Summary:Elmo takes Halgrim to check out the Disaster Zone. They run into some fellow New Yorkers, some fluffier than others. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
     |
.~{:--------------:}~.
It's a rough part of town, the Bowery, but it has its charms. Like a great view of the Disaster Zone. Well, maybe only Elmo considers that a charm. Whatever, he's jogging up the stairs from the subway, telling Halgrim, "Been five years, place is still a wreck," his face alight with interest and his hands doing at least as much talking as his mouth.
Mack Linden has been restless for a few days, since her meeting with John Constantine in a dockside bar. So tonight she is walking Rufus around the city, letting the enormous dog enjoy sniffing ALL THE THINGS. He is very much not a guard dog, despite resembling a medium-sized bear at 170 pounds. Bears don't have long, fluffy, perpetually wagging tails though, so once that's spotted, no fear that something ursine got out of the zoo. She's not far from the subway exit herself, as her dog deeply inspects a lamp post that no doubt a million other canine New Yorkers have peed on.
"Five years," Halgrim says, surprised, though maybe he shouldn't be. He knows of places in far Northern Finland that have been a wreckage for three times that long, will remain so for twice again as many years. That the damage was wrought by magic instead of technology only underscores the risks in either.
Maybe he just assumes New York City has no time for such setbacks, and would have done something about it much quicker. "And it was the sentinels, right? The robots that were made to," he flicks a glance at Elmo, "deal with powerful people?" He's avoiding saying mutant since, well, he has no doubt a sentinel would have been set on ''him''. He's dressed in his usual for this time of year; a comfortable, dark red knit sweater, denim jeans, urban hiking shoes.
Loki enters the interesting part of town in a nice suit, scarf, and a shoulder birb, which does draw some attention. Not as much attention as people who have horns and are blue, but…some. The bird seems so tame, riding along on the tall man's broad shoulder, and the angular man smiles, and says soft things to it now and again. "This is just the spot to see a battle start…"
Reno is perched on the fancy Asgardian. Everyone has a shoulder crow right? Anyone calling him a 'sooty pigeon' may find their car defiled. It happens. Still, the crow, maybe a mynah bid!? says quietly shifting his weight from one foot to the other, "Eeeeh ya know, I think they got enough to rebild. Maybe we should make a federal holiday or somethin, and make them ya know, maybe not, like, set everything on fire. Today." There's a pause and with bgreat uncertainty adds, "while we're standing right here."
Elmo fishes his cigarettes out of a pocket, lights one up with a funny little device that resembles a lighter only insofar as a flame comes out of it. "Yeah," he says, not sounding happy about it. "They can sense us. Me, I mean. I dunno about you, but it'd probably be easy, right? Same programming, same hardware I bet. Just calibrate it different. To, yannow." He waves to indicate whatever it is Halgrim has going on. He doesn't know, but he knows it's something.
Taking a draw off the smoke, he's about to head for the DZ when he notices Loki and his shoulder crow. Elmo's eyebrows pop up. "Ya see everything in New York," he says with the philosophy of a native. The next thing he notices is Mack's ginormous dog. "Wow, look at that dog!" Then he's headed for her instead. "Hey! Can I pet your dog?"
BIRD! Rufus sees the bird on Loki's shoulder, and the massive Leonberger drags tiny Mack along towards the Asgardian like she weighs nothing. "DAMMIT RUFUS HEEL!" she hollers, and with a whine the giant dog pauses a few yards from the man and his fine feathered friend. "Sorry, he doesn't get away from the docks much," she apologizes, though her expression is more perturbed that apologetic. She gives a sigh towards Elmo and nods. "Sure, but I don't pay for any dry cleaning due to slobber."
Being closer, Mack sees more than a crow though. She sees a man overlapping the bird and blinks at it. Seeing things again. And feeling things, both heat and tingling. Her eyes sweep to the two men exiting the subway and one of them is overlapped with something definitely not human. Her eyes wide as she grips the dog's leash hard, her knuckles whitening.
Loki turns in the direction of the giant dog and, cool as a cucumber, does he watch it approach. An observant person may notice the position of his feet, up until the dog stopped, was the same sort of 'planted for impact' that an adult would have in regards to a running child. Just, less likely that a hug was about to happen. Once the owner and the doggo have stopped, though, he smiles in an amiable fashion. "Rufus…hmmm? A great hero's name. My pet is called Reno." And he reaches up to run pale fingers through some feathers.
"I can't imagine it would be too hard," Halgrim murmurs, thinking of the things he's seen all manner of magic users do these days. Sometimes he wonders if magic and technology really are all that separate, given what the smartphone in his pocket can do.
He smiles at the sight of a crow on a man's shoulder, amused and curious all at once. The huge dog gets a blink, though. "A Leonberger," he says, pronouncing the name with a German accent. "Haven't seen one of those in—at least a decade." He just catches himself, moves to join Elmo. The dog becoming interested in the crow gets another smile from him, which he covers by running a hand over his mouth. Can't let the owner think he's laughing at her expense. (Even though he sort of is.)
And while to Elmo Halgrim is just 'a guy with something going on', to Mack he is much more. There's an enormous spirit overlaying him; several, actually, all melded together in a writhing maelstrom. Four of roughly equal size, and one a tiny splinter mong the rest. They're churning about lazily, like a storm that's paused its activities.
|ROLL| Reno +rolls 1d20 for: 11
Reno was really enjoying being, you know, inconspicuous as a bird perched on a dude was going to be but oh that bird squints a slow look at being called 'pet'. It's hard to remember feeling slightly, well, slighted with a finger scritch. Then? Oh yeah then there's that dog and those dark eyes get wide and the bird starts a slow marathon of laps running from one shoulder , around Loki's back and then flapping to get up onto his head. Nope! he is not here to be tackled and chewed on like a fluffy football."Ack!" Seriously , birds totally say that.
Elmo is really sharply dressed to be petting random giant slobbery dogs, but he just cheerily shrugs at Mack. "Worth it." He is not nearly so polite as Halgrim and laughs out loud as Rufus goes galumphing off, towing Mack. "Looks like he's busy, though." Man, he's short—he's Mack's height, in fact. Nothing magical or spirity going on with him at all. Grinning, he watches the crow flap to Loki's head. "Hey, his crow talks. The raven at the Brooklyn Zoo talks too, it's pretty neat." The DZ sings its siren song, but it'll be there in a minute when all these entertaining things have stopped happening.
Mack is plain-old staring at Halgrim and blinking slowly. Maybe she thinks he's hot. If she does, she has a strange way of showing it, gulping audibly and looking back at her dog two shades paler. Rufus loves the attention and his tongue lols out as he prances over to Elmo like a damn pony for pettings, all while giving the dancing bird some side-eye for not wanting to play with him.
It would take a man vastly more oblivious than Halgrim to not catch the way Mack's looking at him. He takes it as, if not fear, at the very least, wariness. Well, it's nothing he's not used to by now, so he keeps well on the other side of Elmo and Rufus. "Lovely Leonberger," he says, his light Swedish accent mixing with the German pronunciation naturally. "I haven't seen one in a long time." He doesn't join Elmo in the petting, more interested in the apparently talking crow, whose voice sounds all-together too natural. He smiles and nods a greeting to Loki, entirely unaware of who he might be aside from a man with a crow.
Loki doesn't show up as anything double-layered in a supernatural way. His stuff is allll magic and alien. "You know you are far more than a pet." He says softly, looking up at the crow on his head. He lifts his hand up there to try to get him out of his slicked back hair before the bird accidentally sets it free in all its poofy glory. "Good evening." He says to Halgrim and Elmo. "I think the girl likes you." He says to Halgrim.
Reno sliiiiides his head sideways and totaly inconspicuously whispers to Loki (this is not at all inconspicuous. Birds don't do this.) "OKay just don't let the pony dog eat me, man. I ain't a chicken nugget." There is flapping but he lets himself be removed. His head tilts looking at the dog but back to Halgrim and has to ask, "Which her?" Oh yeah this guy is having a conversation. Shit, Elmo gets a wing wave or its just regaining balance.
Elmo, who won't shake hands, eagerly provides all the pettings. Ruffling the huge dog's ears, he coos to him in Yiddish. "Vas iz a gut tateleh?" Rufus's head seems bigger than Elmo's entire torso. "Hey, thanks," he says to Mack, pleased, then up go the eyebrows in concern at the way she's staring at Halgrim. He looks at Halgrim as if maybe he knows what's going on. Then at Loki, who has a good theory, and thus at Reno, and the crow is kind of actually talking and not just imitating. Not only that, there's something familiar about the birb voice. Elmo's eyebrows go up so high he's going to strain something.
Mack looks over her shoulder and around the area for the 'girl' Loki is referring to. She certainly doesn't see herself as one, despite her diminutive stature. She's a tough ship captain. Or something. She seems to be close to bolting from the area. Rufus, however, is a happy dog and he sits with his tail still thumping from all the love Elmo bestows on his giant floofyness. "I uh, should get going," she says nervously.
Halgrim blinks at Loki, surprised. With a truly apologetic glance at Mack, he says, "I wouldn't dare to presume," and rubs the back of his neck. His discomfort fades into wonder as Reno continues talking in a manner wholly inconsistent with the trained raven Elmo had mentioned. Mack will no doubt be happy to receive *zero* attention from him at this stage, so he turns it all on Reno. Fascinated, he says, "You're not just a crow, are you." He flicks a glance to Loki. "Apologies, maybe it's rude to talk directly to him while he's…" He gestures vaguely at the situation of Reno 'riding' Loki.
Loki chuckles softly. "You can talk to him all you like…its not him who will seem foolish to those passing by." He says it with amusement and a light-hearted tone. "We have an agreement…between us, Reno and I. No more strange than anything else nearby…" A glance towards Mutant Town.
Reno puffs up his feathered chest, one wing extending to the side answering Halgrim proudly, "I'm also a fashion critic." He pauses and adds "Thank you for asking." The Crow also sounds like a Latino that's traveled. Eh, Welcome to New York. His head turns to the lady with the dog and notes to Loki, "Uhhh if you're talking about the lady with the puppy that can fit me in it's mouth? Ehhhh I don't think that's a girl, boss. Them's shorter." The wing lowers. You know, short. Like this, Loki. He does take the moment to nod with his feathered head. "That's the guy that found me my bagel I told you about."
Elmo, feeling like he should somehow stick up for Halgrim, says to Mack, "He's really a nice guy. Uhh, your dog is cute." He flushes around the neck and looks away, nowhere near as ebullient now that there's nothing to immediately distract him. Loki glances towards Mutant Town and Elmo follows his glance, then narrows his eyes, trying to decide whether to be offended or not. The crow is actually talking to him and that derails the decision-making process. "You said his name is Reno?" he asks Loki, expression going funny. "You ain't the SAME Reno from the other day, are ya?"
The crow is talking like a human. A Latino human nonetheless. Yep, that is Mack's cue to leave. She tugs lightly on Rufus' leash. "Nice…guy. Right. C'mon boy, back to the boat," she tells the dog, who aroofs with a breath of slobbery love and gives Elmo's hand a quick lick before trotting alongside his owner. "Uh, yeah, bye," Mack tells the rest, still wide-eyed and looking freaked out as she books it back towards Brooklyn.
"Fair enough," Halgrim says with a bob of his eyebrows. He follows Loki's glance, considers Mutant Town, looks back at Loki and then Reno with new consideration. He thinks of himself and the way Mack's reacting to him, says, "No, I suppose not," while continuing to *not* make eye contact with her. Then Elmo is defending him and he…doesn't quite blush, but it's a near thing. "Elmo, snalla gor det inte," he whispers, rubbing his temples. He clears his throat at Mack's emphasis on 'guy' as she departs, risks a sidelong glance and a nod for her. He should still be polite.
Renewed interest in Reno mollifies Halgrim, and he tilts his head. "You're acquainted then?" he asks, sounding amused.
Loki glances at Halgrim, curiously, then to Elmo for a moment before back to his posing birb. "Ah yes…adul-ta." He clips the end of the word as if something about it is agonizing. "So..the food-buyer…/excellent/. I can appreciate someonw who helps my Reno out so well." He dips his head and then a slow smile grows on his pale face. "You could even say…I owe you a favor, one which I will gladly repay, once I know what you need."
Reno shifts his weight frm one foot to the other watching the lady with the dog run off. Both wings drop some at the shoulders. Can a bird look disappointed? One could be surprised. "Aww I think I scared her. " Looking back to Elmo and Halgrim he just blinks. "Uhhh yeeeah. Sorry man. This is, um…. this is awkward. Look thanks for the bagel tip?" He's trying to make this better. He really really is.
"What?" Elmo mutters to Halgrim. Worst wingman ever. Tapping the ash off his cigarette, he considers Loki with a sort of dubious curiosity. "Okay, sure. I dunno yet. Gonna hold on to that." The short guy is taking the offer of a favor quite seriously. "What's it ya do? …Who are you, anyway?" But Reno gets a brilliant grin. "You can turn into a crow? That's gevaldik, buddy. You a mutant too, huh?" Because literally everybody is a mutant until proven otherwise. He shrugs, still with that flashy grin. "Ya welcome. My family's lived in the Lower East Side forever. I know the good bagel shops."
"Nevermind," Halgrim murmurs, giving Elmo a look which conveys, 'we will discuss your failures as a wingman over a beer'. He considers Loki's offer to Elmo of a favor, eyes narrowing, and glances at Elmo. Well, he won't be rude and suggest Elmo be careful about accepting favors from strange men with shapeshifter friends right in front of them. Another topic to discuss over beer.
"He does," Halgrim confirms, "know all the best bagel shops and delis."
"I am Loki…owner of a rare book shop a few blocks from here, called Cover Story." Loki introduces himself. "If you are at all interested in old or rare books. I am afraid I need to go back, now, actually."
Reno fluffs his wings with a bit of a shrug, "Eh, no. Actually not a Mutant, not that like there's anything wrong with that. Just ain't one is all. It's… like… complicated. I swear I'm from Harlem tho. I ain't invading nothing, or here t' like wreck anyone's day unless, you know, you're that pigeon that put me out five bucks." He sighs "That's, ya know, that's something." Loki's leaving? Well there's that too. His beak lift up, "He's my ride soooo…" as opposed to flying? Lazy damn bird. It's the life of a fashion accessory, man. "Is good t'see you again. Maybe catch you three around." Three? …there's a way to put it.
"Complicated. I hear ya," Elmo says, sympathetically. "Okay. See ya around, pal." …Three? Elmo can't help it; he looks behind him. Only Halgrim. Who also isn't a mutant. And is complicated. "Eh," he says, and blows out a cloud of smoke. "C'mon, Grim, I got more stuff to show ya."
Halgrim watches Loki and Reno go, curious now about this interesting, fellow bookshop owner and his shapeshifting friend. He gives Reno a long, lingering look when he says 'catch you three around', but doesn't join Elmo in checking for anyone else. *He* knows what Reno means. "Yes," he says, "show me around all of this."