Chi pauses to think about how to word things, "We have sort of scattered. Instead of gathering together and moving or living in a groupp, we all just take whatever form we need to survive, and stay hidden." He tries to keep his tone conversationally light, but as he talks, he starts to realize that he may be envious. Or lonely. He shakes that out of his head, thinking those feelings aren't necessary. He made a home here.

Astra blushes and huffs slightly with a chuckle, "I suppose I was small back then. But I'm not now."
She shifts a bit awkwardly, with her age made clear to the much older couple of men. An elf, a long living race sure, but still rather young.
Elves, even in the morden age, are rather secluded among themselves. So it is rare for an elf younger than a hundred to do much in the public eye. But if she was found small after that war, she was clearly less than a century.

Ash nodded and said “I guess that makes sense…so don’t sense others of your own when they are nearby? Bane says he can smell when other wolves are around at a farther distance than other races”

Dante looked up at her and said “it’s okay my lady. You’ve made it this far…” Bane nodded and said “indeed. A great feat. You have been thru a lot. And you have saved so many…”

Chi nods some, finishing up the dishes quickly, turning off the water, and turning to face her, "Oh, I can always sense my own kind. But most have their own lives, their own disguises. And once they find a good life, they don't want to talk about how its all fake. Thats just how it is, can't blame them."

He stretches, "The only way they want to be around others is if that one also likes to play pretend."

Astra stands quiet, looking at the two, shaking her head. "I think there more we can do instead of standing around complimenting me- Dante, drink." she tosses him another bag. "Maybe when you dont feel like youre starving, you can top off on my shoulder again" she smirks, wiping off the blood again. She hasnt moved to heal, nor does she seem to mind whatever seeps out of her cut. its not a lot, afterall.

Ash tilted her head and said “but it’s not fake if you truly believe that it’s your life right? I mean look at my bots. They are alive even though they are machines”

Dante looked at her shoulder and said “will you allow me to seal it for you?” Bane blinked and asked “you can?” Dante nodded and pointed to his tongue. “I can seal bite wounds and cuts with my saliva”

Chi hums, considering her words, though they bring up conflicting feelings in him. Its olmost a half a minute until he moves again, this time, much closer to her, and speaking in a low voice, "And what if you thought I was a werecat? One day, you might find out I need to consume blood in order to have children."

He lets those words linger there, then steps back quickly with a grin, "Thats what I mean. They live a lie. Now me, I'm honest. Most of the time." his tail flicks and eyes sparkle with amusement.

Astra nods, stepping closer agan, "You can, if you think you're stable enough again."

Ash didn’t change her eyes as she said “that’s how your nature works. It would be wrong of me to judge for you for that. I mean, my beast friend is a werewolf.”

Dante sighed and pulled her to him gently; moving up. He licked her wound and it sealed as it was not even cut. Bane nodded and said “that’s a useful skill. Interesting”

He stops and looks at Ash with a confused look, "Bane doesnt need to drink blood...i think. werecats dont need to drink blood. Us liquid shifters, we do...at least for something like that" he pauses to think before quickly adding on, "if we want children with fleshy people, we do....do you get it?"

Astra doesnt move except how Dante guided her. Then, she seemed to just casually make herself comfortable against him. Not looking like she was going to get up anytime soon, she nods at Bane. "It is, Im sure it makes feeding easier. And hiding, if youre so inclined. I read up on the history of vampires, theyve had a difficult time being accepted over the eons. Even more difficult than dark elves, and some dark elves feel into demon worship..."

Ash nodded and said “and werewolves have to eat the hearts of humans to get their full power. I’m not missing this. Every race has their challenges and ways of life they have to deal with”

Bane nodded and folded his arms. “I understand that. Werewolves don’t have it easy either. But we can hide better than most.” Dante finished up and let her go and said “I’m sorry to have caused you stress Astra…I thought I had everything handled. But with the tinker…must over overwhelmed me”

He sighs, "Nope. You are missing it, after all. But listen, if you dont get how its living a lie when you lie to everyone about what you are, even up to the point of wanting children....well, its not my job to teach you." He stretches and begins to walk off, "I appreciate your acceptance of me, but it doesnt really feel the same when youre not even talking about the same thing I am. Maybe aura can teach you all that fun relationship stuff. You have her interest, you know."

Astra nods, "Its ok now." she still doesnt move, seeming pretty comfortable. "Just keep yourself full, it should curb your appetite for her blood." She looks back at bane and sighs, "And Im sorry about this. I should have noticed it before. I hope we havent discomforted you two too much."

Ash frowned and said “then explain to me in clearer terms you jerk. I’ve had a crappy day so maybe stop talking in riddles”

Aura looked over and said “she has a point Chi. She’s not like us. You can’t expect her to get it”

Bane blinked and said “not at all. We both live off chaos. It’s why I think her hanging with chi will make things interesting to say the least.”

Chi suddenly turns on a heel, serious again, but not as serious as he had been with Dante. Rather, he appears to now be irritated.

"Its not a riddle. Im saying how it is. My kind like to fool everyone. And in order to keep fooling everyone, they dont talk to others of our kind. Thats as clear as can be. Youre just so focused on telling me how much you accept me, that you can't hear what I'm saying. Thats not my fault." He huffs "And in case you forgot, my day hasn't been much better."

She tilts her head, then looks over at the door, in thought, and seeming somewhat concerned, " It certainly could....but perhaps we should go check on them. Dante, how are you feeling?"

Aura groaned and slapped her hand to her face. “Chi…listen to how you’re talking to her. Of course she has no idea what you’re saying.” Ash was confused and said “wait what? I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You don’t have to jump all over me for not understanding the most misunderstood race in the world. I’m sorry I’m an idiot when it comes to anything but machines” she turned and left the room and aura sighed.

“Chi…she was trying to be a friend. And you just snapped at her like a pissed off viper would”

Dante had turned his head and his eyes glowed a bit. “I’m fine. But something is off. I’ll find her. You see to Chi” he picked Astra up and onto her feet then vanished into smoke. Bane sighed and said “didn’t I say not to use the magic too much?”

Chi is clearly gobsmacked by her outburst, unable to say anything. Then he throws his hands up as aura reprimands him, "This isn't my fault! I was just talking about my thoughts. Then she wasn't understanding me. Then you both called me a jerk and said i was talking in riddles! I am speaking plain Common!"

He makes a sound of frustrated exasperation, "Is this why women drive men insane? I do not like it!"

"Find her...?" Astra murmured confused, "...well, something must have happened..." she looked at Bane and nodded, " If he over does it, I'll reprimand him later. Looks like we have a fire of some sort to put out, where will you go?"

Bane chuckled and said “I’ll follow you my lady. I’m sure Dante can help Ash just as well as I could. I want to see how the rest of your team works”

Aura frowned and said “chi…not social girl who has been attacked twice in 24 hours. Has been told she needs to let others help her and let people in…and then when she’s trying to understand you don’t really explain. She has no idea what your kind is like. At all. How is she supposed to know?”

Ash found herself outside, holding her arms. She felt like a moron. This was why she didn’t let people in. She didn’t think like they did. Her brain didn’t work like theirs did. She closed her eyes then felt a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t mind me my lady. Just didn’t want you to be alone” ash smiled softly as Dante stood next to her.

She nods and sighs, headed towards the kitchen.

His hair began to bristle, "I. was. explaining. it." he growls, beginning to turn into a hiss, "and you forgot to care about how I was also attacked. Thanks." and with a huff he walks off himself with a door slam, trudging through the halls.

Astra arrives to the other side of the kitchen just intim for the door to slam. And she lets out another sigh, "Aura...you can't take sides against your friend like that. I would wager he is even less social than our little tinkerer is, and if you show her too much favor, we will lose him."

Chi moves to be outside too, but just outside the scrapyard, taking over guard duty from someone else and beginning to stalk back and forth as a black panther.

Chi would hear humming and Bane appeared by the wall. “She’s not an easy girl to get. She is very straight forward thinking. And has a hard time understanding others. Took her years to get me. Took her a long time to get that even though we look kinda human, we won’t think like them. She relates best to animals. They make sense. They do what is needed to survive. That logic makes sense to her. The rest just makes her question everything. Give her time. She will learn how to understand you. It’s worth it. When he gets there you will never have a more loyal friend. She will stick up for you against anyone. It’s her nature lad…”

Aura said “I was trust trying to get him to see what I saw. I don’t know her any better than he does but she’s not like other humans. That’s easy to see”

Dante glanced down and said “do you wish to talk about it? Was it Chi?” She shook her head and said “no…it was me being a fool…” Dante sighed and pulled her to his side. “Your not a fool…”

In Panther form, Chi stops as he hears Bane, his golden eyes looking intense against the backdrop of his black fur in the night. He smells strongly of anger and fear, but also emotional pain. As Bane talks, his ears flick between attentive forward, and pinned down in anger. His tails waves and flicks behind him like a den of snakes.

Then he begins his pacing again, looking out into the night often, doing his duty of making sure no one unwanted comes by. In the back of his mind, though, he wars with his feelings, ultimately just being hurt and confused.

She chuckles, "He hardly knows how to talk to people to begin with. Now, tell me how the conversation went, objectively. opinions will only muddle things."

Bane pulled out a cigar and lit it with matches in his pocket. “That girl has been burned in the past. People tried to get close to her to use her and steal her ideas…she doesn’t trust anyone to let them get close. She doesn’t know how to talk to normal folks. She tries to understand but she isn’t spooked off by what nature has its hand in. She’s never thought badly of a race because of what nature has them do to survive…”

Aura sighed and told her exactly what happened in as much detail as she could.

Dante stood outside with Ash and he mentally linked to Astra. “I have her with me my lady. She’s mad at herself. I think this is a bad case of bad communication”

He gives a low growl of displeased cat at first, but his anger rose in him again cutting short his patience with being unable to talk. His form quickly and messily changed to a somehwat humanoid but mostly still panther being, still crouched down and with panther fangs and fur, "But she can still listen right?!"

After listening to Aura and Dante, Astra grimaces. "It sounds like it, and I dont think Aura helped much" she gives a sidelong look at the fire fae "He ran off somewhere...but Im sure Bane found him. Are you two holding up?" she asks, meaning them both, but also concerned about dante's hunger, and how he had just been struggling with it.

Bane looked over and said “listen yes. Understand? I don’t know. She went through…look, I shouldn’t be the one telling you this. But she went through something when her dad died…it did something to her. I would go and try again but don’t coat it. Be clear and to the point about your feelings”

Aura sighed and said “I didn’t mean to pick sides. I was going to help him but he ran out before I could. I’m fine.”

Dante chuckled and said to her “I’m okay. Shaky. Ash is just upset.”