FORTUNE FAVORS

[darkest-andy]

Andy raised a brow, unable to determine exactly what his expression meant. It was a smile, but certainly not a happy one, that was easy enough to see.

"---I don't think this is supposed to be a tourist town." Andy countered, head shaking. But maybe if there were more people coming through, then new people wouldn't be such an oddity. She herself wouldn't stand out so much. "I still am an outsider." Andy wondered how much longer that would last. Probably until the vampire actually put some effort into fitting in, to making friends. Not something that came easily to the loner. "You have plans to change things?" The dark haired woman's head tilted, curious. It seemed residents of Lunar Cove didn't particularly like change.

[firstxclassxtrippx]

"Well, then that big flashy hotel and casino is doing no one any favors, now is it? It's like the Shining at night." What started as a droll quip ended in something of a grumble, but Tripp bit it easily back, offering another smile.

"Right. Right. I gather it's quite the opposite. Cut off from the world on purpose. For good reason, I suppose. That said, I'd like to think that if I met a vampire on the outside of Lunar Cove, I would have been delighted. Aren't I delightful?" His fangs came down now, and he gave a low laugh.

"Me too. Trying not to be. I suppose that country club is the right place to start." He hummed, pursing up his lips. "Oh, yes. Change is the future. Time keeps moving...even when it doesn't. Do you have the impression around here folks will 'go' for change?"

[infinitami]

The man's non-answer didn't help all that much, but it didn't not help, either. Amita nodded, astute and knowing, as if it cleared it all up. It did not, but she would not mention that. "It's certainly more than just a few letters can encompass," she agreed, smiling at him. She was, at the very least, grateful for the help. Her fascination with human society and humans had always been one observed from the outside, and while fae and other fell into some of the same categories, she could not always relate with them, either. This, however, she seemed to be able to. Not often before had it been okay or open for two people of the same gender to kiss in public without vilification. It felt nice.

Amita blinked, then, her attention pulling away from the parade and back to the man at the booth. "Bro-chure?" she repeated, tilting her head. "What new developments would those be?"

[firstxclassxtrippx]

"Aha. You should tell that to the corporate types who spent all their cash buying into that 16 Personality nonsense." Tripp smile. He himself was a corporate type, and an obvious one, of course, but he would never budget useless fluff like team-building activities, co-worker quizzes, or pizza parties. No one wanted them anyway. Even he could admit most people wanted raises, PTO, and a boss who shut the fuck up every once in a while. They didn't always get them. Such was life. He hummed.

"Yes. A brochure." He picked up a flashy pamphlet and handed it over. The cover depicted a tall, glistening building of glass and steel, surrounded by stock images of little people having a grand old time in the plaza below. "Do you know Shadow Lake? Lots of...closed-up businesses? Old houses? We're going to build it back up. Apartments. Retail. Entertainment. Everything you could ever want. Right by the ocean too. How many bedrooms do you need?"

[yasinlunar]

Oh, the mayhem Yasin would unleash if he could count cards.

"Do you have an exit strategy?" He asked with curiosity, keeping his voice light and conversational, yet quiet enough not to carry. His neighbor didn't appear as if he would stop playing anytime soon. "In my experience, it's not the wisest to play until the sun comes up." Yasin checked his watch. Had the hands stopped moving? What time was it?

"Not so late enough for another bite of the apple," Yasin agreed, surveying the gains piled up near his elbow. The two of them were middle of the road among the other players; not winners nor losers, but certainly not faring as poorly the fellow at the other end of the table who looked close to tears. "This is my first trip to Puck's Luck," he went on, trying to gauge whether his neighbor was the chatty type or not. Unfortunately for him, Yasin was such a man. "Someone put up their trailer home as a bet earlier tonight, did you hear?"

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Tripp let out a low laugh at that. Strategy was a thing best reserved for boardrooms and romance; gambling was not bound by silliness like planning and gentlemen's agreements. He flashed a lopsided smirk. "What if I said it was lulling my opponents into a false sense of security and then springing the trap at the very last moment?" He hummed. "I'm kidding. If I were going to do that, I wouldn't warn you." Stacking some of his chips into a pile, he gave a soft noise of affirmation. "Where have you played? Vegas? AC? Don't spend your time in the Poconos, do you?" He pushed his stack forward to buy into the next hand.

"Spoken like a true sinner." Tripp let another low chuckle. "Mine as well. Are you staying upstairs?" He used his head to gesture toward the ceiling, to the hotel suites beyond. "And I take it didn't go well? Shame. Land is the only real commodity. I work for a developer here in Lunar Cove. Maybe I should see if I can win it back to knock it down and put something better on its plot."

[unlost]

Who: Tripp @firstxclassxtrippx Where: Pride Parade Tables

Ayza thought she should be rewarded for what a good town citizen she'd turned out to be. Surely it was worth the medal of freedom--or perhaps the key to the city--that she'd seen a man looking as sad and lonely as Tripp--stuck at his company's table, left to witness the joyous parade from a pitiful distance--and generously decided to bring the excitement to him, front in center. The "excitement" in question happened to be a gray storm cloud: floating above his head, pouring rain on him and only him until he was drenched to the bone. Evoking a cheerful, helpful tone, the siren cooed, "There you go. Now the weather matches your mood. And, from the looks of it, your table might actually get some attention now. You're welcome." She gestured at a few gawking, giggling passersby who were staring at the wet, objectively attractive man with obvious interest.

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Tripp hated this stupid fucking magic Halloween village Trick r' Treat Brothers Grimm bullshit town. When the rain cloud appeared over his head, he first moved to try to rescue his laptop, tucking it beneath the table where it was safe from the deluge. His employer's brochures and branded notepads were not so fortunate, drenched completely. "Huh? What even are you...?" He could not keep all the species and their quirks straight, although he had read up on some of the literature at city hall by now. But he was also going to be damned if he was going to let some random superpowered whatever get him down. He tugged his wet shirt up and over his head. "My card. My card. My card." They were dry in his billfold as he started handing them out. "My card." He extended one to Ayza.

[cantfightmoonlight]

"The owner of the local town thrift store. Brand new, might I add. The business, not the merchandise, obviously," They hummed under their breath as they continued to watch the man before them. Their gaze never once strayed from his. "No," They tsked. Their tongue clicked once against the roof of their mouth as they shook their head back and forth. Their finger swayed along with them as if to make it clear just how sure they truly were. "No, I haven't." He may have had a more generic, chiseled face of many a white man, but they were sure. They'd know those eyes of his anywhere. "I know you and you know me," They continued to hum under their breath. "But it will come back to you, eventually. Likely in a dream, Sleeping Beauty. Just give it time."

"I could've and maybe did at one point. I've achieved my fair share of degrees," They continued to tease. "You know you used 'summer' as a verb just then, don't you?" They added. Though as he attempted to joke, Zeina's lips curved up into a genuine smile, the toying and the teasing slipped away just enough for her to tell him, "Well, at least you're a man of taste. Though, ouch. What did Cary Grant ever do to you? And here I thought you might want to resemble a modern-day heartthrob, but I suppose I was wrong," They let out a low whistle as they loved to begin to put the Cartier ring away. It was only when the ring appeared and he seemed to pause, that their eyes quickly darted back to his. For a moment they thought that he might not take it, but when he did, they grew quiet.

Zeina's eyes filled with a look that bordered on melancholic sadness before they cleared their throat and forced a smile, not even realizing that they had momentarily flashed the man before them their fangs as they turned to box it up for them. "Free of charge, which I don't normally do, let's be clear, but... lucky for you, someone already took care of it for you," They said, averting their gaze as they packaged the ring up and slid it across the countertop toward him, not being able to bring themselves to charge him for a ring that was originally his. "Will there be anything else?"

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Tripp smiled at the response, all teeth, not unlike a shark, taking it almost like a pleasant, welcome challenge. "Ah, well, if you called it a curated collection or a luxury consignment shop, people are willing to pay more. No one knows what they actually want, after all. No, they like to be told what they want, and they've been told what they want is what's out of others' reach." He held Zeina's gaze, resolving not to be the one to back down from this game. This explanation, however, seemed to bemuse him. He chuckled. "Ah. Well, I apologize then. You'll have to forgive me. Really. I've heard a lot of talk about memory since getting to Lunar Cove. Maybe there's something in all that dried up lake water." He trailed off. "Or do you mean...is this a sort of fortune teller kind of thing? I'm realizing there's something unique about this place. Seems things sort of defy description." Tripp cleared his throat. "Can I have a hint?"

He smirked. "That's very impressive. Everyone puts so much stock into those little pieces of paper. Of course, they only get you so far. Most things are about who you know, not what," Tripp laughed again. "I sure did. Correctly, mind you." He sniffed, quite literally turning up his nose.

"My family's blue-blooded patriotic New England, would you believe? My relationship with the British is complicated," he hummed teasingly. "And I already do resemble a modern heartthrob. His name is Tripp Babcock." All this joking came drolly, the words of someone who almost seemed to have prepared his quips in advance.

Still, the façade was gone now, and pausing, Tripp craned his neck forward, features soft. When he opened his mouth, there were fangs nestled among the teeth of the shark, gone now. "You too, hm?" Taking the ring into his hands, then, he shifted the box between his fingers. "And I imagine you won't tell me who, right?" After a beat, Tripp lingered, though. "I'm rather new at quite a lot of this. Maybe you'd be willing to...fill me in? Over a drink? Alcohol, of course. I do feel very strongly that I know you, but where we could have...Well."

[yasinlunar]

Location ➠ Puck's Luck Status ➠ Closed to Tripp (@firstxclassxtrippx)

"Fold."

In the very least, Yasin wasn't holding aces and eights!

As the player next to him collected their winnings, the dealer—whom Yasin could not help but notice had scales behind his ear—began to wash the deck again. Riffle, riffle, box, riffle. Yasin always liked the ritual of it, convinced he could trace every card's destination to his ultimate advantage. Here, in Puck's Luck, the sequence was almost hypnotizing...

Wait. Was it hypnotizing?

"How many hands have we gone through?" Yasin asked the neighbor on his right side, who seemed just as engrossed in the array as he was. "I swear, it's only been a minute."

[firstxclassxtrippx]

"Hm? I don't know. I haven't been counting. That's the sort of thing that gets you into trouble in a place like this." Speaking up as though startled from a distant daze, Tripp flashed a smile that was polite, if somewhat tense. His luck had, by now, run out, and he was thus riding the hurt of a series of less than stellar hands.

What he did not know, of course, was that any such fortune he may or may not have once possessed was supernatural. It had since been drained out of him. His tongue rolled over his fangs, which he was practicing descending and ascending, and he let out a sigh. With it, he brought up his watch and made a bit of a face.

But when the vampire smiled again, his teeth were normal, pearly, and decidedly un-pointed. "What's one more hand among friends? We're all having a good time here. It is getting pretty late, though. They say time flies when you're having fun." This came dully, and he shifted through his chips to mark his losses.

[infinitami]

with: Open @lunarcovestarters where: Lunar Cove Pride Parade

The last time Amita had seen this many people crowded into the same area, there'd been a man on a stand with a rope around his neck at the center of it all. It was a celebration in its own way, but certainly not in the way the people around her were celebrating now. She did not know what Pride this festival referred to, but there were people all around with bright colors and flags held high everywhere. Her old teachings, her old way of life, would have told her Pride was something to let go of, that it was only a fleeting feeling that might get in the way of true nirvana-- but now, well, perhaps people just needed something to be proud about. She could understand that, had come to understand that her old views were for a time that had long passed. She was trying to living in the present, something she'd struggled to do every time she'd come down out of her mountains.

Now, while she'd called Appalachia her home for a long two centuries, she was still unused to its people and properties. Lunar Cove was a cozy seaside town last she saw it, and when she'd returned no more than a year ago (though what was one year in a life of over two-thousand more?) it had grown to the sprawling community it was now, big enough for an entire parade of people to march through its streets-- which were now paved with something Amita had learned was called "asphalt".

Curiously, she watched this parade from afar, content to simply observe. Soon enough, though, she leaned to whoever was next to her and asked, "What exactly is this LGBTQ, then? And what is the addition symbol doing at the end of it? What are we adding?"

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Tripp flicked his eyes upward from his space in the shade, giving a low hum in response. While he had intended to spend the day at his desk in a decidedly air-conditioned room, he had somehow found himself manning his employer's sponsor table at the festivities when a colleague dropped out at the list minute for an "emergency." Figures. It was all good will, of course. And he himself was good-looking, disarming. There were much worse people for the task, Tripp reminded himself. Ghouls, all of them.

"Whatever best defines you. Some people can't be encompassed by just one little letter, don't you find? The human experience is so...varied." Dully as it came, that was a true enough answer, he supposed, and he did not often offer untrue answers. Up to now, really, he could not. But he also did not necessarily know what to call a man in his mid-thirties who kissed girls most of the time and boys sometimes when they were angular but who had no real impetus to settle down and raise a family with either, as much as everyone else seemed to want that.

"Are you familiar with the new developments coming to Lunar Cove? If you're looking for a new rental with all the luxury amenities and pristine oceanfront views, you can get in on the ground floor. Metaphorically, of course. High-rises. Would you like a brochure?"

[cantfightmoonlight]

"Oh, do tell. What kind of plans?" Zeina mused, lifting their gaze up from the pile of clothes they were still sitting in to take in the man before them in his clean-cut clothes and tie. But the moment their eyes took him in, they stilled. "You," The recognition settled across their tongue as they blinked over at him like a statue, momentarily frozen in time. A million emotions washed over their paralyzed stature at once. First, there was shock. Then warmth. Memories they shared flooded through their mind. Then confusion as they took in the stranger standing before them, almost completely unrecognizable save for that face and chiseled jawline of the man they once knew. "What on earth happened to you?" Zeina wondered, though this was far from the first time they'd stumbled upon a regenerated fae who seemed to be nothing more than a complete and utter stranger, thanks to the waning of time. "Sorry, where are my manners?" Zeina pulled themselves up to their feet from where they had been sitting in the pile of fallen clothes. "I'm Zeina, and we've met before, though I suppose for you it was in another life," She explained away with a wave of their hand as they moved to the counter in front of the window to unlock the ring he'd had his eye on. "And as for the ring, here you are." They ducked behind the counter to lay it out on a ring mat for him to take a look at. "Though, given this whole getup of yours, I think you might find a Cartier one-" They unlocked the display case with the more exclusive pieces, pulling out two rings as they did. "More to your liking. This trinity ring used to belong to Cary Grant or this," They fished out a ring that used to belong to him in a previous life no less, but they chose to leave that little detail a secret for now. "Might be more your speed?"

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Tripp laughed at that, a hearty noise that radiated warmly from his very core, a manufactured laugh, a movie star laugh. "Oh, this and that. And who may I say is asking?" He raised a jokingly challenging brow, but Zeina's continued reaction seemed to take him by surprise. Tripp narrowed his eyes and cleared his throat, body stiffening. "Me? I know. I know. I have one of those faces. You've seen it on TV." He brought up a hand to gesture around his face, attempting to diffuse the brief, awkward electricity with banter. The success proved varied. "Excuse me? Have we met? You'll have to forgive me. The world's very small, and I've been all over it. I'm also a little...I've been recovering from being ill."

Of course, this would not be the first time he had stumbled into some forgotten fling, most of whom were, in his own defense, not very memorable. Tripp clenched his jaw, then, cocking his head to one side. "Zeina. Did you go to Harvard? Where did you summer?" He took a step backward, nearly knocking into something before regaining his footing. A composed hand came up to smooth back his hair. "Well, they do say Cartier is a jeweler, not a watchmaker. If you're going to wear it, it better not be around your wrist if you've any taste for horology, hm?" He attempted to joke drolly, as strange as this encounter was becoming. But Lunar Cove was excessively strange. He was now part of that strangeness, half-dead and all. "Cary Grant. Hah. Do I look like l have a finished basement with a Marilyn Monroe lamp above the bar?" He laughed again, but when the final ring appeared, Tripp seemed to pause. A hand came out to touch. "You know, i's...understated." Small, he meant. The sort of thing a person would save up for and wear proudly for the mere fact of having successfully done so. An odd thing happened when his fingers made contact, though, a glimmer, a rush, the smell of salt water and gun smoke, a deep, humbling longing. "Ah...Right. This one. Appropriate for everyday. How much?"

[cantfightmoonlight]

@lunarcovestarters

"Don't mind the mess!" The voice echoed through the shop, but no one stood behind the counter of the new thrift store in town. Instead, the ominous and muffled voice seemed to be calling out from somewhere amongst the overflowing racks that bowed beneath decades of fashion. Jewelry glittered from behind locked cabinets, resting in mismatched teacups, only for a towering mountain of gowns, coats, and other garments near the entrance of the shop to topple over to reveal the petite shopkeeper. "If I knew where everything was, it would hardly be a thrift store. Oh! There you are," They beamed as they tossed a feather boa that had landed on top of their head behind them. Zeina may have been buried under a box of their own pile of stuff they had been trying to place on top of an antique cabinet, but now that they had finally wrestled themselves free, they were ready to help one of their first customers. "Now don't tell me. We are shopping for Pride?" They guessed.

[firstxclassxtrippx]

"No. I'm afraid I have plans that day." Thrift stores were not the typical sort of location at which Tripp would dare catch himself dead, but he did know well enough that the designer resale market was an undeniably lucrative one. Watches, purses, these were investment pieces, although he himself would never wear something with a brand name printed across the front. He hummed, running a hand along a hanging shirt. "The company I work for is sponsoring a few things at the parade. But you know how it is, hm? Work, work work." He looked up to offer a smile. "In any case, you have a ring on-display in your window. Large men's one? I was hoping I could take a look at it." Once he formally signed those papers, he would need something to enchant in order to walk outdoors, after all. And he was not about to hand over his Rolex to be bewitched. That would effect future replacement opportunities.

[darkest-andy]

Despite the sales pitch from Meena, Andy still hadn't made themselves go and sign the whatever-it-was just yet, despite the fact the vampire had resigned themselves to the fact it was probably better to be on woman's good side. So the dark haired vampire emerged only once the sun had set, while the town was still alive.

The paper that appeared in front of their face was rather a surprise, pulling Andy up suddenly. The question was accompanied by a reasonably polite smile from the thruster, so Andy didn't immediately swipe it away, though jaw tightened slightly. "A hole in the ground?" Andy squinted at the printed photo, not quite confident in the answer but also not caring enough to try harder.

"Excited? Very little." Andy replied, brow furrowing. "I haven't been here long enough to care." Which was the honest truth. Having only been in Lunar Cove a few months, wasn't invested enough in the place to have an opinion on any construction. They were sure there was plenty of people who would have rather strong opinions one way or another, but Andy wasn't yet one of them.

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Tripp offered a self-satisfied smile—all flashing, shark-like teeth. "That's exactly right. It's a big hole in the ground." And he was absolutely going to make it someone's problem once he logged on for work the next day. Time itself, however, was quickly becoming an oddity now that he existed outside it, he was already learning.

With no need for sleep, hours themselves had come to mean very little. Maybe he would not even wait until daylight to send the email.

"Ah, well...that's all the better then. You have fresh eyes. What is Lunar Cove missing that you hoped to find here?" He hummed, cocking his head to one side, folding up the newspaper and tucking it beneath his arm. "You know, I think the tourist trade could be a lot more booming. Nice location. Unique offerings. Putting it lightly. But it seems everyone just wants to keep everyone out. I'm not afraid of outsiders. Are you?"

[cantfightmoonlight]

"Oh, you would do golf. You've got 'finance manager' written all over ya. That and possibly bein' related to some sort of Kennedy, no offense," She teased, flashing him an amused smile of her own back. "I can see why, and whoa, hey, now. I'm happy to let her come first. I mean ain't she like thirty-five or somethin'?" Technically Sienna was in her nine hundreds, but she had stopped aging at only thirty which she thought should count for something. "Why? Cause I'm just so pretty?" She continued to tease, batting her eyelashes playfully over at him.

"You say that, but I've met plenty of successful businessmen who look like shriveled old thumbs. So, I think those looks of yours might just be a you specific leg up, just sayin'," She mused as she tipped her glass back towards her lips. "Oh wow. I think you might end up runnin' out of town for all that, unless you're plannin' on tearin' down the theaters, parks and schools this place already has, but oh? So what you're sayin' is you want me to explain to you what you want then?" She teased, her eyes dipped playfully down to his lips and then back to him as she flashed him another careless smile.

"Sometimes," She answered, and though her tone might be teasing, her words were genuine. "I don't about that as someone lookin' to claim this specific piece of property sat right along the beachfront. But, I will give it to ya that you've gotta be careful as to what beachfront property you buy given how you are payin' for a view."

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Tripp offered up an airy laugh. "Plenty of people do golf. And I do golf with plenty of finance managers. I suppose that's true. But I understand you've got a golf course right here in Lunar Cove. I take it you don't partake, though?" He gave a brief, joking roll of his eyes. "Hmm. Camelot. By way of Boston, mind you. I'm Connecticut." He flashed an easy grin. "Come now. I have no idea how old every random celebrity is. Maybe she looks like you because she showed a picture of you to her dermatologist and just had to have it." He shrugged his shoulders, the picture of innocence. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. I'm lucky. I'm going to look this way for a long while yet." This was a wry joke for no purpose but his own amusement. "Part of it. But you know that. Lots of pretty people cannot command a room, though."

He gave a light shrug of his shoulders. "That's true too. You should have seen my grandfather. A New England raisin." Tripp wrinkled up his nose in distaste. "But it's good we like the way each other look. That's a strong start." He laughed again. "What? Is this a nursery rhyme? Butcher, baker, candlestick maker. Can there only be one of each? That's capitalism. American thirst. Competition drives innovation. The strong survive." He hummed. "Why don't you? What do you think I want?"

Tripp raised an eyebrow. "Which piece of property? One I might know?"

[akiss-from-a-rose]

"I think they just think they're cool shit here." Aaliyah shrugged. "Yeah, bet the truck broke down somewhere. Or the boat hit an iceberg coming in from France." Or it wasn't even real champagne, but she was sure the owner would chew her ass out for even thinking such a thought. She raised an eyebrow. "Your car got lost in the woods? How the fuck did you do that? Even tourist find this place."

Things started to click the more he talked. This seemed like a baby vamp with discerning tastes who hadn't quite realized that those tastes were now even more discerning. Aaliyah leaned forward. "Heightened like...?" she trailed off, unsheathing her fangs for a moment before sitting back in her chair. "If that's the case, I'm gonna have to give you some bad news. Food's not the problem. You get used to it eventually. And you learn to make the most of additives."

[firstxclassxtrippx]

"And are they? Is this a hotspot for anyone who's anyone in Lunar Cove?" Tripp smirked, but in truth, the locale itself felt more like the sort of place for people with intermediate social media followings to gather for photographs. He hummed. "Potholes. Eh. It'd be almost more exciting if they had to tug it out of the Atlantic." Tripp shrugged his shoulders.

"You'll have to ask the driver. It's foggy out there. Maybe we were going around in circles. That's funny, though. Are tourists especially bad at navigating? I'd hope not. You have a beach. And picturesque shops." He extended a hand around. "I'm staying in a rather nice hotel. I imagine it's very good for the local economy that they find it so well."

Tripp smiled, succeeding in largely looking unfazed at the appearance of her fangs, although there was a brief moment of start he tried to hide in another sip of not very good champagne. "Yes. Like that. I haven't figured out the...teeth maneuver yet. How do you make them go?" His own seemed to extend only of their own accord. "Oh. What kind of additives? To tell you the truth, I find I like it just fine by itself. Maybe too easily, considering. I am running low, though. They don't give much out for free at the hospital. It's not on the menu, is it?"

[cantfightmoonlight]

"I guess I could see the resemblance, what with that award-winning smile of yours," She teased. She flashed him an amused smile of her own, that only faltered once at the mention of the actress she used to look like, before she was humming just as merrily under her breath as she had been before, "Who? Margot Robbie?" She teased. "You know, I have been told that maybe once or twice. I've heard I look like Sienna Cecaelia, though Grace Kelly had been thrown around in there too," She mused. "I'm guessing it's a compliment?"

"Is it? I guess I should join you. You may make a business woman out of me yet," She flashed him a playful look above the rim of the glass. "Oh? Are you planning on redeveloping the Cove then?" She lifted a brow at the thought. "They don't seem like the type to jump at change, no." Especially not the old crones who lived over in Celestial Hills, not that she could truly blame the bloodsuckers.

"Because you seem like you're bad news," She grinned back. More so, she knew he was. Not that she'd dare mutter that little tidbit out loud. "Where, out of curiosity? And I do or will. Just moved to town, actually, and am looking for a property over in Sunny Harbor. Maybe you could help me, Mr. Handsome Realtor?"

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Tripp seemed to take her remark as an invitation to keep flashing it. He grinned broadly before breaking into a laugh. "Oh, I was on our golf club's membership brochure for years. Picture-perfect for all those 'family benefits.' Everyone said I should have done catalogues." He gave a playful roll of his eyes at himself. "Well, maybe Margot Robbie looks like you. Wuthering Heights was...interesting. I saw a screener. But ah! Yes. Yes. That's the one. It is a compliment. You light up the room. Really, I saw you, and I thought, this is a person I'd like to get to know."

He leaned back in his chair. "Lighting up a room and looking famous are important starts to business careers. People pretend they're not, but they are." He hummed with faux innocence. "But, ah....Shadow Lake has a lot of space not meeting its full potential. I'm thinking apartments. Luxury retail. Theatres. Parks. Schools. Downtown was going to spill out eventually. Why not get out in front of it?" Tripp shrugged. "Most people don't know what they want until it's explained to them. Believe me. I understand it. But sometimes things need to change. A lot of the buildings I'm looking at aren't even up to code. Someone'll have a tragedy on their hands." This seemed to be some kind of joke.

"Oh, I'm hurt. Truly." He pretend to clutch his wounded chest. "Is it a crime to be handsome and charming?" Tripp laughed. "Realtors sell. I buy. And between you and me, Sunny Harbor is overvalued. And underprepared for hurricanes. You don't want to buy beachfront unless you're on the very front. A tower will just go up and block your view."

[cantfightmoonlight]

Option B:

"That's a myth," Meena called out from over her shoulder as she overheard the man staring at his reflection in the mirror. "Along with the fact that we can't indulge in garlic bread. I take it you're new to Town and to the whole vampire thing?" She asked with a curious curve of a brow. "Yes. You get used to it over time," She assured him, flashing him her own fangs as if to show that she too was like him, only to just as quickly retract them away. "Oh, I suppose so, though I'm rarely ever here," She admitted. She preferred to work out in privacy, though she did maintain a membership here and at most of the establishments in town out of courtesy. "I was just stopping by as I happened to have business with the owner. I'm Meena, by the way. Meena Surya Raja, resident Mayor and Clan Leader of this humble town."

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Tripp laughed at that, a droll, full-bodied, noise. "A myth. Funny. I've been learning a lot of those are truer around here than you'd expect. It's an interesting town." He cocked his head to one side, slinging the jump rope over one shoulder. "Good to know. Are there any good Italian restaurants in Lunar Cove?" He did not actually partake in garlic bread, in truth; it clung to a person's breath. And one did not need to announce when they arrived in advance. "Brand new. To both, really. A few days on both sides and painfully obvious about it, I fear."

The emergence of her fangs took him by visible surprise, despite his best efforts to quell it. He smiled with completely ordinary teeth. "You know, I haven't quite figured that out yet. They only seem to come down when I'm...thirsty."

He smiled. "Oh...well, then you might be just the person I was going to try and come see. Warwick Babcock. People call me Tripp. I'd shake your hand, but I'm a mess. Forgive me." He gestured down at himself. "I'm actually working on a few development project in-town, and it could be mutually beneficial for our offices to connect. Beyond all that, of course, is...certain new cravings. There's a card of some kind?"

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Closed starter for @darkest-andy Location: A newspaper stand

"We need to hire a better fucking PR person." Tripp, clad in a dark hat and sunglasses despite the sun having set, flipped through the pages of a daily paper he had pulled from a street corner vending box. Lunar Cove was not exactly on the cutting edge of media coverage, as it were, and the vampire had learned by now the town even had its own web channels cut off from the world at large. That made digital coverage challenging, although there did seem to be a pseudo-influencer network.

But his employer had at tried to build some local goodwill by blitzing the outlets that did exist about their upcoming development projects. Residential, entertainment, retail...all the things the fading Shadow Lake seemed to lack.

"Excuse me. Can you tell what this photo is supposed to be?" Included alongside their press release was a small, blurry picture of a construction site elsewhere. It should not have been sent along with the package, unless the clowns in the newsroom had simply found it themselves on Google. Tripp held it up to the first person he saw, managing a smile that was well-practiced to belie his actual mood. "I'm conducting market research. What would make you excited about new construction in Lunar Cove?"

[akiss-from-a-rose]

Option A

It was just business, the meeting that led to Aaliyah sitting at a table at Rose Tinted, pretending to enjoy a meal that was, for the most part, neither needed nore desired. But some people liked appearances, even in this town, and she was paying for the treat of an out of town vendor. Rather than have the mirage rewrite their entire deal with who knew what if she drank a bit of O-, she'd just put up with an extra rare steak and hope they weren't too squeamish.

A deal in place with a handshake over dessert, Aaliyah was finishing off her drink and waiting for the check when she heard the voice next to her. "Don't let the staff hear you say that," she said, smirking. "They'd hate the insult." She motioned towards the glass before taking it and taking a sip. "I mean, it taste fine. Normal." She was so used to the way that things tasted, she had nothing to compare it to. "Is this not what it's supposed to taste like?"

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Tripp gave a low, chuckling laugh at that, shaking his head back and forth. "Why? They step on the grapes themselves out back or something? I'm all for taking pride in your work, but...come now." He hummed, swirling the glass around a moment. "You know, maybe the bottle froze before it even got here. Lunar Cove's a little out of the way, isn't it? The champagne truck could have gotten lost in the woods. Our car nearly did. Someone should write the governor about road signs." Leaning back in his chair, Tripp watched her, cocking his head to one side.

"It's bitter. Dull. Unpleasantly nutty from the oxidization. Like someone cooked with it and poured it back into the bottle." He shrugged his shoulders. "That said...I'm finding a lot of things taste...strange. My palate's a little heightened these days. I'm probably just not used to the tap water, hm?" Vampirism seemed a relatively open fact of life here, but talking about it fragrantly still felt odd, as though he would wake up from the dream he had been having.

[cantfightmoonlight]

"What guy from the television?" She lifted a curious brow over the man before her, making note of how he clearly hadn't recognized her. But maybe that was for the best. As far as she could tell, they both were better off not knowing. "I'll tell you what, Mr. Not Handsome TV Man, how about I finish this one, and then you can order me another, hm?" She snuck an innocent peek his way, figuring the best thing she could do was act as normal as possible and for the blonde, the most normal thing to possible do is to harmless flirt with the 'stranger' before her, because that was what he was and nothing more. A handsome stranger and it would be best if they kept it that way. "Meeting? And what could you possibly be meeting about here of all places?"

"If you insist, I'm not going to say no, if that's what you're asking?" Though the drink tasted just fine to her. It was hardly burnt or sour, though this new version of the man she once knew seemed like a bit of a stiff. The complaining type just for the sake of it and to show off how wealthy he truly was. "I don't know if that's a good idea, Tripp. But lucky for you, I've never had the best track record when it came to good decisions, so what brings you to town, Tripp?"

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Tripp flashed his usual winning smile, the product of years of well-placed dental work, sans the fangs hidden now just behind it. "Oh, I'm sure you know the one. Good-looking. Award-winning. Could do movies if he wanted to. Has anyone ever told you you look like that one actress? Golden Hollywood. Not Grace Kelly, but well...I'm sure she'd eat her heart out." He, in truth, did not know much very much about cinema, but he had at least one uncle who spent all his money on classic cars and Elvis collectibles. Osmosis had not spared Tripp entirely. Still, he was referencing no one in particular in this moment, more a concept or a notion.

"Strong opening negotiation. Sure. Win-win." Tripp hummed. "Real estate. Glass conference rooms are nice, of course. They have their place. But I find that in small towns, you're better off getting to the heart of the matter. People tend to lead with it." They wrapped themselves up in sentiment, in favorite places, and tastes, and smells. They could not bear to part with their property unless the buyer could treasure the same gleaming jewel they did. Jewels got locked up in safe deposit boxes, though, and did no one any good in real life. And most jewels were coated in shit anyway.

"I do," he replied. "And why's that?" He grinned, quirking an eyebrow. "Business. I'm involved in some property development coming to Lunar Cove. Nice name for a place, isn't it? Homey. You live here year-round?"