In which Dogs are Nicer than People | OPEN

[Aileen Merle Whitman]

Aileen was a student too. Unlike many other superheroes, the dark-haired girl actually attended a real high school. This was largely due to the fact that she failed to consider herself a legitimate superhero, considering the occupation was only something she pursued in her downtime. In an attempt at preserving a mostly-normal life, Aileen considered her education more important than saving lives and stopping crime. Boy, did she need to get her priorities straight.

Evidence of her school-life was in a black bag by her side, held in a surprisingly relaxed grip in her petite hand. The contents of the bag consisted primarily of a school uniform, neatly folded, black tie on top. Aileen habitually changed into a set of her favorite clothing before leaving school. As per usual, she was now clad in her fancy, fluffy white shirt, over which she wore a formal black dress. The mandatory school uniform was far too colorful for Aileen's taste... if only because of the blue skirt. The black bag swung at her side as she walked, her strides confident, cool, and collected despite her surroundings. One would think a girl of her child-like stature would be just a bit less self-assured while walking alone through a possibly dangerous alleyway. Fortunately, Aileen's power of shadow-walking was perfect for this sort of situation. If approached or attacked, all she would need to do is fade into one of the many, many shadows lining the dark alleyway. No one could follow her there, and the girl would be safe from harm.

In the alleyway, the bright, afternoon sun had no foothold. One might question what exactly Aileen was doing in such a place. The answer was actually quite simple, really. The route from Jump City High School to her house held two options. One was through the usually safe main streets. However, while it was safe, it was also obnoxiously crowded. The hour school ended was one of the rush hours of the city, after all. As such, the roads and sidewalks were far too full of people going here and there. Due to her generally antisocial nature, as well as her distaste for crowded areas, Aileen's second option was her preferred option. Through the alleyways. Besides, there were cities with a lot worse alleyways than Jump City and Aileen was far too stubborn to make any other choice. Because she was prepared for anything.

Or so she thought.

As it turned out, Aileen was prepared for everything... except the possibility of a stray dog. Suddenly, her strides that were so confident mere moments ago faltered before stopping completely. This halt in motion was accompanied with a small squeak of alarm, as well as a soft thud as the black bag slipped out of her hand and landed on the worn-down sidewalk beneath her feet. Aileen stared, petrified as a mangy mutt emerged from the shadows. Her dark eyes fixated on the creature, terror obvious in her gaze. Unfortunately, there was nothing the girl feared more than dogs. It was even a rather unintimidating dog, at that. It's fur was scruffy and patchy and underneath was a skinny body. The poor, neglected creature was quite obviously hungry. However, Aileen noticed none of this. All she noticed was that the creature was approaching closer.

It stopped to paw at the ground and let out a small, hopeful whine. Anyone with any knowledge on the behavior of domestic canines would realize it was hoping the human in its presence would have some food to share. It walked up to Aileen, and paused to sniff her bag on the ground, no doubt searching for the scent of anything edible. All the while, the dark-haired girl stood motionless, petrified in terror, her eyes locked on the pitiful creature. After it had finished sniffing the bag, it lifted it's head to nuzzle Aileen's hand which hung limply by her side. Aileen couldn't help her terrified reaction, "Aaaaaaaaaah!"

[Gia Stevens]

Thank goodness school was over. Honestly, Gia didn’t think that she could sit through another lecture, honestly. Who the heck cared about King Louis the… something? There were too many of them! And they didn’t matter! Gah! They had had a sub in chemistry today, too, and though the woman was cheerful and wouldn’t have been out of place in a kindergarten class, she didn’t really know her stuff. Not how Mr. Riley did.

But either way, she had buzzed home real quick on the bus, slipped on jeans and a green T-shirt with a smiley face on it (the instant she had seen it in the store, she had to have it, to her friends’ puzzlement), along with a pair of flip-flops, and headed on out. Sure, Katie had detention and Brittney was out with her mom doing… something (in truth, she wasn’t sure what her friend’s brainy mom was up to), but she could at least hit like the arcade, at minimum! It was too nice to be stuck indoors!

Strolling along, Gia had her fairly pleasant day, now that she wasn’t stuck in a stuffy classroom, brutally interrupted by a shriek coming from an alleyway right by her. Clearly, the blonde was either living up to the stereotype or had lost too many brain cells via droning voices today, for she immediately darted into the alleyway, eyes wide and ready for something really bad, hand dropping to the cell phone on her hip to make a call to 911 before she tried to tackle the bad guy.

…Well, this was unexpected. A girl, looking to be about her age and dressed in… non-colors (each to their own, she guessed), was being sniffed by the most pathetic looking dog she had ever seen, as it rubbed up against the other’s hand. Judging by the fact that the other girl looked terrified out of her mind, she had a phobia or something.

At the moment, though, she was kind of feeling worse for the dog.

Immediately digging into her bag (denim with lots of iron-on stamp-things, courtesy of her two best friends), Gia pulled out her snack for later, a bag of beef jerky (wasn’t the healthiest thing ever, but wasn’t like she had to watch her weight, oh no), and knelt down, opening the bag and offering a piece up. “Here, boy!” she called the dog, and it’s ears popped up as it glanced her way and then trotted off, taking the piece hungrily.

Holding out another piece, the amnesiac glanced upwards, to the other girl a few feet away. “You okay?” she asked, concerned, before giving the dog another piece and checking the poor thing. Huh, no color… What did one do with a stray dog? Definitely not take it to the pound, she had seen one too many movies about that place…

[Aileen Merle Whitman]

Aileen continued to stare in horror as the dog sniffed her hand. The scream dissolved into a small whimper, before dying off completely. She found herself paralyzed in her fear, unable to move. However, her reverie was fortunately broken when a voice rang out throughout the area. Startled, Aileen scrambled backwards, away from the dog. She backed away slowly, and cautiously, until her back pressed up against a brick wall. Her dark eyes watched intently as the new girl held her hand out to the dog, offering it a piece of meat. The black-haired girl couldn't help but slightly tilt her head in absolute confusion. Why on earth would anyone be nice to one of those terrors? It simply did not compute. In fact, the sad state of the animal failed to even register to Aileen.

Even as the dog trotted away from her, Aileen didn't relax. It was still just across the alleyway, only a short distance away from her, being fed by the girl with yellow hair. As the girl asked her question, it took a moment for Aileen to realize she was being addressed. Before answering, she peeled herself away from the wall and straightened her posture. She cleared her throat and replied with a small, "Yes." None-t00-discretely, Aileen slowly backed away from the girl, and more importantly, the dog. It was quite obviously that she was still rather frightened. Her black bag sat alone and forgotten on the concrete, tilting over, with the contents mere inches away from spilling out, revealing the school uniform inside. Yet, Aileen had no intention of venturing closer to the animal in order to retrieve it. She would rather just buy a new uniform and bag.

"Um... I-I, uh..." Aileen began in an attempt to fill the silence. However, what came out of her mouth was a stutter, something so rare for the usually arrogant and confident girl. She was so surprised by the act, that she even failed to mentally berate herself for it. It just had to be a dog, didn't it? "I dislike dogs." Aileen stated, despite how painfully obvious the fact was. Now no longer paralyzed, under normal circumstances, the dark-haired girl would not hesitate to flee the area, as well as avoid the route for a good while. Yet something didn't seem right about leaving so quickly when someone had came to her aid. While Aileen was most-likely incapable of even uttering a genuine thank you, she knew when one appropriate.

[Gia Stevens]

She certainly didn’t look fine, despite her answer, but Gia refrained from lifting an eyebrow skeptically. After all, the other was clearly traumatized, so it would be best to not insinuate anything about her disbelief, so she smiled slightly, feeding the dog another piece. “Good! I heard you scream, so…” Yeah, that had been pretty bad, pretty loud, so it was good to know that she was fine. Sweet.

The girl was going through her bag pretty quickly, she was afraid to say, and soon there wouldn’t be any more to feed this poor, hungry animal. Probably a good thing, too, because when she had first woke up at the hospital, starving, she had thrown up everything she had eaten because it was too much for her stomach. Hence her thinness right now, she still couldn’t eat that much (not that she didn’t try to eat more and then find herself puking in the bathroom, ugh), so maybe it was best for the dog.

Feeding it the last piece, she looked up at the stutter, and nodded, smiling a tad sheepishly. “Yeah, I kinda figured…” With that, seeing as she had no more food, she gave the dog once last stroke, smiling slightly as it nuzzled into her hand, before she shooed him off.

“Go on, boy, get,” she told him gently, shooing him away with her hands. He didn’t want to go, it was clear, but ‘shooing’ seemed to be a universal signal, whatever the creature, so it went, tail tucked between its legs and walking backwards. Aw, poor thing… She’d have to either stick around, or come back later when the dog-fearing girl wasn’t here, so that she could pick the poor baby up.

Maybe the Stevenses would let her have a dog? …Maybe. She wasn’t sure what their policies on animals were.

Mentally deciding that his name would be something rock/dirt themed, cause it’d be awesome, she stood up, brushing off her jeans, and smiled at the girl. Huh, she looked younger than her, maybe… “There! All good!” she cheerfully announced with a grin.

Gia felt comfortable, here. An animal, her jeans, a girl that was younger than her and clearly frightened… This, she could work with. Not the pointed fingers, whispers of ‘amnesia’ and the teasing. This was good.

[Aileen Merle Whitman]

Aileen watched as the girl fed the remnants of the jerky to the dog and shooed him away. If asked, Aileen would not quite be able to deny the fact that she was almost impressed. Almost. Satisfied that the dog had left the area and wasn't coming back any time soon, Aileen walked towards where she had dropped her bag. She remained silent as she crossed the alleyway. The dark-haired girl picked up her bag, and dusted off the clinging dirt. It seemed as if she would have to wash it later.

After dusting it off, Aileen reached her hand into the front pocket of the purse, and dug around for a moment, in search of something. When she pulled out her hand, she walked to stand in front of the blonde girl. Holding her hand out, almost as if reaching out for a handshake, Aileen revealed what she was holding. It was a small wad of money. "As payment for what you gave the dog." She stated flatly. While the money was just a little bit more than what even the most expensive beef jerky would cost, Aileen didn't want to be in anyone's debt. She felt responsible for the the blonde girl losing her snack. While it was possible the blonde would decline, depending on how greedy she was or was not, Aileen didn't plan on taking no for an answer. If she refused, the dark-haired girl would simply cram it into her hand anyways.

Aileen, now feeling slightly embarrassed at showing such weakness, turned away from the girl. Still, she couldn't deny she was just a little curious... The blonde seemed unnaturally friendly. But that didn't mean much, since to Aileen, any amount of friendliness to a stranger seemed unnatural. Turning her head to glance at the blonde girl over her shoulder, Aileen spoke. "And who might you be?" Knowing it was rude to ask someone else their name without revealing her own, Aileen added, "My name is Aileen Whitman."

As Aileen had her back turned to the girl while she spoke, it may have seemed to an observer that Aileen was being rude or giving the blonde the cold-shoulder. However, neither of these were truly the case. Instead, the dark-haired girl was simply unsure how to proceed. What was the proper thing to do here? Walk away without another word? While that's what Aileen would normally do without a second thought, she would feel slightly guilty for just leaving without so much as a word of gratitude when someone had helped her. And guilt was annoying.

[Note: If Katie Hearth is reading this, I would like her to know that I still do intend to fulfill the goose. This simply was not a time when Aileen could become happy out of no where, for no apparent reason. It would have been ridiculously out of character. But never fear! It'll happen very soon. Somehow.]

[Gia Stevens]

Having been about to shake her hand for a moment, Gia blinked, surprised at the offering, before she shook her head. “You don’t need to give me any money,” she told the other, making a motion to push the hand away, before she found it summarily pressed into her hand. A quick examination, just looking at it, revealed that it was definitely more than the beef jerky had cost her guardians, and she offered it back, refusing to keep it. “I think I got like pretzels in my bag or something, it’s fine. The dog looked hungry, that was all.”

Seriously, this was… well, kind of weird. Sure, she probably would’ve been all ’sorry it ate your jerky’, but paying her back? For beef jerky? That was just… a bit excessive, she felt. It really wasn’t that big of a deal, even if she was supposed to be eating a snack later. She could either search for those elusive pretzels (given to her by Brittney, which should still be in there, unless Katie ate them), or buy something to eat. Really not a big deal.

Then again, this girl seemed kind of weird, in general. From the way she was so scared of such a poor little dog, to the way that she wanted to pay her back, to the way she was standing now, turned away yet looking back… But hey, she wasn’t one to be talking. Especially not considering who her best friends were (though Brittney was fairly normal). “I’m Gia, Gia Stevens,” she introduced herself, and the amnesiac was feeling… Well, sort of uncomfortable. Between the sheer, well, oddness of this situation, the money she was still holding in her hand to give back, and the fact that she tended to socialize when with her friends, and that was practically it… She was out of her element.

But wasn’t she always?

“Do you… go to the Jump High school?” she asked, as a way of hopefully making a connection and thus making this less awkward. The other girl didn’t look old enough, but you never knew, honestly, and besides, if she was in Middle school, she would probably be okay with getting mistaken for a high schooler. Most would, at least.

[ooc: I don't like this post. At all. Gah. >.< But it wasn't gonna be any better.]