20202/Central Park Meandering

Central Park Meandering
Date of Scene:	08 March 2025
Location:	Central Park
Synopsis:	Getting between a Juggernaut and his Hot Dogs
Cast of Characters:	Cain Marko, Darcy Lewis, John Stewart, Kim Hayes, Caleb Dykstra

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Cain Marko has posed:
Even at his most physically restrained, doing his absolute best to mind his own business and attend to his own matters without fuss or attention from others -- the arrival of Citizen Cain Marko to any given location is something of a visual spectacle. His rise from the depths of the Subway station, surrounded by pedestrations who barely reach the bottom half of his gargantuan chest, is not unlike observing Godzilla cresting up from the surface of the bay with a host of smaller ships swarming this way and that to make way for him.

The cartoonish image of Gojira, emblazoned across that stretched and strained tee-shirt, is appropriate here.

Needless to say...it turns out that being the Avatar of Destruction, Exemplar of Power or...whatever assorted title you want to apply to him....isn't the sort of thing that comes with being subtle or subterfuge and as the giant bruiser strides along, heading from the station towards the crosswalks to take him t the park...he siply grumbles and cuts his eyes here and there as people clear out ahead of him and then bring out the camera phones to get a quick photo or video of the immense man. Most just presume him to be some exceptionally gifted athlete. A man whose dimensions imply he ate an entire defensive line for lunch and the past few World's Strongest Men champions for breakfast. For his part, he just shakes his head and grumbles to himself. "..Sheesh....might as well have come in 'ere in full armor. I need to start charging for photos or autographs or somethin'..."

Despite his complaints and grumbligns..the goliath seems to be on his best behavior. For now. For reasons. His lengthy stride soon propels him into the park..intending to cut across it to reach his ultimate destionation...whatever that may be.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Despite the weather as New York changes from winter toward spring, the need to focus on a deadline has dragged Darcy from her usual haunts to the park. Seated on a bench, she types furiously - almost frantically - at a personal laptop into an aptly 'Untitled' word document. Dressed in a light coat, beanie, and fingerless gloves, she could easily disappear into the crowd were it not for the circumstance of her location as the last edge of winter begins to break.

From behind her glasses her brow is furrowed in desperate concentration while she clutches a coffee thermos between her teeth to free up both of her hands, occasionally tilting her head back to sip at the warming beverage within anytime she saw fit to delete a mass of text that apparently didn't pass muster. The only time she took a break from typing was to take the thermos in hand and push her glasses back up the bridge of her nose anytime they slipped too far due to her hunched posture. She occasionally muttered to herself, shaking her head as she glowered in anger at the laptop - things along the lines of "Who springs a lecture on someone seventy-two hours in advance?" before replacing her thermos and returning to trying to put together whatever it is she was working on to middling effect - the document remaining at best half full. Or half empty. Probably the latter, based on her temperament.

John Stewart has posed:
Being off duty doesn't mean that John can't handle small stuff as it pops up, so even off duty, John occasionally puts on the uniform under the cover of trees to handle business before coming back to the Park. He's coming out of a cluster of trees from his latest run to assist the local police that his ring is scanning when one Godzilla-lite walks out of the nearby subway, and a set of eyes narrows slightly as the subtle-as-a-trainwreck man continues on.

He's not doing anything untorward yet... but John can recognize the menace there. He subtly aims his ring at the man as he moves along, Willing the ring to perform a cursory scan for anything out of the ordinary... and when the ring reports a source of magic to Cain, John just frowns slightly.

He doesn't have a lot of experience with Earth magic, but it can't hurt to keep an eye on the man.

As he passes Darcy and overhears her rhetorical question, John just smirks down to the laptop, muttering out loud as he passes by, "ah, college. Almost miss it."

Kim Hayes has posed:
    Kim Hayes has a smile on her face.

    To those few who know her well, this might be a cause for concern. Kim, on the other hand, appears to have no concerns whatsoever, even though her hair clearly hasn't been washed (or likely even brushed) for possibly days. She's walking along through Central Park with a half-eaten partially-wrapped chocolate bar in one hand and a vape pen in the other, chewing on a mouthful of the former while exhaling the contents of the latter through her nostrils. On top of that, she's got a pair of earbuds in, blasting something that nearby bystanders might recognize as something that they probably don't recognize.

    In short, she's basically in full Zen mode.

    << Haze: Hayes. What exactly are we doing? >>

    << Kim: It's called walking. >>

    << Haze: But you have no destination. You are not seeking anything. This is unusual. >>

    << Kim: People do this all the time, dude. >>

    << Haze: We meant that it is unusual for you. >>

    << Kim: I already explained about the landlord fumigating the apartment. >>

    << Haze: We don't see the problem. >>

    << Kim: Look, even if we could survive it, people would think it was weird if I just huffed a bunch of unknown toxic chemicals without any regard for my own well-being. >>

    Kim raises the vape pen up to her mouth and rolls her eyes as she carries on along the path - completely failing to notice the several-feet-tall mass of muscle approaching at an intersecting angle until it's too late.

    *crash*

    The pasty brunette is bowled over mid-huff, sending her pen and chocolate bar scattering in opposite directions.

    "Aww, man!" Kim says with a grimace. "My vape!"

    << Haze: Our chocolate! Save the chocolate, Hayes! >>

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
After attending to his father's workshop - it was a busy day -, he's feeling sore all over. What the doctor - as in, him - ordered? Why a stroll in the park, of course, with a hot-dog and a soda.

Now, he's not so lost as to fail to see whoever's in front of him, but he does see and recognize the mountain of a man, and see Kim's head-on collision about to happen.

"Hey, look...!", he shouts.

But it's too late, and he finds himself grimacing. He's seen this happen more than once, and one such times, it almost went deep south.

He approaches to see if everyone - as in, Kim - is alright. No need to worry about Cain.

"Hey, Cain", he says.

To Kim, "Hey there. You Okay?"

Cain Marko has posed:
Sheesh - you become the embodiment of an elder god's presence on the mortal plane and suddenly cosmic rings have a problem with that!

Naturally, Cain is blissfully ignorant of such detection though he indeed would stand out. A mountain range on the landscape of mystic senses whose heights and depths may seem indiscnerable should one attempt to look for too long or too intensely. Certainly nothing a Lantern's Ring can't handle but...it's alot. He's alot.

And he's also distracted. For all his otherworldly presence his mind is fully on more 'mundane' matters.

Hot dogs.

A nearby vendor has been braving the crisp air to serve the citizenry as they make their way through the park. A sudden chill seems to pass over the vendor, as if sensing the eyes of a living earthquake upon him. The vendor looks up. Cain looks back at him.

The vendor gapes, mouth falling slack as he begins to quickly worry if he stocked up on enough dogs and buns.

Cain simply smiles and then begis to slowly turn to head i that direction.. stepping for the intersection that will take him towards the vendor, food, and distraction from his recent troubles.

And then - impact.

It's not -exactly- like just running into a wall. But...well yeah...it's pretty close. There's no reocil but he at least has the presence of mind to stop and not simply move to bowl over the poor girl as she goes sprawling backwards. Both eyebrows arc upwards in surprise and then knit back downwards in aggravation.

"H...Hey! Watch it!" he rumbles, immediately defaulting to his own sense of irritation and not if the girl is, well, alright. "Th'hell. I"m as big as a semi truck, lady. Sheesh, keep your eyes open or somethin---"

And then, Caleb is suddenl there. Cain blinks and draws back slightly, recoiling in further annoyance at the sight of the young man, "What the? Ah...great..."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Rolling her eyes, Darcy murmured out from behind the thermos clutched in her teeth with a "Mmm, 'anks 'al..." before returning to her work. Then there was the commotion, her attention pulled at Caleb's too-late-warning. Her eyes flickered toward the scene, then back to her laptop, and then there was the 'clunk' as her head jerked back and her thermos fell from her teeth as her eyes widened.

"Holy -frick,-" she exclaimed, taking in Cain's massive frame and the sight of the fallen girl on the sidewalk. For the time, she remained unengaged - simply staring and perhaps secretly enjoying the distraction from writing a lecture that she had definitely not put off writing. Listing her head to the side, she bit her bottom lip while idly rubbing her sleeve on her keyboard to mop up some coffee while her thermos rolled neglected between her feet.

John Stewart has posed:
Time for some intelligence gathering.

Instead of moving on, it was time to both kill time and observe the magical mountain of a man from afar, and John gestures to the bench where Darcy is sitting, "May I take a seat? Need a break."

John is half listening to the conversation between Cain and Caleb as he waits for an answer.

Kim Hayes has posed:
    Kim reaches for both the vape device and the chocolate bar at the same time and, like the proverbial hunter chasing two rabbits, doesn't quite get her hands on either.

    "God, why didn't you tell me there was a zamboni on the sidewalk?" she mutters, forgetting to keep her inner dialogue on quiet mode for a moment and possibly causing confusion.

    << Haze: We were distracted by chocolate and whatever those substances you've been inhaling this time are. >>

    "I mean... uhh..." Kim finally thinks to put her hands under her and give herself some leverage to get back on her feet so that she can grab her pen just as a malevolent pigeon lands on the chocolate bar and starts pecking at it.

    << Haze: Hayes! The chocolate! >>

    << Kim: No way! That pigeon's got its gross feet all over it. >>

    << Haze: Then we eat the pigeon, too! >>

    To those addressing her, the few seconds spent pulling faces instead of articulating thoughts probably come off generously as shell-shock and less generously as the continued effects of whatever affliction caused her to fail to notice Cain in the first place. She finally seems to see the giant after sweeping her eyes glassily over Caleb.

    "Oh, uh. Jeez. Umm, should we exchange insurance details...?" she asks, gawking and still sounding out of it.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"Well, I did try to warn you, but it was too late", Caleb says, kinda confused who that question was for. Him? Possibly. Maybe even probably.

To Juggs, "Well, it would've been worse if it had been me bumping into you", he says with a half smirk, "but in my case, you've just kept going."

Back to Kim, "About insurance...", looks to Cain, scratching his head, "...That's kind of a tough one."

He notices Darcy and John sitting, but he says nothing for the moment.

Cain Marko has posed:
"What th'...insurance?"

Between Ki'ms glassy eyed look, her, seemingly, random commentary and conversation with an unseen person, seeing Caleb, and watching as the hot dog vendor is using the distraction to make a hasty retreat for another part of the park... Cain is literally struck dumb and silent for a second or two. Did you knock somethin' loose up top when you hit the ground?"

There is a touch of distant sarcastic humor in the back of his mind at the thought of him needing insurance to just walk around though. It'd be...fitting..

But the immediate circumstances and his rising annoyance at the absurdity of the question tamps down on any potential good humor about it all and he grouses, "..You knock somethin' loose up in yer skull when you hit the ground or something, lady? Man...."

Well, that part of his afternoon is ruined. No hot dogs. He finally takes a second to look Kim over, searching with his gaze to see if she did sustain any sort of visible injury from the fall. As he does, his eyes briefly flicker up and just down the path towards the bench..the woman seated upon it and the man standing besides it. Naturally general foot traffic has either halted or begun shifting to move around where the little 'accident' happened so the fact that those benchward are taking note of this little event doesn't attract Cain's attention to much just yet -- but Caleb's voice cuts in and the giant snaps his attention towards him at his words.

"...What's -that- supposed t'mean, eh?" he grumbles. "..Aint I save yer life before? -Twice-? Don't gimme that guff..."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Blinking and shaking her head, Darcy gestured with a free hand to the bench. "Sure, man - sure this is the spot you want to pick though?" she asked with a snort even as she pulled her phone from a pocket - shamelessly snapping a few pictures of Cain as the scene unfolds in her most recent encounter with the strange and unusual. "That guy is -huge- isn't he? Like... 'Hey I should be part of a superhero team, or being stopped by one' huge," she remarked idly before reclaiming her thermos with a grimace and peering inside to see how much of her coffee had spilled out.

Folding up her laptop and stowing it in her satchel, she patted around at one of her pockets as she threw a quirked brow to John as he assumedly sat down. "I have a tazer if things get dicey, but I don't think it'd do much to stop -that- guy," she continued to quip as she lowered her phone and hunched forward to prop her elbows on her knees. Her nose scrunched up, scrutinizing the scene as she took a sip of her coffee while staring with rapt attention.

While to the casual observer she may have looked like an awed bystander, it was likely obvious, at least to John, that whatever training SHIELD had provided her was starting to kick in - her eyes subtly darting about to look for something of 'tactical value,' despite Cain's apparently accepting nature of the accident. That's the term her instructors used, right?

John Stewart has posed:
"I've seen bodybuilders built like him." John remarks to Darcy as he sits down, leaning back casually against the bench, his hands folding in his lap as he relaxes, "wouldn't surprise me in the slightest though." John agrees, before he offers his right hand -the one with the Power Ring on it- out for a handshake, "I don't think we need to worry about him, though. If he wanted to make trouble, I think he'd have done it by now."

Kim Hayes has posed:
    Kim is back to staring blankly at the huge Juggs in front of her for a moment as she deals with some intrusive thoughts.

    << Haze: We should have bonded with this one instead. >>

    << Kim: Wow. Rude. Why don't you go bond with him now then? >>

    << Haze: At least he'd let us eat people. >>

    << Kim: How do you know that? >>

    << Haze: Look at the size of him. He probably ate a young child this morning. >>

    Suddenly, Kim bursts out laughing. "Dumbass," she mutters with scathing mirth - before her eyes suddenly go wide. "I mean, yeah - totally. Definitely a little brain damaged. Umm, forget about it."

    She turns her eyes toward Caleb as she holds her hands high and tight at her sides, one wrapped around the pen. "Yeah, sorry, I didn't hear you over the music," she says, pointing to her ears with her fingers before realising that there's no music in them. "Oh, man! My headphones!"

    She looks around on the ground for any sign of them before her blue eyes turn up to follow the departing form of the pigeon. "Stupid pigeon," she says with a sigh, concluding (possibly quite wrongly) that the malicious sky-rat must have stolen them.

    << Haze: Told you that we should have eaten the pigeon while we had the chance. >>

    << Kim: Shut up, dude. >>

    She rolls her eyes in exasperation.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"No, I mean...", the young Gothamite says, "It's just the usual look of irritation whenever we cross paths, regardless of the circumstances." He shrugs, "Maybe I'm drawing the wrong conclusion, but I'm sure I'm not in your speed dial contacts." That is, if Cain even has his number.

Now, if there's one thing that can be said about Caleb, is that the guy does get around. And he's been to situations where the Lanterns were present. Heck, he's even been to /OA/ and met the Guardians!

So, when he sees a Power Ring, he recognizes one. In a sideglance to John, he faintly shakes his head.

Back to Kim, he ponders and pulls out a small device. "Here", he says. "You might be able track them with these."

Cain Marko has posed:
"I didn't say I didn't find you irritating." confirms Cain towards Caleb, "..Amateurish, overconfident, clumsy, and in the wrong places at the wrong time but that dont' mean I wanna trample over you.."

But he then blinks, as if just -now- registering what Kim let slip from her mouth. Cain, you see, is not a telepath. She's already coming across as strange and unusual and a little out of it...so hearing 'dumbass' ...well...despite her back pedaling it's only natural for him to assume the worst.

Cain usually assumes the worst.

"Eeeh?" he rumbles, turning his attention towards her now. "You ran into -me- lady. Where you come off calling me a dumbass? I'm trying to be nice here and all gentleman like but between the both of you and my very, very, bad past few weeks I think I'm about outta that whole 'grace and mercy' thing. Count yer blessings...."

From a distance, the giants ire is noticable. A slight shifting of his body language. Enormous hands coming up to rest on his hips and his expression becoming more and more glowering as he stares at the two infront of him.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Her head dipping in concession to the observation, Darcy nodded. "I -guess-, and i've seen smaller guys that are probably stronger," she remarked in potentially the most oblivious statement of the season. After a moment with her attention fixed on the scene - rolling her eyes at Kim's outburst but trusting in John's assessment - she turned to take his hand in her best attempt at a firm handshake. "Darcy Lewis. I'm a professor, not a student, by the way - for the sake of clarity," she explained, almost a non-sequitor had it not been for his previous comment.

The focus lent by her anxiety at the situation helped her to catch sight of the ring, recognition almost immediately flashing across her eyes as she looked up at John. "Oh, sorry, uh... s-sir? Uh... Corpsman?" she hazarded awkwardly. "I guess that's better than a tazer huh?" she asked with a dip of her chin toward his hand.

Combined with her interest in everything alien, and not entirely because of her line of work, she completely failed to miss the cues that others may have picked up on her new acquaintances identity as well as the fact that Kim's off-hand remark may have pushed things along. "What -powers- that thing? I've read some, uh... papers, can you guys just... build them?" she asked inquisitively, stuffing her phone into her pocket as her attention turned to John.

Kim Hayes has posed:
    Kim turns to look at the device that Caleb is offering her, accepting it with an uncertain expression as she cocks her head to one side. She's just starting to raise an eyebrow suspiciously when Cain turns his ire on her.

    "What...?"

    Suddenly, she gets a deer-in-headlights look.

    Well, even more of a deer-in-headlights look. This particular deer seems like it might even be experiencing the phenomenon of sunlight for the first time.

    "No! No. /I'm/ the dumbass!" she's suddenly insisting. "My ass is definitely the dumbest. I'm just like, gonna go hunt down a pigeon... or maybe some new headphones."

    << Haze: Forget the pigeon. We need chocolate. >>

    "Or chocolate."

    << Haze: There's still some on the ground there. >>

    Kim's eyes turn toward the chocolate bar on the ground.

    << Kim: I'm not eating that. It has pigeon crap on it. >>

    << Haze: Your estimations of what is acceptable and unacceptable to ingest continue to baffle us, Hayes... >>

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"Well, we all start somewhere, but..."

And, when Juggs reacts to 'dumbass', his blood runs cold. And it's not getting any better when the big guy's posture shifts into a more aggressive stance.

"WHOAH!!", he exclaims. "Whoah! Whoah there, man!" He points at her, "Either she's concussed, or she's calling herself a dumbass because she should know better than to not pay attention!" Trying to diffuse a situation here, and look, no weapons drawn. If he's been called amateurish, overconfident, clumsy, and more, this is one of those attempts where he's trying to make up for it. "And I don't think we're worth being trampled over for a misunderstanding... Right?"

A quick glance to John, and to Darcy. Holding out a hand for them to take no action.

John Stewart has posed:
"Oh, I'm surprised someone can recognize it at a glance. Though I can tell you have some situational awareness mindset to you." John notes as he watches Darcy, "tell you what, Darcy. I'd be happy to discuss the particulars of the Corps with you when I'm not keeping an eye on the potential powder keg. I know this nice place over yonder." His eyes flit over in the direction of the city proper, before going back to Darcy, "and while it doesn't need to be a date, I'll have plenty of time for that line after this."

His eyes glance to Cain then as the more aggressive stance is seen, but John still doesn't interfere yet, "It is safe to say that being on this bench with me is probably the safest place for you right now though, yes." John adds.

Cain Marko has posed:
It's rather like having an earthquake of volcano get personally offended at you. Cain peers at Kim and then as Caleb intervenes it..really doesn't help matters.

"You're already a two million dollar ticket waiting for me to just turn in when I get bored, so don't push yer luck!" he snaps at the young man. Probably random sounding to others present but -he- knows. Oh yes. He knows.

But then..something seems to trigger inside of him and just like that...Cain begins to calm down. His face sets into a sort of petulant look of mild annoyance and frustration and he finally grunts and acknowledges. "Yeah, yer probably right though... Yer both lucky I'm tryin' to be on my 'good behavior'. Tryin' to get on the 'Nice list' for CHristmas or something. I'll probably screw it up in a few more days but yer lucky you caught me when you did. Both of ya.."

He looks between the two once more, letting his eyes linger heavily on them both and then he finally turns and starts walking away, moving along the path that will take him past the bench occupied by the other two.

As if to add final insult to injury, his massive booted feet brush past the chocolate and against it, smushign part of it and kicking away the rest towards the grass. Cain grunts, seeing that but keeps moving. "Great..what else.." he rumbles. It is -then- that he sees the glint of the ring on John's finger. He arcs an eyebrow. Recognition flashing into his ice blue eyes followed by a furrowed brow as if thinking. He looks John over briefly but then just ends up smirking lightly as he starts to trundle past the two like a passing Freighter. "..Riiiiigggght...."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
"Date? Yeah, right - definitely not. It's not like it's Fleet Week and the Marines are walking around," Darcy retorted with another snort at the comment, "But I mean you just-" she began to protest before following John's gaze back toward Cain. "Ah..." she finished, shoulders lifting as if trying to turtle between them for safety's sake.

Her eyes dropped for a moment, a hand darting into the pocket of her coat to finger at something within, before lifting up to fix on Caleb's gesture to try and stave off interference. "You get the big guy - i'll get the little one if it comes to it, and uh... then I have to get back to writing my paper..." she suggested before suddenly... nothing was happening. Her eyes followed Cain as he passed, lifting a free hand to wave sheepishly before shaking her head and looking back toward the remaining three people incredulously. "Holy -smokes- he's big."

Kim Hayes has posed:
    "Oh, yeah... probably concussed."

    It's less alarming and less damning an explanation than the two less-obvious factors that are actually contributing to the general air of stupor that surrounds the young woman who's almost managed to make roadkill of herself. Neither being intoxicated on a Saturday afternoon nor sharing brain space with a brain-eating alien are likely to be well regarded.

    "Umm, Merry Christmas," Kim offers to the back of the departing giant, lifting a hand to give a small wave at him. "What was that about two million dollars...?" she starts to ask.

    However, there are more important things to consider at the moment.

    << Haze: Forget about the currency. We need more chocolate. >>

    "Yeah, okay, I guess..." Kim says, stepping back off the path so that she can take a deep puff from her pen and looking just a bit more dazed for having done so, before she starts walking off down the trail in search of a convenience store, one hand stuffed in the kangaroo pocket of her hoodie.

    "Oh, uhh, thanks," she says, looking over her shoulder as she calls out to Caleb.

John Stewart has posed:
"Oh really? Don't think I'd be interested, or just not interested yourself?" John asks, genuinely curious now, "I just came back to Earth, so I have plenty of time, but-" And then he sees Cain coming this way.

John, for his part, doesn't move, and doesn't even tense up. he's completely relaxed as the fellow Freightor passes them by, and seeing the recognition of his Power Ring in the other man, John offers a wave to Cain, "having fun, I see." John quips to Cain.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
When Cain mentions the two million dollar thing, his expression changes. As in, from a light-hearted mannerism to something cold and calculistic. Defenses upon defenses, plans within plans, contingencies upon contingencies.

He doesn't look at Cain when he passes him by. It's really like someone flipped a switch and he's on 'standby' mode.

This changes when Kim asks about the two million dollars, and just looks at her with the same stare. It's a 'don't ask - now or ever again' stare.

He looks at John, then at Darcy, studying and assessing.

Then he turns to leave, "Excuse me."

Cain Marko has posed:
The change from Caleb is noticed. Cain isn't oblivious. Just direct and single minded. But he is also dismissive of his own words when he doesn't see them as having immediate consequence. Caleb'll get over it. That's how he sees it.

The quip from John does cause Cain to stop and he turns slightly, inclining his head and narrowing his eyes as if ...actually considering the question with all due seriousness.

Then: "Naw." Cain chuckles and starts to move again, " If I was havin' fun it'd have triggered seismometers on the west coast.." responds the giant with a slight smirk as he glances sideways at John. His grin grows a bit, almost shark like as he eyes the Lantern and then casts a glance to Darcy and then finally back to Caleb and Kilm.

"Laters, chum!" he rumbles with a dismissive wave of his hand, back to everyone now, and once again continuing on his lumbering inexorable trek across the rest of the park.