Speed Dating

Participants:

abby_icon.gif victor_icon.gif

Scene Title Speed Dating
Synopsis In which abby cancel the non-date, and Victor tries to ease her stress by using tricks and carrying her through manhatten at immense speeds.
Date December 18, 2008

Outside Old Lucy then Brooklyn bridge


Vic has no idea where Abby lives. She and her life of mystery coupled with what he still thinks are probably a lot of very colorful lies about what she does day to day make him not even ask. Frankly he doesn't want to discover that her address is Rockefeller Center or the New York Public Library and have that much more to doubt about her. So he simply shows up on an evening they've agreed upon at her bar waiting for her shift to end. He's sitting on a bus stop bench down the block from the door to that place right now, patiently waiting. And patiently playing on a PSP while he waits.

Save that Abby wasn't working today so instead of coming out of the bar, the blonde bartender is coming from the opposite direction. Hunched over and moving swiftly in the new york dark night, dressed for the cold weather, the hem of her jeans wet and purse clutched close. She see's him though, and moves in the direction of his bench. 'Lets go Victor. Don't know when the movie you chose starts but we should head that way"

Switching the PSP off, Vic looks and says, "Hey Abby…you weren't at work?" Well hell. He screwed that up. He should've at least checked, but Abby told him she doesn't work the front for now so…damn! "I was thinking we'd go see that new Jim Carrey movie. You said something funny." He grins and gets up, looking the girl up and down briefly as he slips the PSP into a hip pocket. It'll fit, too. "Sorry you got wet. Why didn't you call?"

"Busy, doing stuff. Had to meet with people today and with Brian. Don't want to talk about it. Jim Carrey sounds fine" Short sentances. "Which way's the theatre and we we need to take a bus or is it close?" Her hands are buried deep in her pockets, blonde hair spills this way and that as she waits expectantly for an answer.

"Let's…I thought we'd walk and…" Vic has a thumb over his shoulder. "It's like three blocks this way and…are you all right? You wanna do something else? Or just call it off and hang out? Seems like something's up."

"Just came away from a bit of an argument, i'll be fine" Abby answers as her boots crunch the snow and such underneath with her about turn in the direction he indicates.

"Okay." Wow. Vic just kind of starts into a walk. "So. You don't want to talk about it. So I'm not gonna ask about it. But is there anything I can do?"

Abby remains sullen and silent before she opens her mouth to speak. But nothing comes out, just a frown and she closes it again. A few moments later she tries again. "Men! Do you all try and pee on your territory like male cats? Seriously. At least the two at home don't do it, but he gave me a real ring, and he gets a strange look on his face when I said that I have a night at the movies with you, and it's like he's jealous, and he game me a real ring, not some cubic zirconia thing like an real honest to god swear on the bible, diamond ring. He kept getting this look on his face when I refused and then asked me why i'm so hard to please and I told him that he'd make someone a good wife some day, not me, and then he replied that every girl he meets says that, maybe he's meant to be like the apostle paul, and then he got angry and I put the darned ring on to make him happy but now he's not and i'm upset and I now have a real diamond ring for a fake engagement and I HATE MEN. This Victor, this is why I don't date. I don't have energy to deal with men. I have enough to get up, go to work, shower, sleep and take care of the two guys I live with. I don't have room for another ego"

"I…I don't wanna pee on you?" offers Vic with a noticeable degree of discomfort while he faces forward where they're walking, eyes cutting aside to Abby a few times as they walk. No, he doesn't really realize what he just said.

"I'm going to shut up now" Abby replies, burrowing into her jacket and scarf, hands into her pocket. SHe understood the joke, doens't mean she was in the mood to laugh at it. 'men"

"Probably not really my business?" starts Vic, after giving the silence a couple of seconds to stick and for them to walk, "But it sounds like Brian doesn't really think you guys are having a fake engagement. I'm just saying."

"he said he was doing it to try and make me feel better. God Damnit I'm not in the mood for a movie. I'm sorry Victor. I wasn't expecting this, ir eally wasn't and now I just.. fuck" Abby scowl at a garbage can as they pass. "You deserve me in a better mood for the Movies and me not cursing and thinkings really not nice thougths"

Vic slows the walk and says, "Let's just walk." He seems awfully chill for someone who just had to stand next to that rant. "So he sounds really clueless." This is one of those seed phrases, meant to elicit whatever Abby has to say on the topic. People who are used to talking things out are good at those.

"He's not" Abby answers back to Victor. 'he's just.. going through a tough time" Abby reaches up to wipe her nose on her gloves with a sniff.

This is when Vic allows himself another look at Abby and frowns in concern. "Hey." he says, "Why's it got you so upset? What is it that bothers you most? I mean, is it that you've got all this stuff on your plate already and you're mad he's adding more? Who're you mad at?"

"mad at myself. I'm mad at myself for taking that ring and allowing him to guilt me into it. I don't need this on my plate. I really don't. My head hurts just thinking about it. I'm not a hard woman to please, Id on't need rings, I don't need anything except to not be worrying that i'm leading him on, when I just want him to be a friend and friend don't give friends diamond rings"

Matter-of-fact nod at that. "Yeah. I mean I wouldn't give you a diamond ring. Not unless we found it on the ground or something, and it wouldn't mean anything." Vic looks at her again and asks, "Can I see it?"

Abby lifts a hand from a pocket and roots around under her scarf before the delicate chain is produced. The ring hangs right in the middle, dwarfing the small simple gold cross the dangles on the inside. Its' simple, with a small diamond in it.

Vic pauses in their walking to have a look at it, examining the ring in the street illumination. He makes sure Abby keeps the silly thing and remarks, "Wow. What're you gonna do with it?"

"I dunno" She murmurs, looking at it. "I just don't know"

"Why don't you give it back to him? Or I dunno…" Vic sighs. "I don't know anything, Abby. I don't know who you deal with day to day, so I guess I shouldn't do the guy thing and try to suggest how you fix the problem. But if you need me, here I am." And to punctuate that, he gives her a gentle shoulder bump as they walk.

'Stick it in the box and shove it in my closet and forget about it. Call off this whole fake agagement" Comes muttered from the blonde's lips. "MEN!" She yells out into the street before she hip bumps him back. "My head hurts now"

"So I guess this is the wrong time to tell you about my true feelings for you…" starts Vic with a heavy voice. Although should Abby look his direction it's clear he's holding in a grin. He is kidding.

'So not the time, really not the time, or I just might commit a grave sin, and I really have no place to hide a body" She leeps tromping along with him though, through the streets of New York. "We could still try the movie, just need to find something for my head"

"Could you even do that? I mean seriously. Because of what you do is it possible for you to hurt somebody? With your bare hands anyway." Seems like a valid question to Vic. He imagines her frantically trying to choke someone to death and them in ecstacy as all their aches and pains leave them. He shrugs again. "Screw the movie. Let's get you something. Or hey, how come you even have to hurt? Can't you just fix it?"

'Just becuas eyou can do what you do, do you use it all the time? What Ido, comes with a cost, and I don't like to use it on myself unless I really need to" and this isn't really one of those times. "No, I can't, hurt someone that is. Just.. walk me home? Since Brian took off. I sleep this off and decide what to do in the morning"

"You got it." agrees Vic easily, "But first let's try something. I think I can help you with the headache, but you gotta trust me a little, and I happen to be a guy."

Abby looks over at Victor, studying him dubiously before she gives a short nod. "Try it"

They stop walking, and Vic turns to face Abby, taking his hands out of his pockets and saying, "Okay," He looks around. "It's kinda quiet here right now so this'll work. Close your eyes and just stand there, and listen to my voice."

Abby nods once again, closing her eyes, the blonde lashing laying gently on her cheeks and her hands still stuck in her pockets. She waits quietly in the stillness of the night.

Vic lowers his voice and warns, "I'll be behind you here." And as he speaks he can be heard to move behind Abby. "Going to put my hands on your head like this…" his fingers reach around her head to contact above her ears, fingertips finding places just above and behind the eyes, thumbs on the back of her hairline. "Imagine you're right here, standing on this street. Take a last look right now, and close your eyes and imagine what you see in front of you. And hold that image in your mind."

And he'll slit her throat ect ect, it all runs through her head, but she trusts him. Right this moment. Abby opens her eyes to take that quick last look before she closes them again, picturing the still scene, the cool air, the streelight, the slush and snow beneath, the bus stop further down, picture it all.

"Got it? Okay. Now you're standing here but the entire scene in front of you is sinking. It's sinking because you're rising, because you feel light. You're floating up and off the ground." Vic says this very quietly, almost in a whisper, but right behind Abby and close to her so it's audible. And as he says this, he lifts just a little on her head, putting pressure around her temples while lifting to help give some weight to the belief she might be floating.

Well that feelings a little disconcerting, enough so that her hands come out of her pockets as if to balance herself. "Stop. please" A bit on the plaintive soft side.

"We can stop right here then." he says, still in that calm voice he's using. Vic says, "I won't let anything happen to you, Abby. It's okay. We're just going straight up for a bit and then coming back down to Earth. Just take a deep breath and let me know if you want to keep going or stop."

It's still a very strange feeling, and it's the touching. His hands, or well his fingers on her head. 'okay" the word comes out on a bpuff of air that curls off into nothingness in the cool air. She clenches her hands into fists though, worried.

"You've got some tension. Let that go. It'll weigh you down." explains Victor patiently. "You're not feeling tense anymore. Because the more you relax, the more you rise from the ground, light. See how the ground's falling away and you just lift up…up…" The pressure on her head doesn't increase. He just keeps it the same, allowing it to help the illusion while at the same time squeezing her skull just a tiny bit. Enough that it tends to help headaches. "See the tops of the buildings yet?"

She breathes it out again, or tries to, try to take all the issues she's had that day and expell them on a breath, as if that very thing might make her lighter. But it's there, the feeling of being lighter again, and pictures the buildings rising before her, or she rising, before them. "Little" Her voice so softly as she speaks, barely heard.

"Feel the wind on your face? Wow. It's breezy up here." says Victor, whispering loud enough to be audible. And of course there IS wind, because it's windy out here. But it can be easy to associate the momentary gusts with being up in the air, not just what happens naturally at street level. "Put your arms out and you can fly. You're flying right now, Abby. Keep your eyes closed and look up. Tell me what you see…" This part he isn't going to prompt her on.

"I can't fly victor, that's just silly" The blonde murmurs, even as the wind does indeed blow across her face and prompting a smile from her. Little by little tension seeps from her. Her head tilts upwards though, nearly of it's own accord.

Vic grins silently and lets Abby move her head however she likes, simply supporting her and keeping light steady pressure on her temples. "You can't? You can heal. I can move faster than you can blink. Anything's possible. How do you feel?" Yeah, this is working. He can tell.

'God didn't give me the ability to soar above the buildings and the clouds. Jsut to take away the hurts of others. I'm not Icarus. I feel better though" She doens't open her eyes, still keep them closed. The headache that threatned, now ebbing.

"Shouldn't you maybe leave what you can and can't do up to God?" suggests Vic gently. He dares just for a moment to touch his forehead to Abby's head. And yes, it's a gesture of tenderness. He couldn't explain where it comes from. "Come back down to the street with me and open your eyes." Slowly, he lets go of her.

"If he gives me the gift to fly, he will, but he hasn't" She opens her eyes slowly though, adjusting from the imagined street to the real street with a heady breath. She glances down to see both on the ground and a much calmer and less irritated state.

Vic is there standing behind Abby, arms crossed and a pleased look on his face. "Thought you wouldn't go along with it for a second. Still need something else for your head?"

'Maybe, or maybe it'll go away on it's own, or maybe I can be selfish, jsut this moment" And she is, decides to be. He can't hear the prayer, it's spoken in her mind, and she feels the effects on herself. Moments later, the vestiges of her tension headache that tried to rear it's head taper away to nothing with only the slightest exhertion.

"I get the impression you're too hard on yourself." Vic says. "C'mon, I'll walk you home. At least you won't have to wander around alone in the streets." Right. Like she's the only one getting anything out of this!

'From only two meetings?" Abby pokes at him verbally while putting her hands back into her pockets. There's a gesture towards a bus stop. 'I Live in the Bronx. other end of the Island Victor"

"That's nothing. How soon do you wanna be there?" Vic asks with a grin. "You're the one who suggested I walk you home. And yes, from only two meetings. Mostly this one."

"What, your going to pick me up and cart me off Victor?" Abby looks at him with an air of incredulity.

"If you wanted. But you'd scream. A lot. I've been told it's fun but scary when I carry someone. To me it's just moving." Why not? Vic looks like he could at least carry some little thing like Abby. And he says as much, looking her over. "You're tiny. I could carry you easy."

'Why does everyone tell me i'm tiny" There's a roll of her eyes. "Five foot seven is not tiny. Tiny is like… five foot 3 or four!" She looks her own self over. "I'll close my eyes"

"Because you're tiny." replies Vic with a grin. And he pauses, a little skeptical. "You wanna?" he asks.

'I'll close my eyes. I promise, I won't puke on you. Besides, I could use the … experience" She smiles softly at that. 'And you could use the practice probably"

Vic makes a face that reads like he sees some other reason to this but doesn't mind in the least. "So uh…anywhere in the Bronx or a specific corner?" He looks off down the street in the direction of the Bronx just to kind of plan his route.

'Get us across the bridge. How about that? then we'll see from there?" it's quielty offered as if she's trying to wrap her head around moving very very fast. "You sure you can handle it? We can still take a bus"

"And miss the chance to carry you? You're kidding, right?" Vic asks, clapping his hands together and looking at Abby. "Best cradle you in my arms. I can control my center of gravity better that way."

'Teo was right. I am a heart breaker. I should probably stay away from guys. Thank the heavens I work in a bar filled with women bartenders" It's all spoken like it's quietly funny to the woman. "Well, pick me up then" Abby smiles.

"Oh don't worry. I think I know my chances." says Vic with a wink. He bends and easily picks Abby up. And turns out he's quite a bit stronger than he probably appears. Doesn't seem to have any trouble holding her. "Comfy?" he asks, adding, "Arm around my neck. You'll need to hang on." Regardless of what she says, the second she does as he says Victor Childs introduces Abby to an entire other dimension consisting of 0 to 500mph in a nanosecond.

Abby oophs as she's picked up, surprise coloring her features, her purse secured between her and him and her arms wrapped around the other guy. Her eyes are closed tight, face turned in as she can only imagine what the force will be like. And then their off and it's a whole other different kind of wind blowing against her and the blonde gasps, her grip tightening around Victor's neck and shoulders.

The G-forces are the craziest part, though Vic does everything he can to make that easy. That was part of the route planning. There's even a more gentle deceleration a few blocks before he gets to the bridge such that half of that five second trip feels strangely as if it was all spent slowing down. Slowing down from HOLY CRAP speeds, but slowing down nonetheless. When they finally are at a standstill Vic is in a crouch holding Abby just inches from the ground and saying with heavy breath, "Put…your feet down."

A look down the bridge shows two long dark streaks on the sidewalk stretching off into the night. And there's snow everywhere else. They're clearly where Victor SLID to a stop. Maybe that's why he's crouching.

Thump goes her feet, closer to the group than anticipated so at first it's her heels, but carefully she unpeels herself, looking left then right and yes, they're at the end of the bridge. "Oh sweet jesus…" skid marks, Victor, skid marks, victor. There's a different between smacking a guys head in a bar and saying you can do it than carting a woman through manhatten in a few moments. "that's…"

"Yeah that sucked. That was really stupid of me." Vic says, helping Abby to her feet and catching his breath, looking the way they came. "I didn't realize it'd be so slippery. Duh." Smacks himself in the forehead with the palm of his hand. "But it's cool. I really wouldn't let you get hurt."

'That didn't suck at all, it was like.. was like sticking your head outa the window of my poppa's car when he's driving really fast and letting the wind wash over you, but times fifty" Abby grins, offering a hand to help him up once she's up.

"You really liked it?" asks Vic, a little surprised. And it makes him beam brightly. "How much farther to your place? Or is this where you walk off alone and say good night?" He does that thing you see in all those classic anime movies where he rubs the back of his own head and looks so accidentally self-concious. That can't possibly be intentional, but it should be.

"It's not far, I can walk there alone. Lest you have this dark urge to meet my roomates who act like older brothers and well… i'm sure you know how that goes" Abby's putting herself back to rights. "It was interesting. The world through your… senses"

Vic hehs and shakes his head a little. "Oh uh…I don't know if that's possible. My senses, I can't share that with you. See, to you that was like over with." he snaps his fingers to illustrate. "To me I just got to spend maybe an hour, I dunno, running with you in my arms without getting tired, watching you look like an astronaut with your face going like this." He puts his hands on either side of his face and pulls back, doing an approximation of what someone looks like with wind buffetting their face.

Save that she had turned her face away from the front and to the back so it was hair plastered to either side of her. She laughs though at that image. "So i can't share your sense it was still very nice anyways"

Just how much of this whole thing was engineered to make Abby's night better becomes a little more apparent when Vic grins and says, "At least I could help a little. Even if we had to break our date."

"Wasn't a date. not a date date, just two people, no guns, going to see a movie instead end ups peeding across manhatten" Abby offers up her hand to Victor. 'Thank you, for making me feel better Victor"

"Oh, whatever you wanna call it." Vic says, taking Abby's hand and grasping it firmly for a moment. "I like you, Abby. I get that you just want a friend. And trust me that's cool with me. I solemnly promise no rings, no love notes, and no stupid drama. Okay?"

'I coudl use that" Abby squeezes his hand as she shakes it before loosening her grip. "I'm still not letting you near my roomates, they'll get their own ideas"

"That's fine." says Vic with a smirk. "Let em pick out wedding drapes." He lets go of her hand and says, "And try to relax. That stress? It'll kill you." He's walking away from her backward, "I mean it.


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December 18th: The Apostle Paul
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December 18th: A Goodnight to Lost Love
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