2012-07-14 Breaking the Rules at the Garden

Almost noon, and Kit Walker is sitting in the Rock Garden, near a waterfall. He's got his backpack sitting next to him, the largest compartment unzipped. He's heard about the Botanical Garden a few times, so decided to check it out. Besides, Devil wanted to snooze that morning, so what the heck. He sits with a brown paper sack in his lap, and he's eating a piece of authentic deep-dish pizza--the kind that's almost as large as one's head. And there's another one in the sack. He's eating with gusto, enjoying the scenery, wiping his mouth with one of those dinky little napkins, then wadding it up and tossing it into his backpack. Lunch is a carton of milk, so at least he's vaguely healthy, there. The sun is shining, the clouds are few and fluffy, and so far it's a good morning that looks like it will lead into a good afternoon.

Life... has been hectic for her lately and Donna just needed the time away from everything. And everyone. Time for herself. That's what has her strolling through the Botanical Garden this afternoon, one in her pockets and hair left down. She's coming from the way the map says there's a Japanese hedge garden. If one were to guess, using said map, it would look as if she's headed for the rose garden. In her free hand is a tall, clear to go cup which has some sort of coffee topped with whip cream in it. The sound of the waterfall draws her attention and causes her to turn that way. Her eyes are on the water itself when she steps into the area. It takes her a moment to realize someone else is there. When she does, her eyes widen and she automatically gives a slight bow of her head. "My apologies. I didn't mean to intrude."

The waterfall reminds Kit a little of Bangalla. Granted, nothing can really match it, but then nothing can ever really match one's home. His attention is grabbed when the young woman approaches, and he glances at her--keeping it seeming casual, but noting gait, height, features. She doesn't seem familiar, but he wracks his memory anyway. Slipping up last night with Satana was a mistake he can't afford to make a second time. He should have made sure he knew her before. When she speaks, he looks up at her again and smiles, saying, "Hey, no worries. I mean, if I didn't want to worry about company, I wouldn't be in public place, right?" He motions toward the grass. "Pull up some ground; plenty to go around." A beat as he realizes what he just said. "Ha, I rhymed. Anyway, I'm just grabbing some lunch--and I've got another slice, if you like pepperoni pizza from some place called Sal's."

The stranger speaks and what he says bring a warm and light laugh from her. Easing herself down to the grass beside him, she pulls her knees up under her chin and tilts her head to the side so her temple is resting on them, letting her see him and the waterfall both. "Sal's has some of the best around. You should try his thin crust four meat and four cheese. It's to die for." The coffee is brought to her lips and a sip is taken from the straw. "Pepperoni is good too though." Her eyes go to the waterfall and she smiles. "Absolutely beautiful, isn't it?" She even takes a moment to close her eyes and inhale deeply, enjoying the scent of the water.

When she sits down, Kit gives her another smile. "I'll keep that in mind, about the four-meat deal," he says, then retrieves a few cheap-o napkins from the bag before going to set it next to her. The other slice is wrapped in foil and there are plenty of cheap napkins in there. He then grabs his backpack and sets it between them, saying, "Feel free to chuck trash in there. Didn't feel like sitting that close to a trash can, and the waterfall reminds me of home, so." A shrug of one shoulder, then he looks back out over the water. "I mean, yeah--it's beautiful. Hard to believe a place like this exists in the middle of a city like New York--but not so hard to believe that there aren't as many people here as there could be." A tour of a private school, one that's still in session, maybe a few nature-lovers, but nowhere near as busy as it could be. As it should be.

Those sea colored eyes open and lift to his and she grins. "That's sweet of you." She arches a brow at him. "So where are you from then? I mean... If this reminds you of home..." There's a light quirk of her brow. "I envy you if where you came from looks like this." Another sip of the coffee is taken before she offers it out to him. "Caramel-vanilla iced latte. Best drink you'll ever have." She looks back to the water. "I don't understand why so few visit this place. Granted, every time I do, I'm tempted to try swimming in the water or hide in a tree until they close so I can sleep here but..." She waves a hand dismissively, a light pink touching her cheeks.

"But what? Do it," says Kit, grinning as he takes the coffee. A sip is taken, eyes widening. "Yikahooties, that /is/ good. I think I can see why so many people drink it." He hands it back before he's tempted to chug it--which he rather obviously is. Another bite of the pizza, then it's dropped into the sack and he wipes his hands. The napkin gets wadded up and tossed into his backpack, in which a few text books can be seen, then says, "Come on, let's go for a dip. I'll tell you where I'm from if you do, and even show you a map afterward." He starts nudging off his shoes and socks, and empties his pockets into the backpack. Wallet, assorted folded and/or wadded pieces of paper, a few things that jingle, some keys, a squished half-roll of duct tape, some paper clips--he apparently watched too much "MacGuyver" as a kid. When he's done, he's up and heading toward the water, keeping his shirt and jeans on. He's not about to ask her to be /immodest/ while she breaks the rules, so doesn't want to appear such by even removing his shirt.

Donna's eyes widen and snap back to him, then to the water and back at him. "Are you..." A bright laugh comes from her as she removes her boots. "Sure. Why the hell not..." She stands then and whether he asked for it or not, strips down to the royal purple boy-shorts and black and purple cotton bra she wears. The clothes are left neatly folded as she follows him down to the edge of the water. "If we get in trouble for this, I'm so blaming you..." And yet, there's nothing but absolute mirth in her voice.

"You mean /when/?" Kit retorts, breaking into a jog, "and I can take the blame for this. I'll say that it's entirely my fault because you coerced me and I fell for it." That's said over his shoulder with a grin and a lift of his brows, then he gets to the water's edge. He wades out until it drops off, then dives on in, so he can swim beneath the water. Crystal-clear, so he can be easily seen as he swims. He'll never be mistaken for an overgrown fish, but he's good enough for having a bit of fun. He hasn't done this in--far too long, he realizes. He just hasn't really had the chance. It's rather nice to be able to do this again.

That leaves Donna staring after him a moment before she's wading out into the water to catch up to him. Once deep enough, she dips under and stays there until she's near the waterfall. She's actually a good swimmer. No Aquaman, certainly, but she's in no risk of drowning. When she surfaces, she biting down on her bottom lip to hold back the peel of laughter in hopes of delaying drawing attention to them. The water has plastered her hair back, making the shimmering even more prominent than it already was.

When Kit finally surfaces, about the same time as Donna, it's with spitting a small stream of water, then a shake of his head to get the hair out of his eyes. Not that it gets very far /into/ his eyes, considering it's not exactly long, but still. When he sees how much she's having to keep from laughing--well, that sets him right off. He can't help but giggle loudly, so much so that it takes a few moments to be able to shut himself up. He realizes that he did promise to tell her where he was from, so after he's calmed down enough, he says, "Bangalla. Just outside Mawitaan, by the bye..." A lift of his brows as that's said through a wide grin.

His laughter seems to push Donna over the edge and her own bubbles up from her, clear and bright. She angles her hand and smacks at the water to send a wave of it towards him. "Shush. You'll get us caught." And her voice holds no conviction what so ever. When he mentions where he's from, it takes her a second to realize what he's talking about before, "Oh! It must be absolutely beautiful." She closes the distance between them and offers her hand to him. "I'm Donna, by the way." If she's going to be swimming mostly nude with him, knowing his name seems prudent.

"Ha ha--Christopher Walker, but you can call me Kit," he says, meeting her half-way and extending his own hand to her for a firm grip. Confidence without crushing, gentleness without being limp-wristed. "Pleased to meet you--and swim with you." He treads water for a moment, looking around. Yeah, this is probably going to end with them getting kicked out--but what a darn good story! Not many people can claim such, surely. "What about you, eh?" he asks. "You don't seem like you've been raised around here, so--color me curious." Granted, her accent doesn't sound as odd to him as his must to her, but there's till that "air" about her. For one thing, she chose to come to a giant garden, which doesn't seem like something most natives would do.

"Kit..." Donna's head tilts a moment before she smiles. "I like that!" Her own grip is confident without being too tight despite her strength. She's learned how to keep her handshake 'feminine'. "A pleasure." She looks around and giggles softly. "It really is." There's a pregnant pause followed by, "You know they'll never let us back in here again, right..." And then there's his question and she swims a circle around him, coming to stop in front of him with a smirk. "What makes you think I'm not from around here, hm?" Those blue-green eyes sparkle though not in the literal way her hair does.

"We can sneak in," says Kit confidently with another grin. "Where there's a will, there's a way, right? And, well, I hear traces of something in your accent, but can't quite place it.  There isn't that 'Noo Yawk accent, where ya always sounds likes ya gon'a go 'round breakin' kneecaps' kind of thing.  He keeps his eyes on her, though does glance away now and then to make sure they aren't about to be yelled at.  That certainly wouldn't do--though it's not like there'd be anything they could do about it in time to prevent it.

Those eyes widen, for a split second, as she bites down on her bottom lip. "We certainly could, couldn't we?" Her features soften and she laughs. "Well, you're right. My story is rather complicated and long though..." She treads water in front of him, never taking her eyes from him. She's hear anyone approaching. Assuming she doesn't get /too/ distracted.

"Whose story isn't?" asks Kit in reply. "Though, something does occur to me..." But before he can explain what it is, he dives back under the water again. He's kind of tempted to start pulling underwater shenanigans, but the near-perfect clarity of the water wouldn't exactly let that work, so he goes for some swimming instead. He arcs around the young woman,, movements slow and easy, though by no means smooth and perfect. Still, it works, and that's the important part.

Donna chuckles at his question of a reply before his statement causes her tilt her head. The fact that it goes unfinished as he dives under the water causes both brows to arch and her eyes to track him, watching and waiting for him to surface. He has her rather curious now.

Looking up at her, Kit smiles again, though it looks kind of goofy considering he's trying to hold his breath. A few hand-swishes to get him re-oriented, and he swims around her for another couple of "laps" before angling upward. After some soft sputtering and a shake of his head, he says, "Hey, what are you doing later? Like in a few hours.  There's this bash that promises to be a real gas.  Kind'a got an extra ticket, so--what the heck, you know?  And before you answer, it's not really a date--or it doesn't have to be, anyway.  I don't really know anyone here, yet, so if you have a boyfriend or something, I can get him a ticket too.  Or we can go as friends." He'd spent the few moments under water thinking, and ultimately decided what the heck. He won't know anyone at the shindig, so.

He surfaces and starts talking and with each word, Donna's amusement grows and it reflects in her smile. "Are you always so articulate, Kit?" A brow arches up at him and her smile softens. "No. I don't have a boyfriend and yes, I would love to go with you." Since randomness seems to be the order of the day, the young woman decides to follow suit by leaning up to kiss his cheek. "You're very cute when you ramble."

The kiss is surprising, but most obviously not in a bad way. "Wow, you know how to give a guy some pep in his step," he says appreciatively, and sincerely. At least he isn't using such old-time slang ironically, though whether that makes it /better/ or not is up in the air. He grins at her, adding, "And at least I'm cute when I ramble. You don't have to even do that." A wag of his brows, there, and he leans forward to kiss her cheek in turn--and then splash her and turn to swim like heck. Though it's not like she can't catch him.

The compliment catches her by surprise and has her blushing ever so softly. And then he's splashing her and swimming away. "Brat!" she calls through peels of happy laughter before she submerges and goes after him. If she catches up, she'll tug on his pant leg, just enough to drag him under the water before she lets go.

Since she's a better swimmer than he is, it's not like it will take all that much to catch up to him. He emits a squeak as he's dragged under the water, turning underneath to face her. He pulls her down with him, a smile twinking in his eyes. He brings her hand up to kiss its back, in a gentlemanly move that he understands very well comes out just odd--but hopefully in a cute way--under water. He'll surface with her, then, panting for breath for a moment. After that moment, he says, "Well, in that case, we'd better take off. Need to get dry, get a gown, get my tux, all that." Still, he doesn't necessarily /fully/ want to leave, but--he knows they need to.

The kiss to the back of her hand, even under the water, earns him a soft and sweet smile. When they surface and after a moment to catch their breath, she nods her head. "It would be the smart thing to do, yes.." Not that she's making any real movement to do so. She should, yes. They both should. And yet...

Her hesitation makes him grin, as it seems to match his own. Well, at least they'll have the time after the thing to spend. He goes to take her hand and head back toward the shore--just as an official intern comes around a bend and sees them. Bah. Well, it had to end sometime. "Alright," says Kit, looking at her with that grin still on his face. "Where shall I pick you up, then? And let me get you my phone number." It's a pre-paid phone, but it takes and makes calls, so.

The intern is seen and smirked at before Kit's voice draws her attention back to him. "The Themysciran Embassy." Direction are given as they make their way onto shore. Once there, her hair is wrung out as she looks over at him. "Your phone number would be helpful, yeah." A soft chuckle comes from her as she straightens, not seeming to mind in the slightest that, oh, she's not wearing clothes!

Digging around his backpack for a moment, Kit comes out with his phone. It's modeled after a smart phone, but--isn't. Still, it's close enough. "Okay, so, I'm not sure I can spell that embassy," he says with a grin as he goes to hand the phone to her. "So if you could write that down, and you can get my number while leaving yours while you're at it." Another grin given to her; at least that way she can know for sure she's getting his number, and it's not some weird blow-off. The embassy bit does catch his attention, but they can talk about that later. He needs to head back to his abandoned subways and change clothes.

The phone is taken with a soft laugh as Donna goes about adding and memorizing the information. "It's the embassy of the Amazons." As if that explains everything. Once he has her information, she hands the phone back to him and begins getting dressed. Once done, her hair is wrung out once more and then pulled up into a messy ponytail. "Hey Kit..." She cuts her eyes over to him and she pulls her boots on. "Thanks. I had fun."

He makes a mental note to look that up when he has the chance. In the meantime, Kit grins back at Donna as he slips his feet into his shoes, shoving the socks into his backpack. "Good. I had fun, too, Donna." He spends a quick moment gathering trash, pizza, so on and so forth, and says, "Pretty name for a pretty girl; I'm really looking forward to this afternoon." A lift of his brows as he lifts the backpack, ready to accompany her to the entrance--no doubt escorted by the intern hurrying over--where they can part ways.

Donna blushes softly as she stands, head dipping and a piece of black hair being tucked back behind her ear. Easily falling into step beside him, she offers a warm smile. "So am I." Once the reach the entrance, she gives a quick kiss to his cheek before promising to see him soon and then heading back to the embassy to do all that girly stuff.