A Hot Park Mess

(just as this roleplay section says, this is a closed RP. Joining this is not in order, except if you are in this posting order:
CyanFox, ForevaYoung, C.S.O., Dregan, The Red Blur, Froshana, Storm Wave)


OH GOD IT'S SO HOT. Summer is just about to start and it immediately gets this warm?! It was a beautiful day. Wait. Let me rephrase that. It was a beautiful day if you like the sun. The weather forecast had already shown that temperatures would rise soon and hell were they right. There wasn't a cloud in sight, the sky was light blue and ice cream trucks were making big fat stacks of cash.

Speaking of ice cream, there was an ice cream stall set up in the park. They had stocked in a lot of supplies for today, expecting a lot of consumers. Someone had set up a good business plan, because there wasn't a moment that nobody was standing in front of the counter. Lots of kids, heck, even adults were hungering for something cold and ice cream was one of the solutions to their problem.

The stand wasn't the only thing that stood out in the park though. Nearby, there was a lot more to note. There were quite some people at the park today. If they weren't at the beach, they'd probably be here. Some were sitting under trees, trying to stay cool in the shadows, others were sunbathing on the grass (because you can stand on grass here.). Also closeby was a fountain, spraying water over quite some range. Some kids were playing with waterguns and balloons, causing minor havoc.

Some joggers were getting slightly annoyed by all this presence all of a sudden, if the high temperatures weren't enough, these people were getting in the way of their daily routine. There was one jogger though that didn't seem agitated at all though. A cyan fox was hopping over the stone path, with a big smile on his face. He was doing his daily 'jog through the park' routine. He said hi to anybody he walked past, while music was playing in the ear buds he wore, which made him sound kind of loud. The fox was trying to dodge any incoming people or hazards, which was working out rather fine.

Seeming very friendly, he didn't look like a jogger. He was wearing normal clothes. A green T-shirt, light blue pants, easy going shoes and a green bracelet. He was definitely doing his routine though, until he sighted the ice cream stand. His blood pressure started to rise. His normally already green eyes were glowing even greener. "N...ice..." He quickly ran towards the ice cream stand. He had money with him...right? He checked his pockets. Yes! A few bucks should be enough!

Oh it was a lovely day! 

That's what any other normal Mobian would say when they saw the sun splitting the trees anyway. But not this particular female. 

It wasn't the colour of her violet and white fur that was the problem, although she could stand to have it thinned out a little bit, but heaven forbid anyone who dared try to touch her precious tail with clippers. No, she couldnt say for sure, but it may be due to the fact that her personal abilities stemmed from the colder weather, or it was genes that ran in the family, she may never really know. Either way, the heat was insane for the purple feline who was walking through the large gates that opened to show the huge size of the great park that everyone had come to reside for the day. 

She sported a light baby blue crop top that showed off her stomach and arms, a pair of butter yellow shorts and a pair of white sandals to keep her as cool as she could without showing off too much indecently. 
A white and light blue chao was resting on top of her head which held a large white sun hat on it and it was cooing joyfully as she continued through the park to find an area where they could take a seat, hopefully in some form of shade. 

"Alright Melody, y-you go find a place you think will be p-perfect for us." The soft voice called to the smiling chao who floated down, mock saluted her, then dashed off as fast as her little pink wings could carry her to scope out the perfect spot for her and her leopard companion. 

All the while, the female Mobian herself just continued to walk in the general direction of where her chao went, fanning herself off slightly as best as she could. 

It was just too warm.

*Ugh... this weather is lousy...*

The thought had already occurred to him many times already today, but he couldn't help but think of it at least once more. Even from under the shade of the tall tree he was lying beneath, the heat from this not yet summer's day was still rather uncomfortable for him. Of course, if any passersby happened to look over, they'd just see a rather calm and relaxed looking wolf stretched out in the grass a short distance from the trunk of a tree, with a pair of sizable bags resting on the ground near him.

The silver furred wolf had on a green t-shirt, that almost matched the colour of the grass he was lying in, a pair of light brown pants and was barefoot. He currently lay on his back with his paws beneath his head. He kept his eyes closed and just listened to the activity going on around him. He'd only had to open his eyes a couple of times in the last half hour when he'd heard the sounds of people passing nearby.

*I really should just get up and get going... but doing so in this heat is just going to burn me out...* he thinks, *Gonna have to wait until things cool down a bit. Then hopefully the next few days won't be as hot again.*

And then... there was another figure. It was unclear exactly when they'd shown up. It wasn't as if they'd simply popped into existence, but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that she'd simply 'appeared'. One minute she wasn't there, the next minute she was. And it was hard to pinpoint exactly which two minutes those were...
To be precise, as one young cyan fox reached the end of the queue for ice-cream, he joined it just behind one dark grey wolf. She seemed to... certainly stand out here. Whilst many had dressed for the heated summer weather, she was adorned in a tight jumper and fitting jeans - all in black. One would expect her to be sweltering in the heat but instead she seemed... fine. Almost indifferent to it all. A monochrome figure of blacks, greys, and the occasional marking of white, they looked almost as if they'd stepped outside of an old black-and-white movie. Bar their eyes... a striking yellow with an intensity ill-befitting the pleasant summer weather.

And yet, despite all their oddity, there they were. Simply standing in line for ice-cream, lengthening the wait seemingly just as Bou got there... or maybe just before? When had she arrived exactly?
Either way, as the young fox joined the back of the line, she offered but a small indifferent glance in his direction.

While some would love the chance to bask in this wonderful sunshine, some were less pleased to put up with the heat that came with it.

One particular being that belonged to the latter category, was a red hedgehog. He was wearing a short-sleeved white jacket, which was open, with a brown leather bracelet on his right wrist, as well as blue jeans and red and white sneakers. He walked along a path in a park near to his apartment, with his head pointed slightly downwards to let the beads of sweat appearing on his forehead drop to the ground of their own accord.

He was never one to stand the heat, as he would always, for lack of a better word, [b]over[b]heat. This was most likely down to his pyrokinetic abilities, as this came with the occasionally unfortunate side effect of heightening his average body temperature.

As he walked, he spied an icecream stall, and licked his lips at the idea of tucking into a frozen treat. Before he joined the line, though, he stopped, staring at someone dressed in heavy black clothing. Were they a complete and utter idiot? No matter. He needed something to cool himself down at least a little.

((Aha, sorry for the delay, I actually didn't have a character ready for this, oops! And first posts are always the hardest.))


Outside of the park, the sound of an engine revving along would have been audible to those closer to the streets. It was a satisfying sound to anyone fond of vehicles, particular of the two-wheeled variety.

The source of the ruckus was a deep purple-colored motorcycle, swiftly making its way alongside the park. The motorcycle slowed as it neared the parking area for the local park, maneuvering its way to a shady space too small for regular cars. As the driver lowered one boot-clad foot to the pavement, the engine rumble calmed and then stopped altogether.

Although one could easily identify a very female figure past all the closely-fitted clothing, the only giveaway of her species would have been a long orange and black-striped tail behind her. The white tailtip flicked back and forth while paws mostly covered by fingerless gloves reached up to unfasten her clearly custom-made helmet, which was decorated in a gold-sheened purple to match the bike its wearer was still seated on. The helmet had a pair of ear-shaped coverings at the top, no doubt to keep from squashing anyone's ears while it was worn.

After a bit of fidgeting, the helmet was pulled free and the tigress exhaled loudly and shook her head, tossing about her long strawberry blonde hair in a helmet-ruffled mess around her shoulders and down her back. The helmet was hung from one of the motorcyle's handlebars and the big cat hauled one leg over the side of the bike to stand properly and let her ride lean on its lowered kickstand. As she stood there, pulling off her gloves and stuffing them into a bag on the back of the motorcycle, one could see she looked rather young to rightfully own such an expensive-looking vehicle. She had to be only just out of her teens, perhaps.

Regardless, here she was, keys pinched between her lips as she began patting her hair back down into place and unzipping her black jacket to let some of the passing breeze roll through white and orange fur underneath. She had on a black and white top underneath the jacket, closer in appearance to a sports bra than an actual shirt. Keys were then nudged into one of the front pockets of her dark-colored jeans that, honestly, looked rather warm for this particular day.

The Siberian tiger reached back into her bag and withdrew a large bottle of water and a paper bag with the icon of a popular fast food restaurant stamped on the side. She gave one of her jacket pockets an awkward pat before nodding to herself and then starting off from the cooling motorcycle and towards the park entrance. It was a perfect day for a picnic!

Storm hummed happily as he fidgeted with the settings on the RC controller. Hot as it was, he was pleased that a day like today was as far removed from the snow as it could possibly be. On top of that, he finally had a chance to try out one of his most recent acquisitions!

Oh right. Since the question of "What's your character wearing" seems to be the topic of the day... Storm wasn't wearing much more than his shoes and his unbuttoned red shirt. Somewhere out there in the world, the hero of Mobius was running around wearing nothing but his red sneakers, and the world had decided this was socially acceptable. To that end, why the heck wouldn't the fox go pantless today? It didn't make sense to add more layers of heat, and get even more of his clothes dirty from sweat. In fact, maybe he could save on laundry money this summer by choosing this option more often.

ANNNNNNYWAY, back to the more important topic. Storm grunted, hauling something rather large out of the opened rear hatch of his car. He huffed a bit, finally freeing the shiny, toy-colored form of a Motobug from within. He was especially happy to give this thing a shot. Apparently, there was actually a pretty large community of people lurking around that would scour around after Dr. Eggman's schemes would go belly-up and collect badnik parts for trade online. The gentlemen that Storm had bought this off of had converted this old Motobug from evil robot to super-fun remote-controlled car.

It took a moment, but after some more fiddling around with the controls, the Motobug started up, autobalancing on its single wheel. The fox gleamed, immediately impressed a the responsiveness of the controls as he sent the robot rolling down the concrete walkway and into the grassy fields of the park.

It seemed like the fox wasn't the only one planning on getting an ice cream. There was quite a row in front of him. At least five people big! Holy smokes! Well, there was only one thing left to do. He added himself to the back of the queue and crossed his arms. The fox didn't seem to sweat at all. He actually felt rather discomforted with his arms out in the open, as if he was kind of cold. Wasn't a reason for him to not buy ice cream though. Ice cream is delicious. Especially chocolate ice cream. He started to think about what kind of flavour he'd buy.

Eventhough the park was busier than normal, he could easily pick out some characters There was one guy with some bags and some others that had just arrived. By motocycle or by...motobug? Those things still exist? Should he worry about that? It looks pretty big-oh wait there's a person coming out it's all safe.

There was one person that certainly peeked his interest though, and that was a purple snow leopard, following a chao. The fox remembered meeting her before. What was her name again? Lucky or something? He should ask again. Normally he always remembers names. He waved at her, clearly thinking that she'd immediately know him.

Another person joined the queue. Boubka quickly looked behind him as he felt the presence. He swiftly scanned her clothing. Then, instead of just turning his head back, his face started emitting enthusiasm, glowing. His eyes literally were, but it would be hard to spot with this harsh lighting. "Finally someone with a normal outfit today!" He stretched his arms, showing that they were naked. "I was planning on wearing a sweater today, but my mom forced me to wear something 'that fitted more with this kind of day', saying I'd get a sun stroke or something. Ugh. Well. At least you seem to get it!" He smiled to her, not bothered by her indifferent look, even if she'd look somewhat more disturbed after saying that.

A little ways up and away from a large onslaught of people who had arrived in the park from the other side, Yukiko spotted her chao waving frantically whilst bobbing up and down. So, she found a decent spot. 

As she made her way over, she spotted a hint of cyan colouring out of the corner of her eye and turned to see a familiar male fox standing seemingly having a chat with someone next to him. The other Mobian looked very out of place in this insane weather. All black was just asking for heat stroke, and she found herself frowning slightly at how much they could possibly be suffering. 

She heard a slight rumbling from the opposite direction and twisted her head to see a motorcycle pulling up just outside of the park itself. So many different people. So many familiar faces.  And of course she meant that due to her work, she didn't actually know many people in person, rather than just when she was giving them custom. 

Yukiko slightly raised an eyebrow in question to what she was doing again as she got sidetracked, before she heard another cry of impatience from her companion. Right. A seat to have lunch. 

She fixed her large white sunhat and took another look at the ice cream cart, only to see a very familiar face, and not from her work either. 

'Oh, Caen is here too. It's good to see him out and about enjoying this nice day.' Yukiko thought to herself. 'I'd best not bother him and get to Melody before she starts a rukus for taking so long.'

She raised her hand to hold onto her hat and jogged off in the direction of her chao. Once she got there, she pulled her icy blue shoulder bag off and pulled out a small thin blanket to sit on. Then she brought out some unusual looking fruits, a couple of bottles of water and some sandwiches before placing them in the centre. The spot Melody picked was just right. It was still extremely warm, but at least they had some shading to take off the worst of the suns rays from them. 

Yukiko took her hat off and then brought out a pair of sunglasses to wear instead. It was so bright after all and she wanted to see what she was eating. 

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to bring such a light coloured cloth to sit on?

After another couple of minutes of inactivity, the wolf pushes himself up to a sitting position and then takes a look around. He notes that he still seems to have a fair amount of space to himself around the tree he'd been resting under, but he sees that the number of people in the park seemed to be increasing.

At the moment, it seemed one of the food stands was drawing the most attention as people were lining up to get ice cream from one of them. Even from where he was sitting, the wolf noted that there were several other stands or vendors around for people to go to. Other people seemed to be showing up with their own food as well.

The wolf started to contemplate his own plans for eating while reaching over to one of his nearby bags and withdrawing a water bottle. He took a drink as he continues to sit there, now turning his attention to some of the people playing in the park. He can see several groups of children playing together. Then he spots some sort of large... bug shaped thing in the distance moving through the park.

Considering how out of place it was, the wolf sits there and stares at it, wondering what it was doing.

It seemed that the dark-clad wolf had drawn a couple of stares. Whether or not they'd noticed it was... hard to tell. It seemed that, as those curious and concerned individuals had fixed their gaze on her, she had offered them a side-glance of sorts. But nothing that couldn't be put down to the general wandering eye of an individual waiting patiently in line.
And despite the thoughts of some of those people, she didn't exactly seem to be... concerned by the weather. She didn't strike as one suffering in the heat and largely seemed... well, indifferent to everything. It was almost like she was on a seperate plane to everyone else - the illusion only breaking as her ears twitched slightly to the sound of an arriving motorbike. Whilst she didn't turn to check, the small movement at least made it clear she was aware of the arriving presence. Always on guard...

Aaand then the cyan fox spoke to her. Blinking slightly, her eyes widened a second as she was slightly caught off-guard by the sudden conversation from her neighbour. Still, they soon returned to their standard as they settled on the presently naked fox before them.
And it seemed - for a while at least - that the dark wolf wasn't even going to acknowledge the conversation. Indeed, after the rambling individual finally trailed off, all they seemed to do for a few moments was stare... before a small, gentle smirk crept onto their face. They gave a slight... nod. Perhaps agreeing with the sentiment? It was hard to tell, everything about their manner was quiet. Not a nervous quiet as some might expect but rather... a controlled silence to her being.
Either way, she seemed to pause a moment more... before rolling up her sleeve. Tugging gently on the fur on her own arm, she then made a wide gesture towards Bou, as if to encompass his entire being. She seemed to end it with a slightly questioning glance, as if asking him - was his fur not enough?

As the hedgehog waited patiently in line, a blue fox struck up a conversation with the oddly dressed figure. He talked of how this person was dressing 'normally', though Caen could hardly agree, considering this Mobian's sweatshirt was of a more... Wintery variety. He proceeded to complain about his bare arms, which the hedgehog could understand, as he himself was more used to wearing long-sleeved jackets, but the heat told him not to take the risk.

He opened his mouth to talk, before he noticed a flash of red in the corner of his eye. A... Motobug? Hold on, wasn't that a type of Badnik?! Caen turned around, gritting his teeth "but... Why would that man attack here, of all places?" He muttered to himself. He looked around, there was only one here. He sighed, walking away from the line and towards this Motobug. "Well, this is a pretty terrible attack, if that's all there is," he spoke a little louder, looking around for the presumed commander.

The tiger strolled on into the park through its main gate, taking in the many people who had also elected to come here today. As usual, it seemed to be quite an interesting variety. Children running and playing, other people getting their daily workout, and lots of people investing in a refreshing snack or two. The tigress made sure to note the number of available options to keep in mind for after she finished her meal.

Granted, she stopped in her tracks as some sort of insect-like machine went casually rolling by. Had it not been so bright and sunny out, most certainly her pupils would have dilated as her dark-colored ears leaned forward curiously. She stayed there for a couple of moments, fascinated by the sight. After a couple more tail flicks, though, the feline started to move forward down the sidewalk again. Her eyes remained on the robot for now. It seemed familiar, like maybe she'd seen one before. Perhaps on television?

A little growl from her middle reminded her that there would be plenty of time to ogle while she ate.

Stepping off of the sidewalk, the tiger started off to some part of the grass where she'd be less at risk of being in the way of some of the park's more active visitors. Along the way, she noted a snow leopard and her chao who seemed to have the same picnic idea she did. A smile crossed her muzzle as she drew closer to move past them and she commented, "Great day for it, isn't it?" The feline gave her paper bag a little shake to indicate what she was talking about.

BRRRRRRRRBBBBBBT! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNN! The motobug's tiny engine buzzed and hummed as the machine took off, much faster this time, into the park. It weaved past the line gathered at the ice cream truck continued its beeline across the pavement to the fountain. Keeping an eye on the robot from across the way, Storm nodded at how responsive the build was, even at a distance. Now for a brake check! He reversed the control sticks slightly, and with a bit of a screech the machine skidded to a halt, just sort of some kids messing around in the fountain. Good! The breaks were working great. He fiddled with the remote control dials again, testing everything out. In response, the Motobug slid back and forth, its chassis rocking a bit with each change in acceleration. The children playing at the fountain watched in curiosity for a moment as the toy robot went through its paces. Storm tilted the control stick and  slowly throttled up, sending the motobug rolling in circles, leaving donut-shaped skidmarks on the park concrete before winding it into a big, slow orbit around the fountain.

Storm smirked, amused at his own antics as he started to chase after the repurposed machine, gradually drawing towards the crowd around the ice cream stand.

Boubka felt a little uneasy at the start. It seemed like the wolf wouldn't reply to him. She was just staring. The fox wanted to turn his head back again, but right before he could, the wolf suddenly reacted. A smirk. He replied with a smirk twice as big. It felt kind of strange to the fox. He couldn't notice the wolf feeling awkward, eventhough she didn't say anything back.
Still, there was no reply coming his way. Should he just turn back around? Now all he was doing was awkardly look at her. Oh! The wolf started to do...something? Rolling up her sleeve, tugging her fur? It took a few seconds for the boy to react. Ah! Right! The fox wildly nodded. "Aha!" It appears this woman doesn't talk! That's okay. He can deal with that. Silence can speak louder than words. "Oh I'm not cold or anything. I guess it's just that I really like my sweater. Not sure why. Maybe I just like rolling up sleeves or something..." He rubbed his naked arms. A green stripe was visible on his right hand. It looked similar to a scar.
"What about you then?" The fox asked. "Why are you wearing such an attire? I must say I like the style. I normally don't wear black, but it certainly looks nice on other people!" You could at least say that this fox had a voice. It sounded loud and optimistic. The optimism faded a bit. "Wait...can you explain that at all? Can you speak?" Bou calm down with the questions man. You might stress her out. Or not? She felt very calm and collected.

What wasn't calm and collected, was the noise coming their way. That motobug thing. The red figure that was in the queue as well noticed the thing as well. It drove right past him. Bou had been to busy with someone else. The motobug eventually came to a stop, but not without smudging the park. Should he say something about it? Not...yet. A lot of other people would probably walk up to the driver of that thing. He'd get a punishment for it eitherway. The fox decided that he'd let it slip.

"Great day for it, isn't it?"

Yukiko looked up and couldnt help but blush slightly at the tigress who was casually walking past the two as she shook her bag of food to emphasise the reason behind why she was here also. Before the violet feline could respond however, Melody sprang up towards the strawberry blonde and began circling around her happily. She giggled and cooed, as if she had known the female since forever. Then again, thats what the little white and blue Chao did. Yukiko herself was far too shy to strike up a conversation with anyone, but Melody would jump into someone randomly, which started a chat, whether she wanted it to happen or not.

"I-I'm so sorry!" The purple cat stuttered out. "Melody, t-the girl doesn't want y-you getting in her way if s-shes hungry! Let her b-be!"

Sure enough, Melody eventually calmed down, but instead of sitting back in her spot, she floated over to the other side of the poor tiger girl and began trying her best to push her over towards the picnic blanket. 
At this point, Yukiko was beyond embarrassed. "Melody! You cannot do that to a stranger! Stop annoying her and sit back down this instant!"

The sudden stern tone wasn't one to be heard very often from the snow leopard, but Melody was pushing her own luck by potentially annoying someone she didn't even know. The small creature babbled quietly as her expression saddened before she sat down with a small frown etched on her previously overjoyed little chubby face. Yukiko looked back up to the pretty female as another slight blush formed on her own face. Someone like her wouldn't even know she existed, never mind talk to her.

"I am deeply sorry that my chao has just j-jumped onto you there, miss. She just thinks we need c-company, so likes t-to try and bring s-strangers over to sit with us."

Yukiko then stood up and bowed respectfully to the tigress as her way of expressing an apology.

The wolf continues to watch the bug shaped thing rolling around the park's pathways. It seemed to be keeping it's distance from most of the people, and it didn't seem to be doing anything when it got near anyone. In fact, other than perhaps startling a few people, no one seemed bothered by it. When it started heading off to one of the food stands, he glances away to look around again.

There didn't really seem to be much else of not going on in the park at the moment. Some distance away he could see two female felines presumably talking while a smaller... animal of some sort seemed to be flying around them. That made him a bit curious too. Who could have a flying pet well trained enough that it wouldn't just fly away at the first opportunity?

He consider the idea of heading over that way a bit later on if the pair remained there, so that he could get a closer look. For the moment though, he didn't really want to wander out from his shaded area unless he needed too.

He then tucks his water bottle back into his bag and lies back down in the grass.

The quiet wolf seemed just about ready to respond - when suddenly that small motobug went whizzing past the line! Hand shooting to her back, she lowered her stance as if ready for combat... before relaxing at the sight of the non-threat. What she'd've done about it if it WERE a problem seemed questionable. Whilst her hand had moved as if to retrieve a weapon, taking a look at it, there didn't seem to be any such object on her back to actually grab. Perhaps she'd left it at home today and had simply responded on instinct?

Regardless, they kept their eyes on the machine, even as they responded to Bou. And her response was simple;
"I speak."
She spoke very well too it seemed. The voice which emerged was... well, it was a very pleasant voice - some would go as far as to suggest attractive. It's the kind of voice you'd imagine could comfortably sing, or give speeches... granted to the one person in the world who would seem to refuse to use it.

Indeed, as her intense gaze returned to the fox, she once more fell silent. There was another slightly uncomfortable pause, before she glanced down at her own clothes - pulling out the bottom of her jumper slightly, apparently intent on addressing the questions about those. Aaand... she simply gave a shrug. Informative commentary right there.

Glancing back over Boubka once more, she took a moment to gesture towards her hand, before point back to him again. Seemed she wanted to know about his scar?

The hedgehog's entire focus had shifted to the mechanical ladybug, as he watched the robot whizz across the park, stopping short of children playing in a nearby fountain. "What is it doing?" He asked aloud as the machine began to spin, kicking up clouds of dust and dirt. Surely this wasn't being controlled by a powerful dictator, was it?

Caen decided not to take the chance as it turned around, speeding towards the queue of the ice cream stall. He ran as fast as he could, stopping short of some people, who were rather surprised by how close the hedgehog suddenly was to them. He held out his arms, as if to protect his fellow Mobians.

"Stay back!" He shouted, his eyes glued to the Motobug, not even noticing its true controller running along nearby.

The tiger had only slowed her pace slightly when making her comment to the leopard, but the chao flying up around made her halt in place. She turned her head, trying to follow the happy creature's flight path as best as she could. Her casual smile widened out into a playful laugh, despite Yukiko's protests.

Granted, then the chao moved over to the right side of her back and started to nudge her towards the snow leopard. The tigress lifted up her arm and looked down at Melody, only shifting over one step from the push. "Oh, where we goin'?" she questioned curiously.

By this point, the owner of the little thing gave a much firmer order and the chao relented and returned to where she'd been before. The tiger's hazel eyes shifted over to other feline, finally giving her more than just a passing glance. Her head tilted slightly as she found her markings quite interesting and she found herself uncertain of what her actual species might have been. As she considered this, however, the spotted cat was standing up and bowing after having apologized. A bit of a stutter was noted and the tigress found herself wondering if she was nervous or if it was just natural...

Of course, she'd paused just a moment long enough to make it awkward...

With a quick shake of her head, she replied, "Hey, no harm done, right? I can understand being a social butterfly, especially over a meal." A smirk spread out across her face and she gestured with her water bottle towards a sunny patch of grass between the shade of the trees. "Honestly, I wasn't going too far... Aaaand I wouldn't want to hurt the feelings of your, uh..." The big cat paused and glanced to the chao behind Yukiko. "...Tao?"

There was some uncertainty notable on her face as she seemed to not actually know the proper term for what Melody was. During her pause, her ears perked up and swiveled at the sound of someone shouting not too far off. Something about staying back...? But rather than seek out the source, her gaze returned to Yukiko instead. It was probably just some teenagers playing around, after all.

The motobug didn't stop at all. In fact, it did the opposite! It sped up towards the red hedgehog, its tiny little engine screaming loudly before, with a short-hop it put itself sideways, skidding to a halt, trailing dust and grit behind it. But the clouds of dust hadn't even settled before the little robot was back at it again, burning little circular trails on the sidewalk in front of the hedgehog, clearly trying to get some reaction out of the situation. Storm twisted his face trying not to laugh as he slowed the little motobug to a crawl, slowly nudging it towards the crowd, specifically the red hedgehog. Its tiny little claws glinted in the sunlight. Its dead, glinting eyes scanned the scene ahead of it before, with a twist of the control stick, it turned its tail on the hedgehog and with a sudden acceleration, peeled out, spraying a rooster tail of dust and tire smoke at the hedgehog before burning off into the park!

Maybe this was going to be an interesting trip after all.

The fox noticed the wolf's quick movements of reflex, a standard fighting pose. He knew it well. Bou could easily tell that she was a fighter. She moved her hand to her back, attempting to grab something. He couldn't quite get it at the time, but after a few seconds of thought he realised that she probably tried grabbing a weapon. Would it have been a sword or a gun? Who knows? What Bou did know is that this woman isn't innocent. But he couldn't judge her for that. He could've done the same things. Lots of people fight for good. He decided to just keep it in mind, instead of talking about it.

Maybe he decided that out of free will, or maybe he was speechless for a moment, completely forgetting about what he was thinking about. He took a quick step back. A sound came out of the wolf. So she did speak! And how! So calming, yet so fierce. She only said two words, but it had already amazed the fox. He felt baffeled. He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking about it. Enjoying it. Then his body suddenly reflexed back in a casual position. Right. Don't let your mind wander away during a conversation. "So you do speak! But you don't...like it or something? Oh! Is it because people get distracted by your voice?" Bou didn't want to compliment her. Maybe she hears it every day. Could be quite annoying.

Her reply towards her clothing felt familiar. It'd be exactly his reaction if someone would ask him. "Ah! I completely understand. I wouldn't be able to really give a reason myself. It just...feels better y'know?" He smiled back friendly, hoping for a reaction back.

The wolf made a gesture towards her hand. "Your hand? Oh! My hand. You mean the glowing thing? Yeah. It's really annoying when you want to fall asleep, so I wrap it in with a small blanket." He was talking pretty casually about it. He shrugged, then realized he created a large gap in the queue. He walked towards the person that was in front of him in the line. It was almost his turn. Oh boy. "So what flavour are you gonna get?"

The uncertainty was not lost in Yukikos white tipped ears. Over time, Chao became less common in the city itself, so seeing someone with one now was less expected. The feline couldn't help but let a small smile grace her white muzzle at the attempt at Melody's species name. It was a good try at least, she gave her that.

"If you are certain, t-then by all means, have a seat. Chao themselves are quite s-social themselves and s-sometimes really take a liking to random strangers without t-thinking they may get in t-trouble for it." Yukiko explained softly, hoping that her way of basically saying Melody's race was not offending the tigress. She didn't want to just outright say 'Chao', so tried to put it into a sentence that would also explain why the little creature did what she did. Sometimes that little madam just did what she wanted, and it frightened Yukiko to no end. What if she tried to get attention from the wrong type of person? Then she would be stuck with the possibility of an angry Mobian in her way.

The violet leopard caught the same sounds as the tigress, but choked it up to just children playing nearby. But she couldn't mistake the sudden shout of a familiar male voice entangled in there as well.
'I hope Caen isn't causing too much trouble out there.' She thought as she lowered back down onto the small blanket lain on the grass and gestured for the other feline to sit also.

"I guess we should at l-least have an introduction? My name is Yukiko, but y-you can call me Yuki or Kiko if you want. A-and this little miss here is Melody... but you already... knew that...?"

The snow leopard folded her legs underneath her and lowered her tipped ears slightly in embarrassment. She was really no good at talking with people. Why did her Chao do this to her?

The wolf had not had much time to get settled in the grass when he heard someone shout 'stay back'. Hearing that got him to promptly sit back up and look in the direction of the voice. Although he had no idea who had actually done the speaking, the wolf could see that bug shaped thing apparently making a nuisance of itself near a group of people at a food stand. He continues to watch at the bug then turns and takes off.

As it moves away, something else catches his attention. Not from from where the 'confrontation' he'd just watched happened, there appeared to be a familiar looking figure holding some sort of device in their paws. The wolf continues to sit there and stare at them for the time being, wondering if that was the person he thought it was or not.

(Oop, apologies for the delay. Can only be described as having been something of a Hot Mess myself recently. Will try to be more attentive!)

She had spoken, yes - and this had evidently come as some surprise to the fox. Indeed, it did to many the first time she spoke to them. A combination of people assuming her mute, combined with her voice itself generally catching people... off guard.
And yet, to his question as to why she was so quiet, no such vocal response came. Indeed, she offered but another small shrug, he expression unchanging.

Indeed, she was a very difficult read overall. Whilst one might suggest that she wasn't... satisfied, with Bou's answer to her own enquiry about the hand, it was genuinely hard to tell.
Despite this, she did seem prepared to answer the fox's enquiry - riiight up until the red hedgeho started shoutin behind her.

Turning towards the source of the noise, the wolf soon found the bottom of her dark trousers being decorated with the kicked-up-dust of the wildly erratic motobug. Whilst the target of the move had evidently been Caen, their close proximity had resulted in the extension of the dirt-spray onto the wolf's own legs.
Turning back for a moment, she raised a finger to Bou. 'One second'.

Having made her intent a debatable level of 'clear', the wolfess moved a second to tap the hedgehog on the shoulder - before raising a finger and putting it to his lips. The universal symbol of 'shush'.
Holding her finger there, her amber eyes began to scan the environment - those two dots of colour on her monochrome form darting from person to person - before settling on the figure of one particular fox holding a controller. There you are.
For a few moments they simply stared at them. Some would perhaps describe the look as a glare... it certainly had the same disquieting feeling. And yet once more, the wolf's expression didn't change. Not even as she took her finger from Caen's mouth, and used it to gesture Storm to make his way towards them.