Spirits and Earth (Samuel and Jessica)

Samuel appeared at out of a sinkhole that appeared in the middle of an alleyway not too far from the Japanese restaurant he had told Jessica he would meet her at. He was covered from head to toe in mud... until he moved a finger and every last spec of it flew off of him to hit the sides of the alleyway. Dressed in a nice light blue shirt and a pair of black trousers, Samuel was dressed smartly but casually.

Wandering down to the restaurant, he tried not to think about how it would look if he was over dressed or underdressed. He was basically just getting himself more nervous than he already was and that was something he was just not liking.

After all, he was already so nervous his stomach felt like it was doing cartwheels.

Swallowing thickly, he made his way into the restaurant and allowed himself to be guided to the table he had booked. It was a booth in the corner to be away from others. And Samuel had arrived twenty minutes early (so that he would never be late for Jessica) so all he could do now was wait and wait and wait some more.

His nerves were going all over the place as he just kept watching the door, refusing to ask himself the question...

What if she didn't show up?

Jessica had been excited for her date for a while now, she didn't think that she would really be going on a date this soon but she was very glad that she was, and with someone as interesting as Samuel, Although he was the classic textbook definition of handsome he did have some defining features that appealed to Jessica. That and the fact that he obviously had a very romantic soul deep deep down.

It hadn't taken her long to decide what she wanted to wear for the dinner that they were having together, she had been thinking about it for a whole day now. It was a short but sweetly innocent dress she had picked up from one of her favourite alternative stalls in a market nearby. Nobody would be wearing this tonight she thought with a small smirk.

Finishing doing her make up in the mirror she sighed softly, thinking that this was as good as it was going to get for this evening in terms of her appearance, Jessica slipped into her cute little brown kitten heels and flicked her hair back behind her shoulders. Squaring off in the mirror she walked down the street to the Japanese restaurant which was handily close to where she lived. Maybe he picked it because of that.

Entering the restaurant she was shown to the table that Samuel had booked and she smiled gently at him, he looked different when he wasn't in his circus clothes;

"Hello there Samuel." she greeted softly sitting down opposite him with a smile "Its nice to see you again, good choice by the way this restaurant is really delicious."

As she flicked through the menu her eyes moved to lock with his own; "How have you been?"

Samuel's heart had been in the pit of his stomach for the past ten minutes until, finally, the door opened and this time it was actually Jessica! Unlike the last sixteen times he had gotten excited for the opening door to realise it wasn't her, this time it was actually her! His heart immediately jumped up into his throat. It was a good thing he didn't have to talk straight away, he'd be useless if he did have to after all.

She looked absolutely stunning, as he knew that she would, but didn't seem to have dressed too smart, meaning that he was neither over nor under dressed, which put his mind at ease. And yet he knew she looked a damned sight better in her brown dress and heels than he did in his shirt and trousers. Of course the change was about as big for both of them. He swallowed thickly and tried to act like he wasn't neverous as she sat down across the table from him,

"H-hello there Jessica, you look lovely." he told her honestly with a grin, "Thank you, I tried my best to find a good Japanese restaurant. I haven't had Japanese since my visit to Japan years ago."

He grinned a little bit and checked the menu before catching her eyes and smiling slightly, "Nervous actually. I've never felt more nervous before in my life... how have you been keeping?"

Jessica could sense that Samuel was nervous and she felt her heart go out to him, hopefully she wasn't that intimidating that he would be that nervous around her. Perhaps he just hadn't gone on a lot of dates before, he didn't seem like he would be the type to be a real Casanova like Sylar had the potential to be but, she was going to find that out during this meal wasn't she?

The compliment although he stuttered a little bit only made her smile more because it seemed even more genuine the way that he said it to her;

"Well thank you, I dont' get much of an occasion to dress up like this so, I enjoy it when I do get the chance." she smiled gently "I didn't know you visited Japan...that's very surprising, which part did you visit?" Jessica asked as she decided upon what she wanted from the menu, she would be having the miso ramen noodles.

It was a little bit odd that he mentioned how nervous he was, she didn't think this was a situation to be terribly nervous about it was only dinner after all. It just lended more to the idea that he hadn't been on a lot of dates before, in which case, Jessica could have an awful lot of fun with poor little Samuel.

"So, why are you so nervous? Its only dinner." she smirked a little bit "Relax I'm not going to cook you. I've been fine thank you very much, done nothing unusual, haven't yet gotten a 'proper' job but I'm still looking. Living off the money Primatech gave me."

Samuel had been on a grand total of about 30 dates in his entire life and considering how old he was... that wasn't a lot by anyone's standards. He was nervous because of this, because he hadn't had a lot of time to really get used to the whole 'pre-date' nerves and all that. Coughing a little bit, he tried to get his reddened cheeks back under control. She hadn't even said much yet and he was already beginning to look like a tomato.

Compliments were something he had to get very good at due to his nature as a showman for the carnival seeing as complimenting a lady was the best way to open her up to being a part of the show or something like that. He chuckled a little bit,

"Well I hope that you'll have many occasions to wear it in the near future." he told her with a smile before smirking a little bit, "I visited it once in the 1980s with the carnival, near Tokyo. And I visited it again not too long ago by going into the past to the same visit. I suppose it counts as two visits right?"

He chuckled a little bit and tried to shake the feeling that she was now going to be treating him like some kind of prey to be eaten up. Admitting his weakness to be dates might have that effect he supposed. He grinned nervously,

"It's a date and I haven't had too many of those. But it's good you won't cook me, I'd be far too stringy." he joked a little bit before humming a little bit, "Well what would your ideal 'proper' job be I wonder?"

Jessica smiled softly when he said that he hoped that she had many different occasions to wear it in the future, maybe if it went well tonight she would ask him out on a date herself in a few days time. Although she wasn't going to get ahead of herself, she wasn't forgetting that this was a man who had robbed from her best friend and could have her killed at any moment.

Hearing about his trips to Japan made Jessica hum softly, it would be nice to travel, very nice. Although perhaps travelling around America should be the first thing that she did. Going abroad on her own might be a little bit daunting.

"I guess it does count as two visits but its cheating a little bit don't you think?" she asked with a little laugh "I would love to travel abroad sometime, I hope that I would be able to in the future but, I think travelling around America is the first thing I'd like to do, take baby steps. I haven't been abroad before after all."

Unable to stop herself laughing happily when he commented on how stringy he was, Jessica shook her head and placed her order with the waiter when he came to the table, eager to get some lovely hot Japanese food down her.

"Well don't worry, I'll be gentle with you, I haven't had all that many either, and the others have not been at all like this." she chuckled slightly "My ideal proper job...well, when I was younger I was always torn between being an artist and writing a book so, I guess my ideal job would be writing a comic, a manga maybe? But, so much has happened, I'm not sure any more."

Taking a small sip of her sake she asked; "Did you always want to be a carnival man or, did you have other dreams?"

Samuel didn't add, but wanted to add, that the reason why she might be wearing more dresses like this in the future was because he was going to be asking her on lots more dates. Assuming this one went well enough for him to be able to show his face to her without getting stabbed or otherwise maimed and or killed.

One of the universal positives about Carnival work was also one of it's biggest drawbacks. Simply put, you travelled. Constantly travelling around the country and around parts of the world until you had visited every continent and found that there was nowhere that carnivals weren't appreciated in one form or another,

"Yes I suppose it does count as cheating but the second visit wasn't nearly as much fun if that makes it better." he joked a little bit before smirking a little bit, "Well if you ever need advice or ideas on where to travel you come to me alright? In the Carnival business you go to some amazing places and some places thought to be great... but are actually just dumps."

When the waiter arrived he decided that he was going to try and impress Jessica with his language skills. He spoke to the waiter in rapid Japanese... and the man just looked at him blankly for a second,

"Dude I'm from Ohio." he told him bluntly, "And my grandparents were Korean."

Samuel blinked a few times before adding,

"Just a miso ramen then please."

As the waiter went away he groaned in embarrassment and tried to hide how his cheeks were burning from having failed like that. He chuckled a little bit, his cheeks paling to normal, as she said she would be gentle with him,

"I hope that it's a good thing that the others haven't been like this." he admitted with a little nervous chuckle before grinning a little bit, "An artist or a writer huh? If not then a manga or comic book artist? Well I suppose you can always use your own adventures now right?"

He sipped at the sake that had been brought over, "I never wanted to be a carnival man to be honest, my brother Joseph made the decision for me. I always wanted to be... well you'll laugh at me but... I wanted to be a rock musician."

Jessica grinned happily and she nodded her head, she might as well go and do her travelling now, maybe she would be able to find herself along the way, she wanted to be able to discover what she wanted to do, who she wanted to be. So maybe travelling with the Carnival might not be the worst idea in the world, at least not for now.

"Oh of course, where is the Carnival moving to next?" she asked with a small hum "I was thinking about starting my travels in New Orleans, it seems such a vibrant place I can't help but want to see it in person, either there or Texas, meet myself some rednecks." Jessica giggled.

As soon as Samuel started to speak in Japanese to the man, Karl, she couldn't help but want to laugh but she hid it very well. She came in here a lot and she knew that Karl was not Japanese in the slightest, in fact he had the most amazing Ohio accent. Jessica didn't want to add to Samuel's embarrassment though, and she squeezed his hand softly.

"Your Japanese is very good." she smiled happily "Do you know any other languages? I always wanted to learn more but, the only one I actually learnt properly was Latin, so its pretty much useless."

Hearing that he had never wanted to be a carnival man, Jessica tilted her head to one side, Samuel was so passionate about the carnival though! Why else would he spent so much time there if he didn't like it, love it even! His dream job, made a lot of sense and she smiled gently, she could see him doing his stuff on stage as a rockstar.

"I'm not going to laugh. I think you would have been a great one, maybe you still could be great. What instrument do you play?" Jessica asked with a light smile on her lips, before she sipped some more sake "I could be your groupie." she laughed softly.

When she asked about where the Carnival was travelling to next he grinned a little bit. He often became much more animated when talking about the carnival after all. Especially when it had even the slightest chance that she would be joining the carnival with him. Even if it was only to travel with them, he would love it for her to be around him that often,

"Well the next stop is Chicargo but after that we go down to Los Angeles and from there to Las Vegas, Austin and then down to Florida." he told her with a grin before chuckling a little bit, shaking his head a little bit sadly, "It was a very vibrant place... still is in places but... well it's never really recovered from the hurricane you know?"

He wanted to pull apart the ground with his powers, jump inside, then cover himself up with the rock and earth again. When she decided not to mention it he was incredibly grateful and smiled a little bit before answering,

"Thank you, I learnt quite a bit because we stayed there for a good few weeks the first time, taking in as much trade as possible." he admitted before grinning a little bit, "Just Russian and Chinese. I must admit that your language seems fitting though... dead language right?"

He could understand the confusion in her expression when he revealed that he had never intended to be a carnival man. Smirking a little bit, he shrugged his shoulders. Just because he didn't always want to be it, didn't mean he hadn't come to love it. He smirked a little bit,

"I play the drums actually. Something about the big, meaty, sound that just always got me ready to go, you know?" he told her with a grin as he took some more sake. He laughed a little bit and winked at her, "Sexiest groupie I've ever seen!"

Jessica smiled softly, she hadn't thought about going to any of those places, especially Chicago, however she would be happy to go and see what was there, some of the most boring places could turn out to have something incredible that you liked. Chicago sounded like a place she could get behind, wasn't there a burlesque film about Chicago?

"Sounds like a pretty vibrant path, I might have to ask to join you for the first leg of it, I wouldn't mind going to Chicago, perhaps I can even do my own burlesque show there." Jessica hummed softly "Just one of my many many talents."

The languages that Samuel could speak were ones that she didn't really see used much in everyday life, apart from Chinese that was, but she couldn't tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese when it was spoken anyway. Russian, now that was a damn sexy accent, and a damn sexy language to listen to.

"I find Russian to be an incredibly seductive language." she purred softly, before rolling her eyes "Ha ha very amusing, I might just have to abuse my secrecy promise a little bit...Pebbles." Jessica winked, deciding to get a little own back for his joke "But Latin is a beautiful language, I have many latin tattoos."

Smiling lightly she finished her small glass of sake and then refilled it, enjoying just talking with someone for a change; "I can appreciate the love of an art, yes, although drums don't do it for me, drawing certainly does."

At the comment about her being the sexiest groupie that he had ever seen, Jessica bowed her head as if she was accepting a lot of praise; "Awwww well thank you, I haven't even flashed you from the crowd yet, or thrown by brassier onto the stage for you with my number on it." she winked "Well, maybe you could do both now, who knows?"

Samuel and the carnival had been travelling that circuit for almost the entire life of the carnival and they never failed to bring the crowds wherever they went. Even LAs Vegas, famous for it's entertainment, loved them and they all loved them in return. He had to admit that he loved treading that path over and over again much more than he enjoyed their overseas trips,

"Well I'm sure that the city of Chicago would be proud to have you within it's fair city limits!" he told her with a grin before it grew wider, "I'm sure the city, and I, would love to see you put on such a show for us all."

His choice in languages was simply because, outside of the USA, Russia and China were the countries that most wanted to have carnivals. And they were big enough that they required more than a couple each tour. So it was natural he picked up some odd languages,

"It tends to be to American women... it's the roughness to it isn't it? The appeal of a husky older man right?" he teased her with a wink before his cheeks flushed bright red, "God damn it Joseph... did you really have to tell her that? As for your tattoos... I doubt I'd be allowed to see them all, am I right?"

He refilled his own sake cup just as the meals arrived. He sipped it a little bit before beginning to enjoy his ramen, "Well then I say the art we can both appreciate is yours more than mine. If you can even calling hitting things with sticks an art..."

He grinned a little bit when she teased him about his comment about her being the sexiest groupie he'd ever seen. Of course when she teased him about throwing her bra at him and flashing him, he smirked wickedly,

"I'd love for you to do both now... but I'd rather not share the enjoyable sight with the restaurant at large." he winked at her again, "You never know who might be a pervert after all!"

Jessica couldn't help but laugh happily when he said that he would love to see that show, and so would the people of Chicago. Of course she was more occupied with whether he would enjoy the show as opposed to all of the people who would be ogling at her she didn't know, she would much rather have Samuel ogling at her as she performed. Maybe she should give it a go, it had been a while after all.

"Hahaha I'm sure you would love me to put on a show like that for you." she winked with a little chuckle, eating some of her noodles she sighed contentedly "Maybe it can be my circus act for the adult paying guests."

Unable to stop herself from cracking a large grin when she heard that Samuel thought it was the appeal of the husky old gentleman, Jessica thought that it might be right what he was saying. She did like the rather rough quality that he had to himself, none of this metrosexual crap; "I think you might be right, otherwise, I don't think I'd be here if that wasn't appealing. Unfortunately your brother and I talk a lot, and he tells me a lot of embarrassing stuff about you."

Shrugging her shoulders Jessica grinned; "Well you can see all of them in time, if you're interested." she purred softly "Care to take a guess as to where they are?"

As she sipped at some of the ramen broth, before eating some more of the noodles, Jessica enjoyed the spicy taste of the miso with the soft noodle. A little laugh ran through her when he commented on the fact that she couldn't know who would be a pervert in a place like this, she was sure that she already knew one here.

She was looking right at him.

"Oh I think I have one of those right in front of me, it's a good job that I don't mind being around perverts then isn't it?" she grinned "If you don't mind me asking, just how old are you?" Jessica purred, leaning forwards a little bit, an intrigued expression on her features.

Samuel had to admit that the only reason he would want her to perform such a dance would be if she was doing it just for him. Call him possessive if you must but he really only wanted her to be dancing for him and him alone. That might be a little bit bad of him... but he didn't much care. He smirked a little bit and licked his lips slightly,

"Oh definitely, I'd love every second of it. In fact I'd probably make sure that I brought a video recorder of some kind." he teased her a little bit before clicking his tongue and wagging his finger at her, "Naughty naughty! Our carnival is child-friendly! So you'd have to keep that kind of show confined to your trailer... or mine maybe..."

He winked at her with a wide smirk. Hopefully she agreed that was why it was an attractive accent since he was pretty much only attractive if you found that sort of thing attractive. When she said that he might be right and that she recognised his appeal as being such he licked his lips a little bit and grinned,

"Does that mean you think I fit into that category?" he teased her before groaning a little bit and running his fingers through his hair, "God damn it Joseph... even in the afterlife you embarrass your little brother."

When she suggested that he could see all of them in time, it would depend on whether or not he was interested. And by god was he interested! He licked his lips slightly,

"Oh I would be very interested in seeing them..." he chuckled a little bit before guessing, "Upper arms and upper back?"

He enjoyed ramen many times back in japan and had to admit that the version they sold here actually tasted better to his mind. As he was finishing up the ramen he sighed happily. It reminded him so strongly of Japan... it was great! He'd have to come back here as often as possible. When she suggested that he was actually a pervert he grinned a little bit and winked at her,

"Guilty as charge I'm afraid Jessica! I'm glad that you do enjoy the company of perverts." he told her with a grin before smirking a little bit, "You want to know how much older I am huh? Well hopefully not too old - 46."

Jessica pouted softly when she heard that she couldn't do her show because the carnival was child friendly, ah well it wasn't like it was the end of the world although she could have made a hell of a lot of money for the Carnival she was sure of it. It wasn't all about money though for these guys, which was what made them special.

"Ah well then I'll have to think about it, you often need more space than a trailer you know." she smirked softly "I don't want to do myself injury."

Grinning a little bit she thought that Samuel fitted into that category rather well, she liked the way that he seemed to be so much older and yet so inexperienced, she knew the reason why that was as well and it was why she was hesitant to get that much closer to him. The reason went by the name Vanessa and she was sure that he wasn't over her, not yet anyway.

"Of course I think you fit into that category." Jessica smirked "Just the thought of you muttering Russian into my ear, mmm." She grinned, giving him a rather sultry look as she pulled away from leaning across the table, letting him know that he was going to have to come and get her if he wanted to be closer.

Finishing her ramen with a little happy sigh, Jessica smiled and shook her head; "Oh no no no, I have none on my arms at all. And I do have one on my upper back but that's not all." she grinned, wiggling her eyebrows as she teased him.

The age that he stated was a little older than she had thought, but, it didn't bother her, not in the slightest. She had dated Sylar after all and they had gone on killing sprees together so...a little age wasn't about to put her off.

"No that's not too old at all." she grinned "Just makes me wonder why you are so inexperienced with dating, shouldn't you...I don't know be settling down?"

Samuel smirked a little bit when she pouted, his perverted side telling him the advantages of her having such big and full lips. Of course he could never reveal his fully perverted nature to Jessica, she would surely shun him. He hoped that she wouldn't be he was honestly preparing in case she did. He smirked though when she suggested she would need more room than just his trailer. To that he had an answer,

"Well I'm sure you could show me in your trailer yes?" he teased her with a wink, "I'm sure you have more than enough room there."

He grinned when she admitted that he fit into the category. There were much worse categories to fit into and he was glad he fitted into this one if he was honest with himself. He chuckled a little bit and raised his sake glass to her with a wink,

"Why thank you...." he smirked a little bit as he moved around the table to whisper softly, huskily, into her ear, "Ya khochu chtoby ty byl moim..."

Winking at her, he suddenly grinned a little bit when she told him a little bit more about her tattoos and their locations, "Oh now you're just teasing me with the others... how many do you have exactly?"

When she commented on his age, his inexperience with dating and settling down he just smiled a little bit,

"Carnival men don't really get the chance to date or to settle down I'm afraid." he told her with a soft smile that was aimed just at her, "You're the first woman I've dated in fifteen years... I don't think people see me as someone to settle down with."

And they part ways at the restaurant after the meal.

End of ^^