Skinwalkers: They walk among us. Semi Lit [OPEN]

[amithethird]

"Ok, whatever, I'm sorry, ok? I'm an insensitive ass," Deidra said when Noelle said Coal wasn't from a pack. God, she couldn't believe what a fool she was making of herself. Distracted, insensitive, clueless idiot. Why did she never pay attention to other people or what was going on around her? She was always just lost in her own head and never thinking about others or watching her mouth. Always, always, always. She took a deep breath.
"Look, ok, I'm really sorry for what I said," she said, "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings. I'm glad you're not mad at me, but I think I'm just going to take a walk or something. I can't be around your territorial boyfriend anymore. See you around."
Or I guess not since Coal probably won't let you near me. Kinda sucks. She seemed nice.
She shoved her hands in her pockets and turned around. She started walking towards the track again, trying to stop thinking about those whole situation. She caught up with the rottweiler and glanced at it before continuing to walk.
"You comin' or are you going to run out on me too?" she muttered, half to herself.

[LoneWolf-Gage]

Coal listened while Noelle tried to smooth things over. He was not quite use to these situations. Still, he remained silent. He was not about to apologize for who he was. He didn't care that he did not have a pack or a family. Why start caring now after eighteen years? He was who the world had made him and he was not sorry about being that person. Not in the least. His eyes stayed mostly on Noelle though they did glance around from time to time. He heard what Deidra had said and grit his teeth. 'Territorial?' had he been acting like that? he ground his teeth a bit to the idea that he may have just cost Noelle a friend. He stepped back slightly as he let go of her. "I'm sorry." He told Noelle very quietly. He had not wanted to cause trouble for her. Never for her. The though of just moving on crossed his mind. She knew what Deidra was now, maybe she could have friends, like the boy she was talking about before too. Coal's mind was spinning and seemed to be turning on him and closing in.

Warren smirked. "Yes we are suppose to keep that quiet." he said as he glanced to those around them. "But new games will be popular soon enough." He said passing it off as if Pierce had been referring to a video game or something. There were a few based on shifters and such so it was the usual cover story if people asked questions. Warren paid the bill on their way out and left the waitress a nice tip.

Waylen sighed. "You don't know all of it." He said sorrowfully as he downed another glass before she pulled him from his seat. "What?" He asked slightly alarmed. "I uh... I can't really dance to this kind of music." He admitted rubbing the back of his neck. Ok Waylen knew he had no social life and all but the fact that he only knew formal dancing had never been a problem until now.

[Purity116]

Noelle let Deidra leave, although part of her kind of didn't want to, since Noelle knew she was a skinwalker now and thus, however distantly, a friend, but... she looked like she really did just need to clear her head, so Noelle contented herself with the fact that at the very least, she didn't seem all that angry with them any more. Straightening to face Coal again as he stepped away, she simply smiled, relaxing as the tension of the moment slipped away, though she was a little confused why he had stopped hugging her; it had felt nice. "It's fine, Coal. I can probably just talk to her later to make sure everything's really okay; we do have..." Noelle noticed Coal's sorrowful expression, slightly pained, and frowned, attempting to figure out why he seemed so sad, "P.E. ... together..." Noelle shook her head as she found she didn't really know the reason behind his sadness, "Coal, what's wrong?" Her voice softly begged him a little for the information, strained a bit with sadness at him not being happy, concern tinting the corners of her eyes as she hesitantly reached to cradle his cheek like she liked to do, hesitating only because he strangely seemed... far away, from her. What?? That didn't really make any sense; they weren't very far apart at all: maybe a few feet at the most. What was going through that mind of his?

[Snowdrift]

Pierce blinked when Warren passed the subject off as a game. Pierce gave Warren a confused look before he followed after him. Now outside, he felt a bit better but he was still full. Pierce opened his arms wide and he stretched before he relaxed. "So...where to now?" He asked. "I think its still kind of early. The sun is still up. What do you want to do to past the time?" he asked.

Shannon looked at Waylen with a sly smirk. "Still can't dance. I thought you would have at least learned something after all these years. Well, I guess I got to show you a little something." She grabbed his hands and she guided his hands, helping him to spin her then she danced beside him. "Just follow the beat, silly. Its not that hard." she said with a giggle.

[LoneWolf-Gage]

Coal could feel his heart beat rising the more his thoughts turned. He looked at Noelle before glancing around him. He could feel the static starting around him. This was usually the time that he would bolt to keep anyone from seeing him. He looked back to Noelle while trying to force his breathing to calm. "I'm going to ruin everything for you." He said shallowly. "Because of my nature." He added. He fell silent after that though his lips continued to move. He was mouthing the montra that kept him from shifting.

Once they were away from people Warren smirked "Sorry but it's easier to pass such talk off as a game or movie than risk exposing everything." He explained. He thought for a moment before closing his eyes and thinking back to the last time he was in town. "Don't know. why don't you show me what has changed over the last dew years." He suggested.

Waylen scowled to her comment but fallowed her movements just the same. "Formal dancing is one thing. This is another." He stated as he slowly picked up on how this was suppose to work.

[Purity116]

Noelle was still extremely confused after he had spoken, "Be, because of what just happened?" She dropped her hand, tucking her arms across her chest, "But you didn't do anything, didn't... ruin anything." Noelle's attempts to rationalize and understand what Coal was saying, what he meant, failed pretty horribly. Sure, she supposed he had overreacted, but she had kind of wanted him to. She really had been upset, and it had pleased her to see Coal care enough to step forward and challenge someone who had hurt her feelings. Course, she had been high on emotion, and now she probably would have preferred that she not been bothered at all, but that was her fault, not Coal's. "You just reacted to how I felt. You didn't ruin anything," she insisted, untucking her arms so that her open palms were at her sides, in a small, subconscious attempt to calm him, her voice a small plead. She hadn't yet consciously noticed the flicker of static around him, so confused by the way he was acting.

[Snowdrift]

Pierce looked at Warren then he thought lightly. "O-Oh...um...well..I..uh..." Pierce looked down in shame and embarrassment. He didn't really do much exploring around the town himself. He usually just hide from people and things rather than explore. "Well...um..there is...I-I don't know.." he admitted. "Sorry." he mumbled.

Shannon laughed at Waylen. "Formal dancing are for suckers." She said before she bump her hip against his, almost nearly knocking him over. "Come on Waylen, loosen up a bit, will ya?" she said with a giggle. "You Chanders need to have some fun. One Darius is enough." she said as she laughed.

[LoneWolf-Gage]

Coal watched her still. He stepped towards her and leaned down slightly. "I have to go. Otherwise things are going to get bad fast." He told her softly as he still tried to keep himself in check. He stepped back and looked to her as his eyes flashed. He hoped that she understood what he was talking about. "I will come find you when it passes." He told her before kissing her cheek and darting off. He passed the teacher and muttered something about an asthma attach and his inhaler being in his locker before he bolted. He darted around behind the school and found his way to the metal shop. Again it was empty and the guard was gone. He ducked inside just in time. The change came on faster than it had before. He wasn't sure why but it had. Slowly his breathing leveled out and he calmed.

Warren smiled lightly. "Don't apologize just because you don't know." he told Pierce simply. "Then why don't we go investigate the town?" He suggested simply.

Waylen almost growled when she called him a sucker. "Says a hip hop dancing beta?" He asked with a smirk. "You would probably even attempt it on a shift." He commented with a smirk. He raised an eye brow when she compared him to Darius. "Like Darius huh?" He asked with a smirk. "Just cause I can't hip hop dance very well doesn't mean I am talentless ya know." He said with a sly smirk. By that alone he knew that the alcohol was starting to take effect.

[Snowdrift]

Pierce looked at Warren. "I-Investigate? I-I don't know. There arnt a lot of f-friendly people around." He stuffers a bit fearfully, losing his confidence. "M-Maybe we should h-head back to the shop." He said, looking down at his feet in shame. I-I hate this. I-I'm acting like a s-scared pup again. Maybe I'm not ready to c-change. he thought doubtfully.

Shannon laughed at Waylen. "Of course your not talentless but I know that I have more talent than you." She teased then she slowed to a stop when the song ended. "Another drink!" She exclaimed. "Come on Waylen!"

[Purity116]

Noelle gasped after he ran off, covering her mouth with her hand in near horror. She hadn't even noticed that he was struggling to hang on to his human form. What kind of a friend was she that she couldn't even help him when he needed it most? Emotion overwhelmed her and she turned away from the other courts to hide the tears that she fought vainly against. She desperately wanted to chase after Coal, to make sure he was okay, that no one saw him, that he didn't expose skinwalkers, but more than that, he was dealing with all this alone again, but that would only call more attention to him.
If someone saw him, she wouldn't be able to help him; he would have to be exiled or executed or some other humans killed.
Noelle didn't want that at all. She couldn't bear the thought, and her shaky legs gave out from under her, falling roughly to her hands and knees, her tears coming down more quickly than she had ever remembered crying so. A ripple went through her body which she didn't understand, panic and helplessness and the thought of Coal being killed, because of her, set upon by one of the skinwalkers from her house, forefront in her mind as her skin began to burn strangely.
Confusion washed through her, a break in her emotions of guilt and rising panic, a short relief to the burning of her skin, though the burn had set into her insides too. What was going on? What was this? Was... was she?
A spark of hope, of unbridled joy, calmed the burn completely, but she found herself smiling, her tears turned to ones of joy. She could shift! She could! She had just proved it! Her father and brother had described what it felt like to shift for the first time and the warning sensations to her when she was little, and that had been some of them! But what was her emotion? What had she been feeling? There were so many emotions and thoughts going through her mind...
A voice calling her name and growing closer from behind her drew her from her thoughts and made her heart skip a beat in fear. It was her teacher, sounding concerned, probably rightfully so; she had fallen on the ground quite suddenly. What if her eyes had changed color like they did for other people? She still felt some tightness in her skin, but her mind was so jumbled up from her emotions and blinding joy that she couldn't recall how she would know her eyes or any part of her was different.
Thinking fast, she stood up on one knee, and pulled the other forward, pretending as though she had tripped on her shoelaces and was now tying them, "I'm fine!" she called behind her, unable to withhold a happy ring to her tone, which was probably just fine because the scuffing sound of his tennis shoes on the pavement stopped coming closer, to her own relief, and some thrill; she wasn't usually able to hear that.
"You sure? What happened?" he hesitated a short distance away, maybe a little over twenty feet she guessed, not really far enough away for him not to recognize if something was different about her, so she switched legs, kneeling on the other, slightly painful since she had hurt her knees when falling, and undid, tightened, and retied her other shoe as well.
"Just tripped on my laces," she called back, only risking turning slightly toward him, laughing a little to emphasize that she was fine, that the whole situation was just funny and slightly embarrassing.
"Do you want to go to the nurse?"
"No I'll be fine," she stood and stretched, still not facing him. Hopefully he didn't read into it for what it really was, as being her purposely not turning toward him.
"All, all right..." It took him forever to finally turn away. Noelle sighed, then explored her face with her fingers to make sure nothing was drastically different. Did, did her canine teeth feel longer? Or was that just wishful thinking? She touched the teeth with her fingers and tongue a few times, but didn't know their usual lengths well enough to be able to know for sure. She took some calming breaths just in case, and thought of her love for her brother and mom and about some of her favorite spots in the forest. She turned back toward the court, engrossed in her thoughts as she picked up her racquet she had set down. Cautiously, she explored her own emotions that she had been feeling, careful to convince herself beforehand that Coal would be just fine, seeing as how he had been dealing with this for a long time and even if someone saw him as a dog, they wouldn't even know what they were seeing. She was still upset with herself for not having noticed him on the verge of shifting, but apparently she'd calmed down enough that it wasn't enough to make her change, or that wasn't even the emotion she had to feel at all. What was the emotion? She'd felt so many different emotions before, but she had never shifted; what was different now? This same sort of feeling, of her skin tightening, she also remembered feeling a bit of when she'd been upset over Sydney! Maybe if she compared the two events, she could figure it out.
But oh my goodness! She could shift! Grinning ridiculously, she bounced a little in place. As soon as she could figure out the emotion she shifted to, she would really be part of the pack! Her dad would finally be pleased with her and leave her alone, at least a little bit, and- and-, oh there was so much! Noelle couldn't wait to tell Coal, and her mom, and her brother, and their Alpha, and his little Harley! Harley would soooo share in her happiness.