that fire you ignited [Ree]

[҉ Joshua Lorne]

Brooklyn bridge was covered in a thin layer of ice, disguised by a blanket of snow that glittered under the lamps shining above. It was late, and through the speckles of ultraviolet light coming from the tall posts, the black sky glistened a sweet navy.

Joshua was walking along carefully, only wearing a thin jacket for protection against the cold. But he wasn't shivering. In fact, he looked like he was sweating.

Something strange happened last night. This morning in the papers he found an article that might explain why. There had been a lunar eclipse, and as with every lunar eclipse there was a full moon. The moon above was nearly full, but it had already passed its prime and was waning. He didn't like looking at it - it reminded him of its eerie red colour from last night.

He'd transformed, like he did every full moon, but it was like nothing he'd ever experienced before. It was hard to explain exactly what he felt... his animal side took over, and he was left feeling completely void of humanity. Which scared him witless - Josh was always so controlled. He did nothing irregular in his day-to-day life - everything was carefully calculated in his head, already predicted and seen coming from a mile away. He'd looked into the future to see his transformation, but he hadn't noticed anything strange before the event took place. It was only when it happened to him did he realize something was wrong.

Tonight he was recovering. Though not shaking, he was certainly shaken. While he was walking, a foot slipped out from beneath him, and he felt his stomach plummet as he fell backwards into the snow. Unfortunately it didn't offer much in the way of protection, and he landed on the hard ice and cement of the boardwalk. Instead of picking himself up though, he let the cool precipitation melt on his fevered skin, and watched his breath rise from his lips and dance in the frigid winter air.

The swirling snow spun around his horizontal position, and a stranger approached him...

Josh didn't move as his mind processed the near future. His precognition told him he wouldn't be alone for long. So he waited, hoping for something to take his mind off this latest disturbance in his life.

[Tarissa Irian]

Ree smiled to herself as she plodded along the streets. She'd only woken recently and hadn't realizing it was snowing until she'd stepped outside. She'd only paused briefly to grab her black trench coat before leaving.

She wasn't really sure where she was going, she'd just randomly chosen a direction and started along the path. As she walked, Ree glanced down at her new watch. It wasn't exactly pretty but it had plenty of uses. It could tell the time and date, set alarms, set count downs and set timers. Ree wasn't really sure what the difference between a count-down and a timer was but they were both quite useful.

The most useful bit was the alarm. She'd set it early enough for her to easily get back home before morning. Despite having set it a few hours ago, Ree hit the button that brought up the alarm screen just to make sure that she'd definitely turned it on.

With a small sigh, Ree spun round a corner towards a huge bridge. As she walked across the hard, icy concrete she saw a large object lying in the ice a few steps away. With a brief glance around to see if anyone else was nearby, Ree took a few steps nearer to see what it was.

"Hello? Are you okay?" As she got closer it became clear that the figure was a man. Although he looked fine, Ree didn't think that people who were okay would spend their time lying on the ground- especially when it was snowing.

[҉ Joshua Lorne]

Despite his ability to see the future, and despite being clairvoyant, neither of those Gifts could prepare him for the familiar scent of a vampire. He could smell her before she approached, and every instinct told him he should not be lying down before such a powerful enemy.

But then he remembered Halvor, the strange vampire he'd met at the Why Not Diner, and knew that not all vampires were the mindless bloodsucking monsters fiction and media painted them out to be. No, they sure as hell didn't sparkle in the sunlight, but he knew from experience that he shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

To be honest, this was a lot more difficult when the cover smelled like a sweet and musty decay. Like a flower wilting under an intense summer sun without the aid of rain or shade. He supposed that's how he identified the trench-coated figure as female. Halvor hadn't smelled so femininely disgusting. Just disgusting.

At first her concerned words made him stiffen - he didn't jump up and run or jump up and lash out like his lycan instincts told him to. No, instead he kept completely still, not sure if he was worried about provoking her or if he just didn't want to reveal how much she freaked him out. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to act normal around this specific species.

"Yeah, I'm fine," His voice cracked, and his eyes widened when he cleared his throat. He'd long since gone through puberty, so his voice had no business making him sound like a fourteen year-old. He tried again, hoping sheepishly that the vampire didn't judge him the way he had obviously been judging her. "Just ah, like looking at the moon."

He wondered if she'd be as knowledgeable as Halvor. Would she know what he was? Certainly if she could smell him the way Halvor could smell him, she might connect his lunar comment to his species. And then, he'd see how receptive she was. Even pop culture dictated how vampire-lycan relationships were. Very... hostile. That was the norm, but considering Joshua wasn't a very normal werewolf, nothing could really be considered 'the norm' for him.