The lack of sound was absolutely awful. It reminded Alex of that song... 'The Sound of Silence' by Simon and Garfunkel. And of course, that song sent little chills down not only his spine, but his sadly thin arms and back and all the way down to his toes.

The place was great-- during open hours. It was always warmer than most other open places because of the thousands of people who all generated body heat, and during the night it was all lit up and like a really big... chandelier. Or maybe like a mini-city. Very cool, nonetheless. But now? Now there was no one. Everyone was gone home (probably asleep) and the lights were all off. The rides had been turned off so there was no reassuring whir of a kiddy ride (of course, if one was to come on now, he'd probably run out screaming). Terribly frightening for him.

So there he was in the grey t-shirt that was too sizes too big for him and a shabby, brownish coat over it along with jeans that didn't quite fit. Scarlet hair was thoroughly messed up by the wind that didn't want to stop being cold and fingerless black gloves adorned oddly delicate hands. Ah, he fit in perfectly, even if he didn't want to.

And he was there willingly. It wasn't some teenage dare of proving to your parents that you would go run off and come back when you felt like it, it was just Alex. Wanting to take a walk. Simple as that. But now he wished he hadn't, because he wanted to leave, but couldn't bring himself to. At least he could see anything in a ten foot radius.

Afterall, his species needed some sort of perk.

The small bird was hoping around the park, on a sort of rat patrol. Hungry, it picked up everything that was food and ate it -- popcorn, pieces of corn dog, candy, fries, you name it. He was truely hungry, and not that this was a bad thing, but this would look rather odd to anyone out at this hour. Usually no one was, but there was a boy ahead of him who was wandering the park. Let him wander. He wouldn't bother the bird.

It was an american kestrel, which wasn't common here. In fact, any local bird expert would declare that the one in the amusment park had to be the only one in the city limits. And they might be right. The little bird was a mixture of three colors. Slate gray, or a grayish blue color, a rusty red, and black. His wings were hanging semi-limp, their full range of colors showing. They were the rusty red color when folded closed, barred with stripes of black across each feather. When he opened them to their full wingspan, they showed other patterns. The red gave way to the slate blue, which disappeared into white for the flight feathers. Those were white with black smears on them. As his wings were positioned now, only the rusty red showed. His feathers on his head showed the blue gray he had, and nothing else. His eyes were a golden yellow and a bit brown. They watched the kid in the park.

The bird squawked from the ground, spreading its wings for flight. Though it didn't take off, it was about to.

Alex jumped, his pallid golden eyes flashing in both fear and an attempt to find what it was. Sounded like bird. Come on, birds aren't vicious. Gee, he was being paranoid, that was obvious. The boy drew in a breath, sutffing his hands into the pockets of his coats and watching the ground.

Aw, stupid. If there's something that's gonna kill you, don't look at the ground. Look for it.

(OOC: Pardon shortness, my brain is frazzled.)

The bird smiled as best a bird could, and nodded its approval. The kid wasn't here to smoke a joint, as so many other the bird had seen had been here to do. It twisted its head to glance around, and disappeared behind the dumpster is was scrounging around. Within seconds, a howl of wind sweeped through the park, causing litter to take flight.

The head of a small boy appeared from behind the dumpster, notting the fact that the other boy had not spotted him yet. And thank god, for the kid didn't look initiated to his world, yet. He walked from the shadows, and stood in plain view of the other teenager. He was smiling, as to not look threatening. He did realize that this could be quite scary, thinking you were alone when you really weren't. Shreads of light brown, blondish hair hung low on the kids forhead. It was growing longer and oilier every day, due to a lack of money for a hair washing and a barber. His eyes were a dull brown in the lack of light, though they sparkled gold in the daytime. He was clad in jeans, a tee-shirt, and covered over with a leather cloak. This was to hide his wings that stayed with him in both his lycanthrope and human form. It did, and it covered the tail too. This boy, standing his proud 4'11" tall, was Shad.

And Alex tended to take everything the wrong way.

He blinked, instantly relating smile to psychotic, which brought up a ton of scary movies to his head.

And with a blink of realization, they were all gone. It was ironic that the dark made him jittery. He did, however, stay absolutely still, watching Shad nervously. Maybe he was good. Or maybe he was pyscho, like he'd thought.

But more importantly, where did he come from? The boy just appeared. Eerie.

Shad blinked a few times, and then spoke up in a quiet whisper that could be mistaken for a booming shout in the cold and still air of the night.

"Nice night tonight, isn't it... Sorry to startle you. Just noticed you were... Alone."

He smiled again, and stepped forward. The cloak he wore circled around him, making him look like a head, a skirt of leather from his neck to his mid calves, and then jeans and street shoes. You could see nothing of his arms or torso, which could be considered creepy, but it was better that you couldn't see his wings. That would be plain freakish.

"I am Shad. Who are you?"

He pronounced his name Shade, as in the darkness the circled under a tree. He always thought the name had been intentional to signify a dark change in his life. Then again, he also figured he was crazy half the time.

Think, stupid.

"O-Oh. Alex. Uhm... yeah."

Not much to say. And what he did say wasn't very eloquent. Ah, nervous Alex was always a funny thing to see. It was like... a smurf on drugs. Or a skit done by a comedy improv. class at a school. Or just like a good joke. It was amusing, because if need be, Alex would have the upperhand in a lot of situations because of his species. But that wasn't the point!

The point was that he was being talked to and making a pathetic attempt at a conversation.

(OOC: Aw, geez, AIM won't work... darnit. Ooh, late. Head being all sleepy. Christmas shopping fer my friends tomorrow. So... bye fer now!)

Shad nodded, and let his little smile disappear from his face. There was a really big, fat rat sitting a few feet away. In fact, that had been the one Shad had been hunting for most of the evening. He glared down at it, agrivated that there was another here. Another whom he could not tell was innish or unnish, and would rather not chance it by morphing. He believed in the gap between the two worlds, and wished not to have it be closed. He figured that he could do his part and not teach unnish of innish ways. He was also thinking of becoming a stalker of his best friend in the city, for she had a demon that possessed her, and he didn't like the idea of a) a demon running loose, and b) a demon trashing her life.

Shad let his eyes look up from the rat, and sadly, they still held their distaste in him morphing back so quickly. But he let that dissipate as fast as his smile had before, and he looked over the boy named Alex.

"So... Why are you out here in the middle of the night?"

Alex didn't notice the rat. Silly boy. Of course, it was probably a good thing, because the boy would've sprinted out of their faster that that stupid road runner in cartoons. Jumpy, very twitchy tonight.

"Just... walking. No reason. Nothing in particular."

Geez, he sounded like he was trying to cover up for a murder or something! Nice, Alex, real slick.

He scuffed his foot awkwardly on the ground, looking around, praying to God that this... Shad wasn't a pyscho murder. He didn't seem like it, but you could never tell.

Shad nodded, and began to think along the same lines of Alex. Maybe he is a psycho killer or something... Maybe he killed someone... Maybe I should go... He nodded at the boys answer, and took a step to the side. The rat scurried off, shucks. Shad bent over and pretended to tie his shoe, though he was just using this movement as a way to get more space. His thin little arms protruded from the opening in his cloak, revealing the fact that he was not armed with some gun or something. They did up the laces on his left shoe again, creating a triple knot, for they had been double knotted before.

"So... How old are you?"

Shad numerous attempts at creating a conversation were failing, one by one. He was tempted to disappear in a game of hide and go seek, morph, and fly off.

"Fifteen."

He watched him, still nervous. God darn jittery-ness. He shouldn't have been. Despite his size, if need be, Alex could show to have more strength than boys his age because of the thing he reallly was. But that wasn't the point!

No, that wasn't the point. The point was that he needed to calm down. Actually, that was more of the objective. We dunno what the point is now.

"Me too."

Shad let a smile play across his lips again. Not once had his smile revealed his teeth, for those smiles were saved for true happiness or excitedness. He stood again, and brushed himself off. The sky was overcast, so the place was pretty dark, but the clouds were clearing to reveal the twinkling stars. The light lets Shad fully size the kid up. Taller than him, yes, but if the person did try and kill him, Shad was sure he was more agile, and would be able to bound away faster.