Participants:
Scene Title | It Takes Two |
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Synopsis | Jacob, apparently, doesn't ever watch where he's going. Aidan is the casualty this time, along with Jacob's suit. Grace just watches. |
Date | August 30, 2008 |
Though it's less than two miles square, Chinatown is home to some quarter of a million residents. Cramped, ancient tenements are the norm, though the fourty-four story Confucious Plaza standing at the corner of Bowery and Division does boast luxurious accommodations by comparison. Mulberry Street, Canal Street, and East Broadway are home to streetside green grocers and fishmongers, and Canal Street also boasts an impressive array of Chinese jewelry shops.
It's an early Saturday evening, and in Chinatown, that means there are all kinds of people out an about on the streets. Aidan is making his way through the crowd looking more like a college student than anything with a backpack on his back and casual clothes on his body. He's got one of the little white cartons that just scream Chinese food in one hand. And with the other he's using a pair of chopsticks to fish out noodles. Eating and walking is not known to be one of the best ways to pay attention to where you're going.
Being inattentive tends to lead to consequences. The consequences for this instance of Aidan's negligence begin with a collision between people - Aidan himself and another pedestrian, a tall man in a dark suit. It's pretty sudden. Jacob happens to take a step back from a puddle while the younger man takes a step forward, and.. well. A simple side-trip to pick up a takeout menu from a new restaurant becomes yet another soon-to-be trip to the dry cleaning place down the street, because his suit is soon splattered with sauce and noodles. Never being a particularly calm-minded man, as soon as the lawyer gets over a temporary bout of shock he whirls on Aidan, barking out "Mind where you're going, you idiot!"
One such person out and about is Grace. The young woman has a lightweight brown jacket on over blue jeans, striding purposefully down the street. The perceptive might notice the handgun concealed under said jacket — but everyone's busy staring at the two men who just collided. Grace shakes her head slightly as the older one starts yelling, one corner of her lips pulling back in a hint of a smile — only to blink as she realizes she's seen the younger one before. That causes the woman to pause. Huh.
Aidan falls flat on his bottom, the box knocked totally out of his hands. It's almost a comical spray of noodles and chopsticks into the air. The sudden yelling makes him clap a hand to one ear as he tries to regain his feet. "Sorry. I didn't expect anyone to step into me." He says simply, though the tone he uses is a bit odd, missing some of the normal amount of expression. A noodle hangs gracefully off of his glasses as he looks over to the yelling man with a blink.
"Oaf." Were Jacob a more violent man, he'd probably go so far as to give Aidan a sound kick in the side. He doesn't, but he also makes absolutely no move to help the other man back to a standing position. He peers down at the tech worker with clear disdain, then lifts one hand to start scraping noodles off of his clothing. Incidentally, a few of the removed foodstuffs end up being flung from the tips of his fingers towards Aidan. "Who walks around with an open carton of food?"
Grace doesn't seem to be in any hurry to help Aidan up, either. Maybe because she's a few people back in the knot that's hovering around the pair. Maybe because she doesn't know Aidan quite /that/ well. It doesn't keep her subtle smile from broadening, just a bit. "It takes two to walk into each other," the woman points out, her voice harsh and grating, perhaps as rocks might sound if they were to speak.
"Someone who is very hungry." Aidan says towards Jacob. He's snappy, but not loud yet. He finally makes it to his feet and starts to peel noodles off. "You keep flinging them at me, I'll fling them right back." He states before he signs something. And likely it wouldn't be something horribly nice in translation. He glances over to Grace at the sound of his voice. There's a recognition of having seen her before in his eyes.
It does take two to tango, but that's not something that Jacob's going to be admitting any time soon. A quick dirty look in Grace's direction is the only response he gives her. Rather than continue to waste his time on the street, the lawyer simply shoves forward and moves past Aidan to step into the crosswalk just as the 'WALK' signal appears. In all likelihood he'll be crankier than usual for the rest of the evening.
The glower is met with a grin — or at least, what expression passes for a grin on Grace's face. She's clearly not bothered by his displeasure. The few other people who were watching the scene are reminded that /they/ too have places to be. As they scatter, Grace moves in closer to Aidan. "Nothing broken, right?" The humor that isn't really evident in her voice glints in blue eyes.
Aidan sends a nasty look and a wonderful piece of single digit sign language after Jacob when he's shoved before he turns to look at Grace in time to catch what she says. He takes his classes off to clean them on the inside of his t-shirt as he replies. "Just my pride. Everything else seems to be in as good of working order as before." There's a scrape on one elbow, but nothing major.
The gesture is met with a small chuckle. "Ah, well. That can recover quickly enough." So Grace thinks, anyway. Tilting her head to one side, she catches sight of the hearing aid wire — oh, right. She forgot about that detail. The young woman glances down the street in Jacob's wake, then back to Aidan, making sure he's looking at least mostly her way before continuing. "I hope that wasn't all your dinner he got on his suit." A beat. "Or maybe I do."
Aidan sticks his glasses back on with a smile towards Grace. "I just wish it had all gotten on him and not on me. I said sorry. He didn't have to be such a pompous fool about it." Aidan leans down to pick up the container and sighs. "Pretty much all of it, yeah." He sighs before he looks over. "I know you. You sat beside me in the waste of time training, right?" He looks over to her face as he waits for her answer.
Grace inclines her head. "I don't think I'd even dignify it as a 'waste of time'. It was somewhere way, way below that." Blue eyes consider the face opposite her, and draw a blank. "If we were introduced, I have to admit I forgot. I'm Grace," she supplies, automatically offering a handshake.
Aidan finds a cleaner patch of his jeans to wipe his hand on before he takes Grace's in a handshake. "I don't know why they feel the need to train us in things we learned by middle school." He states before he says. "I'm Aidan. I'm not sure we ever were introduced."
In response, Grace shrugs a shoulder. "I don't think I knew -quite- that much in middle school, but I do get the point." She gestures towards the street around them. "Pleased to meet you. Do you have somewhere to be, by any chance?"
Aidan smiles. "I probably didn't either. Not until high school at least." He jokes looking around quickly before his eyes are back on her face. "I was on my way home, probably to read. But now I don't have food to eat on the way, so no. No where in particular."
Grace nods. "Well, it seems to me we ought to fix that part. The not having food," she adds by way of clarification. Blue eyes flick over the surrounding buildings, though Grace make sure she's looking back at Aidan before she resumes speaking. "C'mon. There's a good place over there. The books can wait, right?"
Aidan pretends to ponder that before he nods. "The books will wait." Grace gets a quick smile for the fact that she looked at him before talking before he takes off the direction she suggested, watching where he is going this time. "Food is a good thing. Fixes empty stomachs."
"Then let's see about fixing something /other/ than computers, for once," Grace says with a chuckle. She keeps pace with Aidan, and also keeps an eye out so nothing else collides with them, as they head over into the shop.
August 28th: Collision |
August 31st: Leaky Pipes |