Claustrophobia's Grasp

Seiken blinked a few times slowly but nodded as he was told to wait. Instead, trying to remain as relaxed as possible as he kept his hands tucked firmly into his pockets. He wasn't sure why the man was going out of his way, but he let the subject remain silent- what was the American's saying? "Don't look a gift mule in the mouth"? It was Something like that.

Instead, Seiken stared at the wall of windows that covered one side of the bus silently- trying to ignore the words of complaint and annoyance he could clearly hear thanks to his ears. It wasn't an easy thing to accomplish- the more that he tried to ignore it the more obvious it felt like it was becoming. A sigh left his lips as he heard the man come back toward him, motioning him toward back before nimbly exiting out the door- and Seiken made a slight face.

Not due to the order, or his way of speaking- in fact he could appreciate it. Short, to the point, and easy to understand. The issue was the emergency door was built for normal sized individuals. Muttering softly, his large hand extended as it grasped the edge of the doorway- carefully extending half his body through at a time as he bent over, thankful he was so flexible so that he could at least get through. Landing with a large thud, his feet sinking slightly into the earth, he made a sigh pass from his lips.

Slowly straightening (back to his original slumped positioning) he looked down at the man that had assisted, him and he slowly trailed his feline eyes to the side. "Thank you." he mumbled lightly, uncertain why the man had done it- but appreciative of it. He owed him.

Seiken's eyes flicked over every single movement of the man, despite his facial expression which had slowly relaxed into an expression that could only be called "Lazy", eyes half open, and lacking any real expression to it beyond that. He was checking his clothing, his body- and Seiken knew the movements and the location his hand had gone too. A firearm.

That was understandable, though. Hai had never taught him how to use them, but it wasn't like he wasn't fully aware what they did- and he knew all too well, how they hurt. He still had a scar on his abdomen from the guns his "father" shot him with to "test how strong your skin is". Now he knew all too well. Anything lower than a forty-five didn't do a thing to him, a forty-five hurt, and broke his skin, but that was about it. But high-end caliber guns beyond that, hurt.

His scar itched, and he, for a moment, wondered what caliber the pistol was in case he needed to defend himself. The thought, however, was quickly pushed out his mind, as he instead kept his hands tucked into the pocket of his hoodie- eyes trailing along toward him. A slight nod would be the initial response given to the man. "I arrived yesterday .. this place is .. strange. Loud." he murmured in response.

Slowly, he would begin to step forward- his long limbs making him go slower in his speed to even out his stride so he didn't completely overtake the man.

Seiken tilted his head at the man's odd way of moving- but he didn't question it. It's not like he could consider anything "odd" really anyway- this entire damn island was odd to him after all, which probably meant he was the odd one. However, as he spoke up with a question regarding his speaking habits, he winced a bit- Hai had always said he was quiet, but there was a reason for it.

"Good hearing .. loud speaking is .. painful." he knew the words, but his mind struggled to properly put them into an English sentence. He wasn't really "stupid" he was just slow on the uptake. "English is also .. uhm .." he frowned, he had been intending to say which language it was for him, but honestly- it was too complicated. Did he include sub-dialects in the listings?

Most African dialects were half the same as others, with bits of french, and then a bit of their own originality. They didn't really count as their own "languages". Chinese was three separate languages. It was to complicated.

".. Difficult for me. I know the words, but I'm .. not used to speaking it, yet," he explained as best he would, obviously struggling on how to best to describe the issue as they walked. Glancing down at the man, he was so straight-forward and simple. It reminded him of Hai .. though Hai had been much more .. expressional, the similarities were there. He wondered how old the man was compared to him due to the comparison he was making in his head.

He was older than him, he would guess- but he couldn't really tell by how much. Which probably meant not by much. Unless he was one of these "immortals" that he had been given a brief introduction on.

Seiken shook his head lightly with a frown, "I'm used to speaking to .. singular people." he explained as he rubbed the back of his head lightly. "Multiple makes it uncomfortable," though he knew that was something he had to deal with- and usually he did, but combining it with his other fears was .. a bad time waiting to happen, for everyone involved.

"I .. know the language. But I'm not used to speaking it so actively .. I have to .." he frowned, trying to think up the correct word- and in the end settled on one that he wasn't sure was completely accurate, but it seemed to fit. "Translate, in my mind .." he explained- seeming to be willing to speak a bit more, the further away from the bus, and the panic-inducing situation he had been in, they got.

He supposed the only way to get better at speaking the language smoothly, and not just fluently was to use it actively- but the problem was that he had no one to really do that with. He didn't want to be near anyone, but he knew he had to be to make the promise to Hai come true.

The thought of the promise, caused his stomach to clench, and he seemed to shrink just slightly as he averted his eyes from the man. Yet here he was talking to someone, he wasn't supposed to do this- getting attached would just leave the man injured in the end, or worse.

Seiken tilted his head a bit as he contemplated the question, not appearing insulted by any means, just uncertain how to answer it. Finally, he would speak.

"In part .. I don't really know, what I am .. but I'm at least, based on humans," he explained simply as he scratched his cheek- making a face as he contemplated the question, he was sorry he couldn't offer a more detailed response- he had the information Hai gave him, but that was minimal. As well .. he hadn't talked to anyone but Hai about this.

He didn't really mind, but it did feel .. odd, to talk about. Not understanding that it was his minimal social instincts wanting to keep himself secret, a degree of trust was needed for him to divulge more. Seiken just didn't understand that yet.

"Are you?" he asked curiously, glancing down as his feet shifted the earth beneath him with each step due to his weight.