Percy couldn’t quite make heads or tails of it. He understood the idea just not the desire. Tilting his head as the other spoke, answering he question he’d just blurted out - it didn’t satisfy his curiosity in the least. “But why?” His voice was small, questioning and almost accusatory in equal measure. “Why…why would any of y’all be botherin’ with animals when humans are right there? I…that doesn’t seem to make much sense to me? Y’all…?” He chuckled, more at himself than the other for his own lack of knowledge on the matter. “You vamps…you…y’all won though? Like…the world’s yours? Why not - why wouldn’t you take what you’d fought for and what you’d earned? You’ll keep a slave but draw the line at blood? Genocide, eradication, rape, pillagin’, murderin’? All that’s fine and dandy but you’ll drink a poor fuckin’ housecat over a person?” It wasn’t the most outlandish thing Perceval had ever heard of but he still found it strange.
Like those women his mama used to have over who only ate plants and veggies, claiming it was for the good of the earth but taking the damn things from poor folks who had nothing else. But who was Percy to judge?
When the vampire took Percy’s hand, he stopped short. When the vampire lifted Percy’s hand towards his mouth, he tensed for the bite. As lips met his knuckles, Percy felt heat rise across his face as he glanced away - his eyes wide, a small gasp on his lips that he was immediately embarrassed of. Only one other man had ever taken his hand and kissed it and even at those memories, the color on his cheeks only deepened. Percy wasn’t used to flirting. He was used to business. Being asked how much he was. If he was ‘clean’. If he’d been ‘used’ that night. People didn’t kiss his hand. People didn’t…
He clenched his eyes, hating himself for the argument that bubbled up. “I…” He sighed to himself, still clutching the folded bills. “I…I didn’t…earn it, though?” Dropping his hands down to his sides, he felt his posture go a little slack. “I…If I didn’t earn it, it feels like…” A handout. “You don’t ‘ave to be nice to me just because you went and scared me. It’s fine. You don’t got anythin’ to apologize for.” Walking alongside the vampire - looking down at the folded up bills, Percy eyed the man’s pocket as they walked.
He wondered if he was sly enough to slip the money back into his pocket without him noticing. Carefully reaching over, he used just a touch of his power. The bird somewhere in his soul crested for the split second it took for the bills to lift from his hand and slip back into the other’s pocket. Immediately turning his head in the other direction, Percy let out a very nonchalant little whistle.
“Is that how you wish for them to see us? Me just fucking the whore?”
Percy answered without missing a beat. “I mean - not that I’d be sayin’ no.” He grinned; glancing back at him with a wink. “Just cause’ I’m cheap don’t mean I don’t have a…how would y’all say it? A…uh, discerning - eye. I ain’t blind, yer hot as hell.” He felt like a schoolboy, blush rising across his cheeks once more as he turned his gaze away. He listened to the other’s voice, to the words and sighed softly to himself. He’d heard it before. How self-image was important and all that jazz but it wasn’t necessarily that he had a poor self-image to begin with.
Percy actually thought he had a rather healthy sense of self-esteem. He didn’t hate himself. He hurt himself at times sure but it was only ever to distract himself from a different, worse pain. That was logical. But he also knew how others saw him. Standing in front of a dozen people and all their thoughts flowed like water. Clear, slipping through the cracks in his hands. Each drop reflecting some hideous opinion. “It’s not about how I see myself. It’s about how others do.” He whispered. “You get told enough times as a little kid that you’ll…” He paused, voice strained; “…that you’ll ‘never amount to a fuckin’ thing’. And…shit, anyone’ll believe that after enough years of it.”
Crossing another street, Percy paused at the sight of the neon signs out front refracting off the street-puddles. “That’s it.” He nodded towards the brightly lit eyesore. “Home sweet home.”
Skye knew that his diet would be hard to understand for most people. Let alone someone who clearly didn’t understand his world. “Well....the why--” he’d paused, swallowing thickly before offering a pained smile. “Without going into too much detail, I hurt the one I loved most once upon a time, and it is because of love that I had to reevaluate my choices in life. Which meant, showing more compassion and-- giving life a chance.” His eyes would crinkle at the sides while he smiled, but he’d turn his head to look away. “The blood of animals and the blood of humans are not the same. Animal blood provides just enough sustenance to survive, but...human and supernatural blood has....other effects. Some not pleasant. It brings out the more animalistic nature in a vampire if you’re not careful. The older you get, the easier it becomes but-- not always.”
“You’ll keep a slave but draw the line at blood?”
Skye would sigh at that. It was hard to explain, and he’d chew on the inside of his cheek for a moment to think. History was complicated when it came to vampires, but just like any other person, they too had thoughts of their own. Some agreed and some did not. “I did not vote on the enslavement of others,” he’d paused. “Nor did I partake on the war. I have a claim of my own, but it wasn’t without thought and I don’t abuse him or hurt him. Everything between us is consensual. When the time comes, I will give him his freedom but-- he’s not exactly cheap,” he’d muttered towards the end with some amusement. “Each vampire has a thought of their own, and trust me-- I am somewhat outcasted amongst councilmen because I do not wish to force myself upon someone else or to cause them pain. However, this is the position I am in and the responsibility given to me. A slave is not a need, but a want-- however blood is a need, and somewhat of a want being what I am. At least with animal blood, I give the chance of life to another. Someone else who may make a difference that I cannot.”
Skye had smiled at the other’s beautifully flushed cheeks, but he would not comment or tease on it. Instead, he’d continue on in front of the other, despite knowing he’d follow along quickly like a duckling to their mother, and he had hoped he would. Percy was pleasant company enough, without having to actually buy the kid out. Not that Skye cared for such things anyway. He’d never even purchased a prostitute that he could remember. “Of course you have,” he assured. “You’ve given me your time and conversation. Something rare, even for me.” His crimson hues would flicker to the corner’s to view behind him without making it obvious that he had. Still, he’d smile though. “I think our meeting simply started out terribly. I am more of a recluse with my books and privacy.” He’d hum. “Though I do like the occasional banter with the villagers. I feel more normal then.” There was a pause, but Skye would keep walking, having noticed what the other had done. Not that it mattered. Skye would be sure that the other got the money he’d given and more.
“I ain’t blind, yer hot as hell.”
Skye had to pause in his steps after hearing the other, a sort of silence before he’d start to laugh. He’d been flattered, sure-- but the other was just too cute for him to simply let it go. The vampire would pause to look at the other, his mouth opening with a smile to say something, but then the words wouldn’t come and he started walking again. He had to give it to the other. He was confident. “Look, I’m not even going to amuse the idea until you get it out of your head what you think you’re worth.” He’d pause again.
“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”
Skye would quote. A favorite if you will. “Even if you are someone so small, you are far greater than you realize. You just need to believe it. You let them see you in such a way, and you shouldn’t. People say they do not care, but that’s not true. That’s not true at all. There’s a power in merely appearance. I have it. My position as a councilman is proof enough.” There was another pause to his steps as the other continued, and he couldn’t help but reach out to grab the other by the upper arm, just to stare at him for a moment. Skye understood. He understood it all too well with his sire. “I learned a long time ago, to mold my own life with my own hands. To break free from something that threatened to keep me down, but... I didn’t give up. At some point I stopped listening and I got angry. I got really fucking angry, and that’s when I decided my fate was my own and no one else’s. It’s hard at first. You let the voices inside of your head get to you, but...at some point you just snap. When will you?” He’d let the other go, eyes flickering over to the neon lights as the other motioned towards them. He’d straighten himself out, swallowing thickly to let crimson hues glance back towards the other with a smile. “The road you walk is a lonely one, and I too have been there, but-- I’ve learned to have patience with myself. It’s hard. Life is hard, but find people-- good people to surround yourself with. This is a lesson I am only learning now... and I’m already over two-thousand years old,” he’d lean forward and wink at that, giving a smirk. “Since you are safe.... is my presence needed still?” Having not forgotten the bills in his pocket, he would surely find a way to give them back.
