Welcome to Gaia! ::

Itztenoch itched under the guise of it all. Stared at his own coloring and manner of dress in wonderment. Humans with their buttons, with their bells, with their snaps, clips, layers and layers of coverings to choose from for their soft flesh. He rubbed his arms reflexively and marveled at his fingertips often enough that he wondered if it appeared strange.

Except he'd seen the humans staring at themselves constantly soo...maybe not so strange?

It wasn't the confusion of donning them. It was simply the extravagance of the look that had him turning his head every time he felt a stray strand of hair brush across his cheek. Slip over the curve of an ear that felt strange whenever he sought the missing cartilage of it's pointed nature.

He would've rather been home. Wore the garb of the organization while on duty, but while off? He preferred the simple body suits, preferred even more to shed that barest of thread when in his private space, while sleeping in his pod...

It didn't help that the humans, their entire planet? Smelled. Reeked of scents from hither to ******** dale - confusion that not all of them were unpleasant. That after a while he became nose blind to them - right up until something new and intriguing caught his interest.

How those scents caught and "Eso...Eso..." Tenochs words hissed at the other briefly in his own tongue, as he reached to tug at him errantly. Tenoch wasn't yet so comfortable with their mission that he trusted himself to go it alone - that he wanted to let the others venture out on their own. "Where are...they went on about 'eateries' and 'water features'? That they gathered their energies there - their en' mass meeting places of replenishment?" and his tone lent to the fact that he was no longer amused by being amongst a crowd.
Jostled and if he'd been himself he would've bared his teeth in a snarl for it.

"I would like to get this done so..." huff and reigning in of a sigh, speaking loudly enough that the human could hear, so he didn't sound like he was simply hissing in his own dialect at Eso. Easy enough to forget in his own distraction that their devices handle those translations for them seamlessly, that he should be careful with what he said for that very fact.

Briefly caught off guard by the better smell that sighing in brought to his nose as he breathed, tilted his head to the scent of something sweet - that reminded him of...

The reminder of the denominational square of plastic that had been given out to them all. Numbers that meant things scrawled across it - tribute to their VISA god, or whatever it was the humans worshiped in their fervor for collection of 'goods and services'. He wished to spend the plastic at haste, collect the data, collect the energy.

Maybe find out where that delightful smell that masked the other bad ones was coming from.

Across the street maybe?

Maybe if...and it was so easy to forget they had a chaperone with them. A guide of sorts?! Tenoch still wasn't sure how to take it all - as being babied- as an act of good will? They'd seemed genuine enough with the offer to play tour guide..and yet?

Try as she might, Morie couldn't keep her little sister away from the aliens forever.

Tochi knew her sister's routines well enough, knew how to sneak around behind her back. For one, as much as Morie tried to keep certain people out of trouble, she was only able to really focus on one person at at a time, and it just so happened that luck was in her favor today, as Mariel had slept in and missed classes, so Morie had gone tracking her best friend down. That left Tochi free to do what she wanted, because she knew Morie would be busy with both school and her part-time job, and thus she had made her way to the barrier as Aogashima, and offered her assistance with showing some of the new 'visitors' around, maybe grab a bite to eat somewhere, something. This was her way of trying to get to learn more about them, about their culture, and maybe make a friend or two along the way? And so, it was as Tochi again, that she found herself chaperoning two of their otherworldly guests on a field trip around the city, though it was more... restaurant hopping, actually.

Which was fine, of course- it meant Tochi could show them to all her favorite places to go dining out! More specifically, it meant she could show them to her favorite boba places.

"So, um! Do you have anywhere you want to check out first, or would you like a recommendation?" she asked innocently, totally not trying to sway their decision-making process in her favor or anything.

"Yes, yes, whatever...this smell is. It's smell is very pleasant. Is it a food? Do humans really require foods this sweet?" Eso took hold of Tenoch's hand and dragged him toward the boba shop because honestly, that's where the nose was leading him.

Walking into traffic? Oh, he probably did. Scared the poor host? More than likely. Look sheepish when they were all honked at and then bolted across the road like a scared mouse? Eso's face couldn't have been more red as he nearly tripped on the curb on the opposite side of the road, catching himself just barely and then coughed.

"Meant to do that," he mumbled, pushing his lavender hair back out of his face. "Why is moving through this ...this place so terrifying? Everyone seems to be in a very high emotional state. What unbalances them?"

"Eos!" Surprised squawl of sound as Tenoch found himself yoinked heedlessly over black marked surface onto the raised gray sidewalk, clung to his partner and crossed with haste before he was smacked by the screeching metal beasts.

Reached for the girl as well, because they were supposed to have been traveling as a pod, a single unit with guide, and truly? How would it do if one of their allies was errantly maimed?! By some giant impatient thing - piloted by one of her own kind no less!

"That!" gasped growl as he whipped the - frankly too much hair - around to glance between the two "Maybe it's the metal cages that give them the idea they can do as they please...haah..and...what do you mean signals?" tossed errantly, wide eyed look for Toshi - because was she okay? Was Eos okay?

And there were so many things that could've been a signal - flashing lights - honking - yelling..

Tenoch wasn't even really sure that *he* was *okay*, what with how his heart raced and blood pulsed in his too small and round ears.The only benefit of the loud and quick chase across roadway - was that it seemed to have gotten them closer to the source of the smell.

"I'm fine!" Tochi assured, which was technically true. She'd had quite An Experience, and Morie certainly was going to have some words for her, but at least... she didn't get hit? That was... one way of looking at things positively, in any case. It was a lesson for next time! She'd have to teach them about crosswalks and whatnot.

"That sweet smell..." Well, there were plenty of sweet smells in this part of the city, where there were restaurants and bakeries, but this specific smell... "Oh! That's probably because we're near a shop that sells boba tea," she said, grinning, "It's not that far away, actually- and you can definitely consume it! It comes in a lot of different flavors- some are sweeter than others- so you might want to come back here a couple times to try them all."