Old Friends are Bliss |Heidi|

[Heidi Valentine]

Looked like Luke wasn't about to go off tramping in the woods in a completely different direction than where she was headed, which was a comforting fact. Leading the way through the trees, she walked a few more feet as her flats cracked any twigs below quite efficiently. The view of pure green and brown was starting to get boring after a while, despite her joy of being in the woods. Though the comment about the school for rocks and such made her laugh. "Dude, that -would- be pretty sick. If I had to choose a 'thing' to be.. I'd definitely go for like, a thorn or something. No one likes to touch or eat thorns, so I wouldn't be plucked off of whatever plant I was mooching off of, and there's always a whole bunch of them together, so I wouldn't have to worry about being alone!" To her, the plan was fool proof. Other than the fact that she wouldn't be able to play any of her many instruments, which would utterly destroy her from the inside out.

At the mention of the word 'regular', though, only killed the smile she was wearing on her face. She missed being able to fit in the 'normal' category back home, living the average life and nothing.. freakish to speak of. But, she supposed she was kind of regular here, at this Academy on this island. Everyone else here had the same ability, with the exception of different animals, so it wasn't like she stuck out like a sore thumb. Heidi sighed and nodded, dodging a low branch as she ducked. "Yeah, you're right. Lucky for us it isn't impossible though, huh?" Up ahead, she could start to see a break as the tree line started to thin out, even the ground texture below started to change. It went from it's solid, rocky based earth to a more softer, grainy matterial. Not quite sand, but it was moist indeed. The air around them, from what she could tell, had a hint of moisture in it too as the duo continued on. Her brows arched in an excited fashion, "I think there's water up ahead." She called back after smirking about his comment about her sunglasses being stolen.

"I might just have to turn into the bully myself if someone takes 'em without asking first!" And that was the truth. Or, at least it would go on until she got her precious sunglasses back that is. Before she could further her little fantasy thought, she spotted it. Water! Not a whole ocean of it, of course, otherwise she would have heard the waves. But a lake nestled quietly and comfortably in the craddle of the woods none the less. The water looked clear, even from where she was walking from. An excited expression spread like wildfire over her face as she picked up speed and practically skipped over to it's edge, upper half leaning over the clear water to peer at it's depths. Without another sound, she took a few steps back and sat down on the pine needle bed ground, prying off her squeaky flats and tossing them to the side.

Without taking attention off of her stubborn left shoe, she grinned at her comrade's doubt. "Uh-huh! This is different, we're not on a path anymore, and there's nothing but pure instincts to get us back. And I don't know about you, but I think my instincts are pretty darn good." She flashed a grin his way, hiding the half fib. Sure, collies were excellent outside in their elements. But Heidi? She was still getting used to the whole experience, and was sure that Luke was probably 'more in tune' with his other half than she was with hers. But, as she said, they were off the beaten path now. So that helped to even out the playing field, at least a little. Big talk for a small bark. "We'll say.. Loser buys a drink at the cafe? Just so you know.. I like my Shirley Temples stirred, not shaken."

Finally popping off the shoe, she sighed in relief while hazel eyes danced towards the sky a moment. The area was still pretty well shaded, but she could spot the sun still no problem. Looked to be like it was heading on to late evening, judging by the way the shadows were falling from the plants and the fact that it was slightly darker. Heidi figured that if she didn't dilly dally, she could take a dip in the lake, run their little race, and be back before it hit nightfall.

Hopefully.

One of her biggest fears had to do with being in dark places, and knowing her luck she'd end up alone and lost if they started back too late. So, with no further delay, Heidi helped herself up and fished her sunglasses out of her pocket. Which, miraculously, weren't shattered like she'd expected. Setting them down carefully by her shoes, she shrugged off the small sleeveless waist jacket and set that by her small pile too, left in her tanktop and jean shorts. Dying to get into the water, Heidi didn't bother with anything else before she went charging towards the still water with an excited cry, and launched off of the bank and into the chilly water with an obnoxious splash.

She sank a good few feet before her legs started kicking madly under the water, driving her up to break the surface. Bobbing out of the water with a chilly gasp, soaked to the bone, the girl couldn't help but give a wave towards Luke with a childish laugh. "C'mon, man!"

TAGG? James
WORDS? 944
NOTES? Fine, he's not mean. And it's alright! Miraculously, thanks to your post, I managed to beat my record. xD Sothanks!
CREDIT? hey it's SHMEY ! @ caution 2.0

[Luke Bowers]

* LUKE ( OLIVER ) BOWERS ,

Luke watched carefully where he walked so that he didn’t trip over anything, like a hidden root or some kind of rock. In his human form, he could be clumsy in the forest sometimes when he was walking and not paying attention. The last thing he needed to do was trip over something in front of Heidi. Well, he wasn’t exactly in front of her, but doing anything like that around her was probably a bad idea. She wouldn’t let him forget it for weeks probably. ”A thorn?” he repeated to himself. Interesting. ”You can already be a pain in someone’s side. You don’t even need to be a thorn for that,” he teased. He wasn’t sure what he would want to be. Maybe a tree. But it wasn’t as if he would get to enjoy the view, since trees didn’t actually have eyes. That was a hard decision. He wondered what someone would be if they were grass. Would they be a patch of grass or just one small piece? Hopefully they wouldn’t get stepped on.

He could hear her sigh up ahead of him. Some people were really enthusiastic about being able to shift. Others completely despised it. But he figured most people stood somewhere in the middle. He fit somewhere in the middle, but even as long as he had been doing it, he wasn’t quite sure whether he favored shifting more or not. ”Yeah, lucky us I guess. At least you shift into a dog, though. You can go into public like that.” There was no way he could shift and go into public. But none of them could shift back into human in public, even in a bathroom. Unless they had managed to sneak their clothes in there with them somehow. Luke looked up from the ground when she mentioned water. The atmosphere had changed a little from the way it had been before, so there was a possibility that water was close by. His eyes finally laid sight on it. Not a big body of water, but big enough.

He picked up his pace as he followed her over. The shade in the forest had helped to keep them cool, but even he had begun to notice the sweat forming from all of the walking. Only after she sat down to take off her shoes, did he bend down next to the water to feel it. It was still cool from the partial shade, but warm enough that they wouldn’t freeze when they got in. He tossed his own shoes off to the side and then his shirt, leaving his shorts to swim in. Luke watched as she jumped in, water splashing his way as she did. It appeared to have pretty good depth, which made up for its smaller size. He grinned as she waved him in and then took a few steps back to give himself some running room. The extra boost landed him somewhere in the middle of the water and he gave himself a few seconds before swimming back towards the surface. It actually didn’t feel very bad to him at all. Lucky for him he actually liked water. Jaguar’s were one of the few cats, if not the only, that actually liked water. The majority didn’t as far as swimming in it went. ”You know, if we do shift out here, we either have to carry our clothes back or we have to leave them out here.” Or whatever they were wearing when they shifted would get torn to pieces.

tagged , Heidi
words , 591
lyrics , run this town - jay-z
notes , Oops, I meant none.
credit , rora @ hos

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[Heidi Valentine]

Heid was half expecting him to chicken out of leaping in the water, till she saw his shoes come off too. She squealed lightly when the bits of water from his landing splashed against her cheeks, but she laughed it off, just thrilled to be in the water on such a warm day like this. She kicked back her legs, then, and started paddling aroundbackwards along her back, arms diving and sinking behind her head as she went in a little circle. Her eyes were kept shut though, considering there was still pockets of sunlight that hit the water enough to blind her. And, well, she wasn't about to get out and fetch her sunglasses, that was for sure. Not like she could use them anyways. Her face utterly speckled in water droplets, Heidi was well soaked to the bone.

Jean shorts clung to her thighs in an unforgiving manner, the material actually adding weight to her once it got wet. The tanktop wasn't so bad, thankfully. Otherwise it'd probably end up suffocating her to some extent. And the last thing she needed was to drown out here before she even had a chance to win that shirley temple. Turning around onto her stomach, she paddled over towards Luke and sent him a back-hand splash, sticking her tongue out at him. "Lucky for you, you're the only one I'm a pain to. You should feel special!" However 'lucky' he was or wasn't, it was the truth. Back home, she acted differently around other people, never really treating any two people the same. She figured here wouldn't be much of a difference, unless Luke had a twin or a clone around that she didn't know about.

..Whoa..

She thought, then, what he said about her being able to change out in public. Huh. Well there was an idea she never thought about before. Sure, Heidi could even go to that other little island as a dog and just walk around, play the whole 'cute puppy' thing, and earn herself some free hot dogs or something. Not a bad idea! Although, the alternative made her wrinkled her brow. What if they had dog catchers? She didn't have a collar or anything handy so, she'd be screwed in that department. Or a little boy or girl try and take her home as a pet? "Huh. Good point.. I'd have to be with as a person, though, as a cover. Otherwise I'll be treated just like any other stray out there in the world and I'll be.. stuck." Just the mere idea of being locked up in some crusty, old dog cell made her shiver. And if they put her to sleep? No way. Heidi would need some back up plans before she took those risks. Looking at him then, she tilted her head, wet pony tail sliding to the other side of the water. "Then again, it'd be pretty hard for you, huh? Unless you had a future desire to be in a circus or.. a petting zoo." She joked, giggling at the thought. "I'm sure the kiddies would just love to pet the big ol' kitty, yeah?"

Heidi always did feel kind of sorry for the animals that got stuck in the petting zoos. No way would she want grubby little sticky fingers all over her fur -- Uh uh. Ain't happening. "Promise I'll visit yah if you swear you won't bite me." He made a point, though. The last thing Heidi wanted to do was rip her clothes, or abandon them. However, lucky for her, collies were significantly smaller than humans. It wasn't like she would be shifting into a gorilla or an elephant or, in Luke's case, a big feral feline so, in most cases her clothes usually just fell around her and hung loose. Sometimes they stretched, though, rather than rip apart. She could only imagine the countless clothes he must have busted through before some kind of a system developed. A glance back to the shore was made to check all the stuff she'd have to carry, way too much to fit in her mouth and carry back like that.

And no way was she going to run around as a dog actually -wearing- the clothes. That wouldn't do. She groaned then as the decision settled in, tossing her head back in mild frustration. "Guess I'll just have to carry some stuff back, and leave the others here. What about you bud?"

TAGG? James
WORDS? 744
NOTES? Rarr.
CREDIT? hey it's SHMEY ! @ caution 2.0

[Luke Bowers]

* LUKE ( OLIVER ) BOWERS ,

The first thing he did once he was in the water was swim around. Who knew how many people actually knew about it. They probably had the same idea as he did, figuring if anything they could shift and find their way back. But honestly, how lost could they get? They were on an island. It couldn’t get much simpler than that, could it? He had to admit that at least he had one advantage to being a guy when it came to swimming – he could wear pretty much minimum clothing, since he didn’t have to wear his shirt. Although some females didn’t mind swimming naked in front of someone else, but he didn’t think she was one of those people. ”I should feel special that I’m the only one you annoy like this?” he asked, turning onto his back and floating in the water. Well, he did feel special, but he had never really said that out loud. That was pretty much what had brought on their friendship, so if it wasn’t for the way that they acted, it wouldn’t have been the same.

Luke continued to swim around in the silence until she spoke up again. When he had mentioned her shifting and going into public, he had been thinking of her doing that if an emergency came up or something. Not for pure fun. Leave it to her to think of that, though. There were possibly a lot of benefits to that, though. Most people wouldn’t run away from a dog. ”Well I guess there’s always the risk of someone trying to pick you up, but you could always run away. Combine how smart you are with the dog’s brain and I think you would do fine. But if you ever did get caught, I could rescue you. Somehow.” Or she could rescue herself by shifting into a person, but that wouldn’t turn out very good. Especially if someone had seen her shift or if she couldn’t come up with some way to explain how she ended up in a dog’s cage.

He stopped floating on his back and dunked his head under the water. When he pulled his head back up, the water ran off of his hair and down his face or into the water. At home, on the hot days, he took the water hose and would wet his hair. It kept him cool while he was outside. He shot her a glare as she laughed at the idea of him being put in a circus or a petting zoo. ”I doubt they would just up and put me into one of those after picking me up off the street. Plus I wouldn’t go willingly, so then they probably wouldn’t think I was very safe to pet or have around people.” He wondered if there was even anybody on the other island that was certified to handle something like that. Luke laughed and shrugged.

”I’d prefer you to bust me out if I get captured, rather than just visiting me.” She would probably enjoy that, though, if he was somehow put into a circus. He looked over at his own clothes, unsure of what he was going to take back. A Jaguars mouth was actually really big – it stretched quite a bit. ”I don’t know. I can already tell my mouth will be hurting by the time I’m finished carrying my shoes back. But I don’t think I want to walk into the academy in my Jaguar form, but without anything to wear…” There was no way he was leaving his shoes out there, but he couldn’t carry those with shorts. If she carried her own clothes to change back into, then she could go to his dorm and pick him up some clothes, though.

tagged , Heidi
words , 628
lyrics , run this town - jay-z
notes , None
credit , rora @ hos

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[Heidi Valentine]

Momentarily ceasing her 'fire' on her friend, Heidi looked around the area that they were in, taking in every detail. The craddle here was actually pretty nice, for a lake-pond thing. The tree line was set pretty far back from where they'd come from, and the majority of the ground was covered in either soft, green moss, dirt, or pine needles swept in from the pine trees via the wind. Unlike at the ocean, there wasn't any hot sand to sorch the soles of your feet once you'd gotten out. The beach, however, was still one of her favorite places to hang at when she needed to think, but this place was a close runner up. Looking up into the sky, Heidi carefully made note of the approximate hours of daylight left. She wanted to be back at the school before it got -too- dark, least she look like a scaredy cat infront of Luke. And that certainly wasn't about to happen!

Flicking back her attention to the voice somewhere off to her lower left, she laughed at his raising question. "Oh please! If I were to go cold turkey, right here, right now and stop cracking on you all the time, you'd miss it. Don't lie!" She let the scenario play out in her head a little before continuing. "Before the end of the week you'll be begging for a 'roid joke." Chuckling, she started to paddle her way over to the soggy bank. Slapping her hands against the moist surface, she hoisted her way up through her forearms and slid onto the ground, escaping the pond like an inground pool. Soaked and mildly chilly, Heidi tilted her head to the right, and grabbed her wet hair in her hands and tried to wring out as much of the water as possible. A thick flow of it gushed out from her red locks as it made a miniature puddle at her feet, but it was still wet. No matter. She was about to shift soon anyways.

"A rescue mission, huh?" she mused, wheeling around on her heels to face the water as she watched Luke dilly dally some more. Hands crossed against her chest as she tried to keep herself from shivering. The water it's self wasn't that cold, but a breeze was picking up none the less. "Good to know I've got you to count on then, if I ever end up in the dog slammer." Was that a.. smile? Indeed it was! Looked like Heidi didn't mind having someone to look to for help if she ever wound up in that situation. However he would wind up doing it, that is. All that mattered to her was that he actually would want to try, and that was enough to keep her happy. "Don't worry, I'll come and get you too. After the show, that is." Heidi would be the first one to arrive at the circus; front row seats, a sac full of cameras to take pleanty of blackmail pictures, and of course the necessary tools she'd need to bust him out. After he did his little act, though. "Who knows? Your face may end up on one of those drinking mugs or something. I'd buy one!" Knowing her, she probably would.

Stretching her arms above her head, she cracked her back some before some mockery 'warm-up' stances were made. She did a few lunges, maybe half a jumping jack, and some other various stretches in taunts as she started to get ready to go. Then came his mild situation. "Hrm. Well.. Tell you what, right after I win, I could go grab you something quick to put on?" As if his hint weren't obvious enough. Turning around, she marched back to where she'd dumped her shoes, glasses, and jacket, Heidi figured she could take her tanktop and shorts with her, and just have to come back some other time to get her shoes and jacket. Bending over, she plucked the glasses off of the ground and wedged them tightly into her pocket, so that she could take those back too. "I'll just need your room number. Hopefully the door won't be locked or.. Well. I don't think you'll much like wearing my stuff." A chuckle was let out at the idea. He'd probably hate her or something for a while if it ever came down to that.

Collecting her jacket and shoes, she bundled them up together and waltzed over to the nearest log, and set them down inside. Later she'd have to come back, as a human, and pick these up. Twirling back around, Heidi put her hands on her hips as her body gave a little shiver. "What'cha waiting on, Big Boy? Let's get goin'!" came the call, a little impatiently.

TAGG? James
WORDS? 797
NOTES? Rarr
CREDIT? hey it's SHMEY ! @ caution 2.0

[Luke Bowers]

* LUKE ( OLIVER ) BOWERS ,

”You didn’t even say a week.” Luke looked over at her before laying back into the water again. He didn’t want to sound panicked, though. ”The only way you could last for a week would be if you barely even hung out with me during that time.” She probably wouldn’t be too worried about not making friends, though. Most people seemed to get along with her from what he could tell. He stopped swimming as he watched her get out of the water. Well it would be getting dark soon that was for sure. ”Well I wouldn’t be surprised if you somehow wound up in the dog pound or something like that.” Sometimes it made him wonder just how many of the animals he had seen off the island was actually animals. Most of the people who could shift, probably didn’t spend most of their lives as animals. In the few fiction movies that he had seen about people who could shift, they always had a save-the-world purpose. As far as he knew, there wasn’t any purpose like that for them. The only point was that they could shift and they were there to learn to control it and gain the responsibility to handle it off of the island.

Luke rolled his eyes and swam over to the bank. It was not surprising at all that she would watch the circus performance before trying to help him escape. Even more like her, she would probably be taking pictures or recording it to use against him. ”Right. You would buy one to show to everyone and tell them that you’re the one who took the picture.” And after she explained to them that the jaguar on the mug was him, they would want to know the whole story, and she would be more than happy to share it. Then, before he knew it, everyone would know about it. He watched as she did some “warm-ups” to get ready for their race back. ”Right after you win?” Luke laughed and shook his head. He placed his hands onto the ground and heaved himself out of the water. Along with his body came what seemed like a gallon of water that fell onto the ground.

”I’m in room one o six, and no I wouldn’t want to wear your clothes.” Not only that, but there was no way he would fit into any of them. He started a few of his own stretches as a warm up. ”When we make it back, I can give you my room key. Just in case.” He stuffed his chain and key down in one of his shoes and then tossed his shirt onto a tree branch. If it rained, at least it wouldn’t get muddy, and he doubted someone would take it if they could even see it. Luke laughed at her impatient call and placed his shoes onto the ground. ”What’s the rush?” he teased. He might as well tease her while he can, because once in shift there wasn’t any real way for them to communicate, as far as talking went. He began concentrating on his shift, the Jaguar. His face usually started doing a little shifting first, like it did this time. It started taking on the form of the Jaguar, growing out into the typical cat shape. His ears grew and rounded to that of a cat. As his eyes, nose, and whiskers grew in, the rest of his body started shifting into place. His bones popping in and out of place, rearranging themselves to the Jaguar form.

His fingers began shrinking smaller, together to form paws. His skin was replaced with spotted fur – the upper half was between the colors of orange, yellow, and brown. His underbelly was mostly white, minus the black spots that were covering his body. As he hunched over, his body finished shrinking and growing, tearing the shorts he had recently had on to shreds. His tail grew out as one of the last parts as usual. His teeth grew bigger and sharper to accommodate the cat. At the end of his shifting, his body length was almost 6 feet and his tail 23 inches long. He wasn’t the biggest Jaguar in the world, but big all the same. After looking over at her, he stretched his body out, preparing for the run back. He wasn’t even sure how far back they were, but it would probably only be a small workout for his shift. But once he shifted back, he wouldn’t be surprised how sore his human form would be.

tagged , Heidi
words , 764
lyrics , run this town - jay-z
notes , None.
credit , rora @ hos

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[Heidi Valentine]

She whirled around one last time back to the hollow log that sat on the ground, squatting down as she placed on hand ontop of it to keep herself steady. Flicking her hair over to one side, her freckled face peered into the dark, decaying structure; double checking that her shoes and jacket would be alright. Not from bugs, obviously, but that wasn't much of an issue. Heidi wasn't skittish when it came to creepy crawlies, unlike most girls she knew. Ants, slugs and spiders were bound to be found in a fallen trunk like this, so she'd just have to shoo them away whenever she came back. If she remembered how to get here. The only thing the girl was worried about was any freak storms to come and drench her stuff some more. Luckily, her cell was back in her dorm room - not really much of a texter - so she didn't have to worry about that short-circuiting out here. Satisfied, she pushed off of her thighs with her other hand, and let the rotting debris fall from the hand that had been on the log before looking back over her shoulder.

And there was Luke, boosting himself up and lugging half of the pond with him. She looked amused at this as the rest of her body turned around to fit where she was gazing at, hands hooking onto her hips as she waited for him to get situated. He did raise a good point though. "Barely hang out..?" the idea nearly devastated her, knocking the breath right out of her mouth. Heidi was a clingy person, more or less, and acknowledged this to be one of her less than desireable traits. She didn't need to be attatched to the same person throughout the day, but instead jumped around from group to group and clique to clique. This had to do with the inner collie that bubbled inside of her, she knew. Excelling at being social creatures, collies were always known for their.. fruitful personalities. And Heidi was no different.

"Hrm.. I think I'm gonna have to call that one off," light tone drawled out as she weighed the concequences. Sure, there were other people here on the island that she could talk to. But Heidi hated the feeling of missing those she cared about, and she had a feeling this would be one of those times if she was away from him for too long.

Hearing his comment about the cup, she momentarily bursted out in laughter - leave it to him to pin the nail on the head! Sounded exactly like something she would do, and he knew it. "Why WOULDN'T I show people..? I hardly doubt many people here can admit to them knowing a celebrity~" Ohyes. Heidi would go on a field trip with whatever footage and picture she managed to get. Even those who wouldn't know Luke would once they got a look at the treasures she'd have collected. Just then, though, something stirred inside of her. Very suddenly, and felt much like a bittersweet combination. The collie within her was breathing life into it's self, after being shuned and holed up for so many years. Since her first shift, actually. Rather than embrace her animal side like she figured most of the students here had, Heidi avoided shifting back at home as much as possible. Even despite her parent's tireless pleading and bribing.

Her vision returned from a blurry view as she swayed a little bit on the spot, distorted and unsure of what was happening. She hunted for a name, or word, to place on the feeling that she was going through but came up short handed. She hardly caught Luke's words as something else drawed her from deep within her own body. Blinking away the blurry vision, she rubbed away at her hazel eyes with the back of her hand dizzily. With the other eye still looking around, she just managed to catch the tail-end of her friend's transformation -- literally. Pretty much before her eyes, whether she was paying attention or not, her comrade had been replaced by a rather large and slightly intimidating feline. Chase it. something demanded from her inner side, shocking her slightly. Assuming this to be the canine inside of her that had been hushed for so long, she could feel it's anxiety pick up and fuel the building adrenaline. It wanted her to.. Chase him?

Oh, yeah. He was a cat. Well, technically.

And then, just as quickly as the command had come, something more submissive and regretful filled her up inside as the beast seemed to change it's mind. Too big. Run. So, this must be what it's like to finally cross that bridge from being two seperate beings.. into one. Heidi had never heard this feral voice inside of her head until now, but maybe it had to do with being outside, or living in an environment where she wasn't the only one like this that triggered it. The adrenaline was still flooding into her endocrine system, pumping her heart faster and harder. As this increased, so did the container keeping her human. She was nearing the shifting line closer and closer with each heart beat, whether she was ready to do it or not. Fortunately (or not) for the girl, it was a combination of the two.

Before she had a chance to react, the shift happened automatically without any mental stimulation that she was aware of to set it off. At first, her body gave into a whole numbing sensation, freezing her where she stood. But then it started. All along her limbs and frame, white hair follicles spread like wild fire over her skin, long and replacing her former strawberry mane. In some places, black hair grew instead of the white and gave off the appearance of more of a dalmation than what she really was. Her spine shot forward and pulled back, forcing her to the ground onto hands and knees. Those didn't last long either once her femurs and forearms started to shatter and fix into place.

Claws errupted from her knuckles while fingers shorted and instead formed into thick toe digits, the luxury of having a thumb removed. Line of vision also started to get shorter and shorter as she shrank while simultaneously her face, too, adapted to the shift. Feeling like pins and needles, her skull enlongated forward and a wet, black nose appeared on it's tip; much larger than what she sported before. Even before the shift was complete, an invasion of various scents smacked her nose like an angry woman, and Heidi staggered from side to side a little while she waited for her brain to adjust. The most dominant scent to her was the pond, then came the foliage around them, and finally, Luke. These weren't the only ones she could pick up, but the three major smells none the less.

As a final touch, her own fluffy tail sprouted out from her backside while ears lifted and eyes grew. One ear was the exact polar oposite from the other, though, as it came out an ebony black both both had long tufts of fur around it. Black freckles dotted her face appropriately as the transformation came to a conclusion. A human no more. Exhaling deeply in excitement as feeling came back, she shrugged off the heavy shirt and shorts that hung loosely around her body. Side glancing towards Luke to make sure he was ready to go, she gave a friendly wag of the new tail and yipped, that same adrenaline pushing her forward.

Without wasting another second, Heidi scooped up the wet clothes in her mouth and clamped down with her jaws tightly, securing them. She counted to five in her head slowly, took one leap back, and then launched herself into a random direction into the woods. Heidi hadn't a clue in the world where she was headed, but so long as her feet were flying frantically under her, she was satisfied. The drenched articles flapped in the wind wildly around her face as she dodged trees and boulders here and there, her fur rippling with the forced breeze she demanded from the trees. Now.. where to go where to go...

Pinecone! barked the voice in her head, the beast well alive and running with her now.

Huh? ..Pinecone? What was that supposed to mean? Momentarily distracted, she nearly smacked head on to an intimidating looking pine tree, and just managed to side step fast enough out of the way to avoid a collision. Though she did lose some of her momentum. Find the pinecone! it came again, urgently and slightly irritated at her delay. Oh! The pinecone Luke had thrown at her back on the path.. that must be what it was talking about. It wasn't a bad idea, either. Find the pinecone, you find the path you were on and from there it was a straight away back to the school. Fool proof! Thoroughly excited, she only picked up her pace and looked past the fishy odor of her clothes and locked onto the distant pinecone she could sense. Hm.. maybe it wasn't so bad being able to shift after all?

TAGG? James
WORDS? 1546
NOTES? UGH. DD: I wrote this all out earlier today, and right when I was going to post it, I managed to accidentally delete it. ;-; So after I stopped moping around and sulking, I typed it all over again. And. I think this is longer. xD
CREDIT? hey it's SHMEY ! @ caution 2.0

[Luke Bowers]

* LUKE ( OLIVER ) BOWERS ,

By now shifting wasn’t all that weird for him. He wasn’t a shift-o-holic, but he had done it plenty of times to be used to it. From what he knew, a lot of people’s shifts talked to them. For some reason, his didn’t talk much. Well, not in the same way. It communicated a lot through emotions, more than words, but did at times communicate verbally. His eyes focused on his surroundings as he waited for her transformation to complete. Even though they were just trees, or just bushes, it really was different seeing them through the animals view. No matter how many times he shifted, it was still pretty cool. Plus he was much stealthier than he could ever be in his human form. His eyes scanned over the water and around more of his surroundings to see if he could catch something he hadn’t noticed before. Not like he should be paranoid that anybody would be spying on them or anything. That wouldn’t be very interesting for them.

He sank his claws into the earthy ground, feeling the texture between his paws and it. The only real drawback that he saw with shifting was with the clothes. Other than that, there really wasn’t much else someone shouldn’t love. Except the not being normal part of it perhaps. He turned around just in time to see her look at him and yip. Well she was surely excited to get going. He could feel the Jaguar’s excitement inside of him as well. Not just his own. They were very active animals, so he could see why it was ready to get up and go too. She took off without any warning. At first he thought she was headed in the wrong direction, but then he realized she must have been heading back towards the path. Which he had to admit was pretty clever. Once on the path, they wouldn’t have to continually dodge trees all the way through. Or maybe it was only luck that she was headed in that direction and she didn’t even know where she was going.

Luke took off behind her, wishing there was such a thing as telepathic communications so they could actually communicate. He couldn’t run in his full speed around the trees, but it was a regular habitat for a Jaguar. He carefully bound around trees and over roots and logs as he followed after her. At the path, he was thinking he would have the advantage. He was pretty sure he could run faster, but he was afraid she wouldn’t bring him any clothes back if she lost. In the long run, she wasn’t actually that mean. But she could make him think – for awhile at least- that she wasn’t going to go and get him any. The warm, summer air whipped at his body as he ran, his eyes focusing on her ahead of him. She wasn’t too far, but he could see her almost run straight into a pine tree.

They hadn’t gone very far off the path, so it didn’t take very long to reach it again. He could still smell their scent from when they had taken that path earlier. His pace had decreased when he arrived at the path, but came to a full stop for a moment when he noticed something. His eyes landed on their foot prints from earlier. However, on the other side were two more sets of footprints and they weren’t theirs. Someone had apparently come in from behind them, but weren’t heading back yet. Not that he cared and it definitely wasn’t his problem. Without even checking to see if Heidi had continued or stopped, he took back off down the path. The Jaguar was content to run down the path, surrounded by trees. He, on the other hand, wasn’t very happy about looking at trees and more trees on both sides of the path.

tagged , Heidi
words , 653
lyrics , run this town - jay-z
notes , Thanks for killing me, lol.
credit , rora @ hos

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[Heidi Valentine]

Even while dashing through the trees, Heidi was still trying to adjust in her new skin. Her human 'brain' was there, that she was aware of due to her own free thoughts, but as afore mentioned, that inner collie was still in there, chit-chatting away with her both emotionally and verbally. Or.. mentally verbally.. Something like that. It was so persistant on her finding this stupid pinecone, though, it was borderline annoying.

But, rather than sit here and argue with a dog, Heidi complied and just focused on getting to that pinecone as quickly as she could without smacking into a tree and snapping her neck. Ow, much? Luckily, collies were known as one of the most agile and fastest dog breeds out there when it came to their sprints, and few other canine species could compare to their near 40mph. Unfortunately, though, Heidi wasn't up against another dog. Behind her, loping along just as graceful as ever, was a Jaguar. Not a dog. She figured, though, due to his size, bulk, and common short feline limbs that he couldn't get -super- fast.

But hey, she was known to be wrong before in the past.

Pinecone! urged the hyperactive animal, thrilled to be running about. Okay, okay! she thought frustratedly, wondering if there was a way to silence the voice. Did other students have this 'issue' too? She'd have to make a point and ask around when they got back sometime. Without too much time eloping, her paw pads smacked the pathway and her mind - both of them - registered it to be 'civilized'. Which meant the blasted pinecone was out here somewhere. Once her whole body made the transition from wilderness to the walkway, chin pressed to her chest tightly while ears flattened ontop of her skull; pinning down to reduce air friction. Instinctly, her dainty little canine paws started to pump faster and faster under her furry frame as they launched the dog through the trees.

Wind roughly snatched her locks of white and black fur, but it actually felt pretty nice. Especially on a hot day like this. Somewhere off behind, she noticed that only one pair of footpads were falling in the area around her; and those would be hers. Figuring Luke must have stopped for some reason, she took this as an opportunity to cover some more ground before she could see what kind of damage he could do as a feline. What a classic scene! Cat vs. Dog. Infact, they'd even made a movie (or two) over it. Before she could delve too deep in those thoughts on the movie, a little radar-like sound went off in her head as she neared the pinecone, it's scent getting thicker and stronger with each bound. It was passed in a matter of seconds, though, sending the mini 'radar' in her head through a frenzy of annoying sensations when she was practically right ontop of it. The Collie wanted to take a second and sniff it a good few times, and relish in the fact that it'd managed to find something; together as a working unit with Heidi.

But Heidi had other plans on her agenda, and the beast within only whined. She felt kind of bad for passing it up, but she'd figure on her way back to get her stuff, she'd be able to grab a new pinecone for it and keep it in her dorm or something. A light pant started to work up in her mouth as the trees continually flew by in one collective blur of green. Never had she run this hard before, both human and canine, and this was her first shift in, what, two weeks maybe? Yeah, that sounded about right. This was certainly without a doubt going to make her body sore by the time she shifted back. Oi vey.. Hope they had a massage room or something around here. A heating pad, at the least. After covering a good amount of ground, she decided to slow down just a little bit to conserve her energy. Heidi had a very high stamina rate but, just like muscles, if you don't exercise it, you lose it. And it'd been some time since she ever needed to use it last.

Concentrating on her breathing, the dog briefly looked over her shoulder to see just where Luke was. She'd never seen him in his feline form before today, which was odd, but Heidi knew what his shift was. Just what had slowed him down back there anyways?

TAGG? James
WORDS? 757
NOTES? Anytime, buddy.
CREDIT? hey it's SHMEY ! @ caution 2.0

[Luke Bowers]

* LUKE ( OLIVER ) BOWERS ,

Luke usually loved a challenge, and he hardly stopped for anything. Even as he continued running after he had stopped, he debated on whether he would care if he lost or not. It would be another thing for her to pick on him about, but she could add that under her list of million other things to pick on him with. He actually had no clue how fast a Jaguar could run, but he did know they were known more for running long distances, rather than an incredible speed. They also didn’t usually chase their prey. They stalked and ambushed them. Not that he was trying to catch prey, even though that’s what dogs were to Jaguars. By now he had learned to mostly control that inner need when he shifted. That was pretty mandatory for him, since most animals were prey to a Jaguar.

He bound along the path, despising all of the surrounding trees, but enjoying the open space to run. No need to dodge trees and logs, hoping he wouldn’t trip over one, or run into one. Where was she at, though? How far had she actually gotten when he stopped? At least she had been smart enough not to. Or maybe she hadn’t seen the footprints. Not that they mattered. That’s why he didn’t understand why he had stopped. For once he could say it wasn’t him being paranoid about be stalked. Nobody in their right mind would stalk him anyways. He followed her footprints along the path – they were small, but still visible.

His eyes spotted her in the distance and he picked up his pace. They were in a race, yet he wasn’t putting on his full speed. He could tell they were almost out of the forest. It didn’t seem as long after shifting and running along the path, but in human form it had seemed longer. Mainly because they had been walking and there wasn’t anything to look at but trees. Even with his fast pace, he didn’t think he could catch up before the end after that stop. Maybe a full out run, but that would kill his muscles in the end. Ending up in pain after the race wasn’t his idea of fun, so he had to slowly work himself into it. He glanced down at the shoes in his mouth, the shoelaces bouncing around as he ran. Carrying sneakers around wasn’t really such a great idea. It was really uncomfortable. He could see the opening up ahead, and Heidi was close within reach. He still remembered thinking she might not go and get his clothes if she lost, which caused him to slow down a little. She wasn’t paying any attention and wouldn’t likely notice, but he would have to tell her he let her win so she wouldn’t think he actually let her win. Or maybe it would have been fair and square.

tagged , Heidi
words , 476
lyrics , run this town - jay-z
notes , None.
credit , rora @ hos

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[Heidi Valentine]

The scent of the school was lingering closer and closer with each footfall she made, telling her senses of the approaching building not too far off. Time certainly was flying now that she was practically galloping to get back before her comrade. Compared to however long they'd been out here walking, Heidi was sure she was going to get back in half that time, considering the situation. Still looking behind her as she ran, there came to be no sight of the dominantly golden pelt feline. This both worried her, and made the collie within bark with joy. To it, this meant that she might have a chance at winning this thing. But to her, Heidi could only assume the worst had happened and he'd strayed off the path, or.. something worse she'd rather not think about.

Very close to making her mind up to turn around and go look for him, the idea was obliterated when that furry face of his came into her line of vision. A mental sigh errupted as she concurred that this meant her wasn't dead. Thankfully. Or none of the other terribly awful images that were going on in her head due to his absence weren't true. No bully Rhino to speak of had mauled his body, from what she could tell, and the race was still on. Though, he was still considerately far back; shocking, to say the least. She'd figured that with all that muscle packed in there he'd been able to pass her no problem. Guess he stopped longer than I thought.. she mused, and tore off down the walkway with the school peeking in view. Her clothes were still soaked, but no longer dripping as they'd been slightly air dried, leaving a nasty pond taste in her mouth. Man, she couldn't wait to ditch these...

Seeing the school grounds closer than ever, home stretch just a little ways off, Heidi started a mental countdown from ten as she predicted her time of arrival. From what she could tell, Luke was still back there somewhere, which excited her inner beast beyond belief. Giving one final bound, Heidi launched herself off of the path and broke onto the school ground's soft, plush grass. The difference from dirt to the green blanket obnoxiously brilliant. Pure joy washed over her little canine frame as she tried to slow herself to a trot, seeming to grin around the clothes she kept in her jowls. After a few seconds her momentum let up as that once light pant shifted into a heavy one while she turned back around to wait for Luke to catch up and fork over his room key.

Chest heaved roughly in and out as thick wads of air were sucked into the greedy lungs, always wanting more than what she could inhale. If ever there was a time for her to feel out of shape, now was the time. This would be nothing compared to when she shifted back and woke up the next day, though, she knew for sure. No matter. Dropping the clothes from her mouth as she sat down, she reached a hind limb up to scratch the back of her, tongue lolling out and flapping merrily. Heidi would save the gloating for another day. All she wanted to do now was get the key, change, bring him back some clothes, shower, and take a desperately needed nap even at this late an hour. Sure, she'd be up all night probably, but that'd be okay. Might give her some time to finally unpack. And hey, maybe meet the roommates?

She might just cry if one of them was a rhino, though.

TAGG? James
WORDS? 612
NOTES? Rarr
CREDIT? hey it's SHMEY ! @ caution 2.0

[Luke Bowers]

* LUKE ( OLIVER ) BOWERS ,

Luke was still running along the path when he noticed her stopping. She had already reached the end, and more than likely was praising herself for it. Well she had done a good job, even though he had stopped. He wondered if she still would have won if he hadn’t stopped, though. That would have been pretty sad if so. He had never gone out in a full run in Jaguar form before. As he reached the end of the forest, he began to slow down. The wind was blowing, and he had to admit it felt really good after all of that walking and running they had done. He dropped the shoes on the grass and sucked the air into his lungs now that he wasn’t carrying anything.

Now that he thought about it, the only way to get his key out was technically to shift back into his human form and get it out. Then he would have to shift back or sit out there without any clothes while she grabbed his stuff. Just as he was contemplating his options, he felt the wind picking up, whipping at his fur. As he looked up, he could see the trees blowing in the wind. It was hard to see much since it was almost too dark to see after a certain distance. He had a feeling it was going to storm and it picked the wrong time to do it. The Jaguars ears perked up as he listened. Off in the distance he could hear the rain coming and it wasn’t just light rain either. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t want to sit out there in the rain after all.

Taking his shoes back into his mouth, he ran passed Heidi, hoping she would follow along. He knew she wasn’t crazy enough to sit out there in the rain and he couldn’t be the only one to hear it coming. Luke continued running along the grass, towards the dorm buildings. He stopped at the door, looking up at the handle. How were they going to get that open? Rain drops started falling around him as he thought. Suddenly someone ran up behind him and grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. He didn’t bother to see who it was since it had started pouring down rain and he couldn’t thank the kid since he couldn’t exactly speak. He ran up the stairs, leaping over several steps at once until he reached his floor. The wind was pushing against the building now and the rain was pounding on the roof. It almost sounded like the building was being torn apart and that was not a comforting thought. He spotted his dorm room, number 106 and took off full speed to it and slid to a stop. Luke glanced back at her and then to the door.

He stood up against the door, pushing his paws against it. After a moment of nobody opening it, he made up his mind. The only possible thing he could think of was to shift and hope she would turn around when she realized what he was doing. He dropped his shoes and focused on changing back. It didn’t seem as long this time for his human form to take shape. The skin was one of the first to come back, the fur disappearing and his height growing. His arms and legs grew as well and the paws disappeared as his hands and fingers took shape and expanded to their original size. The tail began to disappear, shrinking into his body and his face shaped itself back to the way it originally was. He took a deep breath and stood up. The door knob turned easily under his hand and he pushed it open. Apparently it was unlocked. Maybe one of his roommates left in hurry or something.

Luke ran inside and picked up the first clothes he came to. He dressed quickly, almost forgetting that Heidi was outside of his room. She still had to get dressed too. After he pulled on his shoes, he glanced out his window. It was so dark he couldn’t see anything. Water was pounding against his window, so that didn’t help anything. It wasn’t an ordinary storm that much was clear. But he wasn’t sure whether it was a possible hurricane or something else. He ran out of his room and turned towards Heidi. ”Lead the way to your room.” It was bad enough if it was a hurricane, but it would be worse being stuck in animal form or with no clothes on.

tagged , Heidi
words , 770
lyrics , run this town - jay-z
notes , None.
credit , rora @ hos

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[Heidi Valentine]

Yes, victory! Heidi couldn't get enough of the feeling as she sat there in the grass patiently, chest heaving in and out while that salmon pink tongue dangled out the right side of her muzzle. Thoughts of drinks at the restaurant on the island buzzed through the girl's mind, Shirley Temple sticking out the most. Maybe a virgin Daiquiri instead though? Hrm.. decisions decisions. Eyes lowered momentarily to the soggy clothes on the grass, running her tongue distastefully against the pallet of her mouth as she tried to ignore the taste of pond. It wasn't easy, that much was for sure. Not that the sudden breeze that had picked up was helping the cause any, blowing the scent even more towards her sensitive snout. She blinked a few times as this thought registered. A breeze?

Chin tilted upwards as she peered at the sky, squinting at the thick, looming black clouds that were approaching. Positively rotund with the rain they were threatening to let loose. What...? Where had that come from? And that not so little breeze started to pick up even more now, she noticed, as the greedy hands of the wind was snatching her white and black pelt roughly and toying with it as it pleased. Anxiety started to pick up in her chest as eyes widened, noticing that the sky was getting darker as well. Heidi quickly looked around the area that she was sitting on, standing on her feet and starting to shiver slightly from the chilly wind. Most other students were noticing the change in weather, too, and were leaping up and making their way to the school in a hurry.

A high pitched whine vibrated her vocal chords as she anxiously looked back down the path, waiting for Luke to catch up. No way was she leaving him out here alone in.. whatever freak storm this was. Even though she was sure he'd be able to take care of himself, Heidi was dead set against just abandoning him all the same. Before she had too much time to start worrying, the feline had dashed past her in a flurry of gold and black, leaving her only seconds to bend over, retrieve her stuff, and turn tail after him. Oh sure, now he had all the speed in the world to spare! Scrambling after him, the first signs of the rain storm to come started drizzling down on top of the campus and them, big cold globs smacking her body and sending a shiver down her spine.

Hadn't she gotten wet enough today as it was?

Heidi hadn't had much time to wonder how they were going to get into the dorms, considering that was the building they were running to, due to a random student coming to answer her prayers as he'd ripped the door open and took cover. Following in close after the fluffy tail in front of her, she managed not to have the door hit her as it swung back, submitting to the force and will of the wind. Nails clicked against the tiled floor as she followed Luke down the hall, and up a couple of flights of stairs. Judging by the fact that he hadn't taken the next flight up, she figured they were headed to his room first. It was all the same to Heidi, so long as she was inside and not alone.

Her pace slowed as they neared a certain door, eyes darting up curiously to see what room number it was. 106? A random number to her, but, so was 210, she supposed, and so the collie sat as she waited for Luke to figure out a way to get himself inside. She arched her brow as a coy, canine-like smile spread around the clothes in her mouth as if to say Okay, what now genius? Until, that is, he shot her a glance. Blinking, her head cocked to the side as she tried to figure out what exactly he meant. The minute the first patch of human skin started to grow in, though, she got the message and whirled around quickly and listened as she heard the door click open. Inside, she could detect him ruffling through his clothes and grabbing something quick to get into. Sitting out there in the hall alone, though, with the howling wind outside only fueled the panic rising in her chest.

It was dark outside, not that she could see it, but she could feel it. It was a wonder Heidi wasn't afraid of falling asleep, since she had to be in a dark room for that to happen. Storms were a whole different matter, though, and it sent more involuntary shivers down her spine. Not too long had passed before she heard the familiar voice coming behind her, not bothering to look and see who it was. "Lead the way to your room." came the tone, and Heidi didn't hesitate to run off in the direction of the stairs.

The medium sized dog skid around the corner of the staircase, thoroughly panting at this point as exhaustion reached her body at last. Landing on the floor she needed to be on with a tired 'thud', she slowed to a trot and whined at room 210 once they'd reach there, involuntarily. Figuring Luke would take the hint and open the door for her rather than have her shift right there and have to do it herself, the collie would wait before pitter-pattering inside of the dorm eagerly. The shift happened almost the second her tail made it inside of the room, that being the first thing to go. Her bones stretched somewhat painfully back to their original state, with the thankful addition of a pair of thumbs on her hands. Her spine crackled and curled upwards as it dragged her onto her back legs noisily, the fur literally vanishing with the presence of her more puny human skin.

She didn't bother waiting for the transformation to complete before kneeling before one of her suitcases and unzipping it as her ears shrank back to their non-fluffy, less adorable size. She yanked out a pair of pajama pants, figuring she might as well get comfy if they were going to be roughing the freak storm going on outside. The building quivered ever so slightly as the wind and pounding rain seemed to repeatedly punch it over and over, making her search for the rest of her clothes all the faster. Her face had resumed it's previous state and the same could be said for her hair as she pulled the final shirt garment over her head. Slipping on a pair of flipflops, Heidi ran back towards the door, fully human at this point, and sore all over from their run while she looked at Luke.

"I don't know if this school has a.. storm room or something when it gets this bad, but we could hang in here or back at your place if you want. Or somewhere else?" Voice was smaller, much more timid than it had been earlier that day. Storms were not a favorite of hers, at all. Heidi tried to swallow down as much of the fear as she could, hating how vulnerable she felt in this weather. What she'd hate more, though, would be if Luke decided to just part ways for the night. Had this been under normal circumstances and the possibility of her blowing away in the dark wind wasn't present, she wouldn't have minded. Sure, they could catch up later. But fact of the matter was, no one was in her room. She'd have no one to distract her from the storm. Or the dark, for that matter. Heidi stood there in the door none the less, waiting for Luke's response.

It was going to be one hell of a long night if he decided to part ways. Actually, it was looking to be that way anyways. Luke or no Luke.

TAGG? James
WORDS? 1329
NOTES? Rarr
CREDIT? hey it's SHMEY ! @ caution 2.0

[Luke Bowers]

* LUKE ( OLIVER ) BOWERS ,

The storm outside was getting worse –he could hear it from inside the building. The wind was howling so loud outside that he could hear it very clearly inside. Luke followed after Heidi, his shoes echoing loudly through the hall as he ran towards the stairs. He slowed down as he reached them – he didn’t need to sprain his ankle in a storm like this. Since he hadn’t even had the chance to ask her which room she was staying in, he let her lead the way to it. She stopped at room 210 and whined at the door – he took that as a sign that that was her room. He took a deep breath to slow down his breathing and reached for the door knob. He turned it in hopes that it was unlocked, which it was. After pushing it open so that she could get in, he rested against the wall and let her have her privacy to change.

Luke closed his eyes and listened to the rain hitting the roof. It was coming down so fast, that it hardly sounded like rain at all. If it wasn’t so loud, he probably could have heard her bones shifting even from just outside of her room as she changed back into her human form. He felt like they might have to yell at each other to even know what they’re saying. While she changed, checked some of the dorms to see if there were any students in them. The few that he managed to check were empty – hopefully they weren’t caught outside during the storm and were in another building. Probably one that had more people than this one did. Hurricanes were scary, but he would rather be with Heidi than a bunch of other students who were possibly scared out of their minds. Though hopefully some of them could think in situations like this.

The other buildings probably had the advantages of the teachers, though. They could help calm everyone down. He did know one thing, though. They were stuck in the dorm building and if the storm lasted too long, they were going to get pretty hungry in there. Luke turned around as he heard her come out of her bedroom. He thought for a minute. As far as he knew, he hadn’t ever seen a “storm room.” He walked over to the window and looked out at it. It was hard to see much, because it was dark. But he could still make out some of the rain. ”As hard as the rain is coming down, I think it would be really painful to go back outside.” Not only that, but the wind could possibly blow them out somewhere on the island or in the ocean.

He backed away from the window, having forgotten that it wasn’t safe to stand near windows during storms. Turning back around, he thought for a minute. ”I think the best place would be the lower floor for now. There aren’t any windows to break on us and the lowest floor is usually the safest.” He grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the stairs. As he reached them, he let go and started descending slowly down the steps. He stopped at the bottom floor and looked towards the door that was still closed. ”I hope this storm doesn’t last long or we’re going to be stuck in here for a long time.” He didn’t want to sound pessimistic or anything – just prepared.

tagged , Heidi
words , 582
lyrics , run this town - jay-z
notes , None.
credit , rora @ hos

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[Heidi Valentine]

”As hard as the rain is coming down, I think it would be really painful to go back outside.” Painful rain? Not quite understanding, she poked her head out further from the safety of her room, looking down the hall at the window he was gesturing to. It was pitch black outside, from what she could tell, and the mere recognition of this seized her heart up in a flurry. After feeling like it had momentarily stopped, it suddenly, without warning, began to beat and thud ever faster; banging in abuse against her rib cage. Heidi tried to swallow this fear down, ignoring it as best she could, but it was a fool’s errand. The rain was deafening from outside the window, and that alone was convincing enough to keep her from running a suicide mission back to the main building, and she groaned at this realization.

Dangit!

“Yeah.. I think you’ve got a point there,” she finally responded, if not a bit too delayed, and uneasily switched her weight from foot to foot. Arms started to wrap around her waist then, clinging tightly to herself as she felt goosebumps start to appear on her arms; but not from any indication of the cold. Out of pure phobia of the dark. This was nothing compared to how she’d react if the power went out, or if she were in a totally dark environment though. At this rate, she was still ‘handling it well’. All in all, Heidi had little to no experience with storms; or whatever this was called that was going on outside. Back at home, the worst it ever got was a prolonged thunder storm, but even then it was nothing in comparison to this. All she knew was that going outside was asking for more screaming muscles, and she certainly didn’t want to have anything to do with that. Her calves and biceps were hurting enough as it was.

She watched him, then, start to back away from the window as if a sudden change in mind or something had occurred. Her head tilted as she didn’t quite comprehend; what was wrong with the window? It wasn’t broken was it? Her eyes flashed to the glass once again to see if it was, and found that no visible cracks were there. ..Huh. Perhaps he had a phobia of windows or something that she’d no idea about. ”I think the best place would be the lower floor for now. There aren’t any windows to break on us and the lowest floor is usually the safest.” Just as she started to feel pity sink into the pit of her stomach as the idea of Luke being afraid of windows developed, it was quickly obliterated by his words. “Ohh..” she breathed, both in agreeing with his statement and coming to a realization about her clearly wrong hypothesis on why he’d been backing up. “The windows can.. break?” Her broken, distant voice was airy; light. Heidi had no idea that the winds were that powerful, or even close. The idea was frightening all together, and she held back any protests once his fingers wrapped tightly around her wrist and gave a rough tug.

Fleeing her room behind, Luke lead the way down the hall at a pace she had to kind of scramble at to keep up, least she end up being dragged down the hallway. Heidi had a moment to look over her shoulders to her room, hoping the door would shut on it’s own. By the time they reached the stairs and Luke’s hand had disappeared, she only had time to follow after him down the staircase and didn’t have a chance to make sure the room was closed. Figuring no one would come and swipe her stuff anyways in the weather, she pushed it out of her mind and concentrated on running down the stairs after Luke – who she couldn’t see at this point – and not falling on her face. Her legs were begging for her to stop this whole ‘motion’ thing; they were spent, exaughsted, and wanted nothing more than to be at rest.

Now wasn’t the time to be at rest with anything, though. Even she knew that. Landing on the ground level with a thud, and hardly moving to the side enough to not ram into Luke – who had inconveniently decided to just stop there all of a sudden with no warning what’s so ever – she staggered over to one of the corners furthest from the door. Her back slammed against this while chest heaved in and out from the stair run, legs falling out in front of her while the rest of the girl sank to the floor in a heap. Her head rolled to one side tiredly, bitterly reminding herself that she needed to get back to the gym and catch back up on her running ASAP. ”I hope this storm doesn’t last long or we’re going to be stuck in here for a long time.” Down here, there didn’t seem to be any windows at all, as Luke had said, but his depressing words were enough to shake her out of the lull of her fear, if only for a minute. She shot him a glare, one Heidi wasn’t accustomed giving as her brows knotted together in a frown, eyes instantly growing cold.

“Listen, Luke,” she hardly recognized the voice that had come out; there was clearly something different about the tone – which is what always happened when she let her phobias get the best of her. Down here, sure, there weren’t any windows. Nothing but the light of the electricity. But she knew very well that the chances of the lights flickering and staggering and sending her into momentary darkness were very real. And more frightening than the darkness of outside had been. “Now’s not the time to be thinking negatively. It can’t last forever; the cloud will run out of water eventually, the wind will change currents, and it’ll pass.” Came the snap. When? She had no idea. But it only made sense. The only way water could form into clouds was through evaporation; and it wasn’t hot or relatively warm outside at all to have that happen. Heidi sighed, then, as she felt a booming headache take the form of her earlier annoyance, and she squeezed her eyes shut while using her index and thumb to massage them gently. Drawing her knees to her chest, she finally wrapped her arms around them and placed her chin on them, biting her lip as the goosebumps returned.

“Sorry..” she apologized, feeling awful; a temper was something she didn’t have. But in situations where her adrenaline had been pumped too hard and too fast in such a short amount of time to her head, things.. got said. Shivering once, she put her forehead on her arms and shut her eyes once again, fighting off the headache as best as possible. “So how do you know so much about storms and stuff anyways?” came the question, her somewhat-normal tone back. Shaking, but back. “I thought you lived in like, Arizona or something; isn’t that just all… sand?”

TAGG? James
WORDS? 1207
NOTES? Sorryy
CREDIT? hey it's SHMEY ! @ caution 2.0