thesupersmeller | OOM: First Date with Agnes

This time, Gus at least has the benefit of knowing what he's going into a day ahead of time after confronting Shawn about his previous blind date. He's also got the benefit of added nervousness and the absolute certainty it's going to go badly because his dates usually do. After an hour of preening and making sure everything is perfect and as it should be, he settles on a dark blue shirt open at the collar with khakis - casual, comfortable and drives to the Psych office. On his desk is a small, square box with a sticky note on the front bearing Shawn's handwritten: "NOT FOR YOU" and beside it a Hershey bar with another note reading: "FOR YOU".

Sometimes, Shawn could be a pretty cool guy. Or, you know, he felt bad about tricking Gus into going on the first blind date and setting him up like a piece of meat to begin with. But, he had to admit he was a tiny bit grateful that at least someone was looking out for him while he had himself all wrapped up in a bit of madness he never should have touched to begin with.

Steeling himself, he picks up the candy - leaving behind said sticky notes - and steps through the locker to Milliways. This time the meeting is to be indoors and he picks a quiet booth in a corner hoping that Shawn had at least had the sense to show her a picture so they could find each other. No less, he sits facing the doors and opens his candy bar, forcing himself to break off each chocolaty square to eat slowly and not assuage his nerves by downing the whole thing.

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Agnes smiles back. "Good. I'm still not sure about those car things. Just doesn't seem right for anyone to move that fast without magic."

"Sometimes it sort of seems like magic." Not that he's familiar with real magic, the closest he's come is when the Devil healed his arm - and he's still absolutely sure that's going to come back to haunt him in a big way.

He gives her hand a gentle squeeze and leads her out toward the boardwalk. Their office is nearly ocean front, a walk and narrow road in front of it is bordered by sand leading right down to the water maybe two hundred feet away. In one direction the slow weeknight crowd gathers around an assortment of food carts, mostly families with kids and dogs and beach gear. To the other the lights on a large ferris wheel light the way toward the pier - which is close to their destination.

"I guess being in a world where there's no magic is pretty weird for you, huh? The closest we've got here is... religion, I guess. Miracles and angels and stuff." He believes in miracles - and that they're quite possibly the only reason he and Shawn are still alive after some of the scrapes they've been in over the last six years - the book's still out on angels.

Agnes looks around as they walk, enjoying the ocean breeze, the crisp scent of salt in the air. She'd only been to a beach once before in her life, when she'd visited the Rim. This was much nicer, and with less chance of falling off the edge of the world.

"Oh, we have religions on the Discworld, too. Even a few gods still hanging around and making a mess of things. More trouble than they're worth, if you ask me."

It's one of the many things he loves about living in Santa Barbra - any time day or night, in all but the smelliest of locations, he can still smell the ocean.

He laughs under his breath and replies; "That's pretty much the opinion of a lot of people here." He looks at her a long moment and then back up at their destination; "I used to be Catholic, but I guess it just sort of... I don't know. I'm not very good at it."

Which isn't saying much, few are - but he guesses he's got a few more reasons than most to be considered a bad Catholic. "I am because my parents were, you know? I grew up with it, but now it's different."

"Different how? My parents weren't the most approving of my 'becoming' a witch. And no amount of my explaining that one is born a witch and can no more become one than one can become a rabbit seemed to make any difference to them."

Gus chuckles slightly under his breath and nods, it's a strange comparison - but he kind of gets it.

"My parents had all these dreams about me becoming a priest when I was a kid, and when that was shot down it was still assumed I'd be a deacon - or at least leader of the choir." He sighs and looks away; "I guess the turning point was high school - they started panicking that I was still spending all my time with Shawn instead of going out with girls and all that... and well, you've met Shawn... but it wasn't like that. It's never been like that. Still, they sent me to this conversion camp so I could 'pray the gay away'." He laughs bitterly.

"That's when I guess I realized that it wasn't really for me, because man... if I had been gay that would have crushed me. As it is, I still don't think I could forgive them for it. Since thing it's just gotten more and more difficult to have faith and believe in church doctrine - and I find myself wondering just how much of it is what God would want. I mean, I think God would want his people to be happy, right?"

"Would he?" Agnes asks. "It's been my impression that most gods don't care about happiness one way or the other. So long as they're believed in, happiness is as good as misery."

It's a heavy thought, and one he's not really ready to handle, so Gus merely nods and mutters; "Yeah... sometimes that's what it feels like."

Quick to change the subject, he leans slightly against her and says; "Has anyone ever told you, you've got really great hair? I mean... very nice. Not that the rest of you isn't equally amazing, but wow..."

He means well, but is always good at shoving both feet his mouth.

OOM: First Date with Agnes

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