Description: Cammy likes stopping by and visiting people she's familiar with, regardless of how her stiff words and movements might alienate people in search of those little things that are of personal interest to her. A confused teacher (and now groundskeeper) addresses her whimsy.
Another day, another two jobs.
Technically they've been pushing this man around to do the work of more than one person and, only recently, did he successfully storm his employer's office and make reasonable demands in an otherwise unreasonable voice. Meet shop teacher and groundskeeper of Pacific High, Howard Rust. New second job, same general frustrations. (We can't say 'same great taste' because he probably still tastes awful if you try and lick him. Not that one should... generally be licking people.)
He's having a hearty set of sneezes after mowing the various fields about the school, turning off the riding lawnmower and sneezing a few times in succession while the various athletics groups are having themselves quite a time even in this kind of cool weather. He's having himself a nice cool bottle of water as he sits down on one of many recently repaired benches. Hmm, it wasn't that long ago that he met Antoine's fellow student in Chongquan, Quon. Him and his... girlfriend? That weird British chick with the same name and nationality as that famous fighter.
Looking at a watch, he's got about a good fifteen minutes or so before he needs to get dressed up and head off to the Kyokugen Dojo for today's lessons. He still stings a bit something fierce after the thumping Yuri gave him, if not just physically, emotionally as well. Men are a whole lot more mentally fragile than they give credit for.
He's not looking forward to hammering in nails with his right hand either.
Cammy is merely wasting time at the moment, not on assignment, as Lord Vega has not seen fit to actually give her an assignment. Mostly deep in thought as she considers the neo league match last night - though happy with her performance she has quite a few bruises due to the many mistakes anybody tends to make. Not that the bruises are very noticeable though as she didn't get hit in the face at least. Small mercies.
She's not quite sure herself why she ended up in the athletics field, following a gaggle of Pacific High students at a goodly distance. Probably merely because she's allowing herself to be led, following whover happened to be in front of her at the time. But her reverie is disturbed suddenly, by the sound of someone sneezing. Sneezing copiously, in fact. She seems to suddenly snap awake and glances about, spotting the familiar form of Rust, with a ...lawnmower?
Well, that's interesting enough, and Rust if not a friend is at least someone who Cammy knows. She changes course, veering away from the students and towards Rust. She's red cloaked, of course, but that in itself kinda gives away just who it is from quite some distance, if you recognise her 'disguise'.
Nothing hurts to keep tabs on one of the... er... threatening... figures of Pacific High? Is that mean even much of a threat in the big picture? Maybe it's best to keep any images of his scalp away from Balrog, lest the sight drive him into a furious decade-long depression over how the world has allowed such an ugly thing to live.
His knee pops loudly as he stretches it out, another sure-fire sign that it's him out there, all right, sniffling as he rubs his face with his forearm to try and relieve some of the tension this crazy-ass grass is giving to his face. There's that familiar red-cloaked lady again.
"Uhh... hey?" He looks up. Both Quon and herself split pretty fast after their friendly little spar. Since Quon's not here, nor has he seen him here, he's kind of at a loss as to what she's doing here. "Your boyfriend, uh, Quon, right?" He hasn't always been good with names. He clears his throat. "'scuse me. Ahh... he doesn't go to this school, he's, he's a college kid."
Cammy does glance up at Rust's head - she's not exactly beauty obsessed as a Doll, but some things are just affronts against nature itself, and that combover is a good candidate to be classed as such. She's far too polite to do more than glance though.
"I know. I've been to his dorm." she tells him, with a thin smile. "You provided me with his address, remember?" she helpfully reminds. "I'm not in that school, was just following those people, I guess. They seemed to know where they were going. Maybe I was thinking of that spar... I was training Quon here a couple of days ago. I always seem to find him here. Maybe thats why I'm here.
She shrugs, the mind is a funny thing at the best of times, and Doll minds even more so perhaps. "Why do you mow? I remember you were reported as being a teacher.".
"Uh... yeah, I guess." There's that. He scratches the side of his head... okay, what's she here for? He hopes that's not the person who owned the car he accidentally scratched when he went out for lunch. It's a really small world these days, considering the two were looking for the /exact same person/ and had completely different details about them.
He eyes her a little suspiciously when she mentions just 'following those people.' That's kind of a weird way to say it, he thinks to himself... but yeah, she was sparring with him some time back, he remembers hearing about that from a coach that was complaining.
"I, I am a teacher." He nods. "Aaaand the groundskeeper as of, uh... couple days back or so." He vaguely gestures with the water bottle in his hand. "They run me pretty, pretty ragged so I just, I just walked up and said, 'you're not hiring a new one, I'm already doing it, so, so you pay me for it.'"
He has a brief drink of water. "'n that's why I work two jobs here."
Cammy is beginning to recognise suspicious looks, so when Rust gives her The Eye, and she picks up suspicions of base motives or past misdemeanours, she does her best job to look innocent. It's about as effective as Rust's best attempt to look like he has proper hair. "I've not done anything to you, whatever you think it is that I've done." she protests, holding up her hands defensively. "I have noticed before you do not seem to like me much, which is confusing, as I have barely interacted with you at all. Unless I am reading you wrong, which is certainly possible.".
After being unspeakably blunt, she merely nods. "Well, that must be nice, getting two jobs worth of money, I suppose. Do you like your jobs?" she wonders. "But you somehow have time to fight as well, as I saw you fighting competently enough. Poor Quon was bruised quite badly. He still likes you though, I think.".
She wrinkles her nose a little at that. While Quon still seems to be half terrified around her all the time, even though she's taken pains to not do so much as lay a finger on him!
The way she words her discontent with the way he's looking at her oddly... eh, maybe she's not a native English speaker, he thinks. He knows even with all the time he spent learning Japanese, even today he occasionally gets a few niceties wrong, or words a few things incorrectly. Fluent, as was required for a job here in Pacific, if not perfect. (Fans generally prefer his English voice. Shh!)
"Huh? Uh... wha?" He finally vocalizes when she gets particularly defensive. He's trying to run over his head if he's doing anything deemed 'culturally insensitive' and he's coming up empty as he sniffles again. Agh, he hates this grass so much, now that he's groundskeeper maybe he'll be able to petition they use... he doesn't know, something that doesn't make his allergies twig out?!
"Well... yeah." It's a somewhat blatant lie. He likes that it's a good job, a good paying job, that he's being trusted with helping shape the next generation of kids - some from very influential families - with the idea of being able to do some things with their own hands.
It's no secret that he despises his co-workers and that most of them do not like him very much. He's from rather humble origins and his educational credentials are... equally humble, to put it lightly.
"It's, uh, it's... kinda a tough balancing act, I gotta say," he says as he stands up to the complaints of his knees. "I mean, I dunno how, how some of 'em do it. Like... Hayato Nekketsu, over at Taiyo, I mean," he clears his throat as he gestures with the bottle in his hand, "he gave me some pointers, y'know, I follow 'em... but, damn, he's incredible."
He rubs the back of his head again. "Ahh, he's okay, isn't he?" He clarifies very quickly. "Quon."
Cammy has a perfect British accent thanks to Lord Vega's good taste, she would have Rust know, if she could actually read his mind! Not a native speaker? Pff. And as he starts sniffing and snorting, Cammy's eyes widen a little, curiosity building. Maybe some of the Shadaloo troopers have hay fever, but she doesn't tend to hang around them much.
"You like your job.". She looks down at the mower. "Well, thats good, but I don't think I would. And Hayato Nekketsu, that sounds like a name which I should know, but I must have been lax with my reading. Too much timewasting here in Southtown.". She actually looks a little bit embarassed by that.
She stuffs her hands deeper into her pockets as she looks up at him, head tilting slightly. "He's fine. He was just bruised is all. Hopefully next time you will not find him so easily beaten. He's certainly very eager to improve, and a quick learner.".
"Builds character," he shrugs to Cammy as he rolls his shoulder a bit to relieve some tension. Especially the right one, which is going to ache something fierce today. Oh, is it ever. Kyokugen does not play around. It beats you up, and then it beats you up again. At least four people he met the last few days have already dropped out of further schooling.
"He's... he's pretty famous," he nods, "y'know, they say... they say nobody's blood burns hotter, 'cause it's in his name." For a while he thought that whole name /was/ a stage name, but apparently his actual surname is Nekketsu. Imagine that. Though, 'too much timewasting here in Southtown' does confirm she's not from these parts.
"Yeah, if you uh, if you see him again," he waves a finger, "if I could ask a favor... if you'd tell him there's, there's something I wanted to run through him to... to just swing by after class, 'bout now." He clears his throat again. "Been meaning to, to talk to him since we had our spar."
Cammy nods at the character building part. "Being beaten is a part of getting stronger." she agrees. Take that how you will!
Like almost everybodywith a Brit accent Cammy is totally clueless about anything Japanese, so Nekketsu means nothing to her beyond sounding vaguely familiar for some reason. "Well, that's interesting, I guess. Passion, meh, overrated, in my opinion, there are many paramount warriors who do not rely on such crutches. Like Sagat, for example. He is very controlled, though he was passionate enough in the past.".%"Invite Quon here after class to talk to you? Sure. What about?". From clueless, to insufferably nosy.
Beaten by fists, or beaten by the expectations of someone in their mundane life, doing their part to keep things running smoothly even with the general thanklessness of the job? Hard to say, really.
He does freeze visibly at the casual mention of how much she likes Sagat again. He was in the same room as that man once, and it was one of the most frightening experiences of his time here during those dark invasion days. He might be fun to watch on TV. In person... he's intimidating. Every connected blow he lands, you can feel all the way from nearby. He's powerful. There's almost nobody else like him. Wolfgang Krauser is much the same way too, though he has proven reclusive in recent times.
It's back to the nosiness before long. At this juncture, being convinced she's just this really weird girlfriend of Quon's, he turns to face her after he gets his nerve back from mention of Sagat. "Ah, uh, an invitation of a sort... he'll know what I'm, what I'm talking about," he says. "At least, he should." If he doesn't, it's gonna be awkward. "If you'd, if you'd run that message to him, I'd... I'd really like that, thanks. I've been so busy last, last couple days," and also so injured, "haven't had a chance to, to get to him myself."
Or maybe just beaten for the hell of it, certainly Juri believes in that! And Lord Vega too, though in those cases whenever Cammy is involved she tends to be dishing out the beatings, never taking them. Like those unfortunate Shadaloo troopers who were tested by the Killer Bee last week, and found wanting.
"Sagat is a very calm man." she reassures, shying away from the term 'good', though. "And an invitation. A secret invitation. Oh, how interesting. I do not need to know?" she asks, with a somewhat impish smile on her lips, curiosity very much piqued. You can't ward off a curious person by suggesting secrets!
"Something fighting related, clearly. Sparring I guess. I will try to get Quon to tell me what it is about. But your request, that is no problem. I have email, and so does he, so I will send him a message as soon as possible. I think he does check it regularly. And I will remind him, when I meet him again, but I am not sure when that will happen, our schedules may not mesh very well."
Does she need to know? Well, if she's Quon's girlfriend or some such there's a good chance she'd know almost right off the bat after seeing him about it. The teacher slash groundskeeper slash thirsty man slash guy with bad hair has himself another drink.
"Oh, email! Email." He nods, "yeah, I, I forgot we're in the, uh, 21st century." He didn't grow up with a computer, let alone be able to really use one until adulthood. It's a wondrous thing, that e-mail. "If you could... uh, tell me what it is, give me a sec," he puts down the water bottle to dig out a notepad from one of his toolbelt pockets, holding the notepad in his right hand while awkwardly fumbling with a very small pen in his left. Is the pen too small, is it hard to write with work gloves, or is he simply not left-handed?
Cammy hesitates a bit, poor Quon might not want his email distributed to all and sundry after all. But... she knows he has a serious association of some sort with RUst so he probbly won't mind. "Certainly." she says, and steps up close to him. "Your gloves do not make it easy." she tells him, and she reaches out with her hands to gently but firmly tug pen and notepad out of his grip.
Though it becomes apparent, when she reaches out, that she has red gloves on herself, as her hands protrude somewhat from the long sleeves of her cloak. Fingerless gloves make all the difference though.
Assuming she gets her mitts on the notepad, she'll flick through it briefly until she finds the first blank page, and then write out Quon's address in a small, precise scrawl. Of course, on the way the nosy Doll has no doubt skimmed a whole bunch of other stuff in there.
"Ah? ...Hey!" He suddenly calls with the sudden slip of pad and pen out of his hands when he probably should thank her for taking care of this stuff directly! He eyes the red glove she has on, which is... sort of familiar, and goes kind of against what she says?
"Uh, thanks," he says as he clears his throat again, reaching out with his right hand in hopes she'll give them both back when she's done - is she writing a really long e-mail address, or what? "Uh, listen, I'm gonna need to head out or, or I'll be late, so... ah, if you'll excuse me once you're done... uh, thanks, too," he nods, "I'll... I'll see you 'n Quon around, okay?"
He's hoping more Quon than her, truthfully. Something about her just doesn't add up.
Cammy doesn't take /that/ long to skim, she just is curious about whatever things particularly catch her eye as they flick past. She's all done in a few seconds, and reaches out, to place the notepad and pen back in his outstretched hand, now with the address in it.
"No problem." she tells him with a slight smile. "And very well. I suppose you are working as well, cannot sit talking to me all day. I will see you. I hope I will get to watch you and Quon spar again soon.". Sincerely enough, as she's actually had some chances to train Quon a little bit, and she wants to see if it's had any impact.
He's not sure what she was flicking around that notepad for, but, nonetheless he pockets it as he starts to walk off, waving to her. He thinks to himself, all right, got to get to Quon... have to get dressed in his Kyokugen uniform... need to run something to the post office along the way... what am I forgetting, he wonders. I'm forgetting something.
Turns out the keys are still in the riding lawnmower. Does Cammy fancy a humorous joyride or taking the operation of this modern convenience hostage?
Cammy has good eyes, apparently unlike Rust, and notices the key. Maybe if the mower was some sort of psycho powered weapon of mass destruction she would indeed take the opportunity to do something nefarious, but lawnmowers aren't really of much interest to the Zero Doll, or, she imagines, Lord Vega.
So she yanks the key out of the lawnmower and hares off after Rust, and even with the huge and heavy cloak in the way, soon manages to catch up to him, like an energiser bunny on speed. And it's only a few paces, after all She reaches out, grabs his hand, and presses the key into it, before closing his hand around it. She shakes her head at him. "Stay focused." she commands. "You forgot your mower key. There you go. Though I suspect you will want to move it, now.".
Still, the conversation remains pretty much over as far as Cammy is concerned despite the unexpected epilogue, so she offers him a small wave now he has the key, and treks off back to the beach, where she was walking before, to find some other gaggle of people to follow to wherever it is they are going, while lost in thought.
In one fell swoop, Cammy effectively saves Mr. Rust's second job. Never mind the thought processes that go through her in regards to its use as a weapon or anything of the sort! The teacher's easy to catch up to. He's so slow that Cammy could have probably caught up to him with just a brisk walk.
"Huh?" He turns around behind himself, only to see the shining glint of the key he forgot to retrieve. "Oh... ah, shit, can't believe I did that," he grunts as he humbly takes the key. "Thanks... uh, yeah, I better get this back where it belongs."
Maybe she's not so bad after all? Eh, who knows. Taking a deep breath, he ambles back over to the lawnmower and considers the timeframe he'll have left to work with once he gets this thing put away.
Real life is hard! It's always the little things that do people in.
Log created on 15:57:25 11/16/2010 by Rust, and last modified on 18:36:23 11/16/2010.