ArchivedLogs:Provoking the Fashion Police

Provoking the Fashion Police
Dramatis Personae Doug and Jack
In Absentia	2014-12-11 Just a random encounter on a street corner.
Location <NYC> Midtown East
A dense, skyscraper packed neighborhood, Midtown is the busiest commercial district in the United States, and one of the busiest pieces of land in the world. Day and night, Midtown is filled with people going to and from work, enjoying the nightlife, and walking quickly through the streets. Very few live in Midtown proper - only the most wealthy and work-obsessed - but many who live in and around the City work here. In many ways, Midtown is the heart that beats in the city that never sleeps. It is a cold, snowy Thursday in New York City. With the temperature just above freezing, the snow that falls from the thick grey clouds above is slushy even before it hits the ground. It is /not/ pleasant weather for doing anything, really, and yet the city still bustles with pre-holiday excitement. Even now, as the sunlight begins to fade and the streetlights begin to snap on, there are people braving the wet, cold weather to continue the age-old tradition of holiday over-spending. Not everyone is shopping, though. Here in Midtown, the business drones are being released into the world; shuffling out into the wet and cheery world. Among them is Doug, dressed in a navy pea-coat buttoned tightly over a pair of jeans that are tucked into a pair of honest-to-God red galoshes. On his head, he wears a blue-and-white striped knit cap that's jammed low, allowing only a few wisps of blonde hair to peek out over one eye. Across his chest, there's a messenger bag that sags with a laptop-like weight when he stops at the street corner near the library to adjust one cheerful red boot, pulling it further onto his foot. It wasn't as bad when Jack left earlier in the day and right now he's not too happy about the snow. In just a hoodie, jeans, and a borrowed scarf, he's on his way out of and away from the library. He'd just been doing some reading, both for enjoyment and to try to figure out his whole 'what do I do with my life?' problem. Hands in his pocket, head down, and hood up, he's trying not to draw any attention to himself. Lost in thought, he almost doesn't notice Doug until it's too late. But thankfully he snaps back to reality at the last second so no collision. But his awkward attempt at a sidestep has him falling to the ground next to the man. Oops. Doug, fortunately, has that special type of New Yorker ESP that allows him to avoid such collisions -- usually. But his attention is firmly on his boot, and by the time he's aware of the impending doom, it's already averting itself -- right on to the sidewalk next to him. "Oh, man," he says, wrinkling his nose at the collapsed teenager. "I wasn't even paying attention." He leans forward, holding out his hand, in case the younger man needs assistance in righting himself. "Are you okay? Jack hasn't adjusted his ESP to NYC yet. It's still calibrated to Newark. Jack hesitates a moment before offering his hand to Doug for help up. Of course to everyone else it'll look like an empty sleeve but Jack is hoping to be able to play it off as just having no hand there's a bad reaction. Keen eyes will notice snowflakes hitting something where his hand should be though. "I'm alright. Sorry about almost falling on you," Jack replies, making sure his hood is still on and he's not exposing that there's no one in that hoodie. Doug's eyes widen when no hand reaches out to grasp his, but the contact is warm and solid, so he recovers quickly. He offers a bright grin as he hoists the invisible kid to his feet. "Don't worry about it," he says, shifting his bag around to rest on his backside as he studies the empty clothing. "It happens a lot, this time of year. People are in a hurry, sidewalks are slick..." He lifts a shoulder in a shrug. "You get used to it." He looks like there might be a question hovering just out of reach, but he doesn't give it voice. Instead: "That's terrible clothing for this weather, dude." Since there's no big horrified reaction, Jack breathes out a sigh of relief. He quickly puts his hand back into his pocket though. It's cold after all. "I'm usually better about it. I just...got distracted," he says sheepishly. He can tell there's probably an unasked question hanging there but he's not about to prompt it yet. He chuckles a bit at what Doug says instead though. "What can I say? I like to provoke the fashion police," he tries to joke. "Oh, man. You don't want to get distracted around here," Doug says, looking around. "You'll end up with empty pockets, or as the hood ornament of a cab." As if to illustrate his point, a yellow cab zooms past the curb, sending up a light spray of icy water that Doug dodges, mostly. He waves a hand after the vehicle with a lopsided grin. "I.E." The comments about the other man's clothing get a snort of a laugh. "Yeah, well, I'm no snitch. But it'd be hard to provoke them if you go hypothermic." He spreads his hands. "There's plenty of hideous coats out there that are toasty warm." "Too late on that first one," Jack chuckles quietly. He dodges the icy spray as well, glaring after the cab. He lets out a breath though and shrugs. "Probably. How many of them are free though?" he asks with a sigh. Of course he probably could have borrowed a coat at the Commons but he didn't even think of that until he was already out in the snow. "Oh, shit, dude," Doug says, his eyes widening. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean --" he breaks off, wrinkling his nose as he thinks. "There's a couple places that you could probably get one for free," he admits. A glance at Jack makes his upper lip twitch, and his mouth tightens. "Well, maybe not /you/, specifically, I guess. They're probably as twitchy as any of those places, these days." He's clearly bothered by the lack of warm clothing, even going so far as to reach up and toy with the buttons of his own coat. "But you shouldn't freeze because of it. What size are you?" Jack waves it off. "Don't worry about it. Not like I'm walking around with a little neon sign over my head," he tries some more humor. He winces a little when Doug notices the whole invisible thing. "Yeah, lots of places aren't too welcoming to me. Except on Halloween. Then I'm a hit," more jokes. He blinks a few times at the question and grins even if it's invisible. "Not sure, I'd have to take the shirt off to look but it's okay," he says. "I was headin' back to a nice warm place I've been staying. Some guys have been helping me out...I just wanted to take a trip to do some reading," he says, nodding back towards the Library. "If you want a sign, I know a girl who could probably make you one," Doug says, smiling widely. "She could probably get it to follow you around like some droid puppy, too." He shifts a thumb under the strap of his bag, pulling it away from his body. "Although, it would sort of negate the whole stealth factor thing you've got going." He nods as the other man explains, looking in the general area where he assumes the other man's eyes would be. "That's good, if you've got a place to stay," he says, looking a bit relieved. "Watch out for roommates in this city, though. You can get hooked up with some real nutjobs if you're not careful." "Wait, really? Like a robot sign?" Jack asks, surprised at that. There's a chuckle from him though. "Yeah, don't wanna ruin my Urban Ninja image," he says. He pauses and laughs a little at the roommate advice though. "I'm pretty sure this guy's fine. Real awesome guy, not bothered at all by my invisible man act, drives a funny looking van. He's cool...unless inviting some random, soaked guy to your home counts as being a nutjob." Doug furrows his brow at the description of the roommate, then closes one eye thoughtfully. "Funny looking van?" he echoes, his gaze going shrewd for a moment. "Blue van? White panels on it?" Jack blinks a few times and tilts his head to the side. "Yeah, that sounds like it," he says. Of course Jack has completely missed what the van is painted like, that reference flying right over his head. "It's like like right behind me, is it?" he asks, looking over his shoulder. Doug laughs at Jack's reaction, and shakes his head. "Nah, it's not around," he says. "But I know the guy you're talking about. You're safe enough." He rolls his shoulder, and looks down the street as if he might be /looking/ for said van to turn up, in spite of what he said. "But you're going to freeze if I keep you standing around gabbing, dude." He turns back to offer a small smile. "And these boots are murder in the cold," he adds. "So I'm going to take off, and let you get back to the complex." He lifts a hand, already moving towards the nearest subway entrance. "I'd say I'll see you around, but..." he lets that trail off with an apologetic shrug. Then he's turning his back on the other man with a cheery, "Stay warm, dude!" "Wait, you know him?" Jack's surprised. "Oh, yeah, we'd both probably freeze," he says. He ends up laighing at the trail off, amused. "I'll try. Stay safe down there," he says, starting to head off towards the Lower East Side.