Welcome to Gaia! ::

The response was not immediate because n'Barit was not used to being addressed. He had learned how to avoid the most importunate pesterings of Gaians in his weeks here and preferred to walk through the world unnoticed, or at least unconfronted. He hunched his shoulders, he glared at nothing in particular, he pointedly ignored the world and people around him. In return, the world mostly ignored him.

He might never have noticed the greeting had it not been for Kirkcaldy, who pulled at his shirt for his attention and looked wide-eyed at Aurelius. Then n'Barit realized the "hi" had been for him; there was no one else even within earshot.

He turned with great care, not an easy move to manage with his crutch and prosthetics. He was especially careful not to twist his leg. It had a tendency to come off at the most inopportune moments.

Were it not for the protuberances from her head, n'Barit might have mistaken the girl for Yuulani. She had the right colorization. Kirkcaldy, of course, held no illusions about this strangers origins, but she was at a loss as how to explain it. "Hiii," she said softly, dangling her dark red ornament from her wrist in a signal to her father.

N'Barit was not so pleasant. "Yes?" he said, preemptively annoyed. Kirkcaldy's signal went unrecognized.

"Not buying," said n'Barit flatly, "so peddle to someone else." It could be applied equally to street wares and Aure's intended dishonesty, though the latter was a sale of a slightly different kind. Thinking the exchange was finished, n'Barit started to turn away.

Dismayed, Kirkcaldy jerked her shiny bauble so it smacked into n'Barit's good leg and let out a squeak of disappointment towards her father. N'Barit could only scrunch his face in distaste. If Aurelius was trying to sell something to Kirkcaldy he wanted it even less. The spot on his leg smarted and he wished he had a free hand to rub it.

"I was no bigger when they made me a barrigater," said n'Barit, who did not think age was an excuse for anything. He had probably been about her size when he saved his whole planet, if not smaller. He had always been small for his age. Emperial said he probably had small parents. "My name is n'Barit Kinmera." From the way he said it, it was clear his name held some importance, at least to him.

"Kay," said Kirkcaldy, maybe introducing herself, maybe not. She smiled broadly at Aure.

There was a grinding noise: n'Barit's teeth. He hefted Kirkcaldy against his shoulder, away from Aure's well-meaning reach (never mind that the damned bauble hit him for perhaps the twentieth time) and tried to remember that non-Yuulani simply could not help it if they were rude, ignorant, and unclean. He took a deep breath through clenched teeth and exhaled it loudly, hitting the guttural spot of his throat with clear displeasure. It helped put him into a more meditative space, an exhaling of his anger.

He still had plenty of anger to spare in his growl of a response: "You will address me as n'Barit--" he said it more slowly to simplify the pronounciation-- "and if that's too hard, Bart." His brow was furrowed in a scowl of indignation despite the knowledge that most non-Yuul were thrown off by the nn honorific and it was really no fault of Aure's. Sometimes it was a little hard for n'Barit to curtail his total disgust at non-Yuulani societies.

Kirkcaldy shifted in n'Barit's arms and let out a little mewl of distress at this sudden anger. She really wanted everyone to get along and be happy, not growl and fight! Maybe it would have been better not to alert n'Barit to the presence of the other Illusionary. Kirkcaldy scrunched up her little nose in guilt. Now everything had gone all wrong and her favorite person was upset. She patted her hand twice on n'Barit's cheek to apologize. While it did nothing for her guilt, it did relax n'Barit a little bit, at least to the point where he might not be considered angry.

"Just use Bart," he said more forgivingly, averting his eyes. He so hated anything that could even remotely be construed as an apology. Stupid, stupid diplomacy. He did not bother to correct Kirkcaldy's name. There was no insult in that mistake. It might even be a boon, since Kirkcaldy had no family name.

There was a pause before n'Barit answered, trying to decide if there was any risk in telling the truth, and if Aurelius was stating the obvious or being observant. Given the uniqueness of his attire and name, it was probably just an attempt at conversation. Paltry human social habits. He left the possibility open that she was being observant just in case her actions provided him with further information.

Since it was never wise to show your full hand, n'Barit chose an ambivalent response. "I've been here long enough." He might have asked her something in return, but questions were something he used sparingly with strangers. Asking a question could be revealing a weakness, admitting there was something he did not know. It left him open to receiving misinformation. The best times to ask questions were when the answers were already known, when the point was to guage a respondant's reaction, or when a truthful response had some benefit to the person answering. No such questions came to mind right then.

N'Barit stared. This unclean degenerate wanted to touch his precious Kirkcaldy? Maybe over his dead body. That sort of contact was sure to lead to spiritual corruption and he was quite determined to protect Kirkcaldy until she was old enough to learn a cleansing ritual for herself. Bad enough Aure had already touched her once today. "No," he said flatly. He rather hoped that his continued unreceptiveness would drive away Aurelius.

"Dyaaa," cooed Kirkcaldy, tiptoeing her fingers across n'Barit's shoulder. She stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth thoughtfully. If she was not careful, in a few minutes she would be drooling. Such was the way of babies, even spiritually pure ones.

N'Barit let out a little snort and rolled his eyes, two very human habits he had picked up from Emperial. "Where to begin?" he mused.

Kirkcaldy shifted around in his arm and put her chin on his shoulder. Her eyes crossed as she focused on a piece of hair laying on her face and tried to blow it away. Her lips had trouble getting the right shape for the task.

Wedging the top of his crutch in his armpit and leaning on it, n'Barit was able to free up his other hand to reach over and brush the hair from Kirkcaldy's face. His metal fingers glinted in the sunlight. "There's the point that you've interrupted me from what I was doing," n'Barit said to Aurelius, "and the fact that you're annoying, not to mention being totally bereft of any spritual cleanliness. A better question is why I should like you, seeing as you haven't done me any favors, and you're in the way of my going somewhere and sitting down." The last bit was unnecessary, but he was getting rather tired of standing and his discomfort demanded recognition. If he could have, he would have simply run off and left Aurelius. He would rather not lead her to any of his favorite resting places lest she start hanging around there looking for him.