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Post by Orfeo on Jan 19, 2019 2:43:57 GMT -5
At first, Jai found it funny that the two of them were getting into more arguments than they had before. She never took it seriously enough and figured that it was just them throwing jabs at one another. She never had to move in with somebody else, especially nobody as moody as Leo tended to be. Bickering seemed normal. But it kept going long past the first and second week that they had since the two started to live in the home. It ranged from the dangers of going out without keeping an eye over your shoulder to the intricacies of how quickly milk would spoil if left out of the fridge for too long. At least it was never hostile - no argument really ended in Jai hating Leo more so than it did leave her frustrated or annoyed at him. She was sure he felt the same way toward her every once in a while.
It quickly dawned on Jailean that she had simply grown used to not being around Leo all by their lonesome. There was always somebody else to take out their frustrations on or to simply serve as some form of distraction. It was something of a crash course on learning to live with the man, though that was hardly the hardest thing she'd ever had to deal with.
He was out today. The house was quiet and empty save for the occasional creaking of the floorboards or the sudden thud that the fridge made whenever it's cooling unit kicked itself awake. By the time Jailean had gotten out of bed, Leo was off to do whatever it was he needed to do. She vaguely recalled him talking about having to go somewhere in the morning the night before, but it was all just a blurred messy memory that refused to clear itself up. She could have called him, sure, but would he even bother picking up his phone? Experience said no, even if there was a nagging feeling near the back of her mind that she should probably call to check in on him.
"Ah, I'm sure he's fine," she told herself, repeatedly so, whenever that thought popped back into her mind. He was Leo, after all. He survived that mess in the Pride, he could survive a day of being out there without her keeping an eye on him.
She busied herself. It was mindless and needless work, but it kept her mind away from all the stuff she didn't want to be thinking about. How would they deal with getting back to the Pride? Oh, there's some dust on the bookshelf that needed sweeping. Would they have enough money to hold them over for however long they needed to stay out here? Ah, kitchen counter could use another look-through. What if somebody who reaaally didn't like Leo found out that he was out here, living in this house, with a girl that could hardly hold her own in a fight? Oh, whoops, almost missed vacuuming the carpet.
The important stuff didn't really come along until after Jua showed up, or anyone else for that matter. She and Leo were, more than anything, trying to lay low for the time being.
By the time Leo would get back, everything was going to be spotless. The thought of going out for a walk crossed her mind but left as soon as it came, choosing rather to wait around and see how long it would take for anyone to get back. The droning silence was starting to get to her. One more hour and she wouldn't mind simply starting an argument with Leo for the hell of it.
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Post by Thea on Jan 21, 2019 10:54:54 GMT -5
Leo was most definitely not fine.
He didn't pull up to the house until late in the evening, after he lost the car that was tailing him. His breathing was labored due to the slowly healing scratches and bites that he had. He was in pain, yes, but he also was so angry that he could spit right now. When he stepped out of the car, he wanted to slam the door with all the force he could muster. But he didn't, and instead closed the door carefully so as not to wake the neighbors.
The large man limped up to the steps with a hand covering his abdomen. That was the worst scratch he had. Thankfully, his wounds didn't make him turn into a fountain; all of the blood was either on his person or on his car seat. Speaking of, he cast a glance back to the vehicle - the same one Jua, Jai, and he escaped the pride with - and sighed with relief. At least it didn't seem to have have dents or scratches.
He fished out the key from his pocket with the hand that wasn't occupied and turned the door knob. "Honey, I'm home," he called out mockingly before sneezing. "Ugh. Were you cleaning?"
He walked in slowly, knowing full well how awful he looked and waiting for Jailean to cry out or react in some way. "Don't worry, I'll clean up after myself. Just minor wounds." Regardless of how she reacted, he trudged on to the kitchen. Why? He wasn't sure. Maybe he was hungry. Or thirsty. After all, he didn't have the chance to eat since this morning. "Oh, hey, by the way. Fuck you, do you not answer your phone?"
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Post by Orfeo on Jan 22, 2019 4:13:06 GMT -5
Jailean had lost track of time by when she finally heard the familiar hum of the engine pull up to the driveway. She tried to distract herself by watching some TV or by reading a book but nothing seemed to stop her mind from thinking about everything that she shouldn't have been fretting about. Even meditation wasn't doing the trick it usually did. She jumped at the opportunity of finally talking with somebody and was more than ready with the series of questions she usually asked Leo whenever he went out without her. It took Jailean a second too long to see the shape in which Leo arrived, and by then he had already made his way to the kitchen.
Stuck between screaming, fretting over what happened to him, and sassing him with the tone of voice he took to her, her first reaction was to close the front door he had left open, carefully and slowly locking it with trembling fingers. She sighed, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
"Seriously?" hummed Jailean, more to herself, as she looked for the right thing to say. A quick peek through the door's view hole was enough confirmation for her to know that nobody else was out there. "Listen here, you," she finally spoke up, stuffing fists into her pockets, "I would have answered my phone if I freaking knew where it was." A lie, and an obviously bad one at that. It was on the floor next to her bed, more than likely next to a charger she forgot to plug into the phone the night before, meaning it was more than likely dead.
Jailean dreaded to think about how many times he'd called her.
"And those," she continued as she blatantly pointed at the blood his hands couldn't cover up while walking past him, "are not 'minor wounds'." She fished for a first aid kit, cursing under her breath when she couldn't find it in the first two cupboards. Not under the sink. Not on top of the fridge. "And where are all the stupid bandages. I... ugh."
Finding nothing worth saying that wouldn't end up with a snarky reply or some form of useless small argument, Jailean settled with simply taking a glass from a nearby cupboard and filled it with water from the sink. She plopped in two cubes of ice, shook it around a bit, and then added a third for good measure. "Here," was her curt comment, setting down the glass hard nearby Leo. "Drink that. I can't find the stupid bandages and..." She sighed, "What the hell happened now, Leo?"
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Post by Thea on Jan 26, 2019 23:14:37 GMT -5
((I'm an ass, I'm sorry >.<))
To be honest, he really did try to call her. But both times that he tried he didn't have any signal. In the end, he threw it in the floorboard of the passenger seat, cursing loudly.
"You better find it," Leo countered, refusing to tell Jai that his attempts didn't go through. "What if something like this happens again and I need to reach you? Hmm?" He knew that she was lying too. Living for this long together had them knowing habits they really shouldn't know about each other as Alpha and pride mate. If one could call them that anymore.
"They are if you want to compare them to when I got my ass handed to me," Leo muttered darkly, pulling out a chair from the table and sitting down hard in it. He couldn't help but groan, eyes wide with the shock of how much it truly hurt. Was he losing his edge? This was the first time he truly got into a fight that included blood and sweat. "Jailean, honestly, it's fine. They'll heal."
Just not as soon as he liked.
With no thanks, he picked up the glass and sniffed it, as if he didn't just see her getting it from the tap. "I don't trust this city's water," Leo muttered darkly. Then he smirked at Jailean. "If you really insist on getting bandages, how about you check the bathroom?"
The question of "What happened?" Made him pause. Momentarily, he considered lying. He wanted to say that he was an impeccable liar, but that would be a lie. Besides, Jai might catch him in the lie when Jua walks through that door. For someone that was supposed to be his best friend, he seemed to have taken a liking to Jai so much that he couldn't lie to her about anything.
"Jua and I went to a place. What a lot of people call the underground," he replied after taking his time drinking the water and eating the ice cubes. "We were looking for some answers about the white men with Taji. We ended up getting ... something. And then I came across a dude that didn't like me at all and it all went downhill from there."
He shrugged, just barely. "Then I got followed on my home. Trust me, my wounds would be a lot worse an hour ago. I would have been home an hour ago. We might have to lay low for a while."
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Post by Orfeo on Jan 31, 2019 2:35:50 GMT -5
(Nah, you're good.) As usual, Leo wasn't giving her much of a chance to reply to many of his comments before he hit her with another barrage of sass or extra information. She could feel her emotions changing on the spot: anxiety, annoyance, relief, and worry. Jailean watched him as he talked, leaning back against the kitchen counter while he spoke of people that didn't like being around Leo. Didn't like him? That was an understatement. She did her best to look over his wounds one more time without making it too obvious. To Jailean, Leo seemed to have a tendency to not take some things as seriously as he should. The wounds were a perfect example. It only served to remind her of that they they were exiled from the Pride. "Lay low for a while?" She scoffed, shook her head, and moved to snatch the cold cup once Leo had emptied it. She had to busy her hands. "As if we've been doing anything but lay low these last few months." The droning of water splashing against the sink was somewhat soothing. Jailean left it on as she spoke, her back to Leo, even though there were no dirty dishes left for her to clean up. Everything had been tidied hours before. "But, sure, we'll lay low. Just as long as we don't have to move out from this house. Trust me when I say the last thing I'll be looking forward to is having to find another place to live."
She paused briefly, words caught up near the back of her throat. Her eyes focused on the stream of water falling perfectly into the drainage hole in the sink, making it so there was hardly any splash of water on the shining stainless steel. Jailean had a tough time focusing on any one thought, but then it all clearly focused on something that was as brief as her words were a whisper. She turned to Leo, giving him a glance, and muttered a simple "Next time we move to another him, it'll be the Pride."
In a moment's notice she snapped out of that train of thought and sighed, waiting for Leo to be done with his glass of water. She lazily reached out with her right hand and felt a dull warmth follow through from her shoulder down to the tips of her fingers, out until she felt a familiar resistance. Jailean did a lazy come hither motion with her fingers and carefully guided the cup back into her hands.
"I know you don't trust the water but right now you're in no position to argue." A couple more ice cubes and a shake for good measure, and the cup was once again on the table besides Leo. "And I'm going to get those bandages - no arguing, I don't care if you heal like a lizard - so wait here and don't..." She looked him over and then shrugged, following up with what could best be described was a quick albeit devilish smirk, "Well, don't get into a fight with the kitchen utensils or something." Jailean stepped out, heading for the bathroom, finally heaving out a sigh as she looked around for the bandages.
There really was no need. Leo had proven to her time and time again that there was hardly much of a need to treat his wounds as much as she had that first night when they first left the Pride. He hadn't gotten it as bad as before. This was just her fawning over something meaningless, maybe. Sometimes she couldn't really tell when Leo was being genuine or when he was trying to be dismissive. Tonight she didn't feel like taking that risk. On her way back to Leo Jailean made sure to get a hold of her phone, in the same place she figured it would be, and dead because she forgot to plug it in hours before.
"Now," she spoke, setting a first-aid pack on the table while pulling up a chair beside Leo. "Move that hand and lets see what we have to work with." She looked him over, taking in the dried blood and wondering just what the hell had happened. Then she looked up in an attempt to stare at him seriously in the eyes. "I know you Lions like your scars but as of now I don't think your body would appreciate having more."
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Post by Thea on Feb 1, 2019 1:39:25 GMT -5
"I don't plan on moving out," Leo muttered, placing an elbow on the table. "I'm tired of running away."
And he was. It made him feel ... weak and cowardly. Staring blankly at the white wall, he scowled at the thought. Was he thankful for Jua and Jai and his father nursing him back to health? He wouldn't admit to it, but he was. Did he sometimes wish that it didn't look like that they didn't run away? Yes. And just earlier on he ran away from the Underground, going to lick his wounds with only a few answers.
He hated it. He was not following an insipid girl down a yellow brick road, dammit. He was the king of the jungle, and he needed to act like it.
He took a glance back toward Jailean at her words, the scowl that he had being replaced with a small, genuine smile. Jai had only been within the Pride for a short time before she had been exiled with the guys. But with those words that she uttered had him knowing how much she fit in with everyone else. Well, if not fit in, then considered it her home. "I agree with you there." And he genuinely did.
Leo did what could be considered a laugh - two short huffs - before taking another swig of water. He had seen Jai's use of her telekinetic powers with a sort of detached interest in his eyes, making him wonder if she had meditated recently. He remembered having a conversation about it with her a few months back while they stayed over at Carl's house, how she wasn't doing what always kept her powers in check. He assumed she was, and if she didn't today he would undoubtedly wonder why, because he had never seen her use her power so casually as to make a 'come here' motion to a cup. "I'm nowhere near a lizard," he defended himself, "and I'll get in a fight with the utensils if I want to. So there."
By the time Jaileen got back from retrieving the first aid kit Leo would have all of his water drank - drunk? - and one ice cube eaten. At her behest, he removed his hand from the worst wound and lifted his bloodied tee over his head only to drop it on Jai's clean floor. "Whoops," Leo said, grinning despite the pain he was in and leaned back in the chair. "My bad."
But he sat still for her, letting her do her thing and play nurse. All very miniscule wounds - like the scrapes against broken glass and the knot on the back of his head - had already healed without a second thought. Human bite marks on his forearm? A nasty scar now. Now, there were four grotesque gashes in the shape of feline claws, the longest starting from his collar bone and ending at his naval. If it were any normal human that had that particular wound, they would definitely have needed stitches. But for Leo? His healing ability had it to where it probably wouldn't but it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and stitch them up for good measure.
"Eh, women like them. It makes me look edgy."
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Post by Orfeo on Feb 9, 2019 15:36:51 GMT -5
Jai squinted at Leo for a second or two when he tossed his bloody shirt on the floor. It took all her willpower to not make a remark. Don't drop it there? Where else was he going to place it. She forced a small smile to tear away what little frustration she might've shown and looked down to his wounds. They were numerous, but ironically enough it wasn't as bad as she had first imagine. Jailean attributed that to what she had already seen before. Any other day, before she met the Pride, this would have been grounds enough to cause her some panic.
Panic wasn't going to get them anywhere. "Right..." she sounded somewhat unsure, couldn't help that quaky feeling of her voice near the back of her throat. "Is that what women like these days? Edgy?" She scoffed softly, reaching out to gently touch at one of the wounds that had already started to heal up. She didn't know if Leo could get infections like she did, but Jailean didn't want to risk it and did everything she could to be as careful as possible. If he had shown any sort of pain she would've pulled her hand back. "You're a beast, Leo," she commented half-heartedly, more to herself than to him as she turned to the first aid kid and started to pull out anything and everything that she might need, and some more. Jailean had the solid intention of using everything in the package at least once.
Given enough time, Leo might have gotten better on his own. Better safe than sorry. She wasn't going to stand around and do nothing either.
She held a clean washcloth with one hand and put some pressure down on the wound. Even if it wasn't going to be bleeding as badly as it might have been, Jailean couldn't help but go through the steps in her head and acting them out one after another. "Back when I was living with those doctors," she hummed softly, reaching for a small packet of antibiotic gel, "well, they used to teach me how to treat wounds. It's not like I'm fit to be a nurse, or anything. I just used to be something of a problem child back them - now, this might hurt a bit." She was quick about applying the gel. She didn't like the way it felt on her fingers and always personally hated how bitter cold it felt against a wound. "Some days there would be other kids. The faces always changed, so I never learned any of their names. But we'd try to stick close to one another. We'd get up to all kinds of trouble, trying to make their lives miserable."
With a small shrug, Jailean took a roll of bandages and set it down on the counter. She just wanted to make sure the wounds were all cleaned up first, before putting the bandages on. Again, she wasn't sure how infections worked with Lions liked Leo. Jua told her that there were other kinds of people out there, who became other animals. Did they all heal differently? "Because I usually instigated things, they taught me to treat wounds so that I'd be in charge of curing whatever kid got hurt that day. I'm not sure how that was supposed to be a punishment, but I didn't stick around long enough to ask them." She looked up to Leo for a second before setting her attention back down to his wounds. "As you can tell, I didn't learn all that much."
"If I had known you back then, and if we saw each other for more than a day, I probably would have gotten sick of treating your wounds." She blinked, pressing the bandages up to his wound, silently asking for his help in bandaging him up enough to, at the very least, cover some of the scars in his body. It was overall something of a lazy, clumsy job. Having treated him before should have been good practice. Jailean figured he could have done a better job treating himself. "It's a good thing I have a little more patience these days, huh?" She sat back, staring finding other scars around his body. Bite marks?
"Who did this?"
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Post by Thea on Feb 14, 2019 2:41:49 GMT -5
Leo specifically dropped the bloodied shirt on the clean floor so that he could get a rise out of Jailean, confident that even if she was mad she wouldn't be for long. He raised a brow in amused confusion when he saw the smile she gave him instead of a snarky comment. "Nothing on that?" he asked.
Then he grew even more amused, and he chuckled a bit. "I know I am." He knew that from the very beginning, even before he joined the gang. "But you say 'women' as if you're not one yourself. You don't find this 'hawt'?" He emphasized the last word like a drunken woman would in a club. "Like, totally, h-a-w-t hawt?" His impersonation was short lived after he lifted the arm that was close to the start of the claw marks. A short zap of pain started there, travelling up to his fingertips causing his nerves to scream at him. A sudden growl escaped him, followed by a few deep breaths.
He was losing his touch, most definitely.
If he had been younger, and Jai was a mere stranger to him, he wouldn't have let her touch him. At least, not with helping him on his mind. Leo was a little shit when he was younger, and some could argue that he was still one today. Right now, though, he sat there and let her treat his wounds to the best of her abilities. And actually ... listened. He had only heard of her past maybe once or twice, yet she had never given details. Jua and Leo never pried, Jua more so to let her be more comfortable around them than Leo. Today? He found that he was genuinely listening to her. And never, not once, interrupted her. (Except when he growled at the sharp cold of the gel she put on him.)
"Sounded like you were a little hellion," Leo said after a brief moment, finding the pause that she had created in her story. Then he shrugged, chuckling once more. "I probably wouldn't have let you touch me." An exaggerated sigh escaped his mouth, but he didn't mind helping Jai wrap himself up. "Hopefully this will be the last few times you'll have to do this."
The question had him pause, following her gaze to the bite marks. "Hmm? Some guy that I apparently stole a girlfriend from. No one of importance, but he did manage to have a shifter change him. These wounds right here," he motioned to his chest were the claw marks were, "are from the same guy. He was human then, a thin boy in ninth grade when I was in twelfth. It's a very vague memory. In all honesty I shouldn't have gone for the girl, but if she were faithful I wouldn't have been scratched up today. But anyway, he bit me thinking that I was human too. He wanted to change me and hope I didn't make it, I would assume." He rolled his eyes.
"What makes me wonder is why he held onto that for so long? I mean, he could have done better. I'm sure that girl is barefoot and pregnant somewhere in a crack house."
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Post by Orfeo on Feb 18, 2019 13:54:47 GMT -5
His comment got a genuine laugh out of Jailean as she was working on his wounds. The tone of his voice would have been enough to send her into a fit of small giggles, but it was the fact that it was coming out of Leo that made it all the more sweeter. She worked under the assumption that it was one of those things he said in the heat of the moment, but lord did she wish she had something to record him saying that. There would be nothing in the world he could do that she wouldn't be able to hold against him. "Hawt?" she questioned after finally managing to compose herself long enough to form words. "Whatever I may have felt?" She stuck her tongue out and gave him a thumbs down. "You almost sounded like that girl that had the hots for you in the Pride."
Those growls of his didn't faze her as much as they used to before. It was a reaction, that's what she told herself. The same as when she would take in a sharp breath of air and groan lightly when someone was rubbing alcohol against her wounds. It didn't stop her from quickly pausing and looking up to see if he was going to do anything else afterward.
"Hm, a little bit," she hummed softly, more to herself as she listened to him talk. Again, it wasn't the first time Leo had alluded to not getting hurt anymore. Her brow perked up at the comment, and while the temptation was there to scold him a little, or maybe to give him some snark, all she could do was nod in agreement. These things added up.
Jailean had been looking to his bandages, making sure none of the wounds had opened back up to bleed through. Part of her felt like she had been careless when bandaging him up. His recollection of the events caught her attention enough to, for a short while, forget about his wounds and focus on him instead. Her brow furrowed near that last remark. She didn't even make an attempt to hide her frown, or displeasure, at the way he so nonchalantly threw around that assumption.
"The man holds a grudge," she murmured, crossing her arms while adding with a shrug. "Who know. Maybe he didn't have much else, or maybe he just hated you." She paused for a second. "Or both." Her eyes darted down for a second as some of the other things Leo brought up began to sink in a little. "I, ah... I didn't know that shifters could turn other people into them." And for that matter, she didn't think it was so dangerous, where somebody couldn't make it. "I just thought, you know, you either have it when you're born or you don't get it at all. Like eye color."
It did give her a certain thought. Not anything that Leo would probably approve of, or anyone for that matter if it was as dangerous as he hinted at, but in the back of her head she couldn't help but entertain that possibility. "That's a strange way of going after someone, though. If he thought you were human, I mean. He could have shot you... or stabbed you, or hit you with a car for that matter. It's kind of, uhm, ineffective for somebody that's been holding a grudge on you since the ninth grade." In fact, it didn't really add up all that well. Some guy holding a grudge? "Say, Leo. How likely is it that a human would die if they tried to turn you. Let's say this guy went after me and I survived the initial attack?"
She cocked her head to the side and stared at him in the eyes as best she could. There was that bit of morbid curiosity she wanted to satisfy, along with the desire to simply learn more about Leo and his people. Perhaps there was more to it than that. Jailean didn't know quite yet. "Fifty-fifty? Does age matter? Gender?" She leaned in a little. "I'd wager and guess it would hurt pretty bad."
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Post by Thea on Mar 8, 2019 20:02:34 GMT -5
"Nah, she was just in heat."
Leo said it casually, with no emotion to the mention of Nadia. Some people would reprimand him for such a casual statement. Of those people he would have been scolded that he let Jailean speak like that about a pride mate. Others would have claimed that he had no sympathy for a woman that had to go through that. Truth be told he didn't see any problem with Jailean talking about Nadia, nor did he really care about the ins and outs of lionesses in heat. That was a problem that should be figured out with one's mate. Not the alpha.
"If someone can hold a grudge for that long there is no room for much else." Leo nodded sagely, as if he had given such wise words. To himself, he did. He couldn't help but pride himself in that. "But I was also known to be quite vexing in school, too. There were a lot of calls that Carl had to answer from the principal. A lot of suspensions. I almost got expelled." That was junior year, where he mixed chemicals in the chemistry lab purposely so that it nearly blew up. He saw himself as doing his whole class a favor - no labs for a week? That was pure gold! For that solid week, in that specific class, he was a hero. "I wouldn't doubt that it was both."
Leo raised a brow and squinted his eye at Jailean. He didn't say anything at first, gauging her curiosity. And as she talked a little bit more, he found himself leaning forward, forearms on his knees, fingers interlocking, his dark blond hair falling forward as he gave off the image that he was intently listening to her words. And he was, as well as keeping mind that he had just been bandaged. Was he hearing her right? Maybe he was just overthinking it, but was she wanting to be changed into a shifter?
"Hypothetically speaking, of course. If you were to survive an attack such as what had happened earlier, you'd have to go through what the pride calls the First Shift. It's a painful process that could possibly kill you. Not even some of our cubs survive. I mean, I can't speak for other packs or prides or groups." He tilted his head slightly as if to say, "It happens." "But it is universally known that it's painful. It's a breaking and mending of bones, reshaping cartilage and growing things pertaining to the animal that you're shifting into that humans otherwise don't have. I vaguely remember mine, and for a few days afterward I was sore. Jaye almost didn't survive, and couldn't control his shifts afterwards. But we were born this way, so we have a higher chance at survival.
"Now don't hate me for saying this - if you do that's fine, I really don't care - humans are weaker than shifters, and will most definitely have a lower chance at survival. It's rare that a human is mated to a shifter if said shifter is slated to have one, so it is the choice of one or both to have that human change to step into this world. In that circumstance the initial exchange wouldn't end up in bloodshed like tonight was. That factor could raise the survival rate of the First Shift, at least a little bit. Now if the human that was subjected to the initial exchange couldn't do a simple push-up worth a shit, it might not survive." He spoke in such a detached way, and it could be heard with the way he didn't give humans a gender. He referred to them as "it" as if it wasn't capable of emotion or comprehensive thought. It was clear that he found himself superior, even if he didn't have the haughtiness in his voice.
"Age could matter, I suppose. I don't see a 90-year-old human going through that when a simple trip could break a hip." He leaned back slowly, unlocking his fingers to push his hair back. He really needed a hair cut. "Are you thinking of something that you shoudn't be thinking, Jai?"
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Post by Orfeo on Mar 11, 2019 21:48:10 GMT -5
As Leo spoke, Jailean fell back on what he said. She was still paying attention, somewhat, but her mind was off somewhere else for a few seconds. Learning about what he was like back in his school days wasn't that surprising to begin with. She easily pictured a shorter version of what sat in front of her running around causing trouble to whatever unfortunate soul managed to get in his path. The man that came after Leo today certainly held a deep grudge, but she wouldn't be surprised if Leo had something to do with the start of the altercation. She wasn't one to lay the accusatory finger in whichever direction the wind blew, but that small tidbit he shared of his past didn't dissuade her from coming to such assumptions. Hypotheticals. She couldn't help but feel as if he was warning her more than he was informing her of how things worked. Maybe he caught a look in her eye that he didn't like or maybe he was something of a mind reader. More often than not, Jailean would get carried away with the scenarios in her head. She wasn't going to deny that the thought may have crossed her mind once Leo brought it up, but she wasn't about to admit that to him either. That small jab at the end made it all clear on his stance in the matter. Besides, Jailean was about halfway sure that she wouldn't want to put herself through that process. Certainly not after how detailed he was about those first shifts. Her face had contorted, if not slightly, as he described it to her. Leo and the others made it seem simple enough; practice making perfect, she presumed. "Aren't we all thinking of something bad?" she finally mustered to say, her throat feeling a little dry. She struggled to swallow a wad of saliva and mirrored his lean backwards against her own chair. "Sure enough, I do sometimes think some impure thoughts that no-" Jailean paused for dramatic effect, then continued with a peculiar flair to her voice, "proper lady should be thinking. Somewhat like Nadia and her, uhm, 'heats'. Maybe not at the same level as her, but that's another story. There's a lot of things I think about that I shouldn't be thinking about, but that's the beauty of it all, isn't it?" Jailean smiled a little, a finger now curled slightly against the tips of her hair. "They're just thoughts."
"Besides, I doubt I'd be willing to put myself through all that. The risk doesn't seem worth it for a human like myself." She shot him a pointed look then quickly looked back down to her own hands, still managing a now-softening smile. "Add in powers that have no logical science of reasoning to back it up and we'd have a pretty bad combo, at least I think that would be the case. I'm not too keen on testing out what would happen to me if I took the dive." She brought a finger up to her head and tapped lightly at her temple. "For the time being, thoughts like those will stay up here. I'd say here's to hoping nobody like you ends up biting me, or something, and tries to turn me, but that would probably jinx it.
She sighed lightly and once more tossed the idea around in her head. Her body probably wasn't built for all that, and if it somehow made it through fine she doubted that her mind would fare any better. Something up there was bound to break.
"Say," she hummed shortly afterward. "Whatever did you do to the guy that did all that to you?" She bit her lower lip a little and awkwardly pointed at his wounds with the same hand she used to rub at her temple. "Did you just run, or...?"
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Post by Thea on May 31, 2019 1:06:47 GMT -5
Probably, Leo shouldn't have practically pissed on the human race. After all, despite her gift, Jailean was still a human. Maybe he held her to a higher standard, Leo would make excuses for himself later. Or maybe he was just an asshole and everyone should just expect it. At the pointed look Jailean gave him, it was clear that she caught on to the utter disdain of her race.
Truthfully, Leo did like Jai. She could definitely take the shit he gave her and throw it right back (sometimes it felt like ten fold). Why she was the exception he wasn't sure. If it were anyone else, shifter or otherwise, he wouldn't have stood it. (Stood? Was that right? Hell, Leo wasn't the brightest, but he sure as hell wouldn't say anything to anyone about it.) And as part of his pride, the first human ever to be in said pride, she had gained his respect.
Sure, he wanted to scare her into leaving the thought of becoming a shifter behind. With being ... extraordinary, Leo believed that she could survive the First Shift. But with humans ... he found them to be unpredictable. Leo had faith, but it wasn't much. "I think that it's best that they do too," Leo agreed with her, a twisted smile gracing his features briefly. "And it would probably be jinxed, I agree with you there too. If we had any luck, it would be bad."
Leo didn't say anything after that. Not until she spoke again. His eyes had been closed during the brief silence between the two, and they were still closed as he imagined his slitted pupils expanding to regular circles while he felt his body steadily heal itself. Now that it had 'proper' care, it didn't have to work on keeping out infection and stitch itself at the same time, maybe his recuperation time will be cut in half.
"I killed him," Leo said casually, as if he was talking about the weather, just as the front door opened. Leo wasn't concerned with who opened it. Jua's scent was as familiar as his own.
"Who killed who?" Jua asked, kicking off the loafers he wore to work and unbuttoned the first two buttons of his work shirt. The lion within him felt it constricting.
"This dude decided to jump me while I was looking for answers about the two white men with Taji." Leo opened one eye, pupil slitted as it always was. "Can you believe that I didn't provoke him first?"
"Quit pulling my tail, man," Jua scoffed after sucking his teeth in contemplation. "Don't let Leo fool you, Jai. He started it."
"Bull shit!" Leo defended himself, both eyes opening and brows drawn together in indignation. "He used to go to high school with me apparently and claimed that he was still holding a grudge for me sleeping with his girlfriend."
Jua rolled his eyes. "If it wasn't in your nature to be unapologetically you, I would call bull shit on that." He pulled out a chair from the table and straddled it in a way that he can look at Jai and Leo without craning his neck. "Who would hold an almost-twenty-year-old grudge?" Then Jua got a good look at his alpha and whistled low. "He did that to you?"
Leo nodded once, jaw clenching. "Bastard got someone to change him."
"Damn. What he turn into?"
"No idea. Something prehistoric?" Leo shook his head, recalling the ... kerfuffle. "Had a lot of teeth on him. Not a dinosaur; I saw that look Jua."
The childish delight died quickly with Leo's words. "Why prehistoric? Surely with the actual animals, the shifters died alongside them."
"No clue. Just went with the first thing that came to mind."
"Could possibly be a demon's handiwork."
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Post by Orfeo on Jun 24, 2019 2:41:17 GMT -5
For him to so casually remark that he had killed his assailant was nothing new to Jailean. Truthfully she had expected this to be the answer, but she still had felt compelled to question him on the matter. A flashing thought would fool her into thinking that, perhaps, this one would have gotten away alive. But strangely enough she felt more at ease knowing that there was one less person out there looking to tear Leo apart. At the very least, if Jailean was to gain any comfort from these news, it meant that Leo had enough of his strength back to be able to fend for himself. He'd had his strength for a while now, but a reminder every now and then was more than helpful for her thoughts.
"Of course," she replied, visibly tensing at the voice coming from behind her. There was a wild and panicked look in her eyes, filled with uncertainty while she silently begged for Leo to not say anything stupid to the stranger. Yes, she didn't outright recognize her friend from his voice nor his footfalls, even though she should have been able to by now. Seeing Jua now made her realize that she should have been expecting him anyway. Besides, he was one of the few people who could come in and out unobstructed. Her eyes moved from him back to Leo. The lion would have known if there was trouble long before she'd even realized it.
She let Leo tell his story. Who better? But she couldn't help her quick grin at Jua's shots at Leo. Their banter, even when it was tense and a little hostile at times, always got her best side to come out. She stood and moved behind Leo to the sink, sparing a quick glance at his back to make sure she hadn't missed any hidden injuries.
Demons now? First Lions, then wolves, then every other kind of animal she could think of. Jai spared a glance back at Jua and Leo as she got a glass and filled it with cold water, her gaze curious and, frankly, a little shocked.
"I think," she started, though with a small bout of hesitation, "that the word you're looking for is 'crocodile'. Or maybe an alligator." Jailean turned and paced toward Jua with cup in hand, soothingly rubbing her palm along the edge of it to get a better feeling of the biting cold. She didn't wake up from some strange dream, meaning that they really had alluded to demons - of all things that existed out there. "Crocs are about as close to prehistoric as you're gonna get in this world - here you go, Jua," she gave him a soft smile, gingerly placing the cold glass of water on the table near him.
Again she turned her attention to Leo, reclaiming her rightful seat between the two Lions. "Prehistoric. Lots of teeth. Only ever seen them in the science textbooks and in TV, but," Jailean rested her chin on an open palm while anchoring her elbow to the table, "come on. Demons?" Jailean looked to Jua now, looking for answers that she didn't want. Again, she repeated the statement: "Demons. Next up, you're gonna tell me that we have angels walking among us too. And what would a demon want with Leo anyway - no offense, Leo - but... besides what's happened, aren't we a little, you know, unexceptional?"
Jailean quickly looked to both Leo and then Jua, then back to Leo. "Unless you made a demon angry. In which case you probably should have told me because I am NOT about to start dealing with a poltergeist. If I wake up with my chairs stacked on the tables and the books strewn across the room, I'm leaving." It was obvious that she didn't have the strongest grasp on the concept of demons in this world, but then again she had only recently come to terms with the fact that her next-door neighbor could be a puma in disguise.
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Post by Thea on Oct 8, 2019 18:08:31 GMT -5
“We probably do,” Jua said, palming his water before bringing it closer to him as he leaned back in his chair. “Or at least some winged beings that resemble angels.” Sometimes it’s hard to remember that Jailean was only just recently brought into their world. Jua’s life had been the pride; he was born in a tent before the pride progressed to running water and electricity, he grew up as a warrior (one of the few privileged to do so), he was able to marry his mate and have children, and he was able to become his Alpha’s Beta. He has never come across a crocodile, or a crocodile shifter, or a demon or an angel. But he watched TV. He’s read books. He’s listened to his elders’ stories of their ancestors. He knew that if he could transform into a bigass lion, there were other, more magical, beings than he.
Leo thought twice before shrugging his shoulders, not finding it within him to laugh at Jailean’s almost comical threat to leave but smirked. “Some demons get bored. We very well could have gained the attention of one. They don't need a reason other than they want a little bit of excitement." A few moments of silence from him, in which he stopped smirking at the sudden thought from his mind, then he spoke said thought: "What if Taji got the help of a demon to beat me?"
"Maaaan." Jua brought both hands to his face and rubbed slowly. Leo's Second in Command was generally an easy going guy, somewhat lazy but overall someone you could have at your back. He knew no anxiety, no stress or depression. But it was there now: his worries showed in the creases in his forehead, in how he was now scratching at his shadow of a beard, in the way he huffed out a sigh. "It would explain Taji's shift. I mean, what kind of lion has antlers?"
"He didn't have them beforehand," Leo muttered, taking his thumb and forefinger to rub his eyes. "Jailean, I just want to let you know that you're not leaving."
Any sensible person would offer her to leave. Even encourage. Regardless of her special ability, she was still human. It was selfish of Leo to throw her into this world of his, he knew. When they first met, all he wanted was to scare her. He found himself to be good at intimidation. Then he found her to be an asset to the pride; levitation definitely had its perks. Lately though … she's gotten under his skin in the way Jua has. Only they could stand up to him, bickering in the way family does, but also looking out for each other. Essentially, that's what they were, right? Family. Pride. Leo had to admit that Jai wasn't an asset to him anymore. She was a friend.
He hasn't had many of those before. Throughout his life he's had only enough friends to count on one hand and still have a few fingers left to poke someone in the eye with. Jua and Jai were his friends, and he would be damned before he let either one of them go.
"We don't know for sure yet if it's a demon or not that's wanting to mess with us. But if it is, we need to do some research."
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Post by Orfeo on Oct 22, 2019 11:24:54 GMT -5
She didn't like what they were saying and hated those reactions of theirs. From the start, Jailean had known that things weren't right with what had happened. Even for the environment in which she'd been forced into, the thing that attacked Leo was way beyond the new standards of 'ordinary' she'd come to understand. A part of her felt like she should have been more concerned at the news. No, in fact, she knew well enough that she should've been way more concerned, but at this point she was either too tired or too confused to get a good grasp. Even as Leo and Jua talked to one another, Jailean felt like she was floating along from one end of the conversation to the other, desperately trying to understand what little she could.
"Demons," she echoed again in a lowly whisper, painting pictures in her mind, none of which matched what she saw that day during the fight. Not that they had to match - if her childish understanding of demons had any sliver of truth to it, then they didn't really follow the same rules she did. They could be anyone or anything, manipulating and corrupting.
She mocked a sigh, which would have come off as defeated, when Leo told her she wasn't going anywhere. "Yeah, I figured as much." Jailean flicked him a small quick smile as her attention turned back to her own roaming thoughts. "Not like I'd want to go anywhere else at this point." She was in too deep to back out now. And it went without saying, being around these two lions was probably the safest place she could be in right now.
"How do you even go about researching a demon?" She chimed in, speaking out her thoughts as they came. "I guess we'll have to find an expert on them, or it. I'd give suggestions, but," she shrugged her shoulders. "Hopefully you two have a better idea on where to start."
She huffed. "Seriously though, what a loser. Needing demons to win a fight?" Jai glanced at Leo, giving him a dubious look that she quickly wiped away. "On the one hand, Leo, that guy really had it out for you and your stuff. On the other hand, are you really that good that he needed that sort of help, or was he just that bad?"
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