londoncallingrpg | ota 👏

pixiesweat posting in

It was a regular day for Manuel. In other words, he had nowhere to be, nothing to do, and no motivation to do anything other than wander around aimlessly.

The anniversary of his sister’s death had come and gone. The emotional turmoil had faded away, but he felt curiously flat, like it had taken the rest of his emotions with it.

He’d had a quick breakfast before he left his flat, but hadn’t even thought about eating anything since then. He didn’t know how long it had been. He wasn’t keeping track of time. He barely felt hungry, and more importantly, he didn’t care.

He walked around, considered stealing something from a convenience store he passed, just because he could, but there wasn’t anything appealing enough to be stolen even for no reason. Eventually he came to a bench, sat, and watched traffic passing by until it was making him feel irritable instead of just empty.

He stood, and that was when the lack of food finally caught up with him. The sudden change in position made his head swim, and he staggered just enough to put himself in the path of someone who’d been about to walk by.

“Sorry,” he said, once his head had cleared enough for him to realise what had happened.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

old_man_gavril

"Whoa," Gavril said, shifting on his feet and moving to catch the kid as he shifted on his feet.

"You all right?" he asked, giving the kid a look.

Inside of him, his lupine hunter's senses were working on him. Not human, not entirely. Seemed a bit off. Maybe lack of food? Weak prey. Why'd he been running into so many folks like this?

But he didn't address it, not yet. For all he knew, this kid was the bad kind, but he wasn't one to judge negatively without reason. He'd see what was up, first.

From:

pixiesweat

"Yeah," Manuel said, straightening and looking up at the guy who'd caught him. "Sorry."

From:

old_man_gavril

"Don't worry about it, kid," Gavril assured him, gently.

He was wondering how to broach the subject of getting this kid a meal. He was clearly hungry; Gavril could just about hear it. Then again, he could also tell that the kid wasn't entirely human.

"Y'know, wobbling around like that, someone might think you were starvin' to death." He'd decided on that as a decent lead-in. Hopefully it would work. Gavril didn't like seeing suffering that was undeserved. This kid looked about as downtrodden as they got.

From:

pixiesweat

"I'm okay," Manuel said. "I was just..." He couldn't think of a good excuse to explain away nearly passing out. "I'm fine."

From:

old_man_gavril

"Uh-huh," Gavril said, rolling his eyes.

"Look, kid," he began, leaning in just a little bit. "I know when someone's hungry. I own a pub, it's kinda my business," he said.

"I'm going to my pub, getting it started on opening up. You follow me, there's a free meal in it for you. If you don't trust me, whatever, that's fine."

From:

pixiesweat

Manuel watched him for a moment, uncertain and considering.

"Okay," he said, more because he was very susceptible to suggestion than out of any real desire to eat.

From:

old_man_gavril

"Good deal. C'mon," he said, gesturing for him to follow.

"My name's Gavril, by the way," he said, glancing over his shoulder, if only to make sure that the guy was still following. "The place is Wolf's Head. It's actually not far from here."

From:

pixiesweat

He was still following. "I'm Manuel," he replied.

From:

old_man_gavril

"Nice to meet you," he said, though he'd decide on that later. Then again, if the kid tried to pull a fast one, he was in for a surprise.

He descended the steps leading to Wolf's Head, which was plainly advertised on the streets above, along with the "Help Wanted" sign next to them.

He fished his keys out of his pocket and selected a stylized stainless steel key that featured a wolf's head, and it slid into the antique brass lock. He gave it a twist, and the door opened.

"C'mon in," Gavril said, walking in ahead.

From:

pixiesweat

Manuel followed him in silently, glancing around. After seeing the key and the lock, he was curious what the inside of the place might look like.

From:

old_man_gavril

The front door had a friendly sign of carved oak and ash, which said that they were closed for now. But Gavril didn't bother flipping the sign to open, yet. There was still plenty of time for that.

He hit the light switches, and while the lighting was artificial, the fixtures diffused the harsh fluorescent light into a much softer, more natural-feeling light, giving the pub a cast of being just comfortably dim.

The pillars that flanked the back of the bar were ornately carved in a scrimshaw style, featuring small figures engaging in wood-stiff battles with each other. Over the center of the back of the bar, the titular Wolf's Head was mounted, an ornately painted and hand-carved wooden gray wolf head that looked down upon the bar as a king might; regal, silent, and observant.

All the surface tops within the pub were made of a finely-polished and rich, dark hardwood.

"Welcome," Gavril said, and he gestured to the bar, heading to go around it and behind to where the grills were. "It'll take me a bit to get the grill fired up." Working with wood was always a bit of a pain. "What can I get you?"

Gavril's bar was clearly stocked with a modest array of taps, liquors, and even several surprisingly good vintages of wine. From overhead a variety of drinking vessels hung, ranging from regular and wine glasses to mugs of wood or clay, and even, perhaps more as a joke, mason jars. Gavril wasn't making an explicit offer of alcohol to the kid (he wasn't sure if he was underage), but he didn't care one way or the other.

From:

pixiesweat

Manuel looked around as he followed Gavril in. He didn't comment, but it was pretty clear he was impressed with the space.

"Uh," he said, in response to the question. The truth was he didn't particularly care what he got to eat. "What do you have?"

From:

old_man_gavril

"Burgers, steaks, that sort of thing," he said. "Chips, and baked potatoes, too. No real vegetarian option outside of spuds, and I don't apologize for that," he added, glancing over his shoulder as he idly turned liquor bottles so that their labels faced outward.

"In the meantime, I can get you started with a drink." Of course, alcohol on an empty stomach was a bad idea, but the idea was also to get him food too.

From:

pixiesweat

"A burger?" he said. "And just some water."

He was afraid if he drank anything alcoholic in his current state he might end up puking.

From:

old_man_gavril

"Good choice," he said, more about the water than anything. He slid him the glass of good old H2O, before getting to work on the burger.

"So. I always feel it's good to get this out of the way. I'm not really human, and you're not entirely human yourself, are you?" he asked, cordially.

From:

pixiesweat

He'd just taken a sip of his water when the question caught him off guard.

"Uh," he said. "No."

From:

old_man_gavril

The burger was sizzling on the grill, and Gavril moved to start getting some of the fixings chopped up. Burgers were always better with onions, romaine lettuce, maybe some thin-cut green bell pepper, some sliced pickles...

"Well, secret's safe with me, kid. I just got a nose for that kinda thing. This city treatin' you okay? I know some of us supernatural types might find the city kind of rough." Speaking from experience, he was. It got easier with practice, but he didn't know how this kid was handling things.

From:

pixiesweat

"Yeah," he said, but didn't sound particularly confident in his answer. He wasn't lying. His standards were so warped that he genuinely believed what he was saying, only he couldn't summon positive feeling that wasn't there. "It hasn't been too bad."

There was that one time he'd been attacked by a vampire, but he didn't particularly want to talk about that. It wasn't likely to happen again now that he was under Eric's protection, anyway.

From:

old_man_gavril

"Right." Gavril readied the young man's plate and slid it in front of him. In his usual style, he'd kept the fixings for the burger on the side; he'd add whatever he wanted to it.

"Look. I've been away for awhile, from this place. I don't know how the landscape's changed." Gavril began. "But if you're in a bind, I might be able to help. I live well below my means. So don't worry about putting me out."