[Tanya Dawson]

"It doesn't mean people will treat you like that."

It is unfortunate, but true. Tanya is mixed race, so she has grown up not really fitting in anywhere other than her family, and they have their own share of problems. More than is fair perhaps. She knew how much people could hate what they perceive as different for no reason other than it wasn't the same. Metahumans have also given rise to another ugly human emotion, jealousy.

For all that some people seem OK with many of the rich and powerful being born into their wealth, they seem unaccountably obsessed with the fact that metahumans hadn't worked for their abilities. It is this that worries Tanya the most. That someone might think she hadn't worked for what she had just because of her newfound powers.

"People are jealous, I guess. Why did we get these powers and not them... That kind of thing."

She glances over at the line of men that is growing steadily shorter. Only a few more moments before Quinton would be late. Despite the fact that she had been attempting to threaten him earlier, Tanya suddenly feels uncharacteristically shy. He's the first meta she's met on campus, too afraid to take the risk and ask someone, and she doesn't want to let that go just yet. That and she needs to keep an eye on him for at least a little while to make sure she can actually trust him.

Sure, that's why she's asking "What time do you finish?"

Tag: Quinton Summers

[Quinton Summers]

Quinton merely shrugged at the notion that others wouldn't consider him to be harmless.

It wasn't that he'd gone through his life without encountering any real hardships but he had never before found himself afraid for his safety. His hometown had offered such a safety net that he'd never felt threatened before. It was only after he'd developed his power that a few concerns had first started to trouble him. His coping mechanism was one of relative optimism: things could be better, more certain but they could equally worse. "It'll all work out eventually." He declared with clear confidence marking his every word.

"Me? Probably about five. Assuming everything goes according to plan." Generally, if asked the question, he would have refrained from giving an exact time. On more than a single occasion, he'd found his employer to be very much driven by a set amount of work to be finished within the day. If it wasn't and they happened to have reached the end of their shifts, it wasn't unheard of them for them to be asked/told to stay on a little bit longer to ensure that what they had scheduled in was completed. Quinton wasn't the type to complain. It would take a good deal before he became exasperated or walked off. "I'm guessing you've got plenty of classes." He didn't know that of course but every film he'd ever seen set in a college had the students either sitting in a lecture or working their read end off in a library somewhere. 

Metahuman with a super memory - that was how Quinton would think of such things - or not, he got the distinct impression from this relatively brief exchange that Tanya was a good student. 

[Tanya Dawson]

"Yeah... Loads..."

Tanya has a late start today, but that doesn't mean she's getting an easy ride. After that late start she's pretty much booked solid for the rest of the day, with only half an hour for lunch and the bare minimum of time to rush across campus for each lecture. She's beginning to wish she hadn't missed the waffles this morning.

"I just get a bit more time in the morning, then I'm pretty busy."

She runs through her lectures and tutorials mentally, coming down to her last one with a little disappointment. It seemed odd, considering that she hardly knew this guy, but he is the first metahuman she's really known other than her sisters. It doesn't hurt that he's cute too.

"I... don't finish till like five-thirty..."

She sighs, and her shoulders drop a little. He'd have to hang around for half an hour waiting for her, although looking at him, and judging by the memories she's processed, he seems the patient type. She tries to make her question as innocent sounding as possible.

"Will you still be around then?"

Tag: Quinton Summers

[Quinton Summers]

Quinton sometimes wondered about education, specifically his own. He'd been quite keen to leave high school, go to agricultural college and then take over the farm. It was a good life for him. Outside and free. From what little he'd seen and heard around this campus, he wasn't sure that he possessed the patience or dedication to go through with such a length process as getting a degree, although he most certainly could respect those who did dedicate themselves to such studies. He wasn't a snob in that regard. "Well, you're braver than me." The young man noted with a certain amount of humor, not teasing but sympathetic. 

It sounded as if she wanted to spend a little while longer with him. That gave the man some hope. So far, throughout his somewhat aimless wandering, he was yet to get so good a lead as Tamya where metas were concerned. It was comforting to know that she wasn't part of some organisation.

"Sure. No problems." Quinton didn't say it but he didn't exactly have anything much better to do. In the strange city, he had no friends. He'd be going back to his car to take his dog for a walk over lunch. Even if she'd been finishing at seven, he would likely have made the effort to hang around for a while. This was his first contact with another meta and he most definitely wasn't about to squander the opportunity to get to know her a little bit more. 

[Tanya Dawson]

The lecture ran over. Not only did the Professor in question have a particular fondness for the sound of his own voice, but the topic that he was covering had been one of particular complexity. Nearly half an hour later than scheduled he ended the class, once he had answered everyone's questions and given his own particular summary of the lecture.

Tanya has already stopped listening. She'll come to regret it, but right now she's wondering whether Quinton is still waiting for her. She's so wrapped up in her own thoughts in fact, that it takes her a second to realise that everyone around her is packing away their laptops and notebooks. She hurriedly shoves her own notebook into her bag, she still uses it, even if she no longer requires notes to recall information, and leaps up, surprising several students in her haste to leave the lecture theatre.

It's fortunate that she spends most mornings in the gym, as she runs across what feels like half of the campus. Even so, she's breathing hard when the tops of the scaffolding come into view and she slows to a brisk walk to get her breath back. Sweaty and panting when showing up, not a hot look...

Tucking a stray strand of hair behind one ear, she adjusts the satchel hanging across her body and looks about. Her expression drops. Quinton isn't there. Maybe he gave up and left after she was more than half an hour late. She sighs, and sits despondently on the concrete bench in front of the site, back to the scaffolding and looking back out towards the campus.

Tag: Quinton Summers

[Quinton Summers]

Quinton was an optimist by nature. 

When Tanya failed to show up. He didn't assume that she had dumped him and decided not to carry through with the meeting. Instead, he reasoned that something must have come up. 

As soon as they'd called an end to the construction, Quinton had rushed back to his apartment. He'd picked up Mia, the dog having already spent far too much time cooped up for her own good. He'd slipped a leash onto the dog's neck and then rushed back here as quickly as he possibly could (with necessary stops to allow the animal to do her business). He'd found the place where he had said goodbye to the other meta and settled down to wait and wait.

Despite his natural tendency to look on the bright side of life and assume the best, by the half hour mark, there were a few doubts beginning to form in his mind. A few doubts were beginning to form inside of his mind. Chiefly, he found himself wondering if he might not have actually have been sold out. He looked around nervously but continued to find himself focusing on students as they came and went. Everyone seemed relatively relaxed. So he sat down upon a bench and waited. He would leave her another few minutes after their appointed meeting time, after that... Well, he couldn't wait here forever. 

The time came and went. 

With a heavy sigh, he lowered his head and pushed himself up from the bench. He didn't know why she hadn't shown up. Maybe something had stopped her or she'd gotten cold feet. He would have been lying if he claimed not to be disappointed about the fact. He'd made it a few yards before Mia stopped him, barking as something or someone had drawn her attention. 

A smile made its way onto his face as he recognized the individual, making quick work of rejoining Tanya. "You had me starting to worry!" He called out, his tone light so as to make it clear that he was joking. 

Tanya Dawson

[Tanya Dawson]

The sound of a dogs bark startles Tanya from her self-pitying reverie. She looks up to find the dog in question, and is surprised to find that the dog is attached to a leash held by Quinton, the very person she was here to see, and the very person she thought she had missed. When had he had time to collect his dog?

She stops that line of thought as soon as it begins, during the nearly three-quarters of an hour in which she should have already been there probably.

Jumping up, she realises how fast she has reacted to his arrival and schools her excited expression into a more neutral one. She adds a little contrition to make up for things. "I am, like, so sorry that I was late, my lecture ran over, and then people kept asking questions and things just dragged on. Then I had to…."

Tanya halts her rushed response part way through, and her face colours. "Sorry I'm late. I'm glad you waited for me…"

Her gaze switches to the dog. "But who is this gorgeous girl?"

Strangely her ability had not picked up any recent memory of a dog, plenty of dogs on the farm, but nothing more recently. She approaches and kneels down carefully, holding out her hands to allow the animal to sniff them. Once she has apparently received the dogs approval she scratches her under her chin.

"You didn't tell me you had a dog." Her tone is reproachful, albeit playfully so. Strangely her ability has never seemed to extend to animals, perhaps they cannot form complex memories in the way humans can, or maybe it's something to do with the way their mind operates. She doesn't even get a faint echo of memory, just total silence. She's wished, more than once, that she could keep some sort of pet in her dorm as a result.

Eventually relinquishing her interest in the dog, though clearly keeping half an eye on her, she stands. "So… did you want a coffee or a drink or something?"

Tag: Quinton Summers

[Quinton Summers]

It was with an amused smile that Quinton dismissed her concerns. He raised a hand to signal that everything was perfectly fine. She didn't have to worry. "It's fine. Honestly I was a little late myself..." It had taken a little bit longer than he'd expected to pick up Mia. No real reason other than he'd forgotten just how long it had taken him to make the walk. "Just glad I caught you."

He was acutely aware that he might not get another chance to speak with another metahuman who seemed to be so friendly and willing to discuss matters openly.

"This is Mia." He replied glancing down briefly at the animal. "Came with me from the farm, didn't you girl? It's alright, she's friendly."

Should Tanya try to get close or pat the dog, she would find that the only threat posed was that of a lashing tail which wagged rapidly as soon as there was even the faintest prospect of getting some fuss and attention. Her owner was similarly relaxed about anyone who wanted to approach her in order to give her a pat.

Something did confuse him however about the girl's statement, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "I didn't think I had to... Since you - you know-" He feared even saying it out loud in case someone overheard them. A knowing raise of the eyebrows was all he offered to clue her in to what he was referring to. "Figured you knew pretty much everything about me." 

The suggestion wasn't entirely what he'd been expecting and for a moment, the prospect struck him as being rather strange. So much so that it took him a little while to respond. "Yeah. That sounds nice..." He paused for a few moments before chuckling briefly. "I'm sorry. It's just it's been quite a long time since I did something... "normal" I guess." He couldn't remember the last time that he'd gone for a drink with someone, anyone be they a girl or a boy for whatever reason. Since embarking on his quest, such things had seemed ironically far fetched. 

[Tanya Dawson]

Tanya scratches her head, feeling awkward. "I don't get everything from people, not with a quick touch, I guess if I held on longer, or if I actually knew what I was doing, I could pick up more. I got a few memories of dogs, but all from what I guess where when you were on the farm? Didn't quite pick enough up to get the dog."

She pauses, blushes, then continues. "Or lets just pretend I wanted an excuse for you to introduce your dog to me and act like I didn't massively invade your privacy."

His long, to her, silence, leaves her worrying that she's freaked him out with her proposal of a drink. He's the only metahuman she's really met other than her sisters and Gravity Girl, and none of them really count. It doesn't help the situation that she finds him cute and right now probably knows enough about him to pass for his girlfriend. It's a very confusing position to be in.

"Maybe coffee?"

Alcohol is probably not the best idea since she's already feeling this confused about things, and at least coffee can go either way if she manages to get her head in order this evening. Plus the coffeeshop on campus is much more likely to welcome dogs than the bars. "Well this can be our normal thing together then, like everything I've done for the last two years feels like I'm playing a role, and not in a fun way either."

She sets off, leading the way instinctively, to the indie coffee shop. There is a Starbucks on campus as well, but she's always preferred the little independent shop that employs students, as if the eclectic thrift store vibe of her outfit didn't give that away.

The coffee shop in question, when they arrive, is in the bottom corner of one of the larger campus buildings, occupying a few hundred square feet of the ground floor of the building. It isn't overly busy, but it's clear that the more academically minded students keep it in business from the multitude of laptops and piles of textbooks that can be seen on tables and beside armchairs.

She turns to Quinton before they enter. "If anyone asks, you're with me, people get, like, weirdly territorial over this place."

True to her words, several of the customers look up hostilely as they enter, their expressions softening once they recognise Tanya, though still lingering on the newcomer. Tanya orders an iced honey double latte, and is halfway through ordering Quinton's preferred coffee before she realises what she is doing.

Her face colours, but she continues, it would be too weird to stop now. She carries both coffees to a table in the corner, away from most of the other customers and strangely isolated from the sound of the coffeeshop. Putting Quinton's 'order' on the table, she apologises. "Sorry... Sometimes it's difficult to like, tell the difference between my memories and other peoples. Especially when they're fresh. I hope that's still what you like."

Tag: Quinton Summers

[Quinton Summers]

Quinton was the sort to not particularly care how much of his life Tanya had picked up. He had little to no secrets that he felt needed protecting. If anything, he imagined that it must have been more of a bother for her than anything else. The young man considered the other meta in silence for a moment. "Well, I guess that must be a relief." 


He shrugged when it came to intruding on his privacy. "I don't mind you know. I've only got the one secret and seeing as you know it, well... You've probably seen enough to know that I'm not the type of guy to have skeletons in my closet." Perhaps it was different where others were concerned he reasoned. It was a power that he was rather glad that he didn't have. 

The prospect of doing something normal earned a smile and he was only too keen to follow. He allowed Tanya to lead. Whilst he'd spent some time on the campus, he couldn't hope to compare that to her knowledge of the layout. He kept a hand on Mia's leash. "How long you been going here?" He couldn't help but ask, as it occurred to him that he knew precious little about his companion.

Tanya's warning struck him as a little bit odd. True to form, Quinton nodded obligingly taking her words to heart. The notion of anyone becoming possessive or territorial over a coffee shop was alien to him. Perhaps, it was a small place at at times there wasn't quite enough space for everyone? He entered cautiously. In his mind, he half expected it to be like entering a saloon in the Old West. Thankfully, there were no cowboys found within. Just individuals whom he assumed to be other students here. It was the laptops at tables that struck him as being the most unusual. He'd seen quite a bit of that around the city but in his home town, it was far more uncommon, people tended to go to the bar to escape work, not bring it with them.

In the presence of doubt, smile and wave but not like the Queen of the United Kingdom like a normal guy. He could still be normal, right?

He would settle on down, doing his best to keep a relatively low profile. Mia sat on the floor next to him, content to be out and about. The cross watched content, her tail wagging a few times whenever she felt that Quinton was paying her some attention.

He would offer Tanya a smile when she approached him with the coffees. For a moment, he wondered just how it was that she could have got his favorite drink before it suddenly occurred to him. "Thanks. It's my favorite but already you knew that." Something that she had just said caused him to raise an eyebrow. "Are you stuck with all that up there?" He asked keeping his voice rather quiet so as to avoid drawing any unwanted attention to themselves, trying to keep everything looking and sounding natural. 

Tanya Dawson

[Tanya Dawson]

Shrugging, Tanya accepts that it's only fair that she share more of her life with Quinton, after all, he has shared most of his life with her, however unwilling and inadvertently. "I've been here for a little over two years. So I got my powers like a year and a half ago I guess."

Her voice is soft. Not whispering, such that it might attract attention, but quiet enough that it would be obvious were someone attempting to listen in. Tanya is leaning forward in her chair, both hands wrapped around the elaborate iced latte she'd ordered. To anyone watching the two of them they would just like two friends engaged in a drink, or, and she tries not to think of this one, like two students on a first date.

Her eyes flicker to the dog at his feet, sensing her gaze, the dog's snout turns towards her, and her tail wags fiercely as Tanya stretches out one hand to scratch her behind the ears. The dog is adorable, but also serves as a useful distraction from the difficult conversation, at least for a moment.

She glances up from the dog as he questions her ability once more, she wishes, not for the first time, that her power was simpler in it's nature. Something like super-strength would surely have made life much easier.

"I think so? I don't really know... Like I seem to have everyone's memories that I've touched, or at least some of them. Just when they're fresh they sort of hover at the front, like they want me to look through them."

She pulls her hand back from the dog, who looks reproachfully for a moment, before turning her eager attention back to her master. "After a while I can sort of ignore them, but it doesn't seem hard to call them back up. I've not tried getting rid of any of them though, I'm too afraid I might, like, delete my own memories or something."

"Enough about me though. Why be a workman? Wouldn't you have preferred to find work on a farm?"

Tag: Quinton Summers

[Quinton Summers]

Holding his cup of coffee in his hands, the man listened carefully to Tanya's words. A year and a half ago made about sense. As far as he could tell, that would have matched the strange event. No doubt they'd both suffered from the same exposure to... Whatever it was. It seemed to have affected quite a number of people across the planet. 

"I think that's the same for most of us. I was out in the middle of nowhere and I guess it took me a while to really notice." His power was, in many respects, decidedly discreet if he was cautious, he likely wouldn't ever notice it being active.

He paused for a moment, wondering if she'd picked up his memories and his motivations or if she viewed everything as if it were a slideshow of sorts. "I left home to try and find answers and others like me. Nobody else in my family seemed to have changed so I figured I'd have to go looking in the cities. You're the first I've ever met."

He could only imagine how frustrating things could have been for the young woman if the slightest touch would trigger her powers. He struggled enough with his own. Small nicks were only a minor nuisance as they vanished so quickly that nobody had time to notice, it was more of a pain when they were noticed by others. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as the girl pet Mia just to ensure that for whatever reason, the dog wasn't taking a dislike to her.

"And well my folks, they've got their hands full with my brothers and sisters, I can't ask them to start funding my road trip. I've done some farm work, you know around harvest time, they always need more hands but there isn't much of that going around in the cities." The man answered with a shrug, taking the cup in his hands and holding it there for the warmth. "I went to agricultural college so there's only so much that I can really do. If there was anything like a fast food joint, I'd take it. So long as it pays the rent, you know?" He wasn't a particularly picky sort in that regard. 

Tanya Dawson

[Tanya Dawson]

"Yeah...yeah I know what you mean..."

Tanya is at Stanford on a scholarship, a full ride. That doesn't mean that money isn't a concern though. Her mother can do almost nothing to support her, and much the same can be said of her sisters. None of them had ever had much in the way of financial success, though at least they all seemed to be relatively stable at the moment. Even so, it meant that Tanya had to be careful with the money she had beyond her rent. The iced latte she was currently sipping was a rare, and cherished treat, though one that she had been enjoying rather more regularly in an effort to deal with the stress of concealing her ability. This place wasn't expensive, it was on a student campus after all, but it was still a lot pricier than the free, but nasty, filter coffee available in the canteens.

"Money is always a difficult conversation, especially in my family."

She sometimes felt like she was the only person who still trusted her mother. She'd made mistakes, but she was better, and certainly making an effort to support Tanya now. "It sounds like you're pretty close with your family though at least? I wish I could get on with mine like that..."

Tag: Quinton Summers

[Quinton Summers]

She said a few words and he felt as if he could suddenly understand a little bit more about her. A couple of sentences lead him to believe that the young woman had known a few hard times herself.

The young man's eyes softened briefly as he felt some true sympathy for the Tanya Dawson. He wasn't entirely naive. He knew that not everybody in the world had been blessed with the same loving and understanding household that he had been born into. Even back in his hometown, he'd heard of everything from constant bickering over what seemed like trivial things to rumors concerning some rather more serious affairs. "I guess I was just lucky." Quinton didn't know enough about Tanya to be able to even contemplate giving her any advice on that particular front. 

It did bring the subject towards something which did interest him a fair deal and that he'd been wondering about since first meeting her this morning. "Do your family... You know-" He lowered his voice slightly as he spoke. "Know?" It was one of his single greatest regrets: that he hadn't been able to bring himself to tell his family what had happened to him, what he was now. Was it for their sake or his own? Another question he was afraid to have answered.

[Tanya Dawson]

"Yeah, I'm almost jealous. I obviously never met your family but..." She tapped her forehead, "It feels a bit like I did sometimes. So I guess I don't need to be too jealous, I have the memories at least."

She nods, "My sister's know, they have their own powers, we're all like... Weird mind freaks or something." She pauses, seeming conflicted, "Haven't told my mom though... I'm not sure how she'd take it, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't do her any favours."

She shrugs off the next question before it is asked. "My dad's not around."

It's a sore spot, she still feels somewhat responsible for his death, and so she rushes past it as quickly as she can. "I guess you haven't told your family anything about it yet then?"

She takes another sip of her latte, enjoying the decadent, all too rare treat. "I can't say I blame you, I don't know if I'd even have told my sisters if one of them couldn't read minds. I guess it made the reveal pretty easy though, I didn't actually have to think about it... Or I did... I suppose."

She pushes away the sudden onset of cosy memories of Quinton's family. "How come you didn't tell them?"


Tag: Quinton Summers

Note: Sorry for the slow reply this time! I have been totally snowed under with work for the last few weeks!