Slyvester looked at all the men, fear causing him to shiver slightly. He gripped Alysia tightly, stepping back and pulling her with him away from these men who had all become giant versions of animals. "You'll forgive me but weres? As in...werewolves? Of you all have plans to bite us and make use part of this...pack you claim does and doesn't really exist all at the same time, I've got some bloody news. I'm packing, and it may not be much but I'll kill my daughter first then myself."
He was slowly back in to the inn away from them all, pulling his daughter with him. Poor Alysia, who only had eyes for Zachary. Tear filled eyes of shame, dear, and betrayal. To make his point clear Slyvester pulled his pistol back out and held it before them at the pack of men. He moved farther in to the inn and towards a doorway. Once through the doorway he slammed it shut and locked the door hastily. He instantly whirled around and began hunting for an exit - way away from all these things that could kill them all with out a second thought.
They had slipped in to a small laundry room, with nothing but a small window above the washer and dryer that neither of them could slip through. Alysia was crying now in his arms and he picked her up, wrapping his arms about his sobbing daughter. He held her close, sitting down upon the dryer and rocking her slowly as he tried to think what he should do.
Once Slyvester dragged Alysia away, Zakary came bolting around the house yelling. Sarah-Mae stood up and looked at him, his panic induced frantic making him shake. She shushed him and grabbed a sundress she had brought downstairs to throw over her bathing suit and slid her feet into flip flops. She walked across the now dark road, before making it to the front door of the bar. She tried the hand and found it locked, so she turned and looked at the small garden. She spotted the figurine that Alysia had once told her held a spare key, and grabbing it, she unlocked the bar, stepping in. She closed the door behind her, locking it, before setting the key on the closest table. She was in her own state of panic, from the way Slyvester had talked. She had come to care deeply about Alysia, and Slyvester recently as well. "Slyvester?" She called out, looking around, her voice giving away her sense of panic. She stopped walking to listen to what was going on in the bar, besides the utter silence. "Please come out. They told me what you said." She turned a bit looking around the dark bar, tears filling her eyes. "Please Sly...please don't do this. I'm so sorry. I never wanted you to find out this way. Zakary, he's just a cub, he can't control it, and I have no excuse besides I felt threatened, I needed to protect Alysia." She choked on the last part of her words, as she backed against a wall. The wall to the laundry room. She leaned back against it and slid down the wall so she was sitting, pulling her knees up as far as she could, the baby protesting at the sudden cramped space, kicking at Sarah-Mae's legs. She let out a yelp of pain as a nerve was hit, before hitting her head back against the wall, her tears falling freely now.
Hearing Sarah, Sly bite his lip then stood up. Setting Aly down upon the dryer and walked to the door. He licked his lips, pressing his hands against the door. "S...Sarah? Close and lock the door again. Th...then Aly and I will come out. Only you can be there..." He stepped away from the door and picked up Alysia.
After a minute he slowly unlocked the door, and opened the door. He walked out slowly with Alysia in his arms. He walked straight to a table near the fireplace and sat down, Alysia in his lap. He looked at Sarah and rocked his daughter slowly who was still holding on to him, scared and feeling betrayed by Zachary. Slyvester looked at Sarah, a touch of fear in his eyes. "What are you...." He asked softly.
She had closed and re-locked the door behind her when she initially came into the bar, having left the key on the table closets to the door. She watched Sly as he came out carrying the heartbroken Alysia, Sarah-Mae's own heart broke seeing the girl in that state. She pushed herself to standing cradling her stomach. It was killing her seeing the fear in his eyes. The fear of her. "I'm a were-tiger, and no I can't change you by biting you, and I wouldn't even want to, I like you the way you are" She pushed herself off the wall and took a step towards them. "I would never do anything to hurt either of you, either intentionally or unintentionally. We don't just randomly shift. Even when we do shift we are in complete control of our actions. We are born this way. There are hundreds of thousands of Weres through out the world. We all just stay in secret to keep from hunters. I wish you had never found out that way. I swear." She took another step, and continued walking towards them until he signaled her to stop. When he did she spoke. "I've always been this way, you've always known. You don't see me upset about the giant ship you've been building under the city block." Her hands went to her hips. "I can smell the metal. It's part of what I can do. My point is we all have secrets. I'm not throwing a panic about how you plan on getting your ship out of the ground without destroying all the hard work we've done to rebuild the Inn. We aren't going to hurt you and we are still the same people we were before."
Sly never motioned her to stop or said anything. He liked Sarah, and he wanted to trust her. He knew she meant him no harm and if she had she would have done it already. He gently pushed a seat back with his foot cause Aly was occupying his arms and he looked at her. The fear was still there but he was slowly accepting the fact. Aly however being young was filled with the thoughts of the monsters and horrors of the people changing.
"Ok Sarah....I am to trust you. However what guarantee do I have one of the others doesn't want to try and harm us. I wouldn't be able to stop one of them, much less a group such as earlier. You heard them...they are coming back. They don't just want you...they want Aly now as well. What am I going to do about that?"
Then she mentioned his ship, and all fear was lost and anger replaced it in his eyes as he clamped his hands around Aly's ear. "Baby girl...go up and lock your door please. I'll be up to tuck you in and sing you a lullaby. You heard Sarah...we are safe for right now." He ushered his daughter upstairs and closed the door before coming and siting back down. "Don't talk about my ship in front of Aly please. She doesn't know....and you shouldn't either. Besides, at the moment it doesn't matter. My ship can't lift off because its to heavy and I can't find the last part for the flight deck to control the ship properly. It would just crash in to the first tall bloody building it came upon."
She sighed. "I can only speak of myself and the men at the inn. The world hasn't suddenly changed because you've become aware. There are worse things then us Weres. We all tend to stick to ourselves. Supes don't like involving humans into our world, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I can promise you have all of our protection now. Yes, those men may come back, if they are stupid enough. Zakary's premature change is only because he's only been shifting since he hit puberty, it takes years to be able to control the shift in moments of intense emotions. He felt not only an overwhelming urge to protect me, but an urge to protect Alysia, because of his feelings for her. Just as my shift happened because of the need to protect Alysia." She spoke honestly, looking at the frightened Alysia. "He will never, ever hurt you. Even if he prematurely shifts like that. Even when we shift we have full control. I know the world seems scary right now. You've just learned there is an entire world you didn't know existed, I know you're conflicted because of your feelings for him, just like he's beside himself with grief right now because he's afraid you wont speak to him again. He didn't mean for you to find out that way, just as I never wanted you to find out that way. It wasn't fair to you guys to find out without warning." She looked back at Sly, then to the both of them. "I can promise you, that as long as we are around, keeping an eye on things, we wont let another were or any Supe within a mile of this bar or Inn, without knowing who they are and if they are good." She said.
When anger replaced his eyes, Sarah-Mae guessed Alysia hadn't known. A mistake on her part, the child was a teen, not an idiot, Sarah-Mae had assumed Alysia had known. As he spoke of the ship, her smile widened and brightened. "What if I said I could help you with your weight problem?" She said with a bright smile. She looked around a bit, then spotted the cast iron fire poker. She picked it up, it had enough weight to it to get her point across. She moved so she was standing next to sly holding the fire poker in her hand. She looked down at it and closed her eyes, her fingers wrapping around the metal tightly. Focusing her energy she worked the metal's properties straight down to the atoms. After a few minutes she opened her eyes and handed the fire poker to Sly. It was suddenly as light as a feather.
"Go ahead. Try and break it."
She had not only lightened the poker, but strengthened it as well. The cast iron was now nearly unbreakable within certain parameters.
Slyvester sighed. He was just upset and knew Sarah had not known Alysia was in the dark about the airship. She explained they where completely safe, at least from her group of weres. He watched her as she seemed to get an idea telling him that she could help him. She grabbed his fire poke and almost seemed to pray over it. Then she handed it to him and told him to go ahead and try and break it. He blinked stupidly at the woman.
"Sarah...it feels lighter yes but nothing on this bar would even compete against cast iron. It's all wood...." He waved his Hand around at the bar where all the furniture was carved wood, making a very homey, cabin in the woods feeling especially with the fire crackling. "The closest would be the stone floor and I dunno which would win normally over that." He laughed and hefted the iron poker. "Hmm, I'll take your word for it. Also guess I'll keep this behind the bar now as I broke my bat."
He stood up and walked behind the bar and slipped the poker in where his bat usually was hidden. He looked up at her grinning. "Maybe not as intimidating as a bat, but more functional especially now." He came out from behind the bar and walked up to Sarah. "Well, would you like to see it then?"
She watched him moved about the bar, placing the fire poker behind it. "Well it wont break when you bash it over someones head at least, even if their head is made of titanium alloy." She said. Yeah. Sarah-Mae knew her metals. When he came back from behind the bar and asked her if she wanted to see the airship, her face lit up like a child at Christmas. She's been wanting to see it since she first picked up the tangy metallic scent of a large heap of metal. Her bright blue hues widened and she smiled brightly. "Please?" She asked bouncing onto her toes. She would wait patiently and follow him to where they needed to go.
Once she laid eyes on the ship, they widened in delight. "You built this?" She asked running her fingers along the cool metal. She could lighten the metal, it would take her a few months, but she could easily do it. She turned and looked at him with a smile. "You know, with the renovations on the Inn being complete I happen to have a lot of free time on my hands, if you ask nicely I can lighten it for you. Would take me a couple of months, but I could do it, even strengthen the metal so it would with hold against most physical attacks." She said cheerfully, a bright smile on her lips.
Slyvester unlocked the door leading down to the control room of his airship. She instantly went wild, examining everything. He watched with amusement and leaned against the wall. "This is the control room. It is finished except for the single part I need. It's fairly simple, like the bridge of a regular ship with a wheel and everything. It has a radar station and everything. The only difference is that I also have an elevation station that monitors altitude, barometric pressure, weather, and wind speed and direction. Nothing very special here."
He opened a metallic door leading down in to the bowels of the ship where the true magic would happen: the engine room that filled the entire bottom of the ship. Twenty seven huge engines lined the bottom of the hull, powering enormous turbines that worked the huge jet engines to lift the ship and propel it. He chuckled and lead her through the entire engine room to the back of the airship where a long metal staircase led back up to the levels where the main things where.
She took in everything she could. She walked along the panels of the control room, looking at the instruments. "What part are you missing?" she asked, looking over her shoulder to him as he leaned against the wall.
As he continued on with the tour, she looked at each of the engines. They were a source of a lot of the weight and each engine and all it's components would take her two days, if she worked both the days non stop on each engine. She scratched her head as she looked at one of the engines closely, gauging what needed to be lighter, if she left the components, but lightened the shell of the engines, and made the shell tougher, it may do the trick, but then she'd have to try it on a smaller scale model first before trying it on the big thing. She smiled at the prospect of helping out. She placed her hand against the shell of one of the engines, feeling the cool metal under her hand. As he moved past her towards the back of the air ship, she paused for a moment, and seemed to be staring off into space. Her fists clenched up, but after a minute she extended her finger tips and following him, excited to see the rest of the ship.
Pausing seeing her stopped he waited. It was certainly pregnancy pains, but he didn't know what to do besides wait for them to subside. He waited for her and when she caught up he gently rubbed her back. "You ok Sarah? The baby?" He continued rubbing her back softly as he opened the next door.
It was just a long corridor line with doors on each side, and a doorway that showed another corridor and a second doorway to a stairway leading upwards to the second level. "This is the living level. It is simply filled with rooms for everybody. Their not home for sure, but theie not barracks either. More utilitarian I guess. Each with a chest of drawers and a footlocker. A small desk, and a bed. The bed can be bunked for two people per room if it needs to be that way."
She felt his hand on her lower back when she caught up and she paused because it actually felt insanely good. Her eyes closed as he rubbed her back, even softly, as a deep rolling sound echo'd in her chest. When she realized she was purring she gasped and covered her mouth backing away from him. Her face turned bright red, and she turned away from him. "I'm sorry." What was she in high school again? What the hell was going on, she had spent less then 15 minutes in shift form and here she was, purring at a males touch, which she hadn't done since Africa...which brought a whole new blush to her cheek. She covered her hot cheeks with her hands and let her hair fall into her face to hide it, that was until another contraction hit. She placed her hand against the wall, her finger nails digging into the metal as she squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm alright...the shift must have confused my body. I'm not suppose to shift this late into the pregnancy, I'm sure the contractions will pass, and fade when my body realizes it isn't time." She said reassuringly, though it was more for her own benefit then his.
Slyvester blushed himself as she purred. He knew what it meant when felines purred. He stopped the tour however when she grabbed on to the wall, small metallic slivers falling to the floor as her nails scratched it. He turned to her and placed one hand on her back again, the other hand reaching out and pressing against her round stomach.
He rubbed softly on her stomach, moving his hand in a slow and gently in a clockwise direction, humming a soft lullaby. He had done this before, when Alysia had stomach aches at night. He hopes it would have the same effect to calm Sarah's stomach and womb muscles, his humming her mind. It wasn't a guarantee but it was the only thing he could think of. Besides calling a hospital and there where certain things he was sure they where BOUND to notice about the different female.
