Both of those two options probably had some truth behind them. Nanook had shared a lot with her about what wolf behavioral expectations were like. She also was probably experiencing the awakening of her instincts to a degree as well. These two different facets were probably both happening at the same time.

Jealousy wasn't something that Nanook was really going to elicit in her either more than likely. He wouldn't have ever been the type to look at other women. He would have been instead quite loyal to her. Wolves were indeed loyal, and that was part of the reason why he was so cautious about selecting a mate for all this time. Indeed, this still seemed like it might have been rather sudden in the grand scheme of things, but he wasn't taking things too quickly by human standards.

Laughing a bit in her response to the jewelry, he finally allowed himself the luxury of raising an eyebrow. "Wait a moment, you want to look as Goth as I did that night then?" That was of course a very funny thought, but then it seemed like she had agreed to see the other things that he had in his wardrobe.

What he had been talking about was more of a gift than a commitment item. Eventually, though, he would have more than likely purchased some form of a commitment item for her. He was thinking of a nice ring, but then again since his tastes were so different he wasn't sure what she would have liked to get from him.

Shaking his head to rid these thoughts from his head, though he would have probably looked to just be clearing his long hair out of his ears to her, Nanook smile and started to clean up. "Alright, then just give me a few moments to clean up and we can go look at my clothes, does that sound good to you?"

That being said, he was blushing once she had made the comment about liking both of his forms as well. It looked odd to see Nanook blush really, considering his personality otherwise.

"What else would you like to know? Please feel free to ask anything, because if you don't then I will have no idea how to aid you and let you know what it is that I should be saying." With that he sighed, but he had soon found that he really was done cleaning up.

Washing his own hands and such, it looked like he was now ready to go and show her his wardrobe. "I have one piece of formal wear, and the rest of pretty much everything is funky. You've only seen me dressed two different ways thus far, right? The usual skater me and the cyber me at the club?" Nanook laughed again, waiting for her to follow along.

Jealousy was of course one of the emotions that wolves felt very strongly about. A wolf that went and looked at others in front of their mate was probably going to get bit. Justice in this respect often turned out to be very swift of course. Looking her over, though, Nanook knew very well that he only had eyes for her anyway. It was pretty obvious to him at this point that even if he weren't a werewolf he wouldn't let his eyes wander around.

Eventually, though, his mind had to turn straight back to the topic at hand. That was a little more immediately important. Laughing a bit at her joke, he soon rolled his eyes. "You don't know how hardcore some of the stuff that I have really is." He then finally shook his head. "Personally I would prefer if we weren't apart, but absence makes the heart grow fonder they say."

Soon enough he had taken the opportunity to take her to where they could have gotten a better glimpse of his clothing. "When there are others around us, you'll smell them, okay? Does that make sense? If you remember, then I originally caught a glimpse of you because you weren't smelling like the others smell." A statement like that must have been pretty obtuse.

That being said, if she ever had a chance to smell another werewolf, then she would definitely have known it. There was no question about that at all. They had a unique scent all their own. In fact, it was even somewhat different from that of a natural wolf's. That being said, he wasn't even sure she could have pulled out the smell of a natural wolf at this point either.

Still, there were some lighter things for him to take care of as well. Naturally he had to show her his collection.

It really did seem that he liked to dress the part. Nanook additionally seemed to have a certain affinity for unnecessary straps strewn over his garments. That would probably have defined most of the things that he wore here honestly.


"Eventually you will act like the rest of us, but I still want you to be yourself no matter what, okay?" Over time he then laughed at her question about the fancy restaurant. "Are you being serious? If so, well I guess I can show you the one I have, okay?" He started to dig around in his closet, which suggested that he no longer dressed rather formally.

It was a far cry from how he might have lived in early 20th century Alaska indeed. Skagway provided him with many more opportunities to dress up than he had today. Well, at least to dress up formally.

"How would it be to be a wolf at a fine restaurant?" Nanook was of course joking. He had plenty of control over himself and his form. He wouldn't have actually made a scene at all despite what he had said. Nevertheless, he actually wondered how she would have been with all the food. Still it did at least look like she had been handling herself quite well thus far. He might very well have had nothing to worry about really.

Before Marissa seemed to express some beliefs about just how loyal wolves are. This then would have made quite a bit of sense with his lack of a wandering eye. Considering that he had turned her, he considered her to be part of his pack. Ultimately he would have even thought that if she didn't choose him as a mate.

As a result, he would have remained quite loyal to her. Once they had looked over his clothing, Nanook turned back toward her eyes. "Well then, how did you like it? Was it hardcore enough for you?" Having laughed, he then finally found his suit. It was actually nice, though it probably needed to be laundered.

In spite of the fact that suits usually recommended dry cleaning, he figured it was sturdy enough to take a machine wash. Removing it from the closet, he looked back toward her with a bit of a smirk. "How does this look then? I'll take it to the laundromat later if you want me to, but would you have somewhere in mind for us to go? For that matter, did you want me to pay for the restaurant when you take me?"

Nanook laughed a bit, though in spite of his jokes he would have been more than happy to pay for them both. He would have considered it a nice way to repay her for making breakfast.

"You smell like one person now, but before you smelled like you do now plus you had the odor of another, does that make any sense to you at all? Do you see why I was interested in following you once I smelled that?" Nanook was quite serious about what it was that he was saying. He realized that it was probably an abstract concept.

However, she seemed to be a quick study so far. He trusted that she would have been able to follow along with this concept as well. Nanook was completely telling the truth here. He smelled her plus he smelled another in the same body. It was unusual to say the least, and that was why he had wanted to follow her around from the moment that they had met.

"Often you can smell someone else on another person because they've been in contact with them, but then again your extra smell was coming directly from inside of yourself. That was what had been so unusual about it to me. You actually really did have two different odors that were trapped inside of the same body."

Eventually he frowned, not sure if she wanted to talk about this yet considering what it was that she had said about the whole issue before. He didn't want to press anything on her that wasn't comfortable for her to talk about.

"Let me know the moment you want me to change the topic, put some music on or get you something to drink, okay?" Nanook really wanted her to feel at home if that were at all possible right now.

Since he had been the one to turn her anyway, Nanook would have been obligated and honor bound to treat her as part of his pack. She wouldn't have ever had to find her own. The reasons for this were those same ones that she was citing before about how wolves take care of their families. He would have liked to spend the rest of his life with her. However, considering the nigh immortality that they had at this point, Nanook was still rather opposed to rushing anything.

"Wait, you wouldn't mind giving my suit a wash for me?" He seemed genuinely surprised at this admission. "I take it that the other stuff isn't quite what you'd usually wear in that case, huh?" Again he laughed, hoping that she didn't mind the fact that he often made fun of himself in these situations as well.

He was of the opinion that if he couldn't laugh at himself, then he wouldn't have had anyone else to laugh at either. "Well, at this point, would you really mind if it were a date?" She was already visiting him at home like this. Honestly, to him, this already did feel like it was intended to be a date. Certainly he wouldn't have taken offense to having another one.

"I think that would be a good idea to sit down like that, but only tell me what you feel comfortable about, okay?" Nanook was more forceful than his words might have suggested. He was a wolf and carried many of those traits with him. Knowing that he was going to get everything out of her in turn gave him the luxury to reply that way.

Usually he used more finesse than this, however. He didn't intend to use any overt force to manipulate her. Rather, he figured that he was going to be able to talk everything out of her. She trusted him quite a bit at this point, and to his credit he meant her no harm.

Rather, he had wanted to sculpt her into the tough powerful predator that he knew very well she could become. On that one night she had already tasted flesh. He knew that she must have been developing a need for it. Cravings were going to start to develop within her, and he knew that those were going to manipulate her far more than he ever would have been able to.

His positions on almost all of these topics were interesting from the standpoint of a neutral observer. If someone were writing a history of Nanook and Marissa, looking back, then they might have viewed Nanook as manipulative. He wouldn't have seen himself as such, however. What he had done was save her from something that had bothered her. In his mind, he was giving her a second chance. Nanook was giving her an entirely new life, and simply wanted to guide her in the right direction like a teacher.

Certainly it could be said that he was an exceptionally violent teacher, but that wasn't the issue here at the moment. Anyway, though, he looked around for a few moments and smiled. "You know, I really wish humans could wag their tails, but we can't all get what we want!" He smirked, hoping that she'd realize that was a nicer way to show expressions. It clearly would have fit the mood when she promised to clean his suit for him.

"Well, in that case, did you want to plan for something soon?" Nanook liked the idea of going on a date as well. Even if he was a monster, he was still human after all. Eh, well he was still half-human anyway.

Shaking his head, Nanook held her tight once she asked if he would have considered her weak. He wouldn't have done so. At this point, he wasn't even sure if he was capable of doing so, considering everything that she had gone through at his request. Regardless, soon enough he finally found himself releasing her and let loose a gentle exhalation.

"Well, let me think, do you want to speak on the bed? Laying down might help you to feel more comfortable." Additionally he figured that some of that wolf's instinct might kick in, and then cause her to curl up when faced with something difficult.

"Is there anything else I can do to make you feel more comfortable about talking this over with me? I know that it must be very difficult, so I wouldn't ever call you weak for it, alright?"

Finally Nanook swallowed, not at all sure of where she was going to begin. Either way, though, he wasn't going to be one to force her hand in this respect. Rather, he simply wanted to figure out how that all happened.

There were so many questions that he had wanted to ask. He wanted to ask her if a curse had been put on her head or something. He had wanted to ask instead if someone had placed a dead spirit who had not rested properly within her. However, none of these questions seemed at all appropriate. He really thought that it would have just been best to let this go at her pace.

In fact, he figured that he never would have heard the whole story otherwise, so even if he didn't care for her so incredibly much than he still wouldn't have forced her hand.

Ironically, even though an outside commentator might very well have called Nanook manipulative, he himself had been pretty open about all of his intentions. Marissa could have rejected him at any moment. She could simply have said that she didn't want to do this. Nanook would have tried to convince her otherwise, but in the end he would never have forced her. At any moment she could still have asked him his intentions, and he would have been quite open about them.

"Well, you would like to see a wagging tail, wouldn't you?" Grinning a bit, he looked up toward her. The grin was, of course, quite wolfish in the end and she probably could have noticed such a trait underneath it all. "I do like the idea that we'll go somewhere once you're done with my suit, though you can just machine wash it or whatever, alright?" Soon enough he figured that her comment about hugs meant that she had wanted one.

Nanook's arms were then draped around her neck and he rubbed her nose for a moment. "They used to call these Eskimo kisses, but they actually have no resemblance to anything that we actually ever historically did!" Snickering for a few moments he finally actually kissed her properly if she would have allowed him to, and then withdrew and let his arms drape down.

At this point she more than likely would have had to take a few moments to relax herself. Getting into the mood under which she would have been able to take care of what she had to tell him was going to be pretty difficult to say the least. For a few moments it even seemed that he was preparing himself with a stretch, though he also just had some stiffness to get rid of anyway.

To some observers it might have looked odd that he had to take time to prepare himself, but it really wasn't. Nanook wanted to be ready for hearing about pain that the girl he loved had faced. That pain was very much his pain as well in that case. He didn't actually want to think that she would have had to suffer so much. At this point when she had suffered he had symbiotically felt that as well.

Regardless he had soon joined her on the bed. Nanook had wordlessly made sure to get them both a glass of icy cold water before they went on with anything. He figured that she might very well have needed it. Shutting his eyes, he turned the ceiling fan on and looked toward the fan that was in the window. "Are these too loud? Honestly I really don't use air conditioning much!" It didn't really need it today, but he didn't want that famous Los Angeles smog getting in.

Eventually he made his way right back onto the bed after having taken a few sips, and he was curled up next toward her with his eyes now totally shut. Sighing in turn, he tried to nuzzle her. He would have gotten quite close if she didn't feel too hot, or uncomfortable by his motions. Should she have felt otherwise, though, then he would have simply withdrawn from her. Shaking his head, it seemed like he had wished to do nothing that might have disrupted her in anyway.

Understanding that this was a very big deal for her at the moment, he didn't want to do anything that would have jeopardized it. While he had needed to hear what it was that she was going to say, he also figured that it must have been some form of catharsis for her. He wanted her to feel open.

"Would it help if I turned some music on to relax you?" Nanook then laughed at the question. "If I did, then you would pick the music, not me!" He figured that any of the music that would have come to mind for him would have just given her a headache at this point.

Sighing almost silently, should nothing else have impeded him he would have then started to play with her hair. He had no idea if she would have permitted that. Nevertheless, he reflected for a moment on their relationship without saying anything.

One of the things that were most endearing to Nanook about about Marissa was the fact that she never seemed to critique his behavior. She never second-guessed or doubted him. Nevertheless, that didn't mean that he thought it was blind faith either. He wouldn't have liked that at all. Blind faith wasn't really true faith at all no matter what anyone said about it. It meant that someone wasn't really following something because they genuinely cared about it, but because they were misguided.

In spite of everything else, he wanted her to think independently. Nanook wanted her to follow him and learn to be a proper werewolf because she wanted to, not because she felt she had to please him. In a way that would have ruined everything for him, and he wanted to go back on it. He wouldn't have wanted someone who followed him like a lost puppy. In a sense, too, it would have been fairly creepy. He was looking for a friend and an eternal mate who didn't shy away from violence, but instead reveled in it. What he wasn't looking for was a sycophant.

"Are you talking about people who have a little appendage on their backs? That's not a tail; they don't have any bones in it!" He laughed a bit, having thus suggested that they wouldn't have been able to wag them even if they had tried to. Nodding once she seemed more serious, he eventually raised a brow at her. "Like I said, at this point I doubt even a machine wash would cause any problems. You don't have to fear shrinkage, because it's probably stretched out hanging in the closet all this time."

While a machine wash and a tumble dry probably weren't suggested for suits very often, it might have actually been the best thing in this case. "I bought it at a thrift shop anyway." That sounded just like Nanook to take the most frugal and resource-conscious way out.

"Do what again, you mean this?" Laughing, he then grasped her more tightly making his hug more forceful as he then rubbed their noses together. Sure, that wasn't historically what his people would have actually done. At the present time he just considered it harmless fun. He wasn't going to let anything get in the way of having fun with her.

Well, then again it had looked as though the serious conversation that they were about to have was going to do just that. That kiss might have been wonderful, but what was going to happen next certainly wasn't going to be.

It was painfully obvious that she had to prepare herself for what was coming up here next. Admittedly, the thought of having to put her through this made him quiver. Nanook didn't like to have to essentially hurt the woman that he loved. "Please never be afraid to speak your mind if there's something that you need or something that bothered you, alright?" Frowning softly, he shook his head toward her, figuring that she might have been a little reluctant to do so thus far. He didn't want her to be, though.

Once he found himself lying on the bed, Nanook was glad that she placed her arms in the position that she had. Certainly he wouldn't have wanted to have her stop holding to him at the moment. This was going to be a tough time for her, and he understood that. Rather than give lots of feedback while she told her story he merely cocked his head to one side. If she looked closely, then she might have realized that was the same position a dog or wolf used to indicate that they were listening.

Considering the material in the story it was hard for him to listen to without showing some sort of strong emotional reaction. Nevertheless, he did his best to listen to what she was saying. The reason it was hard for him was relatively obvious. He didn't at all like the idea that the woman that he loved could have suffered so much pain. That had hurt him very seriously.

While that might not at all have seemed rational, he had good reasons for thinking that way. She was the woman that he had loved, thus any assault against her even by herself was a clear assault against the woman that he had loved.

Eventually, when she posed a question to him, Nanook found himself massaging her shoulder in turn before shaking his head. "You were in a very difficult situation, and she hurt you, I would not think badly of you. There are many people in this world that need to be done away with so that peaceful individuals like you don't have to suffer. You are safe from her now, and you have the power to make so many other people safe from them too."

Naturally he hoped to ignite some sort of righteous anger within her that she would be able to use. He wanted her to take all of those bottled old emotions and focus them. That was how she would be sharp as a predator. Rather than feeling sad or alone about any of these things, he had wanted to toughen her up.

"Never ever say to me that I would want you to go away, alright?" Should she have allowed it, Nanook would have then cradled her head and given her what might very well have been the most passionate kiss that he had the opportunity to give her thus far. He figured that if such a motion didn't make her feel like she was wanted then surely nothing would have.

"Was there more to the story in that case? If there is, then you may still feel free to tell me anything. You're not going to ruin my opinion of you or anything like that. To tell you the truth, I'm ever so slightly disappointed that you would even think that considering how open I would have figured that I've been to you thus far." Frowning, Nanook lowered his head, acting as though her self-doubt must have been in some small way his own fault.

Should she ever have ended up believing in him blindly, then Nanook would have naturally noticed what was going on, but fortunately it hadn't looked like that was going to be an issue just yet anyway. It wouldn't have been comfortable for him at all either, because he would have felt like he lost his bond with her. He wanted to react with her on the level of a rational being and not some sort of a lackie.

Never did he figure that she was weak-willed, though, and he was grateful for the apparent fact that she was not. She was working out of the goodness or her heart. That was what he had hoped to eventually work around. After all, he had already assured her that she hadn't done anything wrong. In fact, previously he approved of what she had done. That kind of a rapport was surely going to change the dynamic between the two of them. Well, at least he had hoped that it would have at the end of the day. These sorts of things had always taken time naturally.

Hoping that was going to plant predatory seeds in the back of her mind, which would grow into thorny blossoms, he looked back toward her again and smiled far more peacefully. "Absolutely you can find some nice things, and I hate letting things go to waste, don't you?"

Eventually he found himself laughing and commenting on the more pleasant aspects of the conversation that they were working around. "Would you like it if everyone had some tail that they could wag?" Nanook thought that would have been funny. Then again, he also figured that would make it harder to disguise who he was. With tails there might very well have come an increase in olfactory senses. That would have made it so that people would have realized there was something up right away.

Marissa would have of course remembered that was how Nanook knew that something had gone awry in the first place. Considering that Marissa seemed to like having her nose rubbed against his, though, he took another opportunity to forget about how serious things were getting and instead rub them together once more. It was a pleasant diversion from what was really going on.

Eventually he was forced to focus on the present, but then again it wasn't too bad. He was getting a hug in that same present it would have seemed. Regardless, he was soon enough listening to the unpleasant reminiscence that she had once more elected to share with him. While he realized that this was difficult for her to do, he was actually quite grateful that she was sharing it all with him for now. "Did I shake things up a little too much for you? At any moment you could have said no and just stuck with that life that you had." Then again, Nanook knew very well that she never would have wanted to do that. She would surely have had wanted to go off with him no matter what.

"If it helps, then you know more about me then anyone else in the world living does." Nanook was therefore admitting that some of his closest friends were gone. "Actually, I had many who lived just as long as I did. Slayers took their lives, and... Well I took the lives of those slayers in turn." He then snarled a bit, sure that at this point she would have had a bad taste in her mouth when it came to people who would professionally kill werewolves as well.

"Yes, there were many in the world like that, but there was a war that happened right underneath the noses of mere mortals." Nevertheless, he wasn't yet sure whether or not to bring up that there were still corps of slayers in the world today.

When that finally did come out, he assumed that it would have been quite a shock for her to deal with, so he wasn't going to say anything just yet. That wouldn't have been an issue really they'd have to grapple with at the moment. There was already so much pain in the regular human world. They could deal with pain in other theoretical realms once they dealt with this pain first. Smirking, he soon started to stroke the back of her head, hoping that she was now his forever.

"You know, we still do need to go out together sometimes, since we even talked about still being nice and romantic in the relationship and all." He looked up toward her with a bit of a smile, hoping that was going to work out as such.

Well, fortunately, the fact that her life's circumstances would have prevented her from ever trusting anyone blindly actually was going to be helpful for Nanook. It meant that he didn't have to worry about things that other people needed to worry about. Well, scratch that, it wasn't quite what he was thinking. No, he figured that he wasn't going to have to worry about the blind faith that other werewolf alphas sometimes had to concern themselves with.

Looking up a bit, Nanook figured that even if she seemed weak-willed, she wasn't. Indeed, he was going to make sure that she continued to grow in terms of faith. Not only faith in him, but in herself. She could be taught to believe in herself. That was going to be of the utmost importance to him. He wanted her to be exceptionally confident. No, Nanook didn't want to turn her into him. What Nanook had wanted was to make her a strong compliment to him.

While he had wanted her to grow physically as well as mentally, what he had also wanted was to make sure that she would have remained true to herself. That would have been the icing on the cake in so many ways. Never did he once want to mold her into something that she wasn't. Rather, he had always wanted to just build on what was already there to make her into a powerful form of herself.

"Hey, well, I can wag my tail when you do that, wanna see?" Nanook started to pant when she was scratching his neck like that. Fortunately she was turning part of the conversation around into something that was lighter than before. Turning about a bit, he tried to just shake his backend like there was a tail there. It wasn't really convincing, but it was funnier than most of his jokes really.

In spite of the fact that one of the questions she had asked him probably carried with it no answer, Nanook eventually did feel the need to reply. He swallowed deeply, wondering if she had not wanted him to do so. That would have made sense. Perhaps he was even overstepping his bounds by doing so.

"Some people are such creatures of habit that they would have stuck to a life that would have been bad for them. Isn't that sad?" Nanook frowned a bit and soon shook his head. He didn't like the idea at all. "Then again, I should have known from the get-go that you were stronger than that. You were more powerful than that. I like you more than that."

Should she have allowed him to do so, Nanook would have leaned in, snuggling close against her. He figured that at this point any sort of physicality wouldn't have concerned her, though he also had thought that he wasn't going to go too far. For obvious reasons, considering their immortality, he didn't want to breach too many lines just yet. It would have been a commitment of course to live eternally with one another.

Nothing inside of him was at all afraid of commitment, but then again he didn't want to jump into anything yet either. Nevertheless, he was more than happy to just stroke her hair for the time being anyway. "When you said that we could go somewhere else, do you mean away for a while? I really do think that I would like that. Maybe we could go rent a room for a few days or something, or how about a little trailer north of LA or something? Frankly, I'd love to get away from the smog just long enough for a bit to make good on a few promises to you."

More than anything, Nanook had wanted her to commune with nature at this point. He didn't want her to have to live in this stinking urban environment forever. "Tell me, what sorts of games do you like to play? I like chess myself, it's...predatory." The way that he had spoken those words even, they sort of sounded like they could have been somewhat seductive if she had elected to take them that way. That would have made some sense considering the word choice there anyway.

Shaking his head for a moment, it almost looked like he was a dog trying to get fur out of his eyes. Maybe she was going to pick up on more of these traits shortly. He really didn't know how long it would take. Either way, though, he knew for one thing that he would have thought that she was cute with it.

Well that meant that sometime he was going to have to do that for her. He would have had to show her what it was like for him to wag his tail like that. Considering the fact that he was a canine, well at least when he was transformed, Nanook very well could have illustrated and experienced all aspects that there were to being a canine. That meant that when he was happy as a wolf Nanook might very well have elected to wag his tail in order to show it.

Looking around carefully, he eventually stretched and focused instead on what she was saying next. Apparently she was starting to understand why he had elected to call her strong. Should she have shown no objection to it then Nanook would have started to stroke her head as though he were petting it. Smiling softly, he offered a gentle kiss to her lips. To him, all of this was an ultimate act of compassion for sure.

While he might have brought a sense of security to her, honestly Nanook received a sense of stability from Marissa in turn. For so long he had been alone in the world. Slayers had taken out plenty of those he called family and friends. It simply felt like everything was right again now that he had one of his own kind of person - a supernatural wolf - close to him all over again.

That didn't really mean that he was going to rush things, however. Just like her, he had still wanted to take things fairly slowly. "Honestly, you know if you wanted, then you could leave that job once we get settled, but I'd suggest the vacation for now." Nanook knew that in the future she wouldn't be at want for money. There were so many human criminals in the world. There would be more than enough for them to take care of.

When they took care of one, of course, they surely would have found more than enough to sustain themselves as well as to help the victims of crime. Criminals were often taking great amounts of money for themselves. That meant that Nanook and Marissa could have maintained a level of comfort while still providing plenty to those who were hurt by crimes.

"Let's say we do plan a vacation, where would you like to go? Up north a bit to the woods?" That really sounded like a good idea to him. Nanook liked the idea of communing with nature with her. At this point he figured that would have really helped with her wolf instincts as well. She would have probably felt something pretty big awaken within her if she had known just the right way to listen for it.

Eventually it had looked like he was supposed to be speaking more. She had fallen relatively silent at the moment. "Was there something else that we should talk about? Like how much I'm starting to love you?" Nanook leaned over, again offering her a kiss before he stretched, hoping that she felt more comfortable now.

All those stories had to be very difficult. He of course saw in her eyes that telling him wasn't really easy. Nanook never even expected that it would be. However, he appreciated her even more for having the incredible courage that it had taken in order to share this all with him. Even though he was the one supposedly teaching her, Nanook was indeed still grateful.