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 Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2016 5:02 am
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Alois stared at the selection with disinterest, the empty basket hanging limply from his right hand. Meats lay packaged neatly in the bin with their arrangement of cuts, types, and quality. Organic remained on his right, beef cutlets and pork ribs further down on his left. Before him laid many a dead chicken, whether breast or thigh or giblet. None of them looked appealing.
As he stood staring down at a pound of chicken breasts, he recalled many an evening spent in the kitchen, his dog faithfuly orbiting around him, where he would feed his pup some fresh, raw cutlets. As one who hardly cooked, the meat was often bought for Schatzie alone, and hardly halted at white meat. Giblets, and even tubs of chicken hearts, were taken home sometimes for the dog’s enjoyment. Now he gazed dully at the vast offering of meats with no dog to feed, with only the idea of trying to replicate the meals he ate with his family, and found all urges of continuing his life simply slipped from his grasp. His basket struck the floor, startling no one. Life around him simply continued with little more than a look cast in his direction.
Alois knew he could never replicate the food of Other Ashdown. He preferred it, in a sense, because of its blandness. Texture was truly all that mattered (beyond, perhaps, the delectable fruit). Could he ever find something so similar here? Chicken was his first thought, but when faced with the prospect of cooking it and dressing it in oils and spices and side dishes, the thought grew lost. The world contained too many choices - beef and chicken and pork and lamb and tofu and turkey and pheasant - and too many flavors. Choice bared down on him like a greedy dog. How had he done this before?
He never had to grocery shop in Other Ashdown, he reminded himself, and covered his face in his hands.
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Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 12:41 pm
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Alois shrugged, his finger still pressed against the meat package. „No, but Melany offended me, and jabbing somesing in her stead sounded like a good idea.“ It failed to alleviate his feelings, however.
„I don’t know what T’orne told you, but Father wasn’t a complete a*****e like Melany was. He just expected respect. If Melany died, good for us. If she didn’t, zen we haf’ more chances to make her suffer. Zat is all.“ Clapping palms together, he dusted off his hands. „I will be disappointed, however, if Melany lives. But… So it goes.“
Carefully Alois leaned his weight against the meat display. „I didn’t really want to leaf’. I didn’t want to come back to… Zis.“ He finished, a hand sweeping about the store.
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:08 pm
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“No, she hadn’t. It was strange how sequestered ze lot of us were. I don’t recall seeing Adoelle or Melany’s tithes before ze party night, but I would hear about zem rarely. For ze patrons, I knew who Melany and Adoelle were, and I knew what zey looked like, but I never interacted wis’ zem. Melany’s reputation was mostly heresay to me - enough zat I came to term her tithes as Apeshit and Batshit. It speaks to her magnetic personality, if you know what I mean.“ Alois shot Zac a cursory glance.
A father pushed a shopping cart by the pair of them, equipped with one child trying to ride the front of the cart while the other sat securely strapped into the basket. They squabbled somewhat about safety and entertainment before turning down the aisle of canned vegetables and pasta boxes. Alois made no further comments until they passed beyond earshot.
He sighed through his nose, and finally withdrew his touch from the meat. „Vale repurposed my life while I was gone - you know zis much. Coming from zere to here, Ashdown, meant a loss of friends, family, routine, and… I don’t know. Ze whole sing is strange. I am as much confused as I am… Nevermind.“ He parted the notion with a shake of his head.
„Who is your father, and how does he know mine?“
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:35 pm
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“… Mister Mercer, my Guardian.... Burning man has called him, ‘Son’ for , well… I think since the first time they met, second time maybe. I think you both call him ‘Father’ to about the same end if I’m not wrong.” He said softly, though he did shake his head, clearly a little bothered by the idea.
“Did he…” He hesitated and then continued. “Did he mention him? Ezra I mean? I just, I’d love to know why he’s so interested in him, why he still seems to be.
“Sorry… that’s selfish to ask.” He sighed, glancing after the squabbling children and shook his head slightly.
“I’d say you could gather food from Other Ashdown too, but it always tastes like… wet cardboard. I, sort of did that when I was there.”
“If it’s not too intrusive, how did they repurpose your life? I, don’t think I’d met you before so I don’t have a frame of reference. I don’t have, expectations for you based on whatever your Fetch did, or didn’t do.”
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 3:01 pm
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In a rare glimpse of honest emotion, Alois furrowed brows at Zac in confusion. He found little cause to doubt him in his explanations of a familial relation between Ezra and the boy’s father, but his own experiences left only room for disbelief in the statement. Perhaps Zac was mistaken? While nervous and awkward in conversation at times, Zac hardly proved himself the liar type. Part of Alois’ own personality jabbed at him with the quip that he was, perhaps, getting soft from being coddled by daddy.
He smiled at himself darkly. „It’s strange. I’f never heard Ezra speak of Mercer in ze twelf’e weeks or so since I’f been wis’ him. He’s introduced to us July and September, his ozzer kids, but never spoke a word of Mercer. Or anyone else, for zat matter - if it means zat his familial relation only extends as far as time spent in tandem wis’ him, I don’t know. But I’f suspected for a long time zat Ezra’s definition of family is far different from ze Americanized - or I should say Westernized - idea of it. Blood relation doesn’t seem to matter. If it’s all a simple construct of respect…“ He tapered off with a sigh.
„I’f met Mercer before. He’s smart, and he’s resourceful - or one could expect from a detectif’. My guess is zat Father would take interest in him because of Mercer’s investigations into magic and ze strange world of Ozzer Ashdown. Perhaps he is useful. Or he’s going down a pas’ zat demands intervention. It’s hard to say wis’out knowing more.“
Zac spoke of foraging in Other Ashdown and Alois only snorted, the intention of a laugh never quite finding voice. The principle of having to shop for food versus a father invariably providing it to the table fell within the gaps of the conversation. He didn’t mind seeing it go; the thought of returning to these tawdry affairs only plagued him further.
Zac’s lattermost question was a taxing one. He wished for the peculiar lightness of a cigarette between his fingers, the taste of smoke staining his tongue and teeth. It wasn’t so - not in this age, not indoors. „I haven’t completely understood all ze changes myself. I haven’t been back for long. But from what I’f seen… Vale changed my residence, tampered wis’ my shop, got rid of most of my possessions, and… He killed my dog.“ He licked his lips, blinking rapidly.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 7:28 pm
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Zac’s expression was concerned, an open book of worry, both for Alois and of knowing what this place could do to someone. Just when you started to think one thing, it all got snatched away and something new was either added, or replaced everything you thought before.
On top of that, sometimes old thoughts just kept coming back even after you had assured yourself they were foolish. Like the fey…
“I don’t… I don’t know what to tell you, I just know it bugs mister Mercer, or it did. I… I don’t know anymore. He used to be really close to Sunny, the witch on the beach, I mean, Jer, not… Ezra being close to her.” He sighed and stared into the isles of groceries like perhaps there was some kind of meaning to be found there in the rows of vegetables stacked into neat tins.
“But after dealing with Ezra, now he’s… warning me about her.” He frowned slightly, remembering that warning again. It was so at odds with everything that had gone before.
“And… I can tell you, they, I swear they play games, or maybe they just can’t tell us, or maybe they just won’t. They know things, Sometimes I think they know everything, or close to it, but they omit, all of them. I think because it’s important to let us believe certain things, or to try and make sure we form certain opinions. So it could be anything…. When it comes to this whole “You and…. Jer are his ‘Son’ his ‘Boy’ his; I don’t know, whatever the ‘tithe to tell’ the latest is. Probably he even calls you that for different reasons. I just know he does it.” He stared down at his shoes, squeaking a tread against the much abused and waxed tile.
The mention of the dog though, that hit home the way objects didn’t… maybe couldn’t.
His hand moved automatically to the shoulder bag, which shifted with a life of its own in response.
“s**t… I… s**t. I didn’t mean to… “
He swallowed hard pressing the bag slightly against his side.
“s**t… I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t change anything, but I am.”
Hetzerei information!! *sprinkles it in her post*
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:34 am
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Alois listened with rare patience through Zac’s explanations. His expression remained neutral while processing the information given, and juxtaposing each piece to one another to check for commonalities. Carefully he persuaded himself to discregard his emotions temporarily, and try to appraise what was told with logic alone. Schatzie, however, was a hard stone to swallow.
„Zey’re playing games. It’s not a question of ‚if‘. Wis’holding information is manipulation, and manipulation is very much a game. Unfortunately, most people slip into a reactionary position when at ze receiving end of zese acts and often play zeir whole hand at zat natural disadvantage. If you’re always caught reacting, never acting, you’ll always be out of luck. I imagine zat’s why ze Court party ended so badly for most of ze people involved. Zey never really took zeir position in one hand and turned it on its head. Zey never acted on zeir own terms, only wis’in ze boundaries set for zem in ze Court. What came of zat? Adoelle dead. July dead. September dead. Who knows about ze rest of Melany’s victims - zat was all just on Father’s end.“ Alois chewed his lip, suddenly desperate for nicotine. Silently he reminded himself to pick some up before leaving.
„I suspect Ezra’s familial relations aren’t often literal. Ze man has no d**k, for one. Family finds different definitions across cultures. Maybe his game is as simple as zat. I don’t know.“ I’m so tired.
He didn’t offer a response to the apologies said in regards to Schatzie; he figured sonant grew unnecessary in such exchanges. The less he had to focus on it, the better. „If your dad gets interested in investigating Ezra, let him know zat I’ll be none too happy if he tries to pull a fast one on Father. I doubt Bennett would be, eizer.
„Besides, I don’t want all parts of my life ruined.“ Except they’re halfway there regardless.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:55 am
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“I don’t think my Dad would do that, I think...there is a sort of respect there.” He admitted. He found it strange that they felt this way, but it was not his place to judge this.
That was the first thing he addressed, because it was easier to address. It was more easy to be honest when it wasn’t with yourself, just like it was easy to judge other people, but harder to be objective for yourself.
Alois had certainly caught his attention though, July Dead? September dead? How much had he missed? He’d seen Adoelle, he’d seen Melaney stabbed, he’d even seen the burning of the fetch… but not that.
“...I didn’t see anything happen to the twins” He admitted glancing back with furrowed brow.
“But, regarding reacting. It’s not an excuse, I can’t… I can’t make those for other people. I can’t give reasons I don’t have. But if I had to guess, I’d wonder if they aren’t ‘reacting’ because they don’t feel they have enough information to act. Like… Like just running off a dune and expecting there to be sand within a safe distance below, then having it turn out to be the cliffs of Dover. At least as far as doing goes. Maybe it’s just...common nature to hesitate and see if someone else jumps first. I think… last time it was Adoelle who jumped, she was so sure, but.” He crinkled his nose and sighed.
“Besides… for all that people reacted, I had an idea and I didn’t … push. I didn’t even try and magic up a knife to make my own offering.
He rubbed the back of his neck and made an offer.
“... when you’re done here, would you like to go grab a hot drink and baked goods? It’d be, It’d be interesting to talk to you about more than the ball. I mean. If you aren’t up for it that’s okay too, but I didn’t meet you before so it’s not like anything got...ruined.”
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 8:02 am
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Alois only shrugged. Part of him wanted to snap and snark and chastise for want of being angry again. He wanted something to fight against - all this smothering kindness and sincerity left him feeling dead. What was worse than his dog dying? His dog dying and the rest of the world treating him like he was fragile. He wondered, briefly, if doing so weakened him somehow - sapped his strength and left him brittle.
Staring down at the meat, he mumbled more to himself than to Zac. „Zey’ll wake up someday, even if I haf’ to be ze one to wake zem.“ It’s common to stand idle because it’s safe. In this place, inaction means you can’t so easily be blamed for the death of another, because you weren’t brave enough to try in the first place. Inaction is the sanctioned norm. Isn’t that peculiar? How could we have gone from acting on something so abstract as ‚glory‘ alone to cowering because that’s the ‚right‘ thing to do? If nothing else, Other Ashdown is running a strange thought experiment on the lot of them.
How feeble.
Finally Alois snapped up to stare Zac in the eye. „Next time, push. Push zem onto ze knife if you haf’ to. It’s probably why zere’s all zis talk of cycles and repetitions. No one ******** acts.“ He huffed, and seized his basket from the floor.
„I’ll go, but I sink you might find I’m not ze type zat most people take to Mittagspause, whatever zey call it here. Coffee break?“ He shrugged; it sounded correct. Briefly he weighed the small flask in his hip pocket to find a decent enough reserve of Cognac for coffee. „I’ll meet you at ze checkout.“
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 4:26 pm
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Alois was contented, at least, to hear that another recognized the failures of this mentality. Was it a mob mentality? He was left to puzzle it while he wound through the store aisles, purposefully taking his time. He passed soups, canned vegetables and spices while he considered the actions that people took. Hindsight afforded the opportunity to appraise such actions as wrong, but Alois suspected it in the heat of the moment too. Perhaps it was evidence enough that humanity, if they were elected as stewards or representations of it, deserved this constant cycling of attempts. Would it therefore be so terrible that he stood removed from that cycle now? Was he disqualified as an identifier of humanity? He wondered so.
And he wandered so - through even the aisles boasting cat food and litter, though he knew he had no business there. By the time he reached the front, only a handful of new items remained in his basket, though he traversed every aisle in the store. Self-checkout afforded the means to avoid simple human interactions, and he paced himself through the motions of self-bagging his merchandise. When he finished and carried bags in hand, he found Zac not far from the exits.
Briefly he paused as the orchids caught his eye but he decided against trying to populate his apartment with any sort of plant life. He knew better than that. „After you,“ he stated to the smaller man with a nod toward the door.
endejester end here & continue in a new thread?
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