CoR Catching Strays

Script

Script

Adorable Homewrecker
Benefactor
Location
Bordeau (neighbourhood bordering Cascastel and Audrieu; Greypelt territory)
The early evening air was beginning to take on a chill as the last remnants of the afternoon's light threatened to be swallowed by an overcast sky before the sun had even finished its descent over Lutetia's backstreets, and AJ was already beginning to regret not bothering to grab a jacket on his way out earlier. As if he needed any more help to be in a terrible mood after being stuck peddling cheap crack to desperate hobos all afternoon, the air had started to smell like rain, and his threadbare old check shirt wasn't doing much to keep out the cold. At least the shelter of the alley he was lurking in the mouth of served to shield him from the wind.

He let out a heavy sigh, stuffing a hand into his pocket to pull out one of the cheap cigarettes he'd lifted from a customer earlier in the day, lighting up and taking a deep drag to at least bring a little warmth into his lungs, if nowhere else. It was fine. Just a few more hours of this crap and he could go home. Better to be rained on all night than to piss Luther off by not hitting quota.

He'd tilted his head back to rest it against the brickwork, gazing up at the grey skies, when the sound of approaching footsteps interrupted his brooding reverie. His nose wrinkled with distaste, catching the familiar scent before he shifted his eyes down to their source.

"AJ, my man," Dirk wore a slimy smirk as he sauntered up to him, hands tucked in the pockets of his sweater. The only thing slimier than his attitude was his hair -- AJ could never tell if it was product or just grease that kept it slicked back. He always stank like a chem lab anyway. "You still out pushing? Sucks to be you. Shaking up to piss it down soon, I reckon."

"The fuck do you want, Dirk?" AJ rolled his eyes irritably. "You have something worthwhile to say or did you just come here to talk shit?"

Dirk snorted, raising an eyebrow at him. "Stick up your ass is especially spiky today, huh? Nah. I'm just doing the rounds, so don't get too excited, Princess. Boss wants more eyes on our borders, 'case anyone gets any ideas thinking we're not watching our flanks just 'cause we're making moves on the old Scion turf. Shit you'd know if you ever came by the club."

"Whatever," AJ shrugged, settling back against the wall and folding his arms. "Fuck all's going on here, so you can keep walking, and stop stinking up my spot."

A flash of irritation crossed Dirk's face, and AJ tensed as he took a step closer, leaning in. "Listen, Aids. Luther might find that big yappy mouth of yours funny enough to keep you around, but if you think that means I won't put you on the fucking floor if you don't mind who you point it at, you're more fucking deluded than I thought."

Before he could even think to catch himself, AJ had already opened his mouth to snap back. "Yeah, well maybe if you'd ever come within a fucking mile of a can of deoderant, Luther wouldn't have you out here walking fucking circles just to keep your rancid ass out of-"

He didn't finish his sentence before all the wind was suddenly knocked out of him by a violent fist to his gut, doubling him over and causing him to spit his cigarette out onto the ground with a wheeze, struggling to pull in another breath. Dirk grabbed him by the hair and yanked him back upright, pressing his head against the wall and leaning in close enough that spittle splashed over his face with every word. "Watch. Your fucking. Mouth. You wanna talk shit, Aids? Make sure you can back it up, 'cause trust me, I'm not the only one who'd be happy to take a thrashing from Luther if it meant the satisfaction of wringing your scrawny fucking neck."

It was all AJ could do to rasp a breath in, struggling ineffectually against Dirk's grip before the larger man eventually shoved him away hard enough to throw him to the ground.

"You're lucky you're not worth my time," Dirk muttered, spitting on the ground next to him. AJ said nothing, clenching his fists and keeping his eyes turned toward the ground so the other wolf wouldn't see his hateful glare. A few more tense seconds passed before Dirk eventually scoffed, turning and walking away. AJ listened to the sound of his footsteps receding away until he couldn't hear them any longer, and only then did he pull himself back to his feet, holding a hand to his gut with a grimace.

Never could just keep his fucking mouth shut, could he?

He leaned against the wall again -- more heavily now -- and reached into his pocket for another cigarette, only to find the pack empty. He groaned, letting his head flop back against the wall again. "Fucking fantastic," he muttered.

This day couldn't be over soon enough.
 
The aftermath of that idiot pissing all over the back of Thorje's shop and then the Bloodstone's showing up had been shit. That was how Kori would personally describe it. Thorje was wrung so tight after that, since they had dared talk back and all especially. And refused to clean absolutely everything on their own. That Kori hadn't had anything to eat for the entire day. Well, after breakfast. And once again Thorje decided they were Not allowed to sleep in his home...

So they were hungry, but at least they had gathered a decent amount of cigarettes by making puppy eyes at approximately thirty people during their exploration. Which meant stealing 30 somethings from Thorje's stash and skipping work tomorrow in protest. And leaving early in search of a good meal. They had spent two in a pretty filling but unhealthy as heck pastry and smoked one of their newly earned cigs to kill the rest of their hunger.

The streets, depending on where you were, looked more or less dangerous. Sometimes Kóri caught an interesting scent they followed for a bit. They found a restaurant they could not afford, a shop of perfumes, a leather artisan's stand... And eventually, after climbing on a low roof, the scent of wolf!. It wasn't Lark, it was a different guy, and they followed it for a few blocks until they looked down into an alley and saw him. Someone else was leaving. A different wolf?.

"HAY! Coming down!" They shouted exactly two seconds before jumping onto a raised part of the wall, then a bit further down. Five seconds later they were on the first floor and dropped to the floor without thinking about it much. If anything cracked, which it didn't, it'd heal fast. And it never hurt!.

"Hallow, you smell like wolf!" They smiled at the complete stranger right after dropping in front of him. From the height of the buildings' first floor.
 
Kori's sudden leap down into the alley with him almost had AJ falling right back onto his ass. As it was, he startled sharply enough to literally jump, bumping back against the wall with a half-strangled curse. "Fucking hell!"

When it became apparent that the new arrival wasn't in fact jumping him, but simply jumping next to him, AJ managed to shove his heart back down out of his throat and take a breath, shooting Kori a furious glare -- though it was diluted somewhat by bewildered confusion at their opening statement. "You-- what?"

He stared at them incredulously. Tall, white haired and muscular, they stood out like a sore thumb and might have had an imposing presence were it not for the downright puppy-like demeanour they seemed to have. They were definitely not from around here.

"What the fuck is your problem, man?" He snarled after a moment. "You fucking jumpscare the wrong person like that you're gonna get a fucking bullet in your head sooner than later. And who the fuck just walks up to someone and comments on their smell?"

Belatedly, he realised the irony of saying that after he'd just gotten his ass kicked for commenting on Dirk's BO, but that was different. He'd intended to piss Dirk off, after all.
 
They watched AJ's big scare and reaction with a bemused expression, their brow furrowing incrementally as he spoke very fast. Which meant Kóri understood very little. Only that he was prickly and angry, because they must have scared him or something.

"I didn't say you smell bad, just, wolf. You are wolf, yes? You are wolf, I am fox. I am... Trying to find, um... Sorry." They had to stop for a moment to think and find the right words.

"Sorry for the jump. I am Kóri. New here, want more friends." They said, trying again and smiling this time. They hadn't moved an inch either since AJ got scared, staying still enough to be a statue. Like when they wanted to go unnoticed while hunting. Because they didn't want to startle him again, or piss him off more.
 
"And your networking strat is jumping down on people off of rooftops? I dunno how it works wherever you're from, buddy, but round here that's a good way to wind up bleeding out in an alley." AJ scoffed and rolled his eyes, then paused, squinting at them. "What're you doing right now? You're just-- you're doing a weird statue thing, and it's creeping me out. Stop it."

Why did he always get the fucking weirdos?

He ran a hand through his hair, letting his nerves settle fully after the jumpscare and sighing wearily. "Listen Snowdrop, this isn't the part of town you wanna go canvassing for buddies. Go join a theatre group or something, you'll live longer. If you're not buying, I've not got time for you."
 
They did so, they stopped standing still as death and rubbed their forearm instead, their head hanging a bit low as they pouted.

"I am sorry... I don't- I the language is hard right now and you speak fast. I, um can't buy? Don't know what you mean. Don't have money, don't know how to make money here." They only had what they had stolen from their uncle. What was a snowdrop? Like a snowflake?.

Kori's mind was racing as they tried to both understand everything and explain them self as efficiently as possible. They sighed and closed their eyes for a moment. A smoke would be nice.
 
AJ ran a hand over his face. Of course there was a language barrier, too. As if this needed to be more of an ordeal. "Okay, let me make this simple for you, then," he muttered.

"I am a drug dealer," he stated, deliberately slowly. "I am selling drugs. If you don't have money, fuck off, so you aren't keeping my customers away. I have quotas to hit, and you're not helping."

There was a brief pause before he continued.

"Also, if you jump down on people like that around here, you will probably get shot. So fucking don't."
 
They pouted a little, what a change of pace with this guy, compared to Lark. And to the nice people who had given them cigarettes. They also suspected their slowed down speech was meant to mock them a bit, but it actually helped a lot and this time Kóri understood everything the wolf said.

"Thank you for, uh, saying I need more care in this zone." They said first, because they didn't know scaring someone might get them literally shot. Thank fuck this guy hadn't. In a way, it was lucky they hadn't run into someone worse. But this one was already a sparky kind of mean, or so it seemed.

"Maybe I buy another time, when there is more money. But um. You sell more, if you less mean. I think. Unless mean and pretty work better?" They added, making absolutely no effort to fuck off. And instead taking out and lighting a cigarette. Kori had no fucking idea how to sell drugs. In the village they got high on mushrooms or other more natural stuff. They would definitely give everything at least one try though.
 
"Thanks for the advice, Snowdrop, I never thought of that one before," AJ rolled his eyes, exasperated. What was this guy's problem? He thought that 'fuck off' had been pretty clear, but maybe somehow they hadn't picked up that particular phrase. "I'm not doing door-to-door soliciting, here, or hawking a fucking street stall. People who come to me don't give a fuck about the customer service, they just want their fix. They put up with worse than me for that."

As Kóri pulled out a cigarette, though, AJ's eyes immediately flicked to it. Maybe he could get something out of this weird-ass interaction after all.

He sighed, running his hand down his face before folding his arms. "Okay, whatever-- what is it you want, exactly? Bum me a cig and I'll hear you out," he grumbled, gesturing at the cigarette with a flick of one hand for emphasis just in case his request wasn't understood.
 
Ahh okay, Mr. Little and mean's attitude changed a bit when there was finally something Kóri had that he didn't, and that he wanted. Only a bit though. They wondered if it was mostly a tough guy act or if that was all there was to him. Hopefully not. Mean friends came handy more often than not.

"Hm, I want help. Want friends. Want help finding ways to make money. Uncle Thorje keep calling me mutt, mutt, mutt, kick me out, won't give food. Don't want to be there." They said with a little growl, and taking out another cigarette that they offered to the wolf. Then they lit their own and some tension that had built as they talked about their uncle eased off when they took a drag and then let the smoke out of their mouth. Did the wolf have a lighter? They asked without asking, offering their own with a gesture.
 
Last edited:
It was a story as old as Lutetia. Small-brained assholes taking the easy excuse to treat people like shit. Kóri didn't need to be eloquent with the language for their voice to convey how they felt about this uncle of theirs.

AJ took the cigarette and held it out for them to light, taking a long drag and leaning back against the wall with a relieved sigh. "Sounds shitty," he replied with a slight shrug. "Least he's not kicked you to the curb yet. Family's not worth shit anyway."

If 'mutt' was the worst of it, they had it easy, as far as he was concerned. Their uncle must not be especially imaginative.

"'Fraid it's you and half the city that wants ways to make money. You think I'd be out here pushing this shit if I had a better way to make cash?" AJ scoffed. "Trust me, I wasn't making crayon drawings of being harrassed by a crackhead when they asked my elementary class what we wanted to be when we grew up."
 
With the cigarettes lit, Kóri watched AJ. They understood most of what he said, except the last sentence. Something about a drug addict. Whatever. If he was going to be rude and act on interest, then Kóri didn't need to understand every word that came out of his mouth. He'd likely tell them if there was something else he wanted.

"Very helpful, many thank yous for nothing?" They said, lifting an eyebrow and taking another drag from their own cigarette. But before they could say or do much else, like leaving, the fucking SKY turned red. Holy fuck what?!. The sky turned red, they stared up at it open mouthed and it started raining. Pouring. Kóri jumped a bit to the side and hit the wall. They put a hand against it, to feel something that grounded them, at least.
 
AJ had opened his mouth to give Kóri a smarmy reply to their retort, and it stayed hanging open as his attention was drawn up to the sky. He gawked in stunned silence (a rarity for him) for several seconds before he hissed out a quiet curse. "Fuck me, what the fuck?"

It took him a few moments to even react to the sudden deluge, and the only thought that crossed his mind was that Luther definitely wasn't going to buy 'the sky turned red' as an excuse for not hitting quota. Not unless it was heralding the actual apocalypse, and even then he'd probably try and look for a way to profit off of it.

"This fucking city..." he muttered eventually, running a hand down his face. "I don't think I even wanna know."
 
The rain proceeded to ruin Kóri's cheap mascara that they were wearing. Luckily it was white, not black, so it didn't look as dramatic as it could have. It was still a bit disturbing though. The fox took off their jacket, quietly amused at the amount of times the word fuck left AJ's mouth in very little time. They held it up as a makeshift umbrella that covered their fiery acquaintance and only half of themself.

"Want to get hot drinks? Find other rain cover? I have no money, but enough for few drinks." They told him with a small smile. Then frowned and repeated part of it. "I have... small bit of money. Can share? for hot drinks, more talk, less fuck fuck fuck." They said, jokingly imitating AJ's tone in those last few words. Mostly, they were thinking that they could hang out a little bit longer, at least while AJ figured where he was going to go sell drugs next, with the rain.
 
AJ gave Kóri an incredulous look. He would've thought they were funny in the head to ask him if he wanted to get drinks together just after the way their conversation had been going, but doing it after the sky had turned red? Clearly they were living in a different world altogether. Maybe they'd understood too little of what he'd been saying to them to realise he'd been being a bitch to them for half of it?

The question was whether he'd rather put up with more of their irritating insistence on talking to him, or being rained on like it was fucking monsoon season. Ultimately, he decided tuning one annoying idiot out was probably a better deal than staying out in the downpour, especially if he got a free drink out of it. He had enough practice, after all.

He let out a sigh. "Fine, whatever. Not selling shit out in this anyway, might as well take a break." And more importantly, none of the pack were liable to be checking up on him while the weather bad this either. He'd taken worse excuses to slack off before, and if the world was actually ending, he'd rather have a drink in his hand for it than not. "There's a cheap place just down the road over Cascastel side. Won't run into anyone I know there," he pushed off the wall and nodded his head for Kóri to follow as he started trudging down the street. Technically they'd be crossing into Bloodstone territory, but it wasn't like the Greypelts were actively at odds with them right now. Probably. If they were, nobody had told him.
 
In the end, Kóri ended up having a pretty good time with the little man they dubbed Kitten bitch. In deep Aanaran and never revealing to him the meaning of the nickname of course. Maybe the rain eroded some of the sharpness in his tongue, or cooled his temper. But he wasn't that bad, kinda charming if you squinted. Awful taste in coffee though, but they did seem to have opposite tastebuds. Seeing how Kóri got a black coffee with barely any sugar and AJ got an excessively sweet ice coffee with a shot of liquor in it.

They stayed until the rain cleared. It was nice. Kóri got AJ to speak a little bit about the pack he ran with, the Greypelts. He told them about their territory, that they were assholes and in his own bitchy way, according to Kóri, warned them about the danger they posed. It was a little bit cute. The fox also tried some light flirting, but their lutetian was so broken that they weren't sure if it was translating well, AJ seemed to find it non offensive and at least a bit funny though. So even if their intentions weren't clear, they were satisfied. Being laughed at was preferred over Mr. Kitten bitch getting offended and storming off.

They discovered that both of them knew Lark, and Kóri had a good laugh when AJ frowned, scowled and pouted when they said that Lark was great. It was what they thought, though. Not everyone bought a stranger a drink and let them use their couch. Kóri didn't really forget those gestures.

Overall, from Kóri's perspective it was fun. It was worth paying for AJ's gross drink. But when the rain cleared they wanted to keep exploring the city. And AJ had work to catch up on. So after Kóri bugged him for his pictogram enough times, they exchanged contacts and parted ways. After taking ten steps, Kóri sent the first cutesy sticker. By the end of the day, they had sent another 5.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top