Log:Dumpster Buddies

Dumpster Buddies
If you take a bath, do you rust?
Participants Seven, Widget	9 June, 2018 Seven and Widget likes the same dumpster. They bond over it.
Location
============-< << Tamarack Road - Olde Market >> >-============= Located at the heart of the town's old mercantile district, the quaintly named Olde Market is a series of small plazas strung along the west bank of the River Tam, though very little of the architecture is 'old' beneath its sweet facade. Built to encourage browsing, each small plaza is ringed by a series of small shops, bakeries, tourist goods, boutiques and craft nooks tucked among book stores and raised planters of native trees and greenery. Flowers perfume the air in warmer seasons, planted in window boxes outside shops and placed where they might attract butterflies to tables outside public eateries. Several roads lead away from the area, the higher-end shops and housing of northerly Tambridge competing with the Patterson townhouses and office buildings to the south and, west, the more eclectic gathering halls and shops of Singers' Circle. Tamarack Road leads the way out toward the suburbs to the northwest through the Delwood development. You find all sorts of interesting things in dumpsters. The best time of day for dumpster-diving is in the evening, after dinner time - most of the food is thrown out, and there's less people milling about, especially in a small town like Fort Brunsett. Seven is here, already having opened one of the large dumpsters behind a restaurant, his sense of smell assuring there'll be some tasty treats in there. "Definitely smell steak, and fries." He's getting ready to dive in. Well, there's also gremlins. You could also find a gremlin in a dumpster. Like the one the wolf opened. And the gremin is eating the steak. You...you could find that. Cough. Widget pauses, looking up at the wolf, steak juice dripping from her chin. "Oh hi." Seven almost lands on Widget and then makes a shocked startled strangled noise. "Bollocks. You found it first?" he growls, sitting on the edge of the dumpster, looking down at her. Muttering, he dives in though, landing on the side amongst the many bags - he tears one open and finds discarded Asian food instead. Dumplings, cold, but good anyway. He tries some of that. "Yefh", Widget mumbles through a mouthful of steak. "Therfh's shtill shum here." Swallow. "Can have it!" She also hadn't touched the fries yet, tossing the styrofoam container his way. Looks like someone backed out of taking their leftovers home. Their loss! "Good stuff here!" The gremlin nods, surrounded by shredded bags and containers. How...how long has she been in here? ....Is that a pillow? Seven eyes her. "No, you keep it." He sees that pillow, but compared to many others, who would be completely appalled or upset by such things, he doesn't care where people sleep. Seems perfectly reasonable, to him. He pushes the bags around into a more comfortable position, sitting down opposite of her as the two eat. He does accept those fries - goes well with the asian stuff. "Why don't people eat all their food? Such a waste." Widget's sitting cross-legged on it, like a small sultan of scrap. If her majestic clothing was just a filthy jumpsuit. And her kingdom was a dumspter. And all her riches were garbage. "Yes! So much food! All for ussss!" She rubs her hands, hissing quietly. Oh yes! They all thought it would go to the gulls /but no/! This was a gremlin's hoard now! And a wolf's. She could share. Oh! That reminded her! "Bone in here. Yes." She's still kinda hung up on the dog thing. "You can shove that bone up your arse." Wolf's response, and a glower. Bit sensitive on that, is he? There's only so much food in the containers he found, and he's finished it in less than a minute. He wipes his hands and claws off on that already ruined T-shirt. He sniffs. He sniffs some more, leaning down into the bags. "I smell pie. Apple pie. It's under here somewhere." Widget holds up the bone. It's awfully jagged. "Why? Waste." And it would hurt. And be a bad idea even for her. So she was gonna gnaw on it instead because she was sure there was a bit of meat on it. Narrnarr. "Pie?" She liked pie! It was pretty hard to find that stuff in dumpsters! Well, there was the frozen stuff at the fast food places but the fresh stuff was waaay better. Widget burrows under the trash like a rusty beetle, using her small size to her advantage. Dive, dive! "Left... it's more to the left. Yep, somewhere there." Seven's right there with her, throwing away bags behind himself, creating a big pile. "That one! Stop!" he growls, and he puts a hand on a black plastic sack. He cuts it open carefully with a claw and the tantalising smell of apple pie can be smelled by Widget too, now. Inside is a proper treasure. Two discarded whole pies - they've probably not been sold at the restaurant and become a bit dry. So they were thrown away. "Jackpot." Widget lets out an excited squeal, digging into one of the pies with a fury. Why would anyone throw it away? It was fine! And homemade! And there weren't any bugs on it or in it and it was almost warm 'cause it was deep down and this was /so good/. Widget scarfs away, leaning against the wolf. "Want that nose. Yes." One pie each. Seven gets the other one and eats it like one eats a sandwich, both of his huge hands holding it up as he scarfs down the tasty treat. It's a good pie. Sure, a bit dry by now and crumbly, but the taste is fine, and it's not mouldy or rotten or anything. Freshly thrown away earlier in the day. "This nose is attached to my face, and it's staying there," he tells her, grinning with glittering eyes. He enjoys this. It's a bit like hunting with a pack, in a sense - he remembers something about that. He settles them both in comfortably again, letting her lean up against himself as he stretches legs out. It's quite cozy in here. "Nice place to hide away, after dark. After everything's closed. So you don't get a bag thrown on yourself." Widget nuzzles, purring happily. It sounds like a tiny motor or a sowing machine rather than an animal. She was comfy, full of pie, and with a friend. This had been a good day. "Yes! No rain, warmer, stops light bullets. Yes." A good shelter. They built them a little thinner than when she was mortal, but they were still really sturdy. Plus now they had those little plastic sliding doors in the walls so it was super-easy to get in them. Nothing like a good dumpster! "I think I'll sleep here tonight," Seven says, now lazy and happy to stay right where he is. He looks up - the stars are above them, like a roof over the alley itself. Inspired, he digs around in a pocket and finds a piece of chalk. He then cuts his own palm with a claw, drawing a few drops of blood, that he dips the chalk in before he writes his name at the top of the wall on the inside of the dumpster. Just a number. 7. "Bit of extra safety for us. This dumpster is now our little domain for the night." Widget follows the wolf's gaze, finding herself looking up at the stars. Wow. She forgot how many there could be, outside of the cities. Like back home, where everything was cracked mud and lonely roads, she was pretty sure she could see forever at night. When Seven does a bit of magic, she smiles at him, hugging herself to him as she wriggled to settle in. "Safe is good. Yes." Hard to find in a place like this, something she's very grateful for. Anything was better than nothing at all, when it came to security. That little bit was enough for the gremlin to relax a bit more, breathing quietly against the wolf. "You're warm. It's nice." He's a veritable furnace. He's not a Summer courtier, but he's still very warm - that fur does help, and just the general Beastial part that keeps him warm. With a confirmative grunt, he shifts and puts an arm around her, pulling her even closer for warmth. And some protection. Seven glances down at her face, yellow eyes gleaming in the dark. Maybe he doesn't mind hugging, after all. When it's not a surprise. "If you take a bath, do you rust?" he asks her. Bit like when she asked him if he howls. Widget's heat-seeking, so she'd be fine even if he was a literal boiler. Wide red-brown eyes looks back up at him, flickering with a soft electric crackle and playing with the dim lighting around her face. "Yes. Flakes off. Grows back. See?" She scrapes her fingertips against the dumpster wall, a light metallic scraping sound coming as orange flakes fall. She holds her hand up for the wolf to see, light-brown skin showing for a second before it's quickly consumed by a light coating of rust. "Huh," the wolf says, blinking rapidly at her as she displays what happens. It makes him squint thoughtfully. He's curious, so he raises a hand to touch hers, to take it and turn it over to look at her palm. "You're rusty, all over? Is it hard, to live with?" he asks her. His own physical changes are significant, but he doesn't 'shed' his skin or suffer much over it. At the worst he might hurt his tongue if he bites down wrong on something, with those sharp teeth. Widget patiently allows the wolf to turn her hand about, giving her head a gentle nod. "Yes. All over." She curls in, idly running her hands through his fur with her other hand. "Not hard. Just different. Smell. Look. Taste. Used to itch. Sometimes. Now it's just...me." She smiles from somewhere within his pelt, sniffing at him again. "What did you look like? Before?" Carefully scraping her palm with a claw, not breaking through her skin, if he even can - he watches in fascination as the rust flakes off, and then returns. He curls his gigantic hand around hers and holds it to his chest, eyes half-closed as he stares at her face. "Before?" Seven blinks, frowning. "I don't remember. But I can show you. There's a way to do that. Just focus your power and decide to strengthen the mask." Before her eyes, Seven /changes/. The wolfish features disappear, blurring away and he's looking at her with golden brown normal eyes, and a handsome tanned face with lines hinting that his age is in the late thirties. THe fur disappears and only leaves dark shoulderlength hair, a few white strands in it. Widget's hand twitches lightly, but she still allows Seven to do what he wants. When Seven changes back, there's a small inhalation that's not quite a gasp coming from the girl. "Oh.", is all she says, in awe of the magic on display. It was such a simple thing, but it looked...amazing. She reaches up to touch his face, rusty fingers hoping to trace his actual skin. She tried to take in his scent again, to see if it changed. What was new? Was it just an image? she didn't know. Alas, it's only the appearance. A lost won't be fooled if they touch him - they will know him for what he is. But that trick? Can be extremely useful if you want to go unhindered through other Lost territories. "Your shadow remains the same though. And if you touch me, you will feel the real me." Seven doesn't mind the rusty touches to his skin. He doesn't ask her to show him, either - it's up to her if she wants to. "It's just a trick. We can't ever be human again." Widget nods gently, glad she's still got the warmth of the wolf with her. It felt a bit funny, seeing the skin but feeling the fur. Hm. Maybe if she tried it...? And she does, rust fading and eyes turning from red-brown to just plain brown. She looks...much of the same, really. A small Latina in need of a good scrub, just without the little touches of her low Wyrd. She rocks back so Seven can see, before nestling back into him. "Ever?" That gets a few seconds of quiet thought, the Gremlin finally speaking up in an oddly petulant tone. "Good." Seven's expression remains the same - he doesn't care what she looks like. But he nods at her, thankful she showed him anyway. "I don't remember what that's like, anyway. We're us, now." He turns sideways and pulls her close, one hand cupping the back of her head, the other curling around her small form. More warmth, that way and more comfortable for them both; the plastic bags rustle beneath them as he shifts. He lets his strengthened mask just fade away. The mask, the fake him - it hasn't been him for a long, long time. What the humans see is never the truth. Widget nods sleepily, murmuring thanks as she burrows into Seven. She remembered. She'd never be able to forget. Truth be told, her life had both changed a ton and not at all. She had friends, places to stay, things of her own, goals and tasks outside of living day to day, things that were...normal. All it took was becoming something abnormal. But the living in dumpsters and eating trash and fighting strays? That was just her before, and it wasn't going away either. She could still be both, Widget and the girl-who-was with the old name and eyes and skin. And that was okay. It's about time to sleep, for them both. So, careful not to move her too much, Seven reaches up a long arm and pulls the lid close over them both, to hide them away and protect them if it rains. The stars blink out and they're left in near complete darkness as he pulls some old newspapers over them both, as well. Not strictly needed, but it'll add one more layer of protection and warmth. "Sleep, little one," he murmurs. He'll guard them both, sleeping with one eye open.