Zach Temple (bbstarsnake) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2010-01-01 11:57:00 |
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Entry tags: | #group scene, 2009-08-05 |
I can make my own disasters
Who: Alanna, Zach and Aurelia
Where: Along the streets, Camelot Place, the Court
When: Early evening on
Alanna did not dislike the rain. She was pretty much indifferent about it most of the time, but once it kept up for more than a few days in a row she started to think that maybe it should stop. Running in the rain was okay the first few times. Alanna just wanted a nice run that did not end with her having squishy, smelly shoes that offended her senses every bit as much as they seemed to entertain Callalily’s. Any day now Roxy would go and register her complaints and then it would be time for another pair of shoes and... it was really jut a vicious cycle that she was totally blaming on the weather. Plus too much rain would make the roads hard to drive on and who knew if her aunt would be able to get there in time? So pointless worry turned to totally reasonable worry and Alanna was left twirling on the chair behind the receptionist desk at the office, chewing at her nails until she was told to get herself home. Great, the redhead thought as she headed out into the rain that was more of a drizzle now - maybe it’s going to stop tomorrow!. Still dressed in her work clothes of khaki jeans and a plain dark blue shirt with pockets that were way too big, Alanna ducked her head down and started home quickly. Now was another one of those times when she wished that she would just suck it up and drive. Oh right, she needed to get her window repaired before she could do that.
After his chat with Aurelia, Zach had felt a stronger interest in Alanna. Why it was there he couldn’t really say, but for better or worse it was. His parents would probably say it was for the worst. Most people would. Obsessing over girls who didn’t like you and ranked below you on the foodchain wasn’t the best idea in the world. But Zach hadn’t ever been all that bright so, despite the rain, he’d gone out that evening in hopes of running into Alanna. He knew that she worked at the dentist office that day, that she got off a little after it started to get dark and that she wasn’t driving. Because somehow she’d managed to get her window broken. He hoped that she hadn’t gotten hurt however that had happened. Oh, and there she was, looking a little disgruntled but not hurt at all. Shoving his hands into his pockets where he had some of those little handwarmers, Zach stepped out ahead of her with a grin. “Hey there Alanna, how’ve you been?”
She caught the scent a moment before she saw him and her mouth went dry. There was just something about Zach that she did not like or trust. It was the scent of snake that rolled off him and the way that he had managed to calm her down without words. Add onto that the fact that she had told him to leave her alone and yet here he was - again - and there was a definite shiver running down her spine that had nothing at all to do with the rain. “Zach,” she returned, coming to a stop. Yet another reason to get her care fixed. People could not just step out in front of you when you were driving. Or if they did then they ended up like bugs on the windshield. “I’d love to stay and chat but I need to be getting home.” Sure, Aurelia was there and she was creepy in ten different ways, but at least it was home where there was a door that locked. These were the little things she took comfort in.
“You don’t answer your phone,” Zach said instead of anything else, moving closer instead of further away. Yes she was a were and she had quick reflexes but so did he. And unlike Alanna he hadn’t needed to get used to them, he had a lifetime advantage. All he wanted was for her to come and talk with him, see something that triggered that fear in her. Hunting as a snake had never even inspired that kind of fear in his prey. The human element added a whole other world into it. Like mixing natural prey with something larger. Or he didn’t actually understand the appeal but it was there. There and couldn’t be denied. Maybe he could find a way to bottle that scent of fear up because the rush it gave him wasn’t like anything he’d experienced even when he’d had to go hunting for a baby that once. “It’s impossible to get hold of you when you won’t just do that one small thing.” Zach shook his head, ruffling his hair like the girls always seemed to like. “Wouldn’t kill you to.”
Licking her lips, Alanna shifted her backpack so that both straps were over her shoulders instead of just one. Easier to run that way and her chipmunk nature always encouraged her to be ready to flee in case. Probably back the way she had come since Zach was right there. Whatever he was - and she thought that he was some really weird sort of were snake just like Aurelia - she did not like him. He made her nervous. More than nervous. His presence triggered actual fear both because he smelled like one of the ultimate predators from the eyes of a chipmunk and because he was far too persistent. Alanna was not used to dealing with persistent people. Or ones who made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. He’s worse than Aurelia. “I don’t want to talk to you,” Alanna returned, stepping back when he moved forward to keep the same amount of distance between them. “I don’t want you calling me or coming around and you should respect that, don’t you think? Otherwise it’s harassment. People have gotten restraining orders for less.” She could do that. Might be a little hard to explain all of her reasons to the cops when they asked - ‘well you see officer, he’s a snake and I’m a chipmunk and I think he wants to eat me’ - but surely it could be done. “So go home, Zach, and leave me alone.” There was no real emotion behind the words because she was trying to keep the fear from trembling out. No matter what she thought about doing, Alanna was just a little afraid right then. She could not have even said why past Zach’s presence.
Zach wasn’t really listening to what Alanna said after she said she didn’t want to talk to him. The words caused a frown on his face and his hands went into his pockets as he kicked at a loose stone on the pavement, watching as it bounced off into a puddle of water. He wasn’t asking for much! All he wanted was to spend some time with her and figure out why she gave off that scent of fear that was so much more appealing than the ones he’d gotten off of anyone else. “I don’t want to go home,” Zach admitted after a moment, continuing to step forward to keep the space between them minimal. “I told you, I just want to talk. It’s not like I’m asking for the world. Most girls like to talk about themselves. So come on Alanna.” He grinned, just remembering to keep his fangs in check. Just her scent was enough to make them want to slide out. “Talk to me. Or you could just get scared.” His hand came up and he made a poking gesture, remembering how terribly she had reacted to being touched.
What the hell was going on here? Alanna felt like she was really only hearing parts of the conversation, her throat having gone dry as Zach kept coming closer. More than just her chipmunk nature was afraid of this man even if she could not quite decide what exactly was putting her so on edge. But something definitely was wrong with him. “I don’t like talking about myself,” Alanna said at last. Her eyes widened at how close his hand had come, a tremor running down her spine at the thought of how close he had been to touching her. No, he could not do that, it was far too close to the full moon for her to have any sort of emotional breakdown. Already she could feel the pull of the moon, knowing that soon she would be forced to change, and it made everything that much closer to the edge. “Stay back, Zach, I don’t want to get upset right now. I just want you to go away and leave me alone. Talk to some other girl. There are plenty out there who’d be happy to chatter on.” Because not only did she not want to talk to him - she did not want to be near him. He smelled like a predator. That glint in his eyes was that of a predator. And she? Was undeniably prey.
“I don’t think so, sweetheart,” Zach said, his voice almost lazy. With his hands out of his pocket it was harder to stay focused because he wasn’t as warm but then the laziness that came with cold and wet was getting countered by the growing scent of fear. He didn’t think that he’d always liked it this much. Didn’t care for that matter. “It’d be easier if you just stopped fighting it and came with me.” She hadn’t looked away. Maybe she’d forgotten that day at the courts when he’d managed to calm her down by hypnotizing her but he hadn’t. He focused in on those brown eyes of hers, warm despite the fear that was seeping into them, and called up those innate abilities that all his kind had. Prey was easier to corner when it was at ease and he knew that Alanna wanted to be calm. The full moon was coming. Bitten’s needed to keep their wits about them even more or risk losing it and tainting their reputation worse than it already was. “why don’t you just calm down a little bit and come with me?” Not only were his eyes locked on but his voice had that soothing quality he knew was lulling.
Now when had Zach decided to start talking any sort of sense? Because all of a sudden he did seem a lot more reasonable than he had a few minutes ago. The fear that had been filling Alanna up steadily was leaking out of her. Almost like she was a sandbag that had been punctured and was losing all of the sand that gave it its shape. “I don’t want to go with you,” she informed him. Alanna knew that, no matter how she felt, she did not want to go with Zach. Ever. She did not know where he lived and was completely okay with keeping it that way for the rest of her life. So why was it that she had stopped backing away? Her will to turn and run had faded away, leaving her standing there just staring at him. Alanna had a feeling that was not terrible, but simply resigned. She could not look away from him if she tried. It was just like when they had been at the courts. “I don’t.”
Grinning was exactly what Zach was doing. Sure the scent of fear was gone but he could get that back later. Suddenly the idea had come to him that it would be better if she was in his apartment at Camelot Place. He’d be able to scare her whenever he wanted then. Yes, that’d be best. Still keeping eye contact, Zach let his mouth fall open so that he could taste the air around him. No, there wasn’t anyone else out that he could smell. The rain and onset of night kept people inside more than anything else. No one would be around to see and his car wasn’t parked too far away... if necessary he could always claim that she’d fallen down drunk. There wasn’t time to think about it (if he thought then he wouldn’t do it, he’d let her go and continue what most people called stalking) so Zach kept smiling as his right hand clenched into a fist. It wasn’t like on the movies but he’d gone to a boxing class last semester and learned the best way to knock someone out. Didn’t really work on other boxers since they’d keep their face covered but Alanna was loose and open. “Yes you do,” he disagreed easily. A slight lean back, a twist of the hips and a swing of his arm and his fist landed squarely on Alanna’s chin. No holding his strength back because she was a were and had extra strength that humans just didn’t possess.
Alanna was not arguing anymore because she could not remember what her argument was. Just that it had involved not... wanting... why was Zach leaning back? The were’s eyes widened for a moment, a sharp pain flaring out for just a moment before her eyes rolled up in her head and everything went black.
It had not been exactly difficult to get Alanna into his car and then his apartment. No one had been around to ask questions. It was once he had her there that he addressed the problem of how he was going to keep her there. Someone might notice that she was missing. Worse, the full moon was tomorrow and she was a bitten. That meant she’d be changing into her other form whether she wanted to or not. Sure he had a pretty impressive hybrid form himself but he didn’t want his apartment to get messed up just because of some raging rodent. The thought occurred that maybe she had a cage in her apartment. After wiping the rain off his forehead, casting a glance back at the still passed out Alanna, Zach made a decision. He’d take her keys and see if she had some sort of a cage in her apartment. Maybe shackles. Shackles worked on weres, right? Ohhh, silver weakened them. He had some silver somewhere... maybe. But he was still sitting in the half-empty parking lot of the Court, shrugging before he turned and rummaged through Alanna’s pockets to find her keys. What had her apartment number been? Fuck. Fumbling the keys until he found the right one for getting in he shook the rain off his hair again before searching for the main office. Maybe Aurelia’d be there.
She had said she was willing to tell him where the redhead lived after all. No one said she needed to know exactly why he was looking for the place.
Legs curled underneath her, Aurelia glared out from underneath the layers she had wrapped herself in. To those who passed her, smelling of nothing even vaguely important, she feigned a cold. Occasionally a cough. It varied depending on who passed and how much she was decidedly not in the mood to have them near her. Had she been a rattlesnake, her own warnings would have given her a headache by now. There had been two complaints about the heating; one that it was too low, one that it was too high. Why the wretched creatures could not take care of their own places of residence was completely beyond her. Mammals... The lack of heat - that draft was leeching everything, why couldn’t people close the door after themselves? - had been somewhat countered by pushing her chair right up against the radiator, and she was more than content to wrap herself up in her grandmother’s blanket-shawl-thing. Even if it looked less than professional and wasn’t actually keeping her warm. But then, verbally abusing one’s tenants hardly qualified as professional either, and she needed to keep some semblance of ‘normality’. Otherwise she would have just brought her heat lamp down. Still, there was always the question of what she was going to do about the full moon tomorrow. Her tenants fell into two categories, those who just saw her at face value because they were not evolved enough to see her any other way, and those who believed she was some kind of were. Ideally, she needed to confirm the latter... but she was really finding it hard to care... Although it does provide the perfect excuse to spend the evening curled up under the heat lamp.
The vibrations she felt first, disrupting her trail of thought. Either male, or a woman who weighed too much. Finding the latter vaguely amusing, Aurelia actually went as far as to disturb her rest in order to lean forward enough to look. Oh. While the naga boy was interesting, he was not currently classed as the kind of interesting that made her feel better. “I haven’t seen her,” she drawled. Well, hadn’t seen her since she left. Which was... God only knew when, because her nails had probably been more interesting at the time.
Ah-ha, there she was! Zach allowed himself to grin at Aurelia even if she didn’t seem all that interested. She was curled up under a blanket for whatever reason, looking sort of miserable. Because it’s cold in here. Someone needs to turn the heat up. He shivered despite himself before he remembered what he was doing and a flush of heat ran through him. “Of course you haven’t,” Zach remarked as he stepped in and closed the door behind him. Probably didn’t have a lot of time before Alanna woke up and the last thing he needed was to go back to his car to find that a hysterical hybrid chipmunk had torn it into pieces. Or was ready to tear him into pieces. Hello, that was why he needed the cage or chains or whatever it was that Alanna used to keep herself restrained on the full moon. “She’s knocked out in the back of my car. I need you to tell my where her apartment is because I need her cage. Or whatever she has.” He jingled the keys he’d taken off of the unconscious redhead.
She had been waiting for that first remark to be some kind of sardonic stab at her tendency to get rid of people as fast as they came upon her - but then he did not know her that well and he followed it up with an explanation. It was Aurelia’s turn to doubt that he was telling the truth, and there would have been some kind of remark that showed she doubted as much were it not for the fact the rest of his explanation struck a chord. Leaning forward, she did not bother hiding the fact she was tasting the air, nor her surprise that the scents that answered her suggested he was telling the truth. She could smell Alanna all over him - right up to the remaining taste of distress. With a flicker of amusement, she pulled her chair back towards the desk and allowed herself a brief smirk. Of course, even if he was lying and had just managed to upset her recently while simultaneously stealing her keys, she was still going to tell him where she lived. Because the idea of him turning up at the were’s home unexpected entertained Aurelia far too much. “You’ve left a bitten were in the back of your car?” The question held a steady balance of disbelief and a strong desire for it to be true. “Somewhere on the third floor, I think,” she mused, leafing through the ledger. An archaic method of recording-keeping she thought, but then this place was not exactly state of the art. She needed to get everything computerised. Or I could hire someone to do it for me... “3-C.” She looked up again with arched eyebrows. Yes, it truly was as simple as that. No, she did not care whether he really wanted the restraints or merely wished to stalk her further. Which was a lie, obviously, because the former interested her perhaps a little too much. She still wasn’t going to believe him until he walked past the office with what he had come for.
Zach wasn’t surprised that Aurelia went and tasted the air, likely testing to see if he’d been anywhere near the chipmunk recently. Answer should turn up a definite positive. “I did,” he replied easily. “She should be out for at least a few hours after that hit, were or not.” The fact that she lived on the third floor was a bit of a problem. How the hell had she gotten a cage up there and how was he supposed to get it down without far too many people seeing it? Last thing he needed was for anyone to see him pulling that around and start asking questions. Questions led to problems. Problems led to police and he didn’t want to deal with them. He just wanted to... what did he want to do? Hell if I know. “Do you have any suggestions for how to get it out without all your tenants staring at me? Help me out a bit here and I’ll let you see the chipmunk in a cage. Bet the smell she gives off is better than any prey’s.”
Had she been the sort, Aurelia might have blinked at Zach’s attitude over the situation. A situation of his own creation that - again, assuming it was all true, though she was inclined to believe him by this point - had the potential to bring a world of trouble down on his head. Possibly hers as well. There was an unconscious mindless creature in his car and he seemed perfectly relaxed about it. In his place, she would have been removing any and all witnesses. “Just how much did you think this through?” Really, she was only asking because if the sky decided to fall on anybody involved in this, she’d much rather it was him and not her. That said, better that it not land on either of them and the lamiae population of Scarlet Oak remained a secret. “And I would suggest using a lookout who shares your skills in hypnosis,” she supplied, shrugging out of her shawl. “Preferably one the tenants are already likely to avoid.” Aurelia was actually sticking her neck out. Her grandmother would have been deeply unimpressed. “She is prey.” Prey that she was now too curious about to just turn the other cheek. “Come along, then.” Because it was her building and she’d waltz into a tenant’s apartment if she damn well wanted to.
Zach gave that a bit of thought before shrugging, still pretty relaxed and calm, though excitement was flickering under the surface. He’d never done anything like this in his life and it was undeniably exciting. Partially because his parents would turn him into a few pairs of boots if they found out. Which they wouldn’t. Hopefully. If he did everything right. “Not really all that much, sorta just did it. She was threatening me with a restraining order.” Totally not cool in his book. Aurelia’s suggestion totally was though and he found himself grinning again. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard all day.” He’d almost suspected that Aurelia’d be interested in what he was doing but he hadn’t quite thought she’d be willing to help. Now that she was going to he realized there was that much slimmer a chance he’d get caught. Awesome! He followed along, hands in his pocket, not at all tense despite the fact that they were definitely doing something illegal. Upon reaching the apartment he unlocked it and stepped inside, only just managing to reach down and catch the huge cat that tried to get out. “...a chipmunk with a cat?” he asked, laughing as the cat started to purr. Weirdly friendly thing. “And looks like someone else lives here.” Blankets on the couch and that smelled like a penguin? “The hell.” Shaking his head, Zach kept hold of the cat and moved to where Alanna’s scent was strongest. Yep. Cage. “Here I thought she’d need something smaller. Guess she stays the same size when she shifts.”
A restraining order. That was... almost adorable. How it was supposed to be enforced was beyond Aurelia, but it wasn’t something she was prepared to give that much attention. The girl was throwing out desperate threats, clearly. Unfortunately, the desired result was in the opposite direction. Next time perhaps the little were would be far less inclined to make any kind of threats against someone with a distinctly serpentine nature. They didn’t take well to it. Biting back an automatic response of ‘of course it is’, she just flashed a rather smug smile and nodded. Feeling safer in their escapade after noting there was no one in the halls, the lamia pulled her sleeves down over her hands. Bad enough that her scent was now joining the abundance of scent signatures in the room - she’d rather her finger-prints did not do the same. She turned her nose up at the cat, not appreciating the sensory assault most furry mammals eventually became. “A body-guard, perhaps,” she drawled, eyeing the feline with a degree of suspicion. The damn thing smelled of human and chipmunk just as much as it did cat, she wasn’t going to simply assume it was a house cat. “Delightful.” There were too many weres wandering around. Too many others with senses better than those of her human tenants. And for that reason, Aurelia mostly hovered, reluctant to leave too obvious a trail. Even if she did consider them inferior. Tilting her head, she stared at the cage and then stared at Zach. “Would you need something smaller?” She doubted either of them would fit into the thing in their natural form. “We need to hurry before were-bird comes home or the original artifact wakes up.” Just to state the obvious. “And it needs to be dismantled, or we’ll never get it out.” Further obvious statements, but her attention was on the front door and whether she could hear anyone approaching.
Zach didn’t think the cat was anything but a cat, but he wasn’t as suspicious or paranoid as Aurelia seemed to be. His parents would probably prefer it if he was more like her. No thanks. “I wouldn’t need to be put in a cage,” he shot back with a grin. Yet another reason that lamiae were superior to bitten weres, and everyone. Three forms and none of them required any sort of restraint. They were superior to born weres as well because their human forms weren’t near as undefended. They always had their fangs and hypnosis. “And okay... taking apart a cage.” Zach had considered that that might need to be done. He just hadn’t really thought about how to go about it since it wasn’t something he really did often. Well if she got it in here then there had to be a way to get it out. And besides, Zach was good with this sort of thing, couldn’t be harder than putting a bike together or taking it apart. Rolling up his sleeves he let the cat down and got to work.
It took ten minutes. Zach was sweating a little as he looked over at Aurelia and hefted an armload of metal. It’d take a few trips. “So if you help this will take less time. If not then excuse me... I’ll take this down and make sure our little rodent isn’t awake.” Which she wouldn’t be. Zach knew how hard he’d hit her. Definitely hard enough.
Not quite the point Aurelia had been trying to make regarding his and Alanna’s physical size, but it was rather irrelevant by now. While the cage was pulled apart, she took another opportunity to scan the interior of the were’s apartment. It was almost tragic that her entire, mediocre existence was probably held inside this... shoebox. Perhaps with a few straggling odds and ends distributed among people she knew and loved. Assuming she even had any. She made a mental note to keep an eye out for the avian were in the future. And ask why they didn’t seem to be paying rent. “Hand some of that over,” she moved to lighten his load, though her height proved to be a disadvantage since the cage was taller than she was. “If hypnosis doesn’t work, we can always bludgeon them.” Although the way she had to carry the thing was a little undignified - she felt like a child who could barely see over the counter - it was nothing if not an ego boost that a woman of her size could still haul the chunk of metal around with what Aurelia was dubbing minimal effort. She almost mourned the fact the halls seemed to be empty. She was too amused by the idea of dropping her burden on a tenant’s head. Things like that would definitely be noticed, though.
Snorting at the idea of beating someone with pieces of a cage, Zach started out. He wouldn’t have minded coming across someone too much but for whatever reason that didn’t happen. And Alanna was still passed out in the backseat, a lovely colored bruise forming up on her face. “It’ll heal,” he assured the sleeping redhead as he started putting the pieces of her cage into his car. Turning back towards Aurelia he tapped his mouth. “You want to come over and see what she’s like freaked out later? Could be cool.” Would be cool. The scent and taste would be totally overwhelming and he’d probably need to have a raw steak to help get over it.
Would you look at that. Aurelia’s face twisted into an outright smirk, eyes lighting up over the sight of the unconscious were. Setting her cargo down, the fingers of one hand traced around the window. “She almost looks safe when she’s asleep.” Her head tilted to one side, almost trying to view the world from Alanna’s angle. “And that’s going to be one hell of a shiner.” An observation, not a display of concern. If anything, she was more interested in how much further that bruise would develop. The proposition of visiting a mindless bitten caught her attention, though, tugging at her sense of humour like two pitbulls over a dead rabbit. Snorting, she rubbed her palms together. “Do you have popcorn, or should I bring some?” This had made her day. Not even her own paranoia or the idea of losing a tenant - because she would never stay on at the Court after this - could take the edge off her amusement. Not right now, and possibly not ever.
“You should bring some.” Zach felt sort of proud over this. Like he’d gone and caught the biggest fish ever and needed to brag to his buddies about it. And by his buddies he meant this other lamiae who happened to be a little weird even for their species. He wasn’t really one to talk since he had a bitten were knocked out in his backseat but eh, who cared? He’d care when it came back to bite him. Hopefully not literally. What would even happen if he got bit by a were? Closing the car door he stretched out, the rain chilling him, and turned. “Tomorrow’s the full moon, should be interesting. I’m in 337 at Camelot Place. Should come over a bit before the moon, the change might be fun to see.” If Alanna hadn’t already shifted out of pure terror. Zach hoped that he inspired that response.
“Will do.” She would ask which flavour, but then she didn’t really care for his preference. It made more sense to acquire a selection, at any rate. Which meant Aurelia would certainly be bringing popcorn and probably a fair deal of it. Had she known he thought her weird, she would have laughed. She, at least, stuck to her own hunting grounds - the Court - when it came to having her fun. She did not sit out in the rain to wait for it, and eventually pile it into her car. That left trails. Then again, so did eating infants straight from their cribs and leaving the leftovers for the parents. Though she supposed both courses of action had the desired effect. Unless Alanna woke up as he drove home. “Mm, I’ll be there.” Her blood seemed to give a steady hum of approval and she smirked despite the rain. She was not dressed for this weather - or at all inclined to stand out in it - but this was priceless. “Good luck getting her inside unnoticed,” she added. For once, she actually meant it. She’d be disappointed if he found himself apprehended at all.
“See you then.” Zach flashed a grin and climbed into the car. Now he just had to get Alanna and her cage into his apartment without anyone seeing. Easier said than done. But he was going to give it his best. Otherwise this whole event was pointless and he wouldn’t get to reap any of the benefits of his labor. That’d be terribly depressing.