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Re: Red lights (Glade)
Posted: 30 Jan 2019, 17:18
by Elijah Brooks
Eli nods his head in agreement and understanding. A weekly meeting with Glade would be more than manageable on his current schedule. He understands, too, that it’s easy enough for a vampire to obtain blood in this city even if the solution isn’t exactly moral. As Glade sits back and taps his fingers across the table again, Eli looks to watch those pale digits move and thinks that this must be some involuntary trait whenever he’s considering something. Although, it’s just as possible that it’s a nervous habit. Eli has his own nervous habits: he constantly fidgets with his hands. It’s as though the movement helps propel his brain forward so that he’s not lingering in any awkward moments for too long; making the whole thing worse. By brushing a hand through his hair or toying with the sleeves of his jumper, he’s also grounding himself in the present, helping him regain his mental focus and manage those overwhelming feelings. It always seems to work, even if he is announcing to the world just how much of a nervous soul he is.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Eli proposes with a soft smile.
He pushes his chair back to stand up; the metal legs cry as they scrape against the linoleum floor. Eli steps aside, tucks the chair back in with another squeak, then places his hand on the rim of the chair. The silk lining of his coat feels a little damp as the water has seeped in through the wool over time, but it’s still better than going outside without it. A glance out of the window confirms that it’s still raining; a misty sheet hangs over every lamp and lit window as far as his eyes can see. He looks back to Glade expectantly, hoping that he would follow him out. The abandoned shop that Glade first mentioned is only a two minute walk from here and it would be a great place for a more clandestine conversation.
Re: Red lights (Glade)
Posted: 31 Jan 2019, 14:13
by Glade (DELETED 11640)
Glade clicked his tongue at the mention of a walk and nodded standing up, "Yeah sounds good." he said glancing outside at the rain and quickly putting on his coat as he used one hand to lift and move the chair aside as he stood up and then placed it back in it's former place. He didn't seem to pay attention to the screeching of the chair Elijah was shoving back and forth but he really didn't like making nearly that much noise, especially when all they were doing was getting up and down. He was a thief after all, it was instinct to move things around quietly.
He took a quick glimpse over his shoulder at all the people behind them and randomly thought of using a smoke bomb just to see what would happen, course he wouldn't, but he thought its as a funny idea. He'd used quite a lot by now, they were perfect for distracting guards long enough for him to escape so it really helped out. But it wasn't really something he believed as fitting for now.
"You've got an unusual job, most people wouldn't risk something like this. Especially not this blatantly." Glade said quietly as they began to walk, he knew the cold rain wouldn't be too much of an issue but it was going to get his coat wet again which was unfortunate. He liked things to be dry.
Re: Red lights (Glade)
Posted: 02 Feb 2019, 02:06
by Elijah Brooks
While Eli didn’t plan on making a scene with the chair - not that anyone notices or lifts their heads from their screens - he is stunned by how quiet, practiced, and graceful Glade’s movements are in comparison. It’s the equivalent of tossing a ball of paper into a wastebasket in comparison to a soda can; it’s subtle and yet extremely esoteric. Eli doesn’t notice the impressed grin that has formed on his face until he feels his cheeks ache. It’s important to his reputation that he brings it down a gear, so he lets the grin fade under the disguise of a nod. He clumsily reaches for his jacket and slips it on, following Glade out the door in a hurry.
The cold wall of mist that hits him as they leave the cafe causes his face to knot; he brushes the back of hand over the bridge of his nose then around his left cheek before sliding it down his chin. Once he feels like he has the worst of it off his face - reminding him of the times that Larry would shake off a bathload of water, spraying him in the face - Eli’s hands find warm nests in his coat pockets. He keeps pace with the taller man, his strides calm and yet purposeful. However, it certainly does feel like he is being led rather than leading. He keeps his eyes on the path ahead, sparing glances at Glade from time to time so he’s not staring. At least they are headed in the right direction.
A few steps into their short journey and Glade makes a swift observation on Eli’s circumstances. It’s not something that catches him off-guard. Eli shrugs his shoulders just enough that the muscles jerk visibly through the fleece of his coat.
“I suppose,” he says. “If you have any advice on being less blatant, I would love to hear it.” He laughs a little then because the genuine nature of his tone reveals that he has given it a lot of thought and comes up wanting each time. “I’ve been lucky to meet the right people so far,” he adds, looking directly at Glade with a sideways glance. “I suppose it’s not normal to come across people like me then, from your point of view.”
Re: Red lights (Glade)
Posted: 04 Feb 2019, 03:33
by Glade (DELETED 11640)
Glade looked into the rain in thought, it was strange to think it barely bothered him now. He nodded his head slightly at mention of advice on being less blatant and lucky so far. Then chuckled again when he said that they didn't come across people like Eli. "Yeah you would be an oddity so far as I know. Sure we can find blood bags. But not so much people who offer it directly. It is a bit of a dangerous business." he said. He didn't need to know Eli's experience to make that guess. He knew well enough how vampires could be, even if he was also lucky who he'd met so far.
He breathed in and out, as necessary as it may be, "Not really much advice to give. I'd probably try and get some kind of insurance if I were you though. Get people to make promises to go after whoever killed or hurt you, though if you became their primary source, I don't think you'd even need to ask." he pointed out. Glade himself wasn't exactly of the opinion that he was on his side, but he had no problem giving the man advice. Especially if it could ultimately help Glade as well, keep the man alive, keep his own chances of getting caught down.
Re: Red lights (Glade)
Posted: 04 Feb 2019, 15:44
by Elijah Brooks
Eli nods in agreement over Glade’s observations and as he looks away, admiring the rain, Eli takes the opportunity to study his face. He concludes that Glade does look very different in the dark. The delicacies of his features that are wonderfully shaped by the light are obscured without it; a charcoal sketch on an ink canvas. His square shoulders form a block of darkness, capped by hair the colour of raven feathers, ashen skin, and wolfish eyes. At a glance, Eli believes that Glade could easily intimidate anyone, but there’s something about being in his company right now that makes him feel at peace. There’s no threat of being swallowed by the darkness and being dragged into unknown depths; Eli senses the solid ground at his feet, and the shadows which move over him covers like a duvet; he feels protected.
The warm light of civilisation pulls away as they walk deeper into untamed land. Eli can see the tall iron walls of the quarantine zone with the glaring flood lamps just ahead of them. There’s a single guard on duty, but he doesn’t take his job seriously enough to turn people away or dissuade them from going further. As they pass him, he reminds them that any ears they can cut off of the shambling corpses will be worth a lot of money to their organisation. The drab delivery encourages Eli to give the man a sympathetic smile and to keep walking. He’s sure that the organisation would pay-up, but something about the operation makes his skin crawl. They keep walking.
Eventually Glade offers his wisdom on the nature of being a blood doll, assuring Eli that it’s best to get some kind of insurance policy. Eli smiles and nods his head; his grin changes character a little and he shakes his head bemused at the thought of threatening people with violence in order to protect himself.
“I believe that people are inherently good,” Eli says. “I also believe in catching flies with honey. If my advert suggested you’d be policed on your behaviour, would you honestly have come to meet me tonight?” Eli asks, looking across to Glade as they stop outside the abandoned shop. “I think that if I assume the best out of you in the first instance, you’re going to feel better about it. I’m saying that you’re a good person by being so trusting and maybe that will attract some people who’ll want to take advantage of me. Or. It’ll bring out the good people. Like you.”
Re: Red lights (Glade)
Posted: 05 Feb 2019, 01:16
by Glade (DELETED 11640)
Glade raised an eyebrow as Eli spoke up again, he had to think a little on the question of whether he'd have come tonight or not if there was a change of being threatened. It was a little difficult to answer, he was perhaps unsure. He ran his tongue under his bottom lip with a quiet, "Hmm," in thought. He was absolutely the type of person to take advantage of Elijah. Were they under slightly different circumstances where it would be less obvious. He wouldn't hesitate to pickpocket the kid and realized he could probably manage it without even having to worry about getting caught doing it, though Elijah might still realize later if his wallet was missing after this. But he could do it another time. He didn't, because that was foolish, but it did come up as a thought.
"Bit more of an optimist then I am I guess." He admitted pushing open the door to the shop and looking inside quickly, he didn't need so much to look for humans, his senses like many vampires were pretty highly attuned for finding them. But there was always the chance, and the possibility it was a vampire or a blood thief. They could hide in here without him first knowing.
But, fortunately, nobody seemed to be present, so he pressed in. Not that he was expecting anyone, "Still, guess you can at least partially be right about it. I certainly wouldn't do it but that's just me." he'd wait for Elijah to enter then glance outside quickly if he did before making sure the door was closed. "Much better to be away from so many people. I'm unfortunately easy to notice. I can hide myself pretty well but there are some key components that tend to attract attention of those aware enough to know what to look for." he said. He didn't really care if the kid knew, he probably couldn't take advantage of them. Most vampires did, mainly lack of a reflection in mirrors. But shadows also had the, ironic, lack of a shadow, along with pitch black blood that tended to splash into the air rather then fall before it dissipated just moments afterwards. An extremely telltale sign you just couldn't refute. Fortunately he hadn't had to run into that as an issue often, but he kept it in mind.
Re: Red lights (Glade)
Posted: 07 Feb 2019, 20:53
by Elijah Brooks
The moment they are indoors, Eli notices a change in Glade. It’s a small, slow shift that pulls away his nervousness like a retreating tide washes the grit from pebble beaches. The darkness inside the store conceals and brightens him equally; no matter how many times Eli has seen this magic trick, he isn’t tired of it. Glade’s eyes glimmer like two hunks of ice floating across the arctic in the deep winter night. The sight chases a chill up Eli’s spine and his red jumper irritates the goosebumps on his arms. He rubs some warmth back into his skin and conceals his discomfort by muttering about it being cold inside the store, but Eli isn’t a great liar. His body betrays him; tightening his jaw and forcing his voice into a blunt stuttering.
Eli’s so distracted by watching the vampire that he doesn’t notice how tight his chest has gotten until it’s hard to get a full breath. He paces backward, putting space between them. Broken glass and ceramics crunch under his footsteps, giving his position and possibly his intentions away. His hands knot behind his back and he feels for the cold, smooth obstacle of a wall before he comes to a safe stop. He can’t move his eyes away from Glade even if he wants to. He swallows around his own heart throbbing in his throat.
“I… hadn’t noticed,” Eli says with a nervous, satirical chuckle, replying to the most recent thing that Glade has said.
“Although, in all seriousness, I do know that each one I’ve met has been different from the last,” he adds. “They… all want different things too.”
Eli finally breaks eye contact and stares at the floor. His cheeks are so flushed at this point that he can see them burning at the edges of his peripheral vision. It’s difficult to discuss next steps without the possibility that their conversation could take on a lewd tone and it worries him that Glade might respond aggressively to any allusion to homoerotica. Since as far back as the first Dracula books in the early twentieth century, vampirism has been a surrogate for sexual intercourse. It’s not necessarily what he’s looking to get out of this encounter, but he still isn’t going to be able to talk fang penetration points without blushing beetroot.
Re: Red lights (Glade)
Posted: 08 Feb 2019, 05:44
by Glade (DELETED 11640)
Glade noticed the strange shift in Elijah's attitude, first when he was muttering about cold and especially the stepping backwards. He thought it might be instinctive fear, that made the most sense. While perhaps not all vampires were violent there was plenty reason to believe they were. He couldn't tell if it was that or simple nervousness, that was also a possibility. He'd be a lot more nervous if he was on the other end of this, on his side, things were a whole lot easier. After all he had the physical upper hand he could probably forcefully feed if he wanted to, but he didn't intend on making that choice.
The boy mentioned all the vampires wanting different things, he was looking at the floor, backed against the wall, his face was darker. It was a rather feminine or childlike movement in Glades opinion. But given the nature of the job, it made sense that he would take the position of the inferior. The subdued. That's what he meant wasn't it, in regards to what they wanted. Of course he had tips of it from before, the fact that it was basically some cases where they wanted to role-play with their...meal. Glade wasn't one to shy away from deceit, but some things could still make him uncomfortable.
"Would you mind calming down? I'm not gonna be making any kind of special requests or anything." he said raising an eyebrow in a fairly steady voice before shaking his head, "Guess you just have...weird customers." he said looking at the roof. He was perhaps more concerned about this then he let on, but he knew how to tell a lie. He'd been telling lies his whole life it was easy.
"Well now how do you need to do this? I'm ready when you are I suppose. Not sure what you're used to but I'm just gonna go the utilitarian way. I don't need this to really play out any specific way."
Re: Red lights (Glade)
Posted: 08 Feb 2019, 18:15
by Elijah Brooks
There’s a pain in Eli’s gut that feels like a ball of lightning as he waits in silence for Glade’s reaction. He’s anticipating the worst and it’s unusual for the fear to last this long. It’s obvious to Glade that Eli has been acting strangely, and it is made clear to Eli that the behaviour isn’t tolerated because he commands him to calm down.
“Ha, yeah. I’m sorry. It’s just,” Eli murmurs, then takes a deep breath to steady himself. “It’s… I’m sorry. It’s nothing.”
The breath that is supposed to calm him, doesn’t help all that much, and he can still see the tip of his nose is a shade of vermillion. His palms are sweaty too; they leave dark prints against the wall as he shifts his position. His hands slide out from behind his back and hang like dead weights at his sides. Eli doesn’t exactly know what he’s supposed to do in this situation; he’s rarely the one to take the lead after the first part of their contract has been drawn up. Glade is a difficult one to read and yet Eli gets the impression that the vampire feels more uncomfortable than he does right now - even though his heart is still thumping. It’s an odd case because Glade is the one who contacted Eli and yet, the longer they are together, the more Eli can feel the regret and uncertainty rolling off him. He wonders if he has done something wrong; something irrepreprable.
“Yeah. You really have no idea about the weirdness,” he adds; his voice as low and scathing as thunder.
He watches the vampire curiously when his attention drifts to the roof and slowly comes back down. It is refreshing that Glade is blunt, but he is blunt in the way that used chisels are and there’s no job that requires any soft chipping - save the one to hack away at Glade’s icy exterior. Eli chews his bottom lip in thought and then makes a decision. He begins with removing his coat; the black wooden chips slip through the woolen slits as he thumbs them autonomously. He peels out of his navy skin, folds the whole thing into a neat bundle over his arm, and then makes a space to set it down on the ground near to his feet. He takes a deep breath and then approaches Glade, stopping just a few inches beneath his chin. His brown eyes are obsidian in the darkness as he leers upward.
“Where do you prefer to feed?” he asks.
He tips his head back and slightly to the left, baring his throat. The long cord of muscle that runs down from under his chin to his collarbone spasms with each deglutition. His proud heart thumps fiercely in that smooth, narrow chest that rises and falls with increasing rapidity. Equally, the veins in his neck are pronounced and quietly thronging beneath his warm skin. Eli doesn’t speak for a while and just waits for Glade’s decision.
Re: Red lights (Glade)
Posted: 10 Feb 2019, 00:57
by Glade (DELETED 11640)
There wasn't much to do about it now, he had already contacted the guy, he wasn't exactly going to back off now. Still, bit of an odd situation to be in. Elijah only confirmed his suspicions with his mention of him having no idea about the weirdness. He didn't doubt it, Glade wasn't much of a role-player, he didn't quite understand why people did it in person. At least not seriously, he could understand taking on a personality or something for the sake of advantage, or doing it comically, or even doing it by text, but in person? That was just weird to him.
Glade simply watched as the man removed his coat, and realized just how hungry he had actually gotten. He could hold off yeah but why do that. He needed to be full and here was exactly where it was. He breathed in, as unnecessary as it was, his fangs growing as he ran his tongue across them in thought. "There is fine." he said, moving to lean forwards putting a hand on the opposite shoulder and his fangs into the side of Eli's neck while the other hand would grab towards the shoulder on the same side as he would attempt to feed.
He was too focused on making sure he fed to bother asking permission now, this was what they were here for and he'd pay for it. But why prolong this for either of them, well, if he did prolong it he'd only prolong the feeding itself. These pleasantries were fine and all, but they were delaying his meal. They were just in the way of getting what he wanted. He could be patient, that was fine, don't run off the meal. That wouldn't be wise. He wanted it fresh if he could, and that's what he'd be getting. Fresh blood, no struggle, so much better just for an extra price.