Sympathy for the Devil

[KOCHI-KOCHI]

(Open RP.)



Although he hadn't heard that song, or, many songs at all, Bub would probably have liked it. He was still a happy fellow, though. Currently he was just grooving on it on the sidewalk. It was a busy street corner, and he wouldn't be able to tell you what street it was. But that was because he still didn't know what city this was. Or, really, what country. He could speak the language though, somehow, so that's all that really mattered to him. The tall man was sitting against a concrete wall with his cowboy boots folded and his hat tipped to shade his eyes from the sun and the views of the walkers by. Nobody really questioned his presence, he was just another hobo. Another street creature. Just one of the many homeless people.

Which, in truth, he was. So it didn't bother him to have coins throw at him, or people telling him to get a job. Bub was just happy crossing his arms over his chest so that he got the most warmth from his massive coat and trying to nap. It was in the middle of the day that was the best, when there was that hot sun of the summer. He was begining to like Earth. It wasn't so bad here afterall. H-, er, Heck, he could even get used to it up here. Except for when people kicked him. Now that was just annoying.

His hot pink eye cracked open and he looked up, the white brow above it raising. Whoever it was had gone. But his nap was disturbed. The bad thing about this heat, though, was that it made him smell bad. Of course, Bub had mastered the skill of ignoring his own scent. Should probably find some.. water.. or something to eat, though. AH, fuckit. Five more minutes. Just five more minutes.

[Cyb]

Shit, shit, shit. Where AM I?

An aggravated sigh, she pushed her hair away from the left side of her face, staring down at a piece of paper in her left hand. "I don't even think I'm in the right town," she muttered to herself. Pale hands dropping back to the sides of her faded jeans, she plowed on.

She probably looked more than a little odd, the way she was acting. Every few moments, she would dive out of the way of foot-traffic to stare at that mysterious sheet, brow furrowed, before diving back in and walking on. The brunette was skinny, pale, and weaving around as if she was high - but really, she wasn't. This was Luyu at her worst - alone, and utterly lost.

Another sigh, her sneaker tapping at the pavement as she surveyed the area. Okay, there's a bus stop, a porno place across the street, some people, a homeless guy in cowboy boots, some bikers, a pizza shop... Hazel eyes scanned back and forth, momentarily distracted by the gleam of a coin as it landed by the homeless cowboy.

Wait, someone was walking by who WASN'T on a cell phone. "Excuse me, ma'am?" she quiered, stepping toward an older lady in a tattered jacket, and showing her the paper, "Do you know how to get here?" The woman shook her head, muttered something in Arabic, and walked on. Well, that was just great.

A young man, a bit younger than herself actually, stormed by, glaring at the old woman as he shoved past her and kicked the guy on the corner. Luyu winced. The guy shifted, but didn't seem to see who had kicked him. That looked like it hurt, she paused, seeming to think about it, Oh, why not?

"'Scuse me, sir?" she said tentatively - Oh my god, I hope he's not one of those crazy homeless guys with a shopping cart and a knife - "I'm... lost, really lost, and uh, do you know where this place is?" She squatted down a few feet away from him, wary, as she extended the paper - Youth Hostel, Corner of 15th and Bond.

[KOCHI-KOCHI]

Bub still wasn't used to talking to people. They were just, so much different from one another. It was hard to keep track of their odd emotions and their way of speech.. And he couldn't understand why one of them would kick him and then bugger off, that was just, just, mean. Cruel. Unnecessary. Weren't these humans supposed to be essentially good, created in the image of god? Or something? He had never paid much attention to all the talking around him about these warm fleshy creatures, but he hadn't been given the impression they'd go around kicking him when he was just trying to nap.

It was a relief to hear a voice, though. He had identified these ones as females. Softer, lighter, kinder tones. Most of the time. What she was saying though... Bub sat up and scratched the scrounge on his chin, and sat for a moment, listening. What? Lost? Oh, hey, she was handing him something...

He reached out with an arm, although, he had to sneak his fingers out of the sleeve in order to grab the paper. Bub then pulled his arm back and examined it. Huh. What was this? An offering of some sort? The poor guy didn't understand why she was giving him a piece of paper and asking him where it was, I mean, it was right here, in his hand. Duh. Oh, he knew what it was. A broad toothy smile, rather sharp, uneven, and nasty teeth shown, but it was certaintly a happy expression and an attempt at being pleasant. Before she could stop him he had stuffed the piece of paper down into his massive coat and drawn out another crumpled piece.

"Trade, Pal?"

[Cyb]

Now that she was down to his height, the young woman was finally able to get a better look at him under his cowboy garb. He was a lanky guy, not bad looking, and one of his eyebrows was.. white. Well, it's the city. At least he doesn't have 300x gauged ear piercings or something.

Oh good, he seemed to be alright, at least. "That jerk that kicked you - are you alright?" She tilted her head a bit, a few strands of hair falling along with the movement. He had reached out his arm in one of his coat's massive sleeves, a hand reaching out and grabbing her paper. Oh man, he might actually KNOW. Thank you God, thankyouthank- WHAT.

His lips had pulled back, showing off some rather scary-lookin' teeth. Fangs, even. She could feel her eyes widen slightly in surprise. Please, please tell me he's smiling. Actually, no, just make him stop doing it, whatever he's doing. In her moment of confusion, the girl had managed to nearly miss the gesture of him stuffing the paper down into his giant coat, and pull out another piece.

"Trade, Pal?"

Oh no, he wasn't the crazy homeless guy with a shopping cart and a knife. He was the crazy homeless guy who BARTERED shit. Of course. Why not? "O...kay?" Speaking slowly, she nodded, reaching out a bony hand to accept the crumpled piece. She paused.

"Thanks for the... trade. Do you, maybe, know what street we're on right now?" She looked over to a pole where a sign should have been, but was somehow ripped off at the bolts. Yeeep. Shouldn't have taken the OTHER bus.

[KOCHI-KOCHI]

Bub had decided this lady was nice. He liked her. Infact, he liked her so much he was going to go and do his best to answer her question. The man still didn't understand why she had wanted to trade him, but he accepted it. Different strokes for different folks. He had heard a man say that a while ago. It rhymed. Oh, she had spoken again, this was interesting. Conversation was interesting, yeah. It was far better than being yelled at or told to get a job. Whatever a job was.

"Umm, Street?" He stopped smiling and looked down at the street itself. He sort of moved his booted foot so that the spur would spin and hit against the pavement to make a pleasant noise. "Uhh, well, Pal, I danno. Looks kinda long'n'yannow, like, streety. Got some cars, I think. And them there, um-" Bub motioned with his heel towards the road, "Them there yellow lines and white lines, an it's not a very tall road, I dun think."

He turned towards her, cracking his neck as he did. The ex-demon then extended his hand to her, only really his incredibly dirty fingers sneaking out of the coat. "My name is Be-" Bub stopped, and looked momentarily surprised, and blinked once or twice as though something had just whispered a secret in his ear. "Er, Bub. Anythin' else I can do for yeh, Pal?"

It was only then he really looked at her. Kinda a boney one. And not only that, she was smaaaalll! Gosh, he could crush her like a fly! Not that he would. Although, he, probably should do something to that effect. Why was she so tiny? And white? Damn, the girl was almost painfully light skinned, actually. On that note he tipped his hat down ever so slightly to shade his eyes. Why did it have to be so bright and cold up here?

[Cyb]

Well, at least he looked like he was thinking about her question. Why... did I ask the homeless guy? Homeless guys aren't homeless because they're -normal- people. Good job, cap'n, you have steered us into an iceberg. Oh well, this was easily the first positive interaction she'd had for the day, albeit more awkward than she could have ever wanted.

"Uhh, well, Pal, I danno. Looks kinda long'n'yannow, like, streety. Got some cars, I think. And them there, um- them there yellow lines and white lines, an it's not a very tall road, I dun think."

If Luyu could have done an anime-style fallover about now, she would have, but a tired smile was good enough. This was.. well, what had she expected? Again, homeless people weren't typically your run-of-the-mill citizens. At least he wasn't raving about the End of Days or trying convince her he was Abe Lincoln or something like that.

He'd shifted to face her, and his neck had cracked. She blinked - really, it was a twitch, she HATED that sound, but it was only a blink. Oh, now he was talking. His name? Bub? He had extended his hand, which looked like it hadn't seen a sink in a couple weeks. Do not offend the hobo cowboy. She took her hand in his the best she could, gingerly performing the customary handshake. "Pleased to meet you, Bub. My name's Luyu." Could he help her with anything else? "No, that's alright, thanks, you've been... a big help as it is. I've just gotta find the place I'm going to sleep for the next few days."

[KOCHI-KOCHI]

"GOSH, why didn't you just SAY that?" His eyes rolled with a huff. These humans really weren't that smart. I mean, sure, Bub may seem a bit off because he was out of his element, but even HE wasn't that stupid. Poor poor girl. Must be the lack of meat on her, depleting her brain. "There a Youth Hostel around these parts, ah can show yeh the way, Pal."

With that said, the so called homeless cowboy stood. It was actually a rather impressive motion, his entire body all at once raising itself up from the curb. The sweeping motion of his coat shifting with himself, standing above most of the crowd and peering around. With his cowboy heels and hat included, he was far above anybody else around, and when you threw in the newspaper stuffed coat... Nobody really got in his way much. Bub took a moment to dust his bare knees off and take a look around. Which way was that place again? Ah well, he'd find it eventually. He remembered it because someone had sent him there, only to tell him that he was not allowed in.

Those were the negatives of having no legal documents what so ever. Oh well, he would have to make due in this world. Atleast untill he was enough of a demon to get back-

Wait, why was he helping this girl, then? Bub stopped midstep, the spurs of his boot whirring with the motion. Mis-matched brows furrowed and he found himself confused. With complete disregard to everyone around him, he took his time to think this through. He should do something mean here. Like show her the wrong place. Ooh. That would be dastardly. Yes, he should do that, and then, and then, run away or something.

He smiled to himself, rather proud of his evil doings. Ohoh, get her good and lost, and then, and then, run away, disappear into the crowd! It didn't occur to him at the time that it would be nearly impossible for him to meld into the scene and make a getaway, though, or that this plan wasn't really all that evil as she had been lost in the first place. Oh well. Let him think what he wanted.

[Cyb]

"...What." She blinked, watching his exasperated reaction. He ju- oh, FORGET it. He. is. a street guy. Screw logic, she just wanted a bed, and a place to drop the stuff she had in the pack slung over her shoulder. Why not play along? She was genuinely happy she might get to her destination, and grinned, exposing a normal set of teeth except for the pointed canines. "Would you really? That would be a big help, I -"

Then, he stood up.

She craned her neck, looking up - he just kept GOING - and she fell back from her squatting position in order to see up to his hat. For a human, she was short, but compared to this guy, she might as well have been a midget. D'...ooohhhkay. She righted herself as well, wiping a hand over the side of her old jeans to get rid of a little of the street dirt. He was looking around the area - he could probably see for like a MILE - and then just kind of... stopped. He's not going to have some type of seizure or something now, is he? Nope, he was just thinking, leaving poor Luyu to do the same.

Got off the bus, got my backpack, spent $2 on a hotdog, got the Youth Hostel flyer, got lost on the third turn, lost the paper to this guy, who knows where the Youth Hostel is. She looked up at him again, nearly falling flat on her ass a second time to do so. He was definitely not a teenager, so if he'd tried to get in there, they probably kicked him out. He was, she guessed, in his late twenties at the least, but she'd never been very good at ages - if only she knew how far off she was, about a lot of things here.

"Eh... so, do you know what direction it is from here?" She looked up at him again wide-eyed and innocent of his "evil" schemes, feeling as small as she looked compared to this giant guy. Oh, if she only knew.

[KOCHI-KOCHI]

Bub was ridiculously happy with himself, speaking to her in his pleased-as-punch tone. "Of course I do, didn't I say I did?" He was even about to tip his hat to her and do a playful little bow, but when the bums fingertips touched the edge of his hat, he stopped himself. Riigghhttt. Even if she probably wouldn't notice, and nobody could look down on him enough to see, it wasn't worth the risk. So he merely shoved his hands deep in his pockets and started walking. Hopefully this girl wouldn't get trampled or something, but, it didn't matter if she got lost.

Afterall, this was the point of this evil plan, was it not? OH, how he wanted to just burst out into sadistic laughter! The ex-demon was mentally practicing this, thinking of how it would sound. Evil laughter had never been something he'd been terribly good at, but, practice made perfect, right? Another human saying he'd overheard. Off in his little daydream, Bub wasn't paying much attention to where he was going, but surely she could keep up. Even though his strides were massive, the jingling of his spurs should work as a beacon. A voice flashed in his ear, though, and he caught something out of the side of his pink eye. What the hell?

Unfortunately he couldn't read, so the giant HOSTEL sign wasn't an indicator to him that instead of leading her away, with his awful luck he had actually lead her there. But the people huddled around and discussing it was enough of a clue. "Ohhh-" Think quick, think quick. His plan was on the edges of being foiled by his own stupid doing! Bub turned on heel quickly, eyes wide, looking down at her. "Umm, I um, um, wrong way, yuh? Lets um, um, go that way, Yuh, Pal?" Shitshitshit. She would see the sign, or hear them talking, or see something, his poor plan! This was wretched! Hopefully his height and giant ass coat would cover her from seeing some of it, but, but.

Gosh darnit.