Similar Differences

"Money, money, money! Must be funny! In the rich man's world!"

That's all Amythest Rodriguez could think of right now, she was flat broke. She had enough problems feeding herself, but how could she feed her pet Calico cat, Flamenco? She could go look for a job, but they wouldn't be as high-paying as her other jobs had been. All she had in her fridge was cat treats and a block of cheese. She had to get out somehow, this was a financial nightmare! To make things worse, she couldn't pay the bills she had to pay.

'If only someone rich could ask me to marry him...'

KNOCK KNOCK

Was it pure coincidence, or had someone heard the thoughts inside her head and decide to play tricks on her? She just couldn't bear any more humiliation from society, so why not answer the door?

"Just a minute!" She called out to the door as she laid on her bed, her amber hair flopped over her sky-blue eyes, her crimson lips and the rest of her face. She slowly got up and answered the door in a drunken manner.

"Could you help me please?" A voice said to her. She couldn't see the figure as her hair was still in her face. "You're not busy are you?"

"No, I'm not..." She mumbled flicking her hair out of her face. "So, what do you want?"

((OOC: This is my first planned RP so I don't expect so much from anybody wanting to join))

[The Furret]

OOC: Arr, what the hell. I hope you've got a good plan.

"I found your cat.."

A man with a clean shaved head, steel blue eyes and an odd grin on his face looked back at her, his eyes betraying that he did need her help in some way, though he didn't look like the kind to ask strangers for help.

"It was sleeping in my car and.. err.." He held up one hand, a dozen fresh scratchmarks, blood slowly oozing from them, on his fingers showed that the cat wasn't too happy about strangers.
"Well, your cat.. Flamenco.." For a moment, he looked like he could burts out laughing, "She scratched me. Can I borrow some bandaid or something?"

He put his hand back down to support the cat which had decided to fall asleep in his arms in a very graceful feline way.

"Flamenco..." She scornfully looked at the cat. "I'm really sorry about it, but I think I might have some bandaid!"

"Thanks..." The man replied. He held Flamenco out for her to take out of his arms gently. "What about food?" She instantly worried inside her head. She was probably in the best luck ever but she didn't have any food! Well, okay she had a block of cheese and cat treats but what's that to a visitor?!

"Err... Sorry! I don't have any food..." She blushed at how bankrupt she was. "I was just about to look for a job today!" She put Flamenco down and grabbed hold of her neck. "Come in anyway if you still want that hand healed!" He walked in and sat on her favourite sofa while she walked into the kitchen and came back out with a first aid kit. "So... What's your name?"

[The Furret]

"...eerrr.." He glanced around her apartment, taking in the stack of unopened window envelopes on her desk which just seemed to scream for whatever money she had left.. Which probably wasn't much since she apparantly didn't have any food.

She could be an excellent nurse though, the way she handled the first aid kit, he could've sworn she had done things like these before. Or perhaps it was because he wan't used to hang around people of the other sex.

"Seaph.. Seaph Skelendrynn." He whinched as he said his name out loud.

"I'm sorry." The woman replied.

"What? Oh.." Seaph gathered she had taken his whince as a sign she was too rough applying the bandaid. "It's not that, I'm just not too fond of my name. My parents we're a bit carefree when they had to choose a name for me."

"What's yours? I mean, I know your cat by name. It'd be awkward if I told anyone that Flamenco had scratched me and her owner had pathced me up." He didn't really like all this talking, but it was certainly better than just sitting here in silence and let the lady fix up his hand.

"Seaph, huh?" Amythest looked at him, he still seemed rather moody. "Anyway, I'm Amythest, Amythest Rodriguez!" She smiled gently.

"Amythest Rodriguez... I've heard about you somewhere..." Seaph wondered.

"Bounty Hunter and part-time Police-Unit 23, Delta Squad?" She asked in a professional manner. "If so then you got me... And at a rather bad time too!"

"Yeah..." He replied ignoring her little joke. She got a little frustrated and tightly pulled the bandaid causing him to wince a bit.

"There you go..." She got up from the floor patting the dust off her knees. He also got up checking whether the bandaid made things look better or worse. "Well, I'll try to keep Flamenco nicer towards strangers and you try keeping stray cats out of your car!" She said as though he was about to leave.

"Wait, I have something else..." He started but never quite wanted to finish.

"What's that then?" She asked, this could change her life forever, she couldn't wait! "I don't have all day! What d'ya need?"

[The Furret]

OOC: Sorry 'bout the long wait. I had a writers block the size of.. .. something really large.

"I couldn't help but notice..." Seaph gestured with his bandaged hand at the messy apartment, the stacks of bills cluttering the already messy desk.

"Y'know.." For a moment he looked bashful to comment the rather unkept state her apartment was in, especially after she had been kind enough to patch him up.

By the looks of her facial expression, and the way she rested her hand on her hips, he found he'd better finish the sentence and make his offer before she did something drastic.

"I don't want to sound completely rude, but by the look of all those bills on your desk, I'd say you're in need of a job, and I happen to be looking for someone willing to do.. err.." He scratched the back of his neck, "Y'know... Work and stuff."

"Work?" This was just what Amythest wanted to hear. She could finally pay her bills and feed herself and Flamenco! "What kind of work?" She asked him.

"Depends whether or not you actually want this job..." He replied nodding is head to the bills screaming to be paid.

"Okay, okay! I'll take the job!" She panicked hoping she didn't just lose her once-in-a-lifetime chance of a job.

"Right then... Follow me and I'll tell you more details on the way!" He smirked a little bit.

"Sure, thanks Seaph! I really, really owe you now!" She thanked him and followed him to the car. Flamenco followed as well but Seaph's reactions obviously showed he still disliked the Calico.

"Ummm... Sorry, but could you lose the cat?" Seaph asked Amythest looking down at Flamenco.

"Huh? Yeah, sure! Flamenco..." She started to coax the cat. "I see a mouse! Go get it!" The silly feline chased in the hallways finding the invisible mouse. "Run! If Flamenco knows I teased her she won't be happy with me!"

"Okay... I better tell you about your job description while we're running right?" He replied looking back at her.

"Yeah, thanks!" Amythest panted a little while running. "What do I need to know then Cap'n?"

((OOC: HI! Hope it's ok if I join???))

Rhea let the buildings and people that seemed to race past her hold her gaze as she stumbled through another new town. Speeding cars made a constant hum that had bore into her brain. People busily pushed past her as she began to realize she was lost. She yanked a crumpled, well worn piece of paper from her pocket:
'Koren Wildhers, 913 Lexington Avenue, (Wherever we are)'
she sighed, still begging the crumpled paper for answers when she smashed into another woman. Rhea fell, the parchment slipping from her fingers, clinging to the hard, unforgiving black top for a moment, and then was gone.
"I am SO sorry!" Rhea cried, a little bit hysterical.
"I was just, I wasn't looking, I'm..."
She looked up at the woman, whose amber hair seemed to glow like a halo. Rhea noticed the woman had been in a hurry, she also noticed a man with steel blue eyes standing not to far off, gazing intently at the woman.
"...Sorry." She let her voice drop off.

[The Furret]

(I don't mind.)

"It's alright.." Seaph said, a slight edge of sarcasm to his voice. "I hope..." He stepped forwards, bent down and picked up the slip of paper which Rhea had dropped, "Your piece of paper didn't get to mangled.?"

He didn't intend to be sarcastic, nor did he try to be threatening in any way. But the constant noise of the cars, the stench of exhaust fumes and the hot midday sun could drive any man crazy. All he really wanted to do was to get into the airconditioned coolness of his car.

"Don't worry about it..." Amythest took the paper off Seaph and caught a glimpse of the address. "...913 Lexington Av..." The woman and Seaph looked at her. "I'm sorry but that is wrong! I live there now!"

"Oh, right... I thought that something was wrong!" The woman smiled. "The address was right but the name wasn't! You are?"

"Amythest Rodriguez... Now what is this?" She looked a bit more carefully at the note. "EVICTION?!" The surprise and the heat had mixed together in her mind causing her to faint onto the ground.

Rhea looked dazedly down at the unconcious body.
"Miss! Miss...uh" she thought for a moment, "Ms. Rodriguez..."
The woman lay still, her hair strewn wildly about her head and the hot, sticky breeze rustling her clothes. The smog and heat was closing in everywhere. "Oh god, god, god..." Rhea groaned. She looked around for anyone who might take the woman to a hospital. Finding none she slumped back down so that she was sitting next to Amythest. "Great... f*cking great!" She looked to the man for help...But found none in his hard grey eyes, he seemed to be somewhere else...
Rhea checked for the woman's pulse, sighed anxiously and returned her gaze to the man, trying to explain that she hadn't actually been sent to evict Amythest, but he wasn't listening, or at least didn't seem to be. So the cars hummed and the smoke clogged the air until the whole city seemed to hold it's breath, gasping for fresh air that wasn't there.

[The Furret]

...?

Speah blinked and finally focused at the two women, the situation dawing on him as his mind returned from some cold place where it had been happy. He cocked his head, unsure why Amethyst had fainted, the cars, the smog and the heat he guessed.

Stepping forward, he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder like a ragdoll. "We better get her to a hospital or something." He said, mostly to himself but loudly enough for Rhea to hear him.

"You'd better come too incase someone demands and explanation." This time, he intended for her to hear him.

Rhea frowned, her gaze following behind the man and watching Amythest. The woman's eyes were gently closed and she looked peaceful. Her face, innocent at the moment, just looked so delicate and, Rhea hated to admit, so beautiful.
Rhea frowned again, thinking to herself that this was no time to be jealous! She could have just killed this woman and she was jealous!?
A cool breeze finally swept over the bustling city, Rhea shivered noticeably although it was far from cold out, and began to walk after the two. She couldn't tell if Amythest was breathing or not..."D' ya think she'll be ok!?" Rhea asked Seaph stupidly, waited a moment then started thinking about what Seaph had said:
"You'd better come too incase someone demands an explaination."
'An explaination...' Rhea though, 'I wish I could explain it to her!' She looked up at Amythest still flung over Seaph's back, then up at the little triangle of grey sky that drifted between tall buildings.

Rhea's husband, Koren, had been a famous artist. He was a distant, impersonal man who kept to him self. He would spend days alone in his house, crying and painting. Rhea loved him though. She loved him more then she loved garlic latkes, even more then the moon over an ocean. The further away from reality he drifted, the more she loved him. She loved his erratic ways and his mysteriousness. She loved him still after he'd died.
His last words were
"Save the Etruscans, for the sake of god, save them!"
Rhea had no idea what he'd meant. His words haunted her. She would dream about those words. Each time they'd grow more grotesque, each syllable was drawn further until it was some sort of distorted, inhuman roar. She didn't sleep any more, she stayed up all night crying and painting, drifting in and out of reality. That was until she stumbled upon a picture in Koren's belongings. There were vaguely human figures, with sleek armor and tall, fringed helmets. There were bloody battles and the brilliant glow of heroism, loyalty and strength, all tied into one magnificent painting. The fierceness of the paint slashes and the expression in the curves of every man's pointed spear brought Rhea to tears. All this painted on a the peeling wall of an apartment, somewhere. These were the Etruscans.
Rhea knew what she had to do, she had to make this picture famous. It's what he'd wanted, he wanted it saved. Saved in the mind of every man who saw it and every tear they shed over the bloodied lives and the cold, cold terror in the eyes of his painting, his magnificent painting.
She searched every house, every apartment Koren had ever lived in, ever been invited to, or evicted from. She found many eviction notices inside drawers and drawers of his artwork. She had checked every single one, and here she was in this strange city, on the sidewalks that her husband's feet had walked, fighting to save the Etruscans...

((Ok, I know this wasn't where it was supposed to go, huh? Sry!))

Amythest had finally started moving again. She wondered why she was on Seaph's shoulder. She blushed a little bit while gently kicking her legs.

"Seaph... You can put me down now!" She mumbled gently. "Seaph... Can you hear me?" She turned her face to the back of his head. "Fine then... You be like that!" She turned her head back to the other woman.

"You ok now?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." She smiled, still slightly blushing. "By the way, I'm Amythest Rodriguez... You are?"

((OOC: Im sry if I screwed up the story, I dunno where all that crap came from but it sounded really good before I posted it! lol.))

"Rhea Wildhers, uh, I'm really sorry for that..."
Rhea felt herself blushing, remembering Amythest fainting. She brushed her messy hair back behind her ears and looked hard at Amythest.
"Are you sure you're ok? You look really..."
She thought for a moment, a few tree branches criss-crossing the pale sky with black...
"...You actually look pretty good for someone who just passed out cold on the street!..." Rhea laughed, smiling up at Amythest who was still on Seaph's shoulder.
"Rhea Wildhers, my husband used to live in your apartment...(Rhea held up the paper) and I was looking for something..."