lostrealm | A child getting into trouble

Entry tags:

A child getting into trouble

Characters: Chandra and OPEN
Date: 11/21
Format: top post is prose, but either is fine for threads
Content Warnings: none
Summary: Chandra arrives, and she's getting into trouble from the start.

Chandra's arrival was mostly uneventful. After watching the arrival mirror-movie thing, she had freaked out quietly in her room for a bit before deciding to go out and investigate. The city itself was big, though not as big as her hometown, and there was a lot to see.

Unfortunately, hunger had hit right about the time she had gone through the marketplace, and she had no money or means to get food of any kind. So she was stuck there, her stomach grumbling, wondering if she should try to grab a wallet from one of the many people walking by or just swiping food from one of the stalls. She didn't have her thief gear but she was so hungry she was willing to overlook that.

It didn't occur to her to go back to her assigned apartment and raid the fridge. Another thought did, though. Maybe she could beg food out of someone instead!

So she sat up on the fountain and looked around, trying to find some poor sucker to woobie into a free meal.

((OOC: Estelle and Haruki can run across her before she leave the apartment if either of you want to do that.))

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Equius was out shopping, and in fact his arms are full of food he's in the act of bringing back to feed the gaping maws of his roommates. He's still learning the cooking part, so there are also a couple of cookbooks shoved in a bag swinging from one arm. He keeps thinking if he can just have enough books, his food will taste like Aurthour used to make...

Chandra caught sight of all the food Equius was carrying, and she perked up a bit. But a moment later she realized that the guy carrying said groceries was definitely not human, though he looked the most human-ish out of all the weird aliens she had seen in this city. Perhaps he was one of the native species?

Still, it looked like he was carrying a lot, and maybe she could worm her way into a (weird, alien) meal if she pretended to be helpful. Besides, it wasn't like she couldn't escape if things suddenly turned sour. So she hopped off of the fountain and ran over to him, trying her best to look innocent and totally not up to anything. Even though she was only a few years younger than him, she was a lot shorter, so she was assuming he was at least an older teenager.

"Mister, do you need any help with that?"

"No, I don't." Equius didn't even look at the girl or hesitate before making the statement. Of course he didn't need help - he was more than strong enough to carry these piddly groceries!

But he did glance down a moment later anyway. Belatedly, he added. "Thank you for the offer."

"You don't need help, even with all that stuff?"

It was a bit much to believe, but this alien-guy wasn't struggling. It took Chandra a moment to notice that. When she did, though, she suddenly realized that maybe aliens would be stronger than humans.

"Not at all. I'm more than STRONG enough to carry these without assistance."

He eyes her, a little confused. "Why do you want to help me?"

Chandra shrugged at that. "You looked like you needed help, that's all."

She was trying to look altruistic there, even though she had other motivations for helping out.

"No I didn't," Equius says firmly, still studying her expression. "Why did you really offer?"

Whoops. Equius was seeing right through her, she needed to think quickly. "Geez, sorry! With the glasses 'n stuff I thought you were blind."

Becoming defensive was always the right answer. Always.

He stares at her. "No, I'm not blind. I can see just fine." He pauses. "Can I assist you in some way?"

[Haruki was actually back from classes for the day, but before he goes out to a job. So he's in the apartment and shedding out of his school clothes to his work clothes when he hears first the door opening (oh, Estelle) but then... fridge raiding...?

He grunts and figures he's got his pants on even a shirt isn't he should go out and see what's up, because that was too much noise for Estelle and-] ...Oi.

[Chandra quickly closed the fridge door and turned around when she heard the voice, though she was greeted with quite a surprise. She really hadn't been expecting to run into a sudden shirtless dude in the apartment she had been assigned to, so she kind of just stares for a minute. She's too young to swoon over guys yet but she's not too young to find this situation slightly awkward.]

Uh.

Hi?

[And he's just old enough and she's just young enough for him to just shrug and roll with it. He bows, lightly, to be polite] Were you assigned here or are you robbing me?

I was assigned here.

[She is quick to tell the truth, and she doesn't realize that she didn't deny her thief habits. Whoops.]

So I guess you're one of my roommates then. Do we get assigned a mom and dad or whatever?

[Chandra has never lived in a house without parents before, so she assumes there's some kind of adult living with them too.]

-What? No, that's be weird. [His eye narrow and then mutters out in (green) Japanese:] I don't want any parents except my own, you know. [and then back to the English-] Besides, I'm nineteen and Estelle's probably about the same age anyway.

But I'm not nineteen.

[She says this like it is an important fact that will change everything ever.]

And I don't think you 'n Estelle are supposed to be my new fake parents.

Are you really that eager for fake parents?

[And he pushes past her to go and get something out of the fridge]

Well no, my real parents are much better, but I don't see 'em around here.

[She gets huffy about being pushed out of the way, but once she sees food in the fridge she stops all annoying-ness.]

Do you know how to cook?

Of course I do --- Err, I mean. Yes I do.

[There, polite. He tries to be polite]

[She has a hard time believing that.]

Do you know how to cool good?

Yes! I can probably cool better than your parents!

There's no way you cook better than my mom. She's the BEST.

[Beat.]

But if you're okay at cooking, then you're probably better than dad, yeah.

I'm great, not okay. I'm even getting used to the ingredients here. [Huff]

[The wheels in Chandra's head are turning. Idea get.]

Well, if you're so great, why don't you show me?

Fine. What do you want? [And he opens the fridge again, to look at their ingredients. He should check the cupboards too actually- he goes to do that, glancing at her briefly before he does]

Pancakes!

[Even though it is the middle of the afternoon, Chandra loves breakfast food.]

Like that's even difficult! [Seriously? Pancakes? Not a good test at all. That said, he diligently starts to get out the materials to make a batter and a bowl, mixer, all that jazz]

Hey, it's hard to make 'em without burning 'em!

[She knows. She has tried to do this many times.]

Yeah, if you're impatient or have poor timing or something. [As he mixes in the items for his batter. He shakes his head dramatically like this is putting him out a lot. Even if it's not]

"Hey, watch it!"

A man unto Chandra's own general plan shoved a lizard-man out of his way in the middle of the square, brandishing a fist tightly balled up as if creating an emphasis for the basis of a threat, "You'll dislocate my shoulder walking so rough!"

Souichirou feigned an injury, clutching his shoulder with his open, free hand. "The medical bills are gonna be a pain, you monster lizard! Where do you get off, treating this place like it's a wrestling arena! You gotta front the bill for me, you careless jerk!"

He put on his best act, but the creature stared at him, well aware that he had better things to do.

At first, Chandra was miffed by the sudden appearance of another scammer. This was her territory, damnit! Sure, she was new, but she was better-equipped for scamming and this guy was totally intruding!

So she decided to just watch from a distance for a moment, figuring that his great scam wouldn't work so well in a weird alien land. Still, Chandra had to give this guy props for his determination. Her irritation wore away, and by the time the random aliens wandered away and ignored this guy Chandra had decided to go talk to him.

"Guess your plan didn't work so well," she said, leaning against a nearby light pole.

"Hey!" Souichirou cursed internally, realizing he had a fellow urchin watching in on him and she didn't even think to-- "If you're so knowledgeable, why didn't you help!? If you spot a scam, you're supposed to jump in and help, then we cut each other down trying to make a bargain on percents!"

In truth, Souichirou had been at wits' end trying just to entertain himself on a daily basis. Doing basic chores just for meals wasn't too difficult given his lack of refined taste and stomach for food close to garbage-status, but he really hated being inactive as a thug. He had to get his kicks somewhere.

So he overreacted, "You gotta help, dumbass!"

"Don't call me dumb, I know how this works!"

But she didn't just stop there. She looked around quickly, then reached up to grab Souichirou's hand to drag him somewhere more private, just around a corner or by an alley or something. Their big schemes wouldn't work if everyone overheard it.

"First things first," she said, dropping her voice down to a quiet conversational voice, "If you're gonna help me, you gotta do what I say. It's not gonna work if you go on being loud like that."

Yeah she was pretty experienced with conning people, despite her young age. Chandra had plans for Souichirou, if he went along with what she was planning.

Summoner had never been one to possess much in terms of dough. But he wasn't the type to let some poor alien wiggler-country-thing sit there looking bored and helpless as they stared out at the markets for food either. Always a bit more compassionate then many of his race in terms of helping those who needed it he couldn't help but notice her staring.

So, a lot of money or no, at least he could help. Approaching the girl curiously, his large form and intimidating horns casting a shadow over her as he approached. "You okay? Seem to be bearing lasers into those food stalls with those ocular lenses of yours."

He didn't have much dough. But he had enough to give out to someone who needed it.

Chandra noticed the shadow before she saw the Summoner, and she looked up suddenly, expecting to find a huge bull or something. Suddenly seeing an adult troll was kind of scary, even moreso than a bull would have been. Those claws, and teeth, and those huge horns...yeah Chandra was intimidated by it.

She didn't run off, but she decided that messing with a big guy like this probably wasn't a good idea, even if he was being nice and offering it like that. The last thing she needed was to piss off someone with horns bigger than her entire being.

So Chandra shook her head quickly, a slight tinge of fear speeding up her movements and making her voice sound a little higher than normal. "I'm okay," she squeaked out. She didn't even know what an 'ocular lens' was, to be honest.

The apparent look of fear on the girls face had sufficiently taken him off guard. Yeah he was scary when he needed to be, but that was usually when he was confronting opposition. And this had been his first time since coming to this land that it felt like he had truly intimidated someone without meaning to.

His hands lifting up in defense, he did his best to smile out as kindly as he could. (A big, toothy, sharp smile.)

"Woah woah, chika, it's okay? I'm not after you or anything, don't worry," Summoner let out a nervous chuckle. "Jus' wondering if your hungry is all."

Chandra was tiny and not used to seeing big scary people without her parents (or her tools of escape) right there to protect her if things turned bad. Not that she thought her parents could be much help against an alien, but they were a comfort she had not quite outgrown yet.

The smile didn't help that much, since those teeth were very dangerous-looking. But the Summoner's words sounded genuine, at least, so Chandra tried to gulp down her fear and respond to him. "A little, yeah, but I'll be okay until dinner."

Assuming one of her roommates would be making dinner. Chandra was terribly inept at cooking anything that needed tools besides a microwave.

A shame Summoner knew nothing of Parents, the closest thing his people having in comparison being his own Lussus. Man did he miss the little guy. But he could understand the concern the child held. If anything any wiggler from his planet would probably react the same way.

What with the reputation older Trolls had with younger generations. If anything, running away was a pretty normal thing to do.

But he wasn't like most adults. At least, he wasn't trying to be. Not any more.

"You sure? If y'want I can get you something from one of those stalls over there."

He didn't approach closer, not wanting to intimidate her any further then he already had.

The big troll guy wasn't getting any closer, and he didn't seem nearly as threatening as Chandra had first imagined. He was still big and kinda scary, but he wasn't yelling, so maybe he wasn't so bad? Chandra was still unsure, but she was ruled by her tummy at the moment, so she was willing to give the guy a chance. A tiny chance, sure, but it was still a chance to show he wasn't some big spooky scary guy.

"...Well okay," she said finally, "But no funny stuff, got it?"

She didn't even know what kind of 'funny stuff' the Summoner could possibly do to food given in the middle of a crowd, but it still felt like something that needed to be said.

"Yeah, yeah, of course kiddo. See? No funny business at all," He tried his best to keep up looking as nice as possible. But all the smiling was beginning to hurt. His wings twitching slightly in tense reaction to his own forced expression. "You can even pick up th'food. I'll just pay the vendor. All right?"

If anything he could say he liked the kids spunk. If she kept it up she was certain to make it to adulthood without getting culled.

Chandra was still watching Summoner to make sure he's not going to suddenly kidnap her, though she gradually realized that kidnapping might be difficult. He had huge horns and big wings, there was no way someone wasn't going to notice something. That made Chandra feel a bit safer.

So she walked over to a stand full of pies and baked goods and pointed to one of the single-serving pies. "How about that?"

"Mmm? One of those huh? Yeah that ain't too expensive," Unable to hold back another toothy grin the turned to the grocer. Pointing it out and pulling some cash from his pocket. He didn't have much, but it was enough to get by, as well as help others from time to time when they needed it. Heck if he didn't know these sort of favors usually ended up having away of proving some benefit later.

"You can reach for it now if ya want. See? All paid for."

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A child getting into trouble

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