Who: Kat and Caspian What: Random coffee encounter Where: Manhattan When: Thursday February 7th Ratings/warnings: medium for mind control
Caspian limited his time out in public for various reasons. He was a wanted criminal in New York under various aliases - each time his mother telephoned frantic from having heard something arise he made the trip to Albany to wipe her memory before any law enforcement could get to the family home and inquire. She had been through enough with his father (before Caspian erased and replaced certain aspects of his mind as well) that she deserved some peace of mind when it came to her son. He did his best to be cautious and careful when out and about for every day reasons.
Today he had stopped on a whim to get coffee.
Avoiding the larger chain stores like Starbucks, he stepped in to a smaller place that was no less fragrant or welcoming than the big box place. The buzz of conversation here was slight; typically those that came to smaller places like these were ones seeking refuge from louder, more crowded venues and so the talking was minimal. Not that he minded at all.
In one corner were two young women playing a board game across a larger table. Two tables over an older gentleman with an espresso cup was lounging behind a laptop. Some with textbooks and notepads, backpacks, sat sprawled across a couch and the floor studying.
He was grateful for the lack of attention from anyone besides the clerks.
The line was small. Two people stood in front of him.
Rows of pre-bagged beans of coffee lined festive barrels around the counter, chilled goods on par with Starbucks sat merrily in the cooler and beyond the clerk were rows of similar bags of coffee and various mugs which could be purchased as gifts.
Phone in hand, Caspian was busy browsing through a few things idly as he waited on his turn to order.
It was a wet day in the city so Kat hadn’t taken any chances with going out in human form, but had rolled out with her ‘chair’ instead. She’d had a meeting earlier that morning with one of her financial advisors, one different from those her grandparents used in that he was a mutant and had a focus on businesses that were openly pro mutant rights or owned by mutants. It was important to her to try and support those businesses where it made sense - she wasn’t going to toss money into a venture that obviously wasn’t going to go anywhere - and could provide a good return on the investment. That was something she’d call a ‘win-win’.
Feeling a need for caffeine and a cookie she’d stopped at a nearby coffee shop afterwards and had waited patiently in line for her turn. When the woman in front of her stepped away with her order she made to move forward, but found herself pushed aside and nearly toppled by the large man who’d been behind her. If not for the wall she probably would have fallen out of her chair. “Hey! What’s the big idea?”
“Know your place, fishy.” The line jumper snarked and she felt her face heat up as the barista smirked at the comment and took his order ahead of hers.
She stared at the barista behind the counter as she handed the man his change. “Really? You saw what he did and you went ahead and served him anyway?” What was this, Alabama?
The barista huffed. “Honestly, what’s the big deal?” She preferred serving humans over freaks anyway, and if this one wanted to complain she’d kick her out.
“Yeah fishy,” the big man taunted, leering at her “What’s the big deal? Are you on break from the aquarium or something?”
She was so very tempted to wipe that smirk off his face and leave him a drooling vegetable. She could do it. But it wouldn’t solve anything and she still wouldn’t get her coffee. But she could scare him a little couldn’t she?
Be careful ape or you’ll be the one at the zoo in the monkey house slinging your own shit. She sent with a sweet smile, and the man’s face turned pale. Now take your coffee and get out before I change my mind.
He had been expecting coffee, not a show.
With mild interest Caspian lifted his head and his eyes found the scene unraveling before him unexpectedly. It was with a bit of shock that he observed the conversation between the three of them - the barista, the line jumping man, and the woman in the chair who seemed vaguely familiar. No matter who you were or what the situation was, in his opinion you never treated a woman with such blatant disregard. His phone went into the depths of his jacket pocket and his eyes narrowed a touch.
Being a telepath he picked up on snippets of thought here and there from the involved parties and while some of the bits he was helping himself to were unsavory and directed towards the lovely redhead, he couldn’t help the urge to chime in a bit without asking first. That was not how he conducted himself in situations however this was not something that could be taken lightly.
“Excuse me, if I might be so bold,” Caspian piped up, words emitted in a low growl which would insinuate how absolutely done he was with this particular situation.
When the line jumper looked up to see who had dared chime in Caspian only grinned a touch. It was then the gentleman who was so rude began to spill his beverage down his own front, the piping hot liquid doing the damage it was designed to do when it met tender skin. Only a blank look was seen as this action was performed and Caspian stood there patiently until the entire cup had been emptied.
“Now, why don’t you apologize to this young woman who you have so ungraciously disturbed with your stupidity?” Caspian breathed. The blankness began to recede some from the eyes of the line jumping man.
And that was when Caspian turned to the barista with the same look, “And you….” he began.
The barista threw up her hands as if to ward off whatever power the man had, and Kat watched as the line jumper started screaming at the burns he’d suffered. “Whatever you want!” The barista cried “just don’t hurt me!”
Aware that they were now the center of attention in the shop, Kat decided she’d lost her desire for coffee. She’d just wanted to scare the guy a little, not cause him actual harm, then the other man had stepped in. Obviously he was a mutant too. “I’ve changed my mind and won’t be getting anything, but thank you.” The girl would think twice about making fun of people who were different in the future, of that Kat was certain.
She made a slight movement with her tail and her chair turned around so she could leave the shop. “I appreciate the help, sir, thank you.” But I had it under control she wanted to say, but settled for a slight frown and troubled eyes instead.
Outwardly he would have appeared calm, perhaps a bit agitated. Inside he was boiling at the situation and fortunately it was he who had stumbled upon it considering that the others in Chrysalis would have left no survivors. He considered her pleas, the way her hands went up and he sighed hard but turned away. Perhaps the lesson was learned. He wasn’t in the business of mercy necessarily, Angel would have probably been disappointed to know that he’d let this one live but his interest had waned.
The way the woman swiveled in her chair was noted, it seemed abrupt, not casual the way one would suspect at the conclusion of the transaction.
Her words flashed through his mind the way anyone else’s would and he felt a touch of amusement. She called that controlling a situation? Hardly. A bit of fright was good for a child to experience, adults needed utter fear otherwise the lesson was lost upon them.
That tail was intriguing. So many uses could be had with it and why was she so damned familiar? “You are welcome then.” It was all of the reply she would get just now. He was still interested in the coffee that he’d come for but likely this place would be crawling with those who opposed so the thing to do would be to cover his tracks.
A glance around and each person in the shop no longer recalled ever seeing either of them, the incident, or anything really out of the usual at all. All except for the woman in the chair, he decided that wiping her mind was rude considering she was also a mutant like he was. And familiar didn’t always mean incapable.
She realized her shields weren’t as tight as she normally kept them when she felt his mind brush against hers, and fixed that little problem right then and there. When she’d gotten flustered she must have let them slip, control was something she was still working on sometimes. Green eyes narrowed a little as Kat noticed the man look from person to person, and each suddenly acting as if they weren’t there.
Considering what had happened and that she didn’t want the gossip mags hearing about how ‘out of control’ or ‘dangerous’ she had been from a normie’s point of view she’d let it go. It still left a bad taste in her mouth.
Should she stay or should she go? She hadn’t run into a new telepath in a while and Kat had to admit, she was curious.
When he felt comfortable that no one in the place would recall the incident - even the barista had seemed to mellow out - Caspian bypassed the woman in the chair and anyone else there in his approach of the counter.
“Just a small drip coffee, if you’d please,” he said to the young woman. And then he turned to peer over at the woman in the chair. “Are you sure you’re not interested in a beverage, my treat and all.” His way of making it up to her, his part in the ordeal.
He turned back to the barista, completed the transaction as if this was all perfectly normal and once he’d put his wallet back into his pocket Caspian stepped aside to wait for his drink to appear.
Kat hesitated, then decided to accept his offer. She still felt bad for the burned man as she hadn’t planned on anything so severe, but he’d already run from the store to get to a clinic. Nobody remembered what had happened so there was no sense throwing a fit.
“I’ll have a medium mocha please.”
The barista had taken their orders and turned away to prepare the drinks. Caspian cast a glance about at the mellowed coffee shop which seemed to be back at functioning order in spite of the wrinkle of upset. His eyes went to the woman in the chair.
“Mocha? That sounds fancy,” he commented lightly as if his role in the ordeal had been minuscule at best. Conversation was always a good idea when you were waiting for something. Focus was good.
She was quite lovely now that he was able to get a good look at her. The tail made him curious though he kept any thoughts that might pop up to himself considering the fact that they shared a common ability.
“Forgive my saying this, but you are so lovely. Your tail, especially. My daughter would love to meet you, she would say you are a princess.” The strange woman reminded him of a fairytale about a mermaid.
“Thank you.” She couldn't hide the smile. Getting complimented on her tail never got old even if it was a royal pain sometimes getting around on land like this. “How old is your daughter? I do get that a lot from little girls. I think it's the Ariel effect because of my red hair.” With golden scales on her tail and modern clothes for the upper body instead of seashells she didn't think she looked much like the animated character.
“She is eight,” Caspian replied, warmly. He wasn’t always such a bad apple and for whatever reason he’d clung to more of the old-fashioned ways of thinking and carrying himself. Rudeness was not tolerable in any sense.
When their drinks appeared he thanked the barista and offered the woman with the tail her beverage first before taking his own.
“Ariel, that is the name I was having trouble recalling.” He snapped his fingers lightly, a common gesture of remembrance, and he nodded. “Little Mermaid or something. Caitlyn used to wear the tapes out when she was little, always Ariel and Wendy from Peter Pan.”
“The Little Mermaid was a favorite of mine when I was a little younger than that.” Kat confessed with red cheeks. “Of course that was before I had this happen.” It caused her to glance down at her tail, swaddled in it's protective sheath to keep it warm and damp.
She extended a hand. “Katherine Donniger.”
So he’d been in the vein of correctly identifying the movie. The color in her cheeks was met with a warm smile and a nod. Caspian took a careful sip from his beverage, delighted by the taste of the warm brew and its rich flavor. When his mouth was empty he peered down at her tail. What a plight to have befall you.
“This is not your normal state of being, then? If you don’t mind my prying.” By the way she had worded the last comment he suspected that legs had once been where scaly tail now was.
At the band Caspian extended his own and shook gentle. “I am humbled to meet you, Katherine. Caspian Finn, at your service.” He kept his voice down though none were paying them any mind anyway. Once the shake had concluded he let her hand go.
“It is now.” Kat told him. “But I was born looking like everyone else, the tail didn't happen until I was ten.” He was a mutant, she was sure he could figure out the rest. She decided against letting him know she could shift for short periods, the likelihood of running into him again was slim after all.
“Pleased to meet you Caspian.” It wasn't completely true but she could fake it well enough. The earlier incident would stay with her for a while, and it colored her opinion of him just a bit.
He nodded at her story, absorbing the words she spoke. What a beautiful tragedy that was. He didn’t have to guess that her life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows with such a thing to bear but she seemed to be getting along well enough.
The idea that she was both a mermaid and a mutant of mental prowess was tucked away in the sheath of his mind for exploration later. Prospecting for recruitment was never a job that had a conclusion.
“Why are you familiar outside of your tail?” There was something there nagging, begging to be explored.
Kat couldn’t help the eye roll at that question, or the small sigh. “Probably for a couple reasons. First, my manifestation was very public, and the government locked me away at a black site for a couple years while my grandparents fought in court to get me back. It was in all the papers at the time. Second, since I’ve been an adult I’ve been in the tabloids and gossip sites now and then. There are people out there fascinated with ‘the mermaid mutie’ and pictures of me show up.” It was a very brief description of what had been going on with her, but it got the point across.
And there was the mutant rights work she was starting to do, but that was new enough she doubted he would know her from that.
That eye roll and sigh combination was curious. It was possible she received that sort of question a lot though his was genuine. Caspian did not have social media, he did not watch much television nor did he use his mobile device that much. So what news he gleaned came from outside sources: articles, magazines, word of mouth. It was funny what regular people talked about in public with no shame at all. All you had to do was listen. It helped, too, that he could read minds though that was a different cat inside of a bag all together and he refrained from doing it.
After the description of her story Caspian experienced a moment of ah. He had heard about her. It made him no less happy to know it had been she who had experienced those things but it made sense.
“Ah, I see. I am sorry that those things happened to you, and that they are still occurring. It’s an awful thing being put into such a spotlight as if we are but circus animals or exotic creatures at the zoo for display. They forget we are people, too.” History repeated itself and that was the reality of it.
“Please do not let me keep you from where you intended to go once you had your coffee.” She had probably been on the way some place else when the ordeal in here erupted and who was he to keep her on account of a bit of a chat about things she probably didn’t feel up to speaking about.
“They do sometimes.” Kat agreed, though she’d seen enough in society circles to know it wasn’t unique to her. All the targets had one thing or another that made them stand out, hers was just a little more extreme. “It comes with the territory of being out in public in New York I guess.”
She took a sip of her coffee and enjoyed the taste before checking her watch. Thankfully she’d come for coffee after her appointment, but that didn’t mean she had no more plans for the day. “I’m afraid I will have to be going if I want to get where I need to be on time. Thank you for the coffee.” Kat didn’t want to offend the man, but she would be glad to put the whole mess behind her.
Fortune favored those who could conceal what they could do. Her situation might not have been unique but it was in the fact that he had yet to experience anyone else who sported the tail of a mermaid. Wings were common, horns, tails of animals, but this was something interesting in its own right. He would mention it in passing to those above him to see what interest there was, otherwise it was best left alone.
“Fair enough,” Caspian replied. His own drink was sipped from.
And then he nodded as well. “Of course. Please be safe on the remainder of your travels then, and you are quite welcome.” After everything she had been through coffee did not seem enough but that was not for anyone but her to decide. He had his own things to get to.
The door was opened and held for her if she wanted to exit and once the decision was made either way Caspian wandered off in the direction that he had been travelling before the pit stop for coffee with the intent on carrying his own day filled with events.