Job: Crime Scene Investigator |
Post by Christopher Evans on Nov 7, 2014 5:31:36 GMT
 | Here's my chance for a new beginning. A fairly chapped lip was pulled into his mouth and chewed on as he made his way down the street, his hands shoved deep into his jacket pockets despite the fact that he wasn’t actually that cold. He had grown up in Boston, which had always proven to be a much colder city than Georgetown if only because of the geographical locations of each. Either way, one would always find the man in at least a thin long-sleeved shirt. When his mother had moved the family here, that had been his chance to start over, and starting over meant pretending the past never happened – to Christopher anyway.
His golden gaze traveled along the shops that lined the streets. Despite having lived here for several years, he still hadn’t been in every one of them. His days off were few and far between recently, so usually he chose to spend them lying on his couch in his boxers, but he decided to leave the house today for whatever reason.
Finally, a little antique shop caught his attention and he turned suddenly, yanking the door open and letting himself in. The place had that musty smell that old things tended to carry, and already he was crinkling his nose slightly. He hated that smell. It was the way his room in his mother’s house had smelled when they first moved down here, and since he’d rode out most of his withdrawal symptoms in that room, the smell didn’t exactly carry pleasant memories for him. Either way, he moved deeper into the shop, his fingers trailing absently over some of the items.
Eventually his mind would wander so much that he was barely aware of what he was picking up or looking at, or aware of the fact that someone happened to be to his left when he turned rather sharply. The small glass carousel he’d been carrying fell to the floor and shattered, though he was more distracted by the person he’d possibly knocked over. “Shit! I’m sorry.” He apologized.
I saved the best for a better ending. |
|
|
|
|
Post by Chiaki Ito on Nov 8, 2014 4:19:39 GMT
Chiaki was a girl who loved antiquing. So much so that she would travel to all kinds of stores and she was a regular in most of them. She did in fact have a whole collection of blue china plates and a Christmas set of small little dressed up mice for the Christmas season. She giggled as she opened the door and looked around. She was mostly looking for a cute dog figurine or cat figurine- something that could fill up another one of her shelves much to Alexander’s disdain. Her cousin was a debby-downer or however the English saying went. Oh well- she liked these cute little things. Waving her hand and saying hello to the old woman who was giving her a glance- she delved further into the store. The smell didn’t bother her- in fact it made her feel a bit more connected to pieces she hadn’t even seen yet. Her cousin would describe it as ‘musty’ or ‘moldy’ but she felt it was the smell of history. History was old and smelly sometimes- but it had a lot to teach you. She walked down the aisles with her petite hands behind her back, resting on the brown computer bag that rested against her back end. Her eyes glittered when she saw something particularly interesting- but she kept moving as nothing had caught her attention yet. It was something she particularly enjoyed- finding all these puzzle pieces and putting together her own style. The Americans called it ‘kitschy’ or something of the sort- leading her to believe it wasn’t exactly welcomed or frowned upon exactly. It was a strange term that she wasn’t sure a Japanese term could cover it. Chiaki wasn’t exactly paying attention to the other people in the store- her eyes more glued to everything on the shelves. It was just the appeal of it distracted her quite a bit. She didn’t even notice the person coming closer to her. When she took a step- the raven haired girl yelped as she almost fell over. She steadied herself by bending her knees and ducking down a little- the crash echoing in her ears as she closed her eyes tightly in reflex. It took a second- but she heard someone’s voice and she had to tilt her head rather…high up to see the man’s face clearly. She was barely reaching his shoulders- it was a wonder he didn’t bowl her over! “O-Oh it’s okay!” She wasn’t sure to admit fault or not since she wasn’t exactly sure what happened- but Chiaki moved to stand a bit taller- surveying the area- drawing her eyes to his hands. “Are you okay? Did the glass cut you?” The owner of the store was quickly over there- Chiaki guessed she had the hearing of a bat as she smiled nervously. “We’ll clean it up.” She wasn’t offering to pay for it- since it wasn’t her fault, but she would sure as hell help clean it up. It was only natural. “You’re paying for that.” The old woman mumbled to the man- assuming Chiaki- a girl she knew was much more responsible- but hobbled off to go get a broom and dustpan for the two. Chiaki gave a bright smile up to him, hoping he wasn’t too angry. “It’s easy to get lost in your thoughts here, isn’t it? My name is Chiaki.” She gave a small bow of her head out of habit. “We can clean it up together?” She hesitantly trailed off- as she reached up to thread a piece of hair behind her ear nervously. He was really tall- and quite intimidating- so she hoped they both could work together easily to get it done together.
Tag:@ Christopher Evans |
|
Job: Crime Scene Investigator |
Post by Christopher Evans on Nov 8, 2014 5:11:09 GMT
| Here's my chance for a new beginning. It really was a wonder she hadn’t fallen over, though he was thankful, because he definitely would have felt even guiltier for knocking her over completely. As she tilted her head back to look at him, he tipped his down a bit in order to see her more clearly. She looked a little startled, which was only to be expected given the situation she’d found herself in. He gave her a warm smile, though he shoved his hands into his pockets as she made to look at them. They were fine, but he didn’t really like people looking at that part of his body. The backs of his hands had a few light scars on them from back in the day, and while he doubted she would notice, the reaction was reflexive more than anything. “Oh yeah, I’m definitely fine~ It takes more than that to hurt me.” He told her, grinning slightly. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He went on to ask, his gaze traveling down her form to make sure she wasn’t holding anything funny.
He was much less nervous when the little old lady shop owner hobbled over. Christopher wasn’t really intimidated by anyone, especially a harmless old lady. He simply nodded to her words, having already accepted the fact that he would have to replace the broken figurine in some way. “Not a problem!” He called after her easily. While the dark-haired male was known for having a temper, usually his temper was reserved for stupid people and not harmless accidents. The thing couldn’t cost more than ten dollars, and even if it happened to cost thousands of dollars for whatever reason, he could easily afford that. Despite being an adult, he had no real concept of money. He would always have more than he knew what to do with.
As that bright smile was given, he found an easy smile spreading over his features as well. Despite having almost knocked her down, she didn’t seem angry at him or anything. Though of course he had found that a lot of people wouldn’t let him know when they were angry because he looked kind of intimidating, but ah well. He wasn’t going to stress himself over something he couldn’t change. “It’s very nice to meet you Chiaki.” He told her, enjoying the way her name seemed to roll off of his tongue. “My name is Christopher, though you’re free to call me Chris if you would rather.” He introduced himself with another warm smile. When the suggestion was made, he nodded and crouched down next to the glass, gathering some of the larger pieces in his hands. “I would definitely appreciate the help, but you don’t have to~ It was my fault, after all.” He went on to say, tipping his head back to smile up at her.
I saved the best for a better ending. |
|
|
|
|
Post by Chiaki Ito on Nov 11, 2014 23:00:18 GMT
Chiaki nervously brushed some of her black hair behind her ear as she tried to sort out her nervousness. It was something that didn’t make her overbearingly nervous- but she wasn’t sure how it was exactly going to go. When he made the quick movements with his hands- she glanced up once again- having to tilt her head. He was so ridiculously tall. What was with tall people constantly knocking her over? “N-No, you didn’t hurt me. Just startled me.” She tried to mirror the grin- but it only came as a smile. She didn’t like people glancing over her like that what so ever. The college student however forced down the shudder and collected herself. It was putting the puzzle pieces back in place after someone kicked the table a bit too hard in thought. Not enough to knock it over, but enough to jostle the few pieces that weren’t securely together. As she did collect herself- her body fell back into that more relaxed state as she stood at her normal height. Her face lost the startled look and more to a calm and more neutral façade. It was something she was rather used to doing- and her studies only helped her to achieve a higher achievability rate and the fact that she could do it faster. Psychology wasn’t supposed to be for that- but she took its pro’s when she could. As he talked to the old woman she was so familiar with- she was back to normal. He seemed like a nice man, the harmless grins and the relaxed stature didn’t make her think he was exactly dangerous. The tallness didn’t help though. It reminded her how short she was compared to everyone else in America- which did a bit to make her feel self-conscious. He seemed rather kind though- so she tried to ignore it as much as possible. His tone was nicer than his appearance, which also helped matters. “Christopher. It’s very nice to meet you as well.” Americans had such strange notions of being so informal- Alexander didn’t help her settle in that much in that respect. She had learned to give her first name habitually- but she still felt awkward calling strangers by their shortened names. It made her skin crawl considering she normally used honorifics. As he knelt down- she almost opened her mouth to chide him because that could hurt his hands- but he was definitely older than her and that would be rude. Alex and he had the same problem of holding glass in bare hands apparently. Great. She already felt like she had to mother people and she hadn’t been there ten minutes. Chiaki gave him a small smile and turned her head to look for the old woman who was slowly hobbling back towards them and she quickly trotted over and took them from her with a smile- and walked back. “It’s no problem.” She said as she knelt down. She handed him the dustpan- quickly reaching out with the small hand-broom to sweep up everything neatly. “My cousin makes a mess- it’s almost a habit to always clean up after him.” Chiaki added. “It’s almost like he’s not older than me.” The joke that followed was easy to say- a familiar topic. She was used to cleaning up messes such as these- so she wasn’t bothered helping him. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind of course. She wasn’t sure how American women were supposed to react to a man so willing to help clean up his messes. The only idea she had was from cliché movies she caught the tail end of when she was browsing TV before the event.
Tag:@ Christopher Evans |
|
Job: Crime Scene Investigator |
Post by Christopher Evans on Nov 18, 2014 23:33:47 GMT
Whereas the girl he had found himself with felt nervous in the situation, Christopher didn’t really at all. Now that he knew she was fine, the last of his unease melted away as easily as mist in the morning sun. If neither of them were hurt, then everything was fine. “I’m glad.” He told her, a warmer smile expressing itself on his features thereafter. This could have gone much worse, after all. He could have knocked her back into a shelf or something. Damn. That would have been really bad. But it hadn’t happened, so he shoved the thought from his mind and moved on from it. Christopher tried not to life in ‘what-ifs’. It was something his therapist said was very important.
As his full name fell from her lips rather than the nickname he’d offered, he merely smiled and nodded. If she didn’t want to call him by the nickname that was fine, he just found ‘Chris’ much easier to say than ‘Christopher.’ Either way, it was nice to hear the full name in use. It was a name he had gotten from his father, a name he was proud of. It was also a reminder. Anyone who called him by ‘Dimitri’ was someone who didn’t need to be in his life. This rule wasn’t really necessary here, since as far as he knew all of those people were still in Boston, but he kept it in mind just case.
He watched as she trotted over to the elderly owner of the store to accept the cleaning supplies. As she crouched down next to him and began sweeping the pieces up with the broom, he placed the larger ones he had picked up before in the dustpan. He listened with a soft grin as she explained that she had to clean up after her cousin all the time. “Sounds like he needs to learn to be more careful~” Chris said, laughing easily. Cleaning, cooking, basic life skills were foreign to him really. He could microwave stuff, but the few times he’d tried his hand at cooking had been failures. And really why would he try to learn to cook? He could go to restaurants or visit his mother’s house and have his meals cooked for him. The house was rightfully his, but he had already signed it over to his younger brother. He didn’t feel right taking it, really.
|
|
|
|
Post by Chiaki Ito on Dec 20, 2014 18:44:10 GMT
She gave a slightly nervous smile back not used to meeting someone…so generally relaxed. College students were normally stressed with god knows what. On top of that, Alexander and his friends were normally trolls. So meeting someone who was rather friendly and level headed always was nice, if not a bit surprising. Christopher as he said his name was seemed in general just glad she was unharmed. From his words she assumed that anyways. Hearing his notion about Alexander she chuckled. “I don’t even know what he does half the time. He has his head in the clouds and eyes on a computer screen.” She quickly finished up- leaving all the mess in the dustpan she had gave him and gave him another smile. "I'm sure you know someone like that."“Though he does take care of himself for the most part, just have to tidy him up like a houseplant of dust.” Chiaki giggled at the thought as she stood- glad Chris and she had cleaned it up fully. “I haven’t seen you in here before...but I’m quite new to the neighborhood!” Chiaki felt it was rather easy to talk to him, so she had no reason to avoid just some basic conversation. “I come in here a lot to buy cute knickknacks. America has quite a bit of them- and they’re not all cloaked in all kinds of weird myths like back home.” Considering she had eighteen Maneki Nekos hanging around her house- she had a problem with the ‘weird’ myths she still believed.
Tag:@ Christopher Evans |
|
Job: Crime Scene Investigator |
Post by Christopher Evans on Dec 24, 2014 6:55:50 GMT
He considered the younger girl warmly as they continued to clean the mess. She seemed mature for her age to him. She was calm, and she wasn’t acting all ditzy like some people – mainly his mother – seemed to. As much as he loved his mother, he simply couldn’t be around someone who was as ditzy as she was. He got plenty of that. He raised his eyebrows slightly as she went on speak about her cousin and how he was always on the computer. Chris had never really understood why some people wanted to spend all of their time with their eyes glued to a screen. He found getting out in the world to be much more fun, but he tried not to judge anyone else based on their hobbies and interests. He snickered as she joked about cleaning her cousin like a houseplant. “Better be sure to water him too~” He joked back, giving her a one-shouldered shrug.
“This is actually my first time in here~” He told her, “I’ve been living in the area for…” He clicked his tongue as he thought. He’d been such a mess when they got here. “Four or five years, though.” He finally said, still unsure. Was it actually six? Well, it was highly doubtful that the girl would go snooping into his past and fact-checking anyway. A bit of interest appeared on his face when she commented about the myths around knickknacks wherever she was from. Some Asian country if he had to guess by the accent. “Where are you from?” He questioned, cocking an eyebrow. “And what sort of myths?” He went on to ask.
--
Chiaki Ito
|
|
|
|
Post by Chiaki Ito on Dec 27, 2014 19:32:01 GMT
Chiaki giggled slightly at the watering comment- since it was quite accurate considering the computer analyst. The raven haired girl could only take care of her ridiculous cousin. She didn’t know of his criminal persuasions, but she wouldn’t really care either way. Alexander was family- and you did what you could for family. Her family wasn’t the best- but Alexander had helped her and she had helped him. The two were as close as brother and sister. It was a wonder that they didn’t call each other by that yet. However neither really cared for social construct so they didn’t much care either way. “I’ll make sure of that, thank you.” The young woman voiced. The rest of the conversation interested her though. “Oh? I quite love the place- I’ve only been here for a few years and I come here every few weeks.” She hummed slightly at his next questions- glad the assumption wasn’t ‘oh are you Chinese’ since that was rather annoying. Her name was obviously from the east, so she guessed he already assumed though. “Japan, a little city near Shibuya.” It’s not like anyone knew where Sumidaku was- so she always went with the much larger and more recognized names. “Japanese myths. There’s a few tales about how an object that has lived long enough becomes sentiment.” She chuckled. Chiaki was used to the tales, but in America they seemed ludicrous!
Tag:@ Christopher Evans |
|
Job: Crime Scene Investigator |
Post by Christopher Evans on Jan 7, 2015 1:54:20 GMT
He grinned a bit and chuckled softly when he heard her giggle, well that was nice. It was always nice to make people laugh. “Good~” He told her upon hearing her comment. Christopher had never been particularly close to any of his cousins, but he figured if cousins were around the same age it wasn’t odd for them to be close. The biggest thing was that his cousins hadn’t been forced to put up with him in the same way that his siblings had. Picking on them at family reunions and the like basically ensured that they wouldn’t be having anything to do with him through the rest of the year.
He nodded as she explained that she came into the shop every couple of weeks. Well, that was nice. He wasn’t particularly fond of any of the shops in Georgetown, but he did like checking them out on occasion. “It’s nice in here.” He said softly, hooking his thumbs in the belt-loops of his jeans. “I’ve never been to Shibuya.” He told her, though the name did sound familiar. “I’ve been to Tokyo and Osaka, though.” He went on to say. He had went to Tokyo with his father once, and Osaka with the entire family.
Okay, but no. The thought of an old object becoming sentient was not exactly pleasant to him. Though he kept it to himself as much as he could, the male was not quite fond of anything having to do with the supernatural – he couldn’t even sit through a ghost movie. “So is it like possession, or?” He questioned. After all, there were plenty of American stories about old objects being possessed. He fought back the urge to shiver.
--
Chiaki Ito
|
|
|
|
Post by Chiaki Ito on Jan 14, 2015 4:46:43 GMT
She blinked up to him briefly- surprised that he had decided to leave America even briefly. She rarely found people who had ventured to Osaka- though she met one or two that had travelled to Tokyo. “Well, ah- what is the expression, color me surprised? I don’t meet many people here that have ventured to places in my home country. Was it for vacation?” Tokyo and Osaka were fascinating places, so she was sure that if Americans wanted a good trip they could easily go to her homeland…but she was curious if he actually learned Japanese as well. Chiaki laughed slightly at his question. “No, it’s just they grow old enough to think. They gain their own…personalities. There’s always interesting stories about them but rarely are they scary in my general opinion. Our creatures of myth are much more terrifying. Monsters and Demons- it’s quite an endless list. I don’t see many things accurately relating back to Japan in these little shops…but it’s always fun to look.” She hummed, finally coming to the full conclusion of her thoughts. “I hear stories of myth here as well but most pull from a collection of different tales- I find it fascinating really. You have tales that mix English and Scottish and even some of my homeland. However that is probably boring for most.” A small smile curved on her lips as she looked around her. “I’m terribly sorry if I’m holding you up with my myth related interests.”
Tag:@ Christopher Evans |
|
Job: Crime Scene Investigator |
Post by Christopher Evans on Jan 18, 2015 19:15:17 GMT
He grinned down at her, shrugging slightly at her question. Was that the correct use of the expression? He wasn’t sure. He hadn’t heard people use it a lot, but it sounded correct, so he wasn’t going to try and correct her or anything. Instead, he went on to answer her easier questions. “I went to Tokyo with my father on a business trip.” He said, and while his stomach twisted uncomfortably at the mention of the man, he made no outward expression of it. “So we only stayed for a few days, and I didn’t get to see any of the traditional tourist places or anything.” He explained. “The whole family went to Osaka, though, and we stayed for a couple weeks, so I saw a lot of stuff there.” He smiled warmly. He had to say one of the worst things about the toybox was not getting to leave. He had always loved traveling to different countries – at least before he had anchored himself to Boston in a different way – but that was no longer an option.
He listened as she explained what she meant about the objects developing personalities. Well, that was interesting, but still rather terrifying in his opinion. He would burn or break an intimate object with a personality faster than it could blink or whatever. He suppressed a shiver at the very thought. He wasn’t exactly sure why it bothered him so much, but it did, even if he was hiding it rather well. “Oh not at all.” He told her, waving his hand a bit as if to dispel the notion. “I have nowhere to be.” He grinned a bit and shrugged. “Which of our myths come from yours?” He went on to ask. Perhaps the conversation would shift to something slightly less spine-crawly.
--
Chiaki Ito
|
|
|
|
Post by Chiaki Ito on Feb 19, 2015 4:12:30 GMT
Ah, business. The thing that took most people to her homeland. She absently guessed that his father dabbled in something that involved technology since that’s what they were best known for. It wasn’t surprising then- at least not too surprising. Tokyo was a bustling metropolis as always. Though Osaka was lovely- her family went to basic vacations here and there- and Osaka was one of them. She gave a small nod of her head to show that she was listening intently. “It’s always fun- at least in my opinion. I love your architecture though.” ‘Your’ was more for American, but she didn’t care to rephrase. “I quite enjoy Georgia- though I would have loved to see different places as well.” She gave a small smile to Christopher. She briefly put a hand over her mouth, a polite way to show her laughter. It was a century old mannerism but she seemed to use it as if it was second nature. “I remember writing an article about how ah- Paul Bunyan and Momotaro had some similarities. There’s some other ones- but I don’t have too much knowledge on them yet. I’m doing a few studies here and there. They’re interesting.” She hummed lightly- her red eyes distantly looking at some of the things around her as she spoke. After that she glanced at him, watching him curiously. “To be honest, I haven’t met many people who have heard of our daikaiju movies though.” She paused. “Godzilla, I mean.” Godzilla was everywhere- including the very bad accent of people screaming it in the borrowed sounds. She still cringed when she heard her brother purposely say it wrong.
Tag:@ Christopher Evans |
|
Job: Crime Scene Investigator |
Post by Christopher Evans on Mar 17, 2015 23:05:44 GMT
A nod of agreement was given to the girl when she commented on how being in Osaka was fun. It was a lot of fun, and he wished he could go back. He wished he could have went to a lot of places again, but well wishful thinking wasn’t productive or whatever it was that those therapists had told him back in the day. “Georgia is pretty.” He agreed. It was pretty, in its own little quaint way. He did like the old homes, especially the one his mother lived in, even if he didn’t like the smell of them anymore. “I think you’d like Boston. There are a lot of different styles of architecture going on there.” He went on to tell her. Well, he would always prefer the city he grew up in. And he did love all of the old brick townhouses and such.
The hand placed over her mouth wouldn’t be missed, and he found himself smirking at it slightly. It was a gesture he’d seen his own mother make, and one that the women in her social circle made quite often. It looked rather cute on a younger girl, though. He leaned over carefully against the shelf, testing his weight against it before he allowed himself to relax when he was sure it would hold him. An easy laugh and a nod were given as she explained. “I haven’t heard anyone mention Paul Bunyan since I was little.” He told her, holding his hand up to his hip to express how tall he might have been at the time. “Godzilla, though, I think I watched one of those movies not too long ago.” He smirked. His mind went straight to the accented screaming of it that hers did, though he didn’t allow the amusement of the thought to appear on his features.
--
Chiaki Ito
|
|
