Midsommer's Night Run

[cian_oneill]

It was almost as regular as clockwork, heading up to Searchlight on a Wednesday night for a few beers and a game or two. Cian went to the Golden Nugget, probably the most regular watering hole, for someone who didn't have regular places. Sometimes he went all the way to Vegas, but usually didn't bother. The noise of the big casinos usually hurt his ears, and the smell of fumes on the strip was something he could do without.

Like this Wednesday, when he just went up to the bar and ordered himself a beer, taking it over to a table and sitting down. After taking a long swig he leaned back in his chair, legs stretched out in front of him, as he continued to survey the other occupants of the place.

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[cian_oneill]

When he thought about it later he decided it was definitely due to her being a Slayer, the sensations similar to when Michael had done similar things to him when teasing him unexpectedly. The difference this time is he expected the touch, just not the sensation.

And he felt himself shifting.

Knowing it was something that wasn't pleasant to try and stop, and seeing absolutely no reason to do so, given the company and circumstances, his eyes widened and body arched into the touch. His head lifted and the second pass of her fingers was the one that pushed him through and a few seconds later Siofra was laying there, a loud purr rumbling in the large chest. The large body rolled toward her, stopping as it pressed against her side, the head twisting around until it was facing her.

[rhiannon_lee]

Rhiannon felt the skin changing beneath her fingers as it sprouted sleek, coarse fur. She laughed quietly. “Wow.” The backs of her fingers eased along the cougar’s pliant neck. They dug more firmly into the coat when she scratched the cat’s back, keeping her movements rhythmic and slow. She wasn’t sure how much of Cian was present at those times and didn’t want to raise its hackles. “This is a first for me. You’re a spectacular beast, aren’t you?” The low purr vibrating her side and the creature’s warmth made her feel calm in a way she hadn’t in a long time. “Tell your human he’s spectacular, too.” Though she knew it had many drawbacks, she envied this transition, a secret one could carry into the open without others being the wiser.

[cian_oneill]

Siofra lay there, listening to the woman's voice and relishing in the scratching. It was very rare for this to happen, the secret having been kept hidden for a number of years, since he'd last found anyone he could trust enough to allow behind the curtain. The contact was something he hadn't realised he'd missed until now, her fingers digging into the coat and stroking away tension that had been hidden beneath the skin.

Back legs stretched, front followed as jaws separated into a wide yawn that was finished when a large paw rubbed across the whiskered cheek. The head, perhaps heavier than might have been expected, stretched back and thudded gently onto her knee as the scratching continued.

[rhiannon_lee]

“Which is easier for you, huh?” Rhiannon whispered without anticipating an answer. “To be Cian or the animal under the surface?” The question had relevance in her own life, in the struggle she experienced with her power and place in the world. Was it easier to be a slayer or a normal woman? To hold onto her moral compass or let it slip from her fingers? Which woman should be leashed? Her hands worked in the loose folds of flesh on either side of the cat’s neck. His deep, even breathing appealed to her and she had the oddest urge to lie down beside him. “Does it make you lonely?” Each question was a confession in its own right and it was easier to talk to this creature than a human being, not knowing what he comprehended or what he would recall.

Staying behind Siofra’s head, she bent and touched her nose to his fur.

[cian_oneill]

An ear flicked at the movement, the movement of air tickling sensitive hairs that were designed to do just that, send messages to the brain that there was something behind, something of which to be aware.

His head lifted, turned, mouth slightly open as eyes lazily looked at the top of the dark head. A nose pressed against it for a moment, pausing and holding. Then slowly the head rolled back, coming to rest again where it had lain before, trusting the other, willing to let them continue.

[rhiannon_lee]

Rhiannon inhaled the earthy scent of fur and flesh. It seemed that her heartbeat slowed to complement the frequency of his purring. She shut her eyes and let her mind wander, and eventually those thoughts drifted into nothingness, as well. Time passed without conscious measure of it. The sounds of passing trucks floated to them from the distant highway.

The slayer’s first clue as to how long she’d been hunched over the cougar was a mild cramp flaring in her back. She slowly straightened and blinked, adjusting to the darkness again.

“You’re not asleep, are you?” she murmured.

[cian_oneill]

The head lifted, eyes open and clearly alert. They had been as soon as he had sensed the other drifting off. Trust may have been given to the Slayer, but others that moved in that night air were not recipients, and he had been on alert and watched as the Slayer had slept.

His shoulder rolled and the large body moved fluidly till it was sitting, sphinx-like, beside her. Again the ears flicked, this time testing the air, one swiveling to identify the scurrying of a beetle in the nearby brush.

[rhiannon_lee]

“Great. You’re naked and I’m the one who’s embarrassed.” She smirked and rubbed at the inner corners of her eyes. The desert was cooling. If it weren’t for the warm body sitting alongside hers, Rhiannon’s arms would be covered in goose bumps. As he sat up, she felt that colder air flowing into the void between them. She pulled her knees up to her chest. “I should go soon,” she said.

[cian_oneill]

Large paws moved and thick forelegs lifted, till Siofra's chest rose, the cat now sitting on its haunches. With a single glance at her, the eyes met hers, eyelids appearing to lower slightly, before the cat was moving. Curling behind her Siofra started back down the path in the direction they had come from, pausing a short distance away, waiting.

[rhiannon_lee]

“So you are listening. Huh.” She caught her tongue between her molars. Rather than taking the narrow path, Rhiannon got into a crouch on the rock precipice and jumped. Her knees bent to absorb the impact and she made quick work of the ground between them. “Gonna escort the lady back to town, Cian?”

[cian_oneill]

Once she had reached him he turned and started trotting back down the track, eventually stretching out into a slow lope down the shallow slope, toward where the bundle of clothes lay off the side of the track.

[rhiannon_lee]

Rhiannon had taken up a light jog to keep up but she paused by the pile of clothes, which she spotted because they were the only dark lumps on a field of beige. His night vision was surely far superior to hers. “This is the part where I avert my eyes,” she said, putting her back to the cat and watching the sparse, twinkling lights of the town as people settled into their couches or beds for the night. A breeze kicked up sediment around their legs and turned her hair into dark slashes across her cheek.

[cian_oneill]

"Don't need t' worry on my behalf," Cian said less than a minute later, his shift complete, and jeans and boots pulled on. He reached down and picked up the t-shirt which lay on top of his jacket where they'd ended up when he'd hurriedly pushed them off the track earlier.

"But by all means, t' preserve y' delicate lady sensibilities, feel free!" he teased, walking up beside her, his t-shirt tucked into the waist of his jeans and jacket now slung over his shoulder. The heat from the change meant he usually remained very warm for at least a little while, and they still had a bit of distance to cover to reach the dine. He could put it all on again before there.

Or earlier if she preferred.

[rhiannon_lee]

“Delicate?” Rhiannon laughed. “Uh no, I just didn’t want to get caught staring.” It was strange to see his face again in place of the animal, and yet he commanded such a similar presence that it felt as if Cian had never been gone. She began to walk backwards so that she could maintain eye contact with him. “If the situation were reversed, what would you do?”

[cian_oneill]

He frowned for a moment, not sure what she was asking.

"Reversed? As in me bein' a Slayer, or me bein' a woman?" he asked, curious as to where she was going with the question.

[rhiannon_lee]

“No,” she laughed. Her heel brushed against a prickly plant and she glanced behind her before stepping over it. “Let’s say I had to be naked to kill vampires and I was standing there without any clothes on, talking about how natural it is… would you stare or turn around? In other words, how much of a gentleman are you?” To avoid another mishap with the scraggly plants between them and the diner, she faced forward again as they walked.

[cian_oneill]

He laughed softly, shaking his head as he watched her turn around, able to walk a little more normally now there wasn't the concern about watching where she was going.

After a moment's consideration he shrugged. "If we'd just gone through a fight together I don't think that's what either of us'd be even thinkin' about," he replied, giving her a sideways glance and grin before looking at the path again.

[rhiannon_lee]

“Way to dodge the answer, slick.” Rhiannon tsked and shook her head, pretending disappointment in him. Perhaps he was sparing her feelings or too chicken to put it out there. Or maybe he was really in the zone after a fight. She kicked a small rock with the toe of her shoe. “P.S. You clearly don’t know slayers if you think we don’t think about sex after fighting. It happens sometime between checking for broken bones and bleeding arteries.”

[cian_oneill]

"Then there's y' answer," he said simply, a wide grin now clear on his face and slight swagger in his step. "Don't think there'd be much 'gentle' happenin' either," he added with an arch of his eyebrow.

There was absolutely no doubt in his mind Rhiannon would more than hold her own in any sort of confrontation, be it life-threatening, or life-enhancing, and he had to check himself from heading down that thought trail right then.