an introverted kind of soul, the earth did open, swallow whole

[unsanguine]

Who: Hal and Shiala
What: In which Mssr. Yorke welcomes his new flatmate as only he can do. Awkwardly.
Where: House 7!
When: Day 89
Notes: The cut text is from "Scared of Girls," because I think I'm funny.



As has been the usual lately, Hal awoke in his precious, precious attic from bizarre and unsettling dreams. He counts himself lucky in that they're of that strange city and not fields of slaughter; there's nothing to be done for it but start the day as usual.

A diurnal schedule. Still funny after fifty years. He performs his usual morning libations (and if you think he doesn't call them exactly that, you haven't been paying attention): shower, attempted shave without a reflection, dominoes--he still lacks dominoes, but he does the same ritual in his mind.

Or he would, if he weren't interrupted about three-quarters of the way through by stirrings on the ground floor of the house picked up and impossible to ignore, not with his ludicrously sensitive hearing. Because in his experience strange noises tend to mean 'horrors from beyond the grave are trying to kill you,' when he pads down the stairs (fully dressed, and buttoned within an inch of his life), he is perhaps understandably wary.

"......" he says, upon espying (yes) the visitor in the living room. "I'll thank you to vacate the premises at once."

No one has any manners anymore, just wandering into ...what appears to be a completely unoccupied (but ludicrously clean) house. Hal despairs of the 21st century.

Comments

[purplishgreen]

The house seems empty, or at least it is so far as she can tell. It's becoming miserably clear t that disks can expect to be here for the foreseeable future, and as... impractical, unpleasant, annoying that fact is, she'll need some permanent place to stay. So many places seem occupied to her, and she's keenly aware of being (so far as she can tell) the only asari.

So the last thing she needs is to invite herself into a household and make herself more of an oddity than she already is.

This one had seemed so likely, clean and apparently unlived in, and it had seemed so likely a place to settle herself, but at the sound of a voice and an inhabitant behind her, she turns. A ripple of biotic energy flows down her arm to a tightly clenched fist, blue and luminous, but as she turns, she forces Herald to relax, to let the discharge fade away.

"My apologies, " she says, her voice low. "I had thought this place uninhabited."

[unsanguine]

Hal, whose hackles are already up, is fully prepared to keep them that way, but the emergence of actual politeness makes that seem a bit...well, overblown, which is just silly. This is his house!

...inasmuch as he ...did exactly what the person now standing in his foyer had done, walked in and found it unoccupied. He doesn't pay rent, nor is he obliged to keep employment of any kind, and while both of those were intrusions he had balked utterly at being forced to adapt to, he does have the grace to feel just a tiny, tiny bit of shame. Three or four molecules of it.

"Now you can see that it isn't," he ...attempts neutrality. "But no harm done."

A beat. "As long as you haven't tracked mud in. I've just shampooed the carpets."

...from anyone else this would be a joke. Hal is entirely serious, however, and not really in any way disguising his headtilt at her appearance. More things in heaven and earth, etc, and he is a centuries old vampire, after all, but honestly. He cannot be asked to cope with green people.

[purplishgreen]

She knows that headtilt. She's seen it before, even before she came to the Cape. Asari aren't green, and she is a definite peculiarity, and she knows it.

Still, she holds her chin high.

She does have the decency to look at the floor behind her, though. "I don't believe I have, but if there's anything, I'll help you clean it up."

It's an honest offer, but it does seem unlikely she'd be welcome to stay, too.

[unsanguine]

To be fair, Hal wouldn't know an asari if it bit him on the face (which hopefully Shiala isn't about to do!), whether she were green or not.

Meanwhile, Hal is busy weighing his options, once he's done scrutinizing the floor. On one hand he's not particularly confident in his ability to be around most people just yet; at home he'd been doing all right, but he responds to changes in routine ...badly. If narrative wishes to wildly understate. On the other, his new acquaintance doesn't trigger his impulses, and that's invaluable.

So there is a beat of deeply uncomfortable silence wherein another person might put out his hand for shaking. After that delightful lapse of time: "That won't be necessary. I don't believe I've introduced myself."

No, Hal, you were too busy being fussy. "Hal Yorke."

[purplishgreen]

"Shiala. A pleasure."

He's... very odd, but so is she, and that's hardly something to hold against someone. Many people are odd. Frankly, she and the entire Zhu's Hope colony are odd. If anything, she's curious, but she can maintain her politeness.

"Nevertheless I am left with the problem of what I am to do for a residence. If this building is not available -- and I apologise again -- I must find another. Do you know of one where I might stay?"

A simple question.

[unsanguine]

Hal's oddness is much like an iceberg; just when a person thinks they can see all of it they realize approximately a million tons more resides below. As far as he can tell though, there's not much odd about Shiala, aside from her ...unique coloring. He has encountered many things, but all the otherworldly creatures he knows are terrestrial in nature.

He maintains his own politeness like a shield a red one anyway. "To be frank, I try to go outside as little as possible. I've no real idea who resides where or in what configuration."

A small trickle of discomfort appears at the back of his mind, attempting with some success to burst forth into a wide-flowing river of guilt. The house has two empty bedrooms, and the only thing stopping him from issuing an invitation lies in all the risks that come with it.

So a ...less simple answer.

[purplishgreen]

Of course, it wouldn't be so simple as all that. Shiala sighs; honestly by this point she's feeling discouraged, because she really is going to need to stay somewhere if she must stay here. She can't float around between temporary places forever.

"That is unfortunate, as I require lodgings."

A thorny problem, and part of her is annoyed enough that she wants to protest, to convince him that she needs to stay somewhere, if there's room surely he must give that to her. She draws a breath, and holds her tongue.

"Why not go outside? Surely you do not stay in this building all day, every day." It sounds... dull, to her.

[unsanguine]

Hal ...falters a little, because sometimes he does indeed leave his attic, but 90% of the time that is when Riley drags him into the sun to be vaporized,* and the other ten involves organizing the library. "I find it difficult to socialize," he employs a bit of euphemism. "Although I suppose I do have a friend who won't stand for solitude entirely."

He sounds as if he is unsure whether he enjoys this or not. It occurs to him that the house he's found was one of the last unoccupied; what if they force him to provide a home? If he has to come up with a reason to argue none of the excuses he generally provides to the human world will suffice.

And maybe Shiala isn't a monster like him, but she's certainly ...different. Different and her blood doesn't sing out to him, both of which could mean--she might survive in his company. "I'd urge you to seek out another place to quarter, but I do have the room. You'd have to understand, I have--I suffer from--I have a condition. One that makes me generally unsuited to living with others, with only special exceptions."

*This is complete slander

[purplishgreen]

That piques her interest, whether or not that's appropriate. What Hal says is vague and unclear, and could mean any number of things, things she's heard of and things she hasn't heard of.

"If it isn't prying to ask, what sort of condition?"

Is it contagious? Is it something that can make the species leap? Is it dangerous and, if so, why? Are there precautions to be taken? She is, first and foremost, a soldier.

[unsanguine]

"It doesn't," Hal begins by deflecting immediately, "inasmuch as I know, apply to persons like yourself."

He's ...not actually sure what that is, but he is too English to inquire directly, the contention aside that he had done exactly that with Magnus. Magnus had been much more unsettling. And glittery!

If his self-preservation instinct were stronger he wouldn't be bothering with this. No other self-respecting vampire would, whether they were trying to stay dry or not. Too many risks, too little gain, but--Hal's self-preservation instinct, for better or worse, is crap. What's the absolute worst that can happen? She flies into a rage and kills him?

So what if she does, really. He's always waiting for that on some level, even when he's not low enough to hope for it.

"We've had many names over the years," he goes on, sounding distracted - he's not, just far away - "For they call a creature like me. At the end of the day I'm merely a monster, nothing more. Since we're speaking English, I am--" a pause, not for effect, but because the times he's announced this aloud are so few and far between. "--a vampire."

[purplishgreen]

Obviously that's supposed to mean something. Obviously, that's supposed to be an explanation in itself -- certainly, no further explanation seems to be forthcoming. Unfortunately, in all her experience with humans -- greater than some, perhaps, but less than many -- the word "vampire" has never come up, and it's not clear from context what Hal means, either.

"Monster," though, she understands very well.

"What," Shiala asks, part curious, part guarded, part exasperated, "is a vampire? I have never heard the term."

She shakes her head. "You will have to forgive me. I am moderately familiar with your species, and have lived among you for two years, but humans are relatively new to the galaxy. I do not know all your medical conditions, if that's what this is."