Still strolling through the shadows, part I

[Shin]

"Doubtfully." Shin voiced his own opinion, though it was obviously an off hand remark. He doubted Usurii would bring back the girls memories, she worked for Sturm and that meant that she was the type of person to have answers and hold them back. Shin had his decision made up about the Purple Enigma and Usurii, the two were manipulators Shin had decided. Never giving full answers and doing what they deemed appropriate. Shin might have been no better himself, taking life where he saw fit, but in his mind he was different.

"We hate what they've done." Shin said barely above a whisper.

A moment later his thoughts were forgot about and he looked upon Mimi and Isac with new eyes. "Well if she can then she should." He said matter-o-factly in reference to Usurii repairing Mimi's memory he then turned to face the direction he had originally come from, hoping to see her walking in their direction.

"If we are waiting for her we could always go back into the building and take a look." It wasn't really a good plan, but Shin hated standing around. The building was a maze! Though Isac or Mimi might have had better luck navigating it, (he doubted that as well) they had no idea where to start looking once they got inside.

[Nayt]

"Ruu?" Mimi tilted her head to the side.

In actuality, she had no idea what they were talking about with this memory junk. It was way over her head. Sure, she couldn't remember anything prior to three months ago, but she was fine with that, and didn't really know why they were trying to remember things they had forgotten. Mimi just wanted to fit in, that was all!

"Usurii . . . see memories?" she asked rhetorically.

What really confused her was what they were saying about Usurii. Up until now, she hadn't put two and two together regarding Usurii's particular talents. Now, she was staring to realize that Usurii might just be able to read memories and the like--and now, she was starting to wonder how exactly someone did that. What, did they just go up, poke a person in the forehead, and think super hard about that person's history? Mimi thought about that for a few seconds. It didn't make any sense, but neither did Christoph's magic. She shrugged her shoulders. Well, it was worth a try!

So, Mimik did just that. She skipped forward by a few steps, stopped, and turned to face Isac. Mimi focused upon his face with much thought, before reaching her hand up at him, namely her index finger. Unfortunately, she was short, and was having a hard time actually getting her hand up close to his forehead, even when she strained audibly and stood up on the tips of her toes. Inevitably, she just had to settle with poking him in the chin for a prolonged period of time, all the while humming in deep thought. This would, of course, probably confuse the heck out of Isac and Shin, but Mimi thought she knew what she was doing!

In the end, though, she dropped her arm back down to her side and sulked . . .

"Mimi-ku no see anything . . ." she declared with a pout.

[Zach Kaiser]

Fortunately, Isac didn't hear Shin's whisper--he was too distracted by Mimi's antics to pay that close attention. "Umm..." He just stood awkwardly as Mimi put a finger to his chin (as she couldn't reach his forehead) and seemed to be in deep concentration--something that was altogether amusing because it was her.

With a wry smile, Isac put a hand on Mimi's shoulder in consolation. "It's alright...I don't think it's something you can learn that easily," he noted.

As to Shin's suggestion, he said, "Well...she told me not to come in with her and wait here, so I'm waiting here." He really didn't like the place much anyway--if he could avoid going in, all the better, though he did wish Usurii would hurry up...

[Shin]

"Very well." Shin said with a shrug. It hardly mattered really, sure he didn't like sitting around but the more he thought about it the more he decided it was best to not go get lost. Shin found a spot on the ground to sit and lean his back against a wall he forced to remove his sheath and katana, placing them across his lap, so he could more easily sit.

"It's had to have been at least an hour since I last saw her. I think she was going to report to Sturm..." He trailed off, loosing interest in what he was talking about. He had completely missed Mimi and Isac interacting, he could care less about the girl. She was more of a hindrance then anything, as far as he knew she couldn't do anything except look cute.

"Where do you plan to go from here?" Shin asked Isac. Closing his eyes and leaning his back against the wall, now was a good time to relax as any he figured.

[littlebean]

Down the road a familiar (and possibly unwelcome) noise could be heard, the same squelching squish from not too long ago. Plipshluuup...plipshuup, only instead of the slow steady pace like before hand, it was somewhat quicker, advancing faster than before. The foot steps were ones that were rushed and in an incredible hurry, and Kremnaes certainly was. He was speeding along to get things done, and his new acquired task weighed on his mind heavily, plaguing his mind with a strong and unending worry and fear. The first encounter with the human male named Shin wasn't at all great as far as he was concerned, and would have much preffered to stay as far away from him as possible but things had changed. Kremnaes had shit to do, and with a stern determination he would do his damndest to complete the job, or else he would fail Sturm.

That was the fear that sat on the top of his list, overshadowing any other doubt he may create, the strongest doubt was the doubt in himself. What would become of him if he failed Sturm? For the longest times he had been assigned smaller more manageable chores, but this was nothing short of a quest! Even with a bag full of food, medical supplies and other knick knacks, he worried still that he couldn't do it, and with Shin around the knife or pistol around his waist didn't make him feel any safer. More than a million things could go wrong, and if anything did it would be entirely his fault. Such responsibility was hard to take, especially so suddenly.

"Hm?" He was scared of missing Shin and not being able to catch up to him, but instead Shin came right to him! There he was sitting and relaxing down the road with two other Eratzshad (or shades?). Finding him was a slight relief, the thuoght of missing him was erased from his mind and replaced with the thought that now that he had him he might lose him altogether. Time to get started.

"H-hello? Mr. Shiden?" Kremnaes spoke kindly to get his attention, approaching him very slowly.

[Nayt]

At first, Mimi wanted to say something to Isac--or even Shin. Looking through memories, just how did someone do that? She didn't know, but she had certainly tried! Perhaps if she was taller, that would help. Four feet and ten inches just wasn't going to do it anymore. She was going to have to amend that somehow.

How do I do that a-gain?

No time could be devoted to it, though, as there was another coming. Her ears twitched; they're length (in an almost lazy, horizontal way--as if she hadn't the cartilage for them to stick close to her head or remain perky) was just for show, after all! And the first thing she thought when she saw him was this:

"Sluuuuuuuuug!" Mimi enthusiastically declared as she pointed to Kremnaes.

The young girl loved slugs! And bugs of all kinds, even. Were slugs considered bugs? She didn't know, she didn't care! They were slimy and fun, and this newcomer reminded her of a slug so much that she wanted to hug him! Or . . . not. Actually, if there was a chance of meeting Christoph again soon, she didn't want to be all slimy for that; he wouldn't want to hug her, then! So, Mimi refrained, and instead stood there with her finger set below her lower lip, tapping on her chin as she thought to herself. Just what did this slug person want? And how did a slug become a person? Could she maybe have a vial of his slime to mess around with? Mimi didn't often feel mischievous, but she did get into playful moods every so often, and mischief was guaranteed!

She pictured, for a moment, herself sitting upon Christoph's stomach, Christoph shirtless for the time being, and her in nothing more than a tank top and undies. There were candles lit far behind her, giving this romantic ambiance and aura, and the sheets of the bed were almost entirely without traces of wrinkles. They could have ordered food, if they wanted, but such would have disturbed an evening together. Christoph was still sleeping, though Mimi was wide awake--and she knew the best way to wake him.

At first, Christoph felt something warm--something moist, and he could feel pressure, but he couldn't discern where, not in his hazy state. It was pleasant, even, and as he stirred a bit, he considered remaining where he was. But he was curious--just what was that feeling! Was it a dream? Was he dreaming of euphoria, of better places? Christoph slowly opened his eyes; he couldn't help himself, he needed to know! The first thing he saw was the obsidian skinned girl on top of him--her scarlet eyes half shut, her lower lip gently clenched between her teeth. He scanned her slowly at first, eyes trailing down from her young face . . .

Is she really that young? He asked himself. Sometimes, she didn't look like just a teenage girl--sometimes . . . she looked mature.

The spaghetti strap of her top had fallen down and rest upon the middle of her frail bicep, her bare shoulder glistening in the light of the candles spread 'round their couples' suite. He was tempted to reach up and place the thin strap back 'pon her shoulder, but he refrained--he liked it where it was. Christoph looked down, further and further, inching down her body. He could feel her hands upon his chest--what was she doing? Bracing herself? He felt her whole body move--her thighs tight against his hips for a moment, and he wondered: Dare I ask? Would she stop if she knew that he was awake? Was it a risk worth taking?

Finally, Christoph let his gaze fall further--only to stop suddenly.

What was she doing to his chest?

Painting a mural? With her fingers? It was warm, moist--slimy, even; he could have seen it in the light of day or night, the substance she was drawing with upon his chest, from the jar she had set beside of her . . .

"Mimi, what is that?" He asked.

Without a pause in her drawing, she cooed cheerily: "Sli~me from Slugman!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mimik was going to have to ask for some slime later.

[littlebean]

"Huh?"

Last time Kremnaes saw Shin, he was alone but this time for whatever reason, he travelled in a group with two other people. When Kremnaes first met Shin he didn't seem to be the kind to want or enjoy company, so what circumstances that brought the three together must have been important. He travelled with two other Eratzshad, how he had connections with these two was beyond him but they could be an asset to his journey. One of them in particular, the smaller female pointed happily and Kremnaes and right away, pointed out that he was a slug.

"Haha ya slug!" He confirmed that she said by pointing to himself, carefull with his finger between his eyes. Around the girl he was in a chipper mood, mostly because he felt safe. The kindness from Kremnaes was genuine, and of course, he didn't want to offend the others by being anything but kind to her.

"What's your name?" Introductions were going to be important, even though he came here for Shin it didn't mean he couldn't talk to anyone else.

[Zach Kaiser]

Isac was greatly relieved when the slug person asked for their names--he's recognized him (or rather, he was too distinctive for even Isac to forget), but he could not for the life of him remember his name.

"Forgot my name? That's okay, I, uh, kinda forgot yours too." Kremnaes, unless his memory was as poor as the amnesiac's, would probably recognize Isac as the Ersatzshad frequently accompanying Usurii. "It's Isac. My name, that is, not yours. I think."

He turned to look at Mimi, expecting her to introduce herself, but she was staring intently at Kremnaes with some kind of wondrous expression. She also looked like she was on the verge of drooling, which worried him a bit.

"And...this is Mimi," he said for her, in case she remained in her reverie.

[littlebean]

Kremnaes was terrible at socializing, it was true. When the older looking Eratzshad asked him if he forgot his name, it sent his mind astray. Was he supposed to remember his name? The face was familiar, when he looked at him he remembered that this man was often seen travelling with Usurii, there was just no name to place onto the face.He was scared that forgetting his name would offend him, but since the other man forgot his name too, they were on even grounds, so everything would be alright.

"No no you're right," he tried to speak reassuringly to the man because somehow he seemed uncertain what his own name was. "My name isn't Isac, it's Kremnaes. N-nice to meet you."

The girl who's name he asked, didn't respond. She was too busy staring at Kremnaes with some sort of wonder and amazement. Kremnaes didn't find himself particularly remarkable, but her constant watching made him self conscious. He directed his attention to his own nipples, or his eyes rather and began to blush. If she was staring, to Kremnaes the most likely cause od her gawking would be the placement of his eyes.He badly wanted to cover them, and he would if he didn't need them to see. The best he could do was look to the ground and fiddle with his fingers.

"H-hello Mimi. Nice to meet you."

[Shin]

"Hmph." Shin though relaxed obviously disapproved of Kremnaes. He quickly stood from where he was sitting, sheath and sword instantly placed back at his side as he glared out from under his hood at the slug creature. Luckily the cowl of his cloak completely covered his facial features and the quick way he stood could easily be attributed to the fact that Shin was a warrior and never liked to be caught sitting down.

"So, you know my name now." The first actual words to come out of his mouth as he walked towards Kremnaes, hand always on his hilt similar to how the two had met earlier. "Did Sturm send you to collect me?" Shin asked stopping about an arms length away from the slug thing.

It didn't make sense to Shin, the creature was incredibly slow when moving and was extremely timid. Why would it leave the safety of the building unless ordered to do so or it could defend itself better then it lead on. Shin smirked at that thought, after a moment of silence after their introductions he finally extended a gloved hand towards Kermnaes.

"Shin Shiden, Tenken." He said, actually introducing himself. Constantly reminding himself to be nice and and not push Kremnaes around, though he was sure he could pretty much scare the thing into doing whatever he wanted.

[Nayt]

"Slu~gman is . . . no Isac--Slu~gman is . . . Kremnaes?" Mimi responded inquisitively.

Well, that's what he had introduced himself as!

The next voice was one of familiarity. "Kremnaes, what are you doing here?"

Kremnaes had blocked their view of Usurii at first, but she soon rectified that by stepped forward. She'd been behind him just seconds earlier, and curious, she had just watched to see what he was doing there and why. For once, she felt a little paranoid being so close to Sturm's facility . . . though, it wasn't necessarily paranoia for her own safety or anything. They simply had someone here with them that Usurii didn't know what they should do with yet, and if someone here knew the truth of what Mimi was . . .

It wouldn't take much deduction, either. Unlike Isac, who had vague memories of a life before the City of Shadows, Kremnaes did not, and he had personally seen close to every Ersatzshad in the city. Mimi was a new face to him, though. Either she was brand new, or she wasn't from around here, which would only mean one thing.

Usurii stopped to stand beside of Isac. She was wearing the same clothes as before, the white nurse's outfit. This was, however, the first time Isac had seen her wearing it: she'd come wearing different clothes, and changed into a more fitting outfit when she was there.

[littlebean]

"U-uuhh..."

There was an obvious disaproval for Kremnaes coming from Shin. Even with his facial features hidden beneath his good Kremnaes felt unwanted, not by Mimik or Isac, but from the man he was supposed to be travelling with. It would be much easier for him if Shin liked him, or could at the very least tolerate him yet it seemed Shin, although he was being completely civil could not stand to be around him. The job would be a lot more simple if Shin didn't always look like he wanted to cut him in half. Things were already rocky. So rocky in fact, that when it came to speaking to Shin Kremnaes was most afraid. Shin had the tendency to frighten him by doing such things like reaching for his sword. Whether or not he intended to scare him was unknown, but as a reaction Kremnaes stepped far back, reaching for his own newly acquired weapon, the knife on around his waist.

Simply owning a weapon didn't make one stronger, of course he knew that. He didn't really know how to use it, but compared to his fist it was a hell of a start. "No not collect, not at all. More like....accompany." Accompany was a good word to use, because it was the truth. From now on Kremnaes was going to be travelling with him, which shouldn't be a problem because he seemed to be travelling with two other Eratzshad anyway.

"Kremnaes..." Introductions seemed to be complete, and Kremnaes released his grip on his weapon to shake the hand Shin offered to him, with much hesitance. Did Shin have eyes? He didn't know, because he had yet to see them. Anyone with eyes would clearly be able to tell that he was covered in goop. Not accepting his hand would be impolite, but ruining his gloves would be worse. Before their hands even connected he withdrew his, "I-I'm sorry. I don't want to ruin your gloves..."

"Kremnaes, what are you doing here?"

Suddenly and without warning, a voice addressed him from behind, giving him enough of a fright to jump out of his skin and yell with a start. " AH! Oh...uh..." It was Usurii, the third Eratzshad to show up so far. The eyes on his chest looked upwards towards her face bashfuly, trying to make eye contact as best as he could. Whenever Usurii approached him, his line of vision was always chest height and the first thing he would see was a great big pair of breasts walking towards him. As nice as they were, it was rude to stare, and he had to make an extra effort to talk to Usurii by looking at her face.

"Hi Usurii, I was just delivering some prescriptions to Shin is all." There, that was three Eratzshad so far, two out of the three of them worked for or at least knew Sturm. Since they both worked for him, perhaps his goals, which were also Sturm's goals would all be theirs in the end. No help was being expected of them of course, this was Kremnaes's job to handle alone, but just having them around was making him feel more comfortable than when he was first assigned his task. It was too soon to tell. He wasn't so sure about Mimi, who he forgot to reply to with his mind distracted with two other conversations.

"Yes. Slugman is Kremnaes." He answered so he wouldn't be ignoring her.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Ah...um...."

That was about as intelligent as Isac could sound for the first minute or so after Usurii finally exited the building. His jaw dropped, he blinked, he closed his mouth, and blinked some more.

If someone asked him if he wanted to see Usurii in a nurse's outfit prior to this, he probably would have been indifferent, having little imagination and no memories to fill in the blanks. Now, though...well, he'd understand why some of the other Ersatzshad were enthusiastic about checkups.

"H-Heh...I-I think that's...the first time..I've seen you..in that." While he didn't quite stutter, he tripped over some of the words as though he was losing his train of thought. "Umm...do you usually wear that?"

Everyone else was more or less forgotten by him--his eyes and focus were deadlocked on Usurii.

[Shin]

Shin conceded to Kremnaes with a nod, if the creature didn't want to shake his hand for fear of ruining a glove then so be it Shin figured. He lowered his arm back to his side, slipping it to one of his coat pockets.

Shin was also the only male not captivated by the outfit Usurii wore, he looked at her from under his hood and promptly turned his back and went to sit back down where he had been before Kremnaes had showed up. How many more people are going to show up? He asked himself, taking the moment to look around and make sure no one else was sneaking up on them.

Once he was satisfied Shin set his back to the wall and slid down it, once again removing his sheathed Katana and placing it across his lap. It's not that Shin didn't like Usurii, but he knew all to well that she didn't like him very much and simply keeping to himself when she was around was a good way to keep himself from being hated more.

One thing could be said about Shin as of late, he was at least making an effort to be nicer, obviously a forced effort, but still an effort. Some things didn't come as natural to Shin as it did to other people, basic courtisies that he had long forgotten in his quest to become a master of the Shiden Style.

[Nayt]

"When I do nurse work, yes," Usurii said with a nod.

It just so happened that she only worked as a nurse beside of Sturm, which most Ersatzshad knew. It wouldn't take much thought for anyone who had that knowledge here (being Kremnaes and Isac, of course) to realize that she specifically dressed this way around Sturm, and no one else. Usurii didn't have a problem with that. Whether or not it was intentionally appealing was up in the air.

Usurii didn't pay too much attention to Kremnaes; she didn't mind him, and was simply curious why he was out here--that was all. He was a nice guy, regardless of how he looked. That didn't even bother her all that much. Technically, the only things she didn't like all that much were humans (and that was just a matter of trust), and then a select few humans, namely one who killed her best friend. Even with Shin, the only reason she didn't like him that much was because he was working for Sturm, and she didn't trust him, nor did she think that he was the kind of person that Sturm would want working for him. To her knowledge, they all knew what the word "morality" meant.

". . . and . . . what are you doing out of your room?" Usurii addressed Shin directly. She didn't sound malevolent or anything--just curious, and a bit concerned. Not for Shin, but for Sturm. "It might be difficult for Master to contact you if you're not close by . . ."

In the time that all eyes were on Usurii--or off of everyone to avoid Usurii--Mimi had moved around quite a bit. Usurii didn't notice, either, as she had been focusing on Shiden. It wouldn't be clear what was happening until Kremnaes received a slight poke on his arm. There was Mimi, prodding him lightly, and again, and again, trying to find out if he was as "slimy" as most other slugs out there.