just things

His eyes widened but he nodded his head. This guy seemed like the type to actually mess up a guy like him for hitting him in the shoulder too hard, so he was just going to do his best to not make the guy angrier. “I’m, fine. Sorry..I mean, are you okay? I didn’t hit you too hard, did I?”

Ooh, good Lord above. Ben sighed, looking around for just about anything else to catch his eye or give him an out, but things seemed to be running fairly smoothly. Of course they were. "No?" Ben asked, confused. The kid was the one who almost fell over, so why he was asking questions like he was worried didn't make a lick of sense. "You're not exactly a brute, son."

“I just think it is absolute rubbish that we don’t get to choose our own signs. I can choose to be sagittarius if I want, or taurus, I haven’t quite made my mind up yet.” 

Emily couldn’t get her mind off all the events that had happened the last few weeks. Bliss, in the hospital and they didn’t know why, the possibility of the institute still being open and the terrifying consequences of that. She didn’t even know if she had ever been there but it still shook her to her core. To help clear her head she thought it would be best to get running again, it’s what she always did before and she needed something. She ran for miles, through the city and the park, not stopping until she saw someone drop their phone and not even notice. “Hey, you dropped this!” Scooping it up, she jogged to catch up to the person “Didn’t think you meant to do that.”

Ben wasn't particularly connected to any of his possessions. There was one and only one that he had kept throughout his life - the crucifix his mother gave him - while the rest had faded in and out. He'd left just about everything when his curse popped into being, and for good reason he thought. His phone was a necessary evil, but that didn't mean he took the best care of it. "Right," he turned without looking up to see who it was, examining the cracked screen. None of the marks were new as far as he could tell. "Ta." He glanced up, then, and winced. "Morning," he tried, weakly.

Angel spent a lot of time with her plants. She found them to be better than people, to start. Her plants didn’t pretend to love her, try to kill her, or anything of the sort. No, they spoke to her, kept her company, were more loyal than anyone could ever be. Sometimes she forgot that she was even running a business until her plants whispered to her that she had company. Angel peeked out her door to see who it was and smiled in relief when it was Ben. She trusted him a little more than she did the other townspeople. Emerging out of her area, she went over to him with a smirk on her lips. “Sorry, got a little into my work. What do you need, hun?”

Ben had gotten used to waiting when he walked through these front doors, but Angel was a bit less of a chore to wait for than everyone else there, even if only for the fact that she was decent. (She was better than decent, she was good, and not too tough on the eyes either, but decent was a good enough word.) Not a problem," he mumbled, smirk playing at his lips. "Picking up hydrangeas. For some ungodly reason they've been requested."

Benjamin sighed impatiently, waiting in the greenhouse for whoever it was supposed to show up today. He normally kept it consistent, stopped in quickly around lunch, did his business, picked up what he needed to and left, but today was strange and his lunch was otherwise occupied (not by a panic attack, he didn’t have panic attacks, anxiety was fake, he just really didn’t want any lab techs in shiny coats pulling pieces from his arm and shifting things around inside that felt like glass) so he was left to drag himself in around closing time, six when it began to get dark. It was a few minutes spent tapping his foot against the cement before he heard footsteps and approached the front counter, muttering, “Takin’ your time, eh?”

@smokewallssolitarymirrors

Ben had gone for a few days with contact restored to him. It was glorious, and perfect, and then it… was back. No explanation, or practically no explanation. He might not have known exactly what had happened, but he knew when, and that warranted a trip to the hospital. He wasn’t stupid, but he also wasn’t incarcerated at this point, so it was worth a try. Anything was worth a try. Which was how he ended up standing across from the girl he assaulted not long before.

“Who has the time for all that?”

“I’m not stupid. But yes. Constantly. The drinking starts it off, fuck knows where I normally go from there. I’m too Catholic to off myself, so here we are. Settling.”

“I don’t know. What the hell do I still have left to do? I fled a fecking country.”

“Guinness.”

“Fucking. Plain and simple. And I ain’t even bad at it, just get too fucking annoyed.”

because lord knows these kids are all memes anyway

“Like you could.” Emily spit before she could even realize what she was saying. Her breathing was heavy, she was filled with anger and holy cow it hurt where he shouldered her before, but that didn’t matter. He was much drunker than she was and she could use it to her advantage, well, she could if she had any semblance of a plan.

They'd all been trained, in testing. Benjamin wasn't too dumb or too drunk to recognize what this could turn into - they had been weaponized and trained to kill, and kill they could if things got out of hand. He was planning on leaving this without being branded a murderer, and planning on leaving this period, but damn this girl lit a fire in him he hadn't felt for a long damn time. Challenging him wasn't something he took kindly to, and he reacted the same as he had when the boy challenged him. One backhand later and he stood there, breathing heavy, hoping for her to back down so it wouldn't get ugly.

“Can you cut the shit?” She was annoyed now. She wasn’t supposed to be this annoyed now. She had just fucking got to this stupid town. “You want something from me. Tell me what it is or go. I don’t need this bullshit when all I wanted to do was go to the fucking grocery store.”

Ben was impressed. But pissed. He wasn't sure which was more prevalent in the moment, just squinted at her and clenched his hands into fists. "Look." That was a start. "What's your deal. What can you..." he gestured vaguely. "Do."

There shouldn’t have been a doubt in her mind that he would fight back, but anger makes you do stupid things. When his shoulder connected with her chest she fell backwards, grunting, wind knocked out of her. Looking up at him, she tried to catch her breath. He may be stronger than her, but she was smaller and faster and surprisingly resilient. Emily dove under his legs, quickly getting to her feet before he could turn around and she kicked him hard in the back.

Ben was stubborn but he wasn't damn indestructible. The kick hurt, aching already moments after it happened, and Ben whipped around, fists shaking at his sides. "I know what I feckin' did," he growled, "If you're fecking smart you'd realize I don't give a fuck if I do it again, and I don't care if you're the next."