Red Light

The street was almost but not quite busy, which was pretty much the norm for it. There were equal amounts of pedestrians and cars, and though her car was parked a few blocks away, she was currently playing pedestrian.

Teresa stood idly at a street corner, waiting for the light to change so she could cross. It always seemed to take an insanely long time for it to change here, as if there was less traffic than it expected. She tapped a foot only a little impatiently, glancing around at her surroundings while she waited.

There was a crosswalk button, but it had been out of order for ages. If not for the attention it would draw, she'd have fixed it herself. Instead she just let out a sigh, glancing skyward.

Ever since her bike had gotten destroyed by the unexplained explosion near the pub, Angelina had to walk everywhere; she couldn't afford a new bike just now. The problem was that the traffic light colours still confused her a bit, even if they were just two for pedestrians, and three for vehicles. She couldn't memorize what they meant, yet.

Angelina stopped at the crossing, looking at the light, frowning. She had no idea whether to cross, or to wait, therefore she decided to stand by the other woman who'd just arrived at the crossing, and do everything she did. She'd know, Angelina supposed, glancing at her, trying not to let it be noticed.

Teresa looked over reflexively as someone approached her, and was about to turn her attention back to willing the light to turn when she noticed her glance over. She smiled slightly, and motioned her head towards the light. "Friendly warning. This light always takes ages." Normally she'd have let it go without comment, but honestly, she was bored.

"You probably know that already though." She realized after a moment. "At least if you're around here often."

Angelina did a double-take, only then realizing the woman was talking to her; she also wondered why she would, since past experiences taught Angelina that most people didn't really speak to other people.

"Oh, uh, but not real ages, yeah? Not like...Ages are defined. In dictionaries, and such. Yeah? You can't even live that long, right?" She asked. Then, as she heard the rest of what the woman said, she continued. "I am from around here, sort of, but I...Well, I always ride a bike."

"Not quite that long, no." She smiled, amused at what she was sure was a joke. "A couple of minutes though. It just feels like ages." A glance toward the light confirmed it was still red, so she continued.

"Ah. I've got my car parked a few blocks away." Teresa paused after that, biting her lip thoughtfully. "This might be a little silly to ask... But what do you know about politics? Since we're trapped at the moment." She figured she might as well see if she could get something useful from the conversation.

Angelina smiled, glad that the woman didn't really mean ages after all. Maybe it was just another one of those human "expressions", that never meant what was actually said. Humans were confusing.

Rolling her eyes, Angelina tried hard to think where she had heard about politics recently; she knew she had, but it was no longer clear. A little bit later, she jumped a little, saying "Ah!" and pointed at the woman.

"I met that man from the newspapers, the one who talks about foreign politics a lot. He's here, in Cardiff." She said, hoping the woman knew who she was talking about, because she'd forgotten his name.

Teresa jumped slightly at the sudden finger pointed at her, but calmed down quickly. Foreign politics she wasn't that sure of, but didn't think there would be that many political figures in Cardiff at the moment.

"James Stoker?" She offered, hoping that even if she didn't mean him the woman would know of him. It was even a little less straightforward this way, which might be useful.

"What did you think of him, what was he like?" Her voice was curious, and she asked on the offchance her guess had been correct. Either way she'd be turning the discussion in that direction.

Angelina nodded, looking to her left. She thought that was the name.

"I think so, yeah. Facial hair, yeah? Handsome, polite, he helped me pick up my stuff when I dropped my purse because of a dog running by."

"Yeah, that's him... Did anything seem strange about him? Was he particularly interesting? Given the chance, would you talk to him again?" She felt like she was trying to get a survey filled out, and frowned slightly.

"Sorry about all the questions. My friend.." Teresa smiled now, with a burst of inspiration. "She met him once and seemed really impressed. I'm curious."

Angelina stepped back a bit, intimidated by all those questions at once. She tried to process them, and answer them correctly, which would obviously take a while.

"He seemed just like any other human- I mean, man. He was interesting, and...I suppose he was reassuring. I don't know." Angelina shook her head, and shrugged. "I don't understand politics, so, nothing really to talk about. But yeah, if he passed by, or something, I suppose I would!" She said, smiling.

Reassuring. The word stuck out at her for some reason, and it was something. Though the woman had said that she'd been scared by a dog a moment ago. She caught her saying 'human' as well, but her mind quickly went in another direction, and she rubbed at her ear.

"Thanks. I think you've gotten me even more interested now." Teresa smiled at her, then noticed the light had turned. "About time. Where are you headed?" She asked as she started to cross.

Angelina smiled, thinking this woman was possibly stranger than herself, but choosing not to dwell on it. She started walking as the woman did, too.

"Well, I'm going to the shop, I'm out of Red Bull. You?"

"I need some shoes for an event tonight. The only pair I have feel like they're going to cut off my toes, and I'd rather not have to worry about keeping everything attached while I'm there." She grinned to show she was just joking. "Though you may've reminded me, my friend suggested I pick up some caffiene pills..."

Angelina nodded, her mouth half open, wondering why the woman would wear shoes that cut off her toes, and laugh about it; they sounded dangerous.

"Hahaha, yeah..." She said, trying to smile. "So you're coming by the shop, as well?" She asked, as the other woman mentioned caffeine pills.

"If you don't mind. The one that's a block away, on the other side of the street, right?" She asked easily. "It's even on my way."

It would be someone to talk to, in any case, if they got another red light. She didn't see the harm in it.

"No, no." Angelina shook her head, smiling. She continued walking, again not noticing as the traffic started to move again. She began to cross the street, distracted.

"Hey-" Teresa moved forward to grab her arm, trying to pull her back to the sidewalk as a car honked. "The light's red, you waited out the last one alright. If you're in that big of a hurry to get away from me I'll shoe-shop first."

"Huh?" Was all that Angelina could manage, looking at her arm, with the woman's hand around it, and then at the light. She giggled. "Oh! Right, red is for Don't walk, right? I'm sorry. I forget." She said, apologetically.

"Right. Often illustrated by the fact that the cars tend to get in your way when it's that color." She looked at Angelina like she was crazy. "Didn't you ever get told to look both ways before crossing the street? Still helps even when there's a light."

Angelina didn't understand the change of mood by the other woman, and shrugged. "Uh...No. I'm not from...around here." She said. It seemed to help when she did something strange, maybe it would in this situation, as well.

"Red's a pretty good indication to stop anywhere you go." Teresa told her as she shook her head. "And looking before you walk's common sense. Where are you from, exactly?" She couldn't pretend her interest hadn't been piqued.

Angelina nodded, vowing to remember those instructions later. She rolled her eyes - the woman was making difficult questions, again.

"Uh...London?" Always her answer. Usually satisfying. The only one so far who didn't buy it had been the man from the poker game at the pub. Then again, he wasn't from Earth, either.

"London. I believe they've got common sense over there. Also, cars." She couldn't help but notice that the other woman seemed unsure about her answer. She wouldn't flat out say she thought she was lieing, but she couldn't help thinking it.

"I'm pretty sure the lights were the same color when I visited, too."

There was a condition some humans had that prevented them from seeing certain colours. Angelina had read about this somewhere on what they called the internet, and if she could remember the name of it, she could use it now. Colour...Something. She tried for the first thing that came up.

"Colour blend...I'm colour blend." She said, frowning.

"Colour blend?" She frowned thoughtfully. Wasn't that a type of marker? She'd seen it advertised, she though. Then recognition hit. "Colour blind, do you mean? A bit forgetful too..." Teresa muttered, not really paying attention. "Doesn't change the fact that cars coming are a little hard to miss. Should've thought someone'd tell you that the red's always on the top, at least."