Better chance (Ely, Essy)

[Lovely]

April 8, 2009
8pm


Ely ran as fast as she could, her heart pounding in her chest due to fear more than any physical exertion, running like this for a short distance wasn't very taxing for her. The problem was the patrol coming around one corner just as she and a group of friends were coming around another. They scattered to give everyone a better chance of getting away though they knew they all ran the risk of getting picked up.. no one wanted to get picked up! She didn't hear them behind her anymore but that didn't stop her, she kept running and darting between buildings and down one alley or another. She skidded to a stop when she heard the engines in front of her, if she kept going she'd run right into where they were looking. With a soft growl that was almost under her breath, she started up the fire escape and tumbled herself through an open window on the second floor of the building. After rolling several feet, she lay flat and looked up to find herself on a floor that was more solid than she expected and in what appeared to be someone's home. "Crap." She whispered, her hand going to her forehead as she waited for a scream, someone was living here and she'd just thrown herself in!

[Lovely]

"Well shit, it must be my lucky day. It's raining girls!" The chuckle seemed to come from the shadow across the room from the window. The shadow shifted and waivered, driven by the dancing light of a candle on the floor illuminating the darkly-robed man who remained calmly seated in his interrupted meditation. He stretched and rolled his shoulders and the shadow loomed larger behind him. "Don't mind me. Let the rain come on in. Or maybe if you can get up you might want to close that before whatever you're running from decides to crash my party, too." He made no motion to get up or see if she was hurt, but seemed confident she wasn't.

Her head turned toward the voice and she basically just stared in shock at the sight of him and what he said, until he got to the part about the window. "Right.." Ely muttered and rolled herself so she could get to her feet, trying not to make too much noise as she closed the window. She turned around to look at the man and her eyebrow arched, meditation wasn't her thing and she slid herself down to sit on the floor against the wall by the window to regard him quietly.

"I'm not mad," he grinned, beckoning her closer. The light was dim but enough to see the marks and lines on his arm below the cuffed sleeve. He reached up to push back the hood that covered his closely-trimmed dark hair that was hardly longer than the sift of coffee-like whiskers that framed his young face. "See? Not mad and not so scary, right?"

"I'm not scared of you." She spoke softly but didn't move closer to him even as he began to show more of himself from beneath the robe he wore. "Your laughter didn't indicate that you were mad.. I just didn't want to further disturb your meditation after my entrance already had. I thought I would just sit quietly until you were finished."

"Not sure you shouldn't be scared of me, but them out there? They're worthy of a blind leap like that. Glad I left it open for you. Anyway, it looks like I'm finished. I mean I can't be rude to an angel that's just fallen in my lap... well, living room, if you can really call it that. They're gone, by the way. They don't stay out there long," he mentioned, nodding to the safety and privacy of the now-closed window. "I'd offer a drink, but I don't have much. Is there any other way I can help you?"

She chuckled and rolled the shoulder she'd landed on, giving him a half smile. "I'm aware of the dangers out there, why do you think I jumped through a random open window? By the way, I'm not an angel but you scored a couple points for corny compliments." She knew the patrol was gone, her hearing was good enough to know the engine had moved away from the alley mouth. "All I needed was a place to hide out for a few. Thank you for letting me stay.. I won't delete your precious supplies. I know how hard they can be to come by."

He chuckled again and now she could see his bright smile in the candle's glow. "I feel so used," he teased. "I mean you sound like you're leaving right away when you just dropped in, on that which looks like it hurts a little. I've got skills if you want me to take a look at it," he nodded to her and her shoulder that seemed sore from the abrupt stop. He clapped his palms together and rubbed his hands briskly to warm them. "My supplies aren't really useful until they're put to use, if that makes sense. If you need something, I'll help you get it,' he offered.

Her eyebrow arched up and she propped her arm over her bent knee, her foot flat against the floor as she regarded him. "You look as if you like being used.." She teased him back with a relaxed smile as if they were old friends. She wasn't sure if he could smell her from where he sat but she could smell him since his scent was in more than one place from staying there. "I wasn't planning to invite myself to stay, it was bad enough I just dropped in unannounced and being a stranger and all that. It does hurt but it won't for long.. unless it's out of place which it feels like it might be.. but if you're just looking for a reason to get your hands on me, I could oblige and let you take a look at it.. you did help me out by letting me stay and not screaming.. so I do owe you for that."

"I don't scream. Well, not exactly. A little hard to explain, maybe, but if you stick around long enough I might try," he offered, again trying to get her to move closer. "Offering isn't being used, but I guess it depends on who's using, doesn't it? In this case... I really don't mind. Now let's get you in a place where you're comfortable," he said, holding his hand out still like he would to a cat he expected to rub against his fingertips.

She laughed and tipped her head back to rest against the wall, he was a little odd and she didn't quite know what to make of him but there was something very likeable about him. "You're living here and I jumped through your window to avoid the patrol.. but it's a little hard to explain? Do you have like a second head under that robe and only the hidden one screams?" She pondered some possible explanation for it as she shifted to crawl over to him, she favored the shoulder she'd hit but didn't baby it as much as a normal person would.

"Haha, no, I mean it's... it's me, but i wouldn't call it a scream, more of a... well, it's like a howl, actually," he said, cringing at the way he sounded crazy to himself and was sure it was worse to her ears. He shook his head. "And not because I'm scared, because that rarely happens. Of course I could say the howling rarely happens these days, either," he said a little louder than he'd meant to. He watched how she moved, crawling toward him and spurring other ideas. The arm had to hurt her. He reached out with this warmed palms, pressing on it to test it in the socket.

Ely didn't react with any huge shock to him claiming that he howled, she just smiled softly and gave a slight nod of her head, letting him finish speaking as she got closer to him. "You're not the only one who howls, you know." He reached for her shoulder and she shifted herself to sit down in front of him, her hand clenched for a moment as he pressed to test the shoulder. The low growl would let him know where it was most tender and that she'd been talking about herself in her comment. She wasn't aggressive and didn't snarl or lash out at him, she had enough control over her inner animal at the moment to keep it in check.

"Somehow I could have guessed that about you," he teased in a warm breath by her ear as he leaned in a bit for leverage to reset the arm. "Hold anything you want. This is probably going to hurt more for a few minutes when I reset it," he cautioned, waiting for her okay.

The breath by her ear was all kinds of nice and she wouldn't deny it gave her thoughts. "You might want to retract that statement.. I don't really think you want me to hold -anything I want- when you're about to hurt me to fix things." Her eyebrow arched up and she reached to wrap her uninjured arm around his thigh to steady herself against the coming pain. "Ready, when you are."

"I'll gladly take my chances," he said sweetly, letting her think about that for the moment as he reset the joint for her in a quick and practiced motion. He clapped his hands again, placing his warm palms over the area to soothe it for her. "Tell me your name and I promise that's the last time I'll ever hurt you."

She gripped harder on his thigh for that moment as the sharp pain hit and the shoulder was set again. Her eyes flared briefly but she remained in control, taking a deep breath and turning her gaze to meet his. "Elyssia.." She blushed at telling him and licked her lips. "Just Ely, usually.. Will you tell me yours?"

"Essex," he said, hissing it out sweetly, suggestively emphasizing his name as he massaged the sting out of her shoulder. "How does that feel?"

She had to wonder if he always said his name like that, or maybe just to girls? It was kind of cute though she was sure that wasn't the effect he was going for. "It feels better.. good. You have nice warm hands - that definitely helps." Ely smiled again, she could imagine falling asleep to a massage from him.. of course sitting close to him, she could imagine quite a few other things which would also lead to her falling asleep.

[Lovely]

"That's me. Here to help," he said sweetly, moving from the sore shoulder to rub and scratch her back in soft circles. "You should stay a while, seriously. I think you know why," he suggested. "Are you sure it's just running from the patrol that led you into my window?"

"Yeah.. I think I know why." She agreed, turning her head to look at him and letting him rub the tension from her back with his gentle circles. Ely gave him a half smile and shrugged her uninjured shoulder, still babying the other a bit. "I'm pretty sure it was running from the patrol that got me close enough and distracted enough not to realize something else was drawing me toward your particular window. Wouldn't have been near here if not for them.. but now that I am here.. I can't say I mind."

"I'll have to remember to thank them," he grinned back. "If I said I hadn't smelled you around here before, I think you're the only one who wouldn't be offended by it, heh. What are you doing in this sector? Make it up if you want, but I'm curious."

"Okay, sure.. you thank them. I'll just be about five sectors away and still running when you do." She shook her head, almost laughing at the idea but unfortunately it was all too true about the abuse suffered by anyone who came in contact with them. "You really want to know what I was doing here? What is anyone who doesn't actually live here, doing around here?"

"How would you like me to answer that?" He asked playfully, brushing her cheek lightly as he moved around her to face her. "I mean I could show you... mmmm, but talking's nice too. I don't do that often, either. So, I guess that's something else we have in common, then, digging around for something worthwhile, right? Not my home sector, either, but I've hung out long enough it mostly is, now."

She shifted back slightly, looking at him in surprise, he didn't fit the type she had in her head for it but he seemed to know just what she would have to do. "Right.. um.. look.. I don't know if it was you who I was actually supposed to meet but.. you don't have to pretend to be nice. It's business.. so let's keep things clear, shall we?" She reached to politely pull his hand away and move it back toward him. She'd already let herself be pulled in and tricked by him, she wasn't about to keep tumbling. "What's your set up? How many girls do you run.. if it's alright for me to ask that? I'm not totally clear on how it all works."

The confusion over the sudden blockade to his attention was as genuine as the disappointed sigh. "What? What set-up?" He chuckled off the chill and looked around the meager decorations that consisted mostly of strewn clothes he'd been too exhausted to put away and a handful of dishes and such but nothing anyone would call special or alluring. "Right. Okay, I'm not trying to buy you for the hour or anything like that, or... oh god. No, nothing like that at all. You think I'd do that?! Ugh, no... no, no. I'm all about connecting, sure, but not like that. Seriously. Take a deep breath. I'm not kidding. Tell me I'm lying."

At first she could only stare at him, somewhat of a blank expression which turned to confusion and then shock and finally complete embarrassment. "I'm.. I'm.. so sorry.." She stammered out, feeling like an idiot - she'd completely misunderstood what he'd meant before and because of the situation she'd gotten into, she went right to the thing she wanted the least - the life she'd have to lead in order to survive. "Just what you said and how.. and I thought.. It's my fault... I'm sorry." She put her hand up in front of her as if taking the total blame and being truly apologetic as she shifted to her knees and got up to head toward the window.

"You mean about me showing you, right?" He was just as apologetic and sad she was trying to run away. "There's a reason I don't talk too much. Usually say the wrong thing, just like that." He wasn't sure stopping her wouldn't make matters worse but he reached out to her. "Don't go, Ely. Please?"

She stopped when he asked her not to go, turning back and nodding her head to what he said about what he'd said to make her think what she did. She couldn't look at him for long and averted her face, her eyes filling with tears which was embarrassing enough without all the rest. "Why would you want me to stay after I said that.. you were one of -those- men and.. I was here because I finally hit low enough to be desperate and hungry enough to come here to be one of -those- women?"

"That was before you knew you'd land in a den with someone like you, someone who doesn't take that crap lightly, even if I do call it crap. I haven't met any others like us that weren't already on the bus with the patrol. I've dodged them and you managed to. I think that means something about the two of us, don't you?"

"It means we're both crazy?" Ely's voice showed the emotion even though she tried to joke and reached up to dab away the evidence of it from her eyes. She didn't consider herself all that tough, she usually didn't think about how she managed to survive or dodge the patrol - she just did. Things had gotten harder as she got older, she wasn't just a scrawny kid that people ignored anymore.. people noticed her, mostly her looks and it wasn't the kind of attention from the sort of people who took you in and gave you soup, it was the kind of people she'd come to this sector to join.

"Well I never said I wasn't crazy," he clarified, standing and shifting the robe away from his shoulders and tossing it on a pile of partially wrinkled clothes. Beneath the robe his shirtless shoulders were lined and scrawled as his arm was in intricate markings and the sharpness of color of being newly inked. He invited her into a welcoming embrace. "I'll start over with thinking you should stay and that you know why I think you should. You're the one person I already know I can't hide from and I don't want to try. There's suddenly a list of things I do want, but not that. Okay, so still with the corny, sorry."

"No, you never said that.." She spoke softly, watching him as he took off the robe, her eyes swept over him quickly and then back again a second time but much more slowly. She hadn't expected him to be quite so muscular or impressive, she hadn't expected him to be a scrawny thing either. Ely accepted the embrace and tucked herself into his arms, sliding her own around his waist. "You don't want -that- at all from me?" She teased him a little, she found being close to him was quite comforting, his scent directly from his skin was intoxicating.

"I didn't say that either. Um, well maybe I did in a stupid sort of way, didn't I? About that talking thing...," he chuckled and shook his head a little, curling around her and nuzzling against her neck. "My scent would make a liar of me if I said no," he whispered and inhaling her sweet essence.

"It's alright.. I'm not always so good at this talking thing myself." She smiled a little as she felt him nuzzling into her neck, she let her hands rest at his waist, sort of shyly testing the waters as her fingers brushed his skin. "I guess I jumped through the right window.. I really didn't want to do what I thought I had to.." She also didn't want to talk about it, she wanted to forget about what she'd almost done. "Being here with you is much better.. like this.." She breathed in along his shoulder, her lips nearly brushing his skin as she shifted closer and started to nuzzle into his neck lightly, as well.

"One thing. Please tell me you don't have a boyfriend already. I'd hate to hurt him to keep you," he admitted, but fearing the answer. "Then again, it's been a lean month and it would be better than soup."

"If I had a boyfriend who would let me come get owned by some guy who runs girls, I think I would have already hurt him.. You don't need to worry about that. There's no one.. no boyfriend, no family,.. I don't have anyone." She sighed and closed her eyes, even the so called friends that she'd been with tonight, weren't ones who helped her or had her back, recently met and trying to pull her into what they did but no real loyalty or connection.

"You do now," he said, playfully nipping at her neck. "Essy's got your back. Mmm and yeah, that's not all he wants," he said taking another deep breath.

Where she was slightly nuzzled into his neck, every breath she took brought his scent to her and any changes in it, she smiled a little more to know he was sincere. "I do now." She whispered, trying to keep up with how quickly things were changing, it seemed easy and natural as they fell into place with one another like they were made to be that way. "Essy can have whatever he wants." She returned the nip on her neck with one to his shoulder.