Wandering Around Aimlessly is an Easy Way to Get Killed

Arjean guessed it made sense for something that ruined fun ideas to have the word "kill" in its name, but they still wondered about the "buzz" part. It seemed like something that just didn't make sense for no reason at all, like "best thing since sliced bread" and "cut corners". Now they wondered who "they" were that Joseph was referring to when he said he was poking fun at them. At the very least, he didn't seem that confusing anymore, and they even followed along with his laughter since he didn't seem angry. Only did a pinch of embarrassment made Arjean feel bad, since Joseph seemed to be a bit nervous.

The pinch of embarrassment was quickly replaced by a sudden knot in Arjean's stomach when he mentioned being shy before hinting at them to ask people for directions. They liked talking to people and making new friends, but they were almost always shy at first and didn't really get comfortable until they knew the person they were speaking to wasn't a threat. Joseph definitely didn't seem like a threat (despite his blood powers giving them a bit of worry), but there was a good chance the next person they spoke to would be one. He put his faith into Arjean nevertheless, which meant they had to live up to his expectations and help him. A friend always helped a friend in need, and he seemed to be in need.

First they stood in place and took out their notepad to draw a picture of a building with the words "Blood Shop" on the top, then made a bubble saying "Where?" next to it. That should be enough for people to understand. Afterwards, they flew up to get a better look of the people around them. Flying was still difficult for them, but it was much easier than walking or crawling around to get from place-to-place. Once they were done searching, they flew over to a gentle looking man and showed the drawing, yet all they got in response was a confused and concerned expression. Next was a lady sitting on a bench, who seemed to fit the description their maman made of some vampires. Pale skin, red eyes, seemed to have fangs from what Arjean could see. Vampires liked blood, didn't they?

Arjean moved to her, then landed in front of her legs. She was shorter than they expected, which comforted them just a bit. Smaller people usually felt a little less threatening then big people. Not only was she not scary at all, this time Arjean got what they wanted as a response when they showed the drawing, and she responded back by flipping to the next page and giving simple directions to the shop. She even spoke slowly when she gave verbal directions, which felt extra helpful. After she was finished, Arjean thanked her happily and flittered over to Joseph and showed him the notepad with all the information. On the page with directions they wrote down "Does this help?"

"I don't care," they responded bluntly. They got the job done and he didn't even seem thankful, just awkward and uncomfortable. That wasn't fair. They did all of that just for him to seem uncomfortable and like they needed an apology. What Arjean was truly in need of was praise from their new friend. It was only when Joseph read the notes they provided him that he looked happier like Arjean wanted. When that happened Arjean smiled brightly and giggle as if all their anger flew away. "Really? It is? Thank you!"

Whenever Joseph took a stop to read the directions Arjean would land and take a break from flying. Their attempts at flying were getting more stable, and soon they would be on the level of their mommies, but they still flapped their wings too much and were unsteady. Their thoughts on their increasing skill in flight were pushed to a corner when Joseph asked what they liked to do for fun. In an instant thoughts flooded Arjean's mind, so much so they nearly stumbled back and drifted off into daydreaming just to organize everything. Drawing. Singing. Playing. Dolls. Toys. There were too many options. Animals. Drawing. Toys. Playing. Friends. Junchi. Junchi. I like Junchi. Maybe hunting was an option. Junchi wanted to learn how to hunt but he disliked looking at blood and dead things. Not because they were dead or looked like they were in pain, but because everything about them was messy. He preferred it when things were neater. Arjean liked it messy though, but because they were younger they were seen as even less qualified for hunting.

"I... like... uh..." They thought starting off their speech would make it easier to narrow down their choices, but they still had too many ideas. "toys, animals, hunting, drawings. Lots drawings."

Arjean swore they didn't hear the question correctly at first. What did he mean by that questions? They hunted animals, of course. All oricenta were taught how to hunt and "control their instincts" or whatever that meant, even if it just meant watching their family members hunt once in a while. They hunted for food, to practice their abilities, to get stronger, or just for fun. From what they understood though, not every oricenta had to keep learning how to hunt, all they were expected to know were the basics and how to train their "instincts", whatever that word meant.

"Animals. Food." Arjean had to hold themself back from ending their sentences like a question. Joseph's question felt too easy to answer, like the trick questions their mommies gave them every once in a while to make them smarter. Just the thought of that made it feel like the air was being sucked out of Arjean's lungs. They didn't want to be punished for answering Joseph's answer wrong. Still, they tried their hardest to keep their composure and kept on a slightly shaky smile. Hopefully their bangs hid their eyebrows.

When Joseph stopped walking the conversation switched to him asking them about the blood shop. What were they supposed to think? It looked and smelled nice, but it was like a normal shop. Arjean assumed it would be like the meat meat shops they've been to before... or butcheries, or whatever they were called. "I like it," was their only response based on what they could tell, but they didn't want to wait any longer and went closer to the door, waiting for Joseph to open it for them. They were feeling really hungry all of a sudden.

Realizing they misunderstood their question Arjean tried to hide their embarrassment by wrapping their hair around their cheeks, yet it was still obvious they were blushing a bright blue. The color practically glowed on their face. One thing they always hated when they blushed was that—not only did it cover the majority of their face—their freckles turned white and their markings blended into their blush. Now wasn't the time to think about how they looked though, because they probably looked even sillier dozing off into their own worries instead of answer Joseph's question correctly.

"Ah... uh... s-sorry..." Their embarrassment made it hard to even think how to respond, and their mind constantly switching between languages didn't help. In the end they started spouting out words related to how they were trying to answer. "Water and... uh... sea.. sky... air... Um... um..." As they thought they entered through the door Joseph was holding for them. They needed to calm down and relax. "Kolaxis, mice, pods, birds, fish..." There was a specific animal they were thinking of; they were these fluffy small mouse-like creatures that were brownish. They would watch their family hunt them in owl form. For now it didn't matter; Arjean got out enough information considering Joseph seemed more interested in the blood shop. That made Arjean feel a bit jealous, but his attention would fall back onto them sooner or later—and it will be sooner.

It was their turn to continue the conversation, but with their notepad since it was easier. They were around a big kid now, and they were smart like their family always told them. Joseph couldn't be the only one leading the conversation and giving out the orders, even if he was older. They had to match his intelligence if they were going to convince anyone to allow them in the big kid classes. Arjean would not allow themself to be forced to be in classes that were too easy, even if it meant being punished for failing hard tests by their mommies. The punishments allowed them to get smarter, like how they had to write in cursive all the time. It was to show them discipline, but it only made their handwriting messy, which wasn't helped with how thick their crayons were compared to pencils. At least cursive impressed people, and once they were done writing in their notepad maybe it would impress Joseph.

"Joseph?" Arjean started off, trying to get his attention as they finished up their writing. When they were done they held up their notepad to show him what they wrote down: How you got powers? Their maman mentioned how humans didn't have any powers, only special ones did from special situations, so Joseph had to be special. At least, that's how Arjean interpreted what she was saying; she was often confusing to listen to. Even if Joseph wasn't that special with how he got powers he was still interesting to learn about; they didn't know a lot about humans other than what oricenta shared in common.

Arjean felt even weirder after Joseph's attempted to make them feel better, but they forgot all about their embarrassment when he praised them on their cursive. It was hard to write like it, but it was all worth it when it showed off their skills and earned them praise. Nevertheless, he still paid attention to what they wrote down, and for a moment they swore they saw him hesitate. Maybe he was just thinking really really hard.

"Demon stuff?" they repeated in confusion upon hearing his answer. Demons seemed to be in the good books of their family, but they did hear their grandparent talk about how much they hated lust demons. When that topic came up Arjean either had their ears covered, or more commonly, they were taken out of the room to play with their toys and not ask questions. "Lust demons?" they asked him, wondering if those were the demons he was talking about, or maybe he just had information on them. They were old enough to know, yet when they asked he seemed to have moved his attention elsewhere and started exploring the store.

The store was amazing. It wasn't like any meat shop, and while it did have a similar feel and smell to it, meat shops didn't store this much blood. Usually the blood displayed was little in the amount compared to the meat, so there were other stores for blood to use. As Arjean tried to keep up with Joseph they tried to follow his eyes to see what he was interested in buying. It looked like he was skimming over all the best stuff, but he was older, so he had the better judgement. Maybe the bad stuff was easier to use.