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 Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:27 pm
It was one of the nicest days Cyrus City had seen so far that spring, and so it was unsurprising that what seemed like half the city’s population had flocked outside to bask in the relative warmth. The various small parks scattered about were particularly popular, crowded with people looking for any excuse to bask in the sun.
It was that same reason that found Jiang-Chen lounging in the large ornamental fountain in one of said parks while he waited for his mother to finish with a lunch meeting in a nearby cafe. His own small lunch- a pastrami sandwich and a thermos of hot tea- was set on one of the stone benches built around the fountain, conveniently within his reach as he leaned over the rounded stone edge. Sharp claws picked idly at the sandwich as he watched the crowds mill around, though the fountain itself was surprisingly deserted- there were two young women seated on a bench on the opposite side, conversing in hushed tones and stifled giggles about whatever it was young women talked about, but they seemed uninterested in him, so he ignored them. Besides, eavesdropping would be terribly rude.
He sighed quietly. People-watching was only entertaining for so long, and he’d long since grown bored.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 4:40 pm
Syn walked hand in hand with Kalos, exploring the city for the first time in a while. It had been so long since they had made a day to just kick back and relax. And of course, the good weather meant that Syn would not be able to keep Kalos in. It was in her nature, after all, to be out and about. Syn looked up at the clear blue sky and took a deep breath. Spring had finally arrived and they couldn't be happier. Winter just seemed to get Syn down. Something about the lack of sun maybe.
Syn felt a tug at her arm and looked down at her daughter. "What is it?" She asked as a warm smile played across her face when her eyes fell on Kalos.
"Can I throw coins in the fountain?" Kalos' small voice sounded as she looked up into her mother's eyes. A pleading look was in them.
Sighing, Syn nodded and dug into her pocket for a few spare pennies. "I'll be over there." She said as she pointed to a bench that was within view of the fountain. "Stay where I can see you Kalos." She yelled as her daughter took of, sprinting, to the fountain.
Kalos, a little short winded, slowed down as she neared the fountain. Leaning on the side she looked into the clear water and saw various coins glittering in the sunlight. Giggling at the sight, she stepped back and let a penny fly. "Oops!" She said as the penny hit a hard surface on the fountain and bounced over to the other side.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 5:14 pm
At that particular moment, Jiang had just reached over to pour himself a cup of tea, and had his back turned to the girl's approach and subsequent penny toss. As it turned out, he heard the exclaimed 'oops' just in time- he was under the water in a blink as the rogue coin ricocheted alarmingly close to his head.
After a still, tense moment and an attempt to calm his heart rate, he peeked back above the surface, glancing around warily in case of additional flying currency. Determining that the coast was clear, he hoisted himself back up to the fountain's edge and towards his lunch- and scowled. The thermos thankfully hadn't been open yet when he bailed, but his sudden movement had knocked it from the bench, and well outside his reach. He looked around, gaze landing on the newcomer for a moment. Well, the fact she'd said 'oops' suggested that she hadn't intended to aim for him at least. Good enough.
With a flick of his tail, he drifted closer to the girl, stopping at the edge a few feet from where she'd thrown the coin. "Ah, please pardon me," he started, voice surprisingly even despite the recent scare. "I apologize for bothering you, but my thermos of tea has fallen out of my reach, could I trouble you to retrieve it?" He mentally crossed his fingers- he'd been polite, and didn't even get upset over the wayward coin, so hopefully she'd be nice enough to bring his tea over.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 5:42 pm
A splash, bigger than what her coin would have made, caused Kalos' eyes to widen. What had made that splash. Slowly, she made her way back over to the edge of the fountain. Leaning over, she examined the fountain's bottom and all of a sudden she leaped back, gasping and covering her mouth.
A boy had broken the surface of the water and was now making his way over toward her after having examined a thermos on the ground some ways away from the fountain. Kalos watched as the boy flicked his tail and drifted toward her. Tail? The boy had a tail? Kalos took a tentative step back as he glided to a stop. She had never seen anyone with a tail before.
It took a minute for her to realize the boy was talking to her. Lost in her own thoughts as she was. Kalos blinked and looked over at the thermos she had seen just a minute ago. She nodded at the boy and went to retrieve his drink for him.
"I-I'm sorry.." Kalos said sheepishly as she extended the arm holding the thermos out to him. Her cheeks had turned a slight rose color.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 7:29 pm
He accepted the thermos with a bow of his head. "No apologies are necessary." He set the drink back on the bench next to his sandwich, then returned his attention to the girl. "My name is Jiang-Chen. You have my thanks for retrieving my tea. As you can imagine, I have difficulties with moving outside of water." Here he gave his tail another slight flick for emphasis.
Without diverting too much of his attention, he reached over and poured himself a cup of tea from the thermos, sipping gratefully. It seemed to calm him down a great deal, smoothing out the last of the stress from the earlier scare. "Are you here to enjoy the fine weather as well?" he inquired politely. Small talk wasn't a skill he was particularly gifted in, but the girl still looked somewhat embarrassed, and the weather was the quickest change of topic he could think up to try to put her at ease.
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:38 am
Kalos nodded at his thanks, still at a loss for words. She jumped as his tail swished out of the water. Her eyes traveled the length of his body and a smile flitted across her face as they landed on his tail. He thoughts were all over the place but one thing stood out What was he.
She was to polite to straight out ask, though. So her curiosity would just have to suffer for now. "O-oh...my name's Kalos." She nodded again at his mention of not being able to move outside of water too well. She could imagine trying to get around with that tail.
Kalos' eyes traveled back up to his face and she noticed, for the first time, the patches of scales on his face. "The...weather?" asked Kalos as she tilted her head up to the sky. "It is nice, isn't it?" A full fledged smile broke out on her face at that moment. "I love being outside!
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:36 pm
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Kalos." Her fairly obvious curiosity barely fazed him- it wasn't quite right to say he didn't mind being stared at, but he was certainly used to it. He took another long sip of his tea before replying to the unasked question. "I am a dragon, if you were wondering." His tail flicked again slightly, though this time it was more to keep him level in the water than for showing off.
He gave a somewhat more subdued smile in reply to her exuberent grin."I agree- a day as lovely as today is best spent outdoors." Another sip of tea. "Winter does have its charms, but I am glad to feel the weather begin to warm. Half-frozen fountains do me little good." Here he made an unpleasant face that suggested he'd learned this from experience.
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 2:35 am
"A...dragon?" Kalos hadn't known they actually existed. Of course she'd read stories about them from books Syn owned. For them to actually exist though? Crazy! She was a bit awestruck by the idea. Very curious as to how Jiang-Chen had ended up in this city.
Kalos frowned at the mention of winter. It really was her least favorite season. "I'd rather skip winter all together." she said as she peeked over where Syn was sitting. Seeing that she was currently busy talking to someone she seemed to know, Kalos quickly slipped out of her sandals and climbed onto the edge of the fountain. Sitting down, she stuck her feet into the cool water. I'd much rather be able to take my shoes off and run through the grass than to bundle up and have to trudge through snow. She blushed a bit as she realized that Jiang-Chen had never been able to do something like that. Though she was sure he had had a much more enjoyable time swimming in water during the summer months than winter ones.
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 11:40 pm
His smile turned a bit smug. "Indeed." He did like to brag about it- just a little- when an opportunity arose. "I have yet to meet any others in the city, however." And even if he did come across one someday, it was likely that they wouldn't have come to be in the same way as himself- all the other oil people he'd met so far looked completely different.
He nodded in agreement. "I admit that I find the scenery lovely in winter, but only from the warmth of indoors, with a cup of tea." Speaking of tea, he set his now empty cup back down on the bench, and turned to lean on folded arms on the edge of the fountain, next to where Kalos now sat. He turned his head slightly so he could still see her comfortably before continuing. "Anything requiring leaving the house, however, I could do without. It becomes much too cold to swin comfortably. Even though Mother will carry me instead, the dry air bothers my scales terribly." The look on his face said quite clearly that this was extremely unpleasant.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 6:16 pm
"I've never seen a d-dragon here either." Kalos was still a bit flustered. Never in her wildest dream would she have imagined laying eyes on a dragon in the park.
Kalos stuck her tongue out at the lovely winter scenery comment. "It's too cold! And all the pretty flowers are dead during winter." She let out a soft sigh. "I wish it could be summer all year long!"
At the mention of his scales her eyes traveled back down to his tail. Blushing, she quickly raised her gaze back up to his face. She just couldn't help looking at it whenever he mentioned it. "Can you survive out of water?" Kalos asked bluntly. She was very curious about this boy and where he was from. She also wondered if there were others like him outside of the city,
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 11:43 pm
"Ah, pity." He shrugged, looking unconcerned. "It is highly unlikely they would be a relation of mine even if one did surface, but I would still enjoy the chance to have a conversation." Maybe someday he'd come across one and get the chance, who knows.
He straightened up almost abruptly as she pulled the face, his eyebrows rising and mouth thinning into an expression of utter disdain. "How uncivilized." Disappointing- he'd been enjoying her company so far. He turned away just slightly, still looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "It is only cold outside, which is why I expressed that I only enjoy it when I myself am comfortably indoors. And flowers remain perfectly fine all year within greenhouses and conservatories- I am certain one could be found that is open to the public." He tended to get defensive when offended- unfortunately, it didn't take much of an etiquette misstep to set him off.
Fortunately, he wasn't offended enough to cut off the conversation full stop- that would be rude of him. Plus, it was difficult to make a suitable exit when confined to a fountain, large though it may be. Still, he was notably less amiable than before, though his expression had evened into something more neutral. "Save some dry scales, I have no trouble living outside of water. Obviously I am incapable of walking, but as I said, Mother is generally more than happy to carry me should I ask." He didn't like to, but he could. Dry scales really were unpleasant.
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Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:11 pm
Kalos frowned as his reaction to her sticking her tongue out. What kind of parents did he have if a simple, silly gesture offended him so much. It took most of the control she had not to roll her eyes at him. "I am not uncivilized just because I stick my tongue out." Shaking her head she watched him out of the corner of her eyes.
Sighing she continued on with the conversation, deciding that she wouldn't dwell too long on his reaction to her sticking her tongue out. "Greenhouses are nice...yes. It's just not the same though." A listlessness had come into her voice. She really did dislike winter. Kalos looked down at her feet in the water and swished them around a bit.
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 10:36 pm
He gave her a long considering look- she obviously had a different definition of 'civilized' than his own. Perhaps she belonged to one of the lower classes, they must have different standards for such things. "Manners are half the impression one presents to the world. Do people not judge you based on your etiquette?" He actually looked just a little astonished at the thought- like it just couldn't quite fit into his world view. Eventually he looked away to pour himself another cup of tea, mostly as a diplomatic way to break the staredown. "Perhaps we will simply need to agree to disagree."
He took a long sip of his tea and a deep, calming breath- it seemed to do wonders for his disposition. "I will agree that greenhouses are not as pleasant as the outdoors, but surely preferable to no flowers at all for those few months?" His attention was briefly drawn by the movement of her feet, and he idly swished his tail in counterpoint. He'd never admit it, but once in a while, he did wonder what it would be like to have legs instead of his tail.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 8:18 am
"Manners are one thing. I do have them. However, being silly every now and then is a must. What's life without a little fun?" asked Kalos. "I suppose there are those who choose to judge me on such little things," she said as she side glanced at Jiang-Chen then continued. But if someone can't like me for who I am, quirks and all, why should I bother caring?" She smiled genuially at him.
Glad to be on a different subject, she jumped on the chance to talk about flowers. "Greenhouses are wonderful. Flowers all year round, who would not love that? It's just not the same as being able to step outdoors and see them without having to travel. "
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 2:07 pm
He looked back towards her and blinked a few times, taken just a little bit by surprise by how well-spoken her argument ended up being. It went a long way towards making up for what he still thought was fairly sketchy decorum, in the end. "This is true I suppose, though I must say that it appears we choose to have fun in different ways." It didn't sound particularly hostile, just matter of fact. He chose to ignore the sideways glance she gave him, but mostly because he was carefully considering her following statement. He couldn't particularly relate- his life was ...easier, if he could make people like him as much as possible. As he'd said himself, manners were half the world's take on you- the other half was appearance, and his did him very few favors in a city where magic could be frowned on. He shook himself slightly as he realized that he'd been silent a little too long as he was lost in thought. "To live such a carefree life must be... interesting." He almost sounded wistful, and promptly took another sip of tea to cover it.
At that point, he was just as happy to jump on the change of topic. "Needing to brave the winter weather to reach them is unfortunate, yes. Even the short trip to the small greenhouse on the grounds at home is generally more time out in the cold than I would choose to deal with." Not to mention it had more vegetables than flowers anyways- not so interesting to look at. "Are there any varieties you are particularly fond of?" He gestured slightly at the large white bloom in her hair, looking curious. To wear one around like that, it must be a kind she liked a great deal, right? "Flowers are lovely, and I do enjoy admiring them, but I admit that I know very little about them."
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