Blowing off some steam... (PRIVATE: Anime)

Salone took the towel back with out saying anything. She flashed him a small smile and then continued to put the towel away into the bag. She was about to speak when she was distracted. She put a hand on Hound's shoulder and looked around the front of her. She somewhat resembled a kitten peeping around a corner. She bit her lip and moved forward. Hound trailing behind her.
"It sounds awful big," The creature said.
"Aye," She replied. She walked in silence for the next five minutes. That is when the stench hit.
Something... rotting....
Then she stopped a few feet away from the corpse of a mountain lion. It stunk to Hades and back but Salone didn't seem to smell anything.
She looked at it and blinked.
"That cougar is going to stink up the whole camp," She said. Then she waved her hand in front of her face. The dead animal began to move. It rose to it's feet and empty sockets stared blankly back at her. It's face was half gone and was mainly composed of rotted flesh.
"Get out of here."She said. Then the dead cougar loped away towards the borders of the camp. Then she doubled over breathing hard like she had run a marathon...

Salone realized with a start, she had started crying. She rubbed her eyes and took a shaky breath, tears still coursing down her face. She, heavyhearted, tried to push Riley away.
"I'm going to get you wet," she said wiping her cheeks. "I can hear them... the dead... It's so hard... she died protecting her cub... and in the end she failed... " for each gap in her sentence there was a body wracking sob. Hound watched on with pity.
"Little one," she said softly.

Salone buried her head in his chest and took a while to respond,
"Yes... anything that has once lived... and died... Its awful... " She hiccuped herself into silence. She took a few moments breathing in the smell of Riley before looking up. "That is why I avoid the funeral pyre... I didn't go to my mom's funeral... or grandpa's..."

Salone suddenly realized her close proximity to Riley and she quickly disentangled herself.
"Yeah well one gets used to it... until it comes back and hits you in the face." She shook her head in disgust. "There have been worse ones..." she shuddered and leaned against hound. Her eyes watched Riley... they seemed dark and calculating. There was a side to her that always seemed to get in the way of her getting close to anyone particular person. Almost like a solid wall of ice...

Salone was a difficult person to understand. Her constant changing moods made sure of that. She let loose a bitter laugh, "last time I let someone help I got these. I saw someone die..."
Salone touched her face softly running a finger over her scars. Her amber brown eyes fixed on him. "But I don't want you to leave either. "
she said that last bit rather softly. She needed a friend. Salone wasn't a social butterfly.... she was a lurker... someone who nobody could put a name to, besides 'the girl with the freaky scars'. If he could turn into something more... great...

Salone closed her eyes at his touch... it felt so.... nice.
"Though I know from experience that you can defend yourself pretty well," he had said.
"You don't realize the truth of your words. You know that Disney movie Ratatouille?" She opened her eyes. "There a multiple ways to kill a man with a thumb and I know all of them," She said this without flinching. Her heart was pounding in her chest at how close he was. Hound wasn't going to move at all.

"I met a mortal- or who I thought was a mortal. He called himself Ian, but now he goes by a different name. He was intelligent, funny, ... cute..., he didn't treat me like the other kids did. ... one day his pet cat died. I told him what I could do. I felt so bad for him and gave him a last hour with his cat. His dad found us in the backyard. He hit me, called me foul names. I ran away from my home that night. Mom wouldn't care, she hated me. Hound took me to say goodbye to him. But he wanted to come with me. I didn't have the courage to break his heart. He came and he helped me with my powers. They had just showed up and were very strong... dangerous even. At one point we had reached Arizona, there was this creature. It looked like it ripped Ian in half. I ran. " She took a deep breath, "Then about a year and a half ago, I saw him sitting at the Egyptian table. Perfectly whole and fine. I left. But he had seen me. He cornered me... attacked me... claiming I had abandoned him to die in the desert. Fabian Black, son of Bast, sliced open my face with retractable claws. I barely escaped with my life."
She sat there her eyes down at the ground. A bit of her shadowy past had been told... but not all....

She closed her eyes again at his touch. This time he traced the smallest scar and his finger brushed the bottom of her lip. Her heart pounded harder even in her chest, so loud she was sure Riley could hear it. Or at least see her pulse fluttering in her neck. Why did he affect her like this? Eli hadn't... nor Ian...
"Thanks for listening," she answered, looking up at him. Sweet Isis he was tall. "Not a lot of people take the time."

"You're beautiful," Riley whispered, his thumb still touching the spot where her scar met the curve of her lip.
Salone felt her blood boil at his touch... her stomach was flipping over and over hundreds of miles a minute. She felt rooted to the spot, unable to move.
"Did you just say that?" Her voice was filled with awe. It was hard to believe his mouth was mere inches from hers.

Several different scenarios ran through Salone's brain. One of the one's at the top of her list was to grab Riley by the front of his shirt, tell him what an idiot he was, then kiss him. But Salone didn't chose that one. She stuffed her hands in her jean pockets and forced a smile. It was fake but Salone was a very good faker.. a lier even.
"It's fine. It just meant allot to me in the way, " and near kissing position, she added silently, "you said it. I don't hear it at all."
She had been wounded and it hurt. A girl knows when to retreat.

Salone felt her heart sink to her toes. She wanted... she sighed an inward sigh...
"If you feel your up for it," She smiled again. It felt fake and plastic... If... had a lot of meanings... if he had kissed her.... if... if... if...
She wanted to go bang her head against a tree. She felt unbalanced...
"Do you wanna go for another ride?" She motioned to Hound.

"Your driving," she patted Hound. She offered him a leg up with her best poker face in place. She didn't give him much of an option in the matter. She didn't want to feel him pressed up against her back... She might do something stupid...
After she was seated behind him she said in his ear, "We can go anywhere on this Continent with her. You chose were to go, you just have to ask."
She was leaning against his back with her arms wrapped around his stomach.

At the words West and Coast, Hound jumped forward and the world became a blur around them. The wind whistled and howled like they were in the center of a tornado. Then everything stopped moving and the adrenalin rush of moving so fast was gone.
They were in California... better yet Salone's old neighborhood.
"Oh my," she said a little out of breath. The houses looked run down, with chipped white paint and cracked windows.
"I think you should have been a little more directional... we are in my old neighborhood..." She seemed nervous.

((Riley's second chance is coming up ))

Salone didn't seem to hear him, "I wonder..."
She slipped of Hound, her fingers slipping out of Riley's. She looked across the street for cars then she ran towards a house. She stopped on the house's front step and pushed the slightly crooked door open.
She turned back to Riley and motioned to him.
She stepped inside and looked around, the house had been clearly pillaged. Many of the main appliances gone. But Salone didn't waste time in here she hurried up the stairs off to her left. She stopped at a door, when she tried the handle it was locked.
She swore under her breath taking off her shoe. Out of the heal she pulled out a few wires and a funny looking tool. Thus, she began to pick the lock. After about five minutes the lock clicked and the door swung open. She replaced all of her tools and her shoe. And pushed it open. Everything was covered in a fine layer of dust. The bed, dresser, and night stand.
"wow..."