[C] Hipster Attack

Challis headed toward the toiletries section, picking out a new body wash, toothpaste as well as shampoo and conditioner.

When he had satisfied all of his hygiene needs he carried them to the counter, paid for them as well as a few bags of sweets which he could resist getting.

Once he was finished he stood by the door, idly waiting for Tik to return.

The man wasn't too much longer than Challis.

Just a few minutes later, Tik appeared with a bag almost full of packs of dates.

His eyes flickered up to Challis as he passed him, stepping out into the fairly busy street.

He began heading towards the edge of town, glancing up at Challis every now and again to make sure he was still following him.

Challis had to stop himself from shaking his head as Tik walked straight past him without a word, the man was practically silent.

Not that it mattered that much, he just wasn't accustomed to being around such reserved people.

He followed after the man, idly looking around at the sights, taking in different stores and places he wanted to visit once he was settled in.

When they neared the edge of town he quickly dashed to his car, grabbed a bag and went back to following after Tik, walking around to get to know the area seemed best.

Tik watched the man dash to his car with his head tilted to the side a little.

When Challis returned to his side, the man began walking against.

As the buildings thinned out the road began to fade to dirt and more and more trees grew.

They were slowly approaching the forest.

Challis shoved his shopping bag into his backpack along with the rest of what he needed for the night and slung it onto his back.

His gaze trailed over the trees, the familiar crunch of dirt beneath his feet caused him to smile softly, he felt more at home all ready, though his kind were accustomed to living underground just the sound of rocks and sand beneath him made him at ease.

"Have you lived here long?"

He asked, making conversation seemed a little pointless but he could still try.

Tik shook his head.

He'd only been living here a few days. Not long at all.

He had his brother had settled in well enough, though. They were both liking the coven quite a bit.

It was definitely somewhere he could see himself staying for quite a while.

Challis chewed on his lip softly as the man in front of him shook his head.

"I didn't mean to impose or anything, if I'm annoying you just tell me to shut up. I'm kind of clueless when it comes to that sort of thing."

He thought he was behaving himself quite well, though he could be wrong, he was worse when he got hyped up.

Tik's eyes flickered up to meet Challis' lilac ones and he shook his head again.

This wasn't bothering him.

Not by a long shot.

He was rather enjoying having someone talk. It took him a while to be able to piece together what Challis was saying and understand it, but he wasn't annoyed with it.

"Don't...shut," he murmured softly as his gaze turned back to the road.

He was enjoying the man talking.

"Alright then."

He replied with a soft smile, the man didn't want him to shut up, that was welcome news.

"Sorry if you don't understand me very well, English isn't your first language is it? Sadly the only other one I know is Spanish and I doubt that helps much."

He didn't know a vast amount of languages.

"Third," he muttered softly.

English was the third language he had learned. Learned having a very broad meaning considering he couldn't speak it very well.

He couldn't speak any language well, though his best attempts laid with Arabic. His brother spoke to him so often in the language that he had picked it up from him.

"Three is quite impressive."

Granted his English could be better, but that man seemed to understand him, that was more than enough for him to get by.

"What are the other two?"

He asked, hoping a few questions would get the man talking a little more.

He wouldn't pressure him but more than two words would be nice.

"Afrasian Egyptian and Arabic." Four words. Twice the amount of words Challis had wanted from him.

Afrasian Egyptian was a long dead language now. One that only a few old tribes still spoke. It was a language that he was slowly forgetting. He had had no one to talk to in it since he was a small child.

The only way he could remember it was to write in it, but that happened less and less often nowadays.

"So you're Egyptian? That's an interesting culture."
He hadn't met anyone from Egypt before.

"You don't meet a lot of Elves who live out in the desert."
He added, they were alone and free to discuss what they pleased, even if it was a very one sided conversation.

Challis gave a soft chuckle.
"I was wondering why you smelled of dry sand instead of the forest."
The man paused his speak for a moment, looking down at Tik.
"Not that I was sniffing you or anything...that came out wrong..."

Tik nodded.

He was from Egypt. It was a beautiful country with a rich history.

Tik was living history himself; with his ability to speak, read and write in Demotic Afrasian Egyptian and his early life in a tribe untouched for thousands of years.

The man's golden eyes turned upwards to Challis again as the man stumbled over his words.

He stared blankly for a few long moments as he tried to piece together what he had said. Something about sand and sniffing and something being wrong. He hadn't caught all of it.

He shook his head softly when Tik stared up at him in confusion.

"Sorry."

He muttered, glad that his skin tone was so dark, it was nearly impossible to tell that he was blushing a little.

First Elf he meets in Italy and he is already making himself look like an idiot...oh well.

Out of the two of them, Tik felt like he was being the most idiotic.

He couldn't understand what Challis was saying. It made communicating with people very difficult.

If they spoke too fast or said too much at a time, he was lost and would just sit and stare blankly. He just didn't understand peoples speech.

Tik dug into his plastic bag and his hand emerged holding a pack of dates. Hooking the bag onto his wrist, being careful of the piercing there, he opened up the pack and offered a date to Challis.

This was a rare occurrence. Tik wasn't known for sharing his dates. But he hoped this would be the olive branch they needed at the moment. Something to break the slight awkwardness the language barrier had put between them.

Challis smiled as he looked down and saw the man offering him food.

"Thank you."

He muttered and took one, biting into it with a soft purr. He didn't eat a whole lot of fruit, he preferred vegetables but he did enjoy the taste of date.

"I take it you like them, a lot."

That much was evident by the bag full that he was carrying.

"You should try my sticky date pudding, best you'll ever have."
He boasted with a chuckle before eating the other half.

Tik nodded as he took a date for himself.

He adored dates. They had been a delicacy in his tribe and he only got them when he behaved extraordinarily well. Since he was adopted into the modern world, he'd found that dates had become something you could pick up for peanuts.

He found himself buying them a lot.

They'd become an obsession.

Sticky date pudding? That sounded really good.

"If you ever catch me in the kitchen at the coven I'll make it for you since you're saving me from getting lost."

It was an easy enough recipe, and if his cooking could be a way of helping him make friends then he was eager to do it.

Since they were out of the eye sight of humans Challis let his hood fall from his head and ruffled out his hair which tumbled in loose waves down to the center of his back.

Tik nodded.

He would definitely take Challis up on that offer.

Sticky date pudding sounded amazing. He would most definitely want to try it if he had the chance to.

Tik swallowed another date happily as he watched Challis ruffle his hair. It was such a light colour. He'd seen wigs that colour while in Asia, but he couldn't remember ever seeing hair naturally that white.

Before he could stop himself, Tik reached up to run his fingers through the long, white strands.

When he realised what he was doing, he snatched his hand back, looking off into the opposite direction as he pressed his lips together, red flooding his cheeks.

Challis laughed softly as the man stroked his hair then snatched his hand away in a panic.

He grinned down at the Elf and shook his head.

"It's alright if you want to touch it, I don't mind. I know for most people Drow tones are not normal. It's why I wear a hood in public."

He replied with a soft shrug.

Under the shade of the hood his skin simply looked dark brown, he could be mistaken as African American given his accent.

Tik's fingers twitched a little.

He was so used to being around Amr, who he could touch whenever he wanted, that being around others was strange and he forgot that it wasn't really acceptable to touch them.

Even if Challis said he didn't mind.

The man returned to eating his dates to give him something to do besides stew in his awkwardness.

Challis reached over and touched the small bits of hair sticking out from beneath Tik's hat with a smirk.

"There, now we are even."

He added as his smirk softened into a small grin. The man was so timid and shy, his awkwardness were oddly adorable.

Tik ducked his head when his hair was stroked, eyes flicking up to Challis again.

The red in his cheeks was noticeable now if one was to take a moment to look. His skin was usually dark enough that his blushing was difficult to detect.

The Elf offered up the pack of dates to Challis again.

Dates made everything better.

Challis felt the need to make the man a little embarrassed, he was quite enjoying the red tinting his cheeks and aspired to see more of it.

Though this was the first kind person he had met so far, he didn't want to ruin his chances at friendship.

Instead of pushing him further Challis simply accepted the date and chewed on it contently.