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 Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2023 7:16 am
“Give it back you piece of s**t,” Quinn growled as he lunged for the small rodent that snatched the-- he didn’t know what it was, but someone else had been eating it and discarded it, so he could only assume it was food.
And with the rodent wanting to steal it for itself, it was clearly at least edible by the scavenger population.
“I’ll ******** eat you too, I ******** swear I will--”
He was starving. He hadn’t eaten in… who knew how long. It felt like maybe days that he’d been in stasis, but he had a sinking feeling that it was much, much longer.
Since leaving his world, he’d been on this world a total of three nights. His first night he’d encountered that Negaverse Captain. After that, he was just trying to survive the cold and pick up the little bits of things he could eat from the trash. He didn’t dare approach one of the locals. He didn’t know anything about them. Couldn’t trust them.
So he was on his own. And not at all dressed for the weather. He had the tattered blanket around his shoulders, but he was wearing a now dirty short sleeved blouse and shorts with sandals. Clearly clothing for a beach and not a frozen hellscape. Or nearly frozen, as this place was.
He’d skinned his elbows and knees in his attempt to catch the creature with the meat wrapped in bread. Had streaks down his dirty face from crying at night when he had nothing to keep him company but his thoughts. His hair was unkempt and unwashed and felt like it was just collecting dirt and leaves from hiding from the elements in that bush.
The creature made a break for it, running towards the opening in the park, towards the place where all the people were, and their strange machines, and their loud noises.
But Quinn was certain that if he didn’t eat something, he might as well just give up entirely.
Which was why he ran after the hotdog stealing rat, right into the busy street.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 10:06 am
”Woah, dude, what do you think you’re doing?”
Jack grabbed the small figure by the back of his tattered blanket and thin clothing and yanked him back out of the street, setting him carefully onto the sidewalk bordering the park. Just in time, too; a pickup came zipping past seconds laters, blaring its horn at them as if the driver weren’t at fault for going at least twenty over. They were sprayed with slush for their troubles — a sharp wave of cold that Jack could tolerate better in his jeans and winter coat.
Roxy barked at the speeding pickup and pulled at her leash, but Jack — juggling both the leash and a paper bag full of fresh bagels — shushed her and kept her from darting after the pickup of certain death.
“You okay?” Jack asked the dirty stranger.
He was just a kid. Well, not a kid kind of kid. An early twenties kind of kid. College aged. Someone who should be studying and going to parties and enjoying life, definitely not throwing themselves into traffic. By the state of him, Jack assumed the kid was homeless. Houseless? He wasn’t totally sure which was correct in this case — or any case, really. Regardless, the kid had clearly spent some time out in the elements.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 10:52 am
Quinn let out an undignified squawk and yelp as he was hauled back to the side of the road, and he had to watch in horror as the food he’d been chasing went down a storm drain. Which was about as upsetting as the slush that covered the both of them.
“Let go,” he hissed, staring at the man with wide, terrified eyes and jerking himself away from the beast of an animal the man kept for protection. Quinn stumbled backwards, away from the loud creature, slipping in the slush and landing on his already bruised and bared knees.
The noise was overwhelming. The… machines flying down the path were clearly dangerous, if he was being pulled out of the way, and they were making those horrible noises like angry birds. Although it was not like any bird Quinn had ever heard.
He put his hands over his ears as he shivered. He could barely feel them or his fingers, but it didn’t matter. The food he’d been desperate for was gone and who knew what this man would want from him as payment for keeping him from being run over.
“Thank you,” he growled through gritted teeth, unable to not glare at the man from his spot on the ground. If he wasn’t glaring, he would likely be crying, so glaring would have to do. Maybe he’d be considered a lost cause like everyone else who’d seen him, and would leave him be.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 12:38 pm
Jack let go as directed, which resulted in a much harder fall for the poor kid than he would’ve had if Jack hadn’t let go, but Jack wasn’t about to have people staring and thinking he was some sort of creep. He didn’t want the kid thinking he didn’t respect his boundaries either.
“Sorry,” he apologized, offering the kid a hand to help him back up if he’d like.
Roxy shuffled around excitedly. Now that the pickup of death had zoomed out of sight, she seemed much more interested in a potential new friend. Roxy gave the kid a sniff and didn’t seem offended by however long he’d gone without bathing, moving in for the pets and snuggles she thought was her due.
“Roxy, stop. Sit,” Jack told her, urging her back a bit.
She hesitated for a moment, seemed to consider the merits of disobeying, but ultimately sat and waited for the attention to come to her.
“Sorry about that,” Jack apologized again. “She doesn’t mean any harm. Are you okay? Uhh… do you need me to call someone, or… something?”
What was the appropriate thing to do in this situation? Would he offend the kid by offering to help him get to a homeless shelter? Should he ask about the whole jumping-in-front-of-a-speeding-pickup thing, or would that be insensitive?
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 2:22 pm
He flinched and pushed himself backwards along the slushy ground when the animal came bounding up to him, but the man was able to command her and soon the animal he called Roxy settled.
Quinn looked from the animal to the man again, not sure what to say. Not sure what to do. He ached. He was hungry, he was freezing. He was lost in a world that wasn’t his own, with people he couldn’t trust and things he didn’t know. He missed his warm waters, the sun soaked sand.
Another truck came zooming by, sending another wave of slush from the gutter. Quinn only flinched away enough to protect himself mostly with the blanket. But now that was soaked.
He pushed himself up, frowning at the man’s question. Call someone? He didn’t know what that meant. But he was clearly not safe where these vehicles were rushing back and forth. Thankfully, they seemed to have a relatively designated path.
Quinn shook his head and lowered his hands from his ears to rub them together. There was something he could smell from whatever the man was holding. It didn’t smell rotting. His glare eased a little with curiosity, but he knew better than to trust someone he didn’t know.
Was he supposed to just leave now? Was that rude? Did he care if he was being rude? Not really, but the man had pulled him away from being run over. And he also had an animal with sharp teeth that he could have attack him if he did do anything he didn’t want him to.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 6:45 pm
Roxy was harmless. Her tail wagged a bit. She gave the stranger a friendly dog grin. She shifted like she was about to approach again, but her training held and she stayed where she was.
So the guy didn’t want to talk. That was fine. Jack probably wouldn’t want to talk if he was out in the cold with no food or shelter either.
Well, that wasn’t true. Jack liked to talk. He didn’t think being homeless — houseless? — would change that.
There was at least one thing he could do for the stranger. Jack held out the bag of bagels in offering.
“Here. If you’re hungry. It’s just half a dozen, but there’re a few different kinds, and some cream cheese in there, too. Uhh… look, I don’t know if I’m overstepping, but I think there’s a shelter a few blocks from here if you need a place to stay. Unless you’ve already tried it, or… have some other reason for being out here. Sorry, I don’t know your situation. Take the bagels, at least. I’m sorry you fell. I was just trying to help.”
He smiled, because that’s what Jack did. Even if things were awkward. Even if he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do. Maybe he should offer the kid some cash? But what if he just used it for drugs or something? He didn’t look like he was high or anything, but he did just run out into a busy street.
“And, uhh…” Shuffling things around in his hands, Jack shrugged off his winter coat. He handed that to the kid, too. “Here. It’s down-filled, so it should help warm you up. Don’t worry about me, I live close by and I’ve got others.”
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 8:55 pm
“What is it?” Quinn scowled suspiciously at the bag of nice smelling things that was being handed to him. It looked like bread of some kind, but they were in strange circle shapes. He knew what cheese was, and cream, but he didn’t know what it was when they were put together.
Oh, maybe he should have waited for the man to continue talking. They were called bagels, but… that still didn’t really answer what they were.
Cautiously, Quinn pushed himself back onto wobbly legs. His head was spinning from hunger and exhaustion, too cold to actually get some rest. And it didn’t seem as though the animal was going to attack him. Yet.
It was kind of goofy looking. And seemed well behaved, at least. Even if she was half his size.
He reached out to take the bag of bagels, even if he was still suspicious of the man’s motives. He became even more suspicious when he took off his jacket to hand to him.
“What do you want?” he asked, although there was no accusation in his voice, just resignation. “I don’t have anything to trade.” At least not in terms of possessions. Quinn shifted on his feet, which he could barely feel, but he was so desperate that he decided he didn’t care, and he pulled the jacket on. He would just have to suffer through whatever the man wanted from him.
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:18 am
“I don’t want anything,” Jack said, “except to help.”
There was only so much he could do. The kid had to want help, and then accept it. Jack didn’t know if he would. He seemed suspicious and hostile. Defensive, maybe, like he expected to be mugged or otherwise attacked, like he didn’t trust anyone or anything.
Jack couldn’t really blame him, even if that lack of trust wasn’t something they shared.
“Don’t worry about it,” he continued. “Think of it as a gift. Just… be careful, yeah? It’s dangerous around here.”
If it wasn’t speeding cars, it was hateful people. If it wasn’t hateful people, it was actual monsters. Jack wished there wasn’t a reason for anyone to have to live on the streets, but he knew there wasn’t anything he could do to solve that. Not on his own, anyway.
“Come on, Roxy,” he said, giving her head a pat for her obedience.
She bounded up, ready to go. She gave the stranger another sniff, seemed to like what she sensed from him. She wanted to move in, wanted the stranger to offer his attention, but Jack held her back, kept her out of the kid’s space. Jack guided her along, past the stranger, offering another smile as they went.
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2023 7:00 am
He didn’t believe him. Quinn’s eyes narrowed, suspicious still, waiting for the man to tell him ‘actually’.
But that never came.
He wanted to help? Wanted to give clothing and food as a gift?
Quinn’s stomach made an unpleasant noise, but he didn’t take one of the bagels out to eat yet. He was still waiting for… he didn’t know.
But the man was taking his Roxy, after Quinn took another step back from the animal when she sniffed him, and leaving.
For a few moments, Quinn stood there and watched them. Then he reached into the bag to pull out a bagel, took a sniff, then a bite, and made his way back to the park to hide.
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