Eyia appeared to want to be a little ahead of Jin, and there was an unmistakable rivalry of sorts that was primarily initiated by the blonde.
Their unusual language caught Sora’s ear again as they went; she couldn’t place it, and eventually, the question bubbled out of her mouth.
“Uh… Would you mind telling me where y-you’re from?
Jin huffed, making the bags sway in her hands as she passively scanned the crowds; Eyia drew a ton of attention.
“Nowhere you’d be interested in.” Not knowing if she was rude or just blunt, she rephrased it.
“I’m just w-wondering what language you’re speaking.
It sounds pretty,” she added, hoping the genuine compliment would break the ice a bit.
“Pretty?” Jin started chuckling while leering at the proud blonde ahead of them, her head held high.
“Personally, I think it’s pretty lame and limited, might I add, but what other language would you expect from a blockhead race like Asgardians?” “Huh… Like… the m-movies?
Is it a made-up language Eyia created?” Jin shot her a side-long look.
“How’d you know her name?” “Umm… I guessed based on what sounded like names from your c-conversation?” “Humph.
Are you being facetious?
Typical foxes,” she huffed, rolling her eyes.
“F-Facetious?
No.
I don’t know if you’re being serious or not.” She repositioned her hands around the bags to readjust the hat on her head.
“I just wanted to help a bit since you aren’t from here, but now you’re being rude.” Eyia shot a questioning look back at them for Jin to groan, “Freaking Asgardians… Haaa.
Fine.” She motioned for them to stop off at a park beach table that led to the sandy shore to their far left.
“We can wait here; Eyia wanted to thank you personally for paying for our stuff.
Although… I still expect the guy to run after us and accuse us of having false plastic money.” “Wow, uh… I guess you don’t have a lot of t-trust for people,” Sora hummed, more interested in their past than put off by the comment—she could relate, in a way—everyone was always looking for handouts from her or expecting things.
Setting everything down, Sora was a little taken aback when Eyia stepped up and hugged her, practically squeezing the air out of her and lifting her off the ground.
“I—s-ooo—salu-tation!” she brokenly cheered.
The crushing embrace was as if she’d been put inside a vice-grip.
“Feed—nice!” “You’re hopeless…” Jin moaned, a palm to her shaking forehead as she seemed to instruct the blonde to set her down.
“Haaa!
I—ack… She’s so… s-strong!” Sora cried, choking with tears in her eyes as she bent over to wheeze and try to fill her compressed lungs again.
The confused blonde gave the bored and frustrated Korean a worried look, speaking more gibberish for her to return it.
“Eyia says she’s sorry.
She hasn’t met many people… like, ever… in her life, so… yeah.” “N-No problem… Ack… Umm—j-just give me a sec…” The blonde hovered nearby, shooting questions at Jin as Sora recovered, and, after several seconds, they all sat down.
“I-I’m fine now… Wow, but that’s… insane.
How often does she w-work out?” “Irrelevant.
Anyway,” Jin bypassed, taking out some salt and vinegar chips to start sampling their food, “what’s up with you?” “What do you mean?
Do you, umm, not like Japanese people or something?” “Huh?
No.
That made no sense; why would I hate someone Japanese?
Humph, these chips, though, are… interesting.” Eyia took a handful to chow on before chattering with the Korean.
Sora didn’t know what was even happening anymore, but it tickled a bit of fascination inside her.
Even for Miami, these two were pretty weird, and she’d seen some odd foreigners.
After a few back-and-forths with the blonde, Jin seemed to give up.
“Haaa… Alright, I guess you’re a different kind of fox, Sora… I suppose you’re not too bad.” “Thanks?
Umm, by the way,” she whispered, now truly curious about her characterization, “why do you keep calling me a fox?” “Why would I…” Jin seemed totally at a loss for words as she scratched her forehead before glancing at Eyia to make a few comments; the blonde shot her the same bewildered expression as Jin hummed and leaned forward to scrutinize her.
“You don’t believe you’re a fox?” “No?” Sora questioned, wondering if this was some kind of furry test as her focus wandered between the two girls.
“Should… I?” “Hmm.
Weird…” “Right?
Uh… why would I, heh, be a fox?
D-Do you think I’m a furry?
Because… I’m not—not that there’s anything wrong with that!” Worried she might have crossed a line, Sora’s attention moved to study the pile of meats in one of their bags.
“You, umm… Do you have a place to store the meat?” Jin’s serious expression broke into a short snort as she jabbed a thumb at Eyia, now happily scarfing down fruits without a care in the world.
“Got it covered.
Eh… so, names are a good start, I suppose…” Running her fingers through her silky-smooth, raven locks, she brushed them back before giving her a half-smile.
“My name is Jin-Kyong, and this is Eyia… Sorry about her speech.
I’ve been trying to teach her how to roll English off the tongue, but—ugh… alright, Sora; I suppose I have been a bit rude.
Water under the bridge,” she casually waved off.
Breaking away from her previous topic, the girl leaned to the side and looked away as she spoke.
“Thank you for the food.
Oh, but you can call me Jin, since we’re in America,” she mumbled before saying something in that strange language and nudging the blonde next to her.
Fiddling with her necklace, the tall girl looked unsure of how to answer but eventually fumbled through a response.
“M-My—na—mmgm… name is Eyia?” She struggled to work the words around her tongue, making Jin’s lips tighten.
“Yeah… As you can see, it’s a work in progress.” The raven-haired girl swapped to ‘Asgardian’ to talk to Eyia again, and Sora heard her focalize on the word is.
Swallowing and clearing her throat, Eyia put on an expression that said she was ready for battle.
“My… name—is—Eyia!” Sora couldn’t help but smile a little.
She’s actually super cute.
The Korean started teaching the other girl something else soon after, giving her a thumbs-up to show she’d done well as they opened a can of soda and took a sip.
Jin immediately shut her mouth, smacked her lips, and looked down at the bottle in disbelief.
Her focus darted to Sora, down at the item, at Eyia, who was already chugging the liquid, and to end the entertaining show, Jin followed suit, finishing it in one go before pointing at the label in wonder.
“This can’t be… orange!?” “Eh… yeah?” “For real?
Wow… That’s actually pretty magical, all things considered.” Magical… I wouldn’t go that far, but okay.
“Uh… Can I ask where you guys came from?
Out of the country, I assume, since you seem so excited to be in America?” Examining another bottle of soda, Jin popped her tongue against the roof of her mouth a few times.
“I came from Tibet, I guess you could say, and Eyia… from some island off Norway.
I met her when exploring—what flavor is this one?” It must have been a pretty remote island, and I guess reading English is hard for her, but damn, vocal-wise, she’s perfect.