The Unsettling City (under new management)

[Kuro Ryuu Hime]

Adriane was glad to see Cerin, and her mouth pulled up in a smile at his greeting. "Hey. Yeah, I made it al--achoo!" She had just enough time to make sure that she sneezed into the crook of her elbow. "Ugh, I hate the cold..." she muttered as she reached into her pocket for a tissue and blew her nose and such. "Bleh. As I was saying...got here all right, aside from the annoyance of the weather."

[Volk0v]

A slight furrow appeared in his brow at Adriane's display of illness. He nodded. "Same... I had to get around some crowds, though. All this Black Friday crap is dangerous," he groused, shaking his head.

[Kuro Ryuu Hime]

"Yeah, Black Friday's a pain...that's why we're here and not shopping though, right?" Adriane asked with a chuckle. "C'mon, let's get seated and get some food. Conversation's always better with food thrown in," she said as she started further in, toward the register area where the hostess was waiting.

[Volk0v]

It was so loud.

Everywhere was loud.

A young woman moved through what she had deemed one of the safer areas of the ruins, turning her head at every sound. She felt a little frantic. Very distracted. Fighting off a headache.

She hadn't been outside much; only for short periods, never too far from the house, and often in the early morning or night, when there was little traffic and few people about. On this day, Kylie had dared to venture a little further. Only into the edges of the city, but... It had been too much. Too much noise after so much silence. She nearly broke down in public, and now... Instead of returning by the path she had come by, Kylie was now skirting through the ruins, which were, thankfully, quiet by comparison. It was hard to fully appreciate, though. Her mind and her senses were so charged from her jaunt that it was almost impossible to focus on anything. It was like trying to tune in a radio that was receiving so many signals nothing came out right.

It should come as no surprise, then, that she barely noticed when the ground seemed to shift below her. She barely looked down in time to see the ground falling away beneath battered red shoes and issue a shrill scream as the world fell out beneath her. Everything was black and silent for a moment, then; all she was aware of was the vague sensation of her ill fitting clothes snagging against the edges of the hole, then her arms crashing against the crumbling asphalt as they followed.

Feet, knees, chest, arms, head.

She became vaguely aware of bestial screaming in the dark.

Her screaming.

[Hat-tori]

She landed, but not heavily. She was gently caught by strong, capable arms, and set down.

Some mumbling in the darkness, and something moved. Something else did as well, and a male torso came into view. Athletic, but like a runner, no shirt adorning it.
He looked nervous, above all. Loose brown hair fell over a handsome, if pale, face. In fact, her apparent rescuer was pale all over, from his face to his still-shadowed hips. It was likely some sort of the trick of the eye, but he seemed to have nothing on - again, it was too dark to tell. The hole she fell in gave little illumination.

"A-are you alright?" he asked, softly. "My name's Solas." he said, fidgeting.

[Volk0v]

He nodded. "Yup." Cerin followed Adriane, looking at the menus and various posters tacked up on the walls. "Food is nice," he murmured in ...Sort of? Agreement. He would let her choose seating, but was partial to a booth, himself. They were more comfortable...

------

The girl crumpled like a rag doll when he set her down. She slumped to her knees and hunched over, hugging herself as the screaming ended and was replaced by sobs. Too much, too much. Everything happens to me, she said. Everything happens to me.

[Hat-tori]

The young man frowned, slipping away. A blanket fell on her shoulders, then the light went out.

Darkness, again. But it was warm, and quiet, and there was nothing to look at...

[Volk0v]

Hat-tori

The young man frowned, slipping away. A blanket fell on her shoulders, then the light went out.

Darkness, again. But it was warm, and quiet, and there was nothing to look at...

Kylie eventually rolled onto her side and laid there for a long time. After a while, her cries and shuddering stopped, and then... And then she was still, for a long time. It could've been hours. Maybe longer, as she waited for the static to clear out.

When she could think again, Kylie raised her head. She was used to the dark, but that didn't mean she could see without any light at all. Were there any photons to be had here?

[Hat-tori]

It was dark, but light reflected off of various cracks in the roof. The young man she had seen before was curled in a wide circle around her.

Everything below his waist was snake - a smooth, white-scaled thing, thick and strong, pale yet smooth like the rest.

[Kuro Ryuu Hime]

Hee~ Adriane grinned happily when she heard Cerin's sorta kinda agreement. It struck her as adorable for some reason. Probably in part due to his voice. She kinda liked his voice. It was nice, and she felt like she could just listen for hours. But, back to reality! She liked booth seats as well, so that is where they would sit. They were comfy, plus...she was able to take off her heavy coat and toss it on the seat, pushed up against the wall. Much easier than trying to drape it over a chair and hope no one spilled anything on it.

Soon enough it was time to order drinks for the waitress to get -- seemed to be that way in most Chinese buffet restaurants, for some reason. Adriane would hesitate a moment, glancing over at Cerin before deciding to take a venture on her preferred drink of choice. "Uh...some milk, if you have it?" she would request, hoping that Cerin wouldn't think her weird for the choice. Lots of people apparently felt that milk was only for kids, and it was lucky enough that the restaurant had it.

~~~

Hat-tori

A little more, a little more next time. It'll be fine, it'll be fine. We could even patch it up with our own smidge of soul. Silwa said with a soft sigh. Maybe involve her in other feeds, let her drink in the wonderful depravity~

Kuro Ryuu Hime

If she wants it, then so be it, but I will not put the idea in her head, Spam replied mentally to Silwa. She...didn't want to change or hurt Arty, but...well, if she wanted it, she wouldn't turn down more feeding on the Rune user.

[Volk0v]

Cerin shrugged his coat off so it rested around him like a nest, trapping all of the heat. He paid Adriane's choice little thought, in truth. For drinks...

"I'd like some chocolate milk, please," he ordered, meeting the waitress' gaze.

What dorks.

Hat-tori

It was dark, but light reflected off of various cracks in the roof. The young man she had seen before was curled in a wide circle around her.

Everything below his waist was snake - a smooth, white-scaled thing, thick and strong, pale yet smooth like the rest.

Kylie lowered her head again and stared at what she could see without moving. It was so beautiful... And at the same time, it was terrifying. So much power. So much vitality in one being... It was beautiful.

It was also unknown, however, and therefore frightening. He had seemed friendly, based on what she could recall of... How she got here. Right now, unfortunately, her memory was... Hazy.

[Kuro Ryuu Hime]

"Sorry, we don't carry chocolate milk," the waitress replied. They could at least cook with leftover 2% milk, but what would they do with chocolate? Regardless, they still had 2%, tea, coffee, soda, and water, so Cerin would have plenty of options.

Meanwhile Adriane was dumbstruck for a moment at Cerin's original choice, but it just made her smile more. "Didn't know you were a chocolate-loving kinda guy," she said teasingly. "Guess now's as good a time as any to grab our food while she's getting our drinks, eh?" she suggested as she went up to the buffet area. First would be a plate-less pass to see what all was available, then she'd grab her plate and get a portion of everything that looked good, primarily dishes on the milder end of the flavor scale and favoring chicken and vegetables.

[Hat-tori]

He rose, smiling. "Y-you're awake! Are you, uhm, hungry?" he asked softly.

---

Silwa thought for a moment.
Surely there is another you can target of that level... he thought. Even another nibble like that...

---

Antemus stretched once it ended, happy and pleased.

"So. What'cha think?"

[Zetsubo-Chan]

Dark Laidair

"Up to two months or three.." She answered, wondering why that happened to be a bit relevant to their conversation. "I'm glad to be here, to have been introduced into having work here and a stable place to live instead of the streets." She also answered and listened to him mention that he's had a lot of successful attempts so that did make her feel a bit better. She didn't know what to say about it, but the part of her having a second controlled form was a better point of topic. "It's my original the one I was born in, actually. Realizing I would be able to turn human was more of a shock than what I was born into." She finished, looking at him, wondering when would be an appropriate time to get the name of the fellow that was helping her.

A couple months probably wasn't long enough for that many people to see her. It's was poor justification, but it was justification. Sometimes... It was hard. But he just couldn't do anything, when he had the power to make a difference. He sighed. Still, that was a while that she was under the radar in this city. He wondered how that affected her perspective of the people who resided here. "This is one of the better places I've seen in this world so far, so I can understand ones enthusiasm in being here. It's a good thing that someone is attempting to make things right." He gave her next statement a moment of thought. So her current form wasn't her original form? He could understand keeping the human form when outside of the city, but this was a safe place, for any race. "I assume you have a reason for concealing your original form? Because There really isn't any reason I can think of that would justify it. Other then possibly preferring the human form." He somewhat doubted that, given her prior statement of being shocked to learn that she could even be so. It's possible that she's gained an attachment to being human, but given that she had only been here for three months at most, and given that she didn't seem the type to wander too much, he would hazard a guess that she didn't spend too much time in her human form.

[Volk0v]

Hat-tori

He rose, smiling. "Y-you're awake! Are you, uhm, hungry?" he asked softly.

Hung... Well, she had eaten earlier today...

Kylie probed her stomach.

"Mm..."

It had been a while since she'd eaten, but she was used to going longer... The dark haired girl rubbed her stomach as she shifted to more of a sitting position. "...I guess, yeah," she mumbled. Despite all of her screaming earlier, her voice was weak.

Kuro Ryuu Hime

Cerin quietly ordered a soft drink as a replacement. Great, now he looked lame.

He looked to Adriane. "Who isn't?" he asked with a shrug in response to her teasing. "I mean, chocolate triggers some of the same reactions in your brain that being in love does, or so I've read. That's something people are wired to go for, right?"

...Right?

Cerin nodded and followed the shorter girl to the buffet. He didn't complete the first pass without taking anything as Adriane did; if something looked good, he took it. What was there now might be gone if he waited, or so he had a habit of thinking with these buffet places. Most of his picks were milder on the first pass, but he took a few things that seemed stronger just to experiment. Some of these places charged by the plate, so might as well fill it up...