The day started very late for Bill. The man woke up at 11.00 am, which was much too early for him anyway. He put on the creased white shirt and brown vest he had been wearing yesterday. To complement his outfit, he threw on a black bowler hat. With dark circles still under his eyes and the morning paper under his arm, he headed to the coffee shop to recharge his batteries. Coffee will surely help him come back to life - how ironic that was.
“I would like a coffee, no matter the type, darling”, he said, smiling friendly at the waitress. “To go,” he added quickly. In response, the woman nodded her head with extreme optimism and began to prepare his order with incredible speed. Her rush was probably caused by the fact that most of the customers just wanted to get inside and leave quickly. Bill was still extremely surprised by it. He was never in a hurry. Bill wanted to get her attention and say that she can slow down a bit, but decided that was none of his business. Shrugging his shoulders, he started reading the newspaper. He had nothing better to do anyway, so why not blend in with the crowd and immerse himself into reading with the rest of the businessmen.
The main article said something about the police having problems with the new case. Bill thought the text was biting, and while the LDPD could be annoying at times, he knew that they were doing their best to find those girls.
“Excuse me,” he heard suddenly. He turned his head to the side to notice an older man extending his neck to see what the article was written about. He was narrowing his eyes to see the letters more clearly. It didn’t look like it was his day… actually it didn’t seem to be even his year, Bill guessed. Greasy hair was sticking to his face, which was barely visible behind his stubble. Wrinkled and slightly quivering fingers, tipped with yellow nails, lay on the counter; the other metal hand rested motionless on his knee. The man was handsome, but his prime days had been long gone. Even Bill wouldn’t neglect himself this much. Because of regret and his laid back attitude, he allowed the man to borrow an unread newspaper. As Bill was leaving, he patted the man on the shoulder, simultaneously grabbing the coffee served by the waitress. He nodded goodbye to her and, happily singing under his breath, he left the cafe.
On the way, he passed a red-haired girl who, noticing something or someone in the cafe window, quickly entered it. Bill wasn’t too interested in her sudden decision. It was none of his business, and the city already had too many secrets, that weighed on the shoulders of its inhabitants. Why add another one.
Bill had to make a lot of effort not to be drawn into the crowd of slowly gathering protestants who pleaded for justice for the girls in the article. “Excuse me; please let me through.” He was saying every now and then, but his words were drowning in the murmurs and whispers of the angry crowd. He had barely been trampled if it wasn’t for a small break in the horde. He pushed his way to it, and when he got there, he quickly freed himself from the tentacles of the protestants. “Phew, that was close.” He muttered to himself, rubbing his sweaty forehead with the sleeve of his shirt.
He led his legs towards a nearby park that seemed unusually empty today. Bill was very pleased about it. A little peace on this crazy day should help. Technically, his whole life in this city has been weird. Bill was just getting used to this new world, and Las Levendas, to make matters worse, was magical on top of that. In New Orleans, the one from Bill’s time, magic was practiced sometimes, but it was not real. He knew perfectly well that a rabbit jumping out of a cylinder or women cut in half was just smoke and mirrors. Here… it was all true, and he was the walking example of such a “magical incident”.
And just like that, he saw the man who was the reason for this “magical incident”. Hades was sitting on one of the benches, and he wasn’t bursting with joy. Not that he was a walking personification of happiness, but today he looked incredibly fretted. Bill walked up to him quickly. It broke his heart to see his friend in such a bad state. “Hi buddy.” He greeted him with a hoarse voice as he fell on the empty spot next to Hades. “You look quite startled… something unpleasant happened to you?” he asked with way too obvious concern. “Of course, you don’t have to say anything. We can sit in silence and look at… the leaves." He laughed hesitantly, then stretched his legs out and made himself comfortable on the wooden seat. He lowered the bowler hat over his eyes and waited for his friend to answer these questions. Not that Bill cared. It wasn’t his business, was it? So, why was he even bothered by it?
@GlitterFist ~ Hades Échthra - I hope you don’t mind me saying that Hades looks bad, but I assumed he would be, based on your last post. I can change it, tho! And sorry for many mistakes
