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[metemmods.insanejournal.com]

Characters: Legion and Corruption
Date/Time: Noon, June 14th
Location: Outside In Tune Records, Columbus.
Rating: TBD, possibly R
Warnings: Language.
Summary: Max, on his way home, makes a new acquaintance.



The chaos inside Max called to him, as loudly as a dance club in the middle of the night. He gave a grin of anticipation as he approached the record store-- this was going to be fun.

His timing was perfect. He literally bumped into Max as he walked out of the record shop's door; Max's own backpack and the stranger's own bag went spilling to the sidewalk as they hit.
"Whoa! Hey! You okay, man?" the stranger asked Max, looking at him with concern. He was unremarkable-- hipster shaggy haircut, t-shirt from a 20-year-old children's show, ripped jeans; he looked like any one of the other record store customers.

He reached out a hand to hold Max's wrist, to steady him before he fell.

Comments

[metemmods.insanejournal.com]

"Oh, believe me, I quite understand. And I want to make sure that everyone gets to listen," the stranger said with a smirk of his own. "Because what I have to say concerns you-- excuse me, all of you. And not only that, it concerns your friends you met on the computer a few months back."

[multitudes.insanejournal.com]

"Sure, sure, whatever." Legion waved him along as if to say 'get on with it'. But he faltered at the word 'friends'. It almost made him laugh. Friends. Legion having friends. Max having friends.

He'd never been quite so lucky. "Friends, hm? I take it you haven't been paying attention, but go on."

[metemmods.insanejournal.com]

The stranger grinned unnervingly. "Oh, I've been paying better attention than you know." He put a gentle but deliberate hand on Legion's back, between his shoulderblades, guiding him around the corner into a quiet alleyway. "This should be good enough to talk without us being overheard-- I'm sure you wouldn't want others to hear it, anyhow."

[multitudes.insanejournal.com]

"Alright. Fuck. Stop-" he twitched a bit at the touch and quickly slinked out of it as soon as he could. He didn't like being touched. Being touched was confusing.

"So, what do you want? I'd love to stick around and chat, but really-" he made a quick movement as if to indicate that he should just spit it out.

[metemmods.insanejournal.com]

"Eager to leave, are you?" the stranger said, sounding amused. "Well, I'm sure you have important things to do. Places to go. People to see," he said, putting a slightly sinister spin on that last. "But wouldn't it be nice if you could be yourself, who you really are, without anyone caring? Without hovering over you with all that concern?" He leaned in closer, but this time didn't touch. "What if you could be with people who understood you, really understood you?"

[multitudes.insanejournal.com]

Legion's hand inched up to his mouth, and he bit down on his thumb, thinking a bit. They all had something to say, after all, and a proposition like that...well, it took quite a bit of thought. From all of them. He shook his head, paused for a moment, and nodded.

"I guess it would be- nice?" there was still a bit of a questioning in his voice. He couldn't commit to that statement, but nonetheless, it did sort of sound nice.

"But really, what could we do about that?" he shrugged.

[metemmods.insanejournal.com]

"You do have people who'll look out for you," the stranger said. "People who'll protect you. But you'll need to go to them," he continued.
The stranger smiled. "In a way, you've met them already. Remember that mysterious email? Right now, the minds behind the words on the screen-- they're the people most like you."
He looked around, as if to make sure they were truly alone, before leaning back toward Legion. "There's trouble coming, and you... well, none of you are going to want to be caught in the open when it breaks. What's coming, you can't handle it by yourselves." The stranger paused slightly, before adding "And they can't handle it without you, either."

[multitudes.insanejournal.com]

Max thought for a moment, shaking his head as his strings were pulled. How were they supposed to come to a consensus on anything this...big and incoherent? He turned, and murmured quietly to himself, the edge of his thumbnail still caught between his teeth, a wary eye cast towards the man next to him, assuming he was staring.

When he finally got himself situated, he cleared his throat, and straightened his shirt. "Why should we care about them? Furthermore, what exactly is it you're trying to get us to do? Talk to someone?" he questioned.

[metemmods.insanejournal.com]

"Among other things," he said. "And you should care because very, very soon, they'll be the only ones who won't be howling for your blood and soul."
The stranger took a lazy half-step back. "You don't even need to travel anywhere just yet. Go back to the computer. Get to know the people you talk to there. Because all of them are going to have to work together with all of you to get through what's coming next."