Katou (katoustheshit) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-02-23 21:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, ozma, yue katou |
Who: Ozma and Katou
What: Ozma runs across a homeless girl and offers to buy her lunch
When: February 3rd
Where: The street/a restaurant
Rating/Warning: Low/none?
Status: Complete
She couldn’t remember when she’d last seen the sunlight, and she blinked sharply as the light pierced her eyes. She wasn’t sure how long she’d laid there, unconscious in the dark, but it had taken her several days to find her way out of the rubble strewn pit that she’d awoken in. Days of what might have been hunger pangs - she probably should have been hungry - and nights of nightmares. The same nightmare - a girl who had the same face that she had, who cried and whimpered when she’d seen her, and who’d died shortly after.
When she’d made it to the outside, there hadn’t been a sun, just a burning star in the sky, illuminating everything in an eerie, sickly light. It had made her feel sick. Not in any physical way, but in a nauseous heaviness in the pit of her stomach. But then the star had disappeared, and the sun returned, and feathers rained from the sky like snow, and that sickening weight had lessened.
It had taken her a while to make it back to a city. Her feet were sore, her brown hair unkempt, and her leather clothes were torn and shredded. She’d managed to find a jacket which covered the frayed wires and cables that came out of the shoulder where her left arm should have been. But at least she was among people again.
She couldn’t remember ever being homeless - she couldn’t remember much of anything before waking up in that pit, if she was completely honest - but she didn’t spend any time thinking before she grabbed an old coffee cup from a trash can. She found a building to sit in front of, sitting directly on the sidewalk, grateful to take the weight off her feet, and placed the cup in front of her. Maybe she’d be able to get enough for a pack of cigarettes.
In the meantime… “Hey, bum a smoke?” she asked anyone who glanced her way.
***
Now that she’d seen the building the photographer had texted her the address of, telling her the location of the shoot had changed at the last minute, Ozma was glad that she’d listened to her instincts and backed out of it. Tentatively at first but then a more firm one after she’d checked it out. A run down apartment building with no names on the call buttons? It wasn’t worth a paycheck. Besides the photographer Harry had put her in contact with was interested in using her again in one of his group shoots.
She leaned against the wall of a building to rest her feet, reminding herself to pick up a pair of flats to switch into when she was walking long distances in the city. She heard a voice beside her and turned her head to see who was speaking and her heart twisted painfully at the condition of the young woman beside her. She’d clearly been through some things and Ozma wanted to help her. “Hey. When was the last time you had a hot meal?”
***
The girl blinked, and then frowned. “I don’t remember,” she said.
***
Ozma frowned at that response and then reached out a hand to help her up if the young woman wanted. “I can’t do anything about the cigarettes but would you join me for lunch?” She asked. “I could use the company.”
***
She frowned. More than anything else, she wanted a cigarette, but if she thought about it, food should probably be up there too. “I ain’t exactly dressed for eating out,” she said, but she unsteadily rose to her feet, still off balance from her missing arm.
***
“I’m dressed enough for both of us,” Ozma said trying to keep things light as she reached out to help steady the young woman as she got to her feet. “And if they make a huge stink at the diner I’m addicted to burgers from near here I’ve got an extra coat.” She looked her over curiously. “It looks like it’ll fit you and we can belt it so it looks like a dress.”
***
She frowned, her head tilting to the side as she contemplated the other girl’s offer. Instinctively, she didn’t trust her, but objectively she knew there was no real reason for that. She couldn’t see any downside to getting a free lunch. Maybe she’d even be able to get a free beer out of the deal.
“Alright, you’re on,” she said.
***
Ozma smiled at her new companion. “I'm Ozma.” She said introducing herself as she led the way to the diner.
***
“Cool,” the girl said, realizing suddenly that, out of everything else she had forgotten, her name one of them. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she realized she couldn’t remember much of anything. That probably wasn’t a good sign. Still, other than a slight downward turn of her lips, she didn’t let her worry cross over her face. Why on earth would she let this complete stranger know that something was wrong?
***
Ozma liked to think of herself as someone who could read people pretty well and everything in her was telling her there was a lot more going on with this young woman than it seemed to be on the surface. But that was something to try to figure out later. Right now - she was going to focus on getting food into both of them.
She smiled when she saw her favorite waiter behind the counter and guided the two of them to a booth in the back where they wouldn’t be noticed by too many people. “Like I said - they have the best burgers here. The drinks menu is a little on the slim side but they normally have a couple different local beers available as options and I want to say Budweiser but don’t hold me to that,” she said, turning her attention to the young man who brought their menus over, grateful that all he said to her companion was a greeting. If he thought it was odd he didn’t give anything away on that front.
***
The girl looked the menu, barely paying the server any attention. “A slim drink menu is better than none at all,” she said cheerily to her companion. It didn’t take her long to choose a drink, though she mulled over her food options for a little longer. After a moment, she put down the menu. “I’ll just get whatever you’re getting,” she said after a moment. “You’ll know better than I do what’s good or not.”
***
Ozma smiled as she waved their waiter over and ordered cheeseburgers and fries for both of them. “Unless you want onion rings?” She asked, arching a brow slightly.
***
“Fries are fine,” the girl said. Once the waiter went to punch in their orders, he turned back to Ozma. “So, what exactly are you getting out of this? You expecting me to do something for you for you after we finish eating?”
***
Ozma wasn't all that surprised by the question. It's what she would have asked in her position. “I'm not expecting you to do anything. I just thought some company for lunch might be nice. And I like meeting new people.”
***
The girl frowned thoughtfully at that, and peered at Ozma as if she could see an ulterior written on her face, but if there was one, she couldn’t see it. “Well,” she said, the waiter returning with their drinks. “Thanks, I guess. Glad I won the bum lottery. Booze and food,” she grinned, holding up glass of beer for a cheers.
***
It was a bit of an odd thing and Ozma knew it - the fact that as much as possible she kept her life free of ulterior motives when dealing with other people. She liked to be able to say that what you saw was what you got with her. And she felt bad on the occasions when that wasn’t true for whatever reason.
She grinned back, raising her glass in return and sipping at it. Not bad. She’d tasted others she liked better here but it wasn’t bad. “Can’t really go wrong with those right?”
***
“Tickets to a girl’s heart,” the girl agreed, winking at Ozma. She knocked back a healthy gulp, and smacked her lips together. She didn't know when the last time she'd had a beer was, but it was probably too long ago.
For now, she’d take Ozma at her word. If she tried something after the girl was done her meal, well, she’d be pretty disappointed. As far as she was concerned, a free meal was a free meal and she wasn’t going to pay retroactively for it. But in the meantime, it didn't hurt to be friendly. “So, what’re you doing around here anyway?” She asked.
***
Ozma took another sip of her beer. “I was supposed to be working but I didn’t like the feel of the place when I went by so I texted them that I wouldn’t be able to make the shoot after all.” She said with a little smirk.
***
The girl snorted. “That’s always a good plan. If I don’t feel like working, I just don’t show up.” At least, she assumed that was true. It wasn’t like she could ever actually remember working. It felt true, at least. “The place pretty sketchy then?”
***
“It gave me a weird vibe when I went past. Not a lot of people around, the building just looked...kind of decrepit and I didn’t see any other cars in the parking lot. I wasn’t sold on the shoot in the first place but that made up my mind.” The photographer that Harry had put her in touch with wanted to use her again so it wasn’t like she didn’t have options and jobs lined up even without this one.
***
“Yeah, that sounds like bad news,” the girl said. “Better to pass it up and not get paid then to like, get murdered or something.”
She glanced up when the waiter returned, this time with a couple of burgers. It was placed in front of her, and she looked at it, for a moment a little dismayed. She clearly hadn’t thought this through very well, especially with how big and thick the burger itself was. Still, how hard could eating with one hand be? She’d done it before, presumably. A little clumsily - it was hard to get a good grip on something that was almost wider than her grip - she picked up the burger and took a bite, for now ignoring the sauce that dripped into her hand.
***
“I passed the word onto the Agency that I wasn’t able to take it so we’ll see what happens.” It probably wasn’t going to fly very well with some of the people there but her life was more important.
That was one of the things Ozma liked about this place - the food wasn’t really focused on being neat - and she hadn’t even thought about the fact that her companion might have a little difficulty picking it up. She moved her plate over a little when she saw him coming back with the onion rings and set them on the table between them. “Do you need anything?”
***
The girl looked up from her burger when he asked if she needed anything. A burger and a beer were more than she could have expected for today, but if there was more being offered, she’d be an idiot not to take advantage of it. “Cigarettes if you got ‘em,” she said sweetly, not really expecting her request to be answered but hoping nevertheless. Who knows, maybe one of the staff smoked and was feeling generous.
***
Ozma looked up, watching the waiter obviously think before answering the question. “You can’t smoke in here but I can probably get you a couple for after you leave from the cook.” She almost choked on the onion ring she was eating at the matter of fact way he offered it, almost as if he was reading off the specials.
***
“Thanks, cutie,” the girl said, winking slyly at him. After he left, she grabbed one of the onion rings that was placed between them. “Looks like today’s really my day, eh?”
***
“Looks that way. I think we could all use a few more lucky days around here.” Ozma said, taking a swallow of her beer to try to clear her throat.
***
“I’d say,” the girl said. She hadn’t missed the complete lack of sun, moon, and stars the other day, though at least everything seemed to back to normal now. “But hey, maybe it’s turning around.”
***
Ozma raised her glass in a half toast before taking another drink. “To things turning around.”