Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Who: Nadasha and Declan When: Early morning Where: Near the forest's edge What: First meet and breakfast
Morning was one of her favorite times of day. Not early morning, like so many other people liked, watching the sunrise and all of that, but just after, when the dew was still on the ground but it was starting to fade, and you could smell the cold still lingering in the air but the sun had already started to warm things up. That was the time of day she liked best. And it was at this time of day that she generally went out to work on keeping her skills sharp.
Nadasha was in the woods, not too far from the main part of the school, but far enough to not get in anyone's way as she, with a grace that came from her lycanthropic side, did a spot of practicing with a sword. She was rusty, somewhat, preferring knives over swords in work, but with teaching blades, she felt it was necessary for her to recover some of her formerly honed skills and that was what she was striving for. She worked herself into a nice sweat before she decided to take a break, twirling the sword at her side as she drank some water from a bottle, enjoying the feel of the sun breaking through the dense veil of trees overhead.
Declan had just finished up a long night shift and was doing laps around the campus to keep in shape and empty out his mind for a few hours sleep. Unlike most people around campus, he didn't bother with a music player and headphones, enjoying instead the music of a world just waking up for the day. Nearing his apartment during his final lap, Declan start to slow down, cooling off. Glancing around, he noticed a familiar face in the trees and he started jogging that way.
"Top o' the mornin' t' ye," he called out, slowing to a halt near the edge of the woods and wiping the sweat from his brow. Who was she again? Oh aye, the new security member, now what was her name?
Nadasha had just picked up her sword to start again when the voice came suddenly from the woods nearby her, apparently she was getting a little off when it came to that too, the whole not being snuck up on thing, and scared the shit out of her.
With a profession like hers, she was so used to being on guard, so used to having people come up on her for nefarious reasons, that before she even thought about it, the sword was sent hurtling through the air. It took a split second for her to realize that this was <i>not</i> a good idea, and so she yelled, "Shit... DUCK!"
Declan was glad that he was good at his job because he saw her tense up with her sword arm, the muscles rippling just a split second before the sword came whirring to him. He dropped to the ground, the blade rushing past him to embed itself in the oak behind him. The dryad winced at the keening cry he heard from the old tree and he hurriedly got to his feet, pulling out the sword and running a loving hand over the wound.
"Mayhap I should 'ave announced meself a wee bit better, aye?" Muttering under his breath in Gaelic, Declan helped the oak's bark cover the new scar to heal. Turning back around, he smiled at his coworker, handing her the sword hilt-first.
Thank God this wasn't some random idiot who didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. If it had been, she would have had a dead body on her hands and while this would not have been the first by any measure of the word, it would have definitely been a setback in this whole... project.
Nadasha took a few deep breaths of relief, vaguely noting the exchange with the tree before she took a step toward him and reached out to take the sword. "Thanks. Shit. Sorry about that. Good thing you've got good reflexes, huh?" She laughed, then grabbed the sheath to put the sword away. That seemed like a good idea right about now.
Declan chuckled, handing over the sword. "Aye. A handy skill I've developed a bit o'er the years." He waited until the weapon was put away before offering his hands to shake. "Me name's Declan. I believe we met when ye were intraduced ta th' rest o' security." He hoped she didn't mind that he was sweaty and probably smelled musky from his run.
"Yeah, I remember you." She offered her hand to him as well, equally sweaty though she probably didn't smell <i>musky</i> per say. "Nadasha." Her handshake was quite firm and brief, both hands moving to her hips before she observed, "Out for a morning run?"
Declan smiled, liking the firmness of her handshake that matched her no-nonsense attitude. "Aye. Just finished up a night shift. Thought a run would be a nice way to wind down."
"Ah, so they got you stuck on nights." Nadasha smiled a little as she said, "I hear that's when all the action goes down." She winked and then giggled. "This place is so <i>tame</i> actually. I think it could very well be possible to die from boredom here." She nodded her head as she thought about it then she gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "Oh well, I was the one that wanted a bit of a break, though that was mostly from just.. having to keep what I am under wraps and all that. It's hard to do that sometimes."
Declan wagged his head. "Actually, I flip back an' forth on the schedule. I work whenever I be needed." He did have to agree with her on the boredom part though, for the most part. "Aye, it can be rather calm here at time. Consider yerself lucky, though. When it acts up, it's a bit like a madhouse."
"Well that's might accomodating of you," Nadasha teased, a bit of a sparkle dancing about in her blue eyes. She laughed when he warned her about what it could be like, however, a grin pursing her lips. "Sugar, I went to a boarding school for rich little kiddies growing up. I know all about mad houses." And then she felt the need to remark, since she knew she didn't look the part, "I was one of their charity cases." She gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "It was one of those places that gave out a few scholarships a year to the underprivileged just to make them <i>look</i> a lot better than they actually were."
Declan leaned back against the oak and rested for a minute. He didn't know much about boarding schools, but from the sound of it, it wasn't something he'd be much interested in anyways. Nadasha didn't seem to be too thrilled with their academics, so it probably wasn't worth learning about them. "Well at least ye got an education, and now ye're back working at another school."
"And so I am..." Nadasha gave an exagerrated sigh. "But it could be worse. Not every job gives you free room and board." She paused before she added, "And food. Which I could definitely go for right about now." A brow quirked a bit as she asked, "Breakfast?"
Declan grinned and nodded. "Aye breakfast sounds good!" Her timing was wonderful since his stomach was making those soft hungry noises. Pushing away from the tree, he felt his sweaty shirt stick and chuckled. "Mind if I shower first? I can meet ye in the hall in twenty minutes."
"Hmm," Nadasha frowned a little. "If you <i>insist</i>. Personally, I say fuck em. If they don't wanna smell you, they can sit at another table." She giggled. "Though actually I should probably take a shower too. I'm all sorts of wet and sticky."
Declan shrugged, starting to walk out of the woods backwards, so he could keep talking to her. "Aye, I could. But mayhap it's yer senses I dunna want ta offend." The sweat on his shirt was cooling in the morning air and Declan was looking forward to getting clean and in warmer clothes. Though he'd lived in America for several years, he still hadn't gotten used to the cooler climes.
"That's sweet," Nadasha replied simply, a small smile tugging at her lips. "But you don't gotta worry about me, sugar. I'm one of those rare, odd types who kinda digs the smell of a sweaty man." She paused before she thought to clarify. "Well, fresh sweat anyway. Not like.. sitting in their own filth not bathing type sweat if you dig what I mean."
Declan flashed a brilliant smile and laughed. "Aye, I ken. Makes me lucky ye dunna mind me right now." Stretching his arms over his head just for the sake of stretching, he kept walking to the apartments. "So I'll meet ye back out here in twenty, aye? Then breakfast?" He liked Nadasha; she seemed honest.
"Just means you got enough stamina to work up a sweat." Nadasha winked at him as she said this and then added, "I appreciate stamina." She then giggled. "Sure. Twenty." She plopped the sword from the hand she had been using to drag it into the other hand as she added, "Probably a good idea to put this thing away before I <i>really</i> hurt someone anyway." Honest? Not at all. But the fact that he viewed her that way just meant that she was doing something right.
Declan paused for a moment, considering. Was Nadasha flirting with him? Probably not, so he shook his head and smiled. "Aye. I do try me best. Run at least a couple miles every day. Sometimes more." Holding open the outside door for her to get into the building, he started jogging up the steps to his own apartment, stripping off his shirt along the way. A hot shower, hot meal and nice conversation were going to be just what he needed to get a great start to the morning.
As promised, twenty minutes later, he was freshly washed, shaved, dressed and waiting for her. The dark blue button-down shirt would have looked too dressy except it was paired with jeans, sneakers and the top couple buttons were undone. He smiled as he saw his coworker. "Aye, ready ta go?"
Of course she was flirting with him. As half succubus, that was sort of her thing. And she found it infinitely amusing that he didn't pick up on it. She could have <i>made</i> him feel it, know it, want it, but she really didn't feel the need for all that. He wasn't her target, after all. The whole point to this was to make nice, fit in, and ensure that no one was suspicious of her real reason for being here.
Nadasha made it back down the stairs to meet Declan approximately twenty-three minutes later. Her attire had been shifted from a pair of sweats, which were easier to work out in, to a pair of faded and torn jeans that hugged her curves nice, a simple tank top, and a pair of cowboy boots. "Ready like Freddy," she replied, opening the door to the outside for him this time to head out into the now brighter sunlight to make the trek to the main building where the cafeteria was located.
Declan frowned as she walked outside wearing little more than a thin tank and raggedy jeans. "Aren't ye gonna be cold? Tha weather's not all that warm anymore." His shirt was longsleeved, which was enough to keep him warm for the time being, but it got cool around here, he'd found. And Declan was not a fan of it. Still, he followed her outside and towards the cafeteria.
Nadasha gave him one of her winning smiles and shook her head, blond curls bouncing about her face. "Nope, not at all. I grew up in Boston so I'm used to this sort of weather. This is a nice warm day compared to most." She laughed softly then asked with her lips slightly pursed, "You been here through a winter yet?" She giggled. "If not, you better start thinking up some ways to stay warm between now and then." She winked.
Declan nodded. "Aye. I've lived around here a few years now. Worked as a forest ranger in the state before coming here." He glanced over at her and smiled. "Not ta mention, an Irish winter can be pretty cold, just not this early in the season."
"Is that why you talk to trees?" She had noticed it before. And perhaps this was her polite way of asking about his race. Well, polite for Nadasha anyway. For the most part, she was very straight forward. "So I've heard." Nadasha laughed softly. "Da lived in Ireland for most of his childhood. I've never been there though." She gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "Are leprachauns real?" She asked this question so seriously. "He'd never give me a straight answer about <i>that</i>."
Declan chuckled at her questions. "Well now, leprachauns may be real, but then again they may not be." She wasn't going to get a straight answer from him on that, same as her Da. There were just some Irish traditions that you didn't break. "As for me, talking ta trees is just part of it. I happen ta be a dryad."
Nadasha scowled at him. "That's the same answer my da always gave me." She laughed softly, a slight note of sadness tinting her features for a moment. She missed her father. He was the only person in all the world that she had ever really given a damn about. "Hmm.. makes sense now why you seemed more worried about the tree getting stabbed than me nearly skewering you like a shishkabob."
"Aye, most people dunna ken how the tree feels. I can feel it's pain as me own." Of course, Declan wasn't as close to the trees and wild dryads here as he was to the ones back home. If something happened to his home, he felt it keenly, sometimes bled from it. It wasn't fun, but neither was it something to think about right now. "Now that ye know what I am, may I ask the same o' ye?"
"A mutt," Nadasha replied honestly, though that was hardly an adequate answer. She laughed and then fessed up. "Da was a lycanthrope and mum was a demon." She gave him a sideways look as she said. "I got the best of both worlds." Honestly, it wasn't so bad. She was everything she needed to be to follow in the path that she had chosen, or that had been chosen for her. Then again, if she'd not been suited for it, she wouldn't have been groomed for it, so there was that too.
"Ah," Declan felt like a bobblehead around her, he was nodding so much. Still, there wasn't much else to be said. Reaching the main building, Declan held open the door for her, then followed her through. He sniffed lightly then started following the smell of crisp bacon and maple syrup. "Aye, smells like pancakes this morning."
The smell from the cafeteria was delicious. Nadasha closed her eyes and groaned her approval. "I love that smell." If there was one thing to be said for this place, it was that the food was incredible. And of course there was enough sexual tesion in this place to fuel an army of succubi, which was rather tasty for her as well. Nadasha followed Declan into the cafeteria, making her way to the line. She'd worked up quite the appetite this morning, so by the time she'd reached the end, she'd stacked her tray up rather full with juice, coffee, pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Finding a table, she sat herself down. "If this tastes half as good as it smells, I'll be a happy girl."
Declan chuckled, following her into the line to load up his own tray. Not quite a traditional Irish breakfast, but it would work. Sausage, bacon, eggs, pancakes slathered in butter and syrup, coffee, tart orange juice. Pretty much perfect. And since Declan was a tree, he didn't worry too much about packing on pounds. The workout was simply for the fun of stretching his body.
He followed Nadasha to a table, grabbing a knife, fork and napkins along the way. "Aye, this smells like a great breakfast t' me." He took a sip of his black coffee, wanting it while it was hot before tucking into his eggs.
Nadasha was silent for a bit, digging into her own food and eating a few fair bites of it before she decided to strike up conversation. For the record, however, the food was most definitely as good as it smelled. "So level with me, Dec..." She took a sip of her coffee as she set her gaze with his own. "What's there to do for fun around here? Anything?"
Declan wagged his head as he thought about her question. "Well now, tha' all depends on what ye're interested in. If ye want ta stay on campus, there's the rec center and whatever ye can find t' amuse yourself around here. Other than tha', ye need t' go out t' Danvers or Boston for entertainment." Eating a bite of pancake he paused for a minute, before wagging his fork. "Oh, and there's a few pubs and clubs in the town a couple miles down the road."
Nadasha knew all about what there was to do in Boston considering that that was where she was from. That part of her background she hadn't lied about. But he'd not picked up on the subtlety of the question. That made her smile. He really wasn't acting when it came to not noticing things. He really just... didn;t get it. "Okay. So let me rephrase that. What do <i>you</i> do for fun, Declan?"
Declan just lived in his own little world. He surfaced long enough to make sure he did his job well, and then he fell back under. For awhile, Garret and Rorie had been working on making him more aware, but they'd since stopped. Maybe they'd gotten bored with him. As it was, Dec was used to being on his own and not around people, so reading their subtleties wasn't his strongest suit. "Oh. I garden. Spend time in the rec center. I havna done much."
"Hmm.. that's a shame," Nadasha replied simply. She smiled a little as she dug into her plate once more, looking as though she had some sort of private joke going on inside her head that he wasn't privy to. And perhaps she did. He just amused her, was all, and she couldn't help but wonder how he would react if she decided to make him feel just a little bit.. lustful right about now. Of course she didn't <i>do</i> that yet...
Shrugging, Declan moved back into his breakfast, picking up a piece of crispy bacon and biting into it, loving the crunch it made. "Aye, mayhap. But there's little reason ta go inta town alone when I can have netflix streaming from me computer for movies. And I've friends all here."
"Ah, movies. You're talking my language now. What kind of movies you like?" Nadasha was a huge fan of horror. Blood, gore, violence. The more, the merrier. She was the type of audience that Grindhouse had been invented for. Something told her that Declan wouldn't share that interest, but she could be wrong.
"I like most anything actually. Comedy, action, drama, horror, science fiction. They're all fascinating ta me." Finishing off his bacon, he cut into his pancakes again, breakfast nearly finished despite all his talking. The run this morning had worked up a good appetite for him.
"I take it you didn't get out much before." Clearly. He was like.. a grown up only without the real knowledge of social situations that most grown ups had. She'd never met anyone quite like that before. Granted, she had experienced sheltered in the past, but never quite to this extent. "That why movies fascinate you?"
"Aye." His entire childhood had been raised in the shelter of his dryad family. Of the forest, plants, he knew much. Of humans, relationships and modern life? Very little. Even when he was working as a ranger, it was very secluded. He learned more about America's forestry than its people.
"Hmm.. It's pretty obvious," She pointed out, though she was sure he probably knew that. And Nadasha fell into silence for a moment as she had a drink of her juice and then finished off her bacon. She was starting to feel full now, though her plate hadn't been cleaned entirely. Her eyes were bigger than her stomach, as the expression went. "We'll hang out sometime," she decided, telling rather than asking. "Rent a movie and order some pizza. It'll be fun."
Declan smiled. "Aye, it would be fun." Picking up another piece of bacon, he wagged it at Nadasha. "Now for the all important question. What do ye like on yer pizza?" Declan was fond of supreme pizza himself. Something about the combination of cheese, peppers, mushrooms and pepperoni just made him all sorts of happy.
Nadasha giggled and then gave him a rather serious look. "Well duh, Declan. There's really only <i>one</i> answer that anyone should ever give to <i>that</i> question." She smirked a bit as she replied, "<i>Every</i>thing."
Declan scrunched up his nose and stuck out his tongue. "E'en anchovies?" For some reason the salty little fish were just disgusting to him and he couldn't stand why anyone would want them on a pizza. Anything else, he could handle, he was pretty sure.
Nadasha made a face as well. "Eww. No." She laughed. "Let's scratch that response and change it to 'everything but anchovies'." She smiled brightly, then as an after thought, "And pineapple. I don't think fruit has any place on a pizza."
Declan grinned. Nadasha seemed pretty cool considering he hadn't known her long. "Aye, sounds good ta me. So movies and pizza one night. I think I can handle that."
"Good," Nadasha replied, then noticed a clock on the wall nearby with a groan. "Damn.. I need to go get ready to do rounds." She exhaled a soft laugh. "Thanks for breakfast," she said, downing the rest of her orange juice before pushing herself to her feet. "I think you know where to find me so you can let me know when you're free." And with that, she had to run, dumping her tray off and heading out. She was going to be late as it was.
Declan chuckled, watching Nadasha head out. He yawned and quietly finished off his breakfast, fully intending to take a nap before he had to take another shift.