don't cry, mercy

The familiar voice had caught Kaden’s attention as she had been passing. More than that, the familiar voice that just couldn’t seem to stop talking as she had walked past had caught her attention. There was a part of her that still wasn’t sure how to feel about her friend’s boyfrined, although of course she kept those questionings to herself, especially because she felt that they were mostly based off of the fact that the last guy Tarryn had dated before Jacob was her older brother, Andrew. “Pandas are Tarryn’s second favorite bear after koalas, although I heard a rumor that koalas aren’t actually bears after all?” Kaden interjected as she came upon the conversation that was currently unfolding, “Shouldn’t you know that by now? Or have you two not gotten quite that intimate yet when it comes to questions about favorites and least favorites?” The sarcasm was obvious in her tone and her expression showed that she was (mostly) joking, although she was well aware that, if asked, Kyle would say his favorite bear was Grylls since that was the kind of person that he was. However, in Jacob’s defense, they had also known each other for the better half of a decade now.

“Speaking of Tarryn, is she around actually?” It had been almost a week since she had seen the blonde, and with Kyle moving back to New York permanently, she couldn’t help but want to check in and see how his cousin was doing with the news, “Not that I don’t want to hang out with you of course.” There was something about Jacob that made her put up a mostly impenetrable wall of sarcasm, but she chalked it up to just being unfamiliar with him more than anything else. After all, she hadn’t ever really spent anytime one on one with him, and if they were together otherwise, Tarryn was always there to play the middle man and to help create conversation and keep it flowing if anything ever slowed to a crawl.

Half bent over the games table as Kaden approached his side, despite turning his head in order to glance at her, he didn’t the visual assurance to know just who was trying to start up a conversation with him. Everyone and he did mean everyone in the hunter community knew of the mighty Kingsman clan. If New York had royalty, they’d be it. If hunter’s had a chain of command they’d be wearing the boots you needed to lick in order to get a shot off in the damn city. Just as his family called the shots over in lovely ‘ole England, the Kingsman called the shots in the Big Apple. Fortunately for him, despite being the Presley’s of the NY hunter community, that didn’t have to be mean shit to him. At least for the most part, they didn't have to mean shit. Kaden though? Kaden was the special one. She was the best friend, mentor, and all that other bullshit his cover went on and on about whenever she mentioned the other hunter. According to Tarryn, not only did the sun shine out of her ass but she farted rainbows and shitted gold bricks. As much as he may have wanted to tell her to fuck off and jog on, staying on her good side or in the this case earning his way onto her good side was something that needed to be done. “That so?” He asked, brow lifting as the question fell from his lips. Glancing down at the mentioned bear, he ran his finger’s through it’s albeit soft fur before speaking.

“Bear’s are off topic for me and Ryn. Tried to breach the whole favorite type of bear thing before with her but she didn’t want to talk about it. Figured it was either way too personal for her to share with me just yet or she had a really traumatic and messed up memory of a bear and didn’t wanna bring it up again. Either way, her lips were sealed. Good to hear the best friend knows though. Help me score some brownie points.” Not that he actually needed them with the girl. He may not have known her favorite type of bear but he certainly knew enough to have her eating out of the palm of his hand. Knew more than enough to have the girl whispering sweet nothings in his ear even with them having only been together for just a year. Sucking at his teeth at the question of whether his girlfriend was with him or not, he shook his head. “Nope! Texted her a while back asking her if she wanted to come down and check out the festivities with me but uh, never got a reply back. She mentioned doing a job the other day so figured she’s off keeping these streets safe.” 

Lips spreading into what he knew looked to be a genuine smile at the mention of what she did, he wanted it to look as if he was actually proud of her so called job of keeping the ‘bad’ supernaturals off the mean streets despite the fact that he like so many others thought the whole thing was bullshit. There was no such thing as good or bad supernaturals cause they were all bad. You could never distinguish between the two cause there was nothing to distinguish. Monsters were monsters. She wanted to keep the good people of New York safe? She couldn’t just take out some, she had to take out them all. “She’ll text me later, I’m sure. However..” Stressing the word, he indicated with his head toward the fake rifle lying just near where she stood. “Since you don’t not want to hang out with me and all, you down for some friendly competition? It’d be fun. Newton versus Kingsman.” 

You must’ve had some terrible crap throughout your life to think that tastes okay.

“Clearly, cause this? This tastes just like any old run of the mill dark chocolate.” Tossing what remained of the candy onto the table, he wiped his hands together. “If you hate it so much though then have some water and don’t take another bite of it. Simple.” 

No, this is not chocolate. This tastes like burnt wood, you don’t understand.

“You’re being dramatic.” Reaching across the table to pick up the abandoned candy bar, showing more trust than was absolutely necessary, he plucked off a piece before tossing it into his mouth. “It’s not even that bad, man.” While it certainly wasn’t the best thing he’d ever tasted, it didn’t warrant that big of a complaint. 

Cut off from his questioning by the announcer shoving a large panda in his face, he couldn’t even be mad about the rude interruption since he’d only been conversing with the guy for shits and giggles. His true purpose for being at the booth was simply to keep an eye on the one directly behind the shooting gallery, the same one the wolf he’d been following for the last two days happened to be at. Talking to the man or more precisely bothering the man and making it seem like he was questioning him just gave him an excuse to stick around longer and see if there was a particular reason the wolf stuck around and not just because girl at the booth happened to be cute. Pulling at the panda’s fake nose as his true target continued to just sit there and chat, he continued. “I was thinking of something more of the polar variety. Adorable for my girlfriend but also a little badass for me. I’ll even go grizzly, you know?”