Lie down in the park and watch the satellites

[designed2kill]

Somewhere near the Conrad, Four is trying to buy a hot dog.  She's been getting better at finding food since coming to Chicago--there's a restaurant she's found that will give her their leftovers in exchange for help cleaning up in the kitchen after they close.  Unfortunately, she hasn't found anything reliable for breakfast or lunch yet.  But she

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[allmydiredreams]

Babel is in the park. Babel's been in the park for about a day (and before that was the Conrad and before that was...she should maybe go home at some point, really). She wanders by the hot dog stand mostly drawn by the smell of food, because food would be delicious right about now.

And then she notices what Four is doing -- rather, she peers over Four's shoulder and smiles at the papers, saying, "Can't do that, silly. You need money."

If she had any, she'd show Four. As it is, she's thinking that possibly conning this guy into a free hot dog is going to be harder than she anticipated.

[designed2kill]

If Four couldn't feel Babel coming up behind her, Babel would have gotten an elbow to the solar plexus as Four whirled around. As it is, it was a bit of a close call, but thankfully for Babel Four is much better about not attacking random people in the street than she was when she first came to Chicago.

Four looks at Babel a bit confusedly. "This is not money? Everybody else was giving little bits of paper like this for a hot dog."

The hot dog vendor continues to look at Four with a 'Why are you dumb?' expression.

[allmydiredreams]

Babel jumps when Four whirls around, then gives the vendor a placating, apologetic grin. Then she looks down at the paper in Four's hand and the grin turns less apologetic and more genuine.

"Nonono," she says. "Money is specific paper, thin and printed, full of others' hands. Exchanged." She's digging in her bag, trying to find her wallet, though that won't do her any good anyway as she's spent the last of her money. So she's a bit distracted, and her speech patterns get a little more erratic when that happens. Or...anytime they feel like it, really.

"Makes the world go 'round," she sings, spinning one finger in a circle. "Which means things suck if you're us, and don't have any."

[designed2kill]

So Four got about as far as 'Money is specific paper,' but then she lost you, Babel. But that bit of information is very useful, even if she couldn't understand the rest of it. The important part being, this is not the right kind of paper you need to get a hot dog. Time for Plan B, which is... Four will just stand here and think about that for a moment. Maybe she can go to one of those stores that has food in it.

[teenytinyteme]

Chance has been watching this girl with the newspaper for a while. She's a little disgusted at this point--really, how dumb can you be?

"Hey!" she calls to the girl. "Hey! Hey! What are you doing? Like, seriously."

She shakes her head, beckoning her. "Come here. Come here." She's not the best person to learn from, but hey, it's worth a shot, right?

[designed2kill]

In Four's case, the answer is really, really dumb. It's not her fault though, honest--she's only had contact with normal human society for about a month and a half.

Four turns around at the sound of Chance's voice. She may not be at the Laboratory anymore, but following orders is second nature to her, so she obediently walks over to Chance and waits for Chance to give her further instructions.

[teenytinyteme]

Chance shakes her head. "What were you doing?" she asks. "'Cause... dude. That guy's about to smack you, if you try to give him that paper again. And I bet I'm not the only one thinking you're kind of a idiot around here. Seriously. And I don't think, from the looks of that guy, he's gonna pity you and just hand over a hotdog."

Yes, she has a plan. But it is sort of secretive at this point. She might get to it in a bit, if she knows she has an ally.

[designed2kill]

"I was trying to buy hot dogs," Four says. It was better not to try to make too many excuses, since although Chance looks like she could have been a fellow CSP, she talked a bit like a trainer (although the trainers usually called her much worse things than idiot). It was best just to answer the question simply and then accept whatever punishment she was going to give out rather than digging a deeper hole for herself. So she just stands there and braces for the worst.

It's too bad that Four is too dense to pick up on the fact that Chance has a plan, because she would go along with pretty much anything Chance says.

[teenaged_twin]

There were several reasons for Gabe to get out of the house. (None he'd admit to outloud, mind you.) Still, he's out wandering, keeping an eye out for CLF morons.

Which is why he spots the 'discussion' at the hot dog stand. Kid's either a Wanderer or just crazy. Either way, she's going to wind up targeted by those fuckwits unless-

"Angie!" Hurrying over, worried expression on his face. "You have to tell me if you're going to run off like that, alright?"

[designed2kill]

Four turns to look at Gabe a bit confusedly. He was obviously talking to her, but her name wasn't Angie, though she supposed that would be as good a name as any to call herself by. And she didn't think she'd ever seen him before either; she really didn't understand what he meant by telling him before running off. Still, he thought she did something bad, so she just stands there and waits for Gabe to punish her.

[teenaged_twin]

If Gabe had any idea what she was thinking, he'd be hurt. Not to mention pissed off at whoever treated her they way they did to make her think like that.

Instead, he gives her a quick grin before turning his attention to the vendor. "Sorry, man. My cousin, she's a little..." Vague gesture. "Harmless, though. She already order, or just offering up the scraps first?"

[designed2kill]

The vendor just shrugs at the explanation. He figured it was something like that, the girl didn't seem all that bright. "Yah," he says in response to Gabe's question, "she wants two hot dogs." Hey, he's not gonna pass up the opportunity to make another sale here, if Gabe will pay.

Four, on the other hand, is still confused. She heard some of the scientists talking about cousins once--they were some kind of related to you, if she remembered correctly. As far as she knew, she wasn't related to anyone but the other CSPs, and he wasn't one of them. She watches Gabe intently, trying to figure out what he's doing.