The act of striding, standing, or even shivering with his hands in his pockets had become as natural as breathing. It added to his true, blue persona. He was always a lone-wolf that attracted attention; even back in the real world, avoiding others just seemed impossible. They latched on to him like magnets, they attached rumors and stereotypes to him that pushed him to fading away from them. It won't be the same here, he told himself, reminded of the calm-eyed boy's words. I'll start new here. Be, whoever and whatever I want to be.
He smiled lighthearted while sauntering behind Norn.
Then what started as a low rumble became a thundering boom. Hands still tucked in his pockets, Nowe lept back twice with all the grace of a lemur. When he landed and saw the intruder, Nowe felt himself tense up. It was a bi-pedal beast, covered from snout to clawed-paw by violet fur, accented with black stripes on its knife-pointed ears, little bat-like wings, and most impressive of all, a red gem in the center of its forehead.
Nowe furrowed his brow as the monster seemed to jibe with the white-haired kid. That wasn't a good sign for him, he truly hoped all the monsters weren't as wisecracking and annoying as the Kid. It didn't take long for him to find the monster no longer interesting. Instead of gawking he went back to following Norn's lead. Whether are not she responded to this creature's existence would dictate his next actions.