Fluffy Bunny Thoughts

[daniel_stacy]

He had stopped drinking human blood for a girl who was MIA.

Of course Daniel figured that was his fault, too. Get too loose with your relationship rules and suddenly there weren’t any at all. If their involvement could be construed as a relationship… He was fuzzy on that. Nevertheless, Daniel had given it up for Holly, and now there was no Holly, but he was still trying to hold out because there might (?) be a Holly at some point in the future and at this point, he was proud of his restraint. Not killing people might be the only prowess Daniel could muster.

But things got touchy when the butcher ran out of blood.

So here Daniel was in a pet shop, holding a brown bunny by its midsection, pretending to be in earnest search of a furry companion. The bunny’s eyes darted back and forth. Its nose twitched. Daniel inspected its undercarriage because he didn’t know its gender. Why that mattered when the idea was to eat it, he didn’t know.

“Have you ever cared for a bunny before?” asked a saleswoman in enormous glasses.

“No,” he said. “I had a dog once.”

“They’re nothing… like dogs,” she condescended.

“Really? Because my dog humped everything in sight, too.” Daniel smiled at her, trying to charm her. It did not work, so he said, “I’ll check out a library book,” just to get her off his scent. He carried the bunny to the shop window and looked outside. Daylight savings time meant that he had to shack up longer, so it was 9:30 already. The shop closed at 10:00. If he was going to drain this critter tonight, he needed to make up his mind.

A pretentious woman in a fur stole walked past the shop. Daniel covered the bunny’s eyes. "Look awaaaaay," he cried.

[Thread: Open to Anyone]

Comments

Re: Fluffy Bunny Thoughts

[melodymagic]

She wasn't sure why he touched her sleeve, and her eyes darted up to his face again. "How did you know?" she asked. It had only been recently that she'd started to even use any of her magic outside the store, and she stifled a smile at the expression on Maddie's face when she'd done the little bit of levitation with the straw in the diner. Her mother had made it clear she should be very very careful about who knew her abilities, as she didn't want to attract the wrong people, or end up being accused of things she didn't do, just because of what she could do.

"Have you been to the store?" she asked. She again couldn't remember having seen him before, and she normally remembered faces. And again, his was rather memorable. Even almost as much as the bunny's. Though hopefully his nose didn't twitch as much. She suddenly found herself staring at his nose.

Re: Fluffy Bunny Thoughts

[daniel_stacy]

"No, I heard what you ordered." Daniel flicked his earlobe and frowned. "Yeah, uhh, really... really good hearing. I've never been in a magic store." Actually was he even allowed in those? He guessed there would be wards up all over the place, on a real one anyway. He drummed a percussive beat on the counter top. The bunny's ears twitched.

Re: Fluffy Bunny Thoughts

[melodymagic]

"Oh, I see," she said, eyeing him a little warily, then looking at his fingers as they tapped.

"Are you a magic user?" she asked, curious as to why he recognised the things she'd ordered, the tapping of his fingers making a pattern she thought she recognised from somewhere, but she couldn't place where. "Because most people would just think I was weird if they heard that list of stuff."

Re: Fluffy Bunny Thoughts

[daniel_stacy]

"I am not." Daniel pushed off the counter and contemplated telling her the truth before the shopkeeper came back, just for shits. It wasn't something he ought to shout from the rooftops (or whisper in dark corners), but he had a wild urge to do it because...

Well, because if her eyes got any bigger, they'd fall out of her head, and he hadn't even said it yet.

"Lemme see your hand." He waggled his fingers at her and grabbed onto her forearm. Before he did anything else, Daniel stopped and pointed at her in mock warning. "But don't scream. I come in peace." Then he laid two of her fingers against his throat, where a light stubble covered his pulse point. "Start counting now."

Re: Fluffy Bunny Thoughts

[melodymagic]

She resisted the urge to pull her hand out of his, especially when she felt how cool his skin was to the touch, but when he put her fingers to his throat she wasn't sure what to think.

Until she realised there was nothing happening beneath the skin. There was nothing to count, and his eyes were telling her this, almost as if he was mocking her for not knowing. She pulled her hand away and lowered it, chin lifting a little as if in defiance.

She hadn't met a vampire before, the store and her home warded and her path never having crossed with one before. She knew about them, had heard stories, even a few tales of some who were not all about killing and siring, but she had no idea if they usually revealed themselves to someone they didn't intend on trying to kill. Did a witch's blood taste any different to anyone elses? She couldn't imagine why it would, but didn't want to find out from him if it did. "So you have good hearing, huh?" she said to him, eyes narrowing a little now.

Re: Fluffy Bunny Thoughts

[daniel_stacy]

Yeesh. Hostility. Her eyes had gone from a kind of bewildered naivety, which he rather liked because it was adorable, to suspicious in five seconds flat. “Yeah,” he said. He dropped his hand and looked at a flyer taped to the table. “Which means I’ll hear it if you start whispering an incantation, so if you’re going to do it, no need to be stealthy. I say go big or go home.”

His mannerisms didn’t suggest any imminent danger. Of course, vampires could turn on a dime, lash out faster than a normal person could flinch, but he seemed more interested in perusing the sale prices than doing so. And maybe a little bit hurt, which even Daniel had to acknowledge was odd.

“I named you. I figured naming myself is the least I could do.”

Re: Fluffy Bunny Thoughts

[melodymagic]

She had no idea what he meant about whispering incantations, the thought hadn't even crossed her mind. Her wariness was brought on by her lack of experience with the undead, not any fear of them, other than a rather innate sense of self-preservation that was purely a survival instinct present in most, even those without a heartbeat.

"I've never met one of your kind before," she told him, still no fear, or hostility evident, or felt, just the wariness. "Thank you for ... " What was she thanking him for? Other than the fact her parents had taught her to be sure to always thank a giver for their gift, be it an item, a blessing, a moment of their time, or simply knowledge. And in this case it had been the latter. If he hadn't told her he was a vampire, she would never have known.

"... your admission," she finished, and for a brief moment thought of Maddie, and what she might have done right about now. Of course now she knew more about Maddie, and her age and experience, she found herself thinking more often what Maddie might do in a given situation, and this was one in particular. After all, just because she was improving in her own craft, it didn't maker her a great practitioner, or all-powerful, or even very brave.

The movement of Socrates drew her eye down to the rabbit, and they darted back up to his face. "Were you here to buy a pet?" she asked, realising Socrates wasn't actually his rabbit that he carried around with him, and silently chiding herself for thinking something so silly in the first place. After all, other than a place she picked up the supplies they needed for certain spells at the magic shop, they did sell pets. He hadn't walked in with him tucked in his coat to buy him some dinner pellets.

Re: Fluffy Bunny Thoughts

[daniel_stacy]

“Honestly?” Daniel winced, sucking air as he looked down at the animal. “I was thinking about eating him. The butcher’s out of… Cherry Coke.” He hoped she got the inference. “I can get pretty hard up for Cherry Coke.” Daniel scratched behind his ear. “Anyway, I changed my mind.” Maybe he’d turn into a weird guy who adopted turtles or families of ducks that followed him around in a line. Did dogs like vampires? He could see himself with a golden retriever.

The saleswoman returned and he pointed to the rabbit, indicating he’d need food, a cage and shavings. Daniel had a feeling this was going to be one of those impulse purchases he instantly regretted. He hoped he didn’t rip the rabbit to shreds in a thirsty rage.

He shelled out some cash.

Re: Fluffy Bunny Thoughts

[melodymagic]

It almost gave her a sense of relief, and a tiny sense of power. Socrates wasn't going to end up as replacement Cherry Coke as he put it. That put a small smile on her face, but it faded a tiny bit when she realised she would never look at a can of the drink in the same way ever again.

She watched as he proceeded to complete the purchase of the things needed to give Socrates a comfortable home, her demeanour easing a little with the 'familiar' actions and conversation - if he hadn't told her what he was she would never have known, and that made her wonder, not for the first time, just how many vampires peopled the streets, walking among them at night.

"You do still have that skin problem, with the sun?" she asked when the sales assistant moved away for a moment. Her curiosity was piquing again, after having watched the perfectly normal transaction taking place right in front of her.

Re: Fluffy Bunny Thoughts

[daniel_stacy]

“Yeah.” Daniel stuffed the leather wallet in his back pocket. “What can I say, I burn easily. There’s also this.” He looked over his shoulder at the shop window. The world beyond it was dark, so the bright interior of the shop was reflected on the pane of glass. He waved at the brunette’s reflection standing alone by the register. “Took me weeks to get used to that.”

He turned back around to look at Melody 'actual'.

"Is it true you float?" Daniel smiled.