Distortion [Open/Runaways]

[Jasmine Krisp]

"Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame."

I have to get out of here.
Loud, thundering shots rung in the empty home, shattering a window upstairs as well as somebody's skull. The bullet 's echo struck more fear in the home than the actual threat of a gun, and it was the second time that pistol had sounded. Two dead, one male, one female, would be found by the police in their bedroom, cowering in fear of the gunman nobody expected to strike. And it would be three dead in a matter of minutes if the last survivor didn't escape. Raising her head from her hands, 18 year old Jasmine Krisp checked her surroundings. The murderer was still upstairs. She broke into a sprint, heading for the back door.
[glow=gold,2,300]Big sister, where are you going...?[/glow]Jasmine froze, her hand on the doorknob, as the chilling voice echoed from the top of the stairs. Her golden-brown eyes met his in the reflection of the window, his much darker and more dangerous than hers. The older child turned slightly, keeping her hand glued to her escape route.
She was going to get help.
She couldn't die here.
The gun clicked, and the murderer laughed as Jazz wrenched the door open and flew out in the direction of the forest. It was broad daylight at the time of the crime, so there was no cover of darkness to save her. But town was only a mile away, and at the speed she was running, she would get there before noon.
Another ear-splitting sound rang out from behind her, and the feeling of something small, metal, and excruciatingly painful struck her in the back of her thigh. Jasmine fell on her side in the knee-high grass, her hands trying in vain to cover her bleeding leg.
The murderer was standing over her. His smile was unfamiliar, but she'd known it all her life. His eyes were mirror copies of her own, and his skin was just as pale.
He pointed the gun at her forehead.
"D-Darion!! Stop!!"

Fast forward about two years, to Jasmine Krisp waking up screaming in her bedroom. Her hair, down past her waist and dyed a lavender blue, was messed up all about her frazzled frame, which was caught in a knot of white sheets. She groaned, clutching her head between her small hands and rocking herself back and forward. Another bad dream. Must be the anniversary. The young woman whimpered as flashes of her memories leaked back into her conscious brain. The day her only brother snapped and murdered their parents, as well as the police officer on the scene, before fleeing to God knows where.

She had gotten away only by sheer luck.

Turning to the edge of her bed, she winced as her old wound brushed against the mattress. Sure, the doctors had stitched her up and gotten the bullet out, but it still hurt like friggen hell. After taming her mane and dressing in a gray, no-sleeve top and jeans, along with her glasses, Jazz decided to head out to town even though it was around six am. Locking the door to her apartment behind her, she roamed the deserted streets, watching the sky change from black to purple to blue before her eyes. Jasmine took a seat on an old bench, just outside of a closed store.

It was quiet, but it was a good sort of quiet. It the was the sort of peaceful quiet that preluded the beginning of the day.

It was far, far different from the quiet after a gunshot.

[Ryan Cardwell]

Faster.....faster....faster...faster..FASTER!!! His breath drug in his chest, gasping air into his lungs as he ran. Eyes of bright green darted to every side, looking for some way to hide, to escape. Small legs pumping across the pavement as fast as they could. To his breast he clutched his prize, the treasure for which he was risking his very life. There was no way he was going to let it go, not now that he'd seized it as his. He knew that somehow he'd escape, he always did. Afterall, he'd survived this long on his own, he could continue to survive.

Briefly he speared a glance behind him, only to wish he hadn't. The massive dog was still after him, snarls ripping from its fanged mouth. The boy had no delusions about why it was there, he knew it wanted nothing more than to rip him limb from limb. It could do it too, the half starved boy was little more than skin and bones, muscle something that was notably lacking in his stunted body. That was one reason that he didn't know why the dog would want to eat him, the other being that all the dirt covering him couldn't be very tasty. At least, most of it wasn't.

He rounded a corner, glancing behind him once again. That became his fatal flaw. Because he was looking at the bloodthirsty canine he didn't see the woman sitting on the bench, which meant that he tripped over her feet and went sprawling to the pavement. He wasn't bothered that he'd skinned his knees and scraped his arms and hands. No, he was staring in horror as his food for the next few days went flying, the two small handfuls of dog food going into the drain before him. The next second he heard the booming snarls and wrapped his hands over his head, whimpering in fear as he waited for the end.

[Jasmine Krisp]

The sound of approaching footsteps didn't bother Jasmine. Rather, they simply added to the peacful scene of the morning. That is, until the lavender woman glanced over to see the oncoming person, a young boy, being chased by the monstorous dog. Her eyes widdened to the size of dinner plates, and Jazz sprung off the bench just as the boy hit the pavment. She snagged a trash-can lid as she ran.

"Hey, dumb mutt! Over here!" Jazz banged the metal lid into the closest wall she could find. The loud crashing would shock the dog's sensitive ears, and hopefully give the kid a chance to move. Still hitting the aluminum with one hand, Jasmine motioned for the small blond to get behind her. He must be only ten...maybe younger...? She couldn't help the wave of pity that washed over her.

What's this world coming to...shooting, murders, and kids being eaten by dogs. Lovely.

[Ryan Cardwell]

As he crouched there on the ground, he knew he was about to die. Already he could feel the dogs hugs paws on his back, claws digging into his skin as the huge fangs ripped into his flesh. His incredibly brief life flashed before his clenched eyes, blowing past him in such rapid succession that he couldn't make the first bits out. The earliest he could recognize was wandering through the streets, cold and alone. Memories of digging through garbage for a meal, of licking cheese off of pizza boxes and the bottoms of dumpsters because there was nothing else to be found, of drinking the water that ran from the street into the sewers. They were the only memories he could recall of his short life, and none of them reassured him as the end came.

....But it didn't come. Instead there was an extremely loud banging noise, one that caused him to immediately jerk upright and look for its source. To his immense surprise he found that it was a beautiful lady, beating on a trashcan lid and motioning for him to get up, to hide behind her. He didn't even have to think once about it, be instinctively rushed to his feet and moved behind the brave lady. The little boy didn't know who she was or what she wanted, and normally this would have made him avoid her at all costs. Afterall she could be some secret government agent sent to drag him to an orphanage or put him in jail for stealing food.

At the moment though he didn't care. All he cared about was the fact that he was going to live, even if it was just a few moments longer. Without thinking he clutched her shirt in his tiny hands, burying his face into the small of her back. It didn't occur to him that he was getting her clothes dirty, although he would be very worried when he discovered that he had been. Rarely in all of his years on the street had be felt so vulnerable, te woman was the only thing protecting him from the dog and she wasn't much bigger then he was.... He took a deep breath, still whimpering like a whipped pup. I don't wanna be a chew toy.....

[Jasmine Krisp]

Thank goodness the boy moved behind her, because Jasmine's next move would have been to jump over the kid and bang the lid over the dogs head. Jazz had nothing against dogs, in fact, she loved the fluffy little things. The only problem was this one was trying to eat an innocent little boy, who happened to be cuter then any pup she'd ever seen. Once he was safely behind her, Holy short person, Batman, the punky young woman smiled back at him.

"Don't worry kid, I got it."

Jazz slammed the lid extra hard into the concrete, making the mutt jump in shock. It growled before turning and taking off, slightly in fear, but mostly because its ears were ringing. Jasmine stuck her tongue out at the dog as it fled. "Yeah, you better run. No picking on midgets anymore!" Her blunt comment probably would spike the kid behind her, but Jasmine was a bit cluless like that.

Ah well. Dog gone, problem solved. Now she just had to figure out what she was going to do with the little loli she'd saved.

[Ryan Cardwell]

Only barely did he see her smile, only having just glanced up from safe haven of her back. He tried his best to smile back, something that was hard to do considering how scared he was. Somehow though he did manage to pull off an extremely weak grin, though it just lasted a moment, the next snarl from the dog leading to him burying his face in her back once more. Protection or no he didn't feel particularly safe, not from a dog that big. His little mind simply couldn't grasp how anyone could hope to fend it off, it was impossible so far as he could see. When she spoke he barely nodded, knowing that she was just trying to reassure him in the final moments of his life.

But then, it turned out that he'd been wrong. They weren't lying dead on the sidewalk. As he carefully peered out from behind of the lady he saw the dog, running away in fear. That utterly astonished the small boy, never having imagined such a feat possible. When she yelled at it he didn't get mad, in fact he giggled rather adorably. He found it extremely funny how the tough lady was acting like a kid. And luckily he didn't know what 'midget' meant. If he had though it probably wouldn't have mattered to him, he was extremely grateful to her for having saved his life. So much so that he'd have shared his supper with her if not for the fact that all of it went down the sewer drain.

It was several moments before he pulled away, just a bit in case there were some other threat that might come along. Unlike most boys his age he wasn't a bit worried about hiding behind a lady and letting her protect him. No, he'd much rather be alive than proud, not that he'd ever had anything to be proud of. Still, as he stared up at the amazing lady with nothing short of awe and reverence beaming in his big green eyes, he wished he did. The biggest worry he had right now was that she'd try to send him to one of those places where they kept little kids like him locked up and sold them to people that showed up. (aka an orphanage) If she did then he'd have to kick her in the shin and run as fast as his little legs could carry him.

[Jasmine Krisp]

Jasmine couldn't help the fangirlish sqeak that came from her apon hearing the little blond giggle. He's soooo cute~ She mused, kicking back the urge to kidnap the little bugger. There were slightly more pressing matters: like where the hell was this kids mother or father? Did he ever have a mom? And if so, why wasn't she in Jazz's place fighting off the monster dog? Talk about bad parenting...or non-existant parenting...

Slowly, as if not to scare the kid off, Jazz knelt down so she was at eye-level with him. "So, dog-bait, do you have a name? Do you have a cat hiding on your person or something?" Her bad sense of humor was showing. Oi. "Where's your mommy and daddy? Are you running away?" In a moment, Jasmine noticed how skinny the kid was. That wasn't healthy for anyone, ecspecially a little kid.

With a sigh, she stood up and snagged the kids arm before dragging him down the sidewalk. Since she was always paided pretty well by her employer, spending some cash on food for a runt shouldn't be to much. She had money to spare anyway...

"C'mon peewee. I'm buying you some grub before you pass out."

How compassionate.

[Ryan Cardwell]

The young orphan giggled again in spite of himself at the odd sound she was making. He tried not to, he knew that people got mad at him when he did and he really didn't want her getting mad at him, but she was just so funny! She was the first grown up he'd ever met that was, the other ones were just mean. Granted, he probably should have asked before taking the food, but they didn't have to hit him with those stick thingies! Besides, they had plenty of food, they didn't need the little bits he'd taken, especially since they'd already eaten all the good parts themselves. The big fat meanies.

Then she started asking him questions, some of which he didn't understand. Cat? The sarcasm was completely lost on him. He did know what a name was, but only barely. It was one of those things that people called each other, so that they'd know who they were. He frowned trying to remember what people had called him. "Filthy little tramp?" The boy stared up at her quizzically, as though she would be able to confirm whether or not that was his name.

And then she asked where his mommy and daddy were. He knew the answer to that question without a shadow of a doubt, he didn't have any. Where they were he had no idea, but he knew for a fact that they weren't anywhere that he knew of. Most kids his age would have been distraught over such a thing, but it didn't bother him a bit. Afterall he'd never had them, if he did he couldn't remember, so what want did he have for them? He could get along just fine without them, and really he couldn't see what they were for anyway. Except for food. Food was good.

To be honest he was more than a bit surprised when she grabbed his arm, and was initially fearful that she was taking him to the place where they sold kids. But then she said she'd buy him some grubs, that meant food. Still, he wasn't really keen on grubs, they were all wiggly and wouldn't hold still when he tried to chew them, plus all those little hairs tickled his throat. So he would really prefer something else. "Umm... Instead of grubs, can we get some of that stuff they give horsies? It tastes good, and it doesn't wiggle around. Except when its got those little wigglers in it, but their kinda crunchy so i don't mind." He wasn't at all aware that she would probably be repulsed by his dining habits. This was clearly evident when he scooped up a piece of hte dog food that had somehow gotten stuck on the drain, happily nibbling what was left of his stolen supplies.

[Jasmine Krisp]

Filthy little tramp...oh brother, do I attract the unfortunate.

Jasmine watched as the child dashed back to the drain and began eating the left over dog food, and yet her expression didn't change from the mix of apathy and pity (an odd mixx indeed). She'd been in this kid's shoe's once. Back when her mother and father had died, she'd been on her own. She'd been on the streets. She'd been kicking ass to get her food and water long before this kid was probably even alive. Until she'd been found and fed by her now-employer, life had been the same kind of lonely his was.

Nobody had been there to save her from a giant dog.

Yellow-hazel eyes rolled at the grubs comment. "Not grub bugs, silly. Grub real food...eggs, milk, toast, the stuff you pick out of the trash before it's trash." Jazz smiled again softly. "And that's not a name. You look like...hmm..." she tilted her head, taking another few steps forward, "You look like a R...Renold...Rick...no...ah!" As if something had just snapped into place, Jasmine grinned and put her pale hand on the kid's head. "I'm gonna call you Ryan. That sound good, kid?"

There was a warmth in her eyes that was rarely ever seen. It was saved for the things Jasmine liked...birds, music, smart people, and now this kid.