Snack Break

Brief Title:
SB

Characters:
Charlie, Richenda Gray amd Krista

Scene Runner/Watcher:

IC Date:
08/21/12

Location:
Central Park - Manhattan

Summary:
Three friends in the park

Social or Plot:

TS:
No

Log:
-----[ Central Park - New York]-----

Stretching half a mile wide down two and a half miles of the island, Central Park is the green heart of Manhattan. Despite an occasionally ugly reputation, fewer than a hundred crimes occurred in the entire park last year, and fewer than half of those were committed by strangers - the legendary Central Park mugger is a thing of the past. Instead, the park is a thriving place, filled with artificial lakes, footpaths, joggers, playgrounds, sculpture, children.

There are dozens of landmarks within the Park: the Great Lawn where open-air concerts and rallies are regularly held; Cleopatra's Needle, the obelisk donated to New York by Egypt; the Alice statue north of Conservatory Water, its giant mushroom usually swarmed by climbing kids; Belvedere Castle and Bethesda Terrace and Literary Walk and the Delacorte Theater and one of the last stands of American elms in the northeast - nearly two thousand trees protected from plague by their isolation.

Near the south end of the park, the Imagine mosaic in Strawberry Fields is frequently marked by flowers or candles left by visitors. Nearer the north end, the Reservoir covers a hundred and six acres, almost an eighth of the park's total space - though it no longer provides drinking water for New York residents, a decision that has cut down significantly on the number of supervillain attacks on the Park.

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It's late morning and the park crowds are sparse at least sparse of native New Yorkers. Tourists abound, as do cyclists, joggers and a number of parents and other care givers that have children. The only exception is toward the north end of the park where the Delacorte Theater is. Here there is a number of people hanging about watching as actors and actresses rehearse for the weekend showing of "As You Like It" for the annual summer event Shakespeare in the Park.

A short distance from the onlookers is another small group of people, these seem to be a variety of muscians, probably the orchestra for the play.


As far as Chenda's concerned, it's a good day for skating. Having salvaged a set of old-school roller skates from a pawn shop some time back, she's giving them and herself a workout on the sidewalks and trails of Central Park. There are people around, sure, but that only makes it more interesting, and there's more than enough pavement to go around!


Skating up along behind Chenda is Charlie. She's got a bag slung over her back with a couple of baseball bats and a collection of balls and gloves inside. She too sports old school quads, and seems to be working on her 'very serious' skate face, as she's got the elbow and knee pads on, and a helmet, and is currently racing towards Chenda with all due roller derby intensity. "The Conneticut Yankees have their star blocker Chenda the Render out in front, but the Scrappy Charlie looks to take her on the inside folks!"


Amoung the group of musicians is a small young woman, one that wasn't seen until they broke up and started going thier separate ways. Waving to several of the others Krista begins to head up the main path through the park, violin case bouncing against her leg. Her objective seems to one of the pretzel vendors that have set up shop down from the theatre, which was a wise move on his part.


While Chenda loves a good play as much as anyone, she's having plenty of fun skating, so she spares the theatre only a passing glance of interest. But the musician stepping away from a small crowd of them leaving the theatre does draw her attention. Her dark eyes widen with surprise, and she begins to slowly slacken her pace. "Krista?" she asks aloud to no one in particular. The sight distracts her enough that she forgets about Charlie racing along behind, and catching up more quickly now.

She finally catches up to the violin player about as she reaches the pretzel vendor. "Krista! Hey!" Chenda calls, swerving to bleed off speed and coming to a toe-dragging stop near the vendor, and even closer to the redhead.


"Chenda the Renda has some craft plan in mind surely the way she's suddenly...whoa!" When Chenda swerves to a stop Charlie's monologue cuts off as she is forced to take evasive actions in order to not collide with her friend or with the pretzel stand or with the girl with the violin. She swerves off the path, hopping the low lieing chain that wards off the grass, and ends up on her hands and knees in the grass. "Yay for safety equipment." she says as one of the aluminum bats in her backpack slides out and bonks her helmet.

It's a hard decision, pretzel bites or traditional soft pretzel. It's the conundrum Krista is contemplating when her name is called out. Turning at the familiar voice calling her name her eyes widen slightly as the taller girl skids to a stop. Her arms instinctively come up to catch the Chenda in case she starts to topple forward, "Hi Chenda." a grin starts to come to her face but that quickly fades as Charlie flies past on wheels and falls forward to have the bat smack her on her helmeted head. Wincing in sympathy she gives a questioning look to Chenda and vendor forgotten for the moment, heads over to where Charlie has fallen "You okay?"


"What's uuuuu..." Chenda starts to say, but the sight and sound of Charlie whipping past, out of control, makes the words stick in her throat. She holds up an apologetic finger to the pretzel vendor and hurries to help her friend, stepping carefully over the chain. "Charlie! Oh, crap..." She reaches down to push that displaced bat back into Charlie's bag, then wipes her sweaty palms on the legs of her cotton fleece shorts before offering her hands to the fallen skater. "Ouch. That looked painful."


Charlie laughs and starts to get up off the ground, nodding to Krista. "I'm fine. Nothing in my helmet to get hurt." She then takes Chenda's hand and pulls herself up. "Thanks hon. You zigged when I thought you were going to zag." She then takes the bat and puts it back into her pack, "So, who feels like a pretzel and a drink? My treat?"

Krista glances from one girl to the other, "I'm Krista." she introduces herself "Charlie was it?" she offers a hand in greeting "I couldn't let you pay for me, especially since it's mostly my fault for your spill." an apologetic grin crosses her face, "Sorry for being a distraction." her free hand comes up to rub her neck.


Chenda gives Charlie a quick, fierce hug. "Nothing? Don't even joke about that!" she says. "I'm sorry, Charlie. Thank goodness you wore your topper."

Releasing the hug quickly, she looks over to Krista and grins a little sheepishly. "Krista, this is Charlie, my best friend. Charlie, this is Krista, musician extraordinaire. And if it's really a problem, I'll volunteer to be the distraction from now on," she adds teasingly. "And I'm good. No need for..." Her body apparently disagrees, and the dark-haired girl claps a hand over her middle, blushing faintly.

Charlie is dressed in a scarlet string bikini with a pair of freyed jean shorts (And her safety equipment and backpack of course) The jean shorts are left completely unbuttoned, the force of her curves holding it in place. She takes Krista's offered hand and says, "A pleasure meeting you Krista." She eyes the tiny woman, then Chenda, comparing their sizes obviously. "Well, you are pretty for sure. Chenda can always use a tag team partner. Sometimes she gets tired of providing all that distraction. But seriously, it's no big. We're talking pretzels and a drink here, not filet mignon." She gives Chenda's backside a playful swat then carefully steps back onto the sidewalk, "I know Chenda is hungry. Or she's got a monster in her tummy and we'll have a seen out of Alien here in a minute."


A blush pinkens Krista's cheeks, at both the compliments to her musical apitude and her appearance "I wouldn't say extraordinaire." she is appropiately embarrassed as she firmly shakes the other girls hand before releasing it. She watches the easy manner the two girls have with each other and chuckles at the alien comment "If that happens I get to keep it. I've always," she pauses for a breif moment for thought, "wanted an alien pet." she then leads the way to the vendor's cart.

Chenda gives a little yelp as her tush gets tapped. "I /hope/ it's just my tummy," she says, still blushing. "I guess I'll take a pretzel after all. With cheese. And a Coke."

She giggles at Krista's comment, giving her a quick hug as well. "Sorry to deny you an alien pet, Krista, but I think I'll keep my insides inside, where they belong. But if it's any consolation, I totally think you're a violin virtuoso." She turns to step back onto the sidewalk.


"Okay Krista. You've got dibs on any aliens that may or may not burst out of Chenda's body. I just got a singing frog and I've used up my pet allowance." She goes to the vendor and orders all of them pretzels, and cheese for Chenda at least. While the vendor gets the food she says, "Musician extraordinaire?" She eyes the case, "Violin. Where are attending school? Juliard?"

Krista sighs, pretending dissapointment that her friend can't provide her the alien pet she has so desparatly wanted for all of thirty seconds. "It's probably best that way. They are all cute and cuddley when they are babies...but when they grow up all they want is to eat your face." she looks strangly at Charlie and her comment on the singing frog as she takes her pretzel "No, I'm not in any school at the moment and I can't recall ever going to Juliard.


"Or somebody else's face. And unless you housebreak 'em, their messes eat through the floor covering. And the floor," Chenda agrees, and joins Charlie and Krista at the pretzel stand. "The downstairs neighbors never like that. So, did that busking spot at Hazelton Mall work out okay, Krista?"

Once everyone has their food and drink, Charlie busily nibbles. "Oh? Sorry. Just seems like everyone you meet who plays the violin is a student. You look like you're about the right age." She alternates nibbles and sips, "Don't get the singing frog reference? The classic Warner Brothers frog and the remake that Looney Tunes did with a chest burster?"

"It is more of a hobby really. Though lately it has become more of a job." pulling a peice of the pretzel off she shakes her head "No, sorry, that's not something I remember. Alien though, I couldn't forget that if I wanted too." she locates a picnic table for the three of them and heads toward it.


Chenda accepts her pretzel and happily follows Krista to the chosen picnic table. Setting down her soda and that little cup of cheese, she perches on the bench and tears off a piece of pretzel, dipping it into the cheese. "I think I remember that one. Wasn't it in /Spaceballs/?"


"Oh yeah! It could have been Spaceballs. That makes more sense." Charlie grins and takes a seat at the table with the other two, "I don't watch many movies, but that one was funny." She gives a bit of a laugh then looks from Chenda to Krista, "So...how did you two meet?"



Chewing on a bite of her pretzel Krista nods "Yes that would have been Spaceballs, the guys eating in the diner when the alien pops out and he's like 'Not again." she chuckles "As if it happens frequently." she may not remember much about her past but she knows science fiction, "We were going to the same coffee shop," she glances at Chenda for confirmation "she mistook me for a classmate, then the place got robbed.


"Evidently truck stop food is alive and well in the future," Chenda quips, stifling giggles as she pops a bit of soft pretzel into her mouth. She's got good table manners, though, and gets it all chewed and swallowed before her lips part again to answer the question. "I remember that! I'm sorry for the mistaken identity, but you really did look like a girl in my school from the back," she says. "And it was raining really hard that day, so my view wasn't the best. Anyway, this guy walked in with a gun and demanded the cash from the register. Krista and I totally stopped him and held him down for the authorities."


"Cool. My heroes. Stopping crime and eating, a great combination. I wonder if thecrook had just watched Pulp Fiction and was inspired? I mean, seriously, who robs coffee shops?" Charlie rips at her pretzel and nods, "A very memorable first meeting that's for sure."


"He wasn't all there." Krista circles a finger around her ear, "Drunk, if not high." she grins at Chenda, "I seemed to recall you managed it pantsless." she pulls a small handheld PDA "I can check the pictures..." she waves off the apology, "No worries, it all turned out okay. And yes, it's a meeting I won't soon forget.


"He /was/ awfully jumpy for a guy in a coffee shop on a rainy day," Chenda recalls. "Something was definitely wrong with him." She blushes, but giggles as well at the mention of just how she was dressed at the time. "Yeah... my jeans were soaked to the thighs from all the rain, and I was drying them out in the ladies' room at the time," she explains. "Then somebody started making noise out in the dining area, and everything happened so fast I didn't have time to put 'em back on before I made my move! At least Krista was kind enough to give me a chance to go get dressed before the cops showed up," she adds, with a grateful smile to the diminutive carrot-top.

Charlie bursts into laughter at the tale told by Krista and drags out her phone, "Hey, can you send those to me? I am building a collection." She leans into Chenda to bump her with her shoulder. "I'm going to guess...floral. You would be wearing floral when it was raining."

"Possibly." Krista pokes and swipes icons and such on the PDA "If Chenda doesn't mind." her silver eye drifts to look at Chenda while the green one remains fixed on Charlie "They could have been floral, her hoodie covered her undies up enough that it was hard to tell." both eyes then squint down at the device in her hand.



"You asked first. How cool is /that/?" Chenda says approvingly. "But no, I don't mind. I should be used to that kind of trouble by now." She giggles at Charlie's speculation. "Sorry, Charlie. Rain showers don't mean panty flowers. But it /was/ a while back... I think pink, maybe."

"Oh come on. I know the song. It specifically says the April showers bring Chenda's panty flowers." Charlie laughs, enjoying the notion and raising up from her seat to peek at what Krista is doing on her PDA. "Seriously? She lost her pants but her top covered her up? Richenda...was this you or a panty pretender?"


Krista is scanning through what is probably months worth of pictures on the PDA. She seems to take pictures of everything. She isn't in any of them, except maybe as a reflection or a shadow and if one was paying close enough attention those pictures that have her reflection she isn't holding a camera. They are all great pics and high def. Finally finding the ones in question she tags a few and sends them to a message center "Type in your email and hit send." she hands the PDA to Charlie, "It was a cold rainy day." she says in Chenda's defense.


"I don't think I've heard that song, Charlie, and it was definitely me," Chenda replies, blushing and stifling giggles at the teasing. "And I was bundled up from the chill in the air; You know how cold these streets get in the rain! Why all the protest? Were you wanting a show or something?" she asks, teasing back.


Charlie takes the PDA and enters in an anonymous maildrop email that she uses. Then she hits send and watches the progress bar. Once it is finished she hands the PDA back to Krista, "Thank you. Lots of pictures. You are a very talented photographer. What do you use for your snapshots? Those look better than what you'd get off of most phones." She turns to look at Chenda and sighs melodramatically, "I don't know what I think about seeing your panties anymore. I mean, I knew you were straight before, but until you had a boyfriend I din't worry about any flashing."

Taking the device back Krista puts it into sleep mode before it literally disappears into her pocket, not even a bulge to indicate she has anything in said pocket. "Well Chenda knows and since you are her best friend I guess it doesn't hurt to tell you." she taps her cheek under the metallic looking eye "It's cybernetic, it takes still photos, which I can download into my PDA." once that is explained her eyes widen "So the coffee shop wasn't an isolated incident? And who is this boyfriend?"

"I'm saw talent, Krista," Chenda says, having seen some of the shots before the download. "If you can't make a living as a musician, you sure could as a shutterbug."

Charlie's teasing and Krista's questions draw a blush from the dark-haired girl. "Not isolated, no... but it's not like I set out to lose articles of clothing," she says, more quietly. "And I don't think you know him, Krista. But I'll try to introduce you sometime, if we meet up. His name's Kurt." Just the sound of it brings a faint smile to the gypsy girl's face.

Charlie is up and out of her seat, leaning across the table to peer at Krista's eye. "Wow. That is amazing. Amazing. Where on earth did you...Wow." She then swings to examine each eye in turn, comparing them. "Is that from Stark?" Then she's distracted by Chenda, "Hmm? Oh...look, your face is lighting up. I'm so jealous. All my dreams of taking you to the dark side with me are gone now."

Green and silver eyes cross to look at Charlie as she gets in her face "It could be I suppose. At the time I wasn't in any condition to ask. It wasn't a Stark company that put it in or does maintenance, though the technology behind it could be Stark related." she shrugs and is of the opinion as long as it works it doens't matter. "Do you know who this mysterious Kurt is, Charlie? Is he cute?


"Sorry to be so disappointing, Charlie," Chenda says, and despite the choice of words there's real regret there. "I hope the pics aren't that way."

Charlie sits back down and gives Chenda a hug and a kiss, "I have known you were straight for a long time. If I ever had any romantic notions towards you it was my own fault." She gives Chenda another wet kiss on the cheek, marking her with lipgloss, then she turns to Krista while she leans close, "Yes. I um. Well. I'm not a good judge of whether he's cute. I guess he is? He seems okay I suppose. He's more your age than Chenda's age I think...but he's hard to read."

"Nothing wrong with older men. They are better if you ask me, they lack that immaturity of younger men." Krista pauses "Well usually." she takes another bite of the pretzel that has been forgotten in her hands looking to Chenda for an answer to her question since Charlie can't provide it, for what is becoming obvious reasons.


The gypsy girl giggles as Charlie hugs and kisses her twice. "He's young at heart, and so /very/ fun to be with. And I don't think he's... /conventionally/ handsome, but he has his own charm," she says, gingerly brushing lip gloss from her cheek. "I wish I could carry pictures in this outfit. I have a cell, but it's just a phone."


"He's definitely distinctive. And he has a german accent if you like that sort of thing." Charlie gives a shrug and helps brush the gloss off of Chenda, "Older partners are better in some ways, but it is kind of nice to fumble with someone who is as clueless as you are."


Krista hrms at the little she has been given so far "I meet someone a while back who was german and certainly distintictive, but I doubt you are going out with a blue fuzzy guy." she blushes again at the implcation Charlie throws out "You make a valid point there.

"German and distinctive? One never knows," Chenda observes, and finishes her pretzel. "Sorry to munch and run, but I need to make a phone call, and the battery on this thing is gone," she adds, pulling out her cell and displaying the dead thing. "I'll be back in a bit!" She stands, leaving the cheese cup for anyone else who wants some, and disposes of the pretzel's wrapper, taking her soda with her as she wheels off down the path.


Charlie watches Chenda rush off, then she looks over at Krista, "Yeah. He's blue and fuzzy. Not exactly what I would call handsome material. But, he looks like he could be good looking if he didn't remind me of a black cat. He looks more pettable than dateable to me."


Krista is left looking puzzled by the response she gets before Chenda dashes off "So that was him!" she exclaims, "Wow, it is freaky how small a world this is becoming." continuing to lean against the table, she never actually sat down "But I agree with you on that one." then changes the subject, "Do you an Chenda go to school together? Is that how you two know each other?


"Me? No. I go to NYU. I'm a criminology major. We ran into each other a year or so ago at a coffee shop and have been paling around since then. And yeah. A pretty small world. You know Nightcrawler? He does seem nice and all. But I worry about Chenda. She's pretty sheltered in a lot of ways you wouldn't expect." Charlie eyes Krista speculatively, checking out the eye once more before running her eyes along the woman's body as if she was going to be tested on the subject later.

"I wouldn't say I know him. I just meet him once and it was only breifly." Yes Krista is short, but other than that she looks like a healthy adult female. Everything is in the right place and porportionate "Yes," she says in agreement "I beleive it, she doesn't seem as jaded as a lot of teens. She is full of blushes today, as she pinkens once more under the intense scrunity. Maybe Chenda isn't the only one that has lived a sheltered life.

Charlie finally offers up a smile as she stops her survey. "Sorry. Didn't mean to make you blush. You're quite pretty. Short, but pretty. So, that eye of yours is amazing. You wre lucky to get it. Who did you say made it? And you said you were into older men?"


Charlie finally offers up a smile as she stops her survey. "Sorry. Didn't mean to make you blush. You're quite pretty. Short, but pretty. So, that eye of yours is amazing. You were lucky to get it. Who did you say made it? And you said you were into older men?"


"Thanks." Krista replies to the compliment but is quick to grasp at the change of subject, "Yes, it's a lot better then the glass eyes most people get. They made an offer I couldn't refuse. I test the prototype, they pay all my medical bills and a years worth of physical rehab and room and board. Hard to say no to those terms." she head tilts at the question "No I said there was nothing wrong with older men." which was pretty much her exact wording.


"Yeah. That sounds like a dream of a deal. Priceless really." Charlie sips at her drink then scrambles up onto her skates. "So you did. In fact, I think that was exactly what you said. Word for word. You look like you would do good in an interrogation. Hard to trip up." She grabs her cup and takes one last long slurp of the metled ice, then shoots a hook shot over to the wastebasket. It hits the rim, but does go in. "Two points. So, is that what you do for a living? Professional musician and test subject?"


Putting a hand on the violin case she has set on the table "More musician now then test subject." Krista's brow furrows a bit "At one point I think I was an engineer of some sort," slight head shake, "but couldn't tell you where, what or how. What little I remember before the accident that left me needing a replacement eye is fuzzy at best. How about you? You nearly done at NYU?"

"I've got another year before I decide whether to go for my Master's of if I want to get out there into the real world of law enforcement." replies Charlie, "Oh...memory loss? Well, sorry to hear that Kirsta." She spins in a lazy circle on her skates, "You performing with the orchesta at the theater? You must have talent. There's a lot of competition in New York for paying gigs from what I hear." She looks about then says, "I don't mean to keep you though. But maybe I could skate along with you wherever you're headed? A friend of Chenda is a friend of mine."

"Yes. The director had me doing another gig for a show off-off-off Broadway, but that theatre was destroyed during the whole demon shadow thing a few months ago so he shifted me to this performance to fill in for someone who bailed on him." Krista glances over to the theatre where the musicians are starting to gather again "Sure." she throws away the wrapper to the pretzel that is now gone and the bottle of water disappears into a pocket much the same was as the PDA did "We were taking a lunch break. Thanks for the snack, by the way." grabbing the instrument she begins to walk back toward the theater.

Charlie rolls along at Krista's side. She eyes the pocket the PDA and the water bottle went into, "Oh. I've got to get me one of those. That is pretty cool. Is that tech or..." She lets her skin on her face change, going green with lighter green spots. She quickly flicks out her tongue, fluttering it a bout 18 inchs from her lips then retracting it quickly while her skin goes back to normal.


Krista nearly falls back on her rear in surprise at the sudden change of the woman beside her. As it is she lets out a slight "Ahhh!" it takes a moment for her heart to stop racing, "Yes it's one of those things." she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a number of minturized objects, including the PDA and water bottle, they look more appropiately sized for a Barbie doll at the moment and not a person.

Charlie puts a hand out to steady Krista, "Whoa. Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you. Just wanted to let you know." Then she looks down at the miniaturized items and says, "Damn. That is a pretty amazing power. You are like, the ultimate camper. You could bring along the kitchen sink without any effort huh? Does that tire you out?"

Waving off the apology after returning the items to her pocket Krista shakes her head "Not for small stuff like that no. I'm limited by mass though. I can't shrink anything that weighs more than me. The heavier it is the harder it is to shrink. I'm also not limited to just things, I can shrink myself and other people too."


"It is still pretty amazing. You could carry a lot of things in there. I mean, no refrigerators obviously, but how often do you need one of those on the fly?" Charlie laughs and swings around to skate backwards in front of Krista as they head back to the open air theater. "And they stay shrunk, it's not just a pocket dimension. Do they...weigh the the same or is it proportionate?"

"As long as they are in my possession they will stay shrunk. If I put one down or give one to someone they will return to normal after a few minutes. And the wieght is porportinate to size." she gives a rare grin "And quite often, especially the bullhorn." Krista gives a shake of her head "No pocket dimension unfortunatly. Though I would certainly love to have pcckets that were bigger on the inside.


"Well, that would be...you already got a full size PDA in your pocket and it is like, not even a chicklet. If I was about the saize of a Barbie Doll I could use that thing. If you were in the military, you could put like, a .50 machine gun in there, or a...well, lots of ammunition." She tries to think of all the smaller than Krista things one could stuff into one's pockets. "If you were a thief...you could walk out of a store with things they never would expect anyone to steal. Big TVs. No one would stop you, cause obviously you aren't carrying one."

She ponders all the things she could do with a power such as hers as they walk and finally nods "I guess it is a good thing I'm an honest person. Well good for electronics stores at least. I could put a place like that out of business pretty quick if I weren't" from the sounds of it she hasn't ever thought of using her abilties in such a fashion

Charlie rolls over and gives Krista a clap on the shoulder. "Shows what kind of person you are that you never even thought of it. You're a good woman. Honest." She smiles at the tiny woman then rolls around her, the old quad skates rumbling on the pavement. "Most people, that's is the first thing that comes to their mind when given the opportunity or the tools."

"But who's to say I didn't at one time." Krista frowns as she stops walking, "I know very little before my accident about a year and a half ago. For all I know I could have been stealing TVs from stores or worse." she tries to shake those thoughts off "I guess that doesn't matter now, right?" she glances to where the director is calling the orchestra over "It was nice meeting you. You have my e-mail if you want to keep in touch...and Chenda was my cell number." she gives a wave before rushing off for rehearsal.

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