♪ Mid-week Blowout ♪ (Stryge)

[Skylar]

I'm swirling the liquid a little. Playing with my drink in the way I sometimes do while Stryge replies. So as not to be rude I peek up at him every once in a while, looking at him through my lashes. Considering I'm super confident - on the outside that is - usually, I feel kinda oddly vulnerable at the moment. Probably shouldn't be talking about my guys.
"I don't blame'em. Can't rightly force them to get on or anything."
I comment with a slight shrug of my shoulders to punctuate what I'm saying. I mean yeah it bugs me but I get it. I don't like the witch - again. I kinda wish I did. Would make things easier for Elliot. But hey I tried. She's the one that trashed the hope of us playing nice. Not me. Elliot can't say ****. At least I never threatened to kick her arse.
I smirk.
Not that I could. I'm no battle babe and I know it. As much as I kinda like that thought, it ain't me. I'll probably just write a song about her at some point. Actually, I'm kinda surprised I ain't done that already. Must be the diary entries I've made. They're kinda therapeutic in their own right too.
I shake my head. My blonde hair bouncing about me as I do. I need to get back to being me, so I gulp down a few mouthfuls of my drink before I laugh.
"You know. Once you get to know me, you'll realise I don't need to be told to ask questions and stuff. My curiosity often gets the better of me. Hell. It's more than that if I'm being honest with ya."
I lean a little closer, my attention fully focused on him
"In the interest of full disclosure I probably should tell ya that my mind and mouth ain't always on the same page. I'm pretty sure God or whatever forgot to install one of those verbal filter things that stops people from saying dumb ****. Actually. That's a lie. I do have a filter. I think it just likes going AWOL when I need it most or like going on lengthy vacations or some ****."
I place my drink on the bar and gesture my hands out to the side in a kind of apologetic shrug or something as I continue to speak.
"What you see if what you get with me. Kinda. I mean we've all got secrets, right?"
I wink at him.
I'll ask him my questions on my own timetable. I already know one's coming but some things need saying when they need saying and not before or after or whatever. My mind is kinda where it needs to be right now. In a few minutes... who knows. Yeah. In a few minutes I'll probably ask him why he blew me off online and made me feel like ****. Might try and not say that last bit. Don't want no-one feeling like they have power over me.

[Stryge (DELETED 7204)]

We've all got secrets, right?

Stryge wondered if that was her question, even if it seemed to be a rhetorical one. In one breath she had basically said she was an open book and yet was still one of the great secret holders, just like everyone else. Stryge suddenly wanted to pull the hood up on his jacket and disappear. A shadow's natural instinct was too avoid too much light. He felt confident that his secrets would not be safe with this girl, that she would not be considerate of them, that she might not even truly understand what a secret was, how its importance lay in the fact that it was hidden from sight, or simply that sometimes it was hidden from sight for a very good reason, for the general well-being of all involved.

She talked like a girl of the normal world, a day walker who could skip through a sun lit field and speak her mind with no worries of consequences. Hadn't she already seen consequences enough? Was death so inconsequential? From everything Stryge had been told, the Shadow Realm might as well be Hell for the unliving. He had felt sorry for her before, had almost told her as much, but now her blitheness made him question that reaction.

He suddenly became more aware of their surroundings. The lights seemed too bright. The bar buzzed with nightly conversation fueled by alcohol. How much of their own talking had been overheard? How many errant ears wondered about the meaning of the things they discussed? This should have been a conversation they had at the Den, not out here in the open, even if it was Lancaster's bar. He was getting paranoid, even as he realized at the same time that it was in his nature. Somebody had to be.

But, as always, there was the act of letting it slide: a Stryge speciality. He grinned and said, "I reckon we do all have our secrets." knowing full well it was an opening for Skylar to inquire into his.

Stryge wondered if perhaps the psychological effect of drinking something might take the edge off, even if it wasn't whiskey. Skylar seemed to be visibly enjoying her drink. Some vampires could do that. Stryge wasn't one of them."Before we go on, could I get something from Lancaster's, um, special stock?" How long had it been since he'd fed? Maybe what he was feeling right now was just the vampire equivalent of "hangry." Or maybe he sensed that Skylar's explanation about her mouth running away with her was simply a veiled excuse for not pulling her punches when the questions did come. That was alright. Stryge could handle whatever was dished out, and do it with a smile. A man who had tried very hard to kill himself feared little in the way of what others could say or do to him.

[Skylar]

I don't realise that with my hands free I'm now tapping out the rhythm of the song that's paying on my legs, but I am. You'd think I'm a drummer the way I way I carry on at times but I swear it's just one of those musician things. Hell, people who aren't musicians do it too I'm sure.
Stryge asks for something to drink and while I could get up and go grab it myself the bar is quiet enough to just order it from one of the staff, so that's what I do. I'm not sure if the guy knows that the bar staff here and all clued in to the darker side of the city's secrets. That's Elliot's doing. He's not so secret about this stuff as others are. I've noticed that.
Having ordered the drink I realise I'm now humming to the music too. If I don't start talking soon, I'll be singing and while that isn't a bad thing, it's not really something one does when making polite conversation. Or so I've been told.
"You don't gotta be nervous around me you know."
I say this not really knowing what the anxiety or whatever it was that I felt from him was about. If I knew he was worried about me spilling my secrets or us being overheard I'd of said something to calm his fears on both aspects. I'm good with other people's secrets, it's my own I suck at keeping. As for being heard, well, I assume most people think we're discussing movies or roleplay or something. Vampires and superpowers seem to be all the rage in movies and stuff these days.
"I couldn't even bite ya if I wanted to."
I tell him this quite casually, before I gesture to my mouth.
"No fangs. So... well... yeah. I could bite ya. But it would kinda suck."
I laugh at the unintentional pun. It's funnier still cos well, he's a vampire and I don't drink from my own kind. I don't really see myself as drinking from humans either if I'm honest since everything I drink comes from a bag or a bottle. It's not the same as taking it from the vein, which I know since I've actually done it twice.
"Besides. You're not the right...vintage."
I smile at my silliness and reach for my glass. I do so love to drink and my glass is now half empty. Or maybe it's half full. Who knows. Who cares. Though to be honest I probably am the "glass half full" kinda person, it's just the way I am.
"So... what flavour are you anyhow? I'm not sure how much you know about your family and stuff. Like who's who and what our talents are. Assuming we have anything noteworthy that is. I still don't know half the clan myself I'm sure."
I sip at my drink and then offer him a little info on me, just in case he doesn't already know it all.
"I'm an allurist. That's my flavour. In case you didn't get what I was getting at. And as you already know, I make swords and ****. I prefer making music and jewellery but it is what it is. It's my niche in the family. The way I feel I best contribute. And no matter how good you think you're **** is, I'm pretty sure I can better it. That's not being braggy by the way, that's just how it is. I have some pretty cool stuff. Not all of it looks fantastic. I'll tell ya that now for nothing but I have some pretty lethal ******* ****, I tell ya. I sell stuff at auction. But all the best stuff is held back for the family or private trade. I kinda feel like I have to be careful about what I put out there, you know?"
I'm not sure he does know. But it is what it is. I hate the idea that the stuff I make and sell could be used against me or the ones I love. It's bad enough that the ones I love have used it on each other, since Elliot and Ric have been given the best of the best. I always make sure my boys have the good stuff. Which just reminds me to hit Pat up and double check what he's using these days. Gotta look after all my boys, even if Ricky does always get priority.

[Stryge (DELETED 7204)]

Stryge had wondered about the different varieties, or "flavours" as Skylar put it, of vampires. All he knew was that he had not yet met someone who was exactly like himself when it came to the strange abilities he had begun manifesting since his turning. It was a conversation he had been meaning to have with Pi, but had not gotten around to it. Skylar had said she was an "allurist" and left it like that like she presumed Stryge would know what that entailed. He unfortunately did not. Were allurists more alluring? Skylar certainly was pretty. Perhaps her lack of fangs were somehow connected to this path. Maybe allurists were the vampires who were able to blend in, to walk among the humans without fear of discovery. He had noticed she was downing that whiskey with no obvious problems. Another trait of her path? Considering this, Stryge suddenly became quite jealous. He himself could really use a stiff drink. He decided, however, it was for the best. He had basically been an alcoholic in all but name before he was turned. The sickness that drinking whiskey brought him now had forced him to go cold turkey with a cold finality. Though in truth, hadn't he really just traded one addiction for another?

"I believe my flavour would be referred to as 'a shadow.' Which is ironic, since I seem to have lost mine somehow since I got myself turned. But me and darkness, we are real comfortable together these days. In fact," he said, glancing around at the warmly lit bar, full of pleasant conversation and music, "I could throw this whole place into absolute darkness right now if I wanted to. Upset quite a few folks in the process I reckon, though for me, it would be a relief. Seems my path has set me a little more apart from the normal folks of the world than yours has."

As Stryge spoke, the bartender brought him a glass of dark red liquid. He hoped any observer would presume it was a particularly meaty merlot. Pi had told him about the special stock Lancaster kept behind the bar for customers of his persuasion, but Stryge had always been nervous about actually ordering it, right out here in the public eye. It was ironic that it actually felt safer to him to hunt. But the advantage of being a shadow was that his powers of darkness manipulation meant that he had never yet been caught. Well, except for that one time. That was quite the mess, and Pi had had to get him out of it. It was the first moment he had really started to appreciate his sire. Prior to that, he had actually resented Pi for turning him, even hated her.

As he thought of that moment when his feelings for her had changed, something in his head seemed to pop, and a sharp pain pierced his mind. This always happened when he dwelled to long on this particular subject, and so he had learned not to, and just accept that how he felt now was the way it should be. And yet, something about the whole situation continued to trouble him...

Thinking about what Skylar had said about sword making, Stryge continued, "I recall you offering your services with making swords on the family CrowNet. I'm much obliged, but being from Texas and all, I'm more of a gun nut. In fact, it's become a bit of a hobby of mine, figuring out how to disassemble them, study the different parts, try to improve on them. Someday I'd like to make my own custom guns. They won't be nowhere near as good as Pi's, but still..."

Stryge's interest in this new hobby had come from his attachment to the Fareye pistol that Pi had given him when they'd first met, the one that he had subsequently used to try and kill himself. Needless to say, all those circumstances combined to create quite an emotional bond between Stryge and the firearm. He had since come to lovingly dissassemble and clean the gun on a regular basis, and had become somewhat obsessed with studying the intricacies of the improvements that Pi had put into each component. He wondered if wanting to follow in his sire's footsteps in this regard and become a gun maker was just one more part of some bizarre imprinting process. He also wondered what "flavour" Pi was. He realized he had never thought to ask her.

[Skylar]

I'm back to ignoring my drink when he speaks. By which I mean it's perched on my knee between my hands as I listen to the guy. It's probably about time I shut the hell up anyways. Drinking usually helps in this but I'm trying to behave. Trying. Not saying I'm gonna succeed or nothing.
He's the same flavour as my hubby. Hmm... Guess I kinda know a bit about what he might be capable of then. I'm half tempted to blurt that out. Actually. I'm kinda surprised I didn't blurt that out. See. I am behaving.
"Pfft."
That's the only reaction he gets from me while he's talking and it's in response to him being more apart from the norm than me. I mean in some ways maybe he's right but in others, not so much. And well, I'm not a very good vampire either since I'm no good at the biting and feeding thing. I'm kinda stuck in between the norms of the living and the dead. But I don't much dwell on that cos, well, who cares. I'm me. I've always been me. And that didn't change just cos my heart stopped beating.
The gun talk catches my attention. After I'm blown off yet again that is. Oh well. If people don't want the best, who am I to argue? Me I'm more melee than firearm but Ric might have something to do with that. Don't get me wrong. I have a gun and I know bullets go in here and come out there but that's about it. Guns probably are a little more of the times but I love my sword and I made it myself. I should probably pull up a pic of it on my phone and show him.
Is that too braggy?
Hmm... Nah.
I pull my phone out of my pocket and put my glass back on the bar. I quickly tap in the code to unlock it and look through my photos. It takes me a moment longer than it should to find it cos I keep a pic of all my best stuff and the things I've got in stock on here just in case. Keep a list online too but I don't know if he's looked at that or not.
"This is what I use."
I turn my phone over to him. The picture of my sword displayed on the screen.
"Beautiful ain't she. And lethal too. She's got it all. Perfectly balanced, as all my blades are. Fell in love with that one and kept it for myself even though I really only know the basics of how to use it."
Ricky taught me. I don't tell him that though. He might question my lack of skills and that ain't Ricky's fault. That's mine. I'm a bad pupil. I don't really wanna use the thing but I do what I have to and what little I know seems to serve me well enough.
"And don't worry about not being as good as anyone else. Just be your own best. I mean, if it's something you enjoy then who cares, right? Besides. No matter how good we are, there's always someone better out there. Right?"
And I kinda mean it too. I mean to say you're the best in the world at something you gotta be pretty damn good. Though saying that I am pretty **** hot when it comes to my music. Especially since I vamped out. A person has gotta be pretty damn good to outclass me in that. Well, in the things I play and do that is. It wouldn't be hard to like outclass me on a sax or something. Though I'm pretty sure I could pick that up pretty quick if I wanted to. Hmm... Might pick another instrument to learn.
I sip at my drink as I half consider this in the back of my mind.