2012-12-23: Pride and Prejuidce, but more importantly, pizza

Noriko is sitting on the grass against a tree trunk, her bent knees planted against her chest, and embraced by her arms. Her stylish new coat seems quite out of place, clashing with the rags she's wearing underneath. The hood of her hoodie is pulled low over her head, hiding her face with the exception of a few wisps of electric blue hair sticking out of the hood. She's rocking a little bit as she sits in this manner, looking not entirely there.

Karolina often came to the Central Park; whether it be a walkover or a flyover. Today, it was a walkover. Dressed warmly against the weather, with big puffy coat, a woolen hat, and a scarf, Karolina was moving down the path, her eyes flickering to the side to see... Noriko there. For the first few moments, Karolina's features twist in sympathy, but not recognition - Karolina moving as if she were to walk past - when she pauses, and looks back towards... "Oh my god," she says with a little whisper. "Hey - um... hey. Do you remember me?" she asks then, taking a few tentative steps towards Noriko.

New York is a place of wonders, you can see heroes fighting criminals, have a giant natural park in the middle of a major metropolitan area, see the finest musical theatre around, all within a few block of each other. It is sad that many of the residents of the city are so jaded and hardened that they forget such splendor. Perhaps it is that same lack of wonderment that allows them to dismiss a 3' tall alien in sweats as a freaky giant roach, and blow him off as just another thing they see as making the city so... whatever. As he scurries into Central Park, ironically he is the one freaking out, furiously fiddling with the controls of very fancy looking digital watch (or something that passes for one) that appears to have the face and crystal within it severely cracked. Broo actually has tears of some sort leaking down his face as he chitters and squeaks, "Please work, please work. I don't want to scare people. I want to be liked..." his eyes darting around, perhaps looking for shelter, a shady tree, or some other place to hide. He is for the moment to wrapped up in finding a hiding place to notice the girl also in some emotional turmoil and wearing an outfit he can relate to quite weel, nor one of the few beings he knows on this planet, even if only from a single friendly encounter in a similar natural setting.

Weird as it sounds, Tommy has been making discreet inquires about Noriko's whereabouts ever since she decided not associate herself with Eddie's gang (it is still Eddie's gang for Tommy). Keeping track of her is not easy, but today one common acquaintance told Tommy the blue-haired girl was heading for Central Park. So by sheer coincidence Tommy is taking a stroll through Central Park. As it happens, he spots Karolina first, probably because the blonde is not curled up and wearing a hood. He heads towards the girls, waving at Karo if she looks his way.

Noriko doesn't respond at first, but when Karolina starts to approach her, Noriko lifts her head a little. She seems a bit disoriented as she looks at Karolina, but after a moment she nods, "the Castle...you gave me a ride. Flying is awesome...wish I could fly away." As she replies to Karolina, Noriko is caught by surprise at the sight of the possibly alien possibly mutant bug scurrying about, she blinks a couple of times, but chooses to ignore the sight for whatever reason. Instead, she tries her best to focus on Karolina and not mind Broo, as if he wasn't there. Squinting, Noriko sees what could pass for Tommy Shepherd approaching soon behind Karolina, which brings her to whisper to the girl infront of her, "can you...tell Tommy to buzz off, I really don't care to talk to him right now."

Karolina will have to ask Broo's forgiveness right now - her focus was mostly with concern on Noriko. "Right, right. I remember noticing your hair, and thinking that that was an amazing color," Karolina says, a little smile dancing on her lips. It was a bit forced, her brow was furrowed with concern at this all. "You doin' okay?" she says then, glancing back over her shoulder towards Tommy when Noriko mentions her. "Tommy is a friend of mine," she says, with a little whisper back towards Noriko. "I promise promise promise you he won't bother you with something you don't like," she says. "We're just both concerned about you right now?" Karolina says, glancing back towards Tommy.

Seeing the tree behind Noriko is still has a few large areas of leaves, Broo leaps up into and continues his attempts to get the watch to work. He hides in the branches, shivering, trembling, "Florgnarkin Holoslargin morvnikrattin Klurdskumm, why did that human hatchling have to scream so loudly. Stupid harmonic resonance." he peers around, "Please work, don't want to be stuck here, don't want to scare people. Why did I come alone? Stupid, stupid Broo."

Tommy concerned? Perish the thought! He is too awesome for concerns. He offers Karo a friendly grin when close enough, "hey, hello!" Then he spots Noriko and loses the grin very quickly. "What happened to her?" He crouches to look at the younger woman, looking for the usual signs of problems: sings of recent mugging, beatings, or in Noriko's case, withdrawal. Not touching her, though, 'cause electrocution is not fun.

Noriko's lips curl into a ghost of a smile at Karolina's flattery of her hair color, "thank you." Noriko is about to say she's doing okay, as she always does, regardless of how she's actually doing, but the sight of Broo really has her concerned. Maybe the quality of the hit she took this time was a bit shady. Rolling her eyes, she snorts, "if he actually doesn't bother me with something I don't like, that will be a true Christmas Miracle..." and there is Tommy, great, why couldn't Karolina just tell him to go away. "Hi, Tommy," Noriko says in a tone that's not nearly as friendly as the greeting that Karolina received, "nothing happened to me..., you can go away now."

This time, Karolina follows Noriko's eyes out towards Broo, her eyes widening a bit with surprise at the other alien. A hand lifts, kinda gesturing friendly towards him, although, well, she doesn't fix her eyes on him, her eyes shifting then to Tommy, "Hey - I... don't know," she says at first, although there was a question in her eyes when she tries to shoo Tommy away again. "I... erm... did he do something to upset you?" says Karolina as she looks back towards Nori, suddenly wishing that she kinda... knew the rest of the team a little better. "Think I could sit down - hang out a second?" she asks, then. "I don't have much to do, and hanging out with a friend would be an amazing use of time," she says, with a smile on her lips. Yeah, there was still the concern in her eyes, but Nori seemed to be wanting to tough girl it.

The wave from Karolina has a bit of a calming influence on Broo... a friendly face... someone he can talk to... someone who knows the way home (well close enough) without needing to use the mass conveyances... a bit of hope. Slowly, Broo crawls closer, clinging to the tree, his upside down position causing a couple of things to slowly slide out of his hoodie belly pocket and fall down toward the ground and the people there... though a sandwich bag with a couple of slightly stale sandwiches and a water bottle filled with brown liquid aren't likely to kill anyone if they hit them. He inches closer, "Hello." he says nervously, "Is it safe for me to come down, or should I stay hidden?"

Tommy uh huhs, standing up and giving Karolina an exasperated look. "I know Noriko since... uh, maybe a year or two. We don't agree about some details of her lifestyle," he semi-explains. "I have time, though, so if you want we..." now Tommy seeks Broo. And that causes him to pause for a few seconds while the insect-like person speaks. "Er..." back to Karo, "maybe we -should- drag Ms. Electrifying here to the nearest pizza den or burger-place for lunch. I need to get something for myself anyway. Fast metabolism, y'know?" He glances back at Broo. "I guess the little guy could come too, if he is your friend?"

"You could say that...don't worry, if he sticks around for more than a minute I'm sure you'll hear all about it," Noriko says loud enough, showing she has no concern about Tommy knowing just how unwanted he is by her at the moment. Shrugging at Karolina's question, she mutters, "they don't charge for seats to sit down on the grass, so sure, you can hang around if you like, sit down..." she doesn't extend the same invitation to Tommy, in fact, she purposely seems to focus only on Karolina as she turns to look at her, "so, you think we can consider ourselves friends already? Your name's Karolina, right? Where are you from?" But Noriko doesn't stay calm for long, when stuff falls from above as Broo crawls on the tree above and things fall, she jerks nervously, and then huddles all the more against the tree trunk, electricity starting to crackle about her before fading away. "I'm sorry," she quips at Karolina, "I thought I saw something." Tommy does mention one keyword that has Noriko's gaze automatically shifting his way with a renewed level of interest, lunch, it's a splendid word. Yet, Tommy was the one to speak it, so she remains adamantly silent.

"Hello, Broo," says Karolina Dean, "Yeah, I think it's safe for you to come down, um... more or less," Karolina says, looking from him, to Noriko, then back again. "You're popular today, um," Karolina says, moving to kinda slowly take a seat next to Noriko. "That's Broo. I know he looks kinda spooky, but he seems like an alright guy," Karolina says, her eyes going back towards Tommy proper, tilting her head just so to one side, right before her eyes turn back towards Noriko. "Um. Yeah, I think so. We fought together against those guys, so yeah! ~I~ think that's at least worth two points in the whole friend thing," she says, smiling so wide her nose crinkles. "Yeah, I'm Karolina. I used to live in California, and I kinda moved this way with a bunch of my friends. How about you? Are you a New York native?"

Broo cringes at Noriko's reaction to his falling Friday night snacks, "Sorry." he tilts his head a bit and looks hopefully at Karolina, then smiles as she calls him an alright guy. He slowly makes his way all the way down and then offers a hand to Noriko, trying to show a sign of friendship, "Yes, I am Broo, spooky looking, but totally alright guy. I am profusely sorry that my snacks from my trip to this city on Friday fell toward you. I do hope they did not hurt you." then glancing at Tommy he asks, "How many pizza live in a den at one time? What are they, and are they very big?" then looks down as his belly gurgles, "I concur however about acquiring consumables of some sort. My snacks may no longer be safe for inception, and they are definitely not sufficient quantity for all beings present."

Tommy can recognize when a runaway is hungry. From personal experience, of course. He is not sure where Noriko gets her cash for food. Some things are better left unasked. But obviously she doesn't had enough lately. Broo is... uh, an alright guy? Well, at least a master of deadpan humor. With a face like his, it is not surprising. He paces around the girls, uninvited to sit down! Not that he would be staying still for long. "So, I guess you are still angry with me, uh? Well, what did you expected? You pretty much were the poster-girl for getting kidnapped upstate!"

"Just my lucky day," Noriko snorts, looking as if she's trying to make herself an unappealing company, "Broo?" Noriko seems unsure, before realizing that Karolina is talking about that weird creature, "wait...you can see him too?" This seems to brighten Noriko a bit, as she realizes she's not hallucinating, "that's good news. Hi, erm, Broo..." she offers half-heartedly. "I'll give you 5," Noriko says in a more amicable tone, at least when she regards Karolina. "Not quite...I'm from Tokyo, Japan." Barely a trace of accent when Noriko speaks, so it makes perfect sense she could be thought to be a New York native. "Oh stuff it, Tommy, nobody was going to kidnap me...I can look after myself."

"I ~can~ see him too," enthuses Karolina Dean, her eyes flickering towards Tommy, and kinda watching him pace back and forth. "From Japan?" she says, enthusiastically. "That's cool," she says, her lips widening in their smile. Opening her lips as if to ask another question, she pauses, and gives her head a shake, instead looking towards the other two. "All this talk about pizza is kinda making me hungry," Karolina says, bringing up her elbow to kinda nudge Nori, before leaning in to whisper to her, "Let's make him buy us both pizzas. Kinda revenge ourselves on him, right?" she says, leaning back to giggle a bit. Her whole demeanor was natural enough, if a little forced; she was trying to keep the mood light, and reconcile between the two.

There is a moment of pause as Broo concentrates and prepares to greet Noriko in Japanese, until he realizes he never listened to the Japanese broadcasts, and never learned the language... of all the languages to not learn... Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese, all sure, but somehow he never learned the pretty blue haired girl's native tongue, which actually shocks him. He then looks at Noriko oddly, "Why would someone not see me? I am no longer hiding in the branches, and have no camouflage powers." he shrugs, "So, will we have to hunt these Pizzas ourselves? Or are they caught and prepared for us? I would be happy to help hunt your pizzas if it is allowable." then pausing he looks to Karolina, "Pizzas are not sentient, are they?" obviously remembering their previous conversation on consumption of living things.

Noriko gives Karolina a weak smile, not adding anything about Japan without further prompting. "Pizza is one of the best things about America," Noriko says with a more genuine smile this time, she can feel her stomach rumbling, Tommy for all his faults does know how to spot a hungry runaway. Noriko does look much relieved when Karolina admits to being able to see Broo herself. While Noriko isn't most at ease with Tommy around, the proposition of getting pizza is a hard one to resist. She lets herself get carried away after Karolina as she nods and slowly gets up, pushing herself against the bark of the tree as she rises on her feet, still a bit jittery as she stands. "Well," Noriko says to Broo, "if you're real, you can be seen, that's a good thing." She chuckles a bit at the question on how to hunt pizzas, and answers, "you hunt them down with cash."

"Yeah, you are making an amazing job looking after of yourself," snaps Tommy, pointing at Noriko. "Guess I was dumb trying to warn you, but now I know better." He ignores Broo's comments about pizzas. That is taking the joke too far. "Fine, so you can stay here, sitting on the park, alone, this nice, chilly late December afternoon and pat yourself on the back about how well things are going. Meanwhile, I am going to get some pizza."

There is a bit of confusion on Broo's face at Tommy's ignoring his queries, further confused by Noriko's comments about him being real, but he abstains from delving further on either issue for the moment, flipping his hood up to try to give him some semblance of a disguise, "I am sorry if my questions are odd. I have only been on this planet for a few weeks, and have not sampled much of the vast selections of consumable yet. So far I have had Turkey Sandwiches, Chicken Sandwiches, Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, water, chocolate, bovine milk in many flavors, almond milk in two variations of chocolate flavor, cookies with chips of chocolate, and fresh squirrel. I have spent most of my time aiding people to attain this super rare 'Fruit of the Loom' clothing, which I am told is very hard to come by, and some currancy to purchase other coverings and items. So I apologise if my ignorance and inquisitiveness is off-putting." he then hunkers up to further conceal his face, sliding his little clawed hands into the belly pocket of his hoodie, and following quietly.

Any work towards luring Noriko to tag along for pizzas is undone by Tommy finally snapping at her, which causes Noriko to start crackling as electricity sparks randomly over her body, dancing along the length of a limb, from her eyes to her hair, popping randomly in the air. She in turn whirls away from Tommy and Karolina, snapping, "you go enjoy your pizza, Tommy, we should all be lucky to be as perfect as you, Mr. Know-it All!" Noriko is fuming, or rather, sparking electricity as she marches away angrily, but it only lasts for the first couple of steps, because she soon breaks into full fledged running away.