This city was crazy on edge. Mercury had never seen anything like it, though his agent (and H/MU, and costume designer, and choreographer, and bassist) all made it sound like it was going to keep being a thing, and be a thing in more and more places.

He didn’t like seeing people look so stressed when he snuck out and went wandering the streets. Not at all. That was why he was still here, actually. When most other artists were pulling out, avoiding the city until there were fewer... outright riots... Mercury was scheduling more last-minute shows. And not expensive ones either: no, the one scheduled for tomorrow night was priced to pretty much just cover costs, and that was with an awesome deal on the venue because they were panicking at having their previous booking back out on such short notice. Minimal ticket prices plus donations! And any profits beyond paying everyone and all that were going to go to support a local organization. His PR agent had dug it up: apparently they were helping find housing for people who had had their homes damaged by riots, or who had lost their homes thanks to the really nasty mutant/human tensions.

They’d been even happier when Mercury had invited their staff and a couple of their most disadvantaged families to come watch the show.

So why, exactly, was Mercury ambling along a street still bearing scorch marks, bullet dents, and broken glass?

He wanted a fancy coffee, and there was a fancy coffee place on this street. And it was still open! Ha!

Serena stretched out her limbs and yawned before standing from where she'd been sitting, picking up her trench coat from the chair she'd seated herself in while she was watching the show. She'd been really REALLY cooped up recently with all of the writing she needed to do, and with the start of another school term... needless to say she had been busy fairly non-stop.

The blonde undid her pony tail and then re-tied her hair into it before picking up her handbag and exiting the venue. She had really enjoyed unwinding a little bit, a friend had suggested this to her, but been unable to attend herself. She really did enjoy the music itself, which wasn't a huge stretch for Serena since she found pretty much everything even mildly in the sphere of rock bearable.

As she slipped out into the crisp October air, she noted one of the performers that she'd seen playing had also just left. She wondered if they were going to another show, just done for the night or even out for a little air.

It felt as if it'd been ages since she'd socialised with a new person, though with her luck, this person would either be as grumpy, or quirky as the last few. The blonde cleared her throat, picked up her walking pace a little and spoke to the... guy? She'd just avoid using pronouns judging by how they were dressed, she'd had her head bitten off for making assumptions one time too many. "Hi~ Were you at the show? You were good!"

There was a voice behind him - the voice of a fan, no less! Mercury spun around, the loose ends of his almost-Christmas-y wool jacket fanning out (and also the primary reason he'd bought it, along with warm! this country was COLD!). He clapped his hands before him in excitement, and beamed at the young woman (sheesh, she was probably about the same age as him, maybe just a little younger).

"Why thank you! I really try to make all of my shows enjoyable." Drat, all of his good water was with the tour caravan. Mercury casually felt towards a puddle near his dark red, suede heeled boots. The surface shimmered a little as he flexed his power on it, quietly coiling and uncoiling the interior water and gradually warming it up to his control.

"Any favourite parts? Anything you think could be improved?" He winked, too easy-going to even make the question seem assertive.

The man's response was met by a few slow, hard blinks. Serena had honestly not been expecting such a well socialised response, she had gotten far too used to people that weren't good at the whole conversations thing. She quickly found her lips spreading into a smirk. "Hello!" She responded cheerfully, even if she'd technically already greeted him. Her lips spread into a wider smirk. "I should hope so, it's probably more fun that way I imagine, anyway."

Serena had a purple scarf on, over her blue coat and teal halestorm shirt. She pulled the jacket a little more closed and pondered over his accent for a moment. She sometimes had a little trouble telling between African and Australian accents, but there was just a hint of that pronunciation left in his voice that indicated to her it was probably the latter. "I didn't realise you had much of an accent earlier, have you been in the states for very long?"

She giggled lightly at the guys enthusiasm. She liked people like this, with energy. "Hmmm, I'm not too sure, your show was definitely one of the more unique ones I've seen in the last few years. So I definitely appreciated that."

"Oh, definitely. And what's the point, really, of doing something that isn't fun? Even if it pays well. If it's fun and pays well, though, well then you're golden, aren't you?" Another easy grin, and then he had to adjust one patch of blue bangs that were trying to get in his eye again.

Hm, his fan seemed to be a little on the chilly side. That was completely understandable. It was damp and cold here! Well, not that the damp was bad. It meant that there was water around, like the puddle that was obeying his will with still-decreasing reluctance. "Oh, a bunch of years now. Singing uses the throat differently than talking, and different patterns. Plus my voice coach likes to throw things at me if I sound too Australian in performance. Mostly pillows, mostly pillows!" Vanessa was a great help, and she hadn't actually hurt him with anything, and he didn't want anyone to think she had.

"I've actually been over here long enough that it's starting to feel like forever," he laughed. "And I'm glad to hear that. I would be lying if I said it wasn't intentionally unique, or that I wasn't taking full advantage of the abilities I found myself with. And I'm not really a fan of lying. On which note... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little cold out here." He flashed a bit of a meek grin at her. "Would you be interested in stepping inside with me? I'd just spotted a little coffee shop down the road that looked good - and warm too!"

Serena nodded in agreement with the musician, she admired his hair a little, it was a rare kind of person in her opinion, that could pull off bright colours like blue in their hair. Serena herself had never even tried to dye it, but glancing at how good it looked on some people, the prospect of dying it seemed more and more tempting. She didn't know what colour she'd go for though, probably something more natural looking like a shade of red.

Serena giggled, amused and pleasantly surpised by Mercury's rapid fire method of speaking, it reminded her of a much more cohesive version of Memo. "It sounds like you have a good rapport with them. I think that's important when you're dealing with people like editors or coaches." Serena really respected her editor, the woman was meticulous and gave off a very strong impression to people, she was also very friendly to Serena which was a plus.

"I hear that. I've been in the states since I was a teenager, everything before then, even everything before I was 16 feels like some distant blur, like someone else's history." She smiled a little awkwardly. "Sorry, didn't mean to get all deep on you there."

She smirked at the comment on coffee. "I think we'll get on just fine. Your power is impressive by the way." She blushed and caught herself for a moment at a sudden realisation. Before starting in the direction of the shop she held her hand out in greeting. "I'm Serena, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hey, if you're paying people to make you more successful, you should listen to them! Everything seems to go fine when I remind myself of that." It was a pretty good whole life thing too, really. Listen to people! Actually pay attention to what they're trying to pass on! Sometimes it was total garbage, but a lot of the time there was really good information there - like society is stacked against us please help or you will make more money and be liked by more people if you stop doing this super specific thing.

Hah, deep! That was pretty punny when he was really open about being a water manipulator. Speaking of which... the puddle should be kind of ready by now! Except she was talking, so maybe a little more tangling and untangling. He couldn't actually tie knots with water in water without looking at it, or even kind of by looking at it, but he could mangle it a whole bunch and that worked almost as well.

"Eighteen for me, but I know exactly what you mean. Like a book you've read, maybe the super awkward first book that turned into a really good series, but that first one is so horrible and embarrassing you can't actually make yourself go back and read it anymore." Tooootally not referencing something specific there, nope. Totally not the reason one shelf in his trailer seemed a bit more full than the rest.

Mercury took Serena's hand for a polite shake, and drew the water he'd been working with so subtly into the air, twisting it in on itself until it took the (approximate; he had to keep fixing it here and there) shape of a rose and briefly letting it rest just above their hands. "Mercury," he said cheerily, "and it is very much a pleasure."

With a tiny sigh of released effort, since he'd been doing a huge amount of this, on a much larger scale, for most of the day in practice and then in performance, he let the water-rose fall away, and then regathered the droplets and set them slowly coiling around his free wrist in an endless spiral mirrored by small movements in his arm. So settled, he led the way towards the coffee shop.

"So, Serena, what brought you to the show tonight, if I may ask?"

The blonde smiled at the musician again, half expecting something bad to happen to distract a peaceful greeting... But nothing did! Maybe her luck was improving. "It would be kind of silly to pay them and ignore them, true. Especially if it's something like a teacher, or an editor for that matter." She couldn't imagine where she would be today if she'd simply disregarded advice.

Serena idly wondered if 18 had been the age that Mercury had manifested... In her experience, a great deal of mutants were very conscious when talking about their power, but considering Mercury had literally used their's in the act, She assumed it was fine. "When did you manifest, out of curiosity? You were very good with your power." She smiled sweetly, even it was relatively safe, best to follow up with a compliment.

Serena let out a very hearty giggle as Mercury formed a little rose above their hands out of water. "Smooth, but mine would be truer to real roses." She winked.

Serena always found other liquid manipulators powers in action to be fascinating, hers seemed to be a little unique, if more straining than most of the others she observed. Mercury's control over their's certainly seemed to be impressive. "Oh, I've been so cooped up in my place with work recently, a friend convinced me to go to the show with her, and then of course had to cancel on me, but I was already there so..." She smiled softly.

That was the second time she'd said editor. Not likely an accident; perhaps she was a writer? He'd have to get her chatting later, find out if she had anything published for him to lay his fingers on. With such a delightful personality, he expected he would enjoy her work as well.

Oh! Mutation questions! Those always made him happy. "Somewhere in high school. I don't really remember quite when, exactly, other than that I was singing and my water bottle kept falling over. It was really frustrating, but I wouldn't trade it away." He would trade some details of how it worked, sometimes. That was about the extent of it. Mostly the part where he basically had to learn it all over again whenever he used new water. He could only bring so much with him! It wasn't practical to wander around with a giant blob of water following him.

"Oh? Please, do tell!" As much as he enjoyed talking about his own abilities, Mercury was even happier to give others an opportunity to glow about their talents. Especially something like a mutation, which often had fewer opportunities to be appreciated. Especially given how matters were in this city right now...

But he could help with that, at least a little! By donating money and playing shows to make people happy! And by talking to people directly, and letting them be happy.

"If you would like, I'd love to see what you can do," he offered, bending a bit to push the cafe's door open for Serena. Being tall certainly paid off in some moments! "Though I assure you that it is entirely up to you." No pressure, no pressure! Just pleasure and acceptance. "And I'm glad you made it even if she couldn't make it. Perhaps another show, though; I'm planning on staying in town for a while."

The café looked a little rough outside, but inside it was warm and cozy and didn't seem to have suffered any pyrogeneration attempts of late. Always good for business! There was an assortment of different kinds of chairs and tables scattered around the front part, a long glass counter with baked snacks on display, and one person in total, a somewhat stressed young woman with a curly pink ponytail, polishing the counter window.

Serena had to remind herself that not everybody's manifestations were interesting or terrifying, some were just normal, or slightly odd. She smiled as Mercury told her about his own experience. She could remember the exact time and date she manifested, she'd had nightmares about it for years to come. Thankfully, she was now at peace with all of that, and she just viewed it as an unhappy memory.

She grinned at him. "Maybe if you're not the type to be grossed out, or there aren't too many bystanders about. My power isn't as pg-13 as yours." She responded with a wink. There was a time when even thinking about explaining her power to another person would give Serena some serious anxiety... Now, she viewed it as something interesting to share with those around her, especially with someone else who manipulated fluids.

"Maybe later~" She responded, approaching the door to the coffee place. Smiling enchantingly at him for holding the door for her. "Thank you~" She stepped inside and waited for him to enter as well. She was actually thinking of having something different, like a herbal tea or something if they served it, caffeine might not be the greatest idea.

"Hmmmm.. Not sure what to get." She mumbled, eyeing the menu.

Grossed out? PG-13?

So did she - no no no that didn't fit with realistic roses. Not everything was about sex anyway.

Now he was curious, though. "I shall have to take you up on that! I'd certainly love to learn more about you." She was nice, pretty, mutant-friendly, and had caught his interest. What wasn't to love? Her smile certainly made the love list. Even made the still-spiralling water around his arm shiver a bit!

Once inside, Mercury adjusted his jacket and took in the space a bit. A good choice, a good choice indeed!

Wait

Was that

It was, wasn't it

Yes it had to be!

Mercury darted over to the counter, caught up in his excitement and focus. It was! It was! Pineapple upside down cake. It had been so long! Why had it been so long? How had it been so long? Why didn't fancy restaurants have it more often? It was so good!

He should get Serena some. But what if she didn't like it? Not everyone liked pineapple. And some people didn't like cake. Hmmmmmmmmm- oh wait, he could just ask. "Do you like pineapple upside down cake?" There, asked. He would need something to drink with it. How about - a tea list!

... pineapple and pineapple?

The cashier was staring at him a little bit, but that was hardly unusual. Mercury drew a lot of attention in most of the places he went, and this didn't faze him in the slightest. "Some pineapple upside down cake and a cup of piña colada tea with a bit of honey, if you could, my dear," he requested breezily, his spiral of puddle water reaching out towards the cake behind the glass as longingly as his expression.