Day 56: Main Street

[mustbethesuit]

After extricating himself from Harvey's company, Peter found himself at an utter loss for what to do. He drifted away from the park (too cold for that), munching on his breakfast muffin and searching out some place where $15 might be useful. The coupon pack was about as helpful as it had ever been. He wandered past Pearl's Prettification Parlour,

Comments

[moarnomsplz]

If Ax had doubted that his sense of time had become seriously screwy, as Marco might have said, all uncertainty was gone when he woke up. He did not have any idea at all how long had passed between the previous evening and now, and had to make a guess, just like a human would, from how light it had become. His guess that it was, in fact, morning, was proved correct when a human entered the room, dropped what appeared to be some clothings on the bed, and told Ax to get dressed.

Ax did not have much experience differentiating one sort of artificial skins from another, but he definitely saw a difference in the ones the human had ordered him to put on today and the ones he had been made to wear yesterday. These leg coverings were blue, and rougher, like the ones his friends at home wore, and the torso covering was much too large, made of some brown, woven material, with what appeared to be Earth animals on it. It was very strange, and he did not think Rachel would call it a classic look, but it was all easier to put on than the other

[moarnomsplz]

Now that all the foods were gone, he looked at the other things he had received, frowning curiously at the card that was supposed to represent this 'allowance.' It did not look like the human money he had seen. Instead, it was a small piece of plastic, with a picture of him in his human form on it. When had that picture been taken? It was troubling. Ax shook the card, but it did not do anything. He would have to ask someone more familiar with human money how it could be used. The 'coupons' were more self-explanatory, and Ax's human mouth began to produce water at the very idea that a piece of paper would enable him to obtain a tasty burger. Despite the cold and the snow, the upsetting lack of the food he would most have preferred, and the humans still keeping watch on them, he was pleased with this trip so far.

[free!]

[mirthfulness]

The large vehicle spat them out in a park before Gamzee had completely finished his meal and he was led away from the nice human he'd been speaking with. Though he was told to find someone to go off and check out the town with (apparently his card had a little money on it) he had no idea who to go about bothering

[moarnomsplz]

Ax stopped walking when he heard someone speaking. It still took all of his concentration to turn his human head in the direction of the mouth sounds he'd heard. He carefully repositioned his feet in their artificial hooves, so that he could get a better look at the young human male who had approached him. All his concerns about having only two legs had returned, and he did not see how humans managed to navigate snow without falling over. It was slippery.

"I am not called 'Bro,' brr-oh," he said, in some confusion. It was true that a stranger would have no way of knowing his name, but assigning a form of address to someone with whom you were unfamiliar seemed odd. "Have you mistaken, miss-tay-ken me for someone else?"

There was, however, another question, a more pressing one, and Ax indicated the bag the boy was carrying with a nod (he was getting quite good at these human gestures). "Are you going-ing to eat that?" He was sure he had not begun to approach the capacity of his human stomach.

[mirthfulness]

"Everyone's all bein' called bro by me, bro." Gamzee gave the boy a goofy, sharp-toothed grin. "But if it don't get your glad on, I can call you somethin' else." Like his actual name, once he got that. Perhaps he should ask for it? Except that now the other patient was asking about something else and the troll looked to the crumpled bag in his hands. There was nothing left to be eaten in it, but he handed it over anyway just to that would be obvious.

"I already done ate what there was to be et. Were they not all feedin' a motherfucker properly?" He could understand someone with a bigger appetite than most. If those papers were really coupons then he wouldn't have any problem sharing his. He also had the money on his card, for whatever that was worth.

The way the boy talked didn't bother or even confuse him. Gamzee was used to being surrounded by trolls with odd speaking an typing quirks.

[moarnomsplz]

Ax wasted no time in taking and eating the bag, which was as delicious as the one he had been given. The time this took also gave him an opportunity to attempt to decipher the young human's speech, which was unlike any Ax had heard before

[mirthfulness]

Gamzee just sort of stared as the other boy ate the bag. His thought process was less along the lines of 'wow that's strange, why is he eating the bag?' and more along the lines of 'shit, you can eat that too?' He might have gone and eaten it himself had he known, but he was glad to be able to help feed someone who was obviously hungrier than he was

[moarnomsplz]

"The white substance, stan-suh, is called snow," Ax said, helpfully. It did not snow very often on his homeworld, and he had never seen any up close on Earth, although he knew from his reading that the snowiest place in the United States was in Washington. He did not think it would be unusual if a human had not encountered it before, and there was always the chance that his companion only appeared to be from Earth.

He was momentarily disconcerted by a pang in his hearts--no, his heart--when the young human called him 'brother.' No, my brother is dead. Ax had not had much time to reflect upon this, and he did not wish to now

[mirthfulness]

Even though Gamzee knew what snow was, he let the other boy explain and nodded his head sagely as he did. Ax, and that was possibly one of the coolest names ever, had a cute way of speaking that was generally just fun to listen to, so why interrupt him? He'd accept the lesson even if he didn't need it, because his new companion seemed like such a great guy.

"Then you can be callin' me Gamzee." Attired in his glad. He needed to remember that one. That was such a great way of putting it. It was doubtful he actually would remember, but he could always mark it away somewhere in the old think pan and hope it didn't get erased over time. "And I think we can for motherfuckin' sure be gettin' you more food-zuh. Hold on up. I got a food-zuh coupon too

[moarnomsplz]

"Gamzee." Ax grinned, delighted. "Gam, Gam-zee, zee." That was a wonderful name to say! It did not sound like a human name, and Gamzee was also displaying some of the signs of being unused to having mouthparts. Ax wondered what the significance of the 'honk' sound was. Perhaps it was a custom of Gamzee's people, or meant something in his language. Despite his expertise in human culture, he had not heard of a horn store, which seemed to further support the theory that Gamzee had not started out in a human body. "Am I correct, rect, in thinking that you are not orij, originally from Earth? I am not either, ee-ther

[mirthfulness]

There was no way Gamzee couldn't give a bit of a laugh at the way Ax said his name. He would totally respond to Gam-Gam Zee-Zee, if that was the way he wanted to do it. It was close enough. The following question surprised him, though. Man, everyone was just throwing surprises at him left and right. It was completely blowing his mind, not that this was a difficult thing to do.

"Whooooa. How'd you all go about figurin' that shit out?" Ax was graced with the most stunned look the troll ever managed. "Yeah, bro. I'm all about bein' from Alternia. Usually I got me some motherfuckin' horns on my head, but the all up vanished. You all with bein' turned into a star monkey too? Shit, we could be surrounded by motherfuckers who were all not bein' pink before now. Miracles, my brother."

Oh, but he still needed to get this guy to the promised restaurant. He took him by the hand and tugged him toward what he believed to be the appropriate sign nearby. They could always talk more on the way.

[moarnomsplz]

"Alternia? Then you are from the same world as Tavros, Tav-ro-suh! He is my room, room-mate." Ax felt that the smile on his human mouth became wider, quite spontaneously, and while he was pleased that such gestures were coming more naturally to him, it was also a concern. He had not yet lost hope that he would regain his own body. It would not do to become too accustomed to a human one

[mirthfulness]

"Tavbro is here?" Now that was good news. Great news, even. If Tavros was there, then the others might be around too. He'd like to be able to interact with his friends in this environment rather than being left to figure things out among strangers. Though all these strangers had seemed pretty chill so far, so it wasn't as if he was suffering in any way. And did he have a roommate? He'd have to ask later if he remember, since he certainly hadn't seen one before