Strange Surroundings [DONE]

[Greenie]

Vessatha did not like the city.

There were too many buildings, and most of the buildings were terribly tall. It was true that the shadows reminded her of home, but the lack of foliage around her crushed that frail similarity quite quickly. (The city folk might have called the few pitiful shrubs here and there as foliage, but Vessatha certainly did not.) On top of having too many buildings and not enough forestry, there was an insane amount of people, and they all looked intensely strange. She knew that not everyone was colored like she was and not every one was raised like she was--if, indeed, you could call what she had a raising--but nothing in her past had prepared her for the onslaught to her eyes.

Some of them were pitch black with crazy streaks of bright colors (Green! Yellow! Purple!) running jaggedly across their bodies. A few were stark white with beautiful yet still odd red swirls all over. She even thought she saw one that was simply white with bright red eyes, but it was gone too quickly for her to get a good enough look. Perhaps she was simply imaginging that one. The ferret was doubly surprised to see the occasional one with coloring such as her own--were there truly other Foresters that had left the "serenity" of the Forest? Or had they been forced to leave like herself?--and a few small ones that made absolutely no sense to her, as they had partial colors of the Forest, but their furs and skins were intertwined with determinedly not Forest colors.

It made no sense. Had the Foresters actually allowed someone to mix races? The concept seemed so obscene, yet what seemed to be the evidence lay in front of her.

Vessatha was dumbfounded at her surroundings, and top of it, had no where to go. She'd finally been ousted from the Forest, and while it hurt considerably to have to leave her native home, she'd been expecting it. The ferret despised the order of their small "cities", and how everyone knew everything about her. She hated the whispers about her mother and where her mother had been, and how nobody knew exactly who her father was.

It wasn't her fault. But they made her feel like it was. Every small rebellion she'd made against them had only pushed her back, though every single one felt like a victory. In the end it all added up to her shouting at a Jack in a small tavern, and immediately after it brought her to this "capital city", whatever that was, being shoved out the back of a wagon that dashed off as soon as her rump was no longer in contact.

So here she was, and she was completely lost. The ferret had at least managed to get out of the main portion of the street, as getting run over was not appealing, but as it was high noon, there were people everywhere, and it was a far cry from the silence of the Forest.

She was getting a headache, and she was getting hungry.

[Kari Muffin]

((OOC: >_> shush. I am not really here. It's Jenn's fault I'm posting ))



Zane sighed as he carried his newspaper and a few other things in his small work bag. He had once again been told to take the day off. Why? Well, he wasn't sure. Something about closing the business for the day because everyone had dates and plans left and right. He was once again left to his own devices. That and Mori had taken to cleaning the house with Eilwyn and Asha's help. He had no desire to be dragged into clean when he had already cleaned his apartment the previous day.

It was a busy day. Far too busy for his usual liking, but once again he had nothing better to do. He raised his brow as he looked at someone who was walking towards him. Someone from the Forest? He hadn't seen many Forest dwellers in the city, they usually didn't leave the place. His Mom and sister was different. And he was, well, more Lakelander than anything else.

"Are you all right miss?" he found himself asking.

[Greenie]

High noon in the city was a lot warmer in the city. A lot warmer. It occured to Vessatha that it was probably because you could actually see the sun more here, what, without the giant trees in the way. Buildings didn't take up the same amount of space as an oak. As Vessa stared, she became more and more aware of the differences between her forest and this silly metallic place, and she started to feel sick in the base of her stomach.

Great. Now she was hungry, warm, and homesick. Belatedly she realised that she was almost in the shadow of one of the despised creations, and she sighed and scooted back until she was under the protection of the shade, her posture giving away to a more comfortable slump. In the Forest, she would have been given disapproving stares for hunching her shoulders and resting on her haunches, but who cared here? Half the people here had no posture in the first place (some of them had such weird bodies that she wasn't sure what posture entailed), and very few took any kind of notice of her. Just how many hobos were in this city?

Just as the ferret started to relax, someone stopped in front of her. That someone was much larger than her, as he stood on two feet and had wings, and.. the spots of a Kahmden?

Dumbstruck at the evidence of crossbreeding in front of her, Vessatha could only stare. He couldn't possibly be more than a third, or maybe a half Forest, as he had little red on him. Only the.. furry.. things.. growing out of his leg.. things.. were red. Vessa quickly looked down at her own spots and then to his, and they were the same--if you ignored the blatant absence of marroon on his body. Somewhere in her brain she recognized that he had asked her a question, but she was too busy being close to disgusted to reply to it, and her facial expression likely mirrored her thoughts. (Something along the lines of "what the hell?")

Before she could stop herself, she was blurting out the first remotely sane thing in her mind, "What are you?

[Kari Muffin]

Someone grew up in a box. That or they didn't know their creatures very well. He doubted it was a case of the latter. "I'm a sparrow from the Selkie Lakes and Forest of Kahmden. I just have leather wings rather than feathery ones. Though I imagine, that's not why you're staring at me."

Staring was a bit of an understatement. He had never seen anyone this shocked. It would have been funny if she wasn't so confused. "Mind if I ask your name?" He said with a tilt of his head. "You look a little lost, and if you are I'm more than willing to help you out."

This was probably the most that Zane had ever spoken to a woman without turning bright red. Then again this was one of those rare occasions that someone was more clueless than him when it came to sociability. That and he couldn't let the poor girl wander the streets alone if she was so shocked over his appearance.

[Greenie]

Vessie continued staring at him, though her expression managed to move off of disgusted into more of a wary-disgustedness. The Selkie Lakes? Who actually went there? Clearly, someone did, and bred with someone from there, too.

Actually, Vessatha had no idea what went on in the Lakes, or what the people looked like--aside from this.. person thing.. standing in front of her. He had to look like them a little bit, but she wasn't sure which part of him.. it was all so confusing. After he mentioned his wings being leathery she blinked and looked up a bit more--he was overshadowing her considerably--and did an inner double-take, for they were actually leathery. Was his grandmother a bat or something? For the love of little bald men, what was this boy made of? For once Vessatha was quite glad that she was ferret and simply ferret. It might not be the most glorious of creatures to be, but it was all she was.

The ferret's eyes narrowed a bit as he asked for her name. It wasn't personal, and she did need help.. but why, oh why, couldn't someone help her that didn't shock her senses completely? Finally she nodded, and sighed in defeat. "Vessatha. I'm.. lost, I suppose."

She was very lost, but not in the traditional sense.

[Kari Muffin]

"I'm Zane," he said with a cordial smile. I'm sure it would be a pleasure to meet you if you would stop giving me dirty looks. Was the thought that followed, but she obviously didn't need to here that when she was lost in Capital City.

"I know my way around, so I might be able to help you. Where do you need to go?" He offered. Honestly, no matter how rude she was he couldn't just leave her there confused and with no one to turn to. It would just be a horrible thing to do. That, and from his experience, random meetings always ended up being interesting.

Actually, meeting someone completely clueless about Capital City was interesting enough. Well, she seemed more than clueless about everything. Not many people were shocked to see him on the street. After all, there were people who were a lot stranger than him.

[Greenie]

The tight smile he gave her made Vessatha realise that she wasn't being polite in the slightest. She might have rebelled against the Forester's idea of what was proper, but she did have some manners instilled into her... somewhere?

The ferret scrunched up her face and absently rubbed at it with her forepaw, trying to force herself to relax. "I'm sorry, I've been rude by staring at you like that. I'm just not used to seeing.. people more unusual than myself."

Where did she need to go? Where did she need to go? For that matter, where was there to go? For a moment her expression was completely bewildered, before she caught herself and purposefully blanked her expression. "I.. don't know. I don't really have anywhere to go." She paused for a moment. "I don't even know what anything is."

When you were used to a "building" essentially being a burrow, coming to this place made her feel like she was on another planet entirely.

[Kari Muffin]

Strange? How was she strange? "Strange is a matter of opinion, and personally I don't think you're strange at all. You're just not used to this area." He shrugged. He had been subjected to city life for the majority of his life, so this was hardly strange for him. Obviously she was a little less experienced.

And judging from those last two comments he had a lot of work to do if he wanted to help her out. Zane hesitated before making a suggestion. "How about I show you around a bit. If I show you a few of the buildings and where you can get a hotel, maybe you'll get your bearings? It's a start at least. Otherwise, I don't think you'd be fond of the idea of wandering."

And there was always the possibility of running into dangerous strangers. Thankfully he wasn't one of them, and he doubted she was one of them.

[Greenie]

Vessa didn't comment. She wasn't strange in the slightest, but he was most certainly very strange. Leathery wings and blue.. fur.. feathers? What were they? She didn't want to lean close enough to tell, but for a moment her eyes strayed on his midsection absently before she brought them back up to his face. (Way up. Bipedal, really!) In any case, she could hardly point out that he was the strange one, as she'd nearly alienated him once already. As much as she itched to annouce just how weird he was.. she needed help.

A hotel? Did he mean a hostel? Either way, you had to pay for those.. and Vessa hardly had anything to pay with, unless they wanted labor. She technically could work for her keep, though the idea wasn't exactly appealing.. which was part of the reason she got kicked out of the Forest. Lazyness wasn't a tolerated talent. "Well.. Yeah, sure. It's better than sitting here, at least."

And she'd be less likely to get lost, either. If they did get lost, it would be his fault, and therefore totally acceptable.

[Kari Muffin]

Oh this was going to be fun. Zane would have rolled his eyes if he didn't remember his manners. "If you want, I can shift into my animal form if it would make you more comfortable." Even if it was more uncomfortable for Zane when he had to carry his bag. Hands were a lot more useful for things like that. However, he would be polite.

"How about I show you a few places to grab a quick bite to eat. I was about to get something for myself, is there any food that you like in particular?" he said before starting to walk slowly in the direction he had been originally going in. He made sure he was walking slow enough for her to catch up, even though he didn't wait for a proper response. He hardly expected one from this interesting... character. Vessatha wasn't it?