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Post by adrien on Aug 6, 2006 14:54:19 GMT -5
"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. ~Psalm 91
Adrien got out of the car and looked up at the house. She hoped no one was watching her from the windows.
It was still her instinct to turn to the Bible in times of doubt and need. It wasn't that she held true to the tenets of her faith at all times, in fact, more often than not it only confused her. She had hope there was truth in the midst of all the wrong her church and family had taught her through the years. She still felt God's love.
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Post by airlock on Aug 6, 2006 15:19:51 GMT -5
Lars had parked Lee's car up, returned the keys to her and had declined the invitation to come in. He felt that he would be out of place during such a personal time and had simply headed away, his head down, concentrating on keeping himself from either giggling like an idiot or asphyxiating.
Thus it was, that he didn't see the girl until he had almost trodden on her.
"Woah," he said, pulling himself up short. "Hey, I'm really sorry. I really have to start watching where I'm going. Didn't step on you there, did I?"
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Post by adrien on Aug 6, 2006 15:24:07 GMT -5
She laughed a little nervously, putting fingers out to steady him but barely touching him in the end.
"No, not at all... I'm perfectly fine. If you had it would have been my fault anyway. I think I'm loitering." She smiled.
"My name's Adrien. I'm.. well, new here I guess." She looked up at the house, and took a deep breath.
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Post by airlock on Aug 6, 2006 15:43:23 GMT -5
He smiled at her. "I'm not a gambling man," he said, pushing his sunglasses up his nose to both shade his eyes and for what he was now starting to realise was damage limitation. "But if I were, I'd put a good couple hundred bucks on you looking for Rogue's Place - would I be far wrong?"
The place seemed to attract so many pretty young girls. Once, when he'd been at college, one of Lars' friends had hypothesised that the nurse's college down the street had been built simply to furnish the young Lars with a different date every night.
"I'm Lars," he said, cheerfully. "I sort of stop by Rogue's Place and do the occasional odd job around the house for them. It's the builder in me. You can dress me up as an architect as much as you like, but I'm still happiest with a hammer in one hand and a nail in the other."
He stepped aside and pointed. "If you head just up that path there, there's definitely people home, although they might be in a bit of a state just now, there was some stuff on the news - mutant terrorists in Baltimore. It sort of affected them personally."
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Post by adrien on Aug 6, 2006 15:51:31 GMT -5
She smiled. Friendly people. It was a relief.
Adrien looked at the house and winced. "Youknow... I heard about that on the radio coming up. I wonder if I should just get a hotel room for tonight or something. I can't imagine..." she shook her head. "I really can't."
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Post by airlock on Aug 6, 2006 16:49:34 GMT -5
"I was heading to the supermarket to do a bit of shopping," he said, not quite knowing why he then proceeded to make the rest of his offer. "There's a little coffee place not too far. Why don't you come and have a coffee? Then I can call Marie - Rogue - and see if they're OK to take in another guest under the circumstances."
He grimaced at himself realising how absolutely appalling that must sound. "I mean, I'm not some sort of weirdo or anything, just trying to help. I understand if you don't want to trust me, but I'm harmless."
If only.
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Post by adrien on Aug 6, 2006 17:03:15 GMT -5
Adrien laughed lightly. His awkwardness was almost charming.
"No, no, that's fine." She had an easy way about her. Adrien had always been good at acting more courageous than she was.
"Did you want to take my car, or...?"
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Post by airlock on Aug 6, 2006 17:28:07 GMT -5
"It's in walking distance. About ten, fifteen minutes. But it's a pleasant walk." He smiled at her again. He thought pleasant thoughts and increased the oxygen levels in the immediate vicinity. Why the hell not give someone a pleasant day?
Back to keepin' it jovial.
"I have Marie's number in my phone," he said, waving it at her. "Do you want I should call her now? Let her know you've arrived and that I'm taking you out the way for a bit?"
He was still concerned that she might think he was some sort of lunatic out cruising for young girls.
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Post by adrien on Aug 6, 2006 17:32:51 GMT -5
She smiled, following him the direction they were going. "No, it's okay. I trust you." She nodded. And she did. He just didn't set her off as creepy.
"So are you... um...have you gotten the... Cure?"
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Post by airlock on Aug 6, 2006 17:42:31 GMT -5
Did he tell her the truth? He may as well. It was fact now, there was no denying it wasn't happening to him.
"I am and I have...and I am again," he said, a little cryptically as they walked. "That is to say, I was a mutant. I took the Cure, but ah - it seems that it's not working right on me. I have to take regular medication. A genetic problem, it seems. The illness I have is fighting the Cure. I need to take more of it."
His estimate was accurate and within ten minutes they had reached the coffee shop.
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Post by adrien on Aug 6, 2006 17:48:44 GMT -5
She sat down at a table and opened her purse, setting her cell phone down on the table.
"You're not saying your mutation was a disease, are you?" That would be strange, but not entirely out of line with what her family had thought. Her heart twisted. She hoped that was not the going theory at this place. Like those homes for gay kids the church was trying to 'fix'. The whole thing made her sick.
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Post by airlock on Aug 8, 2006 16:27:58 GMT -5
"No, no, not my mutation. I have haemophilia, which is a genetic disease and which a doctor I spoke with yesterday thinks that it has something to do with why my dose of the Cure is wearing off. Although I think it might have actually worn off completely now. But that could simple be because I'm aware of it now. I don't know."
He stopped talking and ordered a coffee and a doughnut for himself.
"Where have you travelled from?" he asked, attempting to steer the conversation down a different path.
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Post by adrien on Aug 8, 2006 17:17:20 GMT -5
Adrien smiled, nodding to the waiter as he walked away. "Georgia actually, Atlanta to be specific. I grew up in Du Pont, but I go to Georgia State. Or... I did anyway."
She looked around them. "It's not the first time I've been out here," she yawned a little. "It's a nice drive. THen again I'm a southern girl at heart." She glanced back at him.
"And you?"
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Post by airlock on Aug 9, 2006 15:47:57 GMT -5
"Me? Oh, I'm from Sweden originally, but live in Boston most of the time now. I'm down here on a mall-building project which isn't going as well as I'd have liked...but then there's time for things to look up."
Their coffees were delivered to the table and he sipped at it. His mobile phone began ringing and he made a face at it. "They say there's no rest for the wicked," he said. "And I must have done something particularly wrong in a past life to deserve this." He picked it up: it was his boss back in Boston calling.
"I'm sorry, Adrien," he said. "I really have to take this, excuse me."
Polite to the last, the young engineer stood up and exited the coffee shop so as not to inflict his conversation on everyone present.
He returned about five minutes later looking highly stressed.
"I have to go back to work," he said. "Bit of a crisis. But listen, I'll give you Marie - Rogue's - number - you give her a call and tell her you're coming, give them a chance to be ready for you? You OK here?" He put down some cash to pay for the coffee (which he'd not finished).
He looked *very* stressed.
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Post by adrien on Aug 9, 2006 16:35:01 GMT -5
Adrien looked mildly concerned... or amused... or annoyed, but it was hard to tell. Either way she smiled, and nodded.
"Don't worry about me. Go, go." She took a sip of her coffee, and wished she'd brought a book.
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Post by airlock on Aug 9, 2006 16:56:16 GMT -5
He stared at her for a moment, then sat down again on the chair and buried his head in his hands.
"The company just went bust," he said, miserably. "All the effort I put in trying to save people's jobs...for nothing. And guess who's got the fun job of going back to the office to tell everyone that in four week's time, that's it?"
The atmosphere was strangely oppressive, like a thunderstorm brewing, but more so. Even given the normally humid Mississippi air, it seemed suddenly heavier.
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Post by adrien on Aug 9, 2006 22:16:49 GMT -5
Adrien's eyebrows raised. It wasn't every day someone's tragedy dropped on the table... over coffee no less.
She pushed his cup towards him slowly. He looked like he needed it.
Suddenly it felt like Atlanta in July, and she took off her cardigan, looking at him. "Hope is like a bird that senses dawn and carefully starts to sing while it is still dark, my friend. Take a deep breath."
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Post by airlock on Aug 10, 2006 2:15:06 GMT -5
Lars picked up his coffee and took a deep gulp of it. He had been expecting the news, but still it had hit him with all the force of reality. He'd done well with the firm. They'd nurtured him, encouraged him, brought him to the level he was at now - and in one fell swoop, that was it. No more. Gone. Adios. Bye-bye.
"What am I going to do?" he said, far more to himself than to Adrien. "They say bad things come in threes, right? I've had two. I'm now officially dreading the third."
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Post by adrien on Aug 10, 2006 12:29:30 GMT -5
She watched him for a while, taking a slow drink of coffee.
"You know... forgive me if it's not my place, but... it must seem immense to you, but in the long run... what does a company mean? A job? People find other jobs, people build other companies. You're young." And you seem intelligent, she thought to herself. "I'm willing to bet that you'll have a plan by the end of the week."
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Post by airlock on Aug 11, 2006 14:02:46 GMT -5
He smiled, lightening up a bit. "You're right. I have savings. I'm sure something else will come along. It's just that I'm kinda attached to this place. They've been pretty good to me - overlooked the dyslexia that most other companies would use as a reason to pass me over and promoted me on pure merit alone. Ah...hell."
Lars took several deep breaths and steadied his equilibrium.
"I DO have to head back to the office, though. Can I walk you back to Rogue's Place? And hey - thank you for saying what I needed to hear. Helps no end."
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