EINFÜHRUNG [BIRDEE]

[Alaric von der Marck]

Alaric made sure to keep his eyes on Birdee while she spoke, rather than focus on the asphalt that began to move beneath them, the tires on the hard road, the trees that whizzed past at a speed he’d prefer not to calculate. Riding in cars was always like this – it didn’t matter what the car was or who was behind the wheel. It made him feel nauseous. One day, he might be able to handle it, but for now he would limit the duration he had to spend in… what did Birdee call it? Solid things that drove on the road.

The elder nodded as Birdee compared her car to a horse. ”I wanted a horse, or a bicycle,” he said in response – confirmation that he had, indeed, owned horses in the past. ”I did not think that a horse, as transportation, would be widely accepted in this age,” he said. He’d seen bicycles in the city before. He’d seen no horses. ”Horses, for the estate, however. One day…” he said. The rest, he accepted and let slide.

”I hope that we do not have an accident. I trust that your car will be victorious, but I do not wish to test the theory,” he said, and frowned. There was a shop that Birdee thought was ‘sweet’, and though Alaric did not understand why one should be tasting a bike shop he decided it was yet another thing he did not understand, and let it go. He had to pick his battles. The one he chose, now, was to question the silence.

”I do not know what a … see dee is. But it matters not – I prefer the silence. The radio, it… is invasive. The signals,” he said, pointing to his temple and swirling his finger in a circular motion. ”I am fine,” he said, risking a glance out the window. It lasted about two seconds before her returned his eyes to the inside of the vehicle.

”And you? You are new to the von der Marck, Ja?” he asked.

[Birdee]

Birdee tried to imagine someone going around the city on horseback, and while it seemed far fetched, she shrugged her shoulders. "Fri-Screw them. Rules are meant to be broken or bent. You want a horse, get one and own it." She glanced to Alaric when he said he didn't want to get into an accident. Birdee even laughed a little.

"Lucky for you. I haven't been in an accident for a long time and I don't really like getting into them. Insurance premiums go up. Pay more than the car is worth if we got into one." Birdee turned right and headed in the direction of the mall. "You're cool with malls, right?" She asked, not knowing if he'd ever been in one before. They would find out one way or another what he thought about them.

"A CD is a circular disc with music on it. About twelve to twenty songs, depending on how long each song is." Birdee offered, trying to understand the rest of what Alaric was saying about CD's and signals. Another time when the guy wasn't looking like he was about to crap himself over the possibility of being in an accident (maybe a big overstatement).

"Yep, I guess so." The woman nodded her head as she changed lanes, then glanced over to Alaric. "I mean, I guess I've always been around, but I've only been here a couple of months compared to everyone else. I'm from California originally. Any idea where that is? It's in the U.S. of A. Towards the bottom part." Birdee explained anyways, just in case he had no idea where California was. Which was possible.

[Alaric von der Marck]

”I know California,” he said. ”It was named by the Spanish,” he added. He’d learned a lot in his time in Canada before he’d died; the sunflowers they grew – along with everything else – was traded, and as such there were plenty of traders who stopped by. And they weren’t only confined to Canada. They were from abroad, too – mostly from across the border. It was fascination to hear about the other colonies, and how they all progressed.

”I do not like malls. We will be quick,” he said. Again, he had no idea what Birdee was talking about when she mentioned insurance, and premiums. Were these things he should know about? He would have to ask Louvel later. Or Judah. It sounded like something that one paid for, and Alaric wasn’t aware of paying for anything – though he was certain that he did, in some round-a-bout way. There were legacies and trust funds, money that may as well have been guarded somewhere by fire-breathing dragons. Money was not something that the von der Marcks had to worry about.

”And I do not think I would subject a horse to the city. It is noisy, ja? It is… is chaos. A horse will not like it,” he said. Why he even subjected himself to the city, he didn’t know, except that he’d realised that he didn’t particularly want to be a recluse. Not this time around. Not anymore.

[Birdee]

Birdee blinked when Alaric said he knew of California and it's history. She nodded, agreeing with him, before Birdee turned down another street which would take them closer to the mall. A few more blocks to go. "That's right." Her eyes bounced to the side mirrors, then back in front again. "That's cool. I'm not a huge mall person-but it's a necessary evil. Ordering online is cool, but some sizes run small, some big and then there is false advertising. Not everything you see if what you actually get. Big scams everywhere." Birdee explained about her feelings on the mall and online shopping experience.

Another lane switch while Alaric talked and Birdee thought about what she knew about the city and what little she knew about a horse. "In some parts it could be loud. By the clubs and malls; places like that. High class residential areas? Not so much. But, I see your point." Birdee concluded, agreeing that Alaric would have more knowledge about that than she would. "And here we are!" Birdee announced, pointing to the long building with two floors. "I'll park on the side closest to where we're going so we don't have to do a lot of walking inside the mall."

[Alaric von der Marck]

Alaric stored away everything Birdee told him, even if he did not fully understand the concept. He figured she was suggesting that they did not have to leave the house to buy things – which might have been preferable to the elder if he weren’t so unsure about strangers on their property. Besides which, he wished to be more proactive and outgoing; those who rest are those who rust, and he wished to rust no more than he already had. Better to shop out of doors than learn to use the internet to do the shopping for him.

Before he knew it, they were rounding the corners of the mall – the behemoth structure that threaded dread through the elder’s heart. He peered out the window and looked up; this is what industry looked like. This, he supposed, was what his family’s money had helped to build. A new world, a modern world, filled with structures just like this one. Without the industry of big business, of family businesses, of stocks and markets, would any of this be possible?

”Thank you,” he said, genuinely thankful for Birdee’s foresight. As little time as possible to be spent in the bright lights and the miasma of human materialism, the better. He imagined the outcome – a bike, all to himself. A way to get from A to B without having to rely on the goodwill of others, without having to enclose himself within a metal box with wheels. To feel the wind whip his cold skin, to feel alive because of it… it would all be worth it.

”Is there anything you will like to buy, while we are here?” he asked. He hoped that after their adventure there would still be time to sit, to talk – as much as he found Birdee to be puzzling, only time could help him to put the pieces together, to get a better idea of who this young von der Marck was.

[Birdee]

Birdee put the car in park at about the time Alaric thanked her for the convenience. Birdee didn't mind walking, but this wasn't one of leisure. Like at a beach, or even outside. This 'walk' had purpose and it needed to be right to the point for Alaric's sake. "No probs, gr-Alaric." It was that slip of tongue that had Birdee realizing that she wasn't sure what to call the guy that was the fore-founder more or less of her, Leonie and Lou. Did he just go by Alaric, or did he go by something else? Both seemed a little 'off' to her, only because she couldn't really envision the guy being any sort of grandparent figure and just calling him 'Alaric' seemed to get under her skin too. Maybe it was because she really didn't know the guy like Lou and Leonie did.

"Buy?" Birdee echoed quietly as she turned the ignition off and opened the driver side door. "Well..." There was a shop that she ventured to when Birdee came to the mall, but she doubted it would be up Alaric's 'alley' so to speak. "Actually, yep." Birdee nodded, thinking about something else-something safer for both their sakes. "I think there's a bookstore on the second floor. It's open until ten, so we should check out your store first." Birdee concluded, not sure how long the store Alaric was looking for was open. Nine? Maybe ten. Either way, she didn't want him to miss out on getting what he wanted. Her book could wait.

Birdee shut her door and then gave Alaric a glance from over the roof of the car. "Plus, they might not even have what I'm looking for. We don't want to waste hours in the bookstore not finding anything." The book, or books (if they had different types) was an impulse buy anyways, something she had heard about at a party at a friend's house a few weeks back.

[Alaric von der Marck]

As Alaric was told, when he stepped out of the car and closed the door behind him it closed with a satisfying thud. His eyes travelled the length of the mall before lifting skyward, his stance that of a man facing a worthy adversary. He nodded vaguely in Birdee’s general direction. Only after the words had sunk in did he actually turn and nod in earnest.

”The bookshop, ja,” he said. Alaric had not actually been to one of the bookshops himself, though he was brought new books. He thought that he might like browsing the shelves, selecting the books on his own. ”That will be nice. I am not sure that time can be wasted in a place of books,” he said. The walls were up in his mind, his head a steel fortress to keep out the signals, both human and technological. He’d had time to prepare himself. Besides, it wasn’t too busy.

Although he led the way to the large, automatic glass doors, once they were inside the gleaming foyer he slowed his pace to allow Birdee to take the lead. She knew where the shop was, and the elder didn’t. And he didn’t particularly want to wander around to try to find it, either – though he did a sweep of the store fronts anyway, just to see if he could pick it.

”What book are you looking for? There is a large collection at the Estate, if you are ever looking for something to read…” he said. He couldn’t recall seeing Birdee much within the actual manor – every now and again, of course, but most of the time she was with Louvel at the Cabin.

[Birdee]

Alaric was down with hitting the bookstore, which was cool. That meant that they could do something for him (like get his bike), then something for her, or both of them. If he found something he liked to add to what he already had.

"Well," Birdee started out as they approached the sidewalk to the mall. "I've never checked out your stash-of books," Birdee clarified with a roll of her shoulders, before going on "But I had a friend at kind of like a party a few weeks ago and he brought some beer he made. Isn't that crazy? People can make their own beer at home!" Birdee moved to the section of glass doors and pried one open for the both of them.

"Seemed cool. Just wondered how hard it was to do something like that. If maybe I could do it." Birdee confessed, tossing a glance at Alaric, wondering his thoughts on it. The guy was old school, super old school. Did women even drink beer when he was alive? "Something to do to pass some time." When she wasn't making paladins, which hadn't been a thing for a while. Marcus was the only one and he had skipped town some time ago. Not even a text or call to let her know. the guy had just vanished without a trace months ago and that was that. Obviously Birdee had been wrong about the guy, which made her second guess the whole paladin making factory. "Your store is...erm, that way." Birdee pointed to the right, vaguely before leading Alaric to 'Spin City.' Corney? Maybe, but it suited their purposes.

[Alaric von der Marck]

Alaric laughed. Not because he thought it was crazy to make beer at home, but because he thought it was crazy that Birdee thought it was crazy. The world had moved on in such a way that industry made everything possible for the punters. Everything was so easy. Everything was available at a moment’s notice, so long as you had money to pay for it. No one grew their own food anymore. They didn’t make their own beer, apparently. They went to someone else to cut their hair rather than allowing their mother or wife to do it. They bought their suits and clothes ready-made, from shelves filled with exact same kind of suit. Or dress. Or jeans.

”I do not think that it is crazy,” he said. He thought about the Estate, and the things that they had grown there. Mainly sunflowers, yes, but the family had branched out. ”I am certain that if you ask Louvel, he will tell you if the humulus lupulus already grows. If it does not, he will know how to grow it. I may be able to help, though it has been some time since I have farmed,” he said. When he lived in Germany he knew that there were farmhouses nearby who brewed their own beer. They lived far from any alehouse, and he had traded wheat for beer. That Birdee should drink beer did not surprise nor shock him. His Anja had indulged on many occasions.

They had reached the bike shop at this point and Alaric meandered inside. He liked moving into the shops; the shops themselves were always quieter than the halls outside of them, and the bike shop was no different. There was one other customer, served by the only sales clerk, which allowed Alaric and Birdee time to browse. Bicycles these days were so complex – Alaric wanted the time to figure out what he liked.

”I will like something simple, I think…” he said. He didn’t need a bunch of gadgets he did not know, nor care to learn how to use. He did not touch the wares, browsing with his hands clasped behind his back.

[Birdee]

"Not like crazy as in-forget it." Birdee hadn't meant it in the way Alaric probably thought she meant it. "I mean, like, I've never thought of really doing anything on my own before. I don't even know where to begin. But it seemed cool." Birdee stated before she followed Alaric into the bike store and took a look around. If she was ever interested in riding a bike from point A to B, she would go for something a little more than the bikes Alaric seemed to be geared towards.

"You should stay away from red, unless you want the attention. Cops pull over red cars the most, so I think red kind of draws the eye in to it." Birdee suggested as she looked at a pink retro looking bike that had been tricked out to do more than a single speed. She whistled when she saw the price. Birdee would have to work two days and not eat to have that sort of pocket change. And not pay some of her rent.

"The sign says this one is the best for your money, but I'd stay away from white. White gets dirty quick and easy. Just my thoughts. Take it or leave it." Birdee pointed to the sign with the price and features on it, for the bike that it was designated for.

"Brown's safe and it's a pretty cool looking bike. Could imagine you on it." Birdee could imagine him in some sort of old tweed hat, with a bell, ringing it as he peddled around the grounds and close to it while she drove by on her tornado. "Or you could go even more retro. Like the fifties. They're making a come back Seen a lot of college kids near the campus with them." Birdee suggested with a twist of her dirty dishwater hair, that eventually found its way into a sloppy low based pony from the band around her wrist.