This chapter is also a bit of a departure, but, I felt a necessary one. The people who "know" will know, if that makes any sense.
Brannock sat on the couch sipping coffee until Bobbie stirred. The first word out of his friend's mouth was a long, drawn out "Fuuuuuck. . ." as he slipped the rest of his body in the window and onto the living room floor. "Ugh. Whose idea was that?" Brannock laughed. "Yours, you idiot. How do you propose that a) we survive the day intact, and b) patrol tonight without getting skinned or killed?" Bobbie stood up, groaning. "You are asking the wrong dude. What was I thinking?" He stumbled into the bathroom and did not emerge for around 20 mins.
"You know what we need to do? We need to take the day off, do something fun and sober. You need your mind off of Thistle. Dude, I know how you feel about her, but. . .I mean. . .you need to be able to do other stuff too, you know?" Bobbie said as he reappeared. He was clean shaven now but still looked hellish. Brannock put his head in his hands. "Oh, God. What do you have in mind?" He could only imagine. Bobbie waved his hands. "No, really. There must be something cool and mindless we can do. How about bowling? Wait, I don't think that is a good plan in our condition. Hang on." He pulled out his phone and sat down, obviously surfing the net on the small screen, mumbling to himself.
After a few minutes Bobbie stood up, pumping his fist, and whispering "Yes. . .yes. . .", then "change your clothes, we're heading out, and we have to hurry." Brannock started to speak, but Bobbie put his index fingers to his lips, then he looked down at his exposed boxers. "And, um. . .can I borrow some pants?"
They travelled by city bus halfway across town, but it wasn't busy. What day was it, Brannock wondered. Saturday? He checked his phone. Yeah, Saturday. In his occupation, the day didn't really matter, only usually whether it was daylight or nighttime. There were some creatures who crept out during the day, but not very many. People were much more alert during daytime, and since most monsters were hideously ugly or not even hardly human, they obviously stood out far too much to have a long lifespan in anything other than the darkness.
Along the way they chatted about work stuff, like when each of them was expected to report in person to the bosses, which everyone had to do normally once a year. Brannock still had several months but Bobbie was up next week. It would suck not to have him around, but since they were supposed to patrol alone anyway it wasn't a huge deal. "Besides," Bobbie said, "I will probably stay a few extra days and see if we can find that damn 117. Then you won't be the only one who fought one and lived". They looked at each other, each with a knowing expression, like "Yeah, if anyone survives".
After a bus transfer, they arrived at their stop. Bobbie consulted the gps app on his phone and pointed down a street that angled off the one they were on. Brannock hadn't been in this part of town before. Looking at the street names, he realized they were in the theatre district. Where the fuck was Bobbie taking him? He liked plays and stuff, but he hadn't been to one in years.
They walked for a few minutes, passing small crowds of oddly dressed people, also walking in the direction they were, or milling around talking. White shirts, striped ties. Several people in robes. A costume party? That wouldn't make any sense since they did not have costumes on. "We're almost there. Trust me, I know you and you'll love this," Bobbie assured him. He hoped so, and he was also looking forward to something else to get his mind off of Thistle for the moment. Well, something that didn't involve bricks, police stations, or pantless friends.
"Here we are," Bobbie said, pointing across the street. A movie theatre? What the heck?
It was a cool looking building, he had to admit. It was obviously one of those early 20th century places that may have been a music hall or "real" theatre at some point. Some of the places in town had been old burlesque showplaces. This one was vaguely art deco in style, and the ticket office was right in the center of the building, bright but bare bulbs surrounding the window. The place was busy as shit, and it seemed like the costumed people were descending on the place as well. Even so. . ."Bobbie, there are two movie theatres near my apartment! Why go to all this trouble just to. . .?" He noticed why, though. The marquis spelled out in large red letters "Harry Potter Movie Marathon". Wow. . .his eyes got big.
