Saturday, July 30, 2005

   Cream Filling: Origins (Epilogue)
[Interesting note: I'm writing this at my brother's house. I brought a computer over to him and now I've somehow gotten myself stuck here . . . possibly a shame, since now I won't really get to chat with anyone else tonight . . . ah well, let's finish a story now . . . with NO outline, no less!]


Cream yawned and stretched his body back and forth as best he could in the confines of the bank queue. He still wasn't used to how busy a bank in the big city could actually be during peak hours. It wasn't even that the changes being in the big city included were especially drastic - they just seemed to resonate at a quicker frequency of sorts. But despite that, he didn't mind one bit. Compared to the past six months of true work as a full police officer in his old city, anything had the potential for being better.

Cream sighed as he looked over all his papers once again. He had finally found an apartment in the new city to live although he was far from paying it all off. As well, it furnishings were spartan at best and he was still sleeping on a couch against the wall. His clothes were still sitting in a suitcase, and his effects in the various boxes doubling as chairs and coffee tables. Still, the apartment was his and no one else's, and he felt very liberated by that thought.

While thoughts of explaining his plea for a bank loan flooded his mind, Cream unconsciously began tapping the slightly folded papers against his forehead. To him, all he was doing was tapping his thoughts in time with the soft music playing through the bank's sound system. After all, it was a song he hadn't heard in a long time ever since he moved out of his parent's house. He did find it odd to linger on such a thought, as he hadn't truly thought about his old home until after he left that city the previous week . . .

After almost half a minute, a chortle from behind him reminded him of what he was actually doing. Cream quickly dropped his arms back down and quickly looked behind him: behind him stood a young lady who was shaking her head slowly with her eyes closed and her lips curled into an amused smile. Cream returned a quick embarrassed smile and turned back around. Immediately the girl laughed quietly to herself again.

After stepping forward in the line, Cream turned back around with his eyebrow raised.
"What, you've never seen a guy tapping in time to his mother's music before?" he asked the girl nonsensically. She laughed again with the sudden question.
"Not against his own head, no," she replied quickly, "but I guess there's a first for everything." Cream returned another smile and turned around to face the front of the line once again.

After speaking with the girl, though, he couldn't help but feel awkward at standing with his back to her now; he quickly turned around again.
"It's not like it's a bad song or anything . . ." he said before trailing off, not completely sure where he was going with the comment. As such, the girl immediately ignored what he said and looked down at his papers.
"Oh wow . . ." she said as she skimmed over Cream's paperwork, ". . . you got a place in that area? That is some seriously expensive housing . . ." Cream was instantly puzzled by the girl's approach.
"What?"
"Oh, just that my sister got a place near here a little while ago, and she bitched about how to pay for it and all despite having more than enough money to cover for it . . . but then she went into this whole thing with our folks about how she didn't want their pity or something stupid like that . . . . ."

The girl trailed off once she realised how long she has spent describing her familial situation.
". . . and I'm sounding like a complete moron now, sorry," she finished with another smile. Cream could only grin in response.
"Your sister sounds like a real piece of work there," he commented.
"Oh yeah, she's a total bitchface sometimes, which is horrible of me to say, but . . ."

"What did you just say?" Cream interrupted, suddenly jerked out of the present by her words.
"What, you've never heard 'bitchface' before?" the girl replied with a grin.
"No, I've heard it before," Cream answered. "It's been a while, though . . ." It was indeed a while since he last heard the term. He had spent many months living with Jimbo after he walked out of his and Knight's place, but he never truly saw any of those old people from school ever again . . . to have memories of what had transpired with them suddenly pop up jarred Cream heavily. It wasn't just the girl's words, though. Her personality and even her face resembled the aquaintance whom he had watched run away in fear and disgust.

Stepping forward in the line again, Cream spoke during a lull in the conversation.
"So do I get to hear a name, or . . ." The girl grinned again.
"Caramel," she answered. "Everyone calls me 'Mel, though." Cream could only smirk - even her initial was the same as the other girl. "Yours?"
"Cream," he replied. "Others called me 'Fi- . . . erm . . . well, okay, everyone just calls me Cream." 'Mel stepped back sarcastically.
"Come on," she said, "ya gotta give me somethin' better than that . . ." Cream rolled his eyes up as he thought quickly.
"Well . . . . . . . a person once called me 'Whip', I suppose . . ." 'Mel grinned again.
"Whip it is, then."


Now formally introduced, the two continued until the subject of occupation came up.
". . . and yeah, I transferred to this city just recently, and . . . it should be good." 'Mel was completely intrigued by the young officer in front of her. And, though she had worked with many police officers through her connections in her parent's company, Cream was interesting enough as he was - the classic small town guy trying to make it in the big city.
"So where do you go from here?" she asked, almost existential in her deliverance. Again, Cream had to think quickly.
"I guess," he thought, ". . . . I guess . . . I dunno. Just work at my job now, move up, maybe get into something like a specialist thing like ERT, or maybe make detective . . . just some thoughts . . ."
"Actually," 'Mel said back, "detective work could be cool for ya. I know a detective at your precinct, and he's a pretty neat guy. I think you'd like him."
"Really now?" Cream scratched at the back of his neck momentarily. "Yeah, maybe . . . yeah . . . . . does he have, or . . . do I . . ."

The teller called for the next customer. Cream turned around and suddenly realised he was at the front of the line.
"You're up, Whip," 'Mel commented, pushing him forward. The young constable could only grin sheepishly once again and make his way to the teller desk. He felt at complete ease speaking with 'Mel, though . . . there was definitely another feeling in his chest. Still, he somehow knew that he was definitely not about to act on that particular feeling any time soon . . .

"Oh, and Whip!" 'Mel called out just as the other man reached the teller; Cream turned around one more time.
"What's up?"
"Welcome to the neighbourhood."

Cream grinned again as he turned back to speak with the teller. Suddenly the prospect of moving to the big city did not seem so uncontrollable after all . . . . .


[End scene! Oh man . . . I gotta say, this was a HARD story to write! It was insanely different from all the other ones I ever wrote, and I've seriously been fearing that things may have gone horribly wrong at so many points . . . . . but, for better or worse, this one is still one of my babies, and I shall always love it as such.

So yeah. Thank you everyone for reading, for putting up with the pages and pages of text, and for supporting me as best ya could. I seriously doubt I'll be writing another one of these until 2006, but who knows . . . . . 'til we find out, this has been a SomeGuy story, courtesy of myOtaku. Peace!]
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