Fool Moon (Caz/Ru)

[luscen]

“Don't mention it,” Casmir replied dismissively. Now that the matter with the girl had been resolved, he was back to deliberating on what exactly this vampire's aim was. Just because he had sent the ghost “home” didn't mean the night was over for him, after all. The Hunter placed his hands in his pockets and took a half-step back, just in case he found he needed room to maneuver.

“I don't believe I caught your name,” Casmir replied. He didn't bother trying to explain where he came from- he'd approached from the opposite direction as the rest of the crowd, so saying he was simply on an evening stroll would have been easily seen through. Likewise, claiming to have come from the apartment over would be something that was easily foiled. Best to just avoid it unless the vampire persisted.

Besides that fact, Casmir realized that he hadn't really gotten proof that he'd dealt with the ghost problem. He'd picked up this particular job from the BBS, despite his better judgment. And while jobs like this often required little in the way of verification, the fact that he hadn't actually been the one to banish the spirit might cause a bit of a problem when it came to payment. So, to that end, he may as well see if there was something of value he could glean from this vampire. While unlikely, it was possible he was a member of a clan- a thrall to a more powerful Nightwalker, perhaps. Or, it could be that he knew Rhys, and could give him some better insight on her, and whether or not she was being stalked by a certain red-eyed individual.

In truth, there was probably little the Hunter would be able to get from this particular vampire, but since he had little else to do at the moment, he might as well try and find some modicum of value.

[jarahamee]

Ru slicked his hair back; he had forgotten how much product he had put into it earlier that night, and remembered not to press too hard. At least with this brand, it wouldn’t come off in his hand once it dried. He looked down at his shoes and realized they were already kind of dirty from walking in the alley. He always did his best to avoid getting his outfits dirty but some things just couldn’t be avoided.

The handsome fellow was talking to him? Asking for a name?

His hand moved down to the side of his neck, and he leaned his head against it, just a little.

“Er, I’m Ru. I’m not really local here, honestly. It’s good to meet another friendly face. I take it you don’t go looking for ghosts often?”

In truth a lot of the Wathias residents were far from friendly, but someone who wasn’t immediately trying to yell at him, murder him, or wave sharp objects in his face was always appreciated. And while he doubted his new friend had intentionally come to find this ghost, he could be mistaken. Or maybe this was just a chance encounter in an alley and this person now knew about the supernatural. That would be not so great.

Ru tried not to nervous-laugh as he waited for a reply.

[luscen]

“Oh, I go looking for ghosts all the time. This is just the first time I actually found one. Not that anyone'll believe me, I guess... No camera footage and the lighting in this alley's shit. Shame too, this would've made for a great post on the ghost hunting reddit.” Casmir felt it was best to make himself seem a bit more eccentric; when you played to certain expectations, then people asked fewer questions, he found. Questions he'd rather not bother answering, at the moment.

“So, 'Ru?'” The Hunter asked, changing the subject. “Interesting name; you don't really look Chinese, to me...” he commented, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and slipping it between his teeth. Lighting the small white cylinder, he waved the match out then extended his pack out to the vampire, offering him one.

“Is it short for something, maybe? 'Rupert,' 'Rudolf,' 'Russel...'?” The corner of the Hunter's lips quirked upward. “Can't be 'Rusty,' you don't have the right hair. Is it 'Rudy?' I'll bet it's 'Rudy,' isn't it? Most boys don't like that name, think it sounds too 'girly,' or something.”

[jarahamee]

Ru smiled despite himself. He hadn’t really met that many eccentric men who were awake in the middle of the night that were quite this personable, but this was just his luck lately. Maybe things were turning around for him. He wondered if he should do anything about it, but really, it was probably better just to leave this guy be. No one would believe him about the ghost, especially without proof. He put his hands on his trim hips and looked at the empty alley thoughtfully. It was cold, but he could not really sense that.

Honestly he was not really one to pry into a person’s life, so questions about what he was doing out here marching around did not cross his mind. He had been out there ghost-hunting himself, and honestly that was not really a great excuse.

“R..Ru… uh, yes, actually, I like the nickname more than my real name, though some of my friends call me Russell too.” He did not touch on his ‘real’ name, and it reminded him that he should settle on an actual real name to call himself one day. He wasn’t really sure about Russell as his final pick, but it was pleasant enough. It just happened to make him think of jocks more than anything else.

“Uh, no thank you, I don’t smoke…Hey…Do..you live around here? It can get dangerous at night. I could walk with you.”
Ru admittedly knew a bit /too/ much about what could go on in these alleyways. There had been reports of lurking vampires, including the one that assailed him previously, and all sorts of night creatures that made their home here.

[luscen]

“Nah, not from around here,” Casmir replied around his cigarette. He shrugged at the other man's polite refusal for one of his own, putting the pack back into his pocket. “Not this neighborhood, at least. Little too 'nice' for my tastes, if you know what I mean?” He winked his scarred eye at the vampire.

“Though I suppose I owe you a round, if at least for the yarn I'll be able to spin, if nothing else...” the Hunter mused, gesturing towards Ru with his cigarette as he blew a lazy trail of smoke into the air, watching the line curl upwards. “I hear there's a nice bar nearby. You drink Guinness, 'Russel?'” he wasn't a fan of the Irish draught, but asking for his preferred stock too much would start drawing attention to him, if he wasn't careful.

[jarahamee]

Ru smiled, if only a little. His fuzzy feelings were still pretty high after vanquishing the ghost. This friendly fellow was proving to be nice company. And he has handsome too! What a lovely twist the evening carried. A shame that he had to keep his secrets. He took a deep breath and tried to fight back his excitement. No, no, no, he’d make sure he got home ok, and that would be the end of that.

The moonlight shadowed his gracile features as he pondered how to answer his new friend. He finally settled with;

“Well, I suppose I’m a little straightlaced, Piotr. I don’t drink, well, alcohol, unfortunately. I can definitely keep you company and make sure you get home though. I work the night shift so being out late is pretty natural to me.”

His voice was smooth, friendly. He had no desire to use any of his vampire powers on Piotr. He felt good. A small voice in the back of his head told him that it would be better if he fed, but he ignored it. He was technically full, this body was always interested in a little bit extra.

[luscen]

“Ah, yeah. I used to do that, back when I was younger,” Casmir replied, gesturing for Ru to follow him along the back alley. "Not so much these days; these old bones tend to get sleepy if I'm not in bed by a decent hour."

He'd seen the neon lights of a bar not too far from where they were, so he'd be able to maintain the cover he'd constructed. “Russel” was surprisingly legitimate, but there was still something bothering the Hunter about the notion of leaving a vampire just walking around the city like this. It was true that a savvy nightwalker could get by without killing humans- some were willing to only take what they needed, though their victims were often left with some small lasting trauma; a fear of walking alone at night, even if they weren't sure why, anymore. Others, meanwhile, had established feeding operations involving blood banks and donation drives. And then there was the rare few that had managed to find employ at certain “establishments” where their cravings could be put to natural, “safe” use.

That last one gave Casmir pause. Those sorts of establishments could often serve as a front for less-savory things, now that he thought about it; more than one bordello and boudoir turned out to have some measure of human trafficking, in his experience. It was a flimsy lead, perhaps, but if this vampire knew of one such “feeding ground,” then it might help Casmir locate any Soundless activity in the area. Maybe even the big prize, himself. After all, he knew all too well how much Atol's cult benefited from Supers trafficking humans.

“Say, Ru?” he asked aloud, looking over his shoulder at the other man. “You happen to know any 'fun' spots around here?”

[jarahamee]

Ru squinted at Casmir. Fun? Did he mean like, what he considered fun when he was alive, or like, the Hikari Lights Festival? For an old dude like this, a goth club was probably not the place to be. Maybe something like… the hipster theatre that served dinner and a malt? He rubbed the side of his head.

“You uh, what is your scene?

The vampire seemed completely uncertain. He was not what older people did for fun. Drink? He supposed drink, but he didn’t think they clubbed. Or did they? He’d probably like one of those middle-class bars that was open until the late hours, judging by his appearance. Maybe that was where he could drop him off safely.

Maybe he would prefer going to Olive garden.

"Or uh, maybe a sportsbar..." 

He was going to try for something more flattering. 

[luscen]

Casmir could tell that "Russel" was genuinely uncertain, rather than acting cagey. That was a point in his favor, perhaps; someone as star-crossed as he seemed to be couldn't be a merciless murderer, after all. But it wasn't helpful for the Hunter, just the same.

Perhaps he needed to be more direct. 

"Come on," he chided, elbowing Ru good-naturedly. "A handsome guy like you, in a city like this? You probably know all the best places in town to find a little bit of fun," he said, emphasizing that last bit. "You can't seriously expect me to think you don't know where the action is? Something a little 'red light?'" If that didn't clue him in...

"Looking for a good time, boys?" a smooth voice chimed in. Casmir looked over his shoulder, seeing a tall, black man with a well-trimmed goatee  standing nearby. He was dressed rather well, in a dark blue blazer and matching slacks, a white collarless undershirt beneath the coat- neither too casual for a wage slave, nor too crisp for an upper-crust snob. "I might know a place you could go. Something with a little bit of class, and a little bit of panache, if that's your game."

"Oho," Casmir replied with a wry grin. Unbeknownst to either Ru or the other man, Casmir could see the tell-tale sickly pale green aura of a werewolf lingering around him, the pointed ears and tail of a lycanthrope wavering along its edges. "Sounds interesting, don't you think, Ru?"

[jarahamee]

Ru, unbeknownst to Casmir or the werewolf, could also sense that this person was not human, and even worse, appeared to have some kind of ill intent. He squirmed uncomfortably, processing the questions. He could think of nothing but his memories of being completely obliterated by powerful supers. While Ru was a vampire from a powerful bloodline, he was still less than a fledgling, and weak as a kitten in comparison to some of the more powerful denizens of Wathais. The thought of going somewhere where other supers might be hunting was disturbing.

Especially if it was his new friend, Piotr they were hoping to feed off. That wasn’t going to happen when Ru was around. He tried not to think of all the times when his master decided to indulge and he could do nothing at all to stop them. He shuddered internally, trying to process his thoughts. Red light? He didn’t really know of any locations that weren’t local clubs. He honestly preferred not to go to nightlife locations when he could help it, since he didn’t need to feed anymore. His eyes traveled over the unknown super and he thought quickly;

“Uh, haha, I don’t know, I um, I don’t have much tolerance for alcohol, but I can take you somewhere I like, you know Piotr?”

The vampire’s voice sounded high and nervous, and he clutched Casmir’s arm with his claw-like fingers. He was scared enough that he didn’t notice his grip might be painful. He started walking away from the frightening werewolf fellow, trying to gently guide Piotr to follow him somewhere safer, moving fast and with intent. He looked visibly shaken, but not pale or flushed, just anxious as could be.

“Haha thanks for the offer, we’re really busy, and have to go.”

[luscen]

Casmir managed not to wince as he felt Ru's slender digits dig their way into his forearm- his coat managed to stave off most of the pressure, being resistant to punctures thanks to its internal mesh weave and thick padding. Still, that vampiric strength was nothing to sneeze at, weaker thought it may have been compared to others of the blonde's ilk. 

Nevertheless, the Hunter smelled a lead, and decided to follow up on it. "Speak for yourself, pal," he replied with a wry grin at the dark-skinned lycan, extricating himself from Ru's grip and gently thumping the vampire in the shoulder with his fist- thankfully, his silver-knuckled gauntlets made contact with the other man's fabric, rather than his skin. He'd rather not have tipped the werewolf off, just yet. 

"You go on ahead, Russel," he continued, waving the vampire off, dismissively. "Lemme chat for a minute with our friend, here." There was a chance, however slight, that this was staged, but Casmir wasn't truly convinced that was the case; if Ru was hustling him, he was an exceptionally good actor. And while that cloak of his was on the theatrical side, Casmir felt that he was sincere, here. Better, then, not to drag him into any more trouble.

The werewolf made a pleased sound, showing off a set of pearly white teeth, the canines just a bit too sharp to be natural. "My man," he said, slipping two fingers into his breast pocket and flicking out a black card with golden embossed lettering. Casmir plucked it out of the lycan's hand, reading it: The Silver Tongue Gentleman's Club.

"We have all sorts of engagements for men of distinguished taste. A wide variety of distractions and delights, both exotic and local." The grin widened. "In fact, we just got a fresh shipment in, tonight. A selection of fresh fruits, from across the border. Do I have your interest?" 

Casmir's eyes glinted knowingly. So, that's how it was. Perhaps there was something to be had here, after all. "I do like a good mamey," he replied, pocketing the card and gesturing to the werewolf to lead the way. "I think I'll see just how many of those 'distractions and delights' of yours I can find, hm?"

The two of them began to head off into the crowd, swiftly leaving a very anxious Ru behind. 

[jarahamee]

Ru watched the man wandering away from him with growing horror. He was going to get eaten at a nightclub and no one could do anything about it. Well, maybe he could do something about it before it was too late. Something that hopefully didn’t involve getting into combat with a werewolf.

He eyeballed their surroundings, and found a nearby alley to duck into, scrunching down behind a dumpster to transform. No one would care about a tiny bat flying round, and if he remembered his lectures from his science class well-enough, people were unlikely to notice a bat hiding on their clothing. He focused his thoughts on his fear, anxiety, and desire to leave this situation, and before long, he had transformed into a bat.

The albino vampire bat fluttered out of the shadows, highlighted against the dark sky by the streetlights, before dipping down low and out of sight. It was far too dark for anyone to see him well unless he was at eye-level, and even better, he was too light to really cause any kind of disturbance when he settled on someone. That someone was his new friend Piotr.

As he had predicted, neither the werewolf nor Piotr noticed when he made soft impact with the back of his coat, or when he crawled up into a fold in the jacket, vibrating with the manic energy of the tiny mammals. He then clung tight and waited. He’d know when they entered the club, and he could slide off into a shadow and reform himself.

[luscen]

Fortunately for Ru, his apparently frayed nerves hadn't kept him from managing to hitch a ride on the Hunter's back- Casmir hadn't given any sign of feeling the difference in weight as the vampire bat carefully crawled his way into the nook between the blonde's collar and his back, sequestering himself there so as to avoid detection. Casmir, for his part simply traded small talk with his guide, as the pair made their way down the street towards a rather stately-looking building at the corner.

With a motif of a woman's mouth seductively licking her lips on the exterior sign, the tongue glimmering in a pale, white light, the Gentleman's Club seemed to exude an air of mature indulgence, a tone that set it apart from other clubs it shared its street with. Where most clubs were sporting art deco exterior and neon signs with animations, bass lines thudding loudly as one passed, the Silver Tongue was a two-story French provincial building in white and gray, with smooth lounge music serenading the passersby. "Style," in a more subdued, classical sense was the flavor; a respect for tradition, and an appreciation for elegance. Indeed, it was quite magnificent, in its own right.

Casmir saw two men flanking the entrance- his Eye showed them to be werewolves, much like the Tout which was escorting him. They didn't bother giving him any notice as he approached, arms folded behind their backs and maintaining a stoic vigil. As he neared the door, they reached out, grabbing a handle and pulling the doors open for him, giving him a proper view of the splendid interior: just as austere as the outside, it was richly carpeted and paneled wood, with a bar ahead of him, guests sitting at tables and being served by men and women wearing form-fitting apparel that was neither crass nor entirely "appropriate." Rather, it hit that perfect middle ground, where nothing was overt, but everything was implied. Hiding in plain sight, as it were.

"Welcome, sir," A new voice said. Casmir looked over to see an androgynous figure smiling at him, the short hair, clean face, and slightly-painted lips making it difficult to determine whether the speaker was male or female. The voice was polite, and lightly pitched, giving away nothing. They eyed the Hunter up and down, lingering on his scarred face and red eye. "Would you care to leave your coat at the door?"

"Certainly," Casmir replied, shrugging out of the heavy garment, with a disarming smile. "I don't suppose you have any Zubrowka, do you? I'd love a glass, and someone to, ah, enjoy it with, hm?"

"I believe we carry that, yes. If you'll come with me, we'll get you settled in," the host replied, their smile deepening, though not quite reaching the pale eyes that gazed upon the Hunter. Casmir merely grinned back, almost eager, but appearing ignorant.  

[jarahamee]

The little bat noted the change in gravity and dropped down quickly, clinging to Piotr’s pant leg with his little claws. If he went any higher, he probably would be felt. He could feel the malignant energy of…werewolves? Around him. There must have been a whole group of them down here. He could potentially escape from them in his bat form, or maybe in his shadow form, but he didn’t really have any way to get his new friend out of here. He couldn’t transform him with them. He’d just have to warn him before it came to violence.

Now, how to get to him without scaring him…He could talk to him from the shadows, maybe hide under his table. These were the best and simplest things he could do without making himself a target. He was no match for a werewolf in a one on one battle, at least not any of the fighting types they had here. He frowned and clung more tightly, trying to pretend to be a tent. Maybe he could be a shadow and hide under a foot if anyone got suspicious…

[luscen]

Casmir took his seat and was soon given a glass of pale, green liquid by a rather voluptuous woman with a noticeable sway in her hips; Casmir's Eye showed the slit pupils of a snake-like visage, which - when coupled with the motion of her waist - likely meant she was a Lamia or a Naga that had shape-shifted their lower half, rather than using a charm or glamour. It certainly seemed like he was on the right track, here.

He afforded the waitress a wry smirk and a leer as she sauntered past, to keep up appearances, then turned his attention to the glass, the sight of which caused the scarred man's eyes to light up, despite himself- real Żubrówka? Complete with the bison grass, as opposed to the inferior rye? The blonde took the drink in his hand and inhaled, recognizing the faint aroma of apple mingling with the distinct scent of the vodka. 'They even know how to make a szarlotka,' he hummed with an appreciative whistle. It was going to be a shame dismantling this place. Maybe he could try and filch the a bottle or two, later, after he'd conducted his business.