Was a funny story how she'd ended up here, well not here-here, that was simple, but here as in Monte Carlo, which was a part of Monoca, and somehow she'd read the entire travelers guide about Monaco, and was pretty sure she could sprout off more historical facts than the residents that had grown up in the place knew. The story though, really was funny, or maybe only to her, but Zen was use to that sometimes, had started simple enough, she'd graduated, in timing with finishing her last certifications, and her two year internship, which was a bummer really, everything falling into place within a week. Left her adrift, and well Zenevieva had never done well went left adrift, lead to random things happening, like hey the idea to visit France, though really why visit when she could kind of just move there, because there wasn’t much tying her anywhere else. Most people didn't show up to an airport with anything they cared to bring packed in two bags and skim the flight boards like it was a menu to choose lunch from. Might have stuck with the novel idea of visiting somewhere shiny and touristy like Paris or something except hey gambling, didn't that sound more amusing then cheese, it was France that was cheese, right?

So random pick honestly, Monoca, had never heard of the place, so seemed like a great idea, if she'd never heard of it then it couldn't bore her right off the bat, right? Besides she knew French, for that matter she knew Italian as well, which was near there, kind of, if she did get bored and wander. So one confusing talk with the desk person later and she had a plane ticket for a few hours off, which lead to picking up random books about her destination. Fast forward time, and three cross overs that were hellish if still somehow amusing, and she almost missed one of her planes due to a mini circus happening in a parking lot of the airport, a lot of time passed, and for a bit Zen wondered if maybe this was a bit too sudden of a move, well little late now, right, of course. Besides the customs person was nice enough, if really tired looking when her paperwork was looked over, made nice small talk at least, which was what counted to her, and Zen positively beamed at them when she answered her reason in town to be boredom. Yeah a few people had looked at her like that during small talk on planes as well, which was fine with her, she'd been tied down long enough, what was wrong with something new and random once and a while.

Slept maybe too much during flights, so now she was hyper, and determined to be in a good mood, even when her bags never showed up, and the poor airport person looked like he was afraid of being yelled at when the news was given to her. Her bags were maybe put on a wrong plane somewhere, silly her for checking both of them, hadn't wanted to try to keep track of them, Zen knew she would have lost one somewhere, had figured checking them to be the best bet. Silly her, huh? Still she only gave a polite smile and did the needed paperwork to try to get things on track, or at least the airport funding her in some manner and fashion. Did get her money orders and directions to the bank to help her with them as far as money went, then was sent on her way and released into the wide, or in this case Zenevieva stepped into Monto Carlo proper. Right, new city to learn and stuff, she could do this, honest she could, there were a lot of buildings, and she kind of wanted to wander about looking at them. Should go to the bank, money would be helpful, then maybe a hotel room somewhere, right, then find a ride she liked, a bike or car, wasn’t picky, and oh yeah maybe a job.

Took her a second of just standing on the street proper before remembering she wasn't here to people watch, right, bank was that way, of course it was, and started walking, no reason not to, ignoring the lack of current money, it was nice out. That thought distracted her a second, got her to glance skyward and blink at the sun, oh, hey it was morning here, huh, time changes and time zones, she was going to be off for a while, not that her schedule was always normal in the first place, still, morning time, maybe go to the bank then find real food, not airport food, the marvel that was not precooked crap, woot. That thought alone got her to damn near skip the rest of the way to the bank, a goal in mind had her much more grounded and on focus.

Explained why in short order Zen was back on the streets, with some money now, more than she had thought honestly, though conversion from USD to EUR was kinda crappy right now, she hadn't flipped everything though, just some to get her started hopefully. So food, right, grand idea, if she knew where that might be, maybe a map too, and flip to a phone that might work here, also a good idea, maybe she should have thought this out better... naa, this was still amusing so far. Was with a shrug she went to wander up to a random person, “Um, Ursäkta mig, kan jag ställa en fråga? No, wait, wrong language, French, my bad, let me try that again, excusez-moi, puis-je demander quelque chose?” Small slip up there, how had she forgotten already, gesh, languages, lets not confuse people, would be rude of her she was sure, still she managed, with a bright smile. Never mind that she almost looked like she was trying really hard to not bounce on her toes, ohhh what to ask first, food was a must, then maybe a dealership? If they were nice enough to even help her of course, hopefully would be, hopefully, if not then she'd hunt down a map, there had to be like convenient store, or a travel center or something, if push came to shove could wander back to the airport, they were bound to have maps.

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It was a Saturday morning and Porter currently didn't have any clients to drive around today, but doing what he did, he was always on call. Simple ring of the phone and he was off to whomever in order to gain a buck. Not that it was the money he was worried about, but he hadn't found any information as of yet to really get his attention to go searching and looking into things. So with all the work he was doing, he was glad to have the day off so far. With that in mind and knowing his phone could ring at any moment, he decided to make the most of it. The Mustang as getting lonely at his storage unit and decided to take it out for a morning drive. He had a desire to learn the streets, all the ins and outs but before he could do that, he decided to stop for some breakfast in the city. Parking the Mustang and activating the alarm, he was off hitting the strip where the restaurants, banks and stores were at. He hadn't much time to go shopping for some clothes to blend into the Monaco scene, so he figured he do some of that as well. He made a quick stop at a small cafe that served organic muffins and grabbed himself an orange juice to go. 

Walking out of the cafe, he headed down the street with no intentions on here to go. He figured he'd just walk until something struck his eye. People of Monaco were much like the people of the states. They were busy, too busy to even stop and pay much attention to where they were going or who they were bumping into as they moved throughout their day. It was almost like being in L.A. or New York city but without the actual rudeness of telling someone to fuck off. Yeah, there were some that did, but for the most part, people pretty much stuck to themselves. As long as it didn't interfere with their money and business, they could care less. That was one thing Porter realized about Monaco. It wasn't for tourists and everything was expensive. It was mostly a summer place for the rich and famous which is why he was glad he was being stationed here and undercover. The money was here, the people were here and the CIA was paying for every damn dime he spent which gave him more to put toward his Mustang. Hell, Hobbs even paid for the fancy Mercedes parked in his garage that was like a tank on wheels. 

Half way down the block, he stopped off at some fancy suit store and looked to himself. Wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt with a pair of gym shoes, he almost felt under dressed to walk into the place. This was a place he would walk into in his work attire. But hell this was his day off, so fuck'em, he really didn't care what kind of stares he got when he walked. Before he could turn around and head for the door, a woman of Asian origin alked up to him and started speaking in a tongue that he didn't understand and even looked a bit confused until she started speaking English and then turning to French.

 “Um, Ursäkta mig, kan jag ställa en fråga? No, wait, wrong language, French, my bad, let me try that again, excusez-moi, puis-je demander quelque chose?”

Smiling he replied back in French, "Bien sûr, mais je ne parle anglais, sauf si vous préférez utiliser française" knowing that she knew English rather well from her little change up she had done. "I'm actually from D.C., so English is my main language." he laughed a bit. "So what can I help you with?" he finally asked not sure if he could help her until the question was actually spoken.

Was a small slip really, spurred in part because Zen wasn't terribly in like of French, yeah she'd learned it, her spoken was fine, her written was only so-so, could read it just fine though, it was the spelling that drove her crazy, really it was. Couldn't pull an accent to save her life either, not for french, but her pronunciation was flawless, that was what counted in the end, surely, so she got her question out in the correct tongue, only for him to speak English, well didn't that figure. He was nice enough to talk to her though, and tell her that she could stay with English, “I've been there before, horrible traffic.” DC that is, random comment while she tried to remember what she was looking for again, “Oh, right, could you point me towards a hotel, or restaurant, or for that matter a car place, I'm still at odds which one I want to do first really.” More detail than he maybe cared to know honestly, “Uh I guess dealership first?” Then she wouldn't have to walk everywhere, which would expand her reach throughout the city as far as everything else went, or maybe a hotel could point her towards renting a car, would that be the wiser thing to do? Was never fun renting though, much rather own something at the moment, then no one would glare at her when she started tinkering with it. So decided for the moment, with a nod to herself, “Yup, get a car first, maybe, if I find something I like well enough, then find a hotel.”

After all a hotel should have room service, or an attached restaurant, something that would work well enough for her, given a car she could be entertained for days on end really, if maybe use her car as a good example of why someone should give her a job? Though she had a resume, and letters of recommendation, though they were all in English, hopefully that would be okay, hmm maybe she didn't think this out terribly well. “And parts, going to need someone that sells parts or can order parts too.” A blink, he might not know that part, but might as well toss that out there, never knew what others might know.

“How does someone from DC end up here?” Now that was random, but full of curiosity, because that was something that poked at her to ask, a nagging thought, “That's a long move, I mean I can't say much, but still, wow, have you been here long, is it an okay place?” After all she just showed up, and if he wasn't from here originally he was a good person to ask, if he'd be willing to answer, or she was over stepping bounds again. “Right, you can ignore that if you want and just point me to somewhere that sells cars? Please?” Gave a tentative smile, “Though at this point I might even just take a doughnut shop, airplane meals are kind of bland.”

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Porter listened and his smile soon became a small chuckle. This chick was all over the place with her words. She didn't focus or stay on one thing too long before she was already branching out to another. She looked like an over excited kid at Disney land. He couldn't help but chuckle and wait for her to finish, partly because every time he tried to answer one question, she was already asking another. It was better to let her finish and get what she had on her mind off. That was the one thing he could say he was good at, was listening. It was part of his job as a driver. He was always listening to his clients spout off, telling him things or just listening to them ramble or even just to give them someone to rant to.  So listening to this chick, was no different and it didn't feel strange just because she was a stranger or not one of his clients. In fact, he welcomed it more so because it didn't deal with work at all. He was socializing with the outside world and it made him feel like he actually had a life outside of work.

Work was going alright but it wasn't what he had hoped for. He was getting odd jobs with all the wrong people and what was meant by that, is he was being dragged into a world of both criminal and legit business that had nothing to do with what he was looking for, at least not yet it hadn't. He hadn't found anything that had sparked his interest to search farther or dig deeper, so things were at the least preoccupying him for now to keep him busy, but it wasn't all the action and driving he'd like to be doing. It's probably why he was itching to get the Mustang out and do something with her lately. At least she gave him some of the action he was itching for, but tonight would prove that more than anything when he strolled to the races to eye the prospects. 

“Though at this point I might even just take a doughnut shop, airplane meals are kind of bland.”

"You don't know whether you're coming or going do you?" he joked with her. "No offense, but have you ever tried to stop and take a breather in between sentences?" he gave some friendly advice with a million dollar smile. "Nearest, car dealer ship is out of the city and I can take you there if you wish. Hotels, are a dime a dozen here. Pick one." he said pointing around the city and showing her them. "Parts are a little bit hard to come by, especially if its American. Everything is imported here unless its domestic German or French made. I can take you there as well if you need. Food? Here you can have this." he said handing over his muffin still in the bag and his bottle of OJ. "I insist, please." 

He looked back to the suits in the window and then pulled out his car keys. These suits looked shitty and over priced anyways. The ford emblem dangled from his keys and he looked to his newly found company. "By the way, the name is Jason Porter. I'm here because my job brought me here. I'm a transporter, professional driver and right now my clients need me here but I've got the day off today." he said holding out his hand for her to shake and answering the reason he was so far from home. "So....where to Miss...?" he paused to allow him the pleasure of her name. "I promise, the ride will be for free, but the company will cost you.'' he joked with her laughing a bit.

It was a habit of her's, rambling sometimes, not always, mostly when she was nervous, which she wasn't exactly that as much as not wanting him to just wander off, because the blunt fact was she knew nothing about this area. So if he wandered off she'd end up either trying her hand to ask someone else, or wander back to the airport for information, and right now she was tired of airports in general, to many hours of dealing with several. If nothing else he didn't want off while she spoke, that happened sometimes, which was rude, but he didn't, so that was a sign for the good, that he even seemed to be listening, so she made her requests, and trailed off to thoughts of doughnut shops, because who didn't like doughnuts. Besides no one was rude enough to not answer that much, right? So hopeful eyes watched him now that she was done with her rambling, any answer would due really, she was pretty simple in that regard, just a point in a direction would have her no longer bothering him.

Instead he seemed amused, with a chuckle even, hadn't though she said anything amusing, honest, course then he explained some of why he might think her amusing, and Zen blinked, almost confused a moment. Had been told similar before, several times, rarely was a problem though, at least not much of one, most people could keep pretty well, or well enough to matter to her. “Um, sorry?” Kind of, not really, and to think she hadn't any coffee yet, wasn't that a scary thought, her on caffeine if she was like this when she wasn't at all. Course he might be really worried if he knew this was her in a calmer state, Zenevieva could talk far faster about far more things, right now she at least had goals in mind, that kept her mostly on track, mostly being the key idea there. Car dealerships out of the city, well then guess where she was going to figure out how to get to, wow though, maybe she should have picked a different random place, or maybe she would see if she could get her bike shipped out to her.

Parts, well depended on what for German, there were a few german makes that could be serviceable, really wouldn't bother her, french though she shook her head just thinking about, no, simple as that, bad experiences with french parts. Still Zen was fine with getting things shipped in if need be, more costly, yeah, would need to get a job sooner rather than later, but that was fine to. Having something to do during the days would in fact help her out in the long run, mean she'd be less likely to get in random trouble, so hey grand idea that. Then suddenly muffin, there and in her hands, well a bag with a muffin, and when had she taken that from him, that was random, but hey, muffin, awesome, another day she might have protested, she couldn't take his food. Today though the muffin looked like the best thing she'd set eyes on in a couple of days, which was telling all on it's own, and for a split moment Zen looked like she wanted to hug him. “Oh no insisting needed, but so gonna pay you back.” Already had the muffin out of the bag and wow it was like not rubbery when she poked it, it wasn't going to last long at all, he might have her silence just because of that.

Okay, hotels were everywhere, so pick one, hope it wasn't creepy, which really long as it was clean she was good, might be there for a while, because finding a permanent place to live tended to be lower on her set of goals. Still she'd pick on at random later, wasn't like she had any bags to drop off, oh yeah, might want to go shopping at some point, ugg that was going to be annoying, given the airport was pretty sure her bags had ended up in Russia though, might be a while before she saw them again.

The idea of an introduction had her quickly shaking his hand, because hello he was nice and muffin, was all the reason needed, oh plus the orange juice, which was also a bonus, wasn't she lucky to have come across him. “Lucine, Zenevueva Lucine, but Zen is fine, it's very nice to meet you, you are very nice, it's kind of awesome.” His job brought him here, that was kind of cool, couldn't image that, but they if it paid enough or he liked it enough, then why not, was a better reason than her's for being here after all. “Really? You don't mind, I mean there's got to be better ways to spend your day off then juggling a random person, I mean I would love if you don't mind, because otherwise my days going to be kind of annoying, but still don't want to trouble you.” So maybe she should consider the idea of it being possibly a bad idea to wander off with someone she didn't know, and the idea kind of tickled at her mind, but mostly she ignored it. If she was going to get randomly killed off at lest she got a muffin out of it, simple as that really.

903 words 

He laughed when she took his muffin and OJ without even a refusal. Either she was really hungry and forgot her manners, or she didn't have any. but either way, he didn't mind. It just caught him off guard a bit because most people would at least refuse before finally giving in and taking what ever it was being offered. She was more welcoming and acceptable of her actions that he couldn't stifle a small chuckle from his lips. He did have to give her some credit though, she knew enough manners to offer her name in return for his and shaking his hand as well. Her name was not very common and if she hadn't said it to him and made him read it instead, he would have placed odds he would have gotten it wrong at least a dozen times before ever getting it right.

"It is nice to meet you as well, Zen." cause who was he kidding, it was easier to say and that one he could actually spell. "And yes, it would be my pleasure. No trouble really. I have nothing to do today and surprisingly, with all the driving I do, I still wanted to drive today." he said admitting truth not sarcasm. He drove all week long and even on his days off, he still wanted to drive, but something different than what he was used to. It wasn't that often he was able to get the Mustang out, so when he had time off, it was the first thing he wanted to do. She'd probably understand this once she seen the car. "I must warn you though, I'm not driving the delivery car today so it won't be as classy and clientele as my regular job." he stated.  "I'm parked just down the street if you wanna tag along?" he said as he started to walk. In the mean time, conversation was always nice and she had mentioned buying a car. He was actually surprised she had that much money to buy something right away, but it wasn't unlikely. She just didn't look the part of someone who actually had money like that to spend but then again, he was judging, wasn't he? 

"So what kind of car are you looking to buy? They have a few different car dealers right outside of the downtown area. New or used?"

Another laugh, clearly he did not understand the dire circumstances of trying to live off airport food for almost two days, was worst than rabbit food, really, it was like fake food that turned rabbits onto green things to avoid the horribleness. Yeah, he could laugh, he might understand one day, so if that meant accepting food from a stranger, so be it, pretty sure he'd look silly carrying around a muffin and orange juice to try to poison someone, so whatever. First nibble of the muffin almost had Zen offering to like bare a kid, thankfully she much rather continue nibbling than put those words forth, lucky him, would find a way to pay him back, maybe take him out to dinner or something, a friendly thing, not a creeper way. Lunch maybe then, people tended to find lunch less creepy or off putting, less like a random date or something, she'd never understood really, it was still food with someone across the table, but hey, yeah, made a reminder to herself to like get his phone number or something, somehow, most likely via asking sweetly. “This muffin is the best muffin I've ever eaten, you are a life saver.” Just had to point that out, while her mind was one it, made him damn near saintly in her mind, saint of the muffins, had a good ring to it.

Most people called her Zen, was easier all the way around, and she tended to cringe with people got her name wrong, at least under normal circumstances, so yeah, Zen was peachy, and he was Jason, right, of course. Course him saying he was a transporter made her think of the movies, and for a moment she considered asking something crazy, like could he kick people in the face? Hey it was a wonder, still had her quirking an eye at him, still might at some point, when it was better settled he might not try to display the skill on her, was a great idea. Was she suppose to offer forward what she did for a living as well? Oh, hadn't thought of that, well she'd work it into the conversation at some point surely, it would work out in the end, besides at the moment she did nothing at all, well except randomly move and pester poor souls that were near her apparently, that didn't count though, clearly.

He drove for a living, drove someone around for that matter, and yet he wanted to do that on his day off as well, wow, that was kind of adorable, maybe he really liked driving, that would be awesome, and lead points to his awesomness and thus his saintliness. “Wow, cool, I mean, thanks, that would be very sweet of you, and nice, nice of you too of course.” Bounced on her toes for a few seconds before she caught herself and stilled, because again with the not chasing him off, and hyper tended to do that. “What's your delivery car?” Something posh and stuffy most likely, but she wasn't going to say that, maybe that was style, maybe his normal car was like a VW Bug or something, nothing against VW of course, but bugs, really, no, just no, then again there was a ford emblem on his key ring, so doubtful, no bugs today, woot. If she wanted to tag along, well of course, he invited her, now he might have issues getting rid of her though, well he'd learn that soon enough of course. “Yeah, sure, I mean I don't have anything to do today, and you're willing to help out, so I'd be silly not to, long as you hopefully don't turn out to be a murderer then things will be great, just a warning I scream really high pitched, so no stabbing.”

Those were off hand words, not really thought out or dwelled out, just tossed out because they came to mind and were true, Zen's mind was already cycling around budgets and conversion rates to settle out what she was willing to spend. Thankfully travel logs had been very clear about the economy around here, so she wouldn't have heart failure, that was always good, squeaking in shock at a sales person might have been embarrassing to say the least. Her mind derailed slightly, because she was figuring he drove a ford, would make sense, why have a keychain if he didn't have a ford, less his work car was a ford, but then wouldn't the keychain be with those keys? Anyway, was glancing over cars that were parked, and there were only two fords, one someone was getting out of, so not that one, the other had Zen honestly stop in her steps. Took her a second, almost a brain reboot before she kipped to catch back up, “The mustang is your's isn't it? Oh my crickets, Boss 429, right? I know I'm right, don't answer that, has to be a 69 from the color, less you had it painted, which would be an atrocity, let me tell you. Nice car, I mean from factory it needed some ommph to help it along, well depending what someone was looking for, just driving it's peachy, but so restricted given what it could do. Have you got it with AC, because that would be weird since they didn't from factory, just saying, and hey did you know the battery's in the trunk, wait don't answer that, if it's your car you know that, most likely all of that, so yeah, nice car, sorry.” She'd rambled again, hadn't she, yeah tended to do that, and was back to bouncing slightly, bit at her bottom lip, back to slightly nervous, cars were something she knew, well kind of, cars she liked she knew, cars she didn't she couldn't ramble about at all, because she'd never bothered to look at them to know what they had or didn't.

“Um, you asked something, right? Car I'm looking for,” That was a great question, and if she had an answer she would gladly give it, otherwise she shrugged for the moment, “Something that jumps at me going 'buy me, buy me'?” Something she liked, something she could play with a fashion, to turn into a hobby and constantly update and tinker with, but that didn't need tinkering with from the start to make it spiffy... yeah that type of car.

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“Wow, cool, I mean, thanks, that would be very sweet of you, and nice, nice of you too of course......What's your delivery car?”

"2014 Mercedes CLS63 AMG Sedan with an upgraded 5.5L twin turbo V12." he said proudly. It wasn't your average classy stuffy car for rich people, but it sure the hell didn't hesitate to say it with its looks. It was a Mercedes with both style and sport to it, or at least it was in his eyes. He liked it, his clients liked it , and it went fast and did what most tuner cars could do and more than what cop cars couldn't do. It had the luxury of comfort while still having the idea of sporty and luxury at the same time. 

“Yeah, sure, I mean I don't have anything to do today, and you're willing to help out, so I'd be silly not to, long as you hopefully don't turn out to be a murderer then things will be great, just a warning I scream really high pitched, so no stabbing.”

He stopped walking, mostly out of shock, but still stopped dead in his tracks and looked to her with a surprised look. Wasn't she just the straight forward, speak whatever she wanted to type? He couldn't help but laugh a bit and shake his head. If she could be honest like that, then why couldn't he? Maybe throw her off guard for once and let her know how it felt. It wasn't like he was serious about it, well, maybe....."If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't stab you." he chuckled. "But now that you gave up being a screamer, I'd just break your neck before you could. Luckily for you though, I'm a lover, not a fighter, so the most you have to worry about, is me taking you home and fucking you 6 days from Sunday." He never used that kind of language with anyone, not even his closest friends....which he had none, but that was not here nor there. The fact he was trying to point out, was that you didn't go around saying things like that to people. Really, did she take him for a psycho serial killer? But he left her with that to think about as he continued walking. She must have figured he was joking cause she soon caught up and somehow along the way, the conversation came to his Mustang as soon as she saw it.

“The mustang is your's isn't it? Oh my crickets, Boss 429, right? I know I'm right, don't answer that, has to be a 69 from the color, less you had it painted, which would be an atrocity, let me tell you. Nice car, I mean from factory it needed some ommph to help it along, well depending what someone was looking for, just driving it's peachy, but so restricted given what it could do. Have you got it with AC, because that would be weird since they didn't from factory, just saying, and hey did you know the battery's in the trunk, wait don't answer that, if it's your car you know that, most likely all of that, so yeah, nice car, sorry.”

It was funny watching her cream all over his car. She just went on about it like she was reading out of some manual and reciting a book to the 'T'. It was all original outside, but he did make some adjustments along the way inside. AC was not one of them. It was an extra 30 lbs on the car that would only slow her down.  He opened the car door after pushing the alarm button on his key chain to unlock the doors. The car was pretty much stock except for the upgraded 7 inch display monitor that slid out from the upgraded radio and the inside had a roll bar all the way around. In the trunk with the battery, was three large nitro bottles and a few upgraded parts under the hood. But the outside and interior was pretty much left alone. She didn't do 9's but she still made a noise down the stretch when pulling 11's. But then again, Porter wasn't in it to win. He was in it just to give him something to do and to scope out the scene so he could get info. So to blow a couple thousand on a race just to be part of the scene was no big deal. It wasn't his money anyways and he really didn't care if Hobbs wanted it back at the end of the night or not. 

Finally getting around to the front and to the drivers side, he got in and started up the car. It started with a low rumble, but the carburetor soon changed that from a low rumble t an outraged roar when he hit the pedal a few times to give her some life. "Seat belt please?" he asked kindly before putting his on and easing the car out of the parallel parking spot.

 “Um, you asked something, right? Car I'm looking for...Something that jumps at me going 'buy me, buy me'?”

That could be just about anything.....Especially just meeting her for the first time, he could tell she was someone with a very vivid imagination. Something told him that if a circus elephant jumped out at her saying that, she would buy that too just or the sake of it being adorable. She just gave him that impression but then again, he was judging again. "Well, are you a tuner chick, or an exotic chick? Monte Carlo is known for its exotic cars, Ferrari, Lamborghini's, Porches', that kind of stuff. But they aren't always about that. They have your more foreign stuff too, like Honda, Mazda, Nissan, but the parts are imported in. American muscle is hard to find, but not impossible if you know the right places to look. So what's your taste?" he said stopping at a red light and waiting for an answer. 

“That is not a stuffy car.” Almost sounded offended, because really her mind was thinking something boxier, bigger and, well stuffy really, a work car, who had nice works cars, okay apparently he did, but still that was a surprise. “Which I mean is good, it's a nice car is what I'm saying, not what I'd picture as a delivery car, posh even.” A shrug, hopefully she'd not offended him, or if she had she'd back stepped, he'd taken her by surprise was all, was a good thing, honest, “Couldn't picture you driving a stuffy car anyway.” Not that she really knew him, but cars could easily reflect the person that drove them, and he didn't come off as snobbish nor stuffy, hello he was the saint of muffins, at least in her mind. “Mercedes makes a few cars I like, over all they're good.” A nod on that, topic closed, hopefully, yup, moving right along, could totally picture him being able to kick someone in the face, wasn't sure why exactly, but the thought was still there. How hard was it to kick someone in the face though, honestly, well she'd wasn't going to test this theory now, maybe later, would also depend how tall the other person was though. Like she was shorter, on the short side, she'd admit that much, so reach, right, take that into consideration, also the ratio of length between men and women and maybe she was putting too much thought into this huh? Right, moving on.

Oh no, she broke it, words escaped her without her noticing and she broke him, that happened sometimes, Zen still stumbled to a stop at his sudden stop, and blinked at him, confused and almost apologetic. Tried to remember what she just said, traced back over words in her memory and then blinked again, okay, what was wrong with that, well she supposed that could be taken as rude, Zen wasn't trying to accuse him of being a murder or something, was just pointing out a possibility. Went to say something along those lines, explaining that obviously she didn't think he was going to kill her, that would be too messy for one, and there were people on the streets that might possibly remember her going off with him, so yeah, messy. Except he beat her to it, talking that is, a rarity honestly, most of the time she forgot to leave time for someone to say something, well sometimes, depending on her mood, instead she was left to blink at him again, almost taken off guard. Almost, except for the smile that played on her lips, maybe the wrong reaction given the words spoken, what with breaking necks and such, but then she wasn’t very good at reacting how she should sometimes.

Was funny in a way, murder, well in this singular event, she hadn't lied, she did high pitched screams when need be, was embarrassing when started though given she squeaked then, well hey if she had to be murdered she much preferred broken neck. Wasn't going to say that, pretty sure that was ranging on creepy, instead addressed the rest of what he said, “Well I'm not high pitched then, so you wouldn't have to worry about that at least, though six days from sunday, would that require literally waiting for days to line up?” Was worth asking, curious more than anything, not that the thought didn't have her eyes traveling over him, she could appreciate, surely. He went to walk off again and it took her a moment to catch up, thoughts had wandered off again, the path was his fault this time, because hey she had eyes. Still maybe he answered her thought about kicking people in the face, funny that, so possibly cut back some on flexibility, well she could cover that, oh back in gutter mind territories. “Oh hey! Dinner, we should go to dinner.” The words were almost breathless, not because she'd paused longer than she meant to, but because she had an idea, “To pay you back for the muffin and oj, right, so dinner, I think it could be a thing.” Sadly that did occur to her thanks to his words, her mind ever so helpfully linked dinner and sex together, it was a thing though, they went well together.

Then, The Car. Yes, that totally deserved capital letters, even in her mind, though it'd wear off in a bit, right now it was gorgeous and his, which mean she could pet it and not have another stranger looking at her like she was crazy. Zenevieva could have rambled all sorts of things off, from starting serial number to ending to random facts about parts and design factors when the car was first being designed. It was all simple details, and she was good at those, and yes had read on this car, had never seen one in person though, it was just as pretty as the pictures suggested though. Was running a fingers across the side panel when Jason started up the engine, and Zen almost coo'd at it, before realizing then hey she might want to stop petting and get in the car, right, of course. Seat belt, of course, always, didn't want to go through a windshield, that sounded like a horrible idea, “You're so not lost your awesome status in my mind, if anything you've gotten better, just so you know.” People sometimes never knew their worth after all, and he was amazing, from willing to answer questions to a car that she was still maybe petting, just from sitting in it and traveling fingers across the dash, so pretty. Even sounded pretty, though her idea of pretty might be different from others, of course.

So that maybe she was a little late to remember he asked something could be forgiven, right, car she was shopping for, “I like tuner,” course she liked exotic too, nothing wrong with that, “Don't like Porches, but really most of the time I can find something I like.” Plus if she found something she wouldn't have her car shipped to her, because that was a pain, the paperwork, and then if it got so much as scratched she might honestly cry. “Not looking for american muscle honestly, while very nice indeed, not in the mood for that.” A shrug, her moods did tend to change her mind on what she wanted, right now she had no idea, but she wanted something, so it was a given that if it wasn’t today then by weeks end she'd have a car. “Right now wanting more along the lines of something I can tinker with, flip out things and make it mine, possibly use as a add on to my resume, if that makes sense.” Hey that was now she got her last job anyway, had an interview and randomly the manager had asked to see her car, made some praises, some suggestions, and next day she was working.

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She made some comments on his Mercedes and he could only smile. It really wasn't a car that most wheelmen drove, but Porter wasn't like your average wheelman either. He liked his sport class and he liked his luxury. He didn't like those boxy S and E class Mercedes either. They got horrible gas mileage and had very little aerodynamics to it. He liked his sleeker looking cars that actually had some style to it. Some just looked to serious, too blah and to that note, he was getting the feeling that this chick was anything but that as well. She seemed to have a sense of humor but then again, English wasn't her first language so maybe she just misunderstood what he meant. He even went to explain it, "No I just meant I would .....all six days, including Sunday......" he said trailing off like it had become pointless. "...Never mind." he said laughing a bit. 

When she asked him about dinner though, it made him wonder if she really did know what he meant. but then again, she did say something about paying him back for the muffin and OJ. So then again, maybe she was just one of those really nice clueless girls. But even if not, dinner was far more than a muffin and OJ. Perhaps he was over thinking this...... perhaps getting his own mind out of the gutter was a good idea for once. "It's really not that big of a deal. Dinner is far much more than the five dollars I spent on breakfast this morning." he laughed. "But if you really want to go out to dinner, then I can clear any plans I may have.... but I can't let you pay for everything. Really, it was just juice and a muffin." he chuckled. Did she really just ask him out on a date? Wasn't that his job? He shrugged it off as her just saving him the time. 

“You've so not lost your awesome status in my mind, if anything you've gotten better, just so you know.”

Well that was a relief.....and here he thought he was getting bland. He thought to himself with a small chuckle. "Thanks, you're not so bad yourself." he said a bit sarcastically. "Now that I've achieved my goal of awesomeness, I guess I can retire." Of course he was joking though and hoped that she didn't take offense to his sarcasm. It was one little quip he had about him that turned some people off which is why he learned to keep his mouth shut and listen more than he talked. He always had a habit of saying the wrong thing or pissing someone off when he opened his mouth on his own. It's why he liked working so much because it tended to keep him out of trouble more often than not. On his days off, it was like something he couldn't control, but then again, he didn't try either. It was like his outlet, during the week he kept quiet, kept things to himself when he wanted to say something but then on his days off, he let it all out so that it didn't shine through his job the following week. He realized this, so in turn, he had to apologize, "Sorry....I'm just joking with you." he smiled. "You can ignore me if you want." 

He turned right at the light and continued to go straight since she wanted a tuner. He knew a good spot for her but it was a used dealership. It carried all the right cars for the right price and since she said she liked to tinker with things, it was the perfect place. Not that they sold shit for cars, but they sold all the imports that were worth building. Skyline, Civic, Tiburon, RX 7 or RX 8, anything practically she could think of. Those were just example's. 

“Right now wanting more along the lines of something I can tinker with, flip out things and make it mine, possibly use as a add on to my resume, if that makes sense.”

Resume? Now he was a bit confused. "Resume? You work on cars for a living?" he questioned. Ok, so he was a bit surprised. He'd never met a woman who actually enjoyed yet alone even worked on cars. It was always a man's job in his eyes or at least that's what his dad told him. Porter wasn't a master under the hood like some guys, but he knew his way around things, enough to know how to make them fast and what to do to tweak things, but he never went to school for it. It was always learned as you went and you learned from your mistakes. To this day he still made mistakes, but with someone who knew what they were doing............"How long have you been working on cars?" he asked as he made another right turn to get on to the expressway. He wouldn't have to worry about that ad if she was as good as she sounded, well then he might have a job for her after all. Hell, maybe she could teach him something.

Well he didn't look like he took offense, what with smiling, so hey that was awesome, she was saved, some people were touchy about the oddest things, wasn't a rarity that she offended someone without meaning to, though normally she was neutral on the idea. Clearly thus far she wasn't wanting to chase him off, no Zen figured it was much better to hang around with him today, anyone helpful was a life saver, plus who in their right mind turned away help, pfft she didn't want to get a rental car, they annoyed her. Right, so next topic was her stumbling him to silence and his reply, which had drawn a pause out of her, barely, but he'd gotten her to pause at all, that was high praise in a way. He explained, seemingly lost that she needed that explanation, and Zen giggled, it was a soft sound, but still very much a giggle, “Aw, I'm taking that as a compliment, because I can.” Who wouldn't take that as a compliment, even if he didn’t really mean it technically, he had said the words as a point, still the point was clearly lost on her, given she'd always been blunt with her words. Had others point it out to her, in other means of course, didn't change anything, as he would learn quickly.

Dinner was a great idea, so she didn't know anywhere around here, could get his thoughts on that, which would mean she wouldn't end up somewhere horrible for dinner at some point, plus would mean they'd have to keep in some contact. If his mind linked it the same way her's did and he took offense he could say so now, if not then hey that worked too, he had to agree first though, so she put out the offer for dinner. His argument was invalid, easily so, and she'd explain it to him, in detail even, “Pfft, is so a big deal, you were unnecessarily kind to a random stranger, and are continuing to be so when you could have escaped easily by now, on top of it's fun to talk to you so of course I want to guilt trip you into spending more time with me.” There was a playful roll of her eyes, and a smile tugging at her lips, duh, dinner, no strings attached, not really, she might try to trick him into friendship, at the very least, that was all. “We can figure out, or argue out, payment splitting later.” That was something she was less picky about, her main fight was him agreeing, which it sounded like he technically did, so great, that was wonderful, maybe she should shop at some point.

Had almost forgotten about that, yeah needed to shop, for a lot of things here soon, well could hit up somewhere simple for the necessities then worry about honest shopping when she could focus on it. Wasn't going to be right now, clearly, right now she was more interested in talking to Jason, and his car, oh and car shopping, right that too. Still would shop, if nothing else because pajamas, and something to wear to dinner, of course, just because it wasn't technically a date didn't mean she wouldn't treat it as such, at least to a degree. “Course you'll have to suggest places, otherwise I'd just pick somewhere that has nice architecture or something.” A shrug, sometimes it was the oddest things that she wasn't good at, like paying attention to restaurant and what type they might be, generally food was food to her. Hey, if she picked a decent hotel though, she might be able to get information about decent shopping places, instead of wandering about lost, that was a great idea, so would aim for a touch higher scale place to crash tonight, but just a random motel.

His awesomeness, it was a fact, established any everything, so his words had her grinning, “Only if you retire in grander.” Sarcasm, wasn't her strong point by far, but Zen could roll with things pretty easily, most of the time, besides she was just fine, thank you very much. So could take a 'not so bad', she'd grow on him, she was sure, it was almost a talent, either pissed people off really quick, or grew on them, it was a fun talent to have. “My suggestion, become rich and by a house, paid off in full, or hey if you already have that, then... well I don't know off the top of my head.” A pause, with tilt of her head, hadn't thought that through very well at all, had she, oops, oh well, he'd get the point she was sure. Course then he apologized, so then again, “Um, no?” No ignoring him, that'd be dull, and silent, which would be pointless, “I know, joking, that's fine, so no saying sorry, less that means I need to apologize for a lot, like most of the conversation.” Hopefully she didn't, because wasn't sure where to start, “Is it because I'm trying to sneakily get you on a date?” Though wouldn't that mean she should have said sorry, not him? “Well anyway, I'm not ignoring you.” See, issue settled, kind of.

Car she was looking for, tuner would would, she'd have something to do, which was just fine with her, she could and would work on almost anything that could fit into that category. Oh, she did let that slip, didn't she, and almost looked sheepish, “Um, yes? I mean I hope so at this point, otherwise I wasted a lot of time and money on certifications.” A shrug, was what she did, yes, was even what she liked doing, it kept her attention and really for Zen that said a lot give her attention span on most things. “Works well for resume, well part of one, one things to have lots of fancy paper or letters of recommendation, and another thing all together to have physical proof of capabilities. Was an 08 Nissan R35 GTR that got me my last job, was a pretty car till I sold it and they rolled it through a wall.” Another roll of her eyes, that had been tragic, really it was, people thinking they could drive and failing miserably, but honestly Zen had been done, and tired, of the car, she had a habit of selling cars when they bored her.

How long, well that was an amusing question, to her of course, “Legally, since I was fourteen.” Honest answer, with a shrug and almost a nervous twitch of playing with the ends of her hair, “Didn't hit classes till I was seventeen though, I think I surprised them when I already knew most of the material, which worked out great for me, freed up time for advanced nanotechnology physics classes.” Oh, that was random, no wasn't it, still moved past it pretty well, “Why do you ask? I thought it was pretty easy to know I worked with cars, do many people ramble about your car?”

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"....on top of it's fun to talk to you so of course I want to guilt trip you into spending more time with me.”

It didn't take Porter being a genius to figure out that this chick was sending signals like an Indian in front of a fire, but now that she said it as a plain as day, it gave him a little more freedom without having to worry about her storming off cause of sexual harassment or something. Porter wasn't very good with woman when it came to asking them out or anything like that. In most cases it turned into him just reading into things too much and being a typical asshole. So he stopped trying. Instead, he let them come to him and if they didn't, it was no big deal to him. It wasn't like he wasn't used to being alone. He smiled as part of his reply, "You don't have to guilt me into that. You're probably the first outsider I've met so far since I've been here that wasn't a client. Otherwise it's been work, work, work. "

“Course you'll have to suggest places, otherwise I'd just pick somewhere that has nice architecture or something.”

"I'm not really sure what's around here. I usually do all my own cooking. I'm a purist so I believe the mind and body should be pure of all the chemicals they put into food. I try to stay far away from going out to eat as much as possible." he replied, "So if you're that strung up on spending more time with me, I can make you dinner." he paused a moment and then continued, "That is if you're not too afraid of me murdering you and stuffing you in my cellar." he laughed. Cause him making her dinner would require her to come to his house.....

When the conversation switched to her working on cars, she had mentioned being certified which a super plus in his book cause it meant she really did know what she was doing. Then she went on to explain how she showed a car off and got a job in the process,he had no reason to doubt her after spilling off random facts about his car. If she knew what she was doing, and she certainly needed a place to stay, then a trade could be offered here. He had to wonder if she worked on bikes as well. The Kawasaki was making some ticking noise like he hadn't changed the oil in it for years, but really, he did. Changed it probably more than he changed his own underwear. Maybe that was the problem too, changing it too much. Who knew, but if she could figure it out and get it to stop, then he could actually ride it again. Since he heard that ticking, he stopped riding and just let it sit until he had time to look at it. It was becoming an artifact in his garage. 

“Why do you ask? I thought it was pretty easy to know I worked with cars, do many people ramble about your car?”

Their exit was coming up and he merged off the expressway onto the local street and kept heading straight for a while when she asked him why he was so concerned with it. "I really don't want this to come off creepy or anything, but I have an extra room at my place and a broke down Ninja in my garage. I also do the work on my own cars, but I work by mistake. I make a mistake, I try to learn from it. Honestly, I'm sick of breaking things before I finally get it right. I'll offer you the extra room at my place if you fix my bike and keep up the maintenance on my vehicles." he said with an honesty that would sway even a liar. But that was the kind of guy he was. He was honest, kind, and giving. Of course hardly anyone ever seen this side of him because truthfully, he still had to keep up appearances around certain people. He was still undercover after all and work was always separate from personal. This was personal time though, so she was seeing him for who he really was. "Whatever tools I don't have, let me know and I'll get them. but you'll have a two car garage to work in on your own car instead of a hotel parking lot. So what do you say?" he said making a right and seeing the car dealership on the right hand side. He pulled in and put the mustang in 1st gear and turned off the car. "You do know how to fix bikes to, right? I mean its no big deal if you don't, I just miss riding and hoped that you did." he said with high hopes. "Offer still stands though even if you don't. My life is driving and sometimes I can't rely on mistake after mistake or I'd be out of a job. You'll be saving me the money on a mechanic."