Paper or Plastic? (Niiiicky what what! and Open)

[Anonymous]

It was a lovely day, bright and sunny without being too hot. Perfect weather for a barbecue and some beer. And Kaimana was going to have one. It was her leave and she was going to enjoy the crap out of it. She had even gotten all fancy for the occasion, the short hair on the back of her head had actually been styled instead of just not brushed and a few rainbow colored boobypins kept her bangs and side strips back from her face.

But the key to a good party was food and booze. One must always have good food and booze. So she had headed down to the bigger grocery store by her house and was currently pushed a half fully cart around, a huge shopping list in hand. And dancing as she walked. Badly. The music from her head phones was audible to the people around her it was so loud. And she sand along as well, if somewhat off key.

Damn by I hope that Jen's roomie comes. Kaimana could never resist a pretty girl and the roommate had been giving her the eye the last few times she saw her. Just had to show her how much better girls were the boys. And the fact that Kaimana had enough beer piled into her cart to knock out a frat house wasn't going to hurt.

A crashing sound loud enough to get through her headphones caused Kaimana to start, pulling them off her head, quickly scanning the area. What was going on? There was another sound, coming from the back of the store. It might have been nothing, but military training tended to make one a little paranoid and she was pretty sure she could hear yelling. So the tiny woman crept into the back room, peeking her head inside to try and find out if it was a real threat or just some dropped produce.

[Anonymous]

Fulvus was being smacked by a stock boy with a broom, who had come to the aid of the girl who was supposed to be unloading produce. Fulvus flopped across the floor, tipping the crate he'd been in completely over, fruit rolling in all directions. He squeaked, flapping rather helplessly as he tried to get away from the abuse.

Flapping wildly, he managed to get airborn, though only about a foot off the ground and went flying in the general direction of the doors, though he really had no idea where he was going. He couldn't see, he was blind, as his milky green eyes suggested. Plowing through the swinging doors, his flight path was completely disrupted and he went tumbling, plowing right into Kaimana. He of course didn't know what she was, but he clung to her anyway, bruised and a little battered from the broom-wielding stock boy, not to mention being tossed around in a box of fruit.

His milky green eyes darted nervously. They didn't work, but they still moved like he expected to see things. His auburn fur was rumpled and sticky with juice in places. Over all, he looked like a very large bat.

The stock people in the back room seemed to have been stunned out of action, or had lost the direction of the bat-thing when it went flying around the room.

[Anonymous]

Of the things Kaimana had been expecting, a large bat man creature was not really on the list. And when the thing came barreling at her, Kaimana managed to get out a startled shriek before the wind was knocked out of her and she went flying backwards, still tangled up in the bat.

Kaimana wasn't a big girl and the impact had the wind knocked out of her. Her hand went to her hip, for the knife that wasn't there. Fuck! Coughing and gasping for air, the girl squirmed, trying to get out from under the creature, her face flushed and red, "F-freeze! What the fuck is going on?"

As she got her breath back, Kaimana noticed the thing looked ready to bolt. So she grabbed onto it's arm, trying to put it into an arm lock. She might be tiny and small, but she was pretty strong, made of mostly muscle.

[Anonymous]

His arms were more wings than arms and due to the hollow bones which allowed him to be light enough for flight, they were not the strongest part of his body, so when she tried to put him in an arm lock, he squeaked rather pitifully, attempting to adjust himself to ease the pressure. When he wasn't in a full panic, he wasn't much of a fighter, and even then, most injuries he managed to inflict were pure luck.

He never really knew what was going on when he was dragged out of a box. There were a lot of smells in his place though-- more than most places.

The stock boy finally came running out, still holding the broom. "Ma'am! Ma'am, are you okay?" He asked, taking another swat at the bat thing. So far, it seemed everyone was too intent on exterminating the giant vermin to bother realizing he was doing more cowering than resisting. "That THING was in one of our crates!"

Fulvus squeaked, managing to duck his head enough to protect it from the blow of the broom, but aside from that, and trying not to break his wing, there wasn't much he could do to protect himself in his current position. "Pleathse let go" He finally tried to whisper through his sharp bat teeth to the girl holding his arm. He didn't know anyone who could fix his wing, so he needed it to keep from needing to be fixed.

He'd been hit with sticks plenty of times in his travels, the arm lock was new though. He wasn't really sure what to do with that, how to get out of it, how to make it stop hurting, or how to appease the arm-locker, so he just tried to hold still as best he could.

[Anonymous]

"That goes for you too!" Kaimana glared at the stock boy, batting the broom away. She wasn't sure at all what was going on, but she could tell the bat thing didn't seem to be much of a danger to anyone, "Everyone stop moving! Right now!"

Yelling from someone of Kaimana's size wasn't always that impressive, but she did her best, "Let's all stay calm. And stop swinging that broom." Turning her attention back to the bat, Kaimana, eased the pressure on his arm just a bit, "Now, calm down. I would much rather talk this out. I'm a Mordecai."

She waved the other people away with her free hand, for all it did. People would probably gawk at a bomb. Granted, she was one of those people. If she wasn't pinning the bat dude down, she would have been in the first row seeing what the hell was going on.

"What happened? Why were you in that crate?" Despite the fact that she was pretty sure the guy didn't mean any harm, she still felt a little nervous about letting him up until he told her what was going on. Probably just some joke or some idea that had seemed like a good one at the time.

[Anonymous]

The stock boy stood still with his broom, but didn't really lower it very much. He didn't trust the weird thing that had appeared in his stock room.

Fulvus obediently froze, the jerky rise and fall of his chest the only movement from him. "I was looking for a place to sleep" He lisped, his bat teeth making human speech less than perfect, though he didn't speak bat really, just made bat noises. "I thought I found a good place to sleep...then someone dropped stuff on me, and I couldn't find the opening to get out, and then I was tumbled all around and then I think they put me on something that moved and I was in there for a long time, and then I heard a creak and and people moving around, and then I fell, and I found the opening and someone screamed...and then I got hit with sticks and got scared." Fulvus explained softly, almost wheezing. He'd been rather compressed under the produce before he'd been beaten with a stick and then pinned down. He only weighed perhaps forty pounds on a good day.

"Besides" He added timidly. "I could smell fruit...bugs like fruit." And he liked bugs, and he was hungry.

[Anonymous]

"Well then!" Kaimana stood up, brushing her pants off. The thing seemed harmless enough and totally scared, "Whole thing was just a big misunderstanding." She felt like she should offer a hand up, but the thing seemed blind. Couldn't exactly see her hand.

Why couldn't hot, well endowed woman in not a whole lot of clothing ever run into her? Furry bad dudes with scary teeth really weren't her thing. But she still smiled anyway, "Try and not crawl into any more crates, okay?"

[Anonymous]

"Okay" Fulvus said shifting slowly onto his hands and wings to crawl forward slowly and timidly. "Do you know where there are bugs?" He asked hopefully, feeling forward until he bumped her foot with his wing. He retracted his hand as if he'd touched something hot, but then reached forward again and tried to get an idea of what it was he was bumping into.

"He can't stay here" The stock boy said, nervous about what his boss would do if he were to discover a giant 'rat' had been shipped in with the produce. "Take him with you, or animal control will have to come get him." The bat thing obviously didn't belong. He'd admitted himself that he'd accidentally been boxed up.

Fulvus looked up, eyes wandering. He didn't know what animal control was. He'd been out of the lab awhile now, but spent a good deal of his time getting shipped places as he was most comfortable in closed spaces...like a crate. He liked being able to reach everything and know where it all was.

[Anonymous]

"Can't say I really know where bugs are." Kaimana liked to avoid those when possible, "But, hey! I was going to a barbecue. You can totally come along to that."

Kaimana reached down, lightly touching his arm...wing....limb thing and tried to help him to his feet. Seemed pretty mean to just leave him there. And parties were always better with more people. And he didn't seem that scary. Kaimana had hung out with way more dangerous looking and acting people.

And well, he could always stay here if he really wanted. But that seemed pretty mean, "I donno about feeding you though. You eat anything that isn't a bug? Like.....chicken maybe?"

[Anonymous]

"I've eaten raw meat before" Fulvus said, letting her pull him somewhat to his feet. Normally, he just crawled along the ground since he very rarely knew where he was going. "I don't think it was chicken...but I could try it" He said with a shrug, seeming to teeter a little on his feet before he carefully hooked a wing around her arm so she could perhaps lead him to where they were going.

"Is it far?" Fulvus asked. He couldn't walk upright for very long. He didn't have practice at it.

The stock boy just stood, waiting anxiously for them to leave. His poor co-worker was still cowering in the back room.

[Anonymous]

"Well. I'm sure there will be other things too." Kaimana had to repress a shudder when the creature wrapped his wing arm thing around her. He seemed nice, but he still looked pretty gross.

Bring a human and upright, him wanting to crawl on the ground didn't really occur to her. Because really, who wanted to do that, "Well, there ya go. We'll have plenty of raw meat around."

Kaimana got her cart and started pushing it around again. She still had shopping to finish and the store employees could suck a dick. She wasn't leaving before she was ready, "It's not too far. Maybe like 20 minutes by car. Is there anything besides bugs you want to eat or drink or anything?"

[Anonymous]

"I drink water" Fulvus said with a shrug, hesitating as he heard the rattle of the cart. He didn't know what that noisy, vibrating thing was. "What do you eat and drink? What sort of species are you?" He'd learned somewhere along the way that there were a lot of humanoids that felt like humans, but weren't really.

He struggled to keep up with her, unsteady and holding onto her to keep himself steady. "What are we doing now? What is this place?" He sniffed at the air, trying to figure things out. He'd never been in a grocery before.

[Anonymous]

"Huh? Ahahahaha!" Kaimana laughed, finding the question funny. Her laugh was loud and discordant, "I'm a ganster! Bitches say what!" She did her best to support the strange looking creature, "But, seriously, I'm a human. Eat and drink...ya know....human stuff."

Her smile slowly vanished as she watched the thing struggling to walk. He didn't look very comfortable at all and Kaimana was starting to wonder what to do with him. Taking him along seemed like it might be too much for him, "Uh...it's a grocery store....where you buy food..."

She slowed, coming to a stop, "Not to be rude, but what is your deal? Maybe there is somewhere I can take you?" Kaimana didn't want to leave him high and dry, but she also had no idea what to do with the guy. He was so...broken looking. It was sad but not something she felt very comfortable around.

[Anonymous]

"Well...no, not really. I don't have a home now since they shut down my lab" He shrugged a little. Nothing really seemed to bother him for long. As long as he wasn't being beaten or sprayed with things, he was content. Add a few juicy bugs, and he was happy.

He smiled a little as best he could, having seen the lab techs do it before he'd lost his sight. "That's why I keep ending up in crates." Sometimes, crates were just storing stuff in the attic or basement, and then other times, they were waiting to be loaded up and shipped off who knows where.

"I don't understand what you mean by 'what's my deal'". Fulvus admitted. "If you can help me understand your question, I can try to answer it" He rarely declined to answer questions. He rarely said no to much of anything.

[Anonymous]

"Your....lab?" Kaimana frowned again, really not sure what to make of that. This was starting to get quite weird and she was starting to wonder if maybe she should take this guy to a hospital or something. Drop him off and let those people sort it out.

"You end up in crates because you lab is gone? You were a scientist? Or...what?" Just watch. She was sure with her luck that he was some experiment on some germ warfare thing. If he was an experiment, she was going to have to take him somewhere. Who knew what was going on with him. Fuck. She would probably have to get all tested and shit too.

Kaimana shrugged, "Your deal. What are you? Why are you hanging around in crates. Where is your home? You know, that stuff."

[Anonymous]

"Oh" Fulvus said pleasantly. "I am a Hominidae-Hipposideros Fulvus, but I know that's difficult to say, so I just go by Fulvus" When he couldn't even say his own species correctly, it was very difficult to suggest anyone else should use it to address him. "I'm the only known one of my kind" He explained.

"My lab was where I lived. The scientists tested products to make sure they were safe to use. So they would apply the chemicals on me and see if I had a reaction" He shrugged. "Then lots of loud people came and yelled by the front doors. They were upset that mice and rabbits and such were being used, so they made the lab close and 'set us free' according to them. I think they were trying to help, but mostly they just took my home away from me" He explained, shrugging again. "I had a cage that I slept in, and I was very comfortable there. That's why I go into crates. Since I can't see now, I like to know where all my walls are...and most of the crates just sit there and no one bothers them at all...and then sometimes they slap a lid on there and throw me in the back of some noisy thing." He looked up towards her with his milky-green trusting eyes. "So I guess  don't have a home anymore, but that's alright." It mostly bothered him when the weather got really cold, but otherwise, sleeping against a tree or something wasn't bad.

"What is your 'deal'?" He was curious, but he also thought it was probably polite to ask her in return. After all,that's what the people in the lab always did. At least the polite ones anyway.

[Anonymous]

Oh. Well, that was some sort of relief at least. Though Kaimana really wasn't sure what to do with this thing. He was just so.....helpless. And while Kaimana didn't really think of herself as cruel, she didn't exactly know what to do with him, "Well, that's one crazy ass name. Not even going to try and say that."

The rest of it left Kaimana a little unsure what to say to that. She shifted slightly, looking around her as if she might be able to get inspired by rows of fresh produce, "I...well...that sucks I guess."

Reaching one hand up, she ruffled the short hair at the back of her head. Normally it was hard to make Kaimana at a loss for words, but this was kind of it, "Well, maybe once I've finished my shopping I can like...take you to a hospital or something? They can...uh...maybe figure out where you can stay? Or...something?"

His question about what her deal was just got a small shrug. She was a little more concerned about what to do with him then anything else, "My name is Kaimana and I am part of the army. A Mordecai." Currently mageless, but she was hoping not for long.

[Anonymous]

Fulvus nodded slightly "Wherever you think best" He said easily. "I can't stay here. They'll hit me with that stick" He reasoned. "I hear bats live in forests....is there a forest nearby? Or maybe a cave? Bats live there too, or at least some of them did." For having such an odd background, he was quite happy. "Is a hospital where they sort who is needed for which study and things like that? That would probably be a good place for me."

He was willing to be dropped off anywhere she wanted to leave him. He didn't expect much from anyone most of the time. He had grown to understand that outside of the lab, no one took care of anyone. Every piece of food was painstakingly pounced and savored. Every drink of water was to be relished as there was no knowing when another drink might be acquired. Good roosts were a luxury, and they were not always easily had he'd realized.

[Anonymous]

"Right. That sounds good then." Kaimana felt a little guilty that she was just kind of dumping him off. But she didn't really know what else to do with him. And being in the Military, she couldn't have kept him even if she wanted too.

So she absently patted his arm as she steered the cart at the clinging creature toward the check out. It would make her a little late to the party, but, well, they could just wait.

Kaimana positioned Fulvus so that he could rest against the cart while she pulled her bags out. She liked to help pack her own stuff, she felt kind of useless just making someone else do it. Once her things were paid for, Kaimana moved back next to the thing, "Alright furry dude. Grab on again and lets get you out to my car."

[Anonymous]

Fulvus smiled a sharp-toothed smile. Furry Dude. He kind of liked the sound of that. If she were intending to stick around longer, maybe the nick-name would catch on.

He held onto the cart and walked as best he could along with her, though he was rather startled when his feet hit asphalt. It was abrasive and he hadn't been expecting it. "What's a car?" He asked as he considered it. The lab people had mentioned them from time to time as well, but he'd never really thought about it. Maybe it was a storage facility. That would make sense. They were always going to get things out of their cars.