Participants:
| Scene Title | Monkey See, Monkey Don't Do |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Samara gets the monkey's in the rain forest house in the Central Park Zoo all in a tizzy and Brand gets an older girls number. |
| Date | October 17, 2010 |
The five acres of the Central Park Zoo are divided into three major exhibit themes: the Polar Circle, the Rain Forest, and the Temperate Territory. It features everything from leaf-cutter ants to the ever-popular polar bears; California sea lions to colobus monkeys; the two-toed sloth to the Japanese macaque. The exhibits are always a major draw for tourists, but the zoo offers a variety of classes and programs intended to educate the public in wildlife and wildlife conservation. The associated Tisch Children's Zoo includes a petting zoo and the Wildlife Theater, as well as a variety of exhibits targeted to the younger audience.
A little warmer than yesterday, Sunday is turning out to be a perfectly beautiful fall day. The trees in the park that turn colors have done so and make for quite a sight to see, the hues of orange and red with yellow and the greens of pine tree's and those that haven't quite turned yet. It's a strange bright medley especially when it's set against the backdrop of the ragged maw that is the ruins of Midtown with the half tumbled buildings that still poke upright on the horizon and have yet to follow their brethren in toppling to the ground.
In central park though, it's a hard if at all, to see the ruins, too busy paying attention to the pens and open grounds with their protective fences of the animals that call this place their home and provide educational and frivolous delight for all who come through the front doors.
Gus and Ina have long since been returned to their pens, though there is thought to be a few penguins still on the loose from their mutual forays during the winter that never ended. In the large building that houses the tamarin's though, the exhibit has been fairly fast paced and it's here that everyone finds themselves and other new york residents, enjoying the sight of the varied beasties of the monkey variety.
Take two of Harmony's attempt, stepping out into the open where she could be surrounded by people and stuff can happen. The previous day could have been a fluke for her. Things like that don't happen every day, right? The young blond girl managed to get to the park without a hitch. Not stalking neighbors, no gun shots, nothing out of the ordinary that could possibly make her all nervous and glowy so far.
She has gone with a more laid back but a small step up from casual as far as dress goes. A pair of black women's slacks and a button up white sleevless blouse, her curly blond hair put into pigtails on either side of her head. She opted this time to carry a purse with her, which isn't really one of those cheep knock-offs, but it doesn't look all that expensive either. Her usual cup of joe in hand, all hot and steamy with goodness and coffee incredibility. The rainforest house is the perfect place for a relaxing day. And here she is, to enjoy it.
Being a ghost isn't always negative. In fact, sometimes it's downright wonderful. Like visiting the zoo for free. Or, in Samara's case, waking up at the zoo for free. Her dreams and unsettled spirit hadn't permitted her stay in one place last night; rather, she'd floated out of Rue's room and wound up here, in the middle of the zoo. If she was a pessimist, Sami might have been angry about it all, but she's undeniably optimistic, especially in the idea that entering the tiger's cage was just another thing that should be on her bucket list — not that she'd gone any further than the bars and out again; it just felt wrong. Rue might be worried; but then nothing can harm a ghost, can it?
Whistling quietly to herself, the now-dead Sami strolls along the tamarin exhibit, quite literally walking through anybody that stands in her way.
Sometimes people can be as a ghost without dying. Brand can. When his Ability is slipp'd, he walks among the crowd unnoticed and unseen as it were, the crowd parting like the sea to let him wander through, his presence and spatial occupancy driven from their minds. Who paid at the gate? Not he.
Past the ticket gates, he reins it in as much as he can, walking among the exhibits. Even distracted, he can keep things down to a low buzz. He blends in well with a crowd - and why not? In a black hoodie and jeans he's very commonly dressed.
Something has the animals in the raid forest house all a dither. They're agitated, moving quickly and never really stopping in one spot and watching something or someone in the miasma of people who have started into the building and walking on the paths that wind through the house to give people a view of the animals and birds that call this particular exhibit their home.
Plaques here and there proudly point out the various species and sub species that reside in the branches, inform you of their diet, their natural habitat and how long they live. One particularly orange tamarin just glides right past Harmony and Brand, but comes to a hanging halt when Samara seems to get close and stares at the person who really isn't there.
This garners quite a few people, the monkey so close to them, and cameras of course come out and the few children there in their girl scout uniforms all point.
"You're the one who's creepin', rough love's so decievin'. I said never again, but here we are. I'm your pure sweetness, you're my only weakness. I said never again, but here we are~" Harmony had just been listening to the song this morning, and it's been stuck in her head all day. She has been singing it on and off. Right now would be one of the on times, just idly crooning out the chorus as she shuffles past people. She would have brought her iPod, but sometimes she has problems with the thing, just like she does with cell phones. She opted to leave it at home. She can rock without a second party device. Besides, it's just a casual idle tuning, rather than blurting it out.
The girl blinks and snaps out of her little rendition as the creature shoots past her. She.. has monkey horror stories. So she is a bit cautious about this one. She actually has food in her purse, a nice blend of tropical trail mix. Dried fruits, nuts and some chocolate pieces mixed in. She remembers this and puts a hand protectively on her bag. Her bright blue eyes taking in the greenery around her, and she decides this is as good a place as any, so.. digging into her purse, she pulls out the small novel she has tucked there, and searches for a place to sit.
None of the people can hear the squeal emitted by the ghost and none of them can see her try to shoo it away. Further, none of the people can hear her orders, "Go! Go back and join your monkey friends!" her cheeks flush a pale pink as she shakes her head, remembering the old adage that you catch more flies with vinegar than honey. "I mean…" she clears her throat. be a goood monkey~ who wants to be a good monkey with with her little monkey friends~" She waves her arms again, attempting to coax the monkey back.
"Just… pretend you don't see me.. uh…" Maybe. Maybe since she's died she's become the monkey whisperer. If Rue is the ghost whisperer then… Sami's eyes narrow before she raises her hands to her head, "Sami says, 'Put your hands on your head…'"
Brand has his reverie shattered. He is just walking along the cages, looking sidelong at the primates. He almost bumps right into some girl when she stops to watch the money race by. He sidesteps with a mumbled 'Excuse me' under his breath, his own gaze going to the mysterious stopped money. So many eyes pointed in Sami's direction!
Zip
Right past harmony another monkey swings, perching on a low hanging branch beside the other one that stares at the 'ghost' that is Samara, beside it's like companion. The cacophany of the birds that populate the place with it's many levels for people to walk through and see from below, the middle and atop - seems to ratchet up a bit.
But Samara doesn't speak monkey and the monkey doesn't speak Samara and isn't a chimpanzee who knows how to do tricks. Here comes another monkey, not the same kind of Tamarin that the two who are currently perched in their orange and brown glory. It swing slow, intent on joining them, leaping and smacking into Brand. Little hands scrabble at his clothing to find purchase and screech at the teenager even as the other two in front of samara join in.
Her little stagger away from the monkey almost lands her practically against Brand, nearly avoiding a collision. Her spin out of the way isn't completely graceful, "Whoa there. It's a little bit early in the relationship to go dancing." she jokes, getting her ground and watching him shuffle on and then.. get attacked by a monkey. See? This is why she doesn't like monkeys. At least it isn't her this time. "Besides, looks like you're already in a pretty committed relationship already." her eyes falling to the scrambling animal. She of course doesn't see Samara at all. Just monkeys being weird. With a sigh, Harm decides to step in and play the hero, digging around in her purse again to pull out the bag of assorted nuts and fruit and shake it.
It's a shame so many eyes are on Samara. If only they were on the small pool of water adjacent to her, they'd have a better sight — the reflection of a young woman making a moderate idiot of herself, dancing for the monkeys, trying to train the monkeys, and overall, trying to distract the monkeys. As the monkeys attack and smack into Brand, the ghostly girl sees her opportunity. She quite literally runs through everything, choosing to dodge the people and the monkeys, and head home.
Brand does not react well to stress. He has two competing responses to getting attacked by monkeys. The first is to grab the primates off him and just throw them. He's certainly strong enough, and very fast. Its unnecessary, though. The stress spike makes his Ability flex faster still. For a moment, he is cloaked in cryptic power, enough to make him momentarily unimportant. To blend totally out of awareness. For a split second - but its enough to dislodge the primates clinging to him, their primitive brains overwhelmed. With a shudder, he starts to bring himself back down, drawing power back into himself, slowing his breathing.
The Tamarin clings, clings and clings and then seeing something appropriate to jump off of Brand and go to, he does that with no small amount of force that rocks the teenager and leaves no marks behind to say that it was there. As Samara goes running off it sends a ripple through the animals, and everything seems to calm back down. Harmony's offer of food is eschewed by the animals with their focus running off through people, they flick thier heads this way, that and start to make off back into the forest above and around the humans, so that other people can stare at them and lift their hands. Things calm, return to normal and no one is the wiser.
Huh. That's weird. The animals went nuts for a moment, and now things seem to be calming down. Harmony's face registers the strangeness of the situation and she sees that she doesn't have to use her food tactic after all, since the creature has left Brand alone. "You know.. I have to wonder if it's safe for them to be able to get to people. I mean.. didn't that virus start by monkey scratch in that one movie?" Harmony's comment would be to Brand of course, as he is the only one standing in her immediate area. "Are you okay?" she asks, with a slight tilt of her head to one side. Nevermind the fact that he was sorta not there for a moment. Somehow she just forgot to pay attention to him.
Brand brushes off his hoodie, a sour look on his face. It makes him look tragically handsome, in that young man kind of way. "I'm fine. Stupid primates." He shakes his shoulders out, and flexes his hands in and out of fists a few times. "I don't much like them." Then he refocuses. Oh, a cute girl! He tries again, smoother. Or an attempt at smoothness. "Oh. Hi. Are *you* okay?"
Poetry if she ever heard it. Apparently Brand has the angry teen thing down pat, cursing about the troublesome simians that have gone back to doing monkey things, or preparing for a full assault in the trees. Maybe that one got Brand's wallet, she didn't know. Monkeys are tricky.
"Um. Yeah.. I think I'll live." Harmony's eyes looked left and right, her face retaining a mercurial and amused expression at Brand's attempts at conversation. It was a bit endearing, he was cute enough to get away with a little guy goofiness. "I'm a little worried that your friend might get jealous and decide to jump me however." she pointed to where the monkey went to, and smirks at Brand, "But somehow, I get the feeling you're not broken up on the idea that it ditched you. I'm Harmony."
Brand frowns slightly, and then puts his face into a much more familiar configuration. A smile. That kicks his cuteness factor up another notch. "Well I'm glad you're going to be okay." He tugs on his hoodie hem, straightening out the garment so it sits better on his beefy frame. "My name is Brand. Its nice to meet you." He offers a hand for shaking!
"Brand.." she repeats, still finding things amusing enough to keep her small smirk, "Seems.. kinda fitting I would say. You look like a Brand." she could say that with the utmost confidence, perhaps because she could pick up on his minor awkwardness, or maybe she was reading into it. "This is just a wild guess.. You don't talk to girls much? You seem a little.. I dunno." while she took his offered hand to go with the handshaking portion of the greeting. "I'm not gonna bite you. Probably not even if you ask me to… Well.. Maybe if you asked me to. Just to see the look on your face." she is of course teasing a little. Light hearted in fact. "So.. what do you do when you're not playing cassanova to monkeys?"
Brand has a strong grip, though its not overpowering. He seems very strong. "I'm vice-captain of the junior varsity squad. I usually don't have to talk that much." Well, yeah - he is cute, and he fills out his hoodie and jeans with plenty of well shaped muscle. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't bite me though. That'd upset me."
"Oh-ho!" Harmony's brows raise at his claim about not having to talk much, "Cocky reply there. I guess I'd better be careful around you, or I could possibly find myself in love, huh?" There were so many mixed things thrown out in Harmony's statement. Her words were pretty flirty, but at the same time there was a pinch of sarcasm thrown in, but not really enough to actually be making serious fun of him. Sounds like she is joking enough though, the blond, pigtailed girl shaking his hand.. well.. like a girl. "Gotcha, no biting." she winks, "So.. Your name is Brand, you hate monkeys, you're vice-captain of the junior varsity squad, and you don't like to be bitten. Anything else you might like to share? I'm not gonna get you in trouble with some girl by talking to you like this am I?" she looks around for anyone standing with an angry look on their face.
Brand shrugs. "I usually let others do the talking." He speaks with a kind of calmed resigned fashion. Not the typical cocky jock way of talking down and bragging. He lets her talk without interrupting, patiently waiting for her to finish her statements before responding. "I'm sure everything will be fine. I'm not sure what you'd want to know about me though. Do you go to NYU?"
"Me?" she blinks, "NYU? Oh.. no." she shakes her head with a bit of a smile, "I um.. didn't really continue on to college after high school. Had some things happen and all that. I just sorta do the music thing for right now. Yanno.. hosting karaoke, DJing here an there, local gigs. My only college experience doesn't extend past my last ex. He was a college boy. And don't sell yourself too short there. I'm sure you have lots of interesting facts that you could use to impress a girl." she takes it upon herself to reach out and softly poke his stomach along with her words.
Brand is built like a brick wall. Definitely a jock. "Oof. Please don't poke me either." He pushes her hand away, gently. "So you're into music? Pop quiz. Whats better than Nico bending wails to a muted piano?" He rests his hands on his hips, putting on a challenging expression, daring her to pass muster with his question.
Harmony could sorta pick up on him not being as open as she is, from the way he responded to her poking. She doesn't say anything about him pushing her hand away. She just smirks at his actions, "Nico? Are you talking about John Cage? I'm not familiar with that too much, I'll be honest. I'm mostly a drummer, I always have been. But if you wanna talk Stones or even some of the other classics, I can do that. What do /you/ know about music? You seem like you're more than just a casual listener."
Brand is a bit guarded. Maybe he's jaded baout being approached just for his good looks and athletic ability. "I'm talking about Nico and the Velvet Underground. Maybe its because you're a drummer, and so you cannot grasp the subtlety of the piano and guitar work they did, and the influence it had on music. Velvet Underground is the classic, more so than the Stones, I think."
Harmony can admit that she isn't the all-to go-to girl when it comes to music, though she was on the right track, "Right. John Cale. I thought that's what you meant.. It's a classic for sure. No doubt about that." the girl grins. It is conversations like these that allow her to forget she even has an ability. She likes those. "Hey, you're alright, Brand. Not often I find a guy .. or anyone else for that matter that can tell me a thing or two about music. Do you play? I mean.. it'd be kinda cool if you do. I haven't played with anyone in.. well it's been a while."
Brand shakes his head. "No. I don't play. I spend enough time doing my sports that I don't think I'd have time to practice." He shrugs his broad shoulders. "I would kind of like to learn. I know some of the theory I guess. Its all just math and muscle memory, anyway." He counts off. "I'd like to learn a guitar, maybe a steel lap guitar so I could do surf guitar like Takeshi Terauchi."
"No.. all of it." Harmony smiles, shaking her head, "I mean.. yeah, that has something to do with it, but there is a lot more to it, especially when you get into song writing and composition." the girl shakes a finger, "Now that is something people struggle with a bit. Well.. you know, if you weren't so busy, we could probably hang and you could see if you can pick up a thing or two. I've got drums, guitars.. no piano but.. yeah. You might have some natural talent. And girls like boys that play guitars." she winks.
Brand shrugs again. "I could make some time, if I put my head to it. If you're so convinced I can't though…." He trails off, digging back at her with a weak verbal jab. He doesn't have a comment about what girls like, for whatever reasons he deems appropriate. "….well then its your loss."
Harmony just smirks at him, "Alright then." she nods, "Make some time. If you do that, and actually follow through with it, I'll consider myself suitably impressed. I'll even take the time to teach you some things." her shoulders lift in a shrug, "Shouldn't be too hard. You're pretty confident that you know what you're doing, so I guess I'm game for seeing what you got."
Brand digs from his pocket a scrap of paper and a pen. "Then give me your phone number. Saturday okay?" Isn't he a well prepared guy? As if he expected to pick up some numbers at random from a trip to the zoo. With her number in hand, they can go their seperate ways.