On Morality and Fine Dining

There are things than cannot be unseen, unsaid, or undone and I am the master of abusing all of them.

[rivahhhh]

Oh well. Lucky me. [The words are a puff of smoke bleeding out of his still-alive lungs. Somehow.] You’d think you wanted my attention. Spending so much time with me lately.

Were you out looking for me? It’s okay. You can admit it.

[danny-valo]

Or maybe you're looking for me. How do I know you haven't been memorizing my whereabouts so as to know where to catch me? Really, Ian. Anything is possible.

[rivahhhh]

[His brows quirk at the sound of the familiar, albeit annoying, voice. Her demeanor is less hostile than it’s come across in the past. But then, he hasn’t opened his mouth to speak yet. So, time will tell.

His mouth forms a shit-eating grin, matching his words.] And look who’s just on time to fix that.

[danny-valo]

Oh, of course. [She resists the urge to roll her eyes right out of their sockets.] Where would either of us be without the daily annoyance hour?

[The answer is of course, much better places.] Buckle up, pal. It might be a while.

[rivahhhh]

[It’s easier to smoke outside than it is to drink in. Everything that’s dead in there generally don’t tend to spend evenings beneath the willows, getting fresh air. Not that the cigarette smoke constitutes fresh. But it’s a break from the papered walls straight out of a bad horror movie. It’s a break from the incessant talking.]

[danny-valo]

[Danny is hesitant to go any closer when she does manage to spot him. He's not exactly a ray of sunshine, and when she'd come outside, she'd been looking for peace more than blood. All the same, he was in her spot. Her turf. Ian could suck it the fuck up for all she cared. She was willing to try being civil.]

So you wanted some quiet too, then?

[elicisms]

Look, I’m not the owner, so I can’t tell you to move your ass, but I feel like this is all you do.

[danny-valo]

Then your feeling is wrong, bub. Clearly I'm also adding cheer and aesthetics to the lobby.

[rivahhhh]

[Ian can’t help but laugh. Mostly because her reaction is so tame in comparison to how she wants to react. But more than that, like everything else he’s done since he sat down, because it’ll annoy her. He could eat cotton candy and not say a word and it would annoy her.] 

Whatever you say, princess.

[danny-valo]

I could kill you and leave your body some place sketchy. No one would ever know it was me.

[And though she's not really threatening to kill him, she would very much like him to know that it's a possibility. It's always a possibility.]

[rivahhhh]

[And he should maybe push down the grin that it’s obvious the girl hates so much. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t even try. And when it comes out, he only leans in closer to her, as if he might be saying something suggestive.] 

That a promise?

[danny-valo]

[Danny reaches out and pushes him away by the face. It's too soon for this.

And she doesn't even know why it effects her as badly as it does. Maybe because he's pretty. Maybe because he's a giant asshole. She doesn't know and she doesn't quite care.]

Can't you leave me alone? I was enjoying the peace.

[rivahhhh]

That what they tell you at vampire camp? Dark and sexy. Didn’t you learn to chop a man in half with your pinky or something useful like that?

[danny-valo]

[Danny rolls her eyes. And though the words lack the bite that they would require, she voices them all the same.]

I'll chop you in half with my fucking pinky.

[rivahhhh]

[When he walks in the door to the lobby, Ian’s intention is to go directly to his room and fall the fuck to sleep and not wake up until the world ends. But when he sees the girl that he drove away just by grinning too much sitting on the couch, he can’t help but plop himself down next to her. The same staple grin as before teetering across his features.] 

So, is it your job to look stupid and brooding around here, or do you just do it for fun?

[danny-valo]

[It takes her less than a second to register the voice and immediately want to sew his mouth shut. But she turns her head to face him all the same. If it weren't for the hours of calm leading up to this moment, she might have walked away. Instead, she now has the patience to manage what little conversation they'll achieve.]

Nope. My job is to sit here looking dark and sexy. A job I think you'll find I do very well.

[danny-valo]

[Danny is sprawled across the lobby couch; relaxed in a kind of way she only seems to be able to afford when alone. The world is more or less dead to her, and that's sort of the way she'd like it to stay. Mondays are lazy days for the woman. Her least favorite by far. There's no better way to spend them then by actively not.]

[rivahhhh]

[He doesn’t say anything to her. Not that he really could if he tried. But the thought of licking her hand or biting down on her skin would be much too easy. In fact, he doesn’t know why she’s bothered to do this in the first place. So he just stares at her. Brows up and eyes looking directly at her. Almost a grin, in itself, since she so badly needed to cover up the one coming from his lips.

He brings the lips up to smirk even more, just so she can feel it beneath her palm.]

[danny-valo]

[She can feel his mouth tilt up beneath her hand, and at this point it's all or nothing. Either she punches him or she leaves. Downing the rest of her martini with her free hand, she pulls away, holds her hands up in surrender, and walks off.]

Fuck this. Fuck it. Fuck you. Fuck this. I'm out.

[rivahhhh]

That’s the spirit. Really get into it. [His grin is almost of the shit-eating variety, seeing as how getting under her skin is much more satisfying than he thought it would be. But then, maybe that’s the alcohol.]

[danny-valo]

[She literally has to cover his mouth with her hand. She does not want to see his grin so badly, it has to physically go away.]

Why can't we ever be civil?

[And it's a serious question, but she doesn't expect a serious answer. Especially since she's asking with his mouth being covered -- by her.]

[rivahhhh]

Oh look, how sweet. She thinks I’m drinking because I’m running from my problems or some shit. [He speaks the words as if there’s an invisible party sitting in one of the chairs between them, rather than directly to her.] Isn’t that funny?

Of course you could out drink me. Your blood is made of bees or, some shit.

[danny-valo]

[Danny blinks, and blinks again. Then she deliberately makes buzzing noises.] Bzzzzzzz.

Yes exactly, I'm made of bees. Bees that are all simultaneously going to exit my being and write a big 'fuck you' in the sky.

[rivahhhh]

Do I? [He lets out a big burst of air, as if he’s trying to process this brand new information she’s handed to him. And he’s not trying to be an asshole. It just comes naturally.] Well shit. I literally had no idea that moderation was a thing with alcohol. Please, tell me more things your seventh grade teacher taught you.

[danny-valo]

I know that it rots your liver. [She says it sweetly, batting her lashes as she does. However the moment said batting stops, a smirk graces her lips. Wide, and feral.]

Like you even have ground. I could out drink you any day. [Said as a fact, of course. But if he's uninformed enough to take it as a challenge, it'd be fun.] That and I can actually face the things that make me want to get drunk.

[rivahhhh]

[As far as being productive goes, Ian is doing extremely well today. That is to say that his goal for the day was to drink as much as possible without actually having to do it socially. And now, at the bar, downing his fourth drink in about twenty minutes, he looks up at the barkeep, waving it to get his attentions.] Can I get another?

[danny-valo]

Whoa there friend, you might need to slow down.

[And it's not like she's been watching him as he sits or anything. She's just been sitting at the other end of the bar, sipping a martini and minding her own damn business. But she's got the drive to bug him when she can. After all, he wasn't exactly pleasant.]

[rivahhhh]

Then write a letter. I’ll make sure it goes straight to the tower of Babel and they can get right on it.

[danny-valo]

I'm going to roll my eyes so hard that they pop out of my head and you can physically hear them land on the floor.

[elicisms]

I know Spanish because my dad told me it would be good for business.

So, er, I dunno what that means.

[danny-valo]

It just means 'I have a big squirrel' or something along those lines. Nothing impressive. I don't know Spanish, because I took French lessons for schooling instead. But it seems to be more handy to know these days than French is.

[elicisms]

Maybe we shouldn’t all speak English then, aye? Maybe we should speak, er, Romanian. Sound better?

[danny-valo]

Romanian doesn't sound bad, but I don't know any. I know a little Czech. Mám velký veverka. That much, to be exact.