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[Clairice-Sarah]

((ooc: It's been a while, so I might be a little rusty at this o.o forgive me if I am.))




"Hmm? Oh, yeah Dad. No it's not repaired yet. Not sure if it's worth fixing..."

Laurel cradled her cell-phone on her shoulder as she locked up the cafe, peering through the door window to double-check for probably the tenth time that all the lights were off and everything was in order. She tossed her keys into her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"Yeah, Linda said she'd give me a ride up to the airport, since they're going too....that's my boss, Dad." She glanced around the barely illuminated street before briskly setting off home. "I'll be at the other airport for a few hours or so because my flight's so late but I will be home on the twenty-fourth." She gave a slight roll of her eyes as he began lecturing her.

"Yes, I'm walking home, because I'm not paying for a taxi for a half-hour walk. It's Bridgeport. I've been here for about two years now and nothing has ever happened....'kay, love you too." She hung up and tossed that in her bag too. Really, she didn't want to walk home, alone, in the dark. But she just didn't see the point in calling a taxi every time she had a closing shift. If she hadn't launched herself from her window onto her car, of course, things would be great. But cause-and-effect thinking didn't ever come into play when she lost her senses.

She shivered thinking about it, though she wasn't really cold. The crunching of her boots on the sidewalk was grating. What if she couldn't hear something coming? What if someone sneaked behind her? What if, what if, what if, what if she panicked?

"No, there's nothing wrong, I'm just being stupid and paranoid and it's winter anyway, no one walks around at ten PM in the middle of winter randomly. They just don't. It's chilly and they won't think other people are out, so why would even stalker types come out? Plus I'm tall and this coat makes me look huge, I don't look like a victim type, right...?" She continued to mutter reasonable explanations to herself, humming tunes from various musicals in between.

Laurel's eyes were glued to the path in front of her. Twenty-five minutes to go, as long as there was no ice to creep around.

[KB]

((Edit: Me jumping in out of nowhere: yay or nay? :x))



Now was not the time.

Monty had been positively enthralled with the movie package he'd ordered via the television, the plight of the unfortunate prawns touching the very ventricles of his heart, when the bag of Hershey's kisses he'd been devouring (those delicious ones with the creamy white chocolate and caramel filling, you know?) was suddenly empty. Irritated that he'd been forced to get up and interrupt his precious cinema time, he quickly headed to retrieve another sampling of sweets from his stash in the kitchen. When that proved empty, he tried the stash in his room. Another strike, and another, and another, then he found out that even the deposit of lollipops he kept in the soap dish in the shower was dry. There was only one thing to do.

The six-four, dark-skinned, now violet-eyed fellow had been driven to don every piece of heavy snow gear he owned and make a late-night trip to the nearest convenience store, which was not so convenient at the moment. What was it, negative thirty billion?! Monty had his hair shoved into a large fleece toboggan, a scarf draped around his neck and pushed up to almost cover his mouth thanks to the large, puffy black coat and its fur-lined hood, and at least two pairs of pants and socks. The boy looked ready to brave the wilderness in an Alaskan blizzard, but he was only walking a few blocks.

Luckily, Monty thought as he trudged through the slush and wondered why he bothered with a city this freezing, no one else is stupid enough to be out now, so I don't have to deal with any filthy little mortals. Excluding the store clerk, but then he rarely counted employees as people anyway.

He was still dwelling on that thought when, upon turning a corner and scrubbing his face with mitten-covered hands to dislodge some more chill, he happened to plow straight into that one other person who happened to be out and about at this hour. What luck.

[Clairice-Sarah]

((ooc: very yay! :3))



Humming a tune from Rocky Horror, Laurel's thoughts were completely consumed. She knew where she was going and now, now she was finally distracted. Her heart rate and blood pressure had calmed some and her pace was brisk enough that she didn't feel the evening chill. "Right," she mumbled to herself at a break in the song, "I gotta call my brother tomorrow, let him know when I'm arriving in town...wonder if he's stuck working Christmas this year..."

Usually she knew these things right now. She supposed that was her own fault. She always stressed to home that she would phone them, instead of the other way around...but Liam had worked the year before, so he should have this one off right? Except that he was Mister Nice Hard Working Police Man, so maybe not.

She looked up to walk into a wall of a man.

"Ah!!" She staggered back a few feet, eyes growing huge and face burning as she realized what she just did. "O-oh, I'm sorry!" Hello racing heart. She hadn't expected anyone around. Bridgeport was almost always quiet, regardless of the time. "I wasn't watching where I was going! You know, one of those days!" She tried to laugh off her nervousness.

"Sorry about that." It was just a guy, and it was an accident. Sure he was huge - towered over her and probably bigger than any of the guys she had met through her older brother. Something was immediately off-putting about him that made her ears buzz and her shoulders shake. Laurel took another half step out of his way, making a small, high-pitched whine as she did.

It was unintentional and she pursed her lips shut as soon as she realized she had. Okay, time to go home. Time to go home. Before she panicked or passed out or worse...

"Ah, um..." Her words were all gone.

[KB]

Monty cursed, pivoting slightly before gaining his balance and looking at the offending intruder. A look of disgust flashed across his face as he noted the girl didn't even have the courtesy of being something other than human, but the expression was quickly replaced by general irritation as he proceeded to brush himself off and scold, "Geez, girl; watch where you're going."

He nodded curtly, almost sarcastically as she spilled forth some chatter about excuses and apologies. He mittened hand lifted in a tense wave. "Yeah, yeah; you're sorry, et cetera and so forth. Just watch where the hell you're going before you bump into the wrong person." His eyes narrowed, their violet color bleeding into a bright blue as he looked her over. Heck, he was practically the wrong person, and the shift in his mouth as it changed from that of a human to that of a reptile told him that maybe sugary goodness wasn't all that he was peckish for.

Adjusting his jaw to compensate for fangs that were just a little too big for a human skull structure, he sneered at her slightly and just motioned for her to be on her way.

[Clairice-Sarah]

Rude! She hoped this guy never came into Linda's cafe. At least not while she was working.

She forgot how sick she was starting to feel at his response, and almost frowned at the attitude. Wait, wrong person? Was he threatening her? She almost sputtered out another apology before catching the shift in his eyes. "Wha?"

Are there other...?

Anxiety wasn't a thing she was unfamiliar with, but this knot growing in her stomach and building up into her throat, it felt...different. Something in her told her to run, fast, and not look back while the rest of her felt far too threatened to let it go.

Laurel shook her head quickly, trying not to stare at him. This was all in her head, she needed to go home. Take a bath, take her medication, go to sleep. Relax, keep herself in check.

"I'm not looking for trouble, so I'll just uh," she squeaked and glanced back up at him. What kind of teeth were...?

Laurel's skin and hair paled some and she moved toward the building wall for support, feeling very suddenly weak and defensive. She moved against it to pass him, trying to be quick and stay out of his way at the same time.

[KB]

Monty's expression changed from irritation to mild curiosity as he saw the emotions the girl was going through. A brow raised in question as she squeaked and fumbled, and his mouth changed back when she paled. He turned to watch her, thoroughly confused and questioning the female's mental state as she slid against a wall and tried to, what? Get away?

"Hey," he said evenly, his earlier expedition forgotten as he started to follow her. "You're not going to pass out or something, are you?" While the guy would like to think he was that intimidating and scary, he highly doubted anyone that didn't have some problems already would be scared by his pissy attitude.

[Clairice-Sarah]

Oh my god he's following isn't he, oh god, no, don't do that just...

She froze as he spoke to her again. "N-no..." She hoped not. "You should just, er..." What? "Leave me alone." Oh that sounded a lot meaner than she intended. "I mean I need to go home!"

Positives, there was a bright side here. And that bright side was that she had a feeling where this would go and she was doing all that she could now to prevent it. But it was getting really hard to coordinate her thoughts.

She pushed herself off the wall and swallowed uncomfortably, forcing herself to walk evenly and straight as she could. Home, that was close enough.

[KB]

Monty gaped, more than a bit offended at her outburst before he followed after. "I think a trip to the hospital to get your head and nerves checked would be better. Are you on drugs?" With long legs he quickly managed to match her pace, and now walked beside her without a care as to her comfort level.

"I've seen that intervention series, and some of the quacks on there act like this. I know you mortals-" Checking himself, he cleared his throat. "Er, you Americans believe in self help or ignoring the problem or whatever, but some medication would do you good right now."

[Clairice-Sarah]

Even when stressed, it took a lot to get Laurel to bristle. She stopped and turned to look at him with a tired frown. "I've been there and I've done that, but thanks for the concern..." Laurel did need medication and she had medication, just not with her, it was at home, where she was trying to go.

She regarded him curiously, bringing her shoulders up in an attempt to feel more secure. Mortals. He said mortals. Or maybe she was hearing things, Laurel wasn't sure even after two years that her ears hadn't been damaged.

But everyone always thought she was crazy.

"I'm not crazy," she said quietly, more to herself than him.

[KB]

Monty's nose wrinkled in distaste. "It's not concern, least of all concern for you." He shook his head. "More like being a good citizen by wanting the psychotics off the street."

At her adamant denial of mental unwellness he scoffed. "Yeah, right. Breaking down because someone bumped into you? Completely sane." He shoved his hands in the puffy pockets of his coat. "I suppose my standards are too high."

[Clairice-Sarah]

If she was in her right mind, then, she would give him some sort of recognition for being the first person, next to her brother, to get under her skin so quickly.

"Unngh.." She clutched her head.

Laurel slid to the ground suddenly in response to his calling her psychotic. When she looked back at him, her face had lost all colour, almost yellowish and her hair was like straw. Her eyes were bloodshot, swollen, and red. She looked aged, by about sixty years.

The hiss that came out of her throat was not human, nor was it friendly.

She crept backward several feet, regarding Monty suspiciously. Laurel took a sharp breath and snarled at him, before rising up again. There was a half second of absolute silence before her shriek filled the empty streets.

[KB]

"You're not going to have some breakdown are you..." Monty trailed off as she transformed, his bewildered expression quickly turning to delight as he realized this crazy little mortal had more of an interest that he'd first thought.

Her hiss caused him only to grin, no concern as to his health as he held up a hand in a show of good nature. "Hey now, you don't have to-" His eyes bugged, irises turning a vivid orange as her shriek sent him stumbling back and clutching his ears.

"Jesus Christ," He shouted, his words muffled and drowned out by the sound as he doubled over. Though he adored finding people plagued by monstrous dispositions, being attacked was not what he considered a fun time.

In retaliation the guy clawed a hand at his hat, tearing it off and sending the waist-long hair beneath it tumbling around him like a cape. The stubby little multicolored horns protruding from his forehead shimmered despite the lack of sufficient light, and he attempted to take control of the girl's motor functions. If he could shut her up he'd be a happy little serpent.

[Clairice-Sarah]

The banshee knew only two things - scream and run. To date, Laurel had never been confronted with a threatening non-human presence. To the banshee, everything was an enemy or a victim, and both received the same treatment. She advanced a step closer to him as the wail caused him to double over.

In the distance, several cars had their alarms go off.

She cut off sharply, unintentionally as he revealed his horns. Her face twitched, attempting to fight off whatever was preventing her from attacking. As the echo of her shriek died out she shrunk backward, crumpling down to all fours. Laurel was very still, crawling backward slowly. Her eyes remained on Monty, though, waiting for any sudden movement.

[KB]

"There," the man said darkly as he straightened to his full height and smoothed out his clothing. His eyes were cold as he shoved his hat into his pocket and moved his hair out of his face. "Now I suggest you calm down and quit screaming at me or I'll eat you."

The threat sounded cheesy, but it was truthful and Monty had no qualms about devouring a nuisance. Thankfully he had stopped her, the serpent had been iffy as to whether that would actually work or not, but now that his confidence was back he frowned at her. He had a headache now thanks to her.

[Clairice-Sarah]

Laurel hissed once more, hearing the threat but not quite understanding it. She stayed close to the cement, thin claws poking out of her gloves. She scratched at the sidewalk absently.

Her eyes darted from window to window. They were in a business district, and there weren't people around. In the quiet of the hour, though, it was likely this whole area of the city had heard the noise. Animals, rodents, skittered in the alley near them and she shuddered in response.

Focused on the horns on his head, Laurel ever so slowly, backed away, looking for a crevice or a corner to dart down, to get away.

...go home... With that thought, she stopped once more, torn between the instinct to flee anywhere, and the desire to find her apartment.