Arlo James

See what it's like to be a vulture's lunch

Money, it seemed, was a constant issue within his existence. That one thing seeming to plague him over and over again, not that he often admitted to it. Arlo content to pretend the world was entirely fine regardless of what was truly happening behind that ever-present grin. Money was the one thing he never seemed to have enough off. Maybe he had a tiny bit of a gambling problem. Maybe. He'd always been good about keeping enough for rent though and yet time and again he was late with even that. He hardly needed to buy food and yet between paying back what he owed to more people then he cared to count, constantly having to move houses along with rent and clothes.....there was just never enough of it. How some vampires seemed to amass so much he hardly knew. Arlo scowling at even the thought of how much this Damon guy probably had before that envelope was suddenly thrust towards him. Arlo regarding it almost warily a moment. What was this, a loan? He had enough of those already, the man not nearly foolish enough to take another even if it was tempting. Damon's assurance he was giving it to him met with an equally dubious look.

"Is this pity money?"

His hand was already reaching for it at the same time, Arlo caught somewhere between some sense of pride and his own desperation, snatching that envelope from the other vampire all the same to tuck it inside his jacket. That mention of covens seeing him readily scowl once more, the man very near bristling at the words alone. His experiences with covens so tended to be rather...poor at best. How many times had he had the life near beaten out of him by them? Been chased by them? Hounded by them for hunting on their territory or their members? None of that even compared to that loss of Patrick. Even now, more than a year later and the loss of his Maker still stung. He'd liked the man after all, Arlo perhaps one of the few to truly be able to claim he and his Maker had been...friends. That the first true loss that had ever really hurt.

"I don't want anything to do with covens. Nothing good comes from them."

He muttered almost coldly. Arlo content to shut down the topic almost as quick as it had begun. He hardly cared what they could do for him in any sense. He'd survived this long. He could keep surviving without them. That car was a welcome distraction, Arlo entirely content to admire it as he slipped into the passenger seat, that machine practically purring beneath him, stirring that grin back onto his features then. God, what he'd give for a car like this. Still, that effort to have him 'embrace' his inner vampire readily saw his eyes almost roll. Sure. Whatever. The man assured that was hardly going to help him. Damon so apparently having picked up on his disbelief and yet even Arlo hardly expected that sudden...sharing. His near azure coloured gaze widened slightly at that story. He'd heard of more than one shitty way a vampire had been turned and yet this was surely one of the worse ones. Some woman, it seemed, had screwed him over royally- only for his brother then to do the same in some capacity. That silence echoing then.

"I'd be pissed at my brother."

He uttered at last, Arlo hardy sure what had happened to Damon's and yet it hardly seemed as if he was around now. The younger vampire perhaps slightly more inclined to...tolerate this man's presence so considering it seemed as if maybe he did understand. Sort of. That rather intact humanity within Arlo himself resulting in some feeling of empathy for Damon all the same and the rather tumultuous events that had led to him being made into a vampire. What a bitch of a woman.

"I ov- had a bad night one night. I guess it doesn't matter how I got to be this way. I am what I am now. As for the accepting my nature thing I'm....trying, sort of, I'm just not quite like other vampires."

If only Damon knew how true that really was and yet even Arlo had no real idea how to explain it. The other man sure to see soon enough all the same as that car sped along. The younger vampire content to shift topics entirely and ask after that pretty red-haired woman he'd met before. Damon hardly seemed the type of guy to have a girl like that. Arlo hardly the type of guy afraid to say it. Impulsiveness, after all, tended to be something of a weakness for the man. The further they travelled in that car the more curious Arlo became of exactly where they were going and just what sort of guy this Damon was. This seemed like a dodgy part of town, the sort Arlo usually avoided if only for its multitude of pitfalls and drug dens and....everything that reminded him off the way he'd been once. Still, with Damon around, what was going to happen? Yeah, they'd be fine. He wouldn't meet anyone he knew here right? Arlo considered that question on feeding a moment before constructing the best answer he could. After all, it wasn't like his own maker had spent much time teaching him what to do with humans. They'd rarely eaten them even if the occasional one had smelled inviting. That sudden question from Damon bringing an almost rueful grin to his lips.

"It isn't a fear of killing bud, though I prefer not to, I mean why kill something if I don't have to? It's a taste thing I suppose and well, I mean, I don't know why the human blood doesn't work exactly. I'm not an expert on it or anything. It takes the edge off my hunger but that's it. I don't think I could live off it. It just doesn't work- maybe I'm doing it wrong, but, you ever heard of a Crusnik, bud? Cause your looking at one."

Damon seemed old, well, old enough to know the word Malek had given him. Crusnik. A different species of vampire. A vampire who ate other vampires not so much by choice- but by design. Every part of him designed not to hunt humans- but to hunt vampires instead. The man content enough to indulge Damon's curiosity in this all the same. His attention turned then to that explanation the man gave him, after all, it didn't hurt to listen to how he should be feeding, human, vampire, either way they still had beating hearts. He'd never really considered blood pressure or rhythm before. The idea of it suddenly seeming, well, logical. Maybe this guy did know what he was talking about. Maybe he did have something to teach him. That mention of being able to wipe his victims memory half had him wondering if Damon could do that too, before that mention of mental trauma saw him shake his head.

"I don't have to worry about that part to much. My venom has something in it. A drug or something. People kinda....love it when I bite them, vampires especially."

His shoulders shrugged loosely before that idea of mummies saw his features shift into a look of disdain.

"Usually I just leave them starving and pissed off once they can walk again. I didn't know I could desiccate them. That's disgusting."

Well it was. Maybe he needed to be at least a little more careful. That car at last pulling up in a car park beside what looked like a strip club, his eyes lifting slightly in surprise as he glanced towards his new found companion, that grin touching his lips a little now. Booze and women? If this was what they were doing he might be more willing. Damon promising to make it rain tonight as Arlo swung from the car to follow in his wake.

"Alright bud, I'll take that deal. Show me how you hunt."