Looking for that special...something.[open]

[Fulong|Clara]

Fulong closed the book as Jo ducked down, frowning slightly in mild confusion. He was already in a sitting position, but he obliged by pressing himself against the wall, partially hidden by the shadows cast by the merchandise around him. Inching silently along the wall and toward the bookcase, he located Jo and crouched beside her.

"What's wrong?" he whispered, his voice barely reaching Jo's ears. "People go by this street all the time. Were you expecting someone to show up?"

As he crouched there, he couldn't help but remember how she had started at his arrival. She was on the run from someone, or at least expecting to be on the run very soon. It was a little perplexing; she didn't seem like the sort for baseless paranoia. Either she had gotten in above her head in this town, or she was someone very important among the Innocents indeed.

"My talisman's the crane," he said quietly. It didn't sound impressive at first, but he'd learned to use it. Brute strength wasn't always necessary when it came to a fight, even if he didn't feel particularly inclined to exchange blows with anyone right now.

[Aras|Ofelia]

There was indeed someone at the window. Said person glimpsed a blur of movement when she peered inside the Kingfisher. There was a moment of stillness; then more traveling shadows, and Ofelia was certain that someone was inside the old antiques store.

Since looking through the grungy front window was like trying to swim with one's eyes open in the Yangtze, she decided she'd have more luck if she went around to the back. She remembered the cracks at the building's foundation through which she slipped that night Caleb had brought her here--and indeed, that was why she had come to the abandoned store today. Without the burden of her injured ankle, which had fully healed in the interim, she could explore the place properly. The knowledge could come in handy sometime. In truth, that was just a convenient excuse she would use if anyone asked; the purpose of her trip here had mostly been to satisfy her curiosity.

The back window was propped open, confirming her suspicions. So there was someone inside. Still, that wasn't going to prevent her from doing what she had intended to do when she'd set out for the Kingfisher.

A curse, two thumps, and a coughing fit later, Ofelia had squeezed her way through the window frame, waving away the dust swirling before her nose.

[Jocelyn[Spirit]]

Jo shook her head.
No, I wasn't expecting anyone. I am just always, on my toes.
She shifted her weight and leaned to her left, peering around a corner of the book shelf. She let her eyes adjust to the darkness and saw motion near that back window. Well it was better to surprise them then the other way around. Jocelyn reached for the dagger behind her back and slowly pulled it out. The person coughed. She inched her way closer, careful not to make a sound. When she was perhaps four feet from the person she jumped out and held the dagger out at the person.
Who are you?

Jo's heart raced, her body ready to move in a moments notice. She wanted to look behind her to see what Fulong was doing, but experience told her not to take her eyes off of the 'intruder'. She lowered the dagger just enough that it wouldnt be too insulting, should this person be an undecided or an Innocent that she didn't know. But she still held it at ready in case she needed it.

[Aras|Ofelia]

Stillness; then a flash of metal. Ofelia sprang to the side, whipping her knife out of its sheath--a pity it wasn't one of her throwing knives. The movement upset the layers of dust on the floor, kicking up clouds of the fine particles and forcing her to cover her nose and mouth with her free hand.

"Who are you?"

"The fuck?" Ofelia snapped, words slightly muffled by her palm. "I should ask you the same. What kind of greeting is that?"

She let out a derisive snort when her attacker--a woman with light brown hair, a few years younger than she--lowered her dagger. The woman clearly did not know what she was doing, waving the blade around like it was a baton. If by aiming the point of the dagger at Ofelia's stomach instead of her face was her idea of a peaceful gesture, this woman must be very daft indeed.

In case her opponent was not alone, Ofelia scanned the rest of the room with her peripheral vision. There was another form crouching in the shadows. She took her eyes off of the woman for a brief moment to take a glance--and recognized a familiar face.

Uttering a casual "hello," she focused on her opponent once more, knife leveled at her chest.

[Fulong|Clara]

Dusting his clothes off with a practiced hand, Fulong straightened quickly as Jo leapt out. It wasn't necessarily what he would have done, as he had no real inclination to appear the aggressor, but perhaps she was justified in it. Most people weren't "always on their toes" unless they had a particularly good reason for it.

There was the unmistakable sound of another knife being drawn from its sheath, and Fulong sighed inwardly. As far as he could tell, the other visitor hadn't attacked either, but there was certainly a tense silence coming from his or her end of the conversation. Clearly not a friend, then; it was a pity. The last thing he wanted to do now was get involved in needless alliance games.

He stepped out of the shadows fully, faint surprise showing on his face as he recognized the other person. It was the Chinese girl he'd met at the grocery store some time ago. He hadn't seen her around since then, but that made things decidedly messier.

"Hello, Ofelia," he said politely, glancing with clear distaste at both of their knives. "Is there something I'm missing here, or is it absolutely necessary to carry on a conversation like this?"

[Jocelyn[Spirit]]

Jo almost smiled when the girl swore, so she had starttled her a bit. At her comment and questions Jocelyn hesitated, not sure if she should answer it. But before she opened her mouth the other girl said hello, and she was she as hell not saying it to Jo. she swung her head just long enough to see Fulong's exressions. Yes, they knew eachother. Was he a Hunter that had been lying to her, to get close enough to attack, and she was his partner. She took a step away from Fulong just in case and positioned her body so she could defend herself from either one.

You, know her?
She asked him, scunching up her eyes trying hard to figure out whats going on. She had yet to say her name to the other girl, but now that she knew her name was Ofelia, she was sure she didn't want to say her name. Just for the slightest bit of advantage.
When Fulong asked if this was necessary Jo laughed.
Well, I'm not gonna be the one to put this down first.
To prove her point, she squeezed her hand on the daggers hilt, her knuckles turning a ghostly white.

Jo eyed the chick up and down, she looked like a Hunter. But whos to say that means anything?
Ofelia, is it? What are you doing here, may I ask?
She flipped the blade over in her hand a few times, just to get moving a bit and to help keep her focused.

[Aras|Ofelia]

Judging by the smug look on her face, this woman apparently got kicks from startling people. How puerile. If she wasn't going to properly pull off her ambushes, she was going to find that smirk wiped off her face one day. The hard way.

Fulong had taken a few steps closer to the two of them, eyeing the the knives with plain dislike. The way he spoke, it was like he was rebuking two petulant children. Ofelia smirked. "She started it," she drawled, nearly giving in to the urge to tack on a 'but Dad!' to the accusation.

"You, know her?"

"No, lady, we just greet complete strangers by name all the time. Fulong, what brings you to a fancy place like this?"

The woman's display of her dexterity was met with a disapproving glower from Ofelia. Her weapon was clearly not a throwing knife--and even throwing knives were not meant to be used that way. Was she trying to impress--or intimidate--her? It would be too easy, and not to mention rather satisfying, to knock the woman's hand out of the way while the dagger was in the air and watch the blade sink into her foot.

"Yes, I'm Ofelia, if you haven't figured that out already. I'm here because I make a habit of breaking into interesting-looking abandoned buildings." She tucked her knife back into its sheath, though her hand remained on the hilt. "And it's very rude of you not to give me your name, especially after waving a pointy bladed thing at me."

[Fulong|Clara]

Fulong hadn't missed the way Jo stepped slightly away from him, and he sighed inwardly. Just his luck, meeting two people by chance who happened to want to kill one another. Apparently Jo's admission of trust in him only extended so far, and that was a pity. He liked to think he was more trustworthy than that.

"I met Ofelia at the grocery store a few weeks ago," he told Jo, "that's all. There's no need to be suspicious about it. She came in here the same way we did, and you certainly didn't point that dagger at me when I arrived."

Thankfully Ofelia had put her own blade away, and he glanced meaningfully at her before adding, "Ofelia, this is Jo. Can we forget this incident ever happened? It's hardly a suitable way to meet new people."

[Jocelyn[Spirit]]

Jo signed and looked between the two. Grocery store huh? Odd. To say the least. She lowered her dagger and slipped it back into its sheath, and of course didn't take her hand off the hilt. She eyed the girl once more, but with less suspicion (although she still felt it, just hid it better) and more a bit of curiosity. She let out another breath and tried to calm things down. It did seem Ofelia didn't mean any harm, but it didn't hurt to be wary, no pun intended.

Im Jo. As he said.
To his other comment she mearly nodded. She had a sense when there needed to be a cause to be wary of people. Fulong looked and felt, more trusting then this Ofelia. Wasn't her fault she usually listened her to gut feeling.

So..exploring? It's a cool place.
Jo said trying to break the silence and the awkwardness. She did want to be able to relax again, for the most part anyways.
Nice weapon.
She added to Ofelia, trying to again be nice and become 'friends'. Or maybe it was just to get in good graces. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to be polite.

[Aras|Ofelia]

Ofelia huffed and let her hand drop to her side, though she still eyed Jo warily. "What else would I be doing here? I don't exactly intend on making this place my summer home."

Now that the risk of getting stabbed was somewhat lower, she took the time to scan the room. At first glance, it didn't appear to have changed much since the last time she was here, though it was a bit hard to tell; it had been too dark at night to see anything clearly. Her face creased in a frown when she realized that a couple of items, samovar and tea set among them, were missing from the front display. Of course, someone could have broken in and taken them, but Ofelia could not imagine what anyone would want with a couple of chipped saucers.

She raised an eyebrow at the compliment but decided to play along. "Nice dagger. Oriental, hm? Where did you get it?"

Her eyes fell on the book in Fulong's hands. Squinting in the meager light, she tried to make out the letters on the spine and cover. "Did you find that here? Why would they have a book in Chinese?"

[Jocelyn[Spirit]]

Jo gave her a small smile, again trying to be polite, but her sarcastic comments were making it tough fro her not to retort to them. she watched as the girl looked around and let her eyes wander as well. She still hadn't been to the other side of the store, near the front. She let her hand fall off the hilt and started to walk over to a table and some other articfacts. seemingly at ease, but ready to move if she had to. At Ofelia's question about her dagger she looked down at it, then back at something on the table.
I found it. But yes. Oriental.

When she changed the subject to the book and moved to Fulong Jocelyn looked over and watched. Well, they had an oriental dagger, why not have a book in chinese? Besides, it looks like most of the stuff in here is foreign. She moved farther away to look at some other stuff before making a loop and going back to the other two people. She looked at Fulong to see if he felt comfortable with the woman, curious to know what he thought about her. jo wasn;t sure what to do. She had a VERY strong feeling she was a Hunter, but she didn't want to get into a fight and upset Fulong when he could be of use to her and help her with her plight.

[Fulong|Clara]

Fulong held the book up to the light so Ofelia could get a better look at it. "I don't know what it's doing here either. It's odd, isn't it? There seems to be a lot of Asian merchandise in here. It makes me wonder who the previous storeowner was."

He was clearly being his usual polite self, though admittedly remaining at something of a distance from Ofelia. They'd only met once, after all, and while he was generally friendly with everyone, there was no sense in unnecessarily antagonizing Jo. She claimed to be a good judge of character, so if she was being a little mistrustful, it might be a good idea to follow suit.

Eventually, though, his love of literature forced him to add, "It's a collection of poetry," and hold out the book to Ofelia. She sounded like a mainlander; she'd probably read a few of the poems in it herself. "Everything from Cao Cao to Li Bai."

[Aras|Ofelia]

"Hm. Is there really?" Ofelia looked about her again. Now that he mentioned it, there did seem to be a disproportionate amount of Asian artifacts for a run-down place in a middle-of-nowhere Canadian town. How long had it been since the Kingfisher had closed down, anyway? She was under the impression that the only Asians here were the ones who had recently moved in.

...Was that a shuāng jié gùn? She blinked a couple of times. Indeed it was.

At the mention of poetry, Ofelia's attention snapped back to Fulong. "No kidding?" She gently took the book from his hands, cracking it open to a random page. The paper was yellow and brittle, but the text was still surprisingly clear. Ah... what was the English translation for this one? "Though the Tortoise Lives Long," she said, an atypically fond smile on her lips. "It was the first Cao Cao poem I read."

[Jocelyn[Spirit]]

Jo had been shifting around the store looking at various items and let the two of them talk about poetry. She seemed to have just faded intot he back round and she was ok with that for she was having fun looking at all the old stuff the store had to offer. She knew nothing about Chinese, or, well anything really. Except the basic they learned in middle school.

While walking around she tripped over an old chest and the scraping noise interupted the two talking about the book.
Sorry.
She said in a hushed tone of voice. She looked to the cracked window and wondered if she should let them catch up and talk about all the history and old artifacts of China.

She still hadn't been feeling that comfortable anyways. She the sooner she got away from that girl the better. Besides, she had to go pack for a mission she was going to go on. And Boston was a ways away and it would have to be thought out.

Um. Hey guys.
She tried to get their attention but they were so into looking at the poetry.
I have to get going. It was nice meeting you two. Maybe, I'll um see you around.
She again tried to be polite. Hunter or not, the two didn't really have any quarrels or problems. And to be honest, Jo could even see them become friends. If the circumstances were right that is. She gave a small wave and started to weave in and out of all the items to make it to the back window.