Continued From Here

The Beach.

Just a little outside of New York, Leila made her way by car as the sun begun to set. About three weeks ago, she would of never expected to be doing this again, but she was. Leila Mariella Harte was going to actually try and turn into her Dolphin self in this rather small area of Salt water. The only thing is, was she ready for the World to know she was a Mutant? If ever someone simply saw her shifting? That would be trouble, but how about anyone else who's Mutation is actually visible? They have to bare with stares and gasps everyday.

She could handle it. Right? So what if she didn't get much dates from scared Humans... There were plenty of cooler, smarter Mutant men to get her hands on, and truthfully, they were all so much better-looking, Leila adjusted her sunglasses and she turned the wheel to park on the pale sand. The Beach was lovely, even in this late November weather. Sure, definately not hot enough for a human to swim in, but a Dolphin? Only two seconds in Salt Water and she'd be one.

Other then that though, Leila wasn't afraid of all the people she lived with anymore, actually, she was greatful for them. Seriously, being with people of you're own kind was pretty cool. Even a little soothing. She wasn't used to Humans knowing she was one of them though, her Manager at the Café knew, as he had seen Sam, he knew Leila could do something too, what she could do was still a mystery to anyone outside the Mansion though.

Sighing, she grabbed her sweater and pulled it on, she'd have to get her clothes off before touching the water though, but she wasn't so scared of exposing her naked body. Less so then exposing herself as a Dolphin! A few minutes later, Leila was standing, fully undressed, her bag of clothes hidden behind those Life Preservers so no one would steal it, leaving her to go home naked. With one deep breath, she dove, feeling her limbs changing instantly. It had worked. But then, why couldn't she speak with her Fish friends at home just a few hours ago?

When resurfaced to do her famous Dolphin jump however, she saw somebody gawping at her. Bitting her Dolphin lip, Leila fell back in the water and swam towards the Quai she had recently left.

The Beach.

Not the kind of beach that immediately jumps to most minds. There were no palm trees and no colorful umbrellas. No lifeguards or tanning women and men laying on colorful cloths. No children splashing about and building sandcastles (though during his transformation through childhood to his ancient unicorn form Sebastian had been tempted to do so himself). Here the waters were cold and the sand was caked and hard. The dunes were covered in sparse grass that was the only thing keeping them from blowing away or washing into the sea. The only shells were battered and broken by the rough tide until they were nothing but small shards. The beach was deserted. Almost.

There was a four footed animal trotting along the edge of the sea, letting the cold salty water lap against his hooves. He was white in color and almost seemed luminescent when the light hit the short fur that covered his entire body. He was taller than a goat, but shorter and more slender than a horse. His face was long and thin, with light blue eyes, a long goatee growing from his chin, and large nostrils that quivered at each new scent in the salty air. Perhaps the most distinguishing feature was the iridescent white spiral horn that grew from the center of his forehead. This, ladies, gentlemen, and dolphins, was a middle-aged unicorn.

The unicorn didn't mind the chilly air at all. In this form, he was well adapted to temperatures even colder than these early winter days. Even if it had been deep winter, he would have been quite comfortable staying outdoors all day, which, for the record, was what he was planning on doing today. Sometimes a unicorn just has to get out and stretch his legs.

He wasn't paying particular attention to time, or to where he was heading as he trotted down the shore. He wasn't paying particular attention to anything. He was content to let his mind and gaze wander as they wished. When he got hungry, he would stop for a snack of dune grass and contently watch the waves crashing into the sand. At some point he noticed a lone dolphin jump out of the water, but when she disappeared from sight under the water, his mind wandered to another topic. Lazily, the unicorn munched on his snack. Dune grass. Really quite delicious.

The Beach

Hylonme was walking along the beach, marveling at how her hooves left prints in the sand as she went, and taking in every feature of the, to her, marvelous body of water. A lone dolphin was jumping excitedly in and out of the water, and the dance of water and animal caught and held Hylonme's attention. This was the first time she had ever heard of or seen a dolphin so it was quite an occasion.

Dolphins and footprints were not, however, why she had come to the beach. She had figured that the beach would be relatively deserted at this cold time of year, and had decided to take her bow and her quiver of arrows out for some practice. She had them both slung over her back, and had a sandwich of wheat bread and turkey in a small bag she had mooched off of Lisa.

So, Hylonme chose a place that looked good, with little wind, and took aim at a distant dune, choosing one that was at the far end of her range. She sighted, pulled back, and fired a single shot, one made for accuracy above all else. She followed it with her eyes, watching the homemade arrow thud into the ground, half-a-foot from where she had been aiming. Wind, of course. Then, as she was looking up to the sky, she saw a flash of white, strangly out of place.

She trotted at a moderate pace towards her arrow and the white flash, which quickly came to resolve itself into the form of a small, thin, white horse with a spiraling horn growing out of it's forhead. It bent down to rip a small bite of dune grass and munch on it, and all Hylonme could do was stare in gawping amazement for a while. This creature was of an awe-inspiring beauty not possesed of any mortal creature. There was almost a shining aura of glamour about it, and it was so splendous that all Hylonme could say was, "What is that?"

Leila had finally reached the Quai, where a young man, no older then she was, stood there, slowlu, he started backing away. Lrila did a small jump, pushing her body towards him so that her Dolphin nose nearly touched his feet. Maybe, she could just pretend to be a Dolphin without a Human Brain? Pretend the only thing this Human had seen was an Illusion? Sure, that sounded quite possible to do. She just had to leave here, do a few jumps and stay under water until she couldn't hear him anymore. Truly, she could do that.

She shuffled herself under-water, the Man was now half way from the Quai. "That was close," Leila thought as she swam further and further on the right. To her surprise, she saw a lovely Unicorn and... Could those two be Mutants? Seriously, they didn't seem like normal Animals. So Leila quickly wen't back to the Quai, where her clothes were waiting for her. As she took one giant leap, she concentrated hard on Transforming back.

Before she had even touched the old wooden Quai, her slimy, fish smelling body was no more. In it's place was a dripping wet blonde woman that was, clearly, naked. Leila put a hand in her hair to untangle it a little as she got dressed in her jeans and sweater, when she spotted the two Creatures again. This was bugging her, should she, or should she not go speak to them? At least she knew her Abilities worked. Should she just go home?

Leila was now fully dressed again, the two Creatures didn't even seem to notice a girl just a dozen feet away from them. Her choices remained in her head as she started to walk back to her car, should she, or should she not? She decided on going to see them, and with a half hearted smile, she walked back towards where she came from, stopping half way. "Hi," she said in a loud enough voice so the two could hear and no one else.

He hadn't been paying attention before, but he was certainly was paying attention now, especially with that arrow shaft still quivering where it had lodged itself into the cold sand not far from where he had been enjoying his snack. Strike that, the arrow hadn't lodged itself, but rather, someone had lodged it. Someone with a bow. Someone who was standing down the beach with their bow. Someone whom the unicorn recognized, but whom may not recognize him. He remembered quite suddenly and quite vividly that the centauress Hylonme had lived in the wild before coming to the Sanctuary. The unicorn wondered then something he had never wondered before. What do centaurs eat?

She was staring at him. The unicorn stared back. If she so much as reached for another arrow, he would be out of there so fast there might be a sonic boom as air rushed in to take the spot he had formerly been occupying. In fact, he was so focused on watching his potentially hunting-for-food neighbor, that he completely missed the naked blonde girl.

>>>"Hi,"
said the very quiet voice of a girl very close to Sebastian's location. If either the new girl or the centauress had never seen a unicorn skitter before, they got their chance about a millisecond after that small word slipped out of the dripping girl's mouth, for the unicorn chose that moment to scamper behind one of the dunes like a frightened deer who'd heard a gunshot.

Hylonme continued to watch the creature as it stared at her arrow, and then it turned to look at her. A flicker of recognition flashed in his eyes, which confused Hylonme. She was sure that she had never seen a creature like this before, and furthermore, she wasn't exactly something you saw everyday either.

"Hi." A diminutive girl had snuck up on Hylonme and the creature, and it's word sent the creature scampering.

When the first note of the word reached Hylonme's ears, she pulled an arrow out from her quiver quick-as-a flash and nocked it, sighted it, and released it. The flashing shaft went right past the girl's left elbow, close enough to snag a tear on the fabric of her shirt. As soon as the first arrow was released, a second one was notched, this one aimed right for her heart. "Make no sudden moves, or you die."

Leila raised an eyebrow as she watched the Unicorn - she could now tell it was one - scamper off to hide behind a sand dune, maybe this wasn't a Mutant afterall? She shrugged, but at that instant, she saw a flicker of silver pass her, taring her sleeve half way apart. Spinning around, she caught sight of the second Creature; it was actually a beautiful Centaur.

This, Leila thought, was definately a Mutant. She eyed the Bow quickly, it was aimed right at the girl's chest. Silently, Leila raised her hands in the air, very, very slowly. "I mean no harm," she said calmy as she stayed there, slightly scared. The Practice with Sam wasn't really useful in this situation; though she could easily dodge the Arrow, this horse/woman had plenty more.

If only Sam was here, he could easily put himself in front of her with a couple of Ice men and a sheild of ice to protect him. Sighing, she gulped and returned her attention to the Centaur. "I don't mean any harm, don't worry... I didn't mean to scare you guys off, I just thought..." but she drifted off, what she thought wasn't important anymore.

The unicorn listened as his four hoofed neighbor sent another arrow twanging from her bow. Was that aimed at him? This was one of those situations in which it would be really useful to be able to talk as a unicorn. In his more human form he could use dozens of different languages he had picked up over the years to navigate his way though misunderstandings, but as a unicorn he was left with only the body language and vocalization range of a glorified horse-goat. Did centaurs perhaps understand the horse language? In this case, the unicorn wasn't sure that even that would save him. While Hylonme was female, there was no doubt that out of the two of them she was the more dominant personality, in addition to being larger and stronger. No, the unicorn was probably better off leaving now and trying to explain to her back at the Sanctuary that he didn't appreciate being on her menu.

>>>"Make no sudden moves, or you die."

Since he had already initiated his own series of sudden moves, namely running away, the horned quadruped had to assume that Hylonme was talking to the new comer. It seemed she was just as easily startled as he was himself. It made sense, considering the healthy dose of equine adrenaline that probably ran through both of their systems. If the centaur woman was threatening the wet blonde girl, it probably also meant that the second twang had been meant as a warning for her and not a second attempt to make him into a unicorn steak.

He slowed his retreat and came to a stop in a place where he could hear what was happening. He would feel rather badly if the the suddenly appearing young woman was injured because of him. Although she had frightened him, she hadn't actually done anything hostile other than sneak up on him when his attention was rather occupied. She was probably innocent.

>>>"I don't mean any harm, don't worry... I didn't mean to scare you guys off, I just thought..."

The unicorn peered around an entirely different sand dune from the one behind which he had originally disappeared. His assessment of the blonde girl's innocence remained the same. Briefly he considered changing back to his human form. It took quite a bit of time and left him rather useless throughout the transformation, though, which would take about 12 minutes to get from his current state to one that was not completely useless due to crippling old age or immature mindset. The option remained open, but he decided against it for now, in favor of watching to see what happened next.

"I mean no harm,"

"I'm sure." Hylonme said sarcastically. The girl seemed to be very frightened, just as any sane person would be. If the girl made any sudden moves or reached for anything on her person, she would find several very pointy objects embedded quite painfully in her chest.

"I don't mean any harm, don't worry... I didn't mean to scare you guys off, I just thought..."

"What? Thought what?" Hylonme snorted, a sound that was all too similar to a horse snort, and stamped her hoof. "It matters little. Turn around, and lay on the ground." She commanded.

Leila watched, slightly stunned at the girl's comment. "Are you a Cop or something?" she asked, her tone a little sarcastic, though her face remained tense, afraid. She didn't move, looking at the Centaur. "You really want to know what I thought?" she asked, her face changing from frighteness to threateningness. She wasn't going to do what this girl....horse.....Centaur said, even if she'd die for it. If this thing killed her, she'd have a Unicorn as a witness.

But could the Unicorn transform back to a Human? Was he a Mutant? She didn't want to take many chances here, why had she just not decided to go to her car when she could? Now she was facing a life and death situation. Nice. "Do you?" she repeated, the same air of bitterness lurking in her voice. "I was thinking both of you were like me. Both of you had Abilities, super abilities, if you want it that way." she said, not daring to say the word 'Mutant' as it was probably an insult, like Iron had said.

"But," she added, slowlly lowering one hand and pointing at the Creature. "I won't obey you, I'm not you're slave." she said. Why was this even happening anyway?

Maybe centaurs ate humans. After all, according to the old stories, the centaurs had been flesh eaters. Being half wild beast and half human put the centaurs of legend in a sticky predicament. They were intelligent, but they were not in control of their instincts. Hylonme seemed to embody a dichotomy of natures parallel to that of the mythological creatures whom she so resembled physically.

The unicorn was sure the tall hoofed mutant wouldn't really shoot the blonde. Certainly the centauride had spent time in the wild and might be a bit jumpy, but certainly not a murderer. She was just talking tough because she had been frightened. Sebastian resorted to flight, and Hylonme to fight.

>>>"I was thinking both of you were like me. Both of you had Abilities, super abilities, if you want it that way." ... "But, I won't obey you, I'm not you're slave."

The unicorn snorted. He wouldn't have taunted a string happy huntress with an arrow pointed right at his chest if he were her. If he were himself he would maybe taunt a Hunter, but only in rare circumstances in which he was trying to protect someone in need pf protection. He was a healer, after all, and was fairly well equipped to survive a bow shot, even if it would be rather uncomfortable.

And yeah, he should probably go stand between the girl and the horse girl. It wouldn't do to just sit by and watch someone get shot.

A white form reappeared from behind the sand dune and trotted back the the flat part of the beach once again. Deliberately he stood between the two females and purposely made eye contact with the taller equine. Don't even think about shooting, his gaze read. It was interesting to note that he felt more brave facing an arrow that was definitely pointing at and through him, than when faced with the spent arrow already in the sand and the uncertainty of whom that arrow had been pointed at.

"I was thinking both of you were like me. Both of you had Abilities, super abilities, if you want it that way." ... "But, I won't obey you, I'm not you're slave."

Hylonme had to give the obviously frightened girl credit. Her voice had not the slightest bit of a tremor, just an air of bitterness. Hylonme could smell the fear coming off of her in waves, but she supposed that some of it might be coming from herself. That girl had really scared the crap out of her when she showed up. "You've got stones, girl, I'll give you that much." The creature reappeared, this time to stand in between Hylonme and the girl, giving Hylonme a look that obviously said Don't even think about shooting.

"What's your problem then, eh? What are you anyways, some kind of mutated goat-horse?" Hylonme shook her head and chuckled, then muttered "If you were born in my herd, you'd have to be let go for sure... Might even be some sort of disease." Shaking her head again, Hylonme adressed the now not-so-frightened girl again. "So, what's your name, huh? And why were you here?" Hylonme left the girl's question about whether she was a mutant unanswered. It was rather obvoious

Leila inhaled, not daring to let go of that air, in case her temper cracked. This Centaur was definately not going to be in Leila's good books anytime soon. She ignored the fact that the Unicorn/Goat was now standing before her, protecting her from the mad woman. Then the woman started on the Unicorn. Wow, if this was indeed a Mutated Human.... The Centaur better watch her neck.

Leila didn't do anything however, she stayed calm, taking in deep breath after deep breath. "What, is this your beach or something?" Leila asked, ignoring the first question. "As far as I was concerned, Beaches belonged to anyone who wanted to go swimming." she added, taking one step forward so she could touch the Unicorn if she wanted to.

Her lip curled into a menacing smile. "What were you doing here?" she asked, half hoping this little incounter would end soon. She was getting a little hungry and the sun seemed to be setting a little. Not to mention the air seemed actually winter-appropriate at this time of year.

>>>"What's your problem then, eh? What are you anyways, some kind of mutated goat-horse?"

Yes, as a matter of fact, he was. What was she, some kind of mutated human-horse?

>>>"If you were born in my herd, you'd have to be let go for sure... Might even be some sort of disease."

Although that comment was muttered rather quietly, the unicorn was close enough to hear it. The unicorn snorted in response. It was much more likely that she would have been the one born into his herd than the other way around. In fact, it was possible that she was one of his descendants. He didn't usually keep track of his descendants, human or horse, once they were more than three generations removed from himself, so it was perfectly possible. He tilted his head slightly and searched her face for any familiar features, but could identify none. If she did carry any of his blood, it was most likely very diluted by now.

"So, what's your name, huh? And why were you here?"

Clearly she needed to be taught some manners. It would never do to have this woman leave such a negative impression of equus mutants. She may be half beast, but that was no excuse for her to act so beastly. The unicorn stomped his foot impatiently. If he could talk right now, she would get a rather harsh scolding. As it was, he might start thinking of an admonishment to deliver once they were both back at the Sanctuary.

"As far as I was concerned, Beaches belonged to anyone who wanted to go swimming."

The unicorn did not miss the step forward that put the young blonde woman within an arms reach of his hide. A subtle weight shift and a sideways step brought him just outside of her reach once again. Just because he was trying to protect her did not mean that he would trust her just yet. Aside from appearing suddenly, he still had no idea what she was capable of doing, and since she had readily admitted to being a mutant, he knew she could do something. If that something was triggered through touch, he'd rather not be so close, thank you.

"What were you doing here?"

There was an unwise sneer in young woman's voice. Unwise because she had stepped forward and her unicorn shield had stepped sideways. Furthermore, that bow was still up and ready for action and the tension in the bowstring had lessened no more than the tension in the conversation. While he could do nothing about the conversation in his current form, he could take care of that other issue. With a swift flick of his head, his horn caught the edge of the bow. His goal was to knock it out of the centauride's grasp. He hoped that both the arrow and the bow would fall harmlessly to the ground. If he was successful, he would step on the string in order to render it impossible for her to pick it up again. He would, however, refrain from actually breaking the bow, as that might make the temperamental mare-woman a little upset.

"As far as I was concerned, Beaches belonged to anyone who wanted to go swimming."

Hylonme blinked. So thats what the sapiens called it when you are in the water. Hylonme never did learn exactly what the word was. She tried it out a couple of times, rolling the sound around in her mouth. "Swimming. Swiiimmmmiiiinnnnng. Swimming. It kinda' rolls off the tongue, don't it?"

"What were you doing here?"

The girl had an unwise sneer on her face, and Hylonme didn't like the direction the conversation was going. Maybe Hylonme hadn't been quite clear enough with her last statements. "Girl, just because I gave you a slight compliment doesn't mean that you can think I will start answering questions. That's much too risky, 'specially when I don't know your name. Also, who's the one holding the bow here?"

Funny she should mention that, but the Unicorn had shifted so that he was no longer blocking Hylonme's line-of-sight to the girl. It did, however, knock it's horn against Hylonme's bow. Startled, Hylonme dropped her bow, but the arrow was held firmly in her other hand. As the Unicorn stepped on the string of the bow, Hylonme swiftly but calmly put the tip of the arrow at what was, at least on rabbits, a soft spot of cartiledge behind the ear of the creature.

She tapped it lightly, whispering "Woah, woah there son. What exactly are you planning to do, eh? Stab me with that nasty horn of yours. Don't. Gonna bite me? Don't. Gonna kick me? Don't. Just step off of my bow, and leave before I decide that maybe you are a threat to my life. I ain't no evil demon, but I don't take chances, and I don't mess around."