[ This is a lot. All of it. Fortunately, he's at least arrived with the usual pack of cigarettes in the breast pocket of his EMT's uniform, a small blessing—he adjourns himself shortly after visiting exactly one store to take a smoke break and try to get a handle on his nerves.
They're making him pay for what he did, and the Mayor is in the right. He doesn't want to despite the moral understanding that he should—nobody wants to be cursed or punished or whatever else, on a more animal level of instinct, no matter how just they know it is. He can't shake the desire to survive any more than he can shed the desire to face retribution, so here he is, fumbling for a cigarette before he's even out of the automatic doors of the mall.
He's not alone when he lights a smoke and takes the first drag— as he gets closer, he realizes that the other figure loitering in the same space is a teenager. Not a concept he ever really had, but too young to smoke, they now know. Nobody really should, apparently, but at least he's 33 and already dead.
He turns his head to address the boy, letting his own lit cigarette hang between two fingers (mercifully bloodless for the time being). ]
Hey. You shouldn't do that. You're too young to smoke.
[ The uniform might lend some authority, were it not for the fact that here he stands, also smoking. ]
#3
They're making him pay for what he did, and the Mayor is in the right. He doesn't want to despite the moral understanding that he should—nobody wants to be cursed or punished or whatever else, on a more animal level of instinct, no matter how just they know it is. He can't shake the desire to survive any more than he can shed the desire to face retribution, so here he is, fumbling for a cigarette before he's even out of the automatic doors of the mall.
He's not alone when he lights a smoke and takes the first drag— as he gets closer, he realizes that the other figure loitering in the same space is a teenager. Not a concept he ever really had, but too young to smoke, they now know. Nobody really should, apparently, but at least he's 33 and already dead.
He turns his head to address the boy, letting his own lit cigarette hang between two fingers (mercifully bloodless for the time being). ]
Hey. You shouldn't do that. You're too young to smoke.
[ The uniform might lend some authority, were it not for the fact that here he stands, also smoking. ]