Close Encounters (Open)

The driver's cheerful expression earlier took a slight decline. He was not frightened or anything but heightened sense of anxiety was there as Wulf entered the vehicle and he got a better look at him. Marleigh picked up on this quickly. At least the fact that the driver had not refused to take them meant she was right about them being more accepting of things. She at least owed him a little reassurance as well.

"My friend is not from around here. He was looking for a place to stay so I am helping him out." She spoke as she entered the cab herself and closed the door behind her.

"Is that so? Well, he certainly picked a good city for that. We get all kinds of folk come and go here. You look a little special yourself miss. So where to?"

At the very least the driver maintained his hospitality. He was probably not the bravest of men, but for the sake of his job, he kept his accommodating front. Though clearly he has had his own share of not so pleasant experiences with all kinds of folk, as he had mentioned.

"A cozy little hostel down 36th Street, B&C Stoneview? If it does not sound familiar, I can point it out when we get there."

"Alright."

And so the cab was on its way. Just as it turned on the corner though, they spotted the headlights from a convoy of cars heading their way from the opposite direction. They looked very similar to the cars of the men they had encountered in the forest. She held her breath as they passed by. It made her a little nervous but nothing happened. If the cab had been just five minutes later, they might have run into them while standing out there in the open. It was really a close call. The driver was ignorant of all this of course, throwing a random comment to break the silence.

"Must have been some important fellow. Not too uncommon during the day. Guess they were out late too." He spoke cheerfully.

Zenro continued his spell of silence as he gazed out the window at the various buildings they were passing. As he sat there, his body seemed to go through the involuntary movements that had been displayed before; his head jerked to the side every now and again, with his right eye twitching a notable amount of time. The rattle of the chains could be heard more as he seemed to relax somewhat as his arms shook. Though he was quite accustomed to it and didn't think much of it, his twitching and fidgeting was most likely not helping him make the taxi driver feel more at ease.

Zenro's ears shifted between Marleigh and the taxi driver as they spoke as he worked on picking up what parts of their conversation he could. Everyone he had encountered tonight was a new tongue it seemed, even the tall ones in the robes; it was rather likely he was going to have to get used to using that tongue again. The thought of such necessity did not make him all too happy, but not much could be done about that. At least not everyone was hostile, that was something he was thankful for. Without being able to commune with the earth here, dealing with all kinds of hostiles would prove troublesome for a while.

As the headlights from the convoy of cars came around, Zenro looked away, not wanting to stare directly into the headlights since it wasn't the most pleasant of thing to do, and he managed to recognize the vehicles. There certainly was a notable amount of those men it seemed. What side the ones in the cars were on was up for interpretation, but he certainly hoped it was on the side of the fallen who were betrayed. Gunned down by those who were supposedly on their side.

Thinking about how the men back in the park were gunned down by their own kin, Zenro was now letting out a low growl as he stared out the window, his mind mostly lost in thought as they continued to drive.

Wulf's growl did not go unnoticed. Perhaps thinking his idle chatter was the cause, the driver chose to keep silent for the rest of the short trip. On the other hand, Marleigh wondered if it was because Wulf recognized the cars that passed by. The timing was certainly fit. It was occasions like these that the maid wished she could read minds. She would have loved to know what was plaguing his thoughts.

Just as she had mentioned, it did not take long for them to arrive at their destination. The drive was over before they knew it. Fortunately, they did not see anything else troublesome the rest of the way. Although even with the silence, it was really quite hard to relax. The tense feeling lingered even after they had alighted from the vehicle.

"This is the place. It does not really stand out but I believe in your case, that would be much better. It is the kind of establishment that gets patrons by word of mouth."

Marleigh looked up at the building that greeted them. It was old-fashioned brick. But so was the rest of the block. The buildings were not so much identical as they were following a certain structural theme. While most of the windows were dark, either because the occupant had gone to sleep or the room itself was empty, several windows on the first floor were still brightly lit. She stepped inside, gesturing Wulf to follow.

Behind the reception table was a lady, probably in her late twenties, reading today's paper. The lady looked up at the late night guests as the door chime rang when they entered. She grinned, her expression being a mixture of pleasant surprise and unexpected disbelief. Marleigh returned the silent greeting with her own professional smile.

"Good evening Nancy. Sorry for calling in so late. I have an acquaintance here who needs a room to spend the night. Well, actually I am not that sure how long he plans or needs to stay. Nor do I know if he even has the money to pay for the stay..."

Nancy held out her hand, gesturing with an open palm.

"You can stop there. I can pretty much guess what's going on. He's free to stay as long as he needs to. We can worry about payment later. I trust you enough on that. The second floor is mostly free. He can take any room there."

"Hmm. Is he like a foreigner? He certainly doesn't look like he's from around here. It might be a little difficult to communicate if he doesn't even know English."

"That is precisely why I recommended this place." Marleigh replied earnestly.

"You are always so accommodating of people from outside the country. There should be nothing to worry about. He does not speak much but he can pick up on English decently enough."

Zenro spent the remainder of the trip with his head tilted further down that it had been previously. His head was turned to look out the window so it would have been quite difficult to catch his eyelids claiming more territory than usual before being repressed as he worked to keep his eyes open.

It seemed like the driver had some trustworthiness about him, they had passed those similar vehicles when he could have presumably stopped for them. That was certainly good for both parties involved. Zenro wasn't exactly up for another confrontation of some sort right this moment.

The vehicle stopped and it seemed like this was the place, judging by how Marleigh was exiting the vehicle. Zenro began to exit the vehicle as well, it being more of a difficult task due to his height, the shackles, and the being injured thing wasn't much help either. Once he was about to exit the vehicle, he turned toward the driver and offered a slight nod of acknowledgement. "Appreciate." He said dryly, his tone missing the emotions other might have put into the comment.

With his feet now on the ground outside of the taxi, Zenro proceeded to lean forward and stand back up, glad to not be cramped in the vehicle any longer. He quickly came to the notion that perhaps standing as quickly as he did was not the best of ideas as he grew dizzy, the spell made him lurch forward for a step before he managed to regain his composure.

As he stood it was rather apparent that the wrapping on the wound on his leg wasn't exactly the best, seeing as how the black fluid could be seen trickling down his leg a little. His right hand had his entire palm coated with blood along with the area around the wound. If it weren't for him looking around cautiously he could even seem calm about the whole ordeal.

Taking note of the gesture, Zenro followed Marleigh to the front of the building, stopping before the threshold. He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling out the nature of this place. There was certainly some sort of threshold to cross, but it would have only been a concern would his powers available. As it was, there was just his regeneration which didn't seem to be affected by less potent thresholds. After what would have been an awkward time for a normal person to have been standing at the doorway, Zenro stepped through, his body shivering as he did so.

Most of the conversation between Marleigh and Nancy had gone unregistered by Zenro as he stood in the reception area, looking over at the two of them. His right hand shook along with his left arm as he kept them in the same position they had been in for a while, he right hand pressed up against his wound and his left arm dangling off to the side, being kept up from the finite length of chain between the two large shackles on his arms. As he took a moment to look about the entrance, his wolf ears twitched around a little, one seeming to keep track of Marleigh and Nancy whilst the other picked out the ambient noise of the building.

Nancy stepped out from her post behind the reception and took one appraising look at Wulf. She was slightly taller than Marleigh but nowhere near the towering form of the man who stood in front of her. She then walked up to the key holder on the wall and handed one of the keys to the maid.

"It's the room at the end of the east wing on the second floor. Lots of privacy and a decent view of the alley out at the back. I can imagine your friend's the cautious type who doesn't talk or ask for much. Honestly, that's just less work for me. If he needs anything, the phone in the room is a direct line to the front desk."

"I see he doesn't have any belongings to take upstairs so I'll leave showing him around to you. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take out the cat."

Matter-of-factly and straight to the point as always. That was how Nancy usually carried herself. Her intuition bordered on superhuman but she knew when to keep her nose out of other people's business. If she had one flaw as the manager of this establishment, it was her occasional lack of tact. Still, most people who knew her were aware she was kind at heart.

"Thank you."

Marleigh bowed and then gestured to Wulf that they were to go upstairs.

"The room is this way."

It was exactly as Marleigh had remembered. Then again, it has barely been a couple of months since she last went there. Naturally, there would not have been many changes. The stairs led right into the second floor hallway where she immediately turned to the east wing as Nancy had mentioned. The hall was dimly lit but that was mostly because there were no other guests that night. They reached the room at the end and Marleigh promptly opened the door with the key she received.

It was surprisingly roomier than she expected. The single bed was on the corner. Near the center of the room was a table with chairs for two. There was a closet, a cupboard and a small refrigerator beside the counter opposite the bed on the other corner of the room. Immediately to their right was another door that led to the bathroom.

"I almost feel bad for imposing on Nancy's generosity." She said unconsciously said out loud.

"Well, I believe this is where we part ways. It was a pleasure meeting and working with you tonight, Wulf. I sincerely hope the rest of your stay in this city will be more pleasant. Though with how things are her in Jump, truthfully, I cannot promise it will be. But you look like someone who can take care of himself." Marleigh spoke as she handed over the key to the room.

"In case you did not catch it earlier, there is no need to worry about payment or length of stay. Think of it as a favor of goodwill."

Marleigh paused to think if she had forgotten anything but decided to leave it to him to ask.

"Before I go, is there anything else I might be able to assist you with?"

Zenro watched Nancy as she looked at him for a brief moment, his eyes following her as she picked up something from the wall and handed it off to Marleigh. His ears twitched around a little as his listened to Nancy, managing to pick up some of the sentence. It sounded like the room that he would be staying at was a good choice, being at the end and having somewhat of a view outside.

After seeing Marleigh bow to Nancy, Zenro merely nodded at her before turning away and heading upstairs. Once upstairs, he peered around, half to check his surroundings and half to try and see which corridor they were to go down. Once Marleigh pointed the way, he walked down the hallway, the sound of the chains clanking softly together accompanying his movements.

Once the door was opened, Zenro slowly stepped in and looked around, immediately going towards the closed door and opening it after fiddling with the doorknob, being unfamiliar with it. He peered into the bathroom, and just blinked at it for a moment before closing the door as Marleigh began to go on about departing.

Zenro thought of what this new place might be like in the long term, he had already had a violent encounter with a group and that had been a matter of being in the right place at the wrong time. There was certainly going to be more conflict in the future, it was more of a matter of 'when' than 'if'. He outstretched his left hand and took the key as Marleigh handed it over, looking at it before looking back up at her.

"Not long stay. He commented on his intention of his length of stay. Once he had healed up, he would certainly leave. It was not that he didn't appreciate Marleigh's favor, but he wasn't exactly one to be in such a living arrangement for long, it felt off.

Zenro blinked a bit after her last question, trying to think of what questions he might have before she departed. "Vral-" He began before stopping for a moment, his head jerking to the side a little before he continued, "where... forest?" He asked, pausing between the two words, obviously trying to think of the translation of what he was thinking of.

"Forest? Ah, I have just the thing you might need."

Marleigh reached into her satchel and took out a map of the city. She had several of these from the time when she was just learning where everything was. She liked to be thorough with her knowledge so she spent a considerable amount of time wandering the city back then. Now she could confidently say she knew where everything important or notable was. She also took out a pen and marked three locations on the map before handing it over to Wulf.

"This is a map of Jump. The marked spots are: this place; the park we met each other earlier which also has a forest; and finally the forest on the outskirts of the city."

"You can have this by the way. I hope you can put it to good use."

Marleigh wondered why she had not thought of this earlier. As Wulf was a newcomer in the city, the obvious thing she should have done was help him get familiar with the different places. Now that she thought about it, she never really asked why he had come to Jump. It would be rude to pry anyway. But at least he seemed like a decent person and she was more than willing to assist people like him.

Zenro watched as Marliegh retrieved a map from her bag. His eyes scanned across it, looking at the various things on the map before she marked out three locations and handed the map over. He took the map and looked at it, looking at the three circles areas and working out what direction he would need to leave in once he got up to head off to the forest. If it were anything like home, it would be much more secluded than this area, something he would most certainly prefer.

"Appreciate." Zenro replied with a nod of his head and tilting the map forward before he folded it up and held it in one hand. It would certainly come in handy, wandering around in this place trying to find places he wanted wouldn't have been the most enjoyable.

"See again perhaps." He stated, he would certainly not mind crossing paths with Marleigh again, she seems like someone who could have trusted vested into her without having to worry about the repercussions, but to what extend was still not known. Encountering her was somewhat fortunate, were the situation earlier to not have involved combat that the two of them played on the same side, it was most certain that he would not trust her nearly as much as he did now.

As Zenro stood in front of Marleigh, his eyes were slow to open after he closed them, his body displaying its fatigue, even his more notably shaking having calmed down more.

"There is probably a good chance of that. It has been a pleasure." Marleigh replied and followed through with her usual courtesy bow.

It had been a long night and she felt she had gotten more than her fair share of unexpected events for that evening. At the very least it seemed like she got a new trustworthy acquaintance out of it. They would meet again. That much she was certain of.

Her "job" completed, she silently made her way down the hall, turning at the staircase and was out of sight.

(OOC: I think that's it. Sorry if I got slower on replies near the end. Been busy. Thanks a lot for the thread)