Breaking The Ice (Gwen/O)

[Atticus Tuck]

Atticus's stance relaxed as Gwen took over answering this strange male's question with practiced ease. She'd have rather just taken care of him with force, to save themselves from any further questioning that could possibly conclude with a slip of their tongues, giving away a vital detail, but in the back of her mind she knew that option would not bode well for either of them. It would benefit more to follow in Gwen's lead. I'm a Dragon, lying to rid ourselves of this male will be a slice of watermelon. And once we are done, I can have some watermelon! With that logic, Atticus was more than motivated to conjure up her human teen persona as she stayed at her young friend's side. The male's face changed in a moment, as if something had dawned on him. He sputtered out a denial towards harboring any suspicious intent towards the two teens, and laced in the embarrassed tone of his voice she could sense truth. Atticus followed suit as Gwen told the man about the Food Fight, giving a couple nods accompanied by a "Like, yeah. It's pandemonium in there, if you must, like, know." When the inquiry of the location for fuel surfaced, Atticus had no answer, having just moved to the town and all. She glanced at Gwen, she had been inhabiting the town longer, she would more than likely know.

Atticus's nose immediately scrunched up in amusement. When you were my age? I highly doubt that! She laughed. "I, like, do not see how being covered in gunk could be, like, a form of entertainment for anyone." Then she added a little under her breath, "And it was that stupid boy's fault anyway, he should have been, like, watching where he was stepping." The idea came to her to track that same boy down later to knock some sense into him for never apologizing. Honestly, it seemed like no humans had manners these days. The respect and fear the Dragons were given had long since passed centuries ago as those ridiculous Hunters came about acting as if they were the judges of what species could live on earth. Rather selfish, they were. Atticus had felt her parents' pain of losing relatives, her chest would ache as mourning filled her old home when they learned of another death of one of their kin. It made the Dragon's skin prickle, it was red-seeing. She never understood why the remaining Dragons wouldn't band together and take care of the problem at once, and reset the balance as it had been. And with the arrival of foolish, ridiculous, irritating Hunters came those Protettores. Now, Atticus's sour feelings were not as intense for the less hostile "protectors" of magical beings, but she found them silly at times. How could a mere human protect a Dragon? But then again, how could the hostile humans kill so many in so little time? It made her head spin.

Atticus shook her head slightly, fighting off the oncoming negative emotions and thoughts. This was not the time, nor the place for conjuring up those familiar trains of thought. Her lips pulled into her usual lopsided-grin, awaiting the moment Gwen and she could shoo away the man and retrieve new watermelon. As if agreeing to the idea, her stomach growled loudly. Atticus's face heated up. She looked over to Gwen with eyes that said something along the lines of, "Can we get food yet?"

[Gwendolyn D. Mattias]

As Atticus and the motorcycle guy exchanged words, Gwen was busy studying the man. His every facial expression, gesture, and body language. She was in full Mattias analytical mode and would have picked the guy apart, if she just had the time. But time was not a luxury they could afford or enjoy. Every second they were in the parking lot eroded their chances of getting away from the school. The wolf instincts inside of her were still screaming caution, but they always did that as of late. Her training, however agreed with the wolf this time. That and she had to get something to eat. There was no way the could make it a whole school day on nothing.

The guy did all the right things.. He stopped his advance. He conceded that he was aware that he was in an awkward situation and that he understood she and Atticus would have every right to be on guard and see it as such. He stated his intentions and what he wanted. The smile reached his eyes and was genuine. Nothing rang as false, yet Gwendolyn was almost positive that there was something he was not disclosing. That something, however, could be anything. The accent was another thing. Exotic. She's never heard it before and was rather curious about its origins.

She thought about his request, and convenient for him, the only petrol station in town was in the direction of the fruit stand and the cafe. But hadn't he just come from that very direction? It was a red flag and Gwen really should have asked about it and gauged his response, yet time, it seems, had run out. Gwen heard the dragons stomach rumble, and her own rumbled in whole hearted agreement. She glanced at her friend to see her glancing back. It was the look on Atticus's face that cast the final ballot for what Gwendolyn did next.

She nodded at Atticus and smiled as she turned her head and even snorted at the man's comment about starting food fights. "Yeah its, like, typical for the boys to see getting covered in gunk as fun." Gwendolyn said in response. "Like, the petrol station is just past where we were going." She said cheerfully. A thought came to mind then. Other adults might question them like he did on the way to the market. Maybe letting the guy walk with them would actually be in their favor? "We could, like, show you the way." Gwen offered.

[Travis Allsbrook]

Travis smiled as the girls seemed to relax as they accepted his apologies for appearing as a creepy old man. He shrugged as the girls took turns voicing their own opinions on food fights. He added a brief chuckle at the end as they seemed to find a male's opinion of food fights disgusting. He was never one to particularly search out dirty situations but growing up in Africa, not getting dirty was never an option especially between all of the sand storms and the endless desert.

His stomach growled as he remembered the girls talking about food. His brow furrowed for a moment as he took a few steps forward, extending his hand. "Travis." he nodded to his hand offering a small smile. "If you wouldn't mind showing me, that would be appreciated. You two are headed to go eat somewhere? Erm, if, you know, like, show me the petrol station I wouldn't mind getting you two some food or whatever." He paused a moment wondering if that was something that people did around here. Trading offers. He waited for a reply, some how he knew this situation wasn't headed south.

[Atticus Tuck]

Atticus raised her brow a fraction. Why was Gwen offering to show him the way? Sure, she had said that the fuel station was nearby to their own destination, but. . . A human tagging along just did not seem very pleasing to the young Dragon. Now she would really have to watch what she says. Think of it like a test. Perfect! A challenge! To show herself how much of a believable human teenager she could be. When the male, who introduced himself as Travis, accepted Gwen's proposal, and had his hand outstretched, Atticus merely looked at it. It was towards Gwen, and Atticus was not quite sure how she felt about that. Why Gwen and not herself? Well, then again, Atticus did not go out of her way to make contact with humans. She brushed it off, a real human teenager would not get miffed about something so seemingly small. Travis offered to buy them meals, which caught Atticus' attention. Now that was more like it, a human paying for their food. Even if unwittingly, some humans could show respect.

But what if he's a Hunter? Or even a Protettore? The voice in Atticus' head was particularly talkative at the moment. But, it held truth. She could smell he was human enough, but how could she tell if he was one of the insane humans running about either "hunting" or "protecting" her kind? She had never met one face to face, so she had little to no idea what she would have to look for to tip her off. Her parents had given her no insight on this matter, either, only that anyone-anyone-could be a potential threat or ally. Her icy eyes flickered over Travis' form, searching for something that could possibly tell of his allegiance. If he was just an ignorant human, wonderful. If he was a Protettore, less than wonderful but at least they were friendly as they were annoying. And if he turned out to be a Hunter. . . Atticus stole a look towards Gwen. WAs she thinking the same? Had it occurred to her? Or had she figured it out? Travis' stance and tone of voice held no malice, true, but he was more than likely just as ignorant of the girls' situations as they were of his. She crossed her arms, deciding she would figure it out by the time Gwen and she returned to the school. "Excellent. Then shall we, like, get going? The educational system set a time limit on student lunches, like, correct?"

[Gwendolyn D. Mattias]

Gwendolyn smiled as she suppressed the urge to giggle at the man's stomach growling as if in response to her and Atticus. He probably had not heard hers or her dragon friend's since he was human. That made it even funnier and that much more distracting. She glanced at Atticus and was not really ready for him taking the steps forward and extending his hand. She looked up to see him approach with a smile as he nodded and stated his name. Travis She repeated in her head and then automatically curtsied and almost stated her full name before blushing, and realizing what she'd done and almost did. "Sorry. Habit, I guess. I'm Gwen and this is Atticus" She recovered looking away to gesture at her friend. This was all too fast. Gwen was off balance but before she could think properly she reached out taking his hand. "Shit!" she shouted in her head. She almost cringed as Travis's hand closed on hers and they shook. What the hell was she doing!! She was a werewolf. Her body temperature was a balmy hundred degrees. She would be unusually warm to the touch of a human. And she knew nothing about this guy. What if he was a hunter?? It took real effort to keep this all from reflecting in her features. The curtsy was actually the right thing to do. If she had not been so distracted... but why was that? She knew the answer even before asking such a stupid question.

Gwendolyn cursed herself for acting like a dopey teenage girl that some cute guy had just taken note of, but that's just it. She was for all intensive purposes, just that. No! She mentally shouted. Gwendolyn couldn't just hide behind that convenient excuse. She was also a Mattias. And this was not school. And that guy was not just another dipsy human teenager who would not give her warm hand a second thought. And damn it! She had a boyfriend already and didn't have an interest in anyone else! Yeah, he was cute... And he was probably the only other human boy to be nice to her and not offer his help in helping her "become a woman" as some of those other jerks offered like it was something she should be jumping at.

While she kicked herself for her stupidity, she was also listening to what Travis was saying. Her expression settled into a guarded smile to his question of where they were going, she had no way of taking back words she and Atticus had spoken. This was all her fault. Her dragon friend didn't have the experience she did with humans. It would be okay though. He didn't seem like he took notice of her hand. She was just being paranoid, she hoped. What were the chances of this guy being a hunter? one in a few million?. That in mind she decided to continue what she started. "We're, like, stopping by the produce place on the way to the new cafe that just opened." She said before glancing at Atticus. She saw the dragon had a questioning look for her. Atticus crossed her arms and looked to be loosing patience with the situation as she reminded Gwen of the time constraints.

"Oh, wow... uhm...That's, like, very kind and generous of you to offer." She replied shyly. There was a big "BUT.." In there that should have been voiced. Gwen just didn't know how to go about it. Gwen quickly looked Travis over. His clothing didn't allow for concealment of any sizable weapon. Maybe a blade or a small handgun. Her eyes lingered for a moment on his torso as Gwen flashed-back to the assassination attempt on her and her brother. That gun was much bigger and of high caliber. But none of that mattered. Even a tinny .22 could be deadly to Gwen if the bullet was silver. She realized she was staring and blushed turning away. Damn it! There was just no time. What could she do but just let things play out. Maybe he was just a nice guy who was hungry.

"Like, I know, right? They should give us an hour. But I don't think anyone will notice, with the mess in there. We can just say we had to get cleaned up and changed." Gwen said with a glance at Atticus. "Lets get going, just the same" She said and started walking. There was nothing she could do now. If anything else he would come in handy to keep people from questioning why she and Atticus were in town instead of school. Would he play along if she had to suddenly turn around and call him "Big Brother"? Despite the situation she snorted and almost burst out laughing when she thought of how many of her Anime had that scenario in them. "Sorry" she chimed as the two caught up.

[Travis Allsbrook]

Travis chuckled to himself as he walked toward his bike. He was his youth reflected in his travel companions. He slid his helmet on the handle of his bike before leaning it back to casually kick the kickstand back into its resting position. He sighed as he felt the weight of the bike settle in his hands. He kicked the gears as he shifted the motor into neutral, the bike sliding forward slightly. "Alright, let's get this show on the road." He grinned as he began to push his bike forward beginning their journey.

(Sorry it's not a long post, guys. I was and have been really at a loss lately. I'll do better next post, promise.)

[Atticus Tuck]

Atticus strayed from her companion's side, drifting closer to the stranger. Her nose twitched twice. He smelled Human enough. But was there a way to determine his allegiances? Oh, how irritating it was to be forced down into her tiny Human form! If she were in her true form she could easily see whether he was "friend" or foe based on his reaction. Sheer terror and fleeing worked best for her. A small grin pulled at her lips at the mere thought, what entertainment that would be! The transportation method he used was dragged along with him. It resembled that of a young Human hatchlings "bicycle" only it was much chunkier, apparently required fuel to operate, and was more than likely for older Humans. It gleamed harshly from the sun, making her squint and quickly avert her eyes to avoid being temporarily blinded. It reeked, too. Who would ever want to be near such a contraption? It was beyond the young Dragon's comprehension. She shrugged it off, instead bringing her icy gaze to the young male's features. He was built, unlike the chunky males that taught at school. He had dark, messy hair as well, but really nothing stood out to her that swayed her opinion. She supposed his facial structure resembled some of the Human males that teens fawned over in magazines.Perhaps Gwen could cause him to slip up? She glanced at the young werewolf, but said nothing. She took to just observing and listening rather than speaking any more. She was rather naïve when it came to interrogating. All she knew was how to scare the daylights out of Humans, not use words to demand obedience. Perhaps I should, like, watch some of those silly Human crime dramas.