A Movie and a Few Monsters -Private-

Taylor grinned, her eyes twinkling. Zach was so cute when he was flustered like that. "Zach," she started, "I wouldn't have agreed to go to the movies if I didn't like you, would I? So yes, I actually like you back, Tarzan." She was turning red despite the confidence in her voice. "So... to cut this short... yes, we are dating," Taylor said. Without warning she pulled Zach towards her and pecked him on the cheek. "Funny how it took another guy to get this thing straight," she commented, chuckling as she pulled away.

"I'm feeling the same way," Taylor laughed. Life was pretty ironic. "Awesome," Taylor said as she reached for some popcorn. She felt Zach's arm around her shoulder as she popped the popcorn in her mouth. The corner of her lips slightly twitched upward at the gesture. "To the movies, Tarzan, before we eat all the popcorn," Taylor joked, taking a step towards the entrance.

Taylor had her face covered with her hand as the trailer came on. And then her hands shifted to cover her ears. Why did they have to air that movie trailer? The squealing girls were really annoying. Taylor fought the urge to shout 'shut up.' "Well this is convenient," she told Zach, lifting one hand away from her ear. And the girls didn't even stop when the trailer was done. They were practically buzzing with rumors and speculations about the Breaking Dawn movie. Taylor began to count under her breath to calm herself down before she could snap. "I thought we were free of Twilight in here, but apparently I was mistaken," she said as the next trailer aired.

Taylor laughed, not minding Zach's arm around her shoulder. "Well, at least the trailer didn't last that long," she said brightly. Too bad the same couldn't be said for the girls behind her, who had started debating on which guy was hotter: Edward or Jacob. Taylor could barely hear the movie over the buzzing. "Yeah, I should have brought my anti-Twilight fans earplugs too," she grumbled, twisting in her seat to throw a pointed look at the girls behind her. They were too busy bickering to even notice though. Taylor casually leaned her head on Zach's arm, trying not to snap at the girls. She didn't really want to get in trouble right now.

Taylor grinned when the girls were silenced. She actually got what she wanted without getting in trouble. She looked at Zach, still grinning, as she pumped her fist in the air in front of her while mouthing 'Yes!' Taylor couldn't help but chuckle. "Finally! Thank you, random person," she mumbled gratefully as the movie started.

But then, she heard something... different, from behind them. It sounded like a hiss, and, Taylor tensed as she realized, it didn't sound like it came from a human. And it seemed like it was coming from the Twilight fangirls behind them. Taylor slowly turned to Zach, her face serious. "Did you hear that?" she whispered, jerking her head towards the direction of the hiss.

Taylor barely had time to think when a hellhound leapt at Zach. She instantly took her ring off and a white sword materialized in her hands. Just as she was about to slash at the hellhound, a loud hiss caught her attention. She whipped around, seeing a half-woman/half-serpent slithering towards them. Taylor bit her lip, recognizing the creature to be a Scythian Dracanae. She had never seen anything like them before, but recognized the creature from the things she learned in camp.

"I sssssssmell demigodsssss," the dracanae hissed in the shadows. Taylor gripped her sword tighter and lunged, aiming for what she thought to be the monster's chest. The dracanae dodged easily, surprising Taylor with her agility and speed. Taylor jumped on one of the empty cinema seats to turn and swung her sword in an arc. The dracanae hissed as she narrowly dodged the deadly celestial bronze.

"Damn," Taylor muttered to herself as she sprinted across the row of seats towards Zach. She was stunned to see Zach's top--both shirt and jacket--destroyed by the hellhound. "Everything alright?" she asked anxiously, landing right in front of Zach, trying to check for injuries under the dim light of the movie behind them.

The sight of Zach with his ripped clothes made Taylor forget that she was in the middle of a fight with a dracanae. And the dracanae didn't like that one bit. She slithered closer behind Taylor, trying to make as little noise as possible.

Taylor had gotten up just when the dracanae stabbed Zach with its sword. On the chest.

Oh gods. Taylor became paralyzed at the sight. The temperature dropped a few degrees. Her eyes slowly turned from blue to white as she shifted her attention to the dracanae. Then, blinded by rage, she launched herself at the monster, swinging her sword to slice it into half. But instead of hitting the monster, she found her sword stuck on what seemed to be a tree. Taylor stepped back, shocked, and noticed that she was standing on grass. The unusual sight seemed to calm her down as the temperature started to turn back to normal.

Then she saw Zach, tangled in the grass. Leaving her sword stuck in the tree, Taylor stepped closer to where he lay and sat down beside his head. The sight of the gaping wound on the chest scared her greatly. The sight of the blood made her realize just how serious and life-threatening the situation was. She realized that the grass around Zach was trying to do its healing wonders, but she was doubtful if it would still work. Glancing around, she realized that there was no one else but them. Taylor began to tremble unconsciously as she waited. But waiting was not one of her most favorite things to do. So just for something to do, she started to fix Zach's hair. Taylor felt her eyes beginning to moisten and she hastily rubbed them with her hand. She was not going to cry. She was not going to... cry...

Taylor began to sob quietly, knowing that no one else was there to see her. "Saving each others' lives," she said in between gasps of breath, "all in a day's work for us, isn't it?" She started to ramble, not having experienced something like this before. "I should have forced you to stand in front of a heater back in camp. Then you'd be dry, and not covered in blood like right now. I shouldn't have agreed to go outside. None of this would have happened then. Please wake up... Please... Gods, please help him," she bowed her head in prayer, shielding her face with her hands.

((OOC: This would probably give Taylor a trauma... Er, do I update her character sheet for that? I'm not sure if I should xD And after this, we should give them a break from life-threatening events, lol))

-You can if you want xD. But how would this give Taylor tramua? In just curious.-

((OOC: See, in the last encounters, they had some help at least after the trouble. In this, the wound and the blood kinda showed Taylor just how serious this was and looking around, she saw that there wasn't anyone to help them. Also, in the last encounters, she had helped Zach just after he saved her, but in this one she realized that she was too late and that this mistake might have cost Zach his life. Since she was kinda raised to think that she can do anything--overconfidence--this "slip-up" on her part will slightly cause her to doubt herself, or something like that. She'll be her old self with people, but alone, she's going to have some kind of different personality... xD I'll edit in my BIC later, since I'm running short of time right now.))

Holy... He's alive, Taylor thought numbly, blinking her eyes. "You're alive!" she squeaked in his hold, still overcome with shock. She buried her face in his chest, trying to gather herself together. After a few moments she pulled away slightly, rubbing the last of the tears off her eyes. Taylor looked at the wound, and she knew that it was half-closed. Still looked fatal though. "I got allergies," she reasoned lamely for her crying, knowing that Zach wasn't going to fall for that. Then she realized that he was practically half-naked, and her eyes widened in realization. Okay, they were hugging each other like that... what if someone walked in? Taylor pulled away completely before anyone can make a wrong assumption.

Taylor stuffed her hands in her pockets, trying to find some nectar. Unfortunately, there seemed to be none. All she can pull out of her pocket was a rather thin piece of handkerchief. One problem though, Taylor hardly knew anything about first aid. Well... it couldn't be that hard, right? "Hold still," Taylor said firmly, her voice breaking a bit. She folded the handkerchief into two and carefully wrapped it around the wound, tying it in a knot behind Zach. "This is annoying. Please don't scare me like that again," she mumbled as she made sure the knot was secure. Next problem: getting out with Zach looking like that.

"We need to get back to camp," Taylor said softly, looking him over. What if there were other monsters who came? Besides, Zach urgently needed the medical attention. Taylor crouched beside him to help him up.

Taylor rolled her eyes and laugh at Zach's statement. She relaxed in his hold. "Why, Zach, have you been turned into a dolphin? I must say, I find those sea creatures very amusing," she teased him. Alright, nectar and ambrosia in Zach's pockets. Taylor was about to reach for some, before realizing how weird that would seem. She slightly blushed at the thought before shrugging that away. "Fine, if you don't want to go back to camp yet, are you seriously suggesting that you walk around New York wearing only this as your top?" she said, fighting the urge to laugh as she showed him the hanky. She began to joke around, returning to her normal self. "Yeah, Zach, show all the girls your abs. Probably not a good idea."

Since Taylor wasn't hurt at all, she decided to keep the ambrosia for further use. Probably will get handy later. "What I don't like," Taylor said, laughing, "is other girls seeing it."

She got up as she saw some security people coming in the theater. What took them so long? Taylor thought, confused. They were immediately taken aback by the tree and patch of grass that were inside. They didn't seem to spot them yet, for she and Zach were conveniently behind the tree. Taylor crept up to pull her sword out of the tree and put it back on her finger as a ring.

"Tarzan, we have to move," Taylor said, ducking behind the seats as she grabbed Zach's upper arm to lead him to one of the fire exits. What the security would think if they saw two teenagers, with one half-naked, alone in the cinema, Taylor did not want to find out.

"Because we're outside. Under the sun," Taylor said, looking around for a nearest shirt store. Squinting through the sunlight, she spotted one, which was unfortunately an Abercrombie store. But as Taylor was glancing around for more stores, she also saw a group of girls a street away, staring at them. Wait, they were staring at Zach. Trouble...

"Let's go," Taylor said, mindlessly leading Zach to the Abercrombie store. She didn't like how those girls were looking at him. And she wasn't exactly in the mood to ward them off. She realized her mistake the moment she entered the store. "Er... yeah," Taylor mumbled as the personnel started to eye them curiously. Some were disgusted. But Taylor could care less. "So... pick a shirt?" Taylor suggested, looking over her shoulder to see some of the girls she saw earlier nearing the store.

As she waited for Zach to get back, Taylor was trying to ignore the girls outside the store. They kept throwing her some dirty looks. She began to look at some shirts just for something to do, in order to not lose her temper. Because if she lost her temper, it wouldn't be a pretty sight. But she was starting to lose control as she gripped the clothes rack until the whites of her knuckles became visible. Taylor closed her eyes and began to count under her breath, counting the seconds until she exploded. When she half-opened her eyes, she saw Zach snapping at a girl before making it back towards her. Taylor couldn't help but smile.

"It's fine," she told him, her voice barely a hiss as she still tried to ignore the girls. Then she was taken aback by Zach's compliment, and even more so at the sudden kiss. A shiver went down her spine and she closed her eyes. Her heartbeat started to race, but then Zach had already pulled away.Taylor then realized that the whole store had gone quiet, and heard Zach curse quietly. Why was he cursing? Didn't he like that? Taylor wondered confusedly.

Taylor couldn't help but glance at the girls who were now pressed against the glass windows, wide-eyed with their mouths hanging open. Taylor smirked at them, and they began to turn away, a little disappointed and angry. "Thanks, Zach," she told him softly, smiling. Her heart still hadn't slowed down. Stupid hormones, Taylor thought to herself as she looked at the store personnel who turned away as she laid her eyes on them. "Alright, let's go," she told Zach, grabbing his hand and leading him out to the store.

"So, why did you curse earlier?" Taylor asked with her eyebrows raised. She was just genuinely curious.

Taylor's eyes closed as she felt Zach's soft lips on hers. Unsure of where to put her hands, she settled on placing them around his neck. Her pulse raised and she could practically feel her whole body tingle at the kiss. It was only for a few seconds, but Taylor thought it lasted longer. When she pulled away, gasping for breath, she leaned her face on Zach's shoulder as a memory occurred to her. She chuckled at the thought.

"Didn't I tell you why I almost froze to death the girls in my private school?" Taylor whispered in Zach's ear. Without waiting for a reply, she continued, "They kept telling me that no guy in their right mind would like someone like me. Pretty shallow reason, huh?" Taylor heaved a contented sigh. "I'm glad they're wrong."