Do Rabbits Dream of Chocolate Eggs?

March 29, 2018:

Johnny Blaze, Jessica Drew, and Vivienne Benoit discuss the strangeness of Easter Egg Hunts.

Central Park

The city Easter Egg Hunt. Kids run in all directions with all manner of candy. It's quite festive.

Characters

NPCs: Some random kids and an ice cream vendor.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

*

There's no Easter like a New York Easter. And short of the Easter Day Parade, which, sadly, is not today, there's no greater celebration than the annual egg hunt extravaganza in Central Park. The entire park seems to have been corralled into the festivities. The zoo has all of its enclosures tricked out, with even a petting zoo for the children, the sculptures have been adorned, the carousel and the castle all hosting events for the visitors finally braving the slowly warming spring air.

Of course, the main attractions go as follows:

Pictures with the Easter Bunny. You know you want to do this.

The Annual Egg Hunt.

And anywhere and everywhere a host of frenetic children, dressed in their easter finery and frazzled parents running after their sugar-fueled toddlers turn the park into a veritable explosion of sound and motion.

Those few not enjoying the festivities? The gods help you.

*

One woman, for her part, seems to have stolen a section of a mushroom for herself, perched on the Alice in Wonderland sculpture, because of course she is. Her clothes? Not at all festive, instead leading more towards stark black and white. But the basket in her lap, in all its woven plastic straw glory, complete with tinsel 'grass', some of which has gotten stuck in her hair, looks both flabbergasted and delighted. Though it might be the bag of mini eggs she's dipping into as she watches the children run pell-mell through the shrubbery. Happy Easter, Vivienne.

*

Johnny Blaze was just sitting there in the zoo, leather jacket off his shoulders and set aside neatly on his Motorcycle. Black T-shirt, coal black jeans, belt around his waist, looking around as he watches everyone enjoy the holiday as the reddish-blonde man seemed to be relaxing.

Nevertheless, Blaze had no desire to really take part in it, even though he did notice Vivienne doing her thing, chuckling softly at the woman as she apparently has grass all up in her hair, all of that awesome jazz. Nevertheless, the chain is also on the bike, sitting down cross-legged as he watches onward…eating a vanilla ice cream cone.

Because why not?

*

Jessica looks looks utterly lost in the myriad people surrounding her. She reels back when a child lunges at her only to discover she's been handed a handful of little egg-shaped chocolates. The kid takes off again toward a nearby Church booth. Their sign reads, "Our Lord Returned! Let's Celebrate Together!"

The black-haired woman in the red jacket more or less stumbles past the Alice in Wonderland sculpture, near the other woman who seems to be the only person as confused as she is by the pageantry surrounding her.

People celebrate like this? Really? There are so many eggs. And what's with the rabbits? Do they think rabbits lay eggs? God help us all.

Eventually Vivienne is flashed a smile and Jess finds herself a mushroom of her own. At least it cuts down on the amount of foot traffic. She's staring over at the zoo nearby and takes a deep breath as she settles down. Johnny gets a second look but nothing more. Why would he, when he's so clearly enjoying his ice cream? That, at least, makes sense.

So of Vivienne Jess asks in a soft, wry alto, "This is pretty intense. Can you tell me what the festival's about?" Another child runs by. This one trips a little and accidentally hits Jess with a sack of empty plastic egg shells before taking off.

Adorable.

*
"Chocolate egg?" Vivienne gets that right out of the way first, because that's the polite thing to do, as the other woman joins her on the sculpture. She offers over her basket which seems to have an assortment of all the chocolate eggs you could ever hope for. Her accent is the European version of 'generic American'. You know she must be from somewhere, probably western Europe, but it'd be impossible to place it with any precision.

"You know, I am still trying to figure that out. I think I've got the broad strokes. The holiday is Easter, the day the Christian Messiah, Jesus, rose from the dead after three days. So it's all about celebrating life. But the other aspects are a bit more interesting. The egg, for example, is commonly seen to be a symbol not only of life, but of Mary Magdalene, a disciple of Christ, or his wife, depending on what heresies you believe in."

She offers a hand, whether the chocolate is accepted or not, "I'm sorry, I'm terribly rude. Vivienne Benoit, but most people call me Ana." She manages to catch the other woman's eyeline, and settles on…well, it could be the man, or it could be his ice cream cone.

*

"Jessica Drew. People usually call me Jess…" Johnny is looked over briefly and then Jess shifts he gaze slowly to Vivienne. "Anna. Right." She shakes the offered hand firmly. Jessica's accent is very local, which actually might set off an alarm bell if you're listening. Wouldn't a local be familiar with this custom? Maybe she's just good at blending in.

"Right. Easter, Jesus… Eggs. Mary Magdalene married Christ. What's with the rabbit?" The egg is accepted and Jess looks at it curiously. Handshakes are much more familiar. Jessica has a very strong grip but she doesn't crush Anne's hand. It's just obvious from how she holds herself.

The bike is studies for a second and Jessica's eyes again flicker back to Vivienne. "Thanks for the egg by the way…" Her soft, even voice carries with it a hint of incredulity. It would be odd in any other situation, wouldn't it?

"So you're from… Somewhere in Euroep, I guess." A brief pause. "New to New York?" She finds her gaze wandering back to Johnny periodically but there seems to be no reason to make a fuss.

*

Johnny Blaze was just sitting there now, looking at the two women as they speak. In an act of just kindness and wanting to be social, Johnny goes over to Jessica and Vivienne, smiling to the two ladies with that beautiful smile, and his naturally suave and charming way of speaking. "Ladies. Mind if I join you?" the host of the Ghost Rider asks the two of them, not wanting to intrude.

If accepted, he will sit between Jessica and Vivienne, sitting down cross-legged and having long ditched the ice cream. "We speak of Easter, yeah? Liking the holiday so far?" he asked then.

*

"Good to meet you, Jess." Vivienne's own hand is an oddity. Calloused as you might expect if she did a great deal of work with her hands, or, as Jess might be more familiar, with martial weaponry, though her physique and demeanour are completely out of keeping with that. As for Jess' accent, Vivienne seems to make no note of it, but if she isn't from these parts, she probably can't really tell the difference in regional accents yet.

"Oh, I think that was stolen from the goddess Eoster. A bit of religious appropriation, the Church's way of making their new religion seem credible to people who already believed in other gods." A smile crosses her lips, accompanied by a shake of her head, "If I'm getting into the weeds, let me know. I'm a doctoral student in comparative religions, so I tend to forget that not everyone's as interested in these sorts of things as I am."
Question of the day: "Did you see where he got that ice cream?" Because priorities.

"I've lived all over Europe, though I was born and raised mainly in France. And yes, I've only arrived a few weeks ago. It's at once new and familiar. Very American with—" And then she breaks off, as the man in black heads their way, and she scoots to make room for him. "Of course, I don't mind," though she does look to Jess to see if she might. " I have never seen anything like this before. Ever."

*

"More the merrier. Why not?" Jess's smile is tinged with a hint of wry amusement and she shrugs as she shifts slightly to make way for Johnny Blaze. In a metaphorical sense, as he doesn't need to actually walk past the sable haired woman to find somewhere to seat himself.

Jessica twists slightly then and scnas the vendors over. She tilts her head slightly and tests the air before nodding once. "Ice cream vendor's just moved from that corner and is circling past the kids who just won the egg… Race… Thing." She squints slightly into a crowd of people that ought to make this next to impossible to see.

"He was playing the music for a second," the woman explains before shrugging lightly. "How's the ice cream? You look like you're enjoying the good weather," Jessica adds after a second, looking Johnny over briefy from head to toe.

"And, I mean. Feel free ot keep going. I think it's pretty interesting. I was stuck on wondering if someone decided rabbits were laying chocolate eggs. If a rabbit gives you a chocolate egg I don't think I'd recommend you eat it." After this Jess shakes herhead and shifts back slightly.

"I was born in Transia… And my family traveled. A lot. I lived in London for a bit. France. Other places. My parents are American originally though. so I eventually moved to the USA."

Another kid runs past with a sack of candy. Jess quickly withdraws her legs to let them past. "At least they seem to be enjoying it."

*

"Ana," Vivienne indicates herself, before her hand swings in Jess' direction, "Jess," she doesn't give the other woman's full name either. "I wondered about that race. I mean, it's a sack race, yes, but wouldn't it make more sense and make it easier to race if you stuck your feet in each end of the sack and ran, rather than hopping?" Oh logic.

As Jess marks the location of the ice cream vendor, there's the slightest tilt to Vivienne's head, as she studies the woman. No judgment, only an intense curiosity. But that soon passes, as she shifts her attention to the man now sitting between them, "And your motorcycle is fantastic."

A snort of laughter, "Especially if they're the size of these." Viv offers, holding up a Cadbury mini-egg. Which is, indeed, fairly the same size as the other sort of eggs that rabbits 'lay'.

*

Johnny Blaze chuckles between the two of them, letting kids pass right by him as he keeps his legs folded inward, sitting cross-legged. Eiether way, he nods softly to Vivienne and Jessica. "I'm Johnny by the way. Johnny Blaze. Nice to meet the both of you." Though as Jessica comments on his motorcycle, his smile is big and wide.

"Thank you. I put a lot of work into that thing…somehow it's not tried to kill me yet." he winks softly to the both of them before he leans back a bit, resting on his hands. "…I mean, cadbury makes good chocolates." he shrugs then, not a big guy when it comes to Easter.

"I was boring, born here." he laughs a bit then.

*

"I saw some white ones and mulit-coloured ones earlier. All I am saying is those and the gigantic ones seem safer," Jessica declares, shrugging as well as she does. Viv's laughter draws a more genuine smile from the fairly laconic smaller woman eated beside her and Jessica pauses to take a deep breath.

"Nice to meet you too, Johnny," Jessica offers with a soft lilt to her tone. "Nothing wrong with being born here. At least you can find your way around here." She traces a toe against the ground then, pausing for a moment while she considers this for a moment. "Anyway. I have to wonder what's next. There's this festival in Europe where two towns in Greece, like, launch rockets at the church in the next town over and try to ring the town bell. Does New York do anything like that? …Nevermind, would probably set the city on fire."

*

"I spent some time in Transia. I think I will not soon forget it." Vivienne's expression doesn't alter, despite the purposefully vague wording. And it might be for that reason that she dances her attention over to potentially safer (ha!) topics of conversation, "A pleasure to meet you, Johnny…Although how you manage to drive anywhere on that motorcycle is a miracle. The streets are so terrible congested here. Which, given the looks of that thing, is probably precisely why it hasn't killed you yet. It looks as though it could be dangerous, if you let it have its head."

Jess' question seems to give the woman pause, her face growing still, in that way that people get when they're sometimes trying to recall something they've heard from books, "Fireworks. I've seen those on television broadcasts. And classical music. Your fourth of July."

Oh joy! The ice cream vendor seems to be circling his way back towards the sculpture.

*

Johnny Blaze smiles to the both of them. "You can call me John or Blaze. Whichever you like or any interesting nicknames are welcome. Nice to meet you Jess, Vivienne." he smiles as they are now all properly introduced. Though as he hears that Vivienne spent time in Transia, he listens happily to her words, though as she speaks about his motorcycle, he chuckles softly. "Don't worry. It's gotten me out of plenty of scraps in my lifetime. Hopefully it will continue to help me out more."

He shrugs then. "I modified that old girl so much that I'm surprised it can go as fast as it can. Either way." he shrugs softly, though when he hears of fireworks aiming for the town bell? He blinks a few times. "People do that? Sounds like fun, but I don't know how I feel about shooting fireworks at churches…" he looks up then, before looking back to Jess and Viv.

"Oh, the ice cream man's back. I might get another cone….." he shrugs!

*

"Fireworks? …Well, yeah. But I mean, explosions in town and.. Anyway." Jessica nods slowly and then takes a deep breath. She leans back slowly and then turns her gaze toward the sky overhead. A few seconds of silence re allowed to pass while other people are talking.

"They form a couple fire brigades just in case but believe it or not it's usually completely safe." Jessica gives a light shrug.

"I like motorcycles. Yours looks fun. A bit of danger with morning ride isn't so bad." Sheshrugs her left shoulder lightly and continues to trace invisible circles against the air.

"maybe I should ge a motorcycle." Jess pauss for a moment. "What brought you all the way here, Ana? Looking for anything or…?" For Johnny she adds, "Do you take that bike everywhere? Sounds like you're probably from around here. You know. New York in general."

*

"Well, I suppose it depends on how much faith you have in the church." Another peal of laughter, as if she had just realized the joke inherent in her words. "How about I buy this round? It's the least I can do." Vivienne slips down from the mushroom, straight-backed, as one might of they were wearing a corset, or something else that restricted them from bending at the waist. She's clearly done it often enough to make it seem mostly natural, but an observant eye might note it. A flick of her hands straightens the coat around herself, "I've only ridden on a motorcycle like that once. I nearly lost a limb. I didn't realize you had to lean into the turn." She slides a slim wallet out of her pocket, eyes shifting to Jess, "Access to research. I've worked out a visiting scholar arrangement with Columbia. There are an amazing number of texts that would help me with my research here, but no one wants to send their priceless mystical texts all the way to Rome. So I've had to come to them." She lifts a hand in a 'just a tick' gesture, before she heads off to the vendor.

*

Johnny chuckles a little bit then to Jessica as she questions getting a motorcycles. "Hey, I could build one for you. I'm an engineer.. I make this stuff for kicks." he smiles softly to her then, his eyes on Jess entirely for a moment. "Yeah, I do. and well…I was born just outside of New York. Know the city like the back of my hand." he winks then a little bit, before he shrugs. "I can show you around if you're unfamiliar? could ride with me."

Then he looks at Vivienne a moment then, before she offers to buy the rounds! WOOHOO-oh, it's for Ice cream. WOOHOOO!! however way you look at it, Johnny is one happy dude.

"Well, I'd love to see this fireworks display…"

*

[OOC: Scene faded for time]

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