From the second she woke up in her inn room, Piper knew it was going to be a good day. It was her first full day that she would be spending in Kunata, as the ship she was in had docked late the night before. Looking in the mirror, she watched her hair morph from it's normal short, straight, strawberry-blondness to long, wavy, chestnut brown. She also made her eyes the same color. Putting on a modest dark green dress and some simple shoes, Piper decided that it was a good day to have a simple attractiveness about her. Nothing extravagant, but beautiful nonetheless. It also seemed like a great day to be flirty. Piper loved acting like an innocent flirty teenager.
Walking out of the inn, it didn't take long for Piper to start searching for a potential victim to her acting display. She had to find some attractive guy... but she wouldn't be doing the chasing. He would have to come to her. Seeing a few potential cuties that seemed to be glancing her way, Piper pretended as if she was looking for someone. She wanted to see if any of them would 'casually' make their way over to help her.
Shai adjusted his stance as he walked through the streets. He loved walking out in the morning, The crisp air and the fact that the streets were slightly less crowded helped things. He paid a bit for some kind of food and took a bite. It was going to be a good day. Pehaps he would find something that called out to him. He would hate to return home minus the money he left and in no better idea of what he wanted to do. Then the fact he might of left without letting anyone know might turn even worse. If he came back changed and with something then perhaps he would be forgiven. He was 17 after all, and a man for all purposes.
Shai had looked around the streets as he often did since he had arrived in Kunata. He was on the look out for someone to befriend or perhaps a girl to approach. That was when he saw her, Shai couldn't believe his luck as she seemed to be looking for something. He took a big breath of air and approached her. "Hello there, I couldn't help but notice you were looking for something, Any way I can help?"
Piper had watched as one of the boys she had her eye on started approaching her. She didn't watch him directly, of course, just out of the corner of her eye. So when he said something to her, she let out a little squeal before replying, "Oh! I'm so sorry! I totally didn't see you there."
At a closer view, his brown eyes were pretty attractive. Actually, Piper decided, he was pretty attractive. Should I play with him a little? Piper wondered. Would my character play with him a little? Yes... I think she would.
With a slightly upset frown, Piper looked straight into the cute stranger's eyes and said, "I'm looking for a boy. He's taller than me and his hair is a little longer and shaggier than yours... but it's the same color as mine." Pretending like she was thinking, Piper paused for a second before finishing, "I think he wore a loose white shirt today over his brown pants."
Then, breaking eye contact with the stranger, Piper continued to 'look for the boy'.
Shai jumped a bit at her squeal, He tried to play it cool though. He couldn't let her think she scared him. She was quite attractive he thought, He wouldn't mind getting to know her even if it was just for the day, she seemed worth the attempt to get to know.
Shai looked around trying to help look for this boy. " I don't see anyone fitting that description hmm" He thought for a minute or so " Are you sure this is the right place? Perchance he is somewhere else?" He sort of hoped the person wasn't nearby, as maybe he could find an excuse to spend some time with her. He had never really done anything like this before, he was sure it was obvious. It took most of his courage to just approach her and now he was unsure of what to do.
Laughing at the hope in the boy's voice, Piper responded, "He left just a minute before me. I have no idea where he could've gone so quickly."
Piper pretended to look around for about ten seconds before turning back towards the boy. She sighed. Then smiled. "You know what? I don't care. He can fend for himself. His fault for getting lost, anyway. Do you want to go somewhere? Perhaps out to breakfast?"
Breakfast seemed like quite a good idea to Piper. She'd kill two bones with one stone: have a boy for her character to flirt with and fill her stomach. If she was lucky, he'd even pay.
Shai gave the largest smile his face could give as she asked to do something with him. " That sounds like a splendid idea, I know just the stall, They sell several baked goods, and I am sure have something you would like, and its on me. " Shai smiled and led the way to the nearby stall and awaited her to order something. He couldn't believe his luck, spending his morning with a girl as pretty as her. "I am Shai by the way" His smile still on his face he decided to enjoy the moment and hoped that he could make it as special as he could for her.
Jackpot. He said he'd pay. With a smile, Piper replied, "I'm Laeva." Piper never shared her real name with people she had just met. After all, she named all of her characters.
Piper briefly looked at the stall before turning back towards Shai. "Can I have a biscuit and eggs please?" Without even waiting for him to respond, as she knew the answer would be yes, Piper continued, "So... tell me about yourself. Anything. I just want to get to know you." Piper smiled all innocently, hoping he wouldn't notice the cheesiness of her statement.
"I am Shai, and of course you can have some." He smiled ordering them for her quickly he decided to answer her while they waited. "There is not much to know, I am here to explore the world, and learn all I can and find adventure and or a profession which I can make my family proud. I decided to come here to see if there were any interesting trades I might try to pick up." He said proudly. he didn't need to mention all of his history. He realized he wasn't that interesting. He was a big nobody.... He had worked for the boat that took him here so he had plenty of spending money for now he thought.
A pretty peasant girl like Laeva would love a family man like Shai. Thinking up a story on the spot, Piper responded, "I started travelling the world to find differences in fashion styles. My parents make clothes for a living, and I told them I'd keep them updated on the latest styles. I send them mail with pictures explaining to them what I see. I have a younger sister, too. How about you? Do you have any siblings? Also, what kind of job are you looking for?"
Shai smiled, " no I don't have any siblings, and that is so cool, I wish I knew what I was doing. I am willing to try anything really, I just worked as a sailor to get passage over here . " He smiled as he got the food and handed it to Laeva. " Here you go, I hope you like them. " Shai wondered what sort of job would he want. " I was thinking perhaps smithing, or something." He really had no idea, he just knew he had to find something to make his own.
Taking the food with a smile, Piper asked, "Is there somewhere we should sit? Or are we just going to stand around? I'm fine with either one, of course." She bit into her biscuit and was surprised by how good it was. For a random stall in the middle of the town, she hadn't expected the quality to be so great. Smiling even wider, Piper added, "This is amazing, by the way. Great choice of a stall."
Shai looked around and remembered some benches nearby. He led her to a bench and sat down. " I am glad it is good, I found this place yesterday. I don't know how they do it. " He smiled looking at her. " So shall we find something to do next?" He said trying to think of something to ask about her but his mind was blank, its as if his brain had turned to nothingness in front of this girl.
"One second," started Piper, sitting down right next to Shai. "Let me finish this." She ate another bit of her biscuit.
When Piper sat, she had sat so that she wasn't touching Shai, but there was barely a gap between them. She figure she'd tease him a little bit with the closeness. If he'd be teased by that kind of stuff.
Turning her head and putting on her best smile, as if she enjoyed nothing more than being here with him, Piper asked, "So how long have you been here? And how long are you planning on staying?"
Shai smiled and blushed as she sat so close to him. He had never been in such a situation before, and the redness on his face made it obvious. He looked to her, and then spoke " I have been here a week, though I don't know how long I will stay, If I find a place to learn a trade I like It might be a while What about you?" He said smiling because he did enjoy nothing more than being here with her.
His face was red. Very red. Piper couldn't resist her urge to giggle at this fact, but she managed to pass it off as a flirtatious giggle.
Then, realizing he had asked her a question, Piper replied, "Oh! Sorry, I was zoning out." More like trying to stay in character. "I got here last night. It's my first day. But I don't know how long I'll be here... Long enough for me to pick up on all the styles, I guess."
Shai smiled at her, and thought about the fact she hadn't been here long. " Well then we can go somewhere so you can catch some of the styles. " He said wondering if she would want to go, He wasn't sure where they could do for such a thing but was sure he could find a place.
Piper laughed. Then she looked at Shai. Then she laughed again. Finally, she calmed herself down and said, "I don't have to go anywhere. I'm always looking at the styles. Like... that person over there in the blue dress." Piper pointed. "It's pretty, right? Compliments her hair. And the guy over there with the dark cloak." This time she just looked with her eyes. "You can see girls checking him out as they walk by. Although that's probably more of a curiosity thing, it's still important."
Shai nodded, he didn't understand why anyone would be so interested in clothes, but then again, it was her profession. " Your family must be great taliors to be able to send you around as they do. " He looked at her, and then spoke again, " So what shall we do? for I for one vote we explore or something. " He didn't like sitting for long periods of time, and thus fidgeted often.
Great tailors? thought Piper. Sure. I can go with that.
"They're amazing," she replied. "Truly amazing." Piper pretended as if she was deep in thought, thinking about her 'family'. She even created mental pictures of them. Her mom looked quite like Laeva, but had more defined features. Her dad's hair was graying a little, but still had some black in it. His eyes were deep, dark brown. And then there was her little sister. She was adorable and always had her hair in a simple braid.
She then shook the thoughts out of her head and added, "Exploring sounds nice. You lead."
Shai, grabbed her by the hand and began running. If she didn't slow down he planned to keep going, weaving through the gathering crowds, at an exctiiting pace. He liked doing this, it kept you on your toes, and was a different way to experience the city.
Piper did not expect this guy to start grabbing her hand and running. He seemed too shy to do something like that. Where is he even bringing me? she thought. Or is this our exploring? Deciding not to think too much into and just be her character, Piper smiled and laughed a little bit.
Shai stopped as they came to see the courtyard for the Temple. It was a massive structure, set aside for the lands religious ceremonies and stores of books. he had never seen its like, He stopped dead and took in the sight of the large structure, and courtyard, noting the care taken in its construction. He then jumped a bit as he saw a zombie walking by carrying some bags of something. Was that a dead person? walking.... He tried to keep it cool though, no use freaking out the girl your trying to impress. He realized he was still holding her hand, and they were now in a much less crowded place. He looked to her, unsure what to say.
Although she sense Shai's uneasiness, Piper pretended not to care. Instead, she admired the temple. It was quite large—bigger than any temples she had seen, in fact. She noticed the zombies walking around, but they didn't bug her. In fact, they were quite useful. She always wanted to try acting as a zombie someday, but had never been able to observe them. After a brief pause, Piper decided that it was probably not the best observation time. So she put on a mischievous grin and turned towards Shai while asking, "Well, what are we waiting for?" She then pulled his hand and started towards the temple.
Shai nodded and followed her as she pulled his hand towards the temple. It seemed that no one was around, and there were just seating and various objects for worship. He looked around in wonder, as he tried to put the zombies out of his mind. He didn't want to think of them. He instead thought of the cute girl infront of him. "So have you heard anything about their religion?" He wondered if she had as he inspected the nearest statue.
Piper had heard nothing really about their religion. But she had heard enough rumors about them in general that she decided to tease him a little. "I've heard that they worship all the zombies and other undead creatures. That's why they keep the zombies around here—like that one, that one, and that one." Piper pointed to three different zombies. "And if you cause any damage or say anything mean to one of the undead creatures, you can be thrown in jail. And the only way to get out is to learn necromancy yourself and create your own undead creature. It's like them trying to convert you." Although Piper believed none of this, she had actually heard similar stuff. She stopped moving and turned her head towards Shai with wide, innocent, eyes. In a quiet voice, she asked, "Do you know... is that all true?"
" Really? Then we better not do anything to get put in jail.... I don't want to learn necromancy or make and worship the undead.... " His wonder turns to nervousness and he is only not running because of the fact he is here with a cute girl. He tries to act tougher than he is. "I thought necromancy was looked down upon...." He wonderes what she had thought about the whole place. " Where too next? or do you want a closer look at something here?"
Apparently Shai was quite gullible. With a hearty laugh, Piper responded, "Not really! I was joking! I know nothing about the religion." Necromancy, however, was a different matter all together. Piper actually was interested in that subject. "We're in the land of necromancy. It isn't looked down upon here. The rest of the world, however, often doesn't like it. But I find it quite fascinating." Piper wanted to take a closer look at the temple—to actually go inside it—but Laeva probably didn't care that much. So she put a smile on her face and said, "We can go where ever you'd like."
Shai honestly had no idea where to go, he looked to Laeva. " I don't know where to go..I don't know my way around and am sort of out of cool places to go to..." He smiled as he blushed a bit, He didn't really know what to do. He was embarassed, as he tried to think of something desperately. "Do you know of anywhere?"
Piper found this boy quite innocent and cute—like a little puppy. He kept blushing. Putting on her own innocent girl smile, Piper glanced at the ground before responding, "I got here yesterday... and didn't really plan on sightseeing at all. I don't know of any good places to visit. Sorry." She looked back at the ground as if she was a tiny bit ashamed.
Shai shrugged, " Well lets fin a corner to sit and talk then or we could go look at the shops.. " He tried his best to hide his blush and smile. " Unless you have some better idea" He thought about it and was sort of sad that he didn't have anything for them to do. He was so smooth... not How could he be so bad at hanging out with a cute and beautiful girl.
With a sweet laugh, Piper responded, "Talking is good!" She'd like to get to know Shai, anyway. Or at least Laeva would. "And maybe we can go shopping afterwards." If she was lucky, she could get him to buy her something. Piper loved it when she could convince people to buy her something—whether the person be a boy, a confused person, or just a kind stranger. But sometimes she felt a little guilty, too. So she sometimes returned the favor.
Shai smiled " that sounds great! " He couldn't believe his luck. Finding a girl who seemed as nice as this while hear. Maybe he would try to hang out with her again. He led them to a quiet corner in the temple courtyard. " So, lets play a game, I ask you a question then you answer it and ask me a question." He looked at her and found himself staring and he tried to look back at her eyes. " So what do you do for fun when not searching for fashion?"
Fun... thought Piper. Her fun consisted of acting and being different people. And while she was those people, she liked to do things that she normally wouldn't do as herself. Things like stealing, lying, and flirting with strangers. And although those things sometimes got her in trouble, she didn't really mind. After all, it was fun. However, Piper knew she couldn't respond like that. Trying to think of Laeva's version of fun, she responded, "I love sightseeing. Not tourist places like major buildings or castles or whatever, but mountains and beaches and forests. Beautiful places." Piper looked into the distance dreamily before making eye contact with Shai and asking, "If you were to change one thing about your past, what would you change?"