"Maaaaaybe."

She'd just gotten more or less comfortable when a jet of water came shooting at her. "Hey!" She brought her arms up to block some of it, laughing. The surprise of it set her off balance and she tumbled backwards off the rock, limbs flailing as the bush behind her half swallowed her up.

By the time she righted herself back on her rock, somewhat soaked and with twigs in her hair, she could hardly care if his words had come off as somewhat suggestive. "How rude!" There was a smile on her face, though, so it was obvious she didn't much mind his antics. It was refreshing, actually.

"I am a bit jealous. You have way more interesting stories then me. This country is a bit of a new start for me. It is familiar. Yet different. I was born here. Not raised."

Oh! Well... that was different, then. "Yeah? That must be pretty strange, then. Mind if I inquire as to where you are from?" She attempted to wring from of the water from her shirt, to stave off any of the shivering she could feel coming on. "I'm not originally from here either. This state, I mean. I'm from Seattle, Washington."

It hadn't really hit her until right then, similarly to when she had first talked with Orochi. She was having a somewhat normal conversation with a dragon mutant in the middle of the night, after a rather strong bout of insomnia. As 'normal' as she tried to be, her life was pretty strange. Bemusing, even.

Rico was caught just about as much off guard as she fell backwards into a bush and flailed around. It was not exactly as he had planned it to work out. But in the end it still worked out. She was soon back on the rock unhurt and more importantly, wearing a smile.

"Mind if I inquire as to where you are from?"

The dragon did not answer right way choosing instead to wonder if he should tell her. Rico could see his joke had gone to far as she was now thoroughly soaked to the point of having to wring out the cloths. "I'm sorry" He said lowly. "You looked soaked."

"I'm not originally from here either. This state, I mean. I'm from Seattle, Washington."

"Really?" Rico asked. "Well what is it like there?" Rico knew there were fifty states but did not know much other then a few names. Having thought it over Rico decided to share more information with the artist.

"I come from a island chain in the Caribbean. The Batabano islands. Not to be confused with the carnival or Batabano Bay Cuba. We are pretty isolated and care little for the troubles of the world. A nation of farmers, and fisherman. Life was peaceful and quiet for the most part then a virus outbreak happened there and the strange WHO people came."

"Who are WHO"? He asked himself in self thought before continuing. "Whoever they are it was on all there suits and tents. Quarantine zones started to pop up and then came the true horror. That is all I am willing to say on that. Its not a happy topic for me."

Shifting a bit the dragon scratched at his chest with the claw on the wing joint and continued. "In any case I escaped all that and hoped to start a new life here. But it seems trouble follows me where ever I go. I'm kind of stuck working for a giant greasy cockroach at the moment. But I do hope to be free once I pay off the debts I owe to him or rather it."

"I'm sorry, You looked soaked."

"Nah, i'm fine. A little water isn't gonna hurt me." She waved dismissively at him, patting her slightly-more-dry clothing. 

"Really? Well what is it like there?"

She paused to think about that. How could she sum up Seattle without launching into a huge explanation? "Mmm... It's... flamboyant." That felt like a good way to describe her city. "It's one of those cities that's got it's own personality, and everyone there just goes along with it." She smiled. Her's was a hippy city through and through, with Portland hipsters constantly infringing on their border. He started in on his story, and she found herself quickly enthralled. He was a great story teller, for sure! Een with the brief explanation she'd gotten enough content from it that she could say she was honestly curious.

"Who are WHO?"

That was a good question! This was some pretty tense Scifi-esque history. When he finished she was left with many more questions than answers, but she wasn't the type to pursue subjects when the people involved weren't comfortable continuing.

"In any case I escaped all that and hoped to start a new life here. But it seems trouble follows me where ever I go. I'm kind of stuck working for a giant greasy cockroach at the moment. But I do hope to be free once I pay off the debts I owe to him or rather it."

Shelby froze, going completely still as his words settled. Had that just been a slip of the tongue? And unfortunate way of describing an unsavory boss? She reflected back on everything he'd told her at this point, as she mentally panicked. 

For one, he probably wasn't able to hold a 'job' job, considering the fact that he apparently lost control of himself every now and then. He probably also wouldn't have plopped himself down and eaten all of the pond fish if he could procure food elsewhere with funding from another job.... unless he really liked sushi. That left her to believe that whatever he was doing that could count as 'work' was probably off the books, although she couldn't fathom what exactly that entailed.

She felt fear settle in her stomach, reaching an icy grip out to seize control over her lungs. This wasn't the same nervous fear she had felt before when faced with something scary and uncertain. This was a familiar fear. She had felt this countless times since the incident; Overwhelming panic, the inability to breathe... vivid flashbacks to most pivotal, horrid night of her life.

Slowly, she rose from her seat until she was able to step back and inch towards her easel. All the while she kept her gaze trained on the dragon, and her hands clenched in the fabric of her shirt. If she had thought about running before, now she was considering flat out screaming her head off until it woke the whole school up.

...but first she needed to figure out if her fear was justified.

"....You... Y-you work for a cockroach?" Her voice trembled, though she tried to keep it under control. She could feel a panic attack growing, and didn't know she if she was strong enough to keep it at bay for long. 

"Explain... Explain what you meant by 'Giant Cockroach'...." She bumped into her easel, nearly knocking the painting from it. "Do you work for Roach? Did he send you here!?"

This was bad! This was so bad! Had Roach sent him here? Had she been sitting and talking this entire time with some agent of his, all the while completely unaware? Had he been sent to kill her? Take her back to Roach? Terrifying theories were spinning around in her head, not leaving much room for anything else.

"It's one of those cities that's got it's own personality, and everyone there just goes along with it."

Most cities did as far as he came to understand. Even New York had a heart and soul of its own.  "So that explains the hair." he said with an attempted smile. At least as best as he could manage. "I can understand that. All I have been doing since I got to New York is going along with it."

"What's wrong?" He asked after sensing something off. The smells were to complex and coming off her to fast for him to process all at once but one overwhelmed them all. Fear. "You see something?" With that he rolled over and dart his eyes and head around looking for what she was looking at that had caused so much distress. At the moment it went right over Rico's head that the person distressing her was him.

"....You... Y-you work for a cockroach?"

Upon hearing her Rico turned his neck and head around to look. "Yes." Was all Rico said and resumed scanning the garden for danger.

"Explain... Explain what you meant by 'Giant Cockroach'...."

Hearing the artist bump into her easel it finally dawned on him as to what was distressing her. "Now just take it easy." Rico said as best he could and slowly turned around, his tail sloshing in the water in the process. "I aint gonna hurt you. I would have done that long ago if I wanted to." The problem with fear was reason did not go well with it.

"Do you work for Roach? Did he send you here!?"

Rico did not know how to exactly answer that. Part of him wanted to lie and give her peace of mind. But the thought of lying to her made a bad taste come to his mouth. That or it was the fish he ate earlier. "Yes I work for him. And no I was not sent here. I managed to escape the watchdog he has keeping a eye on me. I came on this place by mistake. I don't know what your grief is with my boss and I don't want to know. I just work for the guy to pay back some debts for him pulling my tail out the fire."

But that was a half lie. Already he was wondering what Roach wanted with her. With him taking so long to infiltrate the group he was tasked to do Rico was a bit worried Roach was losing patience and would do something drastic. Maybe bringing this girl to him would buy more time or even settle debts? Still she was nice and the world was short of such special souls to make it a bit brighter.

Rico backed away at this point. "Listen I see I upset you and I think it best if I just go."

"Now just take it easy. I aint gonna hurt you. I would have done that long ago if I wanted to."

It didn't calm her, necessarily... it never worked like that. But she did stop backing away. He wasn't cackling nefariously, nor was he really attempting to come after her. She clenched her hand in her shirt over her heart, and took a few deep breaths.

"Yes I work for him. And no I was not sent here. I managed to escape the watchdog he has keeping a eye on me. I came on this place by mistake. I don't know what your grief is with my boss and I don't want to know. I just work for the guy to pay back some debts for him pulling my tail out the fire."

There it was. Confirmation for her fear, and yet... also a reason to try and calm down. It didn't sound like he was working for Roach because he wanted to, necessarily. That was a good thing.

It was also a bad thing, because she was supposed to be hiding here. He wasn't supposed to know where she was, and now that was compromised. She watched him like a hawk, attempting to dissect every move he made.

"Listen I see I upset you and I think it best if I just go."

"W-wait!" She didn't move toward him. In fact, she backed up a step when he made to move, like he would lunge for her or something. Taking in an unsteady breath, she tried to form her thoughts into something she could use.

" Yes, it is probably best that you leave, especially if someone was tailing you...but..." She paused, staring up at him as evenly as she could. "..if there is any compassion you can draw on, any at all, I ask that you do not tell that monster that I am here. I will make no mention of you being here. Not a peep. But he can't find out that i'm here, or he will kill me." She couldn't stress that enough. She was desperate to get that across to him, even if it might have been unneeded.

She drew in a shaky breath of air. "But, before you go... whatever you decide to do, I have some advice for you."

She knew what she wanted to say... she just wasn't sure how to phrase it. From what she'd picked up from him, even after all he'd told her, she couldn't necessarily wish any harm on him. He'd been honest with her, at the very least.

"You need to get away from Roach... However you can, whatever you have to do, get away from him as quickly as you can. I cannot stress that enough. He will ruin you, some way, some how, even by simply being associated with him. Remember when you asked me why I wasn't afraid of you? It's because nothing will ever compare to how terrifying Roach is."

She made sure to make eye contact with him. "Please... save yourself from him, before he ruins you too."

Rico did not like anything about this. It was like someone had put the fear of god into her. His boss to be specific. In truth Rico did not know that much about Roach. Just enough to know he had money, friends, and more importantly power. Now he wondered what kind of hole he had dug himself into. It was just best to walk away from this one and forget it.

"W-wait!"

He heard her call out and stopped. If Rico expected a sudden change of heart it was not quite what was expected. Instead of taking a step forward as most would do she took one back. Not surprising really considering Rico had suddenly become a unknown variable in someone's plan. Both hers and Roach's.

"..if there is any compassion you can draw on, any at all, I ask that you do not tell that monster that I am here. I will make no mention of you being here. Not a peep. But he can't find out that i'm here, or he will kill me."

The last two words in that statement was all Rico really needed. She was scared out of his mind so he did his best to keep things short. "I understand." What more really could be said to a woman begging you for fear of there life?

"You need to get away from Roach... However you can, whatever you have to do, get away from him as quickly as you can. I cannot stress that enough. He will ruin you, some way, some how, even by simply being associated with him. Remember when you asked me why I wasn't afraid of you? It's because nothing will ever compare to how terrifying Roach is."

Rico could only really let out a sigh. "If you say so." He said lowly. The boss man did not seem that bad when Rico had met him. In fact Roach seemed to genuinely care. But then again what did he really know about him? He was classy. Eccentric obviously with that top hat. But other then that Roach was a mystery. If only he knew how alike they were in some respects.

"Please... save yourself from him, before he ruins you too."

It was Rico's turn to have a flood of emotions in his chest. Shame, Regrets, and even unease for a uncertain future. All this information was a lot to take in. "I am what the world shapes me to be. For good, or for ill. I doubt any hero will come and save me. Unless you know any I have no choice but to try and save myself."

He wanted to say more but lacked the words. Nice meeting you and hope to see you again was probably not appropriate and Rico doubted she wanted to see him again. It would only make things worse. Rico stood upright on his hind legs and flapped his wings experimentally causing gusts of air to come from him. Lifting off the ground his feet kicked at the air in attempt to get some more lift.

While flying came naturally when he was feral now that he was in control Rico was not exactly graceful. But like most things experience came from practice. He flew away into the night to disappear as most monsters did. But the problem with monsters was they always appeared again.

Rico was a bit of a wild card. Was he really someone you wanted to be left hanging around with Roach? As the old saying went. You are as the company you keep. In time perhaps Rico could be corrupted by his company. Perhaps in time he might learn to enjoy the things he does. He departed a friend one could say. But next they met he might be a enemy.

She watched him take off, un-moving and silent. Then, when he was visible gone from her sight she dropped to her knees and took a deep shuddering breath.

She'd been too scared to really move... let alone breath normally. She was going to need to get back inside... somewhere safe and where she could clean herself up and process what had just happened. How... how such a nice interaction, such a nice conversation, could go so terribly wrong.

After collecting her wits a bit, she got back to her feet and turned back to her easel. The painting, which she'd finished shortly before the meeting had gone sour, was done. It was beautiful, too... she'd wanted to have the moonlight hit him just right to soften his appearance a tad. She'd wanted him to have a fearsome kind of strength, but with a touch of humanity.

The artist frowned at her painting. She wasn't sure what to do with it, now... but whatever the case she needed to pack up ad get back inside. She was feeling pretty vulnerable outside by herself, knowing that strangers could just fly in from above...

[END]