ArchivedLogs:Warm Welcome

Warm Welcome
Cold Day
Dramatis Personae Deanna, Kate
In Absentia	2014-02-13 Discussions about the state of the city lately.
Location <NYC> High Line - Chelsea
Built on a freight rail, the High Line once was a railroad and has been reclaimed as green space in the middle of the city. A park situated high above Manhattan, what was once a rusty industrial wasteland is now a stretch of peaceful space to lounge and relax among grass and flowers and plant life. There are restaurants, ice cream sandwich stands, a beer garden, and the view all along the elevated parkland is unbeatable. Long past the holiday season but the city has a rather /festive/ air to it, helped along by the excessively cheery banter provided by the small army of snowpeople bobbing their way along in helpful accompaniment with their human counterparts. Deanna is out in the highline with both snow- and canine companionship today, a large Rottweiler at the end of a leash -- she's not holding the leash, though. Her snow-woman compadre is, hop-hop-hopping along in the snow beside her as Deanna's boots crunch through the snow. Despite herself the generally somber-faced woman has a faint smile on her full lips, just barely visible over the top of her scarf where it's been wrapped around her neck. She has a black cap pulled down over her dreads, but a splash of colour beneath that where a red paisley bandanna has been wrapped beneath those. Her snow-butler's tophat has a red paisley sash around it, too. Just a week after moving here, and Kate is already trudging through her first New York snow storm, accompanied by a somewhat unexpected, but decidedly welcome snowy companion. The petite young woman is bundled up in a cheery puffer jacket that transitions from shining pale icing pink at the top to a darker purple-pink at the hem, a black, blue, and silver plaid scarf bundled several times around her neck, and a matching white fuzz lined aviator hat snuggly on her head. Skinny jeans and knee-high black boots edged in fluffy white faux-fur cuffs complete the look. Hands shoved into her pockets for warmth, Kate shuffles along the cleared pathway, a bemused smile on her lips as she listens to the snow-woman describing the history and features of the High Line Park. Her snowy companion has a dark tartan band around her top-hat, and a matching scarf knotted neatly around her neck in a fashionable style, currently gesturing around to explain the layout and directions of the park. Pretty much everything about Kate and her companion screams 'hi, I'm new here,' including the cheery smile she flashes to Deanna as their paths cross. "Helpful." Deanna's husky contralto is quiet; she's nodding more to Kate's snowperson than to Kate. "Good time to be new, I suppose. The hand that she gestures with is -- evidently broken, or something like -- it was harder to see when folded across her chest, but when she gestures to Kate's snow-woman, a bit of blue casting around her hand peeks out from beneath her black coat. "Show up, get an infodump of New York." Beside her, the large Rottweiler is evidently making an effort to be a /nuisance/, getting her leash wound around both snowpeople in an attempt to make her way over to Kate and sniff curiously at her boots, tail wagging in slow cautious overtones of friendliness. Kate beams at the helpful comment, nodding and glancing towards her snowperson, agreeing, "I know! I was a bit surprised yesterday, but this is a great way to get used to getting around New York." The dog gets a cheery smile as well, and Kate gently holds a gloved hand out for the large dog to sniff, apparently unintimidated by the impending snuffling. Before attempting to pet the apparently friendly dog though, Kate glances up to Deanna and asks, "May I pet your dog?" She tilts her head and nods at the casted hand, "Icy mishap? I'm amazed I haven't broken something as many times as I've slipped in the ice." "Oh -- yes. That's Saeta. She's friendly. Saeta, down." Saeta is just starting to lift a paw to paw at the hand Kate holds out when the command comes; she drops her paw back into the snow and settles down onto her rear, more politely just snuffling, first at the offered hand and then at Kate's boots, at the hem of her coat. At the snow-woman. Her tail sweeps a large semicircle in the snow behind her, more eagerly now that she's been positively received. Deanna's lips press together; she gives her head one small shake. "Grew up here. I do fine with the ice. Mugging, actually. Shame, sometimes, what New York's coming to. Not all bad, though," she assures the newcomer. "Just -- some people." She says this with a much deeper grimace. "Where you in from?" "Hello, Saeta," Kate greets, gently petting the dog's neck and shoulders with a wistful smile, "I had to leave my dog back home with my family. With my schedule being a bit erratic, can't bring myself to have a dog without knowing how often I'll be able to walk 'em." She stands up, though being as petite as she is, she didn't really need to lean over far to pet the dog. "Oh, my. Well, I'm glad you made it out with just a broken hand," Kate offers with a shocked wince, glancing around the park as though something would happen in the middle of the day. "Oklahoma. Not quite a country girl, but even growing up in the state capital, nothing quite prepares you for a something as big as New York." "This park's been safe." Deanna shakes her head, when Kate looks around. "Since the zombie cleanup, anyway. Some neighborhoods, though." Another shake of her head. "Times been rough, since the biters. Lot of homeless. Lot of mutants. People get desperate. Everyone's poorer now." The corner of her mouth tugs upwards, a little. "Better time to move here, maybe. Property's going for a song. S'it you do?" "ER Nurse. Just started a new job at Bellevue," Kate offers with a nod in the vague direction of that hospital, "We only saw a handful of biters in my hospital back home." She shakes her head and sighs, "I heard this neighborhood was decent, just not used to hearing about muggings outside of my job." Her expression remains neutral through the list of troubles in the city, "Yeah. New York has had a rough go of it. I think that's part of why I moved here, besides getting just a bit tired of the same old thing." She grins, offering a shrug, gesturing at the snowperson, who has remained politely quiet during the conversation, "Seems like I certainly arrived in interesting times. I imagine snow-guides aren't quite a standard occurrence around here? I didn't think I was that out of touch with current events." "This neighborhood's quieter. Why I come here with Saeta. We like it. It's --" Deanna waves her broken hand gently around the park. Mostly snowball fights and people lunching, cheerfully chattering snow-butlers dispensing advice and helpful information or participating in the snowball fights themselves. "Safe." Saeta is snuffling into the snow, now, licking up a mouthful to crunch into it happily. "Snow-people are new. Had a jungle before that. And chocolate rain. Little freaky, really, but." She shrugs a shoulder, eyes sweeping the park as her hands fold back across her chest. "Definitely don't come standard. Beats the biters by far. Still be happy when things are normal again, though." Kate nods, "Yeah. Parents were freaked out about me moving to New York, but I checked into things, did my research. And honestly, with the deals on rent, and the job offer, I couldn't turn it down." She shrugs, stuffing her hands back into the pockets of her coat as a chill breeze cuts accross the park. "I was here for the jungle - that was a bit of a shock. Sad I mised the chocolate rain, though," Kate laughs, and glances upwards at the sky, producing nothing but perfectly mundane flurries for the moment. "I can't wait to see Spring, perhaps things will return to normal by then, but for now this all seems to be making the winter a bit more bearable, at the very least," Kate nods. "Bit more surreal, that's for damn sure. Everything around here --" Deanna's head shakes. "All the freaky shit people can do, I don't know how we're going to get the world back to any kind of -- right. Once this quiets it'll just be another. Tell you one thing, though. Does bring people together. Band up strong, cling to what's normal. -- You liking the new job?" Her smile is brief, shown less in her solemn press of lips than in a small warm crinkle around her eyes. "Guess one thing, at least. New York's not short on need for nurses." Kate shrugs, eyes scanning the park, "Agreed. Some of it can be a bit... unsettling if you dwell on it too much. Not all of the odd things are bad though, I suppose." She studies Deanna for a long moment, before answering, "Many things have happened to humanity over the years - people adapt, people adjust. Life will go on, I suppose - if being a nurse has taught me nothing else, it's that people are resilliant. And occasionally a bit surprising." Her tone is soft, neutral, as though she doesn't have much of an opinion formed yet, for better or for worse. "I like it well enough. I'm the new girl, so I get all the shift assignments no one else will touch. Valentine's Day in the ER is always so... interesting," she chuckles and shakes her head, a bit of a grimace pulling at her lips, the warmth remaining in her eyes, "Necessary, but oh, some of the stories I could tell. I can't imagine it'll be any less colorful tomorrow at work." "Unsettling's an understatement. Don't seem to have no end for it." Deanna untucks Saeta's leash from her snow-companion's stick-hand, starting to unwind its tangle where the dog has wound it around the two snowpeople. She exhales, one short burst that might be a laugh. "Had no lack of /color/. Not lately. Sure that's going to be --" Her lips press together, eyes crinkling at their corners. "Fun." She finally unwinds the leash its last time, tongue clicking to call the big dog back to heel. "People I like. But some of the things doing all this --" She draws in an uncomfortable breath, head shaking. "Could do with a simpler world, now and then." Kate nods in agreement, hands still in her pockets, hmming quietly, her smile faltering, "We'll see. I suppose in that regard I'm a bit of a country girl - still sort of wide eyed and hopeful that New York is going to exceed expectations and be amazing." She shrugs again, a smirk on her lips, "Alright. I have to apologize, and cut our conversation a bit short. I need to head back towards home before my shift tonight. It was nice meeting you - hope your arm heals up proper." Reaching down to pet Saeta again, offering a cheery bright grin to Deanna, "Have a great rest of the day, snowy and strange though it may be." Deanna nods to Kate, once, a sharp bob of her hear as she wraps Saeta's leash back around her good wrist. "Hope New York -- exceeds expectations then." Her other hand drops to rest on the top of Saeta's head. Her snow-guide waves a stick arm, brightly cheerful in /her/ farewell: "Welcome to New York!"