Jardins des Tuileries (Strawberry)

[Lady Thorn]

Émile looked morosely at the pond. There were swans there, swimming around disconsolately and occasionally looking at him strangely, but the whole atmosphere of the place was one of dull and dreary boredom. But he was tempted, all the same, to shift into a swan and join his feathered brethren. Paris was getting on his nerves today. There was no one to talk to here.
But there were people here, just no one he felt the least inclination to care about. It was, quite frankly, beginning to annoy him.
When the last couple of wanderers disappeared, he just gave in to temptation and changed. There was a shiver of pain through his muscles and bones as her forced himself to change outside of the moonlight, but that drifted away and was replaced by the euphoria of being naked in a public place and no one caring, and that of being able to fly.
He slid into the water with barely a ripple, watching the other swans flee in terror, their breakfast now littering the waterways. God he loved that trick.
Turning his slender neck to give the bank a last look of derision, he was startled to see a person there. He gave a honk of surprise, his grey, cygnet-esque feathers shivering with something that wasn't the breeze.
DAMNIT. He couldn't be seen. He hated the bit where he got chased out of a city by a mob. And it meant he had to leave all his stuff behind too. He could do without that.
But despite any supernatural abilities, he wasn't exactly a formidable foe in battle, even for a human. Sure, he could break a man's arm, but man could run rather quickly when the fancy took it. So he sat there, bobbing in the water in a very un-menacing fashion, waiting for bad things to happen.

[strawberry]

Strawberry had been sitting by the pond in the shallows of the reeds, quite hidden by human eyes unless one really looked at the pond. She was wearing an outfit of complete green, a low v necked top with a pair of green jeans to match. One reason why no one would think to look for her was that she was halfway in the reeds, quite wet herself laying on a rather large stone though still small enough for her to be not quite comfortable. In her lap she had a bag of swan treats they were just pellets but she had to admit that they were pretty good. She had been tossing some to the babies until their parents scooped them up and moved away.

She was quite startled by a loud honk though she shouldn't be. "You're a nice swan, scaring away all the others"

[/b] Strawberry muttered though she knew that the swan couldn't understand her. She could make them understand her if she transformed into a swan but she was unable to turn anytime she pleased, instead the moon held her, unlike her sister who turned into a lion any time she pleased. Perhaps Strawberry's inability to turn whenever she wanted to was because of fear, she always had to perch on top shelves if not to be eaten by her sister or other larger were animals. Strawberry dug her hand into the bag and tossed some treats for the swans who were currently leaving, hoping they would stay for the food; and then she helped herself to a few swan treats.

She didn't know why she had come to Paris. Maybe because her sister always wanted to visit, maybe because they deserved a treat. But any place felt sick to Strawberry when she couldn't communicate with other swans. It was perhaps another curse, she spent all her time just gazing at swans. You would really think she was an old and retired woman with a billion birds. "No treats for you!"[/b] Strawberry said in a pretend angry voice as she opened her mouth and perfectly imitated the honk the swan had just given. She laughed to herself knowing perfectly well what Raspberry would say - something about her not roaring all the time like a lion in human form though she could.

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[Lady Thorn]

Émile was startled by the honk, so startled in fact that he did what he always did when he was worried, and changed back into a human. It always seemed to others like a stupid panic reflex, but he'd found he could deal with problems so much better as a man, with hands and opposable thumbs and the ability to shout at people. Honking didn't achieve much.
But it was only when he had changed that he realised how stupid a move it had been. He was now standing waist-deep in dirty water and looking at a girl dressed all in green sitting in the reeds. He felt incredibly foolish. And soggy.
Thankfully, he didn't naturally blush easily, and so just stood there awkwardly for a time, looking at her and wondering what to do. Or say. He could always change back into a swan and fly off, but then he'd have no one to talk to, and frankly, he needed conversation today. She was quite pretty, anyway... maybe he could try to chat her up... though she looked a bit young.
"Um... hello..." he managed, looking vaguely sheepish while still standing there. He ran a hand through his hair in a vague agitation impulse, making it a bit damp and causing it to stick up in soggy spikes. Lovely.
The latent worry of being chased out of the city was still haunting his brain.
"Did you... see that?" he asked, hopefully. Maybe she'd missed it... been looking away... something... anything.

[strawberry]

Strawberry got her laughs from perfectly imitating a swan. She would just do it out in public sometimes and people would look around for the cause of the noise, she always burst out in fits of giggles and people would just assume she found the noise hilarious. Ever since her first shift at the age of five years old, now being sixteen she could do a fair swan impression. Her eyes opened wide as the swan transformed into a man, she arched her back high and it cracked. Strawberry couldn't believe her eyes so her mouth was left gaping open from pure shock. The man was knee deep in the irky water and he just stood there. Did he just accidental un-shift?

She felt the box of swan treats slip from her grasp and she caught them easily and placed them on her lap, still a bit speechless. Mouth still open she took a deep breath of air and then exhaled as the man spoke. "H--h--hello"

[/b], she finally spoke. She nodded her head, how could she not see that? "Y--you're a were swan too?"[/b] she found herself asking a bit hesitant. Ever since she turned at a young age she thought that she'd been the only one until her sister turned into a lion, which led the two girls to believe that creatures were out there among them. Of course this was the first time she'd spoken to another swan. And then there was the fact that other were animals tried to eat her.
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[Lady Thorn]

Too...?
Ah... that would explain it. He felt a little less foolish now at having transformed in front of another person, but only a little. He would never have guessed she was a were swan, but then, you never could. And they weren't exactly common. On that note, he looked at her again, properly this time, wondering if he might have run across her in the past. Something about her was faintly familiar, but nothing upon which he could put his finger. Nothing concrete. There was just a vague sense in the back of his mind that he had run across this girl before... strange.
But, he thought, as he dragged his mind back from its wanderings, right now he was standing hip-deep in what could only charitably be described as water, and perhaps it would be expedient to remove himself. With much slurping of mud and squelching of ruined shoes, he extracted himself, now rather bedraggled and trailing some duckweed. Not his normal, pristine self at all.
Only when he had flopped down on the bank, emptying water from his shoes, did he reply to her question.
"Yes, I am, and by your question I would presume so are you. Charmed to meet you, my name is Émile... and what may I call you, Madamoiselle?" He leaned over to offer his hand politely. His accent, he noticed, had become more pronounced by his time in France, but he was still crisp and clear in his English. Thankfully.

[strawberry]

Strawberry was running through a mixture of emotions. Should she be sad or glad that she wasn't the only swan in the world? She had found another. In some ways it felt special to be the only one but then there was always the knowledge that you weren't different, somewhere out there, someone was just like you, a swan; though she couldn't help but feel saddened for her sister, for she had not ever seen another lion as the likes of herself. They had never really looked for others like themselves for they had no need, they had each other and that was and always would be enough for them.

She watched trying to make her face as emotionless as possible, for it would not be polite to laugh, as her fellow swan made his way out of the water only fit for birds and the likes of said persons trying to fish. Of course had the water been truly unfit for drinking then she would already be six feet under having taken a drink of the merky water the moment she got to the pond realizing the absence of her water bottle. Her motto was, if it's good enough for fish, it's good enough for me. Her eyes paid careful attention to his shoes and then she realized he was still clothed! Strawberry had been prepared to avert her eyes, though now she was making a note to ask him how he transformed with his clothing still intact.

Strawberry moved off of the bank and stood up, the knees of her shoes were muddy and her pants legs were quite drenched. She lifted up each pant leg to take note upon her skin. It was there that she found it, a leach. Her spine shivered from the likes of these as she pondered upon how to tackle this foulsome beast. Everything she ever encountered wanted to eat her. She made a little honk noise by accident, being so startled as to hear a full conversation. In all honesty, she been expecting someone who was a native French speaker who knew a bit of English, but now she found herself talking to someone who knew English.

She took Émile's hand and shook it. As the man had an accent, she would have an 'American accent' though she thought of herself with no accent at all. Strawberry would simply put, speak like an American. "I'm Strawberry,"

[/b] she said simply unaware of what else to say. She had never really dreamed of meeting another swan such as herself so she hadn't given a moments thought of what to say if she found herself talking to one.


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