Celia inwardly smiles. Yay! She’s got a new person to leech off of until something happens.
Upon hearing his request, she lets go, but can’t quite shake his scent from her nose. That, or it’s the meat that he’s yet to eat. Prancing up next him, practically like an excited puppy, she stares up at him.
“So, are we going ‘home?’”
He avoids eye contact with her. “Yes. Just, follow me.” He moves on without waiting for confirmation.
He lives in what seems to be an apartment, but it’s actually just one house. Built closely with other houses. Radi would’ve gotten out his keys if it weren’t for the fact that his arms were full. He ponders on what to do.
Celia trails after him, a bounce in her step. For all anyone knows though, that could just be another once of her shrouds.
She looks to him again once they started getting closer, though doesn’t say anything.
Radi grows more and more wary at the second. No. He shouldn’t be getting this worked up about how he’s gonna open the door. He can just set something..
His boots hit a puddle. Not a deep one, but enough for him to snap back to reality. It had rained recently. The ground was wet.
Radi didn’t want to set his stuff down on wet ground.
Glancing to 450, he questions her, at first coming out quiet but correcting himself quickly. “can you..” .. “Can you hold this?” He holds out the bag of cooked meat that’d he’d purchased earlier.
Celia looks to him. “Sure,” she responds, taking it from him. She looks to the door, coming to a stop.
Radi watches her take it, making sure that she’s holding it firmly before letting go. He fumbles around in his pocket for a second or two.
Come on, don’t make this any longer than it needs to be.
Finally, he takes out his key and unlocks the door.
The inside of the apartment could be described as dark. Metallic decorations, wooden floor. Older building obviously. He flicks on the light upon entering.
Celia follows him in. “Wow,” she clicks her tongue. “Nice place.” It was a genuine statement, too. Rare for Celia. This place was pretty quality from what she’d seen.
She sets the bag onto the kitchen table and looks around, all over the place. Rain begins to start up again, dropping against the window.
Radi hadn’t even noticed her walk by, which is why he seemed to jump briefly at her voice. He doesn’t respond. At least, not to the compliment. He shuts the door, putting the keys in a tin on the counter.
He turns, then stiffens. It had been dark enough outside he’d not noticed it before, but..her eyes..
Beautiful.
He stared on before snapping out of it. They were just modified, artificial, whatever. Not real. No one had that sort of natural feature in their face. Turning around, Radi wipes the sweat from his forehead he didn’t know he had. He’d ought to take a shower. But first, eat.
He walks towards the bag, taking out his purchase, then walks off and turns around.
Celia studies his expression. She’s unable to catch much of it, but the moment he stares at her for a second too long she realizes quite quickly what he’s doing.
If I were a human, this would be pretty awkward..
Well, it still is. Maybe it’s less awkward because of her history. She’s not uncomfortable by any means - it takes a lot for her to become that way, but any creature out there would probably get unnerved by eyes on them. And Celia wasn’t even able to decipher their meaning. Eyes - stares had a meaning, a purpose behind them…
“Sooo,” she drawls, looking around the place. “What’s your favourite food?”
“Mochi.” Came his short answer. He spoke without thinking, not wondering too much on the sudden question. He was just about ready to head to the shower.
“Ah.” She looked at the ceiling. “Mine’s meat.”
Any form, any flavour of it too. Indeed, meat was the primary thing Celia used to make sure her body was in tip top shape. She’d eat it raw, with or without seasoning, cooked, or extremely fresh, off the bone, on the bone, etc. Any species, even human. Of course she wasn’t going to tell that to him, but the thought wandered across her mind more than once before coming here and now.
“Where will I be sleeping?”
Radi gazed back towards her. Of course. She was going to be here for a bit. Not a fan of sharing his bed, he guided her to the futon in the living room.
“This’ll be where you’ll stay.”
And given he’d finished his meal, now was the time for a shower.
It would do. She’d stayed in a variety of places, and Celia was pretty adaptable. “If you don’t mind, I’m probably going to go lights out for the night. I’ve not slept a full sleep in a while.” Celia stated, already moving for the couch.
“Don’t mind.” He shook his head, turning away. “But if you don’t mind,” he gestured with his hand, “do you have an..alternate name? Something a bit more normal sounding?” He’d rather not have to repeat a bunch of numbers every time he spoke to her.
Ah. She’d stopped in her feet, thinking. A memory, faint and in pieces appeared within mind.
Should you ever go out ‘there’, you are named Celia Sawyer. Do not refer to yourself by your code. That shall only earn you odd stares and whispers from the majority population.
Of course Celia had already broken that rule, but it was worth remembering. Without spinning around she responded, continuing her trot to the couch shortly after. “Celia Sawyer. Just call me by Celia, though. Nothing formal.” She’d just about flopped onto the couch, pretty much hitting the snooze button.
Though he wasn’t able to confirm if she’d heard him or not, he called out, “Mine is Radi.” He did not reveal a last name just yet, though. For now, he’d have his shower. Which he did go and do. It was nice.
Afterwards, he flicked off most of the lights in the house and went and laid in bed for about ten minutes, finally shutting his eyes and falling into the depths of sleep.
He wouldn’t wake up until morning.
((Changed title just in case))
Morning did not come for Celia. Celia came for the morning, awakening from a cryptic dream. Or nightmare. Celia couldn’t understand the difference between the two in her case. Sometimes they started out okay. Then became something horrible. Vice versa.
But always, they were impossible to understand.
Celia sat up, back pressing against the couch. She’d slept alright yes, it was just..weird. To wake up in a home not yours, and yet you had permission to be here. Giving her knuckles a crack, Celia stretched.
(Don’t blame you either given the nature of these two characters n their dynamic)
He’d probably woken up ten minutes after Celia. Like any other human, he was hesitant to get up, despite not having work today. And then he remembered her.
She had stayed in his home for the night. And she was still here, right?
Getting changed, Radi exited his room into the living room where he saw her right away. So she had stayed. Why did he believe she would be gone? Did he think she was a dream? A figment of mind?
Celia looked back, picking up on his footsteps. “Ah. Up early?” The sun hadn’t even risen.
Radi shook himself out of the trance he’d had no idea he was just in. Still tired as he had just woken up, he nodded. “Yeah. And you’re still here.” He didn’t mean it as an offending remark. Just a causal observation as he walked through the open room into the kitchen. He set his hands onto the counter and looked outside.
“Ooh,” she leaned into the back of the couch. “Thought I’d leave you in the night or something? I’m here to stay. For now at least.” She gives a brief, second long chuckle.
Radi didn’t respond. He knew next to nothing of this woman. The fact he couldn’t really get past was that she first introduced herself as 450, then as Celia. Her words were do strange, her tone..
“Where did you come from, exactly?”
Celia closed her eyes. “All over. I’m somewhat of a traveller. Though if you’re curious about my origin..” Opening one eye, she looked to the kitchen. “..Far from here, that’s it.” Her tone became more neutral.
Radi glanced over. That was vague. Not the answer he was looking forwards to. At least he had a name…if it were even real in the first place. Radi stands up and sighs.
Celia sits up straight again. "Something bothering you?" She asks. "What do you usually do in the mornings?"