A night in Hawaii was hardly the scary ominous thing the dark hour might be anywhere else. On the islands the late hour simply meant more lights and less heat, but it was by no means a dangerous time. The fact that it was called Paradise might have had something to do with that. Tell people they're in a safe haven often enough and they start to believe it. Just recently dead bodies began to pile up. Explosions ripped the earth apart. Dark clouds covered the sky, and yet people still put on their flip flops and went to the beach. And carnivals.

Gabriella Cromwell, a.k.a. Crawly, fell in love with the Carnivale the minute she set her pretty little feet across it's threshold. The people, the sounds, the smells, the treats. All of it screamed out to her. Here she could be what she was. A kid, a snake, a dark little angel playing among its food. It was even better when her family was around, but just like adults they were no where to be found when Crawly wanted someone to be there. Typical, but something she could understand. Grownups didn't think the way she did. A scary thought that made her dread the future, but if anything Crawly was determined not to change. She would never become like them, jaded and cold and...most often, weird as all hell. No she would be herself. Well, that and just like her Mommy. Shane.  By far the one and only adult in Crawly's ever expanding world that deserved her undying love.

And that was why Crawly was at the Carnivale that evening. Mommy needed humans, and since the streets were being closely watched by the cops, Crawly had to forgo her favorite tricks and improvise instead. The Carnivale was bound to have its share of idiots. Whether they were just nice people that would help a lost kid look for her mommy, or that pervert looking to find what hid under the kid's skirt. It didn't matter, they were all going to end up in the same place with the others. Shane wanted test subjects, it was Crawly's job to provide them, and the child would do anything for her mother. Didn't mean she couldn't enjoy herself to the max while she did it. With an ice cream cone in each hand, Crawly was positively shivering as the cold seeped up her fingers and into her body. A coldblooded creature plus ice cream didn't always equal Fun. A fact the child snake was quickly finding out.  

The music made her beast perk up, it's dark eyes blazing as the ugly notes cut through it's consciousness. Scratchy and whiny the melody lingered in the air like cheap perfume. Not knowing exactly why Crawly followed the music, wincing as she grew closer to the source. It didn't make her feel calmer, it made her want to bite the snake charmer's face off.  Even from this far away, she could see that the snake being charmed, had it's mouth sewn shut. Gray eyes were on the verge of fading to black as she watched the man bow and accept his applause. Crawly was so taken by the sight and that black little flame of anger that was beginning to take life, that she completely missed the lady in white walking past.

Or rather she missed her, the ice cream didn't. The chocolate ball of frozen goop shifted just enough to grace the woman's skirt, leaving behind a chocolate river.  Feeling the tug on her hand, Crawly looked over, watching with no emotion what so ever, the dress being ruined. Blinking a few times while she cleared her eyes, Crawly looked up at the woman, looking downright pathetic, as if she was about to cry over her spilled ice cream. Because dresses were a dime a dozen, and Crawly wanted her fucking ice cream right there right now!

For the longest moment Crawly did nothing but stare at the woman. Her gray eyes so focused on the strange woman that the child forgot to be upset about her ice cream.  It wasn't every day you came across something that felt so strange and Crawly wasn't about to shrug it off in favor of a frozen treat. With all the curiosity of a child she took in all the details. The eyes, the strange thing on the woman's forehead, the smell, the sound of the voice, the fact that the woman was barefoot, and had a strange vibe around her that made the snake's teeth ache.

Sniffling loudly, Crawly barely kept the tears at bay as she brought up her hand and used the back of her wrist to wipe her nose while gulping down a mouthful of air. "I'm fi-fine. But your dr-dresssss..." The hints of the Aussie accent slipped up in the end, elongating the Ss. Nothing out of the ordinary, the kid had a stutter.  Sniffling once more for effect, she turned up those pretty eyes at the woman, and nodded almost in reverence. Oh this lady was nice, she'd help her find her mommy. How neat!

The corners of her mouth twitched from the effort of a smile, and Crawly quickly discarded the ruined ice cream cone. As if a sudden memory washed up to the surface, the snake cast her eyes downward again, nearly on the verge of tears again. Kids cried it's what they did. That and  got all sticky. "I do-don't know where my mo-mommy iss." Probably not the best thing to tell strangers, but when Crawly lifted her head to look up at the blond, her bottom lip downright quivered from the effort not to cry. Who could ever want to hurt a cute thing like her. No, people just wanted to take her home and love her and hold her and give her sweet, tasty treats. "Ca..Can you help me find her?"

 The lady was so pretty Crawly just wanted to reach out and stroke the woman's hair. But a lot of adults put stuff in their hair, stuff that left her fingers sticky and smelling like chemicals. Pass.   With her cold fingers wound around the woman's warmer hand, Crawly let herself settle into the old routine.  Adults were so predictable. Shed a tear and they took you right in because kids were what...helpless? Innocent? In need of constant supervision and being told what to do how to do it?  Mommy didn't do those things. She asked Crawly and gave her options, she didn't just tell her to do stuff.  

And so Crawly's self esteem skyrocketed. It didn't hurt that the feel of the woman matched that of a fluffy pillow. Safe and comforting.  With her other ice cream cone in hand, Crawly took the time to lick the quickly melting goodness as she added a little hop to her step. To anyone looking, she was just a happy child out for a stroll. Just ignore the beast within as it scented the air, and turned it's hungry little eyes on the shiny woman leading the child. The voice was nice, much nicer than the snake charmer's music.  Looking over at Aine, Crawly let her eyes go nice and wide, something like awe fluttering in the background.  "My name's Gabriella, it's very nice to meet you Aine.  You sound different. Like me!" The revelation sealed it. Aine was going to be her newest and bestest friend. Unlike that Alex person who wasn't nice at all. The thought of the other lycan made Crawly take a moment to be pissed over the false friendship, only to have those thoughts fall by the wayside as she looked over at Aine and let her little hand get a firmer hold on the unicorn.

"You know, my Mommy is probably looking for me...let's go see if she's by the Feris Wheel?" Which was just a small fence away from the parking lot, which was a nice and dark and charming spot. Little teeth gleamed in the dim light as Crawly licked a bit of ice cream foam off her top lip. The scent of the woman was different. There was no musk underneath but it was warm and fleshy. Something that Crawly could crawl inside in and wrap around her like a blanket.  It was downright...tasty.

Personal questions weren't always the best when all you wanted was to drag that person somewhere as quickly as possible without attracting too much attention. But when Aine asked a question Crawly couldn't see the harm in answering. "I'm an Aussie." Pause to let that information sink in before the child followed up with the obvious "It means I'm from Au Ssssss traliahhh." Emphasis on the S.  

It took another few seconds for her to kill ... er finish the rest of her ice cream and toss the napkin holding it on the ground. Pollution was bad, but Crawly wasn't exactly Green in color. Looking over to where Aine pointed, the child tugged on her hand, trying to steer them both away from the horses. "No... That's the wrong way." But it was like trying to get the Titanic to stop on a dime.  Horses it was. The animals stunk.

Musky and sweaty, and covered in human scent from all the kids and adults who wanted to go for a ride. That and horse shit. Crawly tried breathing through her mouth but it only made it worse when the sticky smell pressed itself to the back of her throat. Looking up at Aine, she let the displeasure of the side trip show just a little. Hell weren't they supposed to be looking for her mother or something? NOT horses?  Looking up at the white stallion, Crawly tried to figure out what was so special about the four legged thing. Didn't they get turned into glue and dog food?

The horse clearly didn't like Crawly anymore than she liked it. As it nuzzled Aine's neck, it trained those dark eyes on Crawly. It's tail flicking in agitation. Horses weren't big fans of snakes.  "He's okay..." the observation was topped off with a shoulder shrug as Crawly moved to stand half way behind Aine to keep out of the horse's direct line of sight. And what was that gross thing between it's legs. Ew!

Finally they were done with the stupid horses. Crawly allowed a note of relief to flood her for a moment before she put her game face back on and smiled at Aine while the woman washed her hands. good, the smell of the stupid animals was still there but at least it wasn't strong enough to make her gag anymore.

Looking up as someone other than Mommy and Nori played with her hair, the snake resisted the urge to lean over and bite Aine on the wrist. But Aine was her friend, so it would be bad to do that. Instead she tilted her head to the side and let the mass of brown waves to spill over to the side. Exposing a slim line of her pale neck as she smiled up at her friend. "I like ribbons..."  She just didn't think she'd like them in her hair. And if Crawly was about to whip out the stuff she DID like to put in her hair...well the woman might not like the glitter covered finger bones super glued to berets as much as Crawly did.

"But mommy says if my hair gets any longer she'll have to cut some of it off." Was that a sniffle that went with her words? Quite possible, Crawly's eyes were brimming with moisture as she reached out and took Aine's hand then. Smiling as she let her little fingers grip the woman's hand like the vice from Home Depot Jr.

In that one moment things shifted. Pale gray eyes began to darken, gradually till they became dark as night. It was hard to tell in dim light if they were black or dark brown, but the intent in them was pretty easy to understand.  Crawly wasn't playing. The little smile remained in place as she tugged Aine's hand in the direction that Crawly wanted to go. "And I don't want to wait here! I want to go find my Mommy!" And Aine was going to come along like a good little friend that she was.

The horses nickered, their hooves stomping the ground in absolute protest of...something. The handlers weren't sure what to make of the annoyed equine. Mothers quickly pulled their children away from animals deemed too dangerous to ride, at least for the time being.  

Crawly ignored all of it. Her beast was up and running, so to speak. It writhed in the shadows of her being, hissing at some possibility or another. The stink of horses had it nearly in a frenzy, as it sensed potential harm directed in its direction. Even though Crawly had a perfectly fine mind,t he beast was pure instinct and it wanted to be gone away from the beasts as far as possible and and soon as possible, and if it forced its way out through her skin to acomplish it, then so be it.

The glow from the unicorn lady didn't help. It just made the snake's agitation worse. Unhappy with Aine, Crawly attributed the annoyance of her other half to the lack of co-operation her newly minted friend was showing. The compliment to her mother helped. A bit.  Smiling despite the urge to hiss, Crawly slowed, looking over at Aine for a long moment as an idea dawned.

Mommy liked the fairy toy they had at the skate park. Sure he liked to shrink and hide in the bird cage, which made Harley less than happy. But he did look SO nice next Crawly's Barbie doll, with it's missing head and body painted with Sharpie scales...But he was so different. Like Aine was different.  She wasn't human, yeah that was much obvious. A...what was that word Crawly heard on TV the other night? An Enigma!

Grinning like mad, Crawly shivered at the ants under the skin sensation as her little snake threw its weight against the metaphysical walls that kept it at bay. As far as hints went it was a little on the blunt side, but Crawly didn't mind. Shifting didn't hurt that bad and once the bad part was over she felt better than ever. But Aine... Blinking slowly, Crawly looked to where she clutched the other woman's hand and promptly reversed direction heading back towards the crowd. "Aine, I want you to meet my mommy." No "maybe if you're up for it." or "if it's not too much trouble." Nope, none of that. Aine thought her mommy was nice, and thus it was only fitting for the child to introduce the two. If Crawly liked Aine, mommy would surely just eat her up.

"We...Aine and me..." Emphasis on Aine and me "are going for a walk!" The haughty Aussie accent rolled off her forked tongue with a deliberate stucatto. Smiling one of the sweeter smiles in her arsenal, Crawly looked up at Loke while her hold on Aine's hand tightened ever so slightly.

That smile didn't waver when Crawly leaned in and rubbed her cheek against the back of the Unicorn's hand. So nice and soft, it was a crime not to enjoy the texture.  The woman across form here, looked and smelled as rough as dirt by comparison. The lady from the beach, Crawly forgot all about her. Which was probably just how important the wolves ranked on the snake's radar. Alex was there for a brief blimp. Crawly would have to pay her former friend a visit...once Mommy said it would be okay. Something about no touching the puppies or some burnt wood remnants would be mad. How that would work, Crawly didn't know, nor did she care all that much. For the moment she wanted her new friend to meet Mommy and Nori and Harley and even Diego. Well, maybe not Diego, he was weird and didn't want to play with anyone but Harley and Mommy.  Stupid boy.

"Byeeeee now." Lifting her other hand, Crawly wiggled those sticky fingers as she pressed her shoulder into Aine's thigh, urging her along.