1950/Park Hopping

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Park Hopping
Date of Scene: 03 June 2020
Location: Washington Square Park
Synopsis: Lara and Alexander meet in a park to talk about their college experiences.
Cast of Characters: Lara Croft, Alexander Aaron




Lara Croft has posed:
Lara was out this evening after work and on a jog. She'd gotten back to her apartment about an hour ago and had changed in to exercise clothing. Now she's out at the park jogging around the perimeter of it. Tanktop, stretchy pants, sunglasses, running shoes, and sunglasses over her eyes, the Briton woman is running through the busy park down a designated jogger's path.

She's been jogging for the past twenty minutes, and is now coming to a halt near one of the vendors. She steps around some others gathered here-in and puts one hand on her hip as the other reaches for a bottle of water that she'd left at the vendor who'd said he'd watch it for her. She thanks them, smiles and then steps away, still breathing heavily as she paces back and forth.

Her eyes scan over those here, some live music being played off in the grassy area.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    They had agreed to meet, to catch up, to touch base after everything that had brought him to SHIELD and to the attention of a variety of agents. After the situation in Belize, and after the relocation of the prisoners, it still left the youth known as Alexander Aaron as a gigantic question mark regarding his place in the world.
    A question he carried with himself as well not knowing the answer.
    Though, for now, he had settled on that question mark at least perhaps being partially answered with the phrase, 'part-time student' as that fit him as well as anything else. Especially now as he sits on the bench near where he had said he would me Ms. Croft, leaning forward with his backpack slung from one shoulder. Those hazel eyes distanced as he looks after an old man wearing a blue shirt and with little sunglasses, but then he cocks an eyebrow and looks away...
    Only to see her then, some distance apart. A hand lifts to give a wave.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara was a modern woman, she liked to try to squeeze every ounce of the day for its usefulness. So this involved setting up a meting with Alexander, not in their shared apartment building, but in the park just down the block from it.

When they spot one another, she sees his wave and she lowers her water bottle down after sipping from it. She walks toward him, slinging her own black bag over her shoulder and walking through a small group of people moving across her path.

When she reaches Alex, she smiles at him. "Hello again." The young British woman says, as she turns to sit down beside him on the bench. She lowers her bag down to the ground between her feet and then reaches up to sort her pony tail by pulling it forward over a shoulder and letting the dark hair drape down the center of her chest.

"How are things?" She asks him now as she looks over at him, her sunglasses hiding her eyes but her expression still showing a friendly appearance for him.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Heya," Alexander turns to the side to face her, drawing one leg up onto the seat near him, resting an arm upon the bench-back as he tilts his head curiously. "Alright. I suppose." Not exactly a strong answer, nor telling of much.
    Knowing that he does offer with a slight smirk twisting his lips, "No more weirdness of late." A beat then his eyebrows lift, "Well, no more than normal." He crinkles his nose as his gaze wanders off, spotting the older man in the blue shirt who seems to be wandering past, but slower... as if looking for someone.
    Shaking his head Alexander looks back to her and smiles a little easily, "Staying out of trouble. Best as I can." His eyes distance as he ponders then looks back, "Sort of going through a crisis of faith in this whole college thing."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara doesn't seem to notice the old man who looks a little lost. She is looking further off toward the live music performers and the dancers that are congregating around them. When Alex speaks though, she looks back over at him at the tail end of what he says.

"Staying out of trouble is good." Lara tells him, a second later showing a smile. "So my therapist says at least." She raises her water up and takes aother drink from it before she leans back on the bench and crosses her legs at the knees. The water bottle is set atop her upper leg and she looks back over at him, her head leaning forward ever so slightly.

"What is wrong with your college life?" She asks him. "Is there anyway I can help?" It's only been a year since she graduated school back in London. "Admittedly, College is a wonderful distraction and as good a way to stay out of trouble as anything can be."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Holding his head up with one hand, fingers digging into the shaggy blond hair on his head, Alexander lets his gaze wander past her as his eyes flit from person to person as they wander about that small park. He crinkles his nose a little and takes a breath before he looks back to her.
    "I can't dodge this feeling," He confesses, "That everything I'm doing now doesn't matter. That college is literally a waste of time for me more than most teenagers might say for themselves. That with who I am and the crap I'm surrounded with, I'm not going to have a life where I can sit down and enjoy archeology."
    One hand reaches down to the leg he has settled on the park bench, pulling his foot further into his lap. He nibbles at his lower lip as he ponders matters, "Like I'll be there for a time, but then something is going to happen and it's all going to be just so much nonsense."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara learned a lot about Alexander in their first meeting when she'd gone to his apartment a few doors down from her own. One of those things had been of his Olympian bloodline. She'd been thinking about that a lot since they'd last seen each other as well.

So after he says this to her, she lets his words sit in the festive atmosphere around them. She does reply though and when she does she turns to face him on the bench, legs still crossed together and her left hand holding her water bottle atop her thigh.

"Alexander." She says his name, her refined British accent punctuating every syllable of his name in a pleasing way. "You're an immortal." She reminds him, her voice soft and kept between the two of them. "College will come and go in your life's time like the blink of an eye. You're not going there to learn how to be an archaeologist... necessarily... you'll learn that later, through years of experience. You're going to college for the unique experiences it will give you on /life itself./"

Her head slowly shakes back and forth after putting emphasis on those last two words. "You're doing it to have the experience of College shape you as a person. That's why it's vital for you. It'll give you insight on things you might otherwise never get. It'll shape how you react to situations that are yet to come."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "I know, I know."
    Alexander is quick to counter, or at least roll with her words, holding up a hand as if that would be enough to stay her. He looks to the side at a snow cone vendor as he rolls past the, blue and red ice looking rather tasty in the warm Summer afternoon. But for now, for him, it's just something to look at while he thinks, letting his thoughts wander.
    "I know the whole thing of you're going there to build connections, experiences, learning how to learn, how to conduct yourself in society." He works at his lower lip a bit more but then gives a small boneless shrug as his attention returns to her.
    "I just feel like... the experiences I've already had dominate my psyche." He opens a hand, uncurling it to the side, "That no matter what I do something is going to step in and not let me do the whole college thing."
    A pause, a breath, then he murmurs, "But that could just be me being a negative nancy." He smirks a little.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's covered eyes remain on the side of Alexander's face as he looks away. When the cart's squeaky wheel does pass close by though she does spare a seconds glance, but then looks right back to the teenager beside her on the bench.

"You know what that is?" She asks him, but she leans forward a little and says in a low voice. "That's you being a human being." Lara flashes him a smile then as she straightens up again. "It's only natural. You've lived a unique life thus far in your 18 years, something I can sympathize with, I assure you. Though you're going to far exceed me in that category someday. Long after I'm gone." She holds her light smile then for a moment or two.

"You'll love college, I can see it in you. You'll be the one who encourages fun times, but also keeps the more foolhardy from getting out of hand. You'll be an important element amongst your peers, for that very reason." She shows a lopsided grin for a second then. "Want a snow cone? My treat." She moves to stand up then, amongst the lively summer park atmosphere.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Sure." Alexander says in reply to the snow cone idea, if only because it gives him time to mull over what she's said. And he does, she might well see it on his features, that way a person has as they consider something, their features moving slightly as they indulge in an inner monologue of some kind.
    But when she returns he'll be sitting there on the bench still looking off a bit, then turns his hazel eyes back to her. "What did you do for college?" A hand lifts, fingers spread as if stopping her from answer. "And don't give me some half-ass answer, seriously."
    He looks to the side and across the way to the distant silhouette of the ESU buildings perched along the street nearby, then Alex sort of half-smirks as he looks back at her, "All the parties, the things you did, tell me the most trouble you got into, the meanest thing, the best thing. All of that."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara rises and tends to the snow cones. She gets them both a 'cherry flavor' cup and returns within moments. She offers him his and settles down beside him again, raising her plastic spoon to dab at the icy treat. Her eyes are down on it as she hears his question. "I majored in Asian History." She tells him then as she looks over at him, raising the spoon up to place a sampling of it into her mouth before sliding the white plastic spoon back out from between her lips.

"I was a bike courier, which is how I paid for most of my courses and materials. Though I did have some left over funds from my days with my mentor." She's never tapped in to her family's wealth, she's avoided it and left it to sit and be unused.

"College was the first experience I had delving in to social life too, like a 'normal person'." She glances back to him and shows another faint grin. "I met a few friends who helped me get out of the shell I'd been building around myself for the previous years of my life. They got me to attend 'parties' of all things." She mockingly acts like the very notion of a party puts her off.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Accepting the snow cone he doesn't indulge. Not quite yet.
    "Oh come on," Alexander says, his tone dipping toward the chiding as he pulls his foot further into his lap as if he were sitting half-lotus style from yoga. His head cocks to the side, "You're telling me the stuff you'd tell like a recruiter or someone interviewing you for some coffee table magazine."
    His lip twitches as he finally takes his spoon from the side of the cone and digs in, ice scraping against the plastic as he nibbles on some, the small bits of frozen water crunching in his mouth as he ponders. "Tell me the personal experiences, the stuff that isn't fit to go on your wiki page or whatever."
    He uncurls a hand, "Like the details about fraternities, sororities. Dating. Parties sure. But also other things."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara hears his rebuttal to her, and it causes her to half-laugh through another bite of icy treat. When she finally composes herself and stabs the spoon back into the cup she glances back over to him. "You want me to tell you about how I had my first sexual experience with a man at a party where we were both far too drunk, and the experience far too short and not at all remotely how I ever imagined it going?" She asks then. "Is that what you're after?"


With a smile she glances down, her head shakes side to side. "Which is all true." She looks back at him then. "I wasn't in any sororities, though I did attend parties at both. I found them to be extremely boring, though my friend... Samantha... was quite a fan of them. She's the axe that broke the ice shell that was around me. Or at least chipped it down some. I owe her for that, even if not all of my experiences were positive ones."

"I look back on college fondly though. I still keep in touch with many of my teachers in fact. Especially after what took place on Yamatai. They've been enthralled with that... but... that is off topic."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "That wasn't exactly what I was after," Alexander turns his thoughts distant again, looking over his shoulder as he perhaps conjures the image of a young-er Lara Croft running around like a mad person on campus with her friend Samantha who now to him he imagines her being a gigantic battle axe of a woman purely from her characterization of such.
    He looks back at her and says, "Not exactly advice. But more..." His hand turns over, palm up as the fingers spread, "More what were the experiences you carried away with you that were so defining? Like..."
    He looks down and digs into his snow cone with the spoon and crunches more gravel-sized ice, "Everyone tells me that 'ooh college' and it's like for most people it's being out of authority's reach. That's not really a thing for me. Or it's experimenting with things, and I've covered that in a lot of ways. So... what is there that I haven't experienced already in some form?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara considers this from Alexander after he tries to further clarify his question. She takes a moment to run it through her mind, and indulge in another bite of sweet red ice. A glance over to him then with her head tilted forward, a few loose strands of hair flowing across her forehead in the summer winds.

"I think it'll give you perspective on how people your age act. You'll get to see them going through the things that you feel you've already learned. You'll be challenged to step in directions you may not have stepped before. I don't think that you've experienced things quite like it before, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it won't really provide you with anything that you need, Alexander."

She has to shake her head softly to that as she glances by a dog walker holding a leash with four dogs all pulling the walker in a bee-line toward a flock of pigeons being fed bread bits. Soon to end in pigeons flying everywhere!

"I think it shaped me into a better person. I think it helped me shrug off the awkwardness of being an only child who lived her life mostly shut away, or in the shadow of adults. I had no friends growing up, my age, mind you. I spent most of my childhood either playing with imaginary friends, or one of the house servants. So college was an awakening moment for me, a moment where I felt like I got to step into the rest of the world, the real world."

She looks back to Alex then. "Maybe it'll be a boring experience for you though... but I hope it might be something you didn't even see coming at all. Those are sometimes the best experiences."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    The pale-skinned youth listens to her, his greenish blue eyes watching the way her lips move as she speaks, considering and gauging the words as well as her features. Yet it's when she alights upon the idea of the experience shaping her when his eyebrows shoot up and he nods, perhaps finally in agreement.
    "I could see that. Socialization." His hands come together as only then does the dog walker come into his line of sight, and he can't help but smile as the canines leap and pull after the suddenly in flight flock of pigeons. The blond youth's eyes follow them, then return to her as he says. "That was the reason for Happy Harbor. I think."
    He chews the inside of his cheek, "At least I think that's why my father wanted me to go there. And, to be fair, I'm glad I did."

Lara Croft has posed:
Someone off in the distance near the drummers steps up and starts to wail on a saxophone. Epic sax man giving some mood jazz to the park now. This gets Lara to glance up and look over to him as he rocks his body to the music he's belting out.

But Alex's words draw her attention back on to him, her neighbor here in Greenwich Village. "Most of my schooling was done at home, at first by my mother and then by a tutor that was hired and brought in. Mrs Connelvar..." Lara says the name with reluctant affection. "I was so very spoiled toward her, as I wanted to focus on the subjects that only I cared about. I pity her for the level of work that she had to go through to wrangle my attention. But, yes." She takes another bite of the ice, and looks back on to Alex.

"I envy you, for your public education. Among other things." She shows a grin then at him. "Immortality, I mean, of course." She stammers there a bit at the end, having to clarify where her envy was being directed.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Probably..." Alexander says with some tension building as he draws out the last syllable, "You envy me my public education, because you were a big nerd." He nods sloooowly as if confiding in her grim news of the darkest quality and it being his heavy-hearted task to inform her of it.
    "I know it might come as a surprise to you at this point, but I am an expert in nerd identification and perception. And yes."
    He uncurls a hand toward her, "A big nerd."
    But at that his mood perhaps finally breaks as he foregos the spoon and lifts the snow-cone to his lips, even as the saxman behind him goes on a long winding trill of musical notes that don't match the youth's action at all. Nor the mood.
    But somehow jazz just fits, man.
    "What other things do you envy about me?" His head tilts to the side, grinning and on the attack, "I mean, since, there are like /so/ many things."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara is enjoying the conversation and the atmosphere of this park and when he asks that question of her she just laughs softly and shakes her head side to side. Her covered eyes look back over to him. "Oh no, that... is also not why SHIELD asked me to check in on you from time to time. I think a young man of your stature surely has a large enough ego. I don't think he needs my stroking of it to encourage it to grow any larger."

Sometimes people say things without even thinking about them.

Another spoonful of icy treat is taken and Lara laughs a little more. "And yes, I was a nerd. But not an average kind of nerd, I'll defend myself that much. It's not too normal for one to find anyone quite so dedicated to their book reading and their ancient civilization research." She grins again over at him.

"I will say, I might be encouraging you to go to college because I like the thought of my neighbor also being in the same field of career as me... so maybe it's a -bit- of personal bias on my part."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Ahh, a vested interest." Alexander says as his head lifts and he nods solemnly, chewing his lower lip as if he had discovered some deep dark secret by the woman before him. "I seeee."
    But then he takes another bite from his snowcone and pushes himself to his feet, adjusting the hang of his backpack as he stuffs one hand in his pocket but keeps munching on the ice. His lips have taken on a bright red sheen to them from the food coloring as he nudges her shoe with his.
    "Come walk with me some. I need to head home and luckily enough it's on your way back." His lip twists with amusement of the fact that they live a few doors down from each other, but then starts moseying.
    "C'mon, so slow."