Arlo James

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

He hadn't meant to, well, startle her quite that much. The woman staring at him wide-eyed as that soft cry left her lips and yet he supposed, really, most people didn't anticipate other people to materialise in front of them exactly. Maybe that was his fault. Still, he couldn't let the hot girl just turn and walk away right? Not when she had been looking for him. At least, he thought she had been. Maybe she was just here to collect a debt or something for her boss but still, how often did pretty girls come and talk to him anymore? He couldn't waste the opportunity! Even if he didn't know what to say to her, the man momentarily struggling for words before she promptly accused him of trying to kill her. Well- this wasn't off to a great start was it? Arlo looking momentarily sheepish, the man distinctly aware of her heart thumping within her chest. He really had startled her. He hadn't meant to exactly, that lopsided grin finding its way to his features in some effort to make himself appear less threatening, that distinctly toothy grin probably hardly helping and yet here and now he hardly considered it. His palms turned upward in that universal gesture of apologetic innocence.

"Babe, I was hardly trying to kill you, I was just....I mean....I...forget sometimes. By the time I walked all the way down here you'd have been gone and I...wanted to say.....I dunno....I wanted to say something.....to you."

Where was he going with this? Seb was right. He was bloody awful at this. He was worse than awful. He was...abysmal. That sounded a suitable word for the moment. Still. She had been the one stalking him right? Maybe she had something to say to him that was vastly better than his...hopeless muttering. Arlo readily moving to point that out to the young woman only for her to start stumbling over her words in much the same fashion while clutching that guitar to her chest as if she thought he might try to take it or something. Maybe if she had been a non-pretty dude he might have considered robbing her for it. It looked like a pretty sweet guitar really. The thought of upsetting someone like this however seemed almost like....a crime. The girl seeming to waver almost nervously as Arlo assured her he really didn't mind her stalking him. The girl suddenly asking why. Right. That was kinda a good question. Why? Why would anyone want a stalker? Was there a suitable answer to that? Well- he knew why but telling that to a stranger seemed a bit of a gamble really. She might hit him with the goddamn guitar. Where the hell was Sebastian when he needed him? His own features shifted readily into that look of contemplation, one hand running through his hair as he struggled to find something of an answer as to why he didn't mind a stalker.

"Ummm, because your....cute?"

Well- he was going to say hot but somehow cute sounded a least mildly more charming. Maybe. It was the truth after all, she was pretty cute and if he had to have a stalker he was pretty glad it was her and not some middle aged man with brass knuckles waiting to beat the shit out of him in an alleyway somewhere. For all his own hopelessness at talking to women it seemed he might well have found someone equally as insecure, the girl biting down on her lower lip nervously. A part of him almost inclined to reach out to her if only to try and...ease that anxiety he could feel coming off her in waves. Was she....afraid of him? Was that what it was? God he was probably freaking her out. She probably thought he was going to eat her or something. She did smell good actually. Surprisingly so really, humans never really seemed to appeal to him and yet there was a distinctly pleasing note to her blood. Arlo almost deliberately shoving those thoughts aside before they could take hold and turn this in a rather horrifying encounter. Arlo determinedly shoving his hands into his pockets as if this might somehow make him less...scary looking. See? No hands.

Whatever words he'd been about to offer were abruptly cut off by the woman's apology. That look of bemusement upon his face readily shifting into outright confusion. The Chocolate Man? Who was the Chocolate Man? Did he even know any dark-skinned people? Was that what she meant? The Chocolate Man had told him something? God was she with the FBI, was this what this was about? He knew he was going to get in trouble for that night with Seb! Dorian had probably sent them after him, she was probably with the SIMS or the SMISI or whatever the hell Seb had been trying to tell him, this was how it ended. He'd been implicated in some sort of government....thing.....that had been going on for....a year? Wait, what? A year? He hadn't known Seb for that long. Maybe this wasn't about that. That near panic on his features shifting back to that confusion as the woman declared him her best friend.

"Ummmmm......"

That guitar was suddenly thrust towards him, both eyes widening slightly, Arlo hardly sure whether or not he was truly supposed to take it. His hands at last reaching for it. The girl seemed, well, really, really confused at best. He was sure he'd never met her, let alone knew her nearly well enough to be called her best friend or deserve to have an 'I'm sorry' gift from her. That receipt suddenly thrust towards him in turn. Was she trying to return the guitar? Did she have him confused with someone who worked in a music store? There was so much of this that didn't make sense. Arlo apparently content to address that only sentence that did. His mind seizing on to that singular piece of logic.

"Yeah, there's lots of types of guitars. I haven't played in a few years, I sold all my guitars when the boys kicked me out. I can play that though, easily, it's the same type as my old one. I mean that's really generous of you....er.....Chicka, but I kinda think your a little confused."

Well- he couldn't just take a guitar from her could he? Not when she clearly thought he was someone else, then again, she had said his name hadn't she? His features wrinkling slightly once more. None of this was making any sense.

"I think we need to like a few steps back here, yeah? How do you know my name? I mean I really don't think I'd forget meeting someone who looks like you, just saying."

That easy grin found it's way to his lips once more, Arlo meeting the brown of her own gaze then. There was something almost....familiar but that. Maybe he had met her before? Surely he wouldn't have forgotten someone like this though.

"I'm not sure what a Chocolate Man is or what exactly your sorry for not telling me, I mean, it kinda seems like you decided to make me your best friend and then didn't tell me and I gotta say that's kinda an unusual friendship tactic altogether but, I mean, its cool, I forgive you. I'll be your friend. Maybe we should start from the beginning though. Who are you....exactly?"

Great. The first hot girl he'd met in this city and she was maybe, well, kinda on the confused end of the stick....that was probably why she wanted to be his friend to begin with.