damned_institute | Day 28: Germaine Street

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Day 28: Germaine Street

Rhode didn't want to have to let go of Allen, not ever. It could be forever before she was able to be with him again! But the nurses were persistent in moving her off the big yellow thing, as was Allen for getting away from her. Even outside of the building, people were just determined to keep her from being with him! It wasn't fair!

Once off the bus and shivering just slightly from the crisp fall air, Rhode was handed a small booklet of what the nurse called "coupons". It took some explaining, but Rhode was eventually able to understand that the thin pieces of paper in the book were supposed to be used like money here. She wasn't at all accustomed to buying things for herself; that was supposed to be the Earl's job. When Rhode expressed this problem, the nurse only gave her a sad smile and patter her in the direction of the buildings.

"Why don't you go find something fun to do? There's a toy store just around the corner there. Don't worry about being alone though, we're all here to keep an eye on you. If anything happens, just come get one of us," the nurse explained, nodding to the staff members that were set to parole the town for any problems their more unruly patents could cause.

So, they were all going to be watched even though they could roam about freely? Rhode took a look back towards the yellow things but was unable to pick out Allen from the mess of patients. In a few moments, she probably wouldn't be able to find him at all or for the rest of the day. Should she just resign herself to that for now and use the small bit of freedom to her advantage? Being with Allen was important, and a lot of fun but...

She glanced down at the coupons again, smiled up at the nurse as best she could, and gave a quick, "Okay!" before running off as suggested.

A small bit of freedom was bound to make her feel better. Maybe she could use it to remind herself of how she was supposed to handle Allen Walker, an exorcist. This town did have a similar air to that of the Rewinding Town, after all.

[went here]

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"Have you been here long?" Max asked, curious. He evaded answering straight as easily as she did, which always piqued her interest about a person.

Despite the casual conversation, Max continued to scope out the street as they walked, her attention on him to any observers, but actually making a mental tally of everything she passed.

"'bout a week," Jack said. "Yourself?" He opened up the coupon book the nurses had handed out. "Oh, a facial," he commented; he rather liked the idea. It'd been a while since he'd felt at all pampered, and as an enlightened, 51st century kind of guy, he had no problem admitting that he liked some pampering now and then.

While Max watched the street, Jack kept an eye on her, and on the people more than the places they passed. He had most everything he wanted right now, but it never hurt to try to build some favors.

"About the same, just under it," she answered absently, then snickered at his comment, peering over his shoulder to see the coupons he was flipping through.

"Manicure, facial, and massage. Man, they're really pulling out all the stop. Now if there was only one in there for a drink at a pub, my life would be complete. I suppose I'll have to content myself with charming them out of the regulars instead."

"Oh yeah," Jack murmured. "Hey, I don't know, a massage could be as relaxing as a beer. If the masseuse is cute." He tucked the coupons back into his pocket. "Might be a bit early to hit the bar, though. Doesn't look like the kind of place where too many people drink their breakfasts." He grinned. He doubted that Max had meant to go to the bar so early, but it made for a good joke. "Sounds like something fun to do, though. Though you'll probably have better luck than me."

"Depends on what regulars you try and charm the drinks from," she retorted, shooting him a knowing sort of smirk. "Stick to the ones with curves. Or a man with fashion sense. I'm sure you'd have no problems there."

"And I never said there was anything wrong with a massage. Hey they're giving us free stuff, where's the downside to that?" She continued with a shrug and an impish expression. "Might as well abuse the hospitality while they're feeling generous."

Captain Jack laughed. "Place like this, I'd expect more men drinking than women, and small towns don't have too many snappy dressers. But I could get lucky, we'll see. It'll be fun either way." He'd just have to be careful, since the town really did seem small, and he recalled some ugly times in Earth's history and the things that'd happened to people like him. It was a hazard of the job, but that didn't mean he had to go looking for trouble.

He grinned. He was starting to really like Max. They seemed like two of a kind, really. So he'd have to be damn careful around her. "For certain. And I'm thinking some of the shops look interesting too, though I bet they'll be patting us down and taking any toys we get on the way home."

"Probably," she agreed ruefully. "Then again, I doubt there's anything interesting enough to be found around here that's worth risking more in-depth searches. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, however."

She cast him a curious glance out of the corner of her eye. "So. When and where are you from? If you don't mind my asking."

"Worth taking a look," he said. "You never know when you'll find something glowy and covered with buttons hiding under the drain in the men's toilet." Which was one of the first places he looked, any more. "We could get lucky. Maybe someone in the town's an alien." That would be nice, since it'd probably have some way to send a distress call, then.

"Most recently... well, recently, other than this, I was from 21st century Cardiff, in Wales." He gave her a sly grin. "I'm guessing you're a native of Earth from around the same time. You've got the right accent for it. Am I right?"

"Seattle, Washington, the year 2021," she replied easily, although she was still somewhat baffled by the majority of people who were from earth from before when she was born, and before the pulse.

"Most recently? Does that mean that changes often?" she asked in idle curiosity, finding his way of phrasing it odd. "You don't have much of a Welsh accent."

"An alien," she then mused with a rueful twist of her lips. "Well, that's one oddity I haven't run across here yet. Why not? Maybe there's also unicorns grazing over in the park."

"Nah, you wouldn't find unicorns here," Jack said. "They're methane breathers. Oxygen atmosphere's poisonous to them, poor things."

When she mentioned the year she was born, he nodded. "The 21st century's an interesting time," he said. "Everything changes." He grinned. "My home changes pretty often. Cardiff's a nice little place, but I haven't been there near long enough to go native. And I wouldn't want to. The Welsh are a little... dreary, aren't they?" He much preferred his image as a brash American, even if that wasn't entirely accurate either.

She blinked at his comment about unicorns. "What?"

"I've never actually met anyone from Wales," she admitted. "At least, not that I know of. People don't get in or out of the States much in my time anymore. Everyone I've met has been pretty much the same."

Except when they weren't, but that was usually an entirely different sort of stretching the imagination for most.

He breezed along past the idea of unicorns. He didn't like repeating himself. It made him seem much less mysterious if he actually answered questions. And that was half the fun, right there.

He nodded wisely at her comment about people not traveling outside the states. "Yeah, that's understandable," he said. He grinned. "Oh, I doubt that everyone's been the same."

"You don't think so?" Max retorted, arching an eyebrow at his flippant answer, then stopped in the street and fixed him with a narrowed gaze, hands propped on slim hips. "Do you know about the Pulse?"

"I'd almost go so far as to say I know so," Jack said. He grinned. "And yeah. June 1st, 2009. Gotta know your important dates in history."

Max stared at him in stunned surprise, caught off guard by that. "Holy shit. You're the first person I've met that actually knows what I'm talking about!"

"Aren't most the people around here from before that, anyway?" he said. "And there's that whole different dimensions or maybe just planets thing..." He grinned and gave Max a wink. "But I'm glad to give you that taste of home."

"How much do you know about it?" she asked, her gaze narrowing in curiosity, dark eyes lit with an intrigued light. She had to admit, it did feel like a huge relief to meet someone with a common knowledge of where she was from, what she knew as home. "What year are you from?"

"Just history book stuff," Captain Jack said, with a careless shrug. "Dates, a couple political implications that I don't really remember well, that kind of thing. One of the major events of the century, but there are a lot of centuries to choose from."

He gave her a conspiratorial smile. "I'm from a lot of years," he said. "I get around."

"You come from various times," she deduced, studying him with an intrigued expression, head cocked to the side like a curious puppy, her ponytail swishing behind her.

"Nothing like that exists where I'm from, only in science fiction and theory, so you must be from further ahead. Or somewhere else altogether."

She'd come across stranger things upon arriving here in Landels in the past week. At this point, if she was believing elves really existed, and she'd had breakfast with a person who didn't exist from a world that didn't exist, then why not believe in time traveling too?

Which brought up the question...

"Are there really unicorns?"

Jack grinned. He liked surprising people. "A lot further ahead," he said. "And somewhere else altogether." His grin got a little broader. "And yeah. They're from Omicron 7."

"How far ahead?" Max asked, looking even more intrigued. "The furthest person I met was my first roommate, and she was from 2260, and she was from some Earth-force Alliance or something, but she wasn't here long. I never found out what happened to her. And where's Omicron 7? Is that in outer space?"

"I've been all over the board, but I started out in the 51st century," Captain Jack said. He wasn't handing that information out to just anyone, but he rather liked Max's style. "Omicron 7's a gassy little planet near U Cygni. So yup, out in space."

"The 51st?" she echoed, her jaw dropping. "You're freaking kidding me. Does earth even exist that far in the future??"

"Oh yeah," Jack said. "The Earth keeps existing until the sun expands into a red giant and swallows it. There's just a lot of other planets to go around. And New Earth's a lot prettier than the old one."

"I think I need to sit down," Max said suddenly, feeling slightly overwhelmed. "Please tell me that doesn't happen in my lifetime? At least it wasn't some freaky comet carrying a genetic virus so the snake-people can take over the earth..."

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