(no subject)

[prodigalbrat]

CHARACTERS: Henry Durham (prodigalbrat) and Isaac Lahey (abrahamic)
LOCATION: Showers.
WARNINGS: Talk of murder and shirtless men??
SUMMARY: Henry stalks werewolves in the shower, and gives some sagely advice, kind of.
NOTES:


Henry is preparing to engage in the very human ritual of showering, pulling off his shirt and tossing it to the side, but when his hand reaches his belt, he suddenly halts. There's an unmistakeable smell wafting through the thick steam, one that makes him want to gag, accompanied by a heady scent that makes his teeth ache.

When you can experience the world in high fidelity, you're more than often privy to the secrets of other men, but with everything turned up so high, it all tends to melange. However, there are two distinct smells that Henry can note clearly, even at a distance, and that is, werewolf and blood. His thoughts jumps to Josh— not like he cares if Aidan's best friend gets hurt or anything— but the smell is different, he realizes. Sure, still stank, but different.

Metal clinks as Henry tosses his belt onto a bench, and obliging his curiosity, he heads deeper in the showers, hanging onto the scent as well as a vampire can.

Comments

[abrahamic]

It's right after Isaac's conversation with Derek that he hits the showers - not the medbay ones, because going down that hall would invite questions about why he's got blood soaked all the way down to his elbows, and he'd gotten enough questions about that to last him a lifetime before he got on board this ship.

He doesn't count on going on auto-pilot, though; one minute he's watching Derek talking - talking - to him, the next he's somewhere predominantly white with his hand on the shower handle, still fully clothed.

Isaac frowns, the barest twitch and expression, and realizes his hand's shaking just the bit. That hasn't happened in a while, Isaac finds himself thinking, and gets shocked out of that thought when he hears metal hitting metal from somewhere nearby. Logically he knows he's supposed to do something to cover this up, but what he ends up doing is stand there frozen for a heartbeat, before hitting the shower controls and letting the water spray down on him.

Why he thought that was a good plan of action Isaac couldn't say, but it's been a stressful night. If he's lucky, whoever's around isn't a supernatural, otherwise he's a little screwed.

[prodigalbrat]

So it turns out to be the kid, who to Isaac's credit, looks older than he does on the tiny screen. He's pretty sure that the wolf knows someone's here, even without a heartbeat to give away his presence. Hard to wash away the smell of death when you're perpetually dead. So he remains outside the shower, propping himself up against a tiled wall that's almost white as himself, waiting for the right moment. A smirk plays on his lips, as if sharing a private joke.

"So who did you kill, kid?"

Being delicate? What's that? His bald inquiry is tinged with a mark of self-satisfaction. The gauzy steam of the shower may mask Isaac's trembling hands, but Henry only has to look at the fully-clothed, stiff-backed wolf, to know that the kid's disquieted.

The first few kills are always the hardest, when you still think you're human enough to need to feel compunction about something that's only natural. It's nostalgic. A vicarious reminder of his first kill as a young man.

[abrahamic]

It would be Henry, of course.

Isaac distinctly remembers the other's voice from the one time he'd chatted with him on the network months ago. (Has it been that long already? It still felt like yesterday, when Henry was threatening to murder him over the network. Over Aidan. Those were fun times.) Isaac curses under the spray, low enough that the sound of the water should slur it a little, and wetly slaps his hair out of his eyes.

"I didn't kill anybody," he calls out without any lead-in, fully aware of how blatantly obvious that lie is even to his own ears. "I cut myself and bled everywhere."

He waits a bit before turning the water off, strips his shirt off, wringing it near-dry. It had the most bloodstains, but the water's washed off most of the blood off his front, never mind that the bloody water is seeping down to the rest of his clothes. He can launder the scent off, or burn the clothes if it sticks; it's no different from what he'll have to do anyway.

"Why are you doing, lurking around in the showers, anyway?"

[prodigalbrat]

"Don't lie to me about blood," he says with a short laugh, "Besides, if it were yours, it'd smell like shit."

No, the blood was fresh, relatively speaking, not even a day old or staled in hospital plastic. Frankly, the monster in him wants to tear off Isaac's shirt and suck it dry, but either of those things would be pretty fucked up. It would also send the wrong message, considering they're in the shower and all.

Henry skips over Isaac's question because, really, he's just taking a shower, vampire or not. Lurking is for Dracula and Derek.

"You don't have to feel bad about it."

wow i used the word water way too many times...

[abrahamic]

"And you smell like graveyard dirt," Isaac mutters while shaking the shirt out, "so we're pretty much the same."

Isaac can't argue about the blood, though; he's not a vampire, and he won't assume a lot of things about them, but he does know that if werewolves can tell the difference between the walking undead and the living just by how they smell, then it makes sense that vampires would know the many nuances of their main diet.

It still puts him on the spot.

"I don't have to feel bad about anything because I didn't do anything," he tells Henry, talking to him now without the buffer of the shower stall doors. Looking at the other man now makes Isaac's nerves ratchet back up, realizing that they've never really met before until now. "...And you're a lot paler than I thought you'd be."

Isaac stalls by the... well, stall, awkwardly holding his shirt in his hands as water trickles down his face. "Do vampires need to shower?"

that is ok. i had to use shit twice because nothing was more perfect!!

[prodigalbrat]

If Henry were in the habit of rolling his eyes, he'd do that exactly now. What are teenagers with their stupid questions? Do vampires shower? Obviously.

"Do werewolves shit in the woods?" he replies, which is to say they obviously do, since where he comes from, werewolves are of a four-legged variety. "We eat food sometimes. Sleep, even."

Contrary to Isaac's escalating nerves, Henry seems more relaxed than before, hands now tucked into his pocket as he continues to lean against the cold tiled wall. Perhaps, up close he doesn't seem all that predatory. Isaac's actually taller, but then again, the difference in inches, Henry makes up in confidence.

"If you didn't, then why so nervous?" His voice quiet, but sharp edged, almost as sharp as that blue-eyed stare piercing Isaac straight in the eyes.

word problems ahoy ;a;

[abrahamic]

"I'm not—!" Protesting too much is the last thing he should be doing, and Isaac recognizes it. "Man, I'm not even supposed to be talking to you at all. Josh hates your guts."

Though technically Josh didn't say anything other than stay away from him, him meaning Henry, Isaac recognizes that it was more than just concern that colored that pronunciation. Whatever history Josh and Henry had, it ran deep - Isaac had wondered once if Aidan was literally the only thing keeping the two from actively going at each other's necks. He might be wrong on that account, true, but there's still something between the two that Isaac probably shouldn't dig too deep into.

Which is, of course, why it's the first thing he brings up. The look Henry's giving him isn't helping.

"And since when did vampires manage to eat anything else that wasn't blood? What, you guys just buck the trend where you're from?"

[prodigalbrat]

"We go to lengths to maintain our discretion," he replies.

A step forward divides the distance between them, drawing his limbs in that slow and withy manner of a predator closing distance on his prey. Henry really needs better hobbies than intimidating teenage boys, but goddamn, he misses the rush of a heartbeat, the feeling of fear emanating off mouth-breathers when he plays the role of monster.

One small step, another step, he closes the distance between them. With his eyes trained on Isaac, he leans forward with a cheeky grin-- to set his hand on his shoulder."

"I hope you've done the same. Disposed of the body correctly. The evidence." he says, giving Isaac's shoulder a hard squeeze. "Hypothetically speaking, of course."