First, Introductions! (Daniel/Stella)

"I didn't think he was serious."

"When has your father not been serious, Master Daniel?"

The butler walking next to Daniel stated as he looked around with a deadpan look upon his face at the City of Lights, a marvel of Quincy power and ingenuity, and a sight that he would have normally been excited to see. Yet, the reason he was here was not to enjoy himself, and was instead for more sinister reasons. Training!

"I think I'm perfectly adequate, Raymond. I don't see why dad doesn't get it."

"He doesn't settle for adequate and he wants the next head of house Cross to be strong, so off you go."

"So off I go? Raymond, are you not here to guide me around, and help me get acclimated to my new prison?"

Raymond, the family butler smiled, and shook his head. Raymond and Daniel had a good enough relationship, but not good enough that Raymond would stand up to father on his behalf. Then again the only one who could stand up to father was probably his mother and she was totally for Daniel 'expanding his horizons' in the City of Lights. Not that there was much expanding for him to do here, at least not in the ways he wanted to suffice to say. He was to train and become a fully fledged Quincy, whatever that meant, and if he was to not make some decent enough strides toward what his father viewed was his potential then he was more than likely going to be in for a more 'intense' training when he got home. A shiver ran down his spine as he placed his bag in the closet of what would be his room for the duration of his stay.

"I have other things to attend to, do try to have fun, Master Daniel. I have every faith that this will be a great experience for you."

"So that's it? Bring me here and then dump me off? Who did great old dad pick as my instructor? I bet they are a real hard ass, probably a high ranking Vandenreich general who will knock the crap out of me."

"Your father didn't say, but he did tell me to make sure to check up on you from time to time. I do believe you will grow from this."

And with that, Raymond was off, and leaving Daniel alone in a bare room. He groaned, put on his gauntlet, and made his way out of his room, heading to the streets without hesitation. Normally it probably would have been a great time to explore, but if he was going to get some training done then he at least needed to get a little bit of a workout first. He had always been self-motivated to continue his fitness, that wasn't the problem, no the problem was his skills as a Quincy as a whole. He was decent at the whole spell thing, but nothing else seemed to click as easy, and it was disgruntling to his father who had been quite a powerful Quincy before his retirement.

"Whatever...I just need to grow in my own way. Just wish he could understand that."

He decided to focus on running for a bit, a jog through the city while taking in the sights might do him some good, and help his get his blood pumping.

Daniel would normally wear a headset for a run, normally it was better to have some tunes to pump the adrenaline through the veins, but today he wanted to take everything in. All of the City of the Lights was new territory for him and he wanted to take all of it in: sights, smells, tastes, and sounds while he was here. He turned down a particularly busy street, trying to keep his senses sharp while dodging a few particularly self-invested people who were caught up in their own vices, and not paying too much attention. He didn't blame them, some of these things were top of the line, and way above what he had seen before. Clothes, tools, and things he had no clue about what they were lined stalls, shop windows, and kiosks. Needless to say it was all interesting and all entertaining to at least see from a window shoppers perspective.

Perhaps later he would pay these places a visit? His father had never said he couldn't partake in the local trade after all, still his mind continued to wonder just who his father had lined up for him, and just how hard it would be to get along with them. It was this train of thought that caused him to ignore someone stepping back from a window front, if not for his reflexes, and quick decision he might have ran right into that person. However, Daniel was at least skilled enough to avoid an oncoming obstacle even if it was a surprising one. Spinning a bit around the person in question like a ballet dancer without the style, Daniel managed to dodge the young lady browsing the wares of the clothing store. But not the nearby rack of clothing that had been placed out front for clearance, speaking of clearance, Daniel did not clear this hurdle.

Staggering and making a rather loud ruckus as he stumbled into the clothes rack, Daniel found himself falling on the other side with a clothes rack on top of him, and managed only for a second to let out an audible groan as a response to his current disposition.

"Ugh...its fine. My fault for not noticing sooner..."

He said in between groans of pain as he turned over to take a good look at the person he had nearly ran over a few seconds ago. He could tell she was genuine about apologizing, that at least was something that her facial expression told him, and he knew all too well what it was like to become enraptured by your own thoughts. Besides getting angry at a young lady in broad daylight on a busy street didn't seem like the best course of action for a person who had just got to the city. He took a deep breath, took her hand, and knew instantly that she was much more physically stronger than he was as she quite easily helped him get back up. Not as strong as the old man, but stronger than him for sure.

"Probably should pick this up too, I don't think the store wanted these clothes to be displayed quite like this?"

He joked as he helped her pick up the rack and some of the clothes, which he saw that she was going to let the clerk know what had happened. He decided to wait on her, not like he had anywhere he was looking to go at this point, and he wondered if she could show him around once she got back.

"I'm Daniel."

He would say if she returned out front and extend his gauntlet covered hand for a handshake as a more formal greeting than him tumbling over himself, at least to him, was required.

"I'm new around here, how long have you been in the city?"

"Still probably know the city quite a bit better than I do."

Daniel said, speaking an obvious truth as he still felt like a fish out of water with how quickly, and abruptly he had been ditched here. Not that he minded going to new places, but he wasn't sure that much would happen during his time here in the city. He didn't really have much faith in the whole plan his father had concocted to get him stronger and make him more prepared to defend himself if things went wrong. He supposed he would just have to take it all in stride and make the most of it though.

"Tell you what, for almost killing me a few moments ago? Could you perhaps show me around a bit? In return, I promise not to be bad company."

Make the most of it, as in make connections with interesting people, and as far as he could tell Stella was quite interesting. She had a bit of a rural accent which added a bit to her charm and to be honest, he needed friends in the city, might as well start with another fish out of water.

"So what do you say, Stella? Mind helping me out?"

"Anything is better than wandering around aimlessly, right?"

He said as he shrugged his shoulders at Stella as she agreed to show him around a bit. He needed to get a decent lay of the land if he was going to be living here for a while and even if she knew only knew of a few places, he could still use that information. So he followed her and it didn't take too long for the two of them to reach a location of some kind of diner. He supposed knowing where to get a hot meal would be useful for him.

"What kind of American food are we talking about? Barbecue? Soul food?"

A good burger did sound good right about now, but he had more pressing thoughts at this point, and decided to skip thinking about food and instead focus on getting to know his would-be tour guide.

"So, Stella...where are you from? I'm taking you're not from America?"