Tipping Point

[Seger]

8/8/2012 11:28 PM
Central Park

The young man had been sitting on the grass of Central Park for a good half hour now, along with a girl who was probably around the same age. He'd been fidgeting with his backpack, zipping and unzipping the main pocket over and over for about ten minutes. "They should be arriving soon."

There were about two dozen of them in all, though he didn't expect nearly that many to show up. Over the past several days, he had contacted the gifted of New York City with a letter, asking them to meet at this place, at this time, to discuss their new abilities. The world was finally taking serious notice of the strange powers that were popping up all over the globe, and he knew people would be curious. "A few are on their way now. I expect that'll be all that shows up though. Can't say I blame 'em." The young man picked up the beat up old guitar on the grass next to him and swung it around a few times, flopping back with a sigh.
"Make them hurry up, Zamy."

[Zamy]

Zamy watched as several people gathered in front of Seger and herself. She was also a little impatient about the whole meeting. She was wondering what kind of abilities these people had acquired because what she likes to call now, The Event. Sure the name was cheesy but it got the point across, because that's all that it was... At least until more clues to where this magic had came from turn up. Zamy looked to Seger and replied "I can't make them hurry, however I understand the sentiment." She then sat down and pulled out a book from her satchel. Having been busy she hasn't had the time to finish the book she had been reading the night of the event.

There wasn't much to get involved in quite yet, they were all still gathering.

[Vinyl Scratch]

Vinyl read the letter for about the hundredth time, her sunglasses cast aside on the couch. 'Maybe they're making me read this wrong?' she thought to herself.

"Humans with Powers... Gifteds?" She muttered aloud. "Do these people think I'm stupid?" She asked to nobody in particular. She sat up, thinking for a moment. Maybe she would go, after getting 'attacked by ghosts' at the warehouse. "It would explain things, that's for sure."

Finally, after reading the note another couple times, she folded it up, slid it into a pocket, and put on her sunglasses. 'This is bound to be an eventful day...' She thought with a sigh and headed out to the meeting location. Central Park. Yeah, that'll go over well if this gifted thing is true and someone is angry about it. 'I'll just burn down the entire park!'


Vinyl wandered around the park for a couple hours, lost. She refused to check the letter again. It would just confuse her more. She could find this place without it, she had only read the letter a million times in the last couple days...

She paused, spotting what she hoped to be what she was looking for. If not, sitting with this man and woman would be an interesting conversation starter. She walked toward the man as he swung the guitar around. "Yeah, that's healthy for the guitar." She said with a grin, sitting not too far away. "Is this where I'm supposed to be meeting this... Kevin and Florence?" She asked, her face twisting to hold back a chuckle at the second name.

[Zane]

Zane read the letter and grinned to himself. Finally some answers to his questions... He slid the letter into the pocket of his coat and started to walk, his destination? Central Park, of course.

As he arrived, Zane spotted two woman he recognized. Vinyl, of course. And the woman that he presumed caused the colorful display just a few nights ago. He walked toward the two, and the man with the guitar and glared toward Zamy. "You and your friend refuse to give answers to people who ask for it. Then, a few days later you give answers to everyone. What is your game? And where is little miss 'Don't talk to me or I'll kill you'?" He asked, almost suspicious.

He turned his gaze toward Seger, raising an eyebrow. "So... Tell us... Why are we here?" The feeling Zane got just twice before returned, causing him to waver momentarily, but he kept his balance. He shook off the minor fatigue and watched the two warily, awaiting answers.

[Damon]

After reading the letter Damon had made a dash for Central park. He and Zane were trying to figure it out after all, and this was the best way to figure things out.

Walking up with a swisher in his mouth to the gathering Damon waved at Zane, pulling the cigarillo out of his mouth briefly.

"Hey there. So. Something about powers eh? Sounds pretty cool, I have to admit. Not sure there's anything to this however. I think they're pullin' our legs man."

Placing the smoke back in his mouth he inhaled deeply, crossing his arms as he watched the people he had yet to be introduced to with a wary stare.

[Karrin]

Karrin had been sitting in the park for awhile now, on a bench nearly overtaken by the large evergreens on either side of it. She'd made sure to wear a hoodie to cover her rather attention-grabbing hair color, and was watching the scene carefully from the distance.

She wrung her hands together, biting her lip nervously. She'd received the notice, and had at first thought it was a prank. But with how ravenous she was lately, and the enormous amount of sleep she'd been getting, she'd decided that something definitely wasn't right.
Her blue haired friend had been there that night when it all started, And as she watched Vinyl join the meeting, her stomach sank.

As often as she'd dreamed of being special, of being able to do something no one else on Earth could ever dream of doing, now that there was a chance it could happen...
Well... She didn't really know how to feel about it. It still felt like a dream. This couldn't possibly be real right? She'd gotten used to being ordinary, just as long as the rest of the world left her alone and let her exist in her video game realities, she was fine.
But this was real life... wasn't it?

She took a deep breath and forced herself to her feet, jammed her hands into the pocket of her hoodie, and trudged toward the group. More Specifically, toward Vinyl, at least she knew who she was, maybe it would help settle her nerves.

She vaugely heard Vinyl say something to the Man treating his guitar like a toy, and quickly plopped down next to her, offering a 'Hey, fancy meeting you here' smile, but nothing more, and directed her attention to the growing number of strangers gathing around, all asking the same question.

"What the hell is going on?"

[Brendan]

It looked like more people were finally showing up.

Brendan had been sitting off in the distance for a little while, watching the meeting place as he suspected several others probably were. He'd been watching the news, particularly the reports about superpowered individuals popping up all over the world. There were no more than a few dozen so far, but they expected the actual numbers to be much higher. He supposed it was possible that these people had some kind of inside knowledge that let them know who had such abilities. How many people had they contacted though? And could they be trusted?

Either way, he couldn't exactly ignore the invitation.

As more people began to gather around the two who seemed to be behind the whole operation, Brendan walked up quietly and stood toward the back of the crowd. He immediately recognized Firetruckman from the other day at Times Square, and with that fresh on his mind, he noticed a girl he'd seen there as well. Come to think of it, he had felt awfully strange after that encounter. And that was when his exhaustion started, not to mention his seemingly endless appetite.

Looking back on that night the details were fuzzy, but he seemed to remember the girl making some sort of lights. Yeah, a dome. Strange. Asiangirl was absent. She had seemed somehow involved, in hindsight. For now, Brendan would sit back and let the others ask the questions.

[Seger]

"Everybody shut up." Seger looked at Zane. "Especially you, you shut up the most." He started spinning Ruby and stood up to talk to everyone. "You can call me Keith. It's a fake name. I suggest you all use a fake name too, because what we're about to talk about will make you all pretty valuable to people with authority. I also suggest that you wait until after this meeting to decide on your fake name, so you can make it all badass and shit. But first things first."

Seger swung Ruby up over his head and released a bright flash of green light. It shot up into the sky and twisted to form the outline of a dragon before fading away. He looked back to the others. "The powers you keep hearing about are real. I'm one of these people, and so are all of you. I called you all here to let you know, and to propose a group. A sort of watch-each-other's-backs type deal." He grinned. "My vote's on 'The X-Dudes'."

[Zamy]

Zamy sighed as she heard a familiar voice and closed her book as Seger did his display. To be honest, she didn't think that was a greatest idea, considering they are in a park, But then again it could just look like a firework. Zamy Stood back up and looked at the rest of the crowd. "What we aim here to do, is to tell you all what kind of power you all possess. So that you may 'better' yourselves and make use of your gift." Zamy paused then cleared her throat and began to talk again "Do not bother asking how you acquired these powers, for that is still under investigation and not much information has been gathered. Thus meaning we do not have the answers you seek on the matter."

Zamy then decided to look at the number of people that had gathered. Quite a few to be honest, definitely more that she expected to arrive. Zamy watched the crowds expressions and to examine their reactions to what Seger and herself were claiming about them. Surely not every one of them would believe that they have a power and surely those that don't believe what they are saying believe that this meeting is a hoax.

But then again, every man and woman is different.

[Vinyl Scratch]

Vinyl watched Seger's display for a moment and chuckled, looking at the girl that had just appeared next to her. "That reminds me. We're going clubbing later." She said with a definitive nod, before looking toward Seger with a questioning gaze, mostly hidden by her sunglasses.

She let out a laugh and looked at Zane. "Looks like you're already making friends." She said with a hint of sarcasm when he was told to shut up. She leaned back, her back resting against Rins side. "So. We're all 'X-Dudes' Or, that's what you are calling us. And we all have... Gifts." She started, piecing together the puzzle slowly. "And we figure out what we can do... How?" She asked, looking toward Zamy.

[Zane]

Zane narrowed his eyes at Seger. He must be good friends with the woman that was at Time Square when whatever it was went down. They've got the same personality...

He sighed, shaking his head and turning. He started to walk away, but stopped, looking at Damon as he passed by him. "I'll tell you one thing. They're not the nicest people on the planet." he said, leaning against a nearby tree and listening in to the meeting.

He let out a slight laugh at Segers proposal of 'Watch-each-other's-backs' "I've heard that line before." He muttered. "Last time I put my trust in someone watching my back, they decided it would be a good time to double cross me. I'm here to figure out what's going on, and nothing more. If you want to play friends with each other, that's fine. Count me out." He said, looking toward the duo leading the party, Seger specifically.

[Damon]

Shaking his head Damon let out a small chuckle as he walked closer to the man with the guitar. Stopping a few feet away from the two he held out his hand palm up with the back facing the ground and smirked at the two, pulling his smoke out of his mouth with his other hand.

"So what you're saying, is that I'm one of these so called gifted individuals, and that I can do what? Shoot fire out of my hand or some shit? I have been hungrier since that night, it's true. But that could just be some subconscious thing. So prove to me that what you are saying is true. Not just some simple little fireworks show. Show me that I, and those people back there", Saying this he jutted his thumb back toward everyone else, "Have these powers that you speak of."

Finally done with his little speech Damon backed up a few feet, popping his Swisher back in his mouth and waited for a response, crossing his arms as he stared at the man and woman in the middle of all of this.

[Karrin]

Karrin, barely registering Vinyl's clubbing comment, remained silent. She was beyond confused now, but it seemed almost as if the majority of the crowd was upset... well not really upset, only her fellow ginger man really seemed ticked, but everyone was definitely on edge.
The air was tense, and her first instinct was to bail, however, she resisted.
She needed to know more about this. 'Keith's' little display of... whatever it was had mainly just raised a million more questions, but it had done what it was supposed to, it got her attention.

While it was true that it could still be a sick joke, the redhead highly doubted it. How many guitars were rigged to shoot giant green flashes up hundreds of feet in the air to form the shape of a dragon? Today's technology wasn't really quite there yet. Yes, it was possible if the man was incredibly rich, but possibilities are possibilities, not facts.
And besides, he did it in broad daylight, that seemed a little much. There was no question at all as to whether the media would pick up on it.
Karrin wasn't exactly sure if that was a bad thing or not... IF they were meant to be kept a secret, he probably would have been more cautious than meeting in the middle of a largely populated park.

Either way, 'Keith' didn't seem super freaked out like everyone else, and vomiting up more demands and questions as everyone else was doing didn't seem like the best idea.
So, she simply remained quiet. The questions may or may not be answered, and everyone else was asking all the important ones anyway. No point in creating an echo, it would likely just put everyone in a worse mood. Instead, she silently started trying to organize her thoughts, and waited for more explanation.

[Brendan]

Brendan watched the display without saying much of anything, though he did seem surprised. The guitar looked normal enough, and he couldn't think of any way to fake such a display. But then, that was the whole point of magic tricks, wasn't it? Still, considering the news lately, he was inclined to believe that this man, along with the girls from Times Square, was the real deal.

Then he heard one of the others mention being hungrier. Brendan had been experiencing the same thing, along with an irritating case of exhaustion that made focusing nearly impossible. He didn't want to think about what it would be like when school started up again. He'd imagine using such magic powers would leave a person drained, but why would it affect someone who wasn't even aware of their gift? Despite being completely out of the loop, Brendan was still chugging energy like no tomorrow.

"Why would we be tired and hungry if we aren't using any extra energy by using these powers?" he finally asked. Brendan didn't usually like speaking up, but he was genuinely curious, and everyone else seemed more concerned with finding out what their powers were.

[Seger]

Seger crossed his legs, keeping his head at the same level by levitating in the air. "Let me make this perfectly clear," he said, eyes on Damon. "I'm doing this for your sakes, and if you irritate me, you're not learning shit about what you can do or how to do it. And believe me, this shit, this hunger and exhaustion, it's just going to get worse. And it lasts a lot longer if you don't learn how to control this thing." He started gradually tipping to the side, slowly but surely rotating upside-down as he talked.

"First off, magic is a thing. But you shouldn't worry about that. What you can do is similar, but not nearly as versatile. Like Florence said, we haven't quite nailed down the cause of it yet, but regardless, you're going to have to adapt fast if you want to survive." His eyes scanned the crowd, the seriousness of his tone lessened by the fact that he was hanging upside-down in the air. "Let me also say that by using your powers, you'll make the energy drain even worse, but you'll bring an end to it faster. Yes, it's not going to last forever, but it does get worse when you use it and it'll probably be a few months to a year before you get over it. And even then, actually using your gift will take a lot of energy."

He turned to Zane. "Let me also say that this group isn't just for shits and giggles. There are people who want to kill, capture, sometimes torture people like you, and they know what they're doing. If you aren't careful, you'll end up in their hands and you'll never see the light of day again. This group is just a way to protect each other from these threats, which I'm sure are building up their forces in light of recent events." Seger floating back right-side-up and stood again.

"You don't have to join the group, but we can't afford to offer assistance to anyone who isn't a member. You don't help, you don't get helped. Got it? Any questions before we begin?"