Carnality Walking (open)

[Ϛ The magician]

The magician was completely under the table by now, on his feet but basically sitting, his hat on the floor beside him. His hand kept shifting from his eyes to his ears, trying to block out both the sights and sounds but falling short of the hands required for full sensory removal each time.

In one of these moments where he possessed the ability of sight, he noticed that the officers appeared to have left. Elated, he stopped time and crawled out from under the table, placing his hat back on his head and brushing his outfit in general off. Luckily, he hadn't sat in a puddle of melted snow or anything. He squeezed by Natsumi, found Angry just outside, and pulled a makeup kit out of his pocket. A mere moment later (for the magician's costume required a certain degree of proficiency with makeup) the young officer's scowl was covered with a layer of makeup light enough that he shouldn't feel it, but had nonetheless given him a clown's wide smile.

So it was that when he made his way back inside and resumed the flow of time, Natsumi would not find the magician underneath the table, but behind him, tapping him lightly on the shoulder with a broad grin occupying his face.

"Thank you, Friend!" the magician happily said, dipping into an even deeper bow than usual. Something about the way he said 'Friend' made it obvious he was using it as a title, and that it wasn't one bestowed upon many people out there. When he pulled up from the bow, he had a blue rose in his hand, and this he held out to Natsumi, clearly a symbol of his gratitude.

"To match your pretty hair," he explained.

[natsumi]

As he knelt he realized rather quickly that his new friend was no longer there. Sighing in relief he jumped slightly when there came a tapping on his shoulder. He turned slowly, cautiously then smiled warmly and stood as he found that his friend had returned. Nat found himself bowing slightly in return laughing with the left over adrenalin of messing with cops.

"No problemo, Magic Man." He grinned and winked at the man leaning back onto his hands propped on the table. The cafe's manager stared at them for a few more seconds before going back to the back of the store. Eyes traveling back to the man in front of him he's face with a lovely blue rose. Blinking in slight shock his face lit up with a smile more real than most of the ones given that night.

"Thanks!" Pushing off of the table he took the rose in his hand and lifted it up to his nose. It was certianly a gesture most people saved toward woman, but Nat understood. He was rather feminine anyhow, and it was a generic thank you.

"Well, now that the problem is over you hungry at all?" He slid back to his seat tucking the rose into a button hole in his coat. "My treat, remember?"

[Ϛ The magician]

The magician liked the sound of the name 'Magic Man'. For one thing, it described who he was almost as well as 'the magician' did, but it also had a hint of informality and familiarity to it that the sort of name a Friend would call you should have. It was a nickname, and unlike names, the magician liked nicknames, because they told you more about a person than their real name did, most of the time.

"You're quite welcome," the magician responded, thoroughly enjoying the smile brought upon by the rose. The gender factor didn't even occur to him, but then, in most situations it seemed that the mentally unstable man didn't differentiate between men and women at all, acting no differently toward one or the other.

He slid back into his own seat as well, across from his Friend. "Yes, hungry," he asserted, retrieving his menu. He then proceeded to stare it down as if it had challenged him to contest of uninterrupted gazing, occasionally turning it as if it had been printed upside-down by mistake, his face warping as if it was intensely confusing.

Almost as if he couldn't read.

"Sandwich, sandwich..." he muttered to himself, clearly not the best at keeping his thoughts in his head. He was trying to remember what kind of sandwiches there were, for he indeed could not make sense of the menu, even though he didn't think of it as not being able to read. To him, it looked like a picture with a lot of fancy lines, so he'd scrutinized it like a work of art for awhile to be polite. He couldn't put any names to the pictures of food in it, though.

BLT.

"Ah, yes, BLT, thank you," he said to the voice in his head that told him things he didn't know. "Four ninety-nine," he commented appreciatively, as if talking about a giant of a fish he'd caught, and pointing at the price next to the item like he had suddenly learned to read again. Which wasn't far from the truth, really. Chronic amnesia is a heck of a syndrome.

[natsumi]

Natsumi couldn't stop smiling as he sat watching the man scan over the menu, or what looked like scanning. A few times he had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing. It was almost as if the man had never ordered a sandwich before. Course Natsumi just figured the man was doing some sort of act trying to be funny and all. No way would he know that the man was actually having difficulty chosing a sandwich. He'd long ago put down the menu just to watch his new friend with his choice making.

"BLT? Good choice, they always have the greatest bacon." Nat leaned back his head tilted back until he was somewhat staring at the kitchen door. "Hey! Chuck! Food!"

Some grumbling came from behind the doors until a heavyset man came out in a white cook's outfit a rolled magazine in hand. Smiling Natsumi waved at him as the large man ambled over to their table.

"Ya know I ain't no d*mn waitress, an' yous betta know I on-ie do dis fer you." Nat jumped up from his seat and into the arms of the grumpy guff before them. The large towering man didn't even grunt as the short boy landed bride style in his arms. "I hates you."

"No you don't. I want a philly steak sandwich with lots of gravy, and horseradish. My friend wants one of your amazing BLT's." Nat rolled his big blues up at the man who finally cracked a smile and laughed his head shaking.

"Yous sure are an odd one, boy." The gruff man set Nat back down touching his forehead with a small salute. "It'll be out as fast as ya can spit in a barrel."

"That's disgusting, Chuck." And off the man went leaving Nat to slide back in his seat laughing. "Funny thing is, his name is Marion, but he hates it so I call him Chuck. It's manly."

He winked at the stranger before tossing his menu to the side. "I tend to give nick names to everyone I know. Even if they like it or not." Leaning his head back he jumped suddenly remembering they hadn't ordered any drinks.

"Hey what do you want to drink? I can go tell Chuck real quick." Nat jumped from his seat for what felt like the millionth time that night grinning down at the Magic Man.

[Ϛ The magician]

The magician spent a good deal of the time during which Natsumi was speaking with the chef pondering what exactly bacon had to do with anything. He tried to listen to their conversation, but quickly gave up; he couldn't understand a single word the man was saying. However, he got the feeling his friend really liked the man, so he decided this meant he should like him too.

When Natsumi returned to him, he was playing with a coin, flipping it back and forth between his fingers and occasionally snapping, causing it to disappear, only to reappear with a flourish of his hands. This was, for once, actual sleight-of-hand; he'd been practicing it alot lately, mostly because he found it much more interesting and challenging than his other magic tricks. When Natsumi actually started talking to him again, he snapped one last time and the coin remained gone for the duration of his speech.

The magician had no idea what Chuck meant, but his friend said it was manly, and the chef sure was manly, so it must have fit very well. Just as he was wondering if his friend gave everyone a nickname, he admitted to doing just that, and the magician couldn't suppress a smile. "Nicknames are useful things," he commented.

When Natsumi jumped up and asked him what he wanted to drink, he didn't immediately answer, first gesturing to Natsumi and patting the top of his head. If Natsumi took the hint and checked, he would find that the coin the magician had been playing with was balanced precariously on top of his head.

"Cream soda," he finally answered. It was another of the things he somehow knew he liked. It was one of the only things he drank, too.

[natsumi]

Nat paused and stared at his new friend not fully understanding the motions to touch his head. He lifted his hands slowly to touch the top of his head to find the cool feel of metal. Grinning he lowered his hand that clasped the coin and laughed a little.

"You sure are somethin' ya know that?" He tossed the coin back at his friend with a smile. "You should take those talents and make yourself some money. I'd pay to laugh at your tricks."

Natsumi waited for his friend to spout out cream soda before calling out what he wanted to drink. "Root beer float and a cream soda, Chuck!"

Sliding back in his seat he wondered what to talk about with this stranger turned friend. Their food might take a few minutes and to fill the time with silence didn't sound appealing. "So where do you live? Maybe I could get us a cab and I could take you back after we eat. Offally cold out for you to walk far."

There that was reasonable. "I live across the grand Mississippi myself in an apartment." A rather large, uptown apartment but he didn't need to share that. He wasn't totally sure of this man to share real details but giving a little never hurt anyone.

[Ϛ The magician]

"I do parties!" he said, which was... somewhat true. He did, very rarely, actually do a party, but more often than not he scared children, so he usually did older crowds, where they simply assumed the insanity was part of the act. Still, these things are notoriously hard to organize when one is a transient, so they don't happen often. The tagline just kind of stuck either way. "I have plenty of 'money' though. I collect the Georges."

His eyes kept darting every which way as he sat, and though they went to Natsumi whenever he spoke, they would quickly return to their previous business whenever he finished. The magician simply wasn't used to sitting still for so long. He wasn't exactly uncomfortable (or if he was, he hadn't noticed it yet), but it was clear he wasn't in his element.

"Where do I live?"

If not for Natsumi's answer, he would have said 'everywhere'. He definitely didn't die when he went certain places, anyway. He lived here, he lived there, he lived anywhere he went. But Natsumi seemed to be asking something else of him.

"I don't have... a.... home...?" His hesitation was solely due to the fact that he wasn't quite sure he'd phrased what he said properly; he felt no sadness or anything of the sort in admitting he didn't have a place to stay. It was simply who he was.

[natsumi]

He laughed slightly at the explosion of 'I do parties' and leaned to prop his head on his hand. Intrigued by this interesting and slightly confusing man. The confession about the money though had his interests piqued even higher. How could a man who had one outfit be rolling in the Georges? Maybe he had some other high paying job.

"Really? You some secrete millionaire or somthing?" Natsumi joked his eyes twinkling with the laughter. Speaking of eyes his friend's were very mobile. He sat and watched every little action done by the odd Magic Man trying to decifer something abou him. To see what made him tick in some way or what his aim was. Was he just kidding around with this personality Nat was being shown? Or was this just him?

"Yeah, live. You know address?" He leaned forward a bit crossing his arms on the table. The food should be coming any minute seeing at the place wasn't busy and they were just sandwiches after all. Just as he was about to yell at Chuck to get a move on with the food Magic Man let out some knews that had Natsumi frozen.

"You don't have a home?" He blurted out eyes a bit wide. "No home, and only one outfit."

Seeming to be talking to himself now he stared at the table top. A homeless person, he'd met up and took a homeless man out to dinner. No wonder the cops were after him he was probably known as a local hobo or something.

"But I thought you said you had a lot of money?" Nat had heard of some rich eccentrics who lived on the streets. He didn't understand them but he'd heard of them. But as far as he knew they always went home when night came and just wondered the streets for...Culturing? He wasn't sure but if his friend didn't have a home he'd open his to him. The apartment was pretty big and he could always do with a roomie with a sense of humor.

[Ϛ The magician]

"No?" the magician quizzically answered. He wasn't quite sure what a millionaire was, not at the moment anyway, but he was pretty sure he wasn't a secret anything. He would tell anyone who asked that he was a magician, and even a large number of people who didn't ask, if his fancy was tickled so. He didn't quite see the purpose of keeping secrets, the whole concept was novel and confusing.

He was further confused by Natsumi's reaction to him not having a home, and the fact that he only had one outfit coming up again. Hadn't they already gone over that? Maybe he was just imagining things again; it was a pretty common occurrence after all. Natsumi was greeted with a blank expression and a blink as the magician tried to find reason in the outright shock his friend was feeling. The money question made no sense to him either. Maybe Natsumi forgot things like he did?

"Yes, I do have money. What is 'a lot of money'? I have a big pile of Georges hiding somewhere and a little pile of other ones. Is that a lot?"

He wouldn't mind giving his friend some money. He might even give him some 'Georges', considering the two of them were so chummy. Anyone else would get stuck with the other ones, but he could make an exception for Friend. He could always find more Georges later.

[natsumi]

No home, no real display of material things, and he picked something as simple as a BLT. Either the man liked living the simple life or he just didn't get money. Nat on the other hand understood it completely, and bought nice things for himself when bills and such allowed. If you didn't have a home, didn't buy clothing, and didn't got out to eat much money didn't weigh as much. He was assuming that the man didn't go out to eat much because of the actions of him handling the menu.

"Alrighty. You're not that big into the spending of money. No problem with that." Just then a tired, worn looking woman probably in her early thirties, late twenties came out. In her hands was two massive sandwiches with a side of fries. Upon seeing the food Natsumi's mouth watered. The philly was steaming, the lettuce crisp and geen on the BLT, and the aroma was driving him mad.

"Here ya go boys." The woman set down the plates in front of their owners then set down their drinks as well. Both tall glasses of the bubbling carbonated drinks one with ice cream foaming the glass. Nat wanted to attack his food he was so hungry, for dancing for as many hours as he had tended to leave one famished.

He smiled at his new friend and waved at the large platters of food set before them. "Well, dig in I'm sure it's delicious." Nat picked up a fork and started eating away at his gravy drowned plate of meat, onions, cheese, and french fries. Not the healthiest sandwich, nor was it the safest for the belly line, but Nat never really worried about that stuff. He excercise plenty enough and with a lycan's metabolism food just sort of disappeared along with the calories.

"Oh, I could die this is so tasty. I love this place, simply love." Nat tilted his head back and smiled mischievously. "Chuck, I'm gonna marry you one day! Just for your cooking!"

"You can explain that to the Mrs. I'm sure she'll be thrilled." Laughing Natsumi returned to his food enjoying the explosion of seasoned meat, and grilled onions.

[Ϛ The magician]

The magician would have said something just then, probably a confused something, in reply to Natsumi if not for the arrival of the food.

The magician and food had a strange relationship. He loved food, but he never went out of his way to get it. He could eat much of it and not be full, or little of it and not be hungry. He could eat an entire buffet and not gain any weight, but if he ate nothing he didn't lose weight either. Food was more of a hobby for him than anything else, it seemed.

However, he sure looked happy to see his sandwich.

"Thank you!" the magician nearly shouted at the waitress, and he sprung up from his seat with a wide smile, looking about ready to hug her. However, he seemed to think better of this, or perhaps was never thinking of this in the first place, as he promptly sat back down again to stare at his glorious sandwich. He managed to control himself, however, and for whatever reason, until Natsumi gave him the go-ahead to start.

He picked up the large sandwich with both spindly hands and stuffed an impressive amount of it into his mouth before taking a bite. It took him awhile to manage to chew such a large piece of the sandwich, but he eventually did, and then he repeated the process. The sandwich didn't last long, and the drink went in one breath. However, he hadn't touched his fries at all. He wasn't even looking at them; he simply stared out the window while Natsumi ate the rest of his meal, looking quite content with his place in the world at the moment.

[natsumi]

As Nat chowed down he froze mid-bite at the impressive bites his friend was taking. He hadn't seen someone inhale food like that in a long while. There had been one guy back in California that could intake food like that but he'd been built like a brick house. This was a frail man compared to the mastiff back home. For a few moments he simply sat and stared at the sandwich disappeared before his eyes. Then the drink just as quickly.

"You continue to amaze me, Magic Man." He shook his head laughing softly before digging in once again. The flavors were like a party upon his tongue, and the adding of the root beer was like the spiked punch at prom. Not that he'd ever experienced prom, something he'd left behind to never experience. But that suited him just fine this life was much more entertaining, intriguing, and meshed well with his personality.

Nat shoved the few remnants of his food around his plate as his stomach let him know he was now full. He noticed his new friend's plate and quirked his head to the side slightly. "Don't like fries? I can get you something else if you want. A desert maybe?"

He did not want the man to go hungry, course he didn't want him to be homeless either. But one step at a time. Nat slid his plate to the side and pulled his float in closer as he leaned back into the booth seat. Stirring the ice cream he eyed the colorful man before him and wondered who he really was. Why had the cops come over? If he had so much money as he claimed why live the way he hinted at? People were such interesting creatures.

[Ϛ The magician]

The magician simply smiled at the compliment, for he wasn't even sure it was, in fact, a compliment, and he really didn't know if he should be thanking his friend for saying, or simply going about his business as usual, whatever that may be. The last thing he wanted to do, after all, was make a fool of himself. That would be downright disastrous, not to mention embarrassing.

He went back to staring out the window while Natsumi finished his food, and remained that way until his friend finished and asked him about his fries. He followed Natsumi's gaze to his plate and quirked his own head in an equally questioning manner. He saw a plate there, yes, so that meant the things on it must be... fries? He picked one off the plate and held it up with a gaze full of wonderment before biting half of it off. He seemed genuinely surprised that he enjoyed the experience, but a smile replaced this expression quickly and he began stuffing messy fistfuls of the fries into his mouth.

When he had finished - or had at least emptied the plate, as his mouth was still pretty full - he looked at Natsumi and managed to choke out "Dessert?" without losing any of the precious cargo in his mouth. It really was more of a question than anything, but whether he asked because he didn't know what dessert was in the sense of the very concept itself, or because he didn't know what dessert was in the sense of which dish was on special, would be another of those things with him where you don't know and are best not thinking too hard about it, lest you get a headache.

As Nat pondered people, the magician's thoughts were considerably less grand; namely, why hadn't he experienced the wonder that was 'fries' before, and why, for some reason, they made him think of people with peculiar accents speaking about firing missiles. He wasn't even sure he knew what a missile was. 'A weapon' was about as far as he got.