Daybreak

Spoiler:

As dawn broke over Sunburst City, the bulk of night clubs were beginning to close their doors. The patrons of 'The Office' that were still present, whether they were draped unconsciously on the floor and furniture or carelessly shambling around in a drunken stupor, were being ushered [and occasionally dragged] out by the staff. It was a fairly quick process, if you had no moral qualms about throwing a bunch of comatose persons out the back door.

Ranai did not, of course. She paid the avian she was lugging across the room no mind as he began to stir, and simply grunted as she used her hip to send the back door crashing open. There was a swath of people coming to on the dirty concrete, no doubt barely remembering last nights previous endeavours. The lioness simply grunted once more as she threw the bird boy into the fray, sending him crashing into another drunken customer.

Before any of the more aware and awake member of the group formed outside their back door could try to get back in, Ranai turned and ducked back into the doorway. She wiped her hands together as the door slammed shut behind her, satisfied by the click of the door locking. By a quick surveillance of the main floor, it was easy for the foreign lioness to deduce that her work here was done. After a quick adjustment of her suit and a rub of her eyes, the sunglasses toting bouncer was out of 'The Office' and on her way home.

She lingered outside the front of the nightclub, expressionlessly observing the sun rise in the distance. Ranai's ears twitched and she shifted, quietly observing the area. Had she just heard something...?

{Current posting order: Zane -> Ranai -> Ozzy -> Vincent}

Zane came walking down the sidewalk in the early morning with his hands in his pockets. He hummed a tune to himself as he strolled along with his tail swing to and fro with each of his long strides. He wasn't really paying any attention to where he was going he was just wandering about.

It seems her ears had not betrayed her after all. Ranai watched the man stroll down the street, quickly giving him a once-over. It was a habit from her darker days, a way to check for threats. Though in the past she had people accuse her of ogling them, but she didn't fret over that. She wasn't without her shades, after all, as she had just gotten of work and they were a fairly necessary aspect for what she did.

After having dismissed him as harmless, Ranai was about to ignore him entirely and make her way home when something on his person caught her eye. She recognised the symbol all right, but it was the first occurrence she had seen it worn by someone other than herself. On his arm was the square heart symbol, was it not? Yes, she hadn't been mistaken.

The lioness was frozen were she stood, staring down the boy as he continued on down the street, likely oblivious to her scrutiny. As he was about to pass her down the street, Ranai spoke up, her voice rough and her english broken.

"Early morning for leetle man, ja?"

Perhaps it wasn't the wisest to address him as so, but it was a habit she had yet to kick. Standing at a fairly impressive height of 6'1" herself, Ranai had taken to calling even those who were taller than her 'little' or 'leetle', as she pronounced it.

Zane didn't pay much mind to the individual he passed until they addressed him. He stopped walking and his humming faded after a moment before he turned to face the individual who was just a bit shorter than he was, "I don't know about little but . . ." he said trailing off as he noticed how tough the lioness before him looked.

After a few moments he got the courage up to speak again, "I-I'm just out for an e-early morning stroll is all . . . umm what are you d-doing up so early?" he questioned with obvious timidness in his voice. By now Zane had brought his tail up and held it in his hands as was his nervous habit.

Ranai's lip twitched up into what could barley pass as a smile as the boy addressed the issue of his height. Until she learned his name, of course, 'leetle man' was the best he would be referred to as. Her attitude towards him seemed to shift as she heard the timidness in his voice. That slight slip of courage in front of her was all the lioness needed to seal the deal of how she would handle this stranger. And that was, of course, as it was with all others who acted as he did, to act as a guardian for them. The Lioness' face remained indifferent as it had before, as the change was more...internal, if you will.

"Vork", she replied gruffly, jabbing her elbow backwards to indicate the nightclub behind her.

Although she was a woman of few words, she assumed he would be able to deduce what she meant if he could understand her through her accent. It wasn't often, but she had met some who had claimed not to understand her speaking mannerisms. The silence stretched on for a few moments more, and Ranai coughed. This was were one introduced themselves, no? She wasn't sure- Conversation had never been one of her better points, even when conversing in her native tongue.

The lioness took a tentative step forward, as if worried that her conversation partner of sorts would bolt at any given moment. She looked him over once more with hard eyes and than suddenly thrust her arm forward in a jerky, awkward manner. It was possible the sudden movement could startle the nervous boy, but Ranai was thinking of nothing other than trying to initiate a handshake. She had not considered the other possibilities.

"Ranai. Leetle mans name is?"

Zane noticed what he deduced to be somewhat of a smile which help put him at ease somewhat. He listened to the lioness' single word response and after a moment realized that she meant work.

He was pretty good with accents since there was a variety of thick accents where he was from so he figured it would be pretty easy to communicate with her. Zane jumped a bit as she stuck her hand out abruptly and introduced herself as Ranai. After a moment a nervous smile spread across his face as he let go of his tail and took her hand giving it a firm shake, "N-nice to meet you Ranai. I'm . . . my name is Zane" he replied less nervously than before but still obviously so.

Zane released her hand after the shake putting it in his pocket as he did earlier with his other one. His smile got less nervous after a moment as he asked, "So uh I was on my way . . . well I mean I wasn't going anywhere but now I plan to go get some hot tea at this one place and I uh . . . you wanna come with?"

An appreciative rumble sounded in Ranai's throat as she met his firm grip in the handshake. A good handshake was a sign of a good person. Probably. Her judgement wasn't always the best but she'd already disregarded any thought that he was a threat, so she had no immediate reasons to doubt her judgement.

"Zane", she echoed, nodding. It was a good name, and now that she knew his name she could curb her habit of calling him 'leetle man'. Not that it was something she'd noted had bothered him, but it had been a disturbance in her past.

"Tea, ja?" Ranai mused over it silently for a few minutes, her mind drifting through her habitual walk home. It was still early, and Nicole wouldn't be waking up any time soon. She could push the little angel fish out of her mind for now. They lived in a good neighbourhood, after all. The lioness was still stuck in a fair amount of her old underground mannerisms, however. It wasn't exactly her fault, old habits were hard to kick, any ways.

Her ears twitched, and she raised a hand to remove her sunglasses. In a single swift movement she closed them and tucked them into the pocket of her suit. Ranai fixed Zane with a steady gaze and than took a few steps towards him, swivelling at the last moment so she was standing on the same side of the street as him. The lioness bent her arm out in an invitation to lock arms as children might.

"Lead za vay".

Slowly coasting along the road on her way to an early shift at the library, One of the pedestrians on the sidewalk caught Naomi's eye. 'Oh, Zane... wonder what's he's doing up so early?' she thought, coming to a halt at a light at the intersection next to the tall fur and lioness he was talking to. "Z-zane... um, h-hi..." she called out, barely loud enought to be heard over the purring of her bike's engine. She waved slightly, hoping to catch his attention, but not the surrounding people's. She hoped he wasn't annoyed with her trying to draw his attention, but she had so few friends, and she always wanted to greet them whenever she saw them.

The others hear audible laughing as Ozzy chuckles at the drunks, pointing and giggling childishly at them. After his hysteria and random moment, he creeps out of the alley to find Zane chatting to a rather attractive and nicely built local bouncer, who he'd never encountered before. Ozzy walks out and clumsily knocks over a trash bin, the loud metallic noises it makes disturbing the local area. Quickly and hastily, he disappears back into the alley and hides.

His tail picks up the rubbish that fell out of it, and he looks around at the drunks, who each seem to have a tipsy and irritated expression. Following this, Ozzy runs back out of the alley, and off down the road in the pair's direction, trying to avoid the angered and drunken civilians.

]]Whoops, looks like Ranai's gonna get surrounded by others![[

Vince had been driving his bike for most of the morning, at least while it was still dark. Now that the sun was finally starting to show it's face, more people would be out on the streets to get to(or from) work, so his was fun and alone time was coming to and end. Not to mention, he had to put his goggles on now. There went the crispness of the world, at least until dusk. It was either that, or risk losing his eyesight.

He slowed down as he noticed piles of groggy and drunk clubbers, not actually used to that sight. He never really drove through this part of Sunburst at this time. he slowed to a stop and noticed a few others who seemed much more aware of their surroundings. A tall lioness very close to, if not at, his own height caught his interest the most out of them. Compelled to say hello, he rode up beside them at a slow pace.

"'Ello, ma'am! Lovely morning, eh?" he asked in an attempt to strike up a conversation. Whether he was flirting, or just really eager to get to know the lioness was yet to be determined.

Zane watched Ranai with curiosity, she was an interesting individual even though she didn't really show many feelings outwardly. He got a bit nervous when she started walking towards him but as she turned and extended out her bent arm he relaxed again as he slipped his arms around her's locking their arms together.

After locking arms with Ranai his ears twitched as he heard a sound. He looked around to find the source which he eventually found to be Naomi at the nearby light. Zane waved to her, "Hey there Naomi, off to work?" he questioned with a smile. He heard some crashing noises and laughter before that which he easily deduced to be Ozzy. He tried his best to ignored him and keep his focus on Naomi.

Zane leaned a bit closer to Ranai and whispered to her, "After I finish speaking to Naomi we'll go, alright?". After he finished whispering he looked up at the new arrival who spoke to Ranai and he mentally facepalmed realizing that it was gonna be quite a while before he would be able to go with Ranai for tea.

(*giggle* sorry Zane :3 also: ranai's posting order thing is good idea, but I'ma break it.. srry!)

Naomi blushed and tried to shrink back into herself as all of the people started converging at once. 'Gosh, I run into people a lot, don't I?' she thought to herself. She smiled tentatively at Zane. "Y-yes, I'm headed there n-now... W-wanted to g-get some b-bok r-rebound" She glaced shyly at Zane's companion. "W-who is t-this?' she asked curiously.

Ranai's expression was impassive as he greeted a familiar face. She was just going to wait for the pleasantries to be over so they could continue on their way. However, the lioness was impressed that such an individual was riding a bike. The lioness admired it silently for a few moments as Zane and his friend - Naomi? conversed amongst themselves. She nodded as he whispered too, echoing his message once more.

"Ja. After."

Her ears prickled and Ranai went rigid as laughter echoed from a place she couldn't locate, follow by the clanging of a garbage can. The lioness' head jerked up to locate the source of all the commotion, her eyes finding the dark furred individual hurtling down the street in their general direction. Forgetting once more that this was a good neighbourhood and not the underground where she romped as a child, Ranai's knees buckled and she prepared herself to engage in combat if necessary when the purr of a motorcycle broke her focus.

The lioness seemed to momentarily deflate, staring at the individual on the motorcycle blankly without replying for quite a few minutes after her spoke to her. She nearly missed overhearing the feline question Zane as to who she was, but Ranai felt that he was capable of introducing her. Regaining her composure, she studied the fellow on the bike through narrowed eyes, her expression remaining aloof. He didn't appear to be an immediate threat, as he wasn't acting hostile. There really wasn't danger lurking at every corner around these parts. It was nearly baffling to her, but she was getting carried away with her thoughts and drifting away from reality.

Ranai blinked herself back into the present and focused on the red-skinned eel like creature riding what appeared to be a rather slick bike. She would've liked to dismiss him quickly and move on to tea with Zane, but his earring convinced her otherwise. Still, the street was seeming to get crowded rather fast for this early in the morning, and Ranai couldn't shake the feeling of this being somewhat remnant of one of her shifts at work. For that to be true however, she'd have to be in control of the situation, which in despair she realized she was not.

It had been quite a few minutes previous to when he had spoken, and far too much silence had spread between them. Ranai cleared her throat, realizing that it would do well for her to speak now.

"Morning early for so much noise", the lioness said brusquely. It wasn't meant as an insult to him but rather her assessment of her current situation. This morning certainly contained more action than other mornings after her shift did.

"Veather is nice. Lovely fit description", she added in as an after thought, having considered the stranger was not talking about her opinion.

{ well uh, okay than, llama! but do you think we can try to keep it going now, for simplicity's sake...? :'0c i just think it's a fairly important aspect but maybe that's just me?

and haha yes amburr, yes she is.

also tacked in a reminder of the current posting order (which i do hope we will be able to use) on the bottom of the opening post.

it is scrolly and therefore amusing. i shall commence staring at it for minutes on end.}

Ozzy stops running, confident that he's left the drunks in his dust, and collapses onto a bench, breathless for a moment, before leaning up and sighing. It was far too early to be running, or doing any sort of physical exercise for that matter. He clawed the bench briefly, the furs sitting on it moving away from him slowly, trying not to seem rude doing so but ultimately failing.

As the silence between them grew longer, Vince began to feel more and more awkward. Perhaps she wasn't as social as he had planned? He was about to clear his throat and apologize for his intrusion when she spoke.

"Aha! You do talk, then!" A grin spread on his face. "That's quite the thick accent ya got there. I'm Vincent, but call me Vince. I run a garage and shop where I make, sell, and fix motor bikes, if yer ever interested," he introduced himself, holding out a hand(fin?) for a handshake. The grin had not left his face, and if she were able to see past his black goggles, she could see a spark of playfulness form in his eyes.

"Also, the ladies sometimes call me Vinny." This would be the part where he winks, but unfortunately his goggles got in the way there. Yup. He was flirting.

]]DeepmawwhatareyoudoinginVincent'smind snmfhwes[[

Zane smiled as he replied to Naomi, "Oh this is Ranai. We were umm just about to go get some tea so we better get going. You have fun at work." After he finished speaking with her he noticed the traffic light change so he took a slight step forward giving Ranai's arm a small tug in an attempt to get her moving and get them on their way to get some tea.

He wasn't sure who this Vinny guy was but at the current moment him and his attitude was rubbing Zane the wrong way. He managed to ignore it mostly but it still sorta bothered him and made him want to leave with Ranai all the quicker.

Ranai's eyes flicker between the creature on the bench and the fish boy before her briefly before her attention fixes on this...Vinny fellow. She nodded as he spoke of her accent. It was fairly thick and something people occasionally couldn't understand, but if he could deduce her speech it wasn't really a problem. Her eyes widened slightly as he told her of his profession. Bikes were something relevant to her interests, after all. Some of the gangs who had cash to spare had bikes, but they never lasted long in the underground. The corners of her mouth sagged as reality hit her, and she shook her head.

"Interested, ja. Vallets interest is not so much", Ranai stated, chuckling.

The Office paid her fairly well, but the bulk of her money went to taking care of and supporting herself and Nicole. The lioness didn't really have the cash to spare on an indulgence like a motorbike, despite the fact that she would very much like to. As he introduced himself, Ranai was blind to his flirtatious manners.

She was very oblivious in the wooing part of romance. It had never been one of her good points, nor was it something really used where she grew up. There was no lead-up to what happened there, and it wasn't always consensual. Ranai grit her teeth at the memory and rubbed her temples in an attempt to shoo such thoughts away. It was time for her to focus.

"Vinny", she echoed with a nod, pronouncing it as Vin-eh. "Feesh boy has good name".

The lioness extended the arm that wasn't interlocked with Zane's to meet his handshake when Zane tugged on her arm and she stumbled forward slightly, looking confused. Ranai glanced first at the traffic light and then at Zane, understanding that they needed to cross now. She nodded and began to move, turning her head back and locking eyes with Vinny. Ranai jerked her head to the side slightly, as if inviting him to follow them. To her, he hadn't seemed like bad company, after all.

(I'ma ow out gracefully here: Naomi is after all on her way to work! Have fun guys :3)

{Oh, okay. :0 I'll update the posting order but I believe it's Ozzy's turn to post now?}

Able to breath now, he notices Naomi with that eel-dude.. Vince was it?
He also noticed a familiar face, Zane, not to mention a tough-looking lioness who he recognised as the bouncer of a nearby club, and wonders why they're all together. Maybe they're all out for a meeting with each other, would I be interrupting? Ozzy thought to himself.

Deciding to say hello, just to be friendly, he'd be noticed anyway, he creeps up from the bench and pads over to the four, grinning nervously.
"H-Hey there everyone, heh."