Welcome to where time stands still

[the_freak]

Who:Eddie Munson, OTA
What: Playing music and games
Where: Temba, Outdoors and in the Diner
When: Early to Mid June
Warnings: TBD



Go Play Outside

The weather was nicer and drier and Eddie didn't have a creepy tail anymore, so rather than being hunched over a table in the diner he's outside in the fresh air. Sort of. It's smoke-y air. And he's in the shade. And not really doing anything super physical. But it still counts, all right?

Sitting cross legged with his acoustic on his lap, Eddie's cigarette was burned down dangerously close to his lip, forgotten as he jotted down his revisions in his note book. He cursed, taking a final draw and stubbing the thing out, dropping the notebook so he could try the new lyrics out.

Go Play Inside

D&D meanwhile wasn't easy to play outside. Papers would blow away, the ground was too uneven for dice rolls. He'd tried it. It never worked.

Players were also at an all time low, and without them it was just Eddie telling a long and complicated story to no one. So he opted to try and up interest in a way he was intimately familiar with- making an ass of himself.

He climbed up on top of his table (a little more wobblily than the ones in the cafeteria, shit), and gestured wildly at the few heroes just trying to eat in peace.

"Who among you has what it takes to be an adventurer!? The guts? The passion??...Seriously, anyone? I'm actually asking here?"

Comments

[sinistral]

"You get brought here, same as everyone else," the Soldier smoothly finished. For all the annoyances the Agrii brought, it was in some ways a fresh start. He shook his head though, a faint frown on his face as fingers stilled on the strings. "Don't waste your time trying to fall in love with me."

He felt bad enough that he couldn't return the depth of Billy's feelings, could only give a much as he had. It wasn't much at all, nowhere near what Billy deserved.

"Hmmm..." The Soldier made a thoughtful noise at the idea. He didn't really like group activities but it felt rude to back out when Eddie seemed so into it. "Who else is in your group?"

[the_freak]

Well that was...a reaction. Eddie smiles with a reassuring laugh, "I'm fucking with you. 'Sides, I'm uh...taken," he adds, rolling his eyes at his own term but not sure how else to describe it that didn't sound cheesy as hell.

Eddie lists off a few people, it's not that large a group, and no one seems to show up that consistently.

[sinistral]

"That's a relief," he replied, feeling his shoulders unknot a little. Fingers wandered over the guitar strings again, idly repeating the simple melody Eddie taught him. "I apologize. I am uncomfortable with the idea of someone flirting with me, and I wanted to head off even the possibility."

Better that Eddie had someone, then. The possibility of flirting should be absolutely zero.

The Soldier noted the names. Some he knew only casually, some had more familiarity. "I will attend, next time you have a small group. I don't like large gatherings."

[the_freak]

"I'll uh-...do my best," Eddie promised with a laugh, "I'm kind of a flirt, but I swear, none of it's serious." And he'd try to cut back if it made Soldier uncomfortable.

"I get that," he agreed, which might seem odd given how extroverted he seemed at the moment, but that shit went away fast if the gather in question was another fucking pep rally or something.

[sinistral]

"I would appreciate that." At least Eddie showed some consideration of another's discomfort. The Soldier wasn't used to that, outside of very few people he considered trustworthy. "I'll try not to take it seriously if you do."

Though he'd still probably need space to process the discomfort. But he kept that detail to himself.

"Many people don't," he found himself musing. "Parties and celebrations seem welcomed by most people in this place. I try to avoid them."

[the_freak]

"Genuinely- please tell me to fuck off if I'm being a dick or cross a line or whatever. I promise, you would not be the first person to tell me off, and it's the only way I'll learn," he teased, making light to try and keep things relaxed.

"Eh, depends on the crowd I guess. Couldn't catch me dead at most of the parties back home except to deal. Not that I was invited. But with the right company, it can be a good time."

[sinistral]

"I will try to tell you instead of just walking away. Deal?" Partly a joke, partly how the Soldier handled many of the interactions that made him uncomfortable. It was easier than trying to explain how little he really felt in relation to others, how flirting made him uncomfortable because he couldn't fathom the motivations behind it.

"Might depend on motivation too." The Soldier had been in the thick of the emergency back on the Agrii ship, because his skills were useful in a crisis. No one needed an assassin at a party, at least not in Temba.

[the_freak]

"Heh. Deal," Eddie agreed with a laugh. "And I will be nice enough not to make a Dad joke there." The joke clearly being that walking away was what his Old Man had done. Repeatedly.

"Party motivation?"

[sinistral]

"I guess we have an agreement then." Too bad not everyone was as easy to deal with as Eddie. The guy surprise the Soldier, and he still didn't know what to feel about it. But he didn't think it was bad.

"General motivation behind the gathering. Party or otherwise." And in some cases, the level of emergency that went along with the motivation.

[the_freak]

Eddie would love that in writing please. Easy to deal with~ He had a host of people back home who would disagree. But fuck home, this was home now.

"Right, yeah. Well, with me- motivation is have some fun, burn some creative juices, nothing sinister apart for some story choices, promise."

[sinistral]

The Soldier wasn't exactly the easiest person to get along with, so any opinion he held might not have that much weight.

He looked thoughtful for a long moment, mulling over the offer. "I will try this game. You can call on me."

[the_freak]

Ditto man. Ditto.

Eddie grinned. "I'll print you up a shirt," he promised, "You don't have to wear it," he added, guessing by looking at him that it wasn't really going to be his style, "Everyone gets one though."

[sinistral]

"A shirt I really will ruin," he cautioned, "unless your fabric is as strong as your guitar strings. My arm tends to destroy sleeves." It couldn't be helped; either fabric got caught against the sliding plates and tore or the friction simply wore holes through his garments. The one-sleeved look was practicality more than just showing off the metal appendage.

[the_freak]

"Dude-" Eddie gestures to his heavily modified attire and arched an eyebrow playfully. "Fuck that shit up. It's yours once I hand it off. Sounds like it's gonna look pretty metal."

[sinistral]

"I am very metal," the Soldier replied, deadpan. "Though you perhaps don't mean it as literally as I can."

Look at that: humor. Who would have thought?

[the_freak]

Eddie laughs and gives the Soldier's leg a playful shove with his foot. "Look who found his sense of humor," he congratulates, "Who knew you had it in you?"

[sinistral]

"Maybe it was a one and done thing and it's gone now." Or maybe the Soldier just kept it to himself, one of those slivers of personality that he guarded jealously lest it be taken away. He trusted very few people to be willing to relax around them.

[the_freak]

"Heh, I hope not. This guys pretty cool. But I don't mind being the funny one, you can be the broody hot one, I get it." There's another easy laugh.

[sinistral]

"You might have questionable taste in who you think is worth hanging out with." Eddie, no one wanted to be around the Soldier. It'd become clear enough in time.

[the_freak]

"Almost exclusively," he said easily, and grinned, shrugging a shoulder.

[sinistral]

The Soldier decided that Eddie was one of those people who tried to make weird his thing. Unlike some others he met, it seemed to work for the guy without being too obnoxious.

"So you came out here for your music. Do you do so often? I don't know that I've noticed you on my runs." Not that the Soldier ever took the same path all the time, but he did have some preferred routes.

[the_freak]

"Usually I'm in the Deep End. But it was hot, and kinda nice out or whatever, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Probably spend too much time indoors." Not something he really planned on changing, but he could give his body some sunlight every now and then. "And I wanted to make sure Steve didn't hear until I finished it."

[sinistral]

"It's not bad to take advantage of halfway decent weather while we have it." Hot and a little humid yes, but not completely unbearable; compared to how things on the planet could be, it wasn't bad at all. "You are hiding it from him?"

[the_freak]

"Want it to be a surprise. Sort of a gift...thing." He shrugs uncertainly. "I've never really written this kind of song before. Or written for anyone but me or my band."

[sinistral]

"I see." The Soldier understood surprises, at least on the academic level. Rarely did he feel much urge to construct them himself. Then again, he did surprise Billy from time to time. Maybe the urge in him expressed itself only in small, controlled quantities.

"Some would say that the thought matters more than the finished product. That the effort put in is its own gift."