[u]Ben and Claire Voss[/u] --- [hider=Jack Johnson - Good People][youtube]XOytKU9cBNA[/youtube][/hider] --- "I'm only letting you drive because you can't get road rage." '[i]And because you haven't driven in traffic in a long while and this a rental.[/i]' "Please, as if that'd be the only reason. I am a strong, independent woma-" '[i]You would give someone the middle finger for not using a turn signal, Claire.[/i]' The tall woman to his right made no audible response, instead she only huffed. Ben simply smiled as his eyes darted from her back to the road as the light turned green. They were visiting his wife's family from Christmas this year, rather than them come to him. Never before had Ben felt so powerless as he was in the air. He wondered if this was how Ziz or Pink felt on the ground. He shivered at the thought. He didn't exactly go flying much and didn't like close to the ocean. He wouldn't know. he felt he might've gotten the best deal out of the three, but he wasn't complaining. She had to drag him by the ear into the plan and over the trip he couldn't get any sleep. He was a nervous wreck the entire time and he still couldn't get an idea of why. Here in the city he still didn't exactly feel like the demigod he was, like he did in the country. He felt... average, like the usual citizen. In Texas there weren't nearly as many meta humans, and for the few that were in his area the NEST agents came to them. It was definitely an adventure getting the whole check out completed once they exited the airport by the NEST here in Pennsylvania. Claire had warned him that it was much tighter here because there were so many more metas, but he hadn't expected it to be that ti- "Motherfucker is jaywalking!" Ben, with a practiced hand, quickly locked the windows, and applied the child lock to the car as to keep his wife from screaming at the random citizen who happened to really be doing nothing wrong. He winced as he heard her harshly pull against the door handle of the car. He didn't dare look over at her otherwise she'd know he did it on purpose and the car didn't lock the doors automatically once it hit twenty miles an hour, or worse, thought that he knew how to unlocking rolling the windows. Claire, growled and sat back in her chair, her arms crossed tightly across her chest and her back hunched slightly. She breathed heavily for a moment before letting out a loud groan. "Ugh! Pull over. I need a coffee." she said. Ben had known her long enough to recognized the barely masked venom in her tone, and applied his turn signal, moving over to the passing lane and taking a left at the next light, ending up at "The Mean Bean Machine" which would give him the idea of a ghetto Mexican restaurant if it weren't for the fact that it had a huge coffee mug full of coffee as it's signature. He parked the rented Volkswagen Passat like the pro farmer he was, and stepped out of the car, walking around the side to open the door for Claire, who was already midway opening it herself. Her eyes were a mixture of confusion and gratitude. She never seemed to get over the fact that he would always insist on opening the door for her when she exited and entered a car, and would always pull a chair out for her and push it in, always opening doors to let her go in first. The reason Ben did that last one was so that he could get a solid look at her rear (he thinks she doesn't know this). She smiled to him, and stepped out. In her current shoes she stood tall. She carried herself like she was just as big as her gigantic husband was. Ben on the other hand, he was relaxed in his blue jeans, white tank top, and brown leather jacket. He didn't need to carry himself as any bigger than he was, although he was certain he could if he wanted to. Claire stepped in first, followed closely by Ben. The waitress at the ordering table was taken aback by such tall customers. Most women she served never reaching more than 5'8, and the tallest man standing at a respectable 6'5. This couple topped them both. By four, and five inches respectably. And how the looked, my, they were much different from the common city folk she saw on a regular basis. The man was huge, wearing his worn jeans, brown work boots, plain white shirt, and dark brown leather jacket. He had a rugged look to him, with a wild facial hair look to him that formed into a Tony Stark like Goatee. Despite the semi-modest clothing for Christmas time in this part of the country, she could feel the warmth radiating off of him. His sheer size gave her would've given her a chill, if it weren't for the jolly red nose, warm eyes, and nice grin that adjourned his face. The woman was much more intimidating, but in a different way. Much like the man, she was very tall, and also like the man, she wasn't tall in a bean-stalk way. They looked like they were in very good physical health and were just... larger people in general. She had deep black hair and piercing green eyes that seemed to stare her down. Very light freckling bridged her nose. She also had a symmetrical face, and had very vague hints of asian heredity. She wore a lighter brown Annie Klein leather jacket, had black leggings, and some brown mountain trip Faux fur boots. "H-hello, welcome to the Mean Bean Machine," she said, "P-please come with me." she said, taking them over to a table. Ben and Claire didn't require any further instruction, and took a seat as the barista turned to look at Ben. "Can I take your order?" she asked, putting on a friendly smile in an attempt to not seem slightly intimidated by the duo. Ben's eyes darted over to Claire, and their eyes met for a single second. '[i]...Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp...[/i]' "He's mute." Claire said quickly, waving it off. "He'll just have a water, if that's okay." she said for him, winking to Ben. "And for you?" the waitress asked, continuing the order. "I'll just have a Mocha, if that's alright." she said. The waitress nodded and hurried off a little too quickly. "What was her problem?" Claire mumbled, to which Ben shrugged, too busy drawing with crayons on his napkin to pay that much mind to it. He normally preferred to make his own coffee if he had it with coffee beans he grew himself, but he didn't exactly have the proper ingredients and tools necessary to make some for his wife himself like he normally could. That and Pink wasn't here to boil water for him, so he'd have to figure out how to effectively use a coffee maker. He briefly wondered what the girl was doing back in Texas. Hopefully not killing his Chickens. It'd be on like Donkey Kong if that were the case. Claire watched Ben for a moment, before standing up. "I'm gonna go socialize a bit, see if there's anything interesting going on. I'm sure you dont want to spend another night playing Apples to Apples with my parents." She said, giving Ben a shit eating smirk. Ben shivered. Her parents made everything a sex joke. The green card was 'Easy', and what does her mom do with her blank card? She makes it 'the girl behind the dumpster'. There wasn't a word in the english dictionary that could properly describe how accosted he was, and how hard Claire had laughed at his expression. "Just come get me when it's here." She said, giving him a small smile before standing up and walking off. She ended up over by the door going through a pamphlet on the locations in Black Fall, where to visit, what to sight see, etc. However, her attention was drawn away when a couple to her left began talking about the meta human condition. Something she was knowledgeable in that wasn't Botany! "Sorry to interrupt and listen into your conversation," Claire said, taking a step closer to Baron and Holly. "But I couldn't help but overhear that last bit, about how you'd conceive 'the meta human condition'," she said, "I, uh, I'm a meta human myself, so I might be able to shed a little light." She said. "Basically it can be inherited, I think there are a few bloodlines around that have a reoccurring pattern like..." she said, trailing off and thinking about the research Ben and herself did as a couple when she was diagnosed. "... Like the Blackmore family!" she said finally, "Usually it's sporadic and you're born with it, like my husband, and more often then not it manifests itself in the early teen years, but for some it can can be conceived through excess interaction and exposure to meta human energy. It's how I developed my ability." she said. "When I was diagnosed by a NEST agent, my husband and I did a lot of research on that kind of thing on why I suddenly had to be put on NEST monitor duty now instead of much earlier in my life." she said. She snapped her fingers. "Oh, I'm Claire by the way. And you two are?" Ben looked over momentarily at Claire as to keep track of where she was so he wasn't aimlessly walking around with her drink like an idiot, and saw her speaking to another tall, dark haired, green eyed man, and another, much younger woman, average height and blonde haired. She was conservatively dressed, but she wasn't what got his initial attention. It was the fact that there was a male and female version of Claire at one table and he did not think that he had traveled interdimensionally through one of Claire's portals and come out in some alternate, gender-bent dimension. He shook his head furiously and returned his shakey attention to the napkin and crayons and continued to draw with a shakey and sweaty hand. If he ignored the problem it would go away, at least until Claire's coffee got here.