(Open - At the edge of town)

[freefromsin]

Caleb scrambles out of the car before it even comes to a complete stop. With his backpack clutched in one hand, he slams the door shut with the other. "Fuck you!" The car takes off, tires squealing, and Caleb gives its bumper a kick as it flies past him, shouting after it, "Fucking perv!"

He rubs one gently trembling hand with the other and stares after the car, making sure it's well and truly gone. Heart hammering in his chest, Caleb lets out a breath and glanced around. It's not cold, but he hugs his jacket closer to his body all the same, wishing he was wearing more than just a tank top underneath. There's probably good money to be made in prostitution, but he hadn't gotten quite that desperate yet. He guesses his good hitch-hiking luck had to run out at some point, and of course it had to happen now. But that's okay, because at least he's gotten to his destination, and he hopefully won't need to do any more hitching right away.

It's dusk, the start of a nice, clear night, but too late to look for his old friend. Street lights bathe him in pale yellow, as he heads father into town. Better find a place to spend the night.



[ooc: Hi! I'm new and so is Caleb. Feel free to tag him when he forcefully ejected himself from the car, or when he's somewhere in town. He's mostly just gonna wander until he finds a public bench he can crash on for the night. Also I guess if you could read his Permissions page before tagging that'd be cool. Unfortunately I'm gonna be gone ALL DAY tomorrow, but I'm impatient and wanted to post this now. So any loose threads I'll get back to on Sunday. ...And this OOC section is about to be longer than my post so I'll stop now.]

Comments

[fairywren]

Wren nods a no-problem and tucks it back into his jacket, reaching over to shake Caleb's hand, a squeeze that communicates welcome even if it's not any more masculine than he is. "Wren," he introduces himself. "Nice to meet you, Caleb."

He puts both hands in his pockets and glances over at him. "What's your friend's name? If you don't mind me asking, of course. This is a pretty small town, it's possible we've met."

[freefromsin]

"Wren? Like the bird?" Caleb asks curiously. "That's a pretty name." He quickly realizes how silly that sounds, and goes a little warm in the face. "Uh. Cool, I mean."

"Sure, yeah," he adds, eager to move past telling some stranger he has a pretty name. "His name is Gabe. Fletcher. He's my age, brown hair, brown eyes. Tall."

[fairywren]

"Just like the bird," Wren says with a slight smile, which widens at the compliment. "Thank you." He's not offended or weirded out by Caleb calling it pretty. He'd much rather be pretty than cool, anyway, and he probably has a better chance at it.

Wren blinks, because he has met Gabe; under strange circumstances. Even if he hadn't remembered his name, hadn't heard Mira exclaim "Gabe!" when he brought the reluctant siren back to her place, the boy's been the unfortunate target of the Cove's speculation for enough weeks that he should have recognized him before that.

He wonders if this punky, wayward young man is the one Gabe had been so adamant he was being punished for. He wouldn't have guessed, but then again, Caleb's style is the reaction to a restrictive upbringing that Wren understands.

"I have met him," he says, "though I don't know much about him. Shy, religious?" He's a little hesitant to point someone toward a runaway, but this kid can't be much older himself. "I think he's staying with a family in town. Their daughter works at the planetarium; she might be the one to ask what he's up to." He knows where they live, too, but he doesn't know Caleb enough to give that much information up. "I'm sorry I don't have more for you."