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Interior: Vampire Residence
Friday, 12:27 AM
Bi-Monthly Gathering of the Wellington Vampires and the Te Aro Werewolf Pack
Anton leans back on the couch, sipping on a beer as he carries out another of his periodic sweeps of the party, making sure none of his pack are acting out and none of the vampires are starting anything. He tries to relax at these things, he really does, but it's hard to turn his alpha instincts off completely. The rest of the pack are always there, at the periphery of his senses. For now at least, though, everyone seems to be having a good time. It's even relatively quiet, for a vampire and werewolf get-together; Deacon's got a knitting circle going and a surprising number of Anton's boys are getting pretty into it. Sure, there'll probably be some stabbing later but for now, things are calm.
Anton pulls his attention back in to his immediate surroundings. Viago is sitting next to him at the other end of the couch, sipping occasionally from his fancy crystal goblet of blood and staring intently. At Anton. For a brief second he wonders if the vampire is contemplating his jugular—though the vampires have all insisted rather emphatically, and in some cases, quite rudely, that they're wholly uninterested in drinking werewolf blood—and he tenses, a warning growl starting at the back of his throat. But no, Viago's gaze is lower, his eyes moving up and down along Anton's exposed bicep.
(It's a warm enough night that Anton's forgone his usual track jacket and is just wearing a light cotton t-shirt and jeans. Ambient temperature being less of a factor for the undead, Viago is fully kitted out in his standard fancy frills and layers. He's got a jacket on too, the denim one with flowers embroidered all over it. He wears that one a lot, it must be a favorite. It shouldn't work with a ruffled blouse that looks straight out of a Victorian period drama. Kind of does though. Not that Anton pays any particular attention to Viago's fashion decisions. It's just situational awareness, comes with the territory. Know your (former) enemy, that sort of thing.)
Anyway. Viago's staring. At Anton's arm. And that's… huh. Anton doesn't know what that is.
"Viago?" No reaction. Anton waves his hand in front of Viago's face. "Hey, you alright, mate?"
"I am trying to make the dot connections." Viago finally responds, somewhat petulantly, his face scrunching up into a pout. "But it's very difficult with you flapping your arm around like that."
"Sorry, what?"
Viago lets out a dramatic sigh and scoots over on the couch. Well, glides, really—he hovers himself an inch off the ground and floats across the cushions until he reaches Anton and then drops, landing close enough that their thighs are almost touching. Show-off, Anton thinks. Or he would, if he weren't suddenly so distracted by that almost.
"The dot connections." Viago repeats, waving his hand at the freckles, well, dotting Anton's arm. "Like the ones in the newspapers I use to keep blood from our victims off the furniture. From the 'Fun and Games' section. Vlad doesn't like it when I do them, he's always saying 'Oh no, Viago, stop playing with the newspaper puzzles, you are going to summon an unholy terror from the depths of Hell' but that was one time-"
The scene cuts briefly to footage of a demonic figure that appears to be made out of newsprint and black ink flying around the vampires' kitchen while Vladislav and Deacon hover in the air hissing at it and Viago hides under the kitchen table, pen in hand.
"-and it was only because a witch had put a curse on our newspapers that week. It was no biggie." Viago shrugs. "I just like finding the pictures."
"Oh." Anton replies, starting to get the idea. "I'm more of a pub quiz sort, myself. Good team activity. But puzzles are fun too. So you're, ah, doing connect-the-dots, then? With me- with my freckles?"
"Yes!" Viago exclaims, giving a delighted little clap. "And you have more tonight than last time, so many new pictures to find!"
Anton's brain freezes a bit at this because, what? Viago's been keeping track of his freckles, apparently. So that's… something. Maybe it's one of those vampire things, like counting stuff. Or maybe that's just on Sesame Street. Fuck, he should really know these things. If he's going to be (rightfully) indignant about the misconceptions people have about werewolves he ought not to turn around and do the same thing to the vampires. So, in conclusion, maybe a vampire thing. Possibly just a Viago thing, whatever that might mean. What might that mean? Probably nothing, right? Maybe Viago is just weird. Yeah, that'll be it. It's at this point that Anton realizes the vampire in question has been sitting patiently through his entire internal monologue, leaning just slightly too close as he waits for a response. He should probably get on that.
"Right, yeah. Well, I took a few of the boys down to the beach last week, it's a good place to run around and get some energy out before the full moon. The freckles always get worse after I've been out in the, you know…" He trails off awkwardly and gestures up toward the ceiling, not sure if it's rude, bringing up the sun in present company. Best change the subject, just in case. "So, um, find anything good?"
"Oh yes!" Viago says at once, eagerly reaching out to poke at a freckle midway down Anton's upper arm.
Viago's fingertip is cold and a shiver runs down Anton's spine as he drags it slowly across his skin, connecting together a small constellation of freckles. It's probably just because of the contrast with how warm the room is. Yeah, definitely that.
"See, this one is a bat." Viago lifts his finger up and moves it down to a starting position closer to Anton's elbow. "Here is also a bat." Then he traces something on Anton's shoulder. "And this is-"
"Also a bat?" Anton guesses. He's not looking at Viago's finger or his own freckles anymore, but is instead focused on the vampire's face, watching how his tongue pushes against one of his fangs just slightly as he sticks it out in concentration. He shouldn't find that cute. He kind of does anyway.
"No, silly wolf." Viago giggles. Normally Anton would bristle at this but there's something undeniably fond in the way Viago says it, and his laughter doesn't feel mocking. And alright, fine, maybe he likes the way 'wolf' sounds in Viago's accent, with the 'w' coming out a soft 'v'. Anton decides to allow it, just this once. "This is a cute little heart. See?" Viago traces the pattern again, slower this time.
"Oh." Anton swallows, throat feeling a little dry all of a sudden, actual heart pounding just a little bit faster. "A heart, right. Of course."
"That was an easy one." Viago tuts, shaking his head. "You are not very good at this game."
"Yeah, um, reckon I probably need a bit of practice, huh?" Anton wonders, suddenly, madly, if Viago has any freckles of his own under all those layers of clothing.
Viago gives him a sympathetic little pat on the shoulder. "I think I have some left over that you can borrow. It's much easier with the little numbers next to the dots."
With that he rushes out of the room, presumably to get the bloody games section, leaving Anton rubbing at his arm and wondering what in the hell just happened.
Anton, Alpha of the Te Aro werewolf pack
Anton is still absent-mindedly rubbing his arm, though he now has a stack of crumpled and blood-stained newspaper pages clutched in his hand as well.
"Yeah, it was, um, a pretty nice night at the vampire house tonight. I think these gatherings are a really good bonding opportunity. You know, for the pack."
Anton suddenly seems to notice what he's been doing with his hand this whole time and flushes almost as red as his hair, then quickly excuses himself from the interview.
Viago, Vampire
Viago grins extra toothily, beaming as he shows the camera a piece of paper that looks to have been torn out of some sort of teen magazine. It's a checklist titled "Ten Tricks to Catch Your Crush," with the word 'Crush' crossed off and 'Werewolf' written in its place.
"So I think the plan is going really, really well! As you can see I have filled in several of these little boxes tonight, so lots of progress!"
Viago gives a thumbs-up to the camera.