2014.11.10 - A Falcon Among Pigeons

A woman dressed in all black, in a rather unique looking outfit, is moving in something of a slow dance in the midst of a green secluded section of the park. There are few by-passers who stop a moment to look, but she doesn't seem to concern herself with others. She simply keeps to her routine, her movements belie the grace of a dancer, or a fighter, if one was more perceptive. The style she practices, on the other hand, is hard to put a name to.
Samuel Wilson can be found settled on a bench, the man's legs stretched out, ankles crossed and a small notebook in his lap with loaf of bread beside him still in the bag. The bag is open however as he's been tearing pieces of bread off of bread slices and tossing them in front of him as a variety of different birds have come up to peck and compete for pieces of bread. (Mostly pigeons). He occasionally makes a note in his notepad but mostly just makes comments like. "C'mon south side, lets see some defense...aww man, how'd you let that get by you man, run with the crumbs..." But he's mostly just people watching from time to time, eyes lingering on one person or another before looking back to his birds.
Gabriel is just walking into the area, one hot dog in each hand. Except walking might be a bit of an exaggeration, he's really sauntering along, taking bites from the hot dog in his right hand, clearly enjoying it. As he catches sight of Ursa he stops and leans against a tree, watching her thoughtfully.
Ursa continues in her motions, slow yet deliberate, a rather intense gaze in her black eyes if any would come near enough to take note. It's nearly a movement in a trance like state, as she continues to ignore her surrounding for the time being, though she does let her gaze linger a while longer when it rests in Samuel's direction during her routine.
Samuel Wilson's eyebrow raises a fraction when he notices the gaze and he just lifts a hand in a hint of a wave before he rips another piece of whole wheat sandwich bread in half and tosses picks pieces of it off to toss down to the demanding birds flocking around his feet. Gabriel also gets a chin-up in greeting, raising his voice a bit. "Hey man, which vendor did you snag those from? I keep hearing all sorts of things about who's the best around here."
Gabriel takes another bite from his hot dog before answering Samuel. "Guy's name is Louie. He sells out of one of the hand pushed carts and he's usually stationed around the lake. He says his secret is oregano and apple cider vinegar in the water." Then he takes another bite, finishing off the first hot dog and moving the second one from his left hand to his right hand.
Ursa eventually comes to the end of her routine, she takes a moment of standing in silence, before starting directly towards Samuel. She completely ignores Gabriel, while addressing Samuel, "you actually speak with these birds? They understand you?"
"Louie...I'll have to remember that!" Sam takes a moment to carefully write something in his book before a bird hops up on the bench beside him, making a daring peck towards the opened bag of bread. "...Frank, I am only going to tell you this once..." He glances over towards the bird and makes a shooing motion. "You've got guts man, but get back in the game, no tryin' to get points from the ref directly." He shoos the pigeon off the bench and then tosses a scrap of bread towards the darker bird as he gets into a tug a war with another pigeon. Then he looks over to Ursa and his eyebrows raise. "And look, the tai chi hybrid lady speaks. That was some intense flow you had going on there." He shifts his position on the bench, leaning forward as he consider the question. "Birds...I have found probably understand more than we do. They understand me. We humans are the slow ones, but birds...they aren't confused like that."
Gabriel chuckles at the improbability of the conversation and pushes off the tree he was leaning against to walk a little closer, listening in while chewing on another bite of hot dog. With his free hand he pinches off a small bit of hot dog and tosses it at the mass of pigeons around Sam's feet. Watching them go for it as eagerly as they've been going for the bread.
"It seems as if you do," Ursa remarks even before Samuel has a chance to answer, listening to him offer tips to the bird he dubbed 'Frank'. When he in turns dubs her the 'tai chi hybrid lady', she cocks her head towards her left shoulder, looks curiously at Samuel and asks, "do you know Tai Chi?" When he proceeds to explain about birds, Ursa straightens her head again and turns to look down at the bird fighting over crumbs of bread, "Interesting insight," she remarks, before adding, "are you a warrior?"
Samuel Wilson ahhs softly and then gives Gabriel a look. "Oh c'mon man, now they are going to expect meat and bread every time." He teases lightly, rolling his eyes before his head tilts back as he looks to Ursa. "I've dabbled a bit, they make you go through some of everything when they are teaching you ways to deal with your nerves." He just nods his head. "I did my service, yeah. Retired now and I help other...warriors as you say, no matter where they come from or how they served kinda get through their daily lives off the battlefield." He gets to his feet and grabs the bag of bread, dumping the last few slices out on the ground and tucking his small notebook away in an inner jacket pocket as he tucks his pencil behind his ear. "Speaking of, I've an appointment to get to shortly...some firefighters are holding a survivor's guilt seminar and I'm a guest speaker." He gestures between them both. "Sam Wilson. A pleasure to meet both of you, you'll have to stop by the VA offices not far from here. We'll talk all about tai chi and...birds."
Gabriel chuckles at Sam teasing then nods once he introduces himself, "Gabriel Togashi. A pleasure." In between the chuckle and the introduction he steps even closer to the two other people, for some reason looking slightly worried when Ursa asks Sam if he's a warrior. But he doesn't really say anything at that point, just gets close enough to be a clear part of the group.
"What ways have you learned?" Ursa asks Samuel with genuine interest, "at least what do you find effective?" It's quite unclear whether this is an interview or an interrogation, but either way, Ursa seems interested in what Samuel has to say. "You mention having done your service, safe to say you were with the military? If so, what rank?" But as Samuel mentions he has an appointment to keep, Ursa nods, "another time, perhaps." As soon as Samuel begins to withdraw, her attention sets on Gabriel, "you have some issues with warriors?"
Samuel Wilson nods his head slowly. "Military, pilot, and I have learned so many ways...yeah, we'll have to chat another time." He winks and gives Gabriel a chin up before he makes his way offer, pausing to glare at a couple of birds who were following him and making shooing motions before continuing on his way.
Gabriel returns Sam's chin up with a smile and then turns his attention back to Ursa, "Issues with warriors? Not at all. But there are people out there that are constantly looking for a challenge. And some of those people can be... unpredictable about when, where, and who they are going to choose to pick a fight with to see if they are a challenge." He tilts his head a little bit, looking at Ursa curiously as he talks, watching for her reaction.
"Were you afraid I might pick a challenge with you?" Ursa asks, amusement clear in her eyes, before she notes, "I was merely having a conversation with that fellow. Not everyday I get to meet an interesting man. It's unusual."
Gabriel spreads his arms to either side of his body, palms facing forward, "A challenge with me? I wasn't worried about that at all. I'm just barely a kid and wouldn't be much of a challenge for anyone. Let alone someone clearly trained, like you." There's a hint of veiled amusement in his voice which disappears as he moves on, "Challenging Sam, maybe. But I'm glad to see that you were just interested in his background."
"Right, so why the concern?" Ursa looks a bit confused, studying Gabriel curiously, as she takes a few steps closer to him, really breaking into personal space. "Warriors cannot have idle conversation? That is a narrow view of warriors that you hold."
Gabriel holds his ground, even thought Ursa is definitely getting closer than most Americans would feel comfortable with. With a smile and a head-shake he says, "Not at all. But from what I've seen you tend to be a bit impulsive. So I was just being, shall we say, cautious." His left hand stays loose at his side while his right hand brings his hot dog up to his mouth for another bite.
"What is it you've seen exactly?" Ursa asks curiously, wondering what was it she has just done that seems impulsive to Gabriel. "Do I frighten you?" Ursa asks in an almost teasing tone. She remains where she stands, nearly face to face with Gabriel, despite the rather amicable tone.
Gabriel takes the time to finish chewing his bite of hot dog, smiling while he does so. Finally he shakes his head and says, "You are very forward and clearly you don't get American sensibilities but I wouldn't say you frighten me. As for what you've done that seems impulsive, you seem to like trying on other people's hats without really asking for permission. Definitely impulsive." Popping the last piece of hot dog into his mouth he waits to see if Ursa even realizes what he's talking about.
"American sensibilities? What are those?" Ursa asks, proving at the very least that Gabriel was right about her lack of understanding of just those sensibilities. Ursa squints her eyes when Gabriel mentions she likes trying other people's hats without asking for permission, "what gives you that impression?" She asks while arching a brow, starting to walk around Gabriel in a circle, studying him from every angle.
Gabriel just lets Ursa walk around him. While she does so he shrugs and explains, "Different cultures have different tolerances for how close people should get to them. Different tolerances for vulgarity, sexual advances; different meanings for gestures... Anyway, people from North America generally don't like strangers standing too close to them or touching them, with maybe the exception of handshakes. Right now you are definitely standing close enough to make most North-Americans highly uncomfortable." Then he pauses for a moment to think about how to answer her question about the hats, "As for the hat; I was there to witness you grabbing a fedora from a dapper gentleman's head and putting on yourself without asking. And you moved quite fast to do it. Much faster than a normal human would be able to move."
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