New old things (Saul/Lucien)

[Lucien DeChain]

Lucien's jaw slacked at the sight of Saul Kelly's pile of CDs. His own pile by comparison seemed small, but it didn't bother him that much. As Ari pulled the pack off and opened up the compartment, he noted that he didn't have anywhere to stash his own collection. Which would mean he would have to carry them all the way back.

Wait. Was there a CD player at the Nest? He wasn't sure. He had seen a radio in Delilah's garage, but even then, it was a stretch to say that it had a working CD player in it...

"Who's Jaq? Is he another one of your friends?" Lucien asked curiously. If this Jaq was as pleasant and fun to be around as these two were, maybe he could finally make some friends hang out with them all.

[Saul Kelly]

Saul slipped his CD's into Ari's backpack, rather pleased to hear that there was something he could actually listen to them on waiting at home. Turning his head towards Lucien, zipping up the backpack all the while, the man grinned exposing his sharp teeth.

"Yeah! Jaq ith great." Saul wondered why they hadn't brought the foreigner along with them, and a thought followed soon after that he wasn't entirely sure that Jaq would be too keen on leaving territory to meet strangers.

Releasing the backpack, Saul nodded at Ari in agreement that they should, indeed, go to Jaq's later for music. For a second he was about to ask Lucien to join them, when he realized there was no way to bring the man onto territory. Oh well, he could have a listen to his CD's with some of his friends, Saul figured.

[Vespyr]

"yeah, he just sort of lives nearby us," Ari answered, realizing he'd let that one slip. More people meant more possible suspicion. He tried to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal, and then changed the subject.

"so uhm... know any other cool places around here?.. and i hope we're not taking up your time, or anything.." he smiled, letting Lucien be the literal and conversational guide. And after a moment, Ari remembered the backpack and held it out for Lucien to put his things inside if he wanted to. "i can carry that for now, if you want," he'd say.

[Lucien DeChain]

Lucien smiled back at the animal-like teeth of Saul Kelly, and then turned back to Ari as he replied.

"Cool places? I spend most of my time on the rooftops, so if you like heights, I suppose there is a few... Oh, and, I don't really have much of anywhere to be until after sundown..." He realized that he hadn't called in, though, and very seriously thought about being rude enough to step out of the room to make a call. A call that would include an addition of Saul Kelly's name to his list.

At the offer Ari made to put his CDs in the backpack as well, Lucien nodded a thank you, and said, "Sure, thanks. I don't think I'll be able to play them, though... I haven't seen a CD player since, well, back in the old world..." He paused for a second, thinking, not wanting to sacrifice his bounty, but not thinking of a way to utilize them. "So, I might as well give them to you. Even if you don't like them, I'm sure you can appreciate them."

As he placed the CDs into the backpack, making sure it wasn't stretched out in any peculiar way and that Ari would still have proper lumbar support, He smiled again at the pair.

"If we're done here, how about that roof? It's a nice one, and it's getting close to sundown."

[Saul Kelly]

Oh, hell yes. Even more disks for his CD City. Saul watched with glee as they joined his and Ari's in the backpack and wondered if maybe some of them would even be enjoyable to listen to. He couldn't wait to show Ari the Millionaires, and was entirely sure the younger boy would be just as enthusiastic about them. Who wouldn't be?

The suggestion of going to a rooftop was a great one. One of the man's favorite pastimes was to climb on top of tall things and shout his victory and dominance to the birds that swarmed on the city, and to do so in crow territory would no doubt be a delight.

Not really wanting to rush Lucien along and seem impatient, Saul waited at the door until the other two were prepared to journey elsewhere and would follow them out and to wherever this rooftop was located.

[Vespyr]

Ari grinned at the gift, nodding his thanks as they headed for the door. He liked rooftops just as much as the next guy--or the next two guys, rather--so he'd eagerly but quietly follow Lucien to whichever of the favorited locations.

[Lucien DeChain]

Lucien led the way gladly, exiting the small store into the light of the late afternoon. Leading the group once Ari retrieved his bike, they made their way a few blocks down, until a building could be seen, towering above most of the others in the area. It was definitely designed to be an office building, and almost had the height of a high-rise apartment complex. What made this building stand out among the rest, though, was the fact that the roof had a garden on it.

Of course, that garden had a system of watering specific plants at specific points, in specific places. And that was in the old world. Now, the whole area was a grassfield. The quick-grow fertilizer that had been unused by the plants had spread to cover the cement, and it had matured into a full field over the last months since the bombs.

Lucien approached the base of the building, lowering the ladder down to lead the group to the still-intact fire escape. After a climb similar to the Shinra tower, Lucien emerged on the roof, and looked to the landscape.

Yeah, this was a cool roof.

"We're here."

[Saul Kelly]

As the men approached the mammoth building, child-like eyes widened and gawked. Saul would bet a hundred teeth that neither he nor Ari had been on a rooftop that high before. In fact, the man was sure that from up there he could probably see his apartment building. Probably unlikely, though. Shooting a nervous glance to Ari as the ladder was pulled down, the beast pressed on and upwards after waiting for both men to go ahead of him.

Their ascent towards the sky garden seemed to Saul like it took forever, and even at the halfway point he was able to marvel at how small he was against the backdrop of an abandoned city. After ages, they reached the top, wherein Saul realized that at some point they would have to take the same route back down. Shit.

Falling down into the grass, the man gazed out onto the city, thoroughly impressed by Lucien's find.

"Holy fuck."

[Vespyr]

Once they had breached the top of the high-rise, Ari panned his wide-eyed stare around at the view with a sort of pleasantly nauseous feeling settling in his stomach. He crossed his skinny arms over his chest and clutched at his upper arms with a slight shiver. And bit the inside of his lip. Good thing he wasn't afraid of heights

The teen stepped a little tentatively across the grass at first, but soon found himself a bit more fascinated by the growth and sat down (tiredly) to run the palms of his small hands over the thousands of blades of grass. It reminded him of home, where wild grass had seeded in the streets and grew rampantly long, brushing well up to the boy's thighs when he walked or biked through it, quietly whispering like ghosts in the breeze. The only difference was that here, their ankles were safe from rusted bear traps, or things much worse.

Ari slid the backpack off his shoulders and reached up to push all the hair back away from his face, before lowering his back to the ground so he could stare up at the sky as it prepared for sunset. His hand poked around in the front pocket of his pack for a few moments and withdrew one of those cheap throw-away Kodak cameras. He held it to his face like binoculars and watched the sky through it, waiting to see the vibrant colors catch up with his mood.

[Lucien DeChain]

Lucien took a few moments to marvel at the gorgeous view, the ruined city giving off almost a subtle beauty. It reminded him that, among other things, the world had a place to go.

With this hope in his thoughts, he casually sat down on the grass, feeling the blades, in their multitude, press into his legs. It was a good thing that the insects didn't frequent this spot, or else Lucien would have been more hesitant about giving his body to nature.

But, as it was, he laid back and looked at the sky, putting his hands behind his head as a cushion. It was then that he noticed a particular spot of grass that felt funny in his hand. It, at least, felt different. Maybe it was thinner? He felt it between his fingers, running it through until he realized that he wasn't playing this grass.

Lucien was suddenly aware that his head was quite close to Ari's, their bodies making an almost perfect right-angle in the grassfield. And yes, he was playing with Ari's hair.

His face went a little less pale than usual, and his hand immediately released the hair and retreated back to under his head. He only hoped that the other two boys wouldn't notice what he just did.

[Saul Kelly]

Unaware of Lucien's mix up, and really largely unaware of anything going on behind him, Saul crawled forward until he found himself sitting in front of the direct edge to nowhere. Or rather, the direct edge of the skyscraper as the particularly chilly air stung and toyed with his hair and skin. Such a long way down, he observed with a frown.

Saul sat looking over the edge in mostly silence for as long as he was allowed to before one of his friends spoke or made a move to leave, trying to see what kinds of landmarks he could or couldn't spot and to watch little ant people move when and if they appeared in the waning afternoon sun.

[Vespyr]

There was a curious sensation somewhere behind his head, but Ari didn't think much of it and merely cast a glance in Lucien's direction. He got an idea and the slightest of demure smiles tugged at the corner of his lips.

From where Lucien lay, he'd see Ari's lanky white arms rise up straight above them with the camera clutched between his small hands, lens facing downward. There would hardly be an instant for the young man to notice and smile, before a click captured whatever kind of expression Lucien wore on his face when he thought no one was looking. It was too bad the photos on the throw-away camera would probably never be developed, since Ari had no idea how.

Still, the boy sat up and snapped another photo of Saul where he lay by the edge of the rooftop. That one was bound to look cool if it ever saw the light. But like the rest of Ari's impromptu snapshots, it remained tucked away in the dark, as intangible as the memory itself.

The teen pointed his camera toward the sea where the sun was beginning to dip into the horizon line, dying a beautifully slow, fiery death.

[Lucien DeChain]

Lucien's embarrassed expression would be forever imprinted on that throwaway camera.

Yelping as he sat up, he turned to Ari, making sure to release the hair that had been in the grass. Just in time, it seemed, to see Ari turn the camera to Saul Kelly, who was laying precariously close to the edge of the roof.

"N..Not that it's any of my business, but, is that entirely safe?" He called to the beastly man.

Looking back at Ari, who was busy taking a picture of the bright red orb that was slowly disappearing over the horizon, Lucien found himself curious about the contents of the camera. More so, though, curious about Ari. Maybe those pictures had something on them that would give a little more insight as to who Ari was. Who he really was.

Alas, Lucien had no way to develop photos, and he didn't know how, anyways.

[Saul Kelly]

Snapped out of his trance, Saul just sort of giggled at Lucien, appreciating his worry but at the same time supremely doubting that he would get blown off the side of the building by a rogue gust of wind. For a moment, he though of how funny a prank it would be to just sort of get up and toss himself over the edge of the building. But then, he decided, it probably wouldn't be as funny to the other two.

The man, who had not previously noticed Ari's photo taking, smiled as the teen captured the sun's descent and wished he had brought along his digital camera, though admittedly he was still searching for more batteries for it.

Scooting away from the edge, Saul crawled over to Ari and Lucien and plopped down next to them before uttering something very important:

"Pleathe tell me there'th an eathier way down than how we came up."

[Vespyr]

Once Saul had moved closer, Ari flipped the camera to face inward again, reached a skinny arm around Saul's shoulders, and then leaned back toward Lucien a bit so the three of them would be in the shot. Ari stuck his small tongue out a moment.

click.