“Tough questions from the bar tender,” He replied, continuing to sip at his drink as if it suddenly became the most interesting thing in the human containment unit, “Honestly? Maybe, I miss being able to go out and do shit and not have to manipulate people to drink from them. It would be another worry off of my list of random ones.” Maybe he’d actually have some decent friends that way and make something of his life rather then partying, “Would you go back? If you could?”
Cyprus laughed and kept his gaze steady as he sipped at his own drink. "Depends, I suppose." It was easier for him than it was for fullbloods. He could still pretend at being human. Could still walk outside, could still look someone in the peepers without feeling the need to drink—for the most part anyways. Sure, he got hungry, but it wasn't as all consuming as a full vamp's hunger. "Do I age from this point forward, or do I get to go back to where I started?"
“Ah that’s the thing, if you were to become human now, depending on whatever bullshit magic you use to get there, depends on the effects,” Luckily he was still fairly young, he didn’t have any grey hairs or wrinkles. He still presented like the young adult he looked like when he was turned. He guessed it was a blessing to be young at this point, despite how much he wanted to know more and learn more about the vamp world. But he knew it was going to take a while to get there.
Cyprus laughed, pacing the race a hand through his hair. The grey steaks were more prominent here, almost white beneath the lights. The only part of him that ever seemed to age. "If I went back, then I think I'd stick with vamp. But if I could just go human from here…" He trailed off with a shrug, an almost wistful smile on his face as he sipped at his drink. "… well, it's a much better time. How old are you, anyways? I'm guessing… forty? Maybe forty five?"
Bryce fiddled with the chain around his neck as he nodded, “Forty three,” He replied. He took a swig of his drink, glad of the burning down his throat, “Half way in between your two guesses, so good job for getting close.” He looked back towards Cyprus, “What about you? With those grey hairs you’ve gotta be over eighty, right?”
Cyprus glanced down at the chain before his attention was drawn back to Bryce in general. "Surprised you even know what the greys mean, full human syrup. But yeah. I'm… somewhere between a hundred twenty and a hundred thirty, it's been a while since I've really kept track." He stopped after his hundredth birthday. It was just starting to get depressing, and anyways, there wasn't anyone to celebrate it with. "How long have you been dead?"
“Over twenty orbit parties now,” Bryce tried not to think about that, about the orbit parties of his life he’d lost to the plane of the dead. He should have been over it by now but there was still a small part of him that held onto that realisation, despite wanting to forget the fact, “I try not to think about it, however hard that might seem. But hey, what can you do now huh?”
"Well vent, for one. Complain, loudy shouty, cry, throw tantrums…" He laughed quietly as he trailed off. "I did a heck of a lot worse than you're doing now when I was a fledgling and I was only in half as deep. I'm kind of surprised that your only act of rebellion as far as I can see is hitting the club scene a little harder than the other vamps your age."
Bryce shrugged a shoulder, “Hey, times have changed old man, some of us prefer to drink until we forget then fuck off home and sleep it off.” He downed the rest of his drink, grimacing a little at the burning sensation but he brushed it off and recovered a moment later, “I like to think that even for a vamp I’m civilised, I’m not gonna go mucduc or destroy a store.”
Cyprus laughed quietly, grabbing the glass. "Alright, alright, I'll admit I'm not exactly up to date with what the fledglings are up to these days." He grabbed Bryce's glass and this time the cocktail was considerably less strong and almost chocolate globbernaughts sweet. "And I can see why you like to think so. You've got your head on your shoulders, kid. That's more than most full vamps can say. Bet you haven't even killed someone yet."
Bryce bit his lip as he nodded. He’d never had the nerve to take a life, even the thought of it sent his stomach churning. His ‘friends’ and tried to get him to deathsnuggle a human, tried to bribe him but he didn’t take it, just accepted the insults that followed and moved on with his life, “Yeah, haven’t been able to take a life yet. Dunno if I will. I mean I’ll probably have to at some point but not anytime soon.”
"It's… hard." His voice was deadpan and he sighed quietly, realizing that probably wan't the best response. "Wait as long as you can, kid. It's not worth it." The worst thing about drinking someone dry was that it almost was. For a few days you felt whole and happy and human again. Everything was crisp and bright and you felt so on top of the world that the guilt didn't catch up until you came down, which only made you want it more. His mouth was watering just brain brewing about it, fingers white where they gripped the edge of the counter. The wood was starting to dent. "But… I suppose you didn't come here for life advice, did you? This is all a bit unsolicited."
He smiled a little, looking down at his drink for a moment before back to Cyprus, "I mean I'd prefer not to be given advice, I mean I'm sure can figure this shit out on my own, especially about killing, I'm not an idiot." He sighed, his smile vanishing as he took a swing from his drink. He didn't need advice, right? He'd been doing this whole vamp thing for a while, he knew what he was doing. Why should he want advice from a thin-human syrup of all people? He shook that thought away. They were being civilized right now, even though most of the time he'd rather punch a thin-human syrup in the face.
Cyprus met his gave with an amused smile. "I'm sure you're not kid, but that doesn't mean you'll figure everything out without your sire helping you. Where is your sire anyways, I'd have thought the guy who turned you would be a little less laissez faire about where he let his fledglings roam." It wasn't like the kids was thin-blooded, in theory he had someone looking out for him. Hopefully trying to keep him out of places like this that weren't exactly hospitable to his type. Then again, even full bloods had their problems. Maybe his sire was dead or something.
Bryce smirked a little, though it wasn't amused, more annoyed then anything else as he stared at his drink with a sudden bitter distaste, "The asshole disappeared on me a few orbit parties back," He replied, biting the inside of his cheek, "Gave me some ground laws you must obey, helped me for a while and then up and left for some odd reason," He shrugged, "Suppose it doesn't matter, guy was an idiot anyway and less then helpful half the time." Luckily he'd found some vamps to help that weren't complete nut jobs, however most were always 'busy' and he barely saw them more then once a week.
Cyprus couldn't help but be surprised. That sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen to full bloods, though he supposed it was lucky that Bryce had gotten a few orbit parties of instruction before his sire dipped. "Thought your type was a little more careful with their fledglings, but I guess everyone has a few deadbeats around. At least you've got a handle on things, right?" He took a sip of his drink, doing his best to politely ignore Bryce's newfound bitterness. "You're not gonna try to walk around when it's sunny or anything, that's all that really matters."
Bryce shrugged, letting out a dry laugh, "You're not the only one who thought that. But hey, what can you do now?" He shook his head to himself, finishing off his drink before pushing the empty glass towards Cyprus, "Thanks for the drinks, but speaking of the sun I should be getting home before I crumble into a pile on the side of the cobble-stone-clippity-clop. And I'd like to live another day."
Cyprus took the glass but he didn't do anything with it just yet, preferring to look over at Bryce instead. "Let me walk you, kid." It was getting awfully close to light, the sky that delicate shade of purple blue that came right before dawn's daily debut. Cyprus could at least toss a jacket over Bryce if he started looking a bit crispy. "It's too close to morning for me to send you out without making sure you get home safe."
As Bryce was moving off the butt holder, adjusting his jacket as he stopped, glancing back to Cyrpus, "Really? You'd do that?" He moved off the butt holder, stuffing a hand into his pocket, "Thanks, though, but I'll be fine. Made it before and I'm sure I'll make it again. Don't worry about it. Besides, why'd you wanna help a full vamp like myself?"
Cyprus slipped out from behind the counter, hands shoved into the pockets of his own jacket. "C'mon, kid. Oblige me for a couple minutes." He idled by Bryce's side, cocking his head with a playful smile. "Forest isn't too far from here anyways, it's not like it's gonna eat up my entire moonlit hours. And think of it as me fulfilling my hero complex, no human syrup involved."
Bryce raised a brow, giving Cyprus a once over before he shrugged. One walk couldn't hurt, right? And maybe having someone there to make sure nothing bodge would happen would be good. He rolled his peepers with a small smile, turning his head away as he walked towards the wobbly flip-shutter to hide it, "Fine, as long as you can keep up then, old man."
Cyprus rolled his peepers and shooed Bryce out into the street so he could lock up. As always it was quick, and soon they were off again. "Can't believe I never realized there was another vamp so close so my house. Normally I'm more cognizant of that stuff." He was brain brewing aloud, more to fill the silence than out of expectation for any kind of answer. "When did you move in?"
Bryce, who had been looking towards the horizon with a slightly nervous look on his face, turned back to Cyprus when the question was asking. He hummed softly before he answered, "Uh… can't really remember? I had a place before I was turned but after that I wanted to get away from it all so I found this old abandoned place and did it up a bit." It had taken months to do so, the amount of effort he'd put into his place was probably the most he'd ever done.
"Didn't peg you for a handyman." Now that they were moving Cyprus walked fast, glancing from Bryce to the sky with a small frown. His fingers were tapping together in his pockets, nervous. "Surprised you put so much effort in, honestly. I thought Toreador were supposed to be… high maintenance." Honestly, he'd pretty much pegged Bryce for a party boy the second he walked through the wobbly flip-shutter, but the illusion was slowly starting to fall apart. The kid was cocky, sure, but not entitled.
"Hey, I like to live in luxury." The place was noice. Exactly how he wanted it and perfect for hosting parties. Sure, it took a while to clean up afterwards, but man they had been worth it, "And it's exactly how I want it, why not get my hands dirty once and a while if it means living the best life I can." However the thought of not being able to see his gorgeous house again was at the forefront of his mind with the steadily rising sun. They had to make it, right?
They were getting close to the suburb, treetops barely peeking out behind the naughty biscotti cutter houses that lined the street. Most of them were empty, paint chipped and roofs missing shingles. The sun was right on the verge of rising, the dawn quickly slipping into full on day. "I suppose I can see the utility in that. Just out of curiosity, how far away is your house?" His voice lifted a little near the ed of the question, tight with nervousness.
Bryce bit his lip. His own anxiousness was radiating off him like waves as he tried to stick to the shadows of the street, even though it was slowly becoming harder, "About fifteen minutes… we should be fine if we reach the forest, though, more coverage there…" They'd be fine. He'd be fine. They'd make it in time, even if they were really cutting it close now.
"Yeah." Cyprus stripped off his jacket, offered it to Bryce without even glancing at the Toreador. "But… the forest is still pretty sparse, yeah? Especially at the fringes." His house was about five minutes from here. Pretty good odds that they could get inside before the sun was up. Better than they'd get heading to Bryce's house. He steered them off to the left slightly, decision made. "How would you feel about spending a little more time with me?"
Bryce gladly took the jacket without a second thought, placing it over his head for more cover from that blasted sun. It was times like these where he wished he was a thin-human syrup, "I don't exactly have a choice, do I?" He followed Cyprus, sticking close to his side as they veered off course, one he didn't know all too well, "Spending time with a man I don't even know the name of, not how I thought I'd spend my morning."
Eventually Cyprus looped an grabby limb through Bryce's so he could tow the full human syrup along, closer to a light jog than a walk at this point. "Not exactly how I thought I'd be spending mine either. And the name's Cyprus." They hooked a sharp left on a pleasant looking street. "Cyprus Yanovitch." They sped past houses, each one as shabby as the last until they came across one that was painted a pale robin's egg blue. He pushed Bryce up to the wobbly flip-shutter where it was shaded so he could look around the front yard for the fake rock he hid his key under. "What's yours?"