Mango? More like mangoNO

A private roleplay for Toadfoal and I.
Gwyn gets caught doing SHENANIGANS.

Setting: Teito, end of fall, beginning of winter
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Guinevere hated fall.

Fall was a constant changing of warm to cold, from dry to wet. It was every single weather phenomenon mixed together and thrown out onto the world.

But not only was the weather grisly, but she looked horrid as well. Just like the snowshoe hare, the least weasel, and many other snow inhabiting animals, Gwyn's fur color too changed from a dark chocolate brown to a light almost snow white caramel color during the winter. She loved summer and winter, her coat was either a beautiful brown or glistening caramel, but in the fall, just like the weather, it was an ugly mix of the two. Her usually well groomed fur was an ugly mess of dark browns and whites.

And so, as she walked down the streets of Teito, she kept her head hung lower than usual, and ducked behind and around people and shinlai alike in an attempt to not been seen, which she had, through a year or two of experience, gotten pretty good at. It was harder now that she was an adolescent and had grown significantly larger, but she still kept out of the majority of other shinlai and human's sight and way.

Gwyn had left the house in hopes of getting a bit of fresh air, however, she was starting to regret her original plan. The streets were crowded, Teito being a political and religious capital for Dalians, and since it was the weekend, it was particularly cluttered. She would much rather be inside than out here, especially when it was frigid and damp. The nice thing about living with fire shinlai was you literally never were too cold.

Gwyn stepped out of the main bustle of the road into the safety of one of the side alleys. The skies were gray and it had sprinkled earlier, but the spot where she sat down had been sheltered from the rain by the roof of a house that jutted out slightly.

The youngblood's gaze wandered around, trying to decide if she should just head back right now or stick around for a little longer until her gaze found something of interest.

A mango.

Gwyn loved mangoes. The juicy fruit was most definitely her favorite food, despite the mess she made when eating it. It was one of the very few things that she missed about her old home- her parents, being rather wealthy, and living in a warmer climate, were able to buy a steady fresh supply of fruits for their home. They even grew a few fruit trees on their property. Down Teito, fresh fruit was a rarity.

The mango lay next to a box of mangoes that were being sold by a human street vendor. A few years ago, it wouldn't have even been a question in her mind what to do. She would have not only gone and snatched the one laying down but also a few from the box. She had stopped stealing ever since she met Lilith- that practice had quickly been stomped out of the young shinlai. But the fruit was on the ground. It was probably bruised, and the human wouldn't even be able to sell it. They'd probably have to throw it out. If she took it, she'd save the person from the trouble of having to dispose of it.

Making sure the human was preoccupied, Gwyn dropped to the ground, ensuring that she was hidden in the shadows, she slowly crept forward, getting closer and closer to the fruit, reaching out with her paw, ready to grasp it.

At last, the great capital city, Tieto in all its glory!

Bill had arrived a few days ago but he remained somewhat disoriented. That feeling of I'm on the wrong continent stuck to his fur like thick humidity, weighing his head down even more than usual so that the slope in his posture was even more pronounced than usual.

The young fire shinlai slunk through the city streets, his eyes watching those around him carefully as he observed their behavior, determined to pick up enough cues that he might become inconspicuous. One of them. These city dwellers were certainly different than what he was used to. Bill felt almost trapped between the masses, there were carts and people and other shinlai all bustling about. Talking, talking, talking. He strained to catch their words but most of the conversations slipped through his outstretched fingers like liquid silver.

I'm entirely out of my element.
But he couldn't let them know. Bill was utterly determined not to let them know. So he straightened himself out, held his head up as high as he dared and strode along confidently, busily, just like the rest of them. Daila forbid they discover he was but a humble shepherd.

Then again, Bill doubted they cared. No one could spare him a second glance. What if he was dying? What if someone tried to rob him? Not a second glance. He shook his head, fluffing out his mane even more than usual (it was getting thicker now that the seasons were turning). No, not a second glance.

But he saw them. Surely someone here could help him find who he was looking for. He'd come all this way, a subplot on his long, long pilgrimage just to find a shinlai he'd seen just a few times before. Search for others if you want, but you can't be done until you've searched for yourself. Whatever the hell that meant. It was better to have a clear mission in mind. He watched a shopkeeper adjust the merchandise in a window, putting up shiny new signs with the word "sale" scrawled in gold lettering. He saw a cart, drawn by a single old horse going clip-clop, clip-clop down the crowded streets. He saw a young shinlai out of the corner of his eye (he almost missed her except for a subtle movement), even younger than himself with a single paw outstretched towards an unattended mango...

There, that was the one.
He wasted no time in making a move.
It took only a few swift strides to meet her, Bill opted to let everyone smaller do the dodging and weaving. If he didn't go now the mango thief would almost certainly be gone in a moment's time.
"You," He raised his voice just slightly to be sure that he'd be heard once he was within a few feet. He hadn't really thought this through at all, deciding to take the tactless conversational route (as opposed to reckless confrontation), he added, "Are you an urchin?"

"You."

Gwyn jumped several inches off the ground, and when she had landed, she had not quite regained her balance. She half stumbled half walked backwards away from the noise as she lifted her paw left paw in an attempt to hide it behind her back as if concealing the offending appendage would erase all evidence that she had been about to steal, no, relieve the vendor from their mango.

By the time she had regained her footing, there was no chance of escaping from the shinlai who now stood before her. Even if he had not just startled her, she would have at least found the spotted brown shinlai to be somewhat unsettling in appearance. He had long and large black horns that curved over his face, with small spikes lining each one of the curved horns. The mask that adorned his face was borderline creepy. The bold colors of red and white stood out against the black background, making him seem either angry or mad. And as she continued to stare at his face, she saw that some of his teeth protruded from his mouth, curling around his mask and face.

"Are you an urchin?"

Gwyn froze and blinked. An.... Urchin? Like... The small sea animal?  Why did he think... That she was an urchin?

"Did I hear you right?" She asked, staring at him through confused eyes. "An urchin? As in, the spiky little sea critter?"

"Sea critter?"

Bill drew his head back, inspecting her now as she inspected him. It was abundantly clear now that the two shinlai were on very different wavelengths. Holy hell, what am I doing. He should have just confronted her properly, he thought. Well, it was too late now.

The shopkeeper had noticed something was going on, he could see the human vendor turn to look at them. Had they seen the mango? Only a few moments, soon Bill and the young lai would find out.

"I don't understand." He stated pointedly, deciding quickly to adjust his demeanor for the sake of time. "The sea is not my domain. An urchin, as I was led to believe, is a homeless youngblood who steals food and is dirty."

The brown shinlai pulled his lips back in a smile, though whether or not it was meant as an additional insult or a tease was quite beyond his current thought process. He could tell from this distance that she wasn't actually dirty (not like a real street urchin), and probably not homeless either. In fact, she looked well fed, if a bit disheveled. Had she been a bit older (ie: not a kid) he might have thought she was pretty.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Oh, there it was. Bill swung his head to look at the human vendor who was yelling at them now, prepared to deny his involvement in whatever hadn't actually just happened. The original mango still lay on the ground, untouched but by the ground that had bruised it. As he turned, his long, forward curving horns nicked one of the posts holding up the stand and in slow motion the entire establishment rocked. Maybe it would be fine. The stand hadn't been hit hard enough to topple over completely... But it was enough. Mangoes and other fruits spilled out onto the street. Bruises galore.  

"Oh sh-"
He backed up, nearly ramming into the youngblood in the shadows before turning to stare at her in desperation. Help. As though he'd just earned it. But Bill was unfamiliar with the area. He didn't know where to run and he definitely didn't want to face the vendor's wrath, or that of other people who were beginning to turn their heads.