| A Tiger and an Elf Walk Into …. |
| Summary: | Tigra comes to New York, encounters Nightcrawler |
| Date: | (2014-11-10) |
| Related: | NA |
| NPCs: | NA |
| Scene Runner: | Mutual |
| Social/Plot: | Social |
| Players: |
 .. .. |
New York, New York. Bright lights, big city. The one Tigra's from has a whole lot of people in it as well, but no two cities are quite the same. Different downtowns, different metro areas, different buildings, and as important as anything, different people. Through one method or another, she's found her way to this Northeastern place, the weather getting cooler as the year draws toward its end, but not quite cold enough for breath to form on the air. Another week and that may change.
What's the cold matter to someone with fur, anyway? Here in northern Manhattan, the feline's found a convenient perch atop a water tower on a building of moderate height for the area, simply studying who and what is around and below. She even sits much like a cat, hands and feet close together with her tail weaving and winding its way behind her as sunlight and shadow both touch her thanks to another building in the way. Just how long she's been sitting like this, who can say?
Usual suspects, or denizens, down below. People living out their lives, dealing with drops in temperatures, preparing for winter now that Halloween is over and Turkey-feasting is nearly at hand for those who celebrate said days. Either the case, one thing that might get some interest for Tigra is not the people below, but the one up here. Not a maintenance man, not really a regular person. Something of a blue streak, or randomly moving blue dot. From a few buildings away she'll probably take such notice.
The blue man/elf is jumping about, running, tumbling, doing flips and such. At one point he jumps over a gap far too big to make even at his agility level, where he flips and falls towards a street between two buildings but then a moment later he appears over the next roof top and continues to make his way on the row of builings towards near the water tower. In fact, he might be coming for the water tower because of its height even. No notice of Tigra as of this moment, but his doing his elf style exercises and nearing the tower.
Motion spotted out of the corner of a green eye, and Tigra's attention snaps toward Nightcrawler, latching on with an initially intense stare. Prey? Bird? Something else? Definitely something else. *sniffsniff* at a strange-looking puff of smoke, then a sudden reappearance of the one off that way in a costume of his own. Eyes narrow to slits and, no doubt, she's going through her memory to figure out whether or not she's seen this one in the news before. Meanwhile, she moves slightly further into shadow, watching and waiting in the short moments to follow, since he's coming her way. What to do, what to do…
A few strides, on all fours, and Kurt is springing hand over foot towars the Water Tower itself. He disappears in the shadow of it, unless Tigra comes forward to look more directly down at him. Either way, he'll make his presence known again with a thud or clang, as his body strikes the legs of the old water tower, and then he climbs it. Like wall walking, or crawling, he simply starts scampering up the side of the tower itself. That moves into a four-leg stride of him coming up. Gaining speed, he'll save the last few meters to throw his body up and twist to land atop the tower and give a look around even. It is a good perch after all. He is unaware if there might be a guest with him.
By the time Nightcrawler's reached the same building, Tigra's figured out enough of what she needs to know to consider him safe instead of the alternative, so a tenseness in her body returns to a more relaxed state. Now she studies him more out of curiosity than anything else and, since he hasn't taken notice of her just yet, she slinks down and back just enough that the angle of the water tower's roof helps hide her from him. That is, until he's landed on the side of it and begun to climb. Just before he actually reaches the top, he'll find her (and, roughly, her shoulders) leaning over with her claws gripping the edge to smile widely at him. "My perch. Get your own."
A pause, a stumble. A loss of grace, but that Kurt's body adheres to buildings, he might of fallen right of the tower itself. Getting his compuser to look up the building. "Ja, apologies, frauline, I did not see this one …" He is about to finish but looks up, finding someone orange, feline, with claws. This gives the man of compsure a lack of for the moment. "Really, your's … but you could share perhaps?" His voice thick German, but practiced English that is understandable even with the v sound over w's and lots of hard c/K sounds. He is grinning, but keeping to his place, his own canines flowing in teh breeze.
The way she leans, some of Tigra's hair falls over her forehead and face. In a quick toss of her head, it's swept back into place. She eyes him with similar intensity as before, opening the door to him taking it as a predatory look of sorts, then it passes. "Not your fault. Most people don't think about tigers on water towers, do they?" Scooting back, she gives a nod toward an open part of the thing's rooftop. "There's room. And I just /had/ to do that, you know." Tail's twitchy, giving away that playful side.
"Ja, and few people think about elves on water towers," grins Kurt, coming forward, almost all the way up. "You did have to, and interestingly enough Kat-chen, this tower will hence forth always be yours by my reckoning." He moves to come up. His own tail a hint of twitchy, maybe it notices her tail and joins in, having its own mind apparently. "Its a great perch, and a great view. I am jealous you discovered if first, I'll admit." He'll move to crouch, which seems natural for him, perhaps for her too.
"Birds have been here before, but you can't blame them for keeping away now," says the striped one, squinting down at past evidence of, perhaps, a pigeon in the form of dried droppings. "It lets me see a lot, but if you think I'm marking it…" Her words trail off and she steals a glance at his own tail, then comes an amused sniff-snort as she goes back to her earlier way of sitting, hands and feet close together. "I forgot your name, but I've seen pictures of you before." Her right hand moves to gesture at herself, touching her chest. "Tigra." Then, back down again.
Not quite close at his hands and feet, his crouch similar at least. "Nein, I cannot. They will return in do time, it will never be ours but for the moment we are here." A bend philosophical, a grin as he looks out to the city after watching her tail again. "Kurt … Wagner. Its the whole family business thing. Not something cool, or, well, I did have a circus name for a while. But ja, just Kurt." Forgetting the city about for the moment, he turns to look at her again, "Tigra, I like that, your choice, or did someone sort of slap it on you, and it stuck?"
Tigra's shoulders shift in a shrug at the mention of the birds. "I think they'll find another spot for a while." Then she shakes her head. "No, no, no. Not your real name, the other one. Like mine. And it just kind of is. Simple, and it fits." Though she keeps partial attention on him, she's still caught up with studying the city from this perspective. "…and I thought Chicago was big. Then I came here."
"Ja, the size doesn't escape the mind, especially from up here and it being a sea of buildings out there." He points out a moment, more with his tail, one hand joining in. Then a grin, "So, my other name. I sort of sticking with Nightcrawler. My adopted family sort of gave it to me, and I like it. I mean, people might not think better of Kurt if they saw me running up buildings or flipping around. Its just hard to escape the real name with some of the media attention I've had in the past.
"Sounds like you've seen a lot," Tigra answers, though she's staring down at someone far below, watching otherwise quietly until he descends the steps into the subway. "I've only been here a few hours. This is one of the first things I like to do when I go somewhere - get a feel for the place in ways others can't. Smells mostly the same as Chicago, I know that much." Her nose wrinkles along with that, then she's leaning closer to give Nightcrawler an obvious sniff at the shoulder. "Or maybe it's just you."
"Ja, maybe, I don't know, I figure we all have our own differences. What you've seen and done, what I've seen and done, different - no more, no less, just different is all," grins Kurt with that idea. Then pausing in consideration of that last bit, "Wait, is that like … a joke, I stink or is it being like Chicago a good thing, cause that's your home." He is joking at wondering if he should be offended by the smell comparison, she could tell him he does stink and he'll probably try to figure out a way to be less offensive in that deparment.
Tigra shakes her head, drawing back within her own personal space after invading his. She's watching him more now, however. "I haven't done much yet, but Chicago doesn't have many people like us. It's not New York City, or Metropolis, or Gotham City that way. I figured I'd come here and see what things are like." As he grins and uses his humor to respond to the question of stench, she says flatly, "It's like rotten eggs or something. Why is that?"
Not put off from the initial sniff, he doesn't ponder his personal space as being private for the moment it seems. Kurt considers that, "Well, Charles thinks its because I travel through another dimension." He doesn't know how long she watched him and pauses, "I can teleport too, not just the blue fuzz and tail thing." For all his metahuman traits. "So, I pull some with me, rotten eggs, but closer to brimstone, I like to think its got that trace of like sulfur, or something sort of on fire. But, ya, to everyone else, its rotten eggs … sorry."
Now that she's got her answer, Tigra squints at the explanation but seems to accept it for what it is, including its sincerity. "I guess everyone's got their 'thing,' right? I mean, I'm a cat person now." She does take the bait, laid out for her or not, in wondering, "Charles? Anyway, teleporting's gotta be fun. I bet it saves on gas."
"It does, ja, I don't have to use a car much anymore, but can't get over the ocean," explains Kurt, "Limited range. But fun, if you ever want to try it, I can take another person with me, no problems. But its like an extreme rollercoaster, either you feel sick or you love it." He shrugs, to each their own tastes, he likes it and has gotten used to it. "Charles is, he studied mutations before the day we all sort of came out, so he's really good with the metagene. One of the normal looking people that enjoys the company of those that look, well, like us. He's overseas now, otherwise I'd try to introduce you to him if you liked." Look more at her, her fur, the colors, "So, it just happened for you two, that one day in 2010, we just all sort of became who we really are?"
"Maybe another time. I'd rather not risk losing my breakfast, especially if it ends up on you," Tigra answers with a small wave of a hand to pass on the offer. It's the rest of what he goes into that's got more of her attention. "Ahhh, right. The mutant chromosome. I've read a little about it." Then there's a dip of her head to acknowledge the news shared about where the Charles guy is, or rather isn't, and she shakes her head. "No, it wasn't anything like that. Much different."
A grin, Kurt repeats, "Mutant chromosome." Liking it, or the name its given. Metagene is good enough for him, but no shame in enjoying being called mutant sometimes either. "Can I ask what it was like? I don't want to pry, maybe that's personal. Color me interested, not like everyday I just run into beautful woman that sort of look like tigers, named Tigra, who are willing to talk with me. And its sort of, mutual ground?" That they both look different for their own reasons, but different in a similar fashion.
Tigra remarks, "I know a thing or two about science. Wouldn't have thought so, would you?" However, she visibly shuts down at the probing question, even with it asked the way he does by adding in a compliment or two. "Sorry, it /is/ a little personal. Some bad stuff was going on and the important thing is I stopped it afterward. I'm still coming to terms with all the changes." As if seeking to reassure him, she extends a hand to touch his forearm for a moment. "It's not you. It's me." A moment later she seems back to her more bubbly self as she laughs, hand withdrawn again. "Oh my God, that sounds like exactly what I'd say if I was breaking up with someone!"
"And I'm crushed," grins Kurt, not at all put off by the touch to his forearm, almost welcoming of it even. "I want my records back, but you can keep the album of our trip to Tahiti." All in good sport. "Its your story, its yours to tell. I'm only curious but I won't pry, that is for you to give as you see fit." As if to show he's good with her not telling him even. His tail will come to touch her hand on his arm, joining the mutual reassurance gesture in his own way. "I find the science interesting, I wonder how many people would of thought political science and international law was my thing if I hadn't of come out like this while already being a CEO? I think people still find it curious, especially my gypsy friends." A pause, "And it worked, you breaking up with me like this … way better than texting me."
"I'm just not ready to go into all of it yet, not in the first few minutes of talking to someone. It's big stuff," Tigra explains, eyeing Nightcrawler's tail and the greater level of control he has over it than she does with hers. Lightning quick, that hand snaps to grab at the spaded tip then let go, gently enough if it works. "Hmnf. Tahiti. We vacationed there once, my parents and I." Once all limbs are back within personal safe zones, she draws her knees up closer to her and wraps her arms around them. "I was working toward a science degree, but that's kind of on hold. As for you..I dunno. It depends on what you like doing, and what you know." There's another snort at the last of what he says, but no other response.
The tail is caught, it doesn't make move to escape so much either, more caught that she turns to grab it. The tail does go back to personal safe zones then, he saves forward touches to her if she pushes for one again. "I use to enjoy politics and business acumen in the international theatre, but since this." He looks down at himself, "I found new ways to have fun." Then a shrug, a chuckle, "And sure, our digital photo album isn't from Tahiti then. I'll take it your not a beach sort of gal? If not than snow covered mountains, reminds me of home. Far from Chicago … Stuttgart is close to home, the biggest city at least. Southern Germany, what people used to call Bavaria. Lots of skiing nearby, a few hours drive in nearly any direction depending on the time of year." He distinctly avoids mentioned her past, giving it to hers, big as it may be, to let go without him prodding at all.
"Politics are stupid," Tigra declares, amending, "Rather, the people who never bother to think outside their own shut-in existences are stupid, and they have the worst impact on everyone else." Opinionated tigress, to say the least. "But, fun? Yeah, fun is good. I came here to have some fun, but also to see what's what and decide if I want to move here or somewhere else." Then she admits, "I'm still working out just what kind of gal I am now. Sounds like there's a lot to see back where home is for you, but for now..I gotta go." She rises and rolls her head side to side to work out a kink or two, then adds, "If you want to talk again, come back around when it gets dark, tonight or tomorrow. If you do that little trick again you did earlier.." Another sniff at the shoulder follows, "..I think I can find you easily enough. Bye!" Now it's her turn to show off, leaning forward to free-fall from the tower, only to catch the edge of the rooftop, crouch, and spring out with her body fully extended to leap across the gap and land in a full run on a lower rooftop, bounding off for parts unknown.