( OPEN ) He goeth down I yelleth timber

[alofts]

WHO: LEVI and YOU
WHERE: Heropa downtown area.
WHEN: 4/02
WHAT: Acclimatizing Levi to city life is like trying to baptize a cat.
WARNINGS: Levi has no filter.

[ A. ]
[ They told him that he could fly but his feet had been firmly on the ground since then. It wasn't as if he didn't believe them; he didn't believe people could turn into Titans, or that a machine would tear him away from the confinement of the Walls until exactly those things happened. All things considered, his tolerance for the strange and previously considered impossible was higher than what first impressions would tell you. Still he never tested these wings, real or imagined, even if he had some shady government and a manilla folder telling him he could.

It was painfully obvious how his foot showed signs of pronation, or how he favored his right leg while standing in line at a downtown cafe. Measures had been taken not to aggravate his injury, and by 'measures' it was all just approaching everything with commonsense in mind. That spelled for Levi one too many boring afternoons with him meandering around.

Panicking was not really his style and there had been no way in hell Levi was going to wait out the rest of his life in an apartment he didn't like. He chose instead to concern himself with more practical pursuits: Trying to find this mystery roommate he apparently had, or finding a place that served black tea without cleaning him out because most places were as big as their prices. So far, he only managed to solve the latter issue.

At a table that hugged a back corner, Levi kept pawing at the paper tag that hung out from the plastic lid of his ('venti not grande because grande was medium, what the hell') drink. They steeped their teas in water that was too hot in mugs that were too thin to hold, so Levi had to busy himself. Whether it was jumping every time a car sped on by the window he was closest to, or shunning any local attention with words that could be freeze lava and cause nuns to faint, Levi was left to his own lonesome devices waiting out for his tea to cool. ]

[ B. ] closed to kate kane.

[ Directionless in a world he didn't understand where every sensation was new and more often than not upsetting. This record store, for example. He had no idea what it was or how exactly he even wandered in here, only that music was blasting out through its doors and out into the square without an obvious source. Levi still had no idea where that racket was coming from, but he learned quickly that if he at least looked like he knew what he was doing than clerks wouldn't bother him.

Over a standee of a man with black face paint screaming in silent, bloody murder that scared the shit out of him when he first saw it in his peripheral vision, Levi swore he saw a shock of red hair against too pale skin. Having not met many people here, he knew the list was short. Levi picked up a random CD and walked over to Kate, careful to mask his limp because he didn't like questions as much as he didn't like asking them. Only this time he had several questions, and Kate was someone he could trust to answer them. At first he didn't say anything, but instead hovered nearby, looking pitifully lost under that permanent scowl while holding a square bit of plastic that cost ten dollars for some reason. ]

Comments

A

[fronttowardenemy]

[ It was painfully difficult to just get black coffee.

Nothing flavored -- not even any milk or sugar -- just black coffee, and the people behind the counter seemed confused. Usually, Frank would just make it himself, but he was without a safe house, and considering his assigned housing was also home to the man who took his eye out... he was best keeping a distance until he was better prepared.

The clerk informed him that his drink would arrive on the opposite side of the counter, which brought him closer to where Levi sat. The clothes marked him as an imPorts first, but what really caught Frank's attention was when he jumped at a passing car: like a startled animal.

That was unmistakable. ]

Lost?

[alofts]

[ Never having been accused of being jumpy before, the spell of untoward nervousness appeared to have past. Levi's line of sight cleaved through the bustling crowd of caffeine addicts until his eyes calmly fell on Castle. Even standing up, he would have strained his neck to look this character in the eye. Behind the Walls off the top of his head Levi could maybe give you a handful of people who suffered ducking in doorways but, for whatever reason, this place was a giant factory. Coming from Levi who slew goliaths like a professional David that was saying something.

He guessed this guy was another imPort; they always spoke to Levi this casually. ]

I used to think hooves on cobblestone was a fucking racket.

[fronttowardenemy]

[ That explained a lot. From a distance, Frank could glean from the network that they'd brought in these types before: ones thrown far out of time. Given how rarely he's sit and talk with anyone, it's never something he's dealt with in depth -- though the Troll was close enough, considering how drastic those differences were.

He isn't sure he wants to be the one handling this kid's culture shock. That's a burden, and he's not the sentimental sort who will toe about it gently. Then again, by the look of the kid, he doesn't seem to be the type who wants coddling. ]

Worse things to adjust to than that. [ He forewarns, accepting his coffee as the clerk arrives to pass it over. ]

[alofts]

[ The problem with Levi was that he played everything close to the chest and kept the small (very small) number of people he trusted even closer. To say holding up a conversation that came out of the blue was difficult would be a criminal understatement. It wasn't as if he so feral that he would snap at any stranger that happened by; he even kicked the chair across from him out by a millimeter.

Just in the event that whoever this was that managed to keep a civil tongue in Levi's head didn't want to take a seat with the acne and complicated orders crowd. ]

I promise I won't piss myself if a car backfires. [ It was hard to tell when he was joking, but there was a good chance that was his making the attempt. ] Can't imagine this place being anymore horrific than it's five dollar coffee.

[fronttowardenemy]

[ Slight as the invitation was, Frank noticed and accepted it. He nudged the chair further out, and he set himself down. It wasn't like him to be social, but leaving Levi like this would linger in this mind. Something in this demeanor seemed familiar in the right ways: he looked like a fighter. ]

Could be. [ He replied, lifting his coffee to his lips. He breathed over it, not in same the overdramatic puffs other patrons around the shop do; just a more purposeful exhale. ] Depends on what you're used to.

[alofts]

[ Levi was well aware his position made him something of an oddity and as a result, a spectacle, but that was precisely why he was more receptive to other imPorts than the local population that were less obvious with their staring. Frank on the other hand seemed the type to leave well enough alone where it didn't concern him, and Levi was quietly grateful for it.

Elbow pushed up on the counter with Levi resting his chin in the open palm of his hand the muscles in his narrow shoulders, hidden in that tiny frame bulged under his Corps jacket. Levi was a fighter, and that unspoken assumption was mutual when he leveled an appraising stare Frank's way. ]

Hell on earth. [ Levi was deadpan with his answer. This place, for all the headaches it gave him was paradise by comparison. ]

[fronttowardenemy]

[ Hell on earth -- something Frank knew about.

Frank took a gulp from his cup, seeming impassive, and he found no reason to dodge the subject. ]

War?

[gevurah]

[ Kate is a little displeased to learn The 69 Eyes does not exist in this universe after combing through the aisles and asking one of the clerks. After a clueless apology and question about them being some obscure band, Kate and the other clerk begin to chat up, growing more flirtatious in both verbal and body language as time passes.

It's only as Levi hovers the clerk apologizes to Kate again and mentions she has to go back to work, worried the other customers have caught onto her being lazy on the job. Kate's a bit disappointed, but it's nothing she can't handle. She finally turns to see Levi, lowering her sunglasses and wondering how on earth a guy like him ended up in here of all places. ]

Didn't peg you for a garage rock fan.

[ Her tattoo is hidden behind a large cuff; she doesn't like to be crowded by locals fascinated by imPorts. ]

[alofts]

[ Watching the flustered store clerk slink away, the dull but distinct pangs of conscience reserved for walking in on something he shouldn't have. It wasn't like being displaced meant he was born yesterday, but it also wasn't something he felt needed to be apologized over. Kate could chase all the skirt she wanted some other time.

When Kate pulled down those bug-eyed dark glasses and motioned to the square bit of plastic in his hand, Levi imagined anyone else would have been sheepish enough to go red around the ears. He held it out to her that, despite his inability to emote, made him look like a kid handing something he shouldn't have back to their parents. Three women in enough leather to have warranted a subclause in the Geneva convention for the mass murdering of cows, all with angry expressions and mouths agape. ]

I was lost. [ That was a straightforward enough answer, but his head tipped suddenly, avoiding eye contact. His candor was still the deadpan wrapped in barbed wire, but he was so out of his element there was no point if putting up a front. ] I didn't want to ask anyone who wasn't an imPort.

[gevurah]

[ She takes the CD and scopes out the band on the cover, though it doesn't surprise her much it's another name she's unfamiliar with. Still, it's garage rock and she's got a really sad music collection she needs to fix.

It's the second time in about a week someone's approached her for any kind of help, which surprises her. Levi doesn't strike her as the kind of man who takes pride in having to ask for help, though she makes no note of it. He's displaced, like most of them, but she knows those from completely different eras or societies tend to be the most lost. ]

What are you looking for?

[ He's a lot smaller than she expected. It's a bit jarring, honestly. She's accustomed to taller, broader looking soldiers. ]

[alofts]

So what is it? [ Levi tries not to look as if he was trying to adjust his height by rolling on his heels to watch Kate's roving over CD. It was obvious to him it was something that might strike her fancy, so she must be versed on the subject. It wasn't that he was curious, per se, but he hated the idea of being ignorant of what went on around him. ]

Maybe something to give me an idea of where I was. [ He hedged, because he still didn't know what the right questions were. ] Or just because I was sick of staring at the same shitty four walls.

[gevurah]

A CD. It plays music.

[ There's a whole technical explanation behind it, but she's not getting into that unless he specifically requests it. Who really needs to learn how it functions beyond "it plays music"?

She actually hasn't picked up on his leg yet, not with both of them standing around and chatting idly. ]

There's not much to see in a music store. [ If it's not his thing and it clearly isn't. ] Not going to the job they set you up with?

[alofts]

Can you show me?

[ Comprised primarily of hot air and catty disinterest, Levi was occasionally subject to the demons of curiosity. He rationalised his leaning on his good leg to watch with rapt attention as Kate looked over the selection as it being necessary to familiarize himself with what this place deemed common knowledge. He was so in it, he almost failed to register her question.]

Until five this morning I was doing on-site training. [ He shrugged. ] Either someone in management is sympathetic to imPorts, or they're totally corrupt, which they probably are, but I was given a cash float under the table to keep me around and on my feet.

I'd of been offended if I wasn't broke.

[attractedtodarkness]

[It wasn't hard to take notice of a guy like that in the shop. Violet just needed to eye the rather conspicuous berth the other customers gave him. That and she recognized him from the video feed a while back. She didn't pay much attention to him while she waited for her drink - an ice blended latte - but she walked over to him once she got her drink]

Are you giving lessons on how to get people to leave you alone?

[alofts]

[ Levi didn't look up, but he had seen her out of the corner of his eye before she approached. The sound of her voice while nothing out of the ordinary was distinct enough that their less than pleasant conversation that came on the heels of his arrival said enough as to who she was. ]

Interested? Free of charge to fuck off.

[attractedtodarkness]

[she actually pulls up a chair to sit across from him, watching him carefully]

Kicking everyone out of the sight isn't going to help you much.

You just got here, right?

[alofts]

[ He says nothing when she takes the seat across from him; he was still looking out the window as she continues to prod him. ]

Kid, I'm not your problem.

[attractedtodarkness]

You don't look any older than me.

[alofts]

I'm thirty-four. [ Thank you for reminding him. ]

[dragony]

[ With the inevitable surge of the afternoon crowd, the coffee shop inevitably grew more crowded, with most seats being taken by suits after a day's work at the office, the gaggle of middle-school soccer players still in uniform gathered with a longing misery at the pastry case, and lousy punks with weird fashion.

Like this one. Without any form of greeting--or even asking if the seat were taken, or being saved--the chair opposite to Levi is pulled out, some stranger inviting herself to sit at his table with an overpriced thing in a cup. It doesn't even look like a liquid.

As for the girl, well. Sleeves down to the wrist is strange for the Florida heat, eye patches aren't a common fixture on teenagers, and hair that shade of green would only look natural as feathers on a tropical bird.

The device she pulls out of her purse is very clearly the same type he's familiar with--the communicator given to all imPorts on arrival--and she still doesn't offer any greeting to the man across from her. ]

[alofts]

[ Levi watches in mute horror as someone with hair that shouldn't exist and manners that were nonexistent brazenly dropped themselves too close to his person for him to even attempt to looked unfazed. ]

Hey, [ The grip on his mug tightened in spite of its heat ] who let you out of the barn you were raised in?

[dragony]

[ Hey has her looking up, while the rest raises only the one eyebrow, visible eye narrowing for a measuring look. Definitely not from Florida (or this America), judging by his dress, and the accent doesn't seem right for it, either. Rude, too, but that could be for any number of reasons. Quickly, Ruka ticks through the possibilities--her attitude, her race, her sex, her age, her appearance, her title as imPort--but a line only as short as that isn't enough to narrow it down completely.

Instead, she lets her shoulders rise in a miniscule shrug, taking hold of her drink with her free hand. ]

Don't be so stingy. [ Flat, unimpressed. ] It's the only open seat, and you're not using it.

[alofts]

[ In reality, it was none of those things. Levi had no deep seated prejudices that would apply to a single person or a particular group, not here anyway. Looking around he, much to his chagrin, confirmed that the seat she was currently occupying had previously been the only one left. ]

Suit yourself. [ Levi leaned back in his seat and took an experimental sip of his tea, finding the temperature bearable. ]

[dragony]

[ With that settled, her attention turns back her communicator, and for a short moment it honestly seems as though she is going to leave well enough alone. It's her intention, anyway; even at this early point in spring, she's not really willing to brave the heat and the sun by heading back out to some other, less crowded location.

But flicking through older posts brings up video of a familiar face, and upon recognizing it, she glances once more about her unwilling companion at the table. There really was no mistaking a face like that.

Pondering the worth of striking up an actual conversation with the guy takes some consideration, but she eventually breaks their small bubble of silence. ]

Did you ever get any useful information?

[alofts]

Enough to hit the ground running.

[ While he couldn't speak for the validity of some of the information he had been getting through some jokers and several more just wanting to argue, it wasn't all for naught. ]

Why? In the same boat?