Stoking the Fire

((Woop first one on the second page! xD))

Orange-amber eyes gratefully thanked the cashier as their owner strolled to the front door. White tipped ears flicked to attention as she swiveled them and herself towards the two males.

"If you really insist, I-I guess I wouldn't be hearing the end of now, would I?" 

Yukiko looked to the two rather tall individuals who had stolled in with heavy winter clothing on. 'Surely its not that cold, right?' She thought silently as a small frown took form on her placid features. She knew she was used to the cold, and actually rather eagerly welcomed it a lot more than most others would, but she could still tell when it was especially chilly. 

As she glanced over them for a few seconds, she noted the hats they wore and deduced they may well be foreigners not used to this part of Mobius' colder weather. 

Shaking her head from her sudden distraction she picked up as many bags as she could handle and smiled gratefully at the other two who offered her assistance.

"I really must thank you both for this in advance. I-I will make some tea at my apartment to heat you up before we go our separate ways once again."

 

Suprised by being run into i dropped my cola, I wasn't that mad really, it was small and did not cost much, after hearing the Chinchilla's apology thunder said back to him "It's oka-" only to be cut off by the eggman admirer, after the fact he saw that the chinchilla was offering to repay me for my spilt drink, i accept it saying "thank you, well stay safe wherever you are going" and i walk out of the store and leave the city to the forest to take a nice hike through the area leaving the idea to go to the cafe for another day

The two clothed people went down the isle looking around at the wares. They seemed to have stopped and scanned around at various spices and herbs, often while filling up their carts. Eventually however they acquired enough ingredients and proceeded to move out of the isle towards the register. The oddity that they only bought certain ingredients and not a lot of normal foodstuffs or other items could have meant that the two were either really cheap, or that they basically came into the store to purchase only a few particular necessities for whatever they were making.

Soon both of them stood in line to cash in. The slightly shorter female one, (who was tall by Mobian standards) waited in front while the even taller male one stood behind her. They seemed rather patient as they awaited their turn to move up and pay for their spices and herbs.

Caen chuckled back to Yukiko "oh, there's no need for that. I'm just returning a favour," he said, waving his arm as he spoke, before taking some of the bags in his hands to help. He looked over to Flo, who was talking to... Another Mobian? From the drink that was spilt around their feet, he was guessing Flo was being a little bit clumsy.

What caught the hedgehog's attention, though, was a man, presumably human, dressed in garish reds that made him seem like an Eggman fanatic, holding what appeared to be Flo's wallet. He peered inside, looking quite angry. Would this man be a thief? His rather nervous and, frankly, rude reaction to Flo noticing all but confirmed his suspicions. That man probably planned on pocketing some cash. The same man soon carted his trolley towards the door, bumping it into Caen and knocking him back, causing him to stumble. "Hey, I think the words are 'excuse me'?" Caen called to him as he left. "I really detest people like that. No manners." He muttered, shaking his head.

With all of this going on, the hedgehog didn't even notice the odd attire of a pair of humans in the shop, so made no comment towards them.

Yukiko smiled passively as she allowed Caen to pick up some of her bags, then followed his gaze towards Flo who had somehow managed to stumble into another Mobian and spill the bystanders drink. She quickly jumped into action, pulling out a pack of tissues from her small bag and wiping up the spillage. She then softly explained the situation to a passing by staff member whom dashed off to get a wet floor sign and a mop to clean up the mess. 

Once Yukiko turned around to leave again, some human who seemed to be some sort of Eggman fanboy and some serious attitude problem looked to have deliberately banged his cart into Caen, with a rightly done sarcastic retort escaping the red Mobian in reply. It made Yukiko frown in response. People who acted like that really irked her and disturbed her normally calm and passive self. 

An uncharacteristically dark smirk appeared discreetly on her face as she hid her white muzzle into her big blue dress collar. As fast as lightning, she waved her hand in the general direction of the angry male who had his back turned to them, focusing a little of her powers to create a small sheet of black ice right underneath his feet. Before anyone knew it, a loud surprised yelp sounded from the fanboys direction and when everyone else would turn to see him, they would be met with the male flat on the ground. 

All Yukiko could do was giggle as her face returned to that of innocence.

Flo looked so relieved when Yukiko interceded with her aid. "Thanks a lot. I wasn't paying attention, I guess." Flo then remembered why his attention had been diverted in the first place. The oddly dressed shoppers, with the cart full of equally odd products, had fully possessed it at the time. But he needed to remain focused on the matter at hand--for the minute.

Flo saw that the rude, round Eggman groupie had moved on from Flo to harassing Caen. He was glad to see that Caen made no secret of his annoyance at the insufferable thief.

When Thunder departed, Flo looked a bit disappointed. He didn't know why exactly, but he felt that the fellow Mobian could have been a good friend had the circumstances been different. He guessed that spilling a person's drink probably wasn't the best way to make friends. He couldn't help but let out a sigh.

He then turned his attention back Caen, Yukiko, and the Eggman buff, just in time to see the fat man fall to the floor, causing Flo to remember one thing from his past; the nursery rhyme involving Humpty Dumpty, and he imagined that this must be what it would look like if it played out in the real world.

He then saw the large man flapping his stubby arms  while laying on his back on the floor, shouting a diverse range of words, many of them foreign to Flo, but he guessed that they weren't compliments.

The man then stood up and turned his attention to Yukiko, his face beat red, his mustache standing completely straight, and he began shouting at he top of his lungs. "Y-you! I know you had something to do with that you smelly, worthless Mobian! I wish you and all of your kind would vanish from the planet! If I had my way, why I'd, I'd--" The man then paused with his fist high in the air, realizing that he virtually had the attention of the entire store. He recomposed himself, lowered his fist, and retreated for the door. Flo was stunned. After the man had walked out of the sliding doors, he felt that he should have defended his friends and himself against such insults. It took him completely by surprise, and Flo just looked over to Yukiko and Caen.

(Sorry my internet was not working yesterday)
Thunder started walking through the woods sipping his drink, he finds a bench and sits down, enjoying the breeze i pull out a book and read it while drinking.

The two clothed up individuals continued to stay in the registry line and await their turn. Seemingly both of them looked unphazed from the outside about the events unfolding before them with the spill incident. However, they did turn and watch as Yukkio unleashed what the believed to be some sort of cyro power. The shorter female one was able to quickly take a glimpse of it while the taller male one seemed to just merely glanced.

As the Imperial fanatic rushed outside the door with such a idle that and cowardly pace however both of them appeared to stare at his display. The smaller female one clenched her gloved  fist in apparent offense to the fanatic's words. One odd aspect was as she did apparently long, sort of black creature like nails pierced through her glove.  While the adult one let out a rather deep sigh over the now apparently upset woman.


"Какая сука!" The woman let out in a distinct forgien dialect in a furious tone.




"дочь, успокойся" The male replied to her in a calmer and somewhat annoyed tone.



"Хорошо папа"

The slightly larger male then put his hand on the females shoulder as she began to pant and made a bizarre and sinister hissing noise while facing the door that the man had rand through. After a moment or two she calmed down.

The hedgehog raised an eyebrow as a sheet of black ice formed underneath the rude man's feet, causing his to slip and fall to the floor. Caen tried his best to hold back a laugh, but ended up cracking and letting out the most obnoxious noise he could muster. "Karma's a bitch," Caen said, wiping a tear from his eye.

His smile dropped when the man stood up and reacted aggressively, blaming Yukiko for his... Unfortunate accident. He spoke of how he disliked all Mobians, and wished them dead. As soon as this man realised how much attention he had garnered, he begun to walk away. Caen clenched his free hand, lowering his eyebrows and narrowing his eyes "no, don't leave us. Tell us what you'd do if you had your way, go on." A flame had begun to burn in his clenched fist. Caen heard a hissing from behind him. Clearly he wasn't the only one angered by this man's words. He shifted his eyes back to the man "we're all waiting."

The retort from the rather large chubby man was to be expected, but Yukiko was sure her actions were discreet enough to not have been noticed. Did she have a cold aura around her that made it obvious or something? 
Nevertheless, she folded her ears back in worry that her more devious side came to light and a rather deep embarrassed blush formed on her muzzle. 
"I... I'm sorry,  I have n-no idea what came o-over me." She found herself saying as if on auto pilot. Her ears svivelled to the two other, larger Mobians whom began to converse in a foreign language. She rembered her tutor teaching her a couple of extra languages before she left on her own, but from the sounds of the accent theirs was not one she touched upon. They sounded pretty exasperated though, which didn't help matters at present. 

A sudden heat came from seemingly nowhere and upon looking to her right where Caen and Flo were standing nearby, she found the hedgehog in question holding a ball of pure fire, and an angry personal fire in his eyes. Flo was just standing staring at her, which of course made her once again feel horrible for what she did, but the guy was being a class A piece of work. 

Caens words startled her though: he and the others were standing up against this guy? But it was she who did the wrong! 
"M-maybe it would be b-best for all o-of us if we just don't a-attack each other?" Her soft voice floated over them all. Great, her nerves were back in force."Please, c-can't we all just p-put this behind us a-and go on our w-way?"

Flo was disturbed at the way events were unfolding before him. Why did the man even accost Yukiko to begin with, Flo wondered? There's no way he could have seen her perpetrate any sort of act against him when his back was turned towards her. Could he? No. The only conclusion Flo could reach is that perhaps the vile man just singled her out because she had been the closest Mobian to him, and she appeared to be the least confrontational of the lot, making her the easiest target to let out his frustrations over the failed theft of Flo's (who is also a Mobian) wallet. His disdain for all Mobians was made quite apparent, so it would make sense why he would target one. But none of this really mattered at the moment, Flo thought.

Flo knew he needed to do something before this escalated. He didn't wish to see anyone end up in jail over this moron (though he had to admit, he wouldn't have minded seeing the maniacal man spend a few nights in the lockup). Flo then ran over to Caen and gently (he didn't want to anger him further) put his hand on his shoulder. "He's not worth it, Caen. Something's seriously wrong with him. Fighting with him here will lead to nothing but trouble." Flo completely understood Caen's anger. The man was clearly in the wrong, in Flo's eyes. Not only had he apparently attempted to steal Flo's wallet, but the remarks he made were as horrible as Flo had ever heard. Flo definitely admired Caen's courage, but he could see that things were getting out of control.

 Flo was relieved to see that the volatile man was now no where to be seen, apparently quickly cowering out of the store as soon as the situation appeared threatening to him. Flo then turned his attention to Yukiko. "Are you okay?" He asked in a friendly tone, hoping to calm her nerves a bit.

The two strange shoppers near him just continuously piqued his interest. Everything about them was curious, and Flo wished an opportunity would arise where he could discover a bit more about them.

(Skip me, lets just say im still reading the book)

(Should my characters exit the store or will someone try to interact with them inside? )

((I dunno. You do what you feel is best.))

The two clothed up individuals finally got to the automatic cashin register. The female one apparently turned on the settings to speak in Russian as they scanned both their items. Eventually they paid for their automatic transaction as she put the items in a plastic bag and handed it over to the male one. Both the people then proceeded to head outside of the store. The female moved ahead of the male who appeared to be rather slower than her, however he was carrying the bag so it would be understandable.

For about a minute, Caen stood there, staring at the door. Soon, though, the flame in his hand extinguished, and his muscles relaxed. He let out a sigh as he closed his eyes "you're right. Sorry," he said to Flo. He opened his eyes and looked over at Yukiko "I hope I didn't scare you. It's just..." He looked back towards the doorway "people like him... They remind me of someone that..." He used his free hand to straighten the quills on his head "I don't need to burden you with all that," he said, trying his best to feign a smile. "So, we gotta get this stuff back to your home, right?" He asked, trying to change the subject as best as he could. He was still mostly ignoring the people who were seriously overdressed, as he felt that he could not sidetrack himself any longer. He shook his head after staring fora few seconds. Even if he was trying to ignore them, they were still oddly dressed.

As the rather large man vanished from everyones sight, Yukiko let out a breath she didn't realize she was actually holding in. She couldn't help but feel threatened by the human who had singled her out. In her mind he sort of did have the right to do so, after all she DID conjure the ice to make him slip up, but he was being cruel. It was only fair...right?

"I'm...fine, thank you, but I did deserve it a little..." Yukiko responded quietly to the silver chinchilla whom was expressing his concern towards her. She was grateful that they were defending her, but deep down what she did was wrong and she was frustrated with herself that she did what she did without any thought to the possible well-being of the male. He could have been hurt.

She kept her troubled expression in place for a moment, then perked her ears when she heard Caen pipe up about the bags of shopping that were recently purchased. She still felt the massive heat coming from him and it made her shiver. Heat was never a strong point for her, and the sheer focused amount that was in his hand previously unexpectedly made her violet and white spotted fur puff out a little bit.

Shaking her head to focus again she turned to the two who were determined to repay her and nodded silently with a small smile. 

The other two larger Mobians whom had passed the three of them before had traveled around the whole store in the time it took for the little event at the front doors to finish and were now in the checkout area. They still piqued her interest at why they were so out of place in an area like this. Yukiko felt extremely rude, but they were so different to the norm so she really couldn't help herself, and found she wasn't the only one by the looks they were receiving from a few other various shoppers as well.

Fixing the weight of the bags in her hands she moved her gaze back to the front of the store in preparation to leave for real this time. "My home isn't too far, just a few b-blocks after the right a-at the end of the road. I'm on the third f-floor."

Flo was glad to see that Caen hadn't allowed his anger get the better of him. Flo really didn't want to see anything else bad happen to anyone. It seemed their fortune went from bad (losing their wallets), to good (regaining them with Yukiko's help), and back to bad again. He wanted to get things back to good and break the cycle, keeping everything "good," at least through out the rest of their little jaunt.

As Caen explained himself, Flo gave a faint, understanding smile. He was curious about Caen's past, but even one as exuberant and impetuous as Flo could tell this was neither the time nor the place to follow up on that curiosity; and besides that, it was obvious to Flo that Caen had no desire to go further into the topic at the present time.

As Flo listened to Yukiko attempt to take some of the responsibility for the predicament, Flo shook his head at Yukiko. "He completely had it coming. And the more he spoke, the more he proved that." Flo said with earnest conviction. "I still can't believe the way he tried to take the money out of my wallet. The joke was on him though. That's probably why he was so angry," Flo mused, which caused him to chuckle aloud at the thought, obviously feeling a bit more at ease now that everything was beginning to settle down. 

As Caen suggested that they finally get on with their quest, Flo grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, let's do this! We've been held up long enough. You lead, Yukiko. On the way there, you guys should tell me what has you out shopping so early. Like, is it your jobs or anything?"

  Flo then did the unthinkable. After being held up in the grocery store for nearly two weeks, without proper hygiene or nourishment, he poked his head out into the blinding light of the sun. He thought to himself that he--along with Yukiko and Caen--must surely hold the world's record for the longest grocery trip--and all he bought was a single bar of chocolate. Flo felt proud at this hard earned accomplishment. ((Sorry, I had to =p))

Flo then exited the store and took a deep breath of the morning air. A bit of the fatigue that he had been feeling earlier had begun to rear its ugly head again, but the fresh air helped relieve it. He looked over to the two Mobians as he exited the store and finally lost his inhibitions--perhaps a bit drunk on tiredness--and asked, "aren't you two pretty warm? I mean--I know I would be if I was dressed like that in this weather."

(Just skip me untill you get to the forrest)

Both the clothed individuals turned around to face Flo. The slightly smaller female one before who went off on the Imperial fanatic moved forth as to speak. As she began to cough and try to clear her throat she sounded like an odd hissing and yet voice clearing sort of manner.

"Ack! Cuhh cuhhh! Ahem...Where we come from there always cold.The heat doesn't bother us nearly as the the sunlight, not that it harms us. It just bad for complexion." The lady replied in a rather Slavic like accent and dialect for someone who doesn't seem to know English all to well.

"Da, temperature is not as bad as brightness.We are foreigners to this land." The adult male one suddenly spoke up in a rather unnaturally deep Slavic like accent as well.

Just as the trio were about to leave, Flo caught the attention of the two individuals that had piqued Caen's interest not too long ago. He couldn't help but smile at how casual Flo was being towards complete strangers. Still, at least the hedgehog's curiousity could now be removed. He looked over at the two, trying his best to note any particular facial features, but this proved fruitless, due to the sheer amount of warm clothing wrapped around both of them.

From their accents, they seemed to be... Russian? (Or whatever the Mobian equivalent is) this seemed to be confirmed due to the fact that they spoke of how cold their home country was. He chuckled when he heard their reasoning as to why they were bundled up in all those coats and scarfs and the like. "Well, I'd just say be careful in the summer, because there's a lot more sun than this, and... Well, I'd prefer if you didn't get heat stroke." He said rather bluntly. "Although, I'm kinda the opposite, I don't have an issue with brightness, but temperature is an issue. I just... Cant handle the heat. No idea why." He said, smiling at them widely.

A dark eyebrow raised itself in question to Caens random statement. He, who controlled flames and fire couldn't stand heat? How unusual. 

Yukiko nodded ahead in agreement. "M-me too. I prefer the c-cold. Must be a genetic thing though." She gave a gentle smile to the two larger, heavier clothed individuals at hearing the obvious thick accents. So it was true, they we're foreign and not from here at all. She hoped they were good with their directions. After all, getting lost in a city is horribly daunting. 

"Do you find the area n-nice? I hope people a-are treating you with common courtesy." She bowed a little in respect. "There is always the fair share of the wrong type of p-people around. Please know we are not all like the likes of that man who was shouting before."
Yukiko straightened back up to her full height and gave an eye smile. "I'm not sure if you have had the words spoken to you yet, so I will possibly be the first to welcome you to the area!"
Yeah, if there was one thing she hoped she was good at, it was making people happy, welcome or just feel better.

Flo listened to the strangers with genuine interest as they explained themselves. It was obvious by Flo's reaction that he was truly interested as to their reasoning and not just being impudent with his question. He was glad to finally have his curiosity abated.

Flo just continued to listen and give an occasional nod as Caen spoke and cautioned the foreigners of the summer heat. When Caen began to speak of his distaste for high temperatures, Flo found it a bit odd. He remembered Caen wielding what appeared to be some sort of flame magic earlier. The inner workings of this type of sorcery were a bit out of Flo's league, so he thought it best not to guess. That said, he definitely wanted to ask Caen when the opportunity presented itself.

Flo smiled in agreement as Yukiko assured the foreigners that they were not like the rude man from before. "Yeah, don't let the bad apples get you down around here. I've had some pretty bad experiences myself since I've come to this city." Flo added with a sigh. He then shook off his feelings of discouragement and began again. "But they're not all like that. There's some good people here, too. You just have to be careful."

After Yukiko politely welcomed the strangers, Flo gave a friendly smile and held out his hand to the two visitors. "And I'll be the second. I'm Flo. It's good to meet you two. What brings you out here, anyway, If you don't mind me askin'?.

(Note: Thunder told me to skip so I am doing such.)

"Worry not your cranium, we tend to be more busy at nighttime. Also I shall inform you we are quite incapable of 'heat stroke'. It is mere complexion and light sensitivity." The slightly larger adult male one calmly assured Caen.

As he spoke the male seemed rather calm, yet stern and confident. From his apparent tone the male seemed to be of age and very wise, at least from first impression.

"My father and I are used to being treated with animosity. Place is nice, but human is ignorant fool. Is okay though, spasibo." The slightly smaller woman replied back to Yukkiko.

At the response of Flo speaking the woman turned her head and faced him. She seemed  less calm in speech and much more impulsive. She listened into Flo's input before nodding her head.

"Da, to be honest I had as you say, 'half a brain' to silence the whelp? These machine lovers all the same, arrogant and ignorant. Privet 'Flo', I Lilian Nastasia, this be father, Arnzarel Nastasia." The lady said as she turned and pointed towards her apparent father.

"We come here to gather spices for potion. Nothing more, nothing less. It hard to find  cheap prices in motherland such as western city here. Lilian and I hail from the mountains of Uralia. Beautiful country, but where home is it's barren and isolated." Arnzarel responded to Flo.