[Shenandoah]

(('M' situations due to swearing and/or violence.))

Name: Titus Vulcan
Nickname: None
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Element: Fire
Height: 5'-10"
Appearance:

Misc. Appearance Notes: Here he is seen in traditional robes for his family's rituals.
Bio: His name, family, and everything in his life is tied into fire. Born into a temperamental and wily family, Titus is very outgoing and outspoken, rarely remembering the brain-mouth filter most employ. As such, he's well known for being a bit of a shit-stirrer. His mother is actually the one where his family name 'Vulcan' came from and it is through his sister his family legacy will be carried through. Men, surprisingly enough, within his family, are not the ones that continue the legacy of the family forward. His father, however, is no pushover and caught his mother's eye due to the fact he was as brazen as the rest of the Vulcans.
Personality: Titus has no mental strainer that keeps certain things from falling out his mouth and causing trouble. He usually acts before he thinks and his temper usually flares as bright as a match. His temper can be as easily doused if one finds his triggers to make him back down.
Other: As per family tradition for the rite of passage from child to adult, Titus was branded on his shoulder with the symbol of Vulcanus, the Roman God of Fire and the Forge (originally known as Hephaestus in Greece).

-----

Who's Who in Titus's Life (as they are mentioned):
Daemon Vulcan: Tall, dark, and handsome cousin of Titus on his mother's side. Definitely Greek in appearance and plays American football. Typically jovial. First introduced in Post #9.

[Tadhana]

Name: Kali Staynhal
Nickname: Kaka, Kal
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Element: Water
Height: 5'3"
Appearance:

Misc. Appearance Notes: There is a tattoo of a rune on her wrist that glows when she really needs to amplify her powers for a short time at the cost of her own strength. It is the symbol of her family's devotion to Laguz.
Bio: Being one of seven children as well as being the youngest in a middle-class family, Kali didn't get much attention from her parents at home and grew up somewhat reserved and sheltered. She also has grown to be clueless of her family's history which for some reason her parents have never told her about. All she knows is that she is part of a family of mages and that she has to train in water magic, which never really became her forte. But perhaps it is because of a lack of focus on her part. She is more interested in the more normal happenings in her life like school, celebrity news and hot spring baths.
Personality: True to her element, she is as calm as water. Too calm sometimes, to the point of being apathetic to her surroundings. Although one should stay well away during the rare times that she is provoked. She is easily distracted and too addicted to hot springs or hot baths for her own good.
Other: N/A

[Shenandoah]

Titus stood on the street corner, a speculative look on his face as he considered the cars buzzing past. Currently, he wore faded blue jeans with the knees ripped out and a tailored flame red button down shirt with short sleeves open in the front to reveal a snug tank top of black cotton. He also wore his favorite cowboy boots in shined black leather and a squared toe. His hair was caught in a long tail that flowed down the center of his back while his amber eyes were shielded by dark aviator sunglasses with polished silver trim.

He was on his way to see one of his many cousins and needed to cross the street in order to get to the diner he was headed for. And the light was certainly not cooperating with him. At least not at this moment.

[Tadhana]

Kali walked along the street, reading the latest issue of OK! magazine as she did. She was still wearing parts of her uniform, a plain white tetoron long-sleeved blouse with a sailor collar and dark blue piping, as well as a dark blue pleated mini skirt and finished off with chunky brown loafers. The required necktie, socks and other accessories to her uniform were gone, sloppily shoved into her knapsack which is casually slung across her back.

"She did what this time?", she muttered to herself unbelievingly as she indulged herself in pages and pages of the lastest scandals and gossip in celebrity lives while at the same time avoiding bumping into people and things without much success. She can't help to think that she needed to do something at the moment. But whatever it must be mustn't have been that important for her to have forgotten about it. And so she read on, walking towards the nearest place where she could eat. She almost forgot to eat and was feeling rather ravenous as it was way past meal time for her.

[Shenandoah]

He felt someone collide with his shoulder and instinctively he turned and was about to smart off "Watch it!" when his eyes fell upon a teenage girl about his age but obviously a bit younger due to the school uniform. What made him pause was her lack of regard about where she was heading, which was straight into the middle of a busy intersection.

"Watch it!" he said, only this time the remark wasn't aimed at a lack of manners but an apparent lack of regard for her own life. Titus's hand shot out and snagged her by the upper arm and he hoped he could get her attention away from the magazine long enough to realize the danger she was about to throw herself into.

Naturally, at that moment, the light changed and the crosswalk opened. People began to cross the suddenly paused traffic as he groaned. "Ugh... You've got to be shittin' me," he muttered, releasing her arm.

[Tadhana]

She was used to bumping into people as she read, even shouting (and cursing) at her. Usually, she just walked on without paying heed to the shouted expletives aimed at her. Placed emphasis on usually. This time though, her celebrity gossip reading pleasure was rudely interrupted as she heard somebody shout "Watch it!" and a hand roughly pulls her back to reality, making her almost drop the magazine in the process.

"How rude", she almost blurted out. But even somebody as dense as her had some sense propriety, so she kept herself from doing so. She turned around to see the person who dared disturb her only to find herself looking up, way up to a guy in some sort of cowboy outfit. "Oh, the rodeo's in town early?", she almost wanted to say. But instead, she only uttered a quick "Yes?", as she stared blankly and inquiringly at him.

[Shenandoah]

((He's not actually dressed like a cowboy. He's only got cowboy boots on.))

Titus growled under his breath and ran a hand through the loose bangs on his forehead. "Nothing," he snorted as he jammed his hands into his pockets, stomping off across the intersection. "I was just made to look like a moron because the goddamn light changed on me," he muttered sourly to himself as he walked away. He hated being made to look like a fool.

[Tadhana]

((Oooh, okay. Still, she'd be clueless about what cowboys really look like. 8D))

"O...kay.", she said weakly after the stomping, retreating figure, a confused look on her face. "He's just a regular ray of sunshine, isn't he?", she thought to herself as she crossed the street and promptly continued reading her magazine. As if on autopilot, she continues on the way to the nearby place where she usually eats, guided by the growling of her empty stomach.

[Shenandoah]

Titus, who had barely had time to settle into a booth that had a decent view of both the street outside the window and the front door, blinked when the absent-minded girl from the street. Like the fire that was his legacy, his temper had already cooled down some when the source had been out of his eyesight. However, now the gasoline was back, even though she didn't realize it.

Granted, it wasn't so much her he was angry at... it was the way when he'd prevented her from stepping into the street, the light changed and therefore she would never know. Minutes after she had settled down and he had ordered his and his cousin's drinks, he saw his cousin enter the shop. Daemon cut a fairly impressive figure. He was the proverbial tall, dark, and handsome as his Greek heritage showed far better than Titus's own as he was seventy-five percent Greek. Titus had more European blood in him. Daemon even played football for his college and had a scholarship.

Titus didn't even bother to wave at his dark-eyed and dark-haired cousin. He knew Daemon could see him and Titus had chosen an easy-to-be-seen booth. "Yo, Tee," Daemon said, trying to sound 'gangsta', though failing at it as he intended to do. Daemon was about as gangster as Barney was.

"Hi, Daemon." The slightly older cousin settled down into the booth on the opposite side of Titus and the waitress came to get their orders.

[Tadhana]

She walked into one of her usual after school haunts with magazine in hand like nothing had happened earlier. In fact, the memory of what had happened with that strange guy had been shoved in the back of her blissfully ditzy mind. As she walked in, she was greeted by a waitress whose name escaped her at the moment. Was it Candy or Cindy? To her, it didn't really matter. She liked this particular waitress because she was not as fussy as the others. Asked if she will have her usual spot, she nodded and headed for one of the more hidden booths.

She passed by two guys, one with noticeably red hair accompanied by a handsome fellow with dark hair. In that moment, a little flicker of recognition passed through her mind, although she couldn't place it. "Hmm. One of them seems familiar.", she mused as she took her seat and ordered chocolate pancakes with blueberries, her craving of the moment. "I don't suppose I'd forget mister tall, dark and handsome if I ever saw him, so it's not him." She smiled, leaned forward and placed the side of her head on the palm of her hand as if daydreaming as she thought of this since the dark haired guy had a striking resemblance to one of her favorite European stage actors.

"Mm, I suppose not. I don't forget a face like that.", she decided. "How about mister carrot top here?", continued her inner monologue as she turned her attention away from the two, focusing her attention instead on fiddling with the menu cards at the side of her table. "Naaaah.", she concluded right away, smirking to herself as she did so. So thus she ended her musings, not to be dwelt upon anymore, to focus her attention on more important things, like the pancakes that were just then placed in front of her, gooey and piping hot just as she liked it.

[Shenandoah]

As Titus and Daemon conversed, the auburn-haired man kept a discreet eye on the girl a few tables over. He had seen her eye them specutavely for a long moment, but she then diverted her eyes. He frowned and turned his attention completely to Daemon. He was looking back at his cousin in amusement. "What?" he snapped.

"You see something you like?" he asked the smaller man. His eyes slid away from his cousin and he twisted slightly in his chair to look over at the girl Titus had saved from being run over. "She's cute," he commented, before looking back at Titus right as his cousin was opening his mouth to explain what had happened.

Titus's mouth snapped shut before he opened it again. "What? No! I kept her from getting run over!" he hissed, his eyes narrowing.

[Tadhana]

Kali had her extremely fickle attention directed this time towards stabbing a poor blueberry over and over with her knife, oblivious to the conversation of the two men a few tables away from her. As she played around with the poor small fruit on her plate, she suddenly remembered what it was exactly she had to go in the first place. "Oh...snap.", she uttered in disbelief, kicking herself mentally for forgetting for the nth time her after-school training at her aunt's house.

She hurriedly checked her phone for the time as she stood up to exit the diner. Yep, she sure was late. But she hurried, she could make it before her aunt would notice that she was missing. That was the one of the things about having so many siblings, you often get overlooked in favor of your elder siblings. And this time, that would work to her advantage.

"Just put it on my tab, Kimberly." she told the waitress whose actual name was Mandy before hurriedly walking out of the diner. Catching a final glimpse of the good looking dark-haired man and his companion who seemed to be in a foul mood, she then went out into the street and broke up into a quick jog. She wasn't in the mood to run, but she knew she had to at least hurry up a bit. Her aunt would most likely put her on mountain training for months if she caught her late for the 3rd time this week. And she hated mountain training with a passion.

[Shenandoah]

Titus watched her rush out and frowned at the now empty table and the waitress shaking her head in the girl's wake before turning his sour expression onto Daemon. Daemon still had a jovial expression on his face. Where Titus was at times like wildfire or a back draft, Daemon was like that cheery fire in the hearth that everyone gathered around.

They finished their meal not too long later, paid for their tab, and left the diner.

---

((Time skip, as they don't have a lot of interaction yet, and this makes it more 'real'.))

It was about a week later and Titus had spent all the morning working on his fire techniques. He was getting better and better with forming different shapes and whatnot. Of course, it left him more lathered than a horse after a race and he chose to get a shower. His grandmother, a demanding master of fire, had worked him over thoroughly before saying he could have the rest of the day off.

He left his grandmother's estate, caught a bus to town, and went to the public library. It was one of his favorite sanctuaries. He could sit back, relax, and listen to his music while reading a book of his choice. And there were always a lot of interesting books to read.

It was a hidden, and usually unknown and therefore undiscussed hobby of his. Not many of his family realized that the temperamental young man chose a very quiet place to cool down. Most of his family assumed he'd go bully people. Not even Daemon knew of this private hobby.

[Tadhana]

Kali was utterly and completely drained. Today ended her absolutely grueling week of intensive training at her aunt's home, punishment for being repeatedly late for training. While her siblings had been meditating, she had been dunked under water, endured being hit by high pressures of watter, went through extreme temperatures and varying degrees and levels of water "training". Water torture more like it, she was convinced. She almost drowned or died of hypothermia in the midst of training on a few occasions that week. Needless to say, she was exhausted physically as well as mentally.

After she was released from the torture chamber that was her aunt's house, she hitched a ride with one of her many relations in the city and was dropped off at the library. She wasn't that much of a bookworm, but she loved the library because of its quiet and solitude. Living with several siblings and some cousins in one house, one didn't get any privacy, peace or quiet. Going home was the last thing she wanted after feeling almost every muscle in her body cry out in pain as she was sure she won't be getting any rest there. Besides, the library had beanbags.

Admittedly, she did like to read things other than celebrity gossip and fashion magazines, as evidenced by the books of costume history and art that she had picked out before heading to the nearest bean bag and plopping herself on it with a sigh of relief. If she had looked a little to the left, she would have noticed an almost familiar head of red hair there, indulging himself in a book or two. But since this is Kali, she was already engrossed in her own choice of literature, earphones already stuck in her ear.

[Shenandoah]

Titus noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively he looked up and frowned. He was sure he knew her from somewhere. He thought about it for a long while, turning back to his book to think on it. Then it clicked. It was the girl from the street corner.

He glanced at her again, confirming what his passing glance had registered the two other times he'd seen her. She was cute, like Daemon had said, but she looked a bit mousy and certainly didn't look very well at the moment. To Titus, she looked downright tired.

He diverted his eyes once more, the strains of La Grange thrumming in his ears. It was her problem, he supposed. But her exausted look didn't leave his mind even though he wasn't looking at her. He frowned at his book, the usual scowl adorning his features becoming more heartfelt.

Twenty-seven minutes after the girl entered the library, Titus stood and closed his book. Tucking the slender book to his side with the fingers curling under it and the thumb hooked in his jeans pocket, he pulled his headphones off to dangle from his neck as he approached her.

"Hey," he started, looking down at her with some concern in his features.

[Tadhana]

Despite the upbeat beats of Lady Gaga pounding in her ears, Kali was feeling so tired that she was falling asleep in the middle of turning pages. Slowly but surely her eyes were drawing shut, sheer fatigue taking over them. She was startled back to full awareness, however, when she felt a shadow fall on her and the book that she was currently reading and a short greeting muffled by her music was apparently directed at her, causing her to look up at whatever was blocking the light.

The first thing she saw was flaming red hair, so vivid that it stirred a faint recollection on Kali's part. "It's that guy. From...that place." was the best she could muster at that moment. He did seem familiar, but for what reason? Did she owe him money? Had she wronged him in a past life? There was just something about his demeanor that reminded her of a predator about to lunge at its prey, which made her doubly wary of him.

But then curiosity got the better of her. Whatever did he want from her, she wondered. Twisting a finger around the cable of her left earphone and pulling it off, she addressed this stranger with an ever eloquent...

"Yes?"