#oxob

The vending machine beeps as a coin is placed in the insert and a button is selected. In front of it waiting for the drink to fall is a young woman bearing some interesting features, as many residents of Cier tend to. She listens with great interest for the tell-tale sound of the aluminum can rolling into the pick-up box. Fizzy sweet drinks are a rarity when one is near constantly traveling outside of cities so this is a rare treat.

She’d been so focused on the vending machine she’d hardly kept her ears on a swivel like usual. Those startlingly tall serval ears of hers typically at least twitch at different noises to subconsciously differentiate between what's a threat and what isn't. But right now they’re completely still, tilted directly forward.

She later decided that was the best mistake she could’ve made that day.

Crouching down the pull the soda free, her claws clink against the soft metal when she faintly hears something that sounds like a surprised voice from a ways to her side. The sweep of her tail slows as the fluffy tip flicks in mild acknowledgment.

A single claw is halfway wedged underneath the tab, ready to pop it open as she glances to check out whatever the noise is now that the treat is acquired. As blue-grey eyes meet bright teal all her movements halt like a cat getting grabbed by the scruff of their neck.

That’s a face she knows. She recognizes it, because it was one of several she almost couldn’t save. He looks healthier now, but the leg braces are new. Her magic and potions should’ve left him in good enough condition he wouldn’t need those, but then again duelists are known for consistently getting beat up pretty bad. One of the many reasons she took a different path.

While she was looking him over with eyes full of recognition, he was doing the same fight back at her with an expression of puzzlement, a sense of familiarity scratching at the back of his mind. He could've sworn he's seen those ears before, they're too obvious to be forgotten easily.

An image pokes its way to the forefront of his mind, blurry and missing pieces but definitely a memory of someone taking care of him. It must've been about a year ago? A surprise ambush from a bunch of rogues had left him in rough shape, stumbling around outskirts he didn’t know.

He remembers the sensation of steady hands prodding at his injuries, claws careful of the raw skin as blood was swiped away to assess the damage. A numbing agent was dabbed around, soaking in deep to dull the pain as a minor healing spell is cast to stop the bleeding and stitch the flesh back together enough to apply actual stitches to the worst of it.

She’d worked with the fervor of a combat medic, and even through the haze he could tell she was skilled. She was someone used to these situations through and through. But she didn’t even stick around for thanks. Only a note detailing how to take care until he was fully healed and enough supplies to last him until then.

Karma has a way of coming around, good or bad.

“…I think we know each other.” The staring contest is still going as he breaks the awkward silence first.

She blinks rapidly, giving her head a little shake like she’s trying to whiplash the surprise away at seeing this particular patient again. Most of the time she hardly ever remeets the duelists she treats at random. “Uh. Yeah- yeah I also think we do.”

He shifts in place, boots clunking against the concrete. For a guy who’s pretty good at making friends, he doesn’t really know what to say to someone who saved his ass and didn’t ask for anything in return. A thank you is obviously one of them but maybe introductions should come about first.

He clears his throat, sticking out a hand. The sunlight glints off the metal and draws her eyes to it. She hadn’t payed much attention to them while she was treating him so she never noticed how shiny they were. “I’m Oxob. It’s nice to properly meet you.”

A few seconds of staring later she remembers very suddenly that oh shit she needs to introduce herself too. She jolts up, soda cracking open in the rush to move her hand and take his proffered handshake. Her grip is firm but not tight, slim fingers holding a surprising strength against his metal hand. “I’m Taara. Sorry for kinda just running off on you during our first meeting… Where battles rage a healer follows and oh boy there were a lot of fights that day.”

She chuckles, feeling a bit bashful. Taara had meant to come back and check on him, she really did! But by the time she could get back there hours later he had disappeared and she’d been too exhausted to try and track his scent trail.

“It’s okay!” Oxob is quick to reassure with a friendly smile, finding her reasoning to be a pretty sound one. “There’s not a lot of people who know actual healing magic around so you must be busy a lot.”

The awkwardness between them has faded, Taara’s shoulders relax as she lets out the breath she’d been holding. When they step back from the handshake they’ve settled into something much more comfortable atmosphere compared to a few minutes ago. “Yeah, and its always worse ‘round the outskirts.”

The sound of her drink fizzling redirects her attention and she brings the lip of the can up to her lips for a sip, only to make a very strange face as the tang hits her tongue. This was decidedly not what she had meant to get. The sudden change in her expression makes Oxob chuckle, her reaction reminding him of when a street cat licked his hand and accidentally got a little zap. Its the exact same screwed shut eyelids and scrunched nose.

“You okay there?” He asks, the reflexive politeness coming out naturally as he watches her stare down the drink like it had personally offended her.

His question snaps her out of the stare down, pupils contracting. “Eh? Oh yeah I’m perfectly fine just got taken off guard…” She trails off, knowing well just how ridicules of a sentence that is in a place like this but in her defense she didn’t expect the vending machine to be faulty! Or maybe it isn’t.

Taara turns back to the vending machine, crouching down to stick a hand in the pick-up box and rummage around… And yup! There it is. The other soda can she’d felt while picking up what turned out to be a similar drink someone had bought but apparently just left in there.

She looks between the opened can and the right beverage of choice and makes a quick decision with a shrug of her shoulders. Standing up straight she offers the open fizzling drink out to Oxob. “Waste not want not right?”

He looks down, eyebrow raising but not about to disregard a free drink. “Thanks. You just keep helping me out huh?” Taara snorts a laugh, unable to resist cracking a smile.

“Yeah, you could say that it’s in my nature. It’s kinda funny actually, a wild cat being a healer-care giver type. Not something most people would expected.”

“Unexpected definitely but not unwelcome. Variety is the spice of life.” He takes a sip of the soda, not minding the tanginess as much as she did. Gotta enjoy what you can get when life can be so short.

“Good words of wisdom that.” She muses out loud, cracking open her soda and relishing that sweet taste she was craving. “What an interesting way to remeet someone. Hey, what do you say we chat for a bit? You seem to have a couple stories and I’ve got a free day.”