RP Pocket Watch (Chapter 5: Latin Love)

"We're here!" The group then walks in.

The place was pretty run down and there were only a few lights on.

Sandra and Slayde sat down at one of the tables and motioned to the others to sit down.

 

Benjamin sat close to Slayde. It seemed like he knew what was going on more and had some sort of idea as to what they should do. He watched Slayde expectantly, waiting for him to say something.

 

Leaving the defunct library with dog in tow, Elise sets her sights on looking at sings pointing her to the entrance of the next district. Walking with the crowd, Elise eventually found her way to a point in the wall where a large set of metal studded doors were placed. The hole had many guards stationed at the entrance, as well in sections higher up in the wall, with very visible guns mounted on them. Cameras could be seen scanning the crowd passing by the location, although the shuffling masses give the door a wide berth. Elise looks down at the dog, who looks pityingly back at her. Getting through there would be suicide. I know, ok! Scaling the wall won't work either, because if it did, then Slayde and co. wouldn't be so interested on what was on the other side. Yeah, I picked up on that one too. Any other crazy plans to- Realizing she was standing in the middle of the street, Elise attempted to cross to an alleyway out of the way of any of the guards and cameras to watch her. She sits down on the opposite side of a dumpster and the dog joins her. Elise gives the faithful creature a smile and begins to scratch between his ears. "Argh, what am I going to do?" No way into the next district, but there was no evidence to go on here. Leading the resistance is still on the table. Once again, no. Looking towards the highly content canine, Elise lets a question linger in the air. "Any ideas, boy?"

 

Sandra ordered everyone what they wanted. Slayde cleared his throat.

"You've been asleep for one thousand years so its no surprise you guys are confused. You know most of the confusing details except for one last one." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her pocket watch. "These, you may not have seen these before. I mean of course you think its a pocket watch but here's the thing. It can act as one of four things. A pocket watch to tell time, a vessel for your body to live in once you die, a weapon, or morphs your body into another for. In most cases this form is an animal but there have been some cases where this was not true."

She puts it back into her pocket. A waiter then comes back hands everyone their drinks, some snack food were placed on the table.

"There is a few rules to them that even us Rebels try to enforce. We don't use our weapons in view of the public eye, unless our animal form is realistic we don't use it in public, and lastly we keep them secure in our pockets. Simple enough. Pocket Watch abilities are for private use and self defense only. Rebels don't listen to this rule but we have our reasons. My last thing to tell you guys is that in order to retrieve these watches it requires a certain surgery which we can provide, but seeing as you have a much less survival rate without it I would assume you will partake."

She sips some of her coffee, her fave scrunches up a bit as if it was sour. Slayde looks at the group.

"Now, enough of me talking, what do you guys think?"
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The dog once again enjoyed the scratches thoroughly.

When Elise finished the husky tugged at her leg, nearby were public restrooms that belonged to what seemed to be a small park. It didn't look like much of a park anymore but it was easy to consider it as such.

The dog walked to the woman's bathroom. He placed his hand on the door. A look of worry seemed to be placed upon his face.

From where they were the cameras couldn't see them enter the bathroom due to the men's bathroom blocking the view. All about them camera angles. God bless them!

 

Benjamin would do little other than nod at Slayde's words and eat his food. This all sounded really insane to him, but he was accustomed to the feeling. He would look at the others expectantly, waiting for their responses.

 

Elise is confused by why the dog would want her to go into the bathroom, but the animal's judgement was sound before. She pushes open the door and looks around. It was very average for a public bathroom, by which she means it was terribly run down and dirty. Rust covered several of the taps and some of the stall doors were missing. Elise looks at the dog, wondering what will come next.

 

Think? Nova has no idea what to think! This whole pocket watch idea sounds like fantasy. And yet... She saw it with her own eyes. The lady... Sandra, was it? morphing her pocket watch back from a weapon. Maybe it was just a trick of the light? Maybe she was more disoriented than she thought. Nova ponders all this while she sits in silence, eating slowly.

 

Once in the bathroom the dog looks to make sure the area was empty.

He starts to shake himself as if he was wet but.... wait...

As he shook himself he started to become human.

A tall male was now in front of Elise. He wore dark glasses, and a robe that that went down under his knees. The robe was half black and half gray and had a collar that extended over his mouth. He had short white hair which looked closer to the gray of his robe but he liked to call it white. A pocket watch was around his neck. The outside of the watch looked similar to the ying and yang symbol but you could barely tell from the front.

He realized Elise would be shocked and he emotionally and physically braced himself for what may happen next.

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Sandra rubbed Slaydes head.

"Just how we practiced. This is what happens when you try to explain things slow instead of fast and sloppy. I bet they understand now." She smiled at Slayde.

Sadly, you could see in Slaydes face how he truly felt. He looked sad, his face sagged. His aura was depressing and uncomfortable but at the same time the way he faked happiness almost attracted others to him. He was the perfect balance of life and death in a person.

 

Watching the transformation of what Elise thought was a docile pet into another human being tipped her psyche off of that fragile edge it had been hanging on all day. "But...I...You...you licked my face? Augh!" Elise decides to give up in that moment and walks outside to lie down in what was left of the grassy park. The sci-fi story wasn't ending. This couldn't be the future. This had to still be a dream. Somehow she'll wake up in the morning, and go to her job before writing on her novel in the midnight hours.

 

The man walks out and puts his pocket watch in his pocket. A few people give me a strange look.

"I'm sorry I licked your face." He said. "I had to act like a dog in order to not draw suspicion." He now said in a hushed voice.

"I saw you in the crowd, you looked like one of those people from the pods. I decided to see what you were doing running away like that and merging with the crowd. Now that I saw what you were doing... I'm kinda curious." He ended.

His voice was monotone, but smooth. He never once looked down at Elise when he talked to her. He constantly looked forward.

"So what is it you plan on doing?"

 

"I don't know, honestly. Maybe I'm overreacting? I guess with everything that happened after I woke up...." Elise sits up at this point, looking around the abandoned area. Her eyes are glazed over, as she's more focused on her words that the area around her. "I guess the future isn't what I expected it to be. I imagined profit and success and happiness and fantastical, wonderful things. But here, it's just the same as it was 1000 years ago, only now with a totalitarian company controlling the one city I'm in. And now I can't go looking for the one relative of might who may or may not be alive while also being a mad scientist." Elise tucks some stray hairs behind her ear, and looks up at her ex-canine companion. "What's your name?"

 

"My name is Kotoka. Why exactly do you want to see a relative of yours so badly. Especially one so infamous."

He stops and thinks about what she said. He takes his pointer finger and pushes his glasses back up his nose.

"I feel your pain, as much as their is profit and success, its only given to those born into it. At least that's how it works in these years."

He still continues to stare forward as if in a trance.

 

Benjamin was finishing his food when he finally spoke up. "If you're offering one of those watches, then I'd like to take you up on that offer." Truthfully, Benjamin was afraid of what might happen, but he had nothing else to lose, and so much to gain.

 

Sandra seemed surprised when Benjamin spoke. "Well there's one. Now who else?" She said.

She wanted to wait till everyone was ready before they continued to go anywhere else.

 

It took that much to spur Nova into deciding. "Yeah, okay... so this is apparently a real thing, and... heck, I know it works. So who am I to refuse an opportunity like this?"

 

"Now that's two. You guys are considerably accepting. I mean I feel bad we don't have much of a way to explain more to you but word of mouth is the best we have." Sandra frowns.

 

"Well I mean, the demonstration certainly didn't hurt." She seems to have bounced back from her earlier shock. Probably getting some food in her system helped her calm down.

 

"I want to find him so that he can explain things. I mean, I'd like to know what happened to my family over that all of these years. Nothing makes sense anymore, and I don't have a home here. Family is a good place to start over." Slowly, as if she was made of a more delicate material, Elise picks herself up from the ground. A breeze blows through the park from behind them, causing Kotoka's robes to billow and Elise's hair to spread out behind her."So, Kotoka, are you with Slayde's group?"

 

Benjamin went quiet again. He wanted to have a taste of this power. It sounded greedy, but it was a foreign idea to him and I felt...intriguing. He would patiently wait for the three others to stop talking and lead him to his future. And from there, he would begin planning his next move.

 

Sandra got up from her chair. So this is where is begins.

"Well if you guys are ready then we can get it done right away." She walked away. Now it was only the other three and Slayde at the table while they waited for her to do who knows what.

"It's strange seeing her happy, she's been through a lot." He sat back in his chair.

The group starts to feel dizzy. Abnormally dizzy.

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Kotoka fixes his hair that the breeze so cautiously messed up.

"Good luck finding Jamison. I've been searching forever. As much as you think Family is important, here it doesn't matter, which is sad but true."

He pauses for a second.

"I don't know anyone named Slayde. I only know people in the rebellion." It was shocking to see him say that word out loud. It had seemed people got killed just for saying the wrong things. Nothing happened though, no one heard him.