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[targetedbranding]

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[fourthsaken]

[Jade startles, nearly dropping her phone in the process. She eyes the other girl warily, unsure why anyone would stop to speak with her.]

I... Yeah, it's dead. Very dead. Sorry.

[targetedbranding]

I don't know why you're apologizing to me. It's not my phone.

[She looks Jade over.]

I'm Kate. Are you lost or waiting for a call?

[fourthsaken]

That's not... I'm sorry you had to like, stop. [She pauses for a moment, dropping her phone into her messenger bag.] I'm Jade. And... not really lost, but not entirely sure how to get back to my apartment? But I... I'll figure it out.

[targetedbranding]

I'm pretty sure that's exactly what lost means.

[Kate could have let that go.]

And I didn't have to stop. I chose to. C'mon, where are you going? I'm sure we can get you in the right direction.

[fourthsaken]

[Jade starts to roll her eyes, but thinks better of it. This girl may be her only way home.]

Brookyln. But like, not the cool part of Brooklyn. It's not exactly close to here... I swear I'm not an idiot. I know the way, but they're doing work at my usual stop and it fucked up my whole commute and I barely made it to work today and shit... sorry, none of that is important.

[targetedbranding]

Look on the bright side. That means you're not living upstairs from some kind of hipster cookies and milk bar.

[Kate tries to be encouraging, put a positive spin on the details.]

And now I have the whole backstory, so I can help figure things out. What's your normal stop?

[fourthsaken]

[Kate's approach seems to be putting Jade at ease, she'll even smile.] I still have to walk by like, three of them every day.

I usually take the R to 25th St and I probably shouldn't be telling you that? I'm new. To the city. Uh, in case that wasn't already obvious...

[targetedbranding]

That would only be a problem if I were a weirdo stalker or something, which I'm not, so. I guess you just have to go on my word for that, though.

[Kate clears her throat. Bringing up stalkers probably isn't the best way to seem unsuspicious.]

Lucky for you, I've lived here my whole life. How do you feel about taking a little walk?

[fourthsaken]

It's fine. I can handle creepy stalkers. Walking sounds great.

[Jade actually sounds confident about this fact, certainly more confident than she sounds about navigating the subway system.]

Seriously? You must really like it here.

[targetedbranding]

[Kate can respect that. She likes seeing Jade a little more sure of herself.]

I guess that's something we have in common, right—you decided to come here. I was just born here.

[fourthsaken]

[Jade shrugs.] I dunno. It's not really the same. I couldn't wait to leave home. Then again, I was born in Iowa...

[targetedbranding]

[Kate manages to stop herself before she apologizes to Jade for being born in Iowa.]

So you're not liking the city?

[There. Nice save.]

[fourthsaken]

[Jade shrugs again after a moment.] I... I like it. It's just different. It's a lot to get used to.

[targetedbranding]

So where have you been so far? You're getting out and seeing your neighborhood?

[fourthsaken]

Oh. I... Probably not as much as I should? I've been working. And trying to figure out school stuff and all that shit. There's like a huge cemetery near my place that I've visited? [A pause.] I swear, it's not as creepy as it sounds. It's really cool. Like, cool enough that even tourists go there... I think. Maybe that makes it less cool...

[targetedbranding]

No. No, that's probably cool.

[Weird. But it's not not cool.]

It goes with the whole quiet, off beat vibe you have going on. It works for you.

[fourthsaken]

[Jade can't stop herself from smiling.] Thanks. That's... I don't hear that often.

[targetedbranding]

So if you mostly work, what do you do?

[fourthsaken]

I work at a coffee shop. I know it's lame. I wanna get something better and figure out college and shit, but... I didn't exactly go to a normal high school... so it's complicated.

[targetedbranding]

Nothing wrong with doing the barista thing while you figure stuff out.

I did the traditional high school thing, and college, and I'm still not sure not sure I'm made for the traditional job thing.

[fourthsaken]

Really? What'd you study in college?

[targetedbranding]

Uh, well it's not what my major would tell you, but mostly I focused on athletics. Archery. Gymnastics. Fencing. That kind of thing.

[fourthsaken]

Oh. That's... [Jade pauses, trying not to look too confused by her choice.[ Definitely not what I'd study. But possibly more useful.

[targetedbranding]

My mom would disagree.

[fourthsaken]

Yeah? But she's still cool with what you're doing?