ArchivedLogs:Rainbow Sherbet

Rainbow Sherbet
Dramatis Personae Ducky, Maya, Shane	2014-02-02 Part of the Morpheus TP.
Location <NYC> Tompkins Square Park - East Village
Small but popular, this tree-lined park is a perfect centerpiece to the eclectic neighborhood it resides in. Home to a number of playgrounds and courts from handball to basketball, it also houses a dog park and chess tables, providing excellent space for people watching -- especially during its frequent and often eccentric festivals, from Wigstock to its yearly Allen Ginsberg tribute Howl festival. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! On many levels, perhaps, balmy for winter in the mid-fifties and -- /and/. And the park is a /riotous/ spill of colour. Surrealist and /whimsical/ in a style that those familiar with Jackson's artwork would find /instantly/ recognizable and those not would probably just find /bright/, bright-bright-bright, the whole /city/ and its surrounding environs done up like someone tipped out paint and just kept tipping. Shane has scaled one of the tall castles in one of Tompkins Square's playgrounds and from here gotten a better vantage point than his tiny stature tends to allow. "It's bright forever," he reports to Ducky, "but then your birds probably already knew /that/. Bright forever and just keeps being oh /man/ we moved to fucking goddamn fairyland." He sounds /delighted/. "My Pa's probably in /heaven/." He's dressed fancy-like-Sunday-morning. Not that he /goes/ to church, he just always tends to be. Pinstriped slacks, vest, bowtie, dress shirt, polished-up Oxfords. Not really playground wear but he looks perfectly at home in it. The clothing might once have been some more staid colours but today the shoes are /metallic/-shiny blue and purple, the slacks peacock-iridescent green with silver pinstripes, the vest black and purple, the shirt swirled yellow and blue, the bowtie silver-black-red. Ducky is decidedly dressed down, compared to Shane, wearing what has become a standard attire for her, albeit now in a swirl of colors. For those familiar with birds, the coloration on her attire makes her resemble a Mandarin duck drake - a long sleeved t-shirt in a swirling oil slick color, though the sleeves fade to a shining blue at the ends, topped with a puffy vest striped in iridescent black and opalescent white; the shimmery brown-green jeans she wears look almost drab in comparison. A bright green hood peeks out the back of the vest, currently occupied by a disgruntled pigeon, dappled with varying shades of yellow, his beek a brilliant orange color. The short, ruffled mop of hair atop her head looks a bit brighter and coppery than the normal mousey brown shade. All of this is a bit difficult to see, however, due in part to the swarm of faeries all over her... or are those pigeons? The young woman is covered in a technicolor flock of birds, all clammoring, flapping and cooing at her simultaneously, among them piegons, sparrows, robins, and a few barn swallows. Nodding, carefully, in response to Shane, Ducky grimces, "Yeah, um, they're telling me that alright. S'kinda all they are telling me right now is that it's bright and colorful and confusing." Several ducks are waddling their way towards her, one a pink-purple gradient, the other posessing feathers that shimmer with rainbows in the light, quacking their confusion and agreement. "They can't really kinda tell what is food and what's not. This is kinda bad for them, I think. I knew I shoulda brought some birdseed with me, or something." It's probably some combination of the warmer weather and the /scenery/ that's lured Maya and Ratri out to the park. Both dog and woman look delighted, though Ratri probably more with the weather and the people than the colours, her vision not being as affected by the change as anyone else's. Maya is as colourful as anyone, salwar kameez in swirling shades of red and gold and purple, headscarf in blue and green, boots in sparkling orange and a thick wool cape-like shawl over top for warmth in a veritable tie-dyed rainbow. The /dog/ looks like a tie-dyed rainbow, too, as she lopes along into the park, stopping to sniff at every-little-thing. Maya herself is snacking on a tub of -- something, crunching into a tub of snackfood out of a large tupperware in a canvas shopping tote at her side though she pauses to rein Ratri back in as the dog starts to bound towards some of the birds. "Ratri-honey don't /bother/ them." In lieu of letting the big dog pester the birds she tosses a handful of her snack food towards the birds -- it turns out to be largely puffed rice, with a good mix of lentils and chickpeas and some potato mixed in. "-- Bad for them?" Yes, she's eavesdropping, and looks a little worried. "Oh dear. I imagine it'll have to fade though, won't it?" "Ohshit they gonna be alright? All I've got is jerky. They want jerky?" Shane digs in his pocket for a folded-up plastic bag full of jerky, already licking at his own lips. Mmm beef. "But -- shit hi." He's eying the newcomers, sniffing at the air before he looks down at them. "I know you?" He sounds a little puzzled. Sniffs again. "Pretty dog. Uh. I dunno. Something as fucking big as this, I can't -- imagine -- what the fuck. I mean, it'd take a /crap/-fucking-ton. I just can't wrap my brain around repainting New York /forever/ so I think in my brain I'm imagining it like sidewalk chalk. Like it'll all run with the rain or some shit. Wake up tomorrow back to normal." Several of the sparrows and robins leave their perches along Ducky's arms and shoulders, and at least one swallow relinquishes its hold on her puffer vest to go after the snack food tossed towards them - the ducks join in at a slow pace, continuing to grumble. "They'll be okay for now, it's just that bright colors are sometimes signifiers of food for birds, and with /everything/ being so bright and colorful, it's confusing them as to what is food and what is not," Ducky explains, as though this is perfectly normal, idly petting one of the bright blue-green pigeons on her arm. "They see things sort of differently," she says, closing her eyes briefly, "So all the colors are kinda like suddenly having their concrete jungle turned into a bunch of neon lights overnight. S'disorienting. But hopefully it'll fade, since alotta this stuff kinda fades over time, or it has been." The chatty, bird covered girl offers a smile, tilting her head slightly, "Though your dog is really pretty as a rainbow puffball." Ducky grins, and looks around at the crazy sights of the city, glancing up "No jerky for these guys, though the hawk that's been circling over head might appreciate it. Pigeons would probably like it too, sine it means they're not so much food." She shakes her head again, grinning lopsidedly, "That would be the prettiest rainstorm ever. All the colors just melting away. Like rainbow sherbert on a summer day." "How do you know all that? You study birds a lot?" Maya is eying the bird-covered girl with some curiosity, roping in Ratri's leash to keep her close at heel so that she doesn't start chasing after the birds. She scatters more of her (very rainbow-coloured) bhel puri across the ground when the birds start to go after it. "This is Ratri, she hasn't really been all that affected by the colours but she's been thrilled that there's so many /people/ out looking at them. -- Oh boy. I wuld love a rainbow sherbet rainstorm. Maybe we could have that next." Her smile widens hopefully. "Hi, by the way. I'm Maya. And I'd /also/ love a summer day. But the groundhog said that won't happen for a while." "I gotta admit I'm a /little/ skeptical about the meteorological predictions of rodents. Have you talked to many rodents most of them are dumb as fuck. Actually no I love rats, sharp as tacks they are, but I still don't go to them to ask when it's gonna snow." Shane leans up against the side of his castle, peering down at the birds pecking below. Then up at the eagle overhead. He fishes a few strips of jerky out from his pack, sticking one in his mouth and holding two other wide pieces in his fist. "He can have 'em if he wants," he tells Ducky. And to Maya: "Y'sure we haven't met? Huh. -- No I totally want chocolate rain you guys." His teeth bare in a wide (jerky-clenched in them) grin. "But," he admits through his clenchy-teethed grin, "rainbow sherbet rain would be prettier." Ducky offers a sheepish smile at the question of just /how/ she knows all of that, but she nods, "Yeah. S'kinda what I'm good at. I read about birds a lot, and kinda tend to retain that sort of thing. I want to go into avian medicine or environmental protection or something when I'm older, but for now I'm just a wellspring of useless bird facts." She grins cheerily, tilting her head in a somewhat birdlike manner - several of the birds seem to mimic the motion as well, cooing and fluttering their wings as they do. Several more leave her person as the next handful of snackage is offered, only to be replaced with more seemingly randomly colorful birds from the surrounding park. "Hello Maya, and Ratri," she offers in greeting, offering a somewhat halting wave due to several small birds clinging to the fabric of her sleeve, "Nice to meet you - I'm Ducky." She giggles at Shane, "Well, yeah, but eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, so it might be a trade off. Rainbow sherbert rain much bring good luck or something." Glancing up at the bird circling over head, she shrugs, as the bird seems to head off into the park, "S'ok. Apparently there's a neon blue squirrel in the pink tree over there. Kinda stands out." "Oh! Like a bird vet, that's so neat. One of my brothers is a vet. I think my parents would have loved if I was one but I -- I don't think we've met," Maya switches topics mid-stream, with a shake of her head and a small laugh. "/Goodness/ they seem to love you. Do you want some bhel puri for them?" She offers out the tupperware towards Ducky. "NOt that you really need it they're all over you already." She looks up overhead towards the eagle, eyes widening in awe. "Oh wow! I don't see a lot of those this far into the city. Sometimes in Central Park though. -- I think we've had enough chaos already, don't you? Eternal would be a bit much. But /chocolate rain/ you guys. I can put up with a little discord for that." "Blue squirrel?" Shane's head turns in a sudden snap of motion. "No I'm getting it first." And suddenly he's off like a /rocket/, /leaping/ his way out of the castle to /race/ across the park for the pink tree.