InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I woke up singing top cat!"

Morgan Freeman (sweetwaterkill) wrote in paxletalelogs,
@ 2010-10-31 12:44:00

Entry tags:

mania, veles

Who: Dorcas and Kaminski
What: Worst guidance counselor ever.
Where: Lobby
When: Backdated - October 27th, early evening? (To be confirmed!)
Warnings: Not a damn thing except a little language probably.

Her boss had threatened to fire her if she didn't go to the stupid Halloween party. Like that was fair? Did he really have the ability to do that? Dorcas honestly doubted it. But that had been the start of a string of events that had spiraled her down into a dark place. Second had been some moron customer spilled coffee on a couple of rare pulp fiction paperbacks. There was a clear sign that said no food or drinks. And then he hadn't had the money to pay for them. Her boss had unofficially enslaved him for the evening until the debt was clear. Who knew what they were doing.

She had her arms full of messenger bags of books that needed to be gone through and priced appropriately which meant taking work home. And once she'd gotten into the building, she had half shed her coat so one side was hanging off her body... All in an effort to loosen up her arm enough to get the key to her mail box out of her pocket. Trying to fish that out though sent bags toppling out of her arms with two remaining on each shoulder and her holding the key to her mouth in horror. "Oh... my god..."

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head_down
2010-10-31 07:12 pm UTC (link)

Behind her came the jangling sound of someone impatiently shaking a key ring, as her scattered bags cluttered the floor in front of Kaminski's own mailbox. The girl looked so flustered, though, that he could only manage to look annoyed for .5 seconds before swooping in to help. He gathered the straps of the bags in one hand and scooped them off the ground. "Hey Candy Raver, quick fashion tip." He put the messenger bags on in demonstration, lifting the straps over his head. "Wear the strap on the opposite shoulder. That way you're just choking yourself instead of spilling your crap everywhere."

He open and shut his mailbox with a clank and shuffled through the envelopes he withdrew. Junk, junk, bill, spelled his name wrong... Kaminski crammed them in his pocket and turned back to the girl, ready to take the bags off and hand them back. "Jesus these are heavy. You must be stronger than you look."

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sweetwaterkill
2010-11-01 01:41 am UTC (link)

Dorcas ignored the sound of jangling keys. There were much more important things on her mind. Like that she might have just destroyed some merchandise and owe a whole lot of money. Only she didn't know the quality of the books to begin with... She pressed her lips tightly together when the bags were suddenly scooped up and she turned to look at the man who had nabbed them. Her chin was quivering a little and she twisted a finger around the strap of one of the bags that had remained in place. She had tried to say something but had given up quite quickly.

All she could do was wait and pray he didn't try to take off. At least he apparently lived in the building. "I'm. I'm u-used t-to carrying h-heavy loads," she finally managed, holding her hands out for the bags though one was still holding her coat and the other her keys. "P-please g-give them back. N-now," it was so hard for her to sound demanding because damned if she just didn't at all.

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head_down
2010-11-02 03:31 am UTC (link)

Kaminski made no move to hand over the bags. This jumpy chick seemed to think he was going to run off with them, and the petulant 10-year-old boy inside him was insisting that the only solution was to do the exact, total, 180 degree opposite of running off with them.

"Man, you're jumpy. Relax. I'll give them back to you." He checked her mailbox number. "At apartment 802, so you don't drop them again."

He took one bag off his shoulder and waved it slowly as he made his way to the elevator, as if he were going to hypnotize Candy Raver Girl into believing he wasn't a book thief. "Oh no, after him! He's getting away!"

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sweetwaterkill
2010-11-02 03:40 am UTC (link)

She worried her lip ring between her teeth, eyebrows furrowed together in a look of extreme worry. He better give those back right now or she was going to have to scream. Her inner child was about five and ready to throw a fit after taking way too much abuse.

No no no. Bad. She didn't need help and didn't need an unknown male of any sort near her apartment. She whined softly and twisted her hands around the strap of a bag remaining. Her knuckles were white like she was trying to get the fabric to tear through her skin. But finally, she found her voice, "M-my parents are lawyers! I-if you d-don't give th-those back r-right now I w-will sue you so h-hard, your p-potential offspring will be paying out the nose!" Half truth. Her parents were lawyers. She just didn't know where the fuck they were.

And she steadfastly refused to follow him. Right because she was going to follow a strange man into an elevator. No way. What if he tried to kill her or something? Maybe he knew what was in the bags. If he did get to the elevator though she was planning on tackling him... Whether she would go through with it or not is the question.

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head_down
2010-11-05 04:58 am UTC (link)

"I'm pretty sure acts of bag transference are covered by good samaritan laws. Look it up."

He pressed the button and glanced back in her direction as he waited, wondering if she'd pop a gasket or pull out a can of mace or maybe even chill out. She didn't seem to be doing much of anything, though, and he couldn't guess at what was going through her head. What did people in Orange County have to be jumpy about anyway?

The doors opened with a ding and he started to get on. "Lucky for you I don't require a signature for delivery. You can leave a tip in my mail slot. No coupons or death threats though."

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sweetwaterkill
2010-11-05 05:04 am UTC (link)

"Acts of bag theft and product theft are covered by, oh, you know, theft laws." What? She could be just as smart alecky too especially when she knew the stupid laws. Not by heart, mind you, but she knew them.

But oh god he really was just going to take off on the elevator. Mentally, she was picturing running after him and tackling him and beating the crap out of this guy with the bags. Instead, she simply shot forward at a fast pace to catch up with him in the elevator and stand to one side, staring at the ground. She would have looked like she was going to cry but her face was hidden by a veil of fallen pink hair.

"My boss is going to kill me if you steal those," she confided, voice barely above a whisper.

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head_down
2010-11-05 05:44 am UTC (link)

Confronted with such apparent vulnerability, Kaminski's petulant inner child disappeared. He sighed, feeling fairly deflated. "I'm not going to steal your bags. Jeez."

He lifted the straps off his shoulder and took them off, holding them out to her. "I was just trying to teach you an important lesson about trusting your fellow man. And being obnoxious. The first one sounds more impressive, though."

The elevator, tired of waiting for them, closed its doors with a quiet swish. "If you don't actually want any help carrying them back you can have them. Just be careful not to drop them on someone's feet. People are pretty lawsuit crazy these days."

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sweetwaterkill
2010-11-05 05:51 am UTC (link)

Dorcas took the bags from him relieved and started slinging them across her shoulders like she should have in the first place. He was right there. But he was not right in taking them like that. "I can't trust my fellow man. Too many thieves in my boss's business." But she didn't disclose anything else.

"I know ab-bout people being laws-suit crazy. My p-parents are lawyers." That explained enough didn't it? And funny how the stutter all of a sudden came back. At least she didn't look like she was going to cry but she was definitely not making eye contact and if her shoulders weren't weighted down, they would've been hunched up around her ears. Anything to look smaller and hide.

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head_down
2010-11-05 06:25 am UTC (link)

"Book... thieves?" Kaminski looked fairly perplexed. Who'd want to steal books anyway? "You'll have to explain that one to me some time, I guess."

He barely noticed the stutter. Years of working with kids had exposed him to any number of speech disorders, most of which he'd learned to process and tune out. "Anyway, I'm Kaminski. I'm in 104, so you know which door to break down in case you ever want revenge for touching your bags. Just moved in. I posted on that message board thingy, but, uh..."

He rolled his eyes in irritation at his own incompetence. "Still haven't really gotten a hang of all this internet wizardry, so."

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sweetwaterkill
2010-11-05 06:50 am UTC (link)

"Mm-hmm," she mumbled with a little nod. "I work f-for collectors is all." No going into detail. Who knew what she might have in her bags right now... Not even she knew!

Haha, Dorcas. Break down a door. That was a good one. She might have suggested that he take a class at a library or something but there were more important matters at hand. First, she pressed the call button for the elevator, "I wouldn't... stay for a very long time here. At Pax." The doors slid open as the car was already there from the previous button pressing. "I'm not sure it's very safe."

No introductions - just a creepy message and she stepped into the elevator car, reaching for the button to the eighth floor to leave him behind.

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