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[Nameless]

A little past ten in the morning, the Hel'Saries decided to take a trip down to the downtown district of the city, to see what it had offered. Since their arrival, they hadn't had a lot of time to branch out to that area yet. But after chatting and getting a lot of recommendations from classmates, Lorencia needed to see place. She had pestered her cousin to go with her, and he was kind enough to agree to it, setting aside studies for once.

They had walked there, with Devias on map duty. Give them some cameras and maybe a shirt that said "I <3 Manta Carlos" and they'd look like full-fledged tourists. Seeing the amount of vehicles rolling up and down the streets, Lorencia was amazed. She hadn't seen these types of transportation before. Well, at least their designs and their vertical limitations.

The two came upon the mall. One large complex with plenty of stores inside. Entering for the first time, Lorencia fought off the desire to yell and see if she could hear echoes. At first, they went to a few stores together, and noted some of the fast food restaurants. They weren't hungry yet, but they might want to check it out.

They went into the clothing store and each branched out to look for something they'd like. There was so many brands to choose from, Lorencia didn't even know where to start. On of the sales girls saw her browsing through some very beautiful and very cute shirts and helped her pick out something she might like. When she had a few she was told to try them on in one of the changing booths, but before the girl finished telling her where they were, Lorencia had rushed over to the men's section, having seen something that she just needed to have: A fedora.

It looked so cool and new to her. She posed in front of the mirror and decided, that yes, she wanted this. Looking to another sales lady who had approached her, she asked for help on what would go with this. At first the sales lady was confused and asked if it was for someone else, to which she replied with a simple, "No, this is for me,"

 

[Boop]

Despite being a model, Fatima didn't know much about clothes and fashion stuff. Usually, the clothes she modeled were picked out for her, and she just had to stand there and be pretty. Maybe strut around a bit. She had never felt that attractive anyways, and most of the time she still thought it was her powers getting people to like her. Not that they made her more attractive, but horny people seemed to have less judgment. She did like pretty things, though, and trying clothes on was fun too.

She had actually come to the mall to buy a swimsuit. She had bundled up quite a bit in the winter, which was difficult with her long legs, but now Summer was here! She could wear as little clothing as possible, and from the looks of things most other people did too. She would usually have brought someone with her, but most of the people she knew would've been way too distracted to go shopping with. As it was, the low buzz of various hungers from the mall was bad enough. She ducked into a store that had fewer people, hoping to get some distance from most of the crowd.

Fatima just browsed for a moment. Then she noticed a girl posing with a nifty looking hat. Fatima admired her for a moment because she was quite pretty, then she realized that she sensed nothing at all from her. Of course, she could just not be hungry right now, but the horseman hoped that maybe she was a robot. She always liked knowing who the people who weren't affected by her aura, and therefore wouldn't drive her crazy when they got hungry, were. She walked, half-skipped to the other girl. "Hey! That's a nice hat! Ummm This might sound weird but you aren't by any chance a robot, are you?"

 

[Nameless]

The saleslady gave her a look that resembled confusion before directing her to some fancy-looking vests. But before Lorencia could really look at them closely, another lady walked up to her, complimenting the hat she chose, and then asking if she was a robot.

Lorencia chuckled, a pleasant wide smile appearing on her face. Another person to befriend! she'd think to herself. Asking someone if they were a robot was weird for sure, and especially after complimenting her hat, but Lorencia was okay with that. Weird stuff are usually the greatest stuff!

"A robot? That's like a metal golem, right? Um no, I'm not a robot, silly," she'd say with another chuckle. She took off the fedora and held it in front of herself. It was black, with faint grey stripes and a grey band running around the base, just before the it began to go horizontal. It was also one of those silky-looking ones. "It does look great, doesn't it? I can't wait to show this off when I get back home. Everyone would be so jealous!" There was no hiding the fact that she was excited just for the hat alone. She glanced back at the others like it and picked out a less shiny, but just as amazing to her eyes, fedora. Except for the shine, it looked identical. "Which one looks better?" She'd ask the person who approached her

 

[Boop]

Well, apparently the other girl was not, in fact, a robot. But at least she hadn't been offended or something, which was a relief to the young horseman. She tried not to let her mild disappointment show - the other girl did seem nice. Besides her own roommate wasn't immune to her aura, but was just so sweet and innocent that she was only affected by the hunger for food part. She could make friends - she just avoided them during mealtime.

"Yeah it's a metal golem, I guess. I just wondered 'cause - well it's not important." She didn't really feel like blurting out that the girl wasn't hungry, people tended to think she was weird when she did that. Fatima let herself be distracted by the hat, which was even more eye-catching up close. "Yep - it is pretty cool. Where's your home then, not-a-robot girl?" She laughed, "I guess I should ask your name too. I'm Fatima."

The teenager actually considered both hats carefully. She might not have much experience, but she had picked up some things modeling. "Hmm... I think that shiny one suits your hair better. But they both look great. One's more for a party and one's kinda subtle. ooh... You could always get both if they're not too expensive."

 

[Nameless]

Gesturing to herself with pride, she answered the girl's queries about her home with: "I come from Sol. It's basically a floating archipelago in a world of its own called the Void. It's a bit more charged with magic than this world, but it's definitely way smaller." She nodded at the introduction Fatima gave her and outstretched her hand towards her. "My name's Lorencia! It's nice to meet you, Fatima!"

Lorencia's signature bright smile shone through, a smile that reflected her friendly, bouncy and excitable nature. She looked at the hats once again as Fatima scrutinized the hats, and was happy to get some insight on both of them. She would have settled for picking the shiny one since she said it went better with her hair, but the additional comment on one being good for parties and the other one being more subtle just flicked a light bulb on.

"That's just perfect!" she exclaimed hugging the two hats as a gleeful grin painted itself on her face. "This is going to be so great! I'm going to take them both. The look on his face when he sees this!" With the grin still evident, she turned to Fatima again. "What do people usually wear with these?"

 

[Boop]

"Oh? You're kind of an alien, then? That's actually pretty cool! How'd you get here? I've always lived on Earth. Actually, I always lived in the same small town till I got here. But I was - uh - summoned, kinda. So I might have been someone else I don't even know about... That's actually kinda scary." Fatima was fascinated by aliens, perhaps even more so than by all the mythological creatures here. After all, she might not have known about dragons and fairies actually existing, but she had grown up around a lot of magic and rituals. She herself was sort of a mythological creature and demons or angels weren't much of a stretch from a horseman. But life on other planets wasn't something she had ever really considered, and so many of them had come to Earth.

The girl shook hands with Lorencia. She didn't really like handshakes, but she didn't want to be rude. And this girl was so peppy. The teenager thought they might be the same age, but she wasn't sure she'd actually seen her in classes or not. Usually, hair that colour would stand out, but Starlight was not a normal school. "So have you been here long? I think we might have had some classes together, but I'm not sure... You are a student, right? You look my age. I'm 16! I think some people can't tell cause I'm too tall."

Fatima just looked down at her own clothes for a moment when the girl asked her for some fashion advice. She had pretty much exhausted all her knowledge about it. As a model, she generally just wore what people told her to wear. Otherwise, she just stuck to casual clothes. She was kind of a jeans and t-shirts sort of girl usually, or skirts and t-shirts, since finding jeans that fit her was a pain. She had to stop herself from just blurting out 'clothes' in answer to the girl's question. Instead, she avoided the question by asking about the mysterious 'he' Lorencia was planning to show the hats to. "He? Who is he? Your boyfriend or a brother? I have a brother... kinda."

 

[Nameless]

"Alien? Well I wouldn't sa--hmm..." she glanced up a little to the ceiling in thought. She supposed that she was indeed the alien of this world, considering the fact that she wasn't from here. "Actually, yeah, I guess I am an alien," she chuckled before holding her palm up and spreading her fingers by twos, mirroring a greeting she saw in a movie and adding, "I come in peace. We came here through a portal after learning about this world from a dusty journal."

When the topic changed to age and school, Lorencia nodded to most of the things Fatima asked. "Yup! I'm 16, and a student! I've been here since the first month of the year. Uhh... January, right?" Even though she had repeated the months over and over to get used to it, sometimes she mixes them up, especially if they sounded the same. Lorencia was excited to learn the things that she did about Fatima. There was a chance that they'd had classes together. Who knows, maybe they were sat next to each other and she just didn't know it!

There were a few more things swarming her mind, but Lorencia stopped when Fatima asked about the 'he' Lorencia had referred to, guessing that he was her brother or a boyfriend. To that, Lorencia giggled with a little bit of embarrassment. "You'd be surprised how many people call us siblings or a couple. I was talking about Devias. He's my cousin, but because we're so close, I guess that's why people think we're either one of those two." With her perpetual smile, she added, "It's kind of funny if you think about it. Oh hey, he'll probably turn up soon. I'll introduce you to him then! He's the best person I've ever known! I'm sure you'll like him."

 

[Boop]

An alien that didn't even know she was an alien? This Lorencia girl was really interesting. Apparently, she wasn't an actual space-alien though, but from another world connected by a portal. It was funny that Earth was the place they found in a dusty old book - that sounded like a plot to a horror movie where someone accidentally opened a portal to Hell. The girl had been lucky to just end up here. There were plenty of demons on Manta Carlos, but the ones Fatima had encountered so far had seemed really nice. Very - friendly, she blushed a little at her stray thoughts.

Although she hadn't really watched the show it was associated with, the horseman did recognize the greeting since it had somehow become part of pop culture. She grinned at the other girl, "Well I'm glad you're not here to fight. I don't really like fighting much, even though I was trained in some stuff... Did you make the portal yourself - is that part of your powers or magic or whatever?"

"Yeah - January! Funny I was only here like a week before that. I got here during Christmas break. Meant I got to go to the New Year's Party - so not fun, but I did get a job and some friends out of it." It was funny how many people were on this island that you could see people in classes and not even know them. It was certainly a lot different than being homeschooled. Any friends she had outside the cult, she would recognize right away. Of course, she knew the cult members too, but there was really no avoiding that.

"Oh cousins-" she giggled a bit; it was kind of funny. They young horseman really had no experience with a proper family, siblings, boyfriends, or cousins. Although she did consider John her brother at this point. Sleeping with people didn't really make them boyfriends or girlfriends - she didn't really think she was that close with anyone. It was kinda sad, but she kept up a smile anyway, "Devias? Is he the same age as you? My brother isn't really my brother either - it's a little complicated actually. We're kinda the same species. We only met here on Manta Carlos - we weren't even raised together or anything."

 

[Nameless]

"Yup! Opening portals, teleporting; everyone's taught how to do it at a young age, but it was my cousin who opened the portal we used here, since he had visited the school a year earlier to set up the whole school transfer, and to get acquainted with the academy so we wouldn't be lost when we did transfer."

When the new years party was mentioned, Lorencia was curious. Why wasn't it fun? She thought parties would be great here, seeing as how many different cultures have settled in the island, there must have been something amazing happening. Then again, with so many cultures, there could be not-so-fun ways of celebrating, maybe that was what Fatima meant. But it seemed like she had gained something good from it, so that was great.

Lorencia shook her head. "No, he's a year and a day older than me. Basing on your calendar, my birthday is on January 1st, and his is December 31st. Wait, so the person you consider your brother isn't related to you and you two just met on the island? That's kind of strange, but I suppose that means you two are already really close!"