Recruiting Rune
| Recruiting Rune | |
|---|---|
| Players | Hyde Park Ben finds a homeless young woman and offers her a place to stay and breakfast. |
It's still /early/ in the morning and the Sky Goddess Coffee has just opened. Most of the action comes from behind the bar counter with the staff team getting everything ready to start another day while a very few customers are around and about with their morning cups of coffee and just getting ready for the day to come. One of them, a hard to miss man in his 40's and wearing a hospital uniform, is there, alone, sipping from his drink. But he doesn't look like he's getting ready to work. On the contrary. He looks tired and bears big black marks under his eyes. In front of him, the newspaper, opened in the ads pages. Outside the window, a bright pink-haired girl is slowly pacing back and forth, picking at a nail as she watches the street at this hour. There is a backpack on her shoulders and she just seems to be passing the time, which, at this hour, is odd. She glances as customers come and go out of the coffee shop, and very easily could be mistaken for a homeless girl except that she hasn't spoken to anyone leaving or entering the shop. A hospital uniformed man gets an extra-long side-ways stare as he passes by, but still nothing from her that might peg her as a beggar. Those cobalt eyes of hers slide off of his face and onto the paper open in his hands. At some point between sipping from his drink and looking at the news, the middle aged man casts his glance away from the coffee shop and accidently catches the pink haired girl looking at him. He grins to her politely and gestures to her something like:"Your hair is very cool." She acts like he has to catch her attention through the window, for the first few seconds. Only on turning at the end of that slow-paced walk back and forth does she 'see' him. Eyes narrow at him, suspicious as all strangers are when someone is gesturing something weird at them, but when she realizes that it is a compliment... she gives him a thin-lipped smile in response. That smile warms slightly as she adds in a nod, but results in her simply watching him with his paper. Upon seeing the pink haired woman smile back at him, the man decides upon something and finishes his drink, folds his newspaper and gets from a chair by his side a tote bag that he puts over one of his shoulders. He waves goodbye to a young girl that's serving coffee at the bar and heads outside."Hi. I couldn't avoid seeing you here outside. Are you waiting on someone...? Do you need help?" He asks gently a few feet away to avoid invading her personal space."Ah! Sorry. Bad manners. I'm Benedict." He adds a moment later and offers a hand to a shake. As he waves goodbye, she haltingly (as if she has to decide to respond) lifts a hand and gives a jerky, unsure wave. It was awkward, waving goodbye to a stranger, and of course that moment of doubt settles in where she wonders if she has met him or should know him. He just sort of has that kind of face, you know? But then, he is coming out of the door and /addressing/ HER. Looking startled, shocked, Rune stares first at his face and then at the hand before looking back up at his face again. Wrapping her fingers around the strap of her backpack, she curls a little bit (what self-respecting girl wouldn't?) before she offers a quiet smile. "I'm good, thanks," she says, but notably lacking the sneer that anyone who is /truly/ 'good' might unintentionally add to such a needless answer, so proving that she has been in need before, perhaps. If he is observant and smart. "Just sort of," she looks around and jerks a thumb at the bus stop up the street, "waiting." Ben nods and glances at the bus stop for a second."Okay. Maybe I had the worst scenario in my mind. For a moment I thought you'd be in need of help. I work at a shelter for young adults, it's called Turning Leaf Center, just a few blocks past the Washington Park, that way." He says cautiously and then he picks something from his pocket and offers it to the woman. It's a greeting card with his complete name (Benedict Pearson) and his position on the business (volunteer physician) in a gleaming white paper with a logo printed on it."So. I'm really sorry for mistaking you as a homeless." He does look so as his cheeks get flushed. What follows might be the biggest clue, even if one ignores the state of her clothing and shoes for the moment - she freezes and stares at you. Not the stare of insult, but one of keen interest. Shuffling the backpack on her shoulder, she tilts her head and tries to act conversational, "Yeah, that's cool. Cool that you help people." But now she is checking you out from a danger-nondanger sort of perspective, scrutinizing you. Taking the card in her fingers, you might notice dirt under her short nails and a lack of color on them. "Cool," still trying to be nonchalant about it, she looks back up at you, sliding the card carefully into her pocket and trying to put on a casual smile, "It's cool, no harm no foul." Notably - not saying that you're wrong. Ben ponders as the girl talks and checks on the greeting card, then he grins to her."Right. What if you come with me back inside and we eat something as I finish reading my newspaper? You don't need to talk. You don't need to interact. We just eat in silence." He offers, putting himself in a way that she can lead the way back inside the Cafe or just leave. She stiffens and her eyes coldly snap to yours. Something in her senses danger, but not entirely completely, because that moment only lasts a few heartbeats. Swallowing, she looks around to buy herself a few seconds to think. It is the growl under that chunky sweater that makes the decision for her and a blush spreads on her cheeks before she gives a defeated nod. You know, and it is evident that you do, so she shifts her backpack before moving to follow you back inside. Ben smiles brightly when he sees that she agreed on the suggestion and then he leads the way back inside and heads to one of the tables close to the windows and close to the exit, just in case the pink haired woman decides on leaving any time."So. This place has the best apple pie in the neighborhood and I totally recommend it. But if you want something different, here is the menu." He says as he slides the menu to her. Wide eyes fix on Ben's face, and she quite seriously asks in a low voice, "Apple pie?" If anyone were to offer candy to a kid, to lure her into a proverbial van by the river, it'd be apple pie for Rune. So in her stare at him, there is a suspicion that he can read her mind far too easily, as though she were wearing an Apple Pie logo on a tee shirt. Taking the menu, she shuts her mouth and turns it over slowly, "Apple pie and.. milk?" Now that the cat is out of the bag, so to speak, she is looking at Ben with a question in her expression, asking silently if he is paying? Ben grins and nods."Whatever else you want to eat. I'm paying. Go ahead. Help yourself, but don't say I didn't warn you this place's apple pie is addicting" He says. Something on his sincere eyes and his bright eyes say that he's genuinely worried about the well being of the woman. A second later and there is a waitress to take their orders. A silent moment of thankfulness is given before Rune looks to the server and asks quietly, "Apple pie? And a glass of milk. And an apple. Please." She is quite embarrassed, and the moment the barista turns away, she looks directly at you and says in a hushed voice, "I don't know when I can pay you back, but I promise I'm good for it." "You don't need to worry about that. I'm not rich, but I can afford breakfast for two. But if you want to pay back, do good to the next person you see in need. That's how it should go." He offers gently and grins as he picks up his newspaper back and opens on the ads page and starts searching for something on it. You say that, but you are clearly rich in comparison to her. As she waits for her order to come to the table, she sits with her hands between her knees, hunched a little bit as she makes herself smaller. While she is not mortified at the situation, it still embarrasses her. It just takes a moment for her to ask, interrupting your read, "So why are you helping me?" "This world is in a bad place, but it's far from being unchangeable. And I want to do my part to make this change happen. If all I can do is pay for breakfast, I'll do it. If, at some point, I can do more, I do more. Someone once said that you must leave this world better than you had found it when you arrived." He explains calmly as he keeps searching on the ads pages."That's why I volunteered at Turning Leaf Center. They're trying to make this place better." The pink-haired girl stares at him for a long moment as he reads the ads, her face softening as she turns the words over in her head. She doesn't get a bad mojo vibe from him, so finally she just says to him, "You seem like a good person. Definitely talk the talk." Clearly exposed to lots of those types, the girl adds in, "But you seem to be able to walk the walk, like they say. Thank you again. As it is, I could use a place to stay. Is it safe?" Sure it is, she expects you to say, but maybe explicit examples would set her mind at ease. Anything is better than sleeping under Wacker Drive in the cold. Ben finally appears to give up on searching in the newspaper and turns his eyes back to the woman in front of him."Yes. It's a place to offer support and shelter for young people that don't fit in the foster system, got ejected from it due to age or just don't have a place to go. There is food, bathrooms and beds. You can go and stay as long as you want. The staff team is very welcoming and helpful. Most of them are volunteers so there are some limitations. If you want, I can give you the address and you can see by yourself before making a decision. If you don't like it, for any reason, we can think about a plan B." Rune is watching the man's eyes carefully as he speaks, studying them for any hint of maliciousness. With the nonchalance you're presenting, it is harder for her to picture him having any ulterior motive, because who does that in scrubs? Leaning back, she pulls out the card that you gave her, tapping it with a finger, "Here, right?" Ben nods to Rune."Yes. And if you need to talk to me, there is my number in there and I can go check on you eventually. I live very close to the Center, but I'm making some repairs at home myself and it takes the very little time I have free. So if I don't pick your call or don't show up, that's the reason and I'll do my best to get in touch with you as soon as possible."The older man says and grins again. Grinning is a very common habit about him, apparently. About that time, the barista arrives with Rune's food and she diverts her attention (as much as she tries to fight the urge) to that. With a few glances up to him, she starts into the pie, alternating with gulps of the whole milk that leaves a mustache on her upper lip. Quite out of place, but funny. The pie is gone in moments, then the milk is drunk down and the apple palmed as she licks her lips before wiping her mouth on a napkin. "Thank you, thank you again," she whispers, chancing a look at his face, "Ben, you said?" Ben waits patiently as the woman eats and drinks and when she addresses him, he nods."Yes, you can call me that. And that reminds me you didn't say your name. Or should I just call you Pinky?" He asks, smiling. She laughs, shaking her head as she leans back in the chair, "Rune. Everyone calls me Rune. I like it. Real name is not that, it is something else, but Rune." The girl thrusts out her hand again, feeling compelled to do so, a big smile on her face. Ben takes the woman's hand and shakes it gently. His hand is very well tended, but is calloused. Strange, coming from a doctor."Nice meeting you, Rune. It's a very good name, by the way. Exotic, just like your pink hair." He says and grins. | |