10222/Fresh and Interesting

Fresh and Interesting
Date of Scene:	27 November 2019
Location:	Columbus Park - Chinatown
Synopsis:	As Drake kind of fiddles with mahjong and works on costuming ideas, Karen Starr happens by and is full of intrigue. Over the mahjong.
Cast of Characters:	Volt, Power Girl

---

Volt has posed:
Midday here in Chinatown's very own and very cultural park. Mahjong tables, tai chi, an assortment of activities to be had by those willing to endure the chilly outdoors to partake.

Drake Riley, recent resurface from his long foray into superheroic obscurity, had been here rather recently to get some time away and think. But in that timeframe, he realizes he kind of liked this area. The people were nice, mahjong wasn't too hard to figure out, and tai chi's... well, okay, it's funny to watch. Slow-motion karate. Go figure.

No, he's not particularly cultured.

Drake is currently seated at a table with a series of mahjong tiles arranged before him. It gets an occasional glance in between taps at a tablet, which is also lain flat near the tiles. Upon the tablet, there's a graphical display of what looks to be costuming, largely done in blacks and greens. He rotates the digital mannequin, taps at a few options, and seems to fret over details - then steals a glance back at the tiles to move something along.

Power Girl has posed:
Powergirl herself isn't quite as obscure, she'd certainly been well known for her Kryptonian nature and...well, her striking appearance. Today however, she wasn't quite so recognizable. The blonde woman moves through the park, her hair tied back and her glasses in place. Moving across the space, the woman was humming to herself while she passes by...

Then she's just standing there, looking over for a moment. For a second one might wonder if she'd spotted Drake's display, until the woman leans over to tilt her head at the tiles. "Interesting..."

Volt has posed:
Drake Riley has a pretty good general sense of spatial awareness. It comes from hoodrat hijinks, and living on the street. But he expected the blonde woman to continue right on by him. Instead, she stopped. That gets a little bit of surprise.

Head lifts in a snap, momentarily defensive, but quickly replaced with simple confusion. She's not looking at the tablet. He already thought of an excuse for it, if he were questioned. But instead she's looking at the painted tiles. Vivid emerald eyes dart to the pieces, then back up to her. "..You mean majhong?," he asks.

Power Girl has posed:
"Yes..." Karen muses, looking at the tiles rather than the players for a moment before she straightens up. Arms crossing, the woman dressed in simple jeans and a leather jacket bites her lip. "How is it that you play this game?" she begins, frowning a little and then finally looking to Drake before chuckling. "It looks rather complex."

Volt has posed:
"Ah, well," begins Drake as he scoots aside invitingly. There's plenty of bench to go around, and it's just him at the table, so what's he saving it for? "I'm just doing the lame 'solitaire' version. The kind computers come pre-loaded with, y'know?," he notes with a boyish grin. "It's basically matching outside pieces and trying to unravel the whole thing. Now, when you actually have other players, then it gets a little heavier on the rules. It's like cards, but with these slabs. And I'm not super familiar with it just yet."

He realizes he's doing an awful lot of talking, so he slows his roll a bit.

"Drake, by the way."

Power Girl has posed:
A shrug, but she scoots to watch, taking the offered seat and regarding the explaination with a suprisingly intense look of concerntation, still...it's startlingly more simple than she thought. Interesting. "I see..." she begins before looking back towards Drake and gesturing with her hand towards herself. "Karen," she returns the introduction.

There's a little pause, a laugh after a moment and she tilts her head. "I'm sorry for interupting your game but curiousity got the better of me."

Volt has posed:
Drake Riley squints at her, noting the level of hyper-focus she's giving the tiles on the table. She's a curious specmen, she is. But when she looks back to him, she's met with that same smile. "Hey, you'd be surprised how okay I am with being interrupted by a pretty stranger," he jokes. "Is this your first time out here? First time taking a look at the, uh...," he pauses to gesture about the park, "...the culture?"

Power Girl has posed:
"Sort of," Karen nods, straightening up and then giving a shrug of her shoulders. "I just tend to be kinda busy, don't really get the chance to relax and check out places like this so I'm kinda just...making the most of it, y'know?" She shrugs again, looking back to Drake and giving a little laugh. "Do you often tend to be interupted by random strangers when you're out here, or is it a little on the weird side?"

Volt has posed:
Drake Riley notes the second shrug she gives, and it earns a bemused grin. "I used to know what that's like. Until really recently, I had nothing but a ton of time on my hands, and not a lot to spend it on."

He adjusts his position on the bench to face her, bringing an elbow to rest on the tabletop. It's a much more open and conversational posture, his right knee folded over the bench. "Interruptions drop in sometimes. Not all of'em pleasant. But it definitely breaks up the monotony. What about you? You usually this much of a social butterfly?"

Power Girl has posed:
"Not really," she admits, Karen's lips pulling into a little smile. "I mean, I spend a lot of time at work or my appartment, not all that big on parties." Of course, she'd been at a formal event over in Genosha last month, but that wasn't exactly something all that easy to explain. Shrugging her shoulders, she's left to chuckle. "I don't usually accost strangers for no reason."

Volt has posed:
A third shrug! Drake is snickering now. He doesn't want to come right out and call her on it or make her feel awkward, but it's hard to not start watching her shoulders for a fourth bob. "Well, /this/ stranger is fine with it. I mean, if I'm still a stranger. You know my name now. And hey, what do you do for work, anyway?"

Power Girl has posed:
One can't always learn the best of social skills when they've spent much of their life in a lab. First as a subject, then as an employee! His question? It earns a smile, bright when compared to how nervous she'd seemed at first. "Oh, I'm a researcher over at S.T.A.R. Labs, in the Metropolis site mainly. I'm often over here in New York though, lending a hand or picking up things that can't be emailed over. Lots of train, bus and plane rides."

Volt has posed:
Drake Riley gives a low, but impressed whistle. "Sounds fancy. A /researcher/. And a courier!" The grin returns, playful and a little teasing. Because one of these things seems vastly more important, and considerably less mundane, than the other. "But I bet that's nice. Keeping things fresh and interesting. Or at least making sure you don't get bored."

Drake's head tilts a little. "What kind of research do you do?"

Power Girl has posed:
"It sounds a lot more glamerous than it is, trust me," Karen chuckles, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "Mostly it's a lot of long nights, a lot of diagrams and even more use of 'UberEats' or calls to pizza places than is probably healthy." She shifts now in the chair, looking back to Drake with a grin. "What about you? What keeps you 'fresh and interesting'?"

Volt has posed:
At the mention of healthy eating, Drake spares an indulgent glance down over Karen's figure. It does /not/ look like she's been eating unhealthy. Some people win the genetic lottery, he concludes. His gaze lifts to her face again with a mirthfully skeptical look, as if calling her bluff on it. But he doesn't say anything. The redirect is accepted.

"Oh, me? I'm probably actually boring, even with all that. I mean, here I am, wiling away time with half-hearted mahjong by myself!," he laughs. It's not like he could explain the superheroing, after all. "I'm like a country song, but without the twang. Just a guy trying to figure his place out in the world." His mirthful is accented with a self-aware cant of his head, an acknowledgment of the over-dramatics of the metaphor.

Power Girl has posed:
Kryptonians seemed to be unfairly blessed in that regard, Karen was clearly no exception. After all, she was well aware of the attention her figure tended to garner. Perhaps it helped people not recognize her face when she's Power Girl? Skeptical or not, it earns shrug number four!

His words, they earn a raise of an eyebrow. "Still looking then huh?" At least it was more polite than saying 'Unemployed', right?"

Volt has posed:
Drake Riley eyeshifts with a guilty nod. "Eeyeah, could say that..."

No, he's technically employed as a superhero. Granted, that's a thing that he's not quite come to terms with, himself.

"Like I said. Way less impressive than what you do. You could be curing diseases, or designing robots who know how to pet bunnies in a, uh, non-Mice and Men kind of way. You know. Important stuff."

Power Girl has posed:
"In my case, it's more likely to be more efficient communications, telephones and the like." She tilts her head to the side, frowning a little before shrugging. "It might not be quite so grand, but hopefully it helps someone. It's still interesting in its own regard, at least I think so..."

Volt has posed:
"Think of it like connecting the world," suggests Drake with a sunny smile.

Oh! There was shrug number five! It gets his smile to widen a little further.

"Anyway, if you didn't think it was worthwhile, you probably wouldn't have gotten into the field. Research seems like that thing that you really dedicate yourself to. That you make sacrifices for."

Power Girl has posed:
Who's counting anyway? Certainly not Karen. Eventually, Karen makes to stand and giving a little laugh. "I should get that on a plaque or something in the lab, y'know?" Smiling at the thought, the blonde woman steps back to glance along the length of the path. "It was nice to meet you Drake, thank you for showing me your game."

Volt has posed:
Oh dear. She can't go and exit on a line like that. Not with him! The temptation is too great!

Drake uptilts his chin a little with a boyish smile. "Pleasure was mine, but you've not yet seen my game." God, it's so awful and cheesy and he knows it. But that's what makes it fun. Like a self-deprecating joke. But hopefully something she'll get to remember fondly from this little detour from her regular daily routine.

That is, if she got the joke.