Ok so like, I found this bug...and it was sorta green but not green

Ok so like, I found this bug...and it was sorta green but not green and normally I wouldn't be standing there looking at bugs but this bug. THIS BUG It was sitting on a slightly dusty window, fluttering about. I didn't see what was inside the store. It wasn't dried fish so obviously, it wasn't important. How did I know that if I wasn't looking inside the store you ask? That's easy as breathing. Because it WAS to do with breathing. Smelling to be specific. You see fish, specifically dried fish as a very pungent smell and the nose knows. This store didn't have that smell, this store smelt like...well it was hard to tell...possibly herbs? Maybe? I don't care, that's not important. The bug is.

This bug. It was super important. It was so important that I had been staring at it for a long time now, so long in fact..that my legs hurt. You know that sort of hurt that you get that slowly travels up your thighs and if you shift your feet, ever so slightly they hurt too. Yeh. That.

But this was ... this was...

Entrancing

My amber eyes stared an unrelenting stare (otherwise how else would it be an efficient stare?) toward this bug. Pointed (and injured, goddammit Amari) azure ears and tail flicking slightly at the various sounds of passer-by. I could hear them muttering. Mad woman, they thought I was. Blue haired nutter, they said. Hah! If only they could see what I could see. Then they'd join me in this spectacle. (I guess I was part of the spectacle now, but I never intended to take the spotlight away from this curious little critter)

So this bug, right.. it was I think a goldish green colour. Ok so I'm not stupid I know its green but in the light it sometimes shone gold I think they call it chromatic colours or something... anyway.. .it scuttled to and fro, always to and fro like a little half-waltz. I say half waltz because it was a two step move instead of three step.

What was even more curious was...

that this little bitty bug... did not have a soul.


So interesting..

"I'd heard that he had rumors of an affair with one of them before, but I never expected to see one hear. He's been so reserved - oh Thayne, do you think he heard me?" Nevin felt one eyebrow twitch strongly as he pointedly ignored the gossiping women who were standing in front of a food stall. There was no way another rumor about him was starting, so obviously they were not talking about him - even if he was the only man on the street at this particular moment.

No, instead he focused on the corner ahead. Round that corner and he would be home free. He detested having to go out shopping for food but if he didn't want to spend all of his time hunting he had to sacrifice his personal privacy and head to the market from time to time. At least he had been able to get some freshly caught salmon today, and he was looking forward to dinner. And he was glad that his part time apprentice, Ezra, had finally beat a semblance of actual skill at cooking into him so he wasn't about to kill himself trying to cook.

Then he turned the corner and he paused, his face going blank as he suppressed the large sigh of exasperation that tried to slip from his lips. Standing in front of his shop was a blue haired feline female. If he was less observant it would have been easy to confuse her for Rainee - but aside from being blue haired cat women they weren't too similar. Thankfully. This new individual was staring intently into his shop, though he couldn't see what her attention was on.

She was also the center of a fair amount of attention herself - a short distance away, there was a small crowd forming. People came up and watched her for a bit as he walked forward, though they did have the grace to look ashamed when he turned his flat glare in their direction. He kept glaring at them until the crowd scattered, and hen he cleared his throat as he turned to look at the woman.

Is it a rule that cat women are cute? Bah. Hopefully no rumors start involving this poor girl. The redhead shifted his bag to his other hand as he fished his key from his pocket and unlocked the door. "If you are looking to buy something, I open in about an hour, Miss." He paused in the doorway to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

Someone talked and the bug went to fly away. The sound must have spooked the poor, little, soulless, dancing creature!

<"W-What! NO! Gah W-Wait bug I need to inspect you!"> I cried out in my native tongue, Akashimian as I jumped up, hands clasping feebly in the air at the tiny critter as it flew away. I thought I had it, I clasped them around it and breathed a sigh of relief as I carefully opened my hands to see... well... nothing. Dammit...it was gone. When was I ever going to see it again? My eyes fell to the floor. That's it, hopes dashed, dreams ruined. Life over. My ears drooped and my tail fell lifelessly to the floor, my outward demeanor completely reflective of the utmost despair and inner turmoil I felt.

"If you are looking to buy something, I open in about an hour, Miss."

I rose my eyes and was met with... uhm wait one or two people? I what? HUH!?

"What is?"

Ok... so maybe this was more interesting than the bug.

I took two quick steps toward him, peering closely into his darkly coloured eyes, I reached out and prodded the puffy skin underneath. Bags. He didn't sleep. Why was it that no one slept? Sleep was awesome. Naps were amazing too... actually if I wasn't so busy, I'd go for a nap right now. There was also something else, a slight tingling sensation. It was ever so slight, that I am not sure why I am mentioning it... I'm going to ignore it now.

"Mmm..." With no regard to any form of personal space (What was that anyway? did people buy space?) I again, jabbed a pointed finger toward him. This time to his collarbone, where strange lines appeared on his skin.

"Feel like one person." I muttered... "One ...but two?" I quirked my head to the side. "You got smooshed? Did rock fall and make two people one? did- wait!"

Wait...


Wait....

Just wait a gosh darn MINUTE!

My nose wrinkled.

"FEESH!!" I cried out as I made a grab for his bag. Sadly, he was too swift and pulled it away from me. Apparently it was not for me. I shifted my gaze up to him. "Me Eteri. You two soul man. We friend now. Lets have deener. Share Feesh. Yes? Yes!"

And that my dear thoughts, is how you get a free meal.

Nevin heard the girl muttering, up close, and his spine went ramrod straight as shock raced through him. That - no, there was no way someone else could see souls, right? That was a unique thing that - no, she absolutely had to be able to see souls, or feel them, to know that he was -

The redhead had to literally force himself to breathe, a sharp gasp preceding his lungs working in some approximation of correct order, and he coughed twice. One hand came up to rub the spot she had jabbed as he stared at her in shocked thought, trying to figure out just what she was thinking. Then her nose crinkled up and her eyes flicked down to the bag in his hand -

And he jerked it out of the way of her grasping hands, looking upwards to avoid seeing the cute little xpression of disappointment on her face. It had to be some kind of racial trait, it just had to be. He pursed his lips as she begged/demanded some dinner, and for a moment he felt an intense urge to run inside, slam the door shut, and hide from yet another person who saw the darkest secret he tried to hide.

Instead he sighed and pushed his door open further with his foot, revealing the tidy interior of the Alchemy shop, shelves with locker cabinets lining the walls.

"My name is Nevin, not two-soul man. And I suppose I can share some fish with you, yes." No, he did not have a weakness for cute things, what on Althanas are you talking about?

Yes. Yes. Yes. yes. Yes. I was getting fish. This was great, this was a fantastic day.

"First Eteri see bug, tiny thing - no soul. So Strange! Then you! Man with two things inside him. All mishy mash up. Now feesh. Good day. Good day." I said as I followed him into the store.

I glanced around looking at all the bottles neatly stacked on shelves. Hell not a thing was out of place, was this man a neat freak? I was totally not paying attention to what he was saying. I think I caught his name at least. Narvin? Neckin? Nevee? Navi? Navi sounded right. Let's go with that.

My eyes were on all the sparkly bottles lining the walls so I hadn't realized he had stopped in the middle of the GOSH DARN ROOM. Thaynes above Navi! Who does that!?

"Oof!" I headbutted him, straight into his back.

'Watch where go Navi!" I cried out as I rubbed my forehead. It didn't hurt, but dammit. I was going to play this to my favour. Why have a little bit of fish when I could have all the fish.

"AHH...."

In a horribly poor attempt of faking a fall to the floor... I threw myself onto the floor in front of him, with a arm over my head. "Ow it hurt, Eteri hurt so much." I reached out to him, my voice falling to a raspy whisper. "Eteri....need..more....feesh to ...liii-*cough* ve...."

I shut my eyes tight and waited.


one...two....three....seconds I opened one to cautiously peer up at him. Crap! He was still looking at me. I shut my eye again.
He totally didn't see that, nope not at all.

Eteri, super hunter, friend maker, and actor extrodinyar.

Nevin folded his arms across his chest and raised one eyebrow as he watched the girl, Eteri, dramatically throw herself to the ground, whimpering about fish and needing to live. While his back stung slightly from the impact, he was well aware that it was nowhere near enough to be life threatening to her. So while she played possum on the floor, he moved back to the front door and locked it with a shake of his head.

At this point, he had no idea how old Eteri was. She certainly acted you that, more like Mylie had than Rainee - but was that a product of her age, or was it actually a mental difference based on some invisible racial trait? Perhaps this girl was more in tune with her cat nature than Rainee had been.

No matter the case, he was NOT going to give this cat girl any catnip. He didn't know if his shop would survive.

He stepped over the girl, catching her eye when she cracked one eyelid to look at him and giving her a half smirk. She immediately clamped her eye shut with what he thought sounded like a startled squeak. His path carried him back to the small kitchen, where he lit the stove and grabbed a pan and set it to warm.

"You'll have to wait until cook it to get some of the fish, little miss." He didn't bother to hide the amusement in his voice as he took out the fillets of salmon and set them beside the pan. From his small cooler came garlic butter that he dropped into the pan, spreading it around and soon filling the air line. Once the bottom was coated he dropped the salmon in, and salt and pepper were shaken over it, seasoning the fish as he kept one eye on the girl.

She didn't seem to care too much about the fact that he had two souls, which in his mind was a good thing. With any luck he could convince her not to worry or think about his state again - he knew his friend Stare the first person to see his mangled soul didn't think about it these days.

I rose from the dead like...well...someone who rose from the dead, I sniffed the air, normally I didn't like cooked fish. It ruined it. I was happy to eat it raw but what he did. It smelt good. My nose wrinkled and crouched down, I stalked silently and slowly toward him. Cornering him and that tasty fish like a predator its prey. (I was technically a predator after all) He turned over his shoulder to look at me and I stilled in his line of sight. I was still. It was amazing really, how focused I could be when it came to food. I stared him down, eyes glinting in the low light of the setting sun.

The smell made my stomach gurgle and I continued forward when he became distracted with the fish, I slowly rose to stand on my feet and nestled in close to him. Close enough that our elbows touched, I wrapped my hands around his arm, not caring that it made it harder for him to shift the pan around and peered at the fish.

"No like cook. This cook smell good." I peered intently at the pan. My facade was over, way over. I had won. Navi was but a pawn in my wiles. I was so entranced by his cooking, I almost didn't notice the niggling thought... the thought that this man. This ....Navi....

My eyes lulled as I tightened my grip on him, nails digging into his clothes. "Is mine."

I blinked, wait....what was mine again?

Oh. Yes... the feesh... The feesh was mine... I bit my lower lip and bounced up and down. My grip loosened and the moment had passed. Aside from an odd burning sensation in my chest.

"Is done yet? is done? Share. Must share all with Eteri."

As the salmon fried, Nevin heard movement from the door. A quick glance showed an absolutely still blue haired cat girl, and after a few moments of a stare off, he chuckled and returned to work on the food. To he was caught off guard when -

Soft. He shoved the blush down as long, slender arms wrapped around one of his, and she complemented his cooking. Considering how the girl had been acting he knew absolutely nothing was meant by it - instead, the cat girls he knew all seemed to have poor senses of personal space. The compliment to his food was nice with how poorly he once had done in that regard.

But the real thing that made him pause, and almost scorch his hand with the food, was the way his magic reacted to her being right there against him. It had been silent, content, but when she pressed against him, the chorus of his magic began to sing in anticipation. Strangely, for once all of the 'voices' involved were female, where usually it was an unknowable mixture. There was a different edge to it as well, like an eager possessiveness that rose to a triumphant cry for a moment when she said - something, he missed her words in the exultation from his magic.

Then she loosened her grip after bouncing against him, and the singing from his magic had settled back, into an oddly passive satisfied hum. That was one of the strangest reactions his magic had ever had to someone - just who was this girl? He coughed, sharply and shook his head, red hair dancing about his face as he pushed the mix of confusion and other emotions down.

"The food is almost done, yes. Now, I know you likely don't want too much with the fish, but I'm going to cook up some vegetables as well. If there are any you're interested in, I have some root vegetables and asparagus." As he spoke, he took out some carrots and began slicing them into long strips and dropping them into the sizzling butter. He flipped out the fillets and dropped them onto a platter, then one long arm reached over and plucked a plate from a cabinet. He dropped one of the fillets onto the plate, and set it with a fork on the small table.

"And do you want anything to drink? I have water, juice, milk, and some alcohol."

Nope. Fuck that shit.

"Vegetable shit." I said with a huff. I didn't need the stuff, I rarely ate them, and if I did, I preferred them uncooked. I didn't like the idea of all that mushy crap in my mouth. My insides were already that way. I picked up the plate that had the salmon fillet on it already and sat down on the ground with a soft 'thump'.

Resting my back against the cupboard I contentedly picked up the fillet with my bare hands, I never liked the strange metal cutlery these people used. What was wrong with chopsticks? Or sticks in general. Sticks were fantastic.

Well.... except that stick in the mud of my sister, that was most certainly not a fantastic stick. I licked my lips as I ate.

Now, contrary to popular belief, I ate pretty delicately when I wanted to. Sure, I was on the floor... and using my fingers. Hell, for good measure and spite for the damn things I kicked the fork away and it clattered across the kitchen floor. But my bites were dainty as fuck. I didn't slobber or make a mess. I ate silently and filled with content until Navi asked me what I wanted to drink. I shook my head with a full mouth before swallowing.

"No drink. Just eat."

I watched him return to his work.

NOW was my chance!

Leaving that last salmon fillet unaware....sneakily.... so sneakily I reached up and blindly felt around for the next portion of my meal.

I'd have his fish...and he...he could have my vegetables.

It was rather interesting to watch Eteri slice up her fish and pick small portions out with her long, sharp fingers. Nevin drummed his fingers in the table as she declined a drink - well, at least she wouldn't get any kind of sugar rush off of just fish with some simple seasonings. He heard the carrots crackle and turned his attention back to them, and began scooping the fried slices out of the pan and onto the platter next to the salmon fillet.

So his attention was rather focused when delicate fingers began reaching up the counter, searching for - he would guess, the second cut of fish. With a twist of his lips, he debated smacking the girl's hand with his serving fork. He decided against it though - and instead smiled a bit maliciously and scooted some of the fried carrots just in front of her hand. The rest, and the fillet, were placed onto another plate, which he lifted up so she couldn't see what was on it.

Long legs carried him to the table, and he sat down to eat. He shielded his plate from her gaze and began crunching loudly on the fried carrots, keeping one ear trained on her for her reaction. But his main focus of attention was actually on the question of this girl.

She saw his mangled soul, enough to know that it was two people. Not even Stare had managed that - she had known his soul was damaged, but until he told the Kenku woman she hadn't known just what had happened. This blue haired feline female had seen that much and more-or-less, she had known? Had someone told her? Was that even possible - had Stare sent this girl to him for some reason? He doubted that, his friend tended to be more direct.

There was also the issue of his magic's reaction to her. He had been... intimate, since he became what he was now, but despite that, never had his magic reacted to someone being close to him. No, this was more like what happened in Lindequalme, the singing at that moment had been more like what he had heard when they had stopped - strange. He turned and looked at Eteri over one shoulder. She wasn't connected to the cultists or to blood magic, is she was he would have been having more concrete reactions in his magic. This was something else - but, what? And did she know?