Learning the Lay of the Land [open to two]

''Cool.'' Today was turning out to be pretty good. At least now he wouldn't have to explore this place on his own. That'd be boring for sure. ''Nah, I only came here cause the shop looked nice from the outside. We can go now, sure thing.'' Who needed clothes anyway, a trip sounded more exciting.

Whistling at Tsume he would walk outside, the fox following him closely. When Julian asked which way to go, Nea would stop to think momentarily. First, he had no idea where their destination was. Second, he didn't even know this place yet, so the first was a moot point. ''Haha, that's a good question. Maybe we could throw a coin for that or something?'', he would suggest with a short laugh. ''Or maybe just go left. Right is overrated anyway.'' To be honest, he was okay with either, and trying to strategize was pretty much pointless when they didn't know their way around. Maybe they'd end up wandering both ways if they don't find anything. If Julian actually agreed with going left, he would start walking in that direction, if not, he would listen to whatever the other teen had to say with a grin.

    Julian let out a laugh at Nea's comment. "Point taken! Left it is then." Shoving his hands into his pockets, the teen followed the other boy, glancing at the various shops they passed. One of them had to have something to eat. Unless the citizens of San Malarus were supposed to go to another neighboring island for food. ...And that actually seemed like it could be a possibility, since all Julian could see at the moment were clothing stores. Well, he supposed they'd have to walk a litle farther then.

    "So you said you lived in Lunapa?" It would be awkward and bring to just walk along in silence. Obviously, conversation was the answer here. "Isn't that the forest-y place?" Letting out a low whistle, Julian shook his head lightly. "Not sure I could last a day there. Nature's amazing, but I'm more of a city kid." Well...he could probably last a little longer than a day. A week, maybe? No doubt he'd find someting to amuse himself with over there. And it wasn't as if that island was devoid of any sort of comfort; there were houses and things there, at least, if the write-up he'd read online about Azores was true. But eventually he'd miss stores and sidewalks and the other things he'd always had. "Do you like it over there? Y'know, when it's not an oven." Maybe Nea had a thing for the outdoors. After all, he admitted to working in a zoo, and he had a pretty interesting pet. Then again, it was possible those were just coincidences, and he wasn't very happy with where he was living now; he was here, after all, not over on that other island. Who knows? Conjecture could be useful and fun, but it'd be best to just listen to what Nea had to say.

For a while they walked in silence, with no food stores in sight. Did they expect people to walk half the island just for food? If there was any in the first place of course. Nea had no problem with an extended walk, but if he was actually really hungry, this would have been a bother. 'And there's clothing everywhere...' Well, he sure as hell wouldn't mind a break from those. The scenery was getting boring that way. Maybe they should have gone right? Or maybe he was just being unneccessarily impatient today. Must be the heat...Right.

''Mhm, yeah, there sure are a lot of forests around Lunapa...'', he would reply absentmindedly, when Julian brought up a conversation suddenly. Giving the talk more attention when the other spoke about living there and all, he would chuckle a bit. ''Yeah, it's kinda different from living in a normal city. Takes a while getting used to.'' At least for most people. Nea had always enjoyed nature, so it was much easier for him to adapt. ''Sure thing, it's pretty cool over there when you get familiar with the setting. Even the forest can be fun to hang out in. Recently, I've run into a monkey in there...Sure, it attempted to steal my tie, but it was funny. I guess I like unexpected stuff like that.'', he would explain cheerfully when Julian asked whether he liked his home island. City was nice when he needed to fetch some stuff, and perhaps hide from excessive weather, but he found nature more entertaining to spend time in. And hey, there was also the benefit of clean air, right? ''Pehaps you could visit sometime. I'd be glad to give ya a tour if you ever do.'', he would offer after a moment, grinning lazily. After all, it was quite easy to get lost, if you weren't familiar with navigating through places like that. Better avoid that, no?

    "Seriously?" Julian couldn't help but cut in with a chuckle. A monkey? Really? He didn't think animals like that would still be allowed on the islands--with the exception of Tsume and other pets of that nature, of course. As strange as it was, he was glad he was told about it. // Note to self: avoid monkeys. // Alright, if he ever ventured out to Lunapa, he was a little more prepared now. ...He probably shouldn't wear headphones or necklaces, either, come to think of it...

    The teen fell silent again and allowed Nea to finish. So he'd show him around, huh? Pretty nice of him. It was a generous offer, one that he knew better than to refuse. "Really? That'd be great!" Julian's grin popped back along with those words and his eyes almost sparkled with excitement. It might seem a little tourist-y, but he'd been meaning to visit all of the islands at least once, just to get a feel for the place. Besides, knowing how to get around each of the islands to some degree might be useful later. His dad might ask him to run an errand, or maybe there'd be a school trip or something; either way, it was good information to have.

    // Hm? // Turning his head slightly to glance at the colorful store front that caught his eye, Julian glanced at the name only to freeze and take a step back for a second look. "Looks like you chose the right way." he grinned, looking back at Nea before turning to the store again. It wasn't much, just an open food stand with one person behind the counter. ...Hm. Should he really eat here? Food stands were known for selling things that weren't exactly healthy. Maybe he should backtrack and find a groce-

    As if protesting against the debate going on inside his head, his stomach chose that moment to grumble loudly. "Alright, alright, cool your jets." He muttered, letting out a sigh before smiling at Nea. "C'mon, let's grab something. It's on me." With that he'd walk over to the stand and begin scrutnizing the menu, searching for something both his stomach and health conscience could agree on.  

((OoC: Sorry for posting a bit late, I somehow managed to overlook this. -.-''))

Julian seemed quite excited about making a visit to Lunapa, and Nea would smile back at the darkhaired teen's exclamation. That sounded really good. He would be happy to have some company around his home parts, even if just for a little tour session. Anything was better than hanging out on his own. Of course there were other people living there, but he didn't have any actual friend around his age from there yet, so he usually wandered by himself, Tsume and perhaps other wild animals keeping him company. Still, it was good to have a person tag along once in a while. Nea liked to be social.

He would come to a sudden halt, almost tripping over himself when Julian spoke out of the blue. 'Oh?' So they finally found something? That was cool, he was starting to get bored of mindless walking. He would smile lightly when Julian's stomach made itself known again, examining the simple food stand from the corner of his eye. It wasn't anything fancy, but food was food, right? ''Alright, let's go! Time to eat!'', he would call cheerfully, skipping over to the menu too, reading through quite quickly. ''Hmmm...'', he would mutter, skimming over the choices a few more times. He wasn't too picky, but at the moment he didn't really know what he wanted.

    Hmm...what to get, what to get.... Well, there were lots of junk foods. Nachos, hot dogs, candy...but why would he get those? Sure, he'd been walking around a bit today, but who knows what's in that stuff? They probably fried or used tons of grease in their food, and that just upped the saturated fat content. He could practically feel the cholesterol just waiting to build up. Besides, school was starting soon, and he'd been told there was a basketball team at the high school. If that was so, he had to be in good condition for the tryouts. In other words, it was best to avoid things that might add inches to his waistline or cause early health problems. That stuff wasn't good for your brain, either; that was another reason to find something healthier.

    Finally he nodded his head as he reached a sandwich in the menu. It was a vegetarian alternative and, as far as he could tell, the healthiest thing this place had to offer. Maybe not the most delicious dish, but he was willing to sacrifice a bit of taste to keep himself in good shape. Julian turned to Nea, watching his glance over the menu. "See anything you want?" Scratching lightly at the back of his neck, he added, "If nothing grabs you, we could always find another place. My stomach can hold out." A grin punctuated the end of his sentence, his hands resting on his hips in a confident pose. It'd be a shame if Nea didn't like anything here; after all, he'd taken the time to come with him in this dull quest for food. Treating him to something was the least he could do.  

There sure was an ample amount of food choices on the menu, and Nea was having a hard time picking something. To be honest, many things looked worth trying, but since he could only go with one type of food he had to decide. It wasn't working though. Maybe he could make a random pick, like point a finger with closed eyes and order whatever it landed on? That was a bit lame, but maybe it would solve his problem. Before he could proceed with doing something either stupid or simply unnecessary, Julian spoke up asking him about the very thing that was currently the biggest bother.

''Uh, gimme a moment here...'', he would mumble, narrowing his eyes at the menu. He didn't want to make them walk somewhere esle again just because he had trouble picking his food. Besides, Julian had been the one who was hungrier, which only stressed the point further. ''Ah, you know what, I'll just have whatever you do.'', he would declare in the end, finding this the easiest option. He hadn't noticed anything he disliked on the menu, so it should be fine, whatever his new friend picked. Yeah, that should work just fine.

    "No rush." Julian grinned. It wasn't as if he was dying of hunger or anything. Besides, he'd prefer Nea decide he didn't want anything rather than pick something that he turned out to not like. That would kinda defeat the whole purpose of treating him, wouldn't it?

    Nea made a pretty bold suggestion. Have whatever he was having, huh? Maybe he should tell him that his order wasn't exactly tasty. Or fatty. Or something lots of teens ate.

    ...Nah. It'd be much more fun to surprise him. "Alrighty then. Gimme a minute." It was hard to keep the sly lilt out of his voice, but he managed to sound completely upbeat and quite natural despite the urge to do otherwise. Walking over to the counter, he gave the woman the order, which she nodded tiredly to, then held out her hand for payment. It took a moment of digging through his pocket, but the boy managed to give her the cash, receiving the two sandwiches in return. "Thankyouhaveaniceday." The woman mumbled before disappearing from sight.

    // Wow. What stellar service. // Well, at least she wasn't mean. Maybe just a little too tired to do her job well. ...Eh. Shrugging lightly before turning back to Nea, Julian held out one of the pre-wrapped packages to the other ten with a grin. "Here you go." Once Nea took the sandwich, Julian would unwrap his own meal and take a big bite, pleased that the food was better than he expected. Maybe eating out wouldn't be so bad if everywhere sold stuff like this.

Nea would watch as Julian went to order the food, silently wondering what was it going to be. Well, he wasn't too picky, so it was most likely going to be fine, whatever it was, but he was still curious. That was normal, right? It was natural that he'd be wondering over the pick, even if he didn't particularly care about the result.

The lady behind the counter didn't appear to be very enthusiastic about the job, which made Nea wonder why was she even working there. Perhaps it was for the money? That sounded like the best explanation. But, she gave Julian his order, and that was the most importangt in this case. Food! Nea hadn't been hungry in the beginning, but after all this chase after something to eat, he was actually starting to look forward to getting a snack.

''A sandwich? Cool!'', he hadn't really expected Julian to buy that, but it looked good nonetheless. Following suit, he would unwrap the package, taking a bite. Surprisingly it tasted pretty good, although he couldn't tell what exactly was inside. ''Hmm, this is pretty good. What kind of sandwich is it? I should try to remember that for later.'', he would ask, somewhere between the munching. It would always be good to know some sources if he ever came to this island again after all.

    There he went. Julian wallowed the food in his mouth and took another bite, curiously studying Nea's reaction to the sandwich. It tasted good, but who knows, maybe he was allergic to lettuce or something? ...Maybe he should have told him what was in it...

    ...What was that he said? "Yuh fuhr?" Gah...swallow the food, swallow the food...! Ah, better. Tapping his chest with a fist lightly, Julian let out a tiny cough before repeating himself, this time sans sandwich-filled-mouth. "You do?" The next moment he grinned again, glancing at the items between the bread. "It's a vegetarian alternative, if you haven't guessed." Now let's just hope Nea didn't get angry about that; some people had it in their minds that vegetarians were these strange people who ate weird things. That was true in some cases, but most vegetarian food was pretty tasty. Besides, it was healthy for you! What's not to love about that?

    "Do you come to San Malarus much?" the dark-haired boy asked, taking another large bite of food. Maybe he'd see Nea around a lot. That would be great, actually; it would mean he'd have someone to explore with and talk to. Being by himself could be fun, but eventually it'd get boring. And as far as he could tell, it would be kinda hard to be bored with this guy and his fox around.

Nea barely managed not to laugh when Julian tried to speak with his mouth full which would have been a decently bad idea, as he was in the middle of eating himself. And it would definitely suck if he accidentaly choked himself on a piece of sandwich. Seriously, that wouldn't even be a tragic enough death in his book. ''Yeah, well, I forgot to take a look. Interesting, so just vegetables, huh? It's better than I would have expected.'', he would chuckle a little, after Julian proceeded to talk correctly. He could probably take a guess from the taste, but he wanted to be sure. No idea why it didn't even hit him to just peer in between the pieces of bread. That might have been quicker than asking, but who cares about logic, right?

''Depends. If I have something to entertain myself with, then I will come.'', he would respond to the question, thoughfully chewing on the sandwich. Nea liked going around, so making visits was okay, although he generally only spent time there when he had something cool enough to do. Without some attention grabber, it was pretty boring.

    "Makes sense. Why come if it's boring?" It was a motto--philosophy? Or maybe just a code?--that Julian lived by. What fun would it be to go somewhere and do nothing? ...Well, staring at walls and finding pictures could be entertaining, but only for so long. Maybe a few minutes at most, unless it was a very interesting wall. ...Did those even exist?

    Julian shrugged at the thought before taking another bite, which turned out to be his last. Wow, had he really been that hungry? ...Well, at least his stomach was silent again. No more growling noises! The teen crumpled the packaging into a ball with one hand, using the back of the other to wipe any crumbs from his mouth. The last thing he wanted was to look like a slob going around town; first impressions and all that, what with this being his first time really looking around and all. Glancing around, he spied a trash can nearby. // Ooh. Perfect. // It was about ten, maybe twelve feet away. Hm...

    "Ten bucks says I can make that." Julian grinned at Nea, tossing the plastic wrapping in the air a couple of times and catching it one-handed. He didn't wait for an answer; in the next moment, he tossed the crumpled ball with a practiced overhand, watching as it sailed through the air, landed on the rim of the trash bin, teetered for a moment, then fell in. Letting out a chuckle and pumping his fist, the boy turned back to Nea, his grin only wider. "What'd I tell you?"

''Yeah, that'd be a waste of time.'', Nea would chuckle after Julian agreed. It was true most of the time,no? Sure, Nea would come even if something was a bit boring, but would probably backtrack quickly if he didn't find anything worth doing. If there was something he actually disliked it was boredom. Action was the way of life, at least for him. You only live once, so it was natural to take advantage of that.

He would finish his sandwich a short moment after Julian, swallowing the last bite almost sadly. He had actually anjoyed this one. Oh well, maybe he could buy some later, whenever he came back to this place. Flicking away a few crumbles away from his shirt that stuck there, he would watch Julian crumple the wrapping into a ball. Making a confused face for a few moments after Julian said the first line, it would quickly turn into a light grin as it hit him when the teen tossed the ball towards a trash can...and scored. ''That was a good one! Lemme try too.'', he would laugh a little, proceeding to make a ball out of his own wrapping too. Turning in the direction of the trasch can, he would take a while to concentrate, mentally trying to calculate the distance and the strength he needed to use. Although he did overcalculate on the strength a bit. Sure, when he finally threw it, he did hit the mark, but with slightly more force then was needed. The ball would smack into the back of the trash can from the inside, almost making the whole thing fall over. It was luck that it only tipped a few times, staying in place in the end. ''Oops.'', he would mumble, scratching the back of his head a little. ''But hey, at least I made it.'', he would laugh afterwards. Not like anything bad happened, so what?

"Go for it." Julian nodded, watching as Nea threw his own trash into the trash can. ...Whoa...! Laughing and running a hand through his bangs, Julian turned his wide-eyed gaze to the teen next to him. "Damn, nice shot! You play a lot of sports or something or was that just luck?" Nea looked to be about the right age; it was pretty likely that they'd be attending Zela Academy together this upcoming year. Wouldn't it be fantastic if he had someone to tryout with for the sports teams? And even if Nea wasn't interested in joining a club with him, it was nice to know that there might be someone around who wouldn't mind practicing with him once in a while. Which reminded him...

"Are you going to be attending Zela Academy in a couple of weeks?" There. He'd asked. At least he'd know now whether or not he'd be seeing a familiar face on campus or if he'd have to start the school year off among total strangers.

Julian was apparently impressed by his throw, even though Nea didn’t feel like he accomplished that much. He just....threw the thing, not even trying that much. It was just his habit of underestimating his strength. He should really learn how to hold back sometimes, or he’d hurt someone by accident one of these days. ‘‘Nah, I actually never tried for sports before, although the idea sounds entertaining. I’ve been working out and stuff, that’s all.‘‘, he would answer, smiling cheekily. It was an interesting suggestion though, sports could be a fun way to pass time, and he did think he could do pretty well at least in some of them.

When Julian brought up the Academy, Nea would grin playfully. ‘‘Yeah, you bet I am. I hope it won’t be boring there. Since you ask, you’ll be attending too, right? Perhaps we’ll see each other there.‘‘ Now that sounded like fun. School would be definitely boring without any friends or familiar faces around, so he would welcome knowing someone happily. Sure, Nea didn’t have problems getting along with most people, so he could make some friends in class once the school year started, but having one in advance was much more awesome, wouldn’t you agree?

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