ArchivedLogs:Contrary Critters

Contrary Critters
Dramatis Personae Blink, Flicker
In Absentia	2016-08-14 "I've heard it's pretty brutal."
Location <NYC> Central Park South
Central Park South is home not just to the park itself, but also to the Belvedere Castle, the Alice in Wonderland statues, and the Central Park Zoo. These areas tend to draw tourists like a magnet - it is, perhaps, for that very reason that places like Bethesda Terrace tend to attract more New Yorkers than not, if just to escape the press of tourism that infiltrates the whole city. Even in the last blaze of twilight, the scorching heat of day lingers over the city. Between the shade of surrounding trees and the lake below it, Bethesda Terrace at least gives the /impression/ of coolness. In its multi-tiered fountain, water drips and splashes constantly under the watchful eye of a huge bronze angel statue. A swirling purple disk appears momentarily under the edge of the angel's pedestal, catching the fine curtain of falling water for a few seconds. Another identical portal had appeared over the head of a young woman dressed in a loose-fitting lavender peasant blouse and long, matching skirt. Blink steps quickly through the arc-shaped cascade of displaced water droplets, emitting a faint squee. Shakes her head as she comes out the other side, long fishtail braid snapping left and right. Both portals vanish within a few seconds, and the girl digs her smartphone back out of her sleek black shoulder bag, which has been carefully hand-edged in highly reflective purple webbing. Her delighted smile widens when her screen comes back to life, displaying a cartoonish map of her surroundings, along with a small, purple-haired avatar and an odd creature with stubby blue tentacles and round googly eyes peering out from beneath a whitish spiral shell. "Omanyte," she chirps. Just behind Blink, Flicker is hopping down out of the misty purple arc as well. He flits down to sit on the edge of the fountain, resting his canvas messenger bag beside himself. Less colorful than Blink, he is in lightweight grey shorts, a pale green short-sleeved henley, grey canvas Vans slip-ons. He folds his legs into a pretzel on the edge of the fountain as he opens up the game, knees bouncing restlessly (which slightly jostles the phone he's rested on one leg.) His other hand reaches into the bag to pull out a thermos -- he takes a sip, then offers it to Blink, ice clinking inside. "Ornery Omanyte." His statement comes with a small wrinkle of nose, looking down at his screen as his Pokemon breaks back out of its ball. "Lemonade?" Blink hops down to sit beside Flicker and accepts the thermos with slight dip of a bow and a "Gracias." The creature on her screen is somewhat more cooperative than his, and stays captured. "No as bad as that touchy Tentacruel earlier, though?" She takes a sip of the lemonade and emits a pleased hum, then returns the thermos. "I need to get one of those. Sometime. Mine doesn't really keep anything all that hot /or/ cold." "Well. Cruel right in the /name/." Flicker sets the thermos down beside himself. Stops his phone just as another bounce of knee threatens to send it sliding into the water. His Omanyte jumps clear of his ball again -- zips offscreen, this time. A small puff of cheeks, small puff of breath, is his only mild concession to disappointment at this before picking the thermos up for another sip. "Zojirushi is basically some sort of witchcraft." He slides the thermos into a side pocket, hopping back up from his seat. "Speaking of, we're taking a Farfetch'd hunting trip next time Joshua's off work. If you need to fill out your Pokedex." "I'd settle for mundane insulation so long as it worked, but a magical mug would be nice." Blink grins, producing her own generic (hot metallic pink) vacuum bottle and sipping. "Just slightly cool water, but you're welcome to it." She rises to follow Flicker. "Oh, I'd love to come along! If it wouldn't be troublesome for Joshua. I have no idea how much passengers tax him." She taps a small yellow bird on her screen nonchalantly, one-handed. "If you're not meaning going /too/ too far, /I/ can portal us." "Can you portal to Japan?" Genuinely curious, rather than challenging. "We're trying to collect all the region-specific ones. The week after we're doing New Zealand for Kangaskhan. He and Spence already got them all but he's chaperoning field trips now." He takes the water, sips, hands it back. "... and it'll be nice to go have some fun before school fills my life with crazy all over again." The bird on Blink’s screen bursts out of its virtual confinement. "Pugnacious Pidgey," she mutters, then lifts her eyes to study Flicker. Their oversized green pupils always give the impression that she's staring intently. "Japan? I probably /can/, in theory, but in practice..." She grits her teeth and sucks in a sharp breath. "Beyond a few dozen kilometers, my aim gets pretty bad and it tires me out enough that I can't immediately portal again...which is a bad combination, as it turns out." Her sudden, deep blush suggests she speaks from experience. "I can still cover way more ground than most forms of transit in shorter, safer jumps, but that's no way to cross oceans. Though..." She tilts her head. "...I guess popping out mid-air wouldn't be so bad with you around." Her eyes flick back down to her screen, and it's hard to tell if she's blushing /again/ or just recovering very slowly. "So, school! Wow, August is /flying./ When does your term start?" "I guess with those there's not -- really any danger of jumping yourself into a mountainside or anything." Flicker's head tilts thoughtfully. "So yeah if you /wanted/ to give it a shot I make a pretty decent bungee cord." He's drifting in restless fidgety steps -- farther out from the fountain. Away to hack a nearby stop. "Uh -- well. That's -- I mean, technically I'm kind of already..." His colorful clawlike hand wobbles noncommittally in the air. "I've been in lab rotation and one seminar already but that's not... uh. Really..." He shakes his head, scarred cheeks coloring darker. "I'll have class for real in another two weeks. Which leaves plenty of time to go hunting other continents for Pokemon. What's the rest of your summer look like?" "A portal into solid rock is just like..." Blink stomps one foot on the concrete. "That. And sometimes it's easy to tell if it's leading mid-air, but often not. The warp distorts perspective and distance..." She bites her lower lip and waves her hand in the air vaguely. "I'd be happy for the chance give it a try without having to worry about falling to my death." She fishes the small end of a micro USB cable out her bag and plugs it into her phone. "You're a really hard worker! Or...is that just how med school rolls?" She ducks her head slightly, apologetic. "I'm mostly just working and trying to find new digs. Places I've applied keep saying they'll be in touch, but then..." She shrugs. "I think it's kind of just how med school's -- going to be." The red in Flicker's cheeks has tinted a shade darker. He's stopped again, nodding toward his phone as he leans up against a lamppost. "Squirtle," he adds. A moment (and a pair of raspberries) later: "Scrappy Squirtle." There's a moment of quiet as his thumb circles on the screen. "... no luck, huh? How long more do you have? Where've you been looking?" "I've heard it's pretty brutal. Good luck." Blink pauses for a fraction of a second. "That sounds /really/ fake. But I mean it. Uh...in a...non-fake way." She bows her head again, ostensibly to search her screen for Scrappy Squirtle, but also, somewhat ineffectively, to hide her own deepening blush. "They're /all/ pretty scrappy." She's not having it any easier with hers. "I mean, they evolve into /War/tortle." Quiet for a moment. "Ah, gotcha! I've got till the end of the month, and I've been looking...kind of /everywhere/." Then, brightening a little. "I just applied to the Commons, actually." "I've survived so many Game Nights by now." The amusement in Flicker's eyes is bright, serious though his tone may be. "I am /well/ prepared for brutal." A moment later the smile that lights his face -- wide, bright -- matches the cheer already there in his eyes. "Wait really? I mean uh. Not like I think you're," his blush deepens too, "making that /up/, just. Just that's -- that's really cool. It'd be really cool. If you -- you know." His knuckles scuff at the back of his neck. "Except game nights are brutal in large part /because/ of you." Blink grins, then bounces up onto tip-toes. "Got it! The Squirtle, I mean." She glances quickly at Flicker, her smile shifting, softer now. "It would, yeah," she agrees, looking down as if finding her silver sandals suddenly fascinating. Then looks up at the fading light on the western horizon, for a moment so like a distant smouldering fire beyond the treeline. "Really cool." Flicker's grin flashes. Bright, brief, fierce. "See, so really it's med school that needs to watch out." His eyes shift down -- to Blink's shoes -- then up to the horizon. "Guess I'll be seeing you at an interview some time soon then, huh?" His tone is light. "You got this. /We/ aren't jerks, anyway. Mostly not. Hey c'mon!" He's bouncing on his toes now, just a moment before flitting off. "Kabuto." "Well, in that case, med school doesn't stand a chance." Blink smiles bright and mischievous. "Thanks. I'm terrible at interviews, but I'm not too concerned about jerks there, anyway." She looks down at her screen, where there's no Kabuto in evidence. "Be my guide!" she says, then vanishes in a blur of purple light to follow him.