Try Arder [O]

Zeiya was quietly strolling along the sidewalks minding her own business. The city was lively just as expected to be, every now and then someone would be in a rush and shove Zeiya. Her response was always just a huff, she knew people had places to be; that was her issue though. She had nowhere to be- for the person who carries the Flame of Bakara you'd think she'd be on an endless journey of troubles. 

However, that wasn't the case it often got really quiet in her life and it became a nonstop blank phase. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, how do people keep up such a social life, surely they try though, yes? Zeiya hadn't tried to surround herself with friends since she was a kid living in the Bakara Kingdom- since Fue... her beloved feline friend. Fue had been brutally slaughtered in front of her a few years back as a sort of lesson. Sadly, the people who killed Fue were just strung along their houses of the village as an "example."

Zeiya shook her head before she could let her thoughts develop into actual physical actions, every time she thinks of that scene- of Fue... she gets this blood thirst. Smelling the food nearby she nodded her head- that was the perfect thing to get her mind off of everything! She ordered a milkshake with some fries from a food cart. Waiting for her food she noticed an alley-way that cut right through to the book store she was trying to get to. 

Taking a detour once she got her food the woman began her journey down the path. Noticing the people in front of her eyeing down someone standing on the side of the alley.

"Hn?" Zeiya's curiosity began to kick in.

As she slowly walked by, she heard them grumble something at her- it sounded like she was complaining about having no food.

"Ah...-" Zeiya sighed, this was out of her character completely, she handed her the fries. "Here- I can... tell you need these more." 

She already had a few out of the box of fries, which were a good size box you could get full off of them- unless you had the stomach of a wild beast.

Long time since she'd last been in Yorkshun City... Seeing all those glorious high rise buildings, everything a person could ever want all in a single metropolis... Truly one had so much to do in this city, even people who'd been born and lived here all their lives could still find something to do. Totally different from Paradise Beach, for all it's size it just couldn't compare. Still, such lovely, scorching summer days presented a perfect excuse for a girl like Melanie to show off in hotpants and a halter top, though black might not have been the best idea.

Oh, if only she had a beach around... That might very well be Yorkshun's only shortcoming.

Even though Paradise Beach was so far north, almost all the way to the equator, the sheer amount of people in this city no doubt contributed to this incredible heat, turning the subway tunnels into a baking oven... So much she'd pick walking around any day of the week, even under this sun. Eyeing a donut shop made her stomach growl, so she naturally took a detour to grab a bunch of them... But Donuts don't count as a proper lunch, so she put them on standby, simply holding that bag in hand as she looked for a restaurant, any restaurant that would stimulate her appetite. All while getting shoved every two hundred steps as a natural result of walking among so many people. A new reality check, a reminder of Yorkshun's second shortcoming. Well, at least she could look on and admire the more beautiful people in between avoiding collisions and protecting her dessert.

Eventually, she started moving towards the side of the buildings and alleys, where people clustered less and it got easier to walk... And that's where she was when a grumbling woman passed by her, only to be randomly offered fries by another woman. Of course, things changed the moment Melanie got a careful look a both of them, her brow raising and jaw dropping ever so slightly... Just... Wow...

Good thing she had a pretty... Fulfilling night yesterday. Made it easier not to stare so hard when both beauties were close enough to notice: She couldn't help freezing in her place and drawing her admiring gaze head to toe on both of them, then back up to their eyes... Before finally doing something very unusual for a Yorkshun citizen. Actually paying attention and talking to random people:

"You know, you can probably find a better lunch than just that... Unless you really like McDolan's.", suggested Melanie with a playful faint smile and a hint of irony, nodding towards a Pizza place down the street. It was only scarcely visible from here, when the crowd made enough space. All in all she had a rather friendly and approachable look in her eyes - actually trying to hold back on lustful gazes for now - resting one hand on her hip, "I've eaten there once, Pizza's pretty good. I can't recommend it vehemently enough~", she added with a chuckle

There were also the donuts in her hand, but she wouldn't part with those so quickly... Maybe for dessert.

Outfit

Of course, the food went under-appreciated. That was a huge strike to her pride, she already had a hard time talking to strangers and even wanting to help people. She wasn't a child, so she had no sympathy for her and this lady would have to earn it!

Another girl had approached almost exactly as Zeiya had, only she was carrying donuts. She had pointed out that the three of them could go eat down at some pizza joint, damn- that was away from the Bookstore. Maybe she could visit the bookstore later? Surely, they'd be open later, hopefully. - Hopefully, they had the book she was interested in reading, it contained some valuable information. If they didn't then she'd have to resort to using her license to get the book then.

The redheaded lady who was absolutely stunning had suggested that the fries needed some spice. Perhaps she was right, but she could've at least tried to hide her disgust a little more. When they brought up McDolan's food, she completely zoned out thinking back to a recent incident, that she was still hung up on. Before her thoughts could go into any detail she asked for their names.


"Oh huh...? I'm Zeiya Xei of B-" Zeiya paused, maybe she shouldn't tell them where she hailed from. "Zeiya Xei..."

Her voice trailed off, looking at the other two for their answers.

Truly, concentrating was hard. Plenty of times did she have to choose between one new acquaintance to flirt with, now here she was, struggling on picking one. Both of them had similar height, build, and age. Either of them had bigger bust than her, though Mel was taller, even if the difference wasn't that great in both fields. And more importantly, both had a deep shade of red hair with no odd colored roots, almost guaranteeing at least one of them had to be natural, if not both. If she'd have to pick based on appearances alone, one had those stunning green eyes, shimmering like jewels, naturally drawing her attention far more easily. But it was close, too close to call. The hungry girl earned a giggle at her comparison; after all Mel had tried enough narcotics to know just how true that was:

"At least you know what you're getting once you walk in, that's more than you can say for some restaurants...", she'd add, rubbing behind her neck with an uneasy smile, then finally mumble to herself, "Or drugs..."

Everybody had such bad experiences, they'd probably relate to each easily enough. But Melanie knew better than flaunting her libertine lifestyle around people she'd never met, especially stunning strangers. They'd hear all about eventually if they asked, it's not like she was ashamed. For now, it appeared the hungry redhead had a better idea. Finally, she'd get names. Truly, 'Hungry Redhead' and 'Redhead with fries' might make this insanely confusing, and not really fitting the kind of girls she was talking to:

"Depends on for whom it is~", she'd answer the rethorical question with a teasing smirk, letting her salacious quip sink in before chuckling and giving her name, "Melanie Hartigan, though I'll answer to Mel. Whichever strikes your fancy.", and with this she'd shrug and tie her long raven hair into a ponytail, and glance around at the high rise building "Just tourism... It's been a long time since I last visited."

Not 'just' tourism, but she could hardly tell two strangers how she was on a journey to figure out what the hell was wrong with her... Most likely someone would answer 'seek help for sex addiction', after which Mel would flip her hair, answer something sassy such as 'my place or yours?' and that would be it. The real problem was indeed her body, but not her sexuality... Since a few days ago, she found her wounds mysteriously healing right after she recieved them. She'd get tired afterwards if the wounds were big, but that's it. Her master eventually told her if she travelled, she might find someone who could give her the answers she thought...

She'd keep that cool, confident expression the whole way even as she though back to what drove her onto this journey, hearing the green eyed girl introduce herself as "Zeiya...", she'd repeat the name out loud, memorizing how it rolled off her tongue... It was a rather beautiful name, and a language she'd never heard before. She couldn't compliment one without possibly hurting the other's feelings, nor could she compliment them both without sounding corny, though her tone betrayed her admiration. She soon turned her gaze to the other girl, "...and...?", tilting her head, just waiting for her to give her name as well.

Zeiya had learned that the black-head beauty's name was Melanie Hartigan, what a beautiful name, it sounded like it would roll off her tongue easily. She continued to tell them what they could call her, Zeiya smirked.


"Melanie Hartigan..." She pondered. "Pretty." She began to gaze her eyes locked towards the restaurant. "I think I'll call you Hart..."

Zeiya had realized she never answered the other girl's question, she must've got lost in her thoughts. It seemed Melanie was here for tourism, that's usually the reason why this city stays booming. For some reason, not any reason apparent to Zei, people seemed to like this greasy city. As to be expected you have your dirt and grime with a city because how much it's booming with activity. Most of it from people leaving trash laying around, sure they had people who picked it up to be kind, or it was their job but they couldn't maintain a clean image everywhere, just on her way over to where she is now, she saw three fat rats. 

"Oh, I'm here for personal reasons, ... not much else." Zeiya looked back towards the bookstore but quickly looked back in time to see the trash burning.

The other red head burnt the trash into ashes, her flames looked so beautiful to her, crisp and warm. Maybe it was just her nen making her feel so attracted to the fire and the falling ashes of the garbage, she felt at peace. She learned that her name was Sariel though, she was just as stunning at Melanie. Sariel ended up telling her and Melanie the plan for the day, of course, it was in the form of a question, but did they really have a choice?

"I-I'd love to." Zeiya smiled, she was a little red, surprised that she was being offered to have her meal paid for. "That'd be appreciated."

Sariel decided they'd be treating themselves to a load of pastries. Luckily, Zei had a sweet tooth.

"Sounds great!" Zeiya had a faint but apparent smile. 

This felt like it was going to be an interesting day for sure, hopefully, by the end of this, she could learn something out of it all.

The other girl was called Sariel, also a rather pretty name Mel had never heard before, but where the other girl's sounded eastern, hers sounded almost angelic in a way. But for all her pondering on names and their meaning, she rather liked it when pretty people praised and nicknamed her - her lovers even more so - enough for her lips to widen into a playful smirk:

"New nickname for me already? Very bold~", she'd tease, not forgetting to throw Zeiya an appreciating wink. Of course, Mel herself had done much bolder back home, though she wouldn't be showing that so quickly, and mostly content to enjoy their company. And flirt a little of course, "Pleasure meeting you, Sariel, Zeiya."

But then, something else about one of the girls caught her attention: Sariel's aura. It flared out for a brief moment and in a flash, what remained of that bag of fries burned up into a pile of ash. Yet for someone who didn't really know about nen, her surprise quickly faded into interest:

"Wow, that's... Petty hot. That was your Ki wasn't it?", she rubbed her cheek, looking at the girl with brimming curiosity, "Still, what a surprise... I'd never seen anybody making flames with it."

She had come to Yorknew to find answers, and out of nowhere a rather ravishing redhead pulled out a power that looked completely different from hers, yet somehow felt similar. But as a martial artist, she still imagined Ki as something one could use to strengthen the body, like she used.
That said, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the the fire girl's words, she defenitely sounded like a natural. In her mind, Yorkshun was a popular tourist destination, at least for most folks in Paradise Beach. Granted, the reverse was also true as her hometown was filled with tourists all year round, especially in the Summer. Of course, such a comment from such a beautiful girl wouldn't go without a flirtatious answer:

"Oh, there's plenty of beauty to be seen here alright~", in that brief moment, she'd look into the redhead's eyes with that soft, seductress' smile, just waiting for a reaction before raising counting with her fingers one by one and answering the question in earnest, "...I went to the monuments, the museums... Oh, and saw a really good jazz concert last night!"

They'd have plenty of time to talk about it however, as Sariel was predictably still hungry and promptly offered to return the favor with sweets. Indeed Mel might have preferred an actual meal... But she took actual company over actual lunch any day of the week:

"Good idea.", Mel praised, casually touching Zeiya's arm in a quest for exposed skin as she nodded towards the nearest pâtisserie, "...Shall we go then?", though saying this out loud reminded her she still had a meal on her other hand, and with it she opened her 'Dabbin' Donuts™' bag and offered it to the girls with a smile, "Though If we'll be eating sweets anyway, you might as well help yourselves to these."

Good thing she bought four donuts! But since Sariel had the idea, Mel would leave it to her to pick the place unless she seemed to be struggling with the decision. Honestly, she could eat wherever, and it sounded like she was a Yorkshun native anyway.