The Dive – Thread 2 (Fenced Patio)

[daniel_stacy]

Daniel sat on a picnic table and watched people meander on and off the fenced patio. The band was loud enough to enjoy outside. A cloud of smoke rose above the heads of people looking for space to swing their arms, or just a break from unwarranted body contact. He rubbed his hands together and considered where he was going to get his next meal. It was possible that some drunk or drugged concert goer would let him feed after the show, and he knew he could wait a couple of hours, if he needed to. In the meantime, he wasn’t going anywhere near the peanuts.

The vampire moved his shoe to read the carvings in the bench.

Eddie Luvs Sheila

Aerosmith Rules!

[Thread: Open to anyone]

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[wolfs_daughter]

Echo didn't smoke, but the crowd inside was a bit much, so she bought a cup of beer and carried it outside to the patio. The smell of tobacco was a small price to pay to get some elbow room. She stepped through the double doors, noted a carving on one of the benches that said Michael Parkhurst Sux, then spotted Holly sitting closer to the patio railing.

She'd lifted her hand in greeting and begun her approach when she saw the guy the other brunette was sitting next to, and that made her slow up because they looked cozy. Intimate. The beer was lifted to Echo's mouth, and she took a contemplative sip. Did she know Holly's 'boyfriend's' name? Did she want to know his name?

"I wouldn't be cutting in if I joined you, would I?"

[daniel_stacy]

Daniel's mouth was open to answer Holly's question, and he had taken the breath necessary to vocalize it, when he caught a whiff of something else. Something distinctly inhuman. What was it? He didn't have time to look around for a source, because the source found them. It was...

A girl?

Color him confused.

"Uh..." He looked to Holly for guidance. "No?" he guessed. Did the two of them know each other?

[holiday_pirner]

Holly straightened, glancing between the two. "Echo, hi." She wondered what the protocol was here. Echo had once told her that she wouldn't be afraid to voice her disapproval of the vampire.

"This is Daniel. Daniel, Echo." The brunette wished she had a drink to busy herself with.

[wolfs_daughter]

Daniel. Daniel in the lion's den. Wolf's den? Echo took a discreet sniff at the air, smelled second-hand smoke, spilled booze, and leftover sweat from so many bodies in a small space. She could just barely pick out Holly's heartbeat in the cacophony of voices from other conversations. Daniel was handsome. She probably wasn't supposed to think that, because his chest wasn't moving with respiration the way the other brunette's was.

"Hi, Daniel," she said, her voice oddly conversational as she held out her hand. Distrust was pretty much the hybrid's resting state, but she didn't have to jump to dislike right off the bat. It would be too much like hypocrisy on her part, and she didn't want to be a hypocrite.

"Nice night to hang out outside now that fall's here. I'm glad I didn't get to Nevada until the end of summer."

[daniel_stacy]

A handshake? With what he presumed to be some kind of were-thingum, based solely on his sire's description of shapeshifters as smelling like damp fur and earth?

Well, why the hell not.

"Hi. Echo." He loosely clasped her hand and shook it, but he wasn't going to discuss the weather. He had to draw the line somewhere. He sneaked a look at her forearm, looking for obvious signs of animal fur. There were none.

Turning to Holly, he raised his eyebrows. Was she going to continue sharing news or was that not meant for other ears?

[holiday_pirner]

She didn't want to discuss her brush with exsanguination in front of the person already prejudiced against vampires. Instead, she just smiled vaguely. "We met in Searchlight," Holly explained to Daniel.

The brunette hooked her arm through his. "Here for the music or the ambiance?," she asked Echo.

[wolfs_daughter]

"The music," Echo replied easily, and if she made note of the way Holly looped her arm through Daniel's she gave no sign of it. It was hardly her place to tell someone else what to do, no matter how she felt. "This guy Brian told me his band plays here sometimes. I was here once before, but they weren't booked to play."

Did she just assume and take a seat? Her attempt at chitchat had gone unremarked on, and maybe that was for the best. People only talked about the weather when they were uncomfortable. Echo was...uncomfortable was the wrong word. Curious was probably a better term for it. Daniel definitely wasn't breathing, but he didn't act abnormal.

"So what's up?" she asked, her tone less chatty but still non-hostile. "Did you see your stalker again?"

[daniel_stacy]

That brought about a puzzled look. Scratching at his jaw, Daniel frowned in bewilderment at Echo, and then aimed a questioning look at Holly. “That dude who was staring at you in the club?” They had chased him down the alley fruitlessly before heading back indoors and diving into the coat closet.

‘Whoa, don’t think about that, you’ll be half-mast in no time.’

[holiday_pirner]

"One and the same." She picked at a splinter on the picnic table. "Turns out he was hired to 'watch' me." Holly made quote marks in the air.

"And I guess it was a good thing he was, because," she continued, averting her gaze, "a vampire tried to kill me." She said the last bit in a rush.

[wolfs_daughter]

Echo just blinked, first in confusion and then in realization. A tiny frown line appeared between her eyebrows, then smoothed out again as she dropped her gaze a bit to look at Holly's neck. No fang marks. The hybrid drank her cup of beer down to the dregs, tossed the plastic receptacle into an overflowing trash can. She very carefully did not look at Daniel, lest scrutiny make him believe she suspected him. If he cared about Holly, he wouldn't try to hurt her. Right?

"Well, it seems like you got away without a scratch," she said, hooking her thumbs through her belt loops. "Whoever he is, he must be pretty quick on his feet. You're sure he was fully human?"

[daniel_stacy]

"Wait a minute. Why am I just hearing about this now?" Daniel asked.

He was dimly aware it was probably the wrong question to be asking. Things like 'Are you okay?' and 'Who the hell hired him?' and 'Is the vampire dust?' would be better, but impulsiveness got the better of him.

He stared at Holly.

He had a phone. He had a front door. Just how casual did she think this whole liaison was?

He averted his face and ran a hand through the back of his hair, fussing with it to keep his hand busy.

'Ughhhhhh. I'm a chump.'

[holiday_pirner]

Holly looked back at Daniel, and she suddenly felt terrible. "I didn't want to make a big deal out of it," she answered lamely. Was it a big deal? It had felt like one at the time, but soon after it had felt like nothing more than a bad dream.

"He's human," the brunette answered Echo. "I'm pretty sure of it, anyway."

Then, quiet enough for Daniel's ears, "I'm sorry."