How To Hide A Star In Day, Ever have trouble trying to fit in?

[Jiron]

With each step the sarong that hugged slender hips shifted, revealing the furry horse-ish legs that ended in hooves that scraped the paved road. Snippits of a long gray-furred feline tail swished, the end and bottom of which somewhat longer with thicker fur. This same fur ran up the back of her spine, escaping beneath the back of her plain leather-stitched top.

Shades of rich vibrant chestnut fell like a mane past slender strong shoulders, slipping before scarlet mahoganny spheres. A pair of dark connic ears, too short to be those of a dragon's, twitched at the sound of the running river of the city in the early morning. A coy little smirk tipped thin pink lips as soft 'clip-clops' brought her down the sidewalk before a series of stores still yet to be opened. Two diminutive horns pertruded from her brow as she paused, glanced left, then right, then started her way across the street.

[Kaidona]

Further down the road, leaning against an old newspaper case, stood a darkly clad fellow, hunched forward, with half-bared hands cupped before his mouth. Bits of lengthy obsidian drifted into his face as he flicked his thumb over the flint striker of a lighter concealed in his fingers, dark brows and mismatched eyes scrunching at its stubbornness, until five tries later, it ignited. A thin stream of smoke snaked its way up from the cover of his palm, his head leaning awkwardly forward as he released the lighter’s valve, before he lowered both hands, reaching one up a moment later to snatch a short length of incense from his lip.

Shifting his balance on heavily booted feet, the thin lad slipped the lighter into the pocket of moderately loose, chain-adorned pants, reaching deeper in as he did so to withdraw a mobile phone instead. Leaning over, he lifted it a short distance, holding a side-button long enough to illuminate a small screen in its front, which he eyed for a moment, and then returned it to his pocket. It was morning. Early morning. That combination of pixels he just looked at formed a series of numbers he hated; they read as an hour he would have been sleeping.

Long, conic ears—pierced generously—sat atop his head, one of which twitched, before both splayed sourly outward as dark-lined eyes rose skyward. Everything was grey, marred by blocky structures of bland browns, tans, whites and blacks. Even the dawn was corrupted, looking more like a smoggy rust than the warm golds and pinks of the sunrise. Urban hell on the coast—that was his home. Black lower lip twitching, he puffed blood-dipped bits of ebon from his face with a mildly exasperated sigh, before dropping his attention downward, reaching over with the hand occupied by burning incense to adjust a snugly fit arm warmer comprised mostly of belted straps and chained rings.

Quickly turning to the assortment of spiked straps and studded bracers on the other, he reached out and twisted both arms either way, gently loosening the fishnet running from his middle fingers up to swallow his torso. He then shifted the dark vest he wore atop it, tightening the heavy straps that bound it shut, before reaching into its high collar and freeing a thin chain that bore a pair of engraved tags, twisting about a moment later to inspect the crimson embroidery that ran up his sides and converged into an elaborate glyph on his back. Everything seemed to be in order.

A clawed thumb flicked the end of the burning incense, knocking the ash from its tip. Crystalline blue and ochre eyes regarded it, as though considering its halved length, before rising into the distance with a faint touch of ire in their depths. If his latest blind date didn’t show up, someone was going to owe the strange chimaera a spiked collar for his tags, and an entire month without ‘emo’ comments at his hair.

[Cosmos]

He'd bought the ferry ticket on a whim; so much for just going to the docks for a day. Why, though, is what he was wondering. Being immune to the passage of time must have eliminated the feeling of wasting it with pointless side trips like this. And yet, he couldn't leave his mode of transport behind. Now that he was in possession of such a thing, walking became rather bland, even in new places such as this. So, he'd bought two tickets, but hopefully it would be of some worth, as he couldn't simply call her to the archipelago.

It sure as hell wasn't Tiburon, yet, he felt as though he'd seen it before. Quite interesting to him how everything settled come the middle of the night towards early morning; this place was surprisingly... mortal. Many of the shops weren't even open yet, aside from the occasional 24-hour establishment. He could see one, maybe two or three more other creatures, and perhaps he'd like it that way. Not only was he abysmally dark in comparison to the citizens and fellow tourists, even the night life, but he was walking around with a giant bird. Lucky for everybody else he'd learned to shrug off stares.

What was he supposed to do, leave her at home? She'd get restless, and even that boy and his backup combined wouldn't be able to hold down her conditioned strength. Hell, the only reason he was out here was due to her seemingly shrunken attention span. Had she not jumped on him, he'd still be sleeping. Though the avian looked rather dark herself, her feathers a dusty black and her sturdy frame armor-clad, her crimson eyes had a gleam of happiness to be unmatched. New areas, smells, colors; she lavished in them. Her master had stepped forward a few paces before realizing that she'd stopped to look into a window.

"What? What is it, bird?" his low voice almost echoed among the near-empty streets. Heavy boots pounded the pavement as he walked back and took a look for himself. Naturally, it was some kind of food shop. Or perhaps it was a gift shop. Either way, it had enough colors to keep the avian occupied for upwards of an hour if not provoked otherwise. The large-fanged lupine brushed his unkempt black bangs out of his eyes to see what exactly had caught the eye of his spirited steed.

[Shimakuro]

Carriage rides. They always seemed so peaceful, a nice change of pace from the swaying of a ship beneath one’s feet or the smell of a crew that hadn’t washed in weeks. Believe you him when Ayms thought the occasional smell of a horse fart was better than the constant smell of the latter. Such transportation was in fact so peaceful that it always put him to, the man yawned, sleep.

Soon enough thought had become reality, Aemon had fallen asleep, face on fist on arm on arm-wrest. Eventually though, the man had been brought back to the world of the living by the carriage’s driver. Apparently they’d arrived at his destination and apparently drool had begun to drop down his cheek. With a quick flick of his wrist he’d removed a handkerchief from one of his pockets and wiped away the stray saliva before pocketing the silken cloth.

With another yawn he’d handed the driver his fare. From there the well-dressed gentleman took a seat at table in the street. With little effort he took several chess pieces in each hand and, with a somehow trained looking technique, began putting the chess-pieces back into their starting positions.

[Jiron]

The depths of blood-kissed brown blinked, fixated curiously now upon...wait... shouldn't that wolf be EATING the bird? A baffled expression was quickly replaced with a snicker. A headshake disrupted the plethora of browns consisting of silken layers of hair.

The city. A domestic gathering where souls of every nature could flourish or wilt...nothing like the wilderness. And while said wilderness carried a place well settled in her heart it couldn't quite compare to the 'forbidden fruit' that produced in the accumulation of so many so willing to join a lifestyle of such exotic beauty. The City. Where family could be a stranger you pass on the street, and the bum asking for change could very well be the next the next spokesman on the side of a billboard.

The clip-clps of hoof on pavement a score of steps away, 'cross the street from the lupinus fellow and the avian, lead the tuff-tailed female to where a scent of pale scented smoke crossed her nostrils. A suble snort was followed by a quick and boisterous sneeze, a hand soon pawing at the air as if to disperse that scented smoke from another attack against her sinuses.

When those deep reddish eyes flickered to the source of the smell-lingering smoke they were transfixed in a wafting air of curiosity, both ears perking atop her head a bit as she stared. Her thoughts were simple: 'so many shinies!'.




Meanwhile, further towards the coastal part of the city, where time seemed to have waited if just a little bit, moving slower in the ascent to progress, a young man opened a set of deep gold curtains. His scarlet gaze touched the sky, dipping into it's smoggy gray-blue depths. His hair, a metallic cobalt in hue, fell in silken spikes about a slender face and delicately pointed ears, and his apparel seemed to be of high accord. A velvet dark top with gentle lacings down the front drew the attraction from the straight tanned leather leggings. A linked chain of oddly tinted steel ran about his neck and bellow that laced collar, and a set of small gold loops addorned his left ear.

And while his gaze dirfted amidst the waste of pollution above the city, no matter how mild nor not, behind him lay a canopy bed, folded wrinkled silk sheets tossed about a delicate suptle form therein. A dark cloud flitted across his thoughts, occupying him, consuming him until there was yet nothing else.

This was a bad idea...a very...-very- bad idea...

The reflection from the glass flickered back the image of his gaze, and the pale arm escaping the sheets of the bed. For a moment he focused on the wine-bottle beside the bed, a most foul image of disgust claiming him, only slightly less foul than the look that was portrayed when he glanced at the inhabitor of the bed.

Said bed-inhabitor made a light noise, drawing our, and his, attention a moment. And with a sigh he shut the cutains, drowning what little light of morning could stir. If bad things came of good intent...one can only be left to wonder what things would come of bad intentions taken underfoot.

A light noise and the twisting in his lower abdomen seemed enough of a sign, and with a sigh he started towards the door quietly. His fingers shook as he reached for the brass handle, but he shook that off, slipping out into the hallway and starting towards the kitchen in the all-powerful search for the breaking of the night's fast.

[Kaidona]

Heterochromatic eyes lost focus far into the distance as scarce and nondescript individuals wandered on by, none of which gave the slim fellow a glance, let alone a second one. He preferred it that way. It helped his self-consciousness remain utterly dead, not that it ever had a whole lot of life to begin with. Conspicuously eastern features mixed with the form of a fence post, naturally dark-lined eyes, and a randomly black lower lip against nigh pasty features really didn’t leave much chance to let it thrive below the surface of problematic.

A canine ear twitched to one side as the lupine’s voice reverberated outward, soon tugging the lad’s auditory attention in that direction for a brief moment, before switching to loud animal noises in the distance. The startled whinny of a horse, paired with the guttural squawk of what sounded like a massive predatory avian, indicated the increasing life of one of the oldest parts of the island, which stood, perhaps, between a half and full mile away from that particular part of the coastline. Ah, keen hearing. Perfect for marking when the day hit an evening-walker’s half past ungodly.

A clawed thumb flicked more ash off the end of the incense, mismatched orbs sliding down to peer at it, before bits of blood-dipped raven slipped between them, only to be puffed barely to the side. That girl would get until the little serpent of aromatic smoke stopped rising before he was leaving. Not only did he hate trying to accommodate early risers precisely like he was, but standing around in the open like that left him completely exposed to “culture conflict”. The last he needed was a pack of little wannabe thugs wandering over and attempting to stir up unnecessary trouble, which he seemed to have an uncanny magnetism for.

Pale features quickly embittered at the very recollection, an almost sour disgust claiming the darkly dressed fellow’s countenance, until finally the echo of a feminine individual’s sneeze graced his perception, at which point he turned azure and ochre orbs to meet the source. He flattened a heavy combat boot to the sidewalk, twitching his ear, as though at the touch of a bug, and then felt his innards quickly sink, though his features fell utterly stoic. This wasn’t her, was it? He was told she was different, but this? Come on. She looked like she just wandered her way out of a frickin’ museum. From inside one of the displays.

Blinking, he turned a bland face back to the street, giving his head a deft shake, and readjusted his feet, slouching back forward in the process of flicking the ash away from the end of his incense again.

[Cosmos]

Though the bird remained transfixed, the wolf saw nothing of interest. In his grey world, colors were of little amusement. He turned to look at the horse-drawn carriage behind him with a curious glance. Certainly it was little more than a tourist attraction in a city as modern as this one, or perhaps this place used such things the same way the villages in north Atrum did. He would have to look it up sometime, or perhaps he would wait until one of his friends on the mainland decided to bother him. Or maybe, he would simply turn his cell phone off. The avian was enough companionship for him, and she, finally ungluing her head from the window of the novelty shop, also looked upon the carriage.

She had not seen many horses, but as far as she was concerned, she was a horse too, wearing a saddle and serving as a mount. It took naught but a few strides with her massive gait for her to be across the street and looking the equine in the eyes. She double-chirped at the larger creature before instantaneously directing her attention to the gentleman setting up a chessboard, whom she then stared at curiously. At this point her master had followed with a calm disposition, but his hand shot out in vain as the bird broke into a trot, the large grey-gloved appendage missing her saddle by a near inch. Yet another greeting was cawed to the brown-haired girl whilst the lupine stared in frustration at the loss of control of this creature. He sneered, and pulled a whistle from his pocket.

Half-way to the last one out there, the man whose incense wafted throughout the whole area, she stopped, froze completely, and ran back as quickly as she'd run off despite the lack of audible tone from the blowing of the whistle. The lycanthrope could not blame her for such a display, as she was not accustomed to such environments, but his posture stood stern and firm even as she hastily heeded his call and buried her head into his chest affectionately as if she'd done nothing wrong. He did not move an inch, but couldn't help but think: Thanks, Blood Moon. Now they've all reason to stare at us like we're fools.

[Shimakuro]

((I'm dropping out of the thread))

[Jiron]

The equine-legged woman blinked up, ears twitching towards the feathered beast. Rugged tufted gray swished behind her as if with a feline mindset. After a moment an easy smirk drifted amidst her features like a shadow of the smile she was capable of. Laughter filled red-brown eyes before she returned to her examination of the shinny-adorned lad who couldn't have been much older than she. Then again...he wasn't of any race she knew about. It was likely he could be aged.

When the woman's lips parted to inquire of this she had a moment where her brain didn't seem to want to push forwards, and instead her chocolaty alto spilled out in a mused awe. "I've only seen Argolos wear that much jewelry...and mostly for ceremonies"-she glanced at the incense, a curious quirk to her brows-"I'm not interrupting a ceremony, am I?"




The small round table that sat for two in the hotel held a sweet smelling potato dish darkened and smothered in some sort of syrup that might have been appealing to the cobalt-haired man if the company kept didn't turn his stomach so. Sitting across from him at the table was the pale woman who had shared his bed the night before. She shared more than that with him, but 'share' was an operative term.

The bitch hadn't even bothered to rightly put on her clothing. It was a point that made his teeth press together hard enough for his temples to feel the strain. The twist in his gut made the honeyed juices in the goblets before them seem like sweet poisons to his gaze. Yet if that were the case he'd welcome the taint far sooner than he would the echo of pains that laced his spine at the woman's distastes or at the torture of having to hold her company in such a way. In any way, truthfully.

With a strangely cultivated motion he lifted the serving spoon to dish out enough food to be polite, but not enough to insult. Then he laid a large helping to his own plate before lifting his fork with a bite of food on it that would more than likely form into ball of hot lead at the pit of his stomach. Between the woman and the food it was easier to mask the disgust for the food.

Still, what must be done must be done. Everything had a price.

"I'll expect you to dress nicely today," The woman tested a forkful of the food, her eyes summing it up quietly, "we've got a full set of plans."

Scarlet eyes watched her for a moment before the man present nodded once. Yes...yes we do. A formal smile, shadowed with protocol, flickered over his features, a hint of bored interest crossing through those eyes. "Anything noteworthy?"

She lifted her gaze from her fork at the touch of the husky rasp in his voice. A pouty frown stole the angle of her lips. "I've been neglecting you, haven't I?"

It was a trick question, and the man forced down the lump that had been a revolt of words wanting to burst free at the smug intent chilling the woman's eyes. His smile held charm and daggers. "Not at all. In fact, quite the contrary could be said."

A sharp smile was returned his way. "Is that a complaint?"

"It's conversation." He said with a cheery tone, forcing down another bite of the food he had been silently mashing with his fork. "The food's really quite nice here."

She took a little bite to keep from responding, turning it over with a slow nod...nothing had been tasting right for months. not since she had come down with that illness....

((NOW i'm done. thank the gods.))

[Kaidona]

There was staring, but not so much from passing pedestrians. Mismatched eyes blinked at the immense animal, long ears pricked to either side in reflex, before they gradually shifted to meet the lycanthrope whose chest she was nuzzling, offering him the same pensive flutter. Then, the girl’s voice found its way into his mind, and the boy’s head whirled around in doggish comportment. What did she say? The quiet, puttering hum of a running engine interrupted any thought he may have begun to mull over, dragging his attention back around as a faint squeal, as of metals scraping steadily against each other, rang out.

Someone needs to get their brakes fixed, the chain-adorned lad thought, regarding the small blue vehicle almost absently, before turning to the pair it was waiting patiently for. “Car,” a soft-spoken, high tenor called indicatively, as though that explained everything, before his head swiveled around to meet the equine-legged lass with a particularly deadpan expression. In all actuality, he was surprised; usually people took no time to start honking. Maybe the early morning commuters were nicer and more patient, but that notion was promptly dismissed as silly optimism and tossed to the wind. Of course not, that driver was just a miraculous rarity.

The gangly fellow flicked his head to the side, shaking his disracted thoughts away, and vainly attempting to toss his bangs from his face. This girl… she mentioned a name. Argolos? Who the hell was that? And what about his jewelry? He wasn’t wearing that much; fourteen piercings and a pair of dog tags was hardly anything at all. At least he didn’t pierce his face, too. Those just got ridiculous way too fast. The word ‘ceremony’ quickly derailed his indignant internal reasoning, shoving it aside and plopping down on top of his head. Ceremony? Though he failed to realize it, he echoed the thought with his mouth in the next instant.

“…Ceremony?” He sounded vaguely incredulous. “Why the hell would I perform any kind of ceremony in the middle of the Suroxus shit-stain?” he blurted out, unable to refrain from saying it. “I didn’t think people even did that anymore.”

[Cosmos]

The man needed not a reminder of the vehicle behind him, as he had indeed heard its obnoxious halt, yet it didn't register in his mind that perhaps he should take action until the long-eared lad called out to them. As if he didn't already feel stupid enough. Calmly, he grabbed ahold of the avian's saddle and made his way back onto the sidewalk.

She managed to release the beginning of a happy call before her beak was promptly shut by a single grey-gloved hand. Clearly she and her master had different opinions on conspicuousness.
"No, bird," he said quietly, "We are going to be quiet, and nobody is going to notice us, am I clear?"
The bird let out a soft whir and gave a gentle flap of her short wings. Her keeper looked highly malcontent, as there was no way he could avoid any of these people now. A vampire and a giant black bird did not make the best duo when it came to blending in, but he hoped if they both remained well-behaved then the others would think nothing of it.

[Jiron]

Chess-pieces went flying in an array of action as what could only be described as a small horde of hooligans went crashing their way out from a nearby building and into a number of tables. A few of these tables held patrons sitting at them, but the others remained empty. There were two ringleaders to this small geezer brigade, the first of which stood taller than any of the others there and was trailed behind with a flowing oversized safety-green overcoat.

With a boisterous laugh that rasped as sandpaper on stone the young man snatched up a chair from beneath a stranger. The second ringleader, a youth with a deep navy glyph carved upon the right of his face and flamboyantly brilliant pink hair, let out a whoop and a holler, hopping atop a table before down off the other side. Their troops followed close in tow, shoving and laughing. One of the group kept a thin long toothpick of a cigarette pinched between his lips. Every now and again streams of smoke snuck out of his nostrils like twin snakes.

Giving a circular wave of the claimed chair the safety-green clad youth began to lead the group down the street....




Dark conic ears, shorter than any dragon's, twitched. Scarlet mahogany flickered upwards, but not towards the avian and its vampiric compatriot...but towards the noisy delinquents that were barreling down at herself and her conversationalistic street-side person of who, incidentally, remained unnamed to her.

One of the boys pointed with a leer, "OI! S'THE DOG!"

The tufted longhaired tail that escaped the woman's sarong twitched around into a question mark, her voice a point of logic as it dripped past her lips, "They seem unsavory..."

[Kaidona]

The moment those unruly voices clamored through the area and into the street, the dark-haired lad stiffened, stomping his formerly aloft foot to the ground with a sharp clack. Whatever the lass had said was lost to him as there, at the end of the road, burst a horde of faces he wished he didn’t recognize. Amid the call that rose from the swarm, like a battle cry, heterochromatic eyes darted first towards the lycanthrope, around the vicinity, and then towards the oddly dressed lass, hoping—for a brief, silly moment—that ‘dog’ meant someone else. The next noise that assaulted his side-pricked ears, the sharp screech of a huge avian, drove the nail of dreaded certainty deep into his mind, and without another moment’s hesitation, even to see what else came around the corner, the pale boy whirled about on his heels with a sharp jangle, dashing down the street towards the nearest alley.

Within the breath, a dark, brindle-striped animal, tall as an elephant to the shoulder, tore around the corner on clawed forelimbs and feet, scratching the road loudly as the length of a whip-like tail lashed about to counterbalance. Six horns crowned its ridge-maned head, against which equine ears flattened, while featureless eyes glared after the pack of miscreants. It wore the wicked hook of a raptor, a sleek body, and a long neck, whose slender form had lowered towards the road, making observation from atop its back much easier, and the heels of the boys ahead of it much closer to range.

A thin woman sat atop this giant hunter, leather reins held tightly in gloved fingers, no saddle beneath her. She wore a navy uniform, trimmed in silver, with a dragon and wolf embroidered to her breast in the form of an insignia. A solitary epaulette sat atop her right shoulder, comprised of the colorful feathers borne by tropical birds, and her other, set with a steel pauldron, carried a stringed longbow over it. Silver hair, waist-length, had been bound in a braid, flittering in the wake of momentum, where a stray feather or two deigned to join it for a fleeting moment upon loosing from the flight appendages cutting through the air.

Startlingly dark eyes, seemingly of onyx, squinted down the road towards the gaggle of hooligans, while tightly clenched hands shifted on the reins, suddenly yanking on them.

The avian-faced animal, following the flow of traffic and a quarter of the way down the street, abruptly lifted its head, wheeled its attention around to the side, and then suddenly veered towards the far side, despite the car approaching from the opposite direction. It took no heed, even as distressed honking quickly polluted the air, until, just as it seemed certain the beast would stomp down atop the frail-looking hood, it leapt effortlessly over the vehicle and resumed chase down the wide sidewalk.

[Cosmos]

A still second had put the lupine on alert even before the sudden burst of a raucous chorus before him. His ears snapped upright and his gaze quickly turned to face the band of delinquents as they made their entrance. He growled; trouble for trouble's sake was nigh intolerable to him, however, he did not see the need to stick his nose into the whole ordeal quite yet. He couldn't help but have a small bit of regret for coming to this place, as this pathetic example of trying to be intimidating was the most interesting thing he'd seen so far. At least in Tiburon even the worthless little troublemakers wore dark colors.

His steed held a similar mindset, though she too had poised herself for conflict. Large clawed feet braced themselves beneath a bowed head, her eyes and beak taking on a sharpened appearance, and her aura of innocent excitement quickly turning to that of a confident warrior. Elegant black armor, decorated with the occasional spike and even a pair of horns, had done wonders in turning a timid creature into one that enjoyed the idea of battle. One of the hooligans called out the girl just down the street, and the bird took a step forward.

The vampire was half-way into reaching for her saddle when the shrill cry of an avian bore into his ears. He blinked, and looked at his own mount for a second, and as proud as he would have been to hear such a noise coming from his little prodigy, her beak had most certainly remained closed. The fast-approaching sound of claws against asphalt again caused both heads to turn. The lycanthrope gave an exasperated grunt; did they really need to send something so elaborate after such a petty little gang? Obviously he was assuming things, but the ornate woman atop the birdlike creature looked exactly like an authority figure of this city would look like. Wearing a scowl, the lupine reduced himself to watching for the moment, and his firm grasp on his own avian's saddle would make sure she did the same.

[Jiron]

Almost draconic ears flattened back to the flow of chestnut hair. The young woman watched not the unrulies, but the jewelry-clad male who had, for lack of a better word, bolted. A curious pouty frown found its way to her face and she stomped a foot with a boisterous clack.

The group of ruffians had quite easily taken to chase the boy, even before noticing their own predator which, to be perfectly honest, scared them only as much as the petite female sitting atop its back. That said...they were bloody terrified of the slender woman. Perhaps more scared of the female in control of the mount than the beak-faced creature itself.

The group quickly disappeared into the alleyway behind the 'dog' boy...only to find a fate quite as worrying as the mounted officer. Their feet spun about in their tracks, and they were soon bursting back into the street and scattering. A few of the youths let out whoops and hollars while others still made more frightened noises.

"I suddenly feel more insignifigant now than I did an hour ago..." scarlet tinted brown eyes blinked and a raggedly tufted tail swished and flickered out the slits in the girl's sarong. Lifting a calloused hand to brush back the tangle of hair atop her head she glanced about, the look of a child suddenly lost in the supermarket crossing her features.




Elsewhere in the city metalic cobalt caught the wind as the man beneath the silken mop help open the doorway for the slender slip of a woman. She wore what was in fashion, not qutie as tastefully elegant as her male companion's velvet and lace, but certainly eyecatching. He would admit, if to no one but himself, that if she didn't churn his stomach so much he would just as well respect that beauty. His mouth went dry.

This ran deeper than hate.

If she was merely a slender beauty he would have followed the path of the man who had trained him...but she wasn't merely a little tart, easily crushed. She fought back, and hard. No, this mistress required a touch of finess.

He watched her with a mirror-like scarlet gaze as her own eyes adjusted to the light of the world beyond their hotel. She was one who enjoyed the bustle of the pollutants of the world, one who lived from one room to the next, one city to the next...partaking of the viles of the world with carefree jubulations and denying any such repricussions that would to any other person chase them down the next day.

She stepped past him, fingertips brushing the soft velvet that hid his stomach. He sucked in a sharp breath, then cursed himself silently. Now she was watching him. A spark of amusement flickered in her eyes, savage joy.

He straightened his shoulders, holding up an arm in the fashion of a gentleman. If Youri was here...what would HE do?

That was no question at all...This single woman wouldn't have stood a chance in hell against a sick fuck like Youri. He shook out his hair, clearing his head. It was best not to think about the man. He was too dangerous to think about unless one was prepared to come face to face with him.

With a deep breath the cobalt haired man stepped down the sidewalk, a clearly amused woman on his arm as though she were going to a ball in her own honor. This was going to be a long...looooong day.

[Kaidona]

Heavy boots clomped loudly and rapidly through thin pedestrian traffic and across vehicular traffic, while long Shepherd-like ears watched the hungered pursuit that mismatched eyes could not. The alley was close. Leaping for the opposite sidewalk, the pasty-faced boy dove inside it, fully intending to dart out the other end, only to find himself greeted not only with a chain-linked fence, but one that had been layered on the other side with a green barrier. The very same, horrid, ugly green barrier that made it nigh impossible to climb before distances were closed and his efforts to remain something other than a casualty became for naught.

Orbs of sapphire and ochre widened in horror at the oppressive wall towering before him, while frantic legs scrabbled to a halt and wheeled him around; chest heaving, he hurriedly surveyed his circumstances. The road beyond the alley mouth was still empty. A soft black lip twisted in an awful sneer, huffing breaths shuddering with wheezing sniggers. His speed was his advantage. He carried more weight, yielding them more stamina at greater distances, but in a sprint-yard dash, those slowpokes had nothing on him.

The galloping beast behind the hooligan pack slowed to a trot as its minute rider drew the longbow off her shoulder. Long wings, of such an abysmal black as to consume the light around them, pressed back, while a vambraced arm reached down and withdrew an arrow from a quiver strapped to her thigh, and then gloved fingers swiftly yanked the metalloid head free of the otherwise pointed shaft. Notching said arrow, the silver-haired woman cocked the bow and raised it, slowly pulling it taut as she followed the boys across the street with the feathered shaft’s naked tip.

A guttural rumble, as though rising from the very depths of hell, greeted the very first miscreants barreling into the alley. Whiskered black stretched jagged rows of ivory bare, milky slate and amber—perhaps more of a cream—ringed with fiendish scarlet glared voraciously at them, while large conic ears flattened back, and heavy hackles shuddered, raised. There was but a moment to let the baleful sight register, before those terrible jaws parted, and as the horde of pseudo-thugs scrambled to scatter, a horrendous sound—not quite snarl, not quite roar—pounded the walls of the alley and rippled out into the street.

Then a monstrously large animal, broad-shouldered, huge-pawed, long-tailed, with a tapering body and what looked like a wide, heavy-framed wolf head, entirely black, lunged out in fast pursuit, its massive jaws snapping in a rapid stream of thunderously hostile barks. Mammoth paws veered it around to charge after one of the ringleaders.

A soft curse bit the air, a silver-topped head whipping about to pinpoint each member of the scattering parties, before bow and drawn arrow raised higher, took aim, and loosed for a retreating calve. The moment that hand was freed, it groped for the brindle hunter’s reins, and upon finding them, yanked them. A bewildered growl shuddered out of the brute’s throat as the very gesture reared it back a pace, but she paid it no mind, instead drawing a leg up atop its shoulder, raising herself into a crouch, and, spreading abyssal-feathered wings, leaping off its back.

“By the order of the Atolier Knights,” she shouted on the way down, still gripping the longbow in hand, “I order you to stop this instant!” A harsh wing-beat later, booted feet slammed into the road, a hand snatched for another arrow, and the giant beside the officer shuffled to resume chase. “Lest I fire again, or Akojoria pierces your ankles!”

[Cosmos]

The avian grew restless; it had been quite a while since she got to kick anything. Her head swayed and her short wings were drawn out and quickly pulled back in on occasion. All she really knew for the moment is that there were some bad people moving around a little ways down the street, and bad people usually got themselves kicked. Her master, though less bellicose, was growing tired of simply standing around himself. Ragtag wannabe troublemakers could kick over all the trashcans and defile all of the public buildings they wanted, but when they started doing things like chasing after people, well, that's the point he got mad.

Swiftly, he flipped himself onto the back of his mount, the large bird completely unbothered by the sudden weight. She too knew his intentions, and with the high-pitched cry of a dromeosaur, she took to her feet. The lycanthrope could have just as easily taken off and ran alongside her, as his body's lifelessness offered him no stamina to lose, but even at his fastest sprint he was no match for his prized blue-ribbon racing bird. She was quite prepared to do a great deal of ramming, kicking, and even pecking if need be, however, as the two of them came upon the scene she was instantly ordered to stop by means of a tug on the handle of her saddle. She had been so intent on fighting that the stop itself was rather harsh, and it took a great deal of balance for her rider to prevent himself from toppling frontwards.

He had navigated himself into a previously open escape path, and the look on his face was anything but content. Inwardly he slapped himself for even thinking he could show anything off here. The amalgamation of horrid animal sounds had caused him to completely disregard the giant wolf-like creature until he saw the beast protruding from the alleyway, and even that looked a bit more dignified than a giant bird that fancied itself a raptor. Nevertheless, he sat observant, disallowing his wavering confidence to be shown, and for now, left the situation in the hands of the winged woman. He was curious to see how the drawing of attention to herself by dismounting would pan out.

[Jiron]

The sizable group that had scattered had done so in four sections, as if to confuse not the knight-woman that had been chasing them but the intimately angry creature of which they had found in the alleyway. One of the four subgroups chased the path of the youth in the brilliantly colored jacket, of whom found himself moving into a crowd at the crossroads and ducking in. He seemed quite accustomed to the act of skirting away such predators. In just a moment's time he had peeled off his jacket and reversed it, letting the nightly black velvet interior encase him as a stranger. Yes, he did know how to blend into a crowd. The rest of those behind him froze at the woman knight's voice, a few hands even rose in the air as if to show they were thusly unarmed. The three there slowly turned, not quite sure where that kid with the jacket had managed to escape, and took that moment to try and find him with little glances.

The second group stopped short the moment the brunette in front stumbled to his face, an un-headed arrow sticking clear into the back of his right calve. The four around him turned at the yelp of sudden violent pain, and the one nearest him, a boy with thin tinted glasses and ruffled feather-laden hair, paled. "Augh! B-b-blood!?!" And with nothing more to say the boy...fainted?

It would seem so.

The brunette was staring in the direction of the Knight. He was horrified, "YOU SHOT ME!"

"BIRD!" The two boys that comprised of the third group were, indeed, heading straight out and at the avian and her master. It was the one in back who had yelled out what he thought was a warning to the one in front. The one in front, however, did -not- understand the meaning of it until he was quite literally face-to-beak with the creature. Willowy arms pin wheeled about, trying to throw the body they were connected to backwards and away from the creature, and from his lips he screamed. The lad behind him, startled by the scream, yelped and stumbled back, landing rather harshly upon his derričre.

The first group was slowly inching their way towards the second, their hands submissively held high and their heads hanging a little lower than normal. One of them muttered to another as they neared, his voice somewhat timid in its pre-pubescence, "Don't tell my mom!"

"Forget your MOM! Don't tell my DAD! He'll kick all our asses!" Came the sudden but harsh reply from another, of which there rested a moment of silent agreement.

The fourth group that had split and run wasn't a group, but simply the other ring-leader. The unnatural haired lad moved as if there were a fire coiling behind him, and there might as well have been. The nightly black beast was fast on his heels and he was cursing just how often this scenario managed to fall upon him.

That thought, however, was as far as it would get this day, because it was as he burst into a back alley of which the predator behind him would catch up and, like usual, the skirmish would end painfully, but not fatally.

Back where the rest of the group--save for the lad with the jacket--were awaiting their reprimands there were still two boys down. The one with the arrow in his leg, and the one who was quite literally all a-faint. The former of the two was gritting his teeth and reaching for another of those long thin cigarettes, "I can't believe you SHOT ME!"

The latter of the two, laying not too far off on his back, had a dazed expression lost in his features and a tiny dribble of drool escaped the corner of his pale thin lips.



Left behind the hesitant young woman stepped half into the road, her head tilting slightly as curious scarlet-mahogany eyes blinked. The cli-clop of each step announcing her timid arrival a few moments after the burst of motion had been expended. Her eyes scanned those there, but the lad she had been speaking to was no where to be seen. The mixture of draconic and feline ears flattened back against the untamed nest of hair and her brows furrowed.

Hesitantly said female was moving towards the fellow on mount. "Um..."-she looked once more for the boy she had been speaking to, then quietly cleared her throat-"...excuse me? Have you seen the boy I was talking to?"

[Kaidona]

Ignoring both canid beast and striped brute alike, the pale-faced woman intently watched the majority of her perpetrators gather into her range, those abysmal eyes sharp, rebuking. As delicate hands plucked another arrowhead free and notched another shaft into the bow, her attention darted around to the lad voicing his distress over being shot, her features a cold scowl.

“I warned you what would happen if I caught you lot—” she began, only for a startled screech to entirely interrupt her thought and drag her gaze aloft to the road ahead.

Further down, scratching frantically, Akojoria, the hunter she had been riding just moments previous, had nearly run headlong into mounted avian and lycanthrope alike. Crying in its displeasure toward the very notion, it had made the best effort it could to stop short of the pair, however found itself instead trying to compensate for its excessive lingering momentum with a valiant leap over them. Much to the dismay of not only itself, however, the endeavor instead ended with the brute tripping on the immense bird and her rider, toppling forward, and slamming shoulder-first into the pavement, to which it squawked rather loudly in protest.

The winged knight, lost in the small disaster playing out ahead of her, stood slack-jawed, the previous thought half out her throat falling away and back into obscurity. She seemed frozen, unmoving for a long several moments, until the snarl-laden sounds of the second escapee being mauled echoed out of one of the other alleys, and she roughly shook her head. Just one day. Just one. Without something going horrendously awry. It was all she asked. Was that too much?

“I warned you what would happen if I caught you lot under my pursuit again,” she reminded the arrow-bearing lad after a brief clearing of her throat. “I was not bluffing,” she added, raising her attention to the rest of the remaining miscreant party. “As soon as Akojo recovers himself, every one of you is coming back with me to my post. Threat still standing, I expect a considerable lack of resistance. Do I make myself clear?”