Roof Diving -p-

[Gabriel King]

Being rather nocturnal by nature, Gabriel had taken to spending his free nights prowling the town in his leopard form. Of course this wasn't something he could easily do, even as stealthy as he was. Because of this he had adapted to stalking the rooftops, leaping from one building to another, and slinking to the ground when the gap appeared too large. On this particular night he found himself in the clubbing district, a place he typically avoided due to the booming noises and annoying lights.

Walking on the edge of one such club's roof, Gabriel was momentarily blinding by the flashing neon sign that depicted the club's name. For some reason the staff had decided that this precise moment was the perfect time to turn it on. With a startled huff leopard Gabriel stepped back, right off the edge of the roof.
At least his fast reflexes allowed him to change forms again in mid-air, courtesy of the SPRITE outbreak and his power increase. As it was he was very human when he landed on the concrete, falling awkwardly on his right wrist.

As if that wasn't bad enough, when his eyesight had finally cleared enough to allow him to look up, there was someone standing right in front of him. "Am I in the way?"

Zoey King

[Zoey King]

Zoey's life was unfortunately often filled with long weeks these days as often when there were more staff needed to run around and save lives, her name cropped up quite a lot. So some nights, as the fine evening she was currently in. She just needed to get out, to be free. To soar. And well, she wasn't going to do that in an apartment in the city. Least of all because anybody who saw a winged person flying overhead would either scream, throw something at her, or gawk.

And so, imagine her surprise when she heard the rustling movement of another predator. She was pretty good at sharpening her senses, and as such, she blinked her eyes until her night vision was at it's peak. She caught the swift movements of the predator.... a leopard? Cute. Soon however the misguided creature landed square flat on the ground. Zoey smirked down at it, as she scanned it's injuries, it was now a man.

A rather attractive man. (She put that thought aside for later reference.) She blinked away the enhanced vision and smiled down at the young man, shaking her head and adjusting the bag on her shoulder's which contained a few basic supplies which might be of help, in addition to clothes and underwear. Which sounded dirty when she thought about it.

She scanned him in the low light, tilting her head as he spoke. "Well, I guess if you're speaking in the sense that you just failed at jumping a roof and probably injured yourself, you're getting in the way of yourself." She smiled gently. "Cats. Why is it always the cats." she mumbled as she lent down. "Keep still, I'm a doctor... Ish." The traces of Australian accent trailed through the blonde's words.

[Gabriel King]

Pulling himself up, Gabriel crossed his legs and cradled his hand in his lap. If he was in the way now he didn't particularly care. "You saw that," he asked mournfully, the notion putting him slightly on edge. Mutants were exposed now but that didn't mean seeing a large leopard sitting on top of a club wouldn't cause a panic. "I really think it was more of a jump, you know?"

With his sharp hearing he managed to pick up on her muttering and winced. Ok so she'd seen, and hopefully her and no one else. But she wasn't freaking out, and she was treating him rather normally. And she smelled of bird droppings. So maybe she was a mutant too? "You're a doctor....ish?" He repeated, more amused than suspicious at this point. He'd already decided to trust in the strange girl, and as such held his arm out gingerly with a sheepish grin.

"You know if I leave it it'll probably fix itself."

@tag

[Zoey King]

Zoey closed the gap between the two of them, he didn't exactly seem to be too startled or anything, which was a good start. He was a little bit of an idiot to be jumping rooftops like some kind of a super hero, even if he was a cat at the time, what if he got himself badly injured. "I saw that." She nodded with a sly grin as she began to examine him, thankfully having naturally good low light vision helped.

She smirked again. "More like falling in style." She teased. The blonde moved his limbs around gently, looking for any visible signs of wound, and occasionally tapping at joins to test if anything was broken. "Well, technically I'm a paramedic, if you want to be pedantic about it." She tapped the arm it looked like had taken the most of the impact and tried to test if there were any obvious breaks or sprains. "Does this hurt at all when I touch here?"

The girl rolled her eyes at him as she continued assessing his injuries. "You know, if you want to get exercise at night, you could always go for a jog. Or ya'know, go into the woods if you want to be an oversized kitten." She teased as she carried on checking him over. He had a few minor cuts as far as she could tell, and he was probably quite lucky it wasn't a taller building, because that could have caused some nasty fractures.

[Gabriel King]

Cocking his head, Gabriel levied the girl with a calm stare. "And I trust you'll keep it to yourself?" The precaution seemed unneccesary since she wasn't already running for the hills...or bouncers, but it was an added comfort to his mind. Besides, if the police station caught wind of a leopard stalking the town it would undoubtedly earn more attention that he didn't want.

"Nice to see you have an eye for flair," he replied appreciatively, leaning back on his uninjured hand. Someone hearing that she was a paramedic instead of a doctor relaxed him even further. Her title was only a technicality he knew, but there weren't any fancy white coats to be had here. If he was ever going to let an official treat him, he'd rather it be in the dark in front of a bar with a stranger. Apparently this was his lucky night.

His clicked his teeth together at her prodding and uttered a noncommittal 'urffmmhmm' at the question. Why yes, yes it did hurt, and yet he was more focused on watching her cautiously; prepared to run at any moment. "You're not going to pull a needle out of your pocket or something, are you?" Gabriel asked suspiciously, fidgeting as he fought to calm his nerves.

"Tried it before. Kind of lonely though, you know what I'm saying? I wont pretend to love the noise and lights, but it's been a long time since I've been around people and just existed." He explained uncomfortably, shaking his head. "I guess it's hard to explain."

@tag

[Zoey King]

Zoey gave off a light shrug at the man's request. "I don't see why I would tell people. It's not the type of thing you just bring up." She didn't really have too many friends that she talked to enough to get onto topics like stumbling across a dumb ass with a leopard mutation who flings himself over rooftops as a recreational activity. Besides, his body language was famliar to her. There was a hint of tenseness in it. She wasn't going to make him uncomfortable. She'd scold the hell out of him though.

She smirked playfully. "I wouldn't exactly call that 'flair' more like a slightly amusing spectacle. It takes a special kind of person to intentionally throw themselves off of rooftops, most people would call that... hmmm what's the word." She paused for a second, humming to herself while she examined him, taking a quick glance to check if anyone else was around, before turning back. "Reckless."

She actually gave off a chuckle at the comment. "Yes, I walk around with a full medical kit, just out on with me on the night. That's something I do all the time." the obvious sarcasm trailed through her voice. She continued touching his arm, more gently.

"I understand. You don't need to explain anymore." She added softly. "Though you can't deny there isn't something more soothing about the sounds of the forest and smells that go along with it. Especially from high up."

Zoey hummed to herself while she finished checking him over, clear musical tone in her voice. "Alright, nothing seems to actually be broken, which is good. Probably just a nasty sprain or bunch of pulled muscles, hard to tell without actual equipment. So all we'll nee-" She paused for a second as another thought struck her. "Are you one of those enhanced healing types? A lot of shifters seem to have that one."

[Gabriel King]

"Then I suppose I'll trust you." Relaxing, Gabe crossed his legs and sighed. "You're like me, I assume?" Considering the calm precision with which she was acting. Normal people knew about mutants now, but few he knew accepted it so readily. More than that relief, he was grateful she seemed so compassionate. He was sure if the woman was all about business he would have run off by now. There were too many memories surrounding men in white coats that he couldn't shake.
His eyebrows drew in, annoyance clouding his features. "Actually I'm not so sure 'intentional' is the right word. I was surprised and lost my footing." She was really calling him reckless? So he wasn't the most cautious person; but leaping across rooftops like Batman proved nothing. "I assure you miss, I am the completely proper amount of cautious."

It was embarrassing how much better he felt knowing she wasn't about to whip a needle out. "Well you know, boy scouts, right? Be prepared for anything." It was fine if others assumed he had a fear of injections, probably better even, considering there was teasing but no deeper probing into the matter. Gabriel was pretty confident he'd never get over it, and strangely there was a part of him that didn't want to. It was who he was, and he was proud of the situations he'd survived. Even so, his eyes flicked down to the ground at Zoey's gentle acceptance. It was almost painful, considering he hadn't experienced such a thing in over four years. How pitiful he was.

"High up, hey?" He mused, a light purr rumbling in his throat. "The highest I get is a tree-top, though I'm starting to think you mean something higher?" Maybe that was a clue to her own abilities. Or maybe she flied fighter jets in her spare time. He leaned forward a little, quietly appreciating the harmony in the stranger's voice, eyes slitting in contentment. "See? I'm basically indestructable." Gabe murmured, still quiet comfortable and unwilling to move. "But unfortunately not. I must have pulled the short end of that stick."

@tag

[Zoey King]

The blonde smiled gently at his comment. "Why that's very generous of you." She interjected. "Well, I don't know about that, I tend to prefer jogging and other athletics to falling off of high places~" She winked. The girl tried to organise her thoughts. A small part of her brain was currently busy cataloging how hot he was, and how he would look if he wasn't wearing that shirt....

She filed that part of her brain away and moved more towards the logic at hand, the injury, and the conversation. "Well again, I dunno about that. You would have scared half of the town to death, you're lucky it was me and not somebody else. Though most people I work with would have helped you regardless." She liked to think that all of them would, but she wasn't so sure that everyone was so kind to mutants.

She skipped over his question, reaching into her bag and starting to pull out some bandages and stuff. "scolding aside, you should let me make you a makeshift sling, you should go to a hospital soonish anyway to see if anything is actually broken." She paused for a second. "Maybe leave out the part about jumping rooftops, they might think you're suicidal." The blonde smiled gently to him again. "Yes, I mean higher."

She paused again, briefly. "Take it from someone who knows a lot about it, don't put yourself at risk from falls, it'd be dumb to injury yourself severely or worse just for whatever catharsis you get from being a ninja cat."

[Gabriel King]

Grinning at the mock praise, Gabe bent at the waist as much as he could inn a tiny bow. "If you get to know me you'll see I'm overflowing with positive traits like generosity and chivalry." It was pure jest, but that seemed to be their relationship at the moment anyway. He preferred it that way, it was easier and more familiar. At least he wasn't getting the typical doctor: 'take this magic pill' or 'lie down before you faint'.

She truly expected others would have reached out the same helping hand. Gabriel's expression was bemused to say the least, if not a little disbelieving. "Wicked strong faith in humanity. I actually think I'm impressed." Was all he could really say, shaking his head. She certainly didn't seem naive or oblivious to the world, so maybe it was Gabriel's own fault for having so little faith himself.

A hospital? Gabriel couldn't control the involuntary movement, automatically shying away from the girl as if she'd threatened murder. "I'll take the sling, thanks. I'll hear on my own soon enough." He didn't need advanced healing for that, his body would surely take care of itself without some bloody scientists invading his privacy. "Thought so. You smell like a pigeon," he replied confidently. Maybe she could turn into a bird like he could, or perhaps she was hiding claws inside her shoes. Who knew. But it was interesting to meet another animal shifter beside himself, to say the least.

"What if I said it's my ninja way, and I patrol the rooftops because my little brother was killed by a drunken man, and watching over others is my way of atoning for his death?" He constructed the lie quickly, and it was so dramatically bad he would have been thoroughly impressed if Zoey did believe it.

@tag

[Zoey King]

The blonde pulled out a few things, including some simple materials, then immediately began tearing them up into proper lengths. It had been a while since she'd had to manually do this, the slings she usually worked with were basically ready made and ready to be applied straight out of the box, to speed up application and waste less of the EMT's time. Though this was on her own time regardless so it didn't really matter.

Zoey analysed the man's tone carefully before giving out a measured response. "I'd like to think that anybody in my profession would help someone in need, considering that's sort of the point, Yes." She paused for a second. "I'm not sure if it's my faith in humanity that should be in question here."She added.

She tilted her head as he shyed away, a little more to the side than was normal as far as body language went, a habit. She gently approached, giving him a soft smile, continuing to work on the sling. "Hey. Relax." She paused again. "I'd at least like to get it under some actual light to look at it, make sure my assesment was right. You don't have to go to any hospitals or anything." She gave him her best reassuring smile, which was pretty damn good.

The blonde gave off a light chuckle, glad for the change in topics. "That's actually owl. The more elegant of the avians. Certainly more elegant than felines, if your parkour skills are any indication." She winked.

The girl smirked again. "I'd tell you that I was concerned for you and that you'd probably need some grief consoling to help you not feel the need to be a 'ninja'." She replied. "Aaaand then I'd scold you some more for falling off of a roof." She teased.

[Gabriel King]

He had to admit, his savior really was pushing the point. Didn't want to go to a hospital? No problem, she'd just turn him into a walking mummy on the street. Was that stubbornness, or just a really strong, very weird desire to help people? Maybe it was because she found him attractive. He let the thought entertain him for a second before laughing out loud and brushing it away. That would just top off the crazy in his night.

"You think I'm being too cynical then?" He challenged, mouth moving into a lazy smile. It probably looked as if he couldn't care less either way, though that was what he was kind of going for. He perfectly liked his dreary view of people and wasn't in the mood for a debate while his wrist felt like it was falling off. It also didn't sound particularly wise to instigate a debate with the one person that was trying to help him.

Relaxing a little at the news and the smile, Gabriel grit his teeth and nodded. Even thinking of a hospital made his nose burn with the smell of metal and antiseptic. He felt nauseous. "I think the club back there has some pretty wicked strobe lights," he suggested, quickly licking his lips. Birds were kind of tasty, but he'd never eaten owl. The 'bond between predators' and all that, though he was curious to know exactly what they tasted like. "The lights surprised me," he defended. "Let's see how you fly with a neon sign buzzing in your face."

Trust a doctor to turn mothering over his fake sob story. Gabriel's eyes rolled to the heavens dramatically. "Well you've figured out by now that even if I were a ninja, I'd be a shitty one. So at least I'm spared that scolding, right?" What kind of person went around scolding strangers anyway?

@tag

[Zoey King]

A soft smile spread across the blonde's lips as she started humming to Paramore's Aint it Fun as she tore up the material into what seemed to be the right length, very gently handling the man's arm as she checked it. She thought she knew were the sprain, or break in the arm was roughly around. His attitude was both intruiging and a little tragic. She shook her head from side to side lightly. "Well, I don't think the assumption that most people are sucky can be faulted in it's entirety, but personally when I make an oath to help anybody I can, regardless of circumstances surrounding the injury or trauma, I take it pretty seriously."

Her eyes flashed up towards his, her teasing tone vanished occasionally, when she was speaking of the medical or serious side of things. She was serious about helping people. He was people. It was pretty much that simple.

"I'm sure it was." She gently started looping it around his arm, holding it up slightly, causing as little comfort as possible. "Hold your arm as steady as you can and try not to move it, it's going to be uncomfortable till it's done, but you'll be much much better off for it, trust me on that." She worked efficiently, if a patiently, not wanting to hurt him anymore. A smirk returned to her lips. "Well, evidently owls are more intelligent predator, because I've learned to stay away from bright lights." She teased.

She held a piece of the cloth in her mouth before looping and tying it, pulling out several metal clips from her back, which she had intended on slinging up spare clothes for later in, and holding the spares in her mouth while she worked, clipping it gently. Her gaze fluttered back up to his. "Well, duuuuh." She responded. "I thought we'd already covered the scolding quite thoroughly though, if you want I can go over it in more detail..."

[Gabriel King]

'Oath' was a fairly serious word in Gabriel's vocabulary. Important enough that he was comfortable trusting in Zoey. People didn't generally throw it around after all. With a little smile he nodded, giving her permission to proceed. She already was of course, but at least now he felt more in control of the process. None of the night's events were normal to him. Good thing he was adaptable.

His smile widened as he heard Zoey's humming, though if she was doing it to calm him it had the opposite effect. "I know that song," he informed her proudly, then began singing Ed Sheeran's 'Photograph' offkey. Of course it didn't harmonize with her humming but he didn't seem to notice. His breath caught briefly as she started wrapping his arm, hiding a wince. It wasn't entirely painful, but she hadn't been lying about the discomfort. "Lights mean people, which means food." He avoided specifying whether the food in question was normal, or the people themselves.

"I'll manage without one, I think." This time he didn't hide the wince, or the distaste in his voice. "I get enough lectures already." When he did stupid shit like this though, who could blame Everett? Pulling his hand away he took his time inspecting Zoey's handiwork. Compared to the Hello Kitty bandaid he would have slapped on when he got home, it was impressive. "Thanks," he finally replied, sincerely grateful before remembering his manners. "Oh uh.....How much do I owe you?"

@tag

[Zoey King]

The man seemed to relax, much more effectively than before. It was really odd, Zoey had always considered herself to be the friendly, somewhat crazy 'fun' kind of person to encounter. But when she needed and or wanted to, she both had the ability to stare daggers, and verbally castrate a lot of people. Although, the issue with the cat person she was currently treating seemed to be more along the lines of trust issues than anything else, which she could completely understand.

The sassy woman gave off a gentle smirk. "I'm not sure if that shows that you listen to the radio, or have some decent level of awareness in good music." She gave a chuckle as he began singing. He was really really not very good, but she didn't really mind. Even if there was NO harmony to the man's voice. She made a sound that was somewhere between a giggle and a snort. "Well, personally before I take flight, owl or human I like to make sure I've eaten, or have a plan for food." She admitted.

Zoey stood back and admired her handy work. She smirked. "Damn, and with sub par materials. DAMN I'm good." She laughed to herself happily. She tilted her head with an amused smile at the thank you. "You're welcome pussy cat~" Zoey put away the rest of her materials and debated just getting her wings out here to freak him out, the mischievous side of her brain kicking in now that the worry part was done taking over. "Huh? Oh.... Like. Nothing."

She shrugged. "You could try to be more careful and promise me that if you get actually injured you come see me, considering you have an aversion to doctors and hospitals. My apartment is pretty much AS far as you can get from them." she chuckled again.

[Gabriel King]

Gabriel pulled his shoulder's up haughtily, a smirk tugging at his lips. "I have excellent taste in music," he assured Zoey. Of course most of the music he listened to was folk and country, so 'good music' was definitely subjective. He considered singing again, but decided Zoey had suffered enough of it for one night, and it was certainly no way to repay her. Besides, at this point he wasn't even sure he was singing the right song.

He hesitated before replying. "I like hunting for myself every now and then; it keeps my predatory instincts sharp. I'd have expected an owl to understand." Hunting, no matter the prey, was a great exercise. His feline side had always been a strong influence in his everyday life, chief among his needs being an almost desperation for red meat. Planning out every single move and action bored him, and a bored cat was the most dangerous of all.

With Zoey clearing her work as finished, Gabriel withdrew his hands and twiddled his fingers experimentally. "Well in my professional opinion, my hands looks secure as a well-wrapped burrito. Well done." His praise however, was almost swallowed up by the incredulous laugh that shook his body. "Pussy cat, is it? Well, my owlish friend, you must certainly allow me to repay you in some manner." His honor wouldn't allow him to simply walk on his way after such aid.

Of course he very easily ignored the other payment options she posed to him. After all, this was a stranger he faced. He couldn't promise obedience to simply anyone. Actually, no-one. "You can't honestly be comfortable with a strange man making house calls every time he get's a splinter," he snorted disbelievingly. "Why does a nurse live so far from the hospital then, since we're being so open about living arrangements?"

@tag