May 17th: It's just grass...

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

Stephanie chuckled, "Taken. So..." she trailed off.

[David Renko]

"Drinks?" Renko asked, "Or I could take you up on you offer for self defense lessons. You know add a bit more humor to your day."

Renko's gauntlets glowed and he moved from in front of Stephanie to behind her.

"Or tag," Renko said tapping Stephanie on her well lower back.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Well," she said cheerfully, looking over her shoulder, a mischievous gleam in her yellow eyes. "The self defense lessons could certainly be fun."

Stephanie whipped around with a sudden low growl, her movements almost a blur, trying to grab his arm, trap it, and bring him close to her.

[David Renko]

Renko had at least prepared himself enough to move again, and his form seemed to shimmer. Though he only just got away.

That was a bit close.

"Slow as molasses," Renko teased.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Not bad," she growled, her feral eyes locked with his. She circled him almost predatorily for a moment before lunging in again with lightning speed, trying to grab him and throw him off balance and onto the ground.

[David Renko]

Renko shimmered again dodging again. Unfortunately Renko wasn't exactly a good tactician having moved only a few steps to the side leaving himself a bit too close, and open to being grabbed.

Bloody hell! She is fast.

"When you can't fight you learn to run away," Renko said.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

Steph lunged in and grabbed Renko, her leg snaking behind his as she pushed him to the ground. She was quick to follow, pinning him and bringing their faces close together. She bared her teeth and let out a warning growl, a distressing look of hunger in her eyes.

And then she licked his cheek like a big puppy.

Stephanie laughed heartily as she got up and offered him a hand up.

[David Renko]

Renko took Stephanie's hand, and lifted himself up off the ground.

"For about two seconds there I thought was going to have a red riding hood moment," Renko smirked.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

Stephanie laughed, "If I wanted to eat you, you'dve been dead already. Not bad for your first lesson though. You honestly should probably just take more advantage of your powers in fights. I can move fast, but if you do your time thing, none of that even matters."

[David Renko]

"Maybe, but it's not like I can hurt you either," Renko said before wiping his face off with his sleeve, "I'd break my hand on your iron hard abs."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"I'm sure that you could hurt me just fine. Sure, I'm strong, and I recover pretty quickly, but I'm not invulnerable," she reasoned. "Pain still hurts, even if I've learned to tune some of it out. Shifting is excruciating."

[David Renko]

"I could, but I wouldn't," Renko said, "Does shifting hurt that much?"

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Imagine almost every bone in your body breaking and rearranging itself. Muscles growing, tendons popping. It...part of it just fuels the transformation more...the rest...yeah. It just hurts. Over time you get used to it, learn ways to block it out some. If you didn't you'd go insane. But it's never a comfortable thing."

[David Renko]

"Why keep doing it then?" Renko asked.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"because this," she indicated herself, "is just as much a part of me as the girl you've met a few times."

"Let's put it this way. If I didn't do this of my own volition, she would come out anyway, and it might not end that well."

[David Renko]

"That's happened before?" Reno asked.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"A few times," she said quietly. "thankfully it's...never been too bad, I suppose. But I don't want to find out what could happen..."

[David Renko]

"Is your wild side that bad?" Renko asked.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"No. It's just that," she stated simply. "Wild."

[David Renko]

"Ah," Renko said, "Must take a lot of strength to deal with something like that."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Strength, patience, and understanding. My other half and I...communicate on some level. It can be easier if you have someone like Professor McManus helping sort of give both parts of your brain more concrete form and actually interact. Things have been easier since I let her really take things over when I went and wandered the Canadian wilderness for a few months."

[David Renko]

"You're an amazing woman, Steph," Renko said, "But that psychic stuff makes my head spin."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"That's very kind of you to say, David," she said a bit bashfully. Which truth be told, seemed a bit strange coming out of a 6'5" werewolf.

"It...does do a number of your mind, trying to conceptualize it. You get used to it though." Stephanie stretched a bit, "I should finish up my run though," she said. "We should get those drinks this weekend... are you free?"

[David Renko]

"I'll make time for you," Renko said, "How does Saturday sound?"

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Sounds wonderful," she said. "Meet you at the XUB, plan our night from there?"

[David Renko]

"Works for me," Renko said, "I'll see you then."

Renko dusted himself one more time before beginning to walk away.

"Tag," Renko said before continuing on his way.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"See you then, David," Stephanie said cheerfully before taking a knee, focusing, and shifting back into her wolf form. She bolted out towards him and darted past him, thwapping him in the thigh with her tail as she rain past, and then out into the quad.

You're it she smiled to herself.