savetheearth | (no subject)

Who: Julien and OPEN
Where: Pretty much anywhere works, please specify!
When: Idk, any time this week?
What: It passes for normal living.

Julien had a lot to do these days.

Early in the mornings he'd exercise in one of the parks, even during the worst of the cold snap. He wasn't the fastest or strongest around, but his endurance was startling. Sometimes he came back for more in the middle of the afternoon.

Some days he had shifts at the LSR clinic, often at the front desk, out shoveling snow whenever it was there. When he didn't have work he'd meander the city and frequent various places, sometimes in company and sometimes alone. Sometimes he'd find a place to read, sometimes he'd go back to the apartment for that. Now and then he'd ride his scraped-up secondhand motorcycle, anonymous in a helmet, just to be riding it.

Here and there throughout the day he'd stop in a park or somewhere else out of the way, including the odd rooftop, and feed pigeons, which were fearless of him.

By the time it was starting to get dark he'd usually head back to the apartment he shared with Blaine, since he was unable to see in low light. Sometimes instead he'd go to a party and be taken back in someone's car, making his way from there with the help of streetlights.

He was a short young man with a compact build, rarely seen in a shirt without a collar, with fluffy dyed-blue hair and slightly odd-looking blue eyes. Someone who'd known him for a while might notice stress showing around his eyes and the corners of his mouth, but he smiled enough, especially when watched, that usually it was hard to tell.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It comes as somewhat of a surprise when the second name doesn't trigger the language that what Julien's been saying so far has. It's clearly related, but he doesn't have the same instant reaction to it. A related one, then? Gabriel's curiosity has been peaked now and he suddenly understands something that he's not understood before; the desire to seek out more echoes. He wants to understand this language that he's been gifted with more (learning to speak it would be a good start).

"I'd love to see it, if you wouldn't mind showing me." He replies, eagerly. A plant from another world! Of course he wants to see it. Maybe Julien will allow him to take a cutting.

Ah, that doesn't get the same kind of reaction, though Julien felt himself goosebump up for a moment just saying it. That still happens sometimes, if he hasn't heard a particular word in a while.

"Hah. Well, sure." Taking half a step back, Julien looks Gabriel up and down. He doesn't need to do that now. His peripheral vision is sharp and clear enough that looking directly at something doesn't improve things much. But it's important to make the gesture. "You wouldn't mean now, or..."

"It's up to you." Gabriel replies with a smile. "If it's convenient, then that's fine, but if not I can wait. I can give you my number - network or phone." Maybe he should be a little more weary about giving out his personal information, but sadly he never has. Not when it gets in the way of socialising.

"You probably should anyway." Julien's easy with that kind of thing. He's had little reason not to be, especially with fellow network-users.

A shrug. "It's a little messy at home, but if you don't mind! Do you have a car close by? I have a motorcycle and it can take two, but I don't have like a sidecar."

"Depends on your definition of close. It's at my flat, about twenty minutes." He points in the direction he came from as he speaks, although there's a more direct route than the one he actually took. He's pretty lucky to have a flat so close to the centre of the city really. It's one of the few things that he's always splashed out on for himself. "How far away is your place?"

Riding behind Julien is a little too familiar for a second meeting, even for Gabriel, so if his car is too far away and it's too far to walk he'll put it off for another day. There's no harm in that. New friends are always good, and besides, Julien can speak this strange new language that Gabriel apparently knows. "Have you got something to put my numbers down on? I can give you my mobile, but I only answer numbers I have a contact for." For somewhat obvious reasons, he's more flexible with his work phone.

Honestly one of the reasons Julien has a sidecar-less motorcycle and not some old beater of a car is that a bike is less useful to his friends for moving and job interviews and all the rest. He likes to help them but needs more time these days. Of course, it cuts both ways.

"Huh. It's an easy enough walk in better weather, but a little far like this. And I don't want to leave my motorcycle like that. I don't think anyone'll touch it, but... well." Julien considers. "On foot it's maybe ten, fifteen minutes if the snow's all been cleared. You could walk it if you'd like, but it's kind of rude for me to ask that of someone."

And as for that! Julien pulls out his cell phone. "Sure, sure. I can add you."

The snow and ice doesn't bother Gabriel that much, but it sounds like there's enough reasons to leave it for now. "Another time, then." He suggests with a smile. "If that's not too much trouble."

Gabriel doesn't need to pull out his own phone to reel off his phone number, but then hesitates. "Do you want my network number as well? Is there a trick to giving it?"

"Sure. You want to try and schedule something? I've got to be somewhere inside an hour, but there's later today." He shrugs. "Anyway, I'll give you my apartment address."

"Ah, personally I like to give everything except the last digit, and have that put in a separate category. That's so just entering the whole thing won't open a network connection. You know if you use someone else's number you send a message just to them, right? It's kind of like an answering machine. They won't see it until they check the network."

That sounds like a sensible way of doing things, and Gabriel gives Julien his number. "Then the last digit is two." At least there's no issue with trying to remember his own. "How often do you check it? I'm generally on once or twice a day, but rarely more than that." It's a good distraction from paperwork and he's normally on more on tuesdays and wednesdays.

"I'm at the uni on tuesdays and wednesdays and I have a photoshoot next monday, but otherwise I'm normally fairly flexible. One of the advantages of being mostly self employed." He smiles. "But we don't have to arrange something now, you can always send me a message later."

"Three, in my case. And it really depends. Sometimes I'll go a few days without checking it, sometimes I'm checking every few minutes. It depends on like if nothing's happening at work." A lot of that time had formerly been used to talk to Aaron. He'd have to... no, no, he was still going to spend it talking to Aaron, he knew his friend was lonely.

Anyway. "Yeah, that might work. My days tend to be loaded, but most of it's pretty flexible now that I'm not taking care of sick animals."

Gabriel chuckles and nods. "When there's something more important to be done I always find myself checking it more often." Although he should probably stop that, even if it does make a good distraction.

"Perhaps normal phones would be more sensible in any case." He suggests with a smile. "Let me know when's best for you." He hesitates, not sure of the best way to ask. "I don't suppose you have any notes on that... Elvish, do you?"

"Sure thing. It's almost always on!"

And a shrug. "Nothing really formal. Lists mostly, lots of phonetic translations of this or that. No "galu = blessings" sort of lists, just... lists, no English at all. Think those might work?" He'd had an easy enough time understanding what was said that he had progressed farther than he might have.

Gabriel hums, tilting his head. "From what's happened today I suspect it won't matter, but I'll have to see if it still works reading rather than listening to it." He can but hope. Still, assuming that it was an echo (and really, what else could it be?) he could always gain the ability to speak it sometime, but he'd rather not trust to that and do what he can to learn it.

"They work best for me if I read them out loud." He hasn't been taught the alphabet or really anything about the writing of it. "All right, I'll collect those for you. Na lû, then?" 'Until later'.

"Thanks." Gabriel smiles, bright and genuine. "I'll text you soon. See you!" He gives a wave and then leaves to let the younger man be, back on his walk and eventually back to his paperwork.