They are among us (PRS)

Regina saw the blue and red sirens between the buildings. The police car drove up to the park, and parked next to the entrance. Regina quickly turned to the Kehrseite.
“You didn’t see much, only that a guy tried to beat me up before he ran away” she said, and the golden sand appeared. It floated in the air, making its way through the nose, eyes, mouth and ears of the Kehrseite. As she stopped speaking, the sand disappeared. She then turned her attention to the police officer who now walked across the grass. She was lucky, it wasn’t the same one it had been the night before. The police showed her badge.
“Officer Jane Ryder” she introduced herself before pocketing her badge again.
“I heard there was some trouble here?” she asked, and scrutinized Regina’s face. Her nose had finally stopped bleeding. At least it wasn’t broken.
“Yeah, I got jumped by a guy with a stun gun” Regina said, nodding in the direction of the taser on the ground. The police officer gave her a long look before looking down on the stun gun.
“….And he ran away?” she asked, and it sounded on her that she didn’t quite believe it.
“She was fighting back, Ma’am. We didn’t see much, but he definitely jumped the wrong girl” the male Kahrseite said, and the woman nodded. The police officer looked at Regina again.
“Can you describe him?” she asked, taking out a notebook from her pocket.

Regina described the man as good as she could, trying not to leave out a single detail. He had been Kehrseite, so she didn’t really care what the Kehrseite police did with him. But it had still been something wrong with him, the taste of his blood had confirmed it. Not that Regina was going to tell that to the police, because then she had to explain how she knew that, and she would definitely be turned in to the authorities. When she finished speaking, the officer nodded.
“You’re sure you don’t need to go to the hospital for that?” she asked, looking at Regina’s face. She shook her head.
“I don’t want to press charges either, if you do find him” she added, and the officer looked quite surprised. Regina didn’t feel like ending up in the middle of a Kehrseite investigation. She had already gotten in a few good punches, plus she had broken his shoulder. In her book, that counted as revenge. The officer asked a few questions about what had happened before she left. The couple said goodbye and left, too.

Regina felt her face again. She could definitely not go back to Serena looking like this. She had to wash up somewhere. Plus, she had a feeling she had to figure out what was wrong with the Kehrseite who had jumped her. She walked away from the park, making her way through the mall that was a few blocks away. She figured that she could wash up in the bathrooms there. She tried to look down while she walked, to keep curious eyes off her face.

Elijah stepped out to the street and grabbed one of the straps to his backpack. He took out his phone and glanced the screen to see the time. The tiny bit of an apple and a banana had not been much to keep him satisfied, and to be honest, he had no inspiration to cook anything at the moment. He was still a bit tired from the late night yesterday and did not mind the day off at all.
Eli thought of what options there were and decided to pick something up on his way home, and then maybe later hit the gym. Or find that Reinigen from last night before he did anything funny.
While deciding what he was feeling for lunch he steered his steps towards the mall and shopping areas – there was a lot of food courts there and enough options for him to find something satisfying.

As he walked, he couldn’t help to think back at the Reinigen. Did he make a mistake, leaving him there by the dumpster? Should he had done something like, perhaps, talk to him? Put some fear in him? Reassure him? Something else? Right now it felt like he just exposed himself as a Grimm and then pranced away, not maybe the smartest move.

The more he thought about it, the more it started to bother him. Tonight he would try to find the Reinigen, otherwise he would not be able to feel comfortable about the whole situation. He was probably overreacting anyway – he doubted there was many Wesens in the city anyway. Regina must just have been a lucky coincidence.

After arriving at the mall, Elijah walked towards the food stands, sniffing the air for inspiration. Maybe Asian food would be good, some spicy noodles could be all this Friday needed to be great.

Regina walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She cursed. She was more messed up than she had thought. Near the right eye, a big bruise had slowly started to build up. The pulsing pain didn’t go away and around the nose were dried blood. Her mouth and teeth had some bloodstains from blood that wasn’t hers. Regina turned on the tap and let the lukewarm water wash over her hands. She cupped them and filled them with water, splashing her face. She washed the blood away and drank some gulps to wash her teeth. She used the paper towels to dry her face, and winced when she touched the bruised area. She looked in the mirror again. It didn’t look very good, but at least it looked better. She threw the paper towels in the bin and re-braided her hair, removing the pieces of grass and sticks that had gotten tangled into it.

When she felt a bit fresher, she stepped out of the bathroom and felt how her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten any breakfast, and the beer that Eric had given her wasn’t much for food. She bit her lip and felt in the pocket of her jeans. She opened her hand and found some change. Not nearly enough to get something to eat. Regina had worked before they had to run, and she had managed to save up some money, which unfortunately started to vanish. Since she hadn’t a job, she had to try and get food another way. A lot of the refugees at camp stole food, some were preforming for money and others just dug into their savings. Regina had done two out of the three; she would never humiliate herself by performing for money. Not that she knew what she would do, she didn’t have much talent, really.

She moved to the food court area, which was the place to be to get food. Still with the coins in her hand, she walked around to see if there was something she could buy the honest way. She stopped at the bakery, where they sold out day old bread for a small amount of money. She looked at the coins in her hand; she had just enough to get two of the smaller pieces of bread. She bought it, and sat down at one of the empty tables. Not the best lunch she had had, but definitely not the worst either. She ripped off a piece of bread with her hand and stuffed it in her mouth. She chewed, and looked around the food court. Some were throwing her glances, probably because of how her face looked. The smells were mixing with each other, leaving the air filled with a lot of different smells. It was really the best place for Kehrseite to be if they wanted to stay away from Wesen, because it was hard to make out their smell due to the food. Not that the Kehrseite knew that, but still. Suddenly, Regina looked up. She could have sworn that she had picked up a familiar smell. She looked around again, but there were too many Kehrseite walking around the area.

Elijah steered his steps to one of the Asian food stands. As he walked he could feel his stomach rumble in approval, this was a great decision! He never kept his fridge very full at home, mostly because he never knew if he would be away for longer times, and after cleaning out molding food a few times he learned quickly not to grocery shop for more than a couple of days further. He probably had some canned food that didn’t spoil, but it was an easy choice when having to choose between tasteless canned tuna and Asian take-away.

He stopped in front of the food stand, looking at all the goodness that was laid out behind the glass cover shielding him from the food. The bored food stand worker, maybe one of the local students, looked up from his phone before standing up from his chair behind the register.
“Take-away or here?” he asked without much enthusiasm, placing his phone down in one of the pockets of his oriental apron. “Take-away,” Eli replied, running a hand through his hair as he examined the food. It all looked so good, or then he was just too hungry to make decisions. The worker picked up one of the take-away boxes, ready to hear what he wanted to fill it with.
“I’ll have some of that chicken there, yeah that one. Can I have some of that too? And what is that? Never mind, it looks good, put some of that as well,” Eli began, eyes searching through all of his options. “Do you have shrimp? Yeah that too thanks, and could I get both some noodles and some of that fried rice please?” Eli said, mouth almost watering from all the food that was being packed into different boxes.

“How many utensils?” the food stand worker asked, placing the boxes into a plastic bag with their logo on it. Eli examined the amount he had ordered and pressed his lips together. Well, at least he would get left-overs for the weekend. “Ehm, three,” Eli said hesitantly in an attempt not too seem too much of a glutton, and watched as the young man placed three disposable bamboo forks and some chopsticks into the bag, topping it off with three fortune cookies in their own wraps.
Eli paid his food and took the bag off the counter. He made a small promise to himself not to buy food again hungry – it always resulted in him getting either enough groceries or take-away to feed a whole army. Okay, not quite, but more than enough for one person. Then again, leftovers were always welcomed, especially now if he indeed had the whole weekend off.

He turned around and quickly gazed along the tables in the middle of the food court. He could stay and eat, but going home sure felt like a nicer option than eating alone. Bag in hand he rounded some of the tables, looking at which was he should exit, before something familiar caught his eye for a second.
The dark-haired girl could be no-one else than Regina, that was for sure. He stopped slightly and went through his options in his head. Last time they met, he was armed up to his neck, and even though she knew from before they were in the army, she for sure knew that her secret was out. Not that it had been a surprise for him. A closer examination made a slight frown grow between his brows. There, by her right eye, it seemed to be some kind of early onset bruise building up. It did not look too great, that was for sure.

He slightly turned his course and walked carefully up to her table, as not to startle her. She could just as well get up and run away, but it was worth a try. He was only armed with a bag of food, and against a Wesen he knew it wouldn’t do much damage. He hoped it was enough to convince her he did not come with bad intentions.
“You seem to have seen better days,” Eli said with a wary smile, examining the bruising next to her eye.

At least she stilled her hunger for a while. Oh, who was she kidding? She was going to be hungry again in less than an hour. But that was a future Regina - problem. She just dug into the bread when the familiar scent was picked up again. She looked up just as Eli started talking to her. This time, he didn’t carry any weapons. At least what she knew; he could have something hidden. But that was the problem for Kehrseite and why they were almost always the underdogs when fighting a Wesen. They had to reach for their weapon; the Wesen had its weapon with her at all times.

She arched an eyebrow.
“I’ve had better days” she said, putting the bread down on an napkin.
“But you should see the other guy, he’s had a really bad day” she added with a grin. If she looked messy, it was probably nothing to what her attacker looked like. She had hurled him several metres in the air after all, and broken something in his shoulder. The guy hopefully thought before attacking someone in broad daylight again.

Regina leaned back in the chair, her eyes following Eli’s every move. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack her unprovoked and unarmed, would he? He was an army guy, they surely had codes against stuff like that. But then again, the army hated Regina and her kind. She met his eyes with hers.
“So, you’ve decided that our grieving period is over and it’s time to hunt us down again?” she said, flexing her fingers. She was on the brink of telling him about the Kehrseite that had attacked her, and that he might have had something to do with Sean’s death. But Regina was quite sure they weren’t very interested in that. The only reason the army had let her and Vega be, had been because something similar had happened to their own kind. They wouldn’t have cared if it had only happened to Wesen and mutants.
“I bet you regret not letting that car run me over yesterday” she continued, taking a piece of her bread and chewing it. She looked at the food in his hands. It sure looked good, and smelled good. Her stomach told her that it was very jealous that it had only gotten bread when it could get Asian food.
“I see you’re having a party” she said, nodding towards the food he was carrying. If everything had been normal, maybe Regina had eaten Asian food for lunch as well. But money was tight, so that wasn’t an option. For her, it was more important to feed Serena than herself. Her last resort was hunting for animals in the woods. She hadn’t had to do it yet, but you never knew what the future held.

Elijah grinned to her comment about the condition about the other guy. She might have gotten some sort of hit in her head, but she had not lost her humor along the way. As she seemed to take his presence quite well, he slowly pulled out a chair opposite to her and sat down, sharing the table with her.
He placed the bag with food on the table to the side as he listened to her, his usual frown appearing slowly again between his eyebrows.

“Did someone from the military do that to you?” he asked with a confused look gazing at her bruise. It seemed fairly fresh as it had not had time to gain much color yet. Thinking of their briefing, it seemed very strange for military personnel to attack someone just like that, Wesen or not. “If that’s the case, I should have suggested to them that a car is more effective against you than fists,” he said, looking at her before letting out a crooked smirk. “Kidding, of course.”

He put a hand into the plastic bag and took out whatever box first came into contact with his hand. They were still warm and fresh, and now that he met someone to talk to, it felt wrong not to have a few bites before some of it would get cold. “Party for one, actually,” he said with a hint of humiliation in his voice as he looked into the bag. He and his hungry ego, he muttered in his mind before shaking his head slightly. He took out the rest of the food in front of them and placed the forks and chopsticks on a napkin, followed by the crinkly sound of the individually wrapped fortune cookies. “Save me from embarrassment and have some of it before someone notices how bad I am at knowing my own limits,” he said, opening up the boxes in between them. “I had to take three forks to have some spores of dignity left,” he continued, pressing his lips together before a slight smirk emerged.

He opted for a fork instead of the chopsticks, mostly because of his hunger was now at a point that it was quantity over quality, and placed it into some of the noodles. He lifted his amber gaze to look at her before digging in, pausing for a moment. “I’m sorry for your loss, by the way… I couldn’t really mention that during yesterday’s mission, but I truly am.” He lifted the fork to his mouth and chewed a few times in silence. “Losing someone is something I don’t think anyone ever gets used to,” he continued.

Regina shrugged.
“Guess he was military. He was Kehrseite, that’s for sure. He could be one of your buddies from yesterday, I’m not certain. He was damn sure what I was though, that’s for sure. If one of your buddies have a broken shoulder, tell him I said hi” she said with a grin, finishing her bread. She grinned as Eli said that he should’ve suggested a car.
“Actually, I’m not sure a car would kill me. I’m quite strong, I can take a lot” she said with a smirk.
“But I’ve never tried it, so I can’t be sure” she added and shook her head.

She watched him reach into the bag as he told her about how he had gotten three forks to avoid embarrassment. She watched him eat, and looked at him with disbelief in her eyes.
“Really? Say it again and I’ll believe you” she said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. An army Kehrseite sorry for her loss? Yeah right.
“But maybe you should think like that before you tear other people’s families apart just because they’re not like you” she added, picking up the napkin. She held it with her right hand before she crumbled it into a ball. She still looked at Eli, as if staring him down would do any good. She wondered why he was sitting here, telling the enemy that he was sorry for her loss. Did he really try to convince her that he was good? Making her believe him and then when trust had been built, he would stab her in the back? No - she wouldn’t get burned again. It had happened before, which was why Regina didn’t hang out with Kehrseite anymore. That, and the current tension between the races.
“So, why do you choose to sit opposite someone you despise?” She asked, gesticulating to the empty chairs and tables around them.
“Or maybe you thought that your buddy didn’t do a good job and wanted to finish it?” She said with a grin, pointing to her face. It had started to pulse even more intense now. She had to get back to camp and get it fixed, but not before she had figured out whether or not her attacker had been a military man or something else. He had had a different scent, and taste for that matter. Not that she had tasted the other military’s blood, but she doubted it tasted like her attackers, it hadn’t even tasted like a normal Kehrseite.

Elijah frowned again to the explanation of her attacker. If it was indeed someone from the military, this was a breach of orders. It could of course be someone who did not take these orders to heart and followed their own way, seeing as even some of his friends had been extremely disappointed with the new orders, but to risk being suspended and a trial? And attack alone in broad daylight, and not forgetting going after a Wesen with little to no backup, armor or weaponry? If it truly was someone from the military, they sure had not listened at all during training.

He took some mouthfuls of the food before looking back up at her regarding the comment of her friend’s passing. “Death doesn’t change just because we are on opposite sides,” he said shortly after swallowing, wiping the corner of his mouth with one of the napkins. “You do realize that this is not a one-sided game,” he continued, shooting her a short glance before looking back at the food, dipping his fork into some of the chicken. “I’ve lost friends and family to your kind and the mutants, even before joining the military,” he said briefly before stuffing himself with some food again.
There were periods were attacks were more of a rule than exception before the military’s heavy regulation towards mutants and Wesens,. Especially mutants had a brief moment of freedom or so it seemed, where going berserk or short killing sprees was used as some type of protest against the government when the ideas of stronger regulation against people with powers became a hot subject. It backfired, of course, and the situation is what it is at the moment.

He shook his head slowly before twirling the fork between his fingers, looking into those green eyes of hers. Sitting opposite to someone you despise. That could very well be her feelings, but he was going to take everything he could out of this meeting. He would probably not have the honor of meeting a Wesen not ready to immediately rip military personnel to pieces that often.
“Wesen blood. Ever heard of someone harvesting it?” he asked, leaning back into his chair. It crossed his mind that this was a weird question to immediately put on the table, but according to their briefing cooperation was something they were trying to establish. Why not do part of it now, off records. “It’s related to the killings and the death of your friend. There’s been a lot of victims before apparently,” he said, stabbing a shrimp with his fork. “Wesen ones too,” he continued, looking briefly up at her, before biting into the food.
He pointed at the food in between them and gave a reassuring nod. “And please take some if you want, I mean it. I can't finish all of this without exploding.”

Regina couldn’t help but snort.
“It’s definitely not a one-sided game, but one side is literally trying to extinguish the other. Try and tell a couple of Seelenguter that you do this because they killed Kehrseite” she said, shaking her head. Regina had never heard about a Seelengut hurting another person, Kehrseite or not. They weren’t wired this way. Regina didn’t really want to discuss this matter, since they would never get on the same page. Both parts believed the others were at fault. They could discuss it for hours and never really get anywhere. It was just better to leave it be.

Regina leaned back and looked at Eli as he started to speak about something harvesting Wesen blood. So, this was why he had chosen to sit across the enemy. He wanted information. Well, he was definitely not going to get it that easily.
“Well, I might know something. I won’t tell you, for two reasons. First of all, I wouldn’t be talking about matters like this in a place like this. You never know what ears will pick it up. Second of all, I won’t help you unless there is something in it for me. Maybe a third reason would be that I don’t really see a reason to cooperate with the people who would love to chop my head off with a machete, but that kind of destroys my second reason. So, let’s just say that the third reason is kind of flexible” she said, crossing her arms at her chest. Why would he think that she would cooperate with him? This was probably something he had planned with his military friends. Although, Regina wasn’t that gullible. Rather the opposite.

She looked at the food he offered her. Her stomach yelled at her to take it, but her brain said no. She hadn’t seen who prepared it, and it could be something with it. Sure, Eli was eating it, too, but he was military. It wouldn’t surprise her if they had come up with something that only affected Wesen. She simply didn’t answer him about the food, and instead she scrutinized him. She had seen a lot of him since they first met, and it kind of bothered her. He had just appeared out of nowhere, and somehow, he kept appearing. That was why it wouldn’t surprise her if this was all planned.

Elijah decided not to reply and instead grabbed some more food. They were both right and wrong in their own ways, there was no denying that. Going on and on about this would not make one of them suddenly agree with the other, that was never happening. There was no a black or white solution to who was to blame – there were so many grayscale areas in this that it was better to not go there, so he let the topic be for now.

He listened with a slight smirk as she listed her reasons. She was not wrong in any way to have her doubt, he knew that very well. It even crossed his mind that he had to be a bit insane to sit to close to a confirmed Wesen, especially when she knew exactly who he worked for. But some part of him did not see her as too big of a threat. Perhaps that they were surrounded by people, because he knew indeed that she could fight if her stories about breaking the man’s shoulder was true. But exposing herself in the middle of a mall would not be her smartest move, so to say. They also shared a common enemy at the moment, or that is at least what it seemed like. To be able to share information would be something most would treasure.
It was also something else about the thought of having the opportunity to talk to the other side that peaked his interest. Not only was it a great way to learn about the Wesens, but it felt like getting some insight in the Grimm role that he was also carrying. It would be a lie to say he was comfortable in his own skin. The fact was that he had never met another Grimm before and actually doubted what kind of value he could ever add beside pointing out what kind of Wesen someone was, and of course being an immediate target to any aggressive ones.

He grabbed the box of noodled and leaned back into his chair, grabbing a big pile of food on his fork. He understood her very well – they could easily move someplace quieter with less pairs of ears around, and she could counter with whatever information she craved.
“So, what do you suggest?” he said before stuffing his mouth, taking his time to chew it down while looking at the dark-haired Wesen woman.