fandomtownies | The Devil's Nest, Sunday Night

Okay, so, Sparkle had said he'd be here. Sure, he'd been under the influence of the whatever-it-was back at Caritas last night, but he'd said he would be here, and he hated to, you know... not be. Especially since Eric seemed pretty cool, and even if there had been air vent something or others going on, Sparkle didn't want to... burn bridges?

Something like that, anyway. So he was walking in and looking around and if he looked a little curious as to how this was going to pan out... well...

He turned a little grin in Eric's direction as he approached the VIP section. It was a little bit less shameless than it had been last night, and a fair bit more tentative. Even he wasn't sure how he wanted this one to pan out, really. Preferably not in crushing rejection, maybe, but if Eric turned out to be thinking better of last night's date, he'd cope. He usually did.

"Sparkle," Eric said, toasting him with his glass. "I wasn't certain you'd stop by."

Not that most people survived not showing up to an appointment with Eric, but he'd gotten more lax about it when they didn't know they were meeting a vampire sheriff.

"Well, I did say I would," Sparkle replied, shrugging his shoulders and giving a nod. "I'm not even going to pretend my manners are great, but I do have that much down."

All that positive reinforcement that people kept giving him on the island over the years was more or less paying off.

... Maybe less, actually, given the whole mess he'd left behind in Toronto.

"You seemed pretty cool. I mean, like, even ignoring whatever weird stuff was happening last night. I didn't want to just, like, not bother."

Eric inclined his head. "I appreciate it. Would you like a drink? Tiny does a pretty decent Bloody Mary."

You know, sooner or later, Sparkle would catch on to the 'vampire' bit. Especially if Eric kept slipping in things like that so very shamelessly.

In the meantime, the narrative was going to just sit back with popcorn and cackle.

"Hey, sure," he replied, because he still hadn't quite reached that point yet, himself. "I'm not usually big on cocktails, but if they come highly recommended... Thanks." He tilted his head a little. "So, this place is yours, huh?"

Eric nodded, then waved Tiny over with Sparkle's drink. "For the last few years now. I have another club in Louisiana, so I travel back and forth quite a bit."

By flying. Because he could do that.

See, most people that Sparkle knew who could fly at least owned spaceships. Just, like, flying was new.

"Okay, that's pretty cool," he decided, feeling a bit more comfortable as he accepted the drink from Tiny with a nod. "Louisiana, huh? What's that like? Pretty different from Fandom, I'm guessing, but all I really know about it is stuff I've seen on TV, and most TV is, you know, kind of suspect."

It could not possibly all be jambalaya and gators, okay?

"It's unreasonably humid," Eric said, "and currently full of drunken college students down for Mardi Gras. We've doubled the prices for drinks at Fangtasia, half as punishment to people for not knowing the real party's in New Orleans and not Shreveport."

Edited 2016-02-08 12:53 (UTC)

Okay, for that, Sparkle really did have to laugh.

"I guess if they're too stupid to find the party and pay double in order to do it, they probably have it coming," he decided. And then paused and tilted his head curiously. "Fangtasia, huh? You've got a bit of a theme going?"

Said the guy who worked at a place that was called Demon Marcus because it used to be owned by an actual demon. Sparkle. Sparkle, come on.

Eric nodded. "It's a vampire bar. Vampires are very trendy still, back home. We didn't have the werewolf pop culture phase there." He made a little face. Ugh, werewolves.

Except Jack. Jack was all right.

"I'm really not sure what it is people see in werewolves," Sparkle confided. "But then, I'm not really a dog person anyway."

There was a pause, and then, because Sparkle sometimes actually remembered that he was on the island, he added, "So, when you say vampire bar, do you mean literary, or literal?"

Just checking.

"Oh, literal," Eric said. "You don't have to be one to come in, of course. Gives the tourists a thrill to brush up against the supernatural."

Sparkle... really should have seen that coming. He took a moment to kind of focus very strongly on the flavour of his drink, ignoring that few moments of his heart thumping right in his ears. It was okay. Like. Not all vampires were that vampire, from back in the maze. And he doubted the Devil's Nest would be around the island for long if people were having their throats torn out with pointy teeth here every night or something.

"So, like, people become a tourist attraction. I guess if it's good for business, the vampires don't mind so much, huh?"

Casual, Sparkle. Super casual.

"We keep the drinks strong, and there are enough fangbangers among the tourists to keep the vampires interested, though there's a strict no-feeding policy in the bar," Eric said casually. "Liability insurance would go through the roof, you understand."

"A fangbanger is, like, exactly what it sounds like, isn't it?" Sparkle had to check. This had gone from mildly terrifying to kind of interesting again in about three seconds flat. "Oh god, people go to the bar hoping they're gonna get picked up, don't they?"

Just, like, not necessarily picked up for sex. Or maybe for both.

Yeah, the morbid fascination was taking place of the brief spike of fear now, and Sparkle was leaning forward, curious.

Eric nodded, smirking slightly as he leaned in, too. "No shame in it."

"No shame for the shameless," Sparkle replied, smirking. "Somebody must think there is, with a name like 'fangbangers,' though."

This was less a complaint, and more an observation.

"But I'm guessing those are the sorts of people who'll find something to shame in just about anything."

"Oh, the evangelicals lost their minds when vampires came out of the coffin and were allowed to mingle in regular society," Eric said, sipping his drink.

"Oh my god out of the coffin," Sparkle cackled, and it was clear he'd be clapping his hands in amusement if he wasn't holding on to his drink, now. "I only came out of a closet. That's amazing."

... So, some vampires were way cooler than others. Or at the very least they had a sense of humour about themselves. That was good to have established, anyway.

"But seriously, some of those bible-thumping types. It seems like they're just not happy unless they have someone to pretend to be superior to. Ugh."

"Oh, they're absolutely the worst," Eric agreed. "They hate it when some of the older vampires talk about meeting Jesus."

You were making Sparkle's night here, Eric. Making. His. Night.

"You'd think they'd be happy the older vampires are giving the atheists something to reconsider," he mused. "Unless they have, like, scandalous stories about wild parties and a bit too much miracle wine."

A beat.

"Please tell me there are scandalous stories about Jesus and miracle wine."

Sparkle.

Eric winked. "Of course there are. They are all slightly before my time, though. My maker was alive but in the wrong part of the world to verify anything."

Sparkle was beginning to come to the conclusion that most vampires actually weren't like that one horrible one that had turned him that one time. The multiverse was a big place, huh?

"God, I'd love to hear some of those stories. See what has people so up in arms. I live for that kind of thing." For getting people up in arms. Not necessarily the bible stuff. He gave Eric a curious smile. "How about you? What have you seen?"

"Well, I've been around for a thousand years," Eric said with a little smirk. "There's not much I haven't seen."

"A thousand?"

Okay, Sparkle needed processing time again. Which you'd think he'd be over by now, considering his penchant for kissing billionaires and emperors, lately.

He'd always been attracted to older men, but this was a first, okay?

"You really are full of surprises, aren't you?"

Well, after the age difference is more than a few centuries, it doesn't really matter any longer. Or at least that was Eric's philosophy.

He winked. "Always. Vampires without an air of mystery are fairly useless."

"And 'useless' is definitely not an adjective I would use to describe you," Sparkle mused. "Basically ever."

And really, even useless people had their uses. You just had to get creative.

"Good," Eric said. "I have many, many talents."

Stop smirking like that, Eric.

But it was a really attractive smirk. It certainly caught Sparkle's attention, anyway.

"Oh yeah?" Sparkle leaned forward a little, smirking right on back. "Care to share a few? Or are you hell-bent on preserving your mystique?"

Sparkle was the best at great life choices.

Eric leaned in and whispered a few suggestions into Sparkle's ear.

A thousand years of sex gave you a lot of talents. And no shame at all.

Sparkle's eyes widened a little at that. And then he was grinning.

He was grinning a lot.

"You know, on a list of excellent talents to have..."

He was doing that 'licking his lips and leering' thing again. Because this seemed like an excellent time to do both.

"Well, after a thousand years, you learn what you like to do," Eric said, smiling back. "And to who."

"And that thing you just said... Is there anybody in particular you'd like to do that to?"

Sparkle was subtle in the same way a brick to the face was subtle, really.

Eric leaned in to kiss him.

He was just as subtle.

The Devil's Nest, Sunday Night

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