On the day appointed for Mittens to meet up with Michael, she gives him a call to see if there's anything preventing him from showing up at the rendezvous place he picked.

((OOC: Leaving it up to Michael's player to pick a place and time of day he'd want to meet with her. ))

Michael answers his phone with a quick,"'ello," and hears that it is Mittens calling about the "interview," which of course he forgot about.

"Sorry Mittens, it slipped my mind," he said, thinking of when would be good. "I have work in a bit at Caramel Lounge. Why not come by and we can talk during my breaks." He figures his boss wont mind. As an after though he says,"Oh, it is a more upscale place than the bars around here, so I'd say dress up a bit. At least so the bouncer doesn't give you a problem."

He hangs up and finishes getting ready. Grabbing his guitar he puts it gently in its case, then gets dressed. Charcoal grey slacks with a dark blue button down shirt, sleeves rolled up, of course. He heads out and walks down the block to the Caramel Lounge.

The Caramel Lounge is a place where some of the more entitled young adults come at night. At times it is a night club with a dj and terrible rap music, but tonight was Michael's night. A night of piano and guitar music that will have you dancing a slow dance all night. Tonight the lights are down low with candles on each table. The colors are deep reds and blues and many shadows.

Michael stops and talks to the bouncer. "Hey Josh, a lady is stopping by later on to talk to me. Don't give her a hard time and just let her in."
Josh looked indignantly at him and said,"What do I look like? How many ladies do I turn away? Only the freaks that's all."
By freak Michael knew he mean mutants and he narrowed his eyes to glare at Josh. Josh, who was much bigger than him, gulped. "Oh so she is a, ah , different sort of person. Well, i..I... 'll just send her in when she gets here."

Mittens answers Michael with an "I understand.  I'll be there" and heads off.  She arrives carrying a briefcase, dressed professionally, ( http://swatkats.info/wp/wp-con...screenshots/0157.jpg ) and thusly apparently has little problem with the bouncer other than being stared at.  She waves to Michael when she sees him, and waits patiently for him to join her or to signal for her to join him.

Michael sees Mittens as she walks in but is in the middle of playing The Sacrifice. [OOC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Su8LXNS16A ] As he finishes and bows to the clapping, he motions to someone that he is going on break. With that someone flips on some classic rock music. Michael makes his way over to Mittens at the table she is at and sits down, waiting for her to start.

Mittens bobbed her head to the rhythm of the music with a satisfied smile on her face, occasionally allowing her eyes to close so she could focus on the flow of the music.  She stood from her seat to clap vigorously for Michael when he finished.

"Fantastic!" she commends when he approaches, "That was beautiful!  Very heartfelt!"

She takes a seat when Michael does, and gazes at him with an admiring smile.

"Your wife is one lucky lady," she compliments, hoping she didn't just put her foot in her mouth.

((OOC: Before the meeting, Mittens would have done a quick google news search of Michael Reaver and may have found articles about his tragic past.  Up to you what she found.  But I figured the bit about losing his wife to cancer would not have been mentioned. ))

At the mention of his wife, Michael seemed to be looking into a far off place. A sad smile came over his face as he said,"When it came to love she was very lucky." He still had a distant look but seemed to be paying more attention again to Mittens. He let it hang that he was using past tense.

(OOC: You would have found out about his father and most likely mother. As for Lucy, you may have found the obituary, since she had his last name. Up to you if you want to use that or not)

Mittens had thought that the wedding ring meant a happy ending to his tragic beginning, but alas...  She was a lucky lover.  Lucy was...  Must... not... thinksillythoughts...  Lovely lucky Lucy liked licking lime lollipops!  Couldn't help it.

Mittens forces her mind back to reality and gives Michael a sad empathic look.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" she says in all sincerity, leaning forward with pleading eyes, "I'd read about your parents...  Didn't know you'd lost your wife too.  That's so sad!  What happened to her?  Car accident?"

Mittens wonders if there was a child involved.  And if the child is still alive.

"Thank you," he said still a bit sullen. "No it wasn't a car accident. It was cancer and we caught it far to late."

Surprisingly he didn't seem to be acting to uncomfortable for one talking about the death of a loved one. If anything, he looks more relieved to finally be talking about it.

Mittens draws all the wrong conclusions from Michael's body language.  Why would he be relived when she asked if his wife was killed in a car accident?  Is it because there were allegations of foul play?  Oh.  Cancer.  Caught too late.  Then she starts figuring out what must be going on.  He blames himself.  Thinks it's his fault she's dead.  Natural enough from what she's heard about the steps of grieving, but...

Now Mittens feels at a loss.  She's no grief counselor.  She's read up on how to set up a 501(c)3 NPO, conflict resolution, business presentation, employee motivation, etc., etc., but nothing like this.  Her mind falls back to the things she's heard in church.  What comfort is there in scripture?  What is it they keep saying at funerals?  The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away?  Not very comforting.  Mittens says a quick silent prayer before scooting closer to Michael, being careful not to touch him, figuring he'd rather her not.

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted," she whispers in a broken voice as a tear rolls down her cheek, "and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

She sniffles, grabs a napkin to blow her nose on, and continues.

"So very sorry for your loss, Michael."

She's at a loss for what else to say.

Michael looked a bit shocked as Mittens spoke. "You know your psalms," he says quietly, while his eyes water up. He touches the mantra beads on his arm. "Saying the psalms are part of my mantra. They help keep me sane in this crazy world. Thank you Mittens, really."

He wipes his eyes with his handkerchief before looking at Mittens again. "So You most likely didn't come here to listen to my sob story. What can I do for you?"

"Your welcome, Michael," Mittens answers softly, wiping her own eyes, "Glad to hear about your faith.  I'm Christian too if you hadn't guessed.  Actually...  I kinda did come to listen to your story.  It's the most important part of what I do.  Really.  So what you can do for me?  Well...  you can tell me more."

She turns her eyes to look directly into his expectantly.

Michael seemed a bit surprised. He had been expecting, well actually he had no idea what he had expected, but this wasn't it. "More about me huh? I'm not usually one to talk about myself, but if you really want to know, I guess I can tell you some stuff."

He took a sip of his drink while he thought of where to start. "How about the story of how I met Lucy? Let's see I was a junior at college and found myself wanting to learn something physical. I ended up at a dojo not to far from school, in which Lucy happened to work. I had seen her around campus but we had no classes together. I told her i knew a little and she asked me to show her, so we sparred. Man did I get my butt kicked," he said with a bit of a laugh, his eyes back in the past. "We laughed as we finished up our sparring and that was it, we were inseparable from then on."

Michael goes on to some amusing stories during school and after they graduated. He talked about their wedding and honeymoon (the G rated parts only) and some of the problems they had had finding a house. Then his face turned sullen again and he said quietly,"And then it all came crashing down. I'm not sure how she had managed to not notice it or if for some reason it just never bothered her, but when she finally went to the doctors, we were told it was to late. She still went through the chemo, but it only made her weaker. In the end, I just held her as both our lives ended." He was staring at his glass slowly spinning the contents. "I've made due, continued living because I know she would never forgive me if I ended it myself. Don't worry, I'm not suicidal, at least not anymore. At this point I just need to do something for someone else. This gig pays fine, but does nothing for me anymore. I joined the citizen patrol because I want to actually do something with my life."

Mittens nibbles on her lower lip, a sad smile on her face as she listens to Michael's story.  She giggles a little when Mr. Tough Guy admits to being pummeled by a girl.  She idly wonders if that's how Timothius will fall in love.  As if I needed another reason to avoid romance like the plague, she thinks to herself, Even if everything works out and you're a perfect match, Murphey's Law demands that something else tragic happens.  Mittens may be Miss Positive on most anything else, but not romance.

"Well of course she'd want the best for you," Mittens agrees with a nod, "And so do I.  I dabble a bit in martial arts myself.  Currently taking Ju-Jitsu to be more specific.  I'm curious what style it was that you and Lucy studied together.  As for making a difference for somebody else..."

She reaches into her briefcase and takes out a newspaper article about the water monster with the huge title "Superheroes Save the Day!" and slides it toward Michael.

"I believe the proof is already in the pudding you're in good company.  Don't suppose Lucy was a mutant...  Did you know about your ability when you met?"

Michael didn't look to surprised that Mittens did some martial arts. She was hyper and energetic, it made sense. "She taught akido and I learned a lot from her, but I also started doing judo on the side. My grappling always needs work," he said with a grimace.

He picks up the paper as it is passed and reads the article. He is relieved to know that the kids at least are competent. We'll see about the rest.

"If she was, she didn't know, but she did know that I was," he said taking another drink. "I have known for quite a while now that I was, but Lucy actually helped me to use it easier. Meditation helped in order to gain some control of the teleporting. Lucy also suggested using a focus, which works much better." He held up his arm showing the mantra beads. "I use these as my focus. Basically they get ported first then I follow."

"Nice," Mittens answers, trying hard to suppress her enthusiasm.  She's always wanted a shot at Aikido, and it's the perfect art to start the members of the Citizen Patrol on.  She's heard it's favored by the police.

"Heh... Meditation and focus are two things I could sure use.  I'm sure the rest of the team could use 'em too.  I'm very impressed she was able to figure out a way for you to more effectively use your ability.  Speaking of which.  You volunteered to be team combat strategist?  I'm curious if the info packet I handed you was along the lines of what you had in mind."

"Yeah Aikido is a lot of work, but it definitely is the best way to learn the non-damaging take downs," Michael says to her. "As for the meditation, if anyone was interested I wouldn't mind running through a few things that normally help. Maybe at the next meeting."

When she asked about the strategy packet she had given him, he gave it some thought. There had been some helpful things in there, but there was a lot of work that needed to be done. "I'd need to talk to everyone to see what they would be comfortable doing, as well as to see what else they know outside of what power they have. Someone could have a great combat power, but if they don't actually know how to fight it wont help them."

"Good point, good point," Mittens answers with repeated nods, "Big as she is, somehow I get the feeling Haalima isn't much for Krav Maga style combat.  Maaaybe she'd go for Aikido.  And the others..."

She trails off briefly but just as quickly shakes it off and refocuses.  She takes on a serious tone.

"I've noticed you're the strong silent type.  But you want to make a difference.  And volunteered for a leadership type role.  Just how much of a leadership role are you willing to take on?  For example...

"Well suppose things had gotten violent with those protesters and we were forced to defend ourselves?  For the police, they have a clearly defined rank structure to keep such thing as conflicting orders from getting people killed.  The Citizen Patrol does not have that...  Yet.

"I can tell you right now, that would have been a disaster.  I would have told everyone to retreat into the building.  Liberty may have ignored me.  Then the others would jump into the fray to protect her.  Our powers being what they are... someone could have died that day.  Heck, I wouldn't doubt Sarah could kill someone with her bare hands, powers or not.  I think everyone would be quicker to obey your orders in combat, Michael.  You just have that... air of authority.  Respect."

Michael's lip twitches into a slight smile as Mittens goes off on a tangent, but listens intently as she gets more serious.

He sits and listens, his hands under his chin (Really annoyed, but this is the closest I could find: http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/PHP/PHP3044574_P.JPG) He takes a moment then says,"Why do you think I went out after her? That I was going out to be her protector, or rather her bodyguard? Because that is basically it, though not in the sense of it coming to blows. I went out there to be the escape exit if things got out of control." He takes a deep breath before continuing. "I can port with no concentration, however it hurts, a lot. To the point that I will barely be able to think, much less move, after I have done it. That was my plan if things got bad. I would have picked her up and been back in the room with everyone else before it came to violence."

"If you want me to be in charge of combat, I am fine with that. Outside of an actual conflict though, I would prefer to defer to someone else. That is, unless you truly think I am the best candidate for it. I'm here to help Mits, so I'll go wherever I can do the most help, even if I don't particularly like it."

Mittens takes a deep breath, leaning her cheek in her hand with a smile.  ( http://tiny.cc/75sfm )

"Glad to hear we're on the same page for that," she says, "It's relieving to know things couldn't have gone as bad as I was afraid they might.  It will be as you prefer then.  I'll rely on you to be the boss only when it comes to fire fights... or water fights as the case may be."

She smirks and winks.

"I plan to put the others in charge of various other things if they're willing.  For example I'm hoping Emerald will be in charge of the band I'm putting together...  I've noticed you're quite the musician.  Would you be willing to help out with that?  It's nothing to do with crime fighting directly, but I plan to make it very much a central part of what I'm hoping to accomplish for our city."

Michael looked a bit surprised and said,"A band? So along with creating a mutant crime fighting force, you are also making a band? Sure, I'd be interested. What kind of music would we be playing and who would be in it?"

Mittens puts on a proud smile from Michael's surprise.  She decides to boast using the excuse that he needs to be kept abreast of future plans to justify it to herself.

"That's just the tip of the iceburg.  I've also got movie deals, talk show appearances, public speaking engagements, and all sorts of other stuff in the works.  The phone's been ringing off the hook thanks to our success so far!

"But yeah.  Music.  Style is yet to be determined, but so far I'm leaning toward pop as a strong influence since becoming a pop star is on Emerald's to-do list, and I imagine she'll be the one handling the majority of the band related work.  But I had hoped for a mix of influences.  What I heard you playing earlier melted my heart, and I'd love to hear more of your talent.  But so far I've got you, Emerald, Sarah, maybe myself until we find someone better, and Haalima as our dancer.  But again, these things are just in the early stages, so we'll see what develops.  You have any strong preferences?  Any style of music you can't stand or are completely in love with?"

Mittens cringes a little, kicking herself for her poor choice of words, but keeps her eager smile.

Michael is intrigued by the kitty's list of dealing, but wonders how many are exaggerations. He gives the music choice some thought, not noticing Mittens cringe. "What I was playing before is solo type stuff. If we are making a band I'd like to be on guitar, lead if the spot hasn't been taken. As long as we aren't doing hardcore rap, I think we will be fine, though I prefer punk and ska."

"Punk?!" Mittens asks in shock, her mouth agape, "And Ska?!  Really?  Wow!  Awesome!  I love those!  Never woulda guessed you to like 'em too.  World's full of surprises.  You play lead guitar, huh?  Well that's handy.  My goodness.  It's all coming together.  Wonderful!  Perfect!  Lead guitar it is!"

She snickers.

"With all these influences coming together, we may wind up making a whole new style of music.  I'll call it... Skunkop!"

Michael gave a little chuckle as his took a sip of his drink. "So what else did you want to talk about? " He figured the interview wouldn't just be about his history and a band, but he had been wrong before. Once:P

Mittens is a little taken by surprise by the sudden topic change.  She wonders if perhaps she had slipped up and...  Right.  Man talk.  Daddy tried to explain.  It was hard to sit still long enough, but she eventually got the message that guys are sparing with words and tend to want to get to the point.

"Right.  Next topic.  I've been running into some road-blocks at the police station.  I understand you have a history with the force, though probably not the park police specifically.  Well I'm wanting to move us out of the briefing room as soon as possible, but I get the feeling that soon isn't soon enough.  Well...  Hmm..."

She rubs her chin, trying to remember how she'd wanted to put it.

"I want us to part ways with them on as good a terms as possible.  I managed to defuse the little misunderstanding between Emerald and Bagrowski, but he's one easiest to get along with in the force from what I've seen.  I was wondering if maybe you could be the one to act as our liaison to the police in my stead.  I imagine you talk their language much better than I do.  The most important thing is that I want them to know how much I respect them, but it seems a hard message to get across."

When they don't have a shred of respect for me, she thinks to herself, it's no wonder.

"And we're not leaving the station because we're 'too good for them' or 'afraid of them' or any other silly ideas they might get."

Michael listens to the problems Mittens has run into at the station and can't say he is surprised. He nods and says,"Sure Mittens, I will see what I can do. They are good people, they just... have trouble with new people. Especially when they think someone is trying to do their job. Now I know that isn't what you, all of us, are trying to do, but I can understand why they might see it that way."

He put his hand on his chin in thought. Slowly a grin appeared on his face. "How about we make a friendly rivalry out of this? Same as the police and fire department have. You know, some friendly softball games here and their, trying to out do each other at in the thanksgiving day parade. What do you think?"

It never occurred to Mittens that the fire department might have a rivalry of any kind with the police, but... makes sense.

"Love th..!  Ffff...  eh... maybe not.  I mean...  You saw what Joe's capable of.  Mutants in sports is a very very volatile topic."

She smears her face, her frustration showing.

"I know they're good people, Micheal.  It's just.  I wish they knew we were good people too.  Even if we save the city a dozen times over without 'taking over' the overworked police's jobs, it'll be hard to overcome the colossal monster that is prejudice, ya know.  That's my ultimate goal, by the way.  Civil Rights Movement take two.  Thanks for offering to take on being the go-between for the police.  Of all the things on my to-do list, this was probably the most hurtful for me."

Nothing like being unwelcome to your heroes.

Michael saw her frustration and could understand it. She made a good point, but there had to be some way of getting them on decent terms. "How about this, I go talk to some of the officers and higher ups, see if I can't get some professional respect and support at least."

He thought for a moment and said,"Just because they aren't there yet doesn't mean they wont come around. It will take time and work, but it is definitely doable."

Mittens gives a sigh of relief like a great weight had been taken off her shoulders.  She's usually the one encouraging people with the 'yes we can!' cheers, it's nice to be on the receiving end of some encouraging can-do assurances for once.  "Sounds like a good plan.  Thanks again.  So since we're on the topic...  any other conflicts you can see cropping up?  I mean...  Well... Sarah for example.  Don't suppose have any issues with the department's decision to put her on the team as part of her probation?  From what I could tell, you get along with her just fine on a personal level, so maybe there's something else bugging you about the team or how things are going so far that hadn't occurred to me?"

"Well on a personal level, I don't have a problem with anyone we have. Sarah seems nice enough, though I'm told she has a bit of a temper, which is what gets her into trouble. From what she told me, the last straw was actually in defense of someone else, she just happened to use a bit to much force helping him," he said giving his chin a rub.

"I have a few concerns but so far they are just speculation, so I would rather not talk about them until I have something to actually put my finger on. Unless, of course, you really want to hear from my more paranoid side," he says the last bit with a smirk.

"You have a paranoid side?" Mittens asks with a little surprise, "Yes I would very much like to hear your speculations.  And please don't leave me out if I'm on the list of suspects.  I've gotten pretty thick skinned what with being covered in fur, so I don't think you'll hurt my feelings any.  I'd really rather not be handled with kid gloves because 'Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.'

"And thanks for clearing up that bit about Sarah.  There was no mention of that important detail in wrap sheet they gave me."

Michael gave a dark chuckle as Mittens asked about his paranoid side. It was not a pleasant sound and hopefully it wouldn't happen again. "Yes I have a paranoid side, which has come from me ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time far to many times. Let me just start off with this disclaimer, I like everyone on the team. None of them have given me any reason not to. That being said, they have all shown something that could either be a personal or a team weakness. Where to start? Ah actually, I can just show you."

Michale pulls out a pda, then after pulling up a sheet hands it to Mittens. On it shows just how far his paranoia goes. "There is a more detailed list, but it is up here. This is the basics and the most useful of the points," he says.

This message was last edited by the player at 18:50, Wed 13 Oct 2010.

Mittens gets a great big smile on her face as she reads the list.

"Faaaantastic," she says, "You're a man after my own heart!  I've a list much like this of my own!  Of course if you saw it I'd have to kill you."

She gives Michael a smirk and a wink.

"Kidding about the killing part of course.  But you're so right about me being a danger magnet.  But you're not the only one to have noticed.  Several journalists have pointed out that 'no sooner does the crazy cat girl with a history of being at the scene of a disaster start a supergroup than a never-before dreamed of danger threatens the city!'  I of course know the reason I wind up in dangerous situations at the right time is no fault of mine any more than firefighters and police cause fires and crime, but simply telling journalists this fact isn't going to convince them.

"I can sense adventure before it happens the same way most people can see lightning before thunder rolls.  I say 'adventure' instead of 'danger' because often the stuff I sense before hand can be quite harmless in the end.  Such as a parade or a fireworks display.  Hopefully in time my second sight will be a little less blurry.

"As far as myself and half the team not being old enough to vote... well you could get a doctorate unpacking just one of the issues that brings up.  Could it be tied to the same reasons children are targeted for military recruitment?  Or perhaps it has something to do with familial and societal abandonment and alienation that persons of a tender age seek affirmation from others who might understand what they're going through?  Then there's the questions of who's responsible for allowing things to get to the point where kids are carrying a large part of society's disaster relief burden.  And why aren't more adults joining?  Are they afraid of exposure as Mutants?  On and on it goes.

"In other words you're quite right again.  You may consider your list paranoid, but it's quite reasonable.  And it doesn't include the things I was afraid it might.  For example: 'She's more annoying than a mosquito bite in a place that can't be scratched,' or 'like a rusty nail in the knee,' or 'would rather take a belt sander to my thigh than be in the same room.'"

"I'm not saying that I'm against having the younger crew with us. From what I've seen everyone so far is more than capable of handling themselves. I think at some point we should do some group training, at least for some tactical maneuvers that we could use in the field."

"As for people being annoying, as long as it is to meet a common goal, I can tolerate anyone. No matter how ridiculous they are," he says while looking straight at mittens. After a second his lips twitch and a smile can be seen peeking from his eyes. "Just messing, sorry about that."

Mittens smiles eagerly when Michael suggests group training, literally wagging her tail about the idea, but when she's labeled annoying and ridiculous, her expression switches to an awkward grin and a blush.

Whew!  Saved by the tease!

"Boy," she says, waving at herself, "You sure are convincing.  I'd hate to have to be interrogated by you.  As for the group training idea, I love it!  If I had my way, we'd have full-on military preparedness for each member.  First aid, self-defense, respect for authority, survival training, the works.  Girl Scouts strongly influenced my thinking, you might say.  Still a member by the way.  Anything specific you had in mind since my mind is all over the map?"

"Well I was thinking a physical aptitude test, at the very least. Once we do that, we can see who needs work in which area. First aid and cpr would be easy enough, just get someone to come in and do the training with us. I'm sure you or Angel could arrange that for us.

Maybe a combat basics course, self defense stuff for the most part. For those who are already fighters, I can work with them to figure out the best way to use their powers in a fight."

He took his tablet back and started making some notes. "Hmm, we could also implement some survival courses. Maybe take everyone camping with limited supplies and show them how to forage and use nature to survive. Though that means we aren't her in the city." Then stopping himself, he changed his mind. "Wilderness survival could be silly since we will be in the city, so I guess that's not really needed."

"What else do you think?"

"Sounds great!" Mittens chimes cheerily, "Though I wouldn't rule out a survival course of any kind so quickly.  I've heard that even business execs benefit from such far more than an afternoon at the golf course.  It has a sort of confidence-building effect that you can't really get anywhere else.  And I've read that city folk do rather well too.

"As for what else, well...  I'm thinking of tailoring the group as a whole to the needs of the individual members.  For example, I've been looking into getting Haalima some breaks into the entertainment biz since she's all about dancing.  And Emerald all about singing.  And so on.  Lots of opportunity to make each other's dreams come true.  Open to suggestions toward that end."

"True, survival training is never a bad thing and a confidence boost is something fledgling superheroes and teenagers alike need," he said, the last part with a grin.

"As for tailoring the group, it sounds interesting, for the old people in the team anyway. For the kids, most don't know what they want yet, so it may be difficult to tailor it completely. That being said, if they want to learn something then they couldn't have asked for better teachers. I figure between all of us "adults" we should be able to teach everyone a thing or three."

Mittens smirks at Michael and nods.

"I may still be a kid but I know exactly what I want.  But I agree we've got a great team of adults to teach the younger members.  How 'bout you, though?  Do you know what you want specifically?  What can I do to get you what you want?"

Michael looked a bit shocked at her question. What did he want? There is the question for the year, if not longer. "What I want.. I want to be happy and I haven't been is so long. Music lifts my spirit a little bit, but not like it used to. Right now I'm trying to find that spark that makes my life matter again. I am hoping that by helping people through the Citizen Patrol, I will be able to find it. If not that, then at least something where I am needed."

"Then come work for the Citizen Patrol full time!" Mittens answers with a grin, "We're hiring, and it's a great cause!  The paycheck won't be big, but most other jobs don't offer satisfaction and self-respect in the benefits package.

She smirks, winks, and offers a job application.

Michael looks a bit surprised as she pulls out paperwork, but not about the job offer. He had been hoping for something like this. "Really now? I am always looking for new work. What kind of positions do you have open right now?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:45, Mon 02 Apr 2012.