Skye looked at her watch. It was five past two, and Nick was beyond fashionably late. She pulled her cell phone out of her purse and read the text message she'd obviously missed in her brief walk past Times Square, where she had paused to read some of the new advertisements.
Running late. Be there in 30.
She sighed a little, but she couldn't say much in the way of protest, because she'd done it to him more times than she'd ever have liked. She was unwilling to become cross over something trivial like this considering the careers they both possessed often called for such things. She was lucky, in fact, that he hadn't called the whole thing off.
She smoothed back strands of brown hair as the traffic breezed by, and tapped the heel of her brown Prada shoes on the pavement as she tried to decide what to do to occupy her time. She was hungry, that was to be certain, but if she ate now, she'd feel guilty. She turned and glanced at her reflection in a large glass window of a caf?. So Plain Jane! A tan skirt and a white button-up Oxford. Somehow, if she even tried to get attention she was overlooked; her husband could move an inch and people would just stare.
She inhaled slowly, scenting out gasoline, oil, perfumes, colognes, people in general. And then she paused. She smelled a.. Pakana. And it wasn't Ebere or Stella. It was close, too! She turned quickly and began scanning the crowds of busy people, trying to pick her out of the crowd. She had naturally assumed it was a female, but when she inhaled again, she nearly tripped on the sidewalk.
A male Pakana? Her search became somewhat more frantic; rabid even. This was definitely going to cinch her plans for the day.
She may have thought she was a 'plain jane', but she instantly had Jason's attention. He'd been walking along, a backpack with his laptop and other important items in it slung over his shoulder, and he'd been on his way home for a long night of hacking into the Harry Potter Lexicon to throw gay references in there and write up his own ending to the Seventh book. By the time the site noticed what had happened, it'd be all over the internet and everyone would be freaking out.
Ah, chaos.
His plans were put on hold by the sudden whiff of something...familiar that he got, though. It smelled like...hyena? Pakana? But not one he knew.
He followed the scent to the source rather easily, and he just stared at her for a moment. He didn't know how to react to meeting a new hyena, though he wanted to get to know her. Maybe hug her. She looked nice.
"Er, this is gonna sound weird, but...hi?"
Skye felt like she was getting closer and closer to the scent, and then a bus went by and she lost it! She looked around frantically in a circle, and that's when she caught a whiff of it again. She whipped back around to regard the man that had emerged from the crowd.
Nothing had changed, and yet, everything had changed. She took a step forward, cautiously. Could he be trusted? But of course, he was Pakana. She felt her heart grow oversized with excitement and pure joy as she suddenly imagined telling Ebere and Stella she'd found ANOTHER.
"Hi," she breathed. She smiled, and oh, she was lovely. The petite brunette took another careful step, wary of him still. She could not shake her hunter's instincts, but, oh he smelled so nice and he looked so accomidating.
Okay, so he'd been nervous about approaching this hyena lady in the middle of the sidewalk when he had no idea who she was. He had been. He wasn't anymore.
The instant she smiled, it was like a huge weight had been lifted from his chest, and he gave her a huge grin. This was going well, so far, even if he wasn't really sure what to do with himself. "You're, uh, the first hyena I've met. That I'm not related to, I mean."
A little embarrassed? Yeah, just a little.
Well, he seemed safe enough. Skye stepped forward again, putting only inches between them. A flood of people from the crosswalk swarmed them suddenly, and Skye took the crowd cover to lean in and give him a sniff of her own. He smelled so.. sandy and warm, something she could curl up to and snuggle with.
Before she knew what was happening, she had buried her nose effectively into his shoulder, and was looking up at him with her big, brown eyes. She stood there for a few seconds before suddenly pulling away and shaking her head free of the clouds.
"I'm terribly sorry," she said with a laugh that was edged with nervousness. Skye had never, ever seen a -male- Pakana before. Her stomach knotted itself tightly and she took a safety step away to put some distance between them. She needed Ebere and Stella right now, badly.
It was true that he was no longer nervous, but now he had pakana instincts to deal with, and her closeness for a second there. He'd automatically leaned close enough to sniff her just as completely as she'd smelled him, and her sudden touch was...amazing. Was it wrong that he totally wanted to hold some woman he'd only just met? Was it always like this with hyenas?
"It's, ah, okay. I kinda liked it," he told her honestly, though he was almost afraid to move. He didn't want her to jump away from him again. Really, he wanted her to repeat that last movement, and sniff at him and lean on him again. He'd liked it, whether it was wrong or not.
"Um, what's your name?" he finally asked, realizing rather suddenly that it was important information, and he covered it up with another grin. "I'm Jason."
Oh, Skye was cautious again, flighty even. She knew damn good and well that Nick would arrive at any moment and he'd pick up on her unease, and probably assume the worst, because he was over-protective and territorial, and that's just what he did. She wasn't sure, either, how another Pakana not familiar with her situation would react to the presence of a lion, reguardless of whether or not he wore the guise of a human.
"Jason," she repeated, nodding. "I'm Skye. Skye LeCroix." She had the faintest Bayou roll to her last name, but she'd lived a long time in Louisiana so it was to be somewhat expected. She also had a soft drawl to some of her words. It was pleasant. Everything about her was pleasant.
She held her hand out to give him a formal shake, the wedding ring she wore glinting in the afternoon sun. She needed to establish that for... for everyone's benefit.
He actually really didn't need a lion to show up, considering just how uneasy she was acting. Had he done something wrong? Had he upset her or freaked her out? Should he have kept the fact that he liked it to himself? Normally, he would have, but this was a hyena. Was he not supposed to be that open with her? He wanted to be, but she didn't look like it was a good idea.
His grin had faded with his worry, but he shook her hand and took note of the lovely accent in her warm, comfortable voice, and he tilted his head at her somewhat as something caught his attention. OH! A WEDDING RING!! Er, okay, awkward.
"Oh, uh, you're married. Okay. Guess I, uh, kinda came on a little wrong. Er, didn't mean to, I promise. I'm not usually so....creepy?" he asked, looking a little helpless in the face of this situation. It was right there on his face.
"Oh, NO!" she exclaimed, putting a hand on his shoulder instinctively to comfort him. He'd looked so crushed and unhappy when he'd thought he'd done something wrong, it just broke her heart. "No, no, Jason, nothing came out wrong." She giggled nervously and yanked her hand off of him.
Oh my god. Nick is going to kill me.
"Y'see, I've never met a male Pakana before. I had... no idea what to expect. I imagined it would be amazing, but... wow," she said, letting her voice trail off. She shook her head, hard, and then broke into a bright smile.
"I have two other hyenas who will love you, though," she said. Ah, Ebere and Stella were going to do some sort of happy dance if it killed her. She moved, and swayed forward just a hair, before stepping back again to keep her distance. She had no idea that the attraction would be.. quite like it was. She needed to take a cold shower. It wasn't even a sexual sort of attraction, not at all. It was different.
Stronger.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, all things considered, Jason didn't know about Nick yet. That wasn't likely to last for long, but at the moment he didn't know about the man. All he knew about was the ring the lion had picked out. That was for the best currently, since he'd have probably put some distance between him and the freight train that particular lion had once been dubbed by his wife.
"Really?" he asked, his expression brightening again. More hyenas? That would be great! And she'd 'wow'ed him. She'd totally just given him a 'wow' rating. Married or not, she was hot, she was hyena, and he liked her. It was very nice to get that 'wow', even if she wasn't date material. She was still hopefully willing to be friends. "I guess we're on the same page, then. The only pakana I've met were family."
Which somehow hadn't been awkward. Movies had always been fun.
Skye raised an eyebrow. Family? "Your family is Pakana also?" she asked, amazed. So, this is where they'd been hiding all this time? She knew Stella was Australian, so she knew there had to been a pocket of them somewhere. She just felt so uncommon all the time.
She pulled out her phone, brushing past another text message from Nick:
On the way.
She dialed Ebere's phone number, and left a brief voicemail. "Ebere? It's Skye. Listen, I can't explain, but I need you to come to Times Square right now. I have a surprise for you that you might like." She closed her phone and smiled.
"I've just called another one to see if she can come meet you. We need to get you familiarized with us." There was no 'Would you like to come with us' or anything - no, naturally, Skye simply assumed he'd want to be with the rest of them. Not forever, you know. But right now.
Very few people had the number to Ebere's phone, so when it rang or messages showed up on it, she tended to pay close attention. And so, a few minutes later, when she noticed she had a message.... She picked it up, flipped it open, and examined the phone for a moment before listening. Skye?
"Ebere? It's Skye. Listen, I can't explain, but I need you to come to Times Square right now. I have a surprise for you that you might like."
Ebere blinked in some surprise, but didn't argue. Instead she quickly finished getting ready and and went to Times Square with all possible speed. She didn't exactly want to waste time hunting around for the other pakana, so she went demi form and was, as was rather usual, almost overwhelmed by the smells of the place. Luckily she was used to it at this point, or... wait.
Ebere froze in some shock. Skye, yes, she'd just caught a whiff of Skye, but who in the name of all the.... She didn't do what she wanted to do, which was turn into a hyena complete and track Skye and whoever it was down the fastest possible way, but she settled for the next best thing and broke into a run.
And then, there, Skye, and with her... someone Ebere didn't know. Someone she had never seen before, but who was wonderfully, gloriously, pakana....
Another. There was another....
She wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do, but she wasn't sure how just walking up and leaning against the stranger would be taken, so instead she tried staying still, and decided that wouldn't work either, then walked up closer to him and smiled.
"Yeah, my dad passed it down," he told her when she seemed surprised at his family being hyenas. Of course, his mother wasn't, but what mother minded her children and husband being that affectionate and cuddly? Of course she'd loved it, and she'd been more than willing to join them in pulling the hide-a-bed out for a puppy pile and a movie. They'd been an...odd family as teenagers, when most teens wanted their own space.
His mother had LOVED it.
"Alright, sweet," he said happily, not finding it to be at all strange that she simply assumed he'd want to stick around for this. Of course he would! And seeing her walk up, he couldn't help but grin for Ebere. He felt a little better now that he understood Skye's reactions a little better, and he assumed Ebere would react about the same way that Skye had. Thus, he wasn't so cautious as he'd been before.
"Hi," he told her, the grin brightening as she smiled. "I'm Jason."
"Oh, it's just... well, I have a hard time finding them. It's like we're hidden or something. I guess it's a good thing, because I don't really know what I'd do if I were just surrounded with them." Probably end up in divorce, she thought to herself.
Aloud, she said, "I called another Pakana here to come and meet you." She smiled brightly as Ebere showed up in a record amount of time - really, when that girl thought something was afoot she moved. She reached back and wrapped a comforting arm around her, because she wanted Ebere to know that the situation was a-okay at the moment.
"Jason, this is Ebere. She's... amazing." She smiled brightly. All of her 'sisters' were amazing.
Right now, Skye was so high on this Pakana-love feeling she wanted to run around in circles like an excited puppy, but she managed to mantain a steady sense of appearance, despite her insides jumping for joy.
"Hello, Jason," Ebere said with a happy smile, but before she could introduce herself Skye had done it for her. She sighed happily, and nuzzled Skye's shoulder for a moment, then looked back up.
Ebere was around a new pakana. It was strange, certainly, but of course it was ok. She looked at him happily, and her gaze was still a bit odd (it always was a bit odd), but she was smiling, and the smile reached her eyes.
Though Skye might have wanted to start jumping around, Ebere's internal reaction was the exact opposite. Being around other pakana had the effect of calming her - Ash might have been shocked at how quiet her aura probably would have been at that moment, had he seen her. The feeling left her... content, and she wanted to be able to curl up with both of them somewhere and just sort of let things be. And so she grabbed both their hands, and dagged them to the nearest bench.
The weirdest part of this whole situation actually happened to be just how awkward and out of place he felt standing a little distance away from them while Skye had her arm around Ebere's shoulders. He should have been there, with them. Touching them and just being close. Nothing sexual, just...closeness. He still didn't know what to do with himself, since being a MALE pakana was a bit more difficult. He didn't want to scare them off by getting too touchy, considering how a lot of women seemed to take that the wrong way. He'd had issues with girlfriends thinking he was too 'clingy' in the past, and it had made him a little unsure about it. He really didn't want Skye and Ebere to feel awkward because he was too touchy.
He really shouldn't have worried about that, though.
Ebere grabbing both of their hands to pull them to a bench should have even been enough proof, but he took a seat and just enjoyed getting to sit so close to pakana. He'd let her initiate any real touching, though he was having SERIOUS control issues in keeping himself from pressing their bodies closer together on the bench. He wasn't going to be able to resist much longer, not with both of them there and putting out such comforting vibes.
Skye went willingly, though she was careful not to situate directly next to Jason, throwing Ebere into the middle, which she didn't really wager would bother her too much, anyways. Ebere needed some warmth and affection, in Skye's opinion - not the sexual kind, but the kind only hyenas could give. Still, she knew Nick was close, and she wasn't aiming to have Jason chased up a tree by the big cat.
She nuzzled Ebere's shoulder like a small child might, peeking at Jason with only her nose and eyes visable for a moment. It was clear she was smiling, but Skye did that a lot.
"So, Jason, where do you stay?" she asked. She didn't, clearly, want to bring him to the Guildhouses, but she didn't like the idea of discovering another Pakana and then leaving him to rot in the city. Stella had practically moved into Skye's room at Crimson, and she likewise had an equally large amount of things over at Onyx. She was like the pass-around Pakana, moving back and forth between her two friends as they had time to spend with her.
Ebere did not object in the least to Skye sitting on one side and Jason on the other - what she did object to was the careful no-contact zone Jason was maintaining. None of that, now. Pakana may have been the only things she really wanted non-violent contact with on a regular basis, but perhaps because of that she went a bit overboard with the touchy-feely stuff while among other hyenas. And so, on the bench, she slid closer to him and then rested her head on his shoulder with a contented sort of sigh. If she had been thinking of it she would figure he would just push her off again, and probably stand up, if he really didn't want contact.
The idea was incomprehensible though, so she didn't even bother thinking of it.
Mmm, this was nice.
He almost forgot what Skye asked him when Ebere scooted towards him and leaned on him, and his arm immediately slipped around her as he cuddled right in against her. She'd initiated contact, so all bets were off with him. He could behave right up until he knew she didn't mind, and then he wasn't going to worry anymore. She'd made it clear that she didn't mind the cuddling, and he ensured that his hand could reach Skye on Ebere's other side. Skye shouldn't be left out!
He DID remember Skye asked him something, though it took him a moment to answer. He hadn't had cuddling like this since he'd left home, and it was rather overwhelming. "Hmmm...I have an apartment. Here, in the city," he murmured, smiling contentedly and ignoring the fact that there were other people around. This was pakana, and it was all he wanted right then.
"Oh?" she asked, nodding. She'd put herself on the opposite side of him for a reason, though it was hard to explain why to him. She doubted seriously the young, attention-starved Pakana would understand that her husband would swallow him whole if he just happened upon that situation. She could only guess his unease at even seeing another male, considering Skye's line of work involved her with Sitara more than anyone else, and then Stella and Ebere on the weekends.
"My husband and I live just outside the city. We have a creepy neighbor who I think might spy. I need to make him put up a fence." She frowned a little at the thought of having to put up a fence, but that bitch was nosy.
People? What people? Now what were the silly things doing there? Walking? Going about their normal day to day lives? Oh yea.
... ah well, like she cared. She had pakana on either side, and Jason was finally snuggling. Life, overall, was good. "Oh?" she asked happily when Jason replied. She already knew all about Skye's house, and her neighbor problems. Had considered turning into a hyena and trotting over to nibble on her when she was acting a bit too inquisitive once when she was there. Nibble gently, of course. Yea.
"Jason, have you ever heard of Onyx? Or Bruja?" She needed to know... well, how much he knew before she decided what to tell him. She still tried to protect everyone, after all.
He...didn't know what to say to Skye's comments about her husband and the creepy neighbor, but he looked at her while she talked, his face still leaning against Ebere's head. He was curious about Skye's husband, though. She'd said she hadn't seen a male pakana in a long time, if ever, but she was married. Who had she married? A human? It was possible to infect them, so he wondered if they'd ever discussed that. Did he even KNOW that his wife was a hyena?
He didn't get the chance to formulate a discreet way of asking, though. Ebere asked him something about onyx, but he didn't know what jewelry had to do with...bruja? That was Spanish, right? Yeah, it meant 'witch'. He remembered that much from school.
"Well, yeah...people use onyx in jewelry, and isn't bruja Spanish?" he asked, looking confused.
Obviously, he didn't know what she was talking about.
Skye had attempted to detour the conversation to normal things, but Ebere's need to know brought them right back to their lifestyles. She'd let it go, for now, because Ebere would only have peace of mind if she could figure out where to place Jason on the 'knowledge table'. Stella had already known loosely of the Guilds, but only because her ex had known some of the European division while they lived overseas.
She shifted her weight on the bench, catching a whif of Nick. He was still a few minutes away, but there was only one man in all of New York City whose smell she could pick up that quickly. He smelled like warm and sand and oddly enough, cologne. She smiled, despite not saying why, and turned back to Ebere to listen to what was being said.
Hmm. Well, that was that. No telling him where she lived - determining if she should was, of course, the reason she'd asked the question.
"Yea," she said with a little laugh. "Sorry, that must have seemed like a very odd question. Someone asked me that, though, and I didn't really know much." Years ago, of course, but no reason to let him know that. If he didn't know about the guilds, he was probably better off staying that way.
"I wonder where it started...." Crimson, Onyx, and Frost. Why had those names been chosen? That wasn't, of course, what she was asking Jason - she wasn't asking him anything at all. Just explaining everything away.
It would have been nice for the happy little pakana pile to stay where it was, but Skye's nose wasn't often wrong about Nick. He was close, and his nose wasn't wrong about her, either. The instant he caught her scent at their intended meeting spot and didn't see her, he went looking for her. It didn't take him long to find her.
Wrapped up with Ebere and some guy on a bench.
He blinked once, taking that instant to establish in his head what could possibly be going on, and he went for what he considered the least dangerous, and therefore best, assumption.
That man was Ebere's boyfriend.
His reasons for this were the way Ebere was clinging to him, not Skye, and Skye was actually on Ebere's other side. That the man was touching Skye's shoulder around Ebere wasn't unusual and pissed Nick off, but he could handle something as small as that. The question was suddenly WHAT the man was, and from the way he looked torn between confusion (possibly at what Ebere was saying to him) and comfort, he was almost willing to guess hyena. He wasn't sure without getting closer, though he was pretty positive that was what he'd smelled as he approached.
"So. We look like a happy group," he commented mildly. Those thoughts of his had taken mere seconds, the space of that blink.
Skye lept up when she heard him speak, and ignored the annoyance in his voice as she jumped on him. She buried her nose into the crease of his neck and shoulder, laying lots of little kisses. Seeing Nick every time was like seeing him for the first time all over again - her reactions never changed.
"Mrrffffrffmmm" she said into his shirt. She lifted her head up to kiss him on the lips, and then pulled back and turned her head, re-wrapping her legs around him in case he decided to drop her (which rarely happened unless he was dropping her on something soft).
"Jason, this is my husband, Nick," she said again, with a massive smile on her face. Really, she lit up like a lighthouse whenever she was in his presence. It was a rare and precious thing, a love like that. God forbid anyone should ever try to tamper with it; Skye was not a good person to test, and while Nick's temper was much easier to excite, hers was no less explosive when it happened.
"Nick, this is Jason. He's a Pakana!" she exclaimed. Skye was always happy to find others of her kind, though this was the first male. She could guess how this would go at home.
Jason hadn't answered yet when another man appeared, and Skye rocketed off the bench and jumped on him, clinging... well, like a squirrel to a tree, and showering him with kisses. Ebere pulled away from the other hyena, just a little - not interested in loosing contact, but she did want to see how he would react.
"Hey, Nick," she said, turning to look at the shifter and smiling as she did so. It was always strange (but in a good, happy sort of way) to see Skye and Nick together.
Her greeting was a definite bit of encouragement to Nick, who grinned and caught her as she leapt at him. He loved these greetings of hers, and the kisses only made it better right up until he could kiss her lips, and that opportunity he took wholeheartedly. When she'd wrapped her legs around him he kept his grip to hold her to him seemingly effortlessly, and he nodded and looked at Ebere. "Hello, Ebere," he said in a friendly tone, having never disliked the other female pakana. It was Jason that got the interested look that bled slowly into gold as he took a discreet whiff of the air. Yep. He could smell it, and he didn't doubt that it was male hyena. Interesting.
The guy was nervous, too. Excellent.
He smiled, but it wasn't the same happy smile he'd given Skye. That was reserved solely for her. "Nice to meet you, Jason."
Jason had been confused and a little shocked at Skye's crazy reaction to the huge guy who'd walked up, but he liked how happy she looked. Her introduction caused all of it to make sense, but seeing the way the man's eyes started to turn gold had his attention. His own eyes widened some, and something suddenly hit him on the breeze. He didn't know what lion smelled like or why it scared the hell out of him, but he was off of the bench and on the other side of it in mere seconds.
Whatever Nick was, he'd never met one before, and it scared him.
Skye and Ebere wouldn't let him get Jason, would they? And would they be able to stop the big guy if he tried? "I swear, I didn't do anything," he blurted, though that probably wasn't the proper way to start things. He hadn't done anything, but he didn't want Nick to think he had, and he'd probably done exactly that by blurting that out. "And, uh, hi. Erm, what are you?"
Skye craned her head around to see Jason leaping over the bench, and lowered her head onto Nick's shoulder as she shifted around while he changed his holding position. He was supporting her back and knees now, almost like you'd hold a child, but, Skye was just getting too uncomfortable the other way.
"Jason, calm down!" she insisted. She looked up at Nick adoringly. "Is that how everyone is going to react when they find out you're my husband?" she asked girlishly, though she was edging a smile into her words.
She was suddenly reminded of a picture on the internet that Stella had shown here from something called 'Caturday', where a picture of a cat sitting on a car window with its paws up was captioned, "JESUS CHRIST IT'S A LION GET IN THE CAR", and burst out into laughter. She didn't necesarrily mean to laugh at Jason, but the picture was so much that she had to get Nick to set her down so she could wipe her eyes.
She leaned against her large counterpart and smiled at Ebere. "Could you get him?" she asked, pointing to Jason.
Her head swung back and she glared at Nick, whose eyes were fading gold. The scent of lion seemed stronger as well. She sighed a little, and gave him a somewhat dirty look. She wished she could tell him to be nice, that he really hadn't done anything either with or to Skye. An impression he helped, of course by practically vaulting the bench and immediatly protesting innocence.
She sighed.
"Could you get him?" Ebere shook her head a little, smiling, and then stood up and walked around the bench.
"Jason, I'd like you to meet Nick LeCroix - Skye's husband. He's a lion. Come on, he's not going to bite you." Hahahahaaa... yea. If he tried, though, Ebere had a harder bite.
... though Skye might protest that. She sighed a little, then gave Nick a look that said 'behave.' Jason was harmless, after all.
Jason was a little put-out that Skye started to laugh at him for his reaction to her monstrous husband, but Ebere's explanation didn't help his opinion of the situation any. He almost stuck his heels into the dirt when she wanted him to go over and 'meet' Skye's husband, but he managed to refrain in an attempt to save SOME pride.
Getting closer though, he started to wonder if he CARED about his pride. The guy was big and scary, and he smelled like what Jason was now taking to be lion. It wasn't a happy smell to him.
"Nick. Hi," he said quickly, looking up at the guy and shrinking a bit against Ebere's side. This boy was definitely not the fighter sort.
It amused Nick to no end.
The kid looked obviously terrified, and that was just what he liked to see, though he had to play nice with Ebere shooting him dark looks and Skye right there, snuggling on him. Besides, Skye was snuggling on him. While she was being affectionate at him instead of this male hyena, everything was okay. This Jason guy could see whose territory was whose.
"Aww, come on, Ebere. You're gonna scare him with talk of biting," he teased, his smile not entirely happy, but more...mischievous. He was enjoying himself. "Hi, Jason."
And that was it. He was polite, but he wasn't there to start a book club.
Skye may be small, but her elbows were sharp and swift. She jabbed Nick in the ribs as discretely as she could, turning to look up at him with furrowed brows. Her expression said, plainly, to play nice. So now that Nick had been shot the Look by both female hyenas, it had been at least established.
It was fortunate, though, that Skye could not hear his mind at the moment. Territory was something she was not, and she'd have locked her jaws on his arm in that very instant if she'd even though for a second that's what he was doing. It was foolish to think that she would ever stray from him - look at her! She was still nuzzling him lightly, even if he was being a precious little shit and trying to scare her new friend.
"I'm sorry, Jason. I should have warned you," she offered apologetlically. So this probably wasn't feeling so nice to him.
Ebere nuzzled Jason's shoulder briefly as the other pakana cringed up next to her, hoping the touch of another pakana would help as it usually did. She threw Nick another somewhat dark and very unimpressed look when he mentioned biting, and fought down the urge to mention the force per inch of a lions bite, verses a spotted hyena....
No, though. No, she would not. Bad Ebere. She settled the dark look.
"Don't worry about him, really," she whispered in Jason's ear.
Nick rolled his eyes, but he'd accomplished what he needed to. All he had to do was STARE at the male hyena to succeed in further instilling a sense of fear in him, and it didn't look terribly necessary. The guy looked pretty wimpy, based on his reactions. Just looking at him, Nick might have expected the kid to be a little more ballsy, but that obviously wasn't the case.
"You can both stop looking at me like I'm going to eat him. I'm saving my appetite for dinner," he informed them both a bit indignantly, which brought him back to his original reasons for showing up. Dinner. Skye. Whenever she was ready.
Nick may not have been impressed, but Jason was, even if it wasn't in a good way. There was no admiration or anything in there, but he had the impression that he'd get eaten if he did anything wrong. That thought was only furthered by the lion's mention of eating him, even if he was saying he wouldn't. Jason wasn't the biggest pushover in the world when it came to other guys, but he definitely knew better than to pick a fight with a guy like this. He also wasn't the sort to fight with women, especially hyenas. He was definitely at the bottom of the food chain here. No, it wasn't feeling so nice for him, but he could deal with it.
"Um, it's okay, Skye," he told her, forcing a smile and making it a point to look at her and not at Nick and his gold eyes. That was a little easier with Ebere's comforting presence so close to him, and he wasn't leaving her side while Nick was there. He didn't care if he had to follow her home. Not worrying about the lion was easier said than done, but he felt better with her telling him not to worry.
He hoped that meant she'd keep the guy away, and acknowledged the comment with a quick nod before he leaned his head in against hers some while she nuzzled against his shoulder.
Skye nuzzled at Nick's arm for a moment, forgetting herself. Whenever she was around him, she just couldn't help but touch him somehow, snuggle on him. She had come to terms with the fact that every time she saw him she'd want to pounce on him long ago, and had managed to take it down to a subtle demand of attention in public. They looked like newlyweds, despite having been married a few years now. In fact, people asked that a LOT.
"So, do you and Ebere want to come with us for food?" she asked, twining her fingers with her husbands and raising his hand to give it a little kiss. She smiled hopefully. She was going to try and get Jason and Nick used to eachother. It would be easier of Jason was with Ebere. In fact, it would be easier if Jason was with Ebere.
The gears in her head started turning.
It was rather ironic, really, that Ebere had picked up another hyena who was willing to follow her home and, just like last time, she wouldn't want him to. Home for her, after all, was the guildhouse. And, once again, it felt too nice to be with others of her kind for her to even protest it.
She looked up at Skye and Nick again when Skye asked if they wanted to come along, and then looked at Jason and raised an eyebrow in question. Well...?
Skye's affection was obviously doing something to put Nick a little more at ease, though it wasn't likely that anyone other than his wife would have noticed what she was accomplishing, or even that he hadn't been entirely comfortable to begin with. She'd been close enough to notice any tenseness in him, and to feel him relax a little as he used the position his arm was in around her to pull her in against him. He wasn't usually a huge fan of PDA, but Skye was rubbing off on him.
He dropped a rather chaste kiss on her neck, not bothering to speak up on the issue of dinner. He was going, they all knew that, and he wasn't making his opinion on whether the other two came known. Really, he didn't mind Ebere's presence, but he wasn't fond of the kid yet. He might not ever be.
Go to dinner? With Skye, Ebere and the LION? Were they crazy?! Maybe not, but he obviously was, since Skye had invited them and seemed to want him to go, and that was making him consider it. He glanced at Ebere and caught her looking at him questioningly, and it was obviously all up to him.
Wow, okay, no pressure.
He looked back at Skye and Nick, the lion especially, and realized that the much bigger man wasn't even paying attention to him. Nick had eyes only for his wife, and that was encouraging. Jason would probably be alright during dinner if this was the norm, so why not?
"Um, okay. If you're sure you don't mind?" he asked, looking at Skye, then back at Ebere for confirmation or encouragement, whichever was offered.
Well, Skye shook her head. "I don't mind, not at all," she said. She looked pointedly at Nick. Oh, she was going to pay for this later, she knew, but she knew that he had to have done something when she wasn't looking to freak Jason out like that. She just wouldn't put it past her large, aggressive, and very male husband.
"Do you mind, sweetheart?" she asked sweetly. Skye dared him to say no. If he did, he'd be going without sex for a very long time. She smiled a cheshire smile at him, which Ebere and Jason could not see from her angle, and her smile plainly said, "G'head. Your move."
She turned back to the group, the smile morphed into a brighter, more cheerful one. Skye was a wife, first and foremost, and currently excersizing her duty to coerce her husband into things that fell into the category with movie night with the girls and shopping for garden supplies; IE, 'Shit He Does Not Want To Do'.
Ebere smiled at Jason in something that was a mixture of confirmation and encouragement. "All right," she said, and then she, like Skye, turned to look at Nick and waited for his answer to his wife's question.
Naturally, of course, she wouldn't have nearly the influence Skye would, and she was smart enough to know that. She didn't even try anything like she did, but if he tried to get Jason to back down... well, his life would probably be 'interesting' in more ways then just the one. Jason hadn't done anything, after all. He was simply pakana.
Ebere didn't bother Nick in the slightest, but Skye did. He wasn't going to fall for it all, though. He refused, and instead smiled right back at his wife, ignoring the other two hyenas as though letting her know that it was ONLY for her that he was giving in, and shrugged. "Why would I mind?"
That being said, he wasn't arguing. He didn't care if Ebere and Jason came, so long as Jason wasn't all over Skye. THAT was his concern at the moment. His other concerns would crop up in his mind later.
Ebere's smile and Skye's reaction WERE encouraging, but he knew that the lion was still the big problem, right up until the man agreed to let him come. Jason almost didn't believe his ears, and then he was wondering if it was really a good idea. He'd said he would though, and he DID want to keep spending time with Ebere and Skye. So, he'd go.
"Thanks. I appreciate it," he offered, trying to be polite and get along with the guy.
Skye smiled at Jason, and then tugged Nick's hand a little to turn him towards her, putting his back to Ebere and Jason. She rose onto her tiptoes and beckoned for him to come closer, before giving him a not-so-chaste kiss and pulling back to touch his nose with her own.
"Thank you, sweetheart," she said softly, brown eyes locked onto his own. And she meant it. She knew he didn't want to, and he did anyways, and Skye was always appreciative of those little measures. She knew how many other ways this could have gone.
The hand that had risen to rest at the back of his neck curled slightly, nails faintly dragging against his skin. It was reflexive more than anything, but not unpleasant all the same. Skye had a way about her that was both sensual and innocent; lucky for her she was with Nick and not someone else. Not everyone would appreciate her properly.
Nick actually blinked initially, not sure what to think. Skye had just looked ready to withhold sex or something if he refused to play along, and now she was kissing him and being sweet? Not that he was complaining, since he was pleased with the turn of events. He smiled, letting his pleased surprise show through, and a soft growl threatened at her nails at his neck. He liked it, always had, and it made him want to swipe another kiss off of her, but he behaved himself.
"You're welcome, baby," he told her, quite happy to see that she knew why he'd done it, and that he didn't want to. He didn't so much mind behaving himself if it was for her, even if he would have preferred to chase the little hyena boy away from the start. Skye didn't want him to, and so he would tolerate the kid in the hopes that it wouldn't become a long-term thing.
It really was a good thing that Nick had agreed, or Ebere might team up with Skye and Stella and actually go through with the plan Stella had laughingly suggested some little while ago, leaving Nick to come home one day to find his beloved couch attached to the ceiling. He did agree though, which was in some ways almost a dissapointment - it would have been funny to at least hear about the reaction to that, even if she couldn't see it. Still....
"All right, good," Ebere smiled at the three of them. "If that's the case, then where are we going?"
Skye shrugged a little. "There's a little Italian place not too far from here. You both okay with that?" She didn't have to ask Nick - by the way he'd been running late and their date for food it was pretty clear that he'd be hungry, and he'd probably eat whatever she put in front of him (within reason of course). Nick wasn't a liver and onions type of guy.
She twined her fingers with Nick's and smiled brightly up at him. Ah, Skye. The matchmaker. She looked back to Jason and Ebere, all sorts of little plans popping into her head about how she was going to set them up with one another. Bad Skye.
Nick really didn't care where they went, so long as they got there, and soon. He was starving, and had been even before he was running late. This whole meeting was fine and dandy, but all it did was making him hungry. If they didn't want him to eat the weakest animal present, which was Jason, they needed to go find food.
Anyone who thinks Nick wouldn't eat someone is delusional.
He'd done it before, had a good, strong taste of human flesh and blood, and lions didn't forget that easily. Once they got a taste, one might say they were ruined forever, and he'd had plenty of tastes of that particular delicacy. He was strong-willed and intelligent, with a wife he adored and a life he loved, so it wasn't a problem, but if that ever turned tragic, Nick would be a very dangerous creature.
Right now, he was just hungry.
"Italian sounds fine, so let's go," he urged, tugging Skye along gently, but firmly. He was ready to eat, and watch the new kid squirm.
It wasn't really clear if this was the best option he had in this situation, but Jason smiled and went along with it, staying near Ebere. He wasn't leaving her side during the entire dinner if he could help it, especially if it meant being stuck with Nick. He didn't trust the lion as far as he could throw him, and a mere glance at their appearances was enough to tell that Jason COULDN'T throw him.
Tough luck.
"Um, yeah, I like Italian," he agreed, piping up only because it seemed right to let everyone move on without worrying about his opinion on it. The girls had it figured out.
Yes, bad Skye. Very, very bad Skye. Still, Ebere didn't know anything but that the other pakana kept on looking at her and then Jason, and that was hardly very telling. Ebere wasn't looking for anything, after all....
"Italian is fine," she said after waiting for Jason; she was giving him a chance to protest if he wanted it. She didn't know his tastes, after all, having just met him....
It was amazing what being pakana could do for random meetings, it really was. Especially if the newcomer was also pakana. You were just guaranteed to hit it off right away.
Skye walked on with Nick, making happy little noises to herself as she twined her fingers with his and swung his hand lightly. She looked up at him and smiled. "Thanks, sweetheart," she said. She meant it. Skye didn't often have madnesses worth indulging, but she sure did have some strange ones when it happened.
Once they got to the restaurant, she made sure Jason and Ebere sat next to eachother, and then flipped up her menu and gave Ebere googly-eyes across the table. She tapped Nick's foot lightly with her own and sipped at her water, being pleasantly quiet for the time being.
Nick may not have looked like much of an easy nut to crack, but once you knew the trick, life was a lot easier. Skye knew what she was doing, so he was suitably tamed. When she was around, anyway. He might have traumatized the young male hyena in their party if Skye and Ebere hadn't been there, perhaps even if it had just been Ebere there, but his intention wasn't to piss his wife off. He'd be mild.
"You're welcome," he told her easily, smiling as they sat down and got settled. "It's not like he looks all that tasty anyway, and you know I like Italian."
He was kidding, mostly, and he showed that by grinning. Of course he was kidding.
Jason had NO problem sitting beside Ebere, and he made it a point to keep himself from looking over at Nick all that often, other than giving the lion a look with his eyes a little too wide at the talk of eating him. He was going to ignore that and hope this didn't end up with him running or screaming.
"So, uh, who's hungry for what?" he asked, trying to make some conversation and maybe distract Nick with the two girls talking.
Nick really didn't need the distraction, though. He was quite content with Skye besides him, tapping at his foot with hers. Add in the menu and the promise of dinner soon, and he was fine, already scouring the menu. "Spaghetti and meatballs." It was good and they served it in a big portion here, if he remembered correctly. Perfect.