A Day Off (Open)

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.

Salone chuckled at his comment of too much sophistication; she stuffed her hands in her pockets and said, “Yeah, she has a photographic memory that tends to get on my nerves. But she is hilarious if that counts for anything. “

She looked into shop windows and found her fingers reaching for her camera again; this place was indeed really neat. Her dark brown eyes roved over everything and she looked over her shoulder at Sam, “No idea, I’m completely lost!”

She gave him a broad smile before continuing to look at things, craning her head around. She would give herself a moment to be happy before she had to go back to the real world. Salone stopped for a moment and just watched. It was amazing at what a person could see if they just held still, pain, anger, and happiness along with other emotions playing across their face.
“Anywhere in specific you want to go?” Salone asked.

This had been the first time Sam was with someone who had never been to London before, she seemed to find anything fascinating. She would stop at window after window, glaring in and looking at whatever was on offer. When she asked Sam if he had anywhere specific he wanted to go, he replied with "Well, I would ask if you want to go back to my place, but that place can barely hold up for one person." He took the time to look around and think, it was the first time Salone had been in London and he did not know how long she would be staying there for, he wanted to show her several things, but was worried that he would not have enough time to do it, so he had to choose something really special to make her time here memorable. Whenever Sam wanted to look at the majority of London, there was one place that Sam would always, and at this time of an evening, it would look amazing, Sam noticed Salone loved her camera, taking picture after picture of whatever he wanted, the place that they was going to go to would be perfect for her.

"I have a place we can go about 15 minutes from here, you'll love it", Sam bent his arm in a charming manner and waited for Salone to join him.

Salone felt her cheeks flush and she nodded, “Okay then. An adventure it is then.”

She reached out and took his arm, allowing him to lead her and she let her mind wander as well as her eyes. The night approached rapidly causing the sky to grow dark, which was strange for Salone as she was still on California time. Night bugs began to hum and the crowd slowly began to vanish.

“So are you going to tell me where we are going, Sam?” She asked, craning her neck up to look at him. It was rather hard considering he was so blasted tall.

"Thats for me to know and for you to find out" he said, answering her question and causing a bit of mystery, the sun was dropping and they were both about to reach their destination. They came to Tower Bridge, a retractable bridge that allows both cars and boats to pass. They headed down the side of the road towards one of the 2 large towers, which was not guarded. He turned his back to the door and looked around for a moment before kicking backwards and slamming the door open.

They both chuckled as they attempted to run up the spiral staircase to the top, it was not very easy when two people were going at the same time. When they both reached the top, Sam was slightly dissapointed, a chain had been placed on the door, stopping them yards away from where Sam wanted to go. He looked around and noticed a window looking out down the road, he walked to it and looked to see his destination in sight, he smiled and returned to Salone, "I have never tried this before, but you will have to trust me" Sam extended his hand, Salone looked very reluctant to grab his hand, but she grew enough courage to do so. Sam looked out of the window one last time before closing his eyes, they both disappeared in a cloud of smog and reappeared on the other side of the chained door at their destination, they both arrived safely, but it took a lot out of Sam, it even caused his nose bleed slightly.

Sam dropped to a knee, and looked around, they were both on the roof of Tower Bridge, the large city of London was on both sides of them with the Thames river channeling down below them. The sky was purple and pink, something that happened every know and then, but the best part was the sun setting over the Thames at the horizon infront of them. Salone looked like a school child walking into a sweet shop and her camera was out immediately taking picture after picture.

Salone grasped his hand, feeling the scar on his palm with her callused touch. Then they vanished, as soon as a normal person would have gasped they were there at the roof of Tower Bridge. The color and everything sent her speeding towards her camera, and then she took picture after picture. That was about the time she noticed the nose bleed.
“Your nose is bleeding, “She said softly, looking up at him again. She fished a package of tissues out of her bag and offered him the item. After he was done cleaning up she slugged him in the shoulder, “Why didn't you say you could teleport? You have obviously seen me do something; now tell me what it was?”
She wasn't mad, just amused. This whole situation amused her.
“Ung, so I guess you wouldn't be mad if I did this?” Salone fell backwards over the edge, allowed herself to fall a few feet before her caramel color wings sprouted and took her back up to Sam. Salone tucked her camera back into her bag and stuck her tongue out at him. “Butt face.”

Salone quickly gave Sam some tissues when she first noticed his nose was bleeding. He quickly wiped it up and stopped the bleeding. Salone seemed very caring at one point, honestly feeling bad about his nose bleed, and then the next moment she was punching him on the arm for holding back his powers, a very strange girl indeed. "Ow" he said playfully, even though it did not hurt, "Why would I have told a complete stranger that I can teleport when I have only met them for a few hours, sure I knew you was different from everyone else around here, you stuck out like a sore thumb, but I tend to not tell anyone about what I can do for their own personal safety, but clearly you can handle yourself just fine, you can run faster than a speeding bullet" that answered her second question, she was very quick and know she knew that Sam saw the blur that was her running at high speeds.

Salone stood up with confidence and asked Sam a question he did not quite know the answer to, be mad if she did what? She walked to the edge of the bridge and let herself fall off, Sam stood in shock, did he really just bring a girl up to an amazing view just so they could commit suicide? He walked over to the edge, dreading what he was about to see, he peaked over the edge and was immediately pushed backwards by a gust of wind, Sam could not believe what he was seeing, she had... wings?! Sam's look of confusion turned to hilarious disbelief, a few days ago he was beating up small time criminals, then he had a fight with an extremely powerful supernatural man, and now he was staring at a girl flying in front of him with wings, his life had definitely taken a strange twist, she even had the cheek to playfully insult him!

He looked down and shook his head, smiling whilst doing it, he then pushed his head back up and said "You certainly know how to keep secrets yourself Salone... All this time you could have just flew us up here and you decided to tire me out, haha" Even when looking at this winged woman, he did not feel frightened, Dragons are known for their need to eat and kill, but Sam knew Salone was different, or at least he hoped she was.

"I take you to this beautiful place and you are just going to fly away? Never to see me again?" he asked.

Salone busted up laughing on the look on his face, it was a one that looks like the emotions of shock, awe, and confusion had been stuffed into a blender and then served on his face. She landed on the roof top and the wings shrank back into her flesh with a wince.

“I don’t do that often because it hurts.” She explained lightly. Still laughing as she sat on the ground, cross-legged. “Shape shifting in general hurts, it twists your body up funny.”

She listened to Sam as he had his minor giggle attack at the whole flying Salone episode, she couldn’t help but smile. “Ok, I cannot fly a grown man off of the ground, trust me, I’ve tried. Wound up with a broken nose and a sprained wrist. I can fly them from high places however. But that is another story entirely. “

She cocked her head to the side and then asked, “Now, why would I do that? Obviously I have to get you down from here because you’re spent and its rude not to walk the lady home… or to her hotel… that she has no clue where it’s at.”

Salone waited for his reaction, her eyes never leaving his face. Her hair was falling into her face again and her eyes were dancing mischievously.

Sam was pleased that she did not leave so abruptly and leave him stranded on top of a national Landmark. She talked of her past flying experiences, stating that it hurt to do and flying with a passenger was not exactly safe either. He was also happy to know that she wanted him to walk her to her hotel, she apparently felt comfortable enough around him to know that he can be trusted with such a task, it was also because she had no idea where she was going, luckily Sam had been there a few times.

Sam grabbed another tissue from his pocket and checked to see if his nose was still bleeding, he then scratched the back of his head and said "I guess I didn't really think this far ahead... How are we going to get down?" Sam laughed at the unfortunate situation that they were in "I don't know if I have it in me to teleport us again, and I don't want you to fly us down in case you get hurt again, the only thing i can think of is that I climb down with you holding onto me, but this is hardly the most comfortable and safe option... Any ideas?" The only plan that seemed to work was that Sam teleported away on his own, but it would be extremely rude for him to leave her, especially stranded on a roof and not knowing where you are.

Salone chuckled at their predicament, “I’ll get us down, don’t worry about it. I have flown with people about your size before without getting hurt. That crash I just told you about happened when I was eighteen. Your insulting me if you think I’m still that bad at flying. “She tried to scowl but she couldn’t as she had been laughing too much.

“Now it’s your turn to trust me,” Salone dared, her eyes sparkling, “Unless you’d rather stay here.”
She offered a slim fingered hand; there was a subtle challenge in her posture as she waited for him by the edge.

Sam smiled and cocked is head to the right, "I guess now we're even" he walked over to her and grabbed her by the wrist. Never in his life did he ever think that he would one day jump off of Tower Bridge with a girl with wings. It had now become dark and the amount of traffic and pedestrians was minimal, now was the perfect time for them to go as they were under the cover of darkness. A small part of his mind was really hoping that he would not slip and die, but the rest of his brain completely trusted Salone just as she did with him.

Without warning she stepped off of the edge of the Tower and brought Sam with her, they were mostly free falling at this point, Sam was wondering whether he should bail out now and return to the ground on his own, but he continued to put his faith in Salone. As they fell, Sam took a look around, everything was distorted and slightly nauseating, he turned to see Salone with a concentrating expression, her blonde hair was whipping behind her as they were met by air resistance. At the last couple of seconds, Salone opened her wings and Sam felt a bump, the angle they was falling at slowly began to straighten up and their speed slowed considerably, they slowly glided down until their feet touched the ground, they ran a few metres ahead of them as they attempted to stop and Salone immediately hid her wings from anyone who could be around to see them. "That was... amazing" he said, still gasping for air, "Now let me get you home, this way."

Several minutes later, they were standing outside a tall building with golden windowed doors. Sam observed the large building before turning his attention back to Salone, "Well Salone, it was a pleasure to meet you... but unfortunately it appears this is where we part ways." Sam was both glad that he had met such a fun girl, and was also very disappointed that they would probably never see each other again, although he would always have the memory of this day with him forever.

Salone skidded to a stop, breathing heavily. If anyone asked why Salone went through shoes so quickly, that was the answer. Landings… not running, landing did the damage to all of her shoes. She gave him a wide smile, “I knew you would like it.”

Then she followed him back to the hotel, she had been there earlier that morning and dropped off all of her stuff. But the massive building with golden windowed doors still made her a little uneasy; she hated hotels, filled to the brim with magical pests. She had done a brief sweeping but who knows what other things could be lurking.

“End of the road it is then,” She sighed, opening her bag and fishing out her room key. “The pleasure has been all mine,” Salone gave him a genuine smile. “Seriously, thanks. I’d still be walking in circles if you haven’t showed up.”

She looked up at the stars, “Hey look, a shooting star, make a wish.”
Then she was gone, Salone had vanished into her hotel. Leaving the faint scent of lilac and vanilla behind her.

Sam looked up at the start that Salone had pointed out, he had not seen one for a very long time, she told him to make a wish and that he did, of course he could not tell her what he had wished for because then it would not com true, but he wasn't given the choice as she had disappeared from his sight, no doubt entering the hotel to get a good nights sleep.

The entire way home, Salone was all that Sam could think about, he had never been able to talk about the things they talked about before, it felt great to get it all off of his chest and it was even better that she was actually listening. They had never made any future arrangements, so Sam assumed that they would probably never meet of their own accord, perhaps it would only be possible for them to meet due to a happy co-incidence. Sam climbed into bed, he had trouble sleeping that night, but he could not have asked for a better day off.

Salone woke up the next morning, stiff all over. After she had gotten back to the hotel she had proceeded to go swimming and had forgotten to stretch when Salone had gotten back to her room. She groaned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Then she stood and wandered over to Penny’s room. The woman was already gone, no doubt visiting relatives before leaving the next day back to California. So Salone got ready for the day and she slipped on a light jacket as the weather was cooler than it had been yesterday. Tying her hair back into a long pony tail she wondered what she should do for breakfast. The room service here was okay but she wanted some real food.

So she left her camera here but took her sketch book with her, as well as a few sharpened pencils. Salone stopped at a gift shop on her way and picked up some colored pencils. Her original set had been reduced to stubs after using them so much.

With that she started back to Johnny’s, remembering the massive pancake like items that she saw with affection. She slid into the shop in about fifteen minutes, ordered them and then retreated to her back corner. Then she pulled out her sketch book and pencils before adding color to a few.

Sam awoke from his short sleep. He pushed himself out of his bed and stood up to stretch, his bed was extremely uncomfortable but there was nothing he could do about it, he turned and kicked one of its legs, causing a loud crack, Sam stood still and hoped that he did not break it, he then slowly backed away, as if a sharp movement would cause it to snap in half. He walked into his bathroom and turned on the cold water by the sink, he cleaned some of the dust off of his mirror and studied the hairs growing around his chin, his beard started to grow back after a few days of not shaving, he decided to leave it though. He cupped his hands under the water and let it fill up, he then proceeded to throw the water onto his face, waking him up faster than the natural way. Water drops fell down his face as he wiped them off.

Sam threw on a random selection of clothes and headed out, his first place to go was obvious, Johnny's cafe as he always did. He slammed his front door shut seems that it was the only way he could shut it properly. He shielded his eyes as he left his run down house, following the same route as he always does to get to his destination. He turned the corner and walked towards the cafe, he looked in through the giant window as he came up to it, it was completely empty except for Johnny and... Salone. He did not think he would ever see her again, and was relieved that he got to see her one more time. He stepped back around the corner and waited for Johnny to turn away, Sam looked around to see no one near him, he then disappeared into a cloud of smog and reappeared in the same corner that Salone was sitting to her surpise, "Look who it is" he said with a smile, he looked down at what she was doing, she was colouring in some amazing drawings, Sam was very impressed with the drawing that he saw, but it didn't surprise him that it came from her mind, he knew she was very artistic.

Salone was eating her pancakes when Sam poofed in behind her causing her to squeak with surprise and shock, dropping her fork with a clatter onto her plate. With shaking fingers she picked up the fork and wiped off the handle while the sketch book shut on its own accord. Johnny was in the back room so he didn't see it.

“Don’t do that!” She said punching him lightly in the arm before sitting on her trembling fingers. “Very rude, how would you like it if I dropped you off a cliff.”

She was joking of course but he has still startled her. Salone lightened up after her fingers had stopped shaking and she pointed her fork at him threatening him jokingly before going back to her pancakes.

“So whatcha’ up to today?” Salone asked, finishing her last few bites.