Around the Center [IC/PG-13]

[Draconus297]

Aidan awoke, once again, to an empty apartment. He had to brush the hair out of his eyes with his fingers for the hundredth morning in a row (he'd been contemplating a haircut, but just kept putting it off in favor of the job search), and sat up.

Light streamed in past the floor-to-ceiling Venetian blinds, giving the 17-year-old the unwelcome reminder that he'd slept in. He yawned, and went about his daily routine- ending with half heartedly eating a bowl of whatever cereal he'd dragged down from the shelf this morning and reading the message his aunt had left.

Hey Aidan!
We're out of conditioner again, so I left a little extra money on top of the fridge this morning for you to buy some. The good kind, remember.
Himeko Your mother called. She wanted to know if you had a girlfriend yet. I'm kinda curious, too. Tape a photo of your girlfriend to the fridge tonight if you have one.
I know the job search isn't going too well, but there is always my offer to work as my chauffeur.
See ya- Your Aunt

"Ya," he sighed, "with what driver's license?" He stopped, and re-read the comment about a girlfriend. "In what time?" he muttered.

Aidan half heartedly checked his phone, and nearly jumped. The game store was giving him an interview! He rushed through the rest of his breakfast, grabbed the money from the top of the fridge, and headed out.

Later, he'd seriously question his decision to literally run to his interview.

[Shradow]

Leila got a few strange looks from passersby as she was running home, wearing her pajamas. "Ooh, of all the places to end up! I'm going to be late!" This morning she had awoken to find herself up a tree in a park halfway across the city from her house, the result of one of her nighttime flying sessions. "It's been nearly two centuries and I still can't get rid of that habit!" She finally made it back home, and after a few moments reappeared outside now wearing a school uniform. She now sprinted down the road towards her school, a piece of toast in her mouth as she ran.

 

She had just finished it before turning a corner and slamming headlong into another person who had run around the corner at the same time, both of them knocking each other to the ground. "Ow! Hey, what are--" Leila looked to see who she had just run into, and for a split second her train of thought just stopped. It was a guy, and a pretty handsome one, too, but his looks weren't the only thing that seemed to draw her gaze. She stared at him for a short time and started to blush a little, but quickly regained her composure, standing up and brushing herself off. "Y-you just watch where you going, buddy!" She started running again, but she had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to get the image of that guy's face out of her head.

[CLG Klavier]

The Higher Plane. The plane where the gods and rewarded mortals reside and live a life full of joy and hapiness. Well, not everyone.

 

Ruri lied on the edge, peeking into the mortal world. It was her favorite thing to do, since since the days she was born, the human plan fascinated her. Things normal for people, like eating, studying, hanging out were so otherworldly to her. The Higher Plane was a place of hapiness, but it was...very empty, not much was happening around. She also hated her duties, so she took every opportunity to get out of them. Once she hit suitable age, she was appointed the gatekeeper, deciding who goes in and who doesn't. Ruri was sure it will be a wonderful job - she will get to meet people coming from the mortal plane! Sadly, no one told her that once someone dies, they lose all memories of their previous life, so no one had any stories to share with her. The young goddess sighed deeply, observing a curious situation - a male and a female just bumped into each other in a park. From what she knew there's bound to be some interesting development...

[Draconus297]

"Argh . . ." Aidan grunted. "What did you . . . say . . .?" he asked, seeing nothing as the girl had disappeared.

 

A girl had rocketed into him, apparently running just as fast as he was, if not faster. She had booked around the corner, and . . . she had been beautiful . . .

 

Aidan shook the cobwebs from his head. He didn't have time to be thinking about her! He had to get to his job interview!

 

It was then that he noticed . . . something on the ground, where she had taken off from. A thin folder of some kind.

 

Upon opening it, he found a name printed there. "Leila . . ." he muttered.

 

He picked it up and took it with him. If nothing else, he now had an excuse to talk to that girl again, and apologize for bumping into her.

 

It was then that he really shook the last of that thought from his head, and took off towards his job interview. "I'm gonna have a job, I'm gonna have a job!" he whispered excitedly to himself, not taking into account that he might not get past his interview.

[Shradow]

"Leila...? Yo, Leila!" Leila was abruptly brought back to reality by her friend and classmate, Karen. "Ya gonna come eat lunch with me or just sit there an' stare out the window all day? Ya tryin' ta melt a hole in the glass or somethin'?"

 

She hadn't even realized it was already lunch time, and now she wasn't exactly sure what she might have been thinking about or why she was so spaced out a moment ago. "Sorry, Karen, I was just... thinking about... something..."

 

Karen put her hands on her hips and looked quizzically at Leila. "Well, that ain't like ya at all." She then leaned forward and looked intensely at Leila, who shrunk back slightly. After a moment she stood back straight and nodded contently to herself. "Yup, yer face is clear as day." She pointed an accusing finger at Leila and gave her a snide eyebrow lift. "You went and found yerself a guy ya like, huh?"

 

At this, Leila face turned beet red and she quickly shook her head back and forth. "N-n-n-no, what? O-of course not! What would m-make you think that?!" She then started to laugh nervously, but quickly cut herself off when she began to think about the accident from this morning. I guess... he has been on my mind since then... She gasped. This is just like the internal conflicts the heroine would have in shōjo manga! This realization caused her face to grow even redder, and she laid her head down on her desk dejectedly. "But such a meeting... it's not romantic at all! And so clichéd!" she suddenly exclaimed, standing up and slamming her hands on her desk. This couldn't be what I've been looking for for over a century! I refuse to accept it!

 

Suddenly Leila started to get a familiar itch down her back. Oh of course, they'd want to stick out now! "I-I need to go to the restroom!" She dashed out of the room, one hand on her head with the other on the back waist of her skirt, leaving Karen and a few other classmates with confused looks on their faces at her sudden outbursts. She didn't have to keep her succubus heritage a secret like in the old days, but old habits die hard. Besides, it'd keep things a lot simpler if people thought she was human, especially given the (completely justified) stigma around succubi.

 

(OoC: 15000 posts!)

[Draconus297]

Aidan sighed. He was sure that his job interview could have gone better. 'Don't call us, we'll call you' is a bad sign.

 

Maybe he didn't need a job. There was something to be said for vagrancy . . . no. Not an option. He had to repay all that had been done for him, Besides, like his aunt had said, he probably needed a girlfriend.

 

So, on his way to the store, Aidan walked with one hand in his pocket, the other on the folder he'd found. Leila . . . he thought, what's she like? I wonder . . . he shook his head. I found a class folder. An empty one, but still. She's probably too young.

 

He had to dodge a bicycle going down the street, and a pair of centaurs racing one another. I seriously wonder how they hid in plain sight. You'd think someone like that would be impossible to miss. He shrugged, accepting the fact that there were some things he could never understand.

 

He headed into the large store, which had once again been rearranged to serve the needs of local demihumans and demons. "Where is the hair care aisle now?" he muttered to himself, striding about aimlessly in the huge pseudo-grocery.

[Phantom Roxas]

Cynthia washed her hands meticulously in the sink, holding and entire bar of soap as blood was slowly rinsed from her skin. She chuckled. "'Retired', they said. Leave it to dear old mum and dad to leave me to clean their mess up for them." Once she had finished cleaning the blood out of her hands, she looked at the werewolf body lying at the center of the floor, and with a sigh, she adjusted her glasses on her nose. "Oh, heavens no, I am not touching that mongrel."

Looking into the refrigerator, she counted what was not there. "Oh my, no milk? I shall have to fix that."

For the next hour, Cynthia prepared and reviewed a shopping list. She could only be bothered to make one trip for the week, so she had to get it right. Once she was satisfied, she sat herself up in her car, and drove to the grocery store.


Her shopping was going remarkably well. She found food, drinks, napkins, and toilet paper with ease. Everything was going smoothly.

Then she found a walking headache.

"Aidan-" Before she could speak Aidan's last name, an announcement was made over the intercom. Aidan looked like a poor lost puppy. Fortunately for him, Cynthia considered herself something of a leash. Setting her cart up against a wall, she walked up behind Aidan, pinched him on the ear, and asked in a silky voice "Lost, are we?"

[Draconus297]

Aidan's eyes widened. "R- Reinhardt-Kaichou!" he yelped, still referring to her by the title she technically no longer held. "Y- yeah, a little bit. They keep rearranging this place, and I can't seem to find hair care." He set his mouth in a grim line. "My aunt wants more of that high-quality conditioner, and it only ever seems to be in stock here."

He gestured in the general direction of everywhere. "And, not to be rude," he whispered, "but because of how nonhumans have been getting things fixed just for them, things just seem to be getting harder for people like you and me."

He frowned again, this time accompanied by an absolutely adorable little pout. "That was very rude, wasn't it? Ah, why are things so complicated?"

[Shradow]

Leila heaved a huge sigh as she walked home from school. "Today was way too stressful, I almost lost it in the middle of class." She balled her fists in front of her like she was going to punch something. "It's all his fault, that clumsy idiot, he--" She suddenly stopped in front of a large grocery store and started to sniff the air. That scent, it can't be... Even if her chance meeting with that guy only lasted a few moments, her succubus sense of smell could single out a specific person in a crowd if she had met them before. She darted into the store, peeking around aisle after aisle until she saw him again.

 

This time he wasn't alone, but chatting with a young woman that seemed to be about his age. Leila could overhear Aidan complaining about the arrangement of the store. Seeing him with another girl like that made her uncomfortable for reasons she knew not, but it was then that she picked up another scent, this time from the girl: the scent of blood, faint but relatively fresh. This made Leila instinctively back up and press her back against the aisle shelves. That girl's dangerous, no doubt about that. Better get out of here, I don't want to cause any trouble.

 

At this, she darted back out of the store and into a nearby alley. Making sure no one was around, she lifted a finger in front of her. It started to glow in the dark alley, and she quickly traced a rune in the air. After it was completed, a strange veil covered Leila, hiding her appearance from normal human eyes. She released her true form and flew up into the air. "It'll be a lot quicker to get home this way." She looked back behind her as she flew, the store slowly shrinking in the distance.

[Phantom Roxas]

"'Kaichou'…?" Cynthia raised an eyebrow at how Aidan addressed her, before shaking her head. "In any case, it's not my fault things are complicated." She pointed a finger at the signs hanging above the aisles, with one listing a number of items available, including hair care. "That's what you're looking for." Rolling her eyes, she began to push her cart forward. "By the way, Aidan. I had noticed a sign at the front of the store. They said they were hiring. Of course, since you apparently can't find your way around here, I doubt that they'll be impressed much. Just a little food for thought."

Leaving Aidan to reflect on her words, made her way through the finals, intending to finish off her shopping. She ran through some of her priorities. Maybe a few more drinks to sustain her nutrition. Some garlic she could use in case she stumbled upon a vampire. Normal things like that. It all felt very natural to her. And yet, Aidan thought that "normal" people had it the hard way. For a brief fraction of a second, she considered teaching him monster hunting, but laughed at the thought. Maybe I'll see if he does get that job here, she thought. Then I'll know if he really can find his way out of a paper bag.

[Draconus297]

Aidan grinned sheepishly as he watched Cynthia walk off. I really need to look up more often. One of these days, it's gonna be the death of me, he thought.

He continued his attempt at shopping in the reworked store, and thought over what he had been told. Reinhardt-Kaichou has a point. Maybe I could apply here! After all, if I worked here, I would probably understand the layout better.

Aidan finished up, paying for his bottle of conditioner at one of the self-checkout lanes. It wasn't that he was scared of the burly Orc twins that were shoving one another at the only open register, but, well . . . they were about three times his size and already knocked over the display of watermelons. He wasn't taking any chances.

Just before he slipped out, he left a copy of his resume at the store's HR department. Now to find something to do for three hours.

It was at that convenient moment he noticed a flyer for a couple's dance competition over at the park that apparently would start in a half hour- the prize being one of those rather expensive water-powered cars. While he didn't have a partner, watching a competition like that could kill some time. Besides (and he acknowledged this as a slim hope) maybe someone else would show up partner-less as well.