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homeless_npc) wrote2024-03-04 02:34 am
homeless_npc) wrote2024-03-04 02:34 am
Entry tags:
Oh bloody hell
Who: Eric, Beryl
When: The third time or so she hangs out at his house after work.
What: Shocking the shit out of an Ubii.
Honestly it was kind of nice to have a friend who visited consistently. He was sure some of the appeal was NOT living in a tiny apartment with a teen cousin all the time but at least some of it was actual connection, right?
That or she was really working on getting exposure therapy to whatever asshole he looked like to her. Could go either way with how that girl failed to emote sometimes. She was a badass behind the bar, had to be to toe up against some of their patrons AND hold out against most the dancers but blank wall once she was out of work. "You have got to be one of the weirder women I've ever met," he snorted, watching her shamelessly inhale kung pao chicken and easily a shifter's worth of lo mein.
"Hmmmm?" she mused, chopsticks pausing briefly as she glanced at him, then poked him with her foot, "and why is that?"
"Woman, I think you move more like a shifter than most shifters I've met. That or you've got, hmmm, not naga, maybe something like fae in your ancestry." Fae got weird but usually didn't have quite the boneless liquid you expected from the rare naga blooded out there.
"...thanks? I think?" she laughed, returning to her meal, "and no, nothing like that. Bog standard human, I just train a lot."
Oh right, she did say something about finding a better gym than the first she found hadn't she? And 'Lani liked to complain about having to stay awake after dawn because Beryl did runs after work. running was so weird as a hobby honestly. Granted, Ubii stayed naturally fit, with a bit higher strength quotient than humans so most dedication exercises baffled him. "Weird." Yup.'
She snorted, arching an eyebrow, "pot, kettle. I mean look at you."
He blinked? "I assure you I look perfectly acceptable!"
Beryl stopped eating again and gave him a slow scan top to bottom, "sure I guess, totally normal to have four horns and silver skin markings but hey. Probably acceptable for ubii is my guess?"
Wait.
Wait.
That scan had been utterly lacking in the weight he was used to, just an evaluation as cool and collected as he assumed a doctor might give if he'd ever seen one professionally. And then the rest of her words took a moment to hit.
And he stopped breathing.
Next thing he knew there was a rather firm and very close to 'not gentle' kick to his midriff. "Breathe boy. I haven't renewed my CPR license and hell if you're built the same enough to have that work anyway."
"So you KICK me?!" the indignation helped? Even if it was a bit breathy? She shrugged and went back to eating as he rubbed his sternum, staring at her.
"Now you're being the weird one, so I guess I'm kettle calling pot here." Just a couple of weirdos sitting on a couch tonight yup. She'd lived through worse though, what was a little awkward between friends? At least she figured they were friends? If he stopped breathing routinely though she was going to have to consider if she was healthy for him.
"You kicked me. People don't kick me!" She'd kicked him! That was so much easier to focus on right now.
She snorted, raising her foot threateningly again to....poke him. "Like you couldn't soak a thump boy, I've seen girls break your table while climbing you without being winded."
Oh, riiiight, the bachlorette party last week. "I got splinters in uncomfortable places," he grumbled, batting at her foot.
She snickered, trying not to snort noodles, "didn't stop you that I saw."
"I'm a professional! Plus feeding heals us so...it all worked out."
"Or they worked themselves out," she snickered again.
"...yeah or that. Tease."
Tease? Was she teasing? Shit. "So I can't dish shit with you without being a tease now?" she growled softly. Long game he had. Right. She sat up properly, closing up her take out containers.
Shit shit shit..."no, no, listen, sorry." Sorry. Fuck. "You...scared me. Sorry, default is....yeah."
"Nope, I'm done."
Yeah, fuck. "Please, five minutes. Give me five minutes." How was he fucking this up so badly all of a sudden?!
She eyed distance to the door, where her shoes were, and his position on the couch rather blatantly before pointing her chopsticks at him, "you have two." While she got her shoes on.
None of his usual tactics for de-escalating a situation applied here! Or rather they all relied on what he was more than actual skill since a little skill went a long way with an ubii sledgehammer behind it! He lost a good minute of the allotted two thinking himself in panic circles. "You see me!" Smooth Eric.
"So fucking what?" she growled.
Yeah, she spent way too much time around shifters didn't she?! "No one...well, okay, very few do that. It's...something we look for."
"...why?" she narrowed her eyes.
Why? Why?! He told her right now she'd run and he'd never, ever see her again. "Because we live a very long time and no one ever...sees us," he admitted quietly, shaking.
Hmmm. She knotted her last lace, tapping her toes down like she would before a run as she eyed him, weighing that. "Explain."
Explain? He barked a harsh laugh, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling, "explain. Yeah. Familiarity doesn't breed immunity with us. The psychic ability is omnipresent. If you know me a day or a century I'll always be a hearts desire. Or physical desire."
Well fuck. "Shitty deal."
He laughed again, still staring upward, "we have our legends. And we as a species mate for life. Not feed, different thing, we can only breed with a mate. It's always someone who sees us. I'm not saying marry me now Beryl, or ever. You're just the first I've ever met who can see my marks or horns and it's terrifying and also utterly exciting and it's making me an idiot."
"I'm not interested." She needed to be very, very clear about that honestly. Up front, obvious, and yeeeaaah.
"I know. And it's nice to have someone...not. It's nice just spending time with someone after work. And you'd....fucking eat me alive if we went that route so yeah let's not."
She...stared at him a minute then snickered, "maybe."
"One hundred percent, you're a force and you're going to be dominant in any relationship you ever decide on in a romantic sense," he snorted, chancing a peek at her. "You're terrifying in a world of terrifying things. And walking snacks. No in between," he grinned.
"Better than being a snack," she finally decided. "Thanks."
"Going to finish your food? You know my fridge may or may not function at best capacity at this age..."
She eyed the couch a long moment then sighed, "if you sit on the floor."
"Banning me from my own couch?" he laughed.
"Extending you an invitation to stretch out in a wider space," she sniffed, hooking one of his legs and pulling until he thumped to the ground. "My couch."
"Yeah, eat me alive," he snickered, flopping sideways onto the floor to poke her shoes. "No shoes on couch!"
"That's why they're dangling off the couch."
"Over my head!"
"You chose to flop left instead of right."
Right, he wasn't going to win this one. "Point." He just had to start unlacing her shoes.
Entirely.
It was revenge for kicking him!
"Dork!"
"Apparently," he grinned.
When: The third time or so she hangs out at his house after work.
What: Shocking the shit out of an Ubii.
Honestly it was kind of nice to have a friend who visited consistently. He was sure some of the appeal was NOT living in a tiny apartment with a teen cousin all the time but at least some of it was actual connection, right?
That or she was really working on getting exposure therapy to whatever asshole he looked like to her. Could go either way with how that girl failed to emote sometimes. She was a badass behind the bar, had to be to toe up against some of their patrons AND hold out against most the dancers but blank wall once she was out of work. "You have got to be one of the weirder women I've ever met," he snorted, watching her shamelessly inhale kung pao chicken and easily a shifter's worth of lo mein.
"Hmmmm?" she mused, chopsticks pausing briefly as she glanced at him, then poked him with her foot, "and why is that?"
"Woman, I think you move more like a shifter than most shifters I've met. That or you've got, hmmm, not naga, maybe something like fae in your ancestry." Fae got weird but usually didn't have quite the boneless liquid you expected from the rare naga blooded out there.
"...thanks? I think?" she laughed, returning to her meal, "and no, nothing like that. Bog standard human, I just train a lot."
Oh right, she did say something about finding a better gym than the first she found hadn't she? And 'Lani liked to complain about having to stay awake after dawn because Beryl did runs after work. running was so weird as a hobby honestly. Granted, Ubii stayed naturally fit, with a bit higher strength quotient than humans so most dedication exercises baffled him. "Weird." Yup.'
She snorted, arching an eyebrow, "pot, kettle. I mean look at you."
He blinked? "I assure you I look perfectly acceptable!"
Beryl stopped eating again and gave him a slow scan top to bottom, "sure I guess, totally normal to have four horns and silver skin markings but hey. Probably acceptable for ubii is my guess?"
Wait.
Wait.
That scan had been utterly lacking in the weight he was used to, just an evaluation as cool and collected as he assumed a doctor might give if he'd ever seen one professionally. And then the rest of her words took a moment to hit.
And he stopped breathing.
Next thing he knew there was a rather firm and very close to 'not gentle' kick to his midriff. "Breathe boy. I haven't renewed my CPR license and hell if you're built the same enough to have that work anyway."
"So you KICK me?!" the indignation helped? Even if it was a bit breathy? She shrugged and went back to eating as he rubbed his sternum, staring at her.
"Now you're being the weird one, so I guess I'm kettle calling pot here." Just a couple of weirdos sitting on a couch tonight yup. She'd lived through worse though, what was a little awkward between friends? At least she figured they were friends? If he stopped breathing routinely though she was going to have to consider if she was healthy for him.
"You kicked me. People don't kick me!" She'd kicked him! That was so much easier to focus on right now.
She snorted, raising her foot threateningly again to....poke him. "Like you couldn't soak a thump boy, I've seen girls break your table while climbing you without being winded."
Oh, riiiight, the bachlorette party last week. "I got splinters in uncomfortable places," he grumbled, batting at her foot.
She snickered, trying not to snort noodles, "didn't stop you that I saw."
"I'm a professional! Plus feeding heals us so...it all worked out."
"Or they worked themselves out," she snickered again.
"...yeah or that. Tease."
Tease? Was she teasing? Shit. "So I can't dish shit with you without being a tease now?" she growled softly. Long game he had. Right. She sat up properly, closing up her take out containers.
Shit shit shit..."no, no, listen, sorry." Sorry. Fuck. "You...scared me. Sorry, default is....yeah."
"Nope, I'm done."
Yeah, fuck. "Please, five minutes. Give me five minutes." How was he fucking this up so badly all of a sudden?!
She eyed distance to the door, where her shoes were, and his position on the couch rather blatantly before pointing her chopsticks at him, "you have two." While she got her shoes on.
None of his usual tactics for de-escalating a situation applied here! Or rather they all relied on what he was more than actual skill since a little skill went a long way with an ubii sledgehammer behind it! He lost a good minute of the allotted two thinking himself in panic circles. "You see me!" Smooth Eric.
"So fucking what?" she growled.
Yeah, she spent way too much time around shifters didn't she?! "No one...well, okay, very few do that. It's...something we look for."
"...why?" she narrowed her eyes.
Why? Why?! He told her right now she'd run and he'd never, ever see her again. "Because we live a very long time and no one ever...sees us," he admitted quietly, shaking.
Hmmm. She knotted her last lace, tapping her toes down like she would before a run as she eyed him, weighing that. "Explain."
Explain? He barked a harsh laugh, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling, "explain. Yeah. Familiarity doesn't breed immunity with us. The psychic ability is omnipresent. If you know me a day or a century I'll always be a hearts desire. Or physical desire."
Well fuck. "Shitty deal."
He laughed again, still staring upward, "we have our legends. And we as a species mate for life. Not feed, different thing, we can only breed with a mate. It's always someone who sees us. I'm not saying marry me now Beryl, or ever. You're just the first I've ever met who can see my marks or horns and it's terrifying and also utterly exciting and it's making me an idiot."
"I'm not interested." She needed to be very, very clear about that honestly. Up front, obvious, and yeeeaaah.
"I know. And it's nice to have someone...not. It's nice just spending time with someone after work. And you'd....fucking eat me alive if we went that route so yeah let's not."
She...stared at him a minute then snickered, "maybe."
"One hundred percent, you're a force and you're going to be dominant in any relationship you ever decide on in a romantic sense," he snorted, chancing a peek at her. "You're terrifying in a world of terrifying things. And walking snacks. No in between," he grinned.
"Better than being a snack," she finally decided. "Thanks."
"Going to finish your food? You know my fridge may or may not function at best capacity at this age..."
She eyed the couch a long moment then sighed, "if you sit on the floor."
"Banning me from my own couch?" he laughed.
"Extending you an invitation to stretch out in a wider space," she sniffed, hooking one of his legs and pulling until he thumped to the ground. "My couch."
"Yeah, eat me alive," he snickered, flopping sideways onto the floor to poke her shoes. "No shoes on couch!"
"That's why they're dangling off the couch."
"Over my head!"
"You chose to flop left instead of right."
Right, he wasn't going to win this one. "Point." He just had to start unlacing her shoes.
Entirely.
It was revenge for kicking him!
"Dork!"
"Apparently," he grinned.