"Um… well…" Nathaniel hesitated and swallowed nervously, but eventually stretched out his left wing enough to show that it had a bullet hole in the joint and it wasn't quite the right shape. His right wing had a slightly crumpled appearance as well, but didn't have the bullet wound. "I hurt them when I was young."
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"oof, sorry. I am guessing there isn't a way to fix it? I mean, even being turned doesn't heal scars" Carter muttered the last part, his eyes had gradually started turning red. "Sorry about that… yeah" he had lost what he was going to say.
Nathaniel shook his head and looked down at the table, missing Carter's eyes turning red. "No… they couldn't fix them. Even when I healed, they healed all wrong. I can't fly."
"that sucks, oh what are you, cuz like, you have wings, but a lot of things have wings…right? I don't know" He shrugged, tapping his fingers on his empty cup.
"Um…" Nathaniel flushed lightly and looked a little uneasy, as though unsure whether or not to tell the truth. He hated to lie, so he decided he should tell Carter what he actually was. "I'm… an angel. That's kinda why I don't live with my family anymore. They kicked me out…"
"oh, they kicked you out? that sucks, I mean, my parents left me when I was young and I ran away… for reasons, and now I live with my adoptive parents" Carter shrugged, "but I get not having a place to call home"
"Well… they being everyone, not just my family." Nathaniel sighed. "I wasn't useful to them anymore because of my injury. So, they sent me down here to fend for myself." He shrugged and had some more of his coffee, holding the cup with both hands. "I was eight then…"
"that's about the time my dad disappeared, when I was eight, but I didn't live on the streets till I was like 11 and it was only for a few years, sorry you were alone in that." He shrugged, "enough with the pity party, no offense, but I prefer to have lighter conversations."
"Yeah, no, totally agree." Nathaniel laughed weakly. "I'm fine. Obviously I'm doing okay for myself now, right? Don't need them. Anyway, um… what do you like to do for fun? Hobbies?" He asked.
"I drive, when I can," he shrugged, then paused for a long moment, "hey, are my eyes red? I can't see them myself but I have a feeling they are" he ran his tongue over his now visible fangs.
Nathaniel looked up to see Carter's eyes and was clearly taken aback and surprised to see that they weren't white. "H-Huh? Um… yeah, they are. Is that… something that happens often?"
Carter nodded, "yeah no, just when I forget to feed, drink, whatever you wanna call it" he shrugged. "So, I need to go home, to the bar, whatever, you wanna come?"
"Um… right…" Feed?? That's probably not good… Despite the obvious red flags, Nathaniel decided to agree. "Yeah, sure… that's fine. Do you live far?"
"nah just a few blocks," he shrugged standing up, He muttered about hating what he is as he started walking towards his home.
"Right…" Nathaniel finished his coffee and got to his feet to hurry after Carter. He looked around curiously as he walked. "So, uh… do you have any pets or anything? Favorite color, maybe?"
"uh no? I don't normally do favorites, my only favorite is my car. Because it's awesome" he shrugged, "what about you? any favorites?"
"Um… I make swords sometimes when I can afford it. I don't have any pets, and… my favorite color is blue or silver, probably?"
"nice" Carter said, stopping in front of a bar called 'Day drinks and more' with the word 'night' under day, only unlit. "its open all the time, for different types of customers, some only come out at night, so .. yeah" he shrugged, walking around to go through the side door.
"Okay…" Nathaniel definitely felt uneasy now, but after a moment of hesitation, he followed Carter through the side door. He kept close, visibly nervous to be in a place like this. He didn't exactly go to bars very much.
Carter led him into an office, where an older man sat looking through some paperwork, "hey James, Is Smith in?" Carter asked casually. The man, James, took a long moment before looking up, "Lee, how many times have we told you to pay more attention, you could get somebody hurt. You stay here, I'll get you- " He paused and glanced at Nathaniel, "I'll be back" James then left. Carter sighed and sat in the chair James was in before.
Nathaniel looked at the man curiously, now confused as to why he was here. He didn't think he had any reason to be in an office, after all. He didn't have anything to say to the owners of this place. He remained standing when James left, but still stayed close to Carter, unsure what to do with himself.
"thats one of my adopted parents, James, hes one of the James brothers, because they are both named James, but the other goes by Jim, he works at the bar at night." Carter said after a minute, figuring he should explain. "Hes going to get me uh food? drink? you know what, lets put it this way, half the time this is a normal bar, the other half, when Smith is working, its for people like vampires and stuff"
"Oh, okay…" Nathaniel leaned against the wall, fidgeting with his hands nervously while he waited for James to return. Eventually he just started to preen himself, fussing with his feathers to try and make them neater. He hadn't had the time to really do it much lately, so he might as well since he didn't have anything else to do.
James came back and handed Carter a dark glass, Carter then downed the drink. "I wish I could say it was gross" he muttered. James sighed once Carter finished, "Lee, out of my seat I have work to do." Carter got up and walked back towards Nathaniel, "sorry if that was awkward. I didn't want to stop talking to you, but I also didn't want to jump you so, something had to give" He shrugged walking out the door after saying goodbye to James.
"That's fine… what are we doing here, though?" Nathaniel asked, hurrying to follow Carter after bowing and apologizing softly to James. He looked around the bar nervously, still pretty fidgety. He was really small, and all these people were pretty big and intimidating to him. Definitely wasn't much his crowd.
"Oh, we are leaving, I just need to grab my keys" he went behind the bar and grabbed his keys after having a brief conversation with the bartender. Carter walked back over to Nathaniel, "lets go angel" he grinned at the pet name.
"Ah, okay." Nathaniel kept close to Carter and dipped his head politely to the bartender, but he was too nervous to say anything to them. At the pet name, he flushed lightly and drew his wings around himself to hide his face somewhat. "Uhm… w-what are we doing now?" He asked softly.
"Leaving? I just need my keys to get in the house. Apartment. Whatever. Later" Carter shrugged. "but the sooner we leave, the less likely someone I know will see me" he hummed, leading Nathaniel outside.
"I just mean… where are we going now?" Nathaniel followed compliantly enough, not noticing any of the people in the bar who were staring at him. He shuddered at the brisk wind outside, his feathers ruffling a bit.
Carter stretched once he got outside, "where do you want to go sunshine" he asked, using another random nickname.