content, [jayden]

[Rose Graham]

I come with you, I come for blood.
No laws. No Code of Conduct.
You point me in the right direction,
You better get out of my way.

Normally, Rose would avoid the beach at all costs. It was just too hot, which made the messy sand too hot, and it was just uncomfortable. And of course, she hated swimming in the ocean, so she couldn't go in there to cool down. Now, it wasn't that she hated swimming. Swimming was cool, as long as you were in a swimming pool, with boundaries, and no constant fear of mysterious, evil things swimming underneath you. So at the beach, she would rather stay on the shore than constantly worry about being swept into the unknown, or having strange things lurking underneath you.

Now, she knew JAWS was a fictional movie, but, come on, sharks aren't fictional. Now, if it was a dragon movie, the chances of you getting charred to a crisp by one of them is, oh, slim to none. Most likely none. But sharks are real. No denying that. There was always the danger of those. Granted, she didn't know if there were many sharks around this area; but she'd rather be safe than really, really sorry.

So why was Rose at the beach? Because the day was overcast and the temperature was tolerably warm. She hadn't even been down to the beach, for some reasons, and so when the day turned out like this, she thought she'd try it. She realized her prejudice against the beach was correct, and agreed within herself that this was the only day she would attend the hot-sandbox-death-trap in a long, long time. She really wondered why so many people liked the beach. The girls probably only liked it so the could tan, and she wondered how many guys liked it for the same reason. Little kids were excused because they liked everything. It was a mystery Rose couldn't solve, and for once, she didn't mind.

Right now, Rose was sitting at the edge of the ebbing tide, her pant legs rolled up to her knees, her flip-flops discarded at her side. She was enjoying sitting at the peak of the tide, the place where the water pushed and pushed, but couldn't make it past. It might have looked weird, but Rose would scoot up and down with the tide, still staying at the spot where it only just barely covered her feet, and staying out of the danger of getting too wet. Yes, the ocean was a tad scary, but what harm was a little bit of the water? Rose closed her eyes and just enjoyed.

[url=http://www.polyvore.com/loves/set?id=6989279

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[Jayden Richardson]

Damn, Jayden hadn’t counted on hot weather. The water would hopefully be refreshingly cold. It was always good to carry a bottle of water when it was hot. The downside of having hot weather was the fact that the clothes would stick to your body and you’d sweat like mad if you did too much running or whatever. The plus side of having sun? You got a good tan – if you tanned well that is. to help ease the sweating that would surely come later, Jay was donned in a white t-shirt and khaki shorts with sandals to compliment the outfit.

As usual, the mute had rucksack stuffed with a towel, a book, a small compartment for the otter necklace, and the otter model. Fidel and Zander weren’t in the dorm, though in Jayden’s opinion, Zander was very much elusive. His animal, the fox, was elusive – well, sort of anyway. Jayden really hoped that he and Zander could become friends – he seemed nice enough. As for Fidel...well, things were good.

Focus, numpty! Sea, sunshine, HELLO! chided the inner Otter. This made Jayden smile sheepishly as he set off for the beach. Usually, the beach was deserted, which made shifting all the more comfortable. Unfortunately, there was someone else at the beach, a girl no less. As he got further into the beach, Jayden realised who it was. Rose Graham, the girl who could shift into a grey wolf. He knew her from somewhere but at this precise moment in time, Jay didn’t know. Feeling thirsty, Jayden took a swig from his water bottle. Man, was it hot or what? He could feel the heat through the sand. How could it become this hot? He thought that only Mediterranean countries got this hot.

Deciding that swimming could wait for a bit, Jayden sat near Rose but not too close as to make her feel uncomfortable. He then grasped his otter necklace and smiled a little before getting the book out. If Rose wanted to talk then she could. He wasn’t going to force her but so as to be polite; he gave her a wave and delved into the book. He was still reading Sunwing. He had deliberately held off finishing it, since he didn’t want to finish it. If it was a good read, Jayden didn’t like finishing books. He began to read a few lines before coming to the conclusion that he desperately didn’t want to finish the book. For some reason, he threw the book on the sand angrily and then proceeded to look miserable. Why couldn’t he finish books that were so good?! It defied logic. He had plenty of unread books in the dorm, so why get upset over this one?

[Rose Graham]

I come with you, I come for blood.
No laws. No Code of Conduct.
You point me in the right direction,
You better get out of my way.

Rose shifted uncomfortably. The day was getting warmer, and she wasn't that happy with it. But she had gotten so comfortable. The ocean was at a happy medium right now, and she hadn't had to move in awhile. She had even gone wild and buried her feet in sand. Come on, that was a pretty big thing. A few more people were showing up here and there, and Rose closed her eyes, willing them all to go away and leave her alone for this one time she was on the beach. She was wishing so hard, and anger at the built up inside her her, that certain anger, the scary anger, and her eyes flew open, frantically shushing it. She was breathing hard, even when it had gone away.

Rose hugged her knees, suddenly cold, even against the rising heat. Her arms were covered in goosebumps, and the the water around her feet was suddenly ice. Disregarding her comfort, she scooted back, drying her feet off as best she could and rolling down her pant legs. Rose hated when that happened, when she couldn't control the . . . thing inside of her. She tried, she really did. Sometimes she welcomed it, welcomed the warm intensity it brought, feeling the raw power behind it. She was slowly getting better at controlling it, though it still took an immense amount of strength and willpower. Rose closed her eyes and willed herself to calm down.

After a few minutes, she opened her eyes. A few more people had appeared, but she tried not to notice. Well, she had to, because they were closing in on her. She glanced around and notice Jayden, a kid from school, sitting close. He had a book, so she respected that and looked away. A little while ago, she had learned some simple ASL so she could communicate with him. It was fun. Rose sighed and pursed her lips. No matter what was changing, she really didn't want to leave.

Rose felt this tension in the air, coming from Jayden. Her eyes narrowed. She had learned to pick up on small things like this, through many different courses, and just on her own. Trying to pinpoint the reason, she came up with a few possibilities. Maybe he was just mad at himself, which would make sense when he threw down the book, Rose saw with raised eyebrows. He was sitting closer, so maybe he wanted to talk, er, communicate with her. Well, if she started talking to him, it would be an excuse to stay. Well, he was fun to talk to, too. And to test her skills. When he was just staring, she said, "Hey Jayden," with a slight smile. Not yelling, but loud enough for him to hear.

[Jayden Richardson]

For a while, Jayden just stared at the sea, angry with himself for being so stupid. It was just a book, right? So why couldn’t he just damn well finish it? He felt like crying but knew that wouldn’t solve anything. He took a series of short, sharp, silent breaths to help him calm down. Abruptly his name was called, which was very much welcomed. The mute boy turned his head to the only other person on the beach and gave a small smile.

<<Hey Rose. Sorry for that small tantrum just now. I'm annoyed with myself because I can’t finish the book, or rather I don’t want to.>>

Rose Graham was a cool person. She had gone to learn the basics of Sign Language so that she could communicate with him, which the mute Otter boy liked. It made him feel slightly wanted in a bizarre sort of way. He liked it when people purposefully went out of their way to learn Sign Language just so that they could communicate with him. Overall out of the whole school only Ryland, Rose and Zach knew Sign Language, unless there were more that the Otter didn’t know about. If there were, he and the Otter would have to sniff them out.

He’d have to get Rose’s number, maybe they could hang out more often. She seemed nice. Jayden was known for befriending different types of people – even if a trait of theirs wasn’t what Jay didn’t like. Jayden mentally shrugged and didn’t know why but he liked making friends. It was sort of like an addiction. Everywhere he went, Jayden had to make friends – well, except with humans. He wanted to befriend humans but they didn’t about shifting and that was why he couldn’t befriend any of them. If he accidentally shifted in front of one, then the existence of the shifters would be revealed, and Jayden didn’t want to be the one to reveal it.

<<Hey, I'm not sure if I asked you this before but what animal are you?>>

Rose’s animal was another one to add to the database he was compiling. He had met so many different shifters: a wolf, a raccoon, a bald eagle, a chipmunk and a mouse, but he hadn’t met another otter shifter. Maybe that’d change soon – well that’s what both Jayden and the Otter hoped anyway. He got a card out and held it out for Rose to read.

What are you majoring in?

[Rose Graham]

I come with you, I come for blood.
No laws. No Code of Conduct.
You point me in the right direction,
You better get out of my way.

The sun was on past the peak of the sky, starting to descend. Rose was starting to wonder how long she had been sitting on the beach. Not that it mattered, because it is not like she would regret it. She had nothing to do. The homework was surprisingly all done, which was a first in a very long time. All of her friends were busy, and she wanted to avoid just sitting in a room somewhere, the object of her attention being a wall or the ceiling. Sitting by the window was fun, people watching. A very fun pass time. You could tell a lot about people by just watching them, and it was almost a challenge to Rose. But that could get old after awhile, when you've seen everybody, and they are just walking from building to building; by then she would resort to staring at the birds in the sky, imagining what it would be like to fly. Rose didn't want to fly, but nonetheless always wondered what it was like to fly on wings.

So that is why she wouldn't regret being on the beach. Though it was a widely hated place (well, widely hated in her brain), it was something new, something to do. Maybe she could even make amends with the beach, scrapping off a little bit of the loathing towards the mysterious ocean and some of that disgust at the burning hot sand and the constant need to bathe yourself on sunscreen. Rose could barely stand a little lotion on her hands, so having some all over her body just didn't do well in her book.

Shaking her head a little bit, she told herself to focus, because Jayden was talking to her. Biting her lip, she concentrated on the motions. She had learned a little sign language, but she was far from understanding it when done fast. What she caught was animal. Asking what animal she was. Heaven knows she didn't have a clue how to say wolf in sign language, so she spelled it out. W-O-L-F. She could have just said it out loud to him, but they both knew she was trying to practice some of her sign language.

After she had answered that, he held up a card. It was a little far, but maybe it was the wolf inside her that helped her see it. What are you majoring in? She sighed. How in the world do you say medicine? So she spelled that one out too. M-E-D-I-C-I-N-E. After she finished, she just shrugged with a smile.

[Jayden Richardson]

Ah, that was interesting. A Wolf who was majoring in Medicine. Jayden hadn’t heard of that but then again, there were so many animals that by now, the mute boy shouldn’t be surprised. Yet he was. So far the Otter and the boy hadn’t met another Otter. They had met two Wolves, a Raccoon, a Mouse, a Snow Leopard, a Bald Eagle, a Coyote, a Chipmunk and some other animals. Jayden was a known socialite and it was a wonder he managed to see friends, family, do schoolwork and still have time for himself. He’d read in bed before going to sleep, making sure to read under the covers so as not to disturb the others. Sometimes he’d have a bout of antisocialism and run off to the beach or the library and cool off.

Talk to her, idiot!

He realised that he hadn’t told her what he was and what he took. How rude of him! He immediately rummaged through his bag and found the card he was looking for and held it as close as possible for Rose to see.

I'm an otter and am majoring in Mythology, which is just absolutely fantastic. Also, if you want, I can teach you Sign Language if you want. It’s a very useful skill to have – not just because of me but just in general.

Once he was sure she had read the laminated card, Jayden put the card back in the bag. He looked longingly at the sea but knew he couldn’t strip in front of Rose – that would be incredibly rude and somewhat embarrassing. Jay was ok to strip when with family but had an issue with it when with friends. But he didn’t know why that was. In his opinion, friends were just like extended family, without the aunts and uncles business. To Jayden, his friends were like his extended siblings – it was certainly that way with Zach. He was hoping that him and Zach would become brothers through adoption. Jayden loved Zach too much for him not to seem like a brother, and although he was good-looking and Jay did have a slight crush on him, Jay wouldn’t do anything. He knew Zach was straight and only liked him in a brotherly way.

With his joints being stiff, Jay jumped up and stretched before crouching. He’d like to be Rose’s friend – she seemed cool.

Can I get your number, if that’s ok? You seem cool, and I’d like to hang out with you sometime, if that’s ok.