Arlo James

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

He was oblivious, entirely, to any distress his efforts to assure her that visit to the supermarket was absolutely not a date date might have caused his young companion. Arlo entirely assured it was her who wouldn't want to be seen with him, or at least, not want it implied they might have been anything more than the friends they were. After all, girls like Abby dated a particular sort of boy. Arlo knew it. Everybody knew it. Sweet, polite, lovely girl-next-doors like Abigail dated boys from middle-class families who wore sensible shoes and drove sensible cars and wore white sweaters with the initials of the college they were attending emblazoned on them. Girls like Abby dated boys who became sensible men with sensible jobs like a....lawyer or an accountant or a real estate agent who brought home a pay check every week to their house with a white picket fence and their two children. It was just the way things were. He was sure- or mostly sure. Arlo hardly desiring to even dare to suggest that maybe, one day, she might like to go on a real date. She was only going to say no, right? Why was he even entertaining the idea? Girls like Abigail- they dated the Sebastian's of the world. Not the Arlo's. The idea of it never really bothering him before at least.....not until now. The man not even truly sure why it did bother him so much. God he was hopeless. The first pretty, genuine girl to come along and he was all over her. Maybe it was the vampire thing and that weird....possessiveness that seemed to flare every time he looked at her- or anyone else did. He was going to have to ask Seb about that.

It was that query on that very royal wedding however that seemed to draw his thoughts entirely back to the present. Abby seeming almost dubious as she asked whether or not this was actually real, Arlo scoffing out loud before assuring hr not only was it real- but Mr Chocolate Man even had his own Wikipedia page. That phone was fished effortlessly from his pocket then, Arlo handing it towards the bouncy young woman at his side, his lip quirking slightly at the sight of those ears atop her hoody bouncing like some sort of adorable little animal or something. It was silly and yet for some reason it still made him grin. His own blue gaze glanced over at that screen as she scrolled over those hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of the pair. That declaration they were a cute couple seeing the vampire grin once more, those fangs flashing in the darkness in a clear 'told ya so' gesture before those realisations of just what he was going to even wear to an event like that seemed to grip him. God. He was going to have to buy a tuxedo, not that it mattered, he didn't know how to put it on anyway. Could you google that? The vampire voicing those internal questions out loud only to be met with that sudden announcement that Abagail herself might be willing to show him and that he was a 'goose' for thinking otherwise. Hell, it had been years since he had heard that saying.

"I'll be going from a goose to a penguin in that thing. I've never even owned a tux before. Well, at least with you there I know I'll have the thing on right."

The last thing Seb probably wanted at his wedding was some fool of a vampire trying to work out how to do up all the buttons. That grin upon his features still as they approached his apartment, Arlo reaching to take that phone back from his Little Bear- or, well, she wasn't exactly that right now was she? He was going to have to come up with something else, his head shaking slightly in dismissal of the thought before that very idea of getting dressed- or undressed seemed to occur to him. How.....much of him had he already subject the poor woman too?! God, he hadn't even considered it! What had she seen? Did she realise how drafty that bedroom could get? Those words leaving his lips almost unbidden as her features glowed nearly as red as that panda coat, the very sight of that so suddenly seeming to tug at the amusement within him as she hurriedly tried to assure him she'd never done anything but look at the wall. Arlo unable to stifle that softy chuckle then at how simply...innocent she seemed. Surely she wasn't that innocent though right? A girl as pretty as her? Someone surely had to have....well.....at least once before right? Right?!

That apartment door mercifully seemed to open before he could allow his own worries to go any further, that brand new leather couch so clearly the new focal point of that room, the vampire gesturing rather proudly to it as Abby all but bounced over to collapse upon it, the young woman shifting atop it a few times as if to test it. Arlo collapsing onto that couch beside her a moment later with that guitar still in hand. The vampire musing briefly over the idea of actually getting a house to go with it. A nice house. At least- a nice apartment. Abigail's declaration that it was called a condo seeing the man glance towards her now. Condo's in the east. Right. Maybe he should look there? Arlo about to comment on just that when Abigail seemed to notice that cactus for the first time, the girl rising from the sofa to wander over to it, her finger reaching out to caress that pointed leaf almost gently.

"Careful Babe, don't hurt yourself."

Having her accidentally cut herself, having her accidentally bleed was maybe not.....the best idea. He'd never really noticed she smelled good before, at least, not as a Panda and yet somehow, now, in that human skin she smelled....pretty damn nice really. Why on earth that was the case he hardly knew, Were's, in either form, rarely appealed to him. Was it because he was attracted to her? Did being attracted to someone make them test better? Or was it just something in her blood the way it was with Sebastian? After all, he damn well wasn't attracted to the other vampire. Arlo watching her almost....intently all the same as if both fearing she might hurt herself and desiring to keep her from it and almost wanting her to press her finger just a little too hard- that momentary though hurriedly seeing him focus his attention on that guitar instead. Arlo asking just where she had gotten it as he worked to unwrap it, that tale of his very first guitar falling easily from his lips then. He'd never heard of this guitar centre, maybe he'd have to go there. Arlo peeling back those final layers to reveal that clear covered guitar.

"Daaaaamn, I've never seen anything like this before."

That appreciation was surely clear in his voice as he pulled it from that case to rest in his hands, the vampire aware of the girl inching closer to him then, her heart fluttering almost nervously as she softly uttered those words, hoping he liked it. Ha! As if he wouldn't! That grin on his face seeming to light up every feature as his fingers ran along it, pausing at that very image of a red panda painted onto one corner.

"Oh, hey! Look at that! It's you, Chicka. How on earth did you ever find one with that on it? Christ, this must have cost you a bit. It's great though, I mean, I love it."

Probably too much. Why on earth she had gotten him something so nice he hardly knew, well, he did, but he still hardly thought he deserved it. That desire to try it turning within him then as he shifted from the couch, passing that guitar briefly back to Abby.

"Hold this for one sec, let me set up, I want to test it out."

The vampire strode purposefully into his room, returning a few moments later with just those things he needed, that set up taking no more than a few seconds before gesturing to that space beside him for Abigail to sit, that guitar positioned easily and almost entirely without thought. God it had been so long.

"You might want to cover your ears for just a sec, Babe, just in case. You ready?"

He could hardly wipe that grin from his face, his fingers pressing against those strings, his other hand effortlessly finding those staves before pressing downward, that single, deep note striking into the quiet of that apartment before his fingers near effortlessly picked up the first song that simply came into his head. That riff from the nineteen sixties echoing easily from those strings, his foot shifting to find that beat of what would have been those drums. That grin on his features only widening as his song shifted again and into an entirely new one, his fingers near flying across those strings for voodoo child, Arlo easily holding that wail before bringing it right back up and into walk this way. The vampire playing several lines of those songs before shifting again into that rendition of that entirely old favourite of Bad To The Bone, one of the very first songs he'd ever learned. Those notes were almost flawless even despite the years he'd been away from that instrument, the sound of that guitar echoing almost through the floor as it pierced that silence. Arlo utterly having forgotten those neighbours and that tiny apartment, that guitar almost seeming to glow.

At least until that banging on the wall behind him saw one of those notes screech to a halt. The sound of his neighbours colourful cussing bringing an almost sheepish look to his face, Arlo lifting one fist to bang it right back against the wall behind him- much to his neighbours horror he was sure.

"Alright, alright! Christ! I'm creating musical fusion here! You don't appreciate it?! This is brilliant, Ab''s"

His fingers abruptly struck that guitar into another wail to drown out that cuss he knew was following from the neighbour. Ladies certainly didn't need to hear that right? Arlo turning back to Abby once more, that delight seeming to encompass every part of him. Arlo barely thinking as he swept that girl up and into a hug, his lips pressing to her cheek in that sweet, if not chaste gesture of affection quite before he'd truly even realized he'd done it.