Summary:Hank thought he'd have a nice quiet sit down in the park, and then he ran into a new acquaintance, a student, and his lab assistant in Washington Park Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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A brisk night in New York, the temp feels just above freezing, though it is in the forties and the evening sky is overcast. This park is one of Doc McCoy's favorite spots in the city as it combines a very nice layout, a lovely fountain, proximity to food and shopping /and/ is adjacent to one of the best universities anywhere.
Currently he's seated on a bench near the fountain, and eating a sandwich on an Italian roll from one of the local cafes - there's another couple in a white sack next to him as well.
Eyes of blue watch the few passer's by and despite the light jacket he's wearing, the man does not seem to mind the chill in the slightest. He /is/ wearing earbuds, and to the keen of senses the song playing currently is Disturbed's rendition of 'The Sounds of Silence'.
Catseye is doing her weekend rounds of the cat colonies she watches out for, her own fluffy cat tail currently hidden beneath an ankle-length black leather duster. She's lugging around a bag of dried catfood, leaving food in the feeding areas and checking the feral-shelters that have been set up. She waves to Hank, but doesn't come over right away. She wants to finish her rounds first, and the cat food bag will be a lot lighter once she's fed the strays.
Skye's starting to get settled in the Big Apple. She has a place outside of her van to stay, paying work, and a pretty eclectic group of contacts on her phone. Still, money is tight. So what's the first thing she does with her newfound resources?
Buy herself a new drone, of course!
With evening taking over it's easier for her to get around piloting one around inside of the city that never sleeps, and one of the parks seems like an ideal location to take it out on its maiden voyage.
Hank might not hear the sound of the tiny fans carrying the remote controlled toy past where he's sitting. He also might not hear the frantic flapping of pigeon wings as the same drone chases a couple of them a short ways over his head.
It's good that the drone has a camera and Skye can see which 'tower' she's buzzing with the low flying flock.
"Hank..?" is said only to herself from another area of the park.
The drone zips on back to its pilot. Tonight's flight lessons are concluding a bit early.
Sunday may be a day of rest for some people, and Hisako enjoys taking time off when she can, but sometimes you have to keep buckling down to whatever work lies before you. She's spent most of the day in the NYU library, and when they closed, she relocated to a nearby deli - more for supper than for studying; university librarians take the state of returned books *extremely* seriously and she'd rather not stir their ire up against her.
Rather than finish all of her meal there, though, she emerges from the deli with a white paper bag of her own, a rather large one which contains carry-out boxes of cake and brownies. She glances around as she enters the park, then meanders towards the fountain, nodding hello to Hank as she approaches. "Good evening, Doctor," she greets him, speaking a bit louder to hopefully be heard over his music. "Here for work or just for play?"
She rummages in the carryout bag briefly, then extracts a box with one of the deli's deluxe brownies, tacitly offering it to Dr. McCoy - just in case he's in the mood for dessert.
Hank is quite certainly enjoying the music, but Cat's wave is noted by the man, and he flashes a grin her way. Softly spoken. "I have a sandwich if you like, tuna steak on Italian with extra tuna." Yes, there's a slight chance he might have known what Cat's schedule was and planned accordingly. The other sandwich in the bag is for later, another like the one he's just finishing up - ham, genoa, pepperoni and pepper-jack cheese with all the fixins!
And yes, he's sure that Cat will hear his offer.
Relaxing some, he bunches up the wrapper from his dinner and stretches out a long arm to drop it into a trashbin near the bench. And then of course he's nearly dive bombed by drone chased pigeons! Luckily nobody is hit - by bird or anything else, and he shakes his head bemusedly. Skye's cam would show that look pretty clearly too.
With a sigh he takes out the earbuds when Hisako arrives, and he offers her a smile. "Good evening, Miss Ichiki." He blinks at the offered brownie, adn then laughs softly. "Too kind, too kind. Actually I'm doing a little post-work relaxing, my minder, that is to say Lab Assistant seems to be of the opinion I do not relax or take proper care of myself."
Catseye comes over and sits on the back of the bench that hank is sitting on, perching on it with ease and phenomenal sense of balance. She looks hopefully at Hank, "Tuna?" She nods friendly-like to Hisako. "Is true, DoctorHank forgets little details like /eating/ or /sleeping/ when working. Work is less lab assistant, more nanny." Her lavender hair might be a very thorough dye job, but not the cat-slitted lavender eyes… or the tail that dangles behind as she balances on the bench. Thankfully the drone had already moved on by the time she joined Hank, or she might have been tempted to pounce.
As the drone comes home Skye holds up a hand and catches it in her palm. It's a little touch and go but she's spent many slow afternoons practicing such a move. With a bit of care everything goes back into a courier bag while some of those pigeons glare at her from nearby trees. She can totally sense their ire.
By the time she's coming into view the other two ladies are noticed. It's like McCoy has his own fanclub!
"Well hey there, Doc Popular!" she calls out in a tease. "You holding a book signing event or something?"
It isn't long before a hesitation can be noticed in her step. The woman with the purple hair is sitting on the -back- of the bench. And she has a tail. What are the odds of bumping into TWO catgals in the same week? Actually, no, wait. Make that three. Yes. Three catgals in one week.
This can only mean one thing…
New York City is AWESOME.
Hisako is given a smile as well and it absolutely probably has nothing at all to do with the fact that she has lots of brownies maybe.
"Workaholic," Hisako nods, smiling at least half sympathetically. She doesn't *usually* fall into that category herself, but she's acquainted with the pattern by proxy. Hank was, in fact, probably one of those examples on this side of the Pacific. She hands him the boxed brownie, then - as Catseye joins them - greets her with a smile and a polite little bow, falling back on home traditions when she's not sure whether a handshake is more appropriate.
She doesn't quite have time to greet her when another new arrival makes her presence known - and with that, plus a more rueful grin, she turns to favor Daisy with another polite little bow. "Good evening to both of you," she says, glancing from Catseye to Daisy. "I see you're acquainted with the Doctor here? Clearly I should know more about what he's doing in his pocket of the Big Apple," she jokes.
She does indeed have some more brownies, but most of those desserts *are* supposed to go back to the Institute. In spite of that starting intention, she fishes out packages of cake - one box holding a slice of carrot cake, the other, strawberry shortcake - and looks between the two strangers. "My name's Hisako," she introduces herself. "I'm a student at his old school. And you would be … ?"
The promised tuna sandwich is offered up to Cat with a smile as she chides him en passant to Hisako. The sandwich has none of those annoying vegies on it, though there's a fair amount of wasabi. He doesn't even blink as his friend perches on the back of the bench, simply offers her a warm smile of welcome. Turning back to Hisako he offers a wry shrug. "Minder. Nanny makes it sound like I'm a child." And then he faux-frowns. "Oh." As if he just got the joke.
Pigeon ire - definitely something to be avoided, especially if you've ever seen Mel Brooks' 'High Anxiety'.
Truly, if Hank DID have a fanclub he'd be horrified! He blinks at the girl addressing him. "No, Skye, no book signing. I -did- give a lecture on quantum entanglement earlier, but…no, no book signings." And then he smiles and makes the round of introductions. "Skye, allow me to introduce Catseye, my lab assistant and nanny apparently, and Miss Hisako Ichiki, a student at the school I reside at and teach at." A nod. "A private facility, I'm afraid and coincidentally one of my alma-maters."
He laughs softly as Hisako teases a bit. "Hardly my pocket, but, certainly one of my favorite spots to relax." This with a manifest NOT looking to Cat that is /epic/. Yup, not giving her a look. At all. Nope.
And yes, NYC /is/ awesome.
Catseye accepts the tuna sandwich. "Lab assistant for another month at least." She exhales slowly. "Got college acceptance letters yesterday. Have to talk with MotherMotherFrost over which will be taking but… will be starting Spring semester. Institute does not offer more than associates, and… will -need- advanced degrees to be taken seriously despite differences." She knows this will be a bit of a shock to Hank… she had talked about going to college, her test scores are phenomenal, but he may not have guessed it would be this soon.
Did… Was that a bow? Did Hisako really just -bow?- A small one, but… There's something which Skye didn't see a lot in Chicago! "Good evening," comes her slightly awkward response with a quick wiggling of fingers. "Yah, we, uh..just met the other day," she decides regarding McCoy while scratching the back of her neck.
She really hadn't been expecting to get a free dessert out of this encounter. Honest! But when the opportunity presents itself it's -really hard- to turn it down. Of course, if money hadn't gone into a replacement drone then maybe she wouldn't be feeling like getting food was such a difficult matter.
"Oh wow, that's like -super- thoughtful of you but I really don't want to impose. Did you find those locally?" She may have to check the bakery out for herself one of these days…
Catseye gets her share of attention as well. Fortunately the hackerette's starting to get a bit more used to the peculiar feline-themed sight and isn't quite so prone to staring as before. "Love the hair!" The tail's pretty rad, too. Her manner of speech is a little peculiar but understood easily enough. "Well hey, congratulations!" seems like the right thing to say.
Hisako lets out a soft little laugh at Daisy's sudden reluctance. "It's from the deli over there," she nods towards the establishment in question. "I probably got more desserts to take with me than there'll be people who want them, so if you'd like a slice of cake, Skye, I'm sure it's all right. Besides, if you're on good terms with Dr. McCoy, that makes you a friend of mine by extension."
She looks at Catseye, smiling. "Congratulations! I'm sure you'll do well at any school. I presume you'll be diving into the sciences as well?" Hisako sounds just a little wistful - she wouldn't have minded going the science route as well, but she doesn't *quite* have the facility with equations and experiments that some of her Institute peers have. (Then again, considering the bar she's comparing herself against …)
"Really? One month's notice in the park?" Hank teases Catseye, and then he laughs. "Congratulations. I'm sure Miss Frost will offer excellent guidance. And who knows, I might end up at a speaking engagement at whatever school you choose." Nope, he's not mad at all - surprised, yes…but not mad. In fact he is THRILLED for his dear friend, she can smell his genuine happiness for her too with how keen her senses are. "Let me know if there's anything I can help with."
A faint grin at Skye's nerves and blink at the bow. "Indeed, we did just meet." Hank confirms about Skye and then to add to her consternation, because Hank is considerate like that, he offers her his last sandwich. "Italian sub, with all the extras." After all, he has a lovely and rather sizable brownie now!
A brow quirks at Hisako as she befriend's Skye on the spot. "The carrot cake is especially nice." He offers to be an enabling enabler what enables in support of Hisako's enablement.
Catseye relaxes a little when Hank takes the news so well, and smiles at Hisako and Daisy's congratulations. "Thank you… MotherMotherFrost proud, but worried. Wants Catseye to follow passion, but… going practical instead. Double major, Computer science, electrical engineering. Minor business. Can follow passion later once basics are secured, yes?" She then turns her attention to her sandwich, a rumbling purr coming from her throat AS she eats, something normal human anatomy just can't do… but cats can.
From the deli over..-there.- Yep, Skye's so gonna check it out for herself later. Though before she can make up her mind about the slice of cake Hank is offering her an entire sandwich! "Oh gosh, I'm—" Being offered food. FOOD, Skye. She almost looks lost in a trance while reaching for McCoy's offering.
Then something nearly sends her jumping. The hum of a phone desiring some attention. An "Ah—jeez, sorry" is offered while she checks the device with one hand. Whatever it's about it has her eyes going wide. "Ohcrap. It's work."
Although she does pause to stare at Catseye with the long string of professional fields she seems to be involved with!
"Basics..yah. Hey, -super- sorry but I've gotta run. Good meeting you both!"
"It's all right," Hisako says reassuringly to Skye. "It's really good to meet you as well; hopefully we'll run into each other with more time to chat!"
If Skye juggles things enough to accept a slice of cake, Hisako lets her take her pick - carrot or strawberry-short, either way. And that frees up a hand for Hisako to check her phone as well, although not for an alarm. "Mm. I hate to leave in a hurry, Dr. McCoy, but I'd probably better get to the train station. Ms. Catseye, I'm happy to have met you as well; I do wish you the best of luck with your studies! Perhaps we'll have a chance to work together at some point."
She looks at Hank himself. "Is there anything I can help with at the Institute on your behalf, or shall I just carry your greetings?"
"Get a firm base, /then/ follow your passions." Hank agrees, but he's much more the engineer than Emma is, so the practical approach appeals to him. He laughs as Skye is so obviously befuddled by the largesse of the others, and nods understanding as she has to depart. "I'll share your contact info with your permission, with Cat and Miss Ichiki." And then it seems that Hisako herself is about to head out. "Actually, I was going to drive there anyway, how about we three pile into Bessy." His heavily tweaked '78 Ford Grenada?
Rising, he hands the white paper bag to Skye so she doesn't have to juggle nearly so much, which is fine, it was empty anyway, right? "Good night Skye, we'll talk soon." And then bows to both of his companions - such a big guy has ZERO business being so graceful, it is truly unnatural. "Shall we?"