Lynnette's Apartment (currently uninhabited)

[Lynnette]

Her laugh at his random comment about eating standing on his head thankfully didn’t affect her balance too much, and she smiled at him, deciding already that she rather liked him. He could joke about himself, and that, in and of itself, was a positive trait in her book.

When he explained the fight, her eyes narrowed quite a bit, perplexed and even a little concerned. “A slave? Why would a werewolf work with, or for, a vampire, even then? Everybody knows a werewolf has more physical power than a vampire, especially when transformed. Why wouldn’t they just kill the vampire, or… run away?” Her mind was running, beyond confused, and she shook her head briskly to concentrate on her company. “Sorry… it’s just… weird. And, y’know, a little… creepy.”

After a moment of letting herself think about it once again, she added, “At least they weren’t in a killing mood, anyway.”

[Nick]

Nick grinned at her laughter and tilted his head as she finished.

He shook his head at her questions. “I don’t know why a werewolf would work vampire, not even then, but since he was, I know there was some reason. Maybe he was born into it and has never known anything outside of slavery so escape hasn’t ever really crossed his mind. Or maybe he’s afraid that he wouldn’t be able to actually kill her and there would be trouble from it. I’ve heard of both being the case plus some, so there’s not really any way to tell. Whatever the reason is, it’s enough to keep him there and it’s really not any of my business why. I learned my lesson the hard way about sticking my nose in their business.”

He let out a sigh and nodded. “That’s one thing to be thankful for at least.” He shifted slightly in the chair, turning almost completely sideways in it in order to lean his shoulder against the back, which proved to be the most comfortable he had been since getting back to the building after the fight.

[Lynnette]

Lyn slouched back against the loose padding behind her, and tried not to think about it. So that poor werewolf had never known freedom? She couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable about all of that, and still, she fought against continuing that conversation. Nick probably didn’t want to talk about it, since he’d had his ass ‘handed to him’, apparently. She didn’t blame him for being ticked.

“Yeah, because… y’know, I’d hate to have lost a neighbour before I even got here.” She offered him a harmless smile, and hoped it would be enough to ease the sudden tension in the conversation. Hopefully they could go back to light topics soon enough… and maybe the food would get there soon, as well. She was starting to really feel her hunger, and the light growl in her stomach was enough of a hint.

[Nick]

Perfectly happy for a change in topic, Nick grinned. “Well, I’m a good neighbor if I do say so myself. I only play my music loud in the middle of the night, when everyone is asleep. I’d hate everyone to sleep their lives away. I only hit two cars in the parking lot a week and then lie about it ever happening.” Now he was just being goofy, trying to get out of the dark cloud of tension that seemed to have descended upon them as they had been speaking. “Oh, and I’ve keyed a couple of cars. Can’t forget that.” He dropped his shoulder lightly and leaned his head against the back of the chair. He imagined it might look a bit awkward, but it was actually pretty comfortable.

[Lynnette]

Unable to help herself, she burst into laughter at his ‘goofy’ behaviour, enjoying every moment of it as she rocked forward on her perch, bright smile in place, shaking her head. Watching him, she beamed, saying, “Okay, I think I’m gonna like it here, after all.” Lyn nodded, meeting his gaze and studying his position in the chair. It was often a case of simply looking uncomfortable and being quite the opposite; the amount of times she’d dropped down on a couch or a bed, and been in much the same situation were beyond her recollection, but often, the more bizarre the position, the more comfortable it was.

“We’ll have to play our loud music together one time; see how they like it. Sleeping is for the weak, after all.” She flashed him a mischievous smile, eyes bright with amusement.

[Nick]

He gave another grin, glad that his comments had gotten the desired reaction. Managing to make someone laugh always cured him of his darker moods and this was no exception. “I’m sure you will. Not everyone here is as big of a lunatic as I am, but you can’t blame them for not being perfect.”

He nodded, his eyes shining. “Sounds like a plan to me. Nothing like having somebody to blare your music with. Everyone sleeps too much, anyway. Of course, then we’d have to make it a point to play it loud one afternoon to make sure we don’t leave the vampires out. We can’t have them being the only ones to get peaceful sleep. That just wouldn’t be fair.”

[Lynnette]

“Oh, that’s true. Those vampires, getting all the sleep… can’t have that.” She laughed. “Besides, it’s not like they need it, right? They’re basically dead, aren’t they?” She shrugged; that had always been her understanding, anyway. They technically didn’t need to breathe, and many of them only simulated the process as a ‘comfort’ measure to remind them of their human lives, or to fool mortals. “They smell like they are, anyway.” She pulled a face, her nose scrunching up a little, before she laughed again.

Before she could say anything else, there was another knock at the door, and the smell of hot, tempting Chinese food drifted under and around the closed door. “Mmm… smells like dinner’s here,” she muttered with a smirk, springing from her perch and collecting her wallet on the way to open it. After paying and tipping the pleasant delivery guy, she brought the bag back over to where they had been sitting. “Oh good, they brought chopsticks… because I haven’t even been to the store yet, so unless there’s some already here, I don’t actually have any cutlery.” She almost snorted at the ridiculousness of it, shaking her head. Lyn handed him a can of soda, before moving to get the other things out of the bag as well.

[Nick]

“I know what you mean,” Nick said, nodding in response to the comments about vampires. “Loud music might manage to piss them off, but at least it’d make sure their dead smelling selves are up. Maybe it’ll give a few of them time to start working on something that covers up the dead smell they’ve all got going.”

As the food arrived and was paid for, the smell made Nick’s stomach rumble loudly. It smelled excellent. “Thanks,” he said as he took the can and sat up a bit, moving carefully in the chair as he attempted to get into a better position for eating. “I’m a guy of many talents, but eating with chopsticks just isn’t one of them. I guess there’s always a time to learn stuff like that though. I’m likely to make myself look like an idiot, but feel free to laugh. I probably will.”

[Lynnette]

"Oops, sorry." Lyn appeared sheepish for a moment, pulling a face. "I should've asked if you could use them. Someone taught me a long time ago, and I get Chinese food so often that I can use them as easily as a fork, but... sorry. Maybe I could find something?"

His comment about probably laughing at himself made her smile contently. Nick certainly seemed capable of taking the good with the bad, and seeing the funny side in anything, more or less. She handed him some of the food, and a set of the chopsticks. "And if push comes to shove, you can always... stab the food." Smiling apologetically, she nestled herself on the floor with her own portions.

[Nick]

“It’s not a problem,” Nick told her, studying the chopsticks he now held. “Stabbing is something I’m fairly good at, though the rice is going to be an issue.” He played with the chopsticks for a moment. He knew how they were supposed to work, but whether or not he’d actually manage to get them to was a completely different story. “Guess this is what I get for being uncultured, huh?” He played with the chopsticks a moment more, gave up on getting the hang of them and took one in each hand, spearing a piece of sesame chicken on each. “Okay, now this works.”

[Lynnette]

Lyn laughed lightly. "Yeah, that works." She'd picked up some of the chicken the right way, with both chopsticks held in one hand, between her fingers. "And if the chicken's covered in sauce, you can roll it around in the rice, and voila..."

She paused, shrugging after she ate the chicken. "Well, not so much 'voila' as 'ah, that's handy'." Smiling and considering his stabbing motions for a moment, Lyn laughed gently and said to him, "Okay, it's like this, here." She shuffled to her knees, and moved a little closer to the chair, so he could see how she held the chopsticks.

"We'll get some culture in you yet." Her eyes flickered yellow at the edges for just a moment, as she smiled mischievously.

[Nick]

Nick gave a quick grin about her comments on the rice. That actually would be a pretty good way of going about it now that he thought it over.

Eating the chicken from the chopsticks, he raised an eyebrow at the flicker of yellow though he chose not to say anything about it, mostly because his mouth was full and he really didn’t think she’d appreciate a peek of chewed chicken. As he chewed, he studied how Lyn held her pair and tried to copy it. He managed to get the properly positioned after a little shifting and work as he swallowed. “Learning a little culture never hurt anybody.”

[Lynnette]

"That's the spirit," she encouraged calmly, settling down again in her position somewhat closer to the chair. "Just... don't try too hard," she advised, motioning to his chopsticks with her own loosely. "The last thing we need is these things flying across the room, or something." Of course, it was extremely unlikely that something like that would happen, but she had a vivid imagination sometimes.

"You were right," she said, swallowing another piece of chicken. "This is good."

[Nick]

“I don’t think you’ve got to worry about something like that. I never try too hard. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing, but it’s the truth whatever it is.” He tried for another piece of the chicken, attempting to copy how Lyn had been working the chopsticks. The first couple of attempts failed, but he managed to get a hold of a piece on the third. “That’s not nearly as hard as I thought it’d be. Maybe I’ll start leaving the forks in the drawer. Or at least only use one for the rice since I just can’t see how that actually works.” He took silent notice of the fact that she had settled by the chair rather than returning to her original spot, but put it out of mind for the time as he transferred the chicken to his mouth and chewed.

After swallowing, he commented, “I may not be right about everything, but I’m a pretty good judge when it comes to food. Eating is one of my favorite hobbies, so I make it a point to know what’s worth getting.”

[Lynnette]

"The rice has to be fried a certain way to be picked up with chopsticks. It has to stick together, or it just doesn't work." She smiled again. "Trust me on that one." Turning her brown eyes up as he spoke to her, she listened to his comments, and reminded herself to swallow before replying.

"Well, Nick, I'm gonna have to put this place in the speed-dial, I think." She nodded her head approvingly, pausing to take a sip from her soda. "And I think eating is every werewolf's secret hobby; they just get embarrassed admitting it." She laughed softly, remembering how her sudden appetite had gotten her funny looks in the past. Something along the lines of 'how can someone so small eat so much?'.