2013.04.17 - Exploring Gotham

It's pretty early in the morning, grey and cloudy with cool air blowing about the city of Gotham. Yeah the hint of rain can be smelled in the air as well. Trash cans sit out on the curb of the Rec Center, with someone else bringing two more out to the curb, once he places the trashcans out, Jynn takes a moment to look up and down the street. The Rec Center isn't in the best place of Downtown but still the area around the center is up ok. It took some time, but the ares gangs and drug dealers have been pushed back a bit from the center making it safer for people to be able to easily come and go without being bothered. After a moment of looking around, Jynn begins making his way back to the front doors of the rec center.
Fern has yet to visit Gotham, and with a day stretching out in front of her, decided to get out and about early, hit some new territory, and do some exploring. She's got a long, cable knit sweater on over jeans and a t-shirt, keeping her warm in the cool morning air as she walks. She might have wandered into the wrong part of town, but she's not sure. Still, this neighborhood actually seems a little nicer than, or at least on par with, her own Harlem neighborhood. And she's got a hammer tucked into one side of the boots she wears, fairly easily reached with just a tug up of her jeans leg. She's learned to be prepared, and Warren Worthington has yet to make good on his promise to get her pepper spray and a taser. 
Opening the door to the rec center, a tall black woman comes out with four large trashbags. Quirking a brow, "Really?" is asked by Jynn. "Yeah." is all she says as she walks past him and puts the trash in the bins out on the curb. Sighing to himself, Jynn waits for the woman to come back, "I got a few errands to run, I will be back in two hours." the woman tells him. Nodding his head, "Alright, we don't open for a while anyways so it's all good." he says. The woman waves to him and walks around to the parking lot and gets into her car and drives off. Stretching out a bit, Jynn takes a final look around before turning to go inside.
Far enough down the street to have not heard the exchange, Fern has still seen the people talking outside the large building. She debates her path, head swiveling as the looks around, then offers a smile as she approaches Jynn to pass. "Mornin'," she says, her greeting mild and friendly. 
Jynn stops and turns around to look at Fern who just greeted him, "HI." he says to her, his crimson colored eyes looking at her. "Can I help you?" he asks as he watches her, but the weather thinking of playing a funny joke begins to allow the rain to fall. Sighing and not wanting to get wet, he gestures for the woman to come in, "Please come in, no need for us to get wet." he tells her.
Blue eyes meet crimson easily, no sign of any surprise at the extraordinary color, and Fern's smile strengthens. "I'm just exploring. I've never been to Gotham." She looks up as the first drops of rain fall, one hitting her in the center of the forehead, and her smile droops into a light frown. "Oh, thanks! I had hoped it would hold off. I should have come out with an umbrella." The smile is back, and she slips into the building, one hand absently fluffing her barely spattered hair. 
Quirking a brow, one don't just explore when coming to Gotham, but then again he's seen and heard other stories. Sighing a little bit, he closes the door behind her and moves to walk into the next set of doors which he holds open for Fern to enter. Once through he gestures to the couch on the opposite side of the hall. "You thirsty?" he asks curiously.
The man's sigh brings a light frown to Fern's face, but she follows along, and slips through the next set of doors as well. Her eyes drift around, and a few steps in she turns, facing the stranger. "No, thanks, I had a coffee earlier, and a bagel." And that whole 'don't take candy from strangers' adage can certainly fit with not taking beverages from them either. 
Nodding his head, Jynn walks across from the couch and reaches behind the front desk and grabs a bottle of water. "So what made you wanna come to Gotham?" he asks as he turns around and looks at the woman. Taking a moment and shaking his head, "Sorry, I'm Jynn and you are?" he asks. Noticing that she isn't flinching from his eyes due to many others having some odd looks or just out right getting away from him.
The introduction has Fern's smile ghosting back onto her lips, and she steps forward, offering her hand to shake. "I'm Fern. Jynn... that sounds like a genie's name. You can't grant wishes, can you?" There's a light humor to her tone, mirrored in the strengthening of her smile. She shrugs at the question, "Just somewhere new. People talk about it, and I've never been here, so... why not?" 
Seeing the smile coming up on her lips again, and now feeling like an ass. Jynn mentally slaps himself, "Nice to meet you Fern." he says to her. Grabbing one of the recliners not far from the couch, he brings it over and sits down. "Yeah thats what I get from time to time. But it's more Japanese then anything really." he explains. "No, I can't grant wishes." he chuckles a little. Nodding his head a little, "Well I will give you some advice, be careful while you're here." he tells her. "If you heard about Gotham, you wanna make sure you take care of yourself." he tells her.
Fern moves over and plops down onto the couch, a little less wary with introductions made. It's not often that someone bothers to give you their name if they have nefarious intentions in mind. "It would be kinda fun to be able to grant wishes, but then there would be people who would never leave you alone. It's probably better not to be able to," she decides. Her head nods at the advice, "I'll be careful. But it hasn't seemed like a very bad place." At least there aren't any zombies or werewolves or anything else weird. Yet. 
Shaking his head, "I wouldn't think so. Most people would only look for things that would benefit them or harm someone else." he sighs. Looking up at the clock on the wall behind the couch, Jynn notes the time and leans back in the recliner. And no he isn't up to anything nefarious or anything. "You will see that part of Gotham depending on how long you stay." A bit of a frown creases his lips, "Don't get me wrong, Gotham can be good, but the darker elements are here in plain sight, so that's why I advise caution." Looking around the halls, the Rec Center is pretty clean, no graffiti anywhere.
Fern nods, taking in the advice and even more glad she's got her trusty hammer near to hand. The weight of it against her leg is reassuring, if nothing else. Curious eyes scan around, "Well, I'll try not to stay long enough for that then." Her voice is light, and her eyes settle back on Jynn. "Do you work here?" 
Not knowing of the weapon she is carrying, Jynn does seem to be sizing her up a bit then allows his eyes to settle on her face. She is cute, but then again he's seen too much from cute women, but still she seems to have a good heart. "Enjoy yourself just be careful is all." Smirking a little bit when asked if he works here. "Yes, I do." he tells her easily. "We try to keep this place going as best we can. None of us who work here don't want the kids to feel that there is no one out there looking out for them. We have a lot of programs here for them as well as for adults."
Folding her arms, Fern leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees, "That's cool. So you try and keep them off the streets and out of trouble?" She's naturally curious about things, and brings up another question immediately, "What kinds of programs? We have a rec center back home, and they're always doing stuff for kids and seniors. I used to help out there. I learned how to make a macrame plant hanger and pot holders." 
Watching Fern, especially as now she is more curious as to what they do here, "Well we offer many things, self-defense classes, we have basketball, football, soccer. We offer tutoring for all grade levels, and have some teachers that come here from different schools to help out. Gymnastics, art, we have a anime club, martial arts club, dance. We offer things for adults and seniors alike as well. We don't have too much, and only afford only so much at one time. But we make due." he tells her.
Light brows lift a measure at the extent of the programs, and Fern nods, "That's cool. Lot of stuff, nice variety. The tutoring is nice, grades are important." One hand raises and she props her chin on the palm, "What do you do? Teach anything specifically or just do whatever's needed?" 
"We try to keep as many things going as we can, and surprisingly we do get a fair number of volunteers which helps out a lot." Jynn does look a bit relaxed more so now that they are talking about the center itself. "Grades are and even though you do have your fair share of hard asses who want to do things the hard way, they still make it to tutoring sessions from time to time." he laughs. When asked about himself Jynn shrugs, "I do whatever needs done around here. Cleaning, maintenance..." Another voice comes out, "He teaches here too. Jynn you need to stop down playing what you help the adults and kids around here." the woman he was talking to earlier rushes in and goes into an office behind the front desk. Then coming out of it with a briefcase, "Forgot it again didn't you." Jynn retorts. "Oh boy shut up, don't start with me this morning." he woman says as she chuckles and heads out the doors again. Sighing, "That's Therese, she runs this place." Jynn tells Fern.
Fern sits up as the woman bustles in, ready to stand if necessary, but the quick exchange brings a bemused look to her face. "She seems nice." It was a brief exchange, sure, but sometimes that's all it takes. And, logically, it seems she would be nice, running a center like this. "So what do you teach?" she asks, following up on Therese's words. 
Great Therese, thanks. Is what goes through his mind right now, but then again if any of the kids were here, they would've probably narced on him too. "I teach our centers Wushu and Wing Chun classes." he tells her. "We do have another instructor who is the main person teaching, I'm just an assistant who is studying under the same person as well." Looking to Fern for a moment, "Like I said, Gotham isn't the most friendliest place, but the kung fu classes helps people be a bit more aware and all students know they aren't to show off to their friends or show off in general. They take what they learn and only use it when there is no other choice. Also it's a good workout." he adds.
There's a light frown at the unfamiliar names, and Fern fleetingly thinks she's seen them both on a menu, but as Jynn goes on it becomes more clear. Martial arts! Of course. Not food. *cough* She nods, offering, "I've been thinking about asking some of my friends to teach me some stuff. No matter where you are, you can always walk into something... dangerous." 
Watching the reaction of of Fern as she tries to grasp what the styles are, but once he sees that recognition he smiles. "Well if your going to be around here for a while, I wouldn't mind teaching you, because honestly. The world isn't all flowers and peaches, it's always a good idea to learn some sort of self-defense. Most self-defense classes that I've seen and researched isn't overly better then others. So learning an actual style could help, but anyways, if you wanna learn let me know, I wouldn't mind helping you."
Fern's head tilts at the offer, "Thanks, that's really nice. I don't know how often I might make it by here, though. I work in Brooklyn, and I go on auditions and stuff, so the only real time I have is my days off." She pauses, considering, "Still, it would be good to know more than one way to defend myself." 
Nodding his head, "No prob, whenever you find yourself in Gotham let me know." he tells her. Jynn quirks a brow, "You a model or actress?" he asks. Hearing key words audition, thinking she is a model or actress, which is interesting. "I see it as keeping yourself safe and being alert. Those who allow themselves to be victims...." he pauses. "Sorry, I just think people can't always think they will be safe and the Police will always be there." he says honestly.
"I'm an actress," Fern offers readily to the question. "Not a very successful one yet, but that'll come in time." At least she's clearly not defeated by rejection, but if that were the case she'd have no business coming to The Big City in the first place. Her brows lift again, and she nods rapidly in agreement. "Oh yeah, I've already learned that. There's a lot of weird stuff that goes on." And sometimes, it actually preferable to avoid the police! 
Smiling a little at that, he was right. Well she is attractive and so far has smarts which is very good, "Don't worry about it, all good things come in time. The fact that you keep going shows you have strength to pursue your career." he tells her. Jynn glances at the clock and sees he needs to get back to work, but her comment about already learning how to protect herself. "Well hey if your going to be around for a while, you can always come here and hang out." he tells her. "But for now I need to get back to work, if it's still raining out, you can hang here." he offers.
Pushing to her feet, Fern has a grin ready for Jynn. "I'm just tenacious. My brothers call me the terrier of the family." She pulls her sweater around herself, offering her hand again. "It was nice to meetcha, Jynn. Maybe I'll be back." She fishes in her pocket, producing a little card, several of which she always carries. "This is where I work, Anita Bella. If you're in Brooklyn and want some great Italian food, stop in." She steps toward the doors, "I don't think I'll melt in the rain, but if it's coming down in buckets I'll stick around. Don't work too hard," she offers brightly in parting. 
Jynn meets her grin with a warm smile, "Well keep that spirit and nothing will knock you down." he tells her easily. Jynn takes her hand and shakes it gently. As his hand closes around hers, she will feel strength within it, "Nice to met ya Fern." he bows his head then lets her hand go. He does reach out and take the card that is offered to him. "Alright, I will check it out if I'm around." he smiles to her.
Category:Log