Un Objet d'Art [open]

[Asia Nicole Sedgewick]

Asia carefully picked up two playing cards from the stack to her right and slowly placed them on the third level of the card house. She leaned back and exhaled slowly, not realizing that she'd been holding her breath. She stared at the masterpiece-to-be in wonder. No, it wouldn't be the most impressive card house ever, but it would be 4 stories tall and built completely during her lunch period. She was sitting at one of the smaller round tables by herself, her lunch tray pushed to the side. The lump of macaroni salad and pile of watery green beans sitting on it were completely untouched. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail, and was absently pushing loose strands behind her ear lest they brush the cards and bring the whole house down. The junior wasn't often on her own, but the hum of voices and constant activity around her was enough to satisfy her need for company. She wasn't actively avoiding people, but as of yet people hadn't been lining up to talk to her. It may have been the intense way she was staring at the cards that was keeping people at bay. She probably wouldn't freak out if someone bumped the table and destroyed her masterpiece, but there was always that possibility, and most people didn't want to risk it. It had toppled of its own volition a couple of times, but Asia hadn't been far enough into it then to feel despair and give up.

She leaned forward and grabbed two more cards, leaning them up against each other next to the previous two. She stayed focused, placing them carefully on the flimsy platform. Lean back, take a breath. A glance at the wall clock told her that she had plenty of time before her next class, Full Transformation. It was one of those required classes that she had blown off because she didn't think it was necessary, and was then stuck with it for her junior year. She had excellent control over her shifting, so the class was more like a break period than anything. It was just informative enough to keep her from tuning everything out, but it didn't exactly require full concentration and inspire anxiety.

The junior reached gingerly around the structure for her juice. She wasn't interested in the food, and had she not been on autopilot all day she probably wouldn't even have gotten anything. But no; by the time she sat down and came to, she had a tray full of food and nothing to pass the time except a deck of cards. She didn't know any single-layer card games besides solitaire, so she had merrily opted for building a card house. Except that merriment had been turned into raw determination by the second time it had all fallen apart. She would finish this.

ooc:: whoever replies to this: you have permission to topple Asia's masterpiece XD

[Oliver Ken Toulson]

Next to a mongoose’s natural habitat, Florida was probably one of the best places for Oliver. Lizards were swarming through the grass in almost every place he went, and they were quite easy to catch. The mongoose shifter stood in the grass for a moment, reddish-brown eyes watching a patch of earth a few feet away from him. Lizard. He was hungry; in fact, Oliver had missed breakfast today, and he had been too tired to bring his own lunch to school. So here he was, standing right outside the commons as he stalked the creature in the grass. He didn’t wiggle his ass like a cat or bark loudly like a dog. In fact, it was hard to tell that he was even hunting, except for how still he was being. Suddenly, he dashed forward, simply bending his head down to crush the lizard in his jaws. Food. As long as the human side of his mind didn’t focus on what exactly was in his mouth, it was all fine. Of course, being the kind of animal he was, he didn’t just eat it all in one swallow. What would be the fun in that? With the lizard in his jaw, he the orange ball of fluff trotted inside, bushy tail dragging behind him.

He was perfectly aware that no one was allowed to shift in the halls, but did the mongoose care? No, he didn’t, especially since the one who had made that rule was very important to him. That may have sounded contradictory, but it really wasn’t. Tatsuya was the second most important person in his life, and he showed that by annoying the fuck out of him and ignoring all the rules he set. Some rules, like the ones telling people not to touch Cyan Satou, he was happy to follow. Others, like the one he was breaking right now as he wandered down the halls in mongoose form, he was eager to break. Well, not eager, but rather… indifferent to. He didn’t listen to the rules; why should he? Oliver was above them. He entered the commons, ignoring the stares he got from the students gathered around, and sat down by the door. The dead lizard was still in his mouth. Happily, Oliver looked around for someone to annoy. He could have gone straight to Tatsuya’s office and dropped the lizard off on his desk, but the man was probably busy right now, doing whatever it was he did during the day. Probably sleeping, maybe eating lunch. So, sadly, he had to find someone new to annoy. All the students were huddled in little groups and gossiping, texting, chatting; boring things. In the middle of the room, though, was a girl sitting alone, building a house of cards.

Oliver didn’t recognize Asia. She wasn’t in any of his classes, and he had never seen her anywhere else because honestly, Oliver didn’t leave his classroom much. When he wasn’t in his classroom, he was in his apartment, and rarely did he venture somewhere else. Hopping up first to the seat, then the table, the mongoose sat by the house of cards, tempted to knock it down. Wouldn’t it be fun to see the angry look on this student’s face? He was sure it would be… but no, he shouldn’t. It wouldn’t be a proper teacher thing to do. He did, however, circle the house to sit in front of her, careful not to knock over her precious card house. None of the students currently liked the health teacher... maybe he could make some friends in the damn student body. It wasn't like he was ever going to chaperone any clubs or shit like that, but maybe if he could start off on the right foot with this kid -who he assumed to be a senior and therefore well-liked -, she would tell others that he wasn't as a much of an ass as people made him out to be. Thing was, the kid probably didn't like lying... so he'd just have to pretend that he wasn't an ass for a while.

He started by dropping the dead lizard in her lap.

[Asia Nicole Sedgewick]

Asia's grey-blue eyes didn't stray from her little construction project when the mongoose entered the room. She didn't hear the shift in conversation when the room collectively paused, then started speculating about the animal that was walking so boldly among them with a dead lizard in its mouth. Of course they assumed it was a shifter; that went without saying around here, but it was still somebody breaking a rule. She had just placed the last two cards on the very top of her little pyramid structure when the little mammal appeared on the table. She jerked back, startled, then stared at her card house to see if it would fall. Not even a wobble. After a second of tense waiting, she breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in her chair. The mongoose circled around and stood right in front of her. That was when she noticed the lizard, just as it was deposited in her lap.

Her brows drew together in puzzlement as she stared down at the battered carcass. "Um...okay. Thank you." What was she supposed to do with it, anyway? Reaching around the carnivore, she grabbed a napkin from beside her forgotten tray and used it to scoop up the reptile. Holding it in front of the mongoose, she said, "This could have been a person, you know. What would you say if you decapitated another student?" It wasn't a real concern for the shifter. She didn't think there were any students who would do something like that, kill an animal without being certain it wasn't actually human. Besides, she saw lizards like that everywhere around here. She set it down on the table, pushing it out of the way. Folding her arms across her chest, she looked at the mongoose in mock accusation.

She didn't have a clue who this guy was, why he'd brought her a lizard, or what he wanted. She didn't even know any mongooses, but then again it was a big school and she didn't know everyone's shift. It never crossed her mind that it might be a teacher. Asia didn't think they had any teachers that acted like this. There was probably a rule against killing willy-nilly, somewhere. In fact, she was sure there was. "Nothing. You'd say nothing, because you don't currently have a voice box." She smiled, although her puzzlement was still evident.

She thought of something then that made her look at the mongoose through narrowed eyes. "Wait, this isn't one of those mob-style threats, is it? Have I pissed somebody off, so they sent you to give me a warning?" Of course the thought was ridiculous; it was probably like when a cat brought you a dead mouse to show off. Asia laughed lightly, feeling the urge to pet the animal. She didn't act on it, though, knowing that shifters didn't always take kindly to people treating them like animals.

[Oliver Ken Toulson]

What would he have said if the lizard had been a person? Well, for one, he would probably be fired, and that wouldn't make him happy. Brown eyes watched the lizard as Asia held it above is head; did she not want it? If she didn't want it, Oliver would be happy to eat it. It would be wasting food if nobody ate it, wouldn't it? But if it had been a person... well, first of all, he had checked the student records a long time ago. He had already memorized what the specific lizard students looked like in their shifter forms so he wouldn't eat them on accident. Anyway, what kind of idiot would go running around in their shift form when they were obviously prey animals? It was stupid, and Oliver hated stupid. My needs are simple. Food, clothes to wear, a bed to sleep on... and no idiots. It was a quote from a book he had read ever so long ago, but it applied to him perfectly. Him and a few other people that he could name by heart. But she had asked a question, hadn't she? He had been a teacher long enough that he couldn't leave a question unanswered, no matter how hard it might be to communicate. Communicating an answer while you were an animal was hard, but not as hard as trying to tell deaf and blind kids things... it would be a learning curve, and it wasn't like he hadn't tried it before.

The mongoose flopped on his stomach, splaying his limbs around him slightly so he appeared dead – but he wasn't aiming to look dead. He swished his tail along the table, being careful to avoid the card house as the movement portrayed that he wasn't a lifeless ball of fur. He was trying to say that honestly, he wouldn't care. It may not have been exactly true, but he wasn't about to start explaining his whole thought process about research and stupidity through his little game. That would be much too hard. Charades as a mongoose was fun, actually; easier without all the ear tapping and holding up fingers. He didn't like the way she was looking at him, though. His animalistic mindset couldn't comprehend the mock in the accusation, though his human mindset would have been proud that a student could do it too. Whining softly, he climbed into her lap, curling up and purring. No one could resist cute animals, right? Well, at least she was smiling again.

Yes, there were probably rules about teachers killing animals on campus, but why would he have read them? It wasn't like he could hunt anywhere else. Mongooses weren't exactly a common sight in Florida, and he was pretty sure that animal control would be called on him if any of the locals spotted him slinking around in the cities. It wasn't like he could simply shift back and explain everything, because, well, that would call for people worse than animal control, and nobody wanted that. Shifters weren't exactly normal in the public's view, so the school tried to keep out of the public's view. Tatsuya had explained that to him a long time ago, and he had taken it to heart. So what if he hunted on campus? It was better than getting found out or thrown in animal control and put to sleep, and he sure as hell wasn't staying out of mongoose form for the rest of his pathetic little life.

If the lizard was a warning for anything, it would be the fact that Asia hadn't done her homework. But, of course, he couldn't say that. For one, he couldn't talk, and for another, he really didn't give a shit whether she did her homework or not as long as she wasn't in his class.

[Asia Nicole Sedgewick]

Asia was never really good at charades. She always went for the most obvious choice to begin with, then her guesses got increasingly convoluted until everyone just stopped what they were doing and looked at her like she was insane. Thus, when the mongoose flattened himself onto the tabletop, she just tilted her head slightly tot he side and kept her guesses to herself. She wasn't even sure if he was trying to mime something. The way he was taring straight at her face made her think so, though. "I give up. I'll just assume you did some background checking fist. Trust me, if I start guessing you'll just get frustrated." Even if she hadn't understood the earnest expression and exaggerated actions, that was probably enough to satisfy him. The junior hoped that he'd appreciate her honesty.

She unfolded her arms with uncertainty when the mongoose crawled onto her lap. Well, apparently her previous conclusion was wrong. The little mammal was perfectly happy to act like his shift. If she thought of him as a human then this was weird. However, as long as she just concentrated on the little bitty nose and furry body, she was perfectly content to let him stay. She stroked his head lightly, looking down at him with a thoughtful expression. Who did she know that was male and had an unknown shift? "I honestly have no idea who you are. I'm sorry." She smiled again, truly feeling a little bad. It was totally outside of the realm of possibility for this to be a stranger. Why would somebody single her out unless they knew her?

"You are adorable, though." As the junior scratched the back of his neck absently, she looked around to see if anybody was going to clue her in on what was going on. No such luck. If he took offense to the comment... well, as far as she was concerned it was his fault for acting the part. "Oh, and if you shift back, then please get off me first." Her voice was completely level, not suggesting any level of discomfort. She was happy to let the purring animal chill out for as long as he wanted, as long as she got to her next class on time.

[Oliver Ken Toulson]

Of course she didn't know who he was; she wasn't supposed to know who he was. The whole point of being the anatomy professor was so that he didn't have to introduce his animal to students like most teachers did. Well, and because it had been the only spot open, but... yeah. Sure, he had the option to tell his pupils what animal he was and demand to know theirs, but why should he? It took time away from the lesson, and frankly, spying on the kids in his mongoose form was fun. Though, he should probably change back eventually... or the headmaster would get mad. Like Tatsuya wasn't already mad at him for a hundred different reasons. Oliver didn't need to give him more, like parading through the halls in his shift form, hunting on campus, or... well, cuddling with a student.

Oliver liked being called adorable, even if the word was coming from someone more than ten years younger than him. He was adorable – when he was an animal, not so much in human form – and he wouldn't let anyone take that title away from him. Well, really, he appreciated any title that was positive and referred to his appearance. He was vain, selfish, manipulative, rude... well, the list could go on forever. His students knew that; it wasn't like he hid it. If there was anything good to say about the anatomy professor, it was that he had no limit on his supply of self-esteem. He wasn't easily bullied, to put it in simpler terms.

After a few minutes of purring and sitting relatively still, Oliver started to get bored. Where was the fun in lounging around all day... on a school day? That was what weekends were for! Well, that and going out to bars and getting drunk, but Oliver wasn't going to tell any of the students that. Teaching really required a lot of energy, and he just wasn't used to sitting around and doing nothing. Of course, he hadn't missed what Asia had said about getting off her lap if he was going to shift. The orange ball of fur stood up and stretched before slinking off Asia's lap, looking up at her with wide and innocent eyes before shifting. A whole lifetime of it, and he still felt tired whenever he changed forms. Pathetic, really. Just plain sad.

Oliver was left sitting on the floor, his knees bent as most of his weight on his derriere and hands, his shoulders bent back. It was a lucky thing that shifters didn't change back into the nude, though his clothes were oddly wrinkled as he stretched and yawned. ”Yes I did a background check, I wouldn't eat a fellow shifter. Yes, I'm adorable, no, I myself not a student. Deal with it.” Standing up and brushing off his clothes, Oliver moved to sit in the chair opposite from Asia, watching her through the card house with a gleeful expression on his face. This was fun, really.

[Asia Nicole Sedgewick]

Normally, once she had decided that lunch wasn't edible and she was too cheap to buy anything, Asia would have gotten up and tracked down one of her compadres before the next period started. At the moment, however, she was trapped. There was no way she could shove the furball away and stand up. The junior was just too compassionate for something like that. Asia had a lot of patience, though, and the quiet company of the mongoose wasn't the worst thing in the world. She could adapt to this new situation without any trouble. Although she was feeling relaxed, zoning out and getting lost in her own thoughts, the mongoose seemed to grow bored very quickly. When she felt the little body stir she snapped back to attention, watching as the weasel-like animal hopped down onto the floor.

She sat up in her seat, curious to see if he was going to shift and put the mystery of his identity to rest, or just scamper off. She really hoped it would be the former. Asia liked to know what was going on, especially when a dead lizard was inexplicably deposited in her lap by an apparent stranger. Much to her satisfaction, it seemed that the mongoose was in an obliging mood.

Watching people shift was always weirdly fascinating to Asia. It was just such an alien concept that her brain couldn't piece it together quickly enough to properly process it all. It didn't matter how many times she saw it happen. Whenever she thought back to the transformation the memory always had an opaque sheen to it, like a dream that you were forgetting even as you thought about it. She was never even sure how long the entire thing took, although when she shifted it seemed very rapid. So, in the span of either a few seconds or several minutes, the mongoose changed into a blonde man. Adult man.

Several emotions came flooding forward, but none of them were powerful enough to breach Asia's levee of self-control. Confusion, surprise, disbelief, even suspicion, were all stalled before they could flicker across her face and betray her real reaction. She just frowned, listening to the teacher speak and waited for the puzzle to piece itself together in her head. She remained wordless as he took a seat, then realized that what he had said was all the explanation she was going to get. Okay, so he was clearly a teacher here, even if she didn't recognize him. He hadn't murdered anyone human, so there was that. He was full of himself, and clearly enjoying this entire situation, but so far he wasn't being obnoxious about it. Things were fine. She could handle this. Her frown gave way to a smile as she accepted everything that had just happened.

"Right. Well, better a teacher than someone from the mob sending death threats. I'm Asia. Any particular reason you singled me out?" She remained leaning back in her chair, refolding her arms across her chest. Whatever dramatic reaction he'd been expecting when he'd told her to "deal with it," she wasn't going to give it. Asia could pull off "unimpressed" like a champ.

[Oliver Ken Toulson]

The supposed indifference surprised Oliver slightly, but like Asia, he wasn't going to show it. Was she just faking it like Oliver knew oh so well how to do, or was she really indifferent to the fact that a teacher had just been sitting on her lap for five minutes? Either way, he was impressed. He leaned forward, elbows on the table and his face suddenly serious as he spoke. ”I've never heard of a shifter being in a mob, but it's an interesting concept. Though, do you honestly think we would let any mob members into the school, Asia?” he asked, a faint trace of amusement showing in the dark blue eyes that were watching the junior so intently. The selection process may not be apparent at first, but it was there; of course it was. Could they let just anyone get into the exclusive shifter school? Well, it wasn't really a matter of they. The headmaster picked the students by hand; Oliver had learned that just a while ago, during a much more intense version of the game of apathy that he appeared to be playing with this student. Though, the kid was right. Better a childish teacher than a death threat.

No, there wasn't a particular reason he had singled her out... did he need one? It would probably be odd for him to ask that, though. Very suspicious for a teacher to be so... what was the word? Immature? Probably something along those lines. He shrugged, staring absently at the card house between them. ”You looked lonely,” was his simple answer. Teachers were supposed to help students fit in, right? He wasn't really sure what a normal teacher did when they saw a kid sitting alone; Oliver wasn't exactly a typical instructor. He probably should have left her alone, but he had been lonely too. Well, not lonely in the sense of the word. More like bored, and the tight-knit groups of students scattered around the room probably would have shunned him. Anti-social people were always so easy to manipulate, though he wasn't really sure if this girl – Asia – had any friends or not. Anyway, it wasn't like he was planning on manipulating any students any time soon.

After a few moments of thought, Oliver blinked out of his little world of thoughts and remembered something. He still hadn't introduced himself. ”I'm Mr. Toulson,” he said, grinning. ”Health and Human Physiology teacher.” It wasn't like he could tell her his first name, and she already knew his shift. Coupled with the fact that the card house got in the way of shaking hands, it was quite an awkward little introduction.

notes it's short! i'm soooo sorry!

[Asia Nicole Sedgewick]

Did she honestly think that? It was hard to say. Any shifter could walk on the campus in their animal form and people would assume that they belonged. If there were any shifters in the mafia, then it would be easy enough to infiltrate the school very briefly. She assumed it was, anyway. It wasn't like she could draw from personal experience. On a related note, why would the mob even know she existed? That was straying from the point, though. The question had a very teacher-like air to it. The kind where you weren't sure if it was rhetorical or not, and it seemed like they were calling you out on making accusations. She caught a glimmer of humor in his eye, though, which saved her from having to worry about offending anyone. "I haven't done anything worthy of drawing that kind of attention anyway." Her tone was dismissive, reflecting her opinion of the entire subject. Idle speculation wasn't exactly meant to be picked apart.

Grey-blue eyes focused on the teacher's when he explained what had set her apart. She was aware enough of her surroundings to know hat there weren't many people sitting by themselves, so the fact that she was at an empty table would certainly stand out. She didn't think she had looked lonely, though. Asia was more proactive than that. If she felt like she needed company, she went and found some. She had been content with her project and the company of her own thoughts. He'd delivered a lizard to her for.... some reason. She had a hard time believing it was based on purely altruistic intentions. "Lonely. Right" The thought made her grin; she considered that utter bullshit.

Maybe she had looked a little anti-social. And maybe she was even acting a little anti-social. Even though she'd smothered the majority of her reaction at discovering that the cuddly mongoose was a teacher, it was inevitable that something would show. in this case, that something was Asia being slightly more stand-offish and suspicious toward this Mr. Toulson. Regardless, she wasn't going to act hostile and confrontational. That had the potential to land her in detention or something. "Actually, I'm remarkably well adjusted for a teenager, but I appreciate your concern." Whenever she spoke to a teacher she unconsciously took up a more formal way of speaking. Unfortunately, her "on-the-fence" opinion of the teacher was causing a lot of sarcasm to creep into her words.

She quickly grew tired of looking at him through the card house. Reaching forward casually, she plucked out one of the bottom cards with her index and middle fingers. The entire thing came down with a satisfying whoosh. As she gathered the cards she asked, "Do you spend a lot of time in your animal form? It's just that... you know, rules and stuff." She was genuinely interested, as her tone and expression made clear, rather than calling him out on anything. Asia wasn't cut out to be a snitch. She was far too laid-back.

ooc: This is an awful post. And I'm sorry. I was determined to finish it tonight but I got distracted halfway through by my f'ing school's stunts. And then it got late. So. Excuses, excuses...

[Oliver Ken Toulson]

No matter how flirtatious and rude and immature he could be, Oliver was a teacher. He took the job very seriously, seeing as it hung on a thin thread called Tatsuya and it paid for his food and shit. What would he do if he was ever fired? Probably get a normal teaching job. He had been teaching for about fives years in total, not counting the two years he had gone jobless after moving to America. It was enough experience to get him a job somewhere, wasn't it? Probably. And why exactly was he thinking about this? Well, probably because said thread didn't need much reason to fire him. Yes, he took his job as seriously as he possibly could, but knowing Oliver, the bar wasn't very high. And here he was, thinking about financial things while a student sat across from him, apparently talking.

The professor grinned at her dismissive tone, amused that even the students had attitudes these days. Back when he had been in school – and yes, that had been a long time ago - kids had been much more respectful towards the teachers. Hell, even Oliver had listened when the professors were talking, and he hadn't exactly been a perfect little angel. He hadn't been as manipulative as he was now, but little Oliver had still skipped classes more than a few times. ”How do you know that? I was under the impression that mobs judge things differently than shifter highschool students. I expect you kids to be smarter than them,” he joked, winking.

”Very lonely,” he said, raising his eyebrows. ”I can't imagine many social teenagers sitting alone and building a card house, though that may just be my lack of creativity...” Of course, Oliver didn't have a lack of creativity. He threw condoms at his students, wasn't that creative? He sure thought it was, or maybe a better word was unusual... but whatever it was, not many other teachers did it. The sarcasm in her next comment made him laugh loudly, probably drawing the attention of other students. After all, it wasn't every day that you had a teacher not only curl up on your lap in his animal form, but have a completely un-teacher like conversation with you. And laugh during it. ”Concern's all part of the job, sweet,” he answered with equal sarcasm, though remarkably more good-natured than Asia was.

Oliver had to control a flinch as the cards came crashing down in front of him, though for all his self-control, he did lean back a few inches as she began gathering up the little rectangles. ”Rules and stuff...” Maybe if he had been chatting with a fellow adult, he would have told the truth; that he honestly didn't give a shit about 'rules and stuff'. But this was a student, and even Oliver knew that he had to set a good teacherly example for the brats. ”No, not much time,” he said truthfully, relaxing slightly and leaning against the back of the chair. She seemed honestly interested, not just making small talk, and he felt that she deserved more of an answer than that. ”I forgot to bring lunch today, so I went hunting. Silly of me, huh? But sorry about the whole cuddling thing. Haven't had any den mates in a long time.” And there were the double meanings again, poking their heads up whenever Oliver spoke. The mongoose had been being quite anti-social lately, stuck in his room with nothing to do. He hadn't had any den mates in the literal sense, how many mongoose shifters could their be in one school? Then again, he hadn't slept with anyone either, but why would he tell a kid that? Why would he even hint at it? For once, Oliver only intended one meaning to his words, though it may have come out differently.

[Asia Nicole Sedgewick]

As far as first impressions went... Mr. Toulson was certainly making a lasting one. Asia's expression turned quizzical. She wasn't absolutely sure whether her suspicions were founded anymore. The teacher wasn't acting like a typical instructor, but this was a school of freaks, after all. Maybe this man just let his freak flag fly a little more proudly than most. Asia had always been more inclined to react to the immediate situation rather than to act based on judgments made in the past. Yeah, she'd just had a mongoose curled up in her lap, that mongoose had turned out to be a health teacher, that had been weird, but present circumstances stated that there was nothing to worry about. Asia chose to relax; in essence: to wait and see.

”Fair enough,” she said with a shrug. Honestly, she wasn't sure what to say to that. He had a point, for all that they were kidding. At the same time, since when did high school teachers keep up on the workings of organized crime? ”The last time I checked, the mob wasn't sending health teachers to deliver their messages, though.” Perhaps it was toeing the line, but Asia was feeling comfortable enough to joke around.

Noting the sarcasm that rivaled her own in his reply, Asia took a moment to reflect. It would probably be a good idea to mellow her confrontational tone. There weren't many situations more informal than this one, but they were still in school, and their respective positions within the school hierarchy remained the same. The junior didn't have automatic respect for her elders, but she did have the good sense to maintain a semblance of it. Adults weren't infallible, but they did have authority and pull. Sarcastic and incredulous was not the safest way to play her cards. Besides, hadn't she already decided that this Mr. Toulson was, if not harmless, than at least not an immediate threat?

The sarcasm in his tone gave her something else to think about. Whatever he'd just said, he hadn't come to chat out of concern. What was it, then? She let the thought recede to the back of her mind for the moment.

At the mention of hunting, her eyes flitted to the lifeless lizard on the table, still wrapped in its napkin. She smothered a shudder, feeling like a hypocrite. As a human, the idea of munching on some reptile seemed truly repulsive, but she knew as well as the next carnivore how a shifter's perception on things like that changed when animalistic reasoning took over. Still, she never considered hunting a reasonable alternative to just buying a lunch. She looked back at the man suddenly, her eyes becoming sharp. Had she heard right, or was her typical teenage mind playing tricks on her? Den-mate? From the wording she guessed it was a reference to some mongoose thing, but Asia wasn't exactly an expert at mongoose behavior. She didn't know that they were social and lived in underground burrows. Thus, her mind was left to take what information it had and make something of it.

Double entendre aside, Asia realized something else from that statement. Well, she believed that she had. Her eyes grew wide momentarily, then narrowed. ”You didn't single me out because you were worried about my social development. You were lonely.” It came across as accusatory, which caused Asia to wince as she said the words. She leaned back in her chair, the cards stacked neatly in front of her. Her body language clearly asked if she was in trouble, but she made no move to retract the statement. There was no going back now.