why anyone decides to stick around in shrike for very long, michael will never understand, though he supposes the thought makes him a hypocrite, as he’s been in town for longer than he ever planned. he likes to think that he’s different, that he has a good reason as he only wishes to sort out his siblings and ideally convince them to leave, but he says none of this out loud as he doesn’t want to make the other person feel bad for their decision to do less travelling and more sticking around. after all, for all he knows, rosario could have a reason to stay that’s just as good as his own. “totally,” he nods his head in agreement, not that he’s as well travelled as they seem. “where’s the best place you’ve visited?” he enquires. “i wonder if this place will keep growing to the point where that changes,” he thinks out loud, not taking too much notice of their poor choice of wording, as even though his siblings have faced the killers, michael himself hasn’t yet, making him less sensitive to comments that could potentially hit too close to home in others.
“oh at least a dozen,” michael laughs at the thought. “they almost all look like kids still,” not that michael can judge, having a baby face of his own. “but really worn out kids, you know? kids who have definitely learnt the lesson that a job is a job, no matter how fun it is to be a customer at said job,” he chuckles. “i think the best way to go about getting a good job is work in a field you’re passionate about - even if it’s not the career but just a stepping stone to it - or else work at a place you’re totally impartial to,” he suggests, though it’s likely that he doesn’t have the right insight considering he’s only worked two places in his entire life, his dad’s auto shop, and now maintenance for the mall. “yeah, all things considered, i don’t know if i’d even wanna work at an auto shop outside of shrike, even if just in the next town over,” he finally more explicitly speaks of the attacks, thinking that it might not be a good idea to be going back and forth, in and out of the town, no matter what the hours are.
Rosario tilted their head to the side, pondering the question, “Depends. When it comes to cities with lots of excitement, you can’t really go wrong with Las Vegas, never a dull moment there.” The brief time she spent there was chaotic to say the least and definitely not sustainable. It was towards the tail end of looking for her brother so all the city really had to offer was distractions in the forms of all her vices. “Seen a bunch of other sites too though. I don’t know how you really beat some of those natural beauties found in places like The Grand Canyon and some other national parks.” Their end goal had been to try to find their brother in all their traveling, but it didn’t stop them from making stops along the way to see sights that people always raved about. At times it felt like so much of their life was put on hold during this search that they needed to do a few things for themself every now and then. “I think it’s possible. I mean, I don’t think this place will ever be some crazy big city, but it’s definitely growing. I feel like I’ve seen so many new faces since working here.” She figured the town’s growth was even more obvious to those who had lived here their entire lives.
They laughed again, imagining teenagers trying to secure the best summer jobs and deciding on the arcade due to the fun atmosphere and escape from the summer heat only to find it was a lot more work than they anticipated. “I imagine that’s how a lot of first jobs go, you think the place is loads of fun until you’re the one working there. Unless your first job is like working the concession stand at your local pool. That was my first summer job and I definitely didn’t go into it thinking I would have a blast.” Rosario nodded in agreement, not sure she was the best to offer up advice on the subject either, not entirely sure which passion she wanted to stick with enough to make a career out of it. “It’d have its pros and cons for sure. Making longer trips from work later in the evening might be rough, but I also haven’t heard of anything happening in the neighboring towns that’s even remotely close to what’s been happening here.” They had to wonder how much the neighboring towns knew about Shrikes’ situation and if those types of things were just kept hushed for the sake of the town’s reputation.
