In the Theater [O]

Lyra walked around the mostly empty dining hall. Seeing as it wasn't a normal eating hour there weren't that many guests in there. She crept along quietly with a small bag of snacks that she got from the bar. She scooted into a booth in a far corner to nibble on her peanuts and raisins.

The few waiters that worked this shift were sluggish and bored with the few guests that were in there. None looked very happy. Even the bar tender was doodling on napkins. Lyra watched them quietly in a neutral way as she sorted her bundle of snacks by kind and size.

As Lyra was sorting and picking at her snacks, she would have been able to hear a slight rustling noise, like little feet pitter-pattering across the floor. This wouldn't be too unusual though, as there were many different Eidola types, with the monster forms coming in large ranges of forms.

The soft tapping noise got closer though, and Lyra would have felt like she were being watched. Over her shoulder was the small face of a monkey like creature, gazing down at the performers snacks. The creature was perched on the seat of the booth just behind Lyra, and was totally silent. It had very large, black eyes, full of a child-like curiosity.

Lyra shivered at the feeling of being watched. She tried to brush the feeling off. When she couldn't get rid of it she slowly turned her head to see the small monkey. Lyra yelped and jumped across the seat of the booth so she was a good two feet away from Kanlaon.

"H-Hi there" She stuttered trying to stop her heart from the marathon it was trying to run at the moment.

The little horned monkey also jumped when Lyra yelped out in surprise. She flew all the way up to the ceiling and latched her claws into it so she dangled upside down. Her fur and tail stuck straight out in shock and she looked terrified.

But then she saw that Lyra was calming down, and this helped her to calm down as well. She let herself drop from the ceiling and land in the booth so she was sitting next to the woman.

She lifted her paw up as if to say "hi", but she looked timid and shy.

Not knowing what she meant by the paw Lyra nervously took it and shook it like a handshake. "It's very nice to meet you..." She said slowly.

Letting go of the paw she rubbed her arm awkwardly. She looked from Kanlaon to her small piles of peanuts. "Are you...hungry?" She asked gesturing to the snacks.

The little monkey looked at the handshake like it were something she'd never seen before. But she didn't resist it, and once Lyra let go of her paw she let it drop down.

She glanced over at the food on the table and then back to Lyra again, her big eyes locking on the woman's as if to make sure it was okay to help herself.

She nodded and scooted the napkin closer to her. "Oh yes please, go right ahead!"

Lyra sat back to look at the small creature. "You have very nice horns" She said quietly.

As soon as the final permission was given the small monkey reached forward and nabbed a peanut, nibbling at it happily. Her tail wagged back and forth and she looked very content.

She glanced over when Lyra complimented her horns, and then reached up to touch one of them. She then smiled a cute monkey smile in thanks before continuing to nibble on the small snack.

Lyra watches the small creature quietly not really knowing what to do.

"So are you a guest here?" She asks as Kanloan eats the snacks.

Kanlaon shock her head back and forth at the question. She then decided to morph back into her human form. She did so quickly, and her long wavey green hair feel over her small shoulder and covered the top half of her body. She was naked, but didn't care in the least bit. Where she was raised, children ran around naked all the time. She wasn't taught that it was a bad thing to be exposed like this. She timidly picked up a raisin and plopped it in her mouth.

"I just got a job here" She said in a very tiny, sweet voice.

Lyra watched the small creature morph into an equally small girl. When she noticed the girl wasn't clothed her head shot up as she quickly looked up and away from her. "O-oh! Where do you work?" She replied trying to keep calm.

Her eyes frantically flickered from person to person that were in the dining area but none of them seemed to notice the now naked girl sitting next to Lyra in the dark corner.

"I'm a laundry worker." She said with a smile, but noticed that Lyra looked a little uncomfortable. She tilted her head in confussion, not sure what was wrong with the woman.

"Is everything okay? I didn't eat too much did I?" She asked, suddenly worried she'd imposed. She scooted the napkin of peanuts and raisins back towards Lyra.

"Oh no! That's ok! You didn't eat too much at all!" She said quickly, making sure not to look down at her.

"I'm just worried someone may.... notice your lack of clothes..." She mumbled as her face glowed red. She didn't have a jacket or she would've put it over the girl and she quietly cursed her lack of overwear.

Again the small girl looked confused. She was glad that the woman wasn't mad at her for eating too much. But why would anyone care if she wasn't wearing clothing?

The little girl looked around the nearly empty dining theatre and noticed that she was the only naked one. But she was also the only child.

"Are the rules here... different then they are in the..." She lowered her voice even more. "In the slums?"

She knew she shouldn't be proud of where she came from. Everyone knew that the slums were the most disgraceful locations in Solo City.

Lyra sat there for a moment to think. "Well..." She began carefully then thought better of it and scooted closer to the girl. She slowly wrapped her arm around her to pull her closer to her side very carefully.

"Hmm..." She tried to think of the best way to phrase it. "The rules per se aren't all that different." She looked down and focused very carefully to only keep the small girls face in sight. Lyra smiled and continued, "There are just different norms and customs for each place. As in here you mostly find people in clothes but that doesn't mean that people without clothes are bad... Does that make sense"

"Oh good." She thought, "I just babbled at this poor girl and she has no idea what I'm talking about..... Good job Lyra..."

Kanlaon's eyes widened when Lyra put her arm around her. In all of her life no one really ever showed her physical kindness. The girl had never even been hugged. Her parents weren't exactly the most loving of people, and not many cared for a child from the slums.

She looked up at Lyra and didn't understand exactly what she meant. She was glad she wasn't a bad person though, and she was happy to see Lyra get a small smile on her face.

"Uhm... all right." She said, trying to sound like she understood.

Lyra quickly retreated from the young girl and collected herself from her babbling.

Suddenly she got an idea and said, "Oh hey if you're hungry-" She made the mistake of looking down at Kanlaon when she started talking, "Um-" Lyra quickly snapped back up to staring at the wall and continued, "W-we could first go get you some clothes and then head up to the dining level." Lyra ended this with a meek smile.

"So that means... I have to wear clothes?" She asked slowly, as if she was wrapping her head around it. "Okay!" She chirped, and quickly morphed back into her monster form, once again a small monkey like beast.

She now had her horns back and felt pretty proud of them, since Lyra had complimented her on them earlier. She stuck her paws up and rubbed her horns as if to remind Lyra they were there again.

Lyra laughed and patted her horns, "Yes yes! They are very pretty! You should be very proud to have them!" She reached her arm down so that her hand was right infront of Kanlaon.
"Would you like a ride? You can point out the directions to your room and I'll take you there" She said with a small smile.

The little monkey let out a soft chirp of thanks when Lyra patted her horns and complimented them again. She then happily crawled up the performers arm and perched herself on the woman's shoulder. Kanlaon was not a very big eidola, her monkey form the size between a kitten and a cat. She easily rested on Lyra's shoulder, hardly weighing a thing.

She pointed the woman in the direction to the exit, and proceeded to guide her down to the laundry workers living quarters.

With Kanlaon as her guide, Lyra made her way down the halls, worming around guests and workers, to the living quarters. When they got to the door the small ball of fur indicated she stopped in front of it and let the girl down.

"I'll wait out here until you're done" She said happily.

Kanlaon hopped off of her perch on Lyra's shoulders and scampered into her room, which was shared with four other laundry workers.

She morphed back into her little girl form, and put her dress back on. The dress was dirty and ratty, with tears and stains, but it was the best that Kanlaon owned. She tied the sash around it as well and then patted her hands down the front, trying to straighten out the wrinkles in the fabric.

Once she was satisfied she pulled her hair back in a small tie and then came out of the room again. She held her hands out and struck a pose.

"Is this better?" She asked, looking proud of herself.

Lyra applauded the small girl and her fashion sense "Fantastic!" She said, "You could be on the cover of a magazine right this very minute!"

She laughed and held out her hand, "Ready to get something to eat? What are you in the mood for?"

Kanlaon's eyes grew huge. Magazines were for rich people! She felt flattered, and blushed bashfully. She then took Lyra's hand.

"Uh, in the mood for?" She giggled. "I just eat whatever is given to me! I don't have moods for foods." She said happily.

She'd had to eat out of the trash before, so anything actually coming from a kitchen was high class for the little girl.

Gently holding her hand, Lyra led the small girl through the hallways and to the elevator. "Hmmm, do you have any favorites? Like my favorite things to eat are apples! I would eat them all the time if I could" She laughed and pushed the up button, "What about you?"

The elevator dinged and they stepped in.