[INVITE]The Changing Lights

Finding someone to ask for directions hadn't been half so productive a course as Aegle had hoped. For one thing, the streets seemed basically empty. Which was strange give the fact that, it seemed only moments ago, there had been people everywhere. She wondered where the all might have gone. Surely they hadn't all gone home. It wasn't that late. Was it?
Rounding a corner, her emerald eyes alighted upon the first person she'd seen in what felt like hours, though it couldn't have been longer than a few dozen minutes. Her pace quickening, Aegle shambled up to the dark haired figure, the myriad motors of her brace whirring whispers with each step. She was dressed much as she usually was, her affinity for loose fitting and voluminous clothing having been little effected by the change from Solitas cold to the more temperate Valenese climes. Her hoodie, a vibrant orange affair bearing more than one instance of DUI repair, hung down over a loose fitting pair of cargo pants which flapped alarmingly with every uneven step.

The stranger turned as Aegle drew closer. Little surprise there; It had literally been years since Aegle had been able to sneak up on someone. Her usual smile twitched a hair wider as she met the pale blue eyes of the girl. She didn't smile back, but that was about as unexpected as her hearing Aegle's approach had been.
"Yo~" She called out, by way of greeting. It was not unlike the tone one might use to greet an old and familiar friend, and therefore it was the tone Aegle used to greet everyone she met. Hobbling up a few steps closer, Aegle let the fluttering of her heart, following her brief jog, settle back down into its usual nervous rhythm, then showed the stranger every one of her teeth in a broad grin.
"M'Aegle." Aegle introduced herself, proffering what could have been a curtsy if it hadn't been so twisted by the bend in her spine. She took a sort of perverse satisfaction in introducing herself, especially to complete strangers, who might not be all that familiar with her quirks and mannerisms.
"D'ya live 'round her? I'm sorta lost..." she got straight to the point, no need to beat around the bush after all, "Tryin' t'find the airport, y'know? Reckon I missed it somewhere but I'm not really sure where, yeah?"
She giggled. Not at anything in particular, besides the fact that she found her own plight to be somewhat amusing.
"Oh hey!" Her eyes ceased their examination of the slightly taller girl, settling upon two protrusions atop her head, the same color as her raven hair. "Y'a Faunus~" She said this last part like it was some unexpected but not unpleasant quirk, in the same tone she would have observed someone to be a magician or a mythical creature.
It was not polite, but Aegle had never been especially big on manners, and her personal experience with the Faunus was a pretty limited one. She wasn't sure, on reflection, that she'd ever actually spoken with one face to face.

Lily Yarrow

"I am Lily," the stranger said, making no effort to hide her skepticism for Aegle and her manner, treatment which the smaller girl was well used to. Not that Aegle minded; If anything, she found herself relieved to have run into the one Valenese without some obscure color for a name.
"The airport is..." Lily said, seeming thoughtful for a moment. Aegle followed her glance down the street, then frowned slightly as the faunus girl started to rattle off her directions, much before Aegle was ready, leaving her staring blankly at her for a few moments as her brain tried to catch up. Like grasping at smoke, the words became more scattered and disparate the more Aegle tried to recover them, until they were little more than a jumbled suggestion in her mind.
"Wait, so that was left and..." She tried to puzzle her way through for a moment, shaking her head as she started to walk in the direction Lily had indicated, with no idea what she might do once she got to the first intersection.

Sometimes it was just easier to try and power through, rather than ask for clarification. Aegle didn't really want to be a bother, and it had been pretty clear from the look the faunus girl had been giving her that she didn't want Aegle around either. Or at least, it had seemed pretty clear to Aegle. Not that Aegle blamed her, given that she rubbed most humans the wrong way at the best of times, and that it was a pretty well known fact that Faunus didn't like human
Better to just try to follow her directions, get lost again, and find someone else to ask.

Aegle had taken one step, her emerald eyes now looking past Lily to the road ahead, when the faunus stopped her.
"I have nowhere to be tonight." She told Aegle. That statement was just unexpected enough to make Aegle halt in her tracks and give the taller girl an uncertain grin. Was she supposed to be happy for the faunus, she wondered, or should she be sad? Something about having nowhere to be did seem kind of sad.
Looking at the blankness of her expression, Lily added, "I can lead you, if you like."
"Ooooh..." Aegle grinned, relief and understanding coming at once, "That makes a lot more sense."
A few moments passed, with the emerald eyed human staring up at the grey eyes faunus, the former with a quizzical grin lighting up her face. Then that grin twitched, and further revelation blossomed, a firework of comprehension, lighting up her face.
"OH! Yeah, yeah, sure, that'd be way better!" She said, unable to properly contain her surprise that this faunus might actually be alright with spending a bit more time around her.
Then, realizing as well that what she'd said might be a bit confusing, Aegle added, "I was just gonna keep walkin' till I got lost again, and then ask someone else. Let's go!"

With a spritely spring, wholly incongruous with her unbalanced, almost shambling gait, Aegle dodged past Lily and skipped down the street as though it were here who would be leading them to their eventual destination. She swung her arms happily and bounced with each stride, boots coming down heavily on the well worn pavement.
"S'a lot different lookin' at night." She called back over her shoulder. Not for any particular reason, but just wanting to share her observation from before. Already, she was thinking about what she might do once she made it back to the Academy. She hadn't meant to spend the whole day in the City and, pleasant and interesting a visit as it had been, she was looking forward to getting back. Maybe she would tinker around with her punch plates some, see if she could get them to take something other than fire or lightning dust.

So distracted was Aegle by thoughts of the near future, that she skipped right past the turn Lily had directed her to take, not ten seconds prior. She hopped down from the side walk and loped across the street, all without noticing any of it, and continued blithely on towards a fourth intersection half a block away.

"So what business do you have at the airport?" Asked the faunus girl, her tone light and unaffected but not quite covering the excitement and exertion of catching up with Aegle's over-eager strides. The smaller girl grinned back at her, pleased to have any excuse to talk. She'd never really needed an excuse to talk, but it was nice to be invited to do so for once.
"None," She answered lightly, showing that broad grin again, "Except that I need to take the ferry to the Academy."
Her grin faltered slightly at that admission, with a hint of uncertainty showing through her unflappable smile. She followed after the faunus girl, without really thinking. She remembered telling the Commander she planned to be a huntress, and her parents, and her brothers, and was not sure if she should tell this random stranger. For one thing, the Valenese did not seem quite as respectful of huntsman as the people of Solitas. Given that their culture had grown up in relative security, Aegle supposed that made sense, but it had made her reluctant to go announcing her aspirations out loud.

"S'probably past curfew by now." She muttered, more to herself than Lily. Without her scroll, Aegle had no idea what the time was, but it had gotten dark enough for her to worry that it might actually be quite late indeed. That was just what she needed. Smaragdine had already made certain that Aegle had little time for training, she didn't want to even imagine what the Dragon might do if Aegle was caught breaking curfew.

"Oh, I should probably be getting back soon too." Said the faunus, drawing Aegle's attention more than anything else she had said so far for just how suggestive a comment it was. Her grin, already sizeable, broadened just a bit more as she put the context clues together.
"As you say, it is past curfew." Lily went on, not yet noticing the gremlin grin stretched tautly across Aegle's face, "We should likely hurry, after a certain hour the shuttles will stop running. If we have to wait on the morning shuttles, it will be much more difficult to arrive at class on time."
Aegle was too caught up in her own burgeoning excitement to hear the faunus girl's sensible suggestion. She was the first student which Aegle had met outside of the Academy, one who had no idea who she was. And she was helpful to boot! What a wonderful gift, to be plunked down in Aegle's lap!

The pair of them had quickened their pace, Aegle without even noticing, when Lily looked back at her enquiringly
"I haven't seen you there before. Are you one of the student's siblings come to visit?"
"What?" Aegle asked, "At the Airport?" it took a few seconds for her brain to catch up and piece together what Lily must have actually been talking about. When it did, she felt quite foolish indeed.
"Ohhh... You meant the Academy." she grinned again, eyes flashing, "Nah, just joined. Got here last week. I think it was last week." Pausing, Aegle's brace wheezed as she gave her head a thoughtful rake, "Could'a been two weeks, when was the field trip to the art museum?"
It was hard to make sense of time, what with the days all blending together the way they did for her. Especially with all the work she'd had to do just to catch up with her classmates. And all the training she'd been doing just to keep from being the weakest fighter in her class. And the 'extra curricular' activities proscribed to 'deal with' her 'disciplinary issues'. It suddenly occurred to Aegle that this was the first day since she'd arrived that she hadn't been rushing from one thing to another, always pressed for time, and she'd still only come into the City because she'd run out of powercells.
"Jeeze... S'like livin' inside a clock..."

Blinking, Aegle looked up to find the familiar outline of the airport not far off, waiting for them at the end of the street. She slowed a bit, frowned slightly, and looked around at the City.
"Y'know," She said, slowing to a complete stop, "Just how much time d'ya think we have 'fore they stop running the ferry?"

Coming to a halt as well, the Faunus looked back at her.
"The last shuttles leave at eleven, so about two hours or so from now." she said, in that uncertain way that people always used when they weren't quire sure why Aegle was asking any given question. She didn't abhor the idea of getting back on campus and, potentially, a bit of a headstart on her day, but she suddenly felt quite confined by the idea that it would just be more of the same, possibly for another week. The idea that she might return to Beacon, and slotted back into the routine which had become her existence for the past two weeks, did not seem as appealing when confronted with the alternative. That she could remain in Vale City, and broaden her experiences that little bit more, before returning to her clockwork life.

Eyes alighting upon the faunus girl, this helpful flower in a field of stone, Aegle's grin spread out wider still. Lily regarded her in turn, as though appraising all the odd mannerisms of the human girl, from head down to her heels. It would take quite a while, Aegle thought, for her to make note of everything, and she giggled at that thought.
"Lets go do somethin' fun first." She said excitedly, taking a half step closer, fists balling up in unaffected eagerness. "We've gotta whole city, yeah? S'gotta be somethin' worth doin', y'know?"
Something apart from the constant preparation and training. Apart from the discipline and regime of Academy life. Something which neither of them had ever done before, that could break up the sterile predictability that had become her life. Something, gods willing, she would be able to point to and remember in a week, to give her some scale of time's passage.
Her eyes suddenly lit up, as she recalled something she'd overheard from one of the upper classman, "D'ya think there's a bar we could sneak into?"

Lily's first reaction, much to Aegle's great surprise, was not to scowl at her or laugh incredulously, both of which she had grown increasingly used to since first coming to Vale. Rather, the faunus girl seemed to actually be considering their options. It was impossible not to smile at such a development, so Aegle smiled, and smiled more. She could feel the first flutters of genuine excitement aching in her chest, like there was some animal in there begging to be set loose.
She waited expectantly for the faunus girl to say something, to proffer a destination for what remained of their nightly outing when, in disappointing contrast to Aegle's intended spontaneity, Lily pulled out her scroll.
"Hmm..." She murmured, flicking across the screen with a long nailed finger. Aegle stepped closer to get a look, a marionette twitching into directed motion.
"It looks like near us there is 'Shattered Like the Moon, 'Otto's Shrunken Head, or," Lily paused, her eyes lingering upon the final entry, which Aegle read pretty much as soon as the faunus said it.
"Nevermore."
It was impossible to notice the change that word brought over the faunus girl, though it was not a change which Aegle was able to make much sense of. She hesitated noticeably, eyes lingering on the screen without seeming to see it. Aegle almost waved a hand before her face, when Lily's grey gaze abruptly refocused itself on her.
"I've never done anything like this before, but I think I posses the skills required."
Aegle showed Lily her teeth, her smile reborn broader than ever.
"Neither d'I, but that's kinda the point, innit?" Her eyes flicked back to the screen, fingers working nervously within her hoodie's pouch, and alighted upon the second time that Lily had read. "That one looks the closest." She said, indicating Otto's bar with the tip of her chin. She slipped her hand up and patted Lily reassuringly between the shoulder blades, though it did not seem like she needed all that much encouragement.

Then, leaning in to an almost conspiratorial distance, Aegle giggled and grinned, "Race ya."
She didn't wait for the faunus' consent, nor even any sign of her comprehension, but instead sprang off at her full ungainly speed, loping with a sort of staccato hop that just about threw her body with every stride. Her brace whirred and the wind rushed across her face, its chilly bite an invigorating kiss from a winter soon to be upon them. She laughed out merrily, and took the first bend at a dead sprint, narrowly avoiding a well-appointed couple on their way in the opposite direction.
"Sorry~" Aegle called back, amidst the resulting gasps and shriek, sounding nothing of the kind, and leaving the woman to help her male companion back to her feet. The excitement in her chest throbbed even harder as she ran, its fiery pulses seeming to coil about her and hold her fast. She redoubled her pace, eyes fiercely bright, smile wide as the great ocean.