April 14th (sheistimeless) wrote in schisms, @ 2019-04-19 21:01:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !character: april parker, !character: makai nemmoch, !complete |
Who: April & Makai
What: Lost and Found
When: Saturday March 16, mid-morning
Where Times Square and beyond
Rating: Low
Status: Complete
April was on a mission. After looking up a few places online, she found a store that she wanted to go to in search of the perfect present for her brother. His birthday was coming up soon and she wanted to surprise him, but they tended to things like go shopping together. So today, April ventured off on her own. Things were going well until the subway broke down and she had to get off at a different stop. Walking up the steps from underground, Apri emerged in the already crowded Times Square and glanced around to orient herself. She knew this area better than she thought, she just needed a moment or two to think.
---
Makai knew the subway would have been the best way around the city. It could be suffocating taking it for the boy. The strong smells, perfumes, and cologne surrounded his gills and made him cough until he could get out. So, he tried to walk as much as possible.
Sure, everyone told him to use maps on his phone, but phones did not like him and the low electrical transmitters in his cells from his abilities could interfere at times with the gps. But then, Makai took their jabs at him with a light heart. They wouldn't know and it might seem like a strange thing someone his age without a nose to their screens.
Gaze up towards the large screens on the tall buildings, Makai did not see where he was going until he almost hit someone and in his embarrassment a shock of electricity sparked between him, his phone and the next closest person. “Oh! I'm so sorry!”
----
April saw the man moving towards her, but she often got walked into by accident, so she didn’t think much of it. When you were petite, it was easy to be overlooked. Even easier when she was smaller than that. Luckily, it was not the case now and she dodged the potential collision easily. But that spark, she noticed. And it was a little confusing.
She was staring at the man, and then his phone, and then back up to him when the apology finally registered. Offering her usual, friendly smile, she waved a little hand dismissively. “Oh! It’s okay. No harm done.”
--
Pushing back his long black hair, he tied it back, low on his neck, with the scrunchy around his wrist. He did not have to look at his phone to know it had sputtered out of life. Still, Makai smiled back, his grin wide and overly friendly.
“Are you sure? I have a habit of breaking phones… you might want to check yours. If I'd broken it I'd want to at least try to help replace it.” Not that he had a lot of money. Most of his own went toward rent, eating, and fixing his own phone.
---
“Breaking phones how?” April was confused, and still trying to figure out if that little zap she saw was a figment of her imagination or real. Digging into her bag, she pulled out her phone and, as predicted, it didn’t seem to be working. “How did you know?”
--
Makai's heart sank. The only real friends he had made on campus had been students good at fixing his phone. But maybe it was not all too bad. There was a chance it just needed to be restarted. The shock had not been from the source.
“Oh god, I'm so sorry. Uh, I don't really have any money right now, but we could see if it could be fixed.” He posed his lips together. The grin had fallen from his face, worry etching into his young face.
“Experience?” He offered as an explanation. “I am part electric eel.” He said quieter. Not because he was embarrassed by his abilities, but because it hurt her phone.
---
April wasn’t all that worried about her phone. While she used it to text and call, she wasn’t nearly as attached to it as some people seemed to be. It sucked that it didn’t seem to work, but her life wasn’t over. The only person who would really upset by it would be her brother, since he was always trying to keep an eye on her.
Seeing the man’s smile fade, April felt badly. She gave him a reassuring smile and shook her head. “I’m sure it can be fixed. It’s no big deal. It was… an accident?” She still wasn’t 100% on it, but it definitely did not seem intentional.
“You’re…” April looked at the guy like he was crazy. Even if he was being honest, which she assumed he was, that didn’t seem like something to just say out loud in public. “What?”
--
“Yes, I’m just really not use to big cities at all. Been here since january and I… can’t get use to it.” He scratched the back of his head. The friendly grin from at first came back in a softer manner.
Black eyes looked around before looking back to her. A self-conscious grin that was partly a way to distract in conversation pulled across his lips. “Uh.. Sorry. Yeah.” Makai laughed. He had to remember that it was not normal for people to talk about their abilities openly, especially in the city. His entire life he really did not have to keep his abilities a secret because there were not many people on the island to know.
“I… can create electricity. Sometimes if I get flustered it goes off and sometimes I change colours…” He offered with a shrug, looking down at his hands. “I really would like to make sure your phone is okay…”
---
April offered him a small smile and nodded in understanding. “I get it. I’ve been here for years and still get lost sometimes. Too many times! It’s hard to get used to a place that’s always so busy.” She was curious what brought him here, but didn’t ask just yet.
When he made his confession, April’s eyes went wide and she looked around quickly, mostly to make sure no one else overheard. Stepping closer to him, she spoke in a hush. “You should be careful about saying stuff like that! Some people can be really mean about it.” Obviously April wasn’t one of them.
Since he looked so upset, she handed over her phone for him to check out, not really sure how or where to get it fixed. “You can if you want, but I’m not very worried about it.”
--
Makai blinked, stepping back slightly at her hushed tones. Brows raised innocently as if someone had just told a puppy no. “Mean about it? You wanted to know why, though.” Makai was obviously not from the city and might have felt like a step out of touch with politics at all. One of his classmates once said that he had to have been living on the bottom of the ocean to not realize that danger he could be in just for being him.
“Oh, I didn’t mean me look at it. If I could figure out how to get back to campus I have some friends that fix mine all the time. Or we can go to a shop…” Makai pressed his lips together. Usually, he was more relaxed than this. He just felt so bad about even giving off a shock that it had flustered him. Dark blues swept across his cheeks through to his hairline.
“I’m Makai.”
---
April felt badly when Makai stepped back. She didn’t mean to invade his personal space. She was just trying to help but it only led to further misunderstanding. Biting her lower lip, trying again. “I know, I’m sorry. It’s just that some people here can be not so nice about that stuff so I wanted to warn you. No one really warned me in the beginning but then again I didn’t really understand it all back then.”
“What campus do you need to get to?” April didn’t know a lot about the schools in the city, but she knew enough to get them started in the right direction. At least she thought she did.
When he introduced himself, April gave him a big smile and offered her hand in greeting. “I’m April, it’s very nice to meet you.”
—
“It’s not like they need to fear me. I work as a merman show for the Aquarium, people come in and see me all the time.” Makai believed in the goodness of people. There might have been people out there trying to rob others or what have you, but he believed that they just thought there was no other way. They needed to see more goodness to believe they could be good.
“Uh, Queens College?” His black eyes glanced up to the large screens that indicated they were in Time Square. He had definitely went the wrong direction. One would think any of the fish-like abilities he had would give him some kind of sense of direction. In the ocean it was easier, less electrical interference with his senses- or so he would guess.
Her smile made him smile again. “Nice to meet you too. Do you go to school around here?”
---
April shrugged a little but gave Makai a smile. People didn’t need to fear her either, but her brother had warned her to be very very careful around people because they would go after her due to her abilities. “That sounds like a fun job. What’s it like to work at the Aquarium?”
Apri didn’t know much about that particular school, but it sounded like one they might be able to find easily enough by just asking someone who looked like they knew where they were going. “Maybe we can ask a police officer or someone for directions?”
At his question, April shook her head quickly. “No. I used to go to Julliard, but now I’m just working at the ballet.”
---
“Wet,” Makai joked. His grin going ear to ear, now that she was not hurried about getting him to not talk about his abilities in public. “I could not ask for a better part-time job in this city.” His eyes sparkled slightly at the joy he felt when thinking about his current job. Many might say that he was a freak on display, but that was not the case in his own mind.
“Oh, right. I get people telling me to just use my phone a lot when I ask for directions.” He gave a soft laugh and shrugged. No one knew that he had trouble with it, so that was all he could do with the suggestion. He made it the best he could.
“Ballet?! I love dance. It was my second choice if I hadn’t gotten into a marine biology program back home.” Of course, his abilities paved the way for his decision. He could help the oceans far better than most. No need to worry about oxygen devices or high pressure from deep in the sea. The powers that be created him in such a way that he knew what he should do.
---
April giggled at the joke. She didn’t always get things like that right away, but this time she lucked out. She smiled, it was nice to hear how happy Makai was about his job.
Wrinkling her nose, April nodded in understanding. She often got told to use her phone for things, which was still weird to her. If she wanted to use her phone, why would she talk to someone in person? Maybe that was the point, they didn’t want to talk to her.
“Really? That’s so cool. Where is home?” She liked learning about people, and she was happy to be meeting yet another really nice person in such a short amount of time.
---
“Lānaʻi-” He paused, shaking his head. “It’s an island of Hawaii” There had been countless mainland people that had no idea what the islands of Hawaii were called so tended to give him strange looks when he gave his answer.
Makai too loved meeting people. People made him happy and connected. His favourite thing in life was hanging out in large groups just listening to people talk around him. Makai did not need to speak a lot just to enjoy interactions.
---
April did not recognize the name at first, but then when he clarified she brightened. “Hawaii? Really? I’ve heard it’s beautiful there! What brought you to New York?” April couldn’t imagine trading living somewhere like an island to come to a big city like this. Then again, she loved where she grew up and ended up here too.
She studied Makai for a moment before looking around. Spotting a man in uniform, the tiny blonde hurried over to him, asking for directions to Queens College. It was a short conversation, but April returned to Makai triumphant. “I think I know where to go!”
--
“Well, I wanted to see how big cities worked, there’s good surfing not far from here, and I had several choices for where to take my masters.” Makai knew that everyone wanted that which they did not have. Warm weather, tropical location was a vacation for mainland people. It was home for him and it was not always the luxury that one saw in their tourist brochures. Life could be hard for islands in the middle of the ocean. Tsunamis, Hurricanes, freak snow storms hitting the mountains, volcanoes, natural disasters did not skip them just because the photos were beautiful.
“I just wanted to experience something different,” he admitted happily.
Watching her run off to speak with a police officer, Makai did not move from the spot she had left him. His gaze moving over the crowds of people and cars and sounds. It could be overwhelming and the fumes from traffic was starting to get to him. A sigh of relief escaped when she came back. “Yeah? You’re coming with me?” He asked innocently. “I don’t want to keep you from wherever you were going.”
---
April bounced on her toes and nodded with a smile. “Of course I’m coming with. If I can, I mean. Is that okay? I should have asked. And no, no! I wasn’t doing anything important. Just shopping, or trying to! It can wait for later.”
April was always up for an adventure, and she very well couldn’t let Makai go off and get lost again. Although now she was second guessing whether or not he really needed to get back to campus or not. He would clarify, if she was wrong.
--
He adored that she was bouncing with excitement. Considering he had accidentally shocked her and her phone, it was nice to have someone being so helpful to him. Even though she seemed very put off by him talking openly about his abilities, she had accepted help and helping him very quickly. Makai was starting to learn that that usually meant they were mutants also, but he never pushed because just that reason of why she gave him warning.
“Yeah!” He brushed a loose hair behind his ear- a thoughtless gesture that he had a habit of doing. “No, I would love the company. I kind of get lost super easy, if that’s not obvious.” Makai's utter trust in people had yet to fail him. Scientifically he could come up with several reason he had a habit of getting turned around relating to his mutations- mostly though, he realized he got distracted easily by the sights and sounds of the city.
“And, it shouldn’t take too long to get your phone fixed. My friends are use to my phones, which are probably worse off normally.”
---
April was only cautious because of the daily warnings and horror stories her brother told her. She didn’t know if Makai had someone looking out for him in that way. If she’d know how off putting it had been, she’d be way more apologetic.
April laughed and shrugged. “Hopefully, together we can keep our directions straight. At least to get us there!”
She waved a hand with a smile. “I’m not worried about time, I was just going off shopping. It can wait.”
__
No one looked out for Makai. At least, he did not have brothers or sisters to give him warnings about the outside world. He had cousins, would were as close as brothers, but his parents never had any other children. Makai did appreciate that strangers cared so much to give their warnings, but at times he wondered if such warnings stopped them from just living.
“Okay. As long as I’m not interfering,” he laughed softly. Gesturing out in front of him, he bowed to her directional sense and ability to remember the directions that had been given to her. Eventually they’d make it to their destination.
“So where are you from?”
---
Proud to be able to do something with relative independence, April happily lead the way, tiny form weaving through the crowd but making sure not to lose Makai in the process.
Once they were out of the thick of the crowd, she responded to his question with a bright smile. “Memphis, Tennessee. Not as impressive as Hawaii, but it’s home. And pretty well known for the music scene.”
—
“Hawaii isn’t all that impressive when it is just home.” He chuckled. Other than being surrounded by ocean and having a low population and mostly dirt roads, Makai did not see it as having been very different than anyone from a small town. Sure there was a different culture to living on an island than on the mainland. Everyone came to them for tourism and the family connections might have been stronger than most, but every life in every town all over the world had its own unique nature that made it amazing.
“What’s it like living in that city? Is it like New York?” Makai had a lot of questions about life in other towns in the US. Again, because living on an island was different than mainland, it all intrigued him. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to make it where there wasn’t a lot of water though. It would feel unnatural.
---
April shook her head no, her eyes wide. “No, not at all. It’s not nearly as big or crowded, but we do get a lot of tourists. Living just outside those parts is nice, a lot slower pace and more relaxed than here.”
Her pace was slower now, watching him as they walked and talked.
—
“Oh!” He smiled. “I can understand being away from the many tourists parts.” Makai looked around them as they went, but never kept his attention too much away from his new friend.
“We have two hotels on our island, with golf courses for some big business that owns the property, so most of us live as far away from those as possible- not that that is very far compared to anything here.” It was all funny in a way. The strange perspective changes from small to large. New Yorkers knew their city was large- he was sure- but did they really understand the size if they had spent their life there and not in a small town in the middle of nowhere.
“Hey, when’s your next performance? I wouldn’t mind seeing a ballet… as long as the tickets aren’t too expensive.” He shrugged. “You’d be surprised how much money I have to dump into my phone for fixing.”
---
April listened intently, nodding as Makai explained. She imagined how stressful it must be to live in a tourist spot like that.
When he asked about the performance, April brightened with another little bounce. “Not till May, but I can get you tickets if you like. They give me a certain amount each season, but I think my brother is tired of the ballet by now.”
—
“Tickets? I wouldn’t want to take tickets from you or your brother. Family is important to share your passions with. I can try to pay for them myself. Work as an abstract nude model for the art department,” he joked, but blushed at the same time- the reds, purpls, and blues like a soft wave of water over his features.
No matter if her brother were tired of the performances or not, Makai held family in very high esteem. He missed his own. His parents, his grandparents, every soul that lived on his island, they were all family and had all been excited for his own adventure. Makai still wished someone could have come with him so he could have a coral reef to protect him.
----
April laughed a little, hoping he was joking. But she also just waved a hand. “It’s no problem, really. They give us a few tickets to most performances, so I know there’s bound to be a few that go to waste. So you should totally take them!” She noticed the change in his features and quirked a brow, but knew it would be rude to point it out.
April adored her brother, but he was far too overprotective for her liking. She knew it was part of the deal, her parents wouldn’t have allowed her to move to New York on her own without her brother keeping an eye on her. But sometimes, she wished he allowed her a little more freedom, despite his best intentions.
---
Makai could not help the excitement that painted across his face. To be able to see a professional performance was more than he could have imagined. It was expensive to get tickets for anything in the large, high-end city. “If you’re sure…” He chewed back the excitement for a moment before a grin spread ear to ear. “That would be amazing. Would I be able to visit you after the show or would that be too much? Would that be weird, since we just met and I broke your phone?”
Makai pushed back some of the long hair that fell into his face. His mind wandering over what one was supposed to wear to shows like that? Did he have anything nice? Lost in a moment of thought, Makai nearly stepped out into traffic.
---
April nodded confidently. “I am sure. And of course you can come back stage after the show, if you want to. I can introduce you to some of the other dancers too.” April figured it would be more exciting to meet some of the others, she didn’t think she was all that special in comparison to them. It was nice to have a new friend interested in her work though, and want to know more about it. “It would totally not be weird at all. You’re nice. And nice people make the best kind of friends. Broken phones or not.”
April looked ahead as they walked. Noticing that he forged ahead when he shouldn’t, April reached a hand out to grab Makai’s arm before he stepped into danger. “Careful!”
--
A stronger spark of electricity flowed over Makai’s skin. Her hand grabbing him from near death set off the instinctive reaction, but he pulled his arm away from her grasp before too much could be done. Being out on the town made him realize he needed to focus more on controlling his reactions- but that was the hard thing right? They were reactions, not to be controlled. “Sorry! Sorry…” His cheeks changed a rainbow of colours again. The honking of the car horns bringing him back to the present as much as her.
Stopping at the side of the road, Makai’s brows furrowed in embarrassment. “I’m not used to so many… things.”
---
April jumped at the shock, blinking in surprise. She felt warm and tingly, her heart was racing, and there was a strange taste in her mouth. She frowned a little, bit she could tell from Makai’s expression that it hadn’t been intentional.
Moving a little away from the crowd with him, April nodded in understanding. Her heart was still beating fast, and it took a lot for her to stay in her present form when her body was telling her to shift and flee. Taking a deep breath, she ran a hand back through her hair, the touch inadvertently changing blonde locks to deep auburn. “I understand. Maybe we should take a cab to your school? That’s a little less overwhelming. Sometimes.”
—
Makai blinked. Stopped in his footsteps. His mouth open as if to say something but his brain was still processing. Mutant abilities usually did not give him pause, but it had been so subtle and might not have been entirely noticed by most guys. Or ever fully processed by them. His stun wore off and a large grin spread over his features pressing up his high cheekbones. “You can change colour too?”
It was an exciting concept that he completely did not hear what she had offered as an alternative to their relatively long walk. She would be the second person who manipulated colours of things that he met and it was a strange sort of enjoyable overlap.
----
April had no idea what Makai was talking about at first. Confused, she looked down at herself, not noticing any difference in her appearance. But how did he know? She must have changed something without realizing it. Biting her lower lip, she looked back up to him and shrugged. “Um… sort of.”
Uncomfortable talking about it out in the open like this, she moved to the curb again to hail a cab for them. She’d discuss it more with him once they could talk alone.
--
“Sort of?” He asked, not really sure what she meant. Her hair had changed colour. That was colour changing to him. Makai knew she had just yelled at him about talking in public about his abilities, but he did not understand how she could be so private about them. The cab pulled up for them, allowing them to climb in the back before he asked where they were going.
“Queens College? Once there I can figure out what building my friends are in. They rarely leave their engineering room.” Makai answered with a grin. He tried to stay positive even to strangers. Cab drivers were no different in his book, though they all tended to be gruff- or so from what he had interacted with.
---
Once the cab pulled off to their destination, April looked to Makai and spoke soft enough that the driver probably couldn’t hear them. “I can change my hair color, or eye color. Or skin color, I suppose, but I never tried. I can change the way I look completely. And I can change my age.” She wasn’t sure how he would take it, so she paused there for his reaction.
--
Makai’s eyes shone with amazement. Sure, he changed colours and essentially was part sealife, but he would never stop being amazed at the gifts others had. The world was full of wondrous things and everyone tried to hide just how unique and amazing they were because of hatred. It was sad.
“That’s awesome.” He kept his voice down for her sake. He could be excited and not loud about something when the other felt uncomfortable about it. “So…. how old are you? Is this the original you or who you wanted to be?” He paused. “Are those too personal of questions? You don’t need to answer them if you don’t want to.” He absently pushed his hair behind his ear.
----
Looking to the driver, April frowned a little. The question was to be expected, and Makai wasn’t the first to ask. But it always made her feel like people didn’t trust her because she could change so easily. But in her opinion, she was always herself on the inside no matter what the outside looked like. “This is original me.” She took a moment to find the lock of hair she’d changed color and return it to the original blonde. “I don’t tell people because then they get the wrong idea. I’ve never used it to trick anyone or anything like that.”
---
“It’s just a part of you. I wouldn’t assume that you would use it to trick just anyone.” He smiled at her, to see her change the hair back was exciting. Holding his hand out to her at lap level, Makai changed the texture and colour of the skin.
“I guess if I tried harder, I’d be able to similar things.” He shrugged. The cab ride was far quicker than walking would have been, and while Makai enjoyed the exercise of walking. The ride was allowing a moment to get to know April better.
“I’m more prone to tropical colours, though.”
---
The cab was pulling to a stop outside of their location when Makai showed her his hand. Looking at it closely with a blink, she smiled a little and carefully touched the skin to notice the change in texture. “Why tropical colours?” Shaking her head, she quickly paid the cab driver and then grabbed his hand to tug him out of the back seat with her. “Wait, we can talk about it later. Let’s see if we can find your friends to fix my phone first.”
---
Makai laughed as he was pulled out of the car, waving goodbye to the cab driver as if they had just become friends the way he had with April. “I like blending in with my home environment in the ocean.” He explained as they started walking towards the engineering building.
“I’m sure they’ll be there and we can get everything fix. I really am sorry about this, but I’ve very happy that we met, all the same.” Pulling the door open, he gestured for her to go in. Sure his friends were going to be there, he had no problem directing her to their own little corner of campus.
---
Shaking her head, April gave Makai a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, really. I’m sure it will all work out, and now we’ve both made a new friend because of it!” She let him lead the way, trying to remember all of her power questions for later when they could have a more open discussion about it.