A Disastrous Sojourn [End]

[Momo]

Wendy was lost. Worst of all, she was lost and carrying a heavy bag full of groceries, all of it fruit; her little glowing insects needed to eat, after all. And the few remaining mice, they needed something to nibble on; the collection of fruit was a fitting last meal before they most likely died at the hands of her experiments. Poor little things. Oh, she would really need to get more rodents soon. How many were in the cage now? Three? Five, if she was lucky. She should’ve picked some up when she passed the pet store! And now she didn’t know her way back…

She scurried down the cobblestone road as quickly as she could, wide amber eyes glancing down every perpendicular street for signs of life. Nothing. No one.

“Maybe that way…?” She questioned to herself, the soft whisper of her voice echoing off the crumbling, apparently abandoned buildings. The narrow lane she was investigating looked cleaner than the rest, maybe that meant the area was still inhabited? She hoped so; the sun was going to start setting soon, and she just hated the dark.

It didn’t seem like there were people here, despite the neatly swept sidewalks. Wendy felt her body tense, and she quickened her stride; the silence was beginning to get eerie, and she desperately wanted to return back to her apartment, surrounded by her little menagerie.

An orange, one of the few things meant for herself and not her playthings, spilled from her bag and rolled down the gutter a few feet away. Wendy groaned, shuffled over, and put her bag down as gingerly as possible. It obviously wasn’t a gentle enough action, however; she took no more than three steps before the awful thing fell on its side, sending all the fruit – with the exception of the grapes – rolling.

“No! Come back, please!” The chipmunk squealed, collecting as many of the colorful spheres as she could before they got too far away. This trip was turning into a nightmare, no wonder she barely left the safety of Corvistowne.

[Greenie]

Toddle toddle toddle... weave weave toddle toddle toddle. He was getting the hang of this whole "walking around the city with people" thing, he really was! He hadn't bumped into anyone, glared suspiciously or even really looked at who was around him, and as far as he knew he hadn't blacked out. Of course, that wasn't saying much, because he never remembered blacking out, but he hadn't found himself somewhere strange in the past several hours covered in blood. It was a good sign.

The bird was feeling a bit more cheerful and upbeat, especially with such colorful and joyful individuals around him. Tulgies, Torques, a few Solandrians, a drunken Yarrow... ahh, the slums. There was no place better! Well, really, he couldn't see any of them since they were all in the bars, but he knew they were there! That was the point!

He cheerfully whistled to himself as he toddled, hopped and ambled down the streetway, then abruptly stopped. Corvie. Why was there a Corvie here? He quickly turned away to pull himself in. He was not going to lose it over one measly Corvie... who had spilled fruit all over the street. See, now? No insane, despicable or otherwise mean person would be silly enough to toss their groceries everywhere. The owl took a deep breath and hobbled over to a cherry, and poked it with his talon, then abruptly remembered he had no hands and really couldn't pick much up without falling over.

Maybe he should just walk away from this one afterall...

[Momo]

Well, the bananas were bruised…hopefully the fireflies wouldn’t mind. She needed them to be happy so they would breed. The larvae were a bit gross on the eyes, but the enzymes they produced were paramount to her experiments. She placed the quickly browning fruits in the bag, followed by the plums and the single kiwi. Look at that, no harm done. She smiled to herself as the collected the last of the salvageable fruit. Some of it had splatted in such a horrible manner she knew there could be no saving them, while a few other, smaller pieces rolled too far away in all directions. Still, the day was won, and now her bag was just a little lighter in her arms.

She was about to begin her wonderings again when she heard the sound of whistling coming from down the street. Thank goodness! Maybe they knew a way out of this desolate area? Even if they didn’t, it was nice to know she wasn’t completely alone in this creepy place.

Wendy could now tell it was a bird approaching, and he didn’t look as lost as she no doubt did. That was a good sign. Oh, and it seemed he was trying to help her! The chipmunk shuffled over as quickly as she could, the bag leaning against her hip.

“Um, thank you so much, but please don’t bother!” She chirped, flustered. “It started with the orange and then they all spilt out, but I’ve gathered most of it up,” Wendy paused sheepishly. “I’m sorry, but do you know how to get back to the main marketplace? I have no idea where I am.” She laughed weakly, glancing down at the ground.

[Greenie]

Pascha stared at the woman oddly, trying to discern what exactly she was doing here and if he should attempt picking up some fruit... she'd made an awfully big mess. He stood stock still while he tried to evaluate his choices, completely oblivious to the strange expression on his face. Then abruptly he shifted back and forth and peered over at the woman who was, sadly, roughly his size, and poked another cherry closer to her searching hand.

"The... marketplace." He repeated slowly, glancing around at where they were. They were not in the marketplace... nono, that was... back somewhere.. hm.. which way had he come in? See, if she hadn't interrupted him, he would have eventually gotten someplace. He wasn't sure where though.

The owl turned his head around and faced the street behind him, peering down it as if he was expecting some sort of neon "GO THIS WAY" sign to appear. He snapped his head back and blinked slowly at her, then shrugged. "Maayyyyybe. Not sure. I came from that way.. right?" He pointed a wing in the direction behind him.

[Momo]

She was beginning to feel self-conscious. Why was he glaring at her? Did she have something on her face? Wendy touched her face with her paw. No, nothing. She was beginning to grow uneasy…not like it was strange for her to feel that emotion.

The facial muscles in her face relaxed slightly when she realized he was just figuring out what to do next, and it didn’t include mugging her or slashing her throat. He only wanted to give her back her cherries. Wendy sighed with relief before bending to pick up the berry and return it to its brethren. “I must look like such a mess,” she apologized lamely. “I’m not usually like this.” Dropping fruit everywhere and getting herself lost, she stayed cooped up in her apartment just to avoid appearing so foolish.

“Yes, you came from back there, and you turned from the left corner I think.” Hopefully she remembered correctly. “Again, I’m so sorry to be such a bother, but, um, I’ll be stuck here forever otherwise.” She said this breathlessly, knowing that if he didn’t help her she’d be in real trouble.

[Greenie]

He didn't even notice the apprehensive look she gave him return, so focused was he on trying to figure out exactly where he had come from.. or why he'd even come to the City anyways. For fun, maybe? Hopefully Ader hadn't given him anything important to do... heh, whoops.

The owl just gave her a once-over at her comment, then shrugged, not sure how to sympathize with a strange Corvie.. vermin thing.. that dropped fruit everywhere. Then again, he didn't eat much fruit so had little to drop.

"Did I?" He repeated, frowning as he looked around. "Then back that way we go." He stated, twirled around, and began hobbling off in the direction he had supposedly came, not waiting to see if she was really following. He had no where to be and no fruit to carry, so had probably intended to just wander around anyways... his memory wasn't working so well today.

[Momo]

“Oh, okay,” she answered gratefully before starting off after him, struggling to keep up with him and carrying the heavy bag in as comfortable a way as possible. It was a mean thing to think, but she was thankful the stranger was a bird. As long as he didn’t suddenly fly away, the chipmunk would be able to keep up with him.

…He wouldn’t do that, right? That was a silly thing to think. But he was a Tulgey, and they were supposed to be a strange lot. Wendy shook those judgmental thoughts out of her head. She didn’t want to think like that.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what brings you out here?” She asked to escape the silence she was afraid would last their whole walk. '“I can’t believe how empty it is out here,” she added as an afterthought. “Then again, I’m not surprised, this place is creepy.” But was it creepy because there were no people, or no people because it was creepy?

Suits, she needed to get back to Corvistowne. Away from it she began to lose her mind.

[Greenie]

Pascha toddled, hopped and weaved around the street, walking in circles and patterns in what seemed to be him following random, fleeting thoughts. He peered into vacated, broken store windows, prodded at trash on the ground and hummed bizarre, off-key tunes and otherwise enjoyed being the strange bird he was.

It was several long, awkward seconds before he realized she'd asked him something. "Huumm? Oh. I don't remember." He piped cheerfully, attempting to climb up a bent-over street pole. It wasn't working, so he glided off and landed a ways in front of her.

"Empty? Yes. Very empty from the outside.. but inside, many drunk people. Don't come at night." Pascha warned absently, pausing to preen at his talons. Did he need a bath? Some of his feathers were looking a little dusty... did he bathe and forget about it, or simply forget to bathe? Hmm... he should go back to Clubs, Ader knew such things.

[Momo]

Wendy was getting dizzy watching him, and had to focus on her own quick footsteps to keep from weaving around like someone who had one too many drinks in her system. Hm...maybe that was why the owl was stumbling here and there, he just had a little too much to drink? She didn’t want to think of the alternatives; especially since they were here – uncomfortably alone and surrounded by silence.

All right. He was a bit forgetful too. Well, she tended to be absent-minded even on her better days, so Wendy only laughed timidly and stumbled as she hurried over to where he was. She tilted her head at his odd warning and decided to take it as well-meaning advice. “Thank you, yes. I certainly wasn’t planning to come back.” No, getting lost here once was more than enough. She didn’t have much of an adventurous spirit anyway.

“Um, do you know which way we turn?” She asked, turning her head to the right and to the left. Both of the streets seemed very similar, but one led to relief while the other no doubt meant more aimless wandering.

ooc: fdasfhhjk. So, so sorry Greenie. This one completely slipped by me.