Young Volcanos

“Ah sometimes, other times in the woods. It is not so bad.” He shrugged, offering her a sheepish smile. Perking up at the mention of going to her place he nodded quickly, while he didn’t get cold easily the steadily chilly nights were getting a little uncomfortable so heat sounded amazing to him. Luciano barked out a laugh and held his hands up, “Oh no, I know how she-wolves can be. I have no doubt.” He snickered winking at her. Following along behind her he chewed his lip in thought. “Ah..I think almost a week? Not to long. I came here from Italy.”

              “Huh ---- you say that now, this town isn’t exactly safe at this present point in time. And I don’t make that comment lightly.” She remarked, the image of her sisters lifeless body flashed before her eyes if but for a moment before she shook it from her thoughts. The blonde could only cock a somewhat amused brow in his direction at his next comment. “Do you now? Well, we’re not all as predictable as one would expect.” She added with a laugh of her own before she fell into step with the other. “Italy, right that explains the accent. You’re a little far from home, why East End of all places?”

“I’ll believe that when I see you in something other than a drunken state.” He laughs, “– but it happens to the best of us, I suppose.” Henrik holds out a glass of water in her direction, “Want some?”

        “That’s fair..” Ines remarked in response with a nod of her head, she sure stifled another groan. She needed to pull it together, nor could she continue at the rate she has started with all the drunken escapades. “Maybe --- please.” She remarked, moving forward before she took the glass from the male, offering a small smile of thanks in return before she swallowed the liquid in a few large gulps. “Thanks.” She remarked, wiping at her mouth before returning the glass to the bench. “Do I want to know how I ended up here?”

Flower arranging might be considered mundane, the act of putting a few flowers with some greenery into a vase in a vaguely pleasing manner, but Patience insisted on bringing a level of competency to it that was perhaps not really desired, but she felt it was required. Flowers had a language, and she ensured that, even if others didn’t know what the bouquet meant, it wasn’t saying the wrong thing. Floriography was a dying art. She’d typed up a small dictionary that clients could purchase and give to their friends to send messages between each other, if they so wanted to. It had been very popular during the Victorian period, back when people still sent flowers. Her current client was insisting that orange lilies were appropriate, despite Patience carefully pointing out that this meant hatred and loathing. People were really quite dense sometimes. Giving up, she jammed the violent lilies into a vase and added begonias for warnings and geranium buds for stupidity and thrust the insulting bouquet away before stomping out of The Black Orchid, barely avoiding someone, who she berated as if they’d already been in conversation. “Is it too much to ask that people listen when you speak? I understand it’s too much to ask for intelligence or humility, but surely they’d all be dead by now if they never learned to listen?”

          ”Well, I mean respect is something of an endangered species these days so yeah, I’d say it would be in the to hard basket for most.” Ines remarked, equally surprised and amused by the blondes comments. Then again, humility seemed to be a dying breed even more so in the town itself. “ Some probably are dead, on the inside at best. East End will do that to you.”

Lusa was convinced that there should be a prize for making it through ridiculously long shifts. Not necessarily long in length, but long in grumpy patients and bizarre cases. She deserved a cup of coffee, or maybe a millennium’s worth of sleep. Unfortunately, her shift wasn’t done until she was out of her scrubs and far, far into the parking lot, running for her truck. Fifteen more minutes… But as tired as she was, as much as she wanted to go home, a familiar face in the ER waiting room always perked her up. 

“Please tell me you’re here to say hi to someone or use the bathroom or something, and you’re  not here for yourself…”

“I’m glad to hear you agree with me.” Wilder didn’t dislike modernity, he just thought that people in general were soft. He wouldn’t tell Ines that he thought she was a little soft too, since she’d probably smack him. Softness was a luxury that he envied rather than despised. It was a sign of developmental growth. “You know, your ears turn pink when you lie. Don’t worry, I know you’re too worried about ruining our mutual disrespect by admitting you lust after me. I can keep a secret.” He caught the pillow and tucked it behind his head. He suspected she needed some sort of comfort, but he wouldn’t have known how to offer it to her, even if he was inclined to. She was prickly as a porcupine, and he suspected it would require the sort of gifts that Zach possessed and he lacked to help her. All the better that Zach was pack leader and had to worry about those sorts of things. “There’s nothing wrong with being a snob, it just means you have discriminating tastes.” Wilder had grown up in Virginia, living up in the mountains with the poor coal miners. He’d hardly been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. But he still liked nice things. “Everyone needs Zach’s help. The question is, why do you need his help? I can’t let just anyone have at him, the man’s soft as puppy shit, blink your big beautiful eyes at him and he’ll melt. I, thankfully, am made of sterner stuff.”

                  “Don’t get used to it chuckles --- its’ bound to be a one time thing.“ Ines drawled, gaze crystalline irises narrowing to slits at his next comment. “Well that has to be the biggest line of bullshit I’ve heard come out of that mouth of yours, second to the idea I could ever lust after you of course. You’re mother must have dropped you from a great height as a child. Certainly explains the crooked nose..” She remarked, lips twitching into something akin to a smirk as she narrowed her gaze in his direction as if to be studying his features. Though it irked her, that he had picked up on one of her fatal flaws already. The young Malraux had always kept her cards close to her chest, she prided herself on her poker face but alas, she had never been a good liar. Which was apparently more obvious than she knew. She was being foolish, that much was obvious, and already in the space of a few moments she had said too much, put herself into a position of vulnerability ---- a place she refused to go, to ask for help. Instead the blonde shook her head, offering a laugh in return. It had always been second nature to revert to sarcasm or a subject change to avoid any moment of sincerity or better said, weakness. “You’re kidding right?” She couldn’t help but laugh at that. “The man’s a mundane version of grumpy cat, puppy shit on the other hand sounds like a much better description for you, unless of course you’d prefer troglodyte, maybe clawless hermit? Hell, all I had to do was bat my big beautiful eyes in your direction and you let me inside, gave out the goods even.” She remarked, tone dripping with sarcasm as she motioned to the beer in her hand. “If you were made of sterner stuff I doubt we’d be sat here, besides, how are you to know I’m not the big bad killer, hmm?”

“Please, as if I’m not always a cool kid. I could rule that high school if they relaxed the age restrictions. The youth of today are soft.” Wilder was aware that Ines had lost her family. He could recall, if he tried, what that had been like. It had been almost a century since his had died, and while there was still sadness and loss there, the pain had dulled to a sort of low-grade ache that he could ignore. He suspected telling her this wouldn’t help, so he didn’t. “Joke’s on you, I don’t wear underwear.” Winking, he pretended like he was going to remove his jeans to prove it, but stopped short since he didn’t fancy flashing his ass today. At least not at Ines. “Aren’t I the one supposed to be making bleak comments about the state of humanity today? Don’t try and steal my position in this town, Malraux, I might have to fight you.” He let her settle next to him, comfortable in a way that humans couldn’t be because they’d been born werewolves. Being close to someone felt natural, lying close to someone didn’t even have sexual connotations to Wilder, which had confused people in the past. If it had been someone in his pack instead of Ines, he’d have pressed closer and possibly even cuddled them. It was a wolf thing. “I have taste in all sorts of things. You should see my micro-brew selection. Guests only get domestic.” He did actually have a micro-brew selection. He liked beer, it was one of the things people had vastly improved upon in his lifetime. “So, other than looking for my erstwhile leader, what is it you need? Because you’re putting up with me, which seems to imply you want something.”

            “Mhm --- because the world is in such desperate need for geriatric asshole running the playground.” Ines countered, with a shake of her head. Though he wasn’t wrong, the youth of today had gone soft, the modern world relied far too heavily on being politically correct, least that was what she thought. “Yeah right, jokes on you because no one wants to see that, especially not me.” She remarked rather quickly as she turned swiftly to avoid any potential harm such a sight may have done to her gaze; all the while she reached for a pillow before throwing it rather hard in his direction. “Apparently there’s a first time for everything.” The blonde said, taking a long sip of the cold beverage as she did. Grief did that to a person, it had a way of changing one’s usual outlook on life. Even if only for a brief time. “Well fuck you, I’ll have you know there’s nothing wrong with the domestic version, you god damn snob.” She drawled, tone somewhat annoyed despite the slight smile upon her features. In truth, Ines wasn’t sure what she wanted. What she needed however was a different story --- since loosing her sister she had been somewhat lost. And the fact she would very soon need to step us as the leader of her pack was not only rather daunting, but it had her contemplating running for the hills and never returning. It was something Zach had said about being thrown into his position however that had her finally seriously thinking about such a turn of events. See the thing was, Nala has always been the responsible leader, Ines on the other hand had been fueled by risk and chance -- she was a hurricane in the form of a 5′7 blonde. Things would likely never change, but oh how she wanted them too, not for her own sake, but for her fathers and her pack. “Right -- I need Zach’s help.” She settled for, begrudgingly even. Asking for help was simply not in her nature, her pride had always prevented the very word from leaving her lips. 

The wolf tsked in disappointment as he began putting the box of cigarettes back into his pocket. He eyed her with a raised brow, trying to figure out what she was staring at. Perking up he grinned and took his lighter from her. “Oh Dio!” He exclaimed and quickly worked on getting his cigarette lit. Taking a long drag from it and letting the smoke leave him slowly. His nerves immediately calming at the feeling. Listening to her talk he looked confused and slowly raised his hand to his cheek only to flinch at the stinging feeling. “Ah shit. Do you know where I can get ice? I do not really have a place to stay right now.” 

       “So you’re what, sleeping on the streets?” Ines remarked, looking the male over once more. She didn’t recognize him, but his scent on the other hand was another story. "My apartment, a few blocks back, I can give you some ice for that if you promise not to try kicking off round two. After all wouldn’t want to even up that face of yours.” She added, offing a small shrug of indifference as she turned to lead the way. “Not from around here huh, how long you been in town?”

“What is it the kids say? Wicked burn? It hurts. Really.” Wilder rubbed the spot above his heart as if he’d taken a direct hit. “See, when you say it, it sounds like an insult. I prefer to think of it as my standards being so high that no one measures up.” Her heavy sigh was so punctuated that he groaned as if he’d been hit again and dropped to his knees. “Please, no more, it hurts, I can’t take it … “ He writhed for a moment before springing back up and sauntering into his house. “Well, I’ve been reading the dictionary lately, you wouldn’t believe what other words I’ve learned. And I resent troglodyte. I very rarely live in a cave these days, and I go into town enough that I don’t count as a hermit.” Snorting, he went about looking through his fridge, producing two beers. His home was open plan, without any walls. His bedroom was a loft that required a ladder, or in his case, a willingness to jump and pull himself up, and everything else except the bathroom was in one large room on the main floor. The largest section was a sunken pile of pillows and cushions set into the floor, of his own design. Passing off a beer to Ines, he dropped backwards into the cushions. It was like a dog pile, or at least the closest he could approximate with pillows. “Are you gonna join me? I’ll let you be the big spoon.”

“Mm,” Violetta hummed - the woman’s words doing nothing to enrage or upset her, “Well, here’s hoping we never meet in the ring.” Was the blunt response she gave before straightening up and pulling her long red hair over her shoulder as she turn to the wolf, “Was there something I could help you with?” She asked while placing her hands on her hips.

             “Hm, for your sake lets hope so.” She remarked, offering a small shrug of indifference as she spoke. “Nothing at all actually, you just have a little something on your face.” The blonde answered as she motioned to the others face where a few specks of dried blood remained.

Alexander froze at the sound of her voice. It wasn’t like he hadn’t known she was there. He was generally aware of her regardless of where she was in a room, always had been since they were children. Time apart hadn’t altered that, clearly. “Honestly? I didn’t think you’d wanna see me.” In truth, he had been very sure that it wasn’t a good idea, even if she did want to see him. He’d heard about her losses and assumed she wouldn’t want to see a hunter, even him, during that time. “I’m sorry about your dad and your sister. I should’ve called.”

         Ines couldn’t help but scoff at his reply. “That’s a load of horse shit, and you know it.” Despite they way they had ended things, he would always be her person. They had been friends for many years before things, eventually progressed only to not go as planned. Then again when had anything ever gone to plan for the blonde. Her career was about the only thing that had. “Six months they tell me you’ve owned this place, could have should have, but you didn’t.” Her tone was void of emotion despite the disappointment evident upon her features.

“I try never to fucking joke. Or jokingly fuck. Gets things too mixed up.” He grazed a look over her like he was determining how much she weighed, and snorted. “Gosh, there goes my social life. Not even the roses? They’ve got a helluva personality.” It amused him that she seemed to think that pack loyalty somehow made him subservient. “Since you’re showing up at my place looking for him, I kinda think it is.” Strolling back towards his front door, he looked over his shoulder to reply. “Jealousy doesn’t look good on you. Or do you just not understand the concept of friendship?” Opening the door, he held it open in an overly polite manner. “Did you wanna keep arguing outside, or do you want to come in to call me a sycophant? Or possibly Zach’s fucktoy, I couldn’t really tell which way you were going on that one.”

         “Clearly your head is already too mixed up.” The blonde countered, motioning to his numerous flower beds. How someone could put so much attention and time into something so, simple she couldn't understand. “Oh please, don’t act like you had a social life to begin with.” She added, with a shake of her head as she refused to give in to the chuckle that built in her throat. He didn’t deserve the satisfaction. “The day you quite being a giant pain in my ass will be the day hell freezes over, Crane.” She instead replied, exhaling a heavy sigh at his next comment. The truth was she didn’t have a lot of friends to get to understand the concept, sure she had her pack but it wasn’t the same. “That’s a big word even for you, but no, I’d prefer to call you a troglodyte.” Lips twitched into something akin to a smirk as he continued, and she followed after the male toward his home. “That’s the point, you wouldn’t have liked where it was going.”

Wilder stepped around her purposefully and went to straighten his plants to see if they were salvageable. They all looked in order so he patted them back into place, all the while pretending Ines wasn’t there. After he’d taken care of the important things, he gave her his attention once more. “Zach … hmmmm, haven’t seen him. Now, why would you be looking for Zach?” He threw the towel in her general direction, namely at her head, and leaned against a tree. “You chasing after my pack leader, Malraux? Cuz I warn you, there’s a line and he’s first come, first served. Call ahead, arrive early, be sure to tip.”

          “You’ve got to be fucking joking..” Ines remarked, more to herself than anyone else as she watched the male move past her to attend to the fresh disturbance that marked his garden. “You do realize the flowers aren’t your friends right, Crane?” She remarked, shooting the male a look that was halfway between amused and annoyed. “Well that’s none of your god damn business for a start.” She countered, scoffing at the next comment that fell from his lips. “Oh please, I wouldn’t join his fan base if I were the last living woman on earth. The guy has a serious fucking wedge up his ass -- and just, no. I’ll be keeping the tip.” She remarked, with a shake of her head. “You on the other hand, are clearly one of his number one fans. How’s the dirt road taste? On second thought don’t answer that.”

“If you didn’t wanna get sprayed by the hose, you probably should’ve watched where you were going and not stepped on my god damn azaleas.” Anyone who came out into Fair Haven Woods should really have been ready for something bad to happen. And if they squashed his damn flowers on top of that, well, they were just asking for it. He held onto a towel, not relinquishing it yet. “This seems like a you problem.”

“You happened,” Henrik said before stretching and yawning, “– don’t worry nothing salacious.” He laughs, “You showed up drunk at my door again, I think you’re my neighbor but you keep getting your door wrong. I let you crash here for the night. How’s that head of yours feeling?”

Luciano stepped out from the alley he had been in. The wolf looked more roughed up than usual, a bruise forming on the upper part of his cheek. The Italian was used to getting into fights over anything, this time was no different, the human looked at him funny and then made fun of english. It was no surprise that the hot tempered wolf picked a fight and he won. Rolling his neck he felt around for his cigarettes and when he pulled them out he groaned and swore when he realized he had lost his lighter.

“Fuck me…” He grumbled, and looked around. “Oi!” He said, tapping someone’s shoulder. “Do you have a light?” Luci asked, gesturing to his cigarette. 

“Oh.” Kristina said, standing there for a moment awkwardly before remembering her manners. She walked into the alley, scanning the ground for anything that seemed like it could be of value. “Let me help you. What is it?” She asked, taking in the woman’s frazzled demeanor but not knowing how or if to comment on it. People skills. Out of all the challenges in the world, people skills were perhaps the most difficult. She wasn’t a weirdo, but she wasn’t good with people, as much as she wanted to be different. 

    Ines took a moment to study the woman, the last thing she wanted was pity help. Nevertheless she wasn’t going to turn down an offer after the number of hours she had put into the search herself. “It’s a silver diamond encrusted bracelet, has the name Nala engraved on the inside.” She explained, as she looked over the area. “I dropped it somewhere around here last night.”

Alexander had worked in bars across Europe, Asia, and parts of the Middle East. It was a job that didn’t even really require you to know the language. He could pull a pint and mix a cocktail and make change. Boom, job done. So it wasn’t as strange as some people might’ve thought for him to buy a bar. It wasn’t, as his mother put it, proof of him suffering some sort of traumatic brain injury. Given the recent events, he was expecting business to be booming. Something about trauma always made people want to hide somewhere with low lighting and a crowd and drown their sorrows. Mixing up a pint of margaritas, he dropped it off at a table before coming back to the counter. “You need a drink? Or a cheap therapist? We provide both at Scruffy’s. But you have to buy something if you want the bathroom key.”