Forums » General Roleplay » The Shooting Star (Open to all)

Best to leave complicated explanations for those that truly wanted to know them. For Shimi, the halfhearted reasoning was enough. Her head bobbed slightly in half-coherent understanding, though she truthfully did not understand much of it at all. However, the mention of food brought to light a minor complication.

The child's diet was anything but ordinary. As an Arachne, a spider demon, a predator, she was unique in that she needed to begin digestion before it would be acceptable to eat; even soft meats were often too hard for her to down without quite a bit of chewing, and that tended to be both awkward and a little painful for her underdeveloped chompers. Still, the broodling was not stupid; there were alternatives. Humans cooked their food to soften and prepare it.

But Shimi wasn't sure how to phrase exactly what she wanted; usually, if she didn't kill it herself, it took a few tries before she was satisfied with her meal. She had to start somewhere, though, and these people seemed friendly enough. With another nod, she inquired simply "Meat soup?", wondering if there was even such a thing here or if she'd just made a fool of herself.

"Meat soup? Oh! I think I get it. Hey, Ms. Novalyyn, I think the kid wants some beef stew." He stopped and thought for a second. "That's an odd thing for a kid to ask for. I remember kids asking for things like chicken nuggets, french fries, and pudding." He shrugged. "Eh, other cultures I guess." He suddenly remembered something at the thought of "cultures." "Uh, hey, you never did tell me where we were exactly?"

The pixie stared hard at the child for a moment, and then a grin broke across its face. With nothing more than a "'Kay," it zipped off an vanished into the kitchen. It was, perhaps, a little too eager though, as was implied by the crash that followed a mere moment later.

Novalyyn had been opening her mouth to answer, but winced at the sound of pans crashing. She sighed and rubbed her temple, but still appeared amused. With a sigh, she said politely, "I'm sorry, please give me a moment."

And she, too, disappeared into the kitchen. A few moments later, Jzin voice could be heard clearly saying, "Sorry!"

At first, Shimi wasn't sure what to do. The fae stared at her like it was about to eat her face, and then... agreed, she guessed. Then it disappeared from view, only to be followed soon thereafter by a loud crash that made the little girl tense up, but apparently it wasn't anything major as the bar matron did not begin yelling or anything of the sort, merely entering the kitchen as well.

Curiosity caused the spider broodling to stick her head out. As far as she could tell, the place she was in looked old, but not run-down nor disused like many of the places she was used to. Scents of all types drifted in and out, tickling her senses with things she had never smelled before, as well as a few that were familiar. What she did not sense was decay; this place was lively, moreso than any hovel she had crawled into during her short life.

This place? It felt homely, secure - possibly, dare she even say, safe. At least as much as her mother's den had been, before her death. Despite herself, little Shimi slowly crawled her way from her spot, though still hiding behind the back of one of the chairs, which she peeked over to observe the others near the counter. Even with the feeling of safety, the broodling remained uneasy with even this small bit of exposure, and if confronted would retreat immediately.

"Huh, well that happened." So Jerry's question was ignored again. Still, he had other things to think about, like the fact that an unattended child was standing on her seat. Well, Jerry knew this wasn't his kid and was therefore not technically his responsibility, but he felt the need to prevent the child from doing anything that could get her hurt.

He left his burger behind and walked over to the girl. "Hello, there," he said with a smile. "I don't think I caught your name. Mine's Jerry. What's yours?"

Upon seeing the young man approach, Shimi whimpered and slid down a little, away from him. It was her general reaction to strangers, or just about anyone in fact. Still, the boy wasn't holding anything that she could see, nor was he approaching in a threatening manner, so she at least gave him a response.

"...me Shimi."

So it wasn't much, but at least it was a reply. More than she would give most upon their first meeting. That didn't mean she wasn't still contemplating diving back under the table, nor that she was any less nervous with the young man being there.

Tilting her head to one side, Shimi nervously rocked a little in her seat as she inquired "What happen to funny little Jzin?", pronouncing the name more like 'Zene' than any of the pronunciations she had been given.

"Oh, she's probably just working on your meat soup thing," said Jerry. "I wouldn't worry about her. Him. Whatever." Jerry quickly caught on that he was making her nervous, so he went back to his seat, picked up his flute, and began playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on it. However, he didn't just play the song itself, but added his own little flourishes to it. It ended up sounding like something someone could really waltz to, and Jerry punctuated his fact by bobbing his head shoulders around to the rhythm.

Novalyyn was the first to return from the kitchen and went back to wiping down the counter, a slight, amused curl to her lips. A bit later, what appeared to be a young, effeminate man - or perhaps just a particularly curve-less girl? - emerged from the kitchen. "He" had the same shock of red hair and black, white-less eyes as the pixie, but otherwise looked human. He even actually had clothes on. And, perhaps most importantly, there was a steaming bowl in his hand.

"Here you are!" The youth said cheerfully with a voice as gender-ambiguous as his form. On the table by the girl, Jzin set down the bowl, revealing it to be filled with soup that was more shredded meat than anything else. "How's'is?"

The strange and sudden appearance of the youth didn't distress Shimi as much as the fact that it looked like the boy from before. What was with that? She gave the young man-woman thing a look that reflected her confusion before sniffing the bowl they had presented.

And then she had to take another whiff, because she couldn't quite believe herself. It was meaty, that was for sure, but at the same time there was a quality gap between what was usually presented and... well, this. The rich flavors assaulted her nose, and as she carefully took the first bite, Shimi almost fainted. It wasn't terrible or anything; far from it, this had to be the best human meal she'd ever tasted!

There had to be a mistake, and it left Shimi once more confounded, but with some distress as well. She must've been given some noble's meal by mistake, because no way would anyone waste their best on her behalf. If they found out, she'd probably be beaten. At the same time, however, she did not want to appear ungrateful! Whimpering, she tried to clarify in an apologetic voice "Is... is this really for Shimi?" Though even her distraught state didn't stop her from having another bite after asking.

"A'course! Made it 'specially for you!" Jzin said quite cheerfully.

Of course, it had only taken on human form for the purpose of easily transporting the bowl. With that task done, it shrank back down to being a mere pixie - and act that made Novalyyn frown just slightly - and seated itself cross-legged near the bowl.

"It's not bad, is it? Or did I get it wrong?"

"What in the name of Arceus did I just--" Jerry shook his head. "Okay, shake it off. You've seen weirder things." He looked at the now tinier thing talking to the child. "Uh, do you change size often? That's not something you see every day."

** I'm alive, I swear! **

Shimi was halfway through one particularly sizable chunk of meat when the purple haired boy-thing changed back into the much tinier fae. When it was confirmed that the meal was indeed for her, she didn't waste any time diving into it, but the display gave her reason to pause. If only because she didn't quite know what to make of the shift.

Her eyes slowly panned back and forth between where the 'boy' had been and the pixie was now several times, eyes crossing a little while trying to keep the creature in focus. Then she looked down at her bowl, taking another cautious sniff of it, wondering for a moment if something strange had been put in it. Well, the soup didn't taste off, her nose was usually pretty good about catching weird scents, and the only one acting off was the other boy nearby.

The little broodling returned to eating - though a bit more cautiously than before. Part of her was still freaking out, but that was mostly stifled by her hunger and a certain amount of apathy. If the other two knew what she could do, however, it'd likely cause a panic; best not to draw that kind of attention if she could help it.

((Red hair. The pixie's skin is purple-y.))

Rather than actually turning to address Jerry again, Jzin spoke directly into his mind, 'I guess? I like being little, though!'

Following a sharp look from Novalyyn, the creature sank a little, though its cheer remained. It tilted its head at the little girl, taking note of how the way she ate had changed. "It's okay. S'all fresh 'n everything!"

Jerry froze, not completely sure what just happened in his mind. That voice rang inside of it much louder than a normal thought, but that was... "I--what--my brain did... what did I--what did you--?" He opened up his burger to see if there was anything in it that would explain to the strange things he was looking at. "No, I think this might actually be happening." He took a deep breath, his face turning a little red. "Uh, this may be a silly question, but are there magical things going on around here?"

** whatever >w< **

Shimi couldn't help but feel uneasy at the reaction the little fairy was giving. Hearing the complaints by the young man nearby did nothing to absolve her fears. Indeed, it only deepened them. Whimpering, the child pushed the bowl away from her, not quite put off but also not sure what to make of what she was experiencing.

Paranoia stopped her from eating anything more. Perhaps she may have been a bit more used to such going-ons than the boy was, but that only made her ever more wary of such things. Maybe coming here was a mistake; maybe it'd be best to leave. And the nasty cycle continued, as her mind came up with ever worse possibilities to explain this. Unconsciously she was slinking back under the table, more than a bit confounded by what to do.

Novalyyn sighed and abandoned the washcloth again in favor of sitting by Jerry once more. She crossed her hands in front of her and looked him straight in the eye with a gentle smile.

"We try not to frighten those less familiar with it, but yes, there is magic in this place. You noted before that I am an elf, and you can see that Jzin is a pixie. You may notice other strange things here, too." Novalyyn reached out to touch the young man's hand reassuringly. "But I can promise you that you are in no danger here. We take great care to ensure the safety of our customers."

Meanwhile, Jzin watched Shimi with confusion written clearly across its face. Concerned, it asked, "Shimi? You okay?"

Jerry blinked. "Right. Just checking." He went back to his burger. "I just wanted to calibrate my expectations for this place. I've seen strange things before, and this is just gonna be another chapter in weirdness. You eventually learn to just roll with the punches, ya know?"

Shimi ceased her effort to hide back under the table, though the circumstances still made her nervous. Of course, being a child, she managed to rebound quickly enough, albeit still wary of the boy-fairy-thing. The broodling wasn't used to hospitality, but she also wasn't about to anger her hostess with insolence and ignoring her kindness.

In the end, it was the girl's hunger that drove her to scoot back into her seat, once more taking small bites from her meal at first before she began devouring it. Shimi hadn't even realized how starved she was until she was stuffing her mouth with such savory meat! Before long there was only sauce left, and after a beat the little girl began to down even that.

When the last drop slid out and the bowl thudded to the table, Shimi leaned back in her seat, overwhelmed by the sheer weight of that dinner - a hearty belch followed, causing a momentary snickerfit from the ebony-skinned child. Next to personability, 'modern' table manners were not high on Shimi's list of concerns.

Upon hearing the belch, Jerry's eyes widened. "Huh, not bad, kid. I give that an 8!" ((just a little joke post))

** and short post is short...er than usual ,__, **

Shimi blinked, glancing over to the young man as she tilted her head. Apparently, she was not exactly aware of the universal scoring system. After a moment, Shimi skmply shrugged and nodded back, thinking that the safest reply to give.