3427/Diner Dash

Diner Dash
Date of Scene:	18 December 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Phoenix, Hyperion

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Phoenix has posed:
Jean had come to Manhattan to do some shopping for some of the students who weren't able to go home to families for the holidays. She wanted to make sure that the experience of Christmas for these children were exceptionally good/happy/memorable. As such she had a few shopping bags that she took to her car and put into the trunk before closing and locking it up.

She was parked near to Fred's Diner so when she finished loading her car she adjusted her jacket and then removed her dark sunglasses and started to walk toward the diner with her fire-red hair trailing behind her in the cool December wind. The sun was up, it was about 3:00pm in the afternoon.

Hyperion has posed:
Streaking across the sky Hyperion isn't wearing any sort of costume, he's just a regular looking schmuck. His body idly smoking from the fire he'd just flown through and dealt somewhere else. Coming to a stop over Mutant Town, he simply hovers there as waves of sonic booms hurry to catch up, and then he descends at a more sedate pace. Coming down to the ground, he hovers for a second before he touches down and settles onto his feet about five feet from Jean.

Coincidence much?

Opening the door for Jean, he says, "After you," and smiles politely.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean Grey did a stutter step as the man landed on the side street near to her and then opened the door for her. Her green eyes went from him to the door and then back to him. She knew that coming to NYC was often a chance of meeting people with showy powers, but those who could fly were a bit more rare than the rest.

"Thank you." Jean would say to the man before she'd step through the doorway into the diner and take a moment to glance back at him. "Are you... okay?" She'd ask, catching the scent of fire off of his person.

One thing that Jean actively had taught herself was not to read the surface thoguhts on people's minds, it was something unique to her that most telepaths did not bother to attempt to do. It was an ethical choice on Jean's part, to only enter the minds of those who gave her cause or no choice.

Hyperion has posed:
Oblivious to Jean, to who Jean is, to what Jean does, this is just Hyperion, or rather, Marcus, letting a pretty woman enter a diner before him. Nothing meant by it. Just politeness for its own sake. He doesn't see her at this point as anything but a civilian, and he glances down at himself when she asks how he is and notices the faint wisps of smoke still escaping from his very lightly smoldering clothing. He pats at a few spots around his shoulders, and turns his head to look at his back as best he can, and pats that a little too. Which is a bit of a stretch given how thick he is, but he seems to be doing an alright job of patting it all out.

"I'm fine, thank you, everyone made it out just fine," he answers with a smile. Standing opposite her in the doorway of the diner, he looks at her for a long moment as she has turned back to look at him, rather than letting him in. "It was just a small fire, nothing a little quick thinking couldn't deal with," he explains. "I normally don't come through New York often, but it's nice to know I can be useful."

Stepping up into the doorframe, he asks, being polite still, "How are you?"

Phoenix has posed:
To be honest, this man's smoking clothes and the way that he answered her question just made her suspicious enough to want to skim the thoughts of his mind to try to find out where he'd just come from and why being in a fire wasn't a 'big deal' to him... Jean quickly searched to try to find out if this man was on-the-level or if it had just committed a crime...

And in doing so, the green eyed redhead just stared at him for a lingering handful of seconds without saying anything. This could definitely come across as socially awkward or strange to most people as well.

But after a second longer, Jean would just nod her head once and then turn to walk toward the counter in the diner.

Hyperion has posed:
The surface thoughts of this man who is also called, 'Hyperion' are not so difficult to ascertain, but they blaze out incredibly rapidly. Ascertaining things, reading the genetic structure of cockroaches in the alley behind the diner, thoughts about what those things mean, reminding himself to pay attention to the woman who is staring at him, to be polite, to ask for her number, is that weird? She's beautiful, but the staring is getting weird, so it'd be reciprocal? She has an interesting genetic structure too. No cavities, good teeth.

All of this blazes out in the first second..

Thoughts about a sale two streets over as he reads the sign, his mind showing clearly how he peers through the buildings, and then looks back at Jean. Sudden realization, he isn't wearing a costume, fire, that's even weirder than he'd been thinking. He really does need to get used to civilians. The fire itself, how he'd put it out and pulled out a dozen civilians from a chemical plant.

Two seconds pass.

"What's your name?" he asks. "I'm Marcus. I was about to get lunch, if you'd like to join me, I can tell you are curious about the fire thing, right?"

Right?

Phoenix has posed:
When the man walked with her toward the counter/bar of the diner she'd look over at him when he introduced himself. "Jean." She'd say back to him as she sat her black leather bag down on the counter and then she slid herself onto a stool.

"Are you a firefighter?" Jean would ask him then as she reached out for a menu from the little holder and pulled it toward her, opening it and averting her green eyes down to it to read over it. Her left hand went up to stroke some of her red hair back out of her face then.

When the server approached, Jean would look up and offer a smile to them. "Water please... ice water. I'll need a moment also." And the server would then nod and look to Marcus.

Hyperion has posed:
Walking into the diner with Jean, Marcus has managed to put his clothing out and as he walks though to the counter, he takes a seat beside her and picks up the specials menu to look it over. He then accepts a menu as well, and shakes his head at her question. "No, just help people when I can. What do you do, Jean?" he asks as he reads the menu.

Letting his eyes drift over the options, he puts it back down and then looks up in time to look at the server on the other side of the counter.

"A Coke would be splendid, thank you," he says in that same very pleasant manner. A look back to the menu and he asks, "Have you been here before? Any recommendations?"

Phoenix has posed:
Jean's emerald eyes continued to scan the menu and she listened to what Marcus replied to her with. At his question about the diner though she looked back at him and nodded a pair of times. "I've been here a few times. I generally come here for the breakfast food. Anything heavier than that... and." She smiled faintly and shook her head.

"And I'm a teacher." She'd say to him. "At a boarding school north of the city." She didn't bother mentioning the Vice Principal part, because of her age it often lead people to disbelieve her and question her on it... Saying 'teacher' seemed to be easier to swallow for folks though.

"Its good of your to be heroic like that. You can fly... does that mean you're also durable against flame?" She'd quietly ask.

When the server returned, Jean would place an order for a small plate of eggs bacon and a pancake. Nothing extravagant.

Hyperion has posed:
"Breakfast food, you say? For personal preference, or because it's just the only good thing here?" Marcus ask, thinking about his options, and throwing a few glances past her to look at the specials for the day:
    Fried chicken meal, 8.99
    Clam chowder, 6.99
    Daily special: burger and fries, 8.99

Taking his coke when it is brought over to the counter, he unwraps the straw and drops it into the drink for a sip to clear the taste of ash from his mouth. "What do you teach? What's your subject?" he asks, making idle conversation about her job since answering too many questions about his powers is probably against a rule he agreed to at some point, and he has already made the mistake of giving his name for some reason.

"Yes, and most other things as well, I have a few powers of sorts, but," he leans in slightly, "Can we keep that between us? I wasn't really thinking there when I landed, my mind was on other things."

He ends up ordering the fried chicken.

Phoenix has posed:
"Oh, I haven't really tried anything else." Jean replied to his question about the food. She got a wide variety of food back home at the school, when she came here she just liked what she liked here.

"I teach Biology and Genetics and am going to school at night for my doctorate."

Her menu was placed back into the holder on the counter and she'd reach out for her ice water and draw it back toward her with her left hand, gliding the glass across the counter on its coaster.

"I won't tell a soula bout your powers." She said at him with a faint smile and a soft voice. "So long as you're helping people with them, then you're secret is safe with me."

Hyperion has posed:
"You should, variety is the spice of life, right? That's the saying, isn't it?" Marcus asks and sips a bit more on his Coke. He does really live by that rule. He eats food from everywhere. On the planet. It was the first thing he started doing when he was freed from his commitment to Department H.

Hearing that from her, he nods a little in approval, not that he has any such desire for higher education.

"I appreciate that, Jean. So, you're teaching up north, what brings you to New York?" he asks.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean smiled faintly again before sipping from her cold glass of water. After setting it down again she placed her hands together and brushed fingertips against each other to feel the moisture from the glass.

"We have a number of students who have no family to go home to for the holidays." She'd tell him then. "I want to make their Christmas memorable so I've come to buy everything that they put on their Santa Clause letters and more."

Jean would look back over at him to her right then and she'd stare with a calming presence about her. "Our school is meant to be more than that, its meant to be a home for all of our students and for our faculty alike." She'd show a little smile that faded fast. "At least that is our hope."

Hyperion has posed:
"Ah, so it's a boarding school? That's kind of you, Jean. Do you have anything left on your list? I'd be happy to buy something for one of them," Marcus says, and seems very genuinely interested. His eyes getting a bit misty and sappy as he thinks about kids with no family to look out for them. Reaching up a hand to scratch at the side of his head a little as he thinks about it, he seems to be trying to look tough despite the fact that he's feeling a bit.. gooey.

Looking aside at her, he smiles widely when his food arrives, and immediately sets to eating his way through his chicken. Pausing occasionally to chew and answer questions. That being said, even super-people, as Jean is now well aware, apparently look a bit gross when eating fried chicken. It's just not a very good food for flattering someone.

"We haven't set up anything, the people I work with, to help anyone yet. We're still a new group though, so maybe everyone is just doing their own thing," he explains, conspiratorially.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean wouldn't look at the man as he enjoyed his food as she'd learned a long time ago to not do such a thing, it was most polite to let people eat without gawking at how they did it. She'd have her knife and fork ready to divide her own plate up into tiny bits to make her own consumption all the more easy.

But she'd also take a moment to pull her list from her leather jacket's pocket and then set it down on the table. It had about 75% of the entires crossed off already but there were more items down near the bottom that were clearly not yet purchased.

"I know that there are all kinds of children's gift funds around the city to donate too, and I make sure to buy some extras for those also."

Jean smiled faintly before going back to her forking.

"You seemingly just helped stop a fire. Which I'd say is pretty good, possibly a lot more helpful then buying toys." She'd say softly with a bit of amusement.

Hyperion has posed:
Leaning over to look at the list, Marcus thinks about it and says, "I'll get this one, once we're done eating. This game thing," he tells her and nods to himself. He then leans back. He shakes his head when she suggests that he just donate his money and says, "That's impersonal, I'm not so selfless that I just give everything away. I like to actually see that my money is doing some sort of good. See a smile on someone's face. And the fire thing is different, I do that to keep them alive, I don't do it to make them happy, that they might be happy is incidental. A byproduct, not the goal."

He finishes off his chicken and starts to eat the side of 'potato wedges' with a bit of ketchup.

"That's a lot of kids though. All of those are your students, or are you taking it on yourself to shop for all of them?" he asks. He somehow doesn't seem to think it's weird that a biology teacher can afford to shop for a list of kids.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean was very methodical in how she ate her own plate of food and she did it with a care to not be messy for improper and infact she did such a good job of it that she almost looked like she was OCD about bad manners.

After taking another sip of her water she'd just smile softly at what he said. "They're not all my students alone no, they're just the ones who don't have parents to purchase gifts for them directly, or guardians or extended family."

Jean looked over to him as he munched on a potato wedge. "The school is primarily filled with mutant children who're trying to find solace in our space, which provides care and learning of mutant abilities. We're trying hard to foster a comfortable living enviroment so that the mutant community can proliferate in a positive way, rather than a negative one like so many others seem to be dead-set on making mutants experience..."

Jean would softly frown then and glance back to her meal.

Hyperion has posed:
"I understand."

That's all he says when she trails off and he sort of 'hover hands' a back patting, but doesn't actually put a hand on her. Hyperion tries to be careful and mindful of himself, given that he's enormous and though he obviously has the best of intentions, it's not hard to find him intimdiating, apparently. So he has been told.

"That's very good of you, on both counts, both as a friend of children and for the work you do, if there is anything you ever need from me as you know," he pauses and leans in, "A Canuck in a Cape," he leans back then and smiles a little. "Just let me know."

Searching around in his clothes he pulls out a small metal container with business cards in it. Clearly the container was so that they didn't get burned up when he was out 'caping' around. Handing one over, he sets it on the counter by her, then flips it over to write his personal number on the back.

The front reads: 'Hyperion -- Alpha Flight' followed by a Canadian telephone number.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean pusehd her plate forward when she was finished and she then laid a napkin down overtop it and put her silverware ontop of that neatly organized. She then took another drink of her water and she looked over at him and the business card that he produced.

"Alpha Flight?" She said after read it, her green eyes looking up at him. "I've heard of them, but not in great detail. Similar to the Justice League, yes?" She'd ask whiel reaching into an inside pocket of her jacket.

Jean would produce her own business card with was a dark blue with shiney gold letters. It had her name on it Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters logo emblazened upon it as well.

She'd swap information with him and slide his card back into that pocket inside her jacket.

Hyperion has posed:
"They've only been around for about a year, and I'm new with them," Marcus replies and gently picks up her card and adds it to his small container for them. Seeing as she has finished eating, he puts a little effort into finishing off the last of his food, and asks, "What are the circumstances under which I should use this?" he asks, seeing as how the number and information seem rather official, and she hasn't established any sort of hero credentials, which basically means she is giving him her business number as a teacher for a school, right?

He doesn't seem to recognize the name of the school, which is perhaps weird, perhaps not?

"Are you getting the presents wrapped?" he asks, then as he turns towards her, sipping at his coke while he leans his side against the counter. "Or should I leave it unwrapped and you'll wrap it yourself?"

Phoenix has posed:
Jean sat straight on her diner stool with her leather booted feet on the metal foot bar, wedging it up between the heels of her boots. She looked over at him with a small smile. "I would assume that if Alpha Flight is conducting heroic actions around the Canadian area--if not other locales--then you and yours will likely run into issues regarding mutants. They say there are anywhere between seven to twenty million mutants in the worled. I'm sure some of them are in the greath white north." She'd smile a bit longer before glancing away again.

"You're welcome to call the school if you have any questions on mutant affairs and-or if you have any particularly troublesome situations with regard to them. We have a lot of very experienced mutants on our staff."

Her green eyes would look back over at him then. "And you can send it wrapped or unwrapped, whatever is easiest for you. I plan to wrap the ones I've purchased tonight once I return home. The kids absolutely love to see the presents wrapped under the tree... I know I do too."

Hyperion has posed:
"I will let them know," Marcus says calmly as he turns to face her. "Just those situations, then?" he asks, clearly making it evident that there are other situations he might like to call her, regarding, but without making it too obvious. Because making it too obvious is not his style. He doesn't do crass. "I'm sure we'll call, regardless," he says. "Well, you have my personal number, if you ever need an ear outside of work. I'm a good listener, or so I'm told."

He clearly intends to buy the present and have it wrapped, if his enthusiasm for the notion is any indication.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean Grey was the epitome of the woman who's life was dedicated to work and school. She'd mentioned she was going for her doctorate as well, what she hadn't mention was that she was the second in command of the School itself... but that was labeled on the card should he look al ittle closer at her title.

Jean gave him a soft smile then as she wasn't daft at come-ons, she was quite experienced at them in fact and had been for awhile now in her life.

"I'm quite happy to help you if there's a way that you feel that I can, but... I apologize, my schedule leaves me with extremely limited free time to dabble with." She showed a faint smirk.

"Its the unfortunate side effect of dedicating yourself to a cause you truly believe in, one with as much heat around it as this one does..."

They were IN Mutant Town, it was a part of the New York area that had been embroiled in riots over mutants for the past month.

Hyperion has posed:
Rising to his feet, Marcus says, "I didn't mean to come on so heavy, I just wasn't sure I was being obvious enough, usually I get a rather firm decline or acceptance when I put myself out there." He clearly feels a bit awkward. That said, he reaches into his pocket and pays his bill by just putting a twenty dollar bill on the counter next to his plate.

Shuffling his feet a little, he smiles at her and says, "I'll be sure to send that gift for the kid."

Phoenix has posed:
Jean would watch the man rise up and speak while paying for his meal. She'd felt as though she'd made him feel... well, not good. But the ability to help someone recover from that was always a challenging one.

"Thank you." She told him. "For doing what you do.. I mean, the fire and all. It takes a remarkable person to stand up and use the pwoers that they were gifted to do good like that for others. You put yourself at risk, even if it doesn't seem like it."

He was an intimidating guy, he was physically huge... attractive, yes, but she didn't know him that well and sure she could look into his mind to learn tons about him right here and now, but that was an invasion of privacy which she'd hate to have others to do her.

Hyperion has posed:
"And thank you for teaching young people, not enough people thank teachers. You're the real heroes," Marcus replies genuinely and smiles at her as he stretches his arms above his head and turns in a circle, looking through the walls of the building as he tries to spot the right store to go to from here. "But, thank you again for sitting with me, it was nice to meet you, Jean."

Taking his leave, he heads for the door, and unless stopped. Flies off into the air and is gone in moments.

If she doesn't take too long to get in her car and leave, he'll appear again in about three minutes with the present and hand it to her, unwrapped. "I didn't want to wait to have it wrapped."

Phoenix has posed:
By the time he returned she was coming out of the diner and putting her sunglasses back on over her eyes.

She saw him land with the present and stutter-stepped again to a halt in front of him when he extended it.

"Oh." She said to him then. "That was... very fast." She said, summoning up a smile she would slung her black leather bag over her shoulder and then reach out for it with a smile. "Thank you, Marcus."

Jean looked down at the toy in its box and she ran a hand over it gently before looking back at him. "I will make sure to note that this came from Alpha Flight." She'd then add with a continued small smile.

Hyperion has posed:
"Well, it helped that I started looking through all the shops before I left. There was a place selling it a few blocks over," Hyperion explains with a smile, and then looks over at her car, and tips an imaginary hat to her. It looked like he was checking to make sure her car was unmolested and she'd make it to her car unbothered. But he doesn't linger or offer to walk her to it, given that it's so close. Instead he says, "Okay, bye again," and lifts off again with what appears to be deliberate gentleness, and once he reaches an appropriate flight height. He thunders away, headed west. The clouds parting in his passing as he flies /really/ fast.