---

This. Was. Boring.

Those were the only words running through her mind as she made her way through the crowd when suddenly her tedium was interrupted by a couple referencing a jokester.

Mhmm. She could torture them for information..... But that was against her orders, right? Lucky for them.

So instead, she followed them.

Fruitful choice it was, for she was quickly greeted by an embarrassing sight: the worst street magician she had ever seen. She almost felt pity for the kid. Almost.

As everyone else left, she sauntered closer, sending a quick group text to the others.



She continued forward, stopping just a few paces away from the....kid? He certainly seemed younger than her. A sly smile curved her lips as she clapped lightly.

"You show promise. Don't listen to the haters, haters gonna hate amirite?" she said smoothly. "Can I help you up or pick up some of those cards?"

---

Mieke noticed a tower in the distance and made her way toward it. She doubted it belonged to the comedian she was looking for, but she was still interested. Coming closer, she realized it was some kind of daredevil show. Normally, she would just pass by the spectacle and continue on her way, but something told her that she should stick around.

Standing on the outskirts of the crowd, she couldn’t quite see the action, so she steeled her nerves and started squeezing through the pack of people, muttering “‘scuse me,” and “sorry,” as she went. Her small size helped her out, and she managed to get to the front before the leader finished introducing the stunt, only a little bit frazzled.

@Old Amsterdam
As Laurie sent her text, her innate awareness as an assassin came into play, and she spied an odd sight indeed - a figure emerged from the grounded man's body, white from what she could see, with segmented rings like blown-up balloons making up its arm, and flat, papery fingers, almost as if it had confetti for hands. Then, it sprang forth at immense speed, charging right to the side of the unaware, chuckling bystander's side and... gently swiping its fingers across his face before it vanished entirely. It was an incredibly anticlimactic sight, almost pathetic in its own way, enough to question whether the Stand had even done anything at all.

Nonetheless, the moment Blue told the man he had promise, his eyes snapped to her, widening with disbelief at first, and then with genuine appreciation. Was he tearing up from just her statement, too? Or maybe that was from the humiliation he’d suffered before.

‘R-really?’ he murmured, apparently unsure how to respond. Even when he spoke, he seemed a bit pathetic, despite his smile. ‘You’re giving me a real compliment for my work? Tha-tha-thank you! Finally, people are starting to appreciate what I do!’ Despite everything, he was smiling, and nearly weeping in fact, only to catch himself as he realised the woman before him had asked a question after all. ‘Some, uh, help with the cards, please, could be... yes...’ He finally managed to make it up to his feet, wincing at the pain in his groin, before realising he’d have to pick up some cards himself and nearly toppling over to try and grab them again, failing at the first swipe and only scattering them further.

As this class act went on, Laurie might have noticed a noise coming from the bystander who had chuckled just a moment ago and been lightly slapped for his contribution. He was, in fact, still chuckling - and the longer it went on, the louder he became until he hit full-blown laughter, loud enough even that he was beginning to draw attention to himself. It was, however, unclear why he was laughing - he didn’t even seem to be noticing the comedian anymore, and as he went to his knees, he was sort of spasming away from nothing, and brushing at himself as if trying to remove something from his body, perhaps to stop something from touching him.

---

@ProPro
Disturbed from her ranting speech, the woman frowned down at Leonard as he made his statement, clearly a little bit concerned, but brushed it off after a moment. ‘Er, sure, buddy. I’m pre’y sure I can take care of myself, but thanks anyway,’ she uttered, taking a breath before continuing with the main content of what she had to say.

‘Now as I was saying, these government schmucks think they can rip us off? They wanna go ahead and try to keep taking our money, our money that we earned?! How dare they?!’ This was met with a fairly loud cheer from the crowd, and apparently no awareness of how taxes were applied. Once the cheers died down, the speaker continued forcefully ‘I’ve always thought that a person’s work is their own, so why should we be forced to hand off the frui’s of our hard labour to a bunch of rich schmoes who already earn way too much to begin with? You know how much the average Sena’or makes in a year? One hundred seven’y four THOUSAND dollars a year - THREE TIMES MORE than the average American, and that’s just the job i’self! Most US politicians are already filthy stinking rich from their “external enterprises” or wha’ever they wanna call them, and the epi’ome of that is of course the president of the coun’ry!’ There was clear disdain and contempt for the president in question, a sentiment echoed by very nearly everybody in the crowd; there were one or two “boos”, barely audible over the rest of the cacophony, but one would have to be paying attention to catch them.

---

@knifeman
At the front of the crowd, Mieke was in prime position to observe as the stunt was performed. There was indeed a pool in place - wide, certainly, but clearly only as deep as the announcer had suggested, with perhaps an extra foot or two of clearance on top, either to hold the designated amount of water or to hold extra for the performer to dive into.

The crowd’s excitement was palpable from how they chattered, but everything died down to a susurration as Lee made his way to the edge of the diving board. With an excited yell, he leapt, twisting and turning in a series of rapid, athletic somersaults on his way down, clearly practiced to perfection.

But, the arc at which he fell was a little too large. Before anyone could react coherently, calamity struck: the man slammed back-first on to the edge of the pool, his entire body folding in half with a disturbing, gory CRUNCH, the force of impact even bending the material of the pool a little before it rebounded him backward into the water, thankfully out of sight. Still, the effect was dramatic, and everybody present was shocked beyond belief, audibly or otherwise. What had just happened? Had they really just witnessed a man die? No, surely not, they’d never have allowed it.

If anybody was paying attention, they’d see the shorter presenter frown at the display, twiddling his moustache before beckoning the bigger man to lean down to him, the duo beginning to chatter quietly to one another in a language that nobody present would be able to decipher, and only those near the front of the crowd would be capable of hearing to begin with.

---

@LemonZest1337@Lugubrious
As the van pulled up to the edge of the water, people took some notice of it, and in short order of the oversized croc dragging itself out. Most, naturally, were rather scared to go anywhere near an unleashed crocodilian, and so the duo received surprisingly little interference, save one man in his late middle age who stamped up to them a minute later, clearly angry, but even more clearly scared of the giant reptile. If he felt it was a good idea to confront these two, he clearly didn't have a good reason to come any closer.

'Uh, listen, buddy,' he started saying to Arthur, as annoyed and nervous as his body language suggested, 'I don't mind if a big guy like you comes wanderin' through the place, but that thing is a giant problem.' He pointed in Hogan's direction to clearly indicate what "thing" he meant, with absolutely no awareness of how intelligent the crocodile was. 'Uh, literally. You've gotta get rid of it, pal, or at least keep it in your truck!'

---

Mieke’s eyes followed the man as he plunged off the diving board. His routine was certainly impressive, making Mieke’s heart beat a little faster. Over the course of a split second, her stomach twisted as she took note of where he would land. She didn’t even have time to look away before the daredevil landed hard on the edge of the pool.

She covered her mouth, a nauseous feeling rising in her throat, and— yeah, she was crying again. Mieke sank to her knees, not trusting her legs to hold her up. She didn’t make a sound, but her mind was racing. The crowd was panicking around her, but all she could hear was the sound the man’s body made when it hit the hard surface, over and over.

Through her tears, she noticed the other two performers talking to each other, though she couldn’t hear their voices. How were they so calm about this? Yeah, it was a dangerous job, but it can’t be every day your partner just up and fucking dies, right?

Mieke couldn’t decide whether she wanted to scream, throw up, or just go to sleep for, like, a week, so she just stayed there on the ground.

---

Having taken note of the odd Stand, Blue opted to ignore the apparent lack of effect for the time being. Focusing on the user would do her more good.

Blue smiled easily, nodding at his initial question before glancing casually at the laughing man as she helped pick up the cards. "Y'know, I wouldn't worry about people so much. They're not worth it, I've learned. Heck my own family tried to make me something I'm not. They kinda succeeded, though, but I learned that people who don't help and understand themselves are the broken rocks from the cliff side that have fallen all the way down to the bottom. They're beneath people like us." Her words were light, genuine, but mildly firm. She handed him the last card, helping him stand straight again, and brushed off some dirt from his front. She stayed close for a moment, adding, "Now, with that said, can you be the bigger man? Will you be the cliff or the rock that falls down? I'd love to go sit and talk and maybe see some more of your tricks. But I need you to be the better here."

Satisfied with the woman's confused but agreeable reaction, Leonard shrugged off the gathering of rabble rousers. It had been a fun distraction, but a distraction all the same. That's when he felt his phone vibrate. Squeezing out of the crowd, Leonard plucked the device from his pocket and read the text sent from an unfamiliar number, signed by Blue. A quick smile flashed across his face as he quickly sent a reply back to the group text.

Noted. Will rendezvous immediately to provide backup. Mieke, meet back where we parked.

Soon as the text was sent, he began to jog back through the garden pathways toward the entrance. No sense in taking his time if he wasn't being paid by the hour.

Wearing a genial expression, Arthur took stock of the man who approached him. The nitty-gritty details did not bear in-depth consideration; the individual before him was an ordinary man. To such a citizen, the sudden appearance of crocodile, particularly one the size of Hogan, constituted not just a threat but an occurrence seemingly discordant with reality. How could such a thing be possible, one might think, to see such a great, lumbering beast of the deep plop out of a van's posterior in midday? A sense of surreal unease afflicted this fellow, and Arthur felt obliged to set his worries at ease.

“My apologies if my friend here unnerves you, sir,” he said, putting his expressiveness to work through his face and hands. “While there's no statute against reptiles here, I understand you completely. However, please let me assure you that Hogan here is not only professionally trained, but also very friendly.” He crouched down and ran a hand across his comrade's scaly back, stroking him like he might a dog. “Here, take a look. Hogan, do you want to be friends with this gentleman?”

Arthur gave a slight nod to indicate what Hogan should do, then waited for him to help out.

“And are you dangerous in any way?” This time Arthur shook his head 'no', and he dearly hoped that Hogan didn't take offense to the suggestion that he was harmless. It's all part of the act, the businessman wanted to tell him.

“And are you here for the licensed, professional animal show beginning in half an hour?” Hopefully the snaggletoothed stand user would catch on. With any luck, the man -as well as the trove of nearby onlookers- would buy the act and let them go about their business. So long as the pair departed within the next thirty minutes, which would be ample time to check the park, there should be no issue.

Hogan lay there on the ground very much pleased to have his body back onto solid ground, though it was obvious that the people about were not as happy. The fear on their face was unmistakable, though one fellow seemed to have the audacity to not only call Hogan a thing but also to say he needed to leave. This whelp didn't know how lucky he was that Arthur was there. Hogan let out a soft hissing as Arthur attempted to talk the man down. Hogan welcomed the pat on the back though he did keep his eyes on the stranger.

“Here, take a look. Hogan, do you want to be friends with this gentleman?”

Hogan slowly closed his mouth and nodded. It hurt Hogan almost visibly for him to be so nice to this interloper, but alas Hogan was on the job and needed to behave. Even if he really wanted to lunge at this troglodyte just to make him soil himself.

“And are you dangerous in any way?”

Hogan took a moment to glare at Arthur before rolling his eyes and shaking his head from side to side. God all this head moving wasn't helping his carsickness.

“And are you here for the licensed, professional animal show beginning in half an hour?”

Hogan again nodded, letting his head drop to the floor after a couple of nods. Hogan didn't like what might come of Arthur's little lie, if Hogan actually found him self in a position where he had to perform tricks... He better get a substantial reward. The thought itself was enough to make Hogan grumble a little, but he didn't expect the humans to know what it meant. To them all things seemed to sound the same.

@Old Amsterdam
Once he’d received the cards back, the comedian stood stock still for several seconds, glancing between the woman who was showing him genuine kindness and the laughing man his Stand had gently slapped earlier. It was almost comical, the way his gaze switched between the two like a rabbit caught in headlights as he put the pieces together. Not so much the fact that the laughing man was by now beginning to collapse on the ground with laughter or whatever had afflicted him, a whooping laugh that indicated he was probably starting to exhale more than he inhaled.

But the whole time, the funnyman’s expression gradually turned to an annoyed frown, and eventually he muttered ‘Sure, you can be the cliff, or you can be the rocks. But say you’ve been trying to become a cliff?’ he explained. ‘Trying to build yourself up, achieve your life’s goal, but then whenever you give it your all, those rocks just start pummelling you in the head, knocking you back down...’ There seemed to be a very personal component to what he was saying, and it didn’t take much thought to consider that maybe it had something to do with his work as a comedian.

‘What do you do about that, then?’ he asked, petulant and almost whining a little. ‘You don’t know what that’s like, do you, being pummelled with rocks all your life for doing what you love... what right do people like him have to crap on that sort of dedication?’ Apparently, he’d at least partly convinced himself that he was still in the right here. Even that seemed to waver quite a bit, though; a little more persuasion could well be enough to ensure he did what Laurie wanted him to. Soon would probably be preferable, considering what was going on in the background.

---

@ProPro
There wasn’t much else to consider. The woman’s speech continued in the background as Leonard jogged away from the gathering, drawing cheers from the other bystanders. It wouldn’t take him especially long to return to the entrance he and Mieke had come in by, and if she returned in due course, they could be off within a few minutes.

---

@knifeman
As Mieke fell to the ground in shock, the smaller of the two performers glanced in her direction, only for his eyes to widen with apparent shock behind his sunglasses, followed shortly by his larger partner. Immediately, the tone and pace of their conversation changed, becoming much more rapid and concerned, yet even more incomprehensible than before, though at least one gesture was made in Mieke’s direction.

Abruptly, the leader leapt into the pool, apparently to retrieve his fallen comrade, whilst the bigger individual climbed down ponderously from the top of the van and began walking into the crowd, staring intently at everybody he passed, especially as he drew closer to Mieke’s form.

‘Excuse me, miss?’ he uttered politely with the same thick accent as his partner in a deeper tone, looking down at Mieke with a not unkind, but quite focused expression. ‘Whilst I appreciate that what you’ve just seen might be upsetting, I assure you, it’s all part of the act. That said, I do need you to stop crying. You’re, uh... you might get somebody injured...’

As he trailed off, he tried his best to draw Mieke’s attention discreetly to what was happening around her. It seemed that her Stand had manifested of its own accord, and was now crying in tandem with her - leaving floating crystals in its wake around the girl, sharp as razors, or so it would seem. And who knew what they’d do if they touched anybody? If one paid attention, one might also hear the buzz of her phone, indicating a couple of messages received.

---

@LemonZest1337@Lugubrious
As the man observed the one-sided dialogue between Arthur and Hogan, his expression slowly turned from concern to interest, and even showed hints of being quite impressed at Arthur’s last line.

‘Huh. An animal show, eh?’ he asked. ‘That’s pretty cool, yeah... an’ this guy Hogan, he’s gonna be part of it? Honestly, animals have never been my thing too much, but I guess a ‘gator would need to be trained for a show, no matter its size. I won’t keep ya, then,’ he obliged, turning to walk away, the rest of the crowd following suit once they realised nothing fun was happening. ‘I hope this show a yours is a good’un!’

---

Mieke didn’t notice the man approaching her until he spoke. She was confused at first, not understanding how anyone could get hurt as a result of her crying, but she turned around and realized her Stand had manifested and was crying as well, creating sharp-looking crystals around her.

“Oh, uh, s-sorry.”

She couldn’t exactly make herself stop crying (plenty of experience had taught her that), so she tried focusing on making the Stand disappear. It didn’t happen immediately, but she eventually managed it. The Stand faded away, as did the crystals. She turned back to the man, wiping her eyes.

“Thanks for telling me. That could have turned out bad.”

She felt her phone buzz, and took it out, seeing that Blue had found the target and they were meeting up where she was. As Mieke was about to turn around and leave, the situation hit her all at once and she looked up at the man with wide eyes.

“Wait. Y-you could see her! That means you’re a Stand user too, right?”

She sent a quick message: “gotcha. might take a little bit tho”

Palpable relief flooded over Arthur as he waved the gentleman off. "Thank you, sir! I hope you'll attend." The surrounding crowd, meanwhile, appeared just as convinced. The capability of the human mind to rationalize the impossible, Arthur reflected, truly stood as one of man's most remarkable abilities. A few words from an emphatic, convincing fellow and people could in full awareness turn their backs on a fifteen-foot Eocene monstrosity heaving along across populated sidewalks in broad daylight.

Noting the self-imposed time crunch of a half hour, Arthur began to walk, trusting his new friend to follow behind or shuffle alongside. When a momentary scarcity of bystandars allowed, he leaned over to say in a low voice, "I must commend you, Hogan. You're smarter and more cooperative than a great many people. Thank you for putting up with my little act." Once across the bridge to the park island, he set his eyes roving across the scenery. A walk through the place at a reasonable pace would leave his team more than enough time to beat it before the alleged animal show was to start. Of course, he anticipated having to explain to others as he came across them, since obviously not everyone in the area heard his skit in the parking lot, but regardless he expected time enough to definitely find out whether or not the man he sought was nearby.

Hogan lay fairly still on the floor as the man's concerns were pacified, goodness people were so easy to fool. Hogan was rather upset by the man calling him an alligator, but mistakes like that were common among the ignorant... At least the buffoon was a decent individual as he hoped that the "show" would be good but unfortunately being a nice idiot still made you an idiot.

Then the pair finally got to head off, now on the clock they probably wouldn't have much time for laying about... Hogan would glance up at Arthur briefly as the man commended him for... Being smarter and more cooperative than most people he knows... He thought that being smarter than most people was an achievement worth praise? Hah! Hogan wasn't sure if he should find it funny or offensive, probably funny considering that so far Arthur hadn't shown him any form of hostility.

After crossing the bridge Hogan decided to make his way towards the closest body of water, while he was pretty sure he'd be stopped before he managed to get into said water, being closer was enough for him at the moment.

Leonard sat up on his motorcycle for a few minutes, keeping himself entertained with some web browsing on his phone. His helmet visor up, but ready to snap down at a moment's notice, his eyes lazily skimmed over some news headlines before he swiped out to an art website, in order to admire the competition. There were some admirable new pieces out lately, it seemed. That's when his phone buzzed with an update from Mieke. gotcha. might take a little bit tho

He frowned beneath his helmet, not that anybody could see, and lightly sighed. She had taken long enough to respond, much less whatever would cause this new delay. Then Arthur hadn't replied at all, so there was no telling what he and the crocodile were up to. Blue was engaged with their target by herself, no backup, and that could prove to be fatal... Not that he cared much about that woman's fate, but having additional allies around meant their missions would go by that much faster.

Leonard tapped out his own reply to Mieke. Can't wait, target takes priority. See you later. Wit that he pocketed the phone, flipped the sun visor down on his helmet, and revved the engine. Next stop, museum and sculpture garden.

---

"You'd be surprised. My entire life I tried to be one thing. I tried to build myself up to be something awesome and amazing. And my family did their best to break that." She paused, looking into the distance. "They succeeded. My life is forever tainted by the hits and boulders, I am forever broken. I made peace with this, embraced it, but it is not a life you want to choose. My life is hardship, pain, suffering, and death. You don't have to go down this path, and I'm giving you the choice to move on. To build that cliff, to be great, to be everything you could hope to be. And all you need to do is take that first step with me. Let me do for you what no one did for me. Please."

@Old Amsterdam
This time, it seemed that Laurie’s words took hold. Another moment of defiance shone in the man’s eyes, but finally, he sagged, nearly toppling forward from how much energy he seemed to lose all at once.

‘Fine,’ he relented, waving his hand. Immediately the man on the ground stopped twitching, and his laughter very quickly subsided to mere heavy breathing. Defeated in spirit, if not in body, the comedian looked up to Blue from his sagged position, no longer as sure as he had been, but a bit more hopeful than before.

‘So... okay, I want to be a better person,’ he muttered, almost to himself. ‘To achieve my goals, obviously. In that case... if I want to be a cliff, as you put it, then what do I start with? It feels like I’ve never been given a chance, that I’ve never been appreciated, but I... I can’t figure out what’s gone wrong. If I’m not the cliff yet, then... is it me that’s gone wrong? I mean, how can I tell if that’s the case?

‘Oh, and I never even told you who I was,’ he realised, standing upright and sort of falling on to his backside, like his legs had just given out somehow. The embarrassment on his face was evident, and his effort to hide it was essentially just looking away from her. ‘I, uh... the name’s Bugsy, Bugsy Malone,’ he quickly added, thrusting out his hand almost recklessly in Laurie’s direction.

---

@knifeman
At first, the large man nodded, appreciative of the fact that he didn’t have to forcibly remove her from the area after all. The moment Mieke uttered the phrase “Stand user”, though, he frowned. It wasn’t entirely clear whether this was a frown of concern or confusion, but his response after a couple of seconds was a subdued ‘I apologise, I don’t know what that means. I need to help finish up this performance, so...’

And what a performance it was turning out to be. By now, the main presenter had fished what seemed to be his co-worker’s body out from the water, dumping it atop the makeshift podium that was their van. He certainly looked pretty dead from just beneath the van, or at least maimed to the point that he’d never do another stunt in his life. Even so, the mustachioed chap was smiling widely as he inexplicably continued the show:

‘LADIES AND GENTLEMEEEN! What you have just witnessed was NOT a stunt! My dear friend, brother and compatriot Lee has, in fact, perished in most GRUESOME fashion! Watch as he lies motionless!’ He seemed to be motionless, certainly... or wait, did his arm just move- and then he was violently kicked in the face by his brother, spraying a mess of blood, teeth, and saliva across the surface of the van. ‘OBSERVE, as even a boot to the face doesn’t stir his lifeless body!’ Of course, it was also entirely possible that he’d just been knocked unconscious, but clearly that wasn’t the case. That’d just be inhumane.

‘But FRET NOT, too!’ the announcer continued as his larger co-worker- another brother, perhaps?- climbed up the side of the van. ‘For as all who have witnessed our shows before know, The Crazy Crue Brothers do not fear death! No, for when Death comes to take our souls, we SPIT IN ITS FACE! Observe, for you are about to witness... A MIRACLE!’

A miracle, the crowd asked? No, surely he can’t resurrect the dead, that’s impossible. Yet that was the implication - and the Crue in sunglasses was already cracking his fingers in preparation, showing the insides of his outfit to the audience as he cited ‘Observe, nothing up my sleeves...’

‘...or IS THERE?!’ To the average person, it simply appeared that he’d pulled a long strand of paper from his outfit, like a CVS receipt with too many coupons on it. As far as she was aware, only Mieke herself saw the man light up with a vivid, sparkling, almost fluorescent blue aura, a tell-tale sign of a Stand power in use, or so her implanted knowledge informed her.

---

@LemonZest1337@Lugubrious
As the island was surrounded by water, as one might expect an island to be, it didn’t take long for Hogan to find himself swimming in the Manhattan River proper. Of course, being a crocodile, the current wouldn’t exactly faze him in either direction, and he’d be more than able to climb back on to land at any point if he felt he was getting swept away. Plus, who was going to look in the river for a crocodile? A few curious people who’d heard about an animal show, that was who.

As for Arthur, his job was a little more difficult. Whilst his initial timing estimate was accurate enough, as Roosevelt Island was only two miles long and a couple hundred meters wide at its widest point, he was stopped every so often by people who had heard he was going to do an animal show there, or that a crocodile or alligator was about, and thus forcing him to explain himself every time, as well as Hogan whenever he was nearby. Not to mention, there seemed to be no sign of any comedians about whatsoever within the surprisingly crowded residential district.

The end result of their search was a good twenty five plus minutes wasted, no target in sight, and a loose crowd forming around their van by the time they made it back to the bridge they’d crossed initially. They’d likely need to deal with that group before they could make their exit, whatever their method.

Crouching by the riverside, Arthur struggled to be of some use in getting Hogan back onto land. The water's edge, more of a precipice than a shore, made him think that lending a hand -and possibly even his Stand's- would be necessary, but the tremendous reptile needed little aid to facilitate his reluctant return to terra firma. "Hope you had a nice swim," he remarked with a smile, his cheery demeanor souring the next moment. "Unfortunately, we overstayed our welcome." He pointed toward the parking lot across the nearby bridge, where a number of people milled about in clear anticipation. Several of them, in fact, leaned on the railing overlooking the river, watching Arthur and his companion with not-so-subtle expectations.

The large man rubbed his chin in consternation. "Out of time and nothing to show for it. Darn shame, but life goes on, hm? Question is: how do we make our escape? I'm sure I could convince 'em that the show's about to start on the south end of the island, but if you're behind me, they'll wonder why you're here and not there...plus, I can't get you back into the van without resortin' to unnatural means. It'll be quick, but people'll notice if they're still around." He rested his brown gaze across the river, observing the buildings that ran along its edge.

A moment later, he slapped his knee. All too pleased with himself, he exclaimed, "I got it!" and drew a few more looks his way. Glancing back and forth between them and Hogan, Arthur quieted himself, and grumbled, "It's simple. You stay in the water and swim across the river. I'll send the folks away and then drive off. They're a couple clubs on the other side we can take a look at to try and see if any weird nature lover's on the roster. You pull up by a dock and I'll pick you up. Smooth, huh?" He chuckled, then heaved himself to his full height. "Sorry if this seems abrupt, but we don't have many other options and you're not so much one for conversation, so I'll get to work." With a wave he turned away and headed up toward the bridge, his stride purposeful and mind afire with improvisation.

The moment he set foot on the opposite bank he found himself accosted by curious citizens. A half-dozen voices spoke up at once, and after letting it roll for a moment, Arthur held up his hands in surrender. "Please, please! Everything's almost ready to start. But not here!" He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, leaning in as if telling a secret. "Now, I'm only the handler, and not part of the official act, but if you hurry to the south side you'll be able to make it in time to see my boss kick off the show! Now hurry, or you'll miss Hogan's opening trick, the Scaly Cyclone!" He stood back to let the people pass by, waving them along like a traffic director.

Hogan heaved himself back up onto dry land to meet with his companion as they were out of time, if only Arthur's lie had been one that would afford them more time... Hogan had quite enjoyed his swim in a proper body of water again and not the cramped pool back at his manor. No luck with finding their objective and a bunch of simpletons waiting for a show that wasn't coming, what a lovely situation. Hogan tilted his head ever so slightly as Arthur proposed his plan, great so he'd have to haul his ass all that distance? I mean sure Hogan loved a swim, but swimming that far because someone told him to? But before Hogan could put up any form of protest Arthur was already on his way to address the sheep and heard them using another lie. Hogan waited a moment before hauling himself back into the water, but instead of swimming the direction Arthur had advised Hogan dived instead his goal to hide himself from view for a moment.

While obscured by the water Hogan opened his maw and started biting at the riverbed, rocks and stray pieces of rubbish cutting the inside of his mouth ever so slightly. Hogan gathered a good amount of rubbish in his mouth before surfacing again, lugging his weight back onto land. He kept his mouth closed so that all the small bits of garbage and litter he'd gathered from the bottom of the river were safely hidden. Hogan then started to drag himself back towards Arthur and the crowd, acting a little more sluggish than normal keeping his head facing down a little, he kept this up until he'd reached his destination.

A awkward groan escaped Hogan catching the attention of anyone who hadn't already noticed the huge reptile make it's approach. Hogan then shook his head a little making another upset sounding groan, he then opened his mouth and emptied it's contents onto the ground a mix of litter, mud and blood splashed onto the floor in a rather unsightly display. Hogan then weakly collapsed next to the ugly pile of vomit Hogan hoped Arthur would be able to capitalize on this little act, though Hogan could have very much overestimated the mans intelligence.

Despite Arthur's display, nobody seemed to be taking the bait. He suppressed the urge to furrow his brow, wondering if he'd done something that discredited his story. After a moment, however, he realized that the people looked not at him, but rather past him. He glanced over his shoulder, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. Hogan himself heaved himself over the bridge toward the group, though something in his gait struck Arthur as odd. A bigger problem, however, lay in the contradiction the reptile's arrival introduced; with Hogan here rather than elsewhere, Arthur's story about the show poised to start fell to pieces.

Baffled and surprised, the mustached man hurried to pick those pieces up. "H-Hogan!" he stammered, "What are you...!?" His question got cut off as the crocodile gave an off-putting moan and proceeded to barf a gruesome hunk of trash out onto the the ground. All those nearby recoiled in disgust, Arthur included. The large man did, however, catch on to what his companion was doing. Oh, he's pretending to be sick. It's a bit rude and risky to pull a stunt like this instead of going with my plan, but...fair, since I didn't think of any alternative or ask what he thought. I'll follow his example this time to make up for my thoughtlessness.

The next moment, he clapped a hand to his forehead in dismay. "Good God almighty! Hogan, what happened to you!? You're sick as a dog! I've gotta get you help." He took a step toward the crowd, motioning for them to clear out. "Move, move! Hogan's in critical condition, and I need to get him to the clinic, pronto! Sorry, but the show's canceled!" Rushing through the civilians to get to the van, he threw open the back doors in haste. If the people didn't clear out immediately, he knew, he'd have a rough time getting Hogan into the van fast enough to lend credence to the new story.

---

Blue watched, intrigued, as the fight left the guy. It was.... Almost as exciting as cutting someone open. The way the life left them. She'd need to try and break her targets in the future before killing them. This was almost fun, and this reaction was absolutely worth the effort.

Nodding slowly Blue reached forward and patted his shoulder carefully. "No matter what, you proved you have the potential today. It takes someone strong to be willing to alter their course. And I may have some resources and friends who would be willing to help you out. And then you could let me know when you're going to do a show. I'd enjoy dropping in to watch," she said slowly. "And being around people like my friends will do wonders for helping you figure yourself out and everything. It certainly helped keep me from going crazy." She laughed lightly, pulling out her phone to glance at the messages. "Looks like one of my friends is on his way, actually. I think you'll like him, his name is Leonard. And mines Laurie Blue, in case I didn't say it earlier. I prefer Blue, though."

@Old Amsterdam
‘Y-yeah, some help would be... it’d be nice, yeah.’ The guy smiled, even given the mild slight, and cautiously managed to drag himself to his feet, slipping at least twice before he actually found his feet. ‘Blue’s a nice name, by the way. Er, can we find somewhere to sit? Today’s been a-a real DRAG. Aheheh, ya get it? Because I just DRAGGED myself... w-well, I mean, today’s not been so bad, actually, and especially you’ve been a help, of course, I just meant, like... uh, it’s trying to make the, uhm... y-y’know, it’s a joke, see? Topical humour, obviously...’ His joke poorly delivered, he started making his way toward the nearest bench.

@ProPro
Some minutes and an almost-tranquil motorcycle drive later, Leonard found himself within the Smithsonian Gardens, and progressing toward the street indicated in her text, soon came across both Laurie and her “potential target”, sitting on a bench and conversing about... well, he’d only just arrived, so he couldn’t really know what. Naturally, Blue’s conversation partner wouldn’t recognise him at all, though there was no obvious reason to think he’d be a threat, given how he seemed to be totally at ease right now. Well, “at ease” other than apparently struggling to keep himself sitting upright for the umpteenth time, if the scuffed ground below his feet was any indication.

---

@knifeman
Unimpeded, the main performer unfolded the strip of paper that he’d just pulled from seemingly nowhere, turning out to bear an uncannily-accurate recreation of his seemingly-fallen comrade upon it, albeit fully intact. As he laid it over the top of the body, his larger companion began a drumroll, on a smaller drum that seemed to have come from nowhere, or else it had been on his person the entire time.

‘And now,’ the main man announced, ‘witness a feat that few can truly make claim to! RESURRECTIOOOOON OF THE DEAD!’ And with that, he front-flipped an incredible height on to the shoulders of the bearded drumroller, whose frenetic solo suddenly ceased as, with no warning, the line between image and reality blurred, became indistinct, and seemingly ceased to exist, leaving... what was that? Could it be that Lee’s corpse had really been healed fully? Or was that just a dummy?

Abruptly, the ex-ex-human jerked into a handstand, propelled himself off of his arms with the precision and strength of an athlete, performed a rapid mid-air tumble once, twice, and finally landed perfect atop the shoulders of his bigger brother, still atop the shoulders of their even larger ally. It seemed the impossible really had been achieved after all!

In unison, the Crazy Crue Brothers announced ‘TADAAA!’ in a perfect three-step harmony. That was the cue for the crowd to go wild with applause. And they did.

‘Thank you, thank you very much!’ the lead brother called to the cheering crowd, dropping down on to his larger sibling’s hands, then again to the surface of the van, his smaller sibling taking the step from his shoulders after that. ‘We’ve loved you all, you’ve been a wonderful audience! Come and see us at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, later today and every day for the next week from 4 to 6 PM! Look for the Crazy Crue Brothers- and remember, this one was a FREEBIE!’

And like that, the roof of the van apparently descended into the vehicle, taking the three brothers with it, whilst at the same time the high dive board and pool that were intended to be the star of the show rapidly collapsed in on themselves, spilling water everywhere and quickly compacting down to a much smaller size, to the point that both apparently vanished behind the van outright. The three brothers reappeared behind the wheel of the van, honking the horn to suggest that room be made for them to pass through the crowd safely; if Mieke wanted to try and grab the performers’ attentions again, now might be her last chance.

---

@LemonZest1337@Lugubrious
Well, it was obvious that Hogan wasn’t going to be performing any time soon. At least, that was the impression the crowd ultimately got out of the show Hogan and Arthur had put on; they gladly moved out of the way of the clearly deathly ill, and nonetheless very large crocodile, giving the duo more than enough time to enter the van and pull away.

Once they left, Arthur would be able to head towards one of the clubs close to Roosevelt Island in due course, or else follow up on Laurie’s text. Which option he selected was up to him, but evidently, one would need to be chosen, though it seemed likely that for the time being, he wouldn’t encounter any particular resistance along the way.