Local Deadman

She gave him an affirmative nod, watching as he stood to make sure he was okay, although he was a bit bigger than her and if she did have to catch him, they’d probably both end up on the ground, however he stood without much issue and she started walking. “I’m Zelda by the way” she introduced herself.

“Nice, to meet you,” he replied, hoping his voice was still steady enough. Being upright made him a bit dizzy, but he was sure he could walk for a while without falling. “Sebastian. Sorry...to interrupt your day with this.” He should probably apologize for needing the help.

-

laika’s senses were heightened now as she whirled around her head , eyes squinted in an attempt to spy the assailant who had seemed to disappear right out of thin air . ” no , love . i didn’t see anything – do you want me to look at your head and make sure things are alright ?? “ the girl knew the basics of first aid , thankfully , since she had needed to patch up a lot of her friends ( and lovers ) when the gangs caught up with them back in texas . this may have just been a bump to the head , but it meant a lot to her that things were okay for sebastian . 

His first instinct was to say no, that he didn’t need any help or anyone to look at his head. However, he also knew that there could be something wrong he wasn’t feeling. “That would...be nice, of you,” he replied, though he was still convinced it wasn’t anything worse than a bruise. There were too many things that could go wrong with head injuries to leave it alone.

“Oh yeah yeah. Aroma Mocha is right down the street” she smiled softly pointing in the direction. “I can show you where its at if you want” she offered, giving him a small shrug, wanting to help but not wanting to overcrowd him. “That’ll be a fun story hm?” she chuckled.

He glanced in the direction she was pointing and stood, a bit unsteady but otherwise fine. “That would...be very, nice of you.” He wanted to get some ice. That would definitely help with the swelling.

-

Minnie did not have any problem with trying to explain to him something she was already passionate about; “So a design brief I guess is like a project” she started wanting to break it down for him in a way he would understand; “If you think of it as a pyramid, your Design Brief would have the ultimate outcome at the very tip which let’s just say is to-… have a dress completed and on the mannequin” just using it as an example before continuing; 

“Then in order to get to that tip of the Pyramid you need to work through little projects to get there, so like collecting materials and then explaining why you got those materials, and then piecing the dress together and explaining how you did that” it was a lot of little levels you had to ‘unlock’ in order to get to the top per say; “basically it’s like little components within one big project-.. I don’t know if I’m making sense” it made sense in her brain but some people needed different mechanisms to help them understand.

“Personally I enjoy the work itself, I’m more of a hands on person so the actual putting of the dress together is what I find enjoyable but I don’t mind sketching it out either” it just really depended on the assignment at hand and how much stress she had at the time it was given to her because it could all alter so much and change so much when it came down to it; “It’s different for other people though, like if I handed my design brief to you, you might not enjoy it like I would”

Sebastian sat up so he could pay more attention. All of this was entirely out of his area of expertise and that meant he had a lot to learn. There was nothing in his life that was similar to this. The pyramid analogy was helping him to understand what was going on. “So you, build everything up from... the materials and then, get to the completed...project? What...happens when you, finish?” He assumed that meant the outfit was finished, but he couldn’t be sure. “How many...of those, have you...done?”

She shrugged “I dunno, you seem nice enough to me” she chuckled then pushed her brows together “Well, most of the time goose eggs are pretty okay- as long as you don’t start having light sensitivity or nausea then I’d say you’re gonna be okay” she nodded “if you do, then its a possible concussion” she wrapped one hand around her elbow and gave him a small smile. “Do you want to get some ice or something for it?” she asked. “Help the swelling?”

“Thanks...” he replied. Trying not to be scary should be simple for him. Then again, he had heard from interns that he could be scary. “Neither of, those so far,” he replied, “it’ll probably be...just a lump, later.” Having a large bruise wouldn’t be fun but it was better than the alternative. Nodding, he stood. “I think, that’s a good, idea. Do you know, anywhere to get...some?”

-

Minnie nodded at the others question, the funny thing was Minnie had sort of started to make her own clothes, she wasn’t totally amazing at them but she had done t-shirts and jeans and what not and had a few dresses she had made here and there; “Yeah I do, like part of my assignments has me like make something and then do a design brief about it” explaining to him her previous assignment; “Like my last one I just submitted had me to do an item of my choice, then explain the materials I used, how I got the fabric, and like what were the pros and con’s and things like that” it could be tiring at times but it was something that she greatly enjoyed and appreciated.

“What’s...a design, brief for?” he asked. This was an entire world that he had no knowledge of and that made him more curious. His own college work had been completely non-artistic. “Is it, fun to do these?” School assignments in general weren’t exactly that most fun in the world but when it was a subject someone liked, perhaps that made a difference.

She shook her head. “The only thing’s that ball’s going to go is to my niece, and she’ll have a field day with it.’ Alexis shook her head just thinking about her nine-month old niece having a ball with it as soon as she brought it home. “So I don’t think I should take it home with me.”

He nodded. That made sense. Some kid would have a lot more fun with it than he would and he certainly didn’t need it. “How old...is your niece?” he asked, pushing himself up.

~

Kit wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself, so she stuffed her hands in her pockets and rocked lightly on her heels. And then she laughed, because in certain circumstances she could have gladly said yes to the question. Evidence, as it stood right now, was on the contrary. “Are you implying I was actually aiming for you on purpose?” Kit asked, trying to make a joke of it before realising it didn’t really sound that way at all. “I mean– Well, actually, yeah, my aim is usually really good. Just not with a ball. That’s not my forte, clearly.”

-

Fashion was a very broad term, there were a lot of different ‘fashions’ out there but Minnie did have a type when it came to what she wore; “I am very femme when I put an outfit on for a day” mostly a lot of it was a pastel shade and almost always came out in a pink hue; “Like I do like the pastel pinks and the tennis skirts with the white frilly socks, but that’s on me. I can appreciate other kinds of fashions on different people and different body types” because that’s what Fashion is, it’s appreciating the fact that even though it might not look good on you, it might look good on someone else.

He nodded, only sort of understanding what was going on. All he could assume was that ‘femme’ meant ‘girly’ or at least ‘girl looking’. “Do, you want to... make clothes like... the ones you wear, or like something else?”

Going after teenagers was never a good idea, their were way too into themselves to even care as a starting point and secondly, they probably wouldn’t care and it would just escalate way out of control; “That’s interesting, I remember wanting to be a marine biologist but then that failed because I sucked at mathematics” which made her laugh lightly at the idea of her doing something with some sort of maths involved; “I am studying a Bachelor of Fashion Design at the moment. Something I have been interested in, in a while”

Aside from some sketching, Sebastian knew he wasn’t a very artsy person and those who could make their ideas come to life were fascinating to him. “What, kind of fashion...do you like?” Yes, that was definitely more lively than his profession. That tended to get people to look at him funny. There was only so much he could say about the deceased before things became awkward.

She nodded, “Yeah. no worries” she gave him a small smile, taking the ball and moving towards the group of kids. After handing the ball back to them she returned “They said they were sorry, although I tried to get them to tell you themselves” she laughed a bit “but they were still scared” she shrugged. “You look like you may have a bump…” she noticed, “are you sure you’re okay?”

He watched her give the ball back to the kids, giving them a small wave when they looked over. “I never...thought I was, that scary,” he laughed, shaking his head. “I do?” His eyes went a bit cross as he instinctively tried to look at his own face. Once he had straightened himself out, he shrugged. “I didn’t, get knocked out...so I’m most likely, going to be fine.” That was the threshold, right? He really should remember this stuff.

She gave him a small smile as he didn’t appear to be hurt or too entirely upset. “oh, uh” she glanced around. “I know it came from that way” she pointed in the direction where a group of kids stood huddled together, looking over in their direction. “My guess is its theirs. Probably trying to figure out which one of them is going to come face you” she exhaled a chuckle. “Do you want me to give it back to them?” Her hand extended out towards him.

He turned to where she was pointing and nodded. Whether or not the kids came over was their choice, but he wasn’t going to yell at them. Given the reactions he was seeing, him getting hit with the ball had most likely been an accident and he wasn’t seriously hurt. Looking toward her, he nodded slowly, holding out the ball. “Can you, tell them...I’m not mad?”

laika loved the hot weather – it was something she missed from texas summers , and thanks to her heritage the girl’s skin tanned rather than burned when she was laid out in the heat for too long . the soaring ball very narrowly missed the blue-haired femme but she hissed as the sphere smacked sebastian instead , tugging the lollipop she had been enjoying out from plump lips to jump to his aid . “ jesus fucking christ , what the hell is their problem ?? are you okay ?? “ she groaned , glancing over one shoulder in search for the perpetrator . 

Sebastian rubbed his head. It didn’t feel serious, but he was definitely going to have a nice bump there once his body realized it had been hit. Darn. That would be fun to explain when he got back to work. “I’m...fine,” he answered, gingerly touching where the ball had hit and hissing softly. “Did you...see who threw, that?”

-

The boys in the background were annoying she knew this much but at the same time they were in the background and were now off to do their own thing so she couldn’t be too bothered by them, she could honestly care less but the other was making conversation with her and she was going to be focusing on him instead of paying attention to some shit heads; “Yeah that’s how I feel about high school, even though it was probably like three years ago” which thinking about it now wasn’t really too long ago but still-…; “What did you study when you did go to college?”

He supposed going after the young men wasn’t going to get him any results so he resolved to stay where he was. It was better this way and he could continue to relax. “I studied, biology,” he replied. Undergrad had been all pre-med classes and then he had just kept going. “What, are you studying?”

~

Kit shuffled her feet awkwardly, feeling rather guilty at disturbing the man. She tried to laugh it off, but very quickly stopped herself when she realized that might sound insincere (and she had made a habit of doing that.)

“I wasn’t exactly planning on kicking it at you,” Kit countered, rubbing the back of her neck. “I was trying to get it over there to some kid who– well, I think he just saw what I did and made a run for it so that makes me look twice as guilty, doesn’t it?”

Sebastian blinked back at her. Well...that wasn’t what he had expected. “That’s... okay,” he stammered once he was sure he didn’t have a concussion. Turning, he looked to where he guessed the kid had been, but saw no one. Oh well. There wasn’t much to do about it now.

“Have you, always had...such good aim?” he asked, attempting a small joke and hoping that it didn’t come off as an insult.

Alexis had come to the park to relax, maybe people watch and get a nice tan. She’d taken off her wedges and started to look for a seat when she stopped and jerked when a ball came flying towards her. At the question she shook her head. “Sorry, it’s not,’ she answered, shaking her head.”I just got here a couple seconds ago.”

He sighed and shook his head, still searching around for who could have possibly thrown the ball. So far, he did not see anyone and shrugged. “I guess... this is mine now,” he chuckled softly, “unless...you want it?”

-

Minnie had been in university now for maybe about a year or two with probably another one to go, she didn’t mind studying especially when it came to something she enjoyed practicing like Fashion Design but yes she could confirm that the guys were exactly like that; “They do and that’s how I know it’s them because they are constantly like that around campus-… did you go to University or collage?” she knew not everyone could attend but was sort of curious to know if he did or not.

He looked toward the boys, sighing softly. Why couldn’t people just keep their projectiles to themselves? Sitting himself up properly, he shook his head. “I haven’t...been to college, in a long time.” Suddenly, he felt very old and couldn’t help but laugh softly at himself.