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 Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 6:12 pm
Sterling felt better after talking to Priam, but he was still half wondering if inviting this vampire man to their house had been that good of an idea…but. He was committed now so…there was nothing for it. Carrying the plate with the two grilled cheese sandwiches in his hands, he put the juice bottle into his pocket for the ease of it and headed downstairs to the basement apartment. “Hey! I see…hear that the water is off, um, It’s me. Sterling. I brought you some food, and Priam, my boyfriend is up making some more if you’re still hungry, which is perfectly okay! Be as hungry as you want!”
Oh, wow he sounded so awkward, and even went so far as to give a chuckle which honestly sounded pained.
“You didn't drown, right?” Hopefully not…if he had the sense to turn the water off, that had to mean he hadn’t drowned…but then again…ah.
“You got the towels right? And the clothes I left you…ah…do you need more towels? You do have a lot of hair…”
Oh…perhaps getting some drain-o would be good. They would need it if he would be staying any extended length of time.
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 6:43 pm
The door to the bathroom was open and judging by the steam that had collected on the door frame and the wall just outside, it had been for the duration of Viconius’ shower. All of the lights were on, and all of the snacks he’d been given were devoured. He hadn’t left so much as a crumb.
He’d been behind the door and moved out into the larger room when he heard Sterling.
The borrowed clothes hung off of him like they were meant for someone else, but he made no effort to fix the shirt as it fell off one shoulder.
“You sound nervous,” he said, suspicious and guarded. He watched Sterling like he expected something to be wrong, but he was distracted by the food he’d brought. “It smells good. What do you want me to do with my hair?”
Three feet of his hair lay in a pile on the ground. The edges were frayed and badly split, like he’d just torn the hair until it snapped. What was left of it was still a lot, and it fell to his waist. It was damp, dried as much as he could manage, and wasn’t particularly evenly cut. He would need to be trimmed to look nice, but he didn’t seem concerned with that right now.
His only interest was the plate Sterling had brought. Oh–and whatever was making him nervous. Sterling didn’t seem to have the willpower to be in a trap, but Viconius suspected something was amiss. Maybe he was being threatened. Maybe he was lying to him about something.
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 6:47 pm
“Do with…with your…oh.”
Sterling stared at the large pile of hair and did some quick mental gymnastics, trying to figure out the best way to dispose of a…a ton of hair and nodded slowly. “With your hair. Okay…um. Give me a few minutes. You sit, eat your sandwiches, I’m going to go get some…trash bags, I guess and some scissors and a brush and if you’d like I can make that look a little more…uh…”
He searched for the right words and finally just handed the plate over. “I’ll be right back. I would have helped you cut it off if you would have told me, you didn’t have to rip it all out…your poor hair…”
…It had been so pretty too…
But swiftly, the male turned and headed upstairs, grabbing a grocery bag from under the sink and the scissors from the kitchen drawer before going back down to the…oh god. The feral creature.
“Hey, do you have a name that you want me to call you when you’re not powered up? Like, I’m Sterling when I’m just…me like this…do you have a name you’d like to be called?”
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 7:13 pm
One sandwich was gone. He sat at the edge of the bed with his ankles crossed and kicking just slightly. He was taking his time on the second sandwich. His stomach wasn’t growling anymore but he didn’t seem capable of rejecting any food.
And, how could he when it was this good?
His eyes had darted to Sterling when he arrived again, and it seemed like any time he was around, Viconius was watching him. Guarded. There was something innately predatory about him, like he was some hungry monster waiting to strike.
“My birth name?” he prompted. He seemed dismissive of the need for secrecy between forms, but he hadn’t argued when they’d explained how dangerous it was not to keep him and his senshi self different. “Viconius.”
His hair remained unchanged in color, but his skin color had shifted to match Sterling’s thanks to the disguise they’d prepared for him.
Soleiyu had made him a thin silver bracelet with a blue gemstone fitted into the center. Briefly, his eyes drifted to it, and then back to Sterling. “Or do I need to change that, too?”
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 7:19 pm
“No no! That’s a nice name. Do you mind if I call you Vico for short? I…I mean, I’m not lazy but. I like short names I think. Like, there’s Priam and…we used to have Yu so.” He shrugged and held the scissors up. “Can I fix your hair and make it a little bit more even? It won’t be the best but it’ll be something better than it is.”
He pulled a lock of his own hair to demonstrate and cut it a few centimeters. “See? It doesn’t hurt, it just cuts the hair. Easy peasy!”
Sterling looked at the plate and grinned. “You liked the sandwich? I love grilled cheese. It’s very comforting.”
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 7:46 pm
He didn’t look impressed at the idea of being called Vico for short but his mouth was full of cheese and he chewed slowly. Finally, he shrugged.
It was just a name. He hadn’t heard anyone call him anything in so long that he might have responded to just about anything. He still had his pride though, so it wasn’t like he could be too casual.
He didn’t know what we used to have you meant but Earth was already so strange. It wasn’t the first time he’d looked at Sterling like he was speaking nonsense.
The scissors were shiny, and sharp. Not a weapon. He recognized that easily. Sterling wouldn’t go through all this effort to feed him just to try and hurt him. And, if he tried, Viconius was more than ready to defend himself.
…Even if the fatigue was finally setting in. It had been so long since he was warm and full. So long since he’d seen light other than the glow of mushrooms and cave flowers. His eyes hurt from all of it but he didn’t want to close them. He didn’t want to go back to darkness.
“I know what a haircut is. You can. Don’t sit directly behind me. Only to the side.” He took one more bite, smaller now, and finished it as if he did know how to eat instead of just inhale food. “Is this traditional Earth hospitality or are you just special?”
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Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 12:05 pm
“Um. A little of both, I suppose. Like, I don’t just…do all this for everyone that comes over but I try to help when I can, and giving you a place to stay was an easy decision.” Sterling sat down on the bed next to Viconius and gently drew up some of his hair, carefully cutting the jagged ends into something a little more even.
“You’re kind of a part of the family now, if you want to be. If you don’t then this can just be a stop on your road to…to wherever you want to go, but I…I mean, Priam and I are fine and happy for you to stay here as long as you need.”
He ran a brush through the long silvery locks after her finished cutting and seemed mostly satisfied, it took a little while but finally the hair was more or less even around the bottom. “All right, that looks a lot better and won’t be such a bother for you…and it’ll stop the ends from splitting. You have beautiful hair.”
Pulling away, Sterling stood up again and put the scissors down, holding out a hand for the plate. “Do you want to get some rest now, or is there anything else that I can do for you?”
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Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 6:21 pm
Viconius seemed like he was making a conscious effort to stay still and not just side eye Sterling while he worked with his hair. He'd bristled and seemed guarded, but this hardly even seemed like it was personal. He was just tense and on edge, like he was on high alert and trying to watch his own back and just couldn't turn it off.
He understood the words--or, at least he thought he did. Things were coming to him much more easily now than when he'd first arrived. He was just questioning the meaning of them.
Sterling was so willing to invite him into his familly that Viconius had to contemplate if he understood him as well as he'd thought, but after a moment he realized that was what he said. That was what he meant.
Naturally, his eyes narrowed at the suggestion. He couldn't imagine someone being so open. It was overwhelming so his reaction was just to deflect.
He didn't seem to want to give up the plate even though it was empty, but he seemed to realize it served no purpose to him anymore.
For a brief moment, he allowed himself to think that the tender touches to his hair felt nice--nicer than what he'd done to it, certainly.
"I don't know," he answered. "I haven't planned that far ahead yet. I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing here."
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Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 6:34 pm
“Well…from what I can see, you’ve been sent here to live. It’s another chance to have a life, and if I can help you, I will. You deserve a life, and you’re not going to be alone if you don’t want to be. Priam and I are both Cosmos Knights so…we can help you get on your feet and figure things out. We’re not very…ah. We don’t really do so much with all that’s going on but we can at least understand what you’re going through…sort of. And we can help you in any way that we can!”
He seemed tired, and Sterling wondered how he could convince him to lay down and just…rest well. Maybe being direct would be best.
“This…is a bed, and I’m sure that you know what a bed is, but, why don’t you lay down and get some sleep. There’s nothing pressing for you to do today, and it’s getting late anyway so…sleep now, let the food work its way through you and tomorrow I’ll have another feast for you to enjoy and we can take things from there.”
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Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 6:59 pm
Sent here? He didn’t like that. Didn’t like the idea of being a pawn, a choice in someone else’s plan. He clenched his jaw as he thought, and it was like each idea that passed through his mind warranted another, deeper, frown.
He scowled, finally, like he was annoyed at being told what a bed was. And yet, he ran his fingers over the soft blanket like he hadn’t felt something so comforting in long enough to have forgotten it.
“More food tomorrow?” he prompted, and he caught Sterling’s eye so he could look into it and know that he meant it.
For a moment, it seemed like he might protest, like he might quarrel or gripe.
The feistiness didn’t come. At least, not like how it had before. He reached his hand up to comb through his brushed hair, and his lips pressed together as his gaze wandered to the ceiling.
“Fine,” he agreed, and though he almost sounded petulant, there was something like gratitude hidden in his tone. “...But I want the lights on. I like these.”
Even if they made him squint, and his eyes had watered on and off throughout the evening just because of the brightness.
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Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 7:04 pm
“More food tomorrow and for as long as you stay here, absolutely.” Sterling held his gaze firm and grinned. “Oh, of course, you can keep them on, here, let me show you how to use them you can turn them off and on at will!” He spent a moment cleaning up the hair from the trim he did, getting it all into the bag, then tackled the large pile of hair that Vico had just…ripped off and stuffed that into the bag too. “So there are the overhead lights which can be worked with this switch here?”
Moving over to the lightswitch, Sterling touched it and hesitated. “I’m going to make it dark, but only for a second, if you flick it so the switch is pointing down, the lights go off, but if you point it back up, the lights go on, see?”
He demonstrated and then went over to the desk on the other side of the room. “If you want some softer light, you can always turn this lamp on, it’ll still keep things illuminated but it won’t be so harsh like those.”
He turned the switch and the small desk lamp began to glow, and Sterling went back to the switch, turning the overhead lights off again. “See? It’s all up to you though, hell, you can have them both on if it makes you more comfortable!”
The electric wouldn’t be too high from that.
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Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 7:35 pm
Viconius squinted at Sterling when he said he was going to make it dark, and he looked unhappy at the prospect of it. He was still sour when the light flicked back on, but his interest improved when Sterling turned on another light.
“Oh. Yes, I want them all on, then.”
And then, for the first time, something seemed to flip in him.
The words seemed like poison on his lips but he said quietly, “Thank you.”
He didn’t look at Sterling when he spoke, and he still looked unhappy, but the words were genuine.
This was just still a lot.
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Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 7:38 pm
Sterling smiled and nodded, moving back over to the bed and tugging at the blankets. “You can sleep under these, and the pillow is for your head, and you’re welcome, Viconius. You’re welcome here, and you’re welcome on Earth. In fact, welcome to Earth…I for one am glad to have you here. And I hope…you like it!”
Sure it had its issues but…
Still. It was home, and that was all that Sterling could ask for.
“If you need anything, we’ll be right upstairs, okay? Get some good rest.”
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Posted: Sun May 21, 2023 9:20 am
Viconius huffed again and scooted back a bit on the bed. “I know how blankets and pillows work. I have slept in a bed.”
It had just been a long time.
A long time.
His lip curled briefly with some emotion he’d long since buried, and he once again found somewhere else to direct his gaze.
Sterling’s generosity was not lost on him, but this was still so much to take in. Too much for one night. For the first time, he wondered if he was dreaming.
…He wouldn’t find out unless he tried to sleep, he supposed. But if it was a dream, he didn’t want to wake up.
“I’ll sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
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