A Day Off (Open)

Smoke was no longer Smoke on this day, he believed that he deserved a day off at least for all of the crimes that he had stopped. Today he was Sam, a Londoner who did not have a care in the world. Sam slightly enjoyed not having any personal responsibilities, nothing to look after, no bills to pay, he may have lived in a run down, abandoned home, but at least he did not need to pay for it.

Sam adorned jeans, a grey thin shirt and blue trainers. It had been surprisingly warm in London over the past week or so, and Sam planned on enjoying himself while it lasted, England's rainy reputation had moved aside for now and Sam was not going to over work himself during this time.

At some points during the past few years, he had felt slightly lonely, sure he had the courage to talk to women, but he could not commit himself for obvious reasons, no one would believe him if he told them he had a superpower, let alone stay with him after the secret was revealed. He also feared for their personal safety, he had known that if a villain was to find your identity, they would go for who is close to you first, and Sam did not feel right to put women in harms way for his personal satisfaction. Sometimes when he went to sleep however, he would hope that one day it would work out, no matter how small the possibilities was.

Sam enjoyed walking through London when not on the rooftops. The majority of people who walk the streets all have a place set in their mind to go, to work or to meet a friend, but Sam could just walk around wherever he liked, he was free to do as he wished, one of the feelings that Sam enjoyed most. freedom.

There were some people he felt slightly strange around, some people would stare at him and Sam would immediately assume they knew who he really was, or perhaps they were here to take him away and experiment on him, or they could even be Metahumans themselves, it was all possibly and it would put Sam on edge. It appeared that trust issues and commitment issues plagued Sam to some extent, but it was all understandable, he hoped that maybe it was because of his age, and when he was older he would overcome these issues.

Sam had one place he would always go when not doing his whole super hero thing, Johnny's Cafe. It was one of the first places Sam went to when moving to London, he was a regular customer there, most of the staff recognize him and a handful of them would give Sam some free food or drink out of kindness, luckily this was one of those times. Johnny himself was at the counter, immediately recognizing Sam, they had a friendly chat for a few minutes, but in the interest of holding up the queue, Sam took his coffee and sat down. Today was a relaxing day, and Sam hoped he could enjoy himself further.

Salone was lost, DANG IT!

Trust Penny to plan a road trip and leave Salone for a meeting. She glowered as she sat on the roof tops as a common house cat, a little tortoise shell with bright amber eyes. She hissed as a guy ran past on the roof tops, her tail swelling up. Yeah, she was startled and she should have been paying attention. But her brain had been occupied. Salone stood and trotted off, not really paying attention to where she was going. It was in the same general direction as the guy who had just ran past. Then she turned back to her normal self when no human was around.
Her long blonde hair was loose and she absentmindedly played with a medallion around her neck, it was a habit she had developed after getting it. Her brown eyes roved around before spotting a little corner café, she jumped down into a side alley, landing lightly on her converse covered feet. She entered and a little bell tinkled nobody seemed to look at the 5’6’’ American though and she slid into the line.
I wonder if they have anything besides tea, she mused to herself causing her lips to turn up into a smile.

When she got up to the front of the line she inquired as to where she was and if they had any pie. She was clearly American and the person at the front seemed delighted by the fact. After about five minutes of holding up the line Salone escaped to an inconspicuous back corner seat. She reached into her bag and pulled out a sketch book, opening to one of her drawings and adding some more detail and shading to the face. Suddenly she wished she had some colored pencils so she could make the eyes blue… Salone sighed, tapping her pencil lightly on the table.

Sam was seated in the middle of the cafe on a table on his own, his seated pointed him towards the front of the shop, allowing him to see outside with the large glass window that covered most of the store, he could also see everyone who entered and exited the store.

Sam was playing with his phone, why? he did not know, he did not have anyone to text or call, it was a force of habit that he had yet to break out of, his phone would be vibrating most of the time several years ago, now it just gathers cobwebs. The sound of the door bell rang as someone entered the store, Sam looked up to see a blonde haired girl enter and stand in line, he had never seen her before which was strange, he recognized most people in London due to his constant roaming, he also thought that he would remember such a pretty face, but something about her did feel familiar, Sam just could not put his finger on what it was.

She calmly waited in line, fiddling with a medallion around her neck, she looked slightly nervous, perhaps she was lost? She walked to the counter and began talking to Johnny, Sam could hear their conversation and her accent, an American, a strange accent to here in this part of the world, she asked Johnny where she was and asked for some pie, a strange request to make, but Johnny seemed to find it amusing, as did Sam.

Sam stopped fiddling with his phone and placed it on the table in front of him. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as the American girl walked behind him, no doubt finding a place to sit, a few seconds later, the sound of tapping rung through Sam's ears, a sound that some patrons may find annoying, but a noise that Sam found slightly endearing.

Salone stopped tapping abruptly and turned to a finished sketch, not noticing the observer named Sam a few tables away. She stared at the person in the picture hard before shutting the book as not to look at his face. She tucked it away and started on her pie. It was apple; she guessed this was a very American thing to ask for in a different country.  But Salone did have a notorious sweet tooth so she didn’t complain. She savored every bit of it before drinking her glass of water; she pulled out her phone and checked to see if anyone called. Nope. Nada. Nothing. Zilch.

Penny must have turned off her phone, she thought.

She fingered her medallion again before standing to go get another drink, perhaps something she hadn’t had before.  She came back with a mint tea of some sort, Salone had no idea what it was but it sure smelled good. She had made sure to get another snack, this one was some sort of jelly filled doughnut that she had no idea what the name of it was.

There was a crash outside and she whipped her head around, looking for the source of the noise. Some stray animal had dumped over the bins by the look of things. Then she saw a shadow slinking around the corner and she scowled. Not again. The magical pests in this place were overwhelming.

Then she turned around stiffly and reminded herself she was on break and no Gnome was going to ruin it for her.  Being a magical bounty hunter made life difficult, a being a dying bounty hunter made life worse.

With that she started on her jelly doughnut like item.

Sam put his feet up on the vacant chair in front of him, easing himself into an even more relaxing position. He looked over to see the blonde haired woman returning to the counter, she had just bought a pie a few minutes ago and now she had returned to the counter to buy a jelly donut, she certainly had a sweet tooth, but her figure did not show someone who feasted on these snacks on a daily basis.

Sam felt extremely relaxed, minimum noise, no screaming children, everyone seemed to be keeping themselves to themselves. Sam was on the brink of falling asleep until he had a loud bang outside in the back, he sat up straight and swivelled around in his chair quickly, searching behind him for the reason for the noise, and for some reason, so was this American girl. Sam started to become suspicious, an American girl that he has never seen before arrives and she is just as jumpy as he is, there had to be some kind of reason behind it, but Sam thought that the idea was too farfetched to look into it further, he would need to know more about her before he could accuse her of something like that.

The girl calmed down and turned back to him, giving him a quick look as she returned her attention back to the sugar treat she had purchased for herself. Sam tried not to stare, so he turned back to Johnny behind the counter and asked if he could have another coffee, Johnny then went back to work, pouring out Sam's second coffee.

Salone looked up briefly to catch a young man with brown hair and brown eyes staring at her. She felt her cheeks turn pink and her eyes flicked back down to the jelly doughnut, she needed to get going before she dragged out any unwanted attention. She finished it quickly as well as the tea, there was a crate that people put their dishes in and she did so, her hip accidently bumped into the young man’s table and she mumbled an apology before continuing on her way.

She returned to her table and picked up her bag, swinging it over her shoulder and she was out the door. She looked left and right before going left. Who was she kidding? She had a nose for trouble. Salone started by investigating the over turned garbage bin, nope. Not a gnome as she first thought. A goblin… great. Tracking them was easy; killing them was the hard part.

She dug through her bag and pulled out her weapons belt, it clicked into place and sat comfortably on her hips. Salone then back up and jumped catching the edge of a house. She hauled herself up with ease, the lines of muscle visible in her arms and the thin strip of skin on her stomach that was visible. Standing she tugged her shirt down. Then she ran, her feet lightly touching the roof barely making a noise. Salone was fast, she had to be. Her top speed was just below 400 mph.

She stopped her blond hair whipping across her face then she crouched down and a massive jaguar was sniffing the air and then it crept forward, peering over the edge, sure enough there was a nest of goblins right at the edge of the sewers entrance. Salone watched them, her tail twitching.

Sam calmed himself down, even when he was having a day off, he would still be on edge. Sam looked up at the tv screen hoisted onto the wall, it was a news report about some kind of crisis in New York, before Sam could listen to more information, the blonde haired girl had accidentally bumped into his table as she put her plates and cups into a crate, the bump knocked his phone off of his table which he quickly caught with great reactions, it had also shifted his coffee slightly, but not enough for it to spill, the girl seemed to apologize although it was not exactly clear what she had said, a few seconds later, she walked out quickly with her bag over her shoulder. She had only said a few words to Sam, if you could call them words, and yet she left a lasting impression on Sam, he tapped his hands onto his table with curiosity, he quickly downed the rest of his coffee and bid farewell to Johnny as he left the cafe. He knew which direction the girl had gone and after seeing her walk into an alleyway. He walked over to the corner of the alleyway and peered around the corner, there was something strange about her and Sam was about to find out what. She pulled a belt out of her bag and attached it to herself, pulled down her shirt slightly and then ran, immediately disappearing from his view, his eyes widened as we walked into the alleyway, looking in all directions to see where she had gone, the only thing he could see was a blur on the rooftops, Sam teleported to the rooftop as he looked into the distance, the blur continued to move and Sam began to try his best to keep up.

Salone’s ears twitched and then- she pounced. It was over in a matter of seconds. Salone’s human body replaced the jaguar as she pulled the goblins into the sewer. Then she pulled out a thing of wet wipes and wiped goblin ooze from her face, hands, and neck. The creatures were like rodents… only thieving. She kicked at the bag they had been going through and opened it. Few pieces of bent silverware and-

“A dragon ring?” She asked out loud. “Now where did you get that?”

She pocketed it and left. Returning her weapons belt to her bag and hitting the main street. Salone looked around in fascination, looking like a tourist. She pulled out her camera and began taking pictures of people; she found them all very entertaining. Later that night when she would look at their worn haggard faces and try and guess their stories; A rather pointless passing time, but it was entertaining.

Soon she was aware that she was being followed and she vanished into an alley way.
“You know, following a person can be taken the wrong way,” She stated her eyes flashing amber.

Sam tried his best to keep up with the strange women, how did she travel so far in such a short space of time? Sam thought that he was fairly quick at rooftop running, but this woman blew him away. He landed in an alleyway after losing her exact location, he looked around the alleyway to see some bins and an air vent spewing out... smoke.

Sam was slightly dissapointed, he didn't exactly know why he was following her, it was mostly out of curiosity, but when he thought about it, it did not seem like a valid reason to follow someone. In the back of his mind, he knew there was another reason why he wanted to find her, but he did not want to admit it.

Sam was ready to return back to his regular day until he heard a smooth voice come from behind him , "You know, following a person can be taken the wrong way" Sam span around to a shadow, although the shadow had two amber eyes leering directly at him, he was not expecting the two to meet after Sam had given up on trying to find her, and he had not thought this far ahead as to what he would say to her if they had met.


"Sorry, I guess curiosity took a hold of me, a rare occurrence for me I can assure you" Sam did not know what to expect, she could be friendly, but on the other hand, she could easily pounce out of the shadows and attack him, Sam had to keep his guard up, he was not used to socializing with other people with powers.

Salone’s jaw tightened as she made a decision… she would play nice… unless he was a creeper and then the claws came out.

“You’re not the first person to fall prey to curiosity; it did kill the cat after all.” Her eyes darkened to their normal brown color, she had a few freckles on her nose and she was rather a petite person. She excelled at sending out an aura of not dangerous when in fact she was. Salone pushed her blonde strands of hair out of her pale skinned face and looked up at him. Salone offered him a small smile.

“Did you happen to see anything interesting while following me?” She asked pleasantly, leaning against the wall like she had all of the time in the world. She was giving Sam the once over and committing his face to memory. Brown… lots of browns… if she were to draw him she would uses different shades of the color and maybe a few greens and oranges. Sam was tall too… she sighed mentally, what was with all of the tall men?

Salone slid her camera into her bag and looked back up at him waiting for a response and an trying to read facial expressions.

Sam still was not quite sure of her intentions until she let out a smile, this allowed Sam to relax, however he was still skeptical in case it was all a ploy. She leaned against the wall and asked him if he had seen anything interesting whilst he was following her, what she meant by interesting Sam did not know, whilst thinking of an answer, he could see her looking at him up and down at him, getting a better understanding of his looks and proportions, he also noticed her slip a camera into a back, which showed Sam that she could be a very artsy and creative kind of person. "Depends on what you deem as interesting" he replied with a smile in return. As he studied her face, he noticed her eyes had changed from Amber to brown, a strange quality but they did not change her facial features very much. He noticed her height as he walked a bit closer, Sam was always fond of women who were smaller than him, overall Sam found her to be an attractive women, out of respect and the fact that he did not want to die, he decided not to make any moves, he simply hopped up on a bin opposite of her and sat on it, "I never did catch your name" he asked.

“Oh anything out of the normal human wise,” She said, her lips curving upwards again, she needed to know what he had seen. How safe she was.
The man perched himself on the edge of a close garbage bin and inquired about her name… “I never got yours either,” She retorted playfully. So what, it had been weeks since she had last seen him, time to get over him. “Salone, Salone Newton. I am from California; I’m a medical student there.”
She cocked her head to the side, a pale strand of hair falling across her face. “So, what about you; where abouts you headed? “
She found him intriguing

"A short time ago i did have a fight with someone named Coronel, he seemed to start the fight with nothing tempting him to do so, that's how i got these" he lifted his arms and showed her the palms of his hands, two large scars across both of them. "A leaving present from him I suppose. But other than that I have seen nothing out of the ordinary." She also seemed to be interested in him more than he had expected, perhaps her American mind was not accustomed to London just yet. "Salone, that's an interesting name. My name is far less exciting" he said with a smile, "I'm Sam."

"I'm not headed anywhere in particular, I live here... barely. I just wander around here, nothing to take care of, nothing to worry about, I'm free" Being able to say that allowed to someone who was interested in listening was pleasing, he had not been able to talk about these kinds of things to anyone before, and it caused another smile to beam across his face.

"You said you was from California? That's a long ways from here, what brought you across the pond Salone?" he asked with intrigue, he genuinely wanted to know.

Salone examined his hands with interest and she relaxed visibly when Sam said he hadn’t seen anything strange.

“Ouch, those would certainly but a damper on anyone’s day. Sam is better name than Salone any day of the week. When I was younger I used to be made fun of for my name. “

She watched his face with interest, “You live here? Hm. It’s a nice place, I’m guessing that you’re a regular at the café back there- Johnny’s? Wasn’t it?” She arched an eyebrow and tilted her chin up a little. His dark brown eyes never seemed to leave her face and her cheeks heated a little at that thought.

“Yeah, I live right next to the ocean.” She nodded, “The reason I’m here is because my roommate had a meeting here, some kind of doctor’s national board thing. Her aunt and uncle own the hotel we are staying in so I thought I’d come, I needed a change of scenery… considering all that has happened.” She sighed before looking out at the street. A few people where giving them funny looks as they walked past.

“Come on, we are getting the weirdo look. Apparently its not normal for people to lurk in side alleys,” She said this with a light laugh before heading out onto the main street again. London was a busy place, she’d give it that.

Sam appreciated Salone's concern for his hands, they did not hurt as much as they did, although they were probably there to stay for a short while, and his hands were something that he used all of the time, causing him to look at them quite frequently. He was then dissapointed to hear that she had been picked on for her name "Well they obviously did not know what they were talking about, I think Salone is a beautiful name." his compliment made her cheeks slightly more red than usual.

"If you lived here, you would know that it is not quite as nice as you imagine. Sure this place is home, but I can think of many other places I would rather live than here. And the Cafe? Yes, when I first... left my family to live here, that was the first place I went to, I did not have much money at the time and the man who owned it would sometimes give me free food and drink on the sly, it is almost second nature for him to do that now, and no matter how many times I tell him I will pay, he always pushed the food and drink at me and tells me to leave him alone." Sam finished his story with a laugh, it was nice to reminisce over his past memories, it did strike him as strange that his story was over 2 years ago, so much time had changed and Sam had changed with it.

Sam listened intently as Salone described the situation she was in with this new city, "A doctor national board meeting?" he asked, he had no idea what that type of thing involved, but it sounded new to him, "That sounds far too sophisticated for me, your roommate sounds like a smart cookie" he chuckled. Sam was surprised to hear that she had residents down here, perhaps he had met them without even realizing, she then said that she needed a change of scenery considering everything that has happened, Sam could tell on the look on her face that she was willing to talk about it, and she had the right not to, she had only met Sam minutes ago, she did not need to divulge and information to him that he did not need to know.

She pushed herself off of the wall she was leaning on and walked to the opening of the alleyway, he found her comment amusing, when he thought about it, two people talking in a back alley was pretty shady. He shimmied off of the bin he was sitting on and jogged around the corner to catch up with Salone, "Where are we off to?" he asked, he did not need to be anywhere and he did not care where they were going, but Sam was simply curious.