A Room With A View of the... Mall? (attn: Nic, Dani)
Aishe got into the elevator and pressed the appropriate button. 31 floors was an awfully long elevator ride. She was still feeling unexpectedly happy, and she turned to Dani to mention it.
"I can't believe I'm this excited to be buying pajamas," she confessed. "It seems like forever since anything has felt 'normal,' but here I am hanging out going shopping as if I were a teenager again. Go figure."
When the elevator's smooth ride came to an end 31 stories above the ground, Aishe got out and led Dani and Fatty to the right suite. She opened the door and let them both precede her in. She hadn't been here long, so her things had simply been tossed into the bedroom. In all honesty she wasn't sure how long she'd be staying. Her future was decidedly undecided.
"I'll make it super-quick," she promised. "I'm sure you know the layout far better than I do, so just make yourself at home."
With that she quickly bounced into the bedroom, rummaged around for an outfit that wasn't too horribly wrinkled, and then headed into the bathroom for a trip in and out of the shower.
"Arin, Thaddeus... it's good to see you. I wanted to thank you both again for your kindness before. I really do appreciate your help."
She was happy to see Thaddeus as well, for she hadn't forgotten his kind words either.
"Dani's been good enough to show us around a bit. This place is amazing," she remarked, meaning both the shops in general as well as the bookstore in particular.
By an act of sheer will she managed to not pester about anything further. Although it wasn't too difficult; she thought perhaps if she could stop being intimidated by the two vampires, she would rather like them both.
When he heard Aishe speak to 'Arin, and Thaddeus', Nic tried to figure out which was which...but neither looked old enough to be head of an entire clan. He did, however, understand how deceiving that kind of thinking could be.
He waited for proper introductions to be made, and to see if there was any reaction to his name. A huge part of him just wished somehow his problem could be done with now, yet another part was still apprehensive about how that was going to be performed.
“Good to see you, Arin. Hi Thaddeus.”
Looking around at the group, she thought it best to start by sorting everyone out, corresponding her introductions with the appropriate gestures.
“Okay, let’s see. Thaddeus Grey, meet Pakpao, Pak, Thaddeus. You do go by Thaddeus, right? I never asked, just realized that. And you already know Aishe...oh, hi Nic, there you are, Nic, this is Arin Bjorn and Thaddeus Grey.” She turned back to the couple. “Nic is new to the towers.”
Grinning at her somewhat chaotic speech, the leash in her hand reminded her of one more introduction.
“Oh, and this is Fatty.”
She held up the bag with the paper and twine, but as Arin’s hands were full she kept a hold on it for the moment.
“Got your stuff; there’s something on hold for you or did you need to shop?”
"And I thank you for the hospitality I've received. It is good to meet you both."
Nic looked for recognition in Arin's face, now that he knew who the man was. It was obvious the two men were involved, from their actions, and for some reason it reminded Nic of Addison. For a few seconds his mind wandered back to his 'little buddy', and he hoped nothing had happened to him, because of Nic's indiscretion.
Nic's eyes flashed back to Arin...his train of thought was not one he needed to foster now.
Dani seemed to have brought an entourage with her, but he was pleased to see that he knew, or at least had met, nearly everyone in the party. He gave Pakpao a smile and a nod as Dani flew through introductions, glad at the chance to see her again after the somewhat awkward ending to the last meeting. He was somewhat curious to see how Aishe was adjusting to life as a human Evenhet but it seemed that at the least she was finding company and that was certainly a good thing.
It meant, at the least, she wasn’t off breaking into a database or reading people’s mail.
Shaking away his rather uncharitable thoughts, he turned to the gentleman he hadn’t yet met, Nic, and gave him a courteous nod before releasing Alfarinn’s hand to shake Nic’s offered one.
“Well met, though I can’t take credit for the hospitality.”
Dani, still going a mile a minute, introduced her pet dog, Fatty, last of all. He raised one eyebrow at the, in his opinion, unfortunately named animal. He certainly didn’t look happy to be named Fatty though he supposed one never knew with dogs.
He was suddenly quite glad they hadn’t decided to let Dani name Skodde.
Once introductions had gone around, he took in the sight of the bookstore for the first time, impressed.
[We should definitely stop by here when we have more time. I think I could stay here for hours if they don’t kick me out for handling the books.]
Generally Americans were actually fairly laid back about customers examining merchandise whether they had any intention to purchase or not, but some stores would get rather put out by too much looking and not enough buying, something Thaddeus was prone to do.
Rather than giving into an urge to vanish into the stacks Pak Smiled at the two new arrivals, and Dani's nearly frantic introductions. Returning Thaddeus's nod.
"Nice to see you again Thaddeus. Arin."Â?
She half stumbled over the name. Pak had enough trouble with names and for one person to have two... it just wasn't right.
"A pleasure to meet you. I am glad to hear that you've settled in well."
He shook hands and then turned to that others, deciding to let Thaddeus claim his hand if he wanted it again in front of so many people.
"Aishe, everything is going well so far. I hope?"
Looking at the small Asian woman standing quietly with the others, Alfarinn grinned and looked around her.
"And where is your partner in crime, Pak?"
He stooped down to Fatty with a greeting and a belly rub, scratching thoroughly, grinning at the closed eyes and leg twitch.
"She's making you walk around here again isn't she? So hard on you, I know."
Petting the hound on the head, He stood and looked at his owner.
"Thank you. Yes, I have a book on hold here. So what are you all up to?"
Thinking to Thaddeus, he agreed.
[I loved coming here and hiding out here; Dani knows most of my haunts though and knows were to come looking for me. We'll have to make some time to wander around. I doubt they will mind you handling the books. The owner has been known to point new ones out that he believes might interest me.]
Though he wasn't fond of large gatherings of people, he could usually handle himself well enough so he didn't expose that part of his personality. Unless he was stressed, as he was the night of the Creation Ball, and then he had very little tolerance for big groups.
He had seen no evidence of recognition in Arin's face. Not that this proved anything, but he felt it probably indicated Kem hadn't filled Arin in yet. Hearing how the others all knew each other, once Arin's attentions were focused on the others, Nic casually moved over to a magazine rack. Fortunately, there was the latest edition of Easyriders, which he promptly picked up.
So it didn't appear that he was completely anti-social, he did move back to the group and look up occasionally, as topics were broached.
'Once upon a time in Spain'
Theo clutched the hardcover book to her chest and leaned back on the bookshelves, sliding to the floor with a contented smile. The woman's voice she heard was pleasant and had a subtle, rhythmic quality, but it was animated enough to make the story interesting.
'There was a little bull and his name was Ferdinand'
She closed her eyes and held the book closer, trying to drown out the other voices that clamored for attention in her mind, commenting on the story and generally making a nuisance of themselves.
'All the other little bulls he lived with would run and jump and butt their heads together,'
Eventually, however, she opened her eyes as she realized that not all the voices were speaking to just her; there were people talking to each other on the other side of the book shelf.
Still holding onto the book, she got up to her hands and knees and slowly peeked out from between the shelves, positioning herself so that just the top of her head and her eyes would be visible and stretching her neck out as far as it would go, like a turtle.
'but not Ferdinand.'
Her eyes went wide when she saw the group of people, and she hoped they weren't looking for her. She didn't -think- she had done anything, but sometimes people thought you did something bad even when you didn't. It wasn't very fair but Theo had learned that was just how life was. Creeping out from behind the shelf so that Alfarinn would see she wasn't trying to sneak around and be bad on purpose, she sat down in the middle of the walkway instead, hugging the book and listening to the voice.
'He liked to sit just quietly and smell the flowers.'
/ooc the book Theo is holding is called The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf.
She seemed to Nic, to be looking pointedly at Arin, and Nic wondered why. He moved towards her, and lost his left shoe again. However this time he went flying about six feet, and landed on his hands and knees, not at all far from where the younger girl sat. The magazine left his hand, and slid across the floor, coming to rest against the girl.
"What the...?" He complained, as he looked behind himself at the shoe, still on the floor where he had been standing in it. He rolled over, stood up and walked back to pick up the annoying foot cover. Carrying his shoe, he walked back to the girl.
"I apologize for that...something seems amiss with these damn things."
He bent down and picked up the magazine, before slipping his shoe back on. He then looked around at the others, with a look of confusion and frustration on his face.
“Guilt by association? And here I thought you’d be above that.”
Unfortunately, that was about the time that Nic took a header leaving a shoe behind; oops, forgot to let go.
Pak turned toward the ruckus with a practiced look of innocent concern, but she didn’t say anything. She’d probably start laughing if she opened her mouth. This shoe trick was defiantly getting added to her arsenal, it had wonderful results.
'He liked to sit just quietly and smell the flowers.'
No sooner did she hear that, than Nic went flying across the floor out of the corner of her eye. She spun to see him picking himself back up, his shoe still on the floor behind him, looking for all the world as if it had decided to sit there and smell the flowers while Nic's foot continued on its way.
She went over to him as he retrieved the shoe. "Are you all right?"
Giving him a once-over with a critical eye, she determined that his pride was most likely the only thing damaged. "Time for some new shoes?" she suggested, although she couldn't exactly see anything wrong with them.
Turning once more to return to her group yet again, she noticed a girl sitting in the middle of the walkway, holding a book tightly. She had long, blondish hair and seemed to be a teenager although she wore something of a childlike expression. Aishe figured she was the source of the voice she'd heard, and offered her a smile.
She approached the girl and crouched down before her. "Hello there," she said conversationally. "I don't suppose you happen to have any glue. Nic seems to need a bit of help keeping his shoes where they belong today."
She didn't consider herself very good with kids of any age, but she liked them nonetheless and the girl looked curious.
“Oh, we had a few errands to run and I thought it would be nice for the new folks to see more of the towers.”
Seeing that Nic had strayed to the sidelines of their little group, she immediately felt bad; it had seemed important to him to make a good impression on Arin and it occurred to her that he was probably a little nervous.
She raised her eyebrows at the mention of a partner in crime and looked over to Pak with a little grin. Clearly she had missed something in that department.
“Well let’s get that book then and we can wrap it at one of the tables.”
She headed for the counter to retrieve said item, but it was at that moment that Nic suddenly took quite a spill. Dani winced and looked over to where he had landed, surprised to see another familiar face. She gave Arin a significant look but decided not to interfere, as Theo didn’t seem agitated right now and it would be unfair to intrude on what could be a good interaction. Even so, she kept a wary eye on things as she continued to the counter.
Theo pulled her knees up to her chest and pointed her toes up so that the magazine wouldn’t hit the tops of her shoes, then lifted her chin to look at the man who had tripped and fallen. She wondered why he would do that and thought perhaps he was trying to give her the magazine, but that theory proved incorrect when he returned with a shoe in hand and took it back. That was okay; she had the book right now.
‘He had a favorite spot out in the pasture under a cork tree.’
She watched with interest as he put the shoe back on, wondering why he was apologizing. Maybe he wasn’t talking to her? Uncertain, she tugged at the end of her hair and scooted back a little.
‘He is perturbed. You would be too if you had damned shoes.’
‘It was his favorite tree and he would sit in its shade all day and smell the flowers.’
‘Perhaps a priest could bless the shoe.’
‘bless those who bless you, curse those who curse you…’
Theo tugged harder at her hair to make the voices be quiet because a dark haired lady was talking to her and asking her a question. She blinked, trying to process through the noise, and reached into the pocket of her jeans, pulling out a tube of extra strength super glue.
“It’s mine.”
The words were not spoken with any sort of aggression; she just wanted the lady to know whose it was and that she could not keep it.
“It won’t work though. He said it was damned.”
’ Sometimes his mother, who was a cow, would worry about him. She was afraid he would be lonesome all by himself.’
She leaned forward a little, lowering her voice to a stage whisper.
“I don’t think it is though. God doesn’t bother with damning shoes.”
It didn’t seem very nice to tell the man apparently named Nic that though. People tended not to take it well when you told them the things they believed weren’t true. There probably wasn’t any harm in humoring the theory anyway. Raising her voice back to a normal volume, she looked up at Nic.
“Maybe I can fix it.”
She held out her hand for the shoe, then looked over at Dani, catching her eyes in passing.
‘she’s nervous.’
“It’s yours, I’ll give it back.”
That ought to make Dani not worry.
Sometimes it made people feel better when you said a prayer, even if they didn’t –really- need it. It wasn’t any trouble and if it would stop Nic from thinking his shoe was damned she didn’t think it did any harm.
'He doesn't think they're damned. It was a figure of speech.'
'
"Why don't you run and play with the other little bulls and skip and butt your head?" she would say.'
She gave her hair another tug, doubtful now, but she was trying to be nice and -maybe- he was worried about his shoes. The more she thought about it, though, the more she thought that Paul was probably right. He didn't have to be such a smart ass about it though.
Edit: /ooc Permission to sense Dani and Nic (voices in green are her Empathy personified.)
Nic certainly should not feel obligated to give her the shoe, though she will take it if offered. Aishe has permission to take the glue if she wants, though as a forewarning she expects it back .
"Yea, I'm fine, and I do think I will see if there is a men's shoe store here in this mall. I've never had 'this' problem before."
He watched as Aishe spoke to the young girl, and had to chuckle when not only did she ask the girl for glue, but the girl then gave her some. He felt a bit chagrined when the girl picked up on the curse word he'd used. She didn't look 'that' young, but he didn't like the thought of contributing to her delinquency with his language. And the way she spoke, Nic had to wonder if she were mentally the age she appeared.
"You are correct...God wouldn't waste his time, but it was I who was...well...angry with them."
Handing her the shoe, he grinned and watched intently, to see what she might now do with it. He'd pretty much decided he would be buying new ones tonight, so whatever happened to these, it wouldn't matter much.
"I'm Nic...and who might you be...?"
Something about children and people with mental issues that generated a strong sense of compassion in Nic. Though normally a selfish and vain man, he always gave quarter to this small group of people.
Looking back at the girl, Aishe lifted a shoulder in a sort of 'oh well, go for it' shrug. If Nic was willing to subject his shoe to gluing, she wasn't about to stop him. It was his shoe, after all. And if Aishe's humor had been interpreted literally, she may as well simply go along with it too.
She did, however, make a mental note to perhaps try being a bit more literal where this youngster was concerned. With her luck, nothing but chaos could come of it otherwise... and she would rather not be responsible for doing something very very bad... like causing Meridian to self-destruct or something.
[I can see why you would choose to spend time here; perhaps we can find a new hiding spot if we look carefully.]
A party that seemed to grow in number by way of an incident involving Nic and his shoe. A young girl, by appearances anyway, seemed to have engaged Nic and Aishe in conversation after the stumbling episode.
“That was unfortunate.”
Dani, meanwhile, seemed intent on getting the ordered book. He found he was hoping that she would serve to distract the proprietor from the disturbance.
He was beginning to suspect that he was developing a trouble maker’s instincts.
Alfarinn was about to head to the counter when he noticed anxiety coming from Theo nearby. She had seemed content with what she was doing so he had let her alone, not wanting to disturb her by introducing her to a large group of people. When she came to sit out in the floor nearby, he smiled reassuringly but then turned his attention to PakPao.
"Merely an observation based on our last meeting. I am not blaming you for anything today? Guilty conscience?"
He might have said more but Nic took a spill in front of them. Turning a bland look towards Pak and then casually glancing around the place for Artemis, Alfarinn wondered whether this event was simply 'new guy' initiation or if Nic had done something to offend someone with the ability and the will to get even. Terrible that he automatically assumed a prank in his own clan; it could have been just an accident after all. However, when Nic seemed confused about how it happened he once more began to suspect foul play. Far be it from him to mess up a good trick though.
Looking innocent, he asked.
"Are they too big? Perhaps you simply need a thicker pair of socks?"
He nearly bit a hole through the inside of his cheek when Aishe asked Theo of all people if she might have some glue. It was one thing, among many possible things, that the girl was likely to have on her. Giving Dani the barest of shrugs, Alfarinn smiled when Theo handed the glue to Aishe with the clear statement that it was her's. He'd keep an eye on it, lest for some inexplicable reason the Egyptian woman forgot to return it.
Watching the scene with the "damned" shoes play out, Alfarinn lightly squeezed the hand that had found its way once more into his own.
[Theodosia is a beautiful girl, very talented, Her gifts are many times hard for her as I am sure you can understand, as I did. One of her's, she shares in common with us; she has the power of psychometry. ]
There was plenty more than her abilities that set Theodosia apart, her creator, that she was made so young and had such a hard life but these were things in her past and like his own, he'd just as soon leave it there unless necessary.
[She shares empathy with me as well, but to her they both seem like voices. Theo might actually hear others as well, near as I understand. MARI keeps track of her quite often and might have it sorted out a bit more logically. I suppose we can remember when our abilities were hard to deal with, now I can't recall living without them. ]
To suddenly be without his empathy or psychometry would be a unrealized fear for Alfarinn; there was information available for him at a mere touch or focus and for the world to suddenly go humanly silent again would be a nightmare as frightening or perhaps even more so than discovering his abilities in the first place.
Mentally shrugging off that line of thought, Alfarinn turned to Thaddeus and said
"I'll be right back."
Giving the hand in his a final squeeze, he headed to the counter to get the book on hold for him.
[I hope to come claim that again in a moment.]
((OOC: Theo sensed and known about with permission ))
‘A lovely flower for a lovely lady.’
She suppressed a giggle at that statement and looked up at Nic. So he didn’t think the shoe was damned. That was disappointing; it would have been more interesting if he did. Now there wasn’t much point in making a show of ridding it of its condemned status and she found she didn’t quite know what to do. She tugged on her hair.
That’s when she remembered the black haired lady’s suggestion with the glue.
‘…I stuffed cotton balls in my slippers…’
Taking hold of the stray thought, she had an idea. She didn’t have cotton balls but she knew who would. And glue would make them stay. Looking up at Dani, she considered the best way to get her attention and finally settled for using her telekinesis to give the impressive purse a few gentle tugs.
Still looking over at Dani, she remembered to answer Nic’s question.
“Theo.”
She gave one more insistent tug on the purse before smiling and opening up the tube of glue, turning the cap upside down to puncture the top.
/ooc permission to sense Nic's shoe
Sometimes blatant terrorizing was too much fun to pass up. Artemis walk down by the bookstore with the remote control in his hands. Several feet in front of him was a small toy car, with a red body and silver toy engine. What really stood out about this miniature vehicle was the oversized tires that were both taller than the body and extended past the frame. Artemis drove it into the wall with a grin. Wheels spinning, the car rose up the wall to a vertical position before flipping over an going in the other direction.
Coming to the bookstore, his grin widened. There would be plenty of obstacles in there to maneuver around, allowing him to master the controls and possible issues this type of vehicle would have. The mayhem that would ensue was a bonus. Artemis opened the door and steer the toy car through. Weaving the toy around various displays, he noticed several people standing together. Two people in particular caught his attention.
Artemis directed himself and the car toward the group. The little car sped away from him. Passing the larger group, it hit Alfarinn in the ankle. Running up Alfarinn's leg slightly, it flipped over and made a lap around him before making its way back towards the group. Artemis parked it in front of him as he came to stand next to Pak. Reaching into his pocket he handed her a gold pen that had small gems in a column down one side.
"Hi. I have something for you. Though you might not want to test it in here. I have already been chased out on more than one occasion."
Artemis gave her a lopsided grin that hinted at the trouble he had caused in the store. The proprietor loved, really. Artemis made a mental note to bring a bottle of wine on his next visit. He would have to make up for his current indiscretion. Looking around, he smiled at the others, many of whom he did not know. Removing one hand from the control, he held it out to Thaddeus.
"Hello Thaddeus"
Artemis still had questions about Thaddeus, but those would keep. The best thing to do for the moment was watch and observe.
(OOC: Permission granted to knock Alfarinn in the leg)