A Bus to Work (Open)

[Cadel Wilson]

Cale hadn't seen Cardiff in weeks by this point he had been so busy with his work. He had even rarely been in Texas, and that was a surprise to the "hero" who was now walking down the bustling streets of New York City. Cale saw his appearance in store windows as he allowed himself to be pulled by the roadway of people, and was caught unaware of how utterly awful he looked. He had a 3 o'clock shadow, messy hair, bags under his eyes, and a paler appearance then he had had only a few days ago in California. It slightly disturbed the older male, but he didn't say anything out loud about it, the loud sounds around him stifling any other sound then themselves. That didn't keep him from putting a hand to his face, feeling the prickly hairs on his chin squish down when the hand contacted them. Cale removed his hand quickly after that feeling, not wanting to be seen as more of a weirdo then he already did.

He really thought that he looked awful not only because of his facial appearance but because of what he was wearing, which was a wrinkly, white, buttoned-down shirt with a black and brown argyle vest on top of that. Cale wore casual blue jeans, white socks, penny loafers, and a beaten-down brown leather jacket that was his only protection against the cold. "God, if this job didn't pay well..." was Cale's only outside statement as he edged himself out of the wall of people crowding the streets enough to dash across the street. Cale thought he had heard some honking, probably at him, but he really didn't care. What he did care about, though, was getting to the bus station a tad early. The earliness would allow him to gather up what little bit of his sanity remained for his next delivery to another corner of the business.

Cale ran his right hand through his greasy, awful-looking hair as he sat down. He gave a small sigh, cupping his hands under his chin as he looked at the bus sign, hoping that the bus would get here soon. Cale was so absorbed in his thoughts that he really didn't notice anyone around him. He was absorbed into the worry of being late, not surprisingly. Cale got a bit calmer when he realized that if the bus was late, then it wouldn't be his fault it would be the bus' fault.

[Lana Kaine]

Lana was quite simply in search for a good caffeine fix. Being that she had never been a huge fan of coffee and that she had finally run out of cola and tea in her own house; she’d been forced to venture out. Having spent the last 6 days working on one person’s computer for a deadline she’d forgone the usual sleep patterns and created something utterly new and nonsensical. As such she had little concept of other that she’d been awake for 1 hour. Her hair was rather uncontrollable as usual and she let it be with little more than sticking a brush through it a few times. She’d thrown a random caption T-shirt on and a jacket over the top to protect her from any chill out side. Not really amazing looking, but she had been stuck inside living of caffeine and junk food for 6 days straight slaving over some idiot’s computer; as such she didn’t care.

She managed to weave thorough the crowds outside with ease, she’d only been here for a few months but getting through crowds was one of the very first things that she learnt. Otherwise she would have been squashed 2 seconds after exiting her building. She made a direct Bee-line for the bus station, intending to take it to some place she could get a lot of food fast. Times like these she missed home when you didn’t have to travel far to find good pub food in a local bar. Albeit, she didn’t drink alcohol – that didn’t change that fact that she missed the food however. Lana however was accustomed to life of forgetting to cook... or for that matter, buying ingredients, so she had a vast list of places she’d go for food when she decided microwave meals and random raw fruit and vegetables weren’t sufficient.

The bus station was rather dead, to the point where she wished she had checked the time before she left. She didn’t fancy eating breakfast and few restaurants served anything but until after 11. Putting that thought to the back of her mind she brought the schematics of the thoroughly broken computer sitting in several parts on her living room floor, why the old man didn’t by another computer was utterly beyond her. Having made the trip to the bus stop several times, she made it to an unoccupied seat without really thinking about it, only emerging from her thoughts when she was sat comfortably to have a glance around at the other people here. Closest too her was a man who looked like he had had even less sleep than she had – which given the state of the last weeks was something she hadn’t been expecting. For once however she managed to bite her tongue before telling the poor man he didn’t look to good, instead offering him a smile – she did however miss Wales when she would pretty much know everyone who was near the bus stop after visiting in 5 times, people were too unfriendly here for her liking. Sleep deprivation had one use then, it made Lana a little more polite to people over here.

[Cadel Wilson]

Cale rubbed his eyes with his index and thumb fingers of both hands. He had had his eyes closed when Lana had sat down near to him, and that, combined with not really focusing to who was leaving and going made him not notice her, really. Cale gave a small yawn, covering his mouth with his hand absentmindedly. He was desperately sleepy by this point, having had his last night rudely interrupted by several phone calls that were "emergency" phone calls.

They didn't sound like any sort of emergency, at least to him, and it made him slightly angry that they would bother him with that during the night. Cale's cell phone started to ring as he thought, the simple ring turning the heads of a few little old ladies and apparently very annoyed people. He gave a small apologetic smile, taking a black, beat up, and practically antique cell phone out of his pocket. Cale flicked it open and put it to his ear, saying something quickly to the person on the other line. It was a short conversation, Cale shutting the phone off before the man on the other line got to the other point that he wanted to discuss. "Buggers," he said, his English accent coming out and accentuating the word slightly.

Cale leaned back on the bench slightly, letting out a short puff of annoyed air. Since his bosses had made the very important decision of telling him he had a free day today right as he was at the bus station, he was now wondering what to do. Cale kind of didn't want to go home right now, his hunger for something to eat kind of coming out. He satisfied himself currently by looking around at the people that surrounded him at the bus station. Cale noticed that a few were giving him sympathetic looks, as if he was some kind of homeless person. He was perfectly fine, perfectly composed until he saw Lana, and how close he was to her. Cale couldn't help the little jolt that followed, nearly making him fall out of his seat. "Oh! Oh sorry!" he immediately said for his little jolt. Cale wasn't sure if she had heard him, but didn't mind either way.

[Lana Kaine]

Lana wasn't surprised when the man didn’t notice her at first; it was pretty standard in the town not to be noticed. People always had so much on their mind. His phone ringing kicked her out of her own thoughts before she started complaining about things in her own mind. Something which she was a little thankfully for, it was best not to let her get into a rant or she would probably start doing it whilst pacing. Giving everyone a good reason to think the small red head was crazy.

It was after the call that caught her attention- whether it had just been her luck but she had not run into a single person from the United Kingdom since she had come here. And now one was sitting right next to her swearing about someone down the phone. Sometimes life was so strangely random around her that she’d even gotten used to strange situations. That and the fact she could set fire to things, had just gotten a job in a company of which that was normal; strange had become a relative term. They seemed to be giving her a nice amount of time to get settled in before giving her a job of any kind, something she was not complaining about. She wanted to at least get to know some people around here before she started running around for them.

The man next to her jolted her out of her thoughts again; she shook her head a little as her mind righted itself for perhaps the 10th time today. Another thing of which she blamed the sleep deprivation on. Yes she rambled – but not usually this bad. She shook her head at his apology, “It’s ok really.” Her accent was a great deal strong than his, more welsh than English but then she’d lived down south her entire life. She laughed as she put her hand out to steady him in case he nearly fell of his seat again. She’d been consumed in her own thoughts again and hadn’t even been paying attention to him before he’d nearly fallen of his seat. She looked at him with obvious concern, she was a worrier by nature and it showed. Plus the man looked like he had seen a ghost. “Are you Ok?”

[Cadel Wilson]

Cadel only blinked when he heard the woman starting to speak. He hadn't heard an accent like that in quite a while, and so it was a bit of a shocker to hear one, especially in America. Cadel felt the urge to slap himself on the head when he went over what he had thought. New York City was a cosmopolitan city, a city that attracted many people from around the globe. Why should it be so odd for someone to meet someone from their own country. Cadel gave a small internal sigh as he saw her hand go out to steady the probably older male. It was a bit embarrassing, but it was what he had been reduced to over the past couple of days. Cadel heard her laugh, and couldn't help but give out a chuckle of his own.

He met the girl's eyes with his tired, slightly puffy own eyes. Cadel knew his eyes must look awful, being nearly bloodshot, puffed, and having dark circles under them. That combined with whatever else was off about his appearance made him slightly ashamed with his appearance. When she started to ask if he was alright, he look at her and he could tell that she was a worrier. Cadel had had a number of his friends be worriers, and this woman fit the description perfectly. He didn't ask her if she was a worrier out loud to confirm his hypothesis, of course, because that would be, probably, irreversibly rude. Cadel felt a cold breeze sweep past the bus station, a breeze that made him feel a bit more relaxed. That was the good thing about fall- it made him much more relaxed then he would be normally.

"Ah yes, I'm fine," Cadel finally replied with a smile and a laugh to her question about whether or not he was fine. The corners of his lips lifted a bit, making a tired smile that made him seem older than he really was. Cadel couldn't tell how old he looked right now, but he had seen himself smile similarly in the mirror back home so he knew he probably looked older. That was both a gift and a curse, one more then the other in different situations. He took a closer look at the woman's face, seeing a bit of tiredness in her face as well. "Pardon me if I am being rude, miss, but are you feeling alright?" he asked back, his polite English tone completely overtaking his voice.

[Lana Kaine]

Lana tried to stop being so concerned, her father had never understood why she always seemed to get worked up about other people’s problems and completely forget her own. Several times she’d utterly forgotten about her own problems to fix someone else’s, it was one of the reasons why she would slave away at a computer for six days straight without taking much time to eat real meals. Even Lana couldn’t convince herself that biscuits and crisps count as food for more than a few days. Even a few days was starting to push it. Her stomach had even taken to making noise about her food preferences. Although this guy did look in worse shape than she did, it did have the tendency to make her not feel so bad at the fact she looked a mess.

“That’s alright then,” she answered in quite a sarcastic tone in response to him saying he was fine, “Because for a minute there you very nearly fell of a stationary object.” She carried on smile as she was speaking, hoping he wouldn’t take offense. The factor she was pretty much always a little perky and occasionally sarcastic, some people got offended by it. Also even though she was exhausted she still managed to be the same. Also the six nights of working on her computer had meant that she hadn’t actually spoken to a single person since she was given the job over a week ago, she was currently quite prone to rambling.

“Six nights of erratic sleeping patterns, spliced with staring at ridiculously blown up parts of computer which is currently scattered about my living room floor.” She sighed, flicking a chunk of hair out of her face absent mindedly, she barely even noticed it any more seeing as she had done the same thing about 30 times a day when your bent over a computer. “I don’t usually look this exhausted and awful.” She shrugged gesturing to her clothes which were pretty much obviously just thrown on in four seconds flat, after a second of looking at her clothes she became a little self conscious. “And Feel free to shut me up if I’m rambling at you…”

[Cadel Wilson]

Honestly, Cadel was happy that there was another person who looked as bad as he did. Well, she didn't look as bad, she looked quite better then he did, actually, according to his own opinion at least. Cadel was still a bit ticked at the guy on the phone that he had been talking to earlier, the man who had said right as the teleporter had been going to work that he wasn't needed today. He knew he should have been expecting it though, even his superiors had commented on how tired he had looked. Cadel gave a small, thoughtful smile, looking upwards a bit as he put a hand to his unshaven chin, saying just as thoughtfully, "That's true, perhaps I am a bit off today, no?"

He knew that normal people would make a snide comment and turn back around, usually, if spoken to as sarcastically as the way that the woman had talked to him. However, Cadel knew that all the things that she said were true, he needed to be slightly worried to due that little incident with the chair. Half of it was just his clumsiness and half was his tiredness. If he hadn't been so tired he probably wouldn't have nearly fallen out of his chair. Cadel had seen way too many people during his travels over the past couple of days, heard too many strange languages for his liking as well. It was during those times that he wished that he had been born with a gift for languages, not for making wormholes.

What snapped him out of his thoughts was her talking about what had gone over with her for the past couple of days. No matter how much Cadel tried to push it down he felt a bit sorry for the woman who was talking about him. Compared to what he had to go through, in his own head of course, he thought that he didn't even compared to what he had gone through. Though, for the sake of keeping the conversation alive he decided to share a fraction of what he had gone through. "Oh no, your not rambling at all, if you are curious I've been in 7 countries the past two weeks due to business, so I'm pretty worn out myself," Cadel replied with a smile, a genuine smile of patience and calm that was rarely on his face nowadays.

[Lana Kaine]

Lana was pretty shocked at the fact he had been too seven countries in such a small time. She’d only ever really been home and here. She’d always meant to travel more, but it had never been something there was time for. Something always seemed to get in the way and the point that she would have to be on a plane for an excessive amount of hours was enough to make her shiver violently. Even though she had only been on one of them before the idea of even seeing one was enough to freak her out – heck even trains where bad enough. The fastest transport she would ever go near was a bus or a car – anything that went of the floor was just not right. “7 countries? In only 2 Weeks?” She shook her head still being unable to fathom it, “I couldn’t imagine doing that, It took be a week to get over just getting here!”

When the man smiled it seemed to take a deal of his age off him, his bedraggled and tired state was probably adding a few years two him. But then travelling so far would probably do that to any one, no matter how well the accommodations at each place. “Suddenly slaving away over a computer doesn’t seem so bad anymore.” She nodded before tapping her chin thoughtfully for a second, “Although it was probably more infuriating. Those last 7 days of working where utterly futile and I’m not even close to finishing it.” she rolled her eyes whilst smiling. Even though it was pointless she would keep trying until she got stressed enough to throw the machine out the window.

She leaned back in her chair before offering him her hand, having realised she been sat speaking to him for a while about her life and his of the last few weeks and she hadn’t actually introduced herself to him. She put it down to the stress of the computer, she’d rarely be so rude in a conversation – even with a strangers. Her father had pretty much told her to be polite in all situations even if you hate the person. He would probably hit her over the head for this, which alone was enough to bring a smile on to her fact when she introduced herself. “I’m Lana.”

[Cadel Wilson]

Cadel laughed at her response, noting in his head how loony if must have sounded to say what he had been doing the last couple of weeks. He was recovering from seven cases of massive jet lag, one from each country that he visited rapidly. "Yes, thankfully though I am due to be here for a couple of weeks, meaning I get the chance to recover, hopefully, anyway," he responded after a chuckle or two from her comments. Cadel could stand getting in a plane, so traveling in a plane so much really didn't bother him. Well, it didn't bother him in some parts, in other parts, such as plane safety, he was scared stiff. Cadel wasn't too fond of the idea of a plane crashing, although he knew he probably could just teleport out of there. It wouldn't be a good experience though, and Cadel knew it.

"I do have to agree with the infuriating part, staying cooped up in a room doesn't sound good at all," Cadel replied cooly, his index and thumb finger lifting up his glasses a bit while simultaneously putting pressure on a sinus area. "Sorry, bad allergies," he apologized swiftly. While Cadel was doing this, he was listening to the woman. From what she said, he could deduce that she was a workaholic similar to himself on some occasions. It made him feel a bit better to be talking with someone who seemed to know infuriation as well as he did at this point. Cadel didn't even notice he had started to go into his own thoughts, until the sound of a police siren made him jump a bit, forcing him out of his state of mind.

He got out of his head right when the woman offered him her hand, taking it with a gentler grip then a normal man would. It occurred to Cadel in that one moment that he had not told her his name. He didn't want to appear rude to such a kind woman, and was glad when she introduced herself. Normal men would have wanted to go first, but Cadel was fine going second. Second is the best, right? "Cadel, Cadel Wilson. Nice to meet you, Lana," he introduced himself, giving her hand a small shake before letting it go.

[Lana Kaine]

“My Apartment isn’t exactly huge, and my living room is starting to become more and more alike to a closet.” She shivered slightly at the thought of going back to work. After a good meal and a huge glass of caffeine however she’d probably be itching to run back to it. She tilted his head to one side as he complained about allergies; it was one thing she never seemed to get. Her father however was always complaining about being allergic to something or something else. But then his way of fixing it left every single room in his house smelling of tiger balm, it was enough to get into everyone who ever even walks near the houses head.

Lana shook his hand, surprised how gentle his grip was. Most men seemed to pride themselves on how hard they could grab some ones hand. For whatever reason Lana would never come to understand. “Nice to meet you Cadel.” She leaned back in her seat, relaxing a little, taking a few seconds to try and organize her hair into a tidy position. She did consider growing it out at some point; meaning she could at least tie it back tidily. But then she would actually have to look after it more than she currently did, something she was not planning to do unless there were some serious bonus’s to it.

“So what brings you here then, surely in 7 countries you must of found something a little more interesting that a New York bus station?” Lana did slightly curse her fear of planes... and boats… and virtually any transportation barring simple road vehicles. She’d always wanted to go to a few other places, anywhere than was more interesting than where she had been so far. Although she did have to admit, New York was seriously growing on her, namely because there were several good places to eat, and a good half of them where able to deliver. She shook herself out of her thoughts, realizing she was probably being obsessed with food due to the fact she was hungry.

[Marious Esmund]

As he held onto her hands they started to break apart, turning into a thousands specks of dust floating the fleeting wind. He chased after the wind madly, chasing to a cliff where he jumped over the edge.

A loud 'thunk' was heard as Marious bashed his foot against the side of the bus. He had fallen asleep on it, yet again, since he fell asleep before he could find a place to pass out like he normally would.

He thought back to the night before, the fight he had had with Vivian, he couldn't remember what it was about exactly, but he did know that he was the one that stormed out, passing through the shadows and ending up five streets over. Even though he had access to a secret world of shadows he couldn't be in there long, it just wasn't a place you wanted to stay in overnight.

The bus had pulled to stop in front of yet another stop. Finally awake he took the time to look himself over. Brown hair neatly in place? Check. Clothes? A little bit wrinkled but nothing too bad, he was still presentable. His white face and baggy eyes? Nobody could miss them, it made it seem like he wasn't outside for months on end and that he just left some sort of Insane Asylum.

He looked out the window, a hot little number seemed to be at the stop. 'The day is looking better already.' Marious said to himself.