vessel of impulse

[ AUSTIN DUNLAP. 27. MALE. HE/HIM ] is here! They’ve lived in Silver Lake for [ 2 YEARS ] and are originally from [ TUCSON, ARIZONA ]. They are an [ EMPLOYEE AT FUNKYTOWN THRIFT ] and in their downtime love [ MIDNIGHT STROLLS TO 7-ELEVEN ] and [ AIDING & ABETTING GREMLINS ]. They look a lot like [ CHARLIE HEATON ] and live [ IN OASIS APTS ].

Sebastian’s response was a nod of agreement. He completely understand where the other man was coming from because he’d definitely been in that position himself, and as he continued on, he found himself laughing a little. “Easily distracted, have a lot on their mind… there are plenty of reasons,” he said simply. “With some it means they don’t care, sure, but not everyone.” For a second he watched the other man as he began hanging up clothes again. “I should let you get back to work…” The statement came as if somehow he’d been the one that had initiated this conversation, although in that moment he didn’t care.

“See?” There was relief tinging the single word while he more or less imitated a bobblehead, half-distracted nod running a little long. “I’m glad that someone else gets it, too.” It certainly seemed like they were both distracted now, Austin forcing another hanger back onto a too-full rack before finally looking in the other’s direction again. “Oh, yeah, of course,” he answered, waving a dismissive hand once it was empty. His smile was small and relaxed as he made a circling gesture around them with the same hand. “Just lemme know if you need help with anything. Getting into a dressing room, checking out, haggling into a barter purchase... you know the drill, I’ll be around.” With a much more sure nod, he returned to sorting his armful of clothes.

“I wish. That sounds like the type of job I’d be great at. I wonder how you’d sign up for that.” A secret shopper had been kind of a dream job because she loved judging people and shopping but she wasn’t sure if she could keep the items she was trying to steal. She looked down at the item and then nodded her head at the twenty percent. It was better than nothing. “Deal.” She said with a smile. “I’ll take it.” She probably would have bought it without the extra percentage off but he didn’t have to know that little tidbit.

“No clue how they did it in the old days,” he started to answer while shrugging, “but I bet a quick Google search would send you straight to a dozen sites with surveys to sign up for secret shopper gigs. I wouldn’t think they pay too great, though...” But, then again, he had to imagine that anyone willing to wander through malls and shopping centers for hours on end actually enjoyed that kind of thing. Austin nodded and mirrored her smile, making a move to take the shirt off her hands. “Excellent, twenty percent off it’ll be then. You still looking around or is this it?”

Austin’s tongue pushed against the inside of his cheek as he looked around, gaze tracing the low-hanging branches of the infamous ficus tree, very studiously not staring at Charlie for more than a few seconds at a time. Goldie had texted within the last ten minutes, saying that she was running late and that they should go ahead and order without her -- which they had, but even asking for the specials to be repeated twice before the waiter left with their menus couldn’t save them from this long stretch of awkward silence. “Sooo...” He cleared his throat a little, bringing his gaze back down to reality as he nodded towards the empty seat, “how do you and Goldie know each other?”

elliot’s hand came up, defensively touching her chin as brows furrowed. he had better have just made that up out of nowhere. “i guess i’d have to come back and steal more, just to make you feel extra bad.” the brunette mused. not that she’d been planning on it in the first place, but she was playing along. “or maybe i’d steal the poster.” head tilted, shrugging. “how about you just ring this up for me instead, and no one gets hurt?” the shirt was casually tossed his way. 

“Oh, now that’s a good workaround,” he praised, eyes lighting up at the idea of them running off with the wanted poster, even if he had come up with a drawing that looked like no one in existence. “Very creative. Y’know, if you pulled that off, I might even say that you deserve to rob us blind... But, this is a nonprofit, so.” Austin shrugged a little, relaxed smile inching its way over his features. Catching the shirt that was tossed in his direction, his head bobbed while turning, talking in a hammed-up accent on his way to the register, “I won’t make no sudden movements, I swear to ya’s.”

     “They say Oprah smells really good,” Joseph said to his friend as they walked from the parking lot, towards Paco’s Tacos’ entrance. He had overheard the pair walking past them discussing the billionaire’s interview with Meghan and Harry. “I wonder if your body odor just becomes sweeter and sweeter the richer you get,” he contemplated out loud. “Or maybe those QAnon theorists were onto something. Maybe it’s the children’s blood that keeps her so fresh.” A smile cracked under the ridiculous weight of his last statement. // @austindunlap​

“-- Who’s this ‘they’ that’s sniffing Oprah?” His hands were stuffed into the front pockets of his jeans and he’d been watching his feet as they crossed the parking lot, but not for much longer. “Fuck off,” Austin laughed out, shaking his head as he glanced over. “What’s she doing, tossing back a vial of toddler blood like a shot whenever she feels her crow’s feet coming in? No way. It’s definitely the money.” He hopped ahead a few steps to catch the door, pulling it open for Joseph while reconsidering, “Unless she’s sucking the youth outta all the middle-aged moms that worship her. I could get with that theory.”

Holly’s nose wrinkled in sheer amusement and they nodded their head. “You know, I think that there probably are,” they responded. “I’d probably be one, too, if I wasn’t completely and utter lazy.” A laugh followed. As the food was dropped by, they moved to fold their arms on the table top, leaning forwards slightly, a playful smirk on their features. “So what’s yours? How do you like to let loose?”

“You’re into yoga?” He asked, and then immediately felt a little silly for it, realizing that it wasn’t all that far of a stretch from dancing. Waffling on a shrug as he snagged a fork, Austin answered, “Is it too much of a cop-out if I say I’m in-between hobbies at the moment?” He huffed a soft breath while smiling, shaking his head to himself. “I guess maybe I’d say swimming, if I’m on my own, although I haven’t done it in a long while. That always leaves me feeling pretty Zen.” And freakishly resembling a drowned rat whenever he climbed out of the pool, but what mattered was how he actually felt while swimming.

Now his questioning look and intonation made Olga feel, and probably look, even more guilty. But she was so, so resolved not to pull the ‘look how rich I am’. “I promise. Really. You can look through my bag!” was all she managed to respond. Trying to distract both herself and the shop assistant, she weighed up the garments in her hands: “At least that tells me people still wear leopard print?”  There was a reason her uniform was jeans, a black t-shirt and a leather jacket that had cost her the average person’s monthly salary. “Alright, let’s do opposites game, then. Or even better…,” she crumpled up the tunics, making to stuff them onto a shelf, “just show me, like, a nice black leather jacket. You have something like that?”

“Sure,” he shrugged, more than likely looking too amused for someone who was meant to be helping out a customer. “Or it’s only me who’s still wearing leopard print and it’s a sign that I’m way behind on the times.” She seemed to be moving on quickly, though, the pair of tunics suddenly getting stuffed onto a shelf at random as she switched gears. Austin made a mental note to swing back around and dig them out later, already nodding along and looking back to the brunette. “Uhh... maybe?” An eye squeezed shut and his face tilted towards the ceiling as he tried to remember any leather jackets floating around. “We’ve definitely got some pleather pieces, but... hm, here -- ” He gestured for her to follow him, turning to navigate through the thrift store. “All of the jackets we have are gonna be over on this wall. Most of it’s probably on sale, too, since we’re going into summer,” he tagged on positively, making a wide gesture to the (barely) organized selection.

the irony of austin’s statement wasn’t lost on jaden . the male was unfamiliar , and in that respect most likely had no idea that a prosthetic was hidden , nestled , beneath the fabric of his jeans , but he never passed up an opportunity to crack a joke at his own expense . if jaden ever took himself seriously you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking he was unwell , or perhaps he’d been abducted and replaced by a very convincing replica . “ well , i can afford to shoot myself in the foot , i just gotta aim the bullet through the plastic one and not my flesh . something tells me you’re not related to the feds but , if you are – “ jaden shot the male a playful wink , grabbing one of the hangers he’d been eyeing up . “ – keep this between you and me , yeah ?? nobody likes a snitch . “

A plastic foot? Well, that was something that he hadn’t expected to hear about, but Austin at least had enough common sense to not blurt that out loud -- and, it may have taken some valiant restraint on his part, but he also stopped himself craning his neck to stare at the other’s feet, as if the imposter would reveal itself. “You ever realize how repulsive the word ‘flesh’ is?” A thoughtful squint, consideration there and gone in the blip of a few seconds. He shook his head, laughing softly along with the other’s warning as he finally shelved the last piece of clothing that he’d been toting around. “Don’t worry about it,” he started, glancing up at man while raising his right hand, almost like he was being sworn in at court. “Snitches get stitches, I know the drill. I’m a middle child, too, so I’ve got a lot of experience keeping my lips zipped -- it’s always the youngest kids you gotta watch out for.”

Sebastian shrugged his shoulders, as casual as ever at the other man’s words. “Aren’t we all sometimes?” he commented very lightly, a laugh escaping him. His attention now focused somewhere other than the clothes, he moved to push his hands into his back pockets. “Tuesdays. Right.” A lot of the time he was at work on a Tuesday, all day, busy between both of his jobs, but he could definitely try and stop in sometime. “Noted.”

“Probably more often than we realize,” he agreed with a gentle chuckle of his own. Austin shrugged as he considered it a little more. “I knew someone who always tried to say that obliviousness was an excuse for not caring -- not putting in enough effort to care, but I don’t think that’s exactly fair. Sometimes people are just... easily distracted, I guess.” Which wasn’t far off from the situation now, with Austin trying to talk more than he was working. Hefting the armful of clothes to distribute the weight again, he resumed putting things back, if only to have two free hands and no future aching biceps to deal with.

          a few steps closer are taken to the wall littered with drawings. juni can see the clear artistic liberty taken with some of them — not far off from being stick men scribbled on an old sheets of construction paper. “you’ve got a real knack,” the girl laughs, eyes squinting at the green shape the other was referring to. “shame you’re wasting such talent in here. y’know, if you squint real hard and turn your head a little to the left, it kind of looks like that homeless man that’s always hanging around outside intelligentsia with his pigeon.”

“Thank you,” he answered the compliment with a little bit of a snort, not necessarily taking her words seriously. The comparison had Austin wandering closer as well, though, his face screwing up with the force of a momentary squint while he tried to see more within the old scribbles. After a beat, he could only shrug. “I think I know the guy you’re talking about, yeah, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen his pigeon chilling with him. Does he have it trained to come when he calls? -- Er, coos, I guess.” His head tilted one way and then the other before glancing at the other, “Maybe I’ll expand into drawing birds, just for shits and giggles.”

Clearly what Sebastian was saying was coming as a surprise to the other man, but then, that didn’t really matter. The important part was that he did make an effort to spend money in the store, to actually do good in some part of his laugh. Finding cheap buys that catered to his taste opposed to buying expensive items that really didn’t suit him, worked out better. “Shocking, huh?” he commented lightly, although there was a hint of amusement in his voice. “Guess so…” Then, when the other guy continued, he glanced back over to him and shrugged his shoulders casually. “Nah, just seeing what you’ve got.”

“Well,” he drew out the single word with a little more gusto, making sure to actually put on a joking smile as he continued, “I wasn’t trying to say that you don’t look the type to do so, but... I can be pretty oblivious at times.” Austin shrugged, more than familiar with the assertion that he lived too much in his own head -- you’d think that if that were the case, he’d put his foot in his mouth less often, but the opposite seemed to be more true. Too much thinking and he was left verbalizing everything, still five mental steps behind. He nodded in understanding, most thrifters naturally being the browsing type anyway. “You know, Tuesdays are usually the best day to come in,” he suggested. “We try to put out all the latest donations around then.”

“No. Okay. I don’t either. Let’s not point out the obvious here.” Holly chuckled, rolling their eyes at their own stupidity for a brief moment. “You’re more than likely right there. Not much of a question, is it?” Their gaze shifted and they began picking at their fries. “Yeah, I get what you mean and it’s such a shame, because it’s so freeing when you do it.”

“Sorry, sorry,” he laughed lightly, palms lifting in surrender. “I guess everyone kinda has their own method of letting loose, though. I’d bet that around here, there’s a lot of yoga-on-the-beach types.” Also not his thing, but he wouldn’t knock it. Pulling his arms back from the table top, Austin straightened in his seat and said a quick ‘thanks’ to the waitress as she finally breezed by again, dropping off his order.

the male glanced at one of the many mirrors to check the expanse of his head , his brow cocking in an arch at austin’s protest . “ i guess you’re right . or maybe it just looks normal since i’m pretty covered up right now .. not that you’d be seeing me naked any time soon , but you know what i mean , “ it had been a longstanding joke that he resembled a microphone – a large head and a slender body – but thanks to a recent sedentary lifestyle perhaps he’d filled out enough for proportions to be less noticeable . “ well , lucky for you , my criminal endeavours are more the trespassing kind . i’ve never been too interested in stealing , especially from charities .. but who knows , maybe i’ll get more corrupt as the day goes by . i’ve seen some pretty cute sweaters around here that are slightly above my price range . “ he was joking , of course , much like every time jaden opened his mouth . if sound was emanating from parted lips you’d be sure to hear some sort of sarcastic remark , jokey comment or quick quip at somebody’s expense – most commonly his own .

Hangers were shifted and clothes were adjusted, Austin slowly following the curve of the round rack while he listened to the other. He found himself shaking his head again, briefly glancing up to comment, “I hope you’re not looking into a professional criminal career.” He hadn’t sounded serious about it in the slightest, but it still seemed fair to warn him off, teasing chuckle to follow. “Because not only did you just confess to me -- a complete stranger -- that you’re a regular trespasser, but also that you could be persuaded into thievery in the future... Sorta shooting yourself in the foot there, aren’t you? What if I had an uncle who happened to be a cop?”

August looked up, her lips already parting to fire back some sharp response to being accused of shoplifting when she saw the male’s face, clearly just trying to make a joke. Not a very funny one, if you asked her. She glanced towards the register when he motioned towards it, raising up one eyebrow. “Don’t see any sketches currently there. I hardly believe you’ve gotten that lucky with avoiding shoplifters so far, so is policy just like…temporary shame?” she asked lightly, going back to flicking through the rack.

It took a split second for the look on the blonde’s face to transition from something pinched to mildly unamused, but it was still a change that Austin could appreciate. Humor was subjective anyway, right? “Temporary shame is a cool way to put it. I like that.” He nodded thoughtfully, giving the empty wall one more glance before he also resumed shuffling though the surrounding racks, slipping clothes back where they belonged. “Pretty much, though, yeah. It’d be pointless to keep up a poster for someone who shoplifted a year ago, wouldn’t it? I’d like to think that they gained perspective and changed their ways after leaving here.”

“Yeah whatever,” he said, still annoyed the guy decided to pick him out of the handful of people in the store currently. Talk about profiling. “Why you askin’ me if I’m gonna jack your shit and not her?” he asks, eyes looking to the old woman two racks away from them, thick bottle glasses and a bushy head of grey hair. 

“Who?” Austin turned his head, following the other’s gaze to spot the old woman who was sporting glasses so thick that she probably couldn’t see more than three feet in front of herself. “Oh, Clarice? She’s a big time shoplifter. Huge.” The name was made up on the spot and it was a total lie, but he just kept right on going with it, shaking his head and thumbing back in the woman’s direction with no worry that she’d notice them. “But anytime we try to stop her, she fakes a heart attack. Drops to the floor and smacks her Life Alert necklace, which is then a whole deal with paramedics. It’s easier just to nab her when she’s headed out.”

“I threw so many parties. I could do it.” It wasn’t the same thing by any means. For starters, at her parties, she didn’t have to deal with entitled people but things were going to be different at work. Rolling her eyes playfully, Goldie sighed. “And I would gladly tell you if you didn’t like your seat, you can always go to somewhere else.”

Despite the threat, Austin barked out a happy laugh. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you were bullying me.” But if he was going to be an ass to Goldie at her workplace, then she had every right to an asshole back. Adjusting the strap of his messenger bag to stop it from digging into his shoulder, he continued on a little more seriously, “That sounds like it could be a cool gig, though, for real. Cliff’s Edge is a nice place. Are you feeling good about it or more meh -- would rather not?”