you poor DEVIL (Cali)

[sophia a marshall]

Sophia walked down the street, head down, avoiding the other poeple. This was rather typical for her, as she was not a particularly social person, especially when faced faced with hordes of peoples. The whole day had been rather lovely, just the right temperature with just the right amount of sun, but now dark clouds were rolling across the sky. Sophia hurried her pace, hoping she would not be caught in the storm. She hated water. Not only did it made it near impossible to fly it also made her wet and cold, too of her least favorite feelings. She glowered at teh sky a moment, as if daring it to rain on her, then concentrated her cloudy gaze, one that matched the sky above, on the path her feet were walking. Six blocks from home the first rain drop hit her nose. "You have got to be kidding me." Sophia growled, looking around for a place to take shelter. Her eyes lit on the library, a great stone building with intimidating lions standing gaurd at the front. Shelter. She decided.

Quick steps brought her to the massive front doors. The eagle-shifter took one last look at the sky, the rain begining to pour in ernest, before hauling open the door and entering the quiet building. She shut the door behind her, trying to be as quiet as possible which was pretty impssible because of the immensity of the doors. At least she wasn't wet. Sophia walked further into the ancient building, her feet making no sound against the marble floors witch swirled in intricate patterns set in stone. The woman at the front desk peered at her through her heavy glasses. She was obviously wondering what Sophia was doing there, standing halfway into the first room and halway in the front hallway with showing to signs on going either way. "It's, uh, raining." She said, not meeting the woman's eyes.

Figuring she would be here for some time, Sophia walked to one of the benches and sat down. Someone had left a book about astrology sitting on it. She picked it up and began flicking through it absently. It seemed as though it was going to be a rather boring wait for the rain to abate.

[CALI WISTAR]

Cali hated the weather. It was sunny one second, and then the next the atmosphere had cracked in two and a solid sheet of rain plummeted down from the sky. So the clothes that had been perfect for the beautiful sunny day were made obsolete by the freak rain storm. Desperate for a place to hide, she frantically searched around for a building to dart into. Her eyes landed on the old library, the lions in the front called to her. Curling her lip up in a grin she darted towards the library. As she passed by them, she ran a hand along the cold, wet stone of the guardian lions. Once inside the lobby she wrung her dark brown hair out, watching as the water dripped from her long hair onto the floor. Dismayed, she looked down at her clothes; her baby green tee-shirt clung to her emaciated frame, her shorts wet and heavy with water hung dangerously off her hips, threatening to fall if she made the wrong movement.

Shivering from cold she stepped farther into the building hoping to find a warm spot, the lady at the front desk gave her a dirty look, Cali held her hands up in a defensive manner;
Hey lady, cool the jets. I swear I’m not going to touch any of your silly books. I don’t know how to read, so there’d be no reason for me to even try.

Suddenly tired of trying to explain her odd appearance she wandered around in the library, it seemed void of any life, save for the woman at the front desk. The old building appeared do sigh in exhaustion, as if the aged building was growing tired of standing up to the elements of the cruel world. Coming around a corner she spotted a significantly dry girl on a bench holding an astronomy book, walking up and tilting her head to the side she said,
As-tron-oh-mee, what’s that? Is that your book? Are you studying it?
She offered the girl a big smile and said,
My name’s Cali Wistar, what’s yours?

[sophia a marshall]

The sound of squelching feet alerted Sophia to the approach of a visitor, but she had no way to know the girl was going to walk up to her. The girl was sounding out the word like she didn't know how to read, how strange. Sophia's head poppe dup to get a look at whoever was reading over her shoulder. The girl, her body horrifically outlined by her soaking clothes, was too thin to be in a good situation. This caught the eagle's attention, and she instantly listened. "Uh, yeah. Astronomy. Its about stars, and , uh, planets. You know..." Sophia didn't know where she had been going with that last sentence fragment. Sometimes she would start sentences that had no end. "Oh, no, I just picked it up. Someone left it here and I was bored." She set the book down. Instantly she reached for it again and picked it back up. Her little frame scooted to the left so that there was room on the bench for two. "Do you wanna take a seat?" She finally asked, having no more energy for trying to explain about the book.

"Cali Wistar, huh?" Sophia said, turning her head to smile back at Cali. "I'm Sophia. Sophia Marshall." This girl seemed nice, not like those girls that frequented bars drinking lots and dancing with boys they'd never met and waking up in hotel rooms they don't remember reserving. No, she seemed like the sweet, happy kind of girl that would make a good friend. A friend Sophia would be proud to show off to her mom. Yes, Sophia like Cali already.

[CALI WISTAR]

The storm outside got worse as the minutes wore on. The ac running through the building made Cali shiver as the wet clothes stuck to her thin frame. Gazing at the reading girl she quietly and patiently waited for a reply. Judging by the budding confusion on the girl’s made her realize in slight embarrassment that her social skills were even worse than she thought. Running a hand through her tangled wet hair she winced as her fingers came across a knot and fidgeted still waiting for an answer.
Stars huh? I had no idea you could study that, or that people even wrote books about them, but you learn something new every day I guess…
She watched as the girl offered her a seat, pleased to suddenly have a spot to sit she nodded and plopped down beside the girl, but far enough away to not get her wet.

She at least had some social manners.

Gazing at the girl, Sophia, as she introduced herself she decided the kid wasn’t half bad, there was no smell of alcohol or odd men on her, she seemed quiet and timid, this made her want to know Sophia’s shifting shape if she shifted at all (she most certainly didn’t smell human), but remembered her social etiquette and left the silent question unanswered. Crossing her legs and smoothing down the tee-shirt Cali frowned as her fingers ran across her own ribs. Most people would be alarmed at her thin state, but the truth was she never managed to keep weight on, even when she had three solid meals a day, perhaps that was just the quick metabolism of her shifter inside her manifesting itself in her own body. Whatever the reason she often had to reassure people she did not need to be IV fed.
Nice to meet you Sophia. I guess the rain drove you in here too? It looks like you got out of the way quickly…I was not so fortunate.
Cali laughed at her own situation, what else was there to do when you were soaking wet and talking to a total stranger?

[sophia a marshall]

A crack of thunder shuddered through the building, making Sophia jump, dropping the book that was not hers. She bent down to pick it up, and noticed for the first time that Cali did not smell human. Maybe it had been the rain that had masked the scent of shifter on the girl. Sophia relaxed a little more, setting the book in her lap. "It's quite a storm out there." She said, looking down at the fake wood they were sitting on, the surface of it glossy. It reflected the grand chandelier on the ceiling. She began tracing numbers into the surface, hoping to calm herself. Thunder was the worse than the rain in some ways. It was loud and it made the building shake as if it was going to come down. It's probably not the sturdiest of buildings.

"You can study anything." Sophia replied, finally looking up as the girl settled down beside her. "you learn something new ever day I guess..." Sophia had to laugh at that last bit. She was sick and tired of learning. She wrote out division problems on the seat they were sharing; the pattern of numbers was like a security blanket to the eagle. While her hand rhythmically divided she began to wonder what this girl shifted into. It was a natural curiosity, being a shifter and knowing the other girl was as well.

Sophia nodded as Cali said it was nice to meet her, then again when asked if she was in here because of the rain. "Yeah, I was lucky." She looked over at the not-so-lucky Cali. "I'm sorry you got so soaked." Her face was extremely apologetically. The other girl did not seem particularly phased by her situation though, so Sophia smiled too.