[Misery likes company [Zaku]

Gabe’s personal life involving the comic store was something that felt like a never ending roller coaster. It was getting hard for him, handling both the casino, the store, and running around as a terrorist. Eh…. “ Gabe actually took about two bottles of bud light as he went about his morning. He wanted to treat himself, so he ended up walking off to the nearest outdoor breakfast place. It was more like a stall that served breakfast style foods, and most people just at the small tables or go somewhere. Looking at his phone, Gabe felt that there was really no one he could talk to about his problems. Or better yet, he didn’t feel like it was needed.

“Everything has to be handled alone, in some kind of way. “ His omelet was brought to his small table, but Gabe only stared at it.

Zaku was enjoying her own day, She was dressed in a baggy sweater that hid her figure, as well as a floor length skirt that did the same for her legs and hips, her hair was rather wild at the moment due to her having been in a bit of a hurry that morning, though she was feeling a mite peckish and so she had walked towards a nice little breakfast place, it was a place she knew well since she stopped by a lot when she was making deliveries or picking up supplies from the eden area. This was one such day, so her Large metal backpack was on her back and she walked to the stall like place and to a table, the backpack was almost like a safe as she placed it down with a rather weighty thud before she got her own food. The Cowlick on her head meanwhile was looking around and seemingly keeping an eye on the large, impossibly heavy safe like back pack.

After a bit she walked back to her table, carrying a large plate of pancakes and a bottle of syrup, sitting down at her table she started to prepare her food, at the same time her cowlick seemed to lean over to her neighboring table, the one Gabe was at, and it seemed to be sniffing at Gabe as if trying to identify him, though it then lowered down to his eggs for a moment before sniffing at them then back to gabe before seemingly nodding and retreating back to it's owner as she seemed quite pleased with her now prepared food.

"hmm?" The appearance of another person sitting near to him was something that pretty much caught Gabe off guard. However, that was because of another reason, a small strand of hair fell on Gabe's food. "................." What a freaking day, this had to happen too? "Miss......?"  When she looked at him, would have a pretty upset expression. "When you passed me, few strands of hair dropped from your scalp and fell into my plate...."

Zaku was enjoying her meal, smiling happily as she popped some pancake in her mouth and chewed, her Cowlick dancing about a bit as she was quite happy with the events of the day so far. She got a few deliveries done, a few new orders in, new supplies for the work and extra for any personal projexts she wanted to work on, the day was great and it was all looking up from here.

Then she heard a voice, directed at her and she seemed to jump in her chair before looking over, as soon as she seen the upset man she froze for a moment and started to think on what she must have done to make him so mad. Thankfully she didn't have to guess as he outright told her, apparently a few rouge bits of her hair had decided to attack his food. Looking to her plate she was about to suggest maybe they belonged to someone else, but the length of the hair made that rather improbable. so instead she continued to chew the large mouthful of pancake she had with a worried look on her face.

After a few more moments she swallowed and wiped her mouth with her napkin, before looking back at Gabe "Z....z......z...zaku is s..s.....s...sorry, Zaku d..d......d.d..didn't meant to let her hair fall on your p....p...p...plate, she wasn't aware that any had fallen off at all...Is t...t.....there something Zaku can do to make up for it? Zaku?" she asjed stammering and stuttering nervously as she shrank a little in her seat, her already short fram looking even shorter and smaller now.

"Shes still eating..." Wow, this chick has some nerve. All Gabe really wanted was an apology, but she was just going to look at him and eat? However, Before Gabe said anything else, she started to talk. The result was something else, very alien. " What the actual fuck is gong on? Gabe wouldn't say this out, but his thoughts were swirling around in his head. If he stayed like that too long, he knew that he was going to get a headache soon. But still, why in the world is this woman talking in third person? Was Zaku her name? If she was able to go to a park and buy some food, and have some money and act normally before this conversation, surely she wouldn't be retarded or anything.

"Nothing will come of this..." That was the final thought in Gabe's mind before he finally spoke. " I wasn't hungry anyway. Nevermind......." Gabe then turned away, picking up his plastic plate and starting to maneuver to the nearest trashcan to throw it away. He wasn't going to press this girl, it didn't even seem fair to hold her responsible if she acted as strange as she did.

Zaku seemed to slump in her chair a moment as the man seemed to completely disregard her apology, she had been trying to give a proper one but she was just nervous with how he was glaring at her, and she kinda shrank a bit more into her seat "Z...zaku is...s..sorry..." she said as she looked down trying her best to not cry, she really didn't mean to cause the man trouble, and she couldn't even think of anything to do to apologize.

Then she looked at her plate, she had only eaten one pancake, the rest were untouched, she had really only eaten the one that had already been in her mouth when the man had started talking to her, and she had finished that so she wasn't talking to him with a mouth full of food since that would have been rude. She checked her pocket and she didn't have enough money for more, but she wanted to apologize, so she got up slipped her massive metal backpack back on and grabbed her plate. and without a word she moved in front of Gabe her head down as she was trying to hide the fact she was crying as she held out her plate to him.

"Y...you.....c...C...Can h...have Z...zaku's...f..food..i....if you want...a..as ..an...an apology....sh...she doesn't have an...anymore to...bu..buy more..b..but she....she is sorry..f..for ruining your meal....Zaku" she stammered as she stood there holding the plate out to him with her head bowed down, her cowlick seemingly bowing its head as well as she talked to him.drooping sadly as well

Gabe had half a mind to just leave things the way they were, completely disengaging from the situation involving the food entirely. He didn't want to bring attention to himself to something so petty, he only wanted to inform her of what occurred. It might have been worse if he didn't say anything at all. However, he simply sat back down for the sake of enjoying his time outside. It wasn't like it was an actual restaurant anyway, the park tables and whatnot were free to sit on. So basically, Gabe had the intention to sit there and shuffle his "deck of cards", but this woman named Zaku then did something unexpected.

"huh?" She explained that she didn't have a lot of money and placed her pancake on Gabe's table. abe was rather surprised, and the whole act made him feel bad. "Miss Zaku, you seem to misunderstand. I didn't mean for it to blow out in proportion. " She sighed deeply as he bowed his head as well. "I truly apologize for upsetting you with my comments."

Z...zaku..r..ruined ..y..your meal...s...so...z..zaku is Replacing it...Zaku" she said as she sat back down at her table, her cowlick still dropping as she sat there, taking a sip of the water she had gotten, and then the most embarrassing thing possible happened, her stomach grumbled so loudly it could be heard all the way to the stall that was selling the food.

This, understandably, Mortified the short girl and she hid her face in her arms on the table still trying to not cry from the slight altercation earlier, she had been working late to finish the projects she had just delivered today, and had worked through breakfast and lunch, so this was her first meal, and yes she got payed but she had already used all the money to buy more supplies, she had food at home yes but that was a few hours away yet, "Stupid stomach....b..be quiet...please...Zaku" she muttered to herself as she took another sip of water to try and keep her tummy quiet.

A facepalming Gabe could be seen bringing the food back to her table as he looked way. "A gentlemen's code of ethics wouldn't be to watch you starve yourself for my sake. It was an accident, but it wasn't that serious enough for you to such a sacrifice if you are in fact hungry yourself. " Making a simple hand gesture, Gabe pointed to the food. " Before it gets cold, how about you enjoy your breakfast, no? You should have some pride that you are able to sustain yourself in such a way. I wasn't trying to put you down Ms. Zaku.

Zaku looked up as she heard the voice talking to her, it was that man's voice and he was handing back the food, and explaining why he wasn't taking it, she then looked at the food and back up at the man "Z...zaku....c..could..s..share...i..it....a..after all..s...she d...did r..ruin y...your meal...Zaku" she said as she still had a guilty look on her face, still sad that she ruined his own meal and clearly caused him some issues, her cowlick was still dropping though it seemed to move and sniff at the plate of food as if eagerly contemplating eating it all itself.

"I can agree to that.......if....your hair would.... how are you doing that?" Gabe would ask outwardly in a way to figure out why her hair moved around like that. Was there something wrong with her or something? Was she like medusa with her hair taking on a life of its own?" So, Zaku right? Can you tell me why you like to speak in third person? To be honest, it kind of threw me off. IS there any particular reason? Or..." Gabe said passively as he cut himself the smallest piece he possibly could from the pancake. "That looks like enough for me."

Zaku looked up a bit confused about what he was talking about, something about hair? she honestly didn't know, though as he seemed to ask her her name she nodded a bit and sat with him now, scooting over a bit to give the taller man some more room. As he mentioned third person she tilted her head for a moment before answering "what do you mean? Zaku has always talked like this, it's how she learned to talk. Zaku" she said as if it was the most normal thing in the world, and as she looked at the little tiny piece he took she picked up her fork and cut a bit more leaving him half of the food.

"T...this way is fair...Zaku" she said as she started to get self conscious again from the fact that she was remembering the reason he was even talking to her, and her cowlick started to make that sniffing motion at him once more as if seeing if he was going to try anything.

"i see...." He didn't necessarily know how to react to that, but maybe he would ignore it for now. "Where did you come from if you learned how to talk like that?" Gabe would say as he ate the small piece, plopping it into his mouth. " Was you born here? In Endymion? I mean, the only way you could explain that you talked like that is if you hail from another country. "He was prying just a little bit, but it was throwing him off. She could wait till night for Gabe to be more accepting of the weird

"Well, after you eat your half and you find out you're still hungry, i'll cut mines in half again and you could have another piece.

Zaku sat there and listened to his next question and she got a confused look on her face, a look that was mimicked by her Cowlick as it moved into the shape of a question mark, the picture would probably look quite adorable to most anyone walking by, and a couple of girls actually did try to hid the giggles as they walked by the table. Zaku didn't seem to notice them as she tossed Gabes question around her in head, as she couldn't figure out why he was asking such an odd question "Zaku is from here, she was bone here, has lived here all her life. Zaku" she said as she still seemed a bit confused.

She then popped a bit of the pancakes in to her mouth and happily chewed, the Cowlick starting to wag happily like a dogs tail as she sat there chewing, having clearly relaxed....or at the very least was happy to have food to eat at the moment...though as she heard Gabe mention giving her half of what he had she shook her head and swallowed her mouthful of food "bu...but then..i..it wouldn't be even anymore and Zaku would have to figure out a way to make it even. Zaku"

"Uhuh..." As a manga artist and basically one that contains a creative mind, Gabe knew that this was a setup for something. He just didn't know what it was yet. "You want to make it even or make it up to me . That's what would fix all of this, right?" Gabe would then take out a business card and place it on the table. " Do you like manga ? Why don't you come on to my manga store? I guess having a visitor that would (actually buy something) would be nice. "That part was a bit whispered, but Gabe needed the traffic of the business. If no one goes, then......

"Nevermind, just come along and find something you like... hopefully. Is that fair?"