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By now he had become fairly knowledgeable about the bus route he took to and from his home to the nature reserve that he enjoyed wandering around. So when the bus took a turn it wasn't supposed to, Dair sat up and pulled one of his earbuds out. The road that they should have turned down was blocked off by a wall of pylons and a few police officers waving cars away, and further down the road was a mess of cars and flashing lights.

'Sorry folks, looks like we'll be taking a detour to Aekea, you can pick up a connecting bus at the depot there." The announcement was met with a quiet groan from the passengers, several loudly voicing complaints to the driver, who simply shrugged. Dair sighed and slumped down in his seat, watching the greenery next to the road fade away into the sprawling edges of the city. He sent a quick text to Nell letting her know that he'd be coming back late on the bus, reassuring her multiple times that no, she didn't have to drive all the way out here to pick him up, and yes, he'll let her know when he gets on the bus to get home.

Unfortunately, the schedule that was posted at the bus stop showed that the next bus he could take wouldn't be arriving for over an hour. Well, he guessed he could take the time to sit down and look through the pictures he had taken today and see if there were any that were worth keeping, or...

He drifted slightly away from the bus stop as he noticed something...weird on the sidewalk. It was a dark spot, and it really just looked like someone had spilled something on the ground, but he could have sworn that it had moved. He stopped a few feet away from it, floating a bit lower to take a closer look when it wiggled again. If the sidewalk had been a bit more uneven he would have written it off as it simply flowing downhill, but it was moving in a straightforward line regardless of the angle of the ground or what was in it's path.

Weird.

He looked in the direction that it was moving towards (away from the bus stop, of course) and after a moment of thought he floated off down the sidewalk to see what lay in that direction. The number and size of the spots grew larger until he was simply following the path that they had made rather than pay much attention to his surroundings. In fact, it wasn't until he floated right into someone that he finally looked up and took note of his surroundings.

Oh. Oops.

"Oh, um." Dair looked from the woman (another Raevan!) to the sidewalk and back again, belatedly noticing that he couldn't see any of the weird stains on the sidewalk anymore. "Hello, sorry about that, I wasn't..." paying attention, but that was obvious.

The clatter of the phone on the sidewalk drew a wince from Dair, and he quickly floated back a few feet from whoever he had ran into, his hands raising up slightly in an apologetic gesture. The sinking feeling in his (metaphorical) stomach only sank lower when he noticed that the person was a fellow Raevan, and one older than he was. What a way to make a first impression.

"I know, I..." The sight of the cracked screen drew another wince from him and the memories of a few too many lectures from Nell about keeping his phone at least in one piece as she replaced the screen (on more than one occasion) after it had taken a few too many careless tumbles . "My guardian might be able to fix it? She's...fixed mine before..." His words trailed off, the offer sounding feeble even as he spoke it. No, it didn't feel right to foist off his mistake onto someone else. He offered the other Raevan a helpless shrug.

"Is there something I can help you with until it can be fixed?"

Dair nodded once at her request, though with his serious expression it seemed more like a bow than anything else. He had opened his mouth to ask what, exactly, she was delivering, but he closed it with an exasperated sigh at the mention of her phone. Duh. His hands patted at the various pockets he had in the multiple sweaters he was wearing until he pulled out his phone (much battered and in a very durable looking case) and began tapping at the screen. A moment later a cool robotic voice began listing directions, which seemed to match the direction that she had already headed in.

"Oh, I was waiting for the bus and saw..." He fell silent for a bit longer than strictly necessary, only speaking again when they came to an intersection and his phone told them to turn left. "Something interesting. Why'd you end up having to deliver that?" The subject change was painfully awkward, especially considering the long silence, but he wouldn't even begin to know how to describe what he saw without sounding more than a little crazy.

Dair gave her an apologetic grin before he took the proffered hand. "I'm not the fastest, sorry." But that seemed to be a non-issue for now, and he found himself being towed along behind the Sigel at a much faster pace. Much of his curiosity was satisfied at her simple comment. A repayment of a debt was a concept he was familiar with and one that he didn't feel the need to pry further into.

"I'm Dair, it's nice to meet you." He would have offered her a handshake but it seemed like it would be a bit redundant as she was already holding his hand. "Sorry it's not in, ah, better circumstances...." His voice trailed off as he looked back down at the phone screen, giving LuLu's hand a gentle tug when they had to turn a corner. That, however, gave him another glance at the festively-wrapped paper, and even though he knew why it was being delivered, the what was still something of a mystery.

"Do you know what's in it?" He did his best to sound nonchalant but couldn't quite keep all of the curiosity out of his voice.

This was certainly not his first time being unceremoniously dragged along behind someone, Nell tended to walk much faster than he could (or was willing to) float and occasionally used him as a makeshift weight when jogging. By his accounting this was closer to a leisurely stroll in the park than a hurried trip thought a shady part of town.

[color-darkolivegreen]"Oh, is it that bad? I don't really come to this area very much..." He looked around with a frown, not seeming too concerned with their sketchy surroundings. "It should be just around the next corner, by the way." A bark-covered finger pointed to the next intersection and then to the right before his phone disappeared into one of his many pockets. There was a quiet, contemplative hum from him as he sped up just a bit to get a better look at the package once again.

"I guess you probably won't be there when they open it, either?" There was something enticing about the box, maybe it was the brightly colored paper and ribbons that begged the viewer to pull it off, or it might have just been the mystery behind it, but he just wanted to know.

"Hmm, I guess it'd be something good if they're going through the trouble of having it delivered by hand." At night. In a presumably sketchy part of town. He frowned, his mind struggling to put together a few faint suspicions that were lingering in the back of his head. But just as a solid thought was a bout to form, a hand was firmly planted on his forehead and he found himself being pushed back.

With a huff he floated back to where he had been a moment ago, understanding why they shouldn't peek inside but still being disappointed that neither of them were quite defiant enough to actually do it. However, in an effort to maintain whatever shred of self control either of them possessed, he tapped LuLu on the shoulder once more and pointed down the street to where a neon cactus sign could vaguely be seen.

"Is that it?"

Since he was being pulled along behind LuLu his attention was left free to wander, and wander it certainly did. His gaze wandered from one building to the next, taking in their generally worn appearance with mild interest. He hadn't seemed to notice when they arrived at the actual building they were heading to until LuLu's knock echoed down the street. The building certainly looked empty, no lights save for the neon sign were on and he couldn't hear anything from inside either. It took him a moment to realize that she was waiting for a response from him to pull his attention back to the task at hand.

"Is the door unlocked? It'd probably be better to not leave it for them outside if no one's here," He squinted up at the building with a frown, wrinkling his nose as part of the sign started to flicker wildly. "You have to deliver it tonight? Might be easier if you cam when they were open..." But even as he asked the question he already knew the answer: yes, tonight. Well, that didn't leave many options that didn't involve breaking in (which he also assumed was not an option).