in the chicken coop [quiet]

[Anonymous]

ooc; I am terribly sorry for the long wait, and I hope that this introduction is okay.
I had a hard time thinking of how to begin and this is what came to me.

[hr:1aazmcc8][/hr:1aazmcc8]

The vixen licked her chops as she leaned over the side of the building, looking down at the bustling marketplace. Dark-skinned traders showed off their wares as citizens and tourists alike gathered to gawk at rare trinkets and purchase everyday items. Delicacies, common food, cloths, and pelts were bought and sold, with the clinking of gold coins passing between people. It was the normal cliché of the market scene, complete with awnings and shops inside of buildings, sweat and heat growing as the summer arrived.

She'd change all that.

Selene had her eye on a cage just below, which she had passed by as an inconspicuous "human" earlier. The chickens had panicked when her vulpine shadow fell upon them, but it had gone unnoticed by the other, less observant people surrounding her. Now, she crouched on the roof and bided her time.

She could have paid for one of the birds to eat, but there were two issues with that option. One, she had absolutely no money or possessions to trade with. Two, where the hell was the fun in that?

All she had to do was to wait for adequate distraction. The vendor obviously wasn't going to leave his post, for there were far more thieves lurking in the streets than the hungry kitsune. However, she was fast. That was the one thing she prided herself on. She had very little strength or stamina, but the speed at which she could slip past danger, or into it, was astounding. Her build as well as ability to sculpt the wind relieved her body from drag, and there was the inherited nimbleness of her species.

Selene grinned.

A powerful gust of wind blew, already scattering white and dun feathers as the hens screeched. The vendor's hat, shading his eyes from the sun, blew off. Many people were startled and looking around, some holding onto each other's arms for balance. Eventually, the wind stopped—yet, by that point, a silver blur had fallen into the crowd and made a leap at the chicken cage. Her aim was not precise, and instead of getting her jaws around the catch, she had knocked the entire wire mesh over.

Standing on top of the squawking and shrieking chickens, she flattened her ears at the vendor who had run toward her. Quickly, she bent down to undo the door, freeing the birds in an explosion of feathers and beaks and feet churning to reach the ground. Before they had bolted, she grabbed one white hen by the throat and dashed off with the vendor angrily following her.

"Come back here, you damned fox!"

Selene laughed and ran faster, though she'd run into a problem. The bird was nearly as big as she was, and it was hard to drag it along the ground. She sent a gust of air that knocked the man over but still struggled to carry the bird as she ran away. She turned a sharp corner, panting for air the best she could past a mouthful of feathers, and then froze in momentary terror as she realized that she'd reached an alleyway with a dead end.

[Anonymous]

The Quiet adjusted the bandage he had affixed over his horn. It looked like he had quite a nasty bump under the thick cotton padding that was strapped to his head, but other than that he looked perfectly normal. He was also wearing a long black cloak with the hood up. Despite the weather, he wore the cloak to hide himself. Although it probably was attracting more attention to him than anything else.

He moved through the crowd, trying hard to ignore the stares, when suddenly a gust of wind blew hard. He put a hand on his bandage to keep it in place and shut his left eye tightly.

He almost missed the blur of the familiar fox. He was surprised to see her, and she must have not noticed him in the crowd. He wondered for a second if it was the same fox that he had met before, as he watched the owner of the stand chase after it.

He decided to give chase as well, his small form moving through the crowd easily. He figured the off chance that the fox was the one he knew was good enough reason to follow them. He was barely fast enough to keep but, but managed to keep the owner in sight. He came to a stop when he saw that the owner had slowed down to a cautious advance into an alley.

When The Quiet got closer, he realized that the fox had been stopped by a dead end. The owner didn't pay too much attention to Quiet, as he was just another person on the street. He used this to his advantage, passing behind the owner with out being noticed at all. Then when he was a good distance away he turned around and rushed towards the older man. He slammed into the stand owner, before he could enter the alley way. He made it look like an accident, and quickly stood up. The man shouted, but Quiet just threw his hands up in that 'I don't want trouble' stance.

He made sure to stand between him and the alley way's opening, despite the the man's shouts. He could only buy a few seconds like this, but hopefully the fox had taken advantage of it.

ooc: It was a good opening post. Sorry I couldn't think up much of a response and I'm a bit distracted too. Sorry if you didn't want to have him corner you. I thought it was going that way.

[Anonymous]

ooc: I won't let a thread sit here this long again if I can help it. I've been attempting to help someone else out with their new website, and that's taken my attention away from this. The next post will be better; I admit I've rushed this one.

[hr:3dp9ugye][/hr:3dp9ugye]
Selene swung around to face the furious vendor, the hen's throat still clutched in her bloody jaws. She flattened her ears against her head, undecided. I could shift shape, she thought, knowing that was the obvious answer. That might land me in jail as a thief, but at least I won't end up as a stole. She closed her eyes and prepared to cast her human shape on when a surprised shout, not directed at her, made her snap them open again. She stared in amazement, mouth gaping so that the chicken nearly slipped out, when she saw the boy.

At least, she thought it was that boy. The fact that he was covered up, plus his gestures rather than profuse apologies, was enough evidence for her to feel that she was safe again. In this millisecond of recognition, the grey kitsune clutched her prize tighter and sped off down another street and out of sight.

She made a few twists and turns in case she'd been followed, but in the end Selene had leaped up onto another roof. She crouched, panting, over her kill before creeping to the edge of the building to look for The Quiet. Now as a young woman, she let her feet dangle over the side. "Quiet kid! Are you still around?" she called out, eliciting some odd looks from the people on the street. Luckily they wouldn't recognize her, and her stolen meal was hidden out of sight.

[Anonymous]

ooc: It's fine. I'm glad you came back though. Ah, hmm... how do you do that line thing again? The one under the ooc?

[center:1kbn2kyf]_____________________________________________________[/center:1kbn2kyf]

Quiet offered a hand to the man, to help him up, but he swatted it away. He never made contact, as Quiet backed off when he saw the swing coming. He was fear stricken, but he didn't let that make him falter.

The fox made it's escape, and the man screamed more of this fact. He took a swing at the child, but Quiet threw up his cloak over his shoulders and ducked low. His fist became lost in the many layers of dark cloth. He stomped hard on the man's foot, and grabbed the end of his cloak as the man began to holler in a higher pitched tone, hopping on one foot while gripping the other in a comical fashion.

The Quiet scampered off, while the man's foot was out of commission temporarily. He turned a corner, and as soon as he did he climbed up onto a window sill. There was little room to balance on it, but he did not mean to stand there long. Before losing his balance, he jumped up and grabbed a stone that wasn't set evenly in the wall, he pulled himself up from there, he could reach up and grab the next window sill. He pulled himself up it and was high enough to jump and climb onto the roof.

By then, the man had tried to catch up to him below, but when he reached the corner he stopped. He had lost sight of the child. He looked around the corner, and left and right, but he never thought to look up. Quiet replaced his cloak around his shoulder as he watched the frustrated man below.

He turned to see a familiar woman on roof top a few houses away. He waved to her, then began to make his way to her, jumping from roof to roof. They were mostly close to each other, but he had to stop when he reached the corner of the block. She was across the street and a few more houses away. He stopped to catch his breath and waved, encase she hadn't noticed him.

[Anonymous]

ooc: Use the [hr*][/hr*] tags; nothing needs to be between them. ^^ And again, sorry. xD Hopefully you don't mind the short posts, at least until we get something else going...The thread is fun so far though.

[hr:14dgohth][/hr:14dgohth]
Selene, had she been paying attention, would have heard the sounds of the fight complete with shouting and death threats from the vendor. As it was, she was untroubled, and only when she was safe and sound on the roof did her mind wander to the kid. He had done something brave and kind for her, something she probably wouldn't have done in his place. Compassion was a strange thing that drove the weak to protect the weak, which wasn't her style.

She was growing more worried by the minute, however, and was very adamant to suppress her guilt. What else could she have done, though? Attacking the man would only have ended in a sharp blow to the head and a dead fox.

Finally a flicker of movement caught her eye, and she grinned as the kid came into sight, running across the rooftops and waving to her. Quickly, she morphed to grab the chicken in her teeth and leap to meet him halfway. Once they were on the same roof, she changed again and grinned... though she felt awkward a moment later. What was she supposed to do? Hug him? She had a dead chicken's neck in her hand.

"Hi," Selene said finally.

Right. He didn't do small talk.

Oh well.

"Uhh... So has life been treating you decently?"

[Anonymous]

I don't mind, and thanks. *uses* =P
[hr:1rrtlxgi][/hr:1rrtlxgi]

He already had waved to her, so repeating it to her hi seemed redundant. He took her hi as a reply to his waves. He only shrugged when she asked how he was. He was alive, and that was about all. He could have complained about some things, but worse things could have happened so he didn't feel to sore about them. He could have sung praise of others, but he felt the moment he would began to brag about them, would be the moment that they up and poofed.

A shrug seemed to sum all of that up.

He would of asked how she was doing, but lacked the body movement and honestly he didn't care enough to have it be the first thing he said to her, or anyone for as long as he could remember.

He sat down and let out a sigh. He wondered why he had risked himself, when he was not even sure it was her. Well, it was her, so no sense in worrying about it. He had repaid one of his little debts, and that made him feel better. He felt like he could stand as her equal for a bit, but what did that mean?

He looked down to the street bellow and the busy people bellow. He put up his hood, which had fallen down while he war running. He also had a small white cotton bandage strapped to his forehead over his horn. It looked like he had a nasty bump under there, but nothing out of the ordinary or magical. Mostly.