Akshay loved Central Park, especially in the mornings. The scent of the dew clinging to the grass, the cool breeze as it maneuvered around the trees, even the sight of the light as it slowly rose up over the distant buildings; they all combined to show him a world that he was truly in love with. Well, that world and the world of the early more work-out crews. Jogging through the paths, doing tai chi, circuit training, all of it was just so energetic and so magnificent that it had this extremely addicting quality that he simply could not shake.

Not that he joined in, or anything. Hah! That was a laugh. Akshay did work out on occasion (he was a pretty good runner), but there was just simply no way that he was going to do anything like it out here in public. He had too much self-respect for that.

But that didn’t mean that he couldn’t enjoy watching OTHERS[/b] work-out. As a matter of fact it could be quite inspirational…

In the wee morning hours, Akshay yawned. Sitting on a park bench in deep blue jogging sweats, a silver windbreaker jacket, he reached up to run his fingers through his short, black hair. Idly he scratched the top of his head before he turned his attentions back to a large pad of paper that was on his lap. He must had looked rather comical dressed up in exercise gear and yet he was doing nothing of the kind. Instead, he had different endeavors in mind.

Glancing up, he picked up a drawing pencil and watched as the stream of the early morning joggers decided to dash by his position. He paid particular attention to the women, following their curves with his eyes, keeping their musculature in mind, the looks of determination on their faces. Whenever a particular woman ran by that caught his attention, Akshay would watch her, scrutinize her closely, and then set about drawing her on his large pad of paper. It was simply more to add to his Graveyard, but it also gave him a great chance to work out some drawing muscles.

Another look up and he smirked as more women jogged by. The drawing practice was good…but watching was a lot of fun as well…

Ahem.

Draw…Draw…Draw…

Emerald loved to work out, oh goodness it was one of her favorite things to do besides anything related to water sports. The smell of the air when she first got out in the morning was the one good thing about working out in New York, well the smell of Central Park that is. It was the one piece of nature in the nature forsaken hole of a city and she would enjoy every minute of her time spent in there. She had already ran several laps around the outer cores of the park, taking all the fun, cool back routes she knew, but now it was time to just let loose and have a good time.

She loved joining in with other joggers though they did get Little freaked out to see the werewolf keeping pace with them without breaking a sweat then charging off at full speed. While Emerald wasn't the fastest out of the Lupin sisters, didn't mean she was slow ether. She was the second fastest next to Ruby who seemed to be built for running if it wasn't for her compact size. Emerald on the other hand had an "Amazon" build as Sapphire liked to call it, much to Emerald's Ire.

Anyhow, with the weather how it was today, Emerald didn't feel to comfortable wearing anything non warm so she wore Grey long jogging pants and a nice green windbreaker over her normal workout garb. Why was it such a nice windbreaker? It's because the thing was nice a warm, perfect for a chilly days like this.

Emerald took to a run, not a full charge, but getting their down the path that some of the main joggers were running on, tail wagging back and forth freely. She saw a few women look but she clearly didn't care judging by how she ran on by them, splashing them with a puddle as she bottled by causing many squeals of surprise, but still ran on by. By the look on her face, this was pure Heaven for her and she was having the time of her life. That happy wolf girl did not notice the artist drawing all the women, she just focused on the path she was running down, stopping on occasion to punch at the air in a few quick jabs. This was part of her training after all.

Akshay was indeed enjoying the show. He watched as women jogged (had to be some sort of group run) and continued to sketch down various forms of the body. Not that he was some creepy observer or something like that, but he did vastly appreciate the female form. The supple bodies, the tight musculature, he used many drawings like this when he was designing the body for the main character of his comic book “Slaggathor”. As a matter of fact, if you looked like issue 3, panel 6, on page nine, that body positioning actually belonged to a lovely blonde that he witness one day doing yoga in the park.

God…Blondie…how he wished he could run into her again…

But as he sat there, thinking back to “lost loves”, a sudden sight managed to pull his attention back to reality. He blinked from his blank staring and shook his head as he noticed something moving swiftly down on the trail.

Tilting his head, the first thing he saw were the angry or confused looks of the various other women who were jogging on the trail. They obviously did not appreciate the fine and supple form of another earthly goddess as she ran, easily leaving them behind in her dust. It was truly a magnificent sight to see these usually uptight and prissy woman so easily out staged.

But who was the culprit?

He tried to look ahead. It could be any of the other runners: the woman with the tight black hair, the messy haired blonde, the mom with the jogging stroller, WOLF-TAIL…

Ahem…

He retraced his gaze and found a gorgeous redhead…with a wolf tail that wagged, as she ran and easily outpaced absolutely everyone who was running behind her. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold. But damn, she did scare him. There was sheer ferocity in her form…so much so that he had to capture it on paper.

Before he knew it, he was following her with his eyes while his hands blindly drew her as she ran…

The ever excited wolf was far too into her workout then to notice anyone else except for the vague people she tried to avoid as she passed them. It had been a while since she had been at 100% with no injuries or anything hindering her wonderful workout so this was a great change for her. Emerald really didn't notice the women who were giving her such strange, envious looks or the men who looked a little intimidated by the werewolf running at full speed with no real visual goal.

What they didn't know about probably wouldn't ever know was that for Emerald working out was the most liberating experience for her right up there next to things that related to the water. It was like nothing was holding her back and she was free to do whatever she pleased. She didn't have to think of others or too much of the world around her, she could just stay in her own.

Emerald could probably shift right now and would be in even more of a good mood. With her occasioal stops to do several, rather brutal looking punches to the air, almost as if she was practicing against her shadow.. It was known by boxers as "Shadow boxing." but in Emerald's case she was full on shadow fighting. She was fighting in her Sea Beast style, so her moves seemed to flow like water, even when they would "strike" like fierce claws.

It was a wonder why in the world she would enjoy doing something she had been forced to do when she was much younger but in truth Emerald just like to work out.

She had done it with her mother before the girls were taken to the labs so it wasn't that diffrent for her now than it was then. Except now she had no one to spar with, well at least no one in their right mind would ever spar with her.

Evetually, she would slow down, coming across a hotdog stand that was settled a little ways away. Emerald would smile and quickly order the same hotdog she would normally get, just a single hotdog with kethcup on it and some blue gatorade. Nothing too special just a simple snack to regain some of that energy she just burned off. She didn't even notice the boy who was feverishly drawing a few benches away from her, nope it was just her and her hotdog.

The gorgeous redhead came to stop in her running…then she started to beat up the air. He arched a brow as he watched her, momentarily forgetting that he was actually attempting to draw at the same time. With a gawking look, he simply stared, unabashed, as she actually made him feel sorry for the invisible enemies that she was beating up. She punched, clawed, and struck with such precision that there was no doubt about it; this was not something she was making up on the spot, she regularly trained like this.

He gasped in surprise…

…in shock…

…in admiration.

Wow he had never seen a woman fight like that and what a woman this must be. It was…it was almost as if she was the living embodiment of Slaggathor, his comic character! She fought like a warrior and yet she exuded sexuality. He was thoroughly impressed. If anyone had every optioned his comic into a movie, there was no doubt about it, it knew who he wanted to play Slaggathor.

He hand started to move again as she slipped over to a nearby hotdog stand. The man was just barely setting up for the day and already the redhead was claiming an order.

Breakfast of champions. he thought to himself.

But the expression on her face when she started to eat the hot dog, it just made him smirk. There was such joy and peace on her face that he wondered if someone had laced those dogs with some kind of hallucinogen. Because whatever was going on, the redhead was thoroughly enjoying it to the point that it almost made him want one.

Slowly he got up and made way to the hotdog cart, tucking the pad of paper underneath his arm. She really did make it look good and now he wanted one. But as he made his way over, he paused when he caught sight of her, and he had to grin…
There was a nice glob of ketchup across her cheek. Spoils of war, he guessed.

He smiled and waited until she made eye contact. It was only when she did that he smirked again and pointed to his own cheek, referencing for her to check her own.

“You got a little--”

The only thing that would make this hot dog better for Emerald if she was able to hunt some sort of hot dog beast and take it down herself in order to bring this delicious meal to her lips. Hunting, to her, was the one thing that made everything taste better.

The true satisfaction of taking something town with her fangs or claws was just something to behold and cherish. It was too bad she didn't have anyone to really share it with, most people were just too squeamish to watch a wolf or anything take down a mighty buck or a deer.

Amidst her thoughts, the wolf girl caught the eyes of the boy who came up there to buy a hot dog as well, she noticed him looking at her and she couldn't help but wonder why. Partially paranoid, her eyes stared back at him, cool and was slowly calculating her next move when he pointed out something she didn't quite expect.

She had something on her face.

The ketchup that had made it's way on the wolf girls face made her let out a low grumble, wiping it off with a napkin she quickly snatched from the cart right next to her. Embarrassment filled her face for a moment before she quickly hid it, looking up at the male with grateful blue eyes.

"Thanks for that, probably would have been wearing it all day if you hadn't said anything. Don't really pay attention to much when I work out." Emerald grinned at him sheepishly, a small, barely noticeable blush tinging those cheeks of hers.

The redhead eyed him back. It was as if she were expecting him to do something stupid or lecherous. Then again, this was New York so he wouldn’t put it past her if she had experiences like that. People can get extremely bold. Now, Akshay was the type of guy who fell for a girl at the drop of a hat, but he was not all that crazy. He knew better than to suddenly come up to some pretty thing with those types of bold intentions. Especially not to someone like this redhead here.

She was beautiful, yes, but she had an aura about her that just exuded this ferocity that made him just slightly wary. He would have hated to have said to wrong then and then suddenly have to beaten him into a bloody pulp.

That was why there was a small wave of relief when, after she glared at him, that she realized what he was referring to and why he was staring with that little smile on his face. She dabbed the ketchup away.

>> "Thanks for that, probably would have been wearing it all day if you hadn't said anything. Don't really pay attention to much when I work out."

Was…that a blush?

It was sincerely a blush! He had to laugh at that comment, though he did not do it out loud because he feared her beating him up, but the smirk on his face did show his amusement. He watched her as she blushed and checked to make sure that the ketchup was truly gone.

“No problem,” he said with a laugh as he nodded to the hotdog cart owner and handed him his own money which he traded for the hotdog with ketchup and relish. “That’s happened to me before,” he smirked. “Once I had a milk mustache that lasted for nearly twenty-four hours before someone finally told me.” he grinned toothily.

Maybe not really that long, but it was close enough. Either way, he was in her predicament before.

“You were impressive out there,” he said with a grin. “Left the soccer mom troupe with their jaws hanging open.”

So now that the ketchup catastrophe had been averted, the boy in front of her decided to strike up a conversation, of course after she had that embarrassing moment. It was normal though, it's just she wasn't used to random strangers walking up to her and being nice to her. Perhaps old habits really did die hard, though it was good that someone wasn't completely afraid of her. Maybe she was returning to her old self, the Emerald that could talk to people normally and instead of flubbing her words she could talk normally.

His story about the milk being on his face the whole day made the wolf girl laugh a little, not her loud barking laugh but a softer normal one, which felt odd coming out of her lips. While she didn't find it all that funny she did find it a little humorous.. The guy was obviously trying to make her feel better even after she had embarrassed herself which was a very sweet gesture.

Once he complimented her on her fighting skills whoever, woe be the puny human who looked at her with fear because and absolutely elated smile appeared on her face.

FINALLY! Someone who knows a good fighting move when they see it! Emerald though, a gleeful grin on her face.

"Really? You think so? Not a lot of people appreciate good fighting moves or someone that is training ," Emerald told him, unable to fight that surprised tone that entered her voice. She would tilt her head ever so slightly at him, similar to an inquisitive wolf looking at a potential friend or foe, her tail wagging a little curiously.
"Though, if my moves left Soccer Moms scared, I'm kinda surprised you came over here. Most people stay away in fear when I do stuff like this, I'm not really sure why though. "

Poor Emerald, while she did understand that she looked quite intimidating at times, she didn't understand why people would stay away from her completely when she was working out. In her mind, she would think that others would want to learn from her and inquire more about her style s well as her technique.

He complimented her. It was a small compliment, nothing that he thought was his best pick-up line or anything. He was sincerely just giving someone some nice words. After all, he did admire people who knew how to fight, who had the drive to keep working out, who could put their bodies through such punishment and still cry out thank you and ask for more! He had to admit that one look at her would make anyone jealous.

Hell, he wished he had her physique.

But as he turned to gather his hotdog, think little of his compliment, suddenly he saw the look in the woman’s eyes. Apparently what he had said meant more and really struck a pleasure nerve with her. He grinned sheepishly and in surprise.

>> "Really? You think so? Not a lot of people appreciate good fighting moves or someone that is training ,"[/i]

“Ah well, I’m not a black belt or anything,” he said honestly. “But one look at you and it’s obvious that you shouldn’t be messed with.” He followed that with the smallest of chuckles. It was true, he definitely did not want to cross this woman since she made it look like she could easily snap him in half if she had the mind to do so.

>> "Though, if my moves left Soccer Moms scared, I'm kinda surprised you came over here. Most people stay away in fear when I do stuff like this, I'm not really sure why though. "[/i][/color]

He smirked. Was her tail, that wolf tail, really wagging? That was just so frickin’ awesome and cool. And it really went well with the blush that she had had on her cheeks earlier. It softened her just a little bit, at least enough so that she seemed approachable and not like she would tear his head off (as most women would like to do).

Akshay shrugged at her comment though.

“Eh, I’m not known for being smart enough for my own good,” he grinned cheekily. “You could very well still have intentions of punching me in the face and I’d prolly still compliment you on your skill.” He said with a small laugh.

Ah Akshay, such a glutton for punishment…

It was mighty refreshing to see someone interested in people who could fight well, in a more inquisitive way rather than a "run" sort of way. This guy seemed nice enough to the normally mistrusting werewolf but she didn't put her guard down fully just yet, because that was not in her nature. It was nice though to be a little relaxed around him, at least it made her feel like she was not completely unapproachable by others.

Emerald would finish off her hot dog with an eager bite, having scarfed the thing down quite quickly. She had to in a way, it helped her regenerate some of that energy she was burnt off by working out today. The wolf girl would let out a soft sigh of contentment, patting her belly with glee. Nothing filled her stomach up temporarily like Central Park Hot dogs.

"Yeah I suppose so, I've been practicing fighting ever since I was a little kid so I guess the skill comes with experience," Emerald would reply thoughtfully, trying her best not to think of the one big reason she was so good at fighting. The whole, being locked into a lab and forced to be a child soldiers probably wouldn't be the best thing to bring up in conversation.

When he made mention of his intelligence and why he didn't avoid her like other people did, Emerald laughed, a little louder than she did last time. To her it seemed like that was one of the only reasons people would approach her while she was working out like that. .

"Eh, I don't punch people in the face unless the deserve it and so far ya don't deserve it," Emerald would reply to him truthfully, not having any qualms about him knowing that she punched people in the face.

"I'm surprised no one gave ya the "dead man walking" look when ya walked over here though. Seems that not a lot of people like werewolf mutants in Central Park."Emerald stated, referring to a few of the people that looked at the two with mixed glances. Emerald while not wanting to be feared all the time, didn't care about these sort of things when she was out working out .Then again she didn't want him to get in any sort of trouble because of her. her tail would droop a little when she thought about that before resuming it's waging stance. It was true what they said, one could always tell a dogs mood by their tail.

>> "Yeah I suppose so, I've been practicing fighting ever since I was a little kid so I guess the skill comes with experience,"

He nodded. Years of practice could definitely prepare one to face the world. On top of that it would also turn her body into a fairly honed machine by this age (not that she was ancient or anything! Heh, far from it), so her workouts would have a fluidity that novices simply would never be able to possess. That knowledge only added to her lethality. The fact that she could be that combination of strength and beauty only let him know that she as indeed a force to be reckoned with.

A force that he did not want to get on the wrong side of. Thankfully though, judging by the sound of her laughter from his last response, he was in the clear. At least she didn’t think he was some creep that was randomly coming up to young women and chatting them up at the park.

Well…in a way that was what he was doing here. Just less lecherous driven…

>> "Eh, I don't punch people in the face unless the deserve it and so far ya don't deserve it…I'm surprised no one gave ya the ‘dead man walking’ look when ya walked over here though. Seems that not a lot of people like werewolf mutants in Central Park."

He smirked. It was his turn to laugh out loud as he looked past the redhead’s shoulder and spied a few of the soccer mom’s as they continued their jog and eyed both the wolf-girl and the strange Indian man that was speaking to her. He smirked as he gave them a hearty, good morning wave, and watched them chatter amongst themselves as they jogged on.

“Nah, no ‘dead man walking’ looks,” he said with a chuckle. “But I could have sworn that I had heard Taps being played when I was heading over here,” he said with a joking air.

The wolf girl noticed her new found friend glancing at the soccer moms and she grinned a little. They always seemed to be little chatty in the mornings, especially when she tended to be around. She wondered if they were just mutant haters or they just enjoyed gossiping about the others in the park, for whatever the reason they would cluck like a bunch of chickens whenever something odd or unusual happened.

Now that someone was actually talking to the wolf girl in the park, oh boy did they have something wonderful to chit chat about?

He hadn't said anything in regards to her training she figured he took it like everything else he had so far and respected her for doing it. He seemed to like the idea of working out, but judging by his scent he certainly wasn't working out in the slightest. This didn’t bother her too much thought at least he would be able to work out with her if he really wanted to, which is something she sincerely doubted considering the fact that no one EVER wanted to work out with her face pace.


The only person that was able to keep up with her half of the time was either Ruby or Sapphire and even they couldn’t keep it up for so long. Emerald heard the remark about someone playing taps for him when he walked by and she let out a low laugh. Sometimes she found it funny how silly everyone over reacted to things. It was almost like everyone was stuck in some strange alternate fantasy land where they didn’t actually talk to the person before judgment was made.

"Psh of course you heard the funeral song," Emerald began with another light laugh escaping her lips. "Well don't worry about a thing, you are safe with me. It's not like I'm going to eat you when you back is turned. So whats your name? Mines Emerald Lupin."

(SOrry it took me a bit and it's so short.)

Akshay continued to glance at the soccer moms that were gathered on a grassy hill away from the track they had been running on. They pretended to stretch and pull at their muscles as they turned to cast glances of concern or judgment at either him or the pretty redhead. He smirked as he glanced at them before he turned his attention back to the woman. He was never really one to care about what other people thought about him. Hence his lack of care when it came to dancing.

So what if he was caught talking to a woman that made the Stepford Wives jealous and could rend the air with her bare fingers and had a wolf-tail? She was nice! People needed to stop judging books by their covers.

>> "Psh of course you heard the funeral song…Well don't worry about a thing, you are safe with me. It's not like I'm going to eat you when you back is turned. So whats your name? Mines Emerald Lupin."[/color]

“My knightness in workout armor,” he said with a slight swoon in his voice.

He was such a kidder but thankfully this did not seem to bother the redhead in front of him. She was actually laughing with his odd humor, which is something of a rarity. Many people figured him to be too much of a spaz to hang around with for too long. But the redhead was at least joking around and laughing with him, instead of at him. That made him grin. Especially the fact that she wouldn’t eat him either!

But he smiled again when she introduced herself.

“Emerald, huh? Beautiful name, for a beautiful young lady,” he said with lightness in his voice. “Akshay Malik, take your time, I knows it a mouthful to say.”

Now, while most of the time, Emerald didn't like people afraid of her, this of course didn't mean she hated messing with people for the fun of it. No, Emerald did, everyone once and a while, play up the whole "Big Bad Wolf" thing people oh so loved to associate her with. So whens he would notice the gossiping Hen women on the hill, pretending they were stretching she would grin at them with a mouth filled with wolven teeth and make chomping noises, causing them to let out small gasps and talk amongst themselves.

With a small, satisfied grin, Emerald would cross her arms over her chest and let out a satisfied sigh.

"You know, I may sometimes not like it when people are scared of me, but I have no problem startling those clucking hens,"Emerald would tell Akshay, a small grin on her face and that grin grew when he called her a knightess or whatever that was. "Oh yeah a knight with fur,"

The wolf girl would let out a short chuckle at this before tossing the wrapper of her hot dog casually into the trashcan. The women who were on the hill had not taken a chance to look back over the the two young people, which was good because Emerald didn't want to do any more over the top antics to make them leave her alone.

"Akshay Malik, that doesn't seem too hard to say, at least you have a normalish name and it's not some sort of codename or anything. See this one time I met this guy named cutter and....wait did you just call me beautiful?" It would seem that Emerald's fast moving brain finally slowed down for a second to realize what had just happened. Normally, she was always trying to think of things several steps ahead of the game, but this..this was not even supposed to be a part of it.

The she-wolf's cheeks lit up in the blush again and her tail would wag and forth sheepishly. It had been a little while since someone had called her that and actually meaning it.It would seem that the confident werewolf was not as confident when it came to her appearance or the mentioning of it. Lightly, she would kick the dirt with the tip of her sneaker. There were occasions guys called her beautiful just to be flirtatious, just so they could get something out of her or something of that nature, but it would seem that Akshay wasn't asking for that.

Damn these wolf/female hormones.

>> "Akshay Malik, that doesn't seem too hard to say, at least you have a normalish name and it's not some sort of codename or anything. See this one time I met this guy named cutter and....wait did you just call me beautiful?"

She blushed.

He grinned.

Akshay simply could not help it. The wolf-girl was certainly adorable. For such ferocity that she displayed, she really was quite easy to make blush. That of course was something that he could exploit since he loved to make gorgeous women blush, especially when they have this air of strength and power that could easily outdo his own. Not that he was trying to lie to her or make her uncomfortable, it just made him feel good that he could affect an intimidating and pretty young lady.

He just chuckled as she blushed and began to toe kick the dirt with her sneaker. It really was just too adorable for him to contend with, especially with that happy little tail wag. Normally women with her physique and beauty usually managed by now to slap him or drive a knee into his crotch.

He was happy with the knowledge that there was no face slapping or crotch kneeing today!

A smirk appeared on his lips as he nodded.

“That I did, and, like the honorable George Washington, no relation, I can only tell the truth,” he said with a nod. “Come on, you have to know that you’re a knock-out, right? I mean,” he hefted up his drawing pad to show some loose sketches he had made of her from a few moments ago. Totally in a not creepy way either. “otherwise why would I be drawing you?”

Despite the fact that she looked exactly like his main character Slaagathor…