>> "Well then, if I'm gonna be a good brother-figure, I darn-better find that wallet."

The comment made her smile. It was good to know he didn't freak out about her comment. She was actually surprised she had even thought of it. She hadn't found any one who reminded her of Eric in years. The thought of having someone respenble her brother in the slightest made Sarah feel safer. Even with a cat sized spider walking with her.

>>"If it's not there, my girlfriend is in the police, so I can help you with putting in a report if need be."

Sarah sighed. "I hope it doesn't come to that. I really hate police stations." 'And it isn't my fault I was stuck there,' she thought before shaking her head a little. That was a time she hated to remember. It never brought good memories.

When she spotted the area they had met, the young woman sped up so that she could begin her search. She'd be stuck without anything if they didn't find it. She gave herself a reminder not to keep everything in one place. It was going to be trouble again, she was sure.

"Maybe it's under there," she thought out loud. When she got to the bushes nearest to where she and Nate had met, she got down so she could see if it had flown underneath. She hadn't seen her wallet in plain view, but that didn't mean she had lost it completely.

>> "I hope it doesn't come to that. I really hate police stations."

Nate did his best to avoid laughing at the irony of Sarah sharing her opinion with him. "Yeah, I know that feeling." Now that Quin knew about his past, he wondered if she would connect it with his aversion to visiting her at work.

>> "Maybe it's under there."

Sarah looked around underneath a bush, maybe hoping she would hit gold twice, once with Parker and the second with her wallet.

Not to quash her optimism, Nate elected to ask the folks nearby enjoying the park if they spotted the missing wallet. "Excuse me, my friend dropped her wallet. Have you seen it by any chance?" Hopefully one of them would have some luck.

>>"Excuse me, my friend dropped her wallet. Have you seen it by any chance?"

Sarah heard Nate asking around. It was tempting to give up with the bushes, but she didn't want to give up the hope that no one had found it. There weren't many places it could be if it hadn't been found, but if someone had... The brunette shook her head and mind of the thoughts. She had to hope for the best.

After finding bottles and food wrappers, the woman had lost her appittite. She threw the trash away, along with her half eaten hot dog. 'That was a waste of money. I'll make sure to pay him back after this is over,'[/i] she thought as she stood next to the trash can.

There was an object by the trash can that had caught her eye. It was light brown and square in shape, but she couldn't see it properly from its position in the shrubs. Sarah hoped it was her wallet, but something told her it wasn't going to be so easy.

Nate asked three people about the wallet, but sadly, there was no luck. It was looking more and more like they would have to bring the police into the situation, which was stressful for everyone involved. Parker sadly lacked the scent tracking abilities of some more mammalian pets, not that he would have the training anyway, but it was a shame he could not just feel around Sarah's bag and lead them to the wallet in question.

Looking around for more people to question, Nate was ready to pronounce his pessimism of the situation when his eyes spotted the same light brown object in the trash on Sarah's radar.

Not afraid to get a little dirty, (but still careful enough not to carelessly touch any New York gunk,) he removed what ended up being a wallet from the trash. He brought it over to Sarah for inspection, believing he might have somehow managed to end their search. "Is this yours?" Well, of course it was! What were the odds that he could find a completely unrelated wallet in the rubbish bin?

Sarah watched as Nate reached in for the wallet. It was the same type she carried on her.

>>"Is this yours?"

Sarah shook her head. "It's the same type and style as mine, but," she stopped. How she knew it wasn't hers without looking inside made her feel a little silly. "Well, I painted mine a little. There's a symbol of my tribe on one side in green fabric paint."

The symbol in question was one meant for safety, a deer. Warriors were painted with deer tracks or a rough outline of a deer when they went into battles. In the modern day those of the tribe used it for everyday safety. Sarah had painted her wallet with the symbol when she first moved to the city. It was her way of keeping herself safe.

This was not turning out to be easy. Sarah instantly felt bad for dragging Nate into the mess she had. "Sorry for all this."

>> "It's the same type and style as mine, but, well, I painted mine a little. There's a symbol of my tribe on one side in green fabric paint."

Really? The same style and color but somehow the wallet in Nate’s hands was not Sarah’s own? What were the odds of such a bizarre turn of events? Apparently it was a definite failure, since Sarah’s wallet had a tribal painting on it. (The assumption being that Sarah was either part Native-American or loved the culture.)

>> "Sorry for all this."

Nate shook his head. ”Naw, I just feel bad that I couldn’t help. Maybe we should just report it to the police…”

“Um, excuse me?”

A young man with surfer-style sandy hair approached the pair, his eyes squarely on the wallet in Nate’s hand. ”Yeah?”

“This is gonna sound weird,” which was an unsurprising comment after the day Nate was having, “but I think that’s my wallet.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out another wallet, offering it to the girl he assumed the wallet might belong to. “Is this familiar, miss?”

Before Sarah could reply to Nate's suggestion. Another voice spoke up. Nate acknowledged the man as she turned to look at the man.

>>“This is gonna sound weird-"

'And the giant spider between us isn't?' she asked herself.

>>“-but I think that’s my wallet. Is this familiar, miss?”

The brunette gasped as she spotted the green paint. She smiled as she nodded reaching out for it. The young man handed it over without a fight. She was tempted to check to see if all of her things were inside, but refrained. That would have been rude.

"Thank you so much," she smiled at the man.

It was good news for all involved, as Sarah positively identified the new wallet as her own. Nate was happy to see Sarah’s worldly possessions were not a lost cause, and selfishly, he was happier knowing he would not be calling the police.

The young man was bobbing his head cheerfully, pleased that he found his own wallet. “Thanks! I’m glad I could—” There was a brief pause. Now that the man was less focused on his conundrum, he was more aware of his surroundings, including the large spider between the young woman and her companion. “um, help… Anyway, I’ve g-got to get going. So yeah, thank you, bye.” The man turned around and hastily left the scene, as was expected.

Nate chuckled quietly. “Jeez, you’d think people had never seen a pet before.” Nate crouched and pet Parker’s head, looking up at the girl with her reclaimed wallet. “Everything’s still in there, right?”

Sarah giggled after the young man made a hasty retreat. She wondered why she hadn't run like that, but left it alone. Why she did things weren't really that important. Not when she made friends because of them.

>>“Everything’s still in there, right?”

The brunette opened her wallet with ease. She counted her cards; all were there. Then she turned to where she had put her money. She counted the bills. Then she counted them again. After the third count she sighed.

"Seems that he took one of my fives. It's not that big of a deal. He might have still thought it was his at that time. I just," she paused. "He should've said something about it."

The missing five really didn't bother her. She still had fifty-something dollars in her wallet. A single five missing wasn't that big of a deal. The way the young man acted did bother her though. If he had told her about the money, it wouldn't have been a big deal. However, he left it for her to find out.

>> "Seems that he took one of my fives. It's not that big of a deal. He might have still thought it was his at that time. I just... he should've said something about it."

Nate shook his head, not entirely surprised by what happened. It said something about the girl's character that she could give him the benefit of the doubt that the five dollars was an accident. The former thief was much more willing to believe the "people suck" reality over the benefit of the doubt any day.

Thankfully, it was only five dollars, which was negligible in the long run, especially with the fifty Nate noticed in her wallet, (an old habit from his thieving days.) Still, it was never a good moment to find out someone took something of yours. "Should I go kick his butt?" he joked. Nate knew enough about Sarah by now to assume she would not request retribution for something as low as five dollars.

"Well, if you'd like, I can recommend you to some people looking for an art tutor?" He could not teach every kid with a paint brush after all. "That should be good for at least five bucks."

There was a moment of silence before Nate remembered the one stipulation worth mentioning about his clientele. "Well, as long as you don't mind mutant kids." Had he mentioned that he was a mutant at any point? Maybe it was a given considering his eight-legged friend?

>>"Should I go kick his butt?"

Sarah laughed lightly as she shook her head 'no'. The joke set her mood back into a positive one. She was happy for that. Sorrow was never something she liked to hold onto. Five dollars was not something worth being upset about.

>>"Well, if you'd like, I can recommend you to some people looking for an art tutor? That should be good for at least five bucks."

The brunette was shocked. Being asked to tutor kids wasn't something she expected to happen. It made sense though, in a strange way. Nate had said he was an art teacher. Then an even bigger shock came. The children would be mutants.

Sarah tried to pick her words wisely. The idea of teaching art was appealing, but she had a lot of questions that would need to be answered before she accepted anything of the sort. The fact the children were mutants didn't really bother her. Children were still children, mutant or not.

"Where exactly do you work, Nate?" she asked softly. Her voice was coated in her shock.

>> "Where exactly do you work, Nate?"

The tone of Sarah's question made him uneasy. Did she have a problem with mutants? Or was it the job offer itself? Either way, it was probably better for him to keep mentions of the Mansion to a minimum.

"It's just a school in the city, but the lessons are private sessions." He was not lying, since he usually gave lessons at his apartment for convenience. "You could arrange them wherever you feel comfortable."

Now to casually dig for information. "Unless you would prefer to find a less... well, mutanty clientele-base?" He never mentioned that he was a mutant, so there was the possibility that she did not like mutants, and if that ended up being the case, he could find a way to abruptly take his leave.

Sarah wasn't sure what to think at Nate's simple, yet completely vague, description about the school. And then there was the fact she could hold the lessons wherever. What was she supposed to say to that? She didn't let anyone in her home for fear of what could happen. She had always been careful.

>>"Unless you would prefer to find a less... well, mutanty clientele-base?"

The brunette froze for a split second. Was he really asking her that? Granted a lot of people weren't too keen on working for or with mutants, but it seemed like such a silly question to her. It made her laugh a little, though it was very quite and short.

"It doesn't bother me. People are still people; everyone's different. It just shocked me, is all. And you really didn't answer my question. There are a lot of schools in this city," she jokingly scolded him.

>> "It doesn't bother me. People are still people; everyone's different. It just shocked me, is all. And you really didn't answer my question. There are a lot of schools in this city."

Nate was thankful for Sarah's policy on accepting others. He did initially worry that she could have been a mutant-hater, but in retrospect, the young woman had shown no evidence in her personality that she could discriminantly hate people. He felt guilty for what was almost an accusation, but he had to be careful when it came to his students.

Nate was not going to stonewall her anymore, but he did still have to operate through the normal channels. "Well, the school is very... secure, so I have to talk to the assistant headmaster before I can say much."

Always keeping a pen and notepad on hand, Nate pulled the supplies from his pocket and scribbled his name and number down. "How about this; here is my number, and after I make sure everything is in order, I'll not only introduce you to the school, I'll give you a full tour." He handed Sarah the piece of paper. "Sound fair?"

Sarah listened to what the man in front of her was saying. The school was very private, had many/all mutant attendees, and had a chain of things that needed to be done for her to know anything more. It seemed understandable. With mutant students, and possibly teachers, the school would have to take care of who they let in the circle of knowledge. If they didn't someone could hurt the students. Sarah was happy that such measures were taken.

She smiled as she took the paper Nate handed her. "That sounds very fair. Do you want my number as well?" It seemed silly if she had his number and he didn't have hers.

The brunette shifted her backpack to the other shoulder. It was a habit of hers that only showed up when she was excited. And she was definitely excited. The idea of another job, one that involved her degree, was going to put a bounce in her step once she started walking. For the moment, she would just be twitchy.