As I drove us to the drop off location I chatted with Stevie, Robby… was out cold. For real, he'd had one drink. Chatting with Stevie was just easier, even though we didn't have any common interests, it was just nice. He didn't pry, usually.
On the pretext of needing a mailing address, Stevie tactically acquired my new address. In the reflection of the window I saw him looking up images on renter websites… yep. The few pictures I did see looked like they came out of a crack house.
After we arrived Robby finally joined us in the land of the living, we hugged, Robby pretended he wasn't crying. I pretended I wasn't teering up. Then Stevie was marched onto a bus with twenty other young recruits. We stayed until the bus was out of sight.
The drive back was thankfully silent as Robby tried to stay awake… but fell asleep within minutes. I shook my head, he'd always fought sleeping, but he was always out the fastest. Talk about rebellious toddler syndrome.
I slept on the couch with a quilt. We'd only been gone three hours but the bin for recycling had a new addition. An empty bottle of alcohol lay alone…
I rolled to face the couch, so I didn't have to look at it as I settled in to sleep. Of course at that exact moment was when the Sins decided to talk.
"Hey Max, this was a good visit." Lust said as she sat on the back of the couch. I glanced up, six of the seven were perched. Sloth, I glanced around, ahh there he was. Sleeping on the couch pillow.
I hadn't even had time to talk to them with Robby showing up right after my shower. Then I hadn't had a moment to myself. "Yeah, it was good. Much better than I was expecting."
Wrath was kicking his feet, "Yeah, well, definitely could have been better. Talk about dysfunctional." Pride smacked him upside the head.
"Watch your words. You're thousands of years old, stop acting like you've never heard of manners." Pride admonished before turning to address me, "Max, it was good to see Stevie help you with Robby."
I sighed, "Yeah, that's new. I mean, kind of. Stevie has always been all… alpha male, go make me a sandwich, but Robby never took it to heart before. Wonder what changed." I closed my eyes, it was late. Early. Something. I had to be up soon.
"Hey! You guys can be seen?" I asked shooting up to grab Wrath. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Wrath huffed. "It's not like it was only me."
I glanced back at Sloth, "So that was you! But… no one seemed to notice Sloth."
Greed gave a derisive chuckle, "What Wrath meant, was that he had to piggy back off of Sloth's merit to show up for even ten minutes. Sloth didn't have to reveal himself, just had to…" Greed seemed to be searching for the right word.
"Think of it like an evolution chain. We start out as a voice, then can be seen in dreams, then we can appear as specters, then we can possess figures, then we can grow, then we man manifest flesh." Lust explain with a wink.
I felt my head throb, "Why didn't you tell me that when I asked last time?"
Greed glanced at the ceiling while the rest looked anywhere but at me.
"It usually takes longer, and like we said earlier, we can't explain what the merit does for us, until you've unlocked the option." Pride reminded.
"I admit, it's quite vexing that Sloth is your sin of choice. He rarely volunteers his skills. If Wrath hadn't been making ruckus, we might not have even known he unlocked it already." Greed said glaring at the cuddled up Sloth.
I sighed as I laid back down, "So, you can't tell me anything else he's unlocked?" They shrugged, great. At least now I know. "Okay, so Sloth can be human sized, which means he can posses things, like the action figure?"
Wrath scratched his chin, "I mean yeah, he should be able to. But we can skip some of the skills on the tree if others are unlocked. I usually go in order, but with Sloth's help I skipped straight to flesh. I can't posses the doll yet."
"Can't you unlock a skill so I can speak telepathically to you guys?" I complained closing my eyes.
Pride patted my head, "Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that Max. Sleep. We'll have time tomorrow."
Breakfast was painfully awkward after dad stumbled into the kitchen. It would have been less awkward if he hadn't tripped over his own feet, then cursed up a storm when he couldn't get up. It took me and Robby lifting him together to get him up, our thanks? Getting shoved into the counter as he cursed the entire way back to his room.
Ma was overly cheerful as if nothing had happened, but her red swollen eyes gave away she'd been crying again. I listened to her talk about staying together, good christen marriages don't end, that I needed to be careful when I eventually married. To start looking because I was getting older.
After breakfast me and Robby helped get the yard under control. Looked like it hadn't been mowed or edge yet this year. Robby got the lawn mower working as I edged. When I reached the only tree in the backyard, I carefully edged around the grave. Triumph, our family dog.
After I edged, I brought out a bucket of water to wash the freshly cut grass off the headstone. Robby brought over a few wildflowers, then we cleaned the gear off and put it all away in the garage without a word.
We took turns taking short showers, then escaped before dad woke up from his mid morning nap on the couch.
Now that I was trapped in the car Robby tried to subtly question me… if subtle was a bull charging at me from the front. "I don't really know any of them that well Robby, I've only met them a few times."
"Oh, well, how's the new job going? Will it cover rent? That apartment was really nice." Robby asked as he focused on the red light like it was the eye of Sauron.
"Going good, yeah, it'll cover rent, which is only $200 a month. It'll be a good place I can hunker down and save up." I added leaning against the window as we headed to the jewelry store.
"Oh Damn! That's a steal! Uh, what did, the leasing contract look like? You have a copy?"
I closed my eyes, "Leasing contract is in a binder at home, take a left at the light." Unfortunately, the ring was outside the thirty days return policy… the custom order didn't help. Thankfully I didn't get it engraved, so now I'd have to look to sell it online, or to a pawn shop.
The shoe shop was a little better, it catered to sports. Robby went on and on about all the different kinds of flats he'd tried out over the years. It would have been nice… if he wasn't so dang loud. I kept trying to get him to lower his voice but each time he'd get sullen until I apologized. I bought a relatively cheap pair, still over $60, but better money on shoes than back pain.
I napped on the drive back to my place, nothing personal, but playing twenty thousand questions was exhausting… and the car was a cramped space so Robby's booming voice was giving me a headache. That or I was unlocking new carsickness symptoms.
It was after six when I finally stumbled into my apartment. All I wanted was for the nausea to stop. Ugh, the stop and go traffic had been something else. If Tony wasn't giving me puppy dog eyes, I'd have forgotten they'd only had a few crackers and water since yesterday morning.
I cooked up a plate of eggs, peanut butter and sliced banana on toast, then a glass of milk. They ate, I showered. Wins all around.
Despite my best efforts… Pride and Envy convinced me to do some script practice. If I wasn't so exhausted I'm sure Wrath would have pushed harder to do some simple stretching. Simple is not the word I was using.
Work was busy, but most of my clearances were in, now I was setting up accounts, linking emails, joining more teams chats, all the great stuff. I saw Larry again. Larry… was unmistakable.
He was so tall, he had to bend to miss some of the doorways. His muscles were probably the highlight of some macho man magazine. His scars ensured no one asked what the name of said magazine was. The only visible hair was from his goatee, had I heard a single bald joke? Clearly everyone was still in possession of their facilities because I had not.
I had walked into the triage call area for a reason. Seeing Larry made the thought flee for its life. Leaving me to die of embarrassment as he raised an eyebrow at me in question.
I opened my mouth… then closed it. "Uhh… having… a moment." I lamely explained. It had to be a power move, to intimidate those made of weaker stuff. Larry, without breaking eye contact, reached back, grabbed a handful of gummy bears, then ate them all. He didn't even blink. I was wildly looking for a lifeline, something to jog my memory!
"Weak." His voice was so deep he was probably setting world records, or scaring ghosts. Even Pride had jumped the first time we heard Larry speak, and he'd been in a different room.
"Trigger List Max." Envy reminded hiding her face in her hands.
"Trigger list!" I blurted out. "Erika told me to get the updated trigger list!" Now, Larry was still sitting… but we were eye level… yeah if this is a retired combat medic, I couldn't help but wonder what he looked like on active duty.
"Okay."
Larry just turned around, worked his magic, and after thirty seconds something was printing for me. One, two, three… four pages. After eating two more handfuls of gummy bears, he handed me the sheets.
I tried to gauge just how long the five pound bag of gummy bears would last based on the size of his hand.
"Something else?"
I jumped, "Uh, no! Nope! Just, uh, thanks! Uh… do… you need something?" I asked as I tried to calm my racing heart. Yeash… if his voice was in a scary movie, I'd scream every time.
Larry rolled his eyes as he returned to his computer. I took that as a dismissal, escaping before Envy laughed any harder. Unfortunately, I couldn't outrun his voice.
"That funny?" He asked, since I wasn't laughing, I was sure he wasn't talking to me. Maybe one of the other triage nurses. At least Envy wasn't laughing anymore.