Take a Chance

Juliet was forcing herself to calm down. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Have a fear? Might as well face it. Uncontrollable panic seemed like it should have worked the same way. After all, last time, she could not think of a reason why her nerves had gotten better, other than, after time she realized that they were useless. Nothing had hurt her since.

But this was twice now.

Both times she had been as useless as a tinker toy. Mindless fun, with no real force to stop them. If she was attracting people, then what was to stop anyone in this crowd to do the same?

There she at, on the small bench off to the side of the street, watching each and every person pass, finger constantly twirling the end of her hair as she tried to relax and failed every moment. She was going to go back to school soon - it was felt maybe she could relax better if she went back to the grounds early, but if she could just do this here then maybe..

Maybe...

Someone approached her from the side - her peripheral vision just barely catching them - and she screamed.

Rhys had been back in town for a week now, hiding in the forest with no mission in mind. The young vampire had stolen away one night, away from school, away from Viola. The woman had been his maker, his new mother... the fact he requested her to relinquish right over him must of broken her heart.

Because the fact that she listened broke his.

She had sent a request to meet a while ago, but Rhys had never really gotten the chance to, having too much fun and all. He would wander this square for hours, watching, waiting, smelling. Sometimes, he'd see an old friend, an old enemy, and he would just walk right by them. They never recongized him anyway.

Then, he saw J.J. The brunette, scent as sweet as a rose, scuttered by, her heart pumping wonderfully fast. It was almost as if the cute, clumbsy girl he knew was afraid of something in this crowded section of street. He approached her, waving softly- only to be greeting by a scream.

Automatically, Rhys ran to her side and clenched a hand over her mouth, hard. He shushed her angrily, then softened his grip. "Merlin, J.J.! You can't scream like that, they'll kick me out again." He released her with a forced chuckle. "You don't remember me? Come on, you act like I'll eat you!"

Which, Rhys was very tempted to do.

His reaction to her reaction certainly didn't help her nerves in anyway. Feeling the hand around her only caused her to tense even more, she was in fact on the verge of struggling when the familiar name and familiar voice drifted into her ears. She managed to stop herself from fighting, from struggling as the grip loosened, and she relaxed slightly as she turned to look at the face of the boy.

"Y-yes," she said with a shaky breath, giving a sheepish grin, "Of course I do. Sorry I screamed. I'm just... I've been a little on edge recently. I just saw part of you and over reacted."

Taking a deep breath through her nose, she attempted to force herself to relax, though it wasn't all that easy. Especially since she hadn't been all that relaxed to begin with. She was so worked up that she hadn't even really noticed the old name. She wouldn't have corrected him, even if she had, but at the moment the lack of comment was coming from the fact that she truly hadn't noticed the difference.

"Hello Rhys; it certainly has been a long time, hasn't it?"