[Nicolay]

If Nicolay had had firsthand knowledge that the man he decided to help was quite the chatterbox (or more), he might have decided to run to the opposite direction and never look back.

He was just getting comfortable with the silence when the man they were carrying had decided to talk and then Kiel began squawking like a human parrot, as though a prologue (or more appropriately, a warning) to Nicolay that he was about to launch an onslaught of indistinguishable dialogues that left the poor lad lost in the verbal labyrinth. He was ashamed that his movements had frozen in the midst of them, trying to grab what little he understood (or thought he understood) but in the end, he was unable to form a coherent thought (or even a guess) out of them that it took him some time to realize that Kiel was laughing and he was turning left with him.

For a while there, Nicolay felt utterly depressed. It was one thing to not jump into a conversation knowing you're beyond understanding it but it was entirely a different thing to be left out of it exactly because of your incapability and there was nothing you could do to help it. A small, jealous frown was already dancing on his face as Jack and Kiel talked seamlessly; he wished he could do the same. The silence was making him feel so incapable of himself. He never imagined this would happen to him and if he did, he knew he would have prepared for it and then things would be so much better...

He needed a friend. Now.

“You ever felt worms through paper, man? It's weird, it's weird!”

Nicolay pulled himself out of his thoughts in time to catch the waggling brows but he never got to close his mouth in time so he was pretty sure he looked like a dunce for a good second there. Clamping tight, he cleared his throat and moaned beneath sealed lips, pretending to think and convincing himself that just because they were 10 steps away from their destination, it didn't mean he could just play the ignorant fool. Kiel was being courteous by keeping him in the conversation but God, why did talking have to be so difficult?

So he told Kiel, “Yes, they taste good, thank you.” weaving a couple of phrases he'd learned during his rescue and unintentionally inciting an explosion of laughter from the man they carried. Nicolay had never felt so embarrassed until then...

[Kiel]

Kiel's jaw dropped. And, like, he was pretty sure his head exploded. He'd about dropped Jack, too, although the dude was laughing too hard to notice.

Probably.

“Like. Like. You ate them?”

Kiel was pretty "whatever" about food. It didn't even have to look tasty and if somebody said it was edible, he'd eat it without batting an eyelid.

Actually, people didn't even need to tell him it was edible; he'd eaten grass and dirt quite happily as a kid when his mom was all, like, "no, you can't have a snack ten minutes after lunch!"

But worms?!

Like. “You ate WORMS?!”

Ew. Ewewewewewewewewewewewewewewewewew. “Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!” Even Kiel's cast-iron stomach withered at the thought, and transmitted the "ew ew-y" signals directly to his face so fast he felt like his mouth was trying to turn inside out. “Like, you know what worms are, right? 'cause I think you're getting them mixed up with something tasty, okay? Like, I hope you are, 'cause for sers, man, how can you eat worms and think they're good? Ewwwww.”

Yeah, man, 'cause it's not like you've eaten anything weird, right, potato-head? That's what Tad'd say, but Kiel wasn't listening. Lalalalalalaaaaaa.

[Nicolay]

By now, Nicolay was pretty damn sure he hadn't given the right answer to that question and to make things worse, he'd given the worst answer ever imaginable! Kiel was waggling his brows at him so the younger man thought he was being asked for his opinion but--

...but now, come to think of it, why did he say whatever that enigmatic object was tasted good? It wasn't like he was hungry! Or maybe he was. Only not.

He would have dipped his head and preferred to look at the concrete he was walking on while Kiel showed him how incredulous he was of him but that action, of course, was only going to bring him face to face with the highly amused Jack who they'd nearly dropped with thanks to his more-than-inappropriate response. “I didn't mean it that way!” he said to them in English, at a loss as to how to defend himself while Kiel was displaying his disgust. By now, he had stopped moving even if he was only a small space away from the stout steps leading up to the clinic, a beautiful young lady in a pristine uniform with a timid pair of feathery wings waiting to be of assistance (and half looking like she didn't want to have anything to do with them).

“Like, you know what worms are, right?” he heard Kiel proceed to say to him, “'cause I think you're getting them mixed up with something tasty, okay? Like, I hope you are, 'cause for sers, man, how can you eat worms and think they're good? Ewwwww.”

For once, Nicolay found himself looking at Kiel's face (and taking notice of his "contact lenses") with a small spirit of indignation but the extent of knowledge he had on their language was, at this point, still failing him. He wasn't even thinking of a witty response, anymore, much less an appropriate one. He just wanted to get out of the conversation he'd so desperately put himself in.

Smart move, Nic, he thought and mentally groaned to himself.

When Jack had flinched, Nicolay sighed, shook his head and said in Elysian, “Let's go,” partly meaning for it to be unfriendly, partly sorry. Right after spitting it out, though, he did feel a little guilty. He never meant to act so hostile on his first day out of the house. With the way he was going about things, it was no wonder he hardly had a lot of people he could call on in this place...

He led them up to the steps and gave the winged lady a small smile as she finally alerted Sal of their arrival and went down to assist them.

[Kiel]

As Kiel helped Nic carry Jack up the steps towards the Anyeli, he pouted a bit. He felt really bad, man. Like, clearly they'd smacked into the language barrier face-first, right? He felt bad for the way he'd reacted. Especially with the way Nic reacted to his reaction. Even Jack stopped laughing, looking a bit guilty.

“Aww, sorry, man.” Kiel hup!'d a bit as he climbed the steps, flashing the Anyelos a winning smile. “Hi, hi, I'm Kiel, how's it going?” The smile swiftly turned into a guilt-ridden apologetic look as he glanced at Nic. “Like, it's okay, man, it's okay if you don't know what worms are.” Letting his end of Jack drop gently onto Sal's sofa, Kiel straightened and pressed a hand to the small of his back. “Dude, you weigh a ton, man.”

“Do not. You're just a weakling,” Jack shot back, shaking his head. He looked a bit miffed, but also like he was kinda having fun, which probably should have made Kiel mad but didn't.

“I'm not a weakling, man, look at this, look!” Flexing his biceps, which were still kinda wimpish but not as measly as a few months ago, Kiel giggled and winked at Nic. “See, I'm awesome, I'm awesome.” Shane totally thought so, at least, watching him with rapt attention from where she'd curled up on a comfy chair close to the fire.

Done with his display, Kiel switched right back to the worm thing to say, “Worms, like this.” Wiggling his fingers and making various hand gestures meant to imitate the wriggly things, he tried to explain through mime (accompanied by sound) what he meant. “Wriggly, birds eat them, you know?”

“And fish,” came Jack's contribution, his face looking all pinched as the healer's assistant totally had a field day poking at his foot.

“Yeah, and fish!”

[Nicolay]

Nicolay recognized the apology and that sort of made him feel a little more...well, sorry, too. As he helped Kiel dump the heavy man onto the sofa, himself letting out a great exhalation as soon as the load was off, he allowed the two of them to exchange a few words while he straightened up and breathed, again hovering his soiled hand towards his right elbow and pressing the side of his left against it. It was becoming to be a habit, he realized, so he dropped his left hand lest he stain his bandages with dirt. When Kiel started showing off a bit, Nicolay found himself chuckling softly and smiling when the older man winked at him, relieved that nothing of what happened seconds ago left a definitive impression. So he was that kind of man, huh? He should have noticed it from the way he talked...

When Kiel began to explain to him what it was Nicolay supposedly revealed that he liked eating, he thought it was pretty out-of-the-blue for him to do that -- at least it was when he thought that conversation was over. His brows knitted themselves a little as he watched the movement of bigger man's finger and when Jack mentioned "fish", that was when it all made sense to him. It almost seemed like relief washed over his face as he let out an “Ahh!” and laughed. “Worms,” he said in English, as though he'd just discovered something and went on with his mild cheer as he thought back to his inappropriate response. Now there was no way he was going to forget that word...

Feeling better for himself now, Nicolay decided to humor Kiel a little. Nodding, he said in Elysian, “I want eat wu-- worms. I...” he gestured to his ears to say that he heard, “they are good. In...” a gesture of eating a sandwich, “burgers?” he said in English, uncertain of how to say it in Kiel's known language. He would have mentioned how they were rich in protein only he had no idea what "protein" was in Elysian.

The Anyeli, on the other hand, mentioned that Sal was going to meet them soon and went off to disappear in some hidden room -- probably to get some tools and stuff.

[Kiel]

Kiel's head tilted like that of a curious bird, trying to decide if Nic really had just said he still wanted to eat them even though he was pretty sure the dude understood what they were now. “Worms,” he repeated in Nic's tongue, both to sound it out for the fun of it and to make sure they were talking about the same thing. “You want to eat them? For sers?”

Jack, sighing (probably from relief since the chick wasn't prodding at him any more), chuckled. “Hey, don't knock it. If it's good enough for the fish...”

“Yeah, but, like, dude. I guess.” But you could also use that argument on, like, pretty much anything. Carsers could eat rocks, you know? Didn't mean Kiel wanted to copy them at it.

“Plus, I heard they're a good source of protein,” Jack continued, glancing at Nic inquisitively as if to ask "is that why you want to try it?"

“For sers?”

“For s...? Oh, yeah. My brother-in-law's a hunter, he'll be out in the wilds sometimes for weeks on end, and he eats all kinds of stuff you wouldn't find on a normal dinner plate. Worms, snails too. He's even tried weevils, and those things are hard to get out of the shell.”

“Dude,” Kiel snickered, crossing his arms over his chest to be all "I'm holding you accountable for this nonsense" at Nic. “You totally started something now, man. Hey, hey, if you really wanna try them, we can probably find a ton in the fields out back, you know? You wanna go see? You'll be okay here, right,” he checked with Jack, figuring, like, the dude wasn't at death's door so he wouldn't feel bad about leaving him here now. “Sal doesn't, like, eat people, right?”

[Nicolay]

If Nicolay were to be honest, he didn't. He had no interest on eating worms except if he was in some exotic restaurant and he was going to get paid for trying them out. But for this time, he smiled at Kiel and nodded at him as though with firm conviction. He was an expert of acting that way.

His eyes shifted from Jack then Kiel then Jack as they had their leg of the conversation although when Jack gave him a look, Nicolay only arched his brows minutely at him and shrugged as though to say, “Do I look like I understand what you just said?” The words were starting to sound familiar to him, though. Again, he was starting to become convinced that he could live through this day without his nose bleeding. He repeated the gesture to Kiel when the older man took his chance to Eye him but attached a quick laughter to this. “What?” he asked in their language, laughing still.

At least he hoped Kiel wasn't eying him because he slandered him or something...

“You totally started something now, man.” Kiel said to him. “Hey, hey, if you really wanna try them, we can probably find a ton in the fields out back, you know? You wanna go see? You'll be okay here, right...”

While Kiel had shifted the line of dialogues towards Jack, Nicolay reminded him almost urgently, “Slowly,” again with that patting motion from earlier. “I don't know how to speak Elysian. Or...draw?” he further explained this by his hands, his left palm as the paper and his right hand holding an invisible pen and scribbling only...now that he was reminded of his caked hands, he looked down to them and crumpled his face, “Eugh...” Although he'd wiped some on Jack's top, his hands still looked disgusting and who knew what lay beneath that mud?

He turned to Kiel's pair to see if his looked similar before nodding towards it. “Wash?” he asked -- or invited -- in a stunted language.

[Kiel]

“Yeah, man, you look like a mud monster or something, hahahahahaha,” Kiel joked, his hands busy patting himself down in search of paper and pen (even though he was totally wearing the wrong pants) when he noticed Nic 'ew'ing at his hands. He was conveniently ignoring the whole thing about him being even muddier - and also, like, ew, wet. Dude, he hoped he didn't get another cold from this (although, like, it'd be kinda awesome if Zeph took care of him like last time).

But, like, he was kinda used to being dirty in some shape or form, you know? Like, him and Shane, they loved to roll around and play-wrestle. Although, it probably was a good idea to get washed up. These were the only track pants that actually fit him.

“Yeah, man, me too. Wash,” he repeated, nodding the affirmative to indicate Nic had got that right. Like, he was pretty sure they were on the same wavelength, at least. “Hey, hey, Sal? Can we borrow your bathroom, man?” The dude hadn't come down yet, so Kiel was yelling, absently leaving a muddy hand-print on the door frame as he leaned out of the room to look around. They'd totally left muddy footprints too. Like, oops.

“Hey, hey, Sa-wah! Dude, don't just, like, pop up out of nowhere like that, man, that's creepy. How'd you even do that with those wings, man, that's, like, dude, you gotta teach me.”

The guy just arched an eyebrow at him, looked past him at Jack, and then jerked his chin in the direction of the stairs. “Bathroom's up, first left. Broom and dustpan are in the kitchen, first right.”

Pouting at him, Kiel waggled his fingers at Nic to beckon the smaller guy. “Dude, it's not our fault we to had to be all mud-wrestly, you know? Get Jack to clean up when he's fixed, hahahahaha.” He totally would clean up, though. It was his mess, accidental or not, and his mom would totally have a monkey fit all over him if she found out he'd left without tidying up after himself. “Nic, Nic, Nic, c'mon, man, I'll race you!”

[Nicolay]

If Nicolay had known that was how one said "race" in Elysian, he would have totally been in the game of racing him to the bathroom. But alas, he simply stood and laughed, understanding very little of his exchange with the winged Sal but finding it rather comic. It must have had something to do with Kiel's nature, or how Sal just seemed so flat-faced in spite of his giddiness. Or maybe it was how he saw Kiel taking everything lightly. That was a good thing now -- something terrible had just happened and he was laughing. Should mean that nothing bad was going to happen from it, right?

Nicolay might have thought about his own situation with regards to taking things lightly until Kiel called him three times and he was soon hurrying behind the bigger man. Can't let him wait, can he? Smiling to Sal and bending his body so that he could show his face to the nonchalant healer in spite of the first floor's ceiling, he said to him, “Thank you.”

The prospect of getting cleaned had more than relieved him, too. Nicolay was not used to the dirt and the grime and for this past few days, ever since he could move on his own, he'd always done his best to keep himself clean and smelling nice. Even if this was done all in the way of saving a life, surely no one would appreciate him walking like a creature from the mud. That is just disgusting and very unlike him.

As he reached the second floor, he sought for the washroom but stayed behind, preferring that Kiel got himself cleaned before him.

[Kiel]

As the Skotadi stepped closer to Jack to inspect the fisher dude's foot, which didn't seem like it was bleeding any more although Kiel totally couldn't really tell from the doorway, Kiel waggled his fingers in 'goodbye' and darted out into the short hall to pound up the stairs. He was totally tracking dirt behind him, but since it had already been established that he was the one cleaning up, he figured, like, what the heck, you know?

And since Nic was holding back like he was afraid the toilet monsters would jump out and bite him, Kiel hopped in to turn on the tap, gesturing for Nic to join him in the bathroom. “Dude, these are my best running pants, you know? Like, I got others but they're hand-me-downs and way baggy, hahahaha.” Sticking his hands under the spray of water, Kiel began to scrub at the quickly-drying mud, but was starting to realise it'd take a dip in the Cora before he'd get clean. “Wah. I got a hose back home, man. Like, it's the neighbour lady's but she won't mind lending it. Hose, you know?” Arching his wrist like a snake, he made a 'psssh' noise and waved his fake-hose at himself. “You wanna, like, get a hose instead? Otherwise, like, we'll be here cleaning all day, you know?”

[Nicolay]

Nicolay nodded and stepped beside Kiel, waiting for the some free space to happen before he took the chance to hold his hands out to the clear spray and begin the cleaning process. The weather had made for a cool water and it was so much relief to have it help him break down the patches of drying mud while he rubbed his hands together and over each other that he must have taken longer than he needed just to get the smudges out and to clean his fingernails.

Kiel's 'pssssh' noise had drawn his attention away from the water and made him look over his shoulder to see his hand attacking him. Nicolay arched his brows a little at this show, taking it for a story about a snake that attacked him but the bigger man was good to clarify it for him. “You wanna, like, get a hose instead? Otherwise, like, we'll be here cleaning all day, you know?” he said. Nicolay was tempted to just give either a 'yes' or a 'no' but after that event with worms, he figured he didn't want to embarrass himself any longer and thought about it instead. He thought Kiel was asking him if he'd ever encountered a snake but he needed to fit in all the details before it made sense to him:

Kiel was moving his arm a little crazier than a snake would and the noise he'd made was 'psssh', not 'ssss' or something. Additionally, he'd mentioned a word that sounded familiar to Nicolay's ears and he was more of a mud monster than the younger man could ever be.

“Oh!” it finally occurred to him as he hurried to finish his dictatorship over the tap and switched it close. By now, his hands would have been restored to their original cleanliness (in spite of the lack of soaps). “You want a hose,” Nicolay added, repeating the word he'd found familiar and was amused by how it almost seemed like the English word, except with a change of intonation and subtle characteristics. True enough, the tap would be quite a powerless ally in the battle for sanity for someone like Kiel who took most of the muddy damage.

As for him, he was contented enough to be able to move his hands freely again. Now, if he could just get a change of pants and sneakers (because his feet still felt squishy from the water), then things would be so much better. Also maybe a BLT sandwich. He hadn't had much for breakfast, after all.

“All right,” he nodded, his right hand hovering to his tummy as though to make sure it wasn't growling yet.

...before he stole a moment to look at himself in the mirror over the sink and fix his hair.

[Kiel]

“Hahahahahahahaha! Dude, you're like a girl, man, hahahahaha.”

As amusing as it was to catch Nic in the act of primping, Kiel didn't blame him. And as much as he was laughing, he'd probably be in the same position, it was just that, like, it was so funny to see the guy fussing with his hair when he still had traces of mud splattering his clothes.

“Wah, Sal's gonna kill me, kill me,” he lamented then as he pounded back down the stairs, twisting this way and that to watch dried mud commit hara-kiri off his shoes and pants. Like, no way he could clean up before he left 'cause he'd totally make an even bigger mess, and then he'd have to clean up more and by the time he was done he'd be celebrating his five-hundredth or something!

“Sal, Sal! Dude, Sal, can I come back and clean up later, man? I gotta go home and use the hose or something. Like, look! Look! I'm melting!” Flapping his hands energetically at the mess behind him, and trying not to smack Nic where it would hurt while he was at it, Kiel made with the puppy eyes. The Skotadi was looming over Shane and glaring at her like getting 'kin hair on his furniture was, like, the signifier of the apocalypse or something.

Obviously not a cat person, then. But at least Jack looked - “Hey, hey, where'd Jack go?”

“Home. Don't worry, he paid.” The dude's glance flickered - like, totally unswayed by Kiel's imploring look - to Nic, scanning the younger guy up and down like a piece of meat. Kiel hoped he was checking for injuries now the guy was clean, 'cause, like, he so didn't want to be a third wheel here, you know? “How do I know you actually will come back?”

“'cause I totally have a face you can trust, right?” A winning smile, and Kiel's belly rumbled. “And also, I gotta get food or I'll totally starve, man.”

“Pay the damages - and by that, I mean the extra wage I'll have to pay Mary for cleaning up your mess - and I'll let you off. Fifty xanthos.” The whole time, the guy was staring at Nic. It was way creepy, and made Kiel inch forward a bit to try and shield the other guy.

“Wah! Extortion, extortion!” No way the guy was paying his assistant fifty whole xanthai just to clean his house, man. But he was getting realllllly hungry and he didn't want to stand here wet and muddy all day, especially with Nic standing there. “Okay, but, like, I left my wallet at home, you know? Can I come back and pay you later?”

((Ummmm. Hope this isn't too long! And also that it's okay to assume Nic followed him downstairs. ¬_¬))

[Nicolay]

OOC: YES. *thumbs up* Thank you for doing this, you're totally all-go with assuming he followed Kiel down.

To Nicolay, it was hair over shirt -- or rather face over shirt. It was true that the first thing people would notice him for was his amazing skills with taking care of his clothes but if they saw that he didn't look too deranged, that ought to put him in a better light, right? That was what he thought as he stroking his locks off his face, thereby delaying his descent even after Kiel had it was time go down seeing as the tap was helpless. He followed a few seconds later and would have had his cheek smashed by the back of Kiel's hands if he hadn't paused just in time. Goodness, this guy ought to look where he was flailing!

He sneaked behind Kiel, crouching and raising his arms in case the older man decided to go about his arms like a merry-go-round again and managed to make it down the stairs and a good space behind him just fine -- and just in time to hear about Jack and notice his disappearance. He blinked at that -- well that was fast. Either the dark winged healer knew really well what he was doing or he and Kiel took the longest time upstairs.

Nicolay decided the latter was a better choice.

He allowed Kiel to handle the conversation for them while he distracted himself with Jack's empty couch before he looked up to meet the good healer (as a means of "being part" of the discussion) and gave him a tight smile, a rather small, polite one just to indicate that he was embarrassed with the trouble they'd given him but were equally thankful for his services.

But then Sal kept staring on -- and it didn't help that his wings were huge and black. Nicolay couldn't put his finger on what made the man's stare disturbing -- the size of his eyes, the wrinkle over his brows or just the certainty in his gray eyes, it could have been anything. He thought it was just him and being overly paranoid like he was just a few days ago but he couldn't deny it, he didn't like the way the healer was gazing at him, could not even challenge it with his own displeased look. Didn't anyone tell him it was rude to stare?

He took a step back. Kiel had somehow moved closer to the healer and that obscured the connection between them but didn't dissuade Sal to simply move an inch to the side and lean over to watch Nicolay take two more steps back. What did he see in me? he thought unhappily. It wasn't like he was the muddier between he and Kiel!

“K, Kiel, let--”

He felt the corner of a cheap narrow table at the back of his hips -- that one used to barrier the entrance to the healer's living space. Nicolay's weight had tipped it back a little but he pulled himself forwards before the whole thing fell over and turned just in time to tap his elbow into the wooden figure of a dancing angel leading the array of displays from the left.

“Oh sh--”

Said dancing angel lost its footing, fell back and made a sharp landing on the floor with its head.

Nicolay let out another curse when he finally realized what he'd done. “I, I, I, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it,” all spoken in English as he spun away from the stupid, cheap table and crouched down to pick up the fallen angel. A white graze was now on its poor dark head and a feather had been chipped out of its right wing. Nicolay cussed again; he'd done nothing but add to the damages they'd already come in with. “I, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry,” he went on in English trying to patch the lost feather into the rest of its wing although without an adhesive, it was understandably impossible, “I didn't mean it. I'll get this fixed for you...”

[Kiel]

“Wah!” Before Sal could scoff or whatever at his attempt to return later with cash or something, Kiel heard a clatter and Nic's exclamation. Pivoting to defend the guy like maybe Sal's assistant had decided to eat him or something (well, what could he say? The way Sal was staring had creeped him out to the point where he was imagining all kinds of weird stuff going on, like maybe he'd kidnap them and use them to test out his skills in healing nasty illnesses or something), Kiel was just in time to make a dive to rescue the little figurine.

He missed it by, like, a mile, and then backed up rapidly with his hands in the air as if to say "hey, hey, so not my fault it's down there, man".

It didn't take a linguistic genius to understand what Nic was saying. Like, something about the frantic speech and the way he tried to put the thing back together made it obvious the guy was saying sorry. “Um. Like. Add that to the tab?”

Sal really did scoff that time, a snorting chuckle that kinda sounded like an elephant had a peanut stuck up its trunk or something. Not that Kiel had ever heard an elephant that had a peanut stuck up its trunk. Or an elephant at all, for that matter, but if he ever did hear an elephant that had a peanut stuck up its trunk, that's the sound he'd expect to hear.

“Relax, it was a gift from a client.” Oh, yay, it wasn't sentimental, then. The dude never even flinched. “Hundred xanthos.”

“Wah?!” No way that thing was worth a hundred. Even if it had been lovingly crafted especially for Sal, it wouldn't sell for more than, like, fifty. Well, maybe seventy. But a hundred? Wah! “No way, man. Hey, hey, gimme it,” he said to Nic, waving a hand to indicate that he should pass it over. “I'll take it home with me. My friend's gramps is a Shaper, right, he can totally fix it. Fix, fix!” he emphasised, pointing at the broken feather, before turning to Sal as an aside. “Except, like, first she has to get it home and then Keyx would have to actually fix it and bring it back and - I can bring it back fixed in, like, maybe a week?” Assuming Phen and her gramps both agreed to play their parts.

It never even occurred to Kiel to make Nic pay. Like, okay so it was the smaller guy's fault it was broken, but he probably couldn't understand what they were saying, right, so it was unfair to charge him.

“And why the heck do you keep staring at the dude, man, it's creepy, it's creepy!”

[Nicolay]

He may not understand whatever it was they were saying but Nicolay did understand what a 'xanthos' was and the way Kiel reacted told him it seemed pretty expensive. “I, I'll give...” he said but trailed off even before he could complete the thought because, well, it wasn't like he was at home and it would be impossible to just come walking in, showing his guardians what he'd made of their loving gift and demand however much that doll cost. He'd probably be shown the door before he could even hear a word out of them...

So sufficed to say, Nicolay was confused. The moment Kiel was waving for him to pass the doll over, he did just that and rid himself of the job of trying to uselessly put the thing together. There was a grave look on his face, mixed with some shock and a really deep uneasy frown. Really, he'd just wanted a walk and now he'd broken some dark angel's doll. He suddenly felt like a walking mishap (and probably wouldn't feel as bad if his wings were white...or maybe he would because white wings were supposed to look kind and merciful and he'd obviously just abused said characteristics...in his what-if situation).

“I'm...” he tried again, not even caring to check whether Kiel had finished his endless speech or not, “...s, sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” He backed up another step, that left hand unconsciously pressing its side against his elbow, again, like the action was a security blanket of sorts. It figures, too, that that was the only way he knew how to apologize in Elysian and Nicolay thought that he was probably making things worse because apologizing without an explanation obviously does not work very well. But what could he do? There was nothing more he knew to say than: “I'm sorry, I'm sorry...”

[NPC]

((Sal. And possibly Mary. Played by Emma.))

Sal was starting to think these kids had their responsibility radar permanently switched to "I'll get back to you". At least the smaller one was at least trying to look apologetic, but there was something about him that struck Sal as odd. He was cute, and to Sal looked a bit like a lad borrowing his father's best clothes. Maybe he'd had a job interview? Unlikely, though, if he didn't speak Elysian. And what was that language he was mumbling? It wasn't one he was familiar with personally, and he got all kinds through his door.

“And why the heck do you keep staring at the dude, man, it's creepy, it's creepy!”

“Eh. Where's he from? I've never - oi!” Realising the kid was backing up all over again, and headed for the same kind of accident that had prompted the stuttered 'sorries' in the first place, Sal jerked forward like a puppet on invisible strings to grab him, but held back at the last second. He didn't want to scare the lad into backing up even faster. “Watch where you're backing into, lad.”

“Sal! What the hell have you been doing up here?!” At Mary's shriek, which carried incredibly well from upstairs, Sal winced, and then tugged awkwardly on his ear as he squinted an eye at the two boys.

“Eh. Best be off, lads. She catches you tracking mud all over the place, she'll be hotter than a dragon's belly.” He was letting them off scot-free, but if Mary came down before they were gone, it'd just be more hassle for Sal. Damned kids. “Go on, away with you!”

[Nicolay]

The tone had been enough to hint to Nicolay that Sal had wanted nothing more to do with them and his gestures and the fact that he wasn't moving towards him (and maybe raising hell or something) all the more proved it for him. The foreigner, however, didn't know how to feel about that. He didn't like how he felt like some kid being asked to scram from a front yard but mud and broken angel and all, he probably did look that way so it only made sense.

And on the brighter side, at least he didn't have to stay and witness some stranger get angry over his clumsiness. At least not now, but he'll at least have some time to prepare for it...when it does come.

“I'm sorry,” he said again, perhaps a little weakly and glancing at Kiel, had turned to leave as peacefully as he could.

[Kiel]

Kiel was really starting to think he'd need to do something drastic to protect Nic here right now, man. Like, you know, maybe the guy could protect himself or something, but he didn't understand Elysian so how would he even know he needed to get all kung-fu on Sal's ass, you know?

Actually, that set him down a whole different train of thought, and he might have even turned to the dude to ask "Hey, hey, do you know kung fu?" but thankfully - or not? - a woman's screech punched through the ceiling and walls and made him wince. Like, dude, man.

But at least she'd distracted Sal from the whole "pay me a billion xanthos" thing.

“Come on, man, leggo before he changes his mind, hahahaha.” Holding out a beckoning hand to Nic, who seemed like he was about to totally faint or something from shock, Kiel repeated, “Come, come. With me. Let's go, let's go! I'll totally take you home with me, you'll be like a stray pet or something, hahahaha.”

((Ack, sorry my posts have been so short. ¬_¬ I didn't want to gm them leaving, but if you want to have Nic go to Kiel's house with him, we can start a new thread here. ))