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☁ ([info]onewolf) wrote in [info]silverage,
@ 2011-06-04 18:30:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:!log, cameron, cloud strife, rex racer

250 thousand miles on a clear night in June
Who: Cloud Strife + Cameron + Rex Racer + Anyone!
When: Noon-time, maybe
Where: Around the city
What: Cloud is trying to get around...as best as a guy with a humongous ride can do it.
Rating/status: ~PG/ongoing

John Glenn.

That was the name Cloud Strife heard the TV screen call the smiling man waving to the camera. He was the first man to fly out to space, they said, and he seemed like a very interesting and nice man, too, with whatever the voice was telling its audience of two about him.

"You think he's saying the truth about space, son?"

Cloud turned to the old man smoking a menace beside him.

"I think it's all crap, if you ask me!" he cackled a broken one and removed his cigarette from his lips. "It all just can't be emptiness and lights, you know? What about all those aliens, huh? Those aliens, they gotta be out there! Huh? What do you think, son?"

Cloud blinked at the man scratching his balding head. "Me?" he asked.

The old man looked around. "Sure, you! Who else, huh?"

Who else, indeed? Cloud turned back to the head-sized TV screen in front of him. It was a sunny day and there was barely anyone around this side of the city. "I know there are stars all over. And it's really dark out there. And empty."

"Empty! That's bull, y'know?" the old man snorted. "What, you talkin' like you'd be there?" But when Cloud turned to him quietly, he added, "You've never been to outer space, or have you?"

Cloud nodded. "I've been there."

"You're crazy," the old man snorted again and tossed his cigarette down the pavement. "Jesus Christ, you're all crazy." And then he turned.

"Wait," Cloud called the moment he saw the man moving away, "Do you know where I can get fuel?"

"Screw you. Crazy."

Cloud let out some breath through his nostrils, pressing his lips against each other very vaguely before he looked down to the black beauty that he held by its grip -- a bulky contraption which, if inspected closely, actually had the architecture of a highly-modernized motorcycle. It had been drawing much attention from the citizens, and the children especially loved it that Cloud could not find it in his heart to be selfish to them. Anyway, their parents drew them away in the end. But that had been the first time such attention happened.

So what was this place? Where was he? His phone wouldn't work no matter how many times he tried it and the city was...so rich, so happy, as if the world hadn't just started to end.

And this John Glenn...he wasn't the first man in space. Unless Shinra tampered with the records, he knew that it was his friend, Cid Highwind.

So many questions with absolutely no answers. Cloud was determined to find them but in order to do that, he had to get one thing first: fuel for his motorbike the Fenrir.

Kicking off her sidestand, Cloud soldiered on, pushing his precious ride along.


(Post a new comment)


[info]cameront888
2011-06-04 02:22 pm UTC (link)
No rehearsal sessions today. Cameron had cleaned her apartment, done the laundry, and was headed out during daylight hours for a change to try what the other ballerinas insisted was fun; a thing called 'shopping'.

She hadn't gone far when she came across what appeared to be a human male pushing a two-wheeled non-autonomous vehicle of the sort that was called a motorcycle, although it didn't look like the other motorcycles she had seen on the streets.

Stepping out of the way, Cameron gave the human and machine a complete passive scan. Here was another unusual energy signature. Curious, she decided to commence interaction with the human.

"Is your machine broken?" she inquired, letting a small Allison smile come to her face.

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-05 03:06 am UTC (link)
Machine. That was a new way of putting it.

"No, she's fine," Cloud said, shaking his head as he regarded his Fenrir with a good glance. Then looking up to the brunette, he asked her the same question he'd inquired of the old man. "Do you know where I can get fuel?" and maybe some food but fuel first before food.

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[info]cameront888
2011-06-05 03:19 am UTC (link)
Cameron consulted the map of New York she was building in her memory. "Fuel? I've never seen a machine quite like yours, but if it runs on gasoline, there is a service station five blocks North and three blocks East. It should be about a mile." She had learned that humans didn't appreciate distances given to the exact millimeter.

"That is a long way to push something that heavy looking. Do you need help? I was just going shopping, but I have some free time. Wouldn't it be easier to get some gas and carry it to your machine?"

She let her smile grow a little. This was apparently another man not from this place, and she wanted to learn as much as she could about what was going on.

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-05 03:30 am UTC (link)
Well, this one is extremely helpful. Every town would have one, he supposed.

"Well, I've got to find out what kind of gasoline it is before I get it," Cloud said to the smiling lady as he continued his journey to the northeastern part of the city. Plus, he had no money. Based on what he'd seen around, they accepted 'dollars', not 'gil'. How he was going to get a dollar, he didn't know. "I'm fine, I'll go check it out. Thanks for the info."

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[info]cameront888
2011-06-05 03:44 am UTC (link)
"The usual formula for gasoline is eight carbon atoms and 18 hydrogen per molecule, if that is any help."

Cameron looked down at the ground, "I was reading one of the local notice boards and it seems there a lot of people in New York from other times and places. You seem to be very new here, and that machine is like nothing else I have ever seen. Somebody wrote something about a membership card and secret handshake. Are you one of them? Do you know what's going on?"

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-05 03:50 am UTC (link)
It wasn't. Last he recalled, it wasn't required for a driver to understand the elements of a gasoline. He'll know it when he sees it, and he left it at that.

"I don't," Cloud answered the verbose lady simply. "And I don't know if I'm one of them either. I just got here." If that wasn't obvious enough. "So this place is called New York?" Cloud decided against asking about the secret club of sorts. He'll know it when he needs it.

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[info]cameront888
2011-06-05 04:00 am UTC (link)
"Cameron nodded. "If you don't know where you are or how you got here, you are probably one of them too. From what I read on the notice board, everybody else is confused about how they got here."

"This is the city of New York, and there are several smaller cities attached to it. You are in the state of New York, in the United States of America in 1964. I talked to another man and he didn't know what year it was so I thought I'd add that in."

Smiling again, she went on, "My name is Allison Young, from Palmdale, California. What's your name and what do you do when you aren't pushing your machine around?"

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-05 04:29 am UTC (link)
"I was on my way home and wound up lost. That's how I got here," Cloud answered the female because it was true, he didn't not know how he got here, he did. Full memories, all of it from the rock to the steep climb to the lost green fields, everything. Because if he lost his memory again, well, that was going to be a much bigger problem now.

Other than her name, where she was from and what place this was, though, everything was gibberish. 1964 held no significance for him and he couldn't -- at least not now -- care less about America, not while he's still getting a grip of the smaller New York and its many...sectors for the lack of a better word.

"I'm Cloud," he said anyway to Allison as he paused by a corner and let a car drive past. After two seconds of emptiness, he pushed forth, no evidence of his burden visible in any of his features. "I'm a deliveryman."

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[info]cameront888
2011-06-05 04:44 am UTC (link)
"If you are lost and just ended up here, all this is different to you." Cameron reached into her purse for her billfold and extracted two ten-dollar bills. "This should get you the gasoline you need and something to eat. I am with the cast at the New York Civic Ballet. You can find me there most days and pay me back when you find a job. When I got here it took me a little while to find a job and an apartment."

She looked around. "According to the newspapers there are criminals and vigilantes that come out at night, and some of them wear the most peculiar costumes. This is an odd city, so be careful. I met one the other night who said he was a hero."

"You don't seem to want to talk much - I suppose it is the shock of finding yourself here - so if you don't want me to help push your machine, I will let you go on your way by yourself."

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-05 05:00 am UTC (link)
By the time they'd crossed the intersection, Cloud had paused in time to receive the notes from Allison. They were strange things, he thought. The texture was different, the size looked a little too iffy for him and, well, it was just strange to look at a different design altogether. He considered this charity he received and knowing that getting these donations was better than nothing, he turned to Allison and nodded to her. "Thanks."

The warning she'd given him about criminals and vigilantes was much heeded, too. Cloud's brows moved invisibly closer at the advice he'd been given and he looked over his shoulders, as well. Heroes in weird costumes? Well, at least he'd know them by a mile when he sees them.

"I'm fine," Cloud repeated to Allison when she offered her help, again. Fenrir was much too heavy right now that she became the sheaths of his six swords. There was no way he would burden someone by her impossible weight. "I'd hate to take you away from your shopping, either. Thanks for all your help, I'll take it from here." Then he paused as he looked down a little.

"Wait, just one more thing," Cloud slipped his mobile phone -- a black flip one -- and lifted it for Allison to see, "Do you know why there isn't any cell reception in this place?"

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[info]cameront888
2011-06-05 11:21 am UTC (link)
Cameron looked closely at the small communications device. It confirmed her suspicion that this Cloud human was from a more advanced culture, just like the man the other night.

"The communications network in New York is mostly hardwired," she told him. "The radio networks mostly belong to civilian authorities and the military."

She stopped following the man. He was unusual, but didn't seem to want to talk to her. She would have to search for information elsewhere. "I hope you are successful finding a job and a place to live." Pointless polite words but humans seemed to find them comforting wherever she went.

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-05 12:13 pm UTC (link)
Civilian authorities and the military? Cloud frowned at those words as he gazed at his phone. This was all so backwards.

He looked up to Allison and nodded to her. "I see. Thanks for everything. Have fun shopping." With a small wave -- which was basically a lift of his hand and then a raise of his index finger as the hand held the phone -- he slipped the device back into his pocket and went on his way pushing Fenrir. What she'd said worried him, though. A place to live, sure. He'd always needed a place to crash even if it was under a thick foliage.

But work? How long was he expected to stay in this place?

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]9lives
2011-06-07 11:42 am UTC (link)
They hired him to be a driver, but Rex found that he did very little driving nowadays. Possibly because his employers thought his skills as a mechanic would be more valuable to the company – he did, after all, know basically all there was to know about the cars in this era – or it might have been a complaint lodged against him by one of the bigshots he was ferrying around, for 'reckless driving'.

Finesse, recklessness; tomayto, tomahto.

At least this meant that he didn't have to wear suits (you'd think a man who used to run around in a leather outfit would be okay with a three-piecer, but apparently not), and he could get out once in a while. For Rex, hanging around services stations and talking to people about engines and oil changes was like a party: he was now on a first-name basis with the attendants at the station near Stark HQ, because well, he was him.

The topic of the day seemed to be octane ratings, and it was getting a bit heated. "150 octane in a car? What kinda super truck would you have to drive, Rex?" A redheaded young mechanic by the name of Aaron was arguing. "Imagine the supercharger in that thing! It'll be bigger than a fighter jet."

Rex shrugged, half-laughing. "All I'm saying is that it's possible. In the future."

This was why he didn't really take the 9 out any more. The gas quality in the 60s was shockingly bad, and before he made some modifications, he didn't want to put any of it into his car.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]onewolf
2011-06-07 12:01 pm UTC (link)
This was something Cloud was just about to find out for himself.

But right now, as he was pushing Fenrir closer to the gas station, he was relying on his luck that everything would work out to his favor. It was starting to look up, he thought, when he had caught someone's eyes and two of them, a redhead was one of them, hurried to his spot but they stopped three steps in and stared. No matter, he was getting closer.

"Hey," he said to them, trying not to look at the size of their eyes, "I need some fuel."

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[info]9lives
2011-06-07 12:31 pm UTC (link)
Rex went back to giving the town car some half-hearted wipes as Aaron strolled over to the customer. This city, this time, it wasn't like home. The air was clearer, and while it had the unmistakable... glean of a big city, things just didn't get that dirty. Cleaning a smudge off the windshield, he looked up, aware there was a minor commotion around where the customer had pushed his bike through.

He'd only glanced briefly at the blond, enough to register that he was indeed a blond, and had a motorcycle. Now, as he got a good look at the vehicle, Rex let out a low whistle. That was not any bike you could find in 1964, not by a long shot.

"Hey," he said to Aaron as he strode over, not taking his eyes off the bike. "Didn't I say anything was possible in the future?"

"Yeah, but," Aaron's mouth was stuck in a slight gape. Rex had the thought to drive his car here one day, just to see the look on his face. "Um."

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-07 01:10 pm UTC (link)
Cloud wrinkled his brows at what the tall man had just said. Future?

He nearly muttered that he was not from the future but after his last conversation...actually, he wasn't really so sure anymore.

But he stood there near the entrance of the station, one hand on his beloved Fenrir as he waited for any of them to maybe offer him a hand or at least direct him to where he could get his gas.

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[info]9lives
2011-06-07 01:54 pm UTC (link)
It was almost a nerdy thing to do, but Rex walked around the bike, taking in the details. His specialty laid in four wheeled vehicles, but he recognised a top quality modification when he saw one. The muffler system in particular was excellently done. And there were these cases on the back – containers of some sort? Definitely not from here or now.

"I don't think you want gas from here, kid." He was addressing the blond now, unable to keep a look of approval from his face. "It'll do her more harm than good."

Aaron protested. "Hey. What's wrong with our gas?"

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-07 02:31 pm UTC (link)
"What's wrong with their gas?" Cloud repeated, and by the sound of his voice, it's not looking like he likes what he heard. Did he mean that Fenrir would have to stay...asleep for a little longer? Not dead because she was still in tip-top shape but it was just that....

Well, the man looked like he knew what he was doing and what he was saying and he understood that look that he was giving him. It was something Cloud shared with his mechanic friends but though he enjoyed the sight of it, he just...couldn't bring himself to bring it up because really now. What was wrong with their gas?

"I'd like to see it anyway," Cloud said more to the Man who Knew Things than to the people who really worked in the station.

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[info]9lives
2011-06-09 06:55 am UTC (link)
Aaron answered before Rex could, and fair enough, this was his job. He showed the way to the pumps, and gave a slight quizzical look, because he wasn't sure where to feed the nozzle.

"Your gas is great," Rex said almost as an assurance, strolling back to the car he parked next to the pumps. 'Great', relative to what was available out there. The town car ran fine on it, so did the Cadillac Coupe Rex was fixing up, and he was sure that for all of Tony Stark's enviable vehicles, this fuel was good enough. "My car's engines are just used to more refined stuff."

In that tone that may or may not seem like 'this is your own funeral', he said to the blond, "I'm just guessing, and you might have filters on your bike, but there's a chance she won't run."

Of course, guessing also means that possible the bike would run, but if it was up to Rex, he'd rather not take that chance.

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-09 01:31 pm UTC (link)
"I've got filters," Cloud informed him helpfully as he dragged his Fenrir closer to Aaron's position and took the nozzle from him, nodding his thanks. After all, from where he came, if your vehicle didn't have a filter, then you're pretty much dead. The fuel in that place was...well, Cloud wouldn't say it was nasty, not when Fenrir ran fine with it, but he was willing to bet that it wasn't as -- borrowing the man's word -- refined as say, maybe the stuff he uses or the more popular and unhealthy mako energy. That was some really good stuff.

But he wasn't about to kill the planet for a road trip or two.

"Actually," the nozzle just inches away from Fenrir's gas door (which may conveniently be found overshadowed by his left compartment), Cloud turned to Aaron and asked, "what is it made of? Your gas?"

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[info]9lives
2011-06-09 01:50 pm UTC (link)
It took a pause for Aaron to answer, and even then, it was a very unsure, "crude oil?"

No one had asked him the component of gasoline before – they just... got it that way. Sure he could fix cars and was probably one of the better mechanics at the station (for his age), but that wasn't the same as knowing what went into petroleum to make gasoline. That was science. He looked for help. "Any ideas, Rex?"

Rex was no scientist either. He only knew because in his time, he's had to handle more sophisticated vehicles, and it helped to go the extra mile. "Distilled crude oil enhanced with toluene and benzene. If you want to get any more specific than that I'm gonna have to make a trip to the library."

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-09 02:34 pm UTC (link)
Cloud's brows inched invisibly closer, again. Tol-wynn? Ben-zin? And he thought fruits were hard!

They could be anything. They could have been the kind of fuel he had been using only in different names...but they could be anything. If he just knew where he was...

He sighed quietly as he watched his dear Fenrir. Then stepping away from her, he looked at Aaron and trying to look at least a little sorry, he handed the nozzle back to him. "I'm sorry, but I'm not so sure about this."

Cloud's gaze to the tall man told him he'd won.

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[info]9lives
2011-06-09 04:07 pm UTC (link)
If this meant that the bike wouldn't be getting any use, it was a hollow victory.

Aaron took the nozzle without complaint, and realising that his assistance wasn't needed any more, went on to help another customer with a shrug at Rex. He was seeing a lot more weird people come through the station nowadays – their new friend Rex being one of them – and he was starting to get used to it.

In a sort of don't-worry-about-it way, Rex said conversationally, "I've had to start making some modifications on my own car. It's not from around here."

That was a pretty safe thing to say, all considered. To a native resident, that could just mean he was from Ohio or somewhere, but to a fellow newcomer, it was one of those, 'hey I'm in the same boat' remarks. Rex had met only one other person who apparently was pulled from another time and place, and the initial conversation was similarly frustrating, the little half-hints and testing the waters.

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-09 04:13 pm UTC (link)
Modifications? But, but Fenrir is doing fine. (It's just that it's the world that needs to modify itself for Fenrir...)

"What kind of modifications?" Cloud asked, anyway, and truth be told, he wanted to know where his car was from if it wasn't from here. How different would it be? And since they were talking about gas and refined ones, how modern would it be?

"Where's your car?" There, that's a good way of putting it. Maybe if he saw the man's car's engines, then he'd have a better clue with what to do with his...mechanical dilemma. For now, though, his hand rested on Fenrir's front, as though a father to his daughter, telling her things will be all right.

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[info]9lives
2011-06-10 03:21 am UTC (link)
"I don't drive her if I can help it. She's not exactly a gas-guzzler, but until work on her engine and exhaust system's done, there's no fuel source." Fuel efficiency had been a big thing where he came from, and Pops had never been one to waste anything, a sentiment he passed on to his sons. The 9 was designed to make the most out of what she had, and could get three weeks of travel from a full tank of gas. Rex was lucky there were other cars he could drive while his own was out of commission.

"If you got time to work on it, and all the right parts, should only take three, four days, tops." He paused slightly, before continuing. "I can give you a hand, if you like. Hook you up with some spare parts. I don't usually work on bikes, but I know my way around one."

It might've come across blunt, and to a complete stranger no less, but it was a genuine effort to help – there was nothing sadder than a beautiful machine that wasn't able to run.

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-10 03:28 am UTC (link)
Cloud didn't like the way it was sounding like he'd really have to make some changes on Fenrir just so she could run. Really, she's doing fine, really.

But if she couldn't run...then he couldn't get back home. That was it.

"I got time," Cloud said with a nod. He had to have time. He just wished he could call home about this sudden hold up... "Where are these parts?"

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[info]9lives
2011-06-11 01:06 pm UTC (link)
Rex took a pause before answering. It really depended on what parts he needed, and for that, Rex had to have a look at the bike in greater detail. "Might be a couple of days to get my hands on them. I've got some in my workshop" – that was a glamourous term for the small, draughty garage under his apartment – "but it's limited. I'm still building a collection."

A quick smirk, directed more at himself than anything. It hid the slight bitterness and wanting of his actual workshop, at his actual home, a whole world away. He wished he didn't have to be building a collection, that all the roads that apparently led outwards wouldn't eventually put him back in New York, but you know what they said about wishes.

"It's probably better if I could take a look and see what the bike needs." He quirked an eyebrow, in a tacit question for permission.

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-11 01:19 pm UTC (link)
Cloud understood mechanics and he was not very selfish of Fenrir -- not when he knew he'd be around during the check-up.

He was easily agreeable to this, nodding without much thought in spite of the six swords he had hiding inside his motorbike. Surely no one would mind? Anyway, he had to do this. He and Rex would have to do this.

"All right, then," he said.

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[info]9lives
2011-06-11 02:10 pm UTC (link)
"Where're you staying? I can drop by after I get off work." Because all appearances to the contrary, Rex was at work. As much as Stark's facilities were sufficient for service, maintenance or even the larger mechanical jobs, they had only minimal fueling capabilities.

Alternatively, in a less forward/creepy way (honestly, he was doing this for the bike), "or, let me give you my number."

Rex stuck his torso through the rolled down window of the town car, and searched around in the glove box. Re-emerging with a black marker and a scrap piece of paper, he scribbled down the phone number for his connection at work. "Ask for Rex," he added, handing it over.

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-11 02:42 pm UTC (link)
"Rex," Cloud repeated as he took the note he had been given and read the number. It was a strange number, but if it works for Rex, then Cloud was fine with that. Assuming, of course, that this man he was talking to was named Rex.

"Actually, I just dropped by," he confessed to Rex as he flipped his phone open and in spite of its lack of signal, keyed the number in. It would be safer there than a piece of paper. "I'm still looking for a place to stay. D'you know anywhere?" he looked up to the taller man as deft fingers folded his phone shut and he slipped it back inside his pocket while he crumpled Rex's note.

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[info]9lives
2011-06-12 02:05 pm UTC (link)
A cell phone, how quaint. Well, maybe quaint wasn't the right word; Rex hadn't seen one in a while. His own had been discarded randomly somewhere in his apartment, having no more power, and no one to call anyway.

"There's a motel about two blocks West," Rex pointed. "It's basic, but cheap and clean. You good for cash?"

All the sort of helpfulness that he was offered when he first got here, so Rex figured what came around should go around.

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[info]onewolf
2011-06-12 02:25 pm UTC (link)
A motel sounds good. It was definitely better than the streets which was something Cloud was worried he'd have to resign himself to. He'd sleep in cars, under the shade of trees, a church, a bed of rock but no, not in the streets! That's just...that's just not him, no.

Cloud turned to the direction of the man's left side, as though in an attempt to catch a glimpse of this motel he was talking about. "I...got mm..." slipping his hands inside his pocket, he revealed the two crumpled pieces of ten-dollar notes and showed it to Rex. He was really trying to do his best not to look clueless here.

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