homophonic: jonas

[camena]

Comments

[camena]

[ >:O ]

Just a little extra walking around money for us, I guess? [ you could spend it on food. you could even spend it on clothes. anyway, randomly: ] ... Did you get an allowance when you were a kid?

[ she says as if naturally anyone who did get an allowance would have stopped by 17? ]

[westedge]

If they expect us to live here week to week and actually charge us for stuff, it's only fair.

[ he has to like. think of how to answer this question. it's not a particularly hard one, but he mulls over it for a moment. there's a lot he could say there. he could say that he saved a lot of it, and how else did she think he had money still to buy cigarettes starting within the last couple of years or so? he could say that it was probably more than they should have been giving him when it was obvious things were not the greatest. he could say that he wonders if his dad would've gone back to giving him one just to try and keep him out of trouble for a while and spend money on something better.

but he doesn't say any of it and instead shrugs. ]

Yeah. I think that's, like, a right of childhood or something. My mom always set aside money for me at the start of the week, and if things were good it'd be like a reward on the weekend. After a while, it kind of shifted to doing stuff to help around the house to earn it. I ended up saving a lot of it back then because there wasn't that much I really wanted as a kid.

[camena]

Fair's not a big concern for them.

[ but anyway, she listens to that, interested. kind of nodding along because it's not too different from how she was raised. a small allowance that turned into motivation for chores. for a while.

well, the last part is pretty different. ]

Oh yeah? I always blew my allowance pretty fast.

[westedge]

[ he shrugs like "okay yeah true." ]

That's unsurprising. On what? [ he says, expertly turning this around to stop talking about him for the time being and ask about her. ]

[camena]

Just, like, stupid stuff? In retrospect?

Going to see movies, or buying a bunch of snacks, or comic books I don't even read anymore. Feels kind of like it was a waste when I think back on it.

[westedge]

[ contemplating... ]

I don't think it's stupid or even a waste. It was stuff you liked back then wasn't it?

[camena]

Sure. But it was all—fleeting, I guess?

[westedge]

Right. [ he does not really agree. ] I don't know. What would you have changed if you could now?

[camena]

Mm... More movies, less snacks? I don't know. It just feels like it was never for anything big.

[ well yeah. because it was a child's allowance. ]

[westedge]

You were a kid, Alex. [ calmly. and factually because, like, it was a child's allowance? ] I'm pretty sure that was the whole point is that you could have whatever you wanted while you were still able to.

[camena]

Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, it's whatever. It's—not a big deal.

I was just curious.

[westedge]

[ ...filing stuff away for later thought. or no thought.

instead, they are walking and entering the district finally. ]

...look, if me not having extra clothes really bugs you that much, you can come with me to look.

[camena]

Sure. Boy clothes are boring, but I'll do whatever it takes.

[ says a girl who definitely wears primarily boy clothes. ]

[westedge]

I don't know if I really want to hear that from you. [ he says, having seen b- alex enough to know. ] If there's a new district there's probably a new clothing store. Let's just walk around and see if we can find it.

[camena]

[ i think i would kill myself if someone consistently thought of me as b- me. alex however does not mind at all so she is just rolling her eyes at that comment and moving on. ]

There wasn't anything wrong with the clothes for sale already, though. [ jeans and plain shirts... are what she likes to wear? so? ]

[westedge]

[ me also. ]

I know, but...options? I don't know. And anyway isn't this just doing what you wanted in the first place? [ like the way he says it maybe sounds like he is complaining, but he really means that they're exploring the new area so that would mean also looking at new clothes anyway. ]

[camena]

No, yeah, it'll still be fun. But you don't have to if you don't want to.

[ she is complaining back, not actually being accommodating. ]

[westedge]

I already said I'd at least, like, windowshop. And if everything's bad I'll go back to IKEA and hope for better next time.

[ not that he knows where to go, so this is now up to alex to lead. ]

[camena]

[ yeah she just starts leading the way. easy habit. ]

I bet Kazuki's holding out for a Hot Topic.

[westedge]

[ sorry to kazuki, but he laughs. ]

I'm not going against that bet at all. It's absolutely the look. But it's hard to imagine him liking any different either.

[camena]

Yeah, right? I like it—it suits him.

It's very, like, rising rock star of him.

[westedge]

Yeah...I get why it's an important image for him. He told me a little more about his music on Saturday and stuff. [ a pause. ] And some other things that've happened to him. It'd be nice to see him get back and try to keep achieving those dreams.

[camena]

I... don't really know anything about what he's been through. We always just end up talking about whatever.

[ sometimes you don't talk about yourself so hard that you also don't talk about the other person either? nailed it. ]

Oh, but I know about the offer he got to join a band on a, like, trial period or something. So that's pretty cool.

[westedge]

That's probably better. I think he's...kind of like Rin and Haru? They need to keep things as normal as possible right now and not think about how they got here. [ i.e. not think about how they died. ]

He told me that, too. I haven't heard him play much outside of anything he's doing in the warehouse, but that has to mean he's pretty decent.

[camena]

Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right.

[ she's curious, but she does respect people's privacy... when she's not Simply So Excited that she's actively asking questions. ]

Right—I bet he's good. And even if he wasn't, I was telling him it'd be, like, really good on-the-job training.