Going the Distance, [Open]

[Nori Miyazaki]

The usual greeting met her at the local Humans First building, a bunch of overly religious nut jobs who all just wanted to welcome her into the family. Each touch that was set on her back or arm set off a little bit of anxiety in her. She hated most of them simply on principal and the rest well.. she didn't like them because of the religious phrases slung about like spit. Her reasoning might be odd to be part of the Humans First movement but she did have her reasoning. It took only a few hours of her being caged up in the building before she literaly walked out. There wasn't much in the way for her to do, at least yet. So she took the opporunity to scout. Google had helped a little bit, locating business "owned" or "said to be owned" by vampires and or shifters. What few hits that came back where marked down on the large map that was currently unfolded in front of her like a massive painting.

Spread across the hood of her SUV she stared at the map for a long moment before glancing up and down the street. There was plenty of places to investigate and inquire within at the moment she was mostly interested in the less known places. But that would require her doing a bit of recon work. Slim fingers worked in folding up the map which proved a healthy opponent, fighting back as she tried to refold it the way it was suppose to be. Frustrated with it she walked back around the SUV and crawled in tossing the map to the passanger side seat. Cellphone was plucked out of the consol and she logged into Twitter.

It was the information age and what better way then to find the vampires that needed to be watched then to scan through yards of useless talk and gossip. If anything humans loved to gossip and make themselves seem more importnat then what they where. It wasn't until her stomach started to clentch and make noise that she remembered she hadn't eatten anything for the day and slipped out of the SUV just as the street lights where coming on. Phone in hand she glanced up and down the street, the beep of her locks echoing behind her before booted feet started to move. She had no clue if there was even someplace to eat on the street and was only half away while she walked. Occasionally stopping on the sidewalk to examine a tasty little morsel of information that some wanna be superstar talked about.

[Anders Williamson]

This particular afternoon was not a good time for job scouting. At least not for Anders anyway. He'd been walking the streets since leaving home by foot just after lunchtime, and had had no luck at all so far. No store had vacancies, not a supermarket, not a corner store, not even as a dishwasher in a local cafe or restaurant. Everywhere he'd been he was sent away with 'sorry, no's and it was starting to make a dent in his determined optimism.

On one street corner he paused for a second to collect his thoughts, checking the time on his wristwatch as he did so. He'd have to be heading back home before too long, the younger kids would be home from school, maybe they'd need help with their homework, and his Mam might need his help preparing dinner as well. Oh but that's right, hadn't she wanted him to get something for her while he was out?

Pulling his own simple phone from his pants pocket, he began to walk again but aimlessly this time and more slowly as he held his head down, concentrating on writing a text to his mother, unaware of the hazard he was causing to himself and others as he didn't watch exactly where he was walking.

[Nori Miyazaki]

A twisted smile had curled her lips up for a moment as several morons had bragged about seeing fangs at some of the local clubs but that they couldn't get in. She had barily noticed that she was standing stock still or that it anyone was around her. Fingers scrolled through the pages of nothing more then fluff for the tidbit of information, which was being difficult in finding. She huffed and her body started moving again, skinny legs strolling forward. She walked about ten paces before her shoulder and arm smacked hard into the on coming man. Her phone skittered out of her hand and danced across the cement before her ass landed in a heap blinking rapidly.

Dark eyes lifted and focused on him even as she was reaching for her phone. Apparently two jack asses who text and walk are a danger to only themselves. "Shit, didn't see you guy." Hands pushed herself up before she was able to dust her ass off and walk after her phone. She snatched it up breathing a sigh of relief that the screen hadn't cracked and that the page hadn't been messed up.

"Hey, you know a good place to eat around here?" She frowned because she still had no clue if there was a suitable eatery in the vicinity. Was she shocking to him? Leather boots that laced up to her knees, fishnet hose that ended just a fraction of an inch below the leather skirt, leather jacket with a simple shirt underneath and finished off with a leather spiked collar around her neck. The looks she got normally said she was dressing weird.

[Anders Williamson]

Anders cursed quietly under his breath as he collided with the woman, sending her and her phone flying, his own stupid fault for not watching where he was going. Slipping his own – safe, not dropped - cell back into his pocket, the text only half completed and not sent yet, he went to reach for her phone to pick it up for her, but she’d already beaten him to it, stood up and brushed herself off.

“I’m so sorry,” he apologised, a concerned frown on his face as he stood back and watched her for a reaction. “Are you alright?” She looked ok, sure, but there was no harm in asking, she’d hit the ground hard as he’d walked into her. “And your phone, it isn’t broken is it?” Oh god he hoped not, he’d feel totally responsible if he’d gone and smashed up her phone, and that really wasn’t a bill he wanted to deal with at the moment.

As he stood with her, he noticed her clothing was… Different. Not his cup of tea, sure, but he didn’t like to judge people. Himself, he was wearing dressy jeans, a nice shirt, and a jacket over that. From the outside he could seem to others that he was snobby or maybe well off, and he certainly wasn’t either of those.

“Yeah sure, just back this way,” he said with a nod as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder behind him. “A place called Oddfellows,” he smiled at the name. “It has nice food. Otherwise there’s Subway ‘round the corner if that’s more your taste?” He turned around so he was facing the same way as her, towards the eateries. “I can show you there if you like?”

[Nori Miyazaki]

"I'm fine, no harm-no foul." She gave a shrug to him and his concern. She wasn't used to people asking anything more then once. She grew up in a military house hold and always knew her and her brother would end up military as well. She understood the question the first time and would have answered the same the second time. Either way she flashed a half smile and lifted her phone out of her pocket to show him. "See, it's fine. Besides, wouldn't be your fault anyway I wasn't looking where I was going. I usually make fun of people that do that kind of shit." She gave a faint chuckle at her own comment.

"I haven't eatten anything all day and my stomach if complaning." She glanced at where he pointed trying to pinpoint them on the map in her head. She gave a nod. "Definetally not subway, they use tri-meat. Nasty shit. If I wanted chicken, pork and beef mixed up I'd go genetically create a flying pig with horns." She gave a snort and shook her head.

"Thanks, I'd appreciate you showing me." She flashed a smile but behind that smile was a eager little monster. This just gave her time to pick someone's brain face to face. Obviously she had to make the same impression on these people that she did in Hawaii, that she was a little weird but such a nice girl. That she wasn't capable of any kind of wrong doings.

[Anders Williamson]

"Oh good, I'm glad," he smiled relieved, giving a small laugh at her next comment. "Yeah, it was pretty stupid of the pair of us, wasn't it." He really was glad she hadn't been hurt, or her phone damaged, he didn't usually walk around with his head down like that not concentrating.

He started walking along with her as she spoke of declining Subway as an option and her views of tri-meat. He'd never heard of it described that way and wasn't quite sure how to take it, but he kept a smile on his face all the same to be polite. Even with the way she'd described it he doubted it would put him off the takeaways.

"I'm Anders by the way," he started, trying to strike up conversation as they walked to the restaurant. "What do you do around here?"

[Nori Miyazaki]

Hands had disappeared into the pockets of her leather jacket as she let him lead them in the direction. Be nice, be socialable, remember to smile and use manners. No staring, no smoking, no cussing. It was a mantra she had to repeat to herself sometimes to seem normal. She glanced up at him and flashed a smirk at his comment about them both. "As bad as that chick that fell in the fountain in that mall while texting." She shook her head because she'd watched the video, how could you not and laugh.

"Nice to meetcha Anders, names Norika but everyone calls me Nori." She lifted one pocket covered hand and flashed it in a wave to him before giving a shrug at his question. "You mean other then being completely starving and lost? Trying to memorize the grid pattern of the streets and where things are. I just moved here from Hawaii, so I'm trying to adjust." She gave another little shrug as it to show it wasn't a big deal. "I actually moved because of my job. They wanted me to come here so I did, and since the bonus was worth it I couldn't refuse." She paused at the edge of a street watching the street light a glance tossed back up to blondie. "What about you?"

[Anders Williamson]

Laughter as she spoke of the video that he didn't know was a video, he hadn't seen it or even heard of it, but it sounded funny anyway and he could laugh at that. She seemed like a nice girl, more alternative than him but also more up in the know than him and electronically minded. About the best his phone did was send a text or make a phone-call, but he didn't really need much more else than that. "Nice to meet you too, Nori," he too stopped at the lights, then crossing when it prompted them to. "I'm from here, grew up here. It's a good city, so I hope you like it," he'd only just met this woman and didn't see any point in telling her what kind of creatures they shared the city with, not that he was an expert, far from it. "I don't work though. That's what I was up to this afternoon actually, trying to find a job," he gave a small shrug of empty-handedness, before asking, interested. "What's your job?" Something that offers a bonus for moving city? That sounds like a nice job.

[Nori Miyazaki]

"I'm a comptuer programmer for a private company. Basically I make sure that no one hacks into our accounts and gets any information. I deal with really sesnative information, or rather my company does so I get to make sure it's safe. It's kind of a boring job but at least I get to work by myself. I only have to talk to most of them through email. And believe me, even that way is annoying." She shook her head because 95% of the Humans First workers signed emails with long proverbs or passages from the bible. She even rolled her eyes thinking about it before hurrying to keep up with him as he crossed the street.

"The job market sucks right now. But it might be that you aren't looking in the right places. Have you tried looking online? Go through a Temp agency? They can usually find something for anyone." After a moment of silence from her she finally just up and said what she was thinking. "What exactly are you good at? I know they aren't really hiring at my place but maybe if I hear of something or see something online I can let you know." She was being as helpful as she knew how to be. Within the pocket of her jacket she was fumbling with a ring on her thumb. After a moment she pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and pressed a few buttons to turn the screen on before she was logging into a search engine. He technically wasn't a vampire that didn't mean he didn't have connections to them and that made her not trust him right off the bat.

"How you feel about those fang faces and shifters?"

[Anders Williamson]

He slowed down a bit as they crossed the street thinking he was maybe walking a bit quick for her pace. Or she just wasn't watching the light. He grinned at Nori's next comment that the people she worked with were annoying. It sounded like an interesting job though, and he voiced as much, "It sounds ok, they must be good to you to relocate you with a bonus." As she spoke through her suggestions, which was really nice and helpful of her, he nodded along slowly. Online was out as far as home, but he guessed he could try the library or somewhere like that, that was one thing he hadn't tried yet. Or a temp agency. When Nori suggested she could keep an eye out, he had to think for a moment. "That would be great, thank you. Um.. I'm not sure really what skills I've got.. I finished high school. Maybe I could wash dishes? Something simple." He laughed. With her next comment, the laughter disappeared off his face, though not in an unkind way. Ironic, he thought, as he'd just been thinking of brushing over that part of his introduction. Although he could have guessed, anyone that knew anything knew they resided here well and truely. And usually people were on one side of the fence or the other. By the sound of the terms Nori had used, she was firmly on the anti-side. "I haven't ever run into them before," he started with a slight shake of his head, watching her as he spoke. "But I dunno, I guess they're ok? As long as they leave me and mine alone, I don't mind them being here so much." "It doesn't sound like you're a fan, though?" He asked, though wasn't sure what to expect her answer to be. Some people that were strongly one way or the other usually had stories to go with why they leaned that way.

[Nori Miyazaki]

"Washing dishes, I'm sure you have other skills you just don't realize yet. You like to be outdoors? Or maybe something more with computers? Sports?" She cocked her head at him wondering if she was ever that naive about jobs. She knew the answer to that and it was a bit fat no. She'd always known what she wanted to do when she grew up. The Military. She frowned for a moment, before her hand shifted to the phone again and she scrolled through some internet searches for jobs in the local area before offering the phone to him. The screen was small but big enough for him to see once she enlarged the words a little bit. "Just use your finger to move the page up and down." Showing him as she explained how to manuever the touch screen on her smart phone.

She let him browse over that while she decided to choose her words carefully as far as her feelings toward vampires and lycanthropes. "I don't really have much beef with the shifters. I mean most of them got the shit end of the stick really, either by being attacked and having the luck to survive or getting a bad batch of syrium. Either way, they don't mess with me and i won't mess with them. Fang faces however... yeah that's another story for another time." She left it at that and continued to walk beside him in silence.

[Anders Williamson]

"Maybe," he half-agreed with a shrug, not being entirely very helpful. "I'm not very good with computers. I don't play any sports. I guess I like the outdoors.." he trailed off, listing off one by one the suggestions Nori had offered to him. "I like kids?" He suggested, almost to himself, as he screwed up his face trying to think of ideas. It was true though, with his younger siblings always around he enjoyed looking after them, perhaps not the norm for boys his age, but that's how he was. "But I dunno, I don't think you can make a living off being a babysitter." Receiving the smart phone from her he did as she'd instructed, but sent the page it was on zooming down to the bottom as he flicked it too much, not used to the sensitivity of the touch screen. He then got the hang of it though, and scrolled back up from the bottom slowly, looking at the jobs she had brought up for him, slightly in danger of causing a repeat performance as he concentrated on the phone in his hand. "You have a bit of history with them then," he said, the phrase more of a guess than a statement, keeping his eyes mostly on the phone in front of him, but still paying attention to her and what she was saying. Or not saying. "I haven't really come across them before, shifters or.. Vampires." He said simply, resisting the urge to call them fang faces as she had.

[Nori Miyazaki]

"So your good with kids, you can probably find a good day care that could use some help. Or better yet some hospitals need guys like you for ordelies. You could check out local hospitals and see if they have any opennings in the children wards." She gave a shrug before having to reach out and grab his arm to manuever him around a woman walking a dog. She couldn't help but laugh because he was trying to pay attention to the phone and her and still walk straight. She patted his arm after releasing him.

"Or even better, look for some summer camps. They should be starting up soon. You could be a camp couseler." She technically couldn't stand kids, they made too much noise and usually where leaking fluid from some part of the body. Gross. She shivered a little thinking about how little she liked children.

[Anders Williamson]

Anders turned slightly and raised his free hand at the stranger in apology as Nori grabbed him out of the way of walking into her and her dog, before he turned back around to carry on walking. He shot a grin towards Nori, enjoying the sound of her laughter. He wasn't sure, he'd only just met her, but he wondered if that sound was somewhat rare from her. Nodding as she spoke, he returned his eyes back to the footpath to pay attention to where he was walking, offering the phone back to her as he did so with a thanks. Really, he'd spent more time listening to her and not tripping over strangers - not altogether successfully - than he'd read about jobs, but nothing had jumped out at him. Nothing like the suggestions she had been making. Why couldn't he think of things like that? They were so obvious to him now as she spoke them. "The hospital," he nodded. "What a good idea. I could work with kids there, and it's not far from home, it'd be perfect." He grinned again with renewed enthusiasm as he came to a halt on the sidewalk. Looking up at the sign above them, he - stating the obvious - pointed to the name of the restaurant. "Here it is."

[Nori Miyazaki]

Slender fingers took back her phone closed down the search browser and stowed it back in the pocket of her jacket before she was giving him a shrug. "I'm paid to think outside of the box. I was in military intelligence, sometimes thinking outside of the box is the right conclusion. Again sometimes its completely wrong but in this case you just have to think about your best attributes. I mean, I'm asian .. so of course I'm good with computers." She smirked making a racially charged joke at herself.

"Well at least now you have some leads and you can try those places." She flashed a smile before turning back to the front of the building and taking it in. Nothing overly fancy or over the top which was good considering her outfit wasn't made to be worn in a "dress code" type of environment. She pulled a pen out of the same pocket that the cellphone had disappeared in and pushed down the backside releaving the ball point. She didn't ask for his hand but instead took it of her own accord and wrote her name in cursive before adding her cell number below it.

"There." She nodded as she released his hand and started toward the front door of the place. She assumed he would join her but that was completely up to him if he followed her inside or not.