Ennie raised her hands to her face, tiny fists clenched in excitement as she studied the stranger standing beside her. It was obvious what he was, and she was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that she actually wasn't alone. That there were more people like her in the world.
I told you, the voice scoffed. Hey, bozo, he was talkin' to you.
She held back a rueful smile, of course her brilliant exit from the tree would be her most memorable moment. "I-yeah, that was me. I'm fine, though, believe it or not, that wasn't my first time falling out of a tree."
It's really not that hard to believe, trust me.
Ennie pushed the voice to the back of her mind as she sorted through all the questions she had. There was less than half an hour left before she had to clock in, and that wasn't nearly enough time for her to ask all of them. Instead, she focused on the one question that burned through her mind for the last century and a half. "So...I'm not the only one then? I was never the only one?"
Just the thought, the very notion of it, left her in a tizzy. For decades she had isolated herself, refusing to get too close to another human being, for fear that they would discover this...affliction of hers. She had considered herself an anomaly, at times an abomination. She'd come to terms with that, made it part of her, an integral piece of her life. Lived vicariously and sometimes carelessly because she could. She had left so many people in her life, abandoned them to save herself. Who would miss her? Ennie the freak.
Ennie the monster.
But now there was this chance that she wasn't a monster. That there were others living as she did, good people to boot. People who walked their cats and visited parks or went to coffee shops just like she did. The other half of her and called this one a 'Lightshifter', what was she then?
"Are there others?" she whispered. "How many more? Where are they?" She paused, trying to figure out what made her unique, what set her apart from anyone else she met besides the obvious becoming a dragon in her off time. "Do they all grow plants?"
Zathia stops with an intense glare as she steps into a campsite. "You have to be kidding me!" She kick one of the larger rocks near end of her boot causing it to fly through the campsite. She sits down with an irritated sigh before she glances around the small camp. "Why the hell would you bring me to this damn place?"
You wanted food and I wanted food, so I brought you here. The dragon says with a distinct sense of smugness.
"Fine! Well I guess we should actually look for food now." Zathia says as she looks around the campsite carefully. Something in her peripheral causes her to immediately turn towards it only to find that it was just a sitting man. "Oh, hey?"
He just gives a quick wave to her with a smile. "So what's a pretty lady like you doing out here?"
"I, uh, kind of got lost, and I could use some food I mean if you have any I mean." She says before the man tosses her a bag of trail mix. She thanks him quickly before sniffing the trail mix to check for any sickening smells. Finding nothing wrong with the trail mix she eats the mix happily.
-----------
Lorcaon pulls his car to a stop within the parking lot to his hotel. He pushes his door open before grabbing the sleeping pup. He steps out of the car carrying the drowsy pup before shutting the door silently as to not wake up his tiny companion. He quickly struts into the hotel's lobby with a happy grin towards the lobby boy. "I'm Lorcan McGloughlin, I booked a room for today." He says with a wide grin towards the man behind the counter. Even though it wasn't actually me who booked it, heh, it was the boss. The man rolls his eyes before giving Lorcan his key card and his room number. "Thank you kind sir I'll head upstairs now."
He moves up the stairs quickly yet carefully with a small smile towards the pup in his arms. Once he finally gets to his floor he walks over to his rooms door. As he steps up to the door he sees a woman walking down the hall giggling creepily. What a strange lady, He thinks as swipes the card through the card checker only to get a rejected noise. "Wait what?" He says as he tries it again only to get the rejected beep again. "They always do this to me! Why is it when I get my room they always give me an invalid card?!" He says with a frustrated sigh. As he starts to turn around he hears running water from within the hotel room. He nocks on the door loudly before calling in to the room. "Hey would you mind letting me in? The people up front said this was my room!" The pup shifts in his arms and yawns sweetly before slipping back into sleep. "This is the second time they have done this to me!" He says with a heavy sigh.
He nocks loudly once more before sitting in front of the door. "I'll wait until you're done in the shower before saying anything else." He calls into the hotel room. He places the pup into his lap and watches him while he waits for the running water to stop.
Vincent smiled warmly as he studied the Gladekeeper. "Somehow I'd doubt otherwise," he teased gently, "but I am glad you're alright." The look on her face was one he'd seen a few times before; dragons who were unaware of the fact that they weren't alone in the world. The excitement in her ex pression, and the giddy smile on her face... was he really the first dragon she'd met?
He really hadn't expected this today, but it wasn't exactly unwelcome. "No, you aren't alone. There are many more of us, scattered around the world." Vincent wondered exactly how much she'd known, and how much she didn't. Unfortunately, not all were as lucky as he had been, to have had a close friend who could explain everything. Her dragon must have told her some things though, right?
“I am uncertain of what our numbers exactly are, sadly. I’ve been a dragon for over two-hundred and fifty years, and I’ve only met a handful including yourself.” The Lightshifter glanced around the shop again, before asking, “How long do you have here?”
"You ripped my favorite shirt! What the heck, dude,
seriously?" The annoyed whine sounded through the deserted subway
corridors, sounding more like a child protesting the lack of desert than an
adult human male. Or maybe it was more like a teenager not getting his way. It
was certainly not supposed to have come from a fully grown man. The petulant
sound was well deserved however, this was one of his favorite outfits and now
look at it. There was a large hole sliced diagonally across the middle of his
top jacket, leaving the material flapped open to show his undershirt. “Now I’m going
to have to get this repaired. Do you know how difficult it is to find a tailor
that is actually competent enough to do this sort of thing?”
Honestly, Hawk was just tired of all of this. How long had
he been down here looking for this stupid thing? Two weeks? It had been getting
old, this stupid game of cat and mouse. These abandoned railway lines under
Dublin had been a brilliant place for a dragon to hide out but they were stupid
to have thought that Hawk would give up so easily. Just because he didn’t know
the layout doesn’t mean he wasn’t a stubborn mule as well. Every time the
dragon would disappear down one of the lines, Hawk would curse and keep going.
If he didn’t find the demon that day, he would come back the next, only to be
taunted by the hint of movement as it disappeared again.
“Here I was trying to make this easy on the both of us and
you had to go and mess stuff up,” He grumbled, shifting his weight onto his
right hip as he pulled the sword off from his shoulder, hovering it an inch or
two above the ground. A green light glistened off the blade, making it easy to
see where he was going like a small personal flashlight.
It also helped him see the being of dusk hovering above him,
tall and impressive. Even if it wasn’t even top 20 of the dragons Hawk had seen
before, the small confined area of the subway made it seem a bit more imposing.
Not that he was afraid. At all. This demon was more an overgrown chicken than
any sort of threat. All it had done for the last several days was run away. Any
real monster would stand and fight.
But there was no running away now. He had it backed into a
corner. Thank God.
“You know, you’d think you’d realize when you had been
beaten,” Hawk yawned a little as he shifted the blade slightly in front of him.
There was a distinct crackle in the air, building as the Hunter closed his eyes
just briefly, but he knew what this feeling was. He knew how to respond.
Without even so much as a bl ink, the man’s eyes snapped open
and he spray forward off his back leg, sword shooting forward so quickly that
the dragon barely had time to move. It’s maw was still open, prepared to shoot
fire or darkness or whatever it so chose, at him, even as the sword sliced
through scales, tissue, and sinew like a knife through butter. It had wanted to
attack when his eyes were closed, it seemed. What an idiot.
“Trust me, no one will shed a tear for you when you are
gone. So go back to hell now, please and thank you,” He requested, voice sickly
sweet as he watched the dragon fall to the ground with a massive thud. It
seemed he had done more than enough damage in that one blow across the chest,
cut deep enough that there was no recovery. Served it right, honestly. His
favorite shirt.
The moment the dragon actually died was when Hawk’s sword
went to work, the emerald green light being replaced with a deep indigo purple
color as the sword absorbed the dragon’s energy. Whoever came up with thought
that only a dragon could be used to kill a dragon was a genius. They deserved a
million bucks, a date, whatever they wanted for helping all hunters out. But
really, if you had seen one dragon die, you had pretty much seen them all, at
least from a hunter’s perspective. A hunter’s weapon absorbed the energy that a
dragon’s body contained, slowly forcing the dead body into rapid decomposition
and within a matter of a few minutes, what once was a large corpse was reduced
to a pile of ash and dust. It was pretty handy, honestly, not to have to burn a
corpse of this size so no one could find it. Beginning hunters had to do that
for their first kill as they had yet to obtain a weapon from the dragon’s body
yet, thus making it impossible to drain their energy. Once they actually
fashioned a weapon, everything went much much easier.
With a tired yawn, Hawk allowed his sword to get to work as
he pulled out his cellphone. “No service, damn,” He huffed as he checked the
time and snapped the ob ject closed again. He was dying for a meal and a nice
warm shower anyway. It would be another thirty minutes at the earliest before
he would be able to navigate his way out of these hallways but when he did,
food was first and a shower was second. There had been this nice little pub
place on the corner of the street where his motel was that he was just dying to
try.
Glancing over to the now fully disintegrated dragon, Hawk
gave a smirk and saluted in its general direction. It was a good game for a
while there but it was over now. Time to get out of here. Swinging the sword
back onto his shoulder, it’s light now glowing purple and blue rather than
green, Hawk set his course back down the subway line, stomach growling the
entire time.
Every animal had a natural fight or flight reflex. It was ingrained
in them since birth, the importance of survival at all costs. Whether that
natural instinct led one to face a foe or tactically disappear into a forest, to be seen at a later day, both of those feelings were valid and
completely natural. Some animals had a slight more inclination to one or the
other, however. Animals of prey, creatures such as rabbits, squirrels, or even
deer, were far more inclined to flight than predators like lions and foxes.
When one is more defenseless, speed and strategy are the only real options
given to surviving. If you have power standing behind you, there is far less
risk in fighting.
In regards to Revon, you would expect that he would be much
more confident in standing his ground, being that he had a dragon that he could
pull from inside of him at any moment. He could devour humans whole if he was
so inclined, he could probably destroy a building if he put his mind to it. While his dragon form wasn’t huge, it could likely generate a force to be
reckoned with. He had a power deep down that would terrify more people than it
would probably amaze. He could hurt others, kill them, slaughter and leave no
survivors if he was malicious enough to even try.
But he hated the very thought of it.
What he was, who he was, had never been someone who would
fight his way out of a situation. There were things that he didn’t wish to ever
do and even when faced with a shock such as another dragon in front of him, his
only instinct was to try to get away.
And when that option wasn’t available?
Well, he never really had that problem before. Usually he
could always talk his way out of a situation and make a beeline directly for
his car, bus, or just leave the place he was at entirely. Now, he definitely couldn’t. Where would he go? If he bolted into the forest, where would he even
hide? There was no where. Freaking no where he could go and here he was,
probably in one of the most skin crawling positions he could be in, one of the
most dangerous, one that was making his stomach do flips and not settle at all.
But she didn’t… seem dangerous? In fact, the girl looking at
him seemed to be stuttering and nervous, just like him. It was becoming
extremely clear that neither of them were expecting this to happen.
She seemed to be trying to introduce herself and Revon did
his best to focus on what she was saying while still keeping all his senses
attuned to finding a route out of here. Not in his car, that’s for sure, but if
there was going to be some kind of attack, he wanted to be able to get out
immediately. Kirsi though, she seemed to have said, wasn’t making any real move
to approach more than she already had. Which was good. If she had tried to get
any closer, Revon was pretty sure he would have panicked. His heart was beating
twenty times a second already.
“I… uh… Revon. It’s Revon. Hi.” He muttered, legs pulling up
a little closer as he readjusted himself on the surface hood of the car, eyes
glancing down at the dirt underneath the vehicle and then, realizing he probably shouldn’t take his eyes off the threat before him, quickly shot them
right back up to her.
““Are you… going somewhere?””
If he could laugh at that moment, past the lump in the back
of his throat and the dryness he could feel creeping up, he probably would. One
really pointed glance towards the tire torn nearly to shreds of this car was
enough to make him at least flicker up a weak smile. Was he going somewhere?
“Not for a while, I don’t think,” Revon answered, surprisingly sounding a bit
amused. Some of the tension had escaped, the little thread of humor making it
easier to breathe, at least minutely. “What are…” He trailed off, glancing to
his left and right quickly, “What are you doing all the way out here?”
Kirsi followed Revon’s gaze to his shredded tire and blushed again -- she hadn’t even noticed his flat, being focused as she was on the Dragon himself. “Oh,” she said dumbly, biting lightly at the inside corner of her lip. She was so nervous.
He asks her why she’s out here in the middle of nothing, and she fidgets a moment before saying something she’d never been able to say aloud to another person. Looking toward the ground and picking at her arm warmer again, she replied, “I was...flying. We were. I was. We were flying.” She’s afraid he’ll think she was foolish to do so; this Dragon has a car (albeit one that doesn’t seem able to do much at the moment), and maybe flying in distinctly Human zones is something Not Allowed in Dragon culture. Do we have a culture? she thought curiously, and could almost physically feel her Dragon shrug in response. Suddenly, she remembered the entire reason they’d headed for the road in the first place. “Hey, where is way out here, anyway?”
She looks at him again and furrows her brow in concern. “How long have you been stuck out here? Do you…” she had intended to offer her help, but she didn’t have much experience with cars at all, let alone ones that were broken. They made her nervous, and she tended to steer clear of the metallic beasts whenever she could. “Can I do anything to help?” she finished, shifting her gaze between the destroyed tire and the man on the car. He seemed distressed, both at her appearance and at his car’s state, but Kirsi was feeling more at ease now. This Dragon didn’t want to harm her; it was sheer dumb luck that they stumbled into each other. If anything, he seemed more tense than she was, and she felt… sorry for him. She offered him a slight smile, feeling compelled to do something to put him at ease. She was more sure that he wasn’t a threat, which meant he was just a person in trouble. Kirsi could work with a person in trouble. Even if that person is a Dragon.
////////////
////////////
Leigh had just gotten dressed and was toweling his hair dry when he heard a soft bark. He paused, frowning, and listened for a moment. He was beginning to think he hadn’t heard it at all when another bark, followed quickly by three more, rang out on the other side of his hotel door. “A dog?” he asked himself aloud, puzzled. He tossed the soggy towel onto the foot of his bed and moved toward the door, looking through the peep-hole for the second time that evening. To his surprise, there was indeed a dog sitting right outside his door -- a puppy, even. But more surprising was the boy who sat along the wall directly across from Leigh’s door, who appeared to be the dog’s owner.
The dog was cute, of course, but Leigh was disconcerted by this man sitting outside his hotel room. Obviously, he wasn’t staff. Maybe he was drunk and forgot what room he was staying in. Uncomfortable, Leigh debated with himself over the idea of ignoring the man and waiting for him to stumble away with his dog, or opening the door to see what the guy’s deal was. He still wanted to head out tonight, and he didn’t particularly want to wait for this guy to sober up and wander off. Groaning quietly in irritation --he wasn’t in the mood tonight for all these bizarre interruptions-- he pulled the door open a bit, leaning against the frame as he looked down at the young man. “What are you doing outside my room?” he asked, eyebrow raised in suspicion.
Zathia thanks the man then moves quickly back into the forest. As she strides through the dense forest she looks around for a sturdy tree to climb to the top of. After a few hours or something like that she stops and looks up at one of the trees. "This one will have to do." She says with a deep sigh before climbing the thick base of the tree to one of it's lower branches. From there she makes her way carefully up the old tree to as high as possible. She looks above the tree line and sees nothing in sight other than other trees panning out into the distance. "Well then this is upsetting."
You'll find civilization eventually but for now you may as well rest up.
"You're right I may as well wait until night falls, so we can fly freely and without detection." Zathia says as she climbs back down to the lower braches. She plops down and looks up through the dappled leafs of the tree at the clear blue sky. "You know what, this would be a great time to own a cell phone."
----------
"Oh you done now! Fantastic! Hey could you watch my pup for me while I get my proper room number?" Lorcan asks with he scoops up his puppy into his arms. Without letting the man reply he carefully shoves his pup into the other man's arms. "I'll be back in a bit okay!" He starts to strut off towards the stairs, but he pauses for a moment and says, "He had better not be hurt when I come back," with a menacing glare at the man behind the door with his pup in his arms. With that he runs back down the stairs. As he comes to a stop at the bottom of the stairs he looks over at the lobby boy behind the counter. He walks over to the front counter with a smile on his face.
"Hey, sir, I have a problem with my card and or my room number. Though it's most likely my room number because there is someone in 'my room' so that's a bit of a problem." Lorcan says with a smile towards the man behind the counter. He rolls his eyes yet again before pulling up an new tab on his computer.
He smirks as he purposely scrolls slowly through the page. He just shrugs while Laorcan glares at him. After a few more grueling minutes of waiting he finally finds his proper room number. The man scratches down to right number and hands it over to the fuming Lorcan. "There you go sir have a nice day." The man says sarcastically. Lorcan snatches the paper and stomps over to the stairs.
"Damn hotel personnel just randomly hating on me." Lorcan grumbles as he walks up the stairs, "Wow how did they even mess my room number up? It's the one right across from...never mind I see how now." After a few minutes of climbing he reaches the top of the stairs to find that the door to the man's room he gave his pup to closed. He nocks on the door and waits for him to appear again.
The sun shone through the crack of the curtains, directly onto his face. He groaned, not yet wanting to wake up, so he rolled over onto his other side. The young man shifted about to get comfortable and settled back down to fall asleep. It wasn't time to get up yet, until he heard a small melodic meow coming from his door. Immediately he was sitting up and moving his legs over the side of his bed. His cat called and he couldn't ignore her. He made his way over to the wooden barrier and opened it up before scooping his Japanese bobtail up, gently nuzzling her.
"Hello there my dear... I'm sorry.. Daddy's sorry... I'll get you some food and we'll go out for some fresh air.. The balcony plants need some water today.."
She let out a soft meow and Rei smiled at her before gently putting her down and padding over to the kitchen, nearly hitting his knee on the short table. He pushed the cushions underneath it and went to the pantry, taking out her favorite Fancy Feast. Rei popped open the can and scooped the contents into the little dish he served her in and brought it over to the table. Kiku was already sitting on the table, green eyes staring up at him. She mewed as Rei put the dish down. He gave her a small head scratch before she started to chow down on her food. He smiled and headed off to his bathroom to get ready for the day. Perhaps he'll pull out the instrument today and play on the balcony.
That would be lovely, Rei
He chuckled and looked at himself in the mirror.
"Looks like you're also awake... You want me to pull out the koto or shamisen?.. It's still sitting in my room.."
There was no answer but Rei knew he would speak again later. He left the door open, in case Kiku needed anything, but got himself into the tub and washed himself for the day. He would need to water the plants before taking her out today. Perhaps she'll meet some new friends. After an hour, he was out of the bath and dressed in some jeans and an oversized sweater, though the material was quite thin. Rei stretched as he headed over to the balcony door, sliding it open. Kiku was immediately outside and Rei followed soon after. He grabbed the small pail that was sitting near the door and went back inside to fill it with water. He went back out and began to water each plant. The Bonsai trees that were steadily growing. The bamboo and still growing cherry blossom tree. He watered the various succulents he acquired and rose bushes. His balcony was filled with plants, enough to make him feel at peace but also give off a lovely scent. Once finished, he set the pail down and headed off back inside to get his koto. It was large, but it fit through the door and Kiku seemed to enjoy him playing as well.
I see you're going to play.. Play me a song of old... A song of traditions and a time long passed... Play a song of our past..
Rei smiled softly and brought out a large cushion to sit on as well as a smaller one for Kiku. He set the koto in his lap and felt the strings, plucking each one before starting to hum. He settled in and began to play a somber tune, one he played when the beast within was homesick.. timesick... It had been so long since they were in Japan and even longer since they knew anything familiar. The world had changed, yet they couldn't always let go of the past. He played for the beast, to calm his thoughts and ease their weary souls.
As Twigs neared the edge of town they saw a couple of humans gathered around a small play ground. They squint and saw how clean and noisy the smaller humans were. Twigs looked down at their hands, then their feet and clothes, all muddy and dirty. They quickly attempt to brush off some dirt before cautiously walking towards a larger group by a table. A sudden strong scent of cooked meat and sugar coming from the table hit Twigs and their mouth suddenly started watering. They ran to the table.
Twigs jumped on the table and everyone started screaming, they quickly started stuffing their face with food and trying to avoid getting hit by angry parents. They grabbed the last handful of food they could carry and ran off towards town. Darting into a small alleyway, they hid behind a large rubbish bin and started eating all the food, cake frosting all over their clothes and face.
----
An hour has passed and Twigs finally got up and left the alleyway, still hungry. They walked further into town and started seeing more and more people, starting to get a bit nervous, Twigs quickened their pace, softly growling at anyone who got too close to them. Twigs eventually passed some open doors and a whole mix of different smells engulfed them. Twigs stopped and stared inside the supermarket, mouth watering again. 8U
Twigs looked around and saw a couple of people staring at Twigs, some looked grossed out at the sight of them, some looked shocked (probably because of how dirty Twigs is) and some looked suspicious of Twigs. Twigs stared back and everyone was silent for a moment, then Twigs ran to the nearest food section and started grabbing everything they could. Everyone started yelling.
6:31pm Dec 27 2016 (last edited on 6:47pm Dec 27 2016)
Normal User
Posts: 422
EREMIEL
A throaty growl bubbles up his chest, spilling into the air with a hiss and a billow of smoke. “Too slow old fool,” he chides, slowly pulling a large talon out of the hunter’s ribs. The assassins once pristine clothing is now tattered shreds of cloth, the rugged material left stained and useless. Crystal eyes bl ink at the findings as he holds up a sharp claw, wet and red, and he smiles before he laughs.
After a quick celebration Eremiel’s wings spread wide over the gruesome scene, preparing to take flight before a jet of flame leaves his blackened maw. Below the body burns, crackling for mere moments in the white hot fire before it is dissipated into ash. A single crumpled piece of paper tosses cartwheels in the wind, scorch marks tinting the edges but the name of a city clearly legible in thick black ink.
Above, the sky takes on shades of steel and shadow, thunder rumbles from the East and the fire dragon watches the passing landscape with care. 200 leagues and he skirted his destination, choosing to remain outside town because he must. Where would a dragon go unseen among the hustle and bustle of city life? If he did not not he would have to turn and he loathed the thought, inside the tiny flicker of man gave his own sneer of disgust. It was much more pleasant within, cocooned in scale and heat. Powerful.
Luckily this particular town was home to a sizeable amount of wood, and a healthy mountain or two crushed their weight against the sky to the West. Safe to say Eremiel was not entirely displeased with his findings. And the smell, oh how he could smell them.
It doesn’t take much for a dragon to know it’s kin is near (the smell,small otherwise hidden traces they leave behind) and Eremiel had been looking. With a practiced tilt of his mass he descends from the moody heavens to the mountain, its craggy surface clawing at the atmosphere with greedy fingers. He grasps it with his own needy hands, the rock giving way to his claws as they sink within its surface holding tight. From here the world is his oyster, the forest spanning out beneath him before thinning into the city beyond it.
And there, cradled by hardened earth he burned, flames lacing his skin with their familiar caress. This was completely normal to him, he could burn for hours as easily as humans could walk or think. His feet made their own display, oozing trickles of molten lava against the jagged rock as he hissed, forked tongue twirling out between his fangs. “Brotherssss…”
Ennie glanced at the clock above the counter, dismayed at how quickly her time seemed to be flying. "I'm on shift in a few minutes, and then I work until 10. Every night though I try to go out for a jaunt, usually uh-usually around the park. Sometimes um I don't even fall out of a tree!" She managed a weak smile, wincing inwardly at her poor attempt at socializing. Ennie was never a particularly talkative girl, she preferred to keep to herself more often than not, and that definitely showed.
Smooth. Like a gravel road, Ennie! You killed it!
'Shut up', she flashed one last smile at the gentleman, (You didn't even get his NAME! You are the worst at this, just the WORST) and scurried off behind the counter with the sorry excuse for a smile still upon her lips. 'Shut up, shut up, shut UP'.
She struggled with her locker, fighting with her stubborn lock and stuffing her entire purse inside it, heart and mind racing as she tried to come to grips with this new reality. She wasn't alone, she'd found someone like her, a fellow dragon, someone who understood what she felt, what she faced, she found...
...You can say it, you know? Friend. You found us a friend. We ain't alone no more, Ennie, no more.
Ennie steadied herself against the lockers and smiled softly as her eyes filled with tears. A friend, another confidant, someone she could depend on and rely upon, some company in this lonesome world. The man certainly seemed friendly enough, her meager social skills didn't frighten him off, and he...there was an air of loneliness about it so reminiscent of herself. Were all dragons that way? All just lonely souls in a crowd?
Who in the heck gave you permission to be so gosh-danged emotional, huh? There are frapps to be made and you're back here waxing nostalgic, and if you let your mascara run I swear to GOD ABOVE I won't be helping you fix it this time.
'Shut up', she thought one last time before fixing her cap and striding back out into the front. She didn't have a chance to check for the other dragon, as she was sent right back into the rear of the store to complete a new series of training videos. Oh well, she was confident she'd probably see him again.
8:11pm Jan 3 2017 (last edited on 8:15pm Jan 3 2017)
Moderator
Posts: 2,156
Vincent opened his mouth to form a reply, giving a small sigh and smiling when he realized it was too late. This meeting was somewhat reminiscent of their first, but at least this time he'd made some progress in getting the girl's name. He watched her disappear behind the counter, and then decided it was probably time to return to his apartment. Misty would likely tell him off for being gone so long.
'ωє ѕнσυℓ∂ νιѕιт тнє ραяк αgαιη тσηιgнт,' the dragon prompted within his mind as he exited the shop, sipping at his drink every so often as he walked down the street, 'ωє мιgнт ωαηт тσ gσ αℓσηє, тнσυgн-- тнє gℓα∂єкєєρєя ωαѕ ƒяιgнтєηє∂ σƒ уσυя ¢αт.'
'Frightened? Really?' The Englishman chuckled. 'Perhaps I'll take Misty out earlier today, then. That way I can avoid frightening Ennie's dragon again.'
He looked around curiously, debating whether or not to hail a cab, or wait for a bus. He was quite far from his apartment, and walking would likely take the better part of an hour. 'I have some work to do, as well, if we're going to go find her later. I should make some notes so I can properly answer her questions.'
The rest of her shift went by in a strange blur. Ennie carried out her duties automatically, simply going through the familiar motions, while her 'better half' mused quietly to themselves about the upcoming rendezvous in the park and tried not to appear too nervous about it.
Of course, he just HAD to own a Smilodon.
'It's not a Smilodon,' Ennie rolled her eyes as she wrenched her purse out of her locker. 'It's a Maine Coon, and they're actually pretty cuddly and playful.' She dug around in the overlarge carrying back for her keys and exited the back of the shop. With a press of a button on her key fob, the trusty Hyundai hummed to life, a moment later and it was driving down the busy street back to the apartment, windows rolled down to let in the cool night air.
Cuddly and playful, the voice scoffed. There's a fine line between 'Oh, this kitty is so soft and cuddly!' and 'AUGH! It's EATING MY EYES!'
'You're an idiot,' Ennie couldn't help but smile as she parked the Accent and started across the parking lot. 'We had one bad run in with a cat, ONE, and you let it affect every interaction since.'
Okay, first off, that wasn't a cat. That was a big, black-
'Smilodon's don't exist anymore'.
Uh, yes they do. If they got Direwolves in Game of Thrones then Smilodons are still out there. Duh. And second, I'M not the idiot here.
She paused in shrugging off her work clothes. "What?" Ennie said aloud, a thoughtful frown cutting across her features. "How am I an idiot?"
Let's take a look at the receipts shall we? She could practically taste the smugness coming from the voice. We meet another dragon, for the first time ever, and you invite him to a park in the middle of the night. A park with only a handful of dim streetlights and a multitude of trees, where you will not only have the upper hand but he will probably be weaker than usual, given that he's a lightshifter and...it's nearly midnight. Now, not only does it look like you're luring this poor guy into a trap, but you want to FLY there, in all your green and brown and feathery glory, and thus firmly cement your own advantage. Ennie was silent as she slipped on her jeans and a Jurassic Park t-shirt. IF this fellow even shows up, he's going to be at least a little bit wary, even considering your recent drop out of a tree, and if we spook this guy how much longer do you thing we'd have to wait to run into another one? You wanna be friendless forever?
The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, Ennie nervously folding her hands over one another as she considered the immensity of her stupidity. "No," she whispered, "I don't want that."
Neither do I. And don't get so down on yourself, you weren't thinking, I wasn't thinking, it's alright. We just gotta play our hand carefully now and...ugh it pains me to even THINK this, but we gotta actually...think about other people now.
'Right. So, what would you suggest?'
Take the flagship. That way we'd be approaching as humans and not diving out of a giant oak tree right on top of him. And bring a peace offering, people love peace offerings.
'The...flagship?' She frowned, slipping her feet into flip flops. 'Oh, you mean the car! And what kind of peace offerings?'
Just the very best, of course.
A few moments later found her zooming along towards the park in her Accent, ELO's Turn to Stone blaring on the stereo with two bags on McDonald's take out on the passenger seat. 'This is what you meant by the very best?'
Of course! People love McDonalds! I love McDonalds! It's Great!