2025-07-08 - It Came From The Turning Leaf Roof

It's another beautiful warm day on Crescent Island, late afternoon where it's not quite the heat of midday but not quite cooled down yet as the sun is still fairly high in the sky. There are a few folks coming and going, as there almost always is, going off to the other islands for their shifts or coming back, perhaps from a late lunch at Nora's. Michael is on his way back to his apartment over in Turning Leaf with one of those reusable grocery shopping bags slung over one shoulder with some things he picked up at Tarjay.

Cooper has finally taken his foot off the proverbial gas. His first few months in the park were full of picking up as many shifts as they'd let him and working as much overtime as he could. After months of that, he finally has enough money in the bank to feel slightly less insecure.

Which is why he is not on his way anywhere - and certainly not to work. He's just enjoying the evening as he strolls leisurely as he sips on the iced coffee he's carrying. It was strange to turn down a shift, but he really is trying to slow down the world a little.

Michael spots Cooper as he's walking along the sidewalk with his iced coffee and lifts a hand in a bit of a wave. "Heya," he says. "How's it going?" He remembers him from the beach not that long ago. "They letting you take a break finally?" He's not in uniform, so it may be a day off or he may have just already had an early shift, himself. He's just in jeans and a brick red t-shirt with a white button-down left open over it.

Cooper sees a lot of park employees every day, so it takes him a moment to place Michael. His brow furrows, then he snap-points. "Hot dog guy, right? The bonfire? Hey, man." Then he shrugs at the question, a hand going into the pocket of his cargo shorts. He's wearing a brown tank top with an open short-sleeved button-up patterned with alternating colourful parasols. He sucks air between his teeth and grins as he sweeps his hair out of his face. "The no-break thing was my choice. But yeah, I just turned down my first double in...months. Feels weird."

Michael chuckles. There are worse things to be remembered as. "Yeah, the bonfire," he confirms. "I bet," he says, "After doing so many." He seems about to say something else when there's a bit of shouting somewhere nearby. Glancing around, he tries to see where it's coming from, but after a moment or two, it becomes apparent that whoever is shouting is doing so from the roof of the nearby building. Glancing up, he frowns slightly, trying to determine whether it's someone just playing or an actual genuine problem.

Cooper's attention is drawn to the roof as well. He glances up and squints, then lifts one hand to shield his eyes. "What's going on, do you think? Is someone having a rooftop knife fight or something?"

"Probably not," Michael says. "There isn't a whole lot of violence on the island, not usually anyway. Probably just someone mes..." and then suddenly someone can be seen being pushed back against the edge of the roof, their elbow bumping against a potted plant and sending it over the side.

Michael's hands come up defensively and his magic flares into a kind of translucent bubble in the air which the pot hits and slides right off onto the ground, still breaking open, but at least not hitting either one of them. "HEY!" he shouts up toward the roof.

"SORRY!" is shouted back from above.

"Well.. not a knife.."

"Holy shit!" exclaims Cooper as he staggers backwards as the plant topples off the roof. His eyes go wide as he witnesses Michael's power slowing the pot's descent. "Whoah...that's...you doing that?"

Then the shock wears off and he yells back to the people on the roof. "Sorry?! That thing could've killed someone! Jesus!"

He looks back at Michael, eyes wide. "That was sick."

Michael takes a breath or two and surveys the shattered pot for a moment before he says, "I can ward things. It makes kind of a bubble of protection. The plant just kind of crashed into it but didn't go through. I can make them kind of general or really specific, depending on what I want to do and for how long." There was no slowing involved, that plant just careened off the near-invisible bubble.

He looks over at Cooper then and asks, "You alright?" Just making sure. He knows that nothing should have hit him, but he asks anyway.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm fine, I'm fine," says Cooper. He stares at the shards of the broken pot, then at Michael. "I bet that comes in real handy at work, huh? Not me. I didn't get anything to help me rewire a fuse box or fix a cotton candy machine."

He takes one last sip of the coffee, then tosses it in the garbage before he leans over to start gathering up the broken shards of the plant's pot. Seems even off-duty, his instinct is still to fix things.

"What'd you get?" Michael asks, trying to remember if they'd ever really spoken about their abilities or not. Then he admits, "It can be, yeah. As long as I can react fast enough, I can prevent a lot of accidents from happening. Or I can make sure things don't get in or out of where they oughtn't." When Cooper goes about collecting the pieces, he sets his bag down off to one side and helps to gather them together. The plant? Well, the plant and its roots are still attached to some dirt. He sets that to the side. "Wonder if we could just uh, plant it down here.. I'm not a plantomancer though." Apparently what he calls people with plant influence.

So, the shouting has attracted the notice not just of Cooper and Michael, but certain other inhabitants of the island. Including some that live in Turning Leaf. There's the sound of barking as a brindle Malinois comes racing around the side of the building, stick in his mouth. He's followed by the rest of the pack, including the big black German Shepherd at the rear of the little cavalcade.

Michael's someone they've met, so they head for him as if sure of their welcome. The Malinois heads over to show off his stick, even as the Malamute tries to grab it from him. The Shepherd, however, is diverted by what's going on on the roof.

Abruptly, there's a voice in their minds, as if a third person were whispering in their ear. <<What was all that about. Y'all know?>>

"That's a thing? Seriously?" Cooper stands and uses his foot to search for more shards. "Plantomancy. Does that mean there are people who can make plants grow and shit?" He walks over to the garbage can and dumps in the shards he's collected.

The question of his ability makes him clam up a little. "Uh, just...nothing useful. Not like preventing death by planter."

But then there are lots of dogs, which is not unusual. But the voice in his head? Yeah, that's a new one. He spins around, searching for the source of the voice. "Man...this place gets weirder every day."

When Joker comes tearing around the corner with his stick, Michael grins at the familiar face and the pack that follows close behind. "Heya, Joker," he says, "Nice stick." Crouching down, he offers pets and scritches to whichever of the dogs seem interested in attention at the moment. The poor plant is left sitting in the dirt for the time being. The voice in his head is unusual, but he can do that trick, too, so he studies the Shepherd for a moment, the only member of 'the pack' that he hasn't met, at least not in this shape. "Some folks messing around on the roof, knocked a pot over." He nods toward the remnants that Cooper just disposed of.

"Yeah," he then says to Cooper, "There are folks who can make plants grow." He studies him for a moment when Cooper clams up, one brow rising just a little. But he shrugs, not one to really push if someone doesn't want to talk about something.

It's a sign of Joker's high esteem for Michael that Michael is permitted to take the stick from him. The rest of the pack is turning their attention to Cooper, though. Two Shibas, one white, one black, a gray and white Malamute, and an enormous black Newfoundland all gather around him, tails wagging.

The black Shepherd sits down, waves a forepaw at Cooper. <<It's me you're hearing,>> clarifies that voice, cheerfully. <<I'm Danny Kimball. Usually I'm wearin' my human outfit, but these furry miscreants wanted some playtime. Hey, Michael.>>

No matter how much people tend to reassure him that people won't be put off by his power, Cooper still doesn't tend to talk about it or use it casually like others do. Fortunately the arrival of several normal dogs and one...talking? dog is a very good distraction.

"Uh, hey guys. There are a lot of you." He smiles nervously. He's not afraid of them but he doesn't seem to quite know what to do. He holds his hands out, palms up, but doesn't try to pet them. "My dad hated dogs so he wouldn't let them around the garage growing up."

He squints at the shepherd and tilts his head. "Uh. Oh...oh hey. I'm Cooper." That's two...three? New powers he's learned about in the last few minutes.

Michael takes the stick when Joker presents it to him and balances it in his hand for a moment and then he gives it a good toss out into the open grass where the dogs can chase after it and once more begin the pursuit of the stick. Dusting off his hands, he straightens up and slides his hands into his pockets, his attention shifting back to Danny and Cooper as Danny does the introductions. "Hey," he grins. Then he tells Cooper, "That's Beren," the Malamute, "And that's Kuma and Kiko," he points out the Shibas, Kiko being the little white one. "And the big one is Ursula. She's a sweetheart. But if she falls asleep on your lap, you're not going anywhere for a while." He speaks from experience. "They're all very friendly," he assures Cooper.

Then he chuckles and says, "I can do that too." He nods toward Danny. "Shift into animals."

There's an odd sort of blurring motion, even as the swirl of dogs runs after the stick. The black Shepherd does not - suddenly there's a tall blonde man there, in dark jeans and a white t-shirt, blonde hair left in tousled disarray. He favors Cooper with a grin as he comes forward, offering his hand.

"Hey there. And yeah, they're all real sweet." Michael gets a bright-eyed look. "What's your favorite to turn into?" he wonders of Michael.

"Uh...h...hi. Sorry, that was...my eyes did a weird thing there." Cooper grins awkwardly and shakes Danny's hand. "That's wild. I mean, maybe not really compared to a lot of powers people have." He rests his hands awkwardly on his hips and seems to be considering something. He bites the edge of his lip. "Also that's a lot of dogs. They're all yours?"

He really does need to get out more.

"I think the horse, honestly," Michael admits when Danny retakes his two-legged form and asks which is his favorite to turn into. "Though I like the dog too. That was the first one that I discovered. For a while it was just those two, until I started experimenting with other things. But they're still my favorites."

"There's quite a few of them," Michael agrees with Cooper. "Some are incredibly useful and some are just.. fun."

The pack is still busily scrimmaging over the stick. Kuma breaks off part of it and goes racing away, which splits the group. Kiko and Joker follow him, while Ursula and Beren wrestle over what's left.

"All mine," Danny confirms. "I've got a canine circus act on the Midway. Those are the performers." To Michael, he notes, "For me, it's the birds or the seals and dolphins. Having new senses is just cool. I haven't hit the sweet spot with the bats yet. Most are too small."

"I can do stuff with cloth. Which I definitely falls under the useful category. Saves me a ton of money on clothes and laundry." Cooper is usually very outgoing and confident, but talking about powers has him feeling and acting rather awkward.

"Must be really weird to change into an animal. Can you guys do birds and fly? That'd be pretty wild."

"That's pretty cool," Michael says to Cooper, "Can you like, make whole costumes and things? Or repair them? I bet the costumers would love that."

Then he nods to Danny and to Cooper and says, "Yeah, pretty much any animal that we've seen enough to duplicate." He then says to Danny, "I ah.. haven't tried anything that can fly yet. I'm kind of afraid I'd crash into something. And nothing water-bound yet. I've mostly stuck to things that run around on the ground." It's his turn to be just a tiny bit awkward in his admission.

"I bet that's useful," Dan agrees. If he's noticed those hints of awkwardness, he gives no sign. Perhaps polite, perhaps just oblivious. "Can you make it change colors? How fast does it happen?"

Kuma's apparently had enough of the battle for the stick, coming over to sit down on Dan's feet. "Yeah. The changes in senses feels the weirdest to begin with. Like, a dog doesn't really see color like we do, but you can smell so much more....it's incredible."

His grin's a little bashful. "You're smarter than me there. I damn near broke my neck a few times before I mastered flight. Like a dumbass, I turned into a peregrine falcon first...which is like giving a new driver a Formula 1 car to learn on."

"Yeah, I think so. Potentially. I've had to research how clothes go together so I can actually make something wearable. Changing something I own is a lot easier though. It's damned useful for getting the grease stains out of my clothes, that's for sure."

Cooper hesitates, then, "I um, I can..." he clears his throat, "...shift too. Into other people, not animals."

Michael winces just a little and says, "Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. I might try it sometime. I just haven't worked up to it yet. I'm still getting comfortable with the ground-bound mammals."

When Cooper mentions it being able to get the grease stains out of clothes he says, "Oh damn, that is useful. I've had some stuff get wrecked that there was just no hope of saving. Wonder if that ability could have helped." Certainly far too late now for those long lost garments, but still.

"Now that one's really pretty damn cool," Michael says when Cooper mentions the people-shifting. "Lots of performers, I've noticed, have that one. Like a few of the mermaids in the lagoon. You seen them? And ah, there's that one woman who does the villains who can do that .. Leon? So many possibilities of what you can do with that."

The way Danny cocks his head at that revelation is a bird-like little motion. Like he's not at all sure he heard that correctly. "You can make yourself look like someone else?" he wonders. Curious, but not in the least dismayed by that idea. "I think that's the first time I've heard of that, actually."

Then he's peering at Michael. "I hadn't realized that," he admits, unhesitating. "That's honestly cool, isn't it?"

"I guess for performers. It's not much use for a guy who fixes busted machinery for a living though." Cooper gestures and then returns his hand to his pocket. He upnods at Michael. "If you have anything that needs saving, I can give it a try. I need to practice more with it anyway. It takes effort, unlike the people shifting thing which just...happens. It started off not that strong and then one day it just got really easy."

He nods at Danny and shifts a bit awkwardly from one foot to the other. "I can. Or just like...change things about myself. Or make up a new person. Useful with the cloth thing because otherwise I'd be Hulking out of my clothes or it'd fall off or something."

"That'd be awkward," Michael chuckles when Cooper mentions potentially hulking out of his clothes or them falling off. "I'm real fortunate my clothes just kind of.. go with me when I shift. I don't ask where or how. It's magic. I don't want to know. But at least I don't scandalize anybody when I change back."

It's clear that he's puzzling over potential uses for Cooper's ability in a non-performing capacity. "I guess if someone came looking for you and you wanted to avoid them you could just pretend to be someone else and be like, 'Sorry, man, he just left'," he suggests.

There is no stick left. Just little flakes of bark on the dogs' whiskers. Operation Stick Destruction has been concluded, so they come ambling back and start nosing at Danny. He pets them rather absentedly, looking between the other two men with a sly expression.

"See, that'd've been so useful," he says, "Back when I was in the military. I'd've caused so much trouble. Things like that." Joker takes Dan's hand in his mouth delicately and starts trying to lead him towards the corner of Turning Leaf that has the dog pen attached. "Someone," he says, voice dry, "Is trying to remind me that it's gonna be dinner time soon. Gents, if you'll excuse me...."

"Yeah, I could be real sneaky if I wanted to, I suppose. Or make a living as an internet model. Though," Cooper gives a winning smile, "I'd like to think I could do that now." It seems neither of them treating him with immediate suspicion has given him some of his confidence back.

He glances down at his watch. "I should be moseying on, too. I turned down a double but I still have an early shift in the AM."

Michael laughs as Joker comes to lead Danny home for dinner. "Good to see you, Danny. Have a good one." He lifts his hand in a wave and then reaches down to grab his bag of groceries, shouldering it once more. Fortunately there's nothing in there that's going to melt. "Good to see you too, Cooper. Have a good one. Try to enjoy the lack of doubles for a bit if you can." And then he too is off, to finally get his groceries home.