In the Eye of the Beholder

[Calmay]

Balenth was glad when the guards where told to leave after another person arrived. She saved them some trouble, but he had a feeling that the moment he left the inn alone the guards would come after him again. He would have to deal with them later. They could not handle going against a dragon. Though he did not have to worry about them for now. He turned to the new arrival. "Thank you for the help." He wondered how the two of them were attracting such situations. If that person had not shown up he could have done something that would have made the situation much worse than it already was. He was not the type to back down if he was threatened.

He then turned to Axel. he wondered if she was still up to going to eat some ramen. He was quite interested to know what kind of food it was. Though he doubted that it would be easy for them to get through the streets now.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Xion turned to me, smiling with one corner raised only. Xion let her wings relax before folding them against her sword again while Kairi yawned before sniffing Balenth. She licked his hand before walking into the room and jumping onto a bed. "Seems you got into a bit of trouble again shorty. It's fine, I'm part of Axel's travelling party. My name is Xion and my wolf over there is Kairi." Xion said, winking at me on her first sentence. I was usually the one that attracted trouble from our group. She walked past us as well and began to make something for the others.

"Do you still want to go to get some ramen?" I asked, ready to go or stay. If those guys bothered us again I could help. And I still wanted to not have to eat whatever Xion made. The angel ate strange foods that the rest of us never ate.

[Calmay]

He turned to Xion. "That's an understatement. Oh and nice to meet you my name is Azum." The amount of trouble they had gotten into to was much more than a bit. It probably past a bit after they had a run in with a dragon. Compared to the dragon the guards coming here was nothing. Very few things could match up to the strength of a dragon. Not that it mattered anymore. They were gone for now and that would mean she would only have to think about getting some food. He then looked at Axel. He still wanted to eat ramen. "I still want to go eat." He was going to let Axel leave the room first this time. Maybe then he would not have to worry about the guards being there again.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

I waved goodbye to Xion and Kairi, earning a yawn from the wolf and a wave from the angel. I stuck my head out the door, looking around for a lingering guard or innkeeper. Seeing none, I pulled my head back in before walking into the hallway. "Let's go then!" I exclaimed, my stomach grumbling in response. I walked down the nearby stairs and out of the inn, the innkeeper nowhere in sight. As I stepped into the cool air of the late afternoon, I took a deep breathe. It was only a matter of time until something, who knows what, happened again.

[Calmay]

Balenth followed behind nodding goodbye to the two. He noted all the people that Axel traveled with. A shape shifter, an assassin, a crow, a wolf, and an angel. Axel gathered quite an unique group. He had never seen such an unique group and he had met plenty of other travelling groups that had traveled to meet him. He shrugged and continued to follow Axel. It looked like they the innkeeper and guards were no where to be found. He really did not want to fight another person today. He really wanted to try and live a somewhat peaceful life. He followed Axel through the streets looking at the building around him. He was wondering where going exactly. Maybe if he liked the ramen he would return and eat there often. "Axel, what is ramen? I've never had anything like that before."

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

I smiled at the question, continuing down the street at a nice pace. "It's the best soup on the planet! You'll just have to try it." I said, laughing lightly. Ramen was one of my favorite foods, but easily second to sweets. After a few moments, we reached a store with a curtain of sorts instead of a door. "Come on!" I called to Balenth, going into the ramen store and sitting at the counter. I ordered a bowl of spicy ramen, kicking my feet while I wondered what kind Balenth would like."Get whatever you think you would like." I said, humming to myself.

[Calmay]

Balenth entered through the strange door and sat down beside Axel. He wondered what to get for himself. He had never eaten ramen before so he did not know that there were so many options. He could not decided on just one. He wanted try them all, but he was not sure that his stomach would be able to handle it. He looked at Axel and decided to get the same kind of ramen that she did. He ordered himself a spicey ramen and placed his hands on the counter. "Is there anything special I need to know about eating ramen?" The last thing he needed was to eat this food incorrectly. He did not want to embarrass himself in front of another person.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

In response to Balenth's question, I held up the chopsticks. "Well, you don't use normal silverware. I'm not sure if you've ever used them, but these are chopsticks. You grab the noodles with them and eat. That's all there is to it!" I explained, grabbing the air with the chopsticks in my hand. After a moment, a bowl of spicy ramen was placed in front of me. I blew on it before begining to eat, showing Balenth. I wondered what he would think of ramen and if he could use chopsticks already.

[Calmay]

Balenth looked at the chopsticks wondering how to use such two sticks to pick up food. He had never used something like that. He looked at Axel and examined how she was holding them. He picked his up and mimicked how she was holding them. It did not look that hard so he held them. He held it to tightly because the next thing he knew one of the chopsticks broke. He picked up one nearby and loosed his grip. This time they did not break. He was now able to hold them, little did he know that he still had to be able to use them correctly.

When the ramen showed up he mimicked Axel again. He blew on the ramen and went to pick up some of the noddles with the chopsticks, but he must have done something wrong bemuse they just slid back off of his chopsticks. He tried again, but the same thing happened. His face showed how agitated he was becoming not being able to get some food in his mouth. He was tempted just to leave the meal uneaten and find something else to eat. It was not worth all this frustration.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

I barely held back a laugh at Balenth's expression. It was priceless. "Sorry, the only reason I can use them is because I grew up using them instead of silverware. Try it more slowly and follow my lead. It's hard to learn if your used to using something else to eat/" I said, slowly picking the noodles up and into my mouth.

"You can wrap the noodles around the chopsticks too. Like this." I explained, showing him how to do so. I remembered when Roxiri had shown me how to use silverware. I still liked chopsticks better then normal silverware though.

[Calmay]

"That's what I was trying to do. It's not as easy as it looks." He said as he tried again. This time he managed to keep on noodle on and he slowly moved it until it entered his mouth. He slowly ate it savoring the taste. The noodle tasted good he wanted to eat a little more. He tried again and this time he got more and more. He was getting better at it, but it was still so hard for him. Why would people create things that made it harder to eat. "It's not that bad. If only it was not so hard to eat." He did not even mind the slight spice taste that it had. Nothing could beat the taste or feeling of fire in one's mouth. He was not going to say anything about it.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

I looked around until I found what I was looking for. "I should have gotten you this first but here you go. Better late then never, right? I said, extended my hand with a fork in it. It would be easier for Balenth to eat his ramen with a fork. I smiled, feeling the spice taste in my mouth still. But I was used to it so I continued to eat, smiling when more customers came in. They all seemed quiet though and gave Balenth and me strange looks. "What's with them?" I whispered to Balenth, looking at them.

[Calmay]

Balenth was glad that he had a fork. He much preferred forks over any other eating utensil. It would have been nice to have just started the meal with the fork, but it was okay now that he had one. He put the chopsticks down and started to eat with the fork. He finished the noddles with not much difficulty. When he was done he picked up the bowl and drank the rest of the ramen. With no spoon there was no other way to finish the rest of the meal. He noticed the new customers enter and he felt their stares. He did not was to think about him so he ignored the. "No idea. Just ignore them." Unless they did something to threaten him there was no need to pay any extra attention to those around him.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

I quickly finished my ramen as well, feeling unnerved by the strangers. They continued to stare and didn't order anything. I wanted to leave but wanted for Balenth to finish. I took out the money I had gotten from odd jobs I had done out of boredom and put it onto the counter before facing Balenth. "Ready to leave? I really don't want to stare any longer. They're freaking me out." I said quickly, feeling stares against my back still. SOme people just had problems. Why were they staring!?

[Calmay]

Balenth quickly finished his meal seeing that Axel was uncomfortable about the people looking at them. He placed the bowl on the counter and got up. He wanted to pay, but if Axel wanted to spend her money he would just have to get her a gift as a token of thanks. He then took her hand and took it out of the shop. If she did not want to be around these people then he would take her away from them. He retraced the steps back to the to the best of his abilities. He had only walked past this route once, but he did not want to mess it up. When they were far enough he stopped and looked at Axel. "Feeling better now that you are away from those people?" He hoped that Axel felt much better now that they had left the people at the ramen store.