(You know I couldn't resist that title. Hope you don't mind Slade.)

Today was sort of slow. Sara had managed to score some takeout chinese food from her favorite restraunt, Dragon Inn. When she had first come to New York, it had been a bit of a battle between her and the delivery boys. They sort of didn't trust her and she sort of didn't blame them because she didn't trust them. For months she had stolen the food that was being delivered, but she always left a large enough tip, thanks to other people's wallets, to make up for the theft. It was through these odd actions and events that they had gained trust. An understanding that one needed food and the other needed money. Working together to get what they both wanted, was better than constantly stepping on eachother's toes.

Sara leaned back against the corner of the building, counting out the bills into an out streached hand of a thin, tall, boy in his late teens. "Sorry it's not as much as normal, Johny." She said emptying out her pockets. "I'll get more to you next time." The young boy smiled. It wasn't that Sara didn't know how much the items on the menue were worth, or the worth of her cash, it was that it took extra to get some people to cooperate with her sometimes and the cooperation was a nice change.

"you always give too much anyways." Not that Johny would complain too much. He began walking back to his car. "Enjoy the crab ragoons." Hi openned his door and shut it, then drove out of the light of the lamp post that had just come on. The days were finally getting shorter. Sara started walking in the oposite dirrection, looking for a place to eat.

ooc - lol awesome name!! hope my bumping into you is ok.

ic - Slade was trudging down the not so busy street in good old NYC, it was his break from working in the labs and he was headed towards the petrol station to fill his tank. He still wasn't used to the looks he got from the staff... they probably weren't used to a car filling itself up either...

Slade had his radio on a hip hop station as he walked, so people could hear his vibes but what was the point of music if not to share? Paying little attention to where he was going Slade thought about his recent assignments in ther labs, he really needed to get in contact with his underlings. Parts were needced for his duties and what were underlings for if not for delegating?!

As Slade bounced to a particularly sweet set of beats from his radio he felt himself connect with something. Ah crap... Slade never liked knocking things over he either had to pay for damages or explain to an irate passer by why a car wasn't looking where he was going. Slade sighed and began the usual apologies without paying great attention, it appeared he'd hit some lady.
"Ah sh*t I'm sorry. You ok?"
Slade hoped she wasn;t angry...

(ROFL! It's fine.)

Sara wasn't really paying that much attention. Somewhere behind her there was this guy with a radio who thought everyone liked hip hop. Not that hip hop was bad but Sara was looking forward to a quiet meal. A meal that smelled too good to turn around and show lots of teeth to while telling the guy to turn it down. In fact it was all the meal's fault as to why Sara wasn't paying attention to her surroundings in the first place.

Sara had just opened the the sack to take in the sent of crab ragoons, soy saws duck aws, egg drop soup, General T'os chicken, and fried rice, when she was hit by nothing less than a car walking the side walk. That's right ladies and gentlemen, kids of all ages, there was a car bouncing along on the sidewalk, on legs, like one of those lowriders and it just had our friendly neighbor hood WereCat bounce off of it, onto her tail.

"Ah sh*t I'm sorry. You ok?"

Sara should be angry. Right? I mean ok he was standing there and a car just asked her if she was ok. It could be worst, it could be stranger, it could be a hit and run. "Ahhhhhmmmmm..." Sara could have been hit on the head really really hard... not that, that hadn't happened before. "Yeah I think so." She sat there, blinking and staring up at him, leaning back on her tail and her palm. "Umm, Are you?"

Flicking the hip hop off, Slade concentrated on the voice for the first time... well this was certainly a new thing to add to the list of things he'd hit in his time... So was she a cat or a human? Or indeed a cahuman or even a hat? In record timing Slade worked out she must be a mutant. He nodded his head slowly at her question,
"Uh yeah, I'm fine thanks."

He offered his silver hand to her, the miniature cogs and parts whirring as his hand stretched out slowly. Then he noticed the food littered on the pavement. So not only had he effectively trodden on a cat he'd spoilt her meal. This wasn't making Slade feel like a good person... His hand still extended he tried to make amends.
"Ah, crap. Hey was that your food? I'm really sorry I'll get ya some more, on me ok."

He hoped he wasn't scaring her, then again she was a half-cat so maybe he looked positively normal to her?
"I'm Slade, one clumsy-ass car..." Would this reassure her? well probably not...

"Ah, crap. Hey was that your food? I'm really sorry I'll get ya some more, on me ok."

Sara looked around her and frowned. She'd been so busy staring at the werecar that she hadn't noticed her food was no longer neatly stacked in it's sack, but scattered around her in a large circle. Two of the crab ragoons had escaped far enough that they now sat in the street waiting to become official road kill. Either by werecar here or by normal ones.

"Awww Crap" Sara was looking around. She didn't have the extra pocket money even for a dollar sandwich. and she'd been looking forward to the crab ragoons. His hand was offered and Sara couldn't help but notice all the little parts that wirled and twirled within the bigger ones. She tilted her head at the movements before putting her paw like hand in his and accepting the help up. "I suppose I could let you do that."

It wasn't really scary talking to a car... Considering he just practically mowed her over and she was a cat....half cat... She was a half cat that just got hit by a car.... on the sidewalk.... and it wasn't a hit and run.... No matter how Sara thought of that in her mind, it just didn't sound great.

"I'm Slade, one clumsy-ass car..."

"Most call me Sara, though others have different names for me that aren't polite to repeat. You could probably call me Road kill." She said dusting herself off at her knees, and looking to see if she could salvage any of the meal. No luck there.

On the brighter side Sara's face wasn't full of the food that was scattered on the ground. Her eyes crossed to look at her nose and make sure that was true. Yep that was a fact, Sara's nose was clean.

Slade helped the feline to her feet...paws... she had paws for hands... Slade helped her up. As she dusted herself off, and introduced herself as Sara, Slade studied her curiously. She seemed physically fit, probably athletic. Slade also began to wonder whether this mutation gave her natural advantages, the paws could suggest claws and her agility, physical reactions, hell even her diet could be different. He realised as she continued that he was staring... Well he knew how awkward that was.
"Sorry, uh, didn't mean to stare, you're just one fascinating lady!"

The truth be told, fascinating probably wasn't a good enough word. Mutants came in all shapes and sizes but he had never seen one like Sara before. The comment about road kill made Slade chuckle, well at least she was cracking jokes and not shouting or running for the pigs. As she paused to, what Slade could only surmise was, checking her nose for damage or something Slade realised he hadn't asked where, or indeed what, she wanted to eat.
"So, Sara, where would you like to go to eat?" Slade smiled indicitively, "I'll drive."

Sara finished dusting herself out and her inspection of her scattered food. Sighing. There really was nothing salvageable. Pity. She at least had someone to eat with, and he was paying so she didn't have to go find the cash. That was a plus. and it was actually someone who people might stare more at than her.

She glanced sideways looking at his hand again, and all the little moving parts. Speaking of Staring.

"Sorry, uh, didn't mean to stare, you're just one fascinating lady!"

She smirked. "Well you should know what it's like." Sara looked up at his face, then back at his hands. "I guess there is mutual staring going on." How did he work? ok so he was fascinating too.

"So, Sara, where would you like to go to eat? I'll drive."

Sara laughed at the big robot man with tires.... "Oh you're serious." Her nose darkened with her blush and she looked up and down the street. "How do you fit in a car to drive it?"

mutual staring... the term seemed to explain the situation well, if not rather amusing. Slade did realise that she was trying to fathom how he worked just as much as he was trying to analyse her make-up. It was oddly reassuring that she was staring too, it seemed to justify him doing it! Not to mention he was making her laugh, this had turned from an awkward situation into an amusing... awkward situation.

Slade grinned daftly at her doubt that Slade could drive, if she'd thought Slade was weird before this was gonna top it all!
"Who said I had to sit inside the car?"
Slade retorted, winking one of his electric blue eyes.

Stepping back he raised his arms horizontally and nodded to Sara as his hands began to grind into action. First his fingers folded backwards and began to roll up his arms and down his chest, his arms following suit. Then, whining and pulsing, his torso folded down in time with his legs that were reassembling themselves, his wheels slipping through the mass of roiling metal to form a base on which he would be reformed. As his matter replicated the different transforming parts of his body rapidly slipped and clunked into place, His presence growing from the centre into that of his Audi R8 car form.

As he settled, still clicking into place, his bonnet slapped bouyantly down on his engines. The passenger door opened for Sara and the hologram of a middle aged driver flickered into life in the drivers seat. The tuning wheel on the radio span into place as Slade's voice emanated cheerfully from the radio speakers,
"So, Sara, hop in and give the directions."
Slade wondered how she'd react...

"Who said I had to sit inside the car?"

Sara’s eye brow raised high above the other. “Huhh?” Her head tiled and she stared at him. “But you said…” She was cut short as he winked. A machine man could wink and Sara had never really thought that was possible. Then he began changing.

“Oh…” Sara took a step back and then another and another tripping on her tail and falling back on her palms. She scooted backwards performing a sort of crab walk, till her shoulders hit the wall behind her. No her tail was not fluffed. It would not be fluffed. Even if it looked fluffed… Just a little… “Whoa, Whoa, whoa.” Sara repeated as her palm found the wall behind her and crawled up it till she was at the standing position.

“Oh cool.” Sara stood at the edge of the sidewalk, trying not to press herself against the wall. “Warn me next time. Would ya’.. .. .. and I mean.. .. .. Just.. .. .. Cool.. .. ..”

She pushed her way away from the wall and stepped around. Shaking her finger at the car as she crossed the front. “And warn me next time.”

Sara took a minute to admire the… Car… man… Mancar… from the passenger side… Of course WereCar could have a passenger side. Sara had a tail so a car could have a passenger side… “Why can’t I just pretend I’m driving?” Sara said as she finally sat down and dropped her bag under her legs.

Slade mentally grinned at the effect he had made, she wasn't running and yet still a little shocked... He felt her slip into his passenger seat and lay something on the floor. He closed the passenger door behind her softly and began pulling out onto the road. He chuckled as she asked why she wasn't driving,
"You ever seen a puppet? That's what it's like having a real driver, it's weird as!" Slade paused and remembered his experience of Circe driving him through Queens. that was an experience he didn't want to repeat soon.,

"Anyways I drive pretty good myself," Slade continued. Considering she'd had Chinese in that bag of hers Slade thought it would probably be appropriate to take her to a Chinese Restaurant.
"So I assume you want Chinese Sara? There's a good place two blocks from here."
It was looking like Slade's trip for fuel would have to wait...

"You ever seen a puppet? That's what it's like having a real driver, it's weird as!"

“Oh” Sara said sitting back. “OK I guess that could be a pain in the tail… pipe.” She settled for leaning to the side and watching the lights go by, outside. How many other cars out there could drive themselves anyways?

"Anyways I drive pretty good myself,"

“I should hope so. You being a car and all.” This felt odd talking to the car. Ok Sara had talked to cars before but it was normally coxing a stalled engine to keep going or hot wireing, and hoping the wires worked. She never really expected the car to talk back before. “So long as you watch were we’re going better than you do on the sidewalk.”

"So I assume you want Chinese Sara? There's a good place two blocks from here."

“If you to three more blocks and turn left, from there, there’s a better place than that. Still Chinese, but no MSG in the food. Do you eat?”

Sara seemed to be gabbling... Slade understood that talking to a car was more than just weird. It defied everything normality suggested. Slade scowled slightly at the implication that he wasn't paying attention to the road, after all Slade felt he had always been a careful and conscientious driver. To be fair also he was a car, he felt he had the advantage on the insight to driving skills at the very least. Then again he had technically ran her over...
"Don't you worry about me lady I can handle my wheels just fine."

He took in the directions that she gave him and he steered into action, pulling past some idiot infront of him he swept his way across the streets parking directly opposite the place where she had directed him. As he opened his passenger seat to indicate that she vacate the vehicle he replied with a sullen tone,
"Well... of sorts Sara. I require fuel to function but I cannot eat or drink an extensive amount of, uh, human nutrition without causing serious harm to my systems." Slade sighed, he had loved food...

He began to transform back into his humanoid form. As he rose to his full 6'8" height he rotated his neck and shook out his extremities. Driving always made him want to flex, human movement was so much more, for better usage of the word, natural. He pointed over to the small establishment and asked,
"Is that the place, sara?"

"Don't you worry about me lady I can handle my wheels just fine."

"I guess it's decent so far." She smirked to herself forgetting that he couldn't see her expression to see she was joking.. Could he? To ask felt odd. "Sorry. This is still odd. Then again look who's talking."

"Well... of sorts Sara. I require fuel to function but I cannot eat or drink an extensive amount of, uh, human nutrition without causing serious harm to my systems."

"ouch." Sara scooped up her bag and her weight shifted as she pulled the bag over her shoulder. Stepping onto the sidewalk and then taking a couple of extra steps back. Not really sure how far she should be to give him enough room. "I guess I've got to opposite problem there. big metabolism. Especially if I am extra active." Extra active being when she has to do a lot of healing. Sara could waist away to almost nothing in a long fight. The camps hadn't been good to her in the food or the extra healing areas. She'd only recently been able to gain her normal weight back.

"Is that the place, sara?"

"Yeah. They know me. you know. Less screaming when I walk in. yada yada yada." Sara said leading the way across the street, and pushing open the door. "Hey Johny."

the kid wa at the cash register, reading a comic book. "Oh the crab ragoons didn't last long did they." He said as a form of greeting to the cat.

Sara smiled. "You could say that."

Slade sympathised with Sara, normally he was the odd one out, at the present time the two of them seemed to be odding each other out... Slade acknowledged her sympathy, as she walked across the road to the take out he followed in big loping strides.
"Well food is one thing but smoking, man that was a b*tch to get off! I couldn't even use patches or nothing."

Considering his best friend had died because of his mutation, Slade had felt it extra difficult to cut the smoking. It had been to him like chocolate was to a teenage girl, and not being able to drag on those small tubes of comfort killed him even nowadays. He checked out the small Chinese, it seemed pretty respectable. The fact that she said that she knew the people there definitely put Slade at ease, most had no idea how difficult it was to get served when you're a giant car.

She had pushed inside already and seemed to be talking to some perp reading a comic. Slade shrugged nonplussed and ducked through, and under, the door. Glancing around he paused to nod at the young man behind the comic book. Finally he turned to Sara and asked,
"So, what'cha want? Get as much as you like."
Considering her comments about the fast metabolism this could be a mistake but Slade felt e owed her, she didn't look like the type to have too much cash available.

"Well food is one thing but smoking, man that was a b*tch to get off! I couldn't even use patches or nothing."

"I guess. Peraonaly, I've never been too found of that." Sara turned as she walked to tap her nose.

The boy, that she had been talking to, grabbed the menue and a set of place mats, at the two of them were let past the cash register, to a set of tables that were placed close together. The restraunt mostly recieved delivery orders, even though there were many booths, those were normal.y used by single customers. Business men durring the day and those down on their luck durring the evening, where the price for the rice bowl was more reasonable than for a burger.

"I'll take the crab ragoons, The General To's. The one that comes with the white rice, soup, and egg role. And the extra rice bowl with fried rice." Sara said glancing back to see if that was too much. She could actually order more but it was him that was paying... And he still had to get Fuel from what he said? Wow that had to cost a lot. "And the platter of shrimp?"