social caterpillar

[glassempty]

Who: glassempty, [open]
What: Asuka has given Hito the task to find out the name and home world of at least five people before he'll give the younger boy his room key back.
When: Saturday, after Hito's entry

Comments

[doctoral_bird]

The keep is quite the maze to anyone unfamiliar with it but if Hito fancies a journey up the steps of the Clothier Tower, he will soon hear the sounds of shelves slamming and the rumbling THUDS of a certain clumsy doctor dropping rolls of cloth.

There may even be the occasional absentminded laugh and crazed mumbling of a man who is quite used to speaking to himself when he is alone. He can't help it if messing around with heaps of cloth scraps and yarn is the slightest bit entertaining. Unless Hito speaks up or makes his presence known, Malkus shall continue to search through bolts of various colored cloths and threads. He's aware that he's meant to be meeting with a new face, but is unsure if the boy will even be able to find this place.

[glassempty]

Hito didn't know if he was going the right way, but his best guess had led him up, sending him off to explore a new level of the keep. He probably would have walked on by if he hadn't seen rolls of cloth and recalled that Malkus had mentioned something about needle and thread.

"Hi?" Hito frowned, his eyebrows knitting together in uncertainty as he moved slowly closer to the slams and thuds of Malkus' progress. "It's Hito. Er... I said I'd help you out?"

If this wasn't the person he was supposed to meet, Hito already planned to beat a hasty retreat. The keep itself already made his skin crawl -- he couldn't begin to deal with any unexpected encounters.

[doctoral_bird]

The doctor almost didn't hear him coming over the sounds of ripping cloth. Malkus was trying to tear proper patch sized shapes out of a dark brown colored roll of fabric when he catches the voice of an uneasy sounding youth.

It doesn't occur to him that it may not be the most comforting thing to run into a birdmasked stranger in the slightest. As a result, Hito will hear a sudden silence... Followed by a rush of heavy sounding steps before Malkus SWINGS the door open near the boy. The unfamiliar face immediately catches the doctors attention as he leans out from the door frame.

"Ah! Glad you've found your way up here, lad. I apologize for not coming to get you! It must have been quite the search." He said, tipping his wide-brimmed hat as he loomed over the entrance to the room.

[glassempty]

There was no denying it. Hito yelped, jerking himself back from the doctor's sudden and terrifying appearance. He didn't run away, though, even if his eyes were wide and his heart was pounding in his ears.

"You're... you're the one I'm meeting?" Hito didn't mean to sound incredulous -- he was just half-terrified from the suddenness of it all.

Remembering he had been raised to have just a little bit of tact, Hito felt his fact heat up over being so surprised. "Er... it was fine. I didn't get lost." Much. "Is this... where you're sewing stuff?"

He still wasn't completely clear on what Malkus was doing or what it was all for.

[bondedgryphon]

Zhaneel had noted Hito's appearace before the boy had presumably shut his journal and tramped off to find her. She couldn't recall seeing anyone that looked like him before, but then she tended to keep rather to herself with the exception of a few individuals she shared time with.

Now, if only she'd thought to show him what she looked like, first .. Hmm. OH WELL!! :D

The gryphon goes by foot, prefering that option to landing in front of a stranger and possibly terrifying them.

Once in the courtyard she sits, tail curling around her taloned forefeet, and closes her eyes. It's sunny outside, and it feels amazing against her fur and feathers .. forgive her while she basks just a little bit, half dozing while she waits for Hito's arrival.

[glassempty]

After his visit with Malkus, Hito needed some fresh air and sunshine. Not that he had anything against the doctor... really. He was just... a little too strange to sit right with Hito. His appearance put him on edge almost as much as the dark keep.

Hito didn't know what to expect of Zhaneel, but he thought she sounded a lot more... normal? than the doctor. And he needed a dose of normal in this place.

Stepping out into the sun, Hito lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the light. After the dark of the keep and his room, going outside was too much for his eyes. He blinked several times, trying to adjust.

It didn't work. Not at first, anyway. His eyes were watering too much from the initial exposure and he had to settle for rubbing them and trying to blink away the temporary blindness.

"Hello? I'm here... I think." He would be officially arrived once he could see again.

I can't make enough excuses for the delay, other than nearly a week away from my computer. So sorry!

[bondedgryphon]

It was nice that Hito had the assumption that Zhaneel was relatively normal when compared to the other residents of the Keep. She liked to think herself fairly normal, other than the whole 'being a gryphon' thing, but then that was pretty normal to her too.

The sun is hitting the barracks proper and she rouses a little as she hears approaching footsteps. Her ear tufts flick forward and her beak gapes in warm greeting.

"Heyla, Hito ..?"

She notes that the sun is in his face, but when his eyes adjust, she'll be sitting there rather expectantly. Surprise, Hito .. she's definitely not humanoid!

It's cool! I've been at work for a week straight. XD

[glassempty]

Surprise indeed. After Malkus, Hito had prepared himself a little better for the other unwilling residents of the keep to be a little strange, but he still wasn't expecting anything like a gryphon.

It could have been worse, though. On his world giant cats and wolves were considered standard transportation, so the sign of her wasn't enough to send him scrambling back for his locked room.

Hito blinked, working to collect himself before he lifted one hand in a small wave. "Uh... hi."

After another moment it clicked as he recognized the voice. "Zhaneel, right?"

[lightyourway]

Kairi missed lemonade.

She missed a lot of things, to be honest. But it was easy to forget them when she or the worlds were in danger. Now, when things were peaceful... Well, she missed home.

So she approached the kitchens, as promised, with half a plan to meet Hito there, her arms full of freshly-picked lemons.

Sorry for the delay!

[glassempty]

Hito nearly missed beating Kairi there, but he somehow managed to make it over after his meetings with the others and had taken the moment of peace to find a place to sit down and just... not deal with things for a little while. As much as Asuka thought it would be good for him, meeting the others was stressful.

No one so far had been like Hito had imagined they would be.

He at least knew there wouldn't be too much to surprise him about Kairi, though (he hoped). He at least knew what she looked like.

When he heard a sound outside of the kitchen, Hito shoved himself out of the chair he had found, suddenly feeling wary again.

Ugh.. if he didn't stop being on edge soon, he was going to have a heart attack before he was twenty.

He relaxed when he spotted Kairi and offered a small smile. "You made it. Thanks for coming to help me out..."

NP. Me too ;;

[lightyourway]

Kairi glanced over to locate the sound of the chair on the floor, and smiled when she saw Hito.

"Heh, you're welcome," Had he been waiting for her? "Am I late?"

They hadn't talked about time, not really. And she hadn't worried about it. She still wasn't all that worried about it now, honestly, and glanced away so that she could look for a bowl to deposit the lemons in.

[glassempty]

Late? "No -- of course not."

Hito folded his arms across his chest, feeling a little useless in the kitchen like always. With people like Aara around, it was almost embarrassing to try to cook anything when anyone else could see.

"Er... do you need help with those?" he gestured to the lemons, lifting one eyebrow a little.