Empire State of Mind [Open]

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

She's been onboard and awake a couple of days at most, and Ava already misses Manhattan. There's an oppressive, stale quality to the air on Stacy; it feels recycled, and it's just not the same as home. The Manhattan generated from her memories isn't exactly right, either, but it's better than nothing. She soars down Fifth Avenue towards Central Park, dressed in reassuringly non-pulsing Sensorium-generated clothes.

Anybody feel like flying today?

Comments

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

Sofia peeked inside of the Sensorium door. She could feel the air sweeping around her, calling. Her heart ached.

"Nothing else feels like flying, does it?"

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

Ava glides down when she hears a voice below her, hovering a foot or so of the ground near the doorway. "Sky's big enough for the two of us, if you want to come along." she says with a smile, tucking a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear. Just being in the air again is enough to make her happier than she has been since she's awakened.

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

"I-" Her voice almost cracked. "I cannot. I lost my powers."

So why could she feel the wind flowing all around her?

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

"Oh. I'm sorry." Yeah, Ava's going to drop to the ground now. She does sound genuinely sorry, too; even though she doesn't entirely want her powers, she'd miss flying if they were taken from her somehow.

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

"Thank you, but it is not your fault. You do not have to stop because of me." Sofia paused. "It's strange. I almost feel as if..."

What was the harm in trying? Sofia stretched out one hand, and after a moment of concentration a garbage can across the street blew over in a sudden burst of wind.

"My God!"

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

"Mm-hmm, powerless. I totally believe you." Ava says teasingly, crossing her arms. "Although, there's one way to find out for sure if they're back..." she continues, lifting herself a couple of inches off the ground and waiting for Sofia to follow.

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

"I don't understand!" And then switching back to English. "They were gone! That is why Ms. Frost sent me away. I have tried so many times before and never-" Sofia stopped herself. It had been so long since she used her powers, she had almost forgot how.

She lifted herself up in the air, at least for a few minutes before nearly toppling over but a quick correction saved her. "I don't understand how- unless when Stacy healed me. My God."

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

"We've got to be from different universes, because I'd have been sent away if people knew I did have powers." Not to mention the monsters Ava sees on a daily basis, which would be more than enough to get her locked away in a very nice, very discreet asylum somewhere. "And Stacy moves in mysterious ways, I guess-- hey, careful!" She saw that wobble, Sofia.

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

"It's complicated. Mutants are hated where I am from. I went to a school, Xavier's, but for some reason many mutants lost their powers, including me. Because I was no longer a mutant they sent us away. I-" Sofia flew higher into the air. She couldn't help but grin. "I can't believe..."

She could feel the wind again. It flowed through her veins with every heart beat.

And, even though she was out of practice, she took off down a street. The wind wiped away the tears from her eyes.

"They're back."

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

Ava takes off after Sofia, flying far too close to the traffic for most people's comfort. "Not to put a damper on the Hallmark moment or anything, but do you know where you're going?" she calls after the other girl, quickly taking note of where they are.

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

"I have no idea!" Sofia made sure the wind carried her words back to Ava. She flew up, above the buildings and stared down at the city.

There really was nothing else quite like flying.

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

"Ever been to New York?" Ava asks, soaring up to meet Sofia with a huge grin on her face. This was her city, even if it was easier to forget it was a hologram down by the taxis and the pedestrians.

"Oh, yeah, I'm Ava Ballantyne."

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

"I've lived here for two years." It was easy to forget that there no longer was a New York when she was rising high above the skyscrapers. "I'm Sofia Mantega. It's very good to meet you, Ava."

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

"Hey, really? Where at?" Ava asks, watching a flock of pigeons take off from the roof of one of the nearby buildings.

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

"I'll take you to where my apartment was." Sofia changed directions. "The walls were drafty and there were rats but at least it was a place to stay." She didn't sound sad at all, in fact she was remarkable cheerful.

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

"... rats? Seriously?" Ava says with a shudder. "But hey, if you wanna go then lead the way."

[not_the_philistine]

Someone did, and someone is surprised to see the city he once called home already in place when he enters the Sensorium.

Manhattan by day. Truth be told, he'd rather see it in this unfamiliar light. It feels less like false hope, and more like a curiosity.

He is causing a fuss that will elevate if he continues to stand here on the street, surrounded by simulations of humans unprepared for an urban legend in their midst, so Goliath takes to the air after a short climb up the side of one of the buildings. Somebody will complain about clawmarks later - or would, if they were not simulations, but he did not have to make many. These daytime thermals are unparalleled.

Ava, someone is sharing your sky.

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

Ava's already been yelled by cabdrivers for flying too low into oncoming traffic; it's safe to say that she hasn't exactly generated an idealized version of her city. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots something that looks like either a giant bat or a very small dragon climbing up a building and taking to the skies after her and slows down accordingly.

The sky's big enough for the two of them, but Ava would like to know who's trying to share it with her.

[not_the_philistine]

His eyes are narrowed against the bright light, and so it takes a minute for Goliath to spot her. When he does, he has to blink to make sure he really is seeing what he thinks he is. Humans don't usually fly without wings. In his experience, very little does.

"This must be your simulation." If not, someone on the ground has a strange taste in holographic humans.

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

Well, Ava doesn't often see winged humanoids, so they're probably even. "Yeah, it's mine. Welcome to New York City." she says, turning to face Goliath as she flies.

[not_the_philistine]

"I have been," he says. She could have passed for a Child of Oberon, but not if she doesn't recognize him for his species. Or possibly him at all. "Manhattan was my clan's home for some years."

Not so many. He had expected more.

Sorrow picks at him for a moment, and he strives onward to keep his mind off it. "If I am intruding -"

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

"Hey, we're practically neighbors! What neighborhood were you in?" Ava says with a laugh, pulling her hair into a ponytail while still in motion. She's really pretty much a vanilla human, albeit one with a rather unusual talent.

"Don't worry about it. There's nine million people on the ground here, we've got more than enough room for two in the sky." Being in the sky has obviously put her in a better mood than usual.

[not_the_philistine]

"Neighborhood?" he repeats. "The Clock Tower was our home for some time."

He scans the horizon as he flies, eyes still slitted against the brightness of the sun.

"Perhaps your Manhattan never had it." It would have been wreckage, anyway, if they were in his Manhattan - there would have been more panic over his appearance if they were in his Manhattan. "I can see there are some things that are different between our cities."

Like a missing pair of towers.

Uh.

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

Oh, you mean that gaping hole in the horizon where two very tall buildings used to be? Yeah.

"Different New Yorks, I guess." Ava says, dodging to the left to avoid flying through a flock of pigeons. "Although now I kinda want to know what's different..."

[not_the_philistine]

It's caught his eye. Any other time, he might question, but now - maybe he just doesn't want to know.

"There should be a clock tower," he says, pointing - "And a much taller building than any of the others, there, topped by a castle."

He looks back at the gaping space where the World Trade Center should be. "And two towers of equal height. There."

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

"A castle? Nice." Ava says with a grin. Who wouldn't want castles in their skyline?

Her joy is quickly deflated when her companion mentions two towers, though. "When'd you say you were from again?" she asks carefully.

[not_the_philistine]

"My castle," he elaborates, with a brief smile. "It is in the city, if you would like to see it, though it is no longer on top of a tower."

Congrats, Ava, you're one of the few humans to get a direct invitation to a gargoyles' territory.

"1995," he says, looking again to the empty space in the skyline. "Perhaps the mysteries of the future are best left for a different time than this."

He's got enough to worry about without hearing horror stories of a Manhattan he will never see.

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

Ava would feel more special if she knew what that meant. As it is, there's no reason to be rude (especially not to a rather large and intimidating winged monster guy). "I'd love to see it, if it's in here."

"Yeah, let's... not talk about it in the city." she says hesitantly. It just seems like bad luck to her, even in a simulated version of the city almost a decade after the event.

[not_the_philistine]

"In this city, no. But outside of these illusions -" he smiles. "If you like libraries, the one in Castle Wyvern is without parallel."

He agrees with her by his silence in regard to the last part. He is not in the mood to hear of more misfortune.

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

Something about those skyscrapers called to the New Yorkers. Including this one, and the wind felt so familiar to him. Nathan shot into the air, leaving contrails behind him that laced through the spaces between buildings. It wasn't exactly like his New York, but felt close enough for kosher.

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

One of those contrails knocked Ava a foot or so to the left. "Hey, watch it!" she snaps as she corrects her course, more out of reflex than anything.

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

It took a moment of him slowing to catch the yell before he could circle back closer.

"Sorry, didn't know you were up here too," he remarked with a bright politician grin to make up for it.

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

Flying politicians... there's something you don't see every day. "Yeah, well, been getting a lot of that recently." Ava says with a shrug. "Turns out there's more people than I thought in Manhattan that like to fly."

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

"Good place to be. You from the city too?" Nathan remarked as he circled around, hovering in the air.

[sonotasuperhero.livejournal.com]

"Upper East Side all the way. You?" Ava asks, more out of politeness than anything else. If she had any problem with admitting that she was from one of the most privileged neighborhoods in the city, she certainly didn't show it.