Terence Gold

~

Tina laughed at Terence’s complaint, linking her arms through his as they walked. It was probably an absolute godsend that what Terence really did for a living was a mystery, though had she known he had any part to play in the events of the festival she would have punched him squarely on the jaw for it.

She was, admittedly, relieved when he expressed no need to see his mom. (Any supportive friend might have found it a real shame, but Tina had enough experience with bad mom’s to say otherwise.) “Want me to and spook her?” Tina suggested, though how she would do that she wasn’t sure. “Are you saying I look like a zombie? That’s so rude! I’m trying not to look dead behind the eyes.”

-

They certainly were something, him and Tina. Their friendship was different from the one she had with her lost boys and what was that guy’s name again. Peter? He couldn’t care less about those people, they weren’t his friends that was for sure. They always had this selfishness around them he didn’t like. But Tina, Tina was something else. She was a brat, but in a fun way. 

~

“Well then, bitch, I’m gonna hold you to it,” Tina replied, equally serious before poking Terence hard in the rib. And she really would; Tina enjoyed being annoying until she got what she wanted, and she was no stranger to annoying Terence.

However, her playfulness quickly dropped at the mention of his Aunt calling, and a heavy frown set across her brow and lips. She was quite sick of shitty mom’s by now. “Do you want to see her?” Tina asked, biting back the need to make an uncalled-for suggestion first. (That suggestion being telling his mom to fuck off.) “And no. I’m not dealing with it. I’ll be bitter about your hair until I die.”

“You better do, Bitch.” Terence cheekily smiled. Flinching at the stab, rubbing the place she poked and said a whiney auw. The reality was that Terence wasn’t really doing well money wise but Sykes was kind enough to take the money off his pay before paying him, so he was still paying his debt. Most of his income was due to being a doctor and even half was cut due to the payments he had to do. 

~

“That isn’t what I meant at all,” Alice replied, shaking their head. Alice could hardly help themselves from laughing at the retort, though it was quiet. Often-times people took themselves too seriously, and at least this conversation was not. “I never understood the need to distinguish between breakfast food and dinner food. It’s all food. It’s a rather silly rule to follow, if you ask me. I say eat noodles for breakfast if you like!!”

Alice smiled as Terence bowed, suddenly recalling that this was the same Terence that Adam had been speaking too at the Cafe. What a strange coincidence. “I’ve heard of you,” Alice remarked. “You’re friends with Adam.”

“I know.” He acknowledged, he had been teasing them after all. Though Terence certainly dealt with certain heavy topics and experiences throughout his life, he not once decided to be pessimistic about it. Got shitty parents, no worries you won’t live with them forever. Lost all your money while gambling, that’s what jobs are for even if they are risky and you know illegal. tripped, you just get up again. Have your mom ask your aunt to contact you now you are getting decent pay, so she can exploit you - pretend you never heard it in the first place.

“Hell yeah you are right noodles for breakfast, WOO!” He cheered before laughing.  “Yep I’m friends with that grumpy bear, though it’s pretty recent so I can’t really say we’ve been childhood buds, which would have been much cooler than just two dudes who befriended while at a bar.”

One might have been hard-pressed to find Tina with a spring in her step lately, but it was easy enough to find it again when she was around Terence (and ice cream). It may have helped that he had no idea what was going on with her lately, so there wasn’t much worry that it was going to be brought up. With a grin, Tina linked arms with Terence, pulling him off eagerly in the direction of The Frozen Zone. “I hope you know that you’re paying for this, by the way. Because of the emotional distress that your hair has caused me. I’ll take it as compensation.”

He tssked rolling his eyes. “B*tch I’m a doctor, I can but like two ice creams.” He said on a serious tone before bursting into a fit of giggles. “Sorry I had to, my aunt called. My mom suddenly grew a concious and wants to see me. I wonder if that’s because she found out my occupation and wants to ask support money for raising me.” He wouldn’t be surprised. “My hair is flawless you just have to deal with it.”

Zarina kept her eyes on the screen, continuing to type his notes into her file and adding thoughts and observations of her own; only looking up when he mentioned that he had a shift today, and wouldn’t be here for long. “Okay, thanks for letting me know,” she replied with a quick nod before returning her attention back to her work. And that would have been it, if it were someone she saw merely as a colleague and not, on some level, a friend. Looking back at him, she offered him a small, friendly smile. “I hope you have a good day at work.”

She turned back to the monitor again, trying to focus on what she was doing so that she didn’t have to try to make sense of her own thoughts and feelings. Zarina had her theories about what Sykes was up to and where she factored into it, but she knew better than to assume that she could tell what he was thinking, because clearly that hadn’t ended well for her before. “Well, we know exactly what the boss wants the drug to do. If the other side effects are too adverse, I’ll probably have to do a second pass at the chemical composition.” Which she really didn’t want to do, but it wasn’t like she would have a choice.

It was something Terence both appreciated and minded about Zarina when she was in workmode. She wasn’t being much fun. Then again he was similar in this regard he simply couldn’t help but be distracted today after that call with his aunt. “You are welcome.” He tapped with his pen, wondering if he should tell her but in the end it wasn’t really anyone’s business. He could deal with his issues alone, he always did. 

“I think we might have to edit it, if we have a client with some sort of anxiety - they should at least know the risks that could be involved. I have a gut feeling its the hightening of senses our drug does.” He didn’t really have anxiety himself, he had been through a lot - maybe he secretly became a masochrist, who knew?

In the end he couldn’t help but feel like the drug wasn’t as it should be and seeing it used in a big scale for the first time. It scared him to know he could have been responsible for people getting hurt. He’s a doctor for f*cks sake. This was never his intention. 

Alice tilted their head at the man, waiting for them to snap back into reality. They knew all too well how easy it was to become distracted and fall into a daydream, though Alice couldn’t help but wonder what had Terence so distracted in the first place. They offered him a smile when he finally spoke again.

“You sound like I do,” Alice replied with a small laugh. “I’m very good at offering myself advice, but I very seldom follow it. And, I suppose, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Who are you, by the way? I think I remember seeing you before.” It was at the Cafe, Alice was certain of it.

“Do I? I think our voices aren’t that similar.” Terence said as a tease. “Oh I certainly know that issue - Like how I know noodles aren’t good for my line yet in the end I still eat them for breakfast.” 

“My name is Terence Gold.” He said with a courtous bow, not that he was taught manners but it simply seemed like a fun thing to do. And for one Terence was all about fun, and gambling which had been a while. Kinda hard when you have two jobs.

Alice was feeling particularly inquisitive today, though some might prefer to call them nosey. They weren’t listening into Terence’s phone call on purpose (in fact, they couldn’t make out a single thing happening on the other end and had resorted to filling in the blanks themself) but they may or may not have been waiting around to hear if the apparent annoyance in the man’s tone got any better or worse. Unfortunately, in their nosiness, Alice ended up in the way as Terence turned to walk away, and they collided.

“Ah! Oh, I’m alright. Sorry, I was in your way. I should really follow my own advice and look where I’m going, shouldn’t I?”

He was such a clutz sometimes, then again the call with his aunt simply distracted him and got on his nerves. His mother neglected him throughout childhood, and now she wanted a connection with him. He didn’t think so. And even if he earned a lot, it was going to repay his debt. Not to her. He had bigger issues to think about than the woman who gave birth to him. He hoped his father was getting beat up in jail still, he deserved that much. It’s as the saying goes, every kid deserves parents but not every parent deserves kids.

He blinked at the person, as if his brain needed to be rebooted. “Oh, no. I have to apologize, I shouldn’t be calling and walking at the same time.”

Zarina took the papers from him, quickly scanning his notes at the same time as she listened to him speaking, nodding along with his words. She managed to keep it together for the most part, although she did have a brief and at least somewhat noticeable reaction to the mention of panic attacks. She didn’t really need to be reminded of the fact that she had had one herself, but she figured that the best way to deal with that particular memory was to be as professional as she could about it. “When I made the variation, it was because Sy—the boss said that it wouldn’t be sold directly on the streets,” she admitted, turning around to start typing the most salient points from his notes into her digital copy. “He asked for certain side effects, and I knew the consequences of them, but I made it anyway. Did you note anything in particular about the suggestibility of those affected?”

Terence waited patiently to get her to read everything carefully. He had an habit of making them long and detailed so he didn’t mind having her read all of it on her own pace. He wasn’t aware that Zarina had a panic attack during the festival, because mits the chaos he remained close to the gate before heading back to the lab. He didn’t stay there from the position Sykes gave him either - and he was quickly informed by his second job to go to work because of what happened. Therefor he didn’t see everything that he wished. He did get a lot of blood samples to test however, and that data he noted as well. “I have a shift today so I won’t be here long.” He noted as well, making sure Zarina was aware in his shift of shedule.

“Sykes has his own agenda like usual, can’t say I’m that surprised.” But this seemed low even for him. “I think they suffer something sensory, I noticed a girl saying everything is so loud. She seemed pretty shaken.”

Tina rolled her eyes at Terence’s show of amateur dramatics, certain that she could do a much better job than he did. Then again, Tina was sure Terence had learned most of that from her, and if he hadn’t she sure as hell was going to take credit for it anyway. Dramatics aside, Tina’s eyes lit up at the very mention of getting ice cream. “Oh my God, yes! Ice cream! I think they have a new flavor at Frozen Zone, and there’s this one girl that works there, Eilonwy, who is great to wind up.”

Terence was glad to have Tina in his life, even though it all started when he was asked to be a tutor. Something the both of them didn’t look forward to. But Tina was chill, and playful and dramatic in the best type of way. So she got a special place in his heart. “Then we should go shouldn’t we?” Terence said with a smile. Ah the mishief that is Tina Bell. How he had missed it. About time she caused some trouble for the both of them - like old times.

“Oh, you poor thing. Boohoo,” Tina teased, giving Terence an over-exaggerated pout. And then she huffed because he wasn’t quite catching her drift and there was no chance in hell she was going to explain the worst interpretation she could think of. Especially not to Terence! “You know what? Nevermind! I forgot the thought! It’s gone! Let’s change the subject.”

“Yes, my fragile little heart will need some booze to get over it’s wounds.” He placed his hand on his forehead and sighed deeply, adding to the drama they both shared. He didn’t need to catch Tina’s drift, they were very much different from one another, but they could appreciate surrounding themselves with eachother. He knew Tina since her teens so he knew she could have a stubborn mind at times. “Alright, wanna go for some icecream like old times?”

Zarina almost breathed a sigh of relief when Terence said that the thought that she knew and was okay with what happened at the festival had never crossed his mind. In the twenty five years that she had been alive, let alone in the ten years that she had been working for Sykes, she had done a lot of things that were against the law; bad things, hurtful things, things that she hoped some of the people closest to her would never find out about, because it might change how they saw her forever. But in the midst of all of that, in spite of the person that she had let herself become, she had still tried her hardest to retain some sense of her own morality. At least as much as she could afford to given her position. (Morals, after all, were a luxury that only good people could afford to have.)

There might not have been many lines that she wouldn’t cross, but knowingly drugging unsuspecting people with an untested, unstable and potentially dangerous substance was still one of them. “Good, I’m glad,” she replied with a smile, looking over her shoulder at him before turning back to the computer. “I trust you too. And in spite of how I feel about it, the boss is probably going to want an update from a scientific point of view on what happened at the festival, so…” Typing in her credentials, she opened the digital render of the molecular structure of the variation on pixie dust, along with her notes. “What do you have for me?”

Perhaps it was due to the fact that Terence kept a close eye out for Zarina ever since he had been working with her that he could sense the shift. It wasn’t like he was interested in her in that way, but somehow along the lines he’d considered her a friend. And you like seeing your friends happy. He trusted her too, that’s why he was thinking lately of telling her about the mess he had been in. The reason why a doctor had been working in a place like this. His debt. It was funny that he didn’t really notice much of his debts on some days. Though there were days where he’d live on pasta because it was simply cheaper. He lived two totally different lives and he wondered how long that could remain. Not that he worried the hospital of ever finding out about the life he was leading here. A hunger of change however was eating at him, and he found himself itching to talk about it. Those thoughts however were quickly disrubted as the words of work were mentioned. He took the papers he’d gathered from the event and handed it over. “It seems like the upgraded version has some psychological side effects, or it could be that mids the panic people tended to get some panic attacks, either way I find it something worthy of further exploring.” For the sake of their clients as well, if they had bad side effects than it should be something worthy of taking a track off. “I don’t think we went very deeply into the testing phase for the psychological effects our pixie dust has, it makes me wonder if there are more emotions to it than the usual warm and fuzzy.”

“Oh yeah?” she said looking at the man “I’m just using other peoples happiness and my misfortunes to write a song, everyone does it.” 

“Isn’t it more interesting to like, write about your own misfortune and happiness? You can’t really feel what others do.” He said with a tiny shrug. 

Beep me when you need me | Terence starter

Meg was lost too much in her thoughts to even really be bothered by the other bumping into her “It’s alright. Yeah I’m alright, you?”

Terence nodded, the bump barely was felt and he didn’t trip or anything. It did give him an excuse to end the call with his aunt who had been calling in behalf of her sister, his mother. Which fairly worked on his nerves considering the woman didn’t care about him at all. She was a poor excuse of a mother, not that she was abusive, she simply had been neglectful when he was a child. He couldn’t say the same about his father. “That’s good, I should be paying more attention to my surroundings. My apologies.”

🌇: what are your thoughts on ‘city life’? It’s okay I guess

🌆: do you get homesick easily? Nope, can’t miss home when you don’t have one

🏙: what’s the capital city of the country you’re from? What’s next my credit card number?