[OPEN}breathing seems easy when you aren't

Dray gave the guy a dirty look. She did not like where this little meeting was going--first he stares at her like shes gone batty for having a teensy bit of private fun skipping around on the beach, and then he talks to her like shes the annoying little teeny-bopper bursting her bubble and cussing and all. It was no barking surprise that the woman flipped out. She had been trying to learn self-restraint, and patience for awhile now but what could the girl say--she was a slow learned, and the lesson was hard.

"Well aren't you a flipping brilliant little morsel! You've been watching me?" Clearly, brilliantly Ahsoka Jaina Dray had not gotten through her sometimes ever so thick skull, that annoying little man-boy did not mean himself. Suddenly she was extremely relaxed knowing her mysterious watcher, watching, waiting, hiding, and seeking was some teenager. "I noticed somebody was around awhile ago, you over-sized pup--just cant believe you'd come out right now and tell me it was you." Anger flared in her eyes, and her good, unmarred skin flushed red, almost matching the color of her scars.

Was this some new game, where a group of teenagers followed an innocent burn-victim to wherever her whim told her to go, and tormented her with little mind games. After a small pause she spoke again, half to herself, "And you think I'm the raving loon when all this time your the batty psychopath boy who's been following me god knows how long..." She rolled her brilliant, sparkling eyes toward the skies and all he seagulls it held. She had come to the beach for some time off from life in general, but found it now to be a tad more annoying than the woman had suspected. Dray realized now, that she'd rather be cleaning up after Old Lady Blessings animals, than be here in the middle of nowhere with some spazzing something -prenic who most likely intended to slowly drive her nutty with all his talk of shadows and other night-light creatures.

This day was just turning out to be F-A-B fabulous. Next this nameless boy would warn her of upcoming danger and some quest that only she could go on. Maybe he'd give her a secret map to Narnia and she would go save some barking, talking furry creatures and be a hero. Maybe he'd give her a mysterious fortune-cookie that would tell her her future. Psht. What a magnificent joke all of this was...

What was it about her that attracted such unwanted attention? Oh Dray--you know the crystal-clear answer to that. Have you looked at yourself in a mirror recently--seen your stupid, stupid face?

Dray had just saved the kids life, yet he still seemed as obnoxious as ever. And he wanted to drive. Dray was not going to put her fate into the hands of some little boy. She ran, faster, faster, using all her speed that she had accumulated over the years of having people chase her and call her a monster, a bloody freak. Finally she conjured up enough strength to continue to run while also pulling her hand, her hand that was being crushed in the tight grip of a kid, and Dray did something rather childish. She bit him.

She didn't wait to see the expression on his face, just kept on running. Her hand flexing. In her early twenties, Ahsoka was just past the prime of her life and she had always been one of the fastest kids in District Five. Finally she was putting her speed to good use, weaving through the battlefield the beach had become and her eyes grew to cat-like slits as she saw the car. It was like some freaking beacon of light, except not in the dead-person-move-toward-the-light way. More like hope, or something non-deadly. She finally let her lean, strong legs fire up and breathlessly she climbed into the car, pulling the seat-belt over her, as not to give the teen punk the chance to try and push her over and grab the wheel. She didn't care how skilled he was in a car, there was no way Dray was giving a child the wheel to a car that looked like it could be very fast. Id end up screaming my head off because we lost the shooters, only to have this guy try and do a few donuts around a tree or something. No way, no how am I putting my fate into the hands of this guy... no way.

The woman licked her lips, eyes darting about as she inspected the inside of the car. On the outside it was sleek and Dray couldn't wait to here it purr like the farm-cats back at home. This was a mean machine, that it was. Ahsoka Jaina had never loved cars, but she liked speed and the car was an extension of her legs right now, it would be just like running for her life except she wouldn't be as wibbly-wobbly when she could finally just stop. D

Her eyes turned to the unnamed boy, realizing that he wasn't really a kid. Sure she was older and a heck of a lot wiser, but he hadn't taken the shooters as such a big deal. Dray could see him holding his own against a few armed men, if she had chosen to just leave him. What Dray had figured was some maternal instinct taking over when she met the punk, was instead that stupid little empath or whatever crying out about how lonely and sad he had to be. Telling her to keep him alive because deep down underneath the scarred, tormented shell of AJ Dray, was a fierce, loyal, battle-ready woman just waiting to show her stuff.

"Don't argue, just roll with it." She growled at him, trying to sound as in command as possible. "Be barking civil about this, eh? I just saved you from becoming a nice little victual to some snipers" Dray raised her good eye-brow, the one on the pretty side of her face and her eyes smoldered. This was one of those moments that changed a life forever.