theattic | Maurice and Cali PSL Catch-All

The skies were dark as a porter with a scent to match as it laid heavy above the Exile Colony of Orion 34. The city itself looked like something straight out of a Soviet era space propaganda with the thick iron shells to keep the corrosive fog out. This was ironically, considered a 'beautiful' day for this planet as the streets were close to being considered busy by the colonists' standards as a flea market was going on. The stalls themselves were decorated with orbs that glowed of bright blues, oranges, and greens to help guide the shoppers. It had been so busy in fact, no one had noticed the odd mirror at one of the stalls beginning to glow a soft violet color as it made a special delivery...Welcome to Orion 34, Maurice..

Not too far from the stand Maurice is at, a bright, rainbow colored plague doctor in a super fluffy skirt notices Maurice there and goes up to him in the sunniest of fashion "Holy smokes, are you new here? It's super awesome to meet you!"

Edited 2025-04-10 03:55 (UTC)

Maurice hits the floor with a THUD. He's more startled than he's actually hurt. With a grunt, he slowly starts getting to his feet. What just happened? Had he had another weird fainting spell and just fell over?

He doesn't puzzle over this for very long because he's interrupted by a girl that makes Jem and the Holograms look drab. He kind of hopes she didn't see him fall. He doesn't need that right now.

"Oh uh--" The ringing in his ears stops. "No, I--I've been here for a few years."

With her mask, he has no reason to believe he's not still in Texas.

Cali didn't get the chance to see Maurice fall, but she is excited to make a new friend though, "Oh sweet! Congrats on reaching a few years here, it's exciting to meet new comers survive that long. I'm Calliope Macabre, but everyone calls me Cali for short." She reaches a gloved hand out to shake Maurice's hand with.

It was surprising to see someone not wear bright colors in Orion 34, normally that'd be a bad thing, but to Cali, it just means Maurice was that bad ass to survive like that for so long.

"So you're here for the Carl Sagan Day Flea Market? They have so many fun things out."

It's not every day a girl introduces herself to him first name last name handshake bam bam bam. Maurice is a little starstruck. She sounds so happy to see him? Nobody is every happy to see him. Hello?

Well, he's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth! He shakes her hand, glad that she's wearing a glove. He doesn't want her to feel how chilly his skin is.

"It's nice t'meet you, Cali...who's Carl Sagan? I was just here lookin' around for a backpack."

"He was this really cool scientist that we celebrate ever November Ninth as a holiday. It's usually really fun flea market sales and fresh baked apple pies for celebration." Cali chirped as she happily shook Maurice's hand, she can't tell if they're cold or not thankfully, the handshake Maurice received was a hardy but friendly handshake.

Cali goes to think carefully a bit, "I think I saw some backpacks a few stalls down from here. They were selling vinyls too if you'd like to look at them with me?"

Cali didn't see a reason why she wouldn't be happy to meet Maurice, he looks like a very sweet person so far with really awesome nails and was more than happy to help Maurice out.

Maurice isn't sure what's going on here, but after the rough go of things he's had, this is...nice. He doesn't own a record player at the moment, but it's always nice seeing old music. And where there are vinyls, there's often cassettes.

"Alright!"

Because nothing bad has ever happened to him because he followed a nice girl somewhere.

Cali goes to help Maurice out for finding the stall with backpacks and vinyls for sale, happy to have a friend to shop with. Things are insanely nice so far for Maurice as he reaches the main strip of the flea market with Cali as his guide. Clothing wise, Cali does stand out, but not for the bright colors though. No, everyone here is dressed in bright colors like those mountaineers you'd see going up on snowy mountains. Cali only stands out for the cutesy outfit she has as she helps Maurice to the promised stall. The backpacks look incredibly hardy and would last a good long time from what Maurice could tell. Nearby, there are the vinyls Cali had mentioned along with cassettes not too far from there. Congrats Maurice, you followed a nice girl that kept her word :D

"Here we go, Mr. Freimann always stocks up on some of the best vinyls and cassettes. I think he might have refurbished a record player, but I'm not entirely sure." Cali goes to cheerily explain as she lets Maurice take a good look at what's available.

That's one (1) point back into his faith pool for humanity.

Maurice doesn't notice the colorful masses at first. His eyes are too busy being glued to the impressive bins of records. He starts carding through them carefully with the tips of his claws. All the good stuff is here. Soon, he's over to the casettes. Again, so many of his favorite bands a plenty. You'd think the 80s were popular again or something!

Not wanting to ignore his new shopping buddy, he glances over to see what she's looking at.

"Find anything?"

"I found The Waterboys 'This is the Sea' Album and it's the sea glass colored edition too!" Cali was excited as she goes to show Maurice that the Vinyl was a neat sea glass color with the same semi translucent as one.

Yeah everything 80s is truly back in style and amazingly so, they even have VHS tapes from movies from the 80s too to boot to pick from. There's even an awesome David Bowie poster in the bins as well.

At the booth is a man in a bright teal hoodie that obscures his face big time that is watching along and waves to them in a friendly fashion. I think that's Mr. Freimann Cali was talking about.

Edited 2025-04-10 06:17 (UTC)

"Cool!"

Maurice feels as though he could wag his tail--if he had one at the moment. This is just so nice! He can physically feel his shoulders and neck start to un-tense. He didn't even know they'd been tense. That's how long he's been on edge.

This Cali girl is just the ray of sunshine (the non deadly kind) he needed.

"That looks sick, I love that. Look at this--" He takes a tape from a small bin and holds it up. It's a hand made mix tape complete with hand written song titles on a folded index card tucked inside the case. "I haven't seen a mix tape I didn't make since I was twelve! It's all Poison songs."

Cali is definitely buying the Sea Glass edition of 'This is the Sea' as she picks out the Eurythmics album 'Touch' and Meatloaf's 'Bat out of Hell 2: Back into Hell' before going over to check out the mix tape Maurice found. Cali truly is that ray of sunshine of the none lethal kind as she checks it out.

"Mr. Freimann always finds the coolest things for sale, I haven't seen the hand written ones in ages too and it's all Poison songs! Dude that is insanely awesome!" Cali was excited for Maurice finding the mix tape, it really was an amazing find.

Cali goes to show Maurice her finds so far, super thrilled to find these three big time.

Maurice, in turn, takes time to gush over Cali's own findings. "I've got that Meatloaf album at home, but this one is in such good condition! That's a lucky find. Awesome!"

He glances over to the man running the booth, hoping they aren't being too loud.

"Are you ready to check out?"

"Yay another Meatloaf fan! Yeah, his albums are like a once in a blue moon kind of find. Back home, I have the VHS tape of Meatloaf's music videos." Cali was ecstatic about meeting another Meatloaf fan with Maurice.

Everyone looks like they're in an 80s cyberpunk film, but far more chill rather than edgy. They don't seem to mind how loud they're being, in fact, it seems to be welcomed.

"Sure, there's other fun booths too here for VHS tapes along with our makeshift arcade shack." Cali goes to show Maurice toward check out that's being manned by Mr. Freimann and goodness, he's a tall guy for sure even when sitting like 7'5" if standing with his face obscured big time by that hoodie.

Edited 2025-04-25 03:51 (UTC)

Maurice hasn't quite noticed the outfits of everyone around them. He's too focus on his find and his new friend apparently. It's been a while since he's made a friend outside of trauma bonding. It's nice.

When it's his turn to pay, he takes a moment to blink at the...monolith of a man at the counter. He doesn't mean to stare, but he can't really help it. Damn that's a big guy. He must have killed at football when he was younger!

"Just this tape, please." Maurice slides it forward and digs out his wallet to fish out a few green bills.

Mr. Freimann certainly would've killed it at football hands down when he was younger as he notices the green bills, "Are you sure? Those are worth a lot on the weekly auctions here, heck you could easily buy out the entire stand with that alone."

Cali took a look over to see the ancient green bills after hearing what Mr. Freimann said and how surprisingly in great condition they were in, "Holy smokes you're awesome, how'd you manage to find them? They're normally like close to the old reactor plant."

Maurice can tell that he's gonna be considered both rich and possibly close to a real life Indiana Jones...congrats Maurice, you're like an action hero right now :o

"Huh?" Maurice looks up from counting and blinks in confusion at the huge man. He opens his mouth to ask what he means, but suddenly Cali is bubbling at his side. So he turns his question to her instead.

"What do you mean?" He looks at his money. Maybe he ended up with a Canadian bill by accident the way some people sometimes get Canada pennies at the till.

He feels like he's being punked. But Cali's so nice...surely not!

And Maurice would be correct on that one as Cali's response is pretty sincere too as well as Mr. Freimann checking out the worth of the ancient USD dollars.

"Well, these were from well over two hundred years ago before Earth's revolution happened. They're insanely hard to find nowadays, they're like worth about a million credits at the least, possibly more nowadays." Mr. Freimann explained, he's clearly impressed by Maurice, he's earned the giant old guy's respect.

Cali was, however picking up on Maurice's confusion as she checked on him, "Are you alright, Maurice? Do you need to sit down a bit? These are pretty huge finds there."

He looks between Mr. Freimann and Cali. A dread builds in his chest as he struggles to understand what they're telling him. He's really starting to feel like he's having his leg pulled and he doesn't like it. His head swims a little. Is his new friend actually pulling a mean joke on him?

Should he feel stupid for trusting anyone, especially considering his current situation.

Maurice steps back, abandoning the fiver he'd laid on the counter before the revelation. "Uhm...you know, maybe...forget about it."

Cali is clearly very confused by the reaction, it's evident that she isn't playing a prank of any kind. Mr. Freimann was also confused a bit as the five is left on the counter like that, especially given its worth...

You know Maurice...a lot of the buildings here don't look much like Dogtrot's buildings at all...they're like something from one of those old sci fi films and....holy shit that bird looks so wrong like it's made of bubblegum flying about.

"Dude, can I ask...do you know where you are?" Cali is catching on that Maurice might be having a 'Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.' moment and her voice is clearly concerned now.

Maurice hadn't noticed the birds until now--he was really looking around. Looking for cameras or people waiting in the wings to laugh at him. He doesn't find any of those things, but he does notice that the car wash isn't where it's supposed to be.

He doesn't understand.

Did he hit his head when he tripped next to that mirror?

"What?" He answers in a hollow voice.

Mr. Freimann goes to stand up and get a seat for Maurice to sit down on to collect himself a bit as Cali has caught on to what might of happened...shit this has happened before?

Yeah Maurice, I don't think you're in Texas anymore as Cali responds, "Oh no, you were by Crayon McCoy's booth. Can you tell us what happened before you met me?"

Good news Maurice, you're with good company that want to make sure you get home from the sounds of it! Though...poor sod, who names their kid 'Crayon'? Must have been the target for dodgeball that Crayon guy.

He shies away from the offered seat like a spooked horse. Maurice doesn't do well in situations like this, but nobody is yelling at him. Or laughing at him. In fact, they are being very very nice and it's the only thing keeping him from turning into a dog and straight up bolting.

"Uh--! Nothing! Nothing, I was just looking at a mirror and I tripped...Cali, what is he talking about? It's just money!"

Cali goes to be as gentle as possible for Maurice as this was a scary enough situation for him, "Okay..it might be alarming, but you're on Orion 34 in 2288. We had an incident happen like this some months back involving Crayon. Crayon's a bit eccentric, but he means well. The money you have here, it's a highly sought after artifact from the past here that's really hard to get."

"Calliope, you're being too nice, Crayon's an asshole that pulls awful things like this for bargains." Mr. Freimann goes to get a can of water from the cooler to offer Maurice to sip.

"Maurice, I'll help you get home safely to your loved ones. From the sounds of it, you may have fell through the mirror in your time line and ended up here in Crayon's booth." Cali goes to offer her hand to shake as a promise to Maurice as it's clear, this was a scary thing that's happened.

He's...in another world? Another time? He can't be sure and he's a little afraid to find out which one, but it does definitely mean he is not in Dogtrot right now. The Dogtrot Murder is nowhere near by and neither is the vampire killer.

Maurice finally sits down on the offered chair and when Mr. Freimann comes back with the water, he accepts it. This might as well happen, he thinks. At least the people in this world are nice to him.

"Thanks...I think I just need a minute. I've been havin' a weird year..."

Mr. Freimann gives Maurice a gentle pat on the shoulder as he lets Maurice digest what he's been told.

"No problem and take your time, this was a lot to explain in a short timespan." Cali goes to sit down in the criss cross apple sauce pose on the floor for a bit, staying closely to support Maurice whenever he needed it.

It was true though, the folks here were a lot nicer than most (well except apparently Crayon), likely because of how hostile the planet is itself. in the meantime, Mr. Freimann goes to package up the item that Maurice had wanted.

"Here, it's on the house for your troubles with Crayon." Mr. Freimann goes to hand it over to Maurice as yeah...he needs something nice after that shocker.

Welcome to Orion 34 :D

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