Post by Elias "Eli" Vael on Jul 21, 2013 19:05:15 GMT -5
When the weatherman said that the weather coming in was unusual, he really wasn't kidding.
The clouds building up looked like they belonged in one of those tornado documentaries, and the wind was vicious, making it impossible to keep his hood up over his head. Not that it mattered much; it was only lightly raining, and his hair was already a lost cause after a whole day of not bothering with it. The other volunteers at the soup kitchen never could resist teasing him about his seemingly permanent case of bedhead.
He tugged his jacket tighter around himself, cursing the fact that he hadn't bothered looking at the weather before he actually left- he would have already been home by now if he'd taken his bike. Nothing to be done about it now, though, so he simply walked a little faster at the first ominous rumble of thunder.
It wouldn't do well to be walking the streets of Los Angeles after dark, anyway, and the shadows were already lengthening, devouring the streets bit by bit. He didn't live in a horrible part of town, but it wasn't Pleasantville, either; he was under no illusions that he wouldn't risk being mugged if he was out too late.
Someday he'd move to a smaller town. Somewhere out in the country, with space for a real garden, maybe even a horse. But in the meantime, he went where the job offer was.
He winced as thunder cracked through the heavy, humid air, taking another look up at the clouds. Any second now he was going to be caught out in a downpour; wouldn't that just be a great way to end the day?
Korina groaned, her elbows propped on her knees and her face buried on her palms. Her wheelchair was locked so it wouldn't roll away with her seated upon it and send her spilling in to the street. The doctor had not been helpful at all. It was the exact same information as always. No clue, no cure....it was absolutely nothing new despite the promises that they could provide the answers.
Now here she sat, a headache forming cause of the storming about to disgorge it watery contents upon her. She was lost now, unable to find her hotel room anywhere. She had rolled up and down the streets for almost two hours now, and the people had not been remotely helpful. Maybe it had been because she was crippled and in the wheelchair but she wasn't sure. Maybe it was her silly appearance, growing ever paler as the pains increased on her arms. She had lost weight as well, not eating as much and unable to get the enthusiasm to do much.
She felt deflated, defeated. On the verge of giving up. Even building new machines had lost its enthusiasm. She just didn't know what to do anymore. Not a person particularly prone to 'self pity parties' the very fact she was sitting here in a storm about to unleash upon her feeling this way had her depressed. She sighed and looked up, wondering where it was she had ended up and where her hotel was.
Post by Elias "Eli" Vael on Jul 21, 2013 21:14:06 GMT -5
Eli slowed down a bit when he saw someone ahead- someone in a wheelchair. The whole thing seemed off to him- it was about to storm, and someone in a wheelchair was just sitting by the side of the road? He frowned and stopped a few feet away, trying to see the girl's face.
"Hey...you okay?" he asked, and now that he was closer, he realized that she wasn't a girl at all- had to be in her twenties. The wheelchair seemed to dwarf her, making her look smaller and younger than she actually was.
"Sky's about to open up...can I help you get back home? Or to your hotel?" he continued, shifting his weight nervously. It was hard to tell the visitors apart from the people who actually lived here sometimes, but he was pretty sure she wasn't from around here, or she wouldn't be sitting by the road when night was falling- the common thieves around here likely wouldn't care that she was disabled.
Korina groaned and lifted her face from her palms to look upon the male. She stared at him for a several seconds before smiling warmly albeit weakly. "Are you hitting on me sir? Help me find my hotel?" She giggled and shook her head. "I'm just kidding. It would be helpful to help me find the hotel I'm suppose to be staying in. I even have the address."
She reached down and unlocked her wheelchair and rolled towards the male. She extended her thin frail hand and offered a piece of paper with the address of her hotel. "Clearly I'm not from here. I can't seem to find my way around and nobody besides yourself has even offered to help me. I really appreciate it."
She leaned back in her chair, rubbing her left arm absentmindedly with her right hand at a pain that was building there in her elbow. She sighed and glanced up feeling several large drops of rain fall upon her hair and cheeks. It was about to get really wet, and really fast.
Post by Elias "Eli" Vael on Jul 21, 2013 22:01:34 GMT -5
Eli laughed and shook his head, closing the distance between them now that he was sure she wasn't going to try and bite him like the last person on the street he tried to help. It was a relief that she was just turned around and not off her rocker.
He took the paper and looked at the address with a visible wince, giving her a sympathetic look. "How'd you end up down here? You're at least eight blocks from where you need to be," he said, running his fingers through his already hopeless hair as he considered their options.
"There's a different hotel just a block down that you could stay at till the storm dies down. Or...I mean, my place is even closer, but I totally understand if you want to go the hotel route," he said with a shrug and a half of a smile. "Hell, I'd probably go the hotel route too. I'm being totally shady here."
And he was quite possibly being a bit insane, too, offering up his apartment as a storm shelter for a total stranger. But he couldn't very well leave her to walk...er, roll, eight blocks through a downpour to get back to her hotel. He'd always been a pushover for those in need.
Korina shrugged. "We can ham at your place till the storm passes. I may not look much but it isn't the best idea for people to judge a cripple." Korina smiled, she had fought of a small army of hunters before. What could possibly happen from a single male who was being so nice to her.
Korina looked around and leaned her wheelchair back in a "pop-a-wheelie", grinning at the male. "Well, we gonna get going or stand here in the rain all day? Cause if we are gonna stay here in the rain, I wanna get a jacket to cover myself." She looked down at her white shirt and blushed slightly.
She slowly wrapped her arms around herself in embarrassment. Which of course wouldn't last very long as she wouldn't be able to roll her chair along with her arms covering herself. She looked up at the male and nodded at him. "Lead on Mr. Knight in gleaming armor."
Post by Elias "Eli" Vael on Jul 21, 2013 22:36:37 GMT -5
Eli obviously hadn't expected her to take that option, but his surprised look quickly turned back into a smile as he held his hands up. "Hey, no judgement here. My place it is," he said, starting to walk and motioning for her to follow.
Another sharp crack of thunder made him jump, and he frowned up at the sky, pulling his jacket back up on his shoulders where the wind had relentlessly shoved it back. "You picked a hell of a day to visit. This weather's crazy," he said, quirking an eyebrow at her comment.
It really wasn't far to his door- he was renting the bottom floor of a small townhouse, a one bedroom apartment, basically. He fought with the stubborn lock for a few moments before opening the door, and immediately reaching down with practiced ease to catch Kale by the collar as he tried to rush out. Three legs or not, the mutt was fast.
"Hope you like dogs," he said with a smile, holding the door open for her to get inside before she got completely soaked. His apartment still smelled like incense from earlier today, and colorful rugs covered the wooden and linoleum floors, strangely matching the mismatched furniture that looked like an antique store threw up in the place. It wasn't hard to see he had eclectic taste, though he'd had to move all his plants onto shelves or the balcony after the first time Kale ate one.
Koruna followed him down the side walk, keeping up with him easily. She was quite experienced with her chair by now. She much preferred a manual chairs to electrical chairs because they allowed her on more control, a form of exercise that she would perform everyday. Anyways, she followed the male and they came to his apartment.
It was a small place but that didn't mean anything. The small places where usually the more homey. As he held the door open she wheeled around him and inside. She giggled at the dog and reached out for him. "I love dogs! And he's so adorable! He looks like me! Cripple but doing his best to get by in life." She smiled happily and petted the dog behind his ears.
She looked around the apartment and nodded. It all looked quite warm and comfortable. A very warm atmosphere filled the place. "It's very nice here, and I wanna thank you once more for letting me stay at your place while the storm passes. It was really nice of you."
Post by Elias "Eli" Vael on Jul 21, 2013 23:19:28 GMT -5
Eli very nearly sighed with relief when she immediately took to Kale; he could be over-exuberant for some people. Right now he was so happy that she was petting him that his tail was wagging nearly hard enough to make him fall over. It had happened before, with a back leg missing like that.
"I don't even think he knows he's missing a limb," he said with a chuckle, hanging up his jacket and kicking his shoes off by the door. The rain was already picking up outside- they'd just missed the worst of it.
He waved off her thanks with a bashful look. "It's nothing. I was probably just going to eat a pint of ice cream and watch reruns of some awful reality shows anyway," he joked with a wink as Kale sniffed her wheelchair all over. He seemed fascinated by it.
"Can I get you some coffee? Tea?" he offered as he stepped around the counter into the kitchen, grabbing for the coffee pot. It was a ritual of his, starting and ending a day with a cup of coffee. And maybe a couple during the day, too. "I have some hot chocolate here, too. Homemade," he added, remembering the jar of hot chocolate mix his mother had mailed him.
Korina giggled watching the exuberant mutt sniffing at her chair. She wasn't bothered at all by the fact that he was sniffing her chair cause she had gotten past that phase or her life a while ago. However a single word caught her attention and her head came up looking at the male. "Tea! Sweet preferably! With a touch of lemon of you have it. That would be absolutely perfect."
She reached down and grabbed the exited dog and put him in her lap as she rolled forward. She did that so she would crush his poor tail....or worse one of his remaining legs. She leaned against the counter watching him as she prepared the drinks. "So, what do you do? Clearly your a very down to earth kind of guy. Plants and animals and all that stuff." She smiled petting the dog and chuckled softly as she scratched behind the dog's ears and kissed the top of his head cutely.
Post by Elias "Eli" Vael on Jul 21, 2013 23:59:10 GMT -5
"Tea it is," Eli said, finding a tea he knew was sweet and getting the kettle started on the stove. He looked up and smiled at the sight of Kale sprawled across the woman's lap, his tail thumping at the arm of the wheelchair and his tongue lolled out the side of his mouth.
"I'm a veterinarian," he said, tapping his fingers on the counter as he waited for the coffee to brew. "Jesus, I haven't even introduced myself. My mother would have my hide. I'm Eli Vael," he continued in a rush, shaking his head at his own thoughtlessness.
"What's the name? And what brings you to this part of the city? Not exactly a touristy part, down here," he pointed out, raising an eyebrow. Most visitors to the city stuck to the parts of the city that reeked of Hollywood and overly expensive clothes and purses; Eli had lasted ten minutes of curiosity, saw the first price tag, and decided it wasn't so much interesting as it was stomach-turning.
Call him whatever you like, but he thought that five hundred dollars would be better spent toward a charity than a pair of shoes.
Korina continued petting the almost dead dog in her lap, except for that tail going a hundred miles an hour. She listened to him introduce himself and smiled. "Well Eli, its a please to meet you and sounds like your mother tried to teach you good manners and did an excellent job. My name is Korina Manalani. As to tourism, that's always been a little beyond me. Most places like that are not overly friendly to...well people in my state of being. No, I was here for a doctor's visit actually."
She waved downwards at her legs and the chair beneath her vaguely. She wasn't pitying anymore, she never wanted anybodies pity. She simply was stating a fact. She looked at the male as she scratched the dogs belly. "A vet huh? That sounds like a fun job. Taking care of poor sick animals who need the help and somebody to love then. I think that sounds truly amazing."
She continued watching the drinks being prepared as leaned against tot counter more to see what else's he might have at hand. "So, what's your favorite animal? Dog maybe? Like this adorable specimen? Or another?" She smiled and leaned back in her chair expectantly waiting his answer.
Post by Elias "Eli" Vael on Jul 22, 2013 0:31:53 GMT -5
"Manalani, that's interesting. Hawaii, by any chance?" Eli asked, grabbing the coffee pot just as the drip was coming to a stop. He poured out a cup of coffee for himself just as the kettle began to shriek behind him.
He didn't ask about the wheelchair, or the doctor. Growing up in a house that doubled as a holistic clinic had prepared him well for knowing that you just didn't ask- if they wanted to explain, they would. If not, then they probably just wanted to be treated like everyone else.
"It would be a perfect job if you never had to deal with the owners," he said, shaking his head as he carefully poured out a cup of tea on a saucer. He opened the fridge and got a lemon slice from the bowl there, setting it on the edge of the saucer and holding it out to her. "Careful, it's very hot."
He picked up his own cup and knocked back a swig of the coffee, so hot that it nearly burned his tongue. "Wolves and dogs were always my favorite. Did an internship at a wolf sanctuary in Indiana," he said, reaching out to scratch Kale behind the ears. The dog looked completely blissed out from all the attention.
Korina laughed as Eli told her that his his favorite was wolves and dogs and scratched behind the one legged mutts ears. The dog was thoroughly enjoying all the attention, soaking up every drop of it and still warning more. Korina looked up at the male and grinned. "I have a dog. Sort of, I guess. He isn't your usually dog though, and he isn't anywhere as lovable and cuddly at this little one. Wanna see him?"
Reaching on to a small pocket on her wheelchair she pushed aside the s pistol she kept there for self defense Nd grabbed her cellular device. She withdrew it and unlocked the screen and opened up her photos and selected one. She set her phone on the counter and turned it for him to see. It was a mechanical dog, a robot she had created coated in a gleaming white paint that contrasted with the silver of the parts that where not covered with the white armor. "That's R.I.P.P.E.R. I made him a few months ago. Nothing terribly complex. Just standard dog programming with a attack/guard dog sub-routine." She smiled and pulled her phone back and hit the button to close the screen and slipped it back inside her chair's pocket.
She rubbed the real doggy's belly in her lap lovingly. "Does he know any tricks. Like roll over or dance?" She giggled and poked the dogs nose playfully trying to him up to play with her.
Post by Elias "Eli" Vael on Jul 22, 2013 7:49:38 GMT -5
Eli leaned forward on the counter, expecting to see a Rottweiler or Doberman, because that's usually what people meant when they said their dog wasn't cute or cuddly. (Forget that- Rottweilers were excellent cuddlers, but Cocker Spaniels were Satan in disguise.) Both his eyebrows raised, though, when he saw the picture.
"You made that?" he said in disbelief, looking between her and the picture a few times. It looked like a really, really fancy version of the expensive Japanese robot dogs, but those were toys, only made to do simple tricks and walk around.
"What do you do for a living that you just up and make robot attack dogs in your free time?" he asked with a laugh, taking another swig of his coffee. He needed it now. Normal people off the street normally didn't make mechanical attack dogs- why in the world would she even need one?
He shook his head as if to clear it, giving Kale a sympathetic look. "He knows exactly one trick, and I didn't even teach it to him. Every time I try to teach him tricks he loses interest in about three seconds," he said, and then he reached over and opened the door to the microwave, then threw it shut with a loud BANG. Just as every other time, Kale hit the deck as soon as he heard the bang, legs splayed and eyes bright with excitement.
