Night's Omen

"Cheetah? No, silly, hyena!" she called back, her tone floating on the breeze with that girlish laugh she had as they booked it back down to lower level buildings. She took refuge by some abandoned crates that had no doubt been stored on the roof recently as opposed to being thrown out with the rest of the garbage as a company who did renovations cleared out a rather posh low-rise apartment duo. She slank down to her behind, tossing strands of hair that had come loose from her braid aside. Her cheeks were flushed, but not terribly.

"I love a good workout," she sang. "We've got a few minutes to breathe before I want to head over to our next location. It's not far, just a few more jumps," she said. She smiled broadly at Frank. "You didn't bring any water, did you?" she asked, digging into her own small pack for a miniature bottle of Aquafina. She unscrewed the cap and took a sip. Even warm, it was still good.

Hyena? Well at least she didn't cackle like one...Frank had heard that sound while working in Africa, and it had been both chilling and annoying at the same time. But, how exactly did that work? Did she turn all the way into a hyena or was she like a were-hyena monster like something from a cheesy 50's horror flick? Back to the job at hand Frank, he thought to himself.

"Yeah, I got some water in my Camelbak in this tac-vest. I love this thing, holds everything I need and probably a bunch of crap that I don't. So if you don't mind me asking...how does the shifter thing even work? Does the full moon even matter, and what do you look like? Just like a regular hyena or like some kinda movie style human/hyena hybrid..if you don't mind me asking all this. This shit is way over my head."

If they had a couple minutes to relax, might as well learn something. Plus if he was gonna be working with her he kinda wanted to know what he was in for. It would be shitty to have his partner turn into a hyena and decided to chew on him. He decided to make sure all his gear was in order while he waited for her reply. Yup, the .308 was locked and loaded and his scope was still nice and locked on. All the straps and buckles on his vest were nice and snug, and his machete was still secure in its scabbard. He was ready for the next hit.

"Oh, no, no full moon for me," she said, her petite, jovial laugh surrounding the area before stopping as she took another sip of water. "No, no. It's sort of like... now you are, now you aren't. I tried to watch myself in a mirror once when I was little, but I just got dizzy. Now that I'm older, I have a better grasp of it. Kind of like, if it were a special effect, it'd be a 'woosh'." She nodded, as if that explained everything.

"We'd better get going," she said, picking up again and beginning to move towards their next target. "And, just for reference, I'm a regular ol' hyena. I'm not really into the half-n-half stuff. I know people who can take and hold their demi-form, but I'm not really into it. Ever Googled 'yiff'? Yeah. Don't. It will scar you for life."

Yiff? What the hell was that? Frank had enough scars though, both mental and physical and decided to take her word on that one. That was a bunch of strange shit on the internet, and he really didn't have a desire to see all of it. The stuff he saw in real life was enough for him. But now that they had that one off the table, time to jump on the marriage grenade. Frank wanted to make sure everything was all clear there, he would hate to make a call for back up and have some angry husband misunderstanding and coming to beat his ass (or attempt to beat his ass).

"So, Batten said you were Mrs. LeCroix, so I assume that means you're married. Your husband into this kinda stuff? I mean, he does know what you do for a living right? I would hate to have to call for help or something and have him pissed and coming after me. That probably wouldn't be pretty for anyone involved."

Frank's creeping suspicion about her last name popped back up. It certainly sounded cajun, and being partially cajun himself, Frank knew how those kinda folks felt about their women. And he also knew that other factors not withstanding, Cajun boys could kick some ass in a fight.

Skye laughed again, such a light, un-intimidating sound from the tiny huntress. "Oh, yeah, him. He's actually ex-military." She crooked her head to the side a little and studied Frank. "I don't know how well you two would get along. Nick is fairly easygoing, but since I don't know you well enough, I can't say for certain. I would certainly hope so, considering you and I will be spending a lot of time together."

She laughed again, thinking of Jason. "At least you aren't another hyena. Nick and I are somewhat possessive of one another, but I think everyone is to some extent. And to answer your other question, Nick is in this line of work, though he doesn't contract out for the guilds. He prefers to work outside of our realm. We have very similar jobs, so you don't have to be hush-hush around him. He knows everything about me, as he should." She smiled a little, though she'd revealed herself to be only somewhat old-fashioned. Nick was Skye's first crush, first love, first everything, really. She felt that he had a right to what was in her head in its entirety, and it was somewhat of a rare thing in the 21st century, or so she'd been told by some of her more femmnazi friends. It didn't bother her, though. They couldn't possibly ever hope to achieve the sort of relationship she had, so screw 'em.

"What about you? Married? Children?" Skye idly wondered if Frank knew she was pregnant. She was far enough along that, had she not been in a great deal of shape, you might have been able to tell by looking.

Ex-Military huh? Well, unless it was some dishonorable shit that made him leave (which Frank highly doubted after meeting Skye) Frank figured they would get along just fine once they met. He always took to ex-military people, while never really finding a way to get along with total civvies. He just found them so...weak.

"Well, if he was in the service I'm sure we can find some way to get along. What branch was he? And I can understand the possessiveness, judging from his last name he's from the same part of the country I am...and in that part of the country we take care of our own. Nah, I'm single as it gets, and I don't have any children I know of....there could be a couple in some the places over seas where we stopped when I was in the Corp."

Frank added that last part with laugh. It was true, there could be see some little Franks somewhere, but odds were slim since Frank hadn't had a meaningful relationship since High School. Marine women were generally scary, and he just didn't want to have to share the burden of his line of work with anyone

"Airforce, actually, but he's well versed," she said. She smiled at Frank. "And before you call it the chair force, wait until you meet him." There was a small wink, before she brushed herself off. "What do you say we go and knock out this other mark, and then change and get some food? I'm all kinds of hungry these days," she chirped, hopping up. One thing was for sure, Skye definitely was unique.

"Little Franks running around, eh? I've heard that a lot of the time overseas you find out it was really a man, anyways," she added, jabbing him a little. "It's okay, though. We're going to have a little Skye running around in a few more months, though it's sort of on the down-low. I am trying to forgo all of the gushing and other pregnancy crap most women get to hear, but I do want a baby shower, so you'd better get me something really awesome," she warned.

Well the laugh was on Skye if she thought Frank had been screwing 3rd world hookers, most of his "on duty" lays had come from chicks in the "Chair Force" since they tended to be alot hotter than the beastly Marine women. And Skye was pregnant, that was interesting and kinda scary at the same time...Frank just hoped she would know when it was time to take leave.

"Chair Force huh? I usually refer to it as the Air Farce, but whatever floats your boat. So is he a hyena like you or something else, or just boring old human like me? Oh, and congrats on the baby, I couldn't even tell, especially considering the fact you keep out running me.....and what do you get for a kid like yours? Bullets? Their first gun?"

Frank chuckled a bit at the thought of that one, and leaning over the narrow ledge of the roof popped off 4 quick shots, 2 head, 2 chest, following Skye's lead. The target hit the ground and didn't stir. But then again, not many things did after getting nailed 4 times by a .308.

"Yeah and now food sounds good. Nothing like a hot meal after a hot days work!"

"Oh, no, he's a lion," she replied casually. She leaned back against a random wooden beam on the unfinished floor of the burned hotel they'd found themselves on, and sighed a little. "I'm not sure if I'm getting cravings or if I've always eaten so abnormally, but I really worry I'm going to gain weight fast if I keep giving in. I've had Italian like, four times this week. But the garlic bread is sooooo gooooood," she cheered, sliding down to a seated position as she waited for Frank to gather his things. He was fast and efficient, which pleased her. She detested waiting.

"Sweet, now we can go change and head out. You do like Italian food, don't you?" she asked. Skye had such a Disney Princess sing-song voice that it was comedic to listen to her sometimes. "I wonder if Nick's busy, maybe he can meet us."

A lion? and a hyena,..weren't they supposed to be natural enemies or something? Ahh fuck it, its there business Frank decided. If they were happy together than so be it. MMM yeah some hot anything would taste good right about now, but a big slab of motherfucking lasagna sounded great.

"Yeah, I'm not picky at all, chow is chow...but Italian sounds damn good right now. And yeah if you can get ahold of your old man it would be great to meet him under happy circumstances than any other kind..."

Frank kind trailed off as he tucked all his gear away, time to head back to the guild house get a hot shower, and then...some motherfucking lasagna.