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The Devil's Nest [Friday night]

It was cold, dark, and threatening to snow, which was Eric's favorite kind of weather, which was why he was in an excellent mood as he wandered down to the Devil's Nest to make sure Tiny was manning the bar to his satisfaction.

The new DJ (it was always a new DJ) looked panicked as Eric came in, stammering something about equipment malfunctions and how very sorry he was before fleeing into the night, leaving the bar listening to "If You Like Piña Coladas" --and only that song--at a volume that was just too loud to be ignorable.

"If you make piña coladas a special tonight, I will snap your neck," Eric told Tiny flatly before disappearing to his normal seat in the VIP area.

The Devil's Nest was open. And verrrrry tired of walks in the rain already.

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The way Octavia's face scrunched up suggested that she probably hadn't heard anything past 'vampire'.

There was a long pause as she looked him up and down.

Then, after another pause, she said, "You don't sparkle." bEcause, yeah. The TV was still her main window into life in this version of the world, sorry. Her voice was a little more dry when she continued. "But I didn't expect those movies to be fact-based, anyway."

"That movie is fucking stupid," Eric said. "We don't sparkle outside. We catch fire and die."

If only she'd been from a little further along in her world's timeline. She might've empathized.

"Well, my brother always says most of it's made up," she drawled. "Of course, vampires are supposed to be made up, too." But she didn't seem to be questioning iit.

"Hi," Eric said, waving. "I'm Eric. I'm a vampire. Do you want to see my fangs?"

Octavia shrugged in a 'sure, I guess' kind of way. "Maybe?"

Guess who'd never learned to be wary in these situations because her childhood had revolved around Roman and Greek myths instead of any gothic horror.

Eric bared his fangs.

"See?"

You could tell he was a very old vampire by the way he didn't lisp the "s".

The only reason Octavia leaned back a little was surprise. She was pretty sure that even with the music playing, she'd heard... a sound. "Wait, they pop out?"

Of course, right after, she was leaning in a little, her head tilting. Like she was trying to peer upwards at his fangs.

"Thought they'd be more permanent." Well, permanently out, anyway.

Edited 2019-01-20 20:48 (UTC)

"We couldn't get a lot of people to follow us into dark alleys to eat them if our fangs were out all the time," Eric said conversationally.

Octavia straightened back up from her lean. And crossed her arms - but not defensively, and not like she was about to be accusatory either. More like just settling into a pose that came naturally.

Because looking vaguely standoffish came naturally to Octavia.

"So that's really necessary?"

"Well, we have a synthetic version now that addresses the same need," Eric said. "It's why we revealed ourselves to humans." He grinned fangily. "Came out of the coffin."

Vampires loved crappy puns, Octavia! Fun fact.

Octavia would've been more aware of the crappiness if that turn of phrase hadn't fallen largely out of use over the century mankind had spent up on the Ark.

It was half surprising Octavia even knew what a coffin was, either.

So the unimpressed face she was making was probably just how her face was naturally. "Are there coffins involved?"

"Sometimes," Eric said. "Depends how old-school the vampire is feeling. I have one, but I also have a real bed."

"Noted," Octavia drawled. Mildly. Before frowning again, just a little. Confused, more than anything else. "Wait, so if you can't go outside during the day, where exactly do you live?"

Literally in your basement, Octavia. Fun fact!

"I have an apartment," Eric said. "Or I can work here, if I sleep in my office."

"Right." A beat. "And all this stops me from getting a beer how?"

"Because life is cruel, arbitrary and unfair?" Eric offered.

The little scoffing sound probably didn't count as a laugh. It was a little dry for that.

"Well I already knew that." While she was dressed half-appropriately for this time period, for once - although not for this particular environment! - all the leather she was wearing suggested a background that hadn't been all roses and puppies. Function over fashion, and all that. "So I need, what, a piece of paper to drink?"

"Yep," Eric said. "And you didn't hear it from me, but Tiny doesn't look super carefully."

"Doesn't help me right now, does it?" Octavia drawled, but it was subdued, more like admitting defeat for now than anything else.

"Nope," Eric said cheerfully. "Get a soda instead. We got in a whole ton from Japan that are all kinds of bizarre flavors."

"Soda is a bizarre flavor to me," Octavia replied without a missed beat. It wasn't much of a retort, and not entirely true since she'd been here long enough to have tried a lot of things. But it was still... Something.

Look, no one had ever claimed she was particularly witty.

She sighed. Even uncrossed her arms. "Fine. What've you got?"

"Do you want a fruit, a vegetable or pink?" Eric asked. "Pink is apparently a flavor now."

Octavia made a face, and still somehow ended up saying, "Pink is fine. It can't be worse than Cheerwine."

Which she still considered a betrayal, Magnus.

"What's in Cheerwine?" Eric asked as Tiny pushed a pink bottle of Pepsi across the counter.

Enjoy the flavor of strawberry milk soda, Octavia!

"I have no idea, I didn't ask, but it was disgusting."

Of course, she was eyeing this bottle warily too, as she picked it up. She'd run into Pepsi before, but it had never looked like that before. The careful little sniff at the opening of the bottle didn't seem to fill her with confidence, either.

But, whatever. It was only a drink. So she went for it, with a big gulp.

There were... a couple of faces made immediately afterwards. "What is that?"

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