Welcome to Gaia! ::

He'd given over the parks for morning runs with the coming of Thanksgiving. With a gym membership, it was easier to do it on a treadmill, and the cat debacle of last year and his weight cart, abandoned, sitting next to a tree was fresh enough in his mind to make want of avoiding a repeat performance. Being a cat had been fun in some ways, but overall stressful and hungry.

But he still walked. Less still, maybe, as walked more than he had been. He'd been putting up with a year of Aegir's patrolling late at night with little or no explanation or feedback. He didn't pester Colin to tell him answers anymore-he understood Colin wanted ignorance to be a shield. Simple people were best to remain simple and innocent if it was possible. But taken as lover? No amount of reassurances replaced the hours spent worrying as he stared at his roommate's empty bed. Or the bandaging on the worst occasions.

Being given no answers, whether Aegir knew them or not, he had to find a more knowledgeable noble and hope they were willing to tell him. To help him understand. Most of all to help him find the slow, plodding path to how he could be of some better use than sick-maid.

He'd passed out the gate of the nearest park and plunged into the early morning stillness of strip malls and shopping mecca that was the Pleasant Hills neighborhood- middle to upper class and a sea of box stores and flickering colour plastic lights in the wintery gloom. There wasn't a great deal of traffic at 5 am. Just delivery trucks moving to the back decks of businesses and restaurants. Björn pulled idly at the fastenings of his Carhart to keep out the chill, then started at a massive noise off to his left.

It was...a senshi! He did not mistaken this one for valkyrja. She was running? From what? Was she in danger?

He startled when she spoke, a three second margin before he sprang into a run trying to catch up to her. How was she running in those shoes? And nearly all her back was bare! It was winter, how was she not freezing? Surely who chose the uniforms of the senshi was cruel.

"There is danger? Are you alright?"
She was too fast! How did they do it? He hazarded a glance at the other direction. In the black of the predawn it was difficult to make out...but the movement was there, something large and something fast.

"Can I help?"
Because really, he couldn't outrun her and whoever was in back was the one who would get eaten just running for it. Why die tired?

She halted and.....threw food at it? She said peppers...didn't she? She did, she said, 'Pepper Poppers' and threw peppers at the thing and it was thrashing around a bit.

"You cannot breath fire I guess?"

Crocodile... monster?

It was a crocodile? And yet of that same shadow shape as the valravn. There'd been that mane who wrestled crocodiles. He'd died and his stories were all over the magazines for a while (otherwise Björn may never have encountered the man's influence). It had involved getting on their backs. That 's what she was saying too, she must know the guy, "Like that Irwin fellow, ja?"

"More peppers?" Could eating peppers kill something? He'd had some unfortunate accidents with spicy food, but he'd never actually thought he was going to die from eating some .

He didn't wait for elaboration though, he gave a hearty nod, " I will catch it and hold it."

It was good luck to be the season of his sport. Winter met the competitions, so he was in his prime of fitness and training. And adrenaline had to count for something right?

She and I will be able to count the seconds only I think...it is a large beast. How many on one hand can I hold it? Let us count them.

One. Two.
It did not take much doing to leap onto the creature as she motioned. It was massive.

Three. Four...five
Hands as claws, poor human nails cut short and neat, unfit substitute for better grips in the animal kingdom. It thrashes.

Six.
The vice, arms big as waists of other men, women, curled round and round the barrel body to squeeze and lift its head to stillness. Stillness to last a few more seconds. Seven. Still as the globe held by Atlas.
The cloth of his shirt under his jacket was straining, he could feel the seams taut around his shoulders. Eight. Dress shirts were not made for action.

Nine.
Hold it.

Ten.
Please girl...only you can kill it. With your.........peppers?

When it thrashed, thought except for holding it exited. Then it was gone, and all the strain on his muscles was no more than a puff and squeak. His jacket had taken the brunt of any abrasion, inside and out of it.

It took a moment for sound to come back. She'd said something he hadn't heard. What did people usually ask at situations like this ? They asked if you were alright? "I am alright. You are not hurt? "
"I have some bandage in my bag? "

It wouldn't be actual first aid, mostly just wrapping for pressure. He had experience wrapping to support muscles, not tears or punctures.

"Your little peppers they have a bigger bite, ja? Bigger than usual."

"You....you are a senshi, ja?"

"You do this every night? The killing of the shadow beasts? "

He carefully got himself up and held an adrenaline shaking hand out to her, "Björn. I've been saved before...I'm grateful. "

"'Never-ending' is a hard thing. You are sure it is so? Why do you do it, other than saving lives ? At least policemen and firemen get paid. I mean, I can offer you a cup of coffee, but that isn't a wage at all. Still, I owe you one, whatever that would be. "

Highborne rarely needed anything that could be offered by the low.

This woman seemed less rushed than the first girl that had saved him. Certainly less dressed. He kept his eyes politely on her face, even if the idea of her running off wasn't really heinous either - it would mean a nice view.

She even was speaking more than a few words. Maybe she knew others? "You say 'we'...do you know the girl who breathes fire? I never got to thank her; maybe she was very busy. But she mostly ran off. I never got her name. "

"Dragons," he supposed that did make a lot of sense. "You have met her?"

But what she said after that was a little confusing. "Aren't....answers and knowledge the same thing? If I have answers, isn't that more knowledge about the subject? Or are the answers very dangerous? I can't really afford to get dumber."

How alarming.