it's been the ruin of many a poor boy [open.]

[awooligan]

♥ Who: Clifford Norman, OTA!
♥ Where: wherever tbh...
♥ When: August 1 and general early August.
♥ What: Cliff arrives to do typical intro log stuff and be frustrated.
♥ Rating: uhh PG-13 for language? and probably underage smoking at some point.

[ a. the wrong world. ]

[He’d had the plan to move out solidly in mind until recently, but…somehow this wasn’t quite what he’d pictured. After being led to housing by the welcome wagon, Cliff had waited out the helpful robot before slinking away from the open street to somewhere he can quietly freak the fuck out in peace. Even in the alternate reality he suddenly had a second life’s worth of memories of, he’d only heard stories about some corrupted-but-harmless AI, nothing like a whole society….not that that’s his biggest issue right now. He doesn’t know nearly enough about science or magic to figure out why the hell he remembered two versions of his life or why he was a wolfboy from the middle of nowhere with shitty father figures in both of them. That just doesn’t seem fair?

He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, shakes his head like it will disperse those thoughts, and sets off again. Maybe if he got the lay of the land, he'd have an easier time getting a handle on things. At least he can feel being an Animal Person, and know that if he wanted to right now, he could be a wolf before his next step hit, and that’s knowing more than nothing! Along that thought, he was wearing Oscar’s hoodie and he had that bag of gummies he'd just started. Undeniably real. But the hoodie had existed in that other world, too, even though he'd never gotten tangled with “just some guy” that was a magnet for trouble. And…]

Huh. Well, that was the most unbelievable part of all that.

[In his pocket, the push of his finger against a figurine’s ear assures him that it is also pretty damn real. Didn’t hate that, no matter how confusing it is. The circumstances surrounding this place and that other one, though...]

Christ. You save a guy’s life a couple times and they want to upgrade you to saving two worlds?

[Because he didn't have enough of a headache.]


[ b. the wrong foot. ]

[Contemplating his newly realized existential crisis, he doesn't have the mental fortitude to figure out who’s in charge and kick their ass. Instead, the redhead resigns himself to pretend-scrolling through his not-an-earth-phone while his eyes -- more animal than human, if someone were to inspect them -- and scowl do the job of telegraphing his mood for him even from where he's hiding under his hood.

It could be that simple, just his glare accidentally finding someone who didn't deserve it and a miscommunication running wild from there, or it could be that while he's pretending to be distracted by his phone, he's actually distracted with his thoughts enough that he comes too close to someone passing the other way and bumps into them. He jolts back with tight fists and an arm lifted like a shield between himself and the stranger. As ready to fight as he might seem and sound, it's possible to notice that he's on guard rather than being aggressive.]

Hey, watch it -- !


[ c. the wrong attitude. ]

This sucks.

[Cliff plops onto the bench with a truly impressive sigh. That feeling before he’d woken up… Even with as much as he loves his mom and brother, the fact that he still had to hold a part of himself back means that it had been so completely, overwhelmingly alien. Comforting and safe in the moment, but now?]

Fucking tired of people messing with my head…

[This really, really sucks.

Miserably, he notes that he should be rationing the few supplies that had come with him, but he deserves the sugar, dammit! Cliff drags the bag of gummi bears out and starts to eat them with the enthusiasm of a man on death row. He starts each one by biting its head off.]


[ d. the wrong...card?! ]

[idk man it’s the wildcard option, hit me up if you want to work something out!]

Comments

c.

[whenyouneedme]

[There is only so much gummy bear carnage that Kaito can bear being within the vicinity of. Or maybe it was the whole 'alone on a bench looking mighty upset [and also decimating gummy bears]' thing. He was pretty bad at ignoring those sorts of scenarios too.

Either way, Kai was going to come to a stop a few paces away and just kinda. Look at the guy.]

... Are you, uh. Hungry?

[awooligan]

[The question gets him to stop just before another bear suffers its chewy fate, hand paused near his open mouth.]

...Probably not enough to accept food from strangers.

[He's been kidnapped before, okay, he's gotta do the bare minimum.]

This is basically a meal.

[whenyouneedme]

[A completely valid answer, to be fair. Kai still gave a soft huff though, amused.]

Hm. Yeah, basically.

[If he had had gummy bears in his pocket when he first got here, he would have been survival snacking on them too. Even if the other guy is understandably wary, Kai still had to try to offer something a bit more substantial.]

Did you get one of those tablets when you got here?

[awooligan]

You mean the smartphone?

[He pops the gummy into his mouth and folds up the bag to switch it out in his pocket for the mentioned tablet.]

This thing? My phone wasn't the latest model or anything, but I'd still rather have that back. I got pictures on that thing.

[whenyouneedme]

Ah... you might be able to get that back at some point? I got some of my shirts from back home, and my boyfriend got his tape player.

[He stepped in a little bit closer, making a motion towards the phone.]

Pull the map up? It's uh... [Let's point from a distance.] That one.

[awooligan]

[Cliff gives him a calculating look, trying to decide if that's bullshit or not. When the approach is cut short and he's given his own space to plink around on the screen, the believability tips a little more in Kaito's favor. Even if it was only because his guard was obviously up, that's more than what he's been granted in the past when it came to personal space, so Cliff appreciates it. Makes navigating this thing take a little more time, but it's worth it to worry a little less about how capable he is.]

Uh-huh.

[whenyouneedme]

[He'd gotten close enough to at least take a seat on the bench now, which he... did? not? He was parking his butt on the ground next to it, just leaning over a little to get a peek a the screen. Let the kid have the high ground and all that.]

Right. So it's got where you're at. [Like one would hope a map app would do.]

Up north is Rawna's temple. Big rainbowy place, hard to miss. See the little buildings nearby?

[awooligan]

[He was already pretty sure he'd win in a fight, but now it's confirmed. Officially he has the high ground.]

Yeah. It's a bunch of houses, right? The ones by the temples are always nicer.

[From what he's managed to cover so far, anyway...which was honestly more than what a normal teenage boy should have been capable of. He's got speed and stamina on his side. Still, hadn't checked out too much of the northern part of the city yet.]

[whenyouneedme]

[Time to die I guess]

Right. Not that the freebies are bad. Just a little less quiet. Anyway... There's one over on [whatever the name of the street is], right about ah... there-ish. S'got flowers out in the yard and some watermelons growing in the garden.

[Also a bit hard to miss compared to some of the neater, less-lived in yards around them.]

I'll keep the door open, if you decide gummy bears ain't cuttin' it.

[awooligan]

[...He might think this guy was crazy, if someone like Oscar didn't exist to out-crazy him. Weirdo kept his secret, along with a bunch of other ones, and had always given him a place to stay when he didn't feel like going home to where it would only be him and his step-dad not getting along.

Still,] Dude, you don't even know my name. What if I get there and just smash all your watermelons in the middle of the night?

[Like, he probably won't, but it does sound like a lot of fun.]

[whenyouneedme]

[Kai just gave him a steady stare for the time being.]

I wasn't gonna peg you as an asshole, but are you telling me you are one?

[There's no grumbling here, it's all honest curiosity in the question.]

[awooligan]

[Rude, but fair.]

What? No. [...] Might depend on who you ask. Only ever a little.

[whenyouneedme]

[The corner of his mouth curved for just a moment there.]

If it's only a little, then we don't have anything to worry about.

Otherwise you'd be apologizing to my boyfriend. Those're his, and it's hard to grow shit here.

[awooligan]

[grumble grumble well now he WANTS to smash the watermelons and CAN'T]

No weird garden witches here? [Not that he knows how much Eliza would have been helpful, if she were around. Probably more than him, no matter what.] Here I thought PDA was supposed to help bring life back to this place... Guess that could be why you're growing anything at all.

[whenyouneedme]

[Look if you ask him nicely later you could probably have one. Just don't tell him about the smashing.]

Mmm, the prince with the green thumb powers left long before anything was really able to take root. [Reyson would have been so happy to see more greenery.]

But yeah, everything was just metal and stone for a long time.

[awooligan]

[You can still eat the watermelon guts after you smash it... It's one of the cooler things about watermelon, in the opinion of a guy that doesn't know shit about watermelon, like Cliff.]

Jeez. Sounds miserable. Yo, you want a gummi bear?

[whenyouneedme]

[Sir that was your survival sugar.]

... Sure. I'm cool with candy from strangers.

[awooligan]

[He has access to watermelon, now. He can spare a bear or two for someone coming off as pretty decent? Cliff unrolls the bag again, grabs one for himself, and then poises the bag in a way that's waiting for Kaito's hand to be ready to catch what he shakes out.]

I don't think it counts as suspicious behavior when it's coming from a minor. You got a name or something, watermelon guy?

[whenyouneedme]

[Sorry, Shinji. He'd stolen your watermelon reputation.]

Minors can still get arrested, kid.

[Says the guy fresh out of a confusing timewarp out of juvie. Here's his hand, ready to Receive Bear.]

Thanks tho. It's Kaito. What about you, gummy bear boy?

[awooligan]

[Shinji can probably be watermelon guy #2.]

Tch, you sound like the dick my mom married. I'm confident in my ability to evade the cops.

[He'd been so close to a 100% full escape rate, not even a face put to his harmless crimes... Stupid Micah, getting seen wandering into the woods, and stupid him for not being more careful.

Bear: delivered. Like three of them, on account of the imprecise science of candy bag shaking.]

Cliff. [His own gummi loses its head to the guillotine that is his teeth. It's mostly just habit, by this point.] So are the laws here as ass-backwards as their plan to save the world, or what?

[whenyouneedme]

[Thank you for this Bear Bounty. The motion of escorting the treats back to his side of the bench was a good thing to focus on to force his frown into a neutral line. Didn't like that comparison there. Didn't like that one bit. (Even if it was a fair conclusion to draw from that line alone.)]

I mean as long as you're not jumpkicking a cop, I'm sure your evasion is fine. Don't follow my exemplary minor behavior.

[Gonna shove this bear in his mouth. Gonna have a moment because oh wow this thing really is just 100% sugar huh???]

...Things are pretty lax for the most part? At least, they were. Usually folks only got in trouble cuz they were trying to get through the wall without any protection. Some other ones just tried some breaking and entering, which... y'know. Authorities don't tend to like on most worlds. So the natives are a bit jumpier than they were.

[awooligan]

[Jumpkicking a cop… He imagines it for a moment, but the local officers weren't too terrible, just annoying that they showed up when he and his friends were messing around. Nah, with a soft laugh, he decides he’ll stick to kicking monsters in the face, for now. Enjoy the sugar. The sugar mixed with sugar and more sugar.]

Huh. Anything good from the B&E? Was it for stuff?

[like...what was the focus… was it just someone wanting to hang out in a crappy abandoned shack in the proverbial woods since nothing grew, or a stealing confidential files kind of thing.]

[whenyouneedme]

[The cops around Iruma were usually alright enough too, even with some delinquent like him. Still, shit hitting the fan called for desperate measures sometimes. At least it made for a laugh.]

Maybe? It's a hard 50/50 on if people were just stir crazy or if they actually had a reason to suspect something nasty. Not that I'd blame them for either thing.

[He shrugged.] They were looking for info I guess. Dunno if they got anything, they decided to just preach at everybody about it.

[awooligan]

[He nods with a hum and eats the rest of his bear.]

Yeah, sounds right. Probably both.

[The student files thing was half having fun with a cute girl he wanted to impress and half wanting to help her use the files to solve a serious problem. It's nice when you get a good two-for-one deal like that.]

That's shitty they're not just telling us what they found or didn't find, though. How are people supposed to know what they want to do if you don't tell them anything?

[whenyouneedme]

Exactly. Like, sure its cool you did what you thought what the right thing was, but did anything come out of it? Don't bust in griping at everyone when you don't have anything to tell us either and act all surprised when people get mad about it. Cool your jets a sec.

[Let's chomp on sugar take two while making an exaggerated shrug.]

They're usually alright guys, but that whole thing looked like it needed some more time before anyone opened their mouth. Maybe we'll find something out later.