It had been fairly easy to find for the tall Aussie girl, and her brown fuzzy boots clicked on the pavement as she walked from her car. She hadn't parked in the back lot, but had placed her Titan on a meter not a block away. She didn't know why, but she'd dressed like she was going to meet someone important - Ebere. She wanted to impress her, show her that she could be a lot of things if only she'd let her. Skinny black jeans and a brown Hollister tank completed her outfit, and she'd let her blonde hair dry wet, so it was curled and coiled in some areas, framing her features.
She pushed open the door and stepped inside, her eyes almost instantly adjusting to the changes in light and scenery. She sniffed a little, and glanced around. Well, this place had shifters crawling all over it. She could smell cats, mostly. It was odd - she knew the smells of the other breeds by heart, but the one she knew the best was her own, Pakana, and it was the one she could never find.
She sat down at the bar and racked her heels against the rungs of the stool, waiting patiently to find out... whatever it was she'd come here to find. She simply did not know. She figured she'd just ask the tender if he'd seen Ebere, and go from there.
Ash happened to be tending bar at that particular moment, with Dave somewhere in the back enjoying a break, and Darren probably out searching for a new apartment. The young shifter had been staying at the Hollow recently, but Ash knew he wasn't in the building currently.
He approached the young blonde girl with a smile and set out a little beverage napkin in front of her. "What would you like tonight, cherie?" he asked, his accent showing more than it should have since Midnight.
Stella watched the man for a moment, wondering what that strange sensation he seemed to give off was. The air seemed to hum around him, but she'd never seen a Triste before, so she didn't know what to make of it. "Oh, just a Shirley Temple," she said girlishly.
She sat herself down and glanced around a few times while the man fixed her drink. When she'd gotten it, she took a long sip. "Thanks. Do you think it'd be possible if you could tell me where Ebere is?" she asked.
Now, people didn't usually come into the Hollow to look for Ebere, to be certain, so this might've stricken Ash as odd. However, Stella was a Pakana, whether he could tell or not, and so it seemed like a normal sort of request to her.
Ash made the shirley temple for her and if he was surprised by her request to see Ebere, he covered it up well. No, it wasn't common for people to go looking for her at the Hollow, but it wasn't entirely impossible, especially with this girl being a hyena. He could smell it on her and see it in her aura, but he wasn't about to reveal Ebere's home address.
"I can't tell you where to find her, but I can call her," he offered, poking discreetly around the girl's aura. There didn't seem to be anything at all threatening about her.
Ebere sure did know how to find the people who would be complete cannon fodder in a fight.
"Can I give her your name?"
Stella watched him attentively, curiously almost, wondering if he was hiding something from her. He seemed suspiscious, but she couldn't just say that. It would be rude, especially if she was wrong. She sighed a little, deflated, and played with the stem of the cherry from her drink.
"Sure, that's fine. Can you tell her Stella is here? She left the phone number of this place for me, so I assume she wants me to contact her here." She shrugged a little. Really, why all the secrecy?
Surprisingly, he wasn't overly suspicious, but he was cautious. He'd contact Ebere and let her deal with it. More than likely, this was just one of her little hyena friends. "Don't worry, cherie. She left you this number because I can nearly always contact her," he assured Stella, and he made a quick round of the bar before popping into the back door that was connected to that back wall to pick up the phone. There were mirrors all across the back wall, and they were transparent in that office, so he could keep an eye on the bar. Highly convenient.
He tried her cell phone first thing, actually wondering if this girl Stella hadn't been given the number, and if he couldn't get Ebere on that number, he had a few other places he could try before he'd give up on technology and use a few older methods. He eventually reached her, though.
"You have a young hyena by the name of Stella here looking for you," he informed her coolly, his eyes never leaving that glass. There were a few vampires at the bar. "I told her I'd inform you of her presence. She said you wanted her to look for you here."
And, there it was. He'd let Stella know that he'd told Ebere, and he assumed she'd be on her way.
((Annnnnnnd, I'm out. Florida-bound for me, hope this works, and feel free to leave me in the dust on this one. :)))
Ebere had hoped that Stella would forget about her, wouldn't call the number, would go on and find another companion of some sort or another, but without much real faith or conviction. They were pakana, and they were a clan. She knew herself too well to suppose otherwise, and as Stella felt similarly....
Ash's call when it came, therefore, wasn't really that unexpected. Still, Ebere debated with herself for a few moments before giving in and going over; she still didn't think that she was good for Stella. She would corrupt her; she was too tainted and Stella too innocent for it to go any other way. But she was selfish, so she went anyway.
She hadn't been far away, so she got to the bar within a few minutes, and once there she almost reluctantly opened the door and walked inside.
... and it was very hard to be reluctant, at that point. Ebere looked around automatically when she stepped inside, and her gaze instantly alighted on Stella. She wasn't of a personality in which happiness overflowed in mirth, but suddenly the world seemed more right then it had five minutes ago. "Hi."
"Ebere!" she squealed. It was as though Stella hadn't seen her in ages - it almost felt like it, too. For some reason Stella was suddenly incredibly excited to see her new best friend - and that was what she was, really. Ebere was never getting rid of Stella, at least not by any conventional means.
She bounded to her, wrapping her arms around the other Pakana in a giant hugging motion. Stella buried her nose into Ebere's shoulder, wiggling around like a puppy. She really surprised herself at this point. Stella couldn't recall a time where she'd ever been that excited to see anyone but her mother.
Stella was... exuberant. Really. A lot. And Ebere froze briefly as the other hyena positively bounded over and flung her arms around her - she wasn't used to being touched except in some form of attack, or touching others, or being held.... It was natural, therefore, that she stiffened and pulled back slightly for a moment before forcing herself to relax.
To let this other hyena-girl hug her.
What Ash must be thinking. It was an amusing thought, really....
"Hey, Stella," she said a bit more gently. And felt herself just start to relax. It felt nice to be around Stella, whatever the cause for it.
"When I woke up and you were gone I thought maybe I'd made you mad, but then I found your note, so I just came here to find you myself." She looked proud, like she'd accomplished something. There was a hint of 'can't get rid of me that easily' in her voice, but Stella's girlish innocence seemed to dilute it quite a bit. Still, she was feeling smug on the inside, just a little.
She plopped back down on a stool and sipped her drink 'til her straw made noises. "So what do you want to do today?" Stella had pretty much just assumed she and Ebere would be doing something.
Somehow she was starting to become reminiscent of a cat you feed JUST ONCE... and then can never get rid of.
Cats. Great.
... actually, usually Ebere was fairly all right with animals (sometimes) - it was people who gave her problems. Case in point here.
"I..." Ebere began, then sighed and stopped - because it wouldn't do anyone any good to say that she'd left the number for the Hollow rather then the number for her cell phone or any other way of contacting HER, her DIRECTLY, in the vague hope that Stella would give up and they'd never see each other again. She couldn't say that, of course not. Because Stella simply would not understand. Wouldn't understand that the reason Ebere wanted to sever all ties was to protect the other pakana from... from forces beyond her imagining. There was a blessing, at least, though it might have been easier if she had known.
It wasn't reasonable, but Ebere honestly felt like a lightning rod - as though she would draw trouble down on others, unless she was careful, and if the others got into trouble that they couldn't get out of... it was her fault. Since it would have been her who drew the trouble down in the first place. She wanted to protect others from that, so she'd isolate herself. Even if it hurt her. She didn't want anyone else to be tainted with any of the darkness that she was seeped in - and it was like shaking hands or hugging or patting on the back someone who was covered in tar. You'd get tar on yourself, and then it was more then difficult to get off again and it left stains.
That was Ebere. That was her, right there - she was a trap to the unwary. And she was sort of horrible, since she was letting Stella fall into that trap.
She sighed again, and answered the question.
"I don't know. Anything you'd like to do?"
It was almost worse because of how much she wanted to be around the other hyena as well.
"Let's go to the zoo!" she said, tone not hinting that she'd had any idea of Ebere's inner conflict, which she hadn't. To Stella, Ebere was just dandy and swell and all those neat descriptive words that tell about how wonderful someone is. Stella was eager to spend time with her, and wouldn't ever really comprehend that Ebere was trying to avoid her.
"We can go to the zoo and get popcorn and maybe we'll find another hyena," she said. Stella was all about discovering other hyenas, now, now that she'd been given hope. It was amazing she hadn't run into Jason or Skye before this moment, actually, but it was lucky Ebere that seemed to draw in a stupid large amount of cannon fodder these days.
"Um, sure. Zoo is fine," Ebere said, and then allowed herself to be more or less dragged to her feet and out the door. Stella was exuberant, if absolutely nothing else. You HAD to give her that. She wasn't so sure about the popcorn Stella seemed so keen on, however. Maybe she'd grab a carmel apple instead. It was kinda strange that a predator like her liked fruit so much, but she did. It wasn't just the apple this time, however. It just sounded good - candy apple, all covered in nuts.
"...maybe we'll find another hyena," Stella was saying happily.
"I... uh... another?" And to think that, only a few days ago, there had only been one of her in the world. Well, there was still only one of her, she supposed, but now there were... more. More who were hyenas. She hadn't known that there were ANY other pakana and then she'd found Stella and now... others? What an odd thought.
"Yeah, sure!" she exclaimed, pulling her into the warm sunlight of the afternoon. "My mum was a hyena, and so am I, and so are you. That means there must be more of us, right? I mean, it's only logical," she said with a shrug. "C'mon, I wanna feed the elephants!" And she was off, literally skipping.
A little while later...
"The zoo is my favourite place, I think," she said, her accented voice garbled by a mouthful of popcorn. God, it was so good. She was eying Ebere's caramel apple greedily, but knew that if she tried to eat too much, she'd just want to sit down in one spot and not go anywhere else. Stella could eat. "Even if it smells a bit, er, like unclean animal stalls. I like the giraffes and the hippos, and ooh, the cheetah exhibit, too. And the lizards, and the snakes, and... Oh, well, I guess I like 'em all," she said with a laugh. "The hyenas like me well enough, but they're just hyenas, not like us. Sometimes I come through after they're closed and hang around, but I don't do it too often 'cos I don't want anyone to think I'm an escaped animal. That would be bad."
Stella finally stopped to take a breath, and a sip of her small, overpriced Coke, looking at Ebere with bright eyes expectantly.
More hyenas? Ebere still felt like she barely even knew where she was. She laughed a little, half giddy, and for someone listening for the sound it wasn't quite an entirely human laugh. It wasn't the eerie cackle of a hyena, but you could hear hints of that kind of laugher in there - for both reasons, actually, excitement and fear, as well as feeling slightly overwhelmed as a human.
But then they were off, Stella almost dragging Ebere at first before letting her go and skipping off. And Ebere, half-helpless, followed like a puppy-dog - even wanting to protect Stella, her presence was practically addictive.
Ebere wondered why that was for a second, then dismissed it as unimportant and followed the happy feeling. It felt warm - nice, like stretching long in the sun and the tall grass, neither too hot nor too cold. It was a more comforting feeling then she'd ever encountered before, actually - or at least remembered encountering.
A while later, they were in the zoo.
It was a dizzy, comforting feeling for Ebere, especially among these African animals - hippos and giraffes and lions and rhinos and cheetahs and hyenas - oh, yes, hyenas. It did smell like animals and their various byproducts, along with the dusty scent of hay and the coppery scent of blood (the great cat house especially) and the slightly musky, though not unpleasant, scent of hide and hair - but, although hyena noses were keen in human form, they weren't enough to be utterly overwhelmed.
Besides which, at least for Ebere, it wasn't an altogether unpleasant smell. Interesting, that's what it was, with the potential for information. Stella had insisted that they drop by one of those food stands a while back, so she had her candy apple and Stella had her popcorn and a Coke - all of which had been ridiculously priced, but so it always was at places such as these.
Ebere laughed a little at the way that Stella babbled, and ducked into the penguin house - there was a glass wall so that you could watch as they swam. It was somewhat bizarre - they were so clumsy on land and so graceful in the water. One came up and almost pressed his beak against the glass before zipping away again, like a tiny torpedo.
Ebere pressed her hand against the glass and tilted her head a little to the side, watching.
"Do you ever feel like that?" she asked Stella suddenly. Penguins were birds, and they had to breathe air so they couldn't live entirely in the ocean, but that was the only place where they were really themselves, or what they could be. On land they waddled and stumbled, ungainly and inelegant. Whether the other hyena would have any idea what she was talking about she wasn't quite sure, but there it was. Sometimes Ebere thought that she understood animals like this so much better than humans.
"What?" she asked, blinking rapidly. She was happy to be in the penguin house, because they were awesome. She loved the chilly air, and how they zipped around like little black bullets in the water, playing and swimming. The only thing better were the otters. "You mean like I got two left feet when I'm human?" Evidently she had followed. "Sometimes. It helped a lot that my mum was a hyena, too. You'd really like her, I think. She'd want to adopt you." She smiled a little.
"Looks like I did it for her, though." She slid an arm through Ebere's, effectively linking them together like a child would. She almost wanted to skip, but she didn't think Ebere would go for that again.
"I hope you don't mind, really, Ebere. It's just that, well, like I said before. I was missing something. I think I found it." She smiled - not a grin, but a small, almost girlish smile. "I'm glad, no matter what."
Ebere laughed a little, softly, the sound not quite entirely human, but not truly gone either. She pressed a hand against the glass, splaying fingers wide. It felt odd, looking at her human hand pressed up against the window to a pool, little black-and-white tuxedo pattern torpedoes shooting through the water. "I don't know. Not just two left feet, like you don't belong there, like there's something else but you can't be it." A penguin, after all, couldn't be a fish - they had to come up for air and they had to live on dry land, but their home was the water.
Why did nature do this?
Ebere was partially zoned out when she felt Stella slide an arm through hers, linking the two of them together - her head came around suddenly and she blinked almost confusedly at the other blonde, like she'd been somewhere else and only just come back. Maybe she had. She watched Stella with the same confused, abstracted eyes as she talked about something lost and something found, then sighed and put her head down on the other girl's shoulder.
"No," she said softly. "No, I think I understand."
Stella laughed when Ebere mentioned two left feet. "I feel like that all the time. I'm the last person in the world to think I belong anywhere, well, except for my mum's, but now havin' you around has seemed to change all that. Just standing here, feels like we're supposed to be here." She nuzzled her, almost a mixed gesture of something a sister would do and something an animal might do - to comfort their companion, in both instances.
"I want a penguin," Stella said very suddenly. "I want like, four of 'em. Actually, I don't have anywhere to put them. I don't think four would fit in a tub." She watched them, mesmerized by how they moved back and forth on the little habitat that had been made for them. "Gosh, they're a lot bigger than I always thought they were."
Like a child, the moment of seriousness had passed, giving way to the zoo itself, and the inability for Stella to be bummed out while she was there. "Let's go see the birds. They got one that can talk," she said. "I bet I can teach it to swear."
Ebere didn't just feel like she had two left feet - two left flippers, maybe. Nothing about her seemed to fit in the world, except for those times when they actually did. She was thinking about this - odd thoughts, left and right and sideways (but of course they were odd thoughts - this was Ebere, after all, and sideways was her natural way of thinking) - until Stella nuzzled up against her and effectively shattered any thoughts she was having. Ebere sighed like a child and put her head on Stella's shoulder, her eyes closed and feeling like she was home. How odd it was that she wanted to run away from this, but she had a poison touch. It was like King Midas of legend only worse, because what he touched only turned to gold - what she touched withered.
She just wasn't strong enough to do so, and it made her selfishly glad. It was wrong, but at times like this she didn't really care. She felt... herself. It was almost shocking, because she hadn't felt herself in so long, only something close-but-not.
The moment passed and Stella began to talk again, plans of owning penguins and the housing arrangements she would need to make, and Ebere laughed. "They are pretty big, for birds. And odd too. Birds belong in the air.
"I feel more like a penguin then ever, now. Maybe you can have me." Ebere grinned and nuzzled Stella back, almost her neck, then took her hand from the glass and her head from the other's shoulder.
"All right. Where are they?" Ebere- she... she didn't know the zoo that well.
Stella stared at her for a long while, and then smiled, slipping her hand through Ebere's, however reluctant to receive it she may be. "I'd take you in a heartbeat, I think," she said honestly. She smiled warmly to her, and then... like that, the moment had passed. Ebere was asking where the other birds were, and Stella was tugging her along, rushing. They looked like children - well, Stella looked like a 'children'; Ebere looked like a perplexed parent as they raced through the halls to the Aviary.
"Here! There! Look, there's the Scarlet Macaw. I've been coming here every day since the zoo opened up in spring, and I've almost got it saying 'asshat'." She smiled triumphantly to the other hyena, and then tugged her closer to the red bird that looked like its parents had been Crayola crayons.
"Pretty bird," Stella called. "Shithead!"
The bird responded, "Pretty bird! Shit!"
Stella looked at Ebere like she was expecting a reward.