A Time And Place

Just outside the airport, taking the time to soak in the warm sunlight, stood a dark colored female, gripping a small luggage bag and being followed closely by a small shrew in a business suit. She couldn't hear his words over the view she was drinking in, sipping longingly at the familar city air. But she had a good feeling about the gist of it.

     "Mm...Yeah, yeah, I know. 'Don't do this', 'It'll ruin yer career', 'You'll never fight again'. Whatever ya say Vincent, I'm still doing this."

     " But...Flame! You've just made it into global rankings! To quit now would be-"

  The rodent squeaked sharply as the tall female turned her head, bright orange irises glowing fiercely even in the daylight. She gave a chuckle, turning her gaze back to the busy parking lot.

     "It's my decision. And I think it's a good one. I've been away from here for far too long....I miss my friends. I miss my adventures. And it's about time ya found someone a little more eager fer the fight."

  She smiled, giving Vincent a dismissive wave.

      " Feel free ta keep the merch, I don't care what ya do with it now. Go find some fancy new kid ta place yer bets on."

  Flame began to pull her suitcase behind her, leaving a slackjawed shrew and her past phase behind. It was time to go back, time to start new-




  And time to nearly topple someone in the street not even a few minutes later because she wasn't paying attention to really anything at all.

     "Oh, Void, I am so sorry! Are ya alright? I didn't break anything, did I?"

"So do you know when the next you get these parts?"

Darren was currently in a weapons shop, Buying stuff for his prototypes and upkeep on his gear. He was also on his way to the Heroes Guild to apply later after he finished his errands, getting himself ready for hero work, "There are some parts i need for a wispon, some blank CC model chips to be exact," Darren said as he motion to the rather large weapon strapped to his back, "would you be getting more soon?"

"Most likely. feel free to comeback tomorrow, we get new shipments then."

"Thanks sir," Darren gave a happy smile as he gathered the box of parts and things bought after paying the clerk, "I'll be back tomorrow then."
As he walked out of the store he began running over the stuff he needed to do, talking too himself as walked down the street. ~Ok i need to drop this stuff off at the apartment first and then head to a clothing store for more stuff to.make outfits...~ his mind trailed off into deep thought as he walked, becoming completely oblivious to where he was going. As he walk he suddenly noticed something in front of him a little to late as he bumped into it, "Oof" he grunted as he fell flat out on his rear and his box of parts scattered all over the sidewalk.

~ouch... felt like i.walked into a wall...~ he thought as he looked up too see what walked into. As he looked he saw rather a who than a what. She was about his size appeared to be a wolf with... spines? She wore a rather brightly colored headband and clothing.

"Oh void. I am so sorry! Are ya alright? I didn't break anything, did I?" "

At this Darren snapped outta his thoughts and quickly scrambled to his feet, "N-no miss. I'm ok, really. I should have been paying attention better." Darren mentally kicked himself, ~Why did it have to be a girl?~

The ebony female sighed in relief, offering the feline a hand up.

     "The attention could go well for the both of us, I suppose-"

  She chuckled, looking around at the mess of parts. Luckily none had fallen into the road, so no need for running into traffic for a bolt. Others didn't seem to notice, simply rerouting around or through the mess without a second though.

     "Tch, the nerve of these people. Lemme help ya get this mess cleaned up."

  Without waiting for a reponse, she began to squat down, gathering up the bits and pieces the male had dropped.

Darren was immediately flustered as she began to clean up the parts, "O-oh its fine, but thank you for the help." Darren then began gathering up the various odds and ends, placing them back into the box as he went.

As he cleaned up he tried to make conversation with his new acquaintance, "So uh... where are you from?" He avoided eye contact as he kept picking up the parts, hoping she would be mad about his inquiry. After all the situation was already awkward enough for him and he didn't wanna be on some random person bad side before he was even registered at the Guild. ~just when I thought things were gonna go ok for me today...~

      "Nonsense! A good hand should be heeded at all counts." And odd phrase, but one nonetheless. Followed by a just an odd question. Usually names were the first thing asked, but origin is one of the top five in her book.

      "Soleanna's my mother land, though I s'pose I've lost her tongue after all this time."

  She chuckled almost nervously, maybe even a little ashamed. It was shame the accent never really stuck like she had thought it would. After all her travels, it pretty much just boiled down to a strange Southern accent without the drawl. Just clean sounding slang.

      "And you?"She spoke as she glanced over a particular part, finding it rather interesting before setting it into the box with the rest of them.

Finding that she wasn't upset he quickly replied,"I'm from metal city, though there isn't much way to tell other than all the gear I'm wearing," he said as he motioned to his outfit and the weapon on his back, "Then again, tech isn't uncommon with eggman and everything else the world deals with on a seemingly regular basis." He then slapped his forehead as he realized he didn't even give his name, "S-sorry, i should have introduced myself first. The names Darren, Darren Tean. I'm a Rookie hero for the guild... well... trying to be," he said with a sigh, "I haven't sent in my formal request yet."

( OOC: Greetings. Hope you don't mind if I drop in here. )

It had been hours since he first arrived in this city, but even at that point when he got here, he’d already known he was lost. What followed was a trek towards the city’s airport, which had proven something of a challenge to find. It first required him to engage with several strangers so that he could find his way, and that had been somewhat difficult given that he’d been out of touch with people for the better part of the last six months and he felt quite awkward around the ones he’d spoken to here. This trip had involved many stops and starts and retracing his steps to locate his immediate destination.
 
After he’d finally reached the airport, several hours after he’d first arrived, as well as several hours ago, he’d then gotten quite lost within the massive building itself. It was somewhat ironic, given that he had come here in order to get access to maps of the immediate and wider region. He wanted to figure out where he currently was, from where he’d come and of course, where he would be going to next. At this point he really wanted to avoid losing his way again. It was rather embarrassing after all.
 
Several minutes ago, he’d finished up the work he’d needed to do. He had a better sense of where he was, which was somewhat of a comfort after months of being in the wilderness with no real sense of where anything was. Maybe he’d be able to settle down for a day or two and then consider heading on his way after he was rested.
 
With that in mind, he now stepped out of the airport, moving from the chaotic bustle of activity inside, to the chaotic bustle of activity outside. Large numbers of people were coming and going all around him with vehicles in the near and far distance picking up, dropping off or just passing through.
 
“This is something I certainly haven’t missed…” he mutters to himself, “At least I’m outside though.”
 
Letting out a breath, the silver furred wolf began to navigate through the crowd, pulling his dark grey jacket a bit closer to himself. He then adjusts the straps of his hiking pack and duffel bag he carried with him before tucking his paws into the pockets of his dark brown pants. He quietly surveys the crowd as he walks among them, looking for a quickest route out of it.
 
Suddenly he stops, earning some muttered comments from other people who suddenly had to veer around him. The wolf glances around again, now with a bit more purpose. He was sure that he’d just… felt something. It was similar to a prior event over a year ago which, occurred right before some stranger had begun beating the stuffing out of him. This time though, there didn’t seem to be any obvious danger. Curious about the source of the feeling, he pauses for another minute in the crowd, slowly turning back and forth to get a general idea of what direction the feeling was strongest from. He then sets off again through the crowd, which gradually began to thin out as he proceeded.
 
It’s less than a minute later that he hears a brief commotion ahead, then the sound of several metallic objects hitting the ground. Other people passing through pause to briefly glance in the direction of the disturbance and then continue on their way. As the wolf was already heading that way, he decides to take a look.
 
Now moving along a more sparsely occupied sidewalk, the wolf is able to see past most of the people walking around and spots a pair of people, a male feline and someone whose species he couldn’t immediately identify but who appeared to be female, crouched close to the ground gathering up scattered pieces of metal and returning them to a box. They also appeared to be talking, but he was too far away to overhear anything from them over the ambient noise and conversations of people closer to him. Seeing that nothing appeared to be amiss, the wolf is ready to return his focus to the feeling, which was stronger now, that had first drawn him this way.
 
He takes a few more steps forward and notices another piece of metal on the ground a short distance away. It looks somewhat similar to the ones he’d seen the pair picking up ahead of him, but he had no way to be sure as it was something that he knew very little about. The pair ahead hadn’t seemed to have noticed this other one here. It had likely been kicked away by a passerby when all of them had been scattered and ended up here. Or it was something else unrelated that just happened to be lying there. Unsure of which situation was correct, the wolf walks over, picks it up and begins walking towards the feline and his female companion, figuring he’d at least ask them. It might be something important to them after all. If not, well, he just happened to be walking that way anyway.

( OOC: Feel free to ignore my character so that yours may finish their introductions without interruption. )

   "Metal City, eh? Still quite the interesting place. I've only been a couple times m'self, but still certainly one of my top 25 places to go."

  She chuckled to herself at her own words, bringing up a hand to somewhat stifle it. Upon hearing his name, she grinned, extending the same hand.

     "Seraphina. Though everyone just calls me Flame. For obvious reasons, of course."

  Nearly all of the parts had been picked up, and what seemed to be left was far within the feline's reach, so Flame stood, eyes scanning the area ahead of her. Her ears twitched at the mention of a Guild, curiosity flashing in her eyes. Had it really been that long? Man, sounded like she had a lot to catch up on.

     "Guild? Can't say I've heard of it. Mind giving me an explaination?"

Darren's ears immediately perked up at the answer of her wanting to know more about the guild, almost instantly dropping his timid nature, 
"Well ya see, Its a guild thats for people to become registered heroes. Its a great way to help people while meeting many new people and learning about many different places." Darren's voice had lost its stammer as he continued, 
"I've been loking forward to joining and seeing what I can do. I'm gonna be sending in my request later after I handle more things around town, maybe even compete in a fighting tournament to test out my gear and hopefully gain some experience."

As Darren finished talking he noticed a figure walking towards them carrying a part in their hands, "Oh hey, E-excuse me? I think that's mine," Darren's timid and more shy nature came back as he turned to the new figure, "May i have it back please?"

The wolf makes his way casually over to the conversing pair. They seem to be lost in their conversation at the moment, so the wolf looks them over as he approaches.

The feline has dark striped fur. He looks to be around the wolf's height, but appears to be a bit more lightly built. He appears to hold tightly to the box he was carrying. The wolf assumed it was something important to him with all the metal objects within it.

The female looks like she had canine features mixed with what look more like hedgehog spines, now that he was closer to her. From a distance, her spines had looked more hair to him, which had just added to his confusion. She had a look about her that suggested she was tough. How tough, he had no idea... and he wasn't keen on finding out. Curiously, the feeling he'd gotten a little while ago continues to grow stronger as he approaches them. It felt like this female was the source of it.

The wolf notes that the feline looks towards him, breaking off his discussion with his companion. Then the feline inquires about the item the wolf was carrying, confirming that the wolf had been right about it, which was gratifying to him. He knew that earning a little good karma never hurt.

He nods to the feline as he comes to a stop a little more than an arm's length away from him.

"Certainly." he replies as he offers the item he was holding in one paw out towards the feline, "I wasn't sure what this was, but when I saw the two of you gathering up other items that looked kinda similar, I thought maybe it was yours and just wanted to be sure."

He smiles slightly.

"Glad that I did now." he adds.

He then glances towards the canine hedgehog hybrid girl. He looks her over again, doing so openly and then nods to her as well.

The way this kid talked about the guild almost made the succubus laugh. Almost every ounce of that shy and timid nature seemed to just evaporate from his stance and words. So he was reeeeally into this 'Guild' thing. And it seemed popular enough to draw in some foreign faces. Perhaps she could find some old acquaintances there. Darren's gaze shifted over to the wolf approaching them, so naturally she looked as well. 

   Something about this guy seemed slightly off to her, but she couldn't quite place her thought on it. She had to look down slightly look him in the eye, mostly because her wedges gave her a height advantage by a couple of inches. And it seemed she wasn't the only the only curious either. She allowed a small, girlish giggle escape at the canine's looks, giving a small nod of her own in return. But it didn't mean her guard was up any less.

Darren gather all the parts and sorted through everything and confirmed everything was there. After closing the box tight this time he turned to Flame.

"B-but yes, its a great place to meet new people and learn about a lot of new stuff," his usual stammer and timidness had returned, "But won't bother you anymore miss Seraphina. Thank you for your time and sorry for bumping into you. Maybe I'll see you in the future?" Darren waved as walked off, heading farther downtown handle his errands.

The wolf looks back towards the feline as he resumes speaking, apparently ignoring him and speaking to the hybrid instead. With that, the feline turned away and headed off, seemingly going further into the city.

"You're welcome..." the wolf says quietly as the feline walks away. Guess he shouldn't be surprised that he wasn't the only person who seemed to be casually rude to others on occasion.

He then looks back to the hybrid, who the feline had called Seraphina.

"Hello." he says, "Going with your... acquaintance?"

He hesitates a bit over the last word seeing as he didn't know what relationship, if any, these two had to one another.