Moving in... {Miss Nidia}

[wolfsbaine]

Nidia had done it again. She had not been home in time to pay her rent and got kicked out of her third apartment. If this kept going like this she was either going to have to buy a place or move in with someone and she was not liking either of them options and lucky for her after spending three nights in her car she at last found a new apartment to move into.

As soon as she found out she was evicted she rented a storage building for most of her things and put them away until she found another place. Today was moving in day for her. From the time she got off work the night before and all day today (a rare but needed day off), she and two of her cousins moved all her things into the new place.

Well, she had most everything in place. All she needed to do now was hang up some photos, put things away, hang up her clothes and a whole list more to do. As she worked on getting some photos on the wall her cat layed on the couch watching her. It's black tail softly thumping against the couch. Nidia looked at the animal and huffed, "Laugh all you want, but don't forget who feeds you." She pointed her hammer at the cat, then chuckled.

She turned back to what she was doing. Had she remembered that her front door was opened she might have not of talked to the cat. After all, she was new and there was a chance that her neighbors had never heard anyone talk to there cat before.

[calling on Dimitri]

[brthrarnold]

Dimitri had just come home from giving a lecture at the University of Washington, and so he was a little worn out. However, on his way back to his apartment, he spotted an open door two doors down from his own. Curious, he thought. Despite the fact that it was nosy, Dr. Karloff glanced inside to see a woman with very bushy hair pointing a hammer at a kitty cat. Had Dimitri not recognized the woman's voice, he would have stayed in the hallway. However, since he knew that this woman was a colleague of his from Seattle Grace Hospital, Dimitri decided to just come in inside without invitation.

"Hello!" he announced loudly, "I know you! And now we are neighbors! --Or maybe this is not your house?" Dimitri looked around at his surroundings, gathering many clues about what kind of person Nidia was -- because the inside of a person's apartment said a hell of a lot about them.

[wolfsbaine]

Nidia did not know he was at the door and had she of known he was she would have still not of invited him in just because that was the kind of person she was. His sudden and loud hello made her jerk and in doing so she dropped her nail and her hammer. Lucky for her, neither landed on her foot. "Shoot." She grumbled to herself and bent down to find the nail so she would not step on it later on.

She heard him speaking but was far to annoyed to really pay much mind to his ramblings. At last she gave up her hunt for her nail, she stood back up and turns to face him. "Ah, no... This is my place." She gave a small and polite smile, "Do I know you? You know me but I don't think we ever really met..." She walked slowly over to him and held out her hand, "I am Nidia Cox."

Had she noticed him looking around she did not care right now. The truth was there was not much to look at. A black couch and two matching chairs, a oak wood chest that served as her coffee table and storage for blankets and pillows. A book case along one of the walls with books by all different kinds of people, a Tv on a stand in the corner and a black cat on the black couch and that was it for now.

[brthrarnold]

As Dimitri looked around, he spotted several things that caught his interest. So far, it seemed that this woman was the kind to have only the 'bare necessities' of life. Nothing about her or her apartment looked 'artsy' or creative. Though, she was trying to hang pictures, so perhaps she simply had not had time to add 'personal touch' to the place. Also, Dimitri took note of the monochromatic color scheme. Most everything was black or brown. These were very 'blah' colors. Very still and almost emotionless. Likewise, the chest was oak. -- A solid, thick sort of wood. Not as 'pretty' as other varieties, but sought after for being incredibly 'strong.'

These observations were now pinned to Nidia in Dimitri's mind-- conclusions that he had drawn without even having a full conversation with the woman. Likely, these were messages that Nidia had never meant to send. With a grin on his face, Dimitri shook the woman's hand and put his left palm on her shoulder.

"Hello! Da, ve know each-other from vork. Eh-- in Seattle Grace Hospital. I am Doctor Dimitri Karloff. Chief Medical Examiner and Coroner. You know? Vork in basement in morgue? Da, that is me."

[wolfsbaine]

The grin was o.k. but when he touched her shoulder that made her uneasy. O.k. so other then the touch it was how he talked that made her a little uneasy as well. He was Russian, in her personal space and he worked with dead people all day... In Nidia's mind she was pinning him down as a creep.

"Ah, yes. Dr. Karloff... I don't think we have ever really had the pleasure of working together at the hospital... Seeing as how a nurse is never needed down there in the morgue." She let a fake smile cross her face and tried her best to make it look sincere. Before she forgot she quickly adds, "May I call you Dimitri off hours?"

It was right about now she noticed something different... She glanced down at there feet and saw her fluffy black cat, Lector, rubbing around on Dimitri's legs.

[brthrarnold]

Dimitri did not seem to realize that he was making Nidia uncomfortable. Or perhaps he did and he thought it was funny. Or, perhaps he did, but disregarded it in order to make her 'accustomed' to him in the event that he should return to her apartment later on or otherwise be in the woman's presence.

"Yes," Dimitri replied to the woman, "You may call me Dimitri in our on-hours as vell if you like. It is my name, I vill ansver to it. Aha ha. --Perhaps I vill be seeink you in the Land of the Livink vone of these days vhen I come to take tissue sample or give surgical pathology."

Dr. Karloff jumped a little when he felt a feline brush against his leg, but looking down, he gave a prompt smile, "Hello, kitty-kitty." He looked up at Nidia and asked, "Vhat is name of beautiful cat? Is your cat? Or has followed me in, maybe?"

[wolfsbaine]

Normal doctors that she had known in the past frowned on being called by there first names and demanded to be called by there last names when it came to the nurses and anyone of that kind but this man was far from normal she could see it in his eyes, and what pretty ones they where.

She politely smiled and nodded her head, "Very well." when he went on talking about maybe seeing her in the land of the living that was when she knew she would want to avoid him at all costs. How strange a man is he. "Mmmhmm... Right... Tell me Dimitri... Do you enjoy your job?" Figures he does but just thought she would ask anyway.

Nidia at first thought something was wrong with him when he jumped but when he looked down and saw her pet making nice with the new person she gave a small smile. Animals being great judges of character so if her feline was making nice with him then he must be okay... So she hoped.

"Oh. That's Lector." She smiled a little more. "He's mine... He seems to like you... You know animals are an great judge of character so if he likes you then..." She paused and looked at him feeling a little silly. She shrugs and decided to go on and finish, "Then you must be a okay person."

[brthrarnold]

While Dimitri certainly was not much to look at, one could at least give him 'pretty eyes' as a point to his credit. They were a slightly muddled color of grayish blue or possibly bluish gray that had capability of looking a bit greenish in the right sort of light. If Dr. Karloff had a drivers' license, he would have listed them as blue rather than green or gray (as if it mattered.)

When asked about his job, Dr. Karloff gave a large grin and a theatrical nod, "Da! Y-es! I am lovink my job. It fascinates me alvays and challenges me because I alvays --eh-- am havink different thinks to do. You know? Is not alvays the same think." Dimitri loved to keep himself occupied and while he liked repetition and order, he was also fond of challenge and new things. "And you enjoy your job?"

Regarding the cat, Dimitri was very glad to hear that Nidia trusted Lector's judgment. "Lector? Lector. Lector. Is very interestink name and I think I hear it somevhere before perhaps? --Yes! I also hear that animals are good judge of character! Although, I also hear that animals see ghosts, so I do not know." Dimitri grinned at Nidia and then crouched in order to pet the kitty. "Hello, Lector! You are very friendly cat."

[wolfsbaine]

Nidia almost allowed herself to become interested in what he did for a living but then pulled her mind back before she could jump off that deep end. She was glad to hear he loved what he did, he had to in order to be around the dead all the time right? When asked if she enjoyed her job she nodded. "Naturally. I would have to like my job in order to keep putting up with egotistical doctors all day right?" She laughed a little. "It's a good job, keeps me on my toes and always in different parts of the hospital... So I love my job as well."

Nidia could tell that he was pleased to hear she trusted her cat's judgement, this put her a little more at ease. She crossed her arms and smiled while he crouched down to pet her kitty. "Ah yes. I named him after one of my favorite movie characters of all time. Hannibal Lector... You know of the character I speak of?" She laughed a little at what he said about cat seeing ghost, "I don't know about that. Lector has never seen a ghost I don't believe."

Lector was very pleased with the new man. The black cat with the bottle brush like tail leaned against the man and closed his eyes purring. The cat looked as if he was in heaven as the man petted him.

[brthrarnold]

"Then ve both love our jobs! This is good! I am knowink of people who keep jobs they do not like because they vish to have alvays good pay. You know? It costs a lot to go to medical school and people think they get stuck in jobs or they have vasted lots of time and effort and money. You know? This is not me, of course! And this is not you, either, I see. Very good!" Dimitri was rather excited. He thought he was making a friend. Dr. Karloff never had many friends and the idea of getting them made him very eager indeed.

On the topic of the cat, the Russian replied, "Hannibal Lector. Yes! I know him! He is movie character who eats brains and uses faces from other people as mask. Oh, you are veeeery very morbid. Aha ha ha." Looking down to the kitty, he added, "You vill not eat me, yes Lector?"

Whether or not it was a good idea, Dimitri put his hands under the kitty's tummy and attempted to lift him off of the floor. If the cat acted like he did not want to be picked up, then Dimitri could always let him go again.

[wolfsbaine]

Nidia nodded her head while he spoke. "Oh yeah, believe me. I know all about that. I seen my share of people walk out of there jobs because they thought they could be doing something better." She did know all about that, she had come across many nurses who did not like there line of work and often left to start over because they where tired of all the grief and crap they had to take from everyone who thought they where higher up on the food chain. She was smiling but not because of what she was thinking but more because he sounded so enthusiastic.

Nidia laughed when he called her morbid. She never thought it was morbid she just though it was a good name for a black cat with a bottle brush tail. She crossed her arms but did so in a way that allowed one hand to touch her chin. His interaction with her cat was something she wanted to watch. Lector peered up at the man and opened it's mouth in a silent meow as if answering his question.

Before the cat knew what was going on he found himself being lifted off his feet. At first Lector wiggled a little, this was not how his owner picks him up and it scared him a little but then he figured that the man was not going to hurt him so he just kinda stopped struggling so the man could hold him. His tail flicked oh so slightly in a way that said, okay, you win.

[brthrarnold]

"Is alvays optimistic to qvuit job in hopes of gettink better," Dimitri replied. "Buuuut is alvays smart to keep crummy job until you are certain better job is possible. You know?"

Really, that was sort of an obvious thing to say, but Dr. Karloff said it anyhow. He was not always very good at smalltalk, seeing as how he did not get to do very much of it. Dead people did very little smalltalk, you see. --Dimitri grinned to himself, hearing that Nidia appeared to be amused by being called morbid. Well, that was a good sign . . . though she probably should have been a little bit more concerned about the 'creepy morgue guy' calling her morbid.

Dimitri took his time with the kitty, allowing the animal time to either calm down or get away. He was very happy when it decided to calm down. Carefully, Dr. Karloff scooped Lector up and held the kitty close to his chest in a way that definitely meant that he had no fear of cat hair on his shirt. In a quieter-than-usual voice (so as not to alarm the feline), Dimitri said, "He is very nice kitty, yes? He vill not scratch me for this? Or maybe he vill? Ha ha."

[wolfsbaine]

Had she not of thought that he was not kidding around about the morbid crack then she could have been a little more worried. She realized that his manner of small talk was not much and attributed this to his profession and to whom he spends most of his time with. Nidia was impressed with his handling the kitty and decided to say something about it. "You know, he is doing so well with you. Most of the time he stays away from people, but that could be because he does not like my cousins and they are really the only people who come to see me... Anywhere I live."

She watched Lector as he closed his eyes and settled in close to Dimitri. The loudly purring cat flicked it's tail and laid his head against Dimitri's chest. Rubbing his head against Dimitri, Nidia could tell that the cat either liked the material of his shirt or just really really like Dimitri. "Say... Are you busy? I mean... I have some boxes down in my car that I need to bring up." She pauses and shrugs, "If you don't have time I understand but if you can help me then... I don't know... I'll order a pizza or something." She laughs a little to show how clueless she is.

[brthrarnold]

Regarding the behavior of the cat, Dimitri replied, "Perhaps he likes males. -- Or maybe he is likink my accent." He grinned and gave a controlled laugh (hoping not to upset the cat too much) before adding, "Vell now you have me to visit you also!" He did not assume for a moment that perhaps she did not want him to visit her.

The Russian was very happy to have the kitty cuddling on him and petted Lector to encourage him to stay put. "No, no, I am not too busy. I am just gettink home and I have nothink to do just yet. -- If you are likink help, then I suppose I can be helpink you." It was polite to help women with things, Dr. Karloff knew. He could be an ass if he left her to do it by herself.

"You are not needink to bribe me!" He said with a laugh. "I vill help you to do this. Is no biggie." Looking down at Lector, he added, "You vill have to be goink back to the floor if I go to get boxes, you know."

[wolfsbaine]

"Maybe he likes your shirt and accent." Nidia's observation might not of been all that off. Lector seemed to be very very happy with the feel of the man's shirt, the way he smelled and the nice attention he was getting from someone other then his owner. When he said that she had him to visit her also that took her by surprise. She was not sure why but it did. "That really nice of you to say Mitri. Your welcome here anytime you want to come by."

Okay one, she mentally scolded herself for giving him a nickname and for welcoming him into her home like that. Something is very wrong here, this is not like her, the strange man has a strange effect on her. In regards to his explaining he can help she grins, "Oh no no... I was not trying to bribe you, I was offing compensation for your time." Lector opened his eyes and looked at Dimitri. As a cat he cant be all that expressive but he hoped that a slow blink would be enough to tell the man that it would be okay.