Just Keep Swimming (Closed)

"Where the hell is it?!" She barked, digging through piles of clothes in the very back of her long closet of clothes ranging in different types from elegant and classy to casual lounge-wear. Noctavia looked around and scurried over to a drawer she hadn't searched yet, ripping it out of it's socket and onto the floor, she sighed in relief. Running with the two pieces of black fabric into the bathroom, she quickly stripped down and slipped it over her slim figure with no trouble at all. The Alphess turning her back to the large mirror, reaching back and tying the strings that hung from the bikini top, tightening it around her average chest. After all the stress with recruiting and accepting shifters into the pack, she' became mentally-exhausted, needing time to cool off with the help of the hotel's peaceful pool area isolated from all the madness deep within the building.

Noctavia grabbed her phone and hotel key, slinging a towel over her shoulder as she pulled all her long waves to the side of her neck. Her eyes scanned the room for anything else she might need, remembering everything her feet turned, walking out the door and letting it slam behind her without a care. As Noctavia trotted down the grey carpeted hallways, her bare feet made no sound, giving her the advantage to no one hearing her to deciding to go for a swim to accompany her. The speed in her steps increased down the stairs, avoiding any eye contact with mortal men who fawned over the female in strange ways that made her furious. She took sharp turns down twisting hallways on the bottom floor, coming to a stop to a door with a large window, gold cursive letters that read "Pool Area" across the center. Pushing her way in, the pool lay untouched before her eyes, no scents came to her so there was a high likely chance that no one had been here of recent.

Seeing the water so still and solid, the urge to jump in the cool clear liquid pushed into her mid-back. Looking around she saw a table and decided to set her stuff down there before going in. A smile curled her lips back as her emerald eyes peered over to a stereo in the corner of the quiet room. The Alphess jogged over and instantly tuned it to a rock station, the sounds of blasting guitars and meaningful lyrics bursted through the speakers, filling the room with music. She moved her hips to the rhythm lip singing to words to the song she'd come to know very well and loved. Finally she stopped and ran to the deepest section of the pool, diving perfectly in, devoured by the soothing water. It felt riveting to be under water again. Kicking her legs back up to surface, her face felt the air come back, taking in a breathe to fill her lungs with fresher air. Her eyes closed, leaning back against the water to float perfectly on top on her back. She listened to the music, peacefully taking in relaxation for once. Finally...

So far, Ryker had been adjusting to his new home rather well. He did have to admit, there were a couple rambunctious members of the pack and he had had to prove himself as beta once or twice, but nothing too serious, nor had the confrontations actually come to blows. That was one thing that Ryker had always been good at; getting out of a fight without actually throwing a punch. Of course, if he had to, he could have taken care of a fight, but he would just rather not.

His room, also, was rather nice. It was much nicer than the room that he used to have, a pretty small apartment on the corner of two busy streets. It wasn’t ideal real estate, to be sure, but it suited his needs. This room, though, seemed like the height of luxury. The queen bed filled a large portion of the room, but there was still plenty of room around the bed for the desk, a small sitting area with a couch and one easy chair, as well as one flat screen, high definition television. Also, the view was absolutely brilliant. However, there was exploring to be done. One place that he was looking forwards to checking out was the pool. Not that he was planning on swimming, exactly, but he had always found pools to be relaxing places to just sit and think.

Slipping his well-toned frame into a pair of gray shorts and a black tank top, which revealed a black, celtic cross tattoo on his right breast, Ryker made his way out of his bedroom and into the elevator, which he rode down to the floor that he had been told held the pool. There didn’t seem to be too many people about today, which was kind of nice, if he was honest. As he approached the pool, he cocked his head slightly. There was quite a bit of fairly loud music coming from inside. “Now, who is that?” he muttered, pushing the door open and making his way inside.

As soon as he was inside the room, he sniffed and identified Noctavia’s scent. Ah, so this was how his Alphess relaxed. Glancing at the pool, he noticed her taking her ease in the water and a sudden urge to run and cannonball right next to her sprung up in the back of his mind. Don’t you dare, the wolf growled at him. Ryker just chuckled quietly and made his way to the edge of the water. “I hope I’m not disturbing you too badly, Alphess,” he said, smiling down at her floating body. “I was just exploring a bit and thought I’d take a peek at the pool. It is lovely, I must say.”

At the sound of a familiar voice, her body sank back into the water till it was up to her shoulders. She was surprised to catch eyes with a man, then taking in a small whiff and a few blinks, she identified who he really was. Noctavia wasn't in the mood to talk, however it was Beta Ryker, someone that doesn't really bother her compared to the rest. The Alphess as she kept her neck above the surface with some kicks to her long legs. "I doesn't matter, finding peace around here for me is pretty much impossible." She cocked a frown to the side, tilting her head a bit. "It's alright. I'm glad to here you're getting to know your surroundings." Something tells me he wasn't talking about the pool....the voice hissed and then turned into a chuckle at the back of her head.

"Have you been meeting any of the packmates so far, you know, like other than me?" The Alphess grinned. It was fortunate to know she actually trusted someone in this whole building of werewolves, it was rare for her to even acknowledge someone's presence even if they were kind and composed. Ryker seemed like the perfect Beta for the pack, a guy that could put another in line and work with easily. So far, she hasn't been wrong, but will that change?

Ryker cocked his head slightly at the rather disparaging reply to his apology. "My apologies, Miss. I can leave and just come back later, if that would be better for you," he offered, already half turning to leave. However, it seemed that Noctavia did kind of want to talk, after all. Kicking his shoes off, Ryker sat down at the edge of the pool, dangling his feet and calves into the warm water. It really did feel good and, while Ryker was not the best of friends with water, he decided that he would have to come and have a swim, sometime, just to relax in the warmth.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I've figured out where everything is inside the hotel. Unless you've got a couple secret rooms or somethin' along those lines," he added, winking impishly. He chuckled a little bit about her quip about getting to know some of the other pack members. "Aye, I've met one or two. Had to convince 'em that I really was the Beta, but we shouldn't be havin' any more trouble, now. There don't seem to be that many of us hanging about the hotel, though. I guess those twelve to fourteen purebloods are out in the city, huh?" he said, grinning. In his time in the hotel, he had not smelled very many purebloods. True, there were a couple here and there, but not the numbers that Noctavia had boasted of in the alleyway.

Ryker leveled his gaze on the floating alphess. He didn't seem distracted in the least by her admittedly very lovely body. "So, Alphess Noctavia. Now that I'm here and you know that I won't go runnin' off like a scared pup, how many purebloods do you really have under your command?" Thanks to the indoctrination of his family, as well as his own personal experience, Ryker tended to be of the opinion that a single well trained pureblood tended to be worth two to three equally well trained Wilders. He hoped that Noctavia was not trying to create an army of Wilders. In no scenario that he had figured, did he see that situation ending well.

Her arms smoothed through the water, sending her floating body backwards towards the opposite side of the pool, away from the Beta. "It's okay, I don't mind it." The music was a little too loud, as much as she liked it that way, it got in the way of talking. The two may have a strong sense of hearing but it tend to get annoying after a while, for the Alphess it was getting annoying a lot quicker. Hoisting herself up on the edge, her skin felt the air around her, water dripping from her body as she walked along the pool's edge to the stereo. Just as she was turning down the knob, Ryker spoke again. Noctavia lifted her head, not to look at him but the wall behind the stereo, a grin pealing her lips back. So he finally found out... She turned, casually leaning against the electronic. "Psh...did I say fourteen? I meant four. My bad." She couldn't help it, lying didn't really effect the Alphess, she tended to do it alot to get what she wanted. Noctavia shrugged, turning down the volume like she wanted, the music's echoes becoming more distant than before.

A chuckle vibrated through her throat, walking the other side her head slightly shook, shaking off the weird humor that filled her so easily. Her hands went to her hair, coming it with her fingers to the side. It practically draped over her top section, strands of jet black hair sticking to her skin that dripped with chlorine water from the pool. There had been very few times she'd ever gone swimming here, too busy to do so she finally had the time to relax, to enjoy peace even for a little while. The Beta however didn't bother her, if he was going to be her Beta, it was necessary to become great friends, right? Usually if another packmate were to come along and interrupt she'd already have them against the wall by the neck, threatening them to leave. Her eyes darted to the male, whom was sitting at the water's edge, legs dangling in the warmth of the clear pool. "My apologies, I have a thing for lying ya know? Anyway how's it going? I haven't seen you since...what?' She paused to think. "Two days I think?" Noctavia shrugged, sitting down next to him, resting her tattoo licked arms on top of her knees. "I don't know. Do you like your room and how everything has been? If you have any suggestions or questions about the others I'm willing to answer them. It's necessary for the Beta himself-" She poked his shoulder- "to notify the Alphess if anything is wrong." She gave a toothy grin, long canines exposed, looking into his eyes curiously.

Rhyker grinned at when the truth finally came out about the real number of Purebloods in the pack. “Aye, that smells about right,” he said, chuckling slightly. He watched her move towards him and had to admit, she was pretty and certainly moved with a very poised and balanced grace in her movements that spoke of supreme self-confidence. In another situation, he might have said cockiness, but it was not wise to insult one’s alphess, even inside one’s own head.

“Ah, things are going just fine,” he answered, scooting over a little bit to make room for her to sit down. “The hotel is lovely and I couldn’t ask for a better view from my room. The only other real city that I’ve lived in was Paris, but that apartment was a hovel compared to this place. The staff seems nice enough. Are they all human?” He leaned back, bracing his hands against the floor, and shifted his legs back and forth in the water, but chuckled slightly when she poked his shoulder. “I can’t really say too much about the others, though. It seems like pretty much everyone is still tryin’ to get to know one another and the hotel and how they fit into the grand scheme o’ things. If anythin’, it’s like the first day that you drop a dog off at the kennel. Everyone’s sniffing each other’s ass and seeing just how far they can push without getting bitten. I think it’ll be a very interesting thing to see when they stop treating each other like strangers and start thinking of themselves as a pack.” He looked over at her, his black eyes fairly shimmering in the shifting light reflected from the pool. “It’ll be extremely interesting, I’d even say.”

She pulled a thick strand of her black hair, dividing it into three different strands and weaving them into a braid as she listened to Ryker. Setting the small braid to the side, Noctavia grinned, pleased to know he was enjoying his time here in his new home but a little curious to his passed when he had mentioned Paris before to her, only last time that was back at the cafe they'd enjoyed breakfast one morning at. "The view is miraculous I do have to admit, you should see it at the top of the Empire State building." Her gaze averted to the pool's still water, reminding her of how jello looked like when it was untouched. "For now all the workers are human, but if an underaged werewolf comes along, I'd be more than willing to offer them a job here. As for the packmates, I'm not surprised to hear about them getting to know one another. Hopefully they'll get along and befriend each other, it'll put a lot of my stress at ease to know that everything is running smoothly. If you see anything goes wrong, I trust you to inform me right away, got that?" She questioned the Beta. The Alphess had mentioned the same command repetitively, she needed to know that the Beta rank was being put in the correct hands. If her instincts were right, then she'd know that Ryker was the perfect choice.

Noctavia turned her head to face Ryker again, pursing her lips in thought. "I hate to ask but, what's your story? You've told me how you lived in the beautiful city of Paris, in yet you never really had mentioned what you did there, or who you've come to know. Aren't you like at least a hundred years old? Surely you've had an interesting past, am I right?" Her emerald hues looked to the wall. "My apologies, I'm just very curious. You don't have to answer that."

Ryker chuckled a little bit when Noctavia mentioned that world famous landmark. “I have wanted to see that for a while. Perhaps I’ll get a chance sometime soon, eh?” he said, grinning a little bit. “Although, I imagine it’d be a bit similar to the Eifel, just with a bigger city all around.” The fact that every staff member was mortal was not so much a surprise to Ryker, since he had more or less deduced that by smell, but it did seem slightly strange. Mentioning young werewolves working in the hotel caused Ryker’s eyes to widen ever so slightly. He had dealt with one or two physically young and freshly turned werewolves in his day and he was not eager to do so again. Most often, children lacked the necessary mental control and maturity to be able to handle anything even remotely as wild as a wolf inside their heads. He nodded when she talked about informing her of anything wrong that he found. “Of course, Ma’am.”

Ryker leaned back a little bit when Noctavia asked about his history. “Well, closer to eighty, but yeah. Mostly, I grew up in Ireland with my family, ruling over most of the country. Growing up, I was pretty carefully trained to be prepared for what I was, and also to be able to take care of myself against others like us. When I left the family, I moved to Paris and started my real career in racing. That’s how I sustained myself living apart from my whole family. I’ve got the Swiss bank account, like I told ya earlier, but honestly, I haven’t touched the damn thing in years. Uh, in Paris, I mostly just raced and made a name for meself. Stayed there for, eh, six or seven years, then came here.” He flashed her a grin. “Not really all that exciting, I guess, when ya look at it like that.”

"I'm sure you will someday soon. I know my ways of getting to the roof without anyone noticing, it's pretty simple actually. Humans don't really pay attention as much to their surroundings as we do to ours. It's the most remote area in all of New York City to be honest." She leaned down on her forearms. "I wouldn't say it's anything like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The view from the Empire State in my opinion is far better." Noctavia yawned slowly, eyes becoming sleepy after all the days she hadn't slept and worked instead. The Alphess was relieved to hear that Ryker was filling up to her expectations for him in following orders. Making a mental note to remind her, she looked up to meet his obsidian black gaze. She'd never seen someone's eyes so black in all her life, they held a small twinkle, a twinkle of what though? It made the female curious.

Noctavia was a little surprised to hear that he was closer to eighty, but even more interested in his almost normal history. But what is normal now of days is the question the everyone has no answer to. Maybe she had expected more to happen to such an interesting shifter, maybe the fae wanted to hear more. Most of what he said she had already heard of, but it didn't put her curiosity at ease. Refraining from asking further, she simply nodded followed by a small smile. "I wouldn't say it's the most fascinating past." The Alphess smirked playfully at her pinch of teasing within her tone. "I'm just kidding. It sounds like a more quiet history comparing to mine." She paused, sighing as her eyes lingered back to the eggshell, paint-chipping wall. "My family saw me as the demon, more or less." Her smile turning into a wicked, twisted grin at her past. The Alphess came from nothing more than a pack that hated her and wanted her dead. She was grateful to be out of there, starting on her own with a new pack that she ran by her rules, under her commands only.

Ryker chuckled slightly, only because he was well aware of how to get to certain places, including the tops of buildings, by methods that most people considered impossible. Of course, a great many things were possible for him that were not possible for even the world’s greatest Traceurs, but, as he liked to point out, “it’s not cheating if nature gave you the weapons.”

“Well, I’ll look forwards to the grand tour,” he told her, grinning. He didn’t really care if it felt secluded or not. He was perfectly fine living in the city, amidst the hustle and bustle of mortals, going about their business, doing the same things, day in and day out. It really was somewhat perversely entertaining to watch. The machinations of his own kind stretched far beyond the scope of a mere human. “Ah, but it is true that I haven’t had as eventful a past as most of our other pack members, I’d wager. My father was quite militant, so there was not very ample opportunity for adventure when I was younger. I suppose that’s the main reason I got into racing. To feel that rush of adrenaline in a sort of challenge were the only edge that I really do have is my reflexes. I wouldn’t say that I was the demon, but I was a bit of a black sheep,” he said, chuckling as he tugged the low collar of his tank top aside to clearly display the tattoo on his chest.

“I’ve got two others, but you’ll have to ask real nice if ya want to see those.” He grinned impishly at Noctavia before resettling his weight back on his hands and looking out at the pool. “[color=red]Do you spend a lot of time in here?[color]” he asked, still gazing at the softly shimmering water. “Ya just don’t strike me as much of a pool bum, ya know?”

"That must've been rough growing up like that. I don't think I could last very long if I weren't able to roam about the city or other places in general." She laughed. "I'd probably have an anxiety attack or let ole' wolfie come out for a while. Thankfully, I left that Hell hole and decided to live here, occasionally traveling to different countries to learn different cultures or histories if I had the time." Noctavia paused, looking to Ryker before speaking again. "When I was younger, I got really wasted one night and didn't understand where I was. Somehow I ended up on the roof of the Empire State Building with a bottle of whiskey in my hand, sitting on the edge." The Alphess shrugged and cocked her smile to the side. "Crazy as it may seem, I don't regret it. Ever since then, I've gone to the roof to get away from it all, to let myself feel free. Going up there for me is like racing for you. You getting that analogy? It seemed less confusing in my head." Noctavia sat up, putting her feet slowly in the water with the rest of her body.

Once her body was fully submerged with the water's line to her collarbone, she leaned against the pools edge, forearms holding up her chin as she watched Ryker expose his tattoo she had never noticed till now. Her eyes were left intrigued, almost challenged to find out where the others upon his body were. Unfortunately, she kept her distance, the Beta wasn't her type. For all she knew, he could be her twin with how identical they dress when wearing real clothes instead of swimwear. "To bad I'm not nice." She grinned, followed with a tilt to her head, shaking slowly. "I'm not. I've lived here for quite a while in yet I've only been swimming in this pool like three-four times." Noctavia reached her arms into the water, pushing off the wall into a float with a few kicks to her legs and balancing with her arms. "Why don't you get in? It's surprisingly warm, usually they never put the damn heater on. Probably because basically no one uses it, lucky for us." She held her breathe, slowly sinking deeper. Completely below the surface with eyes wide open, her hair floated above her head like black flames. Werewolves had the ability to hold their breathe a lot longer than mortals, ranging to at most ten minutes. Noctavia, however could hold it for fourteen.

The Alphess grinned slyly, knowing Ryker couldn't see her under the water. Her mouth opened slowly, letting water pour in until had completely filled her cheeks. She wasn't going to let the Beta leave without getting wet, besides seeing his face would humor her. Noctavia closed her mouth, kicking her way back up to fresh air after a moment. She had reached the surface and instantly spat the water out of her mouth onto Ryker's tank top. "Woops, did I do that?" Noctavia snickered, and backed up a bit before he could get to her.

Regardless of how it may seem, Ryker found that he and Noctavia did have a surprising amount in common. He would not be all that surprised if he decided to adopt her little hidey hole on top of the iconic Empire State Building. Although, he doubted that he would, or possibly even could drink so much that he blacked out. The term “genetic resistance” applied to him in more than one way, after all. He chuckled a bit at her analogy and nodded his head. “Nah, I understand. It’s a release, yeah?”

He watched as she slowly slid into the pool and then leaned against the wall. At her comment about her not being nice, Ryker grinned. “Well, be that as it may, it doesn’t mean ya can’t act nice once or twice, eh?” As the ripples caused by her retreat lapped against the walls of the pool, Ryker regarded the shimmering liquid. “Uh, that’s alright, if it’s all the same to you. I’d prefer to stay dry, if it’s all the same to you,” he said. Watching her submerge herself, Ryker had a pretty decent idea of what she was planning on doing and heaved a resigned sigh just as she came surging back to the surface.

Unfortunately, his prediction turned out more or less correct, although he honestly could have gone without the spitting portion of the splashing. Looking down at his now fairly soaked tank top, Ryker shrugged a bit. “Too late for that now, I guess,” he said, stripping his shirt off from the bottom up and revealing his slender, but very well toned torso. Without his shirt covering him, Noctavia could see that his shorts rode rather low, though not indecently so, on his hips. What was visible of his body showed uniformly well-toned muscles rippling with his movement beneath smooth, classic ivory Irish skin. He then slid into the water, dipping just below the surface before he kicked back up, shaking his head back and shaking his head, lifting his black-brown hair from being plastered against his head. Well, it wasn’t too bad, so far. Feeling slightly uncomfortable in the water, Ryker smiled ever so slightly sheepishly at Noctavia. “I hope you’ve got an extra towel.”

She groaned. "But being nice is so boring, I'd prefer to be mean thank you very much." Noctavia grinned as she watched Ryker dip into the warm water, coming to the surface with his dark hair sticking to his skull, dripping with water. "I almost thought you were never going to get your ass in for a sec there. Sad to say I only brought one towel with me, you'd have to be real nice if you got me to share it with out." Noctavia mocked the same words he used if she wanted to see his other tattoos. Her hands moved back a little behind her, halfway dipped into the water, a sly grin curled her pink pale lips as she eyes the Beta's flushed expression. "Not much of a water fan I'm guessing?"

The Alphess's arm scooped through the water and splashed him, chuckling as she fooled around. "Woops" Her legs kicked slowly, keeping her balanced above the water's surface, arms extended to keep her afloat. The two swam at the pool's center, their feet levitating only an estimate of a foot or two from the very bottom. She wasn't the shortest but she surely wasn't the tallest, Ryker practically towered over her just like most males did when she wasn't wearing the perfect heels. Noctavia pulled jet black wet strands of her hair back behind her ears, meeting Ryker's gaze with a pretend innocent face.

Ryker chuckled lightly, treading water to keep his head above the surface. “Aye, well, I almost didn’t. I don’t guess I need a towel, really. Got a couple canine tricks to use, eh?” he said, grinning. He began to swim around, slowly working his limbs through the warm water and gliding smoothly along. Upon being asked if he was much a fan of water, Ryker looked up at her and smiled a little uneasily, but not horrendously so. “Uh, yeah, you might say that. I can see the bottom and touch it if I stretch, so it’s not too bad, though.” A couple almost suppressed memories bubbled up through his mind, but Ryker used years of mental discipline to push them back down. This wasn’t the same as that time.

He ducked underneath the water for a brief moment when she splashed at him, keeping the water from being propelled into his eyes and mouth, then came back up, giving his head a quick shake. Glancing around at the pool area, Ryker thought of an interesting question. “What are the rules on shifting inside the hotel?” he asked, swimming in a little circle. “I don’t think that’s been covered in my introduction yet.”

Noctavia floated on her back, her front half exposed to the humid air that fogged the glass panels above their heads, shining the evening sun though to the pool's surface. She looked through the windows seeing clouds pass over the sun, hearing Ryker come back up from underneath the water. "Can't say I'm surprised, you stand like five inches taller than me. I can't even touch the bottom unless I go under, too short." Noctavia smirked, waving her arms through the water. "Unless I'm wearing heels, then I could even the heights, but I don't think the hotel staff would enjoy seeing someone wearing shoes in the pool." She shook her head, leaning it back half-way into the water. Her long loches of black hair flowing around, framing her apple-shaped face.

"Inside?" Her eyes looked to Ryker as if he were a madman. "Um...I don't think that'd be wise, unless you want mortals screaming out in terror like I had said back at the cafe. Don't get me wrong it sounds intriguing but don't we already have enough believers running about this world?" Noctavia turned her head back to the glass panel, letting out a long sigh. Her balance broke, reeling her down to a normal floating stance. The Alphess reached for the ledge, pulling herself and then sliding her body onto the pool's edge. Her arms leaned back, legs kicking the water at knee's length. "Now if you're wondering about outside?" She met his face, holding up three pale nimble fingers, perfectly polished with a layer of black upon each finger nail. "Three words." The female alpha paused. "Don't. Get. Caught. Other than that, I don't care. We've already discussed what to do in case of meeting a Braveheart, as long as you can keep wolfie inside till you get to remote areas with no one and I mean no one around, you're free to do as you please."

The Alphess took out her legs, and pushing herself back up onto two legs, hands pinching her hips. Lips twirked to the side and eyes narrowed in thought. She had intentionally gotten out but was lost in thought as she answered Ryker's question. A pair of emerald gems scanned the room, stopping on the stereo she had turned all the way down. Ah ha. Noctavia walked over, taking her time. She slowed a bit and peered to Ryker still in the pool. "Do you mind?" The woman pointed to the stereo in the corner.

A small chuckle lifted through Ryker’s throat at his Alphess’s words. “Yeah, I don’t think stilettos would work real well in a pool, anyhow,” he replied, stopping swimming in his little circles and beginning to simply tread water. Despite his unease, it was fairly nice to just let his body relax in the warm water. He grinned slightly at Noctavia’s answer about shifting inside the hotel. It did sound like fun, terrorizing the hotel staff. Mean, but fun.

He nodded in response to her stating the rules for shifting outside of the hotel area. “I think I can handle that,” he said. He watched her as she climbed out of the water and started walking towards the CD player, noting the way that her muscles smoothly carried her across the pool deck. He made more than one mental note. “No, by all means,” he said, nodding towards the stereo. Just after, though, he placed his hands on the edge of the pool and heaved himself out of the water. As the water dripped down his chest, running in rivulets around his well toned muscles, he considered shifting momentarily so that he could dry himself, but settled on just shaking himself as he was. It did not quite work as well as if he had been covered in fur, but he was remarkably more dry than he had been moments ago. Now to drip-dry for a little bit.

“Do we ever take any pack hunting trips?” he asked, shaking his hands a little bit to rid them of loose water droplets. “I’ve been on one or two with my family before we, uh, disconnected, but I’ve always wondered what it would be like to go on one with an entire pack coordinating.”

With his allowance, she turned the knob, the speakers coming back to life with meaningful lyrics and repetitive drumbeats. The volume wasn't all that overpowering, just loud enough to talk normal to one another without repeating themselves but able to cause the stereo to vibrate with every beat. She heard splashing behind her, the sound of water hitting the pavement besides the pool's deck. Noctavia turned around, seeing the Beta lifting himself up and out of the pool, shaking in a weird fashion like as if he were an animal. She couldn't help herself but laugh hysterically at such a ridiculous site. The side of her ribs ached with every chuckle, her hands pressed against them, trying to hold her laughter inside.

The Alphess shook her head, walking to the other side next to the table with all of her items. Picking up the towel she had intentionally brought for herself, Noctavia trotted back over to the opposing side next to the dripping Ryker. "Here, smart-one." She handed the dark green soft towel to him, still chuckling slightly. "We do have hunting trips, but very rare ever show. It's not required since most of our kind can't keep their claws to themselves. The trips are only meant for the individuals that can handle their own skins and behavior, the rest stay. If you wish to have a gathering, by all means have at it. Just don't get in any trouble, I don't want to have any messages coming back to me saying one of our men or women were taken out by another. That's the last thing I wanna hear."

Once he had taken the towel, Noctavia had stopped her chuckles, a wide grin remaining. "Am I being nice enough for you?" Noctavia snickered, putting her hands on her hips.

Ryker looked over at Noctavia when she cracked up laughing and gave her a playful scowl. “Well, if I’m not allowed to shift inside, I’ve gotta get dry, somehow, right?” he said, grinning. Well, at least she laughed. That was the most vehement display of emotion that he had seen from the alphess so far. That was a good sign. He accepted the towel from her with a nod and a smile before toweling himself off, listening to her answer about the pack hunting as he did.

“That is one thing I’ve been thinking about,” he said. “Everyone does seem to be getting along pretty well, but if there’s a fight, do you find that it’s better to let things take their course, or should someone of a higher rank,” he gestured to himself and Noctavia, “step in and put a stop to it before someone gets hurt? In your experience, is it better to let the pack injure itself while naturally gaining a clear hierarchy or to prevent injuries and simply enforce the hierarchy?” Done with the now slightly damp towel, Ryker handed it back to Noctavia and grinned when she asked if she was being nice enough. He grinned.

“Aye, yer a regular angel, you are. Why, I might have caught pneumonia if I’d had to walk back to my room drippin’ wet. My shirt, on the other hand…” He gazed dolefully at the gray shirt that he had hung over one of the pool chairs. “Not quite so lucky.”

Taking the towel she backed up and dried off her pale legs, listening to Ryker intently. Noctavia threw the towel onto the table with all of her items, taking a seat and nodding her head to the other for him to sit. She reached across the table for her cigarettes, pinching one from the packet and grabbing her lighter, inflaming the end before setting it back down. The sign said 'No Smoking' but at this point, she couldn't give two shits. Noctavia did what she pleased, is she wanted to enjoy a cig or two there was no stopping her. Her gaze met Ryker after he had finished just as she exhaled a puff of smoke. "I'd advise we take it with caution and let them have at it till it's over, but if I see buckets of blood pouring out of deep wounds. Game over." Her hand swiped just below her chin, a way of saying 'Don't think so' to most.

"That's would be the correct time for you and I-" she pointed to him and to herself, the cigarette swaying in between her index finger and middle. "would step in like you said. I've dealt with extreme cases in my past and don't want to repeat them. If we know for sure that they can handle their own skins and not argue with one another, I'll consider them on coming along. If I see one fight or hear about a single one, the two or more are going to be speaking to me personally about it. Capeesh?" She set the cigarette to the side of her lips, taking a breathe and then chuckling at the word angel for her whole life she had been considered as the demon's flesh and blood. Not that she didn't mind the way her pack looked at her, she cared little of what people though about the fae. She spent most of her life with the drop-outs and punks that silently moved through the high-school halls. Her life filled with raging highschool parties and spared lives by herself. Noctavia peered over to his shirt she had splashed, then back to Ryker's orbs of obsidian.

"Does that mean I get to see these-" She held up both hands, two fingers on both quoting. "two tattoos of yours? I think I should earn some kind of reward for my little act of kindess since..." Noctavia trailed off in thought, counting to herself of when the last time she had been nice to an individual. It had seemed like years, but only a few months. The Alphess had been sitting in an empty bar in the middle of no where type of town, drinking her frustration away after dealing with the cops finding out a large black wolf just outside of the town had eaten all of an old couple's livestock. She could almost taste the blood of a large bull on her tongue. A bartender she had come to know after five shots of whiskey was cleaning and she decided to help, finishing his duties early for both of them to leave satisfied. He was mortal, but thankfully for him, Noctavia didn't kill him. Bring her attention back to her sentence, she took the cigarette out of her mouth, flicking it once for the ash to fall. "..about a few months ago to be exact, eh?"

Ryker took the seat that Noctavia indicated across the little table from her, though he did lean back slightly when she lit up a cigarette. He was not a smoker and the pungent fumes from the rolled up, dead plants caused his sensitive nose no end of trouble. So, he was expected to step in and stop fights, but only if they became dangerous. He could certainly handle that. His methods of fighting tended to catch most of his opponents off guard and so were rather conducive to quick, decisive actions. He nodded his understanding. “I follow, yeah. And I think that’s a pretty damn good way of handling things, too. If they’ve got a problem, let ‘em sort it and just stop ‘em from killing each other, right? Or makin’ too big a mess on the floor,” he added, grinning slightly. “Aye, I think I can handle that.”

When asked about the other two tattoos, the faintest blush, which would not have even been visible if his skin was not so pale, colored Ryker’s cheeks. He ran a hand through his still wet hair and fixed his eyes on Noctavia, letting out a big breath. After a moment of contemplation, he leaned forward and held up a single finger. “Alright, ya can see one, but I’d have to be damn drunk, naked, or dyin’ for ya to see the other.” After a moment’s more hesitation, Ryker stood up from his chair and turned to his right so that his left hip was facing the Alphess. The color in his cheeks deepened slightly as he hooked a thumb in the waistband of his shorts and pulled the left side of them down so that the smooth flesh of his his hip was exposed, as well as a fair bit of the side of his ass and the side of his abdominal V, though he was careful to keep the really interesting bits covered.

Etched just below the joint of his hip was a shining golden kite shield, about three inches tall, with the words, “A bheith cliste roimh láidir,” inscribed across the front in ornate lettering. He lifted his gaze, which had been focused on what he was doing so that he didn’t show off a bit too much, to regard Noctavia and smiled, cheeks still flushed pink. “Well, there it is,” he said, chuckling slightly. “It means, ‘Be clever before strong.’ I guess you could call it something of a personal motto for Dante and I.” While Ryker did feel rather embarrassed at more or less pulling his pants down in front of the Alphess, he could feel Dante fairly preening under her scrutiny. They both knew that both of their bodies were in extremely good shape, it was just that Dante tended to take advantage of that fact more often than Ryker himself. Maybe that bit of voyeurism was rubbing off on him a little bit. Now wouldn’t that be interesting, Dante commented, drawing another small chuckle from Ryker.

Noctavia nodded to the rythme of the music being displayed, lip-singing the lyrics of the song. As Ryker spoke she nodded once, looking passed her shoulder as soon as they found a trash can. Flicking it out of her grasp, it landed into the bin careless enough to not put it out. Peering to the male, she leaned on the arm of her chair as he got up, grinning at the site of his cheekbones a shade of scarlet red. The Alphess's eyes widen a bit at his torso and hips exposed, the perfect angle of his abdominal-v dip at the waist of his shorts. He didn't have the sun-kissed tan of a normal man she'd usually come across, his skin was irish pale like hers, for all she knew they could be some weird cousins or something.

A small golden shield appeared lay upon his left hip, staring at her directly with Gaelic. She got closer to his hip, leaning over in her seat. Noctavia didn't know much of the language, she looked up at Ryker's sheepish smile and words. "It's unique, I like it." The female looked back to the shield, reaching out to graze it with the tips of her nails. Touching the center of the small shield, over the quote gently. She had felt the skin of many men in her lifetime, if Ryker can handle himself. Her eyes stayed on the tattoo, not even bothering to examine the rest of his figure. Taking her hand down it lay limp against the arm rest, smirking up at the male as she took her eyes away. "Very cool. I'm thinking of getting a new tattoo myself." The Alphess squirmed in her seat till she was on her knees, pointing to both sides of her hips. "I'm thinking of getting a wolf paw print on each side. What do you think?"

Ryker stood still as Noctavia inspected his hip. He had to force himself not to squirm a little bit, he wanted to cover up and Dante wanted to slip his shorts a little more. In the end, though, he just stayed still. After Noctavia announced that she did like it, he started to cover back up, but then she reached out and touched his hip right over the center of the design. He flinched slightly, but forced himself to not pull away. That was certainly unexpected.

When she finally leaned back a bit, Ryker resituated his pants and sat back down across from her as she talked about new tattoos that she was considering. He grinned slightly when she said what she was thinking. “I think it’s pretty suited to ya,” he said, nodding slightly. “It might be a little, eh…” He waved his hand back and forth, searching for the right word. “Stereotypical, I guess? I mean, a wolf, getting paw print tattoos? Not that it’s not, heh, quite fitting, of course.” Ryker reached up and scratched at the side of his neck. “Are you looking to color them or just leave them black?” Ryker peered at the area that she had indicated that she was going to tattoo, as though imagining what said tattoos would look like.

She squirmed again in her seat, turning her to the left to take out the knees she had been standing upon, curling to the side as she leaned against the table and listened to Ryker. His eyes examining her hips in thought. He didn't seem like a pervert to her, so there was a possible chance out of curiosity of what the tattoos will appear as. When she was younger, she'd find it uncomfortable for a man to star at her for such time, but now she could care less about what he thought. Noctavia shrugged as he described it as stereotypical, a small smirk coming from herself. "Could be worse, at least I'm not getting a huge wolf plastered on my back. I just wanted something small and simple, you know?" Her fingers raised, curling her index finger and thumb to a small hole the size of only a penny could fit through. Peeking her emerald eye through till she could meet his gaze, followed by a silent chuckle. "They're going to be about that small."

A poke to her stomach sent a tad bit of pain, hunger grew inside for which she had not eaten in so long. Noctavia refused to eat breakfast that morning even though she had the enough money to buy a buffet of food, she still waved it off to the side. The Alphess bit the inside of her cheek, turning her head to scan the room for a telephone. The hotel usually was filled with a small telephone in every room, for emergencies or in this case, room-service. Once the telephone caught her eyes, she looked back to Ryker curiously. "You hungry? Strangely enough, this hotel lets us eat in here." She tilted her head, smile gone. "Don't ask, I'm actually being serious."

Ryker broke his imaginative gaze and looked back up at Noctavia’s face, chuckling at her comment about the tattoos. “Ah, aye, that would be much worse, wouldn’t it. Tattoos really are strange things, when you think about ‘em, aren’t they?” He shook his head slightly, never ceasing to be amazed that people, both mortal and otherwise, would etch pictures onto their bodies permanently. Despite the fact that he had more than one tattoo, himself, he still found the concept to be strange.

At the mention of food, Ryker smiled for a moment, but then closed his eyes for a moment as Dante fought tooth and nail for a moment to verbalize his opinion on that matter. The bond that they shared, though, allowed Ryker to persuade Dante to remain politely dormant. “Ah, some food would be wonderful,” he said, smiling slightly. “Dante, especially, is quite hungry. I don’t suppose the room service serves steak, do they?” he asked hopefully. In his mind, he could feel Dante’s tail wagging like a puppy’s at the thought of getting steak to eat. The exuberance radiating from his other half caused Ryker to break into a wide grin.

Noctavia lifted herself out of the chair, feet planted against the concrete. Blood rushed back to her head, a feel of dizziness after sitting for such a time. She backed up towards the phone, nodding and chuckling. "Yes they have steak, want anything else? How do you like it done?" She turned around and trotted along the pool's deck, the pitter patter of her bare feet hitting the pavement with a faint echo. Her stomach growled silently, the animal inside her snarled for food. Taking the telephone in hand, she raised it to ear as she leaned against white wall, eyeing Ryker questioningly for his answer.

The musical tone of a woman spoke through the receiver after two rings, annoying the Alphess after a sentence of whom she was. Putting on a fake friendly voice, Noctavia responded. "Yes this is Noctavia Dark, I'd like to place an order for-" She looked up to the man, meeting his gaze of obsidian. "two please. I'll take a glass of white wine and..." Her eyes darted to the ceiling in thought, swaying on the balls of her feet. "a pan seared steak glazed with your finest red wine. As for my companion, he'll take a...?"