Gabriel, Rahne and a bag of chips.

[xp-wolfsbane.livejournal.com]

Rahne's indulging in her new favorite American past time - snacking - when she finally meets Gabriel face to face. They share chips and she manages to even have a little bit of fun.

Rahne glanced around the kitchen shyly, as if to double check that there was no one around, She knew there wasn't. She'd been finding out that it was really hard for anyone to sneak up on her - she could either hear or smell them well before they got to her. Satisfied, she grabbed the large bag of chips and scurried back over the table.

Deep down, she knew that the food was there for any time that anyone got hungry. But she couldn't help but feel guilty because she was hungry all the time these days. And while they'd never gone hungry back home, Reverend Craig had certainly taught her not to overindulge.

But ... but she was so hungry. And the junk food in America was amazing!

"There's dip in the fridge." An amused voice came, as if out of nowhere, from the door that led to the smoker's porch. Gabriel, dressed in a bright tank top and a pair of H&M sweatshorts. The sunglasses he'd been wearing a minute before were hooked on the neck of his shirt. The only thing missing were cigarettes; he'd been at the pool when he reached for a smoke and discovered he had none.

A high pitch shriek lasted for about three seconds before being strangled, along with the bag of chips. Rahne froze for a moments, eyes wide over the now slightly smushed bag, and held her breath. She sagged after about ten seconds, looking relieved. Wolfing out happened more when she was startled or scared but it could also happen because she sneezed or hiccuped or stretched. There was no rhyme or reason to it and she was just happy that she didn't turn into a wolf right then.

"Here, I'll get it for you," Gabriel said, still looking more entertained than anything else. "Don't get up." He smiled at her, choosing to completely gloss over the shock he'd just given her and looking the very picture of a welcoming new neighbor, before strolling to the fridge. "You're Rahne, right? I guess we haven't really met in person yet."

"Aye," she said, voice slightly strangled. "We must have 'met' on the journals, aye? Which is so weird! How can ye meet someone without even really meeting them?" Rahne's eyebrows dipped together. "I didn't smell or hear ye coming! I normally hear everyone here!"

"Oh," Gabriel was grinning now, "that's because of the super-speed." To illustrate the point, he stopped halfway to the fridge, turning so that his smile was directed at her. Then, in a second, he darted to the fridge, grabbed the sour cream dip from the back, retrieved a napkin and appeared at the table, setting them down in front of her. "I'm Gabriel," he added nonchalantly, "if I haven't said that yet."

Oh. Oh. Rahne's cheeks felt oddly warm because she remembered that he said that people were being friendly because she seemed cute. The tips of her ears were even redder than her cheeks. "That's ... that's so cool!" she said, releasing the bag when she realized she had a death grip on it. Hopefully everything inside was still mostly in one piece. "No wonder I didn't hear ye comin'. That's such a neat power!"

She plopped the bag on the table, next to the dip and napkins. "It's, ah, nice to meet ye in person," Rahne added in a rush.

"Nice to meet you too." He pulled out a chair, then glanced down at the table and frowned. "Oh, one sec." He went back to the fridge, using his powers, and grabbed a Gatorade from the door. Then he returned, sitting in front of her. "So, how are you finding the place? Guess you haven't been here long."

"Nay, not that long, though sometimes it feels like forever. I've never been away from home before. Reverend Craig and I moved around some but it I was never away from home, ye know?" Rahne gave him a small smile as she opened the bag, relieved to see that she hadn't smashed everything into tiny bits. "So, I've only been here a wee bit but sometimes it feels longer? How ... how long have ye been at the mansion?"

"Oh, uh... I guess about a year?" Gabriel twisted the cap off the Gatorade and took a healthy sip. "Yeah, close to it." He tilted his head slightly. "Wow. It went by kinda fast, I guess, but it also feels like I've been here forever." Although that was for reasons that weren't worth exploring with new-world strangers.

He absently began peeling the label off the bottle without thinking about it. "And home's in Scotland?" He whistled in appreciation. "It's very brave of you to come all the way here."

"Really? But what if it was something I had to do? I don't know if that's brave!" She munched on some chips. "It's helped that everyone's been so nice. If a little strange. I'm not used to being around so many people. And it's not all students!" Rahne waved a chip at Gabriel to make her point, a faint blush still on her cheeks.

"True," Gabriel nodded as he reached for a chip from the bag, "that's a little weird. But I guess Charles is here to help anyone who needs it, whatever age they are. And I like having so many different kinds of people around." He dipped the chip and popped the whole thing in his mouth. After he swallowed, he smiled. "It keeps things interesting."

The butterflies in Rahne's stomach suddenly went on a tizzy and what if she said something stupid and he thought she was stupid and if he thought she was stupid would she turn into a stupid wolf and ...

Rahne shoved an entire, large handful of chips into her mouth and then immediately regretted it. Because now she had to slowly chew what felt like a thousand chips.

Gabriel had been mid-sip when Rahne started to do... well, whatever was happening in front of him right now, and he couldn't help the slight sputter that happened. "See," he said after a bit of coughing. "That wolf metabolism must be tough to adjust to," he teased.

It was taking forever to chew! Why had she shoved so many chips in her mouth?! Rahne clapped a hand hand over her mouth and chewed faster. She finally was able to swallow and breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Oh, um, aye, it is," she said, sounding so lame to her ears. "I feel like all I do is live in the kitchen!"

And eat chips. Like a moron.

"Do yer powers make ye eat more than ye used to?" she asked shyly.

"Oh, absolutely," Gabriel reached for another few chips. "I mean, it's hard to tell, I guess, but I'm pretty sure they do. I do everything faster, right? So that burns a lot of energy, and it kind of plays with my body's internal rhythms." He used his free hand to pull the sunglasses off the neck of his shirt and put them on the table. "At least," he added, "that's what Scott and them told me. I'm probably not explaining it right."

"It makes sense! Yer power seems so much more useful than mine. I could think of a lot of things to do with being fast. Like - not getting wet when it rains! Or getting the last piece of chicken. Or not having to take a bus!" Rahne grimaced and stuck out her tongue for a moment. "Do ye know how much a wolf sheds? Way more than I ever thought!"

"Okay, but there are plenty of other people who can run fast." Gabriel flicked a chip crumb off his thumb. "I mean, at least two others. Probably more. How many people do you know who get to be a wolf? I'd love to see the world that way."

Rahne frowned for a moment, eyebrows lowered dramatically. "Oh! I've never thought about it like that," she said slowly. The handful of chips she grabbed this time was much smaller than the last and she made sure to only eat only one at a time. "Everyone else seems to think it's really cool." Her voice was small but kind of hopeful. "Maybe I'll think that one day."

"So ... did ye come here to get help with yer powers?" she asked after a moment of thoroughly enjoying putting as much of the dip on the chips as she could manage without it breaking.

"Kinda?" Gabriel bobbed his head a little before taking another sip of his drink. "I mean, I had an okay handle on them, but there were a few things about them I didn't get. And there's still a lot to figure out. Like, I can't run on water. That kinda stuff."

The theft and the telepath had happened to, but there was no point in mentioning that now. Looking down at his hands, he started fidgeting with the nosepads on his shades. "Plus, like, I was living in the city — well, Queens, but close enough – and it's a lot easier to figure things out when you're out here, not worrying about rent."

Being able to run on water sounded so cool and Rahne knew if she'd been Gabriel, she would have come to the mansion just for that very reason. A thought occurred to her - did wolves know how to swim? She knew how to swim but what about when she had four legs? And fur?

"I've never lived in a mansion before," she confided. "It should feel like it's too much! Reverend Craig always taught me less is more but ... the Professor lets everyone live here, even like the really old people. It's a nice place, I'd live here too if I was an adult."

"Yeah, seriously. A little too nice," Gabriel glanced around the kitchen, which was at least twice the size of the one in which his mom used to make tortillas. "It's kinda weird. Like, I look around sometimes, and I'm like, how did I end up in a place this nice, and do even I deserve it?" His eyes returned to Rahne, and he smiled a little sheepishly. "Sorry," he scratched the back of his neck, "that was probably a bit too honest."

She beamed back at him. "I don't mind! I know what ye mean. We always lived within our means but never above, aye? Reverend Craig didn't believe in making money off of his parishioners like some of the other heads of the churches." Actually, she didn't know what he'd think of the place she'd ended up. He'd be mollified that the Professor had opened his home to those in need but still ... Rahne guilty pushed that thought to the side.

"Sometimes it seems too good to be true," Rahne sighed wistfully.

"But it is true," Gabriel smiled at her again. "That's the weird thing. And here we are, meeting all kinds of fun people." He reached for a chip. "There are worse things."

"Aye! I mean ..." She leaned over and whispered. "They have a pool! And a pond! And horses, though I scare those sometimes. I think I smell wolf-y even when I'm not." Rahne leaned back, eyes wide. "There are worse places, that's for sure. Places with no chips, probably!"

"God, can you imagine?" Gabriel wrinkled his nose, then shoved a few chips in his mouth. "And for what it's worth," he added after he swallowed, "you don't really smell like a wolf to me."

That was good, right? Right? She wondered for a moment what she did smell like and immediately decided that was a bad thought. Bad thoughts were for bad people and she was ...

Suddenly a wolf. The chair thankfully didn't break under her weight but it did topple over, sending her now four legged form sprawling. Rahne flailed for a moment, legs churning and tossing off scraps of clothing, before she managed to pop back up right. The wolf froze, stared at Gabriel for a horrified moment and then let out a pathetic whine before dropping down to her stomach, looking as put out as a giant animal could.

The chips Gabriel had been chewing were now on the table, spat out as Rahne suddenly transformed in front of him. The wolf in front of him was large, for sure, but he thought there was something recognizably... Rahne-like about it. About her.

She whined again, and he started laughing. He couldn't help it. Of all the things that had happened in this house, this was by far the funniest. "I'm sorry," he said, covering his mouth after a chortle. "I'm sorry. Just, you're just — this is just... it kind of adds to the whole 'cute' thing, I'm not gonna lie."

Rahne gave him a terrific side eye, which only seemed to amuse Gabriel further. There were too many emotions for her to deal with, including feeling irritated and flustered and, above all, still hungry. How fair was that? She lifted her head and then stood up, taking a moment to shake and send tufts of reddish fur flying through the air.

An idea occurred to her and Rahne almost didn't act on it, feeling the shyness threaten to overwhelm the sudden sense of fun. But a glance at Gabriel decided her. So, her ears perked up as Rahne very slowly and very gently reached across the table and clamped down on the bag of chips with her teeth.

She glanced over and tensed, ready to run.

"Hey!" Gabriel laughed, reaching over to try and reclaim the bag. "So much for sharing."

Rahne jerked the bag off the table and tensed, legs slightly spread. If a wolf could look cheeky with a bag of chips in their jaws, she certainly did. Her tail twitched slightly and then she turned and booked down the nearest hall, a muffled bark echoing back.