Not That Close

Participants:

aidan_icon.gif claudine_icon.gif

Scene Title Not That Close
Synopsis Claudine and Aidan meet in Central Park. They share talk about many things, including how much computer love is too much.
Date September 4, 2008

Central Park

Central Park has been, and remains, a key attraction in New York City, both for tourists and local residents. Though slightly smaller, approximately 100 acres at its southern end scarred by and still recovering from the explosion, the vast northern regions of the park remain intact.

An array of paths and tracks wind their way through stands of trees and swathes of grass, frequented by joggers, bikers, dog-walkers, and horsemen alike. Flowerbeds, tended gardens, and sheltered conservatories provide a wide array of colorful plants; the sheer size of the park, along with a designated wildlife sanctuary add a wide variety of fauna to the park's visitor list. Several ponds and lakes, as well as the massive Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, break up the expanses of green and growing things. There are roads, for those who prefer to drive through; numerous playgrounds for children dot the landscape.

Many are the people who come to the Park - painters, birdwatchers, musicians, and rock climbers. Others come for the shows; the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Delacorte Theater, the annual outdoor concert of the New York Philharmonic on the Great Lawn, the summer performances of the Metropolitan Opera, and many other smaller performing groups besides. They come to ice-skate on the rink, to ride on the Central Park Carousel, to view the many, many statues scattered about the park.

Some of the southern end of the park remains buried beneath rubble. Some of it still looks worn and torn, struggling to come back from the edge of destruction despite everything the crews of landscapers can do. The Wollman Rink has not been rebuilt; the Central Park Wildlife Center remains very much a work in progress, but is not wholly a loss. Someday, this portion of Central Park just might be restored fully to its prior state.


The weather is decent. There are clouds in the sky, but it's not raining or storming, yet anyway. The park is a popular place as it often is, with people out and about on the jogging trails and relaxing on the patches of grass. Aidan is sitting with his back against a tree. He's distractedly eating a sandwich, a simple dinner. Most of his attention is focused on the battered paperback in his other hand.

Out and about on one of the jogging trails is a young Filipina woman. She's dressed casually with a Harvard sweatshirt and a pair of dark blue jogging pants as she runs on by. She's going at a decent pace and there's a sheen of sweat forming on her brow.

Aidan finishes his sandwich and stands, stretching his arms up over his head. He moves to a trash can along the trail to throw away the paper towel it had been wrapped in giving Claudine an idle smile as she comes closer.

Noticing the man, Claudine gives him a warm smile and bows her head as she continues running. A soft sigh escapes her lips and she pauses to stretch not too far away from the trash can as there's a bench there and all.

Aidan tosses his trash into the can and gives Claudine another curious look. He twists, stretching his back before he moves over towards the bench, book in hand. Maybe that will be a more comfortable spot to read.

Peering over curiously towards Aidan, Claudine raises her brows as she eases on down and stretches her legs, resting her head against her knee, smiling as she looks up towards him every now and then. Is she checking him out? Who knows.

Aidan takes a seat on the bench. He catches Claudine looking over towards him and gives her a curious look. After another quick glance back at his book, he finally speaks up. "Hello. Good day for a run?" He has a friendly smile, but there's an odd tone to his voice, as if there's not the usual amount of expression.

"It's all right I guess. Just trying to destress from a long day.." Claudine admits ruefully as she look nup towards him, smiling warmly once more before going back to her cool down exercises.

Aidan nods his head. "I've heard running is good for that." He states. His eyes are on her as she talks with a quick look back to the book as he speaks. He closes it over his finger to ask. "Was it at least a good long day?"

There's a slight pause as she actually thinks about the question at hand. Crabby patients, annoying patients, difficult patients. All in allit was the usual. Claudine shrugs her shoulders and lets out a soft chuckle of amusement, "It was rather uneventful. I wouldnt call it good or bad."

Aidan gives her an amused smile back. "Well, at least that is better than saying it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." Aidan states. Then he adds a question. "What do you do? If you don't mind me asking." He keeps his eyes over on her, watching her face.

"Oh, I'm a doctor. Well, I just graduated med school not too long ago, just doing my residency in psychiatry right now.." Claudine admits ruefully, deciding not to delve into the secret agent of doom-ness that goes along with being an agent of the Company and all. "What about you? Oh, and my name is Claudine by the way..how rude of me."

Aidan gives Claudine a grin. "Psychiatry?" He says the word as if he's not sure he heard her right. "So you can tell me what is wrong with me?" That's more than likely a joke, though it's a bit harder to tell with his voice. "I'm Aidan. It's nice to meet you. I do computer repairs and other tech support things for the police department."

"Psychiatry..well, I'm focusing on neuropsychiatry, so I actually look at biological indicators to tell you what's wrong with you. I am a certified counselor, so I can listen though. I prefer that over telling people to pop a few Zanax and call me in the morning.." Claudine quips with a soft chuckle under her breath before she extends a hand out towards him. "Pleasure to meet you, Aidan."

Aidan blinks over to Claudine. "I'm sorry. I think I caught about half of that." He states before he takes her hand. "Something about looking at biology?" There's still a smile as he nods. "Sometimes I wish computers could pop a pill and chill out, though."

"Psychiatry and neurology are being merged, at least where I'm getting trained at. I'm in the division of behaviorial neurology, which is still covered by psychiatry according to the old lingo, but we get more advanced neurology training.." Claudine explains.

Aidan looks to Claudine with what could easily be called concentration as she talks. He's silent a moment before it clicks. "Oh! Neurology. That must be an interesting thing to study." He states. "Combining the two studies seems to make sense. The brain has such an influence on psychiatry, after all."

"Precisely!" Claudine smies warmly as she runs her fingers through her hair as she sighs softly and takes a deep breath,looking up towards the sky for a few moments. "So, how is working for the police department?"

Aidan shrugs with a smile still on his face. "It's a good job. There never seems to be a lack of things needing fixing or upgrading around there. I like working with computers. They're much more straight forward and easier to communicate with than some people are." Aidan states tapping the book against his thigh.

Claudine ahhhs and nods, smiling warmly the entire time as she runs her fingers through her hair. "I can see that, I suppose it's okay then.." she says with a soft chuckle under her breath..

Aidan smiles and shrugs. "It works for me at least. Or the computers do." He fidgets a bit where he's sitting. "I miss really good working internet, though. Wifi and cable internet feature often in my dreams." Because the internet in NYC these days just doesn't live up to his standard.

Claudine facepalms at the mention of his dreams and she just shakes her head, muttering something under her breath. "Riiiiight, as long as they aren’t wet dreams, I think I can deal with that.." she quips with a hearty chuckle under her breath.

Aidan blinks over to Claudine. "Well, I can say that I prefer partners that are a little bit more alive than a computer. I'm very close to my computer, but I'm not /that/ close." Reading lips is an interesting skill sometimes.

So she just called him a dork, but a cute dork, so that's a good thing, right? Claudine shakes her head as she lets out a soft chuckle and nods, running her fingers idly through her hair once more. "Well, at least you aren’t one of those stereotypical computer geeks.." she says brightly.

Being a fair skinned red head has some disadvantages. Like how well even a faint blush shows on his freckled skin. "I'm not?" He asks over curiously. "How do you know I'm not a completely stereotypical computer geek?"

"You actually have wet dreams.." Claudine quips before heartily laughing as she eases on up.

Aidan breaks out laughing at that and blushes. "Oh, right." Now he's turning bright red. He reaches up though to tap his head near where the magnetic disk of his cochlear implant sits. "But I make up for that in the geek sector through claiming cyborg status." Even embarrassed, he's still able to crack a joke.

A hearty chuckle escapes from her lips as she wrinkles her nose as she runs her fingers through her hair and nods, stretching her arms into the air before sitting down on the bench and crosses her legs to get a bit more comfortable. "It's okay, nothing's wrong with being a cyborg.."

Aidan finally lets the book close. He'll just have to figure out what page he was on later. He sets it beside himself on the bench, tilting his body so that he can watch Claudine more easily. "I don't think there is. Not when being a cyborg is so helpful."

"Oh? And why is it so helpful?" Claudine asks, smiling warmly as at this range, surely some of his surface thoughts would be available to her, whether she wanted it or not. It'd just be more quiet, like the background noise, unless there's something that she'd pick up that would catch her interest.

Aidan blinks over to Claudine. "Because without this thing, I hear nothing." He waves towards his head, the device not looking so different from a hearing aid with a wire running to a disc held to the side of his head. "When I combine it with reading lips, I do pretty well talking to people who don't know ASL." He states before he grins. "Plus it adds to my magnetic personality." He's being open enough that his thoughts match his words. That last joking comment is matched with a thought of the magnetic attatchment of the parts of his cochlear implant.

Her eyes widen as she ohs and purses her lips, wrinkling her nose as she sighs and looks a bit embarassed. Her cheeks flush a bright tinge of red before she lets out an impish giggle and nods, "I see, I see. Well, that's interesting. I wouldnt of even realized it, but it's helpful I think.."

Aidan looks over to Claudine and smiles. "Good. Then I'm doing well with it. I sometimes worry people will think I'm creepy for looking at them so much when they're talking, to see what they're saying." Aidan says honestly. "Plus, if you're ever missing a fridge magnet…"

"I'll make sure you're around so I can have you keep a note on my fridge. Good to know.." Claudine quips with another giggle as she runs her fingers through her hair. "I should get going though..gotta shower and stuff.."

Aidan nods his head with a grin. "That is part of my skill set." He says before he nods. "It was nice to meet you. Maybe we'll run into each other again someday. Though hopefully not literally."


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September 4th: A Recent Death
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September 4th: Attracting Attention
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