The Midorean Chronicles: Halloween!

[Icewing]

Jacques couldn't help but gawk at Rei for a second, wondering if the other male really was being sincere. Most people, even Jacques friends, often found it slightly odd that Jacques was a tailor, even though it wasn't exactly unusual for males to repair and make clothes.

Twitching his head slightly to clear it of thoughts, Jacques nodded. "Just follow me," he said. "It's not too far of a walk, which is probably good since I assume you're rather tired. But, yes, please keep all mentions of pirates and fire to yourself when you're at the boarding house, especially when Sue is around." That said, he started to quietly walk down the street that would lead to Sue's boarding house. "Oh, also, one more thing. Try and not judge a book by its cover and think that Sue's appearance is his personality."

~~~~~~~~~
Standing in the kitchen of the boarding house, Sue was washing the tables, his thin fingers clenching the wet rags. His hair was for once not in a ponytail, instead hanging in limp strands. If soneone saw the greasy luster of his hair, they would have a difficult time believing Sue was actually a very hygenic person. However, despite the fact that Sue himself wasn't in the best of conditions, the boarding house was sparkling clean.

Once the tables were washed, Sue put the rag in a basket for dirty laundry, and walked into the next room. It was a living room, and, for once, nobody was in it. Sue sat down on the ground in front of a table, sitting crosslegged just like a young child would. He started to sketch on a piece of paper, not drawing anything in particular. Sue couldn't draw very well by normal standards, so all of his drawings had rather abstract twists to them.

[Reika]

"Yessir, not a word." Rei said, and trotted after Jacques.

The city at night was a splendid. Thin moonlight gilded the tops of archways and rooftops. As they passed under the a lattice-work hanging with grape vines, Rei could hear the soft warbling of small birds and the rushing of water int he nearby river. It wasn't long before they arrived in front of a homely looking building.

"Thank you very much for guiding me." said Rei to Jacques. Out of a small pouch that Rei fished out of his bag, he took out a tiny decorative pin, a bronze lily set with a shard of a common red stone that seemed to glow slightly. "Along with fire, my country is also known for out metalwork."

Rei gave this small gift to the kind man and bowed deeply before knocking and pushing open the door to the boarding house.

"Hello," Rei called out as he entered through the doorway. The entrance opened up into a warm living a room. A man sat near the middle, scratching something onto a piece of paper. Supposedly, this was Sue, and so he directed his request towards this man. "I'm looking for a place to stay."

[Icewing]

Jacques took the pin, looking at it curiously. "Thank you..." he said quietly. "Well, I suppose I might see you sometime, or I might not..." He turned around, starting to walk back down the street, trying to remember what he had been planning to do before running into this stranger.

~~~~~~~~~
Sue glanced up from his drawing and appeared to mouth some words before closing his mouth and doing the closest possible action to what would be considered glaring at his vocal cords. He then cleared his throat slightly before proceeding to speak. "Urm.. Sorry 'bout that..." His voice was rather quiet and almost sounded a bit hoarse, making it sound like Sue was sick, even though that was his usual voice.

"I take it you are new here in Midorea?" Sue started to idly sketch as he spoke. "Did Jacques accost you? Most people go for one of the more, for lack of a better word, mainstream inns, they don't really come here... But, anyways, I digress.." He got to his feet, stretching slightly as he walked over to a desk set in the corner of the room. After scrabbling around in the paperwork resting in a rather messy pile on top of the desk, Sue found a small black notebook, flipping it open to a clean page. He started to write in it before looking up in confusion. "Um... Could you remind me of what you said your name was..? I'm Sue, by the way, in case Jacques didn't tell you my name, or in case you didn't meet Jacques and it was pure chance you stumbled upon this boarding house.."

[Reika]

So he was indeed the Sue that Jacques had mentioned. Upon first impression, Sue seemed too tired, too weary. But he seemed to move about his place with enough amount of professionalism to ward off any lingering feelings of uncertainty.

"Yes, I am new to Midorea," answered Rei. "I have come from land further North. My transport just dropped me off here not long ago, where I did meet Jacques."

He watched as Sue ruffled through papers, finding a balck notebook, and asking him of his name. "My name is Rei. Jacques did mention who you were. It is a pleasure to meet you." Rei bowed low, keeping a tight grip around the top of his bag, and remembering not to mention his profession or his affinity for the flame.

[Maeve]

A small smile appeared on the teenager's lips as the centaur mentioned of his reaction. It must have looked a bit strange, seen by the someone else's eyes... The woman looked alright though, or at least not threatening, so he figured he could relax.. a little. He placed an arm behind his back, lightly leaning on it, playing with a stone with his other hand.

The last sentence reminded him of the festivals, and the numerous activities surrounding them. "Hm, right, there should be a festival soon... The Gignesthai Celebration," he thought out loud, visibly speaking for himself but clearly audible to anyone around. His eyes widened a little as he realized what he had said - or mostly, that he had said something - and he quickly added a question for the centaur: "What brings you here then, if you don't mind?" He paused, before adding with a larger smile: "Oh, I'm Kuma, by the way."

[Urboros]

Rhee moved her hoof out of the water and paced the side of the river slowly. She tilted her head a bit as she looked around the river, a soft breeze ticking her mane. she shook her tail and moved back to her original spot and stood quietly.

"yes the Gignesthai is getting close."
Rhee smiled, and waved her hand to gesticulate the closeness.
"oh I can't really explain that I usually come down from the mountains around this time but never so early. Though I am glad i get to see the city like this."
Rhee let her hand drop and she nodded.
"I go by Rhee, Kuma. May i ask why you are out?"

[Maeve]

A bright orange leaf passed in front of Kuma for a second, pushed by the light breeze of the night. The boy nodded as Rhee talked, mostly out of habit, and he brought his arms around his body to warm up a little.

"Hm, good question. I was just looking for something to do, I guess," he said, wondering if there was another reason but not finding any. He was just bored of staying in his room and waiting. Realizing he had been silent for a moment, he quickly added: "Of course, there's not much to do outside right now," indicating the quiet street behind him with his hand. Not knowing what to add, the teenager stood silently, thoughts passing slowly through his mind.

[Urboros]

Rhee snatched a leaf out of the air and brought it to her mouth to nibble on, fall leaves had a sort of zest to them, when they were freshly fallen. She noted that he seemed cold. She looked at the river judging the width.

"there are plenty of things to do, I'm going to jump this creek."
Rhee moved away from Kuma, she backed up a bit before trotting up to the edge and jumping over. Not all the way as he hind hoof did land in the water, but Rhee dismissed it.

One hoof wet was better then all hooves wet. She tilted her head at Kuma. Flick shifted but was still sound asleep, clearly quite used to strange movements that Rhee's gait had.
"would you like a blanket?"
she pointed at the one on her back.

[Maeve]

Kuma instinctively moved back as Rhee landed nearby, staring at the centaur nervously. She seemed... bigger now. And there was something on her head, something he couldn't identify. He didn't like things he couldn't identify, yet he was curious to know what the small creature was. He forced himself to regain his composure, standing up and replacing his clothes, still keeping an eye on Rhee just in case.

"Uh, thank you, but I think I'll be fine. Just need to move a little," he said, scratching the back of his head. He then looked at her curiously, wondering what she meant when she said there was lots of things to do. Surely, there was something better than throwing rocks in the river, but most of what he could think of seemed as boring. Maybe the centaur woman had some idea?

After a moment, he figured the best way to know was to ask. "Hm, what do you mean, lots of things to do? I... don't see that many."

[Urboros]

Rhee placed the blanket back on her rear smoothing it out so it wouldn't itch. She folded it in half and centered it. she turned back to Kuma.

"the stars, have you ever made star charts? there are other night owls too. also the night is the best time to look for bugs."

She patted her sack, it rustled with goods that she had brought down. She pulled out a half done star chart.

"I use star charts to travel, its much easier cause trees or land marks tend to vanish these days."
She frowned thinking of that destroyed city. She opened the chart and pointed to one of the stars in the sky.
"that one is the last one I put on the chart,"

She pointed at the star image on the chart.
"is there a name for this star?"

[Maeve]

Stars?... and bugs? The boy wasn't sure of his interest for any of those things, but at least it seemed better than sitting on a rock by the river. He stretched his neck and took a look at the chart Rhee had just taken out, admiring the details of it. Kuma had never seen a map like that, although he could easily understand how useful it could be for a traveler. Maybe he could need one in the future?

With a newly found interest for the chart, he looked at the dot Rhee was pointing, then back at the sky. "Uh, I dunno..." he said, biting his lower lip while searching through his memories for any useful information. Truth be told, he had never cared that much about stars. They just never seemed that useful when his main concerns were finding food and a shelter. Maybe someone else would be of a greater help to the centaur...

He remembered seeing some old man looking at the stars a few days ago, with a telescope, or whatever that instrument was called... He hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, but, if he remembered well, it was the herbalist, in the western part of the town. Maybe he could help? Then again, showing up in the middle of the night could look weird. He shrugged, finding nothing better.

"Hm, I think I know someone who might be able to help though," he said after a moment. "I dunno if he will be available at this hour, but I can show you where he lives if you want."

[Urboros]

"oh well it can wait, I just want the name of it because I've been calling lil yellow. I like to have the assigned name cause it makes it easier to give directions to others."
Rhee rolled up the chart and stashed it back into her bag. She rummaged around and settled everything nicely.

"well what do you do for fun?"

She carefully moved closer, her hands touching the tree as she grabbed a bunch of leaves and started to stash them in her bag.

"snacks for later."
She grinned bashfully.

[Maeve]

Kuma lifted an eyebrow when Rhee grabbed a bunch of leaves, or snacks. Strangely, maybe because of her upper body, he would have thought centaurs had a diet similar to humans. He shrugged it off quickly, thinking about her last question.

"Well, uh, I like hunting stuff, and discovering things and places," he said slowly, putting his thoughts in some useful order at the same time.

[Urboros]

Rhee brightened up, grin bared.
"Discovering things! I like doing that too, have you discovered anything neat?"

Rhee picked up a flower from her pack and placed it in her hair, flick would wake soon and would be looking for a snack.
"I hunt too, but mostly for plants. like healing herbs"

[Maeve]

((Sorry for the delay ))

A small shiver passed through the teen's body as a cooler wind started blowing on the city. He pulled his shirt tighter around his body, then looked at the centaur. "Hm, could we.. start walking?" he asked, figuring some action would warm him up a little. He headed for the nearest road slowly, letting time to Rhee to catch up. Although, she could probably outrun him easily if she wanted...

"Well, I've discovered that waiting is boring," he mumbled for himself, quickly pushing those thoughts away before resuming his speech with a louder tone. "Hm, let's see. I've found a nice cave outside the city," he said, trying to find anything interesting in his recent findings. "I didn't have the time to explore it all, but it's like a maze inside. And I've found a few crystals inside," he added, pulling a small piece of quartz out of his pocket to show it to the centaur.