Flashing Teeth and Welcomed Greetings

Fujjeyj sat at his own table by the wall of the restaurant. He had pushed all the other chairs away to different tables, not particularly in the mood to converse with anyone found in this type of establishment. Sometimes he wanted to drown his brain at the bar, and lapse back into his rough-sailor talk, and chat and laugh with newly met strangers who already seemed like his best of friends. But tonight was not one of them. He was simply here to observe, watch life at its lowest stagnate in the pickling juice of alcohol. Stay on the sidelines, and think things out with the help of a little brain grease. Of course, the crowd was not all low-lifes and brain-drowners, there were a many like him, simply here to think, or watch and enjoy the activity.

He took a sip of his beer. It was a cheep brand, the cheepest the bar had, but it was exactly the sort of thing he needed at that moment. He looked down at his plate of homefries. The potatoes had long gone cold, but they were still delicious. He stabbed one moodily with his fork and looked around. Across from him, a startlingly white femme sat down, and soon after, a large azure pendragon sat down after her. At first he thought the two were together, but then, the female threatened the other, and he knew there was something not quite right.

He thought about staying in his seat, but he simply could not let himself. He felt like a medler, sticking his nose in someone else's business. He could not help himself, he felt silly, like a self appointed bouncer of the bar. He sighed, set down his fork, put his large auburn paws on the table, and stood, pushing back his chair. He drew himself up to his full height, an angry glint in his eye. He walked over behind the azure pendragon and placed a paw on his shoulder. <span style='color:red'>"Best be moving on, mate, before you loose any extremities,"</span> he had tried to use a friendly, reasonable tone, but with a voice like his, it was hard to put emotion he did not feel into his voice.

 

<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span>
<table class='ooc'><tr><td>Thats fine, take your time and get better. I hope you feel well soon.</td></tr></table>


Fujjeyj was slightly taken aback at how the blue-tinted pendragon had reacted. He had certainly not expected such a sudden and complete retreat. The best he had dared hoped for was an angry glance, a mumble, and pushing the chair angrilly away, and stalking out. At first Fujjeyj fancied it was his menacing appearance that seemed to get pendragons worked up, but this thought was discarded quickly, as the pendragon seemed about as burly as Fujjeyj himself.

Then, his reason for fleeing became apparent when he spoke. Fujjeyj fumbled for words for a moment as this message went through his brain, but the words only juggled around in his mind, he dared not show surprise on his face. Instead he simply grunted, as if in affirmation. He watched as the blue pendragon left, snarling in his direction when he looked back. Then, Fujjeyj turned to the female, his face softening. He picked up his food from the other table, and walked back to the white pendragon. He smiled sheepishly at her, and sat down in the offered seat, placing his food and drink on the table. <span style='color:red'>"Sorry to intrude,"</span> he mumbled. In a more confident tone of voice he added in reply, <span style='color:red'>"Nice to meet you Tsuki, I'm Fujjeyj, but most 'dragons just call me Jey."</span>

He chuckled modestly at her compliment and lowered his head, rubbing the back of his thick mane with his paw. <span style='color:red'>"Im no hero,"</span> he said, <span style='color:red'>"It looked like you would have been able to deal with him yourself. I interfered for his sorry sake, to save him the injury."</span>

Fujjeyj could see out of the corner of his eye that Tsuki was studying him. It made him nervous to be under such scrutiny, so he kept his head down, crimson eyes fixed on the table, to pretend that he had not noticed.

 

<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span>
<table class='ooc'><tr><td>Glad to see you are back! And fairly well off. Hehe.</td></tr></table>


Fujjeyj shoved a potato into his mouth, chewing with a childish grin on his face. Then, with Tsuki's question he remembered where he was and what other pendragons besides Tsuki were watching. He could not afford to look like an over-stuffed teddy bear, it encouraged too many confrontations with others who mistook his softness for weakness. He straitened his back and squared his shoulders under his matted mane, drew himself up to his fullest bulk. He cleared his throat, and though he wanted to appear gruff, he kept his voice calm and low, like the rumbling of the waves against the cliff sides.

<span style='color:red'>"I don't live nowhere really,"</span> he said, swirling his beer, staring at it almost dreamily, <span style='color:red'>"I won myself a small vessel recently. I been livin' on the waves again, like I used to when I was younger... But before I got that boat I was just wandering the shores, looking for work and sulking around bars,"</span> he shrugged, <span style='color:red'>"You could call me a tourist, seein as how I really live out there,"</span> he gestured in the direction of the sea, <span style='color:red'>"home is where the heart is. they say. But Im a tourist in a world and with people I have been mingling with my whole life."</span> He took a sip of his bear in conclusion, and turned to Tsuki. It was strange, because he had always considered himself as more of an outsider, clinging to the shadows as she had said, but now it was more apparent to him, that he belonged to this world, even while he stayed in the shadows, to reach out and interfere when he wanted, he was part of it.

<span style='color:red'>"And where do you come from?"</span> he asked, interrupting his own thoughts. <span style='color:red'>"What are you doing in a place like this?"</span> He was slightly melancholic now at this recount, remembering his past, his family, watching his beer slosh around, its own little ocean trapped in a jar, like a sailor without his ship.

 

Fujjeyj watched Tsuki out of the corner of his eye. He was not the sort of soul to look at someone while he spoke, he prefered to stare off into space as he collected his thoughts. But he could not ignore the fact that he was being so studiously studied, and he found his gaze wandering back to Tuski as she spoke. Her recollection of her sister brought to his thoughts the faces of his own sisters, and a look of sullenness passed over his face as she spoke, but he attempted to hide it by taking a sip of his beer. He nodded when she had finished.

<span style='color:red'>"The sea is one of the last untamed forces of nature left in this wide world,"</span> he agreed and sighed,<span style='color:red'>"but the waters still draw sailors in with their beauty, despite the dangers."</span> He looked up at Tsuki and tried to imagine her in a fit of rage as she had described. It was surprisingly easy, as she already had the look of a studious hunter, all he had to do was imagine the pounce.

He wondered who it was she was looking for and why, but seeing as she had not supplied any details, he assumed she was in a business of discression. He decided it might be best not to push the subject, so instead he conceeded to answering her question. <span style='color:red'>"Yep, I've been a sailor all of my life,"</span> he said with a whistful chuckle, scratching at one of the red inked dot tattoos below his eye, <span style='color:red'>"I was born into the life, me and my two sisters. Our parents were..."</span> he paused and looked around almost nervously with a hint of defiance, <span style='color:red'>"merchants of a sort. They trained me and my younger sister Gejusa to follow in their footsteps. And then Koyota was born..."</span> He paused once more but this time ending on a meloncholic note. He took a sip of his beer, hunching his large bulk and ruffling his fur. He atempted to steer the subject a different direction, realizing that he was in unstable waters. <span style='color:red'>"Koyota never liked the sea, or the beach like Ramya. She is in school now, too. Though, she is 18, taking some art class or another, I doubt the two see much of each other."</span> He chuckled half heartedly and looked down at his drink, swirling it in his cup.

 

Fujjeyj felt as Tsuki stood with a paw on his shoulder. Through his thick mane he could barely feel her light touch, but a tinge of cold reached his skin and he looked up at her. There was something slightly unnerving about the chill, but he tried not to let it dwell in his mind. A walk did sound nice, a relief from this stuffy bar. He downed his drink, setting it lightly back on the table, and stood. He was surprised to find Tsuki was almost as tall as he. Last time he had measured his height he had come out at 6 feet 3 inches, though when he hunched as he usually did his height was closer to 6 feet. He smiled back at her, admiring her laugh before following her out of the bar. He had no trouble letting her pay, he did not have much in the way of money and any excuse to save a buck here and there was welcome.

Fujjeyj fell into step beside Tsuki, his eyes straying to where the tied ships bobbed up and down in the harbor. He rubbed his neck and chuckled appologetically when she spoke. <span style='color:red'>"Yes, they were damn great pirates, too. They taught me and my sister everything I know."</span> He said softly and proudly. He did his best to be discrete about his proffession, but he never once strove to hide his heritage. He was proud of his parents and what they did, even if others were not. He smiled, crimson eyes glowing with an inner glint of his pirate self, and turned to look at Tsuki out of the corner of his eye. Fujjeyj was a naturally soft pendragon, and even his bouts of mischeviousness that showed through his face seemed veiled by kindness, <span style='color:red'>"Is it really that obvious?"</span> he asked.

He looked forward again, an almost devious smirk on his face, the glint still in his eye as he remembered his gruffer life with fondness. He stood straiter and took a deep breath of the salty air. He chuckled again and asked, <span style='color:red'>"And what do your parents put their paws to? Nice respectable folk with decent jobs I imagine?"</span>

 

<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span>
<table class='ooc'><tr><td>Oh thats alright. ^^ And sorry for my short absence, went camping on very short notice. Hehe. I have a feeling this is going to be a long post...</td></tr></table>


Fujjeyj smiled and nodded his head slightly, glad that his cover was not threatened, but also slightly disapointed. Sometimes it was nice to have a little adventure, someone who knew what you were and came after you. That was always fun. <span style='color:red'>"Thats good,"</span> he said simply.

Fujjeyj did not loose his proud stature or the glint from his eye as she spoke. If anything, he stood straiter out of indignation. A disbeleiveing scowl passed over his muzzle. Such parents would be unimaginable. He shook his head in silent pity for Ramya and for Tsuki in having to see her own parents in such a horrifying light. He did not say anything, only gazed hatefully at the distance until she had finished. His dark fur showed an auburn glint as the light hit in in oblong rays, and his long shadow spread out on the planks. Then, he snapped out of his haze and returned to his carefree glint. He would not let himself dwell, but he knew that it would pop up every once in a while when he looked at her face, and he would remember for a moment how brave and responsible she had to have been. And he would remember Ramya, the girl he did not know. He always thought about the little girl in the story, they all reminded him of his own little sister, she was another nagging thought. No, he should just let it go for now, like Tsuki had brushed it aside. Besides, he did not often get to speak about his family much, not many pendragons showed an interest. He took it upon himself to help Tsuki brush away the memory he had carelessly uncovered, with memories of his own. He would not go too far back, those memories were not pleasant.

<span style='color:red'>"Well, my sister Gejusa is just a little younger than me, two years I think. She was a right fine swords'dragon and sailor too. Not been a storm yet that could throw Geja off course,"</span> he nodded to accent his point. <span style='color:red'>"She and me used to terrorize these seas. I had to keep her in check, always trying to bite off more than she could chew. She got that from our father, never could back down from a challenge. We had a falling out though a while back, and we went our separate ways. I been tryin' to find her but she aint exactly the sort of pendragon who can easily be found when she has a mind not to be. She will slip up sooner or latter though, bite off more than she can chew, and hopefully I will hear about it. Then I'll go and get her out of trouble again, follow her around and make sure it dont happen again."</span> He paused and turned to Tsuki, to make sure he was not boring her. He scratched below his eye, where one crudely drawn dot was etched into his skin, but he hardly noticed the markings now. He continued, following next to Tsuki. <span style='color:red'>"Now Koyota is eleven years younger than I. She never had the chance to learn the family trade...our...er...parents died. No, she...well she has been going to school at Janardan. After our parents died Geja and I sorta...lost her. But we found her a while ago at the school. She shrugged us off though, doesnt much like us. Im Glad to know she is safe at least. But she is a good drawer, takes advanced classes."</span>