Normally, it was not like Stephen to change his patterns, but as of late his quality of life-maintenance had increased. His average waking our was shifting away from noon and closer to sunrise. After his experience in the park with Maxine, he had taken jogging up regularly. He was just thankful that, since the first trip, there had been no more lighting issues in Central Park.

This morning, the weather was pleasant and joggers were enjoying the Park before tourists and families cluttered it up. Stephen had a playlist of country and techno blasting through his earbuds, oblivious to the world. He almost missed the vibrations coming from the phone bouncing around in his sweatpants pocket.

He pulled out the phone to read a text from a fence. He was annoyed because he told every fence he met with not to contact him for at least three weeks, and more annoyed with a suggestion for Stephen to meet another "associate" in the hopes of establishing a working relationship. Stephen generally avoided working with other conmen; they often had very different motivations than he did, and by definition of the job, they were not trustworthy.

He deleted the text without replying, leaving the last few remaining texts from Allison. He laughed, rereading the last text from the eccentric girl, blissfully unaware of where he was jogging.

It was a beautiful morning, promising to develop into what the weather caster had called a halcyon day. Quin wasn’t incredibly well read, but she knew enough to realize that meant it was going to be beautiful. That meant that her morning jog was mandatory…instead of optional like it was whenever it rained or snowed. She’d rolled out of bed, pulled on her running clothes and had still been wrangling her hair into an acceptable ponytail when she’d walked out of the apartment…and she had not been disappointed. Even if she was up early on a day off.

She took off for her jog and quickly found herself in Central Park, as she normally did. Apparently the rest of the city watched the same news channel, and had come out in force, because the jogging and bike trails were far more full than usual. Quin wanted to call them all fair-weather exercisers and ask them where they’d been when it was a hundred. She kept her mouth shut though, and kept moving, passing people where necessary and generally enjoying herself.

Despite the crowd, all the nature sounds prevailed, and Quin wondered why anyone ever wanted to run with headphones blaring music in their ears. You missed out on things when you did that. She didn’t have much room to talk though. Apparently when you were busy watching other people, and not the trail in front of you…you missed the fact that someone was texting and walking instead of paying attention.

You subsequently ran into them, and you subsequently ended up on your rear. In the middle of central park.

Stephen believed himself to be a coordinated person, and more often than not, aware of his surroundings. He was going to have to start ignoring his phone, at least while walking, because for the second time, it led to him bumping into another person.

He quickly checked himself to make sure he was in working order, before checking on his crashing companion. To his pleasant surprise, she ended up being a redheaded woman with fair skin, (apparently a requirement of women he encountered in Central Park.) He picked himself up and extended his hand to her. "I'm real sorry, I'm usually never the type to get distracted by my phone. You're not hurt, are you?"

For a moment, Quin wanted to be mad. What had he been doing, messing around on a phone and not paying attention to where he was going?! She opened her mouth to complain, just as his contrite apology was issue.

Well damn. Now she just had to sit on the ground and look silly.

”Just my pride.” Quin said, taking the offered hand and pulling herself up. Upon gaining her feet, Quin chanced a better look at the guy she’d ran into. He was apparently a jogger as well…but one who didn’t seem able to disconnect himself from his phone. That was a mark against him, but his looks were a mark in his favor. What harm could there be in prolonging the conversation a little.

”You’re not hurt either, are you?” she asked, then nodded to the phone, ”Must have been pretty important to let it interrupt time outside on a day like this.”

By the look of her, she was probably the athletic type, so his first impression was that of a casual runner with a phone glued to his hand, which actually could not be more false. If it were not for his business requirements, he would not own a phone. "This is embarrassing; I normally don't run with this thing on me. My agent reminded me that if he tried to reach me and I missed it, he'd tell my buyers I wanted them to go screw themselves. Not really good for business," he joked with a shrug.

His buds had been yanked out of his ears, which gave him the opportunity to stow them away in his pocket as he bent down to pick up his fallen phone. "Thankfully, it was just a friend from Raleigh."

He offered his hand, this time in introduction. "My name's Nate, and I swear I'm not as clumsy as I seem," he promised with a smile. Though with the recent trend of mishaps, maybe that was more of a lie than he thought.

Quin kept track of details as Nate spoke. He’d mentioned agents and buyers, so obviously he sold something. His agent was exasperated with his tendency to ignore his phone, so that meant he really didn’t walk around with it attached to him at all times.

His name was Nate, but he didn’t give any more information than that. That was fine. He also swore he was not as clumsy as the accident had made him seem.

”Fair enough.” Quin said, a slow smile curving her features. ”I’m Quin.”

”I suppose I can forgive your lack of attention since it was such an important communication.” she said, smile growing even wider, ”If you’ll forgive me for running with my head in the clouds and forgetting to pay attention to the people down here on earth.” she admitted gracefully, then added. ”I really can’t blame everyone for being out enmasse though. It really is a beautiful day.”

"Speaking from a guy who lives with his head in the clouds, you're definitely forgiven." He adjusted his glasses, his own smile growing at the sight of hers. "With so many people around, I'm not sure if I feel lucky or foolish for bumpin' into a lovely lady." He felt bad for bumping into her of course, but if it had to be someone, there was a brighter silver lining to a cute ginger than a kid or grouchy man. "Still, for whatever circumstances, it's nice to meet you, Quin."

He looked up at the clear sky. "We sure got lucky this morning. There have been too many dark, gloomy mornings this week." One came to mind, but he would rather not deal with explaining giant mutant spiders on such a gorgeous day. "Not exactly the introduction to New York I was hoping for."

Ah, he was a flatterer, Quin noticed, shaking her head with a chuckle when Nate called her lovely. He obviously had good instincts and realized that such flattery would get him everywhere. ”It’s nice to meet you too, Nate.”

And, Quin added to the list of things she was noticing about Nate, he was new to New York. The redhead’s smile stayed firmly in place as opportunity knocked. Wondering why she hadn’t checked her horoscope to see what it said about today, she looked up at the sky and shrugged her shoulders. ”I’ve been here for a few years now, and I’d say that we have days like this more often than not in the summer.”

Grins all around. ” Just you wait until the winter though. I hope you brought your long johns, wherever you came from.” Quin had…but she’d been from Illinois, she’d known what to expect from a real winter.

”Has anyone been kind enough to show you around Central Park?” Quin asked boldly. They were in public, after all, and there would be no harm and giving up a bit of her day off. To be a good Samaritan.

Yeah. That.

She had a point: winter was always a concern of his when he ventured up north. A rookie mistake he once made involved going to Toronto for a job in November. After four painfully long months, he established a rule: Northern jobs happen between Spring and early Autumn. "I'm not totally new to the cold weather; I'll find some way to keep warm."

Whatever her motivations might be, (or more accurately what Stephen hoped they might be,) her offer was very appreciated. He had already wandered much of the park on his own, with Svetlana or with Maxine, but it did not take a genius to know the right answer to her question. "I haven't met many folks at all yet, kind or otherwise. I'd love if I was lucky enough to meet someone willing to take me around the park. Care to show me the sights?" he asked with a grin.

Quin was glad that Nate was prepared for the winter. From the sound of his accent, it wouldn’t have been ridiculous for him to be clueless, and Quin had seen them before. People who thought they’d visit New York in the winter, to see the giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center and the fabled snowy Central Park. Instead of snow globes and I <3 New York t-shirts, they went home with expensive coats they’d had to buy just to keep them going through their sightseeing. Nate sounded like he was better off than those people, though. Quin was glad. It meant he wasn’t a moron.

Annnnnd bingo. Her clever ploy had worked, and the handsome stranger had agreed to her proposed tour of the park. Whatever her horoscope, Quin decided it had to have been in her favor.

”Alright.” she said, glancing around and trying to figure out the best place to start, ”Are you more into the touristy highlights, or do you like the more special little places that most people don’t normally know about?”

Stephen could not remember the last time a woman made it so easy for Graves to get to know her. He did not know much about her yet, so a tour would be a good place to start. If things went well, this could go down as the earliest Stephen ever attempted to charm a woman.

Stephen shook his head at her question. "If I wanted to do the whole 'tourist' bit, I could buy a map. I'm lucky enough to have such a sweet guide, I'd rather see the places that really matter." He held his hand out ahead of them. "Lead the way, hun."

Oh good. He wasn’t a tourist. That last comment, it had been a mini test to see what he would say. Lots of people wanted to see the sights in Central Park. The zoo, that one famous bridge that people always took pictures of and stood under. They wanted to take carriage rides and see the lake.

Not Nate though. He kept right on flattering (or had they moved on to flirting) and told Quin to show him the way.

She started to walk in the opposite direction she’d come jogging from.

”Tell me Nate, did you know that Central Park has a castle?” she asked with a grin.

They continued in the direction he was originally jogging, now at a relaxed pace. "I did not, but that sounds like a great sight to start my morning with." He almost called her "princess," but decided to hold off in favor of avoiding a cheesy play on the situation. Don't lay it on too thick, no matter how appropriate it would be.

Now that he knew where Quin was taking him, it was time to learn a little more about her. "So besides jogging and leading inexperienced New Yorkers through the Park, what else do you enjoy doing? I'm still trying to find ways to spend what free time I have in the big city."

Ah good, he thought the castle was a good place to start the morning. Quin had to agree. Even though her first suggestion teetered close to the edge of one of those ‘touristy spots’ she’d been so derisive of a few moments before, it was something that everyone new to the city needed to see.

They started walking, (Quin knew the way to the castle well) and as they walked, Nate asked her what she liked to do in the city when she wasn’t giving tours, and the redhead frowned a bit. The question was harder than it seemed at first glance. So much of her life for the past few years had been devoted to police work that her personal interests had fallen a bit by the wayside. The silence was starting to stretch though, and the walk to the castle wasn’t a short one, Quin decided on a course of action that did not involve talking about work on a day off and ran with it.

”I like to be outside.” she offered. ”So I do that as much as I can during the spring, summer, and fall. So I’m out here all the time whether it’s jogging or yoga classes. My dojo meets in the park on Wednesdays when it’s warm enough too.”

She considered a bit more, then spoke again, ”I also like to eat. So I try places out. In my line of work I end up all over the Burroughs, so it’s not hard to find new little places to try.” Meh. She’d gotten back to work. Maybe he’d let it slip by and they wouldn’t have to spend the next eternity talking about what she did for a living and how awesome it was.

”What about you? What kind of clients do you have, and what does your agent need from you?” The redhead considered her new friend for a moment then chuckled, ” You’re not someone famous are you? Is my ignorance of pop culture showing?”

[ooc] - If you don't mind one more post of simple chatter, I'll get us to the castle in my next one. :-D

Quin had simple interests; the sort someone who was usually busy used to fill in small spaces of free time. Stephen assumed it best to avoid calling her out on whatever her job was; he, more than anyone could value separating business and pleasure. "Well, you sure keep active. I've been trying to jog more often, so maybe I'll keep bumping into you."

She decided to ask about his job, but he had no problems talking about it, since the life of a fake artist was not as demanding as what she might do. He laughed at her assumption, since fame was the last goal on his list. "I'm hardly famous. I'm just an pretty small-time artist. My agent is just an old friend that finds me clients that want things; recreations, portraits, whatever. It pays bills and I like the freedom." So much freedom.