[FIN] Bulletproof [Vale/Quinn]

[Kappawolf]

After their tour had mostly concluded, Quinn had decided that he was enough of a big boy to explore the city on his own.

...With Vale.

On his own, with Vale. Because it was a big, scary city. He was adult enough to handle himself, but the buddy system was always safest. He was cautious, not scared. Not scared at all.

No sir.

He had pestered Vale to leave Sydni with the Carnegies and come with him exploring, and they did. For the first time since they got on the boat, Canster made himself known. He grew out of Quinn's shadow, where he had been riding along, and slid onto Quinn's shoe, where he sat down and rode with the steps. Canster was looking bigger; it was like he had been growing.

"Vale, I'm not sure I like Central very much. I feel so small." He looked up at the buildings towering around them.

"And everywhere looks the same." He looked down the street. "How will we ever know where we are?" He was determined to be strong, though. He was not going to let the new city make life any harder for him. He would find a new job doing what he was doing, and he had a few sinister plans for how to take Central by storm.

Maybe this was a sign that things were real. It was time to really work on winning this game. On changing the status quo.

Rising to the top seemed like a viable option, now, when everyone was put on the same level. New surroundings meant new dangers, and he was pretty confident in his ability to adapt, eventually. He was a master of the new frontier!

"I don't know how to read a map," he admitted, quietly.  

[Scroll]

Valeriu still hadn't quite forgiven Quinn for the earlier snub, and it showed in the way he kept his limbs close and tight - hands tucked into his sweatshirt pockets and hoodie drawn up over his head to completely obscure everything above his lower nose, neck bowed and tail tucked away down the leg of his pants. Refusing, stubbornly, to even look at Quinn from beneath the safety of his hood.

"Hn," he grunted, shortly, as a response to most of Quinn's commentary, more focused on memorizing his surroundings and picking out landmarks to navigate his way back to important places from the apartment he'd readily handed off to the Carnegies.

It was only the tenuous sense of responsibility for Quinn as a friend that had him tagging along with the other in the first place. Quinn hadn't wanted to go alone, and Valeriu was the useful go-to guy in that he knew how to memorize paths and roads and places.

"You don't need a map," he muttered after a moment. "Just memorize landmarks. East, v'est, south, north - and v'hat you care about that lies between. If you get lost, you just ask somebody."

Valeriu very rarely had to ask. He'd even memorized the path through the sewers pretty well, although it would take him a few more trips and mistakes before he could find his way back and forth from Oldpeka, the place he'd decided to make his home.  

[Kappawolf]

Quinn did not want to be secretive. Girl-With-A-Sword had mentioned that they were supposed to, but that was not his style. Thus, the looks he got as he walked down the street he returned with equal disdain or disapproval.

He didn't like Central. He didn't like the people, he didn't like the buildings, and he especially didn't like the style. They could glare all they wanted, and he wouldn't mind a bit. His feathers and scales were not going to be stuck inside clothes. It hurt like hell to bend them, and the scales would rub off and make his arms sore.

Quinn rolled his eyes at Vale's answer. "One thing you still haven't learned: Sometimes people complain to complain. We don't want solutions, we want pity. And attention." He knew he had blown Vale off, earlier, but he really didn't want to talk about his current issues. Quinn was going to solve his problems by getting things he wanted. The first thing he wanted was money. And his excursions with Seamus had given him an inkling of how he could earn it.

That was why he had asked Vale to walk around with him. He needed to scope out beverage-serving places for 'Now Hiring' signs. Cafes, coffeeshops, even an ice cream store would be fine.

He had a drink he wanted to share with Central. A drink he was sure they'd love.

"I need a job," he finally said, to Vale. "A job, because I need money. I'm tired of relying on you to help me. I'm going to live on my own, and I'm going to live in style."

Quinn knew things were tense. He was trying to be silly to break the mood, but it came out more serious and depressing than silly.

"I want to stay in the city, though. You can always stay with me, occasionally, whenever you need to be closer to the city," He said, slowly, and with difficulty. It was a sincere invitation, but he didn't want to give the impression of neediness.

"But I need to live by myself for a while."  

[Scroll]

The blessed thing about hoodies was they gave very little away. Only the slight stretching of his lips would give any inkling of his expression, and those lips gave nothing away even now as his head turned to Quinn's direction.

Valeriu was glad. His eyes always said far too much, more than he wanted them to. He might just keep this look.

"I am sure you v'ill do just fine," he said, with cool surety, refusing in his own way to acknowledge Quinn's offer. "You have lived by yourself for a long v'hile already, and there are plenty of jobs to find in this city, and plenty of opportunity."

Unspoken was the fact that Valeriu would not readily be joining metropolis life. Sydni was safe in the care of the Carnegies - and Valeriu was all too willing to throw himself head over heels towards the ruination of his own humanity with nothing else to tie him to it anymore.

"You v'ill all be fine." His nose turned back to the street ahead. "Write me a postcard v'hen you make it rich."  

[Kappawolf]

Quinn's feathers seemed to visibly droop. He had been around Vale long enough to sense a rejection when he heard one.

"Not really by myself," he admitted, "You've always been right there. Right across the street. To save me. To help me when I did something stupid. Writ will probably live in the city, but I can't trust Writ to keep me from doing something stupid." He turned his head and gave a silly smirk in Vale's direction. "That'd be like asking Sydni to keep an eye on you." Writ did seem to be getting a bit more muscular, though. He might keep an eye on Writ just for the eyecandy.

"So you're going to have to visit me," He informed Vale, "Whether you like it or not. I'll kidnap Sydni and take her out to do all sorts of lavish things like get her hair done and eat lollipops. You will have to come visit me to save her." He ran his arm along his feathers, which bristled as his mood lightened a bit.

"And I have terrible handwriting, silly."  

[Scroll]

"Right," he scoffed, willing to at least humor Quinn's wishes to keep the fantasy afloat. "Of course. Because Sydni, obviously, needs saving from such terrible things."

She'd probably think he was coming to ruin her life if he tried.

The fact was this: she was three, now. Three, and she knew his name and face and voice; missed him when he was gone and threw a fit when he wasn't.

But the magic of humanity is that you forget. By the time she'd be his age - she wouldn't remember him. Three, and she could forget him, her monster older brother, and live life as a Carnegie, if he did his best to leave her in peace.

His mouth suddenly turned down, pulling back over his teeth as his throat worked to swallow around the sob that wanted to rise up in his throat.

"So, so, Quinn," he abruptly spoke up, straightening out with a snap and forcing a curling grin to his face. "This is our first day in a new city, isn't it? And you, going off to be independent - let me spoil you today. My treat. Anything you v'ant."  

[Kappawolf]

"Well, you seem to want her to not have fun, so I figured that would be a terrible, terrible fate." Canster brought attention to himself again, because he had been slowly scaling Quinn's body, his shape forming into a little human mountain climber until he got to the shoulder, where he formed a chair for himself to sit on. He leaned over and held his hand up in front of his face, like he was secretly whispering in Quinn's ear.

Lonely...

It felt more like wind than anything, like it hadn't even really been spoken, but Quinn definitely heard the word.

"I think Canster wants something." An idea popped into his head. "I know last time you mauled one of your best friends, but is it possible to make a friend for Canster? He...is lonely?" He looked at Canster for approval, who nodded his little shadow head.

"That's all I want. A friend for Canster. And then can we go back to the apartment they gave me, and just talk for a while?"  

[Scroll]

"A friend?" He eyed the shadow on Quinn's shoulder in confusion - despite giving it independent movement, he'd never really considered it as being anything more than an animated puppet.

He didn't think it could get lonely. Didn't want to acknowledge the fact that he could give his shadows life - or that he could create something so pathetic and monstrous. A flash of guilt ran through him.

It was the only one of its kind, and it was Valeriu who had made it.

"Alright," he agree, gruffly, to cover up the surprise in his voice. "Alright. I think I can do that. But," he paused, drawing out his conditions.

"In exchange, I need a kiss," he said, quite seriously. "Or else it v'on't v'ork."

Obviously.

"You know. Kiss of life."

Right.

"Yes."

He totally wasn't digging himself a hole.  

[Kappawolf]

Quinn smirked.

"Like I said," he said, pausing and turning around to head back the way they had been walking, with a much stronger pace, "We'll go back to the apartment, and just talk for a while."

The implications were clear. He was ready for some action.

It had been too long since him and Vale had had any fun.  

[Scroll]

It took him a moment to understand what Quinn meant - another to figure out if he liked the idea or not.

He had the feeling there'd be more than the single kiss he'd requested.

An honest smile broke the blush laid across his face, jogging to catch up with Quinn before strolling in sync with him - by the time he got there, the smile had disappeared back into a purposefully confused look.

"Just talk?" he asked aloud, wondering, innocently puzzled. "I thought I asked for a kiss, Quinn."

The corner of his lips quirked, giving the teasing away for what it was. It had been a while since Valeriu could legitimately claim that he didn't catch those sorts of implications.  

[Kappawolf]

Quinn saw Vale's twitches, and knew immediately that he was a lying sack of crap.

"Fine," Quinn said, and whipped around to trap Vale in between his arms against a wall they were passing. He did his best to guide Vale up against the wall, so he could attack him with kisses.

The passersby were not quite as excited about it as Quinn was.  

[Scroll]

Valeriu couldn't quite say that he was displeased with the overall situation, back resting against the wall and locked in a death match of lips with a soul-sucking, feathery leech-fiend.

Maybe it was the purrs of enjoyment that gave him away, or the smile cutting across his face, or the way he was fervently attempting to pull Quinn flush against his body so he could enjoy nipping as much as he wished.

"Reminds me of the first time v'e kissed," he muttered between kisses, one hand twisting through the length of Quinn's hair to persuade him to tilt his head just a little further back. "Only that time v'e had the decency of a dark alleyv'ay. Exhibitionist."

Valeriu actually knew that word, which was hilarious in its own right.

But he didn't want to wait around here much longer.

"Apartment. Now," he finally growled, impatient, fingers twining through Quinn's to stop his hands from roaming. "I v'ill make another shadow for you there, and you v'ill very graciously give me another kiss."  

[Kappawolf]

"Mm, commanding. Let's go, kittyboy." He let Vale get off of the wall, and then leapt on his back and grabbed his ears for steering. "AWAY!"

He was happy, for the moment. He had seen a couple places to apply to, as well. And this part of the city seemed pretty well-populated.

And his 'exhibition' might help him, in the long run. Someone out there might be willing to hire the crazy birdboy who makes out on the street, and people might come to the shop just to see him.

Or not.

Oh well, it was fun for the time being.  

[Scroll]

Quinn was light, but not light enough to play horsie. He grunted at the sudden weight on his back, shoulders tipping forward before he quickly adjusted and righted himself, setting a steady clip back towards the apartments with his arms wrapped around skinny legs to keep a certain idiot from falling off and taking his ears with him.

Even with the hoodie up, Quinn somehow knew exactly where they were under the fabric, pinching sweatshirt around eartip with brutal effectiveness.

His lips curved in a fanged grin nonetheless.

"I call shotgun."