ningyomahou-blog

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Her face went blank for a moment and then her cheeks went red. “Ugh. Don’t worry about it if I am not making any sense. Its a... alternative reality game. I was talking about the other team. Don’t give it too much thought.”  She stood up, collecting her tray. Feeling relieved that she was, at minimum, just being paranoid right now. She offered a slight bow of her head and offered a casual laugh. “I thought the other team was cornering me. Lots on the line. Ya know?”

Parrish’s face contorted into one of utter confusion. What the hell was an “Alpha” and why did this girl assume he was “with him”? Wasn’t Alpha just a greek letter? He glanced around the cafeteria, wondering if perhaps the girl had simply started speaking to somebody behind him – surely he didn’t do anything wrong to make her react in such a negative manner? Yet, if anything, the cafeteria seemed almost empty at that point, and nobody was even close to the table Parrish and she sat at.

“I-I’m sorry…I don’t…I don’t understand…Alpha…?” he said, trying to maintain some form of cool composure – the last thing he wanted was to look like an idiot, and he was beginning to feel like the girl was taking him for one. Being talked down upon? By a child? Wasn’t flying very well with Parrish. “Look, I’m sorry if I said something to upset you…?”

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“Well, I guess thats my cue to leave then.”

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“You sure? You didn’t look okay.”

“What? Oh, yeah. I’m fine.”

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Inara took a few careful steps backwards. She wasn’t close enough to see his ears but she was pretty sure he could hear her. That might be important. Maybe he was another hunter or something? She absolutely wasn’t on board with that look in his eyes. “Scuse me, but dont call me sweetheart?” She gulped. A siren’s response to fear is two fold, and only gets stronger as they mature. The first response and their strongest instinct during times of stress or fear was to find the ocean. It was like a tug on their bodies. She could feel it. Miles and miles away. The second was to start singing. But even Inara was too nervous right now to let out a note. Oh yeah she was starting to feel afraid. The scent of it lingered around her strawberry body spray and shampoo. She didn’t reek yet but she was on her way there.

Peter raised an eyebrow at the girl. Such attitude. He studied her carefully, willing himself to catch her scent. The wolfsbane, though not as potent, was still making its way out of his system and his werewolf abilities weren’t as strong. But he picked up the faintest hint of–fear. “I think you’re the one that needs help, sweetheart.”

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“Well excuse me.” She took a step back from the man and arched a brow. She seemed to have a knack recently for finding really attractive crazy people. “You looked like you might need some help.”

“Peachy.” Peter replied scathingly, agitated that a girl had stumbled upon the path he was on in the woods while he was trying – and failing – to shift into his wolf form.

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“Hey are you okay?” Inara’s face scrunched with concern.

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Inara’s face soured pretty quickly. She didn’t know this man and he was already privy to her race somehow and that was enough to set her already on edge nerves on high alert. Maybe he was just making an assumption, but after the day before she didn’t know how she could make it any clearer that she wanted left alone. She glanced around the room, it had emptied out during the course of their conversation and Inara had a free period following lunch. She folded her arms and her chair skid back a few inches. She tilted her head to see his ears, checking for plugs before coming to a conclusion. “So are you with that Alpha or something?”  Her face was serious and her eyes were angry. She knew better than to start singing, but if someone backed her into a corner she wouldn't hesitate. 

“You’re a swimmer?” Parrish smiled a bit. He and his brothers had all been on the swim team in their high school years. Parrish had never been the best of his two older brothers and one younger one, but he still was lot better than most on the team– and he had made captain. “I was too, but that was years ago. Now I just sit behind a desk and write the occasional parking ticket.” He crossed his arms onto the table in front of him, “I was actually on my way to this great little Japanese Steakhouse just down the street – had to stop here to question a teacher, but it seems he’s gone a bit awol. Want me to pick you something up when I go?”

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“Um. Scrambled Egg, Rice. Chicken. My mom makes it in bulk in the fridge at the beginning of the week and I take what I need before I run for school. Its a good diet for a swimmer I think. It doesn't weigh me down at practice.” Inara tried to keep her rising anxiety down. People didn’t just talk to her usually and after last night she didn’t really want to attract more attention.

“What do you usually pack?” Parrish asked, sliding in to take a seat across from the girl. He might as well make small talk with the students while he waited for his witness to get back from his lunch break. The girl’s accent made him think of sushi and he felt his own stomach rumble agitatedly as if begging for hibachi and hand rolls later that night. He mentally told it to shut up before adding, “I mean, anything’s gotta be better than school food, though, right?”

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Inara offered a smile to the deputy. “Really, it is only my fault.” She had the lightest touch of an accent and a cool expression. She poked at the pizza once more with the fork before giving up on it and her appetite with a shrug. The fork clattered onto the plastic tray and she pushed it away, choosing to nurse on the sports drink she had purchased from a vending machine earlier that day. “I usually pack lunch for myself in the morning but its been a rough few days.”

Parrish was forced to go to the local high school – a teacher had been shirking on getting back to the Sheriff’s office, and he had some valuable information on a recent case. To make matters worse, nobody seemed to know where Mr. Hines vanished to on his lunch hour, and so Parrish found himself looking around the packed cafeteria, gagging at the smell of cheap mystery meat and body odor. It was then that he heard a small voice behind him, coming from a nearby table in the corner: “God this looks gross.” He turned around and spotted the young girl poking at the cardboard-esque pizza on her tray.

“When I was in high school, I used to eat french fires drenched in ranch dressing every day.” he joked, gesturing at the “meal”.

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Inara took a seat in the Cafeteria. Quiet as always she took a place in the back most corner and poked at the cafeteria pizza with a fork, a look of distaste on her face. She was already kicking herself for not getting up earlier and packing food. She was a pickier eater than she let on. “God this looks gross.”

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It wasn’t the first time but it definitely wasn’t something Inara was particularly accustom to. Though the cliché of the scenario definitely wasn’t lost on her. A simple walk to a convenience store and now she was convinced she was being followed. If it were just one person she would have called her mother and things would be fine. That’s what they did. Mom protected them. The whole family. This was different and reminded her of the time in Tokyo. It had stared in the gas station as she paid for her ice cream and soda. She noticed three broad men in the back of the store nodding to each other. Inara fought the urge to run then, she gave a polite nod to the woman at the counter and stuffed everything into her purse. Headphones included. She needed to be aware of her surroundings. Step after step back towards her home brought more of these men into view. And that’s when she realized that they were the same ones from Tokyo. The ones that had prompted the latest move. She could tell by the odd blue rings they wore. That detail somehow had become the clearest thing in her mind about that particular night. The men that had appeared to boost their numbers were standing at the intersection she needed and the men from behind her were closing in. And they were all wearing giant construction ear muffs this time. Covering their ears from whatever song Inara might find herself singing. Not that Inara could ever sing in a crisis. That was her mother. Her mother made them leave. So she did the stupidest thing she could. She ducked into an alley. Which in hindsight, if she considered for even a moment, was probably exactly what they wanted. And Inara found herself pinned against the biggest cliché yet: A brick wall and a group of Yakuza hunters.

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My cat’s first car ride

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(this kills me no stop)

She would have been with us.              She still is.

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What can I say? I love stupid costumes.

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I've been here before. I know where it goes. It goes down...

Dessa