Back to the Den [Salem]

[roflcopterpaul]

Only about twenty minutes ago, Daken had ran away from the chaos that he had started downtown, and although he genuinely felt bad for leaving Sabretooth behind instead of assisting with the brutal mutilation of his sister, he had things to do. He had ran into an open building, forced someone to strip and give him their clothes and backpack, then ran and changed into the normal attire, hiding the bloody and torn outfit in the backpack so that he could return to his apartment unnoticed, with no scent trail to follow. He noticed her scent going in two different directions, and decided to follow the freshest of the two.

His nose twitched as he pushed open the door of his top-floor suite, closing it behind him as he noticed that Salem was the only one in his humble abode. Normally, after such a meeting, he would have murdered anyone that dare taint the lone sanctity of his home, but he did not feel like doing that this time around. As the door shut, he slipped the strap of the backpack off his shoulder to let it fall to the ground. He then walked over and plopped down onto one of the oddly shaped modern chairs in front of the massive television. His hands came up to slide through the portion of hair atop his mostly barren scalp before his fingers laced together on the back of his skull, sighing heavily. He turned his head slowly to look at Salem who was sitting there also, his face blank, but the words he muttered letting her know that he was just fine.

"I smell pizza."

[viviana]

Classical music played softly through out the apartment, though it was only meant as a low background noise to fill the empty, silent void. The lights were on in the living room, and dimly lit the space that had become her work area. All of her painting supplies were neatly packed away in a black backpack beside her shoes and purse, next to the door she had entered through.


Salem sat in one of the odd white chairs in the living room, facing the wall she had plans to paint, as he had told her she was allowed to do. She heard the door open, and stopped work on her new project for a few seconds glance up at him. He had changed again, and had snatched a backpack. She guessed that he had slipped the outfit she had made for him into it. After her quick look, she returned to her sketching her plans on the paper without a a word in his direction.

She was absorbed in her work, making sure it was perfect enough to place on the wall in front of her. Should he speak to her, however, she would gladly put it away. There was something she knew they needed to tackle, and she was looking forward to watching the news programs with him to see just how his night had unfolded.

"It's on the kitchen counter. I hope I ordered enough."

She quietly stated. Upon hearing his statement about the food, she closed her notebook and stood, carrying it over to slip it into her own backpack. Then, she returned to the chair she had been waiting in.

[roflcopterpaul]

When he heard her say that it was on the counter, he remained looking at her silently for several seconds. Realizing she was not going to fetch it for him, he sighed and stood up, slowly walking to the kitchen. Any other bimbo would have gotten it for him, either because they were all depressed gold digging skanks that needed approval from any man willing to beat them, or they were simply afraid that they would die. Granted, most of them did wind up dead, but the fact that Salem did not even budge was impressive to him. It was something he could respect, and something that he might even be willing to admit eventually. Grabbing a plate, he threw several pieces of pizza on it before taking it back to his chair to plop down again.

"So..."

Daken mumbled, stuffing the pizza into his mouth as he devoured it hungrily, eating the delicious food. He was simply not sure how to make conversation with her, knowing that she would want to watch the news, but unsure of what else she was planning to do. Did she want to draw and paint all day and watch the news later, or was she hiding how anxious she was to get it over with? It made no difference to him. He had a floozy and pizza in his apartment. He was set.

[viviana]

Awkwardly, she stared back at him as he just sat there. Did he...Was he expecting her to fetch it for him? Hell no, he was a big boy, he could get his own food. She was not about to play mommy with him. She could not help but to be amused by this situation. This was the first time he had come off in an awkward manner to her, and it was completely adorable. Adorable, that seemed like such an alien word in relation to him, but it fit right now.

A few seconds passed, and he finally got up with a sigh, heading for the kitchen. She sat with her legs crossed, waiting patiently for him to return. Once he did, taking a seat again in the chair that was beside her, she smiled softly at him.

"I'm ready to watch it when you are."

She said casually, speaking of the news, of course.

[roflcopterpaul]

As Salem mentioned that she was ready to watch it whenever he was, he just nodded, unable to speak with his mouth full of pizza. Holding the plate and a piece of pizza carefully between the fingers of one hand, he leaned forward as he grabbed the remote with his other hand. It only took about ten seconds for him to find the recorded program and, although the small picture of the current program showed that chaos on the news was still going on at this time, he ignored it and played the saved bit from the very beginning.

"Matters not to me. I had a front row seat."

Daken said with a shrug after he had swallowed the bite previously preventing him from talking. He then continued to eat as he slouched back in the chair, relaxing rather lazily. Although he had been there, the spotlight of what she was about to see, he was curious to see it from a different angle, and to hear the news casters commentary on it all. He guessed that the entire event had taken at least half of an hour just while he was there, so they would be sitting here watching for a while.

[viviana]

She stared at the flashing screen in quiet amazement of him. Her jaw hung slightly agape, and her eyes were widened, though it was not an unattractive look by any means. Her interests peaked when the camera zoomed in on the two men who he held over the buildings edge, and she remembered exactly who they were. Though they were now better dressed than they had been earlier that day, she could easily tell that they were two of the three men who had harassed her in the cafe where she had met him. So Daken had held true on his promise to them after all. She presumed the third man had died from exposure to her blood.

This sent the message home, and proved to her that it was indeed him that she was looking at. It did not seem real, yet it felt as if it somehow fit perfectly with the image of him she already had.


From the programs, she had gathered that the girl was Wolverine's daughter, as she had said so close enough for a microphone to pick up. As for the other man causing the chaos with Daken, she was given no clue as to who he was.

So She had, unknowingly, been an accomplice to a mass slaughter? Instead of feeling frightened by the man beside her, or mortified that she had helped to frame a total stranger for such destruction, she felt...Honored and proud? Clearly, this was something huge he had wanted to accomplish, and she had been allowed to help him do so.

She found herself admiring his cunning, for it seemed his plan had gone over perfectly. Everyone had really believed the attack to have been carried out by Wolverine, except the two people who had joined him, and they had ended up clashing with each other.

She had countless questions about all this, but they could wait. For now, she had bigger things to worry about. Like, getting how she had felt through all this a cross to him. Instead of coming right out and saying how grateful she was to have been involved in such a plan, however, she picked a different approach.

"It looks like I'll need to fix that suit up for you."

She stated blankly, speaking of the many, many bullet holes and slashes the fabric had collected throughout the night. This simple statement should have told him exactly what he needed to know. Salem was not bothered by what she had seen him do in the least and she would have even seemed happy to continue helping him.

Focusing on him for now, rather than the task she knew was ahead of her, she decided to massage his ego a bit.

"So; clever, handsome, dominate and brutal. You just keep getting better."

She said in a joking tone, though she was very serious in that she found it appealing.

She crawled down into the floor in front of him and took up the space between his legs. The fingers of her left hand walked up his left leg until they reached the zipper on his pants. Gently, she tapped at it with her fingernail, a playful smirk on her beautiful face.

"Pleeease?"

She softly begged him. Tilting her head, she began placing tender kisses on the inside of his right knee. Her request should have been fairly obvious, but she would not have minded begging more if that was what it would take to persuade him. However, if he had something else in mind for them, she would have gladly waited to feed her desires till later on...

[roflcopterpaul]

Daken looked over at her as soon as she mentioned needing to repair his suit, words that she would speak just as he ran out of the camera's view on the program. He reached a hand over to turn off the television since she had seen all she wanted to see, apparently, and he figured he would catch up on the rest later. He let out a quiet 'heh' at her tailoring suggestion, something he would have asked her to do later, but it seemed that she was quite proud to be able to assist him such a dark act. She then crawled over between his legs and pleaded with him, making it obvious what she wanted. Again, he sighed as if she was pestering him, but it was fairly obvious that he had no objections. Slowly standing up, he would pace away and toward the back end of the suite.

[Some time later]

Daken had changed into his own clothes now, having decided that wearing clothes stolen off a random man's back did not suit him well. He had again slipped into some slim fitting jeans, black in color, not putting on a shirt for now. Pacing back up toward the front end of the apartment, he turned to look at the wall, but then passed it as he saw that nothing had been done to it yet. Though, the presence of her drawing materials let him know that she was definitely planning for it already. He then walked over toward the massive window that was the wall itself, standing only a foot away from it, looking out at the city below. He had things on his mind, things he was actually willing to talk about, which was rare. His voice came out softly, calmly, a voice that, despite being so cold and empty, made one almost want to feel sorry for whatever it was he was feeling. Clearly, the meaning behind his words was much deeper than the blunt statement itself.

"I am bored."

[viviana]

She would join him in the living room a few minutes later. She had slipped back into the baggy grey shirt he had allowed her to borrow earlier, and a pair of purple silken underwear. Quietly, she would stroll over and snatch up her sketch book from the backpack. Then, she would make her way over to the long, modern couch in the very center of the room.

Before she had the chance to open it up and continue her work, he had made a rather blunt statement. The words themselves carried little meaning to her. It was the tone in which they had been spoken that caught her attention. Whether it had been deliberate, or he had simply let it slip, she was unsure. With a soft, nearly silent sigh, she bend down and set the note book down on the glass table in front of her.

She tilted her head in his direction and spoke, her tone of voice calm and faint.

"Something on your mind?"

She questioned, seemingly understanding that there was more to his words than simple boredom.

[roflcopterpaul]

Daken heard the girl approaching and rustling in her bag for something. He payed her no attention and did not look in her direction, preferring the company of his own thoughts. She then spoke to ask him what was on his mind. He remained silent for a good full minute before he spoke, still not looking at her, though his eyes were moving, scanning the skyscrapers, the streets, the tiny images of people below.

"I am brilliant and beautiful. Anything I want on this Earth I can take and no one can stop me. Simply, I am bored."

Daken said with a tone that proved his annoyance with the situation, but the entire idea behind it would be enough to terrify most people. The general populous of humanity would be bored when there was nothing on TV, when their friends could not come out to play, or when in school during a dull class. However, Daken claimed to be bored for another reason entirely. He had plenty to do and was a very busy man, every minute of each day out and about doing tiny little things that were all part of a much bigger plan. No, he was not bored because his X-Box would not connect to the internet, but something much darker.

He claimed boredom due to the fact that he could use his looks and his skill to take anything he wanted to in this entire world and there was no more challenge. If he wanted something, he could have it. So far, there was no force he had ever encountered that could stop him or put a dent in his plans. It was a good thing, having everything always go as planned and knowing nothing could prevent you from accomplishing whatever it was that you desired. But, it just proved how dark of a soul this man had, how much he viewed existence as worth based on power and nothing more. He viewed lives as nothing more than material possessions, and whoever ruled, owned them all like little figurines.

[viviana]

"What is life without challenges?"

She questioned, her interests completely peaked now, though she wasn't sure just how to go about this little talk. On one hand, she could say the same of herself. She lacked the brutality he had however, she lacked the ability to run through people like a knife through butter, as Daken could easily do.

No, there remained challenges for her, many challenges. Salem's ability required talent, skill, stealth. She was not able to simply run in and destroy, it took far more work than that.

She was silent for a moment before she spoke again, her voice completely serious, but soft.

"You can cause mass chaos with ease, I must take each step, slowly, carefully. Yet, I can't imagine it any other way. I enjoy the challenges I face in those situations. It seems, you lack that luxury..."

She paused, thinking over everything she had said while allowing it to set it for him. She was not implying that his methods lacked planning. Rather, she was explaining that she had to be far more careful with it all than he did. Soon enough, she offered her question.

"So, what do you plan to do about it?"

[roflcopterpaul]

Daken stood still as she spoke, gazing out the window as if the woman did not even exist, but her words still materialized enough to pierce his thick skull and entangle themselves with the jumbled ball that were his thoughts. There was so much planning and plotting, carefully detailing every last step he would have to take to ensure that everything went off without a hitch, yet there were still just barely enough room between the thoughts for her own words to fit. He would hear them, and momentarily set his own plans aside to listen to what she had to say. Did he want to thank her for knowing what he meant and acknowledging his power, or did he want to decapitate her for suggesting that he did not plan things through?

Torn between what to do, he decided it would be best to do as he normally did and ignore it all together. He would not make any comments one way or the other, nor would he even acknowledge that he had heard any of it. Instead, he slowly turned around and eyed her carefully, his voice stern and cold, calm yet demanding, as if to be a balance between the two that one would have to be careful with to ensure not tipping too far in the wrong direction.

"You have seen what I can do. I believe it is your turn to tell me all of your secrets."

[viviana]

Cold and stern, calm and demanding...This was nothing new to her by now, as this often was his manner in doing things. She had been in his company for all of one day now, yet she felt she had a pretty good feel for how he was, and how she could keep on his good side. Even still, she could not resist being a smart ass every once and a while. Perhaps he would see the humor in it.


"Hmm. Not all of them, not yet. I don't expect us to go hopping hand in hand down the beach, staring into each others eyes and pouring our lives out to each other...However, I do still have more questions about you that I'd like answered. I suppose, though, that I owe you a few. I said I would explain, after all."

She pulled herself up from the couch and made her way over to him, leaving just a foot between them. He had not told her a word about himself, really. He had, instead, showed her with his actions. As much as she had wanted to illustrate what she was capable of, there was no way to show him that was as entertaining as the way he had shown her.

"Well, I'm venomous.."

With that, she held her left arm out at her side and stared at it. This was a silent gesture for him to watch as well.

Her thumb lifted away from her hand, leaving a wide gap between her thumb and pointer-finger. With a little push, a long spike burst forth from the gap. It was six inches in length, thick, and off white in color. It's tip looked vicious and sharp, while its surface was lined with countless grooves that were so small, they could barely be seen. Within those grooves lay small pours, droplets of venom formed over the openings. It was straight, indicating it's use. Rather than a hooked spur, or a fang, which were meant to hold while injecting, this straight shape was meant for a fast, deep injection and a quick pull away.

She reached her other hand up and rested her finger on her upper arm. Slowly, she drug it down until she reached her elbows inner crease.

"I have venom sacs along here in both arms..."

Then, she reached up to grip the spike itself between her fingers, the grooves easily tearing her skin and making her bleed. She ignored it with ease, as the nagging pain meant nothing to her. She bent it carefully, showing that they were flexible, and not made of bone. They were made, instead, of keratin, the same material as hair and finger nails were made of. This unique material allowed for the flexibility, which let the spikes bend over bone deep within her victims.

"I have them in both arms."

She stated, releasing the spike. Her fingers tingled from the venom, but it slowly faded away. She placed her pointer-finger and middle finger at the base of the spike, and turned her hand to the side so it was not aimed at him. Applying a bit of pressure with her fingers,a large amount of venom spurted with a sudden rush from the spikes tip. This meant, she had to have pressure on it in order to inject the venom.

She moved her hand away again, and let the spike slip back inside. The wound where it had exited slowly began to close, leaving some of her toxic blood on the surface of her skin. Her arms dropped to her sides, and she cast her eyes up to search his face in vain for an expression of some form.

With a soft sigh, she spoke up.

"The healing you saw earlier, as well as the effects of my blood... they are only side effects from the venom. It's a neurotixin, basically, it attacks the nervous system. Being that you are, from what I saw, a quick healer, you may feel numbness, or tingling, but you should be completely immune otherwise."

Her show and tell was now over, and the question section was ready to begin, should he have any questions at all.

[roflcopterpaul]

Salem first started her reply to him with a great deal of sarcasm, talking about a relationship and all kinds of other happy-go-lucky crap that he could not stand. The fact that she went there to start things off made him want to cut her throat, proof of that becoming visible as his eyes narrowed at her with killing intent. If that had not been enough, it became exponentially more clear as a bulge moving in arm would then force objects to press against the skin of his knuckles from within. The razor edges of two claws would become visible as they sliced through the skin between his fingers, slowly inching out as he wanted to stab her right in the eye.

Just the fact that he was now willing to expose his claws meant to most that he was comfortable around her, but it was quite the opposite. She had seen his abilities now, though not in person, which meant he had nothing to hide from her. Nothing to hide, meant no more holding back if he felt the urge to inflict her with pain or dismemberment. If she was afraid before, she would be wise to be far more careful from now on, especially since now she knew more than anyone else did about him. If he felt she was giving away his secrets, he would be forced to murder her, and she knew that now.

But then, she began explaining, showing him, and the claws retracted back into his arm. Daken would listen closely, his eyes opening fully again as he watched one demonstration after another. He was making mental notes of every last detail she mentioned, from the shape and apparent function of her personal hypodermic needles, to the location of her venom glands in each arm, sure that it would all come in handy some day. She then finished her explanation with mention that he would probably be immune other than some tingling, but even that was not something he would wait to experience.

"Just make sure you don't ever test it on me and we will be golden."

Daken said, letting her know that he had no questions, comments, concerns or angry letters. He started to turn his back to her, but then stopped half way and turned back toward her. His face was serious and questioning, wanting to know why, from the deepest corners of her mind. His tone reflected exactly how much he wanted to know one simple thing.

"Poison and healing is enough to dispatch of most people with ease. Why do you choose to stick solely to the covert ops style, even when it would be beneficial to simply do away with whoever you wish?"

[viviana]

She took a mental note here, Daken could dish jokes out, but he could not take them well himself. Normally, such a display would make someone scared to speak another word, or make another joke...She, however, was not frightened in the least. If he was going to kill her, it was going to happen whether she was scared shit-less, or laughing her ass off. Much like expressions of pain, she really saw no point.

So, when his little display took place, she simply watched him and went on about her business.

After her explanation, he implied that she should never test her venom on him. Though she had not even considered it, she had thought about testing it on his blood. That request, however, would need to wait.

For now, there were different matters to be concerned with. He seemed to question why she did not just go on mass sprees with her venom. With a shrug of her slender shoulders, she attempted to explain.

"I have a limited amount of venom, and I am unsure as to how quickly it is reproduced. That, and I lack any fighting skill. I suppose I could though, but where would the challenge be in that? I enjoy the game of it, stealthing about, pretending to give a damn about people, like a regular person. The bottom line, I do it this way because, it's just more fun."

[roflcopterpaul]

"I have a limited amount of venom, and I am unsure as to how quickly it is reproduced. That, and I lack any fighting skill..."

Daken slowly turned his back as soon as he had heard that much, facing out the window again. He had heard the rest of her words as well, but he shook it all of as nothing more than a poor excuse for pathetic weakness. He believed that he reasoning for having more fun sneaking around was just cowardice after hearing her admit that she did not know the full limits of her powers and did not even know how to kill any more effectively than a normal person would be capable of.

"If you are going to hang around me and don't want to get killed by everyone that wants to do the same to me, then I suggest you learn stop being so weak."

Daken said bluntly, his tone showing that he was serious, letting her know exactly how he felt. She was useful, yes, as well as extremely helpful, but that was only because he had her doing tasks than any maid could do. If he ever needed her to kill someone that was not some easily persuaded drunkard, she would be useless. He was out causing all kinds of trouble and chaos, and eventually someone would find him and attempt to do away with him. He was not worried about it happening to himself, but he knew that they would go after Salem if she was near, and unless she learned to properly defend herself, she would stand no chance against anyone strong enough to even be worth Daken's time.