Oh, look: a spot of beauty [Closed]

[Travesty]

He shook his head and chuckled. “No, nothing more than a few alleys. It’s perfectly solid ground, I assure you,” he added, sliding down the bench. As he did, the needles clicked against the wood and he shivered in a way that had nothing to do with the weather. The damn things sometimes pressed too deep into his body.

The ferret tilted his head, a bemused expression on his face. “I have no idea, honestly; I’ll have to take your word for it,” he replied, laughing. He was glad she was in high spirits, as opposed to just excusing herself from his presence as soon as possible.

He didn’t know what her name meant, although it sounded pretty. He turned his head to the east. “If you’d just follow me, it won’t take too long, I promise.” If he remembered correctly the path stayed consistently linear.

[Kari Muffin]

She gave him a wide grin, which was a sight to see considering her snake fangs. Either way the snake-deer was happy that Ambrose was being so terribly kind to her. She really did wish that he would have taken some of the flowers... oh well, not everyone appreciated brightly colored floral arrangements. And he was a man, so she couldn't exactly blame him.

"Thank you very much! If there's anything I can do to repay your kindness I would be more than happy to do so," She said as she followed him. Sometimes she wished that she was a bit faster, but it wasn't like she could randomly sprout limbs at will or become some sort of fast moving serpent like a sidewinder.

However, she needed to focus on following Ambrose and where she was going. Otherwise she would get horribly lost again. And maybe if she tried hard enough she could remember the short cut.

[Travesty]

They were the perfect walking companions, she slithering across the ground and he dragging his heavy back legs. Good thing he knew a short cut, or else he didn’t imagine they’d reach her destination until the sun came up. As it were, he moved only a little faster than she did, and looked considerably more foolish as he lugged himself down the street.

His mouth once again twitched into a grin. “It’s not so incredible a journey that I’ll require a reward,” the ferret joked before pausing in front of a dimly light and rarely traveled alley. "This place isn’t as dangerous as it looks, I swear,” he informed as he made his way down it, the sound of his claws reverberating off the cobblestone path.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what were you doing out here that got you lost?” Silence in these sorts of circumstances unnerved him; he had to keep talking, no matter how much banter made him uncomfortable.

ooc: I'm sorry it took me so long to reply to this - I'm slowly getting back in the swing of things. ^^;

[Kari Muffin]

"But..." Viola started and stopped. She gave a snake shrug and shook her head, dismissing her words. The alleyway did look rather scary, but she was already here, and there was no place to go but forward. Her ears moved forward to attention as she thought about payment. Maybe she could at least give him a peck on the cheek for being so kind...?

Her ears flicked backwards when he asked the question. Should he tell him the honest truth or not? Again, he was the only one around and it's not like she had anything to lose. They were taking their time, mostly because she was painfully slow, so talking was something to do. Right.

"I got caught up in things. I visited a place that my sister used to go to when she was alive. Just a little cafe that's quite a way from here. Then I ended up going to a flower shop, and from there I decided just to wander. The prospect of going home just... so I ended up getting utterly lost instead."

"Urgh... don't mean to be emotional at you or anything." She added hastily.

[Travesty]

Ambrose smiled reassuringly, hoping she didn’t notice the graffiti that was sprawled across the brick walls or, for that matter, the rusted garbage cans that dotted the pathway. It wasn’t exactly the cleanest way to get to where she wanted, but it was definitely the quickest, and he had never gotten into any trouble traveling this route. “Don’t worry, we’re not even going to be here for long; just a little further down there’s an opening to the right that leads to a…more hygienic avenue.” It was right, right? Yes, and then a left after going north for a bit.

When she was alive. Funny how four words could make someone so uncomfortable; Ambrose was afraid of death. The forever of it was horrifying – if that made any sense.

How did one respond to something like that again? “There's nothing to apologize for, I understand.” No he didn’t, but at least it was something. “I think that’s what I was doing too – wandering, I mean,” he added, and then cringed inwardly. Well, he supposed he could be having one of his fits; that would make him worse company than he was now.

[Kari Muffin]

Viola did mind the mess. It was hard to keep white anything white when you slithered around on it. Of course she had given up trying, and just ended up taking multiple showers when she could. She simply nodded in confirmation.

"I suppose wandering is better than thinking about things that are horrible," Viola said with a small snake shrug. "Maybe we should talk about more cheerful things. It clearly doesn't sit well with you, so no point in making you uncomfortable."

She shifted the flowers in her antlers slightly. "Uh... what does a Corvie like you do? You all have some sort of specialty right? Then again I imagine you're probably pretty skilled and not used to people asking. I'm a bit of a ditz when it comes to keeping up with information."

Honestly the snake didn't know about anything happening unless it was huge. Frankly she only knew about the problems in the courts because they smacked her in the face.

[Travesty]

Ambrose twisted his body to avoid a group of particularly slick cobbles – slick with what, he didn’t hazard a guess – and turned his lilac eyes towards Viola. “You should probably move closer to the wall, that way we can avoid you sliding in something particularly nasty,” the ferret said with a chuckle. He could see the bend coming up; it wouldn’t be long before they were on cleaner, drier ground.

Well…he had been thinking about doing something horrible, but the Spade decided best not to get into particulars. With her next sentence his genial smile dipped into a frown; he was not used to lending an ear. It was frustrating that he couldn’t be of more help, but although he could feel sympathy, empathy was usually beyond him.

Oh, but work! That he could discuss until that sun went down (or in this case, rose). “My interest is in muscles: increasing or decreasing their strength – that’s why I’m dragging my back legs a bit,” he explained, laughing cheerfully. “I can treat lactic acid building up, tears, bruising – many things like that. I’m also studying the effects of certain painkillers.” Not the utter truth, but not completely a lie either.

He directed her around the corner and looked abashed. “I’m sorry, it’s not very interesting at all, if you don’t understand it.” The path under their feet was now at least free of any mysterious stains. “What is it you do?” Seemed fair to ask after he had rambled like that.

[Kari Muffin]

She was thrilled for the warning. Slithering in whatever that wet was would have been simply awful. Gack. Sometimes she really did wish she had feet. It would solve a lot of problems. And probably cause a lot of new ones. Mentally sighed.

Her ears perked curiously when he started talking about his work. That was definitely something! He must have a lot of amazing skills if he could do all of that. And he worked with pain killers? Her head tilted in thought when he mentioned his back legs. That did explain a lot, she hadn't seen many people walk that way. It also explained why there were so many needles sticking out of him.

Corvies really were smart.

She turned a bright shade of red when he suddenly asked what she did. Oh... oh dear. "No, I really think what you do is fascinating! You must be really smart and talented to do all of that. I... I don't really have a steady job. I always wanted to go to Esterberry to get a degree in etymology but since I have to take care of my sisters kids I've just been doing odd jobs."

[Travesty]

A muscle in his abdomen twitched severely and Ambrose was torn between flushing with embarrassment and a secret sort of revulsion at his little convulsions; he wasn’t sure which of the several compounds he injected himself with had caused this annoying reaction, but no matter what remedy he tried they never really abated. Just risks of the occupation, he reminded himself sardonically.

His head tilted back in laughter. “Fascinating, eh? That’s one word to call it…” He trailed off thoughtfully. The ferret had always found the work challenging, frustrating, and in the end, rewarding. There were too many adjectives to describe the drugged up and fucked up Corvie pottering around in his lab.

His eyebrows arched with the flattery and he shrugged his shoulders. “In Corvistowne you have to have a profession.” Those that didn’t ended up ostracized and pretty much deemed worthless. A Corvie was only as good as his or her skill set, after all.

“Esterberry? I’ve never been myself, but I’ve heard the architecture is amazing.” That was literally all he knew about that realm; Ambrose wasn’t really a traveler. Etymology, what was that again? “Oh,” he exclaimed, surprised to know that bit of information. “That has something to do with words, doesn’t it?” He asked, absentmindedly flicking the needle in his neck with one of his claws.

Kids. He didn't like them. Expensive and hard-to-replace laboratory equipment didn't mix well with excitable children, never mind the fact that he was just a little bit too - well, he wasn't much of a family man. What a surprise.

"So I guess moving is out of the question?" It was beyond him that someone would give up their ambition to babysit.

[Kari Muffin]

Viola's ears flicked backwards and pressed against her skull as she listened to the other card continue to talk. The conversation took a rather spiteful turn didn't it. He probably didn't mean to sound like that (she hoped) but it still hurt if he meant it to or not.

But why did she expect a stranger to care? Why had she expected kindness in the first place.

She felt a bitterness she hadn't felt in a while. She honestly wanted to follow her dreams and ditch the two monsters that her sister had so kindly graced the world with. She wanted to be selfish. She didn't want to be some stupid wonderful sister who was understanding and loving. It was supposed to be all about her! It wasn't supposed to be so stupid and complicated!

But it was. And it hurt.

"No... no moving," she said quietly. "Stuck here."