Set in the Dampwoods.[html]
SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN

She held out a hand, fingers dipping just below the moving water of the stream. Though she wasn’t near the coast, she swore she could hear the crash of waves along the shore. This area was quite forested and the ground was littered in pine needles. They offered a soft bed for her feet and she figured she would catch a bit of sleep before moving on. She knew there were other groups of canines in this area – she caught their scents almost everywhere she happened to wander. She would check it out, see if anyone recognized the name she traveled with, and then move on if she wasn’t satisfied.



Ryan cupped her hand and took a sip from the water, before rising to her feet and trailing back a few yards to her deposited bag. She went through one of the pouches and pulled out a wrinkled dress. This had been one of the more complicated patterns for her to sew. It was made out of a brightly colored plaid fabric – pinks, oranges, and blues. It was a tea length dress, falling just above her knees. She slipped off the plum colored dress she wore – the one that was more a sweater than anything – and tucked it back inside of her bag. With that done, she slipped on her new attire before settling on the pine needle covered ground, arms folded behind her head as she peered up through the canopy above at the blue sky.

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DaVinci's mind was a whirl of twisted emotions. He'd left his kid sister curled up inside the hammock as he'd departed the packlands she belonged to and made his way slowly off and about. There were things on his mind he had to come to accept, faces he'd have to find once more and awknowledge. His mother was one of the ones he wasn't ready to face, not with the truth that boiled his blood and set him on edge. He'd been wandering along the outskirts of that pack's lands trying to get up the nerve to seek out the Matriarch. Firefly didn't even know where he had gone or what was on his mind... but he needed to talk to someone.. and he didn't know where to turn or who to turn to. He'd never been a father(not that he knew of) and he didn't know a damn thing about the changes that women underwent when there were puppies to be brought into the world.. but he knew one thing, Firefly was a mere child herself and he feared for the girl.

His paws had brought him farther away from the edge of Phoenix Valley than he'd thought but he didn't mind, approaching the matriarch of the family now was possibly dangerous with his flaring temper and her stubborn nature.. atleast with the dreaded news he carried. The scent of another caught his attention and made him snap back to reality as he realized that he'd almost crashed into a small camp someone had seemed to have made in the ferns nestled along the streambed. He quietly watched the woman before him before he spoke, his deep voice rumbling, "You'd make better to be more careful about your person.." his words serious and grave, just like the thoughts on his mind.

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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN

Ryan let her eyes flutter closed, breathing in the fresh air as the breeze blew quietly by. With it came the scent of someone near, but it wasn’t entirely surprising. This whole area reeked of canine, and didn’t necessarily warrant the actual thing standing there. With the voice that came, however, there was no denying it. Ryan wasn’t alone.



She opened her eyes, offering a smirk at the other hybrid’s words. "Is that supposed to scare me?" She asked him, tracing the outline of his frame with her crimson gaze. He didn’t seem like he would cause her too much trouble, but she supposed she couldn’t be sure. She sat up, palms at either side of her thighs, before adding, "Because it doesn’t."

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He stood there quietly as she opened her crimson eyes and gave him that little smirk that seemed to welcome danger. Once he knew a girl that would grant that same look to the world but he wasn't for certain the next time he'd see that expression grace her face. He raised a brow as she seemed to taunt him. "It's just suppose to inform you.." he said softly with a shrug. He really didn't care what happened in the end, she could take the advice or leave it but she couldn't blame him in the end. He had enough on his shoulders that he blamed himself for.

She sat up and stared at him, another snippet of words rising from her throat as he bared his fangs in disgust. "Be the brave one then.. you wouldn't be the first to think you were immortal.." He knew how the minds of the youth worked, he had been one not to long ago. The steele hued male gave her a smirk in return before offering a name with his advice. "I'm DaVinci..." and I can talk to a complete stranger but I have issues taking a step into my own mother's packlands he thought sourly.

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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN

"The brave one?" Ryan asked, titling her head to the side and narrowing her eyes. Her smile, however, was still turned up in that playful smirk. "I don’t think of myself that way. At least, not immortal." She patted the ground beside her with one of her hands, "Have a seat then DaVinci," she invited him. She curled her legs up, crossing them like a pretzel beneath her.



"My name is Ryan," she told him then, while one hand absentmindedly gathered a bit of her dress’ hem in its grip. For him to sit there beside her, Ryan could briefly pretend it was her mother, before her mind decided to think of that cave where Lené had ultimately closed her eyes. "Do you live around here?"

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He realized after she spoke again that it wasn't the attitude of youth that she was always right, it was just her nature, the playful smile that lit upon her lips when she teased. "Well, then atleast you've one up on half the world.." he grinned as she commented on herself. The invite to join her had been unexpected but the outlaw gave a slight bow and accepted the seat the lass had granted for him.

His long lanky legs crossed before him as he leaned back on his forearms, a soft smile on his lips as he watched those crimson eyes. "Well Ryan, once I lived near.. but I've been long gone from these lands.. though there's quite a bit of my family scattered across the territory." He did live here, he wouldn't really admit it since he hadn't claimed a place his own yet.. but without a home he could get away with the lie, it wasn't like the little snippet of untruth mattered in the end.

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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN

"Mmm, family." It was a word that Ryan didn’t understand anymore. Or had she ever? Her mother was all she had ever known. And now what? She had nothing. Only a name to go off of, and realistically, how far could that take her? She wished she knew what it meant to have family. And even though DaVinci didn’t sound all that enthusiastic about his, Ryan envied him for at least having it.



"It must be nice," she said, tracing the silhouettes of the trees that stretched out around them. The babbling of the stream could still be heard, but it was more extraneous noise then anything else. "Having them around, I mean." She turned her blood red gaze back on the steel hybrid and gave him a genuine smile this time. He was kind of cute in that rebel sort of way.

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He couldn't help but laugh as she spoke on about family, he didn't mean to be rude but if she knew the truth she wouldn't have spoke so openly about his family. Shaking his head sadly he sighed and gathered himself before almost soberly replying. "I don't exaclt fit into that perfect family portrait if you know what I mean.." He'd grown so use to believing that the world would see him in the mists of the Sadira line and one single gasp would ring out.. then be followed by silence as he was caught out.

He'd turned himself into the black sheep before he could be dubbed thus in the eyes of others.. The smile that she gave him was almost wholly innocent and pure, he could sense no judgement on who or what he was by the appearance of his long tampered legs or oversized ears.. then again from one hybrid to another it could have been like looking into a dark hazy mirror, while he gazed into the lighter side. He didn't spend too long gazing longingly into that mirror though, the male had convinced himself so long ago that no one could see beauty in the beast. "It's better this way.." he said firmly, vivid memories of his disfunctional family settling in his mind as he spoke.

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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN

No, she didn’t know what he meant. She had never seen nor known of what a perfect family would be like. Any family, to Ryan, would have seemed almost god-like no matter how dysfunctional. Perhaps once she discovered the true meaning behind family, if there ever came a time in her life when she did, Ryan could relate to what DaVinci had said to her.



"Oh come on," she said, nudging his arm with a playful shove of her hand, "you can’t be that bad." She decided to shift attention away from families, because it silently pained her to think about that word. Instead, maybe she would be able to get to know DaVinci. If not long term, then at least for now she would be entertained.

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His life had been centered around a family that was as broken and crumbling as can be and a pack just as distant, walking away from the past and suddenly finding that the easy going life of a loner seemed to fit him just fine. His rag tag assembly of followers did tend to confuse him, but what could you do, pups were like fleas, when they found a host they liked they never seemed to go away no matter what one did. He wouldn't admit it to the whole population but he liked being the big brother and the kid sidekick that decided that outlaws were the new big thing wasn't too bad either.

When the lady gave him a playful nudge a devilish grin spread across his maw as he raised a brow, lazily turning his eyes towards her. "It depends on who you ask and when they knew me..." With a soft chuckle he admitted, "I was a horrible little monster when I was a kid.. backtalking, tormenting mice and sea creatures.. bullying other pups.." a far away look sortof crossed over him as he sighed. "I hated everything that was me.. so I took it out on the world." He plucked a stem from one of the ferns and slowly began to pluck the leaves away, remembering a life he'd long since left behind.. not realizing that returning home had opened quite a few old wounds.

One by one the petal like leaves swirled about between them, landing on fur, ground, and fabric as he spoke on. "My mother had a second litter when I was almost a year old.. though we didn't get along she allowed me to spend time with them against her mate's wishes.. he didn't trust me." Shaking his head with a sour smirk he went on. "I'd decided that I was tired of these lands and had left my pack to find my littermate.. but I didn't realize one of my new siblings had decided to play tag along." A soft chuckle rose from his throat as he finished plucking the stem, rolling it between his fingers he smiled. "We were too far along for me to try and send her home.. and I'd already made my choice not to return.. She was barely able to keep up but she argued to no end.. just to shut her up I let her stay. I thought I'd regret that.." His dark hued eyes(because I can't remember what color they really are) turned towards Ryan as he admitted. "I was dead wrong."

Somehow the wild child had tamed the hate filled beast, creating a laid back patient creature out of a ticking time bomb filled with doubt and suspicion of everything and everyone. Underneith it all he hadn't lost the thought that every pair of eyes judged him for what he looked like.. and what he was but his kid sister had somehow made a rebel brother into a hero and father figure. He was still bewildered as to how she'd done it, but some timy part of him liked it.. of course being a brother before a father figure had caused him to let her still remain wild.. and let him still remain his rebelious self. Offered places in new packs and families here and he'd still said no, there was no where for him just yet he wanted to be.

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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN

Ryan sat with a subtle smile, listening to all that DaVinci told her, as she absentmindedly watched him pluck the leaves from the stem of the fern. She would never know what it was like to have to grown up being feared or hated, but she could relate to his statement of 'I hated everything that was me.' When her mother had first whored her daughter, Ryan had assumed it was alright. She didn’t know anything different. After she began to get older, she discovered that normal mothers didn’t make their children do such things. Of course it was for the best intentions – to feed them, mostly – but Ryan had begun to hate who she was during those times. Now that her mother was gone, Ryan no longer did those things. She’d rather starve then sacrifice herself.



"Where is she now?" Ryan asked, referring to Firefly whom had tagged along with him. She could picture a small pup (it looked a lot like herself when she was younger) trailing along behind this steel colored hybrid. She thought it funny that he would let a child follow him for so long. He didn’t seem like that kind of guy. She saw him more as a loner, sort of like her, but perhaps more malevolent. If that was the right word…?

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A Foolish grin parted his muzzle as he asked. "I don't fit the picture do I? I've been a dozen different things and been around the world with a kid in tote.. you'd have never guessed, right?" He shook his head and chuckled darkly as he admitted. "Maybe I let her stay because I knew her father had already let the world think I'd kidnapped her.. I might of well have keeped the runt after all that.." His voice was bitter but softened as he threw the insult halfheartedly out about Firefly.

That little question she asked made him stop examining the depetalled stem as he flicked it away. He wasnt' really for certain where Firefly was now that he'd left her to rest in Dahlia de Mai. His eyes stared off into the distance as he shook his head quietly, wishing that he knew just where the sister he knew was. She wasn't in the body anymore, atleast not wholy. A sigh hissed between his teeth as he admitted. "She's been a million places.. but lastly she was returned to her pack after playing the part of a hostage.." He didn't know why he'd told her the truth, she really didn't have to exactly know what his dark spirited sister had been up to.. but he continued on. "She's been hiding like a wildcat in the woods.." Expaining his troubles atleast made the weight on his shoulders seem to melt away, even if it was only for a moment or two.

Turning back towards the girl with the crimson eyes he tried to turn the conversation away from his sibling. He didn't want to be reminded that he'd failed her as a big brother.. who would have thought he'd cared about being her brother in the first place.. but even rebels had hearts deep down.. and little girls with ribbons and curls sure did know what they were doing when they wound the world around their little fingers. "So, who's Ryan.." he asked. Enough about DaVinci and his warped world.. two strangers in a dark dreary woodscape, there was only two things to do, talk... or walk away. The scenery wasn't poetic enough for a hot and steamy once in a lifetime romp.

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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN

She would have asked more questions, but somehow she didn’t feel that it would have been right. The way that DaVinci spoke about this girl, Firefly, made it seem as if things weren’t so great between them. Though he tried to explain, Ryan would have never been able to grasp everything that had happened in between. So instead, she nodded, acknowledging his words and following his lead by letting her gaze drift off into space.



She had never been in a situation like this – never had the opportunity to just sit and talk with someone about her life. Sure, her and her mother would have heart-to-hearts, but that was different. They had been family. This was something completely different. She felt like she could say anything she wanted to say and there would be no strings attached when it was all over. She took in a deep breath, the plaid fabric that rested on her chest rising as her lungs filled. She breathed out, turning her head away from DaVinci and starring off into nothing. She shook her head. Did she even know who Ryan was?



"Well," she started, not knowing exactly where to begin. "No one, really. My mother and I have traveled all our lives – never living in the same place for very long. We did alright, I guess. I don’t really know – I mean, that’s what I grew up knowing." She looked back to DaVinci, finding his eyes and searching for some sort of comfort. Not only that, she wondered if he would judge her for what she would say next. She had never said it out loud before, at least not to anyone else. But right now she felt like she could say almost anything. "Then when I got older, my mother starting whoring me off to random strangers. For food, mostly. Sometimes drugs."



Her mother had had a heroin addiction, though Ryan couldn’t remember what that drug was called. They mostly used nicknames for it. "Then she got sick – really sick. And it wasn’t just from the drugs this time. It was something worse. She just never seemed to get better. And then one morning… she died." Much to her surprise, it didn’t hurt so much to say it this time. "So now I’m on my own, still traveling because I don’t know what else to do." She averted her gaze, suddenly feeling embarrassed. She focused on her breathing, taking deep breaths and letting her inhibitions fall away.

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DaVinci worried about his kid sister but to most of the world it would seem like he viewed her as a burden when in his heart she was like his own child. There was really nothing he could do but accept the fact that he actually cared about the girl and she still looked up to him. He'd have thought otherwise except he knew her by now.. and that was about all he could say. He turned his stormy eyes away from the stranger who was closer than half the world to him in this moment while he tried to clear his mind from worry for two seconds.

His attention brought back to the present as he turned back when he realized silence was his only company. His dark eyes watched the girl as she stared off into space. The seconds seemed to draw on until she finally shattered the quiet with soft words. His attention was fully on the lady as she spoke, his manner and body relaxed like he hadn't been in a long time.. he'd almost forgotten his fears of a world that judged him in her presence as she began her story.

When those crimson orbs turned searching towards his he smiled softly, who was he to judge what a good life was, he'd spent half his raising hell and the other half making up for it by being a strange blend of brother and father figure to a tag-a-long sibling with dreamers eyes. The smile that had been sitting on his lips seemed to fade to nothing as her full story came to life.

Those teasing words he'd asked when he'd questened who the woman was had brought real answers he hadn't expected. The down to earth relaxed nature of their conversation had turned serious within moments as her life unfolded before him. Her words soon drifted off in the breeze and was replaced with her rhythmic breathing as he looked back to the girl and admitted. "Not all who travel are lost.. sometimes they're just trying to find themselves.." He smiled softly and spoke on. "The past doesn't make Ryan, just remember that.." His own past had been brittle and harsh since before he even know where he'd come from.. though he'd let the past take hold of him once he'd learned from a child that he was worth more than what the world saw.. though fear still gripped him when the eyes of another were judging him before knowing the boy.

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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN

When his voice came, it was nothing but gentle and sincere – an entirely different tone then she had ever heard coming from the lips of any man. She didn’t look to him, instead closing her eyes and listening to his words, letting that deep and placid voice sink into every pore. When she finally opened her crimson eyes, she rolled her head, letting her gaze fall back on the steel colored boy. She offered a warm smile, never having experienced a situation like this before.



She mimicked his earlier action and plucked a fern from the ground surrounding them. She twirled it between her slender fingers before she gently began plucking away its leaves. When she had first spoken to DaVinci, she was like this whole fern lying in her palm. But after revealing her life, she felt just like that discarded stem that the boy had easily peeled to nothing. Ryan didn’t necessarily think that that was a bad thing.



"So," she breathed, watching her hands as the leaves began to drift to the fur of her thighs, disappearing in the fabric of her dress, and even fluttering towards the steel fur of her companion. "What happens next, DaVinci?" She thought that she meant it in general terms; as in, what would they do next? But really, it could have been more. She supposed she would let him decide what she wanted to hear from him.

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DaVinci wasn't certain what was going on, he'd grown to use to the cold shoulder of the world that when he was met with those warm eyes and an open mind he was at a standstill. He expected to see the judgement lingering in those crimson orbs when they turned on him but still there was nothing but warmth showing. No dark hatred, no contempt, disgust or any sort of dispite washing over her lovely features.

The smile she graced him with almost made him turn away, but instead he watched her quietly as she began to deface the leaves from another fern. The soft gentle twirling of the stem was replaced with the leaves gracefully falling from her hand.. making him wonder slightly how a woman could destroy a life so easily and it look so innocent.. and yet the same action he'd performed had seemed nothing more than destructive nature. Perhaps he'd never understand the workings of women but the lack of judgement in her eyes had confused the boy so damned much.

"What?" He exclaimed, the words that she'd asked almost made him lose his composure as his troubled eyes, that had been trailing the path of the dark green leaves flitted back to lock onto those pools of blood that showed she was waiting for his answer. He swollowed against the lump in his throat as he searched those eyes to figure out if she was playing some cruel joke on him, if this was another game.. did she think he was going to use her, hadn't she just said that her mother had thrown her at men for her own selfish needs.

DaVinci rose up from his relaxed composure and tried to scoot himself back a distance from the woman before him but was only met with the rough bark of an old hickory tree blocking his escape. Shaking his head he asked. "I can't make that choice for you.. or any choice for you.. you're free to decide for yourself!" The poor boy really didn't realize that her question might not have been focusing on that manner, but after a life of everyone judging him the first thoughts that ran through his mind was always the worst case senario.

He was a hybrid, more coyote than anything, who was to say that he wouldn't destroy the innocent lives of children. Who's to say that he wouldn't lower himself to the sins of the horrible, that he wouldn't set himself out to abuse, rape, or even murder every mother's little girls and boys. He was the pervert with the candy, the lurker on the dark road, the darkness in the night, a shadow on the way.. He was everything that filled the world's worst nightmares.. and yet he was nothing as well.

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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN

She furrowed her brow, wondering what in the hell this boy was doing. She watched him scoot away, seeming flustered by something. When the tree barred him from advancing his getaway, Ryan couldn’t help but let her features slide into a playful smirk. He sure was a silly little boy. An oh so cute boy at that.



"I wasn’t saying you have to decide for me, I was just asking…" she cooed, titling her head to the side still wondering what he was doing, "to know my options." She shook her head, letting a soft chuckle escape her lips as her fingers let the remaining fern fall to the ground. She watched it, twirling a few times as a passing breeze caught its salvaged leaves. She turned back to DaVinci, leaning back and supporting herself on her arms, palms flush with the soft grass. There was something mysterious about him, as if he were worried a secret he knew would be exposed. She leaned forward then, reaching out one small hand towards his face. She brushed his bangs from his eyes in a way that was bordering motherly with something a bit deeper than that, asking, "What are you so scared of?"

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His stormy eyes met hers as that tiny smile played upon her lips. He wasn't sure what in the world to say or do at this moment. Backed into a corner there was nowhere to go but back to her side. He turned his eyes away for a moment as he slowly let his breath escape from between his teeth. The words she spoke made him turn his eyes back as she cooed those words out. His ears flicked uncomfortably back for a brief second before he swollowed and turned his eyes back to stay on her face.

DaVinci's words were breathy as he spoke softly, "Your options.." the words were unsure as he rolled them upon his tongue. He didn't know what to do at all with the girl, most of his experiences with others had been helped along with liquor or lonesome nights on the sea.. this had neither of those to help it along. DaVinci shook his head in disbelieve, not really understanding what he'd got himself into this time. He couldn't lie and say that she wasn't attractive, but he'd never really thought that anyone would willingly place themself into this situation after having revealed the harsh life they'd sexually been subject to in the past.

His eyes had been staring at her blankly as his mind tried to turn over and over the words she's spoken in the past span of time. He hadn't even realized that she'd leaved forward until he felt the soft brush of her fingers against his bangs as she was brought into focus again as she asked that simple question. He wanted to turn his eyes away but he couldn't as he answered truthfully. "What the world thinks... before they think.." he didn't finish the words outloud but it was simple enough to gather them, just who I am..

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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN

"Don’t get so caught up in what the world thinks," she advised him, leaning back on her palms once more. She offered him a sincere smile, hoping to make him feel slightly better. There was something brewing beneath the surface that Ryan didn’t quite understand or know about, but she could tell something was there. She wouldn’t pry anymore, but she felt like there was more to DaVinci then what he had revealed about himself.



She settled on the ground then, lying down with her head cradled in her arms. Though the trees ate much of the sky above them, Ryan peered through the leaves at what blue she could see. It was a very deep color today – almost a dodger blue. "If you do, you’ll eventually loose yourself," she added.

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He began to relax when the girl settled back. He wasn't for certain what to think of such a bold and outspoken woman but she had caught his interest, even if she baffled him to some extent. He settled back to where he'd originally been near the girl as he spoke softly, "How can you belong anywhere if the world hates what they see..." His eyes were cast towards the leaves above them as he spoke, knowing that avoiding her gaze was probably best at the moment.

He'd obviously crossed some line, or toed some line but he wasn't for certain just what line and what the consequences of crossing were. Brushing his own fingers across the very bangs that she'd just touched he sighed, "I think I lost myself a long time ago.. " he admitted. He'd been spending all this time trying to find himself again, Firefly had helped him out of the darkness, but he wasn't homefree yet.

Turning his face back towards the crimson eyed lady he asked. "What's wrong with losing yourself anyways.." the question was tainted with a darker lay but it was asked innocently. From time to time he wouldn't mind getting lost. The stormy eyed brat had to turn away from the woman before he got lost again, in those blood hued orbs.