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 Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 10:12 pm
"Yessir,"she said, answering him quickly, with a little bit of a nervous tone. She used to answer her "father" like that...Jackson made her nervous; the head of the family was a monster...When she came to those realizations, she instantly felt bad about having responded to him like that. She slipped the cloak over herself quickly, both feeling cool relief and a rise in her body temperature all at once...It was hot, but better than being fried. "Thank you, very much Jackson..."She said with a small smile, trying to avoid her fangs showing as much as possible, as she put up her hood.
"C....Could I have the key back please?"she asked a touch timidly. She didn't want to make him think she didn't trust him, certainly not after he just helped her out, but frankly, she kind of thought Horatio would be more than just a little upset if she let the key suddenly go missing.
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:53 am
Jackson tossed the key at her, turning away without bothering to see if she had caught it. He started to walk back to his bar without saying a word of goodbye to her. Damnit. The day was already too long.
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 1:13 pm
"Th..Thank you!"she said, catching the key in the air. Quickly she pulled her arms back inside the cloak, picked up the paint and brushes, and put them back in the shed. From there, the vampire scurried back through the sunny street into the shop. It was nice and cool inside the shady store, and frankly, Ruka was just happy to not have to worry about being burnt to a cinder at this point. She went behind the counter, and picked up a pad of paper and a pen, wanting to leave a note for Horatio before she went up to her room...Even if she wasn't going to go to sleep, she at least wanted to be out of the way.
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:53 am
One floor above, Horatio woke with a start. He sat up, wiping sweat from his brow and trying to shake the clutches of whatever dream still held him. He glanced out the partially closed window to see the light filtering in. He had overslept. Stretching out his arms and back as he got out of bed and started to get dressed, the events of the night before suddenly came flooding back to him. The next second, Horatio was rushing down the stairs outside, his bedroom door slamming behind him. He ran around to the front of the building, opening the door, relieved, to find Ruka inside and unharmed, if somewhat startled.
"Oh, good." He groaned, running a hand over his unshaven face and messy hair. "I was worried you were trapped outside." He sank into the chair behind the counter. "Is our guest up?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:17 pm
Startled was an understatement. When the door came open, Ruka jumped, darting backwards just a bit...Mostly, it had been to avoid the sunlight streaming in through the door, but also because it freaked her out. When she realized it was just Horatio, she breathed a sigh of relief, with a little bit of a laugh to it. "No, not quite yet...He must have been very tired,"she said, smiling a little bit...It was hard to do. Her face felt sort of stiff as she did so, like it was confused by the attempted action...Given, it was a perfectly valid reaction considering the circumstances.
"And actually...I did get stuck outside,"she said, not wanting to worry him, but...Well, she was still so surprised by Jackson, she couldn't help it, "But...Jackson got my cloak for me." She put the pen back down on the counter, and gestured to the pad, "I was actually just leaving you a note about it, but...I guess there's not much need anymore."
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 8:30 am
It was Horatio's turn to be surprised. His eyes widened as he sat up a little straighter in his seat. "Jackson? Really?" He shook his head slowly, although if he had anything else to say on that he kept it to himself. "I'm sorry, Ruka," he said instead, honestly apologetic. "That shouldn't have happened." He sighed, sinking back, and glanced down at his intertwined hands. "I'll thank Jackson when I see him," he added. "But you're all right. Are you going to sleep now?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 12:07 pm
"Well, I was going to go upstairs..."she trailed off, not necessarily planning to sleep...More, she just didn't want to dissuade any of Horatio's customers from coming into the shop...When she was in back, it wasn't a problem, but she could hardly be back there with their newest resident still asleep, so heading up to her room was her next best option...Maybe she could clean again...or something...
After all, Ai hadn't exactly left the room in the best of shape...She still had to fix that railing, but that would have to wait until it was dark out...Mostly, the vampire just wanted to lay on her futon and not have to think...
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Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 12:22 pm
Horatio glanced at the back room, then back at Ruka. "Why don't you stay here for a while if you're not tired yet," he said gently. "Business doesn't usually pick up for another hour or so and I could use the company." He looked down at Jesse, thumping her tail against the side of the front counter where she lay. "It doesn't look like Malaki will be up for a while, and Jesse's not much of a conversationalist."
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Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 12:41 pm
Malaki had woken up several hours earlier, in fact, he'd woken up as soon as the sun was fully above the horizon. But his wounded spirit was not healed yet, and he was held in a paralysis much like sleep paralysis, except he was very awake. Malaki had ignored his situation, however, and went to take a mental inventory, finding things pretty much in order, if much more... squeezed together than normal.
Several hours later he managed to get up in a sitting position rubbed his face and stood up, staggering a bit. He felt a bit different. It was hard to say, exactly, what it was, and there was no mirror in the room, so Malaki dressed and staggered out into the store, smiling at Ruka and Horatio but not stopping until he stood in the doorway, bathed in the light. Out of the corner of his eye, Malaki realized what was different.
He looked a bit older. Slightly taller, slightly leaner, sharper, more defined face. No wrinkles, no shadow of a stubble, nothing to tell any sort of actual age, but he did nonetheless look... somehow, intangibly, older. Malaki found he preferred this look, and supposed it had simply taken a while for him to settle down well in the physical body.
"Good morning, Horatio, Ruka," Makali murmured, his face still tipped and back turned to the sun. Hmm. His voice was a shade deeper than before, too.
"Any business, yet?" All in all, the changes weren't exactly something one would easily notice, but he had spent at least over an hour in Ruka and Horatio's company the night before... if they noticed, it would be hard to explain. Malaki found himself rather amused at this.
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Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:49 pm
"I would like that..."Said Ruka, sounding a bit subdued; she liked the idea of just talking to someone normally for a little while...and as long as she wasn't going to be bothering any of the customers, since, they apparently weren't going to be coming in at this point, she didn't see the harm in it...That was when Malaki came in.
"Good morning..."She said quietly with a bit of a smile. There it was again...Even before he stepped into the doorway, Malaki radiated with that same aura of brilliant sunlight. Ruka backed away from the door a little more...Somehow as he got near it, it seemed to get a bit brighter, which, she was not particularly fond of...She just wanted to be in the cool dim of the shop...or upstairs...or somewhere that didn't have too much contact with the sun.
She knew that Malaki and Horatio would undoubtedly enjoy the clear skies the day was promising, but as for her...Not so much. As he turned around however, Ruka couldn't help but notice...Something was different about him. She couldn't quite tell what, but there was undoubtedly something...Maybe it was just because he wasn't so tired anymore; a good night's rest would do that for most people.
"Nothing so far today, but...well, its only been a little while,"she added, answering his second question.
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Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 1:37 pm
"Good morning," Horatio responded automatically, his mouth forming the words while his voice hastened to keep up. He cleared his throat, turning his gaze away from where the other man stood, bathed, in the soft morning light. "Nice day," he commented casually, opening one of the drawers of the counter then, realizing there was nothing in it he was looking for, shutting it again and leaning down to pet Jesse. The dog stood up, however, barely letting her master brush his hand against her back, and trotted over to Malaki, tail wagging. She stepped into the sunlight as well and for a moment it seemed to Horatio that instead of dimming its glory with her black fur, seemed somehow only to draw attention to the way it broke and enveloped.
"Ruka's going to be taking a break down here," Horatio said, pushing aside the spell. "She was working painting the building last night, but it's too hot and bright now to do that." The words were delicately put and could apply just as much to a human worker as to a vampire one. "But now that you're both here..." He stood, walking over to one of the boxes kept behind the front counter and knelt down beside it, opening it and taking out two emerald green aprons. They were plain, made with simple material and with a pocket in the front, the sort worn by people who worked in retail. "I bought these years ago with the thought that if I ever expanded this place and had the need to hire people to work for me that they would make good uniforms." He held out two for Ruka and Malaki to take, then continued. "I was considering having you wear one anyway, Ruka, just to clear up some confusion about your being here."
((...Um... Yeah... I've had this idea for months and am so stoked that I finally get to make them wear that. xDD))
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Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 4:37 pm
Ruka blinked at the apron. It was actually, really pretty in her eyes. "Thank you,"Said the vampire, as she took it from Horatio. She had felt a little out of place until now in the store, but she saw this as a good chance to seem more like she actually had a reason for being there. Ruka looked up, trying to smile again, hoping to let him know she liked it. In that brief instant, her eyes flickered with that bright red tone, before fading back to normal; whereas most of the vampires she had ever met would be complaining of being "absolutely famished" at this point, she still had no idea she was even hungry.
"I um...I actually finished...Painting, that is..."she said quietly, wanting to let him also know about her progress. It hadn't taken all that long, really, and with the help of it being night instead of trying to accomplish the task in daylight, it had gone even more quickly. "I um...i also put everything away back in the shed..."she added, wanting him to know that she hadn't just left it out in the street.
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