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Post by ℜust ℜed ℜose on Oct 17, 2016 13:15:13 GMT -5
Sofia smiled when he carried her over to the back, but it faded as she caught sight of her own reflection in the window. She looked down at the maps, feeling rather childish. Being cradled in Shane’s arms, needing help getting around; it was quite demeaning, really. She needed some crutches, or something. She wiggled her toes just to test that her legs worked, looking through the maps with a business woman like dignity, chin raised slightly and eyes narrowed. She looked silly, but it was better than being a helpless little girl. She only took a quick look at her selection, thumbing through a few of the larger, glossy covered, fancier looking maps. She leafed through the pages (some of these were a few chapters short of a novel). She was about to go with a nice one, but realized she didn't have the money to pay for it, nor any of the other particularly nice ones. Sighing at herself, she set the travel guide map back down and settled on a smaller one. The smaller one was alright; it didn’t point out any of cheap places to go for dinner, nor any of the best motels, but it was a nice outline of the streets and important buildings, like the bank she thought was about five blocks down from here. It was hard to tell.
She looked at Shane when she was done, smiling when he spoke. “Vhat kind of food?” she asked him quietly. Surely they could pick out a few small, cheap snacks from right here? ‘After this’ implied they were going somewhere. He didn’t know this place that much better than she did, surely. Was she going to have to memorize this place? What if she ran into somebody she didn’t know she knew? She lived here, after all! That was bound to be awkward. Not remembering names, possibly even of family? Wow. That was bad.
Setting her selected travel guide in her lap, Sofia gestured for Shane to walk towards the small snack section near the front. She was about to speak, but then realized he wasn’t exactly paying attention. His mind was elsewhere; probably on something important, too. She didn’t really want to bother him, and interrupting important thinking was rude, and she’d probably regret it. Even then, being in his arms made it difficult to get anything done, considering she wasn’t going anywhere without him. Squirming a little to get his attention, the young woman pointed back towards the power bars by the counter. “Vee get somezink vith protein?" she suggested, looking up at him hopefully.
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Post by 🍁Searipple101🍁 on Oct 17, 2016 14:44:23 GMT -5
It took a moment, but Shane's mind snapped back to reality, and he looked down at her as if confused for a moment as to what was going on. He remembered and mentally kicked himself for going into a daze like that. What if something happened? "Sorry," he said with a quiet tone and carried her over to the power bars, having grabbed a few hints of whats she had been saying while spaced out. Funny how being hungry could lead one into such a trance, at least, when that someone hadn't been human for so many years.
In a way, he kind of wanted to talk about it with Sofia, his life as a human so long ago - what he could remember of it anyway. He'd watched her life but had never once been able to speak to her, except a few whispered things in her ear to decide right from wrong for her. Now, he realized, he could talk to her about anything he wanted, anytime. Perhaps when they had a place to stay he would tell her what he knew, what he experienced. Maybe, by any bit of luck, it would even help her recall aspects of her life, too. At the very least, it'd make him feel better in some ways.
He browsed the small rows of food bars while Sofia decided on what to get, his stomach growling again. "I don't have a preference," he stated simply. really, any food would do. It's not like he knew what tastes he'd enjoy anyway. All these new, modern foods and flavors were bound to be nothing like what he knew from his past life. In fact, he didn't remember what foods he liked back then anyway, when he tried to think about it. Being human again gave him a lot of new things to experience.
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Post by ℜust ℜed ℜose on Oct 17, 2016 16:02:33 GMT -5
He walked her over there, and she started reading labels. It was a little difficult from her position, but she managed. He didn't have his hands free, anyway, so she'd have to grab something. For a quick second, Sofia considered something other than power bars, like a bag of chips, but reminded herself that they needed something that wasn’t going to leave them feeling too hungry. Chips only went so far, anyway.
With her head so close to him, she could hear the quiet growling of his stomach. It only served to remind her how hungry she felt, too, and she frowned. Biting her lip absentmindedly when she realized he was speaking, she nodded. At the moment, she didn’t have much of a preference either. She remembered certain tastes, what they were like, but not if she liked them. She could remember sharp, cool tastes, like mint, but she couldn’t tell for the life of her if mint was good tasting. It was weird and green looking, so it might be best to avoid that. She couldn’t even think about anything relating to herself without hurting her head. Sighing, the young woman went to grab a peanut butter bar, but it crossed her mind that one of them could be allergic. While a normal person might have just grabbed the first thing they saw that they knew they liked, she had to be more careful. Eating something risky might not go well. They needed something that couldn’t possibly leave them with some sort of reaction. She reached for some gluten free kind that described itself as a ‘fruit bar,’ but hesitated. Out of cares to give, grabbed four more of those. Couldn’t hurt to have an extra. Well, maybe, if one thought about it from a different perspective. Spending too much would hurt their money. They didn’t have a lot, after all. She noted the price for all of them. Ten euros for five. That wasn’t bad at all. It was one of the cheapest brands on the shelf, too. Seitenbacher. She’d have to remember that. Just in case.
She shifted over to show Shane the fistful of power bars. “You like zese ones, yes?” she asked, hoping he understood what she was doing. Even if he had no preference, she really did want his thoughts. But she didn’t want to ask him in a way that seemed too weird. There was still the old shop keeper looking right at them, after all. They had a small sort of role to play; they couldn’t just be clueless. She raised an eyebrow, knowing the man behind the counter couldn’t see her face anymore.
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Post by 🍁Searipple101🍁 on Oct 17, 2016 17:33:07 GMT -5
His eyes dropped down to the bars in her hand, and he gave a simple nod in response, along with, "That's fine." He hadn't even thought about being allergic to anything, so that was good of Sofia to pick up on that possibility. He didn't even know if he was allergic to anything in this day and age. These bars should do fine, though. He just wanted to pay for them and get out of there to find a place to rest for the night, one much safer than their old house previously.
He carried her to the counter and set her down against it so she could much more easily dig for her wallet from her pockets, instead of trying to fiddle while he held her. It was more of an inconvenience that way really. He also took the bars from her and set them on the counter for the guy to get the right total. All the while, Shane had a rather blank look on his face, staring almost through the old man now. It's not like he was trying to make the wrinkled guy wet his pants, no. It's just simply how Shane went about things sometimes, not letting on his emotions or thoughts. All that was felt right now was hunger, anyway, so not much emotion to show in the first place.
Of course, in natural response, the clerk looked fearfully at the tall, oddly dressed figure before him. They had a quiet stare down for a moment before he looked down hesitantly at the bars and shakily let out, "Ten euros." He leaned over the counter slightly, still keeping a watchful eye on Shane, to peer over it at Sofia who now leaned against the other side. it was more out of fearful curiosity as to why she was down there and Shane was just standing there, watching him. Tonight may be the night he retired...
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Post by ℜust ℜed ℜose on Oct 18, 2016 13:14:23 GMT -5
“Great,” Sofia said, and meant it. It wasn’t sarcastic and it wasn't said with rolled eyes. For once something was going well, or at least it seemed to be, for the time being. Not bothering to protest when Shane set her back down (she couldn’t be carried forever; she imagined she’d be getting heavy eventually) she prepared herself to fall over. She didn’t, which was wonderful, though she wobbled a little. Grasping at the counter with one arm so that she wouldn’t crumble to the floor. if her knees buckled under her, she tested her balance. Her legs were moving alright, standing on them would be the issue. It was if she’d forgotten how to walk (which, if she had, would be pretty damn unfortunate). Managing to stay upright by some crazy magic, she dug the wallet out of her back pocket with her free arm.
She was rather awkward, slumped up against the counter and twisted backward. She set the wallet down on the counter to better see it in the light, ignoring the dubious look of the clerk. Checking the leather pockets quickly in hopes that more money would magically fall out of it (and man, though she wasn’t expecting anything, it still was quite the let down). Giving the clerk the fakest, most cheerful smile she could manage, the woman set the bill down beside the power bars.
“Thank you,” she told him in German, really hoping he didn’t call the police on the strange blood covered individuals who came back from a robbery to buy power bars. She would have liked to think he would forget, but no matter how old you were, it was certainly a difficult thing to not remember.
The clerk shook his head as he tucked the money in the register. He seemed confused more than anything, as if he thought he was dreaming. “You have a good day, now,” he told them in German, like they hadn’t just gotten robbed. And, well, to be fair, they hadn’t (Sofia didn't think so, anyway; she couldn’t remember the events before being stabbed and shot, and Shane didn’t want to talk about it.) At least they had food now; she couldn’t wait to eat, and she imagined Shane was just as eager as she was.
"You too!" she told him happily, and went to walk away, thus nearly falling on her face. The young woman caught herself on the counter, thank goodness. "Oops," she said innocently. "My bad."
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Post by 🍁Searipple101🍁 on Oct 18, 2016 17:08:23 GMT -5
As he had been doing, Shane stood quietly while the transaction happened, his mind wandering a bit, but when Sofia almost fell he instinctively reached out his arms to grab her but stopped when she caught herself. His hands were so close to her, and he instead put his arm around her waist. "Perhaps I can steady you, if it doesn't hurt too much to walk," he suggested. He figured that by now she was a bit sick of being carried around like a small child. Plus, his arms could use a small break. He was strong, but not that strong.
He helped her out of the door then glanced up and down the street, standing under the bright lights of the gas station. "Anything good on the map? Motels or anything?" he asked. He knew for sure that reading this modern day maps would prove to be quite problematic on his part, so he wouldn't eve attempt it and let Sofia handle everything in that department.
sorry for the shorter post, doing some paperwork stuff)
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Post by ℜust ℜed ℜose on Oct 19, 2016 13:20:48 GMT -5
Sofia saw him move to help her, and said a silent thank you. Even if she didn’t fall, it was nice knowin he was there. She didn’t like the sound of his suggestion, but she was more than willing to try. Of course, she really did want to handle herself, but she didn’t think it would go to well. There was still a horrible, dull sort of ache lingering in her gut (and in the chest as well, mind you. Bullets were not fun.) At first it was shaky steps, slow progress out the door, but it begun to move from the slow, exaggerated steps (she almost looked as if she was in a spy movie, stepping over trip wires and balancing over priceless, laser guarded artifacts. Glad to have Shane’s support right at her side, they managed to make it outside. She wiggled her toes triumphantly, but didn’t dare move much more than that. She was never going to take walking for granted again, that was for sure.
She opened the map she’d picked and looked for a page with something like that. There was a few touristy spots it pointed out, but nothing like motels or convenience stores. “No,” she admitted sheepishly. “Zee ozer ones vere too expensife.” Sofia paused, then glanced at the shop they had left behind. She thought she could see the clerk still staring at them. They could have asked him for a place to stay. There was a loud ringing of a clock that nearly made her fall over. The bell only rang twice. It was very, very early. Earlier than she had realized. They certainly looked crazy, out this late.
"Vee say zat our keys vere stolen,” she offered finally, not letting herself be defeated just yet. Her stomach grumbled a little, so she pulled out a power bar and broke it in half, giving one half to Shane and one to herself. She would have liked more, but they needed to save money, as well as food. “Like, to house or hotel or somezink,” she continued. “And zen ask vhere good motel is?”
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Post by 🍁Searipple101🍁 on Oct 19, 2016 13:42:49 GMT -5
Shane wouldn't have admitted it out loud because even he knew how stupid it would sound, but he was proud of Sofia for making it out the door on her own legs. The thing was, watching her grow up, he knew how stubborn she could be sometimes, and how amazing she was. He was positive it had to hurt right now, having been shot and stabbed, but she was still toughing it out and trying to not be a burden. He did have to always admire her for that.
Upon being offered the half of the power bar, he took it and swiftly shoved it in is mouth, hogging the whole thing down quickly and in one bite like a complete animal. So, table manners weren't his best trait right now. He didn't know much better, and he was starving. Of course, this earned more dubious looks form the store clerk, but it wasn't like it was any stranger than everything else he had witnessed in the past ten minutes. Either way, Shane was grateful to have something in his belly, even if it was something so little and unfilling. Heck, it wouldn't even do so much as to satisfy the rubling of his stomach, but at least it was something. And, it felt kind of good to be able to eat again.
"Keys to a hotel sounds better, since you said stuff about this being a vacation," he said after swallowing his share of the power bar. "Motels are cheaper too anyway, aren't they?" He'd observed some things like that, but he did want to be sure. He also wanted this whole crazy story to make enough sense that the clerk didn't call the police. Shane was well aware how bad that could end up for them if the police arrived.
Being careful, he turned her around and walked back inside the store, this time having much easier success of opening the door. He didn't even take her to the counter, just stood right inside the door - the counter was only a couple yards from the door anyway - and spoke. "Where is the nearest motel? We lost our keys to the hotel we were staying at when we got robbed." Surprisingly, he spoke this tot he clerk in perfect German, not a word or syllable out of place.
Shakily, whether from old age or continuing fear of these two, he held up a hand and pointed to the isles of the store. "Up the road that way, not far, only a few minutes walk. You'll see the glowing sign," answered the man, really just hoping they would leave so he didn't have to get further mixed up in whatever was happening with these two weirdos. With only a nod of thanks, Shane led Sofia out of the store again and started up the road.
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Post by ℜust ℜed ℜose on Oct 19, 2016 15:41:19 GMT -5
She ate her power bar only slightly slower than he did, completely understanding where he was coming from as she did so. It wasn’t the most flavourful and wonderful thing, but she was eager to have a taste other than blood in her mouth. She didn’t know what more they would do after tonight. Sure, they might find a motel to stay, but what of the other money? She didn't want to think about that. She needed a job. Something to make money. She played with her chain of her necklace absentmindedly, listening to Shane. He had a point. It made more sense to say that. Sticking with one story was going to get them caught in less knots along the way. Of course, she was more than willing to change it to what best suited their needs. Whatever was more convincing would do.
She let Shane walk back to the store, nearly falling over twice, but managing. Just barely. It would get better. It would get easier. It had to. If it didn’t… Well, thinking about that wasn’t what she wanted to be doing. Of course, if everything went how she wanted, she wouldn’t have to wish for that. She wouldn’t have gotten stabbed if the world went how she so pleased. But it didn’t. She’d have to deal with that.
They stopped inside the store. She went to open her mouth, but shane did it for her. She had expected his accent to butcher it, but nothing. She supposed it was an angel thing, just something he remembered. She would have thought he would forget all that, or that it wouldn’t work that way, but here they were. ‘A few minutes walk’ threatened to turn her solemn, ‘I was just robbed’ face into a huge grin. A few minutes couldn’t have been more than a few hours with her in a state like this. With luck they’d make it there by four. “You are too kind,” she called back to him as Shane helped her out the door. Hopefully he wouldn’t report the two blood covered weirdos parading around town. Sofia didn’t want to have to run from police right now (though they had yet to do something wrong). Hell, she could hardly even walk right now. Running was a whole other thing she didn’t even want to get into.
The young woman let him lead her down the street, trying to walk fast but ultimately giving up as she nearly tripped and fell. “Graceful like svan,” she muttered bitterly to herself.
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Post by 🍁Searipple101🍁 on Oct 19, 2016 16:15:14 GMT -5
"It's not your fault," Shane told her, being there to support her each time she almost fell. "I know you don't like being so handicapped like this, but there's nothing you can do." His voice dropped to a utter then as he mostly talked to himself. "And I did all I could, but it still wasn't enough." He really did feel bad for not being able to fully heal her, only enough that she stayed alive. It hurt him in many ways to see her in pain, to know she was struggling. It hurt all angels to watch the humans they protected go through such things. It just hurt him worse.
He carried on in silence, trying to take his mind off of feeling bad by glancing around in the darkness and at street lamps where they illuminated the sidewalks and streets around them. A few people were about here and there, homeless or drunk most likely. He occupied his mind by keeping an eye and ear on those people, but for the most part, other than a few weird looks, everyone kept to themselves. This was to Shane's liking. He didn't know how well he could fight out on the street. In a building was one thing, when Sofia had walls around her, but out here, in the open, threats could come from pretty much all angels. Without noticing too much, he sped up slightly in pace, but he made sure to keep a good hold on Sofia so she didn't fall over or anything. Up ahead, down a large hill they were descending, the sign for a motel shone brightly, but it was still quite a distance away for them.
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Post by ℜust ℜed ℜose on Oct 21, 2016 15:52:50 GMT -5
‘It’s not your fault’ sounded an awful lot like what you’d someone whose fault it was. To comfort them maybe. ‘It’s not your fault’ was a lie, really, to mend the sour thoughts. It never helped. If someone saw the need to tell you something wasn’t your fault, you were clearly partly to blame. At least, in their eyes. But Sofia knew it wasn’t her fault. She hadn’t asked to be stabbed, to be shot. She hadn’t asked to be unable to walk. It had happened, so no, it wasn’t her fault. She supposed she couldn’t apply such logic and reason to what Shane said; he wasn’t exactly normal. He didn’t understand quite how people had changed, nor did he get how to be social. She understood that. If she had to talk with people after… (oh dear, how long had he been an angel? How old was he?) ...after a long while, she decided, she would probably have trouble talking like other people again, too. But she wasn’t. Which is why she called him not normal. He wasn’t. He was seven feet tall, for goodness’ sake.
There was something about the way he held on to her that was comforting. Walking down the streets, passing strange souls, she could tell he was ready act. He was tense, protective. It was nice to feel safe. If she had to walk down these streets at this hour, all by herself…? Well, she probably would be scared senseless. But not with Shane here. Human or not, he felt like a guardian angel anyway.
It was after a while she realized he was walking faster. She had to take bigger steps to keep up with his. She stumbled a little bit more often, wondering why they had picked up the pace. Maybe he was worried. She understood that he was human now; protecting her was going to be more difficult. Sofia was careful as they went down the hill, not wanting to trip, and certainly not wanting to go rolling down the hill. That would hurt. Not as much as being shot or stabbed, but that on top of everything would just… suck was the only word she had for it. Falling right now would suck. But she wouldn’t fall. She had Shane right here, ready to catch her. The glowing motel sign appeared further down the hill.
“I see it,” she murmured, in case he had not yet noticed it. It was still fairly far, which was rather discouraging, but at least they knew it was real now.
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Post by 🍁Searipple101🍁 on Oct 21, 2016 21:32:46 GMT -5
"I see it," Shane said in response, but his eyes were looking elsewhere. A drunk man was stumbling down the hill at their pace, but he was thankfully on the opposite side of the street.Still, his mere presence set Shane on edge and into maximum protection mode. The only thing worse than a human was a human with obstructed thinking. He was elated with joy inside when they reached the motel doors after several more minutes of shambling down the hill and the other man simply kept on going.
Never had he thought a motel, a cheap ad usually worn out building, would bring him such happiness to be in. It felt safer already, being enclosed by walls from which stopped people from sneaking up on them. Every second, thoughts of possible threat raced through his mind. Even if he was human now, his brain had been programmed to think this way, to find every possible danger and keep Sofia, or any human he had ever guarded, out of harms way, as much as needed. Being human simply did not erase what had been carved into his mind like hieroglyphs on a stone wall. The instinct would be there forever. Maybe he could learn to relax in time, but never would he stop feeling the uncontrollable urge to do whatever he could to keep Sofia, the one he cared for most in a way that was unexplainable, safe.
His eyes scanned the lobby around them, a small room with off-white wallpaper. Along the wall sat some chairs; in the corners rested potted plants with broad, tall leaves and thick stems; a brown rug was laid out in the middle of the room on a tan carpet; and small, rather fancy lights and urban paintings adorned the walls. Accompanied by the tiny counter at the back center of the lobby, it was quite the cozy little room. It even set about a sense of comfort, even to the ever-tense Shane.
After a couple seconds pause to take everything in, he helped Sofia to the counter where no one stood. A shiny, silver bell sat on the counter top, so Shane took an honestly wild guess and pushed it, causing it to chime out a little 'ding' sound. Soon, the shuffling of feet could be heard from down the hall, to the left of the counter. A small woman, short and skinny with bright blue eyes and long hair which shone blonde walked out of the hall, but she stopped when she saw the state of her customers. Her once friendly smile quickly faded and was replaced with a look of uncertainty and slight concern. "Um, may I help you?" she inquired in her native language, her eyes traveling up and down the bloodied people before her.
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