Re: Billy/Tandy: the neighborhood
He glanced down at the sprig that he still held in his hand, fingers slightly sticky from the oils. “Rosemary,” he said, then held it out for the other guy to take. “Good for purification, enhances memory. It’s supposed to help ward off nightmares if you sleep with it under your pillow, but I think that part’s bullshit. Like how people used to wear it around their necks to protect against the plague.”
Billy shifted, reaching up to grab another pillow and jam it under his head so he could see Tandy’s face without straining his neck. He was quiet for a minute. “Safety, yeah. Of different kinds.” Safety. Separation. “Compartmentalization, too. I didn’t really think about why at first, but did you ever read old fairy tales? The ones where like, people gain power over magical beings when they learn their real name. Anyway, those stories keep popping into my head now.”
He arched an eyebrow in Tandy’s direction, cracking into a half-smile again. He thought about jokingly offering the guy a pad and a pencil so that he could take notes. “He was a vampire who paid me to be food. It didn’t start out as a sex thing, so I didn’t really feel like I needed to use the nickname.”