In the Grasp Of the Enemy W/Icystorm

"Really you'd want day care? You can try, but they're gonna do a pretty strict background check plus you'd haveto do extra training and stuff. You know how to deal with kids, parents, CPS if needed, stuff like that." Eddie explained glancing at him, all jobs would require a background check, but a childcare center would be more stringent about it probably. Unless it was a bad care and then Seth would be the least of their worries.

"I don't know how much of your history is released and stuff, but you can try if you want." she told him. She honestly wasn't sure if they'd reject him. His records would probably just say he was a soldier in the Russian forces, maybe they said more she wasn't sure. She clicked up the three applications for the childcare center, the University janitorial position, and the hotel.

"Alright so we gotta fill these out." Eddie said starting with the child care facility. She typed in Seth's name and age and looked at the former employment section. She just filled out Enlisted in Forgien Military not mentioning Russian or his job,

"You're gonna have to fill out the rest of this stuff." she said pointing to address and other personal information including citizenship/green card/asylum papers information that he needed to do. They should type up all the info they could before printing these out.
 
Seth gave a shrug, not shocked that she was surprised by his words. He figured anyone would be, but kids were much easier to deal with and were far more carefree than any adult one might meet. Of course, this was shoving away the fact that when he himself was a child, he had bullied and injured other kids any chance he got. He had long ago realized the pain he had caused it tore up at him until he felt he made up for his past childhood mistakes.

Training wouldn't be a problem. The background check might, but if Eddie thought he had at least a small chance, then he saw no harm in filling out an app for the job. The worst that could happen is he would be rejected, and he could handle rejection.

He watched her fill out some of the app, then nodded when she he would have to do the rest. "Alright." Adjusting the keyboard so it was closer to him, he clicked on the next box that needed to be filled out, then, using one finger, he began to type at a fairly slow pace, working as fast as he could. He didn't know how to type of a keyboard all that well, so this was the best he could do under the circumstances.

"So when these are filled out, do I just go turn them into the places?" It seemed the best option, and the way he would like to do it, especially with the day care. He wanted people to see who he was, but also that he wasn't the monster he looked to be.
 
Eddie watched Seth type painfully slow. She'd never had a computer as a child, but school had forced everyone to do typing classes so she was OK at typing. She wasn't speedy, but she knew how to use all her fingers and didn't have to stare at the keyboard the whole time either.

"Yeah. Since you don't have email you'll go in today after you leave here and say you're here for a a job. The manager or whoever is in charge will probably take your application...." she drifted off. Seth didn't have a phone. She paused for a few moments trying to think of a solution,

"I have some money in the bank we can probably go down to the PX and pick you up a flip phone and phone card. You can't do much with it, but it'll be a way for them to contact you..." she muttered thinking out loud. She had a nokia phone her dad had gotten her for her 18th birthday, but she didn't know if she had any minutes left on it. It was with the small bag of personal items her dad had brought down,

"Or you could take my phone...I don't use it anyway...I think it has some minutes left on it. We can go get it when we're done here. Then you can also call the hospital if you wanna talk to me outside of visiting hours." she suggested trying to make the idea more appealing to Seth since she guessed he probably wasn't used to or really wanted a phone.
 
Seth was glad to hear that, and his running around town lately will prove helpful in knowing where most of these places are, or at least give him a better idea how to get to each one. Now he just had to hope that someone would hire him, a person with very little job experience. Hopefully he would prove to have some useful skills.

He continued the slow process of typing while listening to Eddie think of a phone solution, a problem that had not even crossed his mind until now. He didn't really want to have her buy him one, she had already done so much for him. Not to mention he didn't care to have the small piece of technology. It was needed, but he didn't want someone else spending money on something he didn't care for and would only use for job purposes.

"I don't want to take your phone, but I guess it couldn't hurt to borrow it until I get a job and can get one of my own. Although I would much rather visit you in person than call, unless it was an emergency." He smiled softly at her then finished up the last line of the application except for the phone number. "Except for the phone, I think I'm done with this one." Most of the information had either been memorized or he the information had been in his pocket.
 
Eddie slowly poked her phone number into the applications. It was a little hard to remember for her because she rarely used it. She'd lived in the barracks so all her buddies had been right there and she hadn't called home as much as her father would've liked. Growing up living out of a van had taught Eddie to be a minimalist when it came to most things and phones just weren't something she needed a lot.

After she finished she printed out the applications and wheeling over to the printer collected them stapling together each packet carefully. She handed the papers to Seth and then turned to head to her room for the phone,

"We don't have a folder, but keep those as neat as possible. It looks better. Also like take a shower and try to have clean clothes even for dropping off the paperwork. It's a better first impression." she explained. Honestly Seth was probably smart enough to know this, but Eddie was just doing what her brothers had odne when Eddie started trying to get jobs to help out.

"Come on, let's go get my phone." she added. She rolled down the hall to the elevator ad backed in hitting the 2nd floor and she waited. Getting off at her floor and she went to her room signaling Seth to wait as she checked to see if her roomate was there. She wasn't.

"OK come in...lemme see if I can find this." Eddie told Seth. She rolled over to the small dresser. Most of her personal possessions were at her dad's, they'd let him get on her old base and pack up her barracks room. He'd given her some things, but the room wouldn't hold much, so she didn't have a lot.

On top of the dresser was a new family picture. Seth had kept his promise and took a picture of the family after she got here. She also had a plastic vase with a colorful arrangement of flowers from her dad and a Get Well Soon smiley-face balloon from her brothers. Her dresser drawers were a mess and were only kind of organized so she started with the top one. In that was a few t-shirts, pants, socks, etc. She didn't have a lot of civvie clothes so they were all in the same drawer. The second drawer she didn't open because those were her uniforms she other military memorabilia. Leaning over in her chair she opened the bottom drawer which was just a random assortment of her junk. She felt around and pulled a beat up red flip phone and charging cord in a ziplock from under a ratty teddy bear.

"Here. It works fine it's only beat up cause it would sit in my drawer or pocket with my keys and stuff." she explained handing the bag to him, "Probably needs to be charged...so if you have an outlet wherever you are just plug it in. Or if you don't plug it in here...we can play some card or something while it charges..." she suggested.

Visiting hours weren't over yet and Eddie wanted to spend as much time with Seth before he started having to work. The visits made her feel more normal. She hated how the hospital made her feel, like she was just a name in a time slot for all her therapies. Also when she was alone her mood would dramatically drop and her anxiety would go up. She had noticed she was getting more jumpy when it came to loud noises, she hated her room door closed because it made her feel trapped...the bathroom was too small and she'd nearly panicked the first time she'd had to take a bath here. Now she only took quick showers. Eddie could see herself changing, but pretended she didn't. She was OK, it was normal right after what she'd been through, right? She'd figure it out and get over it.
 
Seth took the packets after Eddie stapled them and handed them to him, careful to hold them in a way where they would not get bent. As she spoke, he looked down at his clothes, thinking about what he had at the abandoned house he had been staying in. There were a few things he had stolen, but everything was dirty so he would have to get some of it cleaned before doing anything. That would involve stealing a bit of cash, but someone who was rich would never miss a few dollars.

With a plan in action, he followed Eddie to her room. Step one: filling out the applications, was complete. Now for step two which was learning how to use a cell phone. It wasn't something he was excited about, but he would do it for Eddie, just as he was getting a job for her.

Stopping next to her room, he waited until he was given the ok to come in, then entered the room and leaned against the wall as he waited for her to dig through her items and find the phone. While waiting, he looked at the picture he had taken with her family, finding it odd to see himself in a photograph. It is even stranger to think of himself as part of a family, because he was far from getting used to being part of the family he had been born into. That would only be if Eddie's father and brothers accepted him into their family, and that was something he was not sure of. Either way, it didn't take away any of the odd feelings he got at seeing himself in a photo surrounded by other people.

Blinking out of his thoughts, he took the phone and charger from Eddie. "I'm sure I can find a place to charge it, but I wouldn't mind charging it here and playing cards with you. I also have no idea how to charge a phone." Looking at the cord, he knew which end plugged into an outlet, but he had no idea where to plug the other end into the phone.

With a small smile, he looked away from the phone and over to Eddie. She was his biggest reason for wanting to stay longer. He worried about her, and he worried about how she was when he was not around. He found himself fairly successful at raising her mood when he was around, but having to help her feel better was the issue. It showed him that there was something else going on with her when he was away, but it was hard to know how bad she got when he wasn't here.
 
"Yeah I'll show you the basics and stuff." Eddie promised. She rolled over to hospital bed and awkwardly moved herself from the chair to the bed. She could barely balance on her leg and rested most of her weight on her arms. The bed was lowered so she could get in and out of it and she got herself in after a bit of a struggle. Reaching into her nightstand she pulled out a well worn deck of cards held together with a rubber band. She handed them to Seth and took the phone bag back,

"Here you shuffle and pull the stand over and I'll show you how to work this gadget." she told him. She pulled the phone out and looked it over for a few moments,

"Ah, there is it. She this little flap thingy? Move it aside like so..." she showed him using her nail to move the piece of plastic that protected the charging outlet, "And just plug the small end in the other end obviously goes in the wall." she explained she flipped the phone open,

"Green phone button here," she said pointing, "Is how you take a call and red is how you end. So if it rings green button, if you don't want to pick up, red one." she told him, "Lastly to make a call you just type the number and hit the green phone." Eddie finished putting everything back in the bag,

"There's some other stuff like a camera and what-not, but I don't know how to use that stuff...never really did more than make calls." she added putting the phone down. She looked over at Seth now that her tutorial was done and waited for him to be ready to play cards. Sometimes they played poker, sometimes on-gambling games, when she'd been espiecally weak and just started recovering they'd even played kids games like Go Fish.
 
Seth was impressed by the way Eddie got around and in and out of the chair. It didn't look easy yet she was doing well for herself. He would switch positions with her in a heartbeat, yet if he had been in her position, he would not have done as well and would have spent much of his time pouting and feeling sorry for himself instead of doing something about it and getting better.

Taking the deck of cards, he pulled the stand over and began to shuffle while she looked over the phone. Before playing cards with Eddie, he had no clue how to shuffle, but now he had become quite good at it and could even shuffle the cards without looking at his hands. As he absentmindedly shuffled the deck, he watched and listened to what Eddie was showing and telling him.

"That looks easy enough." Charging the phone would be a piece of cake, and using it didn't seem so hard either, so long as he made sure to press the right button. Now that he had the apps filled out and a phone to use, he was ready to drop off the applications after cleaning himself up.

Hands going still, he stared at the face down deck for a few seconds before looking up at Eddie. "What do you want to play? My brain is a bit fried after all that typing, so might be best to stick with something easy. Don't need you kicking my butt too easily." He was good at some games, others not so much. If it involved keeping a straight face in order for Eddie to not guess what his hand might be, then he was not very good at it.
 
Eddie grunted in frustration,

"Eddie, getting frustrated won't help. This is going to be hard, you just have to work at it." her physical therapist said gently.

Eddie just pressed her lips together and took deep breaths she was standing and leaning on the fore-arm crutches she'd been fitted with, Her therapist had decided she was strong enough to start using them, though Eddie didn't feel strong enough. She was having a hard time just balancing and standing with them and he wanted her to start walking! Slowly Eddie used her right arm and inched the crutch out firmly putting it back down quickly before she lost her balance. She did the same with her left arm and then awkwardly hopping her leg forward.

"Very good." her therapist commended her and gave her some tips on how to use the crutches better. Eddie nodded and repeated her motion inching forward slowly. This was a lot harder than she expected. Her balance was off and she still felt very weak. She didn't want to give up though and would just set her jaw and struggle through.

"Just a little bit further and then we'll take a break and do some other exercises." Her therapist promised her. She just nodded concentrating too much on balancing and moving forward to talk. She could feel her chest heaving...this was pathetic she was just walking with a set of stupid crutches and she was out of breath!
 
Holding the last application, Seth walked quickly down the sidewalk. He had already dropped off the applications for the janitor position at the University and hotel. While dropping them off, one person gave him a weird look and another acted far too friendly. It seemed as if it were friendliness more out of pity than anything else. That was more irritating than someone being rude.

Seeing that he was only a block away, he looked down at his clothes to make sure they were still fine. He had managed to get some of his clothes cleaned the night before and washed himself up that morning. He even managed to steal some deodorant so he would smell good for most of the day, even with all the walking he was doing.

Taking a deep breath, Seth continued on for the last block and stopped in front of a friendly looking building, most of the area around the place fenced off. Toys and playground equipment lay on the other side of the fence. No children were outside, so he figured they were inside and did the same. Once in the building, someone quickly greeted him and he told them why he was there. After another few minutes, he was led farther into the building and dropped the application off. As he was led out of the room, about to head back to the front entrance, a little girl ran up and looked up at him with wide eyes. "What happened to you?"

The lady who was taking him back to the front told the child it was not nice to ask those type of question, and while the question caught Seth off guard, he quickly recovered and kneeled down. "Can you keep a secret?" The girl seemed unsure about him being at her height, but he continued when she gave a nod. "I fought a tiger."

"Really?" With a laugh, the girl covered her mouth, becoming less afraid as curiosity took hold.

Seth gave her a wink and the little girl giggled as she ran off. He stood back up and let himself be led out of the building, planning to wait near the hospital so he could visit Eddie when it became visiting hours.
 
Eddie was sore. Therapy had been very intense this morning, even when not on her crutches her therapist had pushed her hard. She had ended the session sweaty, out of breath, and out of sorts. She'd taken a shower and now had changed into a set of ratty jeans and a white t-shirt her feet was bare because she'd just gotten out of the shower. She tossed her clothes into the garbage bag she used as a dirty clothes hamper.

"I need to get that done..." she muttered seeing that her civvie clothes drawer was practically empty and she needed clothes. She then went back into the bathroom and brushed her hair.

"Also need a haircut." Eddie reminded herself. Her hair was longer than she liked it and very mangy and uneven in how it'd grown. She glanced at the time. Seth should be here soon. Eddie sighed, she'd do her laundry later. Right now she was tired and still feeling anxious from her shower. The shower she had was a handicap one with a sliding glass door and even though she kept her shower short it made her feel claustrophobic and she hated it.

Eddie sighed maybe she shouldn't have Seth come visit. She didn't feel in the mood to have visitors or too talk. She'd had a horrible night's sleep so she was tired on top of beings ore. But then again Seth did lift her mood a bit. Besides he'd be here any minute now. Maybe it could be a short visit they could grab dinner at the cafeteria or something.
 
Seth's mood had lifted considerably after dropping off the last application. Adults, like the person who had stared or the other that was overly kind, were a pain to deal with because it was hard to know what was going through their mind. Kids on the hand were far easier to deal with. Most were perfectly happy to speak what they were thinking. He liked that about young ones, that even if their words seemed rude, it was meant more out of curiosity than harm.

Smiling, he entered the hospital. It had been nice that the little girl had asked about his scars, no pity or contempt in her voice, just a strong desire to want to know in order to satisfy a curious mind before going off the play. If only more people were willing to be like that and not judge based on appearance.

Seth made his way to Eddie's room, his pace quickening the closer he got to her room, only slowing when he saw someone who worked in the building. The thought of getting yelled at for walking too quickly through the halls wasn't fun. A few minutes later he reached her room and knocked, excited to tell her about his day. Who would have thought he would have been this happy after dropping off applications, especially since a job was not something he had ever cared to get.
 
Hearing a knock Eddie rolled out of the bathroom where she'd been hanging up her towel and cleaning up after her shower.

"Hey Seth." she greeted rolling over to him, "Wanna grab dinner at the cafeteria?" she asked. It was 4:00 so it'd be an early dinner, but Eddie was hungry and tired. She went and got her wallet from her night stand and picked out a set of dinghy sport socks and beat up old black and pink sneakers. She ran her hand through her wet hair pushing it out of her face.

"How was your day?" she asked tiredly grabbing her navy blue US Navy hoodie and headed out of the room. Seth hadn't responded to getting dinner, but Eddie figured he'd be OK with it. She rolled down the hall and hit the elevator button. It was weird, but she missed being able to take the stairs and not having to wait on an elevator.
 
Seth's eyes shone when he saw Eddie, his smile widening. Getting something to eat sounded great with him, and since it looked liked she was getting ready to go without waiting for an answer, he stayed silent, watching her as she finished getting ready. He did notice that she seemed tired, but at least her mood did not seem that bad. That was a plus, and he hoped her therapy went well. He could ask, but he didn't want to bring down her mood so she would tell him if she wanted to.

He followed her down the hall then looked at her as they waited for the elevator. "It was pretty good. I got all the application turned in and spoke to the cutest little girl. Hard to be in anything but a good mood after that." The elevator opened so he stepped inside, moving to the side so Eddie could roll herself in. "How has your day been?"
 
Eddie backed into the elevator and hit the cafeteria floor before leaning back. She put her arms up and clasped her hands behind her head stretching a bit as the elevator.

"Where did you speak to a little girl?" she asked, forgetting he'd applied to the daycare and purposefully ignoring his second question. The elevator dinged and Eddie sat up and rolled herself off and towards the cafeteria entrance. She pulled her wallet out and got her ID. She got food for free and could guest someone in a few times a week. She showed the ID to the person at the entrance,

"He's my guest." she mumbled. After that was done Eddie rolled to the line and got a tray. She hadn't thought about go she was going to hold the tray and go to a table. For most of her time here she'd had to take food in her room because she didn't have the energy to come down here. The times she had been down here they'd had to have an aide help her move her tray to where she needed to go, which Eddie didn't like. She hated how much help she had to have now.

"Do you find if we put both plates on the same tray?" Eddie asked Seth embarressed about having to make him take her stuff for her.
 
"At the daycare. She ran up and asked about me. I wish I could have stayed there longer." There was a longing in his eyes as he waited the last few seconds and then stepped out of the elevator after it opened. The food smell hit him instantly, and he only just realized how hungry he felt. Having spent his day running around town, he had not taken the time to eat. It would be good to get some food in his belly.

Stepping into the cafeteria with her, he felt a bit overwhelmed at all the option laying around. There were all sorts of healthy snacks, and then there was also the hot food, so long as there was some ready. He didn't get the chance to really look in the direction before Eddie spoke. Looking down at her, it took him a moment to register why she had asked that. "No. I don't mind. I probably won't get too much anyway." Even though he was hungry, he still was not one to eat much. What started out as inevitable due to living on the streets when he was younger had become a habit.

With a reassuring smile, he took the tray from her and let his eyes wander around the cafeteria. "Any idea what you want?"
 
"Oh that's sweet. Little kids can be quite cute." Eddie said. Eddie had baby sat and helped with her baby brothers when she was younger. She liked taking care of little kids, but right now the idea of being around a bunch of happy, screaming, little kids was too much for her. It made Seth happy though so that was good. After the incident with Alkaev she'd noticed his attitude change a lot and he seemed to be sad a lot, hopefully he'd get the job at the daycare and it'd help him.

"The chicken quesadillas are pretty good for cafeteria food...I don't know what they have today though, sometimes they don't offer them" Eddie explained. She rolled over to the near bye fridge and grabbed a bottle of chocolate milk and put it on the tray, she rolled next to Seth as they got in line and sat up trying to see what was being offered, but in her chair she wasn't tall enough to fully see. She swore under her breather out of frustration with everything and looked at the chalk menu sign to see what there was.

"Guess they're not here today. I'll take the chicken, basil, and parmasean pasta thing." she decided picking what sounded healthy and not too cardboardy. They hospital tried, but still when you ha dto mass produce meals it didn't always turn out very delicious.
 
Seth nodded his head in agreement that it was both sweet and kids were adorable. It had been exactly what he had needed to make his day good, which would hopefully help Eddie. A good mood was suppose to be contagious, right? He sure hoped so, because he would love for her to end the day on a good note. There were too many days where he had trouble trying to lift her spirits due to his own mood not being the greatest.

When Eddie grabbed a chocolate milk, he grabbed a bottle of water, setting it on the tray next to the milk then got in line for food, making sure Eddie was next to him. It was disappointing the chicken quesadillas weren't there, he would have had those also, and now he had to decide on what to get. He wasn't an expert on food at all, but at least he was not picky. Not to mention whatever he got here would be more than he usually ate.

He got the chicken, basil, and parmesan pasta for her and got the same for himself. That would be about all he would eat, but Eddie might be a bit more hungry. "Are you going to want anything else?"
 
"No, that should be enough." Eddie decided. She didn't really feel like dessert which is why she'd grabbed the chocolate milk. Also chocolate milk was a good drink after working out and her PT session had most definitely been a work out for Eddie. She rolled over to where the napkins were and grabbed the napkins and silverware for both Seth and herself. Then she rolled over to a table in the corner near the window. Putting the silverware and napkins at the table. She locked her wheelchair there and waited for Seth to come over.

Leaning back Eddie put her hands behind her head stretching her back a bit before sitting up again. After Seth put the food down Eddie folded her hands and said a quick prayer before making the sign of the cross and then opening her eyes again. She took her fork and twirled her pasta silently taking a bite and chewing,

"Did you get a feel of your chances on getting a job?" Eddie asked Seth as she took a sip of milk. She twirled another bite of pasta, it was pretty good by cafeteria standards. The pasta was well cooked and the chicken was only a little dry. Eddie glanced at Seth waiting for him to answer.
 
Seth took one last look at the offered food but nothing popped out at him, so he made his way over to the table Eddie had chosen and set the tray down before sitting down himself. He removed both their plates from the tray, setting one in front of Eddie and the other in front of himself, doing the same with the milk and water. It was always an odd feeling to eat like this. He was more used to eating with Eddie outside, or eating under a broken roof by himself.

Eddie's folded hands caught his attention, and even though it was rude, he continued to stare until she was done with her prayer. That was something he would never understand, yet had not even asked her about. He was curious, though, and debated with himself while also answering her question.

"Not really. I'm not the best at reading people, so it was hard to tell what they thought. One person didn't seem sure what to think of me, another showed pity. The only one that treated me like a regular person was the little girl." Shrugging off the annoyance, he took a bit of his food, coming to a decision with his internal debate. "That think you do before eating, folding your hands and all that, why do you do it?"
 
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