Splatter Job

[Espi]

((Nate Chauncey continued from Sawyer,You're Going out a Youngster))

The sun was warm and bright, which was nice if you liked tanning. Nate was really not a tanning kind of person, since she burned easily and didn't spend much time outdoors. Her oversized hoodie was also coordinating with the sunlight to uncomfortably warm her.

To make things worse, in the process of getting to the grocery store, Nate had become somewhat distracted and forgotten what she'd meant to buy, so she'd had to go back and get the list which she'd accidentally left home. So now she was a little hot and sweaty, which was an unpleasant state for her.

Wiping her brow, Nate stood idly at the crosswalk, staring at the red hand that signified 'don't cross' on the other side of the street. At some point, it had been decided that an outward-facing palm meant stop. She wasn't sure when. Probably some kind of instinct.

Nate looked around at the people nearby. An important-looking man in a suit, a slender guy with earbuds much like the ones she was wearing except blue instead of black, and a middle-aged woman with a lot of makeup. She figured they were probably neighbors, but Nate didn't know most of her neighbors well enough to identify them. Her part of Denton was small, but introducing herself to strangers was asking a lot of her.

She wondered what kind of music the young man was listening to. Nate was enjoying some classic rock right now. She couldn't name the band, but it was one she liked, the kind of band you didn't skip on shuffle.

She looked back at the road and started moving forward. She still had the note with a list of products she needed, and her wallet was safely tucked into her back pocket. She'd brought cash, but she had her debit card in case that wasHOOOOONK

And then Nate was hit by a truck and died.

...

Well, not really. The delivery truck honked its horn in alarm, to be sure, but stopped before crushing her under its enormous mass. Nate looked up at the driver, whose eyes were bulging in shock.

Nate gave a small wave, shrinking back into herself. She had been so lost in her own head that she'd not noticed that the light hadn't changed and the signal still didn't say she could cross.

Whoops.

She hurried briskly across the street to the other side, stopping once she reached the safety of the sidewalk. The grocer's was a few blocks away, but suddenly that seemed an awfully far walk.

Jeez. This had happened frequently before, and every time she decided to be more careful, forgot about it, and nearly got run over. Rinse, repeat. She'd probably not remember after this, too, so why bother trying?

Nate continued along the street, already back to thinking about her financial status and whether she had enough to buy some watercolor paints, since she was running low. Did they sell paint there? She might have to go somewhere else. Darn, more walking. It was still quite hot out, and Nate was even sweatier than before.

[Sh4dE]

((Lance Adams, Start))

Sanctuary. A classic. Lance held his manga in his hand while he walked home. He looked forward reading this volume of Sanctuary at home. There was no better place to read than home. It was quiet there, not so loud like Kensington Heights. It was also a pretty good day to finish this book. All his homework was done, he had no chores to do, and Kasumi also currently was busy. He had all day to read alone.

While Nate walked into one direction, Lance Adams walked into the opposite direction of her. He mostly ignored the people surronding him. He barely knew the strangers around him, there were too many faces, but as he walked the street, he recognised a face. She was in his class, too.

Lance knew the names of almost everyone in his class. Everyone, really. But still, that thin, black-haired, sweaty girl's name was not one Lance could recognise. He couldn't recall having talked to her, hell, he couldn't recall anyone having talked to her. She was this nobody. He never saw her around other people, always by herself and in class she was not the talkative kind either.

So as Nate and him came nearer while walking towards each other, Lance decided to slow down, start eye contact with Nate and talk to her while smiling.

"Hey, how are you?"

As he came nearer he realised that she wore earbuds and that she probably listens to music. Oh, well. If she doesn't hear him and ignores him, they both can move on.

[Espi]

Nate wiped her brow and made a face at the salty droplets on her hand. She really needed to dress better for warm weather, it was unbecoming of her to get all gross and get perspiration everywhere.

Luckily the store was only a couple blocks away. She slipped her hand into her pocket, fumbling her phone out to skip the song as a weird country piece came on. Why did she even buy that?

Oh, someone was talking to her. Nate paused the music. "'Scuse me? Didn't catch that." She didn't know the guy well, though he was recognizable from school, she was pretty sure. Still kind of random for him to walk up to her, but hey, some people were friendly. She wondered if she was approachable-looking. Didn't seem likely.

Wait, where'd the slip of paper go? Nate reached into her pockets again, and sighed. Shoot, the grocery list was missing. She gave a sigh, and looked down at her phone. She'd need to go back home and get another copy. Maybe she could take off her jacket, cool off a little, get a drink-Wait, there it was.

The slip of scrap paper was in her hand, specifically held between her palm and her phone. At least she hadn't lost the dumb thing.

Oh, right. Guy was still here. "Uh...hi?"

[Sh4dE]

The girl was suddenly revealing a piece of paper under her phone as if the paper would have the answer of his 'how are you' question. But apparently she did not hear him. So he repeated himself.

"I was just asking how you are. I think we're in the same class, we haven't talked with each other much, though."

She looked insecure and weirded out by the small talk. It was as if she never saw him and as if he was a stranger approaching her on the street. But he was not.

"I'll be honest, I forgot your name. I'm Lance."

He switched his manga to his left hand so he can reach out for a handshake with the right one.

[Espi]

Lance rung a bell. Sort of. Taking a closer look, she was pretty sure he was indeed a classmate. Plus, who would bother lying about that kind of thing? Unless they were trying to abduct her, but if he was her age, it'd probably be for stalker-type purposes, and Nate doubted she was interesting enough to have a stalker.

He held out his hand, and Nate tentatively met him with her own right hand. Her grip wasn't the firmest, but it served its purpose. She pulled her phone out of her pocket again, making sure to check that the grocery list was still within.

"I'm Nate." She said simply. Then she started trying to unzip her jacket so that hopefully she could discretely take it off and tie it around her waist. Unfortunately, the zipper was stuck.

"Oh, darn." She muttered. She stopped and looked up at Lance. "Oh yeah, I'm alright. Grocery shopping. It's hot out."

[Sh4dE]

Lance's handshake was firm, so he was worried about it being too firm, as it felt like him just shaking Nate's hand instead of them shaking the hands of each other. But who cares?

"Ah, I see. Grocery shopping."

Poor girl had the zipper stuck. Happened to Lance all the time. Well, not all the time, but he could recall it having happened to him several times. There probably was no person in the world who did not have to deal with that, unless they don't own a thing with a zipper with it.

Lance smiled at Nate and looked at the broken zipper.

"Happens to me, too."

[Espi]

Well he seemed nice, though Nate had an inkling he was a little uncomfortable. Sometimes she had that effect; people's endeavors to interact with her sometimes turned awkward when they encountered her occasional brick wall-style conversational methods.

It happened. Nate wasn't going to be too torn up about it; if they wanted to be sociable with her, it seemed kind of silly to get turned away when she wasn't what they expected. Then again, Nate wasn't exactly the most socially fluent person, so maybe she was missing the point.

The zipper finally came loose and clicked into place, and she breathed out a little as she removed her jacked and tied it sloppily around her waist. With her arms exposed, she could already feel the refreshing breeze cooling her off. That was nice.

She was just about to continue on her way when she realized that her expectation that Lance would awkwardly wait for the talk to end had been wrong. Abandoning conversations was a no-no, albeit one Nate was still trying to improve on that front.

"You going somewhere?" Nate asked. If they shared a destination, she wasn't entirely opposed to his company. Maybe if he had a lighter load he would help her with the groceries she needed. Probably not, though. That was a lot to ask of a stranger.

[Sh4dE]

The problem was solved. Zipper was working again. She asked him whether he was going somewhere.

"Yes, I am. Uh, it's in the opposite direction where you're going, though. Gotta go home."

Lance then moved a couple of steps forward. He had to go home, wanted to relax. Really wanted to read Sanctuary.

"Have a nice day."

He smiled and waved at Nate while going home. Lance liked to small talk, but there was no need to take too much time for that when he could read a great manga.

((Lance Adams continued elsewhere))

[Espi]

"Oh, okay."

People were weird. It would never occur to Nate to just start chatting with someone for no purpose other than to say hi even though you didn't know them. It wasn't exactly a bad thing, but the idea of intentionally initiating social interaction for the sake of small talk with a stranger seemed alien to her.

..Wait, hadn't she literally just thought how walking away was supposed to be bad form? And look what that guy just did. Jeez, sometimes Nate felt like an alien herself, trying to learn the complicated norms and expectations of these bizarre earthlings.

No use getting worked up over it, though. Nate started walking instead, fumbling her headphones into her ears now that they'd become tangled again through quantum physics or something. She still had to go get groceries and possibly painting supplies, which presented a few challenges, such as carrying capacity. Hmm, if she wasn't wearing her hoodie she could perhaps use it as a makeshift sling to carry her stuff in...

((Nate Chauncey continued elsewhere))