the sun of Los Angeles… hey, I'd stay there. But a full ride, that's pretty nice, it's what I'm doing here as well. Pre-psych." She chuckles, "And I can be a nice person, when I feel like it. Which is most of the time."
"I'm in the Art Department," Kyle answers Cessily. "I got a Bachelor's and am working on my Master's now. I focus on animation and graphic art, though I enjoy some of the other stuff, too." He shrugs a shoulder, "The usual art dork, when you get down to it." He doesn't particularly seem to be deprecating, his lips quirking into a smile, "Yeah, I noticed. You can do some good things with that. I used to know someone who was working on that as part of a degree program revolving around physical therapy." At Jean's words, he nods knowingly, "I see. I'll remember that." The latter bit, he means. Then, "Psychology, huh. Not really something I'm too familiar with, though I took an undergraduate course or two as an elective." Basic stuff in other words, the sort of thing you take to fulfill requirements. "I was always the one who did the background work when the teacher assigned labs and stuff." Drawing signs, creating dividers. What have you.
Cessily chuckles softly as she explains to Kyle, "She likes to get into people's head." Of course, she meant about the psychology part, but she is also aware and quite amused as she also has just described her schoolmate's powers, "It's a thing with her, I guess." she shrugs gently, smiling.
Jean sticks her tongue out at Cessily with that, "Well, I tend to be pretty good at it…" She then smiles and looks about to say something when her phone starts chirping. Blinking in surprise, she checks the message and then smiles over at the other two, "Blast, I have to run. But I'd love to talk another time Kyle." She smiles at Cessily, "See you around Cess." With that, she moves off, away from the library, waving at the other two as she does look decidedly distracted now.
"Should I be worried?" Kyle asks Cessily with a slight smile, shaking his head once. He's about to say more when Jean's phone rings. He lifts a hand towards her, saying, "Likewise. Have a good one." He turns towards Cessily, and idly runs fingers through his hair again, "So, where were you heading before I became a brick wall?" His words are light.
Cessily sticks her silvery tongue back at Jean in good humor before waving to her friend, "See ya, Jean. I'll see if I can drop by later this week." she says, before turning toward Kyle, "Hn? Oh, ah… I was about to head to the cafeteria, really. Eat something. How about you?" she asks, smiling again.
"I was heading in that direction too. Feeling too lazy to cook something at home, so I figured I'd get a burger." Kyle says with a slight shrug. "Not to mention I've got some work I need to do later on, so…" He trails off and asks, "Care to join me?" For the record, while he's friendly, he's not really flirtatious. He's just an extrovert at times. Sometimes not, but everyone's more complicated than they seem.
Cessily smiles mischievously and arches one eyebrow at Kyle, "You're paying then?" she says, before giggling softly, "I'm just kidding. Sure, we can talk more at the cafeteria." she nods, holding her books against her chest, "I have to ask something, though. Pretty sure you've been asked that a lot, by the way, but: do you have or work at a webcomic? Every artist that I've met around here works or has worked at some point for the internet."
"I'm an art dork." Pause. "Of /course/ I have a webcomic; it's called 'I Can Hear You'. It's about an alien who can't see and experiences the world through sound. I'm homaging stuff like Star Trek and Star Wars and other things." And also some of his experiences out there of late, but he's not going to -say- that. He chuckles, "I'd actually pay for you, but I'm a little short, I had to replace my printer recently, and color laser printers are a little expensive, it blew through my savings easy." When they arrive at the cafeteria, he opens the door, waiting for Cessily to precede him into the building.
Cessily oh's as she steps inside, "The story premise sounds interesting. The Alien is here in our world, or is it a sci-fi alien world of his?" she asks, walking alongside Kyle to a table. She sits on a chair and places her books on the table.
"Oh, it's likely our galaxy," Kyle explains as they head into the cafeteria. "I haven't decided whether to have him find Earth, though. Right now it's planet by planet. He rights wrongs, gets into trouble, and so on." The young man casually slides his backpack onto the back of the chair, "I know what I'm having. Nice burger with cheese fries." He glances towards the girl, "You?"
Cessily smiles, "Being unable to see must make those tasks quite daunting and challenging, to say the least." she giggles softly. Then when asked what she'll have to eat, she hmms softly, "I guess I'll have a burger, too, and maybe a coke to drink." she thinks, then nods, smiling.
"Well, he has senses, just different ones. A kind of sonar, for one. It leads itself well to a few odd situations, though, I admit," He says. "Like once, he had no idea about the concept of color, that made appearing in someone's court difficult." As he speaks, Kyle nods and gets up, heading to the counter. He speaks, gesturing with a hand, and then returns to the seat. "Should be soon, I guess," He says, leaning back. "So, what year are you?" He wonders curiously, "How long've you been attending?"
Cessily smiles and nods, "Still, I might check it out later, and see your art style." she says, giggling a bit. After Kyle goes and returns from the counter, she says, "I actually started this year, to be honest." she nods to that. "Still getting used to college life. It is… quite different from what I'm used to at my old school, that's for sure." she chuckles softly a bit at that.
"I can understand that. When I first started attending, it was really different, and I got into a little trouble before straightening out." Kyle says this with a touch of self deprecation, wrinkling his nose. "It's interesting living away from home, though. Can be tough if it's new. If not, though…" He trails off and shrugs. "I chose to attend on the East Coast specifically to live on my own. Not that I hate my mom or anything," he assures her, "Just wanted to be independent. 'sides, this way I pay my own way."
Cessily nods, smiling, "Well, how can I say this?" she hmms softly, "I didn't have much of a problem to leave my parents' home." she chuckles softly, and leaves it at that. "It does feel weird leaving all the teachers and schoolmates you met in high school, though." she says, before looking at the ring and arching one eyebrow at the ring, "Well, now that's a strange-looking ring. Saw a bit of those being sold by a street shop down the road. Cheap plastic, though. Yours seems better made, though." she says.
"I can understand that. My issue is, my mom always supported me by herself. I wanted to support myself, make things easier on her." He shrugs a shoulder. Glancing down at the ring with Cassily's words, Kyle shrugs again, offering a smile, "I found it when I was home last year. I liked the looks of it. It's not plastic, though." He wrinkles his nose, looking vaguely amused for some reason, before casually tapping his fingers with his thumb, one after another. Perhaps a nervous gesture.
Cessily nods, smiling, "My parents… were never really that supportive." she chuckles, then she glances again at the ring, lifting a hand a bit, "Hey, mind if I take a look, though? It looks quite nice, almost like glowing with the light." she says, and brings her hand forward to hold Kyle's hand if allowed. If the hands touch, Cessily's skin feels quite metallic, yet amazingly yield-y.
[Public] Katheryn has connected.
"Ah…" Kyle looks nonplussed, before shrugging, "Sure. It's not glowing, but is reflective." Luckily for him, he has the Lantern symbol facing down towards the inside of his hand, so it looks like just a band as she examines the ring. He doesn't take it off, though. He doesn't flinch away from her touch, remarkably calm about the situation. "I'm told it's an alloy. Nothing like gold or anything though."
Cessily smiles as she looks at the ring on Kyle's finger, "If it was gold I'd ask why the heck would you paint it green like that." she giggles, then oh's softly, "Something's under it…" She then giggles, "People usually wear the rings with their symbols or gems facing up, not down." she says, smiling and winking softly, "Still, it's quite nice. Very well made." she nods, then arches one eyebrow, smiling, "May I see the other side of the ring? Is it something embarrassing, like an inscription? Maybe from your mom?" she giggles softly.
Looking vaguely amused, Kyle says, "If it was gold, it'd be worth a bit of money, sadly. Sadly because I'd be tempted to sell it." He shrugs a shoulder, before considering. "You get used to it. I wear it like that because having the ring facing out when I'm working can lead to damage. Sometimes you forget, and something chips off and it has to be repaired. That's actually why it's like that now, you can take a look once I have the facing repaired." He grins, "Not my mom, no. Though I do have this from my mom," he leans forward, and slides a small pendant from his shirt. It's a Saint Michael's Medal, in case Cessily recognizes that sort of thing. He slips it off from around his neck, offering it to her to look at. On the back is a notation: K.R.
Cessily leans forward a bit to take a better look at the medal, "Oh, cool. It's a Saint Michael's medal, right?" she asks, reaching a hand to gently pick it up. After noticing the initials on the back of the medal, she looks back up at her companion, "Your initials?" she asks, "I mean, these letters here, 'K' and 'R'."
"Yep!" Kyle says easily enough, "Kyle Rayner, my full name. Well, my initials anyway. Usually, the medal has your initials or a short prayer or something on it. My mom went with my initials because I don't really attend church anymore." He shrugs his shoulders, "Still means a lot to me, she gave it to me a few months ago, not long after I graduated with my Bachelor's."
Cessily ah's and nods, "Cessily Kincaid." she says, feeling she could at least give her full name since the other guy is being quite forthcoming. "Pretty nice, I like it." she says as she hands the pendant back to Kyle, "All I got was a 'lousy t-shirt'." she giggles softly.
Kyle chuckles at this, before wrinkling his nose, sliding the pendant over his neck again and slipping it into his shirt. "I was surprised myself, mom saved for it. She said she thought I should have someone looking out for me, as she couldn't." He rolls his eyes at this, though it's obvious he's not actually bothered. He idly asks, "You're attending school for PE, you said? What's your goals? Physical therapy? Nutrition? Something else?"
Cessily nods softly, then at the question of why she's going through PE, she blinks softly, "Well… it's two reasons, really. Physical therapy sounds good, but I also wanted to learn more about how the human body works." she says, smiling as she arches one eyebrow, "For obvious reasons." she says, waving a metallic hand about for a bit.
"That makes sense," Kyle says with a smile, "I'd probably feel similarly, myself," he admits with a shrug. The young man is very careful not to pry, however. There's a difference between talkative and downright rude. He grins, "You'd be surprised how much you need to know to be able to draw someone well. Or know how to draw someone artistically and not realistically, depending on what you're doing. But that's just the exterior, ask me about the inside, and … I have nothing." He rubs the side of his nose, before leaning back against his chair.
Cessily nods, smiling, "Mine… is a bit different than that." she says as she extends her index finger forward, and the tip thins out and reshapes itself into the end of a key. "So I was hoping to use that knowledge to improve on the knowledge of my own body, so to speak." and her body changes back to normal. "Can't exactly hide like this." she chuckles.
He can't help it. Kyle blinks, "That is really cool," he observes. "What else can you do?" A pause, "Er, sorry." He looks embarassed, "That was probably rude, I wasn't trying to be," he assures her. "I bet that's tough," He adds after a moment, "I considered minoring in biology and stuff, but I took a look at what they had you do and couldn't." He looks embarassed, "I don't like dissections."
Cessily chuckles softly, and she flexes said finger after reshaping it back to normal. "I can do more, yes." s he says, smiling, but leaves it at that. Mystery. "But it's ok, it's the kind of question one is expected to hear when demonstrating abilities. I bet people would ask you the same thing if you had, for example, the ability to make stuff appear out of thin air." she says.
Shaking his head slightly, Kyle says to her, "I suppose. Still kind of rude to ask right out. Especially on a first meeting!" He chuckles softly, and is about to say more when he pauses as his phone rings. He pulls it out, and flips it open. "On the subject of mothers, this is mine. I should take the call," he tells the girl with a smile. "I will see you later, I'm sure? If you want to contact me, just use my email. You can find it off my webcomic." This last bit is said with a touch of humor. As he speaks, he slips to his feet.
Cessily was going to say something but the phone takes priority. She nods when Kyle says he needs to take the call, just as the orders arrive. Lookit that. "Oh, he'll take it to go." Cessily tells the waitress after accepting her meal. "Thanks." she says, then waves to Kyle, "We'll talk more later, thanks for the chat."