-following is non-sexual in nature
Cris sat curled on her red couch watching a television special of Romeo and Juliet, sipping a glass of white wine. The acting was terrible, but with nothing better on, she didn't see much point in changing the channel. Besides, it was an amusing watch, and she wanted the second rate romance tonight. Life had been boring and lonely for awhile, and her video games didn't offer much consolation. She had given consideration to getting a pet, but had decided against it due to the possibility of a temporary or long-term relocation or even permanent move. The burden was especially unwelcome in her life, since she didn't really trust anyone to take care of any pets if the situation did arise.
Being a journalist had its ups and downs. Despite the short-term notices, harsh criticisms, annoying managers and attorneys, and unreliable travel methods, her passion for bringing the real truth to the public and love for investigating and discovering information was more than enough to trump all the negatives, in her opinion. Plus the money she earned on certain works was pretty damn good. She had made two movies featuring a major natural disaster overseas and a huge cover-up conspiracy in a third world country and had written three books each regarding the mafia, some extremely corrupt media heads, and the world's various endangered tiger species, all of which had made their fair share of money. She was certainly sitting pretty on a nice big pile of money, especially for her young age of 25. Many considered her a prodigy, someone who had not only a special gift for time management, but also writing and gathering information, and she wasn't half bad looking either, in her own opinion. But despite all her work and traveling and wealth, she never had anyone to come home to or share her thoughts and opinions with. She figured it was because she was simply too busy and possibly intimidating to meet any nice guys, or have any friends outside of coworkers.
She sighed and returned her attention to Romeo appearing outside Juliet's bedroom balcony. A social life was too much of a burden anyway, served romance and drama was always so much easier. 'But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?...' Romeo droned on with his lines and Cris decided it was about time for some chocolates. Lifting up with a tired groan, she wandered into the kitchen and opening the freezer door, grabbed a box of Godiva truffles. Turning back to return to her spot, she suddenly screeched to a halt in the kitchen entryway and stared out into the living room, eyes wide at first in fear, then disbelief.
Standing in front of her television, seemingly captivated by the special, was a young man with platinum blonde hair, just a touch taller than her and dressed in baggy jeans and an off-white t-shirt. Two features, however, stuck out like a sore thumb despite the fact that there was now a strange male in her apartment who definitely wasn't there five seconds ago. A pair of red cat-like ears protruded from his head and a long furry tail of the same color swished about behind him from a tear in his jeans. The box of truffles fell from her hand and landed with a low thud on the kitchen floor, startling her from her mystified trance fixed on the Ineith in her living room. The sound seemed to catch the attention of the male as well, making him turn and flash her a wide smile. His facial features were quite attractive, a round face with wide expressive eyes and a rather welcoming expression. She suddenly became inexplicably self-conscious of her own appearance, in a bit of disarray since she hadn't been out that day, but quickly shook the feeling away as reality resurfaced.
Finally able to regain her tongue, she narrowed her eyes at the supposed intruder and muttered, "Uhh.... who are you and why're you in my apartment...?" She was a little surprised by the hesitance and nervousness in her voice, but did her best to ignore it, mentally and physically preparing for the worst. Good thing she worked out regularly, it would do at least something against an attack even if she didn't have a weapon handy in her apartment.
The man simply beamed at her question and started to move toward her, holding his hands out in a harmless display. "Hey! Sorry if I scared you, my name's Cody. I've been assigned to you."
Cris backed away a little at his approach, watching him warily. If she hadn't had so much experience with the unusual already, she probably would have panicked by now. Once he got a few feet away from her, he stopped and frowned slightly at her expression, as if unsure why she was making it. She merely frowned back. "What... the hell are you doing in my apartment...?"
Cody's face clouded with confusion, before sudden realization set in and he slapped his palm to his forehead. "Oh yeah! Duh, I'm so sorry!" He laughed openly, giving his head a shake. "I keep forgetting you don't know already. I'm your new guardian, I've been assigned to you, like I said." He paused and watched her become confused this time, and he frowned again. "You know... to guard you? You know about the Guardian Association, don't you?.."
She brought a hand to her head and closed her eyes for a second, before looking at him. "Yeah, everyone knows about that, but... I don't need a guardian. Why was I assigned a guardian? I don't need one."
Her answer was met with a look of uncertainty. "Well, if you didn't need one, I'm sure I wouldn't be here right now, right? The Guardian Association doesn't make mistakes with humans. No offense or anything, but you guys are probably the easiest race to understand." He grinned that big goofy grin again and stepped forward, holding a hand out. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Cris, I'll do my best to protect you as well as I possibly can."
She frowned at his hand for a second before hesitantly shaking it, looking at that giant grin of his uncertainly. "..Nice to meet you too, Cody.."
Their hands parted and his eyes widened. "Oh! Let me get that for you." He bent and grabbed her box of truffles and promptly handed them to her. She took them without taking her eyes off her new apparent companion. She stared at him for another moment, and he just went on smiling in her face, before she merely gave a small sigh.
Stepping carefully around him, she returned to her now cold spot on the couch, closely followed by the Ineith who sat down beside her, and opened her box. As she took a truffle and bit into it, she resumed watching the poor enactment of Romeo and Juliet, which was almost over at this point.
"So what is this? It looks pretty good, you humans are pretty talented at storytelling, I have to say," Cody said.
Cris had to keep herself from rolling her eyes and glanced at him. "It's Romeo and Juliet. You know, Shakespeare."
"Oh that's cool.. Who's Shakespeare?"
She sighed. "Are you going to keep interrupting? This is supposed to be my quiet time."
He frowned apologetically, "Oh sorry."
With that, he kept nicely quiet, which made Cris feel a little guilty for snapping at him, but she quickly got over it. It was actually nice to have someone sit next to her and watch TV for once, and she even offered him a truffle, which he more than exuberantly accepted and stuffed in his mouth. Though he acted a bit like a small boy, he seemed ready and willing to obey her and was quite attractive at that. Maybe this would work out after all, she decided, and let the situation go for the sake of her curiosity. Good thing she had sprung for the two bedroom/two bathroom apartment, and turned the second into a guest room.