19423/An Uncomfortable Day at the Museum

An Uncomfortable Day at the Museum
Date of Scene:	03 November 2024
Location:	American Museum of Natural History
Synopsis:	Gabriel and Minoke meet and have a nice chat before Gabriel has to dash off when a mark belatedly notices he's been pickpocketed.
Cast of Characters:	Gabriel Togashi, Minoke

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Gabriel Togashi has posed:
As most Saturday afternoons, the American Museum of Natural History is packed. Today it seems to be mostly families bringing their kids to see the animal displays. In particular, the area around the elephants is particularly packed. Amongst all those families is a lone teenager, that is clearly uncomfortable, paying more attention to avoiding physical contact with the people in the crowd than really looking at the displays.

Minoke has posed:
A bit of a stir happens as a woman with green skin enters the history and heads to the weapon display, glancing at the crowd around the animals. She wanted to see what the antique weapons looked like, beeping softly as she gets to the area - trying not to bump into anyone for that would just end up badly. She finally gets there to an exhibit of Native American artifacts and looks them over curiously.

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Looking for an area with less people in it, Gabriel lets the flow of the crowd push him into the Native American wing. He's just about to let out a sigh of relief when a stage whisper of "Laney! Stop running in the museum!" is immediately followed by a tiny little girl in a sunflower sun dress barrels around the corner of one of the displays. Gabriel contorts himself to avoid her but, in the process, ends up tripping over his own feet. Instead of getting run over by the tiny terror he himself bounces off the green skinned woman. Instead of apologizing he lets out a hiss, "Oh shit!" and ducks around the back of the display Minoke's looking at.

Minoke has posed:
Minoke beeeeps in shock as someone bumped into her - it's not a very soft impact for Minoke is SURPRISINGLY solid. The pink-haired young woman turns her head to see the one who bumped her. "You should be more careful," she states, carefully walking as if the polished floor is made of eggshells as she studies the one who bumped her.

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Gabriel Togashi ignores Minoke for a few seconds. Instead of acknowledging her he's just 'hiding' behind the display, turning his hands over and over as if he was looking for something on them. After a second or two of this he lets out a long breath and relaxes. He slowly stands back up and smiles at Minoke, "I'm so sorry. I was about to get trampled by a mini-field of sunflowers. Are you OK?"

Minoke has posed:
Minoke smiles faintly. "I'm more worried about _you_ than me. Running into me isn't very smart - I'm a bit more... solid.. than I appear." She smiles faintly. "I have a big interest in metal and wanted to study these ancient weapons." She turns her gaze back to them, noting the spear.

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Gabriel Togashi nods, "I'm OK, just kind of bounced off. You are surprisingly solid." Then he blinks as something finally clicks, "And green... You're not from around here, are you?"

Minoke has posed:
Minoke nods. "Correct. I am from another world." She hesitates in saying the name - she seems a bit uncertain about it. "I am a xenoanthropologist. I am studying this world." She smiles faintly, gazing over to you. "My name is Minoke." She extends a hand towards you.

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Gabriel Togashi smiles but instead of taking the extended hands, he gives Minoke a little bow, "Nice to meet you, Minoke. I'm Gabriel." As he straightens up, he hides his hands behind his back, making it very clear he's not going to shake hands. "What does a xenoanthropologist do? I mean, anthropologists study people, right?"

Minoke has posed:
Minoke beeps softly. "Not a touchy-feely type?" she asks curiously, eyebrow raised. "Yes. 'Xeno' means 'alien'. To me, this world is alien." She trails off. "Not everyone from my world is nice. But I am." She sighs softly. "But that is true of every world. There are nice people and not-so-nice people..." She trails off, wondering why Gabriel doesn't want to touch her, wondering if he has something against green skin.

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Gabriel Togashi looks thoughtfully up at the ceiling for a moment as he decides how to answer that question... "Umm... I have to be really careful about touching people. If I'm not paying really close attention to what's going on touching people can make things... weird." With a laugh he adds, "It not you, it's me. And you're right, every large enough group has their not-nice people. I like to think I'm nice too. So what's so interesting about the spears? They're just sticks with pointy rocks at the end, right?"

Minoke has posed:
Minoke blinks. "But this is why I came - " She glances at you. "I should be safe to touch. I am not..." She trails off, not sure how to explain it. "I am not organic." She smiles faintly. "Look, those spearheads are made of copper. An interesting technique - don't think they smelted it. Just... found the copper in the environment and shaped it. Maybe heated a bit but not like modern fashions..." She can tell this just by looking at the speartips.

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Completely forgetting about the spears, Gabriel takes a moment to mull the whole "not organic" thing over before asking, "Wait. Copper... Green... Are you made of copper!? Is that why you're green!?" He doesn't touch though. At this point it would just be impolite.

Minoke has posed:
Minoke shakes her head. "Titanium. It's a stronger metal. Copper is soft and a bit too electrically conductive." She smiles softly. "The beings from my homeworld Colu are green-skinned. I emulate my creators." She smiles faintly. "And that copper is only green due to the oxidation on it from its advanced age. When in common use it'd be as shiny as modern copper."

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Gabriel Togashi rolls his eyes in an "I knew that" kind of gesture when the oxidation of copper comes up. But he's clearly intrigued by Minoke. "You creator? So, are you an AI? You speak too well to just be a robot." Then his mouth opens in a little 'o' of shock as he realizes just how rude this line of questioning might be. "Oh! You know what, forget it. Pretend I never asked, that's probably really rude!"

Minoke has posed:
Minoke nods. "That is one way of phrasing my nature, yes. It is not an offensive one. Honestly, the word 'robot' implies a level of... unintelligent programming that I wouldn't care to be associated with." She smiles. "It's normal for someone to be curious as to someone different. I don't mind." She sighs softly. "I wish we could handle the artifacts. But I understand why they don't let us."

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Gabriel Togashi's smile broadens into a grin as he gets permission to ask stuff! "Okay, so big question: Do you eat? They have a really good cafe here and I'm getting hungry. Since you can't play with the sharp, pointy, metal stuff might as well sit and chat and maybe eat for a bit."

Minoke has posed:
Minoke smiles faintly. "I cannot eat food and drink. I charge on electricity... and can eat metal to repair myself as needed." She smiles faintly. "But if you want to talk some more we could... go to the park or something? It's right near - you can get a to-go order?"

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Gabriel nods in response to the to-go-suggestion and gestures for Minoke to go ahead of him towards the cafe. As the walk he lags slightly behind, close enough to keep the conversation going but far back enough to be out of peripheral vision. After walking a few feet he spots what he's looking for, a well-to-do looking couple. As they walk by them Gabriel bumps into the man, apologizes, and then turns back to Minoke, "Seems like its just a clumsy day for me today." An observant person might notice that at some point after they started walking he put gloves on.

Minoke has posed:
Minoke raises an eyebrow. "Yeah - I have to be careful - I've broken sidewalk panels just by walking too heavily. It's just something I've gotten used to. I can't really go any lighter without compromising my bodily shape." She raises an eyebrow. "Did you intentionally run into that person?" she asks idly as the two arrived at the cafe.

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Gabriel Togashi raises an eyebrow as he gets in line for the cafe, "Nope! Just tripped over my own feet. I need new shoes." He raises a foot to show a tennis shoe that, indeed, looks much worse for wear and has a tiny bit of sole unstuck at the front tip.

Minoke has posed:
Minoke blinks. "Here - let me see that." She squats down, gets a small bit of metal out of her pocket, pokes the bit of metal in where the sole is stuck, and a moment later it's better as she raises up. "Better - made a metal patch for it that uses tiny spikes and your body weight to hold your shoe together. It won't damage you."

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Gabriel Togashi grins, "Awesome! You're a handy person to have around." Then his eyes open wide as he sees the man he just bumped into start to pat his pockets. "But, ummmm, I have to go. It was fun meeting you. IhangaroundCentralParkalot! Stopbyandchatsometime. OKbye!" And without another word he rushes out, hunching over to use the crowds as cover so the man, who is now looking around with a very angry expression on his face, can't see him.

Minoke has posed:
Minoke glances between Gabriel and the man who is patting his pocket. She looks back to Gabriel, eyebrow raised. Did he rob the man? Shame. That seems to be what happened and she didn't even notice. She sighs softly as she looks for other metallic artifacts.