OOM: Surprise Blind Date with Nancy

[thesupersmeller]

After his heart to heart with Demeter, as they were always heart to heart with her, and all the confusion he's felt between his body, mind, and most of all his heart, Gus is more at ease than before but without any answers. He's already told The Devil once and for all it's off, he doesn't want to be that guy that keeps an open option - especially not an open option that could destroy him... and maybe still would. He's not that guy at all. Instead, he's been going through the motions; closing the case and helping get everything ready for the impending party.

The day after Juliet's birthday party, he gets a text message from Shawn telling him to be at Milliways as soon as possible at a bench by the lake. Later, it would occur to him that Shawn was clearly up to something - but as he walks a slow circle around the bench in the pink silk shirt and black slacks he'd worn to work for the day and waits for his friend to show it's more annoying than anything.

Comments

[thesupersmeller]

He laughs slightly and nods; "It's a good place to get away from things."

Gus shrugs and offers a slight smile; "Or, you know, find new things."

[iamhismummy]

"And new things are always good to experience", she says with a cheerful nod. "And in no short supply here."

[thesupersmeller]

The easy pleasantness is contagious, anyone in her position Gus would expect to be sullen and withdrawn - not the sweet girl sitting across from him. It's pretty nice, really... and definitely a change from his mood when he walked through the door.

"You're telling me! Would you believe I've made friends with two goddesses, and a guy that reads minds?" He almost mentions The Devil, but there's no sense in admitting association with her at this point.

[iamhismummy]

She grins.

"A doctor from... around your time, thinking about it, the tribal king I mentioned, and there was a girl who glowed like a rainbow but I haven't seen her in a long time."

[thesupersmeller]

Shaking his head, Gus lets out a light chuckle; "A rainbow? For serious? Like Rainbow Brite?" Who he knows Nancy wouldn't know of, but just can't resist asking rhetorically if nothing else.

"Oh! Last time I tended bar, I met a computer program. Pure data in physical form."

He finishes the last of his wine and picks up the bottle, pouring another shallow glass before offering to top off hers with a silent nod of the bottle.

[iamhismummy]

She nods and tilts her glass towards him in acceptance, smiling.

"Computers... the things like typewriters with screens? I've seen them here, not used one. And yeah, she was all rainbow light and she could fly and blast things with it."

[thesupersmeller]

With an easy turn of the wrist, he fills her glass - the easy grin plastered across his lips. Computers, of course she wouldn't know about computers. He's slowly getting used to people not knowing about the same things his world takes for granted.

"Yeah, that exactly." He nods, and then asks; "Have you eaten yet? I'm pretty hungry and if you don't want to eat here, I wouldn't mind maybe going back to my place."

It takes a second before he realizes just how he sounds, but he adds hurriedly; "I mean my world, not... you know my place necessarily, but Santa Barbra. Where I'm from. I live there."

Smooth.

[iamhismummy]

She raises her eyebrows at him, but more in amusement than offence, especially when he reaches the hasty clarification.

"I haven't eaten, and I'd love to see your world." With a glance down at her dress, "If this would fit in there?"

[thesupersmeller]

Glad that she either didn't catch his slip or was gracious enough not to mention it, Gus nods even more eagerly.

"Oh, please. I'm from California - you'd fit right in with the cute bohemian looking girls that all want to look like you do but instead just look like they rolled out of a thrift store."

After a moment of of consideration, he says; "I know a really nice outdoor place by the beach, I bet you'd love it."

[iamhismummy]

"You know the city, I'll follow your decisions about it", she says with a smile. "Outdoor place by the beach it is."

[thesupersmeller]

Taking one last long drink off his wine, Gus decides that'd probably be for the best - and it's near the Psych office so they won't have to drive anywhere unless she wants to. It's pretty different from the only other time he's taken someone to his world.

"Sure, sounds good to me. I, uh... I guess I'm good to go when you are."

[iamhismummy]

Nancy finishes off her own glass and nods.

"I'm ready now, then."

[thesupersmeller]

Taking people between worlds unnerves Gus a little, kind of like Stranger in a Strange Land except because it's him, it's a little more Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure . He worries that the other person will be scared or disoriented.

But, Nancy seems to know what she's doing. As he leads her to the door, he says; "It was close to dusk when I left, so it should be cooling off nicely and we'll be close to the Ocean."

[iamhismummy]

"That'll be nice", she says sincerely. "I haven't seen the sea since I was little, only the river."

[thesupersmeller]

Smiling again, Gus pushes open the door and when they come through the other side they step out of a bank of rescued lockers from the school that he and Shawn went to as kids. There's even a Johnny Depp poster circa 1990 hanging on the door of the one Gus wedges himself out of.

"Welcome to the Psych office," he says with a casual wave of his hands. He's actually pretty proud of it, being that it's the base for the business he and Shawn have been running for almost six years now.

"This is where Shawn & I do our paperwork and hang out when we're not doing other things."

[iamhismummy]

She looks around, taking it all in.

"Nice office. I like the personal touches, it's your own company?"

[thesupersmeller]

Gus plucks his keys off the hook by the coat rack, following it up with his light jacket which just gets hung over his arm.

"Yeah, well - me and Shawn. We've been in business together about six years now. I know it doesn't really look like private detective agency, but I assure you we are all professional." Well, he is... Shawn uses cats as witnesses and hero worships and art thief.

"You can check it out if you like," he offers, going over to his desk to subtly flip over an issue of Maxim. "I don't really know what's interesting to you."

[iamhismummy]

She wanders around a little, looking at the things on the walls and other things in plain sight.

"I wouldn't know what a detective agency's supposed to look like, except Philip Marlowe's in the pictures, but I don't see anything wrong with yours."

[thesupersmeller]

Of course, he hadn't really thought that far ahead - but it's interesting too. The things they don't know about each other's worlds must be staggering.

Watching her, waiting for something offensive to pop off of Shawn's desk, he tilts his head to the door. "We should probably head out before Shawn shows up..."

Things are going well and he's having a good time, and no doubt Shawn is expecting him to come back feeling further rejected.

"How spicy do you like your food?"

[iamhismummy]

If anything offensive is there, she doesn't visibly notice it, and turns her attention to him when he speaks.

"Not too spicy, I'm not really used to it. I like fish, though, and you said this place was by the sea?"

[thesupersmeller]

"I know just the thing..." he smirks, heading to the wide entry way and opening the door to let them out to the boardwalk their office is on. Just outside the door, sand stretches down straight to the beach well within easy walking distance. Of course, this particular section of beachfront is a bit on the busy with several families and girls wearing cutoffs and t-shirts (which is a step up from the tiny bikinis since it's the off season in Santa Barbra with it being late Fall and all) on rollerblades.

"Walk with me?" He offers his hand somewhat tentatively, "It's not far - just the other end of the boardwalk, a little further from the pier."

[iamhismummy]

Nancy smiles, following him to the door, and takes his hand readily.

"It's a nice day for a bit of a walk."

[thesupersmeller]

"It's usually pretty nice here, even during the summer we get a nice breeze coming over the ocean so it's not too hot or too cold." It's a blessing, really. Growing up, he never knew that people actually had really bad weather.

"And it's getting late enough that the families are starting to head in for the night."

Smiling warmly, he gives her hand a gentle squeeze and leads her past the row of offices and small boutiques - away from the noise and action of the boardwalk. "My apartment is a little bit closer to the city, but it's still not bad."

[iamhismummy]

She glances into the shop windows as they pass, taking in and sometimes admiring the displays.

"I'm a city girl", she says lightly. "But sometimes it is nice to get a bit further away from it all."

[thesupersmeller]

His pace is slow, casual and relaxed - she was right, it really is a good night for it. He can't remember the last time he just went for a walk with someone.

"Santa Barbra's pretty nice like that. Like, you're in a city - but it's not like being in LA or something where there's so many buildings and people and it's all traffic and noise." He shakes his head at the thought, "it's a small city, pretty much anything you want is within walking distance but you're not packed in too tight to breathe."