Participants:
Scene Title | Don't Trip! |
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Synopsis | Too late. He already did. |
Date | May 23, 2009 |
Central Park has been, and remains, a key attraction in New York City, both for tourists and local residents. Though slightly smaller, approximately 100 acres at its southern end scarred by and still recovering from the explosion, the vast northern regions of the park remain intact.
An array of paths and tracks wind their way through stands of trees and swathes of grass, frequented by joggers, bikers, dog-walkers, and horsemen alike. Flowerbeds, tended gardens, and sheltered conservatories provide a wide array of colorful plants; the sheer size of the park, along with a designated wildlife sanctuary add a wide variety of fauna to the park's visitor list. Several ponds and lakes, as well as the massive Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, break up the expanses of green and growing things. There are roads, for those who prefer to drive through; numerous playgrounds for children dot the landscape.
Many are the people who come to the Park - painters, birdwatchers, musicians, and rock climbers. Others come for the shows; the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Delacorte Theater, the annual outdoor concert of the New York Philharmonic on the Great Lawn, the summer performances of the Metropolitan Opera, and many other smaller performing groups besides. They come to ice-skate on the rink, to ride on the Central Park Carousel, to view the many, many statues scattered about the park.
Some of the southern end of the park remains buried beneath rubble. Some of it still looks worn and torn, struggling to come back from the edge of destruction despite everything the crews of landscapers can do. The Wollman Rink has not been rebuilt; the Central Park Wildlife Center remains very much a work in progress, but is not wholly a loss. Someday, this portion of Central Park just might be restored fully to its prior state.
Alec runs five miles a day, every day without fail. It's his time to decompress, to let his mind wander and occasionally locate answers to problems he can't suss out by focusing on them tightly. This morning he missed his run, so this afternoon he's taking a long lunch and cranking the miles out. Everyone has a therapy, this happens to be his. Alec is not a 'jogger', he runs, his feet pounding the pavement with rhythmic precision, lulling him into something of a trance.
It's a Saturday afternoon, and thus no work. She did put in a little time at the lab earlier, but that was mid-morning. Hours ago. The woman checks her watch as she nears Central Park. 12:30. Maria's course changes, bringing her to a tree near the path Alec is taking, and there she descends from the sky as lightly as a feather does. An exposed branch which looks sturdy enough to hold 130 pounds is selected, one without many leaves to be in the way and obscure her view. She'll alight there without a care in the world about how public all this is. On her back is a messenger bag which contains lunch.
Alec isn't the clumsy type, but the triple take caused by the Bird Woman (a name his mind automatically slaps to the tree sitting flyer) and her decent is enough to throw off anyone. Stumble. STUMBLE. Faceplant. He sprawls out beneath the tree on the running path, his chest heaving, and groans. "Ow." he tells the asphalt unhappily.
Once seated on her chosen branch, she slides the messenger bag around and extracts a sandwich along with a bottle of cola. Proceeding to eat, Maria doesn't appear to be paying much attention to things going on around her. There are people in the park, it being a warm and sunny Saturday. Some of them notice Maria's landing and give the tree a wide berth, they've seen her before and just think she's odd. Others grumble and curse about freaks, and still more just shrug it off. She, for her part, seems so entirely used to it all.
But she does eventually look down at the sprawled jogger and ask "Are you injured?"
Alec sits up slowly, "Well my pride has suffered a mortal wound, I fear for its continued survival, beyond that however? I don't think so." he checks himself over, "Little road rash." he touches his cheek and hisses, "Gonna sting for a bit." he glances up, "Mostly I blame you." his tone and the crooked smile suggest teasing.
She lets out a quiet laugh. "Really? The way you laid out, I might think you never saw a flying woman before." Maria bites into the sandwich and chews carefully, watching him for the moment.
Alec shakes his head, "Not true. Ursa, from Superman II? Loved that movie as a kid." he stands and starts to brush himself off, "So, this isn't a halucination? You understand I have to ask."
"I saw that once, on a movie channel," Maria replies. And she laughs again. "My first reaction was to wonder why the humanized Clark didn't just make his way back to civilization, tell the President where to find some of those nice green rocks, and go back to comfortably shagging Lois." The sandwich is lifted, and bitten again. Ham and cheese. Good stuff.
Alec chuckles, "Because he was an idiot." Alec states plainly, "Personally I always thought that was silly. Of course, Lois wasn't that hawt, maybe it was an excuse to /not/ shag her anymore."
While she enjoys that bite, the answer is mulled over. Once her mouth is empty Maria offers "I'll buy that." Then her head tilts. "I still think it's like you've never seen a flying woman outside the movies."
Alec shrugs, "Havn't." he points out. "I wonder. Do you burn calories doing that? I mean, is it like swimming? A good way to stay in shape, or is it just lazy costing you no calories and easier then walking?" he scritches his stubbled chin. "Have you ever run into a bird?"
"It takes fuel, like anything else," Maria answers, not seeming troubled at all to discuss this. "I carry energy bars if I'm up for a long time. No birds run into, though." The food is raised again, just before biting she adds "I have camped out next to an eagle's nest a few times."
Alec just shakes his head, "And they don't peck out your eyes because…?" he asks, "Huh. Seems cool to fly." he grins more, "Now you have me paranoid. I fly helicopters for fun on occasion, now I have to watch out for you /and/ birds."
"Because I'm bigger than an eagle and I'd break its neck," she deadpans. "It helps too that I'm not interested in their eggs. Just the freedom of being able to get up there without tricky and dangerous climbing."
A touch of curiosity settles in. "So you're a pilot."
Alec shrugs, "I'm an engineer, but I took flying lessons because, well… who doesn't want to fly?" he grins, "I do the flying thing now as a way to get away from it all. I sail and race motorcycles too. If it moves, I can drive it more or less. Everyone has to have a hobby right?" he grins.
"Maybe that's why you seem to get it," the branch percher speculates. "You fly, so you understand why someone not needing a machine would do it in the open and in broad daylight."
Alec chuckles, "Or it could be that I'm completely out of my mind, which is why we understand one another." he points out. "All the same I suppose."
"Some risks a person just has to take. Fear won't end if we hide: we'll be afraid of most people, and they'll never get over it because they don't see us going about our business peacefully everyday just like they do." Maria bites in again.
Alec smiles, "How ever altruistic of you. I've always just sort of been the live and let live type." he shrugs and looks around, "Does make it hard to have a conversation with another person though when you're all the way up there. Might give the impression you don't want to be social."
"I'm talking, aren't I? I could easily say you don't want to be social because you didn't climb up." Maria flashes a smile, and consumes another segment of the food in hand. Then there's a drink of cola.
Alec snorts a bit at that, "Perhaps, but then traditionally I'm not the one putting myself above my fellow man by being up a tree to begin with." he points out, "Besides, I just fell while running, climbing seems to risky right now."
"It's also a really good seat. How can you ask me to give it up?" Maria continues to eat, she's now about halfway through the sandwich. The bird analogy seems to apply well; not only does she fly, she enjoys occupying trees too. One might wonder, were it not for her appearance of cleanliness and clothing in good repair if she'd made a nest for herself somewhere in the park.
Alec laughs, "Because I'm an ass." he says freely, "But I am charming so it works out okay for me." he eyes the food but that's it, he doesn't make any cracks. Yet.
"Maybe," she states. Maybe what? Maybe an ass, maybe charming? It's not spoken with unpleasantness, but she also isn't elaborating. Was that a grin flashed before she sank teeth into the sandwich again?
Alec just seems amused, "You like to be cryptic doncha." he says with a grin, "So, what do you do other then fly around and nibble on sandwhiches? I assume flying can't make for much of a living in general."
"I baffle men who run in parks and trip when they see flying women out to enjoy lunch at Central Park," Maria informs him with a laugh. "I make them wonder and question. Maybe they'll learn more someday. Maybe not. But I know where they like to run now."
Alec laughs softly, "Perhaps. Or perhaps they only run here because it is close to where they were working that day. Perhaps they are mobile. Perhaps it's harder to find them then that."
She just smiles. Finding people, she knows, can be so much easier when one has a bird's-eye, or birdwoman's-eye, view.
Alec grins as well, because he works in an office building or in a hard hat, makes him hard to spot from on high, and he can just imagine what she's thinking. He turns to go, "Enjoy your lunch beautiful. I've got a run to finish unless you wish to come with me."
"Don't trip," Maria advises playfully. "See you around." More eating. And she could be watching to check out his backside as he resumes the athleticism.
Alec does indeed resume his run with a grin… and he has a nice backside! He doesn't start slow, he jumps straight to the running, his feet moving hard and fast.