Monster tricks
Chapter 2 (a somewhat odd meeting).
There were more than a few thoughts going through Elmia's brain as she wheeled her way into the large building, she would be calling a home for the foreseeable future, one bag of her belongings on her lap and agent Whitman helping her with the other two. For one, the place was surprisingly large, there were only seven floors but each one seemed to hold 40 or 50 apartments and that was just counting the main building and not the multiple fenced off areas attached to it.
The second thing worth noting was how much it stood out. When she was being driven through town, she saw nothing but older buildings made out of brick and cement, small businesses that look like they had been around for decades or maybe even multiple generations of owners and small landmarks that had survived bad weather, urban decay and probably a few bored teenagers armed with spray paint. This place was sleek in it's design and would have fit into the landscape of that place she read about. What was it called again, Silicon meadow?
But the most vital fact about this place to her at least was what she realised as she looked around the foyer.
"Agent Whitman." She said with concern just slightly creeping into her voice. "Where is everybody?"
"Well, you see Miss Aquaria. The exchange is still looking for applicants to test this facility out so right now there are only seven residents."
"Seven?". Elmia couldn't believe it. Three months of searching high and low to find a new place to explore outside of her little section of the ocean and this was what came up. Why didn't she just accept one of the home stays she liked, her mother couldn't force her to stay and she could have actually experienced something new and wonderful.
"Hey miss Aquaria" said Agent Whitman, breaking Elmia out her train of thought. "I'm guessing that this isn't what you were exactly hoping for."
"Not really, no."
"Well, if I may give some advice, don't rush anything. You only just got here and you haven't given yourself any time to settle in."
"Your right" Elmia replied as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry, that was callous of me to write this place off".
"You haven't written anything off, you just had a knee jerk reaction. How about I take your bags to your apartment and you have a look around".
"Oh, I wouldn't want to be a bother".
"It's no bother" the young agent replied as he hoisted the last of Elmia's bags on his shoulder. "The aquatic species housing is all on the ground floor in order to make it easier to have access to the swimming area, plus it means you don't have to get your wheel chair up the stairs to get to your home."
"In that case I'd love to. Thank you, Agent Whitman."
"You're welcome and you can call me Brian if you like."
"Thank you, Brian,".
Elmia watched as with a quick nod, the Agent made his down one of the hallways with her three bags. She started wheeling her way through the building. She passed through empty hallway after empty hallway, in all honestly it was starting to get a little unsettling.
Eventually she rolled into a large open rectangular room with four or five machine's of different shapes lining the walls. Four set of tables and chairs (including different chairs for species of various sizes and shapes) were set up on one side of the room and another pair of stranger looking tables on the other.
Suddenly a voice next to Elmia said "So, we got a new neighbor?". She turned to see a large and imposing woman looking down at her.
Her skin was slightly tanned with a smattering of freckles down her arms and across the bridge of her nose where a septum ring was affixed neatly below it. Her flaxen blonde hair was medium length and worn in a wild and spikey mess that complimented the two horns sticking out of her head. She wore a camo vest that fit snugly over her muscular physique and a pair of running shorts that showed off her legs and hooves.
"H-Hello there" Elmia stuttered as the woman approached her with a scowl. "Yes, I have just moved here, today, in fact".
"Really. Well then someone obviously didn't tell you how you should address me."
Sweat began to form on Elmia's brow as she leaned over to be at eye level with her. Her scowl now shifting into something truly terrifying.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. No one told me anything about that."
"Well then, I guess I should make it crystal clear to you" she said as she gripped the arm rests of Elmia's wheelchair.
Elmia braced herself, waiting for a punch or a slap. A few seconds of silence pass before the giant woman's face morphed from sinister to what looked like barely contained mirth.
"Are you oka-
"BWAHAHAHAH" she laughed, clutching her sides and scaring the daylights out of the young Woman she'd been seemingly accosting.
"I'M SORRY BUT THAT WAS TOO GOOD"
"Excuse me" Elmia responded.
"You looked really nervous and I thought it would be funny to mess with you". The woman explained as she bashfully rubbed the back of her head "I probably shouldn't have taken it that far".
It took a bit of time for Elmia to process that interaction. She had never met anyone like this before in her life. Everyone her family had known we're poised and restrained; every move was calculated as if the slightest show of weakness would mean being pounced on by all.
"Shit, you, okay?" the woman asked now looking somewhat concerned. "Ah crap, I messed up".
"No, no, no" elmia reassured her. "You just caught me off guard is all, I've never talked to so someone so bold before".
"You have now" she said as she offered up her large and calloused hand. "Name's Titania but Just call me Tana. I'm a minotaur".
"Elmia, Mermaid. It's a pleasure".
"So, you want to get some pop and I'll tell you about the place?"
With that the two ladies sat down at one of the nearby tables after getting some drinks from one of the boxes positioned against the wall ("they're called vending machines" Tana explained).
"So, what do you want to know?" Tana Asked as she took a sip.
"I guess I'll start with the obvious. Can you please tell me where the pool is?"
"Yeah, about that. The pools haven't actually been filled yet since you're the first aquatic species here."
"Oh, I see" Elmia said somewhat deflated.
"But we could still check em out. You know, let you see what's in store."
"That could be fun" the young mermaid responded "but first, can you tell me how to open this?"
Tana couldn't help but smirk a little as she took the can of lemonade from her new friend's hand and cracked it open.
"Come on newbie".
When elmia got to the currently unfilled pools, she had to admit it filled her with a little joy. There was five of them in total, each varying in different shapes and depths, each designed for a different purpose but they were linked together by a series of shallow water paths so a person could navigate from one to another without ever leaving the water. It was about as perfect for an aquatic species as it could be on land.
"Like what you see?"
"Tana, I love it. These will be perfect once their filled up".
The Minotaur woman couldn't help but smile as she saw her new friend's excitement. She was honestly starting to get a little lonely in this huge place and she hadn't really bonded with any of the other tenants.
Granted they weren't the easiest people to get to know. Between the moth-man who mostly stayed in his own room, the pair of nekomimi sisters who were still in the process of learning English, the bat folk girl who's nocturnal and the echidna style lamia and male wyvern who seem to have decided to dedicated their time here to annoying each other. Tana didn't give herself much grief over keeping to herself.
"so, you want me to show you round the rest of the place?"
"Maybe in a bit" Elmia replied. "I think I'm just going to take it all in for a little bit longer".
Tana shrugged at her response and turned around to go back inside. "Sure, I'll be back in the lounge if you need me."
Their was a smile of content on elmia's face as she stared out at what would most likely become her favorite place in her new home. For the fist time since she got here, those little voices telling her she made a mistake were being quiet. She felt at piece.
This serenity was soon shattered by a voice. "Jackpot! Pools are still empty guys, let's skate".
Elmia looked to her left to see a young man scaling the nearby wall. He was tall and lanky with skin that was pale and sort of pasty and he was dressed in a slightly odd manner. Somewhat baggy trousers that had graffiti near the bottom's of the legs. A black sweat shirt with some kind of logo that involved a skull and a pair of crutches. Red suspenders and woollen head that covered most of his raven hair though a lock or two seemed to poke out in random places. He was hanging off of the inside of the wall with one hand and had something the young mermaid had never seen before clutched in the other.
"Excuse me sir" she called to him.
"Huh" he said, not noticing his grip on the fence slipping. "whoa".
"Oh no" was all Elmia could think as she rolled over to the man who was now lying on the concrete ground.
Okay, Rat had to admit. Not one of his more graceful moments but he had been so excited to show his friends the new spot that he hadn't really been that aware of his surroundings. Something he should have learned to do by now considering how many times he had snuck into places in order to find something to skate.
And now, here he was again. Flat on his ass and about to thrown out of somewhere he shouldn't be.
"Are you alright sir?"
Rat rolled his eyes to look at the source of that question. A young and quite worried looking woman with lavender hair in a wheel chair. Though the most noticeable feature was the giant fish tail poking out of her long skirt and the webbed hands and ears.
"Yeah, I think so"
"Oh good" she responded as Rat sat up. "I was worried you'd hurt yourself".
Rat had to admit, this was probably the nicest interaction he'd had with someone who caught him breaking into a place but this should be the point where he make's his exit.
"Well, this has been fun an all miss but I should probably go. Don't know why I was climbing that big old wall to begin with".
"Hey Rat." Josh yelled from the other side of the wall. "We skating here or what?"
"Skating?" she asked him.
"Ah yes" Rat exclaimed, letting a bit of his annoyance slip into his voice. "Thank you, JOSH, for reminding me why WE'RE here so I can explain it to the nice lady".
A few seconds of silence followed before the pair got a response.
"Oh, shit balls" was the reply Spike provided.
Rat sighed as he turned to look at the now flustered mermaid, chuckling a little at her reaction to his friend's regular use of curse words.
"Well like my friend said, we came here to skate those swimming pools before they got filled. Sorry for trying to weasel my way out".
"No, it fine but what is skating?"
"Seriously? Skating, like skateboarding?"
The mermaid only offered a puzzled expression as a response.
"Okay, how about me and my friends introduce ourselves and then I try to explain what that is."
"Do you mean them?" She replied while pointing behind him.
Rat sighed as he looked over his shoulder to see Josh and Spike walking up to him.
"What?" Josh asked as he brushed the dust of his hoody. "You we're taking too long."
"who's she?" Spike asked.
"I was getting to that. Hi, I'm Rat. This is spike and the disrespectful kid in shorts is Josh".
"Come on man, I was just messing with ya".
"Nice to meet you. My name is Elmia" she replied as she offered out her hand.
A few moments passed as Rat frantically tried to wipe his hands on his pants before spike rolled her eyes and shook the offered hand.
"she's a girl, bud. Not a priceless statue."
"I know that" he grumbled, earning a laugh from Josh.
"So, is it cool if we skate some of those pools?"
"I assume but what is skating?"
"Is she serious" Josh asked, completely gob smacked.
"She doesn't have legs Josh. I don't think it's Atlantis's national pastime".
"Spike, easy. I don't think comments about her body are going to help"
"Give it a rest already Rat…
The trio bickered among themselves for a a minute or two until a somewhat aggravated voice broke them out of their little discussion.
"JUST TELL ME WHAT SKATEBOARDING IS!" Elmia barked in annoyance.
"Oh Right" Josh replied "our bad".
"So, this is a skateboard" Rat began to explain as he gestured to his own board "and we like to ride around on these all over town and use them to do tricks".
"Tricks?"
"How about we just show her" Spike as she put her own board on the ground and pushed off towards one of the bowls.
"Now your talking"
Rat watched as his two buddies made a b line for what they came here for and turned to look at Elmia.
"You're welcome to watch, just let us know when we should buzz off". And with that he went to join them.
