milliways_bar | (no subject)

"I see I'm not the only one with artistic leanings, Lawrence."

A hand on his shoulder for a moment, a light squeeze, and then Nick sits.

He need not look up to see who it is, as no other person here would greet him like that.

That doesn't stop him from looking because he wants to, however. "I suppose not. This is perhaps a bit more droll than most artists are used to."

Nick gets a light smile. And Lawrence shifts to put less weight between his shoulderblades.

And the light smile is returned.

"Glad to see you're settling well enough, though."

His chin tilts towards Lawrence.

"But it looks fine enough. Accurate, from what I can call to mind."

"Well, of course it is." He shakes his head and then glances to the man.

"And how is it that you're settling lately, Nicholas?"

Because Lawrence is, of course, concerned with Nick. He itches absently at rapidly fading puncture marks at his throat. That Puck sure has sharp teeth...

"As well as I usually do."

Which doesn't say much of anything. He's done a lot of settling. He does, however, notice the marks on Lawrence's throat.

He's a vampire. It's his habit.

"Interesting night, Lawrence?"

Though he's not going to pry.

Lawrence doesn't mind sharing, of course. He quirks a brow and pauses, as if wording something in his mind.

"The young man called Robin has very sharp teeth, as it would happen. And actually, it's from a night or two ago." A small smile.

"The rather small bruise in the centre of my back, however, is from yesterday. I must say that I am glad that I was given rubber bullets for practice." This is far too amusing for Lawrence.

Nick raises an eyebrow.

"Rubber bullets? Did you shoot yourself then?"

He can't really imagine how when you consider it was in the center of Lawrence's back.

He laughs.

"No, Ennis did." He shakes his head. "I'm sure I rather deserved it."

"Ennis?"

But there's a slight smirk at the last part.

"And how, might I ask, old friend, did you deserve it?"

He licks his lips.

"It is, of course, what happens when you go about kissing people who do not necessarily want to be kissed. I suspect he was gaining revenge for that." The smirk does not fade, though.

Nick's eyes are a little wide.

"Well," cough ahem, "yes, that would do it."

"I do hope I've not made you uncomfortable, Nicholas."

He's curious now, with Nick's eyes as wide as they are. "It would. As I said, I wonder if he would have used the regular shots, had he the chance."

Honestly, he's hoping no.

He laughs himself and shakes his head.

"No. I just find how forward you were..."

And he smiles at Lawrence.

"Well, surprising, but oddly charming. No doubt Ennis did not, but that's his problem."

He snorts, just a tad.

"I've rather made it my personal mission to explain to him that all 'fucking queers' are not quite as horrible as he thinks they must be."

A small quirk of his lips. "But ... on to other things. There is something that I've rather been wondering about you."

"Oh?"

And really, it's not surprising. When you tell people you're 800 years old, they tend to wonder about you.

His gaze focuses more on Nicholas' face while he poises himself to speak.

"Are you a vampire?" He's watching him very closely now, you see.

He really doesn't have to watch him so closely.

Especially as Nick lets out a short bark of a laugh and nods.

"Yes. And then no. And then yes again. At the moment, the answer would be yes, and... from what I hear, it shouldn't be changing for a very very long time."

Well, that's a relief.

"Oh, well. Good then." He relaxes a little bit.

"I'd been thinking of ways that you could possibly be 800 years old, you see. And after meeting one Mal, I assumed that was the most obvious answer." He is quite pleased that he's right, actually.

Lawrence adjusts surprisingly fast, as you can see.

He shrugs.

"I wasn't keeping it particularly secret, but I didn't want to alarm you."

"Honestly, it would have alarmed me a few days ago."

Really, it would have. "But now it does not." He adds, just to be sure.

He rolls his eyes.

"So I had gathered."

And he chuckles, just a little.

"Well, perhaps now you might have figured out why your neck was sore after our own..."

"Only making a point, you see."

And the smirk spreads over his lips while his brow lofts.

"Yes, I do suppose that would explain some things..." He lifts a nearby cup of tea and sips from it, eyeing Nicholas over the edge of it.

He snorts.

"Don't give me that look, Lawrence."

Which is why he's returning with one very much like it, of course.

He blinks quite innocently.

"And what look would that be, Nicholas?" Another sip of his tea.

"Lawrence."

I'm well aware of how innocent you are. Or rather, aren't.