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Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby Mojave » 10/06/2017 12:46 AM

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She stood outside the cemetery looking in, wondering if this time she'd actually make it to the gravesite she was here to visit. Last time she'd been here, she'd taken a shovel to the head and been rushed to the ER. It had taken a few days for her to get back to normal and by the time she'd returned to work, she had fallen behind. Fast forward to now, and she finally had free time to come and pay her respects to the deceased. Well, even if I do run into him again, it should be fine. After all, she'd believed him when he'd said he worked here and hadn't been doing anything illegal that night. I guess now I can see if he was lying or not.

Suddenly frustrated with herself, she sighed and stepped beneath the arching gate. What did it matter, anyway? If he was here, he'd be working. If she did see him, she could just give him a friendly nod or wave at most then continue on her way. But it wasn't like it was easy to forget a stranger who nearly decapitates you with a heavy tool and then pays for your medical bills as apology. So she couldn't help looking around (while pretending she wasn't doing just that).
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby ToxicShadow » 10/06/2017 1:58 AM

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It was every bit true that Graves worked at the cemetery as a groundskeeper and grave digger, but it was also true that he had been intending to rob a grave on that particular night; it was a hobby of his, after all. He wasn't particularly malicious, but found that burying the dead with extravagant items was a terrible waste. And, if he could get away with it, why not? He was not genuinely hurting anyone. These folks were already dead and buried.

Enough time had passed by that the woman he'd met, and very nearly killed by sheer accident, a month ago, was no longer on the forefront of his mind. Cizers, his friend and the doctor that treated her, had lectured him a lot after the fact, but it was what it was and didn't really stop him from doing what he wanted.

Tonight, though, the guy was actually working. Properly and legally. It happened to be the day that Graves was scheduled to clean up all the various things left at the many gravesites that had long since withered or gotten haggard from the outside elements. It was a shame when folks didn't eventually come back to pick up with they had left with their deceased loved ones, since it eventually just ended up in the trash, otherwise.

The path ahead of him was lit up by the headlamp he had on a band around his head, which really was much more efficient than a regular lamp, and he was carrying an armful after armful of whithered floweres and battered toys, mostly, to dump them into a wheelbarrow that was already half full with similar things.
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby Mojave » 10/10/2017 1:18 AM

Nora made it all the way to the grave she'd come to visit without seeing him. Pretending she wasn't dissapointed or thinking of him as a liar, she spent some time at the freshly cleaned grave to pay her respects at last. She was on her way out, in the middle of the graveyard, when she finally saw him. Of course, she had done what she'd come to do, would he think it strange that she stopped before leaving to say hi? Would he even want to say hi to her? Not seeing a shovel in his hand, she decided that this was the safest opportunity and turned down the path that would take her closest to him. "Hello, Graves." She said, hoping she sounded friendly instead of bored.
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby ToxicShadow » 10/13/2017 11:02 PM

Graves didn't have a shovel in hand this time, only dried up flowers, when Nora approached and greeted him. It came out of nowhere again, since he had not been paying close attention, so he visibly jumped a bit, but he turned to face her, wearing a smile. He didn't recognize the voice right away, but she'd spoken his name, so he knew it was likely someone he knew, too. Hopefully.

Seeing her face, it took him just a moment, before it registered. It was the woman he'd hit with a shovel awhile ago! With all of Cizers nagging over the incident, he definitely didn't forget her name. "Hey, Nora! What a surprise! You're visiting again?"
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby Mojave » 10/13/2017 11:40 PM

She suppressed a smirk when she saw him jump, glad she'd decided to take the chance of approaching him unarmed. She wondered if he was just naturally skittish? If it was a guilty conscience because she was right and he was used to doing illegal things? Or did he jump because he recognized her voice?

She smiled back at him, though a little uncertainly. "Good surprise or bad?" She inquired, genuinely unaware if this was an encouraging or discouraging social cue and curious to discover which. She shrugged, "And yeah, I never did get to pay my respects last time I was here."

She perused the contents in the wheelbarrow briefly but it truly looked like harmless, worthless trash. She was just as happy to accept that all of this "evidence" pointed to him being a legitimate employee and she had misunderstood what he'd been doing. Instantly warmer, she switched her attention back to him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to catch you at a bad time? I just thought it would be rude to leave without acknowledging you."
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby ToxicShadow » 10/13/2017 11:52 PM

Graves chuckled. "Good, good. I just figured you wouldn't pop in at night around here again, after what happened last time. You know, getting knocked out by a shovel..." Yeah, that would probably be enough to deter most people from going to a cemetery at night, if the general creepiness people seemed to associate with such places at night didn't do the trick. In spite of all that, Nora seemed entirely unfazed, though.

Dumping the dried flowers held in his arms into the wheelbarrow, he dusted his hands off on his pants. "No, no, it's fine. I've just been cleaning up a bit." It was actually pretty boring work, if he wasn't up to no good. "Oh, hey, I have too many sandwiches packed for lunch. Want to join me for lunch?" It was pretty random, but Graves figured he might as well offer, to catch up with Nora and see how she had been doing after what happened. Maybe hanging out in a cemetery at night would be her kind of fun? "Well, maybe it'd be dinner, in your case."
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby Mojave » 10/14/2017 12:17 AM

For Nora, it felt more like 5pm since her shedule was a bit off from the norm. "This is when I get off work, so it's really the only time I can do anything, you know, fun."

Surprised, she tilted her head quizically, wondering what was happening here. "Sure, though I'm curious? Why are you offering to share your meal with me?"

Were they friends and she had missed that cue? Was he just friendly to everyone(But isn't he skittish? That's odd.), and she just happened to find herself on the receiving end of his charity? It was certainly a strange turn of events, she had assumed he would be uncomfortable. People often weren't at ease around her, though she never understood what exactly she was doing wrong.
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby ToxicShadow » 10/14/2017 1:20 AM

Graves probably wouldn't have considered visiting a cemetery fun for the majority of people, but who was he to judge her on that? If she enjoyed it, he had no right to say anything.

Admittedly, he was a bit surprised that she had accepted the invitation. Not because he didn't want her to, but because even he knew it was odd. The man just shrugged his shoulders, though. "Well, sure I paid for your hospital bills, but sharing a meal seems like the least I could do to make up for what happened. I just can't leave in the middle of work, though, to take you to an actual restaurant." Since they ran into one another again, he felt like doing something else for her.

"Do you... actually find visiting cemeteries fun? Not that there is anything wrong with that. I'm sure I already told you I work here just to be ironic."
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby Mojave » 10/14/2017 1:48 AM

So he was still apologizing to her? She shook her head, "It was an accident so you don't owe me anything." She found this prolongued sense of guilt strange, but decided not to comment on it for now. Instead, she gaze up at the night sky and smiled as she lowered her gaze back to him. "It's a nice night, should be okay to eat outside."

At his question she turned to him even while wracking her brains to figure out why he thought she enjoyed being in cemeteries. "Oh, I don't. I'm guessing you're referring to my comment that I tend to do fun things at this time of day. I just meant that this is my only me time, the word fun was used with sarcasm."
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby ToxicShadow » 10/26/2017 3:41 PM

Graves shrugged. "Either way, company is nice sometimes." There wasn't much behind his inviting her to stay for lunch, really. More of a why not? She greeted him when she could have just ignored him, so they were probably at least acquaintances, at this point.

When she answered his question, he frowned a bit. "Ah, that's gotta suck." Getting off this late from what he assumed was work, that was a pretty rough schedule. Not that his wasn't unusual, but that was entirely by his own choice. "So, what is it that you do, anyway?"
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby Mojave » 10/26/2017 5:00 PM

She shrugged with a small smile, "I like to think I'm exceptionally adaptable. It's not my ideal schedule, but I can deal with it just fine. I'm doing my post-medical school residency for the next three years while working on my Ph.D in Bioinformatics. So I do my hours at the hospital as scheduled and attend class on campus or online either before or after work." Not to mention she still had to juggle sleep, meals, travel, and her daily life of bills and responsibilities with her residency and classes. It was hectic, sure, but not impossible. Of course, she'd chosen the university because it operated twenty-four seven and the lectures, materials, and classes were recorded files that she could use at any time. So she didn't need to worry about missing classes and the professors weren't far away, ready to discuss a lesson on a one-on-one basis as needed.
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby ToxicShadow » 10/28/2017 4:35 PM

"Damn. Sounds like you're one busy lady. That's pretty impressive." And it was. Although, Graves had to wonder if she ever just got the chance to just breathe, since she was probably rushing to one thing to the next, and then to another after that. Then, something else occurred to him. "I guess you had a lot to try to catch up on after the accident, huh?" It seemed that she'd already put it behind her and didn't blame him for it happening, but it still kind of sucked that it probably caused her even more trouble than he was aware of.

Thinking along those lines, he also wondered, "You're doing your residency at one of the big hospitals, huh? Are you wanting to open your private practice, if you get the chance, or are you planning something else?"
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby Mojave » 10/29/2017 2:46 AM

She gave a small smile in response to his praise. She knew it was a lot, but most people who learned about her life seemed to be daunted by her choices. It came as a pleasant surprise when Graves proved not to be one of the many nay-sayers who tried to imply she was setting herself up for failure.

She tucked her hair behind her ear, and shrugged. "It did prevent me from coming to pay my respects, but I'm here so it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I appreciate your concern, however."

At his next question her polite smile turned into a genuine one. "Actually, I'm only doing the nursing gig to get a hands on idea what kind of technologies would best benefit the medical fields. Did you know it can take weeks for doctors to get results back on cancer tests? And in the meantime-" She stopped, catching herself before she went on a long speil about her discoveries and hopes for the future. "Yes, I'm doing my residency at Medicai Central."
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby ToxicShadow » 10/29/2017 3:01 AM

Hearing more about her, what she was doing and why, Graves was actually even more impressed with her choices. Becoming a nurse was a lot of work, in and of itself, but here she was doing it not to stop there, but to keep on going toward a further goal. From what he could tell, too, if that smile of hers was anything to go by, she seriously enjoyed what she was talking about.

When she cut herself short, Graves smiled, not because of that, but because of her enthusiasm. "I gotta say, that's even more impressive. Here I work in graveyard just to be ironic, and you're out to make the world a better place." His words weren't belittling himself or her, that much was evident by his tone, but it was sort of true. His work as a bounty hunter, aside, which he supposed could be considered good, but some people seemed to think bad of bounty hunters, too.

"Anyway, we should get going, if you're still up for eating." As he said this, the man moved to grab the handles of the wheel barrow, lifting it up in the position for it to be pushed, and then turned to face her, seeing what her answer was.
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Re: Not Grave Robbing {Quest}

Postby Mojave » 10/29/2017 6:09 PM

She shrugged, "I don't know about the world, I just think there's room for improvement with technologies that do more than smartphones. But thank you." She answered, nodding when he indicated they should move on. She kept pace with him as he led the way to their destination and in an attempt to make small talk asked, "You said you chose this field for irony? May I ask if you're satisfied with your profession?" She hoped she didn't sound condescending. It wasn't that she believed any one job was better than the next- someone had to do the unpleasant tasks that needed to be done afterall- she was simply curious.
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