Starlight and cigarettes. (Joss)

[siane]

Siane dropped onto the grass in a secluded corner of wailman's park with a sigh of relief. Being quite late, it was more or less deserted, the only other people being a teenage couple, holding hands and giggling by the entrance. It was a clear night, and stars dotted the sky above. A breeze gently rustled the branches on the trees and bushes and the ground had dried out after yesterday's rain. To most people this would be a perfect evening. To Siane, however, nights like this never failed to remind her of another night, three years ago.A night that been as far from perfect as you could get. She frowned slightly, wondering if she would ever be able to let go of what had happened. Not likely she thought.

One of the reasons she had remained in the human world after what had happened was because she coulden't stand the looks of pity she got from her family and the continual echoes of 'I told you so, humans are evil, hopefully you know better now...' She didn't need that, she really didn't. She knew what her mistake had been. Falling in love. Who ever had written that love was a foolishness had been absolutely right, but she didn't need her whole social circle telling her so.It wasn't as if it had been much better here. Continual lectures on forgiving and forgetting weren't raising Siane's opinion of humans in the least. Still, at least there was a degree of anonymity here. No stares and whispers.

She took a packet of cigarettes out of the pocket of her jeans and flicked her lighter, watching the flame dance for a second before she lit up. For someone like her, she was oddly fascinated by fire. Perhaps it was just another effect of what had happened, of seeing that burning boat. She huffed slightly. A pyromaniac mermaid. Now that would be interesting.

Taking a long puff of her cigarette, she let her shoulders fully relax. She really should get out a bit more, be social. Sometimes it seemed such a drag though. Besides bring throughly unscrupulous for the most part, the humans she'd met also seemed to be uncommonly stupid and worse than that, boring. Hearing movement behind her she tensed, wondering who she'd find if she turned around.

[jossur]

Night, Jossur's favorite time. It never ceased to provide him with amusement. Shady business dealings, endless scores of women, starlight and moonlight abounding. If the demon had a heart, the night time would warm it. He was just that fond of the darkness. It comforting, in a way, to be surrounded by shadows. When his life was as dark and as twisted as the darkness around him, Joss was happy. Life was going well.

Tonight, he had decided on wandering. This usually lead him to a whore, a bar, or a club. All three were acceptable options but the demon wasn't really feeling any of them tonight. Tonight felt.... different somehow. He had past all of his favorite haunts ad continued to meander down the street, hands shoved carelessly into the pockets of his dark wash jeans. Idly he played with his tie, tightening and loosening it as he felt comfortable. Eventually, he settled on 'looser', unbuttoning the top button of his shirt to relish the cool night air against his skin. At times, he thought that he was just meant to wander. Never meant to have a place to settle. he'd never been for one for security in any shape or form. hen his wanderings made him happy, he didn't really need anything else. As long as they continued to amuse, he had no issues.

It seemed that tonight, his guiding spirit was being a bit of a hippy. He had been lead to Wailman's Park, a spot where the humans tended to hang out. Inwardly, he sighed. His night would be absolutely ruined if he had to deal with any mortals. His temper would flare and it wouldn't be pretty. Besides, he'd get blood on his new shirt and that would just be an atrocity! To his relief, there didn't seem to be any humans in his sight line, just one lone girl and she piqued his interest. Mentally turning on the charm, Joss fiddled with his tie once more and quickly swiped a hand through his hair to get that perfectly tousled look. He sidled up beside the girl and fished a cigarette out of his pocket.

"Got a light?" He asked casually, giving her an easy grin. "Left mine." Let the games begin.

[siane]

Hearing a male voice, Siane had to fight from groaning out loud.Of all the things she hadn't wanted to encounter that night, a man was top of the list. Fate had obviously yet to finish making life difficult for her. Not that she believed in fate, not really. But Siane hated taking the blame, and fate seemed a convenient thing to point her finger at when things went wrong. She tilted her head , giving him a once over. He looked almost too perfectly put together to be true. Forcing back her immediate instinct to run as fast as she could, she simply looked at him, a couple seconds longer than was normal perhaps, but she was trying to figure him out.

Deciding that he posed no immediate threat, (apart from his attractiveness, but Siane prided herself on being mostly immune to that) she handed him her lighter "I don't suppose there's any use in saying no" She told him, returning his grin with a smile. "You'd know I was lying" She had actually been considering pretending she didn't have one, just to get some peace, but something about this guy interested her. Anyway, hadn't she just been thinking she needed to meet more people?

She was tempted to him out of the corner of her eye, but she got the feeling he would notice. It was the scientific part of her kicking into action,observe until you understand. At first guess she would say he wasn't human, but then it was dark and you never knew, so it was probably best for her to proceed with caution. She took another long drag of her cigarette, blowing out a perfect smoke ring and watching it dissipate into the air. She glanced back at him, wondering what brought him out at this time.

[jossur]

Having received the light he asked for, Joss took a long drag of his cigarette and blew a smoke ring to match the one he'd seen. Cigarettes were a particular pleasure of his, a luxury he was never without. Of course money wasn't really an issue, seeing as his shady business dealings were more than profitable. The demon, therefore, had more access to luxuries than most, and he took great pleasure in enjoying them to the fullest.

He also knew the girl next to him was wary. He'd have to play the niceness up to win her trust, to get anywhere really. Once the idea had fully formed in his head, Joss turned to face her. He knew she wasn't human. That was easy. Based on the instinctual attraction he felt, Joss was guessing mermaid but he could be wrong. "What's a pretty girl like you doing out here all alone? Don't you know it's late? There are things that go bump in the night who would love to have someone like you for a bit of a snack." He flashed his teeth was could be considered a predatory smile, before reverting back to his normal smirk. "You should have someone to protect you."

He wasn't go as far as to suggest his own services, but that part was implied. Relishing the drawn out silence, he took another drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke in her general direction. She was pretty, that was for sure. At least this game was worth his time. The night would seem, at this moment, somewhat profitable. He would just have to wait and see.

[siane]

Siane let out a low chuckle at his words. "Are you offering to be my bodyguard?" She inquired. That was laughable. A man protecting her? Men destroyed, they didn't protect. Besides which, Siane wasn't completely defenseless. Not in the least. She'd learned a few things since deciding to live on land and of course she always had her voice. That had come in useful quite a number of times in the past. Being a mermaid definitely had it's perks.

"Anyway" She turned over so she was fully facing him "How do you know I'm not the predator,. rather than the prey? " With another faint smile she lay back again. This guy was certainly intriguing, and she was now certain he wasn't human. What he was she didn't know. She hadn't spent all that much time around other races. She had expected to find his presence irritating, and was surprised that she didn't feel nearly as annoyed about him sitting there as she normally would.

One corner of her mouth quirked up slightly as the image of luring this guy into a pond or something entered her mind. She wasn't all too sure it would work on him. She hadn't really had a chance to see what effect her voice had on other supernaturals. Dismissing the thought, it wasn't as if she'd actually try it, she shifted slightly, getting more comfortable on the grass. She wondered what the man next to her was thinking. She hadn't met anyone who was as comfortable with silence as she was. Most people found it awkward. She glanced over at him again, slightly confused by how much he piqued her curiosity. Then again, it was rather a long time since she'd been alone with a man like this. The realization caused a brief spark of panic before she remembered that this wasn't two years ago and that she was perfectly capable of looking after herself now.

[jossur]

Oh, she was making this far too easy. "What if I am offering to be your bodyguard? I think that pretty girls should stay safe. That an issue?" He calmly raised an eyebrow, trying not to appear threatening. When she made the comment about predator and prey, however, he lost his composure. That predatory grin came through again, his eyes flashing deep ebony for just a second. "Sweetheart, you are not the predator. You may not necessarily be the prey, but you are certainly not the predator. That's typically my job." There was something hungry in his expression that faded away when he took a calming breath, forcing his eyes to resume their normal blue. With any luck, she hadn't seen that little slip up of composure. He'd have to play cover up if she had and that usually wasn't pretty.

Topic change... he needed a topic change. "Beautiful night, isn't it? Stars and all. I think it's most gorgeous time of day.... Wouldn't live in the day light if I had any kind of choice. I'd just sit n parks with beautiful women under the starlight forever."

Oh, that was good. Poetic even. That happened sometimes, when he was playing his nice guy act. He'd go a little too far and flowery words just started coming. It made him feel sort of uncomfortable, but felt oddly natural at the same time. He was a liar and a smooth talker, after all. A silver tongue was part of his personal definition. "I am so rude... I haven't asked your name, my lady! Please forgive my lapse of manners." That sparling sort of charm resurfaced and he lapsed into that easy grin once more. Reeling her in...

[siane]

Siane had, in fact, noticed his eyes and she didn't like it. She didn't like it at all.However, she'd managed to keep her composure so far, she wasn't about to let it go now. "If you were offering your services, I'd have to politely refuse. I've already got a perfectly good bodyguard" His mention of how he was normally the predator unnerved her a little though.

She scoffed at his flowery words and chuckled again. "You know that it's more usual for the person introducing themselves to give their name first?" She said, taking another calming puff of her cigarette, which was now burning low. She extinguished it on the ground besides her "Pray, don’t worry yourself good sir….I'm not really bothered about the nicities...I'd far rather know what you are." She turned to face him as she said it, locking their eyes, letting him know that she wasn't going to fall for whatever it was he was attempting that easily. There was something about this man...and damn! There it was again, that spark of attraction. This wasn’t good. Unwillingly, because it felt a bit like backing down, she turned her head away, acting unconcerned and lit up another cigarette.

What are you doing? the rational part of her screamed Run! Run now! But she was curious. Curiosity had always been a major failing of hers. In the right amounts of course, it was fine. But she took it to extremes sometimes. Or maybe she was just an adrenaline junkie? Like before, she felt her eyes slowly wander back to him and she raised an eyebrow in silent question, wondering what he'd say to her query.

[jossur]

There was a very long pause as Joss considered his options. He could answer her question honestly, or he could lie. He could just get up and leave. He could even kill her. That would be the easiest of the options, as he wouldn't have to worry about her coming back and tracking him down. Instincts screamed as he thought, one of his hands methodically tightening on a clump of grass which was serving as an outlet for his more destructive tendencies while he thought. The demon had hastily made the decision to kill someone one too many times, without thinking it through. This time would not be like that. This time, he would choose.....

"I'm Jossur Cain, born Demon. Call me Joss." For once, he'd chosen the truth. That didn't happen particularly often and it honestly surprised Joss. The words had just.... come out. He'd been in the middle of thinking, not yet reaching a decision and his name was just out there. The hand that was slowly killing the grass tightened and jerked quickly upward, snatching the whole clump out of the ground. He sneered at briefly before tossing it away. The decision was made then He wouldn't kill her. At least.... not yet.

"Oh and by the way? Whoever your bodyguard is... I can almost guarantee I'm better." Not that he was vain or anything... Actually, no. He was very vain. Prided himself on it even. He had a sneaking feeling, though, that the woman had made up a lie to throw a threat off. Joss smirked. He rather enjoyed making his women uncomfortable on occasion. They put up more of a fight that way....

[siane]

Siane wasn't particularly surprised that he was a demon. She had expected something along those lines. What she was slightly surprised about was that he'd told her. Of course, he could be lying, but she really doubted it. Everything about how he'd said it pointed to him being truthful Good. Siane hated lier's. Of course, she lied herself on occasion, sometimes more often than could be called absolutely necessary. Then, she'd never claimed not to have double standards.

She'd noticed how he pulled out the clump of grass and briefly wondered if he'd be able to kill her if he wanted. Probably. The thought didn't actually upset her as much as she'd thought it would. She could put up a pretty good fight if she wanted, and anyway, Siane's general motto was along the lines of 'I'll cross that bridge when I come to it' Offering him a brilliant smile, she thought about giving him a false name, or just no name at all, but in the end she came to the conclusion that it probably wouln’t serve any real purpose. She gave a brilliant smile before saying. “I'm Siane. Siane Smith…Mermaid.”

She grinned when he made the comment about being a better bodyguard. "Really now? Don't you think you might be being just a tiny bit over confident? " She shrugged "Then again, maybe not. It must have taken some brute strength to pull up that clump of grass" Her tone was playful enough to let him know she was joking. She regarded him with interest for a long moment, not quite sure what to make of him anymore. She sort of wanted to find out.

[jossur]

Joss thought for a moment about his new acquaintance. Had he ever slept with a mermaid? No, not that he could recall. Lovely! That meant that this little meeting had a purpose after all. "It's nice to meet you, Siane." His voice had taken on the velvety smooth quality that meant he was flirting and didn't want to be obvious about it. His voice was a draw apart from his looks, a rich baritone that was vaguely musical when he pleased and rough at other times. It was a great asset which, in addition to his looks, had won him many bed mates on many different occasions.

He laughed when she noticed the clump of grass he'd mutilated. "Ah, yes." The demon admitted solemnly. "That was quite a feat, I must admit." Of course, he was teasing. If you listened hard enough, the note of playfulness was buried under layers of seriousness. 'Still, I hold by my claim that I'd be a better bodyguard than whoever you have, if you really have one at all. You might just be lying to throw me off," He shot the mermaid a grin, proof that he was on to her, but he didn't press the issue further.

"So I repeat a previous question. What's a pretty girl like you doing out here in a place like this?" Sure, it was a line but he was genuinely curious so Joss didn't really mind. If Siane planned to play along or not? Well, that remained to be seen.

[siane]

“Ah..you're on to me. Obviously I'm not half as good at lying as I thought" Her face was perfectly serious but the slight flicker in her eyes betrayed the fact that her claim of having a bodyguard might not be a complete fabrication. In actual fact, it wasn't. Not completely. Siane did have a very skilled bodyguard of sorts...her voice, when she let it show in its true form, and of course the fact that she was unusually quick on her feet, now that she'd found her land legs so to speak ,and she could throw a pretty respectable punch. She didn't delude herself into to thinking she could actually physically overpower many people, not at all. But her voice...when she let the innate siren part of her shine through it was something to be reckoned with. It was that way for all mermaids. Of course it was more powerful when she was in the water. Also, she had no idea how it would work on other supernaturals. She imagined it would have more or less the same effect. At least, she very much hoped so. She saw no plausible reason why it shouldn't.

She had noted the change in his voice and it didn't fill her with the greatest confidence about his motives. Still...two could play at this game. She tilted her head at him, letting the innate charm, which she'd been trying to dull up till now, though. It wasn't as if she was expecting him to melt into a puddle at her feet. But it might throw him off a bit and anyway, she wanted to know what the effects would be on a demon. Her lips curved into a slight smile. "I'm lying in wait for some innocent men who I can lure into the pond and drown" She said. "I imagine you're doing something along the same lines?' She kept her tone light, teasing. She flipped onto her stomach so she could see him better and asked"Tell me, how do Demons hunt? Of course, if it's a trade secret then I'll understand"

[jossur]

Joss' grin widened, though there was something almost.... sleepy about it. Her charm was effecting him, though he knew enough of it not to let it really show. "How do Demons hunt?" He asked easily. "No so different from you, really. I prefer to use charm, pure and simple. Lure my prey to me. I could, of course, physically overpower someone, but that's no fun. No fun at all. Besides, I really don't have a need to kill things. Just fun sometimes." He laughed, raking a hand through his hair. As he pulled his hand away from his head, however, he held it aloft to examine it. After a moment, he squinted his eyes and looked toward Siane.

"You're using your charm on me." He said finally. "That's not very nice, considering we just met and I was being honest with you." He chuckled again, this time it was accompanied with a smirk. "Smart, though. I'll give you that. Won't work completely me on me, though. Might make me sleepy. Actually, scratch that. Did make me sleepy. Are you gonna try to drown me?" Joss laid himself down on the grass, head tilted sideways to look at her with one eyebrow raised. "I will have to put up a fight if you try."

[siane]

Siane smirked, but reverted back to her regular voice all the same. It always made her feel odd to use her gift. "I make no claims about being nice. Nice is thoroughly overrated" And it was true in her opinion. The nice,sweet people were also usually the boring ones. That didn't mean Siane wasn't occasionally kind. Because she was, to people she cared about. It was just that there weren't all that many of them around. She'd always found it difficult to connect with people and the incident, as she liked to call it, hadn't made it easier. She’d always been considered a bit odd by others anyway, more interested in her private thoughts and in her books than making polite conversation.

Joss was different from other people she'd met. She hadn't yet decided if it was a good kind of different or a bad kind of different. It was certainly an interesting kind of different though. "No....I don't think so" she mused "If I drowned you that would be my fun gone. I suspect you're a better conversationalist when alive" She smiled again, "A fight hmmm? And how would you go about that?" She was still watching him, half nervous half fascinated by how their conversation was going.

[jossur]

Funny thing about demons in general, Joss in particular. He had a very little patience and a serious mischievous streak that bordered on sadistic occasionally. "Funny you should ask about that, actually." He said with a smirk, giving Siane just a moment to notice his eye color change before he moved.

He was on her in a second, pinning the mermaid to the ground with his heavier body weight. He was tense, the movement having triggered some of his more violent tendencies though he made no further move. He just held the mermaid pinned, watching her with dark eyes. "That's how I'd begin." He said simply. "It would only get worse from there." His eyes lightened once more to their original blue and Jossur rolled away, sitting up as if nothing happened. In reality, he was fighting over the action in his mind. Why had he done that....? What had been the purpose? He had no interest in hunting her. He was content to sit and chat for the moment, so why had he allowed his instincts to take over for that moment? There was the thrill, of course, but there was something else too. Had he just wanted to see what it was like to be closer to her?

Dismissing the idea completely with a shake of his head, Joss watched Siane closely, to see how she would react. This would be vaguely amusing.

[siane]

Sane had no time to react to the sudden movement. She panicked for a brief moment, memories of Robert, of being being pinned to the wall while he told her she was trapped clouding her mind and making her tense. His eyes though...how odd...it was almost as if he was trying to decide something. Was he going to kill her? A few moment later he rolled off and she could breath again. If she was being perfectly honest, it hadn't been just painful memories that had made her short of breath....it had been being close enough to him to feel his breath on her skin. She pushed the thought away and slowly turned to face him, determined not to let him see how unnerved she'd been.

"Impressive" She said, watching him closely for a moment, eyes slightly narrowed. “Perhaps one day you’ll show what the trick is. Or is it really all dependent on strength?” She leaned closer to him, a slow smile spreading over her features. Her voice became low and musical again and she let her siren side show. Her lips hovered just above his ear as she whispered "Pity the pond isn't closer, then I could show you how I do it" She pulled back slightly and watched him, resting on her elbows, wondering what his next move would be. The evening had turned out to be far more fun than she'd expected.

[jossur]

"Strength, charm, speed. It relies on several different factors, actually." The demon mused quietly. "If I didn't move as fast as I did, you'd have seen me coming and that would have given you a chance to block. And once I got you pinned, it's about strength to keep the prey still. Beyond that, the charm keep you with me, so you don't want to get away. Learned that from a vampire, actually. Sneaky bastards, those bloodsuckers. I....." His voice faltered and then faded into nothing. After a moment, his brows clicked together and he turned hi head toward Siane. "You're doing it again.... The voice." This time, though, he couldn't quite shake the feeling that he wanted to follow her.

"You'd want to drown me?" He said finally, voice still thick as if he'd just woken up. "I thought you said I was a much better conversationalist alive..." He chuckled quietly, looking at his hands. "This is a weird feeling, you know? Like I've been drugged. Do you know if it makes people feel like this all the time?" Curiouser and curiouser.... What a night this was turning out to be. A battle of the techniques between a born demon and a mermaid. If anyone saw them, they would probably go with Joss' description and decide on drugs.

"Hey." He said finally. "You're pretty. Is that your song too?"