Descent

[pinkroses]

Will frowned as Indie clammed up, seemingly unable to finish his own thoughts let alone a sentence. As the redhead finally managed it Will shut his eyes and shook his head slightly, before reaching out to take Indie’s upper arm, pulling him away form the edge of the cliff and out of Anna’s sight.

“I don’t understand me and her. I’m sure she doesn’t either right now. So what do you want? To just sit and watch us try to get to know each other again? Or shall we just… I dunno, go?” he said. He had loved Anna once, and felt bonded to her still, but it was Indie he wanted to spend time with. It was Indie he wanted to go to sleep with in the morning and wake up with when the sun went down.

“We could just leave. Go home, pack up our stuff. Tomorrow night we could be anywhere in the country,” he said, the enthusiasm clear in his voice although in a couple of hours he may well change his mind if Indie thought on it too long.

He didn’t want to leave Anna again and abandon her, but she would survive and in another hundred years they could meet up and start all this bullshit again. Three was most definitely a crowd and will just wanted Indie right now. This was all too stressful, too much.

[Existentially Odd]

After about half a minute of staring at Will - and, crazily, giving his idea some consideration - Indie stepped close and wrapped his arms around the older vampire, hugging him tightly.  He really didn\'t have anything to worry about and everything the blonde said was making him feel more and more secure.  He almost felt like he was the older and wiser one as he rested his temple against Will\'s and spoke near his ear.

"No.  Won\'t matter how far we go or when we run, she\'ll always be there anyway.  I don\'t want to leave here.  I like it here.  With you.  We have to get used to her sometime or other, might as well be now, yeah?" he murmured, giving a shrug and rubbing his hands slowly around Will\'s back, content to leave their heads pressed together until his friend broke the contact.

[pinkroses]

Will shut his eyes, letting Indie pull him close and wrapping his arms around his friend in return, pulling him close. He felt so confused and lost, like he was being pulled in two directions and he wanted to choose one way. But Indie was saying he wanted him to stay in the middle, then he was arguing for wanting him all to himself. Will wanted Indie happy. Anna was always going to be connected to him, but not like this. That was blood, this was more.

“Okay,” he murmured, relaxing at the comforting feel of Indie’s hands moving on him. He tilted his head a little, pressing his lips against Indie’s briefly, but forcing himself to pull back before too long.

“She’ll come looking for us if we disappear for too long up here, come on,” he said, dropping his hold on his friend and lifting a hand to run through his hair, still looking a little flustered but feeling better about it all. Kind of.

[Existentially Odd]

Indie didn\'t feel at all strange to be hugging Will, which he thought was a sign of how much more comfortable and trusting he was, and the little kiss was only slightly disconcerting.  It seemed the fuck had changed their dynamic, even though he hadn\'t intended it to, but in a positive way.  He cared very much about Will, despite his thinking it would never happen again after Reed; that much was clear to him now.

"Alright," he agreed with a laugh and broke away by degrees in order to regain his position at the top of the cliff edge.  When Will was ready, he counted down and they launched off simultaneously.  This time, it was obvious his companion wasn\'t being distracted by the proximity of his arriving fledgling, their feet touched the ground more or less at the same time.  Chuckling, he clapped Will on the back in a silent congratulations, unhooked himself and began to head back up again.

Spying Anna, he detoured to stop near her and a make some small talk, a happy smile lighting his face as he adjusted his gloves.  "That was more like it; speedy," he chuckled, the delight of the rapid descent making his eyes dance as he looked her over pointedly.  "You should get Will to take you shopping, you might like to get some gear and clothes to try it.  He has plenty of money, make him spend some on you.  I imagine it\'s been a while since he spoiled you, yeah?" he hinted, smirking at Will as he approached, knowing he\'d bite simply for the sake of opening up the conversation to the subject of shopping.

[pinkroses]

Will gave a laugh as they reached the bottom at the same time. Idnie had been doing this much longer than the blonde, but Will usually picked things up pretty quickly and they’d been coming out here for the past couple of years. It was the same with their computer games, they were pretty evenly matched on those as well - but sometimes Will let the younger vampire win to boost his pride.

He followed after the redhead more slowly, narrowing his eyes slightly at Indie, but with a smile playing on his lips as the subject of shopping was brought up.

“It’s true. A sire should be allowed to dote on his fledgling. Even if there’s nothing you think you need,” Will said with a shrug and an expression which would give the impression he didn’t give a fuck either way. It would be kind of nice to be able to look after her though. When they had been together before there hadn’t exactly been a row of shops for him to treat her from even if she’d wanted that kind of thing. But he’d found her food and revenge. She could get those things herself now.

[Saccharin]

Just that evening, she\'d spent an inordinate amount of time repairing a hole near one of the back pockets of her jeans. She\'d found needle and thread, then cut a section of her quilt. The quilt itself was patchwork, and the portion she\'d decided to use as a patch was rusty orange with tiny blue flowers. It added color to her otherwise drab outfit.

She stood and hooked her thumbs in the tops of her front pockets, tilting her head to look at Indie and then William as they spoke. Something like a smile caused her full lips to twitch. "I need clothes," she corrected. "I have tried to find women my size, but..." The ones she\'d found that\'d been her height had been emaciated, their limbs twigs and not a single curve where it should be. It was strange; she knew food was abundant, but those women had not been eating. Everything she\'d tried on had been too tight.

Her only other option besides having William buy her new clothes was to make her own, and though deer and bear were plentiful in the forests, one thing she\'d never had the patience for was sewing. It\'d been enough of a trial just fixing what she had - she wasn\'t going to try make anything.

"I need boots too," she added, glancing down at her dusty feet. "When I walk through water with the ones I left at the cabin, my feet get wet." She looked up, a frown marring her face. "Then they smell."

[pinkroses]

William’s grey eyes drifted over his fledgling as she mentioned her difficulties. Yes, she was tall, and a gorgeous shape - William hadn’t really paid that much attention to women nowadays to be able to tell what the average shape and size was. He wouldn’t have thought she would care that much about whether they were women’s clothes or not though, he’d have guessed she would have just picked anyone her size, whether they be male or female.

“Very well, we’ll take you shopping, you probably know better than me what women wear nowadays,” he said with a grin across at the redhead. “And if you want you can have two pairs of boots, so if you go hiking through rivers you can let one pair dry properly before wearing them again,” Will offered, trying not to let himself chuckle at the look of indignation on her face at the thought of having smelly feet.

[Existentially Odd]

From the moment she\'d hooked thumbs through her jeans to talking about her boots, Indie had been looking her over speculatively. The awareness he\'d had - of her as an attractive woman, as opposed to just \'Will\'s fledgling bitch\' - was released to his conscious mind at that moment, inappropriately making him think about how hard it was for her to find clothes because of what was underneath the current ones. What would be beneath any set of clothes she found.  And how hard it was.  Female vampires weren\'t all that common around here.
 
When Will spoke and drew his attention, he instinctively looked back at his friend, giving a derisive little smirk and snort and unaware that his appreciation for Anna\'s form was in his eyes, the subtle slouch of his body that thrust his pelvis infinitesimally towards her, the expression his mouth held when the smirk for Will died away and left him honest. Honestly appreciative. Not that it was intentional or that he was going to do anything about it, of course; it was just one of those habits of his. See a hot woman, work out how to fuck her and move on.
 
The look of innuendo was gone as quickly as it came as another thought arrived to cause him to frown. "What? Now? Pack up and go now?" There was reluctance in his voice, though it was more wary than angry. It said that he wouldn\'t be furious if she insisted they pack up but that he would regret it if they did it so soon. They\'d barely begun taking their chances for a night filled with rapid descents when he\'d gone and opened his mouth, causing them to have to pack up. He hadn\'t meant now.  His expression resembled that of a hopeful puppy\'s as he gazed at Will for the decisive answer.

[Saccharin]

Brief as the look was, she caught it as Indie cast it her way. Frustratingly, the only response she felt she could get away with was to raise a disapproving eyebrow at the redhead. Her sire, for whatever reason, was fond of Indie, and he hadn\'t appreciated her complaints about him earlier. Being rebuked in front of a witness wasn\'t something she wanted to experience again, so she kept further comments to herself. It rankled, to be sure, but she managed with nothing more of her displeasure showing except for in her eyes.

"I still need to go to the tree," she said, removing a hand from a pocket to wave vaguely in the direction of the park.

She was in desperate need of the calming aura the giant oak surrounded her with while she sat in its branches. If William agreed, she\'d be off without another word.

[pinkroses]

“No, of course not now,” Will replied sharply with a glance between the two younger vampires, a frown on his face. He had no idea why Anna was looking so pissy with Indie about now, and he didn’t want to disturb their evening’s plans, although his fledgling intruding had already done that. Despite joking about Indie knowing more about women’s clothes, he still didn’t really feel comfortable having him around when he was with Anna. William didn’t want her feeling uncomfortable with someone else there, or to have Indie witness any blow ups they might have.

And he definitely didn’t want him getting the idea that having a fledgling would be a brilliant plan.

William blinked in surprise as Anna said she needed to go to The Tree. What tree? That tree she’d been hanging around near in the park? It was a fucking tree, they were surrounded by them. But it would mean no shopping tonight and he and Indie could carry on abseiling in peace.

“Okay, well… I’ll come find you tomorrow night then? And we’ll go get the things you need,” he said, deciding some sort of vague plan might be in order. He took her silence as agreement as she headed off and then turned back to Indie, lifting a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“This is going to be Hell,” he said quietly once he felt her disappear. “I have no idea why it sounded like a good plan for a few seconds then.”

[Existentially Odd]

The redhead watched his companion with a quirked eyebrow, almost mimicking the expression he\'d received from the now-absent bitch just for contemplating her in clothes.  "Fuck you can be dramatic," he intoned drolly, observing Will\'s little display.

"How will shopping be Hell?  We\'ll walk into a few shops, get to watch her model some... new outfits and then drop her back home all happy with her new shit," he declared mildly, resisting the urge to say \'sexy\' instead of \'new\' (with a minor hesitation that may have given away his shift from the offensive to the subtle) so that Will wouldn\'t get shitty.

He wasn\'t sure he was actually invited on this little trip - Will had said \'I\', not \'we\' - but it was his unobtrusive way of putting forth the notion that he could be there for moral support.  And to watch them.  It wasn\'t like he\'d seen enough tonight but he figured the ice was broken, Anna was met now, surely he could be included in future plans?  What did it matter?

[pinkroses]

“She’s my blood, I have every right to be dramatic,” Will muttered, scowling at his friend, but the annoyed look faded slightly as Indie invited himself along. Will didn’t think Indie coming would help anything, in fact it would make everything more difficult, but Will didn’t want Indie getting upset at not being allowed to come. So how was this supposed to work?

“She’s going to be nitpicking over everything, complaining about the clothes, the people, how everything works. It’s not going to be fun at all. It would be easier to just pick her up stuff and leave it at her house but…”

But despite knowing how difficult it was going to be Will still wanted time with her alone. To do this for her, with her.

“I still need to spend time with her, with just us. We can do something far more fun afterwards,” Will said, ending on an upbeat note although he guessed the response he was about to get would be no where near as cheerful.

[Existentially Odd]

Predictably, Indie\'s jaw jutted stubbornly and the look he gave Will bordered on mutinous.  "I\'ve met her now, why can\'t I come along?  I\'ll keep my mouth shut and just watch," he wheedled, attempting to look a little cute and batt his eyelahes at his friend.

He didn\'t understand what a big fucking deal it was that he and Anna be kept apart - especially now they\'d accidentally met and no-one had thrown anything beyond a few dirty looks and maybe some harsh words.  At the back of his mind he also began to contemplate just how badly he wanted to go on this shopping trip and what he had that he could bribe Will with.  A few things came to mind, all of them involving something sexual he\'d not been prepared to even contemplate.

Until now, when want outweighed pride and preference.  "I\'ll owe you... " he said alluringly, his face wavering hopefully before Will\'s.  Best to start off vague and see where it got him, he thought.

[pinkroses]

“You’ve never been able to keep your mouth shut in your life,” Will muttered, rolling his eyes at the cutesy look Indie was trying on him, but he paused as the redhead mentioned owing him. And what could that entail exactly? If Indie was hinting at anything sexual, which it was tempting to believe he might be, then… what? Will would get him because Indie owed him a favour? That wasn’t how Will wanted their relationship to go, sex wasn’t about that, not when it came to them. And there was nothing else Will wanted from him.

Besides, if he did take the route that Indie meant sex, the red head could easily turn around and deny it when it came to it.

“We’ve been through this. I want to get to know her properly again, and I can’t do that when you’re there. She’ll feel uncomfortable, and I don’t want you judging every little move I make with her,” he said firmly, folding his arms across his chest as he gave Indie a look that was every bit as stubborn as the one he was receiving.

“Now, like I said, I can just go and we can do something fun together afterwards and sometime I’ll be happier about us all hanging out, but I’m not yet so just… leave it.”

[Existentially Odd]

There was a surprising amount of disappointment mixed in with the relief he was suddenly feeling and it confused him; was he looking for excuses with Will?  That was just stupid... though it was pretty much how things had eventually gone with Reed.  Fuck.

He gave a dramatic sigh of his own, rolling his eyes and overcompensating for his awkward thoughts by throwing an arm around Will\'s shoulders and marching him towards the path that would take them back up.  "Fiiiine," he answered in a beleaguered manner, "take her shopping on your own.  But buy her something pretty and say it\'s from me," he declared with a lecherous grin and waggling eyebrows.

Weird how he wasn\'t picturing that, though.