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 Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2019 7:52 am
Backdated to directly following this]
Astrid didn't know how she got here.
That was a lie, she knew exactly how she got here and she was exhausted, ready to plop face first into her bed and sleep for the gracious six hours she could have gotten if she'd just ignored the boy sitting across from her instead of following him over to the strange building. And now she was here, sitting across from someone who was visibly shaken and--
She saw glimpses of whatever he was remembering, it'd been startling and jarring and...
And Astrid understood what it was like to see something like that and be so shaken. She'd lived through it and evidence pointed to Ryan feeling the same.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, surprising herself with the bluntness of it all. The waitress showed up and she settled on water for herself and after a minute of staring she asked for a hot chocolate for the boy across from her.
"You need it," she said in a way that said don't fight me. "Cocoa helps."
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2019 8:03 am
Everything was turning into a blur and for the first time, Ryan Darcy experienced a bout of disassociation because when lilac eyes looked up, he realized he had no idea how he'd gotten from the iced over building and into the small diner he apparently was now sitting in.
Across from him in the booth was the young woman who'd been a little gruff - a little nervous, maybe, since he was a stranger and all - and the one who'd been standing with him, snapping him free from that horrid memory he'd been forced to relive.
When the waitress had shown up for their order, he'd found his tongue uncooperative but thankfully Astrid was there to cover for his silence. He simply nodded his head when she made her comment, finally able to find his words once the waitress left their table.
"I... I don't understand. Back there, we were in the hospital. The hospital my dad died in, I just know it."
Fingers curled into fists, nails scraping against his slacks in the process. "It doesn't make any sense."
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2019 8:04 am
Fingers laced together and wrists were set on the edge of her desk, Astrid's spine straight as she watched Ryan with mild concern. She wet her lips before her shoulders lifted and dropped in a shrug. "It's Destiny City," she replied, like that explained everything.
She felt like it did, just like whiteness and age often implied a sense of privileged entitlement among certain customers she dealt with in her line of retail.
"It wasn't real," she offered, almost reluctantly, looking up at the waitress when the cocoa and water arrived. "A very vivid memory." She pressed her lips together and swallowed. "Do...Do you want to talk about it?"
Astrid pushed the mug closer to him, hoping he'd wrap his fingers around it. "I know what it's like, dealing with that stuff."
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2019 8:05 am
Her answer wasn't as reassuring as he'd hoped in vain that it might be. Destiny City. They knew it was full of bizarre happenstances and monsters that would occasionally show up (despite the government swearing up and down that they didn't exist) but this wasn't a monster... this was his past and he'd been thrown into some sort of weird time warp to experience one of the worst moments of his life.
Ugh. Destiny City could keep all of its bizarre and weird -- he wanted to live a normal life, or as normal of a life as a secret sailor soldier could manage.
The mug was pushed in his direction and Ryan took his cue, hands moving out to collect the drink, offering the girl a grateful nod in response. He took a sip, trying to collect his thoughts as her question... it was a generous offer but was he really ready to talk about it?
"You know what it's like to have a parent die?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:34 am
She could see that her answer didn't satisfy him and Astrid prepared herself to deal with rebuttal. Years of working as a retail slave made it so that she knew how to field things, mostly, and she was ready to have to deal with it now.
Except, to her surprise, it never came.
Instead he asked her for information, about herself. Astrid knew she'd put it out there but she regretted it. Damn her foolishness when it came to being 'nice' or 'kind'.
"Yeah." She took her own cup and wrapped her fingers around it, the slight coolness of the glass welcomed. "It sucks."
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Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:21 am
He grew quiet at that - she wasn't offering any information and he felt it too awkward of a situation to pry any further.
Just two kids, both missing a parent, apparently, sitting there in the silence with nothing for comfort but a cup of cocoa and a stranger trying to be nice. Or sort of nice. Ryan guessed he hadn't exactly been very gentlemanly with his behavior but it wasn't every day that he was forced to remember one of the loneliest times of his life.
"Yeah. Sucks." He echoed before bringing the mug up to his mouth, knocking back the hot drink and ignoring the sting as it burned against his tongue, then his throat. He drank it far too fast but he figured he needed to finish it fast so he could part ways --- it was clear she wasn't here for anything more than obligatory sincerity. Hospitality and all that business.
"So much for setting the mood for a merry christmas, huh."
The bitterness in his tone wasn't hard to hear, violet eyes casting off to the side as he stared out the window at the snow flurries picking up.
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Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:19 pm
Astrid didn't know what to say. She wasn't about to lay her own trauma out on the table for some boy she hardly knew, but she'd dragged him off with her, sat him in the booth across from her and insisted that he drink hot chocolate to calm down.
It helped, sort of, before he looked like he wanted to scald his throat with the speed he was drinking his cocoa.
"Hey! They only give one refill of those, slow down!" Astrid reached across the table without realizing it, fingers pressing against his wrist like she could get him to lower the cup.
"Christmas sucks anyway. You're expected to spend all this money you don't have on things people don't actually need and despite it being the 'jolliest' time of the year, people are crueler to retail workers than any other time of the year." There was a hint of bitterness.
"You know what'll help?" She glanced at the waitress making her way back towards them. "Cheese fries. It helps us forget sucky things like hospitals and capitalism."
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Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2019 5:27 pm
"....cheese fries?"
He looked at her curiously, part out of the fact she'd just touched him out of the blue and partly because she was clearly trying to cheer the sullen mood up. Ryan didn't miss the jab she made in the direction of Christmas shoppers -- she must work in the retail Hell she was referring to, for her to feel so strongly about it.
"I do like fries and I do like cheese but I've... never eaten them together?"
The cheese fries were ordered, nevertheless, with Ryan more curious than ever about the greasy dish being prepared in the back of the diner for the two of them. This interlude gave him the opportunity to do a little more prying.
"So you work retail, I take it? Tough gig."
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Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:40 am
Astrid blinked at his confusion.
Did Ryan...not know what cheese fries were?
She blinked even slower when he admitted that he had never had the combination and she gasped, clamping her hand over her mouth at the revelation. "What do you mean you've never had cheese fries?!"
Any apprehension she had towards the boy had seemingly evaporated in the wake of realizing that he had never experienced the glory that was cheese melted deliciously over fries.
"We're changing that. Right. Now." Her declaration was perfect because the waitress had swung back by. "A large order of cheese fries. With ranch. Oh and bring mayo and ketchup too please."
She was going to change his life.
"It's great," she replied with a fake smile. "What about you, do you work?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 5:48 am
Apparently he had been missing out on a world of deliciousness, judging by the way she reacted when he'd said he'd never had an order of cheese fries before. It was almost startling -- and kind of endearing, he'd admit -- the way she seized the moment and all but demanded that they have a plate of them, just on the principle that he'd never had them to begin with.
The condiment request puzzled him too but he had a feeling he'd soon be learning a new trick or two, with Astrid in his presence. Therefore, he kept his tongue in check and didn't ask why they needed three different sauces to eat their cheesy fries with -- he was sure he'd see, in due time.
The young woman was clearly unhappy with her job, or at least that's the appearance she gave with the sarcastic response to his question. He didn't know how anyone was able to handle the rudeness of customers... which was probably why he wasn't in retail, himself.
"I, uh..." Cheeks flared up in color, a pink hue dusting the tops, "... don't.. have a job. I'm a student at DCU, at the moment. I do part time work at a couple local non-profs, though, if that counts?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:57 am
Astrid busied herself with unrolling her silverware set, taking the napkin and setting it across her lap as she listened to Ryan talk. Painted nails finished smoothing out the paper napkin when she looked up, brow furrowed.
She wished that she could go to college, but her mom was already working too hard with her bad health and Astrid couldn't afford it and her little studio despite working almost three jobs.
"You're lucky," she said with a wistful sigh. "I wish I could afford to take classes." Lips pursed but then her shoulders shrugged.
"What are you majoring in?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:06 pm
Ryan had never considered himself "lucky" when it came to his schooling opportunity but as he listened to the girl seated across from him call him such.... well, it was a humbling reminder that not everyone had been granted the same opportunities as he had.
His father's passing had allowed him to afford such luxuries, the insurance payout enough to keep his mother somewhat comfortable while he finished his education. It wouldn't last forever - far from it - but it gave them a start to work with, since they couldn't have him around to help with the finances.
"Horticulture." He couldn't help but grin as he announced it, like a badge of pride to be shown off. "I love plants -- everything and anything that has to do with them. One day, I'm going to run my own nursery. Or maybe a garden. Or... Or something!"
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Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:12 am
Right after Ryan excitedly told her his major, their waitress returned with a plate of hot, gooey cheese covered fries that she set on the center of the table. It was followed shortly by the dressings and condiments Astrid had ordered on the side.
"Need anything?" The woman asked, brows lifted and a practiced smile on her face.
"I think we're okay right now," she glanced at Ryan for approval before saying, "thank you."
Once she was gone, Astrid was mixing the mayo and ketchup together. "So, you want to be a fancy plant babysitter?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:54 am
It didn't take long for them to annihilate the fries, Ryan finding himself with a new favorite dish as he went into excessive detail over his love for flowers, vegetation and plants in general. He had to scale back his enthusiasm a few times, mildly concerned with both boring his companion and embarrassing himself with the amount of chatting he seemed to be doing.
"Wonder if this is something I could manage to cook up at home," he mused aloud, taking the second-to-last fry and stealing yet some more of her strange and amazing fry dip. "Seems easy enough, you know?"
The last one was reserved for his new friend (she could qualify as that by this point... right?) while Ryan fished out his only twenty from his wallet and slid it into the black faux leather book the waitress had handed him.
"Thank you for this, by the way. It... really helped the mood."
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Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:00 am
"Probably, you just need good fries and good cheese," Astrid replied swiping the last fry that he'd left for her. Fingers were wiped on the remains of her napkin and she had been ready to reach and pay when Ryan beat her to it.
"It was supposed to be my treat," she said, frowning. In the end she shook her head. "I get to get it next time okay?"
Once they got their change, Astrid scooted out of the booth and slung her back over her shoulder.
They'd walk each other mostly home, splitting at the most convenient path but at least the night hadn't been a total disaster.
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