Owner	Pose
J'onn	In a little known book store found in a back alley of the Bronx you can find some of the most interesting things. The are diaries that describe ancient Zulu rituals laying next to maps that are supposedly tied to lost pirate ships. There are mummified, shrunken heads on the walls, and ancient greek weaponry that are only slightly rusted. All in all, this store seems like it's a random assortment of junk... However, to those that know, this is one of the few places where legitimate information about rarely talked about topics can be found. Today, J'onn is in one of his ancient history persona. He stands a little over six and a half feet tall, and is well proportioned for someone with his nose in a book. He looks to be in his mid to late twenties, and a light tan to his skin tone. J'onn is seated at one of the smaller tables, an assortment of books nearby that seem to be relating the timing and astrology practices of the ancient Mayans.
Samantha Nishimura	A young woman, clearly of Asian descent, emerges from one end of the stacks, book in hand, wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a little white tee-shirt that doesn't come down to her shorts. It also looks like she might have cleaned a distributor cap or a garage while wearing it, as it's dusty and smudged. She seems unfettered by the fact, however, as she peruses the books on the same shelf from which the materials J'onn might have plucked his materials. Her black hair is up in a tousled updo, and she's wearing reading glasses, as she stands on tiptoe, trying to see what's on the top shelf. "Hey, you still have those maps you told me about?" she calls upstairs, where the storekeeper stands in the loft, sorting new arrivals. "I do, I'll pop down in a few, let me get this stuff sorted out, a'ight?" comes the response. Samantha sighs, and drags a chair over to climb up on, and look on the top shelf.
J'onn	J'onn slowly raises his head as he first hears, and then see's Samantha come around his side of the shop. He starts to go back to reading when he notices she's trying to reach a shelf that might just be out of reach. He places a marker on the page he's on, and looks over in her direction. "Can I help you find something?" his voice deep, more so than one might expect, but he offers a kind smile to accompany his question. He slowly stands, and moves over to the area she's looking at "I know some of the covers are difficult to make out in this light... especially if they are up top. If you know the title, I can look, I've gone through most of them on the top shelf already..."
Samantha Nishimura	A little startled, Samantha is caught offguard, nearly losing her balance on the chair. "Oh, uh no, I was just--" she looks down at the stranger who's approached her. Then she does a double take. "Holy cow. All that, and you can READ, too?"
J'onn	J'onn quickly reaches out by steadying the chair, and being very cognizant not to touch Samantha suddenly. He offers a genuine smile, responding "I enjoy a good book as much as anyone..." His head nodding back to the small table stacked with various books, "...but if you're going to study ancient histories you need to be capable of field work as well." Once he see's she's stable, he offers a hand for her to come down off the chair, "Allow me." Once he's helped her down, he takes a few long strides around the opposite side of the shelves, and pulls a small set of steps with him. He places them in the same place the chair just occupied, and takes two quick steps up. His head now easily clears the top shelf, and he looks back down to her, "So, what are we looking for today?"
Samantha Nishimura	"Well, MOSTLY," she gives an exasperated look toward the ceiling, "Darius has some maps held for me. But since he's been, HARD TO REACH," she raises her voice for the last three words. "I TOLD you I was workin' on it, give a poor bastard a break, will ya?" comes the response from upstairs. "Well," Samantha continues, looking up at the stranger on the stairs, "I thought I'd find something about La Corona, before I head that way. My venture partner has already departed the States, and I'm bringing up the tail, so to speak. Boat's leaving tomorrow. IF...those maps show."
J'onn	A simple nod of his head, and J'onn turns back to look across the top of the shelf, "La Corona, now that hasn't been talked about since the late 90s, if I'm correct." He lifts one book, flips through a few pages, and shakes his head as he puts it back. "I Believe that's where they identified 'Site Q'..." His eyes landing on another book, flipping through it again, and handing it down to her titled 'The Journal of Marcello A Canuto.'. As he looks for the next book, the entire shop is rocked as if in the middle of an earthquake. J'onn snaps out a hand to the shelf to steady himself, but also using his telekinesis to arrest any momemnt. He looks around as books, wall art, and various smaller knick knacks fall over. He looks down to Samantha asking her, "Are you ok?" Above his head, however, Samantha can see a large statue on the upper railings tip, and begin falling in his direction.
Samantha Nishimura	Samantha smiles. "You know quite a bit about this stuff, too much to be a layperson, I figure. Is it in your line of work?" And then, the bookstore shakes. Sam has a hand steadying the man's leg, as she looks around the shop, lost as to what caused the jolt. "Yeah, of course I'm f--" Samantha gasps, looking up, and pulls him toward her as the statue begins to fall. "Look out below!"
J'onn	J'onns large bulk falls towards Samantha, and both of them end up tumbling to the ground. Surprisingly enough, he doesn't seem to crush her as they land on the ground a split second before the statue smashes the steps he was just on. "Thank you.." He adds, "that was a close one." and then the shop rumbles again, and the book shelf teeters precariously. J'onn looks over his shoulder, and frowns as he notices the shelf headed in their direction. He looks back down to Samantha, and says "Hold on..." and rolls towards the table. Mid roll, he uses his telekinesis to pull the table just far enough, so that as the two of them roll under it, the bookshelf lands on top of it. J'onn positions himself atop Samantha, just in case the table didn't hold, and says "I think there might be a bit of trouble outside." Despite the chaos, J'onn's demeanor seems calm. "Let's check on your friend upstairs."
Samantha Nishimura	Samantha nods, eyes wide and worried. "This stuff doesn't usually happen until AFTER I leave the states!" She noticed the table that moved. It's filed away to ask about later. Once the rest of this mess has been sorted out. "Darius!" Samantha calls out as she runs toward the stairs. "You dead, man?"
J'onn	Nodding his head, J'onn performs a scan of the area, and frowns deeply at what is happening outside. He quickly follows Samantha towards the stairs, and they can see a section of it has been blocked by the wall collapsing in, "We could try the railings for the balcony. I'll boost you up there, and you can check on him." He moves back down the stairs, looks around, and then moves up to the book shelf toppled over on the table. He pushes, with some apparent effort, the bookshelf off of the table and moves the table underneath the balcony. Once he's standing on it, he says "Come on, let's check on him..." again offering his hand to boost her up to the railing.
Samantha Nishimura	Taking his hand, Samantha trusts the stranger implicitly, allowing him to help boost her up. "Darius! You better hope you're hurt, not just ducking out on me. You know I needed those maps like three days ago! And if you're dead, I'm gonna kill you..." Clearly nervous chattering, Samantha has been unnerved. She peers up into the balcony as best she can.
J'onn	J'onn takes her hand, and turns her away so her back is to his chest, "I'm going to grab your waist, and lift you up. Then I'll put my hands under your feet, and push you up to the balcony." Once he's got confirmation that she's good with this, he does something like what he said... J'onn's large hands wrap around her waist, and he counts out to three. Then he lifts her up... and lets go... and then quickly puts his hands underneath her feet. He doesn't waver at all as she balances herself on his hands, "Ok..." and then he breathes out slowly as he lifts her the full length of his arms. Given the table, his height, and his arms she should easily be able to see as well as climb to the railing. Her friend Darius looks to be underneath a smaller shelf of books, his face turned away from the balcony unfortunately. Outside screams, horns, sirens can be heard from the City. Luckily there have been no more quakes to the building or surrounding area.
Samantha Nishimura	"I can't see, he's there but under somethin'. DARIUS!" But there's no reply. "A'right I'm gonna need you to do that whojewhatzit you did to the table and get me over this railing, I think he needs help." Her tone is matter-of-fact as she tries to grab onto the loft railing to steady herself. "You can do that, right?"
J'onn	"Oh, I can get you over the railing." J'onn says, a little chuckle underneath his breath, "Here we go..." he brings her down slightly and then pushes up with his arms. It is an easy thing for her to clear the railing, and J'onn uses a bit of his telekinesis with the lightest touch to make sure she clears it without issue. Once she's up there, J'onn leaps, grabbing the bottom of the balcony, and hauls himself up over the railing to check on Darius.
Samantha Nishimura	"That was totally unfair, I hope you know," Samantha chides, as she checks Darius' vitals and pulls debris off of Darius carefully. "I wanted you to do that thing you do, to me." Clearly she's under the misconception that he had NOT done that thing that he does to her. But with skilled and careful hands, she's cleared away debris, and she checks again. "He's breathing. His heart rate's steady." She is checking for broken bones, and shakes her head. "Doesn't seem to be anything wrong down here. Either he got the breath knocked out of him, or took a nasty knock on the head." Smoke is filtering into the shop from somewhere, and Samantha begins to search the area for the source. Or a phone. "You have a phone on you? Someone needs to call the cops." Of course, the area outside is filled with sirens. "Maybe we just yell out a window, or somethin'."
J'onn	Once he's cleared the railing, J'onn also begins clearing the debris and the shelf from around the man, and making sure nothing has the chance to fall onto them from above. As Samantha does her own examination, he reaches into his pocket to pull out a small cell phone. He quickly dials 911, and immediately get's a busy signal, "Seems like the city is busy right now.." At the sign of smoke, J'onn's eyes narrow, and he searches the area "It is probably a broken gasline somewhere, hopefully in another building, but we do need to get out of here." He looks around, the balcony does have access to a fire escape, but it is barred from the inside. J'onn frowns, and realizes he might lose this persona if he isn't careful, but he needs to help this man get medical attention. "Over there, the window is near the fire escape... I will see if I can dislodge the bars on the window."
Samantha Nishimura	Samantha nods quickly and turns back to the far corner of the balcony, where flames are beginning to lick up from beneath the floor. "It's coming from next door..." she interjects, her voice filled with dread. "Dude can do stuff, I can do stuff, what's HE gonna do to me..." she utters under her breath as she rises and faces the corner. Her eyes mist over, a cloudy white and glowing , as her back is to J'onn. Gradually and steadily, water condenses from the air and forms a soft, flowing mist in the corner that sizzles and steams in the flames. More importantly, however, clouds are gathering outside from seemingly nowhere.
J'onn	As Samantha turns to deal with the other situation, J'onn heads to the barred fire escape, and takes a moment to look. He decides the best path is the most obvious, and so he uses brute strength to break the lock on the inside of the window. He simply pulls it off the bars, and then pulls the grating out of the window. Placing the grating to the side of the window, J'onn takes a quick look outside, and sees that there's mayhem outside as well. "Ok, things look bad outside, but I think we can at least get out of the building. Are you ready to go?"
Samantha Nishimura	Samantha doesn't answer. Because Samantha isn't here right now. Unfortunately, you can't leave a message. The clouds outside have grown heavy, and rain begins pattering on the window. Fat, heavy drops are falling in a torrent, and if anyone cares to notice, the rain is concentrated in three small areas, where fires are burning in debris. Quashing the flames, wetting the areas. The rain is light everywhere else, but torrents in those three locations.
J'onn	J'onn heads towards Samantha, curious as to what is going on, "Hello?" he asks again, his footsteps heavy as he walks up behind her. He pauses, decides not to touch her, and instead does a quick check on Darius. Once he's sure that he won't cause additional damage to the man by moving him, he speaks out again, "We can get him out of here, but we will have to be careful once outside."
Samantha Nishimura	Samantha still doesn't answer at first. But the smoke now smells damp, and the flames are no longer visible. Outside, the other fires are dying likewise, deprived of dry fuel. Samantha slowly turns back, looking extremely confused as her eyes fade back to normal. "Let's go," she says quietly, not exactly addressing his exact words. She steps out the window into the rain and offers help. "I can help get him out here."
J'onn	J'onn picks up Darius with extreme care, and as he does a couple of maps fall out from under the man. "Excuse me, but you said you were looking for some maps? He might have found them..." He carefull scoops them up in his left hand, and moves to the window to hand them to Samantha. He puts Darius' head through first, for her to hold onto, and then he slides through holding him as he does. Once he's outside, he takes Darius again, "Ok, you get the fire escape lowered, and i'll bring him down."
Samantha Nishimura	Samantha takes Darius' head and shoulders carefully until the stranger helping her can take his weight. Then she pulls down the fire escape, and moves down it just far enough to help take some of the weight if need be. "All clear down here!" Not that she doesn't suspect he could just put Darius on the ground all by himself. People...and their secrets.
J'onn	Hiding a small smile, J'onn helps get Darius to the ground, and doesn't say anything about the thoughts going through her head. Two cop cars zoom by, sirens blaring, and J'onn says "Ok, I think there's a local emergency facility nearby." As he starts moving carefully, still carrying Darius, eyes scanning the crowds running in different directions he adds, "I'm Jon, Jon Jones. You asked earlier, I'm a Philosopher and Archaeologist specializing in Ancient History." He offers a quick nod of his head, "Pleasure to meet you."
Samantha Nishimura	'Local Emergency Facility,' Samantha mouthes silently. Is this guy from Mars or what? "Yeah, probably EMT's down at the end of the block. "P-pleasure's all mine," she replies, squinting up at him and moving debris off the sidewalk ahead of him, to make sure there aren't any tripping hazards. Out of habit, she's also watching for traps and pits with tigers in the bottom. Luckily, none of those to be found. "Philosopher and Archaeologist, eh? How good are you with boats?" she chides, her eyes still scanning ahead toward the EMT station.
J'onn	"Sail or Powerboats?" J'onn asks in all seriousness, "When I studied at Cambridge the friends I met had both. While I enjoyed fishing with them on the Powerboats, there is nothing quite like sailing the Ocean under the power of the Wind to let you know how small you really are on this world." It takes a block and a half, which seems to be the setup of an Emergency Care Field Site. Obviously there is more going on here than can be explained. However, as soon as they see the group coming up to them a number of EMTs make their way over with a stretcher, and take Darius off to be checked out. J'onn looks over to Samantha, "Thank you. I'm not sure he would have made it if you hadn't been around to help..." He seems to take a minute to look her over as well, "...and you are sure you are ok?"
Samantha Nishimura	"Boats...all kinds. We've taken everything from steamers to sailboats to kayaks." She half-smiles, but still looks concernedly at Darius. My friend is an...archaologist of sorts, too. I'm a filmographer. Most notably documentaries, based on our adventures. Y'know, to make sure she gets recognition for what she does. And no, thank YOU...you went way above and beyond to help out people you don't even know. I'm...Samantha. It's a pleasure to meet you, Jon." She's speaking to Jon, but her eyes are flitting to the EMT's taking care of Darius. "It...really IS a pleasure," she says more directly, as she turns to face him, looking up into his eyes. "You can call me Sam if you want." Then, blushing a little, she adds, "And yeah, I'm fine...really."
J'onn	"Now that does sound like a lot of fun." Jon smiles, his eyes taking in the entire Field Site, but quickly turning his attention back to Samantha when she addresses him. "Really? I will have to look up your work then, and see where you've been." He walks over to an EMT, get's a piece of paper and a pen, writes something down then walks back to her. "Here is my cell phone number. If you find yourself in need of an extra set of hands on a site, or an expertise in ancient history please call me." He offers her the paper with his name and number, "Are you going to be ok getting out of here?.." Looking back towards the havoc of the City, "I'm sure this isn't the only place where things have gone crazy."
Samantha Nishimura	Sam's brow furrows as she looks around, letting everything happening sink in. "I don't know if any of us are gonna be okay, but I'll do my best. I have to be on a boat in the next forty-eight hours," she explains, taking the number from Jon. "I'll be in touch. Take a moment to consider the next two to four weeks of your schedule, maybe?" She winks. "Are YOU all right to get home?"
J'onn	"My gut tells me if you head north, and west you'll probably avoid the worst of it..." J'onn says after a few second pause, "...looking at the fires and where I hear the sirens." He adds in at the end. "Hmm, I'm sure I can take time off from work for something interesting for the next few weeks. I would definitely be interested in what you have planned." He looks back to the middle of the city, "I will need to go check on a friend that was shopping in the City. I didn't see him here, so he might still be in there..." He looks at Samantha, "...I will be careful, Sam. Take care, and talk to you soon."
Samantha Nishimura	"You too. Be safe." She watches Jon go, and looks down at the slip of paper, then back at the bookstore. With a sigh, she shakes her head. "Guess it's time to go buy a new phone. Gotta get that guy on a boat."