(Ryker) Small Talk

Ryker and Noctavia headed to the hotel to play in the Game Room till five in the morning of many games of air hockey and fuseball. She couldn't tell if Ryker was trying to get on her better side by loosing or he wasn't such an expert on winning games in general. The sun was just rising over the water, newly fresh air spilled through the city, and buildings were shining from the sun's morning rays. Even though it was very early and both hadn't slept, they decided to walk down to Manhattan Square to a little cafe on the corner, sitting at a table isolated from all the rest next to the window.

'May I take your order?' Noctavia looked up to see a woman with blonde ringlets framing her face in black pants and a light blue blouse. The menu she held between her fingers had a variety of delicious choices but as many as there were, she only enjoyed one thing. "I'll take a small glass of orange juice and blueberry waffles with extra whip cream, please." The woman smiled to her, she watched as she jotted down a few notes on her little notepad. No matter what age she was whether she was an infant or a hundred and twenty seven -which she is now of recent-, Noctavia loved blueberry waffles. 'Coming right up.' She looked to Ryker whom sat in front of her. 'How about you sweetheart?' The Alphess glanced over to the male shifter, her emerald eyes looking into his curiously to see if he'd make fun of her choice of breakfast.

Ryker did his best to be a gentleman to the woman that ruled the pack. This, unfortunately, included not stomping her into the ground while playing games. Surprisingly enough, though, this did not take a remarkable amount of effort. Of course, Ryker did push himself and won a handful of their multiple games, but the majority of them were won by the alphess, though Ryker always pushed himself hard enough so that the victory would appear convincing. Most of their games were fairly close in final score, though. Particularly the air hockey. Such a fast game, played between two individuals with such heightened reflexes was sure to be legendary among mere mortals, had any been present to witness it. Late into the night, they played, and even long enough to greet the newly risen sun. As much of a fan of the shadows of night as he was, Ryker had to admit that there was a certain majestic beauty about the rising sun as he and Noctavia made their way to the little café on the corner near Times Square. He could not help but smirk just a little bit as he realized that he had raced right past this very café before. He hadn’t had a clue it had even been there.

Noctavia’s order garnered a slightly raised eyebrow, but it was carefully and quickly lowered. It wouldn’t do to insult his new Alphess, now, would it? He did find it more than slightly odd, though, that her order did not have even a scrap of meat in it. Well, steak was probably out of the question, given the fact that this place was serving breakfast, so Ryker settled on the next best thing. “I’ll have a sausage, egg and cheese skillet, please. And could you replace the hash browns with extra bacon?” he asked, giving a small smile to the waitress.

Once she had left, taking the menus with her, Ryker turned to fully face Noctavia. “Well, my Alphess, would you mind satisfying my burning curiosity and telling me a bit about yerself? Surely there’s a reason that ya’ve come all the way out here to start your own pack.” He watched her response carefully. Should she show signs of overt displeasure, the question would be immediately rescinded, along with Ryker’s sincere apologies.

A slight draft blew underneath the cafe's wooden doors, kissing the nip of her neck ever so slowly. Noctavia ignored the waitress as she listened to Ryker place his order, then the faint nose of the mortal woman's footsteps grow quieter, walking away from their table next to the window she'd been looking out most of the time since they sat down. The palm of her small pale hand cradled her chin as her gaze took in the morning's beauty. As much as she loved the darkness for it hid her and her other half from the distasteful world, the daylight strangely made her eyes aglow with dancing specks of a brighter green. The same outfit she'd worn yesterday still hung from her slim figure as well as his some how similar one did. The Alphess thought it was pointless to leave the man in the lobby as she went all the way up to her room just to change into something more new, plus the fact it'd be disrespectful to Ryker as he stood in his same clothes alone. The cafe had been just around the corner anyway and Noctavia figured it'd be best just to change when she got back. When the brute questioned her about the forming of the pack's story she didn't hesitate to ask. Werelings that wanted or were being recruited needed to know even if she hated bringing it up for it had a lot to do with her history of Noctavia's family pack.

Her long legs crossed over each other, leaning against the table with her forearms, with jet black hair covering one of her eyes. "Well if you truly want to know as of why I want to create this pack it is to prove myself better and become what I rightfully was meant to be." Noctavia's gaze lingered it's way from the city view to his eyes. "Back in my family's pack, the Dark pack of course. I was born under pure-werewolf blood of both of the Alpha, thus creating me into a werewolf at adolescence like any other pure-breed and daughter. Well, since I was young I knew what I was to become when I turned thirteen, I craved the need to shift for the fitst time." She shrugged. "When I did turn for the first time I had already learned how to control it, however I didn't want to." Noctavia grinned slyly and chuckled under her breathe as she could still remember it like it was yesterday. "My pack feared the worse in me because I was supposed to become their Alphess and rule over the pack someday. Unfortunately for them, I was dangerous, cruel in all ways possible with the help of what I really am inside." Her smiled cocked to the side, pulling the bangs away from her eyes and back behind her several pierced ear. Noctavia leaned back in her seat. "They exiled me. The cowards were too afraid that I would make the pack a living nightmare, not that I see anything wrong with that but.-" The Alphess shrugged as she spoke. "-Oh well. So, I moved to the big city when I graduated college and found this hotel, started making a living working in advertising, After A while I started really seeing how many shifters -like us- were really coming to New York and decided to start a pack of my own."

Noctavia's satisfied expression quickly buckled down at the sound of the waitress's footsteps rounding the corner, an aroma of blueberry followed with it. She watched as the blonde mortal set both plates down to both her and Ryker. The waffles she'd ordered stared deeply into her eyes, sending the Alphess in a wondrous transe the grin on her face turning into a toothy smile. When the woman left she looked to Ryker before eating, she pointed a fork to him, one of her eyes shut. "My turn to ask a question." She paused letting her thoughts find a great question that sparked her curiosity. "Oh yeah, how could I forget? How would you feel about being my pack's Beta? I watched your abilities come into play back on those rooftops earlier and started to think about it. I feel you'd make an excellent Beta and was wondering how you'd feel about it."

Ryker tossed his head gently, once his order had been placed, in order to resituate the black hood of his jacket. He found it remarkably entertaining that he and the alphess were dressed very nearly identically. Although, were one to ask him, Ryker would insist that she wore it better. He listened intently to her tell the tale of her history, as well as that of the pack that he was now a part of. It was rather an interesting tale and Ryker carefully filed away bits and pieces of it in his mind for future reference. A slight grin spread across Ryker’s face. “And do you plan on making the Eternal Darkness pack into a living nightmare, per chance?” he asked, black eyes sparkling slightly in the light of the café.

There conversation was put on hold, momentarily, by the return of the waitress with the food that they had ordered. When she slid his plate down in front of him, Ryker took a deep breath, relishing the scent of meat, overcooked as it was. While facing down a fork, Ryker grinned and spread his hands to the side, as though displaying that he was unarmed. “Ask away, Alphess Noctavia. I am an open book.”

The question that she chose, though, did manage to catch him slightly off guard. He blinked at her, just making sure that he had actually heard her correctly, then chuckled, shaking his head slightly. “I apologize, you’ve managed to catch me off guard. And that doesn’t happen very often,” he added, grinning across the table at his dining partner. “You honor me by asking, Alphess. It would be my pleasure and sincere honor to serve as your Beta,” he replied, dipping his head in a slight bow, which brought his extraordinarily sensitive nose rather close to the plate of sausage and bacon, which caused both he and the wolf inside him to lick their lips in anticipation. As soon as Ryker realized what he was doing, though, he forced himself to stop. As much as his stomach burned for some real food, he was not going to even think about taking a bite before his Alphess. Lifting his head once more, he smiled broadly at the Alphess. “Thanks very much,” he said, seeming to have dropped a layer of formality.

The sly grin that curled her light pink lips spread side at the brute's question she was anticipating on him asking. She nodded, chuckling to herself. "Hell yeah. Once I start persuading more shifters that I know are strong, badass warriors, no other pack around here will want to mess with us. Not even the Bravehearts." Noctavia lifted her knife from the counter, dragging it over onto the side of her plate. Turning it in her hand against the glass she admired the meal she had ordered. Most of the time cafes in the city wouldn't offer her favorite dish so the Alphess always ended up getting steak and eggs. In the back of her throat she could feel the saliva build, stomach growing irritated with impatience as it growled behind her identical black hoodie. She hadn't eaten since last night and even then it didn't satisfy her hunger. Noctavia wouldn't bare to make a fool out of herself in front of another, it showed weakness. The canines bit into her tongue to stop, she tasted blood but didn't make a face or motion to indicate that it had hurt.

At her surprise, she looked up to see Raiden's changed expression when she offered to her pack's Beta male. The Alphess smiled greatly, pleased to know that the male had know idea of what she was to ask and that he was willing to be Beta. "You're very welcome Ryker. Now as you know, -from previous experience- the Beta is basically the vice president of a business you could say. I of course -me being the Alphess- would be the president or boss. You'll have to work harder than most packmates, helping me with accepting and vetoing newcomers into the pack along with it." Noctavia saw the sparkle in his black orbs and paused before speaking again. "If say, I'm out for a day or longer, you'd take my position over the pack until I get back and make sure the others are under control. I'm sure you and I both don't want a bunch of werewolves running around the hotel eating mortals. Yeah..." Her lips pursed against each other as she shook her head slowly. "Don't think New York City would like that either..." The Alphess laughed at her small joke. Mortals didn't take the looks of a wolf as tall as a bus growling and chasing after them as they scream bloody murder through the streets. Although as much as she thought about it, she laughed a bit harder but kept it in an indoor level of volume. "But Hell that would be awesome to scare the shit our of everyone." The twisted fae sighed and started to cut her waffles in which were now soaked in a blueberry wonder, swirls of melted whip cream swimming through the violet streams of juice that poured off the edges. "I'm sure you'll make a great Beta. I trust you which is rare considering I never trust anyone other than myself and very little of my packmates."

Her fork full of waffle pointed to him and she gave a teasing smile. "You got lucky kid." Noctavia turned the silverware to her mouth, flashing her long canines to Ryker before pulling it off the fork, and then swallowing it whole. Her hunger insisted on more of the delicious food, pleading as it devoured the waffle with stomach acid. "Well Beta Ryker now that I know you are an open book, I have two questions I'd like to ask. It has nothing to do with being Beta though." She arched a brow, twirling her fork against the plate like she had done earlier with her butter knife. "I already told you I worked in advertising after I got my bachelors degree in business and art, what do you do for a living here in this city? What I'd also like to know is.. what was it like to shift for the first time?"

Ryker chuckled slightly when he heard what Noctavia truly planned for their pack. It was an admirable goal, certainly. Custom tailoring a pack specifically to surpass another pack would no doubt be a difficult challenge. A challenge which Ryker quite suddenly found himself quite at the forefront of. Well, he did not come to this city for a vacation, for sure. He just nodded, still smiling as his thoughts spun down the paths of conquering the Braveheart pack.

As she detailed the things that she expected him to do, Ryker nodded his head, making sure not to forget any of them. “I’ve never been a beta in a pack,” he admitted, shrugging slightly. “Although, I was the son of an Alpha with what I suppose you could call a kingdom. Don’t worry, Alphess,” he said, grinning impishly. “I can certainly handle things.” When she mentioned members of the pack roaming around and terrorizing the citizens of New York, Ryker tipped his head back and laughed. “Ah, aye, that’d be a sight, certainly. I thank ya for trusting me with this. I won’t let ya down.”

When she called him lucky, Ryker leaned back in his seat a little bit and smiled. “Ah, my Alphess, ya wound me. I might be Irish, but luck didn’t have much to do with it.” After she took a bite of her meal, Ryker allowed himself to cut a piece of sausage, which he used to help scoop up some of the eggs and cheese on his plate. This he placed in his mouth and slowly slid the food off of the fork with his teeth, chewing thoughtfully as he listened to Noctavia’s questions. He chuckled a little bit when she asked if he had a job. “I don’t have a job, actually. Mostly, I make my living off of racing winnings, but I also have a very sizeable account in Switzerland that I can draw on, if I need to.” He took another bite of sausage and egg while he thought about his next answer.

“My first shift was probably the most memorable night of my life, so far. It was excruciating beyond anything I felt before or after.” He chuckled slightly at a memory dredged up by thinking about that night. “My brother said that I almost impaled him with a bedpost. I had been trained and taught about what I was and what I should expect when I did shift, but that didn’t really prepare me for it, ya know? My brother, though, stayed with me the whole time. He kept me from doing too terribly much damage to the house, but I did give him a pretty impressive set of scars. What about you? What was your first time like?” He took yet another bite of his breakfast as he watched her, legitimately interested in what her answer would be.

Noctavia chuckled. "Sounds useful. I on the otherhand don't believe in saving accounts to draw from, it's too risky. Like I said, I don't really trust anyone. My money isn't going anywhere near a mortal's hands with how much I earn in a day." She arched a brow curiously. "How much do you usually earn in one race?" The Alphess leaned in closer, interested to hear about the first time he shifted. Every shifter's first time is a memorable event to share, even if they are the most boring individual you'll ever meet. It's the one time where they barely ever can control themselves, forced under the wolf's power, enabling for them to remain hostile till the wolf decides to leave on it's own. Noctavia could control her inner being for she had been anticipating the beast's arrival for many days on end since she was informed by the Dark's pack directly what she was to become someday. Ryker seemed to be the same on his first time just like her, only he had someone to be with them throughout the life changing event.

"I was prepared from the get-go. That night the first time I shifted was probably the best day out of all the my days of living. It consisted nothing but me inside a chamber miles away from my pack's border." She leaned in her seat, grinning as she looked out the window, taking in the memory like it was yesterday. "My family's pack wanted nothing to do with my first shift, they felt I was capable of doing it on my own with all the preparation I had on my back since I was infant that I could control myself." Noctavia snickered sinisterly under her breath. "When I felt the rush of my soul be devoured I laughed the whole entire time I remember. The snapping of my bones into the position of a wolf's hind leg and pulses of rage I went through was excruciating yes but I longed for it for years, just wanting it to take over in an instant. No one ever was there for me, I could control her but-." She paused giving a sly grin to Ryker before continuing. "I didn't want to. Once I was fully transformed into a black large beast I let the werewolf do whatever pleased her." The Alphess held up six fingers. "I killed five innocent mortals that night and one of my pack's warriors, then finding blood all over my body as I wake up in the middle of some forest, alone." The female shrugged careless to the ones she murdered. "I was the strongest and most feared werewolf in my family's pack. They were terrified of what I could do to them if I shifted on the spot."

A yawn escaped her mouth, exhausted after not getting any sleep in the passed few days. Increasing volume of footsteps tapped behind her, the blonde walking up behind the Alphess, putting down a slip of paper what seemed to be the bill. 'Can I get you guys anything else?' Noctavia shook her head as she took one last bite of her waffle. "No thanks, we're good." The woman smiled. 'Okie dokie, you two love birds have a good day.' She winked and trotted off. "No We'r-" Noctavia was cut off as the woman left, out of earshot as she tried to deny that she was in fact not with with him. She sighed, a little flushed inside but nothing on her face to show. Taking the bill she looked down at the grand total. $16,82... The Alphess looked up to Ryker. "Any questions to ask me before I go pay?"

Ryker shrugged a little bit when Noctavia made the comment about his income being useful. Her quip about “how much she earns in a day” did pique his interest, but he was more polite than to straight up ask a lady how much money she made, even if that lady was probably one of the most violent, and therefore, dangerous people that he had ever met. “My winnings vary pretty wildly from race to race. Just the other night, actually, I beat some small town hick that thought he was ready to run with La Loup. That’s the name that I use when I’m racing, and before ya ask, no, I was not the one to come up with it, oddly enough. On a really good night, though, I’ve made upwards of…” Ryker waggled his fingers through the air as he rounded an appropriate figure. “[color=red]About ten thousand dollars, yeah. But those kinds of races only come up once in a blue moon.[/color”

He leaned back in his seat and folded his arms over his chest while he listened to Noctavia talk about her first time shifting. It did not sound incredibly dissimilar to his experience, although, as with everything about this woman, it was more violent than what he had experienced. His family had kept him carefully isolated when he shifted for the first time just so that he would not go on a rampage and kill scores of helpless mortals. His family did have an image to uphold, after all. It sounded like the Dark family held no such compulsions.

For the first time in their little meeting, the beast inside of Ryker’s mind stirred. Ryker got the impression that he had been studying this female just as closely as Ryker himself had been, but now he was finished. “I like this female,” the wolf told him. A very small smile pulled at the corners of his lips as he replied in his mind, “Of course you do. I imagine that you and she could go on quite the lovely rampage, Beta wolf.” Ryker felt a flush of pride come from the wolf at hearing his new title, but he managed to keep that from bleeding through into him just as the waitress made that little quip about Ryker and Noctavia being a couple. While she posed an indignant rebuttal, Ryker just chuckled and shook his head lightly. Now that was an interesting idea.

“I have got just one question, yeah. Well, two, I suppose. How far does our territory extend and what is the protocol for coming across someone from Braveheart inside of it? Is there a certain amount of tolerance that they’re allowed or should I just kill them on sight?”

She smirked at the nickname he was ironically given. "You do know that 'La Loup' in French means 'The Wolf' right? I'm not surprised to hear about how much one race could accumulate in one winning. Few years back I did Pinks with a group outside of Fulton County." Noctavia shrugged, leaning back in her seat. "Nothing big, just a fair crowd to watch. I was driving cherry red 1964 Plymouth Savoy while the other dude I verse drove in this horrid green colored 65 Dodge Cornett." Her head shook at the sight of such a grotesque color to paint a beautiful piece of machinery. "The guy was so pissed when he found out a chick like me beat him, almost went after me with a beer bottle when the party scattered and I had the car's deed." Her lips cocked into an evil grin. "Too bad he had to see wolfie come out that night..." The Alphess smoothed back her hair behind her ears, rummaging through her purse for her wallet.

"Took both the cars home of course with the help of a guy I knew out there. Got the Dodge a new paint job, sapphire blue with yellow racing striped across the top. Then I sold it for a few ten thousand grand to an old friend out in Staten Island." Finding her wallet finally underneath everything, taking it out and writing a check out to pay the breakfast. Her babbling was starting to make her feel she was being annoying to the male shifter, looking up at the sound of his curiosity behind his voice. Noctavia pursed her lips against each other as she thought over what to say without it sounding complicated. "The Bravehearts rarely come into the city, however if one of the packmates cross paths with them I have no objection to what they will do. If they feel the Braveheart is a threat then by all means fight. Usually I'd let it come to a murder fest but try your hardest to hold back. We don't want a war breaking out between the packs in the middle of New York. As for the territories, it stretches throughout the whole entire city. I mean, it even goes into the Projects as you know of."

Noctavia stood on her feet, feeling her blood circulate through her legs again, one of her legs felt like it had been electrocuted back to life. Pushing in her chair she smiled once her eyes met his gaze again. "Let's get the Hell out of here."

Ryker grinned when she mentioned the translation of his nickname. “Yeah, I know. My racing career didn’t really start until I lived in Paris, so that’s where the name started. They said that I drove like a wolf hunting prey. Little did they know, aye?” Somehow, the idea that Noctavia had raced for pink slips was not all that surprising to Ryker. It was just about the most final, vindictive prize that you could claim after beating your opponent, and that seemed to fit her modus operandi perfectly. Although, when she mentioned the racing stripe, Ryker shuddered slightly. He had never liked racing stripes.

The information that she gave about the pack’s interaction with the Bravehearts inside the Eternal Darkness territory was interesting, to say the least, and fairly enlightening. It was not quite the answer that he had been expecting, but it was a good one. At the mention of the projects, though, Ryker shrugged a little bit. “Ah, I just pulled a couple o’ strings and found out that the dominant pack patrolled that area pretty regularly. And it looks like my sources weren’t wrong, eh?” He grinned at her a little bit before also standing to his feet. He flipped the hood of his hoodie up over his black hair and then slipped his hands into the pockets. Once the bill had been paid, he followed her out of the café and into the crisp morning air. “Well, is there anything that you would have me do now, my Alphess?” he asked, looking over at her. What would she ask him to do? So many possibilities.

Noctavia held an arm out, pushing the door to let him through. The early morning wind was picking up, sending shivers down her spine, chilling her to the bone. Once he was out, she noticed that his hood had been pulled back over his slightly charming haircut, she rolled down her sleeves that covered her palms and tattoo licked arms, radiating her body heat back to normal underneath her identical black sweatshirt. It was the middle of spring in yet it felt like late fall, there was no color to the city at this time of day, the streets were fairly busy with business men and women rushing through morning traffic like they always did. She looked to her new Beta, listening intently to his words as they walked in unison down the crooked concrete paths, passing stores that were beginning to be filled with lights and open signs being turned against windows.

She smiled once she heard that her hope for strong werewolves in need of a pack was passing rapidly over the cities, extending further to others. "It seems the word about my pack has been spreading more than I expected it too. Good, soon Eternal Darkness will flourish, coming closer to my expectations as I had planned." As much as she hated and distrusted a majority of others like Ryker and her, Noctavia knew she could trust the male, knowing that he'd make an outstanding Beta for the pack, putting warriors in their place and helping her out with plans.

Just before they'd exited the cafe he'd asked her a question of what she wanted him to do, their gaze met and she nodded. "Your first order of being a Beta is..." She cocked a grin. "Go and unpack your stuff, I'll get you a key once we get back to the hotel. Okay La Loup?" The Alphess snickered, tucking her hands in her pocket all the way there. Walking into the lobby she went straight to the front desk, asking for a key specifically on one of the higher floors in which was needed if he was going to be working with her a lot more. Giving the key to Ryker she waved a goodbye, walking inside of the elevator's metal doors. "Oh!" Her arms extended, holding the doors so they wouldn't close. Noctavia grinned to Ryker. "Congratulations, wereling. Welcome to the pack." She was gone, heading back to her room to nap, smiling at her reflection in the metal panels inside the elevator. Welcome home Ryker...