InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "There's one hundred of you!?"

Annie Wagner (i_lovemachines) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2011-12-22 22:38:00

Entry tags:

annie wagner, charlie crews

A new girl, a new place, old machines (Open)
She wasn't sure what happened. One moment she was walking away from Doom, into the heart of Halo City, and the next she was in a place that looked nothing like where she'd been. The tech was all so much older. She'd run back around the corner to find no trace of Doom, the car he'd forced her to steal, or even the spot where the two had been.

Confused, Annie wandered for a while, looking at the cars that were not the same as she was used to, being bombarded by things that wanted to speak to her, not sure what she was doing here, not sure how to get back to where she was - but not sure she really even wanted to go back. It wasn't as if home had been the greatest place to live. She knew it, sure, but could this place be any worse? The only problem with this place was that she didn't know how she'd gotten here.

Hey.

Annie turned. She didn't see anybody nearby. She began to walk again.

Hey. Please. It wasn't precisely words, not like other people might understand them. More like feelings projected. More like ideas. But she'd been at it so long, it was like plain English to her.

This time, she looked down. There, on the ground, was a watch. It's face cracked, it's strap broken. Annie knelt down, the watch looked really old. Though, she supposed it could be somebody's favored antique. Something that their great grandparent had worn, and had been kept in the family. That would be really rare, though. She didn't think a lot of things like that had survived the war. Not a lot of people had survived the war. But, this place didn't look as if there had been a war. Ever.

Don't leave me here.

"What if they come back for you?"

They won't. He won't. He doesn't care about me. He saw me drop and left me. Please. I can be fixed, I'm sure of it.

"Let me see..." Annie didn't touch the watch, not yet. She felt as if she might hurt it more somehow. As if it were a human body and it's neck was broken, if she moved it, she might kill it. She closed her eyes and pushed away all the strangeness that had just happened to her, blocking out all the noise. Then she looked at the watch again. Internally, it appeared to be fine. Annie smiled. "You're right. It's just your face that's broken. And your strap."

She reached down to pick the watch up.

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i_zen
2011-12-29 11:32 pm UTC (link)

Charlie's hands went back into his pocket as he watched the young woman. He knew that look, or those looks. He knew how people got around cops; sometimes it was a bit of a test to show the badge, sometimes it just happened. Either way he got an idea of how people reacted to authority when he knew they saw it. Or could guess. She quite possibly didn't like cops.

Then there was the look as she started to clean the watch. She either hadn't had much, or...the look bothered him. No one should care so much about a thing. Not that he liked the idea of just tossing something away, but things were things, weren't they? Things created burdens for the soul. He was not his things. Yet, he didn't think things should be so very mistreated. This watch told a story even in its mistreatment.

"No, they don't. Or when they do, we often times wish they hadn't." Charlie gave her a slight smile. "I'm Charlie."

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i_lovemachines
2011-12-30 06:26 pm UTC (link)

She wasn't sure what that look meant, or the one that followed when she started to clean the watch. She wasn't very good at reading people in depth, honestly. She knew when they were out to be mean, she knew when they wanted to capture her. She knew when they were friendly. But that was the extent of her knowledge. She hadn't really needed to know more than that. But she would have given anything to be able to know what this guy was thinking right now.

"Charlie." Annie nodded. "I'm Annie."

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i_zen
2011-12-30 06:57 pm UTC (link)

"Annie." Charlie nodded, not offering to shake her hand. It wasn't that he didn't want to touch her, but he had a feeling she wouldn't be fond of physical contact, not of a stranger anyway. His eyes dropped to the watch before he looked at her face again.

"Would you like something to eat?" It seemed out of the blue, but for Charlie, it wasn't so much. The City had shifted slightly to provide a small Italian bistro, and Charlie could definitely go for food almost any time of the day. That was one thing he liked being on the outside of prison. "We can decide what to do about the watch. It could be a sad story, but there might be something more that needs investigation. We can discuss it over...anything that's on the menu."

The detective felt the need to protect the young woman; he knew why without searching too deeply into his psyche. He wouldn't tell her, but he felt the need all the same. Feeding her and getting to know her may help. For all he knew, she was some wayward new child to the City.

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i_lovemachines
2011-12-30 07:41 pm UTC (link)

Annie was about to say no to the food, but then she realized she didn't really know when the last time she ate was. Renfield and Doom had both fed her, of course, but Annie didn't think she'd eaten since Doom had killed her friend. She hadn't much felt like it.

"Sure?" Maybe it was a cop thing. Maybe it was just a Charlie thing. She had no idea. But she did suddenly think she might be able to get some answers from this guy. About where she was now. She'd run into the watch so quickly that she hadn't even had time to properly wonder.

And there was so very much to wonder about.

Plus he was nice.

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i_zen
2011-12-30 07:50 pm UTC (link)

"Good." Charlie nodded slightly and motioned for her to cross the street with him. He didn't seem to care if there were cars. Something about the way the detective walked suggested he fully expected them to stop for the two of them. He didn't show off the badge and gun.

"What more does the watch tell you, Annie?" There was no condescending tone; he seemed to believe her. And, in a way, he did. She could have meant anything, and he was more than willing to take her word for it. She may have seen something he didn't when she looked at it or held it.

"Do you like pasta?" He hoped she did as they were going to eat Italian food which was heavily pasta, not only pasta but heavily so.

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i_lovemachines
2011-12-30 07:57 pm UTC (link)

She was unsure about talking about her ability with somebody who seemed to be a normal human, but the way he asked said that he wasn't doing it maliciously.

"It just didn't want to be left there." She shrugged a bit. "It was excited that somebody could... could understand... it..." She didn't know if this was what he'd meant, or if he'd meant what she could figure out by looking at it. She just realized this. Oh well. Too late now.

"Pasta is good."

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i_zen
2011-12-30 08:07 pm UTC (link)

"Good." Charlie was addressing the pasta comment. He nodded to the waiter who told them to sit where they wanted, and he chose an outside table, pulling her chair out for her as she got closer. He would only push her in if she didn't react badly to it. He didn't want to spook her more than she already seemed to be.

"I don't know of many that would like to be left anywhere. Something that is meant to be used, created for a purpose, needs to be used for its built purpose, or repurposed." He smiled slightly, nodding at what he said as if he liked how it sounded. He settled in a seat across from her. The way they sat, he'd made sure she could still see the street and things going on, but he was set to take care of any situation should it arise.

"How does it..speak to you?" He was curious. Not pushy, but curious. He thanked the waiter as he brought over the menus. "Order whatever you like."

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i_lovemachines
2011-12-30 08:13 pm UTC (link)

Annie sat. Nobody had ever pulled her chair out for. Not even her boyfriend. It was nice.

She certainly agreed with Charlie's words. Especially when it came to machines. They shouldn't just be left alone. They didn't like it. Even if most of the world didn't know that.

"Um." How to explain? "I'm a mutant." She looked down and played with the silverware a moment, and pretended to read the menu, trying to see how he was going to react to that.

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i_zen
2011-12-30 08:18 pm UTC (link)

Charlie looked at her for a moment; he almost corrected her on her explanation, but then he remembered where he was. He hadn't been so detached during his time in prison or even before then to not understand. He had also met some interesting people in the City. A mutant.

"So you really do talk to it." It wasn't a question. "It's not some feeling you get." Who was he to question any of it? His partner lived with a telepathic space cat. He'd met many strange and wonderful types as well as some not so wonderful.

"I like alfredo. Though primavera is good too." As if a subject needed to be changed, though knowing Charlie it probably was not abandoned, just put to the side for now. "They have a pizza flatbread thing." He turned his menu to show here where he saw it rather than point to it on her own menu.

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