Stella

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Ugh, this sucked.

So he was out in the water, right? Chained up his bike and took the board out of the side rack and was in the water for a nice little dawn patrol at the beach near his apartment, super chill, and when he got back what did he find? A broken bike lock and no bike to be seen. Seriously. Who would even want his old hunk of junk? Not that he'd abide anyone else calling his bike that, but still--

Simon walked five miles to the nearest police station and ambled in, still in a wetsuit from the waist-down and with a t-shirt pulled over his top. Luckily, the thief missed nabbing his bag of clothes and shoes (which he had hidden artfully under a rock on the sand). One quick trip into the bathroom later and he was now in regular street clothes; but still bike-less and now carrying a damp wetsuit. Would they have an extra trash bag or something he could toss this in? Simon would have to remember to ask after filing his stolen item report.

The guy behind the counter was big, a little bigger than Simon himself was-- and with three times the hair. Damn, dude. Pretty sweet.

"'Scuse me, uh..." He paused, trying to be polite as possible. Couldn't be an easy job, being law enforcement in a place crazy as Manta Carlos, "I'd like to know, sir, how do I file a stolen item report with you guys? Someone jacked my bike."

@Thoth
 

Romi

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Front desk duty was the lesser of two evils. Dealing with reports as they came in at least gave the option to do something that wasn't paperwork, while actually being at his actual desk meant he was going to be in paperwork hell until he died.

He didn't often work the desk. Normally there was some kind of secretary who screened people out. Only on slow days, and when the secretary needed a break, someone had to man the desk.

It had been really slow that day. He supposed it was probably a side effect of the weather. Lots of people were enjoying the last bit of sun before the first snow hit, and there would probably be a mad rush when the sun went down, but for the moment it was just boring. He wasn't even going to be here during the mad rush - he was off in twenty minutes, and if no one came in during that time, it'd be great.

No such luck, because the moment he thought it, someone appeared through the door. A kid, probably in college, and, by the looks of him, right off the beach. His eyes lazily followed the kid to the bathroom door, and when he popped out with a wetsuit slung over one arm (probably dripping onto the floor, although not as much as one might expect), Angelo leaned back in his chair, watching him approach.

Quick and easy, at least, and he swivelled on the chair, pushing himself out of the little 'window' before pushing himself right back, this time holding a form, which he slid over to the kid.

"Fill that out. Bike return isn't normally a high priority for police because it's not like we can stop random bikes to check their numbers, but we get a lot of people who help themselves to bikes, not realizing they're property, and get confused when they try and return them." Unfortunate side effect of living on such a varied island. You couldn't really expect a literal alien to have the same sense of property that an earthling (let alone an American) would have.

"Important parts are name, your phone number, and description of the bike. If you've got serial numbers, that's ideal, and if not, a picture is second best." Written descriptions were really, really iffy.
 

Stella

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Simon nodded and took the form.

"Thanks," he glanced over the information, picked up a pen and wrote down his information and description of his bike. Blue, surf board rack attached to the side. He attempted to doodle a picture to illustrate what that looks like but it wasn't exactly a work of art. Simon returned the paperwork with a sheepish smile, "I know it's sort of a long shot but I figure might as well, right? You never know."

Drip. Drip. Drops slipped off the damp cuff of the wetsuit and pattered against the linoleum floor and on the top of his feet.

"Oh shit, sorry about the water. Tried to ring this out best I could but-- er, well... I can wipe it up myself if you have paper towels or a rag or something? It's my fault so I should be the one to clean it up."

Simon winced at the small puddle forming around him.

"And, uh, I'd be much obliged if you have a trash bag to toss this in."

Nice going dude, way to fuck up the police station and antagonize the police officer helping you out. A++ work there.

@Thoth
 

Romi

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The police station thankfully had a cleaning service. It made sense - people often came in literally dripping blood or throwing up from drugs or god knew what, so you needed cleaners who knew what the heck they were doing. Water was easy, and he shook his head, leaning out of sight as he grabbed a phone off the wall.

"Hey, could I get someone in the lobby? ... Yeah, it's just water, no blood or anything. Just don't want anyone to slip." He commented, before making a noise of acknowledgement and hanging up.

"Don't worry about it, mops going to make do of it way faster." He paused for a moment to consider, leaning forward slightly to peek behind Simon, but there was no one else there - just the two of them.

"Sure. I'll grab you a bag, just stand by the door a bit." There was a mat by the door that would take care of most of the water, and without waiting for a response, Angelo got up, leaving the window vacant.

He wasn't gone more than five minutes when he abruptly popped out of the side door into the lobby, carrying a black trash bag, still folded and fresh. "Should fit the wet suit, if not, I can grab another one."
 

Stella

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"Oh perfect, this is good. Thanks dude, I appreciate it," He paused, looking up at the officer in front of him. Under the tufts of blonde hair he could make out bits of a face with a lot of story to tell, "Er, thank you sir. Officer. Sorry, 'Dude' is kind of a reflex thing."

The station was so quiet. Somehow, Simon expected the police on Manta Carlos to have more work on their hands. He thought they'd have more to do than any other police station in the world, what with so many weird people in one place. Maybe their collective weirdness all just sort of cancelled out?

A thought struck in his mind and suddenly he remembered the last time he'd been in a police station, back in Santa Cruz: it was right after his last rampage. When he finished, Dee having pulled every ounce of strength from his body until neither of them could continue, Simon had collapsed in the rubble and woke up in police custody. Somehow, the cell bars that were so terrifying to anyone else held strange comfort. He'd spent the night, awakened midday to someone opening the door and ushering him out, still unsure of what damaged he'd done but knowing that it had to have been worse than anything he'd done before. For a brief moment Simon wanted to tell the officer to let him stay, keep him locked here, maybe that way everyone would be safe-- but then he'd remembered the dull burn of how metal crumpled in his hands and knew that these bars would never be strong enough to give any safety to anyone.

The sense-memory flooded back to him in the Manta Carlos police station, and he couldn't help the way his hands shook and breath came like lead in his lungs.

"Uh," God, Simon hated how shaky and small his voice sounded around a dry mouth and a gaping hole in the pit of his stomach, "Sorry, any chance you have a drinking fountain or something?"
 

Romi

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He really didn't mind the 'dude', and he kept right on smiling, unphased. People could call him whatever the hell they wanted - didn't really matter to him. Plus, it helped he was from America, and had a general idea of what kind of person the kid was. Surfer. If he had to bet, probably California, but he supposed that a place like Hawaii was possible as well. "Don't worry about it."

He considered the thing more or less over - until the kid seemed to sway a bit. Angelo actually held out his hand as if he was going to grab his shoulder to keep him upright, but he hesitated, and it seemed to mostly pass. His breathing was funny, and his hands seemed to be trembling, and Angelo wouldn't have had anything positive to say about how the kid was feeling if he had to guess.

He reached his arm out, guiding him over towards the plastic chairs waiting people normally sat on, not quite touching him. "Grab a seat, I'll grab you a water bottle. You're looking a bit woozy - you doing alright?" He'd meant to ask and confirm if he was American, but his health was absolutely first priority.
 

Stella

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Simon nodded and sat when Angelo guided him, running through breathing exercises he'd been taught in therapy and pushing down the tightness in his throat. Somewhere under the deafening roar of his pulse it was comforting to hear another American accent. Shit, why was his heartbeat so damn loud? Simon swallowed and focused on the slow in-out of his breath over the muted sounds of bad memories.

In, two, three, four...

Out, two, three, four...

Even though Angelo wasn't touching him he could probably feel the sudden spike of heat radiating from Simon's skin. It abated as Simon continued breathing, but he certainly was running hot.

"I'm sorry, I just--" He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand and felt the tight string of his shoulders slack with effortful relaxation, "Fuck, wow, didn't mean to do this, sorry. Not in public, 'specially."

Simon calmed himself, systematic and practiced, relaxing once muscle at a time. This... had not been the way he thought today would go.
 

Romi

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Angelo was no therapist, but if he had to guess he'd have said panic attack. The shaking, the breathing... okay, the heat was a bit unexpected, because he could practically see it, even if he wasn't touching him, but Manta Carlos was pretty weird to begin with. He stayed hovering over the kid, watching him slowly relax, bit by bit. Was he supposed to ask if it was a panic attack? Probably not. Probably it was better to just let him relax, and he did his best to wait until he looked mostly okay.

"You probably want to get home, right? I'm off in a few minutes - I'll just ask if I can take off now, and I'll walk you back home to make sure you get back alright, okay?" It seemed like the best plan to him. He doubted anyone would object, considering how slow it was, and he was worried about the guy keeling over, especially since he was going to have to walk and not bike back.
 

Stella

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It had been a month or two since his last panic attack, and Simon had hoped that meant he was getting better. So much for that idea.

One breath in. One breath out.

Okay, pity party over. He fidgeted with a rope bracelet on his wrist, comforted by the tactile roughness of the twine as he considered Angelo's (very kind) offer. The thought of the trek back to his place was daunting-- he'd gone from the beach to the station, which was in the opposite direction, and now had to walk both stretches of distance to get back...

"You sure? I mean I appreciate it, but you have a home to get back to, too, right?"

It really was going above and beyond for Angelo to take him home. He always hated being alone after a panic attack, but honestly he hated being a burden far more than he hated being alone. On the other hand, was he really going to look a gift-horse in the mouth?

Whatever the hell a "gift horse" was supposed to be, anyway. Simon's mind wandered to a thoroughbred with a present between its teeth before Trojan armies and ancient wars.
 

Romi

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"Well, technically speaking I'll be getting off early to walk you - but it's really not a big deal. I can handle a walk." Really, unless the guy lived on the remotest regions of the islands on the far side of the school, it wasn't going to be an issue. "You live in the school, or closer to the residential side of the city?" Even if technically people lived all over the island, he'd guess a good forty percent lived at the school or directly around it, and another forty lived closer to downtown. He was in the group that was close to downtown, but it was an easy walk from the transit station at the school to the dorms and apartments in the area if he lived over there.

"Just sit tight for a moment, alright?" He didn't want him getting up and falling over, and he glanced back to make sure he was still seated as he ducked into the back.

It wasn't more than a minute or two when someone else appeared in the window, and Angelo emerged from the back, carrying a messenger bag and wearing a loose grey t-shirt and a windbreaker. He was still wearing his uniform's pants, but they looked generic enough that he didn't scream cop or anything.

"Alright, what part of the island do you live on, anyway?"
 
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