WHO: Ava St. Claire and Nick Langer WHAT: Ava helps Nick job hunt and then they stop for food. WHEN: Friday, June 4, 2029, early afternoon. WHERE: Around District 0 and a local diner. RATING: PG
NICK: To say Nick's job search was not going well would be a vast understatement. First, he'd never worked, much less looked for a job, before. Second, he still didn't really want to work, but now that he had a large fine to pay, he wasn't being given much of a choice anymore. So, he did what any mature adult would do in that situation and spent much of the past week sulking and doing a half-assed job looking for employment.
He couldn't recall whose idea it had been, but somehow it had been agreed upon that Ava would help Nick. So, the two wandered around District 0 under the guise of job searching. It was a nice afternoon, for New York, so Nick was in a better mood than he'd been in for the past week or so.
Nick had just collected an application from a small electronics store, which was a step further than he'd gotten with a few other places. A lot of places had taken a quick look at him, noted his shabby appearance and then given him lame excuses like they had just run out of applications or he was too late -- they'd just hired someone. It had now happened a few too many times for Nick to think it was coincidence or bad luck. He suddenly stopped and turned to Ava.
"This is hopeless," he said, sounding defeated as defeated as his proclamation. "You want to get something to eat?"
AVA: Back when she had first relocated to New York City, Ava had been in the same boat as Nick. Sure, she had previous jobs she could list, but none of the movies and television shows had left her with no real life skills. She really only had a skill for acting and right now, there really wasn't much demand for that. Or at least demand for her. It had taken her a good while until she had stumbled upon the job at the vintage store, which fit her lack of skills just fine.
Hence why she wanted to help Nick with his job search! Well, that and it was an excuse to walk around District 0 with a friend on a nice day. Ava tried to keep things up beat, but as the time passed by, she was just as frustrated with Nick concerning the entire job search thing. Seriously. How many places could have someone just hired? That just didn't make sense, even to Ava.
"Ugh. Seriously," she agreed as she pulled her sunglasses out of her purse and slipped them onto her face. "I mean, it's like these people don't want workers or something. Bah. Yeah. Food sounds good. what kind?"
NICK: "I guess they can afford to be picky," Nick said, only managing to sound a little less frustrated. "A lot of people seem to be looking for jobs right now. Even people who already have jobs… which sucks." He paused and looked around, trying to figure out where they were and what was close by, food-wise.
"Uh, what about that diner? I think it's around here," he asked. New York was far too huge to get a handle on in the few months he'd been there, but he had definitely spent a lot of time in District 0, so he'd gotten to know it fairly well. Burgers were something of a comfort food to him, even the fake burgers that seemed to be everywhere now and that was just what he was feeling like he needed then. Plus somewhere to sit down, where he could fill out the few applications he had managed to acquire, would be good, he figured.
AVA: "People who already have jobs shouldn't be that greedy." Her tone of voice indicated that she was at least half serious, but hopefully it wasn't anymore than that. Just because she could get by with only one job (a barely full time one at that) didn't mean everyone else had that luxury. At least in this case, she knew to keep her mouth shut and be happy that things were going all right with her.
Despite the dismal afternoon, Ava did her best to smile at the prospect of some old-fashioned American diner food. "That sounds great to me!" Then without asking, she reached out and hooked her arm through Nick's, all the while continuing to talk. "Remember when real burgers were cheap? I swear when I was little you could get them at McDonald's for, like, a dollar. They were probably the crappiest beef, but they tastes so good when I was five, I swear." Much better than the soy stuff that was so prevalent these days.
NICK: "Yeah, I remember that. I'd rather have the crappy beef than soy, I think, but I don't even know how much more they'd cost now. Probably like, twenty times that, at least… Oh, god, remember Happy Meals?" Nick asked. "Those dumb little toys probably helped them taste better, too, somehow." He was starting to ramble, a little bit, out of distraction. Not only was he looking out for a sign of the diner, but it had also been a very long time since he'd had a girl on his arm. It certainly did help make up for the dismal job search, he thought.
"I think that's it right up there," he said, somewhat relieved that he had, indeed, been right.
AVA: "Oh my God, Happy Meals! Do you remember how sometimes they would have boy or the girl ones?" she asked with obvious excitement in her voice over this little bit of reminiscing. "The girl's ones always had some stupid cheap Barbie, but the boys ones always had something cool like a car or a mini Transformer or something. My Mom always made me get the girl's one, but I wanted the cool boy toy." Just some minor woe in the childhood of Ava St. Claire.
"Awesome!" And with that, she started dragging Nick a little faster thanks to her skinny arm hooked around his. As soon as they got to the diner, she dropped his arm so she could throw open the door and step inside the restaurant. "Oooh. This place is kinda kitchy. I like it."
NICK: Nick couldn't help chuckling a little at Ava's comment about boy toys. "Well, you might be right about them being cooler. I mean, I can't say I ever really wanted the girl ones," he said as they waited a few seconds a hostess to seat them.
Nick also liked the diner, but not so much for it's throwback vibe, but more for the Denny's-like prices (and hours). Understandably, that made it a popular place among Nick and Ava's demographic, but today, the two must have gotten there at on off time because it wasn't too crowded. A hostess led them to a booth (with red vinyl seats, natch).
"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Nick agreed once he'd sat down. "Food's pretty good and pretty cheap, too," he added, as he skimmed the menu.
AVA: You didn't want the mini Barbie, Nick. It never did anything remotely fun, the clothing was non-removable, and you couldn't even bend the extremities. Clearly, it was the lesser of the Happy Meal toys and it was no wonder Ava wanted the boys ones. At least they had some moving parts.
As for the diner, this was completely the type of place Ava likes to eat, mainly because you got a lot of food for a smaller price. For her, there was nothing worse that paying big bucks for a small plate of food. The food in places like this may have no been the best, but at least you had the proper food to money ration and then some. Plus, it had cute matching red counter stools and one of those pie display cases. It had been forever since she had seen either of those!
"Oh God. These omelets are really cheap here! I wonder if they use real cheese..."
NICK: "I don't know, man," Nick replied. "Probably not real cheese, but I bet it's not too bad… I've only ever had the burgers here and they're ok. I think I'm gonna try the one with bacon today. It's probably not real bacon either, but whatever."
As if right on cue, his stomach growled loudly. He would have completely agreed with Ava -- it wasn't so much about the taste as the amount of the food and the price and this place definitely was the right place for that sort of thing. Fortunately, it wasn't long until a waitress showed up and cheerily asked if she could take their order. Nick looked at Ava, letting her go first.
AVA: "Ugh. Soy cheese just doesn't melt as good as real cheese." Continuing to look at the menu, she pouted a bit at the thought of yet another omelet with fake cheese and fake ham. At least the peppers and mushrooms wouldn't be fake? Then again, she supposed the lack of real food was the least of her problems thanks to the bomb.
Not wanting to keep the waitress waiting, Ava blurted out she wanted one of the breakfast sandwiches that reminded her of the Moon Over My Hammy that Denny's served years ago. She then patiently waited for Nick to make his order and once the waitress was gone, she started back on her friend's job situation. "So, did you go to college or anything before things happened? I mean, maybe you could say you did and what classes." It might work?
NICK: Nick didn't have time to feel bad about bumming Ava out about the cheese. He ordered his fake-cheddar, fake-bacon, fake-burger, plus a water. At least that would be real. Then he turned back to Ava.
"Well…," he began. "Sort of. I was going to community college, but it was my freshman year when the bomb dropped. And I never went back. School wasn't really my thing, ever. So I don't know how much that actually counts, you know?" he asked.
AVA: Watch it, Nick. Within a few years, they could start selling... fake water? Guess they should count their blessings there was at least one thing that wouldn't have a substitute any time soon.
"Oh. Umm." So much for that idea. "I guess they technically wouldn't know? Or something. I didn't really like school that much either." Ava got on-site tutors instead!
NICK: "Hmm," Nick paused, thinking for a second. "Yeah I guess it couldn't hurt." He shuffled through some of the applications to see what else he could fudge on, if possible. "Some of these ask about high school. I could say I got better grades, too," he said with a wry smile. It was oddly comforting knowing that Ava wasn't much for school, too because it somehow seemed like everyone else he knew was a student.
After a bit of rooting around in his backpack, Nick pulled out a pen and started scrawling on one of the papers. "At least I sort of have an address now," he mused aloud as he wrote it down.
AVA: She gave him a bright smile back. "Yeah! You could do that. I mean it's not like they can check or anything." With the last sentence, she realized what she was saying and her voiced lowered before trailing off with no definite end to her sentence. Ava wasn't exactly sure of Nick's situation with the bomb and thought maybe the comment had been in bad taste.
Thankfully, his second sentence gave her the perfect reason to move right on for her perceived faux pas. "Yes! That's a good thing. Are you allowed to decorate it or anything?"
NICK: That was a good question… Nick had no idea what happened to academic records or anything like that. Even if they were around somewhere, it was probably hard enough to check that it wouldn't be worth the hassle for most people. "That's true. They probably couldn't check. I mean, there's no one there anymore." He shrugged before switching gears back to his new living arrangements.
"Uhh… I don't really think so. It's kind of… shared," he tried to explain without mentioning that it was actually in a boxing gym. It just seemed a little weird. Luckily for him, the waitress stopped by with their water.
AVA: They were probably somewhere in the dark depths of the Internets, but as far as Ava was concerned, no one would go looking for them. Or perhaps the serves were destroyed, which was something she really wouldn't know. Either way, she didn't see the problem in perhaps stretching the truth just a little bit where schooling was concerned. If it gave Nick an edge, it was all good.
A boxing gym was better than no place at all. Once the water was there, Ava plopped her straw in it, took a long break, and then went back to the topic of Nick's new place. "You could ask you roommate! Most places are cool as long as you don't break down walls and stuff."
NICK: Nick also, especially at this point in the job hunt, had very few qualms with stretching the truth a little. Perhaps it was a little dramatic of him, but he felt the situation was becoming dire and knowing himself, if he didn't get anywhere soon, he would probably just give up on it.
"It's kind of… well, I don't have a roommate. It's just some space with a cot in the gym I box at. I don't really know what I'd decorate it with," he explained, though once he'd said it, he immediately thought that maybe he could put some surfing posters. Then again, it might make him miss it too much. But Nick was really just happy to not need to worry about someone stealing his stuff while he was sleeping or about the weather. He was still getting used to it, though.
AVA: Everyone else was probably doing it. How else were people getting jobs? Hell, even Ava had lied and said she spent a lot of time with the wardrobe department or something like that when she was applying for clothing jobs. It was a fool-proof plan.
"Oh. Hmm." Living at a gym didn't seem like a great place to live, though it was certainly better than most places. It didn't seem like it would smell too great. Ew. But it was still better than he had before all this! "Is it, like, a little room? You could get a nice lamp or maybe a TV stand or something? Oh! I can check the vintage furniture store by my work!" If Ava had her way, Nick's little space would probably end up with some bright colors or something.
NICK: It was true, the gym did not smell all that great, but Nick found that he'd gotten used to it, so it wasn't a huge deal. Of course, he would probably still avoid hanging out with friends there.
"Yeah, it's just a little space. But that's all I need. Maybe I could put some posters up," he mused aloud. "And yeah, maybe a lamp would be good, too. I don't have a tv or anything, though." Nor the funds to buy vintage furniture, he thought. If he was going to be paying for anything, it would have to be that stupid fine first. Just thinking about it, he couldn't help scowling a little.
AVA: Yeah... No offense, Nick. She enjoyed your company and all that good stuff, but sitting around in Gym Smell wasn't exactly her idea of a fun time. No amount of her vintage Vera Wang perfume would be able to cover up that smell. Sorry.
"Posters are a good start!" Of course, Ava was thinking of a van Gogh reprint or something like that. Those sunflowers sure were a nice and cheery pictures! "I can find you a lamp. And a table for the lamp," she continued after taking another sip of her water. Apparently, she was planning Nick's place more than him.
NICK: "I could tear surfing pictures out of some magazines I have," he said. Nick couldn't help laughing a little at Ava's enthusiasm. It made it harder for him to not care so much about it. "Yeah, sure, if you want. It's just not a huge deal or anything. I'll just stay there until I find someplace better," he said. Of course, finding something better could take months, at least.
Just as he was beginning to wonder where their food was (honestly how long did it take to cook fake food?), he spied their waitress carrying a tray of food and heading in their direction. After setting their respective plates down and making sure they didn't need anything else, the waitress scurried back off and Nick dove into his burger without hesitation. It was the first thing he'd had to eat all day and he was pretty starving.
AVA: "Yes! That's a good start." She didn't exactly get putting up surfing pictures, though it certainly was better than a blank wall. That was just downright boring and no friend of hers was going to have a boring living space, no matter how tiny. "Well when you do, you'll already have a lamp and an end table to go with you." Perhaps with a small book self as well. As for Ava, the plate had barely been in front of her when she made a similar dive for her plate of food since she obviously felt comfortable enough in front of Nick not to worry about what and how she was eating.