Let it all Out (open)

[Alista Sabina Castillo]

The night was just starting to fall, splashing streaks of pink and orange paint across the sky. The city was beginning to cool off, heat ebbing away from the stones and concrete that made up the city. A shadow fell across where a young woman slouched against the side of a building, her face scowling and irritated.

If God exists, he's a fuckin' shitty painter, Alista thought irritably to herself. Pink and orange don't mix. She listened to her mom speak quickly in fluent Spanish (with a few English words thrown in, as they did), her voice tense.

"Alista, I need this done soon, when are you going to be home next? I don't have the money to afford a repairman to fix it."

"God, Mom, I'm a Technopath, not a freaking money tree," Alista responded in equally fluent (and mixed) Spanish. She was very consciously censoring her speech so as not to use words that were too strong and offensive to her mother. "We've been through this, I don't have the money to afford a trip home right now. I won't be able to pay rent."

"Well, then, I don't know what to do, since this needs to be done and I don't have the means to do it."

Alista let out a hefty sigh and didn't respond for a moment, running a hand through her scalp and clutching the shock of shoulder-length red hair. Carolina had relied on her to fix broken electronic devices ever since Alista had manifested her technopathy at 13. Her computer was broken now, and she relied on it too much to go very long without it. She didn't want to leave her mom and two sisters hanging.

"Alright, how about this - I'll let you know when I get some income and we'll see where things are from there. I'm trying my hardest, it just hasn't come yet, but I'll let you know when it does." She stared off into the distance, hearing the static in the momentary silence across the line.

Finally Carolina responded. "I don't see what else we can do. Keep me updated, please, Alista?"

"Of course. Talk to you later." She pressed the end button on the phone and pocketed it, letting out an exaggerated sigh and gripping her hair with both hands. It had been a frustrating day, all things considered, and one more thing might make cause her to snap.

[Wynn Cooper]

After a day of work with quite a few kids needing help retrieving long forgotten passwords from the year before, Wynn was ready to just settle down in his apartment and enjoy time on his laptop without having to influence something. He took a detour rather than heading straight home, and stopped by a Chinese restaurant to get a quick dinner (he never was much of a cook anyways). He carried the paper bag of fragrant food under his arm as he walked down the street towards the apartment building. The air was growing cold again, and was going to get more so as the night time grew nearer. Wynn gave a huff. He never liked the cold weather and how quickly frost and snow seem to come, but after growing up in the Green Mountain state he had to learn to deal with it. Groaning about it to others was never going to help.

He slowed as he neared the building he took residence in. There was a young woman lingering outside it. She seemed a bit familiar, but hey, in small towns everyone did. He watched her as she spoke into a phone in a language he didn't understand. The conversation seemingly came to a close as the lady slipped the phone into her pocket. Wynn stood by watching as she sighed loudly. it wasn't until she tugged her hair a little that the Vermonter picked up on her frustration.

"Um...." He didn't quite know what to say for this situation, "are... you alright?"

[Alista Sabina Castillo]

Alista let go of her hair and rubbed her face with both hands. How was this going to work? Job searches took forever, she didn't even know if she was going to be able to pay rent if she didn't get one, and now her mom wanted her to travel to the other side of the state for a visit, so she could fix her computer... She cared about her family so much, but just didn't see a way this would work.

"Um... are... you alright?"

She lifted her head, slightly startled at the soft voice. A man stood in front of her, looking... concerned, but also fairly awkward, she thought. Had she seen him before? "Uh... not really, but I think I'll be alright." Hopefully. "Have I seen you before?" She figured she might as well ask, since he seemed so interested. She hadn't picked up on the fact that perhaps that was because she had parked herself outside of his home.

[Wynn Cooper]

Wynn nodded, glad the young lady would be alright. He wasn't really the kind person to go to in order to dump problems on his lap. He could listen, but once it got to the point where he should respond he was a bit unsure of what to say. All the same the woman said she thinks she'll be ok, and that was enough for Wynn.

He was about to move on and go up to his apartment when she asked if she'd seen him before. He shifted his weight from one foot to another and shrugged. "I can't really say for sure if you've seen me before. I can't see things from your point of view so I have no way of knowing such a thing. I do live in this building, so it's possible. If you mean have we met, I can't really say. Possibly just by saying hello or something when passing on the street."

One thing for sure was that he had a habit of getting too technical, and there it went again. "My name is Wynn if that's any help in clarifying your question." He added as a side note.

[Alista Sabina Castillo]

Alista tilted her head slightly as the dude went into what sounded like a technical analysis in response to her question. A bit overkill, but fair enough. Apparently they had only seen each other in passing, if that. Wait a minute, wasn't he that one guy from that one time? "Hang on - you're that tech dude from Hammel, aren't you?" She'd seen him around a few times in her senior year when she was still going there, fixing stuff up for her acquaintances and sometimes friends when she was too busy to help them (or just didn't feel like it). She felt reasonably certain of this, enough to reveal her status as a former student of Hammel.

Ah, fuck, this was his apartment building, wasn't it? She probably looked a bit creeperish just hanging out around here. No wonder he had stopped to talk to her, he was probably wondering what the hell she was doing here. "...I should probably move, shouldn't I? she wondered aloud, looking around and cogently noticing her surroundings for the first time since stopping here to talk to her mom. Hopefully she hadn't woken anyone up in the building.