14498/Central Park Kata

Central Park Kata
Date of Scene:	03 August 2022
Location:	Central Park, Manhattan
Synopsis:	Dinah offers Luke the Outsiders' assistance after offending his sensibilities.
Cast of Characters:	Black Canary, Luke Cage

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Black Canary has posed:
A small crowd has gathered on one of the hillocks in Central Park, watching someone greeting the sunrise like she (that's what the form looks like anyway, outlined by the sun) is paying homage to any number of martial arts movies: performing solo katas in the sunrise.

The angle makes it hard to see the woman clearly, but the slow, measured, precise motions are clearly visible as arms and legs and torso and head cross the crack of the rising sun.

But what kind of maniac does this in Central Park before the muggers have completely shut down for the night?

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage was in Cental Park going for a run. It was only about fifteen blocks from his place in Harlem. He emerged from his apartment building wearing shorts and a tank top and running shoes. He had earbuds in and tapped his phone to start the music for his run.

On reaching Central Park, he began as always near the Harlem Meer, running around the shore of the large pond. After a lap of the Meer, he turned toward the main park. Maybe he wasn't worried about the muggers. Given his size it would a make sense.

Black Canary has posed:
One of the watchers has a phone out and is trying to get video of the kata-sun-greeter, backing into the path just ahead of Luke.

"Hey, watch where you're goin' yo..." The guy's brain catches up with his mouth as he sees who he's shouting at. His face turns white.

From black.

"S-s-s-sorry, Brother. Didn't mean to step out in front of you like that," the man says and quickly tries to scurry off to avoid trouble.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage had his music playing loud enough he didn't hear the other guy, but he saw it. He dodge with more ease than his frame would suggest that he should.

Slowing to a walk, he looked at the audience the woman had. Everyone used the park but few used it this way. Mostly because they wanted avoid the attention of those pre-dawn muggers. But some people don't fret over such things do they?

Black Canary has posed:
The exercise speeds up now, and a bunch of cameras start coming out to catch it. And this is when Luke gets an angle where she's not backlit by the sun.

Blonde hair (obviously bleached): check. The legs in grey yoga pants have the right shape, though not accented by fishnets. The face ... seems about right. The torso was covered by an oversized leather jacket, so it's hard to compare to the crop-top-wearing woman here. The eyes, though. They're the right colour.

He knows this woman. It's very probably the glass ninja...

At about the same time the woman makes eye contact with him as she continues her practice, blinking in sudden surprise and botching the move. (Not that most people in the audience would know this. Her recovery is perfect. But an experienced fighter will have seen the stumble and the forced catch that breaks the smoothness.)

She hastily looks away, continuing her post-recovery routine before tossing another surreptitious glance his way as if trying to confirm something.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage watched with the tohers as he caught his breath. He'd already been running for almost an hour. He did seem to recognize the blonde. But then it was Manhattan. Blondes were a penny to the three dozen. But nto every peroxide blonde was created equal. Some were well beyond dangerous and skilled. There was little doubt this woman fell into that category.

But he wasn't one to intrude into toher's mornings. He hated when his runs gto interrupted. By the time she dared to glance back, the large man had already turned and was picking his way through the gathering audience.

He didn't go far, however. Instead of just leaving he stopped at one of the food carts that set up in the park. There was one who sold breakfast burritos - and water. He bought two btotles as usual, cracking the first open. He all but sucked down the first half in a single gulp. But then he stood off to the side where he could watch the crowd and still see the blonde.

Black Canary has posed:
Could have seen the blonde. If she were still there. She isn't. And the way the crowd is behaving her disappearance wasn't expected. It's like she went down the far side of the hillock and disappeared from the face of the planet.

Until...

"Five chili cheese dogs," a familiar voice says from next to Luke. "Double onion," it adds. Then, "Hey, perfect stranger I've never met before."

The blonde is now standing behind and slightly to the left of the giant guy with the breakfast burrito.

"Come to see the show did you?"

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage half chuckled that she was gone in that amount of time and he shrugged. Turning to step back onto the path and resume his run, suddenly she was right there. Reaching up he pulled one of his earbuds. "I'm as strange as they get I'm told, ma'am. Was just out for a run on my own. Saw a crowd. Usually this time of day the audience is just watching some scrawny guy or other getting mugged."" He offers her a respectful nod. Then he looks at her incredulously at her order.

The guy at the food cart looks at her, "I can get them read for you, lady. But you're gonna have to wait at least five minutes for everything to heat up. I'm still serving breakfast here." Still he pulls five dogs out and starts them on the flat top he uses to make the eggs for his burritos. The onions are already cooking anyway. The chili? It was simmering for the day. It needs to start early for the lunch rush.

Black Canary has posed:
"Please do. I don't come to New York to eat breakfast burritos. Where I'm from we have the best Dim Sum on the continent; don't need burritos. But where I'm from the hot dogs suck and the chili dogs are worse. I'd take a single New York chili dog over a dozen of the ones from my neck of the woods even if I were starving."

That pumps up the motivation of the vendor who puffs up with pride at the praise and gets to work.

"Seems we've got some time. So you came for a run, Mr. Cage?" she asks, dropping all pretense at not knowing him, and knowing she's busted. "And not to check me out?"

Her. Not her katas. And the glint in her eyes suggests she knows what she said.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage chuckles. "I'm not here for death dogs with double onions. Not sure I want to hang around too long after he's got them ready" his tone is wry. "It'd be hard for me to have come to check you out, ma'am, given I didn't know you were here. I regularly run the park. From home it gets me a good three miles in." He regards her, "You make a habit of showing off like a rock video for the masses to droll over?" He offers over the unopened bottle of water if she wants it. Then he'll uncap the open bottle and take another large swallow.

Black Canary has posed:
"I do, actually, yes," Dinah says. "I think people should be inspired to study the martial arts, and this can only be done if you show the learning n public. Can't be inspired if you can't see things, right?"

She glances at the cart as the vendor serves up more burritos while the dogs cook.

"Death dogs? I think you mean 'greatest damned food America ever produced'."

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage laughs. "Of couse you are." Showing up in the park to practice where she is visible. A shrug, "Long as it's what you want, it's all you." He sips at his water again, "Death dogs. That much onion and chili at not even 7am? That's a recipe for misery." He shakes his head.

In just a few more minutes, the unorthodox breakfast is ready for Dinah and the man hands over her large order, "Have a good day, miss."

Black Canary has posed:
Dinah takes a huge bite out of one of her dogs and gives a thumbs-up and a friendly wink to the vendor before laboriously chewing and swallowing. "Little known fact about working out: takes protein and energy. Even littler known fact, the Cry is an energy hog and I get absolutely famished every time I use it. I'm eating all the time because I'm hungry all the time. And I need very specific blends of proteins and lipids and carbs to fuel things."

She holds up the half-a-dog she's got out of the bag.

"And it turns out one of these things is exactly the blend I need."

Beat.

"That's my story."

Beat.

"I'm stickin' to it, come Hell or high water. Now if only I could come up with a similar excuse for bourbon I'd be golden."

There's this slight hint in her facial expression that she may just be lying only a little bit.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage shrugs, "Lady, whatever you need to tell yourself in order to justify that many hotdogs? I really don't need to know it." He still doesn't know her as anything other than Black Canary. Out of uniform, he isn't going to call her that.

He turns to walk away from the food cart. "New York hotdogs are the best. I won't argue that point."

Black Canary has posed:
Hastily finishing the first hot dog before catching up with Luke, the remaining four still in her bag, she says, "Dinah. Call me Dinah. And yeah, OK, maybe I'm making excuses, but I don't get the chance to eat proper New York street dogs very often, so ... I take every chance I can get."

The second dog is released from its papery cage and readied for consumption.

"With all the outfits I belong to that are in or near NYC you'd think I could get more of them, but ... nope. Life hates me or something so it makes me actively miss out on these."

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage slows down a little, letting her more easily eat and walk. "Dinah then. Nice to meet you. Luke. As you know." He nods to her, "You don't need a reason for them. But I get a high metabolism. It's something a lot don't consider. Sometimes it's hard to just maintain weight for a person who has one. I've known a few that way."

"Yeah. I've heard of you from some of the other.. groups. You get around, it seems like. Popular girl."

Black Canary has posed:
"More like ..." Dinah lowers her voice in an obvious attempt to satirize a specific male voice. "... dangerous thrill-seeker with a penchant for getting involved in everything." She scoffs. "At least that's how one person who thought his review was not going to be seen by me puts it."

She takes another, smaller bite and continues after swallowing.

"If I want to be brutally honest, though, I do tend to get involved in everything. This business is my life, almost literally. I've been around it since childhood and I've been training up for it since I was 14. I can't even picture another life at this point. What could I do that would match the sheer thrill of fighting crime?"

Another bite gives Luke the chance to talk.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage listens and smirks. "Pretty girl with a death wish, devours NYC hotdogs and wipes the streets with violent criminals, ehh?" He shaks his head, "I suppose I can see it. Me. Well. Didn't get a lot of say. Bad childhood. Wrong crowd. Started getting my life together and got screwed over by someone with a vendetta. Got out of prison with some extra.. enhancements. Decided I wasn't going to let my neighborhood fall to crime even if I have to drag it up by the bootstraps."

Black Canary has posed:
"Nah," Dinah says, waving dismissively. "No death wish. Being dead is boring. You just kind of lie there doing nothing. Forever. There's no thrills if you're dead. No adrenaline."

She makes a wry face at Luke's story.

"I know," she says, apologetic in tone. "I looked you up. You're in a lot of databases. You do the work I like best, though: solving the very real problems of very real people. It's what I used to do, and it's what I still prefer to do when I get the chance. Leave the world-saving to people equipped for it. I beat people up and sometimes scream at them. It's ... a simpler life."

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage shrugs. "Deathwish is what everyone who looks at what we do considers it." Then he glances over his gaze hard, an almost startled look till she doesn't make a thing of whatever it was he expected her to. He shrugs after a moment. "I just do what I can. I'm a simple man. Keeping it simple is all I know how to do." That's not likely the truth. But it's what he cares to make it his truth.

Black Canary has posed:
"I'm part of a group that watches metas and mutants," Dinah says to the hard gaze and the subsequent relaxation. "We watch for dangerous ones who need help to control their powers, or who need incarceration to prevent their powers from being used badly. As soon as you proved to be a meta like me, I checked up on you."

She pauses to snarf down another sizable bite of the third dog before continuing.

"I figured you'd rather hear that I did from me instead of it coming up by surprise. But I know some of your story. Not all of it. I just wanted to make sure, you know, that you're not a hazard."

Beat.

"You're not. If that wasn't clear."

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage shakes his head in amazement, "And you government stiffs wonder why the little people don't actually, you know, trust you." He sighs. "Whatever you say, Dinah. It doesn't change the fact I haven't been a hazard for the last few years even without you checking up on me. And I won't be a hazard for the rest of my life in spite of you doing it."

He tosses back the last of his water before pitching the empty bottle into a recycling can along the walking path.

"I guess, for telling me you did it after the fact? Thanks?" Or something. It's the second time she's done something without seeming to think through how it would be received.

Black Canary has posed:
"Not government, but that's probably worse to you," Dinah cheerfully acknowledges. "Still better I tell you than you find out through other means. Because, well, the truth is metas like you and me can do incalculable harm. I know for sure that the moment my Cry broke out there were people checking up on me and watching me until it was clear where I stood. I mean I put a boy into a coma."

She looks off in a random direction, her voice distant.

"I didn't mean to, of course. I was as scared as the witnesses. But nobody knows that at first. So naturally they checked. And now I'm one of the ones who checks. And offers aid for scared breakouts like me. And defence from the ones who exploit their power. And leave the rest alone except to visit their bars and buy out their bourbon."

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage sighs, reaching up to wipe his face. "You're a hard woman to want to trust. You know that? Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should." He shakes his head "You know what? Just.. " he looks over at her. "we're going to have to agree to disagree. I've got things in my past I'd rather stay there. Having someone digging raound isn't going to do that for me." He turns down a branching path from the main path. "It would be appreciated if you just let sleeping dogs lay. You want to come drink, do it. You're welcome. Just leave my past out of things."

Black Canary has posed:
Now that piques curiosity. Visible curiosity, even past the fourth hot dog cramming straight past Dinah's teeth.

"I'm guessing you mean you don't want me poking around before Luke Cage shows up in records," she says after a hasty swallow. "Don't worry. That's not the kind of thing I look for. I look for gross misuse of abilities. Like, you know, banks that were mysteriously broken open in cases that had not yet been solved. And while there is one of those before you popped out, you don't fit because the surveillance footage, grainy and useless as it is for ID, pretty much shows a woman."

Dinah looks Luke up and down.

"And hon, you don't look like any woman I've ever seen. Except maybe Barda on a bad day. Maybe you thought I searched criminal records or something? Not my bailiwick. That's for cops to worry about. I look for specifically *meta* activity."

She unbundles the fifth and final hot dog.

"So, sleeping dogs are staying sleepy. I don't know nor care about your past as a person, just how you use that bullet-proof chest of yours."

And there's the irrepressible grin again. "And I have to say, I approve fully of using it the way you do to clean up gangs."

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage shrugs, "I don't know what you have access to or what you searched." He looks to her, "I didn't get this "chest" willingly. I'll tell you that. I did't have a choice. It was all forced on me. Because I had no rights at the time and they did whatever the fuck they wanted." He looks away, staring off at some of the deer that somehow find refuge in the middle of Manhattan inside Central Park and only show up in the early morning before the park gets crowded. "I got away from that. But I'm certain they would love to find me again if they could. I'd as soon that not happen."

Black Canary has posed:
"A lot more of that going on that is comfortable to talk about," Dinah says, pursing her lips and frowning. "Everybody's always looking for ways to 'improve' humanity as a killing machine. And then people like the Outsiders are left trying to pick up the pieces."

She looks across at Luke.

"That's of course the other job of the Outsiders. If they do find you. If they try to make your theirs again, don't try to take it all on by yourself. Call me and I'll bring them more hurt than you can imagine. They'll find themselves in pain from everything ranging from my fists to ... let's just say significant legal and political pressure and leave it there. The only thing worse than a meta misusing their power is someone else trying to force that meta into doing it."

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage listens. "Assuming I have the chance to contact you or anyone, sure, I'll be the first to do that." He looks to her, "But thanks. I'll keep it in mind." He glances around, "I should probably let you get back to it. I need to be heading back to the bar to get ready to open for the liquid lunch crowd."