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 Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:08 pm
-- AIM RP Log Kepi & Karan ((DFA and Felyn)) Kepi was in trouble; then again, while she knew that much, she still wasn't all too aware how she'd gotten herself into such a situation. Well, okay, she did know how she'd gotten herself into such a situation; it was the fact she couldn't get out of it that was slightly frustrating. Who'd have ever guess that she'd get stuck up in the damned tree after pursuing a random bird? In her defense, the bird had been rather interesting; colored like nothing Kepi had ever seen, and she'd found herself following the animal up a random tree, paying little mind to her surroundings in her need to simply get a closer look. This had turned out to be a rather horrible idea, for no sooner did she reach one of the top branches, that the bird took flight, and the Koshka girl found herself without means to climb back down. To add insult to injury, she'd only just noticed that the one tree she'd picked to climb up resided to the side ... what looked like the picnic area of a hotel, or inn-like residence. Despite the fact the city was neutral in alignment, Kepi wasn't all too sure the owner would appreciate her having randomly perched herself on the tree though.
Hence the troublesome situation.
Amazingly enough though, having noticed there was simply nothing she could do, the Koshka girl had reclined herself against the tree trunk, her leg and tail dangling down from the branch, keen yellow eyes simply looking down below at the people that never even noticed her presence (she was, after all, a few feet above normal eye level, hidden by the branches). No panic was shown in her eyes; simple curiosity as she reached out a hand to grab one of the fruits the tree had to offer, biting into it.
Since she was stuck, she might as well eat as she passed the time. It was just another day as far as Karan was concerned, nothing extraordinary about it. He had time to relax outside with his book, reading beneath the shade of the old fruit tree behind the inn before he had to go back inside and play background music for a crowd of inn-goers that couldn't care if he was playing at all. Though he had no room to complain as to what sort of crowd his audience happened to be, as his playing earned him a room and meals, and he knew he should have long since swept his sourness under a rug. Anything beat wandering the streets hungry and cold, even playing terrible tunes for a mixed mob of rowdy Koshka. With an irritable sigh, he let the back door of the inn shut behind him, stepping out into the fresher air of the city and leaving behind the hazy, dim-lit common room. It was less crowded during the day, but even then, he couldn't escape the leering eyes of the many Koshka guests, and though he was sure they didn't really have any bones to pick with him - it made him uncomfortable none-the-less. A lifetime of habits was hard to change, so were many of his prejudices, as hypocritical as they were. His hand tapped lightly on the cover of the book as he stood just outside the doorway, the fingers of his glove stroking lightly against the binding. He was still unsure, half of the time, over just what he should be doing and where he should be going - he wasn't quite used to being alone in the world, even now, and it often left him feeling lost. He was surprised he'd managed to secure this much for himself already, though thought perhaps it had a great deal to do with luck. Silently, he thanked his mother for all those piano lessons. Sighing quietly to himself, he finally started across the yard without much concern for anyone that he passed. Eyes on his feet and his head down, he made his way to the old fruit tree that had become his daily sanctuary. Dropping down upon the grass, carefully positioning himself between the gnarled roots around the base, he leaned back comfortably against the sturdy trunk and cracked the book open upon his lap without a second thought. He enjoyed his alone time immensely, and he hadn't even noticed that for once, his daily routine seemed to be taking a change of direction without his consent.
For a moment, the girl hadn't even noticed the fact she had company; her attention placed on a random bird that had approached her, perhaps attracted by the scent of the fruit. Stretching a hand, Kepi attempted to brush her fingers against the animal, however this was not to be; no sooner had she moved, that the bird took flight. Startled, her other hand lessened it's grip on the half eaten fruit, which dropped from her perch and down bellow, "Hey!" the word was whined (it was HER fruit, dammit!) but she was not even able to grab it with her tail, and plunged towards the ground, "My dinner..." peering down and over the branch, she perked her ears up, finally noticing the boy bellow.
Her eyes racked over his body, as if taking him in; was he mench? He looked like it. Would be be angry she'd... dropped her dinner on him? God, she hoped this wasn't his hotel; no matter how neutral the city was, there was still obvious snarling between the two species. Something she couldn't quite understand. But then again, that had a lot do with the fact Kepi lived amongst a group of both Koshka and Mench. The troupe got along well enough, as far as she was concerned, so where, pray tell, were all the problems everyone seemed to see?
Perched on her branch, the girl looked down on Karan, offering him a sheepish smile, "I... I'm sorry, it's slipped and-" she seemed pause then, as if considering something, then smiled broader, "Hey! Hey! Would you help me?" her tail waggled and then wrapped around the branch, as if to keep herself from falling off the branch. It seemed like even though she thought the boy was Mench, she had no trouble whatsoever in asking him for help.The cry is what he heard at first, the small ears carefully hidden beneath his long dark hair perking slightly, against his will. He had no time to even look around, however, as no sooner did he register the sound than a half-eaten fruit came thumping down onto the page he had open in his book - splattering both the book itself and his own face with juice. "Uggh," he groaned, reaching up with a hand to wipe away the sticky, sweet juice that had settled on his face, his eyes rolling up to the girl perched up on the branch with more than a little irritation brooding in the dark, red-brown eyes. A Koshka girl, throwing fruit at him? He supposed there were much worse things she could have done in the name of the war, even in this neutral city as it were, but she didn't have to go and ruin a perfectly good book. Glancing down at it, he sighed, tossing the fruit off of it with a hard jerk - already noticing where letters were bleeding together, on the page he was reading, and on pages beneath. Just perfect. He pushed himself up to his feet, shutting the book with a sigh of irritation, perfectly content to simply turn his back on her and walk back up to his room. As prejudiced against most Koshka as he had been raised, he had never been one to come to blows or tossing hateful words, and he wouldn't start now by any means, not when his survival depended solely upon the good will of the guests of the Inn. He glanced down once more at his book, then shut it with a vague frown on his lips. What didn't show, however, was the twitch of an ear beneath his hair - a habit of irritation, and one that seemed to only agitate him more. He frowned at it, though as carefully hidden by his hair as it was, the frown could have been taken simply as more brooding on his part. "Don't worry about it," he breathed out, as calm as he could manage, and surprisingly well managed. He didn't want to talk about it, or to her at all, for that matter. Just as he was about to turn to walk away, though, she asked him a rather surprising question that stopped him in his tracks and made him frown back up at her. His eyes narrowed on her where she was perched, quite comfortably from what it appeared, on the branch. "Help you with what?" he said slowly, although from his furrowed brows, it was unclear whether or not he intended to help, or if he was just stunned enough by her question to implore as to what she could possibly want from him - especially after ruining his book. The girl watched him all the while as he moved; her eyes peered down at him as he jerked the fruit off his book, an ear twitching on slightly, as if guilty for a moment, a breath. It was gone though, replaced soon enough by a curious tilt of her head as she stared down at him. She'd thought she'd seen something amongst his mess of black hair move, but the effect was gone, and Kepi found that not even her piercing gaze was able to see all that well from her current perch. His words, even if breathed softly, were heard, and instantly her ears perked up, her hand coming out to grab the tree trunk, her free one waving slightly at him. Even though SHE was used to Mench, it was clear she was pleasantly surprised he was, at least, talking.
"I... uhm," a pause of hesitation, her waving hand curling slightly before she seated herself on her branch, securely enough that she could spread both her arms in the air, "Can you.... can you do this for just a second?" she obviously meant the way she was spreading her arms in the air slightly, "It'd help a lot..." after a moment, she tilted her head, "Please?" if she was mocking him, she was sure as hell doing a good enough impression of innocent and serious, because as it was, Kepi looked as if that simple gesture would, indeed, mean the world to her, "It'll just be a moment, I promise!" God she could only hope the troupe members wouldn't be too angry with her being missing for so long; she'd not planned on taking this long.
But then again, getting out of the tree, was imperial. Hence her need for help. She'd forgotten to tell him THAT much though.
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Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:10 pm
To be truthful, she wasn't the only one surprised that he was bothering with talking to a Koshka. He wasn't sure exactly why, other than the fact that she said she needed help, and if she were in some sort of trouble, well, Koshka or not, he would feel terrible about leaving her. Likewise, he also knew that if he left her here, in need of help, his only other choice was to go back into the inn and face the guests - most of whom also happened to be Koshka. One versus a dozen wasn't a hard choice to make, really, and so here he was - talking to a girl he never would have even bothered giving the time of day to a year ago. Oh, how times change and the mighty fall.
"Do.. what?" he asked slowly, narrowing his eyes upon her with furrowed brows. For a moment, he wasn't entirely sure just what she was trying to tell him to do - then of course, he realized she meant spreading his arms. He still hesitated, wondering just what in the world that had to do with helping her do anything. He was still unsure what she needed help with, and spreading his arms, as far as he could tell, accomplished nothing more than making him look like a fool. For a solitary moment, he considered turning and walking away anyway, bound and determined not to fall for some stupid Koshka trickery. It would be just like one of them to mock him, wouldn't it? With a sigh, though, giving in to his better instincts (or so he hoped) he finally spread his arms and glanced up at her with a rather confused expression. "Like this?"
It was obvious he still had no idea what in the world she was doing, but he did what she asked, no doubt looking all the more baffled for it. His book still clutched in one hand, he stared at her, waiting for an answer of some form, so he could get this done and over with and go.. do whatever he could now to pass the time since she'd just happened to ruin his book.
Her head tilted to one side as she watched him hesitate, and for a moment, her ears fell down a notch, as if she were almost half sure he was about to simply just leave. However, he soon enough stopped his internal warring and spread his arms. Her own smile widened to mirror the movement, her tail coming to unwrap from the branch, waggling like a dog's in mid air.
"That's perfect!" it was a cheerful chirp, as if he'd just solved all the problems she might've had in the world: then again, in a way he had. For a moment, her expression changed, her eyes looking around, as if actually calculating something, an ear twitching to the wind. Then, pleased with whatever it was she'd been thinking, the girl pushed herself off the branch, obviously aiming to grab onto him in her fall. Now, it was obvious she'd never planned he could move away when he saw her coming. After all, as far as she was concerned, if he was nice enough to have acknowledged her, he would probably be nice enough to catch her fall. Which would inevitably rid her of the tree problem and the fact she would have remain stuck there for quite a while still.
However, even so, it was clear she'd not pondered it all through; if the boy were to catch her, gravity would surely do it's work and topple them both down. Granted she was a lithe thing, but dropping down on him from several feet was bound to create a large amount of force
: He saw the smile on her face, and the way she wagged her tail quite happily at his sheer compliance to do as she wished. It seemed such an odd thing to get happy over, simply spreading his arms, because he had yet to figure out just why she had wanted him to do so in the first place. How on earth was he supposed to know that the silly Koshka had gotten herself stuck in the tree? After all, weren't they supposed to be rather good at those sorts of things? He simply watched her as she looked around her with that calculating stare, wondering what she could possibly be doing. What did any of this have to do with him spreading his arms.
"Well, I'm glad that it's perfect, but if you don't mind my asking, just what are you - " and it was just about that time that his eyes saw the adjustment in her position, and he knew instantly what she was planning to do. His mouth opened to say something, eyes widening just a little, though he couldn't for the life of him bring his arms down or move at all, despite knowing full and well that she was going to fall on him. It didn't take a genius to realize she hadn't planned this very well, and even he could see that it was going to turn out badly. With only seconds to act and his brain freezing up, he squinted his eyes and prepared himself as she disentangled herself from the branch and came soaring down through the air - aiming straight for him, and the outstretched arms that really weren't going to accomplish much.
As predicted, she landed right atop him. He did managed to wrap his arms around her as his feet swept out from under him (the ruined book flying off in who only knew what direction), though that seemed to be the only reaction he could force out of himself as the two went tumbling to the ground. Landing on his back, the air was knocked clean out of him with a loud grunt, his arms holding her securely despite it.
Obviously, she had no time to answer the question; no sooner had he opened his mouth to talk, that she'd jumped, and her concentration had then been dead set on gripping onto him, aiming for the arms he'd spread out for her. The landing... unlike him, was not something she's taken even a moment to predict however, and the force of the impact forced a gasp out of her, the wind obviously as effortlessly knocked out of her lungs as it had his. Instinctively, her arms went around his neck, her tail lashing out behind her in a futile attempt to keep whatever shreds of balance they still held. It was to no avail though. Kepi suddenly felt the world shifting again as the boy's feet slipped from under his form, sending them both tumbling back into the ground.
Her eyes, which had been open as she'd attempt to aim for him when she jumped of the tree, shut tight at the shift of balance, obviously surprised. Her ears pressed back against her head, hidden amongst her hair, an silently, she berated herself for not having calculate this part of the landing. Then though, everything stopped moving, slowly, the girl dared peek one eye open; the action was vaguely amusing in a way. It looked like she was almost sure a monster would jump out and claw at them any moment. Seeing as hoe the world had dared stop moving and there was no further threat and falling down, she let out a sigh, disentangling one arm from around his neck, "Are you alright? I'm sorry, I kind of didn't think that through all that well; I was stuck up-" and then she paused, because now she was near enough to notice that what she'd not been able to, from her perch up on the tree.
Her hand reached out to brush his bangs away, then reaching out to brush his ears. She looked surprised to see them; if anything though, it seemed she wasn't going to treat him any differently, no matter his race. Retreating her hand from his ears though she leaned forward again, "Did I hurt you?"
His eyes opened slowly as he felt the world around him stop spinning (he'd likely hit his head on the fall) and he drew a deep breath to fill the lungs that were burning so painfully in his chest. For a moment he couldn't answer her question, too wrapped up with the pulsing ache in the back of his head where it had connected to the ground, his lungs too strained to even find the breath to say the words to begin with. However, as his stunned state began to wear away, he became vaguely aware of her staring down at him - not at his face, but at what he knew to be lying beneath his hair. Before he could reach up to stop her, her hand was in his hair, and he felt her fingers connected with the soft black fur of his ears. For a moment, in that semi-stunned state, his eyelids nearly wanted to droop, and then reason came rushing back in to bring a frown to face, nearly a scowl when coupled with the anger in his eyes.
"No, I'm fine," he almost hissed, squirming beneath her body before he pushed her up (not hard) and dusted off his arms with a force that seemed to denote his irritation. His ear flickered again, much to his agitation, and he reached up to brush his hair back down over it - covering it again. He threw her a glance from beneath the dark locks of hair that fell partially into his eyes, then pushed himself slowly to his feet. Brushing at his pants to get off the dirt that had collected during the fall, he was rather content to not say much of anything to her. He moved over to pick up his book, frowning at the dirty cover, though he supposed it didn't matter much now that she had already ruined a good portion of the pages with the fruit.
"Aren't you supposed to be good at climbing trees and all that?" he said with a frown, glancing up at the tree she had been stuck in and then back at her, brows still furrowed. A Koshka that couldn't get out of a tree seemed a little ridiculous when he thought about it, although, he was just sour that she had jumped on him without telling him what she was doing.
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Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:34 pm
She'd not missed the fact he seemed to be breathless; he'd shielded her fall, which meant he'd fallen on the floor... adding two and two obviously meant the boy had hit his head hard against the ground. Watching him pull away as if she'd burnt him, the girl blinked, as if confused by his reaction; if she was angered or frustrated by it though, it didn't show, "Really?" unperturbed by being pushed off of him, she dusted herself off while still kneeling on the ground, her nose wiggling slightly, as if she were trying to take in the scents around her.
For some odd reason, Kepi seemed to be missing each and every signal he was tossing her way; either that or she was choosing to ignore them. Either or, "Eh-heh..." as he mentioned her getting stuck up on the tree, she reached out to rub the back of her neck with a hand; while she was, in fact, Koshka, she wasn't the most graceful of beings alive. Or rather, while she did have the potential to be so, she seemed to lack the common sense required; she'd climbed up a tree that was too high for her to climb back down from. Most individuals would've known instantly to not brave something impossible for them. Kepi seemed to not understand the concept of 'impossible'. That simple fact being the reason why she stood up and brushed her knees, offering him a small smile, "Yeah, well, I'm good at climbing. It's the 'getting down' part that I have problems with."
After a moment's pause though, the smile vanished and she stepped forward, "Are you sure you're okay?" leaning to the side, she tried to peer to see if he had some sort of injury she'd miss, however, her eyes fell on the book, "And I'm sorry about the book," another pause during which she lifted her eyes back up at him, "Is there something I can do to help in return for ruining it?" tilting her head, she seemed to be awaiting an answer, however, only then realised he didn't know her, which meant... he had no idea what she could offer, "I can sing," was the only piece of information before she stretched out a hand in a hell, "The name's Kepi; who are you?" not what was he; but rather who was he?.
She wasn't asking the obvious question; why was he hiding his ears? It was as if she couldn't care less.
He probably wouldn't have been as agitated with her if she hadn't messed with his ears. He went to a lot of lengths to cover them up and make sure no one saw them, let alone touched them. He had never, ever had anyone touch his ears before, save for, perhaps, his mother - and she had even been hesitant to do so once he was no longer a small child and they both realized the dangerous game they played by keeping him at home. It hadn't been an experience he had enjoyed, or, rather, he had found that the small contact actually was quite endearing, but refused to even admit that, choosing to simply be offended that she had dared to in the first place. He could have forgiven her for jumping on him without warning, even if she were a Koshka, but not for that - not for touching his damned ears.
As she explained herself, and how she managed to get stuck in the tree (or rather, why, as it were) he simply quirked a brow at her - a nice change from the furrowed-brow expression, but no more kind, unsurprisingly. A Koshka that got stuck in trees, it still seemed a strange concept to him, but then, who was he to know what was strange and not for them? He had been raised around Mensch all this life, in a city where Koshka were not welcome. For all he knew, all of them could be foolish enough to do silly things like that.
"I'm fine, it's just a bump on the head, nothing that a good night's rest won't fix," he muttered, cutting his eyes down at the book to avoid looking at her. He was getting tired of having to answer her questions, and simply irritated that she wouldn't just leave. His anti-social attitude was usually enough to make the worst of the happy-go-lucky sorts bugger off, but she was surprisingly persistent. His brows furrowed lightly at her next question though, feeling his ears perk despite himself, looking at her almost incredulously. She wanted to pay him back for ruining a simple book? Most people wouldn't have bothered. Of course, he didn't really think that singing was really going to get him anywhere - what was he going to do with singing? "No, that's alright, I don't think singing is going to do much to repair my book, and it really wasn't that important anyway. I was just passing the time until I have to perform, don't worry about it." He hoped, if he pushed it enough, she would just.. leave.
He eyes her hand for a moment, clicking his tongue behind his teeth before he finally reached out to take it, shaking it with a mutter, "my name is Karan." Well, maybe it could be a leaving note, instead of an introductory hello?
Still, the girl seem utterly unpreocupied by the boy's responses; either she deemed them to be normal, or she wasn't even aware she'd done something wrong. After all, she rather liked to have her ears touched, so why wouldn't he? It never once occurred to her that he was hiding them from view or otherwise ashamed of them. She'd been born a Koshka, and not only did not share his views, but had been sufficiently secluded from the war that she didn't feel the need to look down on anyone. Then again, maybe it had less to do with the war and more to do with her nature.
As he arched a brow, Kepi found herself tilting her head, as if intriguied, "You don't smile much, do you?" actually, as far as she could tell, he didn't 'do' much of anything. Even the earlier frown had been but the creasing of his eyes. None of his facial movements seemed steep or over-achieved. It was rather intriguing. Of course, Kepi failed to notice that as far as the boy was concerned, there probably wasn't much to smile over; he'd had a girl crashing into him whom had not only invaded his personal space but didn't seem like she was willing to take a hint, "Still though," brushing herself off again, she smiled, "It was my fault," a pause, "Your head too; isn't there anything I can do at least?" her ears perked instantly when he took her hand, the smile coming over her lips again, as if such a mere gesture were important.
Sadly enough, it was obvious she wasn't leaving, her head tilting to one side to hear his muttering, "Our names both start with K!" as if such a trivial thing were important. Releasing his hand, she simply stood there, looking up at him expectantly, "Can I help you cure the bump at least?" taking a moment, her gaze flew up to the building, an ear twitching, "You live here?"
That was, in fact, the precise reason why he wasn't smiling - he didn't have a very good reason to be smiling. Not just now, he didn't ever really have a really good reason to smile. He had been put out of his home, sent to a city he was unfamiliar with, and was being forced to interact with Koshka - something he had never done before in his life. No, life was not particularly worth smiling over right now. Adding on that he had just been jumped on, improperly touched, and had one of his favorite books ruined on top of it, he wasn't feeling like smiling at all. "Not when there's not much to smile about," he said bluntly, letting the hand that was holding the book flop to his side, tapping the corner against his leg.
He wasn't going to argue with her that it was her fault, so he simply let that die. It was her fault. It was her fault for being in the tree, for dropping the fruit, for jumping on him, for a list of long things that seemed to have happened in a manner of minutes. "Yeah, they do," he said with a slight quirk of his brow yet again, obviously failing to understand the significance in the fact that their names both started with a 'k'. She was a character, he had decided, but as always, he wished she'd just go away. She could be a character elsewhere.
"I don't know, what can be done for a bump?" he asked with a shrug, really not seeing the point. It would heal on it's own. It wasn't like he was bleeding, it was simply a bruise with a knot. He supposed he could put some ice on it, but that was always messy and wet, and he really would rather not get his hair and clothes damp for the sake of making a dull ache go a little less painful. He tossed a glance over his shoulder at her question, half turning to look at it. "Sort of," he said with a small sigh, thinking back to his actual home with an air of nostalgia, "I'm living here for now. I play the piano at night for a room and meals - eventually they'll want a new act, and then I'll have to move on and find somewhere else to take me in. For now, though, I guess I do."
Kepi felt intrigued despite herself; she knew she shouldn't (after all, shouldn't she be heading back to the troupe?), yet she couldn't bring herself to leave the scene. It was, in a way, foolish, she knew. Staying where one was not particularly wanted was a waste of time; the boy probably thought she was a jynx, or a curse, what with the ammount of things that had happened in a few minutes of interaction. Even so, the girl refused to leave. That much was obvious by the way she simply kept on looking up at him expectantly, as if honestly waiting for him to tell her something or other to do. His words though, brought the first frown upon her features, as if she were mildy confused. There was always something worth smiling over, though. So why would he say this? Unknowingly, the boy had sealed his own fate with those few words. Kepi felt the need to figure out such simple words; why would anyone feel like there was nothing worth smiling over?
Keeping her thoughts to herself, she simply took a step forward and towards him, smiling up at him when he arched a brow, "You can put ice," and then she lifted a hand and counted on her fingers, "You can also wrap it up, and you can take medicine for the headache that it'll produce," intermixed with all the nonsense she'd said, a real piece of advice. Whatever wisdom bell had run upon her though, swiftly vanished as she gazed back at the hotel, her nose wrinkling. She'd never liked such place; they were temporary. Kepi liked the security of having something constant in her like after she'd left her mother. The troupe offered her that much and more. As he spoke, her ears perked up, her eyes flying back to him, and the smile was lost, replaced with something akin to wonder for a moment, "You play the piano?" a pause followed then, "You write music?"
Fact was, her troupe was always searching for new people, and as far as she was concerned, he'd fit rather well with the leader. Both were grumpy pants, "Then why don't you come with me!" reaching out without permission, she took his hands in hers, seeming unashamed, "They were looking for a pianist, and they'd not tire of your act!" they'd not grown tired of HER which was an acomplishment, seeing as how they were barely able to get her to sit down and concentrate further than two minutes. The proposition had come out of the blue though.
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Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 6:22 pm
He opened his mouth to say something, and then simply closed it again as he found that he truly couldn't find a retort for her. He had been surprised at her rather good advice. "I suppose I could," he said slowly, shrugging his shoulders, though that was really all he could manage to say. He hadn't expected her to actually know other ways of taking care of a bump, but being the stubborn sort of fellow that he was, he was still of the impression that it was simply that - nothing more than a bump.
He couldn't say that he truly liked the sense that his current situation was less than secure. In fact, he had never felt comfortable sense he had been kicked out of his mother's home. He felt like he was just waiting to be thrown out on the streets, waiting for the day that he wasn't going to be able to find a room in an inn, a meal to buy with his music. He didn't think he really had a choice, though, as he didn't really have any skills other than those. "Yes, I write music," he said slowly, eyes furrowing at her as she seemed to burst with another one of her randomly excited moments. She was too excited all the time.
He frowned, however, as she grabbed his hand, not bothering to wrench it away (he saw how useless it was to be rude to her) but made sure she couldn't pull him. "Who is looking for a pianist, and who wouldn't tire of my act?" He had to admit that a stable place to be sounded nice right about now, but he wasn't about to go running off with her with no idea of what she was talking about - especially with all his things upstairs. He had a feeling she had a bad habit to act before she thought, especially if getting caught in that tree was any indication.
"You should!" it was a happy chirp before she paused and dug around in her pocket within one hand, sadly, she pulled out a coin, a piece of string, a ribbon and a bell. Nothing that so much as resembled medicine... even by a long shot. At least it was clear she was trying her best to be of service (albeit in her own... unique way). His words perked her up again, even as the defeat of not having found anything of use in her pockets struck her, "Well! You can come with me! Grumpy-pants and Anja need musicians; they said so. I can't play an instrument. I... well, I just sing," she did random roles and acted parts out in plays too, but that was rarely a choice. Anja had learnt Kepi was rarely if ever, willing to concentrate long enough to learn her roles. A random butterfly or even a shadow would distract her.
For a moment, she looked as if she might just try to pull him along with her, but the notion died even before it'd settled into her mind (honestly though, she couldn't have budged him if she'd tried - she was rather small compared to him), "The troupe; they're not rich, but it's a safe place to stay. It's constant, an no one there seems to mind who you are," after a moment, an ear perked suddenly; in a particularly uncharacteristic show of tactics, the girl smiled, "There leaders are Mensch. They took me in," granted, he'd not told her about his situation, but her instincts had told her it was something smart to say. Seeing as how Kepi followed her instincts (for good or worse), it was hardly surprising to anyone that might've known her, "Grumpy pants is ..... grumpy, but Anja's nice! And she scratches my ears."
Too much information, and yet the girl still seemed rather unpreocupied by it. Letting go of one of his hands, she lifted up her other one, which still clasped his, "It's constant," that's honestly what she liked the best.
He looked down at her as she dug around in her pockets, watching her as she pulled out the items one-by-one. They seemed like a rather odd assortment of things to have in one's pocket, but then, everything he had seen about her so far seemed to be odd. It was obvious, though, that there was nothing in there to help his bump, so her advice was truly useless - unless she was going to pull something out of all that hair of hers.
He seemed to be considering what she was saying for a minute, letting her hold onto that one hand of his, despite knowing how awkward it must look - and feel rather strange about it himself. He could either stay here, not knowing when they would be tired of his act and when he would have to move on, and then likewise having to find somewhere else to take him in, or he could go with her now and give this troupe a shot. The worst that could happen, he supposed, is that it wouldn't work out and he would have to go back to what he was doing now - working in inns to get his meals. It did help, too, that the leaders were Mensch - he wasn't sure he would be able to work for or with a whole troupe of Koshka, no matter what he was doing and how well the situation was working out. It would simply be too hard on him, he was sure.
"Alright," he said with a sigh, bringing his free hand up and running it over his face. He glanced at her sideways, watching her for a moment, and then rolled his eyes back to the den. At least he didn't have to deal with the feeling of Koshka guests that didn't want him around, or wanted to do him harm. They thought he was a Mensch, with good reason, and he preferred it that way - but it didn't stir any good feelings, unsurprisingly. "I do need to get my things though, I can't just leave that here," he said with a small quirk of his brow, glancing down at her hand where she held his, aware that she seemed ready to just drag him off then and there.
Indeed she had nothing of real worth in her pockets and yet it didn't seem to hinder her in the least. It wasn't enough to make her any less enthusiastic, that much was obvious, "There's medicine back with the Troupe?" she offered him almost lamely, as if that single piece of information could somehow move him into accepting. Why she was all that interested in him joining must've been a mystery to him; all in all though, Kepi was intrigued. There were few people that intrigued her, and further less people that managed to keep her attention, and yet despite the fact all he'd done was try to rid of her, she was still there, insistent in that she wanted to stay. An oddball, a character for sure, but it was clear he was wasn't going to rid of her any time soon.
Watching him ponder, the girl was, amusingly enough, perfectly silent, content with waiting. The tell tale signs that her simple words (and the mention of Mensch) had won him over were clear, even upon such an expressionless boy. Then again, this had more to do with the fact she'd been peering curiously over at him, watching for any indication of emotion on his face. The single word uttered instantly edged the smile back on her lips, her eyes closing briefly before she threw herself forward into hugging him rather spontaneously; it was clear the action had been prompted by something as simple as him accepting her idea. Even as she hugged him, one of her ears perked up, "Oh," turning to look back at the inn, the girl blink, "Oh, right, yeah," and this said, she released him from the hug and took a step back.
Not only was it clear she didn't seem to mind at all that her (their?) actions looked strange, but rather, she couldn't have cared less. It wasn't enough to bring her down from whatever cloud nine she seemed to be inhabitating. After a moment's pause, she offered him another smile, "Can I come with you?"
His eyes widened a little as she leaped forward to grab him in a hug all of a sudden. His arms came up halfway, as if unsure to hug her back or to try and and wiggle out of her grasp. Glad that she finally let go and took a step back, he dropped his arms, though threw a rather confused glance towards him. He had no idea what her interest in him was, or why she was so happy that he was coming. He had only just met the girl, so she couldn't have developed an attachment to him so quickly. Perhaps her troupe was truly in desperate need of a musician, in such a way that she was willing to go out of the way to get him there. It seemed logical, betterment of the group and all that, right? Otherwise, her actions just seemed entirely foreign to him, and he had no way of figuring them out. He certainly didn't go around trying to bring home random strangers to stay with him.
Of course, that thought seemed to battle with the simple idea of her wanting to make things up to him earlier. She had wanted to make it up to him, and she still seemed dead set on helping to get him medicine for his bump. If she wasn't, in fact, out to simply get him to join for the sake of their group, then that made her even stranger of a character than he had originally imagined. What was he to say to this? Should he even really want to tie himself up so easily with someone like this? For a moment, he watched her, considering. It was almost nice to have someone so interested in his well being, or seem to be at least, even if it was mostly because she felt like she was guilty for ruining his books and throwing him to the ground. It was rare, now-a-days.
"Come with me?" he said with a little bit of a shift, turning to look at the inn. He glanced back over his shoulder at her, tucking the ruined book up under his arm, "in there?" He watched her for a moment, expecting her to say no, that she'd simply wait outside, but somehow he knew that she wouldn't even before he seemed to imply that she should. With a sigh, he shook his head lightly and started to head towards the door again. "I guess, yeah, come on." He was going to have to pack quickly and get out, or the inn keeper was likely going to try and make him stay and perform the night through anyway. She was a harsh old hag when she wanted to be, and despite the fact she could find another act within an hour, she wouldn't want to put the effort through. If he was going on to do something else, better he get in and out quickly. "Just don't stop and talk to anyone, alright? I want to get in and out as.. fast as possible." Something told him that, without warning, she was likely to go wandering off to chat.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 7:39 am
As the boy considered her, Kepi blinked up at him as if having absolutely no idea why he was taking the time to regard her so carefully. Slowly her brows rose up to hide within the mess of bangs that fell over her face, in silent question, "Hmmm?" it was a hummed out sound to prompt him to go on; in a way it could have been easily translated to something akin to 'a penny for your thoughts'. It was clear he was deliberating over something or other; her natural curiosity had prompted her to ask. Had he been able to take a peek into her mind, he'd have taken note that it had less to do with his book or her earlier actions, and more to do with the fact she thought he was interesting... if anything, because of his attitude.
Even after all what had happened, he hadn't really eve yelled at him. He'd tried to walk off, true, and had been almost snippy, but somehow, Kepi though that all what she'd done would have warranted an outburst. Yet he still remain calm, almost emotionless. It was strange; she'd never seen anyone like that. Not even in the troupe, and thus her curiosity perked; she found herself taking a step forward, towards him again.
As his words pierced her thoughts, the girl looked over at the Inn, "Yeah, in there," of course in there, where else could she have meant? There was a small gleam in her eyes that betrayed the fact she was amused by the question. Even after such a short meeting, he'd begun to read her well; it was clear from the way she practically shifted her weight from foot to foot that she was too excited to simply 'stay put' till he got back. Lord only knew the amount of trouble the girl could get into if she were to be left alone. If the tree-incident was any hint, however, it was obvious Karan would not wish to find out and that it was probably safer to take her with him.
When it because clear he'd finished warring with himself and had given into her request, the girl gave out a small chirp of a sound, taking the last step forward, latching her hands around his own arm, "Alright, I won't go anywhere," the twitching of one of her ears made it obvious that had she not been warned, she'd have likely gone off and done just that. As it was, she remain glued to his side, clutching his arm, which of course, looked odd, especially if other Koshka within the in thought he was Mensch.
At that simple, hummed little question, he only shook his head and looked away towards the inn once more. He had no reason to share his thoughts with the girl, more so because they involved thinking about her and her actions and he truly didn't want to delve into that sort of conversation. His thoughts were a private matter, something he didn't share with anyone lightly, and he had a feeling that she wasn't one to share that sort of pondering with. He expected if he asked her why she wanted him to come along, she'd simply say something silly like 'You have cute ears'. He frowned slightly at the thought, staring at the inn, and let out a small, unheard sigh, as if he knew he was walking into a sticky situation with his decision to join her. He was going to have to put up with her rather hyper all-over-the-place personality now, wasn't he? He supposed, though, it could be worse.
As she attached herself to his arm, his steps faltered lightly, causing him to glance down at her with a bit of surprise. He supposed after she'd both jumped on him and literally latched onto him with a hug, this shouldn't really be that surprising either. He simply shook his head and looked back where they were headed. For a moment, he wondered what was worse: leaving her outside to do who knows what, possibly getting herself stuck in another tree, or taking her inside attached to his arm and showing her up to his room - which would, undoubtedly look suspicious to any guest and workers alike. He supposed he really didn't have a choice, as her mind had already been made, and as they reached the door he simply pushed it open and drew her into the hazy, dim innards of the inn's main room. Eyes turned to meet them as the door creaked on its hinges, and his own averted to the staircase, ushering her in that direction.
"This way," he muttered lightly, drawing her there and taking the steps quickly, supporting her weight with his arm until they reached the landing. Without a word, he simply lead her down the hall, avoiding the eyes of the few guests and maids they passed alike, until he could push open the door of a small room and usher her inside. It was tiny, unsurprisingly, cramped, and smelled of dust and sweat. There was nothing but a small bed, a chair, and a stand - all of which were crowded together and left little room to move in between. "You can sit down, if you'd like," he said, motioning with one hand towards the chair, "while I get my things?" It was just as much to get her out of the way so he could move around as it was, well, for her comfort. He disentangled his arm from hers then, reaching under his bed to pull out a suitcase, and tossed it on top. Most of his clothing was still in it, packed away neatly, though there were various things laying around the room to be gathered - mostly books, some odd thing here and there.
The girl seemed almost fascinated by the inside of the inn; her eyes, unlike his, came to meet up with the different individuals that glanced their way. Unsurprisingly, she seemed to either not understand, or not care that the situation she was in at least looked strange from an outsider's point of view. In fact, she was managing to offer small cheerful smiles to those few individuals that shoot her confused glances, as if they honestly could not figure out what in the name of hell she was doing, clinging to the boy's arm.
Had anyone dared to ask, it's likely the answer they'd have gotten were somewhere along the lines of 'why not?'. She was clinging to his arm simply because she wanted to, and because she could; needless to say, such a view upon life was bound to bring her trouble up ahead, and yet, the girl didn't seem to care. What worth was life if she could not do that what she wanted? It was an optimistic and almost naive outlook, but no one had bothered to teach her otherwise.
The insides of his room were not surprising to her; she was used to modest surroundings. Being a musician did not pay all that much. Besides, rather than enjoying the luxuries of life, Kepi had decided long ago it was other small pleasure that made things worth it. One could not buy someone's smile with money; not a real, true, honest-to-god smile anyhow. Releasing his arm when he pulled on it, she blinked, then did as told, her tail coming to curl up around the legs of the chair. Sadly, it soon became obvious she wasn't going to sit still too long, and only a few moments had passed before she stretched her hand and grabbed a few of the music sheets that lay around and about. For a second, her expression changed, an ear flicking about as she read the notes swiftly, then, probing she actually knew both how to read and interpret the music, she lifted a hand in the air and beat a finger as if to an unheard rhythm. This continued for a few beats before her voice came out hummed, the music on the sheets translated into a humming. Then she stopped, concentration going of the window again, as did the previous almost-intelligent facade, Have you ever put words to these?"
Putting down the sheets of music, her hand came to curl on a random book, her finger leafing through the pages; if anything was obvious from the few movements, it was that nothing seemed to captivate her attention longer than a few seconds. So why was it she was persisting on concentrating on such a dull, emotionless boy? "I'll fix your book, when we get to the troupe, by the way, how she planned on doing this was a mystery; did she plan on rewriting it? Given her earlier acts, it was a posibility.
He had not missed the fascination she seemed to hold for the inside of the inn as they had passed through it, and he wondered what on earth she could find so interesting about it. It looked like every other in he had seen, with your average sort of guest, and certainly nothing more than simple, common accommodations. He supposed it was a good thing, however, that he had told her to stay with him and not go running off, for it became very obvious that she probably would have gone to probe at all the little things inside of it and talk to anyone that would give her so much as a simple glance - probably a few who wouldn't even do that, as it didn't seem she needed much of any inclination to start a conversation with someone.
He hadn't been paying that much attention to her after she sat down, busily stuffing books into his suitcase, arranging music sheets inside their appropriate folders. It wasn't until that hum flowed out into the open air that he realized she was toying with his things, for those few lines of notes were as familiar to him as the back of his own hand. He tossed a glance over his shoulder at her, eying her silently for a time before he shook his head and reaching for the sheets she had just put down. "No, I've never bothered with words. I'm afraid I can't articulate anything even remotely as beautiful as the music itself." He found that he had never heard anyone else he thought able to do so either, so he never played his own music for the masses, but stuck to other tunes that people knew well, to be sung with and played with for the money he needed. He shrugged lightly at the thought and tucked the sheets away into the folder, stuffing it into the suitcase.
"Fix the book?" he said finally, turning to look at her as he reached out to take that last book from her. He had noticed her inability to sit still, the way she picked up and abandoned things, and didn't seemed all that surprised. It wasn't really that hard to believe of her. He put the book into the suitcase as well, latched it, and lifted it off the bed by its handle. "Don't worry about it, I have others." It wasn't so much that he didn't want her to be bothered by it as he wasn't sure how on earth she planned on fixing it, short of rewriting it, he was sure there was no other way of fixing it at all, and that would mean she'd either have to know it already (and have a damn good memory to boot) or be rather versed are reading runny ink marks.
He glanced to the door, then back to her with a small nod, "after you." Now, if they could just get out of there quickly, they could be on there way, and he could leave this place behind him. He wasn't exactly sure the troupe held anything better for him, but how much worse could it be than this life?
---
It should've probably become obvious that the girl would be fascinated (albeit for diferent amount of times) with almost anything and everyone she saw. She could've been left out and she wouldn't have hesited to try and befriend a rock; The fact she was still with Karan despite his multiple attempt to get her to leave, a damn clear hint of that. In a way, the boy was pretty much a rock.
An ear perked mildy, and for a moment Kepi turned her head and eyed him, as if pondering something, evaluating something in her mind. Reminiscent of the way she'd paused before jumping of the tree, and taking into account how that situation had endded up... well, it was probably a sign that she was up to something. What that something was, was still a mystery though, "Hmmmmm..." It was a response to both the fact he never attatched words to his songs, and the book she'd ruined; it clear though that she wasn't going to let things stand with the damned book. The wordless songs though, she pushed to the back of her mind for later analising however, her eyes closing to give the boy a happy chirp, "I'm not worried about it!" she declared as she stood up from the chair, padding outside of the room. No sooner had the boy joined her out of the room though, that she reached over to grab onto his arm rather happily again, "That doesn't mean I'm not going to do something about it, though," and this said, she let the situation rest. She'd already figured it out in her mind though and would fix the situation on their way back to the troupe.
She was sure there were a couple of bookstores on the way there... and maybe she had just enough money...
Now, all would've gone perfectly well had Kepi been paying attention to where she was going; on their way out of the Inn, her foot cam crashing down onto a rather long Koshka tail that had been lazily spread over the floor near the door. Instantly noticing the fact she'd stepped on something, the girl blinked, lifted her foot and turned her head, "Oops, sorry!" then again, apologies weren't always enough...
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:33 pm
He simply shook his head as she stressed the fact that she was, in fact, going to be making it up to him. It really wasn't that big of a deal - books were books, and though he had enjoyed that one immensely, there were always others to be read, a never ending supply of them. He simply let the situation die, however, as he realized there was going to no getting through to her on this point. She was bound and determined to do it, and he didn't see any way of stopping her. Besides, she had said she was going to fix the book and, well, he could see no way that it was truly possible - so where was the harm in letting her try to do something that he figured was impossible? It wasn't like she was going to harm anything, at least other than her own pride, and he wasn't sure where that was any concern of his.
As it were, he was somewhat lost in his thoughts as they made their way down the staircase and across the main room of the inn to the exit. It wasn't until she had turned around to apologize that he realized that she had done something. He frowned, looking down at her foot as it retreated from a long, fluffy black tail, and his eyes turned up quickly to meet the Koshka to whom that tail belonged. A very angry, large Koshka.
With a growl on his lips, the hulking male pushed himself up from his seat, eyes drifting down to the sniveling brat that hadn't been watching where she was going. Couldn't he get just five minutes of bloody peace? "Sorry, eh?" he growled out, eyes narrowing as he reached out to grab her by the back of her shirt, not even bothering with the tiny little Mensch fool at her side as he tried to stammer out something. "I'll show you sorry," he scowled, pushing past the boy that tried desperately to plead with him, his hand pushing open the door to the street outside as he drug her along (her feet barely on the floor, what with his strength).
Karan groaned as he watched the brute pull Kepi up, his ears pinning back against his skull as he heard the sneered words spilling from his lips. He opened his mouth, stammering out words even as he saw the man heading for the door. Gritting his teeth, he let out a long, aggravated sigh an rushed out after them, trying to find the will to form words, the hand that was on the handle of his suitcase squeezing it tightly from his nervousness. "Please, uh, Sir? Just.. she's sorry, can you put her down?" he faltered as the fellow turned yellow eyes down on him, almost shrinking back, but managed to hold his ground. "We're leaving, okay? She just.. she wasn't looking where she was going." He wasn't strong, or brave for that matter, and all he could do really was hope that the big git gave in.
The male narrowed his eyes on Karan for a moment, then turned them back on the girl, leaning his head down to look at her closer. "That true, eh?" He wasn't really clear on what he was asking - if they were actually leaving, if she was truly sorry, or if she actually just wasn't looking where she was going. It could have been all three, a combination of two, or just one of them - he wasn't really all that articulate.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:14 pm
Her thoughts, needless to say, had been on anything and everything BUT where she was stepping; this tended to cause more trouble than it was worth, and yet she couldn't pull out of the habit, sadly enough. A small squeak was released as the brute grabbed her by the front of her shirt, her smaller form easily hauled up in the air; oh, the male koshka sure as hell had her attention. Despite herself, the girl looked too shocked to be able to do much at all but blink up at the angry face, as if horribly surprised by it's reaction.
"Uh... yeah?" it was offered vaguely as it was inquired if she WAS indeed sorry, however, it soon became obvious that the reply wasn't what the large male had been wanting, because Kepi found herself being dragged away. Unsurprisingly enough, the girl's face showed confussion rather than fear, as if she weren't entirely... all too sure of just HOW she had landed herself in such a situation, "Uhm?" all in all, she was having a lot of trouble not making the situation worse than it was; survival instincts were telling her that asking the male to please stop spitting in her face, was not going to help her much. Also, telling him that his breath really, honest to god STUNK wasn't going to get him to lower her down any faster. So when she opened her mouth to say something (those thoughts, no doubt), she swiftly clammed it back shut, her eyes widening as she looked down over at Karan for silent help.
WHY she was seeking him out for help though, was a mystery, seeing as how they'd only just met, and the boy had tried to make it clear that they were NOT, in fact, friends. Yet the way she turned to seek his gaze out was imposible to miss. When the Koshka asked the question, Kepi felt her ears perk forward, her eyes still wide with the surprise that had not faded; in all honesty, she wasn't sure WHAT he was asking, but the best answer seemed to be the afirmative, "Uhm... yes, really," she told him, offering him a weak, rather pathetic smile, almost sheepish, her ears falling down till they vanished amongst her hair.
Oh GOD the man's breath STUNK though and he kept breathing and yapping in her face!
Shrinking away from him in what probably liked like fear, but was actualy disgust, Kepi's tail twitched. In her mind, she was still trying to figure out how it was she landed herself into these ordeals with such.... ease.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 4:46 pm
Karan couldn't have explained to himself why on earth he was sticking up for the girl. She should have been watching what she was doing, looking where she was going, and it wasn't his responsibility to get her out of her messes - after all, they weren't friends. She was annoying at best, and she had managed to do all sorts of terrible things to him in the first few minutes that he had known her. He supposed, though, that there was some sort of bond between them already, though, and he needed her to get to this troupe of hers to boot. That, and well, he just didn't like to see women picked on - even if she was a Koshka.
The older Koshka sneered down at her as she shied away, in what he did assume was fear, triumph boiling in his veins. So she was sorry, was she? His eyes flickered towards the little Mensch boy, narrowing, as if trying to figure out why his face was so familiar. After a moment, he growled lightly in irritation, although if it was at them or himself was hard to determine. He realized, all of a sudden, that the boy was the pianist that had been performing in Haddie's inn the past few nights - she would ring his neck if he hurt any of the staff, even if this bugger seemed like he was on his way out of here. He sneered and simply shook his head, sending the shaggy mane-like fur shaking. "Get outta here," he said with a growling hiss, letting go of her, dropping her without any concern of whether or not she landed on her feet. He gave one last glare to the little Mensch b*****d before he turned hard on his heel and headed back towards the inn - spitting on the ground for emphasis before he walked back in and slammed the door behind him.
Karan stood still, watching the Koshka silently as he examined him, brows furrowing even as that look of pure and utter worry lingered on his face. As she was let go and the Koshka turned to storm away, his eyes widened in surprise, ears twitching even without him noticing, and he let out a sigh of relief. Moving forward swiftly, he stopped at her side, frowning at her. "Are you alright?" he asked slowly, looking her over swiftly, those he was fairly sure she hadn't suffered any real injuries - he'd only shaken her up a bit after all.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:12 pm
The words, were again, spit at her face, and Kepi could hardly keep herself from whincing away from the man's face. Again, it looked like she'd recoiled from fear though, rather than utter disgust; she was used to personal contact, yes, but she wasn't used to having her face insches away from someone's smelly mouth. Thanking the gods when she was released from the man's grip, the smaller koshka collapsed on her knees, not really caring about the slight pang of pain that shot up her spine at the impact. She was, after all, busy gasping for breath; fresh, healthy air.
Her mind was hazy and for a moment, it might've looked like something really WAS wrong. His words cut through the haze in her mind then and she lifted her eyes to look at him; now that the male was gone, it was obvious she was looking just slightly sick. She couldn't be blamed though; she'd always been a rather clean girl, and even though the Troupe lacks the walth necesary to make for big acomodations, personal higene had been something taught well to her. Granted, she had her rolling around on the ground moments, but HER breath never smelled like THAT. And SHE didn't go breathing or spitting in others' faces.
Not a moment flew by before the girl's arms were around Karan's neck, her face pressed against his shoulder, "Oh god," a pause, "Oh GOD he was spitting in my face, I thought I was going to be sick, and that wasn't going to help, thank god he put me down," the words were muffled and perhaps not really even audiable enough to be heard. All that mattered was that she was on the ground and no longer forced to smell that horrid scent. In fact...
... actually, in fact, the scent now was rather nice. Almost unconciously, mostly due to the hazed state, the girl's head raised off from Karan's shoulder a bit to sniff the air, turning so that her nose was just barely an inch away from his hair, "Mmmm.... m'okay," she blinked slightly, reaching the rather random conclusion that he, on the other hand, smelled rather good.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:45 pm
His brows furrowed in worry and confusion as she remained on the ground, fallen to her knees like that, and it didn't take a genius to realize that something was wrong from the way she was gasping for breath. He didn't understand the look on her face, for she truly looked as if she were going to be sick. What could that older brute have possibly have done to make her sick? He hadn't seen him do anything except pick her up, but he supposed he could have shaken her too hard, or she might have fallen wrong when she hit the ground. Whatever the cause, he dropped to his knees at her side as soon as he realized she wasn't going to be getting up immediately. He reached out a hand to touch her shoulder when she didn't answer him immediately, his suitcase dropped at his side, forgotten for a moment.
"Kepi, are you ok-" he began to ask again, but was cut short as her arms flew around his neck and she literally buried her face against his shoulder. His arms came up halfway, as if unsure to hug her comfortingly or to push her off, and they simply hung there half-way up in the air. As her words washed over him, his furrowed brows relaxed, and he simply let out a little sigh of what seemed to be relief. At least she was alright, even if the situation was no where near as serious as he had originally thought it was. He listened carefully to what she was saying, then shook his head as he seemed to register what the problem had been. "His breath.. was bad?" He asked it almost incredulously, as if he couldn't believe that out of all of that, her one concern had really been that he had stinky breath. She had looked as if she were scared, but if he had bad breath and she was so disturbed by it, it would explain her shying away. Did the girl have no common sense? She was upset over some foul breath when the brute probably could have snapped her in half like a twig. Oh, he could see that he was in for so many headaches with her.
His mouth opened slowly, then shut with a snap as he realized that she was leaning closer into him. She seemed to be smelling his hair, from what he could tell, and it made him shift uncomfortably in her arms. With a little, hesitant poke at her back, he cleared his throat. "Uh, Kepi, we should.. get going." This was a really strange situation and he just wanted to get going. For all he knew, she might try to touch his ears again, and god, that was just asking for another uncomfortable moment.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 7:07 pm
"Yessssssssss!" the word was half whinned against him, the hand around his neck reaching up to rub her nose insistently when he reminded her of the ordeal. It was as if through the rubbing, she were trying to rid herself of the memories of the scent. Indeed, out of all the things she could have chosen to be afraid (or disgusted) over, the girl had picked what was probably the most trivial of them all. At least, taking into account how she'd been in danger of actualy getting hurt. It was of no concern, or as if the notion hadn't quite reached upstairs. For whatever the reason at least the situation had been resolved.
Nevermind the fact the position they were in was entirely her fault, and looked rather strange from an on-looker's point of view (not to mention how wrong the whined out word sounded). Nevermind the fact she seemed to be acting as if she had absolutely no regard for personal space; all the girl seemed concerned over, was that she'd almost been sick. The poke at her back brought her back from la-la land, her head turning fully towards him from where she'd been leaning in, placed now, merely an in from his. Unperturved by the short distance, Kepi blinked; the realisation they HAD indeed been aiming to GO somewhere before they'd been oh-so-rudely interrupted finaly flashing within her mind. Again, it was clear the girl could hardly focuss on more than one thing at a time; it was a wonder she'd not gotten herself killed somewhere, what with her tendency to get into the most awkward of situations.
Despite the fact realisation had dawned upon her, she left her arms around his neck for a moment still, her head turning to look around, orientating herself, "Right," finaly desentangling herself from him, she stood up, brushing herself off for the upteenth time that day, "Right," it was repeated as she pointed off down the road, "S'that-a-way!" she seemed fine again, as if she'd already forgoten the whole ordeal, one hand stretching out for him to take. She seemed to honestly be expecting him to walk hand in hand with her back to the troupe; again, never mind how weird it looked. After a moment, something else seemed to dawn on her and she smiled, "Thanks for worrying though," because even in the hazed state she'd seen the worry. It didn't matter to her that it wasn't logical for it to be there; she didn't seem to question it. But at least, it was clear she wasn't taking it for granted either.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 7:55 pm
He had been more than aware of the strange glances they were getting from passers-by, the stares, the odd side-glances and even the half-hidden smiles from older men and women who were interpreting the situation entirely wrong. His jaws clenched and he stared down at the ground, dropping his arms to his sides until she finally woke up from whatever dreamy state she was in and finally let go of him. He shifted as she stood up, pushing himself back up onto his feet, and brushing off his pants (he truly was a bit of a neat freak) before picking up his suitcase once more. He was glad that was over, though she seemed to lack the knowledge of just what constituted 'personal space' and he had a feeling he was going to be in a few more of these situations if he actually stuck around that troupe for very long. For a moment, he almost regretted his decision. Almost, but the thought of that foul Koshka still weighed heavily in his mind and he had to remind himself that a hyper, addle-brained little female was better than a rowdy, old male.
He turned to look in the direction she pointed, staring off that way for a long time. He had never heard of any traveling troupe, but then, he never really left the inn for very long at all and he certainly never went anywhere that was required of him. There was a good chance there were a lot of things he had never heard of. He turned his eyes back towards her just in time to see her stretch out a hand to him with that smile. He eyed it for a moment, frowning, then simply sighed and reached out to take it - if he didn't, she'd likely just grab his hand of her own accord, like she had with his arm earlier. It wouldn't look any better than the situation they had just been in previously, but there didn't seem to be a thing he could do about it.
"You're.. welcome?" he said with a quirk of his brow, though confusion was obvious on his eyes. Worry was a natural, moral emotion. She was leading him somewhere that would, eventually (hopefully) end up bettering his situation. She was also a rather helpless female compared to the large, angry Koshka male. Both of those things warranted his worry over her, and anyone, he was sure, would have felt the same in his situation. Now that she seemed to be fine, however, he was fairly unconcerned with it. She seemed to have forgotten it, to a degree (which seemed odd, but he dismissed it) and if she was done with it, then there was no sense in bothering himself with something that obviously didn't concern him a great deal.
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Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 2:40 pm
Indeed; personal space... what was that? It was likely that if he had confronted her over the idea in question, the girl would have paused, looked up in utter confusion and asked him what he meant. As it was she had missed the implication behind the act, and so, the stares they were getting were ignored or answered with a smile of her own. The hand she was not offering him to take came up to rack through her hair, placing it back into place; the larger male koshka had shaken her up well, and she still looked a bit disarranged here and there, "It's not far," came the answer to the unasked question, as if she knew he wanted to get there as soon as possible.
The reasons why he wanted to do so, however, were probably missed upon her. It was easy to see she didn't understand he wanted her gone and away from him, and if she knew... she wasn't up to paying much attention to the notion. Her tail swished happily behind her, the bells attached to it chiming to echo the fact she seemed overjoyed he'd taken her hand in his; not like it'd have mattered if he hadn't though. Kepi would have probably simply latched onto him regardless; it was apparent that for whatever reason... the girl was quite used to contact with others and enjoyed it immensely.
"Mhhhmmm!" came the hummed reply; as far as she was aware, a thanks was always in order when someone cared enough to worry. Which was odd; it WAS indeed a normal, moral emotion (or should have been anyhow), so why this was, must've been a complete mystery. Tugging on his hand, she began to walk down the road, either not noticing the glances they kept getting, or actually enjoying them; it was hard to tell, seeing as how her attention kept shifting everywhere. Towards the trees, the buildings, and the shops. She paused only once though, in front of an old book shop, her golden eyes raking over the window pane before she let go of his hand, offered him a glance, a smile and slipped inside, "Be right back," and this said, she vanished.
It was only mere moments later when she stepped back out, amusingly enough, walking backwards, waving and thanking to whatever shop keeper was inside. Her free hand help a brown paper back which she clutched to her chest. Only when she closed the door (using her tail, amazingly enough, as if it were an extra limb), did she turn back to face Karan, "Here; it's not as new as your other one, but it's readable at least!" within the paper bag was a book; dusty, yes, and old, but still well kept even if it was second-hand. The same one he'd been reading; it was strange that she'd managed to actually SEE the title of the book, much less remember it, given her almost ditsy personality. Yet she had. She'd used the few coins she'd been carrying about to buy it, but felt they were well spent.
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Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:10 pm
"That's good," he muttered aloud in reply to her words, not even bothering to conceal the irritated tone of his voice. The shorter the distance he had to walk with her dragging him along by the hand, the better. He didn't appreciate the looks they were getting, the smirks and smiles that seemed to suggest anything but what was truly going on. The longer it went, the more his brows furrowed, and his eyes simply shifted to look down at his feet, the dark locks of his hair falling down. He supposed he simply trusted her to lead them along wherever they were supposed to go, because he did little other than make sure he stayed out of the way of people that were meandering by.
As she stopped, he jerked his head up, expecting to be standing outside of whatever this troupe happened to be (he honestly wasn't very sure what to expect of a 'troupe' of travelers at all) but was once against surprised by her. His eyes roamed over the sign and front of the shop in an instant, taking in the crowded windows of books, and he looked momentarily baffled. "Kepi, wait what are you-" he began as she dashed off, but simply sighed as the door shut with a jingle, shaking his head and looking out at the street. He moved until he could lean against the wall of the shop, his shoulder propping him up against it, head down as he toed at a small rock with little interest. He really wondered if she was going to do this multiple times before they got wherever they were going, or if this was just a one time thing, because he wasn't really the sort that truly appreciated being shafted and set out to wait for people while they went shopping for whatever it was that tickled their fancy.
As she came back out, he pushed himself back up into a standing position, his face stern and about to open his mouth and tell her just how much he didn't appreciate her leaving him out here like that - when she spoke up and gave him the book. His brows knitted into a deep 'v' of what could have almost been confusion, or baffled surprise, his hands tracing lightly over the vaguely worn cover of the book. It wasn't as nice as his, true, but it was still the same book - and not ruined beyond reading like his had been. He looked up at her slowly, then, the frown on his lips only growing stronger now that the book was in his hands. He squeezed it between his fingers, then drew it in, tucking it under his arm protectively.
"Thank you," he said, the tone of his voice full of true thankfulness, despite the look on his face. To be honest, the frown no longer had anything to do with the fact that she had left him, but more with the fact that he had thought so badly of her when she had actually been doing something for him. She had been honestly telling the truth about fixing what she had done, but he supposed he had just not figured she'd do something like this. He looked down at the book, staring at it where he had tucked it beneath his arm. He nodded again, looking back up at her with a soft sigh, "Thank you, Kepi, I appreciate it." Now he felt guilty, for being mean to a girl that had been doing nothing but getting on his last nerve. He glanced away, over her shoulder for a moment, then held out his hand with a carefully concealed grimace. "Let's get going, then?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:56 am
He was frowning down at her.
Despite that, the girl merely blinked happily back up at him, as if entirely used to his features being almost-permanently edged into that frown. Her brows drew up though, as his scowl deepened, hiding behind the long bangs that fell over her face, "Hmmmm?" it was a small hum of a sound, her head tilting to one side, as if to question what in the world was troubling him so about the book she'd given him. Despite the fact she was mildly confused over his reaction, the response to his words was immediate; her eyes closed into that happy, cheerful smile that seemed to characterise her, "Your welcome!" she chirped back at him.
She was starting to wonder if anyone had ever done anything remotely nice for him, or to him, what with the reaction she'd gotten. It almost seemed as if the gesture was foreign to him, and yet she thought it was only logical; she'd been the one to ruin his book, after all. The second time the gratitude slipped his lips, this time in the form of softly sighed words, the girl reopened her eyes, "No problem; it was my fault to begin with. I'm sorry it's not as nice as the other one."
If the grimace was notice, she hid the fact rather well, for no sooner had his hand been offered, that the girl took it, "Yup!" this time though, she no longer pulled him along; it was clear the previous enthusiasm had been mostly to get to the shop. Now, she fell into a light pace beside him, allowing her eyes to stray towards the random shops and people, her ears flickering here and there as she paid attention to everything and anything that was remotely interesting or moved. The fact she was walking along beside him though, made it ease to conceal the way she held hands with him, as if she were keeping a secret, a safeguard... something that she'd only recently found and was happy to keep to herself as she led him towards the Troupe.
Amazing. Maybe she HAD noticed the way he'd been wincing earlier, and was now adjusting to offer the comfort and secrecy he needed. Maybe, maybe not. It was hard to tell either way. Despite this, her tail twitched every so often, the bells on it chiming happily away as they walked along.
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