Participants:
| Scene Title | Running Into Strangers |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Desree and Nicolas, quiet literally, run into each other. |
| Date | January 14, 2009 |
Day or night, Canal Street is busy in Chinatown. Perfumes, purses, produce, pork, and poultry are all sold side by side in busy open storefronts. One entire portion of the street is dedicated to nothing but jewelry stores catering to various price ranges. Box vendors sell all manner of sizzling foodstuffs to passing pedestrians, some of it identifiable, some of it better left unexplained. The ambiance is one of business and pleasure.
The late afternoon sports a rather beautiful skyline, the buildings fired in reds of the approaching evening. The sun shifts and throws shadows along the market street that filters through a dozen or more smells. The multitude of shoppers still remains thick and amongst them is Desree. Wearing a white skirt accompanied by an off shoulder blue sweater, she shifts her carry all cloth sack on her shoulder, already bulging with some of her purchases.
With the smell of fresh veggie rolls at one of the steaming stands, she moves that way with a chorus of clicks from her blue cumps, her soft silken skirt shifting along her legs. She gets in behind the man ordering his food and casts her eyes back and around.
Nicolas moves through the market, his eyes scanning over the merchandise on display by the various vendors. He stops at one of the vendors, looking over a few of the electronics that have been put up for sale before he moves on to another vendor, his stomach telling him that it's time to eat or else it'll be very upset at him.
Tapping her foot, the man before her steps aside and she shuffles towards the vendor. "I will take two, with some sauce as well." She says, digging out the little Storm: London wallet. Four dollars ruffles out for the billfold and she waits patiently for the exchange, her own stomach grumbling. Desree smiles softly and looks about again, one of the many faces catching her recognition for but a moment and then is lost as she has to turn back to pay.
Nicolas waits his turn as he looks around the area for a moment. He turns back towards the vendor as he waits for the woman in front of him to finish with her order and payment. He stuffs his hands into his pocket as he looks over the menu.
Juggling the two veggie rolls, Desree manages to pay him without spilling her sauce. Now that she has her food, she notes her dilemna. Shifting her bag a bit, she attempts to open the sauce further and eat while walking, though a table would be much preferred. Turning a bit too fast, she may just clip Nick in the shoulder with her own if he does not move.
Nicolas is too involved in the menu, trying to decide what to get. He takes a step towards the vendor as Desree turns a bit too soon, adding a bit of force into the clipping of shoulders. He stumbles a bit in the collision. "I'm sorry." He says as soon as he recovers. "Are you alright?"
Sauce is open and everything else does not matter. As shoulders meet, her sauce skitters and plops down against her hip and then to the ground. A nice orange glob begins to slide down the white cloth of her skirt and she murmurs something at first, frowning some before looking up at Nicolas. "I..I am fine. Its okay..I should have looked first."
Nicolas shakes his head as he looks at the glob then up to her. "No. It's my fault. I wasn't paying attention. "I'm sorry." He says, reaching for some napkins to hand to her. "I hope I didn't ruin your skirt."
Watching the liquid drip down her skirt, she shifts and some splatters upon her leg. Desree gives a shake of her head and a gentle smile. "Nothing a good detergent won't fix. I am a wiz with stains." She says, intercepting his napkin to try to clean the beginning part of the sauce and work her way down. "Thanks though..but it should be okay."
Nicolas looks to her as he lets her clean the mess up. "Let me at least get you another sauce or something." He says as he looks to the vendor. "I need another sauce for her." He says as he motions towards Desree.
"Its okay…something similar is bound to happen. I don't usually eat these while I am walking.." Then there is the claxon call of her cell phone in her bag and she gasps. Frowning some, she tucks the napkin into the palm of her hand and fishes for the phone in a hurry. After a few moments, she balances the two rolls in one hand and shoulders the phone after sliding it open. "Hello?" She says and then looks over at Nicolas with a smile, her dark hair falling over her face as she leans against the phone. "I am at the market…sure ..I can wait." She nods a few times "See you.." She wrinkles her brows and closes the phone. "Sorry …I should.." She tries to get a hand free to offer it to him. "I am Desree.."
Nicolas nods his head. "Alright." He says as he looks to her before the phone rings. As she speaks on the phone, he turns to the vendor and quickly places his order. He turns back to the woman as she ends the call and smiles. "I'm Nicolas." He says as he takes her hand in his as soon as she manages to. "Nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is mine and my skirts I think.." She gazes down and brushes a bit more at it once their handshake is over. "I think I remember you vaguely…from that club the other night. It was awfully crowded and I had a killer headache." Des winces in memory of it. "Was that your girlfriend next to you? Ummm…the taller woman's assistant yes?"
Nicolas looks to the woman and nods. "Yeah. I was there. I'm sorry if I don't remember you. I don't think I saw you." He says as he releases her hand, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets. "The blonde?" He asks at her question. "No. She's not my girlfriend." He says with a chuckle.
She blinks at that and then smiles, "Oh…I would have thought otherwise." She admits and works at the skirt again, trying to at least get it somewhat dry. "What brings you to the market today?" She asks, giving a toss of her hair as she resettles it back down between her shoulders. With care she lifts one roll and begins to take a bite, gingerly so.
Nicolas shakes his head. "Naw. I don't have one. She was just someone I happened to run into." He says as he turns back to the vendor as his food arrives. He pays for it before taking the food and turning back to Desree. "I'm actually just looking. Got bored so I decided to take a walk and just happened to end up here." He says before he takes a bite. After he swallows, he speaks again. "What about you?"
Finishing her first bite, she swallows and smiles, placing two fingers over her mouth till it is clear. "Well…I live in Chinatown..so I come here occasionally to shop and get my mind off things at the office. I just like the general calamity of the situation and enjoy being swallowed up by the populous."
Nicolas nods his head as he listens. "I see. Well, everyone has their place that they go to unwind. To get away from the drudgery of their lives." He says with a smirk. "Mine is a bar."
Another bite awaits to be cleared from her mouth and upon doing so, she nods her head. "Seems like that is the case for many…I just tend to find..the oddest people there. I don't have luck with finding good company at bars - so I tend to stay away. It's just safer." She says and it sounds as though she may be speaking from experience. Desree motions to his food. "We could find a doorstep to sit on.."
Brian has arrived.
Nicolas looks to his food and nods. "Yeah. That would be a good idea. Or we can walk and I can get some on my pants and we can match." He says before he looks around and motions to a door step that is fairly close by. "How about over there?"
That causes the veggie roll toting Desree to laugh. "Well unless you are a stain wiz, I think we best not match quite yet." She grins at Nicolas and looks to where he points. "Over there is good, out of the way and someplace to at least half sit half lean back against." She shifts, her knee length white silk skirt stained from their run in and the loss of her dipping sauce. The off-shoulder blue top matches the blue heels she wears. "After you."
Nicolas nods his head. "Yeah, but I'm a guy, so stains don't really bother me. We're suppose to be dirty." He says with a chuckle as he starts towards the door step, moving with her. "So, what do you do? I know. Typical get to know you chit-chat question."
"I am a social worker…I help troubled kids out, orphans…so forth." She says and motions towards Queens. "Work out that way…though I am originally from Bristol, Rhode Island." She takes a bite of one of her veggie rolls and is quick to lift her hand to cover her mouth as she asks, "What about you?"
Sighing. Brian takes another gaze around. Just a whole bunch of people that don't look or seem important at all. The young man wears a black track jacket, a pair of jeans and a baseball hat, slightly cocked to the side. Digging his hand he flings out his phone once again, bringing the cell phone to his ear. He presses send.
Desree's phone rings.
Pausing, Des pulls out the device, again fumbling with her food. "Just amoment.." She says to Nick and slides it open. "Brian?" She asks, pausing to look around the street.
Nicolas nods his head as he sits down on the door step with her, taking a bite of his food as he listens, nodding his head. "That's cool. I guess you can say that I'm self employed. I test the security of various corporate networks and see how they hold up against hackers." He says before her phone rings. He eats a bit more of his food as he lets her talk.
"I am looking around the street." Brian mutters. His eyes darting from here and there. "Do your thing and find me, woman." He orders as he aimlessly patrols the sidewalk. "I think I'm loooost." He whines.
Pausing as she smiles at Nick, Des states with a laugh, "I can't right now…" She then stands up and gives Nicolas a held up finger to say to give her a moment. Taking a few steps out into the main part of the street, she starts to look up and down, lifting on her toes, nto that it helps since she is already in heels. "I am standing in the middle of the street."
Nicolas chuckles as he continues to eat his food, letting her do her thing to try to find her friend.
Brian makes a very overly agitated noise on his end of the phone, a very prolonged groan when she states that she 'can't right now'. "Well I'm just going to go home th— Aha! Gotcha." Flip. The phone is hung up as Brian crosses the street towards where he has spotted Desree. A light smile playing on his lips as he walks toward her.
"Brian.." She says, sliding her phone away and holding onto her last veggie roll. "Over here…I am eating with Nicolas." she states and moves to meet him halfway and grasp for his hand to give him a slight tug. Desree arches a brow. "Did you want something?" She asks before she starts to lead him whether or not she has a hold of him.
Nicolas stays at the door step, eating his food as Desree goes to get her friend. He looks around the area, checking some of the nearby shops and people passing by.
"Who's Nicolas?" Brian asks dumbly, taking his hand out of his pocket he freely allows it to be taken by Desree. Following her quietly. "Am I interrupting something? Cause I can always go back to doing the totally interesting and not boring things I was just doing." He intones, jerking his free hand over his shoulder.
Raising a brow back at him. "If you want…and no you are not. We just 'ran' into each other." Returning to the nice little seclusion and break from the flow of people, Des smiles at Nicolas. "Nicolas, this is Brian, Brian…Nicolas." She says, shamelessly taking the first bite of her last veggie roll.
Nicolas looks up to Brian as he approaches with Des, offering a nod in greeting. "Hey." He says standing up as he finishes off the last bit of his food. "Nice to meet you."
 January 14th: Out Of The Devil's Water |
 January 14th: Alpha |