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 Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2021 9:56 pm
Quote: Predatory Puddles (6) : Summer rains aren’t uncommon, so finding puddles dotting your path isn’t in itself particularly surprising or abnormal. However, as you walk past them, you feel the sensation of being watched, like eyes are on you. If you look into the puddles, you don’t see your reflection--nor the reflection of anything familiar to you. Instead, you see strange, decayed buildings, and odd, rotting plants. Something is watching you through the puddles, but before you can investigate, between one blink and the next, it’s all gone. When you look back, the puddles are oddly non-reflective, and then in the next blink, they’re all gone. The feeling of being watched doesn’t fade, though.
"Still interested in lunch?" He asked, smiling a little guiltily. "Wasn't expecting things to get so wet, but...here we are."
Why was he so damn awkward around Harker? Certainly, Tris wasn't a people person, but this was so far beyond that, it crossed the line into outright idiocy.
Probably, the sensation he felt at his back of eyes on him was just due to that. The prickling discomfort of standing in front of the man he'd never stopped having feelings for, still unsure where they stood, and acting like an absolute fool. Surely it couldn't be anything else--the only thing behind him was a smattering of puddles from the summer rain.
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 7:04 pm
Harker had always liked the rain. Things always seemed to take on a new perspective after a rain. They seemed newer... But they rain also tended to wash things away, keep things hidden. He hummed softly, watching a few drops fall off the door overhang into his hand. "There is nothing wrong with things being wet." Harker said, tilting his hand and letting the little bit of water collected there fall to the ground. "Lunch in the rain isn't too bad. We've had worse conditions." He, had had worse conditions. After collecting his keys and bidding Jean, they set off. Despite his love of the rain, he still tugged his scarf closer. "So where are we going?" Harker asked, glancing over his shoulder, down the way they game. It felt as though someone was watching them.. But there was no one behind them, on either side of the street. Maybe his nerves were just more on edge then he thought.
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 10:41 pm
"That's true," Tristan acknowledged. A bit of rain wasn't the end of the world, and honestly, it was fresh, and clean. He took a deep breath, taking in the smell of the air after a storm, and gave Harker a smile that was the sort of soft, fond look he reserved for a very select number of people.
"There's a little restaurant not far from here that I think you'd like, I..." He looked away from Harker, briefly, and his eyes fell on a puddle, and he stopped.
In the puddle, he swore that he saw what looked like a city--dead, and gone, well beyond saving, with rotting plants over crumbling buildings, and it stopped him in his tracks.
He blinked, and the reflection went flat, and the puddles seemed empty.
Blinked again, and it was back to normal.
....Strange. But he didn't want to say anything, in case Harker hadn't seen what he had and thought he was crazy.
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Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2021 8:57 pm
"Hmmm, is that so? And what makes you think that?" He asked softly. Though his attention snapped to Tristan when the other stopped midsentence. It wasn't like Tristan to get so distracted like that. "...Pet?" He asked, reaching out when he caught sight of a puddle out of the corner of his eye.
Ruin and decay. It looked like a scene from some post apocalyptic movie. But then it looked as if something was staring back, looking at him through the puddle. He jumped, crashing into Tristan in a panic. "I... um..."
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Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 12:06 am
It was hard to find the words for what he'd seen. To explain why he'd stopped, and what was wrong, and why he felt so spooked--because it was so strange, and made so little sense. How did he explain that he had seen some kind of horrible ending to everything, reflected in a ******** puddle for an instant so short he wasn't even sure it was real?
But when Harker crashed into him, his own fear was driven from his mind. Whatever he'd seen--maybe he hadn't even seen it. Maybe it was just in his head, a result of stress, or sometihng else.
What mattered was that Harker was clearly uncomfortable, and Tristan's instinct was to protect his cyhyraeth.
He wrapped an arm around Harker's shoulders, solid enough to remind Harker he was there but loose enough that if Harker wanted, he could move away.
"What is it?" He asked, voice full of concern. "Are you alright? What I thought I saw--it's nothing, but you--?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:05 pm
Harker jumped again when something wrapped around him, but he relaxed ever so slightly when he realized it was just Tristan. He grabbed the other's jacket, perhaps a little too tightly if his knuckles were anything to judge by. "I thought... I saw something." He responded. Tristan probably thought he sounded stupid. Just listening to himself, Harker thought he sounded stupid. Of course he saw something, it was just a reflection. But it had all seemed so real... Brushing his bangs back, Harker touched his forehead. "Perhaps I'm more tired then I realized..." It had been a good day.. He hadn't felt as fatigued as of late. He shook his head. "Maybe I didn't sleep right..." His mind was just playing tricks on him..
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Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:52 pm
It was an automatic, thoughtless response. Tristan turned his head and nuzzled at Harker's hair, holding him close in an immediate effort to provide as much comfort as possible.
"You sure?" He asked, voice soft. "Definitely think we need to get lunch fast, so you can make sure you eat something, if you're feeling that tired." He ran his fingers through Harker's hair, soothingly; this whole thing had him off balance too.
"I..." He sighed. "I thought I saw something in the puddles, too, but maybe I'm also tired. It's been a long week." Even with DCU being on break, there was always something for him to do, and he was often up far later than he ought to be. So maybe that was it. A little bit of lack of sleep.
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Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:35 pm
He sighed, tension bleeding from him. "I... I don't know.." Harker admitted. He loosened his grip on the others jacket, but didn't let go. "I thought I was doing good... I felt like I was doing good." But now... Now he felt as though his blood was made of ice. As if a chill had run down his spine and he just couldn't get warm, despite the nice weather they had been having. His stomach dropped and he leaned against Tristan, burying his face in the other's shoulder. "...I thought I saw someone looking back." It hadn't been him, and it definitely hadn't been Tristan
"...Maybe we should get our food to go... And just go back to the store." He couldn't explain it but he felt safer there. As if whatever had been watching them, couldn't watch them there.
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Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 10:18 pm
Tristan nodded. He wasn't exactly eager to let Harker go, and it didn't seem like Harker wanted to be moved, so he kept holding on.
"I don't know what it was, but it can't hurt us," he said, with certainty. If something tried, well. He was fairly certain he could trust Harker with knowing he was Mycenae. "But yes. Let's make lunch to go."
The bookstore did feel safer, if he was honest. At least he could trust that nothing would interrupt them there, except for maybe Jean.
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