Distortion [Nick, Skye, Wes, Tanya, Drew, Melisande, Zeke, Felicia, Josh, Aimee]

[Nikolai Kassle]

Nikolai was on his last thread of patience with Bishop. It had started out weeks ago, maybe even months. He knew exactly what about Wesley pissed him off, too - most people liked to say they couldn't pinpoint what precisely they hated about someone, but no, Nikolai knew. It was his large and in charge attitude, the way he tried to run the show with the SWAT team simply because he was a lion. Silvera was a leopard - medium-sized, but graceful, and fast. Drew was a Bengal tiger, and he packed one hell of a punch, too, but for whatever reason, Wes simply got the bye and was 'in charge' of things as much as he was able to be. It didn't seem to bother Ezekiel much; if it did, he didn't say anything, but since both of them had transferred in from Los Angeles, Nikolai could say with certainty that even Zeke seemed suddenly wrapped up in the 'Cult of Wes'.

It was coming to a head, too.

"Kolya," Tatyana whined, peering over the edge of the couch at him. She was laying on her stomach, stretched out in a pair of velour pants and a white camisole; it was apparent she hadn't moved much since he'd been gone that morning. "Kolya, why are you so mad?" she persisted. She had her gaze fixed on him, from bridge of nose up; below that was blocked by a couch cushion.

Nikolai shrugged. "Work. Bishop is on my last nerve," he grunted, plopping down in one of his dining room chairs. He tugged off his boots and threw them down, then looked at her for a moment. "Have you been there all day?" he asked, his brow arched.

"No," she said, rolling onto her back. "I came by to feed your dog like you asked, and then when I went back to the apartment, Katya had the baby." She wrinkled her nose. "So, I ran a few errands and came back. You have Netflix anyways," she added with a matter-of-fact tone, as though she had every right to be there.

Nikolai didn't like vampires. This was a known fact. He dealt with Tanya because she fed his dog - that she was beautiful did not hurt, nor the fact she had two sisters near identical to her - but he had no other interest in her. He didn't make romantic relationships with things that weren't actually alive - so cyborgs, vampires and zombies were all out. Since he also didn't like shapeshifters, that left him a narrow window. Tanya knew it, and she teased him about it.

"What did you add to my queue?" he demanded, forgetting his undressing as he stalked to the couch. He snatched the remote from her and began scrolling through it, a frown on his face - not uncommon. "What the hell," he breathed. "Do you watch anything other than Law and Order?"

She sat up and looked at him with an equally frowning expression. "Yes," she said. "But I like dramas. They're fascinating. And I like the police - mostly," she added. She stood up, stretching languidly, and with her, the dog rose, circling her and whining for attention. "Aw," she cooed, crouching down to scratch his ears. "Pitbullll," she sang.

"What did you do to my dog?" he snapped. "You turned Spike into a sissy!"

"He is not a sissy, he just loves me. If you were home more, maybe he wouldn't be so dedicated," she offered, batting her long eyelashes at him.

"Yeah, well, if things keep going the way they are, I may not be here much longer at all. I don't know how much more I can take of that asshole Bishop trying to lord over me," he confessed in a rare moment of honesty. He sat down on the couch and leaned back, putting his arm up on the rest.

"Hm, you mean that stupid cat?" she spat. "Dogs are so much better," she mused absently, rubbing Spike's belly. "And anyways, he's a little sucker for my sister - but all cats are like that with her. Hm. It's a dominance issue, just like with wolves. I'm sure if you tell him to back off he will... from what I understand, he's not a bad fellow, just a little controlling."

Nikolai gave her a flat look. "Sure. That's what they all say." His phone began to ring, and before he could get to it, Tanya had it in her hands.

"Nikolai's phone," she sang. She ducked out of his reach and danced around the living room, close enough to the couch for him to attempt to grab his phone, but far enough that he couldn't do it without standing up. "Eight? Sure, I will let him know. Mhm, bye!" she cheered. She smiled broadly at him and tossed the phone into his lap. "That was Felicia. She said you have to meet her and Zeke for drinks, and that I could come along if I wanted."

"Well, you can go and I'll stay here - how about that?" he asked. When she rolled her eyes, he sighed. "I really don't know how to be around them right now in this mood without it coming up. Did they say who was going?"

"Noooo.. they didn't imply. Kolya, it's Saturday and I'm pretty. Why can't you just take me out this once?" She climbed onto the couch, sitting on her knees with her hands on his shoulders, trying to shake him.

He had to admit, she was the only girl calling him Kolya and getting away with it - he hadn't heard that nickname since he was a child. He didn't know why he tolerated it - he really hated it as a nickname, especially coming from a girl he didn't particularly like, but he supposed that she was closer to him than anyone else. Even Zeke and Felicia had joined the Cult of Cat lately.

"Fine. It's only six now. Can you be ready in an hour and a half?" he asked, his brow raised.

"Really? Yes, of course I can! Ugh, thank you so much. I really did not want to spend another weekend watching that child with Katya, and Sasha is too crazy sometimes. Oh, you won't regret this," she exclaimed. She leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek, but when he jerked out of her way, she just laughed and shoved him - hard. "Just come get me when you're ready." And she got up and left, slamming the door behind her.

Nikolai rolled his eyes when Spike went to the door and whined, scratching at the metal strip on the bottom and sniffing after Tatyana. "Spike!" he snapped. The dog turned and looked at him, then laid down with his ears lowered and a sad expression. "Dignity, please," he directed. He stood up and stripped his coat off, leaving a trail of dirty clothing in the hall towards his bedroom as he headed for his shower.

[Felicia Wright]

Felicia walked around the apartment, picking up mail that Zeke had scattered throughout the week. She stood by the counter, sorting the bills from the letters from the junk mail, and then took a lazy posture as she ripped open a letter from friends back home. Sure, e-mail was faster, but occasionally people actually did still pick up a pen and put it to paper. It turned out it was a wedding invitation from an old friend of Zeke's still in the PD there, and she stuck it to the fridge with a magnet from their dentist's office. She had only beaten Zeke home because she'd left work early to go to the bank like an adult, something he avoided if he could.

She left the kitchen eventually, walking back to the bedroom where she changed into a pair of jeans and a bright blue blouse; the one Zeke had bought for her birthday a while back. She was just putting on her earrings when she heard the apartment door open, and glanced over her shoulder to see her fiance lumbering down the hall. She smiled at him, and then went back to what she was doing.

"I called Nikolai. He and Tanya will meet us there at eight," she informed him, watching clothing get tossed into directions in the reflection of the mirror. He went into the bathroom for a second, and then came back out in his boxer-briefs, giving her a strange look.

"About that," he said. "I invited Josh and Drew, who are bringing their respective ladies along. I hope you don't mind," he said with his characteristic quirky smile.

She turned to face him as opposed to relying on the mirror, and smiled. "No, I don't mind at all. I saw Wesley before I left and told him as well, so he should probably meet us there also. I wish I had a friend I could set him up with, but it seems like everyone we know are guys."

"Ooh," he said, making a low humming noise. "I don't quite know about that. Wes and Nikolai haven't been seeing eye to eye lately," he told her slowly. It was a hard subject to approach, regardless of who he was speaking with. He was friends, good friends, with both of them. He didn't want to speak with Felicia about it because he felt almost like it was gossiping, which he didn't do, because he was clearly a man.

Felicia stared at him for a second. "Well, they don't hang out outside of work, do they?" she asked, tilting her head a little. "Maybe it'll be different now that they're not going to be at work. No reason for a power struggle when you're just out to enjoy yourself, right?"

"Ever the optimist," he mused, brushing a few stray red curls from her face. "Let me grab a shower and we can go." He turned and went back into the bathroom, turning the water on as hot as he could stand it. He wasn't as hopeful as Felicia was about this, but then again, he knew that both of them were much more relaxed outside of work. He knew Nikolai, had known him for a while, and Wes wasn't a bad guy. It could work.

[Melisande Theroux]

Melisande arrived right on time, which of course meant that Drew wasn't there yet. She waved Aimee down, grabbing a table outside in the area they'd gotten reserved. "Hey," she breathed with a large smile, approaching her friend. "Josh and Drew ride together?" She glanced around, and not having seen either of the dynamic duo, could only assume that they'd gotten caught up making fun of eachother and had to change once or twice. The last time this had happened, they'd all been in one car and they'd gotten two miles from their destination before Josh "accidentally" spilled a bottle of Aimee's perfume all over Drew. Drew refused to smell like a girl, and so he demanded they turn the car around and go all the way back to the apartment to change.

Melisande had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for them. They were like women - no, scratch that. Since the two had become cats, they were worse than women. Melisande wished she'd known that was what she'd signed up for so many months before, but she couldn't really do anything about it now. She plunked her small trendy bag on the table and took a seat, crossing her long legs and smiling fondly as a waiter passed them. At the moment it was only the two gorgeous women sitting at the high-top by themselves, and Melisande knew if the rest of them didn't get there soon enough, they'd start getting hit on.

Of course, Drew and Josh would choose that exact moment to show up, and all hell would break loose. Neither of them were the jealous type, but outside of the strip club, they picked their battles a lot more liberally. She reclined slightly, shaking her long light-brown tresses loose of her shoulders, and ordered a drink for herself. She missed the days where she could actually get drunk.

"So, do you have any idea who else is coming?" she inquired curiously. She'd yet to meet the infamous Nikolai, and hadn't yet heard much about him aside from the fact that Drew thought he was 'too serious'. Of course, Drew thought she was too serious, so his opinion regarding that aspect didn't weigh in very heavily where attitudes were concerned.

[Wesley Bishop]

Wes actually got there ahead of Josh and Drew, which was no fucking surprise. They were like little girls when it came to getting ready. He could scent the women out before he saw them, and followed his nose until he spotted the long, light brown hair Melisande always sported. She left it down, and it smelled amazing, and he wanted to smash himself in the face for even considering how wonderful it smelled given the fact that she was with one of his best friends. He couldn't help it, though, and he gritted his teeth as he closed in on them. She was even wearing the bracelet he'd gotten her for her birthday.

"Hey guys," he greeted, resting one of his massive forearms on the table. Really, he made Aimee and Mel look ridiculously small - even their height wasn't enough to match his width. "Where are Josh and Drew? Oh god, Josh didn't spray him with perfume again, did he? Because if he did, I'm just going to order a drink now instead of trying to wait."

"Oh, we already ordered," Melisande informed him with a smile. Her large golden eyes flicked beyond him as more cars drove by and more people arrived, but nobody that they were expecting was coming through the doors to the patio. She huffed a little sigh and looked at Wes, focusing on him.

"What did you do, come here straight from work?" she asked, brow arched.

  "What? No! I went home, showered and changed and came here. I just don't take two hours to get ready," he retorted with a small snort.

"You need a girlfriend," she said pointedly, and reached for the drink that had just arrived.

[Joshua Silvera]

When the girls made fun of Josh and Drew's prep time, it was mostly exaggerated - mostly. This particular night had been interesting, thus far. Most of the day they'd just run drills, enough to make them all utterly exhausted. And yet, they were going out - they had to have some semblance of social lives, and when you had girlfriends as pretty as theirs, you learned not to say no when they wanted to dress nicely and go out. Besides, it was nice to get out of the strip club every so often. Josh wasn't entirely thrilled with Aimee's job, but only because she had weird hours. Her last boyfriend had been way more aggressive about it, but no, Josh's only issue was that her schedule was about as stupid as his.

"What is this?" he asked, picking up a container in Drew's fridge with two fingers. It smelled - god, it smelled horrible. Even if he were a human it would probably smell like ass, but as it was... and there it went. He flung it out the open apartment window as Drew rounded the corner, listening to it bounce off of the fire escape and vanish into the alley below.

"HEY! That was somethin' I made from one of my mama's recipes! Who the hell ever taught you to jes' go riflin' through another man's fridge?" he demanded, standing there in a towel. His red hair was matted down, and he still had shaving cream on his face.

"First, you can't talk to me about man laws when you're standing in front of me wearing a towel," Josh said, an accusing finger pointed at his best friend. "And second, did you even eat whatever that was? Because it was gross. Here, take a whiff," he said, and ceremoniously opened the refrigerator door, where the smell still lingered.

"Oh good lord," Drew said, clamping one hand over his face. He turned and ran back down the hall.

Josh nodded and shut the fridge. "Mm, uh-huh. Point proven." He went to the living room and flopped down on the couch, the same one Melisande had nearly broken a few months prior, and wiggled around until he could find a cushion where the spring wasn't stabbing him in the ass. "Are you ALMOST READY?" he called, leaning back and cupping his hands to his mouth for emphasis on the volume - which he didn't need, since he could be pretty loud without much effort.

Drew stalked back down the hall, mostly dressed now, and fumbling with buttons on his shirt. He'd gone for black, because he liked how he looked in it, and Melisande had said it made him 'handsome'. "I'm ready. You drivin'?" he asked, glancing around to see what he'd forgotten - or was likely to forget. Keys, phone, wallet...

"Yeah, I'll drive. You'll probably end up at Melisande's anyways, and we're off tomorrow, thank fucking god. Let's go."

And so they arrived about ten or twenty minutes after Wes had, pulling chairs up to the table. Josh noticed that Drew basically had to wedge himself in between Wes and Mel, but said nothing about it except save a curious glance at Aimee. She shook her head so slightly that he almost missed it, but her widened eyes told him that there was a story there, one he'd no doubt have to get at a later date.

"Hey darlin'," Drew said, wrapping an arm around Mel's shoulders. He leaned in for a quick kiss on her chipmunkish cheek, and then swooped his hand over to steal a drink menu from in front of her. "What'd you get, anyways? Place ain't got no Mojo here, so it ain't like it's gonna matter much. Hell, I guess a Bud will do," muttered to himself. He glanced up at Josh, who nodded. The two usually had a pretty consistent train of thought.

"Just fruity stuff. You know, the usual," she said with a smile. She glanced up at Wes, who was carefully not paying attention to their closeness, and ignored it for the moment. "When are Zeke and Felicia supposed to be getting here?"