The Sound of Freedom || Open

[araynia]

[/size]

[jay]

The park was dark and full of mysterious shadows, but Jay didn’t let that stop him as he bravely entered the famous area, pulling his jacket tighter around himself against the chilly night. He wrinkled his nose slightly, in a bad mood.
The little gig tonight had lasted longer than he had expected, and he had already missed one his favorite soaps from the TV, a ridiculous play with mistaken identities and missing parents and switched babies. Jay thought the program was absolutely hideous in its lousiness, and he watched it every time. Except for tonight, apparently. Damnit.

He heard some shuffling noises from the bushes to his left, but ignored them, absently feeling a syringe in his pocket and a tiny bottle in another. Any attacker would be in for a surprise if they would try anything with Jay, possibly lethal one depending on his state of mind.

Apparently even the fact that a person who walks alone in a dark park on nighttime cannot possibly be harmless didn’t stop some types, however. A youngish man with shaggy colorless hair stepped in front of Jay, demanding money in slurring voice. Jay felt briefly worried and then rather annoyed, since he had hoped to get home without incidents.
For a moment, he thought he saw a large dog in darkness of the park too, but he shook the idea off. This wasn't exactly a time for people to be walking their dogs.
No, now he should concentrate on the obviously drunk man in front of him, waving a knife in vaguely threatening way.

[araynia]

[/b] a pleasant scent in large doses. Shaking off, as if that would shake off the scent, the petite wolf crept forward towards the edge of the forest line. Gazing with silver eyes at the drunken man the wolf's eyes widened a bit at the site of the knife he was waving at another humans. Shesh, and the humans were horrified at the site of her kind, had they ever taken the time to look at themselves? Honestly, that annoyed her a bit, that they viewed her kind as monsters.

Growling at the human waving the knife she couldn't help the slightly protective urge that overcame her. Rayne supposed she was unique in the way she enjoyed a good brawl especially if it meant helping a person. She growled a bit louder the second time, lunging out of the trees, the flash of black and silver crashed into the drunken man, sending him stumbling. She stood in between the two humans, growling still, a low and angry sound. Rayne's hackles were raised and the rather human eyes glittered angrily. Awaiting the drunken idiots response, her eyes flashed to the other human curiously. Was there a chance he was in the wrong here, the drunk one, she flicked her ears musing over this?

It was harder to control her urges when she took this form, her body was screaming that she finish what she'd began. But, her more human mind was telling her that that would cause unnecessary trouble, even if she could be mistaken for a dog. Humans usually lost it a bit when one of their own was murdered by humans. She remembered Ireland very well, there were no more wolves there. The last one was rumored to have died some one hundred years ago. Co-incidentally right around the time her family had been killed and she'd left home. That wouldn't happen here, but she would be willing to help out people, even if it ended up causing trouble for her. Besides life was boring without taking some chances.[/ul][/size]

[jay]

Jay had been just about to do something, whether it was to sniff disdainfully or calm the would-be mugger with a face full of pepper spray he discovered from his inside pocket, (He should really check everything he carried around more often.) when something entirely perplexing happened.

The drunken man took a step towards him, and suddenly there was this thing, this large animal jumping out of the bushes, like a lighting with a fur, pushing the man back and stopping between Jay and his mugger, growling in a low voice.
Jay and the other man both took a step back, as if choreographed, and then drunken man stared at the animal. (Dog? No, wait, it was a wolf. Probably. Jay wasn’t good at identifying these things. Anyway, it was big and growling and that was enough for him.) Then the drunken attacker made a strangled sound at the back of his throat, clawing his eyes with one dirty hand… and dropped the knife and run off. Probably drunk out of his mind and thinking this was just another hallucination, the poor bastard.

This left Jay with a problem. He was now alone with a large, wolf-like animal in a quiet nightly park. He had never been good with animals to begin with, something in his smell (Probably all the chemicals.) never having been too appealing to them. Briefly, suddenly, his mind flashed back to his mother, and her tiny, yapping animals, dogs as she called them, hair things with various ribbons tied to them and the eyes of pure beady evil. Jay never got along with those animals. Mother took them with her when she left, something he and his father were endlessly thankful for.

Involuntarily, he took another step away from the wolf, eyes narrowing in concentration as he slipped a hand inside his coat pocket. Let the animal try and attack him. Jay was in no mood to play.

[araynia]

[/size]

[jay]

Warily, Jay kept an eye on the wolf, while wondering absently if pepper spray worked on animals just as well as on humans. Probably yes. Oh what was he thinking, of course it did. He was just wondering if he should test it for real, when the animal did something odd: It sat down, regarding Jay with something that could only be called amusement.

Jay felt a moment of coldness at the bottom of his stomach: His father had started out with hallucinations. He took another step back, hastily. The wolf lied down on its belly and wagged its tail, though there was something behind the playful act that seemed almost annoyed. Jay felt the beginning of hysteria prodding the corners of his mind, and firmly forced it back down.

“Oh no you don’t,” he muttered vehemently, glaring at the wolf. “You are not some goddamn magical animal with good intentions, don’t even think about it. You are a wolf. Not a happy creature of the forest. Stop that.”

Backing up, (If he just could escape back to his apartment and have a nice up of tea, everything would be all right! All right!) Jay failed to notice the edge between the trail and the grass, suddenly falling backwards on the soft grass, the yelp of surprise stifled because of the air escaping from his lungs.

[araynia]

[/i] She huffed again, laughter causing her eyes too dance once more.

The sound of his yelp brought her out of her laugher as he tumbled backwards, resuming her human form now that he couldn't see her fully, she took a moment to fix her garments. The black dress she usually wore on her days off, slid back into it's proper shape easily. Moving with the same fluid ease she had before, she approached the youth. (She said youth because she was most likely five times his age with ease, though she looked barely nineteen.) Pushing back black and silver hair, she knelt next to the boy, silver eyes expressing a bit of worry.

"Are you alright?" her voice was a bit husky from lack of use, but her slight French accent had disoriented it a bit already so it didn't make a big difference, "I saw you fall, are you hurt?" It was strange to be so casual to a human, but he hadn't seen her, she was fairly certain about that, so she wasn't too worried. Moving back the silver streaked strands of black hair, Rayne stood and offered the boy a pale hand. It felt weird being so careful and wary, but as usual she was armed and it wasn't good for people to see weapons, it typically freaked them out. Especially when they saw such a petite young woman who looked as if she couldn't harm a fly, they found it strange, though it amused her.[/ul][/size]

[jay]

Squirming to get the full of control of his limbs, Jay finally managed to rise up in some kind of a half-sitting position, half-heartedly patting his pockets to see no bottles or syringes were broken… only to come face to face with a woman. Jay blinked, dazed.
She wasn’t there before.
The wolf was gone, as if by magic. (Don’t think about it!)
...The woman and the wolf had a connection? (Do not go there!)

Jay opened and closed his mouth a few times, staring at the young woman, vaguely aware that she had said something before but too distracted to review what it was. He ignored the hand offered to him, sitting fully up. As if this night hadn’t been embarrassing enough.
“You…and the wolf,” he said slowly, trying to piece it all together in his head. A slight note of hysteria crept into his voice. No sign of the wolf anywhere. It couldn’t have just gone away like that. He could not have imagined it, since he was sane, sane! He realized he should stop thinking with exclamation marks.

“Please tell me that you and the wolf are not the same person,” he said in a low voice, staring at the woman. Admittedly, a pretty young woman, as he could see now when he looked carefully, not the type of person usually associated with people who turned to animals and back. She had long black hair and silvery eyes, (Which rang a bell somewhere in Jay’s mind.) and she was about the same height as Jay. Of course, the idea of finding someone attractive was completely foreign to Jay, but even he could tell if someone was or not. He shrugged the thought off, though, returning to more dire matters, mainly his sanity.

[araynia]

[/i] the dark haired girl stiffened a bit, pale fingers clenching into a fist, the smile however stayed perfectly in place, never faltering. Please tell me that you and the wolf are not the same person. This time even her smile faltered briefly before returning fully. "Oh, please, you mean the dog that was there? I think I scared it off, animals have never had a particular love of me." The last bit was a blatant lie, well... not really, animals tended to regard her with a careful eye, not trusting the wolf she could become.

"I was going to say you seemed to be fine, but maybe you hit your head? A small concussion perhaps?" she spoke carefully, though certain words were still articulated by her sweet meridian French accent. Moving one warm hand to his arm, this time she tugged gently, an indicator he should stand. It was namely to see if the youth was alright, and not damaged, some times it was hard to remember how fragile humans could be. Though she managed to injure herself regularly too, the last time had been several days ago, she'd gotten a knife wound to her leg. It had hurt, but she'd gotten over it and still managed to get away with the item she'd been hired to steal. She was just that good, though no one would ever believe that was her career choice, so it worked well for her. Her thoughts returning to the human, she tugged on his arm again, a bit impatiently this time.[/ul][/size]

[jay]

A concussion? This all could be explained by simple knock on the head? Jay would have thanked whatever god was listening if it weren’t for the fact that he didn’t actually believe in any deities. A concussion!
“The animal looked more like a wolf and a dog,” he muttered, touching his head. It didn’t’ feel like he hit it, but who knows? Maybe the pain would come later on. Possibly. Hmm…

“Could be concussion,” he said, this time a bit more doubtfully. The young woman didn’t seem like the type of person to scare off a big animal like he had seen. And it had all happened so quickly. Jay felt there was more to this than the woman was letting on, his eternal distrust to every being coming to his aid in this, but his thoughts were interrupted when he felt someone touch his arm.

Jay pulled back, vaguely horrified, and before he could stop her, the woman was tugging his arm again. He crawled backwards away from her, scrambling up quickly.
“There is no need to get touchy,” he scoffed, annoyed and dusted his clothes. Then he realized he was over-reacting, once again, to a simple touch and grimaced mentally, running a hand through his hair and looking at the woman.
“I mean,” he started but decided not to start explaining.
“Excuse me. I’m a little hassled right now. Didn’t mean to be rude,” he muttered. A sudden impulse made him actually step forward and offer his hand swiftly.
“Jay Bangs. I suppose I should say thank you.”

[araynia]

[/i] caused a spark of amusement to appear in her liquid mercury eyes, and her lips twitched in delight. That was fantastic, someone who thought she looked like a wolf and not same damned mutt. Clapping her hands in delight, she froze and gained back her composure with a simple flick of her silky black hair. "Perhaps you were right, I'm just see animals," the girl shrugged indifferently, as if it meant nothing to her, though the joyful glow from her smile and eyes said otherwise.

Could be concussion He sounded doubtful now, no pain perhaps? Well she had two choices here, the first would be to knock the boy on the head and give him the damned concussion... there was the wolf part of her speaking again, going with the second option she spoke again, softly and more gently this time, "There's no pain? Perhaps it simply takes time for the pain to settle in, sometimes the shock of it all puts the pain off." She hoped he would buy that, it would make things much simpler, and less of a hassle on her rather paranoid nerves.

When he ripped himself free of her, her cheeks flushed red showing her flustered and embarrassed reaction, There is no need to get touchy. I mean, Excuse me. I’m a little hassled right now. Didn’t mean to be rude. Jay Bangs. I suppose I should say thank you. Bowing lightly and giving a muttered apology, the girl withdrew into her usual couldn't give a damn personality. Though his thanks took her by surprise, she eyed his offered hand with a wary eye and suspicion evident in her sharp silver gaze. "I was just helping out a huma- person in need. Just trying to be helpful and polite to strangers." Her tone had turned a little sharper, though there was still that warm and sweet girl with the slight French accent in the undertone, "I go by Rayne Aya Selene. Most call me Raynie though."[/ul][/size]

[jay]

First she seemed happy and then cold? Women. People, in fact, since Jay believed in hating everyone equally.
"I'm not exactly the expert of animals either," he muttered.

Jay pulled his hand back when the woman, Rayne didn’t take it, trying not to show his relief. Touching people or people touching him tended to be so…difficult for him. Still, he had done the polite and the sane thing and offered his hand, which make him feel better, absurdly. He almost felt sort of respect towards the woman's suspicious reaction to his hand. He could understand that.

“A pleasure, if rather unexpected one, to meet you, Miss Selene,” he said slowly, his brain trying to work out the mystery while his mouth moved. He hadn’t hit his head, he was pretty sure of that, since there was no pain, nor did it feel like there would be. Someone was lying here. It wasn't him.
Vaguely he noticed the slightly frosty tone in the accented speech, but shrugged it off. People never tended to like him very much. That was usually at least partly his own fault, but he didn’t care. They started it first and he just gave it all back. He figured that it would be good to be polite, though. There was something odd about the woman which made Jay a little wary. Like she could lash out any minute.

“I don’t think it’s very wise to walk around in the park when it’s dark, helping people. Helpfulness never really pays off,” he said, raising an eyebrow at the woman, obviously not very impressed.
"I mean seriously, you should at least have a mask and cape and a tacky name," he added, thoughtfully, after a few seconds pause, completely ruining the critical tone of his previous statement. It was mostly the lack of tea talking, now.

[araynia]

[/i] Now Araynia was remembering why she ignored them mostly, they could be so... so... so troublesome. Always thinking they understood everything in the world around them, when in fact they knew barely anything. I'm not exactly the expert of animals either She gave a soft laugh, surprised that he was still talking to her, after all she'd just turned completely cold towards him. A slight breeze blew by them, ruffling the dark dress she wore as well as her dark hair hair, bringing with it the sent of rain. Lovely, she though dryly, rain was not fun. Jay seemed relieved that she hadn't taken his hand but she was slightly wary of the human now.

A pleasure, if rather unexpected one, to meet you, Miss Selene. ...Miss Selene? She had no need for such formalities, she was much older than him, even if she appeared to be the more youthful one. "Don't call me Miss, makes me feel older than I am." The boy seemed suspicious of her, smart, it was human instinct not to trust wolves, even when the wolf was in human form it appeared. It was really amusing, though, he didn't seem to like her all that much, remaining on edge and wary of her. One should never trust everything that was presented to them, Araynia certainly didn't, and evidently neither did he. Smart, she'd give him that much.

I don’t think it’s very wise to walk around in the park when it’s dark, helping people. Helpfulness never really pays off. I mean seriously, you should at least have a mask and cape and a tacky name. This time her silver eyes looked half amused, half annoyed, she'd given him a false name so she supposed that was her 'tacky name', as for the mask... well she could take the form of a wolf she supposed that would count. "Actually, I am not too worried about the people around here, I rarely aid people. I just noticed you seemed rather ... frightened. Naturally I'd be a little worried, if I saw someone like that," Rayne spoke idly, her tone completely nonchalant. Actually, if anything she was the thing most should be protected from her, she was a thief (the reason she hadn't given her real name, she was rather well known in certain circles as a rather successful thief) and as an occasional assassin-for-hire. Not exactly the innocent beauty she posed as.[/ul][/size]

[jay]

Jay shrugged when the woman told him not to call her Miss. He would have rather much preferred to do so, to put some distance between himself and the woman by this, but, he supposed, it couldn’t be helped. Jay was awkward with people at his best, and utterly rude at his worst. It was probably lucky for Rayne that he was trying to be on his best behavior now.

Rayne’s reaction to his words surprised Jay slightly, he had just offered the remark without paying much attention to it, but the woman seemed to take it rather like a personal offense. And what was she hinting about? The earlier idea that had occurred to Jay was prodding his mind again, and he was trying to shove it away as too ridiculous. Still…

“I wasn’t exactly scared,” he said absently, not bothering to get annoyed from that. His mind was working, and he was eyeing the woman thoughtfully. It wasn’t just the other thing, he had a feeling he had seen her before, somewhere… Work-related? It was not like people killing other people went out for drinks afterwards, (Not that he even drank alcohol.) so he wasn't sure.

"I was worried, yes, like any normal person when someone waves sharp objects to them, but I could have handled it. Thanks to you, I didn’t have to,” he said finally, eyes fixed on the Rayne woman, watching her reaction.

[araynia]

[/i] Hm... maybe he wasn't but Araynia couldn't help but push his buttons, actually in some cases it was amusing. But the way he kept eyeing her was actually managing to make her feel uncomfortable, her right hand going up to her hair and twisting strands around her fingers, a nervous habit she'd picked up, while the left rested on her hip, inches away from the items that kept her feeling safe. Something she hadn't thought of, maybe he was a hunter? Now she was viewing him with the same careful but thoughtful eye.

I was worried, yes, like any normal person when someone waves sharp objects to them, but I could have handled it. Thanks to you, I didn’t have to. Ah he certainly believed she'd been the wolf, she hadn't given him any credit it seemed. He was smarter than he seemed... but so was she, "Oh dear,you were attacked by guy with a sharp object? And then a dog or wolf or whatever!!! Poor dear!" She turned her silver eyes on the boy once more, examining him with a critical but worried gaze. It was fake, but she'd become quite the actress over the years.[/ul][/size]