Riding High (Open)

“Woohoohoooooooooooo!” The Epror plunged into the cool midnight waters gleefully, disappearing underneath the surface. In the water, his face rippled and distorted making it appear strange and surreal. His brown curly hair floated around his head in the water, suspended in animation. Bubbles floated from his mouth. Then he swam upwards, breaking the surface of the water happily and blew a fountain of water into the air laughing. Running both hands through his hair and pushing it back against his head, he let them stay there looking up at the moon while treading water. His hazel eyes shone brightly, face seeming to radiate with warmth and a kind of youthful innocence that came from his clean, handsome features. Sprouts of curls stuck out from between his fingers, some falling over his eyes. Niko couldn’t be feeling anymore alive, on top of the world. The future was his and it was looking great. He swam further out, enjoying the feel of the water over his skin. The world was a deep dark blue, with columns of silvery moonlight that speared pockets of eerie ethereal beauty into the darkness. It was whimsical, fluid and strangely comforting. Niko continued to swim, the definitions of his dense, muscled body visible when he passed underneath the moonlight. He was wearing nothing but a pair of blue shorts leaving the rest of his body in plain sight. It felt freer that way as well. In his human form the feline Shifter was as natural in the water as he was in his animal form.

He launched himself through the water, ripples appearing around him. His strong arms swept through liquid, powerful legs pushing and pushing. Turning and twisting, the Epror moved like a well-trained acrobat through the water his hair suspended in ashen brown curls. Trails of bubbles trailed his form, making transparent white swathes. He turned, making a curve through the water going upwards and broke through the surface. He wiped his face with his hand, shaking his head so that droplets of water were flying everywhere. Water streamed down his body. He looked around, reaching down with a bronzed, chiselled arm to pluck out some broken glass that had slipped inside his swimming shorts in the process before it could cut him. He held it up, his eyebrows furrowing and creasing gently. It was a thin piece but it was big, the size of his palm. It was shattered and jagged that had probably come from an alcohol bottle. He could tell it’d been broken off intentionally and thrown into the ocean. Thoughtless. He turned around and rearing back with his arm, threw it with a mighty swing sending it torpedoing through the air where it disappeared from sight towards the Light house. It could have been any Shifter who could have come across the glass and cut themselves or worse, a baby Shifter in its primal form who swallowed it by accident. Satisfied, he dived underneath again disappearing underneath the waves.

A wild scream echoed over the beach and through the open door and instinctively the inu's folded rose-shaped ears perked to turn more forwards within the messy hair atop his head. He stopped singing along and turned down the volume of the radio, identifying from the voice that it was a full-grown male and it was a happy kind of hoot so his reaction was not to turn protective over a lady that may be in distress but instead curious as to who was out on this island with him. He wasn’t even sure why he had paid a visit to Astridax, since he loved to be around people and mingling, having fun and socialising as it was part of his canine heart, and if there was one thing that this paradise lacked, it was people. Maybe it was the gypsy part of him, or the ‘travellers’ as it was more polite to say, that loved to travel around never staying in one place that had attracted him like a moth to a flame to explore the area of sand and jungle. The place was peaceful and beautiful, very warm and tropical, but it was not necessarily Finnlay’s idea of happiness if there was no company with him. So he was inwardly delighted that there actually was someone around that he could meet and talk to, if they were as friendly and easygoing as him. Finn got the feeling that the guy would be accepting of him as it sounded like he was having a good time, but maybe he wanted to enjoy that time by himself. Regardless, the Irishman gave a little shrug to himself and pushed his chair back, standing and striding a couple of his wide steps to the old mini fridge under the counter. He opened it quickly and plucked two bottles of beer from the chilled shelf, the dark-brown glass wet and cool from the cold air that settled on it in the refrigerator. He hadn’t brought many possessions with him, a few clothes and toiletries for his short stay on the island, but of course beer was a necessity for him. In fact, he had forgotten to buy any beforehand and had only bought himself six bottles from one of the stores in the airport when he had arrived. One had been emptied already while he had been sat alone listening to the radio just moments before, steadily swigging the drink as the minutes passed by. But at least now he would be relaxed and content, sipping his drinks quietly and humming or walking around the island during his next couple of days here.

Grasping the two bottles firmly with one in each hand, he walked out the door of the tall cylindrical building where the big bright light at the top was glowing and spinning as a beacon of safety in directing the ships. He turned to move to the other side of the lighthouse and towards the sea, his pale skin looking even whiter as it glistened in the moments where the lantern atop the tower shined down on him and then as the silver brightness of the moon cast down through open pockets in the dark navy clouds above, one of which he seemed to now be standing in directly with the light basking him. It worked to make him more visible as he casually strolled over the sand, his long arms swinging freely beside his green swimming shorts, yet cunningly the light washed out his features, so that anyone that saw him would mistakenly think him plain looking and not so well-built. In truth he was a scruffy kind of guy, but he had a rugged and rough appeal to his appearance that could be interpreted as handsome by some and he was in no way weak even if he wasn't densely full of muscle. His job required him to have strength for heavy tools and carrying building material, and he had the body to prove as such with appropriate grooves and bulges in his skin where there was muscle. Suddenly something whizzed by him and he didn’t know what it was but he heard the slicing of air very close to his ear. A soft thud sounded behind him not far from his foot and as he stopped and leaned over to look he saw a large piece of glass laying there as the rays from the lighthouse came around again and illuminated it like a jewel. For a second he paused, eyes widening as he straightened back to his great height and scanned around with his keen sighthound eyes until he spotted movement within the waves. A man had just ploughed his body beneath the surface. Now Finnlay was unsure, thinking that maybe the guy didn’t want him there, but it was barbaric to think the man had meant him any harm by intentionally aiming the object at him. He hoped that wasn’t the case, maybe he had just been hurt by the glass or spotted it and thrown it out of the way? He would just have to find out. Taking a breath, he raised his brows slightly, continuing walking and fixing a warm smile onto his lips. Quickly, he remembered to hide his whip-like tail in his shorts and shook his head vigorously so that his hair fell over his ears. The grains shifted under his weight before he reached the damper, firmer sand at the shore and waited for the male to reappear so he could offer him the drink he had carried along out of his generosity to the stranger.

When he re-emerged he stretched both arms into the air to ease out the muscles, head tilting back and eyes shut. His hair clung to his head and sides, sopping wet. Then he dropped his arms back into the water with a splash and swam back towards the shore. As he neared it he saw someone standing on the sand, bathed in moonlight so that he couldn’t really see properly. He slowed to a stop, treading water and taking a closer look. It was a guy. Not the big and brawny type but still visibly fit. Maybe he was someone who did sports or lot or just liked to keep in shape. And Niko was the type to do the same. Swimming was a way to relax and keep fit. It helped because in his day to day life he spent a lot of time working on heavy objects and moving them around and lifting them. He needed to stay strong. And he liked doing things with other people so it was great to find someone else who he could do stuff with. Either way, Niko was glad to see another soul even if it was someone he didn’t recognize. He liked making friends, provided of course they didn’t try to kill him or hurt him. Was the guy a Mora? Could be a vampire or a Shifter but vampires didn’t usually hang around on beaches at night. A human maybe? Or a werewolf? Niko instinctively looked for the tell-tale signs of animal ears but his hair was covering them. He couldn’t see any bulges in the back of his pants from here. The guy looked friendly. If Niko could have guessed he would have guessed Mora. Niko checked for any signs of weapons. Nothing seemed out of place. He headed towards the shore, emerging from the water casually and shook his hair. Water streamed down his body and shorts. He was drenched but it was a warm night, sultry and lukewarm. The perfect summer weather. Even the breeze was refreshing. Walking out, he grabbed the towel off the tree branch he’d hung it on and wiped his face, drying his hair until it was damp and the curls sprung out in careless curls hanging over his eyes and past his ears. He shook his hair again, letting it dry as much as he could. Slinging the towel around his broad shoulders he turned to the guy facing him. His stance was open, unassuming and relaxed.

“Hey,” He said, a friendly smile on his face. Though this was a neutral place, he still had to stay alert. If the guy knew that he wasn’t any trouble straight away they could get along. But he seemed like a fun guy. Like him. He pushed his hand back through his hair idly, glancing at the piece of broken glass on the sand near his feet. Putting two and two together, he knew that the glass must have went straight past him when Niko had thrown it. He wondered if the glass had hurt him but thankfully, he couldn’t see any blood. Looking back up at him, he said,“Sorry man. I didn’t know you were here.” He knelt down, picking up the glass and stood up. Turning from him, he took aim and with an over-arm swing, sent it flying into the window of the nearby Light-house where it disappeared inside. Scratching his head as he heard an audible clink of metal against metal, the Shifter was puzzled. That had sounded like something hitting steel. He’d know that sound anywhere from the numerous times he’d been doing experimental drops at his job to help make the animatronics he was working on durable so that they wouldn’t break if they had to get thrown against metal or dropped from high places. Phones, a fridge once, beer bottles made out of metal, keys, an old bicycle and a computer. Brushing those thoughts aside he noticed that the other guy had two bottles in his hand. He wasn’t sure if the guy planned on finishing the bottles himself. He probably hadn’t expected to see anyone else at this time. He scratched his head with his hand in puzzlement, fingers threading inside his curly hair and asked,“Are you going to drink that?”

While he watched and waited for the other to join him on the beach, he allowed himself to enjoy the breeze that flowed around him, blowing through his hair and soothing his pale skin. It was moments like this that Finn was thankful that he possessed the small, folded ears that he had rather than say the tall, pricked triangular ones of a German Shepherd, so then if he kept his ears pinned back they were still hidden from anyone else despite the breeze messing up his soft locks and he didn’t even need a hat to cover them. Although he still loved to wear hats and express himself that way, a lot. The air was warm and comforting, like the kind of warm air that blows into your face when you open an oven to pull out whatever food is cooking, except that is even better because it is paired with the delicious smells of the meal. Yet despite the lovely atmosphere Finnlay was a bit tense about meeting the man who had now surfaced and was approaching while shaking out his wet hair. Only a few moments earlier the inu had caught the guy studying him, which he wanted to think it meant that he hadn’t seen Finn before then and so was just surprised to see someone else there, and not that he was actually sizing Finnlay up. Then it would mean that the guy purposely projecting the big piece of glass at him wasn’t true. It wasn’t like the Irishman to be apprehensive about talking to anyone else, not at all, but it was only because he had a slight reason to believe the male was hostile. His instincts still told him that the throwing of the glass so close to him had been an accident and that he probably just hadn’t been visible to the other. However he just couldn’t be sure and he didn’t want to be involved in a fight. He was definitely more of a lover than a fighter. But he had a rough past and he knew how to fight if he had to.

The Wolfhound kept his keen green-grey eyes from staring as the unknown man went about fetching his towel and drying himself, but now that he was out of the water he noticed that he was very close in height to Finnlay himself and the colouring of his skin that suggested he was originally from another country. By this point Finn had relaxed considerably, having read the guy’s body language as being unaggressive and just casual, and also the fact that he was drying himself off rather than throwing a punch proved that his worries had been unnecessary. Therefore he pushed aside his thought that other guy and he would probably be quite evenly matched in the case of a fight, and allowed himself to return a confident smile as the male greeted him. He seemed like a nice guy, one that knew how to have a laugh. And like most of the people he met, Finnlay figured he could get along with him. He shrugged nonchalantly, not making a big deal and simply brushing off the Shifter male’s apology after he noticed the glass nearby and realised what must have happened. “Nah, don’t worry about it buddy”. While the man of dark-hair took the glass and threw it away, Finnlay put one of the cold beer bottles in the crook of his elbow and held it firmly between his arm and his side, thereby freeing one of his hands so he could grip the metal cap on the other bottle with his hand and with one quick, strong pull, and with the aid of the bottle opener ring he wore on his middle finger, he popped the tight lid off. Cool, smoky air leaked out from the top of the freshly opened bottle. Right at the same time as the loose lid was caught in his hand, he heard the clanging of something hitting another thing inside the lighthouse. He glanced up from the alcohol and to the other with a curious look and his ears perked suddenly without him controlling them to not do so until he quickly noticed that they had moved and he remembered that he was meant to be hiding his true identity. Finnlay ye eejit! he yelled at himself in his head and pinned his ears back once more, hoping that they had not appeared through his hair and that maybe the strands on his head had only been moved by the movement of his ears and could be mistaken for the wind, if only the wind had picked up at that moment. He raised his eyebrows out of worry and shock but masked it with innocence as the other asked him a question and had a confused look, expecting him to say something about him having seen his canine ears, and he hoped to quickly deny it and make some joke and brush it away with a decent excuse. But he hadn’t. He grinned, relieved more than anything and shook his head. “Only if ye don’t want it. I brought a bottle out for t’guy I heard yelling out here. So it looks like it’s yours if ye want it.” He said in his welcoming masculine tone and stretched out the hand holding the opened bottle towards the other guy, inviting him to take it if he wanted to. If not, he sure could drink them both and he sure would. “I’m Finnlay, by the way. Been here for a day now and I’m just taking a look around really. Ye don’t mind if I join ya, do ya?”, he added with the twang of his Irish accent clear in his voice.

While he’d been drying himself off, he’d noticed the other was starting to relax. Now that they were closer he realized that they were relatively similar in heights which was cool. It was a sign that he’d probably be good at a lot of sports or just generally doing out-doors stuff and playing around. Wiping away vestiges of water from his face with his hand he blinked as some stray drops fell from his hair into his eyes. He was glad the other guy took his apology and looked visibly relieved, his expression relaxing. Niko hadn’t wanted to fight tonight. He was really at heart, a peaceful guy. Fighting was the last resort when words couldn’t solve things but fists could. There were times when it was inevitable but this wasn’t one of those times. Not right now anyway. He liked joking around for fun and rough-housing and playing around as much as anyone else. And that was about as aggressive as he’d get. A tackle. A twist with the arm. To play around and test his strength and skills. But nothing serious. But tonight was a night where he’d just wanted to chill and forget about the world for a moment. And it looked like the other guy was feeling the same way. Niko still would’ve bet on him being a Mora though. If he went on his gut instinct which was usually right. “You found the right guy,” He laughed.“I thought there was no one else out here but I guess I was wrong.”He twisted the cap open. It slid lose with a popping noise, the air wheezing out. He raised it towards his nose to smell it just to see if he could figure out what type of beer or alcohol it was. He’d smelt a lot in his life. Most from broken bottles dripping with alcohol which he’d found in the trash-cans and garbage while rummaging through them for food when he’d been out on the streets. And when he’d been out at clubs drinking with friends. He didn’t know if the other guy was good at drinking or if he was just a social drinker. Not that it made any difference. Niko had seen people who were good at drinking and were social drinkers as well. And he’d seen people who were good at drinking in social events and gatherings but were hopeless when it came to drinking games. Niko didn’t really care about that kind of stuff. Drinking was fun but what use was it when you couldn’t remember what happened? And it was hard to do things like swim and play properly when you were drunk. But nevertheless his tolerance was good. One bottle was a walk in the park. He raised it to him and said,“Thanks. Cheers to a good life.”He squeezed the rest of the water from his hair,“Cool name Finnlay. Mine’s shorter but I guess if I call if you Finn it’d even out. Since it’d be the same length and all. Niko’s the name. Bringing happiness and joy is my game.”

He put on a straight face, looking uncharacteristically solemn and shook his head,“Nope this place is restricted to swimmers and people wearing nothing but swimming trunks only.”Breaking out into laughter he grinned and raised the bottle towards him in a gesture of goodwill with his free hand.“You kidding? More the merrier. It’s a dead zone out here.”Niko sniffed the bottle again. It didn’t smell too strong. He started to drink, raising the glass and listened to what the other had to say. It was a relaxed atmosphere. Nothing but the sound of the waves hitting the piers and washing ashore in gentle waves. It was the best thing in the world. As he continued to speak Niko distinguished the accent in his voice. A very strong accent that he had never come across before but he had heard it on TV and film before. And it sounded almost like a singer he had heard on the radio. He wanted to ask but he was more curious about what Finnlay was doing here. He wondered if he had anything to do with the noise he’d heard from the Light-house. Maybe he’d set up some stuff in there. He guessed no one would’ve cared. The light-house was abandoned after all. But maybe he’d take another look later. Just for fun. He might be able to find some pieces of scrap metal to build something. Or just find some stuff to play and tinker with. Lowering the bottle, he looked at him, “So you found anything worth your time here yet?”

With the other drink taken from his grasp he had a hand free to open his own bottle of beer and take a quick taste of the refreshing cold beverage. He sighed happily as he pulled the glass away from his lips again. To Finnlay beer was like liquid gold, a luxury but very precious. He loved a drink, but it was something he did little and often, rarely actually going all out and getting drunk. Quite simply he didn't want to forget everything that happened the previous day and he couldn't afford to keep buying a lot of alcohol. Mostly it was just a habit for him and it was associated with relaxing and socialising with his friends back in the days when he lived in Ireland. Slipping his free hand into the pocket of his swim shorts, he looked up towards the night sky. Being out here was nice because it allowed some space away from the busy hustle and bustle of the human world and also to appreciate nature's very own world. Away from the bright city lights there were so many more stars to be seen and they seemed to shine more intensely too. The streetlights seemed to replace the moon and stars in the towns. People didn't notice the things that had been around long before their inventions, the most fascinating things were forgotten. Finnlay could see the greatness about many things and the same applied to people. Sometimes new friends would come along and old ones would be forgotten or people would compare one person to another. He didn't do that. To him everyone he knew was important to him and they were all their own people so he wouldn't judge them for being themselves and they were all great in a different way. From what he could tell of Niko he was a genuine guy, playful, friendly and very attentive. When the male sniffed at his beer Finnlay looked at him quietly and wondered if he was trying to determine if the drink was spiked or something. Eventually though the Inu male smiled and raised his bottle in return to the gesture of cheers. "To a good life" He bellowed cheerfully and downed a good bit of his beer after tilting the brown bottle up and his head back so the liquid could pour into his mouth.

Once he had swallowed the drink he chuckled at what the man had said with the little rhyme about himself. It seemed like they had something in common then since Finn also liked to involve himself with having a good time and making people happy and laughing. His white teeth flashed as a grin then spread across his stubbled face while the other joked with him by looking serious but then suddenly started laughing. Finnlay was thinking that they could probably become good friends, they did seem to be on the same wavelength after all. If only, he wished, there was some more guys or girls around to joke around and banter with. It might become awkward and boring quite quickly with just the two of them. "Oh good. Well thanks for lettin' me stay then, Niko. And yeah no worries you can call me Finn. Most people do just call me Finn and I don't mind. I like it actually. If people give ye a nickname it means they like ya, right?" He chuckled and took a moment to stretch and rub his neck. The breeze and the way the water shimmered in the moonlight was serene and relaxing. "Well I was just hangin' around in the lighthouse and I had a look in the mansion. Its got a great games room and a bar where ye can serve yourself. But really I'd like to go in the jungle and take a look at the waterfall. Take a picture to send to my folks back home, ya know?" Finn shuffled slightly and repositioned himself to be more comfortable in order to keep his canine ears and tail safely tucked away.

As he sniffed the beer to check if there was anything funny in it, Niko laughed and said,“There’s nothing in it man. Just pure, good old gold liquor.”He was not the type of person to spike someone’s drink. Especially the drink of someone who he’d just met. He raised his own beer towards him as the other bellowed and responded with a hearty exclamation of his own,“Cheers!”It was peaceful out here. Nothing but the sound of the waves. No sound of cars or trucks roaring by, of gunfire or glass shattering. Of people yelling or screaming abuse. Of people kicking down doors or banging on them, trying to gut him with a knife. Of mail-boxes exploding. Of rocks being thrown through windows. No one trying to kill him for his pelt. Niko never wanted to go back to that. He knew what it was like to live a life where he was always hunted, to feel like he couldn’t even eat or sleep without someone trying to shoot him or hurt him. And he was around machines all the time in his job. So he appreciated these quiet moments when there was just nature at its finest. And could see how great the world was without all the technology. Niko enjoyed laughing, having fun. Just being himself. Hanging out with people. Seeing other people laugh, laughing with other people and he could laugh at himself. Why take life so seriously? Life was meant to be lived. And if he took it too seriously, dwelled on it too much he would end up going crazy because life could get crazy. He thought it was best to forget the people who tried to belittle him, degrade him or had tried to hurt him with whatever they could and move on. But this guy seemed to be cool. Like he was someone he could trade good-natured jokes with and not get offended or upset. If he had to bet, he’d guess Finn was a Mora of the dog kind. Niko laughed,“It’s cool. This isn’t my beach my friend. I got no right to push people away.”He nodded in response to his question, answering before starting to drink,“Yeah usually. Sometimes it depends though. I had a kid call me Brainiac before. Don’t think he liked me as much as he liked having a “friend” who he thought he could intimidate.”A quarter of the bottle finished. He cast his gaze out at the ocean at the water, content. He listened to him. Though he did not show any reaction he kept silent, processing the words. Niko hadn’t visited the mansion yet. Could he? He wasn’t sure because he knew the island was basically owned by the vampire Lord and Regina Eden. But he was liking the idea of it already. A games room and a self-serving bar.

He wasn’t a good pool player but it was fun to just hit shots with the cue stick, even if he missed or lost the game. Usually he just played a game, then went for the pin-ball machine or if there was a TV screen and there was a sports game on like maybe, a good game of ice hockey or football, he’d watch it. It was all part of chilling out. Niko paused as he mentioned something about going to the jungle and looking at the waterfall. That was a place that sounded good. Any place with clean, good water sounded good especially if it was a waterfall. Jumping into the water was great. Nothing beat the feeling of it. Maybe they could go check it out sometime. Niko dried off the rest of his body until it wasn’t wet and searched for his shirt which he’d left hanging on the other branch of the tree. Slipping it on, arm-first, he rolled up the sleeves to his fore-arms and took off the towel so that it wasn’t making his clothes wet. He was still feeling warm from the swim and the alcohol was starting to make him feel even more so. Taking a picture was good but to send to folks back home? He had never done that before, sending pictures back to his parents but only because he had never gotten the chance. But he remembered the feeling of sharing something with parents. A fish he’d found in the river as a cub. He looked at Finn,“Yeah I know.” There was an audible, thick thud as the glass hit something heavy. He could hear it even in his human form which was strange and piqued his curiosity. Sounded like a treasure chest. He shouldn’t have been able to hear it. Niko looked at his new friend, wondering if he’d heard it. If he was a Mora of the canine kind, he could have. Niko said,“I’m going to take a look at the Light-House, see what that noise was.”He started to walk ahead, sand grinding underneath his foot. If Finnlay were to follow him, he would enjoy having a companion to explore with. The pathway was straight, riddled with pebbles and sand with a cobblestone wall at the side. As he made his way to the Light-house, up the path, he started to drink more. Pushing open the door with his free hand, he saw a long, wooden, spiral stair-case.