Re: Tandy/Alex: the comic book store
[Well hell, cultured compared to Alexander Brian White, who hailed from a town where the Wikipedia entry wasn't even a stub. If it had one, it would read something like: Rose, ID: Established - nobody knows when, population - nobody cares: both as a quantity and a general description of the mood of the populace. The point was, Alex was suitably impressed, but they'd retired that word (or at least sent it on vacation) and he wouldn't have shared that feeling anyway. It was too...something.]
That's all it is? [Incredulous, really.] Always got the dark roast, dude. Addict an' all, figured it had more caffeine. [He gave one of his little shrugs and even laughed a little: a kind of flat sound that might have been pretty in his high-ish tenor voice, if it was something he did more often. He hoped it was. He was trying to unwrap himself from the fear and the loneliness and it wasn't easy, but having people who wanted to hang out and chat and bring you coffee was a decent start. It was like getting out of prison and rejoining society, and that feeling stretched back longer than just when the Watchers had held him.
Knowing Tandy was coming by, he'd brought his stack to the front and now lifted it to the chest-high (to him), scarred, wooden counter. There was a corner of paper poking out the top of the stack, which was suitably tall. Pulled out, it would be revealed as a copy of Billy's receipt from the other day, with the words TANDY - PAID scrawled on it in an almost childlike hand. Alex's hand was the childlike one, both in size and skill, and not nearly the crisp rendering of his own name written on the side of the cup he retrieved once more, for another sip.] Y'know I kinda feel like my street cred is at risk here with this pile. Be gentle? [He was still learning, as Tandy well knew, but Holly had seem satisfied so he'd gotten a boost of confidence. Maybe unearned - Holly had been tired and seemed distracted.]