New Yorkers Are Notorious

Participants:

ina_icon.gif magnes_icon.gif

Scene Title New Yorkers Are Notorious
Synopsis Magnes tries to be social and nice on the streets of New York to someone who's not been there long.
Date March 27, 2010

Upper West Side

The Upper West Side is primarily a residential and shopping area, and not much about that has changed since the bomb. Despite bordering the region of Midtown that was torn asunder by the blast, the Upper West Side managed to survive the fires that raged out of control in the days following the destruction. It was one of the first areas hit with the massive relief effort. While the areas that did burn have yet to be recovered, that region of the upper west side has been cordoned off by large concrete barricades and Homeland Security roadblocks, preventing most through-traffic into ground zero and the affected area. Beyond that border zone, much of the charm of this upper-class neighborhood has not been lost.

The Upper West Side has the reputation of being home to New York City's liberal cultural and artistic workers, in contrast to the Upper East Side, which is perceived to be traditionally home to more affluent conservative commercial and business types. The neighborhood is decidedly upscale with the median household above the Manhattan average before the bomb, and much of that status-quo maintained by the money pumped into the neighborhood from the reconstruction effort. As one of the first neighborhoods to have electricity and water restored, this area saw a massive temporary influx of transients and refugees from the destroyed areas of the city, most of which moved on as more and more of New York was brought back to life.

Famous sites of the upper west side still remain active today, with Broadway Avenue cutting through the center of the borough. But the reminder of what happened to this city is decidedly visible on the south end of Broadway, where the high concrete barricades rise up one story from the ground, and the jagged, broken skyline of Midtown refuses to remain hidden.


New Yorkers are notorious for ignoring lights or getting a jump on them. They don't care about pedestrians. You're the bigger machine and they need to get out of the way or you'll run them over. It's not like that in vegas where it's quite the opposite. Pedestrians don't care, running across the strip, starting across at the intersections early where there's no pedestrian overpass.

Take right now for instance. Ina's dressed up enough to ward off the cold while she's jogging, not caring about the weather or the snow or how red her nose has become from running with the sweaters on, the jogging pants and the ipod earphones that snake out from under the thermal earbands that protect her ears. The light turns for her and she starts forward only to have a taxi choose to make a right hand turn while it's red for him. The bumper comes about an inch from her when he's forced to stop because she hasn't backpedaled onto the curb or forged ahead.

He honks his horn and makes some form of movement with his hands that could be construed as rude. Ina just stares at the man before slamming a fist down on the hood of the yellow car. "What's where you're going you fucker! I had the right of way!"

She's not the only person jogging in the snow. Magnes has been training fairly hard lately, and trying not to fly too much. He's running errands for his roommates and well, may as well get something out of it!

He's wearing a plain black thick coat today, hood up with layered blue jeans and a pair of black snow boots. No point in ruining good pants out here. But when he hears the almost-accident ahead, he runs a bit faster, stopping and sliding slightly over the ice. "Everything alright here, people?" he asks in the calm manner he was taught in the academy, walking into the street and motioning for the other car to go around her. Hopefully that won't piss him off even more!

There's a kick to his bumper by the woman, an equally rude gesture back and a glare to Magnes as he interferes. "No, we're all fine here" There's a motion for the taxi driver to carry on, Ina deciding she doesn't want to cross the street that badly, not when all this standing means she's cooling down and eventually won't be dressed for the weather. "We're perfectly fine Sir. There's nothing to see here" And she heads on in the same direction that Magnes was going.

Magnes continues jogging when she starts moving again, running up to keep her pace. "Well, since we're both going in the same direction." He offers a friendly smile and a casual shrug. "Magnes J. Varlane." He offers a hand as they're running.

THere's a quick taking of his hand, brief touching of hands that could constitute a shake but it's gone as quick as it came because there's other people on the street and it's not exactly made for jogging in the tail end - supposedly - of winter. "Ina Anderson" Woman of little words or maybe she's just listening to her music. "Thanks for stopping back there, you didn't need to, I'm a big girl, can take care of myself and no, you're not getting my number"

"I stopped because it's the right thing to do." Magnes says with a straight face, being the type to say such cheesy cliches very casually. "And I'm not the type to ask a woman for her number in exchange for helping her, that'd be pretty unethical, wouldn't it?" He digs into his pocket, looking over the list he's been given. "Man, I have no idea what half this stuff is."

"Unethical. Good one." Ina snorts unladylike, giving in to the fact that she's got a clingon that isn't of the star trek variety. She knows about Star trek because she's just that kind of girl. That and A Bolian sunrise is a pretty good drink when you are in the Hilton a couple years ago. "Maybe you need to type out your list so you don't have to interpret handwriting" She offers to the much younger guy. "Maybe ask your mom to print instead of cursive"

"Hey, this is for my roommates! I figured I'd run errands for them since it's so cold." Magnes looks her over once, then turns his head to keep an eye on where he's going. "You talk pretty um, boldly. I'm not even sure what to call it."

"Well I'm not a wilting flower and aren't you charitable. It's called being a woman Mister Varlane in this day and age. Is there a particular reason that you're jogging with me or are you just… round about asking for help in deciphering what it is that you've been given to fetch for your roommates?"

"Oh, no, I was just… being social, y'know?" Magnes coughs a bit, looking and sounding a little awkward now as he begins staring at his feet while he runs. "But this is a little weird, just, talking to someone, isn't it?"

"This is new york. Being social is an oddity, and usually means the person is a perv, flasher, out to kill you or wants in your pants" Ina points out to Magnes. "It's really, as far as I know, not the norm for the city, so that makes you…" Ina leaves the question at it's ambiguous end for him to figure out.

"Weird, a social pariah, awkward?" Magnes looks her over again, as if considering the list, then quickly shakes his head. "Well, I don't think I'm a perv, I once flashed my stomach to the President, I don't know you well enough to want to kill you. And as far as the last one goes, you are pretty good looking, but I don't know you well enough to want to get in your pants. And hey, if we're not social, how else are we gonna make friends in this city? We could innovate social relations by taking the first step."

"I don't diddle kiddies" Ina states, a hand coming up and she stops her jogging, turning to face Magnes. 'Tell you what kid. I'm going to go my way, you're going to go yours and if we happen to run into each other another day, then maybe it's meant to be that we know each other beyond you trying to belatedly be a super hero with regards to the taxi"

"I'm old enough to drink!" Magnes awkwardly defends, though he's apparently thoroughly emasculated and his protest doesn't sound very convincing. "Um, alright, that works. I'll see you later then, Ina Anderson."

"You're still to young for me" There's a gesture with her hand, half salute, half wave before the brunette is peeling away, taking advantage of a crosswalk bleating it's permissions in her favor to run off at right angles to Magnes.


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