Continued from “Macchiatos, Meeples, and Mayhem”

While they stood there in the lobby of Haven, waiting for the concierge to get everything squared away, Quin had to wonder exactly what was so important in and around Haven that this kind of security was necessary.

Sure, Quin had thought earlier about the fact that there was more to the place than it seemed from the outside, but an entire paramilitary security group camping out in the lobby suggested that things went a bit deeper than she’d even suspected.

Those were thoughts for later though. For now, Quin reminded herself to simply be grateful for the extra security and the fact that this really probably was one of the safest places she could be.

Soon enough, Will had a keycard and that meant he had somewhere safe to be. The concierge started to give directions and Quin shook her head, ”I’ll take him. It’s not a problem.” she said and headed for the elevators.

”I’m upstairs and I get the feeling that’s going to take us down so go ahead and scan it. ” she said, pointing at the card and fingerprint scanner built into the wall next to the double elevator doors. As they waited for the elevator that was indeed indicating that it was going to go down, Quin crossed her arms, “I was joking about the broom closet earlier, but there’s a lot more people here than I expected. Good because more people are safe…but all that’s down there are some classrooms, the gym, and some dorms.” She said as the elevator doors opened.

Will was grateful as Quin stopped the concierge before they could start giving out any sort of instructions, offering instead just to bring Will to wherever he was going to be staying. At this point he was running on fumes and a half cup of coffee, and trying to follow instructions to get through a completely unfamiliar place with armed guards stationed here and there was more of a task than he felt up to cognitively. 

Following Quin to the elevator, Will raised an eyebrow in some amount of surprise at the scanner built into the wall. Sure, electronic locks weren't anything odd, the keycard in his hand he figured, was pretty much like any other hotel card he'd ever used. Unlocked certain doors, maybe call an elevator. But a fingerprint scanner was an odd thing to see. And with what Quin had half-joked, half-warned earlier, it wasn't liable to be the only weirdness he was going to run into. 

Scanning the card, the elevator responded with a cheery electronic sound and there was a hum of movement, indicating the lift was on it's way. "Didn't even know this place existed. I mean, I think I've been past the building a few, but..." Will shrugged, there were hundreds of buildings you could walk by in the city and never really know what was inside, after all. "Just happy they could fit me in, right about now."

The hum of movement came to a slow, then a stop and the elevator doors opened smoothly, Will giving Quin a bit of a hesitant look before stepping inside, walking to the back of the elevator to be able to lean back against the wall and take a bit of weight off his overworked legs. "I'll be honest though, if it's a cot in a gym fulla other folks, I might take you up on the couch." Will gave Quin a grin, half-joking. Even on the best of days, a room full of other people's noise would make it impossible for him to get to sleep. 

Will explained that he hadn’t even really known that Haven existed before this and Quin nodded, ”They do a lot of community outreach work to help mutants, but most people don’t see community outreach and picture a place like this.”

As for a place to stay, Will looked exhausted, and Quin could only imagine she looked at least as bad. Even if she thought hard, Quin couldn’t think of a time when she’d used her powers so extensively or often in her life and it had taken its toll.

The elevator arrived and Will and Quin moved inside. The doors shut, the elevator started moving and Will spoke. I’ve only ever really peeked in, but I feel like the dorms are a bunk set-up and if they’re using the gyms and classrooms it’ll be a cot. The offer was sincere. Least I can do. I’ve also got food.”

Still, they could see what there was to offer.

The doors opened and Quin stepped out of the elevator and waited for Will to follow. ”Let me see…” she said, looking at the card for a number, finding it, and moving down the hall.

Eventually they found the room and it was indeed a dorm with a couple of bunks, but it was impossible to tell at the moment whether or not anyone else was going to be staying there. If Quin had to guess she’d have said yes with the fact that they were using the classrooms and gym as well, but who knew. There was however some folded t-shirts and pants similar to the ones the security guys had been wearing folded on one of the beds.

”Looks like they rolled out the red carpet.” she said. ”And you’re lucky, it’s apparently a dress down day so there’s no need for a suit.”

”Showers are down that way by the gym, card should get you in.” She paused for a minute, ”If you’re hungry or there’s a bunch of Michael’s security goons taking up space, just text, I think I’ve got just about enough energy to toss a couple frozen pizzas in the oven.”

Community outreach for mutants? Will tried to think if he'd heard the name of Haven in conjunction with any of the things he'd read or overheard previously. Maybe? It didn't help that the name was sort of synonymous with exactly that sort of thing, so an apt moniker, but it make it sort of fuzzy for him to put it concretely in his head. Quin was dead on though, that even if he knew for sure what Haven did, this would not be the sort of place he'd expect them to operate out of. 

The elevator moved down and Quin explained that if Will were staying down below, he'd probably have some roommates one way or the other, either cots or whatever else they'd get set up in the classrooms and gyms, or bunks in the dorms. She also, in her infinite kindness, told him that the offer of the couch was sincere, adding in the promise of food. 

Food? Food hadn't even crossed his mind. He should probably be hungry, but hungry was probably buried under two dozen other things in the later bucket that itself had gotten buried under the rest of the events of the day.  As such, he didn't have much to say, just giving Quin a thankful smile and nod.

The doors opened, the trip down surprisingly smooth as far as elevators went, and Will was thankful for what must have been a pretty impressive ventilation system as he stepped into the hallway. Usually below ground levels felt stale, air still and heavy with the smells of who or whatever spent time on that level, but Haven seemed to be better about that. He wouldn't exactly call it fresh air, but no worse than any above ground building. Will looked up and down the hallway as Quin peered at the card before leading the both of them down the hall to find (thankfully) a dorm, rather than a gym or a classroom. 

"Guess I get to be an honorary member of the club." Will said, taking a peek around the room and picking up one of the folded t-shirts on the bed, letting it hang down before dropping it back onto the bed. "Wonder if I get one of those neat patches, or if that's only for fully fledged members." 

Quin explained where the showers were, that the card Will had been provided should get him in, and to text her if he needed anything, promises of frozen pizza and a place away from other people just a quick ask away. 

"A shower sounds... really good, honestly." Will admitted, looking down at himself, the dust and dirt and who knows what else that'd decorated/ruined his jeans and t-shirt. Like Quin had said earlier, distressed was in, but their clothes were a bit past even the most generous depiction of distressed at this point. "And I'll probably take you up on that pizza after I get settled in here." Will paused before adding, "And make sure to take some painkillers when y'can. If I nod off, you're gonna be hurting again if y'don't."

“A dubious honor indeed.” Quin said when Will quipped about his status with Black-Tac. ”Don't hope too hard for that patch though…they’re likely to put you to work tonight.”

Will thought a shower sounded good and Quin nodded, it was the first thing she was going to do when she got upstairs. She just felt filthy and these clothes were going straight into the trash. Sure it was a waste but there was probably no salvaging the jeans and the shirt wasn’t in much better shape.

Her offer of pizza looked like it was going to be accepted too and Quin couldn’t blame Will one bit. Even freezer pizza was going to be better than whatever they were feeding folks down here. Quin nodded and opened her mouth to add something when Will spoke up again.

Quin had completely forgotten about her ribs. She’d also never gotten checked out at the hospital. Surely nothing serious was wrong though, she’d have never been able to run or gasp for air the way she had if anything was broken.

”Thanks for the heads up.” she said, ”I’d honestly forgotten.”

Well, that was pretty much it for now, Quin supposed, “Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll come back down with the elevator. I doubt that card will let you upstairs.”

That said, Quin headed towards the elevator and that shower.

"Yeah?" Will replied when Quin remarked if Will hoped too hard for one of the patches that they were liable to put him to work. "Didn't figure they'd have a beverage division, but I guess everyone's gotta eat. Think if the choice is the patch or a night's sleep though, I can go without fashion." 

"Besides," Will continued, having finished his quick peek around the room. There really wasn't much to see, but it seemed more than enough as a safe place to crash. He knew it was too much to hope to get the whole room to himself, if they were spreading folks into the gyms and classrooms, (classrooms? what sort of place -was- this anyway?) but he hoped at least the others in the room were the quiet type. "Don't wanna reflect poorly on you or Michael. Best behavior an' all that." 

Quin thanked him for the reminder, that she had some wounds of her own to tend to. Jeez, she must either be more exhausted than he was or a little less banged up. Or maybe he'd numbed her a bit more than he first thought? Either way, she seemed almost surprised when he brought it up. Quin went on to explain to just give her notice whenever he wanted to come up, since she doubted the card he had would get him going upstairs. Made sense, if those were more private living quarters and the like. Will guessed he had something like a public pass to the general areas and his temporary lodgings. 

"For sure. It'll gimme the chance to update your name proper, too." Will gave Quin a little smirk at that, and then she was off, heading for the elevator. 

Alone. For the first time in hours but that felt like days. It gave him the chance to take a deep breath and try and gauge how he actually felt. Terrible, mostly. Overwhelmed, sore, scared, but... still standing, so that counted for a lot. The one positive seemed to be that the use of his powers today had toned his senses way down, far better than even the most aggressive run could do. It was actually a little odd, made everything feel fuzzy in a way, like he was still wearing his earplugs that... he guessed wound up somewhere in the wad of plastic that got wrapped around Hammer's head at the start of all this. 

Unusual, and almost frustrating, but a lot better than being overwhelmed in -that- way on top of everything else. 

Grabbing the change of clothes that'd been left out for him, Will made his way to the public showers, following Quin's directions and the signage that stated as much. 

The showers weren't as empty as he'd hoped, though luckily they -were- available, and there wasn't a wait, but he wasn't able to just stand under the hot water for half an hour either, like he'd been day dreaming of. Still, he felt worlds better as he washed away the sweat and dust and blood and far too many little bits of ceramic and rock that'd been in his shirt and skin. Will hoped the next person wouldn't complain about all the little pebbles around the drain. 

Reluctantly leaving the comfort of the warm water, he dried off, changed into the unfamiliar clothing and headed back to the dorm number stamped onto that little card he'd been provided. Flopping onto the bed where the clothing had been left (he assumed that would be his spot, anyway), he took the chance to just lay there for a few minutes, appreciating the simple comfort of feeling clean and comfortable and safe. Things he'd apparently been taking for granted up until now. 

Will could think he was updating her name all good and proper in his phone all he wanted, but Quin knew that she absolutely had the upper hand there and wasn’t likely to give an inch of ground.

The elevator ride up to her floor was completely uneventful, something that Quin had taken for granted at least a hundred times before today. She was sore, and she was tired and Will’s reminder that his powers were still working on her made Quin realize that she was likely to get much more sore and much more tired before this was all done and over with.

Hoping that Will didn’t doze off before she’d had a chance to get herself all clean first-aided, Quin wasted no time once she was in her apartment and headed to take that shower.

The water stung at first, courtesy of all the little cuts and shrapnel wounds from the rock guy and Quin could see a large and solid bruise already starting to form over her right side where she’d taken the brunt of that flying rock after it had shattered her shield. That was something she was going to have to work on, she thought as she washed and rinsed her hair. It had been far too easy to break what she had made and Quin realized she was probably lucky she hadn’t been hurt worse.

Still, she was going to hurt like hell in the morning and after she’d gotten out of the shower and dried off she took Will’s advice and took a bit more than the recommended dose of ibuprofen. The cut on her face wasn’t all that bad and Quin took a few minutes to brush the snarls and tangles out of her hair before deciding to leave it down to dry.

Pulling on loose sweats and a tank top, Quin grabbed a zip-up hoodie and headed out to the kitchen to start pre-heating the oven.

That done, she walked to the windows and looked down at the city. Here and there she could see the telltale blue and red off police lights, but nothing really looked all that different from what it had when she’d left this morning to find somewhere to study.

It was funny how looks could be deceiving.

Will had to admit, the situation down here was remarkably calm and well in hand, considering everything that was going on outside. Sure, he'd seen a few worried faces and a couple of upset whispers back and forth when he'd been getting into and out of the shower but if even half of what Michael had said was true, he'd have thought the place would look like a warzone. Seems Haven took care of things proper. 

Even so, even feeling freshly clean and safe and sprawled across something several orders of magnitude more comfortable than either the cathedral's pews or the folding chairs setup in the hospital tent, it was still hard for Will to actually relax.

Just as well, he supposed. With how tired his body felt, if he relaxed he'd probably conk out on the spot, and it'd be rude to stand up someone who'd saved your life when they invited you over for dinner. 

Pulling out his phone, which was starting to get lower on power than he'd like with no charger in sight, he flipped through to his contacts, pulling up Quin, starting to write a text. He paused, went back, and appropriately updated her name from "Quin Park" to "Quin Archer". He'd thought about sticking Sagittarius in there, as a middle name for fun, but held off. 

Going back to writing a text, he tapped out a message, read it back to himself silently, erased half and then wrote again. Looked at it, scoffed and erased the whole thing and then put his phone down on the bed beside him. Part of him told himself that he shouldn't bother her, she'd been through enough today, why put her up to taking care of him when things could be taken care of down here. But... Quin had seemed sincere. Actually, she seemed truthful to a fault, now that he thought about it. Hadn't even lied by omission when it came to the weird... timey-wimey stuff that'd happened to her. 

>>> "hey no rush, but that pizzas starting to sound better and better. Let me know when and i'll meet you at the elevator."

Will hesitated, before just sending the message. Huh. Lucky his phone still got reception down here. He wondered if Haven had some sort of setup to boost signal all the way down beneath the building, or if he wasn't as deep underground as he thought. 

Quin was still staring out at the city when the oven beeped to indicate that it had finished preheating. Had she been standing there that long thinking?

Pulling out her phone to check and make sure she hadn’t missed a text while she’d been lost in her thoughts, Quin shut the screen off and put the phone back in her pocket. Maybe Will wasn’t going to come up for pizza after all. In all honesty it wouldn’t have surprised Quin one bit. The day had been absolutely wild to begin with and then he’d been subjected to all of her unique mess in the hospital tent after those stupid cops had shown up in the cathedral.

Thinking back on everything, Quin wondered if she should have said less…but it always just seemed so wrong to do that. Being around Quin meant that weird things were going to happen from time to time when someone recognized her or knew something that she should have known but didn’t.

Regardless, it was too much for a lot of people to wrap their heads around and as a result, Quin didn’t have very many friends. At least not friends she knew well enough to know all that about her.

Quin was rummaging in her freezer for the pizza when her phone buzzed in the pocket of her sweats and she pulled it out to see that Will had actually texted.

Setting the pizza on the counter, Quin tapped out a quick response

Oven is already preheated, on my way.

Slipping her feet into a pair of flip flops she tended to leave by the door, Quin headed out, making sure the door shut behind her and headed to the elevator where her fingerprint was enough to open the door. Soon enough she’d pushed the button to take her back downstairs. Maybe she’d underestimated Will just a bit.

And quicker than he would have thought, there was a message back. Quin hadn't hesitated at all to get back to him. Seemed like maybe he wouldn't be a bother then. 

Ew. Will made a face as he started to stuff his feet back into his socks. That was one thing that he hadn't been given a change of. And thanks to Rocky, there'd been a fair bit of and and grit that had wound up in his shoes, and therefore, his socks. Shaking out both socks as best he could, and then his shoes, he made due with just a little sand in his shoes and made a mental note that if he ever needed to pack an emergency bag to include a change of socks. 

Though, considering how he'd wound up here, that wouldn't have helped anyway.

Getting his footwear on, he left his own ruined clothes on the floor at the foot of the bed. Wasn't really sure what else to do with them at the moment -- probably too far gone for laundry, and he didn't see a place to throw them out. Something to figure out later. Not wanting to miss the elevator, Will quickly plodded though the halls, tugging at and smoothing down the borrowed shirt as he went. 

Will made it back to the elevator, and soon after, the doors opened a familiar face inside. Though cleaner than he'd last seen.

"Hey. Long time no see." Will joked weakly. stepping into the elevator as Quin did something with the controls to make it go up, instead of down. Come to think of it, had they even pressed any buttons to get to the floor he was on with the card? Maybe it just went between there and the lobby. Guess he'd better not lose it.

The elevator was quick, and before he knew it they were at their destination. Will followed Quin as she led to way to her apartment, unlocking the door via a fingerprint scanner. 

And well... dang. Will had to, once again, wonder what sort of place this was. Just the furniture he could -see- stepping into Quin's apartment probably cost more 3x more what his entire apartment was decked out with. And that was without peeking into any rooms, or considering the view. Because, once again, dang. The wall of windows that peered over Central Park was something else. Huh. Wonder if he'd be able to see where he'd run into Quin that day. It'd be a funny sort of way to bring it all full circle. 

The elevator doors opened and Will quipped at how long it had been since they’d seen one another. Quin couldn’t help but laugh, it shouldn’t have been nearly as funny as it was, but that was the kind of day it had been.

Into the elevator Will moved, and Quin moved back to the fingerprint scanner to send the elevator back up towards her floor.

It didn’t take long until they were moving into the apartment and Will noticed the view almost immediately. Quin couldn’t blame him, it had been the first thing that she’d noticed too.

“I couldn’t stay in my old apartment.” she said softly, walking towards the window, “I don’t know who did it, but someone set this place up for me. I don’t think I moved from here the entire first night.”

It was true. Quin had just stood there, then eventually sat, looking out over the city and trying to figure things out.

”It’s wild in a thunderstorm.” she added, much more lightly as she walked into the kitchen.

”Anyway, I hope you don’t mind pepperoni.” she said, working at opening the box so she could get the pizza in the oven. “You want a drink? I’ve got water, fizzy water, juice, tea…vodka?” the last was a joke. Maybe.

Will kicked off his shoes as after he managed to stop gawking at the windows, pushing the dusty sneakers to the side with a socked foot. It wasn't as though his socks were all -that- much cleaner, but it still felt impolite to track shoes through a person's apartment. Especially one this nice.

Quin brought up that she was living here since she couldn't stay where she'd used to live. Right. Of course she wouldn't have been able to stay in her old apartment, after everything that had happened. At least, Will figured it had to do with the... enyouthening? Whatever the term for the turn-back-the-clock type stuff she'd gotten tangled up with. At the time she... Well, not her, her... The Quin that was, had been a cop, got caught by some sort of human trafficking ring. They'd definitely be after he after that. Unless it had something to do with her previous relationship with, or against Michael? But Michael had been the one to get Will a spot in here, so...

"Yeah, I can imagine... Next time there's a good storm, I'll spring for dinner if you let me borrow the view." Will replied, opting to answer the cheerier, more light hearted part rather than mulling over the questions that the first brought up. Felt like when he wasn't fighting for his life today he was stuck in his own head. Will had wound up unconsciously walking step-by-step closer to the view, peering out the bank of windows into Central Park. Weird to think a chance meeting there led him to where he was now. 

"Pepperoni's great. And uh..." Wil shook his head at the suggestion of the last drink, giving a chuckle as he thought about taking her up on the offer. "Pfft, much as it's real tempting, think I'd keel over wakin' up with a hangover ontop of how I'll be feeling tomorrow. Tea'd be nice, if you're makin' yourself some too. Water otherwise."  Maybe he'd regret not taking her up on the offer of trying to blot out some of the day with a few stiff drinks, but it probably wasn't smart to be blotto with the threat of ancient Egyptian gods on the horizon. And, anyway, if he later decide against being so responsible, he could always change his mind. Right?

Will peered about the apartment, sneaking a peek as politely as he could. Some printed pages with dense writing on them on a kitchen table, a nice looking L-shaped couch that faced a sizable, wall mounted TV. Presumably the couch on offer. The glorious windows, of course, and the neat little kitchen area. "So, you've been living here since... then?" Will asked, stumbling a bit at how to address the incident that wound up with Quin living here, both due to not exactly knowing -when- it had happened, and just the general awfulness of the event itself. 

”You’re on.” Quin said when Will offered food in exchange for the view during a good storm. ”Sometimes the thunder is so close you can feel it.” she said, then tilted her head slightly, “Probably be particularly interesting for you.”

Quin got the pizza out of its box and out of the plastic wrapping inside and was finally putting it in the oven when Will decided on tea. Probably the prudent choice. ” The vodka is super cheap anyway…” she said as she set her phone timer and set about filling the electric kettle sitting on the counter.

“I was gonna have some peppermint or lemon balm. Do you have a preference?” Quin said, getting everything set and the pot to warming.

Will asked then if she’d lived her since…. “The deageing?” she said, it was such a weird sounding term, but it was what it was. ”New Years Eve, 2019.” Quin said, ”I didn’t move here for a couple of weeks, but it’s all a bit of a blur.” she explained, pulling the tins of tea and a couple of diffusers from a drawer.

Smiling a bit, Quin shook her head, ”I know it’s all really weird…” she said, ”Anything else I can clear up?”

"Oh yeah?" Will sounded genuinely interested, excited even as Quin agreed to the offer, even adding that the thunder got so close some storms that she could feel it in the apartment. She was even thoughtful enough to add that it would probably be particularly interested for his enhanced senses.

That was an odd feeling. Being grateful that someone was taking that into consideration. Nice though, even if it made his cheeks heat up in a flustered blush. "Well, I could always amp you up too." He mentioned off-handedly. Wait, had he ever really explained what he could do? Should he..? Cat was mostly out of the bag now anyway, and... well if he couldn't trust Quin, he wasn't about to be able to trust anyone ever. Either way, if he had, nothing to be worried about, if he hadn't... conversation over tea, he supposed. And with that in mind. 

"Lemon balm. Peppermint would blow my nose out, I think." Will gave Quin an apologetic smile and a little shrug. "Senses... makes me a lot pickier about food and stuff than I'd like." He admitted. "Like, have it yourself, if you had it in mind, I'm not that bad... promise. But drinking it and I won't smell or taste anything else for a bit." Will -did- actually usually carry a pack of gum for exactly that reason. A head full of peppermint or spearmint was better than tasting car exhaust, but he'd forgotten to grab it heading out the door this morning. At the time, he figured it's be the worst part of his day. 

Quin gave him an answer on how long she'd been living here, even giving him a word to use to reference the event. "Deaging". That worked. And she'd been living in this, very nice, apartment since 2019. New Years, or rather, a few weeks later. Let's call it February then. 

"Just curious, mostly... Askin' how long someone has lived somewhere is usually small talk. Words got moving before I realized everything that's tangled up in it." Will said, his tone apologetic as he spoke, trying to get away from the topic. "Nice place though. Gonna be jealous of those windows for a long time." Will picked at his left palm absently, half to distract himself, half to fruitless try to get a lingering bit of glass or stone out of his skin. "As for clearin' things up..?" Will -did- have a few things in mind, but shook his head for the moment. "Ah, feels a bit lopsided right now, honestly. Feel like you should be takin' a round or two of questions at me." 

”Yep.” Quin said in confirmation of what it was like when the thunder was close, “It’s like…if you’ve ever been close to heavy base, how it just kind of rumbles through…” she said, then couldn’t help but grin a bit when Will said he could amp her up too. Of course it made sense that if he could dampen someone’s senses he could also do the opposite.

“That would be really cool.” she said, thinking that the experience was already kind of intense and wondering what it would be like if the feeling was amplified.

Will preferred the lemon and Quin felt silly for even suggesting the peppermint. Of course peppermint would be a lot for someone with heightened senses. Despite the fact he’d told her to go ahead if she wanted, Quin set the peppermint aside and scooped the lemon balm into both of the diffusers and put them into the mugs before adding the now boiling water to steep. ”Honey?” she asked as she thought about what Will had said.

”It must be a lot to think about all of that all the time.” she said.

It turned out that Will had just been trying to make small talk and Quin smiled a bit sheepishly, “It’s okay, sorry to keep finding ways to insert it into the conversation. Some people have a tendency to get really weird once they know.” she said by way of explanation. “So I have a tendency to get a bit in my head about it all and over explain”

To that end, Will thought that things were lopsided as far as information was concerned and as Quin removed the diffusers and brought the mug over to Will she thought about all the questions that had come up throughout the day. A lot of them seemed rude to just come out and ask at this point, so Quin tried to choose something simple to start.

“Tell me more about your powers.” she said, “I know you can dull things, and you just said you could amp them up. You may have said more in the church but I can’t remember.”