Do you have an appointment? (open)

“Hmmm..” A black claw twirled black feathered strands of hair to curve boredom whilst sorting through her father’s appointments for the day. “Actually, you don’t have an appointment today with Mr. Grudge,” Zinc concluded as she finished looking and turned to rest her gaze on the women in front of her. Normal people would just shrug and back off, requesting to make a date with her father for another time, yet this woman was becoming increasingly irritating.

“That can’t be possible. You see, I am..”

About to rip out your vocal cords… Her voice hissed venomously in her head as her face remained expressionless. The female began to prattle about how important meeting with Zinc’s father was important to the business she was working for and that she was some well known piece of yammering trash..

“I must speak with him.”

“Well.. Uh, you can’t.” The 19 year old stayed seated. Might as well treat her as nothing but a fresh born kid. What part of ‘you don’t have an appointment’ does this dense woman not understand? Continuing to cut off the woman opened her red lipsticked lips, “Make an appointment. Sorry.” She snapped as her claws then rested on the marble stone, clicking against it forebodingly just as her eyes went to the clock. “Oh, looks like my shift it over, buhbye..” And the young adult got up from behind the desk in the lobby, grabbed her belongings and relishing the anger dripping from the woman, walked out the front doors to the street.

She breathed in deeply before a wry grin split her face in two as she walked casually to grab a bite to eat at the closest fast food joint. No one was pestering her to speak to her father and it was good. time for a little bit of coffee and no one talking to her about anything.

*Karim Needed someplace out of the way after his last few encounters. At least someplace where people didn't feel incline to try to kill him publicly. The smell of food was in the air but not familiar to him. He wasn't really paying attention to where he was going when he was breathing in the scent of the wind. He nearly ran into something tall and black. He put his hands up to brace of r an impact that never came since he stopped himself in time. He had one of theose suprised looks on his face when he looked up to see what exactly he almost railed his face into.

It was a woman... he thought. She was taller then he was but probablly only because she was standing on her toes...toes or claws? His eyes snapped up to her to see if she was looking for him or if it was just a chance of luck that they met on the sidewalk. The last thing he needed was another attempt on his life.*

"Uuuuh. sorry, i didn't see you... somehow."

Her brown eyes blinked slowly and she cocked her head to the side. This man must be surprised because of her height, and she half expected him to look down at her feet, which he did, and she stepped back to put some distance between the to of them. Her hands shifted to interlace her clawed fingers behind her since most people found them a bit scary to look at, even if they were resting placidly by her sides. This made her stand up a little straighter, increasing her height by an inch.

“It’s alright. I was not focused on the present as well either.” Calm as always when interacting with people, be it good or bad. Zinc shifted from foot to foot to get more comfortable for a moment, the tough skin on her feet scratched like sandpaper on the concrete. It was a good thing she spotted him at the last second and stopped her advancement to avoid colliding into him. Her right hand slipped from behind her and moved to shoulder level in a neutral wave in an effort to calm the man who seemed worried to have nearly crashed into her.

*Karim wondered 'What was with the people in this country? three out of four ^empowered^ people he meet so far didn't look like regular humans.' He shook his head to snap himself out of his stare. He stepped to the side and opened the door. to the burger place. Well at least she wasn't immediatly trying to kill him, even if she was going to later.

"I apologize i didn't mean to stare. you just cauhgt me off guard is all. Were you going in?"

Zinc gave him a cut nod of acknowledgement as he opened the door to the fast food joint she was going to grab a bite to eat at. The nod was a form of thanks and it was non-verbal. Seeing that she never really enjoyed to prattle on about useless information and the fact that she just simply didn’t like to talk at all was a small put off towards some.

“Yes.” A short and simple answer. The red tips of her feathered hair seemed to light on fire briefly as the light glanced off it. Her eyes seized up the man while her head had turned to face him fully. Silently, her hand grasped the edge of the door and forced it open a little wider. That may have come off a little hostile, seeing that she wasn’t smiling at all, just staring at him. Finally, “Are you going to be grabbing a bite as well?”

*Karim couldn't help but continue staring. He wasn't sure if she was showing off her powers or if her body were permanently fixed like that. He kept looking over her like a puzzle rather then a human.*

"I wasn't planning on it, but i could use something to eat... Again i apologize for staring but may i ask you something about your... appearance."

A chuckle escaped her. “I don’t bite. Not from here, it’s too far. And it isn’t worth the trouble.” Her tone held amusement, yet her eyes were hard with seriousness. Zinc wasn’t liking being stared at the way he was staring at her, it made her feel like a freak. It made her slightly touchy and she resisted the urge to tap her fingers against the door out of impatience. Was the concept of being a mutant too hard to grasp or something? At least he wasn’t yammering away like a confused idiot.

He apologized which made a little bit of tension ease out of her systems until he seemed to become a little hesitant about her looks. She inhaled deeply, her shoulders rising the minutest bit as the feathers on her arms flared out of annoyance. “Is being a mutant too hard for you to grasp?” It wasn’t a friendly question, but neither was it bitter towards him. Not hearing a question come from him, “Well? Spit it out.”

"Well if you do not wish to discuss it then we can cease the subject right now. It's just... i met a Wolf girl and she seemed...more... natural looking... that didn't sound right... uuh... more human."

His english was stammering again as he became more blunt then he meant to be. He wasn't trying to insult her but there weren't that many words he knew for the situation. He shook his head at his own sentence realizing how unintellegent it sounded.

"I'm sorry, we just met and it really is none of my business. Please if your going in, enter. I belive it is custumary in this country to have the female enter before the male yes?"

“Natural looking…?” Zinc had to stop and think, tapping her fingers against the door. Her claws ticked pleasantly against the material of the door. Once again she stared at the man for a few long seconds at his comment about looking more human. “More human? Wolf girl?” Looking off to the side, she tried to remember what a ‘wolf girl’ would look like and the image of something of a human with ears and a tail popped into her head. Oh. So that’s what he meant by more human?..

Unconsciously, her eyes glanced down to her four toed feet, then to her hands. She still looked very much human, maybe it was because of the unusual appearance it what surprised him. Crow like arms with feathers and talons… Yes, that must be it.

Her head titled to the side in response to his politeness. A faint smirk tugged at the corner of her lips but disappeared as quickly as it came as she slipped past the open door, stepped to the side and turned to hold out her hand to shake. “My name is Zinc. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

*Well that was unexpectedly pleasant. Karim was totally expecting another fight with a completly random person despite his intentions. He stopped the door with his foot and eyed her hand as if expecting some kind of trap or maybe just pull her hand away just before he grabbed it. He hesitently extended his hand to shake her's*

"Karim. Karim Na'ali"

Seeing his hesitation, she wondered if he had bad experiences meeting people but shook those thoughts away as she grasped his hand firmly and shook it. Her father always said you could tell a lot about a person depending on their handshake, so she made it a habit to have nice, firm shake as a simple greeting.

Zinc was careful to not catch her talons on his skin as her hand closed on his. Her eyes glanced down to notice that her large fingers dwarfed his, making her smile in amusement. His hand felt a little warm and smooth. The underside of her hands were like rough leather, the equivalent of sandpaper, and smooth scaly on top. Cold, grey leather. She thought absently to herself.

After he introduced himself, she repeated his name. “Karim. Rolls off the tongue great.”

*Her hand felt so bizare to him. nothing like skin at all, more like snake skin or iguana skin. When she squeezed his hand he had to squeeze back to keep from looking weak. When he released the hand shaked he realised something a bit more about her. She was telling the truth and she was not there to kill him. He relaxed a bit more and smiled a bit.*

"I belive we are here for food yes? Then let us go inside before we block the entrance way."

Zinc smirked as she felt him tighten his grip. Good. He isn’t a total weakling. Nice strong hands. And build. Wonder if he’ll be any good hunting. Absent thoughts that began to rail away in her mind began to distract her from the now and shook her head, ruffling her feathered hair slightly. She wasn’t going to hunt him yet; she didn’t even know if he was a fighter or not and a simple handshake told her he was a tough and confident person, but, not a fighter.

Karim received a nod from her and her back turned towards him as she padded over to the counter and ordered a small meal to fill her up and keep her full until dinner. Needless to say, she wasn’t at all really interested if Karim was going to order anything or not. She was hungry, and she tended to sometimes get cranky when she hasn’t eaten.

*Even though Karim could speak the language, reading it was another thing. He was partly thankful for the large pictures but still had no idea what he was looking at. He let people go ahead of him to give himself time to listen to what eactly was on the menu. One thing he heard he recognized and decided he wanted that. He ordered a Chicken Sandwich combo, but gave it a disappointed look when it came. He found a seat and looked over his meal with a bit of confusion.*

"This looks and smells nothing like chicken... why call it chicken if it is not?..."

*He shook his head but took a bite of the sandwich. He chewed and swallowed but was unhappy with the taste. It did not have the Wild taste to it like the Chickens back home. These tasted somewhat... Fake. Like it wasn't really chicken but something that tasted like it. But food was food and he needed fod if he was going to keep up with the people of this country. It seemed everywhere he looked there were more "empowered" people. Back home it was only himself and the Shaman, and even then Karim didn't think himself empowered. Ever since his meeting with the suited Devil man he had been weary of these people. But a constant guard causes paranoia and insanity. It was good to let his guard down a bit, even for just a while.*

Zinc had nearly finished eating all of her food. Nothing big, just a cheeseburger, and a shake. Feeling like she could amuse herself, she had sat a little ways from Karim. He was an interesting guy. She was viewing him as a kitten who looks at a big ball of colorful yarn, and she was wondering how she could get him to fight to see how tough he was. He could make a good trophy…

Her chair scrapped on the floor as she got up, pushing the chair back. Gathering up what was left of her food, she was going to eat it all and not be wasteful mind you, and marched over to where he was seated at and plopped down across from him.

“Yo!” She said cheerfully and giving him a quick wave as a friend. Her pupils narrowed as they rested on the expression on his face. “You don’t like it?” Her tone held a light chuckle as she gently poked what was left of her burger. “They say it’s chicken, huh? If it’s chicken, it’s supposed to taste like the chicken?” It was more a question than a statement to see if she got what was bugging him right. “Meh. I like those sandwiches though. Juicy. But maybe you should have told them you don’t want any of the goop they drench it in.” By ‘goop,’ she meant the ketchup and the mayonnaise and god knows what else. Whenever she ordered that, she always told them to “hold the goop.” Otherwise, she was a very cranky and very displeased customer.

"It is not the goop i dislike, it is the meat. It does not taste like a real chicken. And these fries... What kind of food are these exactly? They taste like some kind of vegetable over cooked in a stew with too much salt added. I mean it's food and it is tolerable to eat but i would feel better if i knew what exactly it was that i was eating."

*Karim crumpled the wrapper for his sandwich and began eating his fries by the threes. He figured that the woman could probably tell fairly quickly he wasn't from this country, despite his near perfect english. It was the easiest to tell by a person's reaction to food. He looked up to see what her opinion was.*

"Do all the people in this country eat this on a regular basis?"

She was grinning. As it widened, she leaned back, popping the lid off her shake and snagging a few of her fries. “Well, I like eating this kind of food. You should hear about the people over the news. Some have went down into cannibalism or eat their meat raw since their genetic makeup has changed their bodies.” Zinc then plunged her captive fries into her shake and mixed it with them as she continued, “My tastes would be fairly different than yours, seeing that I’m used to eat this and you’re not. You must be one of those organic lovers. Grow it yourself and eat it; no pesticides or anything; All natural.” She ended as she lifted the semi coated shake fries from her drink and ate them.

“I still say that this food tastes great. But you should have told them to leave the goop. It tastes better. As for the fries… They’re always super salty. Sometime you got to tell them ‘No salt’ so they don’t put any on them. Once more, they taste better. You could always eat them with ketchup..” The rest of her burger was gone, all of it in her stomach as she smacked her lips and cleaned off her fingers careful of her claws before she resumed eating the rest of her fries as she dipped them in her milkshake. She loved fast foods, maybe not when it was swimming in grease when she got it, but it was because of that grease is what made it taste so good to her. Chicken was her favorite and she could tell the difference between the fast food restaurants by taste and sight if it was prepared differently. Normally she didn’t enjoy the taste of beef but it had cheese. And she liked cheese too.

“From your question, I’m taking that you’re not from these parts.” A chuckle escaped her. “Well, here, a lot of people eat this all the time. Especially if you don’t want to cook or have the time, it’s so much simpler to drop buy, order food and sit down to chew on it. Hmmm.. They also make good sweets.” The young woman just noticed how much she was talking, probably a good thing if he was one for long conversations or he was a good listener. Food just happened to be a topic she loved to talk about. She may be thin and tall but her appetite could be humongous.

Still eating the last of her fries, Zinc waved a few in his direction, “What did you eat back at your place?”

"We ate whatever we caught. those who did not have to worry about cathing the food were the children and Elders. In fact i think that was my favorite part about Life back in the village was being part of the hunting party. But sometime traveling merchants or caravans would find our village and barter with our Shaman for food or supplies."

*Karim could see she didn't have enough fies for her shake and pushed his toward her. He did not enjoy the taste of them anyway. It would take some time before he could build a proper liking to them.

"The women must earn their way as well. those who can not hunt or those that become pregnant must stay and find something else to do. In fact our women are much better hunters them the men i think, though you won't hear most of them admit it publicly..."

*Talking about the old ways of the village helped him re-imagine how it looked and felt to be part of a hunting party.*

"...In fact there was one woman, her name was Kita by the way, who had covered herself in mud and desgiued her self as part of a tree. A leopard looking for shade did not smell her through the mud and did not see her. It settled on a branch below her and she dropped down onto it and cut it's throat. It is rare to catch a leopard. the hide fetched many goods from a traveller. I like to think that she and i were near the same ability of hunting, but here no one cares about that. there is no need for someone with that kind of talent. without something to hunt i think my skills will begin to fade with time...."

*Karim looked back at her again and leaned forward on the table. he looked at her with a serious face. the kind of face that demanded respect and showed knowledge. The face that says "I know what you are." His eyes shifted back and forth to make sure he was out of earshot before he whispered across the table to his companion.*

"I think you know what i mean... don't you?"

Zinc rested her chin in the palm of her hand, listening carefully. He was a hunter. This made things interesting. He really would make a good trophy and great sport if what he was saying was true. But listening to him hunt made her wonder what that kind of food tasted like. Might taste better than this..

As he pushed his fries towards her, her free hand stirred her drink with the straw absently before saying ‘Thanks’ and moved to finish them off. She wasn’t one to waste food, she didn’t like to waste it. A black talon flipped a French fry over as she listened. A bit of particular information caught her interest. This Kita woman sounded fascinating. Then, Zinc started to think of the way Karim was describing her. Hooo? Does he like her? It was a curious question but her expression remained the same; passive and interested.

Her fingers slid over the table as she downed the rest of her milk shake. She was not impressed with his change of face. “Hmmm.. Yes; I suppose… I go out hunting with me dad. Not too good with a rifle but, meh. It’s kind of fun.” Her eyes flicked over to the doors, seeing the light shift as people’s shadows blocked the sun’s rays from entering. Strange, the shadows were moving around quickly. Must be her imagination.

*Karim gave her a more concentrated look for a few seconds before sitting back and relaxing his stare.*

"A rifle huh? A weak tool. I prefer knowing i have finished the job. I took you for that sort but i guess not. To truly hunt you must understand your prey. Learn how it moves and thinks. To lure some close to you you must also know when you're being hunted, and how it feels..."

*Karim suddenly got a strange feeling he was very accustomed to. like he was being watched and studied. he looked into the reflective surface of the napkin box on the table and noticed quite a bit of movement around and behind him. The next few words he spoke without moving his lips but through his teeth without making eye contact with her.*

"Speaking of which... Get up casually, we're leaving."

*Karim Picked up his tray and emptied it into the garbage can and placed it on top with a stack of trays. He held his arm out for Zinc to latch onto to make it appear like they were together hoping she would catch on to what he was doing.*

The calm expression on her face remained, and would have been a little pleasant if it weren’t for the sudden playful grin that split her face in two. “With these thick fingers,” She lifted both her hands and wiggled them, “I can’t pull the trigger well. Big hands..” Her talons reflected the artificial light that bounced off of them, giving them a smooth sheen.

“Mmm..” Zinc noticed him tense up, making her want to see what he was seeing or sensing. She didn’t like not knowing things. Knowledge was power, and Karim was assuming the leadership role because he knew something. Her eyes went to focus on her claws while playing with her hair, seeming to admire the fired red tips.

Karim spoke making her lips curve slightly in a mischievous grin. He sounded like an undercover agent; what fun! As he offered his arm, she took this as a sign as time to go as fake mates. Gathering all of her trash into a crumpled handful, it quickly found it’s way into the garbage. Undercover, eh? Her hands were cleaned off and her thumb and index finger rubbed together experimentally to make sure all the grease was gone.

“Okays! To the movies next then?” Maybe she was a bit overplaying it, but that’s what couples did when they were together, right? Zinc turned her back to the trash and clapped her hands once quickly as she stepped over to Karim to latch onto his arm like most female mates.

*Karim was thankful at least that she understood that an act had to be preformed, but if they were following him for as long as he thought they weren't gonna buy it. Why was the Devil Man after him so much? Maybe it wasn't his henchmen but more likly it was since he was the only other person he could think of that wanted him.


"Ok, if that's what you want to do. We'll go to the movies then."

*He was glad his darker skin kept people from seeing him blush so heavily. Zinc seemed all to eager to grab ahold of him. Which now that he thought about it might not be such a good thing. It may have just been his paranoia but she may also have been working for the devil man. As they headed out the door he took the opritunity to get a good look at all the faces coming in the door. Once they were out of ear shot he began asking Zinc questions.*

"Is there any reason for anyone to follow you? Or maybe a better way of saying it is. I may just be Paraniod but i think one of us is being targeted. If it is me then i will doo my best to seperate from you to keep you less involved..."

Despite her rough skin, they were as sensitive as plain human hands, maybe even more so. They were more sensitive to warmth and cold than textures. That made her a little sad but I digress.

Zinc started to hum a little bit as they exited. A low snicker was emitted from her. It was mostly out of amusement because he seemed to be worried about something and the fact that he will make a good trophy some time. With the information gleaned from merely talking to him, she gathered he was untrusting for the most part, wasn’t accustomed to the food or life here and that things out of the usual norm surprised him. She detached herself from him after a few minutes, around the time when he started to ask questions, rapid fire.

“Ehhh?” She blinked a few times. There were others that were after him? For a moment her mood darkened. No one was going to steal her trophy. Her eyes went a little cold and steely like a crow’s before they turned back to being warm, although it was a little forced. “Like, assassinated?”

The young woman suddenly shot him a glare as she lifted her hands and traced the deep wrinkles on the leathery skin with a sharp talon as his last words rang in her head. He was her trophy. Sooner or later, his skull would be mounted along with her other trophies in her home. After a few moments, her anger cooled and she looked at down at him curiously. “Why would you be targeted?”

"I don't think Killing is there intent."

*Karim had noticed she had taken a sort of liking to him but he was unsure why. It might be due to the fact he was treating her like a normal person, or it might have been that she was acting and that she was indeed the hunter. Either way he would not be able to stay with her for much longer. He would need to confirm that they weren't being followed before he questioned further. Unfortunatly to be absolutly sure they would need to wait for night fall when less people were out.
He felt her claw tracing his face, he gentaly pushed her hand down. He had to remian focused. She probably didn't want to stay out that late but Karim would need to.*

"I think it's something on the line of forced recruitment. If you have a place where you live i recommend going there now incase things get worse."

*Of course he neglected to say that he would remain nearby but she didn't need to know that yet. If they did go after her instead of him he would at least be in striking distance.*

Zinc let out a disappointed kind sigh and ran a hand down her face. “Ah, whatever. Sooo, go back home and stay out of the way, yes?” Her feathered hair seemed to bristle slightly as she ruffled the top of her head making a face. Her hand feel limply by her side as she gave him a little wave.

“Theeen… Yeah. Bye bye.” With that, she turned and walked away with a slight air of disappointment. At least he wouldn’t be killed. He’d still be alive and kicking, hopefully, if she ran into him some other time when she would be hunting for trophies. The soft pads of flesh from her palms pressed together as she raised them in front of her face and closed her eyes momentarily. Best to keep their relationship strictly to acquaintance. He was already too suspicious of others. And a goody two shoes. If he found out what her strange hobby was, he’d just might report her, and that’d be bad public rep for her big time parents.