Thread: Alex, Lexi and Krys Who: Alex Taylor, Lexi Anderson, and Krystopher Tallis When: Late afternoon Where: Downtown North Conway What: Job searching turned scary.
For Alex, the past week had been full of unpacking his boxes and bags in his new apartment, getting groceries, as well as meeting with Hannon for a look around town. Hannon also took him out for his birthday! The man was definitely a lot of fun and easy to get along with, and Alex was glad to already have a friend, even though it took a harsh wound to find him. The funny thing was, Hannon had gotten him a first aid kit for his birthday. Funny, really. Smartass.
His kitchen was the first to get unpacked, as he loved baking and cooking too much not to. He kept his kitchen organized and spotless, unlike the rest of his apartment. Next up was the bedroom, unpacking and hanging up clothing, along with the usual necessities that go into the bathroom, such as shaving cream, razors, shampoo and soap. He didn't have much to put in there, and his bedroom was slightly sparse, but at least it didn't take him long to unpack those things. The rest of the boxes and such he left for when he was too bored, and he spent his time signing up for the local newspaper and rooting around town for jobs and places to hang out. Once, he even took his guitar down to a street corner downtown and started playing and singing for money. He didn't make much, but at least he'd gotten a look at the people around town!
Today, he spent the morning unpacking a few more decorations and hanging them up in the living room, then making himself some pancakes for breakfast and eating as he watched some cartoons like a kid. When he was full and the cartoons over, he finally made himself get dressed and go out to find more places to apply to for jobs. He had found a cyber cafe the other day, so he went there to search job sites, reactivating his resumes so that employers can find him again, and sending emails to the ones in the newspaper that caught his eye. One was for a new private eye in town. He sent them his resume in an email and did his best to sound polite in it. The resume consisted of mostly one section, 'Previous Positions', which listed a lot of his past jobs. And he had plenty of past jobs to list.
After sending a few more resumes out, Alex got himself a cappuccino from the 'bar' and made his way out onto the streets again. Many businesses would rather put a sign up in their window than pay to make an ad in the newspaper, so he made his way through downtown, familiarizing himself with the layout and looking for 'Help Wanted' and 'Now Hiring' signs.
For most of the day, he walked around, introducing himself to interesting looking people and places. He'd finally decided he'd done enough for the day and turned down another road to head for home. Passing by a little coffee and pastry shop, he got a good whiff of powdered sugar and baked goods, and his feet automatically took him inside to order himself some and schmooze the girls behind the counter while passing a resume to them. Even if they weren't hiring at this moment, it couldn't hurt to try. Taking his cappuccino and pastry outside, he settled at one of the wire frame tables to relax and watch people go by, glad today was a warmer day in winter.
It was the weekend so there were quite a few cars and people going by. Alex took a bite of his treat and leaned back in the chair with his eyes closed as he chewed. He felt a bit of a headache poking at the back of his forehead, and he sighed, hoping that it would go away on it's own as he had no pain pills with him at the moment. A gaggle of three women came out of the pastry shop and settled at a table nearby, their chatter enough to make Alex open his eyes and turn away from them. Usually he loved to flirt with a table full of women, but for the moment he'd rather have peace and quiet. He leaned his cheek against a fist, elbow on the table as he let his mind wander.
One woman's yelp wasn't enough to bring him out of his thoughts, dazed eyes down on the cup of mostly finished coffee in front of him. She stood from the table and began swatting at the air, shrieking about bees trying to sting her. As a matter of fact, there were bees, all flying around only her, and in the middle of winter. No matter how often she batted them away or smacked them away from herself, they were still there, and multiplying, stinging her and making her yelp. Her friends stood to help her until one of them turned as if in a daze and stared through the crowd. The woman's eyes grew large and she glanced around before backing away, hands out in front of her defensively as an older man walked steadily towards her. No one else in the crowd knew this man was only an illusion, just as the bees were, and stepped out of his way unconsciously. All of them could see him and the bees as clearly as each other. The woman shouted at the illusion to keep away from her, but the man only stepped towards her confidently to grab her.
Another woman from the table pulled out her cell phone as she glanced around in a panic. Noticing that many people were crowding around them to see what was going on, she paused mid-dial, pretty blue eyes going wide. She never liked crowds, especially when most of their eyes were on her. She swallowed and looked around some more before tears gathered in her eyes. She panicked and simply stood there, frozen with the phone in her hands. One man finally grabbed the phone from her hands and dialed 911 for help as the woman with the bees fell over onto the cement to writhe and shout for help, yelling that she was allergic to bee stings and that she didn't want to die. People from all around stopped to stare, or hurried to help the women, and the noise finally got to Alex. He opened his eyes completely and looked to the small but growing crowd, immediately knowing the bees and man were his own creations. But how did they get there?? He stood slowly from his table and blinked, eyes going large before squeezing shut. Without thinking, he closed the connections and all of the illusions disappeared at once. The woman who had been 'attacked' by the man gasped as she was suddenly let go, and stumbled backwards to fall onto her bottom at Alex's feet. She looked up at him and his look of concentration, then crab-walked away from him, "Oh my god!!"
Alex opened his eyes to see people staring at him. He looked from face to silent face as distant sirens stated that the ambulance was on it's way, probably with police in tow. He swallowed and looked down at the woman, thinking quickly. There was no way they could prove he'd done this, anyway. He blinked at her and tilted his head inquisitively, "What? Are you okay? Here, let me help you up." He put down his hand to do just that, but the woman scrambled to her high heeled feet on her own and backed away.
Alex smiled a little and shrugged his shoulders, then picked up what was left of his sugary treat and turned to leave the scene, "I hope you feel better soon, ma'am." He walked away as calmly as he could. He didn't think they all thought him the culprit, but perhaps they thought he was the man who had hurt the second woman before? Or perhaps a few of them were paranoid enough to think he was psychic and had caused the mayhem on his own. He certainly hoped none of them were reporters or police. He headed home as quickly but as non-intrusively as possible.
Perhaps he should stay inside for the next few days... let this all blow over.