Match of the Millennium

Description: Echo runs into Djamila, the blind staff-wielding NFG fighter in Metro. Despite definitely feeling something 'off' about the strange dark-haired woman, the dancer makes a new friend.

[ECHO]
Pain. Pain was definitely one of the things she had endured quite a bit of lately--especially after that run-in with Liu Kang, of all people. Echo wasn't even sure if she'd faced anyone of that power level before--not even Shermie had been that scary during Ristar. She had made it out of that situation and had recovered by now, course--being a demonic Makai person aided with that. Still, it left her with a bit of a wakeup call, of sorts. Her fighting prowess might need to get a bit of an upgrade, it would appear.

For right now, though, she was still taking it a bit easier--and had loped off to one of her private residences in NA, like the large brownstone place she kept in Metro. It was one of the largest cities in the human world, after all--and once all the inane tax issues were dealt with, it made a fairly convenient spot.

Especially if you drank blood.

All sorts of people to find, all sorts of people to call--and it was a bit more anonymous with how plentiful the people were. Long as you watched out for any pesky cellphone cameras, that is. Right now, she wasn't exactly looking to do any of the predator type of business, but she was checking out what storefronts were left post-pandemic and hadn't closed down due to looting--which left a precious few, alas. She needed a new dress or two, specially after Kang had nearly punched the last one off her--and maybe she could find a department store near here...

[DJAMILA]
Meanwhile, after a meeting with one of her sponsors, which went really well, Djamila was outside, walking. She's still wearing her LifeBand now. She was good on her promise to not remove it.

She's heavily thinking as she walks. She just made a big decision. She doesn't regret it. She assumes her decision, but what bothers her is that it doesn't bother her. She's fine with her decision. It was a weird thing to go through, and a bit of fresh hair doesn't hurt. Today she's wearing a wine red outside, instead of black or orange like she likes to wear. Today is a different day, and as soon as she woke up, she felt like a different color too.

So here she is walking around. There is a lot of people walking or in the way, but Djamila manages to navigate without hitting anyone, less it's inevitable. But even someone with their eyes would crash then. She just mutters a sorry and continues on her. That is, until she feels someone different. Someone who makes her turn her head in their direction, even if she's not suppose to see. "Hello?" She says. "May I bother you a short moment?" She decides to add. "I am Djamila, from NFG. If you heard of that." Maybe she will seem less crazy if the person knows her from somewhere.

[ECHO]
The bat's large conical ears perk up a bit and twitch as they hear the approach of Djamila, of course Echo was magically disguised, albiet flimsily--one still needed eyes to notice these things. Sensing her power or chi, on the other hand...

Echo leered over at the woman's outfit before blinking as she noticed the blindfold--normally the blind wore large sunglasses regardless of the weather to help denote that--like Ray Charles--the outfit on Djamila though, was quite something. Plus her overall appearance, it was... interesting.

"Well hello there, yes I know of it--" Echo gave the blindfolded woman a once over again, top to bottom, her saleswoman side kicking it, blame the demon heritage. "What sort of help do you need...? I'm Echo, by the way--I run an occult shop," she smiled a little, hesitating to hand Djamila a business card, mainly because it didn't utilize braille. She thought better of it at the last second.
"Well, not around here--but in Southtown, if you've ever been," she added with more attempt at levity.

[DJAMILA]
She waits politely as she feels examined briefly by Echo. It's normal she literally started a conversation with her from nowhere. Can't blame anyone for that.

"So you know I am just not any crazy young woman who starts talking on the street. I am an NFG crazy woman." She smirks a bit. "I am Djamila." She smiles. "Honestly, I just felt something different about you, so I started to talk. It might be rude, but I like to meet people." She laughs softly. "An occult shop, so you're a magic user?" She beams. "I have a magic user friend, and I've been curious." Then she add, extend her hand a bit. "Oh you can give me your card. I am sure I can find a use for it." She grins.

When Echo adds, 'it's in SouthTown.' "I never went to asia yet, but I totally want to go there one day. Maybe after NFG, if not before. I bet it's beautiful." She seems happy to meet Echo

[ECHO]
"Oh, we sell all sorts of stuff there--tarot cards, dreamcatchers--perhaps you can drop by sometime..." Echo sort of trails off there, it's across a fucking ocean, and she doesn't expect Djamila to actually show up there sometime. This is what we call in the business 'foreshadowing'. But for right now she's more amused by the strange blindfolded lady of the evening, here.

"So you're new in this part of the country, yeah? Well I think there's still a Macy's that's in business if you were looking to do some shopping," if darkstalker attack on the area hadn't been enough, there was also the pandemic--which hadn't exactly helped a lot of the businesses. Only some of the largest still stuck around. Some of the former rows of shops in this area were now desolate, in fact. Turns out, when even the people that weren't worried about being eaten by werewolves were in turn scared off by a virus, the main attraction for the city--that being the theaters, shops, etc--stopped being an attraction. As did the city.

Things had improved now, course, a bit.

"Maybe Echo can help you find something if you need help...?"

[DJAMILA]
"You probably think I won't, but one day I will be in Southtown, and I will come in your shop, and you will think. 'Damn, she actually came.'" Djamila says, amused.

"I was there until four years ago, when I left this part of town for personal reasons. It wasn't healthy to stay here." She shrugs. "We all have survival instincts, right?" She shouldn't buy clothes now, she already bought some recently, but she enjoys Echo's company. "Well you're a magic user right? Are you able to heal yourself? I made a new friend, and I thought all magic users could heal themselves, but apparently not." She ponders her conversation. "You also don't sound particularly snob. You should like you're nice and helpful." She says bluntly. "Maybe we could walk and talk. If you notice a store you want to go in, I will go with you." Like they were already friends.

Djamila isn't afraid to be with people. You have to at least feel fine with people to do her line of work usually. "So I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I was just walking around to think, but when I felt you, I had to talk. Life is too short to hold back? Don't you agree?" Of course she has her staff with her, but she never leave without it. She just doesn't bring attention to it right now."

[ECHO]
"It's a bit of a large, confusing city... albiet a bit less confusing than this one," Echo looked around. Metro had been laid out like a grid, largely, since many decades and decades ago, as such, it lacked the 'city roads grown out of goat paths' kind of appeal that some older places in Europe or elsewhere had. It was pretty easy to find one's way around in this city, unless one went underground... which well, was a whole different matter.

Meanwhile, this was an... interesting situation. Echo was trying to play it off as if she ran a 'magic' shop, as in crystals and tarot cards, and here Djamila had assumed she used real magic. Which well, she did. But Echo felt like keeping the charade up a least a bit longer.

"I /was/ thinking of gettng a new dress," the bat lady raised a brow. Oh, she could /feel/ her. Well, there was less use for the masquerade now, so to speak--but Echo was not deterred. It would perhaps pay better to learn more about this one, perhaps.

"And what do you do, miss Djamila...? Besides the NFG?" maybe she's sussed out that Djam doesn't just dress like that to /fight/.

[DJAMILA]
"It's ok, I learn my way pretty well. Nothing can stop me. Because life is boring if you let any handicap stop you." She love life most of the time. When she's not in ptsd anyway. "I also allows me to meet people too, anyway." Now, does Djamila go underground. Who knows. It's not like darkness should bother her, right?

Djamila felt something, a bit like her new friend, and like was being annoying about it, but as Echo didn't answer about it, for now Djamila drops it. She might have been too annoying already. "A dress sounds fun. Count me in. If you like." She nods her head. "Clothes shopping is fun. I just bought some clothes recently though." She laughs.

Then she proceeds to answer Echo's question, "I dance and strip. I use that talent to fight. It's that simple really. I am not ashamed of my job. It allowed me to eat in the worse time." She smiles, being honest. She really is not ashame of her job or talking about it

[ECHO]
"Ahh, I was curious," Echo seems to have had her suspicions confirmed there, just a bit. May e it was the fact she also carried a staff. The mental image was easy to put together. It wasn't as if Echo was any stranger to women like this, after all--though, a dancer wasn't quite the same as a vampiric sorceress, to be fair...

"I must admit I haven't followed the Neo Fighting Generation that closely, tell me more about it," Echo asked, as she gestured to Djamila--before realizing that was a wasted effort, and instead put a hand on her shoulder to help lead her in the direction of the department store just nearby--getting off the street would mean her magical disguise was less likely to break. Any aggression on her own part would shatter it like thin ice, and standing around waiting to get mugged wasn't the best idea.

[DJAMILA]
"It's ok to ask, if I didn't want to answer, I wouldn't have. I have no gun to my head." She chuckles. She had no problems with her. The person she had the most problems with won't be a problem soon.

Of course, if someone would try to mug them, her security would drop in very quickly. She never tries to leave them behind anymore. She knows she may need them. "Oh it's up to you. It feels like you changed your mind." She doesn't get touched that often. But she has nothing against a friendly gesture like this, a hand on her shoulder. She follows, not complaining. "Are you looking for a color in particular for that dress?" She asks, as if she had a way to know or something. Yeah, Djamila can be weird sometimes.

[ECHO]
Djamila to be fair might feel that hand is quite... soft, also warm--perhaps not what they expected, like having a cat put their 'hand' on your shoulder to lead you--since the skin on it felt more leathery than it ought to. It was a bit of a strange sensation, and felt only for a moment.

"Oh you know, I tend to wear black... maybe I should go for something a little different," the wind and the noise of the city left behind them now that they were inside, was almost deafening. Leading to just the sound of the ladies' shoes.

"Or mnaybe we could try something with a bit of a... wine-color to it," Echo grinned at that, noting the color of Djamila's top, especially how it reminded her that she was due for something else quite red, very soon.

But first, that dress.

Log created on 15:33:42 09/16/2023 by Echo, and last modified on 11:01:49 09/17/2023.