ic contact (quiet place)

[waystation]

UN:touched
✎ TEXT ✆ AUDIO ▶ VIDEO

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[justbeingknife]

[ porches all day erry day ]

What, they're not your style?

[ Guilty. Jake was actually the first to message him about it, though. ]

[waystation]

So it was you. You didn't leave a name.

Thanks, Majima, they're awesome. Still a classic in my time. _{[And they match, which is a step up.]} I'll see if they fit anyone here.

[justbeingknife]

Figured I didn't need to. Not like there's a whole lotta Japanese people running around.

And you're welcome. Maybe it'll save someone some blood blisters. That shit's the worst.

[ A brief pause ]

You're the first one to message me about it.

[waystation]

Just a lot of random gifts being left around.

_{[Jokes aside, he appreciates the generosity. More than he can say. Being his age means being at the mercy of others in some ways; that mercy isn't always kind.]}

I just stumbled over them. Literally. Where'd you find them?

[justbeingknife]

Oh. Sorry 'bout that.

They were in the basement, with the peanut butter and the darts. Don't ask me why. They left all kindsa stuff here. Ended up giving the dog toy to Teddy.

[waystation]

It's okay, I just wasn't expecting it.

You're talking about YOUR basement? Just how old was the peanut butter?

[justbeingknife]

Can't tell ya how old it was, but believe it or not, it wasn't spoiled. Looked like it was off the shelf to me.

...what year is it around here, anyway?

[waystation]

And you ate it?

_{[Majima, do you want to lose your stomach lining along with your eye...? It says something when the eleven-year-old's second guessing your better judgement.]}

Good question. It looks way past my year--that was 2017. But everything looks so old it makes it seem like it's been a while since then.

[justbeingknife]

Technically speaking, I tested it on someone else first.

But you can usually tell the difference between food that's a hundred years old or not. Looked like not. I'm pretty sure it came from someone's world.

[waystation]

And they didn't get sick?

_{[Look, he's had his figurative wrist slapped enough times by Roland for trying to put poisonous things in his mouth that he's learned the art of caution, okay.]}

That's seriously weird that stuff's just showing up in people's houses, but kind of awesome, too. I can't remember the last time I even had a pb&j. Did you find anything else?

[justbeingknife]

Nah, he's fine. Loved it.

You want some? Guess you'd have to wait on the bread, but I know there's jam around. Maybe you could spread it on one of them muffins.

There was a bunch of stuff. Alcohol, cigarettes, a dart game...

[ A KNIFE ]

It's like they knew exactly what I wanted.

[waystation]

_{[Majima's putting his manners to the test with that one. It feels a bit rude to take a bit of someone's finite resource even when it's being offered to him, but it's also being offered to him, so...? If Majima doesn't mind...]}

If you're sure. I kind of miss tasting something that feels like it came out of a supermarket again. Is that weird? I have some fruit I could trade you for it.

But where does it all come from? It's not like they can just mail order stuff from another world.

_{[Or can they.]}

[justbeingknife]

That'd work out great, actually, long as ya leave yourself some. Feel kinda bad about it if ya came down with scurvy.

Maybe whatever brings us here also sucks up some of the stuff from back home. And they just scoop it up and pile it somewhere.

Hell, when I first got here, I wasn't exactly spinnin' on all cylinders. Wouldn't have let 'em lift all my stuff if I was. Might not've noticed if there was tennis rackets or dog toys or what all else half-buried around.

[waystation]

_{[The first part earns a smile.]}

That suits you better than it does me, with the pirate eye patch and all. It's a deal, thanks. It's nice you'd share. Someone else might have just hoarded it.

I don't know what's weirder, that stuff just magically appeared in your basement, or the natives could have a side business farming for space junk.

I met a woman named Dorothy from Kansas who had a dog named Toto, too. The way you described it reminds me of that story, you know? Getting sucked up in a tornado and ending up who knows where with a house and some slippers.

[justbeingknife]

...Serious? But yeah, I know what ya mean. Sometimes this all feels like some kinda crazy science fiction story. Or a dream.

[ Sometimes, more like a nightmare. ]

They probably keep all the good space junk for themselves. Y'know, like the lasers and jet packs.

Actually, Eddie and Richie were both on a space station before this, right? So maybe we really will get a piece of that action.

[waystation]

Along with the manual for the Reset Room.

_{[One of many secrets the natives either don't know enough about, or don't trust them enough to tell about. The random items showing up are weird at any rate.]}

That's right, Eddie told me about that. I think I would've preferred to go there and see stars and float around.

_{[... The good kind of zero g floating, not the bad killer clown variety.]}

[justbeingknife]

Yeah. Although...

I guess the stars around here ain't so bad.

[ They were kind of nice, actually, and you could see them without having to drive outside the city to escape all the light pollution. The exact opposite of Tokyo. ]

[waystation]

That's true. I didn't think much about stuff like that in New York.

<sub>[Before his life flipped upside down.

He'd thought something similar in Mid-World, how bright the stars had been without the lights of the city to compete with, how quiet and still it was without a single humming telephone pole.]</sub>