( open log ) who's that creepin in the shadows

[worstpire]

WHO: Conrad Achenleck and YOU!
WHAT: Scoping out the town, now that it's dark outside.
WHEN: Day 46, nighttime.
WHERE: ERRYWHERE
WARNINGS: Conrad's mouth, will be updated if necessary.

It's been a really, really long day-slash-night-slash-day. Between Hanna's crazy "let's just walk straight into danger" plan, getting attacked by Robocop the Vampire Slayer, waking up in somebody's attic and getting cornered into telling strangers about his condition, Conrad feels like he's going to drop. Not that he can physically feel tired, but mentally, it's a lot to take in at such a nonstop pace. On top of all that, waiting in that unfurnished, dusty attic for the sun to go down without anything to do to occupy himself has been torture.

The sun does go down eventually, though, and as soon as it does, Conrad's headache seems to lessen. He creeps downstairs - not investigating the house too fully, lest he run into his broom-zealous buddy again - and quickly checks out the kitchen and living room - ugh, so not a fan of the basic decor - before heading outside and getting hit with the smell of sea air. Yyyyikes.

He'll be spending the evening like this: hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched up even though he's not cold, wandering the streets and investigating public buildings, maybe talking to himself a little. It distracts from his hunger, anyway; as usual, his sense of smell has amped up - as if he needs help finding food, ugh - but he's saving that last bit of blood until he's found a replacement. Logical action, Conrad.

He's also looking for any sign of a way out, but, well. That's a given.

Comments

[enchangement]

The long and the short of it is thus: River Tam doesn't sleep well. Even on Serenity, even after Miranda, River's mind is so hyperaware that she sleeps in quick bursts, because to do otherwise puts her and everyone else at risk. To be unaware and in the dark means to be a little less prepared than she might be otherwise, and that is something she cannot afford to be.

Not here and not now.

So she watches. She watched Darwin and Jim, instinctively checking the first for loose particles drifting upwards and outwards from the skin with every steady breath (she found none, much to her comfort and joy) and the latter...well. There's good in Jim, valor and other things, but his ego threatens to nearly blot out everything else in it's mindless consumption of reassurance and it makes her want to rouse him from sleep just to shake him a bit for his own good.

River didn't; at least there is that.

There has been a storm brewing at the edge of her consciousness all day, heavy and tasting of overly sharp iodized air - it's a mix of general exhaustion from everyone, concern from a few, personal emotional upheaval (she drags her resistant attention from the eight house with some effort, moving in the opposite direction), forks of green lightning from the treeline earlier and a mental fog not unlike whatever clouded the reality of the woman who thought a flimsy box and a chant would move heaven, earth, tired souls or hardened hearts.

There is a storm on the edge of her consciousness and River needs something to do.

So she sets out in foot to map the lay of the land; to learn the buildings and the stones and the water and everything in between. The woods are best left for daylight, but there's so much else she can manage in moonlight. This is how she comes across Conrad, a will-o-the-wisps if such things were given to poor posture and grumbling monologues - she follows him some fifteen minutes silently, pondering at everything he is and trying to remember the word...drat it all, she just had it on the tip of her tongue.

"Fidgety," she finally manages with some pride, from...essentially directly behind Conrad, so that is bound to be a bit startling isn't it?

[worstpire]

Conrad is usually better at this. At least, that's what he'd like to tell himself. Maybe if he were faster, or stronger, or any of the other things Casimiro had said he wasn't, he might've been able to sense someone behind him much earlier, instead of a split second before being spoken to. He isn't any of those things, though, so he's already starting to jump out of his skin as River speaks -- and then that just makes it worse.

Letting out an undignified squawk, Conrad tries to turn and back up at the same time, and nearly trips over his feet. How he manages to stay upright is a mystery, but he does, and his arms come up protectively while he, wide-eyed, registers who's there. A girl. A little creepy-looking, but a girl.

"Wha -- ! What! What? What the hell?"

[enchangement]

River's expression seems torn between amusement and outright derision. Good lord, Conrad. Not to mention the fact that his form wouldn't protect him from an enthusiastic puppy, much less, well, River. She demonstrates this by poking him in the cheek, suddenly. "Stalking and skulking just to shriek at me?" Conrad really shouldn't take being snuck up upon to heart, she is very good at it.

[worstpire]

Holy -- Conrad swats at her hand and steps back, a reflexive action, but then looks like he regrets it about a second later. Just -- habit. He is still quite confused by her words, though.

"Hello, I think you were the one following me! And I wasn't -- skulking." He was totally skulking. "Why are you following me?"

[enchangement]

"Fidgety skulking," River insists, laughing at his hand swatting but resisting the temptation to poke at him again just to see what it would make him do. "People walk and they think. Heads in clouds, heads on the path. You think in small gaps between one discomfort to the next. She was curious, so she followed."

[tooghoulforschool]

The newbies always go exploring. It's like an unwritten rule. Maybe it's just instinct. It just happens. And Ghoul's got a hunch that this particular newbie isn't going anywhere until after sunset. Call it intuition. Call it an educated guess. There's a lot of weird shit around here. Things that shouldn't exist, but do. It's not that far off.

And it's not stalking if he's sitting stationary by the fountain. He's gotta pass by sometime. The hideous statue's like a beacon or some shit. Everyone ends up here.

So he lights the cigarette in his mouth and waits, all hunched over and nonchalant. But he's watching. That guy just has to show. He can feel it in his bones.

[worstpire]

Ghoul's bones are correct. It doesn't take Conrad long to get to the fountain; maybe it's the smell of cigarette smoke - something familiar - that lures him that way without him realizing it, or maybe it's the natural build of the town. Whatever it is, Conrad is heading that way, and though the smell of smoke is stronger, he's distracted by peering at the statue in the middle of the fountain. What the hell is that? His sculpture senses are tingling.

[tooghoulforschool]

The fuck is he-- oh. Right. The ugly-ass statue. It's pretty distracting or whatever, but not that distracting. Ghoul raises an eyebrow, mumbling around the cigarette, "You transfixed by the stone siren, or what? You know there's real girls around here, right?"

[worstpire]

Snapping out of his mental art criticism, Conrad jumps (and possibly squeaks a little), head whipping around to the source of the -- oh. Conrad stops walking, staying a comfortable distance from Ghoul, and peers at him. It's that guy, the first one. The creepier one.

"H--what, no, I was just... I don't know if admiring is quite the right word." It really isn't. This statue is ugly as hell. "... Looking critically at it? -- What do you want?"

[tooghoulforschool]

"Why's everyone always gotta want somethin' from you? What happened to the art of conversation?" Did he just-- yes, he totally just waggled his eyebrows. Conrad amuses and interests him, and he's been bored for quite some time.

"Just a nice night for a stroll, man. Don't mean nothin' by it."

[facilitated]

It's not exactly a surprise that Laura's still up and wandering around. It's been a long day for her too, there's been far too much to arrange and it's keeping her from falling asleep. She's lingering in the kitchen, perched on the counter with an empty cup in her hands, but when she hears noises she snaps out of the dazed, zoned out mode almost instantly.

"Hey, Jesse?" It's a deliberate decision to stay quiet, because there's a chance it's not him, and after a moment or two she slips down off the counter, gripping the handle of the mug tightly as she starts to creep towards the direction of said noise. Not the most threatening sight in the world, bright fluffy socks and a mug for a weapon, but it'll have to do. "Who's there, huh?"

[worstpire]

Slipping in the front door, Conrad ignores the first call, in case it actually is meant for Jesse. He doesn't want to get in their way, which is why he's missing having his condo all to himself already. No one questioning his habits, no one asking him to go outside, no one to tiptoe around.

As he gets closer to the kitchen, though, Conrad notices the shadow in the door, and the voice makes him jump --

"G--ah! It's me! It's me."

[facilitated]

Laura is literally seconds from bursting into the room with the mug held high - which obviously means she's just going to lurk in the doorway a little more, because when it comes down to it she really isn't very brave. It makes for a massive relief when she hears Conrad, and she laughs as she peeks her head around the doorway, looking around for him.

"Oh man, I was so close to braining you it wasn't even funny." Yeah. Something like that. She grins though, beckons him through to the kitchen anyway and turns to head back to her favoured spot on the counter. "You want something? I'm gonna make some more coffee maybe, or tea or something. You drink that stuff?"

[worstpire]

Oh jesus, like he needs more injuries. He's glad they both avoided that one. Conrad waits a moment, then follows Laura into the kitchen, getting a better look around this time. He can almost smell the coffee, and he misses it.

Frowning, Conrad wrings a hand over the back of his neck, wishing he could sit and have a coffee with her. She seems nice. He can't even pretend, like he does at home; it would be a waste of coffee and effort.

"No, n--uh, not anymore," he mutters regretfully, eyes on the cupboard doors. "Ah... thank you for the offer, though."

[facilitated]

"Not anymore?" It probably shouldn't strike her as something so sad but it does anyway, and for a moment she pauses. What can she say to that though? She doesn't know how it feels, can't really begin to comprehend how different it must be. She just waits until she's back up on the counter to fill the kettle up again, and looks over at him with raised eyebrows.

"So ever since you got all like...vamped out, you can't have regular stuff any more? Not even burgers?" Someone's got to ask the important questions, don't they? Obviously burgers are a pretty big deal to miss out on, and if she's a little sleep deprived then her questions definitely don't have anything to do with that. She frowns for a moment, then just shakes her head. "Kinda sucks, huh."

[gloryisbullshit]

"Issat a sweater vest?"

So you have like...vampire-smell right? So when this guy pops out from a fucking alley, it shouldn't be a surprise. Might be a little rude for him to stroll up and just start tugging at Conrad's clothes. But, hey. You can probably smell the rude on him too. "What are you from, like...the seventies? Whattaya doin? You look sick, buddy, you gonna getcha cold out here. It's cold out here."

[worstpire]

"Hey -- hey, hey, hey!" Conrad pulls on out of that grip, and he definitely smells something. Rudeness-infused blood? "What the -- hey, fuck off! I'm fine, don't touch me!"

[gloryisbullshit]

"Are ya though?" He snickers, shoving his hands in his pockets and getting about a foot away--no more, no less! "Seem a little wound-up t'me. Pale. Truth told, you lookin nasty, boy. You new? I woulda known'f someone so nasty was around long, I'm thinkin."

[worstpire]

Conrad crosses his arms over his chest defensively, staring incredulously at the stranger. "Nasty, says the -- fucking Kool-Aid Man, come on, what? What's your problem, I was just taking a walk!"

[gloryisbullshit]

"I said--" Weren't you listening? Here, he'll get closer to clarify: "Are. You. New?"

[rigging]

It's dark outside, and while Jesse's not normally a night person, he's feeling restless. He wants out of the house, he wants out of this town. He's not high anymore, but he keeps getting that itch for it, and he knows it's bad. His art supplies from the drop have been helping. He's glad for that at least.

Tonight, he walks. For the first time in two days he's felt like being on his own, so he just goes for it. Jesse heads in the direction of the sea. He likes the water. He likes the sand; there's just something familiar about it.

He probably looks like he's dead with how he's laying flat out in the sand looking up at the sky, with the noise of the waves in his ears. Not that he cares. Say hello, vampire boy.

[worstpire]

Conrad's still out here. He isn't cold - he can't get cold, after all - and he wants to use as much of the night as he can to get an idea of this place. He's been up and down the roads around the house, and now he's made it down to the lighthouse, and the beach. He's staying off the sand, though; he's on the damp, grassy bank at the edge, looking down across the dark sand at -- holyshitwhatisthat.

He stops, suddenly, and squints down the beach at the dark form there. It's too far up and thick to be seaweed. Is it a person? Are they hurt? He thinks he can smell blood mixed in with the sea air, but --

"Hey! Are you okay?!"

[rigging]

It startles him a little bit when he hears the voice shouting at him - he wasn't expecting to run into anybody here at this time of night. That was the whole point. Lifting his head and wrinkling his nose at the sand in his hair, Jesse pushes himself up with great effort. He's more tired than he should be, he thinks.

"What? Yeah, m'fine - oh, shit. You're that guy, hey." The dude who thinks he's Ghoul. He grins, with a two fingered salute. Hey there.

[worstpire]

That... wait, what? Now that he's looking up, Conrad can see him better, and that looks like... but. He just -- what? Conrad slips a little down the grassy edge, and as he gets closer, he can smell him a little better. He smells different. Also, walking in sand sucks.

"It's Conrad." He stops a few feet away, once he's sure that his nose isn't lying. "Okay, you -- who the hell are you?"

[rigging]

Jesse's not exactly sure if he's up to doing the whole wacky facetwin shenanigans thing at the moment, so he sort of just grins at Conrad instead and shrugs. "It's a mystery. Hi, Conrad, name's Jesse. Nice t'see you too, how welcoming."