A Painful Reminder (open)

[Juliette Lemaire]

Hopefully it would take him longer to find her out here. In the meantime she could recover from the last time he had fed from her. Her hand reached up to gently trace along the marks left on her neck. The spot ached under her fingertips. He was doing it on purpose. Simply to prove that he could. He hadn't even drank that much to warrant it.

That was the way of things now, she supposed. She was his and that was the end of it. He expected her to feel honored by it. That there should be some sense of pride every time sharp fangs plunged into her neck. Like it was a good thing. She got to live in the Inner City for it after all. It was far better than what she'd seen of the Outer City. The buildings here were still mostly intact and taken care of. The ruins would be even worse off than the Outer City. Truly this was the best the world had to offer at the moment. How wonderful.

She sighed silently out of her nose and let her hand and head fall. Exposing a neck even in the Inner City was risky. They might have acted like they were more "civilized" up here, but she had been fed on enough to know that was just a well worn mask. It was a lot like her own, truth be told.

As she stared up at the sky, she felt eyes on her. Others would surely be in the park, so this shouldn't have surprised her. Still, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. The still healing mark on her neck throbbed as the thought he might have found her already. Cautiously she tilted her head back down to look. It wasn't him, but someone she'd never met before. She eyes they for a moment. Most she met here were slaves, or their masters. "Hey." She offered warily to test the waters.

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@ no tag

[Adrian Carter]

<sub>Adrian didn't visit the park often. He was always caught frequenting the bar or the general downtown area when he wasn't home. It was where he would find his clients. Parks, however, were too peaceful and full of nature. Adrian had his fill of nature in his childhood. He would rather stick to the busy, bustling areas. Even the United Center was a choice above a stroll in the park.

Why did Adrian find himself here? Why, he did not know too well himself. Gotten lost, perhaps, in his train of thought, as he walked on one of his less busy nights. Being a registered human in the inner city made him feel less jumpy and more at ease. The prospect of being bitten and feeding a vampire's empty belly was much better than that of being held at knife and gunpoint in the slums where theft and violence was the norm for survival. Some humans would say he gave up, but Adrian- he would say he was being opportunistic.

There was a lone figure on a park bench staring upupup into the sky where Adrian followed with his eyes up just to see if there was anything particularly interesting up there. He snorted to himself and furrowed his brows before abruptly bringing his gaze down to filter back on her. She must've heard him, or felt his eyes on her as she then was looking at him. Adrian remained planted where he stood, hands in his jacket's pockets, posture straight and just waiting to see if she'd say anything about the staring.

"Hey."

One word. It wasn't what he expected, but he took care to observe the tone of it, whatever he could about her. Adrian meant no harm with his presence but he could understand why someone would be wary. Vampires blended in with everyone else until they bared their fangs. He allowed a very pregnant pause to fall between them until he chuckled and moved a few steps closer. "Hey? That's it?" His eyes flickered down where he saw two identical red marks in her neck, but they didn't linger there long. He had his own hidden under the collar of his coat. Albeit more faded, but they were there.

"Is that all there is to do in parks? Stare at the sky, sit on benches, and generally lack the social skills to come up with more than just the word 'hey'?" The statement was accompanied by a playful tone and a smirk as Adrian meant no more than just some harmless teasing.</sub>

[Juliette Lemaire]

Of all the things she expected to be answered with, sarcasm wasn't exactly high on that list. One dark eyebrow quirked up after the pregnant pause was broken. Of all things his words managed to make her relax more than anything. "Sorry to disappoint." She responded dryly, a faint bit of a smirk playing at her lips.

"Right now for me, that's all I want." Did he expect her to be jogging through the park or having a picnic? Getting breaks from her job and from him were rare enough as it was. if she wanted to waste the free time staring up into endless blue, she would. Just try to stop her. "By all means though, go ahead and have a picnic while I sit here and work on my meager social skills with talking to strangers." She added with a gentle shooing flick of her hands.

That didn't necessarily mean she did want him to go, however. He seemed playful enough, or at the very least sociable. While that wasn't exactly her style, she wouldn't hate the company as long as he didn't try anything. Besides, staying in a group might be better for her. "Hasn't anyone told you about 'stranger danger?'" She asked teasingly.

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Adrian Carter

[Adrian Carter]

<sub>The change in her overall demeanor brought onto Adrian's face a wry smile. Her smirk was subtle but it was there, and Adrian trained himself to catch these social cues. Perhaps he could get a banter out of her. "Apology accepted," he responded with the slight dip of his chin as if to nod in some sort of acceptance, although apologies were unnecessary. Adrian was only teasing after all.

He took one more quick look up to the sky before looking back down at her, this time his expression quizzical in a sense. "That's all? Nothing more than just the plain old sky? There's so much more to do." For him it would be the bar, socializing in the busier downtown areas, providing himself for his job as an escort. But that was right- he knew nothing of this young woman or why she wanted to do something abysmally tranquil. So he kept his critique towards her choice in off time hobbies internal as that would be the polite thing to do.

"Stranger danger?" Adrian parroted with both brows quirked and mouth twisted into a thoughtful pout. His fingers snapped and he pointed directly at her, this stranger, and added, "If I recall correctly you spoke to me first." Which was true! And therefore his argument against that silly little saying. Strangers in the inner city would either chat with you or maybe bite from his experience, and even if someone was trying to steal something off his person it never was as bad as living on the outer city. Hell, he couldn't even imagine how bad it was in the ruins, but the point stands.

Adrian's charming smile never left, and his light blue eyes were as warm and welcoming as he could make them. He made a nodding motion to the bench and looked to this woman's eyes as he rambled on, "If I told you my name is Adrian, would that no longer make me a stranger and open up an invitation for me to sit down with you?"</sub>

[Juliette Lemaire]

Maybe if she'd had more energy, she would have done something other than sitting around. He was right: there was much more to do than what she was up to. "I know." She said with a shrug. "I guess I'm just boring today. Catch me another time, and I might even be walking." If he was going to be so playful, she'd return it.

She watched his little motions with a quirked brow. She had spoken up first, but what had he expected her to do? Ignore the fact someone was observing her? So she copied his gesture and snapped her fingers right back at him. "True, but you were the one staring at me, which is a lot creepier." She returned. The feeling of eyes on her had been unsettling. Especially when she was trying to avoid someone who was no doubt looking for her now. "For all I knew, you could've been stalking me." Or looking to take a bite out of her. Around here, that was definitely a possibility.

He offered his name: Adrian. It made them a little less of strangers, but she wasn't sure what else it would make them at that point. At the very least they could be bench buddies for now. "You're still a stranger, but that doesn't mean I can say whether you can sit or not." She answered, motioning to the spot next to her. "Take it if you want. My name is Juliette."

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Adrian Carter