Look the Other Way [Moon]

Despite having gotten to London a pawful of months earlier Charla had yet to completely switch her sleeping schedule to a more normal one - keeping her up long into the later hours. Not feeling quite settled in enough to fully relax and allow her a full amount of rest at one time; which was odd as she'd never had this difficulty in her life of travelling. Though if she were being fully honest it was probably because she was still getting used to sleeping on her own and not having someone she knew close by.

Sure she'd already become acquainted with some of the other Henches, mostly ones keeping similarly odd hours and mostly still an arms length away for now. She was still a little new at sincerely meeting and getting to know other cats who didn't live like she used to. And not having a specific target was just leaving her with empty time. That was something she'd once hoarded and now had more than Charla knew what do with it.

So for the current evening she'd taken up to roaming the halls of the warehouse and further getting accustomed to the layout, specifically passages she'd previously ignored or not taken note of. Sure call her paranoid for wanting to know pathways she may never used, Charla thought it being prepared. As she made her way down one of the hallways the scent of another cat brought Charla out of her mental mapping and musing to take note of it. It wasn't someone she knew or had come across before, someone who smelled slightly out of place. The grey queen found herself automatically adopted a pleasant and civil smile - things tended to go better when she didn't display outright hostility or wariness. "Hello." She greeted the cat as the tom came into proper view, her eyes quickly scanning his form out of habit.

She came to a stop and leaned against the wall casually, making sure to remain just a step out of reach. Things could easily go bad from what she'd heard of this tribe beforehand and Charla was finding many of the cats that resided in the warehouse to be unpredictable and not quite easily categorized collectively. Not that it was unusual considering that she had met just about the entire spectrum of dispositions in her travels. But here was the added importance of staying, and it'd be infinitely easier if she didn't alienate every cat she met.

Charla noticed the nod, but more so how small of a movement it was. Once again her eyes flitted over the tom's form, taking in the material covering him and the scar visible. The space was definitely a smart idea. But there was no anger or hostile body language yet so Charla would remain civil and pleasant but distinctly far from flirting. The gray queen really needed to break that habit around strange toms. She was staying, best not create a situation she couldn't get out.

She nodded and habitually pushed the headfur that fell in front of her shoulder and brushed it back. "Yes, I guess so." Charla paused a moment, noticing he hadn't discovered her to be new and still he smelled vaguely odd. But he was at the very least civil and didn't want a conversation. "I'm Charla. You must not spend very much time in the warehouse?" Charla bit her tongue before the rest of that statement came out of her mouth and veered dangerously into flirting and distraction territory. She was not about to ask if she should expect a rough intrusion on their conversation with her normal little appraising glance. Polite, civil conversation she reminded herself.

Charla didn't recognize the tom's name, although that wasn't all too surprising considering that she really only knew the really big names in the city. A side effect of the nomadic lifestyle she'd lived until this venture into the city for hopefully her last time. It was obvious he was dangerous, but had either failed or avoided making a name that traveled too far. Some cats could only wish to manage that kind of notoriety, while some would actively avoid being known for their specific deeds.

Although the fact that she was still able to actually read something about the rather stoic Keiiji was comforting to her. If things went too sour his stoic nature may still allow her the cues to work to get herself the hell out of the conversation before it crashed and burned. The grey queen had the inkling she'd not be able to beat him physically considering her limited fighting knowledge and experience. Charla was always better at distracting and charming. But he did volunteer further information, leading her to doubt the need for those skills to make an appearance.

So that was what that scent was, she only had a small moment of silent self praise over getting Keiiji to admit something because he was otherwise difficult to read. Then surprise as she made the connection, that didn't the other and apparently rival tribe live in a junkyard? Rival tribe and a dangerous tom. But he hadn't given any cue about being hostile. And she didn't at all understand the contention between the tribes. Charla just managed to restrain herself from taking a step back to further the distance between the two of them - yes she was out of reach but just barely.

"Yes and scent can tell a lot." She tilted her head in confusion, he wasn't hostile but he seemed comfortable in the warehouse. And he admitted to spending at least some time there."But you're too comfortable here, though perhaps the rivalry isn't as bloody as I've heard." Perhaps she'd be able to get more information out of the tom who apparently spent time in both tribe territories.

Well that did make sense, and just a little aggravating. Despite knowing about the feud she'd yet to have learned the reason behind it - something that made her a little more jumpy and cautious. Charla could talk her way out of a lot of things, but not knowing what could possibly trigger something worse (like oh say the main reason behind the damned feud) made her normal route harder and little more dangerous. And she'd already seen enough toms that she was willing to bet could easily beat her in an actual fight. Including Keiiji, almost to an obvious degree.

But the burnt orange tom still wasn't giving off any hostile cues but seemed to be hovering between completely disinterested and vaguely interested. He was subtle enough to make the distinction hard for Charla. Although it had been a while since she'd eaten, it wasn't a problem yet; years of not having a stable food source meant she was used to going without food time to time. Not that it was needed for now. So the grey queen shrugged, "Well I haven't eaten yet. And I haven't been here long enough to know of much else to do here." She commented offhandedly with a small wave vaguely indicating the warehouse and an easy smile. It was some combination of the ingrained habit to be pleasant and being genuine. Sometimes even she couldn't tell.

"We could venture into more neutral territory?" She offered figuring that either way there would be at least something to do in the city even if it didn't happen to be food.

Well things were going rather pleasantly; especially considering there was a member from the other tribe in the warehouse. Maybe the feud had been exaggerated. But in Charla's perspective it was more likely there were cats in either tribe who had little invested in such animosity. Either way so managed to somewhat relax, allowing her immediate guard down for the time being. She found it tedious to constantly be alert, waiting and preemptively warding off threats. Charla had done that many a times.

And somehow the grey queen found it almost comforting in the new atmosphere she'd found - while Charla was not by any means the most dangerous, or violent of cats in the warehouse - it helped some of her peace of mind that there were other cats as bad and worse than her. And a lack of moral judgement. And a lack of anyone knowing of her family - big cities with tribes known for violence weren't exactly high on the list of to dos. Wonderful anonymity and somewhere any old cats she'd crossed wouldn't look for her. Or where she'd just get lost in the crowd.

The twitch took a moment or two to register as possibly being something other than a twitch. Had Charla not already relaxed, she'd have reacted outwardly. A twitch wasn't exactly anything for her to worry about. They weren't exactly talking about anything that could be considered as a sensitive topic.

Although his voice wasn't exactly very expressive, his wording did appear to be a little reluctant. She wasn't exactly set on leaving or staying in the warehouse. She'd been about to quirk a brow, until Keiiji offered that he knew a couple places. "I'm not exactly picky. Although I wouldn't say no to learning about good spots in the city." Charla smiled, she also wouldn't say no to food; a habit to ingrained to even attempt to get rid of it.

"I may as well learn about my city, huh?" She grinned, cocked her head to the side slightly.

She hesitated when Keiiji gestured down the hallway.  Sure it wasn't as if she was expecting an attack or hostility from him - she hadn't lost her touch nearly enough to those cues - but Charla also didn't miss the fact that there was no way the tom wasn't dangerous.  The kind of tom whom had she still been with her family, that Charla would have surreptitiously avoided unless absolutely necessary.  And turning her back so easily to him wasn't exactly a comfortable move.  Not expecting hostility or an attack didn't equate to trust.  Simply being ignorant of their intended direction would suffice for an excuse to not walk ahead of Keiiji.  But being behind him wouldn't give her any advantage or safety either.  Even sounded more comfortable.  

'Modest fees'.  Charla wasn't sure if her initial reaction was to blanch or snort at the term.  Perhaps she was just being too cynical because of her own experiences of either being the one left by her family to deal with the fees or distract whoever needed distracting to avoid them all together.  The grey queen did scrunch her nose, unable to keep some form of expression over is dislike of fees.  

Instead Charla used the small distance between them as Keiiji began to walk to school her expression back towards her previous polite smile.  And made sure to adjust her speed from catching up to the burnt tom to keeping pace - even like she'd previously decided upon with herself. "I haven't exactly been in the city long enough to have a way of paying any type of fees." A small white lie that she breezed over almost flippantly.  There was always a way to settle fees. "'Sides, who doesn't get a little dirty now and again." As soon as the words were out she hoped they didn't come across as interest or flirting.  Blasted ingrained habits.