Behind those black eyes... (open)

[conrad]

Conrad stared from beyond the bushes, his eyes pitch black as he sat there with his tail waggling, his eyes fixed on one child that was all by herself. The bushes weren't really a good cover, anyone could look over and instantly get struck by terror at the site of a wolf with ruffled brown fur staring at them, but they provided as much protection as he needed to watch the little girl for a bit longer. She looked a lot like his daughter, how long had it been since he'd last seen her? A couple of years? Several maybe? It was hard to keep track with all this changing and having different life spans. One minute a year was a year, the next a year was seven to him.

Glancing around his nose picked up a strange scent, the worse smell imaginable, worse still it was coming from right next to him. Looking down to his side Con saw the only thing that actually terrified him. A single cat. It just took the sight of that cat sat next to him for Con to go mental and dart through the bushes and straight to the other side of the park. After making sure he was completely out of view from the humans Con made the extremely painful change back into his normal form. It really wasn't a good experience when changing forms, in fact it hurt quite a lot, although that wasn't the worst part of it. The very worst part for him was that when he returns back into his normal form the only clothing that comes back is his jeans; not good when there's a cold breeze.

Sighing Conrad walked back out to the park, his muscular chest in full view of everyone and the scar running from his left shoulder to the left side of his stomach standing out on his pale skin. "Massive dog that was, almost knocked me over, gone home now though I think..." he laughed as he spoke, maybe they would just think he was nuts and ignore him, it could work. Giving a thumbs up to some of the people he began to slowly make his way to one of the benches.

[Rikaeyu Osomage]

A lithe black cat slunk through the shadows of the bushes. They were the darkest place in the sunlit park. She quite admired her cat form. It had always given her a freedom of mind and had the sliest of instincts. Plus, she always had the most fun with it.

Separating her jaws slightly, she scented the area. The curious scent of some sort of canine filled her scent glands. It was rather interesting to her, though. The scent held a bit of a different tinge to it. It wasn't a regular dog at all. The cats curious instincts led Rikku to seek out the animal. It didn't take long, for the other animal's scent was rather strong. She soon found herself sitting beside the curious smelling beast.

The creature had only taken one look at her and ran. Odd. Weren't dogs supposed to like chasing cats? It didn't matter. With one swift jump, she allowed herself to change. Soon the cat was a raven and followed the other animal. She had had many years of practice, so it was not that hard of a task. Rikku perched herself in a tree near where he had stopped and watched him ion amazement. A shapeshifter? No way. She swiftly changed and let her feet dangle from the branch. Rikku was rather happy that she knew how to shift forms with her clothes. The girl was wearing a simple black and red jogging outfit and her black gloves. 'Now to find that guy,' she thought.

Jumping from the tree, she landed with cat-like grace on the ground below. If she were in the park, where would she want to be. Wait, that method probably wouldn't work. She just sniffed around, trying to grab his scent. Rikku found it with ease and slunk out of the trees. She spotted him right away. 'I really just need to just look next time instead of trying to scent a person,' she thought, heading towards the same bench as the other man. 'This shall be interesting.'

"Hello, sir," she said to him, her voice carrying a light greek accent. She tried to hide as much of it as possible, though.

[conrad]

Conrad really hadn't been paying much attention to his surroundings as he sat there on the bench, the only thing he could think about was that cat, there had been something really weird about it but he just couldn't think of what it could be. Normally things didn't get to him like this, he'd probably ive it a seconds thought and then it'd be gone, there was no point worrying about things when there was a wonderful life ahead. Wonderful, to be honest Conrad never saw it as being wonderful, he'd give anything to become truly human and not be this monster.

Sighing Con looked up and let the cold breeze hit his face, it felt good when touching his face but his chest was freezing. He didn't have long to think about that feeling though. The same horrible scent that the cat had hit him like a ton of bricks but this time it was coming from a girl that was heading in his direction. Strange, it was almost as though she was a shifter, but Con had always thought that was impossible, he was the only one, wasn't he?

"Hello, sir." Had she just addressed him as sir? He'd never known anyone to be as formal as that, it was quite interesting. "Good afternoon," he smiled casually as he spoke yet his insides felt like they were getting scrunched up and his instincts were telling him to leave. Since when did Conrad Gallagher listen to instincts? He wasn't going to start now. Standing up he put his right hand out in front, "the name is Gallagher, Conrad Gallagher."

[Rikaeyu Osomage]

She tried to keep her instincts from getting the better of her. Rikku's nose was tingling with the scent of this guy. She wanted to smell the air more and more, but that would either make her obvious or make her look like a complete psychopath.

She stood up as he did and extended her own arm. "My name is Rikaeyu Osomage," she said. She was struggling to keep her accent hidden. She closed her eyes as a light breeze came, blowing her hair back slightly. His scent filled the breeze. She still thought it was impossible. Maybe it was just her imagination, getting the better of her. But it that was so, why decide now of all times to do so.

Retracting her hand, Rikku sat back down. Maybe she would just ask a few questions. No, that would look odd. Maybe she could... no, she didn't want to cause trouble. He probably didn't even have a wallet on him to begin with. "Conrad. That is such an unusual name," she noted. All American names were unusual to her, though.

[conrad]

Laughing Con sat down next to her, "yeah, you can blame my..." He cut himself off before he could say the word 'parents'. Talking about his parents was just a no go zone, even after all the years he'd lived without them. "You have cool name, Rikaeyu, it's nice... Seems like i'm not the only one with an unusual name..." Chuckling slightly Con leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees. He made sure his eyes never having any contact with Rikaeyu's; it was bad enough having to stay near that horrid smell, looking at her would probably just make it worse. What was she? So many questions in his head, would it be rude to ask?

Smiling slightly Con lifted his head up and stared at the spot in between the bushes that he had come from, was the cat still there? The sudden realization hit him, the cat with it's foul stench, the girl wandering up to him from the exact same area he had come from moments before, the smell coming from her. How could he have not realized it before? She was the cat. That would make this situation a hell of a lot worse, he couldn't stay near a cat, even if she appeared human. It just wasn't right.

Leaning back slightly and putting his hands on his knees he frowned, "so, did you see that wolf from earlier?" His voice had a bit of panic in it along with some confusion, this kind of thing just didn't happen. He was the only one. He had to be the only one. He would make sure he stayed the only one. "You think there could be special people out there, like people with powers, shape-shifters for example?" One plan in his mind, give her a false sense of security, lead her away from the humans, then destroy. Simple. Well, simple if it even worked.

[Rikaeyu Osomage]

Rikku tried to keep from looking in his direction. His smell was so... there was no word for it. She kept her eyes on the ground and to the opposite side of him. "I guess Rikaeyu is a rather strange name, though too," she said with a sigh. "If it makes it easier, you can call me Rikku."

Her instinct's were telling her to fight. Something was in what she considered her territory. But then again, she didn't see any threat. All she saw was this Conrad guy and a strange smell. She knew what he was, she'd watched it happen before her own eyes. But what she didn't know was what she should do. Should she mention something? No, that would make her look like she had been watching him... er, it would tell him that she had been watching him. She thought about it for a moment and decided it better if he spoke first.

When he mentioned the wold, her eyes couldn't help but glance in his direction. Should she play coy? Or should she play dumb? Pretend she didn't see it? It didn't really matter though, now did it. "I got a glance at it before I saw it run. I was rather confused by its disappearance, especially when i saw a black cat. To think that an animal believes in superstitions," she joked. "It was rather strange though. One minute i saw a cat, the next it was gone. And this bird sort of came out of nowhere." It wasn't all lies.

It was what he said next that shocked her a little. Did she believe that people could have powers? How ironic. Rikku began to fiddle with her gloves again. "Yes, I do believe in such things. It sort of a belief that came with my religion. People having the ability to control fire, control water, shapeshift. I believe in it all, if you must know." She opened and closed her gloved hands a couple of times, a little quirk of hers. "Why is that of any importance in the first place Mister?"