aeons_crackshot | AU: Trinity Universe/FreakAngels crossover: First date

OOC: Takes place not too terribly long after this thread.

After certain events at the Chicago harbor there had been considerable amusement within the Æon Society over the pairing up of Annabelle Newfield and Connor. (Whitley Styles had won the betting pool, despite Jake's claim that he cheated.)

As for the reactions of the other FreakAngels to the news, well, who knows?

There was a furious spate of trouble starting the very next day, of course. All of the Society's founders have been run ragged for the last few weeks. For the moment though, things are quiet. (Or at least, if things ARE going crazy somewhere, someone else is handling the problem.)

Annabelle and Jake got back in town at some ungodly hour this morning, whereupon she fell asleep on one of the couches near the fireplace. (Jake is probably off somewhere regaling a pretty woman or two with tales of said adventure, because that's what he does.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

aeons_crackshot

It's good that his day is getting better and better, because Annabelle's is too.

Wow, these are good malts. Possibly this is a partial explanation for the crowd, along with the alcohol downstairs.

They'll linger over the shakes, making small talk and enjoying the company of one another.

From:

leadinghome

Holding hands, drinking milkshakes, making small talk. Very peaceful.

Of course, we all know said peace can not last.

From:

aeons_crackshot

Of course not. Heaven forbid they have a normal day!

The butterfly effect's a funny thing, sometimes. In the universe that was, a young man named Thomas lost his younger sister and his father to scarlet fever. That's why he had to stay in Tennessee, instead of finding a job at a newspaper in Chicago, like he had dreamed. In that universe, Thomas gained his Inspiration only moments before his death.

In THIS universe, the sudden arrival of the Angels delayed the Founder's return to Chicago, causing a reshuffling of members. One of theirs with healing talents was, therefore, in the area when the epidemic started. Casie and his father lived, so Thomas was able to pursue his dream.

But it seems that some people are not destined for quiet, ordinary lives. His parents were getting him "settled in", and he was taking his sister to get some ice cream to give them a break from her barrage of questions. She'd darted ahead of him and the other pedestrians trying to cross the street, but one car hadn't stopped...

There had been no time to think, no time to move, but something...snapped, somewhere deep inside. The side of the car crumples, pushed squealing backwards and away from the little girl....

It's a little like a star being born, to more uncommon senses. A roar and a bright burst of light where there was nothing remarkable before...

From:

leadinghome

And of course, the energy burst is like thunder and lightning for a Freakangel: it's not the Package, but it is something that sends waves across the area.

Connor stands up in a flash, eyes lighting up as his senses expand and time slows to a crawl for him.

From:

aeons_crackshot

The source of those waves isn't putting out as much energy now, having spent the brunt of it all in one go. The energy output is sporadic now, nearly random.

Confusion and distress Whoever it is that's putting out that energy has has NO IDEA what the hell is going on.

Annabelle would ask what he's sensing, but time is still moving at its normal speed for her.

From:

leadinghome

Fortunately, Connor has a pretty good idea of what to do in a case like this.

Static Line.

He moves away from the table, walking around the people, heading to the street. Looking for the source of the distress.

From:

aeons_crackshot

It's more than a little eerie, seeing the world frozen like this. About a block away, a roadster sits half on, half off the sidewalk, it's front passenger side bashed in as if by the fist of a giant.

The cause of the disturbance is a young man about Connor's age in the middle of the street. He's holding an eight year old girl protectively, his right hand only just coming down from where it was pointed at the car. Their looks suggest that they're related, probably siblings.

Taken all together, the scene suggests a nearly tragic accident caused by a driver not stopping when he should have. The question, of course, is what averted this tragedy and whether it has anything to do with the mysteriously damaged car...

From:

leadinghome

Taken all together, it looks simple to him: the young man was protecting his sister... or maybe the girl was protecting both.

Hard to know for sure.

For now, he heads back inside to get Annabelle, add her to the Line.

From:

aeons_crackshot

Annabelle is still sitting there, as frozen as the rest of them, to his perspective.

She's likely to be more than a bit surprised once she gets added to the Static Line.

From:

leadinghome

"Something happened outside. Come on." He offers a hand, but there's a tone of urgency on his voice.

From:

aeons_crackshot

Annabelle has a moment of WTF, as time unfreezes for her. He was over there and now he's over here, what?

She recovers almost instantly though, grabbing his hand. "What kind of trouble is it?" she asks, jumping to her feet.

From:

leadinghome

Connor guides her outside, to the scene of the accident. "I think someone's powers manifested just in time." That much is clear.

"I don't know which of the two did."

From:

aeons_crackshot

Annabelle mutters something extremely impolite in Cantonese. "This could get complicated," she says with a sigh. "It's hard enough trying to deal with an independent adult that's just got saddled with this mess...."

"Can you send a message to Whitley Styles? He's one of the people who gets drafted for orientation duty most often. I'd rather not have to hold the fort longer than necessary." She was on a DATE, damn it!

From:

leadinghome

"I can. But I'll have to take us out of the Static Line." Which means all hell starts to break loose.

From:

aeons_crackshot

Annabelle sighs. "It figures. Still, I'd rather someone other than me was on hand to try and do the explaining."

The kid could end up permanently psychologically scarred or something! She has no doubts whatsoever about her ability to damage a social situation beyond possibility of repair.

From:

leadinghome

"We'll have to do some damage control until he arrives." Connor sighs. "Any ideas?"

From:

aeons_crackshot

"If we can get them to calm down, we should keep the damage to a minimum," she says, thinking. "Stress and high emotions seem to cause a loss of control, especially in the first few months."

She grins wryly. "Thankfully, they've generally spent almost everything they have to burn in the initial crisis, so they don't do TOO much damage when they lose it."

From:

leadinghome

"Hm... right. So we drop out of the Line, and try to herd the two away from the crowd? While everybody's stunned?" With a bit of luck, they might be able to duck out of the incident.

From:

aeons_crackshot

"Sounds good to me," Annabelle replies with a nod.

Once the static line drops, the sound of a crowded city rushes back in. Annabelle is quite fast on her feat, and moving toward the young man at a good clip.

He's more than a little stunned, so she hauls him to his feet. (She's stronger than she looks, what can we say?) "Come on kiddo, we need to get you and the little one out of the road."

From:

leadinghome

"And fast, the crowd will be rushing in to take a better look at this all. Come on." Connor is following close, adding a sense of urgency to his tone. "Over there and around the corner."

From:

aeons_crackshot

Something in Connor's tone gets through to Thomas, who blinks a bit and moves to follow Annabelle, still carrying his little sister.

They make it around the corner and out of sight. The driver seems to have drawn the attention of the crowd, as he stumbles out of the vehicle unhurt.

Well, he WAS unhurt. One of the little old ladies in the crowd is smacking him about the head and neck with her purse and haranguing him in Italian.

Thomas takes a shuddering breath, and his muscles are trembling a bit. Now that the situation is over with and Casie is safe, his delayed panic attack is right on schedule....

From:

leadinghome

Connor does not like this, but... it's useful. "Calm down. All is well. We will help." Simple and to the point, he needs the young man not-freaking-out until help arrives.

Whitley Styles might not be a happy camper: even if it's done as gently as possible, having the events simply put into your thoughts like the most vivid description possible is a shock.

At least, it's very detailed.

From:

aeons_crackshot

Possibly not. On the other hand, it is a hell of a lot faster than doing it the usual way. Once the initial mental flail and twitch is over with, Connor will pick up a mental affirmative that he'll be there ASAP and a sense of approval regarding their plan for dealing with things.

Thomas relaxes under the effects of the suggestion, although some objects in the area are still vibrating a little. He can't quite get words to form right now, all that's coming out is a kind of strangled noise.

Casie, meanwhile, is looking up at Connor. She's never seen eyes that color before, and she has little to no filter between her mouth and her brain. "Oh! Your eyes are so pretty!" she exclaims, surprised.

The familiar need to extricate his little sister from opening mouth and inserting foot helps bring Thomas back to himself. "Casie!" he exclaims, hoping to head off any further trouble at the pass.

Some men don't take the application of the word 'pretty' to their person terribly well, after all.

From:

leadinghome

"Thanks." Connor chuckles a bit. After the first contact, it's easy to keep in touch with Syles, so... "Come on, let's get moving?"

He actually offers a hand to the little girl. "I'm Connor."

From:

aeons_crackshot

Casi takes the offered hand. "Hello, Connor, my name is Casi. "This is my older brother, Thomas." She leans forward to speak in what she thinks is a conspiratorial whisper. "Normally he only gets like this when he's talking to girls."

"Well, he's had one hell of a shock today, Casi," Annabelle interjects with a grin. "My name is Annabelle."

Thomas, coming out of the initial shock, just smiles sheepishly. "Nice to meet you both," he begins. His attempt at small talk gets derailed quickly though. "Do you...what HAPPENED back there?"

It can't have been what it looked like, right?