sixwordstories | (no subject)

He'd been sent to the set of office buildings to retrieve something for his contractor. He refused to call the human a 'boss' in any sense of the word. He worked for him when he felt like it and when it benefited him. That was all.

On his way to the entrance he spots a female that perks his interest. She didn't notice him ... at first. Him noticing someone was in itself strange but her sensing him? This didn't happen. With humans.

He moved swiftly to position himself where she could spot him if she knew how to look, wanting to test if this was some delusion he'd created based on his isolation these past years or if he was losing his touch to stay hidden.

She hated taking orders from that 'man', but they needed the money and he paid really well for her services. Filing, going for this or that, making sure all his appointments were in order. Not to mention letting him ogle her in her tight outfits she realized she needed to wear when he showed no interest during her first interview. She had left, changed and returned strategically placing herself where he would run into her. She was hired five minuets later.

She had no idea what she was doing, but like any dragon...Tatsya excluded, she was a fast learner and picked up the routine quickly and made herself invaluable.

Tanis had worked late that night readying the boss for a big meeting the next morning. She waved at the security guard as she left to walk home. She was barely down the block when she felt a familiar, but different tingle crawl up her back. Her eyes changed so she could see in the dark better and she searched the surrounding area, but saw nothing.

She didn't see him. The disappointment was more then he found acceptable and he wanted to stalk over and growl in her face for causing it. As he turned to go she moved her head and her eyes flashed in a familiar way. Reflectors. Predator's eyes. She truly wasn't human.

He walked closer, inhaling deeply to catch her scent over the car exhaust and garbage. The undertone of reptile and power struck him by surprise so completely that the shadows around him dropped.

"You ... you're ... I can't believe it."

She further she walked the slower her steps became. All her senses were telling her she was being followed, but not even her dragon eyes could see anything.

She rounded on the stranger the moment the first word was out of his mouth, flying a kick at him with her deceivingly strong leg as a primal growl emits from her chest. Not good to startle a dragon when she's on edge.

His shocked reaction to her made him slow and the kicks connects strongly in his middle, knocking him backward. His first instinct is to retaliate, to incapacitate her with darkness but she's the first of his kind that he's made contact with in so long.

He didn't want to make an enemy so quickly so he retreats into the dark of the alley, half in the light half out. "Startling you was not my intention."

Tanis finally picked up his familiar sent of Dragon, but that can't be. She and Tats were the only ones of their kind in the area, that she was sure of. She didn't know him and that confused her.

She carefully approached him, but didn't show him any fear. "Who are you?" She kept eye contact with the stranger.

He kept still as she approached, not wanting any movements to appear threatening. He kept eye contact with her though he wanted to look her over in with more attention.

"Erykai Khashyk of Welun Arux. And you?"

Her hand flew to her mouth when she head the name of the place he was from. No wonder she didn't know him that village was located so far away from the great city that it's only mentioned in tall tales. She regain her composure.

"Tanis Xarzith of Versel Iri." She bowed her head in greeting never losing eye contact.

He frowns some at her initial reaction though he knows he shouldn't be offended. The ones who took him in like to do things their own way and kept themselves apart from the city.

He returned the head bow, murmuring the polite greeting that he'd been taught before frowning thoughtfully. "What's one from the City doing in Seattle of all places?"

She wasn't sure if she should let everything out to a stranger, but he must be here for the same reason as she was. What other reason would there be?

Tanis pushed her hair from her face and tucked it behind her hair.

"I'm on the oskatern geth. Isn't that why your here?" Though he looks a bit old to be on the Maturity quest, but everyone is different so she doesn't judge.

He thinks about that. "I should have known. I had forgotten about that. I never went on mine."

He wondered what that said about him and his mentor that he'd been kept from that particular trial. Maybe this banishment was his but he didn't think so. He'd been dumped with no contact and no means of survival except what he could scrounge up.

He didn't know if he wanted to divulge his banishment either. He didn't want her to reject him just yet so he stood there awkward and silent.

Again the stranger shocked her and her eyes showed a bit of shock. "Y...you didn't... but it's a rite of passage. It's to show the Elders that your ready to take on more responsibilities in the community."

Her head tilted curiously. "Then, why are you here?"

He frowned and let out a long frustrated breath, running a hand through his hair. "I suppose I should have said that I am formerly of the Valley. I have been left in this city on my own."

He growled low and held his wrist into the light, showing her the faded blue rune marks on his wrist that had appeared a couple years ago. "I am ... cursed."

Tanis' lips parted slightly as his dark hair fell back into place after his hand combed through it. She was jerked back at his low growl and took his arm into her cool hands to get a better look. She ghosted her fingers over the mark.

"Oh, my." There was a combination of fear and pitty on her face as she tried to wrap her brain round this.

He had to consciously resist his instinctual urge to pull his hand away. Touch was an unusual occurrence for him and it felt almost awkward. At the same time he wanted her hand to linger, he wanted to twine his fingers with hers and hold on.

He dropped his hand away at the look on her face, his gaze going to stare at a point just beyond her. It was a way of turning his attention from her without dropping his gaze. Submissive was something he refused to be.

"I didn't break any of the commandments if that's what you're thinking."

"Then why do you have it?" She frowned as he dropped his hand, knowing that her reaction upset him. "I'm sorry. It's just that I've never met one of you before. I only know from what our elders taught us."

He huffed moving a step away, glaring into the dark around the buildings. "I imagine they taught you as they taught those in the Valley. That Shadow clan are all secretive and wicked and can't possibly be trusted."

He looked down at his marks, his fingers curling into a fist. "The Elders didn't like how I defended myself."