Productive Day

Who: Jovie and Hunt
When: Early evening
Where: Kalos Jewelry

With her computer on the fritz, according to the Nerd Genius, Jovie spent the next day simply focused on fine tuning the smaller details of her shop, including finishing scrubbing the floors and shelving, and unpacking her inventory. It was a tedious process without her computer, and she had to mark everything by hand, which took a lot longer than she would have liked. She could have waited until her computer was back, but patience was never one of Jovie's strong points and this way she could simply plug in her computer when it was returned to her and be ready to go rather than push everything back an extra day.

She worked well into evening in her small back storage room, enjoying the storm that raged outside of the shop. It calmed her as she worked, even if the occasional clap of thunder and flash of lightening had her lights flickering quite a bit. She'd have to get the electrical wiring checked, just in case the electricity was prone to going out in these kinds of storms. Finally, with the storage area more or less clean and organized, Jovie grabbed the small cardboard box of cleaning supplies and carried it into the front of the store along with the clipboard holding her checklist. The figure standing under the stone awning above her doorway caught her eye immediately and she paused a moment, internally debating what to do before she set the box down on the counter top. Pulling off the yellow rubber gloves, she walked over to the front door where the guy was standing with his back to her. "Can I help you?" she asked, peering outside past the guy to where the rain was pounding along the sidewalks and streets.

Rain or not, Mutt had needed to be walked - though it had taken Hunt a good half hour to get the pure bred spaniel out the damned door, covering as the dog had been underneath the bed due to the thunder and lightning. But Hunt hadn't been willing to risk being woken up at 2am by a dog desperate to make a visit to the back yard and then play for the rest of the night like a hyperactive thing he could be at times and so he'd dragged them both out and into the pouring rain.

He had hoped that it would ease off a little, but there'd been no joy at that - and neither did his coat protect him that much against the pouring rain. Eventually, the thirty-something man had taken shelter from the rain for a few under the awning of a shop. He'd assumed it was closed and actually jumped a little as the door opened and a woman was talking to him. He turned. "Sorry - just sheltering from the rain. Doesn't look like it's stopping any time soon though."

Jovie glanced at him, and then down at the dog that was sitting pretty obediently in front of it's owner. She really had a few options. Tell him to get his ass moving along, let him stay under the awning, or be the good samaritan and let himself for a bit. Her nails tapped against the side of the door for a moment as she debated what to do. Finally, she pulled the door open and stepped back. It was a new town, after all, and she'd want to get to know as many of the locals as she could, right? "Well, you're free to come inside for a few, if you want. It's a bit dryer in here. Your dog can come in too." Which meant mopping the floor again when they left, but she didn't think he'd be willing to leave the dog outside. Pet owners were strange like that.

"You sure?" Hunt asked, but stepped inside anyway, unzipping his coat to reveal a blue shirt underneath that was damp around the collar. He was practically dripping on the floor as he ran a hand through his hair to get rid of the excess. "Damn - I need a towel," he said, laughing at himself. He really was a state. "I'm Hunt - and this is really appreciated. I don't do a very good mer impression."

"Sure, I'm sure. Can't leave you just standing out in the rain, can I?" Jovie told him with a smile before turning to head back toward the counter. Exuding hospitality was always important. "I don't have any towels...well, I do, but they're filthy from all the cleaning. But these might work. At least enough to get your hands and face dry." She dug through the cardboard box and pulled out a roll of paper towels before turning around and offering them to him. She glanced down at the dog, who was currently contributing wet dog smell to her shop. "You're an awfully dedicated owner to be walking your dog in this weather."

Hunt took the towels and did his best to dry off his face, hands and round his neck. "Not so much dedicated as I know what he's like if he doesn't get walked of an evening - he'll get restless at about 3am and that's it for the rest of my night's sleep," he told her, shaking his head. NOt that he got all that much sleep anyhow - and some nights he was grateful for Mutt waking him from his nightmares. He'd long ago learnt to exist on a few hours a night. Hunt scrunched up the used towels and looked round for a bin, noting the number of boxes scattered around. "You new in town?" he asked her.

She eyed the dog briefly before looking back at Hunt. "Brand spanking new actually," she confirmed with a nod before taking the wet towels from him and carrying them to the trash can behind the counter. "I got here a couple days ago. It's been an interesting transition, I can tell you that much." Fliers of missing kids, spooked locals and police all over the place. It held it's own sense of chaos, which she was currently really enjoying. Jovie resisted tearing off a few more paper towels to wipe up the water he'd trailed in and around his feet. She could do that later. "What about you? Have you lived here long?" Polite, getting to know you chit chat bored her, but sometimes it was a necessity to get past it to get to the good stuff.

"Ten years, give or take - I came here after graduating college, from the est coast and I've been here ever since," he told her openly, felling much more himself now that he was slightly drier and he shurgged off his coat, pausing as he realised he didn't know what to do with it - and in the end he just folded it wetside in on itself and hung it over his arm. He kept half an eye on Mutt to make sure he didn't wander off and start causing chaos, but the dog looked happy to lie down on the floor, a mess of miserable wet fur, head on paws. "How about you - where do you hail from? And what brought you to our town?"

Coming back around the counter, she leaned casually back against it. "I'm from Wisconsin." She never counted Pennsylvania as being her hometown anymore. "I was starting to get a little bored, so I decided a change of pace and scenery would be nice. A nice little town with a small population. I love getting to know people, and places like this are perfect for that," she told him with a smile. "So here I am. It's been kind of chaotic, getting the store ready for opening and everything, but so far everyone I've met has been extremely welcoming. You said you came here after college. Any particular reason? Family? Career?"

"No real reason - much the same as yours, actually," Hunt said, moving on from the question - one that he didn't much care for and never did. He could never put his finger on it, but it always made him uncomfortable - probably because he and his family weren't on best terms - to say the least. In fact, he hadn't spoken to them at all for over a decade. And they'd made no attempts to contact him either. It all added up to something best left unsaid. "But Marquette's generally a nice place - quiet, definitely a backwater, but if you like that kind of thing it's a wonderful home." And it was clear that Hunt did like that kind of thing.

Jovie studied him for a moment. An interesting non-answer. He didn't want to answer truthfully, and that was okay with her. She didn't really need him to say it out loud. "Thankfully I do like that kind of thing. Owning a small business, it's much easier to establish relationships with the people who pass through, which is what I prefer rather than say a bigger city with faces I'll probably never see more than once. If you don't mind my asking, what do you do for a living, here in this backwater?" Jovie asked, projecting genuine interest as she grinned at him.

"I teach history over at the high school," he told her. "Mostly American, some world - try to get at least some of my students interested, though some days it feels like an uphill struggle. And, of course, at the moment it's harder than usual - recent events have been hitting them hard," he said with a look of true sympathy for the kids. They shouldn't have to live through this - that had always been the wonderful thing about Marquette for Hunt, all the horrible things in the world seemed to happen elsewhere.

"An educator. One of the most underappreciated jobs there is. And funnily enough, American History was actually my favorite subject in school," Jovie said. "Really the only class that I wanted to pay attention to." Her eyes shifted to the window as lightening flashed outside again. "I'm guessing you're referring to the missing kids? I've seen some of the fliers. It was kind of shock to see when I finally got here to settle in. And out of place for this kind of environment. But it seems like the kind of town where it would hit everyone a bit hard, even those removed from it. Were any of them your students?" Some people tended to get uncomfortable and clam up when discussing tragic events. Some found discussing the situation therapeutic. Given he was a teacher and dealt with kids everyday, he was probably closer to it than some.

He smiled a little, but there was little humour in it, given the subject, but there was a natural reaction to her describing his job as underappreciated - it was what came after that saddened him. "Yes, I'd had three of them through my class at one time or another," he told her. "And so hard on the heels of last week's tragedy as well - though you may not have heard about that. This has been a hard time for the town and yes, it's hit the whole community hard."

Jovie nodded and frowned, the picture perfect image of a sympathetic woman sharing a sense of grief. She really just wanted to shake her head. Parents really ought to keep a closer eye on their kids, teenagers or not. In a town like this, Jovie was sure boredom ran rampant, leading to stupid choices and horrible consequences. "Though I try to avoid the news at all costs, I've read a tiny bit of it from the local paper. It's obvious these kinds of things rarely happen here, given all the coverage. I wish there was something I could do to help. But sometimes in these situations all you can do is wait and pray and hope that the police will do their jobs properly and bring those kids home safely, you know?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Hunt agreed - he was a big one for leaving things to the police. Let them handle that which they were trained to do. Hunt didn't get involved. He'd stand on the sidelines and pick up the pieces, hold hands and listen to peoples fears, but he'd never been one to be out there looking - there was nothing he could do apart from, as she'd said, hope and pray.

The conversation had definitely become a downer, but she assumed that was going to be happening for awhile in this place, at least until there was some resolution to the matter, or something else happened to shift attention away from it. Maybe she could help with that in some sense. Jovie crossed her arms against her chest and sighed a bit before giving him a small smile. "Would you like me to give you a ride home? I can't imagine standing around, wet, in a fairly vacant shop with a stranger is your ideal way of spending your evening."

Hunt raised an eyebrow. Now, wasn't that a surprise? He gave a lift home to one woman this afternoon, now he was being the one offered a ride tonight. "I'm sure you have a lot to be getting on with - I wouldn't want to impose..." he told her, but it wasn't a 'no'.

Jovie shook her head and pushed away from the counter. "Not an imposition at all, I promise you. I'm actually finished up for the day in here, I think, so I'm going to be leaving anyway." There wasn't much else she could do without her computer. "So it makes sense to give you a ride, especially as it seems like the rain isn't going to be letting up any time soon." She shot him a smile over her shoulder as she wandered back toward the office area to grab her bag and jacket. "What do you say?"

"Well, I can't turn down an offer like that - and Mutt would love you forever, though I'll warn you that you're car'll smell of wet dog," he told her, raising his voice slightly as she headed into the back, just so she could still hear him. "But, thank you very much - it's really appreciated." Oh yeah, not going back into that rain? Great plan.

"Well, if giving you a ride earns me Mutt's everlasting love, I'll gladly deal with the wet dog smell in my car," Jovie called out to him, though she wrinkled her nose in slight disgust as she picked up her jacket from the back of her chair. She hated wet dog smell. She'd just have to air out her car when it stopped raining. Walking back out front, she slid her jacket on and gave Hunt another bright smile. "And you're very welcome. It's good for karma, you know." She picked up her purse and stood in front of him. "Ready? I'm just parked right outside, so minimal walking in the rain."

Hunt pulled a little on Mutt's leash and the dog sat up, looking up expectantly, then cowering a little as he realised they were going back out into the storm. "Come on - we're getting a ride home," Hunt told him, as though that would make a difference. He knew he may well ahve to drag the dog back out until they got to the car. Oh well. He looked back to Jovie. "Karma, really?" he asked, looking highly amused. "I'll remember that," he added as they headed out and he slipped his damp jacket back on, zipping it up and turning the collar up - like that would make any real difference.

She had her keys ready and unlocked the doors with a quick press of a button. The headlights flashed and she hurried through the rain to open the back door for his dog. "I'm telling you, do a good deed and you'll be rewarded. I've found that from experience," she told him, raising her voice a bit over the storm as she jogged around the back of her car and back to the driver's side. She much preferred people ripe with bad deeds coming into her shop. They were the ones she truly loved selling to.

Mutt perked up when he realised that he was being run towards a vehicle and as Hunt wrenched the door open, the dog eagerly scrabbled inside - and then shook himself vigorously over the upholstery. "Mutt!" Hunt exclaimed as he climbed into the front. He looked over at Jovie apologetically. "I am so sorry. Really - he's... going to be in a lot of trouble for that." He was highly embarrassed was what he was, since she was being kind enough to give them a lift home and all.

Jovie laughed and shook her head, glancing over her shoulder at the dog that was seemingly in a much better mood. "It's okay, really. I needed to give my car a cleaning as it was." Wet, smelly dog! She looked over at Hunt and reached for her seatbelt, clicking it into place before she turned the car on. "Don't be too harsh on him. I didn't offer him any paper towels, after all." Pulling away from the curb, she flicked on the windshield wipers. "Where in town do you live?"

"It's not far," Hunt told her before reeling off the address, then adding simple directions since she probably didn't know where that was. "See, I got you out here under false pretences, obviously - I could have walked it," he teased. Which was self-evident, really, since he'd clearly walked to to store, what with having done so. But he was highly appreciative of not having to make the return journey, in any event. Watching the storm from somewhere dry was amazing, in his book.

She chuckled and followed his direction, her eyes kept on the road. "It's all right, friend. False pretences don't bother me. It gave me an excuse to close up shop for the day, after all." She glanced at him briefly, a smile playing at her lips. "And you've helped me out, what with my karma count and all, so really, this ride benefits both of us, don't you think?"

"If you say so," Hunt allowed. "I'll take that - though I have to warn you that I don't really buy into the whole 'karma' thing. But, if you want to see it like that, who am I to argue the point. So, I didn't get a chance to see - what kind of a store do you have?" he asked, since he doubted that she owned a shop selling random boxes - he hadn't really looked at what stock she actually had out or anything.

"Aw, that's really too bad," Jovie allowed, chuckling to herself. She'd have to see if she could change his mind on that someday. "My shop? I sell jewellery. Antiques, imports, etc. It goes a little bit beyond the diamonds and engagement rings, though I have a few of those as well. I'm pretty particular about my inventory." She glanced at him again. "You should come see it when it's open. I promise I won't try to sell you anything."

"Unless I want to buy, right?" Hunt joked with a ready grin. "I don't think I'd be into the diamonds and engagement rings anyhow, but I'd be interested in seeing the antiques - where do you import from? All over, or do you ahve very specific wants?" he asked, interested. "And you'll be wanting to turn left at the next junction," he added as he saw the cross street coming up out of the rain.

She returned his grin, tapping her fingers lightly against her steering wheel. "Well, sure, if you want to buy that's a completely different story. I never let anyone leave my shop disappointed." Jovie took a left as directed. "I import from just about everywhere. Whether through a personal buyer, or auctions. It also gives me a wonderful excuse to travel, if there's something I absolutely have to have. I just love to sell pieces that have some sense of history, a story behind them. And I carry for men and women alike," she added, arching an eyebrow in his direction. "For future reference, of course."

"Well, a sense of history I can definitely appreciate," Hunt told her with a chuckle. "I can guarantee that I'll be stopping in at some point, maybe you could find something that I just couldn't live without. When do you open?" he asked her. He'd always had a fascination for antiques for that very reason - he loved things that had a story behind them, that had lived. he rarely bought anything new, preferring to pick things up second hand at least. He loved this idea that things that he had owned had lived before they came into his possession, gaining equal enjoyment from knowing the history of an object, or having to wonder about it.

She nodded a bit, eyes watching the road ahead. "Chain retailers these days, their inventory holds no substance. It's all the same, meaningless, boring pieces with no character. But hopefully I'll be open at some point tomorrow, if my computer is repaired by then." This one, she thought, could be just as much fun as Nerd Genius. Jovie threw another bright smile in his direction again. "I can pretty much guarantee you that I could find something that would suit you perfectly. I've been mentally working through my inventory since we began speaking. So I do hope you'll stop in again, at the very least to say hello and have a look around."

"Just up here on the right," Hunt told her as they approached his house. It was small, but set back from the road a little in its own path of land, the area surrounding the house clear and low with no overhanging trees or bushes. It was a twitch he had - Hunt felt more comfortable living in a property where he could see emptiness around him. If anyone approached the house, Hunt would see them coming, though he'd never given that much thought to why he had a need to keep his property like that. "Of course - I'll stop in in a few days, see what you've picked out for me. And whether you're at all accurate," he told her. How much could someone tell from a single meeting, after all?

"You'd be surprised," she replied simply, studying his house with interest. "After you've been selling for a living for a few years, you develop an uncanny knack for reading people. Usually one meeting is all it takes me to figure out what piece may suit them." So to speak. Stopping the car in front of his house, she shifted to look back at the dog. "You've been an incredibly well behaved passenger," she told Mutt, reaching back to scratch at his damp ears before she grinned at Hunt. "You've done all right for yourself, as well."

"I try my best, but I won't impose on you any longer," he assured her, opening the door and releasing his seatbelt. "Thanks for the ride - I really appreciate it," he said, before stepping out into the rain with a wince and opening the back door for Mutt, who very reluctantly got out of the car and immediately bolted for the porch. He shut the car doors and gave Jovie a wave of thanks before hurrying after his dog and letting them both into the house.

"No problem at all." She gave a small wave back and waited until he got into his house before she wrinkled her nose and wiped her hand that now smelled like wet dog against her jeans. Her mind was already filing his name and face away. She'd have to find something perfect for him. Perhaps something that would get him believing in karma. Maybe. He'd given her enough that she was sure she'd have several options for him. Smiling, Jovie shifted gears and headed back to her apartment. Despite the weather, it'd been a productive day.