To think that in only a matter of a few wildly intense yet all the same fleeting moments, everything she'd come to know about the life she lived in and the world she walked through had come crumbling around her and now she was left wondering. She wonders just how much of the world she'd been convinced did not exist truly did. She wonders just how much her parents had told her and taught her through those nineteen years they'd raised her to be certain of were unintentional lies in the face of starling truth and actuality. In her small hometown, no one ever spoke of a world that collided and intertwined with that of the natural and ordinary. In that place where everyone knew everyone by name, where neighbors would smile and greet each other with a willingness to help in whatever they could should such requests be made, not once could the young woman with golden hair and milk chocolate undertones think upon an instance where another had encouraged her childish fantasies of a magic and mystical creatures that roamed feeling amidst the human race. If anything, she would have earned a kind smile accompanied by a note of laughter as her elders would tell the girl that one day her young and naïve mind would not be so fill of daydreams and silly things by the likes of fairies or forest nymphs. She'd watched movies full of such things, of wizards and witches, of cruel curses and great wars raging in which the armies fought against one another with bolts of jagged lightning or roaring flames manifested from nothing more that a word or phrase. She'd read tales intricately woven of creatures that would appear so utterly human and yet could not be anything farther from being, whether they were forced to take on their primitive shape by some sort of enchantment or it were merely by choice that they would shed their human skin for something more wild, crafted from the stuff of nightmares.

How foolish they would look if they ever found themselves in a place such the one Beylani stood in now, face to face with the very things that they'd been adamant on believing were only ever made of childish imagination and tales told by parents to keep their kids from doing things that they might find ever so tempting. What would her mother and father say now if they knew of the dark man with bat-like appendages sprouted from his surely powerful and muscled shoulders? Would they, too cower in fear and disbelief at the one who shared this quiet clearing with their daughter? Beylani found this too difficult to imagine or picture the reactions that would race through them. That said, one thing she was certain of was that they would have called him so many things. They would have easily called him a demon, a beast... a monster. Yet, as those baby blues remained upon those of dangerous hazel having taken on an almost intrigued or fascinated light, she can't find these words within her own thoughts. The young woman cannot help the feeling that while he definitely wasn't the same brand of kind that she had come across in the few individuals she'd met over the brirf time since first she had moved into her small Riverdale apartment, he was not borne of sin and shadow nor was he made from the things of haunting illusions and dark lure that surrounded that which people refused to acknowledge as very much real, tangible even. No trace of hints of softness flicker across his chased features as she stood before him as small and perhaps delicate as she was, but it seemed the threat to her life - whether imagined or having very much filled the realms of his mind - had gone with the lingering darkness chased away by the rising sun welcomed and ushered in with the first lilted melodies of those feathered creatures happily flitting through the trees and open sky overhead. And while there was still an uncertainty that filled her slender frame, those fears from long passed moments now behind them were pushed away from her mind now so wearily fascinated by him - this tall, dark (and admittedly attractive despite those leathery wings) stranger wielding an air of calm intrigue that could almost match her own.

Perhaps most would have taken his now present lack of fierce intimidation as their cue to bid him a quick farewell and take their leaves. Perhaps most would have not dared to wonder more of him beyond the moment of mercy that he departed unto her while surely he could have ended it all then and there if he'd so desired. And yet he hadn't. This was the one thing that stood out almost blindingly against the sharpness of his hazel gaze. No matter the coy expression upon his lips or the deadly gleam in his eyes, Beylani couldn't help but see the faintest of light that suggested there was in fact a goodness in him that was likely overlooked. Especially if he greeted all his acquaintances in the same fierce and almost commanding way he had the blue-eyed blonde woman. They say actions speak louder than words after all, didn't they? And did not his actions whisper of the possibility that just maybe he was more than what he seemed? She felt herself, despite the natural quietness of being in the presence of one who had nearly caused her life to flash before her, wanting to know more of this man. Many would probably consider her foolish for being drawn to the air that hung over this winged man, and perhaps she turly was being too reckless (or even trusting when clearly he had given her more than enough reason not to), but she refused to allow herself to lose sight of the small glimmer she could swear she saw in him. He speaks now, those deeper notes ushering into the chilled air between them like silken threads tinged with a surprising yet subtle amusement almost daring her to try and guess at what he was. Baby blues study him closer now, tracing along his tall stature that very much loomed over her. The wings were a clear indication he was not human, but his physical existence made her certain he was not an angel of any kind. So much about him looked human until... Her gaze finds the point of his ears. What beings held such a feature? Nymphs and elves did, but they lacked the wings. Fairy. But what sort of fairy has such wings as his? She knew only of the tiny little things so nimble and attuned to the forests and all creatures within, their wings not too unlike that of a dragonfly's. He looked nothing like this image she'd seen in her children's books."If my life depended on such a guess, I might say fairy for those ears of yours... But I've never seen illustrations in books or the cyberworld depicting fairies with such size and those wings", she answers with each word spoken still softly yet there is a contemplative and careful accent to them."If I'm wrong, please enlighten me", she finishes her curious and best assessment with an invitation to make her if only a little wiser to this new reality that he has opened for her. A trickle of boldness finds her voice in this moment as her sentence bespoke subtly of a challenge, nearly daring him to tell her more about him.

Beylani wasn't entirely sure what she should expect from him when she answered his inquiry regarding how it was she'd ended up in this place at such an hour, but what she does knew was that she hadn't expected his hazel eyes to gleam as they did, summoning a dark chuckle to erupt from past those lips. His comment calls forth to her own baby blues more of the fire that lay behind them, eyes almost narrowing ever so slightly in defiance at the amusement he seemed to find in her words. Little?! She nearly felt like informing him sharply that she was not some child having lost her way. His smooth voice carries on and they do little more than fuel those flames for a moment though they are quickly overwhelmed by the curiosity that is only encouraged by his less than clarifying explanation for his reaction to her brazen decision that brought them to this point in their encounter. The way he shrugs so casually at the forceful gesture, it would have likely been enough to anger most into some sort of snappy reply, but the years of being teased and taunted for her hobby as a teenager has taught her not to give others the satisfaction of knowing just how she'd been inflicted by them."I believe a simple warning would have been enough instead of destroying my things", she remarks almost under her breath as she struggles for a moment to remember that she wasn't dealing with just another cruel peer of her past and when in fact she knew just how true his words probably were. All the same, she could not help the thought that he'd taken things a bit extreme when all he had to do in the first place was tell her that she was treading on dangerous ground, however that may be.

With a brief look over his shoulder and to the growing light of morning, her own gaze watches his face intently. There was something in the way his distance glance seemed to carry some sort of deep want. For what she could never even begin to guess, knowing next to nothing about this man that stood within the same clearing. Large, leathery wings began to sink into his back and she watches with eyes widened in fascination as they slowly disappear until he looks no less human that the young woman. Did it hurt when those appendages sunk back into their place? Were they simply in hiding beneath his clothes, or did they actually sink back into the skin of his back? She tries to imagine him topless and suddenly feels her cheeks beginning to grow warm while her imagination takes her to an image of more than just his back and olive toned skin, quickly forcing these curiosities away and refocusing yet again upon him. He walks a small distance away from her, bending down to retrieve a jacket she hadn't seen under the cover of darkness. Shoving his arms into each sleeve and giving a swift jerk of his shoulders to wear the leather jacket as it was meant to be worn, he then walks back over the the blonde woman, pausing only briefly before continuing back the way she'd come as he beckoned to her over his shoulder. Without hesitation, she turns her own back to the clear and moves to walk beside him, his words stirring within her thoughts. What else was out there that she did not know of? She then decides that she is not particularly fond of being called "human" and she turns to look at him as they grow closer to the main part of Hyde Park."I do have a name, by the way. It's Beylani, but if you like you can call me Lani. Just not 'human', if you wouldn't mind", she says now with her usual confidence though that typical brightness often found upon her tongue still had yet to replace the quiet but sure note lacing each word. She grows bolder once more now, watching him ever curiously."What do you call yourself if I may be so bold?", she asks him, baby blues never straying from his features. No, he may not be human, but she was certain that - fairy or not - he had a calling all his own and she hoped to learn it, content enough for the time being to accept it as payment for what had transpired earlier.