A First Time For Everything [Seven Xu]

[Palla]

Palla tossed the word around on her tongue as if it were a tasty treat. Seven. Something about it made her think of serpents, and she shuddered. Creepy, slithery, slimy things… She didn’t like them one bit. As she followed her newest acquaintance, she held his coat tightly around her slim frame, seemingly afraid that someone might snatch it from her. She listened carefully, taking in his explanation of tea and what it was for. Upon rounding the next bend, Palla was lead into a tavern of sorts. She had never been ushered anywhere before, and certainly not into a public building. It was strange and foreign, and made her feel nervous. And yet, she was comfortable. Something in her felt comfortable about being around this stranger, a sort of effort of her subconscious maybe. She was skeptical, but stepped inside at Seven’s invitation. OOCSorry this is so short and wimpy! D: I’ll make up for it, I swear!

[Seven Xu]

The Sun and Stars tavern held little that pleased the eye, that is, until one’s eye drifted skyward. Above a dingy-lit and slender room—a wide corridor more than a sprawling space one would expect of a bar—the night’s likeness reigned, in the form of countless tiny tiles in a vast, moving mosaic. The moon itself seemed to emit a hoary glow against the dim orange light of the nearest table-bound lantern. Seven inhaled in quiet captivation, pressing a palm fully against the door to push and latch it shut behind them.

The building’s unique ceiling still surprised him, and since their opening the night previous, it seemed to glow even brighter with decadent fervor, than it had when Syna’s fallen introduced him to it. It drew the curious stare of many a man, and offered comfort to the skittish claustrophobe.

“So this is home,” he intoned, twisting his nose queerly and wringing winter’s sting from the tips of his fingers. There was only one man in the tavern, situated in a corner to the left of the entrance, asleep in a puddle of ale—or drool, Seven could not tell. The man had trudged in on their opening day without a word; he paid for his ale, and he did not make a fuss, and not one of the three owners saw a problem with that. “Make yourself comfortable. Tea will not be long.”

Inwardly, he hoped that comfortable kept a tight wrap on his woolen jacket.

[Palla]

Palla’s bare feet padded lightly on the ground as she stuck close to Seven’s side. This indoor stuff made her nervous and uneasy, but she assumed that it would take some getting used to. She was willing to adjust. She arched her neck, craning her head to take in every aspect and detail of these peculiar surroundings. Seven’s home was an interesting one. Swallowing her insecurities the best she could manage, she asked, ”Seven, why do the two-leggeds cover their bodies?” It seemed like a silly question at first, but it was an honest question. From the time she had seen the creatures that walked upright on two legs, with their lightly haired skin, she had wondered about them. And here she was, in the presence of them, doing the one thing she always swore she would not: Wearing clothing. Strange… Someone somewhere somehow decided that certain creatures would have certain bodies, but who? How? Why? Why did these oddly-skinned two-legged beings wear clothes while four-legged, furry mammals did not? She just wanted to run wild and free without rules or regulations or standards. Who wouldn’t want to? What real, living, breathing, solid thing wouldn’t want to experience the fresh, brisk air? The sights from tree tops? The sunrise and sunset of every dawn and dusk? It seemed foolish to her. Maybe she was just simple with her wanting to eat and sleep and climb and run and play. But maybe these domesticated people were the simple ones. Who knew, but it seemed worth investigating. ”I just don’t understand, I suppose. I’ve never been able to comprehend the purpose or the use of it. Why not just leave the heavy weight of the cloth behind and run free and unhindered? Do I sound silly, Seven? I just… It’s hard for me to understand.” Again, the peachy hue crept up into her cheeks, setting a background for her orangey freckles to sit against. This random act of kindness Seven had presented to her, offering to allow her to join him for tea in his home, it was unlike anything anyone had ever done for her before. She didn’t want to take advantage of him, but she was curious and wanted to learn everything she could about the “two-leggeds” that she could from him. And what better way to learn than to ask him? Palla felt silly, but decided that she would have to be awkward at first. It would come with experience.

[Seven Xu]

It was hard to believe this freckled girl was, moments before, a chattering animal. The absurdity of it clung to the back of Seven’s mind as he stooped over the crackling hearth to retrieve a fussing kettle. The silver-haired wraith of a man they’d been greeted by had gone. He had given Palla no name to the gaunt, violet-eyed appraisal or explained a murmured exchange of words before the figure disappeared behind a creaking door with the iron scrape of a lock.

“It doesn’t sound silly at all,” Seven’s leather boots shunted across the creaking hardwood-slatted floor that had barely been cleaned at all since the formerly abandoned building was nudged back to life. Two thick clay mugs were filled with the kettle’s steaming innards, flowery and aromatic. “Call us modest, if you will, but it’s one of the many unspoken rules of society. Civilized persons—two-leggeds that live together in cities such as these—well, we wear clothing not only for warmth and protection, but because it is expected of us.” He paused, sucking in his bottom lip, “It’s just not polite to be naked.”

Palla had unwittingly forced Seven to step out of his critical mind, to pore over pages of a book written by a life so tightly wrapped up in its own propriety; he could not fathom why such a simple question was so difficult to answer. An aged chair creaked beneath his paltry influence as he slumped into it, reverting to the only defense he had against his own (rarely) compromised reasoning: obvious and flat observations. “Don’t drink that yet, you’ll burn yourself.”

[Palla]

Palla perched herself up in a chair next to Seven, crossing her legs like a child and keeping careful mind to hold the wool coat closed. She cocked her head at him as he replied, taking in his answer thoughtfully. The sharp turning of her head to look around the room again allowed locks of ginger hair to fall into her eyes. Never had she seen anything so complex. There were items she had never seen or heard of all over the place. There were foreign smells, and of all of them, she liked the smell of the tea most. She placed her nose near the rim of the mug, inhaling deeply. The heat made the skin on the tip of her pale nose flush red. With a hushed giggle, she said, ”I see... It’s just different, for me. I suppose it’s something I’ll never truly understand, but it’s okay.” Palla sniffed the tea again, waiting patiently for it to cool off. ”Do the two-leggeds like us? Kelvic, skinchangers, I mean? We aren’t exactly like you. We don’t think like you do. We don’t eat like you do. We don’t act like you do. I have seen many a traveler and heard their conversations. They talk loudly, rather than in quiet whispers or chitter chatter as my kind often do. I’ve heard their stories. They speak of strange items and faraway places, and many other things I’ve never heard of before. I just want to understand… Is that silly?” She chose her words carefully.

[Seven Xu]

Do you think the two-leggeds like us? For the flicker of a second, Seven’s heavy-lidded almond eyes flared beneath stark association and a wall that had only been broken by the likes of one human since it had long been erected.

“I’m sure there are many that like you just fine, skinchanger,” Seven remarked with a wavering smile over the steaming rim of his own ceramic mug. He exhaled, sending a waft of white-hot vapour into the calm air. “But we must accept that things that are different are not always what people want to see.” As empathy waned, Palla had already lumped the albino back into an unforgiving sea of two-leggeds; the term was broad enough that he had no grounds to take offense. He fixed himself on those doe’s eyes. “I may walk on two legs, but I am as guilty of being as queer in the eyes of humans as you are.”

Tile clouds rolled in above their heads, cloaking the moon and stars and starving a head of eerie white from its silver halo. Above the roof in the keening wind, the true sky over the City of Illusions had done the same. “There is nothing wrong with wanting to understand. I want to understand, too.” Seven wheezed a lengthy snort, “Some things are not meant to be understood. Some things are only meant to be accepted, or forgotten.”

[Palla]

Palla watched Seven carefully, her eyes scanning his face for signs of emotion. Humanoid faces were hard to read. She was used to titter-tattering and whistling her feelings and thoughts to other animals. She felt overwhelmed conversing in this skin. Did her expressions look stupid? Did the expressions mismatch her feelings? With a sigh she smiled at him. ”I like you, Seven. I like talking to you. I’ve never spoken with another two-legged this extensively before. Silly… We haven’t even been talking that long!” An airy giggle escaped her. It was true though – she was enjoying talking with him. He spoke to her seemingly as his equal, and not like she was something lesser. He was kind and hospitable – something she hadn’t experienced with the two-leggeds before. After pausing a moment, she said, ”I think you’re right. Nothing is exactly meant to be understood. But I do think that with the right, hm, motivation, anything can be sought out. I’m not very smart, and there is a lot I don’t understand. But I suppose I’m curious and willing to seek things out… Anything that is beyond my grasp is just maybe for someone else’s understanding, and not my own. It’s subjective, I think is what I’m trying to say.” She sipped her tea, licking the moist residue from her upper lip, and added, ”I think.”

[Seven Xu]

Seven’s eyes shone as the fire-haired girl blathered on, wrapped up in a heavy shift of black wool that was like to keep her warm just as well as any coat of fur could offer. When a pause turned into what he thought may have been the end of her rant, he took a ponderous sip of his tea. “Don’t call yourself stupid; you’re ignorant, you lack knowledge, is all. We’re all ignorant.” He laughed through his nose, “You’re better-spoken than plenty of the ruffians that frequent this place, and they’ve … graced … society with their presences for most of their squalor-ridden lives.”

The simpering halfblood relinquished his vice-grip hold on his mug and leaned forward on his elbows. The table beneath his paltry weight creaked in its age, and a set of uneven wooden legs thumped unceremoniously against the floor. “I’m surprised, actually. I mean, you’re as socially stunted as a stray cat, and here you are, with all the grace of a lady.”

He released the table, letting it stumble back and settle on legs warped by time and, no doubt, ale and water. “I like you too,” admittedly, it seemed early for him to declare such a thing—she was practically a stranger. It felt odd in the pit of his gut. Seven let his forearms slide from the tabletop to his lap, and he groped at his knees. “Are you still hungry? Do you need … anything?”

Maybe it wasn’t Palla who was the most socially stunted thing in the room.

[Palla]

Palla twittered, something akin to the sounds she had made while up in the tree. A smile lit up her face as she sniffed at him. She liked Seven. He was honest and sincere, and she could smell it in every word that parted his teeth. To anyone else, perhaps being called ignorant would offend them, but Palla knew it was the truth. She knew nothing about many things, and was not afraid to admit to being ignorant, or worse even. I like you too, Seven’s words rang out in her mind. She locked her knees, but she wasn’t sure why. Did her mind deceive her? Was he treating her directly as an equal? Just almost moments ago she had been outside the city of Alvadas, wandering about, munching on bird eggs, contemplating entering the city. She was afraid – dead afraid – of the two-leggeds. Had she really been fortunate enough to waltz right into the city and land herself a friendship with a sincere two-legged? He was so… nice. That was the only way she knew to put it to herself. I like you too. It stuck out in her mind, beckoning dissection. She wanted to break him down and figure out what exactly made him say it back. What made him so hospitable? All her life she had been led to believe that the two-leggeds looked down on her kind. Clever as they were in their own individual ways, they were seen by many as unintelligible. What made Seven different? Or had it all been a ploy? Was every two-legged this kind? A pull in her chest made her lean forward and sniff at him. It was almost a subconscious reaction, one that she caught and ceased. That’s right, they were in a public place, now. She would have to watch how she acted. Normally she wouldn’t have cared, but it was important to her not to disgrace Seven in any way. Wait, why? What was this nonsense she kept thinking? She was her own person. She was wild, and free, and alive. What did some stranger mean to her, besides a random conversation? A lot, actually, it seemed. At this point, she felt herself swell with pride. If she could sit here and have a legitimate conversation with a two-legged stranger, any Kelvic could! She was far from bright or ambitious, but she felt like Seven was bringing those traits out in her. Whatever he could do, she could learn with his help. It seemed plausible now. Carefully lifting the mug to her lips, she lapped at the liquid inside as she would water from a creek. She swished the warm fluid around in her mouth, pausing and thinking. How long had she been quiet? How many moments had passed? Was he watching her? She cast her dark rusty brown eyes upwards at his crimson ones. Never had she seen anyone with eyes colored so vibrant before. It was strange, and yet different, unique. She liked it. As he wrenched his knees, he asked if she was hungry or needed anything, to which she shook her head. A small bird that morning, grasses and berries throughout the day, and that evening two eggs and an apple. She was full, to say the least, and comfortable. His asking brought a warm feeling in up through her toes though, causing her to curl them delightedly. What was this strange behavior overcoming her? It was then that she noticed she was sitting on the very edge of her chair, watching him intently. Quickly, she turned her focus back to her mug to lap at it again, and finished off the tea. ”You taught me tea today. I’m learning.” Palla smiled at Seven, giddy with excitement. Whatever sensation was overcoming her, it was growing with every passing moment. But most importantly, she liked the way it was making her feel. She wondered how much longer Seven would allow her to stick around, and hoped that he wouldn’t leave her anytime soon. Though she was advancing in her comfort zone, she wasn’t entirely ready to traverse the city alone, unattended. Not yet, anyway. It still seemed like a foreign idea, one she wasn’t quite prepared for. Perhaps she could hold his attention long enough to decipher her strange, newly-forming connection to him, at least.

[Seven Xu]

“I taught you tea,” he admitted, letting his mug settle on the tabletop between them. For what little it’s worth, he thought to say; the resolve never came. Staring past doe-brown eyes and a hopeful smile, Seven turned his attentions towards a dingy window on the far wall that overlooked the inky darkness of a street starved of lamplight. “What else would you learn?”

Nothing interesting offered itself to the dun window frame.

The question’s ambiguity sat in the stale air for a beat, before Seven gathered himself and turned back to the rodent-turned-girl. “What else can you learn?” A fond smile blossomed from what most would call a condescending remark. “Letters; do you know letters? Numbers? Hah—you didn’t even know tea, my apologies, I assume a lot.”

A white finger pressed against the gnarled tabletop. “If you can find this place again, I will teach you more.” Victor had been the only real cohort he had for a long time; Laszlo was warming up to him, but still, he would catch the man’s gaunt stare from time to time and the weary stories it told. Mistrust and trepidation were hard things to wash from one’s eyes. She held neither; she was too simple. So who was this skinchanger, this Palla, who so easily shattered his long-established contentment? Why was she so significant?

She was a challenge.

Seven grinned. “If you want to live among the two-leggeds—be a part of society—I can help you.”