Miss Sunshine [Elliot]

[Jia li (DELETED 4950)]

She figured he was laughing at her comparison of pageants to a sport and let him get it out as she finished up the drink she had in her hand. Nodding at his statement of not liking the different types of football, she was a bit embarrassed to realize she had forgotten there were different types of football. Hoping she wasn't blushing, she focused her thoughts on his words, hoping the embarrassment would go away.

"No I don't think I've been there, well maybe once as a kid with my family but I don't honestly remember it. All I know is what the media shows, hot people on beaches. Which makes me sound like a stupid american so I'll uh hush up now."

She was still in a bit of a good mood, but she hated looking stupid in front of others and was trying hard to not show it. However something about his next sentence caught her.

"I hope you ..uh don't mind me asking, but why are you stuck here? I mean you can leave anytime can't you? Or is someone holding you hostage darlin? Tell me who and I'll help you escape.."

She gave a little laugh at the end of that, but she was serious. Something about this guy who wasn't used to laughing caught at her and made her think he needed a friend. It sucked that she would have to leave in a few days, but that didn't mean she couldn't keep helping him.

"Hey I know its random, but do ya have a phone? I'll give you my number just in case you do need an escape buddy."

[Lancaster]

Elliot remembered when he used to spend his time on the beach. Sometimes he’d go there as a kid; sometimes, random adventures with friends would take him to the Gold Coast, or the Sunshine Coast, and they’d spend the entire day on the sand or in the waves, drinking beer that someone had managed to get their hands on, and building a bonfire later on to roast marshmallows. Someone’s parent or Aunt or brother had had a house there somewhere, with private beachfront, and they could do what they wanted. They’d set up tents. And he’d always come home with his white skin reddened and burned, and covered in the bites of sandflies. But it had always been worth it.

Now, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d visited a beach in the sunlight. Even here, in Canada, there weren’t any beaches. None like that. And it broke Elliot’s heart that he would never again witness the sunset or the sunrise with the crash of the waves on the sand. That warmth would never be his.

And in his drunken state, and victim to emotion that gripped him and shook him to the core, always, he couldn’t help the way he threw caution to the wind. As if he just wanted one person, one single person to confess to, who might understand. She’d asked him a question, and as if he had been poisoned with some kind of truth serum, he could not help his answer.

”Itsa secret,” he said, with gravity that looked mocking, but wasn’t really.

”See, isnot a person keeping me here. No’ really. It’s myself. Because I am a vampire. And thissity is full of ‘em. And we can leave but when we do? We can die. Like proper die. And I don’t wanna die,” Elliot admits. He took another strong mouthful of alcohol, almost gleeful as the taste slid down his throat. The burn of it. The pleasure of letting it all out. Oh, it felt good.

”And besides, y’know, can’t. I have obligations an’ things and I can’t leave because I’ll feel guilty. And that’ll be what kills me. Out there,” he says, gesturing as if to the wide world around them and then frowning again. The wide world, and that life he wouldn’t have back.

Oh, that’s right. This is what alcohol sometimes did. Brought about anger and depression rather than happiness. Well, damn. He didn’t pull out his phone. It was as if that particular question had gone through one ear and fled out the other.

[Jia li (DELETED 4950)]

For a very long moment she was silent. Letting him speak on why he was trapped as her mind sought to process his words. Normally and when she was more sober, she might laugh off his words of being a vampire and trapped in a city full of said mythical beasts. But right at this minute, she was tipsy and nothing about him had led her to believe he was lying about anything so far tonight.

"Really ..vampires? Like can you prove it?" He was probably just totally drunk, and she was being stupid for asking him to prove it. But a part of her was curious. To her mind, most people who claimed they were "special" in some regard, said that kind of thing in a dramatic happy kind of way. Not like he had, filled with mocking and disgust.

She understood exactly what he was talking about at the end of his little speech. Duty, obligations, chains that kept you chained to a life you might or might not want. She loved pageants, so that had never been forced on her as it had on some kids, but there were times she wondered if she could do or be more then just the perfect pretty girl who appeared to trade on her looks.

"And I mean are you sure you'll die? Have you ever tested this out?" Her mind went back to the vampire and death thing, shying away from the rebellious part of her.

[Lancaster]

Elliot scoffed. Snorted, really. Even delirious with drunkenness he was not stupid. The latter question seemed kind of… morbid. Tested it out? Whether he’d actually, and stay dead while outside of the city. He laughed, after he snorted. And continued to laugh. In fact, could not stop laughing for about five minutes – was laughing so hard it was starting to hurt. The kind of laugh that was like an infection, breeding and growing. He had to slide off his stool and lean against the bar for support, his elbow holding him up while his body bent double, the rumble of the laughter interjected with smaller snorts as he tried to gasp for the air that he did not need anyway. Habit. He couldn’t get rid of it.

Finally, when he had regained some sense of decorum, he straightened. He let out a ‘phew!’, and took a deep trembling breath – held it, to keep the laughter from starting up again – and shook his head. His bright blues were gleaming, watering with his recent exertions.

”No. No, can’t say I’ve tested… killing myself. Just to see,” he said. Crawled into a deep dark hole from which he had to be dragged, yes, but never had he considered suicide. Nor did he think he ever would – except maybe as the centuries ticked over. Maybe then, after his natural lifetime had ended, he might actually crave the peace of death.

He picked up the glass with the alcohol in, lifted it to his lips, and drained it. Even in all that laughter he hadn’t forgotten the first question. Could he prove it? Yes, sure he could. But he wasn’t going to do it here. No, if she was crazy enough she could follow him – and he completely forgot to tell her to, too. He just lurched away from the bar and strode toward the exit; he assumed that his loping legs were taking him in a straight line, until he had to use a nearby plant (fake as Dolly Parton’s chest) to regain his balance.

The door slammed against the outside wall as he forgot his own strength; he muttered an apologetic whoops, snorted and laughed again, for a short time, but otherwise gulped large mouthfuls of the crisp air. Bringing himself a tiny bit back down to earth.

[Jia li (DELETED 4950)]

Once the question was out of her mouth, she regretted how it sounded. She pushed her glass away and decided that clearly she was done for the night. She was honestly curious to know if he had tested being able to leave the city and get out in the world, and that was what she had meant with the question. But somehow it had come out wrong. Probably alcohol. She had never been a heavy drinker, which left her open to becoming tipsy on one drink, let alone three in a row.

Shaking her head back and forth to clear it, she hurriedly stumbled out an apology hoping he wouldn't get upset. Though he was clearly laughing, that didn't mean he might not be mad or something.

"I amm soooo sorrrryyyy. I didn't mean it, like..have you tried to kill yourself. Gah, I must be drunk or something to say that. Just forget it, I was trying to like ask if you had tested out like leaving from here with that death thing, I mean one would think immortal vampire, you would be immortal right?..yeah anyways that would mean you could go anywhere in the world ...not just be cooped up in one town. Anyways forget I said anything."

She stopped, finally hearing him talking versus the chant of stupid in her head. She flinched at his response and wondered if she could apologize enough to make it up to him. Before she could even think of the words, he was getting up and lurching out the door.

"Damn it.." She said this softly as she followed him, "nice going, imply the guy should kill himself while hes drunk..smart move" Not realizing she was saying this out loud, she stumbled after him, feeling the three drinks hit their mark as she started to walk fast after him out the door.

"Dang it..wait..please? I am really sorry..."

[Lancaster]

In his inebriated state, Elliot wasn’t aware of having left the woman behind. He had assumed that she would follow, that she would be right on his heel. And he assumed right, until she asked him to wait, until she apologised. As if he’d been running away from her because of something that she had said. Elliot had already forgotten the conversation; had already forgotten what she’d asked and how he’d misconstrued it, and was now solely focused upon the first question. Proving it. He frowned down at his erstwhile companion. Of course he thought that he was walking in a perfectly straight line, but as soon as he shifted his line of sight from the pavement in front of him, to the woman now beside him, he stumbled a bit and swerved a little off course.

”Sorry…?” he shook his head. He didn’t care. He burped – unable to keep it bottled – before continuing. ”You asked if I could prove it, yeah?” he slurred. There was an alleyway not too far away, a little niche between two buildings, where they kept their rubbish and where someone had parked their moped. No one else was around, however, and the buildings on either side appeared to be quiet. The walls were thick and unmarred. There were no windows looking out onto the alleyway. Perfect, really.

Except that Elliot really didn’t know what he was going to do.

And then he remembered how it had happened with Asteria; she’d finally figured out what he was, without a doubt, because he’d summoned a swarm of insects to defend himself against a gangster. With idiotic glee, Elliot did the same thing now – out of nowhere, a swarm of insects gathered and buzzed around him. Insects that harmed. Insects that took blood. It was an idiotic move because one does not just gather a swarm of killer insects for the fun of it. No, the insects have to have somewhere to go, someone to attack. That’s the kind of mindset they’re summoned with.

And so, with horror, Elliot watches how his mistake manifests; the way the swarm gathered around but did not stay. Instead, it headed directly for Jia li.