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Post by jaylin on Apr 8, 2009 20:31:12 GMT -7
Time: 3:00 pm
Date: March 2
Location: New Jersey, behind a pet store
Status: Open
Most people where Jaylin worked thought he strictly enforced the rule that only one person could take a break at a time due to a concern that potential customers would be ignored or pets would end up stolen. In truth, that was part of the reason, but not the primary reason. Remaining in human form resulted in a human appetite, which meant when he was at work from 11 am to 8 pm, at some point he was going to want to eat.
This was, of course, assumed, which is why he got an hour to eat every day. The problem was, the general assumption was that he was not going to be buying his lunch at the place where he worked, and he didn't want to risk an employee wandering out back and seeing just what, exactly, his lunch was. Fortunately, as manager he was able to place himself in charge of feeding the snakes whenever it was needed, allowing him to take a couple of the feeders without anyone noticing. He'd toss them into an empty thermos where their panicked scramblings would be less likely to be observed, then quickly slipped out of the building by a back door. When he had time, he'd ring himself up and pay for them to avoid any noticeable discrepancies in the number of rodents they had compared to the ones they should have.
There he sat down and glanced around for any signs of people, but as usual there were none. Just garbage, debris, and a dumpster likely filled with rodents similar to the ones currently held captive in his thermos. However, he wasn't about to dig around for them, nor use the gem embedded in his throat to lure them out, which would force him to change to his natural form. That, of course, would be far riskier behavior than simply smuggling mice out of the building, which could get him fired if he was caught, but would bring less physical danger than if someone decided he was a demon or whatever. For that reason, his ruby would rest firmly in his throat, surrounded by the velvet choker used to make it look like it was merely a piece of jewelry.
Opening the thermos, Jaylin pulled out one of the mice, closing the lid behind it. It struggled for a few seconds, but soon Jaylin allowed his teeth to become fangs, complete with their venom sacs, and struck, injecting the toxins into the tiny mouse body. Then, allowing his teeth to return to normal, satisfied that the mouse would no longer struggle, he popped the whole thing into his mouth and began to swallow.
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Post by Tabby Whitman-Foster on Apr 10, 2009 8:57:23 GMT -7
Tabby was enjoying the early spring day, her first time out of the Bureau since that ill-fated day in New York a couple months ago when she, Thane, and that unaffiliate got chased by members of the NYPD's SWAT team. She was determined that today wouldn't be one of those days.
She had just gotten a new iPod touch and was playing with it as she left the pet store that Jaylin worked in. In one hand she carried her iPod, in the other hands was a small cardboard carrying box. Inside was a female hamster, a playmate/girlfriend for Tabby's hamster back at the Bureau. Tabby popped the earbuds of the iPod into her ears as she veered into the alley, thinking she'd go and have lunch at a cafe she saw on the other side of the block. Her blue eyes were fixed on the iPod's screen as she turned the corner. Her peripheral vision spotted someone, and her gaze rose just in time to see a possibly feminine person popping the mouse into his mouth.
Tabby's focus immediately switched from the iPod to Jaylin. Her mouth dropped, and so did the iPod and cardboard box. The music that had been seeping into her eyes abruptly stopped as the iPod yanked free of the earbuds. The box didn't open when it fell, but on contact with the ground, the iPod got a clean crack right across the screen. Tabby gaped at Jaylin, and several thoughts ran through her head. 'Oh great! Some wacko eating mice in an alley! Cult member? WTF?!' Tabby's lips moved, but she looked like a fish gasping out of water. "I---I---Wha--?!" She thought for a moment about trying to pry open the person's mouth and save the poor rodent, but then again, did she really want to put her fingers anywhere NEAR that person's mouth?!
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Post by jaylin on Apr 11, 2009 0:19:12 GMT -7
When Jaylin heard the stammering voice, his head snapped up. His heart pounded in his chest and he stood there, frozen, feeling panic surge up inside of him. Then he saw the box. The box with the pet store's logo on it...
This didn't look good. This really didn't look good.
Okay, he could handle it. He'd just have to explain. Explain why he had the need to eat rats without mentioning the fact that he wasn't human. Right. Easy enough. He swallowed the last bit of mouse in his mouth so he could speak.
"It was one of those freeze/thaw mice. It wasn't alive," he lied.
However, it might have looked like that, as long as she came after he had a chance to inject it with his venom. Of course, he'd still look like a crazy person, but not a cruel crazy person. Not a crazy person who would get reported to the animal rights groups, or even the employees inside the pet store, ending in a media frenzy which would either label him cruel to animals or discover that he was sort of an animal himself.
"They're perfectly clean. They have to be, or the snakes would get sick. Snakes have very delicate immune systems, you know."
Right. Because lots of people would accept that as a perfectly valid reason to eat mice.
Why did they have to be so sensitive about their little furry vermin anyway?
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Post by Tabby Whitman-Foster on Apr 13, 2009 8:51:32 GMT -7
The man look at Tabby and then spoke, after he had gulped. Tabby felt sick to her stomach. She worked with several people with interesting diets (what with Evadne being a vampire and Hellboy eating massive amounts of food in one sitting), but eating a mouse? Tabby loved rodents, her pet hamster was proof of that. She blinked at Jaylin's words. Did the guy just try to rationalize what he had done? And even if it was a frozen mouse...what the HELL?!
"Yes, because it's totally alright to eat mice if they're already dead, frozen, and clean." Tabby's voice was surprisingly calm, almost monotone as the thought "I NEED to start carrying my sidearm with me when I leave the Bureau" ran through her head. She put one hand in the air and reached into her back pocket for her cell phone. "Now just don't move...I'm going to call someone that can help you with your um...eating disorder."
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Post by jaylin on Apr 13, 2009 9:48:44 GMT -7
"Yeah? How is it any different from chicken?"
It was Disney's fault. Disney, and all the shows that copied its style, convincing people that furry little mice were some of the cutest animals in the world. Would she think that if they were crawling through her food with their dirty little bodies, infesting it, eating it and defecating on it? Would she think that if she saw them swarming within the walls of a building? His kind was helpful, controlling the numbers of these pests, and yet because of humans' love affair with rodents he had to hide his appetite.
Then she decided to call someone to 'help' him. He had the feeling that whoever it was wouldn't be helping him so much as the mice he ate, and her to feel that the devoured mice had been avenged. He began walking toward her.
"Who are you going to call? PETA? The cops? It's not illegal and it's not inhumane when the animal's already dead, you know."
It hadn't been, really, but he figured he'd go with that lie. He didn't have a chance at getting her to leave him alone otherwise, and he was glad she couldn't see what was still trapped in his thermos. For now, he continued to walk toward her. She'd likely be able to get a few words out by now, but he hoped he'd be able to stop her before she could say anything really incriminating.
"We feed them to snakes all the time. Is there anything wrong with that?" By then he was standing only a few feet away. "Give me that!"
His hand darted out and attempted to snatch her phone from her.
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Post by Tabby Whitman-Foster on Apr 13, 2009 10:08:33 GMT -7
"Chicken is at least cooked when you eat it, dude! And I don't see people devouring it in the alley behind a pet store or a...chicken store!" Tabby did her best not to sound hysterical. She gagged a bit at the image of buckets of fried mice served up by the Colonel that suddenly popped into her head.
"Stop moving man!" Tabby cried, backing up as he took steps towards her. Her knees were slightly shaking, and she was sincerely wishing that she had brought, at the very least, some mace. Her eyes flicked to the cardboard box still sitting besides the cracked iPod. She sincerely hoped the guy wasn't going to rip open the box in a fit of hungry rage, maybe, and eat her new hamster. Ew. Tabby's shaking fingers were attempting to unlock her phone and then putting in the local non-emergency police number. "No, but I think you might have some screws loose, buddy, I just want to -- AHH!" She yelled in surprise as he swiped the phone from her. Great! Just great! She backed up a few more steps, her entire body shaking from adrenaline that was now coursing in her veins.
Oh no. Oh no no no. She had been in fights that were more deadly than a little confrontation with some psycho that ate mice (sure, she was there as tech support and not as a fighter, but still...). Tabby took a deep breath and lunge at Jaylin, her hands scrabbling for her phone. "Give me that back man! You need help!"
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Post by jaylin on Apr 13, 2009 11:07:04 GMT -7
Stop moving? Right. Like he'd stop moving while she called the cops on him and got him arrested. She seemed terrified of him. Of course she'd think eating mice translated to being a danger to humans. Their species truly sold themselves short if they thought that eating a mouse was close enough to being dangerous to a human that they had to be worried. Granted, she did have one of those boxes that they put small pets in, but still...
Plus she thought he was crazy. Maybe she just wanted him in a straight jacket instead of a cell, but either way he wouldn't let it happen. However, once he got her phone away from her, she seemed to have grown some spine. She lunged at him and he, being a good five inches shorter than her, was easily knocked to the ground, and when she tried to grab the phone, he could do little to stop her from taking it back.
His species never evolved to be terribly strong. They didn't have to; their venom was their main defense. Unfortunately, it wasn't always a suitable defense for a given situation. However, he got an idea. Obviously, if anyone heard about this they'd think he was crazy, but what if he could freak her out enough so that either she or anyone else who heard her thought she was crazy?
Letting his eyes become yellow cobra eyes and his teeth to elongate into fangs, he hissed, "I do not need help!"
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Post by Tabby Whitman-Foster on Apr 13, 2009 12:01:46 GMT -7
"Yee!" Tabby squealed in delightful as Jaylin fell to the ground and she grasped her phone in her hands. Triumphant, she backed away quickly and began dialing once more. Her fingers fumbled on the keypad, because she was half suspecting for something to perhaps fall out of the sky. She seriously had the worse luck when she was outside of the BPRD.
Just as her thumb was about to hit the 'Send' button, she looked down to see that Jaylin's eyes had turned yellow, the pupils had become slits, and his teeth had suddenly grown into what she thought were vampire fangs. "Whoah-ho-Holy CRAP!" She backed up even more, only to feel the cold stone wall of the building next to the pet store against her back.
Tabby could feel her heart thundering in her chest. She stared at the fangs and the yellow eyes and immediately thought of the Bureau. Could the guy be a vampire? No, it was daylight. He was something, though. Something that ate mice and looked like he could eat her, if he felt like it. Could he maybe be part of that big bad's, Nublada or whatever his name was, organization and was sent to assassinate the techie? No, that was stupid... Tabby did the only thing she could think to do. She didn't have a badge but she held up her hands once more. "Stop right there in the name of the Burea of Paranormal Research and Defense, unless you want to assault a government agent!" That was probably unbelievably cheesy sounding and probably didn't instill the fear she had wanted into his heart. Oh crap. She was probably dead now.
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Post by jaylin on Apr 13, 2009 12:54:07 GMT -7
Perhaps the rodent loving stranger didn't sound quite the way she wanted, but the effect was good enough. Jaylin froze, half sitting since he'd only started to get up after this woman had gotten off of him, and stared.
"What?"
This was not the reaction he'd expected. He had figured she'd just freak out and run, leaving him alone and possibly questioning later if she was insane. Or insisting she saw what she thought she saw, and therefore making everyone else think she was insane. He didn't expect her to bring up some paranormal government agency.
"What the hell is that?"
He let his features shift back to human. Was this agency real? Was she sent there to investigate him all along? To charge him with mouse eating? Or was this as unexpected for her as it was for him? More importantly, what was their policy for dealing with supernatural types they ran across?
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Post by Tabby Whitman-Foster on Apr 13, 2009 21:06:07 GMT -7
Tabby let out a breath of relief. Good, that bullcrap Nublua-ba thought was just bullcrap, for this guy didn't recognize the Bureau's name. Or was he playing stupid? Tabby's finger really was itching for a gun right now...Just for a security blanket.
While his scary features soon melted back into a more human appearance, Tabby still didn't feel at ease. She carefully and stealthily (she hoped) scrolled to Manning's number on her phone should anything go awry. She would call, try to make them know she needed help, they could track her using her phone, and she would hopefully not be eaten or have her blood sucked by whatever this guy was before any suits showed up.
"The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense is a secret American organization that keeps the world safe from the supernatural, the occult, and the paranormal. I'm guessing whatever you are, you belong to one of those groups. Don't get any funny ideas, man. I'm not too important, but I'd be important enough if I turned up missing." She wasn't really important, but still. Tabby wanted to deter any harm that may come her way by any means possible.
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Post by jaylin on Apr 14, 2009 7:14:26 GMT -7
That answer wasn't really helpful. Jaylin could have figured that much out from the name. What he really wanted to know was how they defended people from the supernatural. He wanted to know if there was some sort of blanket attitude of they're all a threat, or if once she discerned that he was not one, she'd be happy to leave him alone to do what he did, eating mice and helping control the rodent population. Of course, judging from her reaction, she seemed to assume he had the slightest desire to make her go missing, which could be worrisome. He really didn't want the government after him for the crime of eating mice, after all.
"So then try not to go missing. I'd hate to be accused of something."
Jaylin shifted into a more comfortable position, leaning back against a nearby dumpster as he sat there, watching this woman. Was he allowed to get up and leave?
"So...what do you do when you find a something supernatural? In the midst of what is apparently the great crime of eating mice, which instills fear and horror into any human who sees, and is enough justification to brand all snakes deceitful monsters, even though most snakes you ever see don't say much more than 'hssss'?"
Jaylin was feeling nervous, and when he got nervous...he tended to show irritation to cover up his fear. Otherwise he'd begin to wonder if she was calling back-up as he sat thereto kidnap him and take him away somewhere. Possibly to be dissected. He shuddered at the thought. Great, so now he was thinking of that stuff anyway.
"I mean, if I decide to get up and leave, you won't stop me, will you?"
After a pause, he thought over her description of the Bureau of Paranormal Defense and Research.
"And what's the difference between paranormal and supernatural, anyway?"
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Post by Tabby Whitman-Foster on Apr 16, 2009 8:56:51 GMT -7
Tabby relaxed a little when Jaylin made a statement that lead her to believe he wasn't planning on doing anything detrimental to her health or the ability to live. By no means did she breathe a sigh of relief, but she wasn't wishing she had a gun so much anymore. She was just happy that he didn't seem as hostile -- he didn't have fangs anymore.
Tabby opened her mouth to speak and then closed it as the guy seemed to launch into a small tirade defending snakes. She blinked once and said, "Ok, first of all, guy, I walked into an alley and saw some random dude eating a mouse. Some random, apparently normal every day guy eating a mouse. Not a snake." She paused and realized that with the fangs and mouse eating, and with his defense of snakes, he must be something that had to do strongly with the cold-blooded creatures. "I kind of like rodents, so excuse me for freaking out when a human starts eating them. If it was a snake, it'd be another matter. And second, if we find something supernatural, we assess the threat." At least, that's what Tabby understood. She didn't go on field missions often.
"I don't know. Are mice all you eat, or do you have a habit of endangering humans? Because then I'm going to have to do my best to take you out." Jaylin and Tabby probably weighed the same, so Tabby couldn't just tackle him and pin him. And then if he knew any hand-to-hand combat, Tabby was probably screwed. "I think as long as I have your name and can classify you and no where you are, that'd be fine." She could give the info to Manning and if he wanted to do anything, she'd leave that up to him. There was a reason she only fixed busted electronics and weapons.
"Supernatural is spiritual, like religious miracles (Tabby's thoughts strayed to the Mexico incident some of the agents took part in earlier that year), paranormal is something that science can't explain, like ghosts. Subtle differences, but still there."
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Post by jaylin on Apr 16, 2009 16:34:41 GMT -7
Well, at least she didn't hold the whole mouse eating thing against snakes, even if she wasn't okay with humans joining in on the fun. Which he, being a naga, should count as enough of a snake for it to be reasonable that he'd eat mice. Jaylin didn't understand why she'd like rodents, though. The only thing they were good for was food, and for those that did not eat them, they should merely be regarded as the pests they were. Assessing the threat sounded good, though. It meant they didn't regard everything they found as dangerous, and would hopefully leave him alone once they verified that he wasn't.
"Yeah, I don't mess with humans. In fact, I'm helpful. Did you know that the apartment I live in used to have a rat problem?"
The questions seemed easy enough to answer, too. She knew he wasn't human, so there was no point in hiding that, and his only concern, really, was saying where he lived. However, if doing that would keep the agency from thinking of him as a threat, it would probably be best to just tell her. After all, it wasn't like it would be too hard for the government to track him down if they really wanted.
"Jaylin Luang. I'm a naga. Half-naga. My mother's human, and I live over on Davis street, so I shouldn't be too hard to find."
He'd give her exact address if she asked, but he didn't want to seem too eager to tell her everything. She then explained the difference between paranormal and supernatural.
"Oh." He hadn't actually expected her to know the difference, to tell the truth. He didn't know the difference, and just figured she was talking without realizing she'd listed two synonyms. It didn't matter much, though.
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Post by Tabby Whitman-Foster on Apr 26, 2009 10:23:04 GMT -7
Tabby gave an uncomfortable smile at Jaylin informing her that he had eliminated the rodent problem in his apartment. "It's like you got a um...Bed and breakfast?" She offered haltingly. "Okj, that was lame, but...yeah. I guess that's a good thing. Maybe you should go into business as pest control - Get money and free eats." Holy crap, what the hell was wrong with her? Her cheeks flushed slightly. She was uncomfortable and jumpy - maybe that's why she was babbling like a fool, or maybe it was just because Tabby was Tabby. Squishie had called her absent-minded before.
Tabby voided the BPRD's number from her phone and texted in 'Jaylin Luang - Davis Street -- Half Naga' on a reminder that would go off when she got back to the Bureau. "Thank you. Um..." She pocketed the cell phone and tried to calm her nerves. "You might get a more formal visit than some random chick that freaks out on you in an alley. So um...Yeah. We're not bad guys, we won't kidnap you or anything...I think." Holy crap, she wasn't making this situation any better, was she? Tabby bent down and picked up her cracked iPod and the box that held the female hamster, who was probably more than a little freaked out. "Maybe you should take your lunch somewhere not so open next time, dude."
Tabby suddenly felt a little awkward -- not only for freaking out on the guy, but for probably alarming him, and then giving out BPRD info that was probably top secret or confidential - But what with the Earth Elementa,l and HB giving interviews on TV a few months ago, it probably wasn't too bad. "Um...I'm sorry for freaking out on you, man. I was a bit taken aback."
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Post by jaylin on Apr 26, 2009 17:19:05 GMT -7
"I guess," he said with a shrug at her suggestion of doing the pest control thing. Well, at least this was a remarkable improvement from her panicking, whether it be because he was eating a rodent or because he was clearly not human.
He started to nod when Tabby explained he could be expecting a more formal visit, when she mentioned the 'I think'. His eyes widened and his head shot up, surprised by her uncertainty. "You think? You don't know?"
What kind of person worked for an agency that they couldn't firmly say without hesitation that their employer wouldn't kidnap people? He nodded when she said he should take his lunches somewhere more private, but still had a look of worry on his face from before. She then apologized for freaking out on him. It had been quite annoying, but at least she stopped.
"It's okay. Although you should probably talk to your employer and verify a few things if you're that iffy on whether or not he kidnaps people."
Getting up, Jaylin headed for the back door of the pet store, still holding his thermos, assuming they were done. If not, she'd probably say something since he wasn't moving particularly fast.
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