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Jijikko wriggled.

Beneath him, various strands of hay tickled his belly, getting caught and clinging to him when he rolled. He’d never experienced such a substance up close and in person before — and certainly not gathered into such a neat, tackleable pile. Twisting himself around, he burrowed his face as far into the pile as he could manage, testing the resistance, and then sneezed, jerking back out when it tickled his nostrils.

One, two, three shakes of his wings got most of the hay off as he hopped down off the stack, and after briefly debating making a dive run onto the pile, Jiji forewent that opportunity in favor of exploring the rest of the strange structure the two-leggers had built for themselves. A barn, the little oblivionite — Raemos, Jiji reminded himself — had called it, and while he’d been instructed to wait and, presumably, behave himself in the meantime, Jiji could smell the evidence of plenty more interesting things to investigate than just hay.

He headed towards the source of a close, sweet smell first and soon found himself with his snout to the wooden planks of a barrel. Snorting, he edged around as much of it as he could reach. It smelled of sweet treats, but how was it meant to be accessed? After some clamouring around and experimentation, Jiji wound up on top of it, scrabbling his claws first at the edge, trying to pry it open and then, accidentally, tipping it over in his struggle and yipping as it crashed open, round red fruits spilling out across the barn floor.

Never having seen such things before, Jiji could only guess as to what they were — had they been imported from a more distant place on one of the two-leggers’ caravans? Or perhaps they simply grew somewhere nearby in the mountains where he had yet to have the opportunity to explore in detail.

Regardless, Jiji edged in, pounced on one that was still rolling, and then held it still as he sniffed it again. It smelled safe. He nipped, chewing experimentally gently at the outer surface, and when that didn’t work, he bit. Immediately, he purred — juicy, sweet, new flavor. Three or four good chomps and the fruit was gone. He took on another, gobbling it at least as fast. After following a trail of them along the ground however — already having downed a good number — he paused, sniffing again.

Meat.

Wriggling excitedly, Jiji abandoned the fruits and went off in source of the smell. Where, where, oh where was the meat? His snout twitched as he shuffled along the ground, nosing against each of the crates on the far wall. Where, oh where—

Jiji sneezed and twitched his head as he came upon a large sack of something dusty with an apparent affinity for climbing up a creature’s nostrils. What in the world of Magesc? Curiosity momentarily distracting him from his mission — stomach already at least partially satisfied by fruits anyway — he chewed at the string holding the massive sack shut and began yanking, jerking his head from side to side in an attempt to unfasten it.

“Come onnn…” he growled at it. “What are—”

Much like the barrel of fruit before it, the sack gradually slid, tipped, and then fell flat with a resounding THUD at Jiji’s feet, a white cloud poofing out upon impact and coating him, along with a good portion of the surroundings. He wriggled, twitching his ticklish nose, and then blinked, frowning at the mess.

On second thought, perhaps the two-leggers wouldn’t appreciate that he’d messed so much with their goods after all…

Seconds before he decided he probably ought to make some attempt to hide the evidence of his mishaps, he heard Magescian voices approaching just outside the walls of the barn. Jiji dipped his snout, and resorted to plan two: attempt to look as innocent and vulnerable as possible.

Jijikko blinked, tilting his head and wriggling his flour-dusted wings. She wasn’t upset? Raemos seemed upset, but the female two-legger was the taller of the two — presumably an adult and as such in charge — and she seemed to find the event more amusing than anything else. This being a better reaction than he possibly could have hoped for, Jiji nodded eagerly. Prancing out and shaking himself as he went in an effort to get the flour off, he took special care to snatch up one more stray apple when he passed them.

When he got near to the two leggers, he rolled along the barn floor, successfully shaking off more flour but leaving a semi-white streak in his wake. He frowned back at it, then dismissed his concern. Compared to the rest of the barn it wasn’t much. He lifted his head toward Raemos, offering up the apple.

“Yo’mm wan’ it?” he offered around a full mouth. “S’ goomnd.”

Jiji’s head dipped a half fraction in disappointment when Raemos turned his offer down. Not so much because he’d refused it, but because he seemed far more irritated with the situation as a whole than the woman accompanying him. But, Jiji concluded mentally, no matter. More apple for him, and the trip was still on track. Thus, chomping happily away at the rest of his fruit snack, Jijikko followed his two-legger companions out of the barn.

Since the trek ahead was long, they offered him transport in kind with their own: a massive, patient kargoth waiting to be mounted. Jiji, unfortunately, had never even grappled with the concept of interacting with such a thing personally, let alone riding one. The venture was more amusing to his two-legger companions than himself, but Jijikko did eventually make it to an awkward, tense perch on top of the beast, wings fluttering nervously every time the creature moved so as to hold his balance and not fall again.

The trip to town felt far longer than it likely was in reality, but they did thankfully make it. Eventually.

Jijikko’s nostrils flared, eyes wide and head high. All the sights. All the smells. And so many two-leggers. Jiji found himself hard pressed to focus on any one thing, and as a result, his attention darted from one fascination to the next. Vehicles large and small, carts, bells, whistles, animals, caged and not. Massive kargoths loaded with more goods than he could have imagined it was possible to stack up on one beast. Not to mention all the bizarre clothes.

He’d thought he’d seen some oddities on the handful of two-leggers he’d encountered in the past, but this was beyond anything in his experience: bangles and bracelets, beads, strange glimmering neck ornaments and hair ornaments, pants of all shapes and sizes, billowing or tight, leathery or colored with bright dyes, hair done up in strange fashions. Jiji’s tail swished, his excitement barely containable as he sniffed the air.

“It…looks…amazing!” And, without another word, Jiji darted off towards the undulating crowds. People, people, people. Ankles and critters. Shop stalls, windows, fresh food and—

Meat.

Jiji’s head perked up, oblivious of the heads he was turning as he nearly tripped up unwary passers by with his heedless exploring. Which direction—? That way. Without a glance backwards, Jiji bounded off towards the source of the smell.

Lithian fingered the satchel at his waist uncertainly, his thumb flicking back and forth over the small scrap of parchment therein. A simple task, all things considered — half of the items were for him, after all. Head into the market, purchase some scrolls he wanted to practice with and then several basic goods for his sister while he was at it. Nothing terribly complicated, except that of course, Lithian’s innate skill at losing himself virtually anywhere had come into play, and now he wasn’t even entirely positive he knew the way back to the inn they were staying at, let alone the strand of market that sold the sorts of goods he was looking for.

Eowyn’s sun beat down on him, hot on his horns and in his hair, sweat gathering at the back of his neck. Only on Eowyn did he regret his choice of leaving his locks as long as they were. When he’d initially travelled to the place, he’d been confused at how many chose to lop it all off. Strange, he’d thought — though not unheard of, of course. Many dovaa with intricate or large horns also chose to cut back their hair to keep it from bothering him, but never had he seen it with quite so much frequency.

Lost in his thoughts, Lithian did not notice the bounding, golden-orange khehora speeding down the cobbled streets until it toppled directly into him. He yelped, stumbling messily and likely would have lost his balance entirely if not for the hands of a strange — kind enough to bark at him for falling into them as it was.

“I—sor…” Lithian cleared his throat, flustered as he shook his head. “Sorry, I didn’t—”

“You.”

Lithian’s head jerked around and down, eyes locking on the unexpectedly low source of his addressor. The khehhora had actually stopped? “I…me…?”

“You smell familiar…” Immediately after saying it, the creature moved in, apparently oblivious of the huffing and snapping of passers by as it began sniffing at Lithian’s boots and then up his legs.

“I—I—err…are you su…? Mm…” Lithian’s cheeks burned brighter as the khehora nosed about shamelessly. “Hey—hey! Watch where…” He pulled his tunic tighter down around himself, lightly swatting off the creature’s unabashed nose. “Careful…” His attention flit up again as fragments of sentences got to him through the crowd:

“Is that thing yours?”

“How ill-behaved…”

“Get it out of the street, would you?”

“Some people let their animals get away with anything…”

Lithian pursed his lips and met the creature’s eyes, a flicker of recognition hitting him this time. “Come on,” he said, attempting to move off towards the side of the street and into the shade, at least out of the main flow of traffic. “Maybe we should…get out of everyone’s way. Do I know you…?”

At this rate, he might never find the shop he needed.

Lithian blinked, eyeing the strange boy before him with intent curiosity: strange wrapped bandages covering most all of his exposed skin, large clunky orderite-esque goggle devices on his eyes, clothes that looked far too covering and hot for the desert environment. For all practical purposes, it looked as though he didn’t want an inch of himself to be actually seen. Lithian worked to mask his puzzled frown and pushed a smile into place instead, accepting the help.

Perhaps the boy was sick?

Or a hybrid who’d rather not be labeled as such — that was certainly possible. Whatever the case, he at least sounded genuine enough in his apologies, though he clearly had no real fault in the matter.

Lithian said as much. “I’m quite alright, thank you. Doesn’t seem to be your fault…I think I’ve run into this khehora before, though…” He glanced out about the busy city, frowning. “He was much smaller then, and I wasn’t aware anyone permitted feral khe—”

“Today, Raemos is my bonded,” Jijikko supplied happily, cutting in over Lithian without pause. “He’s showing me what real two-legger villages look like — up close! We’re going to go exploring. He said I could come.” Jijikko nodded at the last bit as though to give it extra emphasis, tail swishing in broad sweeps behind him with his enthusiasm.

Lithian tilted his head as the other boy spoke, fingering the hem of his shirt sleeve absently. Posing as a pair of bonded seemed to open up any number of potential hazards as far as getting into trouble was concerned, but he kept the thought to himself. When the boy finished, however, Lithian blinked, reminded of what he’d come here for in the first place. Thus:

“Oh!” he blurted. “What sorts of supplies? I’m here to make some purchases too, though, I…erm…” He cleared his throat, rubbing at one of his horns as his cheeks heated. “I may have gotten myself a bit lost. Slightly. I mean, not terribly — I’m sure I’ll find my way eventually, it’s just…I’m not particularly familiar with the area? Will you be here long? Have you been here long? Do you know the place well? Not that I’d want to make you go out of your way, of course, if you’re busy—which—er, well, I’m sure you’re busy, never mind it. Forget I…bothered you. I should probably let you both be on your—?”

“Raemos is a nice two-legger,” Jiji chirped, interrupting heedlessly. “You don’t need to be nervous. And…” Jiji swished his tail, head perking up as he sniffed the air and glanced again towards the nearby meat stall, “…I’ve heard people say you’re easier to understand when you leave more space between your words.”

“Oh, I…well, not exactly,” Lithian said, smiling sheepishly. “I was actually hoping to purchase some scrolls. I was hoping to branch out and, er, experiment a bit with magic outside of my element. My father encouraged me to…ah—” Lithian cleared his throat, mentally reminding himself that this was a stranger who did not care why, precisely, he was looking to buy spell scrolls and if the boy was going to be kind enough to help him find his way around, he need not bother him with any more information than necessary. “I’m just not particularly used to shopping outside of the Plane, that’s all,” he clarified, eyes following the path both Jijikko and Raemos’ gazes seemed to be taking. “And even then I generally go with with one of my siblings, or parents…”

On spotting the meat stand, Lithian brightened, happy to have an excuse to change the subject.

“Are you hungry?”

“It smells better than fruit,” Jijikko responded immediately, tail swishing and nostrils flaring. “What is it?”

“Mm…” Lithian eyed the stand, and then scrunched his nose a bit. “Dalak meat, from the looks of things. Not exactly my favorite, though they have some other slabs there. Come on,” he beckoned with a notch of his head, starting towards the stall without waiting for commentary. “I’ll get you some if you like. It’s so cheap here, at least compared to home…I suppose because everything we don’t raise up there has to be shipped in.” He glanced back to Raemos as he made it to the front of the stall. “Are you hungry also?”