Weird Thoughts

Participants:

magnes_icon.gif bebe_icon.gif

Scene Title Weird Thoughts
Synopsis Bebe makes Magnes have weird thoughts. It's very touching.
Date May 3, 2009

Greenwich Village

In a time that seems long ago, Greenwich Village was known for its bohemian vibe and culture, the supposed origin of the Beat movement, filled with apartment buildings, corner stores, pathways and even trees. There was a mix of upper class and lower, commercialism meeting a rich culture, and practically speaking, it was largely residential.

Now, it's a pale imitation of what it used to be. There is a sense of territory and foreboding, as if the streets aren't entirely safe to walk. It isn't taken care of, trash from past times and present littering the streets, cars that had been caught in the explosion lie like broken shells on the streets nearest the ground zero. Similarly, the buildings that took the brunt of the explosion are left in varying degrees of disarray. Some are entirely unusable, some have missing walls and partial roofs, and all of the abandoned complexes have been looted, home to squatters and poorer refugees.

As one walks through the Village, the damage becomes less and less obvious. There are stores and bars in service, and apartment buildings legitimately owned and run by landlords. People walk the streets a little freer, but like many places in this scarred city… anything can happen. Some of the damage done to buildings aren't all caused by the explosion from the past - bullet holes and bomb debris can be seen in some surfaces, and there is the distinct impression that Greenwich Village runs itself… whether people like it that way or not.


It's getting later in the afternoon, and Magnes' shift has ended earlier than usual, walking out of a comic shop not far from Old Lucy's that he's never noticed before. He walks out with a bag covered in superhero and 'We have Pokemon cards' designs, typical comic shop advertisements, and looks relatively pleased as he takes a deep breath and looks around, trying to decide where he's going next.

The rush hour crowd — or whatever sort of 9 to 5 working herd there is to be had any more — hasn't quite hit the streets yet and so the Village is pretty much running on the dregs of sidewalk clutter for the next hour or so. The homeless and the helpless rubbing dirty elbows with the desperate and only slightly starving. Seated on the scant steps to be found in front of the Guiding Light Baptist Church is a young woman who, despite all typical appearances, just might be out of place. There's a book in her lap that she simply can't find the time to properly pay attention to… she's too busy keeping her eyes on the entrance to Old Lucy's.

Spotting someone unfamiliar on the church steps from afar, Magnes decides to slowly skate over, cautiously rolling across the street, then down the sidewalk until he's standing in front of the steps. He bashfully looks up at her, swallowing and seemingly unable to speak, at least until, "U-um, hello."

Bebe's brown-eyed gaze breaks away from the bar as she tilts her chin and lifts her face ever so slightly in order to eye up the young man come over to say 'hello'. "Oh, hi," she says, shuffling some of her personal affects — book, bag, sandals that had been hanging precariously on the tips of her toes — in order to find her feet. "I'm sorry. Am I in your way?"

"A-ah, no!" Magnes frantically answers, moving to sit about a foot away from her on the steps. "I go to this church, you just seemed kind of lonely, or something…" he explains in his flustered speech, unable to look directly at her as he stares into his bag of comics, card packs, a deck, and even some sort of Gundam model kit box. "M-my name's Magnes…"

Aw. He's almost kinda cute, isn't he, folks? Bebe very nearly beams, putting on a sunny smile for the sake of making friends with a relative stranger on the steps of a church. "Oh, no… I'm not lonely," she lies convincingly. "I'm just… waiting for someone."

"O-oh, sorry." Magnes reaches into his bag, trying to find something to possibly cure any boredom she has. Then, out comes a pack of Pokemon cards, and he holds it out to her. "P-please don't get the wrong idea, I don't collect these anymore, I just got curious about the new sets, since it's been about eight years. You can open that if you're bored."

"Far be it from me to judge…" Oh, goodness. Bebe blinks back a little confusion, eyeing the package of cards as if it were an alien object that might harm her if she reaches out for it too quickly. The extension of her arm comes slowly and there's about two seconds of tentative fingertip touching — that simple sort of human contact that has a tendency to make teenagers a little bit gooey — before the packet is claimed as Bebe's alone. She's still not sure what she's supposed to do with it, really, and so Magnes earns himself a polite smile and a casual bit of wondering. "Magnes. That's not a name you hear every day. I'm Bebe, by the way…"

"A-ah, hello, Bebe…" Magnes quickly looks away, taking a deep breath after the skin to skin contact. Alright, he can do it, he can look! So he does, he forces himself to look, then reaches over to show her what to do. "You take both sides of the pack, then you pull it open, just like potato chips." he explains, taking his hands back. It's clear he's not used to touching, or if he is, he's just very nervous about it.

Alright, so, while Bebe isn't exactly the mean-spirited sort, she is kind of getting a kick out of how obviously flustered Magnes is right now. She allows him to school her in the proper operation of a pull and tear packet any sort of objection or sarcastic complaint; she treats it like an adventure and looks on eagerly to see what might be found inside. "'s a German name, isn't it? Magnes?"

"I-I've never really thought about it before." Magnes admits, scooting over slightly to look at what cards she has. "Bebe is a, um, what kind of name is that?" he asks, not sure of what nationality it is, and apparently not the type to assume 'stripper' or 'prostitute' name. "Well, it's nice anyway…"

"Just a nickname," Bebe explains, leaning over in order to almost kinda sorta rub shoulders with Magnes (perhaps in an attempt to make his brain melt right out of his ears). She thumbs through the cards without really having any idea what she's looking at. "So, how old are you, if you don't mind me asking…?"

"I'm t-twenty-one." Magnes answers as the blood rushes to his face, not so much a blush as his head just getting generally close to exploding. "Y-you seem really nice, are you a church girl, or maybe you're in school?" he wonders, swallowing and almost shaking next to her.

"Who, me?" Yes, you, Beebs. "Well, thank you. You're very sweet." She then dons a serious look and eyes Magnes askance, although there is an underlying tone of jest in her voice when she amends, "You're not a serial killer or something, are you?" It's mostly a rhetorical question as she then indicates Old Lucy's located across the way and wonders, "Have you ever been there?"

"I'm not. I'd never even hurt an innocent person, let alone kill someone." Magnes answers, raising a perplexed eyebrow, the question strange enough to make him momentarily forget about his uneasiness. "There? Yeah, my uh, friend works there…" And Bebe may recognize him from television, without a shirt, trying to protect one of the girls who works there, Abby.

Believe it or not, Bebe doesn't actually get the opportunity to watch an awful lot of TV. The newspaper is more often read than anything but that's neither here nor there. The young woman bounces her brown-eyed gaze between the bar and her companion as she asks a somewhat unwittingly ironic question. "Do you know the blonde bartender over there? Er, well, I suppose she's not blonde any more, but…"

"That'd be my friend, I know the owner too. Why do you ask?" Magnes wonders, his tone a bit more serious as well, since it's usually never a good sign when someone's looking for Abby.

"Really? Well, that's just… kinda creepy, actually." Not really but, Magnes doesn't need to know that. Bebe's brows fret temporarily as she pauses to carefully consider her next few words. "Is she the sort to hold a grudge, you think?"

Magnes looks a bit uneasy again, looking away and over at Old Lucy's. "Why creepy?" he asks, not quite understanding why she'd think that, then finds himself thinking about her other question. Does Abby hold a grudge? "Well, um, she never seemed like the kind of person who'd hold a grudge over something small, but maybe if it was big enough…"

Why creepy? "'s just… what're the odds, you know?" Bebe then resolves to nodding her head somewhat studiously, friendly smile now melted away into a slightly more serious expression as she contemplates what words Magnes has to offer in regards to Abby's disposition.

"Well, the odds aren't that low, you are sitting on the steps of the church I go to." Magnes points out as he reaches to gently take the cards so he can look them over. "Why do you care about Abby anyway? She mad at you or something?"

The pack of precious Pokemon cards is handed over without complaint. Bebe's interest in them was polite but superficial, at best. She sorted through, looked at the pictures, and then promptly forgot that they were still in her possession. She's too preoccupied now eyeing up the door of Old Lucy's. "I don't know if mad's the right word." Unless he means crazy. "But, she isn't my biggest fan." Bebe throws those big brown eyes back over to Magnes and asks after a moment's hesitation. "If you two had a disagreement, how would you make it up to her?"

"Um…" Magnes stares at his back as he carefully drops his cards down into it again, giving that a long hard thought. Time travel, have world shattering epiphanies, show up in the middle of the night and apologize, then promptly decide to permanently friend zone yourself and wonder what exactly you should do with her Valentine's Day gift while you lie to yourself about being completely over her. "I'm not sure, I guess I'd try my best to apologize."

Bebe's smiles seems a shade or two shy of sincere but perhaps that's because she's begun to smirk ever so subtly; she's still feeling out her new friend, so to speak, but she already thinks she might have a bead on him. Just go with the streetwise, savvy, sweet hooker with a heart of gold trope, okay? "Yeah, that's what I was going for but, what I mean is… flowers? A card? Dinner? Dancing? Does she appreciate a good Cabernet Sauvignon? What'll help me out here, handsome?"

Magnes' cheeks suddenly flush a deep shade of red, then he starts to turn around, as if to completely hide his face. "U-um, I uh…" His words stammer, getting more uneasy by the second. This is both exciting and embarrassing and god knows what else. "Abby isn't a lesbian…"

Wait… what?! Bebe can't help herself but to laugh. Not too loudly, though; she doesn't want to embarrass him any further than she already has. Jostling him gently with a shoulder, she chides mildly, "That's not what I meant." A beat. "Not that there's anything wrong with that…" She then reaches out to lay a hand on one of his knees and adds, voice still tempered by her laugh, "Peace offering. I was looking for what might make a good peace offering."

Staring at her hand on his knee, he just completely locks on to her hand. There's a hand on his knee, what does he do, what does he do. "I, uh, yeah, I see, I…" He takes a deep breath, a few, actually. "I don't know, I guess it all depends on why she's mad at you. Tell me why and I can help…"

"Well, honestly… I'm not really sure," says Bebe, putting on her 'puzzled face' and pouting out her lower lip just a little bit. "But, I think it's probably because she doesn't really like where I live." That's one way to put it. Mildly. If Bebe had come out with the God's honest truth right off the bat, she'd probably end up giving poor Magnes a heart attack. And she doesn't want that.

Magnes' hand carefully goes to touch her's, very uneasy, as if she had germs or something, then tries to carefully remove it. "I don't wanna have weird thoughts in front of church…" Well, a bit too late for that, but hey, he's trying! "Why wouldn't she like where you live? She's not the kind of person who judges people, well, I don't think she is."

Weird thoughts. Bebe blinks a bit unexpectedly but doesn't take offense to the very polite rebuke she's just received. But, speaking of people who judge, the young woman can't help but inquire somewhat injuredly, "Are you?" Her hands curl one over the other before she withdraws them both in to be housed between her own knees where they might be considered safely tucked away. No more touching.

"It's not really my place to judge anyone." Magnes says with a soft, reassuring smile. He can stop being socially awkward long enough to reassure someone, especially when it seems like they may want to tell him something. "Everyone's equal, as long as they're not hurting innocent people. And even then, that may not make someone a complete monster, I only know a few complete monsters in this world…"

Bebe can't help but look a little uncertain as the conversation edges toward a topic she might have some difficulty escaping should things get too emotionally complicated. But, at the very least, she can offer one thing for sure. "I'm not a monster." She considers Magnes for another moment before she adds, "But, I do live on Staten Island."

"I live there too, just moved there, I wanted to be a little closer to the true suffering of the city." Magnes explains, reaching into his pocket to pull out a blank sheet of paper and a pen, writing something down. When he hands it to her, it's obviously his number and his name, 'Magnes'. "That's my number, if you need anything. I know Staten is dangerous, and I'm staying in a huge house alone right now since my roommate is missing, so, just give me a call whenever. Though I might be in Japan for a few weeks, soon."

Oh. Hey. Now, there's something Bebe didn't foresee. She's so shocked at the thought of a stuttering fool like Magnes somehow managing to survive for more than an hour or two or Staten Island without looking much worse for wear that she actually exclaims in a slightly higher pitch than she'd intended, "Really?!" Then again, maybe it's the news that he'll be winging his way off to Japan that's gotten her excited. Teasingly, she wonders aloud, "Missionary work?" Bebe eyes the number on the slip of paper briefly before she tucks it away into the little bag she's got with her before returning her attention to the boy by her side on the steps.

"Yeah." Magnes answers, laughing lightly as he leans an arm on the steps. "Really wanna know? I'm gonna seek out a martial arts master and learn how to fight." he says with a completely straight face, but could still very well be joking. If there's anything he's learned from comics, telling someone the insane truth is a great way to keep a secret. "If I knew you a bit better, I'd take you with me, but I'm still not quite sure why Abby would be mad at you, so, can't take any chances…"

"Oh, I…" Bebe barely seems to know what to say to that initially and so she simply fastens on a small smile and finally tumbles out with, "I appreciate the thought but, I wouldn't be able to just pick up and leave like that." With a crazy person who's clearly read one too many comic books and might need to get laid yesterday. And, let's not even start to get into the fact that Bebe's actually a kidnapped heiress without any sort of passport or proper ID. "But, maybe you could bring me back something?" Hey. Nothing wrong with putting the suggestion out there, right? Who doesn't like gifts from a stranger? Yeah. "You know, I should probably get going," she says, slipping the strap of her little cloth bag onto her shoulder and standing up on the stairs. "It was really nice to meet you, Magnes. Have a safe trip."

"It's alright, probably a bit difficult to take two people with the bad seats I'm getting." Magnes stands, nodding politely, then starts to skate off. "I'll see you around, it was nice talking to you. And just tell Abby that you'll do anything for her to forgive you! Later, Bebe!"


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