A Fun Night on the Town (Gregory)

[Kane Woonren]

Kane was sitting at the bar of a sports bar, not really drinking, but that wasn't why he was here for the moment. He didn't feel like going to the grocery store to get food and he didn't feel like sitting in his tiny apartment. It was cold and rainy outside, so he didn't want to be outside and fly. So, the 7'4 meta-human was sitting on a bar stool, his wings and tail cramped up inside his body. Still, it was better than sitting cold and cramped in his tiny apartment. He would would rather keep them in all day then spend more time in there than he had to. It was Friday, and he again didn't have any plans for the weekend. Sometimes he missed New York.

Not that he was particularly comfortable in New York by any means. He had to keep his wings and tail cramped up inside much more often, and he didn't get to fly very often. He got stared at by more people for being as tall as he was, and the polite people were few and far between. His apartment there had been even smaller and had cost at least 3 times as much, but it was his first on his own. He didn't spend much time there anyway, going back and forth between jobs and cooking classes. He would stop off for sleep or a nap, but would often get too claustrophobic to sleep and ended up on the roof.

Still, New York had some things going for it, to him. If he didn't feel like cooking, which wasn't often, there was always a place open. He could have any kind of food he wanted, no matter what time of day it was. Although he was a little bit suspicious of any Chinese place that stayed open until 4 in the morning. Didn't stop him from making the mistake of eating there once or twice. And even when he didn't have classes, there was always something that he could do somewhere out there. Oh well... hopefully the weather would clear up, and he could go out to the lake or... something.

He glanced up at the TV as the bartender changed the channel, seeing that it was switching over to A&E. He bit his tongue, praying that it wasn't on tonight. But they always played the same things over and over again on these networks, so why did he have to even pray? He knew it was going to be on.... "Tonight on True Evil, we look into the case of the Chaos Killer, the man who stalked the streets of New York for...." Kane stopped listening and groaned, hanging his head a little. The bar had gotten kind of full, and he wasn't about to get all the looks that came with looking identical to a convicted serial killer.

"Can you put it back please?" he said, his voice half begging as he looked at the bartender. "I really don't think you should have that on in a sports bar..." he said, praying once again.

"If you have a problem with it you can go get a table. There's not a lot on tonight," the bartender responded. Well, that was rude. Kane sighed a little, nodding and moving reluctantly away from the bar. He picked up one of the little waiting devices, sitting on a cushion looking away from the bar. Another fun night on the town....

[Gregory Strickland]

Greg wasn’t really sure why he found himself in a sports bar that evening. It wasn’t like there was anywhere else to be though really, and the other bars were getting old. He simply wanted to try something new, even though the general yelling and fighting that happened at these types of places didn’t appeal to him much, the mixing up of scenery was bound to do him some good. Besides, as long as there was plenty of alcohol to be had, he wasn’t worried much about the ill company.

There was nothing special at all about this weekend. In fact, the days were beginning to run into themselves and Greg found himself no farther from his misery than the day he arrived here. The people were good to him, and that was a comfort. His best friends were here, but they surely had better things to do than babysit him constantly. It was bad enough to be living in Josh’s house, never mind pestering him and Sean all the time to go out. They had jobs to keep, they had lives. His had stopped the day Nate was murdered.

It’s here we find the man gripping his third tall glass of coke and rye, pursing his lips together unpleasantly. There was a point that time would heal him, but this didn’t seem to be in the near future. No, he had things to do, people to accuse, and then sue. Yep, his existence was about to get more complicated, but hopefully redemption would be at the end of it all. His fight for justice was all he had left now, save for the many picture of he and Nathan. He didn’t think he could ever get rid of those. It was hard to believe he had been here since October, but at least nothing reminded him of the life he lost.

Speaking of tall glasses, Greg was sitting next to a fairly tall man, but hadn’t paid him much attention. He was in a sour mood, far from his usual friendly one. “I was watching that!” He said as soon as the channel was changed, before the other man spoke at all. Wasn’t this supposed to be a sports bar? The blonde glanced over to his company, pleading with the bartender. For such a big guy, he was pretty docile. He headed to the waiting area as he was told and it was at about that time Greg was pointing at the Bar tender.

“That’s a terrible way to get repeat customers,” he said. The bartender sneered at him. “If there’s a problem, you can join him.” Greg grinned a bit, stirring his drink. There wouldn’t be a tip for this bloke if he had anything to say about it. And he did, since it was America. “Most people come to a Sports Bar to watch sports, not a stupid TV series that has damn reruns all the time, honestly...” Greg would have continued, but the program had caught his eyes only because the man smiling on screen reminded him of someone.

Frowning, Greg ignored whatever the bar keep was saying and slid off his stool. The world was only a little spiny at this point. “That guy needs new programming,” he said to the tall glass, sitting across from him. The blonde sighed, picked up one of the electronic table waits, and grinned, wishing he had been the one to invent these glorified beepers. “Terrible channel really, no one wants to watch a depressing show about murders when they’re out with friends,” he said, unable to remember why he approached this man to begin with.

[Kane Woonren]

Kane looked around for a moment, tapping his pager against his leg. He was getting a little nervous at this point, he'd only had two sodas but his usual level of anxiety that came from being in... certain places was being amplified by the sugar. The restaurant was crowded, which wasn't something he particularly liked. He liked wide open spaces, places where he could spread his wings. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, rolling up his sleeve a little and gently scratching his arm. When he rolled up the sleeve, he revealed a long string of scars caused by... well, mostly not being careful with his claws when he was younger. Fortunately, he was a lot more skilled with his claws now. He only cut himself occasionally instead of... well, always.

Even though he wasn't able to actually able to either see or hear the TV from where he was sitting, it was still playing in his head. He'd only ever seen it one time, but other people liked to talk to him about it. The ones that didn't mistake him for the murderer knew his name from when they were talking about his being taken into custody. He had declined to do an actual interview for the show, mainly because he was sure they'd try to talk him into being John in the reenactments. More reasons for people to stare at him, more reasons for people to try and have awkward conversations with him. "Aren't you supposed to be in jail?" "Oh, you're that guy who's the brother of a serial killer!" "Why did you kill those people?"

He didn't take immediate notice when the man sat down across from him, the opening sequence from the episode still playing in his head. A picture of John's face, smiling for the camera for a 'publicity shot' that he'd done shortly before his trial. The face faded away, leaving a graphic of a skull with words in "blood" spelling out 'Chaos' across the screen. Right after that, it started in on the detectives receiving information from a witness that they had seen him working at a restaurant. Which was actually him, and had lead to him being taken in for questioning. After that, it went into the standard crime info about the first crime before working back to where they started.

When the man spoke, Kane was snapped out of his little mental re-run and blinked up at him, nodding slightly in response. "Uh... yeah..." he said, biting his lip a little bit. The light of the person sitting on the other side of the bench went off, causing him to flinch a little at the loud noise it made vibrating against the wooden... column? Shelf? whatever it was that they had set it on. She got up, a couple of other people going over to the host station with her. He relaxed just a little bit, some of his stiffness loosening up now that he wasn't sitting right next to someone. Just right across from someone.

"Little hot in here," he said, shifting his collar a little, knowing that it probably wasn't all that hot. He himself ran a few degrees hotter than the average person and all the people, his nervousness... he was overheating a little bit. "Sorry... I don't think I got your name over at the bar," he said, realizing that this was the man that he had been sitting next to for over an hour now. Neither of them had really tried to make conversation over there, but he guessed the man might have seen the episode and recognized him or something. He didn't really recognize the other man, and probably wouldn't have even if he had owned a TV or read the newspaper now. He'd never been very interested in crime. Even less so after his brother's trial.

Even if he did, he probably wouldn't have done anything, or even probably cared. Except maybe the man's remarkable resemblance to James Bond.

[Gregory Strickland]

Greg was one of the few people around here without any powers, but he fit into another crowd at Pilot Ridge he hadn’t expected to meet. While there hadn’t been any one night stands, he couldn’t help but find himself attracted to certain men. There was nothing wrong with this, but he felt guilty. Nate was still a big part of his life. Greg was glad to be here, with his friends, but he missed New York for the life he once had. All of this, he never would have chosen. He was merely coping. And if something else went wrong, he could leave as swiftly as he came.

There was something the two men sitting and waiting for a table had in common. They both hated being called murders and having it aired on TV for everyone to gawk at. If there was something Greg understood, it was respect. And doing his own damn research instead of believing everything he was told through the tube. He had down his own investigation on the “serial killer” before him, but in his current state of mind, he didn’t really remember any of that, never mind caring about it. He was more famous than Greg, probably because a person who supposedly killed a handful of people was more delicious than someone who apparently killed their lover out of spite.

A few guys at the bar watching the TV now glanced from the TV to the “killers”, and started talking. Greg was too busy doing talking to his own to notice. “Sure is,” he said, smiling happily. He swears it’s the liquor talking. This man was attractive, and it wasn’t because Greg had a fetish for obscure TV shows. “You didn’t ask,” he said, but it was an invitation he took readily, “Gregory Strickland, new to these parts and at your service.” He said, shaking his empty glass around, the ice cubes tinkling around in his glass. “And you are?” He asked. He wasn’t just trying to be nice, he genuinely didn’t know who he was for the moment.

“Meeting up with a date here?” He asked, because Greg wasn’t shy. The blonde was approached with a new drink, the old glass peeled from his hand from the barista. “Thanks honey,” he said, winking at the girl as she left. Get the old guy drunk enough and he’d leave a big tip. Made sense to him, he though, taking a good swig of the beverage. He had noticed the other man hadn’t had a single alcoholic beverage all night. Curious, considering where they were. He would ask about it later.

[Kane Woonren]

Kane stopped leaning forward, straightening his back against the wall. With his attempt to block out the television, there wasn't a whole lot he could focus on. The current conversation, the patrons, or how uncomfortable he was at the moment. All of the different things fusing at once, being in a crowded place, no wings and no tail, the show... well, he hadn't had to deal with this much stress in a little while. Maybe he'd just start staying at Hammel after school let out. Not that many people used the cooking lab on the weekends, so he could probably use it. Nice to come up with original recipes in the peace and quiet.... Not to mention the fact that he wouldn't have to stoop like he would at his house. He would buy his own ingredients of course, he felt uncomfortable using the ones they had set aside for his classes or for his cooking for the students and faculty.

Kane was glad that he was facing the other day, and the restaurant was about a dull roar, so he couldn't hear or see the people at the bar that were now seeing his face. It probably didn't help matters that the volume would probably be muted, so anyone that was seeing it for the first time wouldn't hear the whole 'twin brother' part. "Kane Woonren, not really that new in town, and the same, I guess." He wasn't usually the shyest person in the world, but tonight just didn't seem to be his night. Next time he'd just go to the bar Diana worked at. At least she was entertaining.... Last time he'd been there she'd threatened to dump a pitcher of ice water down a customer's pants for trying to put her tip down her shirt.

Kane couldn't help but laugh when the guy asked if he was meeting a date. "I haven't had a date since... um..." he stopped for a moment, thinking about the last time he'd actually had one. The study date from his cooking class he supposed... but that had been years ago. Shortly after he'd gotten back to New York from his time at Hammel. "Well, a while ago anyway. So to answer your question, no, not really. You?" he asked, giving the customary response. In his experience, when someone asked a leading question like that it was usually because they had what they had asked him about and wanted to be asked about it. He really needed to start talking with more adults and less teenagers.

A pager nearby went off, startling Kane slightly because the person had left it on the bench and it was vibrating loudly on the wood. He watched as a much larger party cleared out of the room, taking them into the back. He stopped the hostess when she came back, "Are there any tables outside available?" he asked. He was starting to get a little claustrophobic inside. The woman stared at him for a moment, as if completely mystified as to his question. Well, he supposed she had a valid reason to. Even if it was March, it was still Winter. At night. In the North-East. "Please?" he asked.

She finally nodded. "Yeah, I think we can get ya one over by the door. I'll do your buzzer when we get it ready." He nodded in thanks, feeling a little bit better. He wouldn't be able to stretch his wings, but at least he wouldn't be in the restaurant surrounded by all the noise and such. Although, he'd come out to the bar to actually get a little human interaction, so it would be a shame he'd be out there on his own.

[Gregory Strickland]

Greg was comfortable in his current setting, maybe a little too comfortable. In his mind it was better to be surrounded by strangers than silence. It was quiet in Josh’s house and he didn’t think he would ever be able to get over how lonely it was by himself. He had grown accustomed to many things, but if he had to choose between staying sober or not, he would rather not. Greg was hardly ever uncomfortable with people though. Could you tell? “Nice to meet you,” he said jovially.

He smiled at Kane and cocked his head to the side. It was hard to believe this man hadn’t been on a date in what obviously was a very long time. Greg shook his head no and sat forward in his chair. “No, just wanted to see what this bar was like,” he said, looking around, pretending to be impressed. He thought it would take quite a long time to check out every place in town that served alcohol, but this expedition wouldn’t last as long as he had hoped. It wasn’t that Greg wanted to be asked one hundred and one questions, he was just trying to be friendly. “Doesn’t mean I can’t leave with a date in the end though,” he said with a shrug, looking at his drink thoughtfully and bringing it to his lips, before looking at Kane, the cup still to his mouth.

He overheard the conversation and grinned at Kane. “Outside?” He asked curiously. This man sure was interesting. Perhaps he was one of those meta humans. It was still pretty cold out. Greg was still wearing his jacket indoors, but perhaps it wasn’t the weather which propelled Kane. “Mind if I join you? Seems like it’ll be a while before I get a table in here.” He said, smiling softly. Yes he was flirting a little, but he wasn’t going to push his luck. Kane wasn’t friendly enough to be his type anyways. He leaned a little farther on his elbows, putting his empty glass down. “I know you’re not a murderer any more than I am, so you don’t have to worry about me trying to interview you,” he said, his eyes wrinkling as he smiled, and proceeded to laugh.

It was then he decided that Kane needed to lighten up. “What’s your poison? Vodka? Rum? It’s on me,” Greg said, already calling the bar tender over.

[Kane Woonren]

"Nice to meet you too," he said with a nod, staring at the pager and waiting for it to buzz. The sooner he got outside, the sooner he could spread his wings. Then he could be slightly less uncomfortable. He was still uncomfortable with his tail inside as well, but he was more used to that. Since it was hard to find a way to adapt clothes to his tail, it stayed inside him more than it didn't. He could get away with shorts or something, but pants and such didn't work very much. His wings he let out whenever he had the opportunity. Except for when he was in the middle of a big city, although he didn't have as much of a problem with it here in Pilot Ridge.

Still, there were a lot of non-metas here too, and most metas didn't have such an... immediately recognizable power. "Well, now you know. Loud and the bartender's an ass. And probably doesn't know Malt Whiskey from Iced Tea." Granted, Kane didn't know a lot about alcohol, but his sister was a walking encyclopedia when it came to that kind of stuff. The guy across from him looked like he might've tried most of the places in the city, maybe he knew his sister too. "You might know my sister, if you go out a lot anyway. About six foot, silver streaks in her hair, teasing, threatens male patrons that get a little too... frisky with her?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. As long as you don't think you'll be a little too cold?" he asked, oblivious. One of the many problems Kane had had over the years was utter obliviousness. Focused on the basics and staying around long enough to enjoy them. "Well, that's good to know. I think," he said, at the murderer comment. He wasn't really very sure of what exactly he meant, but he supposed it didn't really matter that much. He started stretching his arms and legs a little, so he could make the short trek through the obstacle course that was the dining room. Why was a sports bar so packed tonight if there weren't actually any sports on? Or he assumed, if the bartender was turning on A&E.

"I don't drink, sorry, I'll just stick with my diet soda," he said somewhat sheepishly with a slight nod. He didn't want to sound like he was being rude or something. The beeper in his hand started vibrating and flashing, signifying that the table was ready. "I guess that's us," he said, standing up to his full 7'4 frame and stretching a bit. He walked over to the host station, handing her the beeper. He was itching to get outside, he needed to spread his wings for a little while at least.

[Gregory Strickland]

Greg wasn’t sure if he was jealous of the metas, or wished he was one. He knew Sean had had a lot of ups and downs with his telekinesis, but he seemed just as human as the next person. Greg didn’t really have anything to compare himself to though, and he supposed that metas didn’t know what it was like not to have powers. So in the end they were all some kind of normal. He was just glad to know that if he was upset he wouldn’t be exploding any light bulbs. Powers could be unruly, nasty things.

Honestly, Greg missed New York. Not the place it had, but who it once had. He sighed. It had been quite some time since Nate’s death. Not that long in his mind really, just long enough for him to realize that once all the legal stuff settled he would have time to mourn. He wasn’t sure if he wanted that time.

“Oh well I’m sure that guy doesn’t work here every night,” Greg, always the optimist, “besides, aren’t bars supposed to be noisy? Why are you here if you wanted something quiet? Granted there isn’t much for lounges around here. Not with good music anyways,” he was ranting and could have kept going about the small selection of places still open past midnight but he didn’t think Kane wanted to hear about it. Considering he didn’t like all the noise and all.

But Kane sort of kept on topic by talking about his sister. “That’s your sister? I should’ve known, based off the height I mean,” he said, grinning. “I remember her telling a couple guys to go straight to hell last week, that was pretty funny. I’m pretty sure she would recognize me.” He was a regular. It had nothing to do with the fact that he had also been on TV a lot. The news, other TV shows. But never mind all that. “She’s teases me all the time, tries to set me up with men she doesn’t particularly like. I go along with it so they leave. It’s a good system,” he nodded a couple times, as though this would give his statement validation.

Greg didn’t get his hopes up that this would go anywhere. But if no one was telling him to stop flirting, he wasn’t going to. “Nah, it won’t be too cold, not if I keep drinking anyways,” he said with another laugh. “I know what it’s like, being harassed for being on TV for something you didn’t know,” he pointed at Kane, “trust me, I know.” Greg sighed. “I know all about the idiots who think they know something about something. They’re all the same.” Things were starting to get blurry.

“Get my friend another diet soda, whatever it is,” he said to the girl since she was already here. Greg shrugged, taking the drink the girl had brought him, which he hadn’t asked for. “More for me I guess,” he said, raising his glass before taking a swig. He watched Kane rise and suddenly felt like a child. “Whoa...” He said under his breath, grinning like mad as he stood to follow the man and the hostess. She was giving both of them a funny look as they carried on, but Greg didn’t notice. He was too busy staring at Kane. He wrapped his jacket a little tighter around himself before sitting down. The girl hurriedly handed them a couple menus before scurrying away. “It’s definitely quiet out here!” Greg said, sighing a bit to himself. Peace and quiet were things he avoided at all costs, so he was glad he wasn’t out here along. Kane perhaps didn’t feel the same way.

[Kane Woonren]

"Because I'm starting to get a crick in my neck from standing up in my apartment," he said, his voice rather deadpan. He was only half joking after all. "And it is nice to get out every once in a while. I just wasn't expecting it to be this busy here tonight. I don't mind the noise... I'm just a bit... uh... claustrophobic...." It was probably a good thing he'd thought of going outside. If he'd sat in here he'd probably have to wait longer so that they could get a table with enough room for him to sit at. He wasn't exactly huge outside of his height, but it would still be hard for him to cram into one of those small 2 person booths.

"Yeah, that sounds like Diana..." he said with a small smile. He'd only met her a couple of years ago, after she'd come to visit him after finding out about him from someone at Hammel. Who exactly it'd been was something she hadn't said, which had bugged him a little bit seeing as he really hadn't had many friends or really anything while he'd been there. "Last time I was in there a guy tried to shove a tip down her shirt and she threatened to hook his pants up to the ice machine. Although it might've been because he'd interrupted her flirting with the girl at the other end of the bar."

"Well, it's nice to go along with her from time to time. Usually if I'm there and there's a guy causing trouble she has me walk up behind him and stand there." He would be an excellent bouncer, provided he didn't actually have to do anything. Just flick his tail, flap his wings, and stand there looking menacing at his full height and let someone else deal with the problem if one actually came up. He wasn't really that much of a fighter, unless he was breaking one up at the school.

"Whatever you say," he said with a slight shrug. He figured that they'd probably get one of those heat lamps on if they had them. Although, they probably didn't otherwise they'd be putting people outside anyway. He wouldn't be so bad, his body temperature was a few degrees higher than the average person. It wasn't enough for him to go out in a tee and boxers in the middle of winter, but it did make the difference between a jacket or a long sleeve shirt. He didn't have a lot of them, but they were custom made by the same people that made his tees, so they had the wing slips.

He listened to him talk about knowing all about the idiots like the people staring at him now. He'd might've had something similar to him happen, although he doubted it was the whole 'Twin brother murdered someone' thing. Wrongly accused or something like that more likely, although it was just something that popped into the back of his brain. Not something he was about to bring up with an at least partially drunk man he'd just met. As for him, he was just used to the questions... he'd gotten the police called on him once. He sighed a bit, remembering the police banging on his door at 1 in the morning after a report of an 'Escaped serial killer' by someone. Apparently it'd been easier to send someone out to see rather than just call the jail.

Kane followed the woman through the obstacle course of the table, bumping into several people and apologizing to them each in turn after he'd done it. He watched the woman head off, leaving the door open so they'd get some heat and there was a bit of background noise to fill the air, aside from the speaker feeding a sports news show to the outside too. "Yeah," he said, hoping that he wasn't about to freak his new acquaintance out too much. He was used to silence, he spent most of his life in it. No one in his apartment, no TV, no radio. Flying up and around was a different kind of silence though... it was peaceful... made him feel at home.

He felt the familiar feeling of release as two long dragon/bat/whatever you liked-like wings spread out of his back, finding the familiar slits easily enough and spreading out behind him, like arm's stretching. "There we are," he said, his voice much more comfortable. His tail felt a familiar pang of uncomfortableness to make up for it, but he ignored it. It would go away in a little bit. He took a seat in a chair off to the side of the table, making it less likely that the waitress would notice, before looking back at Gregory, hoping that he wasn't too freaked out by what had just happened.

[Gregory Strickland]

“Claustrophobic,” Greg said, tasting the word, nodding a couple times. “Since you’re so tall,” he stated, nodding his head again and again. “Bars are always busy though, there’s nothing better to do in this place,” he said, though he really hadn’t searched for any other means of entertainment. He hadn’t tried to make himself useful either. He hadn’t gotten a job, he hadn’t volunteered anywhere. The new friends he made felt fake and he didn’t want to be a bother to Sean and Josh. Bars were beyond fine in his opinion.

“That’s her name is it?” He asked, grinning. “Well that’s great to know! I’ll tell her I met her brother the next time I see her, which will probably be tomorrow. What day of the week is tomorrow? I always see her on Monday nights I think, for the free pool and half price drinks after midnight, can’t go wrong with either.” He said, looking at the walls, which could use a new coat of paint. Greg grinned, knowing full well it was the latter that had caused Diana to snap. And he didn’t blame her. “Well I like her, and she doesn’t seem to mind me, lucky me.” He said, feeling truly lucky.

“Sounds like she gets herself into a lot of trouble with men,” he said, “I’m not saying she’s looking for it or anything, but she is pretty.” Greg grinned a bit. “Bet having someone like you as a guardian angel does just the trick for keeping pesky men away,” he said, raising his glass in some kind of toast to himself. Yes, how witty Mr. Strickland was.

Setting his drink down on the table, Greg stared at Kane in disbelief, his mouth hanging open. “Are you a meta human then? Or am I completely drunk?” He asked, before grinning, laughter coming out in sputtering gasps. “You have dragon wings! Amazing!” He said, taking another swig from his glass. “I see why you’re claustrophobic now, assuming I’m not drunk.” He shrugged and kept drinking until there was nothing left in the glass. Nothing left to distract him. “Can you fly?” He asked, leaning forward on the table, ignoring the menus. He wasn’t that hungry any more.

[Kane Woonren]

"Uh... yeah, something like that," he said. It was partially true, he supposed. He'd never liked enclosed spaces, although that'd gotten quite a bit worse when his wings had ripped their way out of his back. They were uncomfortable enough when they were kept inside of him, but combine that with an enclosed space.... Well, there was a reason he liked having a fairly open shower. His mom used to hate it when he was younger because he'd always leave the shower door open and water would get all over the bathroom. Still, she didn't yell or anything because she remembered what had happened when the door had closed behind him into the closet once. One of his, very few, friends said there was no way he could not be straight because he would be too claustrophobic to stay in the closet.

"Well, she's easily irritated when it comes to members of the male sex that don't take no for an answer." He decided to leave that there. Beyond that, there were a lot of things he could tell that she had supposedly done. Although it was mainly her friends who told her the stories, so he wasn't sure how many of them were made up or not. "You probably haven't done anything stupid around her. Her tolerance level for people that do stupid things is rather low...." Unless they were female. He was fairly sure his sister had at least some parts of the stereotypical male brain.

"Angel, Demon, whichever you like better, I guess." Now there was one of his favorite names that he'd been called over the years. It also taught him that it didn't really matter where he was, don't walk near a church with his wings and tail out. Unless he wanted 'Out Ye Demon' yelled at him. He waited for Gregory to stop sputtering before answering his question. While he was a meta-human, he wouldn't exactly toss out the second answer.

"Yes, I'm a Meta-Human," he said with a nod. The man was apparently a fairly high functioning drunk, which was possibly a good thing. Didn't mean that he wasn't going to have to walk him back to wherever he was staying though. One of the reasons he didn't drink was because he was a very low functioning depressed drunk, and he didn't need to bring out his problems with people. Depressing other people was not high on his list of things to do.

"Not like a plane or something like that," he said, taking a look down at his menu. "I more... glide? I can't just take off out of no where, but I can keep myself in the air once I'm up there anyway." A flat out takeoff was hard, but not impossible. He usually just jumped off somewhere high, not that there were an incredibly huge number of options around here. He saw a nice bread bowl that he would probably be getting. He didn't really feel like anything too big.

[Gregory Strickland]

Greg grinned. “Her and I have that in common,” he sighed, “of course it’s usually me that doesn’t take no for an answer, until it’s probably too late.” Like the time he hit on the bartender and a bunch of men grouped up on him and pinned him to the wall. One of them managed to land a punch to the face before his best friend saved his behind. “I try not to do that anymore,” he leaned closer like he was about to share a secret, “try, being the key word.” He smirked devilishly and leaned back. He did plenty of stupid things, but not really at that particular bar. No, he had a better time with Kane’s sister and refrained from making a fool of himself like he was at present.

“Wow!” Greg was still impressed and probably would be the rest of the night. Sean had never told him about this kind of power, since Sean still looked pretty average next to this guy. He leaned over the table to look at Kane’s tail, then looked back to the man’s face. “When did that happen? Uh, manifest I mean?” He asked, obviously interested and not trying to force conversation. “Do you give people rides?” Greg asked next, before the server came and interrupted them.

“Another drink and maybe some hot wings,” he said, “they’re not good for the ulcers, but the alcohol seems to even things out.” Greg handed the menu to the girl who smiled politely and waited for Kane’s order. Greg sighed. “If it gets any colder I’ll have to order two drinks at a time,” he laughed, hiccupped, and pointed at Kane. “So, rides? Yes, no?”

[Kane Woonren]

"Well you have that in common with her too. I've seen her turn into a male stereotype around... well, let's just say a certain type of girl." And with the fact that her powers made it a bit easy to be a pervert she probably was a bit of a male stereotype at times. "Anyway, I'm sure her ears are burning enough and she'll be irritated if she finds out we spent all night talking about her." Or she'd pity the fact that her older brother didn't have anything better to talk about than the half-sister he'd only known for a few years. Granted, his small talk conversations usually didn't extend passed what he did in class that day.

"Uh... when I was 14 or so, I guess. I got taken to the hospital because I had a temperature of a hundred and two and I didn't feel anything wrong. The next day I got a visit from someone at the school and got taken there." It was a bit of a cheap answer to the question, but he wasn't all that comfortable telling a total stranger about the day that his wings had actually emerged. It wasn't all that comfortable a conversation for him to talk to anyone about. Or think about in even the remotest sense. No one was allowed to give him the 'you'll never know the pain of giving birth' speech. Ever.

He rubbed his arm a bit uncomfortably, feeling several of the scars along his arm as he did so. At least he'd eventually grown used to his claws. Most people seemed to think he'd been suicidal as a teenager, when he'd just been clumsy. He hadn't ever really come that close to cutting anything major, just deep enough in the skin to leave the scars. He looked over at the waitress when she came over, who didn't seem to notice his wings as he folded them around himself like a bat. "I'll have the tomato basil soup breadbowl please." He looked over at his dinner partner when he mentioned Ulcers, and winced a little bit.

"I don't really think it works like that," he said as the waitress walked off, saying that the food would be out in while and that she'd bring out refills in a minute. "You don't have to sit out here if you're cold... I don't think you really want my jacket. Seeing as it'd probably fit you as well as your jacket would an 8 year old..." He wasn't trying to be mean with the comment. More just pointing out that he was probably one of the tallest men in the country that wasn't getting paid billions to throw a ball into a net and have an ego.

"Um... well, it depends really. If the other person is small enough, I guess I could. Only really done it once before, and it was one of the little kids at the school. She wasn't doing well with being so far away from her parents so I took her flying to make her feel better," he said, a very small smile forming on his face at the memory.

[Gregory Strickland]

Greg grinned as Kane continued to compare the blonde with his sister. “Are you implying that I’m a stereotypical male?” He asked playfully, wondering how much he was speaking versus the alcohol. Greg let out a laugh and a couple nods. “Of course, I’m sure she wouldn’t appreciate being compared to an old fart like me,” he said, grinning like mad, “I’m glad to know you two are related though, we’ll be sure to talk about you the next time I see her.” He was going to make a show of talking about Kane, and how tall, dark, and handsome he was. Gregory didn’t mind what they talked about at all, anything was up for grabs. Even the subject of birth.

“Oh! Well then, so you attended school here in Vermont? Hammel?” He asked, interested still. It would be good to know the kind of environment Sean was working in, and maybe Kane could shed some light on the subject. “How was that? I don’t have powers so I don’t know what being there would be like.” He wasn’t sure if he said he had powers or not already, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Greg was only interested in the power and everything Kane had to say about it.

When the waitress came, Greg smiled pleasantly and ordered a coffee to keep the chill away. “Is your temperature always a hundred and two?” Gregory asked, squinting as the wind began to pick up outside. “If it is, then this weather is probably nice, hey?” He asked, grinning into the breeze as it hit his face. Goose flesh erupted every part of his body, and he giggled softly to himself. It was one of his favourite feelings.

“Well we’re out here now, I can tough it out,” he said, his blue eyes sparkling, “and I’m not that small.” He grinned and looked at the sky, wishing he could see the stars that were hidden in light pollution. “However I wouldn’t say no if you were offering, it looks cozy,” he said, looking back at Kane, his head tilted to the side as he wished for his coffee to hurry up and get here. As though wishing for it would help at all. “Unless you don’t want my company?” He asked, a mock hurt expression on his face.

Greg watched Kane smile at the memory of bringing a little girl flying, and began smiling himself. “That’s really sweet of you.” He was truly oblivious to somebody hitting on him. Alright Greg, play nice. “Regular hero aren’t you? Rescuing your sister, making little girls smile, wonderful.” Greg complimented Kane unabashedly and looked up at the waitress who set down the coffee in front of him. He sipped at the black coffee, a soft smile on his face.

[Kane Woonren]

"No, of course not," he said apologetically. He had a sense of humor, but he didn't quite know Greg well enough to know what his sense of humor was. So he could be joking or he could be really offended, and he really couldn't tell with as much as his dinner partner had had to drink. "My sister will be the first one to admit it. She's rather self aware at that point. Not that she really cares," he shrugged, feeling weird about talking about his little sister so much. He wondered if people who'd known their siblings their whole lives talked about them. His siblings came up in conversation like this, or in sentences that started with, "I saw this TV show the other night..."

He nodded at the question. "Yeah, I stayed at Hammel. It's your pretty standard school really, I guess. At least compared to my one in New York. Just less crowded and there wasn't as much vandalism and violence..." he said with a thought. He couldn't remember too much about his school before Hammel, just that it was a very overcrowded public school in one of the... not quite rich neighborhoods Not that he really minded, although he'd felt weird when he'd come to Hammel. It'd been a different experience. "Just toss in some classes of students being taught to not blow things up with their mind or whatever the other classes like that are." He really didn't know that much. He'd taken normal classes, flying classes, and 'learn not to hit people with your tail or cut yourself' classes. Even now he only taught cooking, he didn't spread himself into the other classes much.

"Around there. I think it got a degree higher or something at school. Hard part is telling when I'm sick, although that doesn't happen that much." The heating of the body during illness was a defense mechanism against the pathogen. So, since he pretty much had that part of him permanently on, he didn't get sick as much. Didn't mean that he never got sick, but when he did it usually lasted a while. Last year he'd had a cold that'd lasted for six months. He never bothered going to the doctor, just took six months worth of dayquil and cough drops and wore a nurse mask while he was in class.

"I could probably carry your weight, but it'd take me a while to get used to it in the air. The problem would be finding a high enough place to get off of. There are a couple of apartments and a spot at the school, but there aren't that many places around here that I can get the right amount of... wind in my sails, I guess you could say." He laughed a little bit when he said that he rescued Diana. "You've never seen Diana's power I take it?" he asked with a shake of his head. "I'm intimidating I guess, but If she's really annoyed she'll snap her fingers and make me look average." Kane was good with kids, and he loved kids. A shame they were equal parts intrigued and terrified by him.

Kane watched as Greg shivered in the wind, standing up for a second. "Why don't we switch seats?" he said. "It's a bit warmer where I'm sitting because of the building, and I'm probably big enough to keep the wind from blowing you away." His jacket would make the other man look like a toddler otherwise he'd offer him that as well.