06 - Welcome Home, Honey

[spitefulvitae]

[919 Bilko, Morning - Limited to Housemates]

[Another beautiful Mayfield morning dawns, but all is not well in the Goodman household. That pleasant drone wife has been replaced with someone far stiffer, deader, and somewhat mildewed-smelling. That alone might be bad enough. But she had been quite silent while things were dark. Now that there's sun, there's screaming.

As soon as the first sufficiently brilliant rays of light come pouring into the room, Natalie bursts from her spot on the bed with an inhuman shriek. She tears the blankets off the bed and wraps them around herself, but it's not nearly enough protection against the light. She can't see, with all of the brightness and all of the fabric covering her... it's making her efforts to find some sort of cover far too slow. A hand has crept out from the covers, and it's fumbling at the doorknob for the closet... it's also sizzling.]

OhgodohgodthesunnotthesunohfatherpleasenonotthesunfatherhelpmenoNONONOnonono...

[Around Town, Evening]

[It's a warm late-summer evening. A perfect time for light blouses and short sleeves. To hell with that, tonight. Not after the kind of morning Natalie had been through. Every inch of her is covered by clothing. Long sleeves cover her arms. Gloves cover her fingers. Her usual scarf is wrapped very, very high along her face. And her hair is even pulled forward to obscure her face even further, with just a slit left to allow for vision.

Really, the malfunctioning drones are a mercy, tonight. She needs blood, and lots of it, if she's going to be presentable anytime soon. Were you being annoyed by a particularly persistent drone asking the time or wishing you a good evening?]

...oh. Here. Let me take care of that...

[And she'll just be grabbing them, exposing their neck, and sinking her fangs in. Masquerade, shmasquerade. What was there to cover up, here? She was doing everyone a favor, honestly.]

Comments

[spitefulvitae]

[This is such a good reaction. So much so that Natalie doesn't manage to drain this one dry. She withdraws her fangs, licks the wound that she's made, and blinks at the man.]

...what does it look like I'm doing?

I don't suppose you could tell me the time?

Oh, you be quiet.

[She roughly shoves the drone lady away, and she stumbles and rights herself.]

I don't suppose you could tell me the time?

[whowhatwhy]

[ Please forgive him- he's not used to this place yet. It takes him a moment to reign in his knee-jerk reaction. ]

You're sucking its blood. [ Duh, Nate. A sigh- considering all the things he's seen he really shouldn't judge. Besides, she at least went after the drone, and not him. ]

That's not really something I've ever seen before. It startled me.

[spitefulvitae]

Yes.

[This one's on the ball, he is. She brings her scarf back up to cover the lower part of her face again.]

It's startling. You're supposed to be startled.

[The drone lady seems to have snapped out of asking for the time now, and is just sort of wobbling on her way... Natalie's attention, meanwhile, is all on this new fellow. He's having some interesting reactions.]

[whowhatwhy]

I... is it rude to ask what you are?

[spitefulvitae]

Possibly. [She hesitates for but a moment. She shrugs.] I'm a vampire.

[whowhatwhy]

[ That sounds... very vaguely familiar. Something about demons- which, despite his experiences with them, is really not his field. ]

I have only the vaguest idea of what that is, but I'm guessing that the crux of it is you survive on the blood of others.

[spitefulvitae]

Pretty much. There are a few more little extra details, but I don't know how useful they'd be to you. There are over half a dozen other "vampires" in this town, and none of us quite operate in the same way...

[She sighs and shakes her head.]

[whowhatwhy]

I'm just beginning to learn that this place truly does take all types.

[spitefulvitae]

It does. It really does.

...I'm Natalie, if you're curious. What's your name?

[whowhatwhy]

Nathaniel. Forgive my earlier reaction- that was rude of me.

[spitefulvitae]

Huh. There's an interesting coincidence for you...

[Then she snorts with laughter. It's a full body shoulders lifting, eyes scrunching kind of amusement thing.]

That was normal of you. The moment you start taking shit like me in stride is the moment you've been here too long.

A lot of people have been here too long.

[whowhatwhy]

[ He gives a dry chuckle ] I've seen far too much before I even got here not to take you in stride, honestly.

[spitefulvitae]

Ooh, you're a lucky one, it sounds like. What kind of things have you see, Nathaniel...?

[Her head quirks, and her voice has taken on a curious lilt.]

[whowhatwhy]

How much time do you have?

[spitefulvitae]

Normally? Plenty. But I've got a very busy night ahead of me and I really shouldn't linger too long over chitchat. Maybe we can compare notes some other time?

Do you like cake?

[whowhatwhy]

Certainly. I won't keep you.

[ Wait, cake? That kind of came out of nowhere. ]

I... suppose. Why?

[spitefulvitae]

No reason.

[She shrugs and lets out a soft little laugh. She's smiling, too, but that's pretty well-obscured by scarves and hair and the hour of the evening.

Feeling that she's said enough, Natalie lifts a hand, gives a little wave, and heads on her way.]