Arlo James

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

God that situation had been terrible. Could it have gone anymore wrong? The woman's screaming and hysterical waving of that bloody handbag had only been punctuated by those cries of alarm from his panda companion until he was sure the entire park would come running. He hated having to subdue the woman like that, using first his webbing and then his venom to render her entirely calm and near unconscious. It felt...dirty in some way. He felt like a villain in that metaphorical story he had invented in the humour of the moment. That veritable love story having turned into a horror film that had cast him as the monster. He was quick to reach up to the Little Bear once more, helping her down from the tree she had been playing lookout from and back onto his shoulder. Arlo pausing only long enough to move the woman just off the path to give her the chance to wake up without being stepped on by someone. The vampire decidedly flustered as he hurried back off and down that path, his companion hiding beneath his hood in a way he had noticed she only ever truly did when she was afraid- or he was about to go leaping off a building to see if he could make it to the otherwise. Great. He'd terrified her now too. It always happened eventually. He rarely stayed anywhere long enough to make friends and when he did they inevitable found out what he was and suddenly seemed to see a monster in his place. People were never as 'open' to the idea of a vampiric friend as they liked to thing they were.

His hand reached up to rub at her ear as he often did, attempting to sooth the girl in some fashion and yet he was well aware that this would take some decided undoing. At least she hadn't bitten him ad hardly seemed terrified of him enough to prevent him touching her. That was...something. For a few moments at least he said nothing more on it. The way the Panda kept looking back hardly missed and yet that she held some concern for the woman hardly occurred to him, at least not yet, Arlo making his way back into the man area of the park and near that ice rink once more. No matter how he had gotten that blood he could hardly deny how it made him feel. He felt amazing. As if someone had finally turned on the high definition of the television, the colours and sounds and pictures so much brighter and more vibrant. He felt alive again. That wound on his chest no longer hurt, the man moving to tug at the neck of his jacket and shirt slightly to peer down at it, as if to make sure. Arlo asking whether or not it looked healed to the Little Bear whom peered down at it a moment later with a soft chirp that the vampire had decided surely meant it looked fine. Sometimes he could almost swear the Panda looked flustered. It was entirely ridiculous of course. Animals didn't get flustered he was fairly sure and yet on occasion she very near seemed to remind him of a real girl. Not that he would ever have asked a real girl to check the wound on his chest. That seemed far too...intimate. A Panda however was another matter entirely. Arlo wholly more relaxed around that favoured pet then he ever would have been a real woman.

The matter of the one he'd left beside the path was another matter entirely though. Was he supposed to feel bad about it? Vampires, he was sure, never felt bad about anything. At least, not the ones he normally dealt with. Maybe he was just a poor excuse for one. His hand reached upward once more, running through those near black locks in some manner of contemplation before pushing those rouge thoughts aside. It was better off going home, he was sure, he got what he came for even if he hardly enjoyed how it had been achieved. Better to cut his losses before he terrorized his little companion anymore then he already had. He moved to press his shirt and jacket back down, determined to keep the heat his newly fed form had managed to achieve before quietly pressing through that crowd and making his way back towards the far gate he had come through. He had only made it halfway down that path when some commotion from behind saw him turn, his bright blue eyes fixating upon that woman he had fed from not twenty minutes ago, the girl screaming once more and gesturing to her wrist as several people crowded about her. Well- she was certainly energetic to be up that quickly- then again, it wasn't as if he'd taken much or forced much of that venom into her form. The place he'd fed from hardly a fast carrier of that toxin either and yet maybe she was just....oddly lively. Even so he hardly intended to wait around for her to identify him. An angry mob was not on his agenda for this evening.

"See? She's fine."

His voice was light, easy, muttered to his companion alone with an easy confidence- as if he's always believed she would be even despite his own self-doubt. Arlo so often content to make the best of a poor situation or at least...believe the best. His hands returned to his pocket then, crossing the street hurriedly and heading back to his apartment. At least his chest felt better. The muscles no longer taught and pulling. It was barely fifteen minutes later that he pressed open that door to his apartment once more, the warmth of it entirely welcoming as he shut the door behind him, a grin tugging at his lips at the sight of that tree in all its lopsided glory. His hands reached up once more, scooping the little bear into his arms to place her back upon the back of the couch, fingers running through her fur absentmindedly.

"Hey, look...I'm...."

Was he really about to apologise to a pet? Then again she did seem to understand most things he said, Arlo staring at her for several moments as if trying to decide just where he stood on this whole pet apology issue. The man seeming to waver before his shoulders shrugged in a ready defeat of sorts.

"If I scared you back there I'm sorry. The whole eating thing isn't exactly glamorous and sometimes it's terrifying....for me and them. I feed from other vampires mostly but sometimes I get too hungry or desperate to find them. I don't know how to...handle humans all that well. I used to be one- you'd think I'd be better right? I don't like scaring them. That's why I try to avoid them. Other vampires are different, they don't get scared, just annoyed and they taste better."

The grin he afforded her hardly reached his eyes. Arlo attempting to brush the whole thing off once more as he tumbled back onto that couch in lazy glory, looking up at his companion beneath those long lashes.

"I found this vampire about a month ago, I swear to god his blood smelled like....utter freaking heaven, Chicka. You've never smelled anything like this in your life, I swear. I can't find him again though, he must have left the city or gone away for Christmas or something. He had an accent though. He sounded British. I'd love to know who he's feeding on that can make him smell like that."

Maybe he'd find the mystical vampire man again one day. He could only hope. Arlo seeming to have returned to his usual demeanour in those few moments.

"You know babe, maybe next year we can actually put some presents under that tree."