Log: Settling In

[notyourrookie]

Who: Agent Washington (OU)+open!
What: Adjusting to life in Gulch
Where: Scoping out the city (Shopping District, Park, a cafe)
When: Between October 26th and 30th
Warnings: None



York's safe house really had turned out to be a good choice. The security was good and it does make him feel better knowing that it was there. Lets him sleep more easily, when he actually manages anyway. It's better than staying in the casino with the constant noise of people outside leaving him on edge.

Getting to grips with the city is a top priority though, and has him heading out . Exploring. Scoping out is probably more accurate, treating it like he would a mission.

The shopping district seems the best place to start, busiest at least, and a good place to figure out what's normal here. The helmet store has a wide variety of them in the window, and he scans a catalogue showing enhancements and mods that are available. Some of those would be pretty useful if he's honest with himself. There's weapons shops too; nothing as heavy as the weaponry he's used to having at his disposal, but it's a start. There's a nice set of knives in there too. Now that is something he's going to have to get hold of.

He spends lunches in the park. It's a little surreal to see the covered ceiling up above and know that the sky outside could kill him, but it's nice to take off his helmet for a while. The place is climate controlled, and considering the last places he'd been at home had been a desert, an icy wasteland and a humid pit of a canyon, he's not complaining.

There's a little cafe a few minutes walk from the safehouse that stays open all night, and it's a better option to be there than sitting awake and twitchy in the safe house when he can't sleep.

Comments

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

To her credit, she doesn't topple her bike when she stops. "Are you all right? I'm so sorry!" she says, parking quickly so she can go help him up.

[notyourrookie]

Scraped up his hands a bit, and his ribs are aching, but they'd already been bruised at least before he'd arrived. He glances up at the woman who heads towards him, and shakes his head. "I'm fine. Scrapes and bruises that's all."

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

"You're sure?" She swears she didn't hit him, but falling is never fun. "Let's get inside? I'll get you a drink and take a look? There's a storm moving in and even scrapes could get you hurt."

[notyourrookie]

"I'm sure," he says, but the news of a storm doesn't fill him with confidence. "Alright. It can't hurt to clean off and make sure. But trust me, I've had worse."

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

Thank goodness there's a cafe nearby. She isn't sure they'll have decent tea, and caffeine is a bad idea after a near-wipe, but maybe juice or hot chocolate will help calm her shaking hands.

"If you're sure," she admits. "I'm so sorry."

[notyourrookie]

"Don't worry about it," he replies, but doesn't try to pull away, and he thinks he manages to pull off casual pretty well. "What can I say? Vehicles hate me."

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

Oquirrh grins at that. "You sound like my boyfriend," she says. "He keeps telling me the same thing."

[notyourrookie]

"Some people just have terrible luck," he says dryly. "It's like people who destroy technology except potentially more fatal." That's probably not the right thing to say is it? "But not this time."

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

"Please don't destroy my bike!" He's joking, right? "I promise I've never hit anyone. At least, not unintentionally."

Occupational hazards of courier work.

[notyourrookie]

He gives a soft laugh at that. "Well, as long as it's only when you intend to hit people..." They head towards a nearby cafe, getting ready for the rush of morning workers, but for now it's quiet. "I won't destroy your bike. Except if you intend to run me over at some point. Then we might have problems."

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

"Don't worry. I have very discerning tastes in who I run over," she says. Maybe she shouldn't mention that she's far more likely to hit people with the jeep. "So far, you haven't given me a reason."

"I'm Oquirrh, by the way."

[notyourrookie]

"I'll bear that in mind," he replies. He doesn't want to take any chances when his track record is already so poor.

"Washington. Wash," he replies when she gives her name.

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

She hesitates outside the airlock, but only for a moment. "Huh. That's my boyfriend's name, too," she says. "Is it a popular name here in Gulch?"

[notyourrookie]

Her boyfriend's name. Wait, hadn't Church said something? A girlfriend?

He let out a sigh. "I don't know. I'm not from Gulch." He stepped into the airlock. He got the impression that things were about to get a little confusing. But only one way to make sure.

He waits for the airlock to cycle and reaches up to pull his helmet off.

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

"Oh? That's okay. I'm not, either. Where are you from, then, if I might--"

He takes off his helmet and she finds herself staring at a very familiar face.

This can't be right. Wash is in Armonia on the rescue mission. He wouldn't have come back without telling her, and she certainly doesn't have bad enough luck that she would have almost run him over.

No. Besides, the face is wrong. The scars, but...the eyes, too. He looks older. Sadder.

"Wash?" she asks softly. Because despite the differences, it's him. Isn't he? "I don't understand."

[notyourrookie]

Yeah, he was right. His alternate self has a girlfriend and his own luck sucks. There had to be easier ways of meeting someone in a situation like this. Right?

He meets her gaze for a moment, expression impassive. "I'm not him. I mean, I am, apparently, but not. York explained it. Kind of."

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

"You... are him, but you're not? How does that--"

"York? You met him?"

She might have to talk to him so she can get the full story. But no, she can't, not with him off in Armonia. She has to wait. Or get her answers from Wash--this Wash--here and now.

[notyourrookie]

"It sounds insane, but York said he'd met someone in the same position as me. Dragged here from some kind of alternate reality." It sounds like a crazy sci-fi movie, and that's saying something from a guy who's spent the last few years living on a spaceship.

He nods sharply. "I met York. Despite my best efforts."

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

"I've head of that before," she admits, but she had thought that was unique to Roxy. Interdimensional travel had seemed standard for her.

"Despite...you don't like him?"

[notyourrookie]

"That makes things easier at least." She wasn't looking at him like he was insane. He was taking it as a good sign.

"I like him. It's just complicated."

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

"Anything you want to talk about?"

She can't help it. He looks like Wash, and if her Wash were here, she'd want someone to do the same for him.

Besides, she is buying him a drink.

[notyourrookie]

"No. Not really." He shakes his head. "Or not right now. Just... glad he's-" Alive. "Happy. In this universe. Yeah, I sound crazy when I say that."

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

"He is," she says. Or, he will be, when he gets Sigma back safely.

"So. What can I get you to drink while I look at your hands?" Be friendly and he'll open up eventually.

[notyourrookie]

York is happy, and not dead, bleeding out in his armour while Delta shuts down around him.

"Juice if they have it. I'm not picky."

[oquirrh_at_the_wheel]

"I'll be right back."

They do have bottled orange juice, or apple. How that differs from a strawberry-banana smoothie, she's not sure she wants to know (shouldn't that have fruit and juice in it?), but it's something her Wash would like. She'll get one of those and a cup of hot chocolate.