capeandcowllogs | Keep on Healing

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Keep on Healing

WHO: Julian Keller and Max Gibson.
WHERE: A bar in the City.
WHEN: Backdated to shortly after Rapunzel healed Julian's arms.
WARNINGS: Probably none. Will edit if required!
SUMMARY: Rapunzel's healing powers gave Julian back his hands. He and Max are going out to celebrate.
FORMAT: However you like.

Julian had spent a long time without his hands. It probably felt longer than it had really been, and his timeline was confused anyway. He had memories of a full three years without them, three years which never really happened because they were part of a pocket dimension that didn't really exist. Then there were the months at home, combined with six months in the City, and...yeah. That part was weird. But it had been a long time, and because of that he could barely believe it was over. Rapunzel had taken a few minutes to heal him, to regrow the arms he thought he'd lost forever, and now...

He was still kind of in shock. He'd told Max that he was going to ask, and after the healing worked, he'd contacted her to say so. They'd agreed to meet at a bar he'd gone into once or twice when he'd first arrived here. It had been a while since he'd been back, mainly because hanging out in places full of strangers wasn't a thing he'd tended to do very much when he had no hands. For all that he talked about how mutants, ImPorts, and anyone else should be proud to be different, proud to be better, he'd hated the stares he got from strangers while his hands were gone. Nothing about that attention had made him feel better than anyone. He'd just felt like a freak, plain and simple, and he hadn't wanted to give anyone the opportunity to to pity him. He didn't want to be a spectacle for anyone, not for something like this.

That was why he'd suggested meeting Max here. She'd asked him about celebrating, and doing this was the first thing he thought of. It felt like leaving all those months of hating how he looked behind. He could be himself again. Besides, he still knew the guy who worked the door. His fake I.D. wouldn't be a problem here.

He went there directly after texting Max. He'd sucked at the whole typing words thing. He put his comm away and found the place easily enough. After he caught up with the bouncer he knew, he waited by the door for Max to show.

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[ She didn't show up too long after him, good at travelling the City quickly. And it wasn't like she'd needed to get super dressed up or anything, she'd really just put on a nicer shirt and a hat and warm jacket to keep herself from freezing. She didn't know Tom's bar particularly well, but it didn't sound like somewhere that required looking super nice. ]

Hey, thanks for waiting. [ Grinning as she came up, hands shoved in her pocket for warmth. ] You look good.

[ His hands aren't in his pockets. He's pretty much still wearing the same thing he wore to see Rapunzel, though. That amounts to a dark shirt and leather jacket, both of which now have their sleeves rolled down to full length, and dark green cargo pants. He'd been serious about not having gone home yet. He isn't even thinking about that. He could be wearing something completely weird and ugly, and he'd still think he looked good tonight. ]

I kind of like this look. [ He holds out his hands and turns them over. ] Good as new, right? I think I'll stick with this.

[ He looks at her. He's in a better mood than he has been in a long time, at least for now. He hasn't forgotten about everything that drove him to taking the risk with Rapunzel in the first place, but that's in the back of his mind tonight. He smiles. ]

You look good too. Let's go inside, it should actually be warm in there.

[ He holds the door for her. Not with his powers. This is kind of novel. ]

[ Her grin widens when she sees his hands. It's not that it's ever really mattered to her whether or not he had them, but he seems so happy about it that it's impossible to not be pleased for him. ]

Totally good as new. Sticking with it sounds good.

[ The compliment makes her laugh a little, still smiling because it's really good to see Julian looking genuinely pleased and she's not used to it, it's new and fun and she's looking forward to tonight and hanging out with him while he's happy. ]

Warmth, what a foreign concept. Thanks.

[ For holding the door open, and she heads towards the bar once they're both inside with the door shut. ] Thanks for the invite, too.

[ It’s been a while since he’s been happy. Everything that’s been on his mind where Vulcanus are concerned is still there under the surface, ready to be triggered again. Besides that, healing has changed how he looks now, but it hasn’t changed what happened to him at home in the first place.

But it lifted a burden. To an extent his mood now is a surface feeling, born out of the adrenaline that comes from being healed, but for the moment that’s enough for him. What effect it has longer term can’t be answered tonight. ]

These places suck without company. [ He shrugs. ] And you’re good company. There’s a free table by the window if you want it. This round’s on me, what do you drink?

[ Yeah, she has that problem sometimes herself, and most of the time she distracts herself with other people. It's the easiest way, and the most fun. And right now it's doubly good because he's visibly happy and that makes it so much easier to think of things optimistically.

Her smile widens just a little bit at that, because who doesn't like hearing they're good company. ] You're pretty good company too. The table looks fine.

[ She shrugs. ] I don't have a preference, whatever you're getting works.

[ He shrugs, and orders something soft. No alcohol, at least not yet - not until he's sure of how strictly Max feels about technicalities like legal drinking ages. His I.D. should be enough for the bar, but she actually knows him. He takes a pair of cokes over to their table. He can use his hands for this instead of his powers. ]

You know, it's still weird. I'm not used to it yet, feeling things that I'm carrying again. It's weird.

[ Hilariously enough, working at City Hall in general doesn't lend itself to caring too much about legal drinking ages. She's more careful about it in public, but she really won't care. ]

Making snowballs again will be fun. Showering will be different too, huh.

Hell yeah. I had to learn how to do that stuff with my mind. I still kind of want to.

[ He glances up at her. This is something he didn't talk about while it was a fact of life. He always thought of it as a weakness, so he played it down as much as he could. Now it's past tense. ]

I keep having to remind myself that I can open doors or lift things without telekinesis. That had almost started to feel normal.

You can do a mixture of things. You can have the equivalent of four arms.

[ Just sort of lightheartedly throwing suggestions out there as she smiles back when he glances at her. ]

The body tends to adjust pretty fast to stuff, yeah? You'll probably adjust back quickly.

Only four, huh? I don't think that's ambitious enough.

[ He grins, and shrugs his shoulders. ]

I ain't worried, it's just weird. Learning how to not have hands freaking sucked. This is easier. I'm sure as hell not complaining.

Why, you want to be an octopus?

Yeah, definitely. It's going to be a breeze. [ She lifts her glass towards him. ] To new adventures. Or something equally cheesy.

No. To looking like me again. [ He lifts his glass, because he'll drink to that. For all that people here had accepted how he looked with his fake hands, he'd never been okay with that. To the extent that he'd never even been willing to admit to not being okay with it. ]

Now you better tell me what's new with you, before we get sappy or something.

[ She accepts the change in toast, takes a drink with a grin. He really does seem happy about it, and while she never minded his hands either way she can see why it would be a huge relief. ]

And we can't have that. Uhh, I don't know, I'm just - working. Oh, I moved out of my old apartment. Into April and Kate's.

Oh, yeah. [ They'd talked about that in Venezuela. She hadn't liked living alone after Midii had gone. He could relate. He'd left his old apartment for similar reasons. ]

That's good, you got roommates again. I don't blame you. I didn't even know you were friends with April. You all work at City Hall?

[ She'd definitely gotten her wish of less quiet and empty spaces. ]

Yeah, it's nice having people around again. Kate - I don't actually know April knows her, she doesn't work at City Hall. But yeah, April's my coworker. And friend.

So does that make Kate a stranger? [ She virtually would be to Julian, although he recognizes the name from the Network. ] That must be weird.

Basically. [ She pauses a moment, takes a drink. ] It's a little weird, but I'm busy so much I don't even see her that often.

But it's better? Better than the MAC, anyways. The Carrier is.

Totally better than the MAC, yeah. What's the Carrier like?

Weird. It reminds me of the compound in San Francisco. [ Which…she wouldn’t know so that’s the least helpful comparison ever. ] …Huge but enclosed. You forget it’s not on the ground until you look out the window. And Jenny lets us use her Doors, so transport ain’t ever a problem.

[ Though it will be soon, once Jenny’s interests turn a little more international… ]

[ She tilts her head in question at the first comment, but waits as he starts to explain. ] It looks like it's got to be a mile long.

Does anyone know how the doors work? That's some pretty awesome technology.

They're some kind of teleportation thing. I don't know. Midnighter said they were Jenny's thing, so maybe it comes from her powers.

[ That's what he thinks, anyway. When they got stuck on the Falcon, Midnighter had said any teleportation was in Jenny's hands. ]

I don't worry too much about that, so long as they get me where I need to go.

Maybe I'll go ask her about it sometime. It could be pretty interesting.

[ Taking another sip of her drink, grinning at him. ]

You know, I don't think I've ever actually asked what you do.

[ Leaning back, lifting his eyebrows. ]

I work for Callie. You know, the DOI? Enforcement Division. With Santo.

Good place to work if you like to see things done. I’ve been there almost since I got here. We see eye to eye on the whole Venezuela thing.

You and Santo know each other?

[ Hey she doesn't pay super close attention to the whole network all the time and she hasn't actually hung out with either of them in person much. ]

Making any plans?

[ Staring at her now. ]

Of course we know each other, we're from the same world. He's a mutant. We trained together, he was on my team. He's... [ A pause, while Julian realizes something. ] ...one of my oldest friends. We don't hang out like we used to is all.

[ He scowls, pushing that thought away and focusing on Max. ]

Plans. Maybe. Look, I know what you said, I know you think I'm being stupid, and it's dangerous, or whatever, and it ain't like you're wrong. I still have to try, Max.

[ hey okay look she's never been to your world and she doesn't know a lot about it at all! ] Seriously? That's kind of cool that he's here too and you guys still get to hang out.

[ Pushing away the little bit of wistfulness she feels, because sometimes she does really miss Terry. ]

I know you do. And I mean, I couldn't stop you. I just really hope you'll be as careful as possible.

He’s been here longer than I have. And he has Rikku, so I don’t know. We don’t hang that much. [ He shrugs his shoulders. ]

I know what I’m doing. For once there’s people who agree with me, and we’re taking action. We’ll make plans, we won’t do anything stupid. [ Or at least, he won’t do anything that he thinks is stupid. What anyone else thinks is stupid is a whole other story. ]

They're a cool couple. [ But she's got more attention for the next bit of what he's saying, though she stays as casual as she can. ]

Back up's good. So are plans. You should let me know if I can help - I mean, I'm not a bad hacker at all. I'm actually pretty good. [ Yeah she sort of half trusts that he means it and is half pretty sure that his version of what will constitute as stupid isn't one she would entirely agree with. ]

[ He looks at her now, interested. He’s not sure if she’s playing an angle. ]

So you aren’t gonna tell me it’s a bad idea again. That it’s dangerous.

[ a slight shrug ]

I already told you all that stuff, and you promised not to do anything too dangerous. So now I'd like to help make it less dangerous.

[ A pause, until finally he looks happier, and nods. ]

Okay. I'll remember that. I knew we couldn't be the only people who'd want to do something about this.

[ She grins a little back. ]

I'm City Hall, officially, so any contribution can't be all that out in the open, but yeah. I do want to do something.

Yeah, well, when I ask you, I’ll just be asking Max. Not City Hall. [ Grinning back at her. ] You know I don’t trust those guys anyways.

That's cool, it'll be just Max that answers. [ Shrugging, still amused. ] Yeah, I can't really blame you for that one.

And again we come to the part where you work for them. How do you work for people you don’t trust?

Everyone's got to have a job. And this one is I think the closest to letting me help.

And I don't not trust them as much as I don't agree with them always.

On what, politics? Cause no one ever agrees in politics, it's part of the deal.

Basically. So I don't think it's grounds enough for me to distrust them, but - [ shruug ]

I can see why other people wouldn't.

[ He shrugs his shoulders now. ]

I guess that's fair.

Terry works at City Hall too, I don't get that either.

I think he's just there because April bullied him into it, really. I'm not sure he cares about the actual politics too much.

[ He lifts his eyebrows at her. ]

Do you care about the actual politics?

Yeah. [ making a little face ] Not in a politics is my life way, but the stuff that's being done, some of it's pretty important.

If you say so. The politics don't bug me so much as the politicians.

Well, you know, politicians. There's always something a little bit weird about the whole idea of making a career of running other people's lives.

Yeah. People who earn their money by making promises they'll never keep. That's all they ever do.

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Keep on Healing

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