EE RP Transcript: Indoor Seating

    Kiel stared forlornly out the window of the cafe. Ostensibly, he was working. But technically, he was currently on break. And with the city saturated in water, what better way to spend his break than with a cup of hot ishkoweth? Plenty of the city’s other residents had had the same idea. Kiel kept his long tail curled around himself as he sat on the squashy floor cushion, trying to keep it from getting stepped on. his primary arms held his hot cup, and his secondary arms were folded on the low table top. A strange visitor with horns on his head caught Kiel’s attention. …That’s not something you see every day, he thought.

    On a day like this, it wasn't surprising the little cafe place was as busy as it currently seemed. But not overcrowded, Glenn decided. After all, it felt like you were underwater, since the entirety of the window was obscured by deep water. Naturally, most people were inside. He'd seen a few floods back home, not up close and personal, and more the aftermath than the actual disaster, but they were nothing compared to this. He'd gotten a cup of whatever the individual in front of him had ordered-- it was hot and smelled sweet, so it couldn't be a bad choice-- and was currently staring out the window. ... Was that a shark?
    "Mm?" Glenn glanced to the side when a pair of almost too-bright eyes caught his attention in his peripheral vision (which was quite the achievement, given his hair). "Hallo," he said cheerfully to the... four-armed stranger. Reminded him of a cat cross he'd met once. "Mind if I sit? I may not be much of a swimmer but fish can be fun to watch."

    If Kiel was surprised by being caught staring, he didn’t show it. He’s got horns like a stag, Kiel decided. “Yeah, fine,” he said, motioning with a primary hand to the unoccupied cushion across from himself. He turned back to the window, glowing eyes casting a bright reflection on the glass pane. “You ever see a flood like this before?”

    Glenn gave him a friendly grin. It seemed like he could use one. "Nothing like it," he said amiably, taking his seat carefully. Instead of folding his legs up under him, he cautiously tucked his (very furry) legs up next to himself, keeping them out of the way so others wouldn't trip over them. There we go. "But... well, apparently this is normal, from what I heard," he shared, taking a sip of whatever drink he'd ordered and immediately wincing as he nearly scalded his tongue. "... What do you think?" His ears went up when he asked, as did his eyebrows (though the ears commanded the attention).

    Kiel added “cheerful” to his mental list of traits associated with the faun. Antlers seemed to have the right amount of hair on his lower body, at least. That was more than could be said for most of the colonists. “Might be normal for this part of the world, but I’m from much farther north. And you,” Kiel nodded to the stranger, “I guess are from farther away than that.” Kiel took a sip off his steaming cup.

    "Ah, yeah," Glenn laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. His tongue was stinging. "Much, much farther." That was certainly one way to put it. "So... you said you're from the North?" he asked curiously, tilting his head slightly. It had taken a lot of time to learn how to do it just the right amount that the weight of his antlers wouldn't pull him over entirely. "What's it like up there? Assuming this isn't normal, it's got to be different enough, right?" he joked, taking another sip of his drink and swallowing it before it could burn the roof of his mouth. It was surprisingly sweet-- he approved.

    Kiel snorted. “Right now, it’d be summer. And where I’m from, it doesn’t rain this hard in the winter.” Forgetting that he should keep it close for protection, Kiel’s long, skinny tail swished back and forth along the floor. He glanced back out the window, watching a school of small, rainbow-patterned fish swim past. “I don’t mind the rain, though. Makes fishing easier.”

    "I like summer," Glenn said cheerfully. "Well. And spring. Never been much for the cold, though," he admitted, resting his chin in his hand and staring out the window. He had to be impressed at the glass, though, or whatever it was-- that must have been a ton of pressure from the water. "... Might be fun visiting where you come from," he decided with a grin at the four-armed cat. There would be better weather for a lot of the plants he had in mind. Granted, he had mostly seeds right now, but that wasn't the point. "How far's it?"

    It was some time before Kiel spoke again. “Far. Across the sea. Past the rivers of the Cantus Plains.” Maybe the faun was just trying to make pleasant conversation, but nobody visited the mantis colonies except for other furred mantises. “Took me a long time to get here. I don’t think you’d want to waste your time with the hike. Plenty of interesting things here, after all.” Kiel gestured to the fish with a secondary hand while he took another sip of his beverage.“

    The cat was quiet for long enough that Glenn began to wonder if he was actually going to answer. Maybe he'd upset him? Sometimes people didn't take well to a sunny nature. Yes, that must have been it. Or maybe--
    "... Maybe you're right," he said with a sheepish smile, taking another drink of whatever it was that was in his cup. "I'm not much cut out for a lot of traveling." The feline, on the other hand-- paw?-- definitely looked lean. Maybe weathered a bit, but not too much. Just... experienced, sort of, but in what he wasn't sure. "... What sort of stuff IS here?" he asked after a second, tilting his head again. This time he had to catch himself because of the weight of his antlers. Oops.

    Kiel turned, studying the faun while the offworlder adjusted his head. Antlers are probably heavy, Kiel realized. Glad I don’t have those. Shrugging his shoulders, the mantis replied, “A lot of tropical forest. You get interesting and tasty bird and fish species around here. A handful of Shepherd and Mantis colonies - but, again, I wouldn’t bother trying to find those. You’re from… Earth…” - the word felt strange on Kiel’s tongue - “…yeah? Did it rain like this in winter there, too?”

    "Tropical forest, huh? Never been to one," Glenn mused, eyes still fixed on a giant (longer than he was tall) fish that looked silver, unless it was at an odd angle, then it almost seemed gold. "For us, they all got cut down a long time ago..." His smile fell slightly at the memory, only to light back up when the cat asked if he was from Earth. "Mm? Yeah, Earth," he confirmed, grinning at the other. "In winter... depending on where you were, it either rained or snowed. But snow was better," he confided. " 'Course, most of the snow that fell when I left was gray or black-- I can remember white snow. That's been a while... Wonder how long ago that was," he added to himself, frowning momentarily.

    Kiel mulled the foreigner’s words over. “Snow… you can find that here, if you look for it. I’ve never been far enough north or south to see it.” The furred mantis’s tail twitched out of the way of a pair of tiny rabbit feet. “Where you’re from, did you colony have name? Like ‘Colalisier?’ ”

    Colony..? Glenn thought it over. I don't know how to explain we don't have colonies, but... well... cities, towns, communities... but they're not necessarily at war. Countries are another matter.
    "... I was mostly solitary," he began with a slight shrug, "I... tried to stay out of the buildings and the concrete. But I guess... maybe... countries might be a good thing to compare?" he suggested sheepishly. They're like... really, really big colonies. Thousands-- millions, now I think it-- of people, all crammed together into these enormous buildings separated into who knows how many tiny rooms," he added a little bitterly, but seemed to recover and pulled out another grin. "I like this place much better."

    An eel slithered past the window while the antlered offworlder spoke, and a few big fish made dinners of smaller fish. Finally, the faun said something that piqued Kiel’s interest, above and beyond being an alien from another world. People crammed all together… “…What’s ‘concrete’?” He asked finally.

    A thing used in construction too much that hurts my feet. "It's... what they do, I think, they-- the builders-- crunch up a lot of rock into almost a powder, sort of," Glenn explained. "Then they mix it with... I think it's water? But then they pour it into these square shapes, again and again, to make walkways. When it hardens... that's it, it's concrete," he said with a shrug. "It's long-lasting, a lot like rough stone without needing to carve it or something. They use it for everything in the buildings," he added with a mutter.

    Kiel rubbed his scruffy chin with a primary hand. Thoughtfully, he said, "So... concrete is like adobe, but for Earth buildings." Kiel looked around the cafe. It was full of murmuring offworlders. Some of them had hooves, some of them had hands, but all of them seemed fairly optimistic about being where they were. The cafe was comfortably furnished with cushions and tables, and afforded a great view of the flooded river and all its inhabitants. Mere glass him from swimming with the fishes. "...You think this building concrete?"

    "Well, I dunno," Glenn said with a shrug. "I just told you all I know about it." Leaning slightly to the side, he looked at the flooring beneath the cushions (that were quite comfy, by the way). "... This floor looks like wood," he observed. "... I dunno. I mean, they could've put wood over concrete or something?" He thought it might've been possible.

    Kiel followed the offwordler’s gaze to the ground beneath them. Kiel tapped the floor with the tip of his fluffy tail. The only thing he could tell about the floor was that it was, apparently, solid. “…Interesting.” Bright, glowing eyes flicking to meet the stranger’s gaze, Kiel asked, “You got a name, spotty?” The furred mantis took another sip of his drink, folding his secondary arms on the table top again.

    Glenn nearly snorted his drink up his nose. Spotty? That's a new one. "Yeah, I'm Glenn," he said with a bright smile, holding out his right hand over the table. That was one thing he'd been raised to do when meeting people, at least.

    “Kiel,” the furred mantis introduced himself. Kiel’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the extended hand. After a few awkward seconds, Kiel slowly glanced at Glenn from under his eyebrows. “…What’s the matter, Glenn? D’you have something on your hand?”

    "Huh?" Oh. Right. 'Earth' customs. "Uh... no, you shake it," he said brightly. "Here gimme your-- one of your right hands, I'll show you. Promise it doesn't hurt," Glenn joked lightly.

    “…Shake it…?” Hesitantly, Kiel shifted his cup to his left primary hand and offered Glenn both of his right hands. Cultural sensitivity was confusing. Feeling stupider every second, Kiel wiggled his hands in the air. Kiel reflected that he’d probably seen weirder greeting rituals, but not many.

    Glenn hid a smile, but not too well. "Just need the one," he told him with a grin, catching the one of the paw-hand crosses, giving it a quick shake before releasing it. "And that is an Earth thing that I didn't think about," he laughed. "It's... basically just a greeting, for most of us, anyway," he said with a friendly smile and a one-shouldered shrug.

    “Oh really,” Kiel said. He looked at the palm of his hands before bracing his secondary pair against the edge of the table. He drank down the rest of his Ishkoweth and set the empty cup down. Rising to his feet, Kiel added, “This is how we greet people.” He took Glenn’s hands into his primary hands. One at a time, Kiel passed each of Glenn’s hands just below his nose. “If you had the number of hands you were supposed to, I’d do it with your first set.”

    Cool!" Glenn said with a bright grin. "... I don't know about a second set of arms, but these horns do me just fine," he joked. "I'm guessing you've got somewhere to be..?" He'd finished his drink and stood, so it wasn't an impossible conclusion. It did make Glenn a little bit sad, though. New friends in this place, despite his best efforts, weren't exactly easy to find, pleasant as everyone was.

    “Everywhere,” Kiel confirmed. Suddenly, his demeanor shifted from relatively neutral to menacing. “I’m security. I look after everything and everyone in the city. By the way, if you know what’s good for you, you won’t go outside until the storms recede.” Just as abruptly as his expression had shifted into a scowl, it was now a faint smile. “Okay~?”

    It was a little frightening how Kiel's face was able to change on a dime like that, or so the saying went. Security? ... That... actually doesn't surprise me a whole lot... However, at the warning to stay inside, Glenn's face fell into what could only be called a sulk. "... I'll see what I can do," he compromised, resting his chin in his hand again. "I'm... really not used to being inside all the time. It's strange," he confided.

    “It’s stay inside or risk drowning,” Kiel said flatly. Brightening up, he added with a wave, “Enjoy the fish, hey?” With a swish of his skinny, grey tail, Kiel was off again, prowling the city’s interior for signs of misdeeds.