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They say there's no sense having a car in the city. But Mree loves his little sky blue convertible bug; he loves it when the sun is out and the top is down and he's just tooling around in traffic, cirlcing a block a dozen times until he finds a spot where he can hail to a vendor to come bring him a hot dog or two, and a soda pop. Then he's turning the radio up and puttering off again into traffic as Wipe Out plays for the seventeenth time today. Most people from the curb won't even notice his green pallor as he passes them, busy at their own business. And his tail is coiled around his seat and curled up in the backseat, soaking up rays. If it weren't for the vineous whiskers twitching to the music, he'd pass for just another guy. There are a few manila envelopes on the passenger seat beside him, and soon he's puttering into a spot outside of the destination for their delivery. A glance at the clock shows he's still ten minutes early; that's OK, he can listen to Wipe Out a few more times while he waits.
*
Even if Jack had a car in the city, she likely wouldn't drive it. The things are death traps set up to mess with even the most avid insurance people. No thank you. Which is why she's on foot as she assesses a vehicle adjacent to the convertible bug. She scribbles incessantly on her clipboard, taking down notes here and there that suggest perhaps they shouldn't be covering the damage.
"I'm not convinced this doesn't fall into the exclusions. Like…" her lips twitch to the side, "the odds of this happening are 456500 to 1. I'm pretty sure the policy wasn't exactly created to account for vampires." She shrugs as she explains the situation to a rather forlorn looking elderly man. She frowns. "Maaaaybe I could pass it off as weather damage. Maybe. But I'm not sure vampires count as weather — "
Of course, at that moment, the planets align to create even more randomness in the life of Jack Pace. A messenger on a bike races by on the sidewalk, pushing the very flustered Jack Pace into the street. She lands hard on the pavement with her back hitting it with a big THUD into traffic. She groans loudly and can't recover quick enough to the circumstances in front of her.
*
Mree sees Jack in his passenger mirror, watches her looking over the car behind his, lips curling slowly into a smile. The files he'd brught for her will wait 'til she's done. Also probably the hot dog he brought for her, too. If he doesn't eat it, first. But the sun's out, so he just arcs his back, setting one arm behind his head and lounging beneath its onslaught of rays, in the collecting cloud of CO2 from the idling vehicle he's sitting in. Can't get a ticket if the car is on, right? His floral paradise is interrupted by a sudden disturbance, and Jack is gone from his passenger mirror. A thud, and she's in his driver's side, instead, in the street. That's no place for her to be, is it, on the ground. He looks in the mirror for traffic and then opens up his door, leaning out to wave the slow-moving traffic to a honking, angry halt. He waves apologetically, starts drawing himself from the car, tail slinking after him and then curving into a large question-mark behind and above him as he steps slowly to Jack, looking down at her with a crooked smile. "Hey. You OK, there, Jack?" He reaches down a hand to help her up, if she needs it.
*
It's a question she hears all too often, so the response is nearly programmed. "I'm …Fiiiiine," she groans as she accepts the hand to help her up. The sheepish not-quite-a-smile that pulls at her features is laced with fatigue at the latest disaster that is her rather random life. She groans again as she rises to her feet. "People need to watch where they're going is all," she says loudly in the direction of the cyclist, who likely can't hear her.
She tugs on the bottom of her shirt and skirt in turn, realizing both had come up in a most UNLADYLIKE fashion upon her very graceless fall into traffic. She attempts to exude some measure of grace as she finds the most charming smile she can muster, "Hi Mree." And then with another small shrug of her shoulders, she notes, "I'll be okay." There's a flicker in her smile. "I was just finishing up with Mister Brown here." She looks toward the customer who nods graciously before he treads back towards the office.
"I don't think he's terribly happy with me," she lowers her voice so only her friend can hear. "Insurance doesn't always win people friends…"
*
Mree isn't exactly the most properly dressed, either. The leggings that serve him for slacks sit low under his, and the wind plays at the untucked flaps of his button-down shirt, and from below Jack can no doubt catch sight of his fit, green tummy. He doesn't much mind her disarray, his eyes are for her eyes and his smile for her smile, warm and welcoming as he helps her up. "Nobody's in a good mood after the weather goes all vampire. Don't take it too rough; it's only work. Why don't we get out of where all the nice people are trying to drive?" he laughs, waving again to the people waiting. "I brought you a hot dog."
*
"Apparently the fact that I called it weather wasn't even acceptable! Honestly," Jack rolls her eyes, "Mister Brown is more likely to get coverage if we can sell vampires as weather purveyors than as something supernatural. That's on purpose. No one wants to believe the supernatural would ever happen." Jack's eyebrows lift expectantly.
His remark has her looking towards traffic, and a sheepish grin pulls at her lips, "Alright. Let's get out of the way," she's easily beckoned to his vehicle where the notion of a hot dog draws an easy grin, "Really? Well that actually.. thanks," her lips quirk into a small pout. "I appreciate it. You have no idea the day I've had… this whole weird thing in the Park has brought on a fresh hell for the insurance industry."
*
"I didn't get you a soda because I thought it would be hot by the time I got here," Mree explains himself, easily holding Jack's hand and helping her into his car through the open driver's side. She'll hae to clambor over into the passenger seat unless she wants a Mree sitting on her lap like a child gone to see Santa Claus, but he'll keep hold her hand so she can lean on him and not topple over on her way over the gear shift. At least there's no roof to the car, at present, so there's no ducking or crawling required. "But I didn't suppose a hot dog would suffer overmuch from the heat." It's a joke, a low-purred joke almost too dry to qualify, after that British fashion of his. "Oh. Yeah, what is going on over there?" he wonders, settling into the driver's side and shutting the door. Jack's hot dog is waiting for her straddled across a cup holder, and her seat is covered in file folders, but Mree clears the latter out to the backseat so she can sit.
*
The climb to the passenger seat hardly qualifies as ladylike. Increasingly Jack finds herself in undignified circumstances. Fortunately, Jacqueline Pace had always fought to be considered something of a tom boy, so she manages well enough, only uncomfortably getting a sharp push of the gear shift into her hip the once.
The hot dog is plucked from the cup holder after she settles into the seat and she hums quietly at the question. "To be honest," she inspects the hot dog with a small tug of her lips, "I'm not really sure. The property damage is insane though! I had to assess a car there yesterday and this — " she makes a large motion as if trying to describe the shape of something " — came up out of a manhole cover. It had a bunch of heads that all looked like snakes and it wanted to eat me." She takes a bite of the hot dog, and then, rather elegantly around her food continues to talk, "Fortunately my roommate was there to pick me up. She carries a sword around. And wears armour. Then my other roommate showed up during her break and helped…"
*
Mree turns down the radio to next to nil, and as he settles in his tail wraps around the seat behind him, flops down into the backseat, then begins to ease thoughtlessly up the back of the passenger seat and around the headrest, wrapping like a sprouting vine around the sun-warmed leather. He shifts the car into gear and moves smoothly out into traffic. "You have the best roommates," he grins, not, to all evidence, taking the near-death experience all that seriously. "Want to drive past it and see if we can see anything?" he wonders. Not that he's driving anywhere in particular at the mooment, except 'around about the place.' But that could change.
*
Jack's nose wrinkles, "The roommates didn't think I should spend much time there," being unpowered and wholly unlucky. "But… I suppose a drive by is probably fine?" she shrugs her shoulders. "I'm not seeking out trouble, I'm just… going where trouble could be." Her lips twist to the side, "Also, a good portion of it is cordoned off. Authorities don't want anyone getting too close."
*
Mree rests his head back agaisnt the headrest, and looks pleased as punch with himself as he angles it to the side to look over to Jack's wrinkly nose. "Oh, then, we won't go so very close. Just drive past and see what there is. It's such a lovely park. Not much greenery elsewise, is there? Not unless you hit the open road north," he goes on, righting his head again to keep eyes on the road. "I have the Greer files for you, by the way," he chuckles, since his simple business outing has turned very effectively into a joyride. Jennifer's going to wonder where he is. But he can always say there was traffic. There IS traffic, after all. Just… not between his work and Jack's, so much.
*
"Oh good! I can get those figured out and back to your office within a couple of days — " Jack returns with a smile shrug of her shoulders. "So much bloody paperwork! I still can't believe that this has become such a mess… and yeah, the Park really is the greenest place in the city. I'm not from here, you know — Providence is lovely. You should come visit sometime. You'd like it. Very green," her lips purse lightly. "So. How's work going, anyways? Bosses still relatively good?"
*
Mree has, of course, a natural affinity for green things, being that color, himself, even if a very pale shade of such. "Providence— where's this, now? Is it close by? Maybe a week-end trip," he considers. A nice road trip is something he hasn't had in a while. And while he likes driving around in the city, the notion of hitting the open road is getting his wanderlist kicked into gear. "Oh, it— it's great, actually. I didn't know whether I'd be any good at it, but I guess I am. Or they're just being nice to me because of my freakness. Either way, it's nice to have something to do. And they do a lot of really good work there. And they don't judge me on the color of my skin. Or the… length of my tail," he cracks a grin.
*
"Rhode Island. Not too far from here," Jack offers with a vague shrug. "Certainly doable in a weekend. Plus, I be my mom would take you in as a guest if you wanted to bother the family Pace~" She shrugs once. "There's some good hospitality in Rhode Island. And Province is just… it's so beautiful. You have no idea. You'd love it." The grin grows at the remarks about work, "Well, it's good somewhere doesn't care how you look. If you're good at your job they should just let you do it." She shrugs again. "I imagine it was a bit of a trying experience applying places. I know not everyone is so mutant friendly."
*
"I didn't… ever… apply, so much as I was recommended for the position and they offered it to me," Mree prattles. He's at ease behind the wheel, one elbow hanging out over the lowered window to his side, his tail continuing to coil around the seat to his other side. Jack might feel it move behind her neck, if she's leaning back far enough. Mree certainly is. He's a creature built in a semi-permanent lounging state, to all appearances, and even as he drives he looks like he might be on the verge of a nap. "I was living down in DC with a doctor down there who took me in; he's friends with one of the partners at the firm, I guess, and soon I was driving north. Is there a bridge to the island, or do you have to fly?" he wonders.
*
"Well, I definitely drove," Jack observes with a smirk. "So unless I have some kind of awesome underwater breathing ability," how is it everyone she knows gets to be so boss with the powers and she has none?, "there's a bridge." She smirks again and leans back in her seat. "And that's a great way to get a job. A lot more interesting than mine." She lifts a finger, "Bad breakup motivates me to leave Providence," she lifts a second finger indicating two, "apply to job in New York without using the entire name. Jacqueline just gets a different reaction than Jack, you know?"