Almost large enough to be considered a theme park while remaining free to the public, Terrace Park is rumored to have been the site of the Grand Hollowheart's defeat, leading to the Hollowhearts first accepting a pact with humans. (+2 Fame, +2 Endurance)

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Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 08/20/2017 1:40 AM

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"Ugh," said Melanie, over the comm.

"Look, I'm just saying, after that shit in those caves, I deserve a break. Don't you think I deserve a break? Come on, I stepped in bat shit. Literal bat shit. I almost got eaten too!" Fabio was in the kitchen, packing the last of his sandwiches into a basket. It was a good thing he had the comm. He didn't fancy the idea of doing all of this while pressing a phone to his ear with his shoulder or anything like that.

"Ugh," said Melanie.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 08/20/2017 1:48 AM

Fabio closed the basket, and sighed, a little more dramatically than he really needed to. "I don't know why you're so upset about this. I'm the one going outside, remember? You don't even need to leave your apartment," he said. Perfectly reasonable logic, right there.

"Okay, but do you have to be so stereotypical about it?" There was a hint of whine in Melanie's voice, as if this choice of his was hurting her somehow. He looked right into one of the cameras they'd installed in his house and made a face at it.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 08/20/2017 2:09 AM

"You know what, just for that, I'm going to take a whole bunch of selfies with my basket and send it to you," he said. "I just want a nice picnic in a park, okay? Bite me."

"Wish I could," Melanie said mulishly.

"Yeah? Next thing you know you'll be calling me a normie and accusing me of having a life," he shot back.

"Ha, shows what you know. I know you don't have a life. Which was, sadly, true on both fronts. She watched him constantly, and the thing about being part of the Flock was that you only really had as much of a life as you could squeeze out between mission demands.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 08/20/2017 2:21 AM

Honestly, Fabio had it easier than a lot of the others, something he was never sure whether to be glad for or guilty about. For whatever reason, Xing was easy on him; he wasn't sure when he'd started noticing, but it had nagged at him for years.

He sighed, again. "If it bothers you so much, just tune me out," he said. "You have... what... You wanted to watch that new series they had on Netflix or something anyway, right?"

"I guess," Melanie said. She didn't sound very enthusiastic about it. Actually, she mostly sounded like a mulish teen.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 08/20/2017 2:46 AM

Fabio folded and packed his picnic blanket, finishing off his basket with more cheer than he felt. "Well then, in that case, this is where we part ways. Enjoy your whatever," he said.

"Yeah, enjoy your white picket picnic," she replied. "God, did you really pack a red and white tablecloth?"

"For your information, it's a picnic blanket. Also, it was on sale." Personally he thought it was nice, and at least it wasn't conspicuous or particularly memorable. For someone whose civilian identity had to be kept separate from their work persona, that was important.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 08/20/2017 7:33 PM

"Way to sound cool, mom," said Melanie.

"Anytime, son," he replied. Now that his picnic basket was ready though, he was ready to leave. "You want me to take the comm out before I go? Just so I don't bother you with my stereotypical picnicking." He was only half joking. If she took him up on the offer, this was the best place to leave it. He wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't accidentally lose the earpiece somewhere else, and that would be a real hassle.

There was a pause. He didn't know if she was ignoring him or thinking it over.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 08/20/2017 7:36 PM

"No, leave it on," she said eventually. "Something might come up, and it's not going to look good for both of us if we can't deal with it."

He sighed, though this time not at her, specifically. She was right about that. This was what she meant when she said she knew he had no life. Did any of them have lives? It actually really begged the question--- his circumstances when he'd joined up were sufficiently dire that being a part of the Flock, even in the limited capacity that he had been back then, was indisputably a step up. But he didn't know where the others had come from, or what their stories were.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 08/20/2017 7:40 PM

It wasn't his place to ask. The only one with whom it might not have been weird was Melanie, but it was established pretty quickly after they'd been introduced that he wasn't supposed to ask about where Melanie came from, or what her deal was, so he didn't. What he did know was that she didn't go outside, and that she missed it sometimes, but still not enough to actually do anything about that.

"Off we go then. Just tune me out unless you need anything," he said.

"Don't need to tell me twice," she said. He could hear, faintly, the sound of typing, so she must really have been taking that advice.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 08/20/2017 9:26 PM

Fabio grabbed his basket and a jacket, and made his way out the door. He locked it behind him, though what a flimsy lock would really do against someone who meant to come after him was debatable. The real security was mostly in Melanie's monitoring, and all the digital stuff she'd installed into the place, which didn't need any enabling from him. One of the few advantages of working for the Flock: a subsidized, custom-built home security system with its own 24/7 security guard.

Hell, maybe that was why they signed up. He hadn't really thought about it at the time, since he was a kid and having a roof over his head seemed like a good idea regardless, but it would have been a reason for him.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 08/20/2017 9:28 PM

The local park wasn't too far away, just a fifteen-minute walk. There was, technically, a smaller, dinkier backwoods sort of park that was closer, in the opposite direction; he lived near the edge of town, and enough people liked that bit of backwood that they had conspired to get it designated as a park.

Melanie was right about him looking for a more typical picnic experience though, so he was going to the nicer one he could get to. The backwoods park was full of trees and shadows, and he'd had about all the darkness he could stand in those caves.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 09/30/2017 6:45 AM

Plus there were all sorts of unsavory types that hung out in those areas... Not that he couldn't hold his own against them; all the Flock had training, even the agents whose specialties didn't necessarily seem like they'd come anywhere near a combat situation. Heck, even some of the handlers were trained to protect themselves. The trouble was, if he pulled a stunt like that, it'd blow his cover of being a mundane, ordinary citizen sky-high, and then he'd have to go through all the trouble of relocating.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 09/30/2017 6:48 AM

Xing wouldn't be happy at all about that, whatever pretenses he might have made towards taking it in his usual smiling, even-tempered way. Fabio was young, and Xing wasn't exactly around a lot, but he'd been with Xing a long time. He knew better than most how to read Xing's moods.

It had happened once, too. The less said about what things were like when it went down, the better.

Besides, a little walking never hurt anyone. It wasn't hurting him, anyway. And fifteen minutes wasn't a long time by most standards either.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 09/30/2017 6:51 AM

As he hit the street and felt the sun on his back, he smiled and stretched as best he could while still carrying the basket. He wished he could have said something dramatic about how long it had been since he'd heard something as mundane as birdsong, but that... would have been a lie. Most of Fabio's jobs were still more like errands, the kind where he got cats unstuck from trees or brought down petty criminals. Our city's finest hero, Melanie would say, with no small amount of mocking sarcasm.
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 09/30/2017 6:52 AM

And if he was being honest, okay, it rankled him a bit--- or a lot--- that he was essentially spinning his wheels doing this stuff while everyone else got something meatier and more real, but... Well, he couldn't go against his circumstances. And he tried to remind himself that there were worse things than boredom to have to endure.

It was his day off though, so he wasn't going to think about anything like that. He was going to enjoy himself. Hell, even Melanie had left him alone. That was pretty rare, wasn't it?
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Re: Rest and Recuperation [self; L]

Postby crow » 09/30/2017 6:55 AM

If he didn't take advantage of that today, who knew when he'd next get a chance to do something like this? He deserved it after that whole caving affair. The scientist running that deal was a coot and a half.

Fabio kept an eye out for the first half of the walk. Part of the reason the good park was further from his apartment was because his apartment was just within the bounds of the seedier part of town--- not quite developed enough, but not suburban either.
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