Picking Pockets

[tesseract]

It was a busy day, on a busy street, in a very busy city. The sort of city where if somebody lost their wallet, they would never notice until they got home. It was easy which one's to pick. Some people's back pockets just seemed to stick out of their behinds like they're smuggling crack... which come to think of it some of them probably would.

Nobody noticed Tesser. She was just another street kid who looked strange and woulnd't cause any trouble if you didn't notice her. That's what made it so easy to slip something out of someone's pocket. They purposfully didn't notice you.

Sitting on a street corner, the little girl went through her spoils, about twenty dollars and a credit card. Some lady's phone number and a whole bunch of pennies. Not her best day, but it would probably be enough to buy her a burger at some fast food place if she got there in time.

[Dave]

Dave was out of costume. That didn't mean much, his costume largely consisted of adding a mask to whatever it was he was wearing during the day. On the particular day he was wearing jeans, a black t-shirt, a baseball cap for the Ohio Buckeyes, and black red high-tops. He was about to get his car out of the parking garage at the airport, when he felt something, off. The same thing he had felt last time he was in L.A. After a somewhat eventful trip to New York, he considered just dropping it and going back to Gateway, but somebody could be in trouble.

He followed the feeling, walking the streets of Los Angeles, literally letting the life of the city guide him. He swayed with the breeze taking sudden turns, walking in circles and nonsensical patterns. He continued this way for about an hour, he didn't know where he was going. He saw a kid, some little kid. It was hard to see, she was very talented, but she was picking pockets. She had finished for the day, Dave supposed, but he needed to talk to her. His "night job" of beating up criminals was simply fighting the symptoms of a problem, if he could help this kid now, she might not turn to worse things in the future. He approached as she sat going through some things on a street corner. He sat next to her, he had barely made himself noticed, didn't need to.

"You, my friend, could use some help. Just so happens, that's my business." He said, merely as an opening line. He flooded the area around him with comfort, and trust, hoping to keep her from running off.

[x23]

Drax flew threw Los Angeles it had been a very long time since he had been in this city and this world. In fact the last time he was here was when he and his family had been killed by Thanos well Drax and his wife there daughter lived through the attack and grew up to become Moondragon. Drax on the other hand had to be given a humanoid body from the Earth's soil. He spent his new life hunting Thanos down trying to kill him for what he had done to him after years of trying along with dying a few times himself he finally killed the Titan, having nothing to do with his life now that Thanos was dead he returned to earth to find something to do. Darx landed in the street looking around everything had changed so much he didn't know where to go and it didn't help that people screamed and ran away from him when he tried to ask for help.

[tesseract]

Tesser had just been about to go to the nearest McDonalds for supper/breakfast when a man sat nonchalontly down beside her, talking to her like an actual person. As if that weren't dangerous enough, he had noticed her picking pockets. He was defanitly too dangerous to stay around. The child had just lept up and was about to make a break for it when suddenly, she wasn't afraid anymore. She felt... calm, peaceful. She knew that this strange man wouldn't hurt her, might even help her.

Settling back down on the curb, Tesser brushed a lock of dirty red hair out of her face, resettling her blindfold in it's place. Stealthily slipping the day's winnings into the pocket of her oversized cargo shorts, she flashed a grin at the man.

"Who says I need any help?" She asked proudly, "I'm the best kid on the streets, ain't a better pick-pocket on this side of the City of the Angels." Her boast was not false, she was skilled at what she did. However, for once she was more curious about the other man that she wanted to get away.

"Anyways." She contenued a little akwardly, "What sort of job is it to help people?"

[Dave]

Dave laughed for a moment. I'll give her one thing, she's modest, he thought. He looked at her aura, read it for what it was. She was... comfortable with her way of life, and had no real need to advance as long as she continued to be able to make her way; there was desperation as well, the kind you get from the insatiable need to survive however you can. There was also something familiar in her, something he recognized as a unique characteristic he had seen somewhere else. Maybe she was somebody he knew reincarnated or something. He would figure that out later.

"Well, the fact that you're wearing a blind-fold sitting on a street corner counting your loot indicates to me that you might be in a spot of trouble." He smiled, though he doubted she could see it through the cloth wrapped around her face. "What sort of job is it? Why, it's my job, the kind that comes with a mask." He heard some commotion in the distance. He stood up, looking out at the crowd of people running. When he stood, he accidentally caught a glimpse of his own aura. It was different from most, his insight into people and their minds, shallow though it may be, gave a strange edge to his aura. It was like a color that you couldn't name. He had noticed it when reading the aura of a telepath or mind-reader, but never exactly the same. He froze for a moment. He looked at the girl, that was where he had seen it before. He crouched down and made what he expected was eye contact.

"Why do you wear the blind-fold? What is it you see?" He chuckled quietly. "Could it be, you see me?" He stood again. "Well, seems adventure calls to me." He said looking at the people still running. He offered his hand to the small girl. "Care to join me?"

[tesseract]

Tesser suddenly found herself very curious about this man. He didn't seem at all angry at her for the obviously stolen items in her lap, and was acting almost - friendly. Something about him was familliar, like an old friend who you haven't seen in a year. Except, Tesser was sure she had never seen this guy before.

"You're not a mask!" Tesser exclaimed at his answer of his work. "You don't act like one of them at all!" Yet he was telling the truth, the girl was sure of that. How strange she couldn't help but think to herself.

Finally her curiousity got the better of her and she slipped down the edge of her blindfold just enough for her to get a real glimpse of this man. Around him, there was something though she wasn't sure what. Like a cloud, in a color that Tesser was sure didn't exist. Flashes of memories appered like lightning in the aura. High School, martial arts, meditation, loosing weight. Frightened by the sudden burst of information the redhead pulled the blindfold safely over her retena again.

And then, through a sudden outbreak of screaming, he did the unthinkable. He asked her about the blindfold. What do you see?

"I -" She started, not sure what to say in order to still make herself appear in the right. "I - my eyes see things that, that aren't there." She finally got out in a rush. Looking down, her face heated up and she was afraid to meet his eyes. And then, he asked her to join him, extending a hand.

As if she were afraid he might dissapere, Tesser's own small calloused hand reached out and snagged his. There was a strange sort of comfort in the solid human warmth and she pulled herself up. There was a flash in the sky and more screams. Humming under her breath,

"We're off to see the monster..."

[Dave]

Dave led the girl towards the origin of the chaos. The Chi flowing was incredible. He had to admit, public dismay and fear on this level, with large numbers of people, was fascinating to him. The unity of it all, everyone was thinking almost the same exact thing, and that created an awful sort of harmony, fearful symmetry. The kid's hand was rough, calloused, Dave already knew she had a rough life, but for him, when he touched someone, it was like the emotions and feelings he could see in people, suddenly became his own, he experienced it. Truly a rush not to be paralleled.

Dave truly wished he had his fedora and jacket, that would make things truly complete for him, but he didn't. He reached into his left pocket, pulling out the slim domino mask. On the back, there was a small film, almost like tape. Dave used a weak adhesive to keep the mask on, and the thin plastic sheet kept it from drying up. He peeled off the plastic with his teeth, choosing to keep the kid's hand in his, she was clearly a little "off". He put the mask on, and twisted the baseball cap around backwards. He was as ready as he would ever be. The intimidating figure stood before him, Dave still wasn't sure what was going on. One thing was clear, despite his baseline human appearance, this guy was no more human than the blue guy from a couple days ago, Dave was starting to get a sense for telling Alien life forms apart from earthlings.

"'Scuse me, sir," Dave said, smiling cheerfully, radiating friendliness and trust, like he usually did. "Something I can help you with? You appear to be scaring off the rest of the people around here." Dave extended his other hand, offering a hand-shake, that always helped matters.

[tesseract]

Tesser willingly followed Dave as he led her through the flood of people running in the opposite direction, away from whatever it was. She watched - captivated - as he pulled a domino mask out of his pocket and stuck it on using a sort of tape. So that's how they stay on. Tesser thought to herself. She had always wondered...

When Dave strode right up to the strange man and extended his free palm to shake of all things, Tesser shrunk behind him. The man creating all the fear was so big, and frightening. The little redhead didn't even try to read him, squeezing her eyes shut as tight as she could.

[Dave]

(Right, Drax hasn't been on in a week, I hope no one minds if I just flash forward and skip whatever part he was going to have in this because I think there was some interesting stuff going on before, and this hang up is KILLING my inner child, anyone has a problem with it, I'll delete the post.)


-Half an hour later-

"That was crazy!" Dave shouted, sitting on the sidewalk, leaning against a building, his mask put away and hat turned back around. "I mean I really feel sorry for everyone and anyone who missed that epic event. I mean that was just insane." Dave shook his head smiling. "With the energy beams blasting everywhere..." He shook himself out of it. "And the robot dinosaur! What the heck was that!?" He exclaimed. He turned back to Tesser.

"Hey, kid, what are you doing on the streets anyhow? With your gifts, even at your age, you could make some serious income somewhere. I mean, it took me years of meditation and self discipline to get my own strange, sixth sense, but you have this natural gift of an ability." Dave shook his head. "Never mind, it's not my job to tell you how you should spend your own life. I don't even know for sure what it is you do see when you're not wearing that blindfold. I'm probably incapable of understanding what it is you have, friend."

[tesseract]

((Agreed. I figure that we leave well enough alone. LoL! Robot Dinosaur!!))

Tesser slid down the side of the building to sit at Dave's feet, laughing to hard to even stand upright. In betwean bursts of giggles she laughed out, "And don't forget the army of squirrles! They were so cute!"

Pushing herself back into a standing position, the girl's laughter abated when suddenly Dave's talk turned to her. She liked the man, liked him a lot. She didn't want to say something to make him hate her. Backing away slowly, her face serious, Tesser told him softly,

"Look, Dave. I don't know what you're talking about, okay? I don't have any gifts, I just - got botched a bit in the people machine. It's better for everyone that I stay out of the way, down here on the streets, then the adults don't have to deal with me."

In her mind, Tesser tried but failed to repress memories of Arkham Asylum. She had been young, too young, when she was sent there. The raving madmen, the plotting phycopaths, the cold uncaring docters telling her again and again, There's nobody who cares about you, nowhere for you to go. Nobody wants a freak like you, so just stay here where we'll take good care of you.

[Dave]

"You look, I know what I see. I've got this ability, I can read people, I can sense motives and predict trustworthiness, I can know how they're feeling, I can know who they are, who they really are just at a glance. It's scary for me, because I wasn't born like that, I stumbled upon it. I can tell two things from looking at you. One, that you are indeed in possession of some spectacular gift, and that you're clearly afraid of it. I don't know what anyone told you but you are a very special young person. I'm just an average joe, I accidentally gained this strange sense of things through my own hard work. But you were born with something miraculous, imagine what you could do if you learned to control it." Dave looked down at his shoes, bright red high-tops, newly cleaned, but one could tell they'd seen a lot of wear and tear over the years. He looked back at Tesser.

"I mean, you could probably eventually even figure out how to turn it off at will, or at least dampen the effects. I can't imagine what your life has been like, but whatever it is you see in people, it scared you badly. But you can't let your fear grow so much that it stops you from doing everything you're capable of. Life is full of pain and fright, if you let it paralyze you, then you don't deserve what's been given to you, and I can tell you do; you're a survivor, and tough, I doubt many could do what you've done, but you can do so much more!" Dave shook his head and remained silent.

[tesseract]

"Not special." Tesser answered Dave's first wave of words with the air of one talking to a very young and incomprehensable child. "Crazy. Wrong in the head." Tesser crossed her arms over her chest, looking down at the cracked cement, her face unreadable. In her mind she couldn't figure out what to think. She Knew she was crazy. It was a prooven fact, but she liked Dave a lot, and he seemed so sure of himself. Besides, adults were never wrong. But they couldn't all be right if they all said different things, could they?

In a voice very different from her own, a perfect impression of the voice of Doc. Crane, head of Arkham Asylum, Tesser repeated the words burned into her mind.

"...Mentally Insane and emotionally unstable. The child is a danger to herself and everybody around her. You were very wise to bring her here right away instead of trying to treat her yourself, Mrs. Gray. I promise you, we'll take good care of her, she'll never know anything else."

However, Tesser shut up when she heard those sudden words. Turn it off? To be able to look at the world with her own eyes without having to be afraid of what she would see again? You couldn't turn off a deficiancy with your brain - but what if he was right? What if she wasn't messed up in her head?

Thought she didn't move any closer, Tesser also stopped moving away. She was so confused that finally the redhead simply sat down on the hard pavement and stared at Dave's shoes. After a long moment she looked up at Dave and asked...

"You honestly believe this, don't you?"

[Dave]

"I'd be crazy not to believe it with the things I see." Dave said, smiling. "After fighting thugs with blind vigilantes, enjoying steak dinner with blue aliens who have giant spider legs that protrude from their back, and whatever that was back there." He said gesturing to the direction they had come from. "If I hadn't accepted that there are just some exceptionally strange things going on in this world, I would have gone insane trying to figure things out." He sighed.

"We can put as many names on things we don't know anything about as much as we like. But at some point we'll all have to take what we see at face value, because I don't see any other way to explain some things than just plain magic and the like. I see things I know are there, or at least will be there very shortly, and I don't know how I see them, it was an accident that I see anything at all, but I have found next to no explanation for anything I experienced. So, I've just had to learn to accept it, like you should."

[tesseract]

Tesser hopped back up in the moment of silence following Dave's words. Walking to the man, she slid her hand into his and began walking to the nearest slushie vender. "So," She said conversationally, "let's imagine - just for a moment - that you're right and I'm wrong. What exactly would I go about doing to gain this control?"

She paid the slushie man for her large blue rasperry flavored treat, and begane walking again. "I'm not promising anything yet, of course." She added, However, you produce a convincing argument, I see no reason why I should be right and you wrong. So, let's just pretend that I do learn to accept, and maybe even control these 'powers'. What do I do next?"

[Dave]

Dave calmly followed Tesser as she went to get a slushie. He could finally make a real difference to someone. This kid had a gift, and if she could learn the proper ways to use it, then she could change the world if she so chose. Dave could do small things, he had only recently stumbled upon some dormant part of his psyche. But this girl had been born with something grand and had the years available to learn how to use it.

"I can't answer that." He said in response to her first question. "I've only begun to probe the depths of my own abilities. The only thing I can suggest to you is finding something that you can balance yourself with. For me, the martial arts, meditation, and yoga provided self-discipline and philosophy to live my life by. It gave me the strength to do what I needed to do, which was, live life for other people, saving other people. Providing something people can grasp on to in times of desperation. But I can't tell you what you need to do, only that you need to do it." He paused longer to think of an answer for that question.

"I can't tell you what to do with your life. I haven't the right to do so. I can, however, tell you that you have remarkable potential for good and bad. I'm an absolutist, something is either right or wrong, and we should all strive to do what's right, but I can't force you to do anything you don't want to do. I can inform, I can show you the path, but you have to choose to walk it. I refuse to do any more, because no one should make decisions for anyone else."