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New York… Saturday Night, …the kind of Saturday night where the spring air calls end-of-semester college students and local denizens alike out onto the greens of Washington Square Park. And after the recent trouble regarding Wall Street, a few more hoping to gather in a spirit of cameraderie, music, and …More Saturday night.
Dizzy sits on the back of a bench, looking on and occasionally slipping a flask of some sort out of a leather jacket, deep in thought, or perhaps music appreciation.
It doesn't take a great deal to make Starfire stop and take a look around. So a gathering with people, music and a party vibe might as well have sent out an invitation. The alien princess is at least dressed in relatively normal Earth fashion, with a flower print dress, although that doesn't exactly disguise her unusual skin tone and tendancy to float a little off the ground rather than walking.
New York has never been a particularly easy place to live, but it has certainly gotten a lot worse over the last few days. The attacks on mutants and blacks has made it difficult for one or either to get around. The promise of music and comraderie, however, has drawn Riri Williams out from Finals study to the Washington Park.
An oasis of calm in the storm of hatred almost makes her forget what's going on in the City and what 'might' be happening back home in Chicago. Ambling around easily in her floral print tank-top and flare-leg jeans, her hair half covered in a orange/green striped bandana, she stops at one of the groups of musicians banging on a pair of bongos with an easy grin and arms crossed.
There's something to be said for living out in what's become the permanent Circus grounds out near Westchester. It's a little bubble. Mostly free of the storm of hatred, because Management doesn't put up with that kind of customer. But also because they're far enough away from the city to keep the majority of the unpleasantness away. Even circus folk need to go into town, and here Amanda is. Distracted by the sounds of music once she teleported in. The Winding Way isn't waning anymore, so her teleportation spell at least sends her in the right direction… mostly. She steps out of an alley and peeks around, making sure she's unnoticed in the bustle and the first distraction are the same musicians Starfire has stopped at. Music-making just gets her attention so easily. She never learned an instrument. It might as well be a kind of magic she doesn't unerstand.
A fortress mentality is a natural reaction to threat, and fighting isolation has led an older fellow (at least in the terms of the sort that might attend a musical event) to slip out into public and be about. Wearing a thrift-store coat over a workshirt, a solid amount of time in working in the service industry has brushed off the innate shiney-shoed narc-ness he might give off, and Gary wanders about the crowd forming in the park.
Julie is looking on, musing, draws on a ciggy, though, her foot actually taps at the music a while, despite the she seems to be in a broody mood. She doesn't like being in broody moods, really, though, so she's trying to mellow out, perhaps. When Kori comes along, there's a bit of a smile and a three-fingered salute. "Hey, princess," she smirks. At least the atmosphere, such as it is, is a bit of an antidote to what troubles her to have witnessed the afternoon before.
"Hello friend Julie!" Starfire calls out in greeting, floating in Julies general direction. "You know I still do not understand this hobby people have of inhaling the fumes from very small fires. It seems like a very imprecise way to absorb recreational drugs."
The music fades and Riri continues on once the aforementioned recreational drugs are brought out with a polite, but precise, decline by waving her hand and moving on. Her hands hold to the straps of her backpack as she walks, spying one a familiar face in the gathering by way of Julie. "Hey…" Waving as she approaches, nodding ot Kori, as she continues greeting the former, "Nice crowd here, huh?"
That's a familiar face. "Julie!" Amanda lifts a hand, waving. Someone passes by her and she steps to the right, clutching her purse either to get out of the way or because she was worried that someone would take it. Either way. "It's been so long!"
Julie smirks to Kori. "I dunno if you'd call this 'recreational,'" she says, though she points to someone smoking something a bit more pungent, "That stuff, maybe, you could call that." Her mood seems to lift in direct proportion to ….something else to think about, perhaps, as she spots Riri and raises a hand to her, and then in short order, Amanda, though it takes her a moment even to recognize the face, in the latter case. "Hey, Riri… And, ah, sorry, I guess it was long enough I forgot the name. How we all doing? THis here's Kori, she's from outta town." Well, *way* out of town, but she seems to be settling in, at least wardrobe-wise.
Starfire frowns. "If it is not recreational then why would you do it?" she muses. "Does it provide you with some form of nutritional value?" And then she shrugs and turns to wave at the new people. "Hello new friends, how are you today? I hope you are enjoying the music and festivities."
Gary slips by the crowd, and gives a double take as someone protects their purse as he ambles by. Innocent or protective, he still gives a furrow of his brow, before glancing down at his outfit, "Time for a new jacket maybe?" he says, to himself, before eyes slip up, catching the one person he might recognize. He inclines his head, "Hey there, wrench-turner." He offers, quickly.
"Huh, recreational what?" Riri asks, having only really heard the tail end of the conversation on approach. "Oh, that, yeah…" Brow furrowed, "Could be better. Kind of…" What could she even say about it, really? "But at least this is real far out." Motioning around with a turning finger extended from her backpack, "All these people together, man."
Riri smiles politely at Starfire, "Hey, Riri Williams." Just a little bit more to Amanda and the approaching older gentleman with the same smile.
Julie smiles to Kori. "Eh, more like it helps you think, maybe, Kori. I dunno if 'recreational's' the word." She fishes out the pack, Chesterfields, for those familiar, to offer one politely around, including to the orange lady. "I dunno if you'll like it, but you can try." Smiles again, "Well, hey, if it ain't Mr. Knight Errant," she greets Gary. For whatever reason, she seems to find the older fellow all right in some way.
Starfire laughs. "I think I will pass, I don't have lungs remember friend Julie?" She glances to Riri and her head tilts. "Is this part of the city far out from where you live? I hope you did not have issues getting here."
Amanda Sefton returns Riri's smile, and since (it seems) she was ncluding in Starfire's greeting of 'new friends', she smiles at that woman too. "Amanda Sefton," she offers. "Good to meet you." She relaxes, though one hand remains on her purse, clutching it a bit too tightly. Okay. So maybe not completely relaxed.
Riri blinks at Starfire and tilts her head, "Oh, no… like 'far out', groovy… I mean yeah I do live pretty far away and it was pretty difficult getting here, but that's not what I meant. I guess when this is far out from where you came from it does make it difficult for venacular." Frowning, "Anyways, it's just a turn of phrase to mean it's really good to see something like this with everything going on."
Gary accepts a cigerette if one is offered, or produces one of his own if not, slipping it into his mouth and letting it hang there while he pads around for a lighter, "Town needs a bit of a swoiree… good to see so many people not holed up because of the rags showing up on the newsstands." Fingers find the windproof lighter, and its clinked open to light the cigerette. He tilts his head at the floating woman, before dim memory kicks around his head, "Oh, you're one of those… immigrants, weren't you?" His eyes shift to Amanda, and he takes a step to the side, subtly, to get her space.
Julie taps herself on the forehead, having forgotten that little 'detail' about Kori, and indeed offers Gary a shaken-out choice of smokes, and nods to Riri, "Yeah, though, if you're worried about getting home safe, just ask," she says, …her own accent's New York Italian, and her look, well, fairly blue-collar-rocker, but she seems to say this with some confidence, despite the folk-rock being played over by the arch. She nods to Gary, "Yeah, though. City's one thing, this village, well, we get all types. When everyone calms down, that's what New York's all about, know what I mean?"
"An immigrant? I suppose yes I am," Starfire admits, as if it was a huge revelation. "And I shall try and remember that far out does not usually relate to distance." She lands long enough to brandish her hand at everyone for enthusiastic handshakes.
"Slang is complicated and fickle." Riri says as if this, too, is a great revelation. When Kori lands and offers hand, she extends her own to shake enthusiastically. "Good meeting you, Kori." Smiling, eyes on Gary just a second, "It really does. Remind people we're not really that different when we find things to have in common. People will go out of their way to find differences, but wont spend five seconds trying to find one they share." With a little shrug, she answers Julie. "Should be okay. We'll see how the night goes."
Amanda Sefton, unsure if that comment was directed to Starfire or herself, narrows her gaze in Gary's direction for a moment. Starfire answering so easily comes as a bit of a surprise. And that hand gets shook, Amanda's surprise momentarily forgotten when Starfire shakes her hand. "Good to meet you," she says, her own accent vaguely German, though there's more to it than that.
Gary seems oblivious to any suspicious glances his way, and provides what might be, without context or subjectivity, a physically charming smile at the cigerette offer when he does collect it. He sounds New Yorker enough, though with a lot of the hard edges sanded and polished off. "Wouldn't be much of an island without people from other places trying to make a home." Starfire gets a hand to shake, "I think I've seen you about before, now that I think about." He mentions. He gives a tilt of his head towards Amanda, giving a friendly smile at the accent.
Julie gives Riri a nod, while the others are acquainting themselves. "I don't always get it, but sometimes this is where people are trying to remember what's real when the rest of the world's got a problem. Maybe vice versa sometimes, too."
"Well it has been a pleasure to meet you all but I have to fly," Starfire says brightly. "We will have to arrange to hang out again soon friend Julie. I am teaching myself to cook some of the local food stuffs, you can even try my mustard cobbler." She hmms at Gary. "We might have met? I travel a lot and meet many people. Perhaps we will run into each other again in the future." The alien princess finally sighs and waves to everyone. "Unfortunately I must be off now, I promised a friend I would remove an unwanted tree from their yard." And at that she casually floats up and away, speed increasing as she gets higher, until finally a faint boom can be heard in the distance.
Amanda Sefton catches Gary's smile, if only out of the corner of her eye. Well okay, maybe she misinterpreted things! But her focus is on Starfire, as the other woman heads off into the sky. "… I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching someone fly," she murmurs. "Or stop being envious of being able to do that."
Gary glances up as the alien slips up into the air and zips away, eyes widening at the loud boom, "Geez, that's really something…." He rubs his chin, "You think that might make you tired of seeing it? Being envious? The first time is a novelty. But humans are going to have to get used to… being something less… what happens when the novelty starts wearing off is a question."