Post by gemma on Aug 18, 2012 23:45:51 GMT -8
[This is Aislin, not Gemma, just fyi!]
December 26th, 12:00pm – late in the evening
Train. It was such a simple word, but that didn't stop Aislin from looking at the thing with definite distaste. She wouldn't have ever chosen this method of travel for herself, but since she couldn't Apparate very well and because no-one was able to take the time to take her down to London by that method, she was stuck using human transportation.
It just smells... unnatural, she thought, trying not to touch anything as she strode down the aisle, looking for a seat as far away from the humans present as possible. Her expression of mild disgust was only intensified by the fact that she'd also been ordered to look as "human" as possible for the trip, so she wouldn't draw attention to her Garou nature. As such, she was dressed in a ridiculous... "cute"... outfit: a dress – an actual dress – under her usual leather jacket, and high-heeled boots on her feet... even her hair was smooth, sleek, and restrained, in the human style. She felt ridiculous, humiliated, and completely uncomfortable with the way the humans were looking at her... as though she was one of them.
Finally, she found a seat, one that faced sideways, in the most open part of the train: no-one was around for several seats on either side, leaving her plenty of room to stretch out and hopefully keep an eye on everything. Her scout's eyes took in everyone in the car with her, writing them off one by one as minimal threats. This done, she swung the backpack that contained her possessions off of her back and onto the seat beside her, making sure to keep one arm through one of the shoulder straps. If anyone tried to take it, she wouldn't be allowed to attack; she'd have to go off human tactics to get it back, and this apparently was one of them.
She was beginning to fidget when the train finally started moving. She noticed the change in position immediately and stiffened, her eyes unconsciously going slightly red in instinctual aggression after being startled, only to relax -- slightly -- when she realized what was happening.
Good. I won't be here forever after all.
For a while she was able to sit silently, in a relaxed posture: she was able to see the outside world flitting by through the window across from her, and somehow it reminded her of running under the full moon, which was surprisingly calming, not to mention distracting from her current location. After a while, however, she found herself fidgeting again; how long was this stupid journey supposed to take? Reluctantly, she asked one of the humans for the time, only to find out that it was only a little over an hour since they'd left.
Damn it!
She got up at that point and stalked down the aisle, determined to keep herself active so that she wouldn't fall into the Rage or something due to stress at being confined like this. A brisk walk from one end of the train to the other and back, several times, during which the humans watched her in mild confusion, seemed to help... though only a little. Her heeled boots were highly irritating, because she wasn't used to walking in such things; she nearly tripped a few times, which was humiliation incarnate.
How can I nearly trip? I'm supposed to be a scout! Scouts don't trip!
She headed back to her seat finally, concentrating furiously so she wouldn't actually lose her balance. Flopping down, she leaned her head back on the window behind her, trying to calm down. She wouldn't be able to handle this journey if she lost herself in Rage right now... and she had to make it to London. Today.
So cool off, Lin... before you rip this “train” to shreds and lift the Veil...
The next several hours passed in much the same pattern, save for the small reprieve about halfway along when she had to switch trains. Her next train wasn't to arrive for an hour after her original train stopped, so she didn't waste a moment in finding the nearest green area that contained trees and breathing their clean scent in deeply, as though she hadn't breathed proper air in a year. It felt like she hadn't, really; the air on the train was stuffy, close, and full of the scents of humans and their mechanical creations. It left her skin feeling like it was crawling away from her: itchy and too tight.
It didn't help that she was ravenously hungry.
Wait until the next train comes, she told herself, trying not to think about food, You'll have something to do instead of just be stuck for hours again, then, if you get food...
She hadn't thought she'd be excited to leave the soft green of the park, lit with the last rays of the winter sun, but her stomach was growling loudly and even the thought of being in another train was made better by the thought that there would be food there. She got on the train, not even bothering to find a seat, instead heading right for the area they called a “snack bar.” She bought two sandwiches with the Muggle money supplied to her and took them with her as she finally endeavored to find a place to sit; she nearly growled aloud when she came to find that the only places left open to her after her wait to buy food were in much closer proximity to humans than before. Her eyes slightly red-tinted with irritation, she dropped into a seat, removing her backpack again and stuffing it down by her feet before turning her attention to the sandwiches.
They weren't bad, really they weren't, though Aislin couldn't tell if that was because she was hungry or because they honestly were good. Either way, she didn't care: food was food, when ones body needed it. Not even noticing the mildly confused glances of the humans around her, she wolfed down the first sandwich in record time before starting in on the second; she got halfway through that one before stopping, a look of satisfaction on her face. The red tint in her eyes had faded, leaving her with her usual blue-gray eyes once more.
Much better...
She tucked the remainder of the second sandwich into her backpack, then leaned her head back against the seat, letting her eyes slide mostly closed. None of these humans were any sort of a threat to her – they wouldn't be able to move an inch without her noticing, let alone get close enough to attack her – so she allowed herself to relax. Her stomach was comfortably full, and she knew that if she could manage to stay relaxed, the rest of the journey wouldn't seem nearly so long as it might otherwise.
Her guess was right: the next stage of the journey – at least the beginning of it – wasn't nearly so bad as the first leg had been. She actually managed to doze for a bit, though her skills as a scout and hunter allowed her to remain in somewhat of a limbo: half-asleep, yes, but with an ear cocked to catch the sounds of anyone getting too near, her nose still attuned to the scents of those around her. No-one bothered her... perhaps because they weren't quite sure what to make of the girl who had eaten so much, so quickly, despite the fact that she looked almost waifishly thin in her “girly” clothes. (Somehow, her normal clothing choices made her look more lithe, more fit, than any dress could.)
It wasn't until they were about an hour away from London that it happened: someone finally got up the nerve to disturb her light slumber. Aislin found herself growing aware that there was someone sitting closer to her than there had been previously... and also that said person was staring at her, intently. She gauged their distance by the strength of their scent and by the loudness of the sounds they produced before slowly opening her eyes, doing her best to give the appearance of a human girl waking up from a small nap rather than a Garou scout, trained to hunt and kill, making preparations to attack, if necessary.
She was almost disappointed when she saw who and what the person was: a young human man about her own age, wearing the latest human fashions for young males. Obviously not a threat to her in any way.
A pup could take him on and win... she thought with a small, private smirk, shifting her position so that she was sitting up straight rather than leaning back. She noticed then with some distaste that, despite the human pup's lack-of-threat to her, he was staring at her intently, just as she'd thought he was. Staring, more specifically, at her body.
Ugh. Not one of these... just what I need, some human thinking it can flirt with me...
As if on cue, the human piped up; by his tone, Aislin could tell he thought he had this little rendezvous in the bag, but the Garou found it difficult – no, more like impossible – to be impressed by his feeble show of bravado.
”Hey, there... sorry to wake you up. I just had to see if your eyes were as pretty as the rest of you.”
Aislin rolled her eyes, barely suppressing the urge to growl. If the human kept this up, she would be feeling the Rage, she knew it. And that wouldn't do at all.
”And?” she asked in an almost bored tone; perhaps if the human got to run through his little routine, he would leave when he was done. Sometimes they did. This one gave her a smirk, one which he clearly thought made him look attractive, but which reminded Aislin more of what she'd heard of Nosferatu: too many teeth.
”They exceed my expectations... which is saying something, because you're about the sexiest girl I've ever seen.” He leaned forward, apparently trying to be conversational, or conspiratorial even, but it made Aislin stiffen, her body preparing itself should he lunge. ”And I've bet you've got a gorgeous name to go with that gorgeous face, am I right?”
”... Aislin,” she answered reluctantly; if this human kept this up much longer, she was going to snap at him, she knew it. She could already feel the Rage creeping in through all the tiny cracks in her control.... it wouldn't be long before her eyes started to change...
I wonder what he'll think of that...
“I was right! Aislin is a gorgeous name. I'm Benedict. Nice to meet you, Aislin.” He stretched out his hand, and Aislin stared at it for a moment, wondering if he expected her to shake it. It was worse than that, though; instead of shaking her hand, he rested his on her knee, that smirk coming back onto his face. ”You really are gorgeous, luv... d'ya have a boyfriend?”
… that's it.
A growl of the type that no human could produce rumbled low in Aislin's chest, and she could practically feel her eyes shift to a noticeably-red tint. She brushed the human's hand off of her knee with slightly more force than was necessary, but, all things considering, she was managing to hold herself in pretty well.
”Get your filthy hand off me, or I'll take it off for you,” she snarled softly at him; she could see by the look on his face that he had noticed her eyes, because he got up rather hastily, holding up his hands in a clear sign of surrender. It took everything she had not to get up, to follow him, to stalk him like prey...
”R-right, okay... sorry... N-nice contacts, by the way... er... didn't see those at first... I-I'll just be going...” He hurried away in a manner that Aislin recognized: if he'd been a wolf, his tail would've been between his legs. She smirked to herself again, then propped her feet up on his vacated seat, trying to get the Rage to seep out of her bones so she could relax again.
Finally... finally, finally, finally! The train was slowing down for the last time, and the humans were gathering their things, preparing to leave it. Aislin, too, got up, grabbing her pack and slinging it over her shoulders; it was difficult to wait for the humans to file out in front of her, and she shifted from foot to foot, fidgeting as she gradually got closer and closer to the door. Once she reached it, she literally jumped out of the train, landing solidly on the area the humans called a “platform” and immediately scanning the crowd there, her nose quivering ever so slightly as she searched for a certain scent.
Right... he's supposed to be here somewhere...
Her Beta, Soren, whom she had been sent to assist, had apparently been ordered to come pick her up from the train station – King's Cross, it was called, she remembered – just as she had been ordered to head down to London in the first place. She hadn't actually interacted with Soren for a while, seeing as the main times he was with the pack was at full moon time, and she hadn't ever really sought him out, then. But she knew him, at the very least by reputation and rather more by observation: they'd been at school together, for the short time that they'd been there, for one... and they were very close to the same age, with only around a year separating them.
'Course, age isn't the thing that matters, in this case... he's a Beta, and I'm currently a nobody... She couldn't help the rueful smirk that twisted her lips at that thought, but it abruptly shifted into a very real grin: she'd caught a scent that could only come from a Garou, and, more specifically, one of her own pack. Hoisting her pack so that it fit more tightly to her body, she half-dodged, half-pushed her way through the crowd, not stopping until she'd found who she was looking for. She gave a nod of respect, in acknowledgment that she was interacting with her Beta, before raising one eyebrow, a small smirk twisting her lips upward.
”I don't know about you, sir, but I've had about enough of humans for today... Shall we?”
[Note: I got permission from Subaru to mention Soren. Also, Lin is pretty much the only person in the pack who calls him "sir," and even that only happens occasionally. In case anyone was curious about that. XD]
December 26th, 12:00pm – late in the evening
Train. It was such a simple word, but that didn't stop Aislin from looking at the thing with definite distaste. She wouldn't have ever chosen this method of travel for herself, but since she couldn't Apparate very well and because no-one was able to take the time to take her down to London by that method, she was stuck using human transportation.
It just smells... unnatural, she thought, trying not to touch anything as she strode down the aisle, looking for a seat as far away from the humans present as possible. Her expression of mild disgust was only intensified by the fact that she'd also been ordered to look as "human" as possible for the trip, so she wouldn't draw attention to her Garou nature. As such, she was dressed in a ridiculous... "cute"... outfit: a dress – an actual dress – under her usual leather jacket, and high-heeled boots on her feet... even her hair was smooth, sleek, and restrained, in the human style. She felt ridiculous, humiliated, and completely uncomfortable with the way the humans were looking at her... as though she was one of them.
Finally, she found a seat, one that faced sideways, in the most open part of the train: no-one was around for several seats on either side, leaving her plenty of room to stretch out and hopefully keep an eye on everything. Her scout's eyes took in everyone in the car with her, writing them off one by one as minimal threats. This done, she swung the backpack that contained her possessions off of her back and onto the seat beside her, making sure to keep one arm through one of the shoulder straps. If anyone tried to take it, she wouldn't be allowed to attack; she'd have to go off human tactics to get it back, and this apparently was one of them.
She was beginning to fidget when the train finally started moving. She noticed the change in position immediately and stiffened, her eyes unconsciously going slightly red in instinctual aggression after being startled, only to relax -- slightly -- when she realized what was happening.
Good. I won't be here forever after all.
For a while she was able to sit silently, in a relaxed posture: she was able to see the outside world flitting by through the window across from her, and somehow it reminded her of running under the full moon, which was surprisingly calming, not to mention distracting from her current location. After a while, however, she found herself fidgeting again; how long was this stupid journey supposed to take? Reluctantly, she asked one of the humans for the time, only to find out that it was only a little over an hour since they'd left.
Damn it!
She got up at that point and stalked down the aisle, determined to keep herself active so that she wouldn't fall into the Rage or something due to stress at being confined like this. A brisk walk from one end of the train to the other and back, several times, during which the humans watched her in mild confusion, seemed to help... though only a little. Her heeled boots were highly irritating, because she wasn't used to walking in such things; she nearly tripped a few times, which was humiliation incarnate.
How can I nearly trip? I'm supposed to be a scout! Scouts don't trip!
She headed back to her seat finally, concentrating furiously so she wouldn't actually lose her balance. Flopping down, she leaned her head back on the window behind her, trying to calm down. She wouldn't be able to handle this journey if she lost herself in Rage right now... and she had to make it to London. Today.
So cool off, Lin... before you rip this “train” to shreds and lift the Veil...
The next several hours passed in much the same pattern, save for the small reprieve about halfway along when she had to switch trains. Her next train wasn't to arrive for an hour after her original train stopped, so she didn't waste a moment in finding the nearest green area that contained trees and breathing their clean scent in deeply, as though she hadn't breathed proper air in a year. It felt like she hadn't, really; the air on the train was stuffy, close, and full of the scents of humans and their mechanical creations. It left her skin feeling like it was crawling away from her: itchy and too tight.
It didn't help that she was ravenously hungry.
Wait until the next train comes, she told herself, trying not to think about food, You'll have something to do instead of just be stuck for hours again, then, if you get food...
She hadn't thought she'd be excited to leave the soft green of the park, lit with the last rays of the winter sun, but her stomach was growling loudly and even the thought of being in another train was made better by the thought that there would be food there. She got on the train, not even bothering to find a seat, instead heading right for the area they called a “snack bar.” She bought two sandwiches with the Muggle money supplied to her and took them with her as she finally endeavored to find a place to sit; she nearly growled aloud when she came to find that the only places left open to her after her wait to buy food were in much closer proximity to humans than before. Her eyes slightly red-tinted with irritation, she dropped into a seat, removing her backpack again and stuffing it down by her feet before turning her attention to the sandwiches.
They weren't bad, really they weren't, though Aislin couldn't tell if that was because she was hungry or because they honestly were good. Either way, she didn't care: food was food, when ones body needed it. Not even noticing the mildly confused glances of the humans around her, she wolfed down the first sandwich in record time before starting in on the second; she got halfway through that one before stopping, a look of satisfaction on her face. The red tint in her eyes had faded, leaving her with her usual blue-gray eyes once more.
Much better...
She tucked the remainder of the second sandwich into her backpack, then leaned her head back against the seat, letting her eyes slide mostly closed. None of these humans were any sort of a threat to her – they wouldn't be able to move an inch without her noticing, let alone get close enough to attack her – so she allowed herself to relax. Her stomach was comfortably full, and she knew that if she could manage to stay relaxed, the rest of the journey wouldn't seem nearly so long as it might otherwise.
Her guess was right: the next stage of the journey – at least the beginning of it – wasn't nearly so bad as the first leg had been. She actually managed to doze for a bit, though her skills as a scout and hunter allowed her to remain in somewhat of a limbo: half-asleep, yes, but with an ear cocked to catch the sounds of anyone getting too near, her nose still attuned to the scents of those around her. No-one bothered her... perhaps because they weren't quite sure what to make of the girl who had eaten so much, so quickly, despite the fact that she looked almost waifishly thin in her “girly” clothes. (Somehow, her normal clothing choices made her look more lithe, more fit, than any dress could.)
It wasn't until they were about an hour away from London that it happened: someone finally got up the nerve to disturb her light slumber. Aislin found herself growing aware that there was someone sitting closer to her than there had been previously... and also that said person was staring at her, intently. She gauged their distance by the strength of their scent and by the loudness of the sounds they produced before slowly opening her eyes, doing her best to give the appearance of a human girl waking up from a small nap rather than a Garou scout, trained to hunt and kill, making preparations to attack, if necessary.
She was almost disappointed when she saw who and what the person was: a young human man about her own age, wearing the latest human fashions for young males. Obviously not a threat to her in any way.
A pup could take him on and win... she thought with a small, private smirk, shifting her position so that she was sitting up straight rather than leaning back. She noticed then with some distaste that, despite the human pup's lack-of-threat to her, he was staring at her intently, just as she'd thought he was. Staring, more specifically, at her body.
Ugh. Not one of these... just what I need, some human thinking it can flirt with me...
As if on cue, the human piped up; by his tone, Aislin could tell he thought he had this little rendezvous in the bag, but the Garou found it difficult – no, more like impossible – to be impressed by his feeble show of bravado.
”Hey, there... sorry to wake you up. I just had to see if your eyes were as pretty as the rest of you.”
Aislin rolled her eyes, barely suppressing the urge to growl. If the human kept this up, she would be feeling the Rage, she knew it. And that wouldn't do at all.
”And?” she asked in an almost bored tone; perhaps if the human got to run through his little routine, he would leave when he was done. Sometimes they did. This one gave her a smirk, one which he clearly thought made him look attractive, but which reminded Aislin more of what she'd heard of Nosferatu: too many teeth.
”They exceed my expectations... which is saying something, because you're about the sexiest girl I've ever seen.” He leaned forward, apparently trying to be conversational, or conspiratorial even, but it made Aislin stiffen, her body preparing itself should he lunge. ”And I've bet you've got a gorgeous name to go with that gorgeous face, am I right?”
”... Aislin,” she answered reluctantly; if this human kept this up much longer, she was going to snap at him, she knew it. She could already feel the Rage creeping in through all the tiny cracks in her control.... it wouldn't be long before her eyes started to change...
I wonder what he'll think of that...
“I was right! Aislin is a gorgeous name. I'm Benedict. Nice to meet you, Aislin.” He stretched out his hand, and Aislin stared at it for a moment, wondering if he expected her to shake it. It was worse than that, though; instead of shaking her hand, he rested his on her knee, that smirk coming back onto his face. ”You really are gorgeous, luv... d'ya have a boyfriend?”
… that's it.
A growl of the type that no human could produce rumbled low in Aislin's chest, and she could practically feel her eyes shift to a noticeably-red tint. She brushed the human's hand off of her knee with slightly more force than was necessary, but, all things considering, she was managing to hold herself in pretty well.
”Get your filthy hand off me, or I'll take it off for you,” she snarled softly at him; she could see by the look on his face that he had noticed her eyes, because he got up rather hastily, holding up his hands in a clear sign of surrender. It took everything she had not to get up, to follow him, to stalk him like prey...
”R-right, okay... sorry... N-nice contacts, by the way... er... didn't see those at first... I-I'll just be going...” He hurried away in a manner that Aislin recognized: if he'd been a wolf, his tail would've been between his legs. She smirked to herself again, then propped her feet up on his vacated seat, trying to get the Rage to seep out of her bones so she could relax again.
Finally... finally, finally, finally! The train was slowing down for the last time, and the humans were gathering their things, preparing to leave it. Aislin, too, got up, grabbing her pack and slinging it over her shoulders; it was difficult to wait for the humans to file out in front of her, and she shifted from foot to foot, fidgeting as she gradually got closer and closer to the door. Once she reached it, she literally jumped out of the train, landing solidly on the area the humans called a “platform” and immediately scanning the crowd there, her nose quivering ever so slightly as she searched for a certain scent.
Right... he's supposed to be here somewhere...
Her Beta, Soren, whom she had been sent to assist, had apparently been ordered to come pick her up from the train station – King's Cross, it was called, she remembered – just as she had been ordered to head down to London in the first place. She hadn't actually interacted with Soren for a while, seeing as the main times he was with the pack was at full moon time, and she hadn't ever really sought him out, then. But she knew him, at the very least by reputation and rather more by observation: they'd been at school together, for the short time that they'd been there, for one... and they were very close to the same age, with only around a year separating them.
'Course, age isn't the thing that matters, in this case... he's a Beta, and I'm currently a nobody... She couldn't help the rueful smirk that twisted her lips at that thought, but it abruptly shifted into a very real grin: she'd caught a scent that could only come from a Garou, and, more specifically, one of her own pack. Hoisting her pack so that it fit more tightly to her body, she half-dodged, half-pushed her way through the crowd, not stopping until she'd found who she was looking for. She gave a nod of respect, in acknowledgment that she was interacting with her Beta, before raising one eyebrow, a small smirk twisting her lips upward.
”I don't know about you, sir, but I've had about enough of humans for today... Shall we?”
[Note: I got permission from Subaru to mention Soren. Also, Lin is pretty much the only person in the pack who calls him "sir," and even that only happens occasionally. In case anyone was curious about that. XD]