2012-10-17 Telepaths and Puppies

Oh look! Metropolis also has a big park. That is news for Nate, who has rarely been in the city and usually only briefly. Well, today he has enough time to explore and people-watch, which are two of his favorite activities. Outwardly just a young man enjoying a walk, but for other telepaths Nate is rather 'loud' as he radiates psychic energy, and his power lights the Astral Plane.

It's a big park! Mars didn't have parks. Okay, it did, sort of, but not like this! Not with things growing in it, all over. And people! Whee! So many people, all close together and not at all fighting. It's late evening so the sun's just going down and people are getting in their runs. M'gann's kind of doing that too, jogging along in a running outfit with headphones on. As she's wont to do, she's not changed from her basic 'martian' look, meaning underneath that blue lycra is a green girl. Some people may look, but not quite the way she looks at Nate, as she moves towards him.

Earth didn't had parks. Well, it did, but not really by the time Nate was old enough to see them. Parks and crowds of happy people are still new enough he find them weird and interesting. And of course running girls. And green running girls? That is probably not normal. So he peers at M'gann, pulling off his sunglasses.

That kind of mental energy is so not normal. The green girl slows down and runs past Nate, then turns around and circles back. She makes two complete loops around him and then asks, "What're you!?" with the excitement of a child who's just discovered kittens.

Nate keeps his eyes on the green-skinned girl as she runs past him the first time. When she turns around, he does more than looking, he attempts a telepathic contact and notices the shielding. The young man sighs and smirks faintly. So that explains the sudden interest. |"Well, hello"| he sends telepathically. "I am a telepath, a mutant. What about you?"

Her eyes widen. Green eyes, of course. The man's message skitters off her mental shield. She claps her hands together and bounces in place. "You are!?" she asks. "Oh wow! I've heard of you but I've never met one! I think. Maybe I met one and didn't know," she says, pressing her lips together and furrowing her brow in thought. The thought passes quickly enough and she waves a hand. "Oh, hi, I'm M'gann!"

Nate stands, looking vaguely amused and maybe surprised at the green girl antics. "I'm Nate, nice to meet you. So you met what? Another telepath or another mutant?" He is studying her mental shielding, M'gann probably can feel his scanning. "And you... green skin is a bit unusual, isn't it?"

Her face wrinkles in rather extreme expressions. M'gann ohs and her shield tightens, as she scowls at him. "It's not nice to read people," she says, waving a green finger. "Without asking first." She drops her hand, clasping both behind her back and rocking on her feet. She then says. "Oh it's very usual for Martians," she asys, and gestures to herself. "I'm a martian!"

"Martian?" Well, that is new! "Hey, I was just seeing how you have... hmm, shielded your mind. It is interesting." Nate's own mental shielding is rather crude, as he is self-taught. "Martians have green skin, right. I met a Martian the first day I was in... er... New York. Couple months ago. Large bald guy."

"You did?" she asks, beaming. "Isn't he nice! A little aloof but he's an Elder so what do you expect?" she asks with a shrug. "He offered to help me learn about humans and it was very nice of him and I think I'll take him up on it but I want to learn some myself too and I know /nothing/ about Mutants!"

Nate grins. M'gann seems too happy for her own good, but since she is interested: "Yeah, well. Almost all mutants are just like normal humans, there is not much else to know, some extra abilities do not really change how they behave. Those really different do not have anything in common with each other, so... ah, I guess you should find out yourself. Are Martians very different?"

M'gann is certainly upbeat, there's no denying that. "Oh yes! There's the Greens and the Whites and the Whites are very mean and nasty but Greens believe in trust and justice and good things," she bubbles. "Aren't mutants like that? Some humans are very afraid of mutants and some like mutants a lot so I think it's kind of like the greens and the whites, right?"

"Er... maybe?" Nate almost laughs at the color-coded good/evil split. That sure would make things so much simpler! "I am not sure," he states with a grin, "I think it goes all the shades from hatred to love, with the bulk of the people not having a strong opinion. Humans do not come in just two kinds, y'know?" Wait! Maybe she doesn't. "How long have you been on Earth?"

M'gann smiles. "Oh yes, I've noticed. It's very neat. You have all sorts of colors. No green though. That's a shame," she says with a frown. Not that it keeps her down for long. "A few months," she says. "I've watched many Earth programs before I arrived." Which is not strictly true, but true enough.

"A few months, alright," Nate considers. That and programs is not much, but she is a telepath. "Well, you probably already know more about some things about the world than me. I have to assure you, though, the color of the skin is not an indicative of a moral stance among humans. Damn, that would make things so much simpler if it was."

"You can feel when people are mean, right?" she asks. "It's sort of the same. I have to remember not all humans are psychic. Not very many at all. I feel so bad for you," she says, crinkling her brow, pausing. "Except for you. You're one. You like it?"

"Eh? I can sometimes," replies Nate. "I can read minds, emotions are tricky. And I am don't go around reading the minds of everyone I meet, anyway." He frowns when the green girl mentions feeling sorry, and then shrugs. "Like? Well, I guess I do sometimes. But psychic powers are not really going to make me happier on the long run."

M'gann ohs. "That's good," she says with a nod. "You shouldn't, it's mean, since humans can't protect themselves. On Mars it's not a big deal because everybody knows how to shield and...." she gasps, eyes going huge. Off behind Nate a couple is playing with a dog. "Puppy!" she declares excitedly. "See you!" she says, running towards it.