The store is all decked out for Valentine's Day, with nifty displays all over with suggestions for what to get that special person for the Very Important Romantic Holiday. Many of the displays are low on stock, so the sappy signage must be getting the job done. Katie is currently restocking heart shaped soap that's a nod to those terrible chalk candies. I <3 u. U R Mine, Be Mine, and similar sentiments in the molds.. the colors seem to be white, pink, and red. Karin is leaning against the counter, her pack unzipped as if she just finished putting her purchases into it. The two appear to be chatting, to judge by posture and body language.
Katie is doing exactly what that suspiciously familiar looking set says she is doing. Working. Talking. In fact, she's saying to Karin, "You seem better off for it," which sounds mildly approving, but given it's Katie, it's so mild as it might be overlooked.
The door opens in a wave of glitter! Or it should anyways. "Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeee." Zoie offers in an excited voice as she has pink, red and white glitter on her person in various places. "Have you heard from Zack? We should go to dinner or do something tomorrow. I was thinking like ice cream and nails or something. We could make cards or we could go hang gliding. Although I don't know if I like anything in the air with the word hang in it. That could be...um.. oh... hi." She gets all of that out before the door shuts behind her and then becomes aware there are others in the shop.
"Yeah, I thi-" Karin gets out, before the storm that is Zoie breaks over the store. The energy is infectious, Karin's face lighting up with a bright smile as the tirade rolls on. "Wow," she gets out once the verbal wave has broken. "You'd better not be high." Someone needs to be the disapproving oldster in the group, although Karin's version of it is so fake as to almost require a bottle to spray on.
"I ain't heard from Zack, but cell don't work where he's camping to, so I'm not surprised." Katie answers what was the only question picked out from the verbal stun attack Zoie has launched. "And.. I ain't never had my nails done, but that might be cool.. I don't ever turn down ice cream neither.. sure, if you wanna hang out, I'm game." Katie, dateless.. and surrounded by all sorts of Valentine's gear. "I reckon I'm not as good as company as Zack, but I can try." Then her phone rings, and she answers it.. "Laura's.." whoever is on the other end doesn't let her finish. "No, wait.. calm down.. no look, I can't understand a word you're saying.." A sigh, and apparently whoever is on the other side goes on without pause, kinda like Zoie. "Okay, Okay.. I'll come on over.. Yes, yes, I'll bring the cards." Then she hangs up before the person on the other side can go on further. "I gotta go for a spell. Nadine is having a crisis again, needs a reading."
Zoie looks confused. "Reading on cards?" However then she's beaming at Karin. "Hello, um.. I .. have I met you?" She gives a bright and megawatt happy grin that just seems to shape the world she lives in. She bounds over to the woman and offers her hand. "Zoie Croft."
"Yes, you have," Karin replies, although she still takes Zoie's hand and gives it a proper greeting shake. "Karin Skjöldebrand. I stole shotgun when Joel was driving us home from the park, a week or so gone."
Zoie ohs and actually looks embarrassed. "I sometimes have a hard time remembering people. It is nothing against you whatsoever, so like know you are still a really good friend and stuff." She blushes a bit though at the social faux pas.
"I don't think we count as good friends yet, not until you get my name right two tries out of three," Karin replies, leaning back against the counter on both arms, adopting the lazy pose of someone with time to pass and nowhere else to go. At least her tone is such that any sting from the commentary is instead turned to amusement. "S'long as you don't hold it against me that we haven't gone paintballing yet. Plum slipped my mind before you showed here."
Zoie shakes her head a bit, allowing her golden hair to move about her face. "That's okay. I was busy arguing with Kenny." She looks Karin over for a long time. "Are you a virgin?"
From out of left field comes Zoie's wild pitch, catching Karin by surprise as she just stares at the girl for a moment with wide eyes, before laughing so hard she doubles over slightly, holding her hands across her stomach. "Oh, god no." Once her amusement subsides enough to get more than a few words out at a clip, she asks, "Why do you ask?"
Zoie shrugs her shoulders in almost a childlike manner. In fact, she toes the ground when she does too. "Nooooo reason. Do.. do you think it is bad to be one?" Her cheeks are almost discovering a new shade of red.
Like someone flipped a switch, Karin switches from amused to comforting, not doing a bad mother hen as she says, "Oh, honey, no. It's no different from hang gliding. Either you've done it, or you haven't, but neither is right or wrong."
Zoie sighs softly. "Someone told me I needed to get laid and relax. Then they laughed and said it wasn't right for me to you know.. but I want it to be special, with my husband." Her green eyes look up a bit shamefully at this. "I didn't think it was a bad thing until the other night."
"They were just being a nästa," Karin says with a firm nod of her head. "And probably upset that you weren't into them. Or as easy as the floozies some guys can't reach beyond." Oh, sweet sexism, assuming it was a guy. "There is absolutely nothing wrong if you want to wait, other than... Honestly, your first time will probably be terrible. If your future-husband can get past that, the /second/ time will probably be awesome. And if you're willing to wait for him, I'm sure he'll be willing to be gentle with you."
Zoie turns scarlet at 'be gentle'. She nods her head and looks a little relieved. "Well... thanks Karin, I mean like really. Thanks. I just.. I didn't know and um.. you know I didn't want to be a freak." More than her lack of social skills make her. "So do you have a date for valentine's?"
"You're not a freak. Don't let anyone pressure you into something you don't want to do." Karin's smile is the kind of warm, friendly, expression one would expect from an after school special about peer pressure. Then, the topic turns... "No, I don't. If I was paranoid, I'd think my ex was running interference on my social life." The half-sigh, half-hmmph, noise includes enough air to blow her bangs out from infront of her eyes. "But, such is the way of things."
Zoie looks up curiously. "Who is your ex, does he live here?" Yes, he because in Zoie's world everyone is straight and the opposite never occurs to her.
"A stycke om skräp named Kyle," Karin replies, showing Zoie gets this one right, although prying twists her lips into a look of distaste. "Burning himself to an early grave, and doesn't seem to /get/ that I don't want along for the ride."
Zoie is standing with Karin and talking. Zoie does that a lot. The talking thing. "Oh! I hate when people just don't get it." There is an insightful, introspective look upon her features. "Of course //I// am normally that person. I mean subtle doesn't always work and I'm always jumping to conclusions and stuff."
A dusty jeep pulls up outside, the kind where the clean patch on the windows matches the wiper tracks. Extracting himself, Cheveyo heads to the door, reaching into his flannel's pocket to tuck away a scrap of paper. He pulls it open, and then after looking around, heads over towards the counter.
For note, the store is decorated in honor of the upcoming holiday, sappy signs and banners giving advice on things to buy for that 'special someone.' Karin is leaning against the counter, regarding Zoie with a friendly smile while they talk. "Yeah, he keeps putting me down as his emergency contact. So every time he gets arrested, or winds up in the ER, I get to hear about it. Subtle, can be overrated, like what you were doing with Zack. You should'a asked for a ride home directly."
Zoie nods her head. "But I //really// didn't want him to give me a ride home. I mean I just don't know how defined we are yet and I don't want to push it. Besides, I liked talking to you and Joel. You were both fun." She allows her lips to curve up as she looks over at Cheveyo. "Hi!"
Cheveyo nods in greeting to Zoie and then to Karin, "Afternoon ladies." a cheerful grin lights up on his face for a moment as he rests his hands on the counter top. "Either of you up for giving me a hand? Not sure who's the counter jockey 'round here. Need a few supplies."
"I'm not, I only just..." Karin trails off as music begins to play from her pocket, shutting off as she pulls out a phone and looks at the display. "Gods, speak of the devil, and you invite his attention. Will you two excuse me?" It isn't a question, as she picks up her bag from the counter and begins walking for the door, opening up on whoever called her in a torrent of angry sound Swedish.
Some time later, or no time if nothing has happened, Karin hip-checks her way back into the store, phone vanished back into the pocket from whence it came.
Cheveyo is convienently enough standing in exactly the same spot, waiting patiently for one or the other to give him a hand. It's a nice shop, who would mind hanging out?
Probably, there is some minimum wage slave hiding behind the register somewhere. It is a store after all, and generally staffed. Today's high schooler though probably can't answer more than the most basic of questions, like 'Where is the exit' and 'What is a book.' For Karin's part, the metaphorical thunder cloud over her head begins to fade as she re-enters the store, taking a deep, relaxing, breath before making the mistake of saying out loud, "I am going to kill him." Now there's witnesses to clean up.
Cheveyo ahs as someone heads his way, having finished with a customer down the way. Nodding to her he asks for a bundle of sage, sweetgrass and some tobacco leaves. Man knows what he wants. His head turns as the clerk goes off to get him the items and Karin makes her declaration. "Need help with the body or do you have a spot picked out?"
Cheveyo lifts a hand to tip an imaginary hat to Katie, "Miss." Cheerfully and with a smile. He looks back to Karin, "All you had to say was you didn't work here. Please don't barbeque me." The big man doing his very best puppy dog eyes. Then the clerk returns with the items all bundled up and he's digging into his wallet to pay.
Gareth arrives through the open archway from the coffee shop.
"She ran over a squirrel, was convinced it was a bad omen and that it meant..." Katie pauses as she takes in the conversation between them. "Oh, sorry to interrupt.." Polite Texan is Polite.
Zoie comes back from somewhere on some phone call. Maybe she was talking to Gareth. Maybe she was asking what he was wearing and hearing nothing but a smile. Maybe she found a way to hack Zack's phone to watch him. Or maybe it was just someone else asking about dance assignments. Or you know, she was in back getting her paycheck.
"No. It's done. I'm through thinking about it. No one is getting barbequed." The power of denial in action, as Karin waves a hand by her head, as if fanning a thought away, and turns her smile on Katie. "I can see why running over a squirrel would be a bad omen. A sure sign the end times are upon us, and not that they don't understand looking both ways at a street."
Gareth comes in from Kiva Coffee. With coffee. Maybe he was talking to the coffee. Maybe he was asking what it was wearing before it got brewed. Maybe he was disappointed in the beans' response, made the barista drown them in boiling water until they died a suffering death, and now he drinks the delicious brew of victory. Or maybe he just needed coffee. He looks tired, bags under his eyes, but alert, a bit tense, a bit grumpy. "What's this about bad omens?" he asks.
Cheveyo pockets his change, then picks up the wrapped items to slip them under his arm. He moves away from the register, but doesn't seem inclined to run out the door just yet. "Apparently there was a squirrel that met with a bad ending, and it's a herald of the end of times. After this I think I'm off to buy canned foods and a shot gun." Looking over towards the newest arrival with a grin.
"You really can't go wrong with canned food and a shot gun," Katie says, nodding approvingly. "It's good to be prepared. Also, you can shoot squirrels for dinner, since they are the ones bringing the end times upon us." A wave to Zoie, and Katie says, "Sorry that I had to leave earlier.. I think you were trying to talk to me.." And then Gareth is given a smile, but a bit of a concerned look for his tired state. "Hey, G."
Zoie bounces into the area with true bouncy fashion. When she sees Gareth she poings over to him in an attempt to give him a friendly hug and whisper. However, then she's beaming at the others. "Sorry. My paycheck needed to be freed from the depths of inhumanity." There is a pause. "Well today would be a bad omen day, it's like the thirteen on a friday."
You whisper "You should smile at Katie. You know you wanna." to Gareth.
"That actually explains a lot," Karin says, when Zoie mentions the date. "So... should I go break all my mirrors, or point them at my windows?" A key detail. She as well gets in on the greeting of Gareth, although all he gets out of Karin is a chin-up nod.
Gareth is grinning at Cheveyo's explanation. "Heh, yeah, those demon...squirrels, they-" he starts, and then Zoie attempts a friendly hug and he flinches at the terrible monstrosity that is human contact, saying, "Oof, uh, hi, Zoie," and then rather deftly squirms away, pausing to listen to something the paycheck-freed girl says. He blink-blinks at her blearily, then looks over at Katie. "Yo, K.", he says to her, and manages something like the faint beginning of a smile. Spying Karin he says, "Yo, K." as well to her, chinning-up back.
Cheveyo nods in agreement, "Squirrel's not bad if you cook it right. Rabbit's better, but I imagine I'd have to leave those alone. If the treeclimbers have gone to the darkside I can only guess at the terror they can bring on with all that fuzzy cuteness going for them." He lifts his purchase, giving it a soft sniff as he goes quiet.
Katie watches Gareth for a little bit, and then heads for the counter. It looks like she just arrived, since she's got her helmet tucked under one arm, and her messenger bag over the other. These are deposited by the door to the back room, and then she has a word with the clerk that's working. Nodding to something, she picks up a box of soaps and starts restocking the valentine's day soap display again. "I've had rabbit, ain't never had squirrel. Does it taste the same?" she asks of Cheveyo.
If nothing is currently in the process of being bought, then the counter is an ideal spot for Karin to lurk, her pack getting set carefully by her feet. Then, for the leaning. Allow someone in, they put down roots.
Zoie sort of bumps Gareth into Katie's direction. "Katie and I have a date for tomorrow. What are everyone's plans for the romantic holiday?" She beams again as she bounces on the balls of her feet. Then she looks over at those assembled and moves to hug Katie. "Thank you for signing my paycheck."
Gareth drinks his coffee, fueling his response. To Cheveyo, he flashes a curious look. "Yeah, I never had squirrel either, come to think of it," he observes. He stifles a yawn and then seems to decide yet more coffee is in order. He raises an eyebrow at Zoie. "'Romantic Holday'?" he asks. "It's not like school's closed or any--" He looks slowly around at the decorations, as if temporally locating on the current date. Gareth gets a look like there's a pain behind his eyes, and pulls out his phone to text something, setting his cup down on some convenient bookshelf.
Katie braces for incoming hug, but she weathers it better than Gareth does. There's no squirming, Katie is a stoic hugger. "I have to sign the check, it's not like ya'll gotta thank me for that," Katie points out. "Anyway, I'll try to be a good stand in for Zack for ya'll.. it'll be almost as good as if he were here."
Cheveyo lifts his head back up, shrugging lightly as he answers Katie. "It's not that different. A little gamey'er, takes well to spicy seasonings. Not much to them though, have to get a couple to make a decent meal." Gareth's question to Zoie catches his attention, and he too glances around the store. Huhing, "Didn't know we were that late in the season." seeming less bothered by it than Gareth.
Zoie's phone gets a text from Gareth! Okay not really, but she wanted to feel important and loved by him. Her lips curve as she steps back. "Does that mean you are going to hold my hand and kiss me too?" Then she blushes a vibrant red. "I mean.. um.. not that Zack um... I mean I'm sure he.. with all um.. girls.. I.. Oh look.. soap!"
"I think you were right, K," Karin says from her position in the peanut gallery. Then to turn her easy smile back in Cheveyo's direction, "Is there good hunting for squirrels around here? Or rabbits? I keep thinking everything outside the city is an arid wasteland, full only of radiated mutants and biker gangs."
Gareth is still texting, all thumbs and frowns. He glances up at Karin, though. "People hunt all kinds of things up in the mountains to the west, though. Antelope and cougar and shit. Gotta get some kind of dumb permit, though. My half-brothers used to poach deer up in Grants, out by the Navajo res. You'd be surprised at all the stuff up out there in the radioactive wasteland."
Katie watches Gareth and his texting, but is distracted back to Zoie, and she shrugs. "I don't put out, but I'll make up a list for how many times he shoulda kissed you and hand holding opportunities missed.. were he, you know, actually able to take you out himself. I'll give you a little card for each, and you can collect them when you want." Katie writes the check, poor Zack has to cash them.
Cheveyo chuckles and nods at what Gareth says, "And yes, squirrels too. Mostly the gray ones with the big fuzzy ears. Like they wanted to be a rabbit but didn't quite make it." He grins a little, "Pssh, permits. If it's on my land then clearly the forest wanted me to have it. Can't turn a gift away, it'd just be rude. That's when the trees go on a walking rampage." the grin grows. He looks from the frantically texting Gareth to Katie as she bargains away someone elses virtue. "And this holiday is one of the reasons I'm glad I'm single."
Zoie blushes to Katie's words. "He might not want me to be the one to collect from him. I mean there could be more." She looks at the others and then turns to look at Cheveyo. "You own some lands?" Her smile cast towards the other.
Gareth sets his phone down, and picks up his coffee. Not much of a multitasker, this Gareth. He grins back to Cheveyo. "Yeah, exactly! Don't want rampaging trees, it's right up there with squirrel omens." He slouches against a convenient wall. "Seems like a stressful day, all around. Don't suicides rise up around Valentine's Day? Or is that just Christmas?"
Katie also seems to be curious in Cheveyo's land holdings, maybe she's looking to trade up Zoie for someone with money and the means to put food on the table! Or maybe she's just being polite, and suddenly she grins back at Zoie. "What? Ya'll were like holding hands and stuff already, and passed out in bed together.. and if I don't miss my mark, you two have already kissed. Or have you not?" Let's just put Zoie on the spot here! Well, she does it to others often enough. "Do they go up around Valentine's? I thought that's when they went out and found other people without dates for one night stands in bars."
Cheveyo shrugs lightly, "Not a lot, just a few acres. It's got a small barn out back, but I'm going to use it as a workshop, so it's in the middle of getting cleaned out." Looking over to Gareth his eyebrow goes up. "Isn't it pretty much any holiday anymore? Alone on New Years, Valentines...Fourth of July... There are lots of opportunities to be melancholy. And yes, some folks probably do that, but really what's the point? All you have the next day is a hangover and someone you pray won't wake up before you can get out the door."
"I'd like to see your place if I can." Zoie offers to Cheveyo. Then she frowns and looks back towards Katie. "Well... I um.. we have. However, um.. I um.. I mean. I am probably not the only one that he's um.. you know and I um.. he um.. I.." She trails off. Broken Zoie is Broken.
"Amen," Karin says softly, to Cheveyo's words of wisdom. Then, to actually talk, rather than swivel her head like someone watching a tennis match, "I think I might hit up the paintball field, and take pot shots at other people who are moping. It might just slow 'em down enough for me to hold my own for once."
"I've ah, never tried that," Gareth admits to Cheveyo, blushing faintly. Then: "Wait, are we talking about suicide or one night stands?" He glances briefly at his phone, which sits quietly on the shelf next to him. Frowns lightly, looks back. Though whatever causes that is banished by the klieg lights on Zoie, and her ready for her close up. "Awww, she's blushing and stuff!" he says. "How adorable." Gareth drinks his coffee with devilish glee.
"Hugs and kisses it is then," Katie says, like that's decided. "Anyway," Katie says, after she finishes stocking the soap. "I gotta get on back to work. These soaps don't wrap themselves, though I sorely wish they did." Of course, technically stocking them probably counts as working, Katie seems like she's going to head off into the backroom.
Zoie turns even brighter red when Gareth points out that she's blushing. Her cheeks vibrant and hot. The bad thing about blushing is that pointing it out turns it worse. So she seems to light up the room with her blush. "Do.. do you need help, Katie-kat?"
Cheveyo shrugs a little, as he looks to Gareth. "Probably the one night stands. I think you'd end up somewhere else after the suicide, and I'm going to say it's not with a warm body next to you. If they're the ones that are cold...well, finding a date really isn't going to be a problem any more." He grins then shrugs, looking over towards Zoie. "You're more than welcome to do that. Bring a couple friends or something, have lunch out on the old pasture. It's real pretty."
"Naw, you're not working tonight. I got it covered. Call me tomorrow when you want to get together," Katie says, and then with a wave for those else around, she heads off into the back.
Gareth hmms to Cheveyo. "Can't fault that logic," he says. He finishes his cup off coffee and crumples it. He glances over at Katie as she readies to depart. "See ya, big shot," he says to Katie. "Got a few questions to ask you about an old assignment, but it ain't important. Another time." He waves to her.
Cheveyo watches Katie go, then lifts up the bundles in his hand, "I should probably head out to the farm and get started. Find out if I need to pick up more." He looks to the new faces he met today, saluting with the herbs in his hand. "Nice bumping into you folks, I'll have to keep in mind this is the place to be around here."
Zoie brightens and scoots closer to Gareth. "Gareth, you wanna go with me to... um.. his place?" There is that moment when she realizes that she either doeesn't have it, or has forgotten his name. Her eyes flick over towards Karin. "Paintball..."
"If the Kings started selling sweet rolls, there'd be no reason to go anywhere else in the city," Karin... agrees? with Cheveyo. But then there is Zoie trying to prey on the innocent Gareths of the world, prompting her to warn him with, "Don't do it! Joel and I were giving her ideas!"
Gareth also watches Katie go, tilting his head slightly when she exits the room. As Cheveyo makes his exit, he chin-ups. "Nice meetin' you, man. I'm Gareth. And yeah, this place is pretty busy - that and the coffee place next door." He turns to Zoie. Blinks at her questions. "The farm? For huntin'? Sure, I guess, Why-" and then his phone goes off. He reaches for it and reads the text, brightens a bit.
Cheveyo looks a little surprised at the name given by Gareth, smiling once more. "So you're Gareth. Nice to meet you." He stops in his exit and walks over to extend his hand, "Cheveyo Waitingmoon." He flickers an uncertain glance between Zoie and Karin as the warning comes, the smile he turns back to the other man sympathetic. "So the farm, it's out by Sandia National Park. I haven't gotten the mailbox up yet, so you'll have to play pick the driveway."
Zoie looks confused at Karin. "I asked, Kenny doesn't have orgies." She then looks him the others over. "Did you get a date for tomorrow?" She all but claps for Gareth as she watches him. Her eyes of green then flick towards Cheveyo. "We could put up balloons."
As Cheveyo introduces himself to Gareth, it is like a lightbulb blooms into luminescence behind Karin's eyes, illuminating those dark corners of the brain where little details dissapear. "Hey, Hey! I remember you now!" she says, pointing a Finger of Acknowledgement at Cheveyo. "You were at the thing, with the people, and the talking and the stuff." How... concise.
Gareth grins back to Cheveyo. "That's me, the one and only superstar, man about town, rake, raconteur, adventurer, and ne'er-do-well." His grin grows bigger. He tilts his head, though. "Ah, I heard your name somewhere," he says to Cheveyo, his tone growing a bit more respectful and polite to the slightly older man. "I heard good things!" he says. Glances at Zoie with her question. He beams. "Yep! Gotta figure out where, though."
Cheveyo blinks over at Karin then laughs, "Yes I was." He puts on a wounded face, tsking faintly, "Am I that forgettable? Now my ego is wounded." Sighing softly as he turns back to Gareth, "As have I about you, it's very nice to put a face to the name." He looks to Zoie and says deadpan, "I'm scared of ballons." then turns to resume his journey to the door.
"Not forgetable, I just didn't have all my wits about me for... various... reason," Karin replies, gaze bouncing off of Gareth before returning to Cheveyo. "It was nice to meet you more properly." And it sounds like she means it, although she doesn't leave the counter to drive the point home with a handshake or anything like that.
Zoie ohs softly. "We won't bring balloons then." Her eyes move back to Gareth. "Who are you taking out for romance?" Her eyes move over towards where Katie has left and then back towards the man.
"Balloons are terrifying," Gareth says, his tone dry as those desert wastelands. "And likewise," he says to Cheveyo. A glance back to Zoie, then follows her gaze to the back door, then back to Zoie. "This chick Sasha. We kinda hit it off! She's totally spy and shit and likes hip-hop but also comic books, says she's got a X-23 costume, which..." His nerdy look gets a bit self-conscious. "...probably isn't a reference many people get. But is cool. Kinda. I think it's cool."
Cheveyo nods to Zoie, "Thank you very much." remaining somber until he looks back to Karin, the grin reappearing as quickly as it left. "It was nice to meet you as well. I hope everyone has a peaceful day. And I suppose happy holiday as well." He inclines his head in farewell to Gareth and slips on out the door.
"Gareth, you dog," although Karin's voice is laced with fondness, as she stalks across the floor to try to punch him in the shoulder. Gently, lest he break. "I'll even forgive you for not telling me" as if she has a right to know, "so long as you keep her away from your tuition."
Zoie makes a face. "I don't like her. However, I do know about X-23. She is the killer that was a female wolverine.. sorta. I mean she was cool and it's really just a leather costume.." She hrms a bit. "I should go." She does smile at Karin though.
Gareth flinches again when punched, and turns to give Karin a wounded look. "What was that about?" he whines, stepping a polite distance away. "And I was gonna bring it up," he says to Karin. He blinks back to Zoie. "You don't like her? Why not?" he asks, innocently enough. "She seems all right to me. Cool wigs. Boobs. Going on adventures. Comics. Boobs.... and, uh..." He's probably thinking about boobs.
"Pojke," Karin mutters, rolling her eyes theatrically. It doesn't take a linguistic major to guess what she said. "I'm proud of you, G. That's what it is about. Or, did I get the custom wrong?" Her eyes narrow slightly, as if trying to peer back into her memory to double check.
Zoie shrugs. "She was rude to me in the coffee shop when I asked her to pay for her drink. I mean like //really// really rude. Like super rude." She shrugs a bit to that. "But if that's the kind of girls you like." She smiles a bit at Karin. "I think I'm going to let you guys be. Have a good weekend."
Gareth tilts his head at Zoie, like a confused puppy. "Sorry she was rude and all. Maybe it was a misunderstanding? I can't imagine people being rude to you, for what it's worth." He shrugs, and scratches his head, then turns back to Karin. "Aw, you got it right, you weird Swede. I'm just not big on, you know," he motions his hand by his shoulder, where he was punched. "I have personal space issues," he explains.
"And maybe someday I will learn to respect them. Long after you've given up enforcing them," Karin says in return to Gareth. The race is on! "You don't have to run off Zoie, I could just as easily leave you here with Gareth to discuss... ex twenty three?" Yeah, she has no clue.
"Oh, it's a marvel superhero.. hmm... well actually it might not be //hero//. Think of an edgy cat girl just like without the tail or the ears or..." Zoie shrugs a bit. "It wasn't a misunderstanding. She was .. just.. yeah. I haven't seen her since. I'm okay with that. I'm sure you'll have a knock out date though."
Gareth seems vaguely unnerved by Karin's proclamation, also, it's rendered him speechless, at least briefly. He turns back to Zoie, nodding with approval at her explanation of X-23. But adds, "Just yeah?" He frowns lightly. "Cat girl?" He shakes his head. "I bet I will. We'll do something really romantic like pizza. It'll be badassed." He waggles his eyebrows.
"Order it in advance. Show up at her door with it. Tell her you have an..." Karin's impersonation of Gareth is nowhere near accurate, getting only his accent down, just barely enough to think it's him and not someone else "Extra large sausage, all for her." If not else, she amuses herself, laughing at the bad joke before adding, "Also, don't take my advice."
Zoie nods her head as she moves for the door. "Just remember, you aren't Julian." With that though, Zoie is gone into the wilds of the city. That's right. With their taxi's and friendly people.
Gareth flashes a confused look, but waves at Zoie on her way out. He wrinkles his nose at Karin. "That's gross," He decides. "Extra sausage? DOes that shit work on chicks?" he asks, all rhetorical and stuff. His phone goes off, and he looks at it.
"Extra /large/ sausage is the key part. And of course it doesn't, anymore than chicks 'tip' the delivery driver by accidentally leaving their robe open." The thought of which does make Karin pause a moment, before adding, "Although, if my guy showed up with an extra large sausage pizza, that is probably how I'd tip him." The things Gareth doesn't want to know, delivered at high speed! "I guess it depends on trust and communication and alcohol consumption."