1963-08-12 - Path or Party
Summary: Central Park is a great place to meet friends old and new.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
katie akihiro kitty dazzler maverick nancy 


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Central Park New York City
Fri Aug 12, 1963 — Fri Aug 12 15:52:25 2016


*

Only a short time ago, Central Park was designated as a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of Agriculture, but already it serves as one of the primary tourist attractions in New York City. People are drawn to the grand 843 acre grounds, taking pictures infront of the magestic fountain or engaging in one of a hundred activities offered by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

All along Central Park Blvd, high rise apartments are available for the wealthy to reside close to what has long been considered the most magnificent display of argriculture in the United States. Dozens of entrances dot the exterior of the gated park, opening up on cobble stone and clear cut paths that traverse the grounds and offer a tour of the developed beauty the park has to offer.


*

Dressed casually in a colorful ensemble, pink blouse, yellow unbuttoned jacket and black capri pants and flats, Alison is sitting on a mushrom in Alice in Wonderland's statue in Central Park. She has an acoustic guitar set on her lap, and she's strumming away a song that would easily be familiar to annyone who hasn't lived under a rock, the Beatles' 'Love Me Do'. Lost in the music, she doesn't quite pay attention to her immediate surrounding, her body shifting with the music as she plays, singing quietly to herself.

*

Not too far from where Alison has elected to sit and perform, a thirty-something gentleman in a navy suit is seated on a much more mundane park bench, reading the latest issue of the New York Bulletin. David's expression is troubled, though whether it's the fault of what he's reading is anyone's guess. He casts the occasional glance up from what he's reading, eyes scanning over the crowds before, apparently not seeing anything of particular interest, they return to the paper.

*

Akihiro is out and about in the park again, though this time he isn't drinking, he's sniffing about looking for /something/ though nobody could be quite sure except for the teen himself. He's completely unrecognizable if you haven't seen him recently, with a buzzed head and goatee. The small round glasses with blue lenses perched on his nose do a good job of concealing his eyes enough that it isn't entirely obvious that he's out and about looking for something in particular.

*

Sometimes when you live at a school full of extraordinary people, you need a dose of reality… in the form of magazines, apparently. A large collection of fashion magazines have found their way into the bag slung over Kitty's shoulder as she strolls through central park. She'd promised pictures, and pictures will be delivered. Ironically, she's not a fashionista, and not exactly known for following such things, but if she can find a picture of what Illyana likes, maybe helping the gal get a haircut won't be so hard.

One can hope.

Having managed to collect the pictures that she'd wanted, she feels like she deserves, nay, has earned, a treat. Greedily, she digs into a serving of chilli cheese fries the size of her face. The fork works at the fries, and she shovels the delicious greasy mess into her mouth; not remembering the last time she'd ate greasy food — an irony after living in New Orleans for six months.

The sound of music draws her from her delicious revelry, and she perks to eye a woman playing her guitar. Not really paying attention to where she's walking, she takes a few steps forward into the walking path for a better view. It's then and only then that she's creamed from the side by some unbeknownst jogger.

Kitty could have phased, but phasing in public seems… unwise.

Cheese fries and Pryde (pride?) go out the window as BLAM Kitty hits the pavement with a loud THUD.

*

It's not exactly close to her student accomodation but Central Park is a great place for Katie to go for math solving walks. Because what could be exciting than walking around with a piece of slate, some chalk and a really difficult engineering problem to solve?

Every now and again she pauses to check where she's walking and scowl at anyone in her way. Rude perhaps, but at least Katie isn't going to trip over anything as she stomps her way towards some music!

*

Alison takes note of a kid who had come near her, more so for the statue then her playing, so she decides to amuse him a little, and while he looks at Alice, the statue very briefly gains some color before it fades. Alice's hair turning blonde, the dress blue, the skin color appearing and then just like that it's gone. It leaves the kid preplexed while he studies the statue behaving oddly, wondering if fairies were involved.

Alison in the meantime is distracted by the sound of a collision, which makes her stop playing and singing as she stands up, and slinnging the guitar over her back by the strap, she approaches towards Kitty with a look of concern, snapping at the jogger who creamed her from the side, "you should watch where you're going!" She doesn't linger to start an argument with him if he decides to have words, instead moving to Kitty's side, "are you okay?"

*

Isn't it just Kitty's lucky day — the gentleman on the bench looks up just in time for her pride to hit the ground, along with her lunch. David drops his newspaper on the bench (apparently, the Bulletin just isn't that interesting) and rises to his feet, beginning to make his way over, though Alison by far beats him to the scene.

David keeps an eye on the jogger, especially once Alison has snapped at him. He doesn't expect trouble, but he's already had more than he bargained for out of his trip to New York, so he's inclined to be a little paranoid. It's healthy. "No real harm done, I'm sure," he says lightly, offering a smile. "Though I am afraid your lunch has seen better days."

*

Akihiro is naturally drawn towards the noise, showing up several moments after Alison and David have arrived. "Everybody alright?" he asks, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. "Hopefully that's the worst of it. Seems like any time a Howlett shows up in public something goes to shit."

*

Truly the most broken piece of Kitty at this moment is her pride (Pryde?). She dizzily rests on her elbows a minute. "Anyone get the license on that bus?" she mutters. A small frown tugs her lips downward and she, curiously peeks about the area. The cheese fries, truly are lost to the path, prompting a vague pout. "Yeah, I'm alright," she says back towards Alison, David, and Aki. Her eyebrows lift, however, as she remembers her 'precious cargo'.

She sits and glances around only to see her shoulder bag and cheese fries have made friends. For a moment she wonders about just scraping the remnants of lunch off them and wonders if Illyana will fall in love with a dollop of cheese in someone's hair. She pinches the bridge of her nose. "Yeah. It's fine. I'm fine. I'm sure it looked worse than…"

She groans lowly. "I don't hit the ground often." She turns to look at the ground beneath her, "Man that stings."

*

Nancy arrives from Upper West Side.

*

Nancy has arrived.

*

Between the free music being over and the sudden blockage on the sidewalk Katie has got her special people shifting scowl on as she advances towards the group. Compassion for the injured perhaps not her strong point. "People are aware this is a path and not a social gala, right?" she muses, then after a moment she points the chalk at Akihiro. "Oh. You again. Sorry I usually only try to be rude to strangers."

*

"Yeah," Alison offers at Kitty's quip, "it was I-M-JRK#1." Clearly, she's not a fan of people not making an effort to avoid someone who is unaware of them. "Bummer about the cheese fires though," Alison looks in distaste at the cheese fries all over Kitty's shoulder bag, "does that even wash off?"

When Katie reminds everyone they're on the pathway, Alison snorts, "girl just took a dive beause of a stupid jogger, only fair to block their path in return." Though at least with everything settled, she does start to move back a bit, perhaps intended to get back to her perch on the mushroom.

*

David's attention drifts to Akihiro… but only for a moment. "Ahh. There is that famous New York hospitality," David says with a lopsided smile, inclining his head towards Katie. A few cheese fries doesn't stop him from taking a small step closer to Kitty and offering her a hand up. His suits have survived far worse than that. "Here, miss, let's get you back on your feet."

*

"Cheerful as always." Akihiro says to Katie with a wink. He actually bothers to take Alison in, snapping and pointing in her direction, "Didn't you have a thing over at Cafe Wha? not too far back?" Despite how casual he is, he doesn't turn his back on anybody in the immediate area, and the people carrying on business behind them he keeps an ear on.

*

"I-M-JRK#1," sounds about right. A lopsided grin is cast towards Katie and Kitty stretches and accepts David's help to her feet, "Solid sentiment." Her hair is smoothed and she glances down the path, almost pondering. Her cheeks puff out with exasperation and she cringes at the shoulder bag and shrugs at Alison's remark, "Not conventionally," but maybe she can phase it out? If she can touch just the stain and not — no, it's probably hopeless. She sighs.

"Thanks for the hand," she offers back towards David with another smirk.

Her eyes turn back to Katie and linger for a moment, but she remains, momentarily, quiet.

*

Katie tilts her head at David. "I'm not from New York," she points out with a shrug. "People do tell me I have terrible people skills all the time though. Which is very nice of them as it makes me feel like I belong here." She glances back at her math and scribbles a few notes, then holds them at Kitty. "Does this value look right to you?"

*

Nancy was drawn to the fracas, or perhaps - the sight of familiar faces in the crowd. A brilliant smile on her lips at first, Nancy's features draw down a moment as the tension, however slight, in the crowd starts to fray her smile for a frown. Brow furrowing, she glances between the others there, her eyes settling upon Kitty most of all.

Nancy wore a sundress, modest - that reached her knees, and comfortable boots that also threatened to do the same. Not to mention thick, plastic-covered gauntlets over her hands and forearms. "Hey," she says, her eyes glancing towards Akihiro. "Is everything alright?" she says, quietly, her hand lifting up to wave towards the others, her smile a bit forced, but friendly enough.

*

"You blend right in," David assures Katie, his eyes twinkling as he helps pull Kitty back to her feet. The smile he offers her is a few degrees warmer and he takes a step back again to give her some room. "Very welcome. And very popular, it seems," he muses, glancing over the new faces as an impromptu gathering appears to be well underway. Huh. Well, it doesn't prevent him from offering Nancy a polite bob of his head, one way or another.

*

"That's a myth and you know it," Alison quips at David, a bit annoyed by the bad rep that New York people get, she met her share of nice people too. When Akihiro mentions the Cafe Wha? gig, Alison stops withdrawing and looks at him in surprise, "actually…I did, were you there?" She really didn't expect to be recognized without all the flash she had while on stage.

When she notes Nancy passing by, Alison offers a wave of her hand, recognizing her from a while back at a random Times Square meeting.

*

"Not this time," Akihiro gives his head a slight shake, "but when you have your next concert I'll be sure to show up. Been a little busy with all the craziness happening around the city." He gives his head a slight shake, though his attention slides over to Nancy. "Hey there, good to see you floating around too. How's it going?"

*

Kitty offers Nancy a three fingered wave, almost sheepish sash straightens just a stitch more. "Everything's good," she offers towards Nancy. "No harm," her eyes squint with just a hint of bitterness, only to open and give way to an easy enough smile, "despite the foul."

She glances towards the mushroom and then back to Alison, "You play well. It's the only reason he got the figurative jump on me." Her eyes shift towards her bag, "Despite recent evidence, I'm actually pretty light on my feet. Most the time."

*

"What style of music do you usually play?" Katie asks, briefly looking at Alison. "Guitar based I assume." The entire time her slate of math is pointed at Kitty. "If anyone else has suggestions I would appreciate the input. If I get the numbers wrong I could burn my apartment complex down. Which would be /extremely/ inconvinient."

*

Nancy quite recalled Alison too. And the smile was testament to that, "Alison!" she calls to the other, waving one of her gauntleted hands. David draws her attention as well, the young Japanese woman giving him a smile, and a brief incline of her head. "Good afternoon," she tells him, her eyes drawn to Kitty next.

Now, she's of course seen her around the mansion, but they probably haven't really been formally introduced as of yet. The bitterness there was hard to miss, even if it was cast aside for a smile soon enough. Nancy was fond of the smile herself, and trades Kitty one of her own for the same. "That is excellent news," she says. "But… I have been doing well, thank you. I saw you, I think," says Nancy to Akihiro, pointing over her shoulder towards a coffee shop on the corner. "…from there. How are you both…" she pauses a moment at what Katie says.

"…huh, am I interrupting?" she asks.

*

David holds up his hands and ducks his head in response to Alison's chiding, the universally-accepted gesture for 'fair enough'. Duly chastened. However, he stays quiet, taking a small step back and letting his hands loosely clasp behind his back. Not quite a parade rest — his posture is otherwise too casual for that. But close. He seems content to simply listen, smiling pleasantly as his attention drifts, curious, towards Katie.

*

It's only then that the math is really given strong regard. Kitty stares at the slate and hmmms quietly to herself. "I'd normally like to start from scratch all over again. Just a stitch OCD there, buuuut it looks pretty solid. I think the formula checks out and the whole thing balances well enough." Her head cants to the side curiously, "What are you working on? Probably good not to burn the complex down," her eyes glimmer with just a hint of mischief. "Or your own apartment."

*

Alison may not have Akihiro's hightened senses, but she is remarkable apt in picking up anyone complimenting her music, turning to look back at Kitty with a smile, "thank you…I guess that makes it my fault then? Guess I owe you an apology," she laughs.

When Katie asks her if her music is guitar based, Alison points at the guitar slung over her back, "used your observation powers on that one?" She winks, "I guess…well…I play all kinds, but when I perform, I do my own thing…some have called it psychedelic rock." At the math question she shakes her head, "school dropout here, better not ask me about math."

Turning towards Akihiro, she nods, "I'd love to have you at one of my shows, I'm trying to close down a date for my next one. I'm surprised you ever recognized me at all."

Nancy in the meantime gets a big smile from Alison, who was really impressed with her singing, despite her sheepishness, "good to see you again, Nancy, haven't considered taking up rock n' roll, have you?" Nothing the weird gauntlets on Nancy's hands, Alison lets out an impressed whistle, "those are pretty boss! Fashion statement?"

*

"I don't forget a face, especially a pretty one." Akihiro replies easily. "Yeah, you drop a date and I'll be sure to be there. Unless we have to worry about more vans in the park, and stilt men at the museums." He sighs quietly, "This town is ridiculous sometimes. So, anything to give us a little distraction is a good thing."

*

'Vans in the park' gets David's attention sliding back back over to Akihiro, and he doesn't do anything to hide the interest in his voice. "Vans in the park?" he asks, his eyebrows rising. "Between this and that ambulance accident, it seems like this park is almost seeing more vehicle traffic than pedestrian."

*

The phrase ambulance accident gets Kitty's attention, prompting her to lean forward and inquire, "I hadn't heard about that - what happened?" She sucks on the inside of her cheek as her arms loosely cross over her chest.. "Man, Central Park is slowly, but surely, turning into a death trap. Seems like every time you close your eyes there's another mugging or freak accident."

Dazzler gets an approving nod, "I'll try to catch you playing some of that psychedelic rock one of these days! Maybe a bunch of us — " she blinks hard " — I mean I could bring a bunch of friends. Could be fun." She grins.

*

"You would be shocked at the links between music and math, you are probably better at the subject than you give yourself credit for. I always find Bach helps me work on my studies, but it's very hard to find the space to get a suitable organ installed to play it on," Katie explains, looking at the numbers again and shaking her head. "Something still feels wrong. The solution is ugly. But anyway I am rambling. The invention isn't anything exciting. I thought I might need a computational device for out of college studying but they cost a lot. So I was going to make my own from spare parts." There is another pause, she coughs and then hugs the slate. "Sorry, I am boring people. I shall stop now."

*

The math on the board was not one of Nancy's strong suits. But school wasn't one of her strong suits. What was was… her eyes flicker towards Katie. And recognition lingers there, "That's Katie - she used to go to the academy," she informs Akihiro. Who… probably knew that anyways. Regardless.

Nancy looks towards Alison then. "I'm afraid not," she says. "With these fingers… I'd probably melt the guitar before I could play a tune," she says. The gauntlets, however - Nancy smiles wanly. "Well, I can't really take them off. It's more to keep the …" A beat, and she glances towards David. "…uh. It's a fashion statement, right."

"By the way - hi, I'm Nancy," she offers, inclining her head towards David with a smile.

But Nancy's attention was on the interplay between Kitty and Katie - at least for the moment.

*

Ah, introductions. He knew that would come up eventually. David offers Nancy a friendly smile and a bob of his head. "David. Pleased to meet you," he says, and he certainly sounds genuine enough.

He turns back to Kitty, then. "The accident? It was in the Bulletin," David explains, holding up a finger before he turns to jog back over to his recently-vacated bench. Ah, good, his paper is still there. He retrieves it and brings it back to her, flipping through the pages until he can offer her the correct one. He helpfully points it out. "Here, you see? Motor vehicle accident involving a hospital transport. They don't cut through here to reach a hospital faster, do they?" he asks curiously, glancing over the group. "That seems like it would be dangerous."

*

Alison laughs as Akihiro compliments her looks, immediately down playing it by muttering, "if you mean the posters, it's mostly the makeup, I'm okay looking." She shakes her head at the exchange about vehicles becoming more prevelant than pedestrians in the park lately, it's such a wrong thing. At least she managed to come by when it's mostly peaceful.

To Kitty, Alison gives a radiant smile, "I'd love to have you and your friends come over, it's a little different, but I hope you like it." When Katie mentions a link between music and math, Alison shrugs, "maybe?" She won't outright deny it, but really, she never bothers even thinking about math, though she might be inadvertantly doing it in composition without realizing. As Katie mentions Bach, she flicks the guitar over into her hands, "wait, I know something…" and fiddling with finger positions without strumming as if trying to remember, she soon starts playing a rendition of Air in G. While she plays, Alison gives Nancy a confused look when it seems she was almost on the verge of asserting openly that she had powers. Pretty bold, Alison would never dream of sharing her secret with anyone. Even when she uses it in shows, she has her already made excuse as she told that Bugle reporter.

*

Kitty perks at the thought of a computational device. "Wow, that's impressive!" Evidently this isn't boring for Miss Pryde. "How far have you taken it?" her lips purse thoughtfully. "It's possible you may want to go with a simpler equation?" her eyes squint slightly. "I appreciate that you've taken friction(?)," she runs her fingers across the slate, "into account. But maybe you're thinking about it the wrong way." She taps her chin.

"Occam's razor… Sometimes the simplest solution is the best. Parse it down?" her lips press together thoughtfully. "Do you have something I can write with? I might be able to help… streamline it a bit? I still think this'll work. But maybe we can simplify a couple things?"

She rubs her hands together and nods at Alison. "Perfect. I'll make sure to bring folks along!"

Her head turns towards David at the retrieval of the paper, and her mouth gapes. She silently stares forward, and her mind begins to stitch things together. The smells. The white. The intercom sounds. Code Red. Her head cants to the side, and her teeth toy at her bottom lip, "It was a hospital." Her eyes widen. "It's the hospital!" she repeats.

*

"Oh did she." Akihiro says, looking over at Katie. "Well, I'm a new adition there now, Logan's son, though I think I already told you." Then he looks over at Maverick and offers a hand, "Akihiro. Akihiro Howlett. And from what I gathered, they weren't ambulances. Something closer to trafficking."

*

Whatever reaction David was expecting the article to get, the way Kitty is responding was not it. "Miss? Are you alright?" he asks curiously, his brow knitting in concern. "What was a hospital?"

Though he's quite preoccupied by his concern for the young woman, David does look over when Akihiro introduces himself. Apparently, he's still paying enough attention to the others to notice when he's addressed outside his immediate focus. He blinks once before he reaches out to shake the hand he's offered. "…David North. Trafficking?" he echoes, and something in his posture seems more alert. "What on Earth happened?"

*

Katie tries very hard not to stare at Nancys gloves. She fails, but at least she tried. "May I take a closer look at your fashion accessories?" she asks, smudging white chalk all over her black dress. "I promise not to break them…"

For a brief moment Katie manages to look up at the sound of music. "I should have brought my violin. Although people usually tell me my playing is too flat, I expect it would have spoilt your guitar playing." The slate and chalk get offered to Kitty. One side helpfully cleared by her dress. "I have been looking into integrated circuits. As my initial idea of a purely mechanical machine… had some significant weight issues. I estimate it would have fallen through my floor and likely at least the floor below too."

*

There was a long look from Nancy to Katie. There were two viewports in the plastic-lined forearm portions of the gauntlets, the bit over her hands mostly thick leather. Inside the viewports, one could see coiled wires around her arm. And Nancy steps forward, kinda giving Akihiro a glance. "Don't take them off, please, but you can look at them?" she offers, kinda… twisting her arms down and around to display the viewports to Katie. It was probably a little boring - although every so often, a spark danced across the wires.

Nancy listening to Alison, she smiles at the other woman, kinda getting in on that buzzy feeling a little bit.

"…trafficking what, Akihiro?" she asks, distractedly glancing back over her shoulder towards him.

*

The slate is accepted and for a few beats Kitty remains focused on whatever thought or world has taken over. "I…" her eyebrows draw together. Having already accepted the slate, she feels obligated to give the math a try. She scrawls a few calculations and simplifies a bit of Katie's math. "I think… this might be a bit better. And I've heard of integrated circuits. Just in something I had to read for one of my physics classes. Haven't been around the department for almost a year, but it was very cutting edge stuff." She slowly hands the slate back to Katie.

The question from David earns a small nod. "I'm… better. That clears a lot up." Her cheeks hue a pale pink and she glances down the path. "I actually should really — " she looks to the path. " — there's something I have to do. Just made me think of something. Lovely meeting all of you." And with that Kitty Pryde heads down the path.

*

Alison withdraws from the crowd, walking back to her previous perch on the Alice statue mushroom, the music changes a bit, losing order and yet somehow retaining the over all feel as she starts to try some improvisations around Air in G.

*

Katie takes a look at the slate. "That seems better. You should come visit some time Kitty," she offers. "I have kept my dorm room in a tidy state to allow for guests. I believe the Academy should have a forwarding address for me." She prods Nancys gloves, then lets out a disappointed sigh. "That is a very wasteful fashion statement. Pretty I suppose. Such a shame."

*

"The human kind." Akihiro elaborates. "You don't do that kind of shit unless you really don't wanna get caught. Wish I could have gotten eyes on the vans that got away, would have been nice to know where they were going."

*

"Yeah, well - I do like them, and they are important," says Nancy, her eyes glancing over her shoulder towards Kitty. There was a mild bit of confusion on her features. Biting the edge of her lip, she… considers, letting her eyes go towards Akihiro then. "You know…" she pauses. "I probably should go see if she is okay, you know?" she asks.

Standing up, she starts to backpedal again, bringing up a hand to give a little salute to the others. "Nice to meet you David - and double nice to see you again, Katie, Alison, annnnnd Akihiro!" she says. Although what Akihiro says at last has her face turning down in a frown. "Tell the Professor," she tells him, "He'll know what to do…!" And she's off!

*

David watches Kitty make her retreat with a concerned frown, nodding in understanding as Nancy prepares to go after her. "I hope your friend is alright. She looked like she'd seen a ghost," he murmurs, loosely folding his arms across his chest. Now he, too, seems troubled.

Of course, it might be due to what Akihiro is telling him. David turns his focus fully on the young man, now, his lips in a grim line. He considers it a moment, hesitating, before his head tilts fractionally to one side. "Were they black?"

*

"Black ambulances?" Katie wonders aloud. "That seems implausable. Why do you ask anyway? Would it be rude to ask what kind of profession you are in Mister North? I appear to know most of the people in this gathering from school in one way or another. So it seems rude not to enquire about you."

*

"I think so." Akihiro answers with a nod, he doesn't say that he was too busy chasing down a woman with claws. "And yeah, what is it you do exactly?" he doesn't seem too worried about being rude, head shifting slightly as he takes the older man in.

*

With a wry smile, David inclines his head to Katie. "Vans. Not ambulances. I was here for a protest yesterday and saw a girl about yea high " He says, holding his hand about five feet from the ground. " with a buzzcut kidnap a man from the protest. Threw him in a waiting black van. Her Russian was pretty good," he admits, clucking his tongue. "If rigid. …ah." He actually looks apologetic, glancing between the two. "I'm an independent contractor right now, more or less," he replies, and Akihiro will be able to tell that that is not entirely accurate. But what follows is moreso. "I did a some work with the good guys towards the end of the war. Scouting, mostly. I'm probably just being paranoid, but things like this, trafficking?" He doesn't try to supress a shudder. "Bad memories. Gets my hackles up."

*

"Oh. That is unfortunate," Katie says, nodding. "Kidnapping is unethical and should not be encouraged. Anyway, it has been nice speaking with everyone. But I should probably get home and copy these notes up to something more substantial than a slate. But before I go I would recommend not doing anything personally against Russian agents engaged in public kidnapping. You should just inform the police and let them get shot instead." She manages a half wave and then resumes her wandering, whistling Bach tunelessly.

*

"That's her." Akihiro actually growls, fists clenching. Almost without him thinking about it there's the wet sound of flesh tearing as his claws extend outwards. "She would have killed me the other night if I didn't heal as quickly as I do."

*

David's eyes follow Katie as she moves on, his expression difficult to read. But his gaze comes back to Akihiro quickly, and that expression of keen interest is much easier to decipher. And that's before his eyes flick down to notice the emergence of claws. "Your hands," is all David says, keeping his voice low. It isn't shock or revulsion — it's a polite, if clipped, word of caution. They are in a very public place.

*

"Sorry." Akihiro grunts, letting the bone claws retract between his knuckles. "To be fair, shit cut my throat and broke my nose a few times." It doesn't look like anything close to that happened to him though, "Her damn claws are sharper than mine."

*

"It's alright," David replies calmly, and after a moment's consideration, he offers Akihiro the newspaper if he'd care to clean the blood his hands. "But maybe we should talk about this somewhere a little less conspicuous. If you ran into her too, we could compare notes," he suggests, frowning to himself. "Her training was… superb." He sounds somewhat torn between irritation and respect.

*

"I think she may be my sister." Akihiro drops, taking the newspaper to clen the little bit of blood from his hands. "If where I spent my last four years is any indication, she's gonna be a handful to deal with." he sounds irritated, just irritated.

*

That earns a chuckle from David. "Sounds about right." He thinks for it a moment before he simply tips his chin, inviting Akihiro to follow him as he turns to return to the bench. It's quiet enough, and most people in the park will likely mind their own business if they keep their voices down. Good enough. "You said she was connected to this trafficking somehow? What happened?"

*

"She was in the front of one of them, I showed up in time to see her get thrown from the windshield. But she got up like nothing happened, imagine she heals about as fast as I do. I chased her out into the city to try talking to her. Made the mistake of popping my claws, guess she took it as a threat, and proceeded to cut me a few times." He reaches up to indicate his jugular, "Split me open here, broke my nose, and judging from my pants after I gained consciousness, split all the way through my leg from thigh to ankle. She isn't somebody to be taken lightly."

*

"Neither are you, to come through all of that in one piece," David notes lightly, settling down on the bench and loosely clasping his hands in his lap.

David is taking this all in remarkably in stride, and one can almost see the gears working in his head if they look hard enough. "She — or whoever she's working for — is very… calculating. Used blanks at the rally to start a panic, open a path to the guy on the stage," he explains, glancing out over the park. "Took out his guards before they even knew she was there. Didn't kill them," he notes, sounding almost surprised. "Just incapacitated."

*

"Sounds like the training I have." Akihiro leans back casually, it doesn't look like he's too worried about all this. "Looks like I need to start showing up to protests. Though I bet she can smell me as well as I can smell her." He clucks his tongue thoughtfully, "Maybe I should get my father to help out."

*

"If he's anything like you? Might be worth considering." David rummages in his jacket for a pen and a scrap of paper — in this case, a business card for a local Chinese restaurant — and quickly writes on the back. "Here. This is where I'm staying while I'm in town, and the phone number for my room. You find anything else, or need an extra pair of hands, don't hesitate to call."

*

Akihiro takes the card with a nod. "I'll be sure to do that." He pushes to his feet and nods slightly. "Alright, suppose I should get back to all the other things I have to do toda." A salute is tapped out and the teen heads off towards the park's exit.

*

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