Episode 1 Scene 3 - The Train Ride

Note: This is an unrolled scene, just narrative fluff, and it's mainly here to make up for the fact that I didn't include an appearance section in Valentine's character sheet. I may have overegged my pudding here, to be honest, but I couldn't seem to write any version of this scene that wasn't horny. It cuts off a little abruptly but I had to stop myself eventually.

'You're his guide, sit next to him,' her mother said, unmoved by her protests, 'he needs to trust you.'

What she was saying made logical sense but didn't make it any easier to go through with. As she awkwardly shuffled through the gangway to the empty seat, she suddenly felt extremely self-conscious about how bare her shoulders were and tried uselessly to pull her top up enough to cover them. Inevitably, she arrived, since she could hardly lengthen the time it took to walk three metres by ten hours. After settling into her seat, she wasted as much time as she could pretending to sort herself out before turning to face him.

At her height, the most natural place for her to look was his torso. His top, a white training jacket, was taut against his muscular frame and she could almost feel his rock hard body without needing to touch him. It contrasted strongly against her own soft belly and wide hips. She briefly imagined what her body would feel like pressed against his. 'You're staring,' he said, suddenly, and she let out an involuntary squeak.

Her cheeks flushed and she turned her head away. 'Sorry,' she muttered, sheepishly. When she was able to, she eyed him just long enough to see if he was laughing. Instead, his face was impassive and unreadable, and had returned to looking forward, assuming it had ever even been turned towards her. She thought of an explanation less embarrassing than the truth and decided to say, 'it's just, kind of, intimidating to be sat next to the Chosen One.'

'You chose to sit here,' he said, his tone even and matter-of-fact.

'I,' she started, then stopped, 'well, I,' ugh, no that wasn't right, 'my mum told me to.'

That actually got his full attention and he turned to face her before asking, 'why?'

Priyanshi nervously turned to meet his gaze, her cheeks still hot, and her voice caught in her throat when she realised just how close their faces were to one another. She got lost in his sparkling blue eyes and handsome, almost Roman, face. He dipped his head slightly, as if to hear her, reminding her to speak. 'It's ... I'm your guide, so ... we ought to get to know each other.'

His strong jaw clenched and he ran a hand through his short feathered blonde hair, as if in frustration. 'Alright,' he said, 'let's get to know each other.' At that, she looked up at him like a deer caught in the headlights, hoping that he didn't expect her to get them started. Thankfully, he went first, 'my mother's name is Mary and my father's name is Quentin. You've met my sister, Lydia, and I have a few cousins, though I don't see them much. Your turn.'

'Right, well, uh, I'm an only child. My father died when I was very young.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' he said, with genuine warmth in his voice for the first time.

'Yeah, um, well, yeah, thanks, uh, thank you. Anyway, my mother never remarried. We're not close with the rest of her family but my grandmother on my father's side, Maya, we see her a lot. She actually was the one who introduced my mother to the Royal Society, because her own father had been a member. And I, uh, well I have friends or, I guess, I had friends, they're in Britain and I suppose I'm not really gonna' see them again.' She stopped after that, having made herself sad.

'I don't really have friends.' His tone was matter-of-fact, again, but the comment gave her pause.

'That's hard to believe, you're, like, a jock.' She watched his face carefully and was delighted to see that she'd managed to a elicit a half-smile.

'Believe it or not, I'm an introvert. I prefer to be alone with my thoughts.'

Aha! That was something she could latch on to, 'that's like me, you're a lot like me. You know, I'm quite shy, I, uh, don't really like to talk.'

'You seem quite talkative now.'

Her face went red at that and she let out an involuntary giggle. She put her face in her hands after that.

'I wasn't implying you should stop,' he said, eventually, with the slightest hint of humour in his tone.

'Sorry, I get nervous around you, uh, I mean, I get nervous around people. I suppose I was just babbling because of the nerves. Mum actually says that I babble when, um, well she just says that I babble sometimes. Anyway, isn't it, like, your turn, to, um, continue?'

He said nothing for a while and puffed out his chest to roll his neck. She wondered what he looked like without his jacket on. 'There's not much more to say, really. I never had much of a social life. Mom and dad thought I was depressed as a child, tried to get me diagnosed because I didn't like to play. I studied a lot but I didn't really enjoy school, either. I always felt like I was missing something. They made me try out for a bunch of different sports but nothing ever clicked until I attended a wrestling try-out. I took to it like a fish to water. The physicality, the domination, there wasn't anything about it I didn't like.'

Priyanshi had actually seen him at a wrestling tournament but only the minute long clip her mom showed her that got passed around the Royal Society. Hearing him talk about it put it in a totally different context, however. She imagined him wrestling someone into submission, and then it was her he was holding, her clothes were gone and he had his hands pressed tight around her waist and then ... her cheeks grew somehow even redder and she drove the thoughts from her mind. She dared to look at him and saw, immediately, that he was scanning her, as if trying to read her mind.

'But, then, your mom told me I was the Chosen One and I realised that that was what I'd really been missing. I'm ready to commit myself to my destiny, one hundred percent.'

It seemed, then, to be her turn to speak. 'Well, I've sort of been trained my whole life for this. Or, well, I'm not even technically a member of the society, but, you know, mum wants me to be and now I have this role and it's more than I could've ... dreamed.'

'I think it was meant to be you,' he said, impassively, and her eyes went wide, 'the Beast showed me a vision of you for a reason. I'm sure I'll need you, though I'm less sure I'll need a guard.'

She wouldn't have known how to respond to the mention of her appearance in his dream - in fact, he had been in her own dreams last night, but the details were not ones she could share. She was happy, therefore, to have been given a diversion, 'Josh is a little intense, all those Wolfsbane types are, but I think he'll prove his worth in the end.'

'Wolfsbane?' He'd put more emotion in that single one-word question than anything he'd said to her.

She melted under his gaze as he turned to her. Her heartbeat quickened as she realised her babbling had not yet come to save her and she searched for the right answer. 'The, uh, the Wolfsbane League, they're just monster hunters or, well, they're sort of a cult. They really only operate in America, well and Canada, but they don't really pay attention to the Society.'

That, it turned out, had not been the right answer. 'No, why are they called Wolfsbane?'

She raised her hands in surrender and said, 'I, uh, I don't know. I think, maybe, they mostly hunt werewolves. That's a guess though.' The brief flash of frustration in his eyes made her think he might pounce on her, or possibly it was the burning in her loins that made her hope so. Instead, he just went back to facing forward.

'My predecessor was called the Wolfheart.'

Priyanshi didn't actually know whether the comment was made to her or simply to himself but she was glad to have something she could actually work with, 'yes, he was legendary. He was the Chosen One for fifteen years which is,' she realised mid-sentence that commenting on the longevity of a typical Chosen One was a bad idea, 'anyway, um, yeah he was very powerful. The wolf spirit is often considered the most powerful.'

'How did he die?'

'Well, we're not sure. He was investigating a threat near Inkawthia but the details aren't clear and then they or it ripped him apart. A lot of people want you to investigate but it would be like, suicide.'

'Where were his guard and his guide?'

'Well, his guide had become his wife,' she searched for any change in his expression before continuing, but found none, 'so, she was at home with their children. His guard died a few years ago, he had his lifeforce drained by a succubus. There was talk of a replacement but he ruled it out, as the Chosen One usually does.'

'Let's hope things don't turn out that way for me.'

'No, Josh is very capable, very dedicated.'

He turned to her then, and looked her up and down. She hoped the look behind his eyes was animalistic lust but, more likely, it was curiosity. 'Any idea what we'll find when we arrive?'