zoe_torres (zoe_torres) wrote in dc_nextgen,
@ 2011-04-19 00:41:00

Entry tags:

Sticks and Stones
Zoe crouched in a shadow, watching a body climb out of a window onto a fire escape. Fire escapes out to be outlawed, she thought. What good were they to anybody minding their own business? They were practically welcome mats to thugs looking for a place to rob.

"Pay attention," she hissed at GK nearby. If she didn't know better, she'd think his mind was a million miles away and not on the job at hand. Maybe she /didn't/ know better. Last week he was moping over some guy and now he wasn't.

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zoe_torres
2011-04-19 06:12 am UTC (link)

"They don't take much effort to jimmy." Zoe grabbed the guy by the shirt and waistband to drag him out and dump him on his friend. "They picked a place that was empty for the night." She debated kicking them both in the head but decided that GK probably wouldn't let her.

"Wait. You met a guy a few days ago, had a date last night, and you're nowhere near this place now. That must've been some date."

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	veryperceptive 2011-04-19 06:18 am UTC (link)
	"I will admit to being a bumbling starstruck romantic," GK said as he rifled the unconscious forms for everything they had remotely approaching weapons. He stares at them. "You don't think they'll be stupid enough to try to go right back in as soon as they wake up, do you?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-04-19 03:02 pm UTC (link)
	"Not if we hang them upside down by their shoes," she muttered. "We'll go up on the roof across the street and watch." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-04-19 05:06 pm UTC (link)
	"Sounds like a plan." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-04-19 05:16 pm UTC (link)
	Ten minutes later they were across the street on the rooftop looking down at the two bodies they'd left on the fire escape. Zoe tossed and caught a rock in her hand, her way of pacing when she was waiting for something to happen. "Who's the guy?" she asked idly. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-04-19 05:23 pm UTC (link)
	GK watches. "His name's Eli. He's gorgeous, and funny and...." sheepish smile. "A little bit mentally ill. Just a little, I think. The hallucinations stopped when I got some food in him." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-04-20 05:55 am UTC (link)
	"You mean he's a psycho?" Zoe blinked at him in the dark. He seemed pretty well adjusted, given the circumstances, too. "Where'd he come from?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

veryperceptive
2011-04-20 06:01 am UTC (link)

"It's hard to say. He's really nice, but he's obviously had some really rough times. He lives in San Francisco now, but he sounded like he'd been through a lot. Sounded like he was even in on the crazy zombie free-for-all in some capacity, too, but I don't remember seeing him. I really don't like shrinks, but maybe he should see one, if he can find a good one, and not one who thinks that boys only like manicures if they're mad about not having a father."

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	zoe_torres 2011-04-20 06:09 am UTC (link)
	"The zombie fight would've made sane people crazy," Zoe allowed, resuming her absentminded rock tossing. "Good luck finding a shrink that can think outside the box. I had to see one, once. School said I had anger issues. I said I had idiot problems." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-04-20 06:14 am UTC (link)
	"Heh. Yeah. Being pissed off isn't any more a mental illness than being queer. Looks like they're rousing. That's good. Any longer and it's s'posed to be a sign of profound brain damage." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-04-20 06:23 am UTC (link)
	"They had brain damage before tonight. The smart ones don't get their hands dirty with the grunt work." She was disappointed but at least there'd be more opportunities later when they worked their nerve up again. "This place swallows people up and won't let go." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-04-20 06:26 am UTC (link)
	"Damn..." he says quietly. Hard to know what else to say. As their previous targets trudge off, GK looks down at a guy just making his way through the streets. He looks reasonably healthy and sober, but as GK stares idly... LSD "...That guy's looking for drugs." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-04-20 06:33 am UTC (link)
	She thought it a good guess, but she'd been watching them come and go for years. This was her territory. "What makes you say that?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-04-20 06:35 am UTC (link)
	GK blushes. "....well, not like I don't know you can keep a secret, but there's something I haven't told anybody. Um. Ever. I'm meta, and it's a really stupid talent." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-04-20 06:42 am UTC (link)
	The rest of the patrol was forgotten as well as her pacing rock. She put it in her jacket pocket. "Why aren't you on one of the meta teams then? What's the talent?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-04-20 06:45 am UTC (link)
	"Because It's an incredibly stupid talent I've never told anybody about. If I look at somebody too long, I can tell something they want. Can't read their mind, don't know why they want it or what they'll do about wanting it. Just something they want. And knowing one of these idiots want to hit me isn't generally a very practical piece of information." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-04-20 06:50 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah, all right, but it's more than somebody like me has going on. Is that how you know this Eli guy is crazy?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

veryperceptive
2011-04-20 06:57 am UTC (link)

"No, that was because he was standing there and arguing with a Green Lantern who was not there, and he didn't have one of those rings on. Like I said, that stopped once he ate, but he needed information repeated a lot and just seemed like he was having a rough time. His wants were all pretty basic. Most people's are. The zombies were rough, obviously. And, just so you won't have to ask, I try not to stare at you."

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	zoe_torres 2011-04-20 07:01 am UTC (link)
	"Knowing what people want isn't the same as giving it to them. If you suddenly become a fairy godmother, I want to be first in line." She smiled at him. "Maybe you can tell me what Mom wants for her birthday. She'll never tell him because she doesn't want me spending the money." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-04-20 07:04 am UTC (link)
	He giggles. "You got it." Then clears his throat. "So yeah. That's what was up with that." A sheepish smile. He's glad there's somebody he can comfortably tell. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-04-20 07:09 am UTC (link)
	"And that's what's telling you the guy down there is looking to score. He's got his corners mixed up. The easy dealers are at the South end." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-04-20 03:19 pm UTC (link)
	"Ahhh, poor thing." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-04-20 05:13 pm UTC (link)
	"So if you know what people want, why didn't you know that other guy wasn't into guys?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-04-20 05:15 pm UTC (link)
	"Some sort of delay in its kicking in. By the time I finally got 'looking for the right Girl,' I was already in the process of humiliating myself." Pause. "Trey's definitely straight, though." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

zoe_torres
2011-04-20 05:30 pm UTC (link)

"You don't have any reason to feel humiliated," she said sternly, looking at him. "There's nothing wrong with you."

"Trey's slumming." She looked back to the street. "He's mad at the world over his dad's death and punishing it by hanging out with the Wrong Kind of Girl for his social class. He'll get over it soon enough." Even to her own ears that sounded weak, but she didn't know what to think about Trey at this point. Nice guy, hot as anything, but there was something...off about him. Not bad, just not...balanced.