No Such Thing [eastern pack/open]

[JOBY CLAESSON]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=width, 150px][atrb=style,border: 4px #2f2d30 solid; border-radius: 15px; ,true][atrb=background,http://i43.tinypic.com/20jsmro.png,true][atrb=style,vertical-align: top;][rs=2]   POST STATS W O R D S five thirty four M U S E excellent! T A G open, preferred eastern pack N O T E S new table!

[atrb=style,vertical-align: top;] VICTOR JOBY CLAESSON Joby, as he liked to be called, was walking down the street, he had a urgency in the way he moved, like he needed to be somewhere right now. But that was characteristic to the way he always moved. His face didn't make it seem he was late for anything. He wore the same calm expression that he always wore. He walked to the Cafe Rouge, looked up at it, raised his eyebrows in nonchalance as if this was a place he just walked past and it looked like it was good enough to go into. Hazel eyes ran across the roomy and chic interior. Red seemed to remind him that this was a walled up place, contained. He scanned for an open seat and chose a table in the corner of the room. He placed his suitcase on the floor next to him as he carefully drew out the chair and then seated himself in it with an elitist poise. He brushed back his well-kept hair with a soft hand when he saw a lock out of place in the mirror of the metal napkin holders. He had come at an odd hour, so the Cafe wasn't full. There was still a few people, but in these off-hours, that meant that the majority of them were the regulars. Some of them glanced Joby's way, but he made no mind. He didn't come here at a certain time; he just came periodically. He was hungry for some companionship, for the feeling wolves get just by being next to each other. His pack had staked out this place as their own. More than a few had jobs here. He was tired of the trite matters that humans brought. Oh, this guy took this much money from me. This woman won't let me see my son. This person said stuff about me. He loved his job, to be sure, but grew weary of the smallness of their problems. Joby liked it best when he got to lawyer some sort of murder. A guy sitting there, shuffling in, claiming innocence. And Joby knew he wasn't, but he liked the challenge of defending a murderer anyways. It was something that he dove into, even as a wolf: Hunting the most dangerous game just to see if you can win. He sat in the table, his blind side facing the wall so that nobody would sneak up to him. There was a sense of caution in his movements. Joby considered all of what he did through a predatory lens. There was an ambition to be on the top. He was detached from the humans in the cafe and they could feel it, the conceited air he gave, an elitist. Of course, he was the best dressed one there, wearing a charcoal suit with an expensive blue tie and a crisp white shirt underneath. Joby let himself relax, which consisted of him reorganizing the table. The sugars and sweeteners were mixed up by the indecisiveness of whoever sat at the table before him. He lined up the napkin holder against the wall and then the sugars next to it. After he was done, he sat with a straightened spine and folded hands.

table (c) Quirky Tea | bg (cc) dinpattern

[ROSE EVERETT]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px; background-image: url(http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/legendskseeker/oceanbreezebg.png); padding-bottom: 20px;] the fake scenes, the plastic-made dreams SAY YOU DON'T WANT IT, SAY YOU DON'T WANT IT It was a work day for Rose, but a slow one. People had been filtering in and out of the cafe for hours, no one staying for very long. She'd expected this and had scheduled only a handful of employees to work today. They too were in and out. The openers had come in earlier, the mid shift kids were in now, soon to be replaced by the closers. It appeared that they wouldn't have too stressful of a time tonight, so she decided to take a break herself. She'd been in the back when Joby had walked in - otherwise she probably would have called out to him. The slender woman paced across the room, past old couples' faces and a single, sharply-dressed man. Cocking her head slightly in recognition she doubled back, a tiny laugh slipping past her lips. "Joby! Fancy seeing you here." A crooked smile crept up her face and she couldn't keep a spark out of her eyes. Ever since she'd met Joby they'd always gotten along. He was someone she could talk to, relate to, bounce ideas off of. As a matter of fact, he reminded Rose a lot of herself. They had so many similarities, it was almost uncanny. On occasion it prickled her, to see him so successful at what he did while still embracing his... identity. She figured he could tell, but she wouldn't ever bring it up. She hated talking about anything that made her seem even remotely weak. Lately though Rose was sensing something slightly different in their relationship - something slowly tiptoeing across the "friend zone" and into more amorous territory. It had been most prominent the last full moon. Actually, that was the last instance she recalled seeing Joby, though he hadn't looked as he did now. His large black form rather excellently complemented her feminine white one, if she didn't say so herself. But things were different in the wolfskin. It was more open, more instinctive, more raw. In humanskin you had to be civilized and have a job and look good. That's what Rose did now, and it's certainly what Joby was doing. She eyed his professional, expensive-looking attire with playful approval. Rose slid into the seat across from him, unconsciously tossing her hair in an oh-so-subtle way. Her bright blue eyes sought his hazel ones, and the smile remained. "I was wondering when I'd see you again. Been busy, I assume." 403 words // Hope you don't mind my improvising a bit of their relationship :P

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TEMPLATE BY KHRISTIAN @ CAUTION 2.0, LYRICS BY ONE NIGHT ONLY

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[JOBY CLAESSON]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=width, 150px][atrb=style,border: 4px #2f2d30 solid; border-radius: 15px; ,true][atrb=background,http://i43.tinypic.com/20jsmro.png,true][atrb=style,vertical-align: top;][rs=2]   POST STATS W O R D S seven hundred thirty-one M U S E excellent! T A G Rose Everett N O T E S I'm okay with the relationship! It's awesome!

[atrb=style,vertical-align: top;] VICTOR JOBY CLAESSON Joby was dutifully concentrated with reorganizing the sugars, but was nearly done. The pink sweeteners, he put on one end while the blue ones, he put on the other, leaving the white packets of sugar in the middle. His fingers worked, rather slowly, to prolong the task because he didn't want to be left with nothing to do with his hands. From time to time, he checked his periphery for Rose. She happened to appear between his checks. He heard her laugh, recognized it immediately. He raised his face to greet her, and received her words. "Joby! Fancy seeing you here." He let a small grin onto his face. His best friend, but after running together as wolves last month, he wondered what else they could be. Joby held onto his humanity with dear life, but somehow, personality-wise, there wasn't much difference between him and his wolf. He was a man who, if people had to pin an animal on him, would be a wolf. He had been too busy to meet with her before, but seeing her, she made his heart feel warm. Joby kept things professional. Although he had, before, entertained the idea of him and Rose together, it would be countered with the notion that they were such good friends now, why ruin it? But as wolves, their affection toward each other was translated into something more primal. It was as if his wolf and hers took notice that they fancied each other and then decided that since they were of opposite gender, they should do something more with it. Such an idea would be shot down in humanity. Joby held himself together too badly. He was professional. And being a werewolf was strictly the opposite. He calculated what he should say next. Thankfully, she took care of greetings, led the way for the conversation. They were to be friends in this conversation. That mean that last full moon would be talked about, in the open, later. Which relaxed him somewhat. Though he liked talking werewolf stuff in code in front of the public, using roundabout phrasing, he didn't want to talk about that. Not just yet. It was something he didn't plan out and control. So, both of these werewolves had subjects they didn't want to touch. Somehow, that probably made it more likely for them to gravitate toward it later. "I was wondering when I'd see you again. Been busy, I assume." "Yes, I've been busy. Would have visited sooner, but you know how it is." He liked leaving things open ended with her--sentences, ideas, and, currently, their relationship. With Rose, he felt the most human. It probably surprised the other patrons that the man in the suit could be so amiable. He reserved that warmth towards those he cared about—namely, the other members of the pack. He was at his most prideful when the pack were together, and he was donning an eye-patch like some sort of pirate. He wore an expectant look on his face, he wanted to show her something. Joby placed his suitcase on the table, and opened it neatly. "I got it cleaned." He removed a small skull from his suitcase and set the delicate object on the table. It was a translucent white color, contrasting with the yellow of the incisors. It was the ground squirrel he found the last full moon as a challenge to himself. They were still hibernating, but he found himself one. "I would have had the rest of the skeleton, too. But I wasn't careful." He meant that his wolf had crushed the body. Honestly, the skull was the only thing he could salvage. He collected the bones and antlers of the animals he had hunted or found as a wolf. It was his way of enjoying the both halves fully: To have some human interest in what his wolf did. And for the wolf to have some human mission in the hunt. If the other werewolves knew that he was born a werewolf, they might be embarrassed with how much he enjoyed his human life. He enjoyed running as wolf as much as he enjoyed being human. He felt that the dichotomy between the both halves was due to the rigid ways of humanity. A place for werewolves to be werewolves--not men or wolves strictly, but simply werewolves--was what they all needed. Joby felt that he was proof of that.

table (c) Quirky Tea | bg (cc) dinpattern

[ROSE EVERETT]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px; background-image: url(http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/legendskseeker/oceanbreezebg.png); padding-bottom: 20px;] the fake scenes, the plastic-made dreams SAY YOU DON'T WANT IT, SAY YOU DON'T WANT IT She didn't like that they'd gone as long as they had without seeing each other. Maybe it was because neither of them really wanted to deal with the fact that their relationship in each of their dual lives was quite different between wolf and huaman forms. Rose too pinned down their previous behavior to their canine inclinations, but that couldn't be the only thing. There was definite chemistry even as humans and besides, they weren't just wolves anyway. They were both. Emotions translated across the boundary, even though animal instinct dulled them somewhat. But Rose didn't think Joby would want to acknowledge it - the fact that maybe, just maybe, those animal instincts were right about the two of them. And because Joby wouldn't, Rose wouldn't. A lot went unsaid between them because of that, but she always figured it was just a mutual understanding internalized by the both of them. Whatever it was, they rarely ever got into disagreements about it. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time they'd really fought about anything. That was really saying something too, because Rose was always one for a good spat, wolfskin or humanskin. His little grin made all these swirling doubts and musings go away though, and she stopped thinking about the possibilities and focused on the two of them as they were now. Her legs crossed underneath the table and she bumped his knee with her foot in a good-natured, "yeah, fine, I get it" sort of way. The cool and collected semblance typical of Mr. Claesson shifted then. With Joby's rather limited array of facial expressions, one might have called it "mild eagerness". Having beheld his face many times before, Rose was able to pick up on the slight change and perked up a bit in anticipation before he even reached down for his briefcase. When she saw what the man was taking out, she leaned back in her seat, shaking her head and smirking at him. "Ah, come on, it's much more fun to crush the skull. Crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside." But she was only kidding. She knew he liked to do this kind of thing and so she would support him. She certainly admired his self-restraint, especially in wolfskin - if it were her she would have devoured the thing, or at least mangled it to little more than a bloody pulp. Looking at it now she could admire the detail of it: the thin layer of bone that once protected a tiny squirrel brain; the tiny squirrel teeth; the tiny squirrel jawbone and eye sockets. She ran her fingers over it and something stirred in her as she did so, something that almost made her want to just get up and race for the woods. But she didn't. Instead she turned her gaze back to her friend, allowing the sight of him to sober her up. He was professional, dignified, human - so was she. For now anyway. "It's impressive, it really is." There was a pause, and now it was her turn to look expectant. Her eyes took on the same glint they did when she had an idea, only this was an idea she'd been toying with for a while. She was still toying with it as a matter of fact, and she'd throw the bait out for him slowly. "You know they're reorganizing on the other side of town," she said softly, referring to the currently-leaderless Western pack. They hadn't had a stable alpha for quite a while and it should have been a good thing for the Easterners, but the Westerners were smarter than that. They would find a new leader no matter how many tries it took, never letting themselves cave in and disintegrate. If only it were that easy. "I don't like to admit this but they're sharp. Which is why I've gotten to thinking about us... maybe establishing some more authority. So, Joby, I have something to ask you." She didn't know if he would guess it or not. It was certainly a predictable move on her part - Rose doubted anyone would be surprised by it. She hadn't really felt it was needed till now - now that the Westerners were getting their act together and becoming a potential threat. Not that Rose was intimidated - these were just more skulls to crush. Figuratively. Possibly. 729 words // Joby wants to be Beta? Eh? c:

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TEMPLATE BY KHRISTIAN @ CAUTION 2.0, LYRICS BY ONE NIGHT ONLY

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[JOBY CLAESSON]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=width, 150px][atrb=style,border: 4px #2f2d30 solid; border-radius: 15px; ,true][atrb=background,http://i43.tinypic.com/20jsmro.png,true][atrb=style,vertical-align: top;][rs=2]   POST STATS W O R D S seven twenty one M U S E excellent! T A G rose everett N O T E S lol, joby definitely wants to be a beta! he'd be an awesome one.

[atrb=style,vertical-align: top;] VICTOR JOBY CLAESSON Joby let himself give a small smile. He was happy as Rose looked over the tiny skull. The taxidermist had done a great job cleaning it out. Touching it had brought back memories of his run as a wolf. He remembered the chilly air and the scent that drove him to find the creature. Although he was disappointed in the fact that he had ruined the body of the creature, he remembered that moment of control where he softened his mouth, hid the creature in the brush, and then peed next to it. Wolfish, yes, but it allowed him to follow his own scent—something a lot more distinctive than that of the common ground squirrel. Though, his smile faded when she told him about how it would have been better to crush the object—it was one that he would be adding to his collection. He was protective over it, the same as he was protective over the pack's well-being. But the look of admiration on Rose's face told him that what she had said was in jest. He relaxed. His playful expression disappeared as soon as he took the rodent skull from the table and tucked it in his briefcase. Although he wanted to make it look as if he came into the cafe in a spontaneous manner, the truth was that he had planned for it. He planned to go to the cafe, meet one of the pack—with the most likely candidate being Rose—and show the skull. Mostly because he had that lupine hunger to interact with his pack, to be near them, see them enjoy his presence. He shut his suitcase neatly, taking care to place everything precisely. He sat himself back, leaning so that his posture wasn't as proper as it was, but neither slouching to destroy the sharpness of his body. Despite his dominant nature, he understood that Rose was his Alpha. Leaned so that his butt was closer to the front edge of the chair and his back made an inverted slope with one of his elbows propped on the pack of the chair, he kept his head slightly lower than hers. This body language was made to look natural. Some wolves would make things obvious. Joby had been a werewolf long enough and cared enough about appearances that he liked to make the both halves of him flow together while keeping the boundaries strict. He was human now, but he could speak wolf while being human, so to speak. But then, Rose mirrored the expression that he had made toward her before he showed her that small skull. He shared his joys with her, his ideas, his words, his thoughts, his hobbies. She did the same. His eyebrows flashed upward, a small signal that he was interested, listening. He maintained the professional look of a lawyer. "You know they're reorganizing on the other side of town," she said. So, she was talking business. He can do that. He nodded to indicate that he knew this. Joby sometimes ended up going into their territory, if his business took him there, but there's a lot to be seen and smelled. Rumors that trickled into his ear. The Western pack had been growing steadily. From their pool of members, there was bound to rise a leader. "I don't like to admit this but they're sharp. Which is why I've gotten to thinking about us... maybe establishing some more authority. So, Joby, I have something to ask you." This especially piqued Joby's curiosity. Something to ask me? What could it be? His normally narrow, fierce predatory gaze was widened. He almost looked too young to be a lawyer when he got that fascinated expression on his face. Something about authority. Joby considered what her words could mean. She poked around that it had something to do with authority. Immediately, he considered it a rank promotion. He had no idea that he'd be placed in the upper echelons, only one rank below her: Beta. However, he maintained his poised visage despite the glow of excitement that affected him. However, like any good werewolf of lesser rank, he kept things polite; he didn't jump the gun. Since this was now a conversation between an Alpha and her packmember and not simply a conversation between friends. "Oh? What could it be?" he asked in a knowing voice.

table (c) Quirky Tea | bg (cc) dinpattern

[ROSE EVERETT]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px; background-image: url(http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/legendskseeker/oceanbreezebg.png); padding-bottom: 20px;] the fake scenes, the plastic-made dreams SAY YOU DON'T WANT IT, SAY YOU DON'T WANT IT The look that came to his face then was exactly what she'd imagined. Them being friends she'd inevitably seen it before, but it never failed to touch her - this white collar businessman with the eyes of a child. He suspected what she was about to ask, Rose could tell, but he was smart and savvy enough not to assume. She liked that about him. They were human friends, but she was the alpha wolf. They both knew it, but neither made a big deal of it. With anyone else she probably would have, pushing her power to its limits to make a point. Dominance and control was so important to her after all. But Joby understood. She never had to get like that with him. Even now in humanskin he assumed a subtle posture of a subordinate. She leaned forward slightly, keeping her shoulders strong, holding her blond head higher than his dark one. "Be my Beta," she said, softly again so as not to draw attention from the customers. Her tone was light, but it wasn't a question. "I wouldn't want anyone else." She figured he would accept - it was definitely his kind of thing. They were both strong personalities, which if they didn't already know how they reacted together gave them the potential to be explosive. But they did know, and they had for quite some time. They worked well together - an ideal match. The thought of them running together in wolfskin briefly flitted across her mind but she blinked it away. She was not making him her Alpha - in the Eastern pack there was only one Alpha, be it male or female. No matter their relationship, friends or moreso, she was his superior. It seemed so different when they walked upright and donned clothing; they seemed to equal then. But as werewolves, there was a part of them that would always be inherently canine, even those not born that way. Rose wasn't born that way, but she was proud of herself for making it this far and adjusting so well to such a different way of life. She tried not to think of what it might have been like for her otherwise, though Joby was a constant reminder of that. She could have been the lawyer, and who knows, one of her cases could have been against Mr. Claesson. How ironic that would have been, and she wouldn't even have known. Neither of them would. They would just be humans to one another, with no other feral relations. But thinking like that only stirred deep-rooted jealousies and Rose promptly shoved them down. She cocked her head slightly, awaiting her friend's response. 446 words

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TEMPLATE BY KHRISTIAN @ CAUTION 2.0, LYRICS BY ONE NIGHT ONLY

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[JOBY CLAESSON]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=width, 150px][atrb=style,border: 4px #2f2d30 solid; border-radius: 15px; ,true][atrb=background,http://i43.tinypic.com/20jsmro.png,true][atrb=style,vertical-align: top;][rs=2]   POST STATS W O R D S five hundred nine M U S E good-ish! T A G rose everett N O T E S yay, he's beta now!

[atrb=style,vertical-align: top;] VICTOR JOBY CLAESSON Joby Claesson had guessed right: It was a rank promotion. He gave a soft smile before going back to the serious face he donned in the courtroom, which to most people was his default. However, he hadn't expected Beta of all things. But then again, given the hierarchy present in their pack, he should have seen it coming. Perhaps being such a good member had made him not consider that he could be placed that much higher from his current rank. He had always wanted the power that Rose offered, and had the control and affluence to uphold it responsibly—she saw that in him. And he saw that in himself. He was confident in his decision. "Yes, I'd love to be your Beta." The ease with which he said it surprised him. It was something his wolf wanted and he wanted himself. Two halves of him were now satiated with their rank. "And I'd be pleased to do it." He always had pride for the pack. As he strutted before the mandatory change by the full moon's light, donning an eyepatch, and pacing with impatience as the first pains came that signaled the change, it wasn't the pain of the transformation that he focused on, but instead the other wolves in his pack. When they ran together, they kept to their own pack, found large prey. Every werewolf needed a pack. He remembered setting everything up the night he killed Vella and Moss—two lawyers from the original law firm he started at. It was the boost he needed to get where he was at the moment. He didn't think that it made him any more ruthless or sinful than the other lawyers because there's no such thing as an honest lawyer anyways. But an honest werewolf? He'd be that for Rose. Funny how things work that way. But he considered his place as Beta. What it meant now. He was willing to support the pack, to usher young werewolves, new members, teach them the ropes, but at the same time, he had the education to out them when they did mess up. Yes, he would be a good Beta. He always had it in his mind to defend the pack, pro bono, in court, but now, he felt that it was absolutely a responsibility to do so. Some newly appointed Betas might have asked Why me? because they didn't know what traits they possessed to make them effective as a higher rank. But Joby knew his place and understood that Rose had considered it. He wouldn't throw it back in her face just because he wanted to hear her compliment him. Though he was vain, he wasn't stupid. "So, now I'm Beta Victor Joby Claesson," the lawyer said calmly, affirming his place, to show her that he knew the gravity of the situation—how important this promotion was. He even used his first name—one that was rarely heard. He tried a joke, but didn't have the sense of humor to support it: "Too bad I can't put that on my business cards."

table (c) Quirky Tea | bg (cc) dinpattern