World of Darkness: Attrition - Taking One For The Team

[Swara-Ann]

She and Sarah had been texting like mad for the past several days after the incident with Beckett and his Book of Ooky-Spooky. She had classes to attend in the day, and honestly hadn't felt like doing much in the way of patrols around the campus, which worried her a bit, but she needed a break from all the 'Grrr' and the 'Rawr'. A few days off to catch up on her studies and try to be something that resembled a normal twenty something woman.

,,

She'd been lazy the last few days, it was true, but lying there on her bed surrounded by her class work and open notebooks she'd decided that she needed a break from her studies as well as being a cursed werebeastie. She couldn't keep putting it off, but then again she wasn't in that much of a hurry to skank herself out to a dead guy.

,,

Oh, well... we need his help.... She sent him a text, a part of her hoping he'd not answer and a part of her hoping he'd be all over the invitation.

,,

Gary,

Dude, it's Swara-Ann. Hey, you busy? I need to talk to you about something pretty important. HMU when you have time.

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-=XO Alaskan H0ttieXO=-

,,

She dug back into her school work, hoping her head would explode and she'd not have to type any of it out later. It sucked being one of the only students in U.C.L.A. who couldn't afford a laptop.

[Gary Norton]

Maybe at some point I'll finally get enough slush fund cash around to afford a laptop. In Gary's case, that meant replacing his old laptop, which was still going strong despite being several years old, but the technical limitations were starting to make themselves apparent.

,,

Which was extra worse, since Gary didn't have a full-time job. Just a hodgepodge of a weekly part-time job at a local bookstore, some informal, occasional private investigator stuff, and online website this or that. Enough to keep his small home, to keep adequate living, but it did bite to accept yet again what he'd given up when Santelli died.

,,

His also somewhat aging cellphone (the contract was cheap and basic) buzzed in his pocket. Gary pulled it out as he paused and leaned on the brick wall of the bookstore, having just clocked out of this four hour period today.

,,

Well, well, well. Gary's grin was male, as he remembered Swara-Ann in all detail (frontal and reverse). Funny that she'd reach out to him - but after that bitter night argument, he supposed she wouldn't talk to Dec or August.

,,

Couldn't people just meet in the middle and settle things? Still, if she wanted to talk, that was fine by Gary. Touch of buttons, Swara was dialed. Gary waited for her to answer.

[Swara-Ann]

Wow, dude... waiting next to thing? Normally she'd make the internal joke that the speed of which he replied only red flagged his desperation, but she did mark it as as important. And she did need his help...

,,

"Hello?" She asked.

,,

"It's Gary." He replied calmly. "You said you needed to discuss something important?"

,,

She rolled over on her bed, her feet resting on the wall. "Um, yeah. Look, it's not really an over the phone thing, since it kinda involves super secret spy stuff we're not supposed to talk over with others. I was thinking maybe we could, uh, maybe meet up somewhere? Maybe have dinner or something?" She winced, thankful that he couldn't see her. I just totes just asked him out... oh my god... Sarah, I hate you so much...

,,

"Dude, I understand if you're busy, what with all the stuff you have going on n' all..." She chickened out and the back peddling began in an attempt to back out of what she was certain would end in disaster. "I could... like, e-mail it to you or something, it's all good..."

[Gary Norton]

A date was it? Gary couldn't help but hold a silent mirth - although, sober reality had to remind him that given her choice of words, Swara might merely have tried some kind of James Bond cover excuse. Oh, who cares? The hot werewolf girl was asking him out in effect, and Gary for the second life of him had no reason to say no.

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"Hey, a date makes excellent cover for super secret spy stuff," Gary replied, making Swara wince as her own words were used to trap her in further. OMG, I'm really stuck with Dead-Gary on a date!

,,

"Ooooh-kay?"

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"'Kay." Gary responded. Although it was occurring to him that the token of flowers would be polite, but he couldn't afford a bouquet on his budget. Mrs. Tolliver has that amazing garden though. Either I get her to be generous and admiring of my romance, or I'll sneak and steal.

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"Lucky thing, you got me just off work, so I'm completely free. When and where are you thinking?"

,,

*Scrarrrrth Rip Rip*

,,

*Oh fuck you.* Gary mentally cursed the geist twinned with him. *You may be a fraction of Death itself, but I'm still alive... don't get all prudish on me.*

[Swara-Ann]

Work? What's he do... like Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost or something?

,,

She pushed the mental image of Gary in a gold dashiki and elaborate head dress aside before it made her laugh uncontrollably. She did begin to giggle, seemingly at random. "Uhhh, well, how about in an hour or so. Meet me at BJ's Brewery?" She had to pick somewhere close and BJs was just over a half a mile down the street. It was a pretty popular spot with the local campus crowd, and they served excellent sandwiches loaded all kinds of a werewolf's favorite food, namely, meat. "I'll uh, see ya there?"

,,

She didn't wait for an answer, just tapped the red button on her screen and got up off her butt to get ready. She didn't need to wait for an answer. She was blonde, sexy as hell, and he'd seen her in tight leather with all her goodies on display. Of course he'd show! Gary not showing would only mean one of two things: he really was was dead, or gay. Okay, abducted by aliens made it onto her list for a few brief moments, but the unlikelihood of them taking him over her (after all, she was blonde and sexy) quickly nixed that idea from the list.

,,

Camille was thrilled to death when she came in to find her roomie wrapped in a towel, looking for something to wear. Swara-Ann hadn't come to Los Angeles with much, but Camille was a lifer, born and raised. Since she went through clothes faster than the fashion industry could make them Swara was fortunate enough to get a majority of her hand-me-downs, well at least the clothes that didn't make even her rather non-existant modesty stand up and say 'no way in hell'. Camille was full of a million questions once she found out Swara was going out to meet a guy, considering she never really seemed to have a steady boyfriend and the closest she'd seen to Swara having a social life was... Sarah. Yeah, nuff said. She was well into finishing her make-up before Camille had found out all she wanted to know about Gary.

,,

He was kinda cute, had a good heart, nice eyes, a bit of a creepster, sort of a geek, he speaks to dead people and he had terrible taste in living room furniture. Camille gave it a week. At this point she was sure Swara-Ann would be safer going out with random people on Craig's List.

,,

BJs Brewery was a pretty cool place with awesome music, great atmosphere and it was always filled with like a billion people. A majority of the people at BJs tonight already knew Swara in one way or another. Some where her classmates, some just knew her as a 'regular'. On her way in she'd already hugged a few people and said some hellos. One guy was already in an argument with his girlfriend because she caught him looking as Swara walked past. Honestly, Swara-Ann loved the attention, back home no one ever payed any attention to her, let alone thought she was attractive. To her, California was the coolest place in the world. A place where she could just be herself... sort of, minus the whole being an angry engine of death and rage. But hey, what's life without a few curve balls, right?

,,

Swara was, like half the women in BJs tonight, beautiful. She was also striking, which set her apart from the pretty people and placed in a small handful of other women who couldn't move about the place without someone giving them a look like they wanted to know her. She wore a white corset top that looked like the contents were trying to turn coal into diamonds. A pair of tight hip huggers that teased with how low they went and since she didn't plan on doing any running, she actually wore her heeled boots, a pair she'd been wanting to wear out since she'd gotten them almost two months ago. All in all she she looked great, felt great, and honestly was feeling pretty good just to be out hanging with someone aside from Sarah, who was pretty cool to hang out with but she wasn't really into the whole 'social life' thing.

,,

By the time she'd made it to Gary she'd already declined to offers to dance and three free drinks. It was so cool being hot and blonde. One guy, after she'd mentioned she was here to meet 'that guy over there', offered to beat Gary up for her and take her home and show her what a real man could do for her. The thought was tempting, especially since she needed her X-Box hard drive cleaned out and couldn't figure out how to do it... something in the settings but she knew, but the geeky kid she asked was talking too fast at the time. Anyway, she didn't think Gary deserved an ass kicking just so she could get free Microsoft tech support, so she smiled and declined, pretending to slip his number in her back pocket but really she just let it fall to the floor to be lost in the sea of people.

,,

"Hey!" She beamed a smile at Gary as she approached, looking runway beautiful. "Sorry, I would have been here sooner but my room mate had to dress me. She said I'm not allowed to wear my 'I Pee In Pools' tee shirt out in public since the last time I embarrassed her. I don't understand why, it's a really comfy shirt. Anyway, I'm here. You're here. We're both here..." She hoped Gary didn't think this was a serious date. Like a date date or something, but then again she did ask him out. Ugh, why was trying to manipulate people into talking to dead people so freaking complicated! She hoped Sarah would text her saying there was a disturbance in the Force and she'd have to leave in a hurry to save the world from some vampire made death machine with mini guns and cyber laser eyes and maybe a rocket pack...oh, and some mininuke grenades that... uhh... oh.... right. She smiled glossy eyed at Gary, hoping he couldn't read minds too, because that would be awkward, him seeing her battling werewolf robots with cyber laser vision, that and the outfit she imagined herself in was sort of trashy and embarrassing. "So... how's Gary?"

[Gary Norton]

"Alive." Gary shrugged, casually. Swara's glossed eyes covering up the supernatural cyberpunk war saga blinked and bulged momentary. Ok, that's a figure of speech, right? Cause I mean, if he's alive alive... Swara found herself unable to decide whether that was a good or a bad thing. "Working at the bookstore can get dull, but it does get moolah. And I can pay for our date. Speaking of which, would you like to sit anywhere in particular?"

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"....No?" Swara felt the inner worry. He really thought it was a serious date. Alert Agent Wolf-Girl! Alert!

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Gary nodded, and found a booth for them. As they finished sliding in and looking at each other from opposite sides, Gary with a little showy move, flashed out in front of Swara a small thin colored paper bundle, from which a few roses extended. Very nice roses.

,,

Well, Mrs. Tolliver had been very happy to help. Too happy maybe, in that nosy neighbor way Gary suspected.

,,

"For the lovely lady." The way Swara's gasp inflated her chest was a nice bonus to the faint sense of embarrassment (the good kind, Gary thought) on her face. "So how's Swara?"

[Swara-Ann]

She would deny it later, but the blonde blushed slightly as Gary presented her the roses. Hell, she was hot, it's not like guys hadn't bought her things before just to impress her, that's how she got an X-box, but she had to admit, flowers were a nice gesture. No guy had ever really started off the night with a few roses before and Gary seemed sweet... ugh, this was gonna suck. Gary didn't seem like the 'let em down easy' type.

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"They're gorgeous," She smile, thanking the dim lighting of the bar to hide her blush... she hoped. "Thank you."

,,

She sat down, brushing a lock of her straight blonde hair back behind her ear. "Um, been okay, I guess. Just sort of been focusing on my school work the last couple of weeks. Been hanging out with Sarah bit, she's cool but not easy to take places unless it involves looking dour and avoiding having anything that resembles fun." She raised a finger to correct herself. "Unless it involves laying waste to a bunch of goth vampires who happen to be like fitness buffs or something. We had a blast kicking their teeth in awhile back. Good times. Oh and we met Ozzy Osbourne... kinda. All in all we've been having a great time." That was a bit of a lie. Sarah was awesome, but she was always so serious and focused on the next task that Swara sometimes found herself wanting to hang out with other people like her, freaks, who could actually carry a conversation. That's not to say she didn't love Sarah, she did, the gal was awesome and a lot of fun when it came to bashing things for justice, she just wasn't a sports bar kinda girl though...

,,

They ordered drinks when the server finally got around to them, and in no time Swara was nursing a tall glass of amber relaxation. As an uratha, drinking wasn't really a bad idea... but it wasn't the best of ideas either, since getting drunk carried with it a whole new level of 'angry drunk'. She promised herself she'd be careful though. "So, you still hanging out with Douche Bag of the Free People? Save the world lately?"

[Gary Norton]

In Gary's case, it was rum going down his throat. Started for a moment by Swara's crass remark towards Declan, Gary coughed awkwardly, but trying to prevent his drink from going out the way it came. So more extra-awkward seconds followed to make sure it went down safely. Gary grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth off.

,,

"You guys really need to figure out how to get past the other night and make up." Of course, that was guaranteed to open the spigot to more unpleasant issues - currently unwanted. Gary went to cut off the chances of that post-haste. "Moving on, no heroics lately. I have been holding lessons with August, Business with Ghosts Intermediate and Advanced. Actually, helping out their houseguest as well. Apparently, exotic beautiful women do fall out of the sky into Declan's yard. Zoe is like us - so to speak - and from the 70s."

,,

Swara had only enough time to wonder if August was counting up kitchen knives before Gary shrugged. "That's the non-normal stuff. Mostly, I've been keeping the bills away and wondering if baseball will finally be steroid-free. You on the home front?"

[Swara-Ann]

"Get past it? Make up?. Pfffft." She rolled her eyes and made a vacant expression that should have mimicked shock. Considering vacant expressions seemed her specialty though it just made her look like she was being sarcastic. "He's arrogant, self serving, disillusioned, narcissistic and biggest spoiled cry baby I've ever met. Him and his girlfriend are perfect for each other." Never in the history of spoken language had a single word been uttered with such contempt and ire... or was it jealousy? "It's probably better for him to stay at home and look out after her. He obviously fucks better than he fights."

,,

Okay... so maybe the wound was still fresh? Maybe. Just a tad. Were Sarah here there might have been a sliver of possibility that she'd have fallen over laughing (a miracle in itself) to see that Gary was now on the receiving end of what she had been listening nearly every night since the incident in the asylum. When it came to the mention of Declan, Swara-Ann went on a warpath. So much so that a slight grow overlapped her voice on occasion to accent the really mean words. Her 'date' was thankful to see her close her eyes and consciously made the effort to wrangle in her increasingly growing rage over the subject.

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"Subject change?" She asked, cutely looking embarrassed by her outburst. Silently Gary just nodded and sipped his drink, giving her a few extra moments of sanity collection. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to be a buzzkill. Um... I guess I'm okay on the home front. Been going to class, which is a bit of a new experience for me and taking a bit of a break from the Buffy the Werewolf role. I'm still keeping an eye on the campus, though, can't expect certain someones to do it, what with all that time they're spending in bed, with fragile, cry baby drama queens." She paused and winched. "I'm doing it again, aren't I?"

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Gary smirked and nodded, but again remained silent.

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"Sorry." She looked down at her drink and began the time honored tradition of ripping little pieces off of the wet napkin it rest upon. "I'm pretty much failing all of my classes and I'm on academic probation. All in all, I'm overwhelmed. I can't balance college and my obligations to Luna. Mix in all kinds of other problems... and I'm just... I dunno... feeling hard core screwed." She casually shrugged. "Y'know, minus the whole hair pulling, spanking and vulgar name calling."

[Gary Norton]

Gary had just started to take a sip of his drink when Swara's last line brought some very interesting images to mind. A sequence of coughing and sputtering, dislodging his drink and then embarrassingly blushing while using his napkins to mop up the spillage followed. "Ahem." Gary flushed more. "Sorry about that... went down the wrong pipe."

,,

Limp as an official explanation understated the credibility of those words. Still, it was awkward to face his own attraction to Swara, and she might just indeed be jealous of August.... but Swara really did feel she was in over her head.... Fuck it. Gary had intended to change the subject, but... if I go down, I go down trying.

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"August and Declan are good people. I've spent a lot of time with them, so I can tell. I know you're still frustrated about it and jealous - but I do think you need to bury the hatchet. He's not into you, so there's that. And as you said - you're overwhelmed. I'm aware that half of our lives poses considerable strain on the normal half."

,,

*Scratch-Rustle-Rustle* *Yeah, I know. Left my own teen life behind for this crazy one and you. Stop shoving that in my face.*

,,

Heedless of Swara's potential reaction, he pressed on. "Going back hat in hand and apologizing may not be your style - but I think having that issue buried and them willing to help you out more will get you back from the brink."

[Swara-Ann]

"Apologize for what? Trying to protect his girlfriend from the reckless path he was about to walk her down?" Her eyebrow quirked and he head cocked, signifying her frustration. "Or should I apologize for the way he blatantly insulted me, my people, my customs, everything about who I am before ejecting me from his home under the threat of violence?"

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"Look, I may not care for August in the brief span in which I met her, but I was actually looking out for her." She rolled her eyes and waved away the memory dismissive. "He wants to lead her into the belly of the beast. It's reckless and stupid, and don't get me wrong I'm all for reckless and stupid, but you do it with your own life, not the lives of others." She smiled sweetly at Gray. "I know what you're trying to do, and it's sweet, but I've nothing to apologize for."

[Gary Norton]

The male libido said to let it go there. The superego, reasonable, intellectual part of Gary said to damn not well let it go at this point. Sadly, the clash had still been very sharp in his mind - he hardly forgot anything anyway. Accepting that he was about to kill any chance with Swara, Gary just shook his head sharply.

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"I hate to say this Swara, but that's bullishit - the complete opposite of what actually happened as I recall." Swara blinked for a moment, surprised she was hearing this, then Gary pressed on, frowning severely. "First off, when August was more or less just mentioned by Declan, you implied she was.... let's just go with a call girl, if not for the money. He made it clear it was an unacceptable insult, you then changed forms and said if he didn't like it, brawl was on. You did brawl then. When August came, to her face, you called her weak and useless, and threatened to 'put her through a wall' if August even said one cuss word to you. And again, in front of Declan."

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The dénouement wrapped up here. "Then you tried to invoke Uratha laws or whatever, Declan pointed out you he didn't subscribe to them, then kicked you out. So quite aside from anything else, you should be apologizing to Declan and August for being invited into his house and then calling his long-time girlfriend a whore, provoking a fight in his home, again severely insulting August, and then threatening to cripple or kill her because August was understandably upset. I know you're all for reckless and stupid, but that's what it was. Refusing to apologize and get their help would be reckless and stupid - and it seems you will pay for it with your own life at this rate."

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Gary sighed and firmly set his face to bolster his position. "Did anything I say get through to you?"

[Swara-Ann]

The smirk she was showing him was nerving as he continued on. She nibbled on a mozzarella stick, picking at it with her manicured, claw-like pink nails. Finally when he finished she took a few moments to chew slowly, gazing at him with those baby blue eyes; it was like kryptonite for his superego. "Okay, I think you're buttering the bread a little heavily on his side, and that's cool, he's your friend and everything so I totally get it."

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She slid the basket of appetizers over towards him since it was obviously her turn to talk. She understood why Gary was with Declan on this, and it didn't bother her much at all. They were friends and he was looking out for his own, it was the honorable thing to do. Gary was cute, and patient, and even her blonde roots understood what he was trying to do with all the preaching. All in all, he was good people. "Gary, you're trying to use logic to understand two people that defy logic, namely Declan and myself."

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"Okay," He said casually as his cheesy foodstuffs took a nose dive into marinara sauce. "Help me understand then."

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"Well, first off, Declan and I are different from everyone else. Not that we're like, uber special or anything, it's just," She picked at her napkin again, amassing quite the arsenal of ready to use wads of damp paper in case a sudden spit-wad war broke out... which was possible in the grand scheme of all the weird things she'd seen in her life. "Sarah told me a little how you work... a guy with a ghost riding his skin, sharing the body n' all that."

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"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that," Gary started, trying to speak around his mouthful of cheese. "You see..."

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Swara-Ann raised her hand, stopping him in mid sentence. "Dude, chillax, seriously, I'm cliff notesing this stuff, okay? I don't need specifs. The point is you understand, to some extent, how sharing a body feels because you have something with you riding your skin. Trust me though, you don't know skin like we do. We're people, like you, who are literally infused with the essence of predators. You have one soul, with a ghost renting some space, we are comprised of two souls: the animal and the man." She was sure she could explain this without giving up anything she wasn't allowed to, but she never was good at explaining stuff. "It's not like I'm wrestling with some alter ego, Gare. It's instinct. When Declan makes mean faces, I make mean faces, then we fight, and everything is hunky-dory. It's a mentality... August is weak and she needs coddling, and she needs someone watching over her... that translated into 'liability'. She's the runt, let her fend for herself or die."

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Gary cocked an eyebrow. "A little harsh, don't you think?"

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"No," Swara said flatly. "Look I know people these days are all into 'proper behavior' and 'social convincings'..."

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"Conventions," Garry corrected her. He was good at that. "I think you mean social conventions."

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"Whatever," She waved her hand, dismissing the correction and continued. "My point is, you would hold a raccoon accountable for being a raccoon would you? Scold it for rummaging through the trash or being all cutesy with those little beady little eyes and the little bandit mask they have or that adorable way they'll sit up on this hinds and hold their hands out for food..."

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Gary rolled his eyes. He was loosing her to Discovery Kids again. "Swara. Social conventions..."

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"Uh, right..." She refocused and continued on. "What I'm saying is that I'm not a hottie pretending to be a wolf and I'm not a wolf pretending to be a hottie. Gary, I am both, at the same time. It's who I am, it's my nature. I don't like August simply because I don't want to. I don't like her because she's a meek, mewling, liability that needs a babysitter. I won't apologize to Declan because we apologize for the things were sorry for and I'm not sorry I was honest and I'm not sorry we fought and I'm not sorry I acted like a complete bitch." She laughed a bit and shook her head. "See, you people always need some kind of apology for everything, they have to be appeased."

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The bombshell took another drink. "Gary, I'm not sorry for anything I said or did. Were August to give my door the knockings tomorrow it's not like I'd hurt her just to hurt her. I wouldn't open the door, see her, then break her nose and then slam it. If she wanted to talk, we'd talk. If she wanted to get lippy, I'd put her in her place, and yes that means going upside her head. My human side wouldn't let me kill her though. That's something your social conventions don't cover, Gare-Bear: I'm her better, period. My wolf side tells me that she can either become my equal or remain under my heel."

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She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms to reinforce her adamant viewpoint. "That's my nature Gary, it's who I am. I can't change it and I won't apologize for it."

[Gary Norton]

Gary leaned back, and seemed to relax a tad, according to Swara's keenly honed wolf-girl senses. In his case, well, she hadn't chewed him out, and at this point the Sin-Eater had come to the conclusion that this was now over to Declan, August and Swara. Some things undeniably blatant, as a Sin-Eater. In Gary's case, he wasn't going to change Swara's mind here.

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He had more cheese-covered food, which he rolled around his finger like a cigar. "Okay. So... what was this about spy stuff? Or was that your way of asking me to be your James Bond?" Gary grinned a little, and twitched his eye away from a peek at the girls.

[Swara-Ann]

With an amused smirk she unfolded her arms and loosened up. Gary was letting it drop, which was good; it showed he had some sense. The sudden change in topic was sort of a downer since it reminded her shy she'd asked him out to begin with. She still felt a slight pang of guilt about getting all sexied up and asking him out knowing that she was just doing it to get something out of him. Despite the necessity of it, that didn't make it right, even to her fractured morality. "Okay. Short version is, I need you to talk to a ghost for me. You're the only one Sarah and I know who can do it."

[Gary Norton]

Gary raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound very James Bond to me. Is there a catch involved in the process?" Unless Swara was just playing it up or something. He didn't have a grasp of her psychology enough to have any idea.

[Swara-Ann]

"Okay, perhaps I'm not telling you everything but like I said, you're all I've got." She sighed, resting her arms on the table and giving her drink another glare like she was considering another go at it. She never was a good liar and finally she just grabbed the glass and chugged the remainder of her beer down. The glass hit the table with a thud.

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Her eyes darted about and she sighed, trying to think of something she could say that didn't involve talking about this, a part of her just wanted him to say 'okay' and be done with it, but she knew it wouldn't be that simple. "Okay, okay... fine... quit glaring..."

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Confused, Gary just muttered. "i-I wasn't glar-"

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"I'm cursed, okay?" She cut him off, blurting it out like she was fending off his imagined interrogation. "In order to break it, there's a ghost that needs to be chatted up, and you're the only one who can do that. Problem is... it's in the place where a massive gaggle of vampires will be throwing some sort of reunion so we might need small army to get you in and get you out. Me, you and Sarah. We'll cover you and you can scramble up to the room and talk to it."

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She took a deep breath and moved her hands away fomr her slowly like she was pushing all that pent up stress away. "There... I said it. Man, that feels good."

[Gary Norton]

Gary's mouth dropped a little. Now things were starting to clear a little. Maybe, probably. "Ghost talking I can do. Not sure why you need to invade and take them on to let me get up there. What kind of curse is this?"

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"Gare-bear...." Swara began to whine, uncomfortably... Gary sighed and relented. "Ok, if you don't want to say now, your call. You'd have to give me some filling before we actually begin though, so I know what to ask. When did you have this shindig in mind?"

[Swara-Ann]

"Sarah is doing some recon. She's looking into the place and the event, so until I hear from her, I have jack and squat to fill you in on." Their server arrived with their food and did the customary lean back so she could set the hot plates down. The blonde's steak was huge and prepared with enough pink the Gary had to wonder if they bothered to cook it or just sear it for show. The petite carnivore did seem to mind in the least and she was already cutting into before the server had a chance to ask if they needed refills.

,,

It was hard to wrap one's head around sometimes that underneath Swara-Anne's beautiful, athletic exterior was the the heart of a dangerous predator that could rip doors off their hinges and punch through windshields or flay skin walking spirits. On that same note it was this same cute, sweet, bubbly little blonde whose idiocy was adorable at times that considered Declan punching her up against his fridge and throwing her around his kitchen before she slammed his head into the dryer several times, flirting. Yup, Gary lived such a charmed life, surrounded by strangeness and wild animals at every bend.

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"I think I heard it 'moo'." Gary mused as Swara leaned back, chewing on protein rich ecstasy. "You'd be better off just biting right into a cow."

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She mused back by giving a dirty look that was terribly concealed underneath a pretty smile. "Can't. Farmers notice dead cattle. That and it's greedy, I can't eat a whole cow so it's disrespectful to the spirit of the hunt to take down what I don't plan on consuming. Besides, there's no hunt, no chase. Y'know?"

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"I don't know," Gary split his steak and checked the inside to see if it was cooked to his satisfaction. "Cows can be quite devious. Slowly grazing about all day... they just want you to think they're slow and weak so you leave them alone. Apex predators those cattle what with those horns and those bells..."

,,

It felt good to laugh. She'd not done it in a couple of weeks, not seriously anyway. Between worrying about her problems, getting with Sarah on the word from the vampire underground mingled with the stress from her classes and the growing pang of rage from vengeance incarnate bubbling up in her heart, laughing was something she'd taken for granted. The best and worst part about it all was Gary. He didn't even flinch when she told him she needed him to talk to a ghost or that he'd have to wade through suck-head central to get to it. All he said was that he'd need to know what to ask. It hurt to have him for help and it hurt even worse to put him in danger.

,,

She set down her fork slowly, the joy and mirth draining from her expression. Gary took notice and paused, wondering if he should ask if she was alright but she spoke before him. "It's some kind of vengeance curse." Not telling him the whole of the story was eating away at her. "It forces me to put the hurt on people. Bad people, but still... the things it makes me do... no one deserves that. This ghost is said to know where I can start looking for a way to lift it. If I don't lift it it'll drive me nuts and the others around here like me will, for lack of a better term, put me down."

[Gary Norton]

"Right." Gary frowned after Swara finished the dire tale - "We can't let that happen. The world would suffer terribly for the loss of a blond babe like you." Though given the details for Mission Ethereal were pending on Sarah's investigation, that left the need for a topic shift.

,,

"Speaking of which, can I ask - how many boyfriends have you had? If that pizza boy was an indication... actually, did he get the guts to ask you out?"

[Swara-Ann]

Swara's eyes narrowed at the question. Even a ditz like her wondered how they went from the previous to this one, after a moment though she she just smirked and stirred the mashed potatoes that were neighboring her steak. It was a pleasant change in conversation from the typical gloom and doom topics of what normally filled her list of chit-chat options. "Actual boyfriends? Two." A forkful of mashed potatoes was savored for a moment before she continued. "My first real boyfriend was Gray. Childhood friends kinda thing. When I first came down here to California I dated a guy, Blake... turned out to be a real ass. He was in a crappy mood one night and I didn't feel like putting up with his attitude. Anyway, he grabbed my arm and tried to pull me back to him so broke his jaw and he's stayed out of my way since. I guess he didn't know a woman could hit that hard." She shrugged, but went on. "Still, it lasted about six months or so."

,,

She sawed into her steak. The blood mingled with the other sides on her plate and she didn't seem to mind letting everything mix together into a sort of side-soup. "I've dated a few guys since, nothing too serious because it's sort of hard to mingle school life, personal life and super natural life. Guys are generally put off by a girl my size who is stronger, faster, and angrier than they are. But hey, what can y'do, right?"