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 Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 1:39 pm
The last few days had been a jumble to say the least. He could remember what had gone before but none of it made sense, like a book whose pages had been torn up and scattered. There were images but nothing made sense and at the end of it all there was the watch fastened on his left wrist and the streets of a world that was a lot cleaner than he could remember.
He knew he couldn't do the things he'd done before here, aware that there were rules but not sure what those rules were.
The shopkeeper was really not happy with the fact that he'd tried to retrieve a loaf of bread and leave and was now yelling at him loudly while he stared blankly at him.
He was out of ideas of what to do and had been hoping that his outfit was enough to blend in without learning every little thing about the human world. He had no idea that a tattered trenchcoat and clothesline pilfered attire was at best hobo-like and at worst threatening.
"What the ******** do you think you are doing! I'm going to call the police!" the man said, snatching the bread back out of his unprotesting hands. He didn't know what he was doing really, he just stared instead.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:07 pm
"Excuse me, sorry, hold on," a middle-aged man wearing mostly gray (or possibly a very grubby white) made it to the aisle and somehow managed to lightly squeeze between the pair without shoving, touching, or bothering anything.
Except the bread, which found its way to his hand. He had a wallet in the other.
"I've got it. I um, don't mind."
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:19 pm
Lawrence was rather glad of the intervention, starting to run out of options to avoid the present conflict. He didn't even complain about the inclusion of charity in the gesture, offering to buy the bread for him.
He sighed, nodded and gestured at Rodney, and the shopkeeper, not wanting any more trouble than he already had to deal with in a day, agreed so long as they both got the ******** out of his shop as soon as was humanly possible.
The whole time the short, slender and pale man said nothing, simply staring at both the shopkeeper and his rescuer with curiosity. The shopkeeper muttered after them something about ******** letting crazy people walk around on their own and Lawrence gave him a headtilt. "I am the opposite of crazy." he said, and was slightly puzzled when the man simply rolled his eyes. Humans did not respond well to logic he was finding, it was a very different landscape than he was used to in more ways than one.
When he was out of the shop, he waited in the same curious way for the other man, uncertain what would motivate someone to step in during an unrelated conflict other than self-interest and old habits dictated that he should have some degree of investment in that.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:30 pm
Rodney paid for his own items as well, keeping a cloth bag on one arm and rescuing the loaf of bread from it. He placed it in Lawrence's hands.
"Did they...just send you down?" He asked. And then, amending, "Or, um, up?"
However dangerous a game this might have been, the concern on Rodney's face was sincere.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:36 pm
"I don't know." he said, and meant it. He had memories of a life on both sides of the metaphorical (and sometimes literal) barricades. He did however pause mid-comment and give Rodney a surprised look, realising that the other man (who he'd taken for a human on first sight) was actually something more substantial than the mortals around them.
He looked down at his bread, real, tangible bread, like the kind the nephilim ate. Somewhere faintly he could feel the knowledge of the plants that had grown and the sun which had fed them, all of these things in themselves essentially free of sin. But interwoven he could feel the families displaced, the water diverted, the money spun and the lives ruined by the very industry which corrupted these things.
Objects on earth were quite, quite beautiful.
"I really don't know." he said. "I think it was voluntary, whatever happened. I think I wanted to begin again somehow. Even though we shouldn't be able to." he smiled, and it sat unfamiliar on his features. "Either I was very very good, or very very bad. I am Lawrence."
And just because hand gestures were novelty, he extended a hand for an impromptu handshake.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 9:01 pm
"Oh, good! Handshakes, you'll like that one. Very popular in...well, down. I've heard. But...I like them," Rodney confessed, taking Lawrence's hand warmly and giving it a soft squeeze.
"Rodney."
He swallowed in surprise at the crack of lingering power that coursed through the exchange. Sort of a metallic aftertaste of....he wasn't sure what it was. Something dark, and bitter, and smooth, and...smokey...
"It's a good place to start over," he offered, "Appleton. How long have you been here? Have you eaten yet?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 3:28 am
The other man's name was noted with the devout attention to detail he always applied to names despite it very likely being nothing but a pseudonym if he was a demon or an angel. He couldn't tell simply from energy any longer, finding it almost impossible to get a bearing on who or what he was dealing with via anything other than body language and the conventional human senses. He was not doing a good job of reading them.
He felt the energy briefly in the handshake, but to his addled senses it all still felt like unintelligible static and he couldn't get a handle on it or decipher it.
"Handshakes are nice." he said thoughtfully. "I am glad to have met you here Rodney." Because it didn't matter who he worked for, right now securing help from anyone was good, and he found himself hoping despite himself that the other man was from up top, because at least then it seemed based on the fractured memories that he might be less likely to recall him.
"I think I only just arrived this morning." he said, still somewhat dazed. "And no, it was why I got this." and he looked at the loaf, still rather confused by the wrappings, finding navigating material objects much more complicated than anything he could remember. "...Appleton." he repeated, as if it too was a name he should remember towards something more significant later.
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 2:59 pm
"No one to, um, orient you, then?" Rodney asked, looking around a little anxiously. "I mean, no offense. I just...try to stay out of politics. And normally there is. The...Institutions, and so forth."
Rodney took the bread gently back.
"Appleton, yes," he said softly. He ventured, "It's much better with jam. The bread, I mean."
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 3:08 pm
He shook his head. "No, I think that the institutions..I think I want to keep away from them. I don't know why. Maybe the nephilim one. I might go there. If I can't find somewhere to live here...people are fussy aren't they?"
He let the bread be taken and gave Rodney a hopeful smile.
"Do you have any jam?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 4:07 pm
"Oh the Institutions are very...friendly," Rodney said, looking around again, "but um, I admit I may have been lax on my own checking in."
He smiled at the fussy comment.
"They're alright. Just touchy about unreciprocated favors. Some of them. Not all."
It probably would have been better (from the prospective of someone on Long-Term Harvesting duty) to have encouraged it from the shop keeper. Or another shopper. But that poor shopper could have ended up dealing with anyone. He thought, at least if he died he'd only have to...give a lot of accountable reports for what he'd been doing.
"I do have jam. And my own, um, non-Institutional kitchen. Again, I'm sure they have a very nice kitchen."
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 4:26 pm
"I don't really want to go to them if I can avoid it. I don't fully understand why but there are some fairly urgent memories which say it would not be the wisest decision I have ever made."
He laughed and surprised himself at unreciprocated favours. "Aren't we all though?"
Moving to stand a little nearer to Rodney he didn't drop the smile, finding expressions novel and new in themselves. "I think your kitchen sounds fine, if you don't mind sharing your jam."
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 4:43 pm
"You'll like food, too," Rodney said. "There's a reason that after all this time, it was the Garden had a reputation for being so good."
He confided, "Although there is also a very nice cafe on Down St. But...no, yes, that's alright. We can go to my kitchen. I can answer questions! And you can...find where you're supposed to be. And...don't leave me out of reports, that would be dishonest, but if you could minimize my involvement. Ahem,"
He gave him the bread back again.
"Ah, this way."
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 4:57 pm
Lawrence looked curious and rather excited about this, he'd heard about food he was sure and how important it was as part of creation in general, keeping each organism tied to the other in a perfectly balanced flow of energy. The mention of the garden however made something in him falter, like an important detail just out of reach.
"I look forward to it." he said. "And maybe sometime you can take me to this cafe?" It was part of his nature that he'd be drawn to new experiences. If Rodney said he liked something, he wanted to see if he would also like it. "And yes, I do have a lot of questions. There will be no reports."
Proudly carrying the bread, he headed after Rodney.
After a few moments, where they'd just been, a large bull terrier appeared, sniffed the ground and trotted after them. It had a collar on and if anyone had been able to read its tags (no one did) they'd see it had
Rodney's House
????
????
Appleton
As the emergency address.
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 5:47 pm
Rodney leaned a bicycle, unchained, off of a bike rack, and entrusted his cloth grocery bag to the basket in front. "You'll have to ride with me. But you can keep hold of your bread, if you like. My place isn't far. I don't get much company."
Mostly because he actively avoided it.
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 5:50 pm
Lawrence held his bread to his chest with one hand and nodded, happy to get on the bike however Rodney wanted him to. It was harder than he thought, used to having a lot more limbs than he presently did and not entirely sure how many more he typically had.
"I am glad to be company." he said, in as polite a way as he could manage. Politeness was also rather new.
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