Big City Shame [Isak only, or ask nicely :3]

Victoria wandered through the streets of Boston in her tattered cloak. Her stomach ached with hunger, and she was low on cash. She was determined not to resort to thievery, and had long ago resorted to selling the one thing she owned--herself. But even though she was raised in a sex oriented society, she was raised to appreciate sex as something beautiful and right, but the people she found herself with, the things she was doing, it was nothing like on her home world. At first it seemed like the perfect way to make money; she was immune to earth's diseases and she longed for the companionship. Over time, things changed. The men she was with only wanted her because they were drunk, or because they had some kind of freak fetish. No one wanted anything to do with her past her body either, she was even attacked a few times. Finding any other work was impossible. No earth education and her appearance saw to that. She occasionally lapsed back into prostitution out of desperation, but had gone several weeks without resorting to that filthy engagement. She supplemented her money needs by hunting, but for the most part was too slow to catch any big game, sticking mostly to cities for their hostels. As she sat begging on the street, she noticed a man clad in black steal an elderly woman's purse right in front of her face. She stood up, wobbling a bit with hunger.

"Hey, that isn't yours." She said, but the man only sped up.

"Hey!" She shouted, grabbing the man. To her great surprise, he spun around, slashing at her with a knife. The knife cut through her cloak, but glanced of her scale-hard skin. After the initial surprise, she pulled him towards her and clocked him right in the face. As the would be killer crumpled to the ground in an unconscious heap she went down and retrieved the purse. It would be a lie to say she wasn't tempted. She needed the cash so badly, but after staring at the purse longingly for a moment, she sighed, and resolved to return the purse.

"Hey that's my purse you hoodlum!"

The woman had returned, and was very angry at Victoria.

"No ma'am you don't understand I was just-" A loud rip interrupted her. The woman grabbed for her purse suddenly, but missed and grabbed her cloak instead. The cloak ripped open from the knife wound, falling to the ground.

For one exhilarating moment, it felt good to be in her natural state, but the feeling died as the woman shrieked in terror.

"Help! Monster!" She cried, and everyone turned and stared. Some joined the old woman in terrified shrieks, other stopped and stared, and a few lewd men cast her lustful glances. She tried to cover herself with her hands and tail, overtime the earth condition of shame began affecting her, While she felt no shame at her nudity, she was aware that she was breaking a taboo of humanity. Surrounded by humans, she had never felt so alone. She kicked the purse to the woman, and ran into an alley, weeping openly.

Victoria was aware she had to move. The longer she stayed in the alley, the higher the chance this day would just get worse. A mob could form, the cops could be called, panic in the streets, conspiracy theorists , the list goes on and on. Despite the mounting danger, she decided to take the risks and have herself a cry. As awful and confused as she felt, it felt somewhat liberating to express her grief in this manner, sharing her grief with a world that will never accept her. She sobbed hard, letting out months of misery. Ever since Nina left, ever since she learned of love, life had been constant torment. Once the tears finally stopped, she curled up, shivering in a heap. It was a good thing that she, unlike the natives, didn't need makeup, though maybe about 10 ponds of cover-up would do her some good. She could almost pass for normal; it was just too bad her tail grows back.

After a solid cry, Vicki decided that her best bet was to make a sprint for it.

"Come on girl, you can do this. No more tears, you'll find some way to get money. Maybe you could just join one of those freak show thingies. That'd be fun...right?"

After that stunningly motivational pep talk, she sprinted out of the alley, in her haste bowling over some poor guy.

"Oh my gosh are you okay? please don't be hurt!"

All eyes were on her again, and people wondered if they had just witnessed the first casuality of the lizard monster.

"Please get up dude, I can't take this today." She said, her voice thick with fear.

Victory was a bit taken aback by the random offer. She really wasn't in any mood to be taken by some random guy to a hotel, but he had a point. Her little fanclub here didn't really seem as friendly as this new arrival. The question remained, why would he show her such kindness? Even if she wasn't an alien freak, all she had ever done for him was provide his ass with an awkward introduction to a hard curb. She was skeptical, and decided it would probably be best for her to high tail it out of there as fast as possible.
At the very least, she should make sure he was okay.

Just as she was about to inspect him, he handed out his vest, telling her to put it on. She couldn't understand this gesture. What reason could he possibly have for doing this. Suddenly, looking into the boy's eyes, she understood. It was the same look her first earth friends had given her. Open minded, pure kindness. Despite the years of misery that caked her heart like dried mud, this gesture somehow penetrated that, touching her in a meaningful way. She adorned his vest shyly and cautiously, as if waiting for something to go wrong. Somewhat to her surprise, things did go wrong, just not in any way she would've expected. A rock that was surely meant for her struck the boy, smashing and cutting his face. That was the last straw; Nina would have wanted her to give this boy a chance, and she was sick of loneliness. She had suffered enough. As soon as the boy hailed the cab, she pushed him inside and leaped in as well, commanding the driver to go. She turned to thank the good Samaritan.

Thank you. My name is...hold on one sec." She turned and opened the window, spotting the man who threw a rock at her hero. She opened her throat and shot a jet of acid into his crotch. The man howled as he tried to get his burning pants off, and ran off in shame sporting half dissolved undies.

Ah, that's better. Anyways, my name is Victoria. Um, who are you?"

Victoria blushed a bit and quickly turned to hide it. It had been so long since she was genuinely complimented, even if it was just a name. Sure she'd heard every line in the book: hey baby you so fine, did it hurt when you fell from heaven, (idiot, angels don't have tails) your so hot babe etc. This was just simple, pure and not a ploy to get in her pants...cloak. This was just a nice kid saying a nice thing. Despite the traumatic event that just occurred, she couldn't help but smile.

When they arrived at the hotel, the boy, Isak, was clearly worried about how the hotel staff would react to her presence there. She was worried too, until she saw the name of the hotel. She smiled and winked at him, tying the remnants of her cloak around her waist and walked boldly inside.

"Vicki!" Shouted the manager in a thick Boston accent. The man had been handling a dispute at the front desk, something about an over-ripe banana. The conversation stopped when the alien walked in; the complaining couple backed away slowly, suddenly realizing that there were worse things than squishy fruit. The manager however was happy to see her.

"Careful guy" chided Victory. "Only clients get to call me that."

"Aw c'mon hun don't give me that. I thought you said you was over this. You finally taking my offer for a free room?"

Not now, not ever Charlie. How would your customers feel if they knew you were harboring an illegal alien?"

"You kiddin? They think its freakin awesome! I almost changed the name of this place to the landing pad."

Vicki smiled. "Your sweet Charlie, but I'm here with a friend. Just a friend."

"Well good for you. What room are you in I'll send ya some chocolates."

Vicki beckoned for Isak to follow her as she walked toward the elevator. A few people cowered, but more of them snapped pictures. It figured that this boy would bring him to the one place she wasn't absolutely hated.

Charlie motioned Isak aside, whispering to him. "You be good to her ya hear? She's a sweet girl that's had a rough time of it."

Victory stood there in awkward silence with Isak as the two rode the elevator up. He sure wasn't the most social guy...oh great. What if after all that he really was just some weirdo. She flicked her tail side to side anxiously, trying to think of some way to break the ice. It seemed her social skills had dulled a fair amount since she last had friends, assuming she could be friends with this person. She looked all around to avoid eye contact, rubbing her hands together and cracking her knuckles. Finally, once the doors had opened, the boy asked her a question.

How long had she been in Boston? "Hmmm, a couple years now I guess." She sized him up. She could tell that he was relatively attractive by human standards, but he wasn't the type of human that she was really in to. Still, he had saved her and all, but the glamour of his heroic moment had passed. As they walked to his room, she really didn't need saving. Oh who was she kidding,she was a wreck. Something had to change.

"Hey can I just lie down?" Once they got to the room she dived into the bed, snuggling the warm clean sheets."Mmmmmm, I like"

She looked back at him was the initial pleasure of a clean bed wore off. She had really missed beds. She stared at him curiously, stretching out on the bed and swishing her tail.

"Sooo, why did you help me? What's your deal?"

She wasn't trying to push him away, she just...didn't know what else to do.

She flicked her reptilian tongue in the air, trying to get a read on the situation. She couldn't tell if this kid was just sweet and awkward, or weird and pervy. That wasn't really the answer she was looking for. She didn't go with him to hear his sobstory. Frustrated she crouched on the bed, and crawled to its edge, looking at him in annoyance. She flicked her tongue, tasting a cacophony of emotion. She flipped her hair out of her eye.

"Is it courage or desperation that drives you, boy?" He seemed puzzled, and she sighed and rubbed her palms into her jaw, (a similar effect to a human pinching the bridge of their nose).

"Turn around, this doesn't have to get weirder." One he complied she pulled of the vest and tattered bits of robe and agilely slipped under the sheets. She wasn't sure what he saw, and frankly didn't care. Humans seemed practically obsessed with nudity, it was more for his sake than hers.
"Alright, you can look again" she said, laying on her belly and facing away. "What I meant was this. Did you save me to help me, or you? A boy with courage would have helped me for me, but a desperate boy would save the most fragile girl he could find because she wouldn't leave his sad little word. Don't even bother lying, I can already tell you'd suck at it."

Her stomach growled loudly, totally undermining the cool alien thing she was going for.

"Um that happens when I am aggitated." She lied. Hopefully she was more convincing than he was.

Victoria buried her face in the pillow and grumbled. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. If she was going to start living a better life, she was going to have to remember how to trust. When Isak returned, her head was down, looking off to one side.

"You win boy. I guess I'm maybe sorry or whatever. I have trust issues or something so get off my case."

It was the best she could manage, and while still seriously lacking in courtesy, it was still a start. Maybe there was hope for her after all.

She swung her head, letting her hair fall to one side and extended her hand to him.

"Let's maybe start over? Hi I'm Victoria and thanks for helping me back there.

She wiggled her nose nervously, hoping that he would respond favorably.

(I'm back )

(It's good to have you back )