[Nicolay]

Nicolay wouldn't be caught admitting to anyone that halfway to Kiel's house, he was worried this guy was just going to get him lost.

If he'd met him right after he'd turned muddy and add to that, his tendency to laugh and flail, Nicolay might have had more reason to think that way but after an hour of having been acquainted to this man, he was left to trash his thoughts to nothing but paranoia. After all, he was the foreigner here and any foreigner walking with a local he couldn't understand had every right to worry.

Right?

Right.

The outside of Kiel's house didn't really help much, though. It had obviously seen better days and that hulking piece of root over there only emphasized this fact. Nicolay's first impression on the guy who would soon act as his host was pumped by nothing but good thoughts and a strange gray kitten but in all aspects of relationships, they were still pretty much strangers, weren't they? Just because he saved him from the brink of death, just because Kiel laughed at him and saved him from Sal's Vicious Staring Game didn't mean that they were good to go. Nicolay prided himself with his record of gaining people on his good will and would have been confident because of this except he was practically walking in a place where people had wings and spiders were as tall as his house back home. He knew next to nothing about their culture, tradition and ways here to be able to strut in sure footing.

Kiel wasn't about to sell him to some slavery industry, is he? Was the slavery industry existent in a place like this?

The river was what calmed Nicolay's thoughts -- that is, it distracted him from the evils of reality with its lush color, that murmur of its movement, stars blinking at the glare of the autumn sun and the scent that the wind brings to him from it. A sigh rolled out of him as he strayed five steps away from Kiel and stood to watch the waters, hands on his sides, still enjoying the breeze. Now this would be the best thing to run into. Literally.

Nicolay turned to Kiel to give him a thumb up. It was a good place.

[Kiel]

“Hahahahaha, don't mind the yard, man, I didn't get that far, yet. Like, the house is mostly done, though, you know? Bit small, I guess, 'cause it's, like, only actually half a house,” Kiel explained, setting his hands - palms straight and facing each other - about six inches apart to like he could encapsulate his half of the split house by doing so. “That tree's, like, dragon lunch someday, you know? I just gotta get the landlady to sign off on that whole "sure your dragon can eat it" thing, you know? She's kinda fond of the thing. Not that that's stopped them from gnawing at it before, you know? See, look, look! You can see teeth marks, right? Hahahahahaha.”

All the while, he was hopping across the yard in search of the hose his landlady/neighbour used to water the flowerbeds that were overflowing along the front of her half. His half? Not so much. “Here, here,” he crowed, hoisting the hose's end up to show Nic and catching the thumbs-up. Flashing a proud smile, despite the front of his place looking kinda like it had been abandoned for decades, Kiel returned the thumbs-up and then yelped as he turned the cold water on himself.

“Dude! Like, dude, I'd be better off back in the river, man, that's COLD!” He was Dardanian, you know? It never really dropped below, like, what, eight degrees? And this had to be close to freezing, right? He was sure it was shooting icicles at him...

“So you hungry, man? Hungry?” Miming with his free hand the act of downing a meal, Kiel continued to drown himself with the other. “I can cook, like, I dunno. I got some fresh veggies yesterday, and I make a totally awesome chicken pie. You want some? Chicken? Bakawk awk kawk!”

[Nicolay]

Nicolay let out a bold laughter when Kiel began cackling like a chicken. Oh, thank goodness for stereotypes! He clapped his hands, in jovial approval of his performance before all smiles still, he nodded and gave another thumb up. “Okay,” he said. Although to be perfectly honest, he wasn't exactly at that state of hunger yet but he always welcomed invitations for food, well-timed or not. Anyway, it was a good way to know people further and to be assured that he wasn't about to be sold in some underground labor army. Unless the chicken was poisoned and meant to hypnotize him.

Ahh, paranoia.

He offered his help to Kiel with the hose, approaching him with a relaxed pace and two arms stretched out. “How do you say that, again?” he asked as he got nearer to him. “Chickun, chicken...” Perhaps while they were eating, Nicolay thought he could learn more words from this man. Food words! Because it would be great to tell people what you wanted to have and not leave you guessing if that golden bar of nugget was made out of chicken, fish or worse, tofu.

[Kiel]

Completely and totally unaware of Nic's paranoia, or any need for Nic to be paranoid in the first place, Kiel flicked the pssshing end of his hose at Nic playfully, just shy of actually drowning the other dude, and made a hissing noise, “Ssssss, hahahahaha,” before handing it over for real and preparing to get a faceful of crazy cold water. He considered stripping down and just tossing out his clothes, but only for, like, a second. His mom woulda smacked him silly if she heard about him ditching clothes that were still good just out of laziness. They were his running pants anyway, you know? It wasn't like they needed to look good.

Although he had really liked the flash of silver up the sides, but if the mud killed that he could always get some, like, glittery paint or something and redo them himself.

“Chicken, yeah,” Kiel nodded, re-enacting his impression of one but taking it one step further to walk around in a little circle, his head bobbing and his shoulders arched as he bakawk kawk'd his way around Nic. Shane, who normally hated getting wet, had been kinda sulking and skulking in the shadows against the house since the sun was starting to come up, but when she saw him doing that whole chicken thing again she wanted in on the action and totally pounced on his foot. Kiel might have tripped over, but he was totally used to it now, and just kinda hop-skipped a bit until she'd darted back into the shadows away from the spray of water.

“Okay, I'm done!” He still had mud clinging to the bottom of his pants, but it was wet now so he could just bung the things in to wash and hope for the best, right? “C'mon, c'mon!” he yelled as he bounced toward the front of his house, patting his pocketless pants down in search of his key before remembering he'd hooked it over his head on a piece of string. Shane was first through the door, totally acting like a full-on house cat by shaking herself until she poof'd out before bounding up onto the sofa to curl up. Kiel by-passed the stairs, ignoring the voice in the back of his head that said washnow washnow in favour of the voice that was screeching foodnow foodnow! to head for the kitchen.

“So.” Hopping up to reach for the frying pan off the top of his cooker, Kiel grinned at Nic. “How do you like your eggs in the morning? But, like, not actually eggs, 'cause it's chicken, it's chicken. You okay with fried, right? I got stir-fry stuff, and this, like, crazy new sauce. I dunno what it's made of but it's green, it's green. Kinda makes you wanna puke when you see it, but it's so yummy. Go siddown, siddown! Shane'll keep you company, right.”

[Nicolay]

Nicolay was not a fan of getting wet while he had his clothes on so he was quick to hop back and raise his arms as a shield of sorts when Kiel threatened to get him drenched and cold and sick. Again. What is it with the creatures of this world? But he was laughing and he shook his head, waiting until the threat was completely gone (aren't people supposed to be saving water, by the way? Is there no crisis in this place?) before he reached for the hose again, got a hold of it and did think about targeting Kiel's nose only they'd only been friends for an hour and a few minutes and Nicolay was not sure of the reception so he decided against it.

He was doing a good job getting his near-future host clean as clean can be when he started imitating a chicken and worse, had gotten a little closer to Nicolay and surrounded him. The water, which had been set off to a mad spray by the pincer of his finger, had instantly tamed down when Kiel began parading around him. God, he's so weird! went his mind but he was still laughing and shaking his head at Kiel and calling “Whoah, careful!” when Shane had come in and promptly stopped him. Well, that was a little embarrassing, wasn't it? “I understand,” he said, while Kiel found his balance, “Chicken.” He brought his arms up for a single flap in case he said it wrong.

“Okay, I'm done! C'mon, c'mon!”

Nicolay panicked anew when Kiel headed straight to his door and he found himself still equipped with the running hose. While the older man sought for his key of entrance, he made haste to turn the tap (much water has already been wasted as it is) and hoping dearly that no one minded the arrangement, looped the thing around the pipe and hurried over to the open door, flicking his damp hands dry.

A glance was paid to the lazy gray cat on its sofa as he stepped into the house and took his time to gaze around the colors, the furnishing, the lights and the layout. He caught himself stopping just a step away into the kitchen, lingering by the frame of it while Kiel claimed the frying pan and began babbling to him the entire introduction of Elysian history of which, Nicolay only understood 'eggs', 'chicken', and 'green'.

Green?

“I'm all right...” then throwing his hands a little sideways, said, “...Anything!” Which was to say that he was fine with anything. “Like worms,” he wanted to add for humor's sake but there was a possibility he'd send out the wrong message so he decided to shut it.

“Go siddown, siddown! Shane'll keep you company, right.”

Now there was that name again: Shane. By now, Nicolay had figured that this was the gray cat Kiel had sacrificed his life and sanity for and nodded to Kiel's form. “All right,” he said. Sauntering over to the empty end of Shane the Gray Cat's sofa, he sat down and twisted his neck far enough for him to check on his bandages. He was itching to get them undone but decided he was going to have to be patient for then.

Turning to Shane, Nicolay gave a smile and waved at the feline creature. “Nice guy, huh?” he said to Kiel's friend in English, thumb gesturing to the man inside the kitchen.

[NPC]

((Shane the Shadowkin played by Emma))

Shane hadn't thought it was possible to ever be even remotely upset with, let alone mad at, her Chosen. He was perfect and she loved him! He was hers after all, her Chosen, and it was her job to make sure he was safe, well, and happy. And also well-fed, although in their relationship it seemed like he did most of the providing, although she did catch the odd bird or mouse to bring him as a gift that he seemed to really appreciate even though she'd never actually seen him eat them, but that was okay since he thanked her so profusely, and where was she?

It seemed her momma had been right about her picking up some of her Chosen's habits.

Oh yes, she was mad at her Chosen.

It would have been fine if he'd let her protect him. It was her job! The whole point had been for her to get him out of the water safe and sound, not for him to jump right back in again screaming her name. And then, to top it all off, he'd basically ignored her the whole way home, even when she'd deliberately clambered onto a stranger's furniture, against her Chosen's rules (she was sure he'd said something about people not wanting cat hair on their furniture, but she never had been able to understand why. Did they not understand the honour of having a shadowkin in their home?), just to get his attention.

This wasn't like when he started fawning over the big man who glared a lot. She could play with that little lizard of his when those two were preoccupied, and it made her Chosen happy to spend time with the big man so she accepted it. But this was different. He'd risked his life to save her and then hadn't even hugged her since then. She wanted a hug. She wanted to know he really was safe. Instead, he left her here with a stranger, who smelled funny. Not bad funny, but strange. He smelled of the forest, like those two-leggeds who could change shape like she could, but also of something alien. She wasn't sure she liked it, but her Chosen seemed happy enough to be his friend.

Too happy, since he was ignoring her to do it, but Shane was the friendly sort so she'd forgive the stranger.

“Nice guy, huh?”

Shane gave the stranger a lazy, uninterested blink. Yes, yes! she wanted to cry, but she was too busy sulking. Her Chosen was being nice to everyone but her today and she didn't like it. But he seemed happy, so maybe she should distract herself. She didn't think her momma had included sulking as part of making Kiel happy.

“Rrrr.” Stretching her front paws out to invade the stranger's space, Shane rose up onto all fours and padded closer, sniffing at him and letting her pink tongue lick the air near his face as her ears flicked forward. He didn't smell dangerous, and she was bored and lonely. He seemed kind of lonely too, so she decided they both needed a hug and started trying to climb into his lap to get one.

[Nicolay]

“Rrrr.”

“Eghhh...” it was easy enough for Nicolay to expose his tiny fright, scooting an invisible inch farther from Shane only to be kept in his place by the lack of movable space beside him. With a solid gaze, he watched the animal pick herself up and saunter closer to him and he had to fight back a gulp if he didn't want to look weird and like a wuss -- whoever got scared over a house cat? But how was Nicolay to be sure that this cat wouldn't suddenly grow twice as big as he was and...eat him, likely!

He threw his head back and closed his eyes tight and scrunched up his face when that tongue nearly touched his skin and would have entertained the thought of her saliva being...unlike the ordinary if she didn't suddenly warm up to him. Nicolay was a little surprised to feel her quaint little paws upon his lap and he opened his eyes to gaze onto her fur, a hand instinctively moving to stroke her fur the way he used to do with the cats back home.

The thought of it made him smile. “You're kinda cute, you know?” he muttered in English. By then, he'd completely let his guard down in favor of being entertained by Shane and entertaining her just the same. “You know, I used to have a cat. Well, he wasn't really my cat, he was a stray and he comes over to our yard often. He liked me. Me, sometimes, I feed him my food when I don't like it and sometimes I sit with him outside. I didn't give him a name, though. Maybe I should. Maybe when I get back, I'll name him Shane. What do you think, eh?” he tilted his head to look over at Shane, hand still on her fur.

“But we do have a cat! Not my personal cat...she used to be my sister's until she...left.” Nicolay's voice lost some of the spirit he'd began with although his hand still brushed the cat he held, as though Shane had become his own pet. “Her name's Boo. We take care of her now in my sister's absence...so that when she gets back, she won't hate us,” he laughed. “I wonder when that would be...”

Tilting to look at Shane again, he said, “I miss my sister. I hope she'll come back to us one day.”

[NPC]

((Eek! Liv, I'm so sorry! This thread got lost in my active list or I would have posted much sooner! ))

Awwwww, the stranger was scared of her. That made Shane sad; she just wanted a hug! Ooooh, but he soon got over it, and then he was petting her just like her Chosen did. Yes, yes, right there, she thought as she tilted her head this way and that to show him where she wanted petting more.

“You're kinda cute, you know?”

Shane didn't understand what he was saying, but he was smiling now and by his tone it was a good thing. She purred heavily, her eyes at half mast as she thoroughly enjoyed herself.

“Maybe when I get back, I'll name him Shane.”

The stranger talked funny, but she blinked at him. Yes, Shane is a good name, she told him by purring even harder, but it's mine! My name. You can't have it. She batted at him with a paw, but like her Chosen he'd already moved on to a different subject.

Miss her? Miss your sister? Me too, miss my momma, Shane nudged him, nuzzling her nose along the hand he was using to stroke her. She didn't normally have time to miss her momma, because when she wasn't playing or snuggling with her Chosen, she was napping or playing with the big man's little dragon, but now she really wanted to see her momma.

[Kiel]

Kiel talked to himself and the utensils the whole time he was in the kitchen, but he doubted the two in the lounge would hear him over the sizzle of the frying pan, it was just kinda hard to not have his jaw wagging, you know? It seemed kinda quiet in there, too, so he hoped they were getting on. Shane was crazy awesome, but Nic was a foreigner so maybe he was kinda scared? Kiel was tempted to stick his head out the door to check on them, but stir-fry kinda needed constant supervision and he figured the quicker he got the meal finished, the happier they'd all be.

His stomach, certainly.

Quickly dividing the contents of the frying pan onto three plates - 'cause, like, normally he didn't mind sharing his with Shane, but maybe Nic would think it was disgusting, you know, and he didn't want to make the guy puke or put him off his dinner - Kiel stacked the smallest carefully on top of the other two and carried them haphazardly into the lounge with a triumphant “Ta-dahhhhh!” like he was the first man to discover fire or something.

“Hahahahahaha, she likes you, man,” he realised with a gleeful giggle, having seen the way Shane was blissfully enjoying her petting. “She's awesome, she's awesome,” he told Nic, completely ignorant of the downer they'd fallen into, as he dropped to his knees by the coffee table and set down the plates in front of the HoP so Nic could collect his.

[Nicolay]

OOC: It's totally sweet! I keep forgetting to add Nic's two logs in my subscription thread, too. ;; I'm lazy and back in the journals, my activity depended heavily on emailed updates so. ;;

The sides of his lips peeked up to a sad smile as Shane diverted his petting with her nose and he laughed a little, twisting his wrist slowly so that he accommodated for Shane's change of moveme--

“Ta-dahhhhh!”

Nicolay shot up to his feet when the host had appeared, as though he had been doing something illicit like using his couch for his personal gratification but his face look stunned, in spite of the fact that his hands clutched on Shane quickly and firmly after the half-beat where he'd forgotten that she was on his lap. Cats have nine lives but according to what he'd seen on them, cats had pretty fickle temperaments, too.

He gave a soft laughing and nodded his head uncertainly when he listened to Kiel talk about Shane and call her something good (it was a word he'd heard the bigger man use earlier). “Y, yes,” he said after a while, bending over to return her to her couch and give her head one last ruffle before he returned her to her own, standing up, clearing his throat and holding his sides by his hands. He smiled widely, as though to call that quick melancholic chat with the cat over as he watched Kiel dispose of the plates he held on the table and had rushed to help him too late, arms out.

“They look good,” he said, anyway, taking the plate closest to him and taking the time to entertain his stomach's affirmation as he sniffed the fragrant air that the stir-fry had come with. Taking the fork that came along, he began stirring through his food in search of the chicken which he pierced.

Then looking over to Shane, he offered it to her a little playfully. He missed having cats to feed, depending on his mood. His guardians never enjoyed having those around and the neighborhood cats were old and grouchy, anyway. Shane was nice and a big elitist -- everything a cat needed to be.

[Kiel]

Shane had let loose with such a yowl the second Nic leaped up that Kiel's ears were all, like, "hey, hey, we're bleeding here!" but it was too funny. Like, seeing her, she was just that bit too heavy for Nic to stop her falling, so wound up landing on her hind paws with her forepaws in the air for a second, and twisting around to land. Kiel was pretty sure she shot them both the dirtiest look, too, flicking her tail and her nose in the air like she was dismissing them both.

She totally ignored Nic's offering, too, turning her back on him to nibble at her own plate instead.

“It's okay, man, she'll forgive you,” Kiel assured Nic with a brief snicker. Sure she wasn't hurting, 'cause she'd totally tell him if she was, Kiel bounced onto the sofa opposite where Nic had been and settled his boots on the coffee table. He was still totally dripping, though, so he shot up almost right away as he realised he was ruining the upholstery.

“Dude, like, I hate eating on my feet, man, it's like - hey, hey, you wanna watch a movie, man? I gotta shower after I eat or my mom'll know I'm messing the place up. Like, don't ask how she'll know, she just knows, man, you know? Like, I think it's those eyes. 'Cause she's a Pet, you know?” He was totally forgetting the dude couldn't understand most of what he was saying, even more so since he was stuffing his mouth while he was saying it. “But you can totally watch a movie while I'm in the shower, okay? Just, like, if a big girly-haired freak comes in while I'm upstairs, don't worry, okay. Well, like, worry, 'cause he'll be all "rawr" at you but Shane'll totally protect you from the big fat meanie head, okay, and he's kinda my boyfriend anyway so it's not like he'll kill you. Unless he thinks you're, like, a burglar or something, but I dunno if I ever heard about burglars that come in and watch movies instead of nicking stuff, you know?”

((btw, Kiel's only 5'9" and slender, so he's not that big. ))

[Nicolay]

OOC: Duly noted! He's still two inches taller than Nic, though. >.>;; I think.

Nicolay revealed a lower lip's pout to the suddenly unfriendly gray cat in case she was looking. It was true what he knew: cats had fickle temperaments.

But then there was Kiel to think about and sitting himself back on his gracious host's couch, he began to have some of the good stuff he had been welcomed to and all the while, his ears struggled to catch with Kiel's story only to no avail. While it was hard enough to listen to someone speak in some dead language (or a language yet to be born?), it was even harder to have some of its sounds filtered by food! Nicolay would have frowned at this but his fork was stuck in his mouth and he was left to watch his host like he was a comedian behind a black and white screen.

He smiled whenever it was appropriate but the fork remained inside him. Finally, after Kiel had asked him some ambiguous question, he managed to pull the thing out, clear his throat, nod and say, “Okay.” As he returned to eating his food.

It was only three bites later that Nicolay decided that conforming just like that just won't do and lowering his plate and shaking his head, he said, “I'm sorry. I don't understand. Please slowly speak?” He was dearly hoping Kiel was not about to get tired of him in which case, he was getting ready to wolf down the food and dart out and never be seen by the man again.

[Kiel]

“Oh, like, dude. Hahahahaha, sorry, man, sorry, sorry!” Kiel was struggling to keep Nic's communication limitations in mind, man. It was like they were both handicapped here, man, 'cause Kiel didn't know how to talk slow.

He'd give it a damn good try, though!

“Okay. So. Like. I'm gonna. Go shower. Okay? AaaAAAnnnnnnd puuuuuuuut myyyyy cloooOOOooooOOOthes innnnnn the wash 'cause they totally stink now. And, like. You - you? - can waaAAAtchhh? A mooooveeee? If you want. Except, like, I don't think you know how to ooOOOperate the HoooooP, right? Well. Like. You could read a b - no, they're in Elysian. Ooooooh, but I still have some of Tad's mags, hahahahaha. You'll like those. Lad mags, hehehehe.”

That whole time, he'd been miming one handed, pointing at himself, the upstairs, then Nic and the projector, then he set down his mostly empty plate for Shane to finish off and scooted into the corner to find the stack of magazines he'd nicked from under Tad's bed when he first came to the mainland. Well, like, actually, he'd only brought one with him, but there'd been a few tucked into the stuff his mom sent across once he'd settled that he figured ChloChlo had snuck in for him.

Although, like, the thought of Chlo looking at this stuff kinda made him go green around the gills. “Wah! She's too young for that!” Not that they were dirty magazines, you know? Like, a few chicks wearing swimming costumes and fawning over hunters and warriors of the month or whatever, but he didn't want his baby sister looking at them anyway!

“Here, here, man. Pretty pics, hahahaha. Pick-chewers, okay? Also, like, maybe it'll help you learn Elysian, hahahaha. Okay, I'm going for a shower now, okay? Pshhhh, water, shower, okay? Okay!” And off he went, making like an elephant was stomping up the stairs.

((Ack, sorry for the gming here. Kiel will totally turn back around if Nic calls him, or I can edit if you want me to! Kiel's just kind of acting like a tornado. ¬_¬))

[Nicolay]

OOC: All good!

Nicolay received the magazines almost the same instant and he returned his nearly finished plate on the table and moved accordingly to support the pile lest it splatter all over his dirty sneakers. The entire time Kiel was acting like an elephant on fire with a mouse on its track, he kept coin-sized eyes on him, quite attentive with his miming as well as the slow language and thankfully, he did manage to get the general idea without having to get Kiel to stay and explain himself better.

Which is basically: Kiel needed to go so bad and there were magazines for Nicolay to entertain himself with while Kiel was doing his business. He wondered if this was what the guy was trying to tell him a while ago.

“All right, thank you,” he called to his host's direction, leaning a little into his pile if it was going to get his voice heard better. Now on his own, he looked to the first cover on top...and blinked at it.

Elysian censored mags. Never thought I'd see the day, he thought.

But it should be an interesting experience. With a silly smile on his face, he set the rest by his feet, fixed himself to a comfortable pose (in spite of his could-be-better feet even with them having already dried), swung his right leg over his left knee and began to flip through the glossy stuff. The main face of this one he held was a rather buxom blonde angel with her wings done in a variety of ways -- with laces, ribbons, glitters and similar. Other women slipped in once in a while as well as a few scenes, one of which had a fanged lady in a "battle" with a cat one.

“How funny,” Nicolay muttered and chuckled to himself in his own language before he turned to look for the cat he had crossed a while ago. Kiel was gone, so he took this as a chance to play with the feline, again. “Shaaane,” he called.

[NPC]

He'd left her again, but at least this time he'd gone off alone, he wasn't just ignoring her. Besides, he needed a shower, so this time Shane didn't mind. She drew the line at following him into a room where'd spend half his time totally naked.

“How funny.”

She didn't know if the stranger was talking to her or himself, but she was ignoring him since he'd dropped her. Shane licked her paw and eyed him from where she was now curled up in one corner of the sofa. He didn't deserve her attention, but she was bored. Kiel would normally play with her a bit after breakfast, before he had to head in to work, but that probably wasn't going to happen today. She could follow him to work, but she'd just end up hiding from the sunlight under the counter. It was fun that way sometimes, because her Chosen would let her use his feet for pouncing practise, and she got to play with Derry sometimes too, but mostly she'd nap and be bored. Then again, staying at home was even more boring, so she did tend to follow him.

“Shaaaaane.”

Maybe she could play with him for a bit, after all.

“Rrowr.” Uncurling and getting to her feet on the cushion with all the grace of a feline, Shane batted the air in his direction with a paw, claws sheathed. He didn't seem to understand just how impressive she was, though, treating her like any normal house cat, so she decided to show him just what she could. And so she yowled as she began to change shape, soon chattering at him as a small grey monkey. See! she told him triumphantly. See how awesome I am!

[Nicolay]

“Aaaaaaaaahhhh!!”

The face of the female angel on the magazine completely went flat on the floor as Nicolay lifted his arms up to cross over him for protection, wailing as he turned away. He called for a cat to come play with him, what was a monkey doing so close to him?!

“Stopit,stopit,don't,don't--” was among the English nonsense he'd blabbered out until he'd managed to somehow be convinced that the sudden monkey wasn't about to clobber him up or something. He peeked from beneath his fleshy shield, looking at the gray thing.

And then it hit him.

“Shane!” he gaped as he dropped his arms, bouncing on the couch at his movement, eyes round at Shane's changed form. “That's you, isn't it? So you were that thing that clung to Kiel's face...and you...” he went on as though Shane could understand him.

Then his shoulders sagging, he asked, “You're not a normal cat?” God, why was nothing ordinary here? How hard was it to find a simple pet or stray yowling about for food and not...have it change into a monkey or an elephant or anything worse than that!

[NPC]

Why was the strange man screaming? He sounded like Kiel when her Chosen stepped into the shower before testing the water. Which he must have done this time since she hadn't heard him screeching about it being "cold, that's COLD!"

She hadn't expected her awesomeness - as her Chosen called it - to terrify the stranger, though - if he could be called stranger now that she knew his scent. But did he think she was going to try to eat him? Hmm, he might have been tasty, but her momma had always said not to eat the forest people and her Chosen would be really upset if she hurt one of his two-leggeds.

Yes, yes, it's me, it's me! See, how awesome am I? Chosen thinks I'm awesome! It was a relatively new word for her, one she'd only learned when she found her Chosen, and Kiel used it so often it must be the best word ever!

And the, Of course I'm normal. She clapped her little hands together and shrieked a couple of times, her tail curling and uncurling to help her stay balanced. She liked this form the most besides her real one; she'd seen lots of these monkeys in the forest with her momma, so it was the first form she'd tried to take - and the one she'd first been successful with. Kiel's friend should count himself lucky to see it, even her Chosen hadn't really seen her like this yet. Wouldn't he be so surprised when he came downstairs to see her?

In the meantime, to prove she was friendly - and because she thought he might need a hug again - Shane scampered across on two legs and tried to climb up his arm, smooth grey palms patting at his cheeks.

[Nicolay]

Nicolay flinched and inched back again when he felt Shane on his arm and her palm on his cheek. A solid second passed where he remained unreceptive.

But there was only so much refusal he could do. Shane was a safe animal -- this much he'd known and what she was doing was something universal, something easily understandable. Another second later, Nicolay's mind finally allowed himself to be convinced that she was being nice...and comforting.

He tried a small smile, still not entirely at home with cats changing into other forms...still not entirely at home with anything, actually. “I'm sorry, it's just been so difficult,” he moaned sadly in English as always, his whole message reflected on his cheeks, his gaze, his lips. “I only wanted to look for my mother. I...I didn't mean to come here. I just wanted to ask her...something.” Or more appropriately, he wanted her to tell him that what his father and that stranger said was a lie, that he was, indeed, her son by blood and birth.

His left hand hovered to the edge of his bandages again to feel it.

Nicolay smiled a small one again to Shane. “Thank you. I feel better now,” he said still in his better language, half-lying. A part of him really just wanted to be alone right now.

[Kiel]

As another herd of elephants descended the stairs, Kiel hop-skipped the last couple and into the lounge, striking a 'TADAAAAAHHHHH' pose very briefly.

Then his jaw dropped.

“Like, dude, when'd you get a monkey, man, that's awesUH-DUDE THAT'S SHANE!” He wasn't actually sure how he knew at first, 'cause he'd been too busy yapping to really see what his eyes were looking at, you know? He just kinda knew, the way she was sitting there, and maybe a trickle of memory from when that thing clung to his face at the river.

“Dude, that's awesome, it's awesome, dude, I didn't know you could do that, man, that's so, like - awesome!” Darting forward to poke and pet her energetically, he didn't even realise that he'd interrupted a sweet moment or that Nic was down, or that Shane was kinda annoyed with him. “Seriously, man, like, I guess I knew 'kin could change, like, but I didn't know it'd be this crazy cool, you know?

Hey, hey, you okay, man, you kinda look, I dunno, like a firefox set your cheefle on fire or something.” The way Kiel was standing just then, somehow Nic's bandage seemed to jump right out at him. He'd glimpsed the dude poking at it a couple of times, and now his curiosity got the better of him. “How'd you get hurt, anyhow? I bet it was awesome, right? Like, I bet you saved a woman from a mugging or something, right?”

[Nicolay]

As opposed to a while ago where Nicolay was about ready to shoot up through the ceiling when Kiel had come in, he simply turned to look at the cleaner man presenting himself as though in a show and smiled at him to welcome him back. When Shane's odd form finally occurred to him in the half-second he had been with them, Nicolay showed this smile next to Shane as though to tell him, “There your master is, now go and get him.”

Shane stayed close to him, though, as Kiel had done the job of getting near them, decorating it, as always, with a menagerie of words Nicolay had lost patience on. The entire time he was playing with Shane (he had moved aside a little to allow Kiel room), he was already thinking of how to go. First, he thought he ought to thank him, and then he'll go because he's been out for too long and he was expected home soon. Now to say everything in Elysian: that was the next step. Maybe I should've just snuck out while he was in the showers, he thought but that was just rude and unbecoming of him.

“How'd you get hurt, anyhow? I bet it was awesome, right? Like, I bet you saved a woman from a mugging or something, right?”

Nicolay's eyes were still off somewhere when he noticed the silence and the fact that Kiel paused (Kiel paused). It was only then that he realized that a conversation had begun and with a snap of his neck and an, “Oh!” he half-bounced on his seat to turn round eyes on Kiel. His position and look was all Nicolay needed, however. He followed his line of sight and let out a softer, “Oh,” as he laid his left hand on the white strips.

Looking up to Kiel, he smiled and said, “It's nothing,” in Elysian. “Accident,” he added then made a rainbow with his hands as he finished with, “Kumo.” That ought to say it. He would have invited him to see his wound but that was just downright disgusting.