Catching up to do [Open]

[Hunter]

Drops of rain could be heard pelting the pavement and rooftops of the houses and buildings of Floaroma Town, even from the corner of a local cafe, far away from the door. In said corner was a small round table with two chairs on either side. The view of one of those chairs was obstructed by a large copy of The Prerequisite newspaper that was being held up in front of it.

Hunter had had his eyes buried in the newspaper for the past hour or so. He needed to catch up on the latest news after spending the past 3 days scouring Eterna Forest, searching for a felon who had escaped from Jubilife Prison. During this time away from civilization, he hadn't had access to any sort of news on the worlds latest happenings, and so, following a successful apprehension of the felon, Hunter had decided to make a short stop in Floaroma Town to relax for a little while, and catch up on the worlds latest events.

Hunter's reading was suddenly interrupted by a voice who said, "Here's your coffee sir." Hunter lowered the paper down, exposing his face, and saw a waitress place a coffee mug on the table, steam rising from the mug. A slight smile appeared on Hunter's face as he said quietly, "Thanks." He then waited a few seconds for the beverage to cool down, before he lifted the mug up and took a small sip. Setting the mug back down, his eyes immediately darted back towards the newspaper as he scanned the microscopic words and titles looking for where he had been reading before being interrupted.

[delilah]

She hated rain. Fuck, she hated bad weather in general -- it screwed up her hair, got her clothes dirty, made beer taste bad, ruined her day -- so when she found herself stuck in Floaroma without an umbrella and with a mission that required checking out the flower field, it only served to reason that she was the unhappiest camper there was.

Delilah wanted to break someone's nose.

The woman pushed into the cafe, dripping with rainwater, before wringing out her hair and taking off her thick coat. She waved at a waitress, murmuring hot chocolate. The waitress took one look at the woman's ready-to-murder expression and the sopping nature of her clothing and simply nodded before running off. Delilah scanned the cafe before finding someone she recognized.

Funny. She didn't think him the type.

Sliding into the seat opposite him, she took the menu and began to read through it.

(i .. figured she would know who he was, even though it may not ring true the other way around.)
Hunter

[Hunter]

As he was reading an article about a recent scientific discovery, Hunter heard someone sit down close by. The sound of the chair sliding out and back seemed a bit too close to be coming from another table in the café, and Hunter lowered his newspaper to see if his suspicions were correct, and sure enough, he noticed a young woman making herself comfortable in the seat directly across from him. Hunter immediately noticed that the woman's facial expression didn't suggest that she was in a good mood, at all, and while he was irritated at being somewhat interrupted by this woman, he figured that being vocal about said irritation probably wasn't a good idea. Instead, the Sentinel lowered his newspaper and asked the woman in a calm tone, "Is there something I can help you with?"

(Not so sure that she would know him, since a lot of the work that sentinels do is quite gruesome, and probably wouldn't be publicized)

[delilah]

She didn't glance up from the menu in her right hand, her left placed neatly on her lap. "I figured some company would be nice." For her, of course. Conversation would hopefully take her mind off of the rain outside. There were times when she vaguely cared about the comfort of the people around her; then there were times, like now, that she really just couldn't give a damn. The waitress returned with her mug of hot cocoa, which she drank with a large sigh of satisfaction. Then she placed down the cup and gestured at the menu. "Let's have a bit of that apple pie."

Delilah waved the other woman away before leaning back in her chair, regarding the man in front of her with open curiosity. "Nice hair," she remarked. Not as bright as hers -- nor as obnoxious, considering his wasn't half pink -- but nice all the same. "What's your name?"

(lol she's still an active part of lux and has been for years so unless he never shows his face re:ever he'd probably be vaguely familiar)
Hunter

[Hunter]

Hunter was slightly relieved that he appeared to have been mistaken about the woman's mood. So far, at least her tone and words didn't appear to match the expression on her face. Of course, that still didn't change the fact that the Sentinel still wished to be left alone. He had chosen to sit at a table in the back corner of the café for a reason after all. Still, he valued respect over privacy and would try as hard as he could not to show any irritation, and planned on answering her questions as respectfully as possible.

His hair? Well Hunter had never really paid much attention to his hair, other than washing it. He didn't care what it looked like as long as it didn't smell bad, so it was actually quite surprising to hear someone say that his hair looked nice, considering how little attention he paid to it. He supposed a response was in order and so he said, "Thanks, I guess." The woman then asked him what his name was. Knowing that it would be anything but respectful to not respond with something other than a direct answer, the Sentinel replied, "It's Hunter. What might yours be?"

[delilah]

She snorted. "You guess?" Delilah was of the opinion that appearances mattered -- there was a reason Scruffy McHobopants wasn't the one to succeed in life. "You should be proud." The woman leaned back in her chair, pulling at her still-wet clothing. "I'm Delilah. What're you doing here by yourself, Hunter Nice-Hair?" She raised a slightly amused eyebrow at him as if to continue, but was interrupted by the arrival of her apple pie.

"Mm, yes." Momentarily ignoring Hunter in favor of the wonderful-smelling slice of cinnamon goodness before her, deftly eating it with one hand. She took a few bites of it before glancing up at the man opposite her. "Want some?" she mumbled around a mouthful of pie. Delilah swallowed. "I guess I'd be willing to share."

Hunter

[Hunter]

Hunter let out a slight sigh as Delilah berated him for so casually responding to her comment about his hair. There was absolutely nothing to gain from him caring about what his hair looked like. His job involved many things such as criminal apprehension, investigation, and torture, and keeping his hair looking nice would only take valuable time away from those things. Even so, Hunter didn't do anything other than the sigh to respond to this. Getting into an argument over hair care would make it seem like he cared more about it than he actually did.

In response to Delilah asking him if he wanted a slice of the Apple Pie that she had ordered. He politely responded by saying, "No thank you, a cup of coffee is all I need." On that note, Hunter reached down, picked up his coffee mug, and took a small sip. He set the mug back down and turned his attention to another one of Delilah's questions and said in response, "I'm just here for some R&R, I've spent the past 3 days working in the forest, and just wanted to take a few hours of rest here."

[delilah]

The woman rolled her eyes. Sighing -- was that really all he had to respond with? (It was a pity to let such hair go to waste, really.) Eyeing him, she had the distinct urge to dress him up; he would make a very nice woman, she decided. He had the hair, as she'd already established, and his face wasn't that bad either.

Alas, one did not simply go around and put makeup on men.

She grinned when he turned down the pie. "Awesome." Picking up the fork once more, she took another bite. "More for me." The woman continued to eat as she listened to his response, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "Forest?" she echoed. "In this shitty weather?" Her heart went out to him. "Doing what?"

Hunter

[Hunter]

Well, luckily for Hunter, the weather had only just gone downhill, so in the three days that he had spent in Eterna Forest, the weather had been relatively cooperative if not a bit chilly, as was typical for much of the Sinnoh region. In any event, the Sentinel wouldn't have been bothered that much by bad weather in the forest anyway. He had spent a decent amount of his childhood as a street beggar where he had been exposed to many different elements that mother nature had decided to throw at him, and was used to dealing with bad weather without having any kind of shelter. Thankfully, those days were behind him, but if there was an upside to that kind of experience, that was it.

Hunter wasn't exactly happy that Delilah had decided to follow up her question about where he was with one about what he was doing. Sure, he his main job seemed simple enough on first glance, track down an escaped convict, apprehend him, and 'escort' him back to the proper authorities. However, the methods which Hunter had found to be necessary to complete these tasks, weren't exactly clean. During this mission the convict had been mutilated quite badly, and possibly paralyzed from the waste down (which had made it that much harder to 'escort' him out of the forest). This was the kind of stuff that Hunter did not wish to make public, nor did his superiors. If word had gotten out about what had happened, Nox would surely seize on the story, to paint Lux in an increasingly negative light.

Because of all this Hunter needed to try and paint his response to Delilah in a casual non-important way, and so he said, "Nothing too serious, just volunteering to help local officials with a project." A half truth if there ever was one. Hunter had in fact helped out local officials, but it was on a very serious matter, not a simple 'project' and he hadn't 'volunteered' for it.

[delilah]

She could tell his words were carefully chosen, despite the nonchalant way he said it. Specifically unimportant, enough to deter further inquiry from your average conversationalist, but vague enough for her to get the message. Delilah held up a hand as a sign of peace, shrugging. "You don't want to tell me, I got it." It was just a point to talk on, anyway; she didn't particularly care about it. (Not enough to pursue the topic.) Instead, she finished off the rest of the apple pie with a satisfied sigh. "This is amazing," she mumbled, taking a sip of her drink. "You should seriously try some."

The woman waved over the waitress for a refill, placing another order for the heavenly combination of apple-and-cinnamon in a crust. Delilah raised an eyebrow at Hunter. "How about you?" she offered. He had refused her last time, but drinking nothing but coffee was a sad, sad way to spend a rainy day in a cafe -- especially after a three-day stint in the forest. "I'll even pay for it." Wasn't she so generous? "It's not like you're going to keel over dead because of some pie." Hopefully.

Hunter

[Hunter]

Delilah seemed quite insistent upon asking Hunter to eat something. Even to the point where she was willing to pay for it. What the Sentinel was confused by was what she would stand to gain from paying for a snack just so that he would eat it. After all the only thing that would happen to her was that she would lose out on a few bucks, regardless of whether or not Hunter decided to take her up on the offer. Still, it wouldn't be polite to say no, and it would possibly get her off his back about it. If Hunter refused, he doubted that this would be the last time she bugged him about it. So he simply said, "If you insist, I guess I will."