it's far better to learn [jack]

[IZUMI KUREHA]

In this part of May Falls, Izumi has never wandered within it. Her standards were never reached below slum, but then again, she has spotted a few of her own employees wandering into this Tavern that she's currently staring at behind a tree. Her eyes scanned what was in front of her; people of any possible race traveling in and out the door every minute or so. Some seemed to have happy expressions, some were possibly pissed off, and some had this awkward look that normally settled after drinking too much. Izumi stared blankly, wondering what went on beyond that door, and decided to travel inside to take a look.

She was greeted with a stark, dusty smell, along with the scent of alcohol. It wasn't anything pleasing to smell, in which case she almost decided to leave the premises before she smelt something else that wasn't nice, but decided against it. Her small frame stood there, staring at people with her eyes that were obscured by her light pink tendrils. Even though there wasn't many people around, the conversations between the ones that were inside the tavern were pretty loud. As usual, she felt like she didn't belong, but again, she decided to continue staying. Her eyes looked around for anywhere to sit that wasn't close to anybody and was going to move before she bumped into someone's hard, but firm chest, when she wasn't looking where she was going.

"Ah, I'm sorry." she mused, apologetically, before curiously looking upwards at who it was that she bumped into as an instinct. Immediately, she was taken aback by how tall the man was, but unfortunately her eyes weren't leaving his once she managed to find them.

[JACK ANSLEM]

The tavern was lively, just like any other Thursday evening. Jack's icy blue eyes roamed the dark building, his eyelashes occasionally laying down to rest against his pale cheeks as he watched the episode unfold before him. He mused idly, his right arm slack, his hand burrowed deep within his dark slacks, gripping his car keys, his fingers moving to create a soft metallic noise. What was it that made each and every one of these individuals tick? Was it a dream, or some kind of hidden drive they thought about every night before they went to sleep? Or was it a desire to just survive, as brutal as their ancestors before them? Jack set his jaw, his hand freezing in his pocket to cause a silence around him. That was one thing that really bothered him - not knowing, not understanding something to his full extent. Becoming bored with his absent-minded thoughts, Jack began to turn when something small bumped into him, against his lower chest. He grunted in surprised, taking a step back in shock more than anything. The person was small - more than a foot shorter than him - with brilliant pink hair. He had to stop himself from letting his jaw drop at the sight of such peculiar hair. "Ah, little lady, excuse me - I wasn't quite paying attention -" He murmured, realizing that his hands had flown up to grasp at her elbows, his body tense as he held her in his own instinct to keep her steady. Of course, it was obvious that the woman could handle herself - she was surprised to walk into Jack as much as he was, but he had a hard time making himself let go. "I'm sorry," he apologized again, loosening his grip.

naomi

[IZUMI KUREHA]

Izumi stared at him intentionally. She obviously wasn't careful of her own reactions, but because she has quite the staring problem, she carefully analyzed him without really knowing so. She thought that her own coloured hair was rather different, but his seemed much more peculiar; obviously he had a bit of youth in him; there didn't seem to be any sort of wrinkles on his face to have such discoloured pigmented hair, but it wasn't exactly the coloured hair of an elderly person either. Despite that, she ran her eyes over the rest of his features on his face before replying to him, completely disregarding the obvious fact that she was indeed staring at him.

"No, don't apologize. It was my fault." She had a soft smile on her face, still looking at him. He did seem like an older man indeed, whereas she could pass as a eighteen year old at the most. Deciding that it was probably best to leave right now, she backed up a bit after he let her elbows go; the touch sending a slight tingle down her arm. "I should probably leave. This isn't really where I should be." Before she fully turned around, she looked back at him with a curious looking face. "But, may I know your name?" she mused, softly. It was pretty odd asking for the man's name so randomly, however she had no care in the world about it; besides, she didn't have to know him to decide that he was interesting.

[JACK ANSLEM]

The female was just as interesting up close as someone would assume she was. Jack curled his lips in amusement as she took a staggering step back, her voice ringing out to him over the slight clamor of the tavern itself. She began to leave, his smile leaving his sharp features as she began to turn, but she stopped, surprising him. She turned back, her dark pink eyes focusing on his face as she watched him intently once more. He allowed her to look, his own eyes tracing her's carefully until they began to drop lower, caressing her shoulders - until she spoke once more. "My name?" He mused, tilting his eyes to hers once more. He knew his own eyes were a peculiar color, but hers were something else. The color was just a shade darker than her hair; he felt himself caught by the sight, her light pink hair framing her soft face, eye color enhanced. Jack dropped his hands to his sides as he smiled down at the small female. "Of course, but I must ask something of you," he murmured, his voice just loud enough for her to hear over the quiet roar of the bar. "Stay for a while in exchange for my name. I know a lovely woman such as you probably has things to do on the Thursday evening, but see if you could make time for me?" He waved his hand before him, smiling pleasantly as he watched for a reaction. When she didn't give anything immediately, he dropped his hand, his smile never fading. "My name is Jack. What is your's?" He offered his hand.

naomi

[IZUMI KUREHA]

Izumi tilted her head to the side at his response to her question. She'd basically be risking her own race by sticking around any longer than she needed to be, but clearly the man was interested in her enough to ask her stay. Humans were interesting, to say the least; as much as she wasn't particularly fond of them, she found their emotions and their way of life to be interesting. Sure, she was a human before, but she had long forgotten about the human life that she had for a very, very long time now.

Sighing softly, she continued looking at him. It was obvious that she was thinking about his offer and figured that it didn't hurt to stay around for a little bit longer. When he introduced himself, again she prolonged the silence before she spoke. It was something she had always done, since she wasn't exactly fond of speaking in general. "My name is Izumi." Noticing his hand out to her, she only curled her fingers around his own instead of his entire hand, and shook it slowly and briefly before letting go. "I can stay for a little while longer." Her eyes stared at him, tilting her head again with a smile.

[JACK ANSLEM]

Jack smiled when the pink-haired female grasped his fingers - he hadn't fully expected her to return the handshake, but this was something more than being completely denied. His icy blue eyes softened, his hand dropping to hover over the small of her back. "Izumi? Such a beautiful name," he purred, directing her toward a table. He wasn't sure where she would want to visit, but she struck him as a woman who was a little less than thrilled to sit at the bar with a group of drunks. She appeared respectible to him, more than a prude. Jack had a good sense on things like that, but he would never take it and run with it until he was fully sure. Maybe later he could coax her to the bar for some real drinks. His grin faltered for a moment as he inspected the table, making sure it was clean enough before he gestured for her to sit. "Come now," he hummed to her with a peculiar melody hanging in the back of his throat. His head snapped to the immediate right, catching the eye of a waiter coming back from a refill run. "Jeremy," he barked, although not as harsh as he had been before. "Please, fetch us some water. Two lemons each," He waved his hand in the direction of the bar as he turned away from the younger male, his eyes falling back to his company. "Is that alright with you for now, Izumi?" He smiled, touching his fingers slightly against the fabric of her shirt.

naomi

[IZUMI KUREHA]

Izumi smiled slightly before having to follow Jack to wherever he was going to take her. Although she had opted to stay in the tavern for a bit longer, she was a bit taken aback from the people that she was seeing while she was walking with Jack. Sure, at the Inn that she owned, there'd be alcohol served during certain times of the day, but definitely not like this. She tended to want to avoid people drowning in the liquor and would allow her employees to handle alcohol carefully when serving to guests. Seeing these people around here downing the content severely actually made her look away from them; she barely is the 'quick to judge' type, but she couldn't understand how people can let themselves be this sort of state. To be honest, she wasn't very fond of the place at all.

When they arrived at the table, she was gestured to sit, in which she did. Jack's behaviour was seemingly peculiar to her; he was interesting, indeed. Maybe a little too nice, perhaps? She was curious, but she didn't want to be as blunt as she was and ask him the reason for being nice to her. If anything, her first impression of him gave her more different signals; he was definitely overly stressed for some reason, and clearly just by one look, she would have thought he'd be something other than nice. Nevertheless, looks can be deceiving.

His touch on her shirt had her slightly look at his fingers that were doing so for a moment before looking back at him with a smile. "That would be fine. Thank you." she said, smiling. He seemed very demanding of the boy that he called over, which had her curious as to why he done so, unless he was something important to this tavern. "If I may ask you.." she mused, slowly. "Demanding that boy, are you someone particular to this peculiar place? A manager, perhaps?" Unfortunately, her ways of wording and phrasing are normally odd in this day and age, but she hasn't noticed much of it, or rather ignored it.

[JACK ANSLEM]

Jack straightened his back stiffly, pleased that Izumi had promptly taken a seat at the table. He slid in after her, his slight smile never leaving his lips. She seemed at ease, although cautious - Jack could never expect any less from a woman. They had natural enemies everywhere they wandered. He was absolutely aware of it, striving to appear less than threatening to the few females he approached. Careless was not a word that Jack could apply to this woman, though. She was very careful - but in a way that did not offend him. She didn't treat him differently than any other man that approached her in such circumstances. He was no more of a threat to her than the small nerdy teenager that sang his little heart out with poems. Propping his head up with his left fist, curling his fingers carefully without straining too much, Jack watched Izumi, his icy blue eyes trailing over the length of her brilliant pink hair occasionally when she moved. There was nothing more fascinating about her than that color that appeared nearly everywhere on her body - it seemed. Her hair, her eyes, even her skin seemed to glow a dull pink that made him want to pull her closer to him. Of course, he resisted, satisfying his urge by laying his right arm across his lap loosely, his eyelids lowering to give him a lazy expression. Her question did surprise him - not a lot, but enough for it to show on his fine features. He raised his head, eyes widening for a moment before he settled back down, setting his jaw against the hardness of his knuckles. "Ah, Jeremy?" He mused quietly, as if speaking to himself. His eyes had lowered to the wooden table. Forcing himself to glance back up at Izumi's striking eyes, Jack gave an extremely low hum in the pit of his chest. "Why, yes. I'm the owner of the tavern. Jeremy is my employee." He let his eyelids lower once more, giving him the lazy expression again before shifting. He could hear someone approaching - it must be Jeremy, Jack thought, pleased with the speed of his employee. He grasped his sweating glass right away, pulling a split lemon wedge from the lip of the cup. He turned to Izumi, his eyes a bit darker as he put the lemon to his lips, tasting the sour fruit.

naomi