Flick of the Wrist [open] (For Rae especially)

[Apollo Lion]

There was something about a cheeseburger that gave Apollo much bliss. Maybe it was the succulent taste of umami mixed with melted cheese, a juicy tamato, and crunchy lettuce. When he took a bite, the sweet yet spicy taste of ketchup were the most distinguishing of the burger ingredients that stood out to him. He chomped a piece and closed his lips on it as though he was giving the burger a big, ketchup'y kiss. As he allowed his teeth to chomp down on the enriching meat and bread, he only felt sadness when he swallowed the now chopped bits of what was a delicious sandwich. When he was finished eating, he commenced licking his fingers and ridding any leftovers he could find.

Bayla sat across the table from him, musing over the way he ate his food as though he was making love to it. Apollo looked to her and scowled.

"You're a dragon, you know," he said to her.

I know, she thought to him.

"So you also know that you eat way worse than I do."
 
No. I know I don't moan and have oral sex with my meal.

He grew more irritated. "You have no right to tease me for enjoying my lunch," he corrected her.

You were enjoying it a little too much, she shot back.

Bayla had on her face a happy-seductive look that made Apollo forget that she was a dragon, and not a human being with human emotions. Of course, the fact that she was morphed into a human being contributed to his forgetfulness. She wore the skin of a mature, lightly tanned female with short red hair. She had a perfect figure with both attractive part of her body being very robust.

Apollo remembered the first time Bayla showed this look to him. He woke up from his bed in a hotel one morning to the sight of her in this form, a red tank top and blue jeans covering herself. The first time he saw her, her body was a very robust, to the size of abnormality. Apollo had to spend the rest of the day explaining to her why too big of breasts would attract too many unwanted attention. It was a very weird conversation for him to have with a dragon.

I remember when you used to get shaky over these subjects, Bayla pulled Apollo out of his deep thought. She was in the same clothes she wore when Apollo first saw her. She still had a playful look that told Apollo that she wanted to be a bit mischievous today.

Ever since Apollo became a little more serious about most things, Bayla had become a little less strict and a little more playful with him, being less of a mother figure and more of a friend. There were still those moments when Bayla would snarl at people she did not like, especially girls who came too close to Apollo.

Today, Apollo did not feel like playing with Bayla, so he got down to business. He pulled up to his lap a black backpack. He dug into it and pulled out three newspapers. "So, there have been signs of missing people in this town, right?" He asked Bayla.

It's Texas. Of course there are, Bayla nodded, communicating to him telepathically.

Apollo said, "Well, I think it's more than just people being randomly kidnapped." He leaned close to Bayla to whisper, "I think there are supernaturals involved..."

Bayla shook her head in an incredulous fashion. This is the third supernatural hunch we are going after, Apollo. The last two-

"Where a bust, I know, but this is different..." Apollo sounded desperate. He leaned back in his chair and let out a deep breath. "Everyone missing in this town were last seen in this hotel. The very one we are staying in tonight. When the cops came to investigate... No snooping, no quarantine, no nothing. The cops would come in, speak with the owner, and leave immediately after finding everything alright. Is that weird or what?"

Maybe there was nothing to find, Bayla raised an eyebrow to him. She was pulling off the human facial expressions well. So far she showed seduction, happiness, mischief, and angry. She was surprisingly good for someone who was just breaking into a new body.

"Or, maybe there was a supernatural that dissuaded the cops from searching. With, you know, magic? That thing you use to be a seductress and spit acid."

Acid spitting isn't magic, Bayla quickly corrected. It is biology. And I trust you, I just want you to not be disappointed if this turns out to-

"Be another bust? Trust me, this is for real." Apollo smiled at her, brimming with confidence. He placed the two newspapers in his bag, realizing that he had no use for them, then he pulled out a small box mixed with red and white colors. It weighed heavy in his fingers, but not as much heavy as it would if it was full. "I'll be outside..." Apollo told Bayla then stood up from his seat. He could feel the anger in her as she noticed the box.

I thought you were going to quit, she sneered.

"It's the weak kind. I'm quitting slowly. And before you even think it, I'm not addicted."

Apollo walked away from the table they were sitting in. He passed a few more tables and headed for a double glass door. The room they were in was a large cafeteria, a luxurious one that rested near the entrance to the hotel Apollo and Bayla would be staying at, called the Rest and Relax. Once he made it outside he pulled out a cigarette, lighting it with a black colored light and pulling it to his lips to take in its smokey content.

[Rae-Star Berii]

Once upon a time there was a Princess. She lived in a castle, made of ivory and stone, and she was guarded by a dragon. The Princess waited in this tower for many years, she grew older and wiser and became much less afraid of the dragon. And the dragon saw and understood that the Princess was becoming less afraid, and so he, in turn, sought out help from even darker creatures. These creatures helped him recapture the Princess’ fear in the world and of the dragon and for a little while the dragon was once more content. But the Princess was not. She was a tiny girl with gigantic ambitions. But more impressively, she was a woman scorned – and those sorts of women never really knew how to give up on something they set their minds too. The Princess knew that her parents, the king and queen, had been brutally killed, as too had the young prince, and so she had vowed never to rest until their murderers were brought to justice in the kingdom. And a dragon and a tower wasn’t going to stop her fulfilling that vow, no matter how scary they both were.

So the Princess gave up waiting on a noble and valiant knight to come and save her and decided that if a job was truly worth doing then she may as well saddle up and do it herself.

In the darkness of the night, while the dragon was asleep, she escaped. She ran and ran and ran…and learnt how to survive. Sometimes, the dragon could catch up to her, or she would see the flicker of a lizards tail in the distance and know that it was time to hide again, but she was free of her tower and started on her journey to bring justice to her kingdom. The Princess was smart and brave and beautiful, but she was also obsessed with revenge and it made her forget that the dragon had gone to even darker creatures for help and that there were more dangerous things in the world than the dragon and the tower…

I’m coming to find you Princess.

Rae stared at the email.

She wished she hadn’t opened it, but the little blinking icon on her blackberry had started to get on her nerves. It was one of those formidable curiosities of hers that she had to simply look at it. For many years Rae had survived without a mobile phone. She’d hated the idea of someone tracking her through it, but finally she had given up and released that in this modern and technological world a phone really was the only actual life line. It was her best weapon and more often than not she could use it for a large array of research, right there in her hand. It meant not having to frequent libraries and computer houses, it meant that she didn’t have to return to somewhere or leave a digital footprint and these things were important to her while she was hiding.

Her thumb, the black nail vanished of which was chipped and flecked, hovered over the delete button. A cool chill ran down her back.

Then she returned the phone to the home screen, leaving the message inside its little memory banks for now, as she forced it to the back of her imagination. She shoved the phone in the pocket of her denim daisy-dukes and looked around her.

Texas.

She’d been in this state for nearly two weeks now. It was almost time to move on again.

Beside the tiny, pink haired girl, was a brown and white dog. Eli was no longer a run-away puppy that she had found starving on the street. He was a glossy coated, attractive and lovable companion. Loyal and just coming up to his 5th (in human years) birthday. His eyes, chocolate and like something from a Disney movie came up to her, and gave her an unblinking look.

“Yes I know, I’m hungry too.” She told him as she kicked off the wall where she had been sitting and crossed the car-lot. “You’re going to have to wait out here- I’ve literally got eight dollars, so I don’t know what you’re going to be lucky enough to-“

Before she had even finished what she was saying, in her soft, docile British tones, the dog was barking and running ahead. This was an unusual thing for her loyal warrior-dog to do. In fact, she’d only ever known him get excited by three people; Ren, Apollo and Vrases. Her heart skipped a beat and for a second time she felt a cool chill go down her spine.

She lifted her sunglasses from her eyes and strutted across the carpark in knee-high black leather boots, following her best friend.

Eli ran straight up to the smoker, barking and wagging his tail. He was even dribbling a little with excitement- cute!

~~
830 - you beat me this time - your turn Apollo Lion

[Apollo Lion]

*You've read all your messages*

Those words taunted Apollo. Every time he saw them he couldn't help but get a little frustrated with himself and his boss. Himself because reading these five words had became his addiction in some sick ironic twist, and his boss because Apollo would not read these words and be angry if the man would just contact him through email. 

Cutthroat was his bosses name, a man just as egotistical as his name presented him. Apollo had met the man when he was in search of a hunter to train him. He found Cutthroat while he was investigating a werecreature attack. Or rather, Cutthroat found Apollo. He always finds people, but people don't ever seem to find him. 

Cutthroat trained Apollo to be a supernatural hunter and hired the boy to do hunting jobs for large payments, Payments ranging in the millions to thousands.

Most people would say that this was a nice job opportunity, but Apollo wouldn't agree with those people. The job Cutthroat introduced Apollo to was life threatening, and only for the truly wise and skilled. If the boy did not have Bayla, he wouldn't be around to take a large whiff of smoke and ruin his lungs today.

Apollo still remembered the first words Cutthroat said to him. "How keen are you on dying?" Apollo stared at his boss blankly and didn't find an answer, still doesn't; even though he risks his life almost every day. The thought of dying scared him, but he was hard broiled now to deal with it. Death had been his friend since his birth, now it was his provider.

Apollo looked at his pink phone again and refreshed the page he was on. The words still mockingly displayed for Apollo, *You've read all your messages.* 

He took another whiff of his cigarette. The thing did nothing for him, gave him not a single shred of high. He was just wasting his breath with every puff. He considered taking out three and inhaling all of them at once. Of course, if he did, Bayla would probably come out and melt the cigarette pack.

Apollo, the bills here. It's a total of forty dollars, Bayla telepathically called to him. The type of bond Bayla and Apollo had was very impressive. Even though a glass wall and a bunch of chatting people separated the two, they could still have a clear conversation, still feel each other near them. 

Apollo reached inside his black heavy jacket to pull out his wallet. Inside was a large wad of cash which he carefully counted, first making sure that no one was watching him. He had eighty bucks inside his wallet, three hundred inside his backpack, and more in the bank account that Cutthroat had given him for all of Cutthroat's payments. 

As Apollo recounted his money, he heard an oddly familiar barking sound. Was a dog near by? It was very similar in tone to a dog he once heard; however, Apollo could not put his finger on what dog he was reminded of. It was definitely a dog tone. T

hen he began to hear the patter of feet coming closer to him. He got a very bad feeling as the sound grew larger and larger. And before he could react, a huge canine had appeared in front of him, drooling and wagging his tail in excitement. 

Now that was a familiar sight. The color and the build reminded him of everything of a dog he once met in Europe. He remembered the dog, the owner, and remembered that the dog once growled at him for trying to pet him. At the thought, Apollo stepped back, a little afraid to make this one angry. He completely looked over the animal in front of him, noticing that it looked too familiar to the one he met in Europe. Did dogs ever look identical? Not even dalmatians had the exact same location of spots, right? 

His heart was beating rapidly. Adrenaline flowed through Apollo giving him a fight or flight feeling. He slowly calmed his mind, then knelt down to get a little closer to the dog, to meet its chocolate eyes with his brown ones.

He said, "E-Eli...? Is that you...? Where is Rae?"

Apollo's voice was very deep now. When he spoke it made a low soothing sound that would probably put people to sleep if they listened to him for a long time. His voice wasn't the only thing that had changed, though. Apollo's black hair now encumbered the back of his neck, and part of his back. There were a lot of strands that covered his eyes, thankfully not blinding him.

His eyes were the most noticeable change, other than his hair. He had done unpleasant things that he was not proud of, and his eyes told that to everyone who paid attention. He had a few bags  under them to represent some sleepless nights as well.

As he knelt to speak with the dog, he heard another strange sound of boots hitting cement. Was somebody coming towards them? Was this mysterious sound the pink haired beauty that he asked for?

He folded the eighty bucks and placed it in his left hand with his pink phone. The cigarette was still lit, and slowly burning into a tiny piece of what it originally was, in his left hand. Still knelt, he waited for that person to turn the corner, expecting this mysterious sound to be the answer to his question to Eli.

~OOC: 923. I have word count skills, do I not? 

[Rae-Star Berii]

Rae was a vision of beauty, aptly dressed for the hot Texan sun. She wore her usual combat boots, thick and heavy and from her ankle to her knee. She wore her usual cross-hatch fish-net tights and sling over her shoulder (her thumb hooked into the hanger lip) was her large, leather and faded red trench coat. But there was a difference about her too, instead of being clothed all in her black, she had denim daisy dukes that sat wonderfully close to the curve of her bottom and a crop top. The crop top had writing on it, what looked like a band name, and was a royal blue in colour. It also revealed her stomach; the lithe muscle across her slender frame was starting to get its first hints at a tan from being exposed to the sun more often.

It wasn’t that Rae had grown in confidence, or started to care about the way she looked, it also had nothing to do with sex appeal. She’d actually given up caring. And she’d been living in hostiles, so sometimes a hint of flesh got her the room for free. Since she’d been getting a string of haunting fairy tales via her email account, she’d stopped using her bank cards, and had started hopping towns again, looking for cash in hand jobs and cheap ways of living. Hence the eight dollars that she had left, which sat snuggly by her beaten up blackberry in her pocket.

The other thing Rae was wearing was a black cowboy hat. It had been a gift from a particularly friendly old woman in a motel she had stayed in a few weeks back, when she had first arrived in the state. The woman had said it belonged to her daughter once- but the girl had died in a shooting – and Rae looked like she needed it more now. So, gratefully she’d taken it. And it sat atop her head, tipped forwards slightly, her pink hair falling in natural ringlets from within its grasp.

The email’s she had been getting, like the one she received this morning, had been a string of inbox messages over the last three or four months. Always they came from a different email account and a different IP address (this computer clever girl had checked that information straight away). Always they came in the form of a story. She’d had Prince Charming, Little Red riding hood, she’d even had the three little pigs- but more than that, they always left a chill in her spine and made her want to skip town pretty quickly after receiving them.

That was Rae’s plan. Tonight. It was time for her and Eli to move on again.

She’d been alone so long recently that she didn’t even consider that something might change her plans for her. So when Eli got excited and ran ahead, Rae needed a moment to remember herself and who she use to be, before she’d set out to become this ruthless stow-away, jumping through life and not really paying attention to it.

The brown and white collie-cross ran ahead a little. He skidded to a stop in front of the man he recognised and let his tongue hand playfully over his jaw. Despite the fact that his tail wagged so hard it took most of his body with it and the fact that his eyes shone like Disney diamonds in their round and big sockets, he still let out something of a low rumbling growl when Apollo bent near him. A reminder that only his mistress really got to be affectionate towards him. It was a sort of ‘look but don’t touch’ message.

Still, the dog grinned widely, sniffing the air and glancing over his shoulder as his mistress approached.

Rae walked towards them with an air of casual about her. On her hip her gun holster clicked slightly, rocking the nestled Glock in its sweet sleep. She’d gotten a licence for the police calibre gun and in this country no one seemed to mind too much if she carried it openly. The rest of her stuff was in a lock up at the local gym. She’d broken into one of the lockers and tampered with the lock so that she had the yellow band and key tied around her wrist. It would be safe there, and if it wasn’t the locker room had CCTV at least, so she’d finally get the identity of the person who was stalking her.

Her eyes went over Apollo, knelt beside her dog and she smiled, for just a second. Then her gaze became cooler once more. He’d changed since she’d seen him last- but if he was here then his dragon wasn’t going to be far away. Rae didn’t particularly like the dragon, still, she understood the need to have a companion in this cruel world.

Her Eli was the only person she trusted completely. Even Vrases, who she sometimes felt she loved, was too volatile and too distant for her to completely trust. And Apollo, know knelt next to her dog now, had that damned dragon…and he’d been so naïve. Maybe that was what she’d liked about him, she never felt he was going to try to take advantage of her, because of his past, because of his wounds…but the dragon would’ve manipulated him…there was no telling how different he’d become in the last six months.

She came to a standstill just a few paces away from him, resting her free hand on her hip and fixing him with a look. “Eli, here.” She said to the dog, who in instant obedience came running back to her side. The mutt circled around her and sat, protectively at her feet. “Easy, boy.” She said, “We don’t know this stranger anymore.”

Eli looked up at her whined a little bit, an intelligent creature that was trying to suggest that even to him, her words sounded unnecessarily cruel.

“Let’s go somewhere else for a burger.” She added, thinking of the small amount of cash in her pocket and not taking her eyes of Apollo – those hard, beautiful and pained eyes. “We don’t want to bother anyone.”

~~

1030 - I so don't like being beaten Apollo Lion - not sure as to it's quality though!

[Apollo Lion]

She strutted towards the two boys in an outfit that opened Apollo's eyes fully. No longer sleepy, Apollo stood from where he knelt next to Eli just as Eli moved to Rae's side.

She had changed, and her new look surprised Apollo more than anything. His eyes only brushed the sight of clothing before focusing on her eyes alone. Before, he would have gotten very nervous around women who dressed like... that. If they moved close to him he would have shook and blushed uncontrollably. He would have stuttered with every word as well, and found himself staring more at the floor than the women.

Now that he was a little mature, sights such as the one Rae showed now only embarrassed him a little. Although, he still wouldn't look at any woman who dressed like that. In this case, Apollo made an exception and stared at Rae's eyes only. Yes, her cold eyes that beamed on him with what he took as judgement seemed like the perfect part of her to look at. 

“We don’t know this stranger anymore,” were her words to Eli; those were also the words that made Apollo frowned. He put the cigarette out and waited for her to say a word to him, and not just to her companion. However, it was evident that Rae did not want to speak with him. “Let’s go somewhere else for a burger,” she said, still talking to Eli.

Her companion whimpered at her words as though he could feel what Apollo was feeling right now. He looked towards her smart dog then back to her, searching for a look unlike the cold one she gave him now. His very own look spoke of hurt and desperation. 

“We don’t want to bother anyone," she said lastly, and Apollo's look changed to curiosity. Over the sad feeling he had, he noticed what she said as a cue. Maybe she actually did not want to be near Apollo because of who he was now, probably because of the cigarette, but Apollo also thought that she did not want to be near him for a reason other than not liking him. He preferred to cling to the latter thought, even if it seemed ignorant and foolish. Apollo wanted to believe that Rae still liked him, if she did at all.

He smiled the innocent smile he once showed her when they first met, plus the eye bags he had now. He waved the stack of money in the air and said, "Maybe someone wants to be bothered. Or, maybe someone wants to bother you." 

Apollo flicked the used cigarette into the trash container that was near him with impressive precision. He placed his phone in his pocket then looked towards the hotel.

"I have enough money to feed a sports team. Let me at least repay the kindness you showed me in Europe. Also, let me tell you, Star, the guy you met before is still in me, and he is still as stubborn as last time."

[Rae-Star Berii]

"Maybe someone wants to be bothered. Or, maybe someone wants to bother you."

Her eyes travelled over him for a second as he spoke up, they snapped away from her companion and went to him. She watched for a moment as he moved and she let her eyes go to the smoke bud as it flicked away. It wasn’t that it bothered her, it was just something to look at. She’d smoked, still did some days. It was a way to stave off many things; stress, hunger. But the smell of the smoke always seemed to get to her. It also wasn’t good for her job for her to smell to strongly one way or the other. After all, despite being on the run, Rae still hunted creatures of the other-world’s.

Her eyes followed his to the hotel, because it meant she wasn’t looking at him. It was a quaint looking place, but similar to most of the places out here. Texas had a certain feel to it, and lots of the smaller towns looked the same as you travelled through them. This one was no different.

"I have enough money to feed a sports team. Let me at least repay the kindness you showed me in Europe…”

She blanched a little at his words and found herself frowning under the brim of her hat. Rae ran her tongue over her lower lip and felt the moisture there dry out quickly in the hot southern sun. He didn’t know about her financial difficult currently, so she was sure that it couldn’t be a dig of any kind, but it still made her feel just a little bit affronted. She could manage to provide for herself. She’d always managed to provide for her and Eli- sometimes her haul was better than others, sometimes it was a few more hours than she would’ve liked between meals but she always managed it.

But Eli barked and wagged his tail, already decided that they should take Apollo up on his offer.

Traitor dog, always lead by his stomach.

“…Also, let me tell you, Star, the guy you met before is still in me, and he is still as stubborn as last time."

So it seemed she wasn’t going to get to back out of this. Rae wasn’t sure why she wanted too. Maybe she’d gone so long without a familiar face that she’d forced herself to become so isolated. Maybe she was losing herself down that dark hole again…

She wet her lips a second time.

“Fine.” Came her one word answer. And on it Eli barked again and run forwards once more. He circled around Apollo excitedly, sniffing and panting and growling playfully.

She rolled her eyes at her dog and added; “You might not have changed, but maybe I have. I’m not who I was in Europe.”

Her thoughts went to the beautiful bike she had made while she had been there. Even that was lost to her now. Tawny had claimed it as part of his arsenal, as part of his payment for his services rendered. She knew she’d get it back one day, but she wasn’t sure she was willing to consider the price it would cost just yet. She was sure Tawny had no interest in money.

“But we’ll let you buy us a meal.”

[Apollo Lion]

"Fine" She said and Apollo grinned widely. With the same excitement Apollo had, Eli hopped from his spot near Rae and began circling him. Apollo held his hands up and allowed the dog to dance around, still remembering how Eli growled at him when he knelt just a few minutes ago. 

"I wonder if we can take him inside with us," Apollo said while watching Eli. He then slipped his fingers into his jacket pocket to pull out cologne and a tic tac pack. He squirted the cologne onto his neck, which emitted a strong masculine smell, then popped a tic tac into his mouth. In less than a minute the 'unpleasant smokey smell,' as Bayla liked to call it, was gone and he was back to smelling fresh.

Apollo headed towards the door, opening it for Eli and Rae to walk through. In his head he was having a conversation with Bayla, telling her to behave herself and not do anything mischievous or evil. He reminded her of how she practically held Rae as prisoner the last time then threatened to give her the silent mind treatment if she got out of hand. 

Apollo would walk next to Rae, but stay a further enough distance away from her to make her and Eli feel comfortable. He did not want Eli to attack him if he was too close to her. Dog bites was not a fashionable statement in America. 

When Apollo spotted Bayla, he cocked his head towards her direction in a gesture clear enough for Rae to see. "That's our table," he would say and stroll to Bayla, not waiting for Rae to follow him.

Bayla was sitting at the table and already staring at the two as they would walk into the hotel. She seemed like a watchful women with cat-like eyes of predatory mischief. Apollo did not like those eyes, it meant that she was in a playful mood again. 

If Rae followed Apollo he would place a hand on Bayla's shoulder, tightening his grip on her as a way of saying 'don't do anything at all.'

"Star..." Apollo would say hesitantly, remembering of these two last encounter and how well that turned out. He looked from Rae to Bayla letting each get to know each others physical body before he introduced them. "Meet... Bayla."

Right on cue, Bayla strolled her fingers through her red hair with a smile that seemed gloat-full. She silently stood up and released herself from Apollo's grip. She then walked to where Rae would be standing and extended her hand for Rae to shake, not before waving at Eli first.  

[Rae-Star Berii]

Rae followed him. Her dog wasn’t giving her much choice.

The animal’s claws made a noise as they padded over the wood flooring of the entrance hall and someone looked up from the front desk to see the dog there. Then eyes trickled up from the dog, along Rae’s netted legs to the gun on her hip and nothing was said about it. Rae didn’t even seem to notice the look. She was so use to Eli going into most places with her these days, either she blatantly ignored the looks she got for keeping her companion at her side, or she had him pretend like he was a working dog. Of course that took a little bit of acting on her part, but their favourite camouflage had been police officer and K-9 unit. Neither of which they were, but someone it was the most believable disguise the pair had.

She walked beside Apollo, keeping pace with him as they crossed the entrance hall and into the small restaurant area. Rae’s eyes did an automatic run of the place and she checked the tables around them; alert. Her eyes flickered over an older couple sat reading newspapers and to a man in the far corner sat on his hand held computer. Then her eyes went to the door, there were two exits, other than the fire escape. She wet her lips, slowly, and came to realise how thirsty she had become in the hot sun.

But still, Rae followed Apollo to the table without much fuss and when he pulled ahead of her to greet a woman Rae felt herself tense. Who was this? He should’ve been up-front about company, she wasn’t in the mood for meeting people after all. But as her jaw tightened, her hands relaxed at her sides and tossed her heavy jacket down onto the back of the chair opposite the woman.

"Meet... Bayla."

That was the dragon? Rae blinked a little and seemed momentarily stunned as the women stood so elegantly from her seat. She was so smooth looking, and Rae didn’t see a reflection in this creature to the one that had tried to scare her half to death and probably would’ve killed her. Bayla was the reason her and Apollo had shared so many secrets, it had been at the cost of her life that Rae had been forced to be (sort of) honest with the dragon. It wasn’t necessarily a fond memory that Rae had f the creature. Of course, she had expected the dragon not to be too far away from it’s master but Rae hadn’t expected her to take on anything but her dragon form- she’d expected the creature to be hiding somewhere, keeping watch.

This was new.

Her azure eyes flitted down to the proffered limb and she looked back up into the challenging eyes as her dog pressed himself under the table and hid. Not only was her beloved companion being led around by his stomach but today he was choosing to be a coward. Wonderful. And as the woman waved at him he whimpered and hid his head in his paws, ears pressed low as he crawled on his stomach to lay amongst the table legs.

“Bayla.” Rae said, simply, a women of few words today. And she did not shake the woman’s hand. It wasn’t to do with manors, it was that Rae had never been fond of being touched, particularly by men but not specifically by anyone. Still, she showed a smile- a warmer one than she had given Apollo and nodded a friendlier hello. “This is unexpected.”

She took of her hat, ruffling her painted finger nails through her pastel pink hair and tossed the hat down onto the inner chair, with her jacket. Then she sat herself down, inviting herself to sit opposite the pair of them at the smartly laid table. She put her foot up on the seat and picked at a snag in her tights, almost oblivious to the two of them or that her behaviour was unorthodox. “Apollo has decided to repay me for Europe, isn’t that kind of him.” She added, putting her foot down and looking at the pair of them a little expectantly, that cool, bold look still in her eyes.

[Apollo Lion]

When Bayla stood up, Apollo took the chance to sit down. He was a little tired of standing on his feet, but he kept a vigilant gaze on both Bayla and Star. He didn't know what type of meeting these two would have after so long. If he recalled correctly, it was Bayla who threatened to kill Star if she didn't prove trustworthy. Star's true feelings on the matter, he had no clue. But, he knew that if any person was thrown in that type of situation, a fond heart is one thing that they would not have towards his dragon. 

“Bayla," Star said. "This is unexpected.”

She didn't shake Bayla's hand, just sat down and made herself comfortable. Bayla stopped herself from wrinkling her nose and instead only expressed her feelings to Apollo through thought. 

Insolent bi- She began.

Bayla! Apollo interrupted. He remembered his companions nickname for Star and felt uncomfortable with Bayla using it now as much as he did when she used it then. Although there was a moment when Star and Apollo had argued, that alone did not call for classifying her as a bitch. Why Bayla felt the need to call her that all the time, Apollo didn't care to know. I don't think she likes being touched as much as I like you calling her that word, Apollo thought Bayla.  

Hi dragon openly rolled her eyes, which was a clear testimony that he would be hearing that word come from her in the future. He decided to ignore his companions rude behavior for now, knowing that he would have to deal with her yelling at him later. That was how it worked out. Somehow, he was the one being yelled at and Bayla was the one creating weird reasons why he was the one being yelled at.

He focused his attention back on Star who was speaking to both Bayla and him. He answered her: "Yeah, she hates the idea. But, it's not her money to spend." He gave a defiant look to Bayla who returned it with a raised brow. "The waiter will come soon to refill our drinks, that's when you can give them your order," Apollo continued speaking to Star.

He paused to think about what to say next to her. He had a lot of questions that ranged from, 'how are you,' to, 'why the hell are you wearing that?!' However, he didn't figure Star as the type of girl who you would play twenty questions with and expect a straight answer. The most she would probably give was a yes and a no to questions that allowed those answers. If he wanted her to reveal a lot about herself, Apollo would need to ask the right first question, and giver her something valuable in return. He figured that telling her that she was possibly in a building with supernatural crime scenes up its rear was a good enough 'something' to give.

"So, Star. How have you been?"