Just a calm day (Critical)

"Excuse me, sir."

Jacob unexpectedly found himself halted by a security guard while passing through the park. He had just come from a grocery run and his hands both full, carrying full bags of food and drinks to refill his kitchen. Going right through Oceanic park was a nice shortcut that also offered a peaceful, relaxing walk in the process. So when he encountered the park security guards for the first time, not knowing that the park even had guards in the first place, he was a little concerned and wondered if he had done something wrong.

"I-Is there something wrong, officer?"

"Not quite. Is this woman with you?"

In his momentary panic, Jacob had failed to notice the young woman that the security guard was pulling along. But when he did finally spot her, it was impossible to not see her. She looked pretty young, but horribly disheveled and dirty. She was barely clothed and there was fear in her eyes.

His heart immediately went out to her and, perhaps against his better judgement, he nodded.

"Yes. She is with me."

Of course the guard looked skeptical. But Jacob shifted the bags to one hand and held the newly hand out for her to take.

"I'll take her off your hands."

With a shrug, the guard let her go into Jacob's custody. When the guard was out of ear shot, Jacob spoke to her directly.

"First of all, what's your name, miss? And are you okay?"

"And I am Jacob of... House Cunningham..."

Despite having lived on Manta Carlos for many years now, and experienced many of its fantastical offerings both in the form of situations and people, there was still some residual strangeness hearing that the young woman had a very tribal-sounding name. It was hardly the strangest name he had ever heard considering that he worked at the Academy. His joking response, however, was probably lost on her.

From just looking at her, from her tattered appearance to her hardly-there rage, Jacob could intuit that the woman was not the kind to have lived anything close to a normal life. After working with angels, demons, monsters, wizards, and other nigh-mythical students and faculty, Jacob had developed a sense for when someone came from an unrelatable background. But that did not mean that Lavi was any less deserving of kindness and charity.

"You wanted to stay? Here?"

He looked around at the park. It was a nice park, but not exactly a place anyone would fight security to stay in. That was when he got the sense that she had no "home" to go back to despite mentioning on.

Thankfully, Lavi provided an opportunity for Jacob.

"You can repay me by letting me feed you and getting you cleaned up. We'll need to go back to my place, and I can understand if that sounds iffy. So it's up to you. I won't force you."

The patch of grass Lavi had pointed at went momentarily unnoticed by Jacob as he tried looking all around it for a place that could be called a "home". He was even willing to really stretch the definition too, imagining that she might have been indicating a tree she liked to live in like a human squirrel. But no, after fruitless searching he had to accept that Lavi was indeed talking about a solitary patch of ground. Now laying in some nice grass in the shadow of a tree was usually relaxing when out and about. But as a home? That just didn't work out in his head.

Her stomach must have been the more vocal of the two because its growl spoke more truth than her words did. His heart dipped again in the knowledge that the poor woman was also hungry in addition to being dirty and apparently homeless. She might have thought his sympathetic look was patronizing, but he was really trying to do good by her.

"Just thank me after I take care of you, and that will be repayment enough."

For the first time, Jacob had to avert his eyes when it became clear that she was cognizant of her less-than-clothed state.

"Maybe I'll find you some clothes too. Come. My place isn't that far from here."

Jacob held out his hand to her as he lead the way to his apartment. Lavi's assumption that he was "rich" would only gain more evidence as he lead her toward the more metropolitan section of the city, with highrise buildings and expensive shops. The apartment in which he lived was several floors up and he was surprisingly grateful that none of his neighbors were entering or leaving. Still, he predicted that he might need to refute a rumor or two in the future after someone mentions him taking a barely-clothed woman into his apartment.

He opened up his door to a rather modern and spacious apartment. Fortunately, his girlfriend Lenn was out on a job and so Jacob would have the time to clean up and feed Lavi in peace.

"Here we are!"

He made a point to show her that he was not locking his door.

"If at any point you want to leave, you are free to do so."

There was very little about Lavi that made sense to Jacob. Every minute he spent with her, learning her mannerisms and seeing her responses to his words and actions, elicited another question in his mind and a curious look from him. First of all, no part of her appearance matched up in any way with her attitude. Even if she was some kind of not-quite-human oddball, there were still some things he expected of her. For example, she seemed more or less unconcerned with her lack of clothes beyond modesty to him. He got the sense that if no one was looking at her, she would be fine with nothing at all. Secondly, she seemed equally unconcerned with her dirt and even in her injury. It was if either nothing mattered to her, or she actually like being so disheveled.

As Jacob set his grocery bags on the counter of his kitchen, he sighed. He wondered if he had acted rashly, and thought a little too much with his heart, when it came to bringing Lavi home with him. From over his shoulder, he could see Lavi just standing at his entrance, waiting. It really should have surprised him too much. He always had a soft spot for "girls in distress".

"I'll, uh, I'll cook you a chicken dinner or something. Does that sound alright?"

She was already in his apartment and he had already given his word. So he figured he was obligated to follow through anyway. Going from the kitchen to his hallway, he waved for her to follow.

"In the meantime, why don't you get cleaned up. You can use my shower."

He pushed open the door to the full bathroom, showing Lavi exactly where it was.

"I'll get you some clothes and start cooking while you're doing that, okay?"

The locking sound he heard on the other side of the bathroom door, after Lavi had entered, came as little surprise to Jacob. He was not even offended that she would do so after he had acted so kindly and openly with her. She was just taking a rational precaution and it was hardly something he could fault her for, considering that she was alone in the home of a strange man. The sound of the shower being turned on beyond the door was more welcome, and he smiled knowing that she was taking him up on his offer.

Providing Lavi with some clothes was going to prove slightly more cumbersome. Lenn probably had some spare clothes he could have given Lavi, but without Lenn's permission or knowledge that was out of the question. So Jacob had to settle with giving her some of his old clothes. They were probably too big for her, but they would have to do. One quick search later, he had a t-shirt and sweatpants for her, and even a pair of his boxers, folded outside the bathroom door waiting for her.

Then it was off to the kitchen begin cooking her up the meal he promised. By the time Lavi had come out of the shower, hopefully dressed, she would have a nice chicken dinner waiting for her with a side of veggies and a potato. It was the well-balanced meal Jacob assumed she would be in need of, and he even had a plate for himself as well.