Chinatown Tchotchskes

December 04, 2016:

Rachel Quinn and Darcy Lewis bump into each other in Chinatown.

Chinatown -- New York City

One of the major enclaves within the city proper, Chinatown boasts apopulation near 100,000 people. Here is where, historically, the Chineseimmigrants came in to land and created a small piece of home in their newland. The streets are always busy, and the air at most times is filled witha bewildering mix of Cantonese and Mandarin, and all the lesser dialects that are only found in China.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*None None.]


Fade In…

It's a busy afternoon in Chinatown. Vendors are out hawking their wares and little street kiosks litter the sidewalk between more 'legitimate' shops. On a rare day off from The Project, Rachel Quinn wanders the streets and browses the kiosks and shops in an effort to both get a feel for the neighborhood and to see if there isn't some sort of unique something-or-other she can pick up for her Granddad for Christmas. He always likes the truly weird. She attributes it mostly to his service overseas. As she walks, she whistles an old, upbeat Jazz tune from the height of the crooner era.

Like Rachel, Darcy too is taking advantage of the odd day off to do some shopping. Either for Chirstmas or for self, Dracy's moving slowly, meandering slightly, as she window shops. She's looking for a particular something. She' not got anythign specific in mind she's hoping to buy. As a kiosk with paper umbrellas and buddah statues, Darcy glances over at the whistler. A faint grin and the green eyed girl waves off the vender, ready to move on.

Rachel's step is light, like she might start dancing to her tune — except she doesn't. Because that would be just a little too weird. Still, her good mood does seem to be fairly contagious, since even the normally skeptical New Yorkers give her a smile in passing. When Darcy smiles, Rachel gives a faint tilt of her head in acknowledgement, though she doesn't actively intrude on the other woma. That said, she does wander towards that particular vendor to look at some of the less common sculpted knick knacks on display. She stops whistling to chuckle at a small figure of a stooped man looking at a dancing pig, both fashioned from some sort of red stone rather than the usual jade. "Ok," she says to no one in particular, "this is cute."

*

The comment has curious Darcy pausing to look.

"Kinda is," she replies, smile still present, hands in the pokcets of her coat.

*

Rachel glances to Darcy and returns the smile. "I'm sure its a knock-off of something else, but it amuses me."

*

"Oh, no doubt, but it's silly. And a great white elephant," Darcy quips, a chuckle in the tone of her voice. Behind her red frames, her green eyes peer at the scultpure again, amusedly, before they flick back up to Rachel.

"If you're shopping for white elephant, that is." Which Darcy's not, but someone else might be, and that's completely ok.

*

"Eh. I'm just looking at tchotchkes," Rachel replies with a mild shrug. "I mean… what do you get the guy who has everything? And has had for decades…" Good old Gramps. "It's the dancing pig," she says, her own green eyes twinkling some. "It just makes me laugh. And I don't think he has one of those."

*

"Then that's what you get him, if he likes collecting things," Dracy suggests with a smile, not really sounded certain of the suggestiong. Not her family, not really her business.

*

Again, Rachel shrugs. "He's 87 and retired from overseas service. If it reminds him of Asia, he's happy." Dancing pigs qualify, right?

She cocks her head a moment, as if listening to something. Then, her expression clears and she lets whatever she thinks she heard go.

(scene aborted due to RL)

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