DESTINY FORTIER + SETH FRANKLIN
AN ORCHESTRATED MEETING
JUNE THIRD - EVENING | THE FETE | PG-13
The last couple of months had been rather uneventful. For a town with such an ominous name, Destiny expected more. That wasn’t to say she was disappointed, she found it quite charming, and was able to easily slip into whatever new life she stepped into. So, that’s exactly what she’d done here- inserted herself into Seven Devils as if she had been here for years rather than just a handful of weeks.
The day to day mundane of it all wasn’t so bad, but when Fete exploded all over town there wasn’t a chance in hell that Des wasn’t going to take part in the festivities.
It didn’t take much to convince Marcus to accompany her, and you bet she was damned pleased with herself for dragging him out of the house under the pretense of needing a chaperone. She could feel him watching her like a hawk as she mingled, and every now and then she would glance back at him with an amused grin. She knew he hated this, but coming out without him had been out of the question.
When she spotted him engaged in small talk with a blonde woman, she broke away from the man who’s drunken heartbeat was thrumming in her ears like the sweetest of songs, but something else caught her attention before she could make her move to join Marcus.
“You’re new,” she said to herself as she watched him wander through the crowd. He wasn’t engaging, and she was fairly certain he might not even realize what was going on around him. The curiosity greatly overwhelmed any need she may have had to charm that human man into a drink or the need to join the other vampire she affectionately called ‘Grump-pa’.
Giving Marcus one last glance to make sure he saw she was on the move, Destiny maneuvered through the crowd- purposefully bumping into the object of her curiosities. “Pardon me. I’m terribly sorry.”
A small part of Seth wondered why he was there. Why bother with this place, why not find somewhere else? He knew it was mostly because he was just so used to following Jocelyn’s directions that he was there, but Jocelyn’s directions got him a hole in his chest that was still moderately tender and came dangerously close to ending his unlife.
There were times throughout his second life that he’d have possibly welcomed it, maybe. But he hadn’t been in one of those moods since France, so it wasn’t really something he’d entertained when the pain had been blinding and death had been a whisper away.
But here he was, and life was carrying onwards. He’d situated fairly okay in the house, which was something Jocelyn set up too, and the scar tissue in his chest was slowly healing to the point that he didn’t look like he’d been mauled by a bear. But there was only so long that even Seth could sit and wait. Even with the festivities going on all around, he’d had to drag himself from the home, through the town, towards the club.
He wasn’t exactly looking forward to the evening, a simple transaction rather than an inviting evening out. It probably showed on his face, as he wandered through the throngs of humans and others enjoying the town and it’s little soirée.
Except others may not have been paying the same attention as him. The bump sparked a tight pain in his chest, but Seth pushed it down, he was used to pain, plastering on a simple smile, “Not a problem,” he might’ve been in America for an age, as long as the country had been founded almost, but he kept the distinct European accent of his. Fixing his shirt and jacket, “I dare say it’s hardly a catastrophe.”
The accent only served to poke at her curiosity more. While it wasn’t exactly a rarity around here given the fact that this town seemed to be a melting pot, it always caught her attention when someone was clearly not from the States. Unlike him, her accent was an odd mix of French and American alike, but she still held an air of refinement in the way she moved and spoke- despite some of the vile things that fell off her tongue. “I am not typically clumsy but they are certainly posing a problem when it comes to moving about,” she said as she gestured to everyone around them.
Pleased that her deliberate collision had worked, for the time being, she offered him a bright smile. “I don’t know what I expected, but this is a far bigger crowd than I anticipated.” She didn’t exactly mind the number of bodies surrounding the area, it made it easier to be inconspicuous if the urge for a drink should arise. Not that she would partake in the middle of a crowd. No. Destiny wasn’t classless, that behavior was frankly beneath her.
Outstretching her hand, she looked up at him with that smile still spread across her face. “I’m Destiny.”
Crowds were something of a sticking point; they had their uses, a clean get away was usually easier with throngs of people milling around, but it was also decidedly difficult to make sure everyone else could navigate it as well as someone opposed to constant contact. A conundrum to be sure.
“The joys of wandering people with nowhere to be.” The ones who just stopped in the middle of the street, peering at whatever, who slowed dramatically without consideration for whoever was behind them, the ones who suddenly altered direction at the slightest hint of something ‘shiny’. A pain, yes, but it wasn’t exactly something that was easily avoided either. “For a small town, it is, isn’t it.” He hadn’t been expecting this when he arrived at all. Jocelyn neglected to mention the tourist aspect, and he could forgive her for the oversight in most instances, but he was still in a fairly sour mood.
At the offered hand Seth made a glance in the opposite direction, where he’d been heading. It’d keep for a while, he wasn’t starving, and he’d never been the rude sort. With a slightly more friendly smile, still a little terse but not fed up, Seth took the hand, “A pleasure, Destiny, I’m Seth.”
Side-stepping out of the way of someone pushing their way through, her eyes narrowed in the briefest of glares. “Ah, yes. The joys of rudeness that go hand in hand with a these wandering people with nowhere to be.” Wiping the bit of anger off her face with a shake of her head, she turned her attention back to her new subject of small talk. “I wasn’t aware this town housed this many people, though I’m sure Fete has brought in a great many tourists.”
Despite the annoyances, she would be quite disappointed when the excitement ended in a couple of days. That was a problem for future Destiny, however.
Noting the way he glanced in the opposite direction, her head tilted to the side but she didn’t comment on it just yet because she was distracted by the feel of his hand in hers. It lacked the warmth of a human’s and she was certain he would probably catch on to the fact that hers did as well. “The pleasure is all mine. Not keen on participating in the festivities,” she finally asked pointedly looking in the direction he had been just a few moments prior.
It was the rudeness he could live without, but then he’d come around in a world where travel had gradually advanced, crowds and wandering through them were how things used to be, working out how to manage shoulders in masses of meandering people, that was a struggle, but he’d had plenty of time to work it out.
Normally, he’d have caught the lack of a heartbeat, but in a crowd like this, the senses weren’t entirely reliable, it was hard to pinpoint who was what; where the werewolves he could smell were, who was the incubus he could feel, which of the people in the milling group didn’t have a heartbeat and who did. Another reason to dislike groups of people.
Where were the threats going to come from?
But as the handshake lingered it was clear that her temperature matched closer to his than the other people, so he didn’t mind so much dropping part of the affect, “My apologies, just a little distracted is all.” Dinner could wait, especially since it was synthetic. Passed muster, got him what he needed, but it was hardly satisfying in the least. “I have an aversion to cheer at the moment, I can’t risk some will bleed in.” It was a little bit of a joke, but not entirely. He wasn’t really in the mood to enjoy himself at all.
In retrospect, perhaps a small part of Destiny had assumed Seth was a vampire when her eyes caught him moving through the street. Granted it hadn’t fully registered, due in most part to the numerous hearts beating in her ears and the mix of various scents floating through the air. Crowded areas were definitely not the ideal circumstance for easily identifying others of her kind, and in that moment she found herself questioning why she enjoyed such experiences.
“No apologies needed.” Finally slipping her hand out of his, she grinned again at his demeanor. How did she keep finding herself in the presence of grumpy men? It was almost amusing that she couldn’t seem to escape them, and she tossed her blue eyes back toward Marcus. Case in point.
Undeterred by Seth’s mood, however, she laughed at his little joke. “I suppose if you’re resigned to remain averse to it, I can’t very well convince you to partake in the cheer.” That didn’t mean she couldn’t attempt to lighten his mood a little. “Would it be too forward of me to ask where you were headed before I rudely interrupted your skulking?”
In the several hundred years he’d existed, if there was one thing that hadn’t worn off, it was his tendency to fall back on old habits. Very old habits. Typically the mannerisms and traditions he’d learned in his first life just bled into this one, he’d outgrown some of them, of course. The misogyny that his era had bred wasn’t something that could remain with him in light of both who his maker was and the world that developed around him.
Truthfully it wasn’t too hard to shake either.
“Tragically, I’m more likely to bring everyone else down. I have a little bit of a reputation for that.” He was called a fun leech more than once in his life. Although he wasn’t sure he should be listening to reckless idiot vampires who were only alive at the moment because nothing had managed to get past Jocelyn and him to actually do the deed.
“Dinner, actually.” Given that they were both of the same breed, there wasn’t really a need to curb the inflection in his tone. “Although I would hardly call it a rude interruption, truly. Some would say I skulk too much.”
“Lucky for you, I have a reputation for exactly the opposite. Perhaps we would balance the scales a bit,” she joked lightheartedly. Destiny was well aware of the outward impression she could give off at times. All of that damned pride she couldn’t seem to shake away from her shoulders kept her held high and her expression typically unimpressed. Perhaps it was all of the excitement of the evening that was allowing her to present the more jovial girl that laid just under that menacing surface to Seth. Typically it wasn’t something someone was privy to until after she got to know them better.
Fete had put her in a better mood, after all, at least until yet another careless patron bumped into her. Curbing the impulse to wrap her fingers around their neck and toss them into the crowd, it occurred to her that she had done the exact same thing with Seth- only purposefully.
“Be that as it may, I fear it was ruder than it seemed. I may have spotted your skulking and orchestrated our little meeting.” Suddenly finding herself annoyed and thoroughly tired of the festivities, she offered him an apologetic smile. “Let me buy your dinner to make up for it?”
Normally, Seth would’ve known off the bat that someone purposely put themselves in his path, he was a little off his game at the moment though and hadn’t exactly been paying attention to his own movements to ensure that he wasn’t in someone else’s path in the first place. So the admission managed to coax a small smile onto his face.
“Well, far be it from me to deny a generous apology.” Company might improve his mood, at the very least he’d be able to inform anyone who might ask that, he had some kind of contact with another being. It might even involve a meaningful, or at least engaging, conversation.
Jocelyn did have a habit of checking in with odd methods.
“Shall we,” habit had him extending his arm, only a little to avoid getting jostled yet again. “I believe the sooner you’re removed from the throngs of ignorance the less likely there’s going to be an incident.”
Destiny’s eyes lit up when he didn’t turn down her offer. Truth be told, Fete aside? The last few months had been such a bore. She was starting to get antsy and that was a dangerous road for her to go down. Boredom typically led to quite literal fires- much to her family’s dismay. Des was trying to be on her best behavior in Seven Devils, however, so perhaps Seth could be the answer to her utter disinterest in this place. For now at least.
Glancing back toward Marcus, she smirked when she saw that he was still engaged with the blonde. Des opted to shoot him a text to let him know she was leaving rather than approaching him for a verbal exchange. It was a calculated move on her part because she knew if given the chance? Her dear old Grump-pa would insist on chaperoning.
“I believe you are right, I would hate to spoil everyone’s good time with an incident. The idea of being your good time is much more appealing.” She paired a wink with that shameless flirting before reaching to take his arm. “So, yes. We shall.”