mountains beyond mountains,

[hungrylike]

So, yeah, like, this place has all sorts of things, more'n I thought there'd be of what I was looking for, but there ain't any people I seen yet. Anybody around out there? Me, I'll be in the cafe, I guess. I'm brilliant with burgers.

Comments

[hungrylike]

Tom scrambles for an answer. McNair never taught him how to lie. "Accident. A wild animal, it--" He frowns. "Uh, it got me." Which is, again, more less true.

[sebastard]

"Fuck. That's awful." You'd be lucky to be alive, scratched up like that. Suddenly almost walking into traffic a few times too many seems like small potatoes. "I guess I shouldn't have asked, sorry."

[hungrylike]

Tom shrugs, and goes right on back to smiling. "Ah, don't bother about it. No one's ever asked." A pause. "Probably should get my shirt, though." He chuckles, and wanders off to retrieve his things.

[sebastard]

Sebastian follows him over to his stuff. If Tom's not going to be annoyed by questions, he's certainly going to keep up with them. "Do a lot of boxing, do you?"

[hungrylike]

Tom finds he doesn't mind questions, or being the center of attention. Now if only Sebastian would stop asking questions Tom doesn't have a good answer for... Tom puts on his shirt and his jacket over it, and hopes he does so quickly enough that Sebastian doesn't see the stakes packed into the inner pockets. "Naw," he says, because you shouldn't lie when you don't have to. "It's just good for building upper-arm strength, y'know?"

[sebastard]

Sebastian doesn't know to look for stakes and thus doesn't see them. It's amazing what you miss when you assume someone's as dully human as everyone else in the world. "Yeah." He wonders just how much upper-arm strength you need to cook. "I mean, I guess. I'm not exactly--uh, not gonna win that many fights, myself."

[hungrylike]

Tom smiles and laughs, hands in his pockets. He'll let Sebastian lead the way. Ladies first. Not that-- well. Nevermind. "I could teach you, if you like. It ain't hard."

[sebastard]

"I know a little," Sebastian tells him, and since it seems like Tom expects him to head off, he does. Back to London it is, he guesses. "My father taught me. But--well, I'd rather make a run for it if I can." Father'd be relieved to hear that, he suspects, even if it's kind of embarrassing to admit to a boy who's clearly gotten cut up more than once in his lifetime.

[hungrylike]

"That's good," Tom says, following like a loyal dog. "Violence is never the answer." Though considering how often he gets into scrapes... "I mean, unless you're cornered and that. Or if somebody else is. Or if-" He stops himself before he says or if they're vampires.

[sebastard]

"Yeah," Sebastian says as Tom goes through his list of exceptions, shrugging, then looks expectantly at him. After a moment, he asks, "Sorry, did I cut you off?"

[hungrylike]

Tom blinks, and wishes, faintly, that he could feel right-footed again. He'd like more proper friends, and Sebastian is real nice. "Oh, uh, nothing. But, yeah, I can show you some moves if you, uh, if you like."

[sebastard]

And Sebastian wouldn't mind keeping Tom around as an acquaintance. He's interesting, to say the least, and it can't hurt to walk around with a bloke who looks like he could beat you into a pulp. Especially when he turns out to be about as likely to hurt someone as a housefly. "Yeah, that'd be ace." He shoots Tom a grin. "Maybe I can teach you how to do your face after."

[hungrylike]

"My face?" Tom frowns a bit, thinking. "How'd that work?"

[sebastard]

"Oh, you know." Sebastian mimes putting on makeup. "Lipstick, rouge, mascara..."

[hungrylike]

Tom balks. "What? No... I'd look rubbish." Sebastian in makeup is one thing, he can clearly pull it off. Tom would just look funny...

[sebastard]

"You sure?" Sebastian's in a mood to tease. Sorry, Tom. "I'll lend you a wig."

[hungrylike]

While Tom is up for trying new things, especially with friendly people, this seems a bit... much, in a way he can't really place. "Nah, I'd look silly."

[sebastard]

Sebastian shrugs. "Suit yourself. The offer's always open." He leads them to the lift and then punches the button for his floor when they get in. "Maybe I'll take you out for dinner instead."

[hungrylike]

Tom is about to apologize-- maybe he could try a wig? Maybe? If Sebastian promises not to laugh-- but then the subject is changed, and Tom goes right back to beaming. "That'd be brilliant, I'm starved." He always is, for a few days after the new moon.

[sebastard]

"There's a great little Italian place near my flat." Sebastian wasn't really expecting Tom to take him up on the offer, though he is fond of getting manlier blokes into lipstick when he can manage it. The results are always entertaining. Just having someone to spend the evening with is nice, even if it's not exactly a date. "D'you like pasta?"

[hungrylike]

Tom has, in his life, eaten live rabbits, and a chicken that'd been hanging on a string for a night before it was cooked. Pasta would be fantastic. "Oh, yeah, sounds great." Tom is pretty sure he has enough money to at least split a dinner. "Pasta's brilliant."

[sebastard]

"Brilliant." They get off at Sebastian's floor, and his room is just around the corner. When he unlocks it and opens the door, the scent of lavender wafts out. One more door unlocked, and they're in his flat at home, where evening gowns poke out of the clothes cupboard and brightly coloured wigs sit atop his dresser. It's not exactly neat, but it doesn't have the look of a war zone at the moment, which is a triumph for Sebastian. "Well, this is it. Nothing too impressive."

[hungrylike]

"It's nice," Tom says, smiling. He's never lived alone-- except for the one time. But sleeping in a forest isn't the same, he figures. "You got a lot of dresses," he says, slightly awed.

[sebastard]

Sleeping in a forest and in a flat in London are rather different things, yes. "Yeah," Sebastian says happily, going over to pull the door of the clothes cupboard open for Tom's edification. "I mean, this is all of them. But never mind that, we're going in mufti tonight."

[hungrylike]

Tom looks on, clearly a bit awed. So many colors! He mutters a muted 'wow'-- he's never seen so many dresses before. Sebastian must be very accomplished. He looks up, distracted and confused, when Sebastian speaks. "Mufty?"