“No, not really skeezes.” she said, ” At least none any worse than your run of the mill photographer.” A smug little smile crossed her features at his concern, but she didn’t mention it, and continued.

“ A chicken suit.” she admitted, then held up a hand to forestall any comment the lawyer may have been ready to make. “Not your run of the mill chicken suit…mind you, but still. Apparently this was a farm motif. There was a chicken…a farm girl…a cow…hay bales…the whole nine.” Riley shook her head. There really were some freaks out there, but hey, it was a pay check, and maybe Aurum would get a laugh.

"..." The silence drew on and on. Finally, Aurum broke it. "A... chicken suit?" Weird. "That's silly. You should have been the farm girl, not some poultry. What kind of people..."

For some reason, the whole idea bugged him. It wasn't just that those people seemed like deviants. It was that Riley... He cut himself off to verbalize his thoughts. "So, let me get this straight. You had to wear a big rubber chicken suit... and you didn't think there was anything foul about it?"

Fowl sounds a lot like foul. Not that Aurum noticed the inadvertent pun.

Aurum’s reaction wasn’t exactly what Riley had expected, but at least she’d managed to get his mind off of the whole job thing. This, she could talk about, she’d been in the business quite some time now. Not that she was used to explaining herself, or the way the job worked…but she could work with this.

Aurum trailed off, thought, then started speaking again. Riley nodded her head at the appropriate moments and snerked a little at his use of the word ‘foul’. ” They wanted a blond for the farm girl.” she said with a dismissive wave of the hand. “And I learned really quickly it doesn’t matter what I think about the people ‘reading’ the article. In this line of work, Aurum, beauty really is skin deep.”

As to the rest, she chuckled low, staring at the coffee in her hands, “And for the record…it wasn’t a big rubber chicken suit. It was actually a very small, feathered , chicken suit.”

"Small enough one doesn't need to use their imagination?" Well, obviously. But it had to be asked. "That's messed up." Seriously. Aurum took on a more serious tone. "Haven't you ever considered... like, modeling for stores and catalogs? I'm sure you have the talent."

Gah! His mouth had gotten away from him.

"Excuse me," He realized aloud. "I'll be over here, being a prude."

Aurum wasn’t judging her…or maybe he was just a little bit. That was okay, Riley was a big girl, she could handle it. It wasn’t like it was a rare occurrence anyway. Aurum had never treated her like she was anything other than any other girl on the street and she wasn’t going to get pissy just because he was curious. Okay…maybe normally she would have, but she still kind of felt guilty about the whole job thing, and if prying into her personal life made him feel better…

She nodded when he asked about imaginations and shrugged her shoulders when he said it was messed up. Riley agreed…but again, it didn’t matter what she thought.

He asked her why she didn’t do commercial modeling and Riley studied him across the table.

”That was the idea when I moved up here at nineteen.” she said, ”Bright eyed, bushy tailed, and naïve. Things…don’t always work out how you think they will.”

He was sure she had talent. “And thank you Aurum, but as I’ve heard over and over…it takes more than a pretty face in the modeling industry. I’ll just take the paycheck.”

As to him being a prude, Riley's eyebrows rose yet again. "And Aurum, you're not a prude. You're honest."

"Okay. Well, then I'm honest, and I honestly think you need a better agent." Aurum crossed his arms with a melodramatic huff, closing his eyes. He cracked one eye open to watch her reaction. "Or maybe I should just shut up, because you obviously know what you're doing, and it's none of my place."

Regardless, he thought she could make it. "Please don't think this is sappy. I'm just stating this for the record. I think you're more than a pretty face."

Riley had to laugh at the way Aurum was acting about this whole thing. All of a sudden it was like he’d gone over-protective older brother on her or something. It was weird, and amusing ,and she just shook her head and laughed.

”I do commercial work here and there.” she said, ” Did some stuff for that mutant community center /halfway house/Sanctuary place a while back. I also did a couple of makeup ads for this one lady.” she shrugged her shoulders.

“Besides, agents cost money Aurum, and it’s hard to cross between these two genres. You’re kind of the odd man out. I’m working on it though.”

He’d said something really nice about her at the end of his last little rant, and Riley smiled, just a bit uncomfortably at the compliment. This was that whole…’getting used to someone being nice’ thing, wasn’t it?

” Thanks Aurum.” she said, ”Right back at you.”

A positive reaction to the Overprotective Act. Good, good. She could take it.

"True." Aurum agreed with her. "Agents do cost money. Damn. A shame you don't have a lawyer or something, to eye contracts." He joked. It was a joke, after all. He certainly wasn't qualified to do anything of the sort. That wasn't an offer. Even if it had sounded like it. "And no problem." He added. She could take a compliment, too.

Suddenly, a vibrating pocket interrupted their conversation. Aurum took a hasty chug of coffee, somehow managing it while seeking out his cellphone. He popped the screen and brought the phone to his ear. Aurum offered Riley an apologetic look as he listened to the voice on the other end. He grunted his way through the conversation. "Mhm... yeah... mhm... okay. Bye." The phone snapped shut. He stuffed it into his shirt's chest pocket.

Aurum's chair legs creaked slightly as he pulled away from the table. He bent to grab his laptop case, looking to Riley as he came up. "Sorry about that. I've got to go." He snagged the coffee cup and jiggled it at her. "Thanks for this. We'll talk again sometime."

And with that, he beat a hasty retreat, out the jangling door.

”Too bad I don’t know any decent lawyers who do anything but defense.” Riley countered to Aurum’s comment about having a lawyer to look over contracts. Then his phone rang.

What followed, after some rather impressive multi-tasking, was a mostly non-verbal communication that Riley figured would have required hand gestures had it not been over the phone. It was short, sweet, and when Aurum hung up, he stood.

He had to go? They’d talk again sometime? What the hell? Riley turned in her seat and watched him beeline towards the door. Where was he going? Who had been on the phone? Was it a date?

That thought bothered Riley far more than she wanted to admit, so she picked up her coffee and sipped at it. This whole friends thing was weird…but she was going to try. She also was going to make sure she never ran off without a word as to the why again…this sucked.