Closed RP Animal Instincts

[Katpride]

Adelyn is going to have to venture into the city at some point. That point is not this point. That point can wait until she’s memorized all the forest paths and climbable trees. She’s aware she’s procrastinating, but the city is wild and loud and unknown in a way that the forest isn’t. She knows all the ways a forest can be wild and loud and unknown.

There are still more people here than she’s used to, and the wooded areas are smaller. She’s not hiding, exactly, but she’s being careful not to run into people without her boots and gloves and hood on hand. Or on foot and hand and head, as it may be.

She’s closer to the paths today, peoplewatching. There are less people on the jogging paths than around the play structure, and few venture off the beaten trails. Adelyn is one of those few, perched in a tree a few yards from the path with her back up against the trunk and one leg dangling. She doesn’t exactly ‘blend in’, but if she stays very still she isn’t usually spotted. Most people don’t look up on cloudy days like this one.

She’s getting better at this ‘sneaking’ thing. People’s patterns are harder to categorize than animals’, but she’s figuring them out little by little.

A flutter catches her eye, and she goes very still as a bird lands on her branch. It hasn’t noticed her yet, and she hardly dares to breathe lest she startle it away. It’s a pretty little sparrow. She wishes she had birdseed on hand, and makes a note to pack some for next time.

Footsteps on the path below, and the bird flits away again with a rustle of wings. Adelyn sighs audibly, a little disappointed, and looks down at the path again with a small frown. The person walking by is… oh, that’s odd. There’s something there, but she can’t tell what. Has she seen him before?

Adelyn creeps forward a little and - darn! - her gloved hand slips off the branch. “Eep!”

She catches herself with her back to the ground, elbows and knees hooked around the branch, heart thundering in her ears. Welp. There goes stealth.

 

[Wendigo]

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[div][attr="style","grid-area:Main;color:#95877d;padding:9px;"][div][attr="style","grid-area:Left;"][div align="Left"][div style="font-family:'georgia';"]Todd had quickly found that Pittsburgh was a suffocating city. He was usually fine in cities, he could do bodies and people, the stink and noise that came with them, but he always forgot how bad a big city was to live in. Thankfully, like all big cities, Pittsburgh had hiking trails. He'd already made the mistake to coming here in the afternoon, when most of the trail's occupants were hipsters in obnoxious clothing drinking canned beer and pretending to enjoy the open air while also on their cell phones the whole time. He'd even started to question his decision to come to Pittsburgh at all. Maybe moving out to a suburb wouldn't be a bad idea.

His doubts faded away when he found this offshoot trail, though. A branch off the main one, it seemed to be frequented by people who actually read the signs to "take only pictures, leave only footprints". No litter, no crowded babble. Todd even took the cap off his own camera, one of his more expensive possessions, and taken a few good shots of birds and squirrels and a tree that was shaped like an X. He was an amateur at best when it came to this stuff, but it helped clear his head to focus on the animals and plants, the blank space between human beings. It helped him ignore the cold in his bones, too, even if it didn't actually do anything about it.

A pair of wings fluttered nearby, and Todd looked up to see a sparrow leave its perch on a branch. He raised his camera to follow it, focus in better where his other senses had failed, but as he stopped he felt his senses stir. There was a smell in the air, heavy and thick, not quite human. He could have sworn he heard a sigh, too. He lowered the camera and took a quick glance around, squinting in the grey afternoon light.

There was a creak, and a groan, and rustle of fabric against wood, and Todd's head snapped up at the sound of a very human [font color="d8caf5"]“Eep!”[/font]

Sure enough, a figure now dangled from the limb. Hooded, gloved, booted. He couldn't make out any real facial features, but as he took a breath he caught another whiff of that scent from earlier. Almost animal. Then again, what another person smelled like wasn't any of his business. Really her hanging there wasn't any of his business either, but it'd be weird for him to just move on with them upside-down like that.

"Hey there," he said, feeling kind of awkward as he took a step towards the stranger. "Do you uh... need help?"

The "p" caught on his lips with a faint pop, an emphasis to stay casual. His cold blue eyes wouldn't seem too worried, especially given they'd caught themself instead of breaking their spine on the ground. Just a polite check-in, really. He'd be fine to move on in a second when she said everything was okay and went back to....

"What're you doing up there, anyway?"[/div][/div][/div][/div]

 

[Katpride]

“Ummmmm…” Oh dear. She wasn’t supposed to be talking to people today, just watching them, but it’s never the wrong time to make a friend, right? Besides, it’s probably best to keep her options open so that she can maybe not fall from this tree today.

Then again, maybe she can fix this! Adelyn makes a brief effort to at least right herself, but only manages to slide one of her gloves halfway off her hand. She fixes it by tugging on the hem with her teeth, then sighs. She isn’t used to tree-climbing without her claws. “Yes, please.”

She starts to tilt her head back so she can look at the stranger, then remembers herself and keeps her eyes on the branch, muscles going tense. Oh noooooo, what if he sees that she’s a meta and then he doesn’t want to help her anymore?

Well, she’ll just have to figure it out, if that does happen. Be brave. She lets her head fall back, milky white eyes taking in the upside-down man. Her hood has also fallen, but hair is easier to pass off as dyed.

She laughs nervously. “Um, sitting? Or hanging, more recently, though that wasn’t intentional.”

Please be cool, please be cool.

 

[Wendigo]

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[div][attr="style","grid-area:Main;color:#95877d;padding:9px;"][div][attr="style","grid-area:Left;"][div align="Left"][div style="font-family:'georgia';"]He chuckled back to hide the edge of his nerves. "I can see that."

Quite the predicament he'd gotten himself into by asking. The longer he stood by her - and now he was sure it was a girl, teen by the looks of her, with a very strange face, eyes with no pupils or irises. Is she blind or something? That'd be rude to ask, and Todd wasn't in the business of making enemies right away. But the longer he stood near her, the more certain he was that she was the source of the musky animal smell. Some kind of cat, maybe. He wasn't thinking too hard about identifying what she was, even if it did make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. She wasn't dangerous, just offputting.

But now he couldn't just walk away. He'd offered to help, and while she was good enough to stay on the branch, getting back up - or down - was clearly a different problem. He turned the possibilities over in his mind. Climbing up to help her would probably be his best option, but it was clear she was having a tough time hanging on. Catching her would be the better bet, then. He'd be betraying a somewhat better than average strength, and she looked heavy, but he could use a good deed right now. Every little bit counted, after...

He took a deep breath to get rid of any thought of Summer. That incident was three months behind him, and he'd been working against his decisions back then. Helping a stranger wasn't going to completely fix it. But walking away wouldn't do him any good, either. Call him superstitious, maybe. It was always better to be safe than sorry.

"Alright, kid, I'm about to ask a lot of you." He took his camera off, and set it on the side of the trail as he walked toward the tree. He talked the whole way, just in case the girl really was blind. "You're going to need to trust me. If you can do that, then when I say go, you need to let go. I'll be right down here to catch you."

He came to a stop under the tree and braced himself. "Okay. When you're ready... Go."[/div][/div][/div][/div]

 

[Katpride]

Adelyn quietly watches the man approach, eyes following him until he’s close enough that she’d have to turn her head at an impossible angle to keep tracking him. Maybe an owl could do that, but she can’t, so she just listens. She can hear the crunch of his boots and the sound of his voice and the little shuffle-scritch of a squirrel darting away from the both of them.

There’s that odd feeling again as he gets closer, but he isn’t trying to hurt her. She can tell that much, at least, and her instincts have never steered her wrong before. She takes a breath, rests her forehead on the branch for a moment, scrunches her eyes shut. “Okay.”

Either he catches her or he breaks her fall and they take a tumble into the leaves. She’ll be fine. When he says to, she lets go. One eye squints open to watch the canopy retreat, and then she’s colliding with something solid. Someone solid.

 

[Wendigo]

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[div][attr="style","grid-area:Main;color:#95877d;padding:9px;"][div][attr="style","grid-area:Left;"][div align="Left"][div style="font-family:'georgia';"]The second Todd caught her in his arms he realized his mistake.

He caught her. He'd never worried about that. She was a little heavier than he'd been anticipating but she landed across his arms bridal-style with barely a shift to make sure she was secure. He wasn't even worried that she'd notice the layers of clothing between her and his actual body. Most people didn't pay that much attention, and even if she did, there were dozens of reasons he could be dressed that way.

The problem wasn't her weight at all. It was her warmth. The heat of her body burned through his thick clothes and triggered a pang of hunger that cut him like a winter wind, leaving him staggered. His grip on her wasn't paralyzing by any stretch, but perhaps... perhaps it was just a touch more than it should have been, as his mind raced against the bone-deep ache that haunted him.

How long had it been since he'd eaten?

Summer. He hadn't eaten since Summer. A kind of penance. There'd been a time when he could go for months without even feeling peckish. Even now, the throng of the city hadn't yet bothered him, hadn't yet touched that instinct. But he was alone out here. There were people, sure, but he knew where to hide in the woods, and it wasn't like there'd be a body. If he took off at a run she would take a second to process what was happening. There'd be time.

But at what cost?

Summer. He thought of Summer. Judging by her face, the blind girl was the same age, albeit built very differently. And there was that smell to consider as well, the one that made his skin crawl. Even if he'd ever tempt fate - which he wouldn't, his own skin was too valuable for that - this wasn't food. The hunger didn't go away, but Todd reigned it in. He'd find another way to satisfy it. Maybe get lucky on his early patrols of the city. Not a girl, and not this girl.

Less than a second had passed. It'd been an infinite second, but a moment's decision was made between catching the girl and a deep breath. He leaned her towards the ground, and as her feet touched he helped pull her upright. If he'd noticed anything strange about her gloved hand, he didn't show any indication, lost in thought as he was. She might notice the slight tremble in his grip, solid though it was, as the cold refused to dissipate.

He swallowed hard before he spoke, but his smile was as warm as before, and even the coldness in his eyes was the former coldness of color and not of malice. "See? No sweat. Safe and sound on solid earth."[/div][/div][/div][/div]

 

[Katpride]

Oh, he caught her. That’s good. Feeling a little lightheaded, Adelyn smiles and relaxes for just a second before suddenly all the little hairs on her arms are standing on end. Her breath, newly caught, escapes her again.

Danger.

Her eyes snap open, tense and wary during a second that drags on far longer than it should. She’d trusted him a moment before, but now it’s like a switch has been flipped and all those fuzzy warm friendly feelings turn dark and cold. Her claws prickle against the stupid glove, and she wonders which of them will be quicker on the draw.

Then he takes a breath, a woosh in and a warm exhale, and the moment passes. Adelyn is out of his arms as soon as he sets her down, stumbling just a bit in her haste. Darn boots. Her expression is guarded, even as the danger has seemingly passed, whatever caused it. Fool her once, but not twice.

“Thank you.” Then, because curiosity is a terrible curse, she asks, “What brings you out here?”

Maybe it would be smarter to leave him alone, but if he’s dangerous then she has to make sure he’s not going to be hurting anyone. Despite the blankness of her eyes, it’s unmistakable that she’s watching him.

 

[Wendigo]

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[div][attr="style","grid-area:Main;color:#95877d;padding:9px;"][div][attr="style","grid-area:Left;"][div align="Left"][div style="font-family:'georgia';"]She sensed something was wrong. He could see it in her eyes as she backed away from him, felt it in the tension of her body like a coiled spring. His earlier suspicion that she might be blind completely vanished as he felt the pressure of her gaze, and for the first time he noticed the tufts of fur poking up from under her white hair. His expression didn't change, and he didn't return her idle curiosity. Instead he gestured back to the trail, to the camera at the side of it.

[font color="#4b0101"]"Just touring. I'm new to the area. Needed some time off the streets, so I'm out here enjoying nature."[/font]

That was the truth, albeit a little vague. His reasons for coming out here had been a little vague. He wanted to ask her a question in return, but he could already tell that wasn't going to get him anywhere. He felt like they were assessing each other, though to what purpose he had no idea. The last actual predator he'd tangled with was a normal bear. He definitely didn't stare at the cat ears, or express anything indication he'd noticed her featureless eyes besides polite contact. Now it was time to turn up the charm, just enough to be neither too forward nor aloof. Polite.

[font color="#4b0101"]"Todd, by the way. Todd Fowler."[/font] He offered his hand, and gave her a polite amount of time before he pulled it back. He wouldn't be offended if she didn't take it, or return with her own name. He could just walk away, too, but he felt like for some reason she wasn't going to leave well enough alone. Difficult to understand, since she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.

[font color="#4b0101"]"Maybe I could take you to get a bite to eat?"[/font] Shit that sounded weird. Especially if she'd caught the whiff of cold from earlier. [font color="#4b0101"]"I saw a Chinese place on the way in. We could get there by bus. My treat - least I could do after scaring you like that."[/font]

Fuck, that sounded weirder. The words were out though, and he didn't change his tune. Taking it back would make a bad situation worse. He really did mean it. And the promise of possibly getting banned from a Chinese buffet was... weirdly enticing, all things considered. Though that might just be his stomach talking.[/div][/div][/div][/div][/div]

 

[Katpride]

“Adelyn,” she returns, shaking his hand firmly. There’s something in her demeanor that’s too old for her apparent youth. She doesn’t trust him, but that’s no reason to not be polite. Her parents raised her well.

And it wouldn’t do to scare him off if she wants to keep an eye on him. Even if she has to go into the city to do it. She spends another moment studying him before her eyes drop down, looking back towards roots of the tree she had been in only moments ago. “Sure. That would be nice of you.”

She finds what she’s looking for instantly, as it’s still in the place she left it. Her pack is a neutral brown, blending in much better than she does. She scoops it up and tosses the strap over her shoulder. Her right shoulder, she does everything with her right hand, leaving the left tucked into her pocket.

“What does the ethnicity of the place have to do with anything?” Adelyn can’t help but mutter, loosening up a little as the sense of danger stays minimal. So that’s what she was sensing earlier. It’s harder to pick up on things that aren’t an immediate threat to her, but this man carries so many red flags it’s a surprise he hasn’t been mauled by a bull.

She gestures for him to go ahead of her back towards the path and his camera. “Lead the way.”

 

[Wendigo]

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[div][attr="style","grid-area:Main;color:#95877d;padding:9px;"][div][attr="style","grid-area:Left;"][div align="Left"][div style="font-family:'georgia';"]The suspicion in her blank eyes didn't go away. Her distrust was actually unexpected, but if she had the same hair-raising feeling he had about her, it would make sense. Rather than try to soothe the detected danger, though, she seemed to just watch it. That was fine. As of right now, there was nothing to see. Just Todd, smiling patiently as she shook his hand. He couldn't make the slight trembling go away, but he met her firmness with a reasonable amount of his own.

[font color="#4b0101"]"Adelyn,"[/font] he repeated politely as he watched her grab her bag from the roots of the tree. Somewhere nearby, a squirrel chittered. [font color="#4b0101"]"That's a nice name."[/font]

He'd turned back toward the trail when his sensitive hearing picked up the muttered comment about the food's ethnicity. Which in its own right was just begging for a cannibalism joke, but he refrained. That kind of thing was definitely not cool, especially around someone who already didn't trust him. She'd probably catch him with a ghost of a smirk as he started to explain.

[font color="#4b0101"]"Chinese food? Like...Kung-Pao chicken. Beef and broccoli. Fortune cookies."[/font] He turned to examine her face, but she seemed serious. He hadn't had much exposure to the world before a certain point in time, either. And she didn't seem like the sort to eat out too often. [font color="#4b0101"]"It's where the recipes are from. Usually run by people from there, too."[/font]

They made it back to the trail, and he recovered his camera. He checked the battery, then replaced the cap, turned it off, and slung it over his neck. Distantly, he could hear other people coming in their direction. He turned away from them, back the way he'd come. The chewing sensation against his bones hadn't actually subsided, and the closer they got to the city, the better he knew he'd feel about his own self-control. In the meantime, he figured he'd fill the silence with something.

[font color="#4b0101"]"So, Adelyn, you from around here?"[/font][/div][/div][/div][/div][/div]

 

[Katpride]

Adelyn nods thoughtfully at his response. So the food is Chinese and not the building. That makes more sense, she can’t imagine it would be easy to take a whole building from another country. Then again, she doesn’t know anything about construction or politics. Yet. Maybe she should spend a little more time doing research instead of roaming around the forest.

While Todd picks up his camera, she glances down the path in the direction she can hear people. They’re not too close, but might be a problem if they go in that direction. She straightens a little with sudden realization and swings her backpack around to dig through it.

“No, I grew up in Oregon. I’m here now, though, have been for… a bit.” She’s still searching while they start walking, her steps jostling everything around and making the whole process a little more difficult. After a long moment, she unearths a pair of lightly scratched sunglasses and slides them onto her face. If she’s going into the city, she’ll need to be less obvious.

“Just haven’t seen much of the city yet,” she hedges, closing her bag and slinging it around to her back. It’s a bit cloudy for sunglasses, but it’s also a bit warm for boots and gloves. Todd seems cold, but maybe that’s just a him thing because she’s nice and toasty. “What about you?”

 

[Wendigo]

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[div][attr="style","grid-area:Main;color:#95877d;padding:9px;"][div][attr="style","grid-area:Left;"][div align="Left"][div style="font-family:'georgia';"][font color="#4b0101"]"Oh, I'm from a little bit of all over,"[/font] Todd replied, without the tone of someone who just didn't want to talk about his past. He hadn't stayed in one place long enough to really call it home since... Well, since Billings. Since Arlo. Adelyn didn't need to know about Arlo. Or Summer. Ever, if this was going to be a regular kind of thing. The feeling in Todd's gut, the one that wasn't the cold gnawing hunger, said that this whole situation was turning into something familiar. He didn't like that thought.

He cleared his throat a little as he pulled himself back to the present. [font color="#4b0101"]"I haven't seen too much of the city either. Really just here for work until the road calls again. Don't like staying in one place for too long."[/font]

He had to admit, the sunglasses were effective at hiding the blank white of her eyes, and the rest of her getup, while warm, seemed designed for excursions like this. He had a feeling she was hiding more oddities under the gloves and boots, the same way he hid his frame under too many clothes when he didn't eat for a while. Stopped people from staring at the very least, although he'd learned that most wouldn't take the time to actually ask what was wrong with him. Cat ears might be a little bit different.[/div][/div][/div][/div][/div]

 

[Katpride]

“What kind of work do you do?” She steps over a root that’s twisted its way across the path and a glint catches her eye. There’s a little plastic lid on the ground, and Adelyn scoops it up without breaking her stride, tucking it in her pocket for now.

There sure is a lot of trash in cities. Her bag is at least half full of it just from today. It makes her miss home, where the trees grew tall and there was only occasionally a little bit of trash to pick up. The forest knows how to take care of itself when it comes to fires and animals and new plants, but plastic not so much.

“What about home for you?” she asks before she can think better of it. Her words catch up to her mind a second later. “Oh, sorry, you don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”

 

[Wendigo]

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[div][attr="style","grid-area:Main;color:#95877d;padding:9px;"][div][attr="style","grid-area:Left;"][div align="Left"][div style="font-family:'georgia';"]Kid had a lot of questions. Todd didn't necessarily mind them, but he did have to think before he spoke, just to make sure he didn't say anything offputting.

[font color="#4b0101"]"Bit of anything that won't keep me rooted, actually."[/font] He started to list on his fingers. [font color="#4b0101"]"I like working with my hands - had a brief stint as a mechanic, then did some work for a landlord as a handyman. Did a few jobs like that on and off. I've also done retail stuff - coffee barista... that didn't last long... grocery store bagger, stocker, and clerk. Had a gas station job for a bit at one of those old-fashioned places where you pump the gas for a customer. That was cool. They had uniforms and everything."[/font]

He saw Adelyn pick up a piece of trash, and without really thinking started to do the same as they walked. He started by just collecting them in his arms, but if Adelyn offered a bag he wouldn't refuse. When she asked her question, he fell silent long enough for her to rethink her question. The opening was there to just let it go, but he also had a creeping suspicion that it would just come up again later, when he was in a slightly worse mood. If there was a good time for it, it was now, with no one else around and a clear (well, mostly clear) head.

[font color="#4b0101"]"Well, I uh... No, it's no problem."[/font] He breathed deeply through his nose, catching a whiff of that edge where city and forest met. [font color="#4b0101"]"I grew up in the foster system, actually. Most of my life. I actually don't even remember where my parents were from. They bounced me around a lot - I guess I have some distant relatives that couldn't deal with me at the time, so in the system I stayed. Second I got out of it I was off like a shot. Found a place as far away as I could drive, settled down in middle of nowhere Montana for a long stretch. Then I heard the road call for the first time. Haven't really been able to sit still since."[/font]

Half the truth had to be enough. He'd been running from Billings ever since Arlo, and townhopping, while a formative experience, had more to do with not wanting to be recognized than "the call of the road." Although he did like the travel. That wasn't a lie. The foster system wasn't a lie, either, but it was vague enough that even if she did tell (and he was sure she had no idea how to tell, even if she wanted to) she wouldn't have any information of value. He'd changed his name the second he got out, too. Precautions every step of the way. At the time he'd been running from something. These days, he mostly felt like he was running in circles. But Adelyn didn't need to know that. Adelyn just wanted to know about his home. And it was the truth to say: he'd never had one.[/div][/div][/div][/div][/div]

 

[Katpride]

Maybe there’s something to this ‘information gathering’ thing. Adelyn is learning so much just from listening to him, and after a few moments the suspicion fades to the background and she just nods along. It reminds her of when she was young, listening to her uncle regale her with slightly exaggerated versions of what he’d done in a day.

It’s the litter that tips her opinion back in his favor. Even if he is dangerous, he can’t be all that bad. She offers him her bag when his arms start to fill up, hardly thinking about it as she uses both hands to hold the top open. The glove on her left hand seems like it’s much more padded than the right, but both disappear up her sleeves.

A noise of sympathy escapes her when he mentions the foster system. She doesn’t have any experience with it herself, but her parents warned her not to get caught in its net even if something were to happen to them. She doesn’t even like thinking about it, so she imagines it must be even worse to actually live.

“What happened to your parents?” Her tone is soft, eyes round behind her glasses. She can’t imagine not living with her family, and she resolves to call and check on her momma and poppa as soon as she has the chance. She misses them.

They’re nearing the end of the path now, the end of this little stretch of greenery. She can already hear the people and the bustle and the city up ahead. Her ear twitches in a way human ears don’t, reminding her to fluff out her hair and pull her hood up.

 

[Wendigo]

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[div][attr="style","grid-area:Main;color:#95877d;padding:9px;"][div][attr="style","grid-area:Left;"][div align="Left"][div style="font-family:'georgia';"]She didn't seem to catch on that his answer didn't have any real substance, which was good. He hadn't actually told her anything of value, besides the part about being in Montana. While the story wasn't rehearsed it was generously filtered to ring hollow to an actual listener. But Adelyn clearly wasn't in the business of listening too hard. That was fine by Todd.

That is, until she mentioned the inevitable.

He could lie. He hadn't told a soul about his parents, not since Arlo. It was a secret that had died with him. Todd really wanted it to stay that way. Pity tended to get on his nerves, although with Adelyn, it was less pity. She seemed to have her own sad thoughts, a kind of kinship. Not formed in actual tragedy but in the potential for it. He didn't think he could bring himself to lie to her about it, but here, in a public park, was not the place to bare his soul to anybody.

[font color="#4b0101"]"Eh, it doesn't really matter,"[/font] he said, in the tough-guy way that made it seem like the feelings were long behind him. [font color="#4b0101"]"I was on my own by nine and I don't remember much of them anyway."[/font]

Truth was, he had enough memories of them to know he was happy leaving all that in the past. Did he get sad about it sometimes? Sure. And obviously once he'd started showing... symptoms, he'd wanted to look into the situation, see if he could find anything in his past. If it explained anything. But in the time since he'd learned that he wasn't the only member of his family to get the cold chill in his bones, or even the first to really indulge it. He was just the first to put it to good use.

There were more people here, but now the smell and chatter didn't get under his skin nearly as well. A woman with her hair dyed a painful green chatted with a man in fake flannel and jeans that were way too tight, both drinking canned beer with an artistic label. Todd actually found it in himself to nod to them as he passed now. They were coming to the edge of the park when he remembered something.

[font color="#4b0101"]"Do you have a bus pass or anything? I can pay cash, I just want to make sure before we get there."[/font][/div][/div][/div][/div][/div]

 

[Katpride]

Adelyn glances sideways at Todd, and her mouth twists to the side, but she doesn’t press. There are some things that people don’t like talking about, and she gets the feeling this might be one of those.

“I’m sorry,” she says instead, and lets him decide whether she’s apologizing for asking or offering her condolences. She isn’t really sure herself.

They pass a couple people and Adelyn takes a half step closer to Todd, keeping her face turned carefully away from the stranger-strangers. She doesn’t mean to listen to their conversation, but she still hears all of it. It’s hard not to. She still isn’t used to being around too many people, and they’re hard to tune out.

Well, no better way to learn than experience, right?

“I think my grandma gave me something for buses.” It’s in her bag somewhere, probably. She digs through the trash and unearths an old leather wallet. She flips it open and thumbs out a plastic card, the only one in the numerous tiny pockets. “This, right?”

She’s got some cash too, but she’s pretty sure her grandma said something about buses when she handed her the card. She hasn’t used it, but she kept it just in case.

Oh. Her grandma also said not to have her wallet out for too long. Adelyn drops it back into her bag with a quick glance from side to side, then offers the card to Todd.

 

[Wendigo]

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[div][attr="style","grid-area:Main;color:#95877d;padding:9px;"][div][attr="style","grid-area:Left;"][div align="Left"][div style="font-family:'georgia';"]Todd squinted a little at the card as he held it between his fingers, then smiled with a nod. [font color="#4b0101"]"That's the one!"[/font]

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her step away from the pair he'd seen and the slight discomfort in her face. With ears like that, he realized, there was a good chance her hearing was as sharp as his, maybe even better. For her own sake, he decided to keep talking as he handed her back the bus pass. He was glad she'd been so open to the change of subject.

[font color="#4b0101"]"You said you're from Oregon, right? That's a long way. Here for school or something?"[/font]

While he redirected the conversation, he also directed their path. Over the next few minutes, they'd pass by a handful more people who were busy talking about nothing. A little gossip, a little news. Normally at this point Todd would have his ears peeled for any news about crime while pretending to look over his photos. Now he didn't need to pretend to be distracted. He was giving Adelyn as much attention as he could spare, and definitely wasn't focused on the lingering chill sat hard like a rock at his core.

While Todd's car was parked in one of the lots they passed, he had enough spare cash to get a bus to the buffet and back. He really needed to get a job soon. As they approached the station, patted his pockets to make sure his own wallet was still there. He found it, flipped it open, retrieved a few bucks,flipped it shut, put it back in his pocket. If Adelyn was paying attention, she'd see that he had no cards, either, except for his driver's license. If she was paying close attention, she might see the word Ohio on it.

Or maybe she wouldn't notice, with the deft movements he used to slip the cash out and return the wallet to his pocket. He wasn't too worried about theft, not because of any kind of faith in humanity so much as a confidence in his own ability to find anyone stupid enough to try to pickpocket him. That kind of person was rarely missed. He did start to keep a subtle eye on Adelyn's bag, too, however. The flow of human traffic was thicker here, and while she seemed sensitive to her surroundings she'd said herself she didn't go into the city itself much. Someone had to look out for her.[/div][/div][/div][/div][/div]

 

[Katpride]

Adelyn grins, pleased to have passed the test of the bus pass, and takes the card back. She puts it in her pocket where it can make friends with the bottle cap and a few cool rocks.

“Nooo, I mean, yes. Yes I am from Oregon, and yes it is a long way. But no, I don’t really go to school.” She makes some sort of circling gesture with both hands, then remembers herself and puts her paw back in her pocket. “It’s complicated. I have… a condition.”

Yes, that should clear things up. That’s what her momma told her to say, if someone asked and she didn’t want to tell them everything right away. “But I’m living here now! So’s my family. My grandparents have been living here for a while, since…”

Uh. She probably shouldn’t mention that her grandpa never embraced the shift, that he’s still all human except for the eyes, which are just as white as hers but work pretty poorly these days. That her grandma grew up in the city and missed it fiercely, though they still liked to visit on holidays. Her shoulders droop a little.

“Since I don’t know how long, actually.” She misses the forest, where she didn’t have to worry about all this roundabout talking nonsense. Even if it was a little lonely.

She glances at Todd’s wallet when he pulls it out, noting its plain design. She doesn’t have time to notice much else before it’s tucked away again, and she has to drag her eyes forward again so she doesn’t run into anyone.

She hadn’t noticed it as much while she was talking, but this area is busier than any she’s been in for… a while. She’s tense as they walk down the sidewalk, almost flinching when anyone walks too near to her. She hugs her bag close against her chest and tries to breathe past the noise.

 

[Wendigo]

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[div][attr="style","grid-area:Main;color:#95877d;padding:9px;"][div][attr="style","grid-area:Left;"][div align="Left"][div style="font-family:'georgia';"]She stumbled around the subject as if he hadn't noticed that she had cat ears. He hadn't told her, but more than that she seemed distracted. Pittsburgh was starting to close in around them as they drew closer to the bus stop. For the unprepared, a bus trip full of murmured conversation, pressing bodies, and the smell of humanity was going to be a terrible experience. He remembered his first time like it was yesterday. He had barely made it to the first stop when he'd had to stumble off and clear his head. Someone had to warn her, but he couldn't actually do that without revealing some small part of his own nature.

Todd decided to risk it. He'd be careful about it, but he didn't need her spooking and doing something that drew attention.

[font color="#4b0101"]"Y'know, Adelyn, big city's rough if you're not used to it,"[/font] he said, as casually as before. [font color="#4b0101"]"Lots of new smells and sounds. Enough to get you turned around. It helps to focus on one thing at a time. Ignore everyone. Just focus on the conversation, or pick out a smell and see if you can follow it. Or better, if it follows you."[/font]

He kept his eyes on the path ahead of them, leading her through the flow of human traffic like an expert. They were still a few minutes away from the bus stop, which he figured would make for good practice - if she wanted it.
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