(Untitled)

[smileforaliving]

[New York City is all around him, a mixture of loud noise and constant movement. He's standing in the middle of the sidewalk, holding a piece of paper and scanning the crowd

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[waterfell]

Up here!

[There is a girl sitting on top of the wall, legs dangling over the side. She is not, however, Kate. She is a Japanese girl, or young woman, perhaps in her late teens.]

[waterfell]

Good. Because she kind of hates heroes.

"Doesn't matter," she says, though. "The end result is the same. You already know what you should do, right?"

[smileforaliving]

He has an appreciation for heroes in theory, after all, he's a man of the classics, but heroes are also the kinds of people who think it's a good idea for people like him to be behind bars.

He much prefers those who identify themselves as morally gray.

"Honestly?" He smiles bitterly. "In this second, I have no idea."

[waterfell]

"If she's that important, you get her back. This place seems a bit strange, don't you think? It just might respond."

[smileforaliving]

"It's New Yo--" But he stops, considering something for a moment. Was it New York? Was it really?

"Shit," he curses under his breath, looking around them. "What's going on? What---" he shakes his head.

"What do you mean respond?"

totally misread things, sorry

[waterfell]

"Who knows? Doesn't it feel like anything could happen?"

<333 It's fine, no worries at all

[smileforaliving]

He looks around uncomfortably. "Yeah," he starts carefully. "You could say that."

He slips his hands into his pockets, studying their surroundings. "How did you get here, really?"

Because there was no build up to the running, there was no cohesive timeline leading up to that chance, he was just going after Kate. Did things start the same with her?

[waterfell]

How? She shakes her head, and it dispels a little of that confident air.

"I was just here." She supposes she could explain the nexus, that this isn't the first time, but-

[smileforaliving]

He nods, considering that for a moment before he turns around and slams his hand into the wall.

And it hurts, it hurts like hell.

"Well," he says with a sharp breath, shaking his hand to try and relive t pain. "If it's a dream, it sucks eve more than I thought it would."

[waterfell]

"What are you doing?!" It catches her so off-guard that the reaction comes naturally and immediately. She grabs at Neal's hand to stop him.

[smileforaliving]

"Testing the reactions," he says with a pained smile. "You said it yourself. You aren't sure how the world reacts. If this is a dream, or...or something, I thought that maybe something besides the obvious might happen."

He cradles his hand. "Guess I was wrong."

[waterfell]

Ami stares at Neal, almost huffy, jaw tight.

Or perhaps making up her mind, because it's after a long moment of this that she says simply, "Give me your hand."

[smileforaliving]

He blinks, tilting his head at her. "Why," he says skeptically, though he's holding out his hand anyway.

"Am I going to regret this?"

[waterfell]

And she thought she was the cynic. It makes her give a quiet smile despite herself. She examines Neal's hand closely.

"Tell me if there's pain."

Unless it's injured, there shouldn't be; she takes the hand through its normal range of movement and resistance.

[smileforaliving]

He lets her do what she'd like, surprised by how easily hand moves. He was sure that it would hurt at least a little bit.

"We're good," he confirms with a nod of his head, not removing his hand from hers until she says.

[waterfell]

She smiles as she releases the hand. "Let me introduce myself again. Doctor Mizuno Ami."

It's probably good it wasn't injured; she's not so sure bandages and a splint would just appear for her.