It was not often that Niko took days off from her work, but this day was different. A lazy nerve in her body had spoken louder than the rest that morning, and she had managed to grant herself a temporary pardon from her daily duties. Slipping into a comfortable pair of dark joggers and a black hoodie, she appeared more casual than anything. With dark circles hanging beneath her eyes, signs of exhaustion were as evident as her signs of social deprivation. The game having developed quite the persona as Eleanor, had provided quite the social outlet, but the starvation was still evident. A lurking emptiness. Perusing the wares of the shopping mall, she idly window shopped. Part of the setting made her feel as though she was included in something. The bustling people, groups of young friends, and activity all around made her feel much less lonely, even if she was not directly part of any of it. The echoing sounds of laughter and the scampering sounds of shoes filled her ears, forming into a therapeutic melody. Stopping in front of the glass at a nearby clothes store, Niko silently gazed up at the mannequins. One of them wore a hat not too dissimilar to the one Eleanor sported within the game. It made the reclusive young woman chuckle, staying a few moments longer to stare. No word described her better than detached.
While he just played the game for a day now, Armand was relieved to able to stretch his legs from the game and his university office. Despite this, he still needed to keep up with appearances. Besides as a professor and his caring nature, he had to keep up with his "nice professor" persona, yet he still had to be cautious at who he will meet. Unfortunately, his caring nature made him notice a young woman who seemed to be exhausted for some reason. This caused him to approach her while she was busy staring at the clothing store and asked, "Excuse me? Are you feeling okay?"
"Oh." Even when she was pooling her senses full of the sounds around her, introductions of conversation always seemed to catch her off guard. "Yes, I'm alright. Thank you for your concern." She quickly turned her gaze away, favoring as little eye contact as possible. Though, something seemed off. Looking back up towards the hat upon the mannequin, she thought about purchasing it. It would make good use in most seasons. A hat was always a good thing to have, just in case, and she really like that sort of style. Though, glancing down at her current look, it seemed a bit... Reaching. She looked rather sloppy and lazy. A distinct contrast from her in-game appearance. "Have I seen you somewhere before?" She shifted her eyes near him, though not directly upon him, observing the stranger though her peripherals. Having taken classes at the university, that was probably where she had seen him around. Perhaps he recognized her as well, but it had at least been a year or two since she had been on the campus as a student, so the chance of that was probably rather low. She took a moment to roll up her hoodie sleeves. It was too hot, or rather too mildly warm, to keep her sleeves down. Honestly, it was too warm for the hoodie in general, but she kept it on. It kept her safe, at least within her comfort zone.
"Alright. Whatever you're doing, try not to overdo yourself." He may not trust her, but he was not the type to ignore her condition completely. Besides, seeing her like that made him a little worried at her exhausted condition. Not only that, she reminded him of himself whenever he was stressed at his job and the people he interacted with. Now that she mentioned it, Armand did recognize her from one of his lectures 1 year ago. It's been a while, but he felt that she hasn't changed at all. "I think so. Are you one of the students attended to my history classes last year?" He doesn't know if he was talking to a right person, but maybe she might have some ideas that could refresh his memory.
"Studied abroad over here. From Japan." She explained. Niko winced, as a loud group of 'kids' when stammering past, the loud collision between the bottoms of their shoes and the ground striking her ears harshly, before returning to the topic at hand. "I'm Niko Ebb." She didn't expect him to recognize her. In class, Niko wasn't the type to speak out unless it was absolutely necessary. It wasn't often anyone from her classes recalled her. "Mister..." She pondered, reaching a hand up to scratch at the top of her head. Her hair was ruffled, with very little neatness about it. While it was clean, it didn't look like Niko had put any effort into fixing or combing it at all. "Verity, was it?" For a transfer student, her English was pretty good, without much of an evident accent. Still, it was obvious how out of place she was, even after staying for quite a time within the states. While she had adapted to the style, wearing clothes that didn't seem too far off the common mark, she still seemed to be shy and very reserved in conversation. Within the confines of her original culture, this would have been seen as respectful, but in this foreign, familiar land, it seemed such traits were viewed as weakness instead. Regardless, it was obvious that she clung to that heritage and tradition from her manners.
Niko Ebb. While he didn't know her name until now, he did recognize her hairstyle as well with her current fashion choice. And it's not only her appearance that allowed him to easily remembered her. He did notice that she didn't interact with him during his lectures and that he noticed that she was not a talkative type. Now that he thought about it, she almost reminded him of himself. "Why yes. I'm glad you were able to remember me as well, Niko." He said this with a smile while trying not to show his usual grouchy expression in front of his former student. Still, he was actually happy to see one of his former students back in the US. "The last time we met is during my last lectures before the final thesis and graduation, correct? How are you these days?" This was just what he needed right now. He still thought of her as a stranger, but he wanted to know how she was doing after she was graduated.
Niko pursed her lips, nodding slowly in response to the comment on remembering. Squinting her eyes, she briefly guilted herself with the idea that she was replacing her memories of her old home with new ones, as she seldom remembered one of her Japanese teacher's names. "Eh, not really much." A sudden, short instance of eye contact occurred. "Working at the Target a few blocks over. Living in an apartment nearby. Not exciting or anything, but humble, I guess. Moving is difficult, especially from somewhere so far." Back towards the glass, her eyes were glued. Suddenly, she caught an interesting, enticing smell. Turning her head away from him, she spotted a mall worker, clothes appearing as though they were a food court employee. It appeared that they were transporting samples. Small pieces of what looked to be chicken, each with the four prongs of a plastic fork impaling them. Mall food was never the best food, but the samples were free. Even if the worker was not nearly at his station yet, Niko made a speed walk over, grabbing three of the pieces, and turning back. She handed one out towards her ex-professor, leaving two-- one undevoured in her hand, as she had already began tearing the first between her teeth.
If he can understand, that means that Niko was living a modest life. Well, he was not surprised as everyone don't need to start a job after graduation. He did start as an intern after all and he had to do some hard work before he landed his dream job right here in New York. In fact, he felt that doing a little hard work first in order to achieve their goals. Yet he was surprised at how she offered some chicken sample to him, not to mention how she chowed down on the remaining two. "Moving, huh? I didn't travel or move from another city that much, but I can understand some of your hardships you are currently facing right now. But I'm glad you're holding out for your current job and life here so far." He then gave a small smile at her, yet deep down, he wondered about her life before she moved to New York. Not to mention that he still didn't trust her enough to let her know more about himself.
Finishing the second sample-food with small, respectful chomps, Niko placed the two sticks that previously impaled the meat into her pocket, to throw them away later. Unaware of what exactly to say or do, her eyes were glue up towards the hat. She quietly wondered how expensive the garment was. From a store in a shopping mall, most definitely expensive and out of her price range. In a rather classy store nevertheless, she had no chance of affording such a thing. "Been here a year and, eh..." She muttered, offering a weak smile towards the man next to her, granting another brief instance of eye contact. The eye contact was only to keep things respectful, still maintaining herself in a rather reserved fashion. "Still don't know anyone." Whether she acknowledged it or not, her words were practically dripping with necessity, as this was one of the most interaction filled confrontations she had had in quite a while. Weakly, without much knowledge of how to go about it, she scoured for fuel to keep the conversation alive, flipping through whatever blank ideas lying around in her mind. "I'm headed in, if you'd like to come." Deciding it was rather creepy to stand outside of the store, merely staring through a window, she spoke. In a moment, Niko mentally cursed herself! Damn it! To place the conversation in such a place left it in great distress! A single 'no thanks' would land her wandering a store far from her comfort zone all alone without any reasonable means of explaining herself to anyone who casually felt like asking her! Full of suspense and anxiety, she waited for the fateful response. Of course, she was over analyzing the whole ordeal far more than she need to, but that was how she went about her day to day life. Such things were usual for her.
Armand became surprised on what Niko told him. Sure, he barely knew the people he met on purpose, but he never thought she didn't get to know most of the people around her. "Really? I'm just surprised you were able to remember me. Don't worry about what I said though, I really appreciate it." He didn't know if what he said might be too blunt for him to say this to his old student considering he didn't want to show his true nature in front of her, but he felt a little sorry about her current social life so far. As for her offer to come with her into the clothing store, Armand would try to decline due to obvious trust issues. But judging by her demeanor, he felt that she might not last inside the boutique alone. "I'm okay with it. I think you might need a little company for a while," he said as he followed her inside. This might be a little embarrassing for him, but at least he was there to give her comfort.
Phew. Crisis averted. Luckily, the professor had chosen to accompany her, rather than leave her to the wolves she was accidentally leading herself towards. Stepping into the expensive store of clothing, Niko hummed quietly to herself. Soon, she came upon where the rest of the hats were resting, all identical. Picking up the first off the rack, she examined it for a price tag. Forty dollars for a single hat?! It seemed this place made a business on mass producing outfits, and then selling them for absurdly large amounts of money. Counting about twenty of the same hat on the shelf, Niko sighed, wishing she had been born in a simpler time. One less grueling financially. "Crazy, huh?" She scoffed in disbelief, showing him the price tag. Perhaps to him though, the price tag wasn't so absurd. He appeared at least somewhat more appropriately dressed to be visiting such an establishment. This was amplified, especially compared to Niko, the girl wearing casual clothes, appearing more like someone about to go jogging than anything. "Will you be purchasing that?" A pale skinned, very American teenager approached her. Flashing a judgmental smile, the young girl sported a somewhat mocking position, with a hand on her hip, the other dangling at her side, a phone grasped in her fingers. "Ma'am?" Due to a lack of response from Niko, who had merely been staring at her wordlessly, the young girl spoke again. Niko felt rather... Unwelcome.
Just being in a boutique was enough for Armand to feel awkward at this kind of store. In fact, he saw most girls trying on some hats and outfits. It was even more shocking when he saw the price tag that Niko showed him. "U-Um... Yeah..." He was never much a shopper or a talker, but he can agree how expressive those clothes are. Then again, this was a boutique, not a thrift store. However, his appearance was not the only thing that was out of the ordinary. Because when he saw how Niko didn't reply to the employee's question, he started to worry regarding her shyness. Upon he saw this, he approached Niko and asked, "Niko? Are you okay? Is there something wrong?"
"No, thank you." Niko spoke plainly and coldly to the young girl, in such a way that made the blasphemous child scoff and walk back to her counter with a subtle 'whatever'. With a small quiver in her joints, she placed the hat back upon the shelf. It seemed, when confronted with such a situation, she had grown easily fearful and intimidated by the younger, less knowledgeable girl. "I am alright." She gave a flash of a smile and a nod to Mr. Verity, an obvious lie to anyone with two eyes. It was apparent that, since being spoken to, she no longer felt welcome any sort of way within, near, or even close to the store that they had entered. Glancing around, barely picking up any detail of the things she was looking around at, she supposed this was just another social disaster, caused by herself. Her motions, similar to that of an elementary school child, soon to be in tears after a disappointing mishap. Glancing a final time back towards the hat, she stared for a few moments. Part of her wanted to be cruel. This part of her, curdling in her stomach like a boiling pot, wanted her to take it for herself. To stuff the garment under her shirt and vanish away with it. But... Such actions were not respectful... She was bound by respect and tradition, after all.
While those words may convince that she was really alright, it wasn't enough for Armand to believe her. Just seeing her nervous around the young woman made him feel a little worried about her. This was enough to comfort her when he noticed she was about to break. "I think we should try to leave the store if you like some fresh air." This was probably the best. Besides, he can't leave a woman who has some social problems inside the store for long. If Niko accepts it, he will try to escort her out of the boutique for a while.
Locked eyes with the other female among them for a moment longer, remaining wordless, Niko stared. Eye contact, being something she didn't often make, seemed unnerving as she glared into the pupils of the younger woman. "No. I will not." She responded, placing the hat she had been fondling back upon the shelf. With a nod to Mr. Verity, they soon made their way from the store, giving only a brief glance back to peer upon the hat, still hiding behind the glass upon the mannequin. "Sorry. I don't really do well under pressure." She didn't know the exact words to convey her point, hoping that the ones she had chosen would suffice. Awkwardly, she let her eyes run around her surroundings at a slow, twitchy pace. She expected he would be leaving her soon, as Niko hadn't been much of a good conversation partner at all, nor a good partner in the interaction at all.
