 |
 |
| Strange Meets Crazy | |
|---|---|
| Participants | Laura, Penny |
| Synopsis | Discussing the pros and cons of being a people person. |
| Location | Central Park - Manhattan |
| Time | January 8, 2016 |
| Posted By | Penny |
It's a chilly day. It's snowing. Not a snow-storm by any stretch of the imagination, but enough to almost make it pretty, all things considered. At least there isn't much of a wind on top of that. Laura has decided that it's just a little too stuffy in the school and the woods out back are too quiet, so she's come out to Manhattan for a little bit of noise. Granted, some parts of Central Park can be rather secluded but one who has ears like hers, it's not hard to hear that low din of traffic in the air when others might not notice it.
She pauses in her walk along one of the paths and drops herself onto one of the benches after a quick mitten-swipe at the seat to clear off a bit of the snow from it. With a deep sigh, she looks up at the sky a bit and just tries to relax. She's been too tense as of late. How can find the presence of mind to keep under control when things are too stressful? People stress her out. For the moment, she is people-free, but as she's snagged one of the few benches along this stretch of pathway, how long will it be till someone else grabs a spot nearby or stops to tie a shoelace?
Penny is cutting through the park, since it's now not only the quickest route from point A to point B, but also one of the safer areas to walk, provided one sticks to the paths. And for once, the petite blonde is wise enough to do the safe thing, though it might just be coincidence, since it's also the most convenient route for her as well. Said route takes her along the same path as Laura, though she's not out here to enjoy the afternoon. No, she's chatting away on a Bluetooth earpiece, while flipping through a file and periodically brushing the snow from the dampening pages. "Yeah. Yeah, I have it here. No, I see the December numbers, but what I'm- Oh shit." Midway through that sentence, an over enthusiastic brush of her mitten sends one of the pages loose, where it goes dancing rather artfully on the wind. Pretty, but not at all useful for Penny. "I'll have to call you back." Without waiting for a goodbye, she hangs up the earpiece and goes after the paper, which only brings her nearer to the lonely figure on the bench.
The sound of the conversation coming closer to her pulls a deep sigh from Laura. So much for getting away from people while still being around people. But at least these people are strangers and should hopefully not be all up in her face about things or antagonizing her. Her gaze flickers away from the sky and down and over to the blonde on the path coming ever closer. It's only when the page suddenly flies away on Penny that the dark-haired girl bothers to actually move. She leans forward as the sheet floats on the wind toward her. She waits, then rises from the bench long enough to stretch forward and snatch the paper out of the air. Looking over toward the blond who was chasing after it, she holds it out in her mitten-covered hand. "Missing something?" she offers up as a bit of a lame joke or conversation starter, though she doesn't look like the entirely social type. She takes a quick glance at the paper out of reflex without intentionally prying. The look is very brief and returns to Penny immediately. "Gotta watch stuff like that out here. Blink and it will be blown to the other side of the island in no time."
The paper is thankfully not horribly damning. Tiny rows of figures representing mutant-related crime statistics, though even that might not be immediately evident. Penny comes jogging over, chasing her paper. Her pace slows a bit as Laura snags it for her, saving her the trouble of having to actually hunt it down and catch it. She offers a perky grin as she steps nearer, reaching out to take the page back and stuff it where it belongs in her file. "Thanks!" she commends sincerely, quickly flicking the file folder shut and tucking it up under her arm. "Apparently the only thing that wanted off that call more than me was my papers," she goes on wryly, which might explain why she's in no particular hurry to get back to the phone call she'd just cut off so abruptly.
Grinning a little, Laura relinquishes the paper without incident. "Yeah, well… sometimes we're all glued to our toys a little too much, hm?" she replies with a bit of a shrug. "Doesn't hurt to unplug every now and then when the universe gives us a sign like that." Laura doesn't question her about the figures on the paper; it's not really her business anyway, nor does she apparently have too much of an interest in it. "The universe has a way of fouling up what we want to do when it thinks it knows better… or something like that," she adds with a bit of a chuckle.
"No rest for the wicked," Penny replies with a grin, as she pulls the headset free and tucks it away in her coat pocket. "Believe me, I don't mind talking. But with that guy, it's just always talking around in circles." She's not too put out by it, more wry than anything as she tucks her hands into her pockets, the folder pinned between her side and her elbow. "So I'm definitely not going to argue about the unplugging part. With luck it will take him a few hours to realize I've forgotten him."
Smirking a little, Laura pulls out her own cellphone, flashing it at Penny. It is definitely off. "Sometimes, you just don't want to be bothered." Then it goes back into her pocket, disappearing as fast as it came out. "I know someone who is like that, though. The talking in circles thing. It's infuriating and annoying and, quite frankly, draining. The only thing worse than dealing with someone like that on the phone is dealing with someone like that face-to-face. Trust me on that one." Sighing, she adds with a motion to the folder at Penny's side, "Anyway, I'm glad I could help. I've lost too many umbrellas and bus tickets that way."
Penny laughs, shrugging her shoulders. "I think I'd have a panic attack, turning it off like that. You get so used to being connected. And what if something actually important finally happened? I couldn't stand being out of the loop on that." So she'll just have to accept the downside of being constantly bugged. Not like she doesn't enjoy how it makes her feel important, even if the conversation itself is tiresome. "But yeah. Draining, definitely. He's just not wanting to hear what I'm saying at all." She glances down at the folder and then nods. "Yeah, the wind is a harsh mistress sometimes. Well, thanks again. Would have really sucked to lose that."
"That's what voicemail is for, you know," Laura points out, eyeing Penny a little funny as she mentions panic attacks and maybe missing something. "But I suppose I get it…. sort of. But I still like my alone time," she admits with a grin. "No, they usually don't want to hear what you're saying. Or they know something you don't but should, in their eyes. Or they're just too bullheaded to admit that someone else's point might actually be right." No, she doesn't know from experience; not at all. "Someone you work with, then? That can be worse than just someone you know. You don't always have the option of putting distance between you." Nodding at the folder again, she says, "Don't worry about it. Just lucky I was sitting here, I guess."
Penny waves a hand at the idea of letting such important calls go to voicemail. "Then I'd just be checking that obsessively all the time," she points out, at least not unaware that this is horribly Type A behaviour, but not concerned enough to bother trying to change it. "But then, I'm not so big on the alone time. Really like to be doing stuff. And isn't it a bit cold and, well, winter, to be hanging out in the park?" She's not really judging, just amused by the fact that someone who doesn't seem to be limited in options for an indoor space to go is choosing to hang out on a freezing bench alone. "Yeah, he's a work jerk. We've got this thing we're supposed to be working on and…" She trails off, shaking her head at the hopelessness of it, before bouncing right back. "Anyway. Yeah, just lucky me, I guess."
"Ah. Can't unplug and can't unwind? Eesh, not a life I'd enjoy, I'll admit, so to each her own," Laura replies with a bit of a smirk. "Which, I guess is why I'm out here in the middle of winter in the park. Because I wanted to unplug and unwind and put some distance between myself and those who annoy me." Simple, really. And there's Penny's answer. "There are those of us who can't get enough of being connected," she explains, "and then there are those of us who find people to be generally complicated, usually annoying and unnecessarily full of baggage which inevitably gets dumped on those around them. As I am a person who has her own share of complications and baggage, I find it's just easier to try to keep that away from others as much as I can while avoiding theirs in the process." After a moment's thought, she also adds, "It's not as bad with people you don't know, granted." She gives an almost apologetic grin to Penny. "I know that sounds horrible."
"Yeah, I tried doing the spa thing a few times. It sort of has the opposite effect on me." Penny just grins at that, able to find humour in the fact that she pretty much freaked out at the idea of a weekend of nothing but massages and no work. "But hey. All the more to you if this is all it takes to recharge." She's really more the type that simply doesn't run down. One day, she'll simply cease to function mid-action, no doubt. Her eyebrow arches as she listens to Laura explain how hell is other people. "Well, yeah. Because if you want me to get gone, just say the word," she chuckles. "Though I'm not really much of a dumper by nature. Unless you really want to hear about that time I didn't get the right My Little Pony for Christmas."
Smirking, Laura replies, "Honesty, I haven't figured out what gets me to unwind. Other than maybe a punching bag and a whole lot of time booked with it." She offers a bit of a shrug, then adds, "And really, I didn't mean that as a 'get out of my face' thing. It all came off worse than I meant, I think. Mostly just… life shouldn't be so complicated but people make it complicated." It doesn't help that Laura's not the most eloquent on her best days. "But, uh… I think I'll pass on the My Little Pony story." Chances are, they all have one or something similar, anyway. Right? Maybe. Maybe not. "Primarily, people think I'm too uptight about stuff, and they're likely right. But I also think that a lot of the people I deal with daily are pompous asses, and maybe I'm right. So it's a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B. It's just easier when I avoid them if I can. Hell… one of them thinks I'm crazy, and I'm not entirely sure that's a bad thing." She offers a smirk at that and shrugs. "But anyway… really… if you're one of those types who can deal with people in mass quantities and still keep your head, it's nothing to shake a stick at. It's an admirable trait. One I'll likely never master."
"Life may not be complicated, but people can be. Or at least they like to think they are. Nobody wants to be average, even if most people kind of have to be, by definition." Penny pulls her smartphone from her pocket, glancing at the screen. But whatever it is, it isn't actually pressing, since she doesn't move to respond, just tucks the device back away. "But I don't know. I find people pretty easy to deal with, most of the time. I guess it would be pretty annoying if I didn't." She tries to imagine, but the effort is short-lived. "But hey, don't let what others think get to you. It's really the only way to stay sane. You get good at shrugging it off and life becomes a lot easier."
"Yeah, people are complicated. Or they -make- things complicated. Usually unnecessarily so," Laura agrees with the blonde standing before her. "If you find it easy to deal with people, that really is a good skill or ability to have, like I said," she points out. "Not everyone can do that. I'm not able to do it. Too many people, too much bullshit and I'm gone. I can't deal with it. Maybe I just don't have the patience. Regardless, I think it's important to know your limits and then, while it's okay to push those limits, don't break them. If you do, something else will break and it usually means -you- will." She laughs at this point. "So I guess in a way I envy you but in another way, I don't because I just don't know that I am willing to invest that kind of energy in trying to manage people when I can just, well, turn it off, tune them out, walk away or whatever." She just gets overwhelmed. "As for what people think of me… it doesn't bother me in the way you might think it does. I mean, maybe it does to a point, but if they think I'm nuts, they'll leave me alone, right?" She offers up a grin.
"Never really thought anyone should envy me," Penny points out with a wry grin. "Sure, some parts are enviable, like my totally kick ass nature, but then you're stuck with the rest too. And believe me, if people think you're crazy…" But it doesn't usually bother her. Takes a thick skin to do what she does and keep grinning. "I guess they'll either leave you alone or stage an intervention or something. Crazy is probably not as good a defence as simply being boring, if you really want to be left alone, but then, it's probably more interesting. But I don't know. I've never really tried to be left alone. Save, like, trying to get away from a bad situation or something."
Chuckling quietly, Laura replies, "Being 'the crazy' can be interesting. Admittedly, I didn't do it on purpose and it was likely more of a last-resort option but hey, if it means they give me a wide berth, then fine by me. Until they try to fit me with that little white jacket with the extra long sleeves, I guess I won't argue the point as long as it works." But then, she's not really put this theory into action. But it sounds good. "Anyway… hm. From what you say, you might not like trying to be alone. But, then again, if you've never tried it, maybe you would like it. But you seem the type who thrives on people. Admittedly, I don't get into the habit of talking to strangers in Central Park, but look at us… you got me talking." A shoulder hitches ever so slightly. "But really, if the only situation that deems being left alone in your mind is a bad situation… well, consider that for me, -most-, but not all, contact with people inevitably ends up being a bad situation. There -are- exceptions, granted. But usually, things just go south. I just don't have any luck."
"Yeah, I guess I talk to strangers a lot. I must have missed that lesson in pre-school. Might be what gets me into so many of those bad situations." Penny smirks at that, shrugging again as if, even with this realization, she's still not going to bother trying not to do this. "Still, think I'll pass on the whole 'being alone' thing. Not that I'm incapable. I mean, I live alone. When I'm not living at the office, anyway."
With a laugh, Laura replies, "A slave to the grind, hm? Well, at least it sounds like even if you're a slave to your work, you at least enjoy it." No, she doesn't ask what she does. She doesn't even know the other woman's name. "But again, it's all about different strokes for different folks, right? Some people like seafood, some people don't. Some people like being alone, some people don't." It's as easy as that. In her eyes, anyway. "I'm probably holding you up. Like I said, I don't usually talk to strangers and while this hasn't been horrible or anything… it's probably a little strange. Well, maybe just to me, seeing as you missed that lesson in pre-school, apparently." She then snickers at that.
"The trick is to find something that you love to do, and then find a way to get someone to pay you for doing it," Penny advises sagely. Considering her wardrobe and expensive electronics, she's made it quite a long way on that advice. Then again, that's without allowing for the fact that her last name and the income bracket of her family put her well ahead to begin with. "Yeah, I guess I should get going." She's not in a terrible rush, but she's not going to overstay her welcome either - not when there's no gain in it. "When I'm seeming strange to crazy people, it's time to get back to work."
Laura nods a little. "Yeah, I suppose that's the key, if you can manage it," she admits, agreeing with Penny. "Ah well… I've never been one for the big rat race. But I'll keep it in mind." She sighs and looks around, realizing that she is starting to get cold. "I guess I should get going anyway. Even a loner can only stand so much cold for her desire for solitude." She pushes up to her feet and then offers Penny a smirk of amusement. "Yeah… strange and crazy people. Who are we to throw stones, hm? Anyway, have a good one and try to keep your hands on your papers here on in, okay?" She stuffs her mitten-covered hands in her pockets and prepares to leave.
"Gotta make money somehow," Penny points out easily. "Might as well do that while doing something you enjoy, that's all I'm saying." She takes a step back, nodding her head. "Yeah, if you catch pneumonia, you'll end up in the hospital, and then probably have an endless stream of visitors you can't get away from," she suggests with a grin. "Anyway, yeah, I'll guard them with my life. Have a good day. Good luck with that crazy thing." She offers a little nod of farewell before turning to head back along the path.
Laura can't help but smirk about the hospital thing. "Yeah, can't have that," she comments with a chuckle. "Well, anyway, yeah, good luck with the papers and try not to let that guy annoy you too badly." She then turns away from the blonde and parts ways with her, heading in the direction Penny originally came from. She hunkers down a bit, hunching up her shoulders in an attempt to keep warm before she finally disappears around a bend.
