Not So Special Delivery

Participants:

simon_icon.gif magnes_icon.gif

Scene Title Not So Special Delivery
Synopsis Simon orders a pizza and Magnes makes a speedy delivery.
Date October 16, 2008

Upper East Side

Before the bomb, the Upper East Side offered some of the most expensive real estate in the United States, which the upper-range of residences reaching upwards of 70 million dollars. In the wake of the bomb, the economic collapse of New York drove property values down through the ground. This was only compounded by the southwestern portion of the neighborhood being in direct proximity to the blast aream causing rampant fires that destroyed dozens of blocks of residential and business areas.

The Upper East Side has the privelidge of being on the border of ground zero, with a barricade of one story tall concrete blocks forming a barricade around the ruins of Midtown. Entrances into these regions are protected by Homeland Security checkpoints reinforced by national guard. It is this jagged blight visible on the horizon of the neighborhood that has been a grevious scar on an otherwise well to do region of New York.

Despite itself, perhaps, the Upper East Side has done as good for itself as can be imagined in the wake of the disaster. Much of the western portion of the neighborhood has dropped so significantly in property values that it has become residential shelters for refugees capable of affording a living. The northern-most regions of the neighborhood though are beginning to thrive again in the wake of economic stimulus thrown into the area following modest reconstruction efforts. Private and public donations to rebuild the region has resulted in a recovery to some of its former grace, but the damage done by the waves of riots and arson following the bomb may never truly be recovered from.


Somewhat deep in the more residential part of the Upper East Side is the townhome where Simon lives. It’s a nice place that represents the wealthy that reside in the abodes along the street. This means that, despite the chaos the bomb has caused, the streets are clean and quiet and relatively safe. Leaning against a Range Rover parked out front is Simon Allistair. He’s wearing a pair of baggy shorts, flip flops, and some lame t-shirt from toothpastefordinner.com. Also, he’s chatting loudly and excitedly on his phone as true New Yorkers do.

It's a bit of a treck to Upper East Side, but it's a far shorter time than it would take a car or any sort of ground transportation. Magnes jumps from roof to roof, skating happily with the box of pizza in both hands. He's sure to mostly avoid busy streets, then lands in an alley before skating around to Simon's place. Seeing the teen leaning against the car catches his attention, slowly rolling over and asking, "Hey, um, do you live here?" Pizza + Small Chef Hat = Pizza Boy.

Simon is startled when Magnes pops out of nowhere. “Shoot! Hang on. I’ll call you back later, alright? Later, I said later!” Simon shuts his flip phone and mutters something as he shoves it deep into a pocket. He turns to the pizza boy and nods. “Yep, I do. That’s an extra large pizza for – Simon?” He frowns because thanks to his cousin the name the pizza is under is pronounced a little differently than Simon would have liked. With a “See” instead of a “S-eye” at the beginning. Damn kids.

"Ah, um, yes…" Magnes answers with a hint of bashfulness at the pronunciation, then holds the box out and says, "That'll be eighteen dollars, Panucci's Pizza is currently not taking change, I apologize. But we are one of the few delivery places that can offer pizza in an hour or less!" he tries to sound like a professional advertiser, but it comes off a bit forced with a hint of uneasy tension behind it.

”Uh huh,” Simon says blankly as he reaches into his back pocket to pull out some. “You were pretty quick. How did you get here, anyways? Aren’t you all the way over in Brooklyn?” He leafs through some bills, pulls out a twenty and a five, and hands them over to Magnes. The rest of the cash gets stuffed away. “Because if you know a shortcut you need to spill it.”

Magnes just tries to laugh it off, exchanging the box for the money and seeming very pleased with the tip as it's all stashed away into a zipper pocket. "Inline skates, if you're really good there are all kinds of ways to make it through the city. Before the bomb I skated all the time for fun, grinding rails and stuff."

Simon looks down at the skates and arches a brow. “Now I’m guessing you skate for cash? It’s funny the bomb affects people.” The pizza box gets set on the hood of the Rover, which Simon then leans against sidelong. “I never did much skating. I have a bike, though. It’s a Schwinn and it’s pretty sweet. I named her Betsy, because, well, it was the first thing that came to mind.”

"Delivering pizza isn't so bad." Magnes adds as he backs up to lean against a pole, seeming a bit occupied with straightening his glasses, which seem to have gotten a small bug smashed into them. "My parents are stuck out of town, not sure how to contact them, so I've been living with the pizza shop owner and learned to make pizza and everything."

”Oh, man. I’m sorry to hear that.” Simon cross his arms over his chest and looks up glumly to his home. “Well it sounds like Father Pizza is a pretty nice guy. I’m definitely not going to kick myself for handing over twenty bucks to him to feed me and my cousins.” He smirks and lifts his shoulders in a shrug, but says no more on the subject.

"He's pretty great." Magnes agrees, pushing from the pole once the bug is cleaned. "I should be getting back before it's too late, I'll deliver much faster now that I know my way here! I hope you enjoy the pizza, I made that one myself."

“Cool, I’m sure it’ll be the best pizza ever.” Simon doesn’t sound totally convinced, but he still manages a smile as he reaches out to grab the box from off the car. “I’ll see you around or something. Maybe I’ll actually trek over to Brooklyn to eat there.” He shrugs again. It could happen!

"Sure! I'll look forward to it, enjoy!" Magnes seems far less uneasy with the situation when he finds that Simon doesn't bite, cutting into an alley where the sound of something knocking against the brick walls can be heard getting higher and higher, then something rolling on a rooftop before finally going away.


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October 16th: SNAFU
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October 16th: Lucidity
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