[ pae-a-nêl | voice and action | Locke City + Neuschwanstein | feeling 22]

[elfstoned]

[VOICE]

This is Dr. Aaron Strider. I'd like to formally announce that LSR Clinic will be closing for good as soon as I can get the paperwork in. It shouldn't take more than a month or so, and the other doctor there will see you if you have any emergencies.

[The eyeroll is audible. Also, his voice sounds...younger. Definitely younger.]

I'm also withdrawing from Number-related activities. It's been very nice working with all of you, but Locke City isn't where I need to be. I'm reenlisting as soon as I can.



[ACTION]

Who: DouchebagDouble!Aaron and you in either Neuschwanstein or Locke | bonus: prompt for Aaron himself
What: D!Aaron is trying to enlist but having a hard time getting them to believe his identification isn't fake. He's also less than pleased about having to go back through the teleporter every night. Original!Aaron is just going running.
Where: Locke City army recruitment center OR Neuschwanstein Castle for the copy; all over Locke for Aaron himself
When: Over the course of this week! Any time of day for D!Aaron, morning for original-flavor.
Warnings: He's going to be a real jerk. There's a very real risk of classism and macho pro-Army propaganda. Also, thanks to a recent Echo the real Aaron hasn't told anyone about, he's been de-aged to about 25. So there's that. Also, prose and action are both fine! Specify which Aaron and which location you want in your subject line.

Locke City:

Aaron Strider -- or at least, it resembles Aaron Strider, but Aaron Strider never dressed that sharp -- comes storming out of the tiny office in the strip mall. He's tried three of these so far, but the driver's license he presents doesn't resemble him anymore.

He drops heavily down onto a bench and drops his head back, the picture of exhausted frustration. He takes his driver's license out of his pocket and looks at it, then rolls his eyes and sighs, letting his hand drop to the bench. It's all very theatrical.

Neuschwanstein:

He's sitting on a bench, obviously uncomfortable. He's in a blazer, pressed pants, shiny shoes, and has a matching scarf slung loosely around his neck over a nice button-up shirt, and it's not nearly warm enough for February in Germany. Aaron is clearly trying not to shiver -- he is too damn proud to put on a heavier jacket.

Locke City:

It's early morning, around seven or eight a.m., and Aaron Strider is going for a run. What else do you do, when you wake up and your body feels fifteen years younger, when the low-level wear and tear that comes with being upwards of 35 disappears? His employees know what's happened, of course, but Aaron hasn't found it in him to tell anyone else yet, at least not outright. He's not completely used to it yet, to the feeling of his body changing without his permission.

But he's used to it enough to take advantage of it. Aaron wakes up a good hour before he usually does, and he ties on a pair of sneakers, zips up a light hoodie, and hits the pavement. He'll go seven or eight miles at least, and in no particular direction, letting the runner's high carry him. He'll do this several mornings, over about a week and a half.

Comments

Action, Locke with the Doppelganger

[chalicejoker]

It's been some time since Hajime's seen Dr. Strider. Seems like it was so long ago, too, back when the network first became live and they all started having strange crap happen to them. Back when Hajime just had green blood and not a full terrifying bugmonster form.

...that is the doctor leaving that tiny office in the strip mall, isn't it? And Hajime had heard he'd gotten his numbers back, maybe that explained the difference in appearance. Pulses could do weird things. He'd approach, and if it turned out he had the wrong guy, no big deal. If it had been anyone else, Hajime might have been tempted to move on, but the guy who ran the clinic deserved to be checked on. "...Dr. Strider?"

Locke - original

[hustru]

The first day, he's just another early runner, one of these that she sees once or twice and who are gone after that, once the inspirational resolution and the alarm clock have lost to the desire for more sleep.

But he shows up again, and on the third day that she sees him she starts to nod at him - it's a bit awkward, but, she realizes, she's getting used to American habits of just greetings lots of strangers.

Two days later, her puppy Floweregg is with her, and after they've run the same path for a bit, the dog speeds up and runs a circle around Aaron before heading back to her mistress, and then a second time, and then a third.

[action], Locke with the double!

[grannyfucker]

Jovan is attracted to the theatrical, which is what draws him to the extremely emotive fellow on the bench by the strip mall. The bench is completely empty, but Jovan chooses to sit right next to him, even throwing an arm back over the bench so that he's practically draped his arm on the man's shoulder. It's then that he looks down at the driver's license.

"Oh, the old driver's license photo, eh? Don't worry buddy," he pats him on the back twice, "Sometimes, we just go to the DMV after we've done some heroin and look like we're fifty years older than we actually are." He shakes his head sadly, looking into the distance. "It happens to the best of us."

[espigeonage]

It's dark this early in the morning. The sky is paling on the horizon, there are street lights, and the other blessing from the change is that his eyes are larger and he can see fine in light levels that were too dim before.

The main blessing is that he's fantastic at flying. All the rest of it aside he can choose how loudly he moves. Flap with a sound like a thunderclap - he's big - or a high quiet wshhh; glide silently, or let the air catch his trailing feather tips with a roar. It's silently and from a height that he stalks a lone runner in a neighborhood without a lot of those, especially in February.

If only he knew how to throw his voice. Well, he can still have fun. Say something, move on before things get awkward and possibly before it's even noticed what is speaking, and if this guy falls and breaks something anyway, well. "Black ice on the next intersection. It's not salted."

[elfstoned]

Well, at least Hajime was using his title, even if the green blood did make him kind of a freak.

"Oh, it's you," he says. "What was your name again...Ha-..." He snaps his fingers, trying to recall the name. "You were the one with the green blood. Uhhh..."

Whoops, so much for confidentiality or any kind of secrecy.

[elfstoned]

He's returned the nod with a look that's not quite a smile but not unfriendly. She's a fixture of the route he runs, but he probably would have left things in friendly silence if Floweregg hadn't been so friendly.

The third time it happens, Aaron slows to a walk and then stops, crouching down to get a look at the dog.

"Showing off, are you?" he asks cheerfully. Then, under his breath, he murmurs, "Nerin lim."

He doesn't reach out to pet Floweregg, though -- he won't, without the owner's permission.

oh my god this is beautiful, you incredible asshole

[elfstoned]

Immediately, Aaron is put on the defensive, because wow how dare this scruffy toothpick imply he uses drugs.

"I hope you're not talking from experience," Aaron shoots back, with passive-aggressive nastiness, shifting back and away as far as he can get without looking completely ridiculous, "but looking at you, I honestly can't say."

[elfstoned]

Congratulations.

You've successfully snuck up on Aragorn.

He stumbles -- nearly trips, throwing out an arm wildly to get his center of balance back, and skids to a halt, whirling around. That voice was coming from up, and up he looks.

"Julien!" And the voice is definitely his. "God damn, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Aaron's forgotten, for the moment, that his face has changed.

[espigeonage]

Julien shoots past overhead as the person stumbles, dragging air in his wake, and wobbles when he hears Aaron's voice. He makes a U-turn, heeling over on one side so one wing is higher than the other, seeming entirely too close to the nearest building as he glides back, flying more over the street than the sidewalk.

"Oh. Suil!" And he shoots past again, his wake turbulent, again. Julien can hover but it's a lot of effort and noisy and dramatic as hell, not worth trying to do while talking to someone. He makes another U-turn and this time flares and backwings, almost as loud and theatrical as if he were hovering, whipping up debris and salt and snow until he lands quite lightly. "The fuck happened to your face?"

[grannyfucker]

Jovan flashes back a winning smile, something so precious and genuine it looks like it could come straight out of a photoshoot.

"Me?" He places his hand flat against his chest. "Nah, I've never done anything worse than a bit of skunk."

Then he lightly jabs a finger right into Aaron's chest. "You, however." He moves the finger down to the driver's license and taps at the photo. "You look like you've seen better days. You're looking pretty good by comparison now, though. Still got a couple wrinkles to iron out here and there, but mostly? Not bad! How many days have you been clean now, eight? It's amazing what a day without sucking cock for heroin will do for ya!"

[chalicejoker]

It is a mark of just how messed-up Hajime's life has gotten that mentioning just the green blood doesn't get him too worked up. Strider could have called him the guy who turned into the giant bug, after all. There's still a jerk of surprise and a quick look over his shoulder to make sure no one's overheard. "Yeah. That's me. Hajime. Heard you got your numbers back." He shrugs. "Guess it's true, unless you've had work done."

[elfstoned]

"That was it," Aaron replies genially. "Sorry. It's hard to remember names on top of all the weird pulses, you know? I saw so many of them -- you wouldn't believe some of the shit that came through that clinic."

The friendly tone contrasts sharply with the nasty sentiment.

[elfstoned]

Aaron has absolutely no idea what skunk is and honestly doesn't care; he has no idea what the kids are calling it these days and does not want to know. It firmly cements Jovan in his mind as drug-user, though.

However, there's something more pressing: this complete stranger had accused him of unthinkable things. Horror and disgust flash clearly across Aaron's face -- he's revolted and insulted and already well on the road to losing his patience. He doesn't have much of it to begin with.

"That," he begins, turning to face Jovan fully, sitting up, "was completely uncalled-for." He slips the driver's license into his pocket. "Clearly you're coming down from something yourself, so I'm going to give you once chance to walk away from here and crawl back to whatever shithole you're sleeping in."

[elfstoned]

Oh. Oh, wow. That is impressive.

Aaron actually does stare as Julien comes in to land -- that's quite a thing to see, with a bird that large. It absolutely does show on his face -- which, speaking of, there's a moment of confusion when Julien mentions it. For a split second, Aaron wonders if he's been hurt or if there's something on it, but he quickly remembers what it is Julien must be talking about.

"Oh -- right. I woke up like this," he says, "about two days ago." It had been happening for a while, to be honest, but it was only the other day that he'd looked in the mirror and really looked different.

[espigeonage]

Yeah. He knows. It really is the best thing about this. When Julien had got the wings and become used to using them he had from time to time been frustrated. Gliding was well and good but he hadn't had the muscle to fly strongly, like what part of him longed for. Now... well. Flying as slowly as a human can run is a practiced effort.

-anyway. God. Julien's pupils adjust, wider and then smaller again. He remembers that Gabriel a year ago had been a well-preserved fifty, and he'd changed at a slow enough rate that most people had been slow to notice for quite a while. This is different.

It's dismaying seeing Aaron look younger than Julien should. A reminder, he supposes. There is no stability. Even on the network there is no one like him, they all get pulses with fewer downsides. He'll probably die younger than any of them, Aaron included. His inner eyelids show and his feathers pull in a little closer to his body, but he controls his voice.

"Yeah, I thought your voice over the network was weird." He tilts his head and makes a wry note. "I didn't know it was you. You look naked in the cold without that coat, you know."

[handwritten; private]

[wastingtime]

Aaron, what the devil are you doing?

[chalicejoker]

"I've got a pretty good idea." Hajime's bristling at that sentiment, and his own tone isn't quite so friendly anymore. "People are suffering because of all this."

[grannyfucker]

Jovan feigns shock, placing a hand to his chest and leaning out a bit as if gasping. "What? Me, on something?" He drops the act and grins. "Well, obviously I've done a few things here and there before, but nah, not right now. I've got things I need to get done!"

He pats Aaron on the back. "Like getting you to a drug rehab program, buddy!"

[notbloody]

Floweregg shakes her head in an oddly human gesture. Totally not showing off! She's just interested in people, and there's so many people out here that she can meet and look at and Siiri with her long, but not particularly fast running sessions can get a bit boring. It's much better to race around until she is all spent and then have her mistress carry her the rest of the way.

Siiri, meanwhile, speeds up a bit to catch up with the man and the dog sooner.

[elfstoned]

"Well, yeah," he says, because if you reverse everything about Aaron he can't think of anyone besides himself. "It's giving me a really hard time. I'm having unbelievable amounts of trouble enlisting because of this last pulse." He gestures at his face, as if it's such a trial being young again.

[elfstoned]

Well, aren't you curious. He's never seen a dog act quite like that.

When Siiri gets close enough, Aaron will look up at her, still crouched on the ground.

"She's yours, isn't she?" he calls.

[elfstoned]

Aaron shoves the hand away, none too gently.

"Walk away," he says, in the tone of someone who takes himself entirely too seriously. "You've had your fun, now quit while you're ahead."

[text; private]

[elfstoned]

Closing the clinic and joining the army. It's exactly what it looks like.

[elfstoned]

....ah.

He understands, he thinks. He knows enough of Julien, and of what Julien wrote in the hotel in Germany, and of what Mordin went through over a year ago, to be able to piece together where the defensiveness is coming from.

"If it helps," he says, sticking his hands in his pockets and tilting his head to the side, "I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. I distinctly remember that Aragorn's face was enough to frighten a small town."

[espigeonage]

It figures Aaron would be the one who's best at reading Julien, even if only broad strokes are possible. Subtle expressions on a talking bird are really subtle.

"I assume your staff knows." He tilts his head in return, aware that it's a different-looking gesture coming from him. "Well, they'd have to, it'd be hard to miss even with normal eyes. What is up with your hair? Did you have it like that at uni?"