I'll Be Watching You [Maxine]

One of the key benefits that Zephyr rarely shared regarding his mutation was his spatial awareness; the ability to perceive his element beyond simple line of sight and, by extension, everything that displaced it. In short it granted the hessian a somewhat dull but accurate form of 360◦ vision which operated independently of natural sight and often proved to be rather more reliable.

Such a skill admittedly had numerous potential uses but, more and more frequently, the hessian found himself using it merely as a multitasking aid and this was perhaps most clearly demonstrated as he deftly drifted through the crowded sidewalks, easily sidestepping and pivoting around errant children and careless adults without once raising his eyes from the lines of enigmatic text in his book.

Oriental languages had always been somewhat troublesome for the hazel haired elemental; the differing forms of address, the inherent redundancy in having a male and female term for almost everything and the unmemorable and near indecipherable characters made learning the eastern languages exponentially more difficult than the European ones he’d learned thus far.

In all honesty what he truly needed were proper classes, a chance to immerse himself in the dialect and force his mind to process the language to exclusion of all else, he’d done similarly to master both French and Russian; spending months at a time in each respective country until he was capable of carrying on a coherent conversation. Unfortunately he couldn’t currently afford anything more than a cursory sojourn outside of the US and the city’s local Chinese community tended to be rather close knit and somewhat xenophobic. A tutor was possibility but given his… unpredictable schedule, it was uncertain he’d ever manage to keep appointments.

In all honesty, it almost wasn’t worth the trouble.

However if memorizing a few pointless syllables would let him avoid Yan’s deliberately poor engrish then it was a small price to pay in order to get an update on the Triads limited, yet profitable operations in the city. The hardest part would be tracking the old man down. He always professed to be staying with ‘family’ despite the fact that it was different ‘family’ on almost every occasion. Either Yan didn’t care for such pretenses when conversing with business acquaintances, or his fecundity put Genghis Khan to shame. In either case it was only a mild annoyance, the old man never stayed too far from a drug den and despite the size of Chinatown there were only so many places you could hide such an enterprise.

Nonchalantly skirting past an inconveniently located stall conveying over priced apparel to ignorant tourists Zephyr quietly slipped down a narrow side street which was all but empty and sufficiently shaded by the buildings on either side that further reading would have been something of a lost cause and so with a slight sigh the hessian placed his book back in his jacket pocket and attempted to keep the few simple phrases he’d been reading at the front of his mind.

At least, that had been his intention until his spatial awareness took notice of someone else duck down the street after him. It was quite painfully obvious to the elemental really; body language can say a good deal, even more when people don’t think they were being watched. In this instance his hopeless pursuer made things rather easy by peeking at his back from behind a pile of discarded cardboard boxes. In all honesty if Zephyr had been anyone else the girl likely wouldn’t have been spotted (and it was a girl, the hessian could tell that even without conjuring a breeze), as it was though she’d been spotted and now the elemental had to decide what to do about her.

The immediate answer was obvious, loose her.

That was exactly what he attempted to do as left the side street and entered into Chinatown proper, quickly stepping off to the side and taking refuge within a somewhat moth eaten second hand clothes shop which afforded him a fair view of the side street he’d just left, curious despite himself about precisely whom he’d attracted.

One of the most notable features of Chinatown, aside from its mephitic odor, was the diverse range of people it attracted. Although residents themselves were largely of Asian ethnicity, the cleaner and more hospitable streets drew a fair number of tourists and NYC locals, especially on a Friday afternoon when people were just beginning to release themselves from work and welcome the coming weekend.

As a result, Zephyr was likely one of the few individuals to notice the lissome redhead exiting the darkened alley and merging almost seamlessly with the throng of people lining the street. He’d not been able to catch much of her face before she’d entered the crowd, covered as it was by a pair of oversized sunglasses. Still, he could tell she was far from old and more than young and if her attire were any indication she was likely college age or thereabouts. While this was agreeable, the fact remained that she had pursued him down a dark alley and was now waiting just outside his current refuge and unobtrusively scanning the surrounding street.

This had the potential to become quite troublesome; the last thing he needed at the present, or any moment in time, was a stalker. She needed to be dealt with, yet Chinatown was notoriously crowded and it was unlikely he’d be able to do anything more than give her a stern lecture which would more than likely solve absolutely nothing. Better then to take his leave while he still appeared to be unnoticed, the shop would have a back door and from the connecting alley he could make his way to the roofs and carry onward form there.

If she somehow managed to make it to the roofs as well… he’d deal with that if it actually happened. No need to consider ruining a pretty face unless he absolutely had to.

Turning the elemental began to make his way to the back of the store, carelessly shifting aside clothing racks as he swept behind the counter and around the owner with nothing more than a false smile and a meaningless greeting. Then, he felt the brush of air as the front entrance opened and a brief glance over his shoulder confirmed what he already knew as he stared into wide emerald eyes, only to blink as he recognized his apparent stalker.

He smirked.

Without a word he ducked out the backdoor and as soon as it had closed behind him a silent gust of wind swept him up to the roof where he waited and tried to recall everything he could about one Maxine Ralls.

Most have heard the trite aphorism regarding the wide variety yet poor selection of entertainment available on American television. It is perhaps most readily compared to an age old axiom regarding a needle and haystack. Occasionally though, among the dull detritus of mundane American entertainment rare gems could be found in the unlikeliest of places.

Wolf news had one such gem, a program which had risen rather sharply prominence as a result of a recent segment featuring the city’s resident bonemancer and reluctant amateur Sapphic star/model. The episode had made headlines and more than a few had speculated that the show’s host wouldn’t live to see her next installment, yet more than two weeks on and the cheerfully sardonic redhead was still making ratings for her station and if anything had somehow become even more unbearably smug then she’d been previously.

For all the attention she’d gained over ‘summer special’ however very little was actually available regarding Maxine Ralls beyond contact and employment information. She’d recently been promoted before her summer special and had her segment time doubled, she produced an… interesting, variety of products related to her show and had a penchant for donating a portion of her sales to charity. She was also a known mutant though the precise nature of her abilities was unknown beyond the fact that it seemed to affect stationary.

Last but not least, she apparently had a bad habit of wandering where she wasn’t wanted, and annoying people who would really be better left alone, though in retrospect Zephyr would admit that this was likely true of all reporters who were in essence, paid prod noses. Still as the age old adage went, turn around was fair play. Yan could wait for another day, this was an opportunity he couldn’t delay. The only question was how much should she pay?

Standing edge of the building Zephyr returned his small bottle of painkillers to his jacket pocket and resumed watching the door below him expectantly as he finished reviewing what little he knew of his scarlet haired stalker. The girl had caused him a fair amount of annoyance in the past, and though he’d done anything about her at the time, this was indeed too good of an opportunity to pass up. His smirk grew faintly as he watched the girl burst into the back alley and rapidly turned her head back in forth as she sought him out, glancing up but somehow failing to spot him.

Being chased was a novel experience for the elemental, far more often the roles were reversed, though he couldn’t say he disliked the switch he wasn’t entirely certain how to proceed. He had no idea why he’d garnered the Miss Ralls attention, and in truth didn’t really care, however he could see a certain appeal in letting the girl run herself ragged. Granted it would be a puerile pursuit but, indulging ones inner child from time to time was only healthy. He just needed to get her attention.

As he was contemplating the amount of discomfort a discarded coin could generate from his current height the hessians ponderings were interrupted when his follower withdrew and released several colourful pens which rose through the air and generated an odd sense of déjà vu for the mercenary as they eventually came to halt in a hovering circle. He’d seen this little trick before and knew how to deal with such minor irritants. A mild breeze was all it took sweep the trio of pens within arm’s reach and a deft flick of the wrist resulted in a crimson pen twirling idly between the elementals fingers even as the other two promptly retreated, followed by a whispered current of air which trailed down to the redhead ears.

“Catch me if you can.” The words conveyed both amusement and condescension as the elemental began to make his way across the nearest adjacent roof.

Continuing his indolent pace across the stretch of rooftops Zephyr pondered his next as he kept track of both the seemingly sentient pens behind him, and trailing redhead below. The elemental had hoped the girl might try the fire escapes in an effort to reach the roofs; it would have made things rather more entertaining. Sadly though Miss Ralls apparently possessed the rare resource of common sense and seemed perfectly content to continue her chase at street level.

All things considered though, it was only a minor disappointment; she was following him and so he effectively had her on a leash. All he needed now was a suitable destination yet such a thing was proving more difficult than he had originally anticipated. He had no current intention of killing her and as she was a reporter he couldn’t afford to introduce her to anything too unsavory if he wanted to make use of certain resources in the future.

Reaching the end of the current stretch of rooftops the elemental paused for a moment to consider his hovering retinue, he had no way of telling what they could or could not discern but whatever the case he wasn’t yet willing to advertise his incorporeal state and a quick glance through the scaffolding attached to the building face revealed a steady stream of individuals below who would be all but guaranteed to notice him if he attempted to cross open air, thus ruling out that avenue.

Then someone screamed.

There are varying degrees of severity to a human scream, ranging from the inebriated alcoholic losing their balance, all the way to the wail of terror a mother issues when her children are in danger. This particular scream possessed the impressive pitch one typically associated with young girls but seemed to be one of surprise rather than fear but was quickly echoed by others on as a flurry of metal abruptly darted out of the door beneath the elementals feet and down the street. A second, more colorful wave soon followed with even more vigor before Zephyr managed to crane his neck sufficiently to spot the logo under the scaffolding of the store beneath him.

It was a Staples.

((OOC: Dreadfully unoriginal I know, but we don’t have to spend much time with it and I couldn’t think of anything else.))

Looking down at the tawdry spectacle below Zephyr resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he briefly watched the lithe redhead pose for the small crowd her talents had gathered. The elemental couldn't honestly say he was surprised; her profession essentially required, if not a love for attention, at least lack of aversion to it. Still, it would have made things rather more interesting if the soubrette hadn't shown to enjoy the spotlight quite so much.

Regardless of the girls preferences though Zephyr had little intention of indulging her puerile performance by becoming just another member of her impromptu audience. That would make things too easy for her by far, which was why he'd made his way down to the Staples loading bay the moment he'd seen Miss Ralls attention drift moved elsewhere. Annoyingly though it seemed as though the gamines animated pens were capable of acting independently of their creator as they continued to hover behind him regardless of the redheads focus.

Without slowing his pace the hessian glanced down at red pen spinning through his fingers, the thing had become all but lifeless as soon as he'd caught it. The moment he relaxed his grasp however the instrument stirred to life, yet made no overt attempt to escape leading the elemental to suspect that it acted as a beacon of sorts for the other pens trailing behind him. This in and of itself wasn't a problem just yet, he had no intention of losing his overly inquisitive stalker quite so early in the game.

Still though, if she wanted a snow ball's chance in summer of keeping up with him she'd need have to keep her adoring audience at bay. She was after all here for his entertainment, not her-

Coming to an abrupt halt at the entrance to main street Zephyr's thoughts paused as he blinked at the viridian pen darting back and forth in front of his face. The elemental had already raised his arm to swat the thing from air before he noticed the card under its cap and instead adjusted the motion to snatch the card from its messenger and bring it to a readable distance.

Coffee?

Zephyr raised a brow before flicking the card to the ground and stepping out to merge with crowd. The girl was brazen he'd give her that, it was probably an attitude which served her well in her job, especially if her weekly segment was any indication. Miss Ralls was deeply mistaken though if she thought he'd deign to treat her to coffee; a vile drink at the nest of times.

Clearly the gamine needed an education in proper refreshments, however the nearest acceptable bistro was some ways away. Still, that would only make her appreciate it her all the more, she'd need to pick up the pace first though.

Focusing on the redheads location the elemental once again directed his words for the soubrettes ears alone as he began to make his way to the outskirts of China town.

"Do try to keep up Miss Ralls, you're falling behind."

Keeping his own pace brisk as he wandered down the less clustered side on the outside of Chinatown Zephyr reflected, momentarily, on Miss Ralls. The redhead was proving to be a rather contrary character; given that she had been the one to initiate this somewhat diverting scenario by trailing him for who knew how long, her insistence on keeping to her own leisurely pace was a rather apt demonstration of cognitive dissonance.

It was also fairly annoying.

It didn't take much in the way of effort to infer the reasoning behind the girls actions, especially considering what was known about her. The gamine likely believed she had some degree of control over the situation since her presence had been acknowledged rather than dismissed and thus could afford to dawdle as she pleased. It was a somewhat reasonable assumption to make yet still a gamble in certain respects because the girl had to know to some degree that it would cost the hessian nothing to abandon their odd game if he grew bored with her recalcitrant behavior.

As things were though, she was fortunate that he took it as a challenge.

Deftly catching another of the redheads pens as it attempted to dart in front of his face the elemental idly relieved the animate instrument of its message before reading the contents and rolling his eyes . The soubrette certainly wasn't lacking for confidence it seemed, though a part of the hessian could only wonder how long such an attitude would persist if she happened to meet the city's resident bonemancer.

Dismissing such thoughts from his mind as he spotted the sign he'd been seeking for the past minute or so Zephyr released the green pen and began to make his way towards the descending stairs of the subway as he sent another whispered current to the emerald eyes gamine.

"One thing at a time Miss Ralls. I'd suggest you hurry before you miss the train, and do try to be discreet about your gift."

Interesting and unconventional as Miss Ralls mutation was, it garnered rather more attention than the elemental liked . If the girl wished to keep following him and avoid causing a panic or just general ill will while underground she'd have to apply some subtlety to her talent.