A Crossroads Between Realities

Be nice if they did, my love. But then there'd be no pleasant surprises! Aren't any anyway.

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[Alice's expression turns thoughtful] That's true -- you'd be giving up excitement for certainty. I guess it all depends on how much you prize one or the other. . .

[Victor frowns] It's a tough call to make. But I'd want to keep pleasant surprises, I think. [he looks down at Smeagol] There might be in the future?

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There might be? Better than I've had it for a long, long time. We hope it's better.

*Once they come upon the directory Smeagol does his best to read it.* Books? We remember bookses, we think. And clotheses, yesss, we know clotheses. *He gestures to the scraps that remain of a pair of trousers he probably got hold of a century ago.*

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[Victor nods] Yes, I hope so too. I mean, hopefully today's been pretty good.

[Alice reads through the directory with Smeagol] Books are nice -- I've always liked the ones with pictures. A good illustration really enhances a story, honestly. [she looks down at the remains of the trousers] We could get some of those too, if you want.

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Something warm to put on would be nice. Smeagol's been out in all weathers a long time.

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[Alice, with another look at the trousers] Yes, I got that impression. . . Clothes seem to be to the left, so we can take a look through there before heading over to the furniture section. Maybe we'll find a nice sweater for you?

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That way, yes. *He's not sure what a sweater is, but he imagines he'll find out soon enough.*

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[he will, as Alice leads the way to the clothing section. She hesitates as she actually comes to the "male-presenting" department (the Nexus keeping up with the times, and knowing this is probably more accurate than "men's" when it comes to the various people who pass through) though, unsure where to look. How do the sizes go in this store? She needs something that Smeagol won't get swamped in. . .]

[Victor, for his part, is poking through the nearest rack, taking out a few sweaters for examination -- these particular ones are too big for their companion, but maybe he'll get something while they're here. Just feels good to be out and about, really]

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*Considering where they are, it wouldn't be that unlikely if they had sizes for hobbits, dwarves, pixies and gnomes. In any case, he's gotten by so far on whatever he could steal from the goblins and some 600-year-old scraps of his original clothing. In short, he will not care what he gets as long as it keeps him warm.*

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[Oh, Alice figures they must have something -- it's figuring out where it is that's the trick. Even if Smeagol doesn't care, she does -- at the very least, she wants something he can move around in! So into the racks she goes, looking for -- well, she guesses she'll know it when she sees it]

[Victor, meanwhile, is still looking a little closer to the main aisle, checking a few patterns as he looks over at Smeagol] Anything catch your eye?

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*He shakes his head. All the clothing on display is reminding him of how unrecognizable he would be now to anyone who knew him the last time he had clothes that were all his own; he's getting a bit shy.* Can't remember what Smeagol used to wear.

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Oh. [Victor nods, a bit sadly] Well -- we'll find something for you.

[Indeed, they seem to be on the verge of doing so, judging by Alice's pleased "Aha!" a minute later. She emerges from the racks with some smallish sweaters in a few different shades -- red, blue, green, yellow] Here we are! Nice and soft too. [She presents them to Smeagol for inspection]

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*He seems to like blue. Yellow is much too bright, too much like sunlight, and he's seen enough blood to shy away from red as well. Green he's neutral on, but somewhere deep in his heart blue means going fishing or swimming in the Anduin five hundred years ago.* Them. I want them. They're nice.

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[Alice nods, smiling] Blue, huh? Good choice. [she'll go put the others away]

[Victor cranes his head, looking over the racks] Some new trousers to match wouldn't go amiss, would they?

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Yes, yes. We does our best, but pocketses and things rip open eventually. *He reaches into the remnant of a pocket to show off a smooth stone, a bone fishhook and a couple of shells.* Don't want to lose my nice things, precious. Lossst enough.

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[Victor nods at the little collection] Of course you don't. The fact that you were able to keep those in any sort of repair over the years is impressive.

[Alice returns from the racks] Well, these are all tops -- trousers and such should be this way. [she'll lead the way over to the racks of pants, which, again, come in all styles and colors] Now we just need to find something that looks decent with blue. . .

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We had much time to kill. Fixing thingses was one of the better uses of it.

*He cares more about them being sturdy and having pockets than the color, really, so he just goes with black. He's used to things that are black.*

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[Victor nods again] Yes, I suppose you did. We'll find something with nice deep pockets.

[Black's a good, serviceable color, to be sure. Alice finds something in the appropriate size, with large pockets and solid seams -- he may not be climbing through caves and mountains right now, but better not to get something that'll wear out in just a minute] There! A full outfit!

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*Now to explain . . . pretty much the entire concept of having to pay for things.*

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[Well, they already took a crack at explaining money to him. . .Victor rubs the back of his head] So, um -- remember how we said that there's this special thing called "money" that you can trade to people to get other things from them? This is -- one of those situations.

[Alice, reassuringly] We can cover these, but it's probably a good idea if you get an idea of how these transactions work.

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Oh, that. Smeagol understands, he's thinking. Yes, yes. We don't know how we're going to acquire any, but we won't have to use it often.

No, we can go without. This is more than we need, the Men are too kind. *You can just hear the capitalization of 'Men' when he speaks, the way that Man does not mean man.*

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[Victor drums his fingers on the side of his face thoughtfully] Well, it's generally a case of you do something for someone else -- usually something they don't want or can't do themselves -- and they give you the money in exchange. And given we have stores and the like in the Nexus, there must be people looking for others to work. . .

[Alice tilts her head] Would be a shame to pick those out and not get them. And when you've been deprived of kindness for a good chunk of your life, you like to spread it around. [at least, she does]

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Praps we shall find some work to do, then? Yesss, praps.

We did not do ssso well at that. Learned to hurt everyone worse instead.

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[Victor nods] Perhaps. Catching fish for people, maybe?

[Alice scrunches up her face] Right. . .well, everyone reacts in different ways. And no one can deny I've had an easier time of it than you, even with Rutledge and all its horrors. [with an encouraging look] But there's still time to learn.

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