Welcome to the Real World [Ryax x Umbrale]

[Ryax]

It's a beautiful day in the city. Sunlight beams on the throngs of pedestrians and cars moving throughout the bustling streets, heading to work and school. Shops have started their morning routine, smells of fresh baked bread and tantalizing breakfasts penetrate the air. Welcome to Magnolia. It's the capital of the country, where all types of beings of the world mix and mingle freely, be it Humans, Elves, Werewolves or any of the other races. Business is booming in the mixed metropolis. New buildings are being made every day and the outskirts of the city are expanding steadily.

Meet Mark, he's a construction worker in the middle of the city, specializing in skyline structures. He's a Shapeshifter. It has it's uses in this line of work due to the fact that they can quickly gain some extra legs and be somewhere else on the grounds or grow a few extra muscles to carry heavy weights.

Rrring.. Rrring.. The phone rang in his right leg pocket. "Mornin' Boss" Mark said as he picks up the phone and answers the call. He's strolling down the sidewalk at a casual pace, being early for work this morning he figure'd he'd take some time getting there, enjoy the sunlight for a bit before having to spend all day indoors fixing interior structural design for a new 'scraper that's scheduled to open in a few months time. "Good morning to you too, sonny. I need you to pick up something before coming in to work today. Swing by the market and get me some of that thai lunch stuff they sell down there wont you? I'm swamped up over my head today and the missus didn't prep any lunch for me. Damn runts always having precedence these days. I need to eat too!" his boss Mr. Larkins exclaimed in dismay. "Shift some extra legs and get here soon, I need you on the grounds. Thanks! Now git to it boy!" Larkins continued without giving Mark pause to protest and then he hung up. Larkins could be annoying at times but he was a good soul so Mark had no qualms about helping him out every once in a while, he knew he'd do the same for him if he could.

Putting the phone back in his pocket, Mark laughed a short "Hah!". 'No way, if you want your lunch I'm going to take my time getting it', Mark mused to himself as he swerved away towards the market, not breaking the pace of his stride. Mark was currently in the shape of a human of the taller variety, first to get the sun on his face and as to not disturb the flow of the people around him too much. Many of the morning commuters in the area had humanoid shapes, he didn't see the point of shaping into something larger and bulky and cause too much inconvenience for those around him. Today that is. He was wearing his construction worker clothes for shifters, black cargo pants, a plain white shirt with a screaming yellow vest on top for visibility in his work place. A pair of steel capped boots to go along with it. His pants, vest and shirt all had hollow flaps sewed in for convenience of shifting some extra limbs. He was carrying his backpack over his left shoulder, stuffed with extra shoes, gloves and protein energy snacks if the need arose during his day. Considering safety regulations it was more expensive being a shifter then regular biped since you had to account for specially sewn clothes and extra boots. His work only covered a fraction of what he needed to spend on gear, but he was not bitter about it. He'd grown used to it. It was the way of the world. He earned more money being more useful then others anyway so eventually it evened out nicely.

The market was already chock full of people, loud and lively. Mark shifted some extra eyes so that he wouldn't miss the stand selling the food while forcing himself through the crowds. It takes extra energy shifting his body so he didn't want to overdo himself and be hungry again already before lunch. After a while of searching he located the stand in question, got some lunch for his boss and himself and headed back towards work.

Going to the market in the morning was always such a tease for him, pressing up and sliding against all manners of tantalizing shapes and being bombarded with all kinds of great smells. Having eventually left the thick crowds he sighed, his libido having flared from all the sensual exposure coupled with that his only option of release was that he had to work it off left him a little on edge.

 

[Umbrale]

Succubi. Demons of lust, corruption, and the most widely accepted beings of any male standard, ever.

That being said, they didn't produce too well. While it wasn't a startling surprise to see one walking down the street in a large city; there were always a few factors that lead to it being a rather surprising sight. First of all, they tend to hide themselves in the modern day-and-age. The mythical beings of sex and desire, were in a world of modesty, after all, and while racism was rare--albeit still prevalent between those of whom's species had quarrels in the past--only so much could be said about the rumours that followed it. And that didn't even begin to note how much the specie had adapted, forming at least a slight semblence of self-control. The good ones, at least; there would always be the succubi to rule the world--via the loins of the wealthy--from the shadows.

Soooo, with a world full of laws and stipulations(even in a world that had to stand for certain uncontrollable natures and habits), it was a hard world for a succubus. All the more so when the only damn groceries readily available near your apartment, was in the middle of a fucking urban-market.

Fuck this market and it's goddamn general populace! Mira's thought snappily, cursing under her breath as body after body bumped their way into, out-of, and altogether through, the crowd. Hell, with every two steps forward, there was a foot lost to a rough shoulder bump of an impatient worker, or a shove from a lady that seemed to take offense by a slight brush. It's nine in the damn morning on a fucking Tuesday! Who the hell isn't at work?! Her thoughts rang out again in her skull, cursing her bad luck.

Well, it wasn't necessarily bad luck. Markets like that were always packed, until late in the evening where it was more readily accessible to those who disliked large crowds. Which, of course, were the bane of any mild-mannered succubi; as the blush playing across Mira's cheeks showed evidence of.

It was hard enough, after all, in day-to-day life to repress a succubi's natural urges! It was hard not to blatantly stare, or influence someone's mind with more lewd insinuations! And when the succubi in question was of a below-average height at 5'4, it was hard to stand your ground in a sea of impatient, rushing people! Hell, if it wasn't for the fit, toned shaped of her body, it would be a fight to not be trampled right over. As it was, with grocery bags in hand, it took some shoving and pushing to get her own way through the place.

Finally, as the crowd began to thin, the succubi gave herself some breathing room. "For fuck's sake. Can't a grocery run be easy?" She murmured under he breath, shifting one hand's worth of groceries to the other, and using the freed digits to run a calming path through her shoulder-length black locks. Albeit, the fingers slid along the side flaring with the vibrant-blue-neon of a dyed hair, stricken through with that natural black. Of course, the "calming" motion did nothing for her; the way her breath came out a bit heavier, the way her body felt hotter to her own touch. Her vision, swimming slightly against her own will, as if to focus on the zones she knew her desires to lay...

That hand gave a dutiful face-palm to herself, and a sigh that sounded more forlorn than anything. Mira ran her fingers down for a slight rubbing at the bridge of her nose; taking a moment to collect herself. Of course, it wasn't just herself looking. Even with the tomboyish look she pulled off--blue jeans and a simple white tee--the succubi could feel the sets of eyes that lingered on her. That ambient lust in the air. It didn't help that her jeans clung to her, that they accentuated the heart-curvature of her ass. It didn't help that her tee almost seemed to crease itself in places that would leave little to the imagination; that C-cup busom, the swell-and-diminish of her hips that belied the toned form of an athlete. No matter where, no matter when, even if it was the most benign of places, even if she wasn't the focus, lust hovered in the world. Always, everywhere, there would be lust.

But it didn't take long for her to be walking again. It was something you got used to. Even if her body ached back against her will, it wasn't something you just gave into. And besides, to at least Mira's knowledge, they weren't looking at her. They were just looking around. She was just any other person in a world full of people who weren't just persons, that's all.

Absorbed in thought as she was, and the will to combat her own instincts, Mira managed to zone most of the world out. Her steps padded lightly across the ground, as her eyes trashed the solid concrete beneath them. Not quite slums, not quite high-living, those tall buildings of utilitarian steel and glass lent a roomy, urban environment of numerous smells and senses. There was always something new you saw, or new things you noticed, unless your emerald hues were pointed at the sidewalk in "glorious" contemplation.

And as such, it was a startling surprise to round a corner directly into another being. While she might have caught wind of the libido he expelled, had she been any amount of experienced; Mira tended to be in the rather ignorant-and-clumsy scheme of things. Thus, with a face-to-stomach bodily impact against a far-too-tall-of-a-human, the succubi backpedaled instantly. And a bit too much, at that, as her grocery-bags dropped to the with the sound of dull impacts, and the demon's ass met the ground promptly afterwards. Splayed backwards, her hands caught her upper-body from the impact, leaving her to look almost-annoyingly-far-upwards at the male in front of her. And, like, six pairs of eyes, at that.

While her own emerald hues went cross-eyed in utter confusion and a bit of a bewilderment, the succubi's soft, melodic voice chimed out, "Aye... S-Sorry, Mister..."



​

 

[Ryax]

Mark was deep in thought about work and mundane chores as a vague effort to strangle his libido after the intense morning market dance. He was winning the good fight and was in fact so deep in thought that he bounded round a corner without paying attention at all, and came to an abrupt standstill as he collided with a small woman and sent her backwards and sprawling on the ground, the contents of her bags scattered.
Shit he thought to himself when he felt the thud against him, Holy shit he thought shortly after when he saw what she looked like. The way that her clothes clung to her body and the way they betrayed her toned form practically caused his libido to shout at him with glee.

I don't have time for this, I need to get to work he thought to himself as he bent down on one knee to help her reassemble her bags of what looked like standard groceries. "No, mam. It's my fault. I wasn't paying attention." he told her apologetically. Instinctively he split and dynamically mended his pair of arms into two pairs in order to speed up the process. At this point he didn't care much for the amount of energy he'd spend doing it, he'd just have to take the small hit and eat a larger lunch to compensate for the heavy day of labor that loomed.

All of Mark's eyes and arms darted around the close vicinity of the sidewalk to pick up the groceries and put them back where they belonged. He hadn't noticed the way that she was looking at him and didn't think much of that his appearance might seem strange to someone else not entirely used to it. Mark's enhanced state made short work of the pickup and the groceries were quickly back in their bags.

"Let me help you up.", he stated, all his eyes looking into hers as he reached a hand out towards her, still down on one knee. His other hands had already wandered to their combined grocery bags and collected them. As she took his hand he simply stood himself up and adjusted his arm and hand accordingly to match with the woman's ascent from the pavement. The difference in height and mass made her comparatively tiny frame very easy for him lift while standing himself up.

"Here you go. I'm sorry for tripping you. I'll pay a little more attention to where I'm going.", he told her with a small smile as he handed her grocery bags back. "Be safe and have a good day!" he told her with his smile still showing before it dropped when he bounded away down the sidewalk again towards his place of work a couple of blocks down that street. His strides were far apart so he'd make quite the fast target to keep up with for someone smaller.

After having paced away about twenty steps he glanced backwards, hoping she'd still be there so he could look at her one last time and remember the fantastic sight he had the pleasure to bump into. I'm not sure if I ever want to see her again or never want to leave her side... Fuck that's dangerous he mused to himself while he exhaled a strained sigh. He kept thinking about her until a few moments into his work when he had to focus on the day at hand again.

Many hours into the day, the sun was heading down for the count, the streets had calmed down and Mark's shift was over. He was heading back towards his apartment for the night. His libido from the morning's events had subsided calmly several hours before and was nowhere to be seen until he wandered into an unfortunate train of thoughts leading to his evening being spent in a series of 'compromising maneuvers'. I don't have any lunch for tomorrow... What if I get something from the Market again... Maybe I'll bump into her again... Shit he thought to himself, closing his eyes in frustration and rubbing his face with his hands as he knew he'd been trapped by himself. His libido might just've popped up as a text message in his phone saying 'Hi, I'm back!', cause that's what it felt like to him.

Mark had reverted back from the day's work to a roughly human form. No extra eyes, arms or legs. Lithe and of average height this time around. However, he had a fairly long, thick tail of sorts, resembling the body of a snake. It was partially dressed across his body, hanging from his shoulders and around his waist. He used a muscle riddled tail like this for complex maneuvers when he needed to get to tricky spots between accessible spaces. Every now and then it would move around, slap the pavement or rearrange itself on his body, as if it was frustrated and couldn't get any rest. Which was exactly what he felt like, his mind having been caught in the trap that was this morning's luscious memories.

 

[Umbrale]

Now, it wasn't as-if Mira hadn't seen non-human beings, before. After all, you'd have to be far-and-beyond the level of ignorant that she was, to not notice the people all around. Rather, it was the fact that most people with more than two eyes tended to not look like a tall human. Be it djinn, driders, or any other fantastical beings, they didn't exactly look human. So, when someone that easily towered two feet over you looked remarkably normal, but sprouted an extra pair of eyes, split open extra sets of arms to gather the groceries you had just scattered...

Well, it would be normal to be a bit confused at it all.

In fact, it was a wonder at all that the succubi didn't go cross-eyed at the sight; trying to keep track of all those hands and shifting eyes moving all at once, right in front of you. But, for her credit, she recovered nicely, blinking out of her stupor to accept his proffered hand of help. Easily, she regained her feet, and lightly brushed the dust from her jeans. Frankly, though, it was the strength of Mark's pull that lifted her from the ground with ease, and only a quick save on her part stopped her from losing her balance again to it.

Quickly taking her bags from him, she managed a small smile; ripe with the flushing embarrassment on her cheeks. "Thanks...", a pause, for his apology, and one of her hands rose to quickly brush it away with a wave. "No, no, it's my fault. I was too caught-up in walking." So suddenly, a farewell, and those long legs carried him away at a stride that Mira would have to resolutely jog, just to match. "Ah, to you too!", she did managed to call out, before scowling, when she turned back around.

On a day like that, with the market and everything, she still had the bad luck in her to fall literally into an attractive guy?

It was already shaping up to be one of those days.


---------



Seriously.

Who, even in their dull-minded stupor of a morning, forgot everything *except* the perishables that a modern life required?


And as such, Mira found herself after what felt like a short--but was in fact rather long-- day of work, back in the market once more. It was, however, the slightest touch of a consolation to her that her luck had a change of pace. At that particular hour of the evening, the market was fairly empty. Of course tourists and the like always meandered through, and there was plenty of foot-traffic; but it wasn't exactly the Deadmaus concerts that mornings typically were.

Arms laced together, held a large paper back just in front of her bust, as she made her own way through the place. A stop at a stall here, a stop at a stall there, ducking into an alleyway-shop over yonder, it wasn't long before the bag was full, and she was promptly headed back home. Unlike this morning, she took her time, enjoying the dusky afternoon air and calming -relative-quiet of the evening in rare parts of the city. After all, with lack of people's throughout the place, it was nice to soak in the smells and views of everything typically enshrouded by the visage of bodies.

As such, her attention wasn't on the strangers about her, and the young succubi didn't even notice Mark as he waltzed by. Of course, he did look significantly different. Whether it was fate, a decision by the male, or something more subconsciously-based, movement out of the corner of her eye, did attract her attention. At a particularly violent lashing of his new tail, Mira jumped slightly, and stopped to evaluate the appendage, and the body it was attached to. I mean,yeah, you got a tail, but do you have to snap it like a whi...Wait... her antagonizing thoughts trailed off, as she frowned and squinted slightly. Emerald hues contracted in the light, as she made a connection, albeit a vague one.

"Hey, uh, guy!", she awkwardly called out, cracking a pained smile at her own words. Turning more solidly towards him, she tilted her head, and the smile shifted into something more apologetic. "You, uh, look pretty different, but I think you're the dude I ran into this morning, right? Sorry about that again, I really should've been paying more attention to where I was going. This place was just crowded enough that I felt like I had to get out, you-know?"





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[Ryax]

It only took him a moment to recognize the distinct voice he'd heard from the morning's little accident. Turning his head towards the source of the voice, his eyebrows raised in a questioning manner before a surprised but friendly smile flung across his lips as his suspicions were confirmed.

"Ah, hey there!"
he turned himself towards her, his hands placed on his hips

"It's quite alright. I know what you mean. This place can be quite a chore in the mornings."
a small attempt dispelling her apologetic demeanor towards him​

Mark usually gave larger extremities, like his current tail, more attunement towards intuition and instincts so that he could give more focus on his actual work and let his limbs get him there without having to think too much about it. Thusly it was proving quite a challenge to keep his tail calm at this particular moment it time. Just recently it had been thrashing and showing great signs of unrest when Mark had been frustrated about the morning's events. Now it was placid and well mannered. Make no mistake, this took some effort on Mark's part to prevent it from once again thrashing about and betraying his positive feelings about seeing her again.

"So, what could possibly bring you to the market twice in a day? Job? Family? Did I crush some eggs this morning?"
asking sincerely but with a lighthearted nature, the last one more of a joke then anything

"With the risk of sounding like a fool, I've been thinking about you since this morning. I never got a chance to properly apologize. I was wondering if I could buy you dinner, or a drink if you'd rather go for that?"
starting out with an embarrassed grin, he ended with a warm yet curious smile, hopeful at her answer​

 

[Umbrale]

The smile that was touching on apologies earlier, now shifted into something more sheepishly embarrassed. "Well, actually, I kind of forgot half of the groceries I had meant to get this morning. I'm...", she paused, and gave a half-hearted laugh of a thing that sounded like it leaned more towards dry humour than anything."...A bit of a scatterbrain." Mira brightened slightly with a sudden realization, however, and was quick to add, "I suppose it was better than normal this morning, though, as I forgot everything but the canned goods. I would have been a touch more miffed at you, if I had a carton of eggs to break all over the place." One awkward attempt at a joke in return, and the succubi promptly gave up the string.

The follow-up question made her blink blankly for just a moment. It was as-if she passed right over it, like he never said it. In on ear, and right out the other, as she just looked at him with the gaze of a daydream out into space. Of course, as the words went round-and-round in her mind, somewhere a logic-gate snapped into place and she looked a little taken-aback in surprise. He had just asked her out! Kind of, at least!

And for once, it wasn't--at least, it didn't abruptly seem-- like the trumpets of a booty-call that most men threw at her from the sidelines.

A tiny little blush blossomed on the young succubi's cheeks, and her gaze darted off to the side of Mark."Ah, um... Well...", the flustered tone she gave was adorable, until with a small clearing of her throat, she explained, "...I guess I don't really have anything going on tonight. I mean, I have some groceries...", she paused and hefted the bags she held in one hand slightly, as if it wasn't overtly apparent."...So, we can either make it a short drink, or stop by my place for just a second. Did you have a place in mind, or did you plan to wing-it?", her last question a quick turn-about, par-for-the-course, with just a touch of an almost teasing tone to it. How often did someone fall into a lapse of attention on the mere attraction that one had caught earlier in the day, after all?​