Night's Omen

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.