Duke didn't want to explain to the cab driver that he didn't have a home, so instead he told him to drop him off at Central Park. It was a whiles away, but he had the time, and enough money to pay for the trip. He was lucky for pulling that heist nearly a month ago, if he hadn't, who knows where he'd be.

The inside of the cab was smelly like fish and old milk, but that wasn't too much of a problem... at least Duke tried to not make it a problem. He was a nice guy, and he didn't snicker when Duke told him the desired location, fully acknowledging the distance they would have to cover.

"So, where'd you go?" The driver asked. Though it wasn't any of his business, Duke replied with a simple "I went out of town." The driver nodded, keeping his eyes on the road. New York obviously wasn't a town, but the point was received. There wasn't anything wrong with this, right? I mean, Duke had the right to secrecy, even if silence would be caused.

"So, you always wanted to drive a cab?" Duke asked to break the silence. It was awkward to have to know that no one was speaking to anyone else. "Didn't you ever want to do anything else, you know, something useful?"

"I'm getting you to your park, aren't I?"

Duke sat back and took in a deep sigh. He nodded, agreeing with the driver. He felt a little apologetic for being so rude, but he wasn't going to admit anything. He would just sit and wait.

As they approached closer and closer to the park, traffic also seemed to gather. Cars seemed to be backed up for a long distance ahead, and although he didn't care about time, the meter was running. Duke decided to get out here.

"So how much do I owe you?" Showing the young man the meter, Duke snickered and paid the fee, exiting the car onto the packed street. The park wasn't so far off, but a nice walk would be... well... nice! Seeing Central Park, Duke walked ahead, a duffle bag with his belongings lay rested on his back, and upon reaching the park, the holder rested upon a tree.

"Oh, how the skies are blue." Duke said to himself.

Anne was walking through central park, and the skies were blue and clear. They weren't filled with thunderclouds and pouring down rain because, for the first time in a long time, she was happy. She was happy because earlier that week she had found a squirrel trapped in the back room of the coffee shop she worked and lived at, and set it free. That in and of itself wouldn't have been enough to remove her eternally gloomy mood, but then the squirrel had come back today. He had climbed in through Anne's open window and snuggled up next to her as she slept. When she woke up in the morning, it let her stroke it, and then it left. So, the skies were blue.

Anne looked over to the trees as she walked, watching as all of the varieties of squirrels and birds interacted and played among the branches. Then a baby squirrel stumbled out of it's nest, and started teetering off of the edge of the branch. With a cry of distress, Anne ran towards the tree, reaching out to catch the little thing. She got there a second too late, just fast enough to see the last slivers of life leave it's fragile body. Her happy mood evaporated, and the sky began to darken as clouds transformed from puffy little shapes into giant grey thunderheads, and a heavy rain began to fall over the entire central park area. Anne leaned against a tree and cried, not noticing the man resting in the branches above her.

Slade was trudging along in the park that was supposedly central. It was where he spent most of his time off these days, being a car Slade had come to appreciate the beauty of nature. Not that Slade was getting sentimental, one always wanted what one could never have... Family, love, a garden that wasn;t ruined simply by walking through it... Slade had taken Central Park to be his garden, one that couldn;t possibly be ruined by his walking through it.

Then the rain decided to fall, very suddenly. Slade scowled and felt the drops tip and tap off his metallic sheen. Time to leave he supposed... while it wasn;t harmful in such small amounts Slade didn;t like the feeling of rain on his chassis. It bounced and pinged and generally made him feel out of place. As he began to run, racing for a pavement before his feet got too muddy, he noticed a yound girl crying under a tree. As much as he hated rain it didn't feel right that this girl was alone in the rain crying, Slade was thankful that now he was made of metal it was indeed difficult for him to 'catch a cold'. This young woman however would not be so lucky if she stayed in this weather, it didn;t look like one of those friendly storms...

Skidding to a stop in the grass, cutting a swathe of brown in the darkening sea of green, he called over to the woman.
"Hey, you're gonna catch your death out here lady!"
Slade hoped his presence wasn;t going to scare her, a giant car wasn;t always the friendliest face to see in a storm. Then again mutants weren't exactly unheard of so hopefully she wasn't going to freak out on him.

Duke looked over as a car passed by over off in the distance. His clothes began to soak as rain began to fall and hit whatever was uncovered on the ground below. He didn't mind though, he was home, and that's all that mattered, even if he was basically a hobo. He didn't have an apartment, a house, or even a basic small little box to live within. Though the thought of all of these misfortunes saddened him, at least he had his health, for the most part until this dreaded rain would drench him and give him tuberculosis or somethiong.

Duke smiled at the sightings that passed seemingly slower and slower as he got up from his seat. He needed a short walk, not far, just enough of a stride for him to stretch his muscles. The sights off in the distance still mocked his insides as he wondered and pondered what exactly what he saw could be. Nevertheless, he didn't have the energy to. As of now the only thing that he would actually consider was getting up and taking his walk.

"Funny looking car..." Duke said to himself as he noticed a young woman in the far off distance. He would decide to watch them and notice their actions. Duke sure did have nothing to accomplish these days.

Anne sat there, sniffling and wiping her eyes futiley while the torrent of rain continued to fall all around her. She didn't notice the large prescense walking to her. All she was thinking about was how fragile life was, and how easily it could be taken away. She wasn't crying at the death of the squirrel. All things die, one way or another. She was crying because the squirrel was a lucky bastard, because it's soul would live on in the plane eternal. Her soul, on the other hand, had been murdered, and yet she was forced to live out the rest of her empty life on this world of suffering. That was what kept her eternally dreary mood up, and the world raining.

Then she noticed the person standing near her, and looked up, trying once again to stop the flow of snot from her runny nose, and the flow of tears from her eyes. Her sanity, always fragile at best, took a slight hit when she gazed upon the ma-.... crea-.... thing before her. It looked like some mad scientist had taken an Audi, cut it up into pieces, and turned it into some sort of humanoid robot. At first, Anne thought she might be going insane. Soon, however, she realized that this metal man must be a mutant of some sort, and her mind calmed a bit.

"Hey, you're gonna catch your death out here lady!"

Anne snorted, a sound that almost seemed a choking laugh. "If only, my metal friend, if only. You are more likely to catch your death, or rust, or whatever out here than I am. Trust me." Talking calmed her mind and stilled her soul, and the rain lessened to a drizzle. It was still running in rivulets around the swirls in the tree, and the contours of the metal man's body, but the actual amount of rainfall had lessened somewhat. For how long, only Anne knew...

Slade sighed in exasperation, it had been expected that she wouldn't take kindly to him; who would these days? The woman seemed to believe that she'd survive long enough to see him rust, Slade mentally made the note that if it happened he'd eat a hat! Regardless of this small difference in opinion Slade still felt he couldn't just leave her to drown out here.
"I'll trust you if you trust me," Slade smiled back in answer,
"Look lady, I don't know if you know it but the Central Park Boathouse is nearby. At the very least go and get out of the rain. There's no sense for humans like you to get drenched, ruin clothes 'n' top it off with catchin' flu."

For all of his lax dialogue Slade had used the term human carefully, he wanted to gauge a response from this woman to her status as normal or mutant. If she was a mutant then she probably could deal with the rain and Slade would feel happy leaving her to soak. He noticed the slapping thuds of rain lessening slightly to slapping prods, maybe the rain would disippate and he could go on his way soon enough anyway...either way he hoped this woman would see sense and go somewhere with a ruddy towel.