Daniel came walking down the street with Riley, still licking his lips from the very tasty skewers they'd had for dinner, from a little hole-in-the-wall in the Marketplace quaintly called 'Abra-kebab-ra'. ?Mmm...that was really quite good. I'm beginning to enjoy this place.?

?They actually do a good curry there, too. Though I'm sure it doesn't compare to London or India.? She gave him a little lop-sided smirk. She was feeling somewhat better than she had yesterday; her step was lighter, less painful, though she wasn't quite ready to get back to work yet.

?Hm. I haven't had a decent curry in years. No one in the States seems to make them quite right.? He watched her unobtrusively from the corner of his eye, noting that she was moving much more easily tonight, to his not-quite-fully-concealed relief.

She spied Tara running down the street in front of them, being followed closely behind by...garden gnomes? Riley stopped, closed her eyes, counted to five and then opened her eyes again. Tara and the gnomes had disappeared. Oh, good. It had just been a hallucination. Riley muttered, ?Christ. This f*cking place.?

His brows went up at the sight of the screaming, running woman who'd been brandishing a chainsaw when he last saw her. He stopped and looked at Riley, whispering, ?That woman...is she...quite all right??

The corner of her mouth tugged up. ?Ah, Tara. She's...uh...something else, all right. 'Quite all right', however, is not part of that something.?

?I see. There seems to be a lot of 'something else' going around this place.? He flashed her a quick grin.

That drew a chuckle and she nodded, ?Oh, yes. That should, in fact, be the Chamber of Commerce's slogan. 'RhyDin - we're something else!'?

He laughed, and nodded in agreement. ?I think that would be a wonderful way to draw tourism.? The Inn loomed in front of them and she paused for a moment, scenting the air. No traces of succubi, incubi, faeries or other sinister sorts. There was, however, a strong scent of blood that had her Cat up and interested. Riley shuddered and turned to Daniel, whispering very softly, ?Wonder what happened?? She hovered in the doorway, the strong scent of blood evoking memories that she'd rather not experience right now. She took a deep breath and shook her head, soldiering on and pushed her way into the commons room, her hands fisted at her sides to keep them from shaking.

Daniel rested one hand lightly on her shoulder, a silent reassurance as he followed her in. A quick-silver smile appeared and disappeared in the span of a blink when she felt Daniel's hand on her shoulder. She went to the bar and slid onto a stool. She leaned forward, elbows on the counter in front of her, palms cupping her chin as she perused the bottles lined up like soldiers on the wall opposite. He leaned his back against the bar and surveyed the room, elbow lightly pressed against hers. ?Lot of excitement going on tonight, it seems,? he said casually.

?Well, someone got killed, I'm guessing. That amount of blood spilled has got to be fatal.? She glanced around, wondering at what happened. ?Despite the relative anarchy in this place, outright murder is still pretty rare.?

?That's reassuring.? He continued studying the room, trying to piece together what might have happened.

She gave him another lop-sided smile, the scent of fresh blood still at odds with her tenuous grip on Humanity. ?I need some air.? She slipped off the stool and glanced at Daniel. ?Wanna go sit on the porch for a while??

?Yes, it's a little...close in here. The blood makes it hard to relax, too.? That was a little too blunt, perhaps, but the smell was making the animal inside nervous, which meant human things got harder to do.

A curt nod and she's out the door, headed for the swing and the shadows. He strode quickly across the room and out behind Riley, dropping down onto the swing with her.

She raked a slender-fingered hand through her sable tresses and exhaled explosively. ?I don't know how you do it.?

He blinked once, confused. ?Do what??

?Balance the Cat and the Person,? she said quietly. ?It's...hard. Impossible sometimes.?

He chuckled, very softly. ?Whatever gave you the impression that I did? I spend most of my time trying to remember how a human should react to situations.?

She snorted. ?Yeah, that's helpful.? She leaned against him, bumped her forehead against the ball of his shoulder. She straightened and folded her hands over the flat plane of her belly. ?I wish...? She sighed softly, not quite willing to admit to the secret wishes that lurked in the sub-cockles of her heart.

?What do you wish?? he asked quietly, reaching up to run his fingers through her sun-streaked hair. A soft purr rumbled up through his chest, before he could even think to stop it...and then didn't want to, anyway.

Riley frowned, realising she'd gone too far. She reached out and gently stroked a long, slender finger down his cheek. Her voice was soft, contrite. ?Hey, don't be like that.?

His lips slid back over his teeth, the snarl fading away, although the angry expression remained...unexpectedly magnified an instant later when something half-crashed through the wall nearby. He leapt away from the swing, landing clear down by the road, glaring at the wall in startled anger. A hiss involuntarily escaped his throat.

?Christ on a crutch!? She hopped off the swing and crouches, one hand planted against the floorboards. She's frozen for a moment, nostrils flaring as she scents the air. No blood, no screaming, no yelling. She slowly straightened and smoothed down her clothing as she looked around for Daniel.

When nothing huge and scary came through the wall at them, he slowly walked back up the stairs, once again subverting the urge to wash with hair-straightening and the adjusting of clothing. She caught the gesture, one that mirrored her own attempt at covering an over-reaction, and burst out laughing. ?That's a cat thing, isn't it??

He blinked at her in surprise, then realized what they were both doing, and his laughter rolled out to meet hers, echoing off the buildings. ?It certainly is,? he gasped between laughs. ?The two of us, like startled house tabbies.?

She settled down on the swing once more, still chuckling. ?You wanted to wash yourself, didn't you?? She mimed licking her hand and rubbing it over her ear and down the side of her face.

?You've no idea how hard it is not to...well, perhaps you do have an idea.? He eyed the splintered boards with faint suspicion before slipping back onto the swing with her.

?Full moon tonight. Forests up north.? Her whispered words were an invitation, a question, an offer.

He'd been trying to ignore the pressure of the moon's influence, but letting it out that way would be so much better. ?The night is calling.? His own words were an answer of acceptance.

She smiled and watched the fleeing girl from eyes that had bled to amber, the scent of her fear heightening the call of the Moon. Riley slipped off the swing and half-followed a frightened girl who was quickly exiting the Inn before Riley realised and checked the motion, letting the girl escape unhindered.

He knew what it was, he felt it too, that instinctive urge to pursue. He stood and moved up beside her in one quick, fluid motion, growling the words out. ?Show me these forests...?

She nodded and began stripping out of her clothing, tossing them aside into puddles of slushy ice like so much rubbish. She began Shifting as she moved off the porch, black fur pouring over her body like water over a cliff. Spine lengthening into a tail, she screamed a challenge into the night and dropped on all fours. Hands and feet became paws, her face became a muzzle and Riley was no more. In her stead was a sleek, compactly muscled melanistic jaguar, rosettes in her fur glowing like ghosts in the moonlight.

A moment later, another pile of clothing joins hers, the leopard bursting out like a shattered damn, so fast did the Change come for him. He trotted forward, butting his head against the shoulder of the larger jaguar and wailing out a matching challenge at the moon's light. Somewhere inside, the man chuckled at how much bigger Riley was than him in this form, but that part of him was too remote to react to now.

The jaguar yowled and began circling the leopard, the very tip of her tail twitching. He crouched low, tail lashing, and swung out one head-sized paw in a playful swat...playful for them at least, since it would've knocked a man sprawling.

She pulled her head back into her shoulders, and dove into the other cat, sending him sprawling onto his back as she bit into the scruff on the side of his neck. His back legs kicked into her stomach, claws carefully sheathed, and he twisted, snapping at the air as he tried to reach her head with his teeth.

She leapt backwards out of his reach, a low growl rumbling forth as she circled him again, ears slicked back flat against her skull, tail lashing back and forth now. He rolled onto his paws, crouched low and stalked towards her, chuffing softly before growling right back, gray eyes shining brightly in the light of the moon.

She bolted, tail held out straight behind her, loping off into the darkness that lay to the north of the building, another screaming challenge ringing off the surrounding buildings, almost as if the Cat was saying, "Come and find me!"

Hind legs tamped down, then he sprang, a ten-meter leap carrying him off into the deep shadows, hot on her trail. The hunt was on.