open

[babermetrics]

Who: babermetrics & anyone else who would like to join him in these trying times
When: IC 2/11 and 2/12
Where: Shopping District; Library
What: Everything is ruined forever. (Or, there's creepy event stuff afoot.)
Rating/Warning: None as of now!

---

[2/11; action; shopping]

[There comes a time in every man's life when he needs some new bling.

Or at least in this man's life. Leon's taking a lazy day today to shop around in the specialty stores, and it was only a matter of time before he found his way to an assortment of interesting jewelry to, y'know, stick in the holes in his face. Not that he's doing that to anything he hasn't purchased. Come on, who would do that?

Instead he's gathering up a little stockpile of the barbells and hoops that look like they might be interesting additions to the holes in his face; he twists out his own labret, carefully, and turns to the handy little countertop mirror to hold one up to his chin to at least get an idea of whether it'd look good on him or not.

Then he squints, frowns, and starts wiping at the mirror with his hand.

It helps about as much as you'd expect wiping a mirror with a hand to help anything.

But this still isn't right, even that aside. Leon looks around the shop, rubs at his eyes, looks back at the mirror. Finally, he says, loudly enough to hopefully get the attention of either an employee or another bored patron with nothing better to do than assist:]

Hey, what's up with this thing? This is nasty, man, you can't expect anyone to use this thing! Can we get some friggin' cleaner over here?

[If you happen to catch a glimpse in the mirror yourself, though . . . actually, it looks fine. Just a light smudge where he wiped his fingers.

What's with that?]


[2/12; action; library]

[Visiting the library today? You might bump into Leon there--but only if you're really clumsy about where you're walking, because he's not exactly moving around browsing books. Instead he's asleep in a chair, again. This isn't the first time this has happened; in fact, it's becoming something of a habit . . .

He's out of the way, at least, but there he is taking up a spot you might want to sit in. It's a very comfy chair, behind a coffee table, and he's completely conked out in it. No snoring, but he's got one foot up on the table like a total asshole, who even does that? And he looks very asleep, like maybe he really needed this.

There's something else: a little sign he's written out and propped up on the table in front of him. It says

DO NOT DISTURB

And then, in smaller letters underneath, like it was an afterthought:

but please wake me up if something looks wrong with me

The handwriting is kind of shaky-looking.

There's also a big, thick textbook open on his lap, and that's honestly the weirdest part of this whole scene, if you know him at all.]

Comments

Library

[notsolomon]

[Oh look who it is. The loafer, sleeping in the library again. Someone should really wake him. A dutiful Librarian perhaps...

Unfortunately, this Librarian is actually not working today, having come into catch up on some reading. He can't settle down at home for some reason that he cannot name. It's hard to shake the feeling that he's living with a stranger. Which is irrational. It's Kevin of all people. And yet...

So he'd come here and picked up a suitable book to while away some hours.

Glancing at Leon, William decided to take the chair across from him, because why not? He paused though when he saw that textbook. Since when? And what was he even reading?

He found himself reaching out to look at it then paused, shaking his head. No, this is stupid. But...

He reached out to grab it quickly. Surely he wouldn't awaken his unexpected companion.]

[babermetrics]

[The textbook is a thick physics book, college level, open on his lap to a page without even any pictures! Incredible. And it's half falling off his lap; the only reason it hasn't yet is that his hand is resting on the edge, palm down. The weight keeps it balanced enough that it doesn't slip off onto the floor, but it's pretty easy to slip out from under there.

But then again, the slide of the pages under Leon's hand is enough to start to bring him around. He jerks--not quite awake. Half awake, not quite managing a blink. His eyelashes flutter, and he sits up straighter in the chair, clearly on his way to awake.

He'd been deeply asleep earlier, but was already beginning to pull up into something shallower in his sleep cycle. It's still disorienting, though, waking (half) up in a chair and not his bed, and not quite able to identify the sensation of the book slipping away.]

--Nnnhh?

[notsolomon]

[Wow that is a pretty seriously heavy topic for this guy to be reading. Some it's even beyond William and he's both impressed and appalled. Before he can become fully infuriated at this twist of fate though, William sees Leon stir and in a panic pulls back, letting the book drop and quickly buries his nose back in his own book.

Because man how embarrassingly childish! Despite himself though, he can't help but glance and see if Leon is actually waking up.]

[babermetrics]

[There was still a chance he might fall back asleep until the book hits the ground. Unfortunately for William, it's heavy, and the thud it makes is loud enough to get a half-awake Leon to transform into a fully-awake Leon. He sits up almost straight in his chair and lifts a hand to rub at his eyes; he's not as startled as he could be by the sound of the book falling. It's happened to him before.

He is a little surprised to see William sitting there. But eh, he's probably on duty, right? Here to kick Leon out, maybe. He'd assumed this might happen even with his sign up.]

--Hey? Hey, it's you . . . you gonna boot me?

[notsolomon]

[He slowly tilts down his book, as if his attention hadn't left it until Leon dropped his book.

Play it cool William, Play it cool.]

No, I am actually off duty and this was the best spot to read.

[He let's his eyes drift to the book on the floor as if seeing it for the first time.]

...I thought you hated reading.

[babermetrics]

[Leon doesn't notice the deception; he's distracted, for one thing, but honestly he probably wouldn't anyway.

He's being treated normally, though, and that's a relief. He can kind of ignore everything going wrong with him right now when he's around someone else who doesn't seem to notice any of it. So he follows William's gaze to the book on the floor, and then bends down to grab it, with a sheepish laugh.]

Man, you think I was really readin' this? You're crazy! No one could understand this stuff! I just grabbed the thickest book I could find 'cuz I figured it'd help me get to sleep!

[That's right, he's using advanced physics as sleeping pills.

Now that's genius.]

[notsolomon]

[If he wasn't worried about going back home to deal with a person he suddenly barely remembers as more than a servant/torturer, he would probably notice how haggard Leon looked.

But well, William can lower his book and look a little... disgusted? Relieved?]

Of course. I should have guessed.

[Then again, hadn't he always found that a sermon was the best way to get some shut eye? Could he really talk? Well yes he could. It was okay when he did it. Totally.]

...I suppose it is better that than taking something like Laudanum.

[babermetrics]

[When he goes to grab the book, he has to concentrate extra hard to do so, feeling around it more than looking at it--but he tries to make it as unnoticeable as possible. If William's distracted, that's just fine by Leon. He doesn't exactly want to let on that he's maybe going crazy, or maybe having a serious medical issue. Those things are both best treated by ignoring the hell out of them until he's forced not to!

It only takes him one near-miss to get the book up into his lap, anyway, where he sets it there closed, and then he lifts his gaze again and gives William a curious look.]

. . . I dunno what that is, but maybe you oughta write it down for me, like, just in case.

[notsolomon]

[Is this guy so incompetent that he can't even pic up a book, doing it as slowly as that?]

It's a mixture of Opium and Alcohol. So it is probably illegal here. Though I am sure those black market people could get you that. Though I do not think potential drug addiction is the route to go for... whatever it is you are planning to do.

[He didn't question that stuff too much, beyond thinking Opium needed to be more highly regulated.]

[babermetrics]

[It does look like something's up--or maybe that his competence is way, way down--as he picks up the book, but once it's in his hand, he's fine. He doesn't spend long looking down at it, though; he just kicks back in the chair and regards William instead, with some interest and some dubious amusement.]

My master plan was totally just to get some friggin' sleep, man. Damn, all right, I get the point! I don't wanna end up addicted to shit either! Actually, I don't even know the drinking age here . . . it ain't like this is a "real" country. If they're handin' out coupons for hookers shouldn't it be legal for me to drink too?

[notsolomon]

Oh they do not care about your age here. I have brought brandy and wine before.

[Granted, it seemed to all get drunk up by a person he was living with.]

...to change the subject back though, I have to ask: do you have some sort of sleep disorder that you are always sleeping in libraries? Because there are medical professionals that can fix that here. And despite their dubiousness, they will not do something as horrid as putting leeches on you.

[babermetrics]

[Aw man, he changed the subject back. Leon makes a face, lip briefly curling; the word disorder just makes him sound like some kind of freak, and why would he want to talk to a doctor when he doesn't have to? He's got this under control! He has a whole library full of boring-ass books!]

I don't have a disorder or anythin', damn! Come on! Don't you ever get trouble sleepin'? Maybe I wouldn't if this place wasn't so screwed up.

[No, he would. He has plenty to lose sleep over. But this latest event crap is definitely helping even less than usual. He frowns down at his own hand again, briefly, but he refuses to look at it for too long. It'll go away . . . right?]

Don't even try and tell me nothin' ever gets to you, man!

[notsolomon]

[Well yes, plenty got to him. Even here away from all his problems back home, William regularly found himself unable to sleep.

And well right now, he couldn't even get comfortable in his house.

Still he found himself flinching unexpectedly.]

So what if it does. I just deal with it like any rational person does. I take a walk or I punish the person causing the problem.

library

[topscores]

[He really wants to just get some peace and quiet for once when he gets into the library, trying to get rid of the music...

So he just kind of scoots in on this and looks at the guy sleeping on the chair.

...

He picks up a flyer that's near the entrance, and wads it up.

...

Casually throws it at Leon's head.]

[babermetrics]

[Good call tbh.

A few things happen in quick succession: Leon jerks awake with a start, and the book slips from his lap and lands on the floor with a thud; he makes a grab for it as it's falling and misses rather badly. How'd he miss that badly? His face twists with frustration as the book falls. Shit, did I get even worse while I was asleep?!

Finally he jerks his head up to look at the "intruder." This terrible, awful intruder into a public space which Leon isn't using properly, right.]

--What the hell, what'd you do? What was that?

[topscores]

[Nice is going to stick his hands into his vest pockets as he shrugs a little bit. He's going to...attempt to look completely innocent in this matter, even though it's still obvious he did it.]

I didn't do anything. Some guy threw something at you -- I didn't catch what it was, though.

[What a liar.]

[babermetrics]

[You know, he might have actually gotten away with that, if anyone else were in the vicinity. Leon gives him a look, then glances around to check out who else in the area might look suspicious--but it's kind of hard for anyone else in the area to look suspicious when no one else is in the area. When he turns back to Nice, which doesn't take long to happen, his expression says what a liar. Or maybe holy shit, what a fuckin' liar!]

Dude, you're full of shit! There's no one else even standin' here! Do I look that stupid to you?

[Don't answer that.]

Screw off!

[topscores]

[Yeah, well. He can try. And yeah, he pretty much is full of shit -- Leon figured it out more quickly than some people.]

He ran away -- you really just missed him.

[Even though he knows it's a losing battle...]

What? Even if I did do it, I might've just saved you from being pickpocketed or something. Don't you know someone might steal your stuff if you fall asleep in public?

[babermetrics]

[ . . . Okay, he has a point.

More importantly, if this guy's a prick, Leon wouldn't put it past him to have taken some of Leon's stuff himself and then pointed it out like he was doing a good deed. He pats his pockets; he tries to do it subtly, though, like he doesn't want to let on that he's taking this advice to heart. Because he doesn't. Who needs you, asshole, he totally would've thought of that himself!

He doesn't even deign to look down at himself while he does it--for one thing, right now that's not going to guide him much anyway--but just keeps his eyes on Nice's face instead, trying to look very casual and very unimpressed.]

Yeah, yeah, whatever. If you were tryin' to help me out why would you lie about it, huh? Maybe I oughta go find that guy who "ran off" and give him a big handshake if that's how it is!

[topscores]

[Nice is at least perceptive, because even though Leon's acting subtle about it, he still notices that he's patting his pockets. He raises an eyebrow at him, but doesn't really say anything yet because Leon speaks up anyway.]

...Man, you caught me. Besides, I'm pretty sure there'd be an old lady yelling at someone who just ran through a library like that.

[He really gave it up quickly...]

[babermetrics]

[He sure did. Leon snorts and rolls his eyes; he's less upset about some dude throwing something at him than being treated like he's stupid, so the guy admitting it is a step up, in his opinion. Not that it's not still annoying.

But he sits back in the chair with his arms crossed, and then crosses his legs too, on second thought. Look how done he is with checking his pockets! That totally didn't even happen.]

What's your deal, you just get off on screwin' with random dudes you run into? That was an awesome nap you just ruined! You only wish you could nap like that! I was in the zone, man!

[topscores]

[Totally didn't happen at all...never.]

Why not? Like I said, I'm helping you out. It's a library, but that means they just have to be quiet about pickpocketing.

[Well.]

They already have to be quiet in the first place, anyway, but still.

[babermetrics]

There ain't no way you did that outta the good of your heart. How long'd you spend makin' up this shitty excuse, huh? It's like you're goin' out of your way to suck so much at this just to piss me off more!

[Maybe that is what he's doing. Well, it's working, and even if Leon's right, the knowledge of it isn't going to make it work any less.

Not to mention he's not getting any sleep after this. He considers getting up, but if this guy's just trying to get him out of the chair, that's like admitting defeat! So he just slouches even more, sinking into the cushions, arms on the rests and legs spread.]

[topscores]

[These two are the worst.]

Probably about thirty seconds.

[At least he's being honest about it, though.]

I'm not going out of my way to do anything...maybe I'm just bored. I didn't know you'd be so loud, though.

[He's so rude.]

[babermetrics]

[It's not like Leon takes offense at being called loud. Some of the opposite, in fact. He's not deliberately raising his voice to be obnoxious in the library or anything, but he's not lowering it to be respectful either.]

What, do I look like the quiet type to you? Ha ha! You oughta know better than that! You come off real new to this pickin' on people thing. Don't most people go through that phase in middle school?