First port of call

[Anonymous]

DakaDain Steel scurried off the ship and looked around at the giant docking station. He was still amazed by it all: technology. He hadn't really seen that much of it in the factory.

He looked looked up at a glowing blue sign "Cancer Blue District: Dock 132". Cancer? He had thought he was going to Libra. His parents had told him about how wonderful Libra would be. He supposed Cancer would still be okay. They were both a part of Seruna and seruna welcomed all refugees.

He walked passed the dock, looking in awe at the large doors at the end of the runway. Below he could see hundreds more docks with many more ships.

The ship he had been a passenger on was fairly old. It was the cheapest thing available, perhaps it needed to stop here for provisions. It didn't seem big enough to carry enough for a long journey to Saturn.

He walked through the doors to what must be a lobby. he had no idea where to go so he tapped a lady on the shoulder and asked for dirrections.

'Um, hello. I just came off a ship, how do I get in?

[Anonymous]

Damn lines. If there was one thing Lore hated, and in fact there were a lot of things Lore hated, it was standing in long lines. Being a performer had the often ignored benefit of not having to wait in lines, and this line, the line for Dock 132 leading into the Blue district, was perhaps the most pointless line she had ever been in.

This line was for immigration. There was a…thing checking for weapons and permits and such, sending people through a scanner and taking their keys. The creature was some sort of alien, all tentacles and eyes. She shuddered. Lore had never been the most tolerant of weird looking aliens.

She looked at Ashe form the corner of her eye, mouth twisting into a wry smile around the toothpick she was chewing. “Are you absolutely sure you don’t wanna go on a rampage so I can slip through this silly little checkpoint? I promise to come bust you out of the brig.� She grinned widely, which then faded and became a sullen pout. No, of course not. Tuathi didn’t do that sort of thing. Bunch of damn nature loving hippies and pacifists they were.

She grumbled something under her breath and then yawned, stretching her hands above her head and rising up on her toes. Damn space travel. It always gave her jetlag. Right now, according to her body clock, it was three in the morning. On the Cancer, it was more like three in the afternoon.

They were a funny pair, well, not funny when you compared them to a lot of the trash that came through the Cancer, but she thought they looked odd. Big spotty, white Ashe with his horns and tail and hooves and whatnot. And her, a short little human girl wearing a red sports bra, an open cheap leather jacket, some red skin-tight short shorts and a really good pair of thigh high boots that added a few inches of height and left only a thin band of thigh left exposed. She didn’t own much, so she went around in the tiny clothes she wore doing her act. Maybe she would have been somewhat concerned, a young girl somewhat scantly dressed, but with Ashe there, she was rather confident that she was safe. He was quite large, after all.

She hoisted the large bag she had slung over her shoulder as the line moved forward. One step, that was it, and then back to waiting. Oh the monotony.

So lost was she in her own dreary thoughts, Lore almost swallowed her toothpick when someone tapped her on the shoulder and asked for directions. She twirled to face the…uh…man. She eyed him up and down. Ok, so he was a bit weird looking, but compared to captain tentacle rape over there, this was pretty tame. But really, tourists. “You stand in this line here, and you wait. Forever, until you die of the boredom!� she replied in her best mocking tone. It was a little mean, but seriously, who couldn’t read the damn signs? She glanced back at the line. Only three more people to go, then her and Ashe…oh, goodie.

[Rhi-Rhi]

It was Ashe's first time to the Cancer and it showed. While Lore was bored stiff and antsy, Ashe was all wide eyes and perked ears, stretching his neck to try and see over the heads of the taller people. He was tall at six foot three but he was no giant, and there were plenty of creatures here taller than him. This was so exciting! A little scary, but exciting nonetheless! His fluffy, deer-like tail wagged happily, poking out of a hole cut into his knee-length breeches (which were also all he wore, seeing no reason to wear a shirt in such a hot climate) as he looked about, only snapped out of his people-watching by a comment from Lore.

He glanced down at her and blinked. "What? Rampage?" He made a face and shook his head. "Are you crazy? No, I'm sure. They haven't done anything to us, why would I wanna do that?" Completely missing the point there, but oh well. Smiling, he pat her shoulder consolingly when she pouted. "You need to be more patient, Lore. It's only been a couple of hours."

And he was absolutely serious when he said that, too. No sarcasm there. But hey, he had the mentality of a hunter, and observing, selecting, stalking, and killing prey took some time. Honestly, Lore could do with some patience, and all this waiting might do her some good.

If it didn't start to get annoying first.

It wasn't long after that brief exchange—and after they'd finally gotten to move forward one whole step—that someone tapped Lore on the shoulder, and Ashe gave a little jump as well, his tail fluffing up in surprise and his claws extending from his fingers before he spun around...and sighed in relief. Just a strange humanoid with four arms. Four arms? Ashe's golden-brown eyes widened as he took the creature in more thoroughly, eyeing him up and down. His strange blue skin color wasn't quite as interesting to him as the four arms. After all, Ashe's skin and hair was a bleached white in color with auburn spots running over his body, and most Tuathi had a pattern of some sort on their skin. But...four arms like an insect? Now that was fascinating.

Realizing that he was staring, Ashe averted his eyes politely and looked to Lore briefly, ready to tell the man that all you did was wait in line here—but Lore beat him to it.

In her blunt fashion, of course. It made Ashe wince to hear her speak like that, and he lightly gripped her shoulder as though to stop her and threw an apologetic look at the man she'd mocked. Ugh. Sometimes she really reminded him of Mer...which was also probably why he liked her so much, too, frustrating and rude as she could be. "I'm sorry about her, she didn't mean that. Lore just sometimes forgets herself," he said quickly, shooting her a brief disapproving glance. "She's right, though. This is the line, but I daresay a little waiting never killed anyone, and it's not forever. She exaggerates. Lore, apologize to him. He asked you nicely, there was no need to be rude."

It was probably a little odd to see that. A short girl in a skimpy outfit being asked to apologize to a four-armed blue man by a tall, spotted man with hooves, ears, and small antlers that closely resembled those of a buck. Well...if not for the claws his hands sported, though those were currently retracted. Or the fangs that flashed when he spoke. It was clear that, deer-like or not, his species certainly was not a vegetarian one.

[Anonymous]

(OOC: an insect, interesting. I hadn't thought of him like that.)

DakaDain looked at the long line in horror. Even with all the amazing technology it would take ages to get into the city.

'Do I need papers?' he scratched his head with two arms, the other two fiddling nervously, 'though I suppose an amazing place like this doesn't need them anymore.'

He wasn't exactly coming here legally. His hometown didn't like losing workers so they never gave anyone pass to leave. What concerned him most was that he would be sent back. Seruna was meant to be a safe-haven but many of the people here did not look safe. Take the goat-man in front of him. There was no way he was the type of person could be safe near. He didn't like the way the man was looking at him either.

'Is there something wrong?' he asked, then went back to a four-hand figit.

[Anonymous]

Taking the toothpick out of her mouth Lore smiled as sweetly as possible when Ashe told her off like she was a child. He did that a lot. Words seemed to fail to get across that in this society, women were most certainly not beneath men, and that she could talk however she damned well pleased.

Forgets herself indeed. She stifled a grumpy huff, instead simply glancing up at him, still smiling, and wrapping her arm around his middle. She looked back at blue ‘n freaky and subtly jabbed Ashe in the side with the toothpick. She pushed hard, and didn’t stop.

This guy was an idiot. She’d met some slack jawed yokels before, but this guy took the entire incest filled cake. Amazing? A-freaking-mazing? She glanced about, taking note of the dripping pipes, the assorted bits of scrap that made up the walls, and the interesting shade of red they’d chosen to paint everything to hide the rust. Yeah, this was totally amazing. Amazing that it hadn’t broken up and vented everyone into space yet.

“Only if you’re carrying a class 3 weapon or higher. That means explosives or high impact weaponry. Anything that could put a hole in the hull and kill everyone basically. Or pets. Pets need a permit. I don’t have one for Ashe, but hopefully they’ll be tricked into thinking he’s intelligent and let him pass.�

They shuffled forward again. Only one more person to go. Lore took off her bag and prepared to toss it onto the scanner. She glanced at the scanning arch that they’d have to walk through. Damn she hated them, everything always started to beep mysteriously whenever she went though. Damn perverts operating them probably set the thing off on purpose to see how far they could get her to undress in the middle of the damn room. Fucking bastards.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Ashe smiled back happily when Lore smiled at him, throwing an arm around her shoulders when she wrapped an arm around his middle. Aw. Hugs. Lore seemed to take that well! Usually she got all grumpy when he--

"Ahh! Ow! Lore!" Ashe squealed, jerking when she suddenly stabbed him in the side with her toothpick! With a gasp he let go of her and pried at her hand, wiggling to try and get away, and amidst all his pained flailing he managed to grab her wrist and pull the toothpick free. He panted for a few seconds, running at his side and wincing, and then fixed Lore with a stern, angry look, auburn eyes narrowed. "That wasn't nice, Lore. Why'd you do that?" Glaring down at her, he snapped the toothpick in half and tossed it onto the ground, then rubbed at his side sorely again. "You could have stabbed me..." She'd pressed hard enough! He could feel a little dent in his skin where that toothpick had poked. Jeez!

Grumpy now and still rubbing at his poor battered side, he listened boredly to Lore and the other man's conversation and then sighed when he was addressed by the insect-man. "No, nothing's wrong, I just got stabbed is all," he answered huffily, and then snarled at Lore as she added insult to injury and called him a pet. Normally he wouldn't have been so offended by that, he was getting used to the female's sense of humor and she reminded him of a rather difficult Tuathi he knew, but even she knew better than this.

"I'm not a pet. And you...!" The man ahead of them passed through the arch, and Ashe clamped his teeth together and walked forward. "We'll talk later."

Flicking his tail irritably, ears laid back, Ashe turned and headed under the arch. He had no bags that needed to be checked; Lore had all his things with her, and his things were few, consisting of a change of breeches, a few shirts, and a toothbrush. He didn't need much, and all he had on him were his breeches. He passed through the arch with no difficulty, though he still got stopped on the other side so security could double-check and wave their wand...thingies...o ver him. Ashe didn't really know what they did, but he just let them do their thing, and when it was through he stepped aside, folded his arms over his chest, and waited for Lore.

She always seemed to have issues getting through that arch. He'd told her before that she should just dress like he did, just wear a pair of breeches and be done with it, but for some reason she never seemed up to that. No, no, she had to wear a shirt, too, and those things that went under shirts, and who knew what else.

Humans.

[Anonymous]

((OOC: Hope you're still somewhat open...))

Well, at least she wasn't bored anymore.

When Rikki had left Teinar, the surface was deserted. It was the perfect opportunity to get away and see the solar system, so, naturally, that was what she did. She had spent a while in the less-populated regions of Earth and Mars, photographing landscapes and wildlife... when she wasn't running from either. Her mech had even been hit by some space junk, damaging one of the fuel storage tanks, and had to make a pit stop in Ipollius for some repairs. She wound up staying there longer than she'd thought she would, finding the wreckage an interesting subject for photographs. Her fix-job wasn't the best, she'd thought, but it would hold until she got back to Teinar.

And in an ideal world, that would have happened... but no, those bastards from Aedolis had to come in and fuck it up.

When the Rikkämpfer came within cameras' view of the Upper City, it was crawling with dragons and, she assumed, their Pilots. She couldn't have gotten off Earth fast enough. She was lucky not to have been spotted, or shot down. Now this is a pinch, she had thought. An epic pickle, even. Rikki had been floating around outside Earth's orbit for a few hours, collecting herself, popping headache pills and pounding angrily on her instruments panel, when the Cancer came into view. Well, there's an idea I wouldn't have come up with for another hour or so! She slid a backlit keyboard out of a side compartment in the cockpit, activated the radio transmitter, and waited.

In short order, she received a transmission from the Cancer. "This is the Space Station Cancer. State your ship designation and business, over." Male, probably. Human, probably not.

Rikki smiled and leaned on the "transmit" button. "Transmission acknowledged. This is the cannon-type personal mech Rikkämpfer, pilot Henriqueta Neves speaking. That is, Rikki Neves. Requesting permission to dock, over."

"Ah, the Rikkämpfer," the return transmission stated, almost interestedly. "We've heard of you. Nothing we can turn you away for, though. Docking station 26 is ready and waiting. Please alter your trajectory forty-two degrees west, over."

She slumped in her seat, relieved. "Thank you, Cancer. If you would, please don't report my position to anyone who could be connected to Aedolis... that is, anyone. Expected landing in..." she punched a few numbers into the onboard computer. "Thirteen minutes, thirty seconds, over."

"See you in Customs, Miss Neves. Enjoy your stay on the Cancer, over and out." The light signaling a live connection blinked out, and Rikki turned the mech west (rather, left), leaving it to drift.

---

Twelve minutes later, Rikki engaged the leg thrusters to slow the mech down and landed with minimal difficulty in the airlock, taking a few steps forward to make sure she was all the way in. She reconnected, this time with the video transmitter. "Hello, this is Neves, in docking station 26," she said rather unpleasantly, but civilly. "I'm in the airlock, requesting permission to enter." The space-side door shut momentarily, and there was a hissing noise as the airlock was filled with air. The airlock door opened, and the Rikkämpfer stepped into the inner docking station. Rikki thanked the front desk and closed down the video link, then cracked the mech's mouth-hatch, to depressurize the cockpit. Her ears popped, and she grimaced. I've been in here with Ipollius air for how long now? She located her handgun and switchblade, and placed them in a pocket on the kimono-style side of her top. She climbed into the head compartment of the mech, and pressed a button that lowered the platform she was standing on to the ground. She took a remote out of her pocket and hit a similar button, which retracted the platform and closed the hatch. She would have patted the mech affectionately on the leg, but she had already made that mistake once, re-learning very quickly that hot metal was hot.

Rikki got in line behind DakaDain, looking up distastefully and then almost-intimidatedly at the big, blue, fidgeting man. Holy shit! what the hell is he? He's gotta be what, like, seven feet tall and four hundred pounds? She stuck her hand into the pocket containing her gun. I wonder if he's vulnerable to bullets. If he's confrontational, I hope so. Being locked out of my home city does nothing to improve my people skills. She looked around him at the line. "Aw, fuck me sideways," she said aloud. That line was going to take all day to get through! "This is kind of a priority situation I've got... damn it..." She put the remote in her pants pocket.

[Anonymous]

'Pets? Why would they think your a pet?' asked DakaDain. 'I thought Seruna accepted anybody.'

What if they didn't let him in? Eeep. More fiddling insued, hopefully he could find something mechanical to pull apart. He wouldn't be able to put it together again but it usually helped with the nerves.

A woman behind him spoke and he turned around, 'hello. Fuck you? Why would anyone want to do that here?'

People on the Cancer sure had strange customs. Perhaps he wasn't the odd one out at all.

[Anonymous]

Lore gave Ashe a mock pout and fluttered her eyelashes when he got all grumpy over being called a pet. Gods, he was such a woman sometimes, saying that they’d ‘talk later’. Sounded like a wife upset with her husband he did.

She watched the big Tuathi pass the checkpoint with ease. He would too, the guy was practically naked. She was pretty thankful of that ‘practically’ actually, he certainly didn’t have a problem being naked. She certainly didn’t want to have to see his junk flopping about as they walked, that was just downright unsettling. And there were women and small children to think of.

Of course, Lore missed the irony in this, what with her being easily mistaken for a street corner hooker. She didn’t think she looked like a whore, and anyone who said she did was going to get a swift kick to the face. Or Ashe might just punch them. He was good for that, defending her honour and whatnot. For someone who had, on several occasions, expressed his opinion on exactly how little clothing she aught to be wearing he had interesting opinions on what was appropriate for others to say to her.

Dumping her lumpy bag on the conveyor Lore stepped through the accursed arch, which immediately wailed and flashed red. Gods damn fucking useless piece of crap machines. The guard with the scanner wand held up his hand for her to stop, then motioned for her to go through again. She fixed him with a disgruntled stare, hands on hips. When it became clear that he wasn’t going to let her in through the sheer force of her glare, Lore calmly walked back around the scanner, removed her jacket, and placed it on the conveyor.

She tried again, and again the thing went off, and again the guard told her to go back and try again, this time motioning to her boots. With a sigh she went back, sat on the edge of the conveyor and unzipped her long boots. When she placed them on the belt, she noticed quite a few people in the line were giving her odd looks. Most of them were either glaring at her for making them wait, or ogling her. She fixed both with a flat stare, then spun around and walked through the arch for a third time, head held high.

Another wail.

Gods freaking damn.

She flung out her arms and give the guard a wide eyes look, as if to say, “What? What more can I take off?” he took his wand and swept it over her thoroughly, stopping when it beeped. The thing overed in front of her chest. “What?” she snapped, this time out loud, “It’s the under wire of my bra. I am not fucking taking that off.” She glared as hard as she could, daring him to make her. “Ma’am, I’m gunna ave to ask ye ter step into this here little room with Officer Corely,” the guard said in an uneducated drawl. “Fine!” she hissed at him, stalking over to the little booth. She crossed her arms and huffed, foot tapping with irritation. It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

Officer Corely came in and slid closed the curtain behind him. Or was it a her? Lore looked at the creature, which was a vaguely humanoid lump of fur with two eyes poking out from where its face should have been. “Please undress,” came a mechanically synthesised voice form the universal translator strapped to the creatures throat. She gave it a good glaring, before peeling off her top. Her face felt hot as she unclipped her bra and handed it to Officer Corely. He…she….it felt around in her clothing as Lore stood there, arms crossed defensively across her chest. It ran it’s own scanner over her, which, thankfully, didn’t go off, then handed her back her clothing.

Corely turned and left, just as Lore lowered her arms to start re-dressing, which meant that for a brief moment the curtain was open, and anyone who happened to be looking would have gotten a rather good view. She just stared at the red curtain after it closed again, frozen in horror.

A minute later, after she’d redressed and regained her composure, Lore emerged form the booth. If anyone, anyone mentioned seeing anything, they were dead. Even Ashe, who’d seen it all before. After the third time he’d gotten in the shower with her, she’d just given up and let him wash her back. He was like a pet anyway, so he didn’t really count.

She stalked back towards the conveyor to retrieve the rest of her clothes and her bag, when a tentacle touched her should to stop her. “Ma’am,” the creature said, the sound coming from no obvious orifice, “What are these?” He held up her four juggling pins, and the hooks that were used to fasten her aerial silks to the roof. With a sly grin she replied, “They’re exotic sex toys, if you don’t mind.” The beast showed no discomfort, it simply set her things down next to her bag and clothes and went back to watching the monitor of the scanning machine.

Lore sighed as she packed her things away again and zipped up her boots. There, much better. She tossed the bag to Ashe, which was quite a feat, considering just how heavy it was. Pulling her jacket back on, she grinned at him and stifled a yawn.

“Right! Now, first things first, we should get out of this terminal, exit’s over there I think,” she pointed to a corridor leading off to the right, “Then I need a shower and some sleep. You too, you stink.” She wrinkled her nose in mock disgust.

“Come on.” She tugged at his arm, leading him to the corridor. Peering down it, past a bunch of vending machines, toilets and seats, she saw a glass door, beyond which lay the main plaza of the blue district. She did love being right.

[Anonymous]

OOC: Hi everyone. I'm not sure if any of you still want to do this thread but I thought I'd resurrect this thread. If nobody is interested it will go back to gatherring.

DakaDain looked between the scanitly cland woman and her pet and then back at the attractive woman with brightly coloured hair. They all seemed peeved off about something: the man with the horns didn't like being called a pet, the woman didn't like the way the officers were treating her and the woman with brightly coloured hair... maybe she really did want to get some action.

Nonetheless, he would be friendly and hopefully they would behave in kind. Women could be so unpredictable at times.

'Um, Miss? Did you want to go ahead of me?'

He rubbed one of his arms through his hair and gave her a shy smile. he offered her a hand to shake but he felt a bit silly about it. 'Um, how do people greet eachother here?'

[Rhi-Rhi]

As he'd predicted, it was going to take forever for Lore to get through the arch.

Ashe sighed heavily and settled down into a crouch off to the side where people could easily get by him but he could still monitor Lore's progress. Might as well get comfortable now, because considering Lore's track record they could be here ages longer and that certainly wasn't a thought that thrilled the Tuathi. He rested his arms on his knees and frowned, doing his best to ignore the persistent rumbling in his belly. The hunger had been there before but now it was just getting more difficult to ignore, and when the first wail sounded (as he'd been dreading it would) he just knew Lore was going to make a bigger deal out of this than she needed to.

Just take off you clothes and be done with it, he thought with a sigh as she took off her jacket and tried again. It went off again, and Ashe rolled his eyes as she took off her boots--and got the same response. Honestly, hadn't she figured it out by now? He had to admit, though, that it was kind of cute seeing her get all upset and flustered and the look of sheer surprise on her face each time the machine went off was utterly priceless, like she expected it to actually work and was offended that it didn't. She was so much like a child.

Thankfully, she soon vanished off into the little room, and Ashe snorted. Whenever she vanished into the room, it meant they'd be able to leave soon.

Sure enough, she returned, looking none too happy as she collected her things and said something about exotic sex toys. Ashe's brow creased and he wrinkled his nose, ears perking up. Those? The juggling pins?

Huh. He'd have to ask her about that.

Rising to his feet, Ashe trotted on over to her, hooves clicking on the ground, just in time for her to have finished zipping up her boots and putting on her jacket. He smiled back at her, not even attempting to hide the amusement in his expression--though his smile faltered when she said he stank. "What? I don't stink," he said, and he lifted his arm and sniffed just to be sure. Hrm. Well, all right, maybe his scent did leave something to be desired, but it wasn't horrible. For a Tuathi. "Hmm. See? I smell fine." And he turned to offer himself for her to smell for herself, but they were both saved from that when Lore grabbed his arm and tugged him after her. He grunted and stumbled a bit before he caught himself.

"Careful, the floor is slippery," he hissed, motioning toward his hooves.

Such a pushy female. It seemed to be the norm around here, though, he thought as he heard another female proclaim loudly for someone to fuck her sideways. Ashe's eyes widened and he craned his neck so he could openly stare back into the crowd, trying to find the voice's source. Was that...how was that even possible? Oh, never mind, actually he knew how that was possible. Still, humanoids were so...strange. They had the most bizarre mating habits, that much he'd learned.

They even mated with inanimate objects sometimes, apparently. He'd seen other animals do that, though, like a bird that tried to mount a bird decoy so he supposed it was the same sort of thing. Poor things were so confused.

"But anyway, a shower does sound nice. And food. I'm hungry and you took forever. Was it your breast thing again?" He raised both eyebrows, expression earnest and quite serious. He was referring to her bra. "I keep telling you that you shouldn't wear it. It always makes the machines go off. And why do you even need it? It's strange. Your juggling pins are strange, too..." He squinted his eyes at her and tilted his head. "I thought they were only for juggling..."

[Anonymous]

Rikki rolled her eyes at the big guy. For a bruiser, he certainly wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. Then again, they never are. "Holy shit, did you just fall off the fuckin' ship to /Retardia/ or something? It's an expression, neophyte." If anyone was totally not in the mood to be fucked around with, it was Rikki, right then.

She watched the prostitute-looking lady at the front of the line set the alarm off about seventeen times. "Hah, sucks to be her." She crossed her arms; other peoples' misfortunes always made her feel better about her own. “What?” The woman yelled. “It’s the under wire of my bra. I am not fucking taking that off.” Rikki snorted with laughter. "But little do you know, then!" she shouted. She was a real bitch when things weren't going her way.

The blue colossus chimed in again. 'Um, Miss? Did you want to go ahead of me?' Rikki looked up at the guy again. "No point in trying to curry favor now, sport. I'm next in line, unless you're also wearing a metal bra." The thought was humorous, but she was still in a pissy mood.

'Um, how do people greet eachother here?' the blue guy asked. Rikki shook his hand rather reluctantly. "Handshake's good, but don't try the whole friendly guy thing around here... half the guys and ninety percent of the chicks just want a fight. You're up, dude..." she pointed impatiently to the metal detector.

[Anonymous]

A palm came up to meet Lore’s face, muffling the long groan she let out. “Yes Ashe,” she mumbled, eyes closed in despair, “It was my bra. I wear it so my tits stay perky and supple so that real men can enjoy them.” Real men of course meaning non-Tuathi men. She couldn’t get over how Ashe could repeatedly get into the shower with her, how he could wash her (which she let him do now after finally giving in) and yet still be completely un aroused. Her hand fell from her face and formed into a claw, looking as if it was going to strangle him for being such a git. “They are just for juggling. Remember that talk we had about sarcasm?”

She was reminded of the time he’d walked in on her having a private moment when she’d thought he was going to be gone for longer. The big idiot had thought she was hurting herself and lunged at her to pull her hands away. Being suddenly yanked up into the air naked while you were just finishing wasn’t the best experience in the world. Sure he’d apologised later, but she was still grumpy about it.

Lore’s hands found their way to the back of her head, weaving her fingers together and sticking her elbows out. Screw people trying to walk by, she wanted her space. She strode through the doors, which slid open with a hiss, and into the throng.

She’d worked out a simple system with Ashe, who was prone to getting lost in crowds, ‘Follow my butt.’ Of course, she hadn’t meant literally, it was just a saying, but he of course was an idiot and sometimes literally followed her bum. It was a fabulous butt, if she did say so herself, and she often did.

They were looking for something very specific, a place with a high ceiling so she could do her aerial silks performance that had rooms and a kitchen. That way they could trade their performances for food and lodging and not have to spend their very limited cash. She knew of one such place in the blue district, a place called the Red Lobster, and she made a beeline for it. The Lobster, which served excellent seafood, was just off to the right, down a little alley. Not the nicest place ever, but it had what she needed and was always looking for performers to bring in extra customers.

Of course, there was also the added bonus of what Lore had done last time she was here with a belly full of free drinks…

But hopefully the manager wouldn’t remind her of that. And Ashe wasn’t around back then, so there was no need for him to know. And there certainly wouldn’t be a repeat performance, no matter how drunk she got.

[Anonymous]

OOC: This one's going to suck. I should warn you now; I can't think of anything and I don't want to be holding anyone up.

DakaDain blushed purple when he heard Lore and Ashe talking about breasts and juggling pins. He hadn't heard all of it so his mind went on a little bit of a tangent, which just ended in him getting more than a little confused. 'Juggling pins? How could juggling pins be used for sex? They'd be too big and you'd stretch yourself, wouldn't you?' he asked. 'Oh gods! I just said that aloud, didn't I. I;m sorry Miss. I um, I'm very sorry.' The purple tinge on his cheeks was now as flushed as though he'd just walked out of... well, he didn't really know what it was like but he'd heard about it.

The guards seemed to get some amusement out of what he said. He emptied his pockets of several shiny metal objects - all of which had been pulled apart - and some Aedolisian money. He ducked his head to get through the barrier and breathed a sigh when he got through without a whistle.

He had been going to ask one of the nice ladies if he could stay with them for a while but he doubted they would let him after the comment he made. he turned around to the lady behind him, the one with the pretty pink hair, and smiled. 'Well, um. I'll see you around then.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Oh..." was all Ashe could say to that, and he colored a little for missing the sarcasm. Frowning and giving a little huff, he shot Lore a pointed look. "I know what sarcasm is. I'm just not used to your kind." Which was true enough. Sarcasm certainly existed among the Tuathi but it was both sparsely used and different, just as they had different jokes and metaphors than the people here did. They were, after all, from two radically different cultures. Typically, however, Tuathi didn't beat around the bush and simply said exactly what they meant as clear communication had long been vital to their survival.

He continued to frown after her even after they went along on their merry way, through the double doors with him "following her butt". She was so proud of that saying, and granted it did work, but every time she brought it up he found himself tempted to make some snide remark about how it was too big to lose sight of. If there was one thing he'd quickly learned about human culture, it was that the females got offended when you mentioned the size of their rears.

He'd always found that strange, since in his culture wide hips and a broad backside were a good thing, ideal for safe childbearing, but humans were seemingly obsessed with being as thin as they could get. It was kind of disturbing, and it certainly couldn't be healthy. Where he came from, if you were that thin it meant you were sick or weren't getting enough to eat, and bearing children was out of the question. Too many females died in childbirth as it was.

Everything about humans was so...backwards.

Anyway, he didn't want Lore getting angry at him again, so he kept the comment to himself to preserve the peace. His own society may have been a male dominated one, but keeping the females happy was key to keeping the peace, and since there were more females than males, well...needless to say, the males had long since learned to pick their battles.

His hooves clicked rhythmically on the floor as he walked, though he eventually tired of following Lore's butt and picked up his pace to walk beside her, if a little behind her so he could still follow. She knew where she was going and he didn't, so it was all right if she was in charge right now.

"Where are we going, Lore?" he asked, easily able to see well over the crowd, since he was taller than a majority of the people there. Lore, on the other hand, was short. If he knew what they were looking for, he would probably be able to spot it long before she did.