"People suck," Davy growled, as he was jostled for something amounting to the millionth time. "And I meant that in a derogatory sense, so don't even bother twisting that statement around - Hey! I'm walking here! Do you mind?" He pulled his wings even more tightly against his back. "You'd think they'd notice the gigantic wings attached to my back, but nooo.... let's walk right into 'em, the kid won't mind. Did I mention I hate this town sometimes? I say we open up a nice little branch office somewhere in Nebraska."
Mark rolled his eyes. "Bitch, bitch, bitch..." He turned to his brother and gave him a wicked smile. "Just think of Manhattan as one gigantic walking buffet." He made a grand gesture. "What would you like for dinner tonight, Chinese? Korean? Irish?" His head turned as his gaze followed a lovely young Hispanic woman wearing a cowboy hat heading in the opposite direction. "Tex-Mex? Mmmm..."
"Oh, knock it off!" Davy sighed, exasperated. "Why didn't you schedule the meeting at the office? We have a perfectly good expensive boardroom sitting there going to waste."
"Because the restaurant is a tradition." Mark explained patiently. "And it's not that far away, and - "
"And everyone ends up drunk, and we end up spending hours there socializing, and dammit Mark, I have a life now..."
Mark laughed. "Oh, you mean you'd rather go see your fluffy purple girlfriend and get laid, instead of spending any amount of time fraternizing with the people that made this company possible. I'm so disappointed with you."
Davy was about to make a nasty retort, but a smiling guy with a camera stepped directly into their path. "'Scuse me, sorry to bother ya, but me and my wife, we're all the way from Kansas, and we wanted to know if we could take your picture..." Davy gave Mark a helpless look. Mark gave him a wicked grin.
"I'll meet you there. Ciao." He waved and walked away. No sooner than he was ten feet away from Davy, his glamour kicked in and the wings vanished. Mark glided off into the crowd, completely indistinguishable from any of the humans around him.
"Hey - Mark! Oh, damn." Davy sighed. "Okay, okay... where do you want me to stand?"
* * * * *
Shaper sighed, as his tummy rumbled. "Aww damn... alright, I'm hungry... and uhm... err... if I don't eat soon, I'm gonna take my mask back, and gnaw on your leg, Victor."
Amy made a face, and swatted the back of Shaper's head. "GROW UP!" she hissed, stepping her petite and pretty exotic albino self out into the street.
And promptly running into a blond with... wings.
Amy blinked, and looked up at him from their tangled sprawl.
"Oh... uhm... sorry... I didn't see you... are you ok?" She blinked, reached a long-nailed hand up. "For that matter, are your wings ok?"
"Oh, I'm really, really, really sorry!" he blushed, "I shouldn't have been in such a hurry, but I'm late for a meeting... ah, well, everybody in New York's in a hurry, so I guess that's not much of an excuse..." He scrambled up, took her hand, and helped her up as well. "I'm fine - are you, you're okay, aren't you? Do you need to sit down? Um, a cup of coffee, something, anything? Jeez... how embarrassing..." She was terribly small and fragile-looking, but there was something vaguely odd about her face. He nervously ran a hand through his hair, and turned to look at her companions as they approached, and he took a step back.
Mark probably would've dismissed them as mere humans, and walked on, but the little warning bells were going off in Davy's brain. There was something very disconcerting about this little group. Something not quite right... he couldn't quite seem to figure them out. Even their auras were confusing. The short fellow bringing up the rear of was muttering, "It's like going on a shopping trip with children..." under his breath.
"Oh, it's okay - it was just as much my fault as hers..." Davy turned back to the young woman.
"Well, if you're sure that you're okay... I should probably go..." he said hesitantly.
"You okay Amy?" Victor asked socially, lighting a fresh clove and giving the man she'd crashed into a once over. He gave a half smile. "Make a new friend?"
"Oh, um... sorry... I'm Adavidarian - " he offered his hand. "Call me David, or Davy... that's fine..." He glanced back at the girl. "Um, Amy, is it? First time in New York?"
Amy smiled. "Actually it's Amalthea, but the boys just call me Amy, Davy." She smiled, and it was very lovely on her face... even if her mouth was sporting sharp little teeth. "And yes, this is my first time here in New York." She paused, and looked at Victor, and then Shaper. "Uhm... this is Victor... my well... boyfriend, and this is Shaper... he's a weirdo."
Shaper yelped and tried futilely to shush Amy. "HEY! Uhm... don't listen to her... we're all tired and hungry and a little on the broke side of things..." he said sheepishly.
Victor rolled his eyes, and extended a hand to Davy. "Call me Angel. Everybody but these two jokers do. Shaper, shut up. We are on the broke side, but shut up anyway." He gave another half smile. "So could you give us directions to the nearest buying junk shop?"
Davy chuckled. "Weirdo, huh? Well, you should fit right in. In fact, you're lucky if you get a second look in this town." He glanced at his watch. "Hells. Well, as it so happens, we're supposed to be meeting up at a pretty good restaurant. Let me at least treat you guys to dinner. It's the least I can do after I half-way trampled poor Amy here." He gave a Amy a charming boyish smile and then blushed a bit at Victor's sudden scowl, and added, "You know, just so you don't get the impression that everyone in New York is a total jerk. Um, that is, if you don't have any other plans."
Amy smirked. "Sure! I'd love dinner!"
Shaper blinked. "Amy... we've got stuff to do..."
"Good, it's settled then. C'mon!" Davy said brightly, and set off, leaving the group little choice but to follow him.
