Welcome to Gaia! ::

Beneath the thick shade of the trees, near the edge of Xavier's huge lump of land, sat Shiori. Her back resting against a large trunk, her arms folded over her middle, the furred mutant gazed languidly at the scenery before her, never focusing on one particular spot too long. The area was serene and comforting. A place where hardly anyone roamed, and where little of the city's noise filtered in through the canopy of leaves, she was reminded a bit of her home she hadn't seen in almost four months. It made her feel a bit homesick, but at the same time it was her little area she could withdraw to if she were feeling uncomfortable.

Not that her life at the Institute was less than unpleasant, nor were there any students that had a particular aversion towards her. It was just that still after a few months of living there, she had yet to really open up to anyone more than acquaintance-type friendship. She had been offered to tag along a few times on some city outings, but she felt most of it was more out of courtesy rather than an actual attempt to hang out with her. Perhaps she was destined to remain isolated from the others.

As a light breeze picked up, Shiori caught scent of someone unknown to her. As there was nothing but trees for a few miles in the direction the person's scent was coming from, she was a tad confused as to what they were doing wandering around. Were they lost perhaps?

Standing up, she sniffed some more to try and pinpoint the person's location better and to get a better understanding of who it was. The scent was of a young male's, probably no older than seventeen, with other foreign scents all over him. And something awkward, too. Shiori wasn't sure what it was, but there was something unmistakably different about him. It wasn't quite like that characteristic scent of a mutant, but it wasn't plain like that of a human's either.

More curious now, the feral walked closer to the edge of the tall fence that marked the edge of the property, and climbed onto the large and sturdy branch of an aged tree to try and get a better view of this wandering person.

There was a slight change in his scent, nothing dramatic, but certainly noticeable. Like he activated some sort of mutation that he had. She didn't smell any threatening intent about him. It was possible that he could've been a runaway mutant looking for the Institute. There had been a few of them that had arrived since she had taken residence there. But none of them had come to the side of the mansion like the boy was doing.

Leaning forwards some and using an overhanging branch for support, Shiori could just make out his form as he continued to walk. His clothing consisted of light and dark browns that blended in with the scenery. If it weren't for his dark hair, it would've been really hard to spot him.

She continued to watch him silently as he made his way closer, and eventually crouched on the limb when he was close enough that she could still see him without needing to stand. He probably wouldn't see her as well that way, and she wasn't sure how he'd react to her physical differences. She was a bit tempted to greet him, but she didn't know how he'd react to someone randomly calling out to him since it felt like they were out in the middle of nowhere, and jumping the wall was out of the question since she'd rather not chance setting the automatic defense system off. Her ears twitched a bit, and Shiori remained where she was, sensing him out as he came closer.

Once within a few yards from the wall, his scent changed again, returning to what she assumed was its normal state. Shiori perked her head at that. She wasn't sure, but she thought she say his face change, particularly around his eyes, when he released whatever it was he did. He didn't seem to notice her, nor looked too high up for her to get to see his face well, so she wasn't really sure about it.

While he looked over the wall, she studied him more. For what she thought was supposed to be a runaway, he was certainly dressed better than those that she has seen come to the Institute. Not a tear or smear of dirt on his clothing as far as she could tell, save for the slight wear at the hem of his pant. And his long hair was well kept, tied lowly at his back. As the mysterious boy stepped a little too close to the wall, Shiori rose from her crouched perch, shaking the leaves on the thinner off-branches.

"Careful," she warned quickly. "The defense will attack you if you get too close."

((Oh gods. XD;; That seriously hurt. Exactly why I never attempted Shiori's accent.))

His eyes. They were shocking. Unique was a better word. So pale without any visible pupils, but they worked well with his dark hair and pale complexion somehow. Shiori was captivated by them. There weren't many other students that had prominent physical characteristics that were natural to them, this boy's eyes were stunning, eloquent even, and on some level made her feel a bit comfortable in his presence.

The heavy accent was not something she expected to hear, and it snapped her out of her semi-daze. She shook her head lightly before addressing him again. "Yes.. I am." She paused a moment, biting lightly on her bottom lip, before switching languages. "[Umm.... you wouldn't happen to be native to Japanese, would you?]" His accent, while it didn't match perfectly, was close to how she spoke upon first arriving at Xavier's mansion. It might've been chance that she had been the one to find this 'stray' as she was probably best suited to helping him, at least in terms of translating. Not that she was proficient in English just yet, her words were less distorted than his.

((As I'm sure they'll be speaking Japanese more than English, let's not use brackets and just reference when they actually speak English. Or some other language.))

((Yeah, I guess, but this is going to be a lot of brackets. XD; ))

She nodded at his reply, hearing both the similarities and differences of their languages. She wasn't sure where he was from exactly, but it did make her more curious about him.

"[The side of the property line wall, anyway. The front is about a minute's walk that way,]" she explained, pointing in the direction of the front gates. "[I can let you in from there.]"

((Look, look! I finally posted! sweatdrop ))

He seemed a bit cautious as they walked to the front doors, though Shiori guessed it was natural. It was his first time, and she herself had been rather cautious her first few weeks there.

"[Oh, gosh!]" she said, swatting herself on the side of her head for forgetting her manners. "[I'm really sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself!]" Pausing to turn to him, she bowed at the waist. "[I am Hayashi Shiori. It's nice to meet you.]"

((Gah, that sucked. As I said to Saika before, I wanna get a can of Quality Post with a sprinkle of imagination from Urahara now.))