Miles's words made Stokely have to close her eyes and press two fingers against her forehead, sliding them from between her eyebrows to near hairline, and then back to between her brows. Just to keep her mind cool. Or well, at least off from the boiling point. She didn't answer to the question about if anyone had done friendly gestures on her in any way. Yeah, maybe, but usually people always had an ulterior motive behind it.

When he continued...well, what sounded like humorously lecturing her(?!), she drank the last drops from beer can. Wishing she could have some more, but no. It was the last one. How typical.
"F*ck you, Miles", she snorted once he had finished talking. She wasn't angry, just a bit annoyed. A bit. Then she stood up, letting out a hiss between her teeth when she felt uncomfy pain on her leg. Well it wasn't too uncommon to her to face troublesome situations, and it probably didn't have anything to do with her personality...right? Right?!
She looked at Miles for just few seconds before heading to kitchenette to put an empty beer can to trash. Wounds on her thigh felt even more uncomfortable after sitting down for a while.
Stokes did what she was planning on and then returned to the livingroom.

Miles told her he lived in shelter. In a shelter for mutants. It was kinda surprising, maybe she hadn't been looking around too much outside because she had never recognized any other mutants by looks. Miles's dogs had awaken her interest on him, since those were quite extraordinary.
She leaned on couch's backrest, still standing, and quickly glanced at the gauze on her leg. Some of the blood had infiltrated through it, dying it with crimson from few places on where the wounds were.
And then Miles asked a question.
"If you can't tell I appreciate my own space, and that I'm not much of a people person. And as long as I have my...job and have money to pay for my living and all the things I need, I'll just keep enjoying to live this way", she told. "I would lose my f*cking mind if I had some idiots living in same place with me."
Yeah, and probably those who'd had to live with her would lose it, too.

Stokely hadn't always been that way, but after being abandoned from her family she started to grow to believe and trust mostly only to herself.
"People should live the way they feel comfy. Not to be forced to live in somewhere they don't want to, and not to be constantly forced to do things they hate", Stokes said and scratched the back of her head in thought.
"We only live once you know", she added, and felt mentally alot cooler than a while ago already.
"If being revived to a red-eyed, pitch black creature by a young extroverted mutant boy don't count."

Clock was probably over midnight for more than just one hour, she didn't have any wall clocks or what so ever and her cellphone was in her jacket's pocket where she didn't care to get it from. Stokely felt a little exhausted - well she had quite a day - but surprisingly not sleepy much. It was probably a good thing, it would be easier to her to sleep one eye closed and stay alerted if the boy tried to steal something. You never should trust a stranger too much. Even though if Miles would've wanted to steal something it probably wouldn't be easy to her to defend what belongs to her if she had to fight with those two undead mutts.

Ooh, brain massage! Miles suppressed a burst of laughter but when she F-bombed him, he let it loose, laughing heartily. This reminded him of happier days when he got to annoy or nag his younger sister, till she wailed for their parents to intervene. Cussing at him would have gotten her in trouble with them though, but he was in the real world now and there were no parents to scold Stokely. She probably would have F-bombed them back if they did anyway.

Stokely's wound was starting to show a little through the bandage and Miles couldn't help but surmise the size of it. It was likely small but probably deep, like a stab wound. It wouldn't be showing if it was only a scratch like she had told him, but by this time he had decided not to mention her wounds again, lest he lose his new bed and sour her disposition to let him stay.

She went ahead and admitted she was not a people person, which was rather obvious and she said she actually enjoyed living like this, in her own place with no idiots to bother her. Miles sat in the middle of the couch after it had been cleaned, then suddenly lied down on it, his head on one armrest, his legs stretched, but with his feet still in the air, measuring the couch to see if he could fit in without problems. Sometimes being short was a blessing.

"Well, this idiot gets to live with you for one night" he replied as he straightened himself back up in a sitting position. "Hopefully you won't regret it or lose your mind. Let me know if I push you over the edge" he added, half jokingly.

She then said people shouldn't live where they don't want to or forced to do things they didn't want to do. We only live once and coming back as thralls doesn't count.

This struck a chord. Miles himself had run away from home, over an argument with his father. It had been a while now and he had talked this over with others, concluding that the best course of action was to call his parents back and talk it over but he hadn't had the guts to do it. It was complicated. If his mutation had an emotional trigger, then any time he lost his cool, he risked placing anyone near him in danger. If there was dead people or creatures nearby, it was worse, because then he'd end up with a new thrall. Miles had given these scenarios a lot of thought, from the very plausible 'what would happen if I go to the funeral of a loved one? Would I bring him back?' to the very ridiculous 'What would happen if I go into dark mode on Thanksgiving for some reason? Would I resurrect the turkey?'

In the end he had decided to leave his family behind, a choice that hurt him deeply because he still loved them, but he couldn't see himself living with them anymore. His mother was terrified of the dogs, his father wanted them gone and the last thing he wanted in the world was to hurt any of them. These thoughts made him lose his smile as he reached for what remained of his soda and fries.

"You're right" he admitted. "I pretty much ran away from home because I couldn't live there anymore. The dogs..." he said, motioning towards his thralls sitting by the door "They wanted them gone and I refused. They're my responsibility, my guilt and my burden and I didn't want to share that with them. They just... didn't understand. At least in Sanctuary there are people far worse off than I am and they don't give a damn about my dogs."

He chomped up on some fries, then stretched his hand towards Stokely, offering her some. She'd lost half her meal, surely being offered some potato goodness wouldn't piss her off?

"What about you? How did your family take your mutation?"

Or maybe asking her that would?

To Miles the 'f*ck you' she gave seemed to be very amusing, at least when taking his incontinent laugh into account. It didn't bother her much, though. She rolled her eyes and with quick one-sided smile she shook her head a little. Yeah, that boy acted pretty much just like the boys on that age usually did.

Miles did the cleaning job nicely, and after that he threw himself to lie on the couch. Well, gladly he wasn't an adult basketball player. But instead a short teenager. Their height was almost the same and even she fitted to sleep on the couch with no problems (a few times she had sacked out on it after alchoholocaustic night). So the boy shouldn't have any problems there.
"Well if you get too troublesome I might give you a punishment only a dog can succeed", she said and gave menacing grin at Miles. The most horrible punishment from a dog owner to a guy who gets on the owner's nerves. Creepy. Yeah.

Stokely's words about how people shouldn't live their lives seemed to make Miles fall in thoughts for a little while. And by looking at the expression on his face those thoughts probably weren't the most nicest ones. That smile which had been on his face time after time had melted away. And then after taking his soda and fries he told her a little about his past which probably was the thing he had been thinking about.

It was quite a surprise that a boy who had such a creepy mutation, and also was forced to run away from home still was such an easygoing and humorous, smiling person. Usually when a person had to go through things like that it left visible marks on their personality and spirit. It was quite a surprise he hadn't grown bitter.
"Yeah, most people are afraid of things they don't know or understand, and want the things they're afraid of to be out of their lives and minds. Such narrow-mindedness", she said and took a look at the two dogs.
"I have to say that at first when I saw the bigger one charging from the darkness I almost crapped myself, but when I realized it wasn't going to attack me I understood that maybe it wasn't a purely mean creature with need to kill every living in sight."
Then she turned to look at Miles, still leaning on the couch's backrest. "And after you told me what they are... well, then I knew what they are. And now they are just...two quite disturbing looking beings which are under your control."
Sure his dogs had mean looks, like two hellhounds, but when knowing what they actually are and accepting it made the chill feeling they had caused to wither away. Never let the appearance fool you.

Miles offered some fries to Stokes, too, and she took one of them, and put it in her mouth to eat it. Not bad. And then again, a question for her. And nope. Didn't piss her off even though it wasn't her favourite subject.
"They don't know", she said immediately and swallowed the french fry she had mashed with her teeth.
"You're the only one I've ever told about it. And let's just say that I haven't had a family for a long time."
She was still highly resentful about the way her parents sent her out from home because she was too hard to handle for them. It wasn't fair. And now she didn't want to be in any kind of contact with them anymore, never again. She tried her best to forget them completely. The only person she still missed from her past a little was her older brother, Shawn. But she didn't want to think about them as her family anymore. They didn't fill requirements to be her family.

"My parents sent me out from home to a place of troubled teenagers when my mutation started to show itself by making my senses - hearing and sense of smell - alot sharper than normal. And ofcourse I was confused what was happening, suddenly loud noises made my head almost explode, speaking loudly hurt my ears and stuff. And they were pretty confused about it too and thought I was just acting weird to get attention. F*cking morons. I don't need people like them in my life."
Woah, she spoke it out even though she wasn't meant to do so at first. But well, she had heard things about Miles so maybe it was fair to let him know something about her, too. Even though she wasn't nearly the most fairest person on Earth.

Despite the threats and menacing grins he was getting, Miles felt she wasn't that angry or annoyed with him in the least. It was all in good fun, he was mostly trying to cheer her up a bit, but then it was his own mood that went somber when they talked about the running away bit.

Miles had always been the lighthearted and optimistic sort and shortly after he ran off from his father, he found his way into Sanctuary and later on into Xavier's School for the Gifted, which meant he never really spent any time on the streets, going hungry, thirsty or growing resentful against anyone. He didn't hate his parents nor did they hate him back (at least, that's what he thought) it's just that living with them and the dogs was unlikely to happen any time soon and he had decided to keep their distance for everyone's sake.

She agreed with him regarding his parents attitude towards the dogs and their lack of understanding, calling it narrow-minded. She then revealed what she felt when she saw Astor charging in to her rescue and the boy couldn't avoid a grin at that. Astor could be awesome and terrifying, which was the main reason he walked with his dogs almost everywhere. It's not that he wanted to scare people or reveal himself as a mutant, but without his dogs, he was quite vulnerable. Anyone who knew anything about him could do him harm or even kidnap him and then abuse his mutation to their own advantage. The dogs were his only defense and scaring people was their first measure of protection. Better be feared and feel protected than be a target.

She then was surprisingly open regarding her background and family issues. Her parents were ignorant to their daughter's mutation. In fact, her parents were no longer her parents anymore, so to speak. They'd sent her away and she had obviously resented them for it. It was clear to him then why she was so fiercely independent and so... anti-people in a way. Growing up, it must have been very difficult to deal with sharpened senses and people not understanding you at all. There must have come a time when she simply went 'Screw it, I'm not gonna try anymore' and given up on people altogether.

Knowing he was the only one she had told made him feel trusted in a way. He knew talking openly about this burden they both had in their genes was relieving in a way and the fact that both of them had 'dog' related abilities so to speak made him feel like they were bonding a bit.

"That super hearing and super smelling thing?" he said once she had finished her piece. "I totally get you. There's a side effect to creating my 'disturbing looking beings'. I can't read their minds, but I can link my senses to theirs. I don't do it all the time though, it can be quite annoying since their entire world is based more on scent than in sight and that includes piss spots and... armpits that forgot their deodorant and farts and what have you. I only use it when necessary but having it 24-7? That must be hell for you."

He had lied back on the couch again, with his head on the armrest, but his feet still on the floor with his shoes on. Now that he knew she had a sharp sense of smell, he wondered if it'd be wise to take them off. He made a mock gesture of smelling his armpit just to check he didn't stink, then gave her a thumbs up, no worries there.

He didn't say anything regarding the way her parents had treated her, just giving her an empathic, understanding look. They were trudging in personal territory and mutants memories weren't always the nicest, they were sometimes downright depressing, so he tried to lighten up the mood again.

"So you have no family and I assume not many friends" he concluded, saying 'not many' because he wasn't sure if the number was 'zero'. "You're also a mutant, though you can hide it very well, simply by not shifting. If I've learnt something since I ran off is that mutants should stick together, so I've decided maybe I should move in here and live with you so... No wait! I'm kidding!..." Miles interrupted raising his hands as if covering his face to avoid a beating.

"Seriously though, I know the age gap is a bit big between us, but... I'd like you to think of me as a friend. Tack me in on your very, VERY short list of friends simply because mutants SHOULD stick together and I know you don't need anyone's help, but!..." he paused, raising a finger to emphasize his point. "It's a big world out there and some of them hate us. If you want to talk about mutation, even though I know precious little, or you just want an ear to yell at to blow off steam, ring me up..."

Miles fumbled for his cellphone to look up his own number (it's hard to memorize a number you never call to). He wasn't sure how she'd take this. He figured a misunderstood person who just ditched her family altogether might want to talk to someone who did understand at some point in her life so he felt obliged to leave that door open.

Once Stokely had finished talking, Miles noted verbally about the superior hearing and smelling thing. She gave him a look of 'what about it?' and then boy started telling he actually knew what it was like. Having senses alot sharper than other people. By linking his senses to his dogs senses. That was kinda cool, but also a little creepy. He could tell his dog to go to ladies bathroom and peek by linking his senses to theirs?

Miles didn't seem to lie about this one, sometimes the world of smells was overwhelmingly horrible. And the world of sounds, too. Disgusting smells, too loud or high noises... Sharp senses were useful at times but god it wasn't so much fun all the time.
"Well at least in time I've got used to many things but damn, there are things you'll never get used to."

Miles got back lying down and Stokely had enough of standing up and sat once again on the same armrest she had sat on before, and watched the boy smelling his armpit. What the hell are you doing, silly? And then thumbs up. She shook her head once again.
"Believe me, if you smelled like s*it I'd force you to take a shower or kick you hell out of here so you'd stop polluting my air", Stokes said and raised her eyebrow a little. That boy was one clown.

Miles seemed to have a great idea in his head when he started speaking again. Not so great idea when he finally got to the point and Stokely glanced at him warningly. No way I'm not going to adopt you to be my little brother, didn't you underst-- And then Miles got almost overreactingly defensive telling he was just kidding.

"You're one jester, Miles, you know that?" she sighed and felt a little stupid tensing up from even inoffensive joking. Maybe she should grow some sense of humor while Miles was in? Or at least try to slack off her nerves a little? The boy was young mutant.

Then Miles let go of joking and started to really talk about the friendship they should bond. To be honest at first the I know the age gap is a bit big between us sounded little alarming, but gladly it was only about the friendship. Not any other kind of...ship. Yeah. Creepy.

But Miles had a point there and she kinda understood what he meant, but still something inside her was yelling and screaming to shut the boy up and let him know that she didn't need him as a friend. That she had invited him just to know about the dogs. And that in the end she didn't want to kick him out on cold streets and be responsible of him dying in hypothermia and get raped by nechrophilist after it.
She considered her options.

"Well your cellphonenumber surely won't break my cell so..." she reached out for her leather jacket which still was on couch's backrest, and took her cellphone from it's pocket. Gray and white colored basic cellphone, and she threw it to Miles. And about the cellphone. It was boring. It didn't even have a wallpaper.
"Just type your number in and give yourself one missed call."

Stokely actually got pretty well along with Miles so why not, even though the road on her friends list wouldn't be as easy as just signing up on it. But maybe she could give a chance for it. Miles was a mutant just like she was, someone who knew what it was like. Someone who had even used dog senses. There was age gap between them but Miles wasn't an asshole. Even though he was quite irritating at times, maybe she'd give him a call sometime? Or maybe not. Who knows. Miles was probably very masochistic person on the inside, to give his phone number to crazy bitch like her.
"Age is pretty much just numbers when it comes to friendships", she said. "But like I said, I'm not much a people person, probably not even a mutant person. Whatever. What time is it?"
Miles had two phones on his hands, he probably could tell it out.

Miles noticed a mood improvement on Stokely and felt his work was done. She had been really sour most of the time he'd been around her and talking about ditching parents and mutations messing with their lives was most likely to depress them both. She didn't exactly laugh or joke back, but her attitude had improved positively to the point that she passed her cell phone to him, so he could send himself a missed call.

Hmm... Now how do you change the language setting to turkish on this model?

Oh, wait, he wanted to be alive tomorrow, so better not...

>> Age is pretty much just numbers when it comes to friendships

Now that's the spirit! Deep down he didn't know if what he was doing was wise or prudent, but he felt it was right. She may not like company, she may not like help but the day something worse than a wound on her leg and a fat man hitting on her (in more ways than one) came knocking on her door, she could have a backup. It's not like Miles would come running on his lonesome, but he lived in a shelter filled with mutants who protected their own and went to a school that taught mutants as well. He could always drag someone along if things were bound to get too messy.

And if all she wanted was to talk, he had no qualms about it, though he seriously doubted she was into videogames, TV shows or teenage girls, so that cut down on the chatting material quite considerably. She clearly was not into painting, but neither was he, so that's a subject that would never come up. Still, one never knows the turns the wheels of life take, so it's better to be safe than sorry. Who knows? Maybe it would be Miles who'd ended up needing her some day. And she'd probably tell him to f*ck off? Eh, whatever...

After exchanging cell numbers the teenager checked the time, then returned the borrowed cellphone to Stokely.

"It's... pretty damn late, a little past two in the morning. I should've been getting my beauty sleep a long time ago because I've got school tomorrow and I've got to get up earlier still to go to Sanctuary and change. I don't want to show up with the same clothes I used yesterday. Do you work tomorrow, or are you calling in sick because of the wound?"

It wasn't a big deal to have or not to have Miles's number. Somehow though, it made her feel a little bit less freaky with her mutation. There's someone else with special abilitys, and not even far away. Actually, what Miles had told her about the shelter there was more than just one mutant near this place, it was kinda strange. For sure she'll start to take more attentive glances at people who pass by, wondering 'could that person with ugly dress be a mutant', or 'could that person drinking coffee be a mutant'. And normally she didn't even care to take a quick look at people around her. But now that she knew there were other freaks living near the place she lived, it would be a little interesting to see what kind of strange things there was. In dog form glancing at people like that would be easier to do.

Once the boy gave her phone back, she carelessly tossed it on the table. It wasn't a new phone model, it was able to handle a little harsh treating. Just take a good quess how many times that phone had taken a flight right across the room on the wall when she had got pissed with the caller? Well, quite many times for sure. And every time only the covers and the battery just flew off. Nothing else.

Miles told the time and also said he had school tomorrow. Oh, yeah, she hadn't even thought about it. He was still a kid, and it wasn't a weekend. She nodded a little to make sure she was listening.
"Nah, I have something similar to a part-time job", she told when Miles had asked about if she had any duties tomorrow. Yeah, if she'd have to go to fight every goddamn day it would be very exhausting. She got paid very well when she won and that was a good thing. She didn't care to get another, proper job. Firstly, it would be troublesome to explain the wounds she got time to time from fights, and also, she didn't want to work for assholes. And yeah. Most of the employers were that way. At least on her opinion. On the opinion of a hellbent young woman who didn't want to take orders from others.

"Well then, maybe we should start sleeping to prevent you from sleeping in school because you had to keep company to a stranger you met on streets", Stokely said and gave one sided smile.
"I don't wanna risk messing my bedsheets with blood so you can sleep on my bed", Stokely told and gave a little bit warning look at Miles. "And don't think I'm doing this just as a friendly gesture. I changed the sheets yesterday and this scratch seems to love to seep blood", she said and took a quick glance at the gauze.

Stokes stood up once again. Goosh it felt bad. It had been long time since she had got bit like that.
"This is quite stupid question but do you take your dogs in school or do you leave them to..Sanctuary? Or what the hell that place was called", she asked as she headed towards the bathroom once again to change the gauze to a clean one, and to wipe some blood off. Those dogs sure turned heads, she didn't know what school he was in, but those dogs caught people's attention for sure.

Back in the Haxton household, Mama Haxton ruled with an iron fist who told... nay, who disciplined her children to behave, be polite, say their 'please' and 'thank you's', don't talk back to your elders and most important of all, don't EVER sleep on your host's bed, guests sleep on the guest room!

He pretty much felt a twitch in his stomach, an impulse that almost made him go 'No, no, no, perish the thought!', a gut wrenching instinct that triggered years of family conditioning that pushed him to instantly refuse an offer like sleeping on the house owner's bed. Deep in the back of his mind, he knew if his mother had been in the room, he would have asked her if it was all right and she would have instantly refused.

But his mother was not in the room. Stokely was, and she was not to be trifled with. Those grey, piercing eyes screamed rebellion and filled your head with imaginary 'Fight the system!' propaganda. Do what you want, Miles! Break free from the shackles of your education! Grow a pair! Sleep on her bed!... while she sleeps in the couch, of course.

Who would win? His instincts to do what he had been taught throughout his life or his newfound freedom to make his own choices and do whatever he thought was best, parents be damned?

Dun dun DUUUNN!

"Gee, I don't know" he replied, even though Stokely's reasons for her offer made perfect sense. She was even sticking to her guns of NOT being friendly! Friendship is magic my ass, she just wanted to keep her sheets clean. To refuse her would be to add more hassle in her life. You'd be doing her a disservice, Miles. Hell, she would have slept in the couch had she been alone, but now that you're here, she can't!

"I guess I kinda, sorta... can?" he mumbled in almost shy fashion. "I just hope I don't slobber all over your pillow."

A victory for freedom, at last!

She headed to the bathroom as she asked him about his dogs, quickly changing the subject and settling the matter without much trouble. It wasn't a stupid question in the least.

"I take them everywhere" he said. "Everywhere they're allowed at least and I convinced the school staff they're completely under my control. You see... I go to a mutant friendly school. I don't know how many of those are out there, but in this one they teach you not just your average stuff, but also how to control your mutation. It's quite cool."

He then wondered if there was something else behind the question. If his dogs were pretty much 'furniture' who didn't need to eat or sleep, why didn't he just leave them behind and live his own life, pretty much as a normal human?

"They always remind me of what I can do" he said, now taking a glance back at them while getting up from the couch. "They remind me I'm not a normal human anymore and that I could, potentially, create more of them. I don't want to do that again and they keep me safe from anyone with that sort of crazy idea in their heads."

He felt tempted to ask her about her mutation, but clearly a demonstration was out of the question. Clothes don't shift with the shifter and it would seem like he was trying to get her out of her hot pants.

"What does it feel to actually turn into one of them? A dog, I mean?"

Miles was a little bit unsure about sleeping in her bed instead of sleeping on couch. Was it really a big deal where you were supposed to sleep? Bed sure as hell was more comfortable than couch.
"It's just a pillow anyways", she said after Miles had said he hoped he wouldn't slobber on her pillow. At least his breath didn't stink like corpse. If he would've refused sleeping in bed, he could've sleeped on carpet or on the floor, what ever. The couch was her sleeping place tonight.

Stokely left the bathroom door slightly open so they could hear each other easier. Not like Stokes would have any troubles hearing Miles with her special senses, but vice versa. And she wasn't doing anything very private anyways.

Boy gave an answer to her question about did he take his dogs in school with him. And yeah, he did. In to a mutant friendly school? Okay, New York is a big place. And Stokes started to feel like she didn't really know too much about mutants, even though she was one of them. But Miles instead seemed to live mutant filled life living in mutant shelter and studying in mutant school. Yeah, to think they had very different personalties, they also had quite different lives.

While she was listening, she took off the blood stained gauze and picked off bloody cotton pads, which actually felt nasty. The wounds didn't look pretty, but well, they never did. At least when they were on her. Sometimes it was fun to see irritating bastard get nasty wounds. Well, at least those two wounds on her thigh were partly starting to get scabbed already. Now she wouldn't start removing the scabs, it could wait until tomorrow. They would probably start bleeding again if she touched them.
She had left clean cotton pads and gauzes on the washbasin, the anticeptic bottle was on floor. She took few pads and moistened them with anticeptic before gently starting to clean most of the blood off around the wounds, to make them look cleaner.

At the same time Miles told the dogs reminded him about what he was capable of, and that he'd never want to create more of them. Completely understandable, it didn't sound like a thing a boy like Miles would enjoy doing. Making dead men walk again, and be followed by those.
Then he asked what it was like to turn into a dog.

Stokely spend a little while thinking how to explain it.
"Well I've come used to it but at first it was quite unpleasant experience", she said and threw bloody pads and gauze to the small trashcan under the washbasin.
"The feeling of joints, bones, muscles...everything getting new shape. I can actually hear inside my head nasty noises when it happens, the bones and joints crackling as they take different shape. And the growth of fur feels little ticklish. But it's all done quite quickly and it really doesn't feel much anything if you don't focus on feeling all those things."

She took few new clean cotton pads and pressed them once again on the wounds, and started to tie new gauze around her thigh to keep them in place.
"Oh well, now I made it sound like ugly and gruesome werewolf transformation scene from a horror movie, but no, it's not even nearly that bad", she told and got the gauze tied.

"And even though in dog form the eyesight ain't as good as in human form, it's quite nice to hang around as a pit bull. But I gotta admit it took some time to get used to walk around without clothes if I wanted to go out in my dog form", she said and grinned as she put the bottle and clean pads back in mirror closet where they belonged. Yeah. At first it was kinda freaky walking around bare naked, but after some time she knowledged that no-one payed weird attention on a dog without clothes. It was normal. Actually, if she'd travel around as a dog with clothes on she'd probably get weird looks, instead of looking like a normal un-clothed dog who had nothing to hide.

And then she just washed her hands, opened the door and came back to the livingroom.

Stokely's description of her transformation made Miles wince a little. What was he expecting? A magical flash and POOF! she was a dog? The way she said it, it seemed like every bone in her body grew or most likely shrunk, every muscle readjusted, bodyparts contracted or changed positions and all of that in quick fashion. The experience seemed to be utterly unpleasant, at least from his perspective, but the fact she then admitted she strolled around as a dog in the buff sometimes, made it seem even weirder.

"Wait, wait..." he said as he did a double take. "You actually go out as a dog? As in... peeing in fire hydrants and...and..." he paused, as he did not dare mention other dogs trying to sniff her butt. The situation however, was too funny as he imagined her as a pit bull barking them away. He couldn't help tittering a bit but then failed at repressing laughter in between his words.

"I'm sorry, I'm...hahaha!..I mean.. heehee..."

Come on, Miles! She offered you food, she offered you shelter... her own bed even and you're going to ruin this at TWO IN THE MORNING!?

The teenager cleared his throat as he finally managed to snuff out his laughter and instead, tried to understand why she would do such a thing and it wasn't that difficult. The freedom of it. She had been shunned by her parents and her senses made it difficult to hang around with other people, which by her standards they must seem like a pack of deaf and anosmic idiots, but who judges a dog? Strolling about as one must seem quite liberating in a way.

"Sorry, I just... remembered an old joke..." he lied, then stretched his arms as he started to feel a little drowsy. "You must feel quite free when you shift. I don't envy the shifting process at all but as a dog, I bet you don't get to play by anyone's standards. You make your own rules, you do whatever you want... it's right up your alley."

Deep down, he wished his mutation had that level of freedom. His dogs were his slaves and he, himself, was a slave of his own emotions.

((My 150th post! Thank you, Stokely, you helped make it happen! ))

As she tried to walk as normal as possible towards the couch, Miles asked if she really went out in her dog form. Stokes raised her eyebrow and glanced at him. Why not? And then the boy said about peeing in fire hydrants and even more dog'ish stuff was probably about to come, but he paused. Stokely rolled her eyes once again. Stupid boy.

Miles apologized and couldn't seem to help his laughter.
"No, you moron!" she snarled sharply. "Yeah! I could possibly even go and create a super-massive dog turd in front of person who'd pissed me off yesterday-- Or even go to park where a couple is sitting romantically together sparkling with pink hearts, and I'd just walk there and start humping their legs and destroying the syrupy moment, but well, in the end I'm a human being and I know - at least somehow - how to behave", Stokely nagged. True, she could do anything as a dog with poker-face, but pretty rarely she did anything weird.

After Miles got hold of himself and convinced just remembered an old joke, she grunted; "Yeah, sure you did."
She was forgiving Miles once again. Stokely took the rest of the chicken wrap and other trash from the table, and headed for kitchen to throw it all in trashcan. No need for them to start smelling on the table.

Miles now had completely tamed his fit of laughter and spoke about her ability in quite revering way. She walked back to the couch and sat down, this time not on the armrest, but normally on the couch.
"That's true", she said. "It is something you don't experience in human form. Complete freedom. At least almost. The only huge minus are those morons who see me as a poor stray dog who needs a loving home and try to help me out. Growling like a beast don't usually work on those and biting isn't a good option, so it's mostly duck and run in those cases."

Stokely leaned on the backrest in quite unfeminine way and scratched her head.
"You wanna get sleep now? I hope you don't need a bedtime story", she chaffed a little.

//Daww, you know it has been a great pleasure to share a thread with you. (: No need to thank!//

She admitted she COULD do all sorts of things as a dog, but she didn't because she was, well... civilized. She didn't buy his lie at all, but having her think about the freedom her mutation gave her cooled her off a little, even if she still had her pet peeves with morons trying to help stray dogs out.

Miles didn't help with the cleanup, following her 'I don't need help' rules. When she asked if he wanted to sleep and hoping he didn't need a bedtime story, he let out a yawn as sleep was indeed starting to get to him.

"No worries, I'm a 'count sheep' sort of fellow. Do you need a peck on the cheek?" he joked back as he turned his head around towards the bedroom. It was a small apartment and the only room that had still not been used was right behind him.

Miles actually poked his head in. The bed was a decent size and he'd fit in perfectly. It did have white, clean sheets on it and even seemed very comfortable. He took a couple of steps inside then turned to look at Stokely.


"Very nice" he acknowledged. She was giving up quite a nice, warm bed for a couch. Even though the girl had several rough edges regarding her treatment of people, Miles couldn't help feeling lucky he had bumped into her. Some people might find her personality jarring or hard to put up with, but once you overlooked those details, she was the kind of person you'd want to have at your side whenever you ended up in a rough spot.

"And once again, thank you Stokely. You're good people and I'm glad I met you" he admitted while giving a small 'good night' wave with his hand. "I'm leaving the door open just in case you need pillows or blankets or whatever you stash in your closets. I don't sleep in the nude so no worries there..."

He did take off his shirt and shoes before diving into his pillow and covering himself in white sheets. He felt tired and wouldn't have that many hours of sleep, but at least he had a bed and he would doze off comfortably.

Tonight, it was almost a sure bet he would dream of dogs.

"Try your luck", Stokely grinned when Miles joked and asked if she needed a peck on the cheek. Yeah, she could give a peck on his cheek after that - and not with lips, but with her fist.

Boy took a look at the place he was going to sleep in. Stokes slowly slided on laying position on the couch. Miles turned to look at her and by what he said, the bedroom seemed to be pretty mint to him.
And then he thanked her and told she was a good person and blah blah blah.. "Yeah whatever", she said quickly and sweeped her hand in air as a sign to cut it out, and gave a little nod when he said he'd leave the door open so she could get what she needed from the closets. Yeah, well. She didn't need anything. But still a good thing he wasn't going to sleep naked on her bed. Ahaha. Thanks Miles.

Stokely took a better position on the couch to start sleeping. Another beer would've been great to have but the last one was the last one. Sadly. The whole flat went pretty quiet once Miles had got himself in bed and the rustling sounds of sheets stopped telling he was comfortalby ready to start snoring.
It had been long time since anyone had sleeped in her apartment. Especially someone she didn't know so well, and it caused that she'd probably sleep one eye open making sure he didn't cause any trouble.

She was just about to close her eyes and... Damn, the lights were still on. Stokes sighed, got up and went to put the lights out, took suspicious look at the two black dogs, and then returned back on the couch and layed down comfortably in position where her thigh stopped causing constant stinging pain. She closed her eyes, hearing only sound of her own heart beating, and silent breathing sound. Maybe she'd try to get a little sleep before Miles would leave. And then get a warm shower and try to get proper sleep without worrying about the teenager.