<<Trouble! At the old town mall? }} {( Oz ]>

[Dimitri Zhukov]

Dimitri runs through a crowd of girls, uprooting their shopping bags out of their hands, sending the contents flying and spilling out amongst the street and grass. "Watch it! he yells, knowing it's his fault though. He laughs loudly as he sprints through the streets, ducking under things, swirving around people and sometimes, as just before, right through them. He clutched a white bag to his side as he ran, his left arm keeping it tucked up against him, while his right helped him plow through people. He continues to dart along the street outside the mall, tearing through people, and offering curses to those who he bumps in to. He spots a near by convinience store next to another shop and he quickly ducks into the alley.

He breathing is ragged from all the running, but he manages another laugh as he clutches the bag tighly to him. He peeks out from the shadow of the alley, looking for the people from the store who'd been chasing him. He laughs again as he tries to catch his breath. He checks the contents of the bag, to make sure he didn't lose anything in the chase. He sighs a bit, breathing finally stabalizing. Why did he feel this compulsive need to steal? He didn't know anymore. He knew he began to give himself a means to survive, but now...now it was just a game. All in fun. He wasn't hurting anyone really, unless they got in his way. He grins, thinking back to one of many fights he'd been in. He peers out once more before leaving the safety of the alley. It would seem he'd lost them.

He walks out, heading back into the crowded streets around the mall. He got a few off looks from people who had seen him running around causing commotion before, but a glare or stare from him was enough to discourage most of those. He strecthes out a bit, before pushing his way past another group of shopper would-be's. He chuckles at the wry comment one of the people make as he pushes his way past them. He walks past a vending machine as a man is buying a drink. As the drink clatters against the bottom of the machine Dimitri bends down and swipes it before the man can take it. He cracks it open and begins to drink as the man begins to curse Dimitri out. He looks at the man for a second with an amused expression. "shut up." he tells the man. The man takes a step back before leaning in and yelling even louder about respecting your elders or some crap like that.

Dimitri reaches out and pushes the man over by his face. He watches with a grin as he falls over his own shopping bags. "I said shut it." He laughs as he walks off, shaking his head. He spies a bench near by him, and he decides to sit. He sits down on the bench, enjoying the pilfered drink as he relaxes a bit. He was lucky, not only was there an open bench, but there happened to be a lovely tree behind it, proving him some shade. Today would be a good day.

[shaggy]

Oz remembered the times with her mother well, almost too well. It had taken a lot of practice to obtain the forgotten memories or her early years with her bitch of a mother but they had eventually came upon her over the years. She remembered one moment well when she was only about seven years old. She had on clothes that made a homeless man blush. They were put on her purposefully that day, of course. In fact, they had been dirtied by her very mother that morning. Taken from her closet from the few clothes that she already had, and they had been destroyed and she had been told she must wear them. Her mother had done the same to some of her own clothing. It had been an outing that she'd never forget, full of begging on the street. Some wallets had been stolen, but she had learned something big that day. Watch the people Silvia. Her mother had told her as they had set against the side of the wall where heavy traffic flowed on foot down the long streets of Indiana. In one of the biggest cities in one of the poorest states in America, you found plenty of homeless people. We're not homeless, but we might as well be. We need this money just as much as they do. This isn't wrong because we need it. Okay? You remember that Silvia.

People would walk by. Some would offer them money, and others she would watch her mother disappear after. She'd come back minutes later sliding a wallet into her daughter's jacket. They'd watch the people carefully. Learning when it was time to go by the looks of agitation, or even lack there of. Prying eyes were never good when you were running a scam, as she had been taught by her mother. Silvia, people go on with their lives. They'll never second guess you unless there's trouble. If you see someone acting differently, you tell me. Okay? Watching the people had become part of her job, while looking cute and pitiful had been the rest of her game. She'd gotten quite good at it. Even became brainwashed into believing it was okay.

But now, over thirty-five years later she found herself people watching for a much different reason. Each man and woman that walked past her was put into specific categories. Most were put into a vast category that possessed about 90% of the worlds population in such a large filing system that no one person would ever be able to equally commit to the other in the system. There was always some sort of difference. If you took two twins, they wouldn't have everything exactly the same given that they were different people and no matter how much society as a whole brushed their ideas onto people, they would never be as one. One might actually think of the Borg at moments like this. A collective mind to a large flaw, they had the ability to decide. They could do something against society, and that's where the people that regularly and willingly went against society went into the rest of her filing. She could file them under criminals, which was a big base, but many of them didn't want to do so, and she found herself filing many into that 90% ratio.

She watched carefully as an older Toyota car pulled into a space quite close to her tree. It was a good decade old but obviously well taken care of, even with the salty air of the island. She was sure they had to be staff of some sort, a couple by the looks of it in their 60's. There was the incoherent bickering that caught her attention and almost emitted a giggle from her mouth. She watched them as the older woman slammed the door and walked off with a look that might have burned the bark from the very tree she sat upon.

Peculiar how someone could stay—Her eyes averted as she saw a quick movement upon a crowd of people only a few minutes walk away. A flash of people following a young man, and the crowd quickly ate the spectacle with a bout of angry yells. She watched, fascinated, her fingers grabbing hard upon the bark of the branch. Her eyes darted around, and she moved her body slowly, taking care not to lose her balance as she brought herself higher into the tree.

She didn't spot the young man again until she had heard another yell. This time it was much closer and at a soda machine she had been eying about half an hour earlier when two children had been scrounging up some change for a can of pop. She saw the interaction and could only find herself intrigued by this person. It was at that moment as the young man came her way that she was sure that fate wanted her to commit her experiment on this single boy. She moved slowly for her bag, lifting it off her shoulder. Her fingers slowly moved within the parcel as she watched him sit upon a bench that was only feet from her.

She could hardly keep the giggle from escaping her lips.

“So, tell me. Do you attack old men often?”

She raised her voice for emphasis and without as much as a warning, she had pulled the two balloons from her bag and with two quick flicks of the wrist the water balloons had flown towards the young man. Ahh. The beauty of experimentation.

[Dimitri Zhukov]

He swings his legs back and forth a bit, taking another sip out of his pilfered drink can. He sighs quietly watching the people go back and forth in front of him. He stops, mid-swing, half titling his head up. He thought...nah..but he'd thought, maybe he'd heard something. One breath of the air would have confirmed it, but he was still feeling pretty good about his multiple un-hindered robberies of the day, so he chose to ignore it.

He hadn't been expecting to hear anyone speak to him, or even so close to him, so it was safe to say he was a bit startled. He looked up, craning his neck at the source of the sound. From the momentary glances he got it was some type of older woman, and she appeared to be dropping something straight for him. He wasn't prepared for them, so his options were quite limited. He stood up as quickly as he could, forcing himself closer to the incoming balloons. He knew he wouldn't be able to get out of the way, as when he stood they were mere inches from his face.

He turned his head down, hoping to avoid being hit in the face by the balloons. He swung his arms above himself hard and fast. His hands and arms connected with the balloons, popping them instantly. He feels the cold liquid wash over him, soaking his back, causing his shirt to cling to his skin. He turns around, shaking his arms, trying to fling the excess liquid from his body. He finishes turning around, taking a step or two back. He gazes up at the woman, liquid dripping down his head and face, falling in droplets from his clothes and fingers. He spits out some of the liquid that had pooled in his mouth, finding the taste to be familiar.

He shakes his arms once again, tilting his head a bit so that the liquid would drain off in one direction, out of his face. "Not usually, I tend to focus on people my own age to be honest." he tells her. He looks up at her, doing what he always did, trying to sum up a person in a look. He knew he couldn't do it, would probably end up calling half of his guesses wrong. He did know though, that a percentage of it would be right, and that's what counted, what he knew that he knew. He didn't know much about her, but he knew that she was an odd one. He knew she'd been watching him, at least for a short while, and he knew she was a fellow shifter. He could tell that from her scent, but somehow it seemed most of the shifters had a way of distinguishing themselves from the regular people.

He wipes off his face once with his hand, sending more of the drink flying off of him. He looks up at her, still pretty pissed off about being interrupted and attacked with balloons. "I don't make it my goal to attack women either. Even older women.." He takes a step forward, picking up the can of soda he'd stolen from the man moments ago. It was still half full, even after having been dropped. He clutches it in his hand, looking up at her hard for a few seconds. He growls quietly as he whips the can at the branch next to her head. He whipped the can side-ways, so that even though it hit, and would miss her, the impact would send the contents spilling out over her. "..women who piss me off, however, might just be enough to make me break that rule." He says with a growl in his throat.

[shaggy]

Oh, she might have jumped for joy if she hadn't been in a tree as she watched the falling of the dominoes before her. He was quick enough to knock the balloons, but not quick enough to ease himself around the balloons. She might have jumped for joy, even, as he flipped the water off his hair. She took his mannerisms to note, quickly eying the tension in his shoulders. She could see the hint of anger in his eyes as she caught a glance of his glare from above. She hadn't expected, though, the can of soda to come flying at her. That had indeed, not been in her calculations of any sort. With a quick reaction to get away, she realized then that she had not prepared herself mentally to stop from moving away from a thrown can, as she had with her gleeful entertainment. As the can came, so did her instinct. Jump out of the way. And thus, her feet left the branch and it was in that second that she questioned gravity.

Well.

Gravity gave it's answer as she fell down, and into the branches, hitting herself quite a few times. A knock the head and a few scratches and gravity allowed her bottom to hit the ground with a painful thud. She let out a yell, and fell to her side. There wasn't any quick movements, and though her mind was on the pain, everything was being relived in her mind. If she didn't get all of this written down then she wouldn't be able to write all of her findings later on, no matter how much her elbow ached and, well, she was pretty sure she might have done something to her tailbone on the way down. She turned her body ever so slowly, and she glanced towards the young man. She could faintly feel a wet sensation on her shirt. She moved her hands to see a brown splotch sitting on a nice white shirt.

She cocked her head a bit at him, slowing moving herself to her bottom. She could feel the throbbing pain and a frown appeared on her face as she rubbed the sides of her cheeks.

“Interesting. So, in your own uniqueness, you didn't do the normal.” Her eyes went towards his own as she attempted with all her knowledge to search him. He wasn't too keen on his appearance, which gave him a nonchalance about himself, but she didn't expect he wasn't the type that didn't care what other's thought, but in fact held high what others thought. When you take an action such as this, this is a certain pride, but not exactly in ones self. Well, she couldn't really tell.

“You've got quite a temper on you. I can see that, and by society, that is unacceptable. Correct? Well, I don't believe what society believes and I think that we're all going to be different in some way or fashion. If you think about it, your temper is your uniqueness. And, well—I honestly don't think it was a fair trade.”

She nodded her head. As she had been speaking she had been digging her hands into the dirt at her side, and as she finished her few sentences she slowly got to her feet, keeping the small amounts of dirt in her hands.

“I threw club soda at you, which is actually quite neutral. You were only wet, and unaffected. My clothes are going to stain now, and you see, by society's standards we should both be mad at each other for being so improper but allow me to make us more even. As I surprised you, you surprised me, but we are not even, and I believe as your elder, I am allowed to at least be even.”

She leaned forward, and rubbed her hands across the wet of his shirt, leaving a dirt trail.

[Dimitri Zhukov]

He watches with no small amount of amusement as the woman comes cascading out of the tree and falls flat on her ass. He holds in a chuckle as he watches her plummet to the ground below. "Serves her right, dumb-ass." He thinks, still inwardly laughing. He watches as she lays stunned for a second before moving a bit. He cocks an eyebrow watching as she rolls around a bit, testing out what hurts and what doesn't.

He shifts his footing, leaning over a bit to watch her as she shifts around. He watches her as she slowly gets up. He looks her over, now that he's got a clearer view of her. She definitely older than him, probably old enough to be his mother, not that he'd ever admit to her that she didn't look old. He crosses his arms, watching as she climbs up, still feeling her new aches out. He stifles another chuckle as she looks back at him.

He has half a mind to crack a joke at her, but decides ot just see what she'll do now that they were on level ground, and she didn't have the distance to protect her. He watches as she seems to be muddling with something on the ground. He dismisses it as she begins to speak to him. He listens, a look of dis-belief crossing his face as she prattles on. "My anger huh..." he thinks, only half-listening. "We're all different, blah blah blah, I could have said that much."

He blinks as she finishes and comes up to him slowly. "Oh well." he says to her. "You got soda on you, after I got soda on me, as far as I see it, we are even, so you can just-..." he's cut off as she comes up to him and smears his shirt with her muddy hands. He feels her dirty hands wipe down his chest, staining his shirt. He looks down at his shirt for a second in dis-belief. It wasn't like he cared about this particular shirt, but who the hell did she think she was.

"Oh what the fuck...?!" He says aloud as he runs his hand down a good chunk of the fresh mud. He quickly whips his hand up, slinging the mud into this woman's face. He then proceeds to thrust his right arm out, wrapping his hand around her throat and squeezing somewhat. He keeps squeezing as he pulls her in close to him. "Listen lady. I don't know who you are, and right now I don't give a shit. What the hell makes you think you can just throw soda on me, and then just waltz up and wipe mud all over me?! Huh!?"

He squeezes her throat a bit tighter, leaning in close to her ear. "I do my best not to hit a lady, or anyone who doesn't deserve it, but what the hell is stopping me from just choking the life right out of you right now?" he asks, only half expecting her to answer. Most people would be to scared to do much but struggle at this point, but even though he'd only just met her, he knew this woman had a mouth, and she wouldn't be silenced so easy.

[shaggy]

So, as this all played in her head she was pretty sure she could peg this boy for the kind of person he was, and she was sure that in the end of this she might end up hurt and well, it would be justified. She had indeed just smear mud on his shirt, but it had not been without thought. All of her actions were within reason, and though she put herself in danger quite a bit, it was all for human research. Watching this young man had brought back memories of some of the men in her mother's life. They had that same aggressive behavior in their every day action. They liked to cause trouble, and though they were fun... they sure had a bite. Temper. This one had a temper, and that much was obvious.

Her body fell back, her head whipping to the side as the mud splashed into her face. She wondered where this boy had grown up. She wondered if he held much pride in what he wore. There was a part of her that could assume he did, but there was something there that made her think otherwise. Especially when he went forward so quickly. There wasn't anger for his clothes, otherwise he would have been more worried about the clothes and less about her presence. She could feel his flesh against her, and she backed into the bark of the tree. It hugged the back of her arm, and she felt that panic that came at every attack, but she put it aside as she did with all her experiments. She kept her breathes low, making all attempts to keep them coming, even though she found it hard with the pressure against her throat.

If he was going to kill you, he would have already.

She felt that nudge from her mother in the back of her head and a smile appeared on her lips.

“Tell me.”

She nearly choked out, “Who was it that got the drink in your hand beyond your own stupidity? My balloons did nothing but wet you. You should thank me, you look much better the way you are now.”

She nearly snapped that last part, pushing forward just a bit in attempt to lessen his grip.

“And, to tell the truth. Society stops you from choking me.”

Her eyes kept close contact with him as she spoke, moving over his face, “But, something tells me you're better than societies rules. Given that you stole a soda, and ran from God knows what. So, tell me. So. Why not be an imbecile and go as low as to take a teacher from her students. A woman from her family. Choke the life out of me and let society rule you incorrect.”

[Dimitri Zhukov]

This lady was fucking weird. What the hell did she want him to do exactly? He holds her to the tree by her throat as he listens to her speak. .... "What?!" is all he can muster after hearing her talk. What in the hell was wrong with her. She almost seemed as if she was enjoying being choked. Maybe not the act itself, but she seemed to almost enjoy the predicament she was in. He knew he had some problems, but this lady was batty. She took the whole damn cake.

He tightens his grip on her neck a little. "So let's see. You start off by dousing me with no good reason. Then you rant some bullcrap at me about having anger problems?.." He asks, while looking at her strangely. "..then, and i liked this part, you decided to wipe some mud on me. To be "fair" was it? Well it's not like I care about this shirt, but I don't know who the hell you think you are that you can get away with this." He glares at her a bit, not knowing quite what to do.

"You seem to almost be enjoying this. I mean, what in the hell do you want from me? And now, now you're going to insult my looks? That's great lady, just fucking great. What the hell is wrong with you? Do you HAVE a death wish or something? Huh? Cause if that's the case, maybe I could help you out with that. We could have skipped a step of me needing to be dirty and upset, and just had you been in the ground already, huh?" He growls a bit, finding himself confused and infuriated by this woman.

He looks up at her again, watching her face as she thinks and struggles under his grip. "Also, what's your damn deal with "society" ?" he asks her. "I mean come on! Society this ohh society that. Blah blah, fucking blah. Do I LOOK like I give a shit was society thinks? I just robbed a store, I stole that man's drink. For God's sake, I'm choking you!" He yells at her, feeling his temper flare. "So tell me, while you can still breath, what it is that YOU think I think of society? I don't care. As for who put the drink in my hand, it was me. Just me. I wanted it, i took it. Simple as that. What the hell do I care if society says it's wrong. If I gave a crap I wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't be me."

He grumbles and looks down a second before looking back up at her. He increases his grip on her, actually choking the air from her for a few seconds. He releases her harshly, flinging her weight towards the ground. "There. You've been choked. Did you get what you wanted? Hmm?" He asks, titling his head, voice seething with irritation. He looks down at her, a scowl planted on his face now.

[shaggy]

Whether she would have said so or not, it took a lot for her not to panic, especially when his grip got tighter. But she kept her cool, falling back as soon as she was let go. She had taken in everything that had been said, but said nothing at first. Instead she watched him carefully. She wanted to remember this moment well enough to go back home and write it down. Maybe it was insanity to wish to see the actions of others. Especially when many people were quite violent. Like this young man. She only wished to completely... well, understand. She wanted to know how people would react when someone different than them went about things.

Maybe in the end, she was a tad destructive, but, really, did it matter? Did it matter if—She felt a sigh escape her lips. She looked up at the young man, wiping more of the mud from her face as she thought out what she should say, carefully.

“Tell me, what makes you think you're going to be able to get away with stealing and breaking the law forever? What do you plan on doing when you're caught? Yes, it's one thing to go against society. All the power to you. But they will get you eventually unless you at least glance over the laws and find a more legal way around them. Why do you steal? Hmm? Is there any good reason for it? I doubt it.”

She shrugged her shoulder, and slowly lifted herself to her feet, “As much as I love going against societies believes, I think there is a reason for some of these laws. It's flawed, and it's controlling a whole, but you are still in the wrong.”

She put her hand forward, “Give me what you stole. We're going to return it, and then we're going to buy you a new shirt and something to snack on. I'm sure that man is gone by now, but, if he's still there, I shall buy him a soda. Not because society says so, but because I believe that even we don't think we need to follow the rules we must still know there is good reason behind some of them.”

Oz placed one hand at her shirt as she moved to brush anything that might have gotten on her during the encounter. She braised her hand over her neck, and flinched. She could tell there would be a bruise forming pretty sure. It was painful, and even breathing now made it tender. She frowned lightly. Well, science and what not, right?

[Dimitri Zhukov]

xx

He scoffs a bit as he listens to her speaking to him. He can't help but laugh a bit when she was through. He stares at her for a moment with her outstretched hand, and oh so righteous air about herself. "So what you're saying is...damn society and it's rules, but...respect them? ...Uh huh..." he says while rolling his eyes. He can't believe she's prattling on about this nonsense. He scoffs audibly again as he looks at her.

"Oh that's your plan is it? We'll just return this and all will be right with the world? Huh?" He reaches into his bag and pulls out some type of electronic gadget, they were always his favorite to steal. He found himself enamored with the amazing things they could all do these days. He looks at her, shaking the item in his hand a bit, like a treat to a dog. "like this?" he asks. He whips the device to the ground, hearing a satisfying crunch as it shattered on the pavement.

He takes a few more out of the bag, one at a time. Each time he shows them to her before smashing them into the ground again, breaking each one in turn. "There. Return those." he says with a smirk. He closes the bag and tightens his grip on it. "If you want the rest, you'll have to take them from me. As for why it is that I steal, it's mostly just because I can. I used to do it to simply survive. As I got better though, it became more for sport. To see what I could get away with. I do it now because it's fun. It gets me the things I want without a need to pay, and it makes feel alive, and good."

He looks over at her again, switching his stance up a bit as he eyes her. "As for what happens when, and if I get caught, well.. " he shrugs a bit. "I guess I'll deal with that when the time comes. I haven't been seriously caught yet. Any time I'm found out I simply run away, or beat up those who chase me, that's gotten me this far, and I'm sure it'll work for a while yet. If not, then I suppose I'm subject to your society's laws. At least until I find a way to break out that is."

He smirks at her again, looking at her, wondering how she'll react. "Well I don't feel the need to waste any more time here as it is. So if you want to go and repay that "poor" man I robbed, and return broken merchandise to a store then I suppose I won't stop you from doing that. I suppose, unless you have more drivel to spout, then this is where we part ways Professor." he says, drawing out the last word. "I assume you are, since you're no where near the age to be a student, and yet you're here on this shifter island. And you stink of animal, so I'm guessing you're like me, at least in some way. You smell of something smaller, some sort of rodent perhaps."