Welcome the Liger (Carol)

[tamer]

To say the young man was excited was putting it mildly. He'd been researching ligers for several months now and was finally going to get to see one. For as rich as his family his, Nans never let him travel much since the first time he summoned Hunter. So, when he had heard about a liger elsewhere she didn't let him go. But now one was here in Boston and there was no Nans to stop him.

He'd dressed in jeans, a blue button up and his black leather trench. Rich boy taking some down time attire. Then he slipped out of the shool and headed toward the zoo. The place had just opened for the day so there weren't many people there. He bought himself a drink and something to eat and then found the ligers. He crouched on a bench in the squat position and just watched. Chance studied the way they moved, their actual size, he would need all this information if he were going to summon one.

[ayden]

"You're here early." Came a voice to the side, it was another person whom was also intent on being a early bird. She was young, but not in her teenage years. Wearing a beige short dress and black leggings, she stood by the fence where the ligers were roaming ironically freely.

"Nice to be able to beat the crowd, huh?" She turned to the fairly young man, whom seemed so intent on simply sitting and staring at the beasts. It was awhile since Carol had spoken to someone outside of Xavier's academy. Thankfully, her powers didn't affect her appearance and she could freely roam.

[tamer]

Chance was pulled out of his studies by the sound of a feminine voice. His head turned and blue eyes took in the blond. "Well, hello there, Gorgeous." He just shrugged a bit. "Not really overly early." The young man knew he couldn't very well tell her he wanted to study the ligers so that he could learn to summon them. No that was something he had to keep quiet, he learned that much from school. He thought it was a crock of crap, but hey people were dumbasses.

"Beating the crowd does have it's perks. So, what brings such a beautiful woman as yourself here this early?" Chance may not be able to explain why, but he really did have a reason for being there. He was curious as to why she was here though.

[ayden]

Gorgeous? Beautiful lady? Carol raised her eyebrows as she heard his rather quickly placed compliments. She smiled as it amused her that he was so confident that he would start off straight away with these fishing line attempts. Well, he was either confident or just downright arrogant, but either, she found it quite amusing. It had been awhile since anyone had tried to flirt with her, as she wasn't exactly the right age for most of the students, or staff, at Xavier's school. She got the occasional idiot during gymnastics that tried to talk her up, but she always put them on detention, and dropped their ego down to size.

"You don't waste any time do you?" She laughed to herself as she commented on how quickly he had commented her. Turning back to the animals, she watched them, taking a few moments to listen to what he said, before building her own response. "Needed to get out of the school for a little while." Leaning with one hand on the fence, she turned to face the young man. "So, you get denied by girls quite often?"

[tamer]

The young man saw the amusement in here eyes and sheilded the intelligence in his. Wouldn't do well to let anyone think he was more than he was. Let them think he was an arrogant little playboy, it was better in the long run. Being underestimated had to be one of the greatest tools a person could have. They never look below the surface which suits him just fine. He kept the cocky smirk on his face and his bangs fell over his eyes, giving him the look of a little boy trying to act naughty.

"Life's too short to waste time." He actually believed that. But it was a good and cheesy line anyway. He figured she was probably a college student and couldn't blame her for wanting to get out. "Can't blame you there. I know the feeling, and to think there's still more years to go." That thought made him shudder. A short chuckle escaped his lips at her question, his attention once more on the liger. Technically, he was only paying attention to her with a small portion of his mind, the liger being more important. "It might surprise you to hear, I'm usually doing the rejecting." That was also not so much a lie.

[ayden]

He was even packing the cheesy lines. Man, this guy must practice in front of the mirror Carol thought as her eyebrows stayed raised, not really showing interest in his cheesy compliments and one-liners anymore. Besides, she could tell he wasn't entirely focusing on him, moreso on the animals behind her. He must be truly interested in them to be giving fairly half assed compliments her way.

"I'm not a student, I coach gymnastics." She quickly interrupted, portraying that she was quite proud of her current position, as it wasn't too much of a desk job, and allowed her to feel like she still had alot of her freedom. What did surprise her was his reply, he sounded so serious in the fact that he did most of the rejecting. She was actually interested now. Turning her body fully towards him, paying him the attention, she smirked. "Really? Tell me about it."

[tamer]

His focus was on the animals behind her. God they were huge and he wasn't sure how well he could summon one. He'd want to start out with a cub for damn sure, on the bigger animals it was always best to start out with their smallest form and forge a bond. Like he did with Hunter. That and they fact that they were highly intelligent would make it harder, it always was with canines and big cats. Yes, he learned that there was indeed a difference between a feline and a big cat.

He more sensed than saw her shift to face him. Really he didn't want to pull his attention away in case he missed something. But she started speaking again. A coach huh? Gymnastics? Meant she was flexible, he'd have to keep that filed for future come on lines. "So, do I call you Coach Gorgeous then?" Neither one had actually introduced themselves. Finally, clear blue eyes looked towards her again and away from the animals. "Rich, young, good looking, I know the right clubs, I wear the right clothes. Yeah, I do quite a bit of rejecting, especially for the girls that either cling or are under the impression I belong to them." He had just the right amount of boredom in his voice with just a slight sneer. It wasn't really an act, he really did hate girls like that. "Learned the hard way which ones think you are their boyfriend just because you smiled at them. I don't smile at them anymore."

[ayden]

"You're even modest, too." She quickly commented as he began to describe himself. Yep, this guy was alot like the punks who try and talk Carol up during her gymnastics classes. She wondered where they got this attitude and confidence from, because alot of them tended to have it. Sure, it was just the build up of testosterone and hormones, but some of them were truly ridiculous in their attempts to get reactions out of girls.

"How considerate of you." She replied after he made the comment about not smiling to them anymore. This guy was a piece of work, he must have practiced in front of a mirror at least once a day. One thing she didn't make a comment on was how he had called her gorgeous again, she decided it'd be better to leave that alone, and not look like there was a opening. She wanted to ask a question about his school life, but honestly, she didn't really want to sound interested; lest it gave him ideas.

[tamer]

Chance let out a sigh and shook his head. "No, just truthful. Haven't told you anything that hadn't been told to me." Alright, normally he'd like for her to think he was some sort of pretty boy dumb ass, but today it was starting to annoy him. Best laid plans and all that. Yes he really was confident and sometimes he did border on arrogance, but for the most part not so much. Now he was beginning to see that sometimes one had to step out from behind the mask. The only question is was he willing to do it? Not until he got pushed to his breaking point. It might have been different if he had come out here looking for someone to hit on, but he really came out here for a more important reason. Girls could wait, the liger was more important.

Blue eyes rolled as he stood and stretched on the bench. He hopped down and looked over at her. "Sarcasm was never a beautiful trait. Would you rather I smile at them, dance with them, and let their fanciful minds come up with a fairytale that will never come true, and then break their hearts when they realized I wasn't what they thought I was? If I did that, I'd be an ass who deserved to be castrated. If I ignore them, I'm still an ass. Either way, I can't win. I call a woman beautiful and I'm hitting on her. I'm sorry, but you have yet to introduce yourself, so I went for a compliment instead of calling you Miss. Yet again, I apparently am wrong." This was getting a bit out of hand, no matter which way he turned he was screwed and normally that amused him. Today it just annoyed the hell out of him.

[ayden]

She realised she must have struck a nerve, and it wasn't exactly intentional. Maybe there was more to this kid than just arrogant remarks and cheesy lines. She sighed after he had finished and turned back to the ligers, watching the tame yet incredibly dangerous beasts. Maybe she should apologise? Maybe she should give him her name? she did feel slightly responsible for his annoyance, so it would at least be polite of her to introduce himself.

"Carol." She said as she faced the ligers, effectively introducing her name. She decided she'd leave it at that and not give away her last name, lest he trace it back to Xavier's school. "And, you should try something simple like 'hey there' or 'excuse me'; that generally gives girls the right impression." To think that she was attempting to give advice on how to approach girls made her snicker slightly, she hasn't had romance since high school.

[tamer]

Chance watched as she turned away from him and he nearly sighed with relief. Maybe he pissed her off enough to let him do what he came for. Nope, he heard her speak, what he assumed was, her name. "Chance." Tit for tat and all that jazz. Again he was back on the bench and crouched, just watching the ligers. His head dropped when she told him how to properly greet a girl. "Look, Carol, it's not meant to be an insult, and I'm sorry if you ladies don't like hearing that your beautiful. But it's just how I am, I don't call them baby, honey, or hot pants. I'm sorry if you find beautiful, gorgeous, or cutie degrading, that thought never would have crossed my mind. I might be a bit of a flirt, but I sure the hell wouldn't disrepect you enough to call you sugar lips." Why did they have to get so pissy when they got a compliment? Oh that's right, feminisim killed any kind of laid back flirting.

[ayden]

He was pissed off, and she could tell.

And you know what? She was beginning to get incredibly frustrated with this guys melodramatic behaviour. He went from being a jaded flirt, to being almost a arrogant and selfish cry-baby. One part of her, the compassionate side, wanted to help him out, the other side wanted to just give him a piece of her mind. Instead, she did something she never expected she would do. After a moments silence, she unfolded her arms and made a cynnical tone. "...Fuck it. There's something different about you, I know it. I get told I'm supposed to keep shut about this things; it could get me in trouble. Honestly, I don't care, there is no one here...so to hell with it." She stopped for a moment, trying to comprehend what she was about to ask. What if she was wrong? This guy could go to the authorities and report her; well, it wouldn't make a difference. He didn't know where she came from.

Taking a breath, she continued. "You've got...the gene, don't you?" The hardest question to ask.

[tamer]

Chance watched her warily as she exploded. Well this was going to put a damper on the day. In essence he knew he should have seen it coming, but he wasn't really all there to begin with. You can only really split your mind so many ways before little things get past. The fact that he was desparately wanting to study those ligers and it kept getting interrupted had made him a bit irritable. When she said there was something different about him, self preservation kicked in and he went a bit bipolar. That little boy grin he used to charm the girls his age came into play and he winked at her. Better to try to keep her off balance. "Well, thank you for noticing, Carol. It's nice to finally have someone realize that, I am indeed, different." He chuckled a bit and tried to watch the ligers out of the corner of his eye.

When she said he had 'the gene' his first instinct was to run. But he stayed perched how he was and looked down at his blue jeans. "Why yes, I do have jeans. I must admit even I know that I look damn good in them too. How about you? I bet you'd look good in jeans." He bit his tongue before he said anything more, like how good she'd look out of them. He knew what she had meant, but they were supposed to keep quiet. He didn't know if she was one or not, and wasn't particularly keen on finding out she wasn't.

[ayden]

Her heart was actually racing, waiting for him to say he was a mutant. She wanted to get it out of this guy, she didn't even know why she wanted him to admit it. She didn't even think that he MIGHT not be one. But something was certainly tickling her curiousity and she was going to pursue it in order to get some answers. She recieved a wink from him, which only added to her impatience as it seemed to the former jet-jockey that he was stalling her. The worst part was, Carol knew that he was in control now, as she was beginning to get demanding and impatient with him.

Then, he made another joke.

Carol stopped, her face of anger slowly turned to a smile before she began to quietly laugh. Her laughing increased volume as she ran thoughts through her head. This guy was playing her like a violin, and it almost appeared like he wasn't even trying. Her laughter continued as her inner frustration and impatience died down with a new confident feeling. If he was going to play games, well, why didn't she? "Well you're right about one thing, Chance! I do look pretty damn good in jeans." Yet, she didn't stop there. She needed to get the upperhand and put him off, make him feel like he had to step his game up. Smirking to the younger man, she continued. "Infact, you should see me when they're around my ankles."

She thought about what she had just said, and she realised how incredibly...well, skanky it sounded. But heck, she had to pull out the bigger guns.

[tamer]

This was definitely going to be interesting to see if he got slapped or not. Part of him almost hoped she did, it would just make him worse. He really wasn't even trying, he's found that he's better when he doesn't try. Chance only tries when he wants to turn a girl off. He's wondering why he's not trying now. She was getting pissed, he could tell that much and he found it rather amusing. Carol seemed to be one of those women who liked to be in control, otherwise she wouldn't be getting this pissed off at him.

When she smiled and started laughing, Chance knew the game was on. His brow went up at her comments about how she looked in her jeans, and out of them. The young man unfolded himself and stood up. Blue eyes looking directly at her, he started to move toward her until he was close. A slow smile touched his lips as he looked into her eyes. "If that's an offer...." Then, just to be an ass, he kissed her lips softly. "You aren't wearing jeans. But I bet those leggings look just as good around your ankles. Shall we find out? Or is the offer just for denim?" Clear blue eyes held the challenge and he was still just a mere inch from her. He mentally braced himself for the slap and had positioned his body so his 'boys' were safe if she were so inclined.