You've got no time to lose;

[hephaestus-inc-blog-blog]

Unfortunately for her, and luckily for him, once she was above ground, the vast network of the city became Quincy’s personal map, tracking her as she walked. It was obvious from her movements that she was trying to lose him. So instead of running off after her, he stopped, watching and waiting.

[little-chiickadee]

She glanced over her shoulder every now and again to check for him, and when she saw he wasn't there, she slowed her pace. She relaxed the rest of the way to the restaurant she worked in, then disappeared inside.

[little-chiickadee]

You Dropped This | xchornavdova

[xchornavdova]

Yelena mimicked her laugh. She’d never been a clubber herself and mostly stuck to work and home. Occasionally she spent some time at a little coffee shop by her apartment, but she never ventured much farther than she needed to. If the clubs Hannah went to were anything like the one where Pyotr had been found, well… they were probably pretty gross.

When they reached the counter, Yelena felt her chest tighten just slightly, despite knowing what she wanted. She coughed, then said, “I’ll, ah, have a—uh, a cinnamon apple ice blend… thank you.” She kicked herself internally as she paid. Someday she’d get more used to ordering food like a normal human being. Once she had her receipt she moved aside to wait for the drinks, tucking loose hair behind her ear. She glanced up at Hannah again, forcing her nerves back down.

"So. Um. What do you do? If you don’t mind me asking." Yelena was still really bad at small talk. She didn’t know anyone who was particularly good at small talk, but she was still super bad at it.

[little-chiickadee]

"I'm a waitress." She smiled at her, then turned her eyes ahead to watch the people behind the counter as they started to make the drinks. She paused, then made sure to clarify, "It isn't the more glamorous thing in the world, but it's enough to keep me happy." Most people her age never took pride in customer service jobs, but she was quite content where she was. The pay was good, the tips were good, and she got along with co-workers. It may not have been her dream job, but hey, it worked. "And you?" She asked, returning her attention to her instead of the baristas.

[little-chiickadee]

What'll It Be? | solxnum

[solxnum]

After a few minutes, it wasn’t hard to tell that she had managed to strike a nerve. Hannah did her very best to avoid Karen’s table - to even avoid looking at it. Had she gone about her business without interruption or shift, Karen probably would have dropped the line of inquiry altogether, but as it was…

"Best not." She had to drive and she was not a large person, which made it impossible for her to handle her alcohol well, despite how fond she was of it. "My question bothered you." It was blunt and direct, but if she spend time dancing around the subject, she wouldn’t have gotten anywhere.

[little-chiickadee]

"Beg pardon?" She furrowed her brows, immediately acting as if she had forgotten the question altogether. She knew Karen had caught on, but as long as she could, she planned to avoid being strangled by the reigns.

[hephaestus-inc-blog-blog]

When he had answered all of the questions, he excused himself from the officer, looking over the crowd, but only caught a glimpse of the top of her head, melting into the crowd. Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes, reaching for his phone again. When he opened his eyes, swiping the device’s screen, waves of dull white light danced across his vision.

A golden stream of light appeared, information being sent over wireless networks as visible to him as a trail of breadcrumbs. The cameras in the subway showed him the path she took, and he set out to follow after her.

[little-chiickadee]

Hannah could see him weaving through the crowd after her, even without having to glance back. She grit her teeth and started to speed up her footwork, then dodged to the right as soon as she got up and out of the subway. She hoped the busy sidewalks of New York would stay in her favor.

[imclearlythebetterpilot]

Lost Puppy | imclearlythebetterpilot

[imclearlythebetterpilot]

"Firstly, you should be careful." Loki said, chuckling slightly. "And secondly, yes."

[little-chiickadee]

"It is all yours," she beamed, gesturing to the bottle. It took her a few seconds to make sure she had her balance, then she stumbled into her room. There was a thud when she fell down on her bed.

[imclearlythebetterpilot]

Lost Puppy | imclearlythebetterpilot

[imclearlythebetterpilot]

"That’s it? Just.. ‘A lot’?" Loki grinned. He took another sip, leaving his recently filled glass only half full. "Perhaps you should re-learn how to count."

[little-chiickadee]

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, sure." She rolled her eyes with a grin, then leaned her head back against the couch. She stared at her glass, then decided to just down the rest of its contents. She shook her head in a poor attempt to correct her blurring vision, then got up.  "Should I leave the bottle?" She looked back at him, then almost stumbled over. She caught herself by leaning on the couch arm.

[hephaestus-inc-blog-blog]

Quincy couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling, as he stood up to follow the officer from the train. She had known the shooting was going to happen, he felt certain, and the way she had stayed unnaturally calm through it left him unsettled.

As he answered the questions the police had for him, he thought of confronting Hannah when he saw her next. There was more to her than met the eye, and his curiosity was getting the better of him.

[little-chiickadee]

Hannah answered the same questions he was asked, then smiled at the officer before she started to make her way through the crowd. She never once looked back for Quincy. In fact, she seemed more interested in getting away.

[little-chiickadee]

What'll It Be? | solxnum

[solxnum]

Karen’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly as Hannah turned away. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking - an egotistical mind looking for more fuel to prove itself right - but it seemed that there was a slight shift in bearing as soon as she retreated, and perhaps she moved slightly faster.

She turned her attention to the wine once the waitress had moved out of her sight. Her finger traced the rim of the glass before she took a sip, weighing the pros and cons of pressing the topic further. She could be proven wrong, but that had already happened once - it couldn’t defame her further. But she could be proven right.

[little-chiickadee]

Hannah stayed away from the table while the salad was prepared, either occupying herself with another in her section, or just by finding odd things to do. As long as it kept her from having to go back, she was all for it. But, unfortunately and predictably, she had to return when the kitchen called her to pick up the food. So with a sigh, she retrieved it, then made her way to the table. "One house salad." She smiled, setting it down on the table in front of her. She briefly glanced at the wine glass, then resumed looking at Karen herself. "Would you like another glass?"

[little-chiickadee]

What'll It Be? | solxnum

[solxnum]

"If you say so," Karen muttered bitterly, with very little conviction in the words. She was not particularly fond of being wrong, or being told that she was wrong, and it was an incredibly rare occurrence, even on tiny things like this. Among her talents lay perception, which normally led to correct observations, and - on the off chance that she wasn’t right - she was very good at convincing people that she was. But that wouldn’t work here.

[little-chiickadee]

"I'll be back with your meal shortly." She offered another polite smile, then quickly turned to walk away and escape the table. Her smile was gone as soon as she turned, and it stayed gone as she disappeared to enter her order into the computer. She knew she had caught on, and she needed to get her out of the restaurant as quickly as possible.

[charlesxaviersmind]

"For me, yes, but to most it’s not that easy, the fewest have been able to hide as well as I have, so maybe that’s why I’m the teacher," he replied with a smile. It was partly true, once he had been able to get the grasp of what he could do it was easier to pretend like nothing, and as he had no physical mutation it was easier to hide in plain sight. And even though the rest of what he had said about how easy things had been was a lie, he couldn’t make himself tell this girl the things he had gone through, he had never been very good at opening up to people. People were supposed to come to him with bad memories and nightmares for support, it wasn’t the other way around.

[little-chiickadee]

"But--..." She began to object to what he said, but quickly caught her tongue. She knew better than to pry where she shouldn't. So, she let it go, even if she didn't want to. "Alright," she said, nodding almost dismissively. "Luck you, huh? I would've loved to have been able to catch onto that kind of hiding so fast."

[imclearlythebetterpilot]

Lost Puppy | imclearlythebetterpilot

[imclearlythebetterpilot]

"How many glasses have I had?" Loki asked her, looking curiously at his glass. He could hear his words slurring slightly more prominently and everything was slightly blurred at the edges.

[little-chiickadee]

"Uhh..." She paused for awhile, trying to think of the number. Her lack of sobriety didn't help, so she just gave up. "...Alot." She grinned, staring at him.

[hephaestus-inc-blog-blog]

He arched a brow at her, shrugging a shoulder and letting it go. “Well, you’re handling yourself a lot better than most people do in and after a crisis.” Even as he spoke, several sobbing people down the cart from them broke down in hysterics.

[little-chiickadee]

"Yeah, I get that sometimes." She nodded, staring ahead with little interest. She waited patiently, and as she predicted, the police opened the doors and began to escort everyone out.

[hephaestus-inc-blog-blog]

He furrowed his brow, looking at her as his mind raced. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, swiping and pressing rapidly, before putting it back into his jacket. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “If you hadn’t of told me to stay on the train, I’d be out there in a bag right now.” He said in a whisper, so only the two of them could hear. “Seems kind of coincidental, huh?”

[little-chiickadee]

"I just had a bad feeling," she shrugged, "I get them sometimes. I've learned to trust my gut." She lied easily and quickly, like she did with almost every person she met and stopped. It was becoming a force of habit.

[little-chiickadee]

What'll It Be? | solxnum

[solxnum]

That wasn’t it, but Karen chose not to argue, attempting to force a small, closed-lipped smile of poorly concealed discomfort. If she didn’t do well with normal conversations, she did even worse with forced ones. “Not overly hungry.”

There was a moment of hesitation before she stated the question that had been bothering her. “When I ordered the wine, you wrote down what I was going to say before I said it.” It came out so poorly stated that it wasn’t even framed as a question.

[little-chiickadee]

"Oh, no," she laughed, quickly denying that it ever happened, "I was just writing down a little note to myself. I tend to forget things, so I have to keep my thoughts down when they pop up." It wasn't often she got caught, but when she did, she usually knew how to play it to her favor.

[little-chiickadee]

Got a Light? | kickassakomish

[justifiedxfreak]

He pulled his hand away and let it fall to his side,”You don’t seem to surprised, I have to say.” He crossed his arms, pushing out a breath,”I’m a conduit, smoke is my thing.” He said with a shrug,”I’m guessing you haven’t heard of those. Strange variation of powers and all.” He said, waving his hands in front of him.

[little-chiickadee]

"People like me don't get too surprised by anything." She laughed, then took a second drag from her cigarette, "But you're right: I haven't. You wanna fill me in?"

[hephaestus-inc-blog-blog]

As she sat, staring ahead at nothing, the previous unease Quincy had felt came roaring back. It was one thing to be able to cope with an extremely stressful situation, but Hannah had almost seem…undisturbed by the whole event. He watched her, more warily now, as he sat down himself. “You seem…pretty relaxed about everything happening.”

[little-chiickadee]

"Yeah, it... It doesn't do a lot to bother me." She nodded slowly, the precognition having given her the means to prepare for it, and the murder of her father having given her the means to know how to handle the situation. This wasn't the first time she was up close and personal with someone being shot to death. "It'll be a few minutes, then they'll let us out."

[hephaestus-inc-blog-blog]

He stared at her for a moment, watching her reaction to the tragedy. She had remained cool, level headed, even when the gunfire had erupted with sudden, lethal violence. Even now in the aftermath, she appeared calm, collected. If there was one trait in a woman that Quincy admired above all else, it was strength, especially to stay relaxed under pressure.

Quincy turned to see an open seat, and gestured towards it, offering Hannah a place to sit.

[little-chiickadee]

"Oh, uh..." Hannah paused as she glanced toward the seat, but then forced a smile as she nodded. She walked over if only for his sake, then sat down to stare ahead. People around them were asking questions and panicked, as anyone would be, while outside the majority of the crowd was being escorted away by police. Bodies were covered, other victims taken up to awaiting ambulances.