First Date Pt. Deux (Private with Alex)

After arriving to Half-Blood hill a few minutes too late, Ryan ushered Salem down to his rental Impala and headed off for NYC.

An hour later the Warrior & Witch found themselves stuck in traffic, idling on the Brooklyn Bridge, waiting for Manhattan rush-hour traffic to settle down. Why they decided to go to Manhattan when the entirety of Long Island was out commuting was beyond Ryan's comprehension, and there was nothing they could do about it now.

The daughter of Hecate tapped her fingers against the inside door handle, growing impatient with the traffic. "Well, isn''t this wonderful? Now only am I hungry, but we're stuck. In traffic!" She said out of irritation. Salem turned his head to look at her boyfriend. "If we're stuck after five minutes, I'm torching every car I see." With that, she turned her head to look forward.

Ryan sighed, praying that Salem's arbitrary comment was only just that. "Salem...its been thirty minutes. And I'd only consider torching a car - which can explode, mind you - if there were monsters in it rather than, say, some mortal office worker coming home from his dead-end nine-to-five down at I.N.C. Global, Incorporated."

Trying to keep his cool, Ryan made an effort not to ram into the bumper of the guy in front of them. It was tempting, and certainly would be a moment of excitement, but he was in a rental and there was nowhere to go. He sat up, trying to get a view over the wall of sedans, and saw that they were about to get off the bridge - and that an exit was within reach.

Salem rolled her eyes at what her boyfriend had to say. "Is that suppose to make me sympathetic?" She asked, looking over at him. "...Fine, fine. I'll calm down, but after this date I'm going to set something on fire." It was already made up in her mind that she would have to cause some type of damage whether it be in the mortal world or camp.

The traffic moved, opening up a small path to the exit. Ryan, being one of the most aggressive drivers of all time, decided to go for the gap, getting only one lane closer before some Über driver cut him off. "COME ON!" yelled the son of Ares, laying on the horn and giving the unlicensed cabbie the one finger salute. Ryan hit the wheel to calm down, adding in a few deep breaths to regain his composure. "Salem...remind me to pick up some lighter fluid on the way back, 'k?"

The daughter of Hecate was surprised by this jolt of rage and it made her smile widely. Gods she found this side of Ryan very, very arousing. An evil smile came across her face when he asked her to remind him to go get lighter fluid after their pizza date. "Gladly." With that, she leaned over the middle consul, gave him a lingering kiss, then went back to her original position.

OOC: How is an angry - potentially unstable, if you go by how some characters can be - son of ares arousing? XD I'd be thinking "jeez dud calm the f down its just traffic" but Salem is like "dat kinda hot *kiss*" like wtf?!?! XD

BIC: "Thank you." Another space of pavement had opened up, which Ryan was going for. "And remind me to get a police scanner too since mine's in Detroit and OH WHAT THE F***!?!?" Another driver, this time someone in a Prius, had blocked off Ryan's entrance to the exit. He hit the horn again, an angry note being shot from the Impala to the driver of the insult to mankind Prius.

OOC: We both know by know that Salem isn't like everyone else at camp xDD

BIC: Salem smiled. "You're very welcome." She was about to say something else when she heard Ryan scream at some car that had blocked their exit. Frowning, she faced forward and balled her fists. She had to do something or cast some spell that would make the car disappear. But atlas, she wasn't the skilled. "At least let me torch this car."

"No Salem, you're not killing a mortal. That's not what we do here." Ryan calmly but sternly delivered the line, as defending mortals was something Ryan took seriously.

Salem groaned with a roll of her eyes. "Well, well. Look who has the moral compass." She mumbled underneath her breath before sighing heavily.

Ryan glanced over, glaring at his date. "So you would enjoy the tribunal we're called into for killing a damn mortal?"

The Prius had moved, and Ryan saw this out of the corner of his eyes. Not bothering to throw his signal on, he darted right onto the off ramp and sped away, cutting off another driver. Calming down since the highway debacle, Ryan was now loose, breathing normal, and not giving other drivers the bird. "You said pizza, right?"

Salem rolled her eyes once more. "It was a joke, Ryan. Not really, but I wouldn't have actually gone through with setting that car ablaze. Maybe I would've hexed the driver, but nothing major. And stop glaring at me!"

The daughter of Hecate crossed her arms over her chest and propped her boot on the dash. "Yeah, pizza."

The fact that Salem had her feet on the dashboard would've normally sent Ryan into a fit of rage, but since it was a rental, he couldn't give a crap. "So it's pizza tonight then."

After a few minutes of aimlessly driving around Manhattan, Ryan was at a loss. "You know any good spots, Salem? 'Cus I'm lost."

"Yeah, there's a good place in Little Italy. Take the next turn after this one." She said to him, gesturing down the street. She wanted to check her phone, but knew that would be a bad idea considering that monsters were attracted to technology use. Sighing, stuffed her phone into her pocket. "What kind of pizza do you like?"

Ryan took the corner, albeit a bit erratic in terms of speed. "I look at pizza the way I see air: as long as it doesn't kill me, it's fine."

Salem glanced over at him with narrowed eyes before looking back at the road again. "That's a very vague answer. You could've at least said cheese, sausage or pepperoni."

Ryan sighed. "Let's just avoid flatbread crust and anything loaded with anchovies and kale, ok?"

The daughter of Hecate raised an eyebrow at Ryan. "Are you angry with me?" Salem couldn't decide whether or not he was still upset about the whole traffic thing or if he was upset at her threating to kill a mortal.

Ryan gave Salem a surprised glance before looking back at the traffic infested road. "What? No, I'm not mad at you."

"Oh, okay. You've just been giving me short answers. Just curious." Salem wasn't the type to care if people got angry with her, but when it came to Ryan, it was different.

He nodded, satisfied with Salem's explanation. "Alright; I just like to concentrate on my driving. Better I deliver short answers and stay focused than recite eloquent speeches and run straight into a truck, right?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Alright, then." Salem could respect that. "Continue on, Boar Skull." Salem said with a smirk on her lips. Meanwhile, she summoned her spellbook and started to read from it.

Ryan smiled when he was called "Boar Skull". It was probably an insult she had used on one of his siblings in the past, but Ryan didn't care. In his eyes, it was a pet name, and a damn good (and not cringe filled!) one at that. The only problem with it was that now he had to come up with one.

Heeding Salem's directions, Ryan calmly muttered "Continuing forward." and proceeded to drive straight down the road they were on, stopping only at the all too common red lights at the numerous intersections.

Salem laughed, shaking her head. She didn't know why she did that-- laugh, but she did. Maybe because she never thought she would be this...comfortable with someone who wasn't her sibling. She liked it. "Later on tomorrow you want to...train maybe? Don't worry, I won't hurt you too bad."

"Possibly." Training with Salem...seemed like a great way to ruin a relationship that he didn't feel like ruining. But if she really wanted to... "Just don't expect me to go easy. Rember who you're training with here."