Tug grins at Teegan. "No, I used to be a cheerleader." He laughs good-naturedly. "Sorry, yeah. I used to play for the Raiders, back before I woke up, USC before that, Go Trojans!, high school, PeeWee..." Tug looks wistful and sad when he talks about his playing days. "I lived, ate, breathed, dressed, talked football. It's all I've ever wanted. It's all I've ever worked for. And I worked hard for it, too. Then, bam, the Tower, and this guy in the stands had seen it all, figured it out. Caught up with me afterwards, told me what the deal was. Y'know what I told him?
'So the F what?' I was a baller, I'd always be a baller. But he said no. No, because he knew I had honor. And pride. He said, 'what, you think it's just the two of us? There's a community, and they talk.' No one's gonna believe that I never use my...Skills...to get an advantage. Plus, I always gave it my all. He asked me, 'what are you gonna do, when your whole season comes down to one play, and your team, your dogs, have all put their 110 in? Are you gonna forget that you go to 1000? And if you don't, how will you be able to face them?' So we faked an injury, got me out of my contract. He hooked me up with Arrow, and I was feelin' pretty sorry for myself until I found out about Falx.
Sorry to get all long-winded on ya. That guy just brought up some old stuff, y'know. Like the way it was supposed to be. But then he got creepy, puttin' his arm around me and crap, I mean, who the hell just walks up to someone they don't know and puts an arm around 'em? It was all I could do not to put the fear of beasts in 'em." Tug, cognizant of how he's just spilled his guts uninvited, does his best to cover his embarrassment by taking a huge, slow bite of his bacon, which keeps him more or less quiet for the next minute.
Teegan laughs at frist, "yeah, you'd look cute in the uniform," she jokes, but as he goes into his story she quietly eats her sandwich, listening. "Long winded? Nah, its alright, I asked didn't I?" She smiles at him wishing her own tale was half as interesting, she guesses his brother's was more similar to her own. "What are you doing now? Just the Arrow? I have to play music, keeps my head straight." It was true to, ever since her Awakening she found she needed a way to express herself beyond battle, it was an unusual feeling but she took to music quickly and it balanced her.
"Yeah, you said at the bookstore you wrote a song, right? I like music." Anyone else might have thought those last three words were kinda lame, but Tug said them so genuinely, with such an honest smile, that it was actually kind of charming. "I still train, just like I used to. I been workin' out at this gym, too, boxin', wrestlin', that sort of thing. Went for a hike not too long ago. Nature's alright, I guess." The Thyrsus laughs. "What about you, Orphan?"
Orphan thinks while chewing a bite of his sandwich. "Other than the Arrow gig, I don't do a lot right now. Training, studying, working out, meditation... well, and there's my art, I guess. Drawing, watercolors, that sort of thing. I did that back in my school days, before Awakening, and picked it up again a few months before I got to Sacramento. I started up with it again as a different type of meditation, but I'm finding I really get into it, doing something peaceful, making something.
"I've been thinking, though... my old Mentor, Typhoon, he always emphasizes balance in everything. For him, it's the Arrow thing, but also a Zen thing. Anyhow, for the past few years, my focus has completely been the Arrow, and I've been thinking, maybe it's time for me to do something that puts me directly among the Sleepers. Not sure what, though. Maybe take a class. Maybe teach a class." He shrugs as he takes another bite of sandwich, chews and swallows. "Maybe I'll find a streetcorner to hang out on and be one of those guys that draws people for a few bucks. I dunno. Still giving it some thought."
He takes a sip of his soda and says "Zilker was right, they do a good sandwich here."
Teegan quietly ponders the others Arrows' responses. It was interesting to her to see that the others needed to balance themselves out by interacting with Sleepers in ways similar to her own. She wondered if it was something shared by Arrows alone - as if like their title suggested, they needed to be balanced pointed tip to feathered fletching. Tug's music comment made her chuckle slightly,"I write lots of songs actually but all they ever want to hear is covers." She imagines Orphan siting at the corner with a hat turned upside down in front of his easel, one dollar bill sticking out of it as the starter bill, drawing passers-by for their change, and the image didn't seem quite right to her. He just didn't seem very much like a starving artist with his studious eyes and special art case. Maybe a bald girl, playing acoustic in an old army jacket with the last name ripped off the shoulder would help, "if you want company on one of those street corners let me know," she says to Orphan with a little smile.
Orphan smiles at Teegan's offer. "That would be pretty cool. I'm not big on the whole lonely artist routine, plus something like that, out on the street, it would give us a chance to see a lot of people coming and going, get a better feel for what's happening."
He then turns to Tug and asks, "It must be pretty tough, having something like that going on before Awakening, and having to leave all that behind. I had a whole lot of nothin' going on before, so for me, there wasn't much to miss. How about you, Teegan? What did you do before all this?"
"Iraq," Teegan answers plainly. "I woke up there actually, our team got shot up while clearing a building, it wasn't suppose to be occupied so they didn't send much of us. I kept it together until help came then I woke up somewhere else. Guess that's the way for a lot of us, huh?" She's silent for a moment, remembering the shining tower in that ethereal place she had Awakened to. It made her wonder if the more experienced mages were still haunted by the tower's long shadow or if they found shade from reality in it. "I left when President Bush was sending more troops in, I wish I could be there now... I feel like I abandoned them." She looks at Tug and realizes that everyone abandons something when a change like that happens and that makes a small smile return. She had troops right here that needed her. "Before all that I lived here believe it or not." She chuckles again, "seems like everyone I meet is from somewhere else."
Tug nods along as Orphan explains his interests. "I like art, too," he mentions with a dopey grin which fades when Teegan explains how she Awakened. Falx's story was very similar. He wondered if they'd had a chance to swap war stories yet. His brother sure wasn't opening up to him, and he worried that the past could be eating away at him. He might talk to another soldier.
"Oh, really? Well, me and Falx, we were born and raised SoCal, so, y'know, not far. Funny how home calls after...y'know. Hey, I was thinking of organizing a flag football game for the Community soon. Blow off some steam. If we can set up the proper security measures, anyway. What do you guys think?"
Teegan laughs a little, "I've never played beyond tossing a ball but I'd give it a try." The image of herself, snapping the ball to Orphan while he takes off down the field only to be dropped when he hits Tug shaped wall was what really made her giggle. Through her mirth she says, "you promise not to sit on us right?"
At the mention of football, Orphan's first thought is how he dropped out of sports early on, as he got tired of being told he didn't play well with others, and of the jocks he'd disliked back in high school before dropping out. He pushed those thoughts aside, though, as he was truly a different person now - not the long-haired metalhead loner who dabbled in the occult. Heck, he was more of a jock now than any of those kids had been back then, and he'd long ago realized most of the problem others had with him was his own fault, due to his attitude.
He laughs at Teegan's question to Tug, and the image it brought to mind. "A football game sounds like a great idea."
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