Only a little bit lost (done)

[kris]

Honestly, this city was a lot smaller than the last one she had lived in, why was it so hard for her to figure out where to go? Kris squinted at the paper with a small map scribbled across it. None of the streets were where they were supposed to be. Had she gotten off at the wrong bus stop? She supposed she could look for a taxi, but those were expensive and the rent on her apartment was pretty high on her salary. Receptionists got paid a lot less than nurses, apparently... Biting her bottom lip, she glanced up at the sky. The sun was dropping lower on the horizon, and she didn't want to stay out too late.

She had thought it would be a good idea to wander the small town near the Academy. If she was working nearby, it was best to know the local area. She at least needed to know where to buy food and supplies. It sounded like a good idea in her head, but she hadn't counted on her terrible sense of direction. Now she couldn't figure out where she was supposed to go to get back to her apartment. She didn't have a driver's license or a car, and only had enough cash to buy a bus ticket back. She didn't know the area well enough to walk home, either, so that meant she was pretty much stuck.

Well, don't panic, she thought to herself as she looked around. This place really wasn't that big. If she just walked around a bit more, she was sure to find some place that looked familiar. Right?

[kris]

Some people said that elves were beings of unearthly grace and beauty. Kris was of average attractiveness, for an elf, which meant that she did have a certain delicate, effortless beauty about her. Grace, however, she did not have. She stumbled backwards, tripped over her own robes, and fell, throwing her hands back to break her fall. Unfortunately, her hands were still holding on to the map, which tore in half with an audible ripping sound. She sat on the ground, ears wilting and glasses askew as she stared forlornly at the remains of her map. One half had scraped across the sidewalk and was smudged enough that it was completely unreadable. Now how was she going to get home? She was now lost and without a map. Granted, the map hadn't been any help whatsoever, but it had kept her from panicking.

When the woman spoke, she snapped out of her daze. She slid the papers into her pocket with a frown and stood up. "S-sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going, either," she said, red with embarrassment. Kris started brushing the dirt off of her clothes, but stopped when she saw her palms were scraped up and bleeding. Frowning at them, she glanced at the person who had run into her. Kris didn't like flaunting the fact that she could use magic, especially if it was only to heal herself, but the scrapes really hurt and they were bleeding a lot. Well, hopefully this person was just a mundane human and wouldn't notice. She clasped her hands together and concentrated for a moment, using the weakest healing spell she knew to heal the cuts. Hoping to avoid suspicion, she kept her hands folded and hoped the other person wasn't very observant.

[kris]

Er, so not unobservant. That meant this person was at least magically active. Perhaps she should have been a bit more careful about using magic. Kris was a little intimidated by the human's attitude. She seemed friendly, but was so energetic about it. It really didn't take much to intimidate the elf, though, so that wasn't saying much.

Kris glanced up at the person's face, smiling though her ears were drooping. "I, um, am a bit lost. I've never been here before..." She glanced around at the shops nearby, noticing that many did have an assortment of alchemical ingredients. Probably good to know, since although she wasn't big on mixing potions, she did like to keep a good stock of healing salve and medicines. She was passable at curing diseases, but liked using medicine instead of magic whenever possible. It meant that if she exhausted her magic, she could still be useful. To her, it was worth the extra hours of studying medical textbooks, even though they were terribly boring.

[kris]

"Oh, um, I'm Kris," she replied, inching the slightest bit away from Caldera. She was... so very friendly. Kris had tried to get out of the habit of hiding in the nearest corner whenever someone around her was being even the slightest bit too energetic for her tastes, but it was such a hard habit to break. It wasn't as if she were afraid, per se, just overwhelmed. Still, she was too desperate for help to be picky about who offered to help her.

Taking a deep breath, she explained her situation. "I just got a job in the area so I thought I'd look around the town so I could find where things were. I just can't find my way back. I tried to make a map, but I guess I don't do well in cities... I'm really just trying to find the bus stop..."

[kris]

((She's so scared! I love it. But then again, I love torturing my characters, poor things.))

Eep! Why did she have to run into such a crazy lady? Kris had something akin to a very mild panic attack when Caldera lunged at her, not sure what was going on. When the woman began running, it was all Kris could do to keep up and not trip over her own feet. She was not used to running around and definitely not used to crowds, so running through a crowd was an entirely new experience. One that she would have been perfectly happy not knowing about. She was now so far out of her comfort zone that she had reached something of a plateau of emotion, where she was oddly calm about being dragged off into the unknown by some lady she had just met.

"Job? Oh, um, receiver at Thaumaturgy International headquarters." Why am I answering her? Why am I following her? What am I doing? Well, the panic was back. Kris was able to keep herself from doing something too drastic by telling herself that Caldera was trying to help, and that she probably wasn't some random psycho murderer. Hopefully. Oh gods, that made it worse.

[kris]

((... Oh dear. I think she might cry.))

Despite being frightened out of her mind and about to... well, do something, Kris noticed Caldera's ... disappointment, was it? Well, great. Kris not only managed to run into a crazy lady who insisted on manhandling her to the bus stop, but happened to find a crazy lady who also hated TI. Her ears were pressed back against her head, much like an unhappy dog who couldn't do much about her situation. "W-what's wrong with TI--" she started to say, but stopped when her stomach came in sudden contact with Caldera's arm. Startled, she looked around and saw the man. Kris couldn't help but notice he looked rather unfriendly.

Faced with one person she thought might be crazy and one person who was almost sure to act violently, Kris acted predictably. She inched her way behind Caldera, doing her best to look as small and nonthreatening as possible. When the woman moved, Kris stepped back in surprise that quickly turned into horror when she pulled a gun. Kris, having worked in a hospital, had seen all kinds of injuries, but rarely saw the events leading up to them. She bit her bottom lip, keeping quiet and listening, hoping there would be no bloodshed.

When Caldera turned around to look at her, Kris visibly flinched. It's okay, she tried to tell herself, she was just trying to threaten him. She wouldn't have actually shot him... right? She always tried to believe that everyone was a good person, even if they were loud and dragged her halfway across the city, but she couldn't help but think that Caldera herself had just confessed to being a crazy ex-dragoon. Dragoons were the attackers, right? That meant she was versed in destructive magics. She was quickly getting into something that was way over her head. She stopped suddenly and realized she had been backing away and had just hit the side of the building. "Please, I... " Pausing, she collected her thoughts. She really didn't want to seem ungrateful, but she was getting really scared. "I'm glad that you are helping me, I really am, but could you please just... I don't know, calm down a bit and explain yourself? Please?" Though she tried her best, she could not keep all of the fear out of her voice.

[kris]

With Caldera sitting next to her, Kris was able to relax a bit. She was still a bit uncomfortable that the woman was so close to her, but at least she wasn't moving around and waving her gun about. Calm, logical explanations, those were things she could handle. No one was about to get shot. She had time to process what was going on. The elf slowly calmed down, nodding slightly to Caldera's story to show she was listening.

"It's always about trust, isn't it," she remarked sadly. It wasn't a question, although it was phrased like one. She wished that she was able to trust people more, but it just made it hurt more when that trust was betrayed. Kris hated having to deceive the people at her new job, even though she hadn't done much deception as of the moment. Frowning, she mentally chided herself. Here she was feeling bad for herself when Caldera was the one talking about her past. How selfish was that? Honestly, she was getting too self-absorbed. "Did you actually do it? Did anyone just come right out and ask you that?" Her question was surprisingly bold and straightforward, and she cringed a bit, dreading an outburst from Caldera. That was a terribly rude thing to ask, but now that she said it, it was impossible to take back.

[kris]

"I don't really know you very well, so I can't make any judgments," she replied softly, thinking to herself. In truth, she was a very trusting person. It was why it had taken so much effort to make her as suspicious as she was. Still, she thought life was much better when she didn't think everyone lied to her all the time. "You haven't done anything to suggest otherwise, so I believe you." Kris had meant to sound cautious and wise, but she had never been able to get that tone of voice down correctly. Maybe it was because she was still very young, for an elf. She ended up sounding sincere. Perhaps she wasn't the best actor in the world...

With talk of the bus, she sprang to her feet. Right! She was trying to get home! She turned towards the bus stop, but hesitated, looking back at Caldera. She felt a bit rude just leaving. The woman had helped her, both in finding where she needed to go and with avoiding a fight. And for all her laughter, Caldera didn't seem to happy when she spoke about her dead friends. "Um. I was just going to go home after this, so I don't have to leave now. You did help me, so maybe I should make it up to you somehow?" Kris was going through her knowledge of human customs, which was very limited. She wanted to do something, but really had no clue what to suggest. Her contact with other people was very limited, so she guessed food would always be welcome and decided to go with that. "Maybe I could buy you dinner or something?" she suggested very hesitantly, hoping she wasn't doing something rude or implying something she didn't mean to imply. Human customs were strange and she didn't know what she was doing. A moment later she had worked herself into a panic yet again, about ready to make a dash for the bus just to save herself some embarrassment.

[kris]

Oh good, Caldera smiled. That meant... well, actually, it didn't mean much, since the woman had been smiling pretty much constantly. But at least she wasn't frowning. Kris really needed to stop getting so worked up about everything. She was always afraid of other people--afraid that the would hurt her, but also afraid that she would hurt them. She never wanted to offend anyone. Unfortunately, her optimism was rarely feasible, since she had learned she could never please everyone. That didn't stop her from acting how she did, though. She flushed at the 'trusting' compliment, thinking that it was exactly the opposite of how she should be, and mumbled something that could be construed as "thanks." Pouting only the slightest bit, she followed Caldera to the bus stop.

[kris]

That only made her pout more, though this was more pronounced than her previous frown. Crazy woman. Still, Kris had nothing better to do than to follow her to the bus stop, which only infuriated the elf more. Why was it so easy to order her around? Oh well, it wasn't like she could change her entire personality in a day. "I'm only a hundred and eight-four," she explained as she followed at a much more reasonable gait, "hardly any age to start wrinkling." When they reached the bus stop, she folded her arms and kept her pout, though her ears were pricked upwards, revealing that she was not actually angry, just pretending.

[kris]

Kris rubbed her forehead, glaring reproachfully at Caldera. Then she smiled. Kris was acting so childishly, but it was the first time in a long time that she had acted like she did. Caldera might be a crazy human, but at least she knew how to relax. She dropped her arms to her sides, idly watching the cars go by. "Thanks. I'm pretty nervous about it, actually. Any tips?" ...And there she went, inserting her foot nicely into her mouth. Too late, she realized how stupid that question was. Asking Caldera, who had quit since no one trusted her, about tips on how to keep her job? It was easy to see just when that realization hit her. She flushed red and turned to look at Caldera, a horrified look on her face. "Oh gods... I, um..." She couldn't even think of anything to say, and ended up staring at her feet. "Just ignore me. I've been so stupid today. I'm not really thinking things through."

[kris]

Still a bit embarrassed, Kris kept staring at her feet, but her cheeks lost the bright red blush. She listened carefully to the advice, paying particular attention to the second bit. As she was incredibly easy to intimidate, Kris ended up doing much more work than she was supposed to do. It happened at the hospital, and she was sure it was going to happen here. There had been a few days where she had worked far too many hours and had fallen asleep at the hospital. She had stopped doing that after an extremely angry vampire had come looking for her. Quartz forced her to take a few days off work, and she was pretty sure he did something to her boss, since the head nurse never asked her to work that long again. She smiled when she remembered waking up to his face, so worried and angry at the same time. He wasn't here to look after her any more, so she would have to make sure she didn't fall into her old patterns.

"I'll keep that in mind," she said, finally looking up. The elf was smiling, finally, though the expression faded in a moment. "Oh, there's the bus." For all the excitement of the evening, Kris had enjoyed herself, and was almost disappointed to go home. Sighing, she looked back at Caldera. "Well... um, thanks, I guess. You know where to find me." Hopefully the human wouldn't forget about her, especially since Kris still had to find a way to pay her back.

[kris]

"I'll keep that in mind, " she replied, watching Caldera walk away. The elf sighed softly to herself before getting onto the bus, paying the fare and finding herself a seat. Perhaps she would try to find Caldera's friends, or at least try to keep in touch with the crazy lady. Caldera was a bit more impulsive and energetic than Kris would have liked, but was still a good person. The elf waved a bit as the bus pulled past Caldera, smiling as she passed. She felt a lot better now, actually. Like she didn't mind that she didn't know what she was doing. There were people who would help her, if she only looked for them. Maybe Quartz was right, and maybe everyone would betray her if they had the chance, but Kris liked to think that people would also help her out. She didn't want to be mistrustful all her life. It seemed like such a terrible way to live.