Mismatched eyes lazily looked out the window again as he leaned up against the wall of one of the shops they were in. It was a clothing store and it was somewhere he defiantly didn’t want to be. A small bird a sparrow most likely taunted him by doing a quick pass in front of the large window next to him and he grunted and kept his arms folded, ”Lucky lil’ bastard.” Carrick said right under his breath making sure no one over heard him.

If he wasn’t trapped in here he probably would have chased down the bird and if he was in his other form might have even eaten it. He didn’t know why but sparrows were almost as good as squirrels far less filling but still, good eats when he was shifted. Luckily for everyone birdseed was the only thing both halves enjoyed when it came to eating.

A paddy wagon zoomed by while he was looking out the window and he had a sudden urge to run out of the female clothing store and chase it down to see what was happening. ‘Most likely more Eejits’ Carrick thought as his mismatched color eyes shifted back to the reason he wasn’t leaving and the reason he decided to come to the city to ‘shop’. Even in his head the word ‘shop’ sounded painfully boring.

Pair of blondes was before him talking about whatever girls talk about when they are shopping. He stopped paying attention as soon as they entered the store. How did a shopping trip actually turn into that? He figured they’d window shop like always then go to the park and people watch. Carrick shifted his weight again and tried to pretend that everything in the store was somewhat interesting. His eyes shifted from Serena to his girlfriend, Liz the only person he’d willingly sit through this hell for then back to some of the clothing. His eyes spotted a black-laced bra and with a pink bow on it his face turned red and he looked back out the window his feathers on his wings ruffling up a bit due to embarrassment.

A protester walked in front of the window then pointed to Carrick and his attention was caught. Carrick knew this man was a protester because he held a sign saying ‘Keep Muties out of our schools’ once the man was done pointing at Carrick the man then pointed towards his sign. Carrick smirked and nodded his head issuing a thumbs up, he thought school was over rated anyways.

Pushing off from the wall he was leaning on he turned to face the man and once he thought no one else was watching, especially his girlfriend he changed his thumbs up to another hand gesture one that was known as ‘the bird’.

The protester shook his head in disgust and continued walking in whatever direction he was going before, it didn’t matter anyways. He was far to busy... waiting for the girls to finish their girlish things.

“So what do you think of this this gown?” Elizabeth as she whirled to Serena, presenting the pale blue night dress against herself in order to give a vague idea of what it would look when she wore it. “I’m thinking we should bring nightie’s back.” She glanced down as the night dress once more before looking up at Serena.

“Imagine, we could have retro-style slumber parties where all the girls do each others’ hair and we gossip and play silly games and we all end up in one giant pillow fight. I think that’d be fun.” Liz stopped to consider what she’d said. A slight frown quirked her brow before being replaced by the wide-eyed look of a brilliant revelation. “Ooh! Or we can just pose in the window in them, like sitting down and stuff, crooning heart-breaking songs to the empty night while we wait for our throngs of love-interests to finally woe us away to the castles of our destinies!”

Liz fixed the other girl with a silly grin. “Whaddya think about that?” Amusement danced in her eyes.

Liz wasn’t necessarily standing in the undergarments or sleepwear section. The store didn’t really have that much order to it. It was more like a clearance section, which pleased Elizabeth’s pockets very well. But because of the eclectic selection made possible by such a generic term, the two girls (and Carrick, actually) were surrounded by all sorts of various clothing articles, none of them more than half their original prices.

And this may or may not have meant that the window area Carrick was in just so happened to include several racks and stands of various undergarments, from expensively skimpy lingerie all the way down to basic pink panties and white cotton bras.

But Liz wasn’t even noticing any of that. It was kinda bad, but she’d mostly forgotten that Carrick was even there. It was almost like he hadn’t wanted to be noticed, or like he was pretending he wasn’t there. Weird. And forgettable.

Again, though, Liz wasn’t thinking about any of that. She wanted her roommate’s opinion on the night gown.

Serena smiled at her roommate. Liz was an animal possessing empath who Serena had practically been dropped on. Yet, Liz had completely welcomed Serena, they had even made french toast for breakfast.

Serena did sometimes feel a little awkward, waking up in the night and barely stopping herself from screaming, with Liz sleeping right across from her. She was generally pretty good with it though. She was also surprised her roommate hadn't raised her weird sleeping patterns yet.

It was pretty surprising that Liz hadn't really asked her about it. Speaking of asking roommates about awkward things... Liz had yet to ask how Serena knew Carrick, who happened to be Liz's boyfriend.

Because Serena wasn't certain of whether or not Carrick had told Liz, that they met, through him flying through a pair of kitchen doors, completely naked...

Serena nodded to Liz "Well, I think it looks wonderful! And you are very pretty so could totally pull it off." Serena smiled and then gave a giggle at Liz's comment "Sounds like it'd be a blast..." she giggled some more.

Serena fished through the racks of clothing, and found a couple of things in her size, she had grown slightly since the start of the year, but not too much, maybe by an inch or so. Something caught her eye, she pulled out a coat hanger with a dress.

She held it against her body, while facing Liz, in a similar manor to her roommate. It was a blood red, almost satin like material. "How's this look? People probably have enough of me being covered in red already..."

The window scene didn’t change much, the occasional car followed by a few dozen people passing by every few minutes. It was rather boring really and now that his little escape was no longer entertaining Carrick became antsy. Shifting his weight back and forth his eyes started to scan for something entertaining. Serena picked up a red dress and said something about it he didn’t hear nor pay attention really more girls doing girlish things. His eyes scanned around the store and he spotted a woman in her late twenties pick out a pair of lacy underwear and bra. Carrick’s face started to turn red for a moment then the girl noticed that Carrick was looking in her direction. She gave him a look and it was then Carrick decided he had enough of the shopping scene.

Looking towards the exit he decided it was best if he waited outside of the store less he’d get in trouble mainly from his girlfriend he was rather good at not getting into trouble with her and he wanted to keep his streak going. With a bell clanging Carrick took a step outside as the glass door shut behind him. Looking around Carrick spotted the picket sign the protester he had given the bird to was walking further down the street and rounding the corner. Carrick cared little for where he was going.

Shifting his weight Carrick was now leaning up against the window of the shop where Serena and Liz were still doing the whole shopping thing. He yawned slightly and placed his hands behind his head while his tail was twitching with mild irritation. Mismatched eyes spotted another group of protesters across the street only these were pro mutant. He could only assume this after noticing one of them having a build exactly like a minotaur except for the human head with horns instead of a bulls head he too was holding a sign about mutants rights.

The shifter yawned again and looked away again paying little mind to the political garbage that was busy plaguing the city. Honestly everyone was acting like a bunch of Eejits. Turning his head away from the group across the street Carrick noticed the protester he had giving a hand gesture too earlier found some friends and they were busy walking back the way he came. Towards Carrick and the shop where his girlfriend and her roommate were busy still discussing girly things.

Elizabeth flaunted the nightgown before her roommate, making the store her own runway. “I know, I know, I know, I look fabulous!” she said, agreeing with her roomie while adding a touch of a snooty French accent to her voice and an elaborate roll to her eyes. She giggled at her own dramatism and broke character, flinging the gown over an arm. “Well then, I’m definitely getting this. And it’s such great bargain, too!”

Then it was her turn to be the audience member for Serena. She stared at the girl for a moment before processing what her comment meant. Finally it came to her. “Oh, right, because you do that one thing,” Liz said, flinging her other hand around in a loose imitation of a puppetmaster mixed with a waterbending motion she’d seen on a cartoon before. She knew what the actual words to describe Serena’s mutation were but she knew Serena wasn’t the fondest of her abilities and Liz didn’t exactly want to display her mutant status in public.

“But that’s beautiful on you,” Liz gushed as she took in the sight of her roommate draped in red. “The red works great with your hair and all, and it’s stunning with your skin tone.” She twisted her head around to look for Carrick and get his opinion but her gaze latched upon a peculiar hat.

Thoughts of Carrick vanishing (like he himself seemed to have done), Liz whirled around and pulled the hat off of one of the little mannequin heads that were sitting on top a shelf. “Oh, put this on!” she pleaded, thrusting the flamboyant accessory at Serena. “I bet you’ll look amazing in it!” She beamed in excitement. Who knew clothes shopping could be so much fun? It had never been so enjoyable, even back home with Emily and Julia. But it probably had a lot to do with actually walking around (in public, of all places! gasp!) with her friend and boyfriend. And please, it was still New York City! Liz still couldn’t believe she lived there.

Serena smiled and took the hat from Liz and placed it on her head. She looked stunning. However, Serena's response was to highlight her pale face with the red tint of becoming flustered. "Does it... Does it look nice?" Serena sometimes did show a slightly more embarrassed and nervous side.

She particularly looked nervous when she was wearing elegant clothing around others. She didn't know what it was... She just felt uncomfortable being the centre of attention sometimes.

She smiled awkwardly... She had been trying to bring up the whole, how she met Carrick thing for ages, the topic was just so unimaginably awkward. "So... Liz... Urm... I. Ah. I need to tell you how I met Carrick." Serena managed.

She hoped her roommate didn't like... freak out. She wouldn't freak out. She couldn't. Liz was too cool to freak out over something like that.

Although Serena hadn't actually said anything yet... She should probably say something. "Urm yeah... So I was in the kitchen making tea, on my own... And he sort of barreled through the kitchen doors... Completely. Nude. I covered for him and didn't tell anyone that the streaker was him. But... I feel like I should tell you, 'Cause even though nothing happened between me and him, it still night be an awkward topic for you to find out about... Sorry."

Serena hung her head. She was terrified that her awesome roommate would think that Serena was... not awesome. And flip out at her boyfriend because of something silly that happened months ago.

Serena's concentration was fixed on her roommate. Not taking in anything else. Bracing herself for her friend's reaction.

Once the hat was on the head, Elizabeth stepped back to experience the effect. She tapped her lips with a finger and frowned. That’s what all fashion critics were supposed to do. She tilted her head one way and then the other, even going as far as circling around Serena to view the hat from all angles. Then she was back to her original position, ready to proclaim her judgement.

“I think it’s perfect!” she said, clapping her hands together. “Of course I might be just a hint biased, but whatever.” Her smile was a tad bit too close to the foolish side, and yeah, perhaps her antics were a little too wild and a bit out of character, but Liz was getting a nervous vibe from Serena. Perhaps a lack of self-esteem? Even if that wasn’t the case, Liz felt that a torrent of compliments, an abundance of energy, and veritable furnace of joy couldn’t hurt anyone. That’s what roommates were for!

Her work for the moment finished, Liz was about to turn around to browse for more cool and unusual clothing when a choppy statement regained her attention. “Hmmm?” she noised politely, making the correct sound to show interest in the statement while not seeming too eager. Overeagerness to pay attention to someone or make them feel important could easily push them away.

So Serena had a story to tell. About Carrick. Okay, that could be funny. Her boyfriend was a rather wild child, even without his mutation. Okay, it’s a nice beginning to the story. That’s cool. Uh-huh, yeah. Yeah. Uh. Wha? Huh? I beg you pardon?

Elizabeth kinda froze where she was at. Her eyes began blinking, trying to imitate a hummingbird and then levitate her body. Carrick. Charging. Inside. Naked.

“Heh hehehe heh heh heh,” Liz giggled as her formally polite smile stretched into a regular Cheshire grin. What on Earth was she going to do with that boy? She tried imagining the event and all the reactions to it, but then she realized she didn’t really want to see all that in her head.

Shaking her head in an effort to control her chortles, Liz tried speaking, albeit chokingly. “Heh, it sounds like you got quite the eyeful there,” the girl said with a mischievous glint in her chocolate hues. “Don’t worry about it, though. I’m sure he was more embarrassed than you,” she said, her voice steadying out as it began obeying her. “Although I’m never going to let him live this down.” Oohoohoo. The teasing possibilities were endless. Delight shone in her eyes.

Serena's anxiety came to a boil as Liz froze where she was, blinking as if she was struggling to process the information. After all, Serena had seen Liz's boyfriend... Naked.

Then when Liz burst out laughing, Serena's mood shifted to complete confusion. Wait... She wasn't mad? Serena couldn't quite get her head around what was so funny about that situation to Liz.

Then when Liz re-assured her that everything was okay, and that she was not going to let Carrick live it down, Serena's face turned into her usual enchanting smile, only it was more filled with relief than anything else.

Serena was feeling much, much calmer. "I was soooo nervous about telling you about that... You know... in case you like, got the wrong idea or something. Serena admitted.

She then giggled lightly and grinned to Liz. "So... Now that the awkwardness is out of the way, shall we get back to-" Serena froze, looking past Liz for a moment, outside the shop window to Carrick.

It looked like a commotion was about to occur around him... This couldn't be good. "What's going on out there...?" Serena said flatly, letting the question hang in the air for a moment.

Carrick had never been one for musicals at least that was what he claimed, he loved combination of the singing and the dancing phantom of the opera still remained one of his favorite movies. Again he’d never admit it but that didn’t stop him from thinking about west side story. The way the two mobs started to converge closer and closer to each other Carrick could help but wait for them to start snapping their fingers and start busting out some fancy dance moves or some well rehearsed singing. That didn’t happen however and the closer the one group got the more he pressed himself against the open window behind him.

‘…. Where are the jets when you need them?’ Carrick thought to himself ready to snap open his wings and take off only remaining grounded when he remembered that both Liz and his girlfriend were in the store behind him. It only took him a few seconds but he finally realized it would be better if he got away from them. He was an obvious mutant and the girls well… they looked like normal teenage girls and they were certainly doing normal, boring teenage girl things. Looking over his shoulder back into the store he spotted the two and his eyes fixed on Liz for a second.

His wings opened up and he crouched down ready to fly away from the anti-mutant protesters only to snap them shut again when the minotaur looking guy and his group were already crossing the street and holding up traffic. ”Coddle…” muttered Carrick as he pressed himself up against the window more not wanting to take off.

It seemed the anti-mutant protesters and the guy he had seen earlier with the ‘Keep Muties out of our schools’ sign was leading them back towards the store where he had seen Carrick. “See there’s one right there, the little thing gave me the finger. He things he is better than us!” Carrick heard him and dropped his jaw slightly looking from the mutants who were walking across the street and now gathering up behind him. ”No, I was agreeing with you’re sign earlier. I just happen to think I’m better than you. Maybe not yer entire group but defiantly you at least you look like yer touched with the stupid.” Carrick said shifting his eyes from one group to another as the pro-mutant rights group was now behind him. ”These closed-minded humans giving you a hard time kid?” the mutant with horns on his head asked.

Carrick shifted uncomfortably from one group to the other but still kept his body facing the anti-mutant protesters, ”ummmm… no just making me feel a lil’ uncomfortable… mobs tend to do that.” Carrick said shrugging his shoulders hoping the girls stayed inside or got to the back entrance to the store. The last thing he wanted was for Liz to get into trouble again, she had a knack for getting into trouble then again now that he thought about it the winged thief had a knack for starting it.

“What are you gonna do about it horns? Gonna charge us? Is that it!!?!?” the human asked pointing his sign in the direction of Carrick and the horned guy and his group. ”Nope, think he was just making sure I was okay.” Carrick tried to interject as the Minotaur responded ”We got ever right as you do! If this kid wants be here he can!” Carrick looked back to the Minotaur, ”Again… I’m fine!” Carrick turned his head back to the anti-mutant protesters and then his vision blurred as something struck his forehead, something heavy. A snarl turned into a roar similar to a lions only wasn’t as loud or carried as far. Carrick looked down to find a rock that must have been the culprit as he looked at it his pupils started to dilate and turn to cat like slits.

There. The tension bubble was popped. Serena already seemed to be feeling better. Elizabeth grinned. “Nah, the only wrong idea I got is an unfortunate picture of the scene. I need some brain bleach now,” she cracked, feigning a horrible grimace at the mental image of you-know-what. No. She was not gonna think about that. No Sirree. Not even a little. And even if she did she wasn’t going to confess.

Liz turned around to see what Serena was talking about, glad to changed the subject. Her smile stayed on her face, but it felt like brittle plastic. What on Earth was Carrick doing out there.

A minotaur, an angel, and a non-obviously-mutated guy met in a street....

Liz wasn’t going to ask why Carrick was outside. That was irrelevant at the moment. What was important was the body language of the three. Mr. Normal-Man seemed to be rallying himself for a scuffle. Mr. Bullhead seemed to be looking forward to said fight. Mr. I-Like-To-Take-My-Clothes-Off-And-Go-Running-Around-Girls-I’m-Not-Dating seemed to be caught in between them.

And then Carrick was stoned.

Liz gasped at the sudden impact. All at once it seemed like Carrick was about to embroiled in a street war. It wasn’t looking good. Especially since the minotaur’s group was most likely made up of mutants while the other group was most likely comprised of vanilla humans. This was going to get really ugly. She had to do something.

“Call 911!” she ordered Serena before dropping all of her possible purchases. She bolted to the front door of the establishment, ignoring every scrap of common sense. She needed to get Carrick out of there. Even though she couldn’t detect a human’s emotions, even Liz was certain that the atmosphere outside the store was not a pretty one. Someone could get killed. She didn’t want that to be Carrick. Especially since she knew he had a tendency to jump beak-first into fights.

Serena froze as she realised what was going on. Great. First the riots, and all of the commotion surrounding them, then the anxiety over telling her roommate that she had seen her boyfriend naked.

And now there were clear anti-mutant and human tensions going on outside. Serena was seriously. Getting.Sick.Of.This.

She quickly obliged to what Liz requested, Dialing the number fast shouting down the phone, she rapidly pocketed her phone and sprinted around clothes lines, forcing people out of her way.

She had to catch up to them. She assumed that Carrick could take care of himself, but Liz's mutation was completely non-offensive and to Serena's knowledge she didn't know any self defense either!

She reached the store doors and barreled through them, ready to intervene if needed.

A ringing sound was in his ear as it slowly started to fade he started to realize what was happening. He looked down to the rock that had some red on it then up to the crowd of people who were quickly getting closer and closer. The guy with the horns was the first to act he stepped forward and pushed Carrick out of the way he could see it happening and while he might have been able to catch himself and stay on his feet his vision skipped a beat and he found himself getting forced into the wall. His pupils were still dilated and his head started to hurt. Out of the corner of his eye he saw people throwing things and others closer to him swinging fists into others.

He was on the ground and someone kicked him in the stomach as they tried to step over him. Curling up into a ball he felt scared he had no idea what to do and his head still hurt that was when he saw what he thought was his girlfriend opening the door. His ears rang some more and then he felt his body started to move on its own accord. The familiar bubbling and stretching of the skin, some one stepped on his tail and he let out a roar of anger turning his head to a guy with green skin. Carrick turned again and felt an intense amount of pain all over his body this wasn’t like his normal shifts this was something far more painful did the rock do something to his powers?

Looking down to his hands as they turned into claws and then everything went dark as his vision faded and his shift continued. Another roar and his clothes started to rip and alter as fur started to cover every inch of his body. People were all around him now and everything started to smell more and more intense. Sweat, blood, fear. The fear was the strongest and his stomach growled as his shoes split apart to reveal lion like paws.

Ears pointed and fangs grew sharper as two words repeated themselves throughout his mind. Flight? Fight? Carrick’s body stood up revealing his shifted beast form and he let out a loud lions roar far louder than when he was shifting, ‘fight!’ was all he could think about.

Elizabeth got to the door and pushed. Nothing happened. By then her body slammed into the door because she hadn’t bothered to slow down one iota. After her rebound, she attempted to push the door open again. Aargh! What was going on with the stupid thing? Why wouldn’t it open?! On the third try, she pulled instead of pushing. It worked.

And then she was out on the sidewalk, watching a regular royale go down. Suddenly everything seemed louder, faster, and much, much scarier. She wasn’t even going to attempt to figure out what was going on. She just needed to get to Carrick....who was already on his feet. who was shifting.

Okay, good. He’s going gryphon. He doesn't like doing that in public, I think, but that’s smart this time. The best way to take care of himself while flying away from a fight. Perfect. Okay, I can go back in the store, wait this out. He doesn’t need--that’s not a gryphon. Not his, anyways.

Carrick’s alter ego had a distinctly bird head and a traditional quadrupedal stance. It looked an awful lot like one of the gryphons from the Narnia movie.

That’s not what Carrick was turning into.

He was turning into....into....into....

The monster!

The demon roared and the sound caused Elizabeth to slap her hands to her ears in sudden pain. It was the thing from the roofs! From the night Carrick had introduced her to Mr. Cervantes and then they all got caught up in a robbery with a lion-man kidnapping her and everything! And this creature had attacked them! And--

It was Carrick! Carrick was the creature!

She screamed.

((God modding approved by Liz))

Serena dashed outside just to see everything escalate from tense, to not okay, to complete violence... Rocks were being thrown, people were attacking each other, and Carrick was in the middle of it... And Liz was too close to it as well for Serena's liking, but what could she do?

She couldn't exactly try to break it up, she'd get the crap beaten out of her, and there was no blood for her to work with... Maybe if she could find something to cut herself on...

In the middle of the Chaos, Serena froze for a moment, and a small part of her mind clicked onto the fact that she no longer was worried about hurting people to nearly the same extent she used to be with her mutation, now in contrary, her instinctive reaction was to see how she could use her mutation to end things without getting anyone hurt.

It was a small and fast revelation, but an important one to her.

Serena watched in Horror as Carrick slowly transformed into a horrific Beast, not a Gryphon as his form would suggest, but a monster.

Liz was screaming, Carrick was preparing for combat, or so Serena assumed, And then Serena was taking charge of what she could, Tackling Liz out of the way as she nearly got flattened by a huge man falling backwards, And dragging her away from the brawl for a moment.

Carrick’s shifted cat ears twitched when he heard the scream among the chaos, for some reason it caught his attention it seemed almost familiar, almost calling to him. His shifted figure turned on paws towards the screaming blonde his silted pupils narrowed and he locked on the girl, there was fear on her face. For some reason this upset the beast. He stared at her for a second and his heartbeat started to slow just for a second he was calming when he looked at her. That was until another female tackled her then started to take her from him. Everything around him then started to become more apparent. There was someone charging him.

Carrick let out a roar of rage and dodged an oncoming blow from some one who was trying to swing a picket sign at him. The beast shifted down to all fours and dodged the strike. When the sign passed over head he pushed himself up and forward towards the man who swung on him Carrick didn’t know who he was or why he was swinging at him but the beast that was behind the wheel let out a snarl and slashed his eagle like talons towards him ripping into his leather jacket and flesh like it was warm butter. The man dropped and the beast shifted his attention back to the blonde who screamed.

Carrick’s beast form started to move towards the way of the blonde the one that he decided was his, but before he could make it towards her there was another threat. The beast’s eyes shifted and then Carrick’s form jumped up dodging another blow from a lesser male this one had horns and had just thrown a human at him. Carrick snarled as he jumped back again from another person swinging a sign at him.

Carrick didn’t know who these lesser males were but he knew they were trying to keep him from what was his, he was the alpha here he was fighting for what was his. Carrick lowered on all fours again and let out another lion like roar and jumped towards the man with horns his talons outstretched and his teeth sinking into his neck as he landed on him. Carrick’s beast form determined he was the biggest threat at the moment he was keeping him from what was his. ‘Fight’ was all that was running through his head with the occasional glance to the blonde she was his and he was going to protect her. “Bro, I’m on your side!” The Minotaur yelled as he tried to grab Carrick off of him.