Arlo James

See what it's like to be a vulture's lunch

There was something curious about people in these moments. His venom, it seemed, reducing even the most unruly and bitter of vampires to something innocent. To the very being they might have been had none of the horrors of the world encased them and burrowed into them and made them guarded and volatile and aggressive against a world they steadily seemed to loath more and more. A part of him almost liked to see people this way. He liked meeting who they truly were in a sense. Even if, most of the time, they were largely ridiculous. Sebastian was joyful and excitable beneath it all, like a boy in a toy store who still found wonder in the world. Petra was not quite the same. No. She was...more peaceful, he decided. More at peace with herself if anything. With those tarnishes removed and that bliss circulation her body she was neither overtly joyful nor excitable but rather she was amused, curious, intrigued in a way those women always were in old movies where they smiled coyly, giving nothing away in a manner that was almost flirtatious. That's what he reminded her off. Those fancy women in old movies who were forever running off to meet their sweethearts beneath some tree somewhere without the family knowing. Arlo rather assured such thoughts were better kept to himself. How....embarrassed she would be if she knew she had ever given him that impression. Arlo chuckling as she rested against his chest and he merely let her use him as that source of stability. That comment about why he had stopped biting her saw his eyes glance downward, that soft simper tugging at his lip as her head rolled back until their eyes met.

"Because if I give you more venom I take more blood and if I take too much you might be very hungry when my venom wears off and you might end up eating....to many others."

Arlo was nothing if not rather bluntly honest when he chose to be. The young vampire informing her of exactly that reason he had ceased to feed on her. She would already be hungry, her body demanding she replaced what he took and yet to continue to feed on her could leave her utterly bloodthirsty in every sense of the word. There was, he was sure, a very great difference between a hungry vampire and a starving one. A starving one tended to lack control or any care to have control at all. He hardly wanted to be responsible for some sort of bloodbath Petra started when she left him tonight, a part of the man already feeling the guilt for it. God- he must be the only bloody vampire in the world who felt guilt like this. Would it kill him to have maybe just a little less humanity? That mention of food, it seemed, had inspired Petra once more, the woman declaring she needed at least ten people. Arlo snorting softly.

"Ten might be a little much, babe. Why don't we start with one and see how you feel afterwards?"

He suspected she hardly had the ability to catch one person, let alone ten and yet he saw no reason to point out just how useless she was right now. Arlo often inclined to do as he did for Sebastian and hunt that first meal for them. The return of blood to their systems had a habit of diluting his venom and returning them to some level of sense in the least. Arlo not so entirely sure how very much he might trust Petra's return to sense all the same. Was she going to be mad at him? Was she even going to remember anything she said here and now? Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't. Still, Petra hadn't exactly hurt him yet had she? Well she had tried to murder him he supposed. Maybe it would be better to leave her meal with her and disappear, then again he'd rather make sure that human lived. That was future Arlo's problem. Current Arlo was far more inclined to listen to her assurance he could make money, his eyes rolling softly at her declaration he need only pilfer it from a bank or a safe. Arlo sighing softly then as he lent forward, resting his head on his hand- his elbow balance on his knee, his face hardly far from her own as his gaze rested upon the woman still.

"Do you want to know a secret, Lady Petra?"

It was, he supposed, not a true secret and yet his voice lowered to that conspirators whisper all the same as he waited for her gaze to meet his own. She really did have lovely eyes, now that he looked at them all the more, one hand reaching up to brush that dark hair from his eyes as he regarded her.

"I can't steal that much money from a bank or a safe. I just.....can't. I don't know why. Sure I can pickpocket a few people but something stops me from doing anything truly bad. I think I'm a broken vampire. I always was. They left far too much human in me and you know? I wasn't even a terribly good human either."

Why on earth he was offering these admittances he hardly knew. Maybe because he knew, in that state she was in, she likely wouldn't even remember. Maybe he felt the need to share something with her like she seemed content to share those things with him. Arlo's humanity that very thing that had irritated Damon so much. The elder vampire having tried several methods for assisting him with it, Arlo a naturally more....submissive vampire by nature and almost naturally inclined to at least try what Damon had suggested and yet he knew exactly what Damon's interest in him had been all the same. Damon had believed those tales of Crusnik's, the vampires who fed on vampires, the ones the legends said were more powerful than other vampires. Damon attempting to have that coven appeal to him as a way to keep him there- for them, for their use. Arlo yet to see any proof he was stronger than anyone- well, maybe venom aside. Arlo content to brush aside his own inner musings in favour of a different question, the man inquiring on whether or not Petra lived alone. The woman taking a few moments to assure him she did- before suddenly bursting in to laughter. Well that was unanticipated. Was he going to kill her?

"Nah, I'm not going to kill you. If I can't steal money I'm pretty sure I can't kill anyone all that easily. I asked if you lived alone because I'm going to take you home and I didn't want to surprise anyone else who might be living with you."

And to spare her the embarrassment of tumbling into a room-mates arms in this condition. Arlo leaving that out for now. Besides, if she lived with another vampire they might prove less tolerable of him- they usually were. His kind rarely welcomed. Petra seeming to have taken the idea to stand on board then as she made some effort to, well, not do very much really. Arlo holding back that amusement as she flailed around before managing to flip over to face him, her form pressed up against him, closer then she had been before. Closer then he'd had a woman in rather a long time. Arlo hurriedly shifting his thoughts.

"Hi there."

That announcement that she had forgotten how to walk hardly seemed to do more than prompt that simper to his lips. Arlo used to looking after those beings who fell under his spell. At least she would be lighter then Sebastian.

"Come on then, I'll help you, ready?"

That affinity embraced him then. Arlo teleporting from beneath her to appear suddenly behind her, his arms reaching down to wrap effortlessly around her slender figure. With that meal so fresh within his system that strength came easily. Arlo lifting her upward as if she were no more than a pillow before placing her on her feet. One hand rested on her waist, the other holding the delicacy of her wrist to help her balance. The man unwilling to let go until he was sure she wouldn't topple into a heap.

"There you go, Chicka. Don't try walking to quickly now. Hold on to my arm if you have to. Now- can you tell me where you live, or your address? We'll get you a snack on the way if you want. Now which way are we going?"

He paused, waiting for that woman to give him some direction before stepping forward with Petra in tow. God he could only hope there were no hunters around tonight- she was going to be an awfully easy target. Arlo hoping the more they walked the more steady she might find herself.

"Hey, Petra? I'm gunna ask you something and you don't have to answer if you don't want to. How did you....become a vampire?"

It was, perhaps, the most personal question you could even ask a vampire. Arlo never having shared his own story with a single soul and yet for some reason that query of how that woman before him had fallen into this life suddenly seemed important.