I NEED A HERO[INE]. [Bels]

[Zayid Shamoun]

He was new to the Menagerie and it was only about 3 days after the Carna had picked him up and tossed him into the cesspool they called their homes. Sewers. Rats lived in sewers! And Prince Zayid-Namir Shamoun was no rat! He was a Tiger, for godsake it was in his name! A strong, bold fierce animal who was not to be contained! Clearly he was trying to embrace the noble creature that he had just recently discovered, but found it incredibly difficult.

He was more distracted by the fact that when he was a tiger, he hadn’t any shoes to keep the dirt from the pads of his paws, so when he shifted back his palms and hands were filthy! The higher-ups wouldn't even stop to consider letting him wash his hands as frequently as he asked. They were taking him on patrol today, they said. Patrolling what, he hadn't the slightest idea - but he was soon to discover that they intended to make him walk the miles and miles of borders that the Carna had and watch them leave scent markers and bloody messages scrawled on the walls.

He had nearly gagged at the stench of the bodies hanging along the border, their bones clacking in the breeze. And the malodorous black blood that oozed down their bodies and dribbled to the ground was enough for him to clap a hand over his mouth to keep the bile from spilling out. Their pale blue-tinted flesh had knife-carved messages into their bare stomachs. They even had women hanging there, naked!

The barbaric ways of this Ring were unbearable. But he was too terrified to leave, after the threat they had given him. His left arm was still wrapped in a bandage from the claw marks that ghastly man with green hair had given him when he shifted. They called it the Mark. How insulting! To ruin is perfect body with such a thing. He had been outraged, but nevertheless terrified.

So now he'd managed to slip away from the patrol while they encountered some nasty looking...Foosi...Fussy...something or others and had now gotten himself thoroughly lost. Well. "Quite the conundrum, Zayid.” He said. “Well what's the conundrum? You’ve up and gotten yourself lost, you idiot."

He sighed, studiously tucking his hair behind his ear and running a nervous hand through it. My, my. His thoughts wandered as idly as his feet and he slowly walked toward what looked like a promising building - a hospital! Surely it must be safe there. He had almost reached the door to the place when he heard a snarl echo down the alley behind him. He froze, hands slowly drawing out of his pockets and slowly went to his mouth to cover a gasp as he saw a dog step around the corner, followed by at least four other hounds. Froth dripped from their jowls, the whites of their eyes flashing as they yipped and barked excitedly to each other.

"Oh..." He gasped, taking a frightened step backwards, his heel catching on a crack in the cement that sent him tumbling backwards. With a resounding howl, the dogs charged forward and set upon him.

[Evangelina]

"HA! I hope you're ready!" A flash a pink dropped from a hole in the ceiling to the floor in between the manchild and the dog. "For some...PORK!" She threw a fist in the air and laughed, quickly morphing into a tiny, potbelly piglet and releasing a threatening squeal before dashing in the opposite direction of the dude who had fallen over and leading the dogs back through the door, through two hallways, and into a room.
The plan was to swerve around and out and shut them in, but she had to get all of them in. In the process, she was near cornered and one of the dog's jowls snapped down with insane strength on her little piggy leg. A squeal of pain like none other was released and turned into a high-pitched scream as she morphed back into human. Quickly, she leapt up onto a tabletop and shot herself through the ceiling, breaking a cardboard panel and crawled through. She jumped down the a hole on the other side of the door, hitting the ground and falling, unable to stand on her pained leg. Her eyes widened as the dogs all turned and stared, then snarled and charged. Her heart leaped and with an adrenaline rush, and stood up and slammed the door shut.

[Zayid Shamoun]

"What the..!" Zayid exclaimed as he scrambled backward on his butt, trying to get away. He scraped his palms on the cement in the process and let out a squeak of pain, but he was brought back to more important things as a pink-haired girl dropped from out of the sky and exclaimed in a triumphant laughing voice that seemed quite confusing. Ready for some pork?

"I hardly think this it the time for jesting!" he shouted, his voice trembling. But she explained herself a moment later by shifting into this incredibly tiny little pig, quite round and quite pink. She dashed toward the dogs quite heroically and Zayid took this opportunity to stumble to his feet and book it. He didn't give the girl a second thought as he dashed away from the building as fast as his feet could take him. But he he heard some howls in the distance - oh, heavens no! There were more?!

He hung sharp left and bolted back the way he'd come, thinking that he could find a broom closet to hide in or something. He burst through the door and down the hallway, by change the same route the girl had taken. He glanced over his shoulder to look behind him, his foot catching on a loose board strewn on the floor and he was sent flying face first into a warm, soft body. He groaned and sat up, a tangle of limbs and his fingers snared in...pink hair? He gasped and untangled himself from her, a wave of nausea washing over him. Forget the pack of rabid dogs - he was but inches from a woman! A beautiful one at that...and he'd touched her quite inappropriately! Their bodies had been...pressed together. He resisted the urge to vomit, hands flying to his mouth. "I...oh...is...are....you," He stumbled over his words. "I apologize f-f-for my fowardness!"

[Evangelina]

"Hahahaha!" She burst into giggles, shoving him gently away and brushing it off as nothing, standing up with a mischievous grin. She held a bleeding leg up agiley balancing, staring down the hallway and hearing the howls. If she learned anything from the Fulsi it was from her best friend, Bonifacio. And that was to never turn your back on the enemy. She could be a hero like him too. "Dude--Run!" She grinned back at him one last time before the dogs came around the corner and she leaped on one, digging her human teeth into it's ear. The one dog yelped and the six others immediately jumped upon her, tearing and snarling. Well, shit, this isn't how it goes for Boni. She was momentarily blinded by a fresh cut across her left eye brow and swiftly morphed into that little creature, small enough for the dogs to lose their grip and tilt their big heads in confusion. She squealed excitedly and ran away, catching up to wherever the man had gone. She morphed back into a human and ran ahead of him, grabbing his hand and jerking him to go faster as the dogs thundered behind them.
She shoved him through a door and slammed it behind them, stepping on her bad foot enough so that she now fell into him and they both tumbled to the floor. "Well, you're cute!" She giggled, oblivious to the fact that she'd just accidentally straddled his waist.
One would think the girl was in drastic shape if not close to death - but not her. The dogs had only gotten ahold of clothing(and she had lots of it! Layers and layers!) The only penetration of skin was on her leg, which she assumed couldn't be that bad, and the cut across her eyebrow-which, well, she wasn't too sure..

[Zayid Shamoun]

Zayid let out a shuddering sigh at her laughter, his cheeks flushing a bright pink at his mortal embarrassment. She was so eccentric looking, with her bright hair! It would be a tragedy for him if his hair were to ever look like that, but he couldn’t help but try to swallow the lump in her throat at her round, blue eyes that seemed to shine and sparkle with her laughter even though their situation seemed very dire. Very dire indeed.

As if beckoned by his thoughts, the hounds again commenced upon him - he could hear them on the other side of the door scratching and howling. But the ones outside had found their way in after him, and now poured down the hall after them. “Dude, run!” He hadn’t any time to assess her particular vernacular or judge by her accent where she was from, when he was left near breathless by her devastating smile as she dashed off to confront the dogs. For a moment he considered following her to help - she was a woman, after all, and might not be able to withstand the hounds. And she was already bleeding from her leg!

Biting his lip, Zayid took a heistant step forward but just then a big pair of jaws broke through the door by his foot and Zayid near fainted as it gnashed at his feet. He leaped back on his tip-toes and squealed before heeding the strange pig-woman’s words and fleeing. He was tempted to shift - could feel the tiger thing calling in the back of his mind, but he resisted. He was too uncoordinated still! He charged forward as quick as he could, eyes glued to the floor and his arms swinging wildly at his sides in giant flailing arcs in attempts to go faster.

He could hear the dogs behind him, and nearly let out another scream when the girl dashed past him and grabbed his hand, and he could feel the dogs nipping at his heels. One tore into the back of his leg and he did scream, loud, crisp and shrill just as the girl shoved him to the right and into a room. Zayid floundered on the floor for a moment before he realized the woman was...oh, lord. She was on top of him. In the position. The position! The one they associated with Holy Men but was most certainly...not holy. Not one bit. “How...I...Miss!” He breathed, his heart pounding in his chest. How could she think this logical? She was bleeding from several places! “This...this is h-hardly the t-time for..the...the...s-s-...love-making!”

[Evangelina]

"Love-making?" She didn't understand but she tried to decipher what he was trying to say. Heat flushed to her cheeks when she thought of what he must mean - she was too heavy, and certainly by now she was crushing him! Yep, all 97 pounds of her. "I'm sorry! Are you okay?" She pulled away and held her knees to her chest self-conciously, but hopefully he wouldn't read that. She had a moment, her lip as pouty as can be and her eyes widened. But she got distracted much as she had origonally. Cute could be an understatement, stupid. She grinned. She jumped up and smacked roughly back down on the ground, forgetting about her own leg. "Ha!" She blushed again, face flat on the floor, peering up at him with a sheepish smile. "How's your ankle? Lemme look!" She scrambled to her knees and scooted over to him, examining with an untrained eye. "Oh, God. We have to amp-oo-tate it!" She gasped, glancing down at him and laughing hysterically. She rolled over on her side, unable to control her giggles, forgetting about the cut on her face and letting her own blood drip about.

[Zayid Shamoun]

Zayid looked back into her wide blue eyes and the situation they were in weighed heavily upon him as he was drawn to the blood trickling down her face from the fresh cut on her brow. He wanted to reach a hand up and smudge the blood away from her eyes, and to bandage her wounds. But her...position...put him in an awkward position. He was nervous, his hands trembling at his sides and held away from her, reluctant to let his flesh touch hers. And he was fretting uncontrollably, the pain in his ankle forgotten as her hands brushed against his chest. He was greatly relieved when she rolled off him, and didn’t notice the flash of self-consciousness in her eyes. He was too caught up with the fact that his pants were ripped and...oh, lord. Was that blood? "How's your ankle? Lemme look!"

Zayid looked at her mutely and shook his head, twisting away from her like a child might his colorless grey eyes pleading ‘Don’t touch!’ But she was determined. "Oh, God. We have to amp-oo-tate it!" Zayid gasped and pulled away from her, glaring at her with eyes thrown as wide as his gaping mouth. She was mad! Completely mad! “Madwoman! S-s-stay away from m-m-my leg with your-your...devil knives!” He as intent on staying away from her as he scrambled back toward the door, letting out another shriek when it began to shake and tremble with the roar of the dogs just outside. He scrambled back to her, crawling on his hands and knees till he was hiding behind her, peeking over her shoulder. He noticed her poofy jacket that looked torn to pieces, and gasped when he saw the pool of blood at her leg.

“You are bleeding p-profusely! We must b-b-b...stop the bleeding.”

[Evangelina]

She watched him scrambled away from her and frowned. Too good. She thought. Definitely too good for someone like me. But the dogs frightened him and he hid behind her. "Bark, bark, bark!" She shouted at the door and on the other side all was silent. She smiled proudly, but suddenly an enormous roar echoed through all the hallways and vents. There were a few yelps from the dogs but then all was silent again. Her eyes were insanely wide, mouth open in shock. She turned to look at him as he stutted about her leg and she could feel the blood over her eye, which she simply wiped with the sleeve of her torn jacket. She winced with a little whine, probably not expecting it to hurt nor another gush of blood to replace the last. Her leg was also covered by some layers, so she expected it wasn't bad. "It'll stop on it's own, I promise." She gave him a reassuring smile. He seemed tense, shaken, or insane. Which, she was not yet sure. And so, she did what she would've done with her siblings and gave him a big hug. But it was strange, different, the way she fit against him gently as though her arms of skin and bones could protect him from the world. It was her to pull away first this time, eyes flickering with odd curiousity, as that had not been as it was with her siblings at all. Another blush. Another cover-up smile. "Check your ankle, please. I can help you. Or, considering, help you help yourself." She could tell he didn't want anything to do with her, and honestly, she didn't blame him.

[Zayid Shamoun]

"Bark, bark, bark!"

Zayid peered at the back of the girl’s pink head intently. How queer. She really must be mad. He was tempted to keep backing away from her but was stricken with terror as the roar tore through the halls and echoed, followed by the yelps of the dogs and then silence. Forboeding silence that left him slack-jawed before she drew his attention again. The girl claimed that it would stop on it’s own - but Zayid had ready plenty of books on anatomy and plenty more on war and war-time medicine, and though he couldn’t remember all the specific details he knew that blood-loss from a wound of that size could be disastrous, possibly fatal. So that’s what he told her - a flash of the true Zayid coming out in a bold statement.

“Nonsense, silly girl. I have firsthand knowledge of tending wounds of this nature, and I know without a doubt that the blood-flow will most certainly not stop unless we stop it ourselves.” With that, he grabbed her leg with a trembling hand that betrayed his nerves, but pulled her wounded leg toward him with a stern guidance. He tore at the pant leg and grunted a bit before being baffled by the layers beneath.

She pulled away again and he looked up startled, still wondering why she had so many layers of pants on when she wrapped her arms around him in an embrace. His body tensed immediately and he was rigid in her arms, but something inside him just wanted to melt. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach and his heart was pounding, but his muscles were still tensed and taut. But something was pressing him to relax, some strange reaction to the warmth she spread with her soft touch. Just as he began to relax she pulled away and he frowned ever so slightly.

"Check your ankle, please. I can help you. Or, considering, help you help yourself.”

He looked at her with a blank-face for a moment before a series of rapid-fire blinks. Aaaand his nerves were back. He simply did not know how to handle this strange girl or the feelings she brought up. “I-if you i-insist, Miss...?” He asked, his bloody hand motioning to her palm up to inquire of her name. “I am P-Prince Zayid-Namir S-Shamoun, by the by.”

[Evangelina]

"A Prince!" She gasped, making a funny bow and there was no knowing if she was serious or sarcastic. "I'm Angel! Evagelina, actually, but that takes far too long to say. Yes, Sir! It certainly does." She grinned, having been momentarily impressed by his previous seriousness and collectedness. "Prince Zayid Namir Shamoun." She spoke carefully with certain and perfect pronunciation. "A nice name. For sure." She glanced up at him, locking eyes for a moment, wondering what lay there, the stories, what made him tick... She rather liked that he seemed timid and frightened. It made her feel empowered - a feeling she could not get often. But there was more there than just that feeling - several others perhaps. It was not the exact same pull she'd felt but once in the past, but it was definitely something.

Suddenly, the door came crashing down, sliding powerfully into a wall with a dramatic smash. Another roar sliced through the cold air, the battle cry of Zayid's own people. With in a second and with unnatural speed and strength, large lion paw crushed down on Evangelina, big enough to have each outside claw wrap painfully around her sides. The beast was entirely enraged with a look that he'd just caught a traitor. The smell of blood saturation the room, the dead dogs just behind him. Evangelina struggled somewhat, but she always lacked the natural strength of an average human, and she was already weakened. "Get off me, you big dope! I'm not scared of you! I just saved your comrads ass - stupid!" She hissed out defiently and Calvin snarled, leaning about a half of his weight into the paw on top of her.

Dreadful cracks and snaps could be heard as her fragile ribs gave way beneath her and she screamed painfully. The beast looked down with a sort of smirk and a 'You done now?' sort of glance. "The Fulsi will kill you! You think you're anything? Adison's getting all the glory. You may be the son of the Beta and Delta but no one really knows you. No one really cares! Not as great as your fellow brother so to speak, and you never will be." She screamed out, soft grunts and squeaks of unimaginable, intense pain. Clearly, she struck a nerve. He lifted her with his claws and tossed her roughly and with little effort against the nearest wall, where, of course, she hit her head and was sent momentarily unconcious.

He morphed into his human form, which looked just as Crash did with darker eyes, paler skin, and darkened hair. It wasn't just the coloration that made him appear more damned than the feared Beta - but the pure hatred seen through his eyes from his soul. "You fool! Mingling with a Fulsi, are we? I should kill you on the spot - but I am certain Manic would have more creative ways of accomplishing that, you think?" He spat viciously. "And the girl, too. Explain yourself!" He snapped.

[Zayid Shamoun]

"A Prince!"

Aha, yes, at last! Someone who recognized his royal nature! Someone who knew that he was indeed a Prince! And most worthy of admiration. He got to nodding to himself satisfactorily in his acknowledgment of his thoughts of this, this Angel. He rather liked the sound of her name, Evangelina. It sounded so exotic and quite heavenly, to be sure. Like some ambrosial nectar delicately dabbed on the tip of his tongue. He had always liked the sound of names from far off places - in his books he had read of the Queens and heroines of different nations, strong women who could face up to anything. And this Evangelina, this Angel, seemed a likely figure to fit that role - albeit a strange looking one. With this new literary light shed upon her, his nerves were settling slightly. But he was still on edge in the presence of this woman. He hadn’t much experience with them at all, and the only one he’d ever kissed or loved or touched with soft caresses on the nape of her neck or rosy cheek was in all likelihood dead.

Zayid was silent for a few moments, and he felt he was on the lip of a yawning chasm of dark, dark despair. An deep sadness settled over him - a stifling need to hold Anisa in his arms again. To go back in time and tell her that no, he would not go accept the scepter from his father on that stage. Just hold her in his arms and kiss her soft lips in the flickering candlelight of his study, surrounded by his timeless tomes. Safe. But he was here with Angel, a brightly colored young woman with a bleeding leg and a relentless smile plastered on her face. He wasn’t at home, safe and sound. He was here with this strange woman who was a fascinating case study.

And apparently, a lion. That simply broke down a door in a matter of seconds, as if it were a toothpick! The crash was tremendous, but the roar was what left him covering his ears and nearly relieving himself as it crashed into the room and pounced on Angel. No! Zayid scrambled backward, biting his lip so hard that he could taste blood. He was terrified, his limbs trembling so violently he could barely control his limbs. Angel seemed to be faring better, even though she was beneath the paws of his massive creature. He wanted to help her badly, but he couldn’t muster up anything besides a pathetic squeak, a breathy whispered plea of “Stop!” as he tried to block out the terrible sound of her shrieks of pain. But her cries penetrated his feeble defenses and his eyes peeled open again to see her flung against the far wall as if she weighed nothing more than a feather. He hadn’t understood much of what she had screamed at the lion, but didn’t have time to sort through it when the lion turned upon him.

He was so very new to this place - a novice in the world of animals. And he couldn’t determine the different scents and smells of each ring, and when the lion shifted into the tall black haired man, he’d felt there was something vaguely familiar about his face. "You fool! Mingling with a Fulsi, are we? I should kill you on the spot - but I am certain Manic would have more creative ways of accomplishing that, you think?" Zayid was struck dumb the the pure hatred in those eyes, perhaps even more so at lack of an adequate answer to the man’s questions. He wasn’t much older than Zayid himself, perhaps a year younger even - but he was much bigger, and much more powerful. He stuttered out a few pathetic words, eyes rounded with terror and his trembling hands plainly visible.

But Zayid remembered something - some bit of useful information. Though this man was a lion, he was a tiger. And had almost 200 lbs of good weight against the fellow, at least! And though the other man may know how to use his form properly, perhaps...perhaps he could knock him off balance long enough to escape. He sucked in a deep breath and tried to steel his nerves. And when he spoke, for once in his life it came out as strong as iron.

“What in God’s name are you sputtering about, man?” Zayid hissed, waving his hand at the man dismissively. “I was not aware this girl was a Fussy...Foosi...Floozy, what ever nonsense they call themselves. I am new here, lion, and haven’t the slightest inclination as to what you are snarling about.” Zayid got to his feet, albeit a bit shakily, and crossed his arms across his chest. He was only a bit shorter than the man, so he was able to stare him almost in the eyes as he tried desperately to keep the fear from leaking into his eyes. His eyes flicked to the side for a brief moment and he saw Angel’s tiny body crumpled limply on the ground and a sudden spark of anger flared in his chest. How selfish he had been! Terrified for his own life when this heroine had saved him from those rabid dogs not once but twice, and had fearlessly spat in his face of this grotesque excuse for a human.

Inspired by her heroism, he felt a surge of courage. He envisioned the heroes of the past, the heroes from his books - he thought of Hercules, of Leonidas, and other great warriors of their times charging heroically into battle. His fists clenched at his side and his jaw was set, eyes narrowing in the slightest degree as he lunged forward with one foot and landed as a tiger, his paws slamming into the other Carna’s chest with a terrific thump! He had the element of surprise - most thought that a man as skinny and weak looking as him couldn’t possible have such an immensely powerful shift. So he toppled over with the other Carna, wondering briefly if he would be punished for this.

He realized that his claws had sunk into the other’s flesh, and he gasped in surprise to see blood welling from the wounds. When had that happened?! He yowled in shock at the man fighting back and awkwardly slapped at his face with his big, hefty paws, hoping to do some damage without much blood. He looked like a massive kitten batting at a ball of yarn it was still intimidated by. He’d been hit by the forepaw of a big cat the other day as some Hunter taught him a lesson about cutting in line at dinner time - and figured that these blows would not be something the man would easily get up from. With one last impressive swat he thought he saw those eyes flicker closed and thought his opponent possibly unconscious.

Seeing his opportunity he leaped off of the man’s body and made it to Angel’s side in one giant stride, frantically pawing at her face as delicately as he could to rouse her. “Awaken!” He shouted, his voice a gravelly rasp coming from his tiger-jowls, looking back as the man began to wake. With his momentary rush of courage was ebbing swiftly, Zayid let out a growl of frustration and grasped the girl’s well padded jacket and started to drag her out of the room as quickly as he could while the man started to regain his composure and probably consciousness. Zayid yowled again and with somehow managed to get the girl up on his back through a series of grabs and jabs and swift maneuvering. She sprawled limply across his broad, nearly black back and kept slipping off, but Zayid would shove her roughly back in place with a raised shoulder as he raced down the corridors of the hospital trying to escape certain death at the jaws of that lion. His paws were a blur beneath him as he ran the fastest he believed he’d ever run before.

ooc; long post alert o.o lemme know if the power-play is A-OK. I figured it was since we usually post like this o3o

[Evangelina]

Calvin did not expect the assailing attack from the frightened, little man. Because of his lack of being prepared, even his supernatural strength did not help him on time as the large tiger's claws dug into him and left him out like a light on the floor for a few second. He awoke swiftly, dizzy, his blurred gaze catching sight of the lion dragging the dreaded Fulsi away. He lifted his large head to roar and then moaned. "F*** it." He snarled. The girl had, after all, been right. With all his strength and skill and the highest of Carna bloodlines, he could never strive to amount to much in the shadow of his 'brother'(as many had often inaccurately labelled them). They were not close. They had gotten along well enough but it was Adison who'd gotten spoiled by the Carna ranks, recieved the most beautiful Fallen of their age, and contrinued to appear an idol in the eyes of all hopeful Carna and Fallen alike. And what was Calvin? Too strong to die and too damned to live, cursed by the mistakes of his wretched parents who hadn't given him attention a day in his returned life.


An hour passed since the confrontation and Evangeline snoozed soundlessly and limply beside Zayid's tiger form. They had made it as far as the middle of the woods, which, if she had been awake to see it, she would have gasped at it's majesty and beauty. Time passed quickly, odd enough, with plenty to look at. Ducklings swam after their mother in the pond and the day turned to evening, fireflies lighting up the dull sky and the early moon making it all seem more magical. Forty-five more minutes passed and she stirred a bit, rolling over and opening wide, stark-blue eyes to gaze up at the heroic tiger, whose gaze seemed distracted and nobel, the moonlight glowing around his sillouette, eyes swimming with color and instilling her with amazement. "Wow." But that's all she got out with a slight wince, now realizing that every breath came with a shock of pain. She watched each limb quiver from such a ripple effect and tried to sit up but found it impossible. Instead she just set her head back down and continued to look up at him, trembling and squeaking from labored breathing now and then. But she looked happy, a little smirk pulled up from one side of her lips. "Thank you. How's your ankle?" She had a grin that looked as though she wanted to burst into giggles but could not.
She could feel her broken ribs and knew that was something she'd have to work with and let it heal on its own. As long as he didn't try to help her and she kept the torn, bloodied, over-padded jacket on, everything was fine. Everything was safe. Secret safe. And that made her happier than anything else. She pushed herself to sit up harder this time and managed, biting her lip to smother the looks of pain.
"You are my hero." She tilted her head with a subtle smile, so serious for a normally not-so-serious female. She leaned forward to give the pretty tiger an innocent kiss, but her timing was horrible. He had morphed into his human form and her eyes flew open, wide and surprized as the blush on her face. Instead of immediately pulling back, she suddenly melted, eyelids falling shut with a kiss that grew stronger until she finally relieved him, pulling away and staring into her reflection in the water, frowning at what she could see and what no one else seemed to.

[Zayid Shamoun]

He didn’t go very far - needless to say the extra weight of the girl on his back (though she was indeed very light) was too much of a burden for him to carry, even in this powerful form. He was unskilled at using it and thus wore down quite quickly. But he made it across the fairly large square into the children’s play park, and hid himself and his pink-haired maiden amongst the trees and bushes. He crept along, trying in vain to scent anything - to him it just smelled overwhelmingly of dirt and grass. He sighed happily when he came to a small pond, perhaps a glimpse of some earthly bit of heaven. For that what it was to him at this very moment - great relief. A sense of peace came over him as he stared down into the waters, almost forgetting the girl who lay unconscious on his back. That is until she slid unceremoniously off and thumped to the ground.

Zayid let out a sharp meow of concern and quickly shifted back. He turned her over, his hands yet again trembling as he checked to make sure she was alright. She seemed to be breathing very softly, but she didn’t seem too badly harmed by the lion’s assault. There were a few trickles of blood coming from her jacket, but they had dried quickly. It was an odd thing, this girl with her many layers of clothing and the oddly thick, puffy jacket for spring time. He checked her over very timidly for any more wounds, afraid to unzip anything lest he see or touch something he shouldn’t. It would be very improper and he would feel himself quite the villain if he were to even look upon her in such a way. So he pulled the girl up next to him so they were barely touching. As night fell a chill began to settle over the park and he shivered slightly, and saw her do the same even through all her clothes. He shifted back to the large, impressive looking tiger and again pressed lightly against her so that she would feel his warmth.

He too began to doze off, but the noises around kept jerking him awake. So he settled for peering up at the stars as the sun began to sink, painting the sky a wonderful pallette of golds and pinks. And soon the moon rose to take its Brother Sun’s place, and he felt a strange sense of awe. He wondered if it were the real moon - he wondered if everything here was real. Or just manufactured and duplicated to look and feel like the real thing by these scientists. It was hard to grasp why they were doing this - why they were imprisoning him and thousands like him in this horrid place. Angel began to stir and he looked down at her small body with a fondness, an admiration. She seemed relentlessly happy in the face of all this danger and despair. Oh, but to be like her. She didn’t wake though, and he went back to looking at the stars.

"Wow."

Zayid’s ears pricked and he looked at her again, his tigers-brow furrowed in worry as she struggled to sit up. “Don’t.” he said softly and surprisingly she listened. There must be some injury that he hadn’t seen - perhaps she had broken a bone. When she lay back against him he brought his tail to curl around her, letting it tap gently against her small hands. He didn’t meet her eyes for some time, just kept looking at the world about them - glittering with stars and fireflies. She asked about his ankle. “F-fine.” He muttered. In truth it hadn’t been a bad wound - just a small nip that had bled a bit and already started to scab over.

"You are my hero." Zayid doubted this as he watched her trying to sit up and he shifted back and was about to put his hands against her back to help her up when her lips had pressed against his in a soft, gentle kiss. He gasped in surprise, attempting to pull away from her but she fell against him and pressed her lips again to his own. His body was tense and taut again, his hands still reaching for her to help her up, and he stared back into her blue eyes for a moment before something came over him and he simply let go - his eyes fluttered closed and one hand pressed very lightly against her back, almost as if to pull her closer. The other had reached to tentatively cup her face, but his fingers merely tickled along her cheek.

Her kiss grew stronger and he allowed it and though he was reluctant to return it he found himself doing just that. It had been so long since he’d kissed Anisa...Anisa. With a flash of guilt he pulled away from her, his breathing having grown quite rough. His hands flew from her and he pulled them close to his chest, as if to protect himself from the spread of guilt. He didn’t know if Anisa was dead. She could still be alive, and looking for him. She could be trying to get him out of here this instant - oh, if she were to see him! He was no hero - he was a villain. Kissing another woman when the woman he loved was probably suffering and alone.

“I am nobody’s hero.” Zayid said with a sigh, turning away from her as she had from him. The silence between them grew prolonged, broken only by the gentle lapping of water against the shore and the chirping of the crickets. “You are the brave one, Angel.”



ooc; Oh, Zayid xD

[Evangelina]

He pulled away more roughly than she, although for a moment she could feel he had returned the gesture. For moment, she thought, perhaps someone was capable of liking her. But his recoil proved otherwise, the way he held his hand close to himself as though to shake the disgust. And as she looked back at her reflection, she understand. For who could like her? The girl in the water stared back, her eyes too big along with everything else. Every inch of her extra weight pulling down against the bones that lay underneath, begging to be free- to be seen in all their beauty and perfection. She hadn't realized it, but when he let her go, she had slowly slumped back against the earth with the lack of support. Her efforts to stay up herself had only lasted so long, although she was relieved when she could no longer see her reflection, the view obstructed by tall grasses and glowing flowers from where her cheek touch the cold earth. She turned to gaze up at the sky, at the stars scattered gorgeously as though a dragon had puked up glowing coals throughout the heavens.

'I'm not brave. I'm a copy-cat.' She thought. She did what she saw others do, tried to be as they were or better if she could. "Thanks." She managed, a toothy grin on her face. Her pink hair sprawled out around her on the earth, cheeks flushed the same colors, eyes as ever-curious and big as ever. "I wish I was a star." She shivered. Everyone loves stares. Everyone looks up to stars. Stars are beautiful, flawless. "Don't you?" She wondered. Some time passed and she felt herself drifting off mentally, the fatigue overwhelming. But she would not sleep here-would not stay here for him to slowly calculate her own flaws and weaknesses, to see how unworthy she was of his company.

"Whelp! It's been great! But I gotta go." 'C'mon.' She mentally prodded herself, trembling hands pressing against the cold earth to push her up to go. Her eyes squinted shut in her painful efforts, a little bead of sweat falling from the side of her face - or a tear - which, she could not tell. Her frail arms shook and though she clenched her jaw, a small cry still managed to get out as she finally forced herself all the way to her feet. Her ankle too throbbed, though she'd forgotten. It would be quite the journey home. But she was certainly homesick. She wanted her best friend. She wanted to not feel so pressured. She'd liked people before and she'd felt the sting of rejection and she couldn't handle it. She wasn't good enough and she wasn't going to fall into trying even harder for the goal that was already(although she wouldn't admit it) unreachable. But in moments she'd be home and she kept that thought close where she could talk about this crazy, stupid adventure and have Boni question the truth in such a wild idea - as sometimes she would make things up just so the other Fulsi would fall asleep faster.

"Thanks for everything! I hope you figure out your...ring stuff. Ha!" She limped along passed a couple of trees, the cold stinging and every step feeling longer, more painful. And finally, she fell back against the cold earth. Maybe, she thought, the world was trying to tell her something. Her fingers traced the dirt. Maybe, after all, this was where she belonged.

[Zayid Shamoun]

He wasn’t aware of her for quite some time – his thoughts seemed to fill up with Anisa until he was drowning in her, suffocating and struggling to breathe. Her beauty overwhelmed him and the deep, dark sadness at losing her loomed over him, the flare of guilt only adding to the weight settling on his chest. He wanted to believe against every ounce of logic that she was still alive. And that meant that he had just betrayed her trust, letting another woman kiss him – and kissing her in return. Though it had been brief, there had been that stirring in the pit of his stomach, the beginnings of something grand. And he hadn’t felt that with anyone except Anisa. Zayid knew it was nothing more than the body wanting what it may, but it still disturbed him that he had no control over it.

So he watched the sky, eyes trailing the stars and matching the hazed constellations with the ones he’d read about in his books. He began to nod off, but her voice awoke him. “I wish I was a star. Don’t you?” He thought for a moment, wondering how it would be to be a star. A slight smile tugged at the corner of his lips, his mind at ease. “I do not think I would like to be a star. A giant, burning ball of gas that may one day explode into a million tiny fragments to scatter about space – the pity being that no one would even know that you were gone until thousands of years later. And all they would see is a brief flash of light, for all the life you lived – one tiny instantaneous glint, no more than a flicker in the night sky. Such a lonely existence.” He paused, clearing is throat. Damn it, she was speaking poetically, wasn’t she? Why hadn’t he thought of that? Was he not, after all, a poet? “Ahem. I mean…speaking of…” He sighed, knuckling his eyes in frustration. “They are quite beautiful, though.” The stars must envy her, he mused quietly, thinking that perhaps when (if) he made it back to the Carna he would scratch down these few lines in a poem.

Silence spread between them again and he was surprised when she jolted upright and started to get up. He, being a gentleman of sorts, helped her to her feet, but not so gladly. He didn’t want her to go just yet – though this girl made him nervous and had already made him miss Anisa even more terribly than before – she was the first person in this place to show him some kindness. She had saved him from certain death, kissed him – and now, to just leave so quickly? “G-g-good-b-b…farewell.” He watched her hobble away, frowning after her all the way. Why did everyone always want to leave? But Zayid would not force her to stay if she wanted to go. But he was concerned for her health, for once thinking not only of himself but the little pink-haired Wonder Woman the Menagerie had thrown his way. Biting his lip he thought on it for another minute or so. “Cuss it,” he muttered, hauling himself to his feet and chasing after her.

“Angel!” Zayid called half-heartedly into the sparse forest, wondering where she could’ve gone so quickly. It was fairly dark so he couldn’t see much, but he continued down the path after her. He saw something on the ground just ahead, a body? “Angel?” he gasped, rushing to her side. He kneeled next to her and tentatively reached to touch her face, brushing a bit of her hair from her fair.

“Oh, you poor thing.” He sighed softly. “You are in no shape to travel to your home to-night.” He turned her so she was laying on her back, albeit painstakingly slow so as not to jar her. Steeling his nerves for the millionth time in Angel’s presence, he took in a deep breath. “I must take a look at your wounds to see if there is any severe damage.” And with that he grasped the zipper to her outer jacket and tugged lightly till it was unzipped, his brow knitting together when he saw at least six more shirts underneath of varying colors and designs. He proceeded to unbutton and unzip what he could, till he came to the last of the six layers, a simple tank-top. He glanced up at her with an apologetic smile. He scrunched it up so it was bunched up just beneath her breast. There was just enough moonlight through the branches that he could see her pale skin clearly, in fact it almost seemed to shimmer. At what he saw there he tried to catch the cry from his throat, but it came out a startled if not hoarse gasp. The bruises were terrible, black and blue with splotches of red where the vessels had broken. No doubt the ribs were broken underneath. In fact, as his eyes carefully skimmed her body he could see each rib bone poking through the skin. Life in the Menagerie must have done this to her – starvation was a terrible thing to see. The bones didn’t visibly look terribly cracked or broken from what he could see showing through her skin.

But Zayid reached out tentatively to a small area that hadn’t looked too bruised, his finger gently resting atop the small patch of skin on her torso. “Tell me if it hurts,” he said, it barely coming out a whisper. He pressed down as gently as he could while still applying pressure, and when she let out a sharp cry he winced and pulled back. He tried to think back to the books he’d read about anatomy. The only thing to heal broken ribs was to wrap them well and keep her as still as possible for as long as possible.

“Hold still. This might hurt a bit.” He muttered, and having eased her out of the excess layers of clothing he proceeded to wrap them tightly around her ribcage, tying it in a knot off to the side. He tried to ignore the gasps of pain coming from his patient, but there were tears pricking at the corner of his eyes to be the one causing her such agony. “I’m sorry…” he whispered and continued to wrap her broken ribs. At last he was done and he fell back, seemingly as exhausted from the ordeal as she was.

[mo money]

[Evangelina]

The pain blinded her quite literally, the black ebbing from the edges and coming in towards the center until she could no longer see his face. She began to panic, though she found she'd gone deaf for a moment aswell. She couldn't hear him and she couldn't hear the gasps and grunts that turns into soft squeals. Even one growling, short scream came out of her, a noise to certainly frighten him. Little fists gripped the earth beneath her, muscles tense and quivering until he was done. The blackness went away and her gratefullness for the moonlight grew. She scrambled for a moment, psychologically needing to see his face again. Pulling forward, dizzy from the effort, she saw him. And this time, she did not see hero. She saw an angel - her very own gaurdian savior. She collapsed from her crawl near him, curled up against his side. Her limbs finally relaxed and the only sign of life was her delicate, soft hand tracing the sewn patterns of his shirt. She knew how he was- disgusted, repulsed with the idea of her touching him, of even being near her. "Please." She whispered inaudibly. "Please, don't go." That tracing hand grabbed at his shirt with all the energy she had left - which was just a weak little grip on the lightest piece of fabric. The grip loosened, her hand limp as she fell into unconciousness.

She woke up first---of course! She was on her dainty feet before the early bird could crow it's first. Long, pink hair fell easily pass her waist and she spent her first hour brushing through it with her fingers. When she decided it needed a wash, she dragged the sleeping Prince back down to the pond. It took a bit of effort on her part, but she searched her torn jacket and sweatshirts for her conditioner and soap - always on hand. She just wanted to be perfect. And that accounted for all imperfections. It was still dark out and so she spent the next hour washing and scrubbing skillfully through all that hair. At this end of this time interval, she was glowing. Her hair was in the neatest french braid with wild floweres hand-chosen for decor.

She spent the next half hour staring at him, big, child-like eyes full of creepy curiosity. Finally she inched forward and managed to take off with his fancy-pancy dress shirt, leaving him in his own neat undershirt. She ran off giggling victoriously and hiding behind a tree, coughing from the strain of her badely bruised and fractured ribs. However, this was nothing to get someone like her down. She peeked from behind the tree and frowned to see him still sleeping. Major disappointment. In her next free time, she changed the wrap on her ribs and tried on the stolen shirt(which she rather loved). It was much to big and covered anything and almost everything. The hem came nearly to her knees, which were dressed in black tights. Her pants had been tossed, well, who knows where.
She was quite proud of the shirt and how it served the same purpose as many layers of her female clothing. He'd never know! She gathered all her old clothes and made a little bonfire out of them until an idea struck---Food! For him of course. She couldn't even imagine the mental agony of eating in front of someone. She gathered leaves and many different assortments of bugs - worms, butterflies, beetles, squishy ones, colorful ones - and caught two mice. She set them on a stone above the fire and let all the flavors marinate together. Finally they were set on a plate...well, flat rock, and set in front of him. She sat cross-legged in front of him and her creation, waiting for him to wake and eat and be happy with her and stay with her and be her best best bestest friend !! But he slept on and she waited. The next two minutes became the longest all morning and the sun was finally starting to rise (still a bit early for the more...average). Eagerly, she pounced on him. "Wake up, Prince!"

[Zayid Shamoun]

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[atrb=background,http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i319/sketchedesigns/zayidtablemid.png] Zayid couldn't help but look down at her with some sense of awe; she was such a brave woman. An odd one with strangely bright hair, but he found her fascinating. She saw the world through different eyes, such round blue eyes that shared with him a whole new perspective. She smiled with such ease which disturbed him slightly when he noted her bruised and beaten ribs. The little woman had more strength in a single bat of her long eyelashes that he seemed to have in his collective...embodiment. When the daunting task of wrapping her ribs was done, his hand had skimmed but the briefest of seconds along the soft skin of her stomach, the warmth of her faint on his palm. She fell against him then, her small hands (that had on this single day done so much more than he could ever hope to do) clinging to the collar of his shirt. He stifled a gasp at her immediate closeness, startled and unnerved by the feel of her body pressed against his. "Please. Please don't go." His hands were stiff and rigid at his sides, but the frailty of her in that moment was too picturesque of the fallen heroine in her time of need. The romantic in him demanded action - action! “Sleep now, Angel. I will be here when you awake.” he said, his voice a comforting coo. He tentatively placed a hand around her shoulder and pulled her just a bit closer, shifting so that she could lay against him in comfort during the inevitably long night. As she drifted off to sleep, he took care to cover her with some of the clothes he'd had to strip off her to bandage her wounds. “Don't want you to get a chill.” Zayid mumbled, more to himself than anyone. It was an hour or so before he finally drifted off, dreams filled with rabid dogs, lions and a pink-haired angel. - There were many things that Zayid did not do well - hunt, swim. Be social. Talk to women. But if there was one thing he did well, above all else, it was sleep. Every night at 9:30, he would brush his teeth, comb his hair, slip into his silk pajamas and at promptly 10 o'clock his head would fall gently against his pillow and he would be out like a light. Dreams filled with books and poetry, of far off places and beautiful princess trapped in castles and guarded by dragons. His mother had often said he could sleep through a stampede of wild horses. Zayid had always marveled at that, dreaming that one day there would be a parade of wild horses through the palace, cantering through the grand halls and dirtying all the rugs and nibbling at tapestries. He sighed happily in his sleep at the memory, disturbed now and again by a rustle of noise to which he would groan or grunt, only to fall back to his dreams of his distance home and family. In his dream, he could smell food cooking. Ah, Pascal was such a wonderful chef. And it was unlike anything he had smelled before! It had such an exotic aroma, one that seemed to capture wilderness in itself. He had lifted his fork and was smiling at his mother, having missed what she'd said about something in the paper when he felt something thump on his chest. He jerked awake with a sleep-strangled scream and flailed underneath his assailant for a moment before realizing it was Evangelina. "You startled me!" he gasped, hands raised above his head so as not to touch her inappropriately. Although, he found himself realizing that they found themselves in close contact quite often - and that he did not especially mind it. His hands slowly dropped, as he stared up at her his eyes still hazed and clouded with sleep. "Is it morning already?" he said with a yawn, pale grey eyes transfixed momentarily on her face as the pale pink rays of sun illuminated her face. She is quite beautiful, he thought, remembering the feel of her lips pressed against his. Was it so wrong of him to have done so? To return her gesture of thanks? Would Anisa really have been angry with him? It had been nothing more than that, a trifle of a kind gesture that had taken him by surprise. A gesture that had entranced him, perhaps even enthralled him, something he had not felt in so very long. Zayid's hand rested gingerly on her cheek for a brief moment, palm brushing against her lips. He found himself wanting to kiss her again, his body rising to meet hers - but the instant his lips touched hers in the most tentative of kisses, Anisa's scream tore through his thoughts and he jerked backward. "I-I-I..." he breathed, dropping his hands away from their place around her waist, not even realizing they'd been there. Anisa, oh, Anisa. How could he do such a thing to the woman he loved? All he could see were the images of the bombing flashing through his mind, of Anisa's terrified scream tearing through the thick clouds of smoke. If only he hadn't gone that dreaded day! "I-I'm s-sorry," he whispered as he turned towards the fire he realized she'd made, and seeing the odd assortment of food on the makeshift plate guilt washed over him. "It l-looks...delicious." Oh, God. Did she expect him to eat that? All he could see were charred antennae and fried little legs poking into the air. At least they looked well cooked. Feeling as if he should apologize more for his untoward forwardness, he reached out and reluctantly plucked a small insect from the makeshift plate, his nose scrunched up in distaste as he raised the charred bug to his lips. He looked at it, then back at her, then back at the poor little creature, and sucking in a deep breath he popped it into his mouth with a loud crunch. His face contorted as he chewed, lips and eyebrows puckered together in a look of utter disgust as he swallowed the creepy-crawly down. He nearly gagged, but gave her the best smile he could manage and a shaky thumbs-up. "Y-y-es. Deeelicious." I'm going to be sick! ooc; sorry for the wait <3

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[Evangelina]

Somehow the quickest of kisses seemed to break itself down into slow milli-seconds for her sharp mind. It baffled her how intense every sensation suddenly seemed, scent, vision, everything enhanced... She felt his lips against her's, his hands wandered to her waist. It was certainly a sensitive place for her, and at first she jumped a little in fear and insecurity...but for a moment he seemed sure. And for a moment she felt normal, her own arms wrapping over his shoulders, hands rested on his neck, almost pulling him closer until ---Gone. Her heart sunk, eyes wide with sudden hurt. "I-I-I" Until he said sorry at last. But she'd heard that before, and she knew why. "It's okay. I understand." She bit her quivering lip, focusing her gaze on the earth to press back any tears which she succeeded at. She just wanted to be perfect. But yes, she understood fully. If she were smarter, stronger, thinner...maybe she'd be good enough for him. She could meet that goal. The one she could not meet was being good enough for herself. That would never end.

"I'm sorry, too." She said quietly, mostly to herself before glancing up curiously as he took the smallest of bites of the food. Her grin widened as well as her eyes and she leaned forward, focused, waiting for him to eat it. "Eeee!" She squealed with delight when he finally ate it and commented. Swooping in for a swift and surprisingly gentle hug, she pulled back and picked up the stone with the food. "Now eat up! We got a huge day ahead of us!" She picked up the rest of the "food" with her hands and shovelled it into his mouth and then tossed the stone. "You want to wash up? C'mon!" She grabbed his hand and yanked him along towards the water. "It's fun, too, I tell ya." She pushed him as roughly as possible, but with her it still seemed gentle. She wondered if he noticed his over-shirt missing yet, but didn't mind if he didn't. Less trouble for herself.

"Now where do you want to go? I was thinking we could go visit that Inn, or the hospital...Or my own ring, ha! I don't even know my own "Alpha" anymore." She didn't seem too incredibly loyal. If her loyalty was for anyone involved with the ring, it would be Bonifacio, of course. He was the only one she'd follow. The rest were posers in her eyes and she didn't much care for them at all. Stereotypically she could have been placed in the Fallen. "It's up to you though...Sometimes I don't make could choices." She had a face of concern on for only a second before fetching her shampoo and soap and tossing the shampoo at him. "Let's scrub you up!" She declared.