Rushing through Traffic[Open]

[Jefferson]

Stupid traffic thought Jefferson, while strumming on the steering wheel. What was suppose to take only a couple of hours was taking days, of course this was only an exaggeration. He had woken everyone up nice and early (ten in the morning actually) in order to head over to Keystone. He hadn't been here since Yuki first showed up, so it was going to be interesting watching how everyone had changed. This now seemed impossible, and the road rage he was feeling at this point could only be calmed down by the soothing sound of music. Unluckily for him, his music wasn't exactly soothing, which meant the road rage was getting out of control.

"You fucking cars! Get a move on!" Jefferson screamed out the window. By the looks of it, they only had at least a mile to go before reaching Keystone, but the traffic was immense. He blasted the music in order to clear his mind, but that wasn't working. Jefferson hated driving, it meant sitting on his ass for long periods of time. Luckily for him, there were members of his faction in the car to keep him company. This did him little good though because he blocked them out of his mind, only interested in the road ahead.

"Screw the traffic, I'm going to pull an "Aiden." With these words, Jefferson manuvered the car as fast as he could throughout the traffic. Cars were honking at the crazy driver, but that didn't bother Jefferson. He swore that he bumped into other cars, but it was there fault that they were in the way. Finally, he was close to the exit. This time he slowed down and went straight for it. Next stop: The Wesson.

[Simplicity]

Simplicity idly played with the ends of her hair. She’d traveled all over the lower western United States, South Dakota would be a new location. Wasn’t sure if she was looking forward to it, the fact that it was going to be cold wasn’t putting marks in the positives column on the check list in her head.

“Are we dead yet?” She asked in a bored voice as Jefferson started playing highway checkers.

The man had been swearing more than one of her cds and positively fuming. She was used to aggressive and reckless driving but it felt like they were quickly approaching the point of ridicules. Right when she decided to ask Jeff to pull over so she could drive he exited. Simplicity leaned back into her seat and went back to playing with her hair.

[adrian]

Adrian gripped Fluffy's collar tightly as the dog strove to bark at passing cars and stick it's head out the window. If Adrian had been driving he wouldn't have cared. But he didn't want his dog's head being taken off because Jeff was driving like a mad man. Adrian wrapped his arms around the dog's warm, lithe body and forcefully kept it from moving as the swerving grew out of control. Fluffy's short hair pricked his bare forearms as she was thrown and his arms took her weight.

"We'll get there soon enough," Adrian said in response to Sim's graveyard humor. "Enjoy the ride love," he said with a smile right before Jeff swerved again and he was thrown into the door of the car and Fluffy's weight was crushed against his own. He left out a oof as the air was driven from his lungs and then grimaced as she let out a bark of annoyance right next to his ear. "Easy girl," he said, grabbing her jaw and forcing her to look at him. He wasn't an animal whisperer of any sort, he just liked dogs and always treated them like they would understand him, including making eye contact. Fluffy growled as she regained her balance but she didn't bark again and Adrian turned his attention back to the view outside the window.

They had just taken an exit and the car was currently breaking local traffic laws as they headed towards the hotel where they would be meeting other hunters. Adrian wasn't sure about meeting other people who knew more about the supernatural. He figured it was a bad idea. But there was no real way to tell Jefferson that he didn't want to go without explaining why. Besides, the people they were meeting were only human. He shouldn't have a problem.

"So where is this place?" Adrian asked, squinting and craning his head to look in all directions as Jeff actually stopped at a stop light for a moment.

[Jefferson]

They had finally made it out, and Jefferson had calmed down. There was nothing more to do but drive all the way up to the Wesson. Now that he had calmed down, so did the music. This was enough for him to finally start paying attention to the rest of his crew, which couldn't have come at a better time. Adrian had just asked him a question, which Jefferson barely knew the answer to. He knew where the Wesson was, but explaining the street names was a whole different story.

"The Wesson is our destination, and we will be there shortly. I advise everyone to please keep all hands, feet, and weaponary to oneself when entering the bar." Yeah, changing the subject. One of Jefferson's tactics on stating that he didn't know the information, without actually saying he didn't know it. Four more blocks to go, and they would have arrived.

[Teagan]

After a cold week of darkened skies, Teagan, Miles and Art had finally run out of things to do indoors. Board games with missing pieces easily lost the attention spans of teenagers, along with getting volunteered for extra chores and whatever so-called 'fun' time waster Deacon came up with. And after the failure of a game night the previous evening, the three youngest members of the two factions had finally called it quits. Straight after breakfast in the morning they had donned dark snow boots, mittens and beanies before racing outside, cherishing the few hours where the sun made an appearance.

After numerous snow angels and snow demons (because, of course the group would try to add a little realism in their play), the trio had settling on building a well-defined snowman. While Art and Miles worked on building upward, Teagan stayed near the base, solidifying the foundation of the masterpiece. On her knees, she scooped up a ball of snow in her hands and gently rubbed it against the side of the snowman. The bright sunlight reflected harshly off of the snow, causing her to wince. Yeah, drastic change from the day before.

With perfect timing, Art stepped in front of the sun, his shadow casting over her as he started sculpting the details of the head. "Thanks," she muttered gratefully as she mindlessly rubbed her hands against the snow man. Her fingers were nearly numb by then, but at least she wasn't blinded now. Twelve hours before, she'd write it off as an act of coincidence, but now Teagan wondered if he had noticed and adjusted on purpose. A sweet gesture, certainly, but how could she know for sure? If it was by mistake, then she would be over thinking it. But if he had done it on purpose? It touched her that anyone would notice little things like that, speaking volumes in her eyes.

The same mental debate from the night before returned to her mind. Teagan wondered if it had ever even left. How should she react to what Art had said? She wasn't even sure what her feelings were yet on the topic, still sorting, she was, through the pros and cons of everything. Yes, he was cute, and thoughtful, and sweet...but he was insanely quiet and needed help and prompting more often than the normal person.

A sharp stinging coldness flew against her cheek, jerking her out of her thoughts. "Hey!" she gasped, eyes searching for the culprit and landing on the person in question. "What was that for, Art?"

Behind them, a car approached the Wesson. Completely ignoring it, Teagan clenched her hand against the snow, a ball of retaliation in preparation for a strike. No one hit her and got away with it.

[Jefferson]

The Wesson was now in sight, and not much had changed(except for all the snow.) After hours of waiting and sitting, Jefferson's anxiety to stretch his legs was slightly increasing. He got out of the car, stretched, looked over at Teagan and Art, waved, and was totally ignored. Eyebrows raised, Jefferson became ticked. No one ignored him, especially when he wasn't in a good mood. He created a snowball, packing slowly every inch of painful irritation, balling it.

"Hey Teagan!" Jefferson called out, and then threw the snowball.

[Simplicity]

Simplicity sat for a good fifteen seconds and stared when the car stopped. Snow all over the place, which meant it was cold. Sim was like a bird, she flew and stayed south for the winter. She’d visit the areas with snow just to get the twelve year old impulses out but coco was quick to follow. Pulling her jacket closer she sucked it up and stepped out of the car.

“Damn it,” she huffed watching her breath rise in front of her. In her opinion you should only see what you exhale when smoking is involved. “Jeffy, can you unlock the trunk? I need to get inside and change.” She loved her skirts, tights and heels but for this weather, it wasn’t working.

She raised an eyebrow when Jeff threw the snow ball at the kid. Well, he seemed to know her so that made it okay-ish. Simplicity was about to say something about his supposed “maturity” when a thought crossed through her mind. Turning slightly she tried to catch Adrian’s eye and smirk before leaning down and scooping up a hand full of snow. She packed it lightly before throwing it at the back of Jefferson’s head. He could say what he wanted about her focus or respect but her aim was always stellar.

“Oops,” she bit her finger and gave her best innocent face. It didn’t work mostly because of the guilty glint in her eyes.

[Casey]

Chaos thy name be Wesson, Art thought mockingly. The night before had been a series of fantastic failures in his opinion followed by a surprising highlight that seemed to make up for it. Who knew Teagan was capable of being the one that brought out the good on a crappy night? He wouldn’t have bet that way that was for sure. Still she seemed to be hiding something as well, she retreated into her thoughts more and more often each time he saw her.

Personally he was glad to be outside. He loved the snow, and didn’t hate the cold. Winter was always amazing even when his mom was trying to catch the first snowflakes as they fell. Building snow men was a more innocent pass time.

He glanced down and Teagan when she spoke, giving her a brief smile. There she was back in her thoughts again. Seriously it was getting concerning, it was his job to be the introvert in Keystone. Well if she was going to trying and take his position he was going to return the favor. Art picked up a hand full of snow and threw it at her.

“Revenge,” he shrugged. To what? Fill in the blank, he thought.

He waved as Jeff got out of the car and snickered as the girl poorly dressed for a South Dakota winter nailed him with a snow ball. Yeah, this was going to be an interesting day.

[adrian]

Adrian climbed out of the car. Well actually he nearly got pushed out as Fluffy squirmed past him to get at the snow. Despite the dog's fearsome appearance and often fearsome attitude, like all dogs, she had a playful nature and she couldn't resist the lure of something thrown. She went chasing after the snowball that had just left Jeff's hands, barking at the top of her lungs. It would have almost been an idealic scene of a homey winter morning except for the fact that all of them were teenagers or adults.

Adrian straightened up and got his footing as he watched Fluffy run off. He hoped she didn't attack anyone. That would just complicate things. "Don't kill my dog," he called, though he hadn't really said it loud enough to be heard by anyone that wasn't in the direct vicinity of the car. He didn't really think Fluffy would attack anyone but if she did he'd much rather that person got hurt then someone shoot his dog.

The reason for his grumpy mood was the cold. He wasn't any more prepared for it than Simplicity. He was used to avoiding cold places and, since that was the case, his wardrobe consisted of t-shirts, jeans and his leather jacket. The wind was cutting right through them all and he felt the cold settle on his skin and start to sink into his muscles. The muscles would cramp before too long and if it reached his bones he knew he'd be cold for hours.

Unlike Sim he hadn't brought any clothing fit for the trip so there was nothing to retrieve from the trunk. He ducked back into the car and pulled his backpack off the floor before beginning the treck up to the front door of the hotel, his boots making tracks in the mostly fresh snow, a grumpy look on his face and an off putting cast to his shoulders as he tried to hunch inside his thin, leather jacket. Damn, he really hated the cold.

[Jefferson]

Thump! The piercing cold struck suddenly on the back of his head, chills ran down his back, and the sudden realization that it was freezing dawned on him. Turning around he saw the guilty glint on Sim's eyes, but he ignored it. After they were done doing whatever they were suppose to, then he would have his revenge. What kind though, and how painful should he make it? He'll think of something after the job was over, he always did.

Walking over to the car, Jefferson opened the trunk revealing jackets. If he dug around and lifted a flap, underneath would be weapons a plenty. Right now jackets were the only weapons that could stand against the blistering cold. Reaching down, he pulled out three black jackets and passed them to Sim and the now smaller Adrian. Jefferson laughed at this, but only for a short time.

"All right, I'm going inside. When you guys are done playing, meet me in. I want to be clued in on why we were called out here, and it better be something good, hell with it, even if it's not I'm still staying." With this, Jefferson walked inside the Wesson.

[Teagan]

"Revenge?" Teagan repeated in disbelief, raising an eyebrow. What on earth did he want to extract revenge on her for? The teen gave it a moments thought, but couldn't settle on one answer. Honestly, there were so many reasons that she didn't know where to start. "Can I at least know what I'm being punished for? You're being ridiculously vagu"

A densely packed chunk of something freezing cold smacked into the back of her head, interrupting her protest. "Do I have a target painted on the back of my head or something?" She rubbed her stinging head, frowning as she turned around. "Who's signing their death warrant?" Her eyes fell on the new arrivals, suddenly noting their existence. "Jeffy?"

It bemused her to see the older man back at the Wesson, though she wasn't quite familiar with him as of yet. Their conversations had been limited the last time Teagan had been around him back during the summer. In fact, it surprised her that he remembered her name. Aiden had told Yuki and Teagan a bit about him upon request during one of their learning sessions. Most of what they discussed centered around appropriate nicknames and the importance of subtlety. "Are you trying to start something?" Teagan called back, bunching up a pack of snow in her hands in preparation to throw.

Jefferson stumbled back, turning around in shock and revealing a very guilty looking girl behind him. Teagan hadn't met the girl dressed for different weather before, but she gained cool points by pulling that stunt. A dog flew out of the truck behind them, followed by a grumpy-looking guy. A slight look of confusion crossed her face. "Miles, Art," she said in a softer voice, as not to be heard by the oncoming guests. "Do you know these guys?" Unconsciously, she shifted closer to Art, not quite sure what to say as the group walked by.

Verbally, that was. The snowball in her hand made its way to the back of Jeffy's head. Perhaps that would teach him not to mess with her.

[adrian]

Adrian just took the jacket from Jeff as Jeff passed him on the way to the front door with a mumbled thanks. He put it under his arm and continued inside. There was no point in pulling it on for the two or so feet he had left to the door and he was sincerely hoping that his entire time here was spent indoors and he would not need someone else's jacket. He had nothing against Jeff's jacket he just liked wearing his own clothes.

He pushed the door open and immediately felt slightly warmer as the wind was cut off. He sighed a little and unhunched his shoulders. He looked around with not much interest. It was a hotel. Hotels were pretty much the same everywhere. They had a lobby and they had rooms. Maybe the rooms were nicer in one place, dingy in another, but a bed was a bed as far as he was concerned. He turned back to the outside door and stuck his head outside and called his dog in.

She was currently pulling the arm out of a snowman. She managed to get the stick free and, in true dog fashion, tossed her head around in such a way that a human doing the same thing would have gotten a concussion or whiplash. She stopped and ran a few feet and then began shaking the stick again, trying to rip it apart. She ran over to Simplicity with the stick in her mouth, stopping right outside of arm reach, and just stood there. Then she went down into a crouch, turned around and ran back the way she'd came. All in all, it was a dog's invitation to play. Adrian gave up. He trusted that she wouldn't run away and if she wanted to run around for a while, so be it.

He turned back into the room and gratefully let the door close behind him. "So what are we here for anyway and is there any food?"

[Miles]

With the youth of the Wesson growing bored of the indoors, they decided to hit the snow and spend the day outside. Miles and Art were used to the weather, used to the cold and snow, and he wasn't sure if Teagan was or not. If she wasn't, she was a trooper, because she had no complaint. Luckily, Miles' thin frame wasn't hindered by his snow clothes, he still had full mobility and was surrounded by warmth at the same time--he hated bulky snow clothes, and thus made specific choices when picking them.

He was currently working on the opposite side of Teagan, the snowman between them. Art was up and walking around them, but Miles wasn't really paying him attention. His focus was on the leg of the snowman, which Teagan had messed up a little. Not that he would say anything, that would be mean. Instead he went to work reshaping it and supporting it, before deciding afterward he would work on the arms.

It was a little awkward, too, with Art and Teagan. The night before Aiden had dared Art to kiss Teagan--about time, too. But Art, being the little awkward socially-inept teen he was declined, and Teagan, who had been assigned to make sure that people went through with the dares, followed after him when they left. After that, no one saw them again until the morning, and now...something had happened, he could tell, and he wanted to find out. Art was a brother-figure, and Teagan the closest thing he had to a best friend. And neither were budging.

Art hit Teagan with a snowball, which made Miles frown. Scooping up his own snowball, he threw it at Art and gave him a semi-glare. "Be nice," Miles warned. It had already crossed his mind that a snowball fight might break out, and he had decided he would team up with Teagan to go against Art--he'd win that way.

A car pulled up, and Miles paused to watch the next couple of events unfold. He could only guess that this was the Dallas faction, but he didn't know a single one of them. "No," he said quietly to Teagan, watching as even a dog get out of the car. Teagan and Jeff exchanged....pleasantries, and he turned to her. "You know him?"

Two of them went inside, leaving the woman and the dog outside with them. Taking his chance, he tried again, this time more direct. "What happened last night?" he asked Teagan quietly, only partly sure that Art hadn't heard.

[Aiden]

Aiden was a Pacific boy at heart, and while it did rain and get cold in Oregon, it rarely snowed, and if it did, it wasn't much. Thus he preferred to stick indoors, he was content thumbing through newspapers, surfing the internet, and even just hanging out and talking with Yuki and Deacon, the remaining members of the group that weren't outside playing in the snow.

The game night the previous night had been amusing, although Art was a spoil-sport, like always. I swear, that kid needs to learn some social skills, have fun, and get a decent sense of humor, he thought, taking a drink of the coffee that Deacon had brewed. The caffeine coursed through his system, and his eyes scanned the page for the online version of The Oregonian. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but they were definitely making a stop in Montana so far.

His reverie of hunting was interrupted when he heard the door open, defined by the metallic clack! of the pentagram hanging on the back of the door. Aiden glanced over his shoulder and saw a face he hadn't seen in months, and had been expecting. Jefferson, the man that helped him and Malcolm in the past. Standing, Aiden left the barstool and stood before Jeff.

"Jefferson," he said, extending his hand. Despite the spats the two frequently had, it was still nice to see him. Aiden's eyes reflected a heavy mind; for days he had been wrestling with the thought of telling Jeff about his demon blood, though he was definitely going to hear about Ariel. "How've you been, man?"

Aiden returned to his seat, looking at the guy that followed behind him; rugged, slightly thuggish, and looking very cold. Ignoring him, he focused on Jeff, and couldn't help but let slip a grin. "I hope that you've gotten more subtle now that you deal with people daily; Yuki still hasn't gotten over her first encounter with you," he said, recalling the poltergeist battle.

[Teagan]

Teagan glanced over at Miles, "Barely. I met him, Aiden and the Rooks all on the same day. He's the only one I don't know much about." Her tingling hands scooped up another handful of snow as she resumed her task of building the figurine. Eventually they would have to come up with a name for it, she mused. Barking behind her diverted her attention to the animal the other faction had brought with them. Why didn't Portland have a furry friend to tag along with them everywhere?

...a dozen reasons immediately popped up in her head, not one of them good. The strongest argument centered around Yuki. Japanese cuisine often took strange routes and Teagan didn't want to know what Yuki might attempt to pull if man's best friend suddenly became man's first course.

Miles whispered a question quietly to her, and she immediately masked the emotions that threatened to pop up on her face. "Nothing Miles. Don't worry yourself about it." Teagan nonchalantly smoothed the base of the snowman, refusing to meet the younger boy's eyes. Instead, her eyes flickered toward Art briefly before returning to the task at hand. Hopefully her face wasn't turning red.

To avoid the rest of the conversation, Teagan greeted the new girl who had arrived with Jefferson and the moody one. "Heya. Welcome to the Keystone. Took you guys long enough to get here," she said teasingly. Poor girl was in the wrong outfit for it too; she'd freeze within five minutes. "I'm Teagan."