Who: Eli and Kurt. What: Random encounter! When: Saturday night. Where: The streets of the OC. Rating: PG-13 for language. Status: Complete!
It was very late, as Kurt walked down the street. He had on a long heavy coat, and a fedora pulled tightly down over his head. He kept his hands in his pockets. There was a faint, eerie yellow glow coming from under the hat.
Eli was walking behind the man in the fedora and long coat. She hadn’t meant to start following him, but she had. It was a nice night, and he was bundled up so much. She wondered why. She was wearing sandals and a thin pink dress that made her blue eyes look even more blue as she tried to walk silently.
She almost did walk silently, and if Kurt hadn’t been s distracted his sensitive ears would have picked her up sooner. But when he did, he turned to glance behind him, expecting some sort of threat. Instead he was greeted by a pretty girl with stunning eyes. He blinked. “...hello?”
“You’re not warm?” She cocked her head to the side, long dark hair making her look even more pale and fragile.
“I am varm, ja. I just have a...skin condition.” He smiled, pointy teeth glinting in the streetlights. Something moved behind him and he pulled his tail back inside his coat.
“Why don’t I believe you?” Eli smiled crookedly, reaching out for his hand. “I won’t hurt you. You don’t have to be scared.” She could see his teeth were pointed, and she tiptoed up as if she were debating reaching out to touch them.
“You should be the one who is scared,” Kurt said. "I'm not...normal." He backed away a little bit.
“Don’t go,” Eli smiled. “If you’re warning me away from you, how horrible can you be?”
“Very horrible. I cut quite the picture of a monster. A dashing one, perhaps.” He felt more himself, and while he was conflicted about the whole thing, it was hard not to flirt in general.
“Monsters aren’t like you. I dream them enough to know.” Eli smiled shyly, dropping her hand back down. “Monsters look boring. Innocent. They’re not, but that’s how they fool people.”
Kurt thought about people like Stryker. "Ja. You may be right. It is still not as easy here, as it got to be vhere I dream."
“I dream about the past. No going back there.” She smiled at him, moving closer. “Why do you hide?” Not what - why.
He pulled the hat off. His face was blue, his eyes glowed a dim yellow, and his ears were pointed. “Because for all the strange things in this city, people are not ready to accept vhat they see vith their own eyes. Differences are frowned upon.”
Eli’s eyes went wide. Some would have thought she was afraid, except for how she grinned just after. “I don’t know about that, I think you’re very handsome.”
Kurt blushed under his fur, but it wasn’t really that apparent. “Thank you, liebchen. Kurt Vagner.” He held out a hand, which had two fingers and a thumb.
She shook it, smiling. He was soft, and she had to try very hard to keep from nuzzling him. “I apologize for following you.”
Kurt chuckled. Eli was adorable. He felt protective urges towards her. “It’s all right. I think you have made my night a lot better than it vould otherwise be.” Something moved under the back of his coat again.
“Oh?” She grinned, failing in resisting hugging him. Once his jacket was on, she wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes. She was a child who needed hugs, who’d never had many.
Kurt undid his jacket. It was way too hot to have a jacket and a girl hugging him. Underneath he had on a t-shirt and jeans. He wrapped two arms and a tail around her. “Are you all right?”
“Of course. I’m always all right.” Eli nuzzled against him, glad to have a friend - hell, anyone - ask her that. Nobody did. It didn’t mean she’d answer honestly, but she was glad for the asking.
The tail stroked at Eli’s back as Kurt hugged her. He didn’t know her well enough to say for sure, but an answer like that was usually a lie. She seemed so...fragile. “I von’t bite. Talk to me.”
“It’s fine. I just ... don’t have many friends. Or people. At all.” She squinched her eyes shut tighter. Really, it was just Mama and Nathan. ... who was twelve. God, her life was depressing.
And Logan who teaches valuable life skills while offering beer to minors
“A pretty girl like you?” Kurt shook his head in disbelief. “Are you just shy?”
“I just moved here a few weeks ago. I was in Dusseldorf, then before that Stockholm, then before that, just outside Nice.” She missed Nice, but that was beside the point. “I don’t really - I’ve never been anywhere long enough to know how.”
“I understand, liebchen. I haven’t stayed in one place for very long in years! Before here, I vas a fisherman, so ve vere always at sea. And before that, I vas moving around, doing vhatever job I could find.” And before that, he’d been well on his way towards becoming a priest, but that seemed like another life.
And in another life, he had eventually become one.
“It is a difficult thing, I think. Finding friends.” She giggled when his tail passed close to her hip, tickling her.
Kurt grinned, his tail continueing to tickle at Eli. It could be a naughty thing, his tail, but today it was fairly innocent.
She flailed a little, begging him to stop tickling her in German.
He grinned. That only made him tickle her with his fingers, too!
Eli tried French, just to see if that would change things, trying to wiggle away.
“Non,” Kurt replied, tail wrapping around Eli’s waist and pulling her back in.
That just made her cuddle closer to him, smiling brightly. “Your wife probably doesn’t want you hugging strange wayward teenagers.”
“I’m not married,” he replied, with a chuckle. “I do not think my girlfriend vould mind. If she still vants me.” It really depended on how she reacted to him. He was rather worried on that count.
“Why wouldn’t she? Did you do something?” Eli looked up.
“I do not know how she’ll react to me. I vas not like this the last time she saw me.” Kurt gestured to his face. “I look positively demonic..and I should probably not discuss too much our personal matters.” But Cadence had been having difficulty with sin, and then to realize she’d been sleeping with a devil?
“You look regal.” Eli narrowed her eyes. “Demons are creatures of deed, not simply appearances. Or did you not read about Quasimodo?”
“I have read about Quasimodo.” Kurt smiled sadly. “But it is easy for people to fear others who look different. One must simply prove through their actions, ja? I hope that I can, vith her. I know a few friends who vill be more thrilled than I am.”
“So you know he was the most handsome man in Paris.” Eli tiptoed up to kiss him on the cheek. “If she doesn’t love you regardless of your looks, she has much to learn. But I hope she does. You deserve the woman of your dreams. You made a stranger smile simply because you could. You’re a good man.” Huh. That made... three she knew.
"Danke." Kurt ruffled her hair. He'd been wanting to do that since he saw her. "And you really should have more friends. You're friendly, and vise. I should introduce you to Katzchen."
“Cat? You have a cat?”
“Her name is Kitty. It’s a nickname.” He winked at Eli.
“Oh. I’ve never had a name long enough to nickname, so I don’t have one.” She probably never would.
“Eli is a nice name, Liebchen. You make a cute little goddess.” He smiled at her.
That made Eli laugh. “You speak Swedish!”
“Nien. But I used to be a man of god. Or I aspired to be.”
“I don’t believe.” Not that he’d used to be a man of god, but in god himself. Eli just didn’t think the world was orderly enough for anyone to have created it.
“I’m not sure what I believe any more. The vorld seems too cruel for there to be a god.”
“That’s what I’ve always thought.” Eli smiled. “But there’s a lot of good there too. There’s a balance. I’ll just be a good person and hope that’s enough.”
Kurt nodded his head. That was enough, he thought, for some people. He didn’t know if that was enough for him. He still had a lot of questions. But Amanda’s death had destroyed his faith for a long time.
“I’m sorry, you probably had something you were going to do and I’ve slowed you down.” Eli pulled away, using all her willpower to do so.
“I vas just taking a valk, vhen it’s dark and no one can see me,” he assured her. His smile was grateful and kind.
“Are you sure? I was doing the same thing, honestly.” Eli squeezed his hand in what she hoped was a reassuring manner.
“Vant to valk together? There’s safety in numbers, and I find I don’t vant to be alone right now.”
“Of course. If you like, we could go get pancakes.” Eli was very fond of sweets.
“Pancakes sound vonderful! And I know just the place. But I think you vill have to go in and order for me.” His smile became a little sad again.
“Or I could make you some.”
He thought about that. “Ja! That’s even better!”
Eli bounced on her heels at the idea, a girlish reaction that few people got out of her. She caught herself, then figured - why not?