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Iris's eye opened slowly. And then, she closed them again, damning herelf all the while for being distracted by the pretty view out the window and not closing the blooddy curtains first. It was too earrrlllyy to be awake, but the bright lights wouldn't let her sleep any longer. Such was the curse of being a light sleeper where sight was concerned. Though, you could probably screech a siren next to her ear and she wouldn't move. Stupid sensitive eyesight.

The brunette fingered her mussed curls tiredly and attempted futilely to roll off the bed. She nearly broke a wing in the process and decided she might have to just get up the old fashioned way.

Then she realised she'd nearly broken a wing in the process and screamed like a banshee, which acheived very little in the way of getting rid of the wing, but made her feel much more awake and better about many things. Until she realised that the sunrise hadn't even finished and that the other occupants of the home probably wouldn't appreciate that fact, snapping her jaw shut and biting her cheek to resist screaming again.

That was about the point that her cheek started bleeding and she remembered the distinct feeling of pointiness her eyeteeth had taken on the night before.

For the sake of her sanity, she decided to take a moment in which to stop biting herself, stop staring at the feathers littering her bed, and try to not screech again.

She also tried sorting out the frantic mess that was her mind, though that got far too annoying after a moment and she stopped, vouching instead for a zombie-like attempt and getting dressed again and a vague realisation that her already skimpy camisole was not made even skimpier by the fact that it was now reduced to having only one working strap. But at least it still stayed on...
{3 TXP}

Iris stared blankly at Shrian for a long moment before opening her mouth to reply. Nothing of interest came out. Instead she focused on his wings, and seemed to come to the conclusion that life was having a horrendous amount of fun screwing with her head.

"Well screw you right back, stupid fates." she muttered sourly before shaking her head. Finally, she focused more fully on Shrian, and now that her vocal chords were in working order (no more screeching or silence for her, no siree bob!) she could reply properly. "I'm fine. Just very...ugh." As if to prove her point, whatever point that may be, the great feathery things on her back spread open widely, revealing cream colored feathers that, as the traveled downwards, took on a distinctly red coloration.

She stared hard at her saviour-for-the-day for another moment and continued. "You, on the other hand, look like a snarky, shirtless insomniac who's going to collapse on himself. You don't happen to be one of those weird coffee addicts who can't function until they've drunk half a pot of that stuff, do you? Because you look the part. Maybe I should make you something. I think I saw eggs in that fridge of yours, and there's probably coffee somewhere around this place." She babbled, attempting to squelch her discomfort at her newly feathered once-arms-now-wings and pushing towards the doorway of her room.

This was not because she felt any need to readjust to life, of course. It was more because she'd spent her life in subservience, and she certainly did not feel she had the right to be an a** about her own wings when the person who had inadvertantly slipped into the role of employer had the same problem. So, instead, she fell back into her usual games of 'I do everything for you, and you pay me so I can keep my house,' though this time it was closer to 'I do everything for you and you pay for the house I'll now be living in.'
{3 TXP}

Iris looked at Shrian steadily, taking in for the first time since she'd met him, his appearance. He was... not particularly interesting, in her eyes. But, he was exceptionally king and horrifiyingly nice and sweet and all the other cheesy and romantic adjectives she could possibly think up. Besides, if you were into the whole pale-skin dark-hair thing, he was probably a dream come true. The eyes were kind of unsettling in her opinion, but hey, maybe that was something that interested Fiye.

Turning back to the open refridgerator and scanning through it's contents for anything that could be made into a relatively interesting breakfast, she chose her next words carefully, but not to such a point that they didn't have the same rushed quality of everything else about her.

"I don't know what I'll do if I'm not busy or asleep. ...No, that's bull. I know what I'll do and I don't particularly want to deal with it. After the third horrifically failed suicide attempt," Let him think it's the kids I freaked out about Fiye over. He doesn't need to know... "you learn to keep your mind off of crap. Relaxing, my dear, is not the same for you as it is for me." She replied offhandedly, concentrating more on finding things to mix in with the dozen eggs she found. Cheese, onions, peppers, anything at all, as long as it made a decent shred of sense. At least cooking hadn't gone and flipped upside down like the rest of life.

"As for Fiye..." Her feathers ruffled in mild annoyance at the lack of greens to mix into the omelette in the making. It had been an awfully long time since she'd played guidance counselor. Not since that one woman's kid. What had his name been? Robert, maybe. That sounded about right... "Well, hey, whatever you wanna believe. I haven't been around the girl long enough to know. Maybe she was just loopy from the transformation about to take place. Or maybe she wasn't." She definately wasn't. If she was, he'd have noticed something. He seems sharp like that.

"But hey, confrontation is always fun. Nothing like a breakfast assault after a sleepless night." Her voice was carefully trained on the near edge of sarcasm. Open to interpretation, and lasced with suggestion. She clicked her tongue absently. "Ya know, I hear peaches are an aphrodisiac, and that girly of yours doesn't seem like much of an eggs person to me." She dropped the eggs, cheese and various vegetable stuffs on the counter and turned back to the fridge once more, picking up a fuzzy, orange-red peach and tossing it lightly towards Shrian's head. "Do what you will."

{{4 TXP}}

Iris shrugged, her wings fidgeting and feathers finally lying flat and in wait. What...the...hell... She hadn't thought her last words had been sour but, then again, she hadn't really had much expeirience in the matter.

"Look, mate, I can't very well say I like you, I don't think that'd make much sense. However, I can say this. My life has been one hectic mess after another, and when everything's finally settling down, this," her wings spread to their full span as if to mock her, "starts happening. Now, I haven't 'socialised' since I was twelve, and I haven't been a love couselour since fifteen. When I lived in my apartment, it was alone and in one room with a futon. When I lived in the houses of my employers, I was paid extra if I didn't talk or get in their way unless they asked. That's what I'm trying to do know, because that's how this works."

I dunno what he seems to think I'm here for, but as far as I can tell, this is going to come out as just another employment. Not being paid for, but he's letting me live here so, whatever. She nodded, and continued avoiding eye contact with the man. Crack the eggs, find a fork, don't be a pain. That was her general mantra. Omelette. I am making and omelette. That is all. Stop looking at meeee!

{{2 TXP. Yeah, it's fine. I don't update anything enough anymore. Gotta work on that...}}

"Are you sure you're just not willing to accept a friend?" came Shrian's questioning, though still quiet voice. Rising slowly and slightly shakily, the young man flipped his keys back into a pale hand. "And I've lived here on my own for two years now. I know how to keep my apartment and make food." Giving Iris a curt nod, he moved to the door, flipping the long coat onto winged shoulders.

"I'm going to pick up a few things downtown. Do as you wish here. If Fiye wakes up, tell her I'll be back in a little while." Without another word, Shrian swung the door open, stepping out into the hall with an unseen head-shake. 'Don't know about her...She's been a loner for so long, she doesn't know what a friend is; at least, that's how I view it...'

Continuing downstairs and out the door, the pale man noted the time on his way out. 'Seven thirteen. I should be back by nine...' he thought distractedly. Heading out onto the worn sidewalk, Shrian slipped into the bustle of people making their way to work and other various places. He personally hated the city life, though there wasn't exactly anything he could do about it. All he could do was walk, be pushed, get yelled at, and get stepped on. All the while, the man kept checking his right pocket, making sure the wad of bills Fiye had given him stayed where it was.

[[244 words = 2 TXP]]

It had been a long hour and a half when Shrian walked tiredly from the grocery store, muttering under his breath and caring several bags of various foods and drinks. "It's like a madhouse in there at this time..." he mumbled, shaking his thought-clogged head. It seemed like forever since he'd actually slept, and it felt as if it was finally getting to him. 'I don't think they'll mind if I make a short pit-stop...'

Making his way once again through the crowded streets, the young man slid into the comforting shade of the park's trees, sauntering along slowly with his eyes half closed. It took Shrian only a few minutes to reach his predetermined destination; of course, 'his' spot on the lake.

Aparently, though, 'his' spot was no longer 'his'. As he stood, blinking at the young woman who was currently sitting against 'his' tree, the youth raised an eyebrow. 'Well, that's never happened before...' he mused thoughtfully to himself, walking slowly up to the new girl. Shrian didn't exactly want to be rude, but it was a strange occurance that one would be sitting against the tree he'd come to call his own, especially when he'd marked it up with his wakizashi so many times.

Aproaching the female quietly, Shrian's lips quirked up slightly as he viewed her drawing. It was excellent; and he assumed that she was a perfectionist of sorts, seeing as how she had many crumpled up pieces of paper around her. Deciding to speak, the young Transcendant adressed her indirectly. "It's not every day that I find someone sitting against my tree..." His voice was, as always, calm and smooth, yet it held a tone of curiosity in it that wasn't often there. He hitched the coat a bit higher on his back, making sure that not even a feather was peeking out from underneath the fabric of the jacket.

[[316 words = 3 TXP]]

"No no, you misunderstand." Shrian responded, holding up a hand with a small smile. "It's just my typical spot to relax; that's all. I don't mind at all that you're using it; that just means to me that it's a nice spot." he mused, moving over to a tree a few feet away from the other. Placing a hand on each shoulder, holding down his coat, the young man slid down the tree trunk, sighing as he sat down tiredly. "Please, feel free to continue." He was refering to her drawing, since she seemed a bit upset that she had to stop.

Crimson-tinted eyes turned out onto the lake, closing for a moment to reminisce over the previous day once more. When the young man opened them, though, the turned up the the now upright young woman, blinking slightly as they wook her in. What Shrian noticed first was her crossed arms, how she looked slightly posessive and secretive. Next were her eyes, and his unsurity of the iris' exact color. His near burgundy eyes swept over her facial features, noting her aparent beauty and pale skin.

Willing himself to speak in the slightly awkward silence, the male spoke quietly as he adressed the female. "You don't exactly seem acustomed to city-life, judging by your bag of odd trinkets and things." he mused aloud, turning his eyes back towards the lake. "Are you new around here, or do you just like carrying such things around with you?" Smiling idly to himself, Shrian let his eyes travel back up to the young woman, who appeared to be in her late teens.

[[270 = 2 TXP]]