Closed RP A Normal Evening in the Park

[Katpride]

Adelyn thought that changing the world would have a clearer starting point. Maybe that was a little naive of her, in hindsight. She has to work on that. The forest taught her cleverness and survival, but it didn’t teach her politics.

There aren’t good forests in the city. Even in the protected copses, the city is waiting right outside. Inescapable. Loud. Smelly. Still, this is where everyone is and where she can make the most impact. So, the city it is.

Err, just not right now. Right now, the park. Which is technically in the city, so maybe it still counts. She’s settled on a bench, arguably reading the newspaper held out in front of her but really just people-watching from behind dark tinted sunglasses. It does not occur to her that she is imitating every bad spy in every movie ever, and that the looks thrown her way by passerby settle more on indulgent or suspicious than the innocuous air she was hoping for.

It’s later in the evening, just nearing dusk. It’s a little hard to read the newspaper with her sunglasses on. She does not remove them, but tilts her head at an angle to watch a woman idling beneath a nearby streetlight that has just clicked on for the night.

There’s something odd about that woman, something that keeps drawing her attention away from the people walking past her - there are less of them, now; are they afraid of the dark? Are there things to be scared of here, in the trees in the dark, like there were back home? She thought there weren’t any big beasts in the city.

For a moment rustling draws her gaze away, instinct taking over as she notices something scurrying through the bushes. Adelyn goes very still, almost holding her breath. Her claws prickle at the fingers of her glove, but she jolts out of it as the squirrel scampers up a tree and away.

There are so many things to notice in the city. Her eyes drift to the side, again, back to the woman. She’s woman-shaped, but… off, somehow. Not quite right around the edges, like disturbed leaves hiding a pit in the ground.

Adelyn folds her newspaper down into her lap as she makes up her mind. She leaves it on the bench as she stands, a few leaves falling from her lap to the ground.

Birds are best approached quickly, with a leap right as they take flight. Mice require the lightest steps. When fishing, a reflection on the water will scare the fish away. What is the best approach for a woman who seems entranced with a streetlight?

Hopefully a normal one. Adelyn walks right up to her, hands clasped together in front of her and a smile on her face. “Hi there.”

She tilts her head up to blink at the streetlight, then looks back at the strange woman. Even now that she’s closer to her, she still doesn’t seem quite right, and Adelyn leans perhaps a bit too close in her examinations before remembering her manners. “Sorry, why do you look weird?”

Well. Some of her manners.

Spoiler: OOC

Ported for archive purposes. Not an active thread.

 

[Reyn]

City Park, beneath the glow.

Her energy levels had improved recently, though it wasn't the fault of sleep. Edain hadn't fully had a full night of sleep in months; she was expecting to miss it, even though it wasn't necessary, but she had ended up enjoying the extended waking hours a lot more than she thought. She slept in parts, now, shunting the dormant bugs towards her core whilst the waking swarm carried the rest of her. It meant she was always awake. Always alert. It was strange; the comforting numbness of exhaustion had been lifted, but it wasn't replaced by anything bad.

She was just... active.

The light fascinated her. Was that stereotypical? The light fascinated her. Not the glow itself, but the bulb producing it, the shape beneath the frosted glass, barely visible amidst the haze of diffused light. It flickered. Someone approached.

"Oh, um-"

People thought she was weird, she was used to that. She could tune it out. What she wasn't used to was people being so direct about it. She turned around and shrugged.

"Cold light. Makes me look pale. I'm not sick any- I'm not sick, I just look like this naturally- not that, like, I'm trying to show that off, I- there's nothing to even- I'm not unwell. I'm fine. Recovered."

Edain smiled unsteadily.

"Also not on anything. Just looking at the light. I'm a, uh... engineer?"

—

 

[Katpride]

Adelyn listens to the woman talk with confused patience, unsure what to make of her stumbling sentences. It’s an answer of sorts, but not quite the one she was looking for.

The girl glances up at the street light again, tracking the illumination down to the woman. The light does make her look a little paler, but Adelyn is used to poor lighting. This is better than moonlight, which has always been her standard. Still, even through her shades there’s something strange that she can’t put her finger on.

When the woman says she’s not on anything, Adelyn looks down at her feet. Her shoes are planted on the ground. Of course she isn’t standing on anything. Why would she need to clarify that?

She’s very confused. The woman seems confused, too. It’s a real humdinger of a mystery rumpus that they’ve found themselves in.

“Glad to know you’re healthy, Engineer. Being sick is no fun at all.” This is delivered without an ounce of sarcasm, just as a matter-of-fact statement.

“Do you… want to be on something?” She looks around for a stool or ladder, though she would’ve probably noticed if there was one nearby. “Like, to be closer to the light? I- wait.”

She tilts her head to the side, listening to the buzz of the streetlight. Or… the buzz of something else? “Do you hear that?”

This is all making her feel a little silly. She feels like a spy or something. After a moment’s consideration she pushes her sunglasses up to rest in her hair, to better look at the woman. Her eyes are completely white, and that’s off-putting to some people, but they’re also hers and she likes being able to see.

 

[Reyn]

The buzz was from the light. Edain's own was imperceptible, even at this distance; it only ever showed up when she moved, and even then it was too quiet to be heard by anyone but the bugs who made it.

"I don't wanna- no, I don't want to be on anything, thank you." She frowned, "What's someone like you doing offering stuff like that to strangers in a park? Less suspicious, I suppose- you don't really strike me as a dealer, which I guess is the point."

Edain narrowed her eyes.

"I'm straight-edge, also- look, man, I'm not gonna report you or anything, I just don't think this is the best way of going about it. You're not gonna get many sales from people if you open by calling them weird."

She shrugged. Closer to the light, indeed- a park in Pittsburgh was the last place she'd want to take psychedelics, thank you very much.

"Fluorescent lights always buzz like that. Knew a guy who could tell you the exact frequency of it, but it's not my area of expertise."

Despite, apparently, being an engineer.

—

 

[Katpride]

‘Someone like her’? ‘A dealer’? ‘Straight-edge’? Adelyn is terribly confused by the phrases this woman throws around like they’re nothing more substantial than mothballs. She pushes her heavy hood back in case that’s what’s making everything confusing, but it doesn’t do much. She’s hearing her fine, the words just don’t make sense.

Adelyn doesn’t say anything for a long moment, just staring at the lady. In the silence, you could hear a pin drop. Or, rather, she could hear a pin drop, because she has very good ears. In fact, she can hear many little things rustling around in the poor excuse for a forest around them, and people walking and talking beyond that, and cars beeping and rolling along, so it really isn’t silent at all.

“Not your-” she finally manages, a crease between her eyebrows and a tense slant to her mouth as she mouths something but doesn’t say it. She sounds a little defeated and more than a little disbelieving. “Sales? What? How can you do… engineering stuff, or whatever, if you don’t have a ladder or a stool? I wouldn’t sell you one, but I could help you find one. Maybe. Unless you don’t want that?”

Does she… “Do you want a ruler? For… measurements? I don’t have one of those either! They don’t grow on trees. I think.”

Adelyn throws her hands up briefly, looking around to see if anyone is around to help translate nonsense-speak. No luck, they’re the only two people in sight.

“I’m… Adelyn? By the way? I’m sorry for calling you weird, but you are very weird,” she offers. She doesn’t mean for those to all be questions, but her voice keeps going up at the end and turning her sentences into queries rather than statements.

 

[Reyn]

"Oh, I-"

Right. Clearly, there had been some misunderstanding here- though, considering neither interpretation seemed to be correct, Edain didn't see much need to set the record straight. Instead, she just smiled, and prayed that the conversation would move on so she wouldn't have to address it.

She did that a lot.

"Look, I get that a lot- the whole 'being weird' thing. I'm aware I'm like some..."

She shrugged.

"Something not quite right. Been like that my whole life; my parents took me to a shrink when I was a kid, he said it was-"

Edain cleared her throat.

"Anyway, your eyes are weird. That's more tangible. What's up with your eyes? Like, enough about me, what's up with you- uh, what did you say your- Adelyn, was it? Your eyes are weird. Cataracts? At your age?"

She grimaced.

"Do you, uh... have a good insurance plan? Those can be a pain to get treated."

—

 

[Katpride]

Adelyn relaxes a little as the lady goes on. She’s a little funny, with the way she trails off all her sentences. It reminds her of her grandpa, sort of. He’s always mumbling to himself, too. Even when no one’s really listening, or the TV is playing in the other room.

Although her eyes are blank, Adelyn has no trouble watching the engineer. She accepts the turn of conversation with a shrug, shifting from side to side when her boots pinch at her paws. “What are cataracts? I dunno, maybe. I don’t need any insure-ants, though, thank you.”

She grins, and her teeth are white as well. Not pointed, though. Not yet. “I know I’m weird, but I’m tryin’a make it a helpful kind of weird.”

That reminds her of why she came over in the first place, before she got so terribly sidetracked. “Did you need any help? Or… hmm,” she looks around very subtly, by leaning around and looking both ways down the path, “do you know how to start a meta-social-image revolution?”

What? It doesn’t hurt to ask.

 

[Reyn]

"Cataracts are, like... when the lens of your eye gets these cloudy spots." She explained, "They're usually caused by either aging, which I don't think is the case with you, or by some traumatic eye injury. Did you have an eye injury recently? You really should see, like, an optometrist, or something. I'm not an optometrist- I'm an entomologist. Different letters of the alphabet, I guess- they deal with helping you C and I deal with... B's, something... something like that."

She snapped her fingers.

"I's, they deal with I's. Like- like eyes. E-Y-E- come on, it was right there..."

Edain continued to mutter incoherently under her breath, until the stranger's second question made her pause.

"No, I don't use facebook." She shrugged, "I'm too old- I'm more on the niche internet forum side of things. Good luck with your, uh, hash-tag."

—

 

[Katpride]

Adelyn shakes her head in the negative when the woman asks about an eye injury, although she’s not entirely sure that she’s supposed to give an answer there when her train of thought moves so quickly. Like one of those fancy sleek cars that look like the most fun to slide off of. The ones with lots of… horsepower.

“I can see just fine.” She shrugs, confusion overtaking her again when the woman goes on about face books and hash-tags. Adelyn has a vague idea of what the internet is, kind of, or at least that it’s a thing that exists, but it’s never been anywhere near her interests. Maybe she should check it out, if that’s the way to change the world. How hard can it be?

Maybe the library will have something? She likes the library, it’s got nice big windows that face the trees and the people in there seem nice enough, even if she’s never quite gone inside.

“Thanks. If you do think of anything, just give me a call. You know, if you need anything or if you find, like, other people that might need help. Or, wait, uh, hang on.” Without further ado, she turns and circles back to the bench, grabbing her near-forgotten newspaper before scurrying back to the streetlight.

Well, that’s half of what she needs to give the lady her number. The other half would be… “Do you have a pen?”

 

[Reyn]

This was weird. Why was this stranger offering so much assistance? She didn't look that desperate, did she? Well... well, she kind of did. She looked sick, especially in this light- ah, maybe Adelyn wasn't trying to sell her anything, but it was all actually some sort of sting operation that she... backed down on? Gave up? Felt pity? Well, Edain wasn't an addict five minutes ago, and she wasn't one now, either.

"I don't- nope, I'm... I'm fine. Thanks." She said, "If I fall back on bad habits I'll just, like, call Samaritans or something. Wait, do they operate in the States? Whatever- whatever, I'm- I'm fine, thank you."

She was asked if she had a pen. Edain shrugged.

"Nope."

She paused, then started to turn away.

"I'll, uh... I'll be off then."

—

 

[Katpride]

Adelyn’s face falls. “Oh.”

The newspaper crumples a little in her hands as she lowers it, all the wind leaving her sails. One of these days someone is gonna actually need - or even, dare she think it, want - her help, but it must not be today. “Okay.”

The lady turns to leave, and Adelyn tries to scrounge up a little more pep. “Have, um, have fun! I’ll… stop bothering you now.”

She sighs and folds the newspaper up into a square she can just about tuck into her pocket. Maybe she’ll head home too. The ‘forest’ here isn’t as friendly as the one back home, she doesn’t even want to sleep out here. And her grandparents might be worried.

Starting a revolution is hard. It’s almost as hard as being all alone in a strange place. She just wants to curl up by the fire and listen to whatever old reruns are playing on the television. So that’s what she’s going to do!

With one last glance over her shoulder, Adelyn sets off. Not along the path, but forging through the woods in the straightest route back to her grandparents’ house.