Ryden was on a deadline, but the silence in his apartment was driving him up the wall. After his internet decided to take a field-trip, and his internet-radio with it, he decided sitting and listening to his neighbors was going to get obnoxious. He couldn't even whistle to himself to pass the time. Last time he did that, he busted his window...

So he packed up his notebook, took to the streets, and finally found himself in the middle of central park. He chose his location carefully: No nearby street lights, no benches, no unsuspecting statues that could be caught unaware. Just a rock and trees and the notebook to keep him company. That way should a cheerful tune work it's way from his mouth, he wouldn't end looking at a bill for property damage.

He had made fairly decent progress on his article too. The review of the last play he'd seen was coming together, the descriptions he had jotted down turning into more condense and eloquent writing. He was even pleased that he manage to write it legibly this time, so typing it up wouldn't be problematic. Things seemed to be going well, and time drifted away mostly unnoticed.

Until a noise down the path brought his attention. 

The source of noise Ryden noticed happened to be a little bit of a rarity in the parks, a doe. The deer stood there, staring at Ryden unsure to bolt or not, oblivious to the true danger about to strike. However a secondary noise, a rustling, started the deer and caused it to turn its head the opposite direction, just in time to see a massive black blur dashing towards it. The scene would unfold before Ryden in mere seconds, but what happened was brutal and primal. Sylar, the Predator of Manhattan had come out to the parks for a little bit of hunting, a rare thing for him usually when his protein intake was low enough that the hunger took over.

Sylar lept from a bush towards the deer, latching onto it's body like a lion. He grasped it's body with his claws, and as the deer turned to find the noise, it had revealed it's throat to him, which Sylar latched onto with his own jaws, the hold on it's throat and body pulling the creature to the warm earth beneath it. It cried loudly and kicked it's legs, but the struggle was useless as it's end came a moment later. Sylar's tail, a nightmarish mockery of a scorpions rose up and struck down, imapling the deer through her lungs, blood gushing around the wound. The animals cries mouffled as it's lungs collapsed and the life left it's body.

A clean kill, made by a monstrous boy, all of this before an observer who just so happened to have gone unnoticed for the moment. Sylar rose from the kill, his head hidden beneath a hood but clearly staring towards Ryden. Blood dropped from his jaws, his fangs, and a growl escaped his throat. This monstrous scene would probably freak anybody out, though Sylar just thought for a moment. Oh crap, who's this guy?

Ryden had seen a number of things in Central Park. He watched fights between street performers, he saw run away dogs, he saw squirrels attached models and he saw car crashes causes by drunk cab drivers. He had not, however, ever seen a deer wander through the city like this. The poor creature looked lost, confused, and grateful to find the rare piece of greenery. Quietly, the man sat and watched the dainty animal munch some grass, taking notes of it as he did.

Then some godaweful creature leapt out of the bushes and attacked it like some twisted Discover channel documentary.

"Holycrap!" The words flew from his mouth before he had a chance to stop them, his mind buzzing as his powers attached to a piece of metal nearby. In all his wisdom, he had managed to bring a metal pen with him. It split in half in his hand, dropping to the ground as he stumbled backwards. "I, you...." The pen split once more, and he tried to stop his heart from racing.

The thing growled at him....

This would have been a good time to be armed, or at least have a can of pepper spray.

Sylar sat atop his kill, proud of it, giving the image of some predator from another world, but his dead eyes and the bloody grin beneath them were totally focused on Ryden. The growl that escaped his throat was hearty but odd, unlike any big predator on this planet, with a hiss to it almost like a viper. Sylar wasn't however, devoid of the ability to speak. "Human..." He whispered into the dark, a dangerous tone attached to the word. Did he view Ryden as another item of prey, as a witness to something not meant for mortal eyes? Any of these thoughts might run through Ryden's mind, but he'd have to make sense of them quick.

Sylar climbed over his prize and began to inch towards Ryden, his form low to the ground and the tail rising behind him, like a cobra revealing it's fangs. However he stopped for a moment as his ears picked up on the strange occurrence of a pen seeming to just randomly shatter in the man's hands. Sylar leaned to the side, suddenly inquisitive as he tried to make sense of this. Had Ryden just crushed the pen out of fear? If his adrenaline was already working, Sylar might need to be wary.


Sylar inched forward a bit more, maybe five or six feet away from Ryden's position. "What're you doing here human..." He whispered to Ryden, putting emphasis on the human part, as Sylar's senses even his thermal eyesight couldn't pick up on Ryden's mutant status without a verbal explanation, or a better showing of his unique ability to shatter writing utensils.

Ryden grew up in the city, and even during the riots he had never seen anything quite as animal as the creature in front of him. The blood had an unreal glint to it in the darkness, and Ryden felt like it was a horror movie gone wrong. Creatures didn't attack things like this in the real world. Things like this didn't happen. But the voice sounded too real as he continue trying to make sense of the situation.

"I'm not a human, so if you know what's good for you you'll stay back!" Ryden remarked, trying to stay calm. His voice made contact with a nearby street lamp, and it let out a groan as the vibrations started to bend it. The noise reverberated in his head, making it difficult to concentrate, but he felt at least the action might intimidate the monster away.

"I was writing. I don't know what you're doing here." The lamp groaned again and started to buckle. He paused, letting his mind and the mental recover. Snapping it in half wouldn't do much as far as defense. But making it bend could at least continue to create a distraction.

Sylar continued to inch forward, blood dripping from his maw and his nightmarish tail rising up ready to strike, like a giant scorpion going for blood. Sylar stopped for a moment when Ryden said he wasn't human, like a predator stopping to see if it's prey noticed it approaching, or might be able to fight back. However Ryden looked exactly like a human to Sylar, so he began to move closer, the gap shortening fast between Ryden and the Boogeyman. Sylar however stopped and turned to look at the street lamp, his ears picking up on an odd noise. Sylar focused on it for a moment, wondering what that noise was.

Then he turned back to Ryden, staring at him. Maybe this man was doing it, he could be another human looking mutant. Sylar held his position for a minute, wary of the lamp as it could possibly break, or fall over if this man was doing something to it. Sylar spoke, his voice hollow and monstrous. "You look human...but I've met mutants that look human. Are you a mutant? Are you doing something to make that sound?" Sylar asked, his body language still quite animal, but his sentences slowly growing in logic and complexity.

The hesitation of the monster was enough of a sign of intelligence to keep Ryden talking. It felt relieving, speaking. At least if he died, he could die talking. That seemed like an odd thing to be pleased about. "Looks can be deceiving." The streetlamp was shuddering in protest, and Ryden's head was beginning to pound.

The streetlamp was one of the tallest objects his voice had attached to. It was a short, decorative thing, split into two pieces by a joint of metal. Ryden's voice was resonating with the lower half, the supporting piecing making the whole thing shudder. It moved in an unnatural way, but the creature only commented on the sound. He forced himself to keep talking, waiting for the final crack. "I'm a mutant. And I'm doing more than making noise."

Crack!

A mighty snap brought the lamp toppling over, landing with a thump between the two mutants. Ryden tried not to jump as it narrowly missed his feet. A quick skim of the metal and glass gave him a few options on what he could use next. Light bulb would be dramatic, metal would look more powerful... He watched the creature, deciding to wait until it came closer. It was times like these where he wished he could just control metal. Throwing a streetlamp looked a lot more impressive than just making it fall over.

Sylar split his attention between Ryden and the lamp post, a predator had to measure every threat while on the hunt, and right now Sylar had to determine how threatening Ryden was, and his special ability. The lamp post groaned as some unseen force warped it unnaturally, twisting it till it's breaking point as the lamppost snapped and fell over, creating a barrier between Ryden and Sylar, as Sylar himself jumped back a foot or so. He let his gaze fall upon the cold metal, basically blending into the cool Earth beneath it, only the sounds telling him what was happening before him.

He looked up towards Ryden again, gauging the man's heat signature, the image of his body's various temperatures that painted the picture of his activity. Sylar spoke, his voice steady and without fear. "I can sense fear...see the blood pumping faster, smell the sweat on flesh. But I'm not here to threaten a mutant. Besides...if I'd wanted to hurt you, do you think I'd have killed the deer?" Sylar was pointing out that he'd been here long enough to stalk and kill the unlucky creature, meaning he could have probably snuck up on Ryden if he was really interested in hunting a person. Sylar just so happened to have been so focused on the rare treat that he'd ignored Ryden's fairly soft presence in the park.

The monster was unshaken by Ryden's actions. If anything, there seemed to be a bit of curiousity in his action.s He stayed back as the lamppost fell, but somehow Ryden felt he didn't really understand what happened. Maybe he couldn't see the lamppost. He had mentioned sound. That would mean Ryden was giving himself a headache over nothing. He frowned slightly at the creature's assessment of him. He didn't want to admit he was afraid. But standing unarmed with a creature that could kill you in an instant? That seemed like a good reason for it.

"I've seen a lot of people do a lot of things. Predicting someone's actions can be dangerous."

SHATTER!

The lightbulb on the lamppost busted in a verbal exclamation point. The words tingled in the back of his throat.

Sylar had offered to be peaceful with this man, hoping that between mutants a conflict could be avoided. However Ryden continued to obliterate the poor lampost, each twist of metal, each pop as something broke grating against Sylar's sensitive ears. As Ryden spoke of unpredictability, Sylar sprung forward, having given no clue he'd pounce towards Ryden. Sylar didn't intend to harm the man, but he needed to be away from this lamppost before it exploded or worse as Ryden continued to manipulate it.

As Sylar sprang forward, leaping over the post and closing the distance towards Ryden, he began to adopt a more human pose. Sylar had just killed a full meal, a good one. His animal instincts were plenty ready to sleep as he feasted upon the venison, so the last thing he wanted was a fight with this other mutant. He stood before Ryden, Sylar a fairly short boy actually, but his form was quite imposing thanks to it's alien nature. "If you can, lets be done trying to scare one another. It's really loud when things explode." He his tail rising up behind him, showing that while he said he didn't want to harm Ryden, if he wanted to, he had plenty of weapons to hurt him with.

The predator mutant landed in front of Ryden without much warning he was going to do it. As he stood, something about him acted more...human? There was certainly a change in demeanor, and other than the predatory aspects, something almost seemed young about this guy. The request for trying not to scare each other was a double edged sword.

Sylar could control what he was doing. Ryden on the other hand was mostly breaking things on accident.

"I'll do what I can."[/b][/color] He spoke much more quietly, letting his voice attach to a smaller piece of glass. It vibrated, but he paused before it could shatter. A few breathes and it was still, then he spoke again. "You have a name?" The writer in him cringed a little at his fragmented speech, but it was better than ticking off his companion and getting a tail to the chest. The nearby deer was evidence enough of that.

The sounds from the lamppost began to dwindle, and the noise dropped to a reasonable level. Sylar's ears suddenly felt much less stressed and the man asked for his name. Sylar crossed his arms, keeping his stance before the man. Once the situation was resolved he could return to clean and eat his kill. His eyes were well hidden beneath his hood, but his fanged jaws showed whenever he spoke to Ryden. "Sylar, the name is Sylar." He said bluntly, his tail swishing back and forth behind him as he spoke.

Sylar turned back to make sure his kill was still sitting where he left it, the corpse still plenty warm enough for Sylar to easily see it. He turned back to Ryden. "How about you?" He returned the question for a name, figuring it'd be better than simply referring to Ryden as you, or person. What exactly was this person doing out here anyways? He said something earlier, what was it, writing? "What're you doing out here in the middle of the night anyways, nobody comes to the parks much anymore." Sylar only showed up when it was so late nobody would be out here, so seeing someone here was a tad surprising, more so than the rare deer that managed to wander this far into city territory.

Sylar was a normal enough sounding name, and Ryden felt himself relax slightly. He watched the bladed tail out of the corner of his eye though, and forced himself not to drop his guard at all. "I'm Ryden." The words ran along the length of the lamp post, and Ryden tried to focus back on the broken pieces of glass. Perhaps it was a bad thing having a conversation this close to the metal. But his range would likely still catch something if he wasn't careful. 

"I was writing." Pause. He held up the notepaper, giving it a shake so the pages rustled. The glass on the ground made it's own movement until the vibrations settled and he continued. "Too noisy at home. Less....risky, here." The glass cracked on emphasis. Even chopped to a fragment, the comment was a bit too long. Risky seemed to be a misconception now though. Maybe he wouldn't break anything speaking in a public place, but he seemed to find something dangerous anyway.

He couldn't see much with the light gone, his companion more of a silhouette in front of him. He had a feeling the dark wasn't bothering his companion though. He seemed more than skilled enough to continue hunting in the night time.     

Ryden was his name? Maybe this man's parents and sylar's parents had been friends, with their odd interest in names with Y in the beginning. "Nice to meet ya." Sylar said, as he listened to Ryden explain his situation. He watched a bit confused as Ryden held up some object to show him, until he heard the noise. A newspaper, or magazine of some sort. "An odd place for writing." Sylar said, though in reality maybe it wasn't all that odd, he didn't know much about writing anymore considering his lifestyle and situation. They did however have one thing in common, the park was a nice safe place to enjoy one's solitude.

The lamp post contiued to make noise, causing Sylar to jerk his head and stare at it. "Does everything just crack and break around you?" He asked the man, curious as to what exactly his ability was, as far as Sylar could tell, stuff just randomly broke around him, making horridly loud noise. Sylar backed away from Ryden a bit, turning and moving back to his kill. He needed to start butchering the deer before he forgot. He stopped for a moment. "Isn't writing kind of hard out in the dark though?" He asked as he began to bend over his kill and contemplate what to eat first.

Ryden glanced around, the dark light certainly much more complete with the lamp busted. He shrugged slightly and nudged the lamppost in front of him. "Wasn't so dark when it started." CRACK. His powers seemed to be making unnecessary emphasis today. He jabbed a finger over his shoulder where he had been sitting on a rock. From there the lamp light had been reflective enough to work in, and he had started earlier in the evening. He wasn't sure that would be clear though to Sylar. Trying to explain it might be difficult though without getting a killer headache.

"Light was enough before it busted." He shrugged. That was about all he could say without writing it down. And he was getting more certain by watching Sylar's reactions that reading might be out of the question.

>>"Does everything just crack and break around you?"

"Mostly. Metal and glass." He shrugged again, folding his notebook and tucking it into his jacket. "Some of us get tails." And some of us get resonance. He couldn't see the creatures face as he shifted to eat the deer. At least if he ate the animal he wouldn't be eager to get a human. Right?