Then and Now [Dale Work Thread]

Out in the commercial ward, what appeared to be an older human man in a suit walked the area. The suit had been recently cleaned for the trip out into the area, though it was no less well worn. It seemed to suit him.
He was obviously uncomfortable in the crowds. He made a pointed effort to maintain his distance, slipping through gaps and weaving through the tide in order to maintain his space. Sometimes, he’d find himself nearly touching someone as he made his way to his destination, looking leery as he narrowly avoided touching people.
The truth was, there wasn’t a store in the area he was headed for right now, not a person among the masses he was looking to meet. But whenever he was forced to cut close to someone else, Dale would occasionally lift something from whoever was adjacent, never breaking stride as he kept in mind what he’d learned since first coming here.


Junction may have been drastically different in some ways to the world from which he had come, but a few things stayed constant nonetheless for Dale. One of the most annoying problems to follow him was the constant struggle to have anything to eat – as ever, it was hit and miss whether the trash would have anything left for his consumption, and attacking people for their food was still proving just as necessary as before.
One thing that was new, however, was the existence of the Commercial Ward, which had provided a new and frustrating way for things to remain exactly the same.
It had been a massive shock to him the first time he stumbled onto the area. While most of the things on display had failed to capture his attention, the sheer amount of food just openly on display had proven a contradiction to just about everything he’d known before that point. It came in many shapes and sizes, fresher than he’d known and more varied than he’d ever seen, and it was just right there within arm’s reach…

It was too good to be true, of course.

Before he had a chance to even attempt daylight robbery, someone else had beaten him to the punch, a cat-eared man with an armful of bread and running legs that weren’t good enough. The moment that man had run by had served as his first introduction to the police, watching as a uniformed officer emerged to quickly apprehend the would-be loaf-lifter. The whole thing was over in short order, taking down the thief swiftly and easily.
It wasn’t the first time Dale had encountered guards, but the way everyone was so accepting of the whole thing had unnerved him. As it was, the fact that nobody had gone after the thief themselves for their goods was a departure from what he was used to.

As he looked around, he found no answers as to the strange behaviour of all the weird people that surrounded him, but he did start to spot a pattern in the crowds.
Here and there, there would be people with the same unfamiliar badge, just like the one carried by the person who had dealt with the bread-thief. Not a massive presence, but enough to be noticeable to his paranoid eye as he warily scoped the place out.

This wasn’t the first time Dale had had to deal with guards during his escapades. Those times people actually helped each other, it wasn’t odd that one of them would be left to look after their stuff. But he wasn’t used to such a coordinated presence, let alone one so consistent and uncontested. Even if they weren’t around, people were everywhere, and good escape routes were infrequently available. It seemed impossible for him to take anything. For anyone to.
And yet, lots of people were able to take things and walk away, so there had to be some way to get the stuff here. So what was it?

When he wasn’t busy with keeping himself alive, Dale had occasionally gone to find a spot in the Commercial Ward where he could watch things going on without being bothered. He watched more thefts be attempted, saw more people taking stuff, and started making sure not to stick around too long after he started getting bothered by the badge people for it.
Over time, he’d picked things up. The places with stuff were ‘shops’, or ‘stores’. The chasing badge people were ‘police’. And that everyone who didn’t get chased gave the shop people something by the name of ‘money’. That was a name he recognised. On the rare occasion he got given something, the thing he got was sometimes called that. He hadn’t known before then just how important it was, but with it now clear this stuff would let him eat, he made an effort to learn how it worked.

It went terribly at first. He got shouted at, he got laughed at, and the entire affair had been an exercise in suffering. His mind screamed danger at him for being in the open with so many people around. But he’d gotten it eventually. The basics, at least. His first purchase had served as proof of that, and he greedily scarfed down the much needed protein tubes in private.
He’d had barely any money left, after that. It was going to be back to his old lifestyle before long, and with it hunger and frustration.
But he’d learned the importance of money, now. And he intended to start grabbing it where he could.


Secreting himself away after his brief time in the crowds, Dale checked over what he’d acquired. There was a leather wallet among the haul, and once he’d extracted what money it held, he’d eaten it shortly afterward. Regardless of most people’s opinions of the matter, it was food of a kind, and ever since he’d discovered that Dale was not inclined to let it go to waste.
He’d managed to get a couple of trinkets as well, small and shiny. No use to him, and certainly not of interest to him, but there was some rock person that had given him money for these things a couple of times before. He’d have to see if he could find them again.

Stashing away everything securely, Dale headed back to the slums. He’d gotten what he came for, and the crowds were more than he could bear for any longer…