Open Don't want to go home yet

Even as the sun set the park remained active as the islands nocturnal population woke to go about their business. Emma had been here for several hours now, coiled neatly next to a water feature with a sketch book in hand. Her parents would be working late, as evident by the note left by her mother. Normally she would have retreated to her room to listen to music and sleep. Tonight though she had craved something different. To what she could not fully know, but whatever it was was not at home. Lately her parents had been pushing her to get out of the house more. They insisted a normal girl would be out with friends at her age, and reminded her that she used to have a social life. These conversations usually ended in her yelling at her parents for bringing her here and not leaving her where she was happy.

Emma rolled her eyes as her gaze dropped from what she assumed was a vampire couple walking hand in hand, back to her sketch book. She imagined her parents would be home soon, but given her usual reclusive behavior, they would not notice her absence for a while still. She liked it this way. It was bad enough she was here, she didn't need them constantly "Encouraging" her to be a normal girl. She frowned for a second as her pen fell still. The picture she had been sketching was near completion. It had several figures on it, they looked happy and were sitting at a cafe. She had seen the scene earlier in the day as she made her way to the park. Her eyes lingered for a moment before she tore the page from her book and crumpled it up. She tossed it into a nearby trash can before putting pen to paper again, this time sketching the couple she had seen earlier.

She continued to scratch away at the paper with her pen, oblivious to the world around her. Occasionally she would shift her weight over her tail to change her posture. She was so caught up in her work that she hadn't noticed time slipping away. It was nearly 11 when she finally stopped to stretch her hand and body.

As Emma stretched out, raising her arms over head and uncoiling her tail, she caught sight of a woman not far off. She paused a moment holding perfectly still. It had grown rather dark, however the artificial glow of lights was more than enough to light up the paths and still she hadn't noticed this woman until just now. How strange this place could be. She hesitated for a moment, not sure of what to do. The woman appeared innocent enough. Not threatening in any way, even humming to herself in a rather pleasant manner.

After a few more seconds of waiting, Emma finished her stretch. The entire time she kept her eyes locked on the other woman, occasionally flicking out her tongue to smell the air and try to discern any other information from this current situation.

Emma waited again, returning her arms to her sides and placing her sketchbook and pen on the grass next to her bag. Something about the girls happy almost carefree demeanor had caught her curiosity.

"Hey... Ummm... Blond girl. Little late to be out, no?"

The woman's scent was familiar to Emma. It reminded her of her of her mother. It was clean, like a hospital, but there was also something different. Like a campfire. It was rather pleasant. She flicked her tongue again as she moved towards the woman slowly, leaving most of the bulk of her tail by her bag.

"An emergency?"

It was an odd thing to say. What could she be expecting. And that's when it dawned on her that this woman might work at the hospital. She also suddenly surrendered to the idea that her mother was most definitely off work by this point. She didn't think much on this though because she was curious as to what the other woman could have meant by having a good feeling about the night. She cast her gaze upwards for a moment looking up at the stars. While they were not as bright as they could be because of the nearby lights, they were still brilliant against the velvety night sky.

"Are you waiting for an emergency? Is that what your good feeling is about?"

Emma stopped as the woman giggled. It wasn't threatening, instead it was light and easy. It reminded her of something, but she couldn't place it. Her words followed sweetly after her giggle. She couldn't understand how the woman could be so light hearted.

"Yes. I am Naga'shin. I uh... We haven't been here long."

Emma brushed a strand of hair away from her face as she spoke. No one had really known who what she was. Then again no one had really asked since the day they arrived and signed their paperwork.

"Emma. My name is Emma."

She looked to the ground for a moment as she said her name out loud. She wasn't entirely comfortable taking the lead in introducing herself to a stranger like this. Despite being here for almost a month now, she still wasn't entirely comfortable around bipeds or sentient mammals. Her parents had told her it was OK, that the people here, despite being different, were good. Though it was still strange for her.

"Oh you do work at the hospital. My mom works there."

Emma looked up again to make eye contact with Serena. There was something different about her now. She seemed to glow. It wasn't a sharp or offensive light. Instead it was comforting, gentle. Was that what it meant to be a phoenix? Now that she thought about it, she didn't really know what a phoenix was. A bird of some kind, rising from the ashes, defeating death itself. An amazing feat for sure, but she couldn't get around the fact that a possible bird might be involved.

"So you can change then? Like into an avian creature?"

She was trying not to sound offensive, though its quite possible she had managed just the opposite.