Too much time to kill [open]

[jaejin]

Judging by the way Jaejin was haphazardly lying across a tree branch, an almost carefree look to his face, no one would have been able to see the ticking time bomb that he actually was. Over the past two or so weeks he had been in Alanor, Jaejin had been relentlessly searching for Hawk. He knew she was here, he could feel it. Still, the fact that he had not found her yet was secretly driving him insane, and he had recently taken to the bottle in an effort to ease some of his stress.

Still, it took a lot of alcohol to get a faerie drunk, and Jaejin could never quite satisfy his thirst. Back as a dog of the BoP, Jaejin had never truly been able to experience all the freedoms a normal person had. Now that he had managed to enter a place that the BoP could not follow him to, Jaejin was faced with a bout of freedoms he had not expected. At first he had ignored them in his search for Hawk, but now, after coming up empty-handed, Jaejin had practically been forced to realize his own liberty….and he was enjoying it.

Unfortunately enjoying it at the moment meant boozing it up and yelling at his mantel for no apparent reason. Jaejin had been attempting to grab her when he had passed out within the branches of the tree. He had awoken just a few minutes ago to find himself hanging quite precariously. After he adjusted his position he sighed and closed his eyes, his head throbbing and his stomach growling. I already need a new hobby, he thought to himself as scanned the skies for his mantel, unaware of the fact that she was merely three trees down to his left, watching him as she always did.

[naria]

Naria wasn't really sure where she was going. Strolling along in a strapless dress of foggy blue silk that reached her ankles, all she was really doing was following the mouse. Not that the mouse was easy to see. It was gray with a white belly, and slithered between leaves of grass so quickly that if not for her link to it and the flickers of the tiny white feet, she would have lost it the moment it reached the park.

A book rests on her hip, cradled loosely in one arm, dark and cracked binding looking rather out of place in the bright morning light. So did Naria herself, blinking in light brighter than she was accustomed to. Her shining brassy hair draws the eye though. Just as a groaning tree draws the ear.

"Hold a moment, little friend. I think there is someone here. Is it an Ent, locked in our courtyard here?" She bent to let her mantle scurry up her arm and hide in her hair, then drifted over to peer into the branches of the trees, squinting her green gaze against the glare.

"Ah, we must be wary. Here is a bird that would swallow you in a blink, my lovely. I doubt an eagle could moan though." She doesn't go looking for the man though, lost in thought and staring at the eagle as if she had forgotten what made her stop in the first place.

[jaejin]

Kaeul's attention had shifted from Jaejin the moment Naria had entered the area. Her sharp gaze zeroed in on the mouse instantly and her predatory instincts caused her to ruffle her feathers as if she were resisting the urge to hurtle herself at the mouse. Luckily it scampered into the safety of Naria's hair, and Kaeul settled back down, peering at the other calmly.

Meanwhile, Jaejin heard Naria's voice and shifted his head ever so slightly to see where it was coming from. At the mention of an eagle, the former assassin jerked in that direction and promptly fell from his perch, hitting the ground hard. Not exactly the smoothest entrance. Cursing under his breath and swooning from a headache, Jaejin pulled himself up and brushed himself off. As he did he caught sight of his fingernails and the small bit of dirt that had managed to wedge itself beneath their original pristine canvas. A look of distaste scrawled onto his visage, and had he seen himself in a mirror the disgust he harbored for his nails would have extended to encompass the rest of him.

Dressed in a relatively expensive looking pair of dark blue jeans paired with black combat boots, his lower half looked quite fine. Unfortunately, his upper half, clad in a mostly unbuttoned, wrinkled and slightly dirty long-sleeved white and black striped shirt looked entirely too disheveled to his tastes. Luckily the male had no idea. Back on Earth Jaejin would have never allowed himself to look this way. His job had been to maintain a charismatic, dapper gentleman look with a sense of danger, and though bits and pieces of that persona poked out now, there was a distinct sense of dirty ruggedness to his look, something Jaejin would not have prided himself in. How could he make the ladies swoon looking like this?

Jaejin ran a hand through his hair, straightening it just a tad and squinted his eyes against the light so that he could make out the female standing nearby. Without much hesitation, the male made his way over and instead of even speaking to Naria, he glanced up into the tree and spotted Kaeul. "There you are. Come down from there." His voice was rough, but there was a small bit of pleading in it, an obvious apology for his earlier escapades. In return Kaeul simply fluffed her chest feathers and screeched indignantly.

[naria]

Naria had simply watched at first, but then a nip on her ear made her flinch and reminded her that she probably should say something. Her free hand flew up to the tiny creature hidden in her brassy hair, but then she changed the gesture into smoothing those shining locks back instead.

The deep passivity was hard to shake off. Jaejin would have not only gotten up and walked over before she could think of something to say, but he was probably already ignoring her in favor of the bird by then. Naria's expression went from gentle curiosity to mild disappointment. Without a word, she turned and started for the nearest entrance to the castle-tree, moving in the faint rustle of silk on the grass.

She was less than ten feet away when she murmured to her mouse, "We didn't want to talk to such a scruffy looking fellow anyway. And he stank too."

[jaejin]

Jaejin gave an exasperated sigh. There was no way in hell he was going to beg to a bird. If Kaeul wanted to stay up there, she could stay up there. In the meantime….wait. Jaejin was in the process of looking to Naria when he realized she had left her original position and was now making her way away from him. He blinked for a few moments until he caught wind of her words. Scruffy? Stank? Jaejin’s jaw dropped a bit as he looked down at his clothing. It was then it hit him; just how bad he really looked. Well shit.

”Hey wait.” Jaejin took off jogging after Naria, his long legs carrying him to her side, and from there around until he came in front of her. He attempted to straighten his hair and shirt, but ultimately failed miserably, sucking in air between his teeth as each movement made him wince in pain. Damn headache. Jaejin took a deep breath in and then spoke again, just a bit more composed than he previously was, ”Thank you for finding Kaeul. She seems to think playing Hide and Seek is a reasonable past time.” He smiled broadly, displaying a row of perfected teeth. ”I’m Jaejin. You are?”

She was a pretty little Nimbus, that much was for sure. Still, she had a somewhat flighty aura, something he couldn’t quite place. His eyes briefly flicked to the rustling in her hair where he spotted her mouse. For a second his thoughts went back to Kaeul, grateful that his mantel had decided against making a lunch out of the small creature.

[naria]

Naria did stop and tensed up when she heard him rushing towards her, but she did not turn. Inside she clung to two facts. First, she was so obscure and unimportant that it would not be worth the effort to kill her. Second, she had assisted the male even unintentionally. Her grip tightened on the heavy book as she wrapped both arms around it and hugged it to her chest.

The moments of terror were over soon and she lifted her swirling green gaze to Jaejin with a perfect lack of expression. A moment longer of hesitation, a brief look of concentrated thought, and then she answered "My name is Naria. You are welcome. Perhaps she is trying to lead you if she does this often."

Her own mantel scurried around at the back of her neck, peeking out of her hair first on one side, and then on the other before sliding down the slop of her chest to the front of her dress. Naria didn't seem to notice, too focus on Jaejin to care what the mouse did. "Lightfoot here insists that he has more common sense than I do, and tends to inform me of meal times when he feels I have forgotten."

Her hands tightened on the book a second time to keep her from straightening Jaejin's shirt and hair for him, since he had done such a poor job of it. She had the vague idea that he might think it rude to have a complete stranger grooming him.

[jaejin]

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Jaejin felt out of his element. Perhaps it was the booze that still flooded his system, or the pounding headache that assaulted his brain. Whatever it was he was having a hard time concentrating on the Nimbus lady in front of him. He was also having a hard time composing himself. Taking a deep breath, Jaejin straightened himself and once again gave Naria a look over. The male noticed everything, from her tense shoulders to the tightening of her grip on her books. He, of course, knew nothing of the fact that she so dearly wished to straighten his attire, though he wouldn’t have particularly cared if she had.

His eyes briefly glanced to the mouse that had chosen to literally position itself neatly atop of Naria’s bosom before he fixated his eyes back on her face, his charming smile in place, ”You may be on to something there. Kaeul and I are still getting acquainted. We’re kind of new here.” Jaejin’s voice had taken on a familiar tone with this woman. He had switched back to how he usually acted on missions on Earth. Back in the clubs and bars, he found that the more casual you were, the more women tended to relax. Still, this Naria seemed a bit uptight.

”It’s a pleasure to meet you Naria, and you too Lightfoot.” He smiled a fanged-tooth smile towards the Nimbus and her mantel. His eyes proceeded to dart towards her book, ”Might I ask what it is you’re reading?” Classic number one tactic: show interest in their interests. Though Jaejin really had no intent on picking this female up, much like he would another at a bar, he had naturally reverted back to what he knew…with a more casual flare to his mannerisms. Now if only I could get rid of this damn headache…

[naria]

"You may ask.", She replied seriously, and one might catch the sight of the mouse rolling his eyes up at the nimbus for her so literal interpretation of Jaejin's request. Then the mouse was crawling further down and slowly letting itself down her dress towards the ground. Naria stared at it, then comprehension dawned on her. It changed her look dramatically, lighting her with wonder, and a more intense curiosity than she had expressed towards the man before.

"Oh! You were in the mortal world! No wonder you have picked up their mannerisms. When you asked, you expected me to tell you, rather than give permission? It so happens that human manners were the subject of my study. Humans are so very strange, are they not?" She smiles brightly, having figured it out without too much help. It was a surprising thing to her, since she had expected to utterly fail at all social interaction at least for a month or two.

She abruptly put the book in Jaejin's hands then and used his occupation with holding it to satisfy her urge to straighten him. Her fingers are deft and sure as they smooth out the wrinkles of his shirt and brush away any dust or dirt that might had accumulated on the fabric. "You mustn't go wandering about in such a state. People are sure to assume the wrong thing, and then you'd be stuck with their impressions."

[jaejin]

Jaejin was slightly shocked at the abrupt placement of the book in his hands. However, his smile only grew. This female was entertaining to say the least. As she straightened his clothing he felt content to just watch her. Although Jaejin had spent much time around Hawk, who was also a faerie, he had never experienced the company of other faerie and had thus assumed that all of them were like Hawk and he. Oh how he was wrong. The woman before him was ethereal in both appearance and mind, and she housed a personality that seemed wrought with age, like fine wine. Jaejin felt the desire to taste that wine rise in the back of his throat but the male refrained. Instead he shifted his eyes down towards the book and flipped it open, thumbing through a few pages.

"Interesting. Did you get this book here? I had no idea that Alanor possessed books studying humans. Though, now that he thought about it, there were human garlangers. It was obvious that there had been some interaction between the faerie and the humans, "I don't particularly find humans strange, especially after living amongst them for so long. Instead, it is the faerie court that is strange to me." He winced as he spoke, his headache cursing him. A sudden longing for a bath struck him, but he decided to refrain from leaving just a tad longer. Jaejin glanced back up to Naria when she was done and held the book back out to her.

[naria]

Naria gave Jaejin a quizzical smile at his question, and reaches up to brush his hair gently with her fingers. It was a pleasant feeling, to touch a man, and she thought she could become accustomed to the sensation. It was distracting enough that she forgot to answer for a moment.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, of course. Where else would I get it? Humans don't study themselves after all. Not from the point of view of an outsider at least." She accepted the book back then, rather reluctantly. Then she had to take a moment to marvel at her reluctance to take a book, when normally she could never resist the lure of the written word.

"Then you must have such insight into the workings of their society! Please, can you explain to me the concept of money? Barter I understand, but this practice of using bits of metal or paper for trade is rather bizarre." She frowned, turning the book around to flip rapidly to the appropriate chapter.

[jaejin]

Jaejin couldn't help but smile at Naria. She was far from the type of girl he was used to interacting with. Usually they were a lot more extrovert, and though Naria was far from an introvert, she wasn't exactly the type he could toy with. Had he been better dressed, his appearance better taken care of, he would have perhaps gone in for a kiss by now- despite any consequences that would have come from it. Jaejin was a daring fellow, and Naria was quite a beautiful lady.

He was just about to answer her when he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. Jaejin jerked his head around just in time to catch sigh of a red-tailed hawk landing somewhere near the Exordium. This was the first time he had seen one in his time here and the sinking feeling in his stomach told him that it was no coincidence. A screech from Kaeul cut through the brief silence as the bird erupted from her position and took off towards where the hawk had landed. Jaejin jerked his head back to Naria, "Hold that thought beautiful. Sorry, gotta go." He looked genuinely sorry, his eyes quickly memorizing her face for future use. When he could, he would come back and answer any questions for her.

Before he left Jaejin took a moment to dart down and place a kiss on her cheek. Why he had done it, the male didn't know. It was impulse, something that made no sense to him but just felt like the right thing to do. And then he was gone, taking off into the woods after his mantel. Jaejin was back on the hunt.