Returning To Their Roots

[Jaime Keating]

Jaime loved Spirit.
He really, really did.
It was truly and forever his home. The place certainly had its faults, but what city didn't? He had grown up here. All of his friends and family lived here. It was his home. But the boy wasn't here for a leisure visit. No, he was actually here on business. The boy wasn't a prominent member of the Song yet, but he had little tasks to do, tasks which were pretty important. He was here to get some information from one of the Song's informants - the downside? Jaime had no idea where to find said informant. The nature of this particular person was strange; he or she (they had no idea, as this one never spoke and never showed their face) would wander around Spirit, searching for a person with a cloak wearing a visible feathered necklace, would get the Song member's attention, hand them a sealed envelope, then disappear back to where they had came from.

So the boy could literally do nothing but wander.

That wasn't good for him. Knowing that Briar, his older sister whom he had not seen in a long time, was so close made him want to go visit her, even though he knew it would be dangerous for not only himself, but Briar and the rest of the Song. It took all of his willpower not to stray off, following the familiar paths back to the little shack hidden amongst the larger buildings. To keep being a good boy, he paused and removed a small pouch from underneath his cloak, pouring the contents into his hand and counting out the coins. He had around 50 silver, give or take, and various copper pieces. That was definitely enough to buy some lunch - and to get his mind of his sister and his friends.

The wind picked up, throwing the cloak off his head. His hat was missing, so his hair did as it pleased, tossing about wildly. In all honesty, Jaime could be mistaken for a tall-ish girl - an innocent face with large, innocent eyes, medium to long unkempt blonde hair flowing in the wind, a slightly large cloak that could easily hide a female body (if there was one under there), a feathered necklace, and a wiggling backpack on his back.
Speaking of which...
Tuft baa'd softly, popping the flap up and sticking his little head out from the backpack. He blinked his beady little eyes and glanced around, before baa'ing again. Jaime laughed. "It's about time you woke up!" he exclaimed happily, turning his head in a failed attempt to see the little Nyeene. Once he spoke, it was very obvious he was not a girl.

A sit-down restaurant was nearby.
Carefully making his way through the crowds of people, Jaime plopped into one of the chairs. This particular restaurant was situated outside, though they did have a little indoor area for when it was cold or rainy. He removed the backpack and set it at his feet. Immediately the little sheep wiggled free of the pack and began to explore the table, sniffing and digging at random objects.
Maybe if he ate something his mind would stop tempting him to do bad things.[/size]

[Riza]

Riza grinned and did a little spin to look at her surroundings.
It was so nice to be in Spirit again. The weather was fair, the streets were mostly empty, and soft aromas from the many restaurants of the area floated on the breeze.

Riza had decided when she first chose Spirit as a destination, that she would stop by the Lotus, a place that served as her home when she did stay in the area, and just wander, perhaps show Rio some of the unique little restaurants around the place. She still had a fair amount of money left over from her last singing job and most of her food had been foraged lately, leaving plenty left for random spending.
Maybe she would even convince Rio to get a new scarf and jacket that wasn't torn and covered in blood.

A sudden burst of wind whipped through the streets causing Riza's black dress to whip around her ankles in a familiar sort of way, and her hat to go skittering off across the road. The girl scowled and trotted after it, trusting Rio to follow.
She managed to catch up to it next to the outside portion of a small cafe. Snatching the thing up, the girl stood, placed it comfortably back on her head, and came face-to-face with a small...sheep?

Riza blinked in confusion and took a step back, unable to ignore the nagging suspicion that she knew this diminutive creature. Slowly, she looked over to the human it accompanied and broke out in a surprised grin.
"Jaime?"

It had to be him. Never had she seen someone with messy blonde hair and innocent brown eyes quite like his, not to mention the Nyeene.
Once a close childhood friend, the two had fallen out of touch when Riza's father stopped coming to Spirit. She had met up with him once more a few years back when he first met the Nyeene, but it was a brief meeting at best.

"How have you been? It's been a long time!" Riza continued, holding out a small hand to the Nyeene with a smile.

[Rio]

People... humans, fae, daemon, shifter. The streets were full of them and he felt - was - lost. The mammalian daemon looked around in dismay, slightly intimidated by the multitude of people. He felt small and unimportant, his only link in this frightening world was Riza, whom he kept impossibly close to. This was the one aspect of life that he had not had any experience with. If he were here to kill all these people, he'd do it happily, but now that he bore no intention of harm to them, this was simply not possible.
That made him all the more miserable.
The noise was terrible to his sensitive ears and he could tell that the Bastaet that sat in his arms felt the same. The only thing that seemed anywhere near the positive side of things was the smell of food. However, he wasn't too hungry at the moment. Looking ahead, Riza seemed to be in a good mood as she wandered the streets. He couldn't tell if she knew where she was going, she might have and she might have not.
The wind played with his scarf. He had it on his neck now, even if the ends were still bloody. In fact, the whole upper part of his body looked worse for the wear, scarf, jacket and face. However, his eye (which was still blind) was covered by his hair. He had insisted on taking the scarf off as he argued that it would recover. He had rarely used bandages on himself and when he did, they never stayed for long. Nevertheless, his eye was still quite a sight - it was a good thing that he had always kept it hidden away.

Wait, was that Riza's hat? The thing flew past and his guide immediately plunged after it. He followed, more afraid of the unfriendly mass of people than following and possibly helping Riza. Before he got to it, however, she jammed it back onto her head.
"Jaime?"
He took her eye off her before flicking it up to see who was there that she had recognized. There was something that looked fluffy and a sort of blue color. It was small and was regarding Riza with curiosity. The boy that sat at the table looked... human. He had light, unruly blond hair and brown eyes that looked like an animal that could do nothing, if be the easy, harmless prey of a predator.
Like himself.
The thought shook him and he tightened his jaw. That look of innocence and harmlessness, it was almost tempting to hunt him. However, he was Riza's friend and he would not do so.

"How have you been? It's been a long time!"
She hadn't seen him for a long time too... why was that? He did not know much about Riza or Jaime, nor what sort of relationship they had. Sieg nudged him, causing the daemon to look down at the sullen animal. It had its eyes on the fluffy thing. Rio shook his head slightly; Jaime and Riza both would not be happy if Sieg decided to eat it.

[Jaime Keating]

He had ordered his food, forcing himself to explore the scenery with his eyes instead of think about the people that lived near here. Don't do it, don't do it, you'll only cause them trouble... kept repeating in his head. But Jaime missed them. He had never been away from his loved ones for more than a couple days, and it had probably been about a month since he last saw them.
The boy sighed, stressed.

"Jaime?"

Now, he didn't immediately jump to conclusions. There were others who had been named Jaime - both male and female - and the unfamiliar voice he could easily be speaking to one of them. But as he looked up from his chair into the face of a human girl (she looked kind of familiar... had he seen her wandering the streets of Spirit before? No, she seemed more important than that... What was it?) he realized that she was indeed talking to him. Only training from Cloti kept him from visibly freaking out, especially because he had clearly told the waitress that his name was Finch; she had been trying to flirt with him, asking him his name, but, Jaime being Jaime, he didn't get it and took it as just another friendly waitress. She had left very disappointed.

"How have you been? It's been a long time!"

That statement definitely implied she knew him. And that he had known her.
Now guilt set in. He couldn't remember the girl very clearly, except that she looked familiar. So he just smiled up at her apologetically. "I've been... good?" he answered hesitantly, and it was obvious he was struggling as he tried to put her somewhere in his life. Finally, the boy gave up. Opening his hands, palms up, in a distressed way he said, "Sorry, but I can't seem to remember you. You look familiar, but that's it."
Tuft remembered her.
He happily trotted up to her, sniffing her hand for any signs of food before giving it a hearty lick. His eyes flicked up to the Bastaet after that, noting the way the creature eyed him. But the Nyeene's curiosity grew. He baa'd at Sieg, tilting his head as best he could through the mass of wool.

[Riza]

Riza chuckled as the Nyeene licked her palm and went off to inspect Sieg. Chess, having just found his way back, thankfully cut Tuft off and began an attempt to get the creature to play with him instead. It was obvious that the Cait Sith realized Sieg's predatory nature far more than Tuft and, remembering him, wanted to keep the little sheep alive.

Riza turned her attention back to the blond youth and flashed him a sardonic grin. "I know it's been a few years, but how many violet-eyed humans have you met?" She shook her head slightly, "Only kidding; I'm Riza. Riza Kincaid. We met each other as kids when I managed to sneak away from my father."
The girl glanced around looking slightly nervous until her gaze fell on Rio. He looked more than uncomfortable and even a little nervous. Riza wrapped her arms gently around one of his and pulled him forward a step. "This is my friend Rio and the Bastaet, Sieg. Chess is over there distracting your Nyeene."

Riza lifted one arm to motion to each as she introduced them, seemingly unfazed by Jaime's lack of recognition, but kept the other wrapped reassuringly around Rio. She had realized only moments ago that he had likely never been to a city like this one before, and unlike her, he was entirely out of his element.
It made her feel slightly bad for not noticing it before and she promised to herself that she would make up for it somehow later. Maybe take him to the Lotus, the beautiful old restaurant that she occasionally called home and convince the owner to give them a meal.

"Are you doing all right?" Riza asked in a low voice, looking slightly up to Rio's face. "You've never been in a city before, have you?"
As she said this she caught sight of the tattered, bloody scarf, and how the majority of the daemon's clothes were a far cry from well off. His bangs once again covered the blind eye, and though that too had been bloody at one point, Riza had gotten him to rinse it out along with his cuts.

She wondered with some amusement what kind of impression a tattered and bloody daemon would make. By now the girl was entirely used to the Mammalian's appearance, but from the curious glances he received by some passersby, it wasn't exactly common here.
Jaime too, was slightly unusual, though not to the point of drawing attention. More like he had an easy face to remember. Only now, he seemed different, jumpier, like he expected someone to jump out at him any minute.

"So what's with the big black cloak? It seems a bit warm for those yet, don't you think?" Riza motioned to her own attire, which consisted of a lavender turtle-neck, the black hat that had led her to find Jaime, and a loose black skirt.

[Rio]

The creature baa'd at him and Sieg's claws extended and flexed. He was almost ready to pounce on the creature, but the mammalian daemon gave him a little squeeze; no. He wasn't allowed to hunt the creature. Besides, he would have a tough time picking all that fluff from his claws and teeth. Perhaps that was why he had never been taught to hunt these creatures. The Bastaet's claws retracted, once more rendering him harmless.

He watched as Riza introduced herself once again to Jaime. He for one would not forget her; she had played a role too important in his life for him to be able to forget her. She said that she had sneaked away from her father... perhaps her... father's business in the Spirit did not interest her.
That word, father, it was strange to him. He had not used that word in his life time; this was his first. The word held some strange feeling, a tenderness, yet fierce aura that wanted to keep him from harm. He shook himself from the strange reverie. He had not had a father, he did not know what it felt like.

Rio tensed as someone slid a gentle arm around him. Turning, he realized that it was Riza and relaxed. He was just over-reacting. Still, being here had thrown him; taught him how little he really knew of life, the true life that Riza and Jaime seemed to have.
What would be he like if he had not been a slave?
Surprisingly, Riza's touch relaxed him, as if he were drawing confidence from her. She seemed entirely at ease in this city, in the forest, any time that he had seen her before.
"Are you doing all right? You've never been in a city before, have you?"
He looked at her, giving her a slight nod. "No, I have not." He answered truthfully. The closest he had been to so many people was when he was in one of the many arenas. But then, there was always a significant distance between them. This was the first time that he had been among so many people. He forced himself to relax; there would be no one that wished to harm them. And if so, he doubted that they would get very far.

Sieg, finally giving up on being held in Rio's arms, leaped to the table, stretching and receding to the furthest corner, not taking any notice of the fluffy thing. He had given up trying to find something to eat. Meals would always come when one needed them.