Nova raised her eyebrows at the span of Alec’s political opinions, thinking that he’d certainly made an effort to get himself acclimated in that respect. This was, she felt, a good thing; after all, being made a legit clan was a significant thing for Tacharan even if she tried not to concern herself with it.
“Eh, maybe they’ll wake up one day and realize their little table is irrelevant.”
She didn’t quite manage to resist the impulse to stick out her tongue at Alec at the mention of Kyle being in the dog house, but she wasn’t in the best position to launch a full on attack and so left it at that. She found she was more disturbed by the fact that she had called him Kyle at some point in the conversation than anything else.
She found she was warming up to Alec’s take on Evans, though, nodding her head and interjecting ‘yeahs’ and ‘see, you get its’ every so often. She had her doubts about the religion thing but Alec could be right on that score too.
She raised her eyebrows as Alec explained the deal with him and Ginnie. She’d heard about that sort of thing, that kind of relentless attraction that left a person with no choice but to follow through. Usually she just wrote it off as a bunch of crap but she actually took Alec a little more seriously than maybe she let on.
“So…do you think it’s like that for everyone? I mean, the ‘inevitable’ thing.” She picked at her sleeve. “I don’t think it’s like that for everyone.”
Certainly not for her. In fact, the ‘love at first sight’ and ‘I could not have done otherwise’ remarks struck her as winner’s arguments of a kind, done with the benefit of hindsight when everything worked out and after the ride off into the sunset was long over. How often did someone have the balls to say something like that when they first met? ‘Hi, nice to meet you. I love you and can do nothing else but run off with you to live in sin.’ Um. No. But they were sure to spew a bunch of nonsense at their wedding. ‘Oooh, I knew it the moment I laid eyes on her, that she was the one!’
Realizing that she had worked herself up to quite a mental rant, she shook her head to clear it.
She pulled a face at ‘relationship stuff’ but figured his question was fair game. “I really was just curious. You know, it’s kind of weird when you think about it; why do we have sex drives anyway? Considering we don’t procreate by those means once we’re turned. What’s the evolutionary purpose?” She pondered her own questions and threw out a few thoughts. “Maybe it’s just part of preserving our state of being before turning. Or it could be about survival; if we killed everyone we fed off of there’d be no humans left, so there’s that sexual element to feeding, and the potential that humans will actually like it. Or maybe it’s a socialization thing.” She shrugged. “There’s a lot we still don’t know, it’s kind of cool I think.”
Realizing she had gone pretty off course, she shrugged absently.
“Anyway Evans is human, totally different situation.” She followed this up, once she realized what she had just said, by banging her head on the ledge a few times. “Grr.” That was about as close to admitting that she was thinking about Evans as anything other than an obnoxious little booger as she was liable to get, and she followed it up with a generous disclaimer. “Anyway, back to –reality-. The fact of the matter is, he’s a recovering addict looking for a warm body and I…” She thought quickly “…have a gratitude thing. Or something. Soon as things get back to normal he’ll be back to chasing blondes and I’ll be back to doing genetic research and making little red pills.” Annoyed with herself, she dropped down to the top of the next window so she wouldn’t be looking at Alec anymore. “So there wasn’t any other point besides curiosity.”
She hung out for a moment longer, then called up. “You coming?”
Adventures in Babysitting 1, part 3 (Attn: Nova)
Dark streets with darker alleyways. Pavement that had seen the industrial wastes of Nachton for years and rarely been washed clean. Diseased rats and pigeons...and people...living off of the leavings of the city. Into this strode three teenagers, all afflicted with the stupidity of their years. Their feelings of superiority, their belief in their immortality, the knowledge that it couldn't happen to them because they were too special.
Enough to make your mouth water, isn't it?
Well, fate was a funny thing. Sometimes it'd deal good hand after good hand, other times it was all crap from beginning to drawn out end. Probability didn't function efficiently on the living...things rarely balanced out.
Shadowing from a distance, Alec and Nova strode past another alleyway full of lived-in refuse. So far the girls hadn't been accosted, but you could almost feel the predators of this part of town sniffing the air, tasting the innocence on the wind. Not all of them would be human here, either...but two Tacharan travelling together had a funny way of pushing back other predators.
Doing the mental mapping, Alec frowned.
Well, I think I know where they are going, but I hope I am wrong. Anyway, as you've noticed, the lack of efficient lighting in this area of town makes it excellent for tailing. Because of the way the light pools, it is easy to avoid it or use it to cast seemingly darker shadows on yourself. Keeping the pole between you and a target renders you invisible in such poor light - they see only the source and the illuminated area, not the form beyond it. The light serves to darken the shadows beyond since the eye is adjusting to the light. But you probably know more of the whys than I do on that one...just another useful trick.
Walking on, Alec watched their quarry. What was the clue he was missing?
Nova
18 years ago
Alec Devereaux
18 years ago
When Nova asked if he thought the historic inevitability of romance was a guarantee for everyone, he laughed.
No...I don't think that's how everyone goes into or through or over or whatever into mutual affection. To be honest, until it happened to me I wasn't even sure I really *believed* in it. I figured it was just an excuse people used to gratify urges of self-fulfillment. Now I'm just looking at it from the other side. I also didn't realize things the first time we laid eyes on each other - I don't think I am socially self-aware enough for things like that, yet. I recognized something was clearly odd within my worldview and things were not behaving according to standard Alec protocols, so to speak, but it wasn't until...oh.
Turning deep red at where he was about to take the conversation, Alec reined himself in. Shaking his head and chuckling, he continued.
Whoa. Almost got dangerous on you there. Sorry. Anyway, it wasn't until a bit into the second time we shared space for a decent span that I'd figured out that i was stuck in the spiral, and by then it was too late. Our rather pleasant collision that I won't be telling you anything about was already written...even though it was not even remotely convenient for either of our lifestyles or long term plans.
Pondering her take on the biology of their species, he was intrigued. It really was highly illogical from that approach...but not when considered short of the final stages of intimacy.
Hm...I think the sex drive remains intact because we still require proximity with our target to create another member of our species. Of course, I don't know enough about the differences between human and our kind's drive to really mount a discussion...just kind of a natural throughout that popped into my head. Probably would be a lot of fun for someone to study.
Nodding at her slip, Alec smiled. Yep. She had the bug, even if she was trying to write it off. Laughing at her "gratitude thing," Alec shook his head at her.
Okay, I'll lay off the Evans deal, then. Yeah...let's go.
Walking back to the alley side of the building, Alec began his descent.
No...I don't think that's how everyone goes into or through or over or whatever into mutual affection. To be honest, until it happened to me I wasn't even sure I really *believed* in it. I figured it was just an excuse people used to gratify urges of self-fulfillment. Now I'm just looking at it from the other side. I also didn't realize things the first time we laid eyes on each other - I don't think I am socially self-aware enough for things like that, yet. I recognized something was clearly odd within my worldview and things were not behaving according to standard Alec protocols, so to speak, but it wasn't until...oh.
Turning deep red at where he was about to take the conversation, Alec reined himself in. Shaking his head and chuckling, he continued.
Whoa. Almost got dangerous on you there. Sorry. Anyway, it wasn't until a bit into the second time we shared space for a decent span that I'd figured out that i was stuck in the spiral, and by then it was too late. Our rather pleasant collision that I won't be telling you anything about was already written...even though it was not even remotely convenient for either of our lifestyles or long term plans.
Pondering her take on the biology of their species, he was intrigued. It really was highly illogical from that approach...but not when considered short of the final stages of intimacy.
Hm...I think the sex drive remains intact because we still require proximity with our target to create another member of our species. Of course, I don't know enough about the differences between human and our kind's drive to really mount a discussion...just kind of a natural throughout that popped into my head. Probably would be a lot of fun for someone to study.
Nodding at her slip, Alec smiled. Yep. She had the bug, even if she was trying to write it off. Laughing at her "gratitude thing," Alec shook his head at her.
Okay, I'll lay off the Evans deal, then. Yeah...let's go.
Walking back to the alley side of the building, Alec began his descent.
Nova
18 years ago
It was something of a relief to Nova when Alec clarified his stance. He really did have a good head on his shoulders and it was comforting to know that being in a relationship hadn’t made his brain leak out of his ear even if he was being a little on the romantic side.
“Geez, it’s not like…” She paused for a moment to decide where to put her foot next “…the Evans thing is unmentionable or whatever. Just seems like people get the wrong idea.” Feeling daring, she pushed off the next window sill and reached out to catch a pipe several feet further down. Unfortunately this led to smacking hard against the bricks, which knocked the wind out of her and prevented her from elaborating.
Once she recovered and got her feet on the ground, she decided that was probably for the best.
Alec, it seemed, had been sincere in his suggestion that Nova steer them back to the strip, and for the moment she put all her concentration on that. It was pretty clear early on that something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t for the life of her discern what it was and just kept walking like she knew what she was doing. If she paid attention she could hear the strip and figured they would end up there at some point.
That point came just as she was about to throw in the towel and admit she had no fucking clue as to where they were. She turned her head, intending to explain in a fashion that didn’t completely embarrass her, and caught the sight of her car at the edge of her vision.
“Here she is!”
She turned to Alec, grinning. “Thanks again; I think I needed to clear my head.”
/ooc And they’re out, permission to move Alec
“Geez, it’s not like…” She paused for a moment to decide where to put her foot next “…the Evans thing is unmentionable or whatever. Just seems like people get the wrong idea.” Feeling daring, she pushed off the next window sill and reached out to catch a pipe several feet further down. Unfortunately this led to smacking hard against the bricks, which knocked the wind out of her and prevented her from elaborating.
Once she recovered and got her feet on the ground, she decided that was probably for the best.
Alec, it seemed, had been sincere in his suggestion that Nova steer them back to the strip, and for the moment she put all her concentration on that. It was pretty clear early on that something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t for the life of her discern what it was and just kept walking like she knew what she was doing. If she paid attention she could hear the strip and figured they would end up there at some point.
That point came just as she was about to throw in the towel and admit she had no fucking clue as to where they were. She turned her head, intending to explain in a fashion that didn’t completely embarrass her, and caught the sight of her car at the edge of her vision.
“Here she is!”
She turned to Alec, grinning. “Thanks again; I think I needed to clear my head.”
/ooc And they’re out, permission to move Alec