Players:
Summary: Summary of what happened.
Date: May 9, 2011
Log Title: Swords Are For Fighting and Swallowing
Rating: PG
NYC - Central Park Lake
Bethesda fountain sits at the edge of the lake with a large terrace for people to hang out and relax. Benches sit under the trees creating a peaceful atmosphere. A dock stretches out into the lake for people to rent row boats to enjoy the entire lake. In the distance Bow Bridge can be scene crossing the man make lake.
This beautiful Monday afternoon finds Ahdi standing at the end of the dock, squinting across the lake at someone fishing with a pole. He is dressed in a baggy white t-shirt, jeans, and his leather mokasins. Idly he wonders why his people never thought of a rod and real. As the ligth breeze picks up and blows his baggy shirt and hair around he glances up at the sky, then turns to start walking back toward land.
Sitting in the grass by the lake is Aiden. A large duffle bag sits next to him as he works on retying his boots. Some of the buckles are undone as he works on pulling the laces tight and making sure his black pants are tucked into them. The tattoo like markings that show from under the sleeves of his t-shirt and on his neck are a green colour today. He's wearing a black t-shirt with an image of Alice in Wonderland holding a small bottle on it with some text and Drink Me in large letters across. He hums a bit to himself as he enjoys the weather.
It's a rare day when Chloe actually has enough free time to make a trip into New York proper, but thanks to the joys of superspeed her trips are still more common than most. So it'd be rude not to spend her afternoon wandering round the park eating icecream and listening to all the latest mp3's she's converted to fastworld factor six (the speed all the cool kids listen to their music in!). Even at her idle strolling pace it's plainly obvious she's more than human, pushing a good twenty miles an hour and breezing past the occasional jogger without even seeming to try.
Ahdi steps off the dock and onto the grass, then blinks as he sees Chloe. He is so surprised to see someone moving that fast that he completely fails to notice Aiden sitting not too far to his left, and simply stares after the girl as she passes, reaching up to scratch at his head. Not really believing what he sees he blinks first his tattooed eye, then his other. This not showing his eyes to be fooling him, he realizes that this is just another strange earth person, though they move fast for a human.
Once he's got his boots laced and buckled up tight Aiden jumps to his feet and stretches out his wings the best he can. When you've got a twenty foot wingspan you have to be careful not to hit anyone. Chloe gets a raised eyebrow from Aiden as he notice her running by before smiling a bit. He looks at his watch before muttering "I still have time before work."
Oh if only she was walking! But no, the joggers pride is futher wounded by Chloe simply walking. "Wow. And I thought /I'd/ stand out in the park," she declares to Aiden, turning to actually walk backwards at the same speed. "I bet it sucks when you need to stretch indoors huh?"
Ahdi finally spots Aiden, and he isn't sure which he should be more interested in, the man with the wings, or the woman who is fast. With a half smile he decides it really doesn't matter and steps around to be on the front side of Aiden. Walking in his direction he moves his hands to clasp them in front of him and calls out, "Man with wings, is good to see again." He gives a slight bow, then straightens and glances briefly from him to Chloe, repeating the slight bow to her as he walks, even though she isn't really talking to him.
"Man with wings has a name, and it's not that. Aiden." He says remembering Ahdi and Aiden can't help but look down to see if he's wearing shoes. He then shrugs as Chloe speaks up. "Not really, I mean you learn how to do it. It's like you with your ability to move really fast, you get used to it. And what does it matter if I stand out or not." He says grinning.
"Pitch fork weilding mobs kinda suck?" Chloe suggests, then with a giggle she corrects "Except they don't usually fly and I'd bet good money those work, right?" Ahdi gets a polite nod, being as he is an oddly dressed stranger in the park. "And I don't move /really/ fast. Quicksilver, now he is fast. Anything else is just degrees of slow compared to him." Perhaps oddly is that she's the one not wearing shoes. Having stuck them in the little backpack she's got slung over her shoulder while she's been walking on the grass.
Ahdi stops a few feet away from Aiden and unfolds his hands to rub at the tattoo across his forearm, still looking from one curiosity to the other as they talk, to Aiden he says, "Am sorry, the name did not come to me. I will remember is Aiden ." He glances down to his own feet now, most of his clothes seeming just what a homeless person might where accept for the oddly made leather shoes, "I have these now, yes, will not have cops called on me." He sounds inthusiastic enough as he peers back up at Aiden, "I was ask about that custom, a girl, she tell me that some place you must wear shoes. She also tell me that other place you will have to wear no clothes, it is depend on the rules."
"Only run into one of those kinda mobs once, but they had rifles not pitch forks." Aiden says as a bit of yellow creeps into the green of his tattoo like markings before fading. "And no, they're just two really annoying growths on my back that don't serve any purpose, of course they work." He says in a joyful manour. "Whose Quicksilver? I know Northstar is really fast I remember him from Alpha Flight." Most of what he knows about super heroes are the Canadian ones from when he was a kid. He gives Ahdi a confused look as he speaks this time a bit of orange creeping into the markings and lingering there. "Well….no clothes really is mainly for the privacy of your own home. Indecident exposure and all that."
"Quicksilver is one of the Avengers," Chloe explains rolling her eyes with exaggerated slowness. "And you'd never know it but a /lot/ of physical mutations are basically cosmetic. Getting enough of the package to fly is beyond a lot of people. You'd need to be really light, very strong and have a knack for air currents and stuff." She gives Ahdi a suspicious look and takes an idle step back. "And this is /definately/ not on the list of places you can go without clothes."
Ahdi looks again from Aiden to Chloe as they talk, giving Chloe the suspicious look back as he gets it, then giving the same look to a bird, and a rock, as if trying it out. Still in his excited tone he assures them both, "No, no, will keep clothes on. Was tell that to be naked is bad, unless you see many other naked people. She say this is strange, but, sometime you will see many people like this. I do no have a home, I think this mean I will never be naked. This is strange, but, all thing that Human do are strange." Ahdi stops giving things suspicious looks and shrugs his shoulders slightly, smiling his half smile again.
Ahdi glances up over Aiden's head at a distent point in the sky, squinting. Whatever he sees he then glances up at the sun, compares them, and frowns. "Am, much sorry, Aiden and Chloe. i have no time to do the pleasant talking of humans, there are customs I skip, I have no time. You will have a good day." Ahdi smiles mischeviously at both Aiden and Chloe, then turns to amble off toward the woods with his usual oddly silent footsteps.
"I know very little of the Avengers. I know there's a Thor, a Capatin America and an Iron Man." The rest are kind of lost on Aiden. "Though I beg to differ about the cosmetic. Most of my family that are mutants we all have physical aspects of our powers that aren't cosmetic." He says before giving Ahdi a nod as he goes to leave. "Take care." He then shakes his head and lets out a calming breath as he leaves. "Really I try to like most people but that guy is just, I don't know. He's very obnoxious with all this 'humans are strange' talk. Sorry but not everyone's the same." He says rolling his blue eyes.
"He's a mutant then?" Chloe wonders, nodding at Ahdi as he makes to leave. "A very… oblivious one that is. I mean he still looks pretty human to me. It's not like he can mistake himself for a giant panda or anything." Slinging her bag round the speedster digs her hand inside and pulls out a bottle of water, which she practically empties in two short gulps. "Your family might just have strong X-genes then! Which is pretty cool. But from the stuff I've seen around mutant town I think I'll stick with thinking a lot of people aren't so lucky and take pleasure in life proving me wrong."
"I have no idea what he is but strange. He didn't know that you shouldn't wear shoes in a store." Aiden says. "I mean, I'm really out of touch with things but not that out of touch." Though he has no issues with being naive about somethings. "Oh no, sorry, not family like we all share the same parents but family as the Freak Show troupe I used to travel with. And that's where I live, Mutant Town, it's a nice place there. The people are really helpful to a new comer."
Chloe chews her lip. "I had a bad experience last time I was there. Were you around for the big event Magneto held? Where these people played a game that involved shooting people," she replies. "Long story short it sucked big time. Being shot at does not agree with me. I couldn't even run to safety because some jerk sprayed me with some gas that made me really unwell."
Aiden shakes his head. "No, I don't think I was living there at the time. I've been living there maybe a month." He hasn't really kept track that well. "No, being shot at is never a good time. I've only been in that situation once and that's how the troupe I was with got seperated." He says as the green tattoo like markings on his arms and neck start to change to a deep blue colour with bits of yellow in it. "Well it's good to know that you got out alright though. I'm Aiden by the way." He says offering a hand.
"Chloe, a please to meet yah," she offers, tentatively shaking the offered hand. "I have to be careful with handshakes, wouldn't want to dislocate anything by shaking your hand at a hundred miles an hour." She grins. "Don't worry though. I've never had that problem and I take extra care. Preventing hand injuries happening has a special place in my heart. So anyway what brings you to the park? If that's not too personal a question that is."
"Thanks, I kinda need my hands for both my jobs. It'd be really hard to swallow swords with my dominant hand broken." Aiden says. "Well I like relaxing in the park. It's not the loud crowd of the city and it's nice here. I like the grass and the water and just being able to relax before work. Also the hot dogs in the park make for a nice cheap lunch. What about yourself?"
Chloe laughs. "I'm avoiding homework, getting a little sun and listening to some music without having to worry about anyone else at school bugging me. Boarding school is pretty cool but spending all day every day keeping my speed in check… It's pretty draining." She blinks a few times at full on fast world six. "You swallow swords? That's awesome. But is it really something you can do as a full time job?"
"Yup, I started learning how to do it about ten years ago. I also can fire dance, breath fire and do some small escape artist type things. I work for the Freakshow down in Coney Island. And as for full time job, it all depends on kinda of week we have. If someone rents out the show for a party or event the pay is good, if it's an average week I'm not going clothing shopping that week and eating a lot of ramen." Aiden says with a chuckle. "But I do also work as a waiter at a Bistro in mutant town at nights so I can make sure to afford my rent." He then raises his drawn on eyebrow at Chloe. "Boarding school? Why does every teenager I seem to meet go to boarding school."
"Is it really a shock? Lot of rich people in New York," Chloe points out, not that she sounds anything like a native New Yorker. "And that means a lot of good boarding schools. Because who else can afford them?" She shrugs. "Or maybe we're all skipping school and claiming we go to a boarding school so even if you report us we won't get in trouble. It's a mystery!"
"Honestly I don't know if there are alot of rich people in New York or not, just a lot of people." Aiden says. "Still, it's kinda of weird. Everyone goes to boarding school. Maybe I've just been out of the school system too long or something." He says shrugging. "Yeah, I didn't even finish the eighth grade I'm going to report a bunch of teens for skipping school." He says rolling his eyes with a chuckle as his tattoos seem to settle back to a green colour.
Chloe waves her hands. "Maybe, I couldn't say either way. Next time though I'll be sure to claim something more mysterious like I've got a free period at a school which may or may not have boards involved. Are they real swords you swallow? The kind you could sword fight with or are they just sword shaped bits of sharp metal? I only ask because I'm taking Bushido classes and it's kinda got me into sword fighting. Alas it seems even in a city this big I can't find classes in swashbuckling."
Aiden goes over to his duffle back and pulls out one of the swords that's in there as he has his stuff with him before he's headed to work. "This is one of them it's not for sword fighting. It's something that has taken years of practice and I wouldn't recommend trying it. And Bushido? What's that?"
"It's a Japanese thing. Roughly meaning Way of the warrior," Chloe informs cheerfully, peering at the sword. "It's a combination of martial arts mastery, philosophy and stuff like that. Like chivalry only more so. If that makes sense? I bet my sensei would cry if he heard me try and describe it like that." She frowns. "But even what he teaches is probably just a modern adaptation of the real thing. So I guess he can't complain too much." Having taken a good long stare at the sword she laughs. "You don't have to warn me about the dangers of sharp objects. I receieved the most unforgetable kind of instruction there is."
"It's not the sharpness but it does take some mental and physical disipline to be able to do it. Just like with fire breathing." Aiden says as he takes his craft very seriously. "That's kinda need, I'm really not the warrior type. I prefer to be a passifist." He says as he puts the sword back int he bag. "Well I gotta be off, I gotta get to work now. If you ever feel like checking out the show down in Coney Island feel free. It was nice meeting you Chloe." He says as he spreads out his wings so that he can take off.
Chloe skips back a few steps in the time it takes Aiden to stand up. "The pleasure was all mine! I'll see if any of my friends from school wanna come along next time we're in need of a night on the town. Although from past experiences disaster strikes every time we hang out in public, so you may want to prepare yourself for random acts of god." She smiles. "Anyway cya around."
