Jacked Up

[essence mae]

Her father had recently phoned her in via video chatting. Her mother, Elinda, wasn't doing so hot, he had said. It was a situation no one really expected, seeing as she was the closest thing to a doctor in the area. Essence wasn't anything like her mother when it came to herbs, or anything having to do with them for that matter. She remembered a few things here and there but her forte was with ships, just like her daddy.

It had been five years since she had returned to earth. She wanted to see her parents, but she had also wanted to be more successful as a bounty hunter before returning home. She wanted to have a large celebration but from the looks of things the only thing they would be having was a funeral. Essence kicked herself at that moment, placing in the coordinates to the next gate that would lead her to Earth. She laid back in her seat, staring at the ceiling of her small mono-ship, thinking about her mother. Has it really been five years? Dad said mother had been sick for nearly six months now. Why hadn't they contacted me sooner?

Her thoughts were darker than usual. Her mood was foul and she hadn't ate anything other than peppered onions for a week. The only reason she had that luxury was due to a repair she had made on some other Bounty Hunter's ship.

Essy sighed. Her father was probably expecting her to come back to Earth bursting with stories. And there were a few, but none good and all of them ended up in her getting the rotten end of the rope some way or another. Her first Bounty Head had been a small fry of merely two thousand woolongs. Once she had taken him into her ship he had started crying about his family of 12. Essence, being Essy, had believed him and uncuffed him, allowing him to be free and even promising him that she would take him to Earth.

She shook her head from anymore of the horrendous memory.


Essence had just landed on Earth. She had planned on resting awhile and took shelter in a small town-like area, hoping to find someplace cheap to eat. Soon, the red head had found a cheap enough place. It was a small shack, open to the world except for the small flaps that hung from above. Once inside she stared at the menu blankly realizing she had been here before with her mother. There had been a sick little boy here before, the son of the shop owner. That had been barely six years ago and had also been one of Essy's last visit with the sick. The boy had had some sort of pox, with the help of Elinda he had lived.

Essence grinned, Maybe they'll remember me and give me free food!

[grayson king]

→ JACKED UP // -
Grayson hadn't been on Earth long, but, he wasn't a fan already. He had gotten in the night before via his MONO racer, the Silverwing as he had dubbed it. He left it shrouded in the desert, covering over it as best he could to avoid anyone taking notice. The sun was beaming down bright today, and he decided to leave his jacket and attempt to trek his way to the nearest town. Eventually he came to a rather small town, it wasn't much of one really. He noticed a few buildings standing, not enough to really matter. To anyone else, this place would be kind of sad. But not to him, he didn't have time to worry about the misfortune of others. There wasn't even a lot of people on the streets, then again, why would there of been? Grayson simply walked along what little was left of a sidewalk, that had long since fallen into disrepair.

He approached a building that seemed to have a bit more people gravitating towards it than the others. The little shack had a redhead sitting at it, observing a menu, he saw. As he closed in, he came to the realization that it was some sort of restaurant. Which, for all intents and purposes, it couldn't of been a better place for him to come across. He was somewhat famished. He often neglected eating to whittle away at his various gigs. Sometimes the man was almost robotic in that sense, that he focused himself solely on whatever task was at hand. Finally, he approached the shack and ducked into it. He slowly strolled in, taking a seat on a stool near the counter. He saw a blackboard with the menu scrawled out and he observed it curiously.. He couldn't help but scowl, as none of the items on the menu sounded that good to him.

The man had grown up on fine cuisine, and as much as he had changed since that day, he still had a rather sophisticated palette. "Any idea what's good here, red?" The masked man asked in a rather un-energetic and bored sounding tone, as he awaited the shop owner to return to take orders.

[essence mae]

Essence's attention was drawn away from the menu as a strange looking man walked into the small hut. His attire and his helmet looked entirely out of place on the rough surface of the Earth, making one of Essy's brows rise up in curiosity. She grazed her eyes over his clothing of choice, smirking in wonder at how ridiculous he looked. She never understood the rich and chances are she never would. Her stomach growled, making her remember why she was there in the first place.

She had decided on a chicken salad croissant sandwich when the misplaced man said something in the rather vacant stall.

"Any idea what's good here, red?"

Her jaw tightened as she peered at him from under her lids, wondering why she was suppose to know what he would want. The cook eyed the two suspiciously as Essy continued her soft glare. She wasn't sure what had annoyed her with the other man. Maybe it was the nickname he had given her. Or maybe it was the ridiculous helmet. It probably had most to do with her stress level at that moment. Either way, the storm brewing in her mind couldn't be a good thing.

She sighed, willing her anger to die down for a moment as she spoke, not looking at the ridiculous, helmeted, man, "I don't know what's good. Haven't been here in a few," she said, her eyes rolling towards his direction.

Essy smiled over at the cook before telling him she'd like one chicken salad croissant. She frowned once he told her how much it would be, reaching into her pocket to find she was ten woolongs short.

crapcrapcrap! Her cheeks turned a deep red color as she looked over at the burly man with a sheepish grin,

"That's kinda pricey for a wee little sandwich, don't you think?" she batted her lids over at him. Did he not remember her? The girl that saved his son's life? Well... The girl that stood and watched as her mother saved his son's life? Where was the humanity! Her stomach growled even louder.

[grayson king]

→ JACKED UP // -
Grayson peered through the menu, awaiting some sort of response from the redhead. Finally, she spoke, turning his gaze towards her for a moment as she stated she doesn't know whats good. Then, an eye roll? He peered towards her for a moment, briefly sighing as he thought to himself, he hoped, he prayed she had some sort of criminal record so he could put her head on a fencepost if need be. But he shook it off, turning back in the direction of the cook.. He then heard the redhead make her order. So Grayson of course chimed in.

"Just give me something simple, like a cheeseburger.." He said as the cook nodded and took his order as well. It wasn't the type of food he had grown up to, but hey, it was the only thing he figured a place like this couldn't mess up. But then, it seemed that the redhead was frowning for some reason. His eyes glanced in her direction and saw her face had turned almost as red as her hair. She was complaining about the price of the sandwich, which gave Grayson his moment to roll his eyes at her. But it wasn't just that, he even heard her stomach growl somewhat.. What kind of low class harlot was this woman?

Grayson reach into his wallet, part of him briefly considered what to do in this situation. He sighed, would this take all day? He admittedly felt kind of sorry for the redhead and her money troubles but, he wasn't that nice to help, was he? And on top of it all? He hadn't eaten for a number of hours, he was hungry! And he didn't intend to wait for some peasant to pay. He pulled his money from his wallet and sat it upon the counter. "If it's no trouble to either of you. As entertaining as it would be to sit here all day and watch this girl attempt to conjure money from thin air in an attempt to pay her bill, I'd rather not wait all day.. I'd like to pay whatever amount shes short of, plus my own food." He said in a rather dry tone of voice, not even looking in the girls direction now. You couldn't tell, but he did feel sorry for the lady, though he did find it kind of pathetic as well. But not only that, he wanted to get out of this pig pen of a shop and head on his merry way, to do whatever business he came to Earth to do. So if getting rid of a little bit of spare change would move this along so he could do that? He'd be fine with it.