Sun had set hours ago and cool, cloudless night had fallen over the city. Moon in the sky was almost full, glowing pale light brightly, surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of smaller lights, stars.
Cold wind was blowing mercilessly time after time over the streets making smaller trash and dead leaves jump and fly around playfully, flopping back on the ground after a while. It had been raining at evening. Well at least it had stopped some time ago, but the surroundings and the streets were still wet.

Limping steps were moving forwards in alley near apartment houses. Girl was dressed in dark and had tied her arms around herself. She was feeling cold even though she had a hoodie and her dear leather jacket on. Girl was called Stokely, and she had her grayish colored eyes glued on the dark, wet street as she took steps, moving on. Part of her face and neck were stained with her own blood, and she had also hurt her left leg so walking was pretty visibly limping. Sometimes she had to stop for a while to catch some air. Damn, it had been long time since she had taken hit this way in ring, and god the road back home seemed to last forever. But at least she had won the fight by biting her opponent's throat, blocking it's breathing until the dog had went completely slack.

Stokes had to stop once again and she leaned her back on the streetlamp's pole. She sweared silently and closed her eyes. This was f*cking annoying situation.
Suddenly sound of footsteps brought her back to the earth and made her open up her eyes. Someone was walking towards her. Girl grimaced and shifted her gaze to the direction where sound was coming from just to see a fat man walking like he was drunk or high. Stokes lowered her glance down on the ground. Do not pay attention. So maybe he won't pay attention to you either.

Once that man had wobbled closer it came very clear the person was on something and didn't have intention of just going away.
"What's a young lady like you doing here all alone?" man said with that unpleasant, filthy voice that would make every person around feel disgusted.
"F*ck off", Stokes hissed between her teeth with poisonous tone as she gave a warning scowl on the guy. It just made the man give a laugh.
"You're actually kinda cute that way, aggressive bitch", he continued talking with twisted grin on his face, taking slow steps towards the girl who was openly pissed off. If a glare could kill, that guy wouldn't be standing anymore.
Guy reached his hand towards her, trying to touch her and that was the last drop. Stokes raised her hand quickly and gave sharp hit on the hand of a man, making the dude pull it away.
"Get the f*ck away from me before I beat your sorry-ass up!" Stokely yelled enraged, and took a step away from the streetlamp. She kept her eyes on the dude who seemed to just gain more joy as Stokes was losing her nerves. And he opened his mouth once again, "Haha...We could have some fun together."

This was definitely not a good hour at all for Miles to be out and about, but he hadn't really planned on it. He'd stayed after school for a gaming session with friends that would take "about an hour" and it turned into a bloody tournament with money even being exchanged that ended way after sundown. He could have stayed for a sleepover but he preferred to return to Sanctuary on foot, trusting his dogs to watch his back. He hadn't walked that far when rain started to fall and he ended up killing a couple more hours under a roof waiting for the downpour to stop.

Now it was very late, the street was deserted and wet, it was getting too cold to just be wearing a black t-shirt and jeans and he still had a way to go to get home. His dogs were at his sides, so he wasn't that worried about anyone getting the jump on him but the dark, empty street under the moonlight gave the whole scenery a creepy feeling that kept him on edge. There was no one on the street, except for the woman leaning on the lamp post way ahead of him.

What was a young lady like her doing there all alone?

A large man trailed her but stopped wobbling as soon as he got close to her. He stretched his hand to touch her and Miles heard her curse. The man was undeterred and the woman threatened him, but he still kept on bothering her.

Miles was not the heroic type by a long shot, but there were always things that could raise a person's spirits up. He knew a wimpy fifteen year old had little chance of scaring a large, drunk man away from harassing the poor woman, but what if a big, black dog from hell intervened instead?

"You're up" he whispered to Astor as he mentally commanded him to approach the pair and scare the man away while Miles himself stayed back in shadow with Tinaker by his side. The moonlit, wet street was the perfect stage for his demonic looking beast to make an entrance which he did by walking in the middle of it and letting loose a loud, guttural bark that echoed within the walls of the buildings around them. His bright red eyes were the only thing that could be seen in the middle of the night and they were staring right at the beady eyes of the fat man.

Miles wanted to see this up close, so he let his mind connect with Astor's senses, allowing him to see the man's scared face...

... and smell the woman's blood.

Did he... had the man attacked the woman before Miles caught sight of them? Was she actually escaping him and maybe she was too tired to keep running? Was the teenager a witness to something far more serious than harassment? Miles gave his dog another mental command.

"Knock him down."

Like a shadow turning into flesh, muscle and bone, the canine lunged forward growling all the way, but instead of biting at the man's arm and pulling him down like a normal dog would, he jumped and pushed the man off balance with his muscular front legs. The large man toppled on his back and Astor stood on his belly and chest, growling and showing his teeth a mere inch away from the man's face.

Miles smirked, but then he realized that as scared as the man was at having a hellhound on top of him, the woman would probably freak out, so he came out of the shadows and started running towards her with Tinaker at his side.

"Don't worry!" he yelled as he started to approach her, waving his arms. "Don't worry! The dog's with me! He won't hurt you!"

"You're really getting on my nervers fatty!" Stokely spitted words out. It would be great idea to shift into dog form now and bite him in very sensitive place, but right now she was way too enraged to focus on shape-shifting. But castration would be a great thing to do to a person like that man.
Her ears picked up sounds of steps which were getting closer from behind. But those steps didn't belong to a human, did they..? No. It was something else. Probably a stray dog or something like that. She kept her burning glare on the guy, not even blinking.

Then loud and harsh bark split the air, echoing from wall to wall. Sudden, loud noise made Stokes startle, and fatty seemed to get even more surprized since he hadn't heard anyone else on street. He wasn't staring at her anymore, but instead in direction the bark came from. From sound of it the dog couldn't be a small little poodle, and by looking frightened expression on man's face it didn't look too kind either.

Man seemed to forget her presense completely and it made Stokes feel even more uncomfortable. So Stokely just couldn't help but turn around and follow his eyes, just to see two glowing red lights in darkness.
'What the..' were her immediate thoughts and she didn't have enough time to think further since those red glowing things were now moving closer, fast, and bloodcurdling dog-like growl was all she was able to hear in that point.

Everything seemed to happen so fast. She took a few hasty steps back, and a huge, black dog with glowing eyes pushed man very easily on the ground.
"What the f*uck?!" Stokes screamed out and kept backing up, stumbling a little, but at least she didn't fall over. What was that dog? It had a size of some sort of mastiff but it... Damn, that wasn't normal. That dog was not normal. Stokes had seen alot of different dogs in her working place but she had never seen anything so...creepy. Those eyes were like the eyes of a devil, glowing soulessly red in dark.
Her heart was beating so hard it might jump out from her chest anytime, and she kept her eyes locked on the man and demonic dog on him, and she was absolutely sure soon the dog would just bite his face off.

Then more surprises were about to come, and more footsteps were getting closer-- and a voice of a young boy telling to not worry. Girl shifted her eyes immediately to the direction of sound and by her look you could tell she was not very convinced or too glad. She had had a horrible evening in fight club, she had to walk home in rain and it was cold and uncomfy, she was in pain, that fat featherbrain had pissed her off, then this demon dog popped up and caused her a motherf*cking heart attack and next thing happening is young kid showing up and telling not to worry? Oh, yeah, well... This had to be the best day ever! ...Not.

"Get it off..!" man, lying under huge drool machine yelped, trying to avoid looking dog's face. And after just few seconds he repeated it, "Get it off!"

Stokes raised her left hand on her forehead and recited probably all the swearwords she knew in one long litany before she took a deep breath, and tried to calm her mind down even a little. But then she just lost it again.
"Why did-- Where did-- ... Who the hell are you?! And-- And what are those..things?!" Stokely yelled out somewhere between shock, rage and disbelief, looking at the fatty (who had probably wet himself already) and the huge dog, and the short boy and another dog in turns. It was first time to her to see something so unnatural. She was a shape-shifter, but it didn't feel like anything compared to this madness!

When Miles approached the woman, he was expecting an 'Oh!' or an 'oh my god!' or maybe even a 'Goodness gracious me!' but the damsel in distress had a bit of a sailor's vocabulary and filled him with swear words where the letter 'F' was king. She was royally pissed and for a moment, the teenager thought he had overreacted and maybe his help wasn't needed after all.

The man on the ground demanded to have the dog off him and the woman wanted to know who he was and what his dogs were, but he wasn't about to blurt his real name out to strangers, specially in front of the guy who could be anytthing from a harmless nuisance to a serial killer. Even under the shadows of her own chin and nose with the light from the lamp post shining down on her he could see traces of her blood on her face, so he was still hesitant about letting the man go, no matter how many times he yelled to have Astor off his chest and belly.

"Shut up!" he snapped back at the man while pointing his finger at him. Then he opened both palms up and showed them to the woman, just so she would see he meant her no harm and maybe calm down with the F***ing french.

"I'm... just passing by" he said, still not wanting to reveal his name so easily. "I thought you needed help. The dogs are with me and that's all they are. My dogs. They won't hurt you" he told her, trying to calm her down.

"You're bleeding" he added, showing some concern. He was no doctor yet, but he had a higher than average knowledge of the human body, compared to your ordinary teenager, since studying medicine was one of his interests, however, he couldn't tell at first glance how she got her wounds. Was the man carrying a knife he didn't know about? Was his dog in danger?

"Did he do it?" he asked, nodding his head towards the man, who still had an angry dog on top of him. "Because if he did, I'm not letting him go off so easily..."

Surprisingly a big dog had scared the man so badly he actually did shut his mouth when young one told him to do so. He looked almost paralyzed, lying there, not even moving a single finger. Only his chest and belly were moving along his fast breathing. Man was probably afraid the dog would rip his head off if he did something.

Stokely frowned and stopped her eyes on the young boy who had just arrived. Local hero, huh? She raised her eyebrow and gave a quick glance at the smaller red-eyed dog which was standing beside the boy. Oh well, sorry, kid, but your dogs are creepy as hell!
"Okay..?" Stokes said in disbelief and wrapped her arms around herself again, keeping her eyes on this strange youngster. This whole situation was very strange.
Then boy noted her bleeding, and she lowered her gaze on ground for a few seconds. She was still feeling very tense but at least she had calmed down a little from what she was a while ago.

On the inside she was actually glad the boy had arrived with his monstrous hellhounds. She was injured, and it would've been troublesome and painful for her to have to have a physical fight with that fatty by herself. Oh well, but she was way too stubborn to express any gratefulness in this situation. Instead she had a strong thought of 'I-don't-need-your-help' inside her head. But she didn't want to say that out loud either because in the end it would really help alot if boy's hound would drive that man away. Yeah. Even though Stokes was impulsive, she wasn't stupid.

When the boy asked did the man do it to her, Stokely met his eyes again with her own. She looked at the man who was still on the ground. Quick glance to the boy, and back to the fatty. Oh yes... Stokes touched her bloody left side of forehead with her fingers. Some of the blood was already dried on her forehead, cheek, nose and neck, and some of it was still fresh and wet.
"Yeah", Stokely said shortly, keeping a judgemental look in man. Dark night was by her side since wounds didn't show up.
"I don't know him but some time ago he tried to speak me over to go to his place and when I told him to leave me alone he just attacked me", she told with spite and anger in her voice, still keeping her eyes on man lying under the big black dog. "I got away but didn't quess he'd follow..damn fat bastard!"

"..bitch is lying!" man opened his mouth once again.

"Shut up wanker and face the f*cking facts!" she yelled out as hard as she could, grimaced and turned her hatered filled eyes to the youngster and took a deep breath. She was pretty good at lying.
"But this is..this is between me and him. You don't really have to bother", Stokes said with lowered tone, looking at the boy under her eyebrows and gave a small, forced smile which disappeared almost immediately, 'I'll be fine', to him before she once again looked at the fatty lying on the street.

Oh yes, she did want to see what that boy meant it when he said he wouldn't let that fat-ass go that easily. She didn't want him to get away with pissing her off so easily, even though he really hadn't even touched her. But that was a fact the boy didn't need to know. That man deserved trouble.

They were arguing now, her accusing him of stalking her and beating her up, him insulting her and calling her a liar. The brown haired mutant felt like he was getting into a bit more than he bargained for. It would have been easier to just scare the man away and take her to the hospital or something, but now that the man was pegged on the floor and not only that but actually guilty of beating her, Miles felt like he couldn't just let him off the hook unscathed.

Then again, what sort of punishment was he supposed to dish out? He was no vigilante and the guy was drunk, but it still angered him to see a man twice the size of the girl trying to take advantage of her. If Miles were the violent sort, he would have ordered his dog to chew him up a bit, blood for blood and all that, keep a few scars as a reminder of what you did even after the hangover had passed, but the boy did not have that mean streak on him; unless of course, he ended up triggering his dark mode. In that case, the kid gloves were off.

As he thought what to do, something odd did call his attention. Miles looked at the girl's face, where he could easily see the dried blood, mostly on her cheek and forehead, then looked down at the man's clean hands. He was flat on his back, so the light from the lamp managed to illuminate him completely and there wasn't a shred of blood on his clothes either. Did he use a knife? Why wasn't he carrying it now? Maybe he hit her with a bat or a stick or chair and dropped it wherever the quarrel started. He could feel his blood heat up just at the thought of that.

"No, it shouldn't be between him and you" Miles said. "And you won't be fine if we just let it go. He could try this again with you tomorrow or with someone else, so he needs to learn his lesson. He needs to know there are consequences" the teenager said as he slipped his hand in one of his pockets, looking for something he had tucked in them. He was upset and determined to make the man pay, but he could not leave it to the dog. This is something he needed to do himself. They might regret it afterwards or even get in trouble for it, but Miles was willing to risk it.

The boy pulled a cellphone out of his pocket.

"I'm calling 911" he said.

Stokely let out a short, frustrated hiss when boy told the man had to learn his lesson for what he had done. And she was just about to brag how she could give the man a lesson beating him up all by herself, to show that nobody messes with her. But before she had time to open her mouth young dog owner had pulled a cellphone out from his pocket and told he was gonna call to emergency number.

Stokes frowned and glanced the boy with warning look on her face.
"Oh no you're not", she scowled.
Woman took a step towards him, being careful not to step too heavily with his injured foot.
"No-one's calling anywhere."

She turned her eyes to a man with unforgiving, cold look on her face.
"If you want to see him getting what he deserves I can do it hell alot faster than 911 personnel."
Boy hadn't heard her name, she hadn't heard his name either so they didn't know each other. Also, there was something weird in his dogs, they weren't normal. So maybe she could try to calm her mind a little more so she could shape-shift. Fighting with one sore leg was easier when there was four legs instead of two.
"Just put the phone away."

Miles couldn't help feeling uneasy when she told him to put the phone away and confessing she had a way to deal with the man faster than 911. In a way, he was glad she was suggesting not to call them, since his 'runaway' situation was still unresolved and the last thing he needed was to talk to cops and then have his face match some 'lost' poster back at their station.

He didn't like the idea of her taking care of her own vengeance, so to speak. The man was on the ground because of Miles, the woman was bloodied and angry and who knows what kind of crazy payback she probably had in mind. What if she stabbed him back? He didn't know if the woman could end up going overboard and getting him killed or something.

"All right" he said without argument to putting his phone away "...but you're hurt and he's drunk and I don't want this getting out of hand, so let me handle it..."

Handle it... how?

The guy was getting noisier, demanding to have the dog removed, still calling the woman names and had just started to question Miles' manhood. Telling the man anything, including threats, was a waste of time because the chances of him remembering anything were minimal. His hollering was starting to get loud and even though this street was not particularly filled with apartment buildings, the bellowing would soon start calling other people's attention.

"I've got an idea. I'll just give him something to remember you by" Miles said, as he took four or five steps backward. He pretty much stood on the street, stretched his legs a little, bent down like he was about to start a race, then sprinted forward towards the man. A mental command made Astor jump off the man's chest, who started to flail his arms, knowing the teenager was up to something.

WHUMPH!

The kick on the man's balls was so swift and hard he yelled to the high heavens. So loud, that his uvula probably snapped off and left his mouth with the scream. Angels were probably wondering 'What the hell was that?'. The Mars rover Curiosity detected faint soundwaves from the scream and NASA thought they had found life, but nope, it was just a man on earth getting his balls kicked all the way up his esophagus.

The man now recoiled in pain, grabbing his crotch and rolling to his side. Miles could have sworn he was whimpering.

"There. Was that good enough for you?" he asked the woman, hoping she realized they needed to get out of there fast.

Gladly the boy didn't start to argue about the phonecall and put the phone away. She felt a pinch of irritation inside when he mentioned her condition and said he could handle it. Did that youngster think she was weak? That she couldn't beat one drunk bastard up? Man was keeping very annoying vocal disturbance on. Something had to be done to make him know his place.

Stokely looked at youngster from the corner of her eye as he seemed to be up to something. She raised her eyebrow not sure what he had in his mind when backing up.
And then the boy took a fast sprint towards the man, the dog jumped out of the way and then--!

Stokes automatically put her hand over her mouth in very surprised and a little bit shocked way, but after just few milliseconds a gloating grin spread on her face and gave restrained laugh. But when man's pain filled shriek splitted the air, she winced in pain - her ears didn't enjoy that sound much so she shifted her hands over her ears to cover them up. Even with that sharp pain in her ears, she felt great amusement of what she had just witnessed.

Once the man had got out of breath with his yelling and rolled on his side, still keeping voices which let them know how it felt like currently, Stokes felt it to be safe to uncover her ears. Boy asked if that had been enough, she nodded and gave him a grin.
"Yeah", she said, "it was actually pretty damn good."

The grin faded from Stokely's face and she looked around to see if there was any movement or anything else that would show if anyone saw what happened, or if anyone was coming to see where that loud-ass screaming came from.
She gave a quick glance on the whimpering man before looking at the boy.
"He was quite loud, we'd better get going before we get more company."
Fatty was letting out some swearwords, still laying on the ground in pain and cursing the boy in to the hell's darkest dungeon. The fatty could stay rolling on street but they had to get out of there before they'd get in trouble.

Stokely turned to the way she had been walking to, gave a look on the boy to make sure if he was going to come in same direction and started to walk in limping way along the street.
"Your clothing ain't very suitable for this weather", she pointed out, keeping her eyes in street.
"So well...you feeling cold? Cause if you are, my place ain't far away", Stokely felt quite uneasy saying that. She wasn't a person who usually helped others even as a return for someone giving her some help. But sometimes it's fun to act against normal habits, eh? Oh, well, no. Not really.
Stokely would've wanted to ask about his dogs once again, but she didn't like to give in to curiousity too much.

The teenager was glad that she seemed satisfied with his brand of punishment even though he wasn't fond of attacking people but if the man beat her up like that, it was well deserved. He also agreed that staying around was no longer wise, so he followed her in a trot only to notice he passed her by easily. She was limping. Dammit, he should have kicked the man twice.

She was right on the money regarding his clothes, since Miles had no plan to still be outside at this ungodly hour at all. He should have been in Sanctuary ages ago and the moment she offered him to warm up, Miles considered his options.

This was kind of sudden. He had just met the woman, but as long as he had his dogs with him he never really felt in any danger. She was also hurt and Miles had a natural inclination to assist the wounded (except if they were sleazy, women-beating, fat men calling them names) so parting ways with her made him feel much more uncomfortable than just agreeing to stop by her place and maybe get something warmer to wear on his way out. If she was hurt too much, he'd urge her to check herself in a hospital and if she wasn't, he could leave with a clean conscience.

"All right. Thanks! I really appreciate it" he said gladly, rubbing his arms with his hands to warm them up a little. His dogs were trailing them both and suddenly Miles wondered if they'd be any trouble for her, Astor being as big as he was and not knowing if her place was small or even if dogs were allowed. Specially his dogs with their... peculiar looks.

"I just hope the dogs don't give you any trouble? They're quite... obedient and won't even beg for food".

Stokely looked at the boy from the corner of her eye as he agreed her offer to visit her place.
"No problem", she said shorly and shifted her look to forward. She took fast steps, trying to somehow step carefully with her wounded leg. Every step felt nasty, sharp pain on every time she stepped, and every time she lifted her leg for another step. It was irritaing, but Stokes didn't complain or show her suffering too visibly. She had felt worse than this, she was able to handle it.

When the boy asked did the dogs give her trouble, she turned her head to look behind where she heard their steps. She felt chills since those dogs looked very demonic.
"Not at all", she turned her eyes to her young companion for a while once again. "They're fine.as long as they don't s*it or piss on my carpet, or destroy my furniture."
Her voice was a little tense because of the pain on her leg.
Stokes didn't have any problems with having animals in her apartment, in the end she sometimes spent time in her apartment in her pit bull form.
She wapped her arms around herself again to fight cold. God she missed summer already.

"I'm Stokely by the way", she introduced herself keeping her eyes on the street. Only a few blocks and they were in there.

Stokely was clearly in pain but she was really good at not complaining. She gave Miles a look with her grey eyes, told him the dogs were not an issue if they behaved and introduced herself. The young mutant saw no reason not to do the same.

"I'm Miles, nice to meet you" he replied. "The dogs shouldn't give you any problems then, they're far less messy than ordinary dogs" he added, not really bothering to go into detail regarding the dog's lack of any need to relieve themselves. It's like they ran on batteries nowadays, like his life giving touch gave them all the energy they'd ever need and eating or sleeping were now useless endeavours they no longer cared for.

He kept following her and wondering if maybe they should go to a clinic instead but she didn't seem the type to visit doctors or accept an arm to hold on to, which is why Miles didn't really offer one. She was a tough chick and it was getting too cold to go anywhere too far anyway. Miles was already beginning to shiver under his skimpy t-shirt but he wasn't about to start an 'Are we there yet?' litany. He just hoped her place was really close and hopefully with some food on the fridge because his stomach was starting to make it's presence known.

"We should grab a bite to eat" he suggested, just in case they passed by a diner or an open 24 hours restaurant. "Unless you've got some food at your place as well, I'd really appreciate a snack".

Stokely nodded when boy introduced himself. Miles, huh? Now that Miles mentioned normal dogs instead of other dogs it made her want to ask about those red eyed hellhounds again. But she didn't. At least not yet.
She felt funny, tickling feeling inside her. So she wasn't the only special one out here, right? But there were two unordinary dogs. Were they shape-shifters like she was or how the heck where they that way? As far as she knew there was not mutant dogs. Or was there something in the boy...
And suddenly Stokely found herself staring at Miles for way too long from the corner of her eye, and quickly she turned her eyes away. Being rude wasn't a new thing to her at all but staring like that was kinda awkward thing to do.

Miles expressed his hunger saying they should go to get something to eat. And well, even though Stokes didn't feel hunger currently the last time she ate was in morning. So it didn't sounds like a bad idea.
"Well there's a fast food restaurant just across the street from where I live, that okay for you?" she said after thinking for a little while and gave him questioning look. She tried to keep her voice normal even though she felt uncomfortable sting on the wound on her leg.
Young boys like Miles usually weren't that type who don't eat fast food. Stokes wasn't a big fan of that kind of food, she liked to cook her own stuff. Gladly the restaurant she mentioned offered alot of different foods.

Stokely turned right between two buildings to a street which was more narrow than the one they had been walking along, cement wall at the other side and thick bushes at the other side.
Smells in air were some of those things which were telling they were about to arrive where they were orienteered to. Smell mix from cars, musty smell of alcohol, cigar and human-sweat from the pub, smell of food from the restaurant... Alot of familiar smells mixed up together and sensed separately by her strong canine senses.

Finally they got out from small alleys to a bigger, long one. And as they turned left, they were able to see a restaurant just a little further, across the street. And it was open.
"That's the place", she mentioned. On their way to the restaurant they would walk pass the doorway to her apartment, but gladly the distances weren't long at all. She could clean some of the blood off of her face in restaurant's restroom.

The young mutant was following Stokely while his gaze was more or less downcast and looking at the ground as they walked. From the corner of his eyes, he felt her staring at him. Why? Did he have a massive zit on his nose or what? It's like she was... puzzled, trying to figure something out from him but the boy couldn't guess out what she wanted to know. He raised his eyes to look straight at her grey ones but she had already looked away when he did.

When she suggested a fast food restaurant nearby, he actually felt his stomach growl as the mere notion of thinking about the food kicked his acids into high gear. "That's perfect, actually" he replied, then followed it with his own suggestion. "If you're... too hurt though, we could order it to go and then just cross the street to your home. I'll feel much better knowing you've checked your wounds at least."

He followed her, trusting she knew her way around as she took a turn down an alley and then another one. It didn't seem like the safest place to be at that hour, but his dogs had the uncanny ability of making people think twice about crossing his path.

When the light from the restaurant came into view, Miles beamed. A bit of warmth and a bit of food would come in nicely.

Wait a minute... was she inviting? He didn't remember if she mentioned that and Miles wallet wasn't padded up enough to buy for both, even if it was the gentlemanly thing to do. Crap, this was embarrassing, but what could you expect from a teenager living in a mutant shelter who ran away from home? The little money he had would probably be enough for his meal, IF the restaurant wasn't expensive.

"Uhm... hope you don't mind if we split the bill, right?" he blurted out, blushing a little.

Stokes gave quick, poisonous glare at Miles when he mentioned if she was too hurt. But in the end it wasn't a bad idea to take the food and go to eat at her place. At least there wouldn't be too curious ear- and eye pairs around them in there.
"I'm fine, but at least we'd avoid curious looks at my place."
Plus, it would be warmer and more comfortable at her home.

They were getting closer and closer to the restaurant and suddenly Miles asked about splitting the bill.
"Not a problem at all", Stokely said and kept her eyes on the road.

And finally they just had to cross the road and get in to the restaurant. She was wondering what Miles would do to dogs which weren't allowed to get in.
As she entered the building Stokes couldn't resist the sigh of relief. At least there wasn't as cold as outside. Decoration was very bright colored, and the place was pretty clean.

Middle-aged, moustached man behind the counter looked at the two with welcoming look on his face, but when he noticed the blood on girl's face he got startled a little.
Stokely gave friendly smile at the man just to keep him from asking anything or worrying too much. She tried her best to walk as normal as she could as she got closer to order. Poor man had probably got confused a little since he couldn't get a word out. Stokes acted like nothing was wrong.
"Hi, I want..." she browsed quickly through the menu which was on the wall, with her eyes, and then continued. "... I want chicken wrap."
"Okay", he said and pressed it on the cash register. "Anything else?"
Stokely turned to look at Miles.
"I can pay yours too. Take what ever you want", she told. "My salute for the kick."
She had got some extra money from fights. And the kick Miles had done had been so amusing that Stokes didn't have hard feelings of paying his part. He deserved it.