[Evan Pen] Upgrades [GaiusGermanicusBloodsoak]

Status
Not open for further replies.
What was it like not to get those glances, he wondered, catching the one that the woman aimed at his back as he slunk out after Marcus. He followed -- almost laughing at himself as did so, just because it was beginning to feel a little doglike and, well, he prided himself on independence. Instead, he accepted the pack and pulled out a cigarette, tucking it between his lips and then going about the business of getting his cigarette to light with his nearly-dead lighter. He got a flame going with his hand cupped around it and then inhaled deeply, the drag of nicotine heavy smoke assaulting his throat and lungs. But he eased his craving and he glanced at Marcus... and then did chuckle.

"First timer?" he had to ask. Mostly because he had seen that same momentary look cross the face of so many teenagers who thought they were being cool when they took it. At least this guy had managed to get his to light properly. But it was another question he stopped himself from asking: why was this guy doing it? He wasn't sure and as Altair cradled the cigarette between his index and middle finger on his right hand, he let his mind go over the questions it had for and about this man.
 
Marcus simply nodded. "This helps a hell of a lot more than I thought it would." he admitted. This actually felt pretty good, no wonder some people became chain smokers. While he was pretty sure he wouldn't get that bad, he did decide that for now he could continue doing this. Besides, at this point, smokers lung had become easily reversible, so he wasn't all that concerned about the consequences. Now finally able to think clearly and more calmly, he ran over his options. He could simply not worry about it for today and focus on the here and now; he could continue to worry and hope that his boss was actually getting matters taken care of, or, he could pursue his own answers. For now, he figured that he would wait and see if the problem developed further, and then go from there.

Unfortunately, as soon as that thought crossed his mind, more news breaks popped up infront of his vision, and, surprise surprise, they were about more people being arrested for violent behavior towards high priority individuals. However, that was not what he wanted to focus on right now, so he closed all of those and shut down his connection, figuring that he should try and enjoy his momentary reprieve.
 
"You get used to it, too," Altair said with another small laugh, "At least you didn't cough." Or worse, throw up. Ah, the things you saw during your time on the streets... He ran his spare hair through his hair, having pocketing the lighter and cigarettes for later. If he kept them, of course. He watched Marcus curiously, saw the changes in his face for a moment and bit his lip, wondering what exactly he was seeing, what had been sent to him or what alert he had just gotten. There were a million possibilities and he knew that he had no right for it to bother him but it did. At least he was turning out to not even be half as much of a jerk as Altair had been worried he would be.

He sat down on the bench, leaning his elbow on one knee and looking up at Marcus with slightly raised eyebrows as if asking him when he was going to sit down, rather than if. If the guy wanted something from him, he would need to say so soon. Altair didn't have all afternoon. He would need to get a definite answer from someone as to whether or not their couch, floor, or bed would be available to him. It was why he had been thinking of Tenner -- he always said yes. But better, now, to see where this went with this man, who was interesting for some reason whether Altair liked to admit it or not.
 
Noticing Altair's look, Marcus took his cue and sat down next to him on the bench, taking a long pull from the cigarette as he did so. "ah shit." he breathed out as he felt his body finally start to relax. Right now, Marcus was drawing a blank on what to say to Altair. From the looks of him, he might not have a place to stay, but then again, that would be drawing assumptions about a man he hardly knew, so he was hesitant to ask him anything about that. Even if he wasn't interested, Marcus couldn't let him get away without at least some sort of indication on how he felt. Maybe he could invite him over for drinks, but then again, that could make him come off as being way too forwards. Ah fuck it, he had to say something. "If you're not to busy later, what say you come on over to my place for a beer or two, you seem like a nice enough guy. Nice opportunity to get away form all this for a little while." Well, that was now out in the open, and all he could really do was just wait for his reaction.
 
Altair arched an eyebrow, took a drag on his cigarette and then nodded. "Sure." Fuck it, what was the worse that could happen? He knew that there were reasons to not do it but... he was attractive, not assholeish and overall seemed a lot less of an idiot than he could have been. Marcus didn't even seem to mind Altair's appearance too much, clothing and style wise. It did make him a bit self-conscious though because the only people he talked to anymore were his 'friends', people who were the same as him in looks and general attitude towards the world if not specific subjects. People with little money and day jobs in the underbelly of the city, doing what needed to be done. Or illegal jobs. Either way, that shouldn't change his response here, because this was his life and if he wanted to risk it... well, that was his choice.
 
Well shit, that went better than he thought it would. So far, Altair didn't seem to put off by him, so as far as he was concerned, things were going well. He now stood up, taking another drag and letting the smoke blow out of his nose. "If you want, we can head over right now. No point in just dicking around here all day." Marcus couldn't help but let the thoughts of where this could go cross his mind. It had been a while since he had ever done anything like this, and he now realized just how much of his life was taken over by work, even if it did consist of him just sitting in a chair, eyes shut, with a cable in the back of his neck, running through programs and software.
 
Altair paused then, lips clamped around his cigarette. It was at this point that he had to ask himself if this was really a good idea, overall. Safe, smart? Probably not... but there was a desire to follow and go with him whether a good idea or not. Altair wasn't known for smart ideas and in truth he just wanted to do this. Plus, if this went well... well, he somehow doubted that he'd be out at three in the morning calling around for somewhere to sleep for the night. But that was getting ahead of himself. Drinks. Though not too much. Moderation. He knew how alcohol could screw a person up and wasn't precisely the kind of person to indulge too much. Not to mention he wanted to keep his head here rather than make an idiot of himself. He stood up and gave a small nod and a bit of a smile.
 
"Alright then." he said with a bit of a smile himself, "Off we go." Marcus tossed his cigarette to the ground and snuffed it out with his foot. Without seeing if Altair was following him, he started to walk in the direction of his home. Surprisingly enough, in a city filled to the brim with apartment buildings and subways filled with homeless people, Marcus actually owned his own house. Once more, he slid back the metal slide and pulled out the key card that he used to unlock the door. Putting it in his pocket for later, he closed the compartment and slipped the flesh colored sleeve back on his arms.
The suburbs where he lived was about a fifteen minute walk, so as he proceeded on home, he tried to think of something to say to Altair to get some sort of conversation going, but as of right now, he was drawing blanks.
 
Hm. Altair followed, intent on smoking his cigarette down as far as he could. He was used to getting the most he could out of things. As they walked, he was acutely aware of the way that people were giving them second glances, some recognizing Marcus obviously with friendly or at least accepting nods before giving a second glance at him. Altair was used to the looks of slight disgust, or uncertainly, or wariness but the confusion was new to him. He shook his hair from his face for a moment before it flopped defiantly back into place and he decided to ignore that. There were more important things. He wondered if Marcus was going to actually say something else, try for conversation. But it somehow seemed likely that he didn't do that all that often...

"So, can I ask what you actually do, or is it 'classified?' " he used his fingers to put air quotations around the word with a bit of a grin, nearly finished cigarette tucked into the corner of his mouth.
 
"Well..." he thought about it for a moment, trying to find a was to properly phrase himself. "I'm a jack of all trades, so to speak, when it comes to what I do. As you probably figured, I work for NeoLink. I'm a software engineer, I run diagnostics, and I oversee some of the manufacturing that the company does. That's why this whole ordeal with the attacks has got me so worried. This shit could all come down on me and my division. I've checked time and again to make sure shit like this wouldn't happen. Er, but enough about that, I'm rambling." He glanced over at Altair for a moment before returning his gaze back in front of him. "What about you, what do you do?"
 
"Smoke cigarettes, crash on peoples' couches, sometimes help people and take week long jobs doing the kinds of things that can't be automated... sex, clubs, avoid street fights, find money for food, nothing too interesting," Altair said with an off handed wave before dropping his cigarette and crushing it underfoot as he walked. They came from vastly different walks of life but he supposed that Marcus probably still had two parents, had grown up in a nice home and gone on, passed high school with good grades... mazbe college. Or mazbe he was one of those geniuses who got hired before that could happen. Who knew?
 
Marcus' ears perked up when he heard Altair mention things that couldn't be automated, especially sex. While he would do his best to not be too hasty, he would try and work things that direction the best he could. That is, if he could. "Hey man, if you need a couch to crash on, mine is open." Okay, maybe that was a bit hasty, but hey, so far Altair hadn't given him any reason not to trust him. By now, Marcus' home was drawing into sight, so he grabbed the key card out of his pocket. "Well, here we are." he said as he mounted the steps up to his door.
 
Altair raised his eyebrows then, just a little. Because like it or not, it was becoming very, very obvious what it was that Marcus was aiming for here. But then again, did Altair really mind? Marcus was easy on the eyes, not a completely jerk from what Altair had seen so far and really, did Altair ever argue with sex? No... it meant a bed, it wasn't exactly something that you could say was a bad thing, at least in is experience. Not to mention it would distract him from everything that was happening right. Plus, he had a strange craving to touch Marcus's hair, which almost made sense, he supposed-- a lot of people must want to. Or maybe that was strange... either way, he dragged a hand through his own hair as he waited for the door to be unlocked.
 
Opening the door, Marcus stepped into his home, which by almost any standards was quite large. "Come on in." he said, just in case Altair had some weird thing where he had to be invited in. He walked into the kitchen an opened up the refrigerator, grabbing a couple of beers. "Hope you don't mind the brand." he said as he handed it to him. Marcus didn't really drink all that often, so he usually only bought a relatively inexpensive brand. He supposed that the only thing to do now was relax, only with the exception that he had a guest with him, so he simply plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV, using his robotic arm of course, Marcus did always get a kick out of that. "I suppose you can just make yourself at home." While he was trying to be relaxed and casual, the random acts of violence still weighed heavily on his mind.
 
Altair bit his tongue on a comment about 'better than what I usually drink'. Mostly because he didn't want to come across as sounding like he drank all that much because he didn't. While a lot of his friends woke up each day with a hangover or nearly, he never saw the appeal... his one sin was cigarettes and even then only when he could afford them. Or someone could afford them for him... he ignored that thought too in favour of sitting himself down beside Marcus as if there was no tension, as if he understood completely what was going on and was going to happen and was at ease with it. Not that he was nervous, of course, just curious and curiousity for him was prickly, made him want to ask questions while knowing it was better to keep silent. That all in mind he had to grin somewhat at the blatant display of technology while rubbing his still blood-and-bone thumb against the metallic smoothness of his 'fake' hand, knowing that he couldn't afford that in a million years. Not without getting into some illegal business that was really the last thing he wanted on his track record.
 
Flipping mindlessly through the channels, Marcus finally settled on some show about ancient warfare, but really didn't pay too much attention to it. His mind was inadvertently wandering to Altair, although he tried to keep it on other matters. Taking a small sip from his drink, he minutely recoiled at the taste of the alcohol. He now remembered why he didn't drink all that much, he didn't like the taste, but he knew that he would soon get used to the taste and would continue on just fine. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he still needed to relax, and he resisted the urge to flip to the news for fear of reports of more attacks. However, that fear soon materialized through a different medium, as small screens were flashing in front of his face telling him that more attacks were happening. "Goddamit." he muttered. 'Can I not just get away from this shit?' he thought to himself, with no small amount of annoyance.
 
Altair was used to being ignored for one reason or another didn't find anything personally offensive about this. Not to mention that Marcus didn't exactly seem the type to invite strange men over... he almost smiled into his drink, sipping it and pushing past the taste. Alcohol was something that he didn't like the affects of but a beer or two wouldn't hurt. Still, he picked up when Marcus swore and glanced up sharply, hesitating and then deciding that he had been holding back entirely too much as it was, commentary wise. "What's wrong?" he could only assume since he doubted it was what was on the screen in front of them.
 
Letting out a sigh, then looking down at the floor before at Altair, he proceeded to speak. "I just keep getting more and more reports about attacks. All towards politicians and those who could be considered high priority. This shit can't be coincidental anymore." This was really getting to him, and with another sigh, a long pull from his beer, and slamming his head back into the couch, he shut down his tech, so he could at least get some false ignorance from it. "Altair, you got anything to talk about or something?" Marcus was really hoping that Altair could provided some sort of distraction. After all, Altair was his guest, and it was only fitting that he payed him some sort of attention.
 
Altair nodded silently when Marcus spoke initially, then had to pause and think. Him, talk about something? That was a question. Did he had anything to talk about that would necessarily interest this man in any way, shape, or form? He let the thoughts run through his head, fluttering and flipping before he began to chew on his lip in thought. "Have you ever taken the subway?" he asked after a moment before continuing before he even got an answer, mostly because he didn't want to sound too stupid. "It's strange, but there's something calming about it, realizing that you're rushing back and forth underneath the city with all these other people, all going places and doing things and leading lives and some people are zoning out with their tech, but you always have this person who's standing up and leaning over and talking to anyone who'll listen and sometimes, it's stupid stuff like conspiracy theories and talking about the government, but sometimes it's just idle chatter about the weather... and that's kindof weird, y'know? No one just talks about the wear anymore." That was decidedly rambly and he paused then, somewhat uncertain.
 
While it was a benign subject to be discussing, Marcus openly welcomed it, glad for the change. "It's been a while since I've ridden the subway. If I remember right, it was before upgrading got really big and before I started working for NeoLink. I've seen some weird shit on the subway." He adjusted his body so he was more facing Altair. "You know, I once saw a woman eat a rat on the subway. She was dirty as all hell, and looked like she had been wearing the same clothes for weeks. Just snatched the fat little bastard right up and starting eating it. Safe to say, everyone got the hell away from her." He let out a bit of a laugh as more memories of the subway popped into his head. "Let's see, I've seen someone birth a child on the subway and I've seen people make a child on the subway. Lot of weird stuff. That was before I could simply walk to work." While this was probably more than Altair ever wanted to know, it got him farther and farther away from the reality he would eventually have to face.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back