Accidental Meetings (Alex & Leon)
Parties of any kind weren't Leon's thing for countless reasons. All his years at the school and he'd probably been to only as many parties as he could count on one hand. That had largely been due to the spirits that lurked on the fringes of his magical defenses. He needed to stay alert. Needed to stay sober. He needed to be ready for when they tried to kill him next.
Now that the spirits were gone, he was still disinclined to parties. Leon wasn't anti-social, per se, but he did not like the kind of atmosphere parties created. Having been raised in Haiti deep in his father's practice of Vodun, and having borne witness to things that would scar most people for life, he didn't see the appeal in letting his inhibitions down.
This party in particular was a place he wanted to be on top of his game. James wasn't just your average teenage rich boy throwing a private party with his friends for his birthday. He would have declined the invitation to go, but Andrei had agreed to it, and Leon wasn't going to leave Andrei alone with James if he could help it. If it made him look like an insecure fangling, afraid of being separated from his sire out of fear for himself, then so be it. Everyone could say what they wanted. Leon had never been one to try and fit in, anyway.
Yet another reason Leon didn't want to be at the party was because of the temptation it would leave him with to drink blood. The hunger was a powerful force and so he'd followed Andrei's example and had his fill before arriving. Even when passing students and their beating hearts and pumping blood sounded like dinner bells to his ears, Leon was able to abstain.
The final reason, the one he held most personal and was on his way to see if Andrei was ready to leave yet, was that Mickey was there. Mickey was there and he didn't think he could see him again in this kind of setting, not yet. Especially not with James. Leon didn't need any more reasons to dislike the famous and infamous Weatherby heir.
Leon had not dressed up for this event. He didn't have anything considered 'nice' to wear in his whole wardrobe, really. He wore the usual: a layered henley with long sleeves and so worn that the collar was removed, the color faded, and there were frayed holes in the shoulder seams. The jeans he had on were like a second skin, fitting him so well. The leather boots, missing their original laces and done up instead with braided twine that Leon had put together himself, were well past the stage where most people would have thrown them out and gotten new ones. The jacket he had on was black leather and was just as worn and well loved as the rest of the ensemble.
The smack against his shoulder half turned Leon and he looked to see the blonde haired Chinese boy who'd unwittingly been used as bait the previous month for soul-thirsty spirits. Leon hadn't talked to Alex since then and he realized he probably should have. With everything going on, all the things he needed to adjust to now, apologizing to the Shaman for what he'd put him through hadn't occurred to him until that moment.
"Alex," he said, pausing a moment, then opening his mouth to say more, stopping again. He swallowed, feeling a strange push from the human coming from a charm on his person, Leon guessed. Ward against vampires. Smart. Leon wondered if it was Barclay's workings. "It's, uh-- How are you?"