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Shintai rests against the wall, his lips playing into a twisted smile. He grins at a couple of passer-bys and they flee, giving him a sense of satisfaction. He was bored and annoyed, which typically meant the calm before the storm was beginning to come...whenever he wasn't entertained, people suffered.

Which was irony itself, his enjoyment came from suffering, and yet it wasn't until he became bored that those suffered around him. And he rarely had anything to do with it, he behaved while bored; it was anger that caused him to run someone to the ground...control, that was all that he wanted...

He concentrates again, a little more desperate than before. He can only cast magick so many times before he ran out of stanima, so with a gritting of his teeth; he focuses on his energies again.

He builds upon the last image, from the legs he reaches the chest of the beast and begins to run downwards of the spine, imagining the tussles of hair and build of the rib cage, only to have the image shatter again.

A snarl escapes him, once again the magick slips away. He pounds his fist against the brick wall behind him, sending a glare to anyone who dares to look him in the eye. Another attempt, and he knew this one would have to work...

Shintai halts in an alleyway; a shadow casted from the sun enshrouding him. He has failed three times, and the image had been lost. He would have to try again, it would be the only fail-safe way to reach her...once casted that is.

But the busy streets, the nosy on-lookers, everything was disrupting his work. A quick glance confirms the alleyway's peace and quiet. He will get the casting right, it will work. Shintai is much too impatient to wait for long, and so after allowing a day of rest; he has come to try and try again.

The feet and legs are foming again, raising from wisps of nothing to muscular, and sturdy, legs. But already the image is tearing, and it is beginning to crack and fizzle out...

Shintai begins to run a chant in his head, manipulating the shadows around him, hopefully this would help him keep in control.

(And it looks like Shin's little shadow will be back with company)

Ai was crouched over, breathing heavily. She was not out of shape, but running all the way across town wasn't an easy task. She wheezed a little more before checking out her surroundings, and still no sign of anybody.

The shadow was just a bit ahead of her, waiting patiently against the wall. Ai narrowed her eyes and she could see the shadow's rigid stance; it had struggled with the journey too. This meant that while successful, the casting had apparently gone awry.

"When are we going to meet 'im anyways," Ai asked the shadow, understanding that there would likely be no answer.

(We're writing in different tenses...but at least I'm not dead.)

Ai jumped when she heard Shintai's voice at her side. He had come from nowhere and was acting quite calm for their out-of-the-blue meeting. She gently ran her hand through her hair, the light strands darkened in the night, before speaking out.

"What are you doing in Crosshaven, Shintai. Last I heard; you were quite content with our hometown. Is it too boring now?" Ai taunted, defiantly glaring at Shintai. She hadn't seen him since she left, and at that time she hadn't really thought about leaving in good terms. Her hand throbbed a little, and she felt herself dropping the glare.

"Did it scar?" Ai mumbled, feeling her eyes instantly hit the floor. She shifted herself so she didn't have to look at him, rather wanting to stare at the wall where his wolf-shadow had been.

"I didn't want it to, just so you know..."

Ai couldn't believe the fact that their home town had fallen into apparent despair and that Shintai was so willing to speak ill of the faith. "How did the town fall apart, Shin? Last I heard things were headed off pretty well," she asked him solemly. Even if she didn't go back, it wasn't like she had any wishes that the town fell flat. She began to clasp her hands together in a wrung-out method; her eyes focusing on the alley wall behind them. It was starting to get cold, and she couldn't help but notice that it was darker.

When she finally glanced back up at Shintai's face, she had caught the last bit of his conversation. "I'm a waitress. I don't know why that matters to you, or why you need to know who I spend my time with. I have an actual life you know, one that doesn't involve running track all the time."

Shintai would understand the quip, and she could see him tweak a grin onto his face. "There is a church though, here in Crosshaven. The older man, probably the head priest, is nice but I don't like the other man, I guess he's a priest too. He's a creep though, a pig," Ai exclaimed before turning red. She stuck her arms at her sides and stared at Shintai ruefully, "I had a run in with that guy...we're probably not on the best of terms."

Ai felt herself blink in a moment of awkward silence. The fact that her hometown had been destroyed by industry...she had not thought that that would end the town. She had expected warring between the religious, blasphemy, struggles for right to worship and such nonsense, to end the town. "Not the way I thought things would happen," she murmured to herself, ignoring Shintai slightly.

Her thoughts snapped back to attention when she realized that Shintai was waiting for her reply. "It's not worth it, although the church is pretty old, rather comforting and beautiful, but the people would irritate you and you know it. I like Crosshaven, and I'd rather not have you storming about because of a priest's point of view. He's not worth getting riled up about, besides, there are much better places in Crosshaven to explore." The city was large, and Shintai would, although she knew he wouldn't admit it, enjoy the town much more since his search had apparently ended.

Ai was flashing her eyes at Shintai with warning though. She did not want him running to the church, to her home, or anywhere else since he could really be a grouch if something went wrong. "Don't bother me too much, Shin. You know better," she was determined while she said this; with a look of warning that was all too readable on her face. She did stop glaring though, when she asked him the next item. "How long are you planning on staying? I'd like to know your plans sooner rather than later, kay."