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Post by 0 on May 1, 2017 23:26:50 GMT
Bill couldn't fathom the look on the brown man's face upon his lighting of the cigarette.
Did he have something against the technology?
While wearing that wig?
Or had he simply took take his initial oil comment to heart?
His lips quirked up at the pale man's comment; besides having left a trail of the stuff in his wake, the man himself was still noticeably soggy from the downpour.
"Maybe I'm just too addicted," he joked, removing the cylinder to wave it about; although smoke continued to rise, no ashes fell.
Replacing the item to its proper place, he shook his head.
"If this is as industrial a city as you two have made it out to be, the city would have long been gone by the time my bus was on the horizon."
He sighed, gazing again out the window.
"Supposin' it's not worth it to waste hope that it'll stop soon.
Bus probably won't be back for another week yet...I'll be late either way," he said with a mumble, eyes casting towards his hefty luggage.
He took a step towards it, thinking of using at as a seat, before determining that the seat was definitely too small for him; instead, he folded up his jacket a little more, then draped it over the object.
Taking the rag from his shoulder, he started to wipe himself off once more.
"How much do shelters go for 'round here?"
A little after he'd said that, a clatter and a sharp chirping came from the far back room where the big bat was known to be by the duo.
Pekas had woken for a spell from her hunger to find a couple of the smaller bats sharing the big orange which the strange tall animal had set down.
She'd dropped down upon them, scaring one in an instant, the other too stubborn to move, clinging to it with a rising hiss.
"Paumanhin!" she barked towards the fleeing bat, backing off from the fruit.
She crouched low, prodding at it with a thumb, pulling back when the smaller bat moved as if to bite her.
"Share?"
Back in the front room, Bill squinted the way of the noise with the cigarette hanging loosely from his lips.
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Loner, Kazetatsu, Kaze
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Post by Loner。 on May 3, 2017 16:02:58 GMT
Sometimes technology, especially something that wasn't seen every day, or not seen in certain circles, seemed uncannily like magic. Malik would do well to remember that. It could be useful at a later time.
Malik slowly headed back towards the back of the store.
"We'll good thing it's really not oil then." Tex Observed. There were industrial parts of the city here and there, and the fact that there was no news of fire from the radio certainly meant the stuff was at least not as flammable as the fossil fuel. "Radio says it'll go till tomorrow at least, So we're kinda stuck the night." Tex might wish it was otherwise, but he really couldn't do a thing about the weather.
"Where ever you're going, there's probably storm delays. Hope they'll understand" Tex mildly sympathized. Everything could end up running to a halt in a storm like this. Tex's slender hands, look out a pen, sliding the cylindrical object from one finger to another in a form of fidgeting. This sometimes helped with trying to put thoughts in order. "Shelters..."
"they're usually non-profit, the real ones." Malik cut in without bothering to look at either of the others. Of course if Tex wanted some kind of compensation that was well within his rights to ask for it. Malik glanced at old wares, his expression one of introspective thought. Although he was somewhat still engaged, he wished he could just keep to himself at the moment.
Tex frowned as the bats started up their noise once more. "Bats" He confirmed. "we've got a bat problem. I'm calling someone in the morning." It seemed there were definitely more than one about. For now he just hoped none carried rabies or any other sickness humans could get.
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Post by 0 on May 5, 2017 22:45:03 GMT
Bill fiddled with the cigarette in his fingers while listening to the pale man's explanation.
At least until tomorrow.
Figures.
He nodded at the mention of storm delays, glancing back at his luggage once more.
"It's not urgent business."
Or, at least, none that he cared all that much about.
"The bus was days late anyways."
As he took a drag, there was a mention of the shelters being non-profit (the "real ones"...did this city have a black market of shelters or something?), and he nearly choked on the smoke.
"Wow," he gasped, waving away the wisps in front of his face.
"Are they in that bad a shape?"
Wait-- bats?
His head short towards where he'd heard the noise again, squinting.
Bats were just flying rats, weren't they?
Biting, flying, shitting-on-your-head rats...he shuddered --disgusting.
He took another sip of the smoking product, turning his thoughts back to the rain and the more pressing situation at hand.
"Got somethin' I can sit on, at least?" he asked after a few more minutes.
"Not very courteous to leave your guests standing all night."
He cracked a smile.
"Didn't get your names, either."
A store run by the welcoming but rude!
Huh...maybe this place was more home than he thought.
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Loner, Kazetatsu, Kaze
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Post by Loner。 on May 6, 2017 0:18:34 GMT
Tex scoffed. "I thought they were finally gonna come up with some legislation to fix the crappy transportation system. Some places you can't get anywhere without a dang car." he complained. He might have complained about the system even if it was not broken. Still no bus should come days late. Something about that was just wrong.
Malik didn't see the point of such complaining. with his feet, bicycle, and public transportation in combination, he'd never had any problems with getting where he needed to be. Of course he also rarely left the city. He purposefully kept no comment on it. They all were here now regardless of how they'd gotten here after all. "Some shelters are in bad shape. some were hit by the recent disaster. Having shelter here, even with the bats is better than most of the places actually called shelters." He observed grimly, but thankful for this cluttered shop. Anticipating the request to come, Malik reached the back of the place where the bats had taken over, and pulled out the chairs one by one from the smaller room, into the cramped isles of various antique and musical goods. If he disturbed the bats in the process, so what? He just had to remember they couldn't really harm him.
"Oh I wouldn't leave you standing, we just got to talking you know?" Tex observed with a smile. Conversation could be quite the distraction sometimes. It wasn't always easy to tell when to bring up certain kinds of topics. Still toying with the pen, he glanced behind him. "Chairs are...Oh, Thanks for bringing them out." He thanked Malik. There were not other chairs in the room, but the ones from the back just a stepstool which could be used as a chair Tex supposed. It might be crowded, but this place was never meant to be used as a shelter.
Tex position one of the chairs so that he could straddle it, with his arms resting over the back. He let Mr. Monsoon, and Malik pick from the other available seating, and position those as desire the available space allowed. "I'm Tex. The other young man's Malik right?" He glanced at Malik for any gesture of confirmation, who gave a nod, but could care less about knowing what everyone was called than the other two.
Malik took a chair closer to the back room and the bats, watching the window facing outside from there, and the dark rain pouring down.
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Post by 0 on May 6, 2017 2:02:08 GMT
Bill took another look at the darker man after his statement.
"Disaster?" he said, brow furrowing.
"Boy, your town must be in real bad shape."
He watched as the man disappeared, returning with some chairs, and his face brightened a little.
He was already reaching for one just as Tex sat on his, pulling it around so that he could sit down beside his luggage and the front door.
He wanted to be ready to book it soon as he could, even if the bus wasn't likely to come around for another week...or two.
...Maybe he should think about hitchhiking.
Although, he might be a bit worried someone might take him for a fat cat and try to rob him once he was trapped in a car.
After all--just look at his impeccable suit!
He took the rag again and wiped at a blackened cuff, a bronze link dropping to the floor with a clink.
He picked it back up with some effort leaning over, and a bit of a grumble.
He nodded at the pair when names were finally given.
"Well, in case you didn't see from the card"--he gave a glance Malik's way, seeing as how he was the one who threw his gift away--"I'm Bill Monsoon."
He paused for a moment, staring at the two, his face halfway expectant.
Of course, he wouldn't suppose anyone so far out in the boonies would know who he was.
The orange was being shared amongst three bats -- the big bat, the clingy bat, and the runny bat.
Three was a team!
Pekas gulped down her share fast, hungrily eyeing the other twos'.
They'd split it equally, despite her being so much bigger than them!
Could they even really finish theirs?
No, no-- she shouldn't be so selfish...perhaps they were going to save it for later, or share it with some of the other bats.
Pekas ears fell as she glanced back up towards her dark corner near the rooftop hole.
She noted a puddle had formed from where the rain had been pouring in, and crawled her way on towards it, decidedly thirsty after all that sugary goodness.
The bat lowered her head, tongue lapping out a few sips--"AUGUHGH!" she yelped, spitting and flapping away.
A crash could be heard as she knocked herself right into one of those tall wood things, causing some shelves and their items to tumble down.
She huffed as she flew forward, perching herself back on top of another stand, watching the objects fall.
"Whoops...," she mumbled, and began wiping away at her tongue.
That water tasted horrendous....
Bill stared that-a-way.
"Are you sure it's ONLY bats?"
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Loner, Kazetatsu, Kaze
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Post by Loner。 on May 6, 2017 2:54:29 GMT
This wasn't out in the middle of nowhere tho, this was part of the capital city, not center city fortunately, but definitely not some unknown place, even if it was an out of the way street. "You seriously didn't see the news man? the satellite photos? Half the city was flattened, like an earthquake or something." Tex described. He had fortunately not been there, but he'd definitely seen the stories and heard from people about what had happened. "It was in news coverage all over the place." It was hard to believe Mr. Monsoon had not heard of the events. They had been too big for the government to cover up as not happening at all.
"I saw it." Malik stated, although due to not being privy to some of the city brainwashing, he kind of had to rely on word of mouth to guess the circulating story. Luckily he did not need to touch on the actual story of what had happened to the city. "Except for the rain, it was a lot like today. Black sky..." There were plenty of bad memories and bad dreams, he'd even ended up seeing people die. The memory was there, strong. "No matter how fast they try to rebuild. Lots feel left in the dust right now." This wasn't Malik's personal opinion. right now he was able to manage alright, but a plenty of the people in the citywere doomed to be caught out in the rain or in crowded shelters which were quite the toxic environment sometimes. It was upsetting to think about. Better to think about other things.
Unfortunately the name was no distraction. It meant nothing to Malik. He definitely didn't know who this Bill guy was. "what did that weird mathy numbers on the card even mean." He asked, not really needing to know the answer. He didn't exactly view some rich looking guy he'd never heard about as valuable. This Monsoon person might just be one of the types Malik would be better off avoiding if possible. He had no way of knowing if Tex had ever heard of him or not.
Luckily the black stuff was drinkable even if it didn't taste good. Pekas and the other bats, or even the humans if they needed to need not worry about poison. However it would soon be found that this 'water' definitely was not a thirst quenching liquid. This could cause problems later, when the water sanitation plants found out they could not easily separate the stuff from the clean water like the might for other impurities.
Both Malik and Tex turned at the sudden clatter from the bat. Malik could see in more, so he could answer. "Yeah, Only bats. Looks like they knocked down some stuff." Hopefully for Tex's sake it wasn't any to-be merchandise.
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Post by 0 on May 6, 2017 4:22:10 GMT
An earthquake.
Half the city flattened.
Bill hadn't seen any signs of this on his way over -- then again, the city was already starting to get drowned in rain, and he was hardly paying any attention during the trip...(probably because he had been napping most of the way, up until the driver kicked him out into the storm).
"Earthquakes and black rain, huh?" Bill murmured, rubbing the back of his head.
"That's some bad luck."
His arms crossed as he listened to Malik's description, and faintly he wondered if there was something he could do to help; he was stuck here anyways, after all.
"Mathy numbers?" said Bill, puzzled.
He turned to the jacket aboard his luggage, plucking out a card to glance at it.
"Oh--!
That's my number, and the coordinates to my office."
As he explained, he pointed first to the top set of numbers, then to the bottom.
He eyed Malik curiously.
Did he really not understand that?
Must have lived under a rock.
Then a thought occurred to him, and he looked over at Tex, wondering if, perhaps, he didn't know, either.
"I'm a, uh, an investigator for an agency," he said, slowly, almost cautiously.
He glanced down.
Rats-- his cigarette was more than half gone now.
Dimly, he nodded towards Malik; it was good to know that it was ONLY bats.
Sort of.
He wasn't sure what else it could have been.
What would be worse than bats?
Ten rabid dogs, maybe?
Damn...he fingered the cylinder, then swept his fingers across his head.
He wished he hadn't forgotten his hat -- then he could have tilted it down, lightly napped, still pretending to be alert and listening.
Pekas sure wasn't going to try the nasty water again; she'd save her thirst when she found some GOOD water.
Bad taste usually meant bad for your stomach, after all!
And even if it wasn't...that didn't change the fact that it was still terrible!
The bat caught a flicker of movement, and turned to see that one of those tall-things was sitting by the door, peering in.
She recalled that the fruit had just been sitting there; though she hadn't seen the action, she wondered if, perhaps, it had been left on purpose.
The bat sat up, eyes sparkling.
"Kaibigan?" she whispered.
Maybe one of them had more spare fruit....
Grinning, the bat swung herself off the shelf, flying straight for the doorway with a happy squeak.
Bill heard the flapping and his head notched to the side, then his whole body shot up as he saw the oncoming bat.
But was it really a bat?
'Cause...it was really fucking huge--!
He looked half-prepared to make a run for it out the front door.
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Loner, Kazetatsu, Kaze
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Post by Loner。 on May 6, 2017 5:21:39 GMT
Coordinates? Most people used addresses house number, street, city zip code, that sort of thing. of course Malik looked at Mr. Monsoon like the idea of using coordinates as an address was crazy. "No one would recognize that as an address you know." He pointed out simply. (except for maybe people who worked for similar agencies, or the government or military.)Speaking of Investigator for an agency.... Malik better be really careful around someone so vague. He rather get out of here but the rain was too strong to risk it out there.
The bat came out, the large one. If there was any fruit she should have been able to smell it right? but the thing was there wasn't any left now. This meant no food for any of the humans as well until the rain stopped, and they were able to get any, unless by some luck Mr. Monsoon had managed to bring in something, but that seemed unlikely.
Tex ducked, knocking over the chair he had been sitting in.
Malik stood, taken less by surprise this time around, he pulled off his damp plaid shirt, since he had a t-shirt underneath, and instead of cringing away took towards, a slightly more aggressive approach.
He tried to catch the bat in the shirt, bundle the shirt up around her, and so capture her and restrict her flight. She'd cause too much trouble in here. He didn't want to permanently capture her, simply put an end to the scare before someone got hurt either by the bat or by fear of the bat.
If he succeeded in capturing her, Malik would try and shove her into the back room, and close the door before she could get out so she wouldn't be liable to frighten them all again.
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Post by 0 on May 6, 2017 6:28:09 GMT
How the bat managed to forget about the weird lights in her excitement was a question put into, well, light, so to speak, when she found herself blinded by the sudden change from darkness to brightness.
Pekas instantly shot upwards, banging her head into the ceiling, dropping, and doing it again as she searched for some corner to tuck her head into until her eyes could adjust.
Luckily, she found it -- or, rather, it found her.
The bat uttered a chirp of surprise as she was enveloped in something soft, warm, and...not all too good smelling.
She fluttered frantically in the blind, spots flying before her eyes just before stars began to circle her head.
She heard something slam, managing to crawl her way out of the encasement and once more fly up, disoriented for a few brief moments until she saw the little bats still licking at the remaining slices of orange.
With a breath of relief, the bat retreated back to her corner.
Perhpas it would be best if she slept the rest of the night....
Bill waved a hand towards Malik as he stated, "Good thinking!" watching as the bat was tossed in and the door pulled shut.
Sitting back down with a sigh, he took one last breath from his cigarette, then held it just above his lap, watching it fizzle out to nothing but a tiny white stub.
He tucked it into a pocket, leaning back into the chair.
After that ordeal, he didn't quite feel like continuing the conversation about the coordinates.
It didn't seem all the necessary, anyhow; obviously, this city must do things differently from his own.
"By the way," he began, "this city got a name?"
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Loner, Kazetatsu, Kaze
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Post by Loner。 on May 6, 2017 12:35:19 GMT
Malik took a deep breath, and positioned himself on the floor by the door. Without his over-shirt he was slightly chilly now but it was a better trade off than continued wariness of the bats.
Tex recovering from his cowering, picked himself up and settled back on the chair. "Dude. This is The Capital City." He explained, surprised that this man didn't seem to know of this big city, where so many government, research, and business agencies were centered. "How could you not know?" The place, often simply known as Capital City was practically famous.
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Post by 0 on May 7, 2017 8:09:47 GMT
Bill scratched his head.
"The capital city"?
He couldn't tell if it was being said as a name, or if it was a reference to its status compared to the other regional cities.
Or both.
"Never heard of it, that's how," was his response to Tex's question.
The nature of the name made it sound to him as though he was very far away -- which, technically, he was...that's how intercity travel worked, after all.
He wondered if perhaps he should start paying more attention to the bus routes.
Turning away from the pair, his gaze wandered back to the black rain.
He wasn't sure whether to press the issue or let it go.
Mostly he just wanted the rain to finally let up so that he might have a better chance of getting back on track.
Find something else to do besides sitting around, chatting it up with one-time acquaintances.
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Loner, Kazetatsu, Kaze
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Post by Loner。 on May 10, 2017 1:12:54 GMT
"Never heard of the capital?" Tex repeated, seriously surprised. "Any company or organization with any repute would know, especially if you were to want any government sponsorship, or had to apply for a business permit." Was Mr. Monsoon even from sanctuary proper if he'd never heard of this city? Too many things happened here for it to be treated like it didn't exist on a map. If you needed a permit for something, or an ID, or government sponsored grant, it couldn't be done without touching some government branch right? Much of that was thought to be in this city. One really had to be from out of town to not know of stuff like that.
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Post by 0 on May 13, 2017 3:36:25 GMT
"Mmhhmm...," Bill mumbled in response to Tex.
Where the fuck had the bus taken him?
A whole other country between his city and the one he was heading to?
He was really starting to miss his hat now; he couldn't hide the confusion and worry flashing across his face.
Instead, he settled for shifting his position, turning himself fully towards the front window.
Hurry up and stop raining, he thought, eyes narrowing into a glare.
He just wanted to leave this store and book it to the nearest...wherever.
Hurryhurryhurry.
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Loner, Kazetatsu, Kaze
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Post by Loner。 on May 15, 2017 19:56:06 GMT
"were are you eve from man?" Tex asked more inclined to keep up conversation than the others were. Knowing that there would be no more customers tonight, and that all three plus the bats wee kind of stuck here did not give anyone much to do but wait, or talk.
It was going to be a long night.
how late was it anyhow? One clock easily read past midnight. It was hard to believe it was only that late when the darkness outside made it hard to judge how far along the night was. Resigned to being here all night, malik figured he'd at least try and get some rest. It wouldn't be comfortable, and he doubted anyone wished to turn off the lights when that would leave them all in pitch darkness, so he decided to just try and tune out the talking, and the light, and rest as much as possible.
The sky was still unnaturally dark, but by 4AM it could be heard that the worst of the rain had abated. It was still raining sadly, and the heavy rains left the street a giant puddle, but the wind and the intensity of the storm was not likely to return...
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Post by 0 on May 15, 2017 23:47:12 GMT
Bill simply pretended not to have heard Tex, forcing himself to seem more entranced by the rain than he really was.
For the rest of the night he would at least continue to avoid answering the question, too unsure of where he was, what the government here was like, what sort of relations his agency held, if any, with this city, country, or wherever in hell he had ended up.
He began to fade out now and then again, but the second he noticed that the rain was letting up, he was hopping to his feet, throwing on his jacket, and picking up his luggage.
His hand lifted to his head as he turned towards the duo; an act in memory alone, meant to tip his hat had it been there.
"Nice meeting ya folks," he said, stepping forward to open the door.
"Probably won't be seeing you around."
And, with that, he was walking into the rain, hurrying to remove himself from the situation as fast he could without looking too suspicious.
He doubted his bus would return to business anytime soon, but perhaps he could find out where it went, where the driver had gone off to.
Had to be somewhere in the city, right?
If not, well, then he'd just have to gather some information -- more carefully this time around...and try to lay low, if it turned out this really wasn't the sort of place he should be.
Pekas remained fast asleep in the back room, waiting for either rain to let up or for the sun to rise.
However, with the lightening of the rain, a quarter of the smaller bats began to pour out through the hole beside her, rising into the cool night air.
Scouts; this was a colony of urban bats, and they knew full well what had to be done once humans had found them: move out.
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