Centralized Chaos, Like a Punch To The Face (PM)

Andrea was troubled. Not by any illness or bully, nor a nightmare. No, she was troubled by a man. A man she couldn’t figure out. Aurum had called, inviting her out, while she had been in the middle of a brooding session. Of course she couldn’t turn him down, he was a good person and a friend. It would have been rude to tell him no with no good reason at hand. Mention of the Zoo spiked her curiosity, for she had never been to a Zoo before in her life. Right off the bat she wanted to see the bears and lions, and the tigers and chimps. All of the things she had seen on TV while growing up and read about in books. When they arrived however, her mental image of the Zoo was over turned- since when did it have people in costumes… with signs? Her head tilted automatically, and she turned it to Aurum when he asked her how she had been. Costume toting people would have to wait… “Oh, I’ve been fine. Pretty busy with work and… things…” She could feel a light blush creep up her cheeks and fought desperately to push it back. The things she had mentioned also happened to be the man that was plaguing her thoughts. He was the reason she felt conflicted and confused, and just a little bit angry.

“What about yourself, Aurum? How have you been…?”

His ‘oh, look at that..’ Caught her attention and she paused, her feet stilling at his side as they switched directions. A polar bear? She had seen those on TV as well. “Polar bear exhibit? sure!” An arctic bear that could grow taller and wider than a full grown man… Good thing there was a hefty thickness of glass separating the bears from them. With the fear of becoming a fuzzy mammals dinner safely tucked away into the furthest reaches of her mind, she found herself turning again to thoughts about dating and relationships. Her eyes traveled to Aurum slowly, before she blinked and turned her gaze away to stare at a passing plaque on the wall- which offered more information on the fuzzy white bears. Should she ask Aurum what his thoughts on the subject were?… would be care to hear it? her logic pointed out that he had referred to their last outing as a date… which probably made the Zoo visit a date too. So… didn’t that make him a kind of dating expert? With an inward shrug, she decided that it couldn’t hurt anything to simply ask…

By the time he spoke again, she was standing near a life sized picture of a polar bear, comparing her height to its. If it was ten feet... and she was around five.. She took the fact that she was staring at it's elbow as a hint and moved away to stand by Aurum once again. He had asked her what she meant by 'things'... so, she would tell him- or at least ask the questions on her mind. but first, she had a few questions of her own. "What case are you working on, Aurum? or... are you allowed to talk about it?... I do not mean to pry."

What he had explained about the bears was next on her mind, and she found herself mentally measuring about the size of a rat compared to the picture she had been standing next to. "Aw... that sounds so very cute!" Until it grew too big to fit through doorways and tried to maul her to death. And then her mind flashed back to what was currently plaguing her...

"Aurum... I have a question. Have you ever...um... liked someone- but were unsure of how to approach him?" Had that come out right?...yes... it seemed to have. She felt her face heat up again and coughed into a fist. It was an uncomfortable subject for her, hopefully not for him though...

Andrea fiddled with her coat zipper for a moment, feeling the heat levels of her cheeks getting hotter. Did she like someone?...well, that was a question she hadn't fully looked into yet. Yes, she liked him- he made her laugh... and he stood up to people for her (even if it wasn't their fault...) and he seemed to be someone she could rely on... but... did she like him like him? "I uh... I guess. We've only been on a two dates so far..." Soo... Her nose wrinkled again and her zipper fiddling intensified. What did two dates mean?... She was growing more confused by the moment.

Where exactly was she going with this?... asking Aurum; he didn't need to suffer through her indecisiveness. As if to aid her in changing the subject, two of the large bears had come closer to the window- peering inside curiously as they peered out. "Oh! Look...it came over to us..." The gorgon pressed her hands to the glass and stood on her tippy toes in order to get closer (and hopefully see better).

>> "It isn't me, is it?"

The excitement that had stemmed from the bears little visit crashed around her feet. She was generally confused for the first five seconds after he had asked her the question, and then a little bit flustered as she tried to figure out what to say. Had he really asked what she thought he had asked? The logical part of her mind kicked into gear and the color washed from her cheeks. She turned away from the glass and swimming bears to face him, letting her hands drop back into fiddling with her coat.

Oh. She knew what he meant now. "W-what?" Had she hurt him? They had been on a...date, yes, but.. she hadn't figured that he liked her in any type of way other than friendly. Compared to how Saphirus had showed his interest had been rather frank, and Aurum had been nothing but a complete gentleman so it was obvious that he-...no, wait... she had that backwards. Her confusion tripled. "Ah...um...N-no. I mean, well, I though we... Ah, my head hurts.." Applying a palm to her temple didn't seem to help, so she simply turned around again to try and wade though the slosh of incomplete thoughts and feelings and hopefully force back an up and coming headache.

While she felt a little better after seeing that Aurum was okay... she still felt guilty for not seeing it before. "I am sorry.... I am just terrible when it comes to... things of this nature... I-" The words caught in her throat and she paused. What was she to say? I like the man... but at the same time I don't really know what liking someone means... It was all too confusing. She smiled faintly at his assurance that they were still friends, and shifted on her feet, scratching at her cheek carefully.

"-I did not realize you felt that way...or...whatever.. you were talking about..." Her cheeks flushed from embarrassment, and she turned to study the curious bears some more. "Uh... go ahead Aurum, I don't mine advice... " She finished lamely in reference to his advice, stopping the rampage her tongue had gone on. What a disaster... she never should have said anything...

After listening to what he had to say, her flush dissipated and she felt a little less embarrassed... also a little less guilty. "Thank you Aurum... You are a really good friend, you know that?" Her smile brightened, and she turned from the glass, hopping over to him in order to glance around better. "I will have to bake you a treat or something, because you are so awesome." Her eyes flitted back to large polar bear on the wall, and caught sight of small dark blobs in the background. Squinting, she notice that they were penguins... and her level of excitement spiked in a childlike fashion. "Oh! Penguins! Do they have penguins here? Lets go look!"

Her gloved hand snatched up his right hand and the thin Greek tried to tug him from the polar bear exhibit. Whether he simply humored her and tagged along, or if she was strong than she had anticipated, pretty soon they were outside... of course, once outside... Andrea wanted to turn around and head right back in. What greeted them was utter chaos. A giraffe walked by with people running around its legs. Screams could be heard further off into the zoo, and as Andrea took a step further out a fuzzy, red coated animal turned the corner and stopped- staring at them with its head tilted. "...uh..." Andre retreated a step, "... what is that, Aurum?"

More screams sprang up, and Andrea watched as one of the polar bears that she had seen previously swimming lumbered on by the exhibit exit, still dripping wet from the water- it thankfully didn't seem to notice them. "What happened...?" She asked softly, before catching sight of two people dressed in animal costumes further down the pathway. They hefted signs in the air, and pumped their fists as zoo goers as they rushed for the exits.

It was fate. This was the thought running through his mind as he made his way from the bus station toward the zoo entrance. The thought was way more accurate than he ever could have guessed at that moment. He had been surfing the web randomly after visiting the hero website and telling them about his odd encounter with a mutant who could stop powers in their tracks. His post hadn't gotten any responses if the first few minutes, so he wiki'd an random page, and blam! UMHAPI. Some weird environmentalist group. For the laughs, he went to their home page, and saw, plastered openly, an announcement posted that morning that "Central Park Invasion" was on, and that the monsters who kept those poor animals in cages wouldn't see what was coming.

It had to be fate that he had found out about a plot just in time to solve it, and in such a way!

He had been beating himself up the whole three transfer bus ride there, a sight that caused quite a few odd looks to be thrown his way, especially because he was wearing his spandex super-hero costume. He made the hobble to the entrance to the zoo rather quickly, and hopped over the revolver; the guards didn't notice, because the lions were distracting them. Alright... He caught sight of a man in a chipmunk outfit with a big sign trying to open the grizzly bear pens. "Oh no you don't, foul villain! Behold, The Masochist is here to... eh... crap... eh.. STOP YOU!" At least he'd gotten further in his heroic schpeal... he reminded himself to practice it more. The man turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, and then was grabbed by the grizzly bear, who had just realized his cage was open, and a large fuzzy thing was right in front of the door. Saph blinked a few times... was he gonna fight a bear for some idiot? Nope. He hobbled up and closed the cage, running off to the next person that needed help.