Lycan

Person: @alekgray Location: Amongst the Fesitivities, hyping Kayce "He's suspiciously good at that." Matteo took a sip from his soda as his eyes narrow as he watches Adamo manage to actually keep hold of Kayce. Was it grease? Was it motor oil? Who was to say what Kayce was covered in? He thought it impolite to ask on top of the fact that perhaps he just didn't want to know. "I take it you're team Kayce for Alpha?" He can't say he's not feeling a bit protective over the ex alpha as they all seem to scramble to find a new one.

Alek saw little of Matteo. Apparently, the kid worked at the Waffle House, but their paths seemed to only cross a little, if ever. "I put money down on most of them." This wasn't how putting money down on someone worked, but at his core, Alek had a big heart and didn't want to see his friends lose. "I lubed Kayce up pretty good before this, I think he's gonna slip his way to the top." Alek believed in his boyfriend's ability to weasel his way through any scenario, just like he believed in Eric's ability to brood their way out of a tight spot and in the elasticity of Serkan's hole to recover from anything.

I got punched. And, he would know, any other day and any other era of their lives Andreas might have shrugged it off, laughed at him or demanded to know who'd done it. These days he knew lycans lived punching each other, or any other form of violence as a form of civil communication. These days his little brother had endured two brain surgeries already and Andreas was highly tempted to suggest a permanent helmet fixture. These thoughts all crossed his mind as he glared with a mixture of exasperation.

One thing that Alek loved about Andreas was that his brother always had a little lecture stored somewhere up his sleeve; no one could ever say that Andreas did not love to hear himself talk. Maybe the same could be said about Alek, but the former Alpha wouldn't admit it, he couldn't help it though that he'd become so popular after he was viciously attacked by a wolf in the wood.

closed starter for @alekgray location: lupercalia note: wink wonk

"Can't believe I forgot to sign up," Serkan had been looking over his shoulder the whole time; Alek had meant to come back and put his name down just to see the look on his friend's face when he turned up in the ring again. "how funny would that have been?" A shit-eating grin spread wide; he could see that Serkan was distressed because he was fiddling with his sunglasses. It also could've been that he was trying to look cool, or maybe Serkan was trying to have a good think. "You'll make a better alpha than him any day; that guy fucking reeks." After everything that Serkan had been through, this felt like a full circle moment for him, and Alek was- well, he had a lot of feelings about the whole situation and lacked the emotional depth to navigate it. But fuck it, the pressure had gotten to Alek; maybe not caring would've been a better approach. "Don't sweat it man, you're in that ring all the time. You'll crush it.

"Well, yeah." That was all that came out of his mouth as Alek went about squeezing his arm and then his throat. If it were anyone else, he would've thought it was sexual in nature, but not from the lycan. Alek was just a damn menace with an anger problem now that seemed almost unmatched. Vinny could remember when the other used to hang onto every word he ever said. Now they just passed by each other once a while. The last time they'd seen each other, Alek had choked him enough to where his eyes damn near popped out of the sockets. Entertaining and terrifying at the same time. "You're recruiting me? For a job?"

"Yeah, you know a lot of these old homes use copper wire," Alek had worked a day as a construction worker when he'd first moved to Rome, and in that brief stretch of time before he'd shattered that guy's spinal column, he'd learned that you could sell copper wire for a fuck ton. "you and me, we can get a gig at the scrap yard, we break into a few of these abandoned homes, steal a couple cars or whatever, and then we sell it all for parts." He tapped his knuckles on Vinny's chest, "You think that big magnet would pick you up?"

It was that time again. Not Lupercalia, Lupercalia was nice, but Andreas remembered how cool he tried to play off bringing 3 D's home one semester of secondary school though internally he was panicking so hard about their parent's reaction that his anxiety made his muscles ache and his nausea act up and his brain all fuzzy while he was unmedicated and he snapped at Alek for breathing too loud. Except his anxieties leveled up since then and now all he was thinking about was the sensation of a certain draconic diety and Octavian. Alek showing up saying ow and talking about heart eating didn't help, reminding him about last year. Maybe he'd start on his meds again.

"I got punched." Couple of times, but it was fine, it wasn't like he hadn't been hit a billion times before. It was comforting. "You know," Alek said as he kicked his feet up a bit, "I don't know how you do it." He folded his hands behind his head as he leaned back a little bit and relaxed into the open air of Lupercalia. The sounds of fighting, the conflict that went along with it, man, it was so fucking nice here; these guys were legitimately crazy. "The leadership thing is just-" their dad had told Alek often enough that he wasn't cut out for it, that he'd fail, that he wasn't good enough or smart enough, and when things blew up in his face, the pressure would get to him. Alek used to think that meant he'd never be like, a lawyer or something, turns out things got real when you made yourself Alpha. Alek cut himself off as he looked a this brother, "you know man, you don't look so good. Did you get hit too?"

There wasn't much that Kayce could truly say in the moment. Given that before he'd owned the garage, he'd never actually had any sort of job that would be considered conventional. Since he'd been young, he'd always been on the wrong side of the law, so to speak. Petty criminal turned actual criminal. So who was he to argue with what Alek wanted to do as a job. "As long as it gets you out of the house," he retorted, same old grin slid into place. One arm dangled off the side of the couch, while the other rested against his chest. His gaze lifted to the ceiling, traced patterns that weren't even there, "Seeing as how I'll be the next alpha, I think it's you that's lucky."

"Yeah, you'll see. We're gonna be rich someday." Alek bragged about it but the empty cupboards and bottles of beer instead of milk in the fridge said his priorities were a bit skewed. Whatever, he was happy, if keeping Kayce happy meant scraping together some kind of pay cheque then he could do that. He could provide, a bit fucked up that he even had to consider everything he'd been to but realistically the ol'brain surgery excuse wasn't going to work forever.

There had been a bit of humor to the words the other had voiced, for River had no intention of really listening to the other lycans. Not unless it tipped him off to who had bit him, or how Bishop and the other hunters could bring them all down. "I work in a bar, not listening to half of what they say is part of the job," though, that wasn't entirely the truth. But why dwindle on something like that, when the former alpha had taken notice of something else entirely. The question had caused him to stiffen, if only for a moment, before his shoulders had lifted in an almost weak shrug, "Couple of months ago now." Which meant that he had still so much to learn about being a lycan, even though he'd learned enough as a hunter.

"That's the spirit, you'll end up Alpha with someone's heart in your stomach if you take the advice of these guys." Alek knew all that from personal experience because none of that had been his idea, absolutely not. Alek let out a sigh of relief, he was pretty sure he hadn't bitten anyone a couple months ago. "Alright cool, so I don't think it was me then." He clapped the other on the shoulder with a toothy, shit-eating grin. "You know who it was?" It wasn't like Alek was a gossip or anything, but he would definitely be telling Serkan and Kayce all about the newbie.

Alek shrugged, "Dunno, I'd ask my doctor but she took off after my post-op." Wasn't like he and Sanem were friends, considering all the shit that had happened between them that felt like it had to be impossible... But he hoped that she was happy, wherever she ended up, and he hoped that things had worked out for her. Maybe The Eye could really do some good out there, not that it mattered to someone like him. He was just some loser who'd tried, and failed, to be somebody. "Doesn't mean it isn't true." Alek nudged the other with his elbow, albeit gently; "You've got some miles on those tires but I'm sure you still ride pretty good."

The pack was alright; everyone seemed cool with or glad he'd backed down from the position. Maybe they were sick of getting pulled into his crap, maybe they blamed him; they definitely should have, but Alek was just as quick to turn it back on them. Still, the only people from the pack who'd bothered with him since shit had hit the fan was Kayce and Serkan. Even this little side show had appeased Eric's curiosity about seeing the former alpha with a bag of rocks. The worst part about everything was how long Alek had felt vindicated in what he was doing, the top dog swinging around the big stick. So many people had gotten hurt because of him, and so many lives had been torn apart as a result. He'd crossed every line and dismissed every value he had once held dear. Alek had grown up an invisible loser, and now, here he was, back where he started. His parents had been right and Eric was right, the last thing Alek was looking for was validation. "Whatever." He chucked a rock again, "You throw like a bitch." As in a female dog (affectionate).

"Patient? I can give you three and a half days before I'm going to start charging you," for what? Kayce hadn't the slightest idea. Maybe a tax for how long the indent from Alek's ass remained in the couch. Or a dollar in the jar for every kid he made cry during one of those games. The cigarette was pulled from his lips, before it was snubbed out and discarded on the ground. He'd have to remember to throw it out later. If he remembered, as fingers pressed into his jaw before lips pressed against his own, "Good, cause I'm feeling well kicked around already."

"You're such a hardass." Alek sighed before folding an arm behind his head, the other wound snugly around the mechanic. "I can be a scrapper, maybe rummage through some of the abandoned houses in the old Arno territory; there's probably a fuck ton of copper wire in there." That was an idea; now he was getting somewhere, he'd be an entrepreneur again (petty criminal), and he could be his own boss (unemployed). Maybe he'd see if anyone else he knew was working there, Serkan had two fucking businesses already so he was probably too busy. Alek really needed more friends, but he didn't like anyone. "You're damn lucky I love you."

where. all fours who. @alekgray

Enjoying the finer things (bar nuts) with his feet up on the table, Alek tipped the sunglasses he'd stolen from Serkan down his nose as he peered over the top of the lenses at the other lycan who'd approached. He smelled... Fresh wasn't the right word. Green, maybe. "These guys are all fucking nut jobs, you shouldn't listen to a word they say." Alek wasn't a big deal; he'd just been some lunatic on an ego trip. He grinned a bit before he took his boots off the table and leaned forward with his feet firmly planted beneath him, "When did you get bit?" The question stemmed from a cocktail of morbid curiosity, minuscule concern, and a need for assurance that he didn't have another pup running around here.