I keep a book of the names

ReD · Jan 30, 2017

“What do you mean jumping off of other things? What else is there to jump off of?”

"I don't know," Lochlann said, and now he gave her another grin because it was hard to get the smile to leave his face. "But I don't want to promise I won't jump off of it until I see it."

He came with her when she took him over to the wall by the door and sunk down next to her. He caught the last bit of the sunsets reflected in her eyes and he realized that he much rather enjoyed her eyes than the sun.

His arms felt strangely empty without her now so, hoping he wasn't being overly forward, Lochlann reached one over his shoulder and then turned his attention back to the sky.

"Thank you for coming with me," he told her, and then laughed and agreed. "Even though I'm still an ass. It's a terrible character flaw."

When she said that she would be willing to see her again, Lochlann's heart gave a little bit of a flutter.

"I'd like to see you again sometime, too," he said. And then, because he couldn't resist the joke he said, "There's this really tall mountain in the woods that we could jump off of. I don't think I promised mountains in there, did I?"

He perked up suddenly and then realized that there was something he hadn't done yet. Lochlann reached into his coat pocket and took out his cigarette pack and sent them on the side because they were in the way. Once they were out, he was finally able to fish the his phone out. It was an older model that had clearly seen better days.

"I am still not really good at doing this," he confessed after he failed to open the new contact menu twice. "But could I get your number?"

I am J · Jan 30, 2017

Cat rolled her eyes at his vague promise of various things to jump off of that were not covered by his promise. “How about this, if you see something you must jump off of, wait until I’m not around to do it? And,” she looked away from him when he put his arm around her, turning her gaze, instead, to watch the sky turn bloody once the sun sunk away out of sight, “don’t get yourself killed doing it, I’m pretty fond of you, now.” She returned her gaze to him and the blush that had been fading had returned to her cheeks. The sunset made them look burnt.

She leaned away from him when he made his joke about the mountain. “You’re hopeless. One hundred percent, completely hopeless. How about we go hiking instead? Not on a mountain.” She leaned in, finally, against his side. She didn’t really curl up against him like she was small and feminine but instead confidently leaned into him, pressing their sides together. Her shaking had subsided finally with the ground firmly under her feet. It helped to be sitting instead of standing too, giving her the impression that she was closer to the ground.

Lochlann removed cigarettes from his pocket and she wrinkled her nose in distaste but made no comment. If he wanted to smoke and put that hideous flavor in his mouth then that was his place. He was a grown man after all. His phone followed them out and he asked for her number, fumbling over the beat up contraption. She shook her head at him and took his phone from his hands. She expertly punched in her name: Caitlin Thomas followed by ten digits and his save. She pressed call. Second later her bag, still strapped across her chest, rang out.

“It’s only fair I get yours too,” she explained, hitting end and handing the phone back to him. She reached up to gather her messy hair back into the tie again and leaned back against him. “So, you weren’t really trying to…. Off yourself?”

ReD · Jan 30, 2017

He liked her.

It was nice to like someone.

He liked her eyerolls and her scoffing and her exasperated sighs. She liked the way he leaned into him as though she had no fear for what he was. Of course, she didn't know, but Lochlann wanted to ignore that and just like the comfort.

When she said she was fond of him, his smile returned.

"Hiking would be a lot of fun," Lochlann admitted. It'd be away from the ocean, most likely, because the best places to hike were inland. "You'll have to show me that flower field when the weather is right. I'd show you the pool that turns people purple, but I don't know where it is, and I don't think I'd want to go diving in the water in the winter."

Lochlann would not want to go diving in the water around her at all if he could help it.

Lochlann nodded. He was relieved that she was able to take over with the damaged phone. He thanked her and then accepted it back.

"The first time I got this thing, it took me ten minutes to figure out how to text someone," he said. "I ended up sending a picture of my shoes and a pile of gibberish. I'm better at it now, I swear. But we had an old wall phone in my home so technology isn't second nature to me."

He tucked his phone and the cigarettes back into his pocket while she pulled her hair back. He caught sight of the way her neck looked and Lochlann's breath caught in his throat.

He sort of understood vampires then. There was something really nice about the curve of her neck.

When she asked about him offing himself, Lochlann considered the question and sunk down further.

"Listen, Cat," he said. His voice was a little uncomfortable. "People say a lot of dumb things about me. Some of them are true, and some of them are less true, and some of them are just ridiculous."

He tried to lighten the moment by giving an example of the ridiculous ones.

"Despite rumors to the contrary, I had nothing to do with that mix-up where sleeping pills ended up turning people into cats. I didn't even know about it until days later," Lochlann said.

He was pretty sure that had been a Cabel mistake, though. Lochlann had tested enough of Cabel's stuff to know the side effects could be a little tumultuous at times.

"But I like you," he said. "And I'd like you to like me. And I'd like if I could give you something positive to know about me first, but I won't lie to you either."

He chewed on the inside of his cheek. He was sitting with his left leg stretched out before himself, a habit he'd never quite gotten over. He was never really aware of it, except now that he was talking about it.

"I was hospitalized maybe two years ago. It's listed as a suicide attempt. I wasn't trying to kill myself," he said. He shrugged and without realizing it, his hand went to rub his leg. He pulled it back and tucked it into his pocket. "But it's hard to just say that without giving a whole long explanation, and the explanation is long and convoluted. I have a reputation. They didn't believe me then and most people don't believe me now."

He chewed on the inside of his cheek again. He was going to have to switch to the otherside soon. This one was starting to get tattered.

"I know most people on the academy are dragging around a whole lot of baggage," he said, giving a bit of a dry laugh. A surprising amount of Lochlann's baggage had procured after he'd arrived on the academy, though. Incidentally, so had the word baggage. His English had improved tenfold since being here.

"I'm just not used to unpacking it at all, let alone with someone who I want to like me," he said.

I am J · Jan 30, 2017

“If we found the purple pond I might just have to push you in…you know, to test the theory.” She grinned at him. “I’ll show you the field. I’ve been back a few times so I know where I’m going…mostly.” She tiled her head sideways wistfully. “Ok I get lost just about every time I go but somehow I always wind up in the right place.” She had never minded getting lost in the woods until that last time. Once the wolves had scared her, she hadn’t returned. The idea of his company in the woods already made her feel better, just like you feel a little less afraid of the dark when you aren’t alone in it.

She laughed out about his poor texting skills. “I’ve had a phone practically since I arrived here. I went through some pretty rough stuff to get here and my parents were pretty freaked about me going away so my dad unloaded his dad bag on me. Pepper spray, whistle, Taser, cell phone, pocket knife, the works. He’s a mess.” She said it fondly.

When he slouched down further along the wall, as if slouching from her question, she considered apologizing but she stood firm and silently waited. If she were going to spend time alone with him, especially as they were with their sides pressed together from shoulder to thigh, then she wanted to know these things about him, even if it made him uncomfortable.

She listened to him without interrupting, saving him the trouble of having to look her in the eye by turning her own eyes on the line where the land met the sky. The red was turning to a deep purple and a few stars had begun to dot the sky. When he was done speaking, finally brought her eyes back to him. She looked his face over as if trying to look inside of him, intense and quiet. Finally, she turned her face back to the view and leaned over to lay her head against the place where his neck and shoulder met. She didn’t feel like she was cuddling up to a stranger, she felt as if she were hugging a friend.

“I didn’t get that from rumors, Lochlann, although I’ve heard some doozies about you. But I’m not the sort of girl whose going to judge you by your reputation. I’ll let you show me who you are. I can see for myself, I don’t need told what to see by some board eighteen, nineteen year olds with nothing better to do with their time.” She lifted her head up to look at him again. “I asked because you said that you’d been here for a week when you found out that the school had enchantments to catch you. It meant you went over the edge somehow, and when I asked…. Guess I just connected the dots.” She shrugged. “I’m not judging you,” she told him earnestly. “I’m just getting to know you.”

She smiled when he’d said out right that he liked her. “I do like you, Lochlann. All but the whole jumping off of the building and trying to put me in cardiac arrest part. And I appreciate that you won’t lie to me.” To think that her plans for the evening had been going to the library to finish a paper. She did get to the library…

“Look, what if I share too… I know I’m digging a little bit but that’s my nature. I want to know who I’m spending my time with.” She took a deep breath and looked away, turning her whole face away to look off at the tower he’d pointed out earlier. “I wouldn’t be here if someone hadn’t tried to…. Make me do things I wasn’t ready to do.” Shrug, nonchalant as it was her tone was not. “It triggered something. My telekinesis might have never woken at all for all I know. I’ve never tried to kill myself but I know what it feels like to want to.” She turned and looked at him again, her lips pressed into a flat, tense line.

“Now…tell me something positive. Not that I think less of you anyways.”

ReD · Jan 31, 2017

Lochlann looked highly uncomfortable at the idea of being pushed into a pond, but it was less because he was afraid of coming out purple and more because he was afraid of coming out murderous. Still, they moved on quickly.

He was now very interested in this field of flowers. It always appeared when she was lost. He imagined it might very well be the kind of field Cabel would like to visit, but Lochlann would never give him that secret.

"I'll let you lead the way, but I will definitely be leaving a trail of breadcrumbs to get us back home," he grinned. He wasn't that worried about being lost. He was certain they'd find their way.

When she talked about her father, Lochlann cocked her head with interest.

"He sounds like he really cares about you," he said. It was nice, he realized, to hear someone who talked about her family so openly.

He was surprised, too, by the way she looked at him when he was done talking about him. She looked at him like he'd looked at other people, in a way that was almost predatory in nature. Like she was trying to see how he thought and reasoned.

Lochlann shivered even though he was suddenly no longer cold.

It was a fantasy to dream for a moment that she might be like him, but he let himself have it, because it made him feel less guilty for being hungry.

And then her head was on his shoulder and Lochlann rested his ontop of hers.

Had someone asked him, Lochlann would have been hard pressed to admit he'd only met her a few hours earlier.

He never unexpected to find someone who could understand him so very well. It was completely true. Lochlann had been over the edge. He felt like he was always dangerous close to being at the edge, to tripping over it, to falling and being, well, edgy. He didn't want to be seen as edgy. He wanted to pretend he was normal.

For a long moment, Lochlann wondered if he should tell her he was a water horse.

"Well, I mean, the jumping off the building part was kind of enjoyable, right?" he teased, but mostly he was happy that she liked him, too.

He wondered even more about it when she talked about her powers so openly, and how she came to got them. In the past, Lochlann might not have understood what she meant by do things I wasn't ready to do, but he had come to understand it was almost always related to sex. Well, not sex. Lochlann spoke sex as a language and what she was describing was not sex.

"Thank you for telling me," he said instead, because he was grateful to know this about her. It placed her in a context as Cat his friend and not Cat he just met.

Tell her something positive?

Lochlann definitely wasn't going to tell her what he was now. That was a whole other negative conversation. He wondered if it was worse to tell her I can't lie to you and I can't take advantage of you because I'm a species that's physically unable to, because he felt that it implied he might do both of those things if he could. Lochlann very well thought he would probably lie more if he thought he could.

Instead, he said the first thing that came to mind.

"I have a pet sheep."

He blurted it out and then his face flushed again.

"I don't know if that counts as positive," he said. "But he's cute, and he used to live in my apartment, so I'm going to count that as positive."

He said, "What about you?"

I am J · Jan 31, 2017

She gave him a little shove. “I haven’t gotten so lost yet that I haven’t come back, have I? Actually, I’ve only been lost trying to find it, I can usually find my way right back out.” She shrugged. “Who, my dad? Yeah, he’s pretty great. His dad was a cop so he’s a little bit paranoid but he loves us and he’s always got our best interest in his heart.”

He shivered at her side. “Are you cold?” Now that the sun had lowered it was becoming chillier. His head rested on top of hers and suddenly it felt less like hugging a friend and more like snuggling. She thought about lifting her head back up again but she wasn’t sure she minded all that much. She rather liked the feeling of him beside her.

“The jumping off of the building was the worst part! I can’t believe I jumped off of a building. You’re a bad influence,” she laughed, shaking her head. “I definitely won’t let you plan the next outing, you’re grounded.”

He thanked her and she shrugged her shoulders. “Only fair. If I’m going to ask the people I surround myself to lay themselves out on a table for me to see then it’s only right I do the same.”

I have a pet sheep.

Her bark of laughter was sudden, a chiming sound that burst from her mouth surprised. She lifted her face to look up at him, her eyes shining. “A sheep? No way! Picture or it’s not true.” She challenged jokingly. “What’s his name?”

Her? Something positive about her… she pressed her lips in thought. “I can walk on my hands,” she responded vaguely. If he wasn’t going to give her meat, she wasn’t returning it. It was her way of silently calling him out on being vague.

ReD · Jan 31, 2017

It was only a testament to his ability to mask his own face that Lochlann didn't emote when she mentioned her grandfather was a cop. His only experiences with law enforcement hadn't exactly been pleasant.

But whatever discomfort might have risen was buried quickly in his genuine interest for her family story. He shook his head when she asked if he was grounded, and then laughed when she said he was grounded.

"Fair enough," he said. "You have my number. I come when called."

Laying themselves out on a table brought back an uncomfortable memory, too, but instead of being upset about it Lochlann felt...

What was this?

He couldn't lie. He was always relatively honest, but never this upfront, never this soon. Even with Addy, who had seen many of the worst sides of him, Lochlann had never told her his secrets. He was afraid he'd lose her. He wasn't sure how to handle his secrets. It went counter to everything he'd ever learned.

But here she was, willing to share hers with him. It was the most intimate Lochlann had felt with someone like this before.

He was unsure what this feeling was, but it scared him and excited him all at once. He tried to push it down just like he did with his hunger.

"Yes," he said, returning her grin at his laugher. He fished back into his pocket for his phone and pulled it out, flipping through the photos as discretely as he could because there were things in there that he'd rather not show off (surprisingly, though, no nude photos). He finally found a photo of himself and the lamb and pulled it open to show her.

They were both in his old studio apartment. Lochlann's hair was longer in it and he was wearing only a pair of baggy sweatpants. He had bags under his eyes and the inside of his elbows were molted with bruises, but the camera had focused in on the white-wooled but black-faced & legged sheep. It had a relatively long tail, having never been docked, and it eyed the camera with a sense of displeasure.

"His name is Lamby Lambson, and he has a certain set of skills," Lochlann explained. He made a face then, because he realized he had no idea how to explain how he got Lamby or reasoning behind it.

"We used to raise sheep for the 4h," he said. "I guessed I missed it when I was here. I wish I had a better origin story for why I had a sheep living in my apartment. The landlord wasn't crazy about it, but he was a non-magical creautre so it wasn't technically against the rules."

When she said that she could walk on her hands, Lochlann's eyes widened.

"No way," he told her. He wasn't going to ask her to do that on the roof, and he also had to bite his tongue to stop from saying that's hot but he followed up with another question.

"How did you learn?"

I am J · Jan 31, 2017

I come when called. she hummed, “I promise I won’t abuse that power.”

He kept his phone angled away from her so she politely averted her eyes again. The sky had turned navy, a hint of purple on the horizon, and it was now dotted with stars. When had it gotten so late? She still had to head back into town to get home from here. Normally she would have been more cautious to return by nightfall so she wouldn’t have to walk the road in the dark. The wolves had really put her on her toes lately.

He turned his phone to her and she took it in her hand, her eyes devouring the picture. He looked sick to her. He looked like a junky, actually. She decided that it wouldn’t only be rude to say so, it would be too up front, especially after drilling him about suicide. Never mind he didn’t look like that now. It would be like beating a dead horse, why dredge that up? Besides, she was feeling very drawn to him, she liked him and she wanted him to like her mutually. If she only ever poked around in his personal business from the past the first time they spent time together, what could he possibly think of her?

“Oh my gosh, he’s so adorable!” She handed him the phone back. “I can’t believe you have a pet sheep! Lamby Lambs…” she giggled. “Really original, Lochlann. He’s so cute. Coolest pet I ever had was an unenthusiastic hamster. He was so lazy and fat I called him Bones, like Lazy Bones.” She shook her head. “What kind of skills does Lamby have?” Her curiosity was piqued.
“I took gymnastic lessons from five until I came here.” She could actually do a lot more then walk on her hands. “I used to sit on my head on the couch to watch TV, when I taught myself handstands my parents enrolled me. I love it, really. I still practice in the gym sometimes but it’s hard to get in there between the sport teams, gym class, and the time they close the doors.” She raised her shoulders and dropped them nonchalantly.

“I can’t drive a car.” She blurted. “Your turn.” She grinned.

ReD · Jan 31, 2017

“I promise I won’t abuse that power.”

"You can, but then you're solely responsible for the consequences," he bumped her shoulder again and then said, "But seriously, don't ever hesitate to text me if you're bored. I keep odd hours anymore."

Lochlann had no idea how late it was. He hadn't looked up at the sky once since he'd seen the sunset in her eyes. He was constantly looking at her, either her face or her neck or looking down at her hands. He should have felt abashed by his inability to take his eyes off of her, but he wanted to memorize every detail of her.

This had been a surprisingly nice day and Lochlann wanted to memorize every nice detail about her.

"A friend of mine had a hamster that wouldn't stop running on the wheel," Lochlann said. "Only the catch is that he wouldn't start running on the wheel until you were just about to drift off to sleep*. So Lazy Bones sounds like a perfectly good pet to me."

When she talked about her interest in gymnastics, Lochlann couldn't help but smile for what was surely the thousandth and one time today.

"No shit," he beamed. "I never would have guessed. And watching tv on your head didn't make you dizzy?"

He made a mental note about that with the gym. he had a vague idea forming in his head and he pushed it back until he could deal with it later. He felt like Cat was a puzzle he hadn't been anticipating and, rather than wanting to solve it, he was happy to see the picture begin to form itself.

Lochlann considered that.

"Is not driving a car a positive or a negative?" he asked her. "I can't drive one, either. If it's a negative, then I should tell you that once I was with this girl who was running for student council. Not with her romantically or anything, just helping her carry boxes of her student council stuff. I got really sick and when she pulled over, I opened the door to fast and ended up denting it against a pole."

He shook his head.

"Not the best first impression i've ever made. But it's nice to be with another non-driver-club-member."

He considered another question and then, for the first time, he realized how late it was.

"Okay, here's a question for you: Can I walk you home or would you feel more comfortable on your own?"

**ooc: this just gave me like random flashbacks to being 11 and waking up and taking my entire hamster's cage and putting him in the bathroom because i was mad at him and wanted to sleep at night lmao

I am J · Jan 31, 2017

“I’ll keep that in mind. Something tells me you’re a lot of trouble in an entirely fresh way.” His smile was contagious. She felt as if she hadn’t stopped smiling most of the time they’d spent together.

“Not to a nine year old. My brother got a fish and his fish was way more fun then my hamster. Tell me how that works out.” She rolled her eyes. “I should have insisted on the cat. I wanted a cat but my mom told me I’d never take care of it and then she’d have a third child to care for. She was probably right but I should have insisted.”

Cat uncurled her legs from where they’d been drawn against her chest, all of the tension from fear and shock and falling finally released. She realized suddenly that she’d just about forgotten they were floors about the ground. She stretched them out in front of them.

“Who says I don’t still do it?” she asked of sitting on her head, a sly smile gracing her lips.

Cat laughed with her eyes closed to keep from laughing too hard or loud. “That was definitely a negative. I was going for neutral. I don’t really care that I can’t drive, not when everything here is so nearby. But you defiantly just fessed up a negative.” The laughter stayed in her voice as she spoke and she was smiling so much it hurt her cheeks. “I think you also just admitted motion sickness? Totally a negative. I guess I owe you two now.”
She looked up at the sky. She should tell him she could go alone, because she didn’t want to waste his time. But she didn’t like the dark, and she really didn’t like the dark alone. And she really, really didn’t like the dark with the wolves out there somewhere in it. And, if she were really honest with herself, she really didn’t want the evening to end just yet.

“Do you mind? Would you be going out of your way? I don’t want to waste your time dragging you out there if you’re just coming back here.” It occurred to her that he’d offered to walk her without even knowing where she was heading to. “I live back near the shop,” she added.

Ooc: I had a hamster too! I was about 11 as well. Awful, noisy bugger. When I was about 16 I had a few mice in an aquarium… I just took their wheel out at night. Not sure why that didn’t occur to me when I was younger. >.<

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I keep a book of the names

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere

I am J

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere

I am J

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere

I am J

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere

I am J

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere

I am J

Well-Known Member