i want you to mean it - zuly.

[zaach]

Nothing like a steaming hot shower to take away the hangover from the previous night's binge drinking stunt, right?

Lukasz Cook stood under the hot water with his eyes closed, allowing the hot water to cascade down his body, droplets tracing scar lines, hair matted to his forehead and hands pressed against the wall in front of him. Yeah; this was definitely a feeling that he liked. Of course it would feel a lot better if he hadn't had the hangover, because the pressure of the water was just adding to the pressure in his head; making it feel like it was about to explode. He knew that eventually the pain would lessen to a dull ache and he would be forced to take some tylenol, or advil just to bring it to a simmering point where it would go away completely and he could get on with whatever he had to be doing - like cooking at the diner!

After a few more minutes of just standing there, Lukasz finally decided to move. He lathered himself in shower gel and washed his hair before rinsing all the bubbles off and turning off the shower. Grabbing the towel he'd hung over the shower ten minutes beforehand, the twenty three year old wrapped it around the lower half of his body and stepped out of the shower, dripping wet. Grabbing the hand towel from the hand towel rail, Lukasz viciously rubbed his hair until it was no longer dripping and moved into his bedroom to get dressed.

Todays attire was much the same as usual. Skinny jeans, a dark shirt with the additional black tie, underneath a black hooded jacket, a red and black belt and a pair of black slip-on Vans. A splash of the usual cologne and then back into the bathroom to sort his hair out. Flat at the front and spiked up at the back; he knew that it would be ruined once he got to work, but for now Elias didn't care - he had a supply of gel in his bag down by the front door, so he could always fix after he'd finished up for the day, right? Right!

Shoving everything into his pockets and grabbing his 'lucky charm' - which wasn't that lucky at all, he just didn't want people to find out that he had an obssession with cuddly toys, so it was more of an... alibi. Yeah; that's what he could call it, an alibi. Perfect. As long as no-one questioned his sanity then all would be right with the world. Anyway, just as he was about to leave his apartment and stroll down the path to work, his cell phone started to ring. Lukasz shoved the 'Gloomy Bear' into the pocket of his hoodie and answered his cell phone. However, before he could get out a 'hello', he recieved a 'frère, vous êtes un con.' followed by an evil sounding laugh and the familiar click that a person hears when they've just been hung up on. Lukasz blinked and stared at his phone before shaking his head and leaving the house

"Dit la bite assis dans la prison, mon frère." Shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, Lukasz continued to walk, and walk, and walk until he hit Hyde Park where he settled himself under a tree to commence 'work'. "Éclat, éclat, mon petit astre, éclat, éclat." He spoke softly to himself as he settled himself against some ruins, placed his hands behind the back of his head and closed his eyes.

[fluffy]

In her thirty four years of life, Zuleika had become increasingly used to the aches and pains of changing in and out of, what her people believed, her natural form. She had changed, out of whim, last night while running in the park trying to clear her mind after getting a few phone calls from her brother, who was still arguing over the broken engagement with Constantine. Seriously? She had been nineteen at the time...Hardly a good age to be getting married. She was thirty four now, despite looking like she was twenty one and telling others who did not know about her true nature she was twenty one, one would think he would just get over it. No, he hadn't. Apparently she needed to find someone or she couldn't go back to Romania. As much as she loved her country, she had already told him she was fine with that. Staying in London wasn't exactly on her agenda, but she would stay here for the time being. Plus, it wasn't like she didn't have anyone...He was just a 'meat boy' as her pack would call them.

So after about fifteen minutes of transforming back to her boring human form, she jumped up and grabbed her clothing from the tree she had left it in and slipped it all on. It wasn't anything spectacular, just some dark blue tiny shorts and an slightly over-sized tee shirt that was obviously loose on her fit and slim frame, some running sneakers, and then she was tying her dark locks up into a ponytail. It was freezing, now that she really paid attention to the temperature. She had been so frustrated last night that she hadn't even noticed running out of her apartment in barely anything. The adrenaline rush was now gone, however, so she was stuck feeling every bit of cold against her smooth, tanned skin. Frowning, she forced her limbs to move. Moving out of the small patch of trees she had been hiding behind, she went into the bigger clearings, stretching her long arms up in the air as she did so. Okay, the cold wasn't that bad. It most definitely kept her awake and alert. That was for sure.

She continued walking, doing stretches as she went along before simply stopping closer to the end and sitting down in the plush yet cold grass and leaning forward so she was flat against her long legs. Feeling the pulls on her joints, stretching out the muscles that were still aching, she stood, after a long while of simply stretching. God it felt great...The adrenaline was back, and she soon found herself running again, simply following her feet wherever they would take her. Her ears would perk up at the sounds of nature, of life, of cars passing by and seemed so content and lost in her own thoughts. After a while of running around the park...say, give or take a few times, she wasn't exactly counting, just trying to keep warm to be honest and not wanting to go home yet, her nose twitched at the familiar scent and she looked up to see the one and only...

As if stalking her pray, she slowly and stealthily went around the back of the bench, arms silently slithering to let her fingers run down his chest. She could only guess her skin was freezing, "New shampoo?" she whispered softly into his ear before giving it a gentle nip, her Romanian accent strong yet smooth and filled with playfulness. It had been his scent mixed with that of some unknown hair product that really caught her attention. Had to be new, considering he usually smelled like clean soap. Leaning in, she nuzzled his neck a bit and then chuckled, "Sorry, am I interrupting the creative juices from flowing?" the sarcasm was there, but in no way was she saying it rudely. It was all in good fun anyway and Cookie, by now, knew how she was...Just not what she was.

[zaach]

"Éclat, éclat, mon petit astre, éclat, éclat." The pitter-patter of footsteps across the stark and barren land caused the young male to stiffen slightly in his position. This was London and ever since everything had happened one could never be too careful when one was out and about. Especially out and about in a place such as Hyde Park, and especially in a world filled with... with Vampire and Werewolves, but then he had never really been one to believe in fairy tales and this was no exception. Hell, people could believe what the heck they wanted to believe, he was perfectly content with just roaming around the place as though he owned it; which he didn't, of course. To be honest he rather enjoyed the normalacy that London appeared to be offering him, it certainly was a change from when he'd been in Paris.

"Je n'ai pas peur de vous." His tone was soft as the pitter-pattering footsteps came closer and closer until hands slide around his shoulders, fingers sliding down his chest. That was when he felt the safest. He knew for a fact that the female currently standing behind him would not harm him in anyway - whether it be verbal or physical. She was just not that kind of person, around him anyway. The smallest of shivers shook down his spine once he felt her cold flesh upon his slightly warmer flesh. Her hot breath sent another shiver down his spine and he fumbled over words for an answer to her question about the shampoo. "Well, mon petit amour, you were there when it was brought." He whispered back, turning his head slightly so that he could reach her ear as she nipped his - yes, another shiver went down his back.

He tilted his head to the side when she started to nuzzle his neck, allowing her more access to his neck whilst his hand left the sketchbook and slid up; fingers entangling into her hair and reaching for the nape of her neck. "Were you sleeping when we did the shopping, chéri?" He asked with a soft chuckle. The fingers at the nape of her neck began to gently stroke the skin there with light 'tippings'. He called it 'finger tipping', but it was usually performed down her spine. Unfortunately he couldn't reach her spine at this present moment in time, so he settled for her neck instead hoping that it would have the same effect, or something close to it.

She apologised for her interruptions. He replied with a simple nod of his head as he free hand shifted the sketch book off of his lap and to the floor. Turning his position around, the male removed his hand from the back of her head and slowly drifted down her sides to her waist before wrapping his arms around her. "Creativity has escaped me now that I have a distraction, mon amour." He smiled his usual lop-sided smile and tilted his head to the side, taking in every inch of her face and her beauty. "Je ne pas vous réveiller, non?" He asked, trying to remember if she had been in the bed or not since he had been far too inebriated to remember a single damn thing about the night before. Or was it earlier before? Either way he still couldn't remember.

[fluffy]

Zuleika had invisioned, many times especially at night, what would happen if he found out about her being a werewolf. Would he hate her? Fear her? Leave her? What if he embraced her and her savage side that she would much rather be in on a daily basis? Back in Romania, she grew up mostly in her wolf form since it was adored and celebrated, looked up to, more than their human forms which they believed was just temporary and nothing more to teach them not to hate or hurt humans, or meat bags. She still had that odd traditional way of thinking and Lukasz was still young, really. She was technically almost ten years older than he was, though she obviously did not look it. She wasn't going to change much from what she looked like now and she knew it, "Bien sûr pas l'amour," her French was a little rough, thanks to that strong accent of her's, but it was still understandable. She only spoke it seldom, since she wasn't exactly the best at it, but definitely understood it enough since her sister in law was French.

"Either sleeping or drunk," she chuckled, obviously joking since she didn't drink too often. She did drink, however, and whenever she did, she always ended up practically pouncing on Lukasz and, basically, being a total horny mutt. And in those times was when she had the hardest time controlling herself. She knew, if she did thrust hard enough, she could at least sprain him or something...And it was already normal for him to end up with bruises after a night of extra curricular activities. She was thinking about running her fingers through his hair, but knew better since he had gel...how she despised gel. Even if her hair looked like a wild tornado she never wore hair products. When she showered, she used soap for everything. It wasn't that she didn't like the smell or the results, it was just that it was how she was brought up. Her father had money, but they were extremely humble, "I wasn't there last night," she arched an eyebrow at him, "My brother called so I went out, iubire," occasionally few Romanian words would slip in and out of her vocabulary without much thought to it and by now, she was sure he understood most of it-she usually explained herself when he looked at her funny, "Rough night?"

She leaned in and brushed her lips gently against his before biting his lower lip. All the little habits she could never seem to bring herself to break; the biting, nipping, licking, nuzzling, and she was pretty sure his dog was in love with her. It was how they met after all. She had been coming out from work and his dog ran up to her and started humping her leg. She had been ready to growl at him and tell him to get off through a series of barks until she noticed the collar and Cook not far, coming right up and taking the dog off her now de-virginized leg. That was when he started showing up, as often as he could it seemed or maybe he just figured out her shift, at the large diner she worked for. Any of her friends that worked there constantly, and she was aware of this, told him that she was single but most definitely not looking, that she just got out of a rough relationship or something and then having to explain to him that she hadn't gotten out of a rough relationship-she just wanted to be alone...well that was a challenge within itself.

Never in a million years did she imagine actually caring about this psychotic, artistic, sentimental, humorous, lovable, beautiful...lovely...amazing....charming...well, you get the idea. She was head over heels for him-but she couldn't bring herself to tell him-so that was where the little things like making dinner, remembering dates important to him, showing affection through the previous actions...that was were it all came in to play/ But his nightmares did worry her. She had noticed that they were happening more frequently and that it was most definitely not normal. Zuleika remembered on numerous occasions waking up in the middle of the night to calm him down, even if it was just rubbing his back or hugging him from behind. There had been many times where she had reached out far too quickly than a normal human should to catch him from falling off the bed or hurting himself it the middle of thrashing, but she was easily able to play it off as it being part of his dream or something.