10566/Remembered Joy

Remembered Joy
Date of Scene:	25 March 2022
Location:	Empire State University
Synopsis:	Brainy inspires Alexander and Kate to embrace their inner child once more.
Cast of Characters:	Alexander Aaron, Kate Cha, Brainiac 5

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Alexander Aaron has posed:
    A rainy day can often be a dreary day.
    The grey heaviness of the clouds hanging low, the aftermath of the rainfall making all the trees seem to droop, and that whisk of tires rolling through puddles serve to lend a feeling of low energy all through the campus of Empire State University. Despite it being Jobs Week with a career fair in full swing, it's lost some of its excitement considering they had to move all of the booths and displays inside.
    But for the people who venture outside, at least there aren't as many people out and about so the quad mostly belongs to those few brave enough to venture into the cold wet wild. Which, at the moment, seems to be Alexander Aaron and his compatriot... Ms. Kate Cha.
    Lunch has been had, and now it was all time to chat and converse. A handful of friends were lounging around on the slick steps of the library which is where the young Olympian stood facing the young Asian woman. He held his hands out, palms up and in turn nodded for her to places hers on top of his.
    "So, when I was two... this was a game my dad taught me, and told me was the foundation of fencing." The tall blond man had a backpack over one shoulder, and a leather jacket on above a pair of blue jeans. His smile is wry as he tilts his head at Kate, while around them some of their friends looked on.

Kate Cha has posed:
"When I was six I played this. And no one mentioned fencing. Are you serious or is that something our Dad made up to try to make it sound cooler than slapping the shit out of your friends?"

Kate put her hands lightly atop his. Barely making contact. And when she imagined he was about to move, she yanked her hands back. Of course, he hadn't moved so she just looked like a goof but that was pretty much what happened with this particular game.

"You better not hit me too hard." She is positive she'll get hit. But this was about reading an opponent and figuring out what they were going to do. Anticipating as much as sensing and reacting. She did that all the time in martial arts, right?

Why did she have the feeling this was still going to sting? She carefully placed her hands again, that tentative not wanting to really put her hands there obvious in her stance.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    To some, a rainy day is a dreary day. To others, it is a day to experience the glories that come from water falling from the skies. Not many fall into that latter category, but Brainiac-5 is one of them. The youthful looking Brainiac-5 walks along the pathway, eyes up towards the sky, hands out as if to feel the rainwater. He is not exactly dressed for the weather - he is wearing what appears to be some kind of space-age jumpsuit, in a never quite fashionable purple color. His skin is a light olive colored complexion, perfectly normal human colors. And his face looks like a perfectly normal human face. If not for the fact that he appears to be a grown young man who is fascinated by the rain. Which is probably far from normal.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    There's a slight twist to Alexander's smile, it reaches his eyes and then even his ears as they rise just a little. Clearly amused. "Seriously, Eastern Europe. Poland and Hungary both argue about who did it first, but yeah. Fencing." There's a slight lift of his shoulder that might have been what got Kate to flinch that one time, but he shakes his head.
    "The slapping is yeah, for kids. But also get them used to pain a bit." He lightly lifts the other hand, watching his opponent's eyes then shaking his head a little, "Don't be afraid."
    Then, affecting his best Patrick Swayze voice, "Pain don't hurt none."
    Of course /that/ is when he slaps. Which causes his grin to widen, but that is also the moment right after that he espies Brainiac wandering down the walk, enraptured by the brilliance of nature's tableau before him. His brows rise and it's clear there's curiousity in that glance away.

Kate Cha has posed:
And of course he hits. Not too hard thankfully. She went to pull her hands away but was a moment to slow and paid the price. "You know I will be Googling after this. If you made up the fencing thing, I get a free slap."

Yet she seemed amused, smiling despite him scoring a point. "Does this mean you are going to teach me fencing? Or do I have to snatch a pebble from your hand before I am worthy?"

Seeing the way he is looking, Kate glanced over as well. The curiosity was there immediately. His reaction to the rain. Admittedly, as a child she'd found rain an endless source of amusement and pleasure. Particularly the mud puddles left after. But as an adult, that innocence had faded.

"Huh." She glanced at the sky, remembering those days with a certain nostalgic fondness now that she thought about it. "You know him? Is he in any of your classes?" She didn't recognize him from her own.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
No, Brainiac-5 was definitely not a student there. Nor did his uniform seem to fit in with any of the aesthetics of the various departments near by. But it definitely looked like it was intended to be something high tech. He turns his attention back towards the path he is walking on, turning away from the rain, and instead allowing it to plaster his head to his scalp. He has a certain smile of wonder on his face as he goes along, and it is not long before he steps through a giant mud puddle.
    That also seems to inspire a smile in him, and he looks down as the water and dirt and mud splashes up to the cuffs of his pants. He tentatively reaches out to take a step again, splashing water and mud up further on to his leg. "Intriguing," he comments to himself, as he continues along the path, occasionally taking a moment to stomp in a particularly deep puddle. Much to the consternation, on occasion, of a student walking by at the same time. A few toss some colorful epithets at him as he goes, but he seems unaware of the negative attention he is garnering.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "You ever see Galaxy Quest?" Alexander says sidelong towards Kate as he pulls his hands back, then slips one under the loop of his backpack and starts to descend the steps. The allusion to the movie, at least, is made because of that wide-eyed pleasant look that B5 seems to have as he explores the nuances of Earth's weather. Yet it also makes him a little of a curiousity. And Alexander Aaron is a creature easily drawn in by his curiousity.
    Down he steps, onto the sidewalk through the quad, he starts to stroll. A glance is spared behind him for Ms. Cha, checking to see if she's following him. Yet whether or not she is doesn't change the fact that he is wandering in Brainiac's direction.
    "Hello," The Olympian's voice raises as he smiles across the way, still getting a hazing mist of rain from above but not as bad as it was an hour ago. "You seem to be having fun." Which is true, B5 did seem to be having fun.

Kate Cha has posed:
She's following. Not like a puppy but because the young stranger is stomping those puddles. It had brought a huge smile to her face. There had always just been something about it as a child. The splash. The mess. The fact that the physics of it wasn't something that was understood. It was just a fun game that the adults didn't approve of because it got clothes all messed up.

"I have seen it." Come to think of it, the costume the guy wore wasn't exact but it was sort of like those in the movie. But she was equating him more with the crew than the aliens in her mind.

"I used to love doing that. Been years," she admitted, looking at a nearby puddle in a considerate manner before glancing back to Brainy with a smile.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Turning his gaze towards the man that is offering a polite comment, as compared to scorn or complaint, Brainiac-5 offers a smile back. "Hello there!" His voice is clear, his accent seems to be rather clearly vague. Like that typical Midwestern weatherman accent that most news anchors adopt to appeal to everyone and not really being from anywhere. "Yes, I rather am. I am not used to precipitation and its impacts upon the ground. It is rather delightful to see the randomness with which it casts itself when displaced by my tread."
    He turns his gaze towards Kate, and offers her the same smile. "Why do you not do it now? Has it lost its appeal because your vision is farther from the ground and therefore the perspective has changed?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "I mean," Alexander glances sidelong at Kate, and then looks back to Brainiac. "Her vision isn't that much farther I imagine." That's right, a short joke. Perhaps stinging even more sharply than the slaps. And it's clear he didn't make it by accident with the half-smirk there on his lips.
    But then he's focused on Brainiac and he says, "We get a fair amount of it here, since we're so close to the coast. The whole cycle of events often leads to a good bit of rainfall." Hands now slid into the pockets of his jeans, he is watching with that same casual curiousity.
    "You don't have much experience with it?" He asks, not exactly leading an inquiry, but allowing the conversation to wander at its own pace.

Kate Cha has posed:
That...was not a perspective that Kate had thought of. She looked down at the ground, knowing that while she was taller, that had nothing to do with it. It was more the age that went with it. Then Alexander made his joke. "Ha ha." Her tone was not laughing and was more mocking him for such a bad joke.

Then she turned her attention back to Brainy. "I think it was more I have to do my own laundry now. So I don't see it like I used to. Instead seeing it as more work instead of fun."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"Of course it would make sense given the nature of the climate and the positioning that it would occur with greater frequency here. But it had not since I arrived, and it does not where I am from, and so this is in fact my first experience with it outside of the study of it academically." Brainiac-5 looks up again. "The accounts do not truly capture the actual feel of the raindrops upon your skin." He turns his gaze back towards Alexander. "Does the temperature of the moisture deviate based around air temperature, or does it remain mostly consistent? I do not believe I have ever read of anything that studies that."

His gaze switches over towards Kate, and immediately a frown covers his face, and he looks back in the direction that he had come, likely after some of the other students who had been a bit less kind to his stomping. "I see. I had not considered that. The patterns, while delightful, would have a tendency to soil clothing and require cleaning. That was rather inconsiderate of me."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "I...," Alexander's eyes unfocus for a moment as he looks past Brainiac an then up toward the sky as if the answers would present themselves in the very state of nature before them. Then he looks over at Kate to see if she might know and instead he offers the words that so few men seem capable of bringing themselves to say, "Don't know."
    A hand lifts to scritch at the stubble on his chin thoughtfully, "I think it would adjust based on air temperature as I've heard of snow forming high in a cloud syste and becoming freezing rain as it falls. But I've never studied it."
    Another glance is given toward Kate and he says, "You're the triple major, you should know this, Kate."

Kate Cha has posed:
That earns a wrinkling of the nose at Alexander for pointing that Kate spent far too much time in classrooms. Yet, she somehow managed to have a social life and time for activities such as the martial arts group on campus. If there was such a thing as time turners from the Potter books, someone would suspect she was using one. Of course such things are not real. So she has some other secret up her sleeve.

"Don't sweat it. They will get over it and maybe some of them had some happy memories like I did," she assures Brainy. But then she tries to address the question. "I am not an expert by any means. I seem to remember that most rain starts as snow or ice. As they move into warmer air below those levels, they turn into rain instead. Sometimes it can be drier air causing it to cool through evaporative cooling. There are even times where the air near the ground is cooler than that in between so you get warm raindrops. So yes, it can be affected by the ambient temperature in those ways. If that's what you meant."

And then she very casually takes a hop/jump, slamming into a puddle that was right next to her and Alexander. Close enough to be certain he got splattered. Unless he dodged by some spectacular means.

That was for the short joke.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"I would hope that they did. Otherwise, I have not only inconvenienced them but also provided them with a poor retrospective on younger life. That was not my goal." Brainiac-5 frowns deeper at that thought. He nods slowly as Kate explains the science of rain, patiently, until she finishes. "Yes, I know all of that rudimentary science. I was speaking experientially. Does it /feel/ different, upon your face. Based upon the air temperature."

He looks over to Alexander, apparently deciding that he is in greater need of the scientific explanation. "Once on your body it will feel cool as it evaporates, drawing the heat from your body to it as it transfers into a gaseous state. That is the phenomenon that has led to the evolutionary benefit of perspiration. Based around your physique I surmise that you are one who perspires quite a bit. Has that been your experience?"

Brainiac-5 breaks out into a broad smile as Kate joins in. "See, it is fun!" He also jumps, and stomps, on the other side of Alexander. Perhaps he can dodge one, but can he dodge two attempts to splatter him?

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Alexander seems about to add something to what Kate's saying, he even uncurls a hand to gesture to the side with it in those ancient habits of rhetoric so created by his people.
    Only for him to get caught in the middle of starting his sentence with a /splash!/ of water and some mud spattering upon his jeans and jacket and the side of his backpack. Which has his features frozen with mouth open. Then his eyebrows raise. His mouth finally shuts. His eyes narrow. And he shoots a look over at Kate while squinting.
    Which is when the second splash gets him, leaving him standing there in soaked clothes and taking a /deeep/ breath. Holding it. Then exhaling slowly.
    Only for him to then state. "Of course you know, this means war." And then? It's on. As they are about to face such wrathful sneakers stomping in puddles the likes of which few have ever seen! At least above the age of five.