How to shake a stalker

By the time the two got ready, it was already late, so they didn't waste any time dawdling. They swiftly dove off the balcony once more, this time to the front of the building as there was noone around. The tinted windows obstructed people from seeing inside, especially at night due to how dark it was.

Efiar used to keep watch at night at their former Safety, so she was quite used to the atmosphere. The quiet chill of the night brought a mysterious but comforting feeling. Tonight was a new moon and wasn't very bright. Though it didn't bother Efiar since she was used to it, she figured Epsilon might struggle a bit. She turned back to check on Epsilon just in time to see him fall face first into a bush. Alarmed, Efiar immediately ran over to help her brother. Epsilon got up and looked a bit stunned for a bit. He blinked confusedly as Efiar rushed up. Just as Efiar arrived he slowly reached up and touched his hair which was now covered in leaves.

"NOOOOO, MY HAIRRRRRR" He cried suddenly at full volume in the middle of the night

"SHUT UP, IT'S YOUR FAULT FOR NOT LOOKING AT WHERE YOU'RE GOING. ARE YOU BLEEDING ANYWHERE?" Efiar shout back trying to pick out as many leaves as possible from his hair

Epsilon cried for the next 5 minutes before Efiar decided to just drag Epsilon the rest of the way to the door. It took forever to get it done early he thought as Efiar tried to fix his hair.

To their surprise there were still a few people in the lobby. They were sparsely spread and some seemed like they were sleeping. The dim lighting hid people's appearances and none of them made an effort to socialize so Efiar and Epsilon just ignored them and walked right by. The convenience store wasn't big but the lights were on inside so it wasn't hard to find. Inside, selves lined up into 4 rows, each one went from the floor to the ceiling. The 4 rows were labeled; Food, supplies, miscellaneous, and entertainment. Epsilon and Efiar split was to search for stuff. Efiar made her way to the supplies section to check out what they had available. They didn't have a lot of money so she resorted to just buying basics like a few cups and silverware. She decided against buying bowls and plates as they could just find a piece of cardboard to eat off of anyway. Although they were cleaner than most street urchins, it didn't mean they were a whole lot more sanitary. As she headed to check out the miscellaneous section, Epsilon went almost immediately to the food section. Most of the items that lined the shelves there were processed foods and snacks like canned soup, quick meals and pre-made meals, but there were a few hot meals. Epsilon headed straight for the snacks. He quickly glanced over all the snacks till his eyes landed on a bag of jerky.

When Efiar and him first left the woods and came into the city, a kid saw them and pitied them. That kid had given them some jerky. After not eating for days, that jerky was the most delicious food they had ever eaten. Even after so many years, Epsilon remembered exactly what it smelled, looked, and tasted like. He had long decided that if ever got a job and earned money in a legal way that this jerky would be his first purchase. Efiar is going to be so happy when I show the jerky to her he thought smiling to himself. He immediately recognized which jerky it was. The problem was that the jerky was on a shelf he couldn't reach. The space was too small to fly in and if he tried, he would end up knocking everything down.

Epsilon jumped up and down, flailing in an attempt to grab it but failed. Just as he was about to make the stupid mistake of trying to fly, a hand came from behind him and grabbed the jerky. Epsilon turned around swiftly. How did this person sneak up behind him without him noticing? Was he that distracted by the jerky? Behind him was one of the people who was outside in the lobby when they came down. The man behind him was standing there quietly. Epsilon stood there speechless, not because he was surprised by the man but rather that the man was a naga. His tongue flicked in and out as he just stood there blankly staring at Epsilon.

Besides his tongue, he also had the distinctive snake eyes that nagas had. He was considerably taller than Epsilon, but that was expected considering the difference between the species. Besides his eyes and tongue, nothing else screamed naga and if he wanted he could easily cover up his identity he could. Epsilon found the Naga's long straight hair very pretty and got jealous very quickly. Hmmm he thought, what would it feel like to touch straight hair? Now, Epsilon was one to give in to impulsive thoughts. Without thinking he reached out and grabbed a chunk of the Naga's hair. The naga flinched but didn't move away, continuing this weird situation. His hair was rather silky and slightly damp for some strange reason. It was a darker gray color with strands of red and yellow throughout it. The hair itself was quite long, even longer than Epsilon's. The two stared at each other for another long moment. The naga didn't move from where he was standing nor did he push Epsilon away, but the atmosphere got noticeably more awkward.

"Umm, Hi?" Epsilon said awkwardly, still holding onto the Naga's hair.

"D- Do you mind letting go? Also I-, nevermind" The naga asked quietly, seeming to want to say more but stopping half way.

As Epsilon finally let go, the naga just pushed the bag of jerky into his hands and turned away. The whole situation made Epsilon become a bit more cautious. He continued down the aisle to get an actual meal, while keeping an eye on the naga. Very subtly but still noticeably, the naga was tailing him. For what reason, Epsilon didn't know, but he wanted to confirm his suspicions even more. Very suddenly Epsilon darted out of the aisle and went to the next one. The naga flinched at Epsilon's sudden outburst and stood there for a second stunned. From the next aisle, Epsilon began to act like nothing happened and browsed through the items. Sure enough, the naga peaked his head into the aisles and looked around before walking in.

Now Epsilon was sure, this man was following him. Knowing this he quickly grabbed a bunch of other things and ran to the other side of the store. Upon arriving, he collapsed on the floor panting from all the running. He hadn't had enough time to see what the naga was doing as he was running around, but he didn't really care. A shadow casted over him and he looked up to see its source.

"So you were the one causing a big ruckus. I thought someone got into a fight in the middle of the store from all the crashing coming from here" Efiar said, rolling her eyes.

Epsilon gave her a grin and just flopped onto his back. Efiar rolled her eyes again, as she grabbed all the stuff Epsilon dropped on the floor and walked away. Epsilon sat up and looked around. The naga man was nowhere in sight. Efiar had looked over the stuff he got and put some back before heading to check out. Epsilon smiled again after realizing Efiar didn't put back the jerky. He jumped up and ran to Efiar's side to help. Whatever Efiar scanned, He put immediately into his pocket and anything too big he held with his wings. Going to the store took longer than expected and the clock hanging on the wall showed that it was already 2 in the morning. The two still had to get up in the morning for the tour so they decided to not take any detours if possible. Epsilon was using his wings to carry stuff so he wasn't able to fly. They headed to the elevators and noticed someone waiting there as well. After a closer inspection, Efiar and Epsilon discovered that it was a naga, the same one that was following Epsilon around. He looked rather dejected and lost in thought. He heard the two approaches and turned around. Epsilon narrowed his eyes at him but the other just looked away. The naga looked at them with a very concentrated look. Several times he opened his mouth but closed it soon after without saying anything.

For what felt like a century, they waited for the elevator. When it finally arrived, all parties hesitated to get inside. Eventually the naga made a move and Efiar followed suit. Epsilon spaced off and got inside just in time before the doors closed. Once they were all inside, Epsilon reached to press the tenth floor button. Efiar stopped his hand before he got there and motioned to the naga who was staring between them and the keypad intensely. The doors were now closed but since no buttons were pressed, the elevator remained still. The two sides stared at each other, neither moving to press their floor. The stand off went on for a minute before Efiar sigh and moved to press a button. As she pressed it she motioned to Epsilon to stay quiet and backed away from the keypad. Almost immediately after, the naga went and pressed the number right under the one already selected. Once he moved away, Epsilon could see the button Efiar pressed.

It was floor 7. Confused, he glanced at Efiar who once again motioned that he should stay silent. The elevator ride continued as normal. Once they got to floor 6 the naga got off after taking a quick glance at the keypad once more. The doors took an unbearable amount of time to close, but once they did, Epsilon immediately turned to Efiar who was pressing the 10th floor button.

"Why did you press the 7th floor?"

"He was trying to find out what floor we are staying on"

"What?"

"Sigh, I took a gamble. He would be able to see what direction the elevator leaves in from outside but not what floor it is on. He assumed it would go up since we pressed the 7th floor button, but if it suddenly went down after then he would know we actually live on a lower floor. If we picked a floor before his floor then he would notice that we didn't get off at the correct floor or that we called the elevator down again. Either way the 7th floor was just far enough from our actual floor but high enough that he probably didn't live on a higher floor."

"What if it was someone from the lobby from before that called the elevator?"

"We need to get your eyes check, there was no one in the lobby when we left the store, they all went back to their rooms"

"Really?"

Efiar could only pinch her temples at that response as she exited the elevator and walked towards their room. Epsilon gave up on his curiosity and ran after her. The two collapsed on their bed immediately after they got inside their room. Too much happened on the last day for them to care about anything else.