Venus smirked in amusement.
“Where are you going to go though? What could you possibly offer, that makes you think, you can easily find a place to stay?”
Now this guy- Rowan, rather, seemed a bit more suspicious, but probably just intimidated.
Not only was not from here, but he was in a rush, which could mean many things, and he had no where to go.
He put a finger to his lip, in consideration of his next random choice.
“Here’s an offer! You can stay with me … and in turn- you’ll keep me entertained. As you can tell, it’s a perfectly sensible offer, no danger included. If you can hold up your end of the deal, I can guarantee somewhat of hospitality and your safety.”Venus spoke like he was trying to sell something to Rowan, and he pretty well was.
Venus had decided this, mainly for his own entertainment but also because of the idea of possibly getting to know a new person, excited him.
Rowan crossed his arms. "Depends on what you mean by entertainment. I'm not a prostitute or anything of the sort, so if you expect me to sleep with you, that's a big no." He looked Venus, narrowing his eyes a little bit. "Plus, you're a Dove. How can I trust you not to kill me?" He arched an eyebrow.
He shifted slightly, and felt the necklace hidden beneath his shirt tap lightly against his collarbone. It had been his mother's, and was the only thing he had left of hers.
“I don’t mean anything of that sort, I mean entertain me through conversation and through interesting choices and the like. You’re interesting so far, and everyone here’s got something to hide, so once your secrets are out, that should be even more amusing.” Venus twiddled his thumbs and attempted to give off a more childish facade, nearly radiating with joy.
New people or new friends were always exciting, mainly exciting at the beginning though and then they had to ruin it all and get themselves killed.
“Now … how much should I tell you? I make most of my decisions on whim- I do whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want, with whoever I want. So, chances are, I won’t kill you quite yet. Aaand~ you aren’t dead right now either, so if I had wanted you dead, that would’ve happened a while ago. You probably have some kind of objective being here, right? So you might as well take the offer.”
He let out a faint snort at Venus's words about Rowan being dead, and shook his head a little bit. "Fine. But I'm not going to be telling you my secrets, as you put it. I don't trust you, and I want to make that perfectly clear before we begin. I don't trust you, and I know you aren't going to trust me." he brushed back the strands of white hair, tucking them behind his ear. "But. You've got yourself a deal, for now."
Venus laughed, “Well that was fast, you can come with me. Feel free to leave or whatever whenever you want.”
This guy seemed to have a bit of spunk, spewing out all these words. But now, Venus really needed to find out all his secrets.
The current situation now was, which way should they go? Venus probably shouldn’t bring him to any of the rendezvous points in case someone accidentally did something.
Hopefully the Doves weren’t bringing in a lot of bodies today. Though, out of the options, Venus’s personal residence seemed the best- and there probably would be less bodies there. The dead didn’t smell very good.
“Alright-“ he snapped to bring an end to his thinking. “We’ll go this way, though it might take a bit longer. You got any reasonable questions that I can answer on the way?”
Venus pointed past Rowan to a less crowded street and started walking.
Rowan followed Venus carefully, his head slightly cocked to one side. He wasn't sure about the wisdom of this plan, but oh well. No going back now, he supposed. "You're a Dove, right? Which…what level? I-I mean…are you just a grunt, or…?" he didn't know how to phrase what he was asking, not without being rude. And being rude could get him killed. Again.
He shook that niggling thought away, and wondered how in the hell he was supposed to find his father in this maze of a city.
“I see what you’re asking, don’t worry. Let’s see … I guess I’m the Lord of the Doves. The Morning Star, if that rings a bell.” Venus looked back to check on his accomplice, then smiled to himself.
“That sounds nice. I don’t really use that name myself so I never thought about it, but now it seems nice. Me, as the light that brings day …”
Now how funny is that? Venus thought to himself.
Venus rounded another corner and stepped around a couple of rotting bodies. If you kill someone why would you just leave them out to rot? Or if you simply die of an overdose or something, why would you die outside? Rather, why does everyone let the streets fill up with the dead?
Venus didn’t really get a say in the matter anyway though, since he didn’t exactly leave behind a body. But blood is a pain to remove.
Rowan grimaced slightly at the sight of the bodies, and shook his head slightly. At Venus's words, he raised his eyebrows slightly. "You're…oh." he said slowly. "I see." He swallowed and wondered if it was too late to run. He could fill his abilities flickering with the nearness to the bodies, and he stepped away a little bit.
Venus looked into the buildings he passed, at all the gross people inside and all the gross things that they did. It could be a bit more sanitary here, but at least he was kind of safe here.
“If you’re thinking about leaving now, that’d kind of tick me off. I did technically say that you could leave whenever you wanted … but I did offer hospitality to you-“ he shrugged. “Well, I don’t want to make this complicated so whatever. I don’t feel like dealing with anything right now.”
Rowan shook his head just a little bit. "I…don't know what…" He trailed off, biting his lip slightly. "Uhm. How do I know someone won't try to kill me for being near you?" He asked, looking at Venus carefully. "Or anything? And what guarantee do I have that you won't kill me?" I don't want to die again. Not before I can find my father.
Venus glanced at one of the building walls. The only way he’d remember he was going the right way, was through random landmarks he made.
“Well … I suppose I can’t guarantee anything for sure. But you can trust that you’ll be relatively safe for a while. A lot of my decisions don’t involve a lot of thinking, but I always keep my word. Plus, most of everyone couldn’t care less who you are and why you’re with me, and if they do-“ he mimed his hands like an explosion. “Pop goes the weasel~”
Rowan took a deep breath, shaking his head a little bit. "Fine. But I don't want you nosing around in my business. I came here for a reason, and it's none of your business." He took a deep breath, shaking his head a little bit and hoping that Venus wasn't about to kill him. Because that would really, really fucking suck.
He ran his hands through his hair, eyes flicking around to take everything in.
Venus took a final corner which opened up to a very straight, very empty path. There were nearly no buildings here, and the only light came from the end of the path where steel gates stood.
A footprint was firmly engraved in the path next to the last building. At the sight of it, Venus sighed. He didn’t feel like dealing with anyone right now.
“We’re pretty much here now. I’m assuming there are some uninvited visitors waiting for me again. Just as a heads up.”
Venus walked a bit faster down the path, and pushed open the pair of gates that were now in front him. They were pretty useless gates, but they looked nice and Venus liked them.
A bullet ricocheted off the metal.
Rowan sighed, and his eyes widened when the bullet pinged. He stepped back, hand going to his bag. Sure, he wouldn't use his Necromancy here, but he could use other things, other abilities. Guns, for instance. Blades. His Split Talent was useless here, but that wasn't an issue at the moment. It really wasn't.
Venus looked back to Rowan, his brow raised.
“No need to pull out any weapons.” He laughed, finding it amusing.
Venus headed through the gates and made sure one of the doors was left open for Rowan.
He stuck his hands in his pockets and continued the rest of the way to his front door.
He tightened his lips with displeasure at the sight of bullet holes through his door and broken glass, meaning there would be more people inside. As well as at the assailant on the doorstep, who’s gun was raised, but hands trembled.
“You’ll pay, Morning Star.”
Venus let out a yawn and removed one of his hands from his pockets. He focused a bit more on the assailant to use his Blood Talent. There would be no more second chances for this guy.
“You could’ve waited to morning, hey? Can’t you see I have a guest? I guess it’s on you now,” He formed a finger gun with his hand and pointed it towards the assailant. “Bang.”
The finger gun was only for show, and for the amusement of Venus. The ‘Bang’ was also just for the fun of saying it, and for the build up to when the assailant exploded.
Rowan frowned a little bit as he followed Venus, biting his lip slightly. He didn't speak, merely stuck back, shaking his head slightly. Cocking his head at the finger gun, he wondered if Venus was, perhaps, completely insane. Then again, he had no idea what Venus' blood talent was, so perhaps this had something to do with it?
He didn't know. He knew there must be more than just this man, and just hoped that he wouldn't be accidentally or purposefully shot, just for being here and being near Venus.
Venus smiled widely to himself.
“That felt a lot cooler than I thought it would, I should do that more often. But I guess I’ll need to clean this up later …” he muttered.
Venus stepped around the biggest puddle of blood and kicked open his front door.
“Charlene! You still alive?” Venus called out.
Charlene was a servant he kept around, mainly to just clean up after him, and didn’t want to have to teach someone else everything. It was hard to find people who would stay.
Venus kicked away some shards of broken glass, then looked up as he was tapped on the shoulder.
“Welcome back, Master. Your guests are waiting in your office.” Charlene held her arm where her sleeve was soaked through from blood, most likely from a gunshot.
“Thank you, Charlene. We’ll get you patched up soon. I brought back someone else today, they’re just outside. See to it that they receive our hospitality, but don’t push yourself.”
Charlene nodded and stepped out the door.
Rowan's eyes widened as the person exploded, and he let out a slow breath. "Fucking hell." he muttered under his breath. He didn't know what to do or say, but greeted Charlene with a faint little smile. "Hello, ma'am." he greeted in a slow voice. He didn't really know what else to do, other than stand there awkwardly clutching at his bag.
Charlene looked down at the puddle of blood with much displeasure, it would make her life much easier if Venus just burst the heart or something else. She’d also have to get a lot of things replaced now, but this was all pretty much routine.
She bowed to the young man who stood in the front yard, “I am told Master Venus has offered his hospitality, please come inside and I can make you some tea while we wait for Master Venus to finish up.”
Charlene gestured for the man to follow inside and held the broken door open with her foot.
Rowan nodded slightly. "Right. Alright. Thank you." he said, following Charlene inside. He was quiet as she led him through the house. He swallowed softly, clutching his bag close. One hand reached up to touch the necklace dangling from his neck. An automatic nervous reflex. He wasn't even really aware that he was doing it, just that he was.
Charlene finally reached a parlor room, it was the nicest room that was furthest away from Venus’s office.
“I apologize for the delayed introduction. I am Charlene, Master Venus’s personal servant. Please make yourself comfortable here while I go make some tea. Is there anything you may need?” Charlene turned to face the man and held onto her arm a bit tighter.
She had quite a few questions and things to do, she also needed to treat her arm soon. But following her orders came first.
(gtg soon sorry)
"It's fine. Thank you. And…no, thank you." he replied, sitting down slowly and trying to figure out what else to do. He held his messenger bag in his lap, but didn't open it up. He didn't need anything inside of it right now, so there was no reason to.
(It’s all good, I should probably try to fix my sleep schedule by now, heheheh.)
Charlene passed Venus on her way to the kitchen and nodded her head in acknowledgment.
“I didn’t completely ruin the other guys and I moved the bodies outside. I don’t want to give you too much work while you’re injured.” Venus said as she passed.
Charlene thanked Venus and continued on her way to the kitchen.
Venus made his way to the back parlor, where he assumed Charlene had brought Rowan.
“Charlene’s very nice, isn’t she?”
Rowan nodded slightly. "Yeah." He agreed, adjusting the collar on his shirt, looking twitchy and a bit nervous. "She, uhm, she is." He swallowed, fidgeting a little and not quite meeting Venus's eyes.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck I have no idea what to do. He thought, eyes darting around the room. He said he won't kill me and I think that's the truth, but…but I can't be sure.
“She’s probably the nicest person in all of the North Side. To me, at least. She’s my most valuable acquaintance by far. It’s hard to find people who will stick with me for a while.”
Venus sat across Rowan, crossing his legs.
To say the least, Venus was essentially indebted to Charlene. For her cleaning up after him, sticking with him all this time, and making his life a little less lonely.
He looked up to Rowan, smiling a bit, “No need to be so uptight, you can relax a bit now. I owe Charlene a lot already, and she’s injured right now- so I shouldn’t give her more work.”
