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

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

♥ 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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Hey, complaining is a good, healthy activity as far as Cliff is concerned. He'd be happy to do it again.]

Oh, yeah?

[It's the kind of weary tone of someone who can sympathize, suggesting it's fine to go on or that he'd understand fine if he doesn't want to dwell on it. Sometimes you're in a real shit situation.]

Guessing the boyfriend's from here, then. [...maybe this isn't a Great thing to bring up at a first meeting, but they've already covered arresting minors and starving (sort of.) It's fine.] What if one of you is put in a different world?

Yeah. Had no attachments, and I did the one thing I needed to do. S'fine.

[There wasn't anything cagey about the answer-- Kai didn't have any secrets of his own he wasn't willing to talk about. He just didn't think any of it was interesting enough to bring to the table without any prompting. Getting arrested for trying to help a bud with a new otherwordly identity hide and live as a normal human? A cool and relevant story for another day.

As for the boyfriend:]

He is. If that happens then any god I can get my hands on is gonna feel it 'til I get to follow him.

[It's...grim to imagine having just one thing you needed to do anywhere, to Cliff. To not need to take out the trash, to not need to learn an old card game from a ghost, to not need to sneak out late at night for smokes with your friends, to not need to buy that sequel to a video game you liked, to not need to work out flight plans a few months off... Just dumb, normal stuff. There had been a whole fight to save the world in one set of the memories he had, but as obviously pressing and important as that was, it felt more like a step to get to those other things.

That other answer is more relatable and makes him grin despite it being, well, not a good thing.]

Let me know if you need help, especially if it's the ones here. I've got a few reasons to be pissed at them.

[That was truly the difference in having some semblance of a normal life. At least one good parent, friends that didn't invite him along just to be the scapegoat, no one whispering that you were gonna drag everyone around you down when you were still a child. What a difference even one of those things could have made, but alas. He'd finally found some reasons to be happy though. This was enough for him.

The Kaito that had first gotten here would have taken a lot longer to chuckle, but this one had spent a while learning to be a little more open. He grinned, nodding along. It wasn't a great thing for either of them, but hey.]

I'm sure you do. I'll keep you in mind if I need to tear down a temple.

[Lucky Cliff gets two out of three. Not bad, could be better.]

Sweet.

[Friend potential formed!!! He's feeling pretty good about that, go him, this is very impressive considering he's an unpopular, introverted loser freak with a bad attitude.]

So, are there any other tips and tricks for this place I should know about?

Heh.

[That's an accurate description of his best friend you know. (See also: himself.)]

Guess that depends on what you need. I've been here since the start, so I've probably got a few.

[Maybe that's why it works.]

Since the start? What do you mean?

[He stretched his arms up for a moment before tucking his hands behind his head.]

Lucky batch number one of folks getting plopped into the middle of all this.

[It's almost strange to think of there being a start to any of this, even if he realizes it would be ridiculous to believe otherwise. He'd known Kaito would have had to be around a while to settle down with someone and grow watermelons or whatever, but for him to be one of the first... It makes the situation seem more hopeless, somehow.]

Man. How long ago was that?

Two years.

[Which felt like a long time, spoken out loud. He was sure it was going to sound like an eternity to Cliff, who already seemed real Thrilled to be here in the first place. At the same time... it'd been two years? It hardly felt that long at all.]

Not all of us are still here though. A good chunk have left since then, and not everyone that has shown up since has stuck around for long.

[Two years. It both is and isn't a shock. He'd be an adult by then. Two years in this dead city and all the life they'd managed to bring was to get some watermelons to grow. How much did this place need?]

...They really gave it some time before breaking in, huh?

[Though it sounds like the chances of it being someone from early on were slim.]

Hope they figure out fast that I hate people touching me and shit. Bringing me here was pointless.

[Though going "back" was tricky, when he remembered two different versions of his life that both seemed to be real and didn't know where "back" would be.]

I guess a job will be important... Know anything that would be good for a guy with no experience?

[Kai just shrugged at that first part. The people with the jumpy trigger fingers had really only made it a few months before they decided to run amok. Early folks were more pre-occupied with things like energy balances and figuring out how to safely explore the toxic wasteland that was outside the city, but he really wasn't not the right guy to try and go explaining any of that.

All those other points tho:]

Honestly you'll probably get by just fine. You can get away with not touchin' a majority of the time. No one's gonna force you to do anything, and when touchin' does make things easier you can like... just sit next to somebody?

[Hugs and handholding not required.]

The free housing and stuff's no joke, so don't worry too much. Not sure if any of the offworlder shops are hiring, but there's always odd jobs to pick up with the natives for some extra cash.

[The assurance helps, even if he seems doubtful, still. He nods at the point about the housing -- he hasn't been inside at all, but from what he saw from the outside, it was unbelievable to him that it was free -- and tries to pulled together a list of possibilities while he shifts to sit sideways on the bench, back to the open end and his legs propped up in the middle with his arms on top.]

This count for sitting next to someone? [With a leg barrier between him and the other side of the bench...] Or do you have to be side by side?

[Nothing wrong with a healthy dose of doubt. Kai turned to watch this shifting around as he plopped the last gummy bear in his mouth, chewing on it thoughtfully.]

Side by side or back to back's probably better cuz its easier but--

[It was Kai's turn to twist his position, sitting with his shoulder against the side of the bench. When he moved to lift his arm it was a bit exaggerated so Cliff could see it wasn't going anywhere drastic, just moving to rest on the bench like an elevated arm rest. It was just also running next to Cliff's foot, making that point of contact that was otherwise missing.]

Long as there's contact, that seems to be what works.

[He looks to where his foot meets Kai's arm, curling his toes in a way that makes him gently press against the other boy, just barely. Cliff exhales, sounding a bit wary, still, but overall in a better way. He pulls one leg in more so he can prop his chin on the knee and keep his focus on that little bit of maintained contact.]

That's not a big deal, then. [Even he can do that, especially if initiating these dumb nudges and things was left up to him. Being grabbed was his real concern, or someone being able to feel what he was through too much contact. This was nothing. Good.

...Somehow, though, that makes it more embarrassing? So this qualified as touch, same as holding hands or kissing or play-wrestling... This really would have been so much easier if his family were around, not that he'd want them involved in any of this magic weirdness, or his girlfriend.

Next matter of import:] I heard there wasn't any alcohol here? What about smokes?

[Things were definitely a lot easier if there was someone around to feel comfortable with. Kai had gotten lucky with the few folks he felt cozy with, but he'd never been real opposed in the first place.]

Smokes? Nah. [Said with a bit of a sigh. Man. This was the second time this had come up recently.] Mostly cuz no one's had an addiction in god know's when. There's a way to get 'em but it's kinda pricey.

Alcohol's actually the easier one.

[He knew this and yet he opened himself up to the disappointment anyway. He only has himself to blame. Well, he can blame the population of Havenwell, too... Didn't they know how to have fun at all!!!]

Guess I'll need to ration those, too. [But! He sighs, apparently resigned.] Alright, let's hear it. What do I have to do, if I want one or both of those? They cost snugglebucks, or some shit?

Bingo. Though, I dunno how cheeky they are about minors. My pack ended up being candy.

[This was entirely because he did not catch on to the Christmas gimmick that year, where everything showed up a little... Off. If only he'd held someone's hand at the right time, he would have had the good stuff.]

Alcohol's only in certain replicators cuz I guess they care about licenses, so people probably will be hard asses about it. But that's where legal delinquents come in.

Fuck... I hate this place. [In response to both the snugglebucks and the candy cigs. He just hates this place? And this dumb replicator stuff? Why can't he simply work some shitty cashiering gig and find someone old enough that was cool buying him things, the way it was meant to be!!!

Delinquency, now that's his language.]

I can't believe literally stealing in broad daylight was the easier way. [Well, the chances of him wanting the vulnerability of being hammered right now was low, anyway. Makes it even worse that cigarettes were apparently the harder of the two to get -- a fact that has him sighing and reaching into his pocket. He doesn't want to, after this news, but...]

Here. [He pulls a stick from his pack of cigarettes and offers it out, though he has to drop a leg off the bench so he can more comfortably lean forward.] I don't got a light or anything, but I figure it's the best way I can say thanks for explaining all this. Wish I didn't already give some of the gummies, though.

There's a club for that, pretty sure. [The 'fuck why am I here' club, headed by his roommate, probably.]

[He was going to go on about his in at the bar, but here was this very generous offer happening. Kai blinked, giving the pack a long look. Somehow despite all the talk about them, he didn't expect to be confronted with real ones again so soon. The desire to take the offer was there, but...his smoking habits weren't tied up in anything good. He didn't need to go reinviting that after everything.]

... You keep 'em. [He grinned, nice and easy.] You'll probably need 'em more than I do. I'm cool with the gummie gratitude, but thanks.

Gross, I don't want to be in a club.

[Clubs are for people their were either popular or huge losers. He was only slightly a loser, on account of him keeping his head of dumb red hair down as much as possible.

Being turned down surprises him, but he retracts quickly and gives an over dramatic sigh of relief.]

Great. Gotta catch some kind of break.

[There was a chuckle.] Exactly.

[He could get his own if he really felt hard-pressed about it. No need to be taking the newbie's.]

Don't think you gotta go too far for other ones though. Like I was sayin' before, you can swing by if you want to grab something to eat. We've got better stuff than the freebies.

If you don't smash the watermelons you could probably even talk me into bringing you some drinks when you need 'em.

[boy, if he didn't have a girlfriend and if kai didn't have a boyfriend and if he wasn't 99% straight --

It's such a sweet offer that's soured by the memory of the last time a friendly stranger acquired alcohol for him. Maybe...someday. It probably wouldn't take that long to rule Kaito out as 'not as fucked up as Raven', and he didn't know how he was going to get all the dumbass snugglebucks together to make up for it, anyway. There was time.]

You drive a hard bargain... [Better to joke than to suddenly second-guess all the generosity. It wasn't like this guy was another Animal Person that could get sick, anyway, and he was minding his space.] We'll have to see, huh? But for real, the food's not a big deal. Don't worry about it. Delinquent services, maybe.

[Hey at least the position of Real Good Pal was open]

Mm, yeah, we'll see how it goes.

[Had it been back in Japan where he had nothing to lose, Kai wouldn't have batted an eye about indulging the delinquency. Even here, he didn't really care if he lost his delivery gig at the bar, so he didn't personally give a shit about being a middleman. It was just that Kyoko worked there, and he didn't want to make things weird for Shinji... Consider it a probation period, Cliff. Gotta make sure you're cool. (He'd probably already passed let's be real.)]

Just lettin' y'know were the door is if you need anything. Don't think I'm allowed to actually keep the door unlocked anymore, but you're free to knock whenever.

[Internally he shrugs over what the odds were of him first trying a door vs a window in the first place, but really it's something he should still investigate.]

What, not ever? [Trying to imagine leaving the door unlocked while people were home and awake in Podunk was...impossible... But not a lot of places like Podunk out there.] Did someone try to rob or attack you, or something?

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

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