Scolding the Stalker

[lily tomlinson]

There's a very large crow sitting still in a tree, watching the crowds milling about the high school. It's seemingly innocent, merely sitting like any other bird would. But it's eerily still, intent, focused. It's searching for one particular student, it's dark greedy eyes the only things moving. Even the tree is still, the wind somehow missing its branches.

There's a group of jocks jeering at him, calling him fat, trying to feed him fries and disgusting leftovers. He's patiently ignoring them, though he's tempted to rip them up a bit. A beak can do just as much damage as a set of fangs.

But as much as he'd love that, he catches sight of the girl, luminescent hair and dark, dark eyes. And he shifts. A smooth outstretching of wings and just as another fry is thrown he swoops down upon the group, causing them to scatter and panic before soaring towards his real target.

And there he lands upon Bea's shoulder, a crowish chuckle, a sinister caw as greeting.

Most would not get that he wasn't a general crow, but she was a smart girl. But call him a stalker, and Damon was sure to have his feathers ruffled. Pun intended.

[shinigami]

The girl was reading a note somebody'd scrawled. Y'know, one of those notes - doodles in the margins, misspelled words galore; some kind of secret code. There'd been a smile, faint, blooming on her mouth; a smile that disappears when a crow from out of nowhere lands on her shoulder with its sharp crow talons and its hoarse crow cackle. Beatrix startled; that was the truth. Stopped, too, and sort've glanced cautiously to the side.

Experimentally, she lifts that shoulder. Says: "If you go for my eyes, I'll use your heart in an amulet." Then her mouth crooks to the side, half-smile. "You're a pretty bird, huh?" And, still cautiously, the note having disappeared into her pocket, she strokes the crow's head with one finger.

Oh, yeah. She can put 2 + 2 together. But why should she automatically let the world know that she can put 2 + 2 together? Then they'd just start expecting it, change the math on her.

[lily tomlinson]

Damon made a playful snap at her fingers with his beak before flying off her shoulder again and circling her in the air. And floated off into a certain direction, silently urging her to keep moving. To follow.

She was amusing. He actually believed she hadn't caught on yet, but she would eventually. Crows didn't just randomly land on people.

'You wouldn't like my heart in an amulet,' he told her telepathically, 'Couldn't have quite a good affect on anything.'

[shinigami]

Beatrix made certain that he couldn't read her thoughts. To his senses, her mind was opaque -- completely dark; that didn't mean no telepathy, but it sure meant no getting random facts. Beatrix tipped her head back and watched the crow circle, circle, choose a direction and float meaningfully in that direction, shielding her eyes. Then she glanced over her shoulder, toward the parking lot. Where her car would be, if she weren't currently operating under a no car privileges sort've life. Beatrix? Wasn't exactly what one would call happy with Damon or Liam right now. Especially Damon, though. Which is a hefty portion of the why she decides to give in and trail the crow to where it wants her to go.

[lily tomlinson]

Damon led her in crow form away from the crowds and prying eyes of the other students, led her to a very nice and sleek Ferrari and swooped around to the passenger side before shifting back into his human form.

"Want a ride?" he asked, smirking. He had the odd sense she wasn't too happy with him, but he wouldn't know until she told him what was wrong.

[shinigami]

Now, Beatrix appreciated a sense of drama. And, clearly, Damon possessed one; she felt her mouth curve upward, reluctant. However, she still jumped-on and slid-across the hood of his car, to reach his side more swiftly, and BOOM (!) shove him as-hard-as-she-could*.

"What did you SAY to my brother?" Her fingers curled on his shirt. And she shoved him again. "Do you know -- " Exhale. "Look, I really appreciate that whole 'saved from tourists' thing. I mean, who knows what insidious acts of horrible horribleness[/i] I might've been asked politely to do. Dinner was great, except for the whole almost getting headknifed thing, but hey, it's not like that was your fault. You didn't start it or anything by going UP to Liam and attacking him when he'd done nothing but INNOCENTLY walk through the door. Whatever. Even if you did, forgivable, forgiven, these things happen, violence, near-death experiences, yay. I don't mind. But then!"

Grab-SHOVE.

"THEN! What did you SAY to my BROTHER? What did you do to him?! Do you know how many hours he's lectured me since then? HOURS. Not just like a few. Many. Plural. Lots. Not minutes. FULL HOURS, that are made up of a lot of minutes. Hours and hours and HOURS of lecture."

Usually, Beatrix wouldn't be quite this forthcoming about what was 'wrong'. But she's mad.

*Not very hard. It's the thought that counts.

[lily tomlinson]

Damon chuckles when she shoves him. Even chuckles at her rant. But when she brings Liam into it, it melts into full laughter.

The girl was a little spitfire. He liked it.

"Are you feeling all right?" he asks through his laughter, "When does Liam ever do anything innocently? I could see the plotting. There was no innocence in the entrance. And I did save you from having your brains gutted by that knife."

He manages to sober himself during her tirade about her brother, but it really is hard. "I actually kept the speaking to a minimum," he said. "He asked what happened, I said you'd gotten a little overexcited. I told him to thank you for the dinner, and I left.... Ah. Therein lies the problem. He doesn't like vampires does he? He obviously jumped to conclusions when all I was talking about was an actual human meal. Pity. Can't really blame me for his assumptions, can you?"

[shinigami]

Beatrix doesn't sputter. Hell no. But she comes pretty close. And I did save you from having your brains gutted by that knife? WHUH. And he's laughing! Her fingers clench reflexively on his shirt again. Poor shirt. Very abused. Beatrix is speechless. Her eyes narrow. Not even the slightest hint of danger. Eyes already that dark can't darken any further.

When Damon finishes his very reasonable explanation of his conversation with Valentine, Beatrix lets go of his shirt and runs her hand through her hair, staring at him. 'Cause, yes, that all sounds perfectly plausible and not at all Damon's fault.

"That sounds very likely. Just a misunderstanding. Except for one problem. I TOTALLY CAN BLAME YOU FOR HIS ASSUMPTIONS. Please. Please. You're not stupid! Like you didn't know what he'd assume! You're lying! You're lying by telling the truth!"

"Just -- " Her hands slip out of her hair, and she presses her palms against her eyes. "Don't mess with Val's head."

[lily tomlinson]

Now, in his head, Damon was utterly astounded that he'd been caught in the act of lying while telling the truth. That would make her the first person to have actually done such a thing. Needless to say, he was marginally impressed.

Outwardly, he showed no sign of his astonishment, merely keeping his face coldly amused. "I'll be a good boy if you stop trying to ruin my Armani shirt," he drawled. Good? Ha! As if that would ever happen. But it's not really like he intended on dealing with her brother again. If he did, well, he could make no promises. Val was just too much like his brother, and it was just instinct to lash out. But he wouldn't go looking for trouble, however amusing it would be.

"Now, let's put this tirade out of our mind," he went on carelessly, pulling a set of keys from his pocket and dangling them before her. "I'll let you drive."

His smirk was conspiratorial, all dark persuasion. "I had thought to make dinner up to you, but if you're still angry... I suppose you could walk."

[shinigami]

I'll be a good boy if --
Tiny: "Ha."

Then! The jingle-jangle of car-keys. Beatrix peeked out from around her hands. Then, yoink! Beatrix swipes them. Who's she to turn down the opportunity to drive such a badass car? "Okay!" To the driver's side she goes.

There's a pause, while she looks over the car's roof -- watches Damon; watches him get into the car, watches him stay outside the car, whichever. The truth is, although she really is quite angry, and she does completely blame him, she's also happy to still be alive, and she supposes that she should thank Damon for being considerate enough to get her home, even if he did proceed to screw her over and headscrew her brother. She's not actually going to thank him, however. Wouldn't mean a thing.

"You wouldn't be too mad if the car was wrecked, would you?"

[lily tomlinson]

"I'd be forced to kill you and bring you back as a vampire, just to kill you again," Damon says as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. He pauses, letting the threat hang in the air as he slid into the passenger seat. He leaned back, stretched his legs as much as he could. Didn't bother with a seat belt. "Or... I could just buy a new one. Have a blast, but don't kill yourself. I have my uses for you."

[shinigami]

Beatrix spends a moment in playing with the stereo; checking the gas. The threat hangs in the air, and she doesn't do anything to dispel it. A half-secret little smile of pleasure when the engine purrs to life. No child of Rude Crow could fail to appreciate a fine piece of car-flesh.

But Beatrix does, very pointedly, raise an eyebrow at his I have my uses for you. Y'know, a sort've that's very creepy but you're not scaring me look. Then: "By the by, I'd like your heart fine in an amulet; it'd be a potent ingredient. Put on whatever you want."

Then? HELL ON WHEELS. No, actually. Beatrix is a safe-driver. At least, at first. Until she gets to the freeway, open desert on both sides, cardboard signs bleached as bones. Then the safe!driver disappears, replaced instead by somebody who outdrives death. Sometimes only barely. Beatrix swerves around trucks, even goes on the wrong side of the highway when it's very narrow and there are five damned trucks in her way and just one lane, and it's like this all the way to California.

And Disneyland. Which is where she wants dinner. It will be closed, closing, by the time they get there, but where there's a kitchen, there's a way.

And so it'll go.