Rush Hour

[Verity Lohlepher]

It was kind of crowded. Kind of. It wasn't the sort of crowd where people couldn't get anyway and it wasn't the sort of crowd there for a protest rally. Kind of was a good way to describe it. There were people bustling throughout the streets, bumping one another with the more aggressive ones showing rude signs to the offenders. Verity was not one of those offenders nor one of the aggressive ones. She was, as she liked to say, mutually neutral, standing on the sidelines while she took a break from walking. Why she would need a break from walking she didn't know. She wasn't even panting. The girl placed a hand over her forehead and peered at the sun. How did people judge the time again? She'd neglected to bring a watch and now was suffering the consequences of being in the forever suspense of not knowing the time.

The girl was in Clover Town because she decided travelling would be a great remedy to get stronger. Travelling = More Independence which then = More motivation = More strength. She’d realise how useless she felt in the Tournament Isle and was now finding ways to remedy that. Clover Town was one of her favourite towns. It was just peaceful and ahhh…sigh worthingly beautiful. Maybe she was exaggerated. She sighed. Who knew?

Well her break time was now finished so the girl started walking through the crowd again. This time she was a little more on the aggressive and offender side. Probably both. Like most people. She tried to concentrate on not bumping into people. Training her evasion right? Or not. She realised she was kind of hungry and started longingly at the food stall across the road. Any food would have be enough to satisfy her. This time she was looking at a fruit stall. The fruit stall was next to a vegetable stall which in turn was next to a meat stall. Standard if anyone asked her. She frowned slightly and tossed up her decisions. She could continue walking or eat lunch. Her stomach growled. She gave in to the temptation of eating lunch.

So without a moment’s a due, the blonde dashed happily to the food stall besides the meat stall (making sure she did not bump into anyone) and looked at the menu. Now what would she get?

[Haruto]

He was...confused. Slightly confused, sorta confused, very confused. He didn't understand why he traveled to Clover Town, especially when he wasn't finished with his search in Magnolia. He hadn't even stayed there for too long. However, the snoring animal that sat upon his head reminded him of everything. Ruko had gotten bored far too quickly and begged to go somewhere else for the day. Haruto blamed himself for it, he didn't exactly take his little companion out as much as he'd like to. Ruko mostly just stayed in their hotel room, snoring his days away...while Haru observed the sights Magnolia had to offer him. So, going to Clover was the only fair thing to do. It was either that or listen to his dog's whining. He'd go with the former any day.

"Furuto...I'm hungry." he could hear Ruko whine. The boy sighed while he walked and took a moment to look upwards, as if he was able to see his furry companion that way.
"Didn't we already eat around, maybe, an hour ago?" Haruto replied, allowing a small chuckle to escape his mouth afterwards. However, his amusement immediately stopped once he heard Ruko's grumbling stomach. The youth rose an eyebrow before scratching the back of his head. Perhaps what they ate was a bit too light for his little friend. The only problem was...just what would could this dog possibly be interested in eating? A small snack would have to suffice for now, at least until they reached a restaurant or anything similar-

"Furuto, look!" Ruko called out while pointing his paw at something. What was that something, he had no clue. Haru turned his head in the paw's direction and took note of the different food stalls that they conveniently came across. This was perfect, but he first needed to check how much jewels he had...if there was any jewels left on him. Unfortunately, his comrade was incredibly hungry, more so than usual. So when Haruto suddenly stopped walking to check his pockets, he barely noticed his pet take off running towards the meat stall. If wasn't for the lack of weight on his head the boy wouldn't have noticed at all. When his head snapped in Ruko's direction, a small look of panic overtook his face and his jaw went slack. "Wait, stop! What are you doing?!"

Obviously, his little companion ignored his cries completely, for the dog was already picking up the first piece of meat he saw: a steak.
"Hey! The heck are you doing here?! Leave, you mutt!" the very large, very angry bald-meat-stall-man yelled. The enraged man picked up the largest thing he could find, which was a broom stick laid up against the stall. He tried to swat at Ruko, but the "mutt" was very swift, he quickly leaped away from danger. However, in his path was a blonde bystander than would totally get hit if she didn't move. Luckily, Haruto had already taken off the minute that broom was picked up, and made it just in time to...tackle her out of the way. A bit unnecessary, but he helped anyway! Even though they probably would have landed on the ground...sort of roughly one might add...it was the only way, though! The only way!

Meanwhile, Ruko was running off in the direction they came, rushing through the kind of crowded area. Kind of.
"Uh oh.." Haruto mumbled and slowly eyed the bald-meat-stall-man...who was angry. In fact, his entire face was so red that he looked like a tomato, and should've been working at the vegetable stall. That same red man released what could be described as a battle cry, and pointed his broom at Haru and the blonde bystander. "You will pay for stealing from me!!" As a response to that, the boy blinked a few times, maybe a few more times. Then, he grabbed onto the blonde girl's hand and ran after his pet, hopefully dragging the blonde with him. Even more battle cries could be heard as he ran and tried not to bump into everyone.

"You'll run really, really fast if you want to live!" Haruto shouted, his sentence aimed towards the girl he was dragging.

[Verity Lohlepher]

It was a pity the girl didn't manage to get her food. In fact, she was leaning across the counter, so close to pointing out the food on the menu that she wanted to eat...when a sudden commotion alerted her attention to a dog running with a steak. Mmmmm. That dog had good taste. Verity watched the dog as it dodged some angry man and was about to return to ordering her delicious meal. She cleared her throat to start speaking...and then the dog started running towards her direction. It was a bit annoying to say the least but the blonde knew she'd be able to dodge the dog with ease. She moved her feet in preparation to dodge...

And that's where the idiot came and tackled her out of the way. She felt the world move sideways. The ground lost contact with her feet and pretty soon, her back hit the ground sending a slight cloud of dust to arise. Ouch. It was a rough landing. The girl had unwittingly closed her eyes to brace herself for the impact and when she reopened them, she saw the face of a boy she'd like to murder very much. She glared at the boy. She lifted her hands off the ground and was about to grab his shirt when a faint 'uh-oh' came from his mouth and she realised he was looking at some direction. Unable to hide her curiosity, she turned her head to that direction.

She knew it was rude but she couldn't help it. The girl pressed her lips together in an attempt to stop the giggles that were forming. That person was so red. He was more red then a firetruck engine that had been doused in fire. He was more red than a ruby necklace laced with tomato sauce. No, he was the insides of a caldera volcano - the insides of several huge volcanoes that were currently being erupted out into one big explosion of hot red ash. She had never seen a person that angry.

However, her laughter was short-lived as an angst-y battle cry ripped violently from his throat. And he came, he came with all the burning passion of a bull charging - and they were his red flag. This surprisingly was not as scary an experience. In fact, it riled her up inside too. What the hell had she done except be an innocent bystander? She felt her anger grow. For this man and for the idiot who knocked her over. A low growl exited her throat and she was about to get up to face him off...when the idiot started dragging them off to wherever he wanted to go.

Initially she was caught off guard. "Hey! What do you thin-" she cut off her sentence. Right. That did it. She fumed and stopped, grabbing the boy's arm at the same time. She turned around. To most people, they probably thought she had quite the death wish.

"Oi!" She called out to the man, her face livid. The man continued charging with his broomstick. "IT'S NOT NICE TO RUN AFTER PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T EVEN OFFENDED YOU!" He seemed to ignore her words and tried to flop the broom uselessly around at her. She looked at him unimpressed. Well unimpressed and even more angry. "AND WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO USE A BROOMSTICK TO FIGHT? YOU SUCK! I CAN WIELD ONE BETTER THAN YOU!" Her voice boomed around the street causing lots of bystanders to view them. It wasn't particularly fair to say that she could use a broomstick better than a shop keeper. Her broomstick staff thing was her main form of weapon usage after all. The man seemed to lose his face slightly before going even brighter red. Now he was the artist's ideal painting of red.

It wasn't surprising to see more and more people come to where the mini showdown was occurring. All kinds of people were approaching. For example, law enforcers started coming. In her grip, she still held the idiot boy tightly, trying to prevent him from running off.

[Haruto]

The feeling of something grasping onto his own arm was unexpected, and abruptly forced him to come to a stop. He almost fell back because it was so sudden.
"What the..." he drifted off after seeing it was the blonde bystander keeping him within her grip. He didn't understand why she wasn't running...the girl made it seem like she was suicidal! He blinked at her before his gaze shifted towards Mr. Tomato-face, who was swinging his broom around yet completely missing the duo. Perhaps he was just so angry, so filled with rage, that he wasn't seeing clearly and just thought they were everywhere he tried to hit. Haru watched the interaction between the blonde and Mr. Tomato-face, all while trying to break free of the grip on his arm. He tried to do it subtly, without her noticing, but she had a surprisingly strong grasp. There was also her rather loud voice that made him cringe with almost each word. She seemed to be a headstrong individual, more than he could be at times.

Haruto then noticed the small crowd forming around the them. Everyone who spotted the scene was moving in closer to get a better view of what was occurring. With his keen eyes, he was able to spot familiar outfits, something an officer would most likely have on. The boy stared at the growing number of people...and officers...with sweat rolling down the side of his head.
"Hey...hey! Everyone's looking at us...!" he whispered to the blonde, "Maybe we should just leave-"

"How dare you! FOOL! I've been taking broom whacking lessons since I was a mere BOY!" Mr. Tomato yelled in sheer rage. He pointed his broom once again, this time only at Haruto, "And it was his mutt that stole from me! He shall be OBLITERATED!!"
The youth released a nervous chuckle as he clasped his hands together, "Whaaat? Why can't we be friends~? I didn't do anything to offend-" And once again, he was cut off from finishing his sentence.
"Furuto!" Ruko called out as he suddenly appeared and jumped onto his owner's head, making the color drain from the poor boy's face. "That steak was delicious! I need to get me another one. Wait, why do you look so pale? ...And why does he look like an angry cherry?" The dog pointed his paw, even though it was rude to point, at the angry bald-meat-stall-man. That only sent Mr. Tomato-face to the top. His face, as if it was even possible, grew a darker shade of red. He looked so red, that he seemed ready to explode in their faces at any moment. Not to mention the large vein sticking out his head...Haru wasn't sure if humans were supposed to look like that...

One last, bloodcurdling yell erupted from the man's rather large and spit filled mouth, before he charged forward with the intent to destroy. Ruko leaped into the front of Haruto's jacket and hide there, but Haru wasn't about to back down. He sent a glare at Mr. Tomato-face, one filled with pure defiance. And right when he was about to swing the broom at him and the blonde once more...
"Oi!" a ruff and tough voice shouted, "The hell is going on here?!" Out of the crowd walked a nicely groomed law enforcer, who was staring at Mr. Tomato-face with narrowed green eyes. It forced him to stop the broom's trek towards Haruto and the blonde girl before freezing in midair. Even the red in his face was draining.

"Are you alright there little lady? ...And boy?" the officer questioned while walking towards the trio and stopping at a comfortable distance.

[Verity Lohlepher]

While the boy in her grasp may have noticed the surrounding people, Vera didn’t…until she heard him whisper that everyone was looking at them. She snapped her head around and glared at him. She opened her mouth to tell him to shut it when the volcano dude started talking again. She whipped back to face him, visibly starting to shake with rage. Her fingers clenched tighter on the boy’s arms. “OH YEAH?” she retorted at the shopkeeper “WELL OBVIOUSLY YOU DIDN'T PAY MUCH ATTENTION. I AM A PROFESSIONAL BROOM WHACKER SO I CAN TELL WHEN SOMEONE’S SKILLS IS WORSE THAN A RATS ABILITY TO INTIMIDATE A LION!” She grew conscious that she was probably skewering the boy’s arm by the way she was holding onto it and loosened her grip slightly. Volcano dude proceeded to tell her that it was the boy who was next to her’s fault. She frowned at this new revelation and glared at him. He appeared to be going through some phase where he wanted to be everyone’s friend or was lying. And then the talking dog made its appearance.

The blonde stared dumbfounded at it, her face a mixture of anger and surprise. How on earth was it talking? Was the dog some kind of mutant? She dropped her mouth open. She wanted to reach out with one finger to poke it’s fur to see if it was real. She was close to doing so too…and then volcano dude grew a secondary cone and erupted further. She watched through narrowed eyes as he started to race towards them, broom raised, with killer intent. She shifted her right foot back in preparation to stop the attack. She couldn’t help but scoff at his technique. She didn’t believe his claims of learning broom whacker for one second. Apparently the boy didn’t believe he could be hurt either as she felt his own defiant glare, pierce the man’s angry gaze.

One second, two seconds…at ten seconds she was going to rip that broom at of his hands and show him how the pros did it…seven seconds, eight seconds…and then the officer cut in. The girl promptly groaned and sunk to her knees, still holding onto Haruto. Dammit she had been actually looking forward to proving to the broomstick-volcano-dumbo-whacky-dude how bad his skills were. It was rare she actually had the opportunity. She grumbled throughout the officer’s speech. Blah blah blah blah. Like she cared. She sent a glare the officer when he was finally finished. “Of course I’m fine.” She snapped before pointing a finger at the man. “However he’s not. He looks sunburnt,”

The officer raised an eyebrow at her tone but didn’t comment. “If you say so. And may I repeat myself, what just happened?” Verity folded her arms. “Figure it out yourself,” She responded grumpily. She refused to answer. She saw him at the scene minutes ago. He should know! The whole situation was just depressing though. First she gets deprived of her food, then she gets assaulted for some unrighteous reason (or no reason) AND finally, she gets deprived of a fight (ish). Her day was sucking so far.

[Haruto]

He released a small grunt once the girl pulled him to the ground...all because she still had her strong grip on his arm. The boy tried to shake said limb for a second or two, in hopes that he would be set free. However, he decided there were more important matters to address...especially since an officer was now in front of them. Though, he was forced to raise an eyebrow once the blonde refused to tell what happened. It was all up to him now! Haru cleared his voice which quickly caught the officer's attention.
"I'm definitely fine....but," he paused for a moment and gestured to the bald-meat-stall-man, "Tomato-face over there tried to murder us with a broom."
The officer hummed in thought for a moment, "Well I hardly see the problem here..."
"He was swinging atrociously and missed at every attempt to hit us."
"You're under arrest scumbag!" the law enforcer hollered before stalking menacingly towards Mr. Tomato-face. Mr. Tomato immediately shrunk back and started moving into the crowd, but was swiftly stopped by the sudden plethora of officers that appeared behind him. During this entire scene, Haruto couldn't help but let out a few chuckles here and there. It was far too amusing to not enjoy watching.

"No, please, you have it all wrong! The boy's dog stole from me!" bald-meat-stall-man exclaimed. All of the cops took a moment to stare at Haru, kept their gaze for a few seconds, and returned to Mr. Tomato who seemed to be sweating bullets instead of being red.
"Lying to authority? Another offense on top of insulting the sacred art of utilizing a broomstick!" the main officer barked, obviously missing the large shivering lump hiding in Haruto's jacket. Mr. Tomato-face could only stare in bewilderment and was most likely wondering how blind this man could be. "Take him away boys!"

Several men in blue proceeded to grab the bald-meat-stall-man by his arms, before they dragged him away and into the crowd. "This isn't over!" Mr. Tomato's voice rang throughout the area, "I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE!! YOU SHALL RUE THE DAY YOU CROSSED ME! RUE!!" While that managed to send a small shiver through Haruto, the main officer only sighed and shook his head.
"That's what they all say...Have nice day you two. Stay away from psychos from now on!" he gave a hearty laugh and turned to follow the other law enforcers, leaving poor Haru with Ruko and the blonde. The boy gulped and shifted his gaze to the girl who...who still had a strong hold on a certain limb of his.

"Um...can you return the blood flow to my arm...? Please?" he questioned meekly and even added a nervous smile to the mix. After all the glares he could tell she wasn't too fond of him...

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity maintained her glare all throughout the boy's explanation - twisted version - of what had happened. She huffed and looked to the side. The guy hadn't been trying to murder them with a broomstick. Volcano Dude was failing to try and murder them. Big difference! She didn't really get the dude's problem though when he suddenly agreed after hearing the extra explanation of bad swinging skills. While she was just as inclined to arrest someone for mocking the sacred art of broomstick fighting, she didn't think it was against the law to do so. Maybe he was a phony. A big fat phony. Probably. She almost felt a tinge of sympathy for the volcano dude though. Almost. She had witnessed the talking dog so she wasn't surprised if that was the truth. Even so, all in the name for food right? Maybe not. In fact, probably not. In any case, this seemed to cement the guys decision to arrest the bald man. With his response she guessed that it wasn't hard to see the guy as in need of being locked up in a mental hospital though. In general if someone stole food, one didn't go all rager at the person.

She watched the officer take away volcano dude and let a small smile touch at her face for justice sake...until he mentioned to stay away from psychos. She cast her gaze to the side. Psycho. That's what she mentally called the lightning dragon slayer/roommate/guildmate whom she was recently getting weird impressions from. She was kind of trying to avoid him (like the officer said to). Her little trip was partly because she didn't want to hang round him but mainly it was because she felt like she had been so useless on the isle. She was beginning to drift more and more into her thoughts when-

"Um...can you return the blood flow to my arm...? Please?"

Her glare returned full throttle. This was the guy who interrupted her eating session! "No, you're coming with me!" She said this without actually realising what she was going to do with him. Meh. She'd figure it out on the way to wherever she was going. And like that, she started dragging him along to the first place she could think of - a restaurant! Because she was so bloody hungry and this guy had to pay for his unrighteous actions!

[Haruto]

Oh no, now she seemed furious with him. That wasn't a good sign, not a good sign at all. He almost winced once the blonde aimed yet another glare at him, but it occurred so many times that he was slightly used to it. Wait, but now she was dragging him somewhere. He rose an eyebrow before peering in the direction they were walking in. From what he could see, there was a few people, some small stores and...a restaurant. They were heading towards a restaurant. Only a handful of seconds managed to pass by until it suddenly dawned him. Haruto frowned, stopped, and pulled his arm back, hopefully keeping the blonde from moving forward.
"I know exactly what you're going to do," he declared with furrowed eyebrows, "You're going to drag us into that restaurant, eat like a pig, and make me pay the humongous bill!" He began to repeatedly nod his head in agreement with his "fabulous" logic.

During the time he was bobbing his head up and down, Ruko's own head happened to pop out of Haru's jacket. The dog's big blue eyes gazed at the blonde girl and small whimpers were able to be heard. Of course, Haruto was too busy with his incredible logic to notice.
"Please don't make us pay the bill, miss." he begged as if he was a poor child, even though he was...well, an animal. The boy blinked upon hearing his pet's voice and looked down, processed what was happening, and released a small "oh."
"...You can't say no to that face, right?" Haruto asked before pointing at Ruko, who was literally giving the girl puppy dog eyes.

[Verity Lohlepher]

Vera was a woman on a mission! She was nearly at her destination...and then the boy tried to stop her. Well not tried as so much as succeed. She stopped out of curiosity and snapped her head back to look at him. The daggers were still flying out of her eyes with great precision. He frowned so she frowned back. They would have a frowning competition. She could just see herself wi...oh. Okay then. Be like that. The daggers returned. She threw her head back and laughed haughtily. "Me? Eat like a pig? I do not eat like a pig, I eat like a chimpanzee! Pigs eat sloths and things in troughs. I do not eat trough food. On the other hand, chimpanzees eat fruits and all sorts of other things! Much more like a human! Therefore, if you must do a comparison, compare me with a gigantic alpha male dominant ape!" That was Vera logic 101. Almost as fab as the boy's logic to be honest.

She looked at the puppy doing puppy dog eyes, because puppies realistically can't do anything else, and huffed. Puppies were cute, she couldn't deny that. She did like cute things. She could almost feel herself relenting...and then her stomach grumbled. Her glare returned full swing, puppy dog ignored. "Don't distract me! I never said you had to pay. You're going to watch me eat! And not eat anything!" She declared, grin on her face. Wow. She really had great ideas on the spot. That would be the perfect punishment...at least in her opinion. Seeing people eat always made her want to cry. Now he would suffer her pain!

She readjusted her grip on the boy's arm and proceeded to try and drag him into the restaurant. She was already salivating from the smell of food. Sigh. Oh how destiny awaited them.

[Haruto]

Haruto only stared at the girl blankly while she talked about being compared to an ape...To say the least, it utterly confused him. She was not a pig, she was a chimpanzee. No, he needed to recall she already switched that to being an ape. She made it sound like they were the same kind of animal. Obviously, chimps were different from apes, even if they were both primates! ...Weren't they? Now he was just making his confusion worse. Actually, he should just stop completely, it wasn't like he was an expert on this stuff. Wait, the blonde was talking again. Something about her eating and Haru watching...but, while not getting anything to eat himself. As terrible as that was, he was actually expecting something a bit worst.

While Haruto was unfortunately dragged into the rather good smelling restaurant, Ruko had been looking down in shame and defeat. His special eyes had failed him, failed him! This was a tragic day indeed. Not only had he gotten his owner into trouble, but he'd been completely helpless in getting said boy out of it. O, woe is me! he shouted in despair...inside his mind. The small dog simply whimpered a bit more before dejectedly crawling back into Haruto's jacket. O, woe is me...woe is me...

Back at the main situation, Haru was trying to "plant" his feet into the ground...a poor attempt at trying to prevent the girl from dragging him any further.
"Wait!" he called out frantically as he still tried to "plant" his feet. If she actually stopped to listen, the boy would take a deep breathe and look her in the eyes...
"That whole ape thing..." he started out with a very serious expression on his face, "...Do you fling poop or not?"

[Verity Lohlepher]

She frowned as the boy in her grip cried for her to 'wait'. She stopped and did as the boy requested. Whether she heard him right or not did not matter. Either way, he ended up watching her eat. She was adamant in her decision. "What?" She asked as the boy adopted a serious expression. She stared back, face still frowning. That was enough for inti...wait...in fact, she'd also glare. That combined with frowning made the perfect unnerving gaze that would certainly throw anyone off their game.

Upon hearing the boy's 'serious' declaration, her scowl frown thing increased in intensity. "No I do not. Besides, you got the whole thing wrong. Apes do not fling poop. You're mistaking apes with birds. Birds fling poop everywhere. They fling it in people's faces, they fling it on random objects not meant to be flinged poo at." She retorted. She turned to get the waiter or someone to bring them to a table. She raised a hand before turning back to the boy. "Don't insult the grace of Apes. You are an ape too. Everyone is an ape. And if birds fling poo than everyone is a bird too. Because when you're a baby, you'd fling poop everywhere too." She lifted her chin as she said this and thanked the waiter...no waitress as she took them to their table. Well her table. He was sooo going to stand.

She pointed to the empty space in front of her and shoved the boy towards it. She pursed her lips. Hmmmm...what she really needed was a big rope to tie him in place. She didn't trust him to stay in his designated area. For now, she'd stand guard by holding him there by the arms. Oh how convenient would it be if she could tie his arms. "This is extra punishment for dissing apes," She told him firmly before calling to the bored waitress again. "Do you have tough rope?" She asked in what she thought was a polite voice.

The waitress looked at her weirdly. "Yes...we do...would you like some?"

Verity grinned. "Yes! A very long one if you will!" She called after as the woman walked briskly off. This was going to be the best revenge ever.

[Haruto]

Birds fling poop...now he knew something was incredibly wrong with that. That couldn't possibly have been right, not when birds had nothing to fling poop with. They mostly just dropped their bodily wastes onto things! He lifted a single finger and prepared to counter her statement, but wait, she had just said he was an ape as well. She said everyone was an ape. Humans had evolved far too much to still be considered an ape, they were their own species entirely... Actually, this whole situation was beginning to sound like one large science lesson...
"People can't be birds! They don't have wings to fly! And babies keep their poop in diapers, not throw it at everything." he protested after deciding to ignore the whole "everyone is an ape" part. She seemed to take offense when he talked about apes...but, he was mostly referring to chimpanzees. After all, the girl did say she ate like a chimp. "Why are you so confusing?"

Once they arrived at their table, or in Haru's case dragged against their will, the blonde pushed him into some open space. He tripped over his own feet because of the sudden action, and would've fell too if it wasn't for his arms still being held onto. Come to think it, he could feel them becoming a bit numb... Oh, now was apparently getting more punishment for "dissing" apes. The boy could only wonder about when he had done that. Perhaps it was because of the poop question...it was highly likely. But, he didn't understand how that could've possibly been insulting. Then, upon hearing the crazy, yes crazy, girl ask for rope Haruto began to worry about his safety.

"Maybe she just likes tying up little boys..." he unconsciously mumbled. Okay, he needed to find a way to escape from this mad woman. He thought for a moment, and another moment, and then some more moments, until finally that dusty light bulb went off in his head...before going out again. Yup, Haru was totally lost on what to do. Maybe he could ask for forgiveness, just this once. The youth took a deep breath and hardened himself for what was to come.
"I'm sorry..." he spoke loud and firmly, "...I'm sorry...for not really being sorry because I don't know what I did to make you angry." There! That had to be a satisfying apology!

[Verity Lohlepher]

((Sorry for my late-ish response. I have to say, I can't believe they're talking about the rightness of who flings poop))

Verity wondered how insolent this child was. "Wings to fly? Birds do not always fly! That is bird discrimination! And obviously you haven't seen some babies. In the year I was alone, babies flung poop out of their diapers everywhere. It was like their parents were the toilets!" She retorted back and continued thinking. The waiter came back with a rope and she was about to get to work when he...apologised? That was not an apology. That was not even close to apology. That was a, a, a...an extremely confusing apology. He was double sorry...and then he took away a sorry making it-

Okay. She had been falsely lead on. It was an apology. Two sorries take one sorry equaled one sorry and one sorry was an apology. She sighed. She could accept apologies. "Fine the-"

"YOU!" The blonde looked at the woman stomping up towards...no past them in a fury. Verity watched with curiosity. "YOU DESERVE TO BE FED...TO THE WOLVES!"

Hmmm. She was heading towards the waiter with the rope. "D-Dah-" He was cut off by the glare she sent him. "Don't you Dah Dah me. You," She turned on the boy in front of Verity. "YOU! YOU LOOK SIMILAR T-"

What. This day was getting a little strange. Not to mentioned rushed. She grabbed the boy's arm again and this time, without looking at the new angry lady, she dragged him out. It was like he was a wanted criminal. Honestly. The girl was completely oblivious to further insults the woman might have sent in her way and instead, kept on walking out of the door, a vice grip on the boy's arm again. She stopped outside and sighed. "Like I was saying before, I accept your confusing apology. Truce?" She held out her hand for him to shake, not considering that he possibly couldn't due to the way she was holding his arms.

[Haruto]

The girl had won this battle of what does and does not fling poop, but she had yet to become the victor of their war! Haruto decided he would win, and when he decides something he sticks to it. No buts, ifs, or anything else of the sort! He almost frowned again, and was prepared to make the frown deeper upon spotting the rope. However, that was all cut off due to the sudden appearance of some random woman. A very loud woman one might add. Before he knew it, the loud and random and seemingly insane lady began yelling at the poor waiter. She was yelling so loudly that Haru could only wonder: what had the poor little waiter done to her? Oh, but hold on, the woman suddenly turned to face him. That only made him question if she had the ability to read minds. ...Does this mean...does this mean she knows that I think she's crazy...?!

Haruto was quick to open his mouth, to give his blunt reply towards the woman, "It's rude to yell at people, you insane old bat-" His response was then cut short from the blonde girl pulling him away, again. The crazy woman's insults continued their path towards the duo full force, and made Haru almost cringe at their volume. As said before, and it might be repeated once more, that woman was very loud. After they finally stopped, the boy took on a puzzled look and stared at the girl...who still had a death grip on his arms. She began talking about having a truce and held her hand out for him to shake it. Maybe she forgot he couldn't do so with her hold on him.

"Okay, truce...but, can you let go of my arms now?" he questioned with slightly furrowed eyebrows. Suddenly, there was movement within his jacket...some more movement...some more...and poof, Ruko's head popped out again. The small dog looked left, right, up, and down, before climbing onto Haru's head to take a small nap. Said boy could only sigh at his companion's actions.
"...d'oh!" he then spoke up with his eyes brightening, "My name is Haruto, what's yours?"

[Verity Lohlepher]

Vera's eyes flickered towards her still iron grip on the boy's arm and her mouth adopted an 'o' shape. She nodded her head and (finally) released the arm from captivity. He still didn't shake her hand and she shrugged her shoulders. Whatever. No courtesy? Fine by her. She dropped her own hand back to her side and let her gaze drift off to the side before the boy returned her attention to him. "Call me-"

"ALOE VERA! YOU LOOK WHERE YOU'RE GOING! SALE!" Someone bumped into Vera and sent her sending daggers into their direction. "SAYS YOU!" She responded in kind. Her brow furrowed and she looked back at Haruto. "Did you hear my name?" Technically he probably wouldn't have since her sentence had been cut off by some random person. Even if he had, there was no telling apart 'Vera' from 'Aloe Vera' or whatever the shop keeper called or...unintentionally since he was actually trying to say 'Aloe Vera for Sale' but who knew that.

She didn't particularly care if he heard her name right or not anyways. "I would say it's nice to meet you but I can't say it actually was sooo I don't know actually what to say... It wasn't that pleasant to meet you?" An example of her less than beautiful tact to say the least. She frowned in puzzled confusion. It sounded somewhat rude to her but she couldn't think of anything else to say. Oh well, he'd have to take.

[Haruto]

A sigh of relief managed to leave his mouth once his arm was free of her death grip. Not an iron grip, not a grippy grip, if that's even real. A death grip. He could feel blood flowing through his precious limb once more as he stretched it out a bit, which pleased him greatly. Though, while Haru was tending to his abused arm, some stranger bumped into the blonde girl...and was yelling something about a plant. Or a drink. Or lotion. Come to think of it, Aloe Vera was many things. The girl proceeded to yell back, and that left his ears slightly ringing. Having heightened senses wasn't so great sometimes, no matter how tiny the improvement could be.

"Your parents named you Aloe Vera?" he questioned in response to her...question...yeah, "Can I just call you Al for short?" Then again, she might prefer Vera, or Ale. Ale sounded better in his opinion. So, the boy decided he'd call her Al or Ale depending on his mood! A small chuckle left his frame at what she said next.
"Same here! Meeting you wasn't pleasant at all," he chirped happily, "Mhm, it was the opposite of pleasant. Totally and completely unpleasant. One of the most unpleasant things I've ever experienced." Okay, perhaps he was being a bit too blunt here.

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity sighed. Of course he hadn't heard her actual name. At least Aloe Vera wasn't such a bad name to be going by. "No, my parents didn't call me Aloe Vera. They called me Verity. If they confused me for my sister then I guessed they called me Kuroha. Either than that no." That was just to clear the air - she was totally okay with anything he wanted to call her... like Al? Sure why not? "If you want to," She responded, shrugging her shoulders. And then he agreed with her statement of it being unpleasant to meet him. It was like a light from above shone. He was totally honest! That was, was, was AWESOME! She grinned happily. "Yes! Exactly! I wanted to say that except usually people find it rude when I say that..." She frowned for a second before grinning again. "Perhaps it wasn't one of the most unpleasant things I've experienced though... I can name a lot more," Which was true.

Sister being angry, unpleasant, war in Fiore, pretty damn unpleasant, Sister death, ahhhh that was definitely unpleasant but walking in on people in the shower? Ehhh yeah, that topped her list of unpleasant things. Normally one'd think that having their sister die is more unpleasant than the aforementioned but Verity would argue it was more gut wrenching, terribly sad, maddening and the worst experience of her life. Which wasn't unpleasant. Unpleasant was different. Walking in on people, on the other hand, was unpleasant. She didn't gain anything except not needed excess information about what other people looked like. If she was perfectly honest it was also kind of embarrassing.

[Haruto]

Oh, so her actual name was Verity. That made much more sense. Plus, it was original, and he liked that. Haru lightly hummed as he thought about the name. Wasn't "verity" a word? If it was, that meant it was somewhat symbolic, right? The idea was definitely possible. He opened his mouth to question it, but the words died in his throat after she confirmed that he could call her "Al." A small smile formed on his lips, happy that she didn't turn his small request down. He knew some people probably didn't like being called anything other than their proper name, so to see someone not care (like himself) was certainly welcomed.

In fact, Verity, or Al, made it seem like she was similar to Haru in a few ways. For one, she looked happy that he agreed with her at the moment, since she was grinning. Plus she was stubborn, but he would describe it as "determination." He definitely had it as well, after all.
"Well it's unfortunate that you've went through more unpleasant things. For me, the only other thing that can top our meeting is...my father leaving me..." Haruto drifted off at the thought, going into a small silence not too soon afterwards. While he looked towards the ground, a frown threatened to replace the smile he had. However, the boy fought it away.

His eyes returned to their proper place, a place not aimed at the surface. Then he beamed at Verity, "Let's not talk about it though, okay? Unpleasant things can make conversations unpleasant, ehehe." Haruto allowed his sights to drift upwards this time, and he soon caught sight of the sky and sun. He didn't notice before, but the sun was getting awfully close to the horizon...and that meant it was getting late. Actually, a few colors had already started to paint the blue canvas above.
"Wow, time really flies, huh?" he said while he continued to stare in the sun's direction, his eyes squinted as to not become blind, "I might need to leave soon..."

[Verity Lohlepher]

Upon hearing Haruto lost his father, Verity grew curious. She didn't ask though since he appeared to be lost in his own world temporarily. He didn't remain that way for long and it was back to grinning for both of them. "Sure," She replied simply when he said he didn't want to talk about it. Fine by her. It's not like she liked talking about her own sister dying either. She wondered what they'd be doing now when Haruto commented on the time. She looked up at the sky and saw he was right. "Yeah. I must have spent quite a bit of time dragging you around." She commented "I'll probably need to leave too. My next destination requires me to take a train at night so I need to eat dinner. And lunch. I still haven't eaten lunch." She stressed meaningfully on the part she commented on no lunch for her.

The blonde stretched and suppressed a yawn. "If you're leaving soon then I'll go get my dinner now. Guess I'll see you again someday? Do you have a guild," She asked it out of curiosity. Despite their unpleasant meeting/encounter, she didn't think he was that bad. He was honest and Verity liked honest. Apparently her parents did too since her name meant 'truth'.

[Haruto]

"Oh yeah, I kind of crashed your lunch time, didn't I? Literally too..." he said while sweat dropping. But luckily, she then stated she was going to eat her dinner once he left. That certainly is a happy ending. In the end, Verity would still be able to reunite with her awaited food. He was prepared to form a reply for the "meeting again someday part", but stopped himself at the abrupt question of him being in a guild.
"No, I don't." he said while scratching the side of his head, "I guess you can say I'm a free to roam the sky. Hehe. What about you, do you have one?" He would wait receive a reply for only a few moments before smiling widely at Verity.

"Considering I travel a lot, we probably will meet again someday. Hopefully it'll be a more pleasant meeting." he said before giving Vera a small wave, "Take care, Al or...Verity or...Bye!" And so, while trying to not wake up the dog still lying on his head, Haru slowly walked towards where the closest train was...a trip he began to dread with each step. Maybe it would be better if he just walked all the way instead...
[Exit.]

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