2007-05-04: New York Experience: Now With Cyclones and Earthquakes

Starring:

Claudine_icon.gif Orion_icon.gif Cass_icon.gif Lachlan_icon.gif William_icon.gif Jane_icon.gif Elena_icon.gif

Guest Starring:

Marilou and Scruffy Punk Kid

Summary: Times Square gets a little shaken up, during which a few of our heroes start to suspect that the worst weather is on its way.

Date It Happened: May 4th, 2007

New York Experience: Now With Cyclones and Earthquakes


Times Square, New York City

Times Square. 9:30PM. A normal evening — or as normal as it gets, at least.

Dinner and a show! After the weirdness of the last couple of weeks, Marilou Salonga is as bouncy as ever, excited about the night on the town in New York. She's still acting the part of a tourist; there's so much to see! Even if she is kind of a third wheel, tagging along with Claudine and Orion. Whatever. She's paying more attention to her sister than her sister's boyfriend, and she's completely clueless that /either/ of them have been watching her like a hawk because of their involvement in some secret company. Blissful ignorance. The trio is smack dab in the hustle and bustle of Times Square in the evening, currently, having emerged from a Broadway show not long ago; now, it's time for the 'dinner' part of 'dinner and a show', but first, they have to make their way there. "I'm going to have those songs stuck in my head aaall night!" But she doesn't seem too put out by it! "What's the name of the place we're going again?"

"As long as you don’t spend all night singing them, that's all I care about. Besides, you've got a pretty good voice. Remember when we'd go to the sari-sari store for those free karaoke nights?"

A wry grin curls onto Claudine’s lips as she's hooked arm and arm with her younger sister and Orion, beaming the entire time. There hasn’t been much weirdness as of late, so that's good, and though she felt bad about lying to her sister about the existence of superhumans, she's just glad her sister hasn’t manifested any more accidents as of late. Memories have been wiped, and for all intents and purposes, things have been normal between the two of them…even though she's skipped class to make sure that her sister isn’t doing anything by herself. Always the overprotective big sister she is indeed.

"And I don’t remember..it's the same place where we saw a show, right Orion?" she asks while looking up to the much taller man.

A normal evening in Times Square is an oxymoron. Nothing is ever normal in Times Square. However, Cass is part of that hustle and bustle, fighting the crowd and going in obviously what must be the wrong direction for the flow of people. "Sorry! Sorry! Look, if you would stop being mean, I would just go around you and this would be no problem," she tells the people she's trying oh so hard not to run into. "God, I hate Times Square." Too many tourists. And not enough of the stores or restaurants that she would actually want to visit. "At least it's bright enough."

In the midst of the hustle and the bustle, there's a falafel stand doing brisk business. William steps up to place his order, chatting with the man running it in what sounds like it might be Arabic. He steps away after money is exchanged with his food. The man has lived in the city under a year, and apparently he's still enjoying the crowds from the smile on his face.

To be honest, Orion Granger doesn't mind the third wheel. There's something refreshing about adding someone else to the hanging out mix, at times inconvenient, but refreshing overall. Orion blinks a few times, jerking his head out of a reverie and toward Claudine.

"I'm sorry. What was the question?"

Likewise, Lachlan has a very real hatred for Times Square and its tourists, and he also definitely does not handle shoving through crowds as politely nor as easily as the woman he attempts to walk beside. A grunt here, a shoulder there, a growled remark about watching where one is going — the Scotsman is not enjoying this walk at all. It's fortunate Bonnie was left at home, as she'd likely be stepped all over. "The bloody hell're we goin'?" he asks of Cass and, having been bumped once too many times, he cocks back his head, cups his hands around his mouth, and bellows, "GET OUT O' THE BLOODY WAY."

There's a guitar shop in Times Square, this is the destination of Jane Forrest as she makes her way across through the crowds. Clad, as is customary for her, in tank top with a rock band emblem (ZZ Top today), dark jeans and heeled boots, she picks her way through the throngs. Shoulders support guitar case and backpack, as if they wouldn't be when she's in other than lawyer garb. It's a few new picks and some strings she's after. Not to mention having her eye on the latest trends in amplification.

She steps out of one of the theaters in Time Square, Elena shuffling through brochures for Phantom of the Opera, as well as the schedules for the next week. Her father might need it, and she was in the area, so might as well, right? The young woman today was dressed in jeans, boots, and a t-shirt with a black, fitted jacket pulled over. She's even got a black cap on, walking as she looks at the pages. When she hears a familiar, Scottish accent yell at the crowd however, the teenager looks up. Her expression brightens. "Lachlan! Cass!" she calls out, and waits for traffic to ebb so she could cross the street to their direction.

"Ooooh! How late are karaoke bars open here, 'Dine? We could go! After we eat!" Marilou really needed this evening. She hasn't said it, but the constant scrutiny, casual though it may seem, from Claudine and Orion has been kind of weirding her out. Making a night of it, hanging out with them, makes it seem more normal. 'Dine's always been protective, but /jeez/. The younger Filipina teen rolls her eyes at Orion. "Um, I SAID, what's the place we're going to again?" She's… a sassy little teenager.

Someone in the throng of people takes offence to being yelled at by an angry Scotsman. Go figure, right? Heading, of course, in the opposite direction as Cass and Lachlan - /with/ the flow - is a scruffy young man in a pair of too-tight black skinny jeans and a punk rock leather jacket, all studs and skulls. He's only a few bodies away from them and on a collision course. "How 'bout you shut your piehole!"

"Of course we'll go karaoke-ing! And dont worry bout it, he wasnt paying attention to me, 'Lou, but it's okay. And geesh at the sass! No wonder mom's starting to complain about you now.." she says teasingly.

With that said a wry grin curls onto her lips as she lets out a hearty chuckle before giving Orion a soft little elbow in the stomach. Well, she has to make sure he isn’t zoning out. That's not good afterall. "But, what I asked, was that I think the place that we're going now is where we saw the Phantom of the Opera before.." In the end, Claudine raises her brows towards him for either a confirmation or a denial of what she just said. Oh well.

"There's this tavern down a couple blocks I want to go to. It's on a side street." Meaning away from the crush of people. Cass blinks when Lachlan starts yelling and quickly reaches out to grab him by the elbow and pull him more to the side. "I, uh, don't do that, Lach. We're almost there. Promise." Elena's call, even if it's through a crowded street makes the store owner's ears perk. It's her name, after all, and she searches through the crowd until she spots the latina. "Elena!" she gives a wave, before getting distracted by someone trying to pick a fight. "Hey, and why don't you mind your own business. You're getting a real New York Experience. Go buy an 'I heart New York' shirt and stop being rude."

"Well I was going to take you to the infamous Starlight Diner, but if you're going to get all sassy about it, maybe I'll just lead the way over to the much less fun Benny Hannah's."

And yes, Orion knows that's not how it's spelled, but his Pennsylvania accent sneaks out and slaughters the name. Granger's tone is entirely teasing of course and he shows it by smiling broadly, squeezing Claudine's arm gently with his own.

"Yes, yes. Starlight Diner. That's where we went that time. I think it's an absolute must for any New York visitor… Hell for any New Yorker. Real diner fare, plus the waitstaff sing."

You'll note that neither of the women with Orion have even noticed that he's wearing a nice suit that is not his nearly standard Company uniform. No overcoat in sight… And the only white thing about his ensemble is his skin. Not a very good way to enforce good fashion choices in a gentleman.

But Lachlan doesn't really pick up on Elena's presence, because there's someone trying to pick a fight, and male posturing demands that he oblige. He sizes up the punk with narrowed eyes, then sneers. "S'a matter? Yer pants squeezin' yer balls too tigh' 'r somethin'? Sod off." Almost to the tavern or not, Lachlan would like to get there much faster.

William hears the start of the commotion, as he was ambling towards it anyway. The man makes his way closer to what looks like it might spiral down into a fight. He's still eating as he does so. No sense in wasting the falafel.

Her guitar store is near the theatre district, bringing her into the path of those approaching it. While walking and thinking of the items she's after, Jane seems not to be paying so much attention to the people around her. Nothing is apparently heard of Elena calling out and Cass answering, nor of Lachlan having arguments with anyone. No, she's potentially soon to collide with either Elena or Cass, as her eyes lift and study the Phantom of the Opera marquees. The woman singing Christine Daae now is someone she recently met.

"Hi, Cass," Elena says, with a small smile. After a bit of shower and some dinner, she looks pretty chipper considering everything else. She slides her hands in her pockets. "New York really is small, what are you both doing around here? You guys headed to the movies or something?" She pauses for a moment when she sees Lachlan…..about to get in a fight with some New York street punk, and then Cass giving her two cents. She just rolls her eyes. New Yorkers. Gotta love 'em. She shakes her head a touch and is busily frowning at the punk who just told Lachlan to shut up. Jeysis, what's with all the hostility? It was such a nice evening out.

Marilou only giggles. Sass, schmass! "Hey Orion, do you sing?" Now she's just teasing him. This is what a couple of weeks around Orion does: turns him into less of a big, imposing meathead and into someone with a personality that can be picked on for the sole reason of being her sister's boyfriend. "Nooo, Starlight Diner. It sounds cool. H-hey!" One of the dark-haired teenagers points, suddenly, into the crowd. "I think there's gonna be a fight."

The girl's right. The punk kid has a similar temper to Lachlan's, meaning this can only end badly for /someone/, and he's cocky enough to believe it won't be /him/. "Your guy's the one who needs a real New York Experience, baby," he hisses at Cass. No manners to the ladies! His idea of a New York Experience means, apparently, violence — first up, shoving a random businessman out of his way and ploughing toward Lachlan. The closer he gets, the more obvious it becomes that he's not just a bastard, he's been drinking.

Claudine cant help but snicker at the question, as well, she's rather curious to find out the answer as well. "If you can make him sing, I really..well, let's just say I'll owe you big time.." she says with a coy wink to her younger sister. And Orion isn’t a meathead..he's just a boy scout. A well dressed boyscout. See, she noticed! She just didn’t feel the need to mention it, since the squeezy hugs should be enough. Hopefully.

"Starlight diner is really good, especially their.." and it's then mentioned that there might be a fight and she shakes her head. «Don’t worry about them. Just a bunch of idiots who need a good castrating so they dont go around trying to show who's penis is bigger..» Of course, this last bit is said in Tagalog, using the words buto and gago, so that way Orion doesn’t get sympathetic pains from mentions of castration.

Everyone else in Times Square is forgotten for the moment. All she's trying to do is get Lachlan out of the middle of this crowded place without pummeling or getting pummeled. "Lachlan, come on. Let's go. We're close to the tavern." Her temper is totally forgotten now that she realizes this guy actually wants to do something. She looks to Elena for some help, answers for what they're doing in Times Square put on the back burner for now. The punk gets a frown and steely look and she steps right in front of Lahclan in order to dissuade more violence. "Look, no one wants a fight. I'm sorry for snapping at you. Let's just forget about it, okay?"

William takes off towards the fight, well, as fast as he can through the last of the crowd. The man's intention is to get between them, but with all the people on the sidewalk, it's not all that likely he's going to get there fast enough for that. A bit of lettuce is lost from the falafel, an early casualty of the fight. Cass gets there first, but William's still on his way. There's still the drunk punk after all.

"I can sing."

He can too. So long as you don't mind him missing every note and that weird hissy thing his voice does when it accidentally gets hung on a note. The tall man smiles to Marilou and starts to say something to the effect of 'But I don't plan on doing any singing' when she points out a fight. Granger's head swivels toward Lachlan and Punkling and appraises the situation in a moment or two. Claudine can feel him hesitate a half-step before he quickly starts up again, trying to maintain the image of the Boy Scout paper salesman.

"Street fights aren't exactly known for being UFC faire."

There's some internal bristling when the punk calls Cass 'baby'. /Nobody/ calls Cass 'baby' except for Lachlan, thankyouverymuch. The Scotsman is just about to move forward to stuff those words right back down the bastard's throat when Baby steps into the middle of it, blocking his path. William is glanced at very briefly, but only long enough to determine that the teacher isn't attempting to join in on the brawling. Lachlan, meanwhile, goes silent, biting his tongue to avoid exacerbating the situation.

Fight? Jane sees no developing fight, nor does she see Cass or Elena still, despite being just feet from colliding with one or the other. But she doesn't. Still looking at the Phantom marquees, she starts to softly sing a few lines from one of the songs Christine has in the musical. Yeah, she's a rocker, but she can occasionally cross genres! People who know her may pick out the familiar voice so close by, until it's silenced. Three or four steps short of crashing into a friend, Jane is instead knocked over by the punk-shoved businessman and sent sprawling. She lands on her backside, the backpack and guitar case hitting concrete with a hollow sound that might indicate damage to the instrument and mini-amp inside. "What the…" She scowls. "Hey! I was walking here!"

"C'mon, Lachlan, Cass is right," Elena says, when Cass gives her a silent look. She didn't have to, she'll back Cass up anyway even if she didn't receive it. When the Scotsman moves forward, and the bookstore owner steps in the way, the latina moves to the side of the bigger Scotsman, and she lays a hand on his arm to try and tug him lightly to the direction of….she would like to say the Tavern, but she doesn't know where it is, and so will settle to just 'Away.' "Besides, it's a nice night, and you two look like you're out on a date. Don't let someone spoil it," she tells him. Using her powers in a crowded area was utterly out of the question. Plus Lachlan is -heavy-. It won't be much of a date if she had to help Cass drag a half-limp Scotsman around the heart of the city.

Marilou breaks out into a laugh, her eyes widening at Claudine after her sister speaks in Tagalog. Still, she peers through the crowd toward the punk kid, Scottish dude, and his cohorts. Thoughts of Orion singing are put aside for the time being (but will /definitely/ be brought up later, if she has anything to say about it). She watches Jane go tumbling in the domino effect before squinting at what's about to be violence. "Yeah but…"

The punk kid doesn't have anything more to say. Nope. He looks away, scrunching up his face, sniffing, maybe thinking about backing off after all. Maybe they're not worth it. Then? Without notice, he does two things: one, he tries to shove Cass aside. Two, he tries to slug Lachlan in the face, even if step one doesn't work. He's sloppy, but brazen and illogically determined (oh, booze…) regardless whether Lachlan listens to Cass and Elena or not.

A light breeze stirs up garbage on the street around the crowd's feet, there and gone.

"You..sing?!?"

That one definitely surprised Claudine, and while her sister doesn’t mention it for now, she's completely caught up and intrigued in that little fact. The fight..well, those happen all the time, so she could care less what's going on. "You definitely have to sing later.." she tells him with a wry grin before looking back over to her sister. "Come on..let those two fight. It's no big deal.."

It seems like Lachlan is listening, as is the punk guy. So, Cass turns away from him and starts to pull him in the direction that they were going before. That's, though, when she gets pushed by the punk in his attempt to get to Lachlan. She's got a pretty firm footing on the ground for once, so she doesn't move very far. Stunned, she wheels around and tries to keep her place in an attempt and keep this from escalating any further. "/Hey/!" she frowns at the punk. "Stop it!"

Orion arches a brow and looks at Claudine. It's an expression of 'What do you think?' mixed, faintly, with 'Is she going to press this issue?'. He keeps his faint displeasure with Marilou wanting to intervene under wraps. It's actually the easiest thing he could possibly do for the moment. Orion can feel his altruism tickling at the back of his mind, trying to take him toward that fight and end it.

All the same, Orion shouldn't. He really shouldn't interfere. He has a job and a duty to carry out that is ahead of mopping up street crime. Granger clenches his teeth and looks toward Marilou, gritting them for a few moments before he manages to speak.

"Would it make you feel better, Marilou, if I went and tried to stop this from escalating?"

The punk may get a shot at Lachlan before William gets to him, but it's only one for now at least. The falafel is dropped to the ground the punk swings. William takes advantage of that movement to grab the man's arm before he can do so again, twisting it around behind the punk's back as he grabs for the other arm. It rather looks like he knows what he's doing, not looking like the mild mannered teacher at the moment. "Really not a smart move to make out in the streets. Never know who you'll end up picking a fight with." He says calmly into the drunk's ear.

There are two things in life Lachlan doesn't tolerate: people being violent toward Cass, and people hitting him. The punk just managed to do /both/ in the space of a few seconds, and now? Now he's going to die. Being a bit distracted by Elena and being tugged away from the fight by Cass, he manages to glimpse the fallen Jane just moments before Cass is shoved a little harder into him. The Scotsman looks up just in time to see the fist coming at him, but he doesn't have the reflexes to effectively dodge. The fist glances off his jaw, and that causes Lachlan to snap. Even as William snags the drunk punk, the Scotsman snarls out a sharp "/fucker/!" and shoulders forward to throw a hard, fast, and low punch straight for the guy's gut. Not even Cass is going to save the man now.

Picking herself up off the street and brushing at her clothing a bit, Jane seems fairly unharmed by her being knocked over. She glares at the businessman who caused it, then sets about collecting her gear. In doing this, her eyes fall on the area of the fight just after William grabs and restrains the attacking punk. A quiet study brings in more details. Cass? Elena? Lachlan? And Lachlan just punched the punk while William held him up. Thought One: Call out and hopefully get her friends to move away from any possible stray punches or weapons that might come out. "Cass! Elena! Over here. C'mon!" Thought Two: Study to see if there might be glass items that could turn into weapons.

Well this looks like Lachlan's got this handled. Elena takes a step back when the Scotsman plows into the drunken punk and Cass is shoved. "Cass!" she yelps, moving over so she could assist the bookstore owner and helping pick her up if she's fallen. When Jane calls for her, she looks at her and nods, but doesn't approach the musician. She's with Cass, and she'll try to help her up and move her away if possible. There were too many people - too many. And quite frankly that punk deserves everything he's got coming.

"What, you mean jump in there?" Marilou looks at Orion like he's lost his mind. "Should someone like call the cops? Do you - ohmygod! That guy was totally just punched in the face!" she shrieks. "I don't know!" It looks like she's about to agree to get the heck out of here and carry on to dinner, linking her arm tighter with Claudine's, but she keeps stealing glances back at the scuffle. Her eyes widen as it gets more colourful over there.

And every time she looks, the breeze picks up.

"What the hell, man! Are you a cop?!" Not that it matters, evidently, since the drunk punk's next move it to try to kick a boot heel at William's shin. He's far too uncoordinated to avoid getting his arms grabbed, though.

The wind is becoming more and more noticeable: tossed away flyers skip across the sidewalk, swirling up into the air. Moments after Lachlan punches the drunken brawler in the gut, eliciting a harsh grunt and as much doubling over as one can do while one's arms are held behind his back, an audible gust of wind eddies around their feet: Lachlan's, the punk's, William's. It's getting more violent, just like they are.

Oh great. With the wind starting to get a bit stronger, Claudine looks over to Orion with a bit of a worried look on her face as she chews on her bottom lip for a few moments, trying to figure something out. "Lou.." she says with hushed words, before switching to a whispered Tagalog. «Calm down..we dont need any attention..» Whatever could she mean by that?

It's then that she feigns feeling sick while brushing her free hand against her forehead while squeezing on her sister's arm tightly, as to not let go. "I..I'm not feeling too good, think we can go home early or something?" She looks fine, so hopefully Orion gets that it's just a way to get Marilou somewhere..else.

Stumbling backwards when Lachlan flies forward to attack, Cass does fall to the ground. It's not a hard fall, but she remains where she is for a moment. Jane calling out her name gets her attention, but she shakes her head at her. She's not going to run out of the way and be that girl who just yells on the sidelines. When Elena reaches out, she takes the girl's hand and hauls herself to her feet. The gust of wind cause her to look around and all she notices that it's only really happening around the fight. It's…just like that day on the harbor. Wind out of nowhere. At least there's no harbor to get tossed into this time, but she's got to get Lachlan to stop fighting. That's the main problem in her head right now. Not about to go barreling into a fight, she frowns and quickly sits back onto the ground again and grabs a hold of her leg, giving Elena a 'play along' look. "Ow! Owowow. Lach. Help, I think I hurt something!" Knowing his over-protective nature, hopefully it will get him to stop.

William just lets out a grunt as the punk's kick connects. He might have been able to dodge it, but why bother? It'll only bruise. He waits until Lachlan gets his shot in then physically yanks the punk around, relying on strength to move him away from Lachlan. "There. You've each had a shot. Good enough." He states, tone still calm, with a quick look down at his feet, feeling the breeze on his jeans. Huh.

Wind. Odd. Jane notices this, and like Cass compares it mentally to the day at the harbor, she having been one of the folks working to get people out and onto the pier with her makeshift rope. She also recalls describing it to her very electric roommate and it being suggested that could be an anomalistic ability. Her friends, however, aren't moving toward her for safety against stray punches or possible weapons, so she begins moving toward them. It's not in her nature to go the other way while they're still present. As she moves, however, her eyes are scanning for other people who were around that day at the harbor. Common elements, basically.

Oh hell. Wind. The tall man squints into the wind for a few moments and looks to Claudine. Oh how Orion longs to just quickly stop the fight and go back to the dinner part of the evening. This wasn't supposed to happen. This shouldn't have happened.

Orders, however, are orders. Granger clenches one hand and for a half-second considers metalizing his fingers enough to force him to act on something other than pure altruism. He quickly reconsiders and reconciles. If things get out of hand here, it would be worse than those assholes throwing punches.

"It's time for us to go. I think that group of ladies is calling the cops right now."

Orion swings himself around behind Claudine and Marilou. He wraps an arm across their shoulders and attempts to lead them off in the direction of, say, Not Fighting. Who's up for a ride on the subway, huh?

There are too many factors for Lachlan to notice the wind, and he's about to go in for a second attack on the punk when William pulls the guy out of reach. This in and of itself would not usually be enough to stop the Scotsman, but this combined with Cass' cry is sufficient. With his girlfriend potentially injured (and probably through his own actions), Lachlan is happy enough to simply leave the fight with one last verbal jab: "Ye pull shit like tha' again, ye'll be wearin' yer balls 'round yer eyes." And then he turns and muscles back to Cass, in front of whom he drops to one knee and reaches out to gently enfold the apparently injured leg in his hands. "'M sorry, Cassie. Ye a'righ'? Can ye walk?" Astonishing how fast he can go from 'rawr angry!' to 'ohshit I'm sorry!'.

The wind suddenly kicked up. As the trio turns away and heads for Jane, Elena is focused on Cass. While she thinks the weather is acting a little weird, she has other, pressing concerns at the moment. She nods, and then makes a big show of supporting Cass as she helps her up. "Lachlan, it looks pretty bad!" she calls out, giving her 'expert opinion' on the subject as she braces one foot securely on the concrete to hold Cass up. And when Lachlan approaches them, she carefully hands the bookstore owner to Lachlan. Well, it looks like it worked - but Cass will have to explain later why her ankle isn't swelling up like it should. Then again, maybe the Scotsman won't notice.

"«I'm fine! Yeah, let's go,»" Marilou insists, a bit shakily - while the little scuffle nearby didn't upset her /that/ much, it was enough to stir up more than she liked, and that, in turn, is making her all the more nervous. She's trying to calm herself, she is. "Ahh! Are you okay, 'Dine?" As Orion tries to lead them off, Marilou doesn't protest, but she brings her hands to either side of her head and clutches at her hair. Once it starts… "G-guys… I… h-help me!" Yeah, they're trying, Marilou. "'Dine!" Then in swift, frantic Tagalog, "«It's me, I can feel it, I can't make it go away! I-it's gonna…!" She whirls around, clambering to see past the tall form of Orion, clenching her eyes shut, trying to make it stop—

Wind rages around the punk kid's legs and William's as well with increasing force. The whole area is experiencing more than just a light breeze now; it's enough to blow off hats and ruffle jackets. For the punk kid, who is struggling in William's grip and shouting illegibly at Lachlan, it's more than that. A forceful burst of wind shoves him off his feet… and into the air while his captor is still locked onto him.

It's a miniature cyclone in Times Square.

….

Oh snap. Shit hit the fan. Or in this case, that fan is her younger sister. Her eyes widen as she looks down at her younger sister curled up in a ball while staring in awe at a few moments of the elemental abilities that her family possesses. No wonder the Company is now testing her older brothers for similar abilities.

It's then that she snaps back to her senses and she runs her fingers through Marilou's hair. «Lou, it's okay. I know it's you. Just take deep calming breathes and think of a happy place or happy times, okay? Think /HAPPY/ thoughts..» That always helped her with her own abilities, and she looks over to Orion. "We need to take her somewhere..now.." before looks back to Lou. "Lou..Orion's going to carry you, kay?" And with that, she pulls out her Company cellphone to notify other agents that might be around. Memories may have to be wiped..or something..

Glad that her little ruse worked and kept Lachlan out of fighting more, Cass bites back the urge to let him know she's faking right now. That could mean he's willing to go right back into fighting mode again. "No, yeah, I think I'll be okay." She pretends to wince when he takes her leg in his hands, but then, she's looking past him to where there's a miniature cyclone starting to drag up the punk. Though she has yet to see the painting depicting this, she's heard about it. "Oh my God." Forgetting her 'injury', she scrambles to her feet, but doesn't move anywhere else yet. "Elena. Elena." Elena knows what this means. Whipping her head around, she tries to see who or what may be causing this. If this is the miniature version of what Hiro told her about, there is a cause.

William keeps a hold of the punk kid, though he lets out a soft stream of curses as the wind picks up enough to pull the kid off the ground. He's still got a good grip on the kid, but his grip on the ground is getting to be not so good. He's not airborne yet, but much more wind and he'll be flying, too. The smart thing to do would be to let go and concentrate on himself, but he's too altruistic for that. No, he's the reason the punk was still to be caught upin the torrent, and he'll stay with the drunk. He knows several languages, so it gives him a wide variety of ways to express his feelings on this little tornado.

Her cap is jerked off from her head as the cyclone hits Time Square. Elena is staring at the goings on, and she doesn't even bother to retrieve it from the air as dark eyes fix on the scene wide. She can….barely process what she's seeing. "I know," she whispers to Cass softly. Even with Cass not telling her what's on her mind, she gets it. She looks over at Cass, and starts looking through the crowds as well. Like her bookstore owner friend, Elena has not seen the painting depicting this….but she's heard about it. She's been told. So now she's trying to search out the source.

Granger moves swiftly as the wind whips up into a full-fledged, although blessedly miniature, cyclone in Times Square. The tall man waits for Marilou to hit the ground and Claudine to produce her cellphone. While she is on the cellphone, Claudine is liable to be even more distracted than she already is. That is an opportunity for Orion.

He drops into a crouch behind the pained and panicking younger Salonga and wraps his arms semi-gingerly around her. As Orion stands up, he locks his arms into a subtle sleeper hold. If one isn't looking closely, it might look like a perfectly normal, if unorthodox attempt at assistance. Look closer and it's obvious that he is pulling a Walker, Texas Ranger and immobilizing Marilou.

And by 'immobilizing' we of course mean choking into unconsciousness. Unconsciousness means loss of cyclone, doesn't it?

W-wait, hey. Cass was in pain, like, five seconds ago. Now she's hopping around like a Goddamn kangaroo! When the wind really starts to pick up and whips his clothing around him, Lachlan also gets to his feet, now very much distracted by the sight of William and the punk being hauled up into the air. He can only stare in awe, then it starts to click. Wasn't there a whole thing about a tornado in Times Square? He's no expert, but this is starting to look like a tornado. "Jesus." He casts around for Jane as he turns back toward Elena and Cass, arms spread as though to herd them off and away. "C'mon, we've gotta get outta here!" he calls over the wind. "Jane, c'mon!"

Headed across toward her friends, with the Filipinas and Orion headed toward her as the wind becomes a cyclone and the punk goes airborne, with William maybe soon to follow that upward mobility, Jane stops in her tracks and stands back, not so much wanting to cross the path of it. She can see her friends are not affected by it, no need to rush and help them, at least not yet, when… One of the Filipinas is being put in a sleeper hold by the man with them and the other one is on the phone? Then Lachlan is calling out to her, and she's not wasting any time sticking around anymore. No, she'll talk this over with her friends, and quite possibly speak with her roommate too. "I'm coming!" Quick as she can run toward them with the gear she's carrying, she does exactly what she says.

Dark eyes shift left, and right, Elena not realizing that she's taking a step -towards- the hot zone and not back from it. She's still looking, searching. Her hair is blowing around her face and it feels cold…..and then the gold-flecked gaze lands on the trio. She squints a little bit at the scene in front of her, pausing as she watches the big guy with the two Filipinas. There was something -weird- going on there…

Lachlan's cry causes her to snap out of it. She narrows her eyes a bit, and while she wants to know more, she also knows that the Scotsman was right. She turns around, and hurries, rejoining her crew. "C'mon," she tells them quietly, and she quickens her pace away from Times Square. Her eyes land on William as he hangs onto the punk, but she doesn't address him. All she knows is that, for once, Lachlan is being the Voice of Reason and she's not about to let this one slide.

The younger Filipina girl just nods, trying to say something under her breath but only managing a mousy whimper as she watches the young man spiral into the sky.

Someone's gotta feel sorry for the punk kid, bless his wretched heart and drunken brawling - and that someone is William, it would seem. The young man in the leather jacket is caught in the cyclone that is rapidly sucking stray papers and other sundry trash (punk kid included) into its midst several feet in the air, as far as the length of William's arm. The teacher himself is going to get caught in the little tornado any second now, and then what? How far out of control could this get tonight?

No one will ever know. One thing's for certain: today isn't the day a tornado ravages Manhattan. The cyclone weakens, diminishing into a simple gust of strong wind that spirals a little and swirls into nothingness. The scraggly young man falls to the pavement at William's feet, face-first, and with no semblance of grace.

… Much like Marilou, who is none the wiser when Orion drains the wakefulness from her body with his sleeperhold. Claudine said he was going to carry her! She was all about the damsel-ing away. Now, almost simultaneous with the little cyclone's death, the girl slumps.

Good thing Claudine doesn’t know what Orion exactly did, and so when her sister becomes unconscious, she just thinks it's due to the powers overwhelming her. However, all the stress that built up, and the worry over her sister has caused another 'natural' disaster of sorts. Today seems to be a good day for the Salongas to have power malfunctions, and with their elemental natures, well, it gets ugly.

Things start shaking and rumbling within the few city blocks, and it's then that she realizes it's because of her own doing. "Subway..not a good idea.." she says with a sheepish look towards Orion while chewing on her bottom lip. It's then that she grabs his hand and gives it a gentle squeeze as she closes her eyes and concentrates to try to make it stop. From tornado to earthquake. That's how the Salongas roll. Just don’t sleeper hold this one..

Marilou passes out in his arms; Orion ticks off hundreths of a second in his mind, eye shifting toward Claudine to watch her for a few moments while he ticks off the fractions of an instant before she remains blacked out for a few minutes and she stays blacked out for around an hour. Granger releases the hold in the same moment as he hits the proper count.

Orion blinks as he feels the earth moving and, more importantly, Claudine's hand on his own. The tall man grips the Filipina's hand tenderly and squeezes it in as reassuring a manner as he can possibly manage. That is slightly difficult with another Salona in his arms and, you know, having just knocked out Claudine's little sister on the Q.T. (Except for Jane, who will inevitably make things horrible for Orion by virtue of her arcane knowledge.)

"Shhh… Relax. Everything's under control, Claudine. Breathe in… Breathe out."

It's a big crowd and while she notices the Salongas and Orion in the crowd, Cass doesn't exactly pick them out as people she knows. That is until the ground starts to shake. Oddly familiar, that. For a moment, she catches Claudine in the crowd, but then she's being herded off by Lachlan and Elena and Jane and she loses the Filipina again. "Wait. Dammit! I saw her!" Or saw someone. But, she's lost again and she allows herself to start being dragged away. "I saw that girl. From the store." She elaborates without saying too much in a crowd. "I swear I did."

William drops the punk kid as the wind stops just before he's airborne as well. He leans over the kid to whisper in his ear. "Next time you decide to be stupid and drunk, remember that this was only one example of all the reasons you shouldn't pick silly fights." He straightens up just in time for the earth to start shaking. "And I'm not even the one who's been drinking." He says with a sigh as he widens his stance for better balance. "All I wanted was supper."

When Cass says what she does, Elena whips around again, her eyes locking into the trio yet again…and then the earth shakes all around them. She grabs onto something, a mailbox, to keep her up. What Cass says, and Drake's description, and the power. It fits. It's one of them. One of the trio. One of those two asian girls is terrakinetic - but since she's never met Claudine, she doesn't pick her out. As for the one who's caused the wind? Toss up between the other girl and Orion. But it's hard to determine which girl is which, as she's never met the one Cass knows about. She only has a name. She doesn't have a face.

"Either way we're in a hot zone. We have to go, and we have to go -now-," she whispers to the rest of her crew. When the tremors stop, she keeps walking, and with a smooth movement, she pulls her jacket hood over her head and takes advantage of the frightened crowd. But she sticks close to Lachlan, Cass, and Jane.

When it's apparent that Cass and Elena are moving away, Lachlan half-turns and reaches out an arm to Jane to also usher her into the small gaggle of women he's got going on. The wind's stopped, but the earth's moving, and that doesn't sit well with him at all. Right now, he doesn't care /who/ is doing it; he cares about /getting out of there/. When Cass mentions seeing the girl in the shop, that only spurs him even more to get them the hell out. "Doesna matter," he snaps. "/Move/!" She'd said Claudine was with the Company; recent scares and events make him not want to stick around when there's some Company hanging nearby.

It's a struggle for her to make it ahead to where her friends are, Jane's no longer running so she can step carefully and keep her footing, using whatever supports are in reach and Lachlan's reaching arm, but she does eventually make it over there. No attention is paid to the other Filipina and Orion as he speaks with the still conscious and earthshaking Salonga. She just wants to get out of the area and not have attention on herself. Her steps quicken only when and if the earth settles.

The punk kid? He scrambles to his feet after William whispers in his ear. His face is battered by the pavement, his mouth is a bloody mess for the same reason, and he's clutching his stomach. Karma's a bitch. "Screw you!" No 'thank you for not letting me fly into the sky to my inevitable doom' from this one. He runs off down the rumbling sidewalk.

It takes a bit of time, but soon things go back to normal as she regains control of her abilities and looks over to Orion sheepishly. She curses a little under her breath while giving his hand another gentle squeeze. "Sorry about that.." she whispers and then she motions towards a cab and hails it on over. She'll pay for this one. "Let's go.."

Having already seen who she feels like she needs to see, Cass allows herself to be herded off by Lachlan. She grabs a hold of him to keep herself from tumbling over onto the shaking ground for as long as it takes to get away from the earthquake. Looks like there's a lot to discuss again.

There is. Elena follows, pulling out her cherry red phone and sending out a quick text. With the message fired off, she slips it back into her pocket and keeps walking. She doesn't look back this time.

William shakes his head. "Kids today are just not grateful." He notes, rather calm for someone who was in a mini-tornado. Now that it's over, he's acting as if he's unflappable again. He eyes the mess of his falafel on the ground and shakes his arms out. "Well, maybe I'll try a hot dog this time." He mutters as he heads to find another vendor.

Orion nods to Claudine and moves along with her, carrying Marilou as best he can. This mostly involves using two arms to support her as if he were carrying the world's largest infant while one hand is swallowed up by Claudine's hand. When they get to the taxi, Orion puzzles over how to get Marilou in without breaking her head open on the taxi due to the awkward positioning.

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