The Lion Plays Tonight (Open)

[Night Tenjo]

Night just got to the windy city of Chicago. It wasn't the first time she had been here, though she didn't pick this city to live. There was a lot she had to leave behind in the rush to leave her most recent trouble and find somewhere new to be. Though Chicago wasn't a new place to her, it was somewhere she hadn't lived. Night had already picked and paid for a place in advance. She lived and moved many times for many reasons but never changed her name or her appearance. It was a high security apartment, 13th floor, two bed, two bath, a large kitchen, great private balcony with an even greater view but no one to share it with and no job to keep her busy. She didn't need money to live she had plenty of money but she hated not having something to do.

It didn't take her long to find a job not many people wanted to work at night, most wanted to play at night. But Night found a great job surrounding herself with animals instead of annoying people. A night time caretaker at the Lincoln Park Zoo. She loved animals and for some reason they seemed to love her too. On an occasion or two an animal in heat showed a lot of affection both male and female animals. But that never made her falter in her work. Of all the animals she was responsible for her favorite were the felines and the reptiles. Her own cat, Thackery, would follow her to work on occasion and keep an eye on her.

Though she was a red vamp the sun didn't seem to bother her it never did but there was something more magical about the moon. But on the occasion someone couldn't make it to work she would take a day shift if necessary. And today just happened to be one of those days. Night got changed and just walked around making sure the animals were happy before the zoo opened for the day. It was a field trip day too so she was going to be busy with how some kids treat the animals. She sighed to her self as she walked past the lions who were stretching and playing with the rubber toys and ropes they were given. She finished her round as the zoo opened for the public and school trips that would cause a ruckus and chaos that was bound to happen.

As it got closer to lunch Night had been in the reptile house with a couple tenants of the zoo out for kids to pet if they were brave enough. She heard a scream and put the bearded dragon down and ran to the scream. A kid climbed the fence and no one stopped him from getting into the cage. The kid was trapped in the lions den and no one could get in to help him.

[Katherine Ozera]

Running after the kid was a suicide mission at best. After all, she was no vampyre not even a fledgling. She was a wiccan who was tired and out of breath. Running was not in her nature which was why she never had become a cop. Kathy sighed as she heard the scream getting closer, she ran faster and faster until she jumped over pulling the boy with her. She looked around trying to see what she could do with either one of her powers and all she found she could do was to pick up a trash can near by and thank the Goddess it was empty.

Throwing the thing she basically put a distraction as she pulled the kid and jumped back out to the other side she threw both of them on the ground as she closed her eyes and cried out her hair was a mess, her cellphone had broken for the third time this month and she now realized she had sprained ankles. "oh Goddess help us all" she called out. She took the boy and pushed him off her he didn't need much instruction but ran in the opposite direction. He had just come back from death's door after all. She now heaved a sigh and tried to focus to let herself not pass out she was so out of breath she felt like she was dying.

[Night Tenjo]

Night had pushed the idiot coworkers out of her way as she entered through the employee's entrance into the lion's den. The large male came towards her as if she were an intruder. She stepped a few feet back as the lion ponced and barely missed her; making her stumble back on to the ground. "Now, now..." She said looking up and making direct eye contact with the cat. "You know me..." Night said to the large fuzzy animal. "And as much as I agree with you eating anyone who's stupid enough to enter your domain... they would put you down if you did that." She said walking toward the angered lion with her hand out as her other hand reached behind her to her back pocket.

Behind her one of the cubs smelt something coming from the pocket she reached for and ran up and tackled Night. "Ahh!" She yelled as the other two cubs followed and tackled her. The father lion looked at them confused as a knitted ball was pulled out of her pocket. He caught a whiff of what was in that ball and was calm. "See? You guys know me." Night laughed as she pulled the ball from the cub and threw it opposite of the fence that was surrounded by people.

[Katherine Ozera]

Ooc) Sorry, I was in a hurry and for one reason or another I just realized how bad that post was. I hope this is better. I still have grammar errors, sorry
“Holy Goddess Nyx!” cried the D.A as something hit her. Having sprained her ankle she wondered how she would stand again or walk again for that matter. Her cloths were a mess and she had no doubt her phone had broken by now. This was just not her day. This was exactly why she tried to limit herself between the House of Night, the Courthouse and the D.A’s office with the occasional trip to a coffee house and the police prescient. Rolling onto her side, she hit the nearest tree and swore. She was an accident prone she really had to get herself together. Speaking of which, she wondered what on earth had possessed the kid to go and jump in a lion's den, a lion's den, really. People could get killed, was he on something or had he been dared. She knew firsthand the affects peer pressure could have on a teenager, nothing mattered except what your friends thought of you. Well, that was how it went typically for most kids although she herself had tried to fight her parents at that age so much that peer pressure had been the least of her issues. As she tried to breath a little bit easier, her cellphone rang. Okay, so it wasn't broken at least not completely. "Hello?" she said picking it up.

What she heard next made her want to throw the phone but she tried to control her temper. A small fireball came in her hand and she extinguished it, she did not needed to draw attention to herself well, no more then she already had tonight. Exasperated, Kathy shoved her phone in her pocket, not caring if she had hung up properly or not and attempted to stand up only to fall again.

"Someone just please shoot me" she thought as she tried to get up but she had no strength left, she hadn't eaten in hours nor had she slept she was a mess, not that it was anything new.

[Night Tenjo]

"Hey clear the area around the fence!" Night yelled up at the clueless and moronic zookeepers. Night let the cat's play as she searched the den to make sure there wasn't anyone or thing that shouldn't be in there. Walking around she picked up some trash and other crap kids would throw inside to irritate the lions. "Stupid kids." Night grumbled as she picked up the stuff and tried to avoid getting the cubs attention as they played. She noticed somethings as she walked out of the den somethings that weren't so childlike. She picked up a wallet with an i.d. some credit cards and business cards. "Katherine Ozera..." Night read quietly to herself as the keepers above cleared the area of people. "District Attorney..."

[Katherine Ozera]

Vampyre or not even Kathy could hear the yelling. Someone was yelling for everyone to clear the area well, that was easier said than done. She hated being human but oh well, at least she was at a good job. In fact, she had two jobs. She then realized that she didn’t have her wallet. “oh Goddess” she moaned. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and picked it up in irritation. “What can I do you for?” she snapped. The yelling on the other side was enough to make her go deaf. She pulled the phone from her ear a couple inches, she could still hear them.
“KATHY OZERA YOU HANG UP LIKE THAT AGAIN I’LL MAKE SURE YOU SPEND THE NEXT WEEK IN LOCK UP!” Kathy cringed not due to fear, but the noise. “and if you make me go deaf, you will be paying my medical bills!” she snapped right back at the caller. This was a very bad and dangerous idea she couldn’t spend a week in lock up she had classes to teach and kids to mentor. She sighed as she replied. “if you stopped screaming bloody murder, and listened you would know that I had a good reason for hanging up” she told the person on the other end.
She tried to get up for the second time only to fall again. “Damn it!” she swore aloud losing her temper, she really was not good at keeping her mouth shut and had someone been looking for her or if she was attracting unwanted attention this was not helping her. “excuse me while I try and get outta here and find my wallet too” With that she hung up again jail or no jail she needed her license if nothing else, she needed that.

[Night Tenjo]

Night heard a swear around the area and made an easy few parquor jumps in the den and habitat to get to the top of the fence sitting on the metal bar at the top. She looked down and around to see where the cursing came from and saw a woman who resembled the person on the i.d. "Hey!" Night called out to the woman on the ground. "Didn't you hear? Get away from the fence!" She said jumping down gracefully from the fence toward the woman. When the human girl tried standing up Night saw her struggle to stay up and walked toward her.

Night wasn't sure why this woman was insane enough to save some dumb kid but hey who was Night to question suicidal actions?

[Katherine Ozera]

"Would love to" called Kathy as she finally stopped putting weight on her injury. That would do nothing to help her except make the bad problem worse. She scanned the area for her licence and wallet. Where the heck were they? Frustrated with herself she thought about asking whoever this person was if that kid had been on something or just plain idiot but that wouldn't get anything accomplished, not only was she hurting she now had a ticked off judge probably, not good. After a moment, she was able to gather her thoughts together and stood up gingerly, leaning on the tree for balance since she still was not about to go anywhere anytime soon.

This brought back a memory ten years ago, she had been fifteen, her relationship with her parents had gotten strained even then and she remembered her mother throwing her cellphone somewhere in the middle of a park, foolishly. Kathy had ran after it and had not only sprained her ankle but had nearly drowned. That had all been before this affinity business, she hadn't gotten her powers until she had started college and law school and as she yawned, she wondered when she would ever head back to school. People would start to know she was missing if they started pounding on either her office door or yelling for her, it was a good thing that no one had her cell otherwise she already knew her phone would be out of battery.

[Night Tenjo]

Night watched as the woman struggled to stand and then started looking for something. "Katherine Ozera?" Night asked assuming that was the person from the i.d. and wallet. "I take it this is yours?" She said holding out the wallet and offering a hand so she could be walked to a bench nearby. "Hey are you nuts or just stupid," Night asked as she tried helping the girl get to a bench so she wouldn't have to stand what seemed like a bad ankle. And as much as it annoyed her for stupid heroics and whatnot she couldn't help being concerned about the woman.

Well it seemed that the lady would be fine on her own due to sheer will or so Night assumed as she got ready to leave for the evening. Though she was usually the only one who worked the late shift the zoo couldn't allow someone to work more than one long shift in a row, due to unfortunate inciddents where over worked caretakers would fall asleep in terrible places. So for once Night had a night off and with such a rare occassion she could her the beat miles away calling to her, the darkness luring her to the depths of forbidden desires within heart own heart, the voice of impulse using a sly tongue to seduce Nights will into lust for passion, flesh and blood! She headed for the vamp club known as the Midnight Rose. A place she was all too familar to. A home away from home. The place was very open to the species' and all that came implied from the dancefloor, private rooms, and the dancers all around. A place of ecstasy and fun about all else. But no one ever got her attention but maybe tonight a secret desire rang in her chest as she walked in the doors. I can forget history past and future and maybe enjoy the present.

[Seamus McAllister]

Seamus knocked back another gulp of the beer in his hand and held back a grimace as the sour taste of it hit the back of his throat. After fighting back the urge to spit the murky liquid back out, he smiled at the Red Vampyre Fledging that called himself Derren Engstrom. Derren was a very exuberant man who prided himself on being incredibly approachable and lively. The two of them had become friends almost as soon as they had met and it was Derren who had convinced Seamus to come to the club with him.

Derren grinned back at him and said, "That's good stuff, right? Not like the water you can get in normal bars."

Seamus made a show of inspecting the label then replied, "Trust me mate, if I had wanted to drink that stuff, I would've. But this..." He spread his arms out to indicate the club around him. "This place is mental." Seeing the look of confusion on his friend's face, Seamus said quickly, "Crazy, nuts, absolutely bat shi-" Before he could finish, Derren's attention seemed to suddenly turn elsewhere, to a point that was behind Seamus.

He turned, expecting to see Derren's attention being attracted by one of the many Vampyre dancers dotted around the Midnight Rose only to find him looking towards a blond-haired Vampyre woman making her way through the room. Derren gave Shay a meaningful look and said, "Listen, I may be a while so..."

Shay sighed and said in reply, "Go enjoy yourself, mate, I won't get in the way. Just make sure this one doesn't have a date this time, alright? I don't want to have to pull your arse out of the frying pan again."

"No problem, Shay. Wouldn't want your pretty face to be mashed up, would we?" As Derren set off towards the woman and tried to get her attention, Seamus looked back at the beer bottle in his hand and grimaced slightly. As Shay had looked away, he hadn't noticed that the other Fledgling's attention had been on the woman to such an extent that he ran straight into a rather large man that seemed to be very angry at him.

As Shay looked back up to see how his friend was progressing in his mission to get laid that night and immediately said to himself quietly, "Oh for the love of..." Derren was now gesturing wildily whilst mouthing the words "help" and "Shay" over and over in a panic. Seamus sighed again, put the bottle down then advanced towards the two men.

After getting fairly near to the back of the man who had looked much smaller from where Shay had been previously standing, he called out, "Oi, goat-arse!" As the veritable giant turned towards the sound of Shay's insult, the werecat Fledging punched him and sent the larger man sprawling against a table behind him. "And stay down, if you know what's good for you." Seamus walked over to Derren and asked, "Everything going alright then, lad?"

"Running like clockwork, bro."

As the two friends talked, they noticed that the man who Shay had knocked down, an adult Vampyre, had not been alone. The guy's friends a group of three other Vampyres, had gathered to help him get up. As the four of them looked towards Seamus and Derren, they could both see the unbridled anger in all of their eyes. As the group stalked their way towards the two of them, Seamus said, "I'm blaming you personally for any broken bones or bruises, you know."

Derren shrugged and said, "No problem, Shay."

With that, the two friends attacked.

[Night Tenjo]

Night walked up to the bar and waited while her London originated pen pal Alex Thomas prepped the drinks when her terribly pushy match maker friend Allison Taylor aka Alex's lover came up behind the bar to get some drinks as well to deliver. "Night why the hell are you working tonight? You're not scheduled and you worked a day shift at the zoo!" Alli exclaimed peeved that her friend wasn't here to party but to work. "Go dance, sing grab a guy and get laid!"

"Ah, no. I'm not gonna go get my ass grabbed by some strange guy looking for some one-sided fun for the night. Besides i like working it keeps me sane and busy." The streak haired girl said in response to her pushy blond friends words.

"Absolutely not! Go! Party, grab a guy dance! Besides sex is great for keeping ones sanity. Just go do something other than work! Come on the least you can do is go dance since you always turn the guys down when i set up a date for you." Alli complained.

"Alli, you're pushing it again." Alex said wrapping his arms around his lover. "But i have to agree with her on the fact you shouldn't be working but having fun." The sandy blond man said kissing his blond lover's cheek. "But you don't necessarily need a guy to have fun. Hell those guys don't seem to need a girl around to have fun." Alex said slightly sarcastically pointing in the direction of a group of guys surrounding a couple of other guys.

"You've got to be freaking kidding me!" Night said banging her fist on the table. Before turning from the bar and heading toward the group with her metal heeled high heeled boots, dress pants simple button up blouse undone a few buttons on top and simple black vest. "HEY!" She shouted at the group reaching to grab one of the guys hands before it could move forward and punch one of the guys that was surrounded. "Calm down or lea..." She started to yell before the direction of the swing changed and back slapped her to the table behind her and to the floor.

"Back off stupid bitch!" He growled with a smirk on his ugly mug.

[Seamus McAllister]

Seamus was still dealing with one the original aggressor's friends when he saw him take a Red Vampyre woman who had tried to step in to stop the fight that had erupted. He felt a veritable red mist descend over his eyes as he quickly dealt with the man in front of him then started moving towards the apparent leader of the group.

Seamus saw that the larger man had been going after Derren when the woman had tried to step in and apparently the Red Fledgling was still in danger. Stepping into the path the larger man was taking, Seamus confronted him and, before being able to attack, ducked underneath a sledgehammer of a punch that would have knocked Shay out if he hadn't moved in time. Before his opponent could get his stance back or throw another punch, Shay grabbed the man's shoulders and drove his knee up into the man's groin. The Vampyre let out a choked cry as his knees buckled and he went down onto them, only Seamus to deliver a punch to the man's jaw that had so much force that Shay was convinced he felt something break underneath the blow.

As the man fell to the ground unconscious, and his friends rushed to drag him out, Seamus made his way over to the sprawled form of the woman and knelt next to her to see how badly she was injured. After making sure that the woman was going to wake up with a headache in the morning, Shay took a hold of her arm and hoisted her up onto her feet and into a chair.

After he had made sure she was as comfortable as he could get her, Shay shook the Vampyre lightly then asked, "You alright, lass? Seemed like you took a pretty good hit from that bastard." He then gestured back towards the now quickly retreating group of Vampyres who had jumped him and Derren. "That bugger'll probably think twice now before hitting someone not involved in the fight, let alone one as pretty as you."

[Night Tenjo]

Night felt an unfamiliar hand touch her as the cloud of pain started to clear up as she felt a sudden shake. "You alright, lass?" She heard coming from a source pretty close, too close to her. And through some slight bits of disorientation and still subsiding pain she groggily opened her eyes and saw a boy in front of her kneeling on the ground with his hands on her shoulders. "Ugh..." She groaned rubbing her hand on her temple where the table seemed to put the most impact of pain and pressure on her. When the room didn't seem as overly shaky as she saw and went back to its normal amount of movement with the flashing lights and heavily bass-ed out techno and dance she saw a clear view of the boy's brilliant blue eyes.

Night cocked her head slightly to the side with a hint of Cheshire's grin growing on her face a bit letting her long braided black and white streaked hair fall to rest over the front of her shoulder as it swung from behind her. When she saw the boy's expression change from worry to relief seeing her somewhat coherent, Night lifted her hand to gently rest on the boy's cheek. She smiled gently before moving her hand away from cupping the side of his jaw and sending it right back with almost fiery speed sending the boy backwards to sit on the floor. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Starting a fight in here!" She yelled standing up and looking at him, glaring down at the bewildered boy. "Now where'd the bastard go so I can shove my 2 inch boot right up his arrogant ass?" She said looking around and noticing the retreating group and headed that way furious.

"Night?" Alli started as the streak haired vampire practically stomped after the group. "Night? Oh shit, Alex can you go get her before Yami comes out and she tries to kill someone?" The blond girl asked as she headed out from behind the bar with a glass of ice and headed toward the boy who had helped Night up. "I'm so sorry she hit you." Alli said.

Meanwhile Alex rushed after Night heading outside and grabbing her, covering her mouth with one deceivingly strong are and wrapping the other around her waist locking her arms in place. "Come on, they ain't worth your time. And you sure as hell don't wanna let her out in front of everyone do you?" Alex said trying to get through her cloud of irrational thoughts and not quite getting there.

Night struggled and flailed as much as she could in Alex's strong grasp. "Night! Think about what you're wanting to do!" He growled in hushed tones in her ear. "Now think of what Artemis would think seeing you like this!"
That got her. Hearing that name snapped her out of her rage. It always did. Alex always knew what would calm her. Ever since they were pen pals when they were little he always knew. Calming down Alex began loosening his grip and lead her inside to sit at the bar. He made her a glass of water and set it in front of her. "Sorry..." She muttered heaving a deep sigh.

[Seamus McAllister]

"Huh..." Seamus rubbed his jaw slightly and looked around as a blond-haired woman rushed towards him with a glass of ice in her hands. He waved her off whilst saying, "I'm fine, love. Kinda deserved that last hit." As an afterthought, Shay looked around the room and, unable to see Derren anywhere, asked her, "You seen my friend anywhere? I think he was..." Suddenly remembering why Derren had set off in the first place, he continued. "In fact, never mind. Probably not best to disturb him right now."

He got unsteadily to his feet and wobbled slightly from having to support some of his weight on the leg that had been wounded during the fight. Shay limped over to the bar and sat down as the woman who had hit him walk back in and sit down. The man who had lead her in then walked back behind the bar and asked Seamus, "You need a drink?"

The Fledgling nodded in reply and said, "You got any Iron Brew or anything, mate?" The man looked at him in confusion. Seamus sighed and continued. "Just a water please, mate. With about 5 blocks of ice as well, if you wouldn't mind."

As the man placed the drink in front of Seamus, he leaned in closer and asked him, "Just between the two of us, who started that fight?"

Seamus looked at the man and said, "To be honest, mate, I don't know. Probably the big bastard whose bollocks have gone up into his stomach for starting on Derren like that." He shrugged, unsure of what to say next. After thinking for a bit, Shay then asked, "Is she going to be alright?" Whilst gesturing towards the woman sitting at the bar.

The man smiled and replied, "She's fine, if a little pissed off. I think she's just upset that she wasn't able to murder that guy herself."

After thinking again for few seconds, the werecat said, "Should I apologise to her?"

"Yep."

"Will do then."

Seamus got up from the bar-stool then limped over to where the Red Vampyre was sitting. After dumping himself rather ungracefully onto the stool next to hers. He then said, "'Ello. Sorry for getting you smacked by that wanker before. I didn't expect that entire thing to get out of hand so quickly."

[Night Tenjo]

Night glanced to her side to see the boy sitting down next to her. "Wanker? You're not from around her are you?" She said trying not to get worked up. "It's not a matter of me getting hit its the fact there was a fight inside the building if you boys must be boys then do it in a place for boys, not adults..." She said practically spitting acid at him.

"Really? He came to apologize after helping you out and after you hit him and you're going to make an ass of yourself?" Allison asked Night while glaring at her to act like a girl and behave.

"Well then apology accepted... Now i think its best to head home before my mood can get any cheerier..." Night said sarcasm overflowing from each word.

"Hey!" Alli yelled before Night could turn the stool and get off. "Offer the guy a drink... " She whispered leaning in toward her friend's overly pierced left ear. "Talk, flirt. Something... he's cute and got up the guts to talk to you after you slugged him." She suggested still only in Night's ear shot.

"Why?" Night whispered hastily. "He's probably just another ass wanting to get some..." She said trying to turn the stool and leave.

"Either you try to make up and leave on friendly terms or you go on the next date i set up for you..." Alli threatened holding the chair still.

"Really? You're going to blackmail me with that? Nice try ain't gonna work." The streak haired girl said pushing pas her blond friend and heading for the door.

"Do it or I'm gonna call Minami-sensei... and let her know about this little... incident...." Allison said with a cruel yet playful tone in her voice.

Night's stride stopped mid step and her already fair and pale skin grew deathly white. "That's low.... damnit!" She muttered to herself, turning back and getting up on the stool. She signed. "You're probably going to want something stronger than water to help with the pain I caused..." She said half heartedly trying not to look at the boy. She heard Allison clear her throat and sensed an and somewhere in the implied area of her brain. "And... i'm sorry for hitting you... an overreaction and a bit of a defense mechanism..." She said almost timidly.