Peace and Quiet

[stelmarisa]

Lina was sat on a low, wide branch, legs swinging freely, her shoes kicked off into the grass below. This area, althoug technically a park, was really more of a cultivated meadow, situated on the very edge of the forest. It was quiet and secluded, the natural flora providing plenty of little pockets of privacy for anyone that sought an escape from the bustle of the town, and this was exactly what Linna was looking for.

Having been in the town only a few days, she was already weary of it. Being alone, utterly bereft of money or belongings, had made for some very uncomfortable nights, and extremely hungry days. She was tired of hiding, tired of being frightened, and tired... full stop. Luckily, today she had been able to do some odd jobs for a local baker, and had been rewarded with a hefty chunk of newly-baked bread, the smell of which drifted up from the parcel of red cloth in which it rested.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, catching a ray of sunlight that filtered through the leaves above her. She would hold off on eating the bread for a little while - the anticipation was almost as good as the actuality would be. Eyes flickering open, she glanced sideways to make sure she was totally alone, before unfurling her wings and letting them wave in the breeze.

Ahh... a chance to relax at last.

[Anonymous]

How could it be that one so accustomed to the forest could be even slightly plagued by it? Then again... even saying that, 'twas his own fault, when it came to it. He was, after all, the one that had not even paid a care to walking through a particularly bushy area. And thus, with that, did broken pieces of leaves and branches dot the black hair upon his head and the bushy fur of his tail in particular, along with a few other random places upon him.

'Normal people,' as they said, wouldn't have had this much of a problem; that much he was certain. No, they could probably just brush it off their clothes and out of their hair and be done with it. For him, it wasn't such an easy task, at least with his tail, but he barely seemed to pay it a mind all the same.

A light yawn escaped his lips as he found what appeared to be a refuge of sorts, a place where he could just stop and remove some of the forest's 'gifts' without worrying about picking up much more of it. So he did, dropping down to a seated position without a care, his tail shifting into his lap so he could start carefully picking out bits of leaves and wood. Much of which was particularly persistent, but little sparks of fire that apparently ignored his fur took care of those.

And... oh, there was another here, or so his nose told him. Blinking once, he cocked his head a little to the side and turned his eyes straight to the other here, apparently knowing just where to find them.

"Oh... hope this isn't a private spot or anything? Just taking care of some of these leaves and such that've gotten stuck, and... hm, probably getting something to eat soon..." he considered somewhat thoughtfully, catching a faint scent of some of it.

[stelmarisa]

Linna had just slipped into a happy reverie, totally blind to the world around her, when a voice startled her out of her thoughts. "Oh!" She gasped and jumped, losing her balance on the swaying branch. As the newcomer trailed off what he was saying, she landed clumsily at the base of the tree, narrowly avoiding falling over completely.

Blushing a deep pink, she straightened up and dusted herself off, before looking at the newcomer for the first time. She tilted her head to one side as she contemplated him, intrigued by this stranger. "....No, it's not private." She said belatedly, blushing again as she realised she hadn't answered his question yet. "I was just looking for a place away from the town that I could sit. "

She paused. "Do you... need some help with your fur, and the... sticks?"

[Anonymous]

Kai blinked once as the girl began to fall, and moved slightly, but... well, even he wasn't that fast, and fire was his only specialty otherwise, so there was nothing he could do but watch her fall and hope she came down alright. His fingers, in the midst of this, paused in their work. That was, until it seemed that the girl was alright.

"Hm... well, I guess that's fine, then," he replied with a slight grin, glad that he wasn't apparently intruding. "And no, but thanks... I've got it taken care of," he assured, though it was really that he'd given up on taking the tedious route in favor of something quicker. By that thought, and a little flick of a few fingers, faint crimson fire began to wash steadily over his tail, frying the refuse but not, fortunately, the fur. "But whatcha need a place away from the town for? I thought most people liked places like that?" he inquired, curious - and, to a degree, oblivious - as ever.

[stelmarisa]

Linna's eyes opened wide as fire spread over the stranger's tail. "That's amazing!" She was stunned by the paradox of the fire - something that to her seemed only destructive and wilful - being controlled in such a useful way by this man. And, she was not a little bit awed by his blantant use of his power. What a thing, to have a power like that and just ... use it. In public!

"Most people might," she replied shyly, tearing her eyes away from the fire. "I'm not exactly sure I fit in there, to be honest." Her wings batted once or twice, as if to punctuate her point. She felt oddly safe here, as if - for once- she didn't need to hide her less-than-human characteristics.

[Anonymous]

"Huh? Is it?" the fox blinked in reaction to the... well, reaction regarding his fire. He had some inclination of it being of some note, at least to his family, but that was about it. No matter, he couldn't be bothered thinking about it... or actually spending time thinking on much of anything, in honesty.

"Well... can't say I don't know what you mean there. I dunno, I'm just more comfortable out in the forests and such, I guess. There's generally so much less smells and sounds there... too much of that sorta thing in bigger cities for me, usually, but I guess I'm not exactly normal myself, huh?" he commented, grinning cheerfully. "Still, they can be fun, at least from time to time. And they have pretty good food there that I usually can't figure out how to make, too. Which I could probably still use a little of, so... we could go, maybe for a bit, if you're hungry? Even if you might not fit in, I'll probably fit in even less," he suggested, not seeming to mind the implications in the slightest.

[stelmarisa]

"I don't know about that... I've only spent a couple of days in this town." She paused. "Before that, I'd never been to a town or city at all, I guess I've never seen the fun side of them?" As he suggested going to get food she hesitated, chewing on her lip. If she went... there was no way she could afford food, it was just going to be embarassing. And she did have her bread... which she could share...

She sighed, hugging herself with skinny arms. "I have some warm bread here, if you'd like to share it with me? It's not much... and not much of a meal I'm afraid, but it's new, and fresh," she offered.

[Anonymous]

"Maybe you haven't, or maybe you just haven't been to the right places, or... well, I dunno," Kai shrugged, possibly onto something briefly but, if he had it, he quickly lost it. Such was the way things went, and he paid it no more mind than he ever would.

"Bread's probably not a bad start, but I'm not gonna just take what you have or anything like that. Well... if you don't wanna go to the town, what kinda stuff do you like eating? I'm pretty good at tracking things, so I could probably find some of it," he offered, a friendly grin still upon his features. "Oh yeah... and I'm Kai, by the way. Guess I forgot to introduce myself or ask your name or anything," he recalled, chuckling a little.

[stelmarisa]

"I'm Linna." She smiled and bobbed into a little curtsy. "It's nice to meet you, Kai."

She stepped up onto the roots of the tree they were standing under, stretching up to retrieve her little parcel of bread. "Well, why don't we share this anyway," she turned back to him, package in hand. "And then go into town - or tracking, if you'd like! I really don't mind."

[Anonymous]

"Well, alright then, sounds fine to me. And nice to meet you too, Linna," he nodded, finally concluding with his tail and letting it slide off his lap as it would. That was to say, sifting slowly through the grass behind him, rather out of his control or care.

"Anyway, I could track something down and be back with it cooked, if I need to, pretty easily. Though... guess it depends what you like? Everyone seems to like different stuff, far's I've seen," he offered, scratching a little at the back of his head in thought. "Dunno about anyone else, but I usually just grab fish and fruit, personally."

[stelmarisa]

"Well that would be fine, then," she nodded. "Actually, I eat everything, really. We learned to take what we could find in my house, when I was growing up - I'm not fussy." She shrugged casually. "Fish and fruit both sound nice. You must be clever, to be able to catch your own food like that."

She was impressed, and curious. It seemed like this Kai had excellent survival skills - maybe there was something he could teach her, if they spent some time together.

[Anonymous]

"Hehe... guess you could say that, though it's mostly because I've been living out in the forests and such for... er... well, I don't remember how long, really," he admitted, scratching a little at the back of his head again out of habit. For a moment he tried to remember, then gave it up as another lost cause. Not that it wasn't held there; rather, he just couldn't often be bothered to dig, at all.

"Anyway, if it's fish and fruit, there's a pretty good place not too far from here. May even not go too bad with bread, come to think of it, so... yeah, let's go," he simply said, picking himself quickly up to his feet and affording himself a light stretch. With that done, he began to walk, pausing a few steps in to make sure if Linna was coming along.

[stelmarisa]

"That sounds nice!" Linna followed him, hurrying along as she tried to keep up, only just becoming aware of how much taller Kai was than her. Her wings beat furiously behind her, helping speed her along slightly. She held the bread protectively close to her chest, fearful of dropping a good meal.

"So, you haven't always lived in the forests, then? Where did you live before?"

[Anonymous]

Realizing quickly enough that his present companion seemed to have a somewhat hard time keeping up (something he was relatively used to), he soon slowed his pace a little to grant her an easier time of it. Thinking on the question for a moment, he gave a little shrug in response.

"Huh... dunno, but probably nowhere that really matters to me. Not sure why, I guess I just get that feeling... but that was back when I was five, or six, or something. Been a while, whatever the case, but I've gotten around fine on my own," he assured, complete with a little nod. "Besides, not so bad just wandering around and occasionally meeting people and such stuff, right?"

[stelmarisa]

"So you've been on your own since then?" Linna was wide-eyed again, gazing up at her companion. "Wow... I suppose, in a way, that's similar to what I'm trying to do? At least, I hope I'll meet people - nice people that is."

She paused. "I don't know where I'm going to live, though..."

[Anonymous]

"Don't really see why you wouldn't meet people... there seems to be plenty around everywhere, so far's I can tell," he suggested, giving another little nod. For his ears, at least, the sound of lightly flowing water began... for anyone else, it would probably take a few more moments.

"Anyway, you don't really have to figure out where to live as soon as possible, or anything like that. There's plenty of places to see all over the place, so you're bound to find some sorta place in one of them, I'm sure. I probably could've myself, but I like it out in the peaceful forests, and I probably understand animals better than people, anyway," he admitted, chuckling lightly.

[stelmarisa]

"Yes, people are everywhere... coming from a small village, it seems so busy in the town here!" As they progressed, Linna turned her head, trying to place the faint splash of water that reached her ears. "The problem is... people in Serendipity don't tend to take very well to, to people like me," she admitted, the flush returning to her cheeks. Kai must have noticed the difference between them by now - unless he was startlingly unobservant - and she was starting to feel suffocated by their silence on the topic. It was highly unusual for her to talk to someone for so long without receiving comments.

"Well, maybe I'll settle in the forests myself." She smiled. "If I figure out how to look after myself."

[Anonymous]

"Huh? Why should anything like 'people like you' matter? You look mostly like those normal folks... well, except for the wings, maybe, which are pretty interesting to me since I've practically never seen anyone with wings... so you're a lot closer to them than someone like me would ever be, I'm sure. After all, ya don't see people with fur around much of anywhere, at least from what I've seen," he commented, a friendly grin returning to his face, yet again uncaring of any of the implications.

"But if you want to stick around the forests, I could always help there. I know where to find just about everything, and I get along well with the animals so I might be able to help with any possible danger from that as well," he offered.

[stelmarisa]

She laughed, as Kai's friendly response helped set her at ease. "That's true! I hope you don't mind me saying, but I've never seen someone that looks like you... your fur is beautiful." She smiled shyly, hoping he wouldn't be offended at such a comment. "Well, you see I'm half-Fae. And Serendipity has always been very prejudiced against Fae..." she frowned slightly. "I don't know why, I don't know if there's a reason for it or not. But it's followed me around all my life. I guess I'm lucky that I only really inherited the wings." She fluttered the offending items gently.

"Thank you for that offer, Kai. I appreciate it."

[Anonymous]

He blinked and gave a little nod at the compliment, tilting his head slightly to the side as his tail gave the odd little flick. "Hm... sounds to me you just have to go somewhere other than this region, then," he observed. Quite simplistic, to be certain, but such was his way of thinking a lot of the time; he couldn't really help it.

"Well, we're here, anyway," he said, giving a slight wave to the body of water nearby, that was effectively a pond, along with the small variety of bushes and fruit trees that flourished on having such water so nearby. "As for me, well... don't remember ever seeing anyone that looks like me either. Maybe my parents, but neither of them had my blue fur, or my power over fire I think, so I guess I'm pretty unique that way."