#detectiveryker

[capiovis]

Rain pounded the pavement, each drop a staccato beat in the symphony of the city’s late-night chaos. The alley was a forgotten slice of urban decay, squeezed between two towering apartment blocks, where the neon glow from a nearby bar struggled to penetrate the darkness. The air was thick with the mingled scents of wet asphalt, oil, and the faint, acrid tang of cigarette smoke that clung to the damp walls.

Caius stood near the alley's end, leaning casually against the rough brick, the hood of his black jacket pulled low over his face. The fabric clung to him, dark and slick, absorbing the rain that poured down in relentless sheets. His breath misted in the cool night air, but the cold didn’t bother him. Magic pulsed beneath his skin, a constant hum that kept him warm and on edge, ready for anything.

He glanced down the alley, eyes narrowing against the torrential rain. The world beyond was a blur of headlights and distant sirens, a city that never slept and never cared. But here, in the shadows, Caius had carved out a space for himself—a place where deals were made in whispers and power exchanged hands as easily as cash. This was only the second time he had met with the PI, so his nerves were naturally high.

Ryker was late. Not by much, but enough to make Caius’s instincts twitch. The private investigator was usually on time, a rare quality Caius appreciated in his business partners. But the rain, the lateness, it all added an edge to the night that didn’t sit well with him. He tapped a finger against the inside pocket of his jacket, feeling the weight of the small, leather-bound notebook tucked there. Inside were names, dates, locations—a complete dossier on a gang that had been making moves in the city’s underworld. The kind of information that could shift the balance of power, that could make or break someone like Ryker.

Caius wasn’t in the habit of giving things away. Every piece of information he sold was meticulously gathered, carefully curated, and priced according to the risk involved. And this? This was high risk, high reward. Ryker needed it, and Caius needed the cash. Simple as that.

A flash of movement at the alley’s entrance drew his gaze. Ryker, finally. The man moved with the practiced ease of someone who’d seen too many dark places, he knew it was him purely by the tall, broadened physique of the man, easily thwarting Caius in size. He paused just outside the alley, scanning the shadows before stepping in.

Caius didn’t move, didn’t call out. He waited, letting Ryker come to him. The rain dripped from the brim of his hood, each drop falling in time with the distant thud of bass from a club somewhere down the street. The city was alive with its own pulse, but here in the alley, it was just Caius and Ryker, two figures shrouded in darkness, about to make a deal that could change everything.

Ryker stopped a few feet away, hands shoved deep in his coat pockets. “You got it?” Caius heard him say, his voice was rough, but steady.

Caius reached into his jacket, fingers brushing against the notebook. “You got the money?”

He saw Ryker nod. It was odd how safe he felt now, being so close to a man that was twice his size and had arms as large as his legs. It was perhaps one of the reasons as to why he agreed to give him this information, since naturally, it would put a bounty on his head if word got out he was feeding information to someone like Ryker.

Caius pulled out the notebook, holding it up just enough for Ryker to see. The rain continued to fall, a steady drumbeat that matched the rhythm of the city, as they prepared to exchange power and secrets, both men aware that in the darkness of the alley, trust was just another commodity to be bought and sold.

[capiovis]

Caius had a good feel at that heft; it certainly had his mind wandering what the man looked like without his clothes, but these little favours in public was usually just a quick little tug and slurp, with no real intimacy or allure. He was almost convinced the man was going to accept his new deal, but when he felt his hand be swatted away and his accomplice raise his voice at him, he said nothing else. Caius pulled his hood over his wet bed of jet black hair and set-off. The primary deal was done and dealt with. It was time to go home and eat whatever biscuits he could find and drink his bodyweight in hot tea; he remembered having some Oreos somewhere. While it would have been easy to slip into a store and sneak some things into his jacket, he still have a good moral compass when it came to actually committing a crime. He spoke to nobody else, didn't make any eye contact with any of the drunk citizens scrambling about the streets. Caius walked fairly quickly back to home, no more than a ten minute walk. Once he was through the primary door of his building, he jogged up the roughly fifteen flights of stairs to reach the top floor, the only door that lead into his loft apartment, easily the smallest living space in the entire building, but it was enough for just one person. Rummaging through wet pockets to retrieve his keys, he unbolted the several locks of his door and hauled the heavy, metal sliding door apart just enough to squeeze into, before slamming it shut and locking everything up behind him. Immediately, he began to shed himself of his wet clothes on the way up the spiral staircase to his open-space bedroom. The en-suite bathroom was to his left, and the clothes were discarded into a hamper. Before he could even switch the shower on, he had quickly applied shampoo to his hair, scrubbed it in well. He was freezing cold, but it wasn't cold enough to turn the heating on. Next came the shower gel, which he spread throughout his body with a washcloth, easing the ache of corded muscle of arms, pecs and abdominals. Once his body was fully saturated in suds, he turned the hot shower on, and within just a couple of seconds, he rinsed all of the soap off. He stood directly beneath the shower head for only a few more minutes, enjoying the way the hot water warmed his skin. He was almost lost in it, but just as quickly as he showered, he turned it off and set off to dry himself thoroughly. Grey sweatpants were put on, a t-shirt, followed by a sweatshirt, thick woolen socks. Right. Tea, oreo cookies. He thought to himself. Caius returned back downstairs to the kitchen. He seized a mug, filled it with tap-water, and with a bit of magical help, he began to heat up the water slowly until he saw it bubbling. Halfway through, he applied a chamomile tea-bag into it and rummaged through the empty cabinets to find that packet of cookies. Once he had, he moved to the living room area, easily being the area he spent the most time in. He set the tea down to steep, turned his small 20" tv he had found discarded by a dumpster, which was still in working order, fired up his old Playstation 2 console and waited on his sectional corner sofa. While he munched away at the cookies and sipped at his tea, he grabbed a nearby old tin, inscribed with MINTS on the top. He set it down in front of him on the coffee table and opened it, revealing half a dozen pre-rolled marijuana joints.

He wasted no time in picking one, the fattest one, and firing it up. As soon as he took that first, deep drag, he leaned back, one hand wielding an oreo and the other, the doob. Caius savoured this moment, enjoying these simply little treats; he had no idea where life was taking him, but ultimately, he knew he couldn't continue living like this. Still, this was no time to ponder; this was the time to forget. Sitting up, he munched down the cookie, swallowed, took a hit and acquired the controller of the console to begin playing Tekken. Only a few matches until the cookies were all in his stomach and the stick was fully smoked out, before he could call it quits for the night and turn into bed to waste a couple of hours on his mobile until sleep took over.

— end of thread —

"I never said a thing about doubting you. You're the one making a spectacle about this. Would I have come here with this much cash if I didn't think you were capable?" Serves him right for picking an informant at a gay bar, Ryker thought to himself. Caius was his last option, and even then the man gave him doubts if this was worth the whole ordeal. "I'm sure you know how to handle yourself, so don't worry about me giving you any trouble from my end. We don't even have to see each other again after this, which I'm sure you'd be happy to know."

Ryker assumed Caius was just trying to mentally count the wad of cash from its hiding spot. The man had no reason to believe he was checking him out, or his sizeable manhood. After so many years of repressing his desires, he'd all but forgotten how well endowed he was, or how obviously proportionate his body appeared to anyone who focused on his... size.

The man let out a huff as Caius simply worked his magic and made the trade without good. Good. At least now Ryker could parse out the information and hopefully pull something useful that made this whole ordeal worth it.... or so he thought. "Are you serious?" Ryker scoff at the plea for even more cash before he felt it. A hand on his member. It made Ryker's body tense and mouth gape from awe of having Caius actually be bold enough to reach out and touch him. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" He mutters louder after a minute of recovery, his hand swatting at the other's to remove itself from his groin. Still, it was still far too long to not be noticeable, or to have drawn a desired effect between his legs. "I paid you everything I planned on paying you for tonight. If you're hungry for something to eat, try the deli next door. I'm not on the menu."

[capiovis]

"I know what I'm doing, alright? I'm not pushing blame, try to get that into your head. I'm saying I got myself into this, I'm gonna follow through with it. I wouldn't be here, talking to you right now, if I didn't understand the complications." Caius pushed on, coming off as irritated as the detective seemed to have become, he stood his ground as the larger man stepped forward. Perhaps in a physical fight, the man had an upper hand, but he had an arsenal of special skills he could tune in to handle the likes of him if it came to it. Overall, Caius wasn't very trusting; he had seen true horrors in these alleyways, how did he know he could carry on the deal with this man? He didn't even know his name, just that he was a PI seeking information that was hard to get a hold of. "I can take care of myself, don't you worry. I just don't like having to keep an eye out for trouble. I already have enough of that as it is."

His gaze turns down to the wad of cash being shown to him, he was glad to have seen some proof that he was indeed going to get paid. But as he did, his attention moved even further, where he noticed the natural-looking shape of the man's groin. The glow of a nearby neon sign casting a shadow to illustrate its sheer size. Caius audibly gulped. His mouth had instantly filled with saliva at the thought and idea of what was hidden from his sight. Still, he didn't shy away from continuing to look at it, for almost a whole minute. The stranger seemed to be large all-around, not just in his physique. A gifted individual that he wanted to be on his goodside. "No need for that." He retracted the notebook and stepped closer to him, unzipping the man's jacket just enough to enable him to stuff the notebook into the inside pocket, where it would no-doubt be safe. With a quick slight of hand of distracting him with the notebook, his other hand had also pickpocketed the cash. "Thank you. That's part of my rent sorted." Caius gave him a nod, fashioning the wad of cash up beside him before tucking it away into his interior breast pocket of his jacket.

"Hey, listen, you got an extra 10 bucks for some food?" Caius asked him plainly, fixating his gaze upon him as his hand reached out in front of him, cupping the swell of his groin in his trousers and giving the heavy bulge a tender squeeze. "I'll make it worth your while, Sir..." This was dangerous territory, he knew this, he had tried this with other men in similar streets before, and while it could end with a punch to his face and a beating, more often than not, most men were willing for any kind of attention. "Please?"

"You agreed to the terms, and you're the one who decided how much money you were worth to be bought for the risk. Don't try to shift the blame on me now." Ryker knew it was a risk. Informants were known to be dangerous in more ways than one. But Caius agreed to the task (after bleeding Ryker's wallet dry for it, that is.) It's why he agreed to meet him with the cloak-and-dagger routine. "You oversold your skills if they're able to find you out and kill you so quickly. I'd figure you would outlast at least week before needing my help."

He sees the notebook in the kid's coat but doesn't lunge for it, even though he wants to. It's the one thing he hates about this job: the games. He rolls his eyes at Caius as he leans in close to him, body towering over his and face inches from his own. "I have your cash. I wouldn't have made it out this late and in this rain without it." The man shakes his body to get rid of the droplets on him before fisting out a wad from his own coat pocket. Seeing as Caius hardly trusted him, he only let him have a glimpse of the roll before he pushed it back into his folds. "You think we can finish this up somewhere else where neither of us have to worry about drying off the goods? Or is that notepad of yours waterproof?"

[capiovis]

"I have my ways," he retorted with a slight smile to his lips. As someone who had lived in the city for many, many years, and knew all the ins and outs of it, shortcuts and local people, Caius was well-versed with knowledge and contacts. It was one of the ways he made his money. "I'm putting my life on the line here. This is all the information you've asked for, and I got it. You fail to see just how badly I need that money." With rent, utility bills and people he owed money to, he would do anything to get another buck to fill his pocket; the grand he had asked for wouldn't even be enough, but he still had two days to round up some cash and make a few more deals. While his distant family was well-off, he didn't want to look weak and be a burden, he wanted to make it on his way, and if that meant pissing a few people off and getting mixed up in something he shouldn't just so he could afford some food and to heat up his loft apartment during a cold winter snap, he would do it, no questions asked. "If word gets out I'm the one that gave you this, there's a chance you'll find me dead on the Evening News."

Before he could pass the notebook over, he tucked it back into his pocket for safekeeping until he was paid for his work. He knew the detective wasn't of law enforcement, but in physical strength, he knew very well that he was outmatched. Last thing he wanted was to piss the man off. Scenarios of him being pummeled and having the notebook ripped out of his pocket did cross his mind, and he was all-too prepared to face the consequences. "Payment?" Caius stepped into a cove of the building, providing him with some shelter from the rain, huddling into the corner to preserve his body heat.

Thankfully, his loft apartment was only two blocks away from here, and once this deal was done, he had hoped to return there, to eat what he could find, dry off, and slip into several layers of warm clothing.

You would think Ryker would be used to it by now: the dark nights, the shady meetings, the questionable characters. But he wasn't. It all still made his senses heighten and his muscles tense. Why the hell did he agree to meet at this place? He should have made the kid come to him instead of the other way around. But no; Ryker needed him. Needed his access to information he couldn't get himself. It wasn't like a man his size could go undercover anywhere unnoticed.

So, he agreed to meet Caius in the alley, his towering figure soaked from the rain because he'd been too stubborn to carry an umbrella out for the meet. At least he could find shelter under one of the fire escapes attached to the buildings. "I'm surprised you were able to get it so quickly. You're not fucking with me, right? I'm not one of your johns you can hook a twenty out of and call it a day."