Why Are There So Many?! [Rita/Sora]

Back in Tokyo...

A little over a week went by where Sora was just waiting for news about this new job and getting to know his new friend, Shou. When Sora finally got the call from Vanyel about meeting his potential boss, Sora was ready to go pretty quickly. He had a couple things to take care of, like setting Shou up somewhere safe for a few hours, but then he made his way to this overly fancy restaurant.

When he arrived, he ended up escorted in by a few security guards. That was not something he expected and it automatically put him on guard. He was led to a specific table where he sat down in front of someone he also did not expect. It was a young woman. Sora mentally cursed Vanyel at this point. It would have been nice to get a warning that the person he was meeting, indeed, was female!

"I'ma kick his ass..." Sora thought.

He sat silently, staring down at the table and seemingly refusing to make eye contact. He slouched nervously and placed his hands in his lap, trying to find a good reason to flee from this. If he wasn't so desperate for the super convenient job that Vanyel had described, he probably would never have sat down...

Munch, munch, much~

Rita was having fun devouring some tasty tomahawk steak that was drenched in American BBQ sauce. Being that this was an upscale restaurant, they had to have some of the highest meat here, and it did not disappoint her. Even more so she found herself taking in the ambience of the place and looking out a large glass window which overlooked the city and gave a nice view of the infinite buildings and blue skies outside.

So good, so good~

She wanted to relish it a bit further, but as she was sipping a small glass of wine, the woman noticed her security team escoruting a man toward her table and he seemed rather -- tight. As she wiped away some of the food from her mouth with a napkin, the teal eyes of Rita knew that he was going through some type of internal crisis. The slouched position, quietness and lack of eye contact easily gave that much away.

Hence, after cleaning herself up, Rita wriggled her nose and reached out her hand to give Sora a handshake and just break the ice.

"Afternoon, afternoon~ Pleasure to meet ya there, Sora."

With a smile on her face, the woman continued.

"No need to look so glum, by the way. Looks can be intimidating, but I promise this delightful package you see doesn't bite...much."

Snorting and obviously joking, the woman kept on after taking another swig of her drink.

"What's your name, pal? Mine's Rita. I'm what you can call...Van's Employer~"

There was a moment of hesitation, but Sora forced himself to take her hand and shake. The reassurance she attempted caused Sora to tightly clench his jaw, but he forced himself to sit up straighter. Rita's demeanor was hard. Was it strange that she reminded him of a mob boss of some sort? What the hell did Vanyel get him into? And she must have been drunk because one moment she knew his name, the next, she was asking for it. At least she was doing well helping him relax...

"S-S..." Sora cleared his throat. "It's Sora, but you already knew that...?"

He wasn't sure whether correcting her was a good idea. The security, the high class restaurant, and her demeanor all made this feel very... sketchy. Hopefully, he was wrong, but next time he saw Vanyel, Sora was going to punch him in the jaw...

"Vanyel said, um..." Sora cleared his throat again. "He said this was a good job, paid well, and allowed for a lot of travel, so I was hoping to join, but I... Um... Well, I'd like to know what type of business you work in. I-Is it safe? Legal? What can I expect?"

Rita seemed to have an eyebrow raise at how nervous the male was. It made her chuckle as Vanyel and Kenichi knew many interesting characters. If she were rude, she would have said this poor bastard was gonna shit himself just talking to a girl or something. Given how she looked, Rita wasn't an idiot and knew she looked damn good to herself, and that can be intimidating for some people. But there was no point in antagonizing him about it since that wasn't her intent in bringing him here, to begin with.

"Hey, hey. Relax. I'm just joking with you, Sora. Vanyel gave me a small run down of who you are, so I was expecting you."

Now moving to place a menu in front of him, Rita decided to give the guy a breather and offer him something to eat to ease his nerves. For Rita, it was nice to eat since it relieved stress for her, and she assumed the same would work for him. If not, he could get something to eat and have some liquid courage for the day.

"If you want, you can order whatever you want. It'll be my treat."

Rolling her wrist all whimsical-like, the woman smiled and patted his shoulder before taking another sip of her wine and looking at him.

" As for what I do? It's 100% legal. Don't worry, I wouldn't drag an innocent and cute lookin' face like yourself into hell."

Giggling playfully, the woman continued.

"Now, bullshit aside, I managed to make out like a bandit in some stocks when the world went to shit during the war. So I took those profits and focused on buying up small food, medicines, and other essential businesses that import these goods across cross Northern America and Europe. I employ about 2,000 people, but I also am into real estate, owning land, and a bunch of other gaudy crap that would bore you to tears."

Going on to boop his nose gently, she smirked.

"But enough about me and my big mouth: I wanna hear about you. What exactly are you looking for? What skills do you possess? Relax, open up and I'll be more than happy to help one of Vanyel's friends~!"

Relax? That was going to be hard, but he could try. He took a few deep breaths, but kept them quiet for the sake of the meeting. It helped, at least a little, but it wasn't perfect. Maybe he could learn to hide his nerves instead of expressing them so much. Sora took a moment to loosen his jaw, force his posture to relax, and even made eye contact for short bursts of time. When she handed over the menu, he only hesitated for a moment and then took it. Fake it until you make it??

"Thank you," Sora said, opening it up and looking over it all. He never ordered from a menu like this before. He was used to diners and bars, never anything up-class. And though he tried to hide it, he did tense under her hand as she pat his shoulder.

And then the real conversation began. It was all legal, perfect. He may even figure out how to get Shou a job if things worked out. The things she talked about working in weren't exactly on his list of know-hows, but he could figure out something, right?

"Well, I, um..." Sora wasn't sure where to begin. "I'm kinda just a guy. I normally do odd jobs, deliveries, clean ups, some construction work for small projects. I've worked security for a few small places throughout China and Japan. I don't go to Northern America much, but it's not like I can't. I don't exactly have a stable place. Oh, I do have this girl I'm tryin' to help out. Her name's Shou. She's a little quirky, but harmless... She doesn't remember her past. I'd like to find a safe job she can do, if that is possible? I know hiring on two might be asking too much..."

"Your welcome, Sora! And don't be so hard on yourself. It'll get easier faking social shit with more practice. It sucks in the short-term learning this shit, but it will become natural with time, I promise."

Rita was truthful in her words since she could tell he was trying to force it, but she remained encouraging and gave a sincere smile as she just wanted to see him try a bit more. So, the woman patted his shoulder and added on.

"Trust me. I can help ya with that and more."

After leaning back, the woman took a sip from her wine and let Sora talk about his experience, and there was a curious eyebrow raised as she smirked at the mention of the name "Shou" before playfully giggling.

"Shou huh? That's one of my employees. I can certainly make sure to give ya work near her."

Tilting her head from side to side, Rita nodded and kept speaking with flare n' pep in her step.

"Since ya already know the gist of what I operate, I'm sure there are plenty of jobs I can give you around your experiences with construction, cleaning and transport. And any friend of Shou is a friend of mine, so I'm more than willing to give ya a shot."

As fire metaphorically lit in her eye, Rita grinned cheerfully before asking him a question.

"And tell me, whenever I get a free day, would you be interested in taking some training to beef up that security? If you are trying to keep her safe or something, I definitely would be interested in helpin' ya."

Sora was trying to force a calm demeanor alright, but every moment it was breaking. Each move this big-breasted boss made caused the type of bounce that no sane man could easily ignore. They were just there! She was practically showing them off! Sora's half-a-second long glances were completely involuntary! The only thing that kept him from freaking out was the conversation. Words were distracting!

And then all of that stopped when Rita mentioned something. Shou was one of her employees already? A look of confusion was followed by irritation. Sora sighed and shook his head in disappointment at himself. So, Rita's question about beefing up security had a different answer than it probably would have about a minute ago.

"I... I don't know," Sora said. "Are we sure we're talking about the same Shou? Long black hair, red eyes, petite, homeless, no memory of her past, all that kind of shit?"

Rita tilted her head momentarily as it seemed Soa was dumbfounded at the fact that she knew Shou.

"Yeah, she's an intern, but a paid one. I ain't havin' anyone work for me for free. Who the fuck can afford to work for free in this economy?"

She'd snort and chuckle, obviously joking and in a festive mood. So, as her smile eased, she nodded and continued engaging.

"But nah, she isn't homeless, the girl just likes to travel. It ain't like we don't provide lodging for her if she is traveling in places where we are located. And if she is, we definitely can provide a company credit or something. Though that's on Shou. She hates being confined to anywhere from what I gathered."

Rita couldn't help but roll her shoulders as that's just how some people were. Some people liked to live in big mansions, some wanted to live in modest homes, and others just wanted to live in a box down the river without a goddamn concern for anyone around them. So who is she to tell Shou how to live?

After siping her wine, Rita paused momentarily and raised her eyebrow before spitting out a question for Sora to chew on.

"Anyway, why are you so stunned about that?"

Sora lowered his head. As Rita spoke, he went through the interactions he had with Shou. Had he taken something wrong? Read too seriously into a situation? Sora tried remembering Shou's exact words, but that wasn't easy when he had no real suspicions of her in the first place. She was one of the few females that he only minorly freaked out about, so he couldn't fully recall everything, and that made him angrier. He brought his hands together as his shoulders tensed and his expression hardened. Sora did not like being lied to or about. He just utterly despised liars.

"She lied to me," Sora said, his voice lowered in his anger. "Shou came off as his homeless girl who needed help and money and shelter. She spat this story of no home, no parents, no anything, and I fell right into it. I mean, I walked in here to get a job for myself, only to find out that she works here. And if you provide all of that, I'm sure she's just using what little I have. Because, unlike HER, I AM homeless. I don't have a job or lodging or, or... anything you just said. I can't believe I fell for it..."

Rita blinked and saw that the man was upset about what he had heard. Did she say something wrong? Was the information inaccurate? After taking a few moments to process it, she just decided to nip this in the bud.

"She doesn't have a home, she just never asked me if I could help with shelter. All of what you said about her IS true and why I decided to try and help her."

Taking a more stern expression, her teal eyes laid on Sora.

"I've seen a lot of unsavory bastards in this world. You don't get to be where I am without noticing that dark nature within people. And because of that, I can tell you the girl means you no harm. She is just naive, young, and doesn't know better. Rest assured, she ain't using you or else I would have discarded her myself if I got that vibe."

Rita then decided to lean back and take a hard sigh. She rubbed her hair and tried to relax a bit as her facial features eased up somewhat. Of course, this was all a headache, but she didn't want the guy to suffer any more than he needed to. This is why she smiled, nodded, and tried to soften the atmosphere a bit.

" As for you, I can tell you are in a dire situation, so my offer is still on the table to help you if you need it. It doesn't have to be that way."