Participants:
| Scene Title | Just a Walk in the Park |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Telepathic communication, breaking ice, and a lightning man! |
| Date | January 12, 2011 |
It's snowing in New York City.
The flakes descend from the heavens in a gentle fall, that yet stirs the dread of those who survived last year's disastrous storms that killed thousands and damaged buildings and businesses state-wide. Today, however, there's merely an inch or two shadowing the esplanade's greenery, icicles hanging off the fountains and little duck-ponds iced over with white. In a few more hours, the snow should be over, but the pale blankets will remain.
A fedora sits atop Richard Cardinal's head as he walks along the side of the park near the water, wrapped in a well-worn trenchcoat and with gloved fingers curled around a tall cup of coffee. Steam shrouds his face as he sips from it, passing the few folk who dared venture out to enjoy the snow. A painter set up near the railing, a few dog walkers, some teenagers trying to skate on a duck pond whose ice is entirely too thin for it - and laughing every time someone breaks through.
Life always goes on, in the Big Apple.
A certain Sven Petersonn is walking along with Cardinal, his hands stuffed in a fresh new trenchcoat. He looks around the park, definitely not an area of New York City he is familiar with, but it'll likely change over time. "So, Richard… can I call you Richard..?" He speaks after a while of silence, "I'd like to thank you again for helping me out like that… it's much appreciated. I managed to enter the coffee machine purposefully last evening."
Among those teenagers out on the ice is one Keagan Puika. Is it smart? No. Is it adventurous? Absolutely. He isn't wearing skates, he's just in his sneakers on the ice. What's worse is that he thinks it's a good idea to use a stick and break pieces of the ice. What could he be thinking? Ice flow boat. Yes, a brilliant plan by the ADHD trouble magnet.
So here he is, on his knees near the edge of the pond, where the ice is thick, stabbing away at the ice, picking through it one chop at a time. He takes a moment to wipe his brow beneath the wool knit cap. This is hard work.
Standing just behind Keagan is his girlfriend. She's watching what he's doing with a raised eyebrow, "Are you sure this is a good idea, Keagan?" She asks softly, "I mean… it seems like asking for trouble." Probably even more trouble than Anna is aware off, too. "I know I'm not going to stand atop that thing when you got it loose."
Nocturne Ziadie had been on a walk, more or less, but when he neared the pond, he turned his head. He's cleaned up a good bit since Keagan saw him last, too, and he makes his way over, standing about fifteen feet away to watch the teenager. "Going to use th' ice as an escape vehicle from aliens?" he calls out, leaning on his cane.
'Telepath coming through people! That's right, an Evo with the power to read your every thought, and broadcast her own to the masses.' The telepathic voice announces out to the people of the park like a loudspeaker. Harmony's voice in fact, thought there isn't quite any sight of her just yet. 'I'm not intentionally reading your thoughts, mind you. It is an affliction that I can't really shut off. HOWEVER… Since I can, I'll proooobably be picking up some dirty laundry that you just don't want aired. But I've always been something of a blunt person, so I can quite assure you that everyone will be knowing your business in just a few moments. HOWEVER… If you leave the area now, you'll be quite safe from any terrible embarrassment and awkward situations. That's right, clear out now to save you dignity, and in YOUR case sir, modesty. I cannot be held responsible for causing tears if you don't comply. And what is worse? You have no idea who I am. I'm telepathic! So just do yourself a favor, and go on home, okay?
When crowded places are taxing on your normal social ways, you find tactics which allow you to go out into public, such as scaring unsuspecting masses of people away from the place you want to be in. To avoid the massive inflow of bullshit that people seem to think about. Harmony arrives a moment later, wrapped in a nice scarf, and a leather jacket with her tight pants and boots. The blond girl is vocally silent as she steps into the park, her little trick proving to be a bit effective as various confused and suspicious people start to leave the area.
"Did you?" Richard slants a glance over through the steam that stirs past the lid of his coffee cup, musing, "Good, good. The sooner you get a handle on your power… the less chance of you getting randomly sucked into the power grid again." A sip of the coffee spills over his tongue, warming his innards, and he shrugs one shoulder, "No need to thank me. I know what it's like to… lose your body for awhile."
As they pass the small pond that Keagan is trying to walk on, he slows down a bit, head cocking to one side as he watches the teenager venturing out into the ice. "Well, he's going to be taking a bath," he murmurs in wry amusement… and then he pauses, his head lifting as he stares across the park in Harmony's direction. …she's going to get her dumb ass arrested and killed. What the hell.
'Hello again, Harmony. Going to answer my question today?' Sven thinks, purposefully making conversation to avoid the more awkward thoughts. That awkward question had already been asked, and he kind of does want to know the answer. "Yeah, I think that teen is going to be in a bit of a wet situation today." 'As wet as I'd like to make you, Harmony.' Mental flirting, well… more like lewd commentary. It kind of goes a bit beyond flirting. 'I'll make it worth your while, promise.'
Keagan smiles, "I'm not gonna ride it, don't worry," he says. "I think that really would be asking for trouble." Man, it would so be rockin' to ride this thing. Don't want Anna to think I'm a complete idiot, though. This is just like when they ride the ice flow in Rudolph. I don't get what's so scary about dentists, they always numb before they drill. ~I've, become so numb I can't feel you there!~ Man they really get depravity. I wish Aunt Yana could just chill out about Anna. I wonder if I could get Christopher to talk to her? Yes, the dangers of reading Keagan's mind. That all just happened in his head, one thought on top of the other.
He stops as he hears Harmony's voice projected. "Wow, what was that?" he asks. "Did you hear some lady's voice in your head just now?" he asks his girl. His current project is abandoned, and he stands to his feet, dusting the snow off of his knees.
'I think he would be riding it if I wasn't here… it's a good thing I am…' Anna smiles at Keagan despite her thoughts, "Good." She responds to him. 'If he does do that kind of thing, I'm not fishing him out of that water.'
'Oh, a telepath. Joy, go ahead and turn right back. Especially since you seem intent on drawing the attention of Humanis First and their friends.' Anna's first thoughts are when she notices Harmony's broadcast. Not the happiest ones, 'Or perhaps you're looking to draw the attention of them, do you want to die? Because that's what you're asking for, and it can be arranged.'
Pah. Ziadie continues to watch the teenagers, at the same time taking out and lighting a cigarette. His thoughts, though, don't seem to exactly be in English, and while he glances over at Harmony, he doesn't seem to actually care. I dun a' naw see no kya bout im. Nya disia dread tru … bwoy siin lagga head. The older man leans back and watches. "Better not." He then looks at Anna. Uman see lea … "Keeping him out of trouble, are you?"
'Ugh. Of course there is the tiny flaw in my plan for people who actually KNOW me. I suppose that one or two people aren't so bad, but a majority really needs to scoot. Look, I was rotting away in a bit of a hole. Granted I wasn't born with this ability, but I have to adjust to it. It's become maladaptive. I'm adjusting.' Is the girl's reply to Cardinal. She has her hands stuffed into her jacket pockets as she walks through the park, looking much like anyone else. As it stands, Sven and Cardinal know her voice and her situation, so it is quite easy for them to pick her out.
'You know, I think you have the wrong idea about me there, Ikea. I'm only a bad girl with the right people. People that I don't really know, don't tickle my fancy as sexual partners, believe it or not, so I'll have to ask kindly to be treated with at least a small degree of respect? Flirting is one thing, but really, you kinda don't know me all that well to be asking those kinds of personal questions.' Apparently, Harmony isn't in too much of a flirting mood. She's just trying to get to some place at the moment. She has some errands to run. She's been rather moody, so the slight change in demeanor isn't too surprising.
Ziadae's thoughts, she doesn't quite understand, so she doesn't really respond to him. He is just another of the crowed minds in the area right now that she'll have to put up with. However Anna's? 'Oh yeah? I'm drawing Humanis First? Really? Okay.. well if I'm so in danger of them coming to get me? How about you go ahead and pick me out, in this crowd. There are still a few females here.. yourself included, so I imagine.. since I'm not verbally speaking, it would be harder to match my mental voice, with my actual one. Annnnnd… if you want to go around threatening people, I could start screaming. And truuuuust me, you don't want me to start screaming with THIS voice. Gets loud, and painful. Not for me though. Oh, and how would your friend.. whoever he is, like to know that you wouldn't fish him out of the water, if he fell in. Yeah.. real supportive.'
There's a reason that most telepaths don't advertise what they are… it's pretty much the most terrifying power there is to most people, Cardinal 'thinks' rather firmly, leaning himself against the rail with a heavy sigh, bringing the coffee cup up to his lips to take a swallow of the hot beverage, eyes closing as he savours the taste of it.
Keagan looks up, having not heard Nocturne's first call. Fortunately for his own state, between his voice and Harmony's antics, Keagan has abandoned his project that would doubtlessly end with him getting soaked. That's never a good way to spend your snow day, fighting hypothermia. "Hey," he says, his face looking less excited when Ziadie pulls the cigarette from the box. Crap, now Anna's gonna want to smoke. I wish she'd quit, I don't want her getting cancer or having to talk through one of those holes in her throat. He glances around the park, looking to see who else isn't leaving yet to draw a conclusion about what woman might be the culprit. Somebody here knows who she is, and he expects some form of eye contact before long. "Telepaths are creepy," he says, not trying to pose any direct conversation mentally to Harmony. The less he engages, the better. "I think we should get out of here before something bad happens," he suggests to Anna. Of course, that means climbing back up the snow covered slope of the duck pond, first. He drops the stick, and reaches to take her hand. Well, we should at least get far enough away that we won't get caught in something bad when it happens.
'Sorry, I just think you're hot' Sven thinks back, 'And I'm not exactly used to keeping my thoughts in check, I think these kind of thoughts about most hot girls I meet, you're just one who knows I do' He leans back against the rail, looking back at Cardinal, "So, thank you for buying these new clothes for me. Yeah, I know Elle was buying, but she said it was on company credit."
'Well, I already was here, you pretty clearly said you were approaching. I only see one woman approaching around here, so I assume that must be you.' In fact, Anna was about to get a cigarette from her pack when Keagan extends his hand, stopped prematurely in that attempt by his extended hand, and she tries to pull him up. Tries being the keyword, as she slips and falls down on that instable ice. 'FUCK' she mentally cries out.
Uman, pah. You really don't want to start screaming, now do you? Ziadie grumbles, and looks quickly from Keagan to Anna and back to Keagan as the girl falls. What'd she have to go an' do that for? It was all such nice a day 'fore this, after all. Jus' what I needed, something more as draw attention. Too late now. "Neither of you fall through or anything stupid, ya'?" Ziadie isn't being particularly quiet about this, either. The old man's voice carries up to the path where Cardinal and Sven are, and down across the duckpond. He's not exactly athletic enough to help, but years of first response training are dictating his actions nonetheless. They'd better not fall in, I'll see 'em both so …
'I don't exactly have that choice. Painful to not hold it back, damaging when I DO hold it back. Tried isolation, and it's kinda driving me nuts. Can't really go the drug route because.. Well I can't risk that right now. I'm kind of out of options. And I'm a bit over living like a hermit. It's been about a month or so now, and nothing. Still jumbled up. Haven't figured out a more positive solution to this situation, so.. I'm just trying to lighten the load a little. I also, got tired of waiting… Haven't gotten much help with this, so winging it.' Harmony wears a small frown on her face, though most of the various people are probably frowning or blinking in confusion or irritation right now.
There is also the fact that everyone's thoughts are still chattering about in her head. It is like trying to listen to people all talk at once, it is frustrating, and at some point, she is bound to go 'OMG! Shut up!'. She hasn't gotten there yet, but judging by the sound of her voice, she isn't Happy Harmony. 'Don't sweat it, Ikea. I'm used to people thinking that about me. It's just… Sometimes a girl likes to hear that she is beautiful, and not just some piece of meat. Not all the time, but every once in a while…' Her tone is lighter in response to Sven. He gave her an apology, leaving her feeling less like she is having fingers pointed at her or being judged and chastised.
It is taking all that she has to not reach and rub her head right now, as stressed people often do. 'And you know happens when you assume, right? Makes an A S S out of U M E. You might just have the wrong person. I'm guessing you probably do. I might not even be here yet, you never know.' More pointing, more judging. Makes her mentally sigh. 'No. I don't WANT to start screaming, but I will. In self defense. Mind you, my initial ability was much more effective for that, but I'll just have to do what I have to do for now.'
'I wish I knew how to help, Harm… all I can offer is the negation drugs,' Cardinal admits with a flicker of guilt at her thoughts, his head shaking slowly and gaze dropping down to the coffee cup in his hand. Then his phone chimes out a sharp tone and he reaches into his coat to pull it out. A text message of some sort is read, and he frowns at it, pushing away from the rail and moving to walk through the park, "Gotta go, Sven. See you around later."
Keagan is just taking his first step up the slope when Anna slips, sliding back onto the ice. "Anna!" he calls out. "Be careful!" "Ugh, lady, shut up, there's more important things happening, I don't care about your life story." Keagan himself falls as he tries to reach her, and there is a cracking sound beneath the ice. The boy freezes, not even willing to breathe. "Don't move," he tells Anna. He has one hand still on the shore, the other holding Anna's hand. "Why'd I have to play on the ice? Don't they always say "You'll shoot your eye out, kid?" Now it's gonna break and we're gonna fall in. Where can we get warm once we get out? Wait, it's not broken. We're okay, don't panic Keagan, we're gonna be okay."
Keagan just got his ice float. The ice breaks away from the shore beneath his belly. "Oh, shit." Unfortunately, unlike the movies, chunks of ice don't always want to stay together, and as Keagan strains to hold onto the shore, the chunk of ice starts to drift away despite his efforts. The floating piece with him and Anna attached to it starts to crack a little more. "Mr. Nocturne!" he calls out, a fistful of frozen grass tearing free in his glove. Falling in the gap seems nearly inevitable.
As he notices the kids in trouble, Sven all but forgets about Cardinal. He starts running towards the pond at a breakneck pace. It's obvious he runs a lot. 'C'mon, Harmony. Help me help those kids or something.' are his only thoughts before he gets close to the pond. And that's when he dematerializes, his new clothes get ruined, and a flash of lightning strikes the pond from where Sven just was.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Anna calls out as they drift away and the ice starts to crack, her thoughts are like her words, a whirlwind of panicked curses. It only gets worse when Sven becomes lightning and enters the pond like that. "Gah!" She cries out in fear.
Just my day, innit. Ziadie looks back towards the path. This time he's making absolutely no attempt to keep quiet. "I need someone down here RIGHT NOW!" he yells, with as much authority in his voice as he can muster. The lightning, on the other hand, does unnerve him. What the fuck was that. Now there're two kids and a flash of lightning in the pond, jus li mi sisa see nya ge' trouble.
However, Nocturne still can't move fast, and his footing isn't terribly sure as it is. "Keagan, Anna," he calls out, equally loudly, "I'm right here." He's gotten to where he can kneel down in the snow, with steady enough footing, and he uses his cane to reach out so that the two kids have something to grab onto, maybe. He's still strong enough to at least do that. "God damn it, I need someone down here NOW!" Seriously, ge' your shred of decency and come help. You're the one who as scared off all the decent folk out today who woulda helped otherwise.
'Well, I appreciate the consideration, but I really can't take the risk. Not now. But hey, you know me, I'll cope, somehow. Maybe if I were some quiet wallflower instead of hellcat that is who she is, no matter what anyone thinks, things would be different. I actually wish.. things were different. But they aren't. By now, the blond has crosses a good distance of the park. She did say she was coming through, after all. Right now, she kinda does wanna curl back up into her hole for a bit. Maybe she was stupid for even coming out. No, screw that. She's tired of wallowing unhappy, feeling some kind of disappointment.
So then she gets a shut up, which makes her just can't wait to get through the park so she can get to where she is going. Harmony frowns a little deeper, and starts to hasten herself on her path. This of course makes her voice not as loud as before, she is almost out of range. When all hell breaks lose, meaning the ice cracks, all of a sudden, things change. Maybe on a good day, Harmony might just jump in, drop everything. But one, it wasn't a bright move for them to be playing on the ice anyhow, two.. the kid kinda told her to bug off. And three, she is being blamed for something in this situation? Sorry, she's already pushing her limit, plus there isn't much else she can do other than get in the cold water herself, and for her own paranoid reasons, she isn't risking it. See what the negativity of New York gets?
She continues on her way. A move that she probably wouldn't make.. if things were different.
Keagan slips free from the shore, his head and arm plunging into the water. "HELP!" is the only thought going through his mind now, as he pulls himself back onto the ice float. "Oh man, oh man!" The boy flattens himself out on the ice, hearing it crack further. "Anna, I got a — " the boy doesn't finish his sentence. The edge of the ice breaks off, and he falls, all of him head first into the water. He's only underneath for a moment, soon shooting back out. The water isn't that deep, but it's "COLD COLD COLD COLD!"
The boy gasps, trying to breathe. He doesn't make for the shore, though. He has a responsibility. "Gotta save Anna! She's in trouble because I had to go do something stupid!" "Anna! I'll c-, c'ry y-ou," he can barely breathe, but he stands there anyway, holding his arms out for her. He probably can't keep her all of the way out of the icy pond, but he's willing to do his best.
Anna falls into the water after hey boyfriend. She too gets cold rapidly, and starts to make her way towards Keagan. She's shivering from the cold water, and can't make her way very rapidly. Still, she tries, "C-c-cold!" She calls out. Still, the water is just that, freezing cold. It's not so deep the kids can't stand upright in it.
On the other side of where he entered the water as a lightning bolt, Sven reappears. Lightning bolt for a brief moment, naked man after that. He's lucky enough not to have been in touch with the water, yet he is still naked in the freezing cold outside. He starts to run off, making his way back to Redbird security, while grabbing his more private regions with his hands in an attempt to hide them from the general public.
Ziadie does several things at this point. He sheds his outer jacket, stuffing a few papers into the pockets of his inner jacket, and shoves the outer jacket towards Sven. It's long enough that it should account for the man's basic decency until he can get back inside. And then he carefully gets closer to the edge of the water, reaching down to grab Anna's hand and help her out.
Keagan gropes through the water desperately until he and Anna meet. He clutches to Anna, putting her before himself as he tries to return to shore. Five feet away never felt so far. His teeth are clenched, and rather than try to talk, he focuses all of his energy into pulling both of them along. Each step feels like it'll be the last, but it gets a little easier as they get closer and the water gets shallower. He makes a desperate shove against Anna's back, trying to get her all the quicker to Nocturne.
Several of the young adults who had been fooling around on the other side of the pond are laughing, but at the sight of Nocturne trying to help Keagan and Anna out of the pond, two of them come over to help Ziadie.
One hand held to Keagan', the other extending to Ziadie… Anna graps on to the elder's hand and starts to pull on that hand, trying to help both herself and her boyfriend out of the water. She's freezing cold!
Sven grabs the jacket and puts it on, shouts a loud "Thank you." And then he runs off further, soon disappearing out of the sight of the others. Not because he's impolite, but because he's frigging cold! A sole jacket is not enough to protect one from weather like this.
Keagan's fight leaves him as Anna gets to the edge, and it requires a rather hefty pull to draw him from the water. He can feel the water seeping through every pore in his body. As he reaches the edge of the water, he flops down like a beached whale, up the slope of the hill. His breaths are short, shallow, and fast. He's alive, but the danger isn't over yet.
The two young adults are also laughing, probably, about the appearance of a naked man in the park. That'll be something for them to tell their friends about, definitely. Once Anna gets closer to the shore, they bend down and pick her up and out of the water, and set her down several feet from the edge — no matter how much she might protest at being carried that distance.
Ziadie is not so delicate, and as Keagan flops on the shore, he slides the boy up and onto drier ground. After that, one hand goes to the boy's wrist, checking his pulse. "Come on, kid. You need to get away from the pond now."
Anna is shivering cold, on the edge of if not at outright hypothermia. A hospital visit might be smart… "C-c-cooooold." She stammers, before looking over to her boyfriend. "H-h-h-ow's my boy?" She asks, concern clear in her weak voice. "W-w-will he be okay?"
Keagan rolls over in the snow onto his belly, and forces himself to his feet. His arms go out to his sides. "I…I'm…." he tries to answer Anna through chattering teeth. "I'm great, j-just a nice d-d-day for a s-wwwwim." He tries to laugh. "We need to get inside somewhere," he forces one full sentence to Ziadie. But where do they go?
One of the young adults drapes a blanket over Anna and a towel over Keagan, things that they don't seem to care about if they don't see again, and then they help Ziadie back to his feet before standing off at a respectful distance to make sure they're no longer needed.
Ziadie nods agreement to Keagan and Anna both. "Yes, yes we do." He's looking specifically at Anna, now, as he sets a hand on her shoulder and reaches a hand out to Keagan. He doesn't expect Keagan to go darting off, but he does half expect it of Anna. "Let's get up to the path, first." Then he looks at Anna. "You have a guardian, right?"
"S-s-sort off." Anna responds to Ziadie, looking around a bit shifty eyed. She sits up and wraps the blanket around herself. "I l-live in Ch-chinatown. C-confusius Plaza." That's, in her eyes, more than enough information to share. "I'll b-be fine, though. I c-can f-find my way back."
Keagan takes the towel, and clambering up the path carefully. Don't want to have a repeat. Instead of wrapping it around himself, he stuffs it underneath his shirt, and wraps it around his ribs as something dry to insulate his core against the cold, wet clothes. "I c-can take her," he tells Ziadie. "M-mebbe we should go g-get something hot at M-mcDonald's." Someplace where their bodies can warm up before trying to make the long trip back anywhere. He has wanted to meet Brian, but this wasn't his first option for doing it.
Ziadie nods, but he doesn't let go of Anna's shoulder, and in fact seems to have hooked a bit of the fabric of her jacket in his hand so that she really can't run off quite yet. When Keagan gets closer, he decides to grab Keagan's shoulder too. Teenagers are flighty, after all. "Anna," he says, his voice softening a bit as opposed to the harshness it had been earlier when he was trying to get help. "You just fell in ice water. There's this thing. Hypothermia, from cold. You're not going anywhere by yerself." Apparently, the old man's serious about that.
The girl glares at Ziadie. "A-a-as long as you d-d-don't think you can t-t-take me to a bloody h-hospital…" She stammers angrily, "T-then I g-guess you c-can t-take me t-to the C-confucius Plaza." Also, she tries to twist out of his touch, "I w-want you n-not to t-t-touch me."
Keagan's eyes follow Ziadie's to Anna's shoulder, and to his own, "We're gonna go get someplace warm," he manages without stuttering, though a shiver runs across his body immediately following. The hold on his coat is not welcome any more than Anna's. He likewise steps across to Anna, trying to release the hold on his own coat with a shrug. If he manages, he puts himself between her and the older man. After all, homeless people can be creepy, even if they did just rescue you from freezing water.
"No, no hospitals." His brows furrow. He remembers earlier, after all, and if he wasn't going to go and turn her in then, he's not going to turn her in now. He's just concerned. He lowers his voice a moment, to remind her. "I remember, 'kay?" Ziadie lets go of both of them, and looks. "Come on then." He's trusting the fact that Anna probably doesn't want to leave Keagan to keep her from running. And the fact that while wet and cold and such, neither of them would necessarily get very far. "Let's get something warm, first, though." Ziadie points them in the direction towards the street, still being as gentle as it's possible for the old man to be.