Welcome to Gaia! ::

Drey leaned boredly over the counter, tapping purple painted nails against the opaque plastic mat that lay on top of the counter top. Music was booming softly in the background of the shop and he shook his hip absently to it as he watched a few teenage muggles browse around, picking up various bits of things and putting them back, trying to decide what to purchase.

He had been working here for a few weeks now. He'd spent one night at the CBGB when nostalgia and childish hope had taken him over, but before he had even awoken the next morning he knew he couldn't stay there. Whatever the ******** was going to hallwn to him on this world, it sure as ******** wasn't going to happen there. Reg- his- was dead, and even if he wasn't, he probably wouldn't be able to land on this exact planet. He didn't know how the ******** this travelling business worked, but he knew the spell had sent him to this random dimension and the chances of Reg being alive and landing here were slim to none. Reg may have had more lives than a thousand cats but he wasn't indestructable.

So trying to hang onto something he couldn't have and someone he didn't want (this world's Reg) wasn't an option. Whatever the ******** he was doing here, it was away from the hellhole he had come from, and he was going to try to make something for himself here.

It was the least he could do, Reg wouldn't want him pissing and moaning and wallowing when he'd ******** given up everything to protect him.

So Drey had left, he wandered about some more, trying to pick up jobs. But he stuck to the muggle world. There was too much in the wizarding world he didn't want to ******** around with. Besides, he wasn't really one of them anymore.

Drey stuck out his tongue, playing with his new- and only piercing. He'd gotten it last week, a final tribute and goodbye to the man he'd always love. Running his tongue along it was quickly becoming a comforting gesture, and his boss and customers didn't seem to mind it either.

His current job, and by far the best, he'd earned in a half hour span of time in which he had come in, walked around for five minutes, and proceeded to charm the man behind the counter for the next twenty-five. At the end of their conversation he'd stood and casually emptied his pockets of the numerous things he'd stolen around the counter right under the man's nose. He'd proceeded to tell the man that if he hired him, his rate of stolen merhandise would go down to nearly nothing and that he'd work under the counter in exchange for a cot in the storage room and a bit less than minimum wage. And so he had a place to sleep and money for food, though he'd spent most of his first paycheck on the silver lip ring and a lightweight charm to clip onto it.

Drey's tongue fiddled with the tiny dangling lavender stone and he raised an unmarred eyebrow as he watched the kids huddle for a moment before returning to browsing, heading nonchalantly towards the door.

"b***h, I don't give a ******** who's birthday it is or if you don't have any money to buy s**t because you flipped off your Mum when she caught you smoking weed in the basement and she took away your allowance. Put that ********' choker back because if I have to get out from behind this counter, you're gonna ******** wish you'd listened, babycakes." Needless to say, the pilfered item was hastily placed back onto the rack, the teenagers shooting nervous looks at each other before leaving the store. Whether from a combination of the pretty looking guy behind the counter having heard all they had said in the quietest of whispers on the opposite end of the store, or the strange, promising tone of his voice, they felt suddenly chilled and complied.

Drey shook his head after they left, grinning wryly to himself. s**t like that wouldn't work on a group of death eaters, but it scared the crap out of wannabe punk muggle kids just fine.

"Nothing much, love. Can I help you find somethin'?" Drey sucked the little bobble into his mouth, rolling it lightly between his teeth and enjoying the slightly painful tugging at his lip.

Drey made no effort to hide that he was looking this new customer over with interest. He always had a thing for wacky hair and exotic looks.

Drey slunk out from behind the counter, walking up close to Mari and standing half behind him.

"What kind ya want, babe?" Drey asked, reaching over, brushing against Mari in his movements, and plucked out a few amongst the jumble that he thought would fit the redhead.

"Rubber? Leather? Plastic? Metal? Wood?" He looped his selections over his fingers and withdrew, turning to rest his hip against a sturdy display and look up at Mari, holding the wares up for him to see, if he were a part of the display himself.

"But I've got some prettier pieces up behind the counter babe, wanna have a look?" Drey grinned suggestively, playing with his new lip ring again, abusing the already swollen flesh.

Drey jerked back, his elbow slamming hard against a mirror glued to the side of a stand for customers to preen in. The mirror cracked with the impact but held together even as Drey tripped over his feet and fell to the floor, upending bracelets all over himself.

His heart was beating wildly, at the mention of one ******** word. THAT ******** word. He held bewildered onto the edge of a table, blinking with a slightly trembling lip and looking around floor height unseeingly for a few moments before he looked up at Mari and noticed. Those ******** ********. He made himself keep looking at them, but pushed away the feeling of drowning, of suffocation.

"Tripped, sorry." He said with conviction, clearing anything but embarrassment from his expression. If you sounded like you believed it, they would too. "Cramp. Guess I was trying to be too sexy."

He smiled, trying not to make it look shaky, and ran a hand through his hair reflexively. He inspected his elbow while it was up there, and wiped it against his side when he saw a bit of ********, guess that mirror is coming out of my paycheck." He made himself laugh a little and moved to get up, but paused and started picking up the scattered bangles and bracelets.

"b***h, I was already planning on giving you a quicky the second you walked in the store." Drey said without menace, snatching a bracelet out of his hair, he pushed himself up, glancing at the mirror, and his pulse quickened ********. A wizard? He knew he had broken that mirror.

"Huh, guess I must not have. Cheap anyways, boss wouldn't have even noticed if it was gone." Drey set the display back up properly, quickly placing the gathered bangles in their proper places. Wizard. Lovey. Something about the way he moved... and those goddamned eyes.

He could be wrong. Lavender eyes were weird but maybe they were just contacts. ******** all though, the Reg here had a daughter, he knew, not a son. And maybe this guy was a traveller but Drey had no intention of letting amyone know he was one. ******** getting dragged off to the ministry to be registered or whatever the ******** they did.

Even as a normal wizard, Drey knew he couldn't do anything weird around this guy. And ******** him being cute, sexy, he wanted the guy gone, at least for now.

"That all you want then? Just put the others on the table." Drey rubbed his elbow, smearing blood on his palm, and walked towards the counter.

"Look, I don't ******** offer myself up like a side of bacon to every cute a** who walks past me. I said I meant to I mean it, it.... it wasn't your fault, I just... I flipped out for a minute, s**t. That's all." Drey picked up the money in his sticky palm, pressing buttons on the register and sticking the right amount inside before pocketing the change.

The scrap of napkin was left on the counter and he stared down at it, the panic he had felt before threatening to explode from him.

"I don't..... I ..... I don't have a phone." He said miserably, making no move to pick it up. ******** all, he knew he was about to cry and he had already told himself he wasn't going to do that s**t anymore.

Oh god, get the ******** out, ********, don't go, just look at me for a bit longer. I just need to see....

There was nothing to sit on so Drey just let himself fall back against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to calm himself. ********, he could do better.than this, knew how to protect himself better! It was only with Reg that things were safe, that you didn't need to pretend and lie just to keep from dying. Habits had grown into his skin out of necessity, and he didn't like them but was too afraid to try and break them off.

The voice so close again threatened to startle him, but the tone soothed the impulse. He kept his eyes shut for a few moments, just listening, just feeling his ears brushing against his cheeks, his tail wrapped tightly but invisibly around his leg.

He shoudln't. He really ******** shouldn't and he KNEW it. He shouldn't look, shouldn't be so easily swayed, he should run, run far away. He was the ******** gingerbread man and he ran ran ran and ******** catch him if you could but he'd already be gone.

But this job was too perfect. His boss didn't demand 'extra' stuff from him and he had a safe and warm place to sleep and he was earning money and no questions were being asked and he would have to leave London entirely to try and get away, and despite what a good idea that probably was, he just couldn't.

He had always loved this city, it was his home.

He opened his eyes before Marius had finished speaking, looking tired and a mix of indistinguishable things, but he found himself nodding.

"Yeah, yeah I know where that is. And I don't sleep much anyways so.... so s'cool. I can meet you there....... maybe in a day or two." Drey took a deep breath, sniffing softly, just to check, but he had sucessfully staved off tears, though not the dramatics.

He moved forward, reaching out and grabbing the bit of napkin as if it would be taken away. Though he knew that's not why he had really moved forward, and he really shouldn't have because he ******** KNEW what he was doing. But he couldn't help but want to get closer, to sate his thirst, and that was why he tilted his head up and met Mari's eyes, letting himself drown just a little.

"In a day or two." He repeated, unblinking. "Promise. And I don't break my promises."