2013-02-24 A Lucky Encounter

Sleep? When does Times Square and the Rest of Manhattan do that? At least not before the very wee hours of the morning anyway and since it's only seven p.m. on a Saturday the area is still quite alive. People are rushing about getting ready for dinner, movies, shows, anything and everything for date night, or at least a fun one if you are single or trying to get away from a spouse.
Ben Reilly stares at Times Square as he sits on a bench near a bus. To him this is merely the calm before a nightly storm. His girlfriend goes to a boarding school so he's rarely among those hoping to get to a place before it's full or sold out. With nothing to do the teen takes in the sights with his dark chocolate colored eyes as he prepares for a night of web-swinging and crime busting. Crime doesn't stop just because most of the masses toss off work uniforms in favor of what they hope to be a good night. Sometimes Ben just likes to know he's small. Putting on a costume, being a clone, it makes someone stand out but here in the madhouse of people Ben is just an insignificant speck and deep down some part of him likes that. Plus New York is his home and sometimes it's good to see your home thriving, coming to life in all the ways you believe it should. It reminds him of why he sacrifices going out in favor of a red and black costume; people could be good people in this city and Saturdays are proof of that.
Cars honk at each other, the mixture of exhaustion fumes, restaurants and a cold chill run up his nose. Ben breathes in taking in every drop as he bundles in his black leather coat that's over his dark blue hoodie that hides a white fantastic four long sleeve shirt with the bottom of the shirt peeking out underneath because it's a little big, the loose dark blue jeans clean to his legs and a pair of black vans cover his feet. All he needs to do is to bring out his ipad and people would think he's a typical college student. Little did they know Ben Reilly is something far from ordinary. "Shame to waste a night like this," he comments idly.
Felicia Hardy had been feeling cooped up in her apartment that day, and wasn't in the mood to put on her gear and hit the town. So she turned down her boyfriend's offer for a "Buffy" marathon. The boy was adorable, but /way/ too into television. She feared for the day he would discover the internet. But thankfully he wasn't blind to her charms.
She walked out the door with no plans in particular, just a Saturday night out in the brisk New York. Felicia wore a black peacoat with a black fur collar, and a blue sweater dress underneath. Her hair was done up loosely into a ponytail, with black smoky eyeshadow on her lids and simple gloss on her lips.
With her hands placed inside of her jacket pockets, she thought to herself "Entertain me New York."
After a while of just watching people Ben starts to feel an urge. He gets up then for whatever reason starts to dance. Sadly, he's not the world's best dancer. Heck he's not even the close to the best dancer in the county. People start to stare at him in disbelief because as one guy thought, "It can only get worse if he does the worm," and as if on cue Ben starts to do it. Some people cheer because out of all of his moves it's the best one.
Then something strange happens, he holds himself up with both hands then just one. Now people are starting to stare in disbelief for good reasons. He starts to walk on his hands for a moment then does a series of front flips, he spins on a heel then runs doing a jumping reverse flip while keeping his momentum going forward. When he lands the chocolate colored hair dangles as his hands hold himself up then he walks across before flipping to a standing position. People cheer and toss coin towards Ben thinking he wants money, "No...No," he pleads, "I was just doing this for fun. If you want to donate another I could use a slice of some Za but not needed," as the speech continues some of the crowd leaves. "It's just good...to cut loose, y'know?" most of the crowd had gone before Ben's words leave his mouth.
Felicia Hardy was starting to regret not making plans with friends (not that she really had many, she needed some gal pals pronto), and boredom was setting in. But then she caught site of the oddly talented boy just randomly dancing in the street. Oh New York, never change. As the crowd parted, and quickly lost interest in the boy she was standing there with a smile on her face and clapping. She stepped forward, "Congrats! Your 15 minutes didn't even last 10 minutes. We live in a cruel city."
She looked over his shoulder and caught sight of a non-chain pizza joint just down the street, she gestured towards the business, "But the talent has got to eat sometime, I'll buy you a slice kid. I'm starving myself."
"At least I lasted longer than Firefly or Arrested Development, or the Harlem Shake five minutes from now," he smiles before bowing to the woman, "I'll treat both of us. I've got a good job I just...didn't need the money. Still don't, but if they are going to donate...what kind of New Yorker would turn down a slice or a dog?" he shrugs before offering a hand. "I'm Ben," he flashes the woman a bright smile.
Felicia Hardy rolled her eyes, chivalry. A girl tries to be nice every once in a while. She reached out and shook his hand, with a smile on her face as well. "Hello Ben, I'm Felicia."
There is something about this girl that would seem familiar. Something about the voice, the eyes maybe, or her very platinum blonde hair. So platinum it looked white. Not a lot of girls rocked that look, at least successful. As they made their way to the pizza Felicia made small talk, "So what made you decide to randomly bust a move? Hoping for an impromptu dancing contest?"
Ben smiles noting the hair but tries to push it aside. He shrugs at the question, the someone else shrugged when getting questioned about jewels some time ago, "Because I was looking for something fun to do. Rather than wait for fun to find me I was going to make my own," a confident smile molds to his face like clay. The look just oozes that he uses it quite a bit.
Felicia Hardy lets out a "heh". It sounded a lot like her evening. In fact something about this boy seemed familiar, maybe it was just their mutual boredom for the evening. She however didn't let him open the door for her, but did it herself to let him in. "Sounds about right. My Saturday nights of late have been less than stellar. But hey, now there's pizza so we must be doing something right. Where are you working? You seem like you should still be in high school."
"Baxter Building," he says like it's working at McDonalds, something that all the teens do. "What brings you out?" his brown eyes scan over all the topping possibilities as he fires off his own question. Something about Felicia is familar but he can't put his finger on it. "Most of my Saturday Nights I work at my free-lance job."
Felicia Hardy bit at the side of her lip as she considered her pizza options. But then she realized she always ordered the same thing, so why doubt herself? She took her hands out of her pockets and leaned towards the counter to give her order to the employee, "Boredom. I'll take a slice of pizza with anchovies and jalapenos, with a side of garlic knots and a medium coke. And I'm buying whatever the kid here is getting."
She looked over the kid and chuckled, "You sound like you work too much. What are you getting?"
"I'm just used to it," Ben rattles off the order, "Jalepenos, onions, bacon, extra sauce, some knots extra sauce for this and a medium Dr. Pepper," as he rattles off the order Ben slides out a twenty. "You can get dessert," a smile is on his face, "And I'm used to trying to pay rent for a shitty apartment. Being young I didn't have a lot of career choices so I had to work a lot of shitty jobs. I'm just used to working a lot," another shrug before he looks the platinum counterpart, "What do you do for work?"
Felicia Hardy chuckled a bit and rolled her eyes, this kid was cute. If he was about five or so years older her boyfriend would have some competition. He was pretty cute and charming, for being a random brekdancer. She made her way to an empty booth as they wait for their orders. As they sat she shrugged off her jacket and placed it aside, "Art dealer. I've got my good months and bad, but that's every job right? But man, the Baxter building? I'm sure that's a good gig. What are you doing there?"
She remembers a time she was offered a gig stealing something from the Baxter building. Felicia laughed in their face. The security would way too much of a challenge.
"Whatever Reed tells me to do. Usually we work through complex equations involving the chemical makeup of an object or various string theory. He believes that the time stream is less linear more circular with the permeability of a shage rug," he slides off the leather coat revealing more of the dark blue hoodie. "Just a theory though. We're still running the numbers," despite being an intern Ben actually works more like an employee of the building instead of a glorified errand boy. Still, Ben would be happy to be the best glorified errand boy he could be if it is asked.
"Favorite Art era? If you deal it you have to be a fan on some level. Unless you've progressed to a Dhali type of mindset where he started commercializing on his name then lost his passion for the pieces of art but not the pieces of green." For being a science nerd, Ben did have some knowledge on art history.
Felicia Hardy lifted her eyebrows, the boy knew his stuff in various categories it seemed. Impressive. Or at least he knew enough to be a good bullshitter. Which was still a worthy talent to have. She sipped her coke, as she considered for a moment before answering, "Rococco. It's so decadent and sopointless. It was all about the joys in that era, with lace included in every image. And subtle hints towards sex. Ten extra bonus points if you can properly guess my favorite painting from that era.
After a short pause she ads, "But I do love Dali, particularly his sketches. However I do hate any painting with dogs playing poker."
Taking a sip of his Dr. Pepper Ben starts to ponder. The Rococco era pointed toward sex along with hints of subserviant behavior. A lot of paintings include someone serving another in a non-sexual factor. This tells Ben two things about Felicia: she likes sex and likes to be pampered. Knowing this Ben tries his best guess, "Boucher's piece with the woman looking somewhat prim and proper, her breast are exposed while being pampered by three servant girls who are about to adorn her in pearl necklaces and flowers. There's also an angel giving her a pearl necklace as well near her feet," he snaps his fingers a few times trying remember the name of that piece Boucher had done. "Hint?" he asks while his smile looks wounded. Nervously Ben takes another sip of Dr. Pepper.
Felicia Hardy looked to the side as she ran her fingers along the surface of the table, as she thought about the painting and it's history. But with her line of work she did prefer to have decent knowledge of art history, so this had become an interesting conversation to her. After a few moments she responded with, "It's one of the more popular pieces from the Rococco era, I know. Sex is hinted in the image, but not seen. It has a woman with her lover, and husband. And that's all the hints I'm giving Mr. Ben."
Thinking back on Ben tries to think of all of the paintings that knew about with a woman, her lover and her husband. While the hints are precise they're also vague. A lot of paintings from that era could have been a woman with a lover if you took a servant to be a lover, a symoblism for the supernatural elements to be a lover, so it's hard to know if Felicia is looking at the painting with this set of eyes or not. These ingredients are typical for a lot of artwork. Eventually Ben moves ins hands in defeat, "You have me but you have to explain why you like the piece once you tell me what it is."
Felicia Hardy pulls out her smart phone and pulls up the image and holds it up for him to see. It's an image of "The Swing" from the Rococco era. She giggles as she places it on the table and slides it to him. It is then when their order is up, and another underaged employee places their plates on the table. Felicia takes a garlic knot and dips it in the marinara sauce, "It's rebellious, and yeah subtly about sex. I love the girls behavior about being so discreet yet obvious about her lover. It's everything about that era that I adore. Frivilous, somewhat pointless, but fun."
She shakes her head and sighs, "Aaaand I'm talking about sex with an underage boy. Wow I'm a weirdo."
Chuckling Ben takes in the comment, "I'm eighteen," then he points at the waiter, "He shouldn't be listening," seeing his slice get dropped off realization sets on Ben. His head hits the table, "I can't believe I didn't guess the swing...," Ben feels like he should have known that because "The Swing," is a very well known picture.
Felicia Hardy gets a very inappropriate thought and then remembers her boyfriend. Her very cute but weird boyfriend. She reaches out and gently pats Ben on the back of his head, but so was this one. It seems she had a type. Joy. She shook her head, "Don't worry about it. What's your favorite painting then?"
Smirking Ben raises his head before replying, "From that era? 'The Latch,' two lovers very close to giving into their sexual desires. An apple rests on a stand near a bed giving a biblical connotation which can be interesting to dissect, it's simple, elegant and telling all at the same time." Taking his pizza Ben takes his first bite savoring the taste.
Another sip of Dr. Pepper Ben frowns a little as it's getting lower. "Favorite piece outside of that era?" Ben took in a lot of art with the hope to separate himelf from Peter Parker, but eventually the art of science sung to him like a siren.
Felicia Hardy takes a bite out of her pizza. Spicy and fishy at the same time. Yum. Most pizza places just look at her funny when she gives the order, but this place didn't flinch. She would have to return again sometime. After whipping her mouth she asked, "I meant in general, what is your favorite piece of art? But yeah, 'The Latch' is fantastic well done."
"Escher's perplexing orb," no it's not the name but any art officiando would know what one he meant. Another bite of piza for ben and he looks back at her when it's gone, "I just like the simplicity in the idea and the complexity with the piece," by now the underaged employee shows up hoping to hear the pretty white hair woman talk more about sex in the guise of refilling Ben's drink. Sadly, he omes in about Ben's talk of a very unsexy piece.
Felicia Hardy takes her cell phone and after a few moments finds the piece he was talking about. She nods, after hearing a bit about the boy she could understand why he would like it. "No it's not the most popular one out there, but it's well regarded. The rendering alone is excellent."
She smiles at the employee and waits for him to leave, going back to her food once he does. "I can see why you would like it."
He shrugs again trying to downplay the popularity of the piece. It's not like Ben painted thep icture but he tries defensive about it anyway. "Besides art, pizza, sex, and being pampered wht do you like?" More sips of the frehsly poured Dr. Pepper runs down his throat.
Felicia Hardy lifts an eyebrow in curiosity. She wondered how he made that assumption, "Pampered? Sure a spa now and then but not really. I like art, obviously, having fun and seeing the city. How about yourself? Other then dancing, of course."
She looks out of the corner of her eye, the employee is being not so subtle about her cleavage. And he trips over a puddle of spilled soda. She chuckles, "Oops. What bad luck."
Looking to the employee Bnen just shakes his head, "What made him fall?" the words are soft and they're just spoken idly. "Y'know..I like Science, a lot of things involving building and my hands. I'm just weird...Gymnastics, sometimes track but wasn't too into those things until later in life,' he shrugs then turns his head suddenly realizing why the clumsy guy tripped. Brown eyes look away as Ben focuses on his pizza.
Felicia Hardy watches the boy fall with a small sly grin, he really should watch where he's going. Maybe he would learn a lesson, at the very least it was some amusement for the moment. She finished off the rest of her pizza and tossed her napkin onto her paper place. And after a few moments her attention was brought back to Ben, "So science, gymnastics, with a love for art. You're a pretty cool guy, Ben. I'm glad I caught your breakdance routine."
She grabbed her jacket and slid off of her bench, sliding it over her shoulders. She brought the fur close to her neck, It was likely getting cold outside, "I'm lucky I met you."
"I'm just your average every day nerd Felicia, but I'm thankful I met you," he takes one of the last bites of his pizza. Everything about tonight is going good. Part of him almost didn't wish there would be costume duty in the not too distant future. Having friend to talk to is nice...at least once in a while.
Felicia Hardy thought Ben was a little young, but she wasn't particularly old either. She grabbed a pen from her purse and jotted down her number on a napkin and slid it towards him. "This isn't a number for booty calls, but you seem like a pretty cool guy. We can go to an art museum sometime."
She chuckles to herself as she thought it would be nice to actually enjoy some art, not map out the place for stealing a piece. Nice change of place. Felicia gave the boy a wink, "I'm stuffed, but next time we meat I'll buy us some dessert. See you around, stud."
And with that she turned her heel and headed towards the exit.
You aren't carrying anything.
You have 1591 coins.
Green Arrow enters from: Midtown Manhattan.
Green Arrow goes to: Brooklyn.
I don't recognize "Arrow".
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