Unexpected {Faolan/Edge}

[NightshadeVII]

The music that has flowed through the room, the guitar riffs, the sound of drums, the touch of bass, the sound of a voice holding nothing back, slowly died out. The words were the first to vanish, trailing off, not wanting this night, this experience to end. Honestly, Edge would love to go on forever, to forget everything and become lost in the music, loose himself in the best way he knew. But it wasn’t an option. For a moment, he just stood there, lips parted slightly, panting heavily as he caught up to all the breaths he had neglected while singing. His shoulders heaved, a steady rhythm of ups and downs. Hair fell in front of his eyes and he didn’t bother to move it now. Just for a few more seconds, he wanted to stay in this moment, where he felt so alive, with the blood pumping under his skin, his lung aching and drawing in air, his entire body trembling. Loving this feeling. For once, he loved coming back down.

“Thank you everybody!”, there was laughter in his voice and a smile on his lips, as Edge mustered the energy to use his voice another time, “And goodnight!”
The sound of guitars and drums and bass faded now too, slowly leaving room for chatter to take over. Scattered pieces of conversation, a bubble of laughter, it all mingled together as the room slowly became more and more empty. Lights turned on, illuminating every sharp little detail, bringing out so much. It made the room look normal, boring, stripped it clean of what it had been just minutes ago. A mix of voices and bodies, sharing something. It really was time to return to the real world. Still, that knowledge didn’t bring him down like it used to. He knew he could return

Then he slung an arm over another band member’s shoulder, half due to tradition, half due to needing the support, and he kept smiling. Tired. Exhausted but content. His entire body was heavy, weighed down, his knees shaking from almost two hours of jumping around on stage, dropping to his knees, screaming his throat raw, knowing that he would’ve lost his voice, if he wasn’t so used to it.

~ ~ ~

Once backstage, conversation broke out among the four musicians. It was a casual thing, filled with laughter and friendly banter, jokes that everyone understood, despite the fact they had barely been said. Towels and water bottles were thrown across the room, and when one got the idea to raise their plastic bottle in a toast, the others soon followed suit, the culmination resulting in a fair amount of water on the floor and another fit of laughter.
For a moment, everything felt right in the world. Laughter came easily to Edge, royal purple eyes warm, his gaze and posture relaxed as he talked.

Soon enough, the band of four had scattered throughout the small backstage area. The guitarist seating himself, cross-legged on an unused amplifier. The remaining two sunk down in a beaten-up, faded sofa, the furtinure sagging and groaning under their combined weight.
It didn’t take long before Edge ended up lying on the floor, arms and legs outstretched, a towel discarded so carelessly on the floor beside him. For a moment, he thought he wouldn’t be able to move, even if he tried. Half lidded eyes fixed on the ceiling he knew so well, traced shapes an imperfections he had seen before, recognizing how everything connected to one another, the way space folded right here. It was just as calming as it always had been, in spite of how familiar it was.

“You guys did amazing tonight.” He finally said, raising his head from the floor, only a little, to look at the other musicians. The look he got told him everything, the rolling eyes and the raised eyebrows. He could practically guess what they’d say to him before he heard it.
“Tell us something we don’t know, you mush!”
Called it. Edge laughed moving his head slightly, to avoid the towel that had been thrown at him.

Smiling to himself, his let his head fall back against the floor. Fine with just... resting for a moment now, letting the last remnants of his concert high fade into comfortable, well-earned exhaustion.

[qhostqrowls]

Faolan pressed through the crush of bodies, feeling decidedly out of place among the ripped jeans and spiked leather jackets of the other concert-goers. Rock was definitely not his preferred music genre, at all, but a good friend from med school - Alex - knew one of the band members, and had convinced him to sneak into the concert with her.

Despite his initial protests, he'd actually enjoyed the night. The music had been really good, the band successful in whipping the crowd into an excited frenzy.

A few drinks had definitely helped to ease into the new environment, and he was in good spirits after the very active concert. But still. It was a rock concert, and with the lights on and the crowd pushing past, he felt shyer than usual.

“C'mon Fao. I want to introduce you to a few people.” Alex, noticing her friends waning enthusiasm, linked her arm with his and began to stride away from the door. The floor was vaguely sticky, and Fao trailed along only because he knew when she had an idea in her head, it was hard to convince her otherwise.

He only paused when they reached a new door, complete with a “restricted access” sign. Already she was fiddling with the handle, and he spoke up while she was preoccupied.

“Uhhhhh, are we actually allo-”

“Of course we are. Look, its unlocked and everything. Keep going!” With a flourish she yanked it open and pulled him after her, navigating the dark, narrow corridor with a familiarity that told him she'd been here before.

He sighed and followed, glancing around in the dark and taking neat, measured steps over the cables and wires strewn around. Backstage could only mean they were meeting one group of people - the band. Was this another of Alex's matchmaking attempts? She'd certainly elbowed him hard enough when the vocalist had come onto the stage, trying to drag an opinion out of him. His only comment, much to her dismay, had been a polite observation of the talent and liveliness of his performance.

There was the sound of voices from ahead, an ajar door with light spilling from the cracks. Alex rapped her knuckles against it and, without waiting for a reply, threw it wide.

“Heya guys! You killed it out there!”

Faolan peeked around her and waved, smiling faintly as she chattered on, smiling and laughing with them already. The band intimidated him, but Alex was lively enough for the both of them and for the time being he hovered at the threshold behind her.

[NightshadeVII]

The darai’s eyelids began to grow heavy as the chatter continued around him, becoming comfortable, welcome background noise, calming down Edge’s overworked senses.
His heart rate dropped, and the punk supressed a yawn. Sounds around him became softer, slipping to the back of his mind, and the floor beneath him began to feel more comfortable than before, not that that was even necessary. He could probably fall asleep right then and there anyway.Then the door was thrown open, slamming against the wall behind it.
“Heya guys! You killed it out there!”
Royal purple eyes snapped open at the sound of a familiar voice, and Edge turned his head, still lying sprawled out on the floor. Sure enough, he recognized the woman who had just slammed open the backstage door. After all, she was her friend.
“Alex!”, Edge exclaimed, smiling in recognition while he got up, “You made it.”

After initial greetings, backslaps and the like, the group quickly fell into enthusiastic conversation, laughing and joking like they always did. However, Alex’s loud entrance had almost overshadowed the presence of a person she had brought with her. A young blonde man, standing back, peeking out from behind Alex and waving.
Without even thinking, Edge waved back. It was a conscious choice he made to not wave the blonde over, he looked nervous, maybe intimidated by the situation.
So Edge walked over to the blonde instead.

“Hey”, Edge spoke in a softer tone now, a gentle smile touching his lips, tugging at the metal rings embedded in his lower lip. Royal purple eyes softened, giving them a lethargic, but gentle look. The punk sounded a bit hoarse from all the singing and borderline screaming he had done tonight. He shoved his hands into his pockets, as his posture became relaxed and laid-back, half due to his nature in general, half due to his exhaustion from having performed.

Up until now, Edge hadn’t taken his time to properly look at the blonde, but now that he did. He couldn’t lie and say that he didn’t find the blonde attractive. He did.
The gentle curve of the blonde’s lips made Edge curious about what he looked like when he smiled, thinking it could be something warm and infectious. He supposed he’d just have to find out. But ultimately, that wasn’t what drew Edge’s attention, instead, the blonde’s eyes surprised him. Despite the nervous, self-conscious look in them, the blonde’s eyes were warm, golden, practically glowing, like a field illuminated by the sun. Edge didn’t even consider the feline shape odd or out of place, having seen similar features countless times before. In fact it only made him more curious, since he hadn’t seen eyes like that here, until now of course.
Without even realizing it, Edge had begun to spin one the piercings in his lower lip with his tongue. An unconscious habit of his. Where some toyed with cloth or wrung their hands, he did this

Then he realized that he probably needed to say something, unless he wanted to just stand there, all quiet and awkward for who knows how long. But what should he say? For someone who put words together for a living, of course that had to become an issue now. Great. His smile became sheepish and he raised a hand to rub the back of his neck.
“I hope Alex wasn’t too obnoxious when she dragged you along”, he said, chuckling quietly at his own less than graceful attempt at breaking the ice and starting something resembling a conversation.
“Anyway, what’s your name? I haven’t seen you around here before...”

[qhostqrowls]

Faolan smiled gratefully at the man approaching him. He was saved from hovering uncertainly at the threshold. The individual approaching him certainly stood out from the crowd - tall and pierced and with dyed hair. A typical punk. Edge, Alex had said his name was. The vocalist of the group.

There was something vaguely appraising in the way Faolan looked over the man - taking in the broad shoulders and the soft eyes. Purple - so another splicer, then. Faolan’s smile slid to something a little more coy, and then abruptly became much broader and genuine as the other spoke.

“I mean, it’s Alex. I don't think she can not be obnoxious.” he joked, making eye contact with his friend and raising his eyebrows. She stuck out her tongue, grinning, before turning back to the rest of the band to continue with her animated conversation.

“I’m Faolan. You’re Edge, right? Or is that just your stage name?” he figured a handshake was a little too formal for such a casual setting - and the others laid back, relaxed posture told him he wouldn't mind if they skipped formalities. He settled for a smile, and then, almost as an afterthought, spoke again.

“I loved the concert, you have an amazing voice.” again, his smile edged towards something a little more shy, but he meant what he said. “I’m usually not a fan of rock - as you can probably tell,” he gestured at his own clothes, tame in comparison with the punk-rockers bold outfit. “But that was a really great concert. How long have you all been playing for?”

[NightshadeVII]

For a moment, Edge wondered what the other thought of him, if he his clumsy joking had been out of place or if he had hesitated too long to talk. As a quiet person by nature, used to silence, he sometimes forgot what he had said and what he hadn’t. Still there was a tender hope in his chest, that he didn’t weird out the blonde, despite the odds there were probably stacked against him with his height, piercings and strange eyes. But then again, Edge couldn’t help but find some measure of reassurance in the fact that the blonde might not consider his eyes strange, considering how his own were outside the norm as well.
Keen eyes took casual note of how the blonde’s smile evolved from light and grateful, to something more coy as he studied Edge, making the punk shift his weight just a little, from one foot to the other. Finally the smile became broad, genuine, flooding Edge with a sense of relief, that spread through his being as a kind of lightness.
Naturally, he found his own smile becoming broader in return.

When the blonde joked back, Edge chuckled in agreement, knowing how Alex could be. When she had decided on something, she would see it done, like she had just now. As the blonde introduced himself, the darai made a mental note of it, repeated it mentally. He hated forgetting names, they were such personal things after all. Things that were important to remember
“It’s nice to meet you, Faolan” Edge smiled, then he ran a hand through his hair, “and yup. My name’s Edge, as weird a name as it is.”

When Faolan complimented his singing, the darai was caught by surprise, but Edge quickly felt a warm sense of pride rising in his chest. For a moment, it was simply that, nothing more. And he enjoyed it, for the few tender seconds it lasted.
“Thank you very much, I’m flattered”, Edge’s smile became self-conscious, if not slightly flustered as he accepted the praise, showing of both hints of his insecurity and a heartfelt kind of happiness. Praise wasn’t something he was used to, wasn’t something he thought he deserved. All he had done was something he loved, hoping others would like it too.
“As long as you enjoyed yourself, that what’s most important, right?”, He gave a little laugh, a genuine one, even if it lasted nothing more than a few seconds.
 
“As a band I think we’ve been playing together for 6 months now?”, he looked over his shoulder, back at the rest of the band for confirmation, even when he knew none of them had heard him, engrossed in another conversation. It was probably six months. Once he had settled on that, He looked back at Faolan, “But we’ve all been playing different things before we met.”

Then he remembered something.
“Hey, we’ll probably be packing up soon, the staff needs to have a chance to close at a reasonable hour”, Edge smiled at Faolan, shoving his hands in his pockets, “we have a place we always go after gigs like this though. Wanna come?”
After the words had left his mouth, Edge realized the boldness of his offer, and the need to backtrack rushed over him, along with a plethora of thoughts, that he most of all wished he could stop the moment they appeared. But maybe it was time to do something different. As he spoke again, his tone softened.
“You’re more than welcome.”

[qhostqrowls]

Already there was a friendly dynamic between the two, and Fao smiled up at Edge as he laughed and joked around. It was easy to get along with people like him - he never would have expected it, given his intimidating appearance, but you really couldn't judge a book by its cover.

He raised his eyebrows at the confirmation of six months. They had sounded a lot more professional and practised then that, to him.
“Wow, that's not as long as I would have thought.” he wanted to say more on the matter, but his previous compliment had almost seemed to fluster the other, so he held his tongue.

He brightened at the offer, inwardly pleased at the others confidence and that he'd already been invited out. It made him feel a little less self conscious and he smiled widely, unconsciously mirroring the other and sliding his hands into his pockets.

“Yeah, sure! I'd love too, thanks. What's the place called?”

[NightshadeVII]

Unconsciously, Edge has begun spinning one of the metal rings in his lip, toying with it with his tongue, as he did when he was nervous, thinking too much and seeing too little. However, he did manage to notice how Faolan’s eyes brightened at his offer. Seeing how the other’s smile brightened, and how he shoved his hands into his pockets, just a little more relaxed now, reassured Edge that what he had said hadn’t been all bad.
All of it got even better as Faolan accepted the offer to come with them.

“That’s great!”,the smile could be heard in his voice as he spoke. His shoulders sagged with relief, the tension brought upon him by his thinking mind easing, allowing warmth into his eyes. He wouldn’t deny that he was glad that Faolan had accepted the offer to come with them, he seemed like a nice person to just... chat with. And Edge enjoyed how quickly they had seemed to become friendly.

“Well, uh, doesn’t have a name per se”, he began, giving a small shrug, “it’s just Jade’s apartment.”, the punk sent a nod at the other female in the larger group, who would be recognizeable as the bassist, “It isn’t too far from here. Maybe a twenty minute walk at most?”
As he spoke, he retrieved a banged-up guitar case from somewhere nearby. The leather was scratched, tearing as the seams in places, and had what a appeared to be a few hasty doodles in white marker on it. Not necessarily a pretty thing, but somehow, it just fit with Edge, like another stroke on a painting.

“Anything you need before we head off?”, he asked, wanting to be sure that they didn’t miss something in his eagerness, “I imagine you have some time since most us are a bunch of slow pokes when it comes to packing up.”
There was a protest behind him, from one of the other band members and Edge laughed.

[qhostqrowls]

“Ah, right. That sounds nice.” The blonde looked briefly for Alex and wondered if she'd come along too. He hoped so. Edge was very sweet but he knew that he'd feel out of place if his friend wasn't coming as well. But knowing Alex, she'd definitely be tagging along.

“No, I don't have anything with me. I'm good to wait.” a grin curled his lips at the faux offended protests of the other band members, and he glanced at Jade, sending the woman a shy smile, before looking back to Edge.

“I should probably ask her if she's okay with me coming along though. Don't want to invite myself over.” he tapped a foot against the floor and took the opportunity to study the vocalists battered guitar case, taking in the stickers and the scribbles. It looked very well loved

[NightshadeVII]

Behind the two of them, the remaining three band members were beginning to pack up. Putting instruments in their cases, dumping their towels in a designated bucket and throwing out finished bottles of water. While the backstage area was rather run down, in an almost charming way, with piping showing in the ceiling and the concrete floor showing signs of age, there was no reason to leave it messy.
The band itself was low-maintenance, anything they needed aside from what the venue provided by default, they brought themselves, even if it wasn’t much. Drumsticks, guitar picks and amplifier wires covered in duct-tape were all things that were easy to transport. Edge himself had already packed down his stuff, managing to fit pretty much all of it in his guitar case. The electric guitar he had used on stage was one he had borrowed from the venue, so now it sat neatly on its stand, clean and unbroken.
It was obvious that they had done this before.

“Ah yeah, I’m sure she won’t mind, but I understand why you’d want to make sure”, Edge said, giving a sympathetic half-shrug, smile still on his lips, carried easily. He could understand why Faolan wanted to ask Jade, it was her apartment after all, she decided who was welcome. It was an open place, where people she had approved of could swing by whenever, and at the same time, it was hard to find, if you didn’t know where to look.Faolan seemed like a cautious person, which, perhaps, was only caused by all the people around him that he didn’t know. Despite knowing all the people here, Edge could easily empathize with Faolan, vividly remembering what it was like to meet a bunch of people who already knew each other, who he hadn’t known what to do with himself and didn’t know when he was overstepping. It was intimidating and could make you self-conscious at the best of times.
Still, Edge was glad that Faolan wanted to come with them.

Jade, who had seen the blonde’s smile, returned it, a little cautiously, but no less friendly. For a brief second, her eyes met with Edge, who smiled, nodding for her to come over.
As the bassist approached the blonde and the punk, she nudged Edge with an elbow, raising an eyebrow at him, jokingly challenging, almost questioning, to which Edge responded with a cheeky grin.
“What’s up?”, she asked, resting a hand on her hip casually, “Edge isn’t terrorizing you, is he? He can be such a bully.” 
While she spoke, Edge shook his head, used to the joke by now.

[qhostqrowls]

Faolan smiled at Jade as she approached, feeling more at ease the longer he was around Edge and his bandmates. Despite appearances, they had all proved to be as laidback and friendly as they came, and for all of Alex’s drama, and pushy nature, she knew Faolan well enough that she wouldn’t drag him into meeting people she thought he wouldn’t like.

And, she had been pushing for Edge and Faolan to meet for months now. Matchmaker that she was. He had to admit, she did know his taste well. Tall, dark hair, broad shouldered...and as far as he could tell, soft spoken (despite his on stage death growls) and considerate. Cute, in an initially intimidating kind of way. 

“No terrorizing just yet,” he sent the vocalist as sideways glance as he spoke, eyes sparkling. It was gone as soon as it came, a coy snatch of a look. “Though he has invited me over to your place. Wanted to check if that was okay, don’t want to intrude.” A small, easy shrug, his tone light. He wouldn’t mind at all if she said he couldn’t, it was her place after all, and she didn’t know him at all. He held out his hand a moment later, his body language and tone making the typically stiff backed, formal gesture relatively casual, given the setting.

“I’m Faolan, by the way. Alex hasn’t stop talking about your band for a good few months at this point.”

[NightshadeVII]

It was nice seeing Faolan relax more in the situation, smiling as the bassist approached and playing along with her joke, which honestly was a running gag at this point. And honestly, Edge thought it was kinda funny too, in a weird, ironic way.
“For the record, I’m trying to quit that entire terrorizing thing”, Edge said then, looking from Jade to Faolan as he spoke. He had chuckled a little, even if his voice was still raw and used from singing.

For a moment, Edge thought he felt eyes on him, that kind of unplaceable sense, that couldn’t quite be described, and still he couldn’t quite ignore that it was there.
Just when he looked at the blonde, turning his head just slightly, he saw the faintest hint of Faolan’s eyes flickering away to land on Jade again. Edge soon found, that he was smiling to himself, a coy little smile, bordering on sheepish caused by look he had caught a glimpse of in Faolan’s eyes.
The Darai could easily admit that he was looking forward to getting to know the blonde better genuinely interested in him. Faolan already seemed like a nice guy, genuine and down to earth, a little nervous perhaps, but he was in a room full of people he had just met for the first time, so who could blame him? Most people needed time to really blossom after all, so Edge didn’t doubt that Faolan had a lot to offer.

Meanwhile Jade looked from Faolan, to Edge and then back again, the movement subtle, and yet the bassist was observant and curious, even if she usually kept these observations to herself. Then she smiled, reaching out and shaking Faolan’s hand, her fingers were calloused, rough from the instrument she played. She was used to it by now, not really noticing it any more.
“I’m Jade, nice to meet you”, she introduced herself, not really thinking about it, and then she continued, “It’d be nice if you tagged along, and besides, Alex has been making a pretty solid case for you.” The bassist said, releasing Faolan’s hand, “I just hope you aren’t allergic to cats.”
She smiled properly then, squinting her eyes a little, like she usually did when she smiled.

“Oh yeah, Edge.” Jade said, looking to the singer, “everyone’s all packed up, we’re just waiting for you, slowpoke.”
This caused the punk to groan playfully, his shoulders sagging and his eyes warm as he shot Jade a friendly glare.
“I just can’t win with you guys,” Edge shook his head, amused and at ease, he was used to this friendly banter, had become comfortable in it over time and new how to respon to it now, “the things I put up with for you guys”

Then he looked back up at Faolan, sending the blonde a shrug.
“You good to go?”

[qhostqrowls]

Throughout the conversation, Faolan caught Edge looking at him in an equally coy manner. It was nothing more than catching each other's gaze for a brief second or so, but the energy was there regardless and the knowledge of it settled warmly in Faolan’s chest. He had been interested in Edge on a purely physical level, at first, when he'd seen him on stage, so to find out that they got along so easily was better than anything he could have hoped for. He was so much more friendly then his studded, pierced appearance let on.

He shook Jades hand with a casual firmness, brightening up at the invite - and then noticeably so at the mention of a cat.

“Aww, you have a cat? I'm definitely not allergic.” He confirmed. His eyes were a dead giveaway to his preferences towards cats or dogs, but he appreciated that she checked beforehand, and that he'd been invited over at all. “Thanks for letting me tag along.”

He turned to look at Edge as he was yet again used as the brunt of a joke. He flashed the man a smile at the question, nodding firmly.

“All good.”

And so the group headed out of the venue, leaving the equipment room empty and neat as it had been before. The door to the building was locked, equipment slung over shoulders, and then they were off, walking in the direction  of Jades house in a sprawling group - some walking in pairs, others in larger clumps, but the same conversation flowed between them all. It was a conversation, the occasional spatter of laughter flaring up at some joke or tease. Faolan found he slipped into the group dynamic neatly - though he still felt a little out of place. It was always like that with new groups, though, especially considering his usual friends were nothing like punk band members.

He tucked his hands deeper into his coat pocket in an effort to fend off the cold, glancing at Edge.

“So,” he piped up, as the rest of the group mock argued about the punchline of a particular joke. It was a nice background noise, and a good chance for him to speak one on one with the punk rocker. “Is the band a full-time thing for you, or do you work somewhere else?” He blinked up at the other, politely curious.

[NightshadeVII]

Seeing the blonde’s eyes light up, Jade chuckled, he almost sounded like a fan, but honestly, she couldn’t blame him. She hadn’t had Socks for long, but she was sure the rest of the band had gotten tired of hearing about the kitten already. Too bad for them.
Saying her goodbyes to the blonde and the punk, she went over to fetch her jacket and instrument case. Despite the passionate banter shared by Alex, Adam and Connor, the three were already ready to go as well.
Not long after the entire group was ready to go, and the backstage area was left just as neat as it had been when they came.

It was a fair deal colder outside, the night air lying almost still around the group, but still managaging to sneak under coats and down necks. For a while, Edge walked in content silence, hands shoved in his pockets and a scarf wrapped around his throat to protect it. Around them, the city was still illuminated, streetlights like small oasises of daylight in the dark. Neon signs decorated most buildings, proudly displaying names of bars, nightclubs, concert venues and the occasional hotel. All part of the living cityscape. The lights reflected in Edge’s eyes, the many different colours around him seeming to bring out the purple of his own eyes. Every once in a while, they’d pass another group, all varying degrees of sober, but mostly cheerful. Some were singing and draping arms over each others’ shoulders, some giggled and whispered when they passed and others still yelled a friendly greeting.
Edge listened to the conversation of the main group with one ear, following how it slowly became a mock argument over this and that joke, and smiled to himself. The Darai always enjoyed seeing people he cared about having fun. Sure he had only been here for two years and known his band mates for a much shorter amount of time, but they had become close friends.

Edge snapped out of thought when he heard Faolan speak beside him and turned to look at the blonde, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. Those golden eyes blinked up at him, as the blonde asked about what Edge worked with.
“Well, I hope it could be full time one day, but it isn’t right now.”, Edge said after a few seconds of consideration, his eye warm with hope and a coy smile on his lips as he spoke “buuut, when I’m not busy screaming my throat raw, I work part time at a rehab center.”
There was a sense of contentment in his voice as he spoke about the part time job. He had his own personal reasons for taking that job, it helped him more than he’d like to admit, but he also believed that this kind of work was important. Maybe not what he did specifically, but the work of these centers. If they helped one person, it was worth it in the end.
“It’s not the most glamorous job to most people”, Edge shrugged, the smile still on his lips as he spoke, “but I like it. It lets me help people that need it.”

Wanting to keep the conversation with Faolan going, He drew breath to speak as well.
“But what about you? What do you work with?”, he asked, genuinely curious about the other, Alex hadn’t told them much about Faolan, so Edge would have to find out on his own. He hoped he didn’t seem too eager or prying to Faolan, not wanting to scare him off.

[qhostqrowls]

From what Faolan could gather, Edge was a quiet man. He had a gentleness to him that he couldn't quite place - was it his eyes, or his smile, or just the way he moved and spoke? Regardless, it was unexpected, that the person who had been singing and jumping around the stage so passionately, and who wore such bold clothes, would be such a gentle soul. Or perhaps just a shy one. He hoped he wasn't annoying him by talking, but that fear disappeared as a coy smile curled Edge's lips upwards.

"Oh wow, a rehab center!" as someone who worked in the medical field, Faolan could fully appreciate the work that went into rehabilitation clinics, and was clearly impressed, smiling warmly up at the other. Regardless of what role he had at the center, he very obviously had a passion and a love for it, for helping people. The blondes opinion of Edge skyrocketed, especially at his last line of explanation. "I think its incredibly good of you, of everyone, who works at those clinics, to do what you do. Glamour be damned, its important work." He took a breath, smiling softly. "What do you do there, exactly?"

There was a moments pause as Edge asked the question. His smile became immediately more shy, and he dropped his gaze, looking out in front of them. "I'm a surgeon." he said, glancing back up at Edge. "I work in ER, but also general surgery, at the WDSA."

For now, he elaborated no further. He never wanted to sound like he was boasting about his profession, and was always a little embarrassed by the typical reactions people had to knowing he was a surgeon. He spoke softly, and very casually, placing no emphasis or importance in his tone.

[NightshadeVII]

Faolan’s sudden enthusiasm about his job, surprised Edge. He hadn’t expected such a passionate and acknowledging response, but at the same time, it was nice to find someone likeminded.

“Well, I only work part time, so I do what I can when I can. Most of the time I talk with the people who are going through it all, help them figure out coping mechanism and just act as a support for them.” He chuckled and looked at Faolan, “I’m by no means a psychologist though, I’m just there to talk with them if they need it, y’know, provide some normalicy. I’m also on coffee duty a lot for some reason.”
Having former experience as a sponsor did help as well, and Edge understood what these people felt better than most, half due to his empathy. Getting the chance to help others was something that brought him a great deal of comfort and peace, as he felt like he could do something, for once. He couldn’t care less about the pay or recognition.

The Darai couldn’t help but notice how Faolan seemed to become more shy, or self aware, as the subject of conversation shifted to him. The blonde averted his eyes, looking ahead of them as he spoke, but, to his relief, Edge noticed he didn’t stop smiling. He hoped he hadn’t made Faolan uncomfortable with the question.
Edge was surprised to learn that Faolan was a doctor, a surgeon none the less, and for a moment near-compulsive thoughts overwhelmed him. Memories of the doctors he had known so long ago and how they had treated him, held him down and towered above him. The Darai clearly remembered the raw, mind-shattering fear that he felt for these figures and he knew that he wouldn’t be likely to forget it in the near future.
And yet, he couldn’t see Faolan as being that kind of person. He seemed as far from cold and cruel as someone could be. Instead he was a kind, modest person, one who smiled and laughed and seemed to genuinely care about those around him. Of course they had only just met, but this was the impression he had of the blonde for now. Edge had a feeling that he wouldn’t push away from Faolan because of his occupation, years ago, he might have, but not this time. This time, he wanted to stick around and get to know the smiling, modest person walking beside him. It would be a step in the right direction, and he had a feeling he wouldn’t regret it

“And you’re a surgeon, huh?”, Edge enquired gently, looking at Faolan and matching his tone, quickly picking up on the fact that the other didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it. There was no need to make him uncomfortable, but still, he was impressed.
“That makes you a life saver, Faolan...”, he continued, softly awed by the other, “that’s amazing. Impressive too.”
Should Faolan look up to meet Edge’s gaze, he would be met by a soft smile, and a head tilted slightly in curiosity. He was more than ready to let the matter drop, if Faolan didn’t want to talk about it. But for now, he would continue to inquire softly, hoping that it would show Faolan, that he didn’t have to underplay himself.
“Isn’t it a tough job?”, asked Edge, tilting his head, idly curious, but with no intention of coming off as invasive, “I can imagine there’d be a lot of pressure...”