[Moofius]

That was a lot of classified information. If Moofius wasn't so intent on hiding how she felt about all this she'd probably march out of the library right then and there, find the Leader and baby shake him. But whatever the Leader wished for her to do she'd do it.
It was just... It was a lot to trust to somebody else, you know?
She waited politely and patiently for Ioma to stop talking. She had to recite what he'd just told her back (she might be younger then him but she wasn't an idiot! She'd remember!) before she finally got up and left the library.

The halls were as they always were; dark and castley. Most would think creepy but having grown up here this place was so homey. It had it's dark areas, but even humans had places in their homes they didn't like. The most cliche being attics and basements. But anyway, she had to boogey on out of here and find this representative, up in the human realm.

This was suppose to come naturally but Moofius wasn't a Chaos by natural means. Even so she felt pretty failure-esque that she had to try so hard to do something that the rest described as: "as easy and as natural as blinking your eyes." I mean you'd feel like a bit of a failure too.
Moofius sighed, relaxed and tried to gather her element, the Hunger about herself. The few other Chaos down this hall instantly bubbled away from here as the darkness coiled about. Then she was gone and the chaos continued going about their business, as if they hadn't been completely terrified by one, rather nonthreatening (looking) woman.

Alley ways are usually dark, it's just in their nature to be dark, but this particular one in the town of Nabias had suddenly darkened in more ways then just becoming darker through a lack of light. The darkness dispersed and Moofius shook her hands out. The feeling the Hunger going out of her body was amazing! Trying to lock it back up? Not near as much fun. It still bruised her when she teleported, it was tougher then it needed to be.
"Darn it, what street am I on?" Moofius muttered as she walked down the aley. She stepped around boxes and garbage and gross dirty puddles. The sound of her hooves against the pavement, luckily, did not draw attention to her. But then the clack missed, it sounded wrong. Moofius looked down and.
"Aw! AWW! GROSS! SICK!!" Moofius growled, turned and kicked her ABC gummed hoof in a weak attempt to get it off.
She killed, she waded through a sewer once, took on experiments in the Tengel and yet... She was defeated by gum. Prechewed gum. Pathetic.
"Darn it! Get off!" She scraped her goof against the wall of the nearest building. The gun was off but the victory was short lived as Moofius was now losing her balance. She didn't know she was so close to the opening of alley to sidewalk nor did she notice how close that other person was.
By the time she did it was too late.

The two were actually sprawled out on the sidewalk, Moofius on top of the stranger. She would have been more upset but then she'd also caused this.
"Eek! Sorry, sorry! There was gum and... Are you alright?" Moofius asked, getting off her victim as quick as she could. Hopefully there wasn't any gum on the sidewalk, eek.

[Jaykobell]

"Just go there and meet that person. Just go there and do that so very complicated and difficult thing for us, since we're too vain and lame to do it ourselves."

She muttered to herself as she walked down the sidewalk with her hands in her pockets. Her bottom lip was sticking out, a frown plastered on her face, clearly showing displeasure. When she was taken in by that organization, she had no idea they were all going to be such wimpy ladies about everything; and that's about everything. The guys were always giving orders around, they didn't care about their employees, they were always insulting you about every little mistake, and the list goes on for ever and ever. She hated how they were always so self-centered and obsessed with themselves. She doesn't care about people giving her orders, but those idiots couldn't even breathe all by themselves. Bleh. Stupid science people.

So her mission was to get to a certain place to meet with a certain person because the certain person she would meet at the certain place would have a certain message to give her. So in a nutshell: go there, meet the person, get the message, come back. Was this really so hard that she had to do it? Because she wasn't a higher-up didn't mean she couldn't do anything. She'd have to push someone out of a window to get better conditions or something. She did the job only for the money and only to have a place to live. If she had another choice, she'd go with it, oh yes... but at the moment, the organization provided everything she needed for her: shelter, money, food, a bed, everything. The only problem were the people themselves: most were just stupid jerks. There's a difference determination and being a jerk. Or maybe respect was the problem here; no matter how much she'd do and how well she'd do it, they were seemingly never satisfied. She grumbled. "If you wanna do it your way, do it yourself..." she muttered, making a pouty face as she walked down the street.

She hadn't noticed the alley, nor had she noticed the woman coming from it, and by the time she had notice, the two women had collided, the stranger on top and her right on the asphalt. Ow! Oww. What the heck had happened? She was so busy complaining about people in her head she hadn't been paying attention.

She blinked and looked up, seeing the stranger standing up in front of her. "Ow ow..." She sat up and brought a hand behind her head. Well, no bleeding. Yeah, it had only been a small fall, but you never know! Asphalt is dangerous, and nobody was gonna tell her otherwise. She eventually got up, shaking her head and blinking again before she looked at the stranger she had bumped in. "I'm okay!" she confirmed with a nodded and a sheepish smile. "I'm at fault too, I wasn't looking ahead," she admitted, sticking a hand behind her head and the other on her hip, her tongue sticking out in embarrassment. "Uh, do you need help?" That stranger had just... popped up from a dark alley. That girl could be a criminal for all she knew! Oh dear. Getting into trouble wasn't something that would make her superiors happy. But yeah, there was no telling, maybe that girl was just looking for something?

[Moofius]

She was like a spring! Moofius hadn't even had a time to offer the girl her hand when she was already up.
"Er, well, even if you had been looking ahead I would have blind sided you. Sorry about that. Alleys are really gross but it's no excuse for me to have not been paying attention to where I was going."
Seeing that she didn't have to help the girl up she had no idea what to do with her hands so she just... crossed her arms. Human realm, bleh, she felt so... crowded. People walked around the two girls on the side walk, avoiding them but seemingly not even registering they were there. It was kinda' spooky, really.
Moofius was snapped out of her paranoia when the strange girl she'd just bowled over asked her a question.
"Er, what? Help? Erm, no..." she looked around her. How was she suppose to find that cafe? She was suppose to meet this person at some dark (that's the actual description. "at the dark cafe on Maple Street") cafe on... Maple Street. Well that was repetitive.
"Actually... I'm not really sure where I am right now. It's been so long since I visited Nabias really and I'm trying to find this little cafe I use to go to."

That was a lie but that's what Moofius did, what she had to do. Lie and hide who she was, what she was.
"I don't want to be a bother. I'm sure I'll find Maple Street... Eventually..."

[Jaykobell]

Oh! Well okay, so she wasn't a criminal taking part in a dark and illegal activity. Safe!

She listened as Moofius apologized. Shrewd blinked and shrugged. "Pfft! It's okay, really. T'was just a little accident," she replied with a nod and a smile; she also changed poses, this time bringing an arm over her stomach while her free hand grabbed her chin thoughtfully. She looked up and away, seemingly remembering something. "Y'know, it's not nearly as bad as when I almost fell down the stairs, or when I almost spilled boiling water on someone..." Well, she had the habit of being too hyperactive and too reckless, and while she wasn't a klutz, she wasn't exactly too far from that. She'd drop things, she'd lose them, she'd accidently hit people, she'd fall down places, she'd hurt herself all the time... It was either clumsiness or just really bad luck. Or maybe both. Or maybe it was because she had the habit of not thinking prior to her actions. Maybe that too.

She seemed unbothered by the passing people. She had grown up here, sort of. Not exactly in the city itself, but around there, somewhere. She was used to humans, she was used to the busy atmosphere of Nabias. This wasn't alien to her, and in fact, it was pretty normal and enjoyable. Her attention was focused on Moofius, though, since yeah, she'd talked to her and stuff. "Awh, are you sure, really?" Shrewd asked when Moofius said she wouldn't need help and would probably be fine.

But then Moofius mentioned how she hadn't visited Nabias in a while, and that she was looking for Maple Street to get to that cafe. "Oh! Maple Street?" Shrewd walked a few steps ahead of Moofius before turning around to face the girl again. "I'm supposed to head there too; you wanna come along?" Even if she hadn't been heading for Maple Street, she probably would've bugged Moofius off until Moofius would've agreed to let Shrewd help her. It's always more interesting to do things with other people rather than by yourself, right? "It shouldn't be too far from here. We can chat and stuff on the way." She loved chatting with strangers! You never knew what kind of stuff they would say, and it was always interesting to hear so many different stories from so many different people.

[Moofius]

Well alright it seemed like she was on her own but then the girl turned around. She was headed in that direction too?
"Okay I guess we must have been fated to run into each other or something if we're both heading that way. Last time I was here I hung out in the main town area and I do not remember a Maple Street." Moofius laughed, her arms still crossed as she caught up and walked along with the stranger.
"I'm Moofius by the way." she said, not really acknowledging the the whole... chatting thing. Chatting could get bad. She didn't expect to have to lie to much. She didn't have a well thought out one which meant she might trip over her own words.
"So what brings you to Nabias? Do you live here or are you just as lost as me?"

( Short! D8 )

[Jaykobell]

Well, she wasn't a big believer of "fate," if she had to be honest. You gotta make things happen on your own! It's like those people who say they can see your future and tell you how, when, and where you're gonna die. Well, prove them wrong, man! Hopefully you will, cause then they'd be right and then you'd be dead. And while Shrewd had never been dead, she knew it probably wasn't a very nice feeling. Nope.

She gave Moofius a grin and walked along with her, her arms behind her back and the fingers of her hands intertwined. She giggled a bit at Moofius's reply. "Well, Nabias is kinda big, so if you're not used to it or don't know it so well, you can get lost. There are tons of shops here, and the windows all look the same if you're not used to it." She remembered that time when she'd gotten lost in town back when she'd explored it the first time. She was little by then, and since she had no one to go to, she had just cried until some figure of authority had found her and brought her to safety. Oh, childhood memories. She learned that very day how very important maps are. While they were hard to figure out at first, she soon got the hang of it. With Nabias, though, she didn't need a map, since she'd been living in the town for years now.

She was pretty much caught in her daydreams when Moofius talked again. "Oh, I'm not lost, no. I live nearby, actually. I work for a company." While just about everyone knew about the human organization, she didn't like saying that she worked for them. Cause they're stupid jerks and she didn't like them. You don't wanna be associated with people you don't like, right? "I've been living here for years now, so I know the place like the back of my hand," she assured with a grin and a thumbs-up. "What about you? Are you from one of the other cities?"

Story time story time story time! What would this person tell her?

[Moofius]

" A company? That's vague enough to be believable," Moofius laughed as she wracked her brains for a lie that was atleast somewhat believable, "Well... I grew up in Lambastia, for one."
For one she'd got one lie out.
"I lived in this tiny town, it's not even on the map, tiny." she laughed. Yah, not even on the map because it didn't even exist (which funnily enough it did and was wiped off the map)!
"I grew up there. My dad and our family, we're pretty weird and wanted to kinda'... not be around people. So I grew up with just a lot of older family members. It was pretty boring. I was home schooled and everything."
Home schooled? Yes. Boring? Never, she almost wished it had been, or at least sometimes. Think made sure she was always running.
"I guess that isolation of the outside world spawned a bit of adventurous-ness in me and when I was 16 I left home and went about. I don't really live anywhere, I stay everywhere. I have a few "homey" spots but nothing concrete. Always on the move, you know?"
Surprisingly enough that wasn't a complete lie. Actually the only thing that was a flat out lie was that Roraldi bull, and even that was half true now that she actually had a home there.
"Anyway traveling all the time... I know places but... It's been so long since I've visited Nabias. Maybe 20 years..."
Which to anybody paying even any lick of attention wouldn't make sense. The girl only looked to be in her early 20s and if she had only left her home at 16... Well she'd have to be at least 36!
"Maybe a little less. 18 maybe?"

[Jaykobell]

Shrewd grinned sheepishly at Moofius's first comment. "Well, Nabias is made out of little shops, so working in a company is pretty much the only place you can work at." Anybody who knew Nabias, even if only a tiny little bit, knew it was the city to shop. Rich, spoiled, paper-thin ladies that spent hours on their cell phones talking about their ego? Yep, they ruled the place, man. Well, during summer, winter break, and weekends. Shrewd usually avoided those places, since self-centered ladies weren't interesting to talk with. Pfft, rich people.

"Ooh, you come from Lambastia?" Well, she failed at geography. While she had gotten some lessons from the guys at the organization, she still wasn't all that good at it. Sure, she'd know what you mean by "Lambastia," but it's not like she could place any of its regions on the map. She was more of a person that relied on visuals rather than coordinates, which is why Shrewd could orient herself in cities and other places after a little exploring; once she had the place more or less registered in her brain, she could get around fairly easily. And Moofius came from a village, too! Shrewd had never visited a village before, nor had she lived in one. A village was known to be small and quiet, though, probably an environment she'd like to try out.

At the mention of parents and a family, Shrewd blinked. Well... it was normal for people to have parents, right? Well, yeah, she had parents too, whoever they were. She hadn't grown in a house with a family, like most people, so the subject was weird and alien to her. What exactly do parents do? What's a family, you know? She had no idea what that stuff was, because she hadn't grown up with it. Even school; while she had gotten some classes and lessons from the guys at the organization, she hadn't been "schooled" per se. All she knew about a school was that it's an institution where kids go to to learn stuff. "Wow, so you lived with your family? Even if it was boring at times, I bet it must have been really nice." She kept her reply short and simple, but her tone remained the same. If she was tormented by anything at all inside, it didn't show.

She nodded at the mention of adventure. "I'm always out there for some awesome adventures, personally," she replied with a grin, crossing her arms. "There's always so much to do and so little time! You never know what's going to happen! Sure to keep you on your toes the whole time." Yeah, sure, it could get scary at times, but it was always so much fun to go on adventures! "I've been living on adventures since I was little, actually." She brought a hand behind her head and put the other over her hip. "Being an orphan abandoned in nature and all, there's not much to do but be on a constant adventure. I didn't have a home until a few years ago." Life had always been a matter of survival for her. Being abandoned when she was little, she had to learn how to fend for herself and how to get food, and just how to survive overall. She had finally gotten a shelter when the organization had taken her in, for whatever reason, so she knew the feeling of changing places and always being on the move. "But the excitement is always as strong as can be."

Eventually she blinked. Wait, Moofius left home when she was sixteen? Okay, that made sense, but why did she look... so young? Even if only eighteen years... She'd be way older, right? Or maybe Moofius used those girlie beauty creams and powders to look younger than she really is? Eww, cream on your face. Save for edible cream, Shrewd didn't want any on her face. She turned to face Moofius, and she tilted her head a bit to take a closer look. "You know, you really don't look... thirty-six-ish to me." There was a short pause. Oh, speaking of age... Hadn't... Moofius introduced herself earlier? ... Um. "Oh... Oh, hey! I'm sorry, you told me your name just a moment ago, right?" She brought both hands behind her head and smiled sheepishly again. "I'm sorry, I think I was too hyped over talking to someone. It happens..." A lot, actually. "Um, I'm Shrewd," she added, holding out her hand to shake Moofius's. "I'm eighteen, and a long-time resident of Nabias."

This was probably why she never got to do really important jobs, actually...

[Moofius]

Aw, orphan? Moofius was too, you know, technically. She didn't really mind (or know until she was older) because she'd alwas had a family. It was out of her mom and dads hands into the Original Thought.
"Yup, Lambastia born and raised. I much prefer Barakka. Better food and people. Family has it's ups and downs you know." she frowned, trying to be sensitive, "I mean being in a family means family secrets and drama."
Oh boy did it ever. By that Moofius means family and adventure.
"Yah, toes," Moofius laughed, scuffing her hooves, "Though I don't know what it's actually like to be on ones toes, I know what you mean. Though I might be the first to say there is such thing as too much adventure. I wouldn't have my life any other way though. As a fellow adventurer just try to imagine like... a desk job."
She tried to see it but the image was too bizarre; too funny actually that she had to laugh a little.

"You know I probably didn't have it as rough as you... Really, abandoned in like... the woods? That's, well, incredible. Are you a feral child with no social skills by any chance?" the cow anthro asked jokingly, nudging her. She wasn't going to let this spiral into an emo moment. That could get bad for her lies.

Which were clearly already in trouble.
Oh man, continue to lie? Tell the truth?
"Er well... Ah... Yes, I did introduce myself!" Avoid the subject. That's a classic!
"Where did you get your name? Did you name yourself or something, Shrewd? Shrewd? ... Jeeze you know that name isn't even a name, it's a word, isn't it? And it doesn't really fit you. You should be... Giddy, or something, hahaha." Judges the one with the name Moofius.

[Jaykobell]

Well, as far as food and people (and pretty much everything else) was concerned, Shrewd couldn't tell any difference, since she had never set foot outside of Barakka. She had barely set foot outside the general area of Nabias, so... anything beyond Nabias was unknown to her, too. So she couldn't really compare the two continents at all. "I've never visited Lambastia, I only know of it from books and stuff. I'm too comfy here to leave Nabias. And I can't really leave the job, either." She did owe a lot to the organization, whether she liked it or not. They were stupid insensitive jerks, but they'd pretty much saved her, so... She was stuck here until she'd somehow "repaid" them.

Hmm, back to the subject of family. She didn't know what to say about that, either, not really. The closest she had to a family was the organization. Which... wasn't very close, on second thought. "I guess it's normal for everybody to have ups and downs, though. Life's not all pink and soft, y'know? But I bet some have it way tougher than others with the family drama." There was always poverty and that kind of stuff, right? Those kind of people probably wished they didn't have any family, while those who never grew up with one wished they had had a family. It was strange how your lifestyle could influence your opinion so much.

It took a moment or two for Shrewd to understand what Moofius had meant, but it was all clear when Shrewd looked down to notice that Moofius didn't have feet but actual hooves. Dang! That was so freaking cool! Anything out of the ordinary fascinated Shrewd to a great extent. Everything that didn't exist and that was rare or something was always so interesting to her. That was probably why she loved the pets of the Lands so much. "You have hooves! Like... real ones! That's awesome!" Oh my Xai're, so many questions she could ask Moofius and stuff! But they were already on a subject, so it would have to wait. But real hooves, check it out!

She didn't agree about having too much adventure. "What? No way! There's always so many interesting things to discover out there!" Then again, she had never experienced an adventure that wasn't just exploration and errands for the organization. Actually drama and tragedy, she had never been through that kind of "adventure." While her childhood was considered "tragic" (no parents and abandoned in the wild and stuff), she didn't really consider it as such. While she could remember it very well, she was still somewhat young when she was recruited, so it was just a little part of her life. And it made for an interesting story, actually. "Desk job!" she echoed afterwards. "Actually, that's the kind of stuff they ask me to do. Class folders and stuff." She puffed her cheeks and frowned, but she just seemed to be pouting. "It's always so boring. And they never wanna get someone to work with me to make it more fun. Hmph." Not amused.

When it came back to her childhood, Shrewd blinked and the pouty face pretty much just disappeared. "Yep, woods. I used to live by that huge tree. Most trees had some holes in them, and since I was small back then, I'd just shuffle in and sleep there and stuff. I ate berries and nuts and little things like that for a long time. Some wild pets would bring me some food sometimes, though." Shrewd blinked and giggled as she was nudged. She was far from being emo, and far from even sounding or looking emo at all. She seemed just fine about it all. "Well, actually, I guess I was feral for a while. I mean, you're always fighting for survival, you know what I mean? There's no humans there, just animals. I learned how to dig, how to swim, how to hunt fish by hand, how to climb trees... eventually it just became kind of necessary." She had folded her arms now, seemingly remembering it all. "I don't really remember when I was taken away from the woods to actually live like a normal human. I think I adapt pretty quickly," she concluded with her tongue sticking out.

And now they were talking about her name. She had no idea if she had completely turned the conversation around her without noticing, or if Moofius was deliberately asking just the right questions, or if Shrewd was just way too talkative. Maybe the latter was at fault here. "Oh, I know it's a word. I didn't have a name until a long time." Being in the wild and all... when you can't even speak, what is a name supposed to be to you? "I think they were teaching me words or how to write or something like that. I stumbled on the word and I think it stuck? It reminded me of an animal." The word did have "shrew" in it, even if the word isn't even related to the animal at all. She giggled at bit at the Giddy part. "I guess. I'm not the brightest bulb, actually, but I guess I can manage." Obviously she hadn't taken any offense in that comment, because she giggled some more and stuck her tongue out in amusement. "What about you, Moofius? Are your parents the ones who named you? It's a pretty name; uncommon and unique! Does it mean anything?"

[Moofius]

"Sure adventures are interesting!" Moofius said, she wasn't denying that, "But their also draining, emotionally, physically and... well monetarily, you know? Considering I'm always doing SOMETHING I'm beat most of the time. Even this meeting I'm going to is going to be way killer. I need a vacation but there is no such thing in my line of work." She laughed, though it sounded oddly drained and she bowed her head, her shoulders slumping a little. Whatever she did it seemed to be draining.
"We should switch jobs for awhile, maybe." Moofius laughed, "Maybe the change would make us both appreciate what we have more?" of course she was only joking. I mean you couldn't exactly do that in real life with human perimeters. Imagine throwing the Chaos into all of that. It would be... well...chaos!
"Should you be at work? I mean desk job generally means 9 to 5... right?" She wasn't even completely familiar with the human word day. yah, too long with dad. Maybe after this she could run away for a bit. Oh how she missed the carefree days of her... teenage years after 16. Well, care free compared to working for family, anyway.

As for Shrewds past. Wow, that really was like something you'd read in a book. Really Moofius was having a hard time believing it... But then her past was even more unbelievalbe. Giant shape-shifting lizards, a castle, a plain of existence different from this one, lounging on a couch with Xai're up in the heavens. Chilling with psycho half people unfeeling things in the Void. Yah, yah, doesn't get much more unbelievable then THAT!
Thus the lies.
"Erm... Well yah, I mean they did. I don't know what they were thinking. Nose kept the name they gave me. Sometimes I wish he hadn't I mean, honestly. It's only because of the hooves, ears and tail..." Moofius muttered to herself before remember, "OH! Right! This is just to avoid stares. I hide my ears," Moofius said matter of factly, pushing her hair out of the way to let her cow ears see the light of day.
"People like to touch them and it's really uncomfortable. It's like they totally forget about personal space!"

[Jaykobell]

"Well, I guess they are physically draining," Shrewd agreed, poking her chin with her pointer finger. "Although it usually ends up that way because I manage to get hurt one way or another. I fell down a tree once. I also fell into a strong river and almost got washed down a waterfall, too." Those were the kinds of adventures she did. Family drama, general drama, tragedy, torture, and all those other things, Shrewd had never experienced them. Her past was the only thing that was "tragic" about her, so if Moofius actually told Shrewd her story, Shrewd probably wouldn't be able to even imagine most of it, simply because she had never been exposed to that kind of drama. She had heard of the drama, but... she had never seen it or experienced it. "Awh, why? Meeting people is fun!" she commented about the coming "killer" meeting. "I love meetings." When they didn't involve stupid human organization jerks. Although sadly it often did. "And really?" She noticed how drained Moofius looked when she lowered her shoulders and her head a bit. Dang, she probably worked way too much. "You should definitely try to ask for some vacations one way or another." Well, she wasn't really one to talk. She technically "had" vacations available, but since she didn't really... know anybody, it wasn't even worth the trouble. And where would she go? Her home was the organization, so she'd have to stay there anyway.

Switching jobs? "That could be fun, actually." Shrewd didn't mind working here or there or over there. She could adapt very easily to different places, and she had no problem with meeting new people at new places. And... new places meant adventure, right? So obviously that was cool, too. Moofius seemed to be joking, though. Maybe that could be something to propose to somebody at the organization, though. You know, get switched with somebody from another place. Maybe then they'd stop treating her like a kid. "Hmm? Work?" Oh, if she should be at work. Well. "Well, it's really not a fixed shift that they gave me. It's more like... they call me whenever they need me. Rest of the time I'm either outside in Nabias -- like right now -- or I just... stay at the place and hang around. But I'm on an errand for the job at the moment, actually. That's why I gotta go to Maple Street."

Wait... Wait just a minute. "Nose"... Did she say "nose"? From the way Moofius had worded things, it sounded like her original parents were present for a while, but that eventually, Moofius ended up under the care of someone else (that "Nose"? Shrewd was still giggling over that). Why say that he had kept her name? But those were but little details, and Shrewd was obviously too amused at the name "Nose" to notice. "Nose... is... is someone from your family really named after the nose?" she asked as she poked her own nose, trying not to giggle... out loud. That'd be rude, no matter how funny it was to her. Yeah, Shrewd was a word too; but it wasn't a part of your face, though! "But it's a good name! Don't you like your name?" At least Moofius's name was actually a name (albeit unusual). When your name is a word, people make puns out of it and tease you. But it's not like you actually choose your name, right? Well, Shrewd kinda did, but... She was a kid, okay? Kids do stupid things.

Oh my Xai're the EARS! Oh my XAI'RE! She was gonna try to touch them when Moofius said how those who dared to do that had no sense of private space. She quickly withdraw her hand (and had no idea if Moofius had seen her trying for her ears, hopefully not) and glanced around nervously. But she couldn't help it; they were real EARS! She wanted to touch them so bad! Who knew when a chance like this would come around again! "They're really cute, though!" She wanted to touch theeeeeeem. But she'd probably get a bad reaction if she asked, since Moofius obviously didn't like getting her ears touched. "So how come you have those, anyway?" Obviously she meant the ears, hooves, and tail. She had heard of those pets who had human forms and who kept some characteristics from their original animal form, but she had never seen them for herself. "Are you one of those... anthropomorphic pets? I think that's what they're called. You know, animal and human forms. I heard about them, but I've never seen any."

[Moofius]

"Yah, my family doesn't DO vacation." Moofius laughed, "Down side to the family busimness, you can't really say no." And maybe Shrewd wouldn't understand that, you know not having a family and all, but Moofius didn't know how well her employers took care of her.
"Meeting people can be fun, sure. But it really depends. This is nice because... Well we don't expect anything from each other. A professional work meeting... They're stressful to say the least. At least for me. My family, well, I mean these things are important for the family business."
These were half lies. They had no business no real jobs just whatever had to be done had to be done. You know, to survive.
"You're going to a meeting too? Actually, talking about Maple Street, how close do you think we are anyway?"
The streets were not as full of people now. They were getting out of the main shopping district. A secluded place was always important for these kind of things, Maple Street was probably pretty quiet.
"Must be around here someplace..." The street they were on right now was Pine. They must be going with a tree theme.
"OH! Nose is a nickname! His real name is Nostarr." Moofius laughed, "And I do like my name. It's just kinda' dorky. Makes me feel weirder then usual some days. Sometimes I wish I had a normal name. Jane, Cindy, Annie. I like Annie. Anne too, but they're for red heads. I mean, if you asked me, anyway."

Being trained to be watching for attacks at all time she noticed the hands moving towards her ears right away and had to hold back a growl. Bleh, no touchy. Shrewd backed off though and she couldn't really blame her for wanting to touch them. She loved her ears but when people touched them... well... Lets just say that Moofius' ears are pretty sensitive, and leave it at that.
"Yah they are cute, I love them but yah, doesn't mean I want people touching them. You have a cute nose, want me to touch and feel that? Presumably not. Same thing for me I guess." Moofius shrugged; made sense, right?
"Why? Er... Well I was born with them... Er... I kinda'... sorta like that." Well she could (or rather she had) changed into a big scary lizard thing that tried to destroy the world. So yah, technically...
"I'm definitely more person then pet though."

[Jaykobell]

"Ooh, I guess that's kinda true... Apparently family bonds -- or whatever they're called -- are really tight and stuff." But yeah, Shrewd couldn't really understand. You know, they were just related to you by blood, so... why not just say no when you wanna say no? You shouldn't do stuff you don't wanna do, cause then you butcher the thing and people get upset. That happened to Shrewd very often. Way too often. Stupid organization jerks. "I think you should still have the right to refuse something, though, even if they're family. You still have a life and your own rights and stuff, you know?"

"Well, I guess it depends if you like your job." Yeah, Moofius had a point. Chatting with people on the street like this wasn't the same as going to a meeting for job-related matters. When you think about it, meetings are stressful, but they also be constructive and fruitful if you participate and if everybody else tries to participate. Teamwork! Shrewd loved teamwork. If only the dudes at the organization would actually trust her, she would probably do way more projects. But they annoyed her so much most of the time. She didn't really have any friends in the organization, so coming to the city was the only source of friendliness she could get. She knew she hated being by herself and that she'd probably lose any motivation she had if she didn't have this kind of interaction. So while she didn't like meetings so much, there was necessary to keep her sane. As contradictory as that sounds. "So what kind of business is your family in?"

"Yep, apparently I gotta meet somebody there. Dunno for what, they didn't tell me." Cause they didn't trust her with important information. Stupid jerks. Xai're did she hate those dudes. She noticed the quietness of the street, and she also noticed the street name. Bleh, she didn't come around here very often. Not a lot of people, so she never really bothered to come around here. "Should be just a few streets ahead. Real close now," she assured with a nod. "I guess whoever found this town had a liking for trees." Can't blame the dude, though. Shrewd was a lover of trees herself. Well, she wouldn't chain herself to keep people from cutting them down, but she loved climbing up in them and just... hanging around trees. Growing up in a forest does that to you.

Oh! So Nose was just the nickname of the guy. Nostarr. Dang, that's a cool, unusual name, too. "Your family has such cool names, seriously." She made a pouty face and puffed her cheeks, but despite that, she wasn't angry. "Hmm, I wonder if mine had any cool names like that." Names were cool. They were kinda a part of yourself; a big part, even, since they kind of gave you an identity. Moofius was Moofius, and Shrewd was Shrewd. Usually the name is the first thing Shrewd wants to know about people, although it didn't quite happen this way with Moofius, not really. Shrewd's excitement often kept her from paying attention to details. Her name was actually a big deal for her. People making puns out of it really made her upset, and anyone who dared to call her "Ritalin" (or any of those stupid names after that kind of medication) would get their butts kicked, and literally. She hated, hated it when people mocked her name. She hadn't gotten upset at Moofius's joke about Giddy earlier because it wasn't a play on Shrewd's name and Giddy sounds about right for her personality anyway. But those dudes calling her after medication just insinuated she had a problem in her head, and she wouldn't let them get away with that kind of insult.

Name ranting aside. "Hmm, a common name? Hmm..." She poked her chin again. "I don't know a lot of names. None come to me at the moment, anyway. Why have a normal name, though? Even if your name is unusual, it's way more unique than other names." But maybe that depended on your views, right? Moofius didn't dislike her name, but you know, maybe there were times when she just felt like that, felt like it'd be more "normal" to have a "normal" name. "And you know, like for your... uh..." Was that Nostarr person her... friend? Her uncle? Her cousin? Her dad? Her.... husband? What was the identity of this Nose? "Well, you know, like the name of your friend. With cool, unusual names like that, who else gets a nickname like Nose?" Sometimes nicknames were just, like, an abridged versions of whatever your name is. Jennifer would be Jen, Alexander would be Alex; so on and so forth. But who gets a cool nickname after a body part?

As for the explanation about touching Moofius's ears, well, it made sense, really. "Ooh. You've got a point. I'd let you touch my nose if you asked me, though." Yeah, so long as people asked, she most likely wouldn't mind, even if it'd be really weird for someone to go, "Hey, can I poke your nose?" at her. A nose is a nose, right? But some people just wanna touch you. Weird people. "Oh, just out of curiosity," she said for a reason when Moofius asked why Shrewd wanted to know about the ears and such. "I love everything that's different. Not in a bad way, though! It's always so interesting. You're the most interesting person I've talked to in a loooong time, let me tell you." Cause yeah, there were mostly just humans here and stuff. So meeting somebody like Moofius was awesome, since it was new and different. "Oh, you definitely look more human than animal. But I've heard of those pets with different forms, so I was just wondering." Apparently she wonders about a lot of things.

[Moofius]

Moofius frowned, thinking hard on what she said. She really didn't have a life of her own, that was the sad thing. She'd tried, heck man she'd run away to do it but they always came back and, to be honest, she couldn't stay away. Her family was to important to her, even if they were all terrified of her and betrayed her left and right.
...Gawd they were all such butts!
"I can say no, technically, I just don't."
And actually that wasn't true either. I mean if Ioma asked her as her friend she could say no, but orders from the Leader had to be followed. They were a well oiled machine and she would NOT be the broken un-working cog, darn it!
Er, what kind of business. Ugghhh... Shoot!
"AC! We... We make... Air Conditioners." It just popped out; pop! Oh man, really? ACs? Couldn't figure out something better then that? Awesome. Gawd she could just die, how embarrassing. Whatever, just go with it.
"I'm discussing a deal with some strange mysterious person. At some dark foreboding cafe~" Moofius said in her best scary Halloween voice, her fingers wiggling to make it that much "creepier".
"It's all numbers and haggling and stress, bleh..." Well she was falling into her own lie okay, just getting comfy with it. ACs, pfft!
To try and keep herself from laughing out loud about the AC thing she looked around to check for street names or obvious signs of dark cafes rather then looking directly at Shrewd and laughing her butt of.
ACs... ACs?! She'd never get over it she'd also have to tell her dad, oh MAN!

"I guess... I'm unique enough as it is, a unique name just adds to the pile of my uniqueness until it burries me. I'd rather... beable to blend in a bit. It's really easy to find me. Look for the girl with the goofy ears and call her even goofier name and you're good to go. But I guess you're right." Maybe she was more upset that she didn't have a name like her dads, or the rest of her family. All Chaos names... Nose should have renamed her.
"People still make fun of him for the nick-name you know. I made it up when I was little. Most of my family has silly nick-names from me. Nose, Oreo, Furr, and Grr to name a few." She laughed, "Nose has the best nick-name, though, no question. And I don't mind you asking. If I were you I'd ask too. I like different things too."

Only total losers didn't like differences (or they were like racist or something (says the one who is totally racist against dwellers)) and Moofius was certainly not a total loser.
"I have some, 'pets'," the word "pets" put in quotation marks with her fingers, "back home that rarely if ever take on a pet form. They're always people and expect to me trated as such. I don't really own them... They're kinda' part of my family."
Seperate from her real family and rarely ever seen by herself but she loved them all the same. Though most of them thought she didn't care and or hated them.
She should go and visit them, maybe after this meeting.