Animal Instinct

November 16, 2015:

Dusty and Jesana meet up for a late night dinner and discover they have more than a little in common.

West Staten Island

A secluded overhang near the shore.

Characters

NPCs: Old Man Coyote (briefly)

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

Jes has been bouncing around Gotham and New York all day warning those she can of possible imminent danger. The kind you need to flee from rather than stand and fight. She knows most won't take her seriously, several had actually gotten pissed off, having no idea how she knew they were mutant.

While she normally isn't in the habit of doing such things, she'd rather piss someone off or scare the hell out of them then leave them with no chance to survive. Having done what she could for the day and sporting a lovely purple and green tinged left eye and cheek, she's made her way to the wilder parts of Staten Island. It's quiet here along the shore this late into the fall and evening. After a few moments she texts Dusty to see if he's nearby and would like to meet up.

The response is pretty quick. Sure, he'll be there. Where is she? Once Dusty gets the answer, it'll still be some time to head over that way. He was in New York, though, so it wasn't as long of a trip as it could have been. When he gets to the shore, he pays for his trip, and starts to head into the deeper parts of Staten Island, pleased by the area she chose to meet him in. He sends a text to let her know he's arrived, and where he is, naming a few obvious landmarks he can see.

Jes had taken advantage of that bit of time to pop over to this shack of a place that has good at least in her mind take out, and cheap booze. When she finds him her hands are full of a six pack of harvest themed beer, two bottles of vodka and to large bags of doritos that smell as if they are filled taco meat and toppings. There's a handful of napkins tucked under one arm too. She's dressed casual in jeans and leather boots with odd spikes on sole, a faded grey shirt with the words "Off the Res" in block letters and a leather jacket. "Heyla!" Jes grins and offers Dusty one of the bags. "Hungry?"

"Of course, Lil C; I'm ready for whatever you've got in there," Dusty says, strolling up to take the bag as if it weighed absolutely nothing. "Give me the heavy stuff," he says, gesturing to the beer. Obviously he intends to impress her or something. "Where are we headed?" he asks. He's wearing the same jacket as yesterday, but has a few warm layers under it, and a different pair of black jeans that are a bit on the snug side. He puts his nose in the bag, smelling whatever she gave him.

Jes grins. "Tacos in a bag. It's meant to be eaten on the go only its kinda messy and not that popular. I love it though. There's nice spot over this way, all tucked up under some rocks and trees. You can still see the shore but the wind doesn't hit you." She hands him the beer and one of the bottles of vodka. They hadn't been heavy just awkward to manage all at once. "Thanks." She moves a bit slower than she normally would due to her eye being swollen half shut. "Oh! I have a flashlight somewhere." She fishes in an inner pocket. If Dusty is looking he might notice the hunting knives clipped to either side of her belt. Or the harness for the back holster that holds her gun.

Dusty saw the injury but hasn't commented on it yet or brought it up. He's not blind, just letting it go for right now. When she's ready or brings it up, that's a good time. Dusty doesn't appear to be armed at all, though that isn't entirely the case, whatever he has is concealed at the moment. "I don't need a flashlight unless you do, I can see in the dark," Dusty says. "Lead on," he adds. There's no hurry, they can move as slow as she needs to go. He does venture a, "Rough day?" question to broach the subject a little bit.
"I've had worse. It was really just, frustrating." She gives up the search for the flashlight. Maybe it fell out in the scuffle. "For a few months I was searching for some lost friends of mine. I got to know a lot of places in Gotham and New York where mutants and others hang out and sometimes when I was out prowling I'd get someone's scent and know what they were. A few of those people, okay a lot of them aren't out."

"Normally I'd never let on I knew, it's rude and alarming ya know? But something happened a few nights ago and all these people are in terrible danger. I've spent the whole day trying to warn them. I just hope some of them listened." Jes sighs. "Here it is." She moves aside a cleverly woven together frame of branches and brush bits to reveal a protected little overhang at the edge of the forest and start of the beach.

"Well, I'm 'out', and that seems a little… exrteme. Am I here for you to warn me about whatever this is?" Dusty asks. He draws up behind her to look at the little spot she's found, looking over her shoulder. He glances at her to the spot, trying to pick up her expression. His question hangs in the air, at least for him — is it that, or if not, what else? A secret little spot suggests other things or secrets. "Good find, this is a great spot," Dusty observes.
Jes nods and sits her food and vodka down for a moment.

There's a heavy outdoors blanket folded up back under a bush and she pulls it out and spreads it on the ground. "Well yes. That and I just.. wanted to see you. I had fun the other night. I've never met anyone like me, I know I said that already but its true. And here because it's quiet and unpopulated and about as wild as you're gonna get in the city. It's a nice place to just relax after a long day." She's also not quite ready to bring him to her home yet. Her children and the Den's location are a carefully guarded secret. She drops to feet on the blanket with a sigh of relief and reaches for her taco bag. "I thought you might like it here too. Central or the Bronx park aren't so bad at night but there's always cops wandering around being nosy."

Dusty sets his stuff down, and moves across to snare the other side of the blanket and help put it down flat. He climbs onto it as well, careful not to get too close into her personal space, and stretches his legs out. "Well… thanks. I was pleased when I got your message. I suppose I feared a bit that was it, and I'd never see you again," Dusty admits, brushing imaginary dirt off his hands, watching her pull out the taco bag. His stomach growls a little but he isn't grabby. He reads her shirt, finally, and smirks a bit.

She catches his gaze and smirk and laughs. "Its old and faded but it's my favorite." Jes scoots just a bit closer and then hands over Dusty's taco bag. He's a little bundled up so maybe the cold is bothering him. Probably not but he smells nice and she doesn't have a problem with people in her personal space if she likes them. If anything it's usually the people that have a problem with her. "So I guess I should tell you what's going to happen. I wish I could tell you the when and where but I can't, don't know that. I would guess that anywhere outside the Tri-cities will be safe for now. I think they'll start here based on previous experiences. I could be wrong though." Jes munches a handful of taco with one hand and passes Dusty some napkins with the other. Messy but good and she's never worried about getting her hands dirty.

Dusty smells clean, but a good deal like his own sweat and personal smell, when close up. He doesn't appear to use any special hair product or anything like that - which is fairly evident with his sort of loose and 'whatever' hairstyle - but doesn't use cologne either. Nothing that would make him easier to smell while hunting! "Thanks," he says as he accepts the bag, using the bag itself as a 'placemat' on his lap. He eats without being worried about it, and will get food on himself and the blanket, no doubt. But who cares?
"So? /What/ is going to happen? An alien invasion?" he guesses randomly. It's hard to be worried when it sounds outlandish. "You're tellin' me to get out of town? For like a few weeks?" Dusty asks. He's skeptical, but will hear this out.

"It wouldn't hurt. Not aliens this time." She seems seriously about that. "But it's up to you. You aren't a mutant so long as you don't do anything obviously other, and you know, run away when shit starts going down then I don't think they can tell. Not calling you a coward here or anything. I just don't how to fight this. But I should explain first. There's this group of people that you may have heard of. They call themselves Purifiers and used to be their goal was to kill all the mutants. Lately they've branched out to include anyone not human or wholly human. They've gotten some serious financial backing from somewhere and put together this force of cyborgs, human/machine beings."

Jes doesn't seem amused by the irony of the situation. To fight what they hated some of them became that very thing. "Now they've just started killing regular people too if they're in the way. And I don't mean in the way trying ot help mutants escape, I mean innocent bystanders just trying to go about their lives." She hurriedly wolfs down some more taco chips. "You mighta seen some of this stuff on the news."

"The other night there was another news story, about how some guarded government warehouse was broken into but they didn't know what, if anything had been stolen." There's a flash of anger in her eyes and the bag crinkles and crunches in her hand before she grabs one of the bottles of vodka and downs half of it in one go.

A focused, clouded look of dismay enters Dusty's expression, and he quietly listens. Well, mostly quietly, he's still eating, but isn't paying any real attention to his food. He's just listening, and letting her lay out all the facts without peppering with questions. Well, not yet, anyway. He nods to having heard about some of it on the news.
"They lied. Those rotten sonsofbitches. Hundreds of people are gonna die, at least and they don't even warn anyone. I don't.." Jes closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them again. "I was there. I know exactly what was in that warehouse and who stole it. Purifires and their Reaver cyborg scum killed all the guards and hijacked Sentinel parts. Those gigantic policing robots that were meant to be near indestructable. They're gonna massacre people. Maybe they think they can find and stop them before anyone knows about it, I dunno. They won't though because the kind of resources these people have had lately, they've got protection somewhere. I know some people who are probably working on a plan and when I hear anything I'll let you know. But I just.. I can't fight something like that. A giant fucking robot. None of my skills are going to put a scratch on it."

"What can I do?" Dusty asks, simply. During her deep breaths and angry explanation, he moved to put an arm around her shoulders (easy to shrug off or shift away from, if she wanted to discourage it). But if she allows, he'll firmly hold her, securely. Maybe it will help in a small way.

She doesn't pull away, just leans into Dusty's side. Her scent is natural like his but also faintly of lavender and some kind of flower. Gunpowder and metal and leather and a bit of sweat from all the running she's done today. There's also the smell of her anger and frustration and even a bit of fear. Fear isn't one of her natural emotions and feeling so just makes her all that more angry. "I don't know. I wish I did. I have a contact in SHIELD. I don't trust them either. They're a part of the government but I trust my contact. She's never done me wrong and saved my sorry skin a few times. She tried to save my friend too. I'm hoping that she'll have some idea how to stop it. Or convince whatever asshole is in charge of this stuff to warn people. She sets her bag of most eaten taco aside and leans her head on Dusty's shoulder.

"I have a place they can't get to but I can't bring people there. It wouldn't be safe for them. I'm not even sure that regular people can survive there alive. I can if I'm careful and my kids can. I'm going to send them there. I haven't told anyone but my god.. my daughter is a mutant. I can't lose anymore children. I just can't." Her voice breaks and is filled with despair and raw and terrible pain. Some losses never heal.

He scoots the food off his lap. He was nearly done anyway, and she clearly is the priority here. She's leaking emotion all over the place! He's a bit overwhelmed by it, but doesn't let on. Instead, he can try to be what she needs for now, and there's a sort of pleasure to that: being something somebody needs, even if it's just a short time. It's a new sensation. He nods quietly, drawing her head in against his shoulder and neck, other hand secure on the back of her head, fingers splayed in her hair at the ponytail, arm around her still. There's a little bit of a subtle growl in his chest and throat, but it's at the things that threaten her family. "I know," Dusty says, a bit throaty, trying not to sense his own losses, but it's impossible not to empathize. He doesn't tell her to let it out, or that it's okay to cry, but he's just going to BE there. She can scream or snarl or howl or cry or all of those. He's not afraid of getting bit.

When she cries she doesn't do it the way most people would. There's no sobbing or shaking or gasping for air. Definitely not any screaming. No, she doesn't make a single sound and he might not even realize that's what she's doing except for the faint hint of salt and the warm trickle of wetness when she presses her face against the side of his neck. She learned at an early age not to give herself away when her hurts were so bad she needed a release. It was okay to cry, as long as no one knew.

It takes awhile for her to come back to herself and him and the little spot they're nestled up in. Those memories and others are still fresh and hard to put away when they surface. "Oh hell. I'm.." Jes swallows. "A freaking train wreck here. I'm sorry, Dusty. It's.. it's been a rough year." That sounds kind of lame to her but she isn't the best with words. "I want to thank you but.. I was taught that words don't mean anything. They can too easily be a lie or a misdirect. It's a persons actions and body language that tell the truth." So she tilts her face up and kisses his cheek, letting her lips hold for just a moment if he doesn't pull away before she settles back against his side. "I've been running from battle to the next and there's never been any time to do anything but try to survive."

Dusty had no idea what to really expect from her, lacking familiarity. They've barely met. Naturally this is overwhelming and has some offputting parts to it. But then again, they dreamed about each other. There's some other factors here, and some things like scent and awareness of being from the same place, and similar history, that it's not as strange after all. He strokes her hair and neck when she turns to kiss him, brushing her hair back from her ear. His eyes are down, clouded with a distance in them, not really registering directly on her right now. She'll feel him shrug a little, as she apologises. It doesn't bother him that she had this release. "I'm glad I could be what you needed for a bit," Dusty answers finally, truthfully. At super-close range with her nose in his neck, the deeper scent can be caught: he has an earth-smell. Soil. "I've been stayin' out of everythin'. Like if I don't look at it, it isn't happening. I can't any more. I don't know what that'll bring. Change, I guess."

Her head moves up as a low throaty and very amused laughter sounds in the small space. "Girl, you never disappoint. That's for damn sure." Then the voice is gone and Jesana sighs. "Yeah. Change. That's what I do. Or what I'm drawn to. Maybe both and not always for the best." People around her tend to die. A lot. "I feel so comfortable with you. Even though we've just met. It's weird and yet it isn't. You know, until a few months ago I even looked more like you." It's a change in subject. A move away from the heavy stuff. "My right eye was green, my skin was alot less tan and my hair was a lighter brown and a bit wavy sometimes. When my real powers woke, I'd changed. It was a bit of a shock looking into the mirror, I'll tell you that."

The amused laughter and strange voice make Dusty tense up. He can recognize what it is due to having heard similar things before, but that doesn't make him not react! Still, he mellows out when Jesana doesn't seem to do anything about it. But Jesana may realize that Dusty damn sure heard it. "To be fair, well…. my hair changed. I've dyed it back the way it was /before,/" Dusty admits, sounding somewhat ashamed. "I guess I stubbornly resist change sometimes. Well. Maybe often." He clears his throat.

Jes blinks a little. "You heard him, didn't you?" She smiles. "Usually it's just me. Since that just happened.. if you ever see me and I'm not acting like me, it's him. Fun fact that. Old Coyote sometimes takes his kids out for a test drive." She just sounds resigned. One hand lifts to gently brush back his hair while she studies it more closely. "Streaks, huh? Neat. I can understand that. I'm stubborn too but usually just with grudges." She flushes slightly. That's actually a vast understatement. Fenris had commented that she was obsessed to the point of being sociopathic when someone really pissed her off. "I'm learning to let things go more. I think it would suit you to let it grow back out. You know what you are now. If you embrace it, you'll only be stronger."

Dusty lifts a brow at the comments about Coyote, but then nods once. All right. Good information to have. "If Badger does that, I don't know about it. Doesn't seem like something he'd do. We're not really a barrel of laughs," Dusty says with a half-grin, a rogue's smile. They have their fun, but probably not the same way Coyote would find it! "Yeah, big white stripes that make me feel like I'm going gray. I'll pass," Dusty chuckles softly. And sighs heavily. "It's when I let 'go' that everything falls apart. I lost my career over a stupid mistake with my 'abilities.' It was my passion, my direction." It's a deep loss for him: his /life/ was wrapped into what he did. His dreams, shattered. A pause. "So I suppose we can both be train wrecks tonight." He closes his eyes, shaking his head a bit.

"I'll tell you a secret." Jes wraps an arm around Dusty and lowers her voice by his ear. "White makes you look older, distinguished. I have a thing for older guys." She lifts her head and winks before smiling and giving him a squeeze. "I'm sorry. It must have been hard for you. I never knew until this year what I actually am. I knew I didn't have the X-gene. My brothers had me tested. We had no idea who my parents were. I was sort of adopted. My dads were mercenaries and this one mission was a rescue of what they thought were human trafficking victims. And they were, but they were special people. Mutants mostly. Dad picked me up and I turned into a coyote pup in his arms. They thing I was about three months old. He was a werewolf so he didn't freak out and he didn't kill me either like a real wolf would have. Just brought me home and left me for my brothers to raise."

"People can be so afraid of someone different than them. They can't even see all the ways we are still similar. Or how much someone like us could do if given a chance. I'm glad we found each other. It's so great being able to talk to someone who understands."
Dusty laughs in his chest at her comments about looking older. It's a pleasant sound, akin to his growl, in that he's holding it inwards. Which will happen a lot: he's evidently often reserved with his deeper feelings, as opposed to out on his sleeve. "I suppose I'm fortunate I had, and still have, my father. But he did not want to pass any traditions on. I know only scraps about my family history. I know he had some painful reasons for it, but it just leaves a lot of questions, too. I do know that he wanted the line to die out. There aren't very many of us. I may even be the only badger of my age group." A pause. "I can't turn into a badger," he lets her know. "But I think I understand a lot of the rest," Dusty concludes, drawing her in for a tightened hug, but very carefully, as if he thought he might hurt her physically.

She notes the care and smiles gently. "It's okay. I know you are strong, stronger than me I'm betting and when really pushed I can lift a bit over a thousand pounds. I don't hurt easily. Guy that socked me was a mutant who hit just about as hard. Pretty sure I'dve lost my head if I were a human." Jes kisses Dusty's cheek again and when she looks back up her gaze is thoughtful. "I don't know nearly as much as I'd like about our gods and histories. I did live on the Blackfeet Res in Montana but our farm was on the border of Canada and about an hour from the main part of the Res. I didn't go into town often and the things I do know, one of the tribal Elder's lived on the farm next to us. He taught when and what he could before he.. before he died. It might be possible that you'll get stronger with time, or that there is something that could be done to give you a sort of jumpstart like I had. Mine was an accident and I really don't reccommend it. Or maybe this is just the way you are." She shrugs apologeticly for not knowing.

"I can't imagine not being able to shift but I've always done it. I can imagine that it's a great and useful thing." Jes suddenly flushes. "Oh Fenris. You didn't see that report on the news a week or so did you? About the strange breakins?" There she'd been entirely naked with an unconcious woman slung over her shoulder climbing down the side of a building and hauling ass for her clothes completely unaware of the newschoppers overhead. "My clothes don't shift with me. It's.. well, makes things interesting anyway."

"That's… really useful to know," Dusty says, with an extremely obvious relief. He nearly caves in with the relief. "It's exhausting to be extremely careful all the time, every /moment,/ when I'm with another person, to not accidentally break their bones. It's usually easier to just stay alone." Dusty thinks over her shifting ability. "It didn't occur to me to do it or try." He shakes his head at first, about the news, but then clearly memory dawns, and he coughs a laugh. "Well, I could see how that would be inconvienient. …I guess I can't ask to see it now, can I," Dusty finishes, with a click of tongue. "Maybe some other time," he adds, with a smile that can only be termed as a flirt. He has a way of moving angling his eyes and adding a cheeky smile, deliberately aware of his own sexy expression - that reads of some kind of acting or modeling history.

"Sure. For me it happens instantly. But it's just me that changes. It's why I tend not to wear a lot of clothes, even when it's cold. Trying to run out of your shirt and jeans on all fours is bad enough. It's freaking impossible with underwear. I tripped once and almost got ran over." Jes shakes her head. She seems interested by the news that he's never thought to try. Maybe then.. but that's a thought for later. "That must have been really lonely. I can imagine. Me, I like the whole touching thing. Cuddling, curling up, sitting like this or in someone's lap and being petted. Doesn't matter if I'm me or coyote. But most people find that kinda weird. Or, a lot weird. So I spend alot of time hanging back when I'm with people too. Not for fear of hurting them, just weirding them out. But you don't have to worry about that with me." She smiles again.

"Well, if I start to apply too much force, can you promise to instantly tell me? It's difficult for me to gauge sometimes," Dusty says. He adjusts his position, to slide a little bit more and lean back, drawing her with him since his arm is around her. "If I push too hard… there's no way for me to make it better." His tone tightens - this is related to his loss previously: once it's done, it's done. There's no going back or repairing the thing that's been broken. "Well, I think it's fine. Usually I stay hands-off with partners in the past, just to be safe… but that doesn't mean I didn't want to." And he has some pent up wants. He's cautious, despite what she said—-, rolling a hand up her back and kneading her shoulder. He'd destroy a shoulderblade of a human with that move. This was not a joke. But it's proof he believed her when she said she could take it.

Jes makes a soft rumbly sound of pleasure. She would have never told him she barely felt it but her last relationship had been with a human. He'd been stronger than many but still entirely human and so was his touch. "Hoooly crap that feels good. Like I think I can feel the knots unwinding." Her nostril flare a bit as she reads his scent. That also must have been not easy for him. She'dve gone nuts. Jes has four favorite things in life and sex happens to be one of them. "That must be really hard." She winces. Not the best phrasing. "Uh. I mean." She shuts up and just hugs Dusty a bit tighter.

Oh, great. Her noise of pleasure ignites his engine big time. He tenses, musculature firm. He growls in what actually sounds like a sort of repressed annoyance, and forces his arm and body to relax. It doesn't entirely work; his response isn't something he controlled in time, and he'll smell of his aroused answer. Just as well she isn't in his lap at this point. "Yeah. Just give me a moment." He doesn't apologize or explain why. He'll pull himself together. He attempts to distract her with talk. "So, um." …Okay, that's not a good plan either.

She takes a couple deep breathes that really just make her more aware of his 'situation' than calm things down. Well. That got interesting fast. At least she isn't in heat. They can probably get out of this with dignity and clothing intact. Mostly. She just needs to think of something to distract them with. Hm. Jes blinks. Impulse control, not a stregnth of hers. So while he's looking aside she shifts and there's suddenly a rather large coyote sitting tucked up against his side, all tangled in clothes and weapons and grinning. At least until she remembers the teeth can be a little alarming. While clearly a coyote she'd be bigger than any in the wild if he's seen one. Bigger a bit than a wild wolf even. She isn't afraid of his agression, or his attraction. She's more than a little in the same place but this is so not the best or safest spot for that kind of thing. So furry distraction it is! Jes is so hoping this doesn't set of some sort of attack or fight instinct. She lowers her ears and head and tries to look as nonthreatening as possible.

Dusty sits up quickly, with immediate concerned confusion being his first response. Something bizarre just happened to her, she folded up all weird, is what it felt like. And he has her clothes now on his arm. And he blinks at her coyote face. And can't help it: he laughs. Not at her, but at the situation. And there's zero fear response - which is very badger. His laughing subsides, and he watches her for a long moment. "I could think of several ways that are more fun to get naked, but." He's making the best of it with a joke. He lifts both hands to rub his eyes and rakes his fingers back through his hair. "I'm not sure if you just don't trust me, but I wouldn't have done anything you didn't want, lil C." He's percieving her shapeshift as a way to keep him off of her. He starts to move a hand towards her shoulder but then pulls it back. Her shifting may have meant he should have a full stop. So he sets his hands on his knees.

Jes gives her best coyote grin and moves to shake out of her clothes. She touches her nose to his at the comment about trust and then ducks her head pushes up under his hand. She's just fine with this and her sudden shift was more of a tension breaker than because she didn't want to do something. This place looks isolated and it's quiet but people do still wander the beach at night. She didn't want him to feel awkward or embarrased. People tend to have alot of weird ideas about something she just sees as completely natural. Maybe he does too but she'd already shifted and so now here they are.

"Look… I didn't mean to cause this," Dusty says aloud, trying to read her body language. He lacks the same powers she does, and isn't reading her as well as she's reading him. He has his own strengths, though, such as the subtle reflection of light off his nocturnal-creature eyes as he feels her fur. "I'd rather we be able to talk. Should I take a bit of a walk, and then come back?" he asks her, roving his hand down over the side of her neck, fingers curling to scritch the fur at her nape, and then he drops his hand away.

Jes shifts back and smiles. "Sorry. I just didn't want you to feel you know.. all I could think was how to make it not weird. I figured making it weirder would to the trick." She laughs as she gets dressed. If she'd ever been modest she'd lost that long ago. "It's fine, I was just feeling alot of the same thing and this isn't the best place to mm.. explore such things." She looks up and then out at the ocean. "It could also be dangerous. Not the rain I think is coming but, at the risk of sounding crazy.. sometimes I go places because I just feel like it. Spur of the moment decision, like I came here tonight. Or so it seems at the time. Only then stuff starts happening and it turns out I didn't just randomly decide to go there. There's been a problem lately with some kind of crazy cult and the ocean and I wouldn't be really shocked if they showed up here or something. Right when things were getting interesting." She grins but then looks serious. "So we're good, yeah?"

And she's back and naked, but it is, and was, weird enough to have fixed it on his end, at least for now. She's just getting dressed. Seeing her unclothed is a bit… interesting, and he didn't think to immediately look away: so he is watching her do so, with his thoughtful blue eyes, but he doesn't smell or do anything that suggests it's a problem. They'll be fine. "I didn't plan to do something here either. Hardly. I'm usually much more private, I don't know what that was about. ….We're fine, of course," Dusty says firmly. "I can sometimes get to a … point of no return, but I didn't go there. It's all right. Finish your tacos?" he suggests, offering her a sandal with a partial smile.

There are a faint smattering of small tiny white scars on her shoulder blades and a rather jagged looking slice along her right side. Long healed and faded and likely made by a knife from the looks of it. She's also a bit more muscular than women typically are though she's got a softness and curves about her too. She laughs softly while she dresses. "I know what happened. Animal instinct and urges. I'm usually more careful and private too. Most of the time. Certain drugs can have an effect on me, or they used to. Now I doubt I could accidently consume as much as it would take." She'd learned a valuable lession last year about leaving your drink alone even for a second in the city. Jes grins and slides her sandal on then snags the taco bag. "I still think this is good even when it's cold. But I mean, tacos."

"Mine's alcohol — always effective, always there, like an old friend that sometimes forgets to pick you up at the airport," Dusty says with a sigh and loose motion of hand. Speaking of that— he saw she brought some, and rolls to his knees to dig into that. "What's sad is, my mistake that brought my world down around my ears, came from drinking this. But, well. It's a friend that you take the flaws along with the good parts, I suppose." He's done with his tacos, so his is left alone now. He relaxes into the change of subject. But then some of the heavier topic returns. "So. About leaving town," he says. "…for how long, did you think?" There's a sadness there. They just connected, and now it will end. Possibly for a very long time. "I guess I could just go north earlier than I planned."

"You know, having strength like that isn't easy. Odds are it would have happened anyway eventually. I am sorry that it messed you up. Tragedy and the truth are two things that will always show you who your real friends are." She considers a moment and looks out towards the ocean. Being so careful isn't much in her nature. Her pups have overidden it of late and made her more cautious. "I think I trust you. I'm gonna text you an address and as crazy as this sounds.. if you get into trouble or this stuff starts going down, I want you to go to this address, go inside the boat and past the living room to second closet door. Open and go inside. It should be safe there. I don't think the harbor will be a target. Even if it was, that place will still be safe." The exit to her house just won't be there anymore. She laughs. "Yeah that sounds totally fucking crazy. Tell you what, come by tomorrow and I'll just show you. It'll be easier and make so much more sense."

Dusty considers that. "How about instead of all of that, you text me with where YOU are, and we do what we can to keep each /other/ safe?" he suggests, quietly, with a small tilt to his head. "I think I could put a pretty big dent in an evil robot." He folds his hands together and his arms, particularly the biceps, flex meaningfully. "I'm a bit tired of trying to pretend the world isn't happening around me. Gotta come out of my hole sometime."

Jes smiles and nods. "Alright. I'll do that." She laughs suddenly. "Maybe you could throw me at it's face and I could blind the damn thing. It's gotta need to see, right?" She's only half kidding. One of the reasons she's so effective in a fight despite often being outnumbered and facing off with opponets with far more experience and weapons, armor and abilities is that she's utterly fearless when she fights. People watching often think she's suicidal. She isn't really, doesn't want to die at all but she's not afraid to do so and doesn't let it hold her back, instead she loses herself in the joy of the fight and animal instinct. Kill or be killed.

Jes tilts her head and then grins as she considers something else.. "Oh I have got to take you to my gym. We both need to work on getting better control over our strength I think. If anywhere can help us with that, it'll be there."

The two talk and drink their way through the next few hours discussing potential plans for stopping giant killer robots among other things before heading off in separate directions near dawn. They don't set a place or time but they'll meet again, both are sure of it.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License