2014.02.04 - Oh my, octopi

Monday, early afternoon. Gabriel has left a message to meet him at the New York Aquarium, specifically at "the tunnel". He didn't really give directions or explenations as to what he meant by "the tunnel thought. But its not hard to find, as soon as you come into the Aquarium, at the entrance to which there was already a ticket waiting for you, you get a map and discover that the reef exhibit has an underwater tunnel.

Monday! Much brighter meeting with a friend, and - well, Lunair will puzzle it out. There's a ticket and a map. She's dressed as usual, appropriately for the weather. She picks up the map, glancing around. Her eyes are a bit wide. Her blank stare is a little more focused than usual. Unfortunately, she still has some problems emoting, but she does seem to be in awe. And she will peer around the tunnel and its entrance. Though, her journey is laden with temptation! To see other things! But no, she must be strong and get to the tunnel FIRST.

Close to the entrance of the tunnel a little boy about 8 years old is sitting on one of the ledges, kicking his feet idley back and forth in that uber-cute way only little kids can do it and watching the fish swim by. There would be nothing remarkable about this child if it wasn't for two things: 1) He's all alone, no adult seeming to claim him. 2) He's wearing a t-shirt that looks a little... weird for someone his age. Emblazoned on the front of the t-shirt is a large face of a fedora-wearing man that upon closer examination is really formed by the body and tentacles of an octopus. The back of it, across the shoulders, reads: Mr. Unknown.

On one hand, kids left alone to be babysat by staff is hardly unusual. Toy shops, libraries, video game stores and more may know the phenomenon. But still! Someone else is here and that's okay. She blinks at his t-shirt, looking a little confused. "Hmm." She looks thoughtful, glancing around. Utterly baffled. ... better check for Chris Hansen in case this is a sting set up for someone or something.

Glance left, glance right. She's feeling more than a little creepy just standing around a kid. Oh geez. Well... maybe she can just amble up and watch the fish. She'll smile politely at the kid (or - after a moment, smile politely as best as she knows) and set to watch the fish.

Nope. No sitting down for Lunair. As soon as the kid in the weird shirt sets eyes on her he hops up, runs over to her and hugs her hips with the typical social blindness of someone his aparent age. He's just tall enough that, thankfully the hug puts his face in a 'safe zone', neither too high, nor too low. "Lunair! Hi! Hey, will you buy me some cotton candy!?"

Eek! Wait. What. Lunair panics briefly. She has no problem running into a room and shooting mercenaries, but this! This! Panic! Red alert! Sound the sirens! Lunair blinks owlishly as the kid hugs her. But she - wait. How does this kid know her? Both eyebrows lift. "H-hi there. Who might you be? And ummm... sure, I guess. Do they sell it in here...?" She looks confused, carefully returning the hug. This is so odd.

The kid, let call him Mr. U for now, looks up at Lunair, giving her the puppy-dog-look treatment. At least he lets the hugs go. But instead he takes hold of one of her hands with both of his and starts tugging her out the entrance of the tunnel moving backwards towards the outside areas, "There's a stand out here. Come on! Its yummy! You'll want some too!"

Oh dear. Mr. U. Lunair looks completely baffled and alarmed. Wha- she was going to see an octopus with an adult and- her mind is spinning. What if someone thinks she's a kidnapper or worse!? She pauses as he takes her hand and starts to tug her out. She follows along. "Um, sure thing!" But happily, Lunair isn't cruel. She's just completely at a loss. How does one handle human larvae? Do - what - how - ohboy. Well, cotton candy couldn't hurt right?

Mr. U stops tugging once he's sure that she's going to continue moving in the direction that he wants her to go. Instead he lets go of Lunair's hand and starts skipping ahead, then rushing back to her once he's to far ahead, then getting ahead again, then coming back, and so on and so forth until the reach a cluster of food carts. "I want the purple! No! The blue! And a hot dog! And a drink! And some of the freeze dots... No, not the freezy dots. Too cold for that. And /then/! /Then/ we can go see the octopusses!"

As he waits for Lunair to make his order for him he glances around, rocking back and forth on his feet, hands clasped behind his back. See? He's being /good/!

Lunair lets herself go that way. She does quirk a little smile. He is kind of cute in a pesky little brother kind of way. But still, she hopes to goodness no one ends up throwing her into the shark pit where people who kidnap kids go. But is it kidnapping if she's being pulled along? Oh well. "Um, blue okay, and a hot dog ... which drink?" She tries to keep up with the order. No freezy dots. Too cold. Okay. Then they can see octo- waitaminute. Realization crosses Lunair's face and she has an expression like someone just slammed a plate over the back of her head. What. Whaat... WHAT.

... how - why - is she being trolled most efficiently? Is this just some self he's wanted to let out for awhile? Will her favorite comic be cancelled!? Oh well. She just goes with it and makes his order, especially once he tells her what drink he wants. She'll get something light and a soda for herself. And he is being good.

Mr. U takes the drink, Dr. Pepper, in one hadn and somehow manages to get both the cotton candy and the hotdog in the other hand without dropping either. After stuffing his mouth full of both cotton candy /and/ hot dog (yes, both at once) he starts making his way to where the cephalopods are on exhibit but he olny makes it about five steps before noticing something is wrong. Very wrong.

"fou domf haff coffof fanfy! WHY!?"

Oops! Lunair looks happy as he takes his order. "oh! Er, Oops. I guess I've been watching what I eat. Some lady said I was looking kind of chubby... But ..." She pauses. "I'll grab some. I guess I like the pink kind..." Rather than risk an argument, Lunair will quickly rush to get some! Ack!

Mr. U waits while Lunair goes and gets her cotton candy, foot taping impatiently on the ground while he continues to stuff his face with alternating bite of hot dog and cotton candy. Once Lunair is back he looks fully satisifed and starts walking back towards the exhibit they've come here today to see. As they walk he says,"That lady lied, Liar, liar pants on fire! you look fine."

Geez. Lunair doesn't get kids. But she goes with it. She has a coke, cotton candy and a snack now too. She balances carefully. And nibbles at the cotton candy. Well then. She seems quietly amused and goes with it, yes she does. As she swallows a bite, she smiles faintly. "Aw, thanks. What should I call you, by the way?" Lunair asks.

The kid cranes his head arouond as if trying to see his own back, giving Lunair one these 'Duh!' kind of looks as he says, "Its on the shirt. But you're nice, you can use Mr. U if you want too." He giggles at himself as if this was a great joke and rushes forward to /almost/ press his nose up against the glass of the octopus tank now that you've arrived. The reason holding him back from actually pressing all the way up against the tank becomes clear when he squeezes his cotton candy up in the little spaces he's left to take another bite, which leaves stick little blue marks around his mouth and on his nose now that its starting to melt a little in the heat of the indoors area.

Hee. Well. Okay. Once Lunair's stopped worrying about the feds, Chris Hansen or an angry mother beating her with a purse... Well, why is he doing this? Lunair will have to ask him later. It's all really curious. She was prepared to comment on his weirdly Irish sweater. She remembers that. But this is now.

And then a headtilt as she follows. Her own pink cotton candy is slowly disappearing as she nibbles at it. "Mr. U. Okay," She nods. She looks a bit sheepish as she arrives by the octopus tank and peers in. Where might that octopus be? Is it doing its thing? Building a home? What mysterious creatures, these and him. Although, one supposes Lunair might be relieved she won't find Gabe in nothing but a coconut. "Do they have just one?"

Mr. U finishes off his food and, good little boy that he is, runs over to a trash can, tosses it all away, then runs back to the glass almost as if afraid someone will steal his primo viewing spot. LUNAIR. We're not looking at you LUNAIR. Spot thief...

As he runs back he reaches out and hits a button that's under a screen inset in the wall next to the tank and a short little video talking about the mimic octopus and giving details about how many of them the aquarium has (3) and where they came from (#1 and #2 caught in the wild, #3 is their baby). That should answer all of Lunair's questions, at least about the octopi. The kid now fully presses his face against the glass and starts looking for the animals in question. Soon he spots, and nicely points out, one of them, playing with coconut shells.

Lunair wouldn't steal his spot. She's actually kind of cool in her spot. At her height, Lunair can see OVER him or stand in her spot. So there. She's slightly tall as women go, She just quirks a smile. Even in this form, he's adorable! Though, this form is adorable in the 'little brother I'm going to give a wedgie to later' kind of way.

"Oh, neat. A baby one?" Peer. How cute! Lunair smiles as he points one out. "That is neat... I wonder how he knows?" Who teaches an octopus? Do they just know? Should humanity be concerned? She stays in her spot because she is not a SPOT THIEF. "Awww. That's cute." And kinda cool to be able to fold oneself up like that.

Mr. U suddenly starts making excited hand waves and points out another one, "There! There! All flat in the corner making like a flounder! Silly octopus, we know what flounders look like and you're not it. But /good/ try!" Now he starts sliding up and down along the length of the display. Two down, one to go. Must find them all!

Hmm! It's quite challenging. Lunair leans forward a bit and grins. "Ooh. That is pretty close though," She taps her chin with a fingertip. "But I'm not very good at shape-changing judging," She offers. "He did give it a good effort," She agrees. 4/5, needs more flatness. Lunair looks here and there, trying to find the third octopus. If she were an octopus ... where should she hide? "Do they bury themselves in the sand?"

Mr. U shakes head head without taking his eyes off the tank, "Nope. They just roam around looking like other stuff." Of course, the tank doesn't just have octopi in it. There's reefs and anemoni and fishies. The only thing lacking is crustaceans, since the mimics would just eat those if they were in there. Suddenly Mr. U pushes off from the glass and goes off running. The sudden movement make the octopus that's been playing with the coconut shells pulls the one he's been wearing as a hat forward so that now it looks like there's a coconut with peering eyes at the bottom of the tank.

Mr. U himself doesn't run off far. Clearly the drink is hitting him since its the boys room he disappears into.

"I see..." No burying. Okay. Lunair giggles as the octopus that was playing now has a hat. OCTOTANK. Man, video game enemies were onto something. She just hmms. And really, in ancient times, octopi, nautiluseseses and such were apex predators. They were feared by so many things. Though, her watching the octopus is interrupted as Mr. U bolts for the bathroom. She blinks, and will set a foot by his spot. Hey, spot saving. It's what friends do, right?

Gabriel comes out of the bathroom Mr. U disappeared into a minute or so later. He's wearing the same t-shirt (which was baggy on Mr. U and is now tight enough to attract some looks without looking totally ridiculous) and now has along leather coat over it and jeans.

Quietly walking over to where Lunair is saving spots he Covers her eyes and asks, "Guess who? By the way, have you found the last one yet?"

Said last one has come out from behind one of the reefs and is swimming around imitating a lion fish.

Lunair is saving a spot and looking for that octopus. She looks intent, peering here and there. The shapeshifters can't win ALL of the rounds, right?! Or maybe they can and Lunair will just accept that. But then, she's kind of busy trying to find the last one to notice Gabriel sneaking up.

Suddenly, EVERYTHING GOES BLACK! Oh no! She tenses. Then Gabe speaks. "Hmmmm... I think it starts with a G... Gabriel, right? She teases. "And I see two, then - oh! Hey! He's mimicing a lionfish's pattern and sitting on a coral. That's - ... really clever. Kind of alarmingly clever, actually. They don't have hammers, do they?"

Gabriel laughs and lets go of Lunair's head, moving to stand next to her instead. "No, no hammers. Unless coconut shells count? And why ask about hammers?"

Lunair grins at his laugh. She looks to him. And very solemnly says, "Because humanity is doomed the moment they figure out tools." A wink at that. "I guess a coconut could be used to hit things. They do seem to kill a fair number of people. Never stand under a coconut tree in a breeze. Or period, really."

Gabriel winces at the idea of getting hit on the head by a coconut but then smiles and says, "Well, thankfully the most they seem to have figured out is how to make tents out of coconut shells. So I think we're safe for a little longer. Thank you for lunch by the way? and I still say you look fine. Definitely in good enough shape that one little bit of cotton candy isn't going to hurt you."

Donk! It is wince worthy! Death by skull break is not pleasant! Lunair smiles to him. "Really? That's - neat. And yet..." She eyes the octopi. They lie dreaming. Wait, no. Not deep enough water. She smiles up at him again after a moment. "You're welcome. I don't mind getting lunch," Not at all! "And cotton candy, it's been awhile." That was fun, too! She turns a bit red. "Aw, thanks. I think you're right as long as I don't go nuts with it." But isn't that often the case? "You're really good, by the way. At," Handgesturehandgesture. That's shape shifting.

Gabriel chuckles a bit at the last compliment then shrugs, "Most of it is natural instinct. Kind of the way they" hand waves at the octopus tank, "change color automatically to blend in. What's the bigger challenge is staying in character." One thing that is different now is the fact that he's carrying a large backpack with him, which was probably stashed somewhere in the bathroom. Patting the backpack he says, "I need to visit some of the nearby homeless shelters. Want to come with?"

Lunair nods and listens. "I see." She smiles a little. "And sure." She seems puzzled as to why. Should she offer a room? Would Gabriel in a rooftop apartment cause more problems or would it just mean an awesome boardgame night? She seems uncertain. But Lunair will follow.

Gabriel leads the way out of the Aquarium. The afternoon that follows if comprised of many a bus ride, with stops at pretty much all of the Brooklyn homeless shelters. And the scene that repeats itself at each one varies only in the players that fill the parts.

Gabriel goes into each shelter says hello to most of the staff and its clear he kows them personally and has for a while now. after the greetings and introductions (of course he introduces Lunair at each one) they are invited into the normally shabby office of the shelter's manager. once in the office Gabriel hands over a stack of bills to the manager. The shabbier and more run down the shelter the bigger the stack of money they get. Sometimes it takes more convincing than others but Gabriel always manages to make the manager accept the money. Then he says good-bye, maybe walking around the shelter to dig some candy out of the backpack to hand out to kids, and then its on to the next one.

Once evening falls Gabriel's backpack is all but empty (it was almost completely full of cash) and he insists on taking Lunair to dinner. At which he happily talks about anything /except/ for what they've done all afternoon.