ArchivedLogs:Loyalty

Loyalty
Dramatis Personae Maya, Selene, Trib, Casper	2014-01-15 Trib is his charming self, and makes a new friend. Poor Maya has to witness it.
Location <NYC> Tompkins Square Park - East Village
Small but popular, this tree-lined park is a perfect centerpiece to the eclectic neighborhood it resides in. Home to a number of playgrounds and courts from handball to basketball, it also houses a dog park and chess tables, providing excellent space for people watching -- especially during its frequent and often eccentric festivals, from Wigstock to its yearly Allen Ginsberg tribute Howl festival. The night is cold and foggy, it being late evening. Tompkins Square park has a few people in it, walking around or on benches. Selene Gallio is taking a walking path through it, looking around, once again accompanied by her bodyguard Casper Laurent after the last time she was in this park. Not talking verbally at all, Selene is keeping a /very/ tight mental focus on the park, just incase, scanning everyone who she spots and grabbing name/occupation checks, for her own safety. Among those people is one cheerful young schoolteacher and her even /more/ cheerful-rambunctious Bernese, a fluffy tricolor hundred-pound ball of /cuddles/. The pair are currently exiting the fenced-in dog run in the park, Ratri's tail still wagging furiously and a warm smile on Maya's face. As ever she is brightly-colourful: purple and green salwar pants, purple coat, a light green dupatta wrapped around her dark hair. Maya is heading through the park for the exit -- Ratri has other plans, veering off course at the familiar scent to tug at her leash in a beeline towards Selene and Casper. "Oh! Oh, Ratri, heel." The canine at least obeys this promptly, dropping back to Maya's side rather than attempting to steal affection from the other pair. "Hi! -- I'm /glad/ to see you here again, did everything -- go alright the other night?" A flicker of thought skips back to the keening shriek that echoed through the park, Ratri's agitation, Casper's gun. "What happened, what /was/ that?" This late of an evening, with fog and damp clinging to the ground and chilling the air, Trib's figure probably looks pretty imposing as he cuts through the park. Dressed in a thick blue sweatshirt over loose-fitting cargo pants, the boxer's hair is damp, and a gym bag dangles from the fingers of his half-hand. He hums to himself, a classic rock tune that rarely gets airplay these days, occasionally pausing in his walking to do a little shuffle of his feet. He pauses when he spies a pair of familiar faces, stopping in his tracks to watch Selene and Casper with cool assessment, his mind drifting to the bodyguard and his intriguing accent before the arrival of the dog and her owner brings his attention that way. He studies the new arrivals, attempting to hide his surveillance in a series of sudden stretches that involve a lot of twisting of his torso. So /casual/, in his eavesdropping. "I survived the black spiked monster, atleast. We..found a mutual understanding.". Selene replies to Maya, tipping her head. "Mutant trying to enjoy a meal, apparently. Just, physically hampered.". Spotting Trib before he even enters her view range, Selene sends a signal to Casper, him being the more likely to notice him due to skills, who turns, eying him. No death glare, though. Selene continues to Maya. "Though, still have to be on guard. In case another like him comes. Who actually wants to murder something.". "Black spiked monster?" Maya's eyes widen in confusion -- with how quickly she took Ratri out of the park, she'd missed the actual /source/ of the noise. "What do you mean /monster/, I don't -- oh." Her cheeks tint darker, head dipping as this is clarified. "A /mutant/, no, I don't believe in monsters. Just people. Some of them look different. But so do you and I." She gestures between her own dark face and Selene's lighter one. "Or him," to the very noticeably /large/ figure of Trib stretching, "or anyone here. And everyone has to eat," she adds with a quick smile. The mention of a black-spiked monster catches Trib's attention, and he turns his head to stare unabashedly at the trio as they discuss him. Casper's gaze is noted with a slow nod, and then Trib is stepping forward, towards the group. "Hey, Lyndsay," he says, clearly addressing Selene, although the other woman gets a distracted nod of greeting. "What monster was you talkin' about?" His accent is Jersey-thick, and his voice a rumble in his throat. "Big, spiky, black one? Screeches a lot?" "That's the one.". Casper chimes in towards Trib, nodding his head. "Also bulletproof, apparently.". After Casper is finished chiming in, Selene replies to Trib's nickname. "Tribulation. We meet again, it seems. You know of him? He's quite..the brute.". At Maya's statements about everyone being just people, Selene nods slowly, but then adds to the everyone has to eat part. "But does it depend on what they have to eat? What if he was a cannibal, hmm?". Selene's saying this related to Noah, but is mostly asking related to herself. "But, everyone is pretty different, but most of us are also the same. It's a strange paradox.". "You fuckin' /shot/ at him?" Trib's expression darkens when Casper mentions the bulletproofness of the unnamed mutant. "What the fuck did you do /that/ for?" The big man seems a bit annoyed, his fists clenching for a brief second or two. "On account he looks weird as fuck? Don't eat like the rest of us?" He turns his glower on Selene, now, his brow lowering to almost completely shade his golden gaze. "He's my fuckin' /friend/," he clarifies for the woman. "An' he ain't dangerous to nobody who leaves him the fuck alone." He presses his lip into a tight line that looks a bit apologetic as he looks back at the Indian woman, and rolling his neck before looking back at Selene. "An' he ain't no fuckin' cannibal. He ain't fuckin' /pretty/ when he eats, but he eats the same fuckin' things you an' me do." Now his eyes /are/ shaded, as he brow lowers further. "An' how the fuck do you know my name, anyway? You don't look like the kind of fuckin' trim that usually hangs around the amateur bouts." "I had a talk with him. From what I learned, you need a much better choice in friends. I don't know if he is a cannibal, but I know he's dangerous. And this isn't based on racism, I assure you.". Selene's eyes narrow at Trib, cold and dominant. Casper's glaring at Trib, but is doing nothing about it, though makes it very clear in expressions that he's willing to fight Trib if it comes to that. Selene speaks again, her voice becoming more powerful, louder. "Retribution Jones, it would not be in your best interests to make an enemy of me. Just a warning.". "You /shot/ a man just for trying to eat?" Maya claps a hand to the side of her face, eyes narrowing on Selene and Casper as she draws herself up to her full height. Full -- not very /impressive/ height. "/Really/, ma'am, sir, I think people around here get /enough/ flak for how they look without starting violence with someone just trying to get their dinner." She drops back a half-step at the sudden tenseness, though. Biting down on her lip before: "Can we all just relax? Little bit?" "I'm fuckin' capable of pickin' my own friends," Trib growls at Selene, shifting his gaze to Casper for a brief moment. "Keep it in your fuckin' pants, Mister French," he rumbles, his tone a bit bland and bored. "I ain't interested in startin' nothin'." He nods at Maya's suggestion everyone calm down, and takes his own half-step back. Selene's warning gets a /snort/; clearly a laugh that Trib does little to suppress. "Lady, I could give a rat's ass about /enemies/. The fuck you get that anyway? Readin' comic books?" He scratches at the ruined ridge of his nose. "Just fuckin' leave my friend alone. And don't fuckin' /shoot/ him." "When he kills you in the end, you'll regret it. Also, Casper shot at him because he was a threat. Plain and simple, something that lunges into a park like that screeching cannot be trusted.". Selene's tone is simple, and still dominant. When Maya asks everyone to calm down, Casper stays in his position until suddenly, he just retracts. Selene brushes her forehead, grinning at Trib's laughter. "You're a simple, foolish man. May be fun while it lasts, but in the end, it always destroys you. And we will do what we have to. Whether or not that affects your friend depends.". Maya draws in a slow breath, dropping her hand to Ratri's head to soothe the dog -- the large canine is leaning up against her thigh, a little nervous-tense herself at the nervous tension she picks /up/ from the humans around. "I don't know about simple and foolish, he sounds like a smart man to me," she offers more lightly, with a nod towards Trib. "I don't think a lot of hostility is what /anyone/ needs lately." She starts to nudge Ratri further away, down the path towards the direction they'd originally been leaving. "I really hope your nights have less of it. Take care." "He ain't. A fuckin'. Threat." Trib grinds out, stepping back another step. "Least no more'n any /other/ New Yorker. Fuck you for thinkin' he was, just 'cause there's shit he can't fuckin' control. An' fuck your pet fuckin' French monkey an' his sexy accent, too." Trib raises a cheerygrim one finger salute as he swivels on his heel, pivoting in a direction opposite Maya's. "Little chick's got the right fuckin' idea. Too much fuckin' violence already in this town. Intolerant fucks." And then he's stalking off, ignoring anything that might be said in his wake. There is a /lot/ of muttered cursing that goes with him. "If only you knew, Jones. If only you knew.". Selene calmly states, even if Trib isn't listening, as she walks off, Casper following close behind.