[Moofius]

This place was a dump, but then this was where the gross came to live. The Slums, a not to nice of a place but living was cheap and people came in and out of existence without too much trouble. For Briet this was home, or at least as far as she knew.
Curled up under her usual lean-too made of an old mattress, half burned two by fours and cardboard boxes,  Briet was going about life as usual, doing only the necessary. What more did she have ahead of herself? Hopes and dreams were not something she possessed; at least, not as far as she knew. She killed to feed herself and slept for energy to kill to feed herself. A cycle that was never ending, not eventful or “fulfilling” but necessary. Why do more then what was necessary?

The hum of something not quite biological kicked in and Briet placed her large head on powerful paws, ready to drift into the nothingness of her mind until danger set off her sensors or until the moon rose; which ever occurred first. At this time she heard the shouts...

[Moofius]

Rooskenrooskenroosken! Ohboyohboyohboy! Maybe THIS would satisfy that hunger of his. No matter what he did or what he- SHOE!
Om rolled, dodging a rather worn looking thing (right, it was a shoe... or a dead rattegan. Both were fair guesses, actually.) and getting dirt all over his plucked and gutted (awwwh...) roosken. This was why he was being chased; stealing food wasn’t something to be let off lightly, especially to a mutt mekkayena.

“Get back here with that!” the butcher wasn’t about to lose that bit of meat so easily. This particular area of the slums allowed for that roosken, dirty and bitten by what could be a diseased animal, was still worth money.
The mekka wasn’t diseased, just hungry; hungrier then he’d ever been. This hunger was different from most hungers. It came and went but all Om could do was wait it out, or try to feed it. That never worked but... he still tried.

“Hey! Quick! Over here!” Om stopped and turned his head, searching for the voice. It was... coming from under a a pile of garbage?
No time to think (though he did little of that anyway) Om ran down the alley and under the dumpster, shielding his prize from his saviour. One red light, one green; was she built for traffic or something?

[Moofius]

Briet scooted over, allowing the larger mekkayena room in her home. It shielded them from view, mostly. She ducked down behind the cardboard but the other mekka peeked out.
“He’ll see your eyes!” She hissed, roughly grabbing the stranger by the scruff and holding him down. He didn’t yelp in pain, but surprise.
Not a moment later the talk, lank man who had been chasing the one with the roosken stepped into the small amount of light entering the alley; neither mekkayena could watch to see what he was doing and not risk being caught.

“Where did that...?” The man, reeking of the blood of the things she’d spend the day (or maybe the past week, he didn’t seem all that sanitary) cutting up, stormed past the shelter. In any other place other then the slums this set up might have stood out, but this was the slums and garbage was normal; everyday. With a sound something like a roar but less practiced the man continued down the alleyway.
“... That was close...” Briet could have killed the man but creating a scene wasn’t a good idea, even if it was the Slums, “Why did you steal his... And you don’t even care.” Briet frowned, looking at the strange mekka. He wasn’t like her and she wondered if it was her coat that was strange, or his. It was strange for him to have suck matted fur, that was for sure.
“... My name is Briet. Who are you?”

[Moofius]

Om didn’t like this... small mekkayena. She was stupid and bossy and... stupid. Why couldn’t he see what was happening? Angrily he chewed on his bloody prize which eased his anger, at least enough that he wasn’t growling.
When the evil-stabby-slashy man had left Om found himself impressed with Briet (even though he’d been mad at her only moments before). She’d gotten him to go away without killing him or just running until he gave up! She was very smart and she smelled really good/yummy too!
“I go by Om now. Xai’re left me so I got a new name.” Om said with a nod, “Did Xai’re leave you too?”

[Moofius]

Briet wasn’t sure who Xai’re was, besides the god, but he couldn’t mean THE Xai’re. He was just part of some dumb religion some followed; he wasn’t real.
“No I just... Everyone around me had a name so I thought I’d give myself one too. I don’t know this Xai’re so he couldn’t have left me, or whatever you’re talking about.”
Then again she didn’t know much about herself though she was sure therewas nothing really to know, what COULD there be to know?
She looked over at Om, his bright blue eyes starring holes into her. She flinched, scooting away.
“What? ... Is there something wrong?” ‘with you’ she almost added but... something about him right now didn’t feel right. That’s when he passed her the roosken.
“Here,” Om frowned, “Thanks for helping me. I’m going to... sleep.” Then he promptly rolled over and shutdown, faster then she could object.

Knowing how deeply she slept she didn’t bother to try and remove him as she tore into the food. She had to admit, roosken was good.

[Moofius]

Something about her stirred him up. It was a strange feeling, one Om did not recognize. In hopes of trying to understand it he starred at her and he starred.... hard... which only earned him a funny look; no answers. Why couldn’t she tell him? Maybe he could ask? How would he word it? Maybe she didn’t feel it?

The last question felt strange. How could she not feel what he was feeling? It was so strong, it was all he could think about! Looking down at his meal he felt... uninterested. It would not satisfy him.
“Here,” he muttered, dropping the roosken at her feet, “Thanks for helping me. I’m going to... sleep.”
He rolled over and tried to sleep. Before he completely shut down he was left with many questions and few answers. Thinking was complicated, he had to do less of it or something.

[Moofius]

Finding a large chunk of grizzle allowed Briet's thoughts to pass towards the strange mekkayena she'd stumbled upon purely by chance.
Who was it? What was he? What was wrong with him? Where did he come from? He said Xai're, who was that?
Briet didn't know it but she felt the same as Om; many questions and few answers.
Still working on the grizzle, as she wasn't doing this very enthusiastically, the mekkayena wondered why he'd given up his roosken to her. He'd worked hard to steal the thing and had simply... given it up. Was that not strange?

The sky was dark now and the roosken was devoured, none of her questions had been answered, only ideas for answers had been made by her own mind. The stars strained to be seen through the light pollution; there was no way they had the energy to make her "wish" come true and answer Briet's questions.
Wait, stars granted wishes? Another question which spawned more questions. She could have gone on all night but, instead she pushed what little remained of the roosken away and curled up before falling off to sleep. No "dreams" greeted her, just the intense darkness. Had she been able to think or recognise this deep deadness to all things, no sense of touch, sound taste; nothing, she might think that death would be similar to this.

[Moofius]

Clicking whirring and then the coming back to a world of light again, though the light was stunted from the structure he found himself in. As connections were made and his systems came on and the creature uncoiled and stretched out in his mind Om began to remember the events of yesterday; last night in particular. Briet.
Did she dream like he dreamed? Looking at her it seemed that her inner clock had not set her to rise quite yet. He was alone here.
Some of her systems kept her biology running. Om frowned as those feeling awoke again. He didn’t understand them and so he didn’t like them.

Maybe she would tell him how to fix those feelings? Maybe she could tell Om what to do about his constant hunger? Maybe he would satis-
“Wake up...” He growled in his deep, almost dark, voice. Why wasn’t she awake yet? Maybe she was dead maybe he could-
“Good morning...”

[Moofius]

“Good Morning...” The first thing she’d heard that morning was a voice which, in the past, had usually meant some form of trouble for her. Usually it was somebody trying to take her shelter or food, her necessities. This, coupled with the fact that she had just woken up and was just getting herself sorted lead her to stand up and growl at Om. Oh! Om!
“Sorry... Automatic,” He just nodded, understanding what she meant. She stood and gave herself a wake up sort of shake. He was still watching her and Briet was starting to feel... uncomfortable?

“How long have you been up?” She asked as she pulled herself through the opening in her home to exit out onto the exposed alleyway. Well the butcher had given up it seemed, though it would be best not to go anywhere near him or his shop... ever. Again, causing a scene was not on her agenda.

[Moofius]

Om followed after her. She had no natural scent, she only smelled of dirt and grime, nothing body related at all but, then again, he was in the same boat.
“Not long... 37 seconds before you awoke.” He stated, sitting down in front of her home... their home? Maybe she would share? She frowned at him; Briet seemed to do that a lot. She would look at him and frown, it was almost constant. Look, frown, look, frown. Over and over.

“What do we do now?” Om asked which earned him a... surprised look. Well she wasn’t frowning, that was good, right?

[Moofius]

“What?” Briet gasped finally, “I met you yesterday! What do you mean, what do we do now?” Om seemed to be confused by her outburst but not fazed.
“... Weren’t you doing something? I’m not... doing anything.” Briet sighed, scratched at an itchy spot on her side and looked at Om, feeling... well she felt lost.

She had not felt lost until he had said that. What do WE DO now? I mean since when were they “we”? Last night because she’d given him a place to sleep? That wasn’t much of a reason to say we. Why was he making her, what, leader? Did she have any leadership qualities? Om wouldn’t know if she had these qualities, which was the whole thing really, why would a stranger vote her leader of his life?
And why wasn’t she doing anything? Was she suppose to be doing something? Maybe she was, maybe she wasn’t, either way she wasn’t actually doing anything; at all.

[Moofius]

"Maybe we need to do... Something. Doing nothing isn't very fun." Om said, rather thoughtfully. Being around her was good, if very confusing. He didn’t mention if he was doing something it was... hard to remember with that little think sitting on his brain like that. That little thing that fiddled with his wiring and programs.

“Do you.... Eat?” he asked. Maybe if they started doing something, anything, she would then do more somethings. Maybe she just needed somebody to make her think she needed to do something. Maybe that’s what Om could do while Briet answered his questions, in time.

[Moofius]

The creature, Om, was either very poetic or very stupid. Briet wished she could lean towards the first, but from what she understood of his character the latter option was probably more likely. She started to pace as she thought about all this, watching the other mekkayena watch her. He was very intent on her and Briet could not understand why. Perhaps he wanted to use her for something? Maybe he wanted to live off her; eat her food, occupy her home...
No other reason made much sense, not to her.

“Eat?” She chuckled, pointing to what little remained of the bones of the roosken, “What do you think, Om? It is time to begin the day...”
Looking up at the sky she could tell that it was going to be another hot day which meant the town would smell of something fierce. Smelly bodies, unkempt creatures, garbage, human and animal waste and other things would become warm and the smell more prominent in the heat. The slums was not a place even a mekkayena would want to be.
“Let’s hunt then. We will have a hard time finding anything to eat in town, especially with the overwhelming smells.”

Nobody was surprised, scared or happy to see Briet leave her alleyway home. Strange things and people came through this bleak and depressing part of Barakka all the time. A mekkayena was not worth so much as a side glance of which Briet was glad of. She did not want to attract attention to herself or her life. Life was good when nobody hated you or cared for you. This place made it easy for Briet to do nothing.

[Moofius]

They were on the move! It was hard to be still, at least for Om it was. Prancing and panting Om followed Briet, looking around as he went. The people might not be interested in either of them but Om was interested in them. Recording setting and searching for... What? What did he look out for? He shook his head before pawing at his face. It didn’t make sense anymore and his brain hurt. Well anyway he was programmed to record things around him. Briet didn’t seem to have the same thing, or maybe she’d just been here a long time as she didn’t have to record a thing. Where had he come from?
Again he pawed at his face.

“So we could go back to that place where I got that roosken. They gots a lot of dead things there!”
This earned Om an angry glare, one he couldn’t meet. Okay, maybe not that place.
“Where do you get food...?”

[Moofius]

The look Om had been given was anger and a warning; never get food from that place. They’d spent a small portion of the day, but a highly terrifying portion of said day, hiding from an angry butcher. Not because they couldn’t handle themselves in a fight, more because they could a little too well. Her home wasn’t perfect but she didn’t exactly want to lose it because she’d killed someone. As an intelligent, sentient being she had to follow the laws of this land, same as any human. It was either jail or the life of a runaway. Though her current life and that second option were rather similar...

“I hunt.” The statement was short and to the point and a little annoyed; feelings still lingering from the strangely coloured mekkayena’s first suggest.
This area of town was located fairly close to the tengel, a place that was easy enough to find food that was free, gamey, but free and broke no laws.