One x One ;; Tate. and BurntPickle

[exixst]

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Welcome to a world where the wolves
live among us, around the corner,
down the street, watching, waiting.
Strict laws are forced upon supernatural
beings such as lycanthrope, things easy to
guess, from not killing humans to not
revealing one's true form, seems simple
enough, right? But with every law there
is the lawbreakers, those who push the limits
and get caught, punished for their acts. So what
happens after they have you pinned down,
what happens when there must be a punishment
for your crimes? Well of course, it is to repay
society, but for some wolves the debt that must
be repaid seems too much. To guard a human...
it seems to defy a wolf's every instinct.

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This is a restart of this roleplay. Idea is entirely credited to Tate. The passage above is written by Tate and is from the original thread. Gif belongs to its rightful owner.

[exixst]

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ｅｖｅｌｙｎ ｇｒｅｙ

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Name; Evelyn Grey. Age; Eighteen. Gender; Female. Sexuality; Openly bisexual. Wanted for; Arson.
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To put it shortly, Evelyn is poorly-tempered girl with the Devil's confidence. Having grown up with a single father and a younger brother after her parents divorced - her mother was unfaithful - Evie learned pretty well how to handle herself. Maybe not perfectly, considering she's as reckless as can be, and barely puts two thoughts into something before doing it. But at least she can deal with her problems head-on. Hence the reason she's gotten herself in trouble. After figuring out that her boyfriend had been cheating for God knows how long, she reacted by putting his house up in flames. Truth be told, she was unaware that he was inside at the time. Though, he didn't die; the rescuers came quickly enough that they got him out in time. The worst he had was a concussion and some memory loss. Though, they didn't arrive before she successfully keyed her name into the side of his car, because, well, screw being anonymous. Nevertheless, the police are still trying to hunt her down. She's been keeping her head off the radar, but it's been a couple months, and it's only a matter of time before they corner her completely.
Despite being highly irritable and frequently irrational, when she isn't pissed off, Evelyn is actually pretty easy-going. She's that "down for anything" kind of person, who will usually take you up on the majority of offers, as long as they aren't expensive or entirely stupid. Evie has very loose ties with pretty much everyone, and has no problem dropping them whenever she's finished putting up with them. In that sense, she's pretty unreliable, but she also isn't afraid to get into things because she isn't attached to much.
Evie is barely 5'7'', and that's when she's standing up straight, but it's rare that her posture is perfect. She's pretty scrawny, but that's mostly because she hasn't ever had the money to feast very often. That, and she's always been active. Not in sports, but just constantly running around, getting into trouble. She wears a set of average looking pale-blue colored eyes, matched with bleached hair that gives off an unnatural platinum blonde color. It's pretty lifeless and thin, so it almost always just dries straight and refuses to liven up, but it's not like she cares to tease it up, anyway.

[Tate.]

full name: Jagger Tiberius Trench
age: Nineteen years old
Gender: Male
hair color: Stark White
eye color: Apple green

Likes: Food, dogs,
sleeping, smoking, children,
video games, street fighting.
Dislikes: Cooking,
cleaning, know-it-alls,
humans, water, hunters.

Sexuality: Bisexual
Species: Lycanthrope (werewolf)
Height/Weight: 6'1, 150 lbs
Wolf
height/color: 50 in., pure white

Appearance: Skinny, small build,
multiple piercings, more often than
not with a smoke between his lips
and a grin. He often sports dark
jeans, and denim jackets.

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┏━━━━━━━━━┓
Jagger has a rugged past.
He lived most his childhood in Detroit,
his brother died of a drug OD when he
was ten, his mother was often too intoxicated
to leave her own delirium, and his father
was far from a kind man when it came
to raising his two sons. Jagger left his 'home'
soon after his brother's death, desperate to find
a new start. He was not born a wolf,
but bitten after an unfortunate chain of events.
The bite resides on his left arm, though
has healed over time. Despite the bite his
Noctophobia still lingered. Jagger doesn't like
humans given his past, believing they are selfish
beings. He's been given his dreadful sentence to
the human he must protect due to multiple
murders he has been convicted of, his past
is stained in blood.
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ｗｏｎ'ｔ ｈｅａｒ ａ ｗｏｒｄ,
ｃｏｓ' ｔｈｅｙ ｐｒｏｂａｂｌｙ
ｓａｙ ｗｅ'ｒｅ ｔｅｒｒｉｂｌe.
▇▇ ☾ ▇▇

[exixst]

damn it.

Flashes of red and blue slapped themselves on either of the two walls, getting brighter and brighter as the source drew closer. Evelyn panted gently and pressed herself up against the wall, slowly creeping further and further back, hoping that the car would just roll on by. She moved carefully, too paralyzed to even look away and see if there was something she could hide behind, or if there was even an exit to this alley. In one hand, she had a knife. It was nothing better than your typical kitchen knife, because that's exactly what it was. Luckily, not a butter knife, but just something she'd taken from someone's block. In the other hand, the hoodie. It would be far more effective to just put the damn thing on, but she wasn't thinking all that practically right now. She hadn't been from the start.

It was cold. Evelyn's arms were bare, as were her shoulders. The tank top was not very effective when it was cold enough to see one's breath in front of their face. And, man, she had quite a cloud going on right now. She wasn't cold anymore, though. She'd grabbed that hoodie and tried to act normal when she walked out with it, but, alas, everyone notices the person with the brightest hair, especially when that person doesn't ever approach the counter. That, and the alarm also went off, which she had no idea was there. Then she'd tried to make a break for it, only to find that, before she could get very far at all, an officer was storming after her. Where he'd come from, she had no clue, but he was there, like a bulldozer trampling towards her. She'd fished the knife from her shoe, effectively cutting her own leg in the process, but was working with it, anyway.

Now her ankle was bleeding, her lungs burned from how heavily she was breathing, and the car was slowly closing in on her. When the front of it showed from between the buildings, she couldn't do anything except freeze, knowing damn well that she really needed to be running, but couldn't bring herself to do it. Her breaths stopped entirely, the very trembling of her legs coming to a halt. The car continued forwards, but when the windows of the front seat were visible, so was she. Without hesitation, the car made its strange looping sound, piercing her ears with its immense noise. It was that noise, though, that snapped her back to reality.

Evie twisted around immediately then. She started running, dodging a box that had fallen onto the ground, but when she looked forwards, a new horror drained the blood from her face. Her heels dug into the ground immediately, grinding against the gravel that rolled beneath her, almost throwing her onto her feet. The alley didn't have another end. It was blocked by another building, one that she hadn't known was there. Why hadn't she just looked that direction to start with? Better yet, shouldn't she have noticed a looming darkness from that general area? The blood drained from her face, an sinking cold entering her very veins. From behind her, she could her a door opening and shutting, and someone shouting at her to not move. Evelyn didn't look over, though. She just stared at the wall, hoping that maybe a hole would be blasted through it, exposing a new exit. Because, from the looks of it, there was no way she could ever hope to scale anything like that. Other than a few bricks that stuck out of their places, for someone of her skill and fitness level, it would be impossible and stupid to try and climb up to the roof of it in the time that she had. There was no ladder, no windows, no stairs... Nothing except a dumpster and a drain, but she could never hope to drag herself up that thing. She'd be shot down before that happened. Her choices were limited, then. It was either hold up her hands and hope that this officer in particular didn't recognize her face, or she could try to evade again.

Needless to say, she chose the latter option.

Just as a hand came down on her arm to grip her, she snapped around, bringing the knife across the officer without actually aiming first. From what she guessed, she managed to cut his arm. His natural reaction was to recoil, but he recovered quickly. But Evelyn did, as well. She jerked her arm away and scrambled around, just narrowly missing the officer's new grasp. She even felt her hand try to grasp her shirt, but she slipped through that with barely an inch to spare.

She didn't look back as she ran forwards. Instead, she pushed herself onward, immediately taking off in the direction that she didn't come from. The officer barked from behind her, but, as she was on the run, she was going to continue to do so, despite the demands. It was as she was doing this that it actually occurred to her that it would be easier to run if she was just wearing the hoodie . Thus, as she ran, she worked to try and put it on. It was a clumsier process than what she had seen in the movies, especially since by the time she broke out to the street, she turned and was immediately greeted by the feeling of crashing into someone. Yelping some sort of apology, she tugged the other sleeve on as she kicked off once more.

At least the hoodie fit. Had it been too small or something, she really would've felt horrid. Evelyn mentally congratulated herself on a successful pick, and then ran across the street, careful to not get hit by anything that was coming in either direction. Evelyn really wanted to get off of the streets, considering they were packed with people, and while they could easily help to hinder the pursuing officer - or maybe there was more than one officer, she wasn't really sure at this point - they would also make it harder for her to navigate, especially if one of them felt like doing the "right thing" and taking the noble task upon themselves to grab and stop her.

Evelyn continued to run, slowly feeling better as no sign of the cop(s) came. Not that she slowed, but some of her worries were beginning to wear off. The sirens could be heard, but they weren't nearly as close as they could have been. She even took the chance to glance over her shoulder to see if anyone was following her anymore, only to feel a sudden force drag her to the side. Out of the surprise, she screamed, moving her arm to try and cut the force, but before she could do that, she was pushed in another direction. Breath gone from her lungs entirely, she was unable to do more than just fall into the backseat of a car, where the door had purposely been left open. Things blurred in front of her from moving so quickly, but in that process, she was able to kick out with a foot and collide with something. Whatever it was, it jerked back from the blow, and then Evelyn started to rush forwards to try and get out of the car. She tried to thrust the knife forwards, but both of her elbows were grabbed and locked behind her, and she was dragged further backwards.

"Cut it out, Evie!"

Evelyn jerked a time or two more before realizing that the voice was familiar. She paused, breathing heavily, and looked forwards. One familiar figure. Tipping her head back to see who had her elbows pinned behind her, she saw another. In the two front seats, two more familiars. Blinking in surprise, she pulled her arms back into her own control and sat up, now in the middle seat of the back of a stolen and repainted taxi. "What the hell?" She panted, pushing some hair from her face.

"I think the words you're looking for are, "I'm sorry"." The one to her right grunted, rubbing his face where her foot had been planted from her kick. He was a dark skinned fellow with a fairly strong frame, which was probably why he'd been the one to snatch her. He was also the tallest of the five in the vehicle. His hair was buzzed short, and he was probably twenty-years-old or so, with fairly low cheekbones but a thick jaw and a square face. His name was Dominique Russell. He was keeping his head down for simple robbery, though he definitely had quite a lot of debt to pay up if he was ever caught, considering he'd stolen enough to buy his girlfriend a car.

"How is this my fault?" Evelyn snapped, slowly sagging back against the seat to relax a bit. Sweat soaked her forehead and her neck, and she had to lick her lips a number of times from the dryness.
"It's more yours than it is mine," Dominique replied.
"Just relax, you two. Charlie, get to driving." On Noah's command, the taxi chuckled to life, and then the red-headed girl in the front seat hit the gas and got the car movie. Noah was the one to her left. He was the oldest of the five, a whopping twenty-four years old. He couldn't get a job or anything because he, like the rest of them, was on the run, too. He'd killed a man, most specifically his uncle, for reasons that Evelyn had yet to be told. None of the others knew, either. He didn't have the look of a killer, though. Light brown hair that was long enough to reach his shoulders, with fairly soft features, including big blue eyes, but also a fair tan. Noah Charter was his full name. Charlie Rose, though, was Evie's age, with her hair cut short in a more masculine style, and a brilliant shade of red. She'd been taken into custody for street racing, but had managed to break herself out. Which explained why she was the driver; she was the best of the five. She was pretty easy to underestimate, considering she was probably three inched shorter than Evelyn, crowning her the smallest of them all, but she had sharp facial features, blazing hazel eyes, and pale skin from her Irish heritage. She also had some pretty incredible makeup skills. The last one was Sophia Marshall, a mere fourteen years old, but already taller than Evelyn. She was Hispanic, with natural waves to her dark colored hair, and vivid green eyes. Her lips were fuller than the taxi's gas tank, and her sense of style was incredible. How she could afford it, Evie didn't know. All she knew was that Sophia was currently wanted for running someone over with her car, which she was driving illegally because she had yet to earn her license.

All in all, the five of them were mostly just working together to not get any one of them busted. So far, they'd been successful.

"Where to?" Charlie asked, glancing up in the mirror to meet the eyes of first Evie, and then Noah.
"Anywhere but here." Evie answered, accepting the water bottle that Sophia held back to her. Twisting off the cap, she drank half of it by the time Charlie finished with her sarcastic answer of, "Well no kidding."
"How about pizza? I'll buy," Dominique proposed.
"That sounds great, though I'd prefer it if we could stay out of sight for a bit."
"Well, of course, I'm not an idiot. I'll order it now and we'll pick it up when it's ready. Does that sound alright with you guys?"
Sounds of agreement and approval answered Dominique's question, which lead him to pull his phone out of his pocket and dial up the nearest pizza place, wherever that may be.

Within the next thirty minutes, the five had found themselves at a park, plopped down in the parking lot, slightly hiding behind the car so that those on the street couldn't spot them immediately. Two boxes of pizza were exposed, though one was empty, and the other only had four pieces left. They did have plates or anything to drink, but they were making it work. Evelyn was still exhausted as ever, though her breath was back and the sweat had since dried. Now that her adrenaline was down, the cold of the air was starting to provide some bother yet again, but at least she had the hoodie this time. She made a note to rip out the tag already.

Clapping her hands together once, Evie stood to her feet, announcing that she was going to go wash her hands to get the pizza scent off, considering that scent was only attractive on pizza. From there, she crossed the park to where a bathroom was placed, pushing the door open to find that it smelled like a sweaty barn, and the light switch didn't work. Terrific. The only source of light was from above, where two windows were installed in the ceiling, probably for instances such as this. At least there were windows, because, otherwise, she'd be feeling her way through the dark, and while it would work, she really didn't feel like touching much in here. She approached the sink and twisted the water on, gathering some soap in her palm to clean her hands off, and then found that, when rinsing it off, the water was utterly frigid. She winced back from it for a moment, trying to decide if it was worth it, only to figure that it probably was. She suffered through it as quickly as she could, and then turned the water off and dried her hands with the roll of paper towels that were provided, tossing those away when finished.

Then the door burst open. Noah stuck his head in. "Cops are here."
Evie blinked, brows raising as she looked over. "Really?"
"I'm guessing someone recognized either you or the car. Come on, we're getting out of here."
Evelyn jogged out the door, not too excited to get back to this game. "I bet it was some over-protective mother who was afraid I'd light her kid on fire." She grumbled as she fell into pace beside the other runner. The other three were already ahead, slipping into the tree coverage. Glancing over her shoulder, she found that three cars were rolling up, cops already piling out of their cars.
"You did threaten to do that once, you know."
"I know I did."

When they ducked into the trees, the others had already gone on ahead.
"We probably need to split up. They're too close, and we'll make too much noise if we're all together. You go that way, and I'll catch up to the others to let them know. Meet by water tower in two hours."
Evie nodded, and broke off to the right, not entirely sure where it would lead her to, but figured she wouldn't find herself anywhere she hadn't ever been before. Thus, she ran, glancing back a few times when she knew she wasn't going to trip over anything. She ran for a good ten minutes or so, finding that there wasn't an officer in sight. It was then that she allowed herself to slow to a stop, resting against a tree to catch her breath. She had yet to find a new break in the trees, though the area wasn't too dense right now. The trees were still generally thin, and the brush wasn't all that messy. Seemed relatively young.

She stayed put for a few minutes, listening for any sounds, only to find that there weren't any. That meant that the officers had probably stayed on the trail of someone who had gone straight. She'd turned soon enough that it probably wouldn't have made too much sense. Either that, or she was going towards just some random, vacant area that they wouldn't have thought she'd go near. Or perhaps they'd given up. That'd be nice. Eventually, Evelyn detached herself from a tree, this time traveling in an easy walking pace with her hands casually by her side. It took a good twenty minutes this time, but she did find her way back to the park. The police cars were gone, but the painted taxi was still there. Evie hung back, staying within the coverage of the trees, this time carefully winding her way around to where she could leave the park without being too visible. She would've taken the taxi, but, alas, Charlie was the one who would've had the keys. They never left them just sitting in there, in fear that someone would steal it from them.

Where to go from here? The choices were unlimited, as long as it wasn't too public. Evie flipped the hood of her newly stolen article, letting it sag over her head. Had it not been cold, it would've looked suspicious. For now, she was just going to go to the water tower and circle around that, checking back every once and a while to see if anybody appeared. She'd have to get there, though, and it was a couple miles away. Oh well, at least she'd eaten recently.

[Tate.]

There were so many damn people.

Every breath made Jagger feel more claustrophobic, the tearing pain in his hands, his mouth, the burning, aching need to lash out with claws and fangs and stop every single human around him from taking another annoying breath. He could do it, even if there were hundreds, the anger and annoyance was building inside him to the point he would be able to shed their blood and have no trouble in the processes.

No.

He knew as well as anyone that was a mistake. He drew his gaze down to the ground as the bus continued to move, the steady movement, the soft bumps, calming to some people, but making the tall male so anxious he could, well, kill someone. He tried not to chuckle to himself with that dark thought, he had already dug himself a hole, hadn't he? It's the exact anger issue he was suppressing at the present moment that had put him in the position he was in. He had really gotten himself into a fix this time. Man, that was an understatement.

They were so, so loud. Every breath, every little cough or whisper or voice on the phone, amplified by the thousands in Jagger's sensitive ears, the sound of the bus in motion, Jagger holding the support bar as he stood, maybe a little too tightly to be considered casual. Everything humans did was annoying, they were just begging to be thrown out of the moving death trap. A bus, of all damn things. But it was the most simple, no one was going to remember him from so many others, even with his strange looks, he kept his eyes down, didn't move out of turn, and he would be forgotten as soon as he was seen. That was good, he was never great at fading in the background, but so far he was doing all right. Or he thought he was.

This city wasn't necessarily new to him. He was familiar enough with it, and that was enough to get rid of the sharp edge of worry he would somehow manage to get lost or cornered. The second the bus reached it's next stop Jagger realized he couldn't take it anymore, he could feel razor claws trying to extend from his fingers, an itching feeling coursing up and down his spine, a small growl locked in his throat, feeling scratchy, needing to be let out. Take a deep breath Jagger ducked his head and slipped from the vehicle as quickly as he could without looking tremendously suspicious. He let out a relieved sigh once he was met with the chilly air, there was a darkness beginning to lace the air, bringing a soft comfort to him. Jagger was okay in most situations in the dark, the feeling he had was of comfort presently, yet, if caught in jet blackness, he often panicked. Luckily, that occasion didn't often strike, it's hard to cut off all light sources to someone with eyesight like his.

For a second, Jagger had forgotten his motive.

The girl.

He shook his head, looking up, glancing around, people were finally dispersing, heading to there nice, warm homes. Jagger didn't have that, he had never had that, and while that was fine, he also felt the tug of jealousy in his gut, or, perhaps it was simply hunger. He was currently residing in a unwelcoming little apartment like structure, he had enough money for it, thanks to his side carrier, and was hoping to gain some money from this whole, protector thing. Jagger had already dug up dirt on the girl, criminal records, state records, residential history, not too hard when you can break into a police station undetected. Well, mostly undetected. But he wasn't really very concerned. He was given very vague instructions, honestly. Find this girl, protect her. How long? Will he get money? All he knew was, if she gets hurt, he gets put down. What a way to put it.

The air was laced with so many scents. Hell, Jagger could detect the smell of pizza from several blocks away, he could trace the scent of the cologne a man had worn when he had walked down the sidewalk on the other side of the street, possibly a week ago. Cities were so overwhelming. No wolves Jagger had ever met enjoyed the city, save a few. Then again, Jagger was not very social with his kind. He wasn't very social at all.

Once more he realized he had gotten distracted, his stomach was growling slightly, he frowned, Jagger had a bad habit of binge eating. And last time he had eaten was a good day ago at least, his fast metabolism didn't help. However, it held benefit, being hungry kicked his senses into overdrive, making the girl much easier to find. Yet, he didn't quite know where to start. He had a general area, not an hour ago he had overheard a radio in a nearby police car that there was a robbery near the mall she had been last sighted. Jagger, despite being antisocial, had eyes all over the city at this point. Only takes a week for someone like him to make connections. Many people in the underground community had started circulating rumors about him. Which was actually quiet the problem, he had realized. If the girl dies, he dies, and many, many people, and supernaturals for that matter, wanted Jagger Trench dead.

That was a story for another time though.

The distant sound of a siren made Jagger stop a moment in his thoughts.

Often that sounds was something that worried him, something that made his blood rush and his mind go silent, his body brace to run. He had a bitter past with any sort of law enforcement. Yet, the sound was a trigger to a spark of joy in the wolf's mind as he picked up to a soft job toward the sound. Even in a human form he was certainly a fast runner, but he felt no need to run, rushing would simply waste his energy as well as possibly put him in eyesight of the cops.

He caught her scent not long after. It had to be here, the fact that she was scared was evident, made her even more of an easy target. He had multiple ways to approach this, though he felt in no mood to go slaughtering any police to get to her, and he didn't feel like jumping rooftops was necessary at all. Hell, he had no idea how to approach her, how to speak to her, how to even explain and convince her of his new assigned presence. What was he going to say? 'Hey, I hate you and your kind, and me being around you will actually more than likely make the chance of you dying higher, but, oh well. Also, I'm going to shadow you like a hawk for the foreseeable future and if you get hurt I'll be pissed... Oh! And I'm also a freak of nature but you know, aside from that we're roses.' Jagger sighed under his breath, even his smart-alec mind he felt uncommitted by the thought of trying to talk this girl down.

He found himself just around the corner of the girl, and boy was she getting herself into trouble, he could hear the police snapping orders, he could hear her heart throbbing in her chest in a panic, the sound if a gun even being reached for, Jagger tensed, thinking that maybe, for this, he might want to intervene. He could smell an irony scent in the air as well, tagging along with the girls soft scent, blood. Damn it, she was already hurt. He cursed under his breath. lurking just at the edge of the alley, hugging the brick wall, hoping to be able to look around the corner without being seen. Of course, he didn't get that far, his ears twitched at the sound of her struggle, surging forward in a clumsy escape, Jagger could feel her collide, forcing a small gasp from both. Before he could even collect himself the girl was running again, Jagger barely about to call her name, or something, his fingers slipping though the fabric of the sweater she was desperately tugging on, though Jagger didn't see the use.

The car was tearing out of the alley, the sound of tires on pavement making the wolf wince, he winced away from the bright headlights, giving them a confused look and pointing in the opposite direction of where the girl ran, perhaps buying her some time. He didn't know how much, however.

His pace quickened, following behind the girl, just enough to not be detected. He needed to get her, there was no way she was going to be able to evade those police very long. Keeping in the shadows Jagger felt a surge of annoyance lace his entire being as the girl was once more trapped. "Are you kidding me?" he murmured softly under his breath, finding an itching need to spew a few profanities at the girl. Did she really have to make it so easy to get swept up? Except, even though Jagger was a good distance from her, he couldn't help a small grin form on his lips when he heard a distinct thud, had she kicked him? He almost laughed, moving himself out of sight as the car pulled out, and he growled lightly, there was no good way to follow a speeding car. So, he was going to have to keep his eye out for a police car, see if he could hear anything on her being seen again, no doubt that wouldn't be long, they were a bunch of reckless kids, after all. Though, something bothersome had locked into Jagger's mind.Maybe it was just his mind plying tricks, but he could swear that he knew one of those voices, one of the ones that had snatched up his target.

Jagger was a little embarrassed for her, being found so quickly.
This time, he waited, their little running game wasn't something he was worried over, especially in the coverage of the trees. Jagger hovered quietly around them, undetected, just far enough to not been seen, keeping a sharp eye out for both being seen by the juveniles and the cops. All he needed was the girl. That was all.

Her greatest downfall so far must have been splitting from her group. Jagger, simply in his spite and need to mess with the silly human, felt a pulling desire to start growling, play some tricks on her as she wandered in the trees, only soft snarls really tried to escape, so quiet he doubted she heard, he tried to restrain himself. Jagger shrugged at his own actions though, he had to make his own fun, after all.

Once she stepped out into the open, Jagger stopped his entire attempt to stay distant and undetected. He purposefully broke a twig under his weight, calmly walked after her. He had a few good ideas, maybe freak her out, say her name, say hes there to help her, or... "Put your hands where I can see them, over your head. Don't run, I've got a dog, and he's not so friendly to runners." Jagger barked the command, he would have made a good cop, in another life,but, not this one. He smirked at himself, finding humour in his lie. Though, it wasn't a complete lie, he did, in fact, have access to a canine. Jagger would love to be a police officer with a canine unit, that would have been fun, he could have his own pack of trained dogs. After all, dogs listen much better than people.

[exixst]

Everything had been going well. No worse than any other dilemma she tended to get herself into, really. That is, until she heard the horribly banal crack of a branch, which was not timed to her own pacing. That meant it was not her doing. That also meant it was someone else's. But did Evelyn check over her shoulder? No. She did glance to the side, though, hoping to get a glimpse of a shadow. She didn't. The sun was still a bit too high, and even though it was behind her, the shadow it could have cast would've been too short to see. Had she been able to see it, the twig-snapper would've been in arm's reach, and then she really would've had something to worry about. For the time being, though, she was simply on her guard, aware that there was something around. Whether or not the source of the snap had any association with her was something she'd figure out later. For now, though, she continued forwards and chose to not address the sound. Evelyn did, however, reach into her pocket to retrieve the knife. Having not needed to conceal it this time, Evie had placed it at a little more convenient spot, one that wouldn't slice her skin when she tried to clumsily get it into her grasp. Her ankle still stung a bit, though, from the last cut it made. She hadn't thought to check it out quite yet to see if it was bad, but considering she could glance down and see the leg of her jeans weren't soaked in her own blood, she figured it was fine. With her hand in her pocket, she took the knife out, purposely not concealing it in her sleeve immediately. Of course, she wasn't aware that a kitchen knife was inept against the twig-snapper, but at the same time, she had no clue if the twig-snapper was something she even needed to be concerned about. After a quarter of a breath, she curled her fingers in quickly to bounce the common blade up her forearm, where she then captured it with a subtle angling of her wrist. She could feel the side of it kissing her skin precariously. One bad move, whether it be too quick or too sudden, and she'd have a bleeding wrist. That wasn't something she cared to worry about at the time. She didn't usually carry a knife in her sleeve, quite frankly.

Evie listened carefully for any other sounds from behind her. The grass crunched none too quietly, and she was almost certain that her footsteps were not unusually loud every couple steps. Brows furrowing, she narrowed her eyes and stared at the ground. Was she being followed? Seriously? By whom? The police were gone. Their cars weren't making any appearances, either. And she was sure she hadn't been followed by any of the officers. She'd checked back way too many times to have been sneaked up on, or even followed. Her path may have been a bit direct, but that was because she didn't want to get herself lost out in the middle of nowhere. Not that she really had a place to get lost from. She wasn't homeless, but... that apartment wasn't exactly hers, and she wasn't exactly paying rent. Or using electricity. Or running water. She broke into the neighbor's apartment every day when they were gone at work for a shower and occasionally a light meal when she needed it. But the place she currently resided in was not one she paid for. Until she was found and kicked out, it worked for her. She just bounced from complex to complex, never permanently set anywhere particular.

Back to the original problem, then; who was the twig-snapper?

By this time, Evelyn had made it to the street, pretending that she wasn't a bit unnerved by the pursuer. She had noticed, yes, and had made no attempt to not expose that. Her subtle show of the blade was purposeful, done to serve as some sort of warning. Little did she know, it was useless. Evie had a knife, and she would most certainly use it without hesitation, but the results would not be the same as those she had in her head. But that is not a thought that dared to occur to her. If the twig-snapper was human, they would probably be able to recognize the knife and understand its purpose. If they were an animal or something, the message might not get through. But, honestly, what kind of creature would be following her?

It's a bear. The thought shot through her mind like a bullet. She flinched with an astonished blink, sucking a shallow breath into her lungs. Oh my God, there's a bear. It has to be a bear. Bears didn't even live around this area. Evelyn just had an underlying fear of bears, despite having never seen one in real life. It had yet to be a real problem, though she was always quick to assume any problem was caused by a bear. Her mind no longer lingered on the idea of it just being a forest creep. I bet I invaded it's territory. Oh God, I pissed off a bear. I bet it's a momma bear, too. Did I threaten her children?! Did I cross the space in between the two?!" The slow tongue of dread licked down her back, suddenly spiking feelings of nervousness and caution from her gut. I'm gonna die. A bear is going to eat me alive. It's going to come storming after me and sink its claws into my back and-

That didn't sound like a bear. Even though she had never had the horrible luck to lay eyes a bear, nor was she was any level of expert on bears in any fashion, she was almost certain they didn't fluently speak English or control vicious canines.

Now a hot rush of annoyance rose from her collar, the entire fear of the idea of a bear being the twig-snapper vanished into nothingness. Was it really a police officer?! No way! This had to be some kind of sick joke. She'd been being careful, too! Evelyn was almost never careful... Surely recklessness was not the way to go, was it? Eyes slimming into fixed glares, she came to a halt, contemplating her options for half a second. She could do as the "officer" said, or she could do was he warned her not to. Or she could try to stab him, but that wasn't going to go well if he had a dog. Evelyn hated dogs, honestly. Well... that was a false statement. Rather, she hated the nature of dogs. They were loyal and protective of their masters, and when those masters were threatened, the dog belonging to them would basically sacrifice itself to save them. And for Evelyn, that was not good. Not if she was just trying to sneak a meal out of someone's house because she couldn't pay for her own. Dogs were scary when aggressive. Despite this, she had only ever been attacked by one once, and that hadn't even been her fault. She was just walking down the street to get home from school when it had jumped over the fence that was too short for its large body, and gotten a few snaps on her. That was before Evie managed to pick herself up and run across the street, where it tried to follow, only to get hit by an oncoming vehicle. She'd planned it to happen like that, though, so it wasn't just pure luck. That little event had happened during her freshman year, though it still kinda stuck with her today. She didn't have too many scars from it, just a few super faint ones on her wrists and hands, which she'd used to try and stop it. Nevertheless, Evelyn despised dogs, all because of their nature. They were still cute, though. Friendly ones were great. And puppies? Oh, puppies were incredible. But what species was even better? Cats. She'd never once been even scratched by a cat. Hissed at twice by one, but that was it. The rest of them she'd come across were utterly passive, proving no difficulty in pleasing. She just had to either pet it or throw something at it, depending on what it did when she broke into its house.

Naturally, Evelyn wanted to run. She wanted to pick her feet right back up and take off in a dead sprint. That warning about the dog was the only reason she hesitated. That, and she had no idea where she would go. The street wasn't exactly riddled with perfect hiding places. On one side, there was the park. On the other, a line of houses. A miniature handful of cars were parked by the side of the road, and a couple of trees chose to sprout up out of the ground. Some of the houses had fencing, yes, but whatever dog was behind her would most certainly be capable of lunging over that fence faster than she was. The truth was, she had nowhere to go. She could run, but that dog would be right on her heels for maybe a bursting moment before she would be down.

At least it wasn't a bear, though...

Scoffing, Evelyn licked her lips, shutting her eyes for two seconds to curse a whole lot of things. "You should give that damn mutt a muzzle, then, before he hurts anybody." Deciding that she didn't have much of a choice but to hope she could work herself out of this one, Evie turned around to look and see just what she was up against, meanwhile letting the knife drop from her sleeve and slide into her palm.

What she saw was not what she had expected. She'd expected to see a man dressed in navy, with a badge clipped by his heart, a cap pulled over his hair, a radio attached to his collar, a show of weapons holstered at his hips, and some ugly mongrel leashed at his side. But that is not what she saw, and that surprise registered in her eyes. This guy was no cop. She summed him up to be a regular boy. Well, that would be stretching the term 'normal' a bit far, even if she was being generous. The first thing she noticed was explainable; his hair. It was brilliantly white in color, so much that she immediately chopped it up to being fresh from the box. It was long, flared, and a little messy at the moment, but distinctive, nonetheless. Next her focus dropped to his eyes. They were incredibly green, nearly fluorescent in color. Laced with humor, but darker than her own future, as well. Those two traits caught her attention the most, the rest of him fairly normal and common. Not too large in size, but fairly towering in height. Tanned skin, though marked with a number of scars, just from what she could see of him. A lip piercing to compliment his smirk, and clothing that was in fairly decent condition. Oh, and no dog.

Was this the guy who had been following her for that short distance? She found that a bit difficult to believe. Evelyn didn't even know him, and, to the extent of her knowledge, he didn't know her. She'd never seen him in school, nor on the streets, despite having frequented both - the latter more than the former, admittedly. So who was he? Surely he was not an undercover cop. Unless they were really trying hard to blend in their officers, there was no way. Part of her was eased by the fact that he didn't look to be an officer. The other part was not. If he wasn't with the police, then what was his purpose of stopping her? She studied him for a brief moment, trying to determine how to handle this. He wasn't flaunting any weapons to her yet, so what did she have to be worried about, really? Well, a number of things, but she chose to try and get past that. For the time being, Evie allowed herself to feel some relief, deciding to only be worried if he gave her a reason to. But, either way, he didn't have a dog on him anymore. That meant she had a much greater chance in being able to run away from him if the need arose. While he may have been armed with a longer stride, she had plenty of practice when it came to running.

Just to be sure, Evelyn glanced at her surroundings. No police, and not all that many people. Unless a bunch of officers were hidden in the woods, she was pretty sure they'd vacated the area. Good. Feeling some of her confidence was restored, she looked back to the stranger, and a couple seconds later she sneered on a smirk. "And just who the hell do you think you are?" Her voice chuckled as she spoke, watching him under a casual gaze. She didn't really care who he was at the moment, considering she doubted they would ever meet again. She was simply humoring herself, given that she had the time. Although, she could have easily been pissed at him. He'd startled her multiple times. First she'd thought he was a bear, and then the police. Did he think he was funny? Perhaps had she been granted the energy, she would've brought her open palm across his cheek, or made some other big scene to demonstrate that she was, in fact, pissed off. But, really, it took quite some energy to do that, and Evie just didn't have it in her at the moment. She was not forgiving him, but she wasn't attempting to destroy him, either. If he proved to be a problem, then maybe she might rake up her scattered energy to deal with him, but at the moment, she was passive enough. Now, if he didn't get off her tail, then they'd really have an issue. She wasn't a fan of groupies.

"Where's that dog of yours?" Evelyn asked tauntingly, her smirk tipping upwards at a corner. "I thought he was supposed to keep me from running..." She let her eyes skim over him briskly. "Not that I had anything to really run from in the first place." She chucked to herself just under her breath. Yeah, sure, he may have had the potential to look a bit scary, but they were outside a park in the bright of day on a public street where people lived. There were even kids in the park. He wasn't even showing her anything threatening, unless he was proposing himself for that job. If that was the case, he could do better. He had the look down well enough, he just needed the actions to back him up. But, honestly, what would he do if she ran? What would he have done? He didn't seem to have any kind of dog hanging out at his side, so how would he have planned to catch her? Unless he had been hoping she'd just start running. She hadn't, obviously. But maybe he'd been hoping she would, to give himself a hoot. Had he not threatened her with an imaginary dog, she probably would have bolted for it. If his intention had been to just give her a scare, his mistake was with that addition.

"And, on a more serious note, what are you even doing?" She motioned to him with an upturned palm, raising a curious brow. "That was you back over there, right? You stepped on a damn twig, of all things?" That better have been him. If not... Never mind that thought, she shoved it out of her mind completely. Her smirk had since disappeared, now replaced with a slight frown. "Is there any particular reason for this whole... situation? Or can I just go?"

[Tate.]

Jagger had always thought that a nice super power to have would be to read minds. Screw flying or invisibility, he had always been fascinated with the idea of reading someones mind, their thoughts, their ideas and innovations. How they saw the world. Let alone to know how to take them out, find a weakness, anything would be possible. Yet, currently, if the wolf had been able to read the girls mind, he would have stopped in his tracks and laughed. He had so far been able to ignore the churning of a small pang of hunger that came with the even close smell of blood, which, while drying was obvious on the girl, but also trying to tune out the loud city around him, as if it were so ability to only focus on his footsteps. He couldn't quiet do it, and the sounds around them was giving Jagger a headache, he longed for the night to fall, with the dark and the quiet.

Jagger found relief in the girls nerves, sort of. Parts of it, her quickening step every once in a while, growing in consistency, her seemingly planed direction, though the wolf knew that the little dear was concerned and still at a loss in many ways. Jagger tailed the girl with less care now, his pace flowing with hers, a casual stride in his steps. Strides, of course, because that was the only way that Jagger Trench found himself doing. His height meant long legs, meant fast pace, and his strides were calm and casual, he held himself with a confidence that anyone else would find snide, but the aura that surrounded him still lingered in a bitter feeling of danger. His eyes flashed everywhere, examining the world around not only him but the girl, already trying to fix himself into an instinctual sense of defense for more than himself. To be honest that was proving quiet the struggle. Jagger was not the man to lunge in front of a bullet for his companion, he was the one trying to run around and kill the shooter, protect himself and hell with the other.

This and the million of other problems once more started pecking at the back of the wolf's mind as he shadowed the girl. This was going to end so poorly for the two of them, she was going to be, dead in a ditch somewhere or something, and he was going to skinned alive for it. The simply though made Jagger shake slightly. Ironic, given if he even was slightly away that he was being compared to a bear he would laugh. A bear, for sure, was a respectable creature, large, strong, fast, but he would never compare it to himself. Bears were big, and mean, but they were dumb. If one was to size up a bear, they could hold a chance. A creature that had the mind of a man, however, was not the same. A massive snow wolf with a height to ones shoulders on all fours, a nasty snarl, and the ability to keep up with a decent car, there was no compatibility nature had with the supernatural creatures that when bump in the night, let alone wolves.

Jagger sighed, she was speeding her pace, and once more annoyance pricked down the back of his neck and curled in his stomach, causing a tearing once combining with his hunger and the sound of the girls heart rate seeming to throb directly in his ear. Perhaps it was instinct that made Jagger feel the tug to attack the girl, and not attack her, or perhaps it was the smell of the metal on her, the knowledge she had a weapon, which she had moved rather ungracefully up her sleeve. Silly girl, what if she slipped? A racing heart was something that sparked hunger like nothing else, not even a physical hunger at this point. Jagger even though he was a monster. The dying need to dig claws into flesh made him feel sick. A few deep breaths forced him to relax, he had realized that his palm was threatening to bleed his nails were digging so deeply into them.

Back to the weapon. A knife. Basic, common, and silver-less, there was little concern. A solid inch wound from that would heal on twelve hours, perhaps less, yet still Jagger didn't feel the urge to get stabbed, so he weighed his options and angles. Before he completely composed himself in the though he had realized he had spoken, and blinked halfway though the girl's sarcastic reply, just barely tuning into her voice to realize she was, in fact, speaking. However, the simple mention of a muzzle made Jagger's stone cold composer shift to something more casual, a grin tugging his lips, he wished desperately that he could show the girl the irony. "He's quiet the killing machine." Jagger replied, smoothly, quietly, shame trying to find his words but he didn't allow them. His eyes swiftly catching the gleam of the metal, and he chuckled a little to himself, before falling back to holding better posture and leveling his gaze with the girl as she faced him.

She was very pretty, for a human.

Her hair looked soft, smile lines were faded, but present, just light creases on her skin, she looked.... soft. Delicate. Maybe it was now sympathy within Jagger, but his emotional tolerance had already reached a maximum and he was starting to pull back every nagging feeling in his body, trying to bottle them up. He must have been quiet the sight, the girl, even in her hoodie, was obviously, smaller than him quiet notably, she had a face of someone sweet, she did not look like a criminal, then again, if Jagger tried, neither did he.... well... he liked to think so. Scars tell a lot of stories.

Jagger could feel her eyes on him. He had been told his impression was rough, not dangerous, nothing like he truly wanted. He just looked like a misfit kid kicked out of a metal concert. Which was rather disheartening given Jagger sort of hated metal. Jagger shook his head, she didn't really do what he had said.

"Take whatever tone you want sweetie," Jagger stated lightheartedly, "but we've got some things to discuss." He looked rather calm, though the chance of the cops strolling along, of her friends arriving, of her bolting and forcing Jagger to take desperate measures, were all possible. He could see her facial expression change, weighing her options no doubt, she could run, call out, a few good things and a few bad choices, Jagger wanted to make sure he avoided most confrontation.

Another soft sigh, his eyes were trained in hers, he refused to leave eye contact, that was more a dog thing than anything else. Or so he thought. "That's what you're worried about? A little dog?" Jagger teased, "Come on, aren't I enough? Gotta ask for a dog too. It's so hard to impress a lady now a days." He shrugged, "It'd be rude to show you my dog, you at least have to buy me dinner first." A wink. If Jagger had gone to high school, he would have been a lady killer, had he gone to school at all, he would have some more manners. They were, in fact, in public, and on top of that, it posed the ability for the girl to cry out if she needed help. Jagger would still need to corner her if she ran. This was annoying.

The next problem was the fact that Jagger looked sort of like a druggy, and he could see even from a distance, that there was a tension building from anxious mothers and worried children glancing towards him. There may have been a solid distance were they were far enough to not be seen perfectly, a tall lanky white haired kid was suspicious enough.

"Serious note?" Jagger asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He felt something pull in shoulder, and bit back a wince. Old wounds, sometimes in his fights there would be someone desperate enough to pull a knife on Jagger, and while he still hardly ever lost, he had some battle scars that once in a while ached. Because of these his stamina was slightly lower than he would like. "Would you prefer me to be less subtle, I mean... I can think of a few other ways to make myself known..." He smiled, piercing catching the sunlight, it gleamed, even with his dusty features and preference to the dark, he felt confidence even in the light of day.

"I'm here for a very good reason, but, I don't quite know if here is a good idea to explain, nor do I know where to start or how to keep you from being a complete baby about this." He stated simply. He wasn't surprisingly enough, lying. "I suggest not leaving, but if you wish to run I'm up for a good game of cat and mouse."

[exixst]

Evelyn wasn't entirely thrilled about this whole concept of being hindered. She had somewhere to be, and while at this moment the girl was unaware that the interruption was not a legitimate officer, she was still irritated. More so at the fact that she had supposedly been 'found' by the 'police'. Her options were a ball that she rolled about her hands, feeling for which one felt dreadfully heavier. To run, or not to run, that is the question. Or, rather, to be tackled ,or to be cuffed. Evelyn would never allow herself to lay down her arms and submit to the law enforcement, especially not when she'd managed to get this far with moderate success. That would be like running half of your marathon and then deciding to just give up and sit down because your feet were a little bit sore. Heck, Evie wasn't even halfway through this so called 'marathon'. The end of the race was nowhere in sight. But it was so much more than just a little dash to the finish line to say you could do it. No, this was an escape. A dreadful ending shadowed her, lapping up the trail of sweat she left behind. If she stopped, it would snatch her, too. And Evelyn wasn't particularly keen of being taken alive by the very force she ran from.

But this? This was impossible. Beyond belief. The police had no way of following her. They weren't that good. They liked to scream their sirens everywhere and paint the scenery in red and blue lights. They liked to make it big, and far too melodramatic, all to please those that sat on their rears, staring at a screen while sprawling out on a couch that was warped from being forced to support their sagging bodies made up of dead weight. Oh, how Evelyn loathed lazy people. How they could afford to sit around for an hour and gawk at a screen that made some noises, eating food they didn't need nor deserve to stuff into their fat faces. She couldn't stand it. Not when her own family could barely afford their own little ramshackle home, on top of every other expense that they could never keep up with. Her father had worked two jobs, three at certain points, though couldn't keep that many for long due to exhaustion from the manual work he could only ever be hired for. He barely made enough to not quality for a number of financial aids, and even though Evie had tried to convince him to drop a job so they could quality, he was more stubborn than she. He refused to take advantage of a crutch that was offered. And yet there were people who didn't have to work a day in their lives. They just got money shoveled into their pockets because they had a bunch of kids and couldn't get a job because they dropped out of high school in sophomore year. Those were the kinds of people that Evelyn despised the most.

But, getting past that topic, where were the officers? There was, apparently, the one. And a dog, which she had yet to hear from, considering she expected some claws to skitter across the asphalt or whatnot. Must have been a very calm dog. But this guy had been so subtle. He hadn't stormed after her in his heavy steel-toed shoes. He hadn't yelled at her to get down on the ground. He hadn't ran up and grabbed her from behind to throw her onto the ground for her. Not yet, at least. She hadn't exactly put up a fight to him. But, still... he was too calm. Evelyn was confused. She didn't even get to hear the sound of a gun cocking, or the safety being clicked off. Nothing.

A killing machine, he said? What kind of officer brushed their dog's ego more than its coat? This banter was far too social and laid-back. "I'm sure he is... All more the reason I stand by my suggestion." But, alas, there was no dog. No heaving, drooling, sharp-eared four-legged companion tugging at his leash to beg his holder to let him get a taste at Evelyn's throat. She wasn't as disappointed as she was insulted, having been tricked into believing something of that like had been there in the first place. Instead, she got a guy who was doing basically the same thing she was; sizing up. Seeing just who they were speaking to, who they were up against. That's how Evelyn saw it at this point. Everything was a challenge if not stated otherwise, so that included this little verbal spat between the two strangers. She had to win at this. She had to get the last word in. She had to have the final witty comment, and it had to be accepted - the defeat. She wouldn't be able to walk away with her chip tipped up with pride if it went otherwise.

"Sweetie?" Evelyn repeated, her voice curling up at the end in a mocking manner. Her lips followed. "What is this, an old country cafe? Are you my waitress, serving me up another cup of coffee while wearing a little blue plaid dress?" That would be an odd scenario. Her eyes squinted with her smirk, shaking her head while pushing loose hair out of her face to tuck it behind an ear. "And just what might those "things" be, that we apparently need to discuss? Are you sure you even have the right person?" Was she supposed to be aware of this? If so, she wasn't. Nobody had come up to her to warn her about a white-haired male that would come stalking after her out of some trees. Especially not one that claimed they needed to "discuss some things", whatever the heck that meant.

"Well... yes, actually. Dogs tend to be problematic." A little huff bounced from her lungs, the smallest of chuckles escaping at his comeback. "My, my..." Evie gently clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, a grin warming up onto her features. "You just swung and hit a foul ball but sprinted right on down to first base anyway, didn't you? A shame, you'll have to go back and try again." She couldn't help it, this kind of verbal play was her favorite. It was easy, harmless, but witty nonetheless. The kind that introduced you to what you were up against. It didn't matter who her opponent was, she enjoyed it. Even with this new peculiar stranger who had yet to introduce himself. His eyes remained aimed at her, like poised daggers. Meanwhile, Evelyn's own pair of grey-blues were far more lax. She felt no need to hold his gaze, though could practically feel it on her skin, prickling Goosebumps as time whispered by. It was a little bit discomforting, considering he didn't have the most gentle gaze out there. Evelyn would occasionally meet and hold it for a bit, but would be the first the break it and take another skim around at the surrounding area before tracking back, only to repeat the process once again.

Evelyn quirked a curious brow. "Is that so?" Part of her wondered what was going on through his head. The other part didn't care to know. Feigning boredom, she lifted her free hand to study her knuckles, making the mental note to locate some sort of lotion, for small little splits in her skin were appearing and she couldn't recognize the cause. "You stepped on it on purpose, I'm assuming?" Evie lifted her eyes back to his as she asked the question. "Well, honestly, the 'mysterious follower' method was a bit... well, creepy, I guess. Where did you even come from, by the way? How long were you following me?" It was unnerving to think he'd been tailing her for any longer than a short while, mainly because she'd been careful to keep a watch of her surroundings. To Evie, she thought him to be a regular untrained guy that was no different than the next. Naturally, the police had to have better following skills than him, then, right? That was her reasoning. And if he could follow her undetected, what could they do?

"Why shouldn't I?" She questioned, allowing her eyes to linger on him for a few moments before taking another look around at the surrounding area. If she did choose to run, she wasn't sure how far she'd even get, especially since she was already fatigued... But she could go four different ways, each providing a different outcome and situation. The most undesirable of those four was towards him. That would be stupid unless she was looking to pick a fight, but he had her outmatched in size, weight, and strength. Experience, as well, but she wasn't aware of that part. Evie was no street fighter, and there was no way she'd be able to dodge around him. By the time she crossed the distance between them, his reflexes would have probably already started up, and he'd be able to stop her if he cared to do so... Another choice was to her left, to where the park was. That wasn't a terrible option. There were lots of people, he wouldn't be able to do much without risking getting in trouble with the police. But, at the same time, neither could she. If someone happened to alert the police of the two bright haired teenagers' scuffle, they'd be back out here, leading them closer to her. Evelyn couldn't risk that. She needed them to be as far away from her as possible. So, in that case, she could try just turning around and continuing in the direction she'd been going. But the street stretched out for a bit, and while running straight wasn't hard, it would be even easier for him. He had the advantage in stride, and she wasn't sure how excellent of a runner he was. She didn't care to test it. Her last choice was to the houses. Almost every single one had low metal chain link fencing where the grass was segregated into different yards. Small homes, small yards, and small fences. Neither one of them should have trouble getting through there, but there had to be something on the other side of those houses. People, yard equipment, trees, more housing... Anything she could use to throw him off her trail, because, apparently, he intended to stick on it. She didn't understand why. They'd never met before now, as far as she knew. And this guy... well, he wasn't exactly the warmest, kindest, most welcoming individual she had ever laid eyes on. He had a chilling grin, and a paralyzing gaze. And yet he wanted to 'discuss' something? She didn't think so. But his feet were welded with the ground. He wasn't going anywhere. She had to be the one to get rid of him.

Evelyn glanced back to the white-haired male, studying his frame for a moment. Long legged and seemingly fit. There wasn't going to be anything weighing him down, unless he had some sort of other problem that she couldn't see. Whether or not he could get those legs moving fast was a rhetorical question; he didn't need to. She'd have to take probably double the strides in order to keep the same pace no matter what. That is what worried her. Evelyn lifted her eyes into his, taking a few calculated breaths. She could run. He didn't appear to be holding any weapons. She couldn't find any holsters for guns on his body, and any knives he happened to be hiding had to have been small. She doubted he was wielding anything out oft he ordinary. If he suddenly produced a bow and arrow and shot her down with it, congrats to him. She'd applaud him for that if it happened. But she severely doubted that it would. And yet her legs were still a bit too reluctant to move. She watched him, well aware that her silence was probably a dead giveaway that she was trying to figure something out. Plus, she'd taken a few short glances of her surroundings very recently. That hadn't been very subtle, either. But she held his gaze, her lips pursed, and her eyes dared him to do something before she did.

And then she took off.

Evelyn opted for the right, where the houses were. Before, they had looked like regular old one-story homes. Now they all seemed to converge into one wide wall that stood up to the Heavens, allowing her no little mice-holes to skitter her way through. But never mind that, her first problem was determining what the hell she was doing. Because, needless to say, she didn't have a plan. Her mind tried to race in front of her to predict what she was supposed to do, though it wasn't doing too well. She'd need to get over the fence, first of all. Dart through the yard, and hope nothing got in the way. She'd make it to the backyard, and from there, she'd either grab something to use as a weapon - assuming she was being followed as she had yet to check - or she'd hop over the fence once more and continue on. It all depended on if there was anything useful in the backyard, or if there seemed to be any promise beyond the fence. For the meantime, though, she still had yet to make it over the fence, because she was still getting there.

Within a few steps, she was reaching forwards. Her hands slapped down on the fence, letting it rattle under her weight. As she did that, she pushed herself off the ground with her toes and hoisted her lower body over the fence to pull her legs between her arms, successfully managing to make it over unscathed. Her shoes hit the ground, providing absolutely no relief whatsoever due to the fact that she'd worn them down so much. They were peeling apart by the day, a new little hole or tear appearing each time she checked. But the jump she made didn't call for a lot of support, and she was able to carry her momentum forwards, having practiced that move far too many times over plenty of different fences. Releasing the fence, she heard it shudder behind her as it recoiled from her weight. Evie had no clue whether or not the guy was following her at this point. She didn't care to look. Instead, she continued forwards, scanning the ground around her for anything that could be of use. A shovel, a hammer, a rake, a brick, a large stone... Anything. So far, nothing. This person was far too organized for Evelyn's use. If there wasn't anything, she either tried her knife that was still gripped between her fingers, or she kept running. That decision depended on the male. If he was, in fact, hot on her tail like she had figured he would be when she first contemplated this, the knife might have been the easier bet. She wouldn't be able to get far if he was already gaining ground on her. But if he was lagging a bit behind, or had chosen to not follow at all, then she could keep going, in confidence that she would have a bit of grace space between them. Now, unfortunately, this was not the direction of the water tower. She needed to get there, but would have preferred to lose the stranger, first. That was her goal; slip out of that mess. The water tower would come next, assuming that she would be able to accomplish the first task. Whether or not she actually would be was beyond her knowledge.

[Tate.]

Like giving a dog a bone, if you would pardon the irony, Jagger felt a surge of excitement simply watching her. Was she.... was she really foolish enough to run? Oh no, this was too good. The idea was so much fun, Jagger would love a chase. Be it in the canine that would kill to chance a rabbit, or simply the bitter side of his human nature, Jagger felt the urge to rush the girl, make her quickly decide and run... But instead he watched her carefully, as all good predators would. He shifted slightly, changing the way he distributed his weight, a stance he felt more comfortable in with the possible threat of getting rushed and quite likely stabbed. However, he still tried to remain calm, or look it, to the least. He didn't expect the girl to act in his favor, of course, he liked her, her spirit. She had a burning determination in her eyes that was almost admirable. Jagger took a quick mental inventory. She had a weapon, some speed, a few options to run, to give up, to try to trick him and turn around to hurt him. They seemed to be matching her odds. The wolf looked rugged enough that one could likely assume his occupation, or lack there of, given street fighting is very much not a job.

A fake badge could easily end this more easily. Jagger had one. He had a fake ID, police badges for multiple cities, a couple dozen different drivers licenses, passports, and the like. Hell, he even had an ID marking him as part of the FBI. If there was any good thing about traveling so much as Jagger, you meet people and make connections that get you such illegal, high quality products. It would kill the fun to pull out a badge, however, Jagger hadn't been able to mess with someone like this in a long time, he was enjoying it. He loved her resistance. He currently wasn't carrying any handcuffs, the idea brought a more suggestive smile to his lips, the only handcuffs he would ever have would have no police intentions. Jagger had a nasty habit of many things, one including his rather awful treatment of women. Not physically but mentally, putting them from a pedestal to the dirt in record time, the drama that often followed sometimes drove the wolf out of town. Yet, even with his tenancy to randomly get bored of females, he had undying loyalty. He liked to think he wasn't all bad.

If only the girl knew about Jagger, he was sure she would hate him. If Jagger could, he would live the pampered life. Cars, girls, the whole thing. But, he would agree to her ideas of the lazy, sitting around watching television. Simply because a man like Jagger had a problems with sitting still. On top of that, living in a home that was little more than a rusty little place in Detroit, Jagger's heart went out to the less fortunate, and while he refused to admit it, he would give his money to charity before ever spending it on himself. Humans that have less materialism in their lives tend to have more heart, it seemed. The wolf blinked, his wandering thoughts once more dragging him away. Oh, well, whatever. Back to the little Arsonist, that was what she was, was it not? He vaguely remembered reading her file.

The dog. She was still looking for a dog. The girl really had bigger things to fret over. A scary guy sizing her up in a park, wasn't that enough? She wanted to battle with a dog as well? Jagger almost felt offended, but didn't mind. Maybe, if he could stall this charade until nightfall, he could show her a dog to be afraid of... That's how you make a girl scream, after all.

”Don't be expecting much, doll, he only comes on command,” Jagger added as he watched her surveying the situation more, snickering at her comments. “Dogs like mine tend to behave quiet well to command, unlike h- people like yourself.” He argued. His stance stayed rather relaxed, to say the least, yet Jagger's eyes scanned the girl with more intensity with the passing seconds. The icy stare melting to something more frightening, he quietly began picking out her weaknesses, seeing her fatigue, her reluctance to choose where to go. She was tensing, her mind was reeling, Jagger slouched, he could relate to her struggle in the act of running, by far neither were necessarily dressed to run a marathon. Her shoes were obviously worn, and Jagger had little room to talk, in fact, his entire outfit was worn, he didn't own many clothes, but of course, he did make a point to remain clean cut and composed, rugged, but composed.

“Do you have some sort of problem with my speech? 'Least I can show a little respect, even for a little fire starter like yourself, Evie.” Jagger winked, his composure kept slipping between being threatening and acting painfully flirtatious.... then again that was Jagger's personality in general, no matter the gender. “Which, speaking of, what kind of fool can't even prove fatal in setting a house ablaze? That's like, rule numero uno; no survivors.” Jagger sounded like he was scolding her for not knowing the most common of knowledge, like the fact the sky was blue. “Well, I'm pretty sure you're the right person, or else I'm pretty screwed over.” Jagger said, laughing a little to himself. Wrong person, ha, that was almost impossible for him. There was an excitement in the male's voice, notable given the spark of enthusiasm in his eyes, he was waiting anxiously for her response every sentence, loving the verbal sword fight as he would an actual one. Though, Jagger was rubbish with a sword, he liked to think his silver tongue was more skillful than that. Yet, sometimes he did play a hellish fool in both sides of that spectrum, he would admit. Oh well. He didn't know where to go from that, he couldn't just spill everything where they were, he couldn't simply tell her everything, supernaturals on his tail, people out to get her, wolves and such, that was not just casual, middle of the park conversation.

'Problematic.' The word made Jagger laugh. Dogs were not problematic, only their owners, and while, yes, Jagger was both, he still found it funny. However, his laugh stumbled to an end at her shot, he was almost blindsided. Ouch, he didn't get that often. Hit and a miss. “Go back and try again? Come on now love, aren't I just the most charming man you've ever set eyes on?You can't hardly handle me, even now.” Jagger smirked, that dark smirk he had, challenge filling his eyes, piercing into the girl's gaze, though she broke eye contact often. It was actually frustrating, for a dog that was submission, but Jagger found her gaze interesting, she was easier to understand as far as her thought process when she was actually looking at him. He was growing impatient.

Oh, joy, back to the stick. “No, I just accidentally stepped on one branch after this entire time.” Jagger gave her an exasperated look. Of course he was going for creepy, he was going for scary, something to make her skin crawl and her mind race.... “Oh, just a few hours...” Jagger shrugged, saying it simply. He was starting to wonder if maybe pulling a badge would work, would she stop being all frantic and chill out? He could feel it in the air, a tension, growing more and more, she was going to run. He could feel it, and he smiled. Should he threaten calling backup? No, that was ridiculous. Why were the cops on her tail to much anyway? So, a little fire and a stolen sweater and now she's America's top wanted? Or, she might as well be in Jagger's mind. Why was she so damn important? He shrugged the ideas off and locked his gaze on her, watching her think.

Jagger simply shrugged at her question, he was itching for her to run at this point, he could feel muscles tensing, his body wanting to chase, his smirk not once faltering. If she rushed him he could easily take her down in a matter of seconds, if that. Jagger could knock the girl out, grab her, steal her weapon, her worst choice was running at him. More than anything, it wouldn't give him any chance to run at all, and that was just boring. Into the park? That was a bad idea, all those people, he would have to tackle her before she got very far at all, as to not be a sight to see, and keeping her from screaming, well, that would have been rather hard as well. All the choices were a pain, really, all the built up energy in Jagger was starting to wear, he started tapping his hand on the side of his thigh, a rhythmic, quick beat, he felt like he was going to start shaking. He wasn't going to lose her, and honestly it was best to keep her from getting hurt, Jagger wondered if he hurt her if he would get punished. Maybe, if he did explain everything to her, she would demand he get a shock collar or something ridiculous like that. Or even if he scratched her every time he threatened her he would be punished. He prayed that wasn't the case. Jagger threatened people in as simple things as greetings. He really didn't know how to even start this, explaining thing. He was at such a loss. How do you tell a human all this news at once? You don't. They panic, and kill whoever told them, and live like they didn't know. Human's resort to killing when scared. Then again, Jagger had no room to talk, he had his share of bloodshed.

Jagger resisted the urge to bare his teeth, or growl, or something. She was sizing him up, scanning his strengths. His weaknesses were many, but hard to pick out. Old battle wounds and scars slowed the young wolf, but not enough to make catching her a challenge. Still, they were weaknesses. He didn't need a weapon, claws, fangs, even his strength would be enough to deal with her, so he wasn't worried.

He saw it. That change in breathing, the flashing gaze, the eager but nervous movements. She was going to the residential area, run over fences and yards, that was a dumb choice, but she didn't know that. The quiet pause between them was enough to settle the edge Jagger felt into a dull gnawing at his spine, every nerve itching to race. Her eyes met his a moment, a flash of a second, something that was daring and challenging and sent a rush though the wolf. She moved quickly, even for a tired human, and bolted towards the fences.

Jagger hesitated.

He counted, one, two, three, watching but not moving for a second. Any chance needs to give the first runner a head start. Then he let himself finally uncoil his energy. Surging quickly after the girl with all the energy he had, and a growl, loud and low, escaped his throat in the excitement, loud enough to even be heard over the rattling fence the girl had just swept over, Jagger would brush it away as the “dog” he had with him.

Reaching the fence, the wolf didn't slow his pace, he grabbed the top of the fence, swinging his body over it in more of a volt than actually balancing in it before jumping down. He weighted considerably more than the girl, especially considering his muscles seemed to grow heavy in the urge to shift, the metal fence shook and threatened to bend under him, yet his feet landed on the ground before he could allow it. He landed rather quietly all considering, the girl making a break for it, he knew she was looking for some kind of weapon, he had all but forgotten about her knife as he rushed towards her.

Jagger knew better than to hurt her. Instead, a swift grab before she could even turn around brought her arm behind her back, and tightening his grip made it painful for the girl to pull away, the only thing she would be able to do would be to turn to face him, he chuckled to himself, letting out huff, he wished it had been longer of a run, but he didn't mind as much as he did being so close to the girl, her heartbeat in his ear, his claws threatening to dig into her wrist any second, he struggled to restrain.

“Poor choice.” Jagger stated softly, ever so slightly loosening his grip, more to his benefit than hers.

[exixst]

Evelyn tried to understand the situation. It didn't seem to be all that difficult to. A strange guy had followed her for however long he had, and eventually decided it was time to announce that, meanwhile claiming that they had "things to discuss", as he had told her. But her problem was that she kept getting caught up on the why. Why had he tailed her? To share a chat about something, even though he had yet to proffer the intended topic? Why did he want to talk, anyway? She had no business with him. Unless he was just the messenger for someone and had simply disregarded the necessity to explain who he was here for. There was always that saying, "don't shoot the messenger". Fortunately for the young man, Evie felt no desire to put a bullet in his skull. Not that she could if she'd wanted to. Evelyn didn't have access to a weapon of that caliber. They were expensive. Exorbitant, if she was allowed to toss in her own two cents on that matter. And that was just the gun itself, but add in the toll of the bullets you had to feed the thing, and it was hopeless to even allow her dreams of owning one of her own to flourish. Assuming she wouldn't be a perfect shot, Evelyn would end up having to carry quite a lot of bullets on her if she wanted to constantly be prepared for something dire. But that was a lot. More than she could afford with her unemployed pockets. And only a fool would try to rob a gun store. So then there was a bit of a downgrade. Knives. Forget the plural, in her case. And dismiss the idea that it was only a bit of a demotion from a gun, if you were to judge her particular weapon of choice. A decrepit, basic kitchen knife. The blade itself was coming loose from the wooden handle, and it was only threatening when too close. Lightweight, but hardly intimidating, not to mention the dullness. It did what it was supposed to - cut - just like any other blade, it just had some lackluster to its appearance and quality. But she made do.

Not that she was yearning to stab him, either. Evelyn may have been a bit on the... spontaneous side, to put her recklessness in a positive light. However, she wasn't going to mortally wound someone without being provoked first. And, besides, this was just a first impression. He may have been a bit perplexing with his lack of explanation, but he wasn't being absolutely unbearable. He offered up quite an entertaining verbal spar for her to test her own wits with, for starters. They may have been strangers, but any barriers that were supposed to prompt initial politeness out of either of them were gone. The typical routine of introduction had already vanished, anyway. There was no "hi, my name is ______, nice to meet you", or questions as to how the other's day had been. Those customary steps had been skipped over without apology or hesitance, and neither appeared to be bothered. Little did the human know, the other one already knew her, who she was, and her whole situation. That possibility didn't even tickle her mind.

So his dog only came on command, he says? Now just what was that implying? Evelyn's brow quirked in silent question, the gentlest of chuckles barely escaping from her mouth. "How obedient. You must have trained yourself quite the subservient canine. Tell me, what does he look like, so I'll know what to expect?" Evelyn only gave half of her effort in trying to refrain from smirking. It didn't exactly work, though. However, at his next comment, she felt like she was supposed to be insulted by it. But, truth be told, she wasn't. "Well, I mean, you're not wrong." Her shoulders made a large shrug, a sheepish grin overcoming her previous smirk. He was entirely right. She did not behave well to command at all, it was true. To be even broader, she didn't behave well in general. "But don't try to tell me you aren't a bit of a deviate, yourself. I find it hard to believe you'd ever do as told."

Her drab eyes rolled once in her head. A response already selected in her mind to be used, she parted her lips to reply, but everything inside of her cut to a sudden halt when the boy made two remarks; her name, and her crime. Her eyes made a beeline for his then, her own gaze widening slightly from the surprise. At the same time, a sudden rush of heat came to her face, which faded as quickly as it came, but tinted her skin a light shade of red. It wasn't from his little wink, no, it was from the shock. She certainly hadn't been prepared for that. Her name on his tongue... it wasn't supposed to be there. It made a shudder-causing chill race up her spine, perking up the hairs on the back of her neck. She stared at him for a long moment, eventually remembering to close her mouth because she wasn't saying anything. Gathering air in her lungs, she tried to recollect herself. "Excuse me?" She fought the stutter that threatened to hinder her speech. It was a little too late to pretend she hadn't the slightest clue about what he was mentioning, her reaction had been too much of a giveaway for that bluff to be put into play. So now she scrambled to figure out something else, but there wasn't enough time. "That's odd. I wasn't aware that there were rules when committing crime. I was under the impression that breaking the rules is exactly what a crime is." Well, laws, to be exact, but same thing. She was irritated at his tone of voice, though. Who was he to give her a lecture? Was he a professional arsonist? "But, for the record, my intention was not to kill anybody. That was a legitimate accident. I hadn't thought about checking the house to see if he was there beforehand, so that's on me, I'll admit that. I wasn't that upset about it." Upset and angry were two different things, right? They were, now. However, Evie did not escalate on what she meant when she said "it", all because she was now under the assumption he knew everything. And if he was not, that was his problem. She was reluctant to tell him anything in general, but did choose to clarify and correct him just because it was a simple misconception. But, unfortunately, he did have the right person. He had her name, and the crime attached to it. There was no denying it now. She couldn't lie it off. "Alright... so you apparently know me... care to explain how? And who you are? Because, honestly, if you were going for creepy earlier, this little segment just took that cake."

Well, crap. Attempting to shut him down only made him power through more. His laughter did bumble up a bit, though, which was a win on her part. But that approach wasn't going to work on him, apparently. She'd have to try a different angle. Luckily, Evie had no shame in this case. Thus, she chose to allow her eyes to soften up a bit to relieve them from their cocky stiffness, and a small grin was tugged onto her lips. "Alright, I'll admit it; you are." She was lying through her teeth, but chose to give a little girly shrug, anyway. She wasn't trying to get him to buy her little act, nor did she assume he would. If he did, though, bonus points for her. "I can't help it. I tried to deny you, but your persistence broke me already. I guess that just goes to show you how alluring you must be. You've managed to find the perfect amount of mystery, and paired it flawlessly with the flirty bad boy psyche. I mean, I don't even know your first name, but, right now, I'm quite alright with skipping past the boring stuff and opting for something a little more... entertaining." That went quite well. By the end of her little performance, she was feeling quite confident. Perhaps it had crossed onto the convincing side. She hadn't even broken into a laugh like she usually would have. Truthfully, Evie didn't really care if he believed her or not. If he didn't, that was fine, maybe he'd play along anyway, just for kicks. If he did, though, that would be glorious.

Evie sighed quite audibly at his first reply. The sarcasm was obvious, even if taken out of context. A single brow of hers lifted higher than the other, before she shook her head a few times. "Well, you know what does accidentally step on a branch? Bears." She made a stiff motion with her arm as she answered her own question. Now, Evelyn did not understand the fact that her reply didn't make sense to most people, excluding herself. Bears were an irrelevant topic, especially when it came to the accidental snapping of twigs. But it made total and complete sense to her. That little grudge about the scare was still tagging along with her, too. "A few... hours?" Evelyn repeated, a new look of astonished realization proclaimed itself upon her features. Surely he was just kidding with her. There was no way he could've been tailing her for a few hours. She would've noticed him, right? His hair must have been difficult to hide, it should've captured her eye at least once... right? Then again, she hadn't exactly gone sight-seeing anytime recently. She'd just been trying to stay out of the gazes of anyone involved with the law. Perhaps she really could have overlooked the boy with the stark white hair. There was no way of knowing at this point, though. "...Why?" She eventually bothered to inquire, looking at him confusion now melting onto her features. She was daunted by his ability to hide right underneath her nose. But then, something slapped itself back into her mind. His shirt... she remembered it. Vaguely, but the look of the material and the color were just a bit familiar. "Hey, wait. Did I run into you? I was taking the corner too fast, you were... doing something, I don't know what. Right? That was you, wasn't it?"

Was it even possible for a backyard to be so tidy? There wasn't anything she could use against him. Not even a lawn chair, or a rake, or a scooter. There weren't even any gardening tools. There was one tree in the yard. That was it. No grill on the patio, no outdoor furniture, no swing set, nothing. Which left her with two choices; fight him or run from him, assuming he was following behind her. But she wasn't strong enough to fight him. And pretty soon, she was gonna find out she wasn't fast enough to outrun him, either. But, in the meantime, she was just hearing him hop over the fence. But that wasn't all that had kissed her ears. To her horror, she'd heard a growl, before the fence shuddered once more. It was deep, aggressive. It wouldn't have made sense for her to assume it was from him. Her mind instantaneously dropped everything else. There was a dog somewhere. Her pace faltered, her mind and feet wanting two different things. Her legs wanted to keep going, her mind was telling her to stop and figure out where the canine was so she could avoid it. Her eyes fled in every direction, looking for a ferocious quadruped that should've been charging after her with its pearly whites bared and preparing to sink themselves into her thigh. The fact that she couldn't find it only made her panic turn into a terror. Her heart jumped about, the fright trying to paralyze her into one place, but she tried to keep running. She just needed to find the source of that growl, and it didn't even occur to her that it had been created by the boy. Humans didn't make that noise. Canines did, and she was more scared of a dog than she was the guy tailing her. Dogs had long teeth, boy had... nothing, as far as she was aware of. Dog had territorial instinct, boy had no bitter feelings of resentment towards her that she knew of. Dog had speed and strength and a horrible bite, boy had basically everything she did, just a bit stronger. She wasn't scared of him. It was the fact that a dog should've been coming out of nowhere to slam its weight into her. That's what scared her, especially since she couldn't see it.

However, it was not a set of deadly teeth she felt clamping down on her arm. Instead, it was a hand, with fingers that didn't pierce through her skin. The grip was heavy, with even more weight backing it up. She wasn't able to wrangle free from it before it yanked her back, causing a hot, sharp pain in her shoulder, which prompted an involuntary whimper to escape her. She had no choice but to stop, for the pain was unbearable if she pulled against him. But when she did stop, she wasn't released. Instead, her arm was jerked up her back, forcing a gasping grunt from her throat. She gritted her teeth together and tried to find a way to ease the pain, but the only way she could figure out was to step closer to the source. At least then, some of the pressure was relaxed, taking some of the strain from her muscles. It didn't leave her in pain, just in discomfort. Finally, she forced herself to breathe, realizing that she'd been refraining from doing so without realizing it.

Evelyn's mind fled back to the detail of that hostile snarl. The dog. Where was that mutt? She took one last look at the surrounding yards with no success, and then relented and turned herself around, twisting her arm so that it wouldn't be popped out of its place as she moved. Then Evelyn slapped at his forearm a number of times repeatedly, meanwhile saying, "let go, damn it, let go! There's a dog! Let go, let go, let go!", all while being unaware that the 'dog' was actually the guy right there. After she was done with trying to smack his grip off, she worked to writhe it free on her own. And with her other hand, Evie made sure she had a reliable grip on the knife, fulling expecting a savage canine to come storming from around the house. The idea of sending the knife into the guy's chest wasn't one that introduced itself to her at the moment. The opportunity was perfect. He was literally within arm's reach, utterly vulnerable to the blade she held. And she could've really taken a toll on him with it, too. But she didn't. Her focus and concentration was on the expected territorial mongrel that she was on the lookout for, not on him. "Where... Where the hell is it?" She breathed, slowly bringing herself back some composure. The dog was nowhere to be found. Had it all just been a part of her imagination? She blinked, utterly confused. "The growl... There... There was a growl. You heard it, didn't you?" She flicked her gaze to him for just the briefest of moment to get a look at his expression, but then went back to trying to find anything dog-like. She couldn't even lay eyes on a chew toy. "Poor choice?" She finally recognized what he had muttered to her. "Shut up..." She didn't even care to figure out what her poor choice was at this point, she was just tired and ready for a nap. Maybe he was judging on her idea of running, or her choice of direction. Whatever. She was done for the time being. Needed to regain some breath and settle her heart down, because that spike of fright hadn't been doing her any favors.