reorganizing [open]

[ocean]

Ess let out a small grunt as she wrestled with the skyboard that was resting on her lap, fighting to give the wrench grasped in her hand one final twist to secure the piece that she was attatching. She smiled smugly as the metal attatchment was finally segued into place, picking up the board and holding it at a distance to admire her work. "There," she cooed, her eyes adoring, "all better."

There was no question that Ess's soft spot for skyboards was more like that of a mother's connection to her children. Giving the board a final pat, she stood up and placed it on the counter that also held the cash register where it would await pick-up by it's owner. That one would really fly with the turbo boost she'd screwed into it.

With the satisfied sigh of one who had at last completed a troublesome task, Ess put her hands on her hips and swivelled, proudly surveying her...empty shop. There was never much of a buzz of activity at Ess's Skyboard Shop, the only crowds schoolboys who came loping in to drool over the latest models that she displayed in glass cases around the shop. But that didn't mean business was slow. No, she worked more in small dealings that mad rushes. This wasn't a toy shop, after all. It was more like a mechanic's garage.

Returning the wrench to her toolbelt, Ess walked over to a shelf and readjusted a rocket replacement on its stand. Frowning slightly, she glanced around again, this time with more of a critical eye. She was getting rather bored with this set-up. That happened every once in awhile; Ess would tire of the way her store looked and would go into a frenzy about revamping it. When she was done, it usually didn't look much different than it had in the first place, but at least she felt better. Perhaps now was one of those times...

[tesf]

Kale zipped down the street on his scooter while simultaneously trying to keep hold of a skyboard. His ears were pinned down (made him "more aerodynamic") partly because it was freezing, and a huge grin spread across his face. He was obviously struggling to keep hold of the board and steer at the same time, he was probably going to fall or something by the looks of things. But falling off of a scooter was much better than falling off of a skyboard. Plus, Kale'd probably be rid of it soon.

He was currently without a job, needed some money and to get back at his room-mate. So, what was better than getting another job and getting revenge later? Selling your room-mate's possessions, that's what.

Kale could have gone to a pawn shop first, but he wanted to know what the board was worth. What better place to go than somewhere that specialized in skyboards? He parked in front of Ess' Skyboard Shop, hopped off of his scooter, and almost dropped his roomie's board. He still had his grin, though it was more of a smirk now, he was in a pretty good mood His mohawk was falling a little, so he stood up straighter in in effort to seem taller. He strode up to the door of the little shop, opened the door, trying his best not to knock the skyboard against a wall, and went up to the counter. The one other person in the store was not at the counter, but Kale could set the board there temporarily.

" 'Ey, could yeh possibly tell me 'ow much that Skyboard is worth?" He pointed back toward the black and yellow striped board he'd brought in. " 'S a noice custom, ehm, 's able t' go real fast.. dun' quite know what else t' say about it.. S' got an ace paint job." Kale stepped away from the counter a little.


(I'm sorry about this post, it.. well, sucks. Haven't rp'd in quite some time, I'll try to make the next better, promise!)

[ocean]

A loud clatter outside her store caught Ess's attention just as she ducked into a row of shelves that held various shiny objects, their use and origin unknown to most except herself. Peering through an empty space in the shelf, she let out a short chortle at the sight of the wolf's rather uncordinated parking. Nevertheless, a small smile is drawn to her features by the grin upon his own lips; the awkwardness of his movements obviously made no impact upon his mood.

Lurking behind the shelf, she made no move to reveal herself as he entered. Rather, she played spectator, observing his jaunty stride and the unnatural way he held the skyboard; definitely not a boarder. If there was any reason besides her mechanical know-how that the Angels had recruited her, it was Ess's intuition and the close observation that aided it. Nevertheless, she liked him.

At the sound of his voice, she lopes to the end of the shelf, ears pricked. Sticking her head out and grabbing a nearby handle attatchment, she manages to pull off a surprised air, as if she'd been readjusting the handle and hadn't at all noticed his arrival. Sadly, her tone didn't carry quite the same level of theatrics. "H-Hello," she stammered, feeling her cheeks warm as she caught his eye. An immediate alarm went off in her head; what the hell was wrong with her? Ess never stuttered.

"Ah...let me see that. I can, um...I can probably give you an estimate." Crossing the room to approach the counter, she carefully avoids direct eye-contact, instead focused on the board. Offering up a sheepish grin, she reached out and quickly retrieved the board from its place in front of him, her cheeks lighting furiously as she accidentally brushed his arm. Damn it.

Focusing furiously on the board, she traced the middle stripe of the board with one finger, trailing it down the skyboard to test its balance and shape. Without looking away from the board she reaches for a magnifying glass from her toolbelt, holding it up to the board. She chances a glance upwards and steals another look at the rather odd gentleman and, feeling exceedingly awkward in the otherwise silent shop, spits out the first thing that comes to her mind. "I, er, I'm Ess, by the way." No shit, idiot. That's the name of the store, isn't it? She mentally thumped herself. Crapcrapcrap... What was with her today?

ooc: no problem, your post was fine! i love the way he talks ^__^ and so does ess, hehehe...she liiiikes him.

[tesf]

"Right-o. Thanks." The one here, Ess, seemed, Kale noticed, kind of nervous or jumpy. He didn't think much of it, figuring that she was probably always like this. "Noice t' meet yeh, Ess. Name's Kale." Funny, Kale was using decent manners. Well, he was in a good mood, if he were in a rotten one he wouldn't be so nice.

He fiddled with a piece of string he'd found in his coat pocket, not really knowing what to do, or say, really. Was he supposed to keep quiet whilst Ess examined the Skyboard or was he supposed to say something? Kale would really have to read up on this kind of thing... He was quite retarded when it came to even the simplest civil social interaction.

"...So.. ehm.. Are the dents I put innit earlier really easy t' see?" He glanced at Ess while speaking, seemed correct. Kale returned the knotted segment of string back into it's place in his pocket and crossed his arms. His wide smile had lessened into a small smirk, but only because he felt a little foolish grinning like that. (but he has a mohawk and doesn't feel foolish..)

Being one unable to sit still for more than twenty seconds, Kale had gone from having his arms crossed to poking at the indent in his muzzle to having his hands in his pockets in less than two minutes. He looked around the small shop every now and then, gazing at the posters and other what-have-nots on the walls. If he were more interested in Skyboards and skyboarding, he might have found everything more interesting, but, alas, he was not.

[ocean]

She nodded briefly as he introduced himself as Kale. She was glad that he had skipped the usual incredulous question (wait, you’re Ess?) She’d become acclimated to being confused with a cashier or something of the sort. Damn prejudiced Lucians; as if a woman couldn’t own a skyboard shop! Old-fashioned, chauvinistic, closed-minded… She mentally ranted off, unaware that she was mumbling the words under her breath as well as thinking them.

Glancing up, she couldn’t help but chuckle at his question. Feeling a bit more at ease, she offered him a smirk of her own. “Not a boarder, eh? You can bang a good skyboard like this as much as you like, but it won’t show. It’s made of a combination of flexible titanium and steel.” Her mindless chatter slowed to a halt, but the grin on her lips remained.

It was then that her mind posed the obvious question. Glancing up at the wolf, she sized him up, from the point of his toes to the edge of his mohawk. He didn’t look like a criminal… Swallowing hard, she attempted to sound nonchalant. “Say, how’d you come upon a nice board like this?”

She tried to sound conversational, and mostly pulled it off. Keeping her eyes glued to the board, she tried to think of an answer that wouldn’t require her to haul him in to the Angels. Pick-pockets and such could be left, but theft of a pricy skyboard like this? Didn’t look good, oh no, it did not. Especially if she just let him stroll out of her shop. Rook would absolutely murder her if this man was a thief and she turned the other cheek…

[tesf]

Ess had been muttering something not too long after he'd introduced himself. Kale didn't quite hear what she was mumbling. "Yeh say somethin'?" He didn't think that it was too important to know, but it was just kind of an easy thing to say.

He shifted his weight from foot to foot for no particular reason. Maybe just for something to do, that's an adequate reason for doing something. He wondered what exactly of his was going to be missing once he returned home, probably his mandolin, again. He also began to dread the idea returning outside, it was cold. Not just cold. Really, really, really fucking cold. For someone with thin fur it was a nightmare.

"Really? 'S a neat thing t' know. Wonder why Gus tried t' skin me alive when I dropped it, then." He chuckled while saying the last bit about the live skinning. What a funny memory, that was. A little painful- at least the hair on his tail grew back.

Finally he was faced with the 'where'd you get this' question. Kale was expecting it sooner or later. He didn't need to lie, but considered it anyway. Oddly enough, he was unable to fabricate a believable fake explanation, so he went with a more truthful option. Seemed like a better idea anyway.

" 'S my flatmate's. We're both low on money, an' are sellin' some things t' get more." It was true, yes, just lacking some detail. Both he and his roomie needed money and were selling one another's things without telling the other. It was more like an infinite cycle of revenge, though. One would pawn off something of the other's, be all 'surprise!', and then the other would get back at the one by doing the same thing.(if that makes any sense what so ever..)

[ocean]

She shook her head soundlessly in response to his question; it was rhetorical, anyway. Just something to say, a space-filler. Noting the way he dropped the name of the board’s owner, she glanced up, inspecting his features. He spoke of this man, Gus, with something almost like affection, though not quite. Somewhere between affection and…er..ah, she didn’t know. He knew him, of that much she was sure.

She watched as he reminisced, wondering if what he was speaking of was so much of an exaggeration after all. Her eyes briefly inspected his face, looking for some kind of obvious injury. She noticed the marks in his muzzle for the first time and cocked a brow at the discovery, though said nothing. His lifestyle was his own choice.

He didn’t even need time to think up an answer. So he wasn’t lying. Either that, or he was, indeed, lying, and he was a fantastically fast thinker. She preferred to go with the first option. She gave him an odd look at his summary of the game; she’d never understand men. That was what it was, after all; a man’s game. She didn’t want to interfere, but how would she have felt if she’d lost her skyboard? If this man, Gus, really cared for skyboarding…

“Then I don’t think I can take this,” she said calmly, though there was a sense of firmness within her tone. She looked him straight in the eye, relaying that her mind was set. “When I was a skyboarder, losing my board meant the end of the world. I don’t want your friend to feel that way.” She hadn’t meant to say that, but it was true. She stuck out the hand grasping the skyboard, offering it back to him. He might just go off and sell it to someone else, but at least then it wouldn’t be on her hands.

[tesf]

"Eh, figured. 'M sure I can get rid'a it elsewhere." The wolf nodded slightly as he spoke, then began to head over to recover Skyboard he'd brought in. He was a bit disappointed. Not because he was unable to sell his flatmate's board. Because he was unable to fabricate a decent fib to use before. It wasn't really like him. Probably was just having an off day. It'd pass.

"That's very nice of yeh, not wantin' ol' Gus to feel like 'e was experiencing the end o' the world. But 'e deserves it." He shrugged and took back the striped Skyboard. "Say.. yeh said 'when I was a skyboarder'. Doss'at mean yeh aren't one now?" Kale wasn't asking this just to ask it or to elongate his time indoors, he was actually curious about it. And maybe kind of wanted to stay inside.

He wouldn't leave just yet. Hopefully he'd get an answer, then he'd leave. Well, if he did in fact get an answer to his question, he would leave, probably. If he didn't, he'd try to not go out into the cold for a little longer. Stalling worked for the most part. Hopefully it would work this time. But inevitably Kale would have to go outside, and when he did, knowing his luck it would be raining.

((that's not too bad of a post :l. sorry I hadn't posted sooner))

[ocean]

Ess nodded stiffly, shoving her hands in her pockets and squirming conspicuously. This was getting awkward; why wasn’t he leaving? She gave him another quick sweep with her eyes and noted his clipped fur. Well that was obvious; even the more heavily-laden inhabitants of St. Lucent put off going outside in weather like this as long as possible.

She cleared her throat, nodding in reception to his words. He was just going to go sell it to someone else, but that didn’t matter. What really caught her attention was the obvious question, the one she’d set as a trap for herself. She was an undercover Angel; she couldn’t exactly tell him why she gave up skyboarding. Therefore, she offered Kale a passive shrug, her gaze wandering to her shoes.

“Injury,” she grunted, carefully avoiding his eyes. “You want some hot cider or something?” It was the first thing she could think of to change the rather uncomfortable subject, though she wondered if he’d drop it or not.