The Scent Of R A I N {{OPEN!!!}}

[quinn]

Harley leaned up against the bricks of a desolate alley building. The smell of rain was thick in the air. Dark storm clouds covered the bright full moon, making the alley darker than it should be. Crossing her arms, she stood up straight and began to walk out in to the streets. Cold air buffeted the girl. Quinn loved the downtown area. It was her favorite part of Gotham.

Walking past a store window, she paused, looking at her reflection in the dusty glass. She was wearing the body suit part of her outfit. No make-up, no hat. A leather jacket with a long tail covered most of her body. Her blond hair flew lightly in the bitter breeze.

Turning away, she slid her gloved hands into her pockets. The streets were empty and the night was quiet. Too quiet for the usual bustle of Gotham's scum underbelly.

Closing her eyes lightly, her mouth gaped open in a yawn of boredom. It was no fun out here. And she thought there would be something fun to do tonight. Opening her eyes, she felt herself bump into someone. Falling backwards, she barely caught herself as she fell. Standing straight again, she brushed off her coat out of habit. "Geez, you people don't watch where you walk, do ya!" she exclaimed, agitation shining through her features.

[Captain Mako]

Mako aka The Jovial Devil strode the streets of Gotham without fear. It was known to some as a dank whole where rats went to die, an armpit of a city, a maggot ridden corpse waiting to die... he thought it felt homey like some of the ports he used to hang out back when he was a pirate rather then a body guard. Truth be told those were the areas he thrived in most. In the dark, in the blood smeared alleys there was little that could go wrong that was misunderstood. There was the victim and the victor. Mako was the amalgamation of two creatures on the top of the food chain for different reasons. From his shark side he had the gray rough skin, a smile that stretched quite literally from ear to ear filled with rows of razor sharp teeth, strength that was hard to match, gills, senses that were inhuman, and a firm place in the world as a predator. From his eight foot height he looked at those around him and say two kinds. Food and not food.

It was a simple place to stand. Some were their as prey, to be prayed upon if he choose. To take what he wished and feast on what he needed... then there was not food. Like Bao... Bao was so off the food scale she was in another country. He thought of her with fondness and affection that came with his human side. The side that gave him feet, fingers, thumbs, and reason. The shark was an alpha predator without reason, that feed as it which but overlaying the human's reason, the human's knowledge and planning. That was what truly made him dangerous and he walked the city without fear. True the whole eight feet tall thing helped and it just made it cuter to look with affection on a blue and pink haired woman as he spoke affectionately to her as she came up to his waist as she blushed and bristled at him. He grinned his toothy grin as he tilted back his head to look at the skyline as he thought about her. His relaxation was total otherwise his senses would have sensed the woman, smelled her, taken in her electric field, even felt her disturbing the air around him in his 'bubble' of touch. Instead she bounced off his swimmers build as his long hair dripped it's always slightly damp self on the sidewalk.

He looked down at her and began to bend over his black ankle length coat edge in blue dangling, a tie tied around his left bicep and a gold edge pirate hat thread bare and old atop his head with pointy ears poking out. The hat had a open pair of golden shark jaws shutting on a set of arm bones as decoration. He bent down and reached out with a hand tipped in claws and it's gray skin webbed between the first set of knuckles. An embarassed smile decorated his face as pure pitch black eyes peered with concern.

"Oh I am sorry ma'am please accept my apologies. I was far away otherwise I would never have collided with you like that."

Mako was in a good mood but as he reached for her his sense were now wide awake and he sniffed the air loudly as unusual sense reached him.

"...Gunpowder... Chemicals... carny makeup?..."

The smile widened.

"You are an interesting one aren't you?"

[evilmistress]

Pain. Pain and unending Darkness. That was all the inhabited Maleficent's world now. Of course, it wasn't anything she wasn't used to. Ever since that Emma had pierced her scales with a sword of Light, just like Prince Phillip before her, Maleficent had nothing but pain and Darkness. She had tried to reconstruct herself, like before. However, in a land without magic, one finds it hard to do certain things; specifically like coming back from being killed. And so, Maleficent endured the pain and searched the Darkness. What did you do when one of your only friends traps you in a single form and then sends someone down to kill you? Why, you plotted your revenge, of course. And Maleficent did just that. Regina would come to expect only the best of Maleficent and the Fae would give her exactly that.

Thankfully, with the pulse of Life that surged from Emma's kiss of True Love and the magic that Rumpelstiltskin brought to this world, Maleficent soon breathed a sigh of relief and a small wind blew through the cave she had called home for twenty-eight years. The wind breezed across the pile of ash that was once Maleficent in her draconic form. And then, the faint breeze turned into a gust of wind and then into a spiraling vortex. The ash was caught up in the mini-torado, deep under Storybrooke. With a flash of eerie, glowing lightning that had no source, Maleficent appeared once more and in her rightful form. She scanned the cave, tortuous memories surfacing within her mind. Friend or not, Regina will pay for her misdeeds. First, she had dared to attack her precious unicorn and then she had presumed to lock her in a single form and retire her to a dank cave who knows how far beneath the surface of the planet?

Thrusting her hand into the air above her head, palm up, Maleficent felt her magic surge. A malevolent sneer grew on her face as the cave's ceiling shattered and her Staff of the Unseelie flew into her grip. Maleficent didn't know where Regina had kept it all this time, but she was also going to pay for taking it from her with the Dark Curse. In a burst of Green Fire, Maleficent's form was consumed in flame before vanishing altogether. All the remained of the Fae Queen was the vicious and maniacal laughter that continued to echo throughout the cave.

Down one of the many streets of Gotham, within an alleyway, and not too far from the little happenstance that was about to happen between the shark and clown, the sides of the buildings forming the alley lit up in a green glow as Maleficent's personal flame erupted from the ground and the evil Mistress of the Dark Fortress stepped forth from within her Green Fire. Before taking her revenge, Maleficent decided she would explore this new world; possibly make a few new allies. Raising her staff into the air, Maleficent summoned a thick fog to blanket the area. She felt it best to remain inconspicuous, for the moment.

When she exited the alley and walked swiftly down the street, it wasn't too long before she came across the peculiar duo as the incident played out. Maleficent was just about to move on, dismissing the two of them, when something occurred to her. Could it be that this... man was in love? Maleficent could surely detect the signs. Giving the shark-man a once over, Maleficent decided she could possibly use someone like him. It's not often one came across a melding of two species and he might very well prove useful. Stepping quickly up to them both, Maleficent addressed Mako. "You! What is it that you call yourself?" Maleficent paid no heed to the girl, dismissing her for the moment. She's much too interested in this half-shark, half-man creature.