Well I'm one of them, and I'm among friends...

[astrongerbeacon]

No one actually told Martin where a certain redhead was staying. He just finds these things out - when you're used to tracking down demons, figuring out where one wanderer is staying in the basement of the Conrad is not difficult

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[coolestscythe]

Soul has been spending most of his time either wandering the Conrad, or wandering the rest of Chicago. In fact, he's been spending almost all his time lately outside, both in order to learn more about the city and to try and find a way to go home. All the running around tends to make one rather hungry--and he's a growing boy, after all.

Soul is already there when Martin walks in, sitting on the counter as he waits for his toast to pop up. He definitely stands out, as he has given up on trying to hide his spiky white hair and red eyes. He raises a hand in greeting when he spots Martin.

"Hey."

[astrongerbeacon]

Martin pauses a moment, blinking at the kid. Wanderer. As if that wasn't noticeable, between the hair and the eyes... Well, Martin's also got his wings out, so he's sensitive to that sort of thing.

"Hey," he says, sauntering over to the fridge and pulling it open, keeping the kid in at least the periphery of his vision as he does. "I'm Martin. You new here?"

[coolestscythe]

Soul has been getting that a lot lately, the double-takes, the stares, the whispers from people on the street. He's not used to it, and he doesn't think he ever will be. What's wrong with a kid with white hair?

And this guy has wings. It's not like this city doesn't have its share of weirdness.

"I've been here for a few weeks now. Been out most of that time, though. I'm Soul Eater."

[astrongerbeacon]

Martin, after examining the fridge for a moment, pulls out a couple eggs, sets them down on the counter, and starts going through the cupboards in search of a frying pan.

He glances back to the kid after a moment, eyebrows raised. "...Seriously?" Alright, maybe it's rude to question his name, but his name cannot be Soul Eater. Wanderers are weird, but not quite that much.

[coolestscythe]

It's around then that Soul's toast pops, which allows him to grumble at the toast instead of potentially pissing off a stranger.

"Yes, it's my name. Soul Eater Evans. It's really not that weird back home."

He practically impales the toast as he spreads jam over it. He can't wait to get out of this damn city.

[astrongerbeacon]

Martin's eyebrows are still raised, but he's at least polite enough to set aside the scepticism. "Alright. Nice to meat you... Soul Eater." Yeah, that's still weird. But Martin's willing to pretend it's not!

He locates a frying pan, finally, and emerges from his search through the cabinets triumphant. "Considering I have wings, I'll refrain from commenting on the variable amounts of 'weird' going on here."

[coolestscythe]

Soul sighs a little. "Just 'Soul' is fine." He supposed he'll have to get used to it, if he really is here for the long haul.

He starts munching the toast, kicking his feet against the cabinets. "Well, I'm getting the feeling that my ability to gauge what is 'weird' is a little faulty. At least in this place."

[astrongerbeacon]

Martin snorts a little. "It's a common problem. I wouldn't worry too much about it." Having located eggs and a frying pan, it's not too hard to track down a bowl, and some milk, and a fork... There are a few really simple foods you can count on most archangels to be able to make. Scrambled eggs tend to be one of them.

"You want any of this?" he asks after a moment, nodding to the eggs. "I mean, you've got your toast and all, but..." Martin is habitually nice to wanderers. Nicer than most archangels. It's kind of a thing with him.

[coolestscythe]

Soul shrugs, popping the last bite of toast into his mouth. "I try not to make a habit out of worrying. You can't be cool if you're gonna worry all the time."

Soul scoots over on the counter so he can get a better look at what Martin is cooking. "Oh--sure, if you don't mind..." His stomach was growling again already; toast really just wasn't enough. It wasn't that he'd been starving himself, but the stuff stocked in the basement kitchen was mostly basics. He was used to having enough money to go out and get ingredients and make a proper meal. He was also used to counting on Maka for half the week when it was her turn to cook. Suffice it to say, he hadn't been eating as regularly as normal since arriving in Chicago.

[astrongerbeacon]

Martin grins and reaches into the fridge for a few more eggs before he starts the process of cracking them neatly, tossing the shells into the trash, and mixing them in the nice big bowl he managed to unearth from the cupboards. Martin's got a soft spot for kids. And a guilt complex about wanderers. When the two combine, the least he can do is feed him.

"You've probably got the right idea, kid. Not exactly my school of thought, but you hang around other archangels enough and one of you has to do the worrying, and... well, it's usually me."

[coolestscythe]

Soul smirks. "Well, sure. So angels really are real, huh? They were just a myth in my world, though you get people with wings sometimes." He's mostly thinking of Chrona, who is unique in her...his...their own way, but still.

"Hey, uh, thanks for the eggs. I saw them in there, but I didn't buy them, so I didn't want to just use them or anything."

[astrongerbeacon]

"Angels are real," he says with a grin and a nod. "Demons too, though not here in the Conrad. You should talk to Dusty. She's our local children's angel, real sweetheart... I can't seriously be the first angel you've met here."

[coolestscythe]

"Uh, well I dunno. At least I haven't met anyone else with wings and all. So there's lots of angels here?"

He makes a mental note about Dusty, wanting to learn all he can. You need to educate yourself before you can make a real move. It would be best to figure out how this world works before he tries to go home.

[astrongerbeacon]

"Yeah. There's a lot of angels here. The owner of this place used to be an angel..." Which, after he says it, makes it sound like it's the same person who's just not an angel anymore. Whatever. Poor phrasing on his part. "They don't always have their wings out, so you might not've noticed..."

[coolestscythe]

"Huh." He runs his fingers through his hair. "Man. So little about this place is like home. Even the sun and moon are different..."

Which was terrifying, when he first noticed. He must have freaked out everyone on the street when Aniki first brought him out of the warehouse. Not a very cool moment.

"So...angels seem like relatively normal people. What about the demons you mentioned?" Something tells him that he doesn't mean Demon Weapons, like Soul is.

[astrongerbeacon]

"The sun and...?" Martin trails off before he can get out a question about that. He does not want to know. It's best not to ask too much about where wanderers come from, most of the time.

"A lot like angels. They have wings, but they can hide them. Their skin's a lot hotter than most people's, though. You'll be able to tell if you touch them. Just like angels are colder. Here, if you want to see..." He offers a hand to Soul, palm up. Assuming the kid's got a body temperature close to human, it'll be a noticable difference.

"I'd... be careful about them. Demons. There's technically a truce, but they're driven to hurt people, and a lot of them don't care about things like truces."