A odd encounter (Cherry and Maya SL)

Pulling the animal close to her she continued to look at Cherry but then stopped a moment to look over the animal and after checking that it was safe she opened her mouth and took a large bite out of it before looking back to Cherry, it was asking her if it.... has... what? she didn't know what it was asking "n....no..." she answered sounding unsure. Then she took another bite out of the animal, easily biting through hide, flesh and bone and seemingly having no issues doing so as she still stayed curled up as small as possible, clearly trying to not look threatening.

The Human asked another question and Maya looked at her, she understood that, and she started to think, where did she come from... well she was in the hot place before, she came here for things to eat, and she was chased out of the hot place for now "h....hot place...." she said as she took another bite out of the animal leaving less the half of it, she then gestured to the animal "T...thank you..."

This really was like one of those stories her mother told her about! Although this brought up more problems, not having any memories was a big deal, Cherry wasn't sure what she would do with her life if she lost her memories. But she wasn't really sure how she was going to be able to help her regain her memories. Maybe the vaults had some sort of pill for it? As she was dwelling on what could get her memories back, her eyes darted to the little thing eating the bunny again. The first time she did it, the teen just guessed that she had sharp teeth and bit into a meaty part. But this time there was no doubts, she just bit through bones with no trouble at all. Which was very shocking, and slighty creepy. "Whoa, you have pretty good teeth don't yo- Oh, oops." For a moment Cherry forgot that Maya didn't have a good understanding of english. Clearing her throat, the teen rephrased her comment. "You......... Have........ Good teeth........ Strong jaw....... Me impressed." Impressed wasn't quite the right word, but she didn't need to say anything to set her off or scare her, and making things complex is also not the right course of action.

"A hot place?" She muttered under her breath. That did narrow it down quite a bit. Honestly she could see it. The Dryrange was home to all sort of weird things, and while Maya wasn't a human, she said she wasn't a demon either. So she could have been a slave that had escaped. "Hm? Oh. You.......... Welcome........." Food was one of the quickest ways to show you mind no harm, with animals at least, but it seemed to work on Maya aswell.

Cherry felt a little gulty for scaring Maya so bad and for almost killing her. She wanted to help, but she wasn't quite sure how. The girl would cross her legs, and rest her chin on the back of her flesh hand. Trying to brainstorm. After a little while of this a idea came to her mind. She may not know a way to bring memories back, or what she was. But she did know people who may know, and even if they didn't know, nothing was stopping the teen from looking for a answer. And while she did she could keep Maya safe. Maybe bring her back to a safe building? She wouldn't stay in the Highrise forever, and she may not even sleep in the same place. But at the very least she could check up on her, and maybe ask some more questions and feed her when she can.

"Me know safe place.............. Me can bring you there.......... Me can give food.......... Keep demons away.......... You want to go?" Cherry tried her best to make herself as easy to understand as she could, even gently reaching her right hand out for the girl to accept if she wished to go.

As Maya took another bite out of the animal she chewed and crunched through a thick bone seemingly effortlessly, the sound was clearly audible as she did so and as she looked back to Cherry she seen the look of Shock and the look of being disturbed, looks she was used to seeing and even as the Human talked she lowered the animal down very obvious that her eating was making the human react in such a manner, the thing mentioned mouth.. good.. strong.. me.. she didn't know what it was saying.. but she assumed it didn't want her doing that again by the look on it's face. So she lowered the remaining one fourth of the animal that was left as she uses some snow to clean the blood off her face. she didn't want this human to decide to kill her after all so not disturbing it or making it worry was a good Idea.

The human then seemed to take a seat and was thinking... at least it looked like it.. was it trying to decide to kill her instead? had she disturbed it enough to make it want to consider killing her instead of letting her go? Her eye would dart to the large wooden arm on the girls body. Was she going to be killed and something taken from her like what this Human must have done to the Demon who that arm had belonged to? Could all humans do this? Was that why she was always being chased by humans? Did she have something they wanted? That they wanted to take from her and use for themselves? She didn't know any of this but ti was clearly making her slowly breath faster and faster as she was starting to panic again.

Then the human spoke again and out of reflex Maya suddenly curled into a ball once more trying to protect her head thinking it had decided to kill her... till she heard it's words... safe?.. me.. you.. there.. food?..Demons Away...You... go?

Maya would peek out from under her arms again and look at the human seeing the hand closer to her, but as she looked the human over they didn't seem to be acting aggressively, the confusion was clear on Maya's face as she looked on for a moment, was... was this Human saying it would keep her safe and feed her? But why? What did it want to do that for? What was the human planning to do with her if she accepted? Was it just not sure what if anything was useful for taking from her after killing her and so it wanted to figure that out? Was it trying to trick her to bring her to another Human that it wanted to give something from her to? She didn't know... but... the Human had also healed her wounds... it had fed her... it had actually talked with her... Then she shivered... her clothing soaked by the snow and sweat from running away, she knew she would need to warm up... she had seen things frozen here... she didn't know how it happened, but she knew she was getting colder now, and the frozen things had been very very cold...

She really didn't have a choice... she nodded slowly as she took the humans hand "Y....yes...W...warm....please...." she asked in a very small and nearly whisper like voice.

Despite all the effort Cherry put in with keeping Maya calm, something the girl did must have set her off. Cherry couldn't help but wonder what made this girl so skittish, maybe despite her powerful bite pressure she didn't have another way to defend herself against demons? It wouldn't be to suprising. Most people didn't have the power to fight against demon, no matter how strong and effect they where against normal humans or animals.

Cherry tried to flash Maya the warmest smile she could, as she softly squeezed her hand in a hopefully comforting manner. "Good.......... Let's go............ Stay close........" She didn't need her getting spooked and rushing off into danger, since she seemed to be in pretty bad shape. Thankfully Cherry had warmer clothes and seemed to be a bit better than her in the stamina department. They would soon exit the cave, and head past the now crushed pile of bricks and stones Maya tried to use to keep the teen away from her. On the way she tired to strike up some small talk with Maya, about rather pointless topics, before they finally got to a decently sized house. With it's windows not broken, and the door seemingly pretty well kept together, other than a few scratch marks on it and the door not having a lock. It wasn't the best, but it was as good as they where going to get.

Leading her in, cherry would shut the door behind them and take off her backpack. Before she opened it up and pulled out some items. The first was a hoodie, it was way too large for Maya but it could be used as a blanket. The second was a small little flask that was filled with rather cold water and finally a small bird in case she needed more food. "Food......... Water......... Blanket.........." Cherry said slowly, pointing to each of the items. "This home safe............. Keep you warm........... Me will come back......... Bring more food and keep demons away........... Okay?"

Maya followed where the taller human led, not that she had a choice at this point, but at least if it meant getting warm it would be helpful, and it didn't seem like they were planning to kill them, at least not for now anyway, and as they walked it asked them to stay close, after doing something with their mouth towards them... a gesture she wasn't familiar with, though she also felt a pressure on her hand but it wasn't painful, so she followed along behind the Human, and they then walked through the rubble she had chewed and crawled her way under, only for her to see it was destroyed making her eye go wide, well it was obvious if she wanted to this Human could kill her easily, so it was best to just do what she was told.

The Human started to make sounds again, but it didn't really seem to be directing them at her, least that's how it seemed since it was using a lot of words she didn't understand. Eventually they ended up in front of, and then inside of a building that seemed to be in better condition then others around, and as they went in the Human started to take things out, the inside was warmer at least... there was no snow, and the wind couldn't get at her in here... Maya had looked around to see if there was anything to help keep warm, and then she jumped as a sound was heard and she spun around to see the human had closed the door, which had caused the sound she heard, she relaxed just a bit again, if the human had wanted to kill her right now she likely would have.. so best not give her a reason to decide to do that.

The human then took things out of something on it's back and put them on the floor before pointing to them and saying words, she nodded in understanding as he took off the soaked rags she had on, leaving her in just what looked like an old school uniform, the rags she had tied to her body as a parka were soaked through from her run through the snow and having to crawl, and while her uniform wasn't as bad it was clearly not meant for winter, but Maya grabbed the thing called a blanket and it did feel warmer and she looked around and noticed something was missing in the place "F....f...fire?" she asked in that whisper of a voice of her's looking worried as she asked.

Though on hearing the Human saying the place was safe... and to keep warm, they would come back? food? keep demons away? Why was she doing all this?, she didn't know the last word, but the look on her face told her she wanted an answer "W...why.... help?....H...humans....always.....Hurt...." she said worried she didn't say it right but it was to late to take it back now, the worry she might get hurt now clear on her face as she was now worrying she might have gotten the human mad by asking that instead of just answering or something..

Cherry shook her head upon hearing Maya's question about fire. "No fire......... Fire dangerous.......... Fire hurt building............" Sitting fires inside a building wasn't the wisest idea, there was also the fact that making a campfire could be dangerous if you didn't know what you where doing and how hard it could be to get a fire started in this weather. It wasn't something Cherry liked the thought of Maya doing. On the other hand however she wasn't Cherry's child and it's not like she could always be here to help and guide Maya through everything, even though the teen was very curious about her origins. And of course the feelings of both pity and gult. So maybe giving her the tools that she needed to make a fire wouldn't be that bad of a idea? She eould have to think about it.

As she was sitting there, thinking about her next course of action with this creature. Her grey eyes looked over the girl, once again truely appreciating just how strange she looked. Her outfit was quite odd, it seemed to be based off of fashion more so that being actually useful. It didn't look like it could help soften any blows or cuts, and it sure as hell wasn't going to keep her warm in the Highrise. Although to be fair she did say she used to stay in one of the hotter places in Paris, plus that outfit probably allowed Maya to run away quickly. And judging by the little game of cat and mouse the two played a few minutes ago that was probably her go to option.

Maya could see Cherry's face drop into a more somber one as she talked about her option of humans. She couldn't really blame her for thinking that way, people where nervous these days about inhuman looking people. And it makes sense! But for people like her and Maya it caused alot of problems. Really she should have learned by now. She knew just how terrible she felt when people treated her like a freak. And this one-eyed girl probably felt the same way. What was worse is that she made the same mistake with Snow too, acting all wary of him just because of the way he looked. And sure, she ended up giving him a chance and she gave Maya a chance aswell. However this did not change the fact that she was acting just like those people who hurt her so much. The feeling of gult only grew as this fact settled in, and she sliently made a promise to herself to try to fix this.

"Humans don't mean to hurt............. Humans just scared............ Humans scared of me too.......... Sometimes me gets scared........... Me can tell that you scared.......... Me don't like you to be scared.......... So me want to keep Maya safe......" That was the easiest way she could explain it to her. Hopefully she would understand it.

Maya listened to what she said and then looked at the building around them, then nodded that she understood, it was a good place for shelter. Pulling the 'blanket' over her she sat on the floor with it wrapped around her, it was so large compared to her she was able to actually get it wrapped very well around her, tucking her legs under it as well and lifting it a bit to cover her head, she was making sure she could stay warm with it, and as she looked back to Cherry all the girl was able to see was her eye and a bit of her face, the rest was hidden by the clothes she handed her to keep warm. That large eye studying her.

Then she seen the change on Cherry's face and she started to breath rapidly again, maybe she did say something wrong and the human wasn't happy now? Maybe she was going to toss her out into the cold now because she made her angry? Once more Maya started to panic, just sitting there with her eye locked on Cherry and her shaking under the Hoodie clearly fearful once more. Then the human spoke once again, and Maya tried to follow along with what it was saying, the humans were scared of this human? she didn't like them scared? Humans didn't like this Human too? wait... then didn't that mean she wasn't a human? but she wasn't a demon... Maya's eye went wide as she came to the only conclusion she could "You...same....Maya?" she said in that whisper of a voice with a scared but almost hopeful tone, the wrapped up little girl scooting just a bit closer, had she found one that was the same as her?

Well that was a loaded question. She didn't even know what Maya was, so she couldn't say for sure if she was the same as her. But after what those monsters did to her, Cherry wasn't fully human anymore. Her memories of the time spent in the lab where quite foggy, and Cherry liked it that way, but she was sure that those bastards did more that just replace her arm with this large, overgrown wooden one. There's also the fact that Maya may have been asking if Cherry was the same as her, less in a literal sense and more in a sense that both of them got treated the same way? Cherry let out a low hum. She shouldn't be thinking this hard on it. She is going to just work herself up if she keeps thinking about the possible answers to this question, and there was no doubt about the fact that she was going to panic, and make Maya panic if she thought about her time at the lab.

In the end she just choose to go with the most simple answer for Maya. Slowly raising her head up in a non threating manner, she went over to gently pat her head. "Yes............ Me and Maya.......... Are same......... That is why.......... Me protect Maya now."

Maya looked at Cherry studying her face as she stayed quiet from the question, and the one in front of her started to make a strange sound, Was she mad? No.. that didn't seem to be it.. then she started to slowly lift her hand but it wasn't in an aggressive manner, but Maya's eye looked at the raised hand locked on it as it moved towards her, and as it started to come closer she seemed to be panicking a bit, but she stayed still but her shivering seemed to get worse but she didn't move away, she was worried doing that would make them angry, and then the hand was gently placed on her head and a very confused look came over her face and then her eye darted to Cherry's face as she started to speak again.

"Th...thank you...." she said in that whisper of a voice once more and there was this odd... sound.. coming from her, sounding almost like a purr as she let her eye slowly close as she let the larger girl pat her head and a little tear fell from her eye as she seemed to finally relax fully for once.

"It's okay..........." Cherry softly whispered to little Maya as she continued to pat the girl's head. Cherry would stay with her for a few more hours, staying with her and comforting the girl until she felt like Maya knew that she was safe and could count on Cherry. Standing up Cherry moved to the door and gave Maya a soft smile. "Me.......... Be back.......... Soon......... Stay safe........" With that she would leave the building. Closing the door behind her and hoping that the girl would stay safe while she was away. Before she returned to her 'duties.' Walking around the Highrise, looking for demons and getting ready to help everybody head out.

[Exit]

Maya seemed to relax and just let Cherry pat her head, she wasn't sure if the human would actually take care of her, or protect her, but she was willing to stay in this place for a while at least, to warm up, there was also food and the white stuff outside was good for drinking, so she would be okay as long as a demon didn't show up so this was a safe place, and she almost drifted to sleep being able to actually relax, that and the gentle patting on her head, the first bit of positive contact she had had with anyone for as long as she could remember.

After a while though Cherry got up and said she would be back, Maya nodded "Thank... you.." she said as she waved to Cherry before she moved over to the once soaked rags she had tied together to be used as a makeshift Parka, and she checked them, some where still wet, while others were dry, so she took the dry ones off and started to use them to wrap around her to increase the layers to make herself warmer, she then scooted over to a corner of the place, taking the water bottle and the bird with her so she wouldn't have to move around so much, and she settled down to sleep. feeling a bit safer then she usually did.  Even if Cherry didn't come back Maya was happy she had for once got to talk with someone and they didn't want to hurt her.