Second Chances [MR AZ]

The place wasn’t half bad, really, lots of hotties to check up, willingly ignorant teachers and authorities, a wide place without surveillance cameras anywhere. A bit too peaceful though, everyone seemed well behaved, skittish even. They looked like young scared cats, all of them. Well, most of them. The scents mixed once over another but there were hints of something interesting going on just below the surface and it caught the dark haired tall youngster for a moment. Still, being unable to pinpoint the origins of those scents in the sea of faces and bodies made her shrug and just enjoy the first show they were given.

The opening ceremony was funny, “here, give us your cash, we’ll promise you the future” how many times had she heard that before? Give us your hope, give us your vote, give us your time, give us your life, your sons, your blood, your souls, yourself, and you will live for longer than the others out there. You’ll be happy, or at least you’ll be wise, strong, and smart, you’ll be more than those you despise.

Same ol’ story, repeated over and over, just as it would always be. It was quite amusing to see it in action, then again, humans were always worth of observing, of mixing with and living with.

After the show, the dark haired young woman had gone off until she was sure there was no one around, no one seeing, no one listening. The transformation was quick, as it had always been, and the reception when she returned to the group of teens was just the same. Girls cooing and whistling at her, others wanting to keep her, boys trying to make her stay in order to get some of the spotlight directed at them. It was fun but soon the German shepherd had to run off.

Time to follow people individually, first it was this red haired dreamboat with some amazing bazoongas, sadly she didn’t seem fond of a big dog following her around as soon she began to walk faster and even took one of the hoses that were near the building, wetting the canine in an attempt of getting her away.

Bad luck, nothing else, Aedan thought while shaking herself off after running from the undesired and premature shower. Scents could tell her a lot, but with everyone wearing brand new clothes and perfumes that stunk to high heaven, it was hard to discern those who loved animals and those who didn’t. Either way, she had a long time to worry about that, and a little water had never hurt anyone.

The dog went straight back to the chase, for hours to come she was chased and she chased, got to see beautiful young women who petted her and nuzzled her until they couldn’t do so anymore, as well as she got kicked out of the cafeteria, near the rooms and even from the parking lot. It was all in good fun and a great way to see her new peers in a different light; locate the jocks, the clowns, the know-it-alls, the nerds and so on.

Talking about nerds, in her adventure through the campus she had detected this young woman with a rather peculiar smell, but since she had taken sanctuary in the library the dog had decided to leave her for later on. Now taking a walk on her way back to the rooms she had noticed how the brunette was still there, even when it was getting dark already.

Interesting…

Aedan took more time finding a place to shift back to her human form than doing so; her clothes were still in place even if rustled over and, finally, she could get in the library to stalk a bit. First there was this cute blondie with the woman, who evidentially couldn’t give fewer fucks about having said blondie near, so the once soldier took her role seriously and got herself a book. WWII: Onland by D. G Chandler and even sat down to “read” it.

She was a damn good hunter and wouldn’t pounce into a wary prey just like that, so she kept her icy blue gaze in the pages even if they were old history, literally and figuratively. What could they teach her about war? Well, a lot, in fact, since she had not been in those wars in this world, but it was a bit of the same ol’ mistakes and same ol’ techs.

Blondie smelt nice, of flowers and freshly growing plants, but it was not as interesting, not to mention that she looked way too innocent, not really the former soldier’s type, finally, the blondie left and the blue eyed girl tensed slightly, as if done with something, wait a bit more, just a bit more. The woman was still tense enough, her shoulders were a bit up, and her pen was still way too high.

One minute, two, three, four,

There was an apology nearby and silence, blondie had bumped against someone surely, another nerd was around? The remaining silence made the shifter ignore that happening and focus on her book, or at least pretend to.

Ten, twenty. NOW.

Aedan “charged” in, putting on her most charming smile. He used to love that smile, she, on the other hand, often rolled her eyes at it. And, carrying her book, slowly advanced towards the lady, noticing her very unique scent: The smell of someone old, of an important person, the smell of cotton and alcohol, of fear and anxiety, of science, science and death. Of death in service of science? Of science in service of death?

“Hey, babe.” She greeted her while taking a seat, her eyes boring deep into the brunette in front of her. Just what are you? “How’s it goin’?” Unique was a way to describe this nerdbag here, that step was not the best to take but it would either get the woman out of her reading or make her flee the library, both were good enough. “Got so inspired by that speech that you decided to be the nerdiest nerd around?” She half joked.

“Oh, really? Your bored pout could’ve fooled me.” Aedan said, prodding a bit further, her smirk widening. The light pain of the sutures, what was bringing that memory back, the smell of blood? No, the scent of antiseptics more likely, a repulsive one, yet very unique, and not fitting of a mere student. “I just thought you could use something to cheer you up a bit, or at least cheer the place up, this looks like a graveyard” More like a lab, though. The dark haired youngster leaned onto her hand, as if trying to get another perspective of this nerd. It was not that strange for humans to notice her prowling, but those humans were always much older than this: soldiers, scientists, elders.

You’re not from this bunch. She concluded and then leaned back again, stretching and cracking her back. Before she’d use her wounds of war, they were the best back in the day, sadly this was not her territory, and her body was not even her old one, so they could not be used to break the ice. “What are you even studying, babe? We haven’t gotten even the first class yet.” The girl asked as she reached for the book, taking it easily away from the woman and checking on it. “Anatomy, huh? I could give you some practical classes on this.”

The brunette woman did not seem that interest in what she was offering though, for she simply took another book from a pile that the shifter had not noticed before. Aedan should have left then and there, but curiosity got the best of her: She removed the new book from the foul smelling girl, waiting for her reaction and stacking both books near her arm, taking notice on if there was any shift on the air between them

Okay, that was… so freaking cute yet somehow sexy. Usually girls that age would blush or try to badly reply with something stupid, it made Aedan’s smile widen. “Oh really, babe?” She said huskily while grabbing one of the two books, keeping the other under her arm and teasing the young woman with the anatomy one in her hand, keeping it just out of her reach for a few minutes before leaning closer to the brunette’s face, enjoying the aroma she gave off, wondering if normal humans would notice it. I can almost taste the alcohol. “I can assure you, you’d find me rather… passionate about learning.”

Her breathing was tickling the woman’s skin and she knew so, part of the former goddess of war wanted to give this nerd a peck, or maybe a full kiss, just to see her reaction, but she liked to leave surprises for later on. The punished goddess hated ruining her game by being too greedy, after all.

“I might even prove myself to you.” She said before lightly patting the woman’s head with the book, minding her strength even in this new body, this curious girl was something else, but she was not a warrior and that was visible from a mile away. The dark haired former soldier carefully did so again and then balanced said book on the nerdbag’s head before leaving it there. “Theeere you go.” The blue eyed shifter said before sliding the other book to the honey eyed girl’s hand. The tall woman got up then, walking to stand just at the side of the girl who had her interest.

“I haven’t really finished being “bothersome”, in fact, hot stuff, I think we’ll be seeing each other a lot.” Aedan assured. Even if you might not know it. “You really caught my eye.” Or, in this case, my nose. With that she grabbed her hand without fisting it and cracked her fingers, the last reaction had been something she liked, whether the sound had scared the nerd or fascinated her mattered little, it got a reaction and that was the important detail. “Be seeing ya, hottie.”

Aedan left the place quickly enough, the night was upon them and she debated for a while with herself, for one it was surely the time when girls would be changing themselves, or wondering about their lives, some would even be celebrating their entrance to the campus. But this nerd over here would probably try to go alone to her room, which, because of the celebrations and such could be dangerous.

Not to mention that the former soldier knew that someone like that brunette gal would refuse help from one who had tried to pull a move with her… It was shifting time, then!

A few moments later a German shepherd sat near the stairs of the library, waiting patiently, hoping that the damn nerdbag would get out of there already, it was not long before she lied down there, tail wagging faintly.

“About time, you dork!” It came like a heavy sigh from the working dog as she glanced at the nerd from the corner of her eye, really, this woman had to get a freaking watch or something, maybe later on Aedan would get her one, preferably with an annoying alarm to let her know how late it got outside of nerd’s haven place. The brown and dark hound stayed in place, fully expecting the dork woman to walk by her, ignoring her just as many did or avoiding her, because, really, someone who had such an antiseptic scent was not likely to like stray animals, even one with certain pedigree as it was her dog form.

To Aedan’s surprise, however, the woman crouched near her and reached towards her direction, making her perk her ears up and sniff the air then bark once, twice. “Really? Didn’t you just say you didn’t hope to see me again, cutie?”

The dog sighed exasperatedly but soon got up and stretched; careful not to crack this time else it would be too obvious, especially for someone like this gal who didn’t seem to lose any detail, no matter how minimal. Aedan waged her tail a bit, reassuring the nerd in front of her that she would not bite, and walked towards the brunette girl until she was in front of her, sniffing her insistently. It was the same scent, but now mixed with something else, something heavy, the body working slower than before.

Another bark, now followed by a light growling. “Tired, huh? Whose’ fault is that, nerdbag?” Still, she began to lick the tired young woman’s face carefully. “C’mon, babe, wake up, wake up, it’s a long walk for a cupcake like you.” Even more light whines that came from her throat. While licking the girl the dog wagged her tail one side to the other, evidentially happy. “Mmm, you taste so nice, babe.” That came as a whine too and the dog sat back down, panting lightly before licking her own muzzle.

It had been a move a bit too friendly, but really, who cared? The studious brunette girl was half asleep already, and the dog wouldn’t let her return to the campus’ rooms alone, so better to let her know that there was nothing to fear from her.

Those sounds, so darn cute! Made even cuter and pleasant to hear due to the fact that this strange smelling woman, who had the analytical mind of a scientist, was the one making them just after nerding for hours in the library. Heck, listening to them felt like a personal victory of some kind. Aedan’s tail wagged more and she waited, they had to go so— sudden pleasure. Ooh, yeah, that spot right there, a bit harder, babe! The dog pressed onto Ava’s hand a bit more while the honey eyed woman patted her, relaxing to those motions only to see her standing up again and feel the brunette woman giving her a last pat.

Tag?… oh yeah, her dog tags. The canine shook herself to make them do some noise, only to find that her neck was silent and for a moment that gave her quite the fright, just like a mortal discovering their ID gone just when they needed it. Aedan shook herself again, harder, again with no results and then she sighed. Oh right, first day, no tags on my first day. It would have been weird to have people touching them, trying to remove them, or, worse, trying to make sense of their military codification and why they belonged to two different people who probably did not even exist on this world.

Well, less troubles for now at least. “I waited here for almost an hour cuz a nerd wouldn’t stop trying to step up her teacher’s pet game.” All that was said in a couple of light barks before the animal took into scratching her right ear with her hind paw. “And, well, hot stuff, you know how some people don’t appreciate what they have with ‘em until they lose it…” Or until it took the form of a fluffy war dog.

With the itch gone, Aedan turned to the sound of steps not far away from her, so her newly gotten nerd was leaving. “Hey!!!” The German shepherd barked roughly and speed up to follow Ava’s steps, now going to her side, just like she had done with other two humans, a life time ago. “There, there’s no chance I’m letting you go alone, nerdbag.” Light huffing and barking, still, her tail had not stopped its little dance.

“They can’t catch me, babe. Don’t worry.” A light, very light whining before Aedan just kept walking alongside of the brunette nerd. Due to the force of habit, the canine sniffed the grass a couple times, half expecting to feel the rough scent of gunpowder and metal, or hear the silence breaking with the whistle of bullets, but there was none of that, only wet grass and plastic mixed with the woman’s faint aroma and maybe remainders of other dogs that passed by. No pets allowed, really. The military dog huffed and caught up to her new acquisition, taking upon licking her fingers whenever the woman seemed as if about to fall asleep in her spot. “Wake up, nerd, wake up.” More quiet whining and the continuation of their trip, it brought back old memories of travelling across forests in the middle of the night, ready to protect her favorite jerk from any ambush that their enemy threw at them.

Being a mortal was so much different, yet, at the same time, there were many coincidences between one life and another. The canine tried to simply focus on the cold air around them, the lack of other human’s scent, and the briskness of this unique girl’s scent.

Wounds being stitched shut, bullets pulled from muscle and bones, teeth being filled with metal, clothes being torn open, bites, kisses, the taste of blood in each of them, fear, regret and yet life. More life than many could even try to have.

Humans were so fascinating, their wars were perfect machines built to make the humanity march onward under any excuse. The scent of blood and the feeling of life, there were not many places where one could really appreciate them at the same time. The dog yawned and kept following the nerd through the night, walking her to the door and sitting down while she waited this weirdo to open it.

A nerd delivered, sir, mission accomplished. Aedan shook herself a bit at that thought and gave a last tail wave at the woman’s direction. Sleep well, cupcake, dream of me.

The next was not really what the canine expected, but heck if she wouldn’t enjoy it, so many pettings and soon she was feeling as if she could melt, only stopping her leaning against her new nerd and wagging her tail to lick at her face and hand, then she sat down obediently and allowed the brunette woman to scratch her, it made her hind leg tap a bit on the floor as if she was trying to scratch an itch in the same ear. “A bit more to the end, there…” Her whine was quiet, so very quiet now. Aedan wanted to stay with her new acquisition, but then again the next day would be Hell if she did so, and she was also getting hungry (a strange and rather unwelcome feeling) and sleepy (that it was a bit like going into battle in the rain: confusing, annoying and just not nice).

So she needed to dig into something and sl… the woman kissed her. Well, not kissed her like humans did, but that was a kiss either way! The canine stared at the nerd for a couple of seconds before folding her ears back and giving out a bark: “Hey, I do the kissing here, nerdie!” And with that the military dog went back to the darkness of the campus.

A few moments later a dark haired, muscular woman stumbled into the rooms and sighed, for a moment she wondered what room was the girl’s but soon she shrugged it off, meh, time for bed either way. She entered her private haven and trudged to bed, trying to ignore the bitch fit that sprung like a railed jack-in-the-box, her roommate was upset about her being so darn late, but really, it was not her fault and it was not the pampered woman’s business. “C’mon, Lennie, let me sleep already.” She grumbled and lay down in bed, trying to block the tirade that the woman gave. Another foul scent but not an interesting one, this reeked of new things, of plastic and chemicals, but not nice chemicals like the tear gas or gunpowder, but bleach and perfumes. Skunk’s juice and laundry rooms.

The once soldier sighed and stretched, cracking all over while thinking how she should have taken a shower, she stunk of wet dog… but thinking that again, at least it was something else than the scent of new clothes. Closing her eyes, the once war goddess thought on how she’d rather have paired with her roommate’s personal minion or whatever that other strange gal was, and she began to repeat that last trip in her head, along with the laughter of the brunette girl, until it lulled her into slumber.

---
The next day getting up was a torture, getting up and showering was even worse, really, did humans feel like this all the time? What a waste of life, really. It took her three over sugared coffees to get herself going and she still arrived late to the first class.

Classy, as always.

The day was painfully boring, with the probable exception of different mixing scents: There was a few noteworthy ones: Leather, blood and not period blood, ashes, steel and oxide, along with chemicals, roses and… and there was the one she was looking for!

As a human, Aedan located her nerdy gal and went towards her, smiling as always and trying to act as relaxed as before. “Hey, babe, whatcha doin’?”

Oh, really? Ignore me? That’s the thanks I get after I escorted you, bookworm? Aedan felt offended at first, it was strange, even with all her life going in between wars and even with her last relationship with the pair of soldiers, she had never gotten rid of the annoyance that crept up her back whenever her dog form would so something nice for a human and she would get attacked or ignored the day after. She knew it was not a logical way of thinking, but really, it just felt wrong.

A few seconds passed by and the tall woman just rolled her eyes and went to stand behind this brunette nerd, let her think she had won while at the same time getting at least the reward of closeness. “Really, what’s so…” Aedan cracked her back while stretching, only to crack her shoulder back in place in the next second, then reached to take the book from the smaller woman’s hands. “interesting about this as to ignore me?” While flipping a few pages she just sat down at the girl’s side and took a strawberry from her tray, eating it whole and frowning lightly at its sourness.

“Science, huh? What, gave up on the anatomy so early on? Prefer me teaching you?” The former soldier asked with a grin directed at her new acquisition, said grin, however, faded a bit as she took in how her nerd looked in the sun light. “It might be a surprise to you, nerdy, but you need to sleep if you want to survive college.” Or if you want to survive any battle at all.

Closing the book, the dark haired woman leaned back on her chair and kept it out of the girl’s reach. “You look like roadkill, babe.” And I probably don’t look that much better…

Is she…blushing? How fucking, amazingly cute, it even brought some electricity to the former goddess of war’s back, it was always the women less likely to blush that did so in the cutest way. “Gotta give it to you, bookworm, you still can look cute even with those raccoon-like circles around your eyes, not everyone can do it.” And that makes you even more interesting. “What’s so important that has you so desperate as to avoid sleep?” For a moment, a split second, she had nearly asked why the woman was desperate enough to roam back to her room late, thankfully, the shifter managed to hold her tongue.

Damn sleep deprivation. It confused both of the sides of her life, it had only happened once and the comment was made to her very drunk comrade, but she had to be careful with this one, she was neither drunk nor easy to let details go.

Crackety, crack. It was funny to see the girl tense, so Aedan cracked her fingers once more and shrugged. “So, since you’re so busy bullying the strawberries, then guess I’ll leave for now.” Aedan leaned close to the teacher's pet girl and gazed into her eyes. “Be seeing you soon, cupcake.” And with that, the former dog of war leaned a bit more and bumped her forehead to this currently unnamed girl’s. A very light and extremely calculated movement that lasted less than one second, then taking another berry only and just only to mess with the brunette quiet girl, Aedan left.

With the book.

Sooner than you think, since I bet you'll be in the library again, and I'll get Lennie throwing a fit again...

The day was uneventful, the only highlight after seeing her nerd was bumping with Miss Minion 2000, with whom she shared a silent greeting, and got a softly spoken request about Plastic Princess, on top of that, after much prodding she finally got herself a training get-together. Really, something about that gal made Aedan want to wrestle her just to see who was the top dog out of them two, she had the feeling that this gal could take whatever she gave and that was a sweet treat to have.

Now, if only she could get her nerd out of the library quickly enough as to get a bit more of sleep…

The ring of the last bell woke her up and made her yawn widely, boring lecture about the spoils of war, really, who didn’t fucking know the spoils of war? War was everything for humans, it brought them death, life, balance, progress, and it decided history and evolution itself. War was what pushed the human race out of their self-destructive cycle while making them destroy themselves more, get rid of the thrash, jump start their hearts into wanting to be more and not only wanting to have more.

Ugh, I need sleep

Aedan shook herself and shivered at the cold metal rubbing on her abs, she now was wearing her dog tags. Ever since the pair had given those to her she had had to count the little metal balls that kept their chain together, in order to make a good size so she could use them as both a war dog and a warrior.

Food, food. Dinner time, something good and then something sweet, a few stolen glances at the cute girls who were wrestling with salads near her and some waiting, then off she went to find a hiding place. Moments later, in the dark of the night, a German Shepherd bounced towards the library, following the tracks of a very peculiar scent.

The place was empty now and from the crystal wall Aedan could see her nerdbag sitting with her books. Not this time, cutie… “Hey, nerdie!” She barked and leaned against the crystal, licking it and prodding it with her nose. C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, look up, I’m sleepy already!

Shoo me? No way. The dog barked lightly before leaning all over the nerd as she ruffled her fur and scratched her jaw. Yeh, that’s the spooooot. The canine whined and shook herself. “My human? You are my human now, babe!” The young woman didn’t get much chance to see her old dog tags, as Aedan began to lick her face again, her face, her forehead, all of her! Tasty nerd, yumm. Then, with a jump, the war dog went back and bowed playfully at the brunette girl, her tail going back and forth as she did so.

“C’mon nerd, let’s go home!” Aedan ran a bit towards the rooms and looked back to the girl, then returned to her and leaned her front paws on her. “C’mon already!” She ran back again and returned, again leaning to her and whining, this time, however, she let the woman check her tags this time, it wasn’t as if she would find anything useful there: Name, service number, blood type, spec number and religion of two people, a woman and a man. Two people who were nonexistent in this realm of reality.

“Knock that off. Let’s go already.” Aedan growled softly and gave the woman another lick before separating from her and looking at her expectantly for a moment before yawning and stretching. Taking care of girls like this one was kind of tiring as a mortal, in another life she would have been able to go without food or sleep for days, even weeks, but her "punishment" didn't only separate her from her two favorite mortals and left them without memory of her, but also made her go through all the mortal body's experience.

It wasn't that bad... At least they were still together and happy, and such, and well, she had gotten herself a nerd quickly enough, right?

The youngster was… returning to the library, for real?! “Hey, no!!” The dog barked, only to see the girl going back to her seat. Those doggone books, I swear to me dad I want to tear them apart. Just me-damnit. Sitting in front of the glass wall, the dog began to bark softly, paw at the crystal and “draw” random things with her nose. Nerd, at least let me in! It’s kinda cold out here! Perhaps she should simply leave, the nerd was going to get into her books again and she would shut out the world whenever she did that.

But… Aedan barked again and whined, then put her best puppy eyes, looking as heartbreaking as she could for a while before lowering her ears and walking away from the door, going to the stairs and lying down there. I’m sleepy already, what the fuck, humans, is this how it is? Her tail kept going one side to the other as she thought on what to do next; maybe she should go back to the rooms? It was still somehow early; it would save her Lennie’s bitch fit. Yeh, she’d do that.

Getting up, the dog stretched, yawned and ran off. Damn, I wanted to play a bit more, nerd. So that game was over, killjoy, really, she’d get her back other day. A few moments later, the human emerged from her hiding spot and combed her hair with her fingers while she thought on what was next: A semester or so of boring lectures, a nerd who trapped herself in the library and a gal who threw a fit at her. War was more entertaining… Still, she could do something about the two gals, but how?

That was the question: how…

Some gods are not meant to be worshipped, but feared.

It was stupid, all of this, a goddess among humans, and so far her days had been uneventful, it was a sharp contrast to be living as a student than to have been roaming as a soldier, as a dog of war, as a god of war. Then again, it was still alike, there were some rules, there were some boring things and, at first, the only entertainment came from stalking.

Aedan got into the rooms and looked around for Lenara, then just went to sit on her bed, then lying down. “Lennie.” She called while looking up at the ceiling, noticing how she felt somehow trapped in here; after all she had been used to the open skies, even in the trenches, there was always the open sky above them, no matter how trapped they were by the enemy.