Arlo James

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

Where did he get these friends? Why couldn't he have normal....people friends? Well- he knew why he couldn't do that, just as surely as he knew why he lacked vampire friends. Biting his friends had always been something of a problem. Those more mortal amongst them tended to scream and run while his much preferred vampiric prey tended to get terribly cross with him and shout or, worse case scenario, attempt to murder him in turn. His kind were volatile creatures, especially when hungry. It was almost as if those hunger pangs so seemed to tip them more towards predator then functioning moral being. Vampires far more inclined to do what they knew would, instinctively, bring them closer to a meal rather then what morals might otherwise state. He was hardly any better and yet, he supposed, he liked to consider himself at least less territorial and perhaps more prone to flight over fight. That was something, surely, it had to be. He wasn't at all like that Hunter woman had claimed. He wasn't a monster. He wasn't undisciplined he was just a little nippy sometimes. Mainly when he was hungry. It was hardly the crime she made it out to be. He hadn't murdered anyone in ten years, how many vampires could say that? Even so, he supposed, it hardly assisted him in finding friends amongst his own kind or apparently even amongst those more mortal beings. His entire friendship group having become reduced to one overzealous Panda that was so determinedly trying to get him to follow it like an overly-fluffy Lassie. Maybe she would lead him to a boy trapped down a well. Although really that seemed a far more likely job for the fire brigade or other rescue services.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Women are bossy regardless of the species I see."

A soft hum of a chuckle hums within his chest all the same before Arlo wanders into that alleyway, eyeing the damp, cold, icy street with no true intrigue. The man failing to see at all what was so good about this. Maybe it was a Panda thing. Maybe he did need more human-like friends. His query as to just why she had led him here was met with little more than the girl running off into the darkness. Great. She'd left him too. It was like dating in junior high all over again, those awkward teenage years before he was cute. Her barking managed to draw the blue of his gaze at last, Arlo wandering those few steps forward now to at least attempt to see what she was woofing at, one eye arching upwards at the sight of that Christmas tree leaning against the wall and beside a dumpster. A tree? She'd brought him all the way down here to show him someone's thrown out tree? Whatever words had so been about to leave his lips are abruptly halted as his Little Bear proceeds to run up that trunk and into the sweet smelling branches. Her efforts to climb it however had clearly not taken into account her own weight and the trees lack of connection to the earth, the entire structure beginning to tilt to one side.

"Ahhh, Chicka, I think-"

His warning seems destined to go unheard, the entire structure suddenly and abruptly tipping to one side, Arlo diving forward in the same moment as it tumbled, the man momentarily unable to decide whether to grab the tree or the girl. Those vampiric reflexes hardly useful when the vampire wielding them wasn't entirely sure what he was trying to grab- the result being that he very near missed both of them. His arms reaching out in that last moment for the panda as she toppled out from those branches to land half on his shoes and half in his arms. Next time he would make his decision a little sooner. Arlo scooping her up all the same, taking a moment to brush those pine needles from her fur with a decided care, just the way one might brush a beloved pet. He held her up to his shoulders then, allowing her to climb. The vampire assured that was a far safer place for her. Hmm, he would have to remember to wear his hooded jacket next time if only to provide her with something more comfortable to ride in then merely hanging onto his dark t-shirt.

"You know babe, you seem kind of accident prone"

One striking blue eye turns to eye her beneath that fringe of near-black hair, a simper on his lips all the same before he moves to face the problem of that tree once more. God. What was he supposed to do with this? Did she want it? Was it her tree? It seemed awfully important to her and yet why she was showing it to him he hardly knew. Maybe he could store it upstairs until she decided what she wanted with it and yet really that was going to require him to haul it all the way up to the top floor. The things he did for.....friends. A sigh of sorts parts his lips before the man crouches down, gathering those branches against the trunk as best he could, Arlo utilising that vampiric strength here and now to haul that tree up and into his arms. It wasn't as entirely heavy as he had anticipated and yet the angle at which he'd picked it up assured it was blocking his vision entirely. Great.

"Tell me if I'm going to hit something."

The words were little more than a mutter against those pine needles, Arlo stumbling back down the street now with tree in arms, thankful the door to his building was hardly far. Getting that tree through the door while trying to hold the door open proved to be quite the task, hauling it up three flights of stairs equally as taxing before he finally managed to drag it into his living room- mostly intact. He'd almost broken a sweat! Almost. He places that tree almost unceremoniously in the corner of his lounge room, using the corner to keep it balanced upright, dusting those pine needles from himself before stepping back to eye it- one hand lifting ideally to rub behind the ear of his companion.

"I don't know what you expect me to do with it, I mean, I don't even have any decorations. I suppose we can buy some but that'll mean going to the corner store in the least. It'll give me a chance to show you my new ride though. How about that?"