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"Here and there," she said with a chuckle that she tried to hide with her hand. It was only after she'd assured that he wouldn't see that she'd chuckled at his joke that she moved her hand to her hip.

"I could have a lot of other things in mind." She flipped her hair back and gave a throaty chuckle. "But steak and fries may be a good start. Especially if there's ketchup." There was probably something ironic about a vampire liking ketchup. Luckily she didn't spend too much time thinking about irony. "Let me throw something nicer on." The voice in the back of her mind told her to just say no, that this was a bad idea. It was a voice she just ignored.

He grinned, making no effort to hide it, he was a bad liar anyway, and nodded. "Sure, sure. Take your time."

He was not ashamed of the fact that he watched her hips sway as she moved off into her house to put on something nicer. He did not go inside, because he wasn't invited. Even if she had thought of this place as a home, it hadn't had the time or the attention required to give it a threshold, but it was still polite not to enter when one wasn't invited, and so he waited on her front step, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his duster, and waited for the vampire he was taking out for lunch, ignoring the voice in his own head that told him that was a bad idea.

"Shouldn't be long," she shouted back at him from her room. The sound of rummaging could be heard and after a few minutes had passed she came out. What she had on was nothing too impressive: a black shirt with fishnet sleeves, a deep red scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, black jeans, and combat boots to finish things off.

"Alright, lead the way," she gestured forward as she tied her long hair back in ponytail. It was a test and he probably had no idea about that. Dominance played an important role in vampire society and she wanted to know if he could be the dominate one. Which was probably something she shouldn't even be thinking about but...no, no, she shouldn't be thinking about it. If he could be the dominate one then she could put more trust in the fact that he could control her. That shouldn't matter though. It shouldn't be something she was thinking on.

He nodded, turning and heading toward the stairs as he did. What she'd put on wasn't classy, but neither was this lunch and it suited her in a way he appreciated. They looked like a study of opposites with his jeans and mantled duster, but there was something he liked about that, too, not that he had any business thinking things like that.

"It would be my pleasure, though it's just the tavern in the market district. It's a pretty nice place if you've never been. Real...old world charm, you know?"

"Old world, hmm?" she said she she followed closely behind. "You know, I've had bad experiences with things described as old world." Her smirk was almost audible, as if he wanted to make up for the fact that he wouldn't be able to see it. Most people would describe Piscary as old world and that wasn't a pleasant connection. At least she'd been to the tavern before, it wasn't terrible.

"There are worse places I suppose. Not something I'd choose back home unless I was after something specific."

Once they were downstairs, he moved to the door leading outside quickly, holding it open for her.

"I get the impression you and I have different definitions of 'old world'. Mine just means a time before technology killed belief in the supernatural."

"Looks like you have a lot of old world tendencies." She glanced at him with an arched eyebrow as she walked through the door. At least nobody could claim he wasn't trying to be polite.

"Does it make it easier that they don't believe?"

"So I still believe in chivalry. Sue me." But he was smiling as they made their way to a table.

"Yes...and no. Does it make it easier to do my job without news vans trying to get the scoop? Sure. Does it make it easy to avoid run-ins with mortal law enforcements while I'm trying to track down rogue faeries kidnapping people? No. I get locked up for obstruction and let out on a technicality."

"Chivalry died a long time ago. Guess you missed the memo. Or the email." she said with a tiny smirk that quickly turned into a light laugh.

"I feel like you'd manage to get locked up in my world too. Rachel's managed. Luckily I have connections. Maybe I'd even use them for you."

"Most wizards don't have email. We tend to kill anything made after the second world war, just the magical aura that surrounds us. Tell the higher-ups to send a courier next time," he responded with a smirk of his own.

"Gee, Miss Tamwood, you really know how to make a fella feel special." When they got to a booth, he waited for her to slide in first before leaning against edge of the table. "Steak sandwich and fries for the lady? I like this place, you order at the bar."

"Now that's strange," she said with a shake of her head. "Must make research hard for you." She gave a shrug as she slide in and crossed one leg over the other.

"Quaint. Sounds good enough."

He grinned, as though it was some deep trade secret he was commenting on. "Wizards have a lot of ways to get information." And then he headed to the bar, ordered their food, and came back with two light beers. Sure, it was lunch, but they were two consenting adults.

"I hope you didn't miss me."

She arched an eyebrow as he came up with the beers. "Hmm," not something she'd have necessarily chosen but it somehow wasn't surprising that he did. Simple seemed fitting for him.

"Loneliest few minutes of my life," she said with a low voice as she reached out to take the beer from his hand. She let her hand linger on his for a moment too long before slowly pulling it away and taking a sip from what he'd brought. "Wasn't sure if I'd make it, and this is my only reward?"

"What, I'm not reward enough?" He grinned as he retook his seat, his libido definitely not missing her prolonged touch when she took her beer. He may not be an exceptionally attentive man, but some parts of him always paid attention, even if it wasn't in their best interests to.

"How can I make it up to you?"

"Hmm, do you really think you're a reward?," she said with a flash of a smirk. She lowered her gaze to him and took another sip of her drink. "I could think of a few things." Though, everything she could think of seemed like a horrible idea. Horrible and yet she couldn't stop thinking about it.

"I think I can at least claim 'consolation prize'." Maybe, at least on a good day. "Are you telling me you're only here because you've got nothing better to do?"

He imagines if Ivy hadn't wanted to come, she would have come up with a reasonable excuse to stay home.

"Oh, do you?" she chuckled and ran a finger along the top of the bottle. "What if that was the reason?" There was a playful quality to her tone though, as if she were teasing him about his question. The last thing she wanted to do was to think about why she'd actually come here with him.

He gave her an awkward smirk at her question, leaning in conspiratorially. "Then I'd say that makes me the best option, and I'm calling that a win."

This was a terrible idea. All the red flags were blatant, in his face, but at the moment, he just didn't care. This was the second world they'd been trapped in together and it just seemed almost pointless to be worried about what could happen between them when there was so much outside of them trying to kill them.

"Mmm, the best option with the others being cataloguing my notes on this place and doing my hair," she said with a little tilt of her head. She moved her finger from the bottle slowly and then took a long drink from it. Was it a bad idea to be purposely trying to be seductive right now? Definitely. Could she help it? Not particularly. At least not right now.

"What was your reason for asking me?"

"Hey, I rate above doing your hair. Definitely a win." He couldn't actually remember the last time he'd bantered this way with a woman, at least in a way that actually meant something, not the playful chatter between himself and Murphy. Sure, Murph was cute, strong, and if things were different, he'd definitely go for it, but she was Murph, and she most certainly did not think of him that way.

"What, a guy can't ask a friend he's been to two worlds with out to lunch without there being some kind of ulterior motive?"

"I didn't say how high above my hair though. It could always change," she said with a little smirk.

"A guy can, but it's not typical," she gave a shrug of one shoulder then took another sip from her drink. "How often do you ask Watts out to lunch?"

"Well, see, I don't want to make his husband jealous." He chuckled, though, because she had him, there. "But I see your point." He breathed a sigh, running a hand back through his hair, a nervous habit and one she might note he does often, as evidenced by the state of his hair in the first place.

"Honestly, there are a lot of red flags, but I don't know if it's my paranoia or what."

"I haven't seen you as the type to think things out that well," she said with a flash of a smirk. There was no way he actually thought through things enough to think about the ramifications of making someone else jealous. She tilted her head and then finished off the last of her beer before rolling her shoulders in a slow shrug.

"I should be a red flag all by myself," she said with a laugh that didn't obscure it's bitterness. After a slight breath she moved her hand up to her cross and started threading her long fingers through the chain.

"In my defense, I think things through a lot when it involves outsmarting something way bigger and more powerful than I am. It doesn't leave much room for thinking through anything else." In retrospect, that didn't make him sound all that great and he offered her a lopsided grin to say he knew that.

And there was that habit of hers again. She always played with her cross when she was nervous or talking about herself, but touching the symbol didn't do anything to her, at least not physically. A cross as an object of faith wouldn't do anything in his hands, but maybe it meant something to her. He couldn't quite figure out how to breech the subject, though, curious as he was.

"What you are isn't who you are, Ivy."

"So, it was a spur of the moment decision you made without any thought or intention?" A hint of disappointment slipped into her voice that she tried to hide by taking another drink. What had she expected him to say anyway? Better question: what had she expected from this anyway? That was a question she had no answer to and part of that was because she did everything possible to avoid thinking about it. Occasionally the things Watts had told her came to her mind but she usually just pushed that away. He'd probably be disappointed if he knew that. Honestly, she wondered if he'd just sigh at this entire...date? Interaction? Whatever this actually was.

Her fingers continued to thread themselves through the chain and around the cross.

"It'd be nice if that were true." But it wasn't. Maybe it wasn't all she was, but it played a large part. At least she felt like it did and she felt like there was no hiding or denying it. Despite her best attempts to right now. The urge to see how easy it would be to influence him kept pulling at her instincts. He wanted it, at least a part of him did. She could smell his interest and it just caused her to wonder if that's what this was all about. He did things without thinking, he'd just admitted that, maybe that's what this was all about. Him seeking out danger just because he liked the thrill. He was similar to Rachel after all and she constantly toed that line.

Edited 2021-11-04 01:28 (UTC)

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