(Capitol Park) En Passant

[Star]

The best way to get to know a new city? Walk. The. Hell. Around. He'd fallen into the Google Maps trap before, relying on it like meth head and their pipe -- and been screwed over when there were No Bars. Can you hear me now? So he'd asked the other new Guardian about it. Safety in numbers, and all that. And that other little bit about sharing a Hallow and Order. That, too.

Might as well find out right away if they were going to hate one another, right?

The usual Henley shirt and khakis were topped with Tumi sunglasses --$35 on Woot, couldn't pass it up-- and his backpack. A chess board was a small addition to the pack. Handy Mandy seemed like the cerebral type. He could play. As in, knew how the pieces moved. Like a lot of things -- he had a working knowledge, but not expertise.

Maybe he'd learn something.

"Break time?" he asked Ozymandias , pointing at the green space of Capitol Park.

It was Gatorade time.

"Please?"

His legs still hurt from all that jogging.

[Zodiac]

It was a light dress that she'd chosen to make this particular walk in, her hair only half up today to keep it out of her face despite the wind kicking up now and then, a pair of annoyingly large sunglasses covering her eyes and practical but feminine gladiators finished off her ensemble. She hated big sunglasses - but damnit she knew they were useful at times. "Remind me to never take you out in the field," Mandy quipped, though a small smile decorated her features as she nodded.

Despite having left her messenger bag behind, a small pistol was still tucked away in her smaller purse, along with her wallet and a bottle of Gatorade all her own, which was what she'd pulled out as she made her way to find a place to sit down and set up. "Have you been stretching and warming up before you go showing off to the pretty Arrow ladies, lately?"

  24hour: Mental Shield pot3, Misperception pot2, Third Eye pot1

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-06-02 14:33:44		Ozymandias rolls 6 to Misperception (HS)(-2 Duration) (10 Again)		8, 3, 6, 8, 7, 2		2 successes
2014-06-02 14:33:07		Ozymandias rolls 6 to Mental Shield (HS) (-2 Duration) (10 Again)		10, 3, 2, 1, 10, 6, 9, 6		3 successes
2014-06-02 14:32:41		Ozymandias rolls 6 to Third Eye (HS) (-2 Duration) (10 Again)		3, 3, 3, 5, 9, 3		1 success

[Star]

"Oh, I see how it is," he answered with a grin. A slight shift angled them towards an empty table darkened by the shade of a tree. He was glad to find a park: parks were good. Good for performance art.

"Why's it got to be like that? With the calling me out? Can't a person just be interested in self improvement and an elevated state of physical fitness without some base urge to mate being involved? Maybe I am. Or maybe I just want to be ready to run from Bad Guys!"

The light breeze scraped at his exposed skin.

"And, uh, no. I should probably YouTube that whole stretching thing."

He certainly wasn't learning anything by watching Asp stretch.

A grin accompanied the admission, and he cursed the sunglasses Handy Mandy wore for keeping whatever motivated her words hidden.

"What, uh, what have you been doing with your mornings?"

[Zodiac]

"I'm sure you can convince those two that that's precisely what you're doing," the woman chuckled a bit as she sat herself down, adjusting her skirt around her and setting her purse beside her. "But I'm hardly so oblivious. At least I had the tact not to mention it near them, or to them," she added rather pointedly before resting her arms on the table and lifting the sunglasses to let them perch in her hair now that they were out of the sun.

"You really should learn to stretch properly," she added after a moment, sipping at her Gatorade before closing it and setting it aside. "You'll get a lot more out of running if you do, and you'll hurt a fair bit less, I imagine. Blindly doing what they do isn't what's going to get them interested in you, you know. You need to learn more about it, ask questions, get them interested in full conversation. Especially when it's physical activity, that tends to lead to demonstrations or someone assisting in mentoring you."

A sly smile crossed the woman's features, "I assure you that very sneakily getting someone to pay a lot of attention to your movements and your body like that... will give you better results than running around getting yourself all sore like this. Because face it, if your muscles are all tense and tired, how can you expect to perform well in the sheets, hm?"

The amusement on her features didn't falter as she absently folded her hands together, contemplating his question. "Studying, mostly. I've been keeping an eye on some of the items going through the SMCC on the lookout for artifacts that might require being dealt with. Otherwise, mostly I've been getting a lay of the land."

[Star]

Oh no she di-int.

He was not her retarded little brother. Time to set that shit straight.

Sunglasses came off, and he gave her the Sincere Look. It was one he practiced, and he was pretty good at it. He sat down next to her. Not across. Next to. Time to Put On A Show.

"I'm not trying to get their attention, Mandy. I'm distracting myself. From you. Because... I don't know. I got this weird feeling every time you talk to me. But, I figure I didn't have a shot. You know? Because you're smart, and educated, and I'm like... so not."

He reached out and touched her hand lightly.

"But it's you. I can't help it."

  6 Successes to Seduce

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-06-02 15:29:25		Cut rolls 11 to Manipulation + Persuasion (10 Again, WillPower)		2, 1, 3, 9, 7, 10, 8, 8, 2, 10, 5, 5, 9		6 successes

[Zodiac]

The response could have been any number of things in that moment as the brunette watched him, tilting her head before he touched her hand. Nope, that did it. That absolutely did it. She was done.

In a swift enough moment she'd shifted to settle her knees on either side of his lap, her palms resting on either of his cheeks as she leaned to kiss him. And it wasn't like the kiss itself was inexperienced - it sure as hell wasn't chaste - as a little part of her rather demanded that he prove his words. And the kiss was rather insistant about it.

[Star]

daaaaaaaaamn

gina

You know what they say about cliches? File Handy Mandy under 'Oversexed Librarian'. Or 'Entirely Willing To Escalate'. Maybe 'Mutual Assured Destruction'. A kiss was one thing; climbing on top of him? Jay-zus. Honestly, he'd have figured it from Asp, but Mandy?

He traded those momentary thoughts for occupying himself with Important Stuff. Like, what Mandy's mouth was doing. What his hands were doing on her legs. Who wouldn't? Seriously. Just a little. He wasn't into Scorched Earth, though.

"Ummmm, you know I was bullshitting, right?" he finally asked, pulling back. Licked his lips. Tasty. What flavor was that?

"But I'm totally down if you just want to hook up."

Yes, please.

"Like, whenever."

[Zodiac]

"Bullshit me like that again, and I'll shoot you," she whispered, and there was no hint of deception there as her eyes narrowed on him dangerously for a moment, before she shifted her hands to his hands and slipped them a little further up the skirt. "But I assure you, I'm not some relationship sort of girl. I like to fuck. I already told you folks that I don't plan on sticking around very long. Get that through your head, and maybe we can get to the part where I teach you how this goes."

[Star]

'It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge', as Einstein once said.

Cut was all for joy getting awoken.

Scene Ends / Fade To Black

...yes, in Capitol Park.