Timing and a scene [Ren]

[Namiko]

People were gathering everywhere- beautiful, shimmering people. They were glowing and startling, and... tall. Nami tapped one glassy-hued heel against the snowy earth and shifted uncomfortably. A few glances had been cast her way but nothing she could really go with. She didn't approach others, it just... didn't work out well. It was impossible to tell who was Seelie and Unseelie- should she say that out loud? Nope. Probably not.

She sighed in obvious distress and bit her lip- another bad habit. Crap. Breathing in and out, she took arms from behind her back to lie loose at her sides, trying for graceful, casual... Her expression aimed for unreadable, empty, totally not feeling extremely out of place. Her rabbit-like instincts were making her feel... twitchy. As soon as it seemed her presence was a thing of the past, she took her moment of invisibility to flee toward the treeline.

Her long white coat blew open to reveal her usual white dress with oceanic embroidery. Feeling helpless, she cast bright blue eyes to the sky and placed her head against a white tree branch with a solid thud.

Can't anything make this easier? Come on... Seeking shelter, wanting to be taken in and accepted for who and what she was... it didn't come without a price. She was trying to avoid all the Seelie that she came across- no one needed to tell her she was a lost cause, she was well aware. Their standards were beyond her. She was not tall enough, not glamorous enough, not powerful enough. She was short, slender, small, meek, easily dismissed.

To top it all off, every time she turned around, someone rubbed her face in it. Her beautiful and successful family, or someone who just felt that she hadn't had her daily dose of being put in her place. Ditching the graceful act for the moment, she scooped her coat beneath her and sat heavily on a fallen log. She almost blended in with the snow entirely, the white of her clothing (a usual colour for her, though many others seemed to enjoy it today) being disrupted only by the start brightness of her hair.

She contemplated shifting into her mantel's form for a while, to be truly invisible, but she couldn't do that. If she spotted an Unseelie fae, she had to be ready to... oh god she couldn't walk up to them. Hiding her face in her hands, she tried to relax herself, she was only making things worse. Wasn't this supposed to be a celebration?

[Ren]

It was freaking cold out. Had Ren a choice he would have preferred to stay in the warmth of his room, sleeping the day away as he usually did. Instead here he was, traipsing through the woods littered with snow and dead leaves, on his way to ‘mingle’ as his brother so eloquently put it. Ren had absolutely no interest in the other faerie. He found them to be entirely too stuffy, too prim and proper with their heads in the air and their words full of lies. He considered more than half of them to be full of shit. At least they weren’t as stupid as some humans he had met.

Ren had known about the festival and he had purposely tried to avoid it. He would have gotten away with it too, if Jun hadn’t found him hiding under his bed. His older brother had insisted that Ren join the festivities, and had threatened certain death (well, not that extreme) if he failed to show up. He had then left Ren to his own devices. Ren had, of course, decided to follow his brother’s demands. After all, he knew just how scary Jun could get if he didn’t get his way. So, begrudgingly, Ren had managed to dress himself somewhat appropriately and now he was on his way to the main event.

As he got closer the sounds of music and voices reached his ears. Ren slowed his paced, somewhat reluctant to go any further. He adjusted his clothing, brushing a stray leaf from his black slacks. Before Jun had left he had reminded his brother to wear white. Ren had, of course, purposely ignored him. Instead he was dressed in his old Japanese high school uniform, one of the only sets of proper clothing he owned. Underneath his black jacket was a loose, v-neck white shirt splattered with black curse words. His sleeves were rolled up, exposing his lightly tanned skin to the harsh weather which only warmed the closer he got to the festival. Ren knew he would stick out like a smear on white linen, but he didn’t particularly care. If any faerie had any qualms with his code of dress they would taste his poison.

Ren was lost in that deliciously violent thought as he fingered the trigger to the blade on his right wrist when he, like always, clumsily ran into someone. He was passing Namiko when his right side smacked into her seated form. In all honesty, Ren had not seen her sitting there. She had basically blended in to her surroundings. Upon realizing that he had hit something, Ren jerked around and snapped, ”Oi. Watch it…” A few more choice words were to come after that but stopped short in his throat when he realized just who he had bumped into.

She was beautiful, but in a way different from the rest of the faerie. Her overall appearance was pretty, small and fair, but lacking the sex appeal that drenched many of the women of the courts. When Ren realized he was staring he instantly blushed and adverted his eyes mumbling roughly, ”Sorry. Didn’t see you.” He hesitated before he suddenly spat out, ”You hurt?”

[Namiko]

There was something peaceful about snow, she liked to race through it in her rabbit form, bounding across and leaving tufts of glittery powder in her wake. It was exhilarating and fun, and it often looked like she was running across fields of diamonds. The girly girl inside of her really loved the sparkle of the snow. Summer and spring were nice for the warm, fresh feelings they brought. If only snow could be warm and still look the same, Winter would remain her favorite season. But she got cold easily, and the thought made her huddle in on herself. It really would be warmer if she just- no, she would stay in her current form and learn to deal with it.

Her thoughts were drifting away to different topics, trying to distract herself from the nervousness at hand, when something sharply jarred her out of place. She fell forward hard, catching herself on her hands and landing on her left hip. Her eyes rose up from her snow-covered hands to see Ren. She had to blink through the hazy mid-day light behind him, but when her eyes focussed she flushed red.

By any standards, he was very handsome. But he was also cute, and seemingly young, which was uncommon in her experience. It should have made her feel more comfortable around him, but sitting in the snow, looking completely undignified, she wanted to disappear entirely. Why him... why now... why like this? She mentally groaned at her luck and started to carefully stand, brushing herself off in the process.

"N-no! I'm fine! Sorry..." Her voice was light as a feather, a soft whimsical chime that sounded happy even when she wasn't trying to. Her words paused when she'd realized she was apologizing... because she didn't know why. It was just habit. She awkwardly placed her hair behind an ear when he averted his gaze. Was he blushing? He was probably embarrassed for her, as if she wasn't embarrassed enough on her own. Well at least now she'd recovered herself enough that she didn't wish her mantel was a snow-ostrich.

She was at a loss for words, tilting her heels shyly in the snow. Right, she could introduce herself? That should break the gap. "My name's Namiko." It was blurted almost out of nowhere, and she realized that she was being particularly socially inept today. Breathing in and out slowly, she smiled at the other fae. "What's your name?" But looking at him didn't exactly help her shyness and she quickly felt her face reddening again. Damn it. What to look at? She lowered her gaze to his torso and waited for the burning to subside.

[Ren]

Gawd I suck at first impressions. Ren would have slapped himself if it wouldn’t have been weird. Instead he watched warily out of the corner of his eye as Namiko brushed herself off, his cheeks still burning from embarrassment, which was very quickly turning into anger, as it never failed to do. Ren was a complicated person. He never liked to feel uncomfortable or out of place. Back on Earth he had been in control of everything, including his friends. He had ruled whatever school he had gone to, taking delight in playing with the lives of mortals just for fun. Still, despite his natural confidence Ren utterly failed when it came with conversing with females. He usually fell flat on his face, stuttered uncontrollably, or became down right mean in order to hide how uncomfortable he was. Anger was the only way he knew how to cope with the fact that he couldn’t control his emotions around women. It was the same way he reacted whenever he lost control of anything.

Back on Earth his lack of confidence when it came to girls was often the subject of much laughter, that of which he quickly quieted with his fists. People had feared him, and for good reason. Ren should have felt invincible, but instead here he was struggling to calm himself enough to register her words. It was an introduction, something he hadn’t quite expected. Ren coughed and rubbed the back of his head, lifting his chin stubbornly to face her directly. His rusty red eyes flared as he spoke, ”Namiko huh?” Her apology was completely disregarded, though had Ren been a bit less flustered he would have told her there was no need for it. Instead, he twitched at her question and answered it somewhat carelessly, ”Ren.”

Though her voice may have been beautiful, Ren’s was naturally caustic and rough. He had a ‘I-don’t-give-a-shit’ attitude which was very quickly emerging in an attempt to cover up how uncomfortable he felt around such a pretty little Nimbus. However, Ren felt completely obligated to do something to atone for the fact that he had practically knocked her face-first into the snow. He shifted from foot to foot in an agitated manner, ”Look. You want a drink or something?” It was the only thing he could think of at the moment. Upon offering, Ren’s eyes adverted once more, shifting towards the activity closer to the center of the clearing.

[Namiko]

She felt a slight pause and flicked her eyes up and down again. At least he was wearing something really interesting, so she didn't feel so strange looking at his chest as opposed to his face. When her eyes rose up again, she started at his almost defiant stare. Has she said something?... She was really bad at this social thing. Dipping her head back down submissively, she thought it was best to just try and act like she wasn't so nervous. He was a little intimidating. Or maybe she was just really off today.

"Nice to meet you, Ren..." She didn't know where to go from there, his surprisingly rough voice still lingering in the silence for her to contemplate. He seemed to be growing tired of her silence, and was shifting in place tensely. Just as she was going to offer to let him go, as he surely had somewhere more important to be, he surprised her with his next comment. "You c-... oh. Really?" She realized it was stupid to ask that, as he'd clearly just offered it.

Flushing a fierce red and resisting the urge to physically put her forehead in her hand, she nodded weakly and smiled. "I think that would be good, thank you." It wasn't until she turned to follow his eyes that she realized what she'd agreed to. This meant she had to go. Over there. With him. Where she'd surely get many rude stares from the beautiful women, and they would probably want to talk to him. She could just sneak off when that happened and continue to drink. It wasn't a good thing to do when she was nervous, it calmed her down... but she often became so afraid of getting nervous again that she kept tossing drinks back.

Being a lightweight in terms of drinking, this had of course ended embarrassingly before. She'd learned tricks since then. Her mind was racing, as was her pulse. Namiko looked back to Ren and nodded, swaying in place shyly before starting to walk across the uneven terrain with careful steps. Why did she have to wear heels today? The Nimbus looked up at the fae to her side. Right, that was why. It felt like he still towered over her, how lucky. "So, Ren... are you... Unseelie, too?" She didn't know if it was rude or taboo to come out and ask, maybe she should have come up with more neutral small talk.

[Ren]

Ren found that if he didn’t look at Namiko he was able to keep himself under control. She wasn’t like the other women he had met so far. The fact that she didn’t ooze sex appeal really helped in the long run. Had she been more like Krysis Ren would have been out of there as quickly as possible. He wouldn’t have even considered asking if she wanted something. Instead there was something about Namiko’s meekness that kept him from completely freaking out. He could tolerate the petite soft spoken girl, and inwardly Ren pumped his fist at his internal victory.

If the boy had known his tenseness was upsetting her he would have attempted to explain. Instead he was, as always, clueless. Ren have never picked up the fine art of reading people like his brother had. He was rougher around the edges and super clueless when it came to emotions and reading the atmosphere, etc. Ren didn’t really see a need for it. Life was life. Spending it analyzing every little detail, afraid of offending someone was worthless. Ren had no intentions of becoming an uptight reserved person like his brother.

As Ren fell into step beside her he shoved his hands into his pockets, the dog collar around his left wrist chiming softly. He was content to remain silent as not to further make a fool of himself, but then she went and asked another question. Ren, the lord of short responses merely mumbled, ”Yep.” Immediately he realized just how harsh that was. You’re going to scare her away you idiot. Ren sighed, a soft expulsion of air needed to work up his courage to continue speaking to her. This time his voice was a little less rough around the edges, ”I was kinda born Unseelie, but I haven’t lived here long.” He didn’t offer to show her the tattoo that curled around his right forearm. She wouldn’t have been able to see half of it anyway, as it was obscured by the weapon latched around his wrist.

His paced slowed ever so slightly as he spotted the massive amount of people in the distance. He really did not feel like mingling. So, instead of actively looking for someone or someplace to fetch a drink from, the boy rounded his shoulders and dragged his feet. Still, the silence was unsettling. He coughed slightly, ”So, like, I haven’t seen you before. You new too or what?”

[Namiko]

Namiko was a little different from Ren when it came to others; she lived her life in fear of pissing someone off. The feeling of being put in her place left a bad taste in her mouth and was an ever-present reminder of why she had to learn to read people. If she could do it the way her parents could, she'd probably be a lot more confident, too. But she had a bad habit of assuming the worst... and then blaming it on her own shortcomings and trying to fix it somehow. Much as she had assumed Ren's frustration was because of her being so quiet and awkward, and trying to step up her conversational skills to make up for it.

While they walked, the Nimbus couldn't help but eye his attire, taking notice of the soft chiming noise. She only wore a necklace herself, a gift from someone who had been important to her. Ren had much more of a fashion flair it seemed. Her question was answered much more promptly this time, and the timid fae took it as a good sign, now distracted from analyzing his outfit. She smiled to herself, and was even more delighted when he volunteered more detail. Being so suddenly open was throwing her off though, maybe he'd just been thinking of something irritating earlier and it had nothing to do with her? Unlikely, but a pampering thought.

Even the tone of his voice was softer, and Nami felt her body visibly relax. "Really? You seem so... comfortable." Was that the right word? If she said confident, he might assume she meant arrogant, which was bad. But really he just seemed to have the kind of personality to fit in. He walked casually, as if the whole court were his family, and didn't seem to care about how he was perceived. Or at least, his outfit was kind of a big 'screw off' to this whole ordeal. The thought made her smile to the point of almost giggling to herself. That would be awkward, no need to look crazy.

She stumbled at the end of her thoughts and managed to right herself with only a touch of wide eyes. Her cheeks were already on fire again and she sighed lightly. "Sorry, I'm... clumsy in high heels sometimes." It was better to admit something embarrassing than to try and act graceful and ignore it. Better he got used to it now than surprised at her... well, at her. She continued on and noticed their pace slowing a bit, which was totally fine by her. The farther the figures remained in the distance, the less she felt the need to hide herself.

"Yes! I'm very new. I haven't met... well... you're the first person I've talked to..." She smiled brightly at him, feeling immensely more comfortable now than before.

[Ren]

"Comfortable? As in acting like I don't have some sort of stick up my ass?" Ren snorted, "I'm no more comfortable than a freaking deer surrounded by wolves." A fitting analogy, though Ren was the type of deer that would bite back. "I just prefer not to act fake. I have yet to meet a faerie that doesn't put up some sort of mask." The detest in Ren's voice was easily noticeable. His severe dislike of the faerie and their courtly manners was evident. Ren knew he would never move far in the court with his sort of attitude, which bothered him only partially. While Ren was used to being on top, he didn't particularly feel like partaking in the types of games the faerie did. Everyone was either too caught up in politics or addicted to their own looks or the taste of blood. Ren found it all quite distasteful. All he wanted to do was live life how he wanted to live it. He didn't want to be told what to do, especially not by some king who got his jollies from ripping apart women.

Ren realized he was ranting and fell silent. He didn't want to scare her off, but the court was a touchy subject to him, and though she had not directly inquired about it, he had still fallen into his own frustrations. The boy ran an agitated hand through his hair and sighed. He was just about to say something when she stumbled. Almost instinctively he reached out to steady her, but his touch fell short and his fingers twisted back as if afraid to touch her. Ren quickly stuffed his hand back into his pocket, hoping she didn't catch his previous movement.

Unfortunately, the next thing he caught was an eyeful of her brilliant smile which instantly caused his face to flush. Ren quickly glanced away, back towards the main tent area that they were approaching far quicker than he had anticipated. Ren was in the process of straightening himself out when he hesitated momentarily upon hearing her last bout of words. She's new? Ren's brow furrowed by he didn't look towards her. The fact that she was new was an immediate concern to Ren. Even though Ren had a distaste for the court he knew far more about it than he cared to, thanks to his brother. Namiko's personality wouldn't fair well here, especially in the face of the King. Ah...the King. If she was new she hadn't met him yet....

Ren bit his lip in contemplation before he realized his stride length had widened and his pace had grown quicker in his growing agitation. He slowed himself once more. They were now right in the midst of things, though Ren strayed to the outside of the majority of the crowd. "Oi." He called out to the nearest servant bearing drinks. The male human garlanger turned towards him and immediately headed in that direction. The moment he was close enough Ren snatched two glasses of what appeared to be some sort of white wine perhaps and tossed his head, indicating that the Garlanger should leave. The servant did so with a miniature bow. Ren proceeded to watch him go, one hand somewhat rudely shoving a drink in Namiko's face, "Here." He looked at his own in slight distaste. Wine. Ugh.

[Namiko]

The petite Nimbus was listening to Ren's rant with a curious half-smile. He's not talking about me, right? I don't think I have a stick up my ass... She decided, for once, to assume the best outcome- that he was talking about everyone else. She was new, she wasn't much like them either. Before, it had seemed like a bad thing. But Ren surprisingly didn't seem to like them much... the people who she thought she was meant to aspire to be like. What a confusing world.

"I... I think I know that feeling." She confessed meekly, playing with a pearly button on her coat in discomfort. "But they always seem confident. And... you seem confident, too. That's just what I meant, sorry." Presumably, he didn't like being compared or related to the other fae with how he spoke of them. Meaning he was probably pissed at her comment, though he didn't seem to get as agitated as before. Maybe he'd given her one get out of jail free card. Hopefully he had a few more, her foot practically lived in her mouth when she dared to open it.

"That's comforting. I don't like those people either. Who would?" It was a rhetorical question, but in a way it had an obvious answer. The people who could play those games, and were good at it. She had noticed Ren's hand recoiling and assumed it was because she'd so quickly regained her balance. Taking the gesture for what it was (or, almost was), she smiled softly. The silence crept up again, and lost in his thoughts, Ren had picked up speed. She trotted now and again to keep up, but refrained from saying anything. With his long legs, keeping her speed was probably tiresome.

They were suddenly surrounded by people, and she could feel the odd gaze being cast in their direction. She sincerely hoped they were just taking in the handsome boy's appearance. It was so tempting to put her head down and try to appear smaller, but her attempt at dignity made her steel her hands into tight fights and maintain her posture. When Ren signaled the man over and thrust the drink at her, she took it carefully and inhaled. It smelled... strong.

"I'm not used to... this. Is it good?" Well, now she was showing just how inexperienced she really was. Most of what she'd drank before had a more full consistency, and didn't reek of a scent that belonged in medicine. If it smelled like medicine, perhaps that was a good thing. Taking a sip, she visibly winced at the sudden sharp, dry taste. It was crisp and obviously too refined for someone like her. "That was... unexpected." A small laugh accompanied her words in an attempt to distract from the face she'd made at the offensive beverage. But it did have a nice buzz for an after-taste.

[Ren]

"No." With a somewhat nonchalant expression Ren proceeded to toss his glass over his shoulder without even taking a sip. Ren wasn't very much a drinker, so the fact that Namiko practically confessed that she too had never particularly tasted the stuff somewhat made him feel a bit more comfortable. At least they had that in common. On Earth Ren had tasted a variety of alcohol, mostly during several stages of rebellion against authority in the faces of his friends. Still, since he was faerie he could consume quite a massive amount of alcohol and still remain coherent, something his friends had been fascinated with. Ren didn't so much care for it, or at least he couldn't stand stuffy alcohol's like wine.

Stretching his arms above his head and cracking his neck with little regard to how absurd it may have appeared, Ren straightened up and looked to Namiko. He knew by now that her meekness was what allowed him to remain a bit more comfortable with her. He felt in control of the situation, which was even better. Still, she was damn pretty, and the thought made him blush again. Coughing and hoping he hadn't been caught staring, Ren awkwardly looked out across the way where he promptly spotted his brother. He cocked his head at the figure in white, but said nothing to mention him. Ren didn't quite feel like introducing his brother to Namiko yet. He was feeling, strangely, a bit possessive of the littler female. Still, he didn't quite know what to do at this point, and he fingered the collar around his wrist in agitation before he spoke, "So, if you're new here, where did you come from?" Yeah, that would do it for now. He would simply keep up the conversation while he searched for an activity a bit less awkward than just standing there.

(sorry it's so bad. I'm rushed for time)

[Namiko]

((quality over quantity m'dear <3 don't worry, you never disappoint!))

Then why did he ask in the first place?... Bewildered, she looked at the splattered drink in the snow and then down to her own glass. She certainly wasn't going to finish it. Instead of following his motion, she continued to hold the glass and toy with it. At least it gave her hands something to do other than fidget nervously. Namiko hadn't even tried alcohol until somewhat recently. It had unnerved her in the human world, how people became under the influence... She suppressed a particularly uncomfortable memory in favor of focusing on Ren.

While he stretched and became comfortable, she was once again reminded of how short she was compared to him, even in her death-trap heels. When he blushed, she wondered instantly what he was thinking of, but somehow watching him had caused her to blush again as well. He made her feel dizzy. She laughed to ease the awkwardness and thought of something to say. Unfortunately Nami had about two modes of talking: blunt honesty or not talking at all. "Sorry, I think I'm kind of shy... You're really-" Her face was burning hot as she looked up in surprise and stumbled over her words. "H-kind." It still felt like a bit much to say, but it was better than the alternative of complimenting his appearance.

And you're really an idiot. She mentally chastised herself, was she even capable of acting like a normal person? Flirting was supposed to come naturally, wasn't it? She couldn't even do that much. Luckily her humiliating tongue-twist had caused her to miss Ren's distraction entirely. By the time he'd looked back from his brother,she only just dared to kind-of meet his eyes.

"Well I lived with normal people and my family on a large island. If the word Honshu has any meaning to you, you might know where." It wasn't always common for the fae to know of human realm geographical locations, especially those that were born and/or raised in Alanor. Therefore, her answer wasn't exactly straight-forward, as she didn't expect much reaction... except possibly distaste for her being a little "humanized".

[Ren]

Ren appeared to brush off Namiko’s compliment, but in reality it had only further relaxed him in her presence. He didn’t much respond to it, though inwardly he itched to counter-compliment her. If he had any guts he would have told her how stunning her blue eyes were, how her hair shone like undiluted brass, and how her skin reminded him of an untouched paint canvas, pure and begging to be drawn upon. At that thought, the sudden itch to scrawl his name across her flesh, to claim her as his, consumed him. Ren twitched in agitation, impure thoughts clouding his mind and impeding his thought processes. Ashamed of himself, Ren forced his eyes across the area, contemplating whether or not he should leave her and flee. However, his mind and body outright objected to this idea, and Ren found himself simply glued to his current position, unsure of what to do next.

Luckily, Namiko’s answer was shocking enough to partially snap him out of his current train of thought. He looked towards her, his rusty swirling eyes somewhat wide, ”Honshu?” A brilliant smile lit up his face, giving him an incredibly boyish expression. He seemed genuinely happy, and for once completely forgot about being ill at ease. ”Of course I know it. My brother and I spent over fifty years there alone. I attended a few human high schools there.” Before she would have even a chance to add on to his somewhat gushing admission, Ren suddenly snatched her hand and yanked her to the side. He was acting as his impulsive self, completely oblivious now to the fact that she was a girl. Finally! Finally there was someone he could talk to who would understand him. The relief that amounted to was priceless.

Ren didn’t go far. He would only drag her over to a secluded pair of chairs on the outskirts of the tent, where he severely hoped they would go unnoticed. He yanked out a chair for her and practically pushed her down into it, then proceeded to take his own chair, flipping it around and settling into it so that the back rested beneath his arms. He rested his chin on his arms and smiled at her, a genuine toothy grin, ”Where in Honshu? Were you born there?” His words were rough, as his previous actions had been, but there was no ill intention behind them. He was simply Ren…and Ren wasn’t exactly the most tender of boys, especially when he was excited.

[Namiko]

She watched Ren in his silence, the inner of his eyes swirling in a mesmerizing way. Was he a Sidhe? She'd heard they had this kind of effect... she wanted to fall into his arms and just know how warm it felt to be against his body. Maybe feel his lips brush against her cheek, towards her mouth... The thought made her lean a little bit forward without realizing, though she settled back and played it off with a nervous twist of her hair.

If only she knew they were both currently victims of the natural pull of biology, she might not have felt so bad about it. But he seemed so innocent... she could never imagine confessing to those thoughts. It would change how he looked at her, surely. She didn't want to be seen as someone who gave her body away easily, because honestly... well, she never had. The thought had terrified her for so long that she didn't know what to do with this sensation, like she was starting to slide down that slippery slope.

Luckily the blush from before had not dissipated, so it was just a constant state of her cheeks being reddened. Maybe she could even pass it off on the weather. The other Nimbus' sudden delight in expression made her begin to open her mouth in disbelief. No, he couldn't... But then he said the words to piece it all together, and her wide eyes and excited smile mirrored his own.

"M-maji de?! W-" She was startled for a moment by the sudden touch of his hand, and the very conflicting sensation of two different thoughts made her head spin. On one hand- he was touching her, which didn't help with what she'd been thinking before. On the other hand- he had lived in the same country as she had!

This side of him was entirely unexpected and... she actually enjoyed it. The energy radiating off him made it impossible not to just... feel good in his presence. She sat down on the seat a little hard and watched him flip his own around. When he faced her again, she grinned widely. If only he could see how cute he was acting. "Chiba, do you know it? I learned to surf there..." Her eyes appear a little distant and dreamy as she remembers the long-missed activity. "Un! Nihonjin desu!" Something else that seperated her from her sister, who had been born in the land of faerie. She belonged here. Namiko, however, was pretty much one step away from being human altogether. Then again, that was really her parent's fault.

[Ren]

Ren completely missed the fact that he had even touched her; he was way too excited. Out of the faerie he had met - and that wasn't many - none of them had any connection to the human world. Well, save for Riley and Kyte, but he had completely forgotten about them since he hadn't actually talked to them. The majority of the Fae had either descended from some omnipotent plane of being, or had been raised in Alanor. Ren had always wondered about how he would have turned out had his brother kept them in Alanor. If his brother was any indication, then he was glad to have grown up in the human world.

The young Nimbus remembered nothing of his past in Alanor. Jun had taken Ren to Earth when Ren as just a babe. In fact, he didn't even know what his parents looked like, and Jun rarely talked of them, save to say that they were good people. Still, the look in his brother's eyes had made Ren doubt his words, but he never put much thought into it. Ren was content - for the time being - to remain ignorant in that area. However, Jun had supplied Ren with some details of his ancestory, which of coursehad originated in Japan. That was the reason why they had moved there for several years.

"Chibaka..." Ren tilted his head ever so slightly, his expression thoughtful, "Soooo pretty sure we lived really close to each other then. For a long time." His words were smooth, somewhat contrary to his previous reaction. Ren was, indeed, quite shocked, but he was handling it smoothly merely because the shock was too large to comprehend on such short notice. Ren rubbed his head, the red collar around his wrist jingling, "I was in Tokyo. My last high school was in Ikebukuro." He leaned forward, tilting his chair on its legs till his face came closer to hers. He was silent for a long time before he lifted a hand and promptly flicked the middle of her forehead. His chair then dropped back into a regular position and he smirked, "That's for being formal with me." His smile grew broader, only to instantly fade into a serious expression. He then proceeded to ask the one question that had been bothering him, "Didn't anyone ask about your eyes?" The way he almost whispered the question in a hushed tone was nearly comical. Still, he was curious. Blue eyes on a Japanese person were -not- common.

[Namiko]

Although at times it had been a bit difficult, Namiko cherished her time amongst the humans. She'd had to go from school to school, never staying at one too long or keeping the same friends growing up. This was because she couldn't age with them, she stayed the same age for much longer than they did. Because the world was aware of her kind in society, she was able to share it with some close friends, but they still couldn't slow down to accommodate her. That had been the saddest part, her fleeting friendships and desire for something stronger. She'd only ever met one other fae there, but he had left long before she did.

At Ren's words, the Nimbus couldn't help but pout a little bit. "I wish I had known that back then... Staying friend with humans was hard." She confessed her earlier thoughts to him, eyes trailing over his shoulder in distant memory. Her eyes widened again and she laughed aloud. "I went there so many times, Tokyo was really popular for shopping." She smiled widely; despite being of faerie, she was still a girl in a human world, and she'd had needs. Shopping was a big one.

When he leaned in, her mouth parted slightly in surprise, eyes flicking helpelessly up from his lips to his eyes and back again. Her throat went dry, but a quizzical expression crossed her face a moment before the sharp flick of his fingers met her forehead. Now this was something familiar. She laughed again despite the situation and stuck her tongue out. "Gomen ne." The woman considered her closeness with Ren for a moment- they had been fairly casual with each other from the start. But it didn't help that she was polite by nature. Of course in her home language, it was worse, especially considering the culture she'd been raised with. But he would of course understand that.

She grinned when he became somewhat serious and nodded somewhat secretly. Leaning in as if sharing some big secret, she could barely contain the giggle that was rising. "I told them I wore contacts." He would know exactly how common that was. She was just another wannabe trendy girl with that excuse. "But some friends... they knew what I was, so..." She just shrugged, feeling a bit irresponsible for how she'd tangled them up in her world.