Howl discussion

Fiery red hair pulled back into a high ponytail under the hood of her black jacket, Carmine slipped her hands into the pockets of her oversized zip-up. She was, as per usual, ducked down slightly, eyes cast downward. The very opposite of confrontational, posture anything but challenging. She'd gotten used to walking around like this, the personification of slipping by, unnoticed and unseen. It was the way she preferred to stay, in all honesty. It was her safe zone, being the fly on the wall no one noticed unless her scent gave her away. Cue why she tried to keep herself all but bathed in perfume, even using shower gel that smelled rather strong. Even if it wouldn't trick another wolf for long periods of time, it had sustained her quite a few times.

Long enough to squeeze by before anyone noticed there was something underneath the surface of the layer of perfume, something not quite right.

Everyone knew the rogues were seen as enemy number one, even a rogue herself. So she'd gotten used to being cautious, to the point where it could nearly be considered paranoia. But the Farris Wheel lights combined with the dying sun had been enough to lull her into an almost calm state, enough so that she'd been so unguarded as to slip her generic white headphones into her ears. The music instantly dulled her hearing, blasting out her ability to depend on that sense. And you can hear me, when I sing softly, slowly- Hold me closer, tiny dancer. Count the headlights on the highway. The song was enough to tilt her lips upward into a gentle smile, briefly taking her back to the days with her family. The memories made her vision blur, screwing up another one of her valuable senses, and, distracted, she bumped into a broad shoulder, instinctively wincing. Shit. Clearly, she'd let herself get too distracted. "Sorry." The word was a soft murmur, half growled under her breath.

He wouldn't admit it, but rider loved carnivals, they were fun and gave off energy, but he couldn't seem o get any in him, the effects of taking away sadness, "okay renita, find somewhere to eat." Rider said, his mind felt foggy

During the ten minute walk there, Renita swapped her skates for her black converse. Her skates were safely tucked away in her backpack, although now it added an extra two pounds and made Renita look tiny compared to before. At the command, she had no problem using her nose to sniff out the menagerie of food. Classifying each scent that came to her, Renita narrowed her sights down on a specific hot dog stand. With no problem she weaved her way in and out of the crowd, disappearing out of sight for a few seconds. Being small had its advantages.

Rider followed renita around, when they came upon a hot dog stand, "can I have three hotdogs, a soft pretzel, a lemonade, and a cotton candy please." Rider asked the girl at the stand who nodded "get what you want," he said to renita.

Renita didn't even blink at the amount of food Rider over. Shoot, that was just a decent meal for a male werewolf. From a werewolve' s appetite, it isn't surprising they hold a few records in the food world, pasta however seemed to be the one thing they could never conquer. "Just two naked dogs and a Coke icee please." The poor girl preparing the food seemed flustered at the amount of food for just two people.

With a weird look from the girl she gave them their food, and rider payed for it and lead renita to a table, and started eating, rider didnt think twice about his appetite, it was normal for him

Before they had reached the table Renita had already scarfed down her first hot dog. "Told you to wait. These are good dogs." This time, she took her time with each bite, savoring the flavor in her mouth. All too soon it was gone, leaving a disappointed Renita with an icee. Oh well, there's diner. Picking up her drink, she took a large sip from it. After a satisfied sighed, her eyes widened an her hand went up to her forehead. "Aahh, brain freeze!" For a few seconds her face scrunched up with the chilling sensation.

Rider laughed at renita, he ate his three hit dogs and the pretzel, and the girl was starring is utter disbelief, "would you like some cotton candy?" He asked renita, after sipping his lemonade he took a handful of cotton candy and gingerly placed it on his tongue, he offered some to renita to help her brain freeze.

Having recovered some from her brain freeze, Renita opened her eyes to see a pink fluff held in front of her. Cotton candy? Never before had she tasted this alien looking cloud, but with the offering from Rider and her own curiosity, she tore off a bit of the snack. With an odd look, she slid it into her mouth, a millisecond later, she recoiled at the odd texture, yet she kept chewing. Why did people like this stuff? She felt like she was eating a bush.

Rider laughed a little at her expression, "you don't like it?" He felt like she was his little sister in a way

Having forcefully swallowed the awful creation, Renita took a desperate gulp of her icee, hoping to wash down the cotton candy flavor. Now she was more fond of a brain freeze than a piece of cotton candy. Letting out a relieved sigh, "If I was a goat then yes."

"I guess its an acquired taste." He smiled finishing his lemonade and the cotton candy, he threw away their trash "now what?"

Still suckling from her drink. Renita began making an annoying sucking sound, indicating that her cup was now empty. With a whine she also tossed it into the trash from her table, an amazing five feet away. "Point! And" Her attention was turned back to Rider, "It's going to take forty-five minutes to an hour for our food to digest, so unless you wanna hurl, I advise that we play a few carnival games."

Rider nodded "fair enough. Lead the way." He said smiling

On the word Renita began twisting her head in all directions, honing in on certain sounds. Balloons popping, screams of terror, and Ewww! Someone just blew up chunks. Grimacing at the amount of stretching heard, she turned her head and did her best to lock away that memory. Bingo! The sounds of pinball reached her ears and she pushed her chair back to stand up. Without hesitation she disappeared into the crowd, leaving Rider to eat her dust. This was going to be one of her relaxing days from her studies and schooling, and Renita meant to take full advantage of it.

Rider almost jumped at her sudden movement, he followed her best that he could, but he got pushed by the crowd, and then he herd a little boy crying, that he lost his mother, rider kent down to where the little boy was, "lets go find your mother." He said comforting, he led the little boy to his mother and then he sniffed for renita

Fully aware of Rider's disappearance but figuring she was mature enough to look after herself, Renita carried on through the crowd. At last she found the arcade, and after having converted a dollar to coins, she inserted a quarter into the Star Wars themed pinball machine she heard earlier. Renita was turning out to be a skilled amateur at the game and was literally jogging in place with excitement. Competition began to grow within her at the thirty year old next to her, whom started his pinball game moments after Renita. The excitement was starting to grow as Renita's eyes were beginning to show flecks of gold. The wolf inside of her was growling at this new challenge.

Rider smelt renita at the arcade, he made his way through the crowd to be sure not to be distant from her for to long, he was out of breath (which was rare for him) when he reached the arcade. He leaned against the machine, and smiled at renita, "just gonna take off huh? Let your competitiveness get the better of you?" He joked with her, she was jogging in place, who did that over a game of pinball? Rider never got this competitive in fact he never really ever got competitive. He then looked over at her opponent and got disgusted at the look he was giving her, "common renita, lets go."

Without even looking up, "Why?" Renita was focused on preventing the ball from falling down the hole, in dire effort efforts she was hunched over the glass. Following the ball with her eyes and tapping at the buttons on the side when needed, Renita was sinking into the world of retro gaming. At Rider's words of warning, she ceased her jogging and took to jiggling a leg in place. The gold in her eyes slowly began to fade back into their original hazel.

Her competitor, the thirty year old man, kept licking his lips as he looked at her, was he a rouge? He smelled like a rouge. Rider tried not to have anything predjudice against rouges, but this one, he did not like the look he was giving renita. Rider let out a breath from his nose, and said under his breath with a warning tone, though he was sure the man could hear anyways "renita, lets go, its time to get you home." He planned on taking her home the long way, and walking her home, so she was sure to stay happy, and he would like to prevent her from skating on hem by herself....great, he thought, now he was starting to act brotherly

At the sudden change in tone, Renita looked up at Rider to see him glancing at the man next to her. With a churning feeling in her stomach she turned her head to see the man indeed was eyeing her, and not in a friendly way. Hating the feeling of being spied on, her eyes flashed back into a golden color and she sent back a glare, "I'm sorry, but if you've hungry there's plenty of stands around. Do buy yourself something." Her words dripping with sarcasm, Renita twirled around and and marched out with her head held high. Behind her she didn't acknowledge the sound of the pinball falling and the flashing screen reading YOU LOST!

Rider followed right behind her. The man grabbed riders wrist and tugged him back, angry that he lost his girl, but rider just shoved him off, and got back into step with her, the man shrugged, and went up to a human women, rider almost threw up, at the thought, but stayed focused on getting renita home. "Are you okay?" He asked, he didnt notice a change of energy, which, was good for both of them, he didnt know how much down poured energy he could take any longer.

Despite the man's "charming" personality, Renita was feeling quite proud of herself. "Off course."

Rider let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and smiled just a slight "okay, lets get you home."

A small whimper escaped Renita at the mention of leaving. She felt as if she just gotten here. The rogue most likely was going to be hanging around, flirting with various females, and she wasn't jumping at the idea of meeting him again. Deciding better of it, Renita nodded and changed course towards the entrance. Did Rider have any sense of direction?

"So where do you live again." Rider asked, he was to drained to really lead anyone anywhere without getting hopelessly lost. He needed to go sleep, the food had just made him feel sick. He just wanted to make sure renita was safe at home, and then go into the forest and go into what would be. A restless sleep

"Rider?" Renita had paused in front of the ill boy, looking back at him with a confused expression. "Gosh, the food wasn't that bad was it?" In Renita's stomach, her lunch had no problem settling in. At the question of her housing, Renita hesitated at her answer. Not many people were bound to say oh, I live in an old wagon I found that's falling apart from the outside in. "Just an ancient trailer I found near the bonfire pit."

Rider faked a believable laugh, "no the food was fine." He smiled at her, and yawned a little, "lead the way to this ancient trailer of yours." He said, starting to walk again

Carnivals, Ryan decided, were a load of crap.

Well ok. They weren't so bad he argued with himself, lightly shrugging his shoulders. In truth it hadn't been his ideal plan to come in the first place, in fact, he had done everything in his willpower not to come. But life was a pain in the arse sometimes. Rosie, his little sister, had begged and pleaded with him to go. Of course, his first answer had been a firm no. But then she had turned on the waterworks and she knew, she knew that he couldn't say no to her when she was crying. Damn sister. He wouldn't have minded, but she was 14 years old for Christs sake. Surely she had friends to go with. But she had insisted that he come along. For what in gods name he didn't know, he never came to events like this. But again, back to the little sister and...Lets just say he was a big old softy when it came to her.

How he had ended up alone was an entirely different story altogether.

He had discovered the irritating way, that apparently Rosie did in fact, have friends, and he had been less than impressed when she had magically returned from the ladies bathroom with 3 other girls in toll. It had been painfully obvious that they were ogling him as if they just wanted to eat him up. And Ry was surprised he still had all of his body limbs in tact. And then, she'd had the cheek to run off with these friends, leaving him looking like a complete loner within the friendly atmosphere. Oh the joy. He would get her back later anyway. He already had a few perfectly devised plans stirring in his mind about what pranks he could play on her. These thoughts, of course, put him off of looking where he was going, and it was only after he felt someone walk into him that he was drawn from his thoughts; And to the most beautiful girl he ever did see. He couldn't make out much of her shadowed face, but her scent had already drifted up his nose, tantalizingly perfect, enough to make his wolf howl from within. Ryan found himself frowning now, straightening up and ducking his head slightly. "Sorry." He managed. God, the palms of his hands were sweating, and all of a sudden he was feeling nervy and anxious. What the hell was wrong with him?

((Hope that's ok! Might be a little crappy since its almost midnight here.:s))

Samantha walked into the carnival, her auburn hair blowing slightly in the wind. "Great..." She muttered. Her little sister sniffled. "Where to Lucy?" She asked the little blonde girl.

Lucy smiled. "Can we go over there?" She asked pointing to the Ferris wheel.

Samantha felt her stomach drop, she was terrified of heights an Lucy knew that. The smell of her fear was like a huge arrow pointing to her. "S-sure..." She said trying to calm her nerves as her and Lucy walked to the Ferris wheel.

Lay me down in sheets of linen. You had a busy day today. The Elton John song coming from her headphones were enough to make a thick layer of tears build up in her dark brown eyes. Back when things had been easy, when life had been simpler and Carmine hadn't been constantly on the run, Tiny Dancer had been her mother's favorite song. The one always on repeat in the car when she was younger, strapped in by a seat belt with her hand sticking out the rolled down window to feel the wind through her fingers. "And now she's in me, always with me, a tiny dancer in my hand." She could still hear her mother's voice laced with Elton's. And God, those memories hurt. They were like a blade stabbing in her gut, not enough to physically kill her, -unfortunately- but painful enough to make her wish it was. All because of one song she'd forgotten to delete off her iPod. Her hand itched to reach into her jacket pocket and skip the song but she resisted.

Carmine didn't want to be that girl, still stuck in the past- But who was she kidding? Her history was what defined her, made her into this rogue running from, what, she had no idea.

At times like these, when she was wondering a crowded place with no one but her own company, she wondered what her parents would think had they still been here. Would they be tsking with a shake of their head, wondering what had happened to their little girl, so full of sunshine? Or would they just be angry that she had left like they'd told her to, secretly wishing that she'd stayed and tried to fight for them? The latter would, no doubt, be the correct answer. After running into a broad shoulder though, her thoughts were interrupted. At the sudden jolt, she glanced up, her hood falling away to expose her fire red ponytail. Big brown eyes glancing upward to catch sight of the prettiest blue irises she'd ever seen. Faltering, she felt something rise in her chest, her wolf's ears all but perking up from somewhere deep in her core. "No, it was my-" Her eyes had fallen back down slightly, taking in the sight of his facial features before she froze. His scent, while intoxicating, held an underlying smell. Faintly like quite a few other wolves- Which could only mean he was in a pack. And there she was, completely and utterly rouge. Ducking her head and praying he hadn't gotten a decent look at her, she flipped her hood back up and started past him. "Sorry again." Her wolf was already whining, begging her to stay with him. Yeah Carmine, and risk getting killed?

Ry found himself now being like Rosie's friends, ogling the little beauty in front of him. His wolf was going like mad now, pacing back and fourth, urging for him to get closer. But they where in close promimatey enough. He didn't want to scare her. Her scent was one to behold, and he decided, right there and then that it was his favourite, one that he would never, ever forget. He was sure. Also one that he didn't want to risk losing anytime soon. It struck a chord. Sort of a sweet berries smell, one that reminded him of vivid colours and a carefree atmosphere, like the summer almost. Sweet and sharp yet soft at the same time. A perfect combination all rolled into one to result in an intoxicating scent that overloaded his sense of smell. But there was something else that was masked by this. Something different. Something...

A rouge.

Oh but god he couldn't give a shit at the minute, right now his eyes were locked on the fiery red tresses that were tamed back into a somewhat messy ponytail, clearly trying to prevent drawing attention to herself. And then her eyes. Oh god they were like pools of melted chocolate, and he could swear he could feel himself slowly drowning in them as he felt himself subconsciously shift closer, mouth slightly agape as he continued to watch her, cerulean eyes slightly wider than usual and seemingly frozen to the spot. It was a face he would never mistake. Those big brown eyes, those vibrant flame-like locks and ivory skin, accompanied by perfectly full lips and slightly rosy cheeks. Beautiful. That was the only word to describe her. Beautiful. And then in an instant her hood was flipped back over her head and she was making her way past him. His own wolf was howling at him to stop her, and clearly thought it only right to take over, so without controlling himself he found his hand gently wrapping around her wrist, feeling sparks shoot down his arm and up his spine, emitting throughout his body. And then his eyes widened further and Ry finally understood who she was. How much significance she held. One word, among teaming thoughts held center stage.

Mate.

For a short period of time, Carmine actually remained in front of him, taking in the sight of the guy with his beautiful eyes and jet colored hair. The old Carmine would have no shame in dubbing him as rather sexy -because, yeah, he really was. But it was his ocean gaze that really caught her attention, the color of his irises just so breathtaking, it was almost unreal. Her wolf's interest had long since been piqued even as she was trying to tell herself this was nothing. Just an extremely attractive guy who smelled a little bit like heaven. Because she didn't have time to notice things that could potentially give her reason to make her want to stay in one place. As a rogue, she lived conIiantly on the run. The longest she'd ever stayed in one place since departing from the living remainders of her pack had heen two months.

And that was only because the closest pack had lived about thirty-five miles away.

Her face had flushed before she'd caught the scent of his pack mates ducking away from him, pulling her hood back over her high ponytail. For the first time since meeting someone, Carmine was aching not to leave. Despite how much danger he could be, and how much she could be for him. Before feeling his hand wrap around her wrist, forcing her to a stop. Electricity ran up from the point of contact on her skin, her eyes emidiately widening in shock. What the hell? She jerked out of his hold, stumbling back a step even as she looked up at him, brown eyes wide with surprise. "I-" Carmine looked back at her wrist. "Did you feel that?" Her soft, slightly hoarse voice was probably hard to hear amongst the crowded carnival. Stupid question, Red. Of course he felt it- No connections like that were just one sided. "Sorry, that was a dumb thing to ask." But. . It couldn't be what she thought It was. Could it? Carmine wasn't the type of girl who could afford a mate. And this guy, whoever he was with his beautiful blue eyed stare, was a virtual stranger. For all she knew, he could be an ax murder. Never mind the fact that he was in a pack- just the thought was enough to make her heart stop beating.

It was her eyes that drew him in most. He knew quite a few guys that preferred girls with the lighter shaded eyes; Blues, greens, greys. But the only eye colour that had ever really done it for Ry were brown eyes. That type of colour that wasn't to dark, but at the same time wasn't so light to be classed as hazel. Just the perfect, middle in between. Her colour eyes, to be quite exact. Again, it was as if he was slowly drowning in them. But he wasn't about to help himself. Drowning seemed to feel like the best feeling in the world right now. She was like a little piece of heaven, just handed to him right there and then. And he couldn't even fathom what he had done to deserve such a beautiful being. All Ryan knew was that he had been gifted with this gorgeous girl, no, woman. And he wasn't letting her go anytime soon.

He wasn't stupid.

He could pick up the scent of a few of his fellow pack members, seeing their interest pique at the sight of him chatting with her. Of course by now they had picked up that she was a rogue. But there was so many of them around the area even if she did try to escape, the chances were slim to none. Plus, everybody knew Ry could handle himself pretty well. Considering his height and weight in comparison to her they were sure, as well as himself being certain in himself, that he could handle any difficult situations that arose. The shocks, although a surprise at first, now had subdued into a feeling of completeness, one that he didn't want to leave, although when she yanked her wrist away from him they came to an abrupt halt. "Not dumb." He stated, clearly still in awe of her before visibly swallowing and rocking back on his heels. "I uh...Does this mean what I think it means? Because I want to check if we're on the same page first." He stated, managing a sort of half smile as he shoved his hands into the front pockets of his skinny jeans, bare shoulders hunched slightly and loose band vest top loose on his lean frame.

Damn, he was really attractive. The old Carmine probably would have been too busy fangirling and giggling in a corner like a twelve year old girl to actually think. Think about what all this means. And the fact that she could smell his pack mates in all different directions of the carnival, something that was increasing her heart rate. Her gaze darted back up imto his ocean irises, the panic there no doubt evident. Wide brown eyes searching his cobalt gaze, struggling not to get losg in the color. They were so deep, enough so that she almost felt like she was swimming in the beautiful color. You have beautiful eyes, she had to bite down on her bottom lip to keep from saying the words out loud.

Because that was kind of not the time for that.

At his words, she couldn't help the tiny, minute smile that tilted her lips upward. It was one filled with self doubt, self consciousness, and just a bit of sheepishnes. She had decided: He was utterly aborable and he'd barely spoke three sentences to her. Glancing over at the smell of one of his pack mates, she swallowed. Without thinking, she hooked her arm in with his and started to all but drag him away. Static filtered between them and she shot him another small upturn of her pouty lips. "Does that answer your question, love?" She'd been intended to pull him away from all the scents of other wolves, but the electricity between them was rather distracting. Hood still up over her ponytail, she started toward a cotton candy stand. "What's your name?" The question was asked in her slightly raspy voice, like a smoker's. Something some people either really, really liked or really, really hated. Making her just a bit self conscious, sweeping a wavy lock back behind her ear.

Samantha's phone rang and she gasped and ran out Lucy following close behind.

Thankfully, or rather unthankfully in some respects, Ry could be quite a confident person if he so wished. The bad part about this? At times he could take it to far without realising, cockiness took over and peoples feelings got hurt. He didn't mean it, really he didn't, and also, he had been taught what proper manners meant, and went purposely out of his way to apologise to a person once he noticed he had overstepped the line. Confidence would have been a good thing to have right now. Shame it had all but left him and sunk into a puddle at his feet just by the sight of her. Suddenly he was a schoolboy again with no experience with women whatsoever. And Ry didn't like that.

Not one bit.

And then that slight half smile. That's what really got him. Just the corner of her lips flickering upwards to create the smallest, yet most endearing smile he had ever had the pleasure of laying his eyes on. One that Ry was sure he wasn't about to go forget in a hurry. His gaze followed hers as he snuck a few looks at his fellow packmembers and could feel them attempting to speak to him through the bond they shared, although he was blatantly ignoring them and blocking them out. Electricity shot down his arm again as she began pulling him away, and a surprised look passed across his expression, before settling into a considerably giddy grin. "It certainly does, dear." He stated, clearly happy with the outcome so far. He just didn't want her to let go of him. With a spare hand his fingers found themselves raking through his darkly cropped hair as he looked down at her. The sound of her voice was driving him crazy. It was perfect, in his mind anyway, every little thing about her was perfect in his eyes though. But her voice was particularly driving him insane. "Ryan, Ryan O'Sullivan." He answered with certainty, slight Irish accent hinting at his words.

She couldn't help but simply watch him for a moment, dark eyes taking him in. Sparkling for the first time in an extremely long time. Because honestly? They'd had nothing to glisten over. At the hint of a slight Irish accent, her brown eyes lit up and looked back up at him. Accents had always interested her and his? Yeah, it was decidedly adorable. How was he able to do this to her? They'd barely exchanged five words between one another and she was already hooked. "Irish, hmm?" Offering another tiny smile, one corner of her lips tilting upward even as she led them toward a cotton candy stand. "Nice to meet you, Ryan." Understatement of the century, considering he was her mate- The words almost felt too polite and stiff.

His name sort of rolled off her tongue, smokey voice making it almost sound rough.

At his confirmation, she laughed softly, the sound small and almost under her breath. Because that was the thing about Carmine: Everything she did was almost half-hearted. She'd given up a long time ago. "I'm glad." Her hood slipped back, exposing fiery locks again that swayed along with her steps. "I'm Carmine." Most people -who knew her, at least- simply called her Little Red. She conveniently slipped over her last name though- it wasn't she didn't trust him. But they were far from being alone at a crowded carnival and she was a rather paranoid person. She asked for two, slipping a few dollar bills toward the the girl spinning the cotton candy. Handing the blue one over to Ryan, she took a bit from the fluffy pink sweetness, looking up at him through her long lashes. "You don't really strike me as the carnival type, Ry. So, if you don't mind me asking, what brings you to the Ferris Wheel?"

She had sparkly eyes, he noted, clearly in a lovestruck trace right now. One which he scarcely believed anybody would be able to pull him out of for what he hoped would be a long time. Besides his sisters, nobody was really able to pull him out of his somewhat distant exterior. He preferred to leave space between himself and other pack members. Sure he would talk to them, laughs were exchanged, but he still had that sort of detached aura to him. Yet right now he was completely engrossed in her, teetering off of every word she spoke. God he felt like an idiot, couldn't seem to wipe the most likely to be goofy smile off of his boyish, yet rugged face, blue eyes lit up as if he were a little boy at Christmas time. "It's...It's really good to meet you too." It felt as if he was on the high of life, Ry was sure nothing could wreck this moment.

Sure, they wasn't the truth, but a guy could hope, right?

A few packmembers got the 'Stay away' look he so easily pulled off, before he turned his attention back to her again. "You know what? I'm really happy right now." He informed her. A piece of useless information, many would think, but it was quite significant for him. Because Ryan hadn't felt well and truly happy for quite a while now. Watching the fiery tresses be released from the hood, Ry had to physically restrain himself from reaching out to curl a lock around his forefinger, instead being slightly more bold with his movements and looping one arm around her slim waist casually. Or as casually as he could pull off anyway. "Carmine..." He repeated, tasting the name on his tongue. It reminded him of sweetness. Call it typical but the name reminded him of the caramel stuff his sister would bring home every now and then. Sweetness. He reached to pay for the cotton candy, although she beat him to it so he resigned to taking the fluffy blue stuff from her, mentally noting to himself that he would take her out on a date and pay for a three course meal whenever he got the next chance. At her question, Ry pressed his lips together, the corner of his mouth tugging upwards slightly in a half smile. "My sister conned me into going with her, but ditched me for a few friends." He said, lightly chuckling at the end of his sentence.

((Sorry it took so long! With exams and everything its been a bit hectic.:s So I apologise in advance if you have to wait for me to respond for a few days.:s C:))

((You there? o.o Also, I don't wanna sound pushy, but I wondered if you had finished off Telle yet? C:))