|
    |
They say…travel in pairs after dark. The police. The News. Church. Mutant Newsletters. Travel in pairs so you don't get robbed…or worse. There is a pair of men walking, wearing tan suits, and looking vigilantly about the park, each looking a different direction. And there is a man alone, seemingly separate from the other two, in black, formal wear…his shoes glinting with lamplight. He carries what appears to be a slender briefcase, also black, with simple latches. And currently? Talking to himself. "……you. And her. And /her/. Hah heeee…" he groans and trails off for a moment. "What a moon…I'd love to live there…"
*
MoonKnight has arrived.
*
Mree has arrived.
*
They say…travel in pairs after dark. The police. The News. Church. Mutant Newsletters. Travel in pairs so you don't get robbed…or worse. There is a pair of men walking, wearing tan suits, and looking vigilantly about the park, each looking a different direction. And there is a man alone, seemingly separate from the other two, in black, formal wear…his shoes glinting with lamplight. He carries what appears to be a slender briefcase, also black, with simple latches. And currently? Talking to himself. "……you. And her. ANd /her/. Hah heeee…" he groans and trails off for a moment. "What a moon…I'd love to live there…"
*
The park had been in a constant state of oddities for some time now. The Hellmouth had closed, however, and some sense of normality was returning. At least for everyone else. To Lynette, this place was still something that was 'wrong' the with city, and the Big Apple surely had it share of those. She, too, was walking by herself, not seeming to mind the darkness or shadows of where she was. Her steps are light along the path ways, silent to most ears as she strides casually. Once she notices the pair, and then the man in finer clothes, does she pause and watch them from a distance. Blinking, those dark orbs study each figure in turn.
*
There's another figure who's alone, but in his case that's something he's looking to change as that's how he earns his bread. Jake Lockley is driving his cab around the edges of the park, looking for a likely fare to pick up. There may be less park strollers since the Hellmouth incident, but there's enough curious onlookers and even good samaritans trying to clean the place up. Or at least that's what he'd cheerfully tell you if you were to ask him why there of all places.
*
Mree travels in billions of tiny pairs; does that count? Or he'd been hovering all microfloral all day, trying his best to soak up as much sun as he can, but once night hit he'd coaslesced up in a tree and now is draped on his back over several branches, arms dangling behind him and head hanging limp between them, tail tangled along the limbs and around the trunk below. It's dark again. Woe is him. Woe, I say.
*
MoonKnight has partially disconnected.
*
Well that's not normal. Blue eyes from Maximus fixate on the…seemingly cheerful and alone woman and he is just about to speak to her approach, when behind her in the tree he notices that there is a green guy with a tail all tangled up in it. His eyeline changes and he makes a distorted face, clearly disapproving. "What. Is. /This/?" And gestures with his free hand. He does not seem ready to take a cab ride. "Tell me what /that is/." More pointedly, he demands of the woman, pointing at tree-guy.
*
The men in tan suits both look, but then look back their separate directions. One of them watches the cab carefully.
*
Lynette freezes. The question, at first, causes her expression to distort and show some small sliver of pocketed rage. Then, he points to something other than herself, and once understanding she's not the 'this' or 'that' of the inquiring, her mood shifts. Following the direction of his finger, she, too, is looking up and into the tree. Finding Mree, the girl's eyes widen like saucers, "Merde. Hold on! I' help y'. Jus' lemme get up dere." She explains to the limp figure resting on limbs.
Shrugging off her oversized, second-hand sweater jacket, the girl then starts finding hand holds, and foot holes, starting to scale up the tree to where Mree is currently lounging.
*
Inside the cab Lockley raises one scarred eyebrow under his wool cap in response to the suit glaring his way. The cab slows to a stop on the shoulder as the man's…boss? Is gesturing as well, but it doesn't look like it's at him.
In fact it kinda looks like he's shouting at some tiny lady on her own in the park. Who then…climbs a tree?
Jake turns off the cab, as this looks like the kind of bizarre stuff he's supposed to keep an eye out for. He hasn't spotted Mree quite yet. "Something wrong?" he calls as he swings out of the driver's side door.
*
Mree's eyes are flung wildly skyward, but when there starts to be a ruckus he rolls them up — or, in this case, down — toward Lynette, where she scrambles up toward him. "Muh?" he wonders haplessly toward her promise of aid. He's not hurt. Well, he's not hurt from being in the tree. He's definitely not at peak form, by any means, but that's just the winter blues getting him down. He barely seems green at all, in fact, only pale in the moonlight.
*
Maximus turns towards the sound of the voice and surveys the man exiting the cab. "There is creature in the tree. And a woman who is not afraid of it." Simple explanation and his gaze lingers on the driver for a longer-than-comfortable time. Then he turns back to watch the woman climb up. Slowly, he approaches her poor-looking sweater that she dropped. He lifts it like it is a dead animal by the tail and then drops it back after his curiosity fades. He makes no move to help either of them, but watches with the hopes that perhaps they will suddenly be amusing.
*
"Y'ok?" The Creole questions, her face soft with concern for the being in the branches. "Y'ain't stuck, are y'?" A few more steps and swings and she's soon on the same level with Mree. She smiles then, warm and soft, and wiggles the fingers of one free hand. "Hey, y'alright?" She questions again, her eyes moving over the lazy figure to check for any apparent injuries. She then notices a new face, a new voice, down below. The cabbie gets a glance as well, as does the man in a suit. The other pair that had been walking along together seem to be well out of the girl's mind's eye. Back to Mree, he smile returns. "Y'doin' ok? I c'n help y' if y'wanna get down outta de tree."
*
Yeah, definitely all kinds of weird going on. The driver steps around the car a bit closer to the tree everyone's milling around, and on a hunch wonders to tan suit #1, "What brings you out this way?" His eyes flick over to watch Lynette, a bit concerned…and he double takes when he finally picks out Mree. "Is that a..person?"
*
Mree finds Lynette's smile charming; it coaxes one onto his own lips of rather the same flavor, and if his eyes seem tired, his features seem otherwise calm. "Oh, I'm well, thank you," he answers, voice a little breathy over a sweet little clip of an accent of his own. "Oh, no— there ren't people worried for me, are there? I only fell asleep," he pleads gently with Lynette, not looking over-worried, but never super eager to put people out. His long tail begins to slither knowlingly against the cold bark, helping push him upward until he turns and takes a knee on a branch bend. "Oh, hi," he tells the folk below. "It's alright, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
*
The tan suit guy #1 looks at the driver when he's addressed. There's a slow blink, and then he cuts his eyes towards Maximus, and nods.
Maximus himself cocks his head and takes a step back. "Fascinating. A /mutant/…I assume." He wets his lips and then looks over towards the cabbie back by one of his men. "Let me answer that. That is a person…" As if the men in tan suits are simply service dogs, meant to be ignored. "And I am looking for a small group…"
*
Lynette lowers her hand, gripping to the branches as she's still up in the tree with Mree. "Non, s'ok. Jus' worried 'bout y'. Y'was all limp n'all dat. So, m'glad y'alright." The smile lingers, but once it's all clear, the girl then starts scaling down the oak with a bit more care than she had when moving up to aid the limp figure. Once back on the ground, she looks for her sweater, only to find that it was in a more frumpy pile than before. Her brows furrow, and then she notices the foursome of men. "Dey ok." She informs them of the figure in the tree. "Jus' sleepin'. I've slept n's'm weird places m'self, b'fore." The girl with flooftastic hair bobs her slender shoulders, before shaking out her jacket and slipping it back onto her body. When Maximus comments about 'mutant', Lynette looks his way, her hands up and brushing out any curls and kinks that were trapped by her collar. "N'what if dey are?"
*
The bemused cab driver stays where he is, nodding when the girl mentions sleeping in weird places; it wouldn't be anything close to the first time he spotted people sleeping in the nooks and crannies of the park, mutant or otherwise.
No, it's the strangely disconnected man with the pair of almost comically standard yes-men who's weirding him out. "A group of what, people? If you're trying to hold a meeting in the park, there's a coffee shop just up the street that's a lot warmer and in better shape."
*
"Are you saying he is not? She?" Maximus squints then at the figure that was lounging in the tree. "Hard to tell." He draws up his free hand to mess with the hairs on his own chin, briefly. He chuckles. "No…I am not trying to hold a meeting in the park. But…" he cocks his head. "I hear strange things happen here. I have money…if any of you have information."
*
Hey, look oer th— *POFF!* comes a wheezy little plosive noise, and Mree is gone in a twirl of pale green mist, almos tin the middle of a word.
*
"Are you saying he is not? She?" Maximus squints then at the figure that was lounging in the tree. "Hard to tell." He draws up his free hand to mess with the hairs on his own chin, briefly. When the person suddenly disappears, he makes a face. "No…I am not trying to hold a meeting in the park. But…" he cocks his head. "I hear strange things happen here. I have money…if any of you have information."
*
Lynette gives another helpless shrug regarding Mree's gender. Her lips part but the 'poof' causes her to jump and shrink away a bit. Glancing up, she blinks and stares. "Huh…" Rubbing at the nape of her neck, she glances at the two men who actually have a voice. "It's de city. Strange t'ings happen ev'rywhere." The girl muses with a soft smirk. Finally, she offers the cabbie a nod in greeting. "Hey, dat y'cab? Y'on duty?" A pause, "If y'are, n' y'round in a bit, I'd like a ride." Then, back to Maximus. "Y'know, s'dangerous 'round dese parts late at night. Dey protectin' y?" She inquires, pointing toward the 'yes men' waiting in the wings.
*
Jake has seen some weird things running fares in the wee small hours in this, as Lynette just observed, crazy city, but a person exploding into..spores? That's definitely enough to warrant the cabbie taking off his hat and rubbing his eyes once just to be sure. "Yeah.. yeah, I'm on duty." he says, taking a second to actually focus on Lynette as Mree floats merrily away on the cool breeze. "You got it, lady." he responds with a bit more animation.
Maximus also gets his attention. "Oh? I hear plenty in my line of work. What is it you're wanting to know?"
*
"They are. I believe that you would know if you have seen who I am looking for. She is a woman of great beauty, with pale skin…and hair so long that it seems impossible to bear the weight of it. Red. Have you seen such a woman…around here? Either of you?" His blue eyes treat the two before him with equal regard, and Lynette's skin and accent do not seem to trouble him any more than the cabbie's. Its not that he's free of discrimination, its more than he's discriminating against them both, equally.
*
Lynette offers a thankful smile toward Jake, but she's not moving away from the man in tails just yet. Her hands slip into her pockets and she listens, intently, to the figure he's looking for. She can't help the soft, almost sad smile that settles on her features before her dark eyes glance at her feet. "Non," she answers at length. "Can' say I have, chere. Sorry."
*
Sadly, the cabdriver also shows no sign of recognition, replacing his hat and shaking his head. "I'd remember seeing someone like that." he answers dubiously. "But I know some places to ask. If I hear anything, how much are you offering and where would I leave word?"
*
Maximus draws in a deep breath of moderate disappointment. "Leave word…" A glance around the place. "One hundred of your dollars and leave word at that hotel there." Max points a graceful finger towards the nearest one. "I will leave you to give the lady a ride, but perhaps we will all meet again." He smiles with an uncomfortable air.
*
"Your dollas?" The girl questions, one of her brows quirking. She watches where he points, noticing the hotel, which given the area, is rather posh and probably costs an arm and a leg for the views alone. "Yeah…have a good evenin'. Y'be careful out here now." Looking to Jake, she turns and starts to walk toward his cab, her shoulders hunching against the light chill of the autumn night.
*
The hotel is distinctive, though Jake has a memory for the ins and outs of the city and could file it away even if it hadn't been. He nods. "Got it." he answers, though like Lynette he has a question, "Is this red haired lady dangerous? What's got you looking for her?"
*
"My dollars, yes, dear lady. And the red-haired lady is…only a little dangerous. Its her /hair/ you have to look out for." He grins again, and then without a word, his guards come forwards, filing in beside him as he turns to head off.
*
The cabdriver gives that response a somewhat dubious look, but shrugs, turning back towards his cab. "I'll keep my eyes open!" he calls over his shoulder.
The cold doesn't bother him so much as he's got a pretty heavy jacket on that looks as well worn as the wool cap. But despite that the inside of the cab is a much nicer temperature compared to the cold air of the park. Jake climbs back into the driver's seat and looks in the rear-view. "Well, that guy had a screw or two loose, didn't he?" he says with a little smile. "That was nice of you, to check on that person in the tree. Where to, miss?"
*