Kidd Spring Park
The remnants of the dense forestry are located in here, as paths lead from the woods to the more entertaining features of the park. A jungle gym, complete with a small clubhouse and slides make up a play area designated for children, as do a few sandboxes. A community rec center can also be found in the park.
Separating the trees from the busier points of the park is small lake. During the summer months, a life guard can be found on duty so swimming is allowed, and there is also a small dock from which paddle boats and kayaks are available for rent.
Sunlight can still be found across the city even with the sun on a steady march downwards. A few families can still be found within the park itself, though most have went home leaving several places quiet across the area. Abbey went out for a walk, with her new dog a bit too young and not fully done with puppy shots she's on her own. She's sitting upon a bench at the moment checking her pockets for the ever lost lighter while an unlit cigarette rests between the fingers of her right hand. A soft mutter escaping until she finds the lighter and gives it a few flicks, which offers nothing. The lighter is given a shake before a sigh escapes her and she repockets the lighter to deal with later.
—-
The door to the rec center opens, spilling light even out of the building into the still mostly sunlit evening. A stream of teenagers rush out, all seeming to be talking at one volume, loud, as they head towards their cars and their waiting parents, some of whom are looking rather frazzled themselves. Once the deluge of youthful energy peters out, a taller, middle-aged man and a young woman step out, the pair speaking quietly, though close ears might be able to pick it up, "let's get together at the club on Thursday, and we can work on those new moves." The man nods, "That's great, I'll see you there," before he offers a friendly kiss to the woman's cheek before he too heads towards the waiting cars. The woman, moving to close the rec room door behind her, finally steps far enough away from the door to be seen. Mignonette, for those who know, but dressed in a much slinkier, more engaging style than she's normally prone to. In some circles this might be called a little black dress, but nothing has ever been so little about it. Rather, it seems to be a classic asymmetric hemmed tango dress, complete with a pair of strappy dancing shoes. Just before the door closes, she leans in to grab a bag, before she starts off away from the building.
—-
Padding along the outskirts of the park, just within the limits, a light grey-ish tan animal moves. It's keeping within the shadows for the most part, though the moment the rec doors burst open, it stops short, front legs pushed in front of it in the suddenness of the action. Large ears twitch, and it wheels around, moving from the slow trot to a slightly faster paced lope, making for a small copse of trees where it can find a little bit of cover.
—-
Abbey puts her cigarette back into the pack and stands up stretching as she goes. Humming a faint tune to herself she starts walking once more, moving closer to the rec center that wasn't to far from it to start with. The people leaving are caught sight of and she blinks seeing someone she knows. She smiles and lifts a hand. "Hey Mignonette." Is offered with a friendly tone, its been a few days since they've seen each other, an Abs seems a bit more carefree from the looks of it at least.
—-
Mignonette slings her bag over her shoulder, as she continues along the path. At least until a familiar face and that gets a smile, "Speak of the devil. Afternoon, Abbey. Decided to take a little getaway from the garage again?" Mignonette moves to approach the woman, narrowing the distance so that voices no longer need to be raised, "Missing your lighter again?"
—-
Reaching the safety of the trees, the coyote's head raises and he sniffs the air. Twisting his head around to check on the receding noises behind him coming from the rec center, he faces front again and lowers his head as he begins to move from the shadows. It's a large field, and he's got places to go, but he's got some time. Taking off in a slow trot, nose tilted down, he leaves the trees behind.
—-
Abbey hums and smirks a moment. "Well.. I have been called worse before." This said with an amused tone. "Just went for a walk, get me out of the garage for a while. Sam's there dealing with everything." A faint ah escapes her. "Yes, well.. The one I have is dead so to speak." She looks towards the side, picking up some movement sounds and lifts her head slightly. While she can't see the coyote she catches the scent rather easily.
—-
"I can imagine we both have." Mignonette, having no more senses than the average human, makes no note of the creature off in the distance, though she does follow Abbey's line of sight when the woman looks away. Still, there's nothing there she can see or smell, so instead, she pulls her bag closer to the front, opening out one of the side pockets, and pulling out a lighter, which she reaches across to hand to the other woman, "I always carry one on me." Though the woman has never been seen smoking.
—-
In order to make it over to the Historic Village, the coyote does need to cross the field to get there. From the other side, there are some 'after dinner' dog walkers, and in one case, a woman is holding the leash to three rather large dogs. The coyote can smell them and gives the area a wide berth, but the dogs begin to bark and pull .. very, very hard at their leashes, the tug of war, or rather, the dragging begins.
The coyote chances his direction of travel, and the dogs pick up on it.
"Pepper! Stop! Banjo! Bad boy!"
The shouts from the owner being dragged along does nothing for the dogs.
Finally, the owner can no longer safely hold on to the trio, and the three go headlong after the lone coyote.
Ears up, the grey-tan 'wild dog' stands stock still a moment before he whips around and barrels at full speed back to where the rec center is, and the park benches, and more civilization. Anywhere is better than where he is right now!
—-
Abbey hums softly to herself as she doesn't catch sight of anything at the moment. She looks back to Mignonette and ohs at the sight of the lighter before lifting a hand to take it. "Thanks.. How you been?" There's a pause while she takes the cigarette back out. "I'm sorry for leaving the other day so quickly. I had a lot of stuff on my mind and I didn't want to be a drag so to speak around you guys cause looked like you was having fun." There's a pause and she blinks before looking over towards the dogs barking and then catches sight of the coyote running about. "just so you know there's a coyote running around here. I think it'll just slip off if given the chance." She didn't want Migs to see it and freak out or something after the attack an so forth.
—-
There are many things that Mignonette would like to say that she isn't. Terrified and gunshy after her attack would be one of them, but that's just not in the cards. Her easy posture turns rigid, and it's not difficult to sense the sudden fear holding the woman rooted to the ground, as she hears the dogs approaching. And the fact that there's something very much like, but not like a dog getting closer to her doesn't help either, "Abbey." Just a single word, but it speaks volumes, of fear, and helplessness, and pleading.
—-
With tail tucked to give just that much more speed, the coyote runs between the rec center and the bench where Abbey, Mignonette and Abbey's puppy are settled. He's at full tilt with the three dogs trailing their leashes behind them, head down, ears back, not looking behind him.
"Stop my dogs!" The desperate call comes from the out of breath woman bringing up the rear, slowly. "I don't want them to get rabies!"
A couple helpful bystanders moved at the request, and at the mention of rabies, some talk of shooting the coyote began.
"Did you see if it was frothing?"
"Couldn't tell.."
"Where'd it come from?"
—-
"Its alright Mignonette.." Abbey offers with a soft tone. She blinks hearing the people talking about shooting it. "Just let it go.." Is her response to the thought while she catches sight of the coyote running towards she and Mig, whom she steps in front of. "Just stand still." Is said to the woman behind her. At the moment she's more concerned about the dogs chasing the coyote then the actually wild canine. Who ever this coyote is picked the wrong time to come to the park it seems. She's hoping the coyote keeps running so perhaps she can try to get a hold of the dog's leashes if they keep running right towards them..
—-
Unfortunately, telling the woman to stand still, even getting in front of her isn't going to help the small cajun at all. Especially now that there are few thoughts left in her head beside the sudden and inescapable need to get away from whatever is coming towards her. Even as Abbey tries to do the brave thing, Migs gives into her fear, and stumbling back, she turns tail, heading off as quickly as she can towards where she parked her car. She has to get out of here. Right. Now.
—-
The coyote doesn't even look to be considering stopping at this point. Running at full speed past the bench and the area, it's only out of the corner of his eye that he sees Mignonette making a mad dash to her car. If someone gets these damned dogs off him, he can circle around and abort, and go home to his new house (where he has some of his clothes!).
The dogs slow a little in the on-rush of people, and it seems that some reason is returning, if only because people are making grabs for the leashes. One runs past Abbey, well within reach of the woman's grasp should she make the dive. The other two are veering off, and while they're trying to chase the wild coyote, their paths are taking them near more people.
—-
Abbey glances back as she hears Mignonette running. "Wait.." She doesn't say much more then that as one of the dogs goes running by her. Her movements are quick and she makes a grab for the leash. If she catches it she yanks down hard to pull the dog backwards and towards her in the process.
—-
Mignonette is pretty much beyond hearing much of anything, except the fear in her head and the sound of dogs and who knows what else in her ears. And for such a small woman, she covers the distance between herself and her car surprisingly quickly, pulled up short only by the fact that she doesn't have her keys in her hand. One hand does start tugging at the door though, the woman having also, it seems lost the ability to speak in english, as she seems to be either cursing or praying in french, as her free hand begins a frantic search of her bag for her keys. Though she's turned away from the main park, anyone that could see her face would see only fear. fear and the bright streak of tears running down her cheeks.
—-
The fact that Abbey's grabbed one of the dogs gives the coyote a little more breathing room. The second and third dog are soon grabbed, but the tail is securely tucked under, and while he slows a little, there's the scent of the gathering people, and the sound of their angry voices.
He gets a chance to circle around, finally, and slowing down, to a slow trot, his tongue lolls out of the side of his mouth, and he's panting. More of a workout than he'd hoped, actually. Much more.
Giving up on the evening as it was, oddly enough, his path begins to take him into a more residential area. He's trying to move into the shadows and under the shadetrees, however, and not garnering any more attention than he already has.
Stepping into the parking lot, he stops, his ears up and forward, he pulls his long pink tongue in to smack his lips before he puts his head down again, ears relaxing, and trots off.
—-
Abbey holds onto the leash tightly, not about to let the dog go. Her gaze turns to Mignonette watching her and then towards where the coyote happens it be. A slight smirk is seen before she shakes her head and looks towards owner of the dog and gives the leash back to him. "Learn how to control your dogs.." She states with a faint tone not caring what they think about her attitude dealing with the coyote now that its gone. With the people behind her talking about what happened she is quick to move over to Mignonette. "Mignonette.." Is said with a soft worried tone. "Its alright, its gone." Her pale gaze rests on her friend with a worried look across her face. "You need to calm down before getting in the car.."
—-
Mignonette finally manages to get the keys into her hand, and then it's a matter of trying to get the door unlocked, except she keeps seeming to hit the lock button instead of the unlock button on the key fob. As Abbey approaches, she pulls back, trying to press herself against the safety of the car, even if it is on the outside, "Have to get home, have to call Alex." The poor woman is still beyond terrified.
—-
Abbey lifts a hand to try and touch Mignonette's arm. "Mignonette.. Please.." She offers softly to her friend. "I'll drive you home then.. An I'll stay with you until Alex is there.. Alright? You can't drive like this your get into a wreck.."
—-
Mignonette pulls away, even from Abbey, one of the best friends she's made since she came into Dallas. But something in the woman's voice seems to get through to her, and she nods, despite the fact that she's still in tears, and she's shaking so badly she's barely managing to hold onto the keys. She finally does hand them over though, well, mostly sort of just let go, "I want to go home, Abbey, right now."
—-
Abbey is quiet as she watches Mignonette, while the other is scared she isn't about to take no for a answer it seems. She grabs hold of the keys before they fall to the ground. "Come on..Let me get you in the car." This said while she unlocks it with a push of the right button and opens the back seat door to help Mignonette into the car. Abs figures sitting in the back may be better then the front at the moment.
—-
Mignonette allows Abbey to lead her, thankful, in some part of her mind that she probably won't access until the next morning, that Abbey is there to take over for her. This has just been a bit too much like the straw that broke the camel's back. The dark, the forest, the dogs, the creature that wasn't a dog. Yes, she clambers her way back into the backseat of the car, not even seeming to care that her dress is getting ruined, or that her still not-fully healed back is sharply protesting the awkwardness of her movements. She just wants to be home where she'll be safe.
—-
Abbey makes sure that Mignonette is in the back seat alright and closes the door before she opens the driver side and gets in. The car is soon stared and she looks back to her friend. "Your be home soon.. Just try to relax." She offers with a soft tone before putting the car in gear and flicks the lights on as she turns the wheel and drives towards where Mignonette lives. She didn't think Migs would take it this badly to say the least.
—-
Mignonette, for her part, is happy enough to stay in the back, curled up in the seat, despite the fact that under normal circumstances, she'd be the first person to snap on her seat belt. And under these, she's only too happy to be driven, trusting Abbey to get her home, just as she trusts her to get her inside the house, and to call her cousin. There's just no room for anything else in the woman's head.
