NANO part 3! WC 2116

Walking through the store she could feel people staring at her, not directly but almost like they are doing it from their periferal vision. Every smile is nothing more than a thin veneer masking, is it scorn, it is closer to terror. It isn’t the way you watch someone you’d suspect of shop lifting but more of the way you’d watch to see if someone is going to pull out a gun and force everyone to start singing and dancing. Nothing makes an impromtue musical number come together like the theart of bullet propelled death. The hair on the backs of her legs started to prick up again, and suddenly it vanishes, or more accurately it becomes redirected out the store window, at Link who is being yelled at by a woman completely covered in white clothing, down to a sugeons face mask leaving only a pair of the greenest eyes she’d ever seen revealed. They blazed with an intensity bourn both of fury, wonderment, and insanity. The hippy sighed, “What the hell is with this guy?” before rushing out the door.
There the lady in white stood towering over the bewildered Link who hadn’t moved away from the daffodils. His hands up trying to ward her away, his futile attemps at calming her down only insighting her more. It took Hippy a moment to realize that she isn’t actually yelling, the lady in white isn’t saying anything, everything is being portrayed through both body language and pantomime. She couldn’t understand what white is trying to get acrost. Then Link stood up slowly, towering over her by a good foot her approches her slowly, hands still raised, “Don’t you be worrying about me sister. I’ve danced with the angel of death for a long time now, she taught me to tango and I’ve stepped on her feet more than a few times in the process. Rest now, there are other people better than me to go spending your concern on, I’ll be gone soon enough and I’ll take what I’ve brought with me” His voice, flows over the lady in white. She makes a few more half hearted attempts at trying to say things to Link but he waves his hands in front of her face, “None of that is a concern of mine, I won’t be sticking my nose out there. Just some cucumbers and maybe some green peppers. Come on now, off with you, I’m going to be fine I promise you’ll see. She and I will kiss no more, and I’ll become a child of the light once again, it’s alright now”. The Lady in White, unconvinced takes some white poweder from her bag and throws it in his face, then she pours some more on the ground in front of him making a tiny mound. From somewhere in the folds of her white jacket she produces a fist full of tiny circles that look to be like leavings from a hole punch. Carefully she chooses 5, setting them on the mound before throwing up her hands and storming off.
Sighing Link samples some of the white powder, “Well at least it isn’t cocain, that would be a terrible waste. Oh don’t look at me like that, I was just sitting there chatting with the daffodils when she walks up to me and starts doing her interpretive dance”
The Hippy continues to look at him just like that, “So what the hell was all that about then?”
“How would I know. I can’t have an explanation for every crazy god damn thing that happens to me, if I did I wouldn’t have time to live my life” About to go on he paused, needing to take a deep breath something he learned to do instead of charging headlong into the direct insult territory.
She however takes it as a sign of weakness, “And what is with the whole angel of death thing? Huh I mean what the hell is that supposed to mean, and what the hell are those pieces of paper about?”
Picking each one up one by one he starts to examine them, “I’m not sure. They all seem to be blank but you never can tell with things like these, man that woman is crazy”
“Link doesn’t this at all bother you?”
He stopped, thinking for a moment, “Well sure I’d love to help her but I mean she seemed so upset about something I was going to do, or something I didn’t do that will cause something I am going to do in the future to go wrong, I don’t know it was hard for me to gather what she was trying to get across with certain hand motions”
“That isn’t what I meant and y-”
Smilng Link holding up his hand still covered in white powder elicited scilence, despite her desire to keep speaking, “Look, these things happen. Now the choices are simple. You can either roll with the punches as they happen to you allowing events to carry you along to where ever they may take you, or you can try to fight with and rationalize out everything until it is tired dry and boring. Me I just let these things happen, and I try to not let them bother me to much. Come on did you get your stuff? No? Well lets do that now, I want some ice cream and I think I saw a Marble Slab on the way over here”

Later, over ice cream it occurs to Link that he didn’t know what exactly mulch did. Sure nutrients, but how did it work really? Also he what do the organisms who eat compost look like. Micro biology is still something that fascinates him. Hippy sat across the table from him sulkily staring into her water, “You know I am a firm believer that if I were to, just once, have sex with another man I am not gay”
Startled she looks up, “The hell that have to do with absolutely anything?”
Taking a moment to thoroughly enjoy his ice cream he continues, “I am just saying, it isn’t the odd outlier or stray indulgence that makes us what we are. We are what we are because we extarament, we try on different faces, check things out. People with ultra ridgid beliefs always confused me, it makes them mentaly inflexible in my opinion”. However, her mask of confusion did not so much as budge an inch, “Take now for example. Now would be a good time to branch out, for one afternoon, just throw causion to the wind, to be wild and wooly, to-”
“Excuse me did you just say wild and wooly?”
Smiling Link makes another show of enjoying his ice cream quite thoroughly, “All I am saying is that you can still be a vegan tomarrow if you have an ice cream today”
Sulkily she looks away, “I really don’t understand how you can accept, vanishing Christians, crazed ladies in white doing interpretive dance at you, but you won’t let me be a vegan in peace”
“Aww look I didn’t mean it like that, I’m sure you get pleanty of shit for being a vegan. It is just that, the sun is out, the day is beautiful, birds are out, daffodils in bloom, everything is terrific at this very moment. We live in a world of terrible pain and suffering, you know this. I mean look at the lady in white, someone who is clearly in need of help is just left wandering the streets and that sucks. But here, here right now? Things are beautiful so why not put all of it aside. Take a break from it all, eat some ice cream and enjoy the world. With everything that’s wrong with the world why deny yourself nice things?”
Hippy arms folded over her chest remains unconvinced, “The world doesn’t work like that though, I can’t just switch off why I am a vegan”
“Huh you have a lactose intolerance I mean you just could of s-”
“NO it is because of the way they treat the cows, because of the puss filled milk that they produce, it is because there is no rea-”
“Okay okay, I know where this is going and believe me I’ve heard it all before. I just feel a little weird eating ice cream by myself and it looked like you were sulking. Sorry. I should of guessed you were vegan and my joking got a little carried away. I’ve spent more of my life driving people off than trying to keep them around me, so you know there are pleanty of things I’m not good at. I think it is wonderful when people stick to their guns. Here look at it this way, today you stood up to the face of adversity and yelled at him until he backed off, which is what I am doing as of now”. His smile wilted on her face which now wore the expression of perplexed concern. “Fuck” he thought to himself, “must of hit a note somewhere in there I’ll just have to do something nice for her later”.
After a minut she looks up, hesitantly, almost as if frightened, “Hey Link?”. Mouth full he motions for her to go on with his free hand, “Umm you know I am a lesbian right? That this isn’t a date or anything like that?”
“Wait you are a lesbian? Oh thank god I though I had his some sort of horrible deep dark nerve within you and you would be sulky at me for weeks to come”
“So this isn’t a” She hesitates at the last word, almost afraid to say it, like the sound waves will somehow turn into chiggers that will promptly turn around to fly up her nose in an attempt to chew at her brain.
“No not at all. Fuck. I was starting to worry about that myself. What I got behind me is a long story wrapped up within an epic tale. It is part of the reason why I started school in the summer rather than fall. I was all sorts of worried that I would have to deal with you falling in love with me. Good! Now that’s out of the way we can both just relax, you can eat your dirt and fungus, and I will eat whatever it is I kill with my bare hands and together we will grow a garden.”
Taking his outstretched hand and smiling, “Sounds good to me you big strange goofy man, by the way what is that stuff she threw at you?”
Link shrugged, “I think it might be semi dried paint chips mixed with something else, whatever it is, it isn’t coming off damnit”
“Oh please I bet you have one of those cartoon character wardrobes where every shirt is exactly the same”
He snickers a bit, “Well no not any more, this one shirt has weird white crap all over it now which is annoying”. He picks at his shirt absently, but to no avail, a tiny galaxy of white specks just underwent day one of genisis on his shirt. “Well it is easy to match, and since I’ve built up quite a tolerance to being in the sun it isn’t so bad. At least I am not that kid who insists on wearing a trench coat to school in 90 degree weather”
Smiling, “Oh god you had one of them too? Jesus I could never understand that, I mean it gets cold up here during the summer, but”
“Right, when it is over 70 degrees there is no reason for a damn trench coat. I mean it takes a pretty psychotic amount of dedication to think that’s a good idea holy christ”
Then he felt her behind him. Back stiffening he sits straight up as he feels her face close to his, “it’s a sin to take his name in vain” then she is gone, like a finger snap leaving behind only a tingle of flesh on flesh and an echo. Link drops his ice cream cone.
Bolting to his feet he whirrels around, “Okay then no one is that quiet or fast AND NOW SHE OWES ME AN ICECREAM CONE”
He hippy lauging far to hard to give any sort of explanation just kept shaking her hand and pointing at the nearby christian book store. Which upon Link’s furious inspection was closed. However, as he said the day is beautfil the company is good, and it is best to just roll with the punches. There will be a time for christian hunting later though. He had made a note of it.