She's a Good Girl [End]

[Lucca]

A blue Selkie porcupine waddled through the streets of the Capital, a contented smile on his face and a slightly glazed-over look in his golden eyes. He visited the city about once every two weeks, taking the carriage that departed from a spot about two miles from his house and returned to that spot in the evening...or the next day, if he chose to stay that long. Sometimes, if the Porcupine gave them a little extra coin, the drivers would actually go out of their way and drop him right off at his front door. They knew him, after all.

The Capital was fun, and sometimes Felix felt like pursuing various activities there, but other times he really just felt like doing the same things he tended to do when out on his front lawn at home, in front of the large lake right near his house. Which is to say, nothing.

Today was one of the days he really just wanted to take it easy, at least until the sun set and he could indulge in the City's night life. Tossing a coin at one of the vendors, he got himself some ice cream, and, holding it in his dexterous rodent paws, sat down on a bench to lick it, looking blissfully content.

[thea]

Fiona was utterly exhausted. She had just sat through about four hours of lectures, and although she found chemical imbalances in the brain to be completely fascinating, that was a very long time to be sitting still, especially because she, as a Hen, couldn’t sit in the chairs all that agreeably. About halfway through, to avoid squirming in discomfort, she had been forced to plop herself right on the ground like a few other Cards, much to her humiliation.

So, nursing an annoying bruise on her lower back, the Clubs female was taking a well-deserved and very rare break. Unlike her classmates, however, she wasn’t going to the mall or even a movie, but a bookstore, to get herself the textbook on cellular differentiation she had had her sights on for a few weeks. Maybe, just maybe and only assuming she had money left over, she would get a cup of tea at a café and read a few chapters there. That would be a nice change of pace.

Unfortunately, she didn’t know the Capital quite as well as she had thought, although it probably didn’t help that she had never been to this particular bookstore before. Her roommate, who with each passing day she was accepting even more (even though she was a touch Lowlander), mentioned this place, which was supposedly wonderful for finding used books at prices she, as a student, could afford.

But she wasn’t exactly sure if she had taken that left, or if she had walked too many blocks before that. Usually she had a decent sense of direction, but put her somewhere new without a map and every so often, she would get lost.

Fine. She would just have to ask someone to point her in the right direction. Otherwise, she’d waste her break away and have to return to her dormitory empty-handed, or back to the library to study. Glancing around with her light turquoise-colored eyes, she noticed a prickly fellow nearby… with very unusual horns, but for the time being she’d ignore them. He looked like he knew his way around.

“Excuse me,” she said, ever polite and a bit reserved, walking over. “Do you know where the Capital Specialized Bookshop is?”

[Lucca]

Felix was about halfway through his lovely ice cream cone, quills settled down on his back and eyes only half open. He was paying far more attention to the warm feeling of the sun on his back and the wonderful taste of chocolate on his tongue than to anything going on around him, so when he half-noticed a figure approachijng him, looking nervous (or at least that's how he interpreted the strangely formal and stiff expression with just a touch of confusion), he slowly blinked. It took a minute, but he registered that, yes, she was speaking to him, and she was from the Forest of Khamden. They were fairly well sticks in the mud as far as the Porcupine was was concerned, but this one was a pretty little bird of some type. The maroon of her feathers was almost purple, which made him pay a little more attention.

So he opened his mouth and responded eloquantly, "Huh?" He moved his ice cream cone away from his face for a moment, not noticing when it began to drip on his leg. "The Capital...something...Bookstore...I'm sorry, run that by me again?" He smiled at her apologetically. He wasn't really an avid reader, himself, so he didn't know where any bookstores were--wait a minute.

"Wait, yeah, I...might know where that is, actually." Well, he knew where -a- bookstore was, but how many of them could there be, really?

[thea]

Oh. Well, she supposed that level of response should have been expected; he was eating ice cream, after all. No doubt he was either distracted by it (she had never eaten it, but apparently it was very good) or he was suffering from the always-irritating brain freeze. Growing a little more bemused, she waiting patiently as he maneuvered through his thoughts.

She smiled feebly. “The Capital Specialized Bookshop,” she repeated. “I’m sorry it’s so specific, but that’s the only place I think I’ll be able to find what I’m looking for.” Well, technically she could go to the much larger and easier-to-find bookstore near the campus, but everything was disgustingly expensive.

Fiona perked up. “Really? That’s wonderful!” She was getting a bit too excited at the prospect of everything going well for once. It was a little pathetic and over-eager. Immediately, she smoothed down her wings, an action that always worked to calm her. “Do you think you could point me in the right direction? Thank you,” she added belatedly, but graciously.

[Lucca]

The name didn't really ring a bell with Felix, but since he didn't remember the name of the other book store he'd been to before (he'd only been there once, to buy a book for his mother's birthday) he figured chances were good it was the same one. And he -did- remember where it was. One odd thing about Felix was that he actually had a very good sense of direction, whatever his other mental failings may have been.

With a clumsy flop, he got to his feet, still holding the ice cream with one paw, and his smile was even brighter as he looked at the Hen. "I'll do one better and take you there myself. I'd not so great at giving other people directions," he admitted with a shrug, taking a bite of his cone to try and finish up. Most Cards frowned on bringing food into stores, for some reason the Porcupine couldn't really fathom. It wasn't like he was going to be touching everything with sticky paws.

"I'm Felix, by the way. Are you...new to the Capital?" She had that look about her; the unsure one he'd seen on the faces of Cards coming here for their first time, or else fairly newly moved here. He started to offer her his paw to shake, then thought better of that and just started to walk at his normal, unhurried pace in the direction of the bookstore, glancing back to be sure she was following.

[thea]

She smiled more earnestly. Her past encounters with people from the Capital had not been nearly this productive. Most of the time she stuck to her dormitory, classes, and the library just to avoid the type of Cards she had run into the few times she had ventured outside of campus. The majority of them just wanted to sell her something – a worthless piece of jewelry or clothing, usually – and a few were so presumptuous as to ask her for money. Fiona wasn’t generally one for charity; people had to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. If they couldn’t, well, that was their lot in life.

“Would you?” She asked, at first a bit disbelieving. “It wouldn’t be a waste of your time?” If he was anything like her, he had some sort of schedule to abide to.

People gave their names so easily here. It was something she still had to get used to. “Fiona,” she replied before nodding. “Yes, I’ve only been here for a little while. I came here from the Forest to take classes at the University.” There was a hint of homesickness in her voice at where she came from. She loved Kahmden so much.

[Lucca]

Felix nodded, grinning at the pretty Hen in a way he hoped would be reassuring. "Of course not! To be honest, I don't have much better do right now." He finished the last of his ice cream, licking the stickiness off his paws, and continued in his ambling way toward the bookstore. The carefree porcupine often had trouble remembering that most people had strict schedules and jobs and classes and things like that to restrict their free time. And when he did remember, he felt sorry for them. Why would they let that happen? Why would they let other people and things place demand on all that glorious time they could be relaxing or doing something fun instead of working a job they hated or listening to some boring old lecture. Felix just couldn't understand that way of life.

"Good to meet you...Fiona," he repeated with a smile, tasting the name. Yes, it was pretty, and it suited her. He nodded in response to her words. "Ah, well that's cool! What are you studying?" He could totally understand the homesickness. Felix knew that, were he ever to move somewhere else, he'd miss him home at the lakes like crazy. But he saw no reason in the foreseeable future to move, so he didn't let it bother him.