"Come on, Alex says you need to buff up"

"Alex can say whatever the hell he wants, I'd rather send a rocket up his ass then play his little game"

David leaned against the wall watching Annette watch him. She was stubborn. And despite the fact that it wasn't his fault, he'd certainly get his ass kicked for it. Annette was the leaders new pet and even if she did set him on fire like she had sworn to do so many times he'd still worship her. He shook his head. "Fine but if he turns on me ... I promise you Annette-"

Those amber eyes stared at him quietly as she stood, leaving. He didn't come after her. Good man. She pulled the warm wool fabric of her coat around her as she made her way down the stairs of the apartment building. Fur lined the collar, but it wasn't real, Annette never did wear real fur after she had gotten changed.

The air was cool outside as she stepped into the misty parking lot. She had forgotten she didn't drive here, David drove her. He had wanted a fight, or to buff her up alittle, work on her skills. Bullshit. She'd walk before she asked him for a ride back home.

Silas moved onto the street from a neighboring building at a pace as brisk as the cold air. He'd never used to move like that, he'd always been so easy-going. But killing yourself and being brought back to life changes the way a person is a good deal.

Despite dieing and coming back, Pierce, who had inherited his chain of Renissaunce apartments, gladly gave it back so he was back to running the business. He was dressed for the weather in black dress slacks, a dark blue button down shirt that made his very pale blue eyes look only the more pale, and an ankle length, terry cloth jacket. It was a dress coat with a pressed collar and a trench coat quality, expensive and warm. The scarf around his neck was of the same blue of his eyes.

He's not extremly tall and he's in great shape for a recently dead man. His hair was left untied, reaching to his shoulders and as white as the snow, the wind pushed strands of it over his face but it didn't matter. He walked with his head tilted down just slightly and his hands in his pockets, his movements smoother then he wants them to be, because the smoothness in which he moves comes from being what he was. One hand retreated as he walked down the sidewalk producing a jangling set of keys. He nodded to her. "Evening."

She smelled of animal and he moved on down the sidewalk as something in his chest stired, his wolf becoming restless with another Lycanthropes scent.

"Evening."

Annette hesitated in her steps as she watched him. Those amber eyes were far from human, infact they hadn't been human for awhile. As full moon drew closer it made the change harder to avoid, anger helped, but the presence of another was inviting. She continued walking, he seemed like he was leaving soon, maybe the temptation would leave with him. Maybe.

Cold air brushed against her face combing back a few gold curls as it swept over her. She pulled the wool around her and snuggled into the fur before realizing she was still watching him. Heat rushed to her face in a flush of embarassment, though needless to say, the view from behind was a rather pleasant one.

From behind there simply wasn't much too see, though, with Silas, I guess it was a nice veiw. His jecket swept out behind him when he walked, his white hair bright on the back of the jacket. His walk was powerful and the animalistic roll was more apparent from behinde where you could see his shoulders with no distraction of his face.

His blue eyes rolled to the corrners when he felt her, someone, but he was sure it was her eyes on him still. He lifted his chin and looked over his shoulder, pausing because she was indeed still watching him. He cleared his throat, a rather professional sound. "May I help you?" The cold air had turned the tops of his ears and the tip of his nose red and had dried out his eyes.

"Only if you want to give me a ride to grandmother's house."

The smile that followed was innocent enough as she walked towards him, amused obviously. The little red riding hood bit was cute, but somehow she doubted he would find it to be the same way. He didn't seem like one to laugh. She watched him as she walked past, curious now.

(eeek shortness)

He wasn't amused at all.

Rather, his pale eyes darkened just a bit. Was she having a go at what he was? He knew she'd know what he was, he, after all, could smell her, surely she could smell him too. Silas watched her darkly for just a few moments, obviously he did not like what he was, if that's what she'd intended to prod at. The wolf within squirmed.

let me eat her.

you shut up! he snapped back in his mind. "Very well then," he replied, his voice thick with contempt. If she wanted to have a go at him for being polite then she could stay out here in the cold for all he cared. He turned his back to her and continued to walk without a word more.

She hadn't intended for the remark to be taken that badly. It was a jest at what he was, sure, but she hadn't considered what he thought about his inner wolfie. And besides, she thought he had been sarcastic at first. Annette stopped walking but her pride kept her there and not running after him for an apology. The cold air blew against her skin and she shuddered into the fabric. Damn.

"Wait!"

Annette caught up with him searching for an apology. "I'm sorry about that remark, but I thought you were being sarcastic. I hadn't meant for it to be taken so strongly." She wanted a ride home. Cold she could handle, but it wouldn't have been enjoyed.

Silas didn't stop when she called out for him to wait but continued to move along at a brisk pace, he did stop when he heard her footsteps rushing up behind him. He turned, and as he did so the wind wraped his coat around him and blew his hair over his shoulders into his face. Amazing how white it was.

"Apology accepted but Perhapes," his voice was more like a low growl, "you should think about how you speak to someone before using your tongue," his blue eyes flashed a silvery color and then he straightened. His voice became that pleasent, though a little less willing to give, voice again. "What's your name?" He didn't offer his own, however.

He couldn't just say apology accepted huh? Annette fought back choice words as she looked up to him. There was something that passed behind those amber eyes in reaction to the growl in his voice. She blinked before turning her head slightly and looking to the ground. A common sign of backing down. Although, it was all for show at the moment.

"I'll take that into consideration next time." Her voice was soft and the little lit of amusement that had before filled it was gone. For only a second she looked up, seeing David's round face in one of the few windows of his apartments. She paused and returned her gaze to the man in front of her. "My name is Annette, but you can call me Ms. Labelle." There was no bothering to ask for his name, if he wanted to tell her it he would.

He followed her eyes upward and searched the windows of the building, his white brows lowered a little towards a frown and he lowered his eyes back to her.

Good day Annette, I am Silas." So much for the 'you may call me' deal eh? He didn't offer his hand to her either but he inclined his head just slightly. He jingled his keys in one hand, shifted them to the other.

She quirked a fine brow as he introduced himself. First impressions must have been important to him if he was still being a prick, or maybe he was like this anyways. Oy. The jingling of his keys distracted her and she looked up to him. "Am I keeping you?" She doubted now that she would get a ride home, there was still a chance that David would probably take her home ... maybe.

It's not the first impression that's important. It's that she prodded at the worst possible spot when dealing with Silas. He resented his wolf, it had killed too many, destroyed too much, it had driven him to suicide. And then on the night that an idiot doctor brough him back to life a year later, it was the first to surface, pushig him to the side and killing two innocent men. It had nearly killed his best friend numerous times and nearly killed that Best friends son once before he learned to control the beast. It is not a subject Silas takes lightly.

He looked down at his keys. Really he's a kind hearted, overly generous man that gives too much and takes too little. "No. Not really." He pocketed the keys to stop himself from fidgeting. He looked up towards the face in the window again. "Is someone waiting for you?"

If not, why are they watching us? Or you?

Annette glanced up to the face in the window and shook her head. "He's waiting for me to crawl back up there and admit I need a ride home." In their clan if one wanted to more up they had to fight they one above them. Annette was in a position that he wanted and thought he could get if he got her alone. She didn't want that to happen.

Annette looked back to him. "I don't suppose ... if it's not too much trouble ..." She didn't finish the sentence, she knew there was a good chance the answer would be no. "Nevermind ... I'll just walk."

Watching her face as she explained, he shifted his keys to the other hand again and slipped his narrow finger through the key ring. Was that her boyfriend hanging out up there then? He really should not like to find himself in the middle of a fight between two young people, let alone another lycanthrope and a potential other Lycanthrope.

He looked back up, tipping his head back, to look in the window, and the way she asked. It's amazing how cold his wolf is, how indesructable and dark it is, yet how big hearted Silas is.

With a sigh he turned away from her and took a few more steps, comeing to the door of an old but maintained Town Car. It was nice, but a man in his position could have afforded a Mustang or something prettier. Simple, that's Sil. He unlocked the car with the key, not the clicker, and opened the door, pressing the button on the pannel to unlock all four doors.

"Get in," and without moving to hold her door open, he slid into the velvet seat.

Annette stood there for a long moment, dumbstruck, her feet were also numb. She found it rude when he didn't open the door, but she reminded herself she was perhaps stretching it enough asking him for a ride home. Besides she had to get used to the fact that very few men still opened doors for women. Annette opened the door and got in, her eyes now a warm brown glanced over the interior. Nice.

"Thank you." her voice was quiet as she closed the door looking out the window. She couldn't see David anymore and was glad for it. "I live in the condos on Juniper Avenue." Those eyes watched him for a moment before she looked outside again, growing silent.

Silas still opened the door for women, and men alike even, or at least...for those who didn't insult him upon their first meeting, intentional or otherwise.

He smiled faintly in response to her compliment and started the engin, shutting the door and pulling the seatbelt across his chest. "It was my father's," he commented randomly. There were files neatly fit between the back of his seat and the front of the back seat, slmost like a filecabnet. Fliers littered the middle seat in the front and papers scattered across the top of them with sketches demanding and compelling and advertising you to live in Renissaunce Apartments with low prices for such a classy area as the adress suggests. He stacked them neatly with one hand while pulling away from the curb.

"Juniper Avenue, is that near the park?" He isn't knew to the city, actually he knows it well, but for the life of him...or the second life, he couldn't recall street names.

"Yes, it's right beside the park."

Annette wanted to ask about his wolf, she was painfully curious having only been around were-leopards since she first came. Though after seeing his reaction to her jest she thought it best just to start off small. "Do you live far from here?" Her voice was soft, she didn't bother keep speaking louder, she knew he could hear her anyways.

Her leopard stirred and she clutched a hand to her chest. Not now. Please.

He made a soft sound of acknowlegement and turned the car in the direction of the park.

Small talk....he could do that, though usually he's relitivly quiet, unless of course, cunducting business which he rarely does. No need for it really, he doesn't plan on selling his business.

"In the Renissaunce Apartments down town, I'm currently staying with friends though, settling back in." After a very long...journy... His pale eyes flickered to her at the sign of movment and his beast stired in reaction to the feeling of hers, but he is at no risk of losing control over it.

"Are you ill?" Or rather, you aren't going to go changing in my car are you? First of all, he really would not like to meet the kitty, second, all of those fluids would ruin his interior.

She looked up to those pale eyes, "If you mean am I going to change, I doubt I will, but I'll let you know ahead of time if that changes anytime soon." Annette sighed and shook her head letting her hand fall back in her lap. "It just gets harder to control being this close to a full moon. And besides it's so tempting when someone angers you." Oh how she would have liked to tear David apart just minutes ago, of course that would have been the reaction he would have liked to have gotten.

Annette fidgeted with one of the ten buttons on her coat as she leaned back into the seat. "It must be nice staying with a friend, even if it's temporary." Her brown eyes stared out the window as she spoke, did she even have any friends anymore?

Harder? He knew about harder.

"How long has it been?" How long had she been subject to the beast that may have ruined her life like his ruined him? If he did not know that Lycanthrope remained human as well, he'd kill every one of the beasts.

"It is...satisfying."

"It's been awhile." It was a vague answer to his question. She could have gave him the exact number of years if she had wanted to, perhaps even the months since she became a lycanthrope, but then that perhaps would have had to be followed by an explaination. She was older than him, much older, somehow this change in her life made it harder to age, harder to hurt oneself. There was only one other lycan she knew that was older than he should be.

Annette shook her head, "I suppose I just never excersised enough control ... I should think I would have been able to control it by now." It had been such a long time since she talked to someone like this, it was comforting.

"Me too," Not nearly as long as her, perhapes, but long enough to make many many mistakes. Two lifes worth, literally. Which had been one of the mistakes, and that was long enough.

Unlike her, it hadn't taken him long to get tired of the wolf and deside to basiclly beat it into submission within him. "Perhapes," he replied, then paused, took a turn, remained silent for some time. "Have you considered attempting? It isn't too late to show control and the inability can be so...disruptive to every day life in a city." Just some friendly chatter between one monster to another.

"I have asked someone to teach me ... his methods are ... unique." She was too polite to say barbaric. "but from what I have seen they are effective." The city was too crowded to make mistakes and have them taken lightly, Annette had discovered the hard way how forcefully humans would react to the news of a lycanthrope ... or a blood craving monster, for a better title, living with them. The cuts and bruises healed shortly after that experience but the scars forever remained in her mind.

She was starting to reconize the street names, any moment now she would be home. Though she didn't want to be, nobody ever spoke like this in the clan, she didn't want it to end so soon. "Have you eaten dinner already?"

"His name? Or can you not say?" He frowned inwardly at himself. "Pardon my inquiry. It was rude of me." Yet, his reaction to her simple joke in the begining hadn't been rude? Well it had but he wasn't going to apologize for that one.

He looked sideways at her, coming to a stop at a stop sign but not moving on when he found the intersection clear. He seemed to be considering her. "No. I have not. It's been a late evening for work. Would you care to join me?" She'd been hinting, it's only a gentlmens place not to make her ask because it was a gentlman's duty to make the request. Or so he was brought up believing.

Have you associated him with as a rich boy yet? He's not a snot but he's definatly brought up on high society.

He apologizes? Annette looked to him for a long moment, letting herself drop the image she had made of him in the beginning. It was, after all, her fault, her comment had been rude and though his reaction had been equal it was well deserved. There was a calmness to those brown eyes as she smiled. "His name is Michele Henri." French pronunciation, as Michele was indeed French.

They stopped and she waited for him to go on, surprised when he didn't. She paused and hesitantly glanced to him as he made the request. "I would like that."

(so damn tired ... stupid morning classes *shakes fist*)

"I've not met him." So he held his judgment. He hasn't met Michele so he would not judge Michele's way of teaching. Simple as that. He took a left hand turn instead of continueing straight, signaling the turn even though no one was behind them.

"Very well, have you any preferances?"


(Wow, short. Sorry. *Pets*)

"There's a bistro on the corner about a block from here, if thats alright? Just go straight." Annette had found the small restuarant to be one of her more favorites since she had come to Bayfield. Though McDonalds would always be her top favorite, this one did well for nice quite evenings when you wanted a sandwich instead of a big mac.

She could see it from here, the well lit restuarant that shared a corner of a larger building. Outside there sat metal chairs, two to each metal table. A fine layer of frost covered them all but it wasn't like anyone would sit on one anyway. The inside looked warm and toasty, filled with the aroma of fresh food which was as good as it smelled.

(I'm eating right now so if I get deep into describing the food sorry)

He followed her directions with a nod. "It's fine," he replied. Silas, mind you, had never eaten McDonalds until Pierce drug him into one when they were nineteen. And he didn't like it. He's a sandwhich person, not a burger person. Actually, the place did look cozy and resembled a few places that he frequented when he'd been alive the first time.

He parked the car and shut it off, getting out and holding the jacket closed against a breeze. This time, because he wasn't upset with her, he walked around the car and opened the door for her.

Those brown eyes stared at him as he opened the door, followed by a smile. Her hand still outstretched as she was reaching to open the door before she had noticed what he was doing.

"Thank you."

She got out, pulling her coat around her as she went to the door not so much in a run but definetly not taking her time getting there. Her feet, it seemed, hardly touched the pavement as she went to the door and held it open.

"Of course."

He shut the car door and followed her, not so quickly but with long easy strides that he'd used earlier on the sidewalk. He took the door from her and waited for her to go in. Really, he is a gentleman when he's not offended. She's already learned the lesson. Wolf=offending.

"Go ahead," he murmered and followed her (assuming she did go in) into the little bestro. The warmth compelled him to let his jacket hang open.

Annette had learned the lesson. Curious as she was though, she kept her lips closed, curiousity did after all kill the cat. She stepped into the bistro finding the hostess waiting behind a podium with a smile plastered to her face. Her eyes only told of how long of a night it had been and how prepared she was to go home to a warm bed. "Two?" Annette nodded, the hostess knew well enough that she didn't smoke so the question wasn't raised.

She placed menus on either side of a table before taking their drink orders. Annette took off her coat and draped it over the back of the chair before sitting. A white blouse and a pair of jeans is what she chose to wear for this evening. She had never liked pants but a skirt the length that she wanted was obscene in these times, not too short but too long. Only pants went down past her ankles.

Annette looked over the menu before looking up to him. "So what do you do for fun?" More small talk. There wasn't much else. She would like to talk to him more about lycanthropy but not now, not in a public place, and she was more cautious now about touching on the wrong subject.

The subject wasn't the problem. The problem was just his wolf.

He pulled off his scarf and folded it quickly but somehow neatly and lay it on the corner of the table, then took off his jacket and slid a hand down his dress shirt to smooth away the wrinkle that pulling off the jacket created. Folding the jacket over the chair he'd waited for her to sit before sitting and thanked the hostess.

He opened the menu but didn't look yet since she spoke. In honesty, he didn't do much of anything. "I work, attempt to teach a friend's girlfriend how to control her's (he just said 'hers', he was sure she'd understand what he meant), cook, and sleep. That's it." He smiled. "But said friend has a son and he makes our working, cooking, attempt at sleeping fun." He smiled as he thought about Dagger. Abused, Mute, and still the happiest, most optimestic of them all.

"You? What do you do in your spare time?"

"It sounds nice."

Annette would have said she worked but that would have been a lie, other people worked for her. Her father had left a chain of banks to her, not exactly Paris Hilton, but she was an heiress. Her inner kitty could barely be controled, she couldn't cook, and she was an insomniac. Friends were just a memory.

She smiled. "I like learning new things." Hell she had the time, and it wouldn't hurt to learn something new. Swimming had just been scratched off the list, cooking was her next target. What else? "I also collect books." Building her own library, so far one wall of her study had been filled. "Oh yes, and Michele." A pause. "He teaches me twice a week."

Her eyes watched him for a moment before glancing back to the menu. "You have a nice smile Silas."

Ah well they have something in common besides inner beasts, except she's a kitty and he's a well...wolfy. His parents had....met an unfortunate ending and he'd been give the chain of appartment complexes. He had people to wrok for him but he spent a lot of hands on time with the chain. He eve lived in one of the vast, expensive appartments.

Funny, when someones complimented on their smile they can't help but smile at being complimented. He smiled again, realized this and chuckled. "Thank you." And now he was unable to stop smiling and he looked at his own menu until the smile was gone. "I collect books also," he commented. "Classics and encyclapeidas and novels, nothing update or exciting I'm afraid but," he shrugged.

He did have a library. He's been at book collecting since his parents dumped dozens of books on him in childhood after all. He had an early start.

"What do you recomend?" He asked, looking up from the menu finally.

Annette had heard once that smiling was contagious, it proved true when she noticed his reaction to her compliment. She hid her face behind the menu, as if she was actually looking at the entrees. "I get classics, novels and if theirs anything I just happen to like I'll get that too." There was no desire to confess to being a closet superman fan. "I also collect documentaries ..." Not your ordinary blond stereotype, it was something she was proud of.

A pause as she placed the menu on the table and looked at him. "I would suggest the Fra Diavolo." It was under the section labled seafood, the description beneathe the name read Sautéed Shrimp in a spicy red pepper marinara sauce Served over fresh Linguine. "I've had it a couple times."

He wondered, just breifly and something he was not rude enough to say ever, ever outloud, if it was kitty that liked seafood or if she just did. He smiled again anyways because usually his little bastard of a brute influanced his eating and he took most of his steaks and otherwise meat very rare.

"I'm not usually a seafood fan," he confessed, "but I'll give it a try."

He folded the menu closed and lay it on the table, folding his hands on his lap. "Documentaries of what?" Did she have a specific feild?

Annette had never actually taken into consideration if her choice of food came from her beast or from herself. A pause as he spoke. "Oh." the lightbulb flicked on. She folded back her menu and laid it on the table to the side so the waitress wouldn't have to reach over her to get it.

"Psychology. String theory. Things like that. Theres one that talks about how love borders on the lines of being a mental illness."

She laughed softly. Mental illness described her past relationships well.

"I supose it's possible," he said thoughtfully. "To love someone so much. Sometimes people become obsessed, and that certinally isn't a healthy psychological disorder." He thought about that quietly for a few moments, his gaze drifting to the window and looking out. Could he ever love someone so much that it could become an unhealthy mental state?

Could he ever love someone? Well, besides Pierce and Dagger.

Annette didn't think on it, she had enough commitment issues without science proving love was just some bad mixture of chemicals. Yep the moment someone got close and was thinking long-term she was thinking of excuses to get rid of them. Her brown eyes glanced up as the waitress returned. Tina was what the name tag read, she took their menus after giving them their drinks and jotted down their orders on a notebook the size of her palm before she left.

Annette sighed leaning back into her chair, her blond curls tumbled over her shoulders as she tilted her head back slightly. "I feel so much better now ..." Her voice was soft, her eyes closed. "It's been so long since I've actually had someone to talk to." This wasn't something she would normally say after just meeting someone, but it was true, he probably didn't know how greatly his presence was appreciated.

Silas, in fact, didn't know his company was appriciated until the moment she leaned back and said she felt better. Often he thought that he was a problem or inconvinance to people. This comes from a childhood of being brushed aside by his parents and loved by his nanny. His line of thought had been 'I'm in the way of those who should love me and I'm only loved by someone who is paid to love me.'

Silas smiled, closed-lipped but contently. He knew she wasn't lying, probably through the same way that she might know when he lied or not. The wolf could smell it so he knew it.

He sat back too, his back still straight but able to look more relaxed, and picked up his drink, removing the straw from it and drinking from the brim of the cup, watching her over it. "Well I'm certainly willing to listen," he replied, his tone implying that he too was glad to have company.