Day 49: Late Afternoon - T & M Electronics
The rain was really picking up by the time McCoy left the bar. A roll of thunder rumbled through the air. He paused under the awning, squinting up at the dark sky. He hadn't seen a storm like this in years. Not since Earth. It was looking to outdo any storm he'd ever seen too. Was it safe to even drive through this weather? If he was worried about
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Besides, it wasn't as if he was scared of rain or anything. He was comfortable in water, and while this obviously wasn't the same as taking a swim, it wasn't like getting a little drenched was going to hurt him. (He wasn't even sure if "a little drenched" made much sense, but that wasn't the point.)
Guy was definitely soaked by the time he made it to T & M. He threw off the hood of his red windbreaker as he walked into the store and let out a sigh of relief. "That wasn't so bad," he muttered to himself, despite the fact that he was dripping wet.
None of that mattered to him anymore, though, since he had a veritable goldmine of gadgets to look through. Guy was careful to try and wipe his wet hands off on his leggings, but since those were just as wet, he ended up having to ask one of the employees for some paper towels to dry off with. They weren't too happy about the way he was tracking mud in, but they did appreciate that he was careful about his handling of the electronics.
Once he'd shaken enough of the water off of him, Guy started to browse the store with a large grin on his face. He wished he'd thought to tell Edgar about this place. It would be a shame if the man missed visiting it on his first trip here.
[For Erika.]
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An electronics store was the place she chose, Erika's eyes lighting up with interest. Not because she would be able to take anything useful, but because the state of a town's electronics could tell you much about them. She made her rounds, looking at each object with great interest. She recognized quite a few Japanese brands here and there, but this place was clearly American.
And how advanced it was! Erika recognized the walkmans, a revolutionary (and expensive) little gadget, but here, they were quite affordable to the average person... and varied. Certainly, some of these designs and brands were unfamiliar to her. Technology had advanced here, though not to the point where Erika could consider this the distant future. Still, it was an interesting observation and gave her some more needed information about where and when she was, exactly.
The detective looked up, noticing a man across from her who was staring at the devices with a grin on his face. Clearly, he was happy to be here. Perhaps he knew a little more about these things; she made her way around the display and placed herself right next to the young man, giving him an amused look.
"Are you familiar with these?" She asked, in lieu of a greeting. That could come later.
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There was nothing to be scared of, he tried to tell himself. The young girl, who was probably around Anise's age, only wanted his help. Doing his best to cover up that little hiccup, he cleared his throat and focused on answering her question.
"Sort of," he said with a weak smile. "I'm not originally from Earth, so a lot of it is still pretty new to me, but I've been picking up some knowledge about the electronics during my time here." Guy wished he would have had more time to dedicate to learning about these Earth-style gadgets, but it just wasn't practical most of the time.
"Was there something in particular you were curious about?" he asked with a tilt of his head. "I might not be able to help, but I can give it a shot." That had been a pretty smooth recovery, right? Girls needed to learn to not sneak up on him like that!
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That amused look changed into something quite serious when he answered her question though, saying he was not "from Earth". The detective stepped closer to him, as if trying to examine him. Of course, a mental hospital like this place was bound to have a few patients who were actually mentally ill. This man was starting to fit the description.
"Not from Earth? Then, where are you from, if you don't mind my asking?" Erika quizzed him, adamant in keeping the space between them as minimal as possible. She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt; there were obviously people here from other timelines, but this was the first time she met someone who explicitly said he wasn't from Earth. Of course, the fact he knew this planet's name was enough for her to doubt him.
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Trying to keep away from her also meant that he was finding it hard to answer the girl's questions. Even though he did want to be able to have a conversation with her, the way the stranger was ignoring personal space made that quite the feat.
"I'm from a place called Auldrant," he said, his voice a bit higher than normal, even as he tried to stay composed. He hadn't actually yelled or anything yet, which was good. That usually only happened if he was actually touched, and this girl had thankfully refrained from doing that. So far. He might have said more about the world he came from if he wasn't under so much stress, but as things were, that was about all he could get out.
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Normally, Erika would have been puzzling over this little mystery, but she was momentarily distracted by how amusing it was. Would she be able to guide him over the counter like this? Erika tried it, continuing to walk forward while keeping her eyes trained on her destination. It was pretty surprising how malicious she was looking, despite the fact she was keeping a smile on her face the whole time.
"Auldrant? I've never heard of a place like that. Interesting! Would you tell me more about this 'Auldrant'?" Of course, the whole time, Erika was insisting on violating the man's personal space. Anyone looking at the scene might have thought she was bullying him with the way her eyes maliciously glinted as an idea came to her.
If he freaked out this much simply because of distance...
"No, really, I must know! Why don't we talk elsewhere..." She grinned, extending her arm with the intent of grabbing his own in a gesture that made it sound like she wanted to pull him off to a more comfortable corner.
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She was doing this on purpose, wasn't she?
That didn't mean he had it in him to call it on her or even hold his ground. Guy continued to back away until he felt his back press against a solid surface, which meant that he really had nowhere else to go. He tried to search around for someone who could help him, but before he could make eye contact with either a nurse or one of the store's employees, the strange girl started to grab for him.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGH!" The scream was loud enough to pierce through the relative quiet of the store and most likely alerted everyone in there to what was going on. Which hopefully meant that someone would help him. Guy, meanwhile, had crouched down to the floor (anything to get away from her) and covered his head as some sort of defense mechanism.
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She was well aware that the sight of a grown man cowering before a young girl like her was going to raise more brows than prompt actual cries for help. Still, perhaps she thought a little consideration should be showed, just in case people. So Erika took a step back, crouching down so that she was eye level with the man and not so close this time, lest he collapse at the thought of having her breathe on him.
"Forgive me, it seems like I've startled you," Erika pointed out, though her statement was hardly an apology. On the contrary, she looked just as amused as ever. Whatever secret this man was hiding, Erika seemed determined to drag out, now that she had found an obvious weakness. "Did I overstep my boundaries?"
Germophobe, she thought, but he seemed rather enthusiastic about touching the electronics and any germaphobe would have shuddered at the thought of touching store displays. No, that couldn't be it. Perhaps he was frightened of children; there were a few of them around, but more adults than children. A recovering pedophile? Maybe, she would have to see if a nurse would separate them. It seemed a little unlikely though; since there were children here, great care would be taken to separate this man from there. Then, perhaps he was afraid of something else about her?
It was probably a little sad how thoughtful Erika looked, trying to analyze what was wrong with this man.
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His first instinct was to apologize, since he knew it was his issue and not hers, and yet the girl's behavior didn't make Guy feel too inclined to do that. "I just... I have this phobia," he admitted, not wanting to go into more details than that if he didn't have to. Once again, he wished that Luke was around, as his friend was usually able to explain his condition much easier than he could.
It was around that time that a nurse swung by to check up on them. If anything, having another female close-by was just going to make things worse, and yet Guy knew she was trying to be helpful. "Is something wrong?" the woman asked.
He could have said something, could have told her that this girl was pestering him, and yet... she was keeping away from him now. Maybe she really just hadn't understood. She thought it was funny, sure, but... a lot of people felt that way about his phobia, so he wasn't going to demonize her right off the bat.
"Yeah, I just... got a little startled," he said lamely, offering the nurse a shaky smile. "I'll be fine." Or so he hoped.
The nurse hesitated for a moment, glancing over at Erika before she decided to leave them be.
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What kind of phobia? It clearly had to do with her proximity towards him; being near him caused him to back away, and attempting to touch him prompted... well, this pathetic display she was watching right now. Stepping back calmed him down, so it was definitely a distance thing. Touching, he didn't like touching... Germaphobe still stuck out in her mind, but that didn't explain why he was comfortable touching store displays. No, it was something more than that, something that had to do with her.
Was it because she was a child? Her blue hair? That she was female? Possibilities went through Erika's head, and while she preferred to have experimented and figured it out for herself... She cast another glance at the nurse. Even when the nurse arrived to help him, he still seemed tense. Either she added onto the stress, or Erika was some unholy abomination in the man's eyes that none could hope to erase.
The second one seemed much too extreme. She looked at the nurse again, back at him, thought briefly, and made her assessment.
"You don't like it when members of the opposite sex get close to you," She observed, testing out her theory. She left out her assumption that he was gay, at the very least.
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Slowly, he nodded. "That's right. I love women as people, but if they get to close to me..." Well, she'd seen for herself what had happened. Guy sighed and smoothed his hair back, glad that the worst of his outburst seemed to be behind him.
"So, if you wouldn't mind, could you back up just a little?" Maybe once she did so, he could drag himself back up to his feet again and stop feeling like he was making a spectacle of himself. Guy didn't particularly like being the center of attention, so when something like this happened, he just hoped that it would be over as soon as possible.
"I'll tell you whatever you want to know about where I'm from," he continued. That was what she had originally been interested in, so it seemed like a fair trade. It was kind of pathetic, that he had to reduce himself to bargaining, but at this point he'd do anything to stop the assault.
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"It must make life difficult for you. My deepest sympathies," Erika teased, wondering how he got off giving her such a blatant contradiction. How could one love women, yet not be able to stand having them near him? It clearly meant there was something deep in his psyche that found the thought of them repulsive, and Erika could hardly call that love.
Well, she supposed it was the job of the doctors here to figure that one out. Erika's job was to solve the mystery behind this place, not the mystery behind his little phobia, so she let it go for the moment. He did say he would tell her "whatever she wanted to know", after all...
"Where are you from, on this 'Auldrant'?" That was a good starting place. She would ask him to describe the area, and perhaps she could begin matching it with an Earth equivalent. Poor, confused man.
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And she was teasing him. It wasn't particularly hard to tell, and Guy really wanted to just call her on it at this point. He sighed and shook his head, but in the end didn't have the words. This girl was just weird, even more so than Anise. And that was saying something.
"Well, originally from an island called Hod, but I moved around a lot after that." Seeing how she'd been judging him? Guy wasn't inclined to give this girl his life story or anything. Especially not the gritty details surrounding his phobia. While there was the slight chance that it would make her feel bad for all the pestering she'd done, there was also the chance that it wouldn't. It was too early to tell.
"I'm guessing you're from Earth, then?" he brought up with a glance around the store. If that was the case, then why had she been so curious about how the electronics worked? Maybe it was a time issue. Claude had told him that all of this stuff was extremely outdated for him, after all.
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