The Park, Wednesday Evening

[gunslingerpose]

It was bound to happen sooner or later. He couldn't head back to LA just yet, not until he knew for certain that he had a way to keep his particular technical difficulties in check, but the silence around the island was staring to drive Nikolai nuts. And sure, he could have made his way to the bar to try to combat that with a bit of booze, but there was nothing more depressing than a quiet bar, and on a Wednesday night, he didn't want to take that risk.

So he headed to the park to work, instead. Because parks, as a general rule, were pretty quiet in the evening anyway. It wasn't the optimal solution by a long shot, and maybe tomorrow he'd make his way over the Causeway and just wander Baltimore for a bit now that he had his wallet again, but it got him out of his room. It wasn't exactly a glorious way to spend the evening, and before long he was on his cell organizing publicity events and hotel rooms and the like for some of the celebrities he represented, since California was still a few hours behind and it wasn't like he was going to be waking anybody up by making phone calls.

"And don't sweat it, Ben. They said the same thing about that Ledger kid, too."

A lot of his job back home really just involved kissing enough ass to stay employed.

[Open park!]

Comments

[jaegerbombdad]

Herc was glad this island had a nice park he could take Max out in--it beat the situation at the Hong Kong shatterdome by about a Jaeger-length. "Evening," he said with a nod to the guy on the bench, as he stood there holding the leash and watching Max sniff at a clump of grass.

[gunslingerpose]

"Evening," Nikolai replied with a nod as he pocketed his phone. "Good one to be outside, even. Careful your dog doesn't wander too close to the water, there, though. There are some birds near the shoreline that aren't particularly fond of company."

He was, of course, referring to the large pink ones. Not the ducks.

[jaegerbombdad]

"That's why he's on a leash," Herc pointed out. It left him without a hand free, but, "He'd make friends with the things if I'd let him. Or try to, anyway."

[gunslingerpose]

"Friendly boy, is he?" Nick turned a little grin toward the dog. "He's a handsome one."

In that ugly bulldog kind of way.

"You must be new around here. I'm pretty sure I'd recognize a mug like that one if I had seen it before."

[jaegerbombdad]

"Ah, Max likes everyone," Herc said fondly. As evidenced by the fact that he was now looking hopefully up at Nick. Nick would like to pet him, right? "Yeah, I'm teaching up at the school now. Name's Hansen, Herc Hansen. Sorry I can't shake your hand right now." Sling, leash, you understood, right, Nick?

[gunslingerpose]

Yeah, Nick could figure it out. He gave Herc a quick smile before crouching down to give the dog a pat, anyway.

"It happens. I'm just getting over a shoulder injury of my own. Pain in the ass. I'll just shake your hand twice once you're out of that thing." Or not. But it seemed like the thing to say, anyway. "I'm Nikolai. Nikolai Bartamian. Anyone who enjoys sparing themselves a few syllables just calls me Nick, though."

And, truth be told, unless he was dealing with clients, he really preferred it.

"Teaching at the school, hm? What've they got you filling this island's bright young minds of tomorrow with?"

[jaegerbombdad]

Herc, being saddled with the moniker of 'Hercules,' completely got it. "Self defense. Which presents a few problems at the moment," he cast a glance down at his arm, "but I think I'll manage."

[gunslingerpose]

"Just gives you an excuse to get loud with 'em if they're not listening," Nick reasoned. "How'd you get your arm smashed up, if you don't mind my asking?"

It probably wasn't any of his business, no. But it was a conversational topic. Might as well.

[jaegerbombdad]

"Took off a safety harness about five seconds before I really should have," he said, shrugging with his good shoulder. "Got thrown into a wall." And therefore had to send his son off to die without him. So...yeah. "Don't ever drive anything without a seatbelt, eh?"

[allie-vamp.livejournal.com]

Allie would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy the fact that sun was setting earlier. It was nice to be out and about while people still out enjoying the late summer evening.

After her nightly attempt to cross the causeway, Allie headed over to the park. She had sword katas to practice.

Or she realized when she reached the park, could talk to Nick. "Hey stranger!"

[gunslingerpose]

"Allie!" Now there was a sight for sore... well-shaded eyes. Nick gave her a grin, waving for her to join him on the bench thathe'd staked out for the evening. "Been a while. I really should get my ass out to the bar more often. How've you been?"

[allie-vamp.livejournal.com]

"It has been a while. I thought you might have left," Allie said as she pulled her sword case off her back and rested it against the bench. She tucked her foot under her and took a seat. "I'm doing okay. Glad to see you're still here."

[gunslingerpose]

"Gave it some thought," Nikolai admitted with a shrug. "Managed to get my wallet and luggage back from the airport I left 'em at, and nearly turned around and bought a ticket back to California that same damn day. Decided against it, though. This island's just that charming, I guess."

... And he hadn't wanted a repeat of his last airline disaster. Crossing the country by air without ever taking off his shades would be a difficult endeavor, after all.

[allie-vamp.livejournal.com]

"Charming is one way of putting it. Right up until something tries to eat you," she observed dryly. "I'm glad to see you survived the weird creatures that attacked."

[gunslingerpose]

"More or less," Nikolai agreed. "I avoided the sharks completely. There was no way in hell I was going out in that, but I was happy to help Dr. Lecter clean them the day after for his cookout. The ugly harpy things had better luck with me, though."

He rolled his shoulder a little, made a face, and then gave Allie a smile all the same.

"Learned the hard way that day that I can't just stare down all my problems until they fall down."

[allie-vamp.livejournal.com]

"The sharks were mostly done by the time I was out and about." Except for the cranky one she found in the preserve later that night. "But the harpy things, well, that was a fun night," Allie smiled, patting her sword.

Realizing what Nick had said, Allie frowned. "You couldn't stop them? Did you get hurt?"

[gunslingerpose]

"One did a number on my shoulder, yeah. Fortunately, I know a doctor who happened to come in to the Arms to patch me up. I'm learning an important lesson about going outside unarmed around this damn place."

Which was, of course, 'don't do it.'

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

Having a bunch of peaceful green space to walk around in was still a novelty for Jack. Not a novelty she normally felt much need to do anything with, mind you, but a novelty all the same.

She ended up in the park, idly tossing the remnants of her donut at the birds. A moment later, she noticed something odd.

"Jesus, are those things flamingos?"

Now there was something she had never seen.

[gunslingerpose]

"What, the big, pink asshole birds that are more than a few states away from their natural habitat?"

Nick had Feelings when it came to those damn birds, yes.

"That's exactly what they are. And they'll break you in two if the damn things get a chance. Keep your distance, huh?"

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

Jack looked vaguely amused. "So throwing down with the birds is a bad idea, hmmm?" she asked. "Hey, as long as they don't start anything, I won't start anything."

[gunslingerpose]

Hey, now. There was a whole flock of them, and Nick was just one guy. One guy that wasn't big on punching birds.

Especially when they had him outnumbered.

"Don't wander too close while rainbow ducklings are falling from the sky, and you should be fine," he decided. "Hell, they might be perfectly pleasant when they're not being pelted by freak weather. I'm not going to be the guy who wanders over to find out."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"That makes two of us," Jack agreed. She was certain the birds wouldn't be too much of a fight for her, but it wasn't the kind of thing she needed to test right that second. "And can you run the thing about raining fucking rainbow ducklings past me again?"

[gunslingerpose]

"Oh, you're new enough yet that nobody's educated you on this island's very special, very fucked-up idea of precipitation?" Well, this was going to be fun, then. "The ducklings were one of the first things it rained around here back when I was new that weren't... you know. Rain. I'll take them over the sharks any day of the week."

Nikolai shrugged.

"Either the island is insane, or I am. I haven't quite figured out which."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"Just got here Saturday," Jack confirmed. "They told me about alternate universes and time travel, but nobody mentioned animals falling from the sky. So .... guess I got that to look forward to."

A pause. "What happened with the sharks?"

[gunslingerpose]

"Some kind of freak storm out over the water, as best as I can tell," Nikolai replied with a shrug. "Like something out of a bad sci-fi movie. Storm sweeps up over the water, storm picks up sharks, storm drops sharks, now angry, on unsuspecting island. The next day, there was a cookout in the park. One of the teachers at the school decided that eating our would-be predators would be the best kind of catharsis."

Also, delicious.