Tiger Tiger 
by Skye
 


 

  

 



Bull waved goodnight to Matt and Terry, his temporary 'partners' and walked down the street for a bit, enjoying the evening. The roar of traffic could be heard as a back ground to to everything else, no matter where you went in this city, he'd discovered. It wasn't so bad during the day when you were out on the streets or whatever, but when you were in the park, surrounded by all that green.. it just seems wrong to be able to hear it. Night time was pretty bad.. the honking of cabs, blare of sirens, squeal of tires... it just never stops. He supposed most people got so used to it that they just block it out, but he couldn't. He'd given it a shot a few nights staying in the city, but had long since given up. He'd work in New York, but when his shift was done, he went back home to Massechuseats.

He sighed as he stopped at a crosswalk and waited for the light to change. He was just wasting time, he knew. For a while now, he'd felt like he wasn't carrying his own weight at Chaos Inc. He wasn't much of a fighter, and couldn't do any fancy tricks or anything... all he had was his portals, and a bunch of others could do that too.. PLUS they could fight and do magic. This thing with New York had been his chance to pick up the slack. He liked the new York team, and he liked New York, and he had this feeling that he was going to be assigned to stay here... Solve two problems with one solution. Fill an empty slot and get rid of the low man on the totem...

Bull let himself be pushed along with the crowd. He supposed he should've quit ages ago. After all, what good is a guy on a team of warriors, if he can't fight worth a damn? Put a sword in his hand and he chops off his own toe, for crying out loud. Bull slouched a bit more as he walked, the long knit hat pulled low over his forehead and the horn tucked carefully inside the long tail. Not much in the way of carreer opportunities out there for a freak, though. Not unless it was AS a freak, and he'd really rather not do that. He glanced up and spotted his favorite pizza place and decided to grab a pie and head home. Maybe there was something good on TV tonight. He supposed he could always go pound on Reese's door, but he really didn't feel like company..

Twenty minutes later, pizza and accompanying soda's in hand, He slipped into an alley and opened a portal, and emerged in his apartment. He set the box down on the table and flicked the lights on, tossing all but one of the soda's into the frigde. He scooped the box into his free hand and headed for the couch, dropping the box on the coffee table as he opened his soda and grabbed the remote.

Rapid surfing as he ate didn't have anything catch his attention, so he left it sitting on one of the CSI shows and took the left over pizza out to the fridge. As he turned to head back to the couch he paused, looking around. He could feel an odd.. charge in the air, and he held out his hand as if testing the breeze until he felt it like a sudden snap of electricity. And indeed there was a snap.. and a whoosh as a portal opened about four feet off the floor, his fingers grazing the bottom of it. His mouth dropped open in surprize and he started to stumble away in shock when something came hurtling through and slammed into him, sending him crashing to the floor with a resounding crack.

He lay there stunned for a moment, unable to breath, his horn digging into his back where he lay. He remembered the cracking noise and wondered if he'd broken his horn in the fall. He struggled to sit up, pushing at the thing ontop of him, and recoiled in shock as it groaned. He lay still for a moment, then hesitantly slid his hands back up to the thing on top of him and gently pushed it off and to the side. He winced as it hit the floor with a thud and another groan. Able to sit up at last, Bull slid a hand around to the back of his head. Damn .. the horn was still in tact. He glanced at the floor and saw the broken tiles where his horn had struck. With a sigh he turned back to look at whatever had tackled him. What appeared to be a boy in a grungy tan trench coat with the sleeves cut off, lay half curled, face down on the floor. A messy tangle of dirty hair of varying colours hid the face and most of the head.

Bull sighed and leaned forward cautiously pushing aside enough hair to find the pulse point. At his touch, the body shifted and started to roll over, and Bull realized that it wasn't a boy at all.. it was a girl. A very obvious girl. Very dirty, but very obvious. Grungey blue jeans tied at the thigh with a red and black braided bandana, were seemingly held together by dirt and prayer. A black cut off tank top looked slightly better, but the boots, black leather, looked almost new. There were a couple of knive sheaths strapped here and there as well.

Her head turned slightly and she squinted open her eyes, blinking. She moved her head slightly as she looked around, her eyes barely open between blinks, swallowing hard as if her throat was dry. She gave a cough then turned to look at him. The fingers of her one hand lifted slightly from her side and she gave a little wave. "Hi." she croaked and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly in a smile.

Bull knew he must look like an idiot sitting on the kitchen floor with his mouth open staring, but he couldn't seem to do anything else. He did manage to lift his own fingers and return her wave. "Hi." he said. Her smile twitched at that, then she let her head fall back onto the floor and closed her eyes.

Bull shifted forward checking to see if she was still breathing, and sighed with relief as he realized she was. He scrambled onto his hands and knees and knelt above her. Her pulse was steady and strong, but she was out cold. He let his hands drop to his sides as he leaned back on his heels trying to decide what to do. A dark brown lump off to the side caught his attention, and he pulled it closer to discover a beat up and much patched backpack. He set it aside without opening it, then stood and retrieved a glass of water and a wet cloth from the sink. setting the glass aside, he wiped the cool cloth across her forehead and cheeks until her eyes fluttered open again. This time around, they opened enough for him to see that her eyes were green, with little flecks of gold through them. He smiled as her eyes focused on his. " Hi again." he said and set the cloth aside.

She smirked and started to say something but wound up coughing. He grabbed the glass of water and offered it to her.With a grateful smile, she levered herself off the floor enough to gulp it down without spilling any. Finished, she handed the glass back to him. "Thanks... mind if I crash on your floor a bit longer?" she managed to say, her voice still somewhat quiet. and hoarse.

Bull smirked. "If you want.. but I have a couch.. it's more comfortable then the floor..."

She closed her eyes and smirked. "I'm a mess.. I'll ruin it on ya.. floors fine.. I just feel... weird.. kinda... drained.." She was quiet for so long that Bull thought she must have passed out again. "I'll be outta yer hair in a bit..." she said rolling her head back towards him and blinking her eyes open. "Everythin' so slow... why's it slow? Is this what it's like fer you? How awful..."

Bull sat on his heels watching her, completely unsure what to say or do, until his legs were screaming at him to move. He struggled to his feet and then bent down beside her, hesitantly shook her awake. Her eyes snapped open, the fastest movement he'd seen from her yet. "Hey.. come on.. the couch is just over here.." he said and carefully helped her up, wishing he was as strong as Reese and could've just picked her up and carried her there so she wouldn't have to do it on her own.

She slowly made it to her feet and leaned heavily on him as they went to the couch. He helped her sit down then grabbed her feet and swung them up on the seat. "Go on and lay down. Are you alright? Do you want me to call someone?"

She stretched out on the couch and wearily shook her head. "Don't got no one t' call... m'fine anyhow.. don't worry.."A momet later she turned back to face him and blinked her eyes open. "He didn't follow me, did he?"

"Who? Is someone after you?"

She closed her eyes. "The Weird guy... "

Bull looked back towards the kitchen. "No.. no one came through but you. Hey don't sweat it, you're safe here. Got lots of friends who'll come running if you need them.I'll grab ya a blanket, okay?"

Bull quickly headed for his bedroom where he ransacked the closet for a spare blanket. He'd barely finished moving in. Alot of the stuff like towels and blankets, and even clothes, he'd just grabbed what he needed for now and shoved the rest in the closet, bags and everything. He couldn't remember half of what he had in there... When he got back to the living room, she was half sitting up half leaning on the back of the couch. He wondered just where she'd been and what she'd been doing to get so dirty. The only places that weren't covered in grime were on her face where he'd wiped it with the cloth.When he went to cover her with the blanket she pushed it away. "Nah.. i'll wreck it on ya.. don't worry, I'm fine.. shouldn't even be on yer couch..."

Bull snorted. "Forget it. If you can stand, you can use my shower. I can find you something to wear and toss your clothes in the wash.."

Her eyes snapped open and that. "A shower? AND clean clothes? Wow.. that sounds great.. now you KNOW I gotta take ya up on that..." she said an pushed her self to her feet where she wobbled until he grabbed her elbow to help steady her. "I can do it.. I think... well.. how far away is yer bathroom?"

Bull smirked and pointed to the far side of the room. She gave a lopsided grin. "Well.. in that case.. maybe I could use a hand to get there.. if ya don't mind."

Bull shook his head. "Not at all." he let her lean on him as they walked to the bathroom, where he flipped on the switch. "Shampoo and all is in there." he said. "Hang on and I'll grab you a towel and something to wear."

He left her leaning against the counter making faces at herself in the mirror, and ran back to his room. He pulled out a pair of lounge pants that had a draw string waist, figuring they were the only things he had that might fit her, and added one of his tshirts to that, then grabbed a towel from the closet. When he returned he found a pile of clothes on the floor but no sign of her. "Umm.. hello?"

"I'm in here." she called from the shower. She must have been sitting down when she cracked the door open a bit and peeked out at him. "Hi." she said and wiggled her fingers at him.

Bull felt his face grow hot and he set the clothes and towel on the counter and scooped up the clothes off the floor. "I'll.. uh... wait till your done then toss these in. You got anything else you want washed too?"

She grinned. "Yeah.. that'd be awesome.. if my bag came through.. you sure you don't mind? You really don't have to ya know.."

Bull grinned scratching the back of his ear as he backed out of the room. "Nah, no prob." He waved one last time as he pulled the door closed.

"Okay.. well... this is something different... not every night you have a girl fall on top of you and then wind up in your bathroom... " Bull grabbed the back pack and set it beside the cubby where the washer and dryer were stored and pulled open the doors. He dumped out the bag, quickly sorting out the few items of clothing the bag contained, carefully trying to not notice the underwear and bras. Satisfied that there was nothing hiding in the pockets waiting to be destroyed by the washing machine, he left the pile on the floor and headed back to the couch.

The sound of the shower seemed unnaturally loud, as did the sounds of someone moving around in said shower, and he turned up the volume on the Tv trying to drown it out. A lifetime later the shower shut off. A second lifetime later the door opened and a very different girl emerged. Bull swallowed hard as he looked at her. With the dirt and grime gone she was really pretty. Her hair hung over her shoulders,and wet, appeared to be almost brown but it had gold and red streaks through it, and he figured it would look even better when it dried. And he thought she looked really good in his clothes, even if they were too big on her. He managed a weak grin, and waved. "Hi again."

She smiled and waved back. "Hi.. thanks heaps.. that felt great. Sorry I took so long... I just couldn't bring myself to leave.."

Bull realized he was staring and looked away. "No prob.. I tossed your stuff in when i heard the water shut off, so it should almost be ready for the dryer soon.... umm.. are you hungry? There's some left over pizza.."

She gave him the same look she'd given him over the shower. She was slowly walking towards him. Slowly but steady on her feet. She seemed to be frowning in concentration though. He was standing ready to rush in if she needed help, but she made it to the couch and collapsed down onto it with a thump. "Whew... that was a long trip... hate being so slow.. boy i hope this goes away. I couldn't stand being this slow all the time.. Food would be awesome, thanks. Name’s Tiger by the way. Your cute.. what’s with the hat? It’s a weird hat and all, kinda cool, but I think you’d look better without it, the colour just ain’t you .. “

Bull just kind of blushed and waited out the stream of words, trying to catch them all. “Hi Tiger, my friends call me Bull..” he stood and shook her hand as he moved quickly to the kitchen and retrieved the pizza form the fridge. “Reheat or cold?” he called back and she bounced in her seat, grinning ,holding out her hands. “Cold! Gimme gimme . hmm.. food.”

Bull laughed as he handed the box over to her and she balanced it on her legs, which she’s pulled up and crossed beneath her. “ Want some?” she asked around a mouthful of pizza, and Bull shook his head, unable to stop smiling. “Nah ..I just ate before you dropped in.”

“HA! Dropped in! That’s cute..” She laughed, shoving another mouthful of pizza in. “So.. hat? What’s with?” she asked and reached out to grab the edge of it.

Bull leaned back beyond her grasp and blushed, tugging the brim down a bit more. “I uh.. always wear hats.. I like hats. “

Tiger watched him for a minute as she ate, her knees bouncing the pizza box around on her lap. After her careful scrutiny she swallowed and smirked, “ Liar.” and reached out to quickly snag the brim of his hat before he could move and tried to tug it off. The tail end got caught up in the horn causing the hat to hang half of his head, and he grabbed for it, blushing crimson as he fumbled with it.

“That’s better. You look much better without it.. why do you really wear it? I mean , fashion and crap aside, I’m not one for hats, I think people generally look better without them, and they just give you hathead. If ya wanna shade yer eyes, get sunglasses.”

Bull fumbled the hat back on, tugging it low over his eyes and ears, and slouched into the couch a bit more. “I need it. I always wear it. Sorry,” he said and quickly stood up, moving back to the fridge. ”Should’ve grabbed you a drink too.. soda okay? I got a rootbeer, creamsoda, mountain dew.. eww orange, where’d that come from?”

Tiger shoved the remains of the pizza into her mouth and bounced as she chewed. When she could speak around the food without spitting it out, she answered him. “I’ll the orange, thanks. Yer avoiding me.. why? Am I being a nosey brat? Sorry, just don’t know why you wanna hide under that silly hat.” She tossed the empty box onto the table and reached up to take the can from him, popping it open with a snap. “Come on.. take it off.”

Bull slouched back into his seat and looked towards the Tv. “Nah. Anything you wanna watch?”

Tiger finished chugging the soda and set the empty can beside the empty box and let out a belch. “Ooo . sorry.” She grinned, and pulled her knees up in front her, wrapping her arms around them and wiggles her toes. “Come on… is it yer horn? Why do you keep it covered by that hat?I think it looks cool, why would wanna hide it?”

Bull blinked in surprise and then turned a suspicious glance at her, where she was rocking in her spot, toes wiggling like mad. “You think it’s cool?! Come on.. I’m a freak.”

Tiger suddenly bounced onto her knees beside him, sending him leaning away in surprise, but she snatched the hat off his head and tossed it aside, grinning. Then she ran her fingers through his hair on either side of his horn and brushed his hair back. “There. Much better. You got nice hair, kinda like mine, I think.. well, before I started playin’ with it, any ways.. it’s not like mine now. Wow, how long’s yer horn?” She leaned forward against him and peered over his shoulder. “Wow, that’s gotta be almost, what , three feet? Yeah, gotta be.. like the way it kind curls up at the end, that’s neat.. so you don’t stab yerself with it, huh? Gee, guess ya can’t sleep on yer back, huh? I don’t sleep on my back either, curl up in a ball, much more comfy. Boy you blush a lot.. I’m not embarrassin’ ya , am i? And what do you mean yer a freak? There’s nothing wrong with being a freak, I’m a freak, freaks are more fun, normal is boring, why be boring when you be fun?”

Bull swallowed. He seemed to be following the rapid fire chatter fairly well, but he couldn’t seem to find any words to say himself. But he was aware of the fact that there was a very pretty girl wearing his clothes sitting two inches away from him, smiling and talking and … rubbing his horn…

“Wow.. that feels cool. Kinda bumpy but smooth too. And it’s warm .. didn’t think it would be.. it’s just bone, right? Ain’t that what horn’s are, bone? But it’s neat, and it’s nice looking to.. all black and ripply.. kinda like water at night in some pretty picture, huh? Why on earth do you hide it? You okay? You’re looking at me kinda weird.. am I being weird? I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be weird, this is just me. I feel better now, thank you , not so slow and yucky, the shower and food helped thanks.. so did the sugar.. I shouldn’t have sugar .. or caffeine, soda has both.. I’m hyper, and that stuff just makes it worse, but that’s okay, I don’t mind. I kinda needed it.”

Bull just sat there staring at her as she chattered on, listening to every word she said and noticing every bounce and twitch she made as she leaned back and sat back down . she started swinging her leg off the side of the couch and her hands were tapping out a rhythm against her thighs. The stream of words cut off and he looked up, grinning and still blushing. “Umm...Do you ever breath?”

Tiger tilted her head and looked at him quizzically then burst out laughing.
Bull suddenly realized he was sitting in his apartment on his couch with a strange girl who had just dropped out of nowhere into his life and he didn't know anything about her... not even her name.. then again.. he didn't remember telling her his either. How did a girl get to use your shower and wear your clothes and not know your name?

"Umm.. My name's Bull, by the way. Well.. it's actually Brice, but every one calls me Bull..."

"Bull!? That's so cool... we're both critters! I'm Tiger! Legal name Krista, but I don't use it, so it doesn't matter anyway. So why do they call you Bull? Is it 'cause of the horn? 'Cause, no offense, but that would be silly, 'cause I'm pretty sure bulls have two horns, not one. I'm Tiger 'cause of .. well... the tigers..." she said and pulled her shirt up to her just below her breasts to show about three quarters of a white tiger tattoo.. the head and front paws vanishing beneath the waist band of the pants. "I got others too." she said and tugged the pant leg up a bit and stuck her foot up at him, wiggling her foot to show two tigers chasing each other around her ankle. "I'll show ya the others some other time, 'cause ya look like yer gonna pass out or something. Are ya okay? Oh I get it.. I'm being weird again, huh? I don't get it, how am I being weird, they're just tattoos, no biggie.. lots of people have 'em. And I didn't even show you the cursed one, not that might be weird i guess, so if i hadda shown you that one and you looked like ya were gonna pass out , I could understand that , really, but these are just plain old tattoos... unless yer against tattoos and such.. .."

Bull tore his eyes away from her stomach which was once again covered by the shirt again, but which seemed to be burned onto his eyeballs... "Huh? NO! No.. hell, I've got some too.. tattoo's that is.." He said and pulled up his sleeves to show the large Star Wars tattoos on either arm. A detailed scene featuring Boba Fett covered his shoulder down to just above the elbow, while the other upper arm sported a lightsaber-wielding Yoda. "See? nothing against tattoos..." he said trying to remember to breath when she bounced over to see them, averting his eyes to the cieling when he discovered he could see right down the baggy neck line of the shirt when she leaned forward.

"Um.. as for the name... my last name's Turnbul... so.. Bull."

Tiger bounced back on her heels. "Cool. Love your tattoos, awesome work. How long have you had them? I have five . .well.. six if you count the ankle tattoo as two seperate ones, which you could do, I guess, but then you've have to count the cursed one as two too, the one underneath and the one on top, so that would make it seven. The cursed one I got from this weird guy, but all the rest of them I got mostly as payment for jobs and stuff. Don't have any money to pay for 'em like most folks, and I can't do it myself... that would be gross, wouldn't it? could you do that? Tattoo yourself? I dont think I could, I think it would hurt to much for me to keep doing it and keep everything straight and all..."

"Yer lookin' at me wierd again."

Bull blinked and grinned sheepishly, ducking his head as he felt his face burning. "Sorry... I just.. never met anyone quite like you before. And definately haven't had anyone fall on me in the middle of my kitchen before either... well.. not out of a portal anyhow.. well.. not in THIS kitchen, at any rate..."

Tiger giggled and bounced back onto the couch, crossing her legs in front of her. "Right, sorry.. must be kinda weird, huh?"
Yeah.. it WAS kinda weird... but he dealt with a lot of weird stuff and this was on a much nicer level of weird... Bull opened his mouth to make some sort of reply.. even though he wasn't quite sure what to say, and the sudden ringing if the phone made him jump.

He cleared his throat and got up, trying to hide the sudden blush that he could feel heating his face. "Yeah?" he answered simply, completely out of character. Normally he had some stupid quip or joke line he answered with, but somehow.. he just couldn't think of anything right then...

"Mr.Turnbul? This is Mark in security." the voice said on the other end and Bull closed his eyes with a soft groan. "Sir... we recorded a couple portal blips in your place a short while ago, but both had your power signature to them, so we let them pass... however, it's come to our attention that there is a second, unidentified person in your apartment with you... should I send someone up, sir?"

Bull scratched the back of his neck, not sure how to take the news that Tiger's portal had his signature to it. "Uhh ... no. I'm good... sorry. I forgot to call down and let you know I.. uh.. had a guest..."

"I'm sorry, sir, but i'll have to include this in my nightly report. All guests must be properly logged in..."

Bull sighed again., "Yeah, I know. It's cool.. go ahead and report me. My bad. Should I bring her down now?" he asked, his face suddenly growing hot again at the thought of taking Tiger for a walk through the building with her in his pj's...

"No, sir... that's alright." a suddenly nervous voice stammered, and Bull blushed even more at what the guy was probably thinking. "I can log her biosignature from here. Make sure you have her sign this stuff in the morning though. Good night, sir."

"Umm.. yeah.... good night. Thanks for calling." Bull said before hanging up. He took a breath and tried to get his face back to an almost normal shade before turning to face Tiger. "Umm.. that was security... I'll have to take you down to see them in the morning. Kind of.. bypassed procedure with you popping in like that and me not reporting you... don't worry.. just some papers to sign. No biggie."

Tiger was laying on the couch, her upper half leaning over the arm. "Security? Wow... how'd they know I was here?! That's weird... they got like.. camera's and stuff watching in here?! Must be someone important, huh? Having security and cameras and stuff watching out for you ..."

Bull snorted as he walked back over, sitting on the chair instead. "Nah... I'm nobody. The security is for the whole building. And no.. no camera's in here. Well.. actually, I think there is, but they're not turned on unless i request it."

Tiger rolled onto her side as he spoke and watched him, her toes wiggling and her fingers tapping out some silent tune. "So... how did they know i was here then?" she asked, then suddenly sprang up to sit on the couch with her legs curled up beneath her. "I didn't get ya in trouble, did I? I mean... I didn't mean to drop in on ya like that, but I REALLY didnt mean to get ya in trouble by doing it..."

Bull found himself adapting fairly easily to the rapid fire mulitple questions that Tiger seemed to favor. "No... you didn't get me in trouble... although I might've got myself in a bit I should've reported you being here right away. but... i kinda forgot.." he said, trying not to blush again. " As for the security thing....The whole building and most of the grounds are covered in hich tech gizmos and spells and stuff. Everyone that works and lives in here is on file. They can tell if there's anybody new around here, or who opens a portal. Me especially... which makes it weird that they thought your portal was one of mine..." he tossed in, wondering if she knew anything about the why.

Tiger bounced forward onto the edge of her seat, her feet going back to the floor. "wow... that sounds... wow..."she said and was quiet for a moment. "Where the heck am I, anyhow? Must be some place pretty damn fancy for that kinda of stuff? Oh.. and it wasn't MY portal.. I don't do portals.. I shouldn't even use them.. bad bad bad things happen when I use them.. well.. not always bad, but always not good..." she suddenly shot a grin at him that made his chest squeeze tight as she bounced to her feet. "Except maybe this time.. this time is looking pretty good."

Bull watched her as she moved around the room, looking at things. "Umm.. well...if it wasn't your portal..."

She stopped examining his voice activated Artoo Detoo and set it down. "It opened, I jumped in." she said, with a shrug and ran her fingers along the shelf he'd just finished setting his star wars figures up on. "Figured it was a bad idea and all... but NOT jumping through seemed like a pretty bad idea too... figured it couldn't be worse..." She took a step back and eyed the shelf before shooting him another grin. "This is pretty cool." she said, pointing at the shelf unit.

Bull blushed a bit. "Thanks.. did it myself... they needed something." He said, a part of him glowing that she liked his bookshelf. He'd painted it just for displaying his figures... each shelf was painted as a scene with the figures set up accordingly. He was really proud of it. "So... oh, right... you wanted to know where you were..." he said, smirked awkwardly as he automatically reached up to tug on his hat before remembering it was gone. "Umm... well.. this is Chaos Inc. Well.. this is my apartment in the residential section of Chaos Inc.... the offices are downstairs."

"Chaos Inc.... okay. Cool." she said as she moved onto his movie collection. "Umm.. what's Chaos Inc.?"

Bull raised an eyebrow. "Oh.. well... you;'ve never heard of us?" he asked and she shook her head as she bounced in place, reading the titles of his movies. "Never heard of Lady Chaos?" Again she shook her head no. Bull sighed, rather stunned. He had pretty much decided everyone had at least heard of Lady Kay..."Okay.. well... we're sort of... well the guys call us monster hunters, which i guess is acurate enough. We do other stuff too. People hire us to track stuff down or help them get rid of things. Do a lot of gremlins and vampires and a lot of investigating into stuff, sometimes for the cops..." he stopped talking, his voice trailling off as he watched her stretch up onto her toes to reach the top shelf. The shirt pulled up with her arms, showing the bare skin of her stomach and he swallowed hard, looking away. "Umm.... " he struggled to remember what he'd been saying."Yeah... so... you picked a good place to land. Whoever was after you won't dare come after you here. I'll introduce you to Lady Kay and the guys in the morning, and you can tell them who's after you."

"Morning?" Tiger asked and suddenly rocked the chair as she perched on the arm beside him. "You said that before.. about the papers... you mean I can crash here for the night?"

Bull blushed fiercely and wondered if he was ever going to be able to look at her without feeling his face turn red. "Umm.. well yeah... sure. I mean... I'd say you could use my spare room.. but .. well... I never bothered to set it up with a bed or anything.. I mean .. I don't have guests.. usually... so, um... you can have my room, if you want. I'll sleep out here." He was careful not to look at her, his face already burning an impressive shade of red. "Or if you don't want to.. I mean... there's guest rooms downstairs. I can sign one out for you... you can stay as long as you need to."

The chair shifted as she moved off the arm and wandered back over to plop back onto the couch. "Wow.." she said softly, then sprang back to her feet. "You mean it? I mean... I can stay?" she asked then suddenly stopped and went still. "What do I have to do?" she asked softly, her eyes narrowing as he looked up at her.

"Do?" he asked, confused. The sudden buzz of the dryer shutting off made him jump again. "Well... like i said.. you gotta sign those papers in the morning.. and register any weapons you have with you. And if you want one of the guest romms, you have to sign for that too...." he said as he headed for the dryer. He hoped her bag had survived being washed and dried. He wasn't sure if any of her stuff would.. it had all looked rather... thread bare.

He heard the soft sound of her footsteps following him to the dryer. "No." she said in that same soft yet hard tone of voice. "I mean ... what do I have to DO. I'm a fairly good thief... if you need something I can probably get it for you....' course if you have all these gizmos and spells, you probably don't a theif like me..." she added. "I won't screw you for a place to sleep. I don't do that, so if that's what you're expecting for all of this.. you can go to Hell."

Bull jerked his head up so quickly at her words he smashed his head against the door. "Ow.. what?! No!!" he said in genuine surprise. "No! Gods... no, really.. look... I... no. You can stay, alright? I don't...I don't want anything from you." he said and suddenly realised his hands were full of her clothing, a bra dangling over the top of the pile. He jumped in further embarrasment and shoved the pile into her arms. "Geez... you must deal with some.. never mind. Look, Tiger. I ... it's up to you. You can have a room to yourself if you want.. I'll show you where... there's a kitchen and stuff too..." he said and turned away from her, reaching back into the dryer for the rest. "I hope your stuff is okay... some of it looked a bit.. delicate. I hope the washer didn't ruin it."

There was a soft thud from beside him as she dropped to a seat on the floor with her arm full of clothing, seperated the bag from the clothes and started jamming everything back inside. "Okay." she said softly, but the hard tone was gone, replaced by confusion. "Sure." she looked up from her seat on the floor. "You really mean it, don't you? You're just being nice... cause you ARE nice? I don't get that often.. most people want something." she took the rest of her stuff from him and jammed it inside too. "I'll check this later to see what I have to replace or toss.. no biggie. Thank for washing it. Thanks for everything. If you really mean it, about me staying, thanks... but you don't have to give up your bed. I can crash on the couch. The tour and stuff can wait... it's late and I've probably kept you up as it is."

Bull leaned against the dryer and just watched her for a moment. Her comments had him feeling a bit odd and he wasn't sure what to make of it all. Plus he still had the security guard comment about her portal having his signature running around in his head... he'd have to talk to someone about that... "Yeah... I don;t mind though. I can show you around... take you down to the guest rooms..."

She looked up at him with a soft smirk as she hugged her bag to her chest. "Trying to get rid of me, huh? Usually happens at some point.. you've hung out longer than most." she said and popped to her feet.

"No!" he said then blushed. "I mean ... no.. really.. I was just offering.. you're welcome to stay..."

"'kay.. couch is mine!" She said and suddenly reached out to lift a chunk of hair from his face and grin at him. "Boy you sure do blush a lot. Good thing you're so cute when you do it." she said then turned and was gone back into the living room, leaving him standing in the short hallway totally flustered.... and rather liking it.
 

The sound of a door slamming started him awake and the sound of Reese yelling made him bury his face back into his pillow. "Yo! Up an' at 'em, lil' buddy!" the familiar deep voice called out and there was a thump of something being dropped onto the floor.
Bull suddenly shot straight up in bed. "Oh shit.... Tiger...." he said, suddenly remembering the events of the previous night and the girl camped out on his couch.
By the time he reached the living room, things had taken a rather ... bad... turn.

Standing on his couch, front paws on the back of it, was a rather large tiger, snarling softly at the large ashy brown wolf that was braced in the entrance to the hall way where Bull stood, snarling vicsously.

"Umm... it's alright... really..." he said, his eyes locked on the big cat. He didn't remember her saying anything about being a shape shifter.. but then.. he wasn't really surprised either. He should be.. but somehow.. he wasn't. "Tiger.. this is my best friend, Karl Reese... Karl.. this is Tiger... she dropped in last night and I invited her to stay for a while." he said, deciding it sounded really lame, but not knowing what else to say. He couldn't even introduce her by her full name, since he didn't know it. He remembered she's said Krista at some point, but he didn't remember her saying anything more.

The tiger gave the wolf a final disdainful look then dropped back onto the couch, even as the cat shimmered, quickly replaced by the girl... still clad in the borrowed jammies. Which told him that she wasn't a Were like Reese... Were's couldn't transform their clothing with them... which left things a tad awkward at the moment. "Oh... damn um..." Bull muttered softly and snatched up the remains of Reeses clothes and tossed them into his room. "Go change, Karl... " he said then blushed furiously as his friend ignored the hint and shifted back to human where he stood.

To her credit, Tiger didn't even appear to check him out. Which Bull found really incredible since girls tended to check Reese out even when he was fully dressed... let alone standing in the same room buck naked. "Uh... Reese?" he said softly, using the name most of the crew called him by.

Tiger sat on the back of the couch and watched them, her eyes staying eyelevel with them both. "Hi. You should try knocking." she said simply. "You're less likely to get eaten that way."

"Hey babe.." Bull caught the smirk appearing on Reese's face and as soon as the words started out of his mouth cut him off and shoved him backwards towards the bedroom. Reese gave him a surprised look at the sudden move.

"Don't. Okay? Just .. don't. Get dressed, okay?"

Reese raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly. "Alright... I get it... going for dibs... I can appreciate it.. she's a looker. For you , dude... I'll back off." he said to Bull's further embarassment before heading into the bedroom to retreive his clothes and hopefully get dressed.

With a sigh, Bull turned back to face his guest. "Sorry about that." he said with a sheepish shrug. "I should've locked the door, I guess. Not much need for it around here with all the security though..."

Tiger cocked her head to one side and watched him for a moment then grinned and lept to the floor. "No prob. You look cute with bed head." she added as she past by him on the way to the bathroom, ruffling his hair as she went.

He blushed, smirking softly and ducked away slightly. "You do to." he added as she closed the door behind her. A second later, the door popped back open and she stuck her head out with a grin. "Thank ya." she said then disappeared back inside.

The bedroom door opened behind him and he stifled a groan as he realized Karl ws not going to settle for anthing less than the full story... and would probably never stop needling him over it. To his surprise, the big guy just slapped him on the back and passed by, heading for the kitchen. Bull noticed that the jeans had somehow survived the change in fairly good shape.. assuming the rips and tears that decorated them were there before hand. And his tshirt seemed in perfect order as well... Bull decided he must have pulled it off before starting the shift, knowing how fast the big guy could move when it was needed.

"So... breakfast here or shall we raid Sylvie's?" Karl asked simply as he opened the fridge and made a face. "Damn .. don't you have anything that isn't made entirely of chemicals and sugar?" He asked, closing the door and moving to yank open a cupboard. "Pop tarts? Man.. how old are you?" he teased and opened the other door. "Count Chocula ?? My god.. they still make that?!"

Bull sighed and reached past him to shut the cupboard door. Reese just grinned at him and leaned back against the counter. "She's cute... how long were you planning on hiding her out in here?

Bull rolled his eyes, but found himself starting to grin back. "I'm not hiding her out..well... actually, I kinda am, but it's not like that... look, dude.. she needs help. It was late and we didn't feel like going all the way down to set her up with a guest room, so she crashed here." He said, his eyes going of their own accord to the hall that lead to the bathroom. "I'm already in shit with security because I didn't take her through them first."

Karl laughed and gave his shoulder a poke hard enough to make him rock back on his heels. "In shit with security." he said, shaking his head. "Man... we don't get in shit from security. They trip over themselves around us.. we either impress them all t' hell or scare the shit outta them. It's Lady Kay and Sylvie we get in shit from." the big werewolf cast his own glance around the corner towards the hall. " So.. you snuck her in, huh?" he slapped a hand down on Bull's shoulder with a grin. "That's my boy... your learning. Glad to see I'm finally rubbing off on ya." he said. "We'll see what Sylvie's got stocked downstairs.. your kitchen sucks." he said then leaned around the corner again. "Yo, Cutie!! We're heading down for food! Ya comin' with?"

There was the sound of the bathroom door opening and the quick patter of running feet, then Tiger appeared with a grin. "Definately." she said as she skidded to a halt. "Never turn down free food. What are we having? Why are we going out? Don't you have anything here?"

Bull opened his mouth to answer, but like usual, he never got the chance. Reese slipped an arm around his shoulders and gave him a squeeze before shoving him towards the door. "Yeah there's stuff here.. just nothing with a low enough sugar content to be called food. And I haven't got around to ordering my groceries yet.. so we'll raid the kitchen dowstairs. If that's a bust.. we'll order in."

Bull shot Tiger an appolgetic look. "Hey... think we can get dressed first?" he asked and Reese smirked.

"Nah... it's just breakfast." he said and ushered them both out into the hall.

Bull sighed, fighting off another blush as he realized that now he'd get to introduce her to everyone ... in their pajamas... no... he'd get to introduce her to everyone in HIS pajamas...

Sometimes, he could swear Reese did this shit on purpose...












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  Skye, Ruex, Sage, Washu & Miss Frost .
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