It was perfect. The sun was shining, the wind wasn't too bad up here, and the chill in the air kept him from overheating when he pushed off between walls and hoisted higher. He'd planned to go low today, maybe exploring some of the abandoned tunnels beneath the city, but the perfect weather had called him to climb instead. The wind in his hair made it feel like he was soaring, conquering, living.

AJ knew what he was doing was stupid. The ViewTube videos he learned from were probably mutants or doctored or... well, this just wasn't something a grown human man should do. But it was the only way he could defy the laws of nature. And it was good to feel his blood pumping, good that he could look at a wall that said "no entry" and just decide that it didn't apply to him.

Unfortunately, after a certain height, the handholds got a bit more risky. Thankfully, New York wasn't all one height and the buildings were close enough that even he could push off of one and land the next one, so long as there wasn't a street between them.

Man, that was a real bummer. Was he going to have to get down to cross the street? AJ surveyed his options and decided there was one angle he could try. It wasn't ideal, the building across the way looked like it had a glass structure on top. He found a protruding jump off point that would aim him across a single lane if he could somehow roll enough... slap the ground enough... stop himself before he bumped into the glass. It looked... possible.

He backed up and gave himself a full running start.

It almost worked. He made it across the street with ease. Actually, his problem was that he made it too far. He wasn't going to hit the ground in front of the glass structure, he was going to land right on top.

He slammed into it was a crack of what he hoped was only glass, and rolled and slid until he finally came to a stop on the ceiling of the glass building.

Did he... make it? AJ looked around. He seemed okay-ish. It was a little bit different landing than he'd expected. He carefully tried to stand, and regretted putting all his weight in such a concentrated area when the glass and his feet suddenly went out from underneath him.

It was a nice day. The sun was shining, and despite it being winter in the big city, the greenhouse was bursting with... greenery. It was almost like a tiny summer island in the middle of winter. And a tiny island of doing productive things after a long work week doing PR.

The greenhouse was shared by the neighborhood, although not many people knew about it, and even fewer put in the time to tend it. Still, it was a good project, and it yielded some fresh vegetables and greenery. Pippa was absent-mindedly chewing on a basil leaf as she worked, wearing overalls and gardening gloves and flat shoes for once. She kind of disappeared between long rows of tables with potted plants on them, but she didn't mind. There were some cherry tomatoes that were coming along nicely.

That is, until something came right through the roof and landed in one of the tomato crates.

"Watch the tomatoes!"

It took her a moment to notice it was not a ball. Or a brick.

Pippa yelped, peering over the table and between the greenery. It was definitely a guy. But where did he come from? Did he fall from the sky?... Was he a mutant? A mutant vigilante? She didn't want to approach straight away, but damn, the guy fell through the glass roof. That had to hurt.
Unless he was a mutant vigilante.

"Are you okay?..."

It would have been fine if he'd been able to land on his feet. Instead he was half in a bucket planter thing and half on hard glass-sprinkled concrete. He didn't cushion it well and, well, the glass made him unable to keep the one foot he was trying to land on. He went sideways and the bucket of plant and half the dirt dumped on top of him.

In all the fails that were his attempt to land well, AJ hadn't heard that there was another person in here until she spoke.

> "Are you okay?..."

"Just tryina put down roots." He had to shake his head to at least clear his face and beard of the dirt before he could joke. What a mess. He brushed himself off and eased his foot out of the now mostly empty planter. AJ moved gingerly, afraid of the glass and more than a little afraid to see what his non-dirt foot might look like. He hoped it wasn't a sprain, but it had whipped out from under him so rapidly, he'd felt a twinge.

All in all, he'd been lucky. Really lucky.

He made it up to something like sitting, using mostly his abductors. "Sorry about the uh- everything." He picked up the tomato, it's cage had folded and broken open somewhere off to the side. AJ offered the plant to the woman. "I think I'm okay, mostly." He was noticing more than a few scratches, surface levels mostly. Honestly he felt a bit in shock about the whole thing. How dumb had he been to try to land on a glass building?

>>"Just tryina put down roots."

The guy landed halfway in a planter, and turned the whole thing over. The floor was a mess of glass and soil and plants. On the plus side, the guy did not sound like he was trying to rob the place. Pippa, holding a hand shovel for added safety, walked around the table to take a better look. Because talking to him through the shrubbery like some woodland creature was getting a bit annoying.

>>"Sorry about the uh- everything. I think I'm okay, mostly."

He held out the tomato plant to her. Pippa took it. The plant was definitely not okay. But at least she didn't have someone bleeding out in the middle of the greenhouse.

"Well... what the hell were you doing on the glass roof?"

He had soil in his shorts and she was worried about why he'd been on the roof. Their priorities were vastly out of alignment. He tried to downplay it. No reason to freak out the normies. "It was a nice day. I'd planned to go underground to find one of those uh- what are they? Abandoned subway station tunnels? But it was too nice, so I decided I'd enjoy it better if I could stay in the sunshine. I work nights usually so I gotta be careful to make sure I go outside."

AJ realized that he was rambling when a tinkle of glass broke off from above and landed in his hair. Augh. He squinted up at the hole he'd made. That was going to cost him, he was sure. And he didn't exactly have extra funds laying around.

"Will that be difficult to fix?" He pointed up, as if she needed a reminder of which way he came from. He both did and didn't want to get up. She looked kind of scared and, while AJ wasn't tall, there was a difference between a guy on the ground and a guy who Koolaid man'd through a ceiling and then got up like it was nothing.

Okay then, time to show off how very not okay he was. AJ tried to brush himself off while not further adding to the cuts on his hands and tried not to further damage things around him as he made an attempt.

It was not unheard of for someone in New York City to go through a roof. There were actually many reasons Pippa could think of, from plain burglary all the way to a vigilante fight. The question was, which one was his reason for crashing the gardening party.

>>"It was a nice day. I'd planned to go underground to find one of those uh- what are they? Abandoned subway station tunnels? But it was too nice, so I decided I'd enjoy it better if I could stay in the sunshine. I work nights usually so I gotta be careful to make sure I go outside."

Okay. Weird. Pippa arched an eyebrow. The guy wanted subways, and ended up climbing a building and falling into a greenhouse. Best laid plans.

>>"Will that be difficult to fix?"

"Probably. It's financed by the community." she noted, looking at the shards. He was trying to awkwardly sweep them off. Pippa sighed, sinking the hand shovel into one of the many large pockets of her overalls.

"Alright, wait. You'll cut yourself." she was still wearing gardening gloves, and she stepped closer, reaching to pick some shards out of his hair. "May I?"

AJ's stomach fell. Fuuuuuuudge. A community garden? He couldn't just Kool-Aid man through and feel awful about wrecking someone's tomato plants. Some old lady probably poured her heart into weeding in here. He couldn't disrespect that level of heart. "Okay. I take full responsibility. I'll find a way to fix this. I don't- I'm not exactly flush with cash at the moment?" He cringed. That sounded like he was trying to get out of it.

His attempt at looking harmless seemed to succeed. And his attempt to look competent enough to get himself out of the mess failed. Considering he'd just fallen through a roof, he wasn't going to complain.

> "May I?"

"Yes ma'am. I- I'm-" What? An adrenaline junkie? AJ sighed. "I'm an idiot. I shouldn't have been out here in the first place."

The guy had the decency to look sheepish when she mentioned it was a community garden. At least he realized that it was not going to be easily fixed.

>>"Okay. I take full responsibility. I'll find a way to fix this. I don't- I'm not exactly flush with cash at the moment?"

Well, neither was anyone in the community. It was not like she would have had him arrested or anything. It was just a bummer that now there were shards everywhere. Including on him. Even though at this point Pippa was more attached to the poor suffering tomato plants than to this guy, she still did not want to add blood to the whole scene.

>>"Yes ma'am. I- I'm- I'm an idiot. I shouldn't have been out here in the first place."

"How did you get up there anyway?" she asked, carefully picking some shards out of his hair (he had nice hair) "It's a bit far from the subway stations, isn't it? You were not climbing the building, were you?..." she blinked, a thought occurring to her "Do you have gecko hands or something?"

She just sort of pursed her lips against his promises to make things right. That lit a fire in AJ's heart. Naw. He was going to make it better than alright. She would see. By the end he was going to turn this into a gay luxury space commune. Fall proof and self-watering. If he could scrape together the funds, that was.

Mostly likely, he would buy two tomato plants and a new pane glass.

But he still hadn't answered the question of how. AJ opened his mouth. He closed his mouth. He found that he didn't have a good answer that wouldn't make him sound insane or dangerous. So... the truth then.

"I jumped."

No, the guy didn't have gecko hands. He also didn't have glass in his hair anymore, courtesy of Pippa, who carefully placed the shards into an empty flower pot. She brushed off what she could, without feeling like she was petting him on the head, and in the meantime, he considered his answer to a very simple question: how did he come crashing through the roof int he first place?

He jumped.

"You jumped... from where?" Pippa blinked, looking up. There was nothing above the hole in the glass except the clear blue sky. He could have jumped from an airplane?... Or a taller building nearby? Was he intentionally trying to... "Um... should I call you an ambulance or something?"

He ducked his head sheepishly. There was no way that came out right. Annnnnd then it was confirmed by the look in her eyes. Pity. He sputtered, but then the woman suggested she call an ambulance and AJ just lost it. He laughed and chuckled and had to hold his stomach, lest he start crying from the giggles.

"I am- Oh this is coming out all wrong- Okay. Let's start again." He cleared his throat and put on his "I'm the adult in the room" voice. "Hi, I'm AJ and I work for the city's emergency medical service. I swear to you I am not laughing at you, it's just this is so stupid and I'm embarrassed. Last I checked, I was of sound mind, even if I am an idiot. I can say with authority that I don't need an ambulance. If you called EMS for me, I would never hear the end of it.

It's possible I've sprained something, but I'm trying to minimize any other damage I might do before I dare stand. Thank you, for grooming me like a monkey, by the way. I can't exactly see what's in my hair." He was obviously still amused, partially teasing, and hoping like hell she didn't start hitting him with that metal hand shovel he saw earlier.

"The idiot part can be confirmed by the fact that I jumped from the rooftop over there." He pointed, but there were too many green leaves between here and there from his angle on the floor. "I do parkour. I wanted to see if I could cross the street and I way overshot. No gecko hands or crazy legs or anything." He held up his hands just in case she wanted to double check his conclusions. "Just pure unadulterated idiocy and I really am sorry. I didn't mean for any of this."

The man broke down laughing at her suggestion to call an ambulance. Pippa was not sure if he was one of those people who thought the idea of mental help was ridiculous, or if there was an inside joke there she was not privy to. Or maybe he had hit his head in the fall. She was not sure what to do with any of those options.

>>"I am- Oh this is coming out all wrong- Okay. Let's start again. Hi, I'm AJ and I work for the city's emergency medical service. I swear to you I am not laughing at you, it's just this is so stupid and I'm embarrassed. Last I checked, I was of sound mind, even if I am an idiot. I can say with authority that I don't need an ambulance. If you called EMS for me, I would never hear the end of it."

"You're an EMT?" Pippa blinked. How on earth did an EMT, out of all people, decide to jump through a glass roof?

>>"It's possible I've sprained something, but I'm trying to minimize any other damage I might do before I dare stand. Thank you, for grooming me like a monkey, by the way. I can't exactly see what's in my hair."

Well... at least he could tell how much he had been hurt in the fall? She chuckled a little at the monkey bit. It was not easy to pick glass out of hair like that. The rest he could take care of himself.

>>"The idiot part can be confirmed by the fact that I jumped from the rooftop over there. I do parkour. I wanted to see if I could cross the street and I way overshot. No gecko hands or crazy legs or anything. Just pure unadulterated idiocy and I really am sorry. I didn't mean for any of this."

"Oh. Parkour." she knew what that was. And suddenly all of this made a lot more sense. "You should have led with that." Not that it excused the landing bit, but at least it was a legitimate activity sane people engaged in. "That's quite a jump, though." she noted, glancing across the street to the other building. The thought of jumping that distance made her legs feel a little cold. "I'm not gonna tell you to figure the glass roof into it next time, I think you already know that. Need help getting up?" she asked, offering a gloved hand "I'm Pippa, by the way."

"I am EMS. Some of the craziest people you'll meet, if you ever actually ask 'em." He confirmed. And honestly her hand was more than welcome. He smiled his thanks and took the offered hand.

"Tell the the truth, if I'd shouted 'parkour' when we first met, would I be more or less crazy than I look now?" With Pippa's help he stood and a tinkle of shards and dirt showered around him. He tested his ankle which felt tender, but not wholly unusable. Some ice and TLC and he'd likely be okay tomorrow. The real sticking point was getting home in the meantime.

"So you garden." He tried to give a respectful scope of the rest of the garden, the parts he hadn't wrecked anyway. "Have a favorite plant?"

So, he was a paramedic who happened to jump off buildings in his free time. Some psychologist would have a field day with that, but it was not the worst of all possible explanations.

>>"I am EMS. Some of the craziest people you'll meet, if you ever actually ask 'em. Tell the the truth, if I'd shouted 'parkour' when we first met, would I be more or less crazy than I look now?"

"That depends whether you shouted it while crashing through the glass, or after." she noted, helping him up. Pippa rarely had the leverage to help anyone up, but it seemed like he had hurt his ankle at least a little. More glass clattered to the ground as he stood, but she saw no serious amounts of blood.

>>"So you garden. Have a favorite plant?"

"The one you fell on" she deadpanned, but then broke into a chuckle "Cherry tomato?" it was both a possible answer and an offer; the other, non-crushed plants nearby had ripe red and yellow tomatoes on them.

"I'm not really a shouter." He admitted to Pippa's joke, and then immediately cringed when she'd said he'd landed on her favorite. He tested his ankle again and it was seriously tender. Standing was okay, but walking... he just didn't want to try walking yet.

"Do you- uh- is it 'cause you eat it? Are all these eating plants?" Was that a dumb question? AJ tried to scope the garden again, but without turning or taking a step he was rather limited.

"I know plenty of stuff, but pretty much zero when it comes to plants." In case that wasn't already obvious, he freely admitted his deficiencies. AJ pulled a disembodied leaf from the cuff of his shirt sleeve and offered that, too, to Pippa. "Can you save it?"