[Event-Trigger/Mingle] Sunday Afternoon, Central Park

[devilishdeals]

Such a lovely day- The perfect day for sitting in the park, or having lunch on a terrace, or walking where a car would serve.

Naturally, there were no extra people in the streets.

Well, maybe one or two- Inoue didn't spend every afternoon, eating a steak sandwich on a bus bench. But it gave a perfect view of the mentioned park, the center fountain a few yards away, across the street. Nothing worth noting, but a perfect thing to stare at as you wait for the bus... Or for a delivery truck, that just happens to swerve and hit a fire hydrant, spraying water on a tree at the park edge.

Poor driver, getting out and yelling for help. Not only is his truck crashed, but it was badly hatched, bt the doors sprang open on impact and spewed plastic, colored eggs all over the street. Luckily, a dozen or so pedestrians - who just happened to have empty shopping bags on hand - all broke their walk to come towards the mess, picking up eggs and calling reassurances to the driver, who wasn't even looking in his breakdown.

Crunching his wrapper in his hand, Inoue got up and tossed it in the garbage, turning to go just as everyone else was stalling to stare - if only for a moment. He didn't need to stay, after all. The hard timing was done, and he knew the rest. The happy helpers would forget what they were holding, and promptly trip on their ways home, dropping the eggs all over again in various parts of town. A small, if strangely synchronized mishap, which shouldn't cause too much ruckus.

But it would keep anyone curious enough to pick them up quite busy - if for only a while.

Comments

[windupgadget]

-that was strange. And not just the fact she couldn't get a word out edgewise, with her throat closing up. (Was she having an allergy reaction or something? She didn't have any allergies she knew about, but... If this kept getting worse...)

No, Etienne sounded weird, and she shoots him a quizzical look before nodding in understanding... And then rethinking it and shaking her head instead, pointing down the road. Because there were numerous other eggs on the street.

[blackshadow]

He's not going to pick up all of them, he thought bitterly, but a second later her realized that wasn't what she was talking about.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened with all of those... It's probably a prank."

Etienne cleared his throat again in attempt to get the tickle out of his throat, and as he did he finally gave more thought to her behavior. He looked at her critically, trying to see if there was anything noticeably different about her today. "Are you feeling okay?"

[windupgadget]

Maybe... And Shiki frowned uncertain at the sight (If it was a prank... why were the eggs empty? An attempt gone wrong?) until Etienne cleared his throat, and asked.

Well.

She gave him a blank stare a second, then tried swallowing again - with semi-success - before just going for it. Even if she hacked in the middle of it, she could say something.

"N-ngh- ua-" She tried, only to catch on each try of a word, and end up gasping for breath. Seriously, no one should be making that face without needing the Heimlich!

[blackshadow]

She should not be so casual about this whole thing if she was really in trouble! Etienne hurried to be by her side and put an arm around her shoulders to support her.

"Hey, are you alright? Can you breathe?"

Whether she liked hospitals or not, Etienne was going to take her to one if she didn't start sounding better immediately. He was already scanning the area for a phone to use.

[windupgadget]

Not right now she can't! But the longer she goes without talking, the easier her breathe come... despite the fact there's no way her throat would swell and clear that fast.

Still, a couple deep, loud sighs should show she's getting air, and she removes the hand pressed to her wave reassuringly at Etienne... And then pokes the hand on her before waving again, realizing he might have missed it.

[blackshadow]

He got the message, "I'm fine; you can let go now," from her there, and with that, he took a few steps back to give her air, but still watched her to see if she was actually all right.

And he sniffled. Ugh, now he was getting congested, too...

"Forget it. You need to see someone now... We can walk to the hospital."

[windupgadget]

Once released, she rolled her shoulders and stood up straight, waiting to see if another cough would come... Nope, it looked like she was find, as long as she kept quiet.

Whatever that meant.

But, whatever was going on, it couldn't be that serious! Surely it didn't call for something so drastic as going down there-

But. Etienne looked pretty serious...

Which just made her look like a soaked cat.

[blackshadow]

It looked like that fit had well died down, and even though that made him relax, he couldn't know if she was actually better. And he couldn't know that her condition wouldn't worsen if they dropped it. Even if all of this was just a false alarm or a reaction to the car exhaust that he could still (barely) smell, it would be careless to just pretend none of this happened.

"It's not that far," he told her. "Let's go together. I could use some medicine anyway..."

[windupgadget]

That's nice and logical, Etienne, but Shiki just continues making a face at his reasoning. (She felt quite certain that they wouldn't get much help from the doctors there, for some reason, even if there was a sensible cause... Whatever recollections of past treatments told her.)

Still, his tag on broke through her reluctance enough to earn a confused stare. He didn't look too good himself, now that he looked... She wasn't sure if he would benefit either, but seeing how she had no better suggestion? She finally started moving, trailing towards the hospital after him-

Careful to watch her step, when more eggs popped up on the sidewalk.

[blackshadow]

This was a really annoying prank, Etienne thought bitterly as he kicked them out of the way as they walked. Whether he would he helped or not (he'd probably just go to a pharmacy to get some medicine later), he was mostly glad that she was going to come with him now.

"Some clean air will probably help you, too," he muttered before clearing his throat again. At least he had a good reason for missing work tomorrow now... "But don't try to talk for a while. You'll probably need to explain everything on a form anyway..."

[windupgadget]

Shiki followed the movement of a skidding egg, if only by sight, as she slugged on after Etienne. The farther they went, the odder she found it. How did they spread out like that? Was there a strong wind while she was inside the shop?

There was no telling, but in the meantime, she looked curiously forward at Etienne's mumblings, wondering why he'd mention the air. The weather had been strange lately, true enough... Which could explain the hints of Etienne's ailing health, if not her own odd symptoms. A cold wasn't too strange...

But his latter point, that struck her with an idea, and she caught up to make a motion with her hand in his sight- like clicking something in her hand and then writing.

"Do you have a pen, sir?"

[blackshadow]

Etienne honestly wondered if he was going to be talking to the wind until she moved ahead of him, making him freeze in his tracks and watch her pantomime. It wasn't exactly hard to understand what she was saying, but...

"I don't have anything like that on me," he told her, lifting the bag of food as show. "...Unless you want me to buy you one right now. Yes or no?"

[windupgadget]

-oh. Well, she hadn't thought to buy something to write with either. Who could have seen this coming?

But the question stalls her a moment, mouthing more in thought then failed words, before she shook her head. No no, there'd be one at the hospital, right? Even if the receptionist was greedy, there were always forms, before the rest of the visit mess started.

Yeesh.

Shiki made a face before thinking of her witness, then shuffled her own bag to her other arm, pointing towards the coming up building.

[blackshadow]

Thank goodness she didn't talk again. Etienne let out a breath when he saw her finally shake her head and stop trying to say anything aloud. He couldn't even begin to think what exactly her expression was for (maybe the pollution again?), and ignored it as he turned his attention to where she was pointing.

And there it was, all pale grey and looming over them. "Yeah. There isn't much reason to get any now... Just hold on until we're in there."