Razors Edge (Ryker)

[Alexandria Parker]

To someone normal, with the ability to actually feel genuine feelings, this might have been quite the beautiful day. The sun might have made her happy, and the fresh air might have filled her with joy. But Alex wasn't normal. She was incapable of feeling joy, happiness, glee.. All she felt was a pounding emptiness, a hollow coldness that filled her entire chest, and at times she felt rage too. The rage was the worst. It felt as it engulfed her entire body. Swallowed her mind whole, dragging her entire being into a depthless pit devoid of all forms of light.

She also had a sadistic, dark sense of humor. Most people tended to avoid her because of her sarcastic, rude and bashing words. No, Alex didn't sugarcoat anything, not even towards little children. If she didn't like you, she'd tell you. If you looked trashy, she'd tell you. If your personality reminded her of something that came out of the rear of a dog with diarrhea, she'd tell you.

Walking down the street, the brunette kept her head high, her blue eyes focused on the path before her. She didn't grace any of the bypassers her attention - they surely weren't worth her time or thoughts. No one ever was. In the end, all they'd ever do was disappoint or leave you. She was better off alone.

Her eyes lifted to a sign hanging over some building that looked like it could do with a nice makeover, but then again, as did most of Kalispell. It surely wasn't New York or Paris. 'Pet Rescue' the sign said and as her eyes drifted down to the window, she moved closer, trying her best to see what was inside, though the sun made this quite difficult as the beams seemed to cling to the glass like a child clings to its mother whenever they think there's a scary, pedophiliac clown hiding under the bed.

Opening the door with an annoyed sigh, Alex walked inside and ran her hand through her hair. She walked over to the counter and tapped the surface with her index finger, her lips pressed into a tight line, ''Which of these animals are better for cooking?,'' she asked loudly and though it didn't show on the outside, she smiled to herself for the hilariousity of her dry, but dark humor.

''Preferably nothing too hairy, I don't like coughing up hairballs,''

[Deleted]

Ryker raised his head as the bell by the door tinkled gently, signalling a customer. He had been bending over behind the counter rearranging the various items he had back there, but stood at attention as a girl walked towards the counter. Instead of greeting her, he quickly busied himself with dusting down his stained and rather old apron, which he wore when working with the animals. Otherwise he tended to get as dirty as the old piece of clothing. Poor thing, it had served him well.

With a grin he raised his head, intrigued by the rapping of nails against his counter. It was quite an impatient sound, which amused him still. He did a quick examination of the customer, surprise crooking an eyebrow. And that was even before she spoke.

Cooking? Oh hell no, if one of his cats was going to end up in dim-sims, he didn't want to know about it, let alone sign their death warrant. Raising a hand, he ruffled his mop of hair in quiet consideration, green eyes watching the girl sharply. He was attempting to determine whether she was joking or not. Unfortunately, she seemed in all seriousness. This understandably made his job quite difficult. But that was just it, a customer was a customer, no matter what their tastes. His job was to provide happiness, was that not so?

With a defeated shrug Ryk sighed and let his hand drop. "Better for cooking, you say? Now, I think I have just the thing," he informed her, still with a troubled look to his eyes. What were the moral consequences to his actions? He was going to have karma. Serious karma. If you believed in that kind of thing. "A moment if you please."

Turning, he disappeared through the back door, where the aisles and sections of critters were kept. Instead of journeying down these he turned right, into his office.

A few moments later he returned and presented to the girl her new pet with a flourish. It was a rock. With two googly eyes glued on. "Here you are. Cook this as much as you want, I'm sure it will taste the same either way, but then, I'm not a cook." Leaning in, he grinned broadly and poked at it with a finger. "And look, hair free!"

[Alexandria Parker]

Her facial expressions didn't change as the boy popped out of nowhere, as he looked rather plain. Dull. They all were. They all looked the same. Every sound, every movement and the idiotic way he ruffled his hair, all part of the annoyance she suddenly felt - this had been a mistake. She hated people, did she not? So why had she bothered to come at all? Oh right, the animals. Animals offered far better company than humans did. After all, they didn't talk back, and they didn't leave. Most of the time anyways.

Offering the boy a slight nod, Alex felt a slight sting of disappointed at the lack of reaction from her words. After all, pissing people off seemed to be the only joy she had in life, which was a little pathetic, she'd admit. But hey, who cared anyways, right? Oh well, that only meant she had to try even harder. Find what really made the poor guy tick.

''Mh-hm,'' was all she offered him as he walked away, and Alex crossed her arms over her chest and took the opportunity to give the shop a once-over. It was nothing special and there wasn't really anything catching her eye, which too was overly disappointing. Oh well, whatever could she expect from just another boring, insignificant human being she wouldn't care to know either way. Maybe his sense of humor was as droll as his shop? Maybe he came back with something, anything that could give her any indications over just how to piss him off or something she could use to see how long it would take for him to kick her out.

She was running out of victims to play her wicked little games on. Especially since detention and the headmaster's office had become like a second home to her. It had no thrill to it anymore.

When the shop owner finally returned, Alex graced him with a glance over her shoulder, her eyes dropping to the rock in his hand. A not so amused stare was offered the foolishly grinning boy as he continued to speak. Did he even realize how idiotic he looked smiling like that? Probably not. They rarely did, ''Clearly,'' was all she gave him as she pushed herself away from the counter, walking over to the other side of the wall, her fingertips running over the various items on the shelves.

''Do you have any food for a Bearded Dragon?,'' she asked as her hand dropped to her side, glancing at him over her shoulder, ''You know, the reptile,'' she added on with a bored tone. She didn't really have a Bearded Dragon or anything, though having one would have been really cool. Or a tarantula. She could have let it run free and scare the living shit out of all the Barbie dolls running around the academy. They were pestering the air. Polluting it with their moronic ways of talking, living and breathing.

God, she really hated people.

''What animals do you have here? Besides the rock. Which I'm sure brings you a lot of joy during a cold night in. Hey I'm not judging or anything, whatever floats your boat, girly,''

[Deleted]

She didn't seem as amused as he was, but that was to be expected. As she wandered away Ryker braced his elbow against the counter and rested his chin in his palm, absently wondering if she was leaving. She wasn't, and instead had made her way over to the shelves, where she seemed less curious as she was bored.

"Crickets, you mean? Can't you just catch them yourself? They're attracted to sour things." He informed her gently, as if his words were kind. But he still had the same half smile on his face, secretly amused, as if by some private joke. While she continued her examination of his sorry little abode (yes he lived here, the perks of being poor), he continued to absently stroke his pet rock.

While he was still reluctant to share any of his beloved creatures with this person, a question had to be answered. Besides, perhaps she really did just want to adopt a pet. Thoughtfully tapping his rock, Ryker did a quick mental scan of the diverse creatures he had living under his roof. "Dogs, cats, the usual." He listed off automatically. "Then some fish, a gerbil, a goat, two little rainbow snakes and a very depressed scorpion." he trailed off, with a quick chuckle. How he had even come across some of these beings was astounding, and a testament to his will to live.

Tucking his hair behind his ears, Ryk fluttered his eyelashes alluringly. "I'm a girl? Now that's just depressing. I mean, compared to your beautiful boobies I must be the most flat-chested girl around. Now I'll never go to prom!" he exclaimed in mock sadness, clutching at his chest with horror in his eyes.

[Alexandria Parker]

Cocking her eyebrow at him, Alex scratched her upper arm and turned away, ''Do I strike you as someone who run around catching insects? No? Didn't think so,'' she said dryly, clicking her tongue against the back of her teeth. If she could have caught things herself, such as food for animals, she wouldn't need to go to a pet shop, now would she? Not that she was here for shopping in the first place, but he didn't need to know that. She was here strictly out of boredom, and a little bit out of curiosity, of course.

She wasn't really interested in a pet at all. If anything, it would die from her lack of of feeding it or completely forgetting about it at all. She wasn't the kind of person anyone should trust to take care of anything, not even a fish or a plant. It all died. Maybe it was her inability to care about anything past what her next idea of sadistic fun was, or maybe she just grew too bored, too quickly. Which again was a proof as to why she was here. Bothering to talk to this... Person. ''Who would want a goat as a pet?,'' she asked with her eyebrow yet again raised and her lips once more pressed into a hard line, ''And you should try giving the scorpion some anti-depressants. It works wonders,''

However, his next comment brought out a reaction from her as his words had her stopping in her tracks, turning towards him with something that resembled a amazed expression, though she quickly regained herself and it was replaced by the usual dull expression, ''You really don't talk to women a lot do you? Or maybe you're just one of those guys who do talk to them, but just fail miserably,'' Oh well, as shocking as it was, it still wasn't anything she hadn't heard before.

''Show me one of your pets - a real one. I promise I won't cook it,'' Maybe. Okay, so she wasn't really going to cook it. Lord knew where those animals had been lurking around. She was far too picky about her food to even consider eating a homeless pet he had probably found on the streets. ''Amaze me,'' she said again and leaned against the wall, her arms once again crossed over her chest.

[Deleted]

"To be honest you don't seem the kind of person to do anything at all," Ryker noted amiably, tapping his fingernails on the counter. "No, no. I take that back." He amended, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "How does 'anything positive' sound?" While he hated to hear himself being something sometimes considered 'a jerk', it was just happening. He didn't know where it had come from.

Biting his lip, he fought a grin. "Hmm, I'd hazard a wild guess and say people who like goats?" Ryk ventured with an empty chuckle. "I wouldn't recommend it to you though, goats are awfully stringy, no matter how you cook 'em." It seemed important that he save this incredibly life-saving information with her. Goats were beautiful creatures, perhaps that was why they tasted bad, they're beauty was meant to be kept alive.
Maybe he was just a gypsy at heart.

He was amazed at her amazement, and grinned despite himself. He honestly hadn't expected any reaction, and ducked his head as if embarrassed. In all honesty, it was hard to find Ryker embarrassed about anything. but this was something. "Aha, no. I don't get a lot of interaction with anyone, let alone women. I mean, they're scary." Rubbing his face, Ryk massaged his eyes tiredly. His back hurt too. Sleeping on the floor did that, but he hadn't been bothered to actually go to a bed the night before. It certainly said a lot for his motivation levels.


Pushing away from his counter, Ryker rounded it and headed towards his customer. Pushing one hand into his loose jean pockets, he held the other out for a shake. "Name's Ryker. You have a name, hey viper?" he asked with an arched eyebrow. "I don't tend to share pets without a name. Maybe I can get you a collar while you're here?"

[Alexandria Parker]

Parting her lips, ready to reply to his oh so nice words, Alex stopped the flow of words as Mr. Pretty Eyes decided that speaking again was such a good idea. She remained silent until he finished and nodded, somewhat slowly, ''I suppose that depends on each person's view on what is positive and what is not,'' she said and scrunched her nose, wrinkling it slightly before her face fell silent again, ''However, that sounds about right,'' Her view of the word positive was usually a lot more different from what others seemed to define it as, and such, she usually assumed her actions and words were taken up in a negative manner.

And that was just the way she preferred it too.

Offering him nothing but a simple 'Ah' and 'Oh', Alex didn't really say much about his teasing or the words, according to his chuckle, he found immensely amusing. Then again, she had never been good at actually reading people, so she couldn't exactly say she knew the intentions of them. She did however count a chuckle as a chuckle. Nothing less, nothing more; Just a chuckle.

''Oh well,'' she said with a shrug, ''At least you have your pets,'' Hey, she was in no position to judge. If he preferred animals over people, he was more than welcome to continue his odd little fetish. Then again, when it came to human interaction and avoiding it - whether or not he did so intentionally - she didn't blame him. People truly did suck and the only times she interacted with one willingly was when she was bored and needed someone's panties to twist, ''Good for you,''

However, when the boy drew closer, she found herself tensing up and when he reached his hand out for a shake, Alex looked at it as if it was the most disgusting gesture in the world. As if his hand was filthy with germs from top to toe. No, she hated to be touched and she wouldn't even think of the possibility even if the poor thing got offended. It wasn't her problem anyways. ''Alex,'' she said coldly and shifted her weight from one foot to another, pulling slightly away from his hand. She wanted to be as far away from it as possible.

Just in case.

''There, a name. Now am I allowed to see your pets?''

[Deleted]

Ryker laughed pleasantly, amused by the ready acceptance with which she greeted his words. It was charming to meet someone with flaws they could admit to, though he held the niggling suspicion that she didn't see them as negative at all. Perhaps in a way they weren't, and this simple made his customer all the more interesting for Ryker's perusal. "I can't help but be cheerful," he admitted, still with laughter in his voice. "It's actually quite annoying." Especially when he wanted to be anything but.

He never truly was alone, and it was a fact that he felt incredibly grateful for. Sometimes it was hard to remember, the constant smell and sound of animals would fade into the background and he would find himself surrounded by silence. It was always an incredible comfort when a dog barked or a bird started chirping.

"That I do," he readily agreed with more warmth in his voice than intended, glancing over his shoulder to the back door. He wasn't unsociable by nature, but the interactions he received from the comings and goings of his rescue were more than enough for him. That and busking on the streets granted him enough human interaction to be considered 'sane', in normal terms.

He retracted his hand, feeling slightly foolish, but shaking it off quickly. She looked at his offer as if his hand had extra fingers, or fungus growing off his palm. Perhaps his hands smelled back. Quickly he lifted a hand and sniffed it, before shrugging with a crooked smirk. As if he'd be able to tell if he smelled or not.

Alex. Undoubtedly short for something, it almost always was. He was quite content to suffice with a nickname though, and smiled in acceptance. "Of course you may Viper, don't ask such silly questions. This is an adoption agency after all," he stated matter-of-factly and gestured grandly with his arm to the door, walking towards it with the obvious reasoning that she would follow.

"Just looking today, or are you actually interested in adopting, Alex?"