From: just_jones	Date: 08/10/2007 23:10:07

That... wasn't wet bark.

Jones tugged back at the beast holding his arm. Sure, he looked enough like wood - an effect of so much time in the Plane of Earth - but this was ridiculous. And hells damn the door to the city of Moana to be inside the bloody river.

Thankfully the river wasn't very deep here. So once the door had shut behind Jones, he was able to get to his feet. Seven feet of height was useful, especially in a six foot depth. His head emerged over the crest of the water, and he pulled his arm from the dog's jaws.

"Ach! Go find somethin' else t' chew on!" he said, using a canine tongue that the beast ought to understand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure, and was about to duck back under the water when he saw... wings.

Jones paused, blinking, water dripping from his horns and hair.

	From: demonicdesires	Date: 08/10/2007 23:25:07

After shaking her head, Bethany looked back down to the mud that she was half-heartedly toying with. She stabbed the stick further into the mud before she even heard the noise in the river.

Looking up, at first she just...Stared. Shahrivar, upon hearing those words and having his "toy" taken away gave a couple of growling barks in reply before returning to the shore. He immediately began to shake the water off of his body, getting said water all over Bethany, but...

She just blinked slowly at the creature in the water. Bethany sensed something familiar about the creature, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. So, instead of opening her mouth to say anything, she just stared at it with big, pale blue eyes.

After a moment her wings shifted and vanished again, and she remained where she was -- sitting with her feet out in front of her and a very wet, slightly unhappy hellhound at her right side.

	From: just_jones	Date: 08/10/2007 23:45:45

Jones put up a hand, stepping closer to the shore as her wings vanished. "No, wait--"

Then he paused. Maybe that wasn't the best way to go about things. He was still... dripping wet and coming out of a river. "Err. Right, then." A few steps brought him to the shore, and Jones took a moment to shake himself off the best he could. Then he bowed, elegantly as his body could manage.

"Sorry if I startled ye," he said, that strange accent lingering on his words. "Not me best entrance, but I didnae have time t' prepare, now. My name is Jones. An', if I may, those wings were quite lovely, miss."

	From: demonicdesires	Date: 08/11/2007 00:02:18

Bethany folded her feet back towards her body as the creature started to talk, but she still just stared wide-eyed at him, only ever blinking slowly, with long pauses between blinks.

Shahrivar seemed none to happy that his "toy" that didn't want to be played with was talking to Bethany, and he gently tugged on the long sleeve of her dress. She ignored her dog for the time being and tilted her head just slightly when the creature bowed.

For a long moment she didn't speak. She was trying to figure out just what the sensation she's feeling is. "My hound was chewing on you," she finally spoke the obvious, and her eyebrows arched into her bangs. Her lashes fluttered just slightly, and Bethany finally stood.

"I'm Bethany," she offered the tiniest of smiles. "My wings?" Her eyebrows twitched at that as well, and her eyes shifted down to Sha-Sha, who flopped onto his backside beside her. "Thank you..." She finally offered as she looked back up to Jones. No one had ever really complimented her wings before. "They're kind of useless," she added a moment later and looked down as she allowed her wings to come into view once more. She stretched them out to full length and width, which would nearly make her appearance double in size from the leathery wings alone.

She tilted her eyes back up to look at him with a curious eye. "Where did you come from?" She motioned towards the river with her muddy stick.

	From: just_jones	Date: 08/11/2007 00:19:47

Jones looked at the hound. "Aye. Thought I was a twig." The faun flexed his arm where the dog had bitten. "Good teeth on 'im." He gave the hound another look, then turned his attention back to the girl.

"Well, me horns are what'd be called 'useless', but I reckon me head'd look a bit thin without 'em." He smiled as she spread the wings out. "Lovely." And definitely something other-worldly. It was nice to know he wasn't alone in his heritage.

At her question, Jones blinked, then looked back at the river. "Oh!" he said, scratching at the back of his head. "Just a bit o'... deep sea exploration." It was true, even if he had ended up in a river. And even if she was kin, the blood that called to his wasn't the sort that could be trusted. "Bit o' a hobby."

He nodded toward the hound. "Who's this, then?"

	From: demonicdesires	Date: 08/11/2007 00:28:38

"Sorry about that," Bethany mumbled as she looked down at Sha-Sha again who basically gave her a "what? I'm a hound" sort of look. Her mouth twisted slightly as she looked back to Jones and rested her head on her hound's head. "He eats a lot of bones."

Again she tilt her head slightly and peered up at his horns to try to picture him without them. Of course, he was right -- he would look a bit odd without them. Her wings settled once more, folding down and back so they weren't so "out there." She gave another faint smile. "Thanks. I don't generally leave them out, but...I thought I was alone."

Her mouth pursed just slightly at his words, though she wouldn't question him further about the river. It wasn't really her business, after all.

Her eyes shifted to Sha-Sha and she gave a little smile. "His name is Shahrivar." Sha-Sha gave a mighty bark then, as if to "prove" himself to Jones. He started to inch forward, probably intent on trying to gnaw on Jones again, but Bethany tugged him back gently. "What are you?" She finally just asked, the familiar sensation growing rather annoying since he didn't look like anyone she had ever met before.

	From: just_jones	Date: 08/11/2007 00:42:07

"Bones, eh?" he said, and looked at the hound. "I've got bones in here," he said to the hound, speaking in an abyssal language the hell hound should have no trouble understanding. "But they're under me skin. And not for munching on." He wagged a long finger at the hound. "So dun be tryin', ye hear?"

He'd have to keep an eye on that pooch. If he wanted to keep his skin intact.

"Sorry 'bout that," he added, to her wanting to be alone. "I didnae know anyone was about meself."

The last question was what provoked a smile. "Me? Well, I'm a bit like ye. Only me other half be faun, not human."

	From: demonicdesires	Date: 08/11/2007 00:58:48

She nodded at the question, and Sha-Sha stared up at Jones while he talked. The hound growled a bit before he laid down at Bethany's feet, apparently taking heed to whatever it was that Jones had said to him.

Bethany tilted her head when he talked to her again, and she gave a soft shrug. "No reason to be sorry." She finally dropped her mud-covered stick to the ground and tucked her hands behind her back.

His answer to her question made her large eyes go even wider. "You're a half-demon?" She whispered the words and practically gawked. Finally she covered her mouth and cleared her throat, realizing that she was completely over-reacting. "I've never met anyone like me before," she admitted softly.

	From: just_jones	Date: 08/11/2007 01:05:42

Jones lifted a finger to his lips. "Hush, now," he said. "There don't be many people in this world who appreciate tha' bit o' intel. I fancy that's why ye hide those wings o' yours, eh?"

But he was still grinning. "I am, that. An' in Aylasia? Ohhh... ain't many of us. Not really sure what th' number stands at. 'ow long ye known?" Hopefully it was all her life. Otherwise the wings might have been quite a shock.

	From: demonicdesires	Date: 08/11/2007 01:29:33

Bethany bit her lower lip as she stared up at him with her sky-like eyes. She paused and almost looked hurt for a brief moment, but she lowered her eyes and nodded. That would work as an answer. "I don't think the other students would like me showing them off," she half-heartedly explained. Even though it wasn't the full story.

Looking up at him again, her eyebrows twisted together. "Since I was little," she answered honestly, and twisted the sleeves of her dress down around her hands. "It was kind of obvious when I was a little girl." She gave a slight half-smile then and motioned back to her wings once more.

	From: just_jones	Date: 08/11/2007 02:29:39

Jones walked closer, and took a seat, just a foot beside her. "Different from birth. But me ma, she kept me wit' her anyway. Said it's be better t' know my world b'fore knowin da's. That be... " Jones furrowed his brow. "A long time ago."

	From: demonicdesires	Date: 08/11/2007 02:37:02

When he moved to sit Sha-Sha moved a little further away before Bethany sat back down on the ground as well. She wrapped her arms around her knees and nodded while Jones talked. "I never knew my mother," the words spilled out before she could stop them, and once they came out her eyes went wide as her nose curled a bit. Why did I just say that? Her eyes searched the ground between them for the answer, but she found none.

Swallowing thickly, Bethany pursed her lips just slightly before she looked to Jones again. "Did you know your father?" Her eyebrows twisted in just slightly and she pulled her lips in between her teeth so that she wouldn't let out the flood of questions that were trying to form at her lips.

	From: just_jones	Date: 08/11/2007 12:12:05

Jones frowned a bit. "I'm sorry t' hear tha'." Gently, taking care not to let his nail harm her, the faun patted her hand briefly.

"Me mum left me after a few years. Said I weren't worth 'er time. But I lived with a mountain fer a while, an' tha' was much better, methinks. I was already grown when I met me da." The faun chuckled. "I was taller'n 'im. But I'm taller'n most, so jes as well."

He tilted his head to her, hoping that he wasn't frightening her. It was nice that she was also half-demon, but similar blood didn't mean immediate friendship. No matter how much he might hope for it. "An' ye? What's a lovely girl like ye doin' here on 'er own?"

	From: demonicdesires	Date: 08/11/2007 13:41:09

Bethany remained perfectly still when Jones reached for her, her eyes followed the path of his hand or maybe she was staring at his nails, before she looked up to him again. "There's nothing to be sorry about," she replied quickly, still feeling rather foolish for having said anything at all.

As he talked she remained quiet, leaving her eyes on him and when he spoke of meeting his father certain jealousy ached through her chest. She squinted slightly before sharply turning her attention to the river again. For a moment her jaw tightened, but she took a breath and let it out slowly. "You lived with a mountain?" She'd never heard it put that way before.

Bethany rolled her eyes to look at him again, and for a moment she stares, simply looking over his features as her wings twitch just slightly. "I go to school at the academy," she answered and pointed off towards where the school would rest. "I live in Salem, grew up here..." She mumbled the last part as she bobbed her feet a little. "I don't really have any family left," she shrugged. Sure, her aunt is still around, but it's not like Bethany would ever go out of her way to see or talk to that crazy woman.

	From: just_jones	Date: 08/18/2007 02:03:49

Jones slowly withdrew his hand. He'd noticed how she'd watched, and thought that perhaps she wasn't ready for contact from him. So he kept his hands to himself and spoke instead.

"Aye. She watched over me, ye could say. Not hard t' talk t' a mountain, they jes' be talkin' a lot slower den we used t' hearin'." He smiled a bit at the memory. "Did more lookin' after den me own mum."

He glanced in the way she pointed, nodding. "Ach. I been dere once 'r twice." Another time he could tell her of his exploits in the dormitories, but now didn't seem quite appropriate.

And to her softer comment, he added, in a low voice himself, "Yer family... t'aint always th' one yer born int'. Maybe ye jes ain't found 'em yet."

	From: demonicdesires	Date: 08/18/2007 13:37:08

To put it simply, Bethany wasn't used to being touched. At all. Which is why she watched him and didn't move. It wasn't really anything against him personally. She would have stared at anyone who went to touch her.

Her eyes lifted to his face as he spoke about the mountain. "Do you miss her?" She was slightly curious, of course. "Do you ever go to see her any more?"

"It's alright," she gave a shrug and pet over Sha-Sha's head as he settled in for a nap beside her. Still, she gave a bit of a smile. "It won't be long before I'm done."

His next words drew her attention back to him and away from her hound. For a moment or two she just sort of blinked at him. Finally a slight smile came to her mouth and she gave a nod. "I can see how that'd possibly work." She didn't really have friends at school, so no one really came jumping to mind just yet. "I don't mind it," her eyes shifted to the river. "I mean, being alone. I don't mind being alone." She shrugged softly then, but fell quiet because she wasn't exactly sure if she was sounding convincing or not.

	From: just_jones	Date: 08/22/2007 09:32:44

Jones chuckled. "A bit, here an' there. I do go by now an' again t' check up on 'er, see how she be. But mountains ain't be changin' much, not t' our eyes."

He hadn't been that way in a while, though. Not since that messy breakup with the stonechild. Silicon brains rarely forgot.

She didn't sound very convincing when she said she didn't mind being alone, but that wasn't something Jones felt he could draw attention to at this point. They weren't so familiar yet. "Well," he said. "If ye ever find yer way t' New Meridian, an' yer feelin' th' want t' nay be alone, ye kin look me up. Any pub, they know where I be."

	From: demonicdesires	Date: 08/22/2007 11:30:47

Bethany nodded, even though she'd never thought much about talking to mountains. "I always figured that no one really changes that much...Relatively speaking, of course." She shrugged. "Maybe outwardly, sure. But inside..." She shook her head just a bit.

Her eyes shifted back to Jones and she looked him over for a good moment or two while he talked. "I'll keep that in mind, Jones." She nodded lightly, and finally folded her wings in to make them disappear again. "I should get back. I haven't fed Sha-Sha here yet...But, it was nice meeting you." She moved to her feet and dropped the stick she was toying with.

	From: just_jones	Date: 08/22/2007 15:07:36

Jones frowned lightly as her wings vanished, but he understood the reason for it. Nowadays it didn't matter much to him, but he could recall in his youth, wishing that he looked like others so that he could just fit in.

Part of him was glad that she could. The other part was sore that she felt she had to.

"Lovely t' meet ya, Bethany," he said, rising to his feet and bending in an informal but yet exquisite bow that belied his seeming clumsiness. "I do so hope t' be seein' ye again."