[ closed ]

[amberhearted]

Who: Alex and Hajime, John M, Julien, Lyall
When: December 2-4
What: A hodgepodge of apologies, specs, commiseration and checking in.
Where: Various!
Warnings: None atm.

[ text, private to john, 12/2 late evening ]
Hey I'm back! How are you and Anthony

[ text, private to julien, 12/4 ]
Hey man I got the goggles is the bird house still standing

[ text, private to lyall ]
Hey handy Randy man what's this about wwm 2013? Wwm=werewolf wrestle mania BTW

Seriously though how are you? How's your furniture

[ action, closed to hajime, 12/3, before the earthquake ]
This was the moment of truth.

Okay, so entering Aikawa's wasn't as monumental as that opening liner indicated, but it made Alex a little uncomfortable as he approached the counter. He came at a specific time, hoping to catch Hajime at a dead hour, and was rewarded for his forward thinking. The place was indeed operating on the slow side.

When asked for his order, he instead asked to speak with Hajime at his earliest convenience, and then took a seat in one of the waiting chairs. With a small cooler beneath his seat, he whittled away the time on his phone, knee bouncing restlessly.

Comments

[Texted]

[espigeonage]

Hello to you too! Birds are fine and so am I. [as if he'd say he wasn't fine] You?

[Texted]

[amberhearted]

Peachy as anyone can be in this depressing weather :-) You still interested in trying them out?

[espigeonage]

lol. I kinda like the cold! But the days are way too short.

Absolutely! You gotta time and place?

[amberhearted]

Way too short! I don't see enough sunlight as it is

I'm free all day today I can meet you wherever

[espigeonage]

It's making things inconvenient for me. Definitely like to see if new ninja-me can manage weird headgear without getting stared at lol.

If you come out over to the bird house when it's getting dark, like at 5, that could work. Then if it doesn't work you gotta take me and my bike back.

[amberhearted]

That'd be magic pure and simple. Ninja magic. Ninjules magic

[ i'm sorry for him. ]

Works for me! Need anything heavy dropped off like bird seed or something? I can take the payment after

[espigeonage]

Idk, I kind of prefer Midtwenties Mutant Ninja Julien. Comes with a bandana.

Sure sure! There's a feed store on 26th I've been going to. I've been getting the bulkup mix. And large things of water, I always need those.

[amberhearted]

That is a mouthful

Got it I'll see you then

[ action ]
[ it's approaching five pm when alex rolls up to the house. he assumes julien will recognize his truck so he doesn't bother alerting him about his arrival. hopping out, he pulls down the tailgate and starts unloading the birdie supplies. ]

[espigeonage]

Yeah too bad I'm not a teenager!

[It's getting gloomy out, but it isn't at the point where Julien is blind, yet, he just can't see color very well. Colors still show to human eyes. A small, dusty-looking motorcycle is leaning against a tree with a helmet hanging off the handlebars.

Julien saw Alex's truck and... was mostly but not entirely sure, so he slipped out the back and circled around, keeping a little distance. Julien's stealth is an odd thing. It's not invisibility or camouflage, but it helps that he moves noiselessly and smoothly, and that he's dressed in the unstylish kind of clothes he wears when getting dirty is inevitable. He's just... unremarkable, very hard to notice when someone isn't looking for him.

But, soon enough he does see that this is Alex, and breaks the "spell" by speaking.]

Oh, nice. Thanks! I keep thinking I'll borrow Strider or his truck to get bulk stuff, but somehow I never do.

[ text ]

[allinvein]

Hey, welcome back! How was your trip?

The move is finally over, so you'll have to swing by to visit sometime, yeah?

[This half of the text comes a while later, like John hadn't even wanted to bring it up. Still, if there's anyone who can understand what he's going through right now...]

It happened by the way.

[ text ]

[amberhearted]

It was good! Yeah I'll drop by for sure

[ then what. ]

What happened

[ LOT OF BAD SCENARIOS HERE, gotta get the real picture before hitting maximum worry levels. might not even be bad (it's totally bad) (please don't let it be bad). ]

[allinvein]

[Well, this reply comes very quickly, like John's been desperate to talk to someone about this.]

I'm like you now. And, Christ, Alex, I'm so fucking hungry. All the damn time.

It doesn't matter what I eat or how much I eat. It doesn't go away.

[amberhearted]

[ alex stares at his iphone's screen in dismay. the sad thing is john doesn't even know how accurate he is-- "i'm like you now."

"it doesn't go away." ]

What did you eat? You tried blood? I'll drop by now is that okay with you

[allinvein]

I haven't tried blood yet. I'm afraid of what might happen if I do, but nothing else works.

But yeah. Come on over.

[He almost adds, "And maybe you should bring some of your blood over, but he deletes it at the last moment. John tacks on his address instead.]

Oh, and I... Haven't actually told Anthony yet, but I'm pretty sure something he knows somethibg is wrong with me.

[amberhearted]

[ GOOD THINKING, JOHN. alex was too dismayed by the sudden admission of bloodlust to consider the fact that john and anthony would have a new address, even though john had just mentioned moving... ]

Okay I'm leaving now

[ he is legit throwing on a jacket, throwing a bag of frozen blood into a grocery bag, grabbing his keys and leaving within minutes after sending the text.

he tries to keep a level head on the drive there. he's moderately successful. after all, he's already worried about his own bloodlust -- his own burden on reilanin, who was providing relief from the full effects of that bloodlust -- how he'd manage it in the long-run -- if it even is manageable in the long-run -- and now, another. another vampire who might, might need human blood.

god, he hopes not, though.

he goes through whatever needs to be done to get into the apartment complex with false amiability that drops the moment he meets john in person. ]

Hey. [ his grip tightens on the bag. ] Where's Anthony?

[ 'where's anthony in the apartment' he means, since, well... it's unlikely he'd be outside of it. ]

[allinvein]

[After getting Alex's text, he shakily sinks down onto the couch, burying his face in his hands. It feels good having finally told someone, but that fear still remains--as does the gnawing hunger. He does his best to gather his thoughts as he waits, eventually growing a bit antsy and pacing around the house.

And when the doorbell rings, he can't quite help the relieved smile that tugs at his lips. It doesn't last long though, and it disappears when he sees Alex's serious demeanor.]

He's in his room.

[John jerks his head toward one of the rooms down the hall.]

Thanks for coming.

[He steps aside to let Alex in, eyeing the bag in his hands, just a little suspicious about its contents.]

[amberhearted]

[ stepping inside, he doesn't sugar coat it. ] It's what you think it is.

[ he half-turns to face john and throws his arm around him. The hug is firm, but brief-- if John felt anything like Alex had when he was hungry, then such close proximity to another person would be actively, and worryingly, troubling. It's a gesture of support before he dives into the problem.

Separated, Alex enters the kitchen, removes the pack of blood from the bag and microwaves it on defrost. He grabs a cup in the meantime. ]

[chalicejoker]

Hajime was getting used to having people suddenly ask for him at the restaurant, and the best he'd managed to tell the staff--because most of them were family, and family knew when you were lying--was that he was trying to work a bit more on his freelance photography. Meeting with clients was just a thing that happened very unsuspiciously because of that, right?

He still wasn't sleeping too well thanks to his reaction to having lost control enough to let loose a couple of werewolves, and he looked tired. Still, he was doing better than he'd been when Lyall and Bakura had shown up to pry him out of his apartment. He was also rather surprised to see Alex there. "Oh, hey, haven't seen you in a while...how've things been?"

[amberhearted]

Dramatically terrible, yet possibly profitable if his experiences were transcribed and sold as young adult novels.

But then that probably went for a lot of the reincarnates.

"Things've been going," he said, smiling casually at Hajime. "Can we talk in the back?"

[chalicejoker]

Things were 'going?' Hajime knew the feeling. He was, however, quite curious to see what Alex had in mind, and he nodded at that question. "Sure." Hajime motioned for Alex to follow him and called out something to the guy behind the counter. They had a quick conversation in Japanese, and then Hajime took Alex back into the breakroom. "What's up?"

[amberhearted]

He followed with the cooler in hand, eyes roaming the restaurant's walls as Hajime spoke with his coworker. This was a completely different perspective, yep. There was the fan he'd latched onto...

At the prompting, Alex momentarily brightened. "I had to leave town for a couple weeks for some family stuff and, well, I come from a ranch and I came back too much steak to eat on my own."

He opened the cooler and held out a steak for Hajime to see. There were some nicely marbled cuts, good for making sukiyaki with.

"So that's for you and yours," he continued, taking out the rest of the steaks-- just a few more, enough for a moderately sized family to enjoy for dinner.

so my inbox ate this notification and I am very sorry for the delay

[chalicejoker]

Hajime seemed surprised to see the steaks there, though he certainly seemed appreciative. "Seriously?" He picked one up and looked it over appraisingly, nodding his approval. "Thanks...this stuff looks pretty nice." He didn't seem to have any idea why Alex might have brought the steaks over to him, but he wasn't about to complain about free beef like that.

no worries!

[amberhearted]

"Yeeeaahh..."

His smile turned awkward. THERE WAS AN ULTERIOR MOTIVE AT WORK HERE.

He chewed on the inside of his bottom lip, then took a deep breath and shifted his weight. "So, um, that bat that went alllll crazy out there, like, two months ago?" His flashed Hajime a tight-lipped smile. "That was me. Sorry."

[chalicejoker]

"That was you?!" Hajime groaned. His mom still harped on and on about that "horrible creature" sometimes, and she'd probably spent a solid hour on the phone complaining to Animal Control about the city's bat population. "Well...uh...I'm sorry I tried to kill you with an umbrella." He paused for a moment, remembering that day. "And a chair." Those were the only objects he'd found handy enough to deliver blunt force trauma with, at least.

[amberhearted]

A little laugh trickled out of him despite the topic. "Noooo problem here," he said, relaxing a bit. "Was there, uh, any property damage?"

Alex sure as shit wasn't rolling in the dough, but he couldn't not offer to compensate for any damage he may have caused.