The Park - Monday mid-morning

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan had seen the park during the realtor's tour of the island, but hadn't had a chance to check it out. He decided to rectify that Monday morning during his daily jogging routine. Wearing knee-length board shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt, he tied on his trainers and headed out. Taking Godiva South, he noted the names as Serendipity became Galactica became Thunderbird. Heading South on Griffin, he caught up to Apocolypse Ave, grimacing slightly at that name. He'd had quite enough apocolypse already, thankyouverymuch. Turning up Minotaur, he transferred from sidewalk to park path, and once into the shade of the trees, increased his pace.

The air was lush in the greenery, and filled with birdsong. Some he recognized, some were entirely new, and some.. well, some sounded just plain odd. Could be unfamiliarity, could be an odd species of bird nobody had ever seen off-island. Kaidan was slowly adjusting to the new paradigm of 'normal' that his life had shifted to. Trilling peeps from further up the path indicated there was probably some form of pond or frog-harboring marshland he would need to investigate for the possibility of a fishing hole.

His feet hit the pavement with a steady, rhythmic stride. His gaze, like his thoughts, far away.

[OOC: Open for rp, may be slow through the day.]
[OOC2: Tags don't seem to exist for Peebee or I?]

Comments

[onefootoutthedoor]

Whatever project Peebee had been working on over the weekend had been abandoned in favor of pursuing a sudden burst of curiosity about Fandom wildlife, and at the moment she was perched up in a tree in the park, trying to spot any random wandering alots.

Though people looking around the island like they'd never seen it before were also noteworthy.

"You look new," she called out from her spot, half-hidden among the branches.

[spectre_alenko]

Pausing his run, Kaidan looked around for the source of the hail. It seemed to have come from above him. Scanning the surrounding trees, he narrowed it down to one of two. "I am new," he confirmed politely, "to the island. Remodeling just wrapped up on my shop, thought it'd be a good idea to get a better lay of the land before the grand opening tomorrow."

Manners, manners, manners. "I'm Kaidan," he offered, "If you're a local, and you can spare me a minute or so, I wouldn't mind hearing more about the place. Haven't really had a chance to chat anyone up yet."

[onefootoutthedoor]

"Peebee," she said, poking her head out between the leaves before hopping down to the ground. "Been here over a year, which is a surprise to me, and I still have a hard time explaining this place. But then, that's part of the fun, really. Just... let the island surprise you."

Which was not the most helpful answer, but she thought it was the fun one.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan tried very hard not to stare in shock. An Asari? Here? Now?! He attempted to play it cool, "Nice to meet you, Peebee. So, uh, you've been here a year, you said? How's it been?"

Shaking his head a little, he added slowly, "The island..definitely surprises me. Sorry if I'm staring - you just.. you remind me of someone."

[onefootoutthedoor]

"Well, you know, some weeks it's quiet and boring, some weeks you're experimenting with booze to give people superpowers and help save the island," Peebee said with a shrug. "Though tossing frozen sharks into a tornado, that one's my favorite. Good times."

She was eyeing him a little suspiciously now, though. "I remind you of... Do I want to know?"

[spectre_alenko]

"Frozen sharks into a tornado," Kaidan repeated slowly, nodding a little, "Yeah, I can see where that'd be a time. Booze is always good. Superpowers.." He made a see-saw gesture with a hand, "Those can be hit or miss."

He considered what would be prudent to say, and carefully acknowledged, "I've met someone who looked like you, before. Taller, though, I think - at least a little. I haven't seen her in a very long time." Some mental math was juggled - Liara wouldn't be born for another ~60 years.

[onefootoutthedoor]

Peebee blinked. A few times. "You've met an asari before? I mean, you do know there's a lot of us -- oooooh, you're from way ahead of me in the timeline, aren't you? You all figured out how to use the mass relays already? Don't take this the wrong way, but sheesh, took you long enough."

Because that was the interesting part. "Oh yeah, that's another thing about this place," she added, snapping her fingers. "If they haven't warned you already. Timelines can get a little bit wacky."

[2_old_for_this]

He wasn't the only one out for a nice day, though Peter was more strolling than jogging.

He nodded as he passed, looking over curiously; there was a new face.

[spectre_alenko]

Dewy with sweat, Kaidan acknowledged the other man's nod before optic synapses caught up with his manners. That man had 'coffee connoisseur' all but tattooed on him somewhere visible. Or, so Kaidan hoped. "Hey, question - I'm new in town; do you know whether there's any good coffee to be had on this island?"

[2_old_for_this]

Peter tended toward tea, but he liked coffee fine, too.

He nodded back pleasantly. "The Perk," he pointed in its direction, "has pretty good coffee and other caffeinated things." He held out his hand. "Peter. Welcome to Fandom."

[spectre_alenko]

Wiping the sweat off his hand first, Kaidan shook Peter's hand. "Kaidan. The welcome's been interesting so far," he offered with a lopsided smile, "Definitely a unique place. So the Perk's coffee is.. pretty good?" He paused a moment, chuckled, and added, "Uh, what's that on a scale of? Does 'pretty good' for here mean it's palatable and they don't roast the beans into char, or does it mean 'it only turns you into a singing flower on Thursdays'?"

[2_old_for_this]

Peter grinned and relaxed a little. "So you've already been warned about Fandom?" That would make things easier. "In this case, both - as far as I've been able to tell, it's perfectly normal coffee unless the whole island's being odd, and it also doesn't taste bad. Though sometimes the baristas are bad about doing just what you ask for."

[spectre_alenko]

"Warned? No, not really; just observant. I think the realtor might have left just a leetle bit of information out of the disclosure forms." He shrugged a shoulder, it didn't really bother him. "So there are times the whole island goes odd? Are they on any sort of schedule, or, y'know, random happenstance? If it's scheduled, I should probably add that to the shop's opening times."

Tracking back to the barista comment, he chuckled, "My last 'barista' was in .." He paused, choosing how best to describe it, "..a military commissary. Bad service is probably preferable."

[special_rabbit]

Amaya had planned to spend most of her day going through her weapons room(s), to check if there was anything that needed a good sharpening or touch-up before Kanan went through the later that week. She wasn't trying to impress nobody, of course, but a blacksmith who didn't take pride in her weapons probably wasn't a blacksmith worth her hammer. Of course, they were all in pretty good shape, with a few exceptions here and there, so she naturally got a bit distracted with some inventions that had sort of gotten buried in the dust of other projects.

Such as this funny little gear-work duck. She couldn't remember why she had made it or even how long ago, but now she was a little curious. A quick inspection showed that it was actually pretty decent work, but she wouldn't really know unless she gave it a try. And maybe she could figure out why she had made it to begin with.

So there was Amaya, standing by the pond with a look of deep concentration on her face, taking mental notes of how the mechanical duck moved through the pond, how it compared to the movement of the actual ducks for potential improvements, and noting how the actual ducks were routinely avoiding it like they could sense an imposter and wanted nothing to do with it.

Her attention shifted slightly as people went about their business, the blue girl climbing a tree, the fellows out jogging-slash-strolling around, but she mostly just wanted to figure out why a duck??

[spectre_alenko]

Coffee, coffee, needed coffee, brain clearly not parsing fast enough to deal with today, Kaidan's attention was caught by a ..mechanical.. duck? With, possibly, a human minder present. He stopped running long enough to watch the tableau. Mechanical duck clearly trying to make friends with feathered ducks, feathered ducks being mighty standoffish and - dare he say it - rude, to the little clockwork fellow. Or lass. Kaidan wasn't sure if there even was sexual dimorphism in mechanical ducks. Maybe they were monosexual. He didn't judge.

Glancing between the duck and its minder, he asked curiously, "Did you build that? Why.. sorry if this is super nosey.. but why a duck?"

[special_rabbit]

"Zards," Amaya sighed, shaking her head, "if I can't figure out that myself." She glanced over, offering a wry smile. "I'd be open to any ideas if you've got 'em, but, yeah, I built it, ages ago, apparently, because I can't for the life of me remember why. Must not have been too important, but it works pretty well, whatever the reason, I'm pretty glad for that."

[spectre_alenko]

"Me? No, no ideas. I mean, maybe you liked ducks? Or wanted to learn something about ducks that only a clockwork mechanical duck could teach you?" He shrugged and shook his head, "Kinda curious how you got it to float that well. That's impressive, for something with so much metal and such a small body."

[special_rabbit]

Amaya considered the suggestions, her mouth twisting slightly in thought, and she wound up just shaking her head and shrugging. She didn't particularly care for ducks..didn't actively dislike them, mind, but she really didn't care for them much, either. "I'm thinkin'," she proposed, "that it mighta just started out as a commission from a patron that just never bothered to pick it up, who knows how long ago."

Eaten by a dragon, by her wager.

"And she's lighter than she looks," she added, and that answered the gender question, perhaps, except that she tended to call all her machines and weapons she, like boats and whatnot. "Lighter metals, hammered so thin you'd think they'd snap if you weren't careful enough, but I assure you, they're strong as can be. Small gears, too, powerfully placed, and she'ss got little feet underneath, just like a real duck, which are propelled through the use of water displacement. See how her head kinda moves a bit, too? Pulleys, runnin' on down through the legs."

As she spoke, a clear sense of pride started to creep into her voice.

"I don't think she's foolin' any of the real ducks, but I do think she's doing pretty well for herself out there, if I do say so myself!"

[spectre_alenko]

"The feathered ducks do seem to be a little standoffish, it's true," Kaidan agreed, "but it is pretty amazing how your little mechanical duck is out there, swimming around. Maybe the feathered kind will get used to her after awhile?"

He watched the ducks for another long moment, "Does she have a winding mechanism, or does she run on some sort of compressed fuel?"

His manners rose up and bit him. Not literally, though that didn't sound like it'd be very odd. Wiping a hand off, he offered it, "I'm Kaidan, by the way. I do a bit of electronics tinkering, but nothing on this level."

[uncertain_dume]

If Kaidan thought the mechanical duck was strange, just wait until he got a load of the Lisa Frank nightmare that was Kanan's rainbow-spotted dalmatian. Not that Kanan thought it was particularly strange, granted. He was still mostly of the opinion that it was odd that his dog looked more like some kind of miniature wolf without scales.

In any case, he was out taking Stance for a walk, the dog prancing along the path ahead of him, pointedly avoiding the pond. The ducks, Stance had learned, were wicked creatures. Almost as evil as the flamingos.

Kanan nodded politely as he passed by the new person.

"Morning," he greeted, stepping to the side so that he wouldn't be in the jogger's way.

[spectre_alenko]

"Mornin'," Kaidan greeted the taller man, and then raised eyebrows at the pooch. "That's a mighty colorful pup. Very pretty. I've only ever seen the monochrome version."

[uncertain_dume]

Stance trotted over to investigate the new person - hi, new person! - his tail wagging behind him and his tongue lolling out of his big happy doggy mouth. Kanan just grinned a little.

"And I had no idea there were monochrome versions when I first wound up with this guy," he admitted, giving the pup a look that more or less meant behave, buddy. To his credit, Stance was doing a good job learning not to jump on strangers. "Hell, it took me a few days before I even really accepted that he was even a dog."

[spectre_alenko]

Holding out a hand for Stance to sniff, or whatever it was that dogs did when you held out a hand, Kaidan grinned down at the happy pupper.

"What did you think he was, if not a dog?" Kaidan asked curiously.

[uncertain_dume]

"Hell, I don't know," Kanan said, watching Stance sniff at the offered hand, and then go in for an enthusiastic lick hello. "Some kind of really weird wolf or something. I'm not exactly from around here."

He wasn't even from this galaxy. It made for some crazy adventures in taxonomy.

Except for potatoes. For some reason, potatoes were still basically the same.

[spectre_alenko]

"Wolves were the ancestors of domestic dogs," Kaidan noted, scratching Stance's head and rubbing his ears, "so, 'weird wolf' isn't all that far off. Though I've never seen a wolf as, er, bright as this."

Offering the hand he wasn't scratching the dog with, "I'm Kaidan. I'm not exactly from around here, either."