never underestimate the homeless
*clink*
Leaning a bit over, he noticed the new coin in his cup. He'd chosen this metal one for the distinct noise it made anytime something fell into it and he wanted to be sure not to miss any of the details.
That was the point of these excursions.
Details.
It had only been about 4 years since he'd taken up residence in San Francisco and it was rare enough he came back up to the surface. The City Beneath took care of most his needs and it wasn't until recently he'd been coming out into the light. Most of his trips up here were late in the evening but the morning held a special appeal.
He found watching people totally entertaining.
Admittedly, he was unique among his own people in this respect.
The cup was as much for his benefit as it was for the others Beneath. It wasn't such that he needed money so much they did. To say they tolerated his presence was pushing it slightly and he didn't much care at first but it probably wouldn't hurt his standing to drop some coin their way. It wasn't as though he could swing by the local unemployment office and fill out a form to get a job. By all legal terminology he was an illegal alien.
That coughed up a laugh that he quickly stifled. Out of the corner of his vision he noticed some man was about to drop a coin into his cup when his laugh so startled him the guy staggered back and fled.
Must remember not to laugh in public.
*thunk*
Thunk?
Bringing the cup to his face, he leaned forward so as not to risk anyone seeing under his hood. Looking down he saw something greenish and shiny. Fishing it out he sniffed it, squinting at it oddly. Setting the cup back down he unwrapped it, looked at it, then carefully placed it into his mouth.
Hmmmmmm, minty.
The clothing had been carefully selected to make his presence as unnoticable as possible. After the first couple years he'd noticed the homeless were quite evident all over but hardly anyone paid them any attention. At least as little attention as they could manage; some of them were real loons. After he'd taken up residence Beneath, where many of the homeless dwelled, he'd been paying special attention to what they wore and had cobbled together this disguise. Quite the clever one as it both masked his presence and body mass effectively. Though it hardly mattered...
...dressed like the homeless he was practically invisible. The irony!
That caused a chuckle.
He choked it off...mustn't laugh in public.
Several loud clinks rang in his cup. He looed down in surprise and then carefully up to see some kids laughing and waving.
Apparently the sound his chuckling made was entertaining.
Cool!
He'd been doing this about 2 weeks now and this was definitely his favorite spot. Street signs didn't really register on him but he was at a crossroads of 5 streets. If you count alleys. Over his right there was a tight angle that went behind several buildings and was a loading zone for a bank. Two other odd streets on his other side at extreme angles. Directly in front of him was a park of sorts with a center fountain that blasted water high in the sky and was quite cooling every so often. There was also an onramp to a freeway.
Occasionally he did get an odd look given how much covering he wore which wasn't that surprising he supposed. It was the middle of the summer and according to reports he overheard it was supposed to be something of a heatwave. Even for California it was hot but it didn't bother him much.
He thrived on the heat.
His attention was diverted by some activity across the street for a bit when he slowly turned back and found himself staring directly into inhuman eyes. A dog, big. He wasn't very well acquainted with dogs but he did know they generally weren't that fond of him. What few encounters he'd had with them had usually ended badly. More for the dog than himself but that had been more a necessity than anything else.
It looked him up and down and then back into his eyes, leaning in for a bit to sniff. It's muzzle wrinkled up at the odd scent but otherwise it didn't seem too disturbed by him.
This didn't seem to be going too badly.
He wasn't sure who had left it here but it had been tied to the pole next to him.
Reaching behind himself, into the sack over his shoulder, he pulled out of dryed seal meat and offered it to the dog. No hesitation, it just chowed down.
He reached over and scratched its head.
Seemed like the thing to do.
Same side as the dog, but across the street, a loud explosion rocked the block. Following it were a chain of others from about the same area. The dog, like many of the people around them, sank its head low and cringed, trying to make itself as small as possible. He didn't move, the blast and the resultant explosions totally holding his attention. The only thing that distracted him from it was the squeal of tires from the alley at the hard angle to his right and a much smaller sounding but intense blast.
A comforting hand on the dog's head, for no reason he could name, he leaned over and looked into the alley. Several men with weapons, moving very quickly...coordinated and efficient, rapidly handling several bags and shoving them into a truck. The alley was tight enough they couldn't turn which meant they'd have to come out his way. From their positioning in the alley and his familiarity with the area, the door they were moving stuff from was a bank.
Money.
He would never understand the obsession everyone here had with money. Although...
...looking down between himself and the dog, his fell upon his metal cup.
He shrugged.
Why ask why?
The explosions across the way and the robbery happening simultaneously was too big a coincidence to be one. Clever, effectively distracting and numbing the senses of everyone around.
Everyone but him.
His people were very big believers in the random factor.
Jerking back from leaning over, the truck narrowly missed him as it tore out of the alley and skidded to the right. His gaze swept the crowd and the people he saw hadn't noticed. They were still sound blind and staggered. Their current condition he could probably drop his disguise and dance among them without gaining much attention.
Not that he was one to dance...
...or get involved.
Leaning forward, not even sure why he was bothering, he concentrated on the rear left tire of the rapidly accelerating truck. Mindful of the crowd, distracted or not, he squinted and sighted over his right shoulder.
There was a distinct click and a whirring noise.
Deafened by the chain of explosions no one noticed the two loud barks, like high pitched shotgun blasts, just behind them and so close to the ground. Those that weren't still cowring may have noticed the two bright blue flashes but were in no condition to make much sense of it.
The first shot destroyed the left tire and lifted the truck off the ground at an angle. Going with the acceleration, it flipped partially and skidded over on its side and continued to slide. Lined up almost perfectly for the second blast which nicked the gas tank but slammed mainly into the botton of the truck and tore right through.
That seemed enough. He could hear sirens in the distance, probably a silent alarm from the bank had gotten their attention. Not really his problem, even though he still wasn't sure why he'd bothered with the truck, and he checked on the dog.
It licked his face just under his hood.
Wasn't sure what to make of that either.
The cops came and there was a brief shootout but they took them down easy enough. He waited with the dog for a little over two hours but no one came. Whether that meant the owner died in one of the explosive distractions or was still dazed he couldn't say. Still, it did lead to him doing one more thing he wasn't sure about.
Walking back towards the MUNI, from there on into the tunnels that led to the City Beneath, he found himself looking at the dog whose leash he was now holding.
He really wasn't sure where this was going.
Ghrell had never owned a dog before.
The End...for now.
Reason behind this fanfic:
When I first came to livejournal, back in 2003, along with my main journal I setup 3 RPG accounts to interact with each other. One of them was
Ghrell who was a Predator dealing with an odd morality of hunting sentients. Came to Earth, settled in the San Francisco Bay Area and hunted superhumans in his spare time while trying to sort out a radical form of therapy...back in the days that
Theide seemed to think this Predator's entries were practically holy writings.
Given his recent negative view towards me I thought I'd give him a reminder of how much I love me some Pred.
Expect more, of Ghrell and other Preds in the near future.
Leaning a bit over, he noticed the new coin in his cup. He'd chosen this metal one for the distinct noise it made anytime something fell into it and he wanted to be sure not to miss any of the details.
That was the point of these excursions.
Details.
It had only been about 4 years since he'd taken up residence in San Francisco and it was rare enough he came back up to the surface. The City Beneath took care of most his needs and it wasn't until recently he'd been coming out into the light. Most of his trips up here were late in the evening but the morning held a special appeal.
He found watching people totally entertaining.
Admittedly, he was unique among his own people in this respect.
The cup was as much for his benefit as it was for the others Beneath. It wasn't such that he needed money so much they did. To say they tolerated his presence was pushing it slightly and he didn't much care at first but it probably wouldn't hurt his standing to drop some coin their way. It wasn't as though he could swing by the local unemployment office and fill out a form to get a job. By all legal terminology he was an illegal alien.
That coughed up a laugh that he quickly stifled. Out of the corner of his vision he noticed some man was about to drop a coin into his cup when his laugh so startled him the guy staggered back and fled.
Must remember not to laugh in public.
*thunk*
Thunk?
Bringing the cup to his face, he leaned forward so as not to risk anyone seeing under his hood. Looking down he saw something greenish and shiny. Fishing it out he sniffed it, squinting at it oddly. Setting the cup back down he unwrapped it, looked at it, then carefully placed it into his mouth.
Hmmmmmm, minty.
The clothing had been carefully selected to make his presence as unnoticable as possible. After the first couple years he'd noticed the homeless were quite evident all over but hardly anyone paid them any attention. At least as little attention as they could manage; some of them were real loons. After he'd taken up residence Beneath, where many of the homeless dwelled, he'd been paying special attention to what they wore and had cobbled together this disguise. Quite the clever one as it both masked his presence and body mass effectively. Though it hardly mattered...
...dressed like the homeless he was practically invisible. The irony!
That caused a chuckle.
He choked it off...mustn't laugh in public.
Several loud clinks rang in his cup. He looed down in surprise and then carefully up to see some kids laughing and waving.
Apparently the sound his chuckling made was entertaining.
Cool!
He'd been doing this about 2 weeks now and this was definitely his favorite spot. Street signs didn't really register on him but he was at a crossroads of 5 streets. If you count alleys. Over his right there was a tight angle that went behind several buildings and was a loading zone for a bank. Two other odd streets on his other side at extreme angles. Directly in front of him was a park of sorts with a center fountain that blasted water high in the sky and was quite cooling every so often. There was also an onramp to a freeway.
Occasionally he did get an odd look given how much covering he wore which wasn't that surprising he supposed. It was the middle of the summer and according to reports he overheard it was supposed to be something of a heatwave. Even for California it was hot but it didn't bother him much.
He thrived on the heat.
His attention was diverted by some activity across the street for a bit when he slowly turned back and found himself staring directly into inhuman eyes. A dog, big. He wasn't very well acquainted with dogs but he did know they generally weren't that fond of him. What few encounters he'd had with them had usually ended badly. More for the dog than himself but that had been more a necessity than anything else.
It looked him up and down and then back into his eyes, leaning in for a bit to sniff. It's muzzle wrinkled up at the odd scent but otherwise it didn't seem too disturbed by him.
This didn't seem to be going too badly.
He wasn't sure who had left it here but it had been tied to the pole next to him.
Reaching behind himself, into the sack over his shoulder, he pulled out of dryed seal meat and offered it to the dog. No hesitation, it just chowed down.
He reached over and scratched its head.
Seemed like the thing to do.
Same side as the dog, but across the street, a loud explosion rocked the block. Following it were a chain of others from about the same area. The dog, like many of the people around them, sank its head low and cringed, trying to make itself as small as possible. He didn't move, the blast and the resultant explosions totally holding his attention. The only thing that distracted him from it was the squeal of tires from the alley at the hard angle to his right and a much smaller sounding but intense blast.
A comforting hand on the dog's head, for no reason he could name, he leaned over and looked into the alley. Several men with weapons, moving very quickly...coordinated and efficient, rapidly handling several bags and shoving them into a truck. The alley was tight enough they couldn't turn which meant they'd have to come out his way. From their positioning in the alley and his familiarity with the area, the door they were moving stuff from was a bank.
Money.
He would never understand the obsession everyone here had with money. Although...
...looking down between himself and the dog, his fell upon his metal cup.
He shrugged.
Why ask why?
The explosions across the way and the robbery happening simultaneously was too big a coincidence to be one. Clever, effectively distracting and numbing the senses of everyone around.
Everyone but him.
His people were very big believers in the random factor.
Jerking back from leaning over, the truck narrowly missed him as it tore out of the alley and skidded to the right. His gaze swept the crowd and the people he saw hadn't noticed. They were still sound blind and staggered. Their current condition he could probably drop his disguise and dance among them without gaining much attention.
Not that he was one to dance...
...or get involved.
Leaning forward, not even sure why he was bothering, he concentrated on the rear left tire of the rapidly accelerating truck. Mindful of the crowd, distracted or not, he squinted and sighted over his right shoulder.
There was a distinct click and a whirring noise.
Deafened by the chain of explosions no one noticed the two loud barks, like high pitched shotgun blasts, just behind them and so close to the ground. Those that weren't still cowring may have noticed the two bright blue flashes but were in no condition to make much sense of it.
The first shot destroyed the left tire and lifted the truck off the ground at an angle. Going with the acceleration, it flipped partially and skidded over on its side and continued to slide. Lined up almost perfectly for the second blast which nicked the gas tank but slammed mainly into the botton of the truck and tore right through.
That seemed enough. He could hear sirens in the distance, probably a silent alarm from the bank had gotten their attention. Not really his problem, even though he still wasn't sure why he'd bothered with the truck, and he checked on the dog.
It licked his face just under his hood.
Wasn't sure what to make of that either.
The cops came and there was a brief shootout but they took them down easy enough. He waited with the dog for a little over two hours but no one came. Whether that meant the owner died in one of the explosive distractions or was still dazed he couldn't say. Still, it did lead to him doing one more thing he wasn't sure about.
Walking back towards the MUNI, from there on into the tunnels that led to the City Beneath, he found himself looking at the dog whose leash he was now holding.
He really wasn't sure where this was going.
Ghrell had never owned a dog before.
The End...for now.
Reason behind this fanfic:
When I first came to livejournal, back in 2003, along with my main journal I setup 3 RPG accounts to interact with each other. One of them was
Ghrell who was a Predator dealing with an odd morality of hunting sentients. Came to Earth, settled in the San Francisco Bay Area and hunted superhumans in his spare time while trying to sort out a radical form of therapy...back in the days that
Theide seemed to think this Predator's entries were practically holy writings.
Given his recent negative view towards me I thought I'd give him a reminder of how much I love me some Pred.
Expect more, of Ghrell and other Preds in the near future.