Electric Feel

[Existentially Odd]

Samuel got an answer he was in no way prepared for. He pulled back sharply and winced when his head contacted the book case behind him. It didn't hurt, his reaction was from shock, not pain. The sensation of being in Dreki's head still enshrouded him; it was dark and isolated and left him feeling cold all the way through. What the hell was going on here? And why was he being shown a little girl?

Your usual invader? Altered DNA? How? he queried, astounded.

Who was altering DNA successfully? And how did they get hold of Angel DNA in the first place? His heart went cold as he connected Dreki's scent with Gene's and thought about how Gene's number hadn't connected when Samuel had got back into town and tried to call him. Could something have happened to Gene? Something to do with Dreki?

[Maxpphire]

'Are you ok?' He had first asked noticing Samuel's reaction to when he first popped in, a little worried and not exactly sure to make of such a reaction, then he heard Samuel's questions. He figured that he was likely ok and that hitting the bookcase didn't hurt too much. He wasn't even aware that he was giving off images of Emma. She is 19 now but it's hard for him to see her as an adult given her mental age of like 4-5.

'Oh, my doctor keeps an ear out for me usually right after any visits or if he wants something out of me. His presence gives me a headache so knowing when he is around or not is kind of easy. Also I'm not sure how exactly, it happened 10 years ago and I remember being very sick for a few months, but my memory of those few months is really fuzzy. It wasn't pleasant.' He was actually kind of worried that after the last time he saw Dr. Hofflan, that he did something to make Dreki even more angel like. He had gotten ill for a short while after his last appointment and even learned that he had powers that were new to him anyway. He had a few concerns and regrets about having agreed to do such a thing, but in the back of his mind he knew that he would have been forced to do it he hadn't willingly agreed to it. Who knows what his fate would have been then, he probably wouldn't be as free as he had been allowed to be thus far.

[Existentially Odd]

A doctor did this to you? What sort of doctor is he? Is he a vampire? Where did this even happen?

Samuel was stunned that Dreki's thoughts were so calm. He supposed the mortal had dealt with it for ten years but that didn't make it any easier for Samuel to wrap his mind around the story. There was so much more to this guy than just smelling good. What had this fucking city come to? How had Samuel never heard anything about this when he worked at the Oligarchy?

He was getting sick of all these questions, he anticipated Dreki's patience with him asking them would be growing thin also. He'd apologise soon... once he got some answers to satisfy his ravenous curiosity. Just a few more...

[Maxpphire]

'At a facility of some kind. I don't know the answers to the rest.' His answers in tone grew a bit cold with a hint of sadness behind them. He was taken sightly aback by Sam's reaction, as he wasn't expecting it to be so intense. Of course he didn't speak about this to everyone, but the one person he did tell beyond Sam seemed much more calm about it all. He did speak the truth but part of him wanted to cry now. His heart rate raised a bit now out of feeling pretty anxious and upset. He hid that he felt that way physically, but mentally, it was harder for him to hide it.

Flashes of his time at the facility passed though. None of the flashes seemed particularly happy. 'How is it that you still can't fight? We've been training you for months!/Hrm a fever of 110, never seen anyone fight through being so warm, I wonder if he'll even make it. It would be a shame if he didn't./What do you mean you don't want to do this anymore? How do you think Emma would take that news?' Were the major flashes that passed through in his mind, he didn't even mean to show to Sam. The hint of sadness that accompanied his current shift mood was a very deep and vast sadness. Almost as if he had little will to live. Of course he'd never do anything with Emma still alive as he didn't want to cause her pain, but there seemed to be quite a lot of pain hiding under his usually cheerful demeanor.

[Existentially Odd]

Dreki's sadness permeated Samuel's emotions, compounded by the painful memories that flashed at him like so many awful movie moments. When told Dreki couldn't answer anymore, he felt awful for pressing him. He only wanted to help the youngling, but it seemed he didn't know enough for that to happen. All that was left was to comfort the mortal.

"May I give you a hug?" he asked quietly. "I wish I could help you more but... that's all I can offer right now." If given an affirmative answer, he would lean in and wrap his arms around Dreki gently, resting his cheek against the blond's.

[Maxpphire]

"Sure." He spoke in a much more even and calm tone. He didn't verbally sound sad. When Sam went in for the hug he hugged back with a decent grip, part of him wanted to cry but he didn't. He just didn't have any more tears left to cry at this point, after all, this was the life he choose for himself. Something about the embrace was comforting to him however, and he didn't want to quite let go.

"Sorry I don't know much about the place itself." He said while still in the embrace. "I wasn't expecting you to react as intensely as you did. I gave one other person similar information and they were calm about it. I guess, it's not really a thing to be calm over, is it?" He hypothetically asked starting to realize each passing day just how much shit he was in with this place. They had him by the neck and there was not much he could do about it. He wanted to be free, he knew he would never be fully mortal again and that didn't bother him, he just wanted to not be in their grasp anymore.

[Existentially Odd]

"S-sorry again," Samuel apologised, feeling emotional enough that his stutter made a minor appearance. He pulled back so that he could look at Dreki while he spoke but he didn't completely let go of him. His hands trailed across Dreki's shoulders, down along his arms and to his hands. He held them gently in his, mostly in Dreki's lap, toying with the warm fingers as he spoke, his head tilted toward the hybrid and watching him from beneath his brows.

"It's... definitely intense. I dunno' how anybody could hear your story and be calm about it. Unless they're into slavery, of course, because that sounds like what you're going through with this facility place. Were you willing? At the start? You, uh," he glanced around again because they were speaking aloud but he felt he'd pushed too hard when he was in the youngling's mind, so he didn't want to go back to that. There was no-one nearby, they were alone. "You wanted to have Angel blood? Or was it forced on you?"

[Maxpphire]

"I choose the angel blood, but I was 16 at the time. I wanted to see, they promised me that, but at such a price it isn't quite worth it." He explained a little bit. "My parents died when I was 16, after the first foster home I was put in didn't work out, they found out about me and adopted me, and the little girl I met in that home on the spot. I think the choice was more of a facade and if I didn't agree to it then they would have just choose something for me. They tried to train me a bit both before and after so I'd be useful to them, and for a while I didn't think any of us thought I was. Apparently the last time I saw my doctor, I think he altered me a bit further. I had a lapse of memory, a run in with the law and the facility saw something in that event during my memory lapse." He seemed worried about it, but he spoke quietly. He only mentioned his parents death because he didn't want Sam to blame them for something that wasn't their fault. He spoke how he truly felt about his situation.

"I'd like to be free but right now it just isn't possible. That girl that was adopted with me is someone whom I grew to see as a sister before the facility adopted us both and is being held over my head. She is mentally a toddler but a sweet child who doesn't deserve any harm that she had received in the past, let alone, them doing anything to her. With her living there, I am stuck like this." This was the first time his sadness shown in his voice during this whole conversation. It was her he was worried about. He played around a bit with the vampire's hands a bit too. The cooling sensation on his skin felt nice, almost like a cool breeze during the summer. He sighed and went back to a more cheery demeanor.

"Thank you for listening, I've never quite talked about all of that before. Not even to that other person. I guess it's a way to protect her and whoever else I speak with. I feel relaxed with you, I normally don't talk about this, but, it felt nice to for once." He smiled and nice warm and welcoming smile. He was thankful and at the same time not sure why he told Sam all of this, maybe he knew Sam would find out somehow anyway. He felt he could trust Sam, even if they had just met. He wanted to get to know Sam better as he never felt this way around anyone before, it was even different from how he felt around Drew. He hoped that whenever they finish talking that they continue to stay on touch at least.

[Existentially Odd]

That explained the image of the girl he'd seen. Knowing all this happened to a babe of sixteen only made him feel worse for the trapped man Dreki had become. What sort of life was he living? Taken to a facility from a foster home after he was orphaned and now they were using his only attachment in the world against him, to control him? What a terribly lonely life he must have.

That thought was only reinforced when he was told he didn't usually share his story with others. He wouldn't either, in Dreki's place. Samuel leant his head back against the shelf, smiling despite himself. The intensity of their connection had blossomed only because he'd been driven to investigate the scent of an angel and a connection had been forged that he, admittedly, had forced on Dreki. He didn't regret it and from the way Dreki was playing with his fingers, he seemed to like the connection, too. Samuel hoped so.

"You're welcome," he murmured, when he was thanked for listening. "Thank you for trusting me with your story. It's... pretty unique," he said wryly, withdrawing his left hand from Dreki's lap and dropping it in his own because it was an awkward position, now that he was leaning back against the bookcase. His right hand remained, playing with Dreki's. The warmth of his hand was nice, as was the lean strength of Dreki's thigh beneath his forearm. He couldn't help but wonder whether the man would taste as sweet as he smelt but did his best to push the inappropriate thought away.

Samuel turned the conversation to a less stressful topic then, asking what it was like to teach music to mortals. Samuel watched Dreki's face light up as he talked, the way his hands moved and he smiled. He barely even heard what he said, he was so interested in the way Dreki looked when he was talking about something he loved. The conversation went on, comfortable and entertaining - this was definitely the most interesting time Sam had had in the library since returning to the city. As he listened, his hand moved away from warm fingers and came to rest on Dreki's thigh, loosely grasping it. Sam stretched out his legs, his left knee raised. It swung towards Dreki as they spoke.

"So... am I keeping you from getting your CDs out and getting on with your evening?" Samuel drawled, glancing past his shoulder at the shelf Dreki was sitting in front of. He couldn't remember if the other man had chosen any or not. "Do you have somewhere important to be?" Samuel grinned. He didn't want to end their conversation but he was feeling slightly guilty at having such a good time, especially if it was at someone else's expense.

[Maxpphire]

When Sam asked about things that Dreki liked instead, he took off explaining. It seemed to be something he could do for hours and Sam would grow to know that Dreki loves learning other languages as well as playing instruments and knows several on top of that as well. The amount of information that Dreki could retain as a 28 year old was fairly impressive to most mortal standards. The sadness hidden behind his eyes had left and replace with their normal look.

"Honestly I have nothing better to do at the moment so you're not keeping me from anything. If anything I want to know more about you." He mentioned leaning against the shelf a little. "I've honestly talked enough about myself tonight, I feel a little bad about it, so give me some details about yourself." He requested as he looked towards Sam with an inviting smile. Who knows maybe this would be done better over food or something, but what can a vampire eat beyond blood anyway? He didn't want this conversation to end either and was at the very least debating on asking to meet again somehow, but felt a little nervous at the prospect of doing so. He wasn't sure why he was nervous, after all he dumped upon the poor guy his life story and it was fine.

[Existentially Odd]

Samuel chuckled, pleased that he wasn't going to lose Dreki to the night any time soon but also uncomfortable with giving details about himself. He supposed it was fair, since Dreki had shared some really intimate stuff but the potential for his companion to find something a little off about Sam was always there, lurking in the back of his mind. Best to keep some of the more sordid bits to himself.

"Well, as long as we're being honest," Samuel teased, cheekily pointing out the way the mortal/angel had used the word twice in rapid succession - making him sound a little sketchy, 'honestly'. He glanced around to see that they were still isolated before he launched into his friendliest speech about himself.

"I'm Sam and I'm a hundred and ninety-eight years old. I was sired when I was twenty-one by a woman who was truly ahead of her time. I haven't seen her in centuries. I hope she's still alive. I'll be a hundred and ninety-nine this year but I'm looking forward to seeing two hundred next year. My starsign is Libra and it's pretty accurate because I'm anal about organisational shit and I need balance in my life or it makes me cranky. I love reading and, I must confess, I know next to nothing about music," he grinned, lifting his hand off Dreki's leg to swipe it in the air between them, emphasising just how little he knew about the topic.

He'd strategically put something Dreki was passionate about last, to distract him from thinking too hard about the rest.

[Maxpphire]

He noticed at the whole poking fun at his word choice and smiled, sometimes when nervous it verbally comes out in that way. He didn't mind it, but noticed that Sam used it to segway into other facts about himself, he smiled hearing him list things off, and figured it would be best he follow suit.

"Well, I'm Dreki and I'm 28 years old. I've been told by my doctor however that I've seemed to have stopped aging when I hit 25 so who knows if that's actually a thing or apart of my angel genes. Likewise I'll be 29 this year and will celebrate being 30 when you turn 200. I'm also a Libra who is an organizational specialist, but part of that comes from me being blind. Changing things around too much makes things difficult for me to this day, because I can't read traditional text or anything I keep my kitchen in a very specific way so I know what I'm cooking and that I'm cooking it correctly. I also love reading, and I'm sure you know more about music than you realize. Do you read poetry at all?"

That last question was a bit of a stretch, Sam hasn't mentioned anything about Poetry or even referenced anything poetic, but that's usually the first place he started with anyone with any musical non-goings. Particularly if they liked reading or writing, usually in school there is always a poetry section in their English Class at some point, he didn't know how it would go over with a Nearly 200 year old being. But even he had to have heard of poetry, it was older than that.

[Existentially Odd]

Samuel laughed when Dreki started copying his style of talking about himself, finding humour in the mortal’s mimicry. He made a show of sobering up and grinning once he started listening properly, sitting up straight with his hands folded primly around each other in his lap. When the final questioned registered, he rubbed his nose self-consciously.

“Well, yeah I read poetry. I’ve even been known to write some myself,” he shrugged, embarrassed.

Writing ‘some’ was a massive understatement, considering the books he’d filled with his poems - most of it terrible, some of it worthy of not cringing at when he pulled it out into the light - and the sheer amount on his computer (he was fanatical about backing up his work). A lot of it was about Vomas and their breakup, the fall of the Oligarchy, Gene. Dreki would likely feature in one soon but Sam wasn’t about to admit that out loud.

“What’s that got to do with knowing what song’s playing on the radio and what band’s singing it?” he queried.

[Maxpphire]

"You write poetry?" He asked sounding a bit excited "You know, you're basically writing song lyrics, right? Most lyrics are in some poetic form. You don't need to know the bands of the century to know music." He smiled as he spoke, he did actually seen excited about the fact that Sam even wrote poetry. He would love to hear it and might even think of tiny little melodies for it in his mind, or on his piano if Sam was willing.

"I wouldn't mind hearing your poems sometime, and if you want, I could give them a musical backing to them" He had a pretty big smile on his face. He didn't seem to care that Sam was nearing 200 tested old. He seemed relaxed and not worried about much in the way of the world right now, until his phone went off, 'Text from Unknown number', it spoke in a robotic woman's voice, only once. His smiled faded a bit but was still there. He just recently had a doctors appointment, what else did Dr. Hofflan want from him.

[Existentially Odd]

Samuel shook his head, grinning as Dreki responded so enthusiastically to his poetry writing. He hadn’t shared it with many people and he’d had varied reactions from those he had. He’d read one to Vomas most recently but the reaction had been awkward enough that he’d ended up trying to explain the words he’d chosen until his stammer had been so strong he could barely speak. He hadn’t shared again, after that. It was always a risk, opening himself up to criticism like that.

“You are imagining far more quality than I’ve got, if you think you can put them to music!” Sam laughed but he sobered and fell quiet as a text overrode him and Dreki’s demeanour changed completely. He didn’t get the text read out - Sam supposed he’d have to put some headphones in to listen to it, otherwise the whole world would hear all his texts and private business - but it seemed like he knew who was texting, judging by his reaction. “I gather that’s not just a random telemarketer?” Sam hazarded.