Innocent Souls in a World of Sin (Shael and Hanna)

6:00 am. Well that's a disappointment. Just another day he'd guess as his phone rang out, playing the same custom ringtone he pulled off youtube far earlier. His lower jaw jutted out slightly as his eyes narrowed at the song. He threw the covers off himself as he leaned up and moved up off his back and to his feet. He scratched his stomach and shook his head like a dog, stepping up to his "rack" of shirts, which was nothing more than a large curtain hanger suspended by two open eye-hooks. He let out a drawn out sigh and peered through the darkness to his various shirts. If he didn't love carrots so much this might have been impossible. He began running his fingers, tapping shirts and pulling them back as he cycled through them, stopping at the thirteenth shirt. A plain white tee shirt that was nice and roomy, being a size too big. He then stepped over to the armoire which contained his television and reached to the built in drawers on the bottom. He drew out a teal and white flannel shirt and trying to maneuver around all the random furniture in his room... a year later and they were still "moving in" and using his room as a storage room, because mom insists on keeping a room open for Zach whenever he feels the urge to wander his ass back home. He took a pair of under armour shorts and essentials. He did this all within three minutes, walking for his door and stopping by the drums and picking up the drum sticks.

"All mistakes by misassociation- Lead to the darkest of times- Here I am with a new- declaration- It's one line and it reads : All. Out. War!" Björn Strid's voice as a wake up call, and the very drum frenzy being played by the drummer was replicated upside down. One of the few things Dyslexia had done well for Matthew...doing things messed up was pretty normal for him. With the end of it he hit the symbols and set the sticks back down, knowing his little drum fit would have awoken his younger sibling as he took his clothing up stairs. His younger brother would stumble out of his room upstairs and wander for the bathroom to take a shower, meanwhile Matthew had breakfast to make. Fortunately for him, he was feeling rather lazy today, and he hesstled for making an omlette. Of course what his brother didn't need to know was that there was the egg...pepper jack and shredded cheddar cheese, ham, a little bit of bacon bits, diced onions...fruitie pebbles and a touch of maple syrup. Matthew chuckled as he felt a little chaos run over him sporradically, unable to tell what this sensation was or why it affected him so. Of course what started out as a harmless prank ended with an omlette filled with fruitey pebbles and left over sphagetti. Of course it was gross as all Hell, but it's not like Matthew minded....he was just having Cherrio's for breakfast.

"So what's for breakfast?" Cody's annoyingly light voice pierced the silence like a knife, sending Matt's sanity a deathblow as it stumbled bac k into the abyss to burn forever under the tyrannical hands of Bal Gram and Mammon. He sighed as he took a spoonfull of his food and he watched his brother tear into the omlette and bite down thout looking at the contents. He chewed slowly and deliberately before letting out a satisfied hum and nodding, devouring the rest of it. Matt just looked down at his Cherrio's, repulsed before letting go of the spoon and dropping it back into the bowl and walking it over to the sink.

Of course the ride to school was fine enough, quiet and not really anything bad to report, other than the ceasless talking of his annoying brother. That child wasted precious moments of his life, and it is entirely too often. At this rate the child will end up dead because he just kept talking and forgot to friggin breathe. Matthew was pleased when his brothe rdeparted, knowing that School was going to be epic in comparison. Which was a horrible thing to say about his brother. Matt strode in quickly, speaking to no one if he could at all avoid it, but of course there were his friends, and obligation bid him converse for a time before making his way to the cafe for study hall, where he would undoubtily run into Shane and Blair with their little touchy-feely friend Yancey. That all aside, Matthew took his messanger bag, and filled it with what he'd need for the day before taking the glasses from his hand, and setting it in his pocket discretly before reaching in for one more thing. The Dragon Amulet an artifact that he had from birth A blessing form one ancient Primordial to another...or perhaps something more. Regardless... Matthew put it on over his neck and walked away, slamming his locker and ignoring it for the rest of the day.

He made it to study hall, feeling the amulet tingle...almost like it....burned....

“Mom! Stop!” Hanna slipped out of Salone’s grasp. Her mother was smothering her, practically.

“I’ll be fine, Shael is already there. No need to turn into mush on me.”

“That’s what I’m concerned about,” Salone stated, arching an eyebrow at her daughter. Hanna and Shael where metaphoric cousins, they weren’t blood related but it didn’t stop them from getting into mischief. It seemed to be a dragon trait of some sort, as it was Hanna who generally caused the issues. Shael just loved to join in and cause chaos, much like his own mother.

The half dragon snorted, rolling her blue eyes… so much like her father’s. Salone caught herself and smoothed Hanna’s hair back one last time before she darted out the door, Dragon in his neon orange service dog vest right behind her. It had taken quite a bit of work to get Hanna to where she was now. Realistically she was almost a year old now, but mentally and physically she was a healthy 17 year old teenage girl… most of the time. It had taken a while to deal with her health issues, Salone’s fear had been confirmed about a month ago when Hanna had a seizure. But Dragon had detected it allowing Salone and Penny to help Hanna better than they could have. After that Dragon had been registered as a service dog, he had been trained quite well and had just about perfect manners. It had only been a matter of paperwork.

A few blocks down the road, Hanna slowed down as she reached the school. She stopped for a few moments on the steps and Dragon sat down, looking up at her. The wolf German Sheppard mix wagged his tail quietly and only the jingling of his collar was heard.

“Well,” She muttered to the canine. “Guess this is it then.”

Hanna started up the steps, bag slung over her shoulder, dog leash in her left hand, and her silver medical bracelet on her right wrist. It only took five minutes to get her new schedule at the office and another two to find her class.

“Study hall?” Hanna murmured to herself, apparently it was in the café… well… that just didn’t make since. Wouldn’t it be better served in a library? That’s where all the books were and computers. Shaking her head slightly and sighed. Dragon trotted slightly behind her, looking around at everything.

Entering the cafeteria, Hanna looked around and the teacher spotted her.

“You must be Hanna,” He stated, shaking her hand. Hanna smiled slightly and nodded, showing he was correct. The teacher gave her a brief rundown of expectations and then Hanna was left to her own devices, utterly clueless. Why couldn’t high school come with a manual? So she sat down in an empty chair and opened her book.

Shael was curled up in his bed, a rather irate red haired female looking over the sleeping male. ”Shael…wake up.” She said jabbing a finger into the tan males side roughly, which caused him to grumble, rolling over to look up at her with sleepy eyes. His dark brown hair was a rattrap set upon his head, strand sticking out every which way and overall looking disheveled. ”You probably need to take a shower….and use deodorant.” She said simply picking the kid up by the back of his collar and placing him on the floor, kid barely awake as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Crawling sleepily through the dingy apartment, Shael would fall into the shower and let the hot water wash over his body, letting sweat and everything else slide off of him.

The male let out a sigh of relief as he simply sat there for a small while, until Fera ended up banging on the door, telling him to get out. Next came drying off, and dressing up for school itself, in a simple black t-shirt and camo pants that were for the most part baggy. It took him around five minutes to get ready, but Fera was taking longer than expected, primping herself and everything. Soon enough the female emerged from the bathroom smelling like Silus did, well, maybe a bit stronger. ’Took ya long enough.” Shael said with an impish smirk, taking on the fifteen year old form that he used to attend school and then both would go there. First period was as usual Study Hall, with their Uncle Silus and his favorite human Matt.

So Shael was more than ready to get to school, walking into the café and taking a seat by Matt himself. ”Mornin Matty.” He said with a wide smirk, revealing two sharp canines, letting the backpack fall to the ground as Fera sat with her friends.

”Mornin Matty.” A familiar voice came. His heart jumped, granted it's because the male just startled him form thought. Suddenly his vision left him, a fit of temporary blindness, his ears went deaf and his tongue went dumb as his nose even shut down. His eyes darted around as he stared at the table. Rapid eye movement, what was typical of one in a state of intense dreaming... but for Matthew it wasn't a dream....it was reality.

Matthew was just standing there. He was minding his own business, contemplating texting his friend. There was a bakery nearby, the smell of their goods lit in his nose as he literally relived the events as if he were back in time. The tanned woman She kissed him. His thoughts replaying through his mind, the smell of the woman, the sudden changes in her when she shifted. The taste, the smells, the pressure of her on top of him, her eyes. Those eyes were so familiar...the tanned skin.. she was REALLY attractive and all but it was just too weird. Suddenly he snapped form his vision and looked up to Shael...seeing the most similar eyes and the same tanned skin. He blinked and smiled as he chuckled, it only took him but a moment to relieve that entire memory... to Shael it would have simply appeared as a brief "derp" moment as the other youth seemed to call it. "Wow, didn't think it'd catch." Matt said in regards to Matty, though for some reason it didn't seem to bother him as much when it came from Shael (Shane Rather).

"I guess Blair's out for the next couple days huh? Something about his Dad getting engaged." Matt said, trying to calm his heart oh so stoically and naturally as he made simple conversation with the boy....something he didn't do with many people. These visages really messed with his mind to an extent. He let out a little sigh and closed his book , deciding that he was just gonna talk to Shael...and stare at the eyes and skin that reminded him of the woman he met the other day. "So what's goin' on with you man?" He asked with a little closed smirk and a nod.

Engulfed in her novel, Hanna turned the page and Dragon was lying down by her feet. Her mother’s favorite necklace was around her neck. It was flat, like a gold coin but with the imprint of a dragon and some words in Draconic. It was quite pretty and it reminded Hanna of some of the Chinese or possibly Japanese relics. Without warning, it burned.

“Ah!” Hanna let out a small gasp of shock rather than pain, causing Dragon to look up at her, cocking his fluffy wolf like face to the side. She reached inside of the neckline of her shirt and pulled it out; it glowed faintly against her beach tanned skin. As the glow faded, Dragon pawed at her knee again, causing Hanna to look down. Dropping the medallion, she pet her dog before looking around to see what had caught his attention. It was Shael, who was in the process of sitting down in a chair. A wave of relief washed through her and she stood, picked up her light (for the time being) backpack, swung it over her right shoulder and made her way over.

Hesitantly she touched her cousin’s shoulder with her right hand, medical bracelet glinting slightly. Dragon sniffed Matt and wagged his tail slightly. The medallion burned again against her jean jacket. Hanna winced, something only Shael could see.

“Shae,” Hanna offered him a small smile. “Is it okay if I sit down? Unless you’re busy…” She trailed off pathetically. Turning slightly, she smiled slightly at the other boy. Matty, she had assumed that was his name since that is what Shael called him. Unless it was short for something like Mathew or Matilda or…. Yeah. Hanna had nothing. Then Dragon sniffed Shael and wagged his tail. Hanna offered the dog a real smile as well before itching his head with her right hand again, bending over causing the gold Medallion to swing forward.

The goofy tanned male smirked widely, looking up to Matt with a happy expression. If anything, it was likely that the nickname would end up sticking with a child like Shael, who just thought the name worked with someone like his friend. Something about Matty seemed to work much better than a simple nickname like Matt, which felt just more simple and perhaps slightly dull. ”Yeah, Blair’s dad got engaged or something like that.” Shael said simply thinking over what that word even meant, considering that he kind of knew almost nothing about marriage. Well except what Fera said about being stuck in it forever, which did not sound good to the male who would have rather not been stuck in anything. He yawned to himself, resting on his palms looking up to Matt.

”Stuff’s goin on.” He would have elaborated but someone came up to him, speaking his real name which caused the male to flinch. Turning to the female he knew as Hanna, Shael would offer a small smile, moving a seat back and waiting for the female to sit down. ”Yeah, you can sit down with us.”

"Oh is that right? I'd NEVER had guessed." Matt said sarcastically as he gave a weak little punch to Shael's shoulder with a smirk. "Ya smartass. Care to elaborate on that, or is it all secret squirrel stuff?" He asked, and it looked like Shael was going to elaborate, but then again nothing in life could be that easy. An outside voice came and a pretty girl stepped forth and seemed to address Shael, but Matt simply returned to his books.

    Well that's odd. She called him "Shae". That's not exactly his name is it? She's new. People make mistakes all the time. Matt said to himself, though he knew better. In truth, the fact was he didn't care. At all. He simply kept to his books, that was of course prior to the da-ng dog here sniffing him up like he was bacon covered, cheese-stuffed chicken. The dog wasn't going to relent, and so Matt simply began scratching the doggy behind the ear and just under the collar. He flashed a small smirk a the dog before he returned to looking at his books. The dog quickly took leave after receiving the male's affection and turned to Shael and seeming happy to see the boy. The girl made the request to sit, but before Matthew could say anything, Sheal had already answered her. Not the answer Matt would have picked, but what's done cannot be undone. Shael would simply need to entertain her while Matthew continued in his pursuits. He froze for a moment, noticing the golden medallion swinging back and forth like a pendulum. Matthew liked gold enough, but the far more interesting thing about it was it appeared to be the exact same amulet as the one he had on...just golden in metal of course. His own amulet seemed to burn, as if telling him something, or perhaps warning. He didn't trust this girl. She seemed too familiar, too familiar yet unknown.

     "Hey I'm Jake- woah." Matt said tripping over his tongue. He then cleared his throat and flicked his tongue out twice for good measure. Matthew then shook his head and chuckled, laughing at how miserably he butchered his own introduction. "I-uh. I dunno where THAT came form. I'm Matt." He said, though he somehow had the feeling the "Adorable" name Shael and Blair had taken to him would stick with girl too. Which was a real pity at times. His annoyance of the name remained secret however... if not because he didn't want to give Shael the wrong impression that he was mad with him for something he just "jumped on the band wagon" with. He then waited for a proper introduction from Hanna...and her little...pet dog.

A look of relief flashed across Hanna’s face as she settled in the chair next Shael but across from Matt. She caught the incredulous look he shot her cousin and Hanna looked guiltily down at her hands. She was interrupting something and Hanna wasn’t welcome. The half dragon had the sudden desire to vanish underneath the table and sit next to Dragon. This feeling was new to her because Hanna was generally a confident person. But the kid, Mathew managed to make her smile even though the name Jake sent a pang to her stomach. That had been her dad’s name and that was mostly what she knew about him. Bringing him up with Salone was a very touchy topic and it made her upset.

“I’m Hanna Newton,” She offered up, smiling and trying to hide how awkward she felt. “You’ve met Dragon my service dog.”

He was back to sniffing Matt’s leg and Hanna rubbed her mother’s medallion between her forefinger and thumb. Her right hand vanished into her book back and she pulled her novel back out, resting her hand on it for a few seconds.

“I’m Shae’s cousin.” At the look of confusion on Matt’s face Hanna clarified the name. “Shae is the name I called him when we were little… it just kind of stuck for me I guess.”

With that Hanna opened her novel, it was clearly an old book and the smell was absolutely wonderful to her.

Shael smiled innocently at Matt, as if expecting such a reaction out of the male in the first place, considering that was the reason for his answer anyway. The smell of the book that Hanna was reading caught Shael’s attention as he leaned over to looked at it for a moment, eyes narrowing as if trying to ascertain what she was reading about. [cxolor=brown]”Whatcha readin?”[/color] He asked with a slightly toothy grin, before turning his attention back to Matt. ”Yeah, that’s my cousin.” He added as if proud somewhat by that fact, though Shael was. He like the idea of having family, since he never really had the chance to meet his family, well the family that he had heard about from his daddy anyway.

"Makes sense, nice to meet ya." He said pleasantly. That was as far as the introvert could really go without actually needing to exert himself. He was content with how things were left too. Then again he was also slightly scared that Shael would evoke his nickname and get Hanna stuck on it, and then she'd call him that throughout the school...and there's his new name. Matty. God he hated that so much... why he let Shael do it was an enigma even to him...he just liked Shael too much to yell at him he'd guess. He couldn't help but notice the amulet. He was going to say something about it, but he didn't want to seem like a creeper who so happened to notice it in fear it could be taken out of context...or rather what he was looking at.

He pulled out his own little book and laughed as he noticed the book. It was the story of Yam and Baal Hadad, and it was actually written by a man named Jake Newton. It was an account of the whole Baal Hadad versus Yam, except the Author portrayed Yam as the unfortunate victim. The writer suffered an unfortunate fate before the book could be completed though and as such there were actually only 10 publications of the book itself. It was a rather accurate account as far as Matt could see...anyone intelligent in the occult could see how there was a legitimate theory in the fact Baal could very well be the bad guy and not at all the hero as he is portrayed in the commonly accepted religion. He set the book down it's title was Chaos of Seppam and it was signed by an interpreter....a woman who knew him Matthew guessed. He then rummaged through his bag for another book of some kind.

Hanna smiled slightly at Shael before handing him her book; it was an old copy of Alice in Wonderland.

“I’m not sure how I feel about it,” She shrugged. “It’s an interesting premise for sure however.”

That was when Mathew’s book caught her eye or rather the author. Jake Newton. Hanna looked like someone had kicked her in the stomach.

“Ca-can I see that?” Hanna finally asked, pointing at the book.

Upon Mathew’s okay she gently pulled it toward her and flipped to the author’s page. She wasn’t quite aware of her facial expressions as she looked at the picture, blue eyes tracing the curve of his face and what Salone would describe as “that stupid arrogant grin” but yet she still found it endearing. Not to mention the blue eyes that where identical in shade and shape to Hanna’s. So this was her father, she bit her lip before reading the flap. The more she read, the hollower she felt. Finally she stopped and shut the book, flipping it over. Hanna knew this tale very well from both Penny and vague bits from Salone. It was understandable why her mother didn’t like talking about it. But as a result Hanna didn’t know very much about him. That’s when Hanna noticed the dedication page and a small smile flickered across her face. Then she handed the book back to Mathew.

“Thanks,” Hanna rubbed the medallion with her fingers before it throbbed angrily again. She let out a hiss of pain as it burned white hot. “Stupid pains,” she mumbled slightly, covering up the fact it was the medallion.

Shael looked over the book carefully, as if it were some manner of enigma, sniffing it slightly and smelling the rather wonderful aroma that wafted from the pages. Granted Shael was not what one would call an excellent reader, so the book would have confused him if he tried to read it, so the male simply did not. Instead he looked over the pages curiously, eyes narrowing as he mused something to himself. No reading was involved, just him taking in the scent of the aged pages. His eyes moved from the pages of the book to the one that Matt placed on the table, waiting for Hanna to finish it before snatching it up for himself, looking over it curiously. It was the face of the author within the book that caught his eyes, looking over it multiple times before his mind clicked. ”This guy looks familiar somehow…” Shael muttered to himself as if trying to think something over.

"I dunno, I've never seen anyone like him before." Matt said, chuckling at the way Shale had sniffed the pages. The dude was almost living up to the Spanish nickname Matt gave him... "Lobo". The fact the man looked just like him held no value to him. Matthew had no pictures of himself, and the very nature of his power actually made him unable to see himself in his own reflection in the mirror or in the waters. In truth, Matthew didn't know that he looked identical to the man in the picture, save for the man having a more medium length in his hair and being a little more built. Matthew shrugged it off and continued to write down in his book, awaiting for the others to relinquish their hold on the novel he was reading.

"Are you okay?" Matt asked with a sudden jolt of concern for the girl. He had noticed her wincing and her mention of the "stupid pains". He tried to perceive if it was an object of her pains or if it was a physiological malady.

“Yeah… I’m fine,” Hanna stated this unconvincingly and the German Sheppard wolf mix wagged his tail at her before laying his head in the little dragon’s lap. “Hey you…”

Carefully she pet her dog’s head before looking up to see Shael and Matthew talking about the image of Jake.

“That’s because…” Hanna mused, picking up the book and placing the image of Jake right next to Matthew’s face. “They look almost identical.”

It was a little nerve wracking, seeing someone who was almost a younger version of her dad. In fact it made her a little uncomfortable. “Not to mention he was a family member before he died so you might have seen pictures of him around my house.”

Hanna added this when talking to Shael before lowering the book back onto the table. Her own book lay forgotten on the table.