sashinka | observation orientated, with a twist of lime | a blog

I observed something really... odd yesterday.

On my way to my writing class, I decided to spend an hour in one of my preferred NW3 Costbuxim. Got some stuff written (will speak later why it is easier to write at not-home).

So, there's a guy sitting in the Comfy Chairs by the window. To my untrained mind, he's a geek: slightly unshaven, unkempt hair, his Lowe Alpine bag has probably never seen a mountain, and his O'Neill t-shirt is too tight (later, when he gets up to go to the bathroom, I see that the t-shirt is way too short: I can see his belly hanging over his jeans). He's that unclear age: somewhere between 25 and 35, but he's clearly spent a lot of time behind a screen. He looks slightly uncomfortable in his own body. He's playing with some geekery I can't quite see: PSP/mobile/PDA/who knows?

A guy comes in: similarly geek, with a slightly Hispanic/south American vibe (dark hair, long, slight Cuban-gangster facial hair thang). They greet each other in an awkward way, and the the Cuban guy sits down. They don't get coffee. They sound like two work colleagues meeting for a quick drink.

Then, the Cuban-style guy gets out a little furry toy: I couldn't see clearly, but it looked like a white rabbit, smaller than the size of your hand. The pure joy washed over the face of the Big Geek guy like a speeded up sunrise.

Cuban guy hands it over, but not in a gift way, in a game way. He walks it over the bag sitting on his lap, like Big Geek is four and he's got a surprise for him. Big Geek suddenly looks like a four year old trapped in the body of an adult man. He's smiling. (I should say that the way he was reading the paper and waiting, he really didn't look like someone with mental health problems. He looked like a regular guy who liked his tech kit.). The rabbit reaches Big Geek, and he takes it, and starts directing a game of hide-and-seek behind his bag, and making "awww" faces. He looked like a very overgrown baby playing with a new toy, but dressed like a Unix coder.

So, I dunno. I've heard about furries - people who get off on dressing up as furry animals - but I always (perhaps naively) thought it was not about small furry things.

The whole interchange was brief, but, well, odd. Then I had to leave.

But then, what do I know?