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]

And, there, that is the spark of recognition Sebastian was looking for. He steps back again, his expression reading shock and confusion. Men really do that? But they look too much alike not to be the same person, now that Tom's mind is searching more for bone structure and facial shape than makeup and hair. "No," he says. "You're kidding me."

[sebastard]

It's the way that Tom reels back slightly that leaves Sebastian worried, a sharp pang in his chest. He tenses, ready to turn tail and run if he needs to, but tries to keep an easy smile on his face. "Maybe I am." His voice doesn't even tremble--he's proud of that, at least. Maybe he can still come off all right, even if he's done something stupid.

[hungrylike]

Tom mostly looks amused. He folds his arms over his chest, trying not to smile. Most people don't joke with him, this is... nice, strangely. "Naw, I can see it now." Under the perfume, they smell the same. "You did a bangup job of it, looking like a lady."

[sebastard]

Sebastian tries to tell himself to relax, it looks like he's off the hook--but he leaves his knees just barely bent nonetheless. "You think so?" he asks. It's always nice to get compliments from people who don't have much familiarity with drag. Means he's doing a good job. "Thanks."

[hungrylike]

"Yeah." Tom shrugs. "Sure fooled me." He should have been able to smell it-- always be on your toes-- but the perfume was strong, and he wasn't really paying attention. He reassures himself: if he'd known to look for it, he would have caught it. "Why- why'd you do it, huh? Is it- oh!" He looks very pleased at having figured it out. "It an acting thing, huh?"

[sebastard]

Oh, that's the question Sebastian hates. He shrugs, glancing down at the floor momentarily, wondering how to explain to a skinhead the appeal of looking into a mirror and seeing the same person, only different? "Sort of. More like..." He shrugs again. "Like for fun. Mostly."

[hungrylike]

"Huh." Tom can't really see the appeal himself, but McNair said you should never judge someone for something they do in the privacy of their own home if they're not hurting nothing. Tom always thought this oddly specific advice, but it applies well enough here. "So you just... go round in lady's clothes. Huh. I'd've never guessed."

[sebastard]

"Yeah, sometimes," Sebastian says. Apparently he's a curiosity--this, he can handle. Drop another crumb of information, see what his newly informed friend gets out of it. "Sometimes I perform in 'em."

[hungrylike]

This gets Tom's attention, performing sounds like nothing he's ever fathomed. "Really? People pay to see that?" And then, after a worried pause, "not that you're not good at it or nothing..."

[sebastard]

"If you're good at it, they give you tips." Sebastian gives him a wicked grin. He's not worried about Tom assuming he's not good at his work; after all, if he was a bad drag queen, he wouldn't have gotten away with flirting with him so scandalously the other day. "I can dance, and--and play the piano and things like that. That part's a bit like acting."

[hungrylike]

Of course, all the flirting just went right over Tom's head, but nobody needs to know that, least of all Tom. He just nods as if given a new business perspective, or while learning about burger flipping.

"Huh. Makes sense, when you put it like that." Tom had envisioned something more like a runway show. He saw one of them on the telly, once. Realizing the extent of his ignorance, he ducks his head down a bit, feeling suddenly out of place once more. It comes and it goes, it seems. "Sorry. I don't know nothing about any of this stuff." He assumes it's a London thing.

[sebastard]

And here Sebastian thought he'd done a good job of flirting. Ah, well. Better luck next time.

"It's all right--probably not all that important when you're running a cafe." And vice versa: Sebastian can hardly cook, which is part of why he eats so many bloody salads. "You ought to go to a show sometime, they're really fun."

[hungrylike]

Tom smiles, proud of his job, and of having one. He shrugs. "Dunno. Might be, if I lived in London." The way he says it, it sounds like a mystical place. Or at least, a very impressive one. "Really? I wouldn't know where to find one." He's not quite sure they have them in Barry.

[sebastard]

"Might be if you worked near a club, I guess." There are places they like to convene for late night snacks, after all, though a lot of those are gay bars in themselves. Sebastian gives Tom a cheeky grin, an inch away at winking at him. "You ought to come home with me, I'll take you out to one."

[hungrylike]

Tom, still utterly oblivious, takes a moment to blink in surprise. This is how you make friends, right, they invite you to places? "R-really?" It sounds like fun, more less...

[sebastard]

"Yeah," Sebastian says. He wasn't expecting Tom to take him up on the offer, but--wouldn't be that bad, would it? Put a hat on him, maybe no one'd even notice the shaved head. "You can stay at my place. I've only got the one bed, of course."

Now he might just be tease-flirting. Flirt-teasing? The thing where he tries to see how far he can push his luck.

[hungrylike]

Tom just beams. He's never been invited over to someone's house before, this all seems very exciting. "Brilliant! Never been to London proper." He wonders if he should invite Sebastian to his place, but there's nothing really of interest to compare.

[sebastard]

"Great." The more they talk about it, the better it starts to sound. He'll take Tom around, they'll have a nice night, and then he'll drop him back off in Coquaigne, and no one'll know the difference. Tom's guileless smile is only encouraging him at this point. "You're not bad for a skinhead, you know."

[hungrylike]

"What? Oh." Tom puts his palms on his head a moment, confused until he remembers what 'skinhead' means. "Oh, right. We just keep it cut short so it don't get snagged on nothing."

[sebastard]

Sebastian frowns. So he's not really a skinhead? Well, that explains a lot, but the explanation isn't exactly a coherent one. "Snagged? What would your hair be snagged on?"

[hungrylike]

Tom shrugs. "Branches and that. Got my trousers caught in a space heater, once." He continues smiling, clearly amused by the story.

[sebastard]

"Sounds like me," Sebastian says, laughing a little sheepishly. "I'm always walking into doors and shit like that."

He pauses, and then a thought occurs to him. "You must walk into a lot of trees--how'd you get those scars on your back?"

[hungrylike]

"Uh-- yeah. Like that." He's lucky to have wormed his way out of that one. "Oh, uh-" He turns back, as if to look at his scars, and fleetingly reaches back to touch one.

"Uh, camping. When I was a kid." Which is more less true. It's not that he wants to lie-- he wouldn't if he had a choice. But he can't really tell someone he was attacked by a werewolf. Not this someone, anyway.

[sebastard]

"Really?" Sebastian's had some nasty accidents, but none of them have been on the level of noticeable scarring for years and years. Little scars at best. So he's a little wide-eyed when he asks, "What happened?"

[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.