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 Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:43 pm
The shopping cart's wheels rattled and grinded against the pavement; one, bent out of shape, twisted and spun chaotically with stubborn, hissing shrieks. Blazoned wearily on the front nose of the cart was a dull red sign declaring Save 4 Less, scuffed and dented.
The downside of cramming forty or so related people in a single apartment complex had quickly become apparent to Seamus: chores. Lots of them. Mistakenly, he and Murphy had assumed that they were much too old to be put to task.
Murphy was now stuck, watching boredly over rows of linens and clothes spinning at the laundromat. Seamus, on the other hand, had a stolen shopping cart filled with groceries.
He made the best out of it, though. The cart slowed to a stop at the top of a small hill of the Suburbs, and it took only a moment's consideration before he dug his heels against the lower shelf, throwing body and cart forward.
Delighted hollers and manic laughter echoed through the street as people quickly dodged out of the way.
"Whoops! Comin' through! 'Scuse me, princess--"
The cart bounced and groaned and screeched as its stubborn wheel provided some form of brake, keeping him from moving too fast to control.
"Whoa, there!"
Bottom of the hill, and he threw his weight back, heels dragging against the pavement until the cart slowed to a stop, and he straightened out, breathless and grinning like a loon.
"Sucks to be you, Murph."
He'd gotten the better end of the deal, in his opinion.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:44 am
When Padma stepped out of the little used bookstore at the bottom of the hill, she hadn't expected to see a cart skid to a stop practically in front of her. It's owner, if he could be called that, was grinning madly, looking perfectly happy at the fact that he had just done something possibly crazy.
Of course, she hadn't actually seen that he had done it on purpose, and she was more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt; that maybe his cart had gotten away from him, but for some reason, she had a feeling that it was entirely intentional.
She shrugged, and slung her backpack over her shoulder, it was no concern of hers what he did, even if he did look a bit familiar. Had he come over with them from Southern?
"If you're that curious, child, just ask him."
She was curious, even if she didn't really want to admit it to herself, and so she stepped over to him, smiling brightly, attempting not to look like a threat. "Hey," she said. "You came over on the boat, right?" There, perhaps now her curiosity would be sated, and she could finish doing her shopping.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:00 pm
To be sure that his aunt wouldn't kill him, he took a moment to double-check the groceries - eggs: shaken, but not stirred. He grinned in accomplishment, slipping the carton back into its the bag.
He sensed the other Godling's presence just as she stepped forward, blinking in congenial curiosity at the multi-limbed, young girl. He definitely remembered her from the boat; but then again, he'd had plenty of time and inclination to study everyone that was present.
"Yessir, lass," he answered, tipping his cap back over his wind-rumpled, fly-away mop of hair. "Same as you. Seamus Carnegie, at'cher service."
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:47 pm
She had thought so, and being right, thankfully meant she didn't have to bluff at the last minute. It didn't surprise her when he blinked at her appearance, the arms were a bit strange to see, especially when they were mostly the only thing weird about her.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Seamus. I'm Padma." She curtsied sweetly, and then grinned at him. "So, did you lose control of your cart? Or was that perfectly intentional?"
She wasn't sure if he was a player or not. He didn't seem to have anything that really stood out as god-marked traits, but that really didn't mean anything here. Ashlyn hadn't really been marked either. "Are you a player?" She asked, deciding that wondering about it wasn't going to get her anywhere. "Or are you just related to one? I know that most of them brought along their families."
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:52 pm
"Nice to meet'cha, Padma," he bowed, cordially, in return, a perfectly solemn and genteel look on his face that quickly broke into an easy, crooked smile. "Well, I can't say for sure either way, but I had intended to go a lot faster."
He nodded in answer to her question, showing off the godly item - the soft and twisted willow branch - twined around his wrist in a divinely created bracelet with a negligent wave of his hand.
"Hyup, another Player." He'd found it easy to so readily confess, now, having given up on keeping anything much of a secret as Valeriu had been so insistent on chastising him for after he'd discovered what Seamus had been hiding.
Too late now, he acknowledged, sedately. Another three Players already knew.
"No worries, though, little lady," he assured, gentleman-like. "I'm just a healer. I leave the fighting to you kids, mostly."
Mostly. Seamus, though nowhere near the brawler that Murphy was, still had a mean right hook on him when needs must.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:25 pm
She giggled. "And you probably would have crashed," she teased. "Ruining all your fun." She wasn't serious, and she half suspected that he would have found it just as much fun if he had crashed.
"Very pretty. You're lucky that you haven't got anything that stands out as much. Much easier to avoid notice that way." She had already reached the point where she wasn't hiding that she was a player, not that she really could. Most normal people didn't have four arms, and her gene mod explanation only worked if you didn't look at it too hard, or really wanted to believe it.
She grinned brightly. "I try to avoid the fighting as much as I can too." Padma admitted. It was reassuring to know that there were others that didn't have offensive powers, ones that would be more in the background like she was. "Bringing fortune to people is cool and all, but not very helpful in battle."
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:03 pm
"Well, this ain't the only thing," he admitted, sheepishly. "I got a tattoo, and another thing - and it's not present most of the time, but if anybody saw that other thing, they wouldn't buy the Gene-Modder crock."
Oh yeah, hey, so like - what, your hands and eyes don't glow, too? Oh gosh, it must be the radiation what messed me up somethin' fierce.
Yeah. They wouldn't buy that.
"But fortune in general is mighty helpful," he readily complimented. "I think it's a lot more important to do people good than to be good at doing them bad, ya know? It just means, instead, ya gotta walk softly and carry a pretty darn big stick if'n anybody tries to rough ya up."
Although the shovel had not been very effective against Quinn.
He leaned on the cart's handlebars, the off-kilter smile on his face scrunching both freckles and scars.
"So how're you fittin' in here? Doin' alright?"
No, Seamus wasn't nosy, but he felt he was well within his bounds to be concerned about younger kids running around the city on their own. Especially since he couldn't recall if he'd ever seen anybody who might belong to her family on the boat.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:56 pm
"Still, as marks go, they're pretty tame," Padma remarked. She didn't mean anything bad by the comment, just that compared to the guys that were differently colored, or with ears and tails, his made him look normal in comparison. "And I you're probably right. It just doesn't seem that way most of the time." She shook her head, giggling a bit. "Guess I just need to find a big stick."
She had thought about it before, but in Southern, she hadn't been able to find anyone to teach her, and she had had to settle with the self defense lessons that her aunt had been willing to give her. Maybe now though, she would be able to find someone who might be willing to teach her; now that she didn't have to worry about not getting out in time for lessons.
It was only natural that he inquire about how she was getting on here, and she didn't think him nosy in the least. "Well, I'm fitting in as much as a girl with four arms can fit in around here, and the amount of funny looks have lessoned as people have gotten used to me being around." She shrugged, and glanced down at the ground briefly before looking back up at him. "I suppose I'm doing alright. It gets to be a bit lonely in the apartment, and I think that the neighbors might be a bit concerned about me staying by myself, but they haven't said anything yet." She grinned. "What about you? Miss anything from Southern?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:45 pm
"By yerself?" Now that caught his concern. The girl couldn't be more than eleven, twelve at the most. But, like with another young boy he happened to know, she probably wouldn't like him up in arms over her living on her own. "Lawdy, but your generation is pretty tough. Jus' make sure to get to know your neighbors real well, though, alright? Just in case ya ever need help."
And then maybe Seamus could stop having heart-attacks, worrying over these little tykes all the time.
His face nearly fell at the mention of Southern - his boss, his workbuddies, Bartleby's sandwiches and the Look with it's metal park - but he caught it in the nick of time.
"There's a lotta things I miss back in Southern. But I'll tells ya what I don't miss - my cheatin' ex-girlfriend," that bint, he muttered, aside. "Did everything for her, bought her flowers, 'n you know how expensive those get. And what does she do? Leaves me to go elope with her cousin. Her cousin!"
He threw his hands up, sighing exaggeratedly.
But he couldn't be annoyed for long. Central, it seemed, might be the city of love for Seamus. If he worked up the nerve to give Sally a ring this week before Murphy did it for him.
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Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 9:42 am
"Yeah." He seemed to be concerned, and, considering the indiffence she had gotten from most of the people around, made Padma smile a bit. "Tough? I guess so. The game changed a lot of things." She nodded. "I've been trying."
Of course, the people in her apartment building weren't the ones she had been trying with, but she supposed that it wouldn't hurt if she did at least attempt to make contact. Maybe she could bake cookies or something.
She giggled at his exaggeration. "Well, I'm sure you'll find someone better here," Padma said, in response to his mutterings about his ex. "It's a big city, and there are some really awesome people."
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Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:01 am
"Yeah," he agreed, and probably didn't even realize how the goofy smile stretched across his face at the thought of a certain, very assertive journalist. "A lotta, indeed. But there's also plenty'a bad folks, so you be careful."
Though there were plenty of villains to be had back in Southern, Seamus knew that the bigger the city, the worse the violence.
The cart creaked beneath his weight as he leaned on the handlebars, and he was abruptly reminded that he had perishable groceries sittin' pretty in the afternoon sun.
"I think I better be gettin' going before the milk goes bad, 'less my sister whups me," he excused himself, the contrite words matching the sheepish grin on his face. "But lissen - if you ever need help or healin', don't be afraid to call on me, a'ight? Me an' my twin live in the Whispering Oaks apartments, number fifty-four, right down this street here about six more blocks."
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Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 4:45 pm
Padma nodded. He was completely right. There were bad people in any city, and more importantly, there were godlings who were more than willing to kill to win the game.
"I understand. Thanks for talking to me though." She noted down the address in her mind, making a reminder to write it down as soon as she had a piece of paper handy. "And if you ever just want to stop by, my apartment's in the Summer Creek Apartments; room 16. It's only a couple complexes over from yours I think." She grinned. "Well, I won't keep you any longer. It was very nice to meet you Seamus, and I'll be sure to remember."
She turned to leave, and then paused. "I hope you have luck with whatever girl you're interested in," she commented, and then skipped off, heading up towards the grocery that he had only recently left.
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