0.05 Oddities

The first establishment they come across off the beach is a local bar & arcade which won't be hopping until much later in the evening. Meghan hopes he won't get them caught or anything, but she's too hungry to want to hunt down another backyard garden right now. A real meal might be in there somewhere!

However they quickly discover a variety of fun things to play with and Meghan's curiosity gets the best of her, she wants to try everything! She begs him to sing karaoke with her, and he can't say no to that face. Plus he feels bad about the misunderstanding at the beach, so he says they can do whatever she wants.

They are immediately offered a local opinion of their fresh 'talent'.

After several songs like this they give in and just walk away. The kid boos them all the way upstairs.

Welcome to town!

They head up to the foosball tables and Dustin tries to tell her that there's an exact pattern the ball can take if you know what to look for and can calculate it in advance. He likes games like this.

She's getting the hang of it!

They both try not to faint with excitement when a local witch wanders over and joins their game. She comments that Dustin has a real flair for this game, a showmanship really.

Seriously though it's one of the best moments of his life, meeting a real witch with a typical pointy hat and some trendy bedazzled butt jeans.

They start talking about all things not-quite human and the woman asks hims about Meghan, who just went back downstairs to grab some food. He's makes up a story about being on vacation with her and that she was his cousin, or something. (He's not sure what he tells her) The witch smiles a little coldly and replies. “That's not your cousin.” For some reason this doesn't seem like an odd thing to say and he doesn't reply to it. That's when he realizes he should probably go find her and get something for himself. “Nice to meet you!” He calls back to the woman, easily. She seemed alright.

He can't find Meghan, who is honestly becoming more daring by the minute. But can you blame her for sneaking in? The bar is the only place here with any real food. The bouncer is mystified at the invisible forces who keep her from protecting the door she is paid to protect.

Smooth sailing as a cucumber! She orders shrimp cocktail and after a few bites and a claw game in an adjacent room, gets promptly kicked out again. Turns out the witch told the bouncer she was there. Dustin had snuck in too but didn't get to eat anything.

Welcome to town!

Tired and hungry (and tired of the locals) they head to the beach to roast a few veggies and warm up in a sudden hailstorm. This wasn't as friendly of a place as they were hoping for, but really they were just passing through. "It'll be okay," He says encouragingly.

They end up sleeping on benches at the dog park after the weather lets up, and waking up in horrible moods. The beach had bugs crawling on it everywhere and Meghan wasn't touching that sand with her hands, let alone laying her head down on it!

“Good morning,” He says cautiously, seeing the look on her face.

She says nothing for once and he suggests they head to the park in the center of town. 

Thankfully, things are happening at the park! They gorge themselves on hot dogs at a free eating contest, where Meghan wins and one of their competitors throws up in the bushes afterwards. Take that, locals!

The day gets even better when Meghan finds a fairy (a real one), playing chess at the festival. Entranced, she stares until the woman growls at her. “You gonna play too or not?”

Surprised, Meghan sits down to join her with wide eyes. “I-I don't know how to,” The girl stammers. “Then learn.” The fairy says, her voice laced with concentration. “But if you lose in less than three turns I'm turning you into a toad.” She smiles without looking up. “That's a joke, here let me clear the board.”

Dustin sees how much she is enjoying herself and settles in to consider their next move. Meghan hasn't had an episode all day, maybe all she needs is the company of others? It's a very good sign that she can recover from what happened to her. 

Not that he knows exactly what was going on, back at her place. He shakes his head, not wanting to imagine things that aren't there. If she wants to talk about it with him he can wait until she's ready.

He counts the money left in his pocket and has a very good idea, hoping to be able to afford something nice.

He takes her to a salon that offers free consultations. The stylist won't stop telling her she'd make a perfect model, which results in shy giggles. Meghan gets into it a little too much and Dustin tries not to stare again. He seemed to have a hard time remembering that she was running away from someone and not away with him, at least not in that way.

He always remembered her fondly because she was so genuine but she grew up nice looking too. What was he not supposed to have eyes?

He tells himself to shut up and be there for her right now instead of being distracted by how darn cute she was being.

Dustin is not at all impressed by the results. Not really a surprise as it turns out the guy offering free styling today is a tattoo artist who can't seam rip his way out of a paper bag.. He offers Meghan half price on a tramp stamp (they're coming back in style) and before Meghan can ask what that is he shoulders his way up to the styling station and interrupts.

“My turn!” He announces while she's still up there. He spends the next five minute impersonating the other guy and making her laugh, telling her she's going to look fahbulous. Off to a good start.

“I trust you,” she says a bit shyly, when he's picking things out.

Well that was a bad idea. She hates it, for some reason. The look on her face says everything. But she looks so good in it! He thinks, not understanding.

“Hey Dustin, guess what time it is?”

“Time for me to end it all and kill myself because I look so slutty now! I can never get married, I have no future!”

“I see you've chosen to be in denial about how awesome you look now.” He says dryly while she makes choking sounds behind him.

“I don't look 'awesome' I look whory. Please leave all future fashion advice to the professionals!”

Her sideways glare is wasted on him this time.

“Is it really that bad?” He asks after a moment.

She takes a deep breath, holds it, counts and is still mad. “Yes,” she grinds through her teeth. “Yes it is that bad, really for real. How could I like something like this?”

He lets her fix it herself and leaves the room to give her some space. The tattoo artists shrugs as he walks by. “I like it,” the guy adds for no reason.

Meghan tries a new look that makes her feel fresh, and makes her feel less weighed down.

And something decent for running around in all kinds of weather.

He senses it's safe again and says he wasn't trying to be inappropriate or anything. “Sorry if I was kind of a dumbass.” He explains once she looks happier. “Your hair cut is really pretty.” He adds at the end.

She shrugs and tells him she didn't mean to freak out so much. She just wanted to be comfortable, not you know, half naked.

“Sorry.” He frowns, looking at his feet.

She shakes her head, “Forget it.”

There's music on so she tells him to come dance with her.

They have a pretty good time.

Dustin tries out the station for himself, too

“See I know I'm going to look delicious in anything, look how slim my figure is, not weighed down by a single ounce of muscle!”

She laughs in spite of herself.

...and he forgets everything he is doing in light of the awesome-ass simbot that walks in to gape at him. “You sir have a great sense of style!” he tells it enthusiastically.

The simbot is nonplussed. It probably wants to be treated like another normal sim. Oh well, oddities!

They head to the laundromat to wash their new clothes to finish the day off.

Despite the ups and downs it was a pretty great second day in a new town. They'd have to cover some ground tomorrow for sure, so it was great to have things feel like they were ending on a positive note.

He listens to her talk intently. It can be kind of unnerving sometimes, the way he looks at her. One minute they're joking, and the next... well she can't place the emotions that swirl behind his eyes.

“I hope you had a good time today.” He tells her quietly.

She nods, unsure any other response is required.

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Meghan bought that stylist shop out of fingerless gloves. She has them for every outfit now.

As for Dustin, well he's not usually like this. What can I say? He must like her a lot, whether or not he's willing to admit it. But seriously I liked that dress on her, what's her problem? She looked amazing! And then immediately she chokes herself over it. Drama queen. 

-Frogsnack