milliways_bar | (no subject)

Sunshine has given up on getting to sleep, tonight, and dragged her exhausted self down the stairs for caffeine. Her heartrate is elevated from the stress of sleeplessness (as well as the strong tea recently imbibed in order to help her power through the rest of the night). Rae hopes she'll have some luck in napping during the daytime hours, when nightmares are less likely to bother her.

But for now, when she turns from the bar to find a place to sit and take her second cup of darker-than-an-exaggerated-metaphor black tea, she decides on the fireplace couch. It's her favorite spot, and the warmth of the fire is a great comfort on bad nights. The only down-side is that getting there requires passing near to Eric's booth, because of course the cake of a bad night needs the icing of unwanted vampiric presence. Sigh.

It's a measure of how tired she is that she only glances at Eric as she passes by his booth rather than coming up with some snarky remark.

He looks up from his book (what a lovely scent) and follows her movements with his eyes.

Her gaze meets his only briefly, (Don't look into their eyes.) a warning glare but with little fire in it.

She is too tired to want to go toe-to-toe with him tonight.

Aw.

Look ar Eric - not caring about that.
"Most people opt for chamomile at this point of night," he says.

"Or Long Island Iced Tea."

"Sounds like those people are still holding out hope of eventually getting some sleep before tomorrow starts," Rae mutters, dryly, settling down into corner of the couch like one being more strongly affected by gravity than usual. It is less of a sitting down action and more of an elaborate slump.

Most people. Does she seem like most people to Eric?

All people seem like most people to Eric.

"Alcohol?" he suggests.
"A back rub? A quickie? Up against the wall?"

He is being helpful here.

"Wow, so versatile, Eric," Rae replies, dry. "You offer a whole array of options, ranging from tempting - alcohol might actually help - all the way to double carthaginian hell no."

She sips her blacker-than-most-things tea and clears her throat. "I've got insomnia, not a fatal case of stupid." Rather, she has nightmare-induced insomnia; the scent of fear-sweat lingers more strongly than that of yesterday's baking or of the shower she took before trying to get to sleep earlier in the night.

And it is an appealing scent too.

"I would have you know," Eric replies loftily, "that I give excellent back rubs. "

"I will have to take your word on that," she murmurs into her tea. "As I don't really want your hands anywhere in proximity to me."

Even if he weren't a vampire and thus, by definition, obscenely fast and strong enough to break her in two, she wouldn't want his hands on her. There are plenty of people she wouldn't want a back rub from, even if they gave good back rubs. Eric is among them.

"I may seek out Jay, though. He gives fantastic back rubs." There is a little sigh at the end of her words - that back rub from Jay left an impression.

She walked into that one.

"Yes. He does."
Smiling.

You don't like being reminded of that, do you, Sunshine?

"Be glad you're one of those he's chosen to share his skills with," Rae remarks, the bare lift and drop of one shoulder. "I certainly am."

Yes, it still bothers her, but in the way of a sister who wants her brother to make good life choices but has no control or say in the choices he does make. Who Jay chooses to put his hands on is Jay's own business.

"Does a back rub from human hands do you any good, even? You know," she gestures vaguely in his direction, "with the refrigerated granite aspect?"

Cute.

"I like the touch of warm hands," he says, canting his head a little.

"Just, like," she says speculatively, her exhausted mind wandering off on a tangent that really has nothing to do with Eric and Jay, "how would someone giving a vampire a massage find knots in muscles that all feel like rock?"

"Vampires in my world don't have the rock-solid thing going, but are pretty much impenetrable to anything except by wrought iron or wood or other vampires." Or in special circumstances like hers. "And they can control their body temperature."