Fish out of Water

[kunstfeuer]

At first he thought he had stumbled on a part of Mehm that he was not familiar with. It would have at least explained the dominant Human population, but the more he saw of the place, the less certain he became.

He was neither young or naïve, but the world that he found himself in baffled him. The people were different, the animals were different, even the plants, though vaguely familiar, were nothing like those he had known previously in all of his wanderings. After a time of cautiously prodding the outskirts of the town he finally dove in.

Blending in was vital to his survival, he had been doing it for many, many years, but nothing he had experienced on Kashian could have prepared him for this place. Cars, concrete-and-steel buildings stretching upwards hundreds of feet, paper money, traffic lights, and the stench of exhaust. He took it in stride and pretended not to be bothered by any of it. Careful to watch and observe the others moving around him, he tried to avoid any glaring mistakes that would make him stand out.

First order of business was to find some sort of market or store to get more fitting clothes for this place. It was immediately evident that his boots, baggy linen pants, cotton shirt, and leather vest; which made up his typical travel apparel, would not fit in with this society. He also wore two bands, one on his left wrist and a second on his upper right arm, commonplace and fashionable where he was from, but as with everything else, they were out of place here. Regardless, they'd be staying as they covered two of his Marks.

Kyng moved with the confident wariness that was common to his race, an odd, but unconscious combination to be sure. He knew how to handle himself and had little fear of confrontation, but this was tempered by the knowledge that his kind, the Shabenay, the shape-shifters of Kashian, were not welcome anywhere. It was a safe guess to assume that his race would not be welcome here either. Dark brown eyes scanned the area, taking in the countless sights that moved around him. His hair was black and starting to recede with a few sparse grey hairs that would have placed him somewhere in his late thirties, perhaps forty, the stubble made him look a little older, but it was nothing compared to his actual age.

A window displaying faceless statues decorated in the peculiar and colorful clothing that seemed to dominate this place caught his attention. He briefly handled the bag tied to his belt and figured he should have enough for whatever he needed.

(occ: Let the fun begin!)

[Cooper]

Heavy clanking sounds hit hard on the concrete of the road. Her slender white fingers laced through the holes of the sewer covering. The yellow strip down the centre of the road paused at the circular opening of the sewer. She finally pushed the cover off and stepped out of the underground sewer track. A characteristic trait trailed from her pouty lips, it was an unlit cigarette. She never lit the things because she didn’t want to die of something so pathetic like lung cancer. The young female stood in the middle of the road, the cover of the sewer laying to the left of the road and obstructing traffic. She was wearing sneakers today, having left the high-heeled shoes behind. Dusty cargo pants covered her legs and her torso was wrapped with a white tank top.

She pocketed her hands and strolled down the middle of the road. She left the cap off the sewer because she had to get home somehow, didn’t she? Angry fists rose to her through open car windows and lit cigarette butts were flicked into her direction. That was okay though, she just turned to the right and slammed her sneakered foot into the hood of the nearest Cadillac, denting and setting off the air bag inside so that the driver got a surprise of his own. She flipped the bird to the other cars and they continued their steady drive down the now busier street.

Aelevi hopped up onto the curb and turned to the right again to step up onto the sidewalk. She caught her reflection in the window of a clothes store. She didn’t notice the guy that stood in front of her. Her arms were tattooed with thick triangles of black, they ran from her wrist to her shoulder and she wasn’t afraid to show them off. Her lips were full and sort of pouted downwards, she always looked better angry or sad then she did smiling. Her eyes were clean of make up, and a dazzling bright silver colour and she did not wear contacts. She flicked the unlit cigarette out of her mouth and hit the guy in front of her, she didn’t notice his clothes and she definitely didn’t notice that he wasn’t from around here. She wasn’t from around here either. She rubbed her hand down the front of her shirt and clasped the dog tags that hung from her neck. The cigarette fell into the hair of the guy and sort of just, sat there; she felt a twinge of guilt.

She walked up behind him and pulled it out of his black hair. She crumpled the cigarette up in her hands letting the tobacco smell cover her fingertips before she slammed it on the ground, kicking it into the gutter on the street.

Aelevi said, “Sorry about that.”

But she didn’t leave, she waited for the guy to turn around and give her some sort of reply. After all she had been kind enough to be apologetic, right?

[veil]

[may I join too]

[kunstfeuer]

(occ: I don't see why not.)

Kyng had felt the cigarette, but Aelevi had plucked it out before he could grab it. The sight that met him as he glanced behind was not one he would have expected, of course, this place was strange, full of unfamiliar and new things, he should get used to it.

His eyes were immediately drawn to the black that traced her arms. Momentary confusion crossed his face. She had black markings on her arms, but they were not Marks. While he knew she was no Shabenay readily and instantly, he would have felt her coming, the thought that someone would willingly decorate themselves with such things was foreign to him. Brightly colored, temporary body paints or dyes perhaps, but only on special occasions in some races and tribes, but anything that remotely mimicked the black Marks of the shape-shifting Shabenay race was avoided.

"No harm was done," he responded as he turned fully to face her. His accent was perceptible, but not enough to mar his words. "I apologize if I stepped in your way" He knew he hadn't, but his long years of service under a noble family had ingrained in him impeccable manners. After all, she had apologized and he was not one to judge quickly, though he remained ever-vigilant, aware, and cautious.

[kunstfeuer]

(occ: Probably, unless your character's observing from afar.)

[veil]

[sorry my p.c. is being an idiot lol]
Veil calmly approached the clothing store, he needed a new jacket and there was a nice polo he wanted to buy, with a purpose; which he soon forgot seeing the woman flick a cigarette into some poor guys hair, he was about to say something when it all got smoothed out.
He strode forward, intending to walk past them, but stopped upon seeing the dude's duds; they were major last century, even he wasn't that far behind in fashion. He had knack at finding interesting people, and he liked getting to know them, it made him feel almost normal,
"Hi" he began, "I'm Veil."

[Cooper]

Her metallic licked irises thinned as she narrowed her eyes. She raised her slender hand to her forehead. Her hand shielded her eyes from Kyng and looked to the side. Her shifted eyes caught sight of the approaching boy. He looked around the age of seventeen, if she had to guess. Aelevi pushed her hand backward and ran her fingers through each tendril of her hair. She let her hair flow down with a turn of her head. She took steps backward away from Kyng and subconsciously made room for the approaching male to pass-by between them. Aelevi turned back to look at Kyng and her mouth turned up on one side.

“You’re a regular comedian.”

She paused and took a breath, she ran her fingers over her right arm, the tattoos falling victim to her soft touch.

“Do you like them?” she asked him.

Of course she had seen the way his eyes traveled up and down her arms. But she couldn’t catch the emotion in his eyes as he had looked at them. It was funny, the way she could read body language, but not emotion. Emotions were different. The body was easy. Aelevi knew all about the body, the curves, the hot breath, the soft touch of a lover, oh yeah, Ae was an expert.

The boy had finally approached and was now standing and introducing himself. She ran her tongue on and over her lips. Her hands rose up over her head and linked behind her head. Aelevi leaned back feeling a pole behind her. She let her back fall against it rest lightly on it. The new boy got an eyebrow raise and the smirk already on her mouth deepened. She had nothing further to say and she watched contently waiting for a reply from Kyng.

[kunstfeuer]

Briefly his eyes followed Ae's bare glance to Veil as she stepped back to allow him to pass by.

He half-laughed. "Hardly madam."

His eyes were again drawn to the curious black tracing the young woman's arms in spite of himself as she touched them. Seemingly proud and fond of them, reveling in the attention. "I have never seen anything quite like them," Kyng responded truthfully. His feelings about his Marks was quite complex. They were a gift from Beneur, the goddess of his people, but others had made it a curse. If they were exposed, at least in his homeland, it meant exile or death. He subconsciously tapped the band on his left wrist.

He felt terribly awkward and slightly embarrassed that his look had been noticed. It was something that he was not able to help; there was that draw to one's own kind, especially since he knew they were so few and especially in such a strange place, any form of familiarity was welcome. However this strange twist of the familiar confounded him, and produced a vague twinge of disappointment. He was curious, but checked the question "what are they," before it had a chance to escape. There was no need to stand out more than he already knew he did.

It seemed that his delay in finding appropriate attire had attracted more attention as Veil stopped after noticing Kyng's clothing. Exactly what he was trying to avoid, but it was just a kid. "Hello ..." Kyng replied.

[veil]

"What no name's?" despite the light air to his voice, he was somewhat irritated, he felt that he deserved a reply at the leat, and all he got was 'Hello...' that bugs him. Checking his watch he looked at the store it was two minutes till it opened, he sighed. and looked at the two others wondering what to do about them.
[sorry bad day for me.]

[kunstfeuer]

Kyng straightened slightly in response to the youth who had literally walked into the conversation, which drew slight disapproval from Kyng's ingrained sense of order and proper manners, but again, this was not his homeland and it definitely was not a noble household where place and manners were paramount. He noticed Veil glance to his watch and then to the store and felt the barest sense of gratitude for being spared the embarrassment of trying to open a locked door. He was not yet familiar with the signs and writing of this place.

There was a bit of a pause, but with Aelevi seemingly silent on the matter he spoke first. "My name is Kyng," he stated plainly. The name was a version of Ky'ing, after a great teacher and one of Kyng's own ancestors. It was shortened by dropping the long sound of the "y" (as in the word "cry") to a simple "yeh" and swallowing the "i," practically pronounced as spelled, no vowels. As with everything else about him in this place, it was foreign and drew attention despite his best efforts to do otherwise.

(occ: Did we loose Cooper?)

[veil]

[OOC: I don't know, I'll wait to find out before posting]

[Cooper]

ooc: sorry i've been pre-occupied with school and annoying people.. lol. i will post within the week.

[kunstfeuer]

(occ: I'm going to consider this post defunct if I don't some form of response before May 10th)