New Places, Old Smells. (Therese)

[Tay]

...holy shit.

Um.

She leaned forward intently after he paused, too eager to bother hiding it any longer. He spoke very passionately, and she couldn't resist it. A cleanser: what could that mean? A janitor? A sanitary engineer? What? What could cleanser mean-
God.

Oh. Her lips parted, as though words were going to make their way out, but-when none did-she shut her stupid mouth and blinked at him in silence. A quiet few moments passed, but they felt excruciatingly long, so finally she decided to speak up.
"So, um." Keeping her voice low, Therese managed to mimic his conspiratorial whisper, minus all the crazy. "...you're a missionary, then?" Oh good Architect, please be a missionary.

[eemp]

Aurelius was very excited to be spreading the good word.

He took her silence as awe. Surely no one man would attempt such an incredible deed by himself! Surely there are others. No, he would say, stoically. I am the only one, he would say. These are dark times, and it's hard to find people you can trust! Yes, you could call me a missionary. My message is short and decisive. My gospel is quick and sharp and beautiful and when you have seen the light you will never go back. So he would say, when not all the joy that bubbled in him came up at once and nudged at the back of his throat like restless locusts just at harvest.

There was a time and a place for everything, knew Aurelius, and though he was very excited about the things he was doing for the Architect here in RedAxe he had other, newer priorities. The Architect wanted his children to be happy, after all! What kind of man would he be if he did not live the life he'd been given to the fullest even before his work was done and he could live without needles in his tongue? Without blood on his hands and the curses of a thousand children digging holes into his skull?! What sort of man indeed.

So he nodded, smiling, and his curls bounced cheerfully.

[Tay]

Therese opted to concentrate on those adorable curls aspect of him, rather than on the nutty part. Again, she bit her lip in a sad attempt to contain a smile and wiggled in her seat. Uh-out of excitement, of course! She could barely contain herself. That was all. He was not totally creeping her out, if that's what you are thinking. Because that is wrong and totally off base and okay maybe he was a leeetle bit, but only a little! To be honest, she had been expecting worse! So this was going better than expected. A missionary wasn't too bad: he was just very enthusiastic about his duties, was all. They were all like that. Right.

"Oh, I see." He was just a little excited over...religion, was all. "That's very interesting." Not at all worrisome. "You seem very dedicated!" Yeah, no shit. "S-so. How long...do you think your duties will keep you in town for?" Her smile faltered in the slightest, and she wondered if it was possible to commit suicide with a mug of cocoa.

[eemp]

Nutty is relative. After all, there could have been substances in the fruitcake or the cocoa that were hallucinogenic, or even equivalent to caffeine, toward the Fel'asar. They weren't human, after all. Lord knows what effects things like drugs could have upon them! So it was very possible that he wasn't this loony all the time. Another factor to consider would be his standard sugar consumption, which is close to nil. Which would explain things. Kind of.

Very dedicated was a good phrase for it. His eyes wandered out the window, and the horrifyingly happy face faded as he sat back, considering. For a few moments, his mouth closed, his eyes slightly lidded, his hands steady: he looked perfectly ordinary, even attractive. He looked back at her when he spoke, having calmed, somewhat. He blinked. "I've no idea, actually." A faint smile accompanied the last word, his posture gentling and his fingertips beginning to tent before him on the table. The expression was a bit hopeful, perhaps even expectant. Are you asking me on a date? I think you are let's date. Yes that would be great let's go right now.

[Tay]

Right! It could have been the caffeine or the sugar or any of the questionable ingredients that are involved. If someone were to make Therese aware of this, she probably would have felt much better about this whole thing. She would take great comfort in the knowledge that there was still only a slim-chance that this man was batshit, but-for now-she was keeping her flickering hope alive by concentrating on the positive aspects of him! For example: he had a wonderful smile (teeth and all, surprisingly!), he seemed to have good manners, and the hair on his head consisted of the cutest little ringlets she had ever seen.

The albino sipped idly at her cocoa as the attention of the man opposite her began to wander off, while slyly eying him through her lashes, even with her head dipped. He had such a handsome profile, so lovely and elegant, she found herself wondering why such a person would even entertain thoughts of spending time with her. Which...she hoped he was doing. Therese couldn't say for sure, but she found that him even sitting there was beyond what she could have dreamed.
"Oh?" Aurelius' answer did not do much to alleviate her anxiety, even as she plowed on. "W-well maybe-er, if you're...staying for a few more days, that is-you could stop in again, and I could show you some-um-less fishy areas." OH GOD. Back to her cocoa again she went, never making a lick of eye-contact. "If you want to, I mean." Yes that.

[eemp]

She would probably like it a little less if she knew where those teeth had been hours earlier. At least he was cleaner, now. His biggest expense was clothing, what with his inability to utilize grooming services involving magic. Blood just got everywhere and it was so hard to clean, ugh. At least you couldn't see it in his hair. It just made it a little sticky, was all. And he'd hate to let his arm rust- - anyway.

His fingers curled around the mug in a manner vaguely reminiscent of some large arachnid, tapping down quiet fingertips one at a time over polished ceramic. Aurelius' face was perfectly genial when he looked back, calm and composed and faintly regal. She spoke, and a smile edged up one corner of his lip, his chin raising a bit and his eyes lidding accordingly- the expression was perhaps a tiny bit smug, but mostly just pleased.

'If you want to' pulled his smile symmetrical, and he stifled a chuckle at her stumbling. You must understand. The only time he really hears people talk in such a frightened tone is when he is standing over them with a sacrificial knife, and his face, in that instance, looks a lot like this one (though perhaps a tad more enthusiastic, and generally a tad more bloodstained).

"That would be lovely." She was asking him out. Excellent! Yes they would have lovely children.

[Tay]

Her first mistake was handing him that damned menu. Her second but most heinous error was sitting down and acting as though his teeth didn't bother her a lick. Which they did, by the way. Seriously. He was adorable, but she was constantly flipping back and forth from being disturbed to being charmed. It was all that nice hair--it cancelled out the teeth. Fucked everything out of order, man.

When Therese's gaze ventured up, she found his expression to be rather unsettling. He looked proud of himself, as though he had just won some prize, or maybe a bet. The thought caused her stomach to sink, and she looked shamefully down at the table, where his cup sat. "W-well..." She had imagined being happier than this. "I close up shop at around six or so. Why don't you stop by then, if that's...good for you?" Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. She tried to ease her anxiety that began to build in her stomach while collecting their mugs. Before she disappeared behind the counter, she offered him the smallest smile. That...wasn't so bad. Mostly.

[eemp]

It is generally problematic for the soul when the devil arrives with flowers. Surely a man with such precocious locks possessed also such heinous teeth by some horrid trick of genetics, a curse instead of a promise. Surely such a noble silhouette was not a monster but a king, the last of a lost civilization, the remnants of something beautiful and broken. Surely by the look on his face he could not help his structure, he meant well and could not articulate it properly, not with those things in his mouth. Surely, surely, surely.

He was finishing off his second cup of cocoa when she spoke, and his arms settled easily around him when he put it down. His head tilted as he rested his jaw on the heel of his hand, and the smile he wore was still smug, still knew a little more than she did. But the man couldn't help the face he was born with! He was no more to blame for these things than for the teeth that tore at the insides of his mouth. She spoke and he nodded, accepting and gentle, as she gathered the empties.

His eyes followed her sidelong to the kitchen, a new smile appearing- a softer one! There, there was the nice sweet boy that couldn't possibly be anything more than a missionary, a traveling prophet exhorting the wicked. When she disappeared so did he, gathering his pack and slipping out the door in eerie silence. He knew his way was right.

He was the bloodied hand of god and his path had led him here to reward him for his labors.

[Tay]

Once he left, it was much easier to imagine him as something charming and wonderful and sweet. Not at all smug, armed with only that shy smile that first attracted her to him. Perhaps that was a tad cruel of her, to make him out to be something he was not, but it was better than dwelling on his creepy demeanor, which would eventually send her running across town before he arrived for their, uh, engagement.
Therese found herself distracted the rest of her workday, distant from her customers and moving in a fog. Her eyes were glazed, and her cheeks were unusually rosy. She was excited, that much was true, but to say that she was excited about her escort in lieu of the mere fact that she even had an escort to speak of would not be entirely true.

When the time came to meet him Therese was waiting behind the counter, her hands busy with paperwork. In all honest she was just trying to appear busy, in the chance that Aurelius opted not to show. Her attire, however, was a little less work-casual than required to appear normal. She had her hair braided, and in place of trousers she had a blue collared dress on with white lace at the hems. It was her only one, really.

[eemp]

The world is never quite so black and white as we wish it were. The confidence she had instilled in him by accepting his face as it was had trodden on the shy curling tendril of his attempts to pass as human, of his need to do so to speak to a pretty girl. If he needn't hide his monstrous tendencies then he wouldn't- to lie is a sin and to live in one is hideous. It was rare enough that Aurelius interacted with anyone for more than a few minutes at a time, much less come back later and spoken to them again. The presence of a pulse in a person he had already spoken to was generally also a factor, though precisely how will be left to the imagination of the gentle reader.

Aurelius had the sense to clean himself up before escorting a lady, at least. There really was something leonine about him, something imposing and distant that drew a very straight line between the Fel'asar in his clever hat and the rest of the town's fishmonging population. He did not shy from eye-contact as he walked, and his soft green eyes missed nothing; gave nothing. His shirt was white and clean, and the cut of his jib was, as they say, flattering. Still, his walk was silent and his gestures bellicose, a tiger purring in fine silks. There was nothing to fear but fear itself, after all, and when one's mother is a monster one learns that fear is no use at all.

When the time came to meet her he was a lean silhouette at the door, one hand at the doorknob and the other raised to still the bell that had so disoriented him before. Despite the utter confidence with which he moved, the expression that curled soft and human on his face was shy, hopeful and pink. His smile rose up crooked and narrow among thick clean ringlets of rich carnelian that did absolutely nothing to lessen the effect of red blood rising in his ears, his cheeks.

Maybe he wasn't such a monster after all.

[Tay]

Therese muddled through the paperwork halfheartedly, her lower lip pulled taut between your average, everday set of square teeth. There was absolutely nothing extraordinary about them, save for who they belonged to. When the door scratched open and the sound of a bell was not there to camouflage it, the albino flinched, turning up at the visitor with vermilion eyes wide.

She couldn't have hoped for anything better than what sauntered over the threshold. He was more confident this evening then he had been earlier that day, but only so much hat he no longer was compelled to cover the barbed wire between his lips. Speaking of lips, the blush that spread across the expanse of his cheeks-and his ears! oh his adorable ears-drew a grin out of hers, as Therese rounded the counter to approach him. Now it was time to say something that would really set the mood for the evening- "Hii." Aw jeez. "You look lovely." Right that.

[eemp]

There were considerably fewer people now, and a lone gunman never does well in a crowd. We've seen movies. It ends badly. Aurelius knew enough about humans to understand their strength in numbers. Like a plague of rats they just kept coming and he'd nearly died under their squelching mass- - well there were fewer people now, and he was glad of that.

Now, we believe he's already introduced himself- a man of wealth and taste- but the way he swept off his hat and dipped momentarily into a polite and formal bow was rather a nice change. Courtly, as a man with such a noble carriage well should be. The hat was tucked under one arm, his smile curling up asymmetrical again. It's rakish, adolescent air really should have ruined the noble effect but somehow it enhanced it, pushed him past stuffy diplomat and thoroughly into the realm of devious princeling.

"Good evening." Would have been a tiny bit more dignified if he weren't still so pink. It worsened when she complimented him. As you may imagine, a man that spends most of his time lying in wait for witches does not have a great lot of compliments falling upon his little pink ears. The rarity of such an occasion and his surprise at the words coming so easily to her composed approximately fifty percent of why he stuttered so soon after such a smooth greeting, the other half composed entirely of her bright eyes and her blue dress. Rather than vocalizing any kind of returned compliment he just stammered, shut his mouth, and commenced transformation into the most well known member of the nightshade family: the tomato. A series of increasingly embarrassed expressions followed, and eventually he just offered his arm and tried not to pass out.

[Tay]

For the life of her, Therese could not draw her eyes away from that man's schnoz.

The matre'd at the restaurant she suggested to Aurelius had quite the honker: it took precedence over the rest of his facial features, mishapen and horrendously prominent. The bridge was unusually narrow and appeared jagged when the man turned his head, giving the couple a nice profile view. To add insult to injury were the dead slivers he passed as lips, and the uneven, beady black sitting high on his head. They seemed to go separate ways, even when he looked away. Therese nearly flinched when she caught sight of the gray skin which hung limply from his bony fingers, as they curled over the edge of the podium. He certainly was not much to look at, and the albino found herself guilty of wondering why they would put such a horrid figure at the forefront of their restaurant.

Their reasoning quickly became apparent when the man turned them away at the door. The night started innocently enough: Therese and Aurelius-after taking their leave from the bakery-headed straight to this establishment. It was less fishy on this side of town, she had assured him as they neared the place. And she heard the food was great! From afar, the matre'd seemed quite pleased to see them, but as they approached his anchovy lips curled into a scowl. "Excuse me, might I help you with something?"
"Ah, y-yes." The albino, still intimately linked (intimate by her standards) to him by his arm. "We-"
"My apologies, but this establishment is not suited to serve...special needs of your kind."

Therese's lips parted, but she found herself unable to speak the words she sought. This man, this hideous being in fine clothes, was permitted to such a place because of his race, while they were...being turned away? Something was not clicking right in her mind: Aurelius was a handsome man, he was genial enough, and they had approached very lightly. Why in the world would he mistake them for monsters?
The unusually pearly-white skin of her fingers slid along his forearm as crimson eyes watched them. Yes, how in the world could they mistake a creature with razorwire glued in his jaw and a girl with blood-red eyes as anything less than human?

[eemp]

Now, for all his manners, Aurelius was not a human. For all his efforts, he was not born into morality. He had to make it for himself, had to scrape together what he could- treat others as you'd treat yourself when everyone treats you like a monster and see how you grow up. He'd held himself in as they'd walked, despite his latent joy he had compressed his inhumanity into a mere flicker of teeth, the vaguest suggestion of malignancy.

But this man drew out the demon in him. His eyes flashed bright and dangerous and he did not spare his teeth as he spoke. "I'm afraid you've mistaken us for someone else, sir." My parents are chefs and they would eat you spectacularly cooked. I, on the other hand, would eat you very much alive. His unhappy countenance held high and haughty, softening as he looked down at Therese into something almost betrayed. Is this your idea of a joke?

One arm was crooked, Therese's small hand curled around his elbow, and his cold iron hand came to rest over her knuckles, as gentle and humane as his face was not. Of course not, you wouldn't do that. You know better. You've been ostracized for the way you look before. You understand. You wouldn't. As his chin raised back into haughty dignity his expression went flat, the gentle sophistication frozen into something merciless and distant and the witchhunter's eyes boring holes into the maitre'd, silently considering an exception to the diet of his knives.

[Tay]

If that had been a joke, Therese did not think it very funny.

The maitre'd was not much of a looker, but he was allowed to be present in such a place for the virtue that he was human. As much as he lacked in the aesthetics department, nothing about him was fantastical at all. He was normal. Completely and utterly normal.
The man did not dignify Aurelius by speaking: instead, he simply responded by giving a sharp flick of his hand, waving them away from his podium. Therese flinched at the audacity of such a rude gesture, her grip tightening instinctively on Aurelius' elbow. "Perhaps...we ought to just leave, Aur-" Her voice shook and eventually would have broke, if the maitre'd hadn't cut in.

"Yes. Perhaps that is best."

There were other couples gathering in line behind them, and the albino began to feel her throat close up, blocked only by the lump of shame rising in it. Words failed her, and she found herself pulling back, silently encouraging her escort to the door. It wasn't worth it, it just wasn't worth it-

[eemp]

Aurelius' eye was twitching. Just a tiny muscle in his eyelid, hardly noticeable. He was trying his best to think of Therese. Which made him rather angrier, but. Logic. Use it, Orrie. Okay. Look. Nothing- rrgghhfuckingargh- - think of Therese.

So he glared at the maitre'd a moment longer, his sharpening eyes a silent promise. He'd be back. But Therese. But for Therese, he was turning away from the flick of a hand that didn't deserve to remain attached at the wrist. He would not be impolite. He would not be savage on the very first date. He could handle this! He knew from manners. His face softened, looking down at Therese with a concerned, vaguely hurt expression. I'm sorry, honey. He cleared his throat, and he patted her hand very gently, speaking just loud enough for several of the people in line to hear.

"You'd think with all the Fel'asari in the back, they'd let us in the front without any issue."


A ripple of sound spread through the forming line, and after a moment of vibrating consideration, it scattered. Aurelius did not look back at the maitre'd as he walked away with Therese, but it is worth pointing out that the nature of his smile was a little less than saintly. See? He could scheme as well as any human if not better, he was not a monster he was just a person with a mutation-- after all, lying is a human trait.

[Tay]

Therese was not aware that there were Fel'asari in the back, so that was an interesting tidbit of news for her. Peering up at Aurelius as inconspicuously as she could manage as they turned to go, a pang of guilt prodded at her chest. He just wanted a nice meal, was all. He did not mean any harm, did not mean to bring race into it or make a scene but she just attracted trouble wherever she went, didn't she-

"Aurelius." Therese seemed to have been in a daze as they vacated the restaurant with the rest of the dissatisfied potential patrons. "I am...so, so sorry." Little white fingers were slipping away from his arm as she began to draw back, taking a few ungrounded steps away from him. "That was my fault. I should've known that would happen to me, b-but you don't...I mean, I understand..."

Oh gosh. There came the tears. Fuck tears, man. She couldn't believe she was about to cry and she really tried not to but she totally was.
"I-" Those tiny hands came together before her hips, where they began to wring and tangle and press together as an outlet for her anxiety. "I understand if you want to...if you would rather just go home, because I would do the same thing." Therese averted her gaze away from his and sniffled pitifully, careful not to breath too much lest those naughty tears escape. They were salty and heavy and downright gross.

Thankfully, they did serve to distract her from the peculiar smile Aurelius wore, full of devilish satisfaction that only comes with doing something you know was not at all right.

....and what more can I say other than what a wuss.

[eemp]

His hand still rested over hers, cool and reassuring, and his gait was confident. They'd go somewhere else! It wasn't like he'd never been turned away at the door before. Usually it was because he was trying to assassinate someone inside, and usually he just went around to the back and bribed the cooks before getting on with the assassination meal.

Aurelius, after all, had grown up a Fel'asaris. Therese began to step away, she began to apologize, and the satisfied cat-killed-canary smirk washed right off his face. "Therese." Oh shit oh shit oh shit. She was wobbling and now she was doing the sad-face thing and SHITFUCK those were TEARS oh god. This was not looking good for a first date, here.

Her hands wrung before her and his were much longer, curling around her little tangled fingers and resting over her shoulders so gently. "It's okay." Oh lord don't cry. "I get turned outta places all the time." It's not your fault oh my god stop making that face or I may die. "We'll just go somewhere else. Their loss. Okay?" He sounded so confident. And he was! This shit happened all the time. He could usually get inside alright but when he went to order he had to open his mouth and they refused him- which was exactly why he'd behaved the way he did in her bakery. The boy just wanted fruitcake!

[Tay]

There is nothing like a big ol' bag of racism to ruin someone's night. Therese had made peace with the idea that he was going to ditch her at the door once she was denied entrance, but when he began to lead her away she decided that he was just being courteous. He was, after all, a gentleman, and gentlemen do not leave anyone behind with an icky maitre'd, no matter how freakish the person is!
But his insistence that they continue with their evening served to shock her: she could think of no reason why he felt so obliged, but the thought that spending time with her was something that he would actually enjoy doing was not a conclusion she was satisfied with.

Therese felt his fingers enclose hers and glanced up at him, almost suspicious. Her lips parted--in something nothing short of utter disbelief--but she grappled blindly for words. She was often told she could not do something because of the way she looked, but good shit like this never happened. Which was unfortunate, because she was beginning to realize that this was some very, very good shit that was going down.

There was a gloved hand on her shoulder, and the shivering that was a consequence of the threatening onslaught of tears conceded. "Ahm-well. If...if thats what you want to do, I suppose the night is still...young." Oh god did people still say that she hoped they did. "Sure. Why not?" Yes, why not? The worse that could happen was that they get turned away again, but they have already crossed that emotional hurdle.

Before they got a move on again, four white fingers encircled his and squeezed, a gesture that would hopefully stop him in his tracks. "Thank you." You must be a figment of my imagination, but hot darn I'm going to enjoy it.

[eemp]

Mom had always said good manners would pay off. She sniffled, she wobbled, she agreed. His expression was freakishly hopeful, honest and joyous when she stopped shivering. Aside from the teeth it was downright precious. He straightened up, having been slightly bent to speak to her, and- - lost his train of thought. She'd squeezed his fingers all affectionate-like and that... that was not something that happened very often to Aurelius. Children, yes- tiny Fel'asaris thought he was funny looking and they liked him but adults, no. Especially not attractive available adults.

So he just smiled, like a doofus, and nodded. Of course! Boy pulled a toucan Sam and followed his nose all the way to a less high-falutin' sort of restaurant that served that good Silvereye cheese, aw yiss. This place let them in, and even better, found them seats immediately. And bread! Oh dear, look at Orrie go. His manners were sublime! He was pouring drinks and making conversation, very interested in her fruitcake recipe and figuring out his mother's by comparison.

For a man with such a monstrous mouth he certainly had a silver tongue. Sure, his face was a little terrifying around the jaw, but the story of ten year old candy-thieving Aurelius and the very unhappy Folk-bulldog deputy had the tables around them tuning in and suppressing their laughter. He was vibrant and funny, gesticulating with his entire skinny being the schematics of being dragged about by the seat of one's pants by possibly the most high-producing slobber factory in the world when he froze, mid-gesture, with his head cocked and his face going blank.

He was listening to something.

[Locke (DP)]

Foxy young wenches were always eluding Ilvyn, much to the boy’s dismay, for that night he thought he had finally found a temporary lover only to have her slip from his grasps. Memories of chasing her to this place were vague, fuzzy, like images from a dream. The lady had been lovely, with perfect pale skin and ink black hair. Vyn longed to hold her in his arms that night, but when those amber eyes caught sight of him approaching she flitted out into the streets and dared him to chase her with nothing more than a playful giggle. The drunken boy followed her, but she moved too quickly for him to keep up. She darted into a restaurant and Ilvyn reluctantly followed her inside.

Stepping through the door was like stepping into an alternate dimension; it was bright, loud, and agitating to his drunken mind. A glance at the whore would surely set his mind straight, put his goals in the right order, but she was nowhere to be seen. Alcohol has hardly been known to cause hallucinations (absinthe aside; Vyn wouldn’t touch that if he knew he was going to be chasing ladies) but he was left to wonder if he had imagined that fine creature into existence. Alternatively the sexy wench could have turned to stardust when she stepped through the threshold into this strange universe called ‘restaurant’.

Ilvyn remembered he was on a hunt for ass and tits even if his impaired mind failed to remember whose. The eyes of the boy were magnetized towards feminine forms, but after realizing the coat rack wouldn’t give him much gratification he moved onto living things only. That nice little woman over there would do. The white female wasn’t nearly as voluptuous or revealing as the target of his earlier chase, but Ilvyn was hardly picky. The lady was adorable and smaller than Vyn, one of those women that made him feel quite manly under the sheets. Forget she was already with someone for as far as Vyn was concerned the man wasn’t even there and had as much substance as a ghost.

“Sister!” Vyn called out to the pale little lady. Failure to react was expected, for she was no sister of his. “I have been looking all over for you! Where have you been?” Ilvyn moved to their table. Whatever conversation they were having was going to be interrupted and this girl’s personal space was about to be sorely invaded. Vyn kneeled at his ‘sister’s’ seat and placed his arm around her shoulder. “You know what daddy said about dating strange men. Not until you’re forty and not a day sooner.”

Vyn found himself pulling her closer to him as he realized how nice she smelled. The woman didn’t smell of flowers or perfume, but strangely, of food. How could this get any better? The boy had fucked plenty of whores pretending to be roses but never a girl that smelled of muffins. Vyn loved food and women! It was a perfect combination. The boy wanted to eat her (although in a much more innocent way than Aurelius) she smelled so wonderful.

“Mmmm, I don’t approve at all, dear sister,” Vyn muttered, pretending to look her date over with interest. “Much too old. Sure, he looks cute now, but give him a couple of years and the next thing you know you’re climbing into bed with a sack of sagging old balls.”

Vyn flashed the man an apologetic smile. All is fair in love and war.

“We wouldn’t want that, would we?”

[Tay]

Seconds before there was an unfamiliar arm being draped around her shoulders, Therese had been sure that there was absolutely nothing that could spoil their night.

Not racism, evidently, and not her crippling tendency to appear awkward in all social situations involving two or more mammals. He was making up for all of her misgivings, going above and beyond the call of duty and being more than she ever deserved. He filled the silence so that she did not make a fool of herself by struggling for words, and he was interesting. Oh gosh, he was so funny-

And then there was silence.

Therese hastily bowed her head, rubbing at her two front-teeth with the pad of her pointer finger vigorously. There must be something stuck there. He was disgusted by her, he was absolutely horrified at her eating habits. There must be some reason as to why he stopped speaking, why he stopped saying such interesting and funny things. Has she mentioned that yet? Has she mentioned that Aurelius' persona is a carefully crafted balance of humor and intellect that she could only dream of reaching? Because it is. Just so you know.

But...but there wasn't something in her teeth, as it turned out. There was, however, a horned man suddenly at her eye-level. Touching her. Putting an arm around her. Touching her.
Hopefully there was a reasonable explanation for such an occurence. Aurelius was playing a joke on her, perhaps, or maybe even this man was alone in his trick, trying to make a fool of her.

"Ah-" Sister? What in the world was he on about? She blinked down at the man with wide vermilion eyes, before becoming momentarily distracted by the sheer girth of the horn hovering at her eye-length. It was...pink. And look! There was another one! And...and...oh god wait why were there horns by her face that seemed unsafe.
"Sir-" Therese's head jerked back in Aurelius' direction, but she nothing comforting to say, other than: "I-I...don't really, um-" And that wasn't very eloquent at all.

In one last ditch effort to dissuade this man from touching her, she peeped.
That was pretty much it.

[eemp]

Aurelius' nose wiggled, the twitching highly animalistic, and his eyes shifted toward the Fel'asar stumbling through the restaurant. His hands floated down to the table, long fingers tenting patiently as his bright round eyes followed Ilvyn's journey across the deck of a storm-sieged ship, passage for one. His eyebow quirked, and shortly the other followed. Oh dear. The thin man was watching very closely, his brows knitting as Vyn assaulted the coat rack. Oohh dear.

Those expressive eyebrows popped back up again when Vyn spoke. To. Therese. It was at the point of kneeling- of touching that the eyebrows went down like lead balloons, compressing his eyes into narrow vicious slits. However, his eyes closed, his brows going back up into knit-mode and his expression contorting into something like disgust when Vyn looked at him and spoke. Dude. You have terrible breath. He must have been sweating pure alcohol! Also, he was saying some things that Aurelius would never ever say to a lady lest his mom hear all the way from Silvereye, come down here, and beat the life out of him.

His mom was a fierce little lady. Judging by Therese's response, his date was not. So. Aurelius did the only thing he really could do, in his current position. He leaned forward (even if the stench was overpowering), and he spoke, gently, to Ilvyn.

"There are many things we do not want, right now." Nodding, agreeing with the smaller man, and so non-combative in his speech. His fingers still tented before him, tapping quietly on the backs of his hands. "Have you had a few drinks tonight, sir?" After all, it wouldn't do to cause a scene.

[Locke (DP)]

The pretty little creature seemed rather shy and that gave Ilvyn reason to pull her closer. Ilvyn was gentle with her for she felt small and delicate in his grasps. The girl’s shy and awkward behavior made Vyn want her more. Ilvyn would have probably kissed her right then if she hadn’t suddenly jerked her head away from him. Fortunately for her, Vyn forgot what he was about to do.

“Why so nervous, sister? Am I embarrassing you in front of your guy friend?” Ilvyn inquired. “Don’t worry, he’s a man, he won’t cry. Have I mentioned how adorable you are when you talk like that, sweetling?”

Ilvyn’s attention returned to guy as he dared to pull close to the boy. That was the moment when Vyn got a glimpse of his teeth. Vyn’s free arm darted to his own mouth and he stared wide-eyed. The man was wasting his breath because Ilvyn was now fixated on his teeth and was deaf to voices. The boy knew he had lengthy fangs himself but he had never bothered looking in a mirror long enough to gaze at his own mouth. Ilvyn nearly turned to the girl to inquire the state of his own teeth, but he was starting to believe ignorance was bliss.

“By the gods! Have you seen your teeth? You look like a shark!” Ilvyn said, all too loud. Then he laughed. “Sister, you better not let him put his mouth on you. He’ll leave bite marks that make seal pups cry.”

But you don’t have to worry about my fangs, darling. I’ll be gentle.

“Drinks? Whoah, nothing gets past you, does it?”

Now go away so I can woo this woman.

“No offense sir, but my sister is forbidden from dating sharks,” With that Ilvyn would attempt to pull the lady to her feet and lead her away. “As you can see she has rather sensitive skin. May I suggest a file for those teeth? They look very…dangerous.”

Ilvyn forgot to mention that between having pointed teeth and having horns and a tail the teeth seemed less threatening. This wasn’t a time to self-criticize. The boy was positive he was about to get laid and no one could tell him otherwise. What could this man do to him? Call him a freak? Call him a goat? Bite him? Oh, Vyn was trembling!

As if.

[Tay]

Therese was confused! This man that smelled something awful was calling her his sister while trying to...do...something to her. Something naughty, but she wasn't experienced at discerning such things. Or at the very least, he wanted to engage in inappropriate conduct with her of some sort. And...and if she was his sister...didn't that make it incest? Uregh. She has had encounters with drunken men before, but never so up close and personal, and never have they revealed secret fetishes like this! It was making her very uncomfortable to know that she was somehow involved in a man's ridiculous delusion wherein he seduced his sister.

Sick.

The albino hadn't been putting up a strong front until that point, wringing her hands in her lap and attempting to squirm away as politely as she could manage in her seat. He was just drunk, was all, and the poor soul didn't even know he was making a fool of himself. Unfortunately, Therese was acutely aware that he was making fools out of them, and it drew a vibrant shade of red to her cheeks.
But then he mentioned Aurelius' teeth.

They had already been turned away from one restaurant because of their oddities. She would not have the proprietor of this establishment regret his decision to allow them inside. Furthermore, Aurelius was her date, who had been very kind to her. He had been unbearably patient and sweet that evening, and her concern for his welfare trumped her concern for the pathetic drunk beside her.

"Excuse me, sir-" Therese's arm bent above her head, reaching over to the opposite shoulder where little fingers began to peel away the strange man's hand from her bicep. "You must be mistaken-" But HOLY CRAP she was being tugged out of her seat! Whatever shenanigans this hooligan wanted to engage in did not interest her, and with a jerk she pulled herself out of his grasp, barely keeping herself from falling back into her chair from the force. "I do not think it is my company that you need, but a physician's. A-and besides..."

Smoothing out her dress, she took a step away from her assailant and huffed. "I like his teeth. They're...charming." That wasn't exactly the word I'd use buuuut~