Just an Average Guy

[[ OC rp blog tied to @badvampiresitcom. Ecthelion "Leon" Haigh. Human, 28, . FC is Fra Fee. ]]

[thehumanroommate-blog]

cdwalker:

thehumanroommate:

Heard there was a good busking spot around here. I finished up my set just a little while ago. Was just heading back.

[ Tugged the strap of the flute case slung diagonal over his torso. ]

What about you? Wouldn’t think there’s many doctors around this area.

[ Gonna run a hand through her hair before tugging a cigarette from her pocket and lighting it. Sticking it between teeth. ]

This area is sorta needin’ a certain type o’ doctor.

So that’s where I fill in th’gap. 

... Like a clinic worker?

That’s pretty cool, yeah.

Lord knows hospitals cost people an arm and a leg. Sometimes literally, if they can’t afford things.

I work in a hotel-- front desk, sometimes concierge. Whatever else they need.

[thehumanroommate-blog]

cdwalker:

thehumanroommate:

[ Actual mutants weren’t something that factored into regular human’s world views. Eccentricity and costumes were far more likely in Leon’s world. He’s surprised at the quality of the scales on the gloves, he can only assume. ]

What, like you’re much older, Doc? 

Old enough~

[ Eyebrow waggle right at him. Listen to your elders KID. ] 

So what’s brought you on this side o’ th’tracks then, hm? Certainly not th’sights. 

Heard there was a good busking spot around here. I finished up my set just a little while ago. Was just heading back.

[ Tugged the strap of the flute case slung diagonal over his torso. ]

What about you? Wouldn’t think there’s many doctors around this area.

[thehumanroommate-blog]

cdwalker:

thehumanroommate:

Oh, like for kids? So they don’t get scared? That’s nice.

[ Bit weird, but nice. At least it wasn’t a clown costume. ]

I’m 28. And my name’s Leon. Leon Haigh.

[ Stuck out a hand. Figured it was the most polite thing to do since he’d already kind of copped a feel. ]

[ Wow. Unaware humans were dense. But she’d let it go with a gentle eyeroll. Reach out with a scaly hand to offer a relatively firm handshake. Maybe he’d figure it out eventually. ] 

Young enough. 

Name’s Doc Walker. Y’can call me Charlie, if y’prefer. 

[ Actual mutants weren’t something that factored into regular human’s world views. Eccentricity and costumes were far more likely in Leon’s world. He’s surprised at the quality of the scales on the gloves, he can only assume. ]

What, like you’re much older, Doc? 

[thehumanroommate-blog]

cdwalker:

thehumanroommate:

My family’s from Galway and Cork mostly, though I was born in Portland.

[ He’s a plain ol’ human alright. Lives with a vampire, but he knows nothing about that. It’s… a little weird to be sniffed, but he’s seen weirder things in New Jersey/York. ]

Uh.

Sorry. Are you like, a famous street performer then? I don’t come down this way much. 

Decidedly not. M’actually a doctor. I do play a pretty mean ukulele though~

What’s yer name, kid?

[ Probably wasn’t a kid, but it was her way of being “friendly”, if a little patronizingly. ] 

Oh, like for kids? So they don’t get scared? That’s nice.

[ Bit weird, but nice. At least it wasn’t a clown costume. ]

I’m 28. And my name’s Leon. Leon Haigh.

[ Stuck out a hand. Figured it was the most polite thing to do since he’d already kind of copped a feel. ]

[thehumanroommate-blog]

cdwalker:

thehumanroommate:

I grew up in Maine if that’s what you mean.

Doesn’t sound like you are either, at least originally. You’re from somewhere around London, right? 

Finchley, actually. But close enough. 

Only reason I ask is because most people are pretty aware o’ who I am at this point. 

[ Gonna maybe give some less-than-discrete sniffs here and there. Trying to peg what HE is. Human? Seemed like it. ] 

My family’s from Galway and Cork mostly, though I was born in Portland.

[ He’s a plain ol’ human alright. Lives with a vampire, but he knows nothing about that. It’s... a little weird to be sniffed, but he’s seen weirder things in New Jersey/York. ]

Uh.

Sorry. Are you like, a famous street performer then? I don’t come down this way much. 

[thehumanroommate-blog]

cdwalker:

thehumanroommate:

… Sometimes they do performances after?

The point is. Um. Sorry for the butt touch; cool costume?

[ Tries for some friendly if slightly awkward double pistols. ]

[ Snorted. ]

I take it yer not from ‘round here.

I grew up in Maine if that’s what you mean.

Doesn’t sound like you are either, at least originally. You’re from somewhere around London, right? 

[thehumanroommate-blog]

cdwalker:

thehumanroommate replied to your post: “Sorry! I didn’t mean to touch your butt.”

“Well… I thought you might be in a costume for Chinese New Year or something and my friend said you’re supposed to pat the dragons and tigers on the tails, and then you moved. So. Accidental butt touch.”

[ Bit of a dull stare. ]

Bit late for Chinese New Year, ain’t it. 

... Sometimes they do performances after?

The point is. Um. Sorry for the butt touch; cool costume?

[ Tries for some friendly if slightly awkward double pistols. ]

[thehumanroommate-blog]

People barely even look at you when you drain the spit out of a flute onto the ground here.

At first it was an accident but it’s apparently standard practice...

[thehumanroommate-blog]

It took considerable restraint on Leon’s behalf not to laugh at Mauro’s ‘attempt’ at using chopsticks. He’d get him some training ones maybe once they were better acquainted. Trial by fire had been his teacher, in an all-you-can-eat banquet where the fastest chopsticks won you your dinner amongst friends who weren’t inclined to help a struggling newbie when their own stomaches were roaring their demands for the first and only real sustenance of the day.

“Oh. That sucks. Well. At least you still have the memories, right?”

He held out his stir fry, sizzling garlic butter fried strips of chicken steaming still on a bed of vegetable and noodle.

“Want to try some?” He offered a smile along with the food.

[badvampiresitcom-blog]

Mauro almost took him up on that offer, but his nose tickled with the scent of garlic and he stopped. “Actually, uh, I think that has garlic, right? I’ve never reacted well to garlic. A lot of strong spices hate me, actually.” He laughed it off easily enough. He wondered why he kept getting a whiff of something foul. 

[thehumanroommate-blog]

Leon blinked. “You’re Italian, though. Oh my god, that’s gotta be the worst.” Poor Mauro. Leon was pretty sure Italians used garlic in food like most countries used salt. His own attempts at pasta sauce usually involved almost an entire bulb of garlic.

“On the subject of food, I hate oranges. And eggplant. And white chocolate-- it always tastes waxy to me.” He didn’t know if they were going to do that whole one-person-cooks-each-night-of-the-week arrangement, but he mentally reminded himself to double check anything he added if he did end up cooking.

Didn’t want to make anyone sick.

[thehumanroommate-blog]

Leon went straight for it. His chicken stirfry was more shovelled into his mouth than picked up with any grace. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast that morning.

“I can only imagine, heh.” He’d only seen pictures. “Did you take many pictures when you travelled? My mom was always really into scrapbooks.”

He still had ones from every trip, from a collection of grade school excursions and family holidays to his college graduation and an ever-expanding birthday album.

[badvampiresitcom-blog]

Mauro was currently battling chopsticks, trying to use them to twirl the noodles as if that’d help him. Just ended up dropping chicken. SIGH. Time to go back to forks. “Mm? Ah, yeah, I used to have a lot of pictures but I kind of lost them in my old place.” 

[thehumanroommate-blog]

It took considerable restraint on Leon’s behalf not to laugh at Mauro’s ‘attempt’ at using chopsticks. He’d get him some training ones maybe once they were better acquainted. Trial by fire had been his teacher, in an all-you-can-eat banquet where the fastest chopsticks won you your dinner amongst friends who weren’t inclined to help a struggling newbie when their own stomaches were roaring their demands for the first and only real sustenance of the day.

“Oh. That sucks. Well. At least you still have the memories, right?”

He held out his stir fry, sizzling garlic butter fried strips of chicken steaming still on a bed of vegetable and noodle.

“Want to try some?” He offered a smile along with the food.

[badvampiresitcom-blog]

“Yeeeaah, I definitely haven’t done that before. Pfft.” Except he totally had. Don’t look at him. 

[thehumanroommate-blog]

Leon snorted. “Well, you’re more adventurous than I am. For the record, the answer was being eaten by this horrid carved gnome statue my mom had in the yard. Had night terrors about it.”

[badvampiresitcom-blog]

Brows went up at that. He tried not to laugh too much about it and tapped fingers against his lips while smirking. “That’s…somethin’. I probably would’ve been terrified too. Who even likes gnomes, anyway?

[thehumanroommate-blog]

“My mom. She and my dad are obsessed. Gnomes, fairies, dragons, and especially elves.” Sure as hell wasn't revealing his embarrassing first name. Damn Tolkien nerds. Leon was glad he didn't have any siblings for his parents to inflict terrible names onto as well.

“I got grounded for a month in sixth geade because I rolled the gnome into the creek behind our house and buried it in mud.”

[thehumanroommate-blog]

“Small talk is hard. There’s only so many shallow things you can ask about. I had one girl open up a conversation with the question ‘what was your number one childhood fear?’ at a party once.”

“Dunno if I could try something like that too often, though. Bit worrying some of the answers you might get.”

[badvampiresitcom-blog]

“Yeeeaah, I definitely haven’t done that before. Pfft.” Except he totally had. Don’t look at him. 

[thehumanroommate-blog]

Leon snorted. “Well, you're more adventurous than I am. For the record, the answer was being eaten by this horrid carved gnome statue my mom had in the yard. Had night terrors about it.”

[thehumanroommate-blog]

“Family, mostly. Dad moved here when he was young, and mom’s second generation Irish.” It had been lovely back there. Had felt a sense of ‘homecoming’, almost. And the school had been much better than the college he’d planned to go to in the States.

“Your family is from Italy, right? That’s pretty cool. Have you been there much?” It was great to have a roommate who’d travelled a lot. He was sure there’d be plenty of stories.

Leon trotted to the door when the delivery guy knocked, folding out a few crumpled notes from his pocket, including tip.

Set everything up on the coffee table while he awaited Mauro’s answer.

[badvampiresitcom-blog]

Ah. Parents. Family. Hadn’t known that for a long time. Any family he did have, would never know him. Far as they were concerned, he was for the history books. Oh, well.  Couldn’t be helped, right?

He smiled and joined him at the table. “Yeah. I’ve been to Italy a few times. Rome’s quite the sight.” Mauro contemplated using chopsticks or not. He never really got the hang of them. But damn if he’d try every time.

[thehumanroommate-blog]

Leon went straight for it. His chicken stirfry was more shovelled into his mouth than picked up with any grace. He hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning.

“I can only imagine, heh.” He'd only seen pictures. “Did you take many pictures when you travelled? My mom was always really into scrapbooks.”

He still had ones from every trip, from a collection of grade school excursions and family holidays to his college graduation and an ever-expanding birthday album.

[thehumanroommate-blog]

“Customer service, in the Hilton. Mostly it’s listening to customers complain. I also do concierge work when it’s busy. Booking tables for customers at restaurants, recommending them things to do around the city. That sort of thing.” Mostly it was dealing with complaints, though. And wearing a suit. It was compulsory.

“If we ever have people over, I bet you’ll be popular. Everyone loves having a bartender around. Of course, it probably sucks to have people asking you to make them drinks when you’re not at work.”

[badvampiresitcom-blog]

“Sounds like we both have our hands full when working.” He gave a small laugh before shrugging at the last thing. “Eh, I probably wouldn’t mind doing it for a small party of people. It’d keep me busy. I’m not the, uh, greatest at small talk. Unfortunately.” Usually he just listened to the customers that came in. Some had some stories to tell. Cheaper than a therapist, right?

[thehumanroommate-blog]

“Small talk is hard. There’s only so many shallow things you can ask about. I had one girl open up a conversation with the question ‘what was your number one childhood fear?’ at a party once.”

“Dunno if I could try something like that too often, though. Bit worrying some of the answers you might get.”

[thehumanroommate-blog]

At the mention of an ‘ex’, Leon winced. He hoped there wouldn’t be too much baggage there. Figured Mauro might not want to bring up a past relationship with someone new, and he didn’t really want to know if it was a particularly messy break up.

“Travelling would have been good. I’ve only been abroad twice. Both times to Ireland.” Sipped at his cider between words. “My family used to do road trips from Portland to Chicago to visit family, but that’s about it.”

[badvampiresitcom-blog]

There was baggage, but it wasn’t anything too painful. Far as Mauro was concerned. He gingerly took another sip and nodded. “Ireland, huh? I’ve been there a couple times. Pleasant countryside. What brought you over there?”

[thehumanroommate-blog]

“Family, mostly. Dad moved here when he was young, and mom’s second generation Irish.” It had been lovely back there. Had felt a sense of ‘homecoming’, almost. And the school had been much better than the college he’d planned to go to in the States.

“Your family is from Italy, right? That’s pretty cool. Have you been there much?” It was great to have a roommate who’d travelled a lot. He was sure there’d be plenty of stories.

Leon trotted to the door when the delivery guy knocked, folding out a few crumpled notes from his pocket, including tip.

Set everything up on the coffee table while he awaited Mauro’s answer.

[thehumanroommate-blog]

Leon snorted. Just a little heavy on the cheese there, buddy.

He appreciated it, though.

“Yeah. I can’t imagine living in something this big on my own. It’d feel too empty.”

His first place had felt like that. It hadn’t been much more than a loft above an electronics shop, but it still had room for at least one more. Probably why he’d moved out of there when he couldn’t find anyone to co-tenant with him.

“So, you’re working in a bar, right? That sounds fun. Worked there long?”

[badvampiresitcom-blog]

“Yeah. Definitely too big for just one person.” He was glad that hadn’t turned into too much of an awkward pause. At the mention of the bar, he gave a nod. 

“Um, yeah. Haven’t been working there for too long, but it’s a decent place. Interesting characters. What one would expect from a bar, really.” He smirked some. “Oh, what job did you say you had again?”

[thehumanroommate-blog]

“Customer service, in the Hilton. Mostly it’s listening to customers complain. I also do concierge work when it’s busy. Booking tables for customers at restaurants, recommending them things to do around the city. That sort of thing.” Mostly it was dealing with complaints, though. And wearing a suit. It was compulsory.

“If we ever have people over, I bet you’ll be popular. Everyone loves having a bartender around. Of course, it probably sucks to have people asking you to make them drinks when you’re not at work.”

[thehumanroommate-blog]

Leon was used to being on his own, but that was more out of happenstance than desire of solitude. He liked a shared space that felt… lived in. Social.

Of course, people needed different amounts of alone time.

“They’re only about 0.6 standard drinks.” He wasn’t being a bad influence, right? Half the bartenders he’d ever known drank on the job. Not to excess, but. Well. Free drinks could be a work benefit. Right?

He grabbed the ciders and opened them up, passing one to Mauro, before he placed the order.

“They said it would be about twenty minutes,” he announced, settling down on the couch.

“So, Mauro– am I saying that right?– how long have you lived around here?”

[badvampiresitcom-blog]

He sat down with his drink, only taking a small sip for now. “Yeah, that’s right. I’d say, maybe about a couple months? I used to travel around a lot with my ex.” 

Was that the appropriate title to give his sire, really? Though, ‘father’ wasn’t right either. And was also creepy. 

Mauro grimaced thinking about it, though it probably came off as him having bad memories with said ‘ex’. But that wasn’t entirely the case. “So we didn’t stay in one place too long.”

[thehumanroommate-blog]

At the mention of an ‘ex’, Leon winced. He hoped there wouldn’t be too much baggage there. Figured Mauro might not want to bring up a past relationship with someone new, and he didn’t really want to know if it was a particularly messy break up.

“Travelling would have been good. I’ve only been abroad twice. Both times to Ireland.” Sipped at his cider between words. “My family used to do road trips from Portland to Chicago to visit family, but that’s about it.”