I Wanna Get Better

[pentagrandma]

“It’s okay,” Ash offered in the wake of Dreki’s apology, willing the smile she’d let accompany her words to color her tone. She’d turned to take in everything around them once again, so that she might describe them to him - after all, she’d done similar at the museum during their first meeting - but found herself unable to decide where to start. Before she could complete her silent game of eenie-meenie, they’d been interrupted very abruptly by a questioning man.

She looked toward Dreki, expression one of mingled perplexity and defensiveness on his behalf. Was it customary to ask what someone was? She had assumed it something to be considered bad manners. Like asking a person where they’re really from when what you actually want to know is what their ethnicity is. He’d responded, though, so it must not have been as much of a faux pas as she’d thought it’d be.

Her focus flitted toward the newcomer, eyes widened. Full angel? He looked... normal. Human. But if Dreki had hazarded a guess like that, there must have been a reason. She was too busy (very impolitely) staring at him to pay any mind to Sam’s attention-seeking.

[Ehcorn]

Part angel? Remi’s eyes narrowed in thought. There were only angels, angels that had fallen, and angels that had allowed darkness into their souls to regain some remnant of the power they’d once had. He couldn’t ignore what was right in front of him, though. His aura — the cloud of color he could see around every creature if he turned his eye to it — was mixed, angelic glimmers of silver and gold on a background of white were interrupted by more neutral, human tones. It was as inexplicable as the lack of wings on a being who’d readily recognized Remi for what he was despite the magic hiding him. Usually, that was something only those from or formally of his world could do.

Vretil would know what was going on. The next time he was summoned home, he’d seek out the scribe and record keeper. Until then, he would continue with his mission and integrate himself by making friends with the locals. The first step to establishing any sort of connection, he knew, was sharing something about himself. He opened his mouth to give warm confirmation that yes, he was an angel, but the vampire moved into his space and Remi looked at him quizzically.

He’d called him something before that, hadn’t he? A name. Gene. Remi shook his head and took a step back. He didn’t want to be rude, but most of his experiences with vampires that wore anticipatory expressions like the one aimed at him were roughly five seconds away from trying to gnaw on him. No matter how good looking the vampire was, Remi didn’t fancy having to fend off any feeding attempts before he got a chance to find what he’d come to the carnival for.

“I don’t believe we’ve met before. I’m Remi,” he said, correcting the vampire with a smile to show there were no hard feelings about being misidentified.

His attention was drawn next by the overt shifting of the human's aura from excitement to disapproval and finally, to as much curiosity as he’d felt when he’d approached the group. She was a projector, that one, easy to read without any real effort. His smile grew. She couldn’t see or sense what he was in the same way the vampire and the oddity could.

Mindful of the warning he’d received from the security guard, he dropped his glamor, but only to reveal his wings for one… two… and on three, they’d dematerialized again.

He winked at the girl, then reached into his pocket for his flyer. “Ah, here,” he said, pointing to a line in a long list of amenities offered at the carnival. “Cotton candy. I want to try some.”

Remi scanned the group, eyebrows raised hopefully. “Do you know where it is?”

[Maxpphire]

To him, the wings had never appeared or disappeared, they were just there. He wondered if he should allow his wings out at all given how this was his first time interacting with what he had been augmented with. He became distracted from his own thoughts as Sam called out a name, as if he knew the angel. His anxiety spiked for a moment until Remi had introduced himself proper to Sam. It did raise the question on who Gene even was, and how many more Angelic beings did Sam know? Was Gene just a friend or something more? Given how Sam approached Remi, did he have a thing for Angels? If so, would Sam abandon him for Remi now having met him? He was already in a shaky mental state, and thus his thoughts spiraled in ways he didn't want it to. After seeing Remi back away from a very eager Sam he did feel a bit better and tried to push it all out of his mind.

"The cotton candy would be with the rest of the food booths, give me a moment," he responded to Remi after being snapped out of his thoughts by the question. He figured since he couldn't see the map anyway, that this would be quite the time to show off his wings. He allowed them to become visible, which he realized he never had done in front of Sam before, only in front of Ash. He flew up not very far above them and scanned around the carnival, and once he found the food court section he came back down gently.

"It's over there, with the rest of the food," he pointed in the direction it was in, and wondered if Remi would go alone or request the group of them to follow. He left his wings out as he thought Remi was doing the same. He also figured it might give Ash a chance to really see his wings without being in a scary situation, and realized this would be Sam's first time seeing his wings. It had just never come up before between them, in fact, nothing about Dreki's angelic abilities had come up around Sam before. He knew Sam to be somewhat a of scholar, and assumed he had been glued to his phone taking notes before Remi had showed up. That played to his insecurities a bit, because what if Sam just didn't care? It didn't seem like Sam to not want to learn about something, but he remembered that his past got in the way the first time, when they had originally started to see each other. Maybe it was that same past that Sam didn't want to really know what he could do? He felt conflicted on whether or not he should even leave his wings out anymore.

[Existentially Odd]

Samuel was boggled. Baffled. Thoroughly perplexed and crestfallen. Not Gene... but Remi? He stumbled back the step he'd taken, falling into line with Dreki once more, a frown marring his forehead. How could it be? It was Gene's face, his body... but then there were wings. They were definitely new. He recalled a conversation with Gene and Dom, years ago now, about how Gene had saved Dom's life when he'd been electrocuted. Like a healing angel might've. So... this had to be Gene, right? Just...

He was distracted by a large thwoomp of rushing air and turned to see Dreki above them all. In his confusion, Sam had forgotten about him... but now he had wings, too??! Sam stared at Dreki in shock, examining his white wings, his mouth sagging open as the surprises stacked up and connived to steal his sanity. What in all the green lands of Earth was going on? He was surrounded by angels? Angels... he'd had a thing with, both of them. Oh, man, really?

Sam closed his mouth and just listened, reeling from all of this and too stupefied to say much of anything else just yet.

[pentagrandma]

When the angel - Remi - turned that wide smile on Ash, and subsequently revealed a magnificent set of luminous wings, she went from curious regard to gawking outright. Holy shit! They were beautiful! Like Dreki’s, but so much more. Once they were gone, she found herself mourning their absence. Still, she smiled all the same. Had he done that for her benefit? His wink gave her cause to suspect that he had, and she decided she liked him for it.

... And he wanted to try cotton candy? A-DOR-A-BLE!

“Actually, we were just--” walking that way. Her train of thought was cut short as Dreki took to air with a few powerful beats of his own shimmering set of wings. Ash marveled up at him in the air - and when he touched back down a moment later, indicating with a pointed finger where the food would be, she marveled at him still. She wanted to reach out and feel his wings beneath her fingertips but didn’t think it the time nor the place. Later, she would ask him.

Rather than continue her previous statement, she chose to wait. After all, if Dreki hadn't invited him to join them from the get, perhaps he hadn't wanted the other angel along.

[Ehcorn]

Since reading about cotton candy, he’d been fixated on finding it so he could touch and taste it himself. Was it made of sweet cotton? He wasn’t certain humans ate cotton, but if they did, he wanted to try it, too. But Remi was torn. The three in front of him had been willing to stop and speak without yelling obscenities like the guard earlier. He wanted to talk with them more, discover their names and learn of their origins, but as he stood there with his flyer still in hand, his smile wavered.

The girl’s aura had been bright with happiness and wonderment after the display of wings, but now it dimmed and shifted uncertainly as she regarded the half-angel. Remi tilted his head as he looked at the blonde's mixed auras; they were muddied, twisting and chasing themselves, tumbling around miserably. It hadn’t been that way when he’d observed them from afar. Remi couldn’t read the last aura — the vampire's. All he could see were dark shades of red shimmering around him. That didn't prevent him from seeing something of dismay in his expression, though.

Remi shuttered his inner eye and the auras faded from his sight.

No, it was better if he left them to continue on their way. He was certain he’d find plenty of other people to talk with after he’d followed the directions he’d received.

“Thanks for your help. I should be able to find it on my own now,” he said, dipping his head briefly in gratitude before he straightened and smiled at them all in kind. “Enjoy the rest of your night.”

And with that, he refolded his flyer, tucked it in his coat pocket, and disappeared into the crowd.

((Remi ends up here.))

[Existentially Odd]

Samuel opened his mouth to ask Gene

Remi

a question about what he'd been up to in the years they'd been separated - and how the heck those wings had come about - but he was gone before Sam could get a word out. Panic rose inside the vampire, swift and suffocating. He couldn't let Remi get away without understanding what had happened and why he didn't remember him. He couldn't let him just walk out of his life again!

He spun to face Dreki, grabbing his hand desperately in both of his in an effort to gain his immediate attention. "Dreki, I have to go after that angel," he declared adamantly, seeing no other way to maintain this tenuous link with his former friend. "I used to know him but... e-everything's different somehow. I need to understand how. I'll be back - I'll text you to find out where you are - but you two keep going without me, okay?"

His speech was rapid and filled with obvious excitement, his desperation to follow after Remi evident. Sam knew he'd be at the cotton candy stand by now but after that, who knew?  How would he possibly find him again in a city this big?  It was a miracle he'd found him here, now, tonght. He couldn't let this opportunity escape him. Rethinking his actions, Sam stopped pulling away from Dreki long enough to move forward again and press a kiss to his lips. "I'll find you, okay?" he promised, following through on his intention and pulling his hands away from Dreki's.

He would wait for the mortal angel's agreement and then he would leave as well.

[Maxpphire]

When Remi announced his thanks and left, it was far too fast for Dreki to even stop him. He had so many questions for the Angel himself that even he wanted to follow after him. He was about to ask Sam on who Gene was but Sam started to speak instead. He felt his worry grow as Sam seemed so adamant that he go and figure out what happened, having lightly squeezed Sam's hand a bit tighter not really wanting him to go, at least, until he was kissed. It was a pleasant surprise, a small blush across his face, and his heart beat quickened with it.

"We were heading in that way anyway, remember? I want to find him again too, I've never had a chance to interact with what I was augmented with before and have questions of my own," he explained letting Sam know how he felt about Remi leaving, "but you go on ahead of us, Gene I'm assuming was a friend of some kind? I can understand if there are things you want to ask him without me around." He mentioned knowing that friend time was important, he couldn't be hanging out at Sam's hip the entire time anyway. It would also give him and Ash some alone friend time as well. He had more questions in regards to who Gene was but figured he would learn in time.

[Existentially Odd]

Sam danced on the spot, impatient to be gone but also wanting to hear Dreki out. The man talked far too much; didn't he understand how tenuous the situation was?? Finally, he gave Sam the permission he sought.

With a gleeful giggle, Samuel reached forward and squeezed Dreki's hand again, briefly. "Thanks. Bye for now, Ash!" he added, belatedly addressing the woman beside Dreki. He bestowed a grin and a wave upon her. "I'll see you again soon!" he cried, then disappeared into the crowd instantly, invoking his celerity to reach his destination as fast as vampiricly possible.

Tangent thread: Intermission

[pentagrandma]

Aislin frowned as her focus flitted back to where the angel stood, only to find he had already merged into the crowd. Before she had a chance to decide how she felt about his disappearance - disappointment? - her attention was drawn to Sam as he swiveled toward Dreki to seized his hands and blurt a frantic plea. She looked away when they kissed, feeling as though she was intruding upon a private moment. Seemed she’d been right about the measure of significance Sam held for Dreki.

“Bye,” she offered in parting response, alongside a smile and wave of her own. Once he was gone - quite literally in a flash - it took Ash a moment to recover from the bafflement his speedy departure had induced. Whoa.

After a short pause, she resumed her smile and turned it on Dreki - forgetting his inability to perceive it. “He seems nice,” she said, sincerity coloring her tone.

[Maxpphire]

He watched Sam leave as some worry set in. Just who was Gene to Sam for him to want to leave that quickly. Sam did say he would be back, but just when, and how much time would Sam even have left? Would it be enjoy for them to even enjoy the carnival with him, or would it just be for the last 5 minutes he was allowed his break?

He felt wildly insecure about this all, but wanted Sam to be happy. His insecurity would probably be too heavy for Sam right now, they only just started to talk to each other again tonight. Not to mention he actually has no clue who Gene actually is to Sam. What if he was just a friend and his mood was just making his thoughts worse. He took a quiet deep breathe to try and relax.

"Yeah," he responded to Ash, uncertainty colored his tone as he wasn't really sure. He wasn't sure about a lot of stuff. Sam had abandoned him when he needed the emotional support the most, but at the same time, took care of him in the midst of a panic attack. He had tried to rectify the situation and keep Sam safe, and yet Sam still rejected him, but at the same time, Sam made it so he could read actual books for a change. Sam always tried to help Dreki out, so much so to the point of it being unnecessary and smothering.

For all the good Sam had done, he had done equally not good. The sex had always been fantastic, but he's had enough experience under his belt that he can at least most of those situations 'good' at the very least when he has generic one night stands that, that alone wasn't enough. He really hoped that he'd get a chance to get to know Sam better this time around, and see the good parts he hasn't seen yet, and hoped that even if more flaws were to follow that it didn't keep up with the same rates as the good parts.

"Let me know if you want to stop somewhere while we make our way to the food booths." He said and started to walk with her again, wondering if she would be more intent on walking around and taking in the sights, or talking. Either way he was fine, and for now, he left his wings out. He didn't feel a need to really put them away just yet.

[pentagrandma]

“Sure,” Ash replied, falling into step once more at Dreki’s side. As quiet befell them for the second time that evening, she began to steal a multitude of furtive glances his way - toward his wings and their soft-seeming feathers. She wondered if now would be a good time to ask to touch, or if doing so in public would be considered in bad taste. After a time, she built up the courage to ask.

... “Hey, Dreki? Would it be okay for me to touch your wings? If not now, then another time? You can totally say no!”

[Maxpphire]

"Oh, yeah you're more than welcome to," he said with a slightly happier smile, trusting her to do so. He stopped walking, so that way she had a chance to explore his wings a bit beyond just touching them.

"They are a bit sensitive to pain, so if you are wearing any rings or bracelets and they get caught in my feathers, be careful about untangling them." He warned figuring that she wouldn't try to pull out one of his feathers on purpose anyway.

[pentagrandma]

Aislin clapped her hands together in blithe supplication, likewise halting her stride. “I’ll be gentle,” she promised, heeding his request by way of pushing her bracelets as far up her forearm as she could manage - beneath her jacket sleeve.

After moving to stand at his back, she tentatively reached forward to graze her fingertips along the crest of one wing. Emboldened by that first touch, her other hand rose soon after to participate in its own simultaneous smoothing of feathers. She’d never touched anything so soft; not even velvet or silk could compare. “Wow,” she breathed after a time, withdrawing her hands with some reluctance. Her fingertips curled in toward her palms, as though they might capture that lost sensation within their confines. They couldn’t.

... “I thought they’d feel like bird’s feathers, but they don’t. What do they feel like, to you?”

[Maxpphire]

"Almost like cashmere but somehow softer?" He said thinking about it as he reached back and touched one of his wings. "It's interesting because I've never really felt anything like it before. When I first got augmented they used to hurt, they don't anymore and it feels more natural to have them now." He mentioned explaining a bit more of his past to Ash.

"I wonder if the feathers molt or not." He thought outloud as he was now thinking about the logistics of taking the fibers off the feathers and making cloth out of them. What an absurd idea, but it would make the best blanket or sweater. He honestly wish it wasn't that absurd of an idea.