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Post by Beriadan on Nov 16, 2024 23:16:59 GMT
"Thanks, Ms. Granger. See you tomorrow, yeah?"Max smiled a customer service smile as she let the last regular out, closing the door behind them and locking it with a sigh of relief. Sometimes, it was so difficult not to tell them exactly how you felt. Especially Ms. Granger, who had a complaint about everything.
"Fuck me, man... okay. We good, Max? Yeah. We good."
Max let out another deep sigh, befoee they began to tally up the register and close down for the evening. As the manager of this particular Stop and Shop branch, they never expected any of their team to do what they wouldn't, and tuwu never felt the need to sleep much anyway. So it was the lock-down shift for them, most evenings.
"What's on the menu tonight, hmm? Oh, wow, instant noodles and a bottle of Texas' finest whiskey? Truly, you are the king of fine dining."
Max tucked her culinary feast into their bag, letting themselves out of the back entrance and locking that too. They took a moment to light a cigarette, enjoying the smoke and the flavour as it filled their lungs. Then they shrugged their bag on properly, and began the substantial walk back to their apartment. "It's not quite what we did before, Max, but... it's the kind of normal life we always wanted, right?" |
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Post by lvsphinx on Nov 18, 2024 20:15:10 GMT
"Ah, shit."
A bent note and twang left Beatrice's guitar as a string snapped, right in the middle of the second verse. She was sitting lotus position on the ground against the wall, with a bus stop on the opposite side of the sidewalk, a bus stop Max would pass by often on the commute. Next to her on the ground was a large hiking backpack and open guitar case, with a "BUSKING TO GET TO CHINA" cardboard sign propped up against it.
There was no one around, no audience to apologize to for this sudden break in the performance. Right now was practice time, all to herself. With a sigh, she retrieved a pack of fresh strings from her case and started re-stringing her guitar, humming to herself the rest of the song.
As Max approached coming down the sidewalk, Beatrice noticed the cigarette in her lips, and did her best to make eye contact.
"'Scuse me, spare a cigarette?"
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Post by Beriadan on Nov 21, 2024 19:09:19 GMT
Max slowed as they passed the busker. They looked down at the woman, a slight mistrust thoughtfully staring out from behind their eyes. Then they shrugged, pulling out their pack from their jacket again, tapping free a cigarette. What was the harm?
"Sure. You got any songs to play me in return?"
Max offered the cigarette down, holding it out for Beatrice to take, the lighter not far behind. They noted the sign, which got a faint smile, genuine and welcome. It had been a long day.
"You got much more to make for your ticket?"
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Post by lvsphinx on Nov 21, 2024 23:13:36 GMT
Beatrice smiled warmly at Max, gladly taking the cigarette and lighter, soon drawing in some smoke and taking a quick puff as she handed the lighter back.
"Bless ya."
She glanced down at her cardboard smile, giving it a rueful smile. "I'm about three to four hundred bucks away. But today was an alright day. About after a week or two, I should have enough to make the flight," she said, perhaps oversharing, but decent interactions with other people were uncommon when you're a vagabond, and Beatrice cherished every decent conversation she got. Helped her feel less lonely some days.
"A song in return? Sure! Here's one I can't get out of my mind:"
"Sometimes, just sometimes
Maybe more than some of the time
I'm on a false ego trip
Insecurity is rife
I'm not the ideal person
To be lecturing of life..."
As she sung this part, multiple police sirens started sounded in the distance, prompting Beatrice to sing louder. It wasn't too much of a hassle, so she didn't mind the sirens as long as they didn't get closer. They did seem to be getting closer, however...
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Post by Beriadan on Nov 22, 2024 7:14:18 GMT
"Anytime."
Max inhaled from their own cigarette deeply as Beatrice began to play. They closed their eyes, letting the music wash over them. Music. It had been one of the things that had drawn them closer to this planet. They had fallen in love with the words, the sounds, the energy behind the musicians and the way it seemed to express the human soul in a way that nothing else could.
The music took her back to a time before any of their worries. Max opened her eyes, the faintest glimmer of a smile on her lips. Then their ears pricked up to the sound of sirens. It was a fierce antithesis to the music, the real world bleeding in. They sighed, raising their head to the direction of the sirens that were getting louder.
They fished into their jacket, pulling out a crumpled ten dollar note and handing it across in the same manner that she had done with the cigarette.
"Here. It's worth more, but that's all I've got. Every little helps, right? Shame about the ambient noise of the city, I was getting into that."
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