Living Shadows (IC)

[Aoiroo]

She didn't usually hang out on the roof of her appartment complex in the fall. It was chilly, and there wasn't much of a view. Given, she couldn't complain she had choosen the location, she just sort of wished she had a watch. It had been six twentyish when she headed up, and looking at the pile of cards she was on her third round of solitare. She pulled up the cards and started to shuffle them absently as she waited, she didn't know if he was late or not but she'd probably wait another fiteen minutes before heading out on her own.

[Sandman XI]

Wesley was never this late! He busily searched the area looking for the woman in black. Finally he found her, sitting on the roof of an apartment building. Playing cards. Oh man, this was probably not good. it was six thirty already. So much for being punctual. He hoped she hadn't been waiting long. Invisibly, he landed next to her. when he appeared, he was sitting across from her watching her gather the cards. He smiled as the area warmed up considerably. "Sorry about that," he said apologetically, "I tried to get here sooner, but it seemed like everything was trying to stop me from coming here." He smiled and (hopefully) made eye contact, "Though I wouldn't miss this."

[Aoiroo]

Glancing up at him she stood up and stretched a little bit,

"Your fine, in fact your probably early."

She didn't know for sure but it didn't feel like seven yet. He seemed a bit stressed out so he might of been late, didn't matter he was here now.

"So, what's on the menu for travel tonight, or are we just sticking to Dragon mode? I have to say it's a little harder to stay on then just being carried."

[Sandman XI]

Wesley looked confused, "Didn't we decide on six?" He felt great relief in that he was not thirty minutes late. He smiled lightly when she asked to be carried. The last time he carried someone was when he was dating. Though he didn't mind carrying the girl. It was a great way to get to know someone. Out of his back popped two large white feathery angelesque wings. When they were fully out, he took a bow. "Knight Deliveries at your service." He chuckled and then offered her his hand.

[Aoiroo]

"Nope, it was definitely seven otherwise I would of left by now."

Walking over she didn't grab his hands before just examining the wings. She had to fight the sudden urge to just bury her face into the feathers because of how soft they looked but that seemed a little uncooth, so she just rested a glove hand on them,

"I'd ask where you hid the sheer mass required to make add ons like this if I didn't know someone scawnier then you who nearly triples his size on a weekly basis.Given, I'm not really a biology buff so I'm sure there's some specialized course on shapeshifters that probably involves some weird protiens in the blood or whatever."

Moving from the wings she actually grabbed his hand this time,

"Anyway, off we go, we're burning moonlight here."

[Sandman XI]

"You know, I ask myself that every once in a while," Wesley said lifting her up from behind her knees and supporting her back, "I have yet to answer it." Keeping up the warmth, the flight and the strength to easily carry Silhouette was a bit of a chore on his energy reserves, but it was one he did not mind. He had plenty to go around. And if it became too much he could use other means of getting around. Lifting off into the air they saw Greenbank through the air. Depressed was not the beginning of it. It was all-and-all out creepy. "Well," he said with a chuckle, "don't you know how to pick the neighborhoods?"

[Aoiroo]

She had never flown while being carried like this, it was rather nice actually and very warm which was a bit strange considering how high up they were. She didn't linger on the thought, she mostly enjoyed the view, even when that view slowly became Greenbank.

"There are people who will live there entire lives in Freedom, but never once set foot in this part of town. Why should they? After all, if you can afford to live in the shining city of tomorrow there's no need to sit out here in the shadows."

Glancing down below, she looked at all the buildings before glancing back up at Wesley,

"Does your life detection only work in range of vision or at street level? I mean, you wouldn't happen to know if there was any complicated life under the ground would you?"

[Sandman XI]

Wesley thought about the things Silhouette was saying. As horrible as he had it growing up, at least he didn't have to live like this. He felt their pain in a totally different way. He tried not to think about the past too much, it added on to the creepiness of this place. "Yeah, it's not really 'sight' per se," he said turning on the glowing green eyes, "but it works as such. I can sense living and unliving things within range of 'sight'." Silhouette pinged off as the closest. As he analyzed her, he noticed a few things. "You keep in shape very well," he complimented her, "Are you a gymnast?" Though the poor girl had bad blood circulation, he was glad that he could keep her warm.

[Aoiroo]

"I used to be, though I sort of grew out of it."

She almost explicitely looked down at her chest for that statement. It wasn't huge but upper bs did not make one very aerodynamic. The move at the end of middle school certianly didn't help plus she sort of wanted to have the luxury of eating whatever the heck she wanted.

"Anyway, if nothing else running around beating up muggers and drug cartels does keep ones weight down, not that I suspect you'd have any trouble either. You're pretty well built yourself, you play sports? Football perhaps?"

He had a build for something like that, she recognized it because her brother was a linebacker for a short time in High School.

[Sandman XI]

"Football, baseball, basketball," Wesley said with remembrance, "In high school, you name it I played it." The memories turned sour again as he was reminded why he didn't play them anymore. "Yeah, just enough to keep up." He shook his head, trying to hide the glum look with a smile. "It's been a few years, but i still keep up." Clearing his throat, "But yeah, the life of a hero keeps me busy enough with the workout. Not to mention I play some pick up games and go to the gym every once in a while. Being a shapeshifter I have to watch what's real and what's not very carefully." He wasn't trying to sound like he was impressing her with anything. At least he hoped it didn't sound like he was bragging or anything.

[Aoiroo]

She might of picked up the glum but it was only there for a second after he cleared his throat. It made sense, plus she was sure being a shapeshifter helped.

"I haven't been to the gym in a while but I do have a pull up bar at my place. Otherwise it's just me being on the streets that's kept me in as good condition as I am. My power doesn't exactly help out with much, though I never get locked out of anywhere anymore."

Unless it was like air tight, but that was generally impractical especially because that usually meant they needed vents.

[Sandman XI]

Did she have more powers than he knew? Was her turning invisible not what it seemed? Wesley felt like one of those Twenty Questions magazines for superheroes. Unless she wanted to talk about it more in depth, it felt like he was a prying fanboy. "That's cool," he smiled, "maybe we can show each other what we can do later on?" He began to fly closer to into Greenbank's street level. "Any place in particular that we're aiming for," he whispered, "or are we just looking for signs of life?"

[Aoiroo]

"I've got a pretty good idea about what you can do, not every day I see someone turn into a dragon, a swarm of roaches and a bear. Not to mention that little shop you ha..."

She turned her head away and coughed a little bit. She wasn't supposed to know about the shop, though maybe she could write it off as doing research. But a change in subject might work. Glancing down,

"Looking for signs of life is rather effient way to do things. If you find a gathering of three or more people we should check it out because of the high possibility of drug deals in the general area. Though it means we might also find hobos too."

[Sandman XI]

Indeed, they did find a lot of hobos. Luckily for him and her, Wesley took another hit and no one could see or hear them. Unless they were super hobos. Then again, who knows in this city. Super hobos or not, they flew around invisible and soundless to all but each other. They were warm and flying also. It was almost dreamlike. He expected to wake up anytime. Wesley didn't want to pry into her personal life too much, but small talk was running out! He sighed calmly, "I guess it's a good thing that we're not finding the bad guys out here tonight. No bad guys, no crime. Right?"

[Aoiroo]

"Well generally that's how it works."

It was rather pleasant just flying, they hadn't really found any trouble. It was rather shocking but she supposed a quiet night happened every once in a while, though it was almost never the case with her. Given, if you look hard enough you can always find what your looking for, even if you have to make it up. Probably one of the reasons she was still single, she had never bothered to actively look. It never seemed high on her priority list honestly, and she probably wouldn't of even thought about it if she hadn't been carried over the city by a nice looking guy with a pair of fluffy looking wings for what felt like forty minutes. In fact she almost confirmed that when she tried moving her legs,

"We might want to try searching on foot. It's more thorough, plus I think my legs have fallen asleep."

[Sandman XI]

"Yeah, this flying is for the birds," Wesley chuckled. He flew down to the ground and sat her on her feet, making sure to hold on to her so she wouldn't fall. As he was helping her his back swallowed the wings and they were now visible to other people besides each other. Not that anyone else was around. Though the warmth still stayed. Poor girl, he could probably fix that circulation problem. Though it would probably was something he shouldn't do without her knowing. And he didn't want to start the first date with 'You have bad blood circulation, want me to fix it?' He let her stretch her legs a bit while subtly helping to speed up the process. "Alright," he looked around, eyes glowing. "Nothing so far. Though That in itself could mean something."

[Aoiroo]

Turning her ankle and otherwise stretching out her limbs proved rather painful as pins and needles set in. Still the pain seemed to fade pretty quickly as the circulation set into a normal rhythem. Glancing at Wesley she said,

"Probably, villians take holidays too after all and it's a bit chilly so not many would want to be out. Not that it's a problem anywhere around you."

GM

It wasn't very far away, but someone was watching. It had been awhile since they had been driven away from the more scenic areas of the city to see some of the more young and healthy people in the area. It would serve to be a lot more pleasant a hunt then the local homeless.

[Sandman XI]

Wesley chuckled at the compliment. "Sure, villain holiday," he shook his head with a smile, "I'm sure there's some villain union out there somewhere where they give them nice little perks." He looked around again, 'seeing' nothing. He sighed, "We can search around here for a bit." The was a pause for a moment as he looked to Silhouette. "So, do you come out here often? I mean is this your area, besides the Fens?"

[Aoiroo]

"I wouldn't be surprised, at the very least they have to have some sort of villianous hierarchy. Well at least that's how it is in the drug market. Little fish have to appease the bigger fish, be it the supplier, or the mob. Not that I can go very far up the ladder myself."

Leaning back she went a little further then most people did, in fact she didn't stop until her hands was touching the ground behind her and she then pushed up until she was in a solid hand stand,

"Fens is my general area because of that, the big fish just send out dealers because the cheap housing attracts a badder crowd. Plus it's close to the theatre district, and a lot of artists are a lot more open to experimentation in every sense of the word. Though I honestly think some of them would benefit from some actual labwork instead of the try and see method. Ever seperated zoom out on a chemical level, nasty stuff."

Taking a breath she pushed off her handstand into some backwards springs, making about three total until she landed on her feet with her hands in the air,

"And she sticks the landing."

She was laughing lightly, partly remember her nostalgia, and partly because she felt like it, but it was cut off as a shadow slashed her at her exposed back.

GM

He had waited for a moment of distraction, and it had come easily. Now the female was down, it was only a matter of getting away and finally getting a meal that wasn't as smelly nor mal nurished as the homeless of the area.

[Sandman XI]

Wesley listened to Silhouette, it was quite interesting to hear stories about superheroes. He grew up reading about the Freedom League. His favorite was Doc Metropolis. He was the entire city. Nothing could beat him, else Freedom would die! That and it was really trippy and eye opening what the comic talked about. After you read the top dog, it sorta puts everything into perspective. What everyone is fighting for: Freedom. Wesley slow clapped with a smirk as Silhouette did her handstand. "Believe it or not, there's a lot of cool people from the Theatre District. I sorta hang around there a bit myself," he said semi-lying. Some of the newer 'theatre kids' loved to get art done. Almost any kind of art. They gave him a lot of business. Wesley cheered as Silhouette stuck the landing. Though the praise was short lived as something came from out of nowhere... and it was undead. "Always with you people," Wesley growled, "Can't you leave well enough alone?!" Centralizing his energy, he was about to give this undead thing the surprise of it's unlife

[Aoiroo]

GM

The vampire didn't hesitate to snatch up Silhouette's unconcious form, he didn't even bother to turn to Wesley,

"What is well enough? I have not had a half decent meal in months being force to feed out here on the half starved dwellers of this urban wasteland."

He looked around quietly as several of the homeless started to appear out of the shadows,

"They are useful however as a distraction. GET HIM!"

About a dozen thralls ran out of the shadows blocking the path as the vamp started to make off into the night.

[Sandman XI]

A bright red light filled the area. Wesley was pushing every bit of energy he could to touch every thing that was moving hostilely towards him. after the red light faded, there was no more Knight. There was a very large and pissed off man with feral claws and massive leathery wings. It flew like a bat out of hell towards Silhouette and the undead thing trying to catch up!

[Aoiroo]

GM

The thralls all fell as the light faded completely knocked out on the cold ground. The vampire caught the light out of the corner of his eye, and turned fully to see the demon rise from it. A full freak out wasn't in order but it quickly disappeared into the shadows so that it may escape with it's prey. If it didn't do it quickly enough there was no doubt it would be overrun.

[Sandman XI]

The vampire was in for a rude awakening as it tried to pull off a distraction technique. Wesley almost fell for it, though he snapped back and saw through the vampire's deceit. This was not the vampires night. In fact it would be it's last night. Wesley reached down a massive hand and grabbed the vampire by it's neck and lifted it up. He took Silhouette from it's hands. The vampire did not need to breathe, no, but it sure as hell needed a head. Wesley found a dark alley, a place where no one was. There was guttural growling and screams of horror. Then there was silence. Only one man walked out of the shadow, it was Wesley. His demonic form gone, he rushed to Silhouette. He looked upon her limp form. Looking at her back he saw gashes, deep ones. And something familiar. Something he'd seen about a month ago. Carrie's tattoo. In the exact same place it was. He didn't know what to think. First there would be healing, later there would be talking. He touched the deep gashes on her back and focused all of his energy. They both glowed a lilac color, the scent was lilac too. Wounds closed up left and right on the girl. until there were none at all. Now he had to wait until she was conscious. Taking wings and warming up he took her to a roof and took vigil over her until she was awake.

[Aoiroo]

There wasn't much Silhouette could of known as she was coming too. Conciousness was wavering, there was no pain like she expected there to be even though she didn't know what, she knew something had hit her and it had hurt before she blacked out. However, there was no pain, there was no attacker, all there was was warmth and the feeling of someone holding her like the whole incident had been a dream, though not very pleasant she was less then ancious to try and pull herself back into conciousness so that maybe she could continue dreaming. However, getting a good look at the worried expression on her holders face gave her a reason to start moving again.

Leaning forward, she took a few seconds to shake away some slight dizziness from her head,

"Hey, did you get the plates on whatever it was that hit me?"