Oh dear... one does not simply go shopping with Salone (Michael)

The for sale sign swung backwards and forwards monotonously in front of the home that housed many different creatures. Only one of them happened to be human and Penny was house shopping. After talking Salone and Penny had decided on two that could possibly be the best fit. Salone liked the beach house backed by forest not very far from LA, right on the cusp of it. Penny liked the ranch, she often argued it would be a good place to raise Hanna and the many animals they owned, counting Artemis.

Hanna sighed, leaning her head against the post. She personally didn't want to move. But they were getting weird looks from the neighbors. So it was kinda mandatory. Hanna had a grass stain up the side of her leg, chalk smeared on her cheek, in the purple variety, and her stateboard sitting next to her. She had burned all the energy she had and was panting slightly. Dragon nosed the door open and the shepherd mix draped himself across her lap, in dire need of a belly rub.

"Dragon!" Hanna let out a noise of protest, complaining about blood circulation in her legs before vigorously rubbing the dog for a good few minutes. Upon kicking him off, she pushed her dirty blonde hair out of her face (smearing the purple farther up her cheekbone) and glanced around. The blue eyed half dragon was in the mood for an adventure. As if sensing Hanna's need for adventure, Dragon wagged his tail and attempted to lick her face.
"All right! All righ!" Hanna stood, petting the creature on the head and picking up her skateboard, "One more race."

Michael looked upon the beach home with a slight smirk, dressed in simple khaki colored cargo shorts and a striped polo shirt. He could sense it, the young dragon within the house as well as many others, just little pinpoints among the greater blackness that was his ethereal senses. There were only two that je cared to remember, that of little Hanna which was a lovely shade of Cyan and then Salone, who was a rather imposing red color. Opening his eyes, one could see them flash a bright and beautiful shade of silver, only changed by flecks of neon green. He took notice of the young being that bore the energy signature of the one known as Hanna, though she looked older than he remembered.

Something was different about Michael though, muscles seeming to bulge more and making his body all the more defined. His eyes then fell upon the for sale sign, questioning it for a second before approaching the house with a slow and deliberate pace. The first person he came upon was a dog, incorrigible little thing with a wagging tail and curious eyes. Michael knelt down and scratched it behind the ear, smirking lightly as he noticed someone else, a young girl and his smile did not waver.

”Well what do we have here?” he mused out loud, cocking his head to the side, considering the girl for a moment. ”Is Salone home?” He asked rolling his shoulder as it popped loudly.

Dragon dashed down the street and practically cannon balled into Michael’s knees. Hanna was brought up short and she stopped her skateboard. A look of confusion flashed across her purple, chalk streaked, face, like she had seen him somewhere before but couldn’t remember quite where.

“Mo-Salone?” Hanna caught herself. “Um, I can go check.”

Her skin crawled at the sound of Michael popping his neck. She had never liked such a noise, it was also an unhealthy habit. The dude also had quite a bit of muscle in his chest, neck, back, and arm area. Hanna chewed her lip, picking up her board and moving back towards her house. Opening the front door, Hanna looked back to see if Michael was following before moving in to find her mother.
Salone was packing a box and she looked up at her daughter.

“Whats up?”

“There is a bloke here to see you, he looks about my age.”

“Uh huh, Hanna wait here.”

Salone stepped out of her room and walked down the hallway into the front room where she saw Michael.

“Hey,” Salone smiled genuinely. “Haven’t seen you in while, you’ve filled out some.”

Hanna crept out from her mother’s room and peered around her mom. Hanna was tiny at five foot three and with a pair of haunting dark blue eyes that where hard to forget. She offered him a shy smile, still not quite knowing who he was. Just that he knew Salone and that he was different… and smelled dark… kinda like brown sugar.

Michael was nearly pressed against the ground by the rather excited dog known as Dragon, one that he felt that he had seen at one point or another. In fact Michael could not help but smirk, even though he was pushed onto his butt, the shock of the ground slightly painful as he fell. Not that it was anything worth crying about, but falling down tended to hurt slightly. ”Hello you.” He chimed, running fingers over the dog’s head, scratching it before standing back to his feet.

The young girl seemed to pause for a second before saying that she would go find Salone, Michael finding the letter choice rather interesting. She turned to see if he was following him before going to check upon her mother, and tell that he was here. Wiping away a small amount of dirt on his shorts, Michael followed after her and stood infront of the house for a moment. It had looked much different than the night that he came here, then again it was day time, when the shadows could not bathe everything.

Being lead into the front room he would wait, until the familiar voice spoke to him, and Michael turned towards her. ”I have?” Michael questioned with a certain genuine curiosity, letting fingers run over the biceps and pausing there. They were larger than he last remembered and that bothered the male somewhat, as if he were not expecting them to have been this size.

”Well my work outs have been doing better than I thought.” He would not assume anything at this point, just simply roll along with it. ”So where is Hanna? I was hoping to see the little tyke while I stopped by here.” When he said her name, something about his expression seemed to lighten up, as if that was the keyword in some way.

The pair of blonde eyebrows shot up, Hanna’s to be exact. This guy knew her? Hanna looked up at Salone and that was the moment when Salone noticed the purple chalk on her daughter’s face.

“What’s on your face?”

Hanna tore her eyes off of Michael’s face, “Chalk,” She answered brightly, offering up an innocent white smile. In many ways she was still quite child like. In other ways she was not.

“Hanna, go wash your face.”

Hanna glowered slightly before turning away to wash up in the bathroom in the hallway. She personally didn’t see the point of washing her face, she was just going to go back out there and draw with chalk… and possibly try and dye Gir a funny color.

“I wanted to talk to you about her. Soon after you left she began to age. Now she is physically a seventeen year old girl. Her mind will catch up eventually but it was all rather startling. It was like she had an allergic reaction to you. Penny and I have no idea what caused it. Hanna should have been ageing normally,” Salone sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Hanna returned and Salone abruptly stopped talking, her hand reaching over and running her fingers through her daughter’s long blonde tresses. The coloring in Hanna was very similar to Salone, except for the eyes. Long blonde hair that was slightly wavy with tan skin. But the shape of Hanna’s nose and face was distantly and utterly Jake.

“You know me?” Hanna finally asked Michael, her face showing blatant curiosity that she made no attempt to hide.

The little inquisitive blonde seemed to raise an eyebrow when he mentioned something about Hanna, Michael noticing this for a moment. Maybe he was a relative of the young female ort something like that. If that were the case, then he could be standing in the presence of a dragon, young or old they were rather intimidating. There was something on her face, a small smudge of blue that seemed to contrast her otherwise fair face, a smudge of strange material that Michael could not quite place. His eyes narrowed upon it, but Salone seemed to ask the question he was wondering.

It was chalk, something he had seen children playing with before and something he had used quite a few times within his lifetime. Fun stuff really but then again. With a command to wash her face, the child listened and left them to whatever it was they were talking about. It was the name attached to the brat that confused him. Did she just call that little girl Hanna? Sure he was used to people around him rapidly aging, but then again he had expectations for this one, slow aging and all that good stuff. How could that be Hanna?

Turning to Salone Michael silently requested an answer and one he would get. ”You think I had something to do with her…rapid aging?” Michael wondered out loud, raising an eyebrow as if considering what could have caused such a change within her. The male thought this over for a moment, thinking and thinking until his mind hurt, then he considered something. Hanna then returned and asked if he knew her, if this was the Hanna that he remembered, then he did know her atleast.

”I…yeah I know you. I met you when you were this big.” He said raising his hand so far from the floor, showing that she was a lot younger than when he last remembered. ”You were younger then though, now you’re….older.” He explained, as if he were still considering how such a thing could happen in the first place.

“I don’t think I was ever that small,” Hanna openly disagreed in a childlike manner, brow crinkling. Salone laughed slightly before moving into the front room.

“Come on it, you’re not a stranger here. “

Hanna moved away from Michael, opening the pantry door and snagging a cupcake off one of the shelves. Licking the frosting off the cupcake, Hanna sat at the bar and began to snack on it, eager to get back outside. Dragon apparently was as well, wagging his tail and laying his head in Hanna’s lap. The half dragon was a tiny creature; Michael was at least two inches taller than her. Salone had been slightly shocked by her daughter’s petite size as well but she supposed it couldn’t be helped.

While Hanna was clearly not paying attention Salone turned to Michael, “What do you think?”

She was watching him out of the corner of her eye, trying to read his thoughts before he spoke them.

Michael found himself smirking as the child disagreed with his assessment, though he was sure that she was small. All children were that small at one point, though the rapid aging may have had an effect upon her in an unknown manner. Had her mind caught up with the mature body? If it had not, that might explain her not knowing who he was, not that he expected her to remember him anyway. Most young ones did not remember things they saw when they were younger, and Michael was no exception.

Salone invited him in, Michael for some strange reason not feeling welcome, yet stepping into the house with hand dugs deeply into his shorts pockets, silver eyes scanning the room with a small smile upon his lips. ”Don’t want to stress your hospitality.” He stated simply, something about this place feeling strange. He had a feeling that Jordan would kill him if the little bastard knew that he was anywhere around here.

Protecting his half-sister from the big bad Michael or whatever nickname he gave him behind his back, not that he was fond of his older sibling. His mind turned upon the young Hanna, not that he could call her young anymore; physically they were the same age. In fact she was about the same height as his father, if not exactly the same. Something about that brought a smile on his face, though Salones, question brought his attention to her immediately.

”If I want to speak honestly, it’s possible that my energy could have caused rapid growth, but the question is how. I’ve been around young children before, but they've never done this before.” He muttered running a finger along his chin, considering all of the possibilities.

“I’m not sure what could cause it either. It might be genetics… I’d have to ask…” Salone trailed off before she said any names Hanna jumped off her stool and wandered over to them, and looked solemnly at Michael.

“You smell like brown sugar,” She notified him seriously before turning back around and putting the cupcake wrapper into the trash can. Dragon followed after her, wagging his tail slowly. Hanna massaged his ears for a few moments before opening the back door and dashing outside. The dog gallivanted after her and out the door. Salone sighed and looked out the window to see that Hanna had sat down again with her chalk. She seemed to have picked up the knack for drawing from Salone. A cartoonish yellow dragon was chasing after a wolf.

Smiling slightly Salone turned back to Michael, “Well then. That was interesting.”

It was a possibility, her genetics not reacting well with his own dark ethereal energy. More questions than answers were found, but then again maybe the answers would come soon enough. Salone was not an ethereal, neither was Hanna, so it had to be something to do with his energy. Dammit, his dad would have probably figured this thing out by no, but he was no Ouroboros, so nothing was just that easy. ”Genetics could be a factor.” he muttered running a finger long his chin thoughtfully, snapped from his train of thought from the dragon girl now the same physical age that he was.

She mentioned him smelling like…brown sugar, which did not seem right. It was said before she threw away the cupcake wrapper and ran out the back down, Michael finding himself slightly confused as to what had happened. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Personally he expected to at least smell like vanilla, since that was what kind of body wash one of his metahuman pals had prescribed to him, something nice smelling. Of course the scent was pleasant but apparently he smelt like something else to this anomaly.

Looking out the window, he peered at the chalk drawing and smiled. It seemed that Salone had a little artist on her hands, or something like that at any rate. ”That’s…one way of putting it. So, is the shape shifter still around, I need to have a few words with her.”

Salone ran a hand through her long blonde wavy hair and sighed. Hanna was now adding a new character to the mix, an donkey with a fez that vaguely resembled Michael. Dragon was wrestling with Gir and tumbled across the stretch of back patio that she was using to draw on.

“Hey! Keep your furry mitts to yourself!” Hanna shoved at the two playfully before being dog tackled and licked.

“Artemis? Why would you want to talk to her? Last time you left here you where fuming because she dumped a pudding on your head.” The only last time after Artemis had kissed him twice, accident or not; Salone had the impression that he hated her. Arching an eyebrow answered,

“She left for a hunt this morning. She might not be back for several days. I could go track her down if you want but you’d be stuck with Hanna until Penny gets home around five.”

Hanna came in with the dogs again, Gir’s fur was dyed several funny colors due to chalk, the primary ones being purple and green. Salone muttered something in Draconic under her breath before snagging Gir around the collar before he got more chalk dust all over the clean house.

”Trust me I’m still livid, I just have business to discuss.” With that he was wracked with a violent bout of coughing, pressing a hand to his mouth as this went on for a minute. Pulling it away, a small glob of blood has found itself upon his hand, before being wiped away on his shorts, now an obvious black stain. Even with the violent hacking spell, the memory of pudding dumped on his hair was fresh. If the male could remember, it was a good few hours of scrubbings before his hair was anything other than sticky.

Michael smiled lightly to Salone, as if silently asking her to excuse the little incident, and as if he would not speak of it if she asked anyway. ”Oh she’s gone, I guess I could deal with that. I have plenty of time to wait.” Michael said with a small smile, turning to the see what was being drawn by the young dragon and finding himself laughing louder than he meant to. These laughs came out in a loud guffaw, even if at his own expense.

”No need to inconvenience yourself for my sake, I have all the time in the world.” He assured her, raising one hand. Hanna came running back in with the dogs, one of them colored a strange shade with chalk, something about it amusing him. Salone muttered something in a familiar language, one that he had heard Jordan curse in quite a few times, before grabbing the dogs collar and pulling him away. Looking to the little girl known as Hanna, he raised a brow unsure what to say. ”So, you like to draw?” He asked curiously, leaning against the counter casually.

Stiffening Salone noticed the blood; it was just like her when she got sick. Coughing up blood and the shaky hands, not to mention the seizures…

“Michael, whats wrong?” She asked, grabbing the tissue box and her brows crinkled before Hanna answered his question.

“A little,” She had put her hands behind her back and was twisting slightly like a naughty little four years old. “But I don’t do it often. Cause I don’t have the right e-tipment?” Hanna turned to Salone and arched an eyebrow like she was asking if she was saying the right word.

“Equipment.”

“Equipment,” Hanna repeated obediently. “Mom says I need to be older before I get a sketch book. That way, I don’t break pencils.” She smiled brightly before turning around to see Salone kick Gir outside. Hanna chewed on her lip before turning back to Michael; she appeared to be studying him. Taking in his every detail with bright blue eyes, “Your not human.” She stated after several moments.

Salone offered him a tissue, something that Michael took gratefully and wiped away any small residue of blood that remained around his mouth. His hand was slightly shaky, but not overly noticeable, nothing that he hoped would draw any more attention upon that. With a small specks of deep red upon the tissue, Michael balled it up and tossed it in the nearest trash bin. The mispronunciation of the word confused him for a second, but that was fixed quick enough.

”Well, I imagine you’ll be a great artist one day.” The image of the blonde female creating wonderful paintings appeared within his mind. Something about that endearing, though it reminded him of his little hobby with sketching, something that Michael worked on within his spare time; which he had plenty of. The young female looked over him for a moment and then said something rather interesting, that he was not human.

That caused the ethereal to pause for a second, confused as to how this female could sense it but he did not question it. ”Observant girl aren’t you? No I’m not human at all, not even a little actually.” A small amount of residual pain rested within his chest but nothing to worry about. ”From what I can tell, you and your mother aren’t human either.” He added plainly.

Hanna pulled herself onto the stool, looking intently at Michael. Salone was cleaning up chalky dog prints off the floor.

“Well how did you figure that?” Hanna asked, her lips twitched in amusement. Something flickered in her eyes like she was desperately trying to remember something. “You’re a smart to figure that out then. What gave it away?”


Then, just like that the five year old mind was back. Not the seventeen year old mind that had shown itself for a few precious seconds. “Do you like swimming?” Then she prattled on before getting of her stool and vanishing into her room.

Salone had been watching Michael and Hanna exchange words before Hanna had left.
“She does that, its quit unnerving.”