[hr][i][h1][color=aqua]Jennifer Caspin[/color], & [color=darkslateblue]Reed Taylor[/color].[/h1][/i][i](In collaboration with [@Mr Allen J])[/i][hr]
[i][u]Greencrest Heights, White Coast.[/u][/i]


Even after handing the man his coffee... Jennifer still had trouble with the rest of her day. She was troubled - Haunted even - by the past. Some people could just move on from things like Verthaven like it was nothing... It made Jennifer jealous of their personal strength. Perhaps.... Perhaps if her past is bothering her so much, she should just take off for the day. Even though she's been working here for a few months now, she can afford one day off when her mental problems are especially bothering her.

A sigh escaped her lips as she walked back over to Rexx.

"H-hey, Rexx?" Jennifer said to catch his attention.

"Yeah, Jen?"

"Tell Kenny that I'm taking the rest of the day off... I seriously can't get my head around things." Jennifer said as she leaned up against the wall.

"Alright, alright, take care now." Rexx said, waving Jennifer off.

At that moment, Jennifer looked down at her cafe uniform... she didn't have time to run back to Prince Edfield and change. She quickly went into the back room, and grabbed her snow white hoodie and threw it on as she made it outside. The first thing she noticed was the fresh air... untainted by the coffee of the air.

Who could she talk to now? Cindy was busy, Meifeng's in another country... She's still a little afraid to face Haruka. She doesn't have too many close and personal friends. Maybe... yeah, she's willing to give him a shot. She dug into her pocket, and wrestled out her phone, and searched through her contacts.

[i]Reed Taylor[/i]

She pressed call, and put it against her ear.

It rang for a few seconds, then a few more, then [i]finally[/i] a voice picked up.

"This is Taylor, who is it?"

Jennifer was oddly silent for a few moments.

"... It's Jennifer."  She said. "I've wanted to ask if you had some time to... you know, talk."

"Oh, Jen? Hang on a sec," Reed replied, before she heard some movement in the background. "Yeah, yeah I can talk. Like, on the phone or face to face?"

"In person... you know, face to face." Jennifer said.

"Sure, where are you, exactly?"

"I'm right outside my job...." Jennifer looked over her shoulder and then read the sigh. "You know... the [i]Thanks a Latte Coffee Bar[/i]... Awful name, I know"

That prompted an amused snort, from Reed's end "Yeah, but that's how everyone knows the place. Actually, that's right around the corner from my place, fourth building on the left if you give me a couple of minutes."

"Alright... I'll be waiting outside...."

[hr]

Reed opened the door for Jennifer, and she had stepped inside his apartment with her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. This was the first time she'd ever been in here... she just had to give it a look over.

The apartment was about normal by Greencrest's standards, not entirely box-sized but relatively compact. Hell of a difference from Quentin's old condo back in Verthaven. The kitchen and living spaces were in the same room, with a single counter and hardwood floor set in place to establish divide. 

It was furnished well enough, nobody could deny that - pressed against the wall closest to the door was the TV, with a reasonably sized couch across from it and a small glass table inbetween. By the looks of the bedsheets on the couch, somebody had been making use of it well enough.

Decorating the walls were a couple of framed film posters, signed by their respective stars, along with statuettes of the Terminator and Predator standing on the shelves. It was an easy guess who these had once belonged to - photos of Reed's few family members were placed around as well, the old man among them.

The place where Jennifer gravitated was the couch. She sat down on it, and crossed her legs. Keeping her hands in her pockets. "Uh... Thank you for letting me in." She awkwardly said.

"Sure, this place only gets two other visitors anyway," Reed nodded, "Sorry about the mess."

"I don't mind." Jennifer said... and realizing that there was a mess in the first place. She shook her head at her lack of observation. Her mind was on her troubles, and getting them off the chest. "I just been having... troubles lately. I just keep thinking about the past... more than usual now."

Pulling up a chair from the kitchen counter, Reed took his seat and looked at her for a moment, before answering, "It happens. I know someone else who has that as well. What's on your mind?"

"I'm... having like these flashes back to Verthaven.... the moment where... you know...." Jennifer looked off to the side, referring to the moment where Luis showed her dead family to her. "I've always been having these thoughts... but, now, it feels so [i]overwhelming.[/i]"

Reed paused again, reminded of Quentin's own demons. "I did, sometimes. For a little while. Bring here helped me get past it. Put things in the past. Still hurts a little, but it doesn't consume me. I know it's hard, but you've gotta put things in the past or it'll eat you up. I know because I'm seeing it happen to someone else."

"I..." Jennifer trailed off. "... I know... but, it's so hard. What happened... it hurts too much."

"You can't change what happened, Jen. Wasn't your fault, no more than any of ours," Reed countered, "And the people who.. who took things from us are [i]dead[/i]. Gone. It hurts, but you can move on."

"You're... right...." Jennifer agreed - even though she has recieved this kind of speech several different times. "I can't ever forget about the past, but the only thing I can do is keep moving forward.... lest I...." She stopped herself there.

"You don't have to forget," Reed tried to console her, "But like I said, you get too focused on it and it'll tear you apart. It's happened to Quent too, still is. He might not show it but... I know."

Nodding her head, Jennifer silently agreed with what Reed said. However, there was more she wanted to discuss. "Oh, and another thing," Jennifer said, she most certainly had more to discuss. "I've been gone for... too long. Far too long. I want to know about some of the things I missed. I mean... everyone progressed so much it's... [i]frightening[/i]." 

"Think how we felt when we saw you." Reed remarked. It'd been like staring at a ghost.

"I didn't-" Jennifer stopped herself, before keeping her mouth shut. What she wanted to say was: [i]I didn't make any[/i] real [i]changes.[/i]

"Sorry, didn't mean anything by it. It's... a lot to take in for the both of us." Reed apologised, not having meant anything by it. "You've barely aged."

"That's regeneration for you." Jennifer said, trying to change the subject.

"Where to start... after Verthaven, I was out of a job. No idea where I'd go, then Quent offered me a job. I was... had reservations about it at first, until he offered to mske me like him. A metahuman. To keep up with him." Reed chuckled a little bit at his own statement.

"He did that...?" Jennifer asked. "What... what power did he give you?"

That promoted a reluctant answer, "Same as yours."

"Oh?" Jennifer quickly put two and two together, and merely shrugged. "What happened from there?" 

"I came to Baybridge with Quent and all the others, started training right around the time NEST was being set up for an early grave. It helped being, being a cop and all, but by the time I was out they stuck me in DOVE as an investigator. Cindy joined not too long afterwards."

She heard about the end of NEST - and the rise of both RAVEN and DOVE - and she wondered how that worked. "What's DOVE like...? I haven't had any experience with them... but a little bit with RAVEN...." She looked off to the side.

Reed flexed a couple of his fingers for a moment. "On paper," he began, "DOVE handles the legal and social aspects of the metahuman community. Keeps track of kids, helps the troubled ones, deals with people who might have issues. It's not as heavy handed as NEST used to deal with things. Half of my job is at a desk, the other half is case work and other things. We work with BPD- the police department on any ongoing cases and assist them when we need it."

"That's great... I feel bad I couldn't catch up myself, but everyone's been so busy," Jennifer said. She was trying her best to stay out of everyone's way, honestly. She didn't want to step on anyone's toes just as she did with the Takashiro twins. "What about the others... you know? Like, the people who survived Verthaven, how are they doing?" She was already told about Quentin and Reed, but she wanted to know about everyone else.

That was a long story, but he might as well have said it if nobody else had. "Quentin, as you know, was one of the founding agents of RAVEN. Meifeng went through training and joined up with him the moment she finished things up. I know those two are pretty close, Quent's said nothing but good about her, so take for what you will. Her Mom retired and teaches at the academy just outside town. Cindy joined up with DOVE, she's more a case worker but she gets her hands in it. Got her pilot's license, too."

He continued, after a brief pause. "The Twins, uh... Shizuka joined up with RAVEN. Haruka's spent some time at the academy, I think. Both have come a long way. Funny thing, Shizu actually saved Quent's ass back in Verthaven, so in a way I owe the kid."

Everyone reaching their hopes and dreams... while Jennifer is here, stagnating. She almost hung her head, but kept her mouth shut. "I'm so glad everyone's alright... I'm going to try my best to... get back into the loop... you know, stop being such a stranger."

"Look," Reed could pick up on her self-doubt, "You've been away. That happens. It'll take some time for you to get used to things, but don't beat yourself up over it."

The girl smiled.

"I won't. I'll do my best." 

Jennifer felt much better after having this conversation.

"Oh, and I wanted to ask you," Jennifer started off. "Are you... are you going to that fair tonight? he Harvest Festival, I think it's called."

"Eh, probably-" Reed's voice was cut off by a faint mewling sound coming from behind Jen. Before she had a chance to look, a ginger tabby cat jumped onto the couch and made itself a bed in the pile of discarded bedsheets next to her.

Jennifer was surprised by the cat... Thankfully, she had no cat allergy (Or it was negated by her power). "Oh, you have a cat?" She asked. "What's... his name?"

"She's Cassie. Don't mind her, she thinks she owns the place." Reed smiled, leaning forward to get a view of her. "Good company, most of the time. Quent seems to like her."

Jennifer's hand drifted towards the cat slowly, as she stroked the cat's body from neck to the base of her tail. The cat purred in response to her gentle grasp. "She's... nice." Jennifer said.

"Unless she's hungry. Has a thing for chewing on fingers when she's hungry. Good alarm clock, though. Anyway, about the fair? Yeah, I was probably gonna head down."

"I'm going to go...." Jennifer said, she was unsure of whether or not she was going to go, but now that she's certain that somebody she knows is going, she's definite. "Anyways... I hope it's not too much to ask, but can you drop me off at the bus stop? I'm going to head back to Cindy's apartment to change."

"I'll give you a ride to her place, no point screwing around waiting on the bus." Reed offered. "Just let me grab my keys."

Jennifer nodded her head.